S1: Today we're learning three power habits that will change your life.
S1: Stay tuned for some bold steps.
S2: They will affect your marriage. Affect your health. Affect your
S2: finances because they have with them a promise of God's
S2: favor or God's reward.
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody
S1: Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church
S1: in Chicago. And right now, we're in a series about
S1: what it means to be fully devoted to God, which
S1: Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter six. Mark, as we
S1: get ready for today's message about power habits, I know
S1: there are many habits we already know that promise positive results.
S1: Healthy eating, of course, and working out and just staying
S1: off our phones before we go to bed. That's a
S1: tough one, isn't it? We intuitively know that these guaranteed
S1: good results, but the habit you're talking about today are
S1: backed by more than just statistics, aren't they?
S3: Yeah. And, you know, habits are what we do on
S3: a regular basis that become embedded or ingrained in our life. And,
S3: you know, they're hard to create and they're hard to
S3: break good or bad habits. And there are some spiritual disciplines,
S3: some habits that are spoken of in Matthew chapter six.
S3: And Jesus talks about when you give, when you pray
S3: and when you fast. Uh, these are three spiritual disciplines
S3: that I believe should be part of our life in
S3: one way or the other. So we're going to talk
S3: about that today.
S1: Okay. Well, let's get into the message. Here's Mark Jobe
S1: with bold steps.
S2: How many of you know that habits are hard to
S2: build and hard to break? How about it? Anybody here
S2: ever had a hard habit to break? Yeah, there's all
S2: kinds of habits. You know, some people bite their nails
S2: and they just. They don't want to do it. They
S2: can't get away from it. from it. I heard that
S2: people put like, hot pepper spray on it just so
S2: that when they put it in their mouth, they don't
S2: want to bite their nails. Um, other people have cuss
S2: words that they just just grew up saying, and they
S2: just it just pops out at the most inconvenient times.
S2: And you just say, I don't want to say it.
S2: I don't want to say it, but you say it.
S2: You're like, I'm going to break that habit. Uh, some
S2: of you have habits about health that you're trying to break,
S2: some bad habits. Habits are hard to break, and they're
S2: hard to create. If these three habits that I was
S2: taught that I'm about to talk to you about were
S2: easy to create, then we would all be doing them.
S2: But they are difficult to create. And I'm challenging you
S2: at the beginning that you would pay special attention to
S2: these three habits because they happen to be the three
S2: habits that Jesus talks about in the same chapter. Matthew
S2: chapter six. I call it the Power Trio. I don't
S2: know if we have in the house any triathlon. Uh, competitors.
S2: Anybody here done a triathlon? Triathlon before? Yeah. Okay. We
S2: have at least one. Anybody else? Yeah. Okay. One over here.
S2: A couple people that have thought about it. How many
S2: of you have thought about it? Yeah, we got a
S2: lot of thought about it in here, but only a
S2: couple of people that have done it. So here's the
S2: thing about a triathlon. I've never done one, but I've
S2: had friends that have done triathlons. And so there's three
S2: primary disciplines in a triathlon. You have to learn to
S2: swim well. You have to learn to cycle and then run.
S2: And so if you're going to win a triathlon or
S2: compete well in a triathlon, you have to prepare yourself
S2: in swimming, prepare yourself in cycling and prepare yourself in running.
S2: Three disciplines lead to one victory. Only if you master
S2: all three, you may be a great runner, but a
S2: lousy swimmer. And you'll never win a triathlon. You may
S2: be a great swimmer, but a lousy runner. And you'll
S2: never win a triathlon. But if you're able to master
S2: all three, then it leads to one significant victory. Jesus
S2: is telling us in this passage about three disciplines that,
S2: when combined together, can create an extraordinary, powerful impact not
S2: only in our spiritual life, but on every realm of
S2: our life. If you go to Matthew chapter six, which
S2: is primarily known for the chapter in which the Lord
S2: gives us the Lord's Prayer, or what we refer to
S2: as the Our Father, you'll see three disciplines that he
S2: refers to in verse two. He says, when you give
S2: in verse five, he says, and when you pray and
S2: verse 16 he says, and when you fast, he gives
S2: a paragraph to giving, a paragraph to praying and a
S2: paragraph to fasting. Yet now you may think that these
S2: are merely spiritual disciplines, but the way that Jesus presents
S2: it is that these are disciplines that actually overflow into
S2: every area of your life. They will affect your marriage,
S2: affect your health, affect your finances, affect your mental state,
S2: affect your well-being because they have with them a promise
S2: of God's favor or God's reward. Number one, if you're
S2: taking notes, I want you to write this down. The
S2: first thing I want you to see about this is
S2: that God expects these disciplines in our life. He expects it.
S2: He doesn't say, if you give, if you pray, if
S2: you fast. He says. When you give, when you pray,
S2: when you fast. In other words, the implication is that
S2: if you are a follower of Jesus, these are sort
S2: of natural expectations that you will engage in. These aren't
S2: for the super powerful, extraordinary people. This is not for
S2: a one time event in your life. These are regular
S2: habits that disciples of Jesus engage in. And he, in
S2: this passage, he he tells us about these habits. And
S2: I was thinking about these habits and I thought to myself,
S2: they're hard because they hit at areas that we tend
S2: to cling to, areas that we don't want to give up.
S2: Giving touches our money. Praying touches our time, and fasting
S2: touches our food. Some of you like pastor, I can give.
S2: I can pray, but the fasting, I mean. Come on.
S2: Some of you are hyper possessive about your food. Admit it.
S2: Last time you went to Rick Benny's, your husband reached
S2: over and said, I don't want fries. And then he
S2: reaches over and tries to pull a fry out of
S2: your fry bag and you say, hold on, that's my fry.
S2: If you wanted fries, why didn't you order your own fries?
S2: Don't touch my fries. How many of you know what
S2: I'm talking about here? How many of you have people
S2: around you that always want to mess with your food?
S2: And you're like, hey, get your own fries. Your wife says, no, no, no,
S2: I'm watching my diet. I'm not going to. And then
S2: she always wants a piece of yours and another piece
S2: and oh, that's good. And you're like, hold on. Jesus
S2: talks about giving, praying and fasting that affect our money,
S2: our time, and our food. Each of those things are
S2: hard to let go of. There are areas that we
S2: tend to want to cling to. There are areas that
S2: are difficult to release, but yet they have a powerful
S2: repercussion in our lives when we learn how to manage
S2: them well. If it were easy to give away, we
S2: would be giving it away. And for example, he talks
S2: about giving. You know, the Bible is talks a lot
S2: about the topic of giving. And I believe I happen
S2: to believe that we as believers should be some of
S2: the most generous people in the world. I believe that
S2: if our father owns a cattle on a thousand hills,
S2: and our father has all the wealth in the world
S2: that we know that our God supplies, and so therefore
S2: we also need to be generous and it needs to
S2: flow out of us, not just at offering times on
S2: Sunday morning, but in our life in general. I believe
S2: generosity should characterize the believer. Can I tell you this
S2: church is here because when we were 20 people and
S2: had very little money and very little resources and were
S2: meeting in a rundown building and, uh, no staff besides
S2: me who was paid part time and a building that
S2: was creaking and falling apart and no worship team. And
S2: when we got together, we made a determination. We may
S2: have needs, but we refuse to be needy. So we
S2: will not act like we're the needy people. We will
S2: start giving and releasing even though we don't have a
S2: lot to release and give. When we were that small,
S2: we decided we were going to give to missions and
S2: support missions in Africa and other people. And I'll never
S2: forget someone coming up to me and say, pastor, we
S2: are the mission field. We can't be given to orphans
S2: in Africa. Look at us, pastor. And I sat down
S2: with a couple of people. I said, hey, hold on
S2: a second. Have you ever been to Africa? No. Well,
S2: then you may think that you're the needy because you've
S2: never been to Africa and you've never seen how people
S2: live in Africa. But I'm going to tell you something.
S2: There are people that are much, much, much, much, much
S2: needier than you are around the world. So, so never
S2: take on a needy mentality. You may be a single
S2: mother here right now, just living paycheck to paycheck, wondering
S2: how you're even going to pay your mortgage. Listen, and
S2: I understand that's a challenge to live in that world,
S2: but I want to tell you something. Never take on
S2: a needy mentality. Never view yourself as I'm the needy person.
S2: I have nothing to give. I'm just living. Living from
S2: paycheck to paycheck. The moment that you embrace that mentality,
S2: the moment you start living in that world, is the
S2: moment that you will feel like I have nothing to
S2: give to others. I have no time, energy, love, generosity, food, uh,
S2: sympathy to give to others. And you begin to lose
S2: what you have when you begin to develop a need mentality.
S2: You need to understand, hey, I may have needs, but
S2: I will never, never, never live like a needy person. Amen.
S2: Jesus said, give and it will be given to you.
S2: Good measure. Pressed down, shaken together, running over will be
S2: poured into your lap. For with the measure you use
S2: it will be measured back to you. That's Luke chapter six,
S2: verse 38. Prayer. Prayer is hard because prayer requires us
S2: to give of our time and more than our time.
S2: It requires a humility about our approach to God. Prayer
S2: causes you to say to God, Our Father who art
S2: in heaven, hallowed be thy name, which means holy is
S2: your name. You're declaring that God is high and you
S2: are low. When you pray, you are declaring that you
S2: need God. When you pray, you are saying, I can't
S2: do this without you, God. I need a force and
S2: a power that's greater than me to intercede in my affairs,
S2: because I. I need you to do what I cannot do. God.
S2: Prayer causes you to humble yourself. Prayer causes you to
S2: admit that you don't have all the answers. Prayer causes
S2: you to bow yourself before the King of Kings and
S2: acknowledge I'm in a position subservient to you and oh God,
S2: I desperately need you. It hits at our pride and
S2: it hits at our time. Let me tell you, if
S2: you are here today and you don't know how to
S2: pray and you don't pray, it's because you haven't understood
S2: really how much you need God. What's keeping you away
S2: from that is either your pride, your self-sufficiency, your self confidence,
S2: and a lack of understanding how big God is and
S2: how small you are.
S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Today's message
S1: titled The Power of Habits. Mark, before we continue, I
S1: want to encourage our listeners to reach out to us
S1: with their testimonies and comments and Bible questions. I know
S1: you love hearing from what's on their mind, and and
S1: sometimes we even read them on the air. So here's
S1: a question we received recently from a listener named Paula. Mark,
S1: I love your program. I've been listening to you for
S1: a short time. I have a question about an earlier
S1: program I heard when you were talking about the Mark
S1: of the beast. I didn't hear you mention anything about
S1: the rapture. So my question is, do you believe in
S1: the rapture or taken away of the church slash believers
S1: before the tribulation?
S3: Yeah. Thank you for asking that question, Paula. And, um,
S3: I do appreciate your interest in the end times, and
S3: there's a lot of interest growing nowadays in that, as
S3: many of our listeners know, there's various Years. Timelines and
S3: time frames about the end time. I do happen to
S3: take a rapture position. I believe that Jesus is going
S3: to come like a thief in the night. And um,
S3: in first Thessalonians chapter five, in multiple other passages, it
S3: talks about, uh, Jesus coming unexpectedly and the ideas that
S3: he's coming to take, those who are believers already. And
S3: I do believe that we will be spared from the
S3: Great tribulation. The majority of the difficult time. That doesn't
S3: mean that we won't be tested or go through difficult
S3: times and not go through dark times, but I believe
S3: that what Scripture talks about the, uh, seven years of tribulation,
S3: that we will be raptured ahead of that time, that's called,
S3: by the way, pre-trib rapture and Moody Bible Institute is
S3: taught on this a lot. And that's kind of what
S3: we hold as an institute as well. But I also
S3: respect people that have other views of the end times
S3: and where they think, um, there are certain things that
S3: Scripture is very clear about. Other things that scripture, uh,
S3: you have to nuance it. And, uh, but I hold
S3: to a pre-trib rapture that the the church will be
S3: raptured before the Great Tribulation.
S1: Thank you, Paula, for helping us clarify that. And hey,
S1: if you've never reached out to us before, we encourage
S1: you to take a moment and send a letter or
S1: a message online and share your question, or maybe your story,
S1: your faith story, or a prayer request with us at
S1: Bold Steps. Just go to our website Bold steps. Org or.
S1: Now you can leave a message on a recorded line
S1: by dialing this number (312) 329-2011. That's 312329 2011. Thanks, Mark.
S1: Let's get back to today's Bold Steps message. Now the
S1: power habits.
S2: When I sat down with a married couple that desperately
S2: needs counseling, marital counseling. And I talked to the guy. Hey,
S2: how come you're not going to marriage counselor? I don't
S2: she needs it, I don't. Here's what I know. Pride.
S2: You don't want to admit that you have problems that
S2: you can't solve yourself. You don't want to admit that
S2: you need counsel from someone else. You don't want to
S2: admit that you need a third party to walk you
S2: through things. You're too proud to admit that prayer is
S2: the same way. The people that pray are people that
S2: are humble. It humbles us to pray. It brings us
S2: to our knees. It causes us to stand. When I pray,
S2: I acknowledge I'm standing as a small, finite being before
S2: the awesome, omnipotent, grandiose God of the universe who has
S2: all power and all might. When I don't, who has
S2: all the answers and I don't, who has all the
S2: miraculous power and I don't who can open all the
S2: doors and I can't. Who is everywhere all the time.
S2: And I'm not. I'm bowing myself before that. God acknowledging
S2: how awesome he is and how much I need him.
S2: And Jesus said, when you pray. Ephesians chapter six, verse
S2: 18 says, and pray in the spirit on all occasions
S2: with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind,
S2: be alert and always keep on praying for all the
S2: Lord's people. First Thessalonians 516 through 18 says, rejoice always.
S2: Pray continually. You say, well, pastor, I don't know how
S2: to pray. If you gave me a prayer to read,
S2: I would be able to read it. No, I don't
S2: want you to read a prayer. I want you to pray.
S2: It's like me saying, hey, I don't know how to
S2: talk to my wife. If you give me a poem
S2: to read to her, I'll read her a poem every
S2: day and repeat it multiple times and hope she's happy. No,
S2: she's not going to be happy. I don't need to
S2: learn a poem. I need to learn to talk with
S2: her and communicate with her. You don't need to learn
S2: the the Our Father. You need to learn how to
S2: talk to your father. You need to learn how to
S2: communicate to him. And some of you don't know how
S2: to pray because you're not that close to God. And
S2: it's almost like, hey, God, it's me. Well, you probably
S2: already knew that. You need to learn how to pray
S2: like a father and a son. Communicate together, because that's
S2: the kind of relationship that God wants with you. Not
S2: a reverse prayer, not an awkward silent prayer, but a
S2: father to son. Daughter to father conversation where you stand
S2: before the creator of the universe, and you converse and
S2: bring an end. And it's an ongoing conversation that you
S2: have with God, because that's how God wants us to
S2: learn how to pray. The discipline and the habit of prayer.
S2: And then the third discipline is the discipline of fasting.
S2: Now I have to say, if these were easy again,
S2: we would be doing them. Fasting is the forgotten habit
S2: or spiritual discipline of the church. The 21st century does
S2: a lousy job at being a fasting people. It's a
S2: almost like an ancient practice. Like, yeah, didn't people the
S2: old saints do that. Didn't Jesus do that? The disciples
S2: do that, but we don't really do that. I mean,
S2: some of you told me, yeah, I come from a
S2: tradition I used to fast before Easter. Really? Yeah. You
S2: tell me. Every Friday I would fast. Tell me about
S2: your fasting. Yeah, well, I wouldn't eat meat. What would
S2: you eat? Well, yeah. Where would you go to Long
S2: John Silvers and eat all the fish I could eat? Hey,
S2: you're not fasting. You're changing diets. That's not a fast.
S2: A fast is actually giving up food, abstaining from food
S2: or drink for a predetermined period of time for the
S2: purpose of more intently seeking the heart and the face
S2: of God. If you fill yourself up on fish or
S2: fill yourself up on meat, it's not fasting. Fasting is
S2: actually giving up food. Fasting is one of those disciplines
S2: that puts your prayer life on turbo. That every significant
S2: event in Scripture seems to be preceded by fasting and prayer.
S2: Jesus fasted in prayer for 40 days before his ministry
S2: went public. Moses fasted 40 days before he received the
S2: Ten Commandments. Elijah fasted 40 days before he went into
S2: the cave. Uh, we see over and over. Place after place,
S2: event after event. People fasting for the purpose of praying
S2: so that God could move in extraordinary ways. Jesus was
S2: once approached about it because the disciples of John the
S2: Baptizer were fasting, but the disciples of Jesus were not fasting.
S2: And so some people came to Jesus and they said, hey,
S2: how come your disciples don't fast? But the disciples of
S2: John the Baptizer, they fast. And Jesus said, they can't
S2: fast while the bridegroom is with them, because Jesus was
S2: still with them. He said, but the day will come
S2: where the bridegroom, I will be taken away, and then
S2: they will fast. We live in that day and age
S2: between the leaving of Christ and the coming of Christ.
S2: And so we live in a time and an age
S2: where we are called upon to fast and pray. Break.
S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. The first
S1: half of a lesson titled The Power Habits. We'll pick
S1: up with part two when we return for tomorrow's program,
S1: but until then, we encourage you to visit our website
S1: and browse through some of the faith building resources we
S1: have available, like this month's unique edition of our Bold
S1: Step gift. Mark, we are pleased to have doctor Heather
S1: Holloman with us briefly on the program here today to
S1: talk about her book, The Six Conversations. This is a
S1: very timely book, isn't it?
S3: I think it's very timely. You know, it seems like
S3: a lot of the conversations that should be happening are
S3: more shouting at each other or angry conversations or stereotyping people.
S3: And so it seems more and more difficult to have
S3: conversations with people that maybe have other ideologies.
S1: So, Heather, help us out here. How can how can
S1: you advise us?
S4: Well, I learned from the research what it means to
S4: believe the best about people. And it's profoundly biblical right
S4: out of Romans 12 and Philippians two. What would life
S4: look like if you began to honor one another, to
S4: value others above yourself, and to bless those who persecute
S4: you and love your enemies? It's a countercultural way to live,
S4: and when you believe the best about people, you're seeking
S4: to learn from them. So my neighbors that believe different
S4: things politically or socially, instead of arguing with them, I say,
S4: I can tell you really care so passionately about this issue.
S4: I'd love to hear the story of when you first
S4: started believing these things. Now we're having a warm connection,
S4: and I can share things that I'm learning from the
S4: Bible or anything important about my life.
S1: So your goal here is to help us get deeply
S1: into other people's lives and share things with them spiritually.
S4: Yes. And you can have those warm connections that really
S4: were designed for the research is clear. People are suffering
S4: because of loneliness and disconnection. So this book is really
S4: an intervention in a health crisis that we're also seeing
S4: across the nation.
S3: I love it. One of the greatest challenges that we
S3: live is isolation, lack of connection. And so whether this
S3: is at church with other believers or whether this is
S3: with a neighbor that maybe does not share your faith
S3: or politically is at odds with you. This is a
S3: great book. The Six Conversations by Doctor Heather Holloman. Look
S3: forward to getting this book into so many people's hands.
S1: Heather, thanks for your partnership.
S4: Thank you.
S1: Please let us send you a copy of this book.
S1: When you make a donation of any amount to support
S1: Bold steps. Go online to Bold steps.org or call us
S1: today at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. You can even
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S1: Mark Jobe. Well, I'm Wayne Shepherd signing off, and we'll
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S1: power happens. That's coming up Thursday right here on Bold
S1: Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of
S1: Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.