Open the Bible

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m Steve Hiller, glad you’ve joined us today. We’re going to do something a little bit different today, Colin. We’ve got a special program with a special guest that we’re going to introduce everyone to in just a moment. But before we do, I’d love for you to talk just a little bit about the mission of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Well, the mission of Open the Bible is to raise up a movement of people who love to open the Bible themselves and are equipped to open the Bible with others. And the word love is really important here. I think a lot of people have the idea that reading the Bible is a good thing to do, we ought to do it, it’ll do us good, and so forth and so on.

But you know, the Bible is so wonderfully rich. It’s life-giving and it’s life-sustaining. I think when people discover that, there’s a love for opening God’s Word. There’s an experience of actually meeting God in his Word and of coming to know him in a rich and real and personal way. And that’s what we want to encourage people in. And you know, when people discover that for themselves, they want to share it with others as well.

Steve Hiller: Absolutely, and that’s exactly what our guest today has discovered and is doing. So, why don’t you introduce us to today’s special guest?

Colin Smith: Well, it’s a joy to have with me here in the studio Mike Forbis, a dear personal friend. We’ve been friends for some years now, and we’ve had the opportunity of serving together. You’re not from Scotland, Mike, and people are going to love your accent as soon as you begin to speak. Tell us where you’re from and a little bit about your background.

Mike Forbis: Well, I’m from Memphis, Tennessee, and I don’t think I have an accent. But no, I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, Northeast Arkansas, called Harrisburg. Out in the country, country boy, grew up, was raised in church all my life. But married now, have a lovely wife, Sandy. We’ve been married for 33 years. I have four children, nine grandchildren.

Colin Smith: That’s marvelous. Now, the reason that I wanted people to meet you through this program, Mike, is that God has done a wonderful work through the scriptures in your life. You were helped by the ministry of Open the Bible and now you are helping other people to open the Bible as well. So I want people to hear that story because it really goes to the heart of the mission statement that we were speaking about a moment ago—that people would love to open the Bible for themselves and that they’d be equipped to open the Bible for others.

You’re doing this, and I think you have a marvelous story in that regard. Tell us a little bit more about your life, your business. You’re a business guy, many years God has blessed your business. Tell us about what you’ve been doing over these years.

Mike Forbis: Yes, sir. I have a construction company called F&F Construction. It’s based in Memphis. We have an office in Panama City and an office outside of Dallas. So we’re a national company. We work for national businesses. We work all over the United States. My three sons work with me, and that is a great blessing to be able to work together with them. I tell folks now, I finally like them.

Colin Smith: It’s not everyone that can work with family, but if you can do that, it is a marvelous, marvelous gift and I’m so glad you have that opportunity.

Mike Forbis: Yes, sir. It’s a time of my life now to be able to work with my boys and watch them mature and take on the reins and grow the business.

Colin Smith: Now, you’ve been a Christian, Mike, for a lot of years, but it’s only really in recent years that, well as you’ve put it to me, you’ve kind of come alive. Tell us about how that happened.

Mike Forbis: Actually, I became sick with COVID, and I was in the hospital, and the doctor had given me some pretty tough news. He said that my COVID was so serious, and it was the beginning days of COVID, we didn’t really know how to treat it and where it was going. But I remember him telling me that night, "You could die." So, it was at that time in my life I began to get really, really serious. I’d been a Christian for 35 years, but I had drifted.

And I knew then that I was not fully ready to meet God. When you’re on your back in a hospital room, you have no way to look but up. So, I did business with God that night. I said, "I want to renew, get back into being serious about my faith." After I had gotten out of the hospital, I turned on the radio one morning, and I heard Open the Bible. The accent drew me in when I heard you speak, but the depth of the teaching is what kept me there.

What you were saying earlier about the word being food for our soul—we feed our natural body three times a day, more sometimes, but we forget that we need to feed our soul or spirit, and God’s Word did that. I began to get excited about the word. What you guys at Open the Bible did for me is what Paul was telling Timothy—to stir that flame back up. It got me excited, and so I started reading the Bible.

I would tell other guys in the office, and we’d listen to the program. It comes on at 6:00 AM in Memphis, by the way, so you’ve got to be almost a construction worker to be listening. But we would listen to it on the way to work, get to work, and discuss it. We said, "Why don’t we just start reading the Bible that way?" And we began reading short blocks of scripture and coming to the office and discussing it.

What I found out was that God wanted a personal relationship with me, and that relationship is built on conversation. And conversation is God speaking to me through his word and me speaking to him through prayer, and it became—my faith exploded. It became alive, and I’m excited about those times with him every day now.

Colin Smith: That’s wonderful. And I love the way that you describe this dual conversation. God speaks to us through the word, and we speak to him through prayer. And I think some people have the idea that we hear the voice of God independently of scripture. One of the things that I’ve appreciated so much about the emphasis that you’ve had in your ministry as God is using you is that you want people to hear the voice of God through scripture and then to respond to the voice of God through prayer. I just loved that communication that goes in two directions.

Mike Forbis: As a contractor, I receive a set of blueprints from an architect, and he’s put his mind on paper for me to build a building per his instructions. God gave us the Bible, which is his mind. For me to just take those blueprints and throw them to the side and go build a building for my customer, and then when I get done, I say, "Well, I built you what I thought you wanted." And they’re going, "No, no, no, that’s not my building. You’ve built another building. You’ve built your building."

I realized that’s the same with my faith. I had been doing a lot of religious things, but I hadn’t been building God’s building. His mind is that Bible, and as I get it in mine, I’m now doing and following him the way he would have me to. And that’s exciting.

Colin Smith: How else would you describe the change that this has brought in your life? I mean, you’ve got enthusiasm, you’ve got joy, you’ve got so much life about you that comes from the word of God. How has it changed things in your family, in your own life, in relationships and so forth? What have you seen and what are you seeing? Because it doesn’t happen all at once, does it?

Mike Forbis: No, sir, it does not. One thing, I have peace. Peace with God, peace of God, and peace with God, right? And that is such a thing that I didn’t have when I was in the hospital. I didn’t have that peace because of thinking about meeting him. I’m watching it go with my friends, meeting friends and sharing this method of how we read the Bible and study the Bible and watching them grow individually.

Just watching when they realize that they can have this personal relationship with God that’s something they had kind of set aside even though they were in church, they had kind of set it aside to realize that conversation and that discipleship method. So I watch them get excited about it. I’ve got my friend Andy Price, he came with me today, and he follows me all over the world. We go around teaching this.

My oldest son, Chris, just went through an interesting situation where he had a bad diagnosis. And when he came out of it, and he wasn’t—he didn’t go to church, but when he came out of that health situation, he said, "Could I come to the Bible study with you?" Well, my goodness, can you come to the Bible study with me? Absolutely.

Colin Smith: That's a nice question to have your son ask you, isn't it?

Mike Forbis: It's a wonderful question for your son to ask you. And now he’s involved in it. And I just trust God to deal with him through his word. I don’t have to go to my son and say, "Now, you need to do this, this, and this." I’m just trusting God with him and saying, "Son," because he’s 43, he’s a grown man, I’m saying, "Son, just read the word and let God speak to you."

Colin Smith: Love it. So, we’ve talked a little about the effect of the word of God in your own life. It’s brought new life to you in a very, very wonderful way. Let’s think a little about how you are trying to encourage others to get into the word of God. You’ve spoken already about gathering a group of people and reading the Bible together, and you’ve kind of developed that into a simple approach that has been helpful to you and is helpful to others. Tell us a little more about your approach, how the small group works, and what the method is.

Mike Forbis: Sure. So what we do, originally we started with the Book of John. And we said, "We’re going to read chapter one this week." So every day, we read chapter one of John, chapter one every day for a week, and then we gather together on Wednesday mornings and we discuss. But we read it prayerfully. We read it asking God to teach us and show us. Because the Bible says that if we’re saved, we have the Holy Spirit in us. God’s the greatest teacher, right?

So God said he would teach us, he would lead us, he would guide us, he would remind us of things Jesus said. So we jot down any notes, anything that we see for the first time. And what I found about the Bible is you’ll never plumb the depths of the Bible. I’ve read John chapter one—because we always start off new groups, we say let’s go with John chapter one. I’ve read John chapter one I can’t tell you how many times in the last two years. And every time I read it for a week, I get new truth out of it, new revelation.

So we come together, a group of 12 is a perfect size because five minutes for each person is an hour. And so we go around the room and we ask everybody to share what God revealed to them through the Spirit and through his Word that week. And it’s just beautiful because everybody’s at different places in their lives. Some may be grieving the loss of a child, some may be celebrating the birth of a child. But there’s one truth. We don’t have multiple truths, there’s one truth, but it’s multiple application how it applies, how it reaches people in their lives. And so we go around, we discuss it, and we learn off of each other. Nobody’s teaching, everybody’s sharing.

Colin Smith: I love that because you’re encouraging people to slow down in their reading of the Bible. So this idea of read the same chapter every day for a week, and you’ll see new things in it the second time, the third time, the fifth time, the sixth time, and the seventh time, because scripture is so wonderfully, wonderfully rich. My pastor taught me early in life, slow down in reading the Bible. Read a few verses and try and find one thing that you will take into your mind and into your heart and carry it with you. And what you’re doing is you’re actually encouraging people to capture six or seven things over the course of a week just by going to the same passage and letting it drip-feed into the mind and into the heart so that more and more is being drawn out of it. I think it’s a marvelous thing.

Mike Forbis: And you understand the depth of the word. Now the word becomes so alive to you that you realize this word was given to us from someone who’s holier than my words can explain or our minds can comprehend. And he’s communicating to us through this. And it just goes layer after layer after layer. We just did John chapter one in Guatemala last week, and so I was reading and it's John the Baptist says, "I'm just the voice of one."

Well, I’d never seen it that way. "I’m the voice of one in the wilderness." For us, that’s what we are. We’re the voice of one, and we live in a wilderness, and we’re saying, "Behold the word of God now."

Colin Smith: Another thing that I’m finding to be really helpful these days is just to notice how often in the scripture where there’s a command, there’s also a promise. Love one another, as I have loved you. So there’s a command there on the one hand and there’s a promise there on the other. Forgive one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Be content with what you have, for God has said, "I will never leave you, I will never forsake you." I’ve got in the habit, Mike, of every time I see a command in the Bible, I’m saying, "Is there a promise somewhere around here that’s going to enable me to fulfill it?" Because it seems to me that something wonderful that God has given to us in the gospel is that he gives in his promises what we need in order to live a life in obedience to his commands. And that connection seems to me to be absolutely vital.

Mike Forbis: And there’s one more thing I wanted to mention, and the fact in how Moses, when he was in Deuteronomy and he was telling—he’s about to leave. And he’s talking about the words that he had written, the commandments, and he said, "And these words you’ll have in your heart. You’ll teach them to your children, and you’ll talk about them. When you rise up, when you lie down, when you’re going out and when you’re coming in. And you’ll have them on your doorpost, on your gate, you’ll have them on your hand, you’ll have them on your head."

And if you really chew on that and think about what Moses was talking about, he’s saying, "I want you to saturate your mind with these scriptures. I want you to get together and discuss them." But it’s because you’ve read it repetitively. Just like hearing a song over and over and over, it sticks in your mind. Using this Bible study method the way we’re doing, when I wake up in the morning, I’m thinking about the scripture. The last thoughts in the end of my day, I’m thinking about scripture. Sir, I have never, ever been able to do that. The other benefit, I have victory over sin that I did not have before.

When the Bible says, "I’ve hid your word in my heart that I might not sin," and so to understand that there were the hidden sins—lust, pride, greed, envy, those sins—we can hide them from people, but we don’t hide them from God. And pride, those type things, but having the word in your heart will keep you, give you victory over those sins. And brother, there’s nothing like walking in victory. When we’re walking in victory, we’re excited about our faith.

Colin Smith: Yeah indeed. Let me read a couple of verses from Psalm 19. I love these verses because they remind us not only that the Bible is the word of God, but that the Bible actually does the work of God. And I think they describe what you’ve been talking about and what all of us are really looking for. This is Psalm 19, verses 7 and 8. "The law of the Lord is perfect," and then look what it does, "reviving the soul." I mean, that’s what’s happened to you. Your soul’s been revived.

"The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." So here’s someone who says, "I’ve never been to seminary," but the word of God makes wise to the person who’s indwelt by the Spirit. "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." Well, I mean, there’s been a whole lot of joy in our conversation right here. "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." So actually, it’s not simply learning information. This is life that comes to us. And you have experienced it and you’re now seeing it happen. Well, tell us, the Bible study that you started is now all over the world?

Mike Forbis: Oh, we have it going all over South America, Latin America, we have it in Africa, we have it in seminaries, we have it in schools, because the method works and people are excited about it. We just got back from Guatemala City last week, and we have a three-year plan with some guys that we’re working with over there. That our goal is to have 10,000 leaders trained in three years that will have 10,000 groups. Each group will have at least 10 people. So that would be 100,000 people that we’re trying to disciple. And when I say try to disciple, it’s not our work, it’s trusting in the word, God’s Word to do his work. I like to say we’re just trying to get God’s people into God’s Word until God’s Word gets into God’s people.

Colin Smith: It’s beautifully simple and God is blessing it. And thank you for sharing the story. I mean, this is such an encouragement that God’s Word has got into your life, Mike, it’s brought such a change in your life that now it’s coming into the lives of many, many other people. And I think just to kind of wrap this conversation, the challenge for all of us, I think, is we’re receiving the word of God. What can we do that will then mean that we’re not only receiving but we’re becoming channels to actually share it and give it with others? The simplicity of what you’ve got here: read the Bible, pray and ask God, "What are you showing me through this?" and then share it with some other people. I mean, that’s so simple. Anyone can do that and it’s going to enrich people’s lives in the most wonderful, wonderful way. Mike, thank you so much for being on the program today. Appreciate your friendship, your ministry, your testimony, and God bless you in all that you’re doing.

Mike Forbis: Thank you so much, sir. God bless you.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to a special edition of Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And I don’t know about you, but I’m so encouraged listening to this conversation between Pastor Colin and Mike Forbis today as they’re talking about getting into the Word of God. And a great way to do that is to read God’s Word, the same passage day after day for a week, and then get together and discuss that.

If you want more information about what Mike has been sharing today, you can check out the website simplediscipleship.org. There’s a lot more information, tons of resources about this Bible study method. Again, you can go visit simplediscipleship.org, and I do hope you’ll do that. Well, one of the things that we’re passionate about here at Open the Bible is getting people to open God’s Word to have a better understanding of it and see how it applies to our lives.

And one of the things that I think we see time and time again in scripture is that God calls us to live lives of love. But how can we grow in love? Well, that’s what Pastor Colin’s newest devotional book is all about. It’s a 30-day devotional book called *Grow in Love*. And the good news is love can be learned and God has given us his Holy Spirit for this purpose. We’d love to send you a copy of this book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. And this is the final day of the month to give your gift and request *Grow in Love*. Give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365, or again our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join us next time.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin, and I want you to know about a resource that will help you in your devotional life. It's called *Open the Bible Daily*. My colleague Pastor Tim Augustine takes what you hear on Open the Bible and he edits it into daily, bite-sized chunks that you can read in your devotional time in less than three minutes. Every day you'll find a verse of scripture, a short teaching from God's Word, and an application that you can carry with you through the day. People who use this tell us that they read it every day and I think that if you try it, you'll love it too. For more information, visit openthebible.org/daily. That’s openthebible.org/daily.