S1: Today on Bold Steps, with Mark Jobe returning to the
S1: Book of Isaiah for a lesson on who God really is.
S2: Before, Isaiah was going to step into his public ministry.
S2: God said, you need to see me for who I am,
S2: because if you start to minister with this small vision,
S2: then you will never be consumed by the fire that
S2: I want to exist within your belly. You see, before
S2: you do anything, you need to be exposed to the
S2: real I am.
S1: And welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of
S1: Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community
S1: Church in Chicago. My name is Wayne Shepherd. And Mark,
S1: we're going to talk about the presence of God today.
S1: It's not an easy subject, one that I think is
S1: going to convict and challenge each one of us about
S1: how we see God. But in a world that wants
S1: to shrink and contain him, this is going to give
S1: us a fresh picture of who he really is.
S3: Yeah. And, Wayne, this is a message I preached in
S3: chapel for our students at Moody Bible Institute that are preparing,
S3: in one way or another, to serve God. And I'm convinced,
S3: like Isaiah, that our view of the grander holiness power
S3: of God needs to be bigger. And, um, you'll hear
S3: it in this message. But the background of that culture. Uh,
S3: it's interesting that they say in the year that King
S3: Uzziah died because Uzziah was someone that had diminished the
S3: presence of God, had viewed God as small and paid
S3: the price because of it. And Isaiah was seeking to
S3: bring back an elevated, powerful, holy new vision of who
S3: God really was.
S1: Well, God placed it in his book for a reason,
S1: so let's listen carefully to it now. The lesson is
S1: titled In His Presence.
S2: When we encounter the presence of God, He typically does
S2: a couple of things in our life. He first of all,
S2: starts dealing with our hearts, driving us to a greater
S2: sense of purity, holiness, getting things right. And the second
S2: thing that happens almost simultaneously is that he also begins
S2: to generate within us a heart to be used of God.
S2: I was 16 years old. I was working at a
S2: hotel in southern France. It sounds glamorous, but it wasn't
S2: beautiful beach town. But I had to get up at
S2: 430 in the morning and my job was washing dishes. Yeah.
S2: I tell my wife once in a while when she
S2: complains about how the dishes are washed, I say, hold on.
S2: I'm the only professional dishwasher in this house. I was
S2: paid to wash dishes. She thinks I was overpaid. Um.
S2: But I was encouraged. I remember as a 16 year
S2: old washing dishes in that French kitchen, barely knowing French.
S2: I just knew that the French cook that was in
S2: charge of things knew a lot of French swear words
S2: that he used often in my direction. And, um, I
S2: was inspired by a little book, um, by Brother Lawrence
S2: practicing the presence of God. And he also was a
S2: dishwasher and worked in the kitchen. But from that little
S2: booklet he talked about that no matter where you're at,
S2: no matter what you're doing, the presence of God is there.
S2: And you do whatever you do to the glory of God,
S2: and you can experience the presence of God even in
S2: the mundane. And so, as a 16 year old, God
S2: started getting a hold of my heart. I started saying,
S2: I need to press into you, God. I was far
S2: from home in a French culture. And, um, the first
S2: thing I felt like God started to do as I
S2: was pressing and trying to spend time in prayer, is
S2: God started to deal with junk in my own heart.
S2: I feel like I found myself on my knees in
S2: repentance a lot over stuff, darkness in my heart over
S2: areas that I needed to to surrender to God. And
S2: then he started to give me a passion for I
S2: need to share with someone. I need to be bolder
S2: in my faith. So I'll never forget during a break,
S2: I was at a little park. In this French town
S2: that I worked in, and I felt like God was saying,
S2: you need to be bolder. You need to share. You
S2: need to tell someone. My French was broken. I'm in
S2: a different place. I feel like I'm not sure I
S2: know how to do this very well. So I remember
S2: feeling so convicted. I said to God as I was
S2: in that park praying. I said, God, the first person
S2: that comes to this park and sits down, I'm going
S2: to share with them Jesus. And sure enough, two minutes later,
S2: I hear a motorcycle. I turn around and this guy
S2: in all leather jacket, black helmet, tatted up on his
S2: neck here. He gets off and he sits right in
S2: that bench. I was like, Jesus, couldn't you send, like,
S2: a little nice little grandmother? Like, this guy doesn't look
S2: like he wants to hear about Jesus at all. Kind
S2: of a mean scowl on his face. Pulled out a book.
S2: He started reading a book. And I'm kind of shaking
S2: a little bit. As a 16 year old thinking, I
S2: told God I would share. I'm going to do it anyways.
S2: So I went over to this guy and in my
S2: broken French I said, you know, what are you reading?
S2: He looked up at me like. Like he didn't want
S2: to talk to me, scowl on his face, and he
S2: showed me the covers of his book. And it was
S2: The Cross and the switchblade, which was a classic story
S2: of a gang in New York that got saved. And
S2: immediately I realized, God, you've gone before me. And I
S2: sat down and had this great conversation with this guy
S2: about Jesus, because the presence of God draws us to purity,
S2: and it draws us to a fresh desire to want
S2: to serve him. Isaiah chapter six. We encounter a man
S2: that he's got a desire to serve God. And I'm
S2: going to begin reading in verse one of Isaiah chapter six.
S2: He starts by saying this in the year that King
S2: Uzziah died. Now, that doesn't seem to make be an
S2: important statement, because he's just situating this story in a
S2: time frame. But there's more to it than just giving
S2: the year. There's something significant about in the year that
S2: King Uzziah died. You see, King Uzziah, he had started
S2: raining at the ripe age of 16. He sat on
S2: the throne for 52 years, approximately from 790 to 739 BC.
S2: And he sought God. He feared the Lord. He was
S2: sort of exhorted and led by the prophet Zechariah, who
S2: ministered to him during his reign, along with Hosea, Amos, Jonah,
S2: and Isaiah. He started out great. Fearing God. Wanting to
S2: serve him. Turning things around. God granted him prosperity. He
S2: defeated his enemies. He became an iconic national hero. The
S2: country idolized him. He had taken Israel, so to speak,
S2: out of the Dark Ages because of what he did.
S2: But it tells us in Second Chronicles, chapter 26, verse 16.
S2: But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led him to
S2: a downfall. You see, Uzziah struggled with a growing. Listen
S2: to me. A growing ego. And a shrinking respect. Honor
S2: of God. You know, sometimes those two things go hand
S2: in hand. A growing ego typically starts to dwindle, minimize, shrink,
S2: distort our view of the grandeur and sovereignty of God.
S2: It doesn't happen all of a sudden. It seeps into
S2: our soul. It slowly creeps into our view of God
S2: and our view of other people. We barely know when
S2: it's happening, but it starts to happen. And suddenly we
S2: start to view ourselves higher, bigger, stronger, more confident. We
S2: become less dependent on God. Less feeling, less the compulsion
S2: to seek after God. Because now we feel I can
S2: handle this. I'm confident. Look at my string of successes.
S2: It tells us in Second Chronicles, chapter 26, verse 16
S2: through 20, he was unfaithful to the Lord his God,
S2: and he entered the temple of the Lord to burn
S2: incense on the altar of incense. You know, his pride
S2: caused him to think that he could do that which
S2: he was not called to do. His pride caused him
S2: to despise the commandments of God. This young man who
S2: had started humble seeking after God. This young man who
S2: had started with a dependence on God. Suddenly something's changed.
S2: He still reveres God, but he's got a shrunken view
S2: of God. His view of God is diminished. In fact,
S2: he's perpetuated that through the entire kingdom. People talk more
S2: about Uzziah. Fire. Then they talk about God, and then
S2: suddenly Uzziah finds himself. Marching down the street with people
S2: around him, stomping into the temple. Burning incense. Getting ready
S2: to burn incense before God. It wasn't his responsibility to
S2: the king. Did not have that right. That was the
S2: right of the priest. And Azariah the priest, with 80
S2: other courageous priests of the Lord, followed him in. And
S2: they confronted him and said, it's not right for you, Uzziah,
S2: to burn incense to the Lord. That's for the priests,
S2: the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense.
S2: Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful, and you
S2: will not be honored by the Lord your God. I mean,
S2: he had the power to kill them, to say, slay
S2: these priests, but they had boldness to proclaim before Uzziah.
S2: You've been lifted up in pride.
S1: Well, we have to break there for a moment, but
S1: this tense story will continue in a moment. You're listening
S1: to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, and I want to
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S1: is Mark Jobe with more bold steps.
S2: And here's a powerful moment. Uzziah had the censer in
S2: his hand, ready to burn the incense. Looking at this
S2: priest with disdain, thinking, who are you to confront me?
S2: The king. And he became angry. And while he was raging,
S2: you can see his veins pop out in his forehead.
S2: You can see his voice arise. You can see that
S2: disdain as he looks at the priest. As you puny little,
S2: insignificant people. Who are you to challenge me? Do you
S2: know who you're talking to? I'm Uzziah, the man that's
S2: brought Israel up. The man that's done all these great things.
S2: Who are you? And as he raised his voice lifted high,
S2: veins popping out in his neck. Unbeknownst to him, as
S2: he rages and screams, something starts to change in his forehead.
S2: It looks like a pimple at first. You've seen him,
S2: haven't you? And it starts to spread and it starts
S2: to get bigger. He's raging and screaming. He's raising his voice.
S2: He's telling people what he's doing. The people are looking
S2: at him and he's thinking, I'm getting through to him.
S2: Look how scared they look. And they're looking at him
S2: like this. Everybody sees it but him. Leprosy starts to
S2: break out on his forehead. And Isaiah. Leaves the temple
S2: a leper. For the next 15 years he lives in
S2: a house separated with other people, with leprosy. Because leprosy
S2: had taken over his body. The diminishing of God. The
S2: shrinking of his sovereignty. The diminishing of respect for his holiness.
S2: A sense of our own grandeur had affected the culture.
S2: The entire nation of Israel had been affected by God
S2: as a rabbit's foot. Can I tell you something? It
S2: is so easy. So easy. For us to use God.
S2: It's so easy for us to feel like we can
S2: manipulate God, use God when we need him. We want
S2: a God that's small enough for us to manipulate, to
S2: use when we're in trouble. But we don't want a
S2: God that makes us humble ourselves. We want a manageable God.
S2: A sanitized God. We want a God that we can control.
S2: We want a God that's our friend, but not the
S2: holy consuming fire. We're comfortable with the sanitized, utilitarian, pragmatic God.
S2: We're comfortable with the God that, yeah, he loves us
S2: and he's for us. And we like that message, but
S2: it makes us very uncomfortable to hear about the wrath
S2: of God, the holiness of God, the consuming fire of God.
S2: It makes us uncomfortable to hear that he can wipe
S2: out a nation in a moment. It makes us tremble
S2: a little bit. We don't know how to handle that
S2: kind of God. It's not the God that we want.
S2: We want a God that is shrunken down, manageable, easy
S2: for us to control. We want a rabbit foot God.
S2: We want a miniature version of God. But I'm here
S2: to tell you that the God that we serve, the
S2: God that we love, he's not manageable. I want to
S2: tell you that he scares us at times, that he's
S2: all consuming fire, that he is not. He is unpredictable
S2: to you and I. You cannot contort, you cannot manipulate.
S2: You cannot negotiate with this God. This God is holy.
S2: This God is high and lifted up. This God will
S2: not be negotiated with. This God will not be used.
S2: This God will not be manipulated. This God cannot be
S2: deceived in any way. This is the high and lifted up.
S2: This is the Alpha and Omega. This is the beginning
S2: and the end. This is the God that angels fly
S2: before covering their face and their feet and say, Holy, holy,
S2: holy is the Lord God Almighty. I just feel compelled
S2: to that we understand that we grasp that we capture
S2: the fact that the God that we're coming before is
S2: this God in the year that King Uzziah died. Now
S2: you know why Isaiah mentioned Uzziah? Because there's something powerful, compelling.
S2: About the culture that he lived in. He says, I
S2: saw the Lord. High and lifted up. Seated on a throne.
S2: And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above
S2: him were seraphim with six wings. With two they covered
S2: their faces. With two they covered their feet, and with
S2: two they were flying. And they called out to one another. Holy,
S2: Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is
S2: full of his glory. At the sound of their voices,
S2: the doorposts and the thresholds shook, and the temple was
S2: full of smoke. And I cried, woe is me! I'm ruined!
S2: For I am a man of unclean lips. And I
S2: live among a people of unclean lips. And my eyes
S2: have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Can I just
S2: tell you, in the short time that I have here,
S2: that his presence awakens us to a grander view of
S2: who he is, his presence? I want you to note
S2: that as Isaiah sees the Lord, he's got a vision
S2: in a culture that is diminished. God in a culture
S2: that we live in, a culture that uses the name
S2: of God as a swear word. Blankety blank, blank. An
S2: exclamation point. We live in a culture where the morality
S2: of God and the laws of God have been desecrated.
S2: We live in a culture where the churches are empty.
S2: We live in a culture where there's stained glass windows,
S2: speaking about the holiness of God, but ten elderly people
S2: that gather there. We live in a culture where the
S2: money says, In God we trust, but we can't pray
S2: publicly in our schools. We live in a culture that
S2: is okay with your God, as long as he's contained, minimized,
S2: as long as you're God is a shrunken version of God.
S2: But God needed to do something in Isaiah because he
S2: knew that Isaiah was going to be ministering in a
S2: culture with a minimized God. And before Isaiah was going
S2: to step into his public ministry, God said, you need
S2: to see me for who I am. You need a
S2: fresh vision of who I am. Because if you start
S2: to minister with this small vision, then you will never
S2: be consumed by the fire that I want to exist
S2: within your belly. Your calling will never be fervent. Your
S2: radical nature of pursuing me will never be where it
S2: needs to be. You see, before you do anything, you
S2: need to be exposed to the real I am.
S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. The beginning
S1: of a powerful message titled In His Presence. We'll continue
S1: the lesson next time, but until then, remember you can
S1: always find these daily messages online at Bold Steps. Well, Mark,
S1: let's talk with the author of our bold step gift,
S1: doctor Heather Holloman.
S3: Absolutely excited to do so. You know, recent studies have
S3: shown that nearly half of all adults report not having
S3: a meaningful conversation in their daily lives. Now that's pretty startling,
S3: I guess, but it's one of those things that motivated
S3: our guest today to write her book, doctor Heather Holloman.
S3: In the six conversations, you talk about four mindsets that
S3: are essential for meaningful conversations. Can you walk us through
S3: those four mindsets?
S4: Yes, and thank you for having me on this program.
S4: In order to have a warm connection with someone, you
S4: need to be curious, believe the best about them, express concern,
S4: and share your life. They seem really simple, but most
S4: people are deficient in one of those categories.
S3: That is good. Yeah, so this is some of the
S3: elements needed to have a meaningful conversation, which in your book,
S3: obviously you talk about how conversation is the bridge way
S3: to really communicate our faith.
S4: That's right. And I got really excited about the power
S4: of having a warm connection. Once you know how to
S4: deeply connect with someone, evangelism is never going to feel
S4: like a sales pitch or an awkward pivot in the conversation.
S4: Good point. So I was really delighted to read the
S4: social science research and also how Scripture has always it
S4: really supports all of that. We've learned this is ancient
S4: wisdom literature.
S2: I love it. Uh, Heather, because so many people, when
S2: they think about evangelism, they think of a sales pitch
S2: or I have to do a mini lecture, and most
S2: people it intimidates. But to have a healthy conversation that
S2: naturally goes to those important places of spirituality, I think,
S2: lowers the barrier of fear and allows us to more
S2: naturally engage. Thank you, Heather, for writing this book. This,
S2: I think, is going to be a great resource for
S2: people that are seeking to bridge the gap of meaningful
S2: conversations with their loved ones.
S4: Thank you.
S1: We'll be happy to send you a copy of Heather's book,
S1: The Six Conversations. When you make a donation of any
S1: amount to support bold steps, just call us at 800 Moody.
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S1: leave a comment and a five star review to help
S1: others find these messages too. I'm Wayne Shepherd, wishing you
S1: a wonderful weekend. And that reminds me, don't forget our
S1: sister program, Bold Steps Weekend. When pastor Mark will share
S1: a powerful message to help you prepare your heart for Easter,
S1: titled The Seven Phrases of Jesus. The final words Jesus
S1: said when he was on the cross. This sermon will
S1: help you engage deeper in Jesus suffering, his love and
S1: his ultimate triumph over sin and death. Don't miss Bold
S1: Steps Weekend on many stations or at Bold Steps, and
S1: we'll see you here next time when Mark continues with
S1: part two of this eye opening lesson titled In His Presence.
S1: That's coming up Monday here on Bold Steps with Mark John.
S1: Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry
S1: of Moody Bible Institute.