S1: Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe shares a convicting message
S1: about stepping up.
S2: There's a man that I'm talking to here. Your wife
S2: is carrying the leadership that you should have carried, and
S2: she's doing what you should have done. And you say, well,
S2: she's doing better than I could do. No. And she
S2: doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent having to
S2: do what God called you to do that falls on
S2: her lap to do.
S1: This is bold steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is the
S1: senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago, and
S1: he's president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday,
S1: Mark began challenging us with a powerful truth that when
S1: we say yes to following God, he begins to address
S1: those areas of delayed obedience in our lives. The things
S1: we've been putting off dealing with suddenly become priorities because
S1: God wants to use us for his purposes. If you
S1: miss part one of this convicting message titled what are
S1: You Dragging Behind? You can find it at Bold Steps. Org.
S1: Now here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
S2: It becomes clear in this passage that Moses has a father.
S2: Moses has a Jew. Moses has part of the called
S2: out people that it was clear back in Genesis, through Abraham,
S2: that it was very clear that when a boy male
S2: was born that they needed to be circumcised. Moses knew it.
S2: It was clear to him. We don't know exactly why
S2: Moses didn't circumcise his sons, but a lot of scholars
S2: believe that maybe he had been. Listen, he had been
S2: influenced by the culture. That among the Midianites it wasn't
S2: the practice to circumcise babies. Some scholars believe that they
S2: were circumcised when they were older, when they were about
S2: to get married. That'd be a bad time to get circumcised,
S2: let me tell you. But nonetheless, culture, it wasn't culturally
S2: acceptable to be circumcised among the Midianites. So we don't
S2: know exactly why Moses delayed. We don't know exactly why
S2: he did not do what he knew he should do
S2: with his son. We don't know exactly why he abdicated
S2: his responsibility of leadership, to lead his household well in
S2: the ways of God, and be clear and and definite
S2: in his obedience. But we do know this, that Moses,
S2: as a Jew, fully understood that he should circumcise, and
S2: that he had deliberately not circumcised, maybe because of the
S2: pressure of culture, more than likely because it was unpopular
S2: among the Midianites. But he had refused to circumcise his
S2: male child, and it wasn't a problem. It wasn't a
S2: problem when he was just leading sheep. It wasn't a
S2: problem when he was not engaged in a higher call.
S2: But as soon as he was called to his higher call,
S2: then suddenly his delayed obedience became a big issue to God.
S2: Can I tell you something? Men look up at me.
S2: This is really important. If you're not doing anything, you're
S2: just kind of wasting your life meandering around, living fleshly,
S2: living without purpose, or calling or being used of God.
S2: Then your lifestyle, your disobedience. Well, it doesn't affect a
S2: lot of people, affects you, it doesn't affect it's important,
S2: but it doesn't affect a lot of people. But the
S2: moment that you say yes to God, the moment that
S2: you respond to God and say, God, use me. The
S2: moment that you get serious about your walk with God,
S2: then let me tell you something. Then your delayed obedience,
S2: your unfinished business becomes a priority in the Spirit of
S2: God because he's saying, If I'm going to use you,
S2: then you have to deal with the issues that have
S2: been asking you to deal with for a long time.
S2: Let me illustrate it this way. A couple decades ago,
S2: I grew up in the country of Spain. My father
S2: and mother, my mother is still alive. Bless her heart.
S2: Godly woman reads five chapters out of the Bible every day.
S2: I don't think I've ever heard her complain. Loves Jesus.
S2: This typical die hard missionary. She lives in northern Spain
S2: right now. But my father, who rode horses to the
S2: mountains of Chile, my father, who had grease in his
S2: hands because he fixed tractors and cars as he witnessed
S2: to our neighbors. He was a guy that liked motorcycles
S2: and cars, but he had a passion for Jesus and
S2: he would use whatever tool he had there. Uh, he
S2: became sick. I was in the US. I was pastoring,
S2: my brother was in the US as well, and my
S2: mother called me up and said, hey, you know, your
S2: dad's in the hospital here in northern Spain. It looks
S2: like it's pretty serious. Uh, could you boys fly to Spain? Because,
S2: I don't know. They're saying this could be very, very serious.
S2: And so I talked to my brother myself. He flew
S2: in from Tulsa. We got some emergency tickets, and I
S2: went to O'Hare airport, and we said, hey, we're flying
S2: out to Spain today. The lady behind the counter said,
S2: where are you going? I said, we're going to Madrid, Spain.
S2: My brother was there and I said, ma'am, yeah, we're
S2: going to Spain. She looked at me. She looked at
S2: my passport and said, no, sir, you're not going anywhere today.
S2: I said, why not? She said, sir. She turned around
S2: and showed me my passport. She said, your passport's expired.
S2: Can I tell you something? I'd been driving around Chicago
S2: with an expired passport. It didn't affect me. I'd been
S2: doing ministry, preaching with an expired pastor. It didn't affect me.
S2: I'd been paying my bills. I'd been ministering, preaching, raising
S2: my kids, driving my car. I'd been doing all those
S2: things as long as I stayed within the borders. It
S2: didn't affect me. The moment that I was ready to
S2: cross the border to another season, then suddenly my expired
S2: passport kept me on this side of the border. Because
S2: as long as I was in this side, it was
S2: when I was crossing a border that suddenly my unfinished
S2: business became a problem. Now, it happened to be when
S2: the federal government was shut down. We seem to have
S2: a lot of that happening, don't we? They couldn't balance
S2: the budget, so they had shut down the federal building.
S2: So I said, no problem. I'm going to go downtown,
S2: and I'm going to go downtown Chicago and turn to
S2: the federal building and get my passport renewed. So I
S2: hurried downtown, took my passport, went into the federal building.
S2: The security guard stopped me at the door and he said,
S2: where are you going, sir? I said, I'm going to.
S2: I need an emergency passport renewed. He said, sir, the
S2: federal government shut down. I said, well, how do I
S2: renew my passport? He said, Washington. I started calling a
S2: bunch of people. Anyone, any number I could get Ahold of.
S2: A Washington finally got Ahold of someone, and I said,
S2: my father's been a missionary a long time. He's on
S2: his deathbed. I need my passport renewed. And miraculously, he said,
S2: go down to the federal building. I'm going to let
S2: it happen. I showed up at the federal building. He said,
S2: you're here again. I said, yeah, I have orders to
S2: open this building up. He said to me, you must
S2: have contacts in high places. I said, you don't even
S2: know how high.
S3: Like way. Way, way up there.
S2: Listen, I'm so glad I made it to my dad's
S2: bedside because a week later, he was dead. But I
S2: almost was hindered from an important, life changing, dynamic encounter
S2: with my father because I was living with unfinished business.
S2: Moses was not affected as a shepherd. His son was
S2: probably about ten years old at the time. He'd been
S2: living ten years with an uncircumcised son, and it wasn't
S2: an issue until he was going to cross a border
S2: and going to another season and going to a higher call,
S2: and then suddenly it became an issue in his life.
S2: And I'm going to tell you something. Some of you
S2: are stuck at a border because of unfinished business. Your
S2: passport is expired. Your obedience is expired. And God is saying,
S2: I'm not going to let you pass this border until
S2: you deal with the issue that I've been talking to
S2: you about dealing with it for a long time. Number two,
S2: write this down. Your baggage will show up unexpectedly and
S2: fall into the lap of your family and those that
S2: are closest to you. Notice what the Bible tells us.
S2: God was about to kill Moses, but Zafira, his wife,
S2: took a flint knife and she cut off her son's foreskin.
S2: And she touched Moses feet with it. And she said
S2: to him, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
S2: Can I just stop for a second and talk to
S2: you about that? I want you to know that when
S2: you delay and I'm talking to someone here, I know
S2: God put this passage in my heart. I didn't want
S2: to preach this passage because I feel like I've preached
S2: it before, but I feel like God said, you need
S2: to preach that passage. There are some. There's a man
S2: that I'm talking to here that you have delayed in
S2: your responsibility as a husband and a father, and the
S2: responsibility to lead your household. The responsibility to disciple your
S2: family has fallen into the lap of your wife. Your
S2: wife is carrying the leadership that you should have carried.
S2: Your wife is taking the responsibility that was your God
S2: given responsibility to carry. It's fallen into the lap of
S2: your wife and she's doing what you should have done.
S2: And you say, well, she's doing better than I could do. No.
S2: And she doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent
S2: having to do what God called you to do that
S2: falls on her lap to do.
S1: You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job here
S1: on Bold Steps. We'll continue in a moment. Let me
S1: remind you that all of these daily lessons can be
S1: found on our website. Bold steps. Org or on your
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S1: to connect with us outside the program. Now back to
S1: Mark's lesson. Our message is titled what are you dragging behind?
S1: Once again, here's Mark Jobe.
S2: Listen, this is what the Bible tells us. The Bible
S2: tells us that we don't know if Moses was very
S2: ill or somehow paralyzed, but Zafira knew that God was
S2: dealing with him. In other words, she was conscious that
S2: that Moses was in a very critical state. And so
S2: think about it. She sees Moses in a critical state.
S2: She knows intuitively that it's about circumcision. The angel doesn't
S2: tell her, Which makes me think that they've dialogued about
S2: it at times. And he's dying. He's unable to do
S2: it himself now. He's probably very sick, and she takes
S2: a flint knife and she goes after her ten year
S2: old son and said, come here, son. Your dad should
S2: have done this a long time ago when you were
S2: a baby. It should have happened. Now I have to
S2: do it. I'll spare you the gory details, but she
S2: has to circumcise her boy because Moses had failed at
S2: his responsibility. And now, when she has to do what
S2: should have been done ten years ago, when the baby
S2: was only a few days old, now she has to
S2: traumatize her son at an inconvenient time in a very
S2: difficult way. Doing with the flint knife. A rock should
S2: make us all go shudder a little bit, doing what
S2: Moses should have done a long time ago. And so
S2: she grabs Gersham. Mommy, what's going on? Your dad should
S2: have done this a long time ago. Mommy, why are
S2: you doing this to me? And. I've told people before
S2: that I can just see Gersham at a Celebrate Recovery meeting.
S2: I remember when I was ten, I tried to block
S2: it out of my mind. Even now, I shudder to
S2: think about it. My mom. You know why? Because a
S2: man of faith. Listen. Listen to me. Because a man
S2: that had a dream, had a call, became disengaged with
S2: his call, became neutralized in his passion. Not only did
S2: he give up the dream of setting the people of
S2: Israel free, but he gave up his zeal for God
S2: and the very basic steps of obedience that he should
S2: be taking. He didn't take and fell into the laps
S2: of lap of his wife. Can I tell you that
S2: when we disobey, when we release our call, when we
S2: don't follow through on what God has called us to do,
S2: God is going to raise someone to do it, and
S2: it will probably fall in the laps of the people
S2: that are closest to you. I have seen a nation
S2: often times of passive men. I've seen a nation, often
S2: times households wrecked by men that are saved, but have
S2: allowed the sense of calling upon their life to Evaporate
S2: that have lived in passivity, in delayed obedience, in procrastinated obedience,
S2: are dragging things in their life that they should have
S2: done a long time ago. And it starts to affect
S2: their kids, and it starts to affect their marriage, and
S2: it starts to affect their spiritual life. It starts to
S2: affect who they are not because they can't change it,
S2: but because they've they've been living in that land of
S2: neutrality and passivity. And a sense of God has passed
S2: me by. And if you think that God has passed
S2: you by, if you think that your life doesn't matter anymore,
S2: then you start living your life as though you were
S2: a Christian. Yeah, but not a Christian. With passion, with purpose,
S2: with desire. Fulfilling a mission upon your life. You live
S2: your life in neutral passivity, and I believe that that's
S2: what Moses was struggling with. And can I say, I
S2: love the fact that God calls them and loves them,
S2: and God sees in him what he doesn't even see
S2: in himself. Come on. I'm talking to someone here today.
S2: You know, unfinished business can sabotage our destiny at times
S2: when we least expect it. I pastor in the city
S2: of Chicago and I started pastoring when I was 21
S2: years old. I've had to go back and pretty much
S2: apologize to everybody I pastored when I was 21, because
S2: I really didn't know what I was doing too much
S2: at 21. But I remember the very first couple I married,
S2: I was so excited to marry them. By the way,
S2: I'd never done a marriage ceremony, and I had led
S2: him to Christ and I had led her to Christ.
S2: They were living together and had a five year old son.
S2: And so I do this all the time, by the way.
S2: It works pretty good. I said. So now that you're saved,
S2: you know you need to get married. And he said, well, yeah,
S2: we're thinking of. We've been thinking about it for a while.
S2: You know, we're going to try to save up some money. And,
S2: you know, we're going to, you know, plan for a
S2: decent wedding. I said, okay, that's fine, but but I
S2: want you to remember that now that you're saved, you
S2: can't sleep with her anymore. Just, you know, your body
S2: is a temple to holy. He the guy said to me,
S2: but we got a five year old. I said, yeah,
S2: it doesn't matter. You're still not married. So you you
S2: need to abstain sexually until you get married, he said,
S2: so how quickly can we get married then? I said, okay,
S2: now we're talking here. So I did some of the
S2: premarital counseling. I'm ready to get married three days before
S2: the wedding, three days before the wedding, the woman comes
S2: and says, she says, pastor, can I talk to you?
S2: I said, sure. She said, I have. I may have
S2: a little issue. I said, what's your issue? She said, well,
S2: you know, a few years ago him and I were separated.
S2: We were going through a hard time. He kicked me
S2: out of the house. I was on my own. I
S2: needed money. Uh, there was a guy that wasn't from
S2: this country. He offered. He asked if he gave me
S2: $5,000 to marry him, if I would marry him, give
S2: him $5,000, and it would give him more of a
S2: legal status. And so she said, I married him. I
S2: haven't seen him. We never slept together. I don't know
S2: where he's at, she said. Is that a problem? I said,
S2: it is because this country does not allow polygamy. So
S2: it is a problem. I can't marry you, I said
S2: to her and she and she said, well, what are
S2: we going to tell people? Well, I said, so. I said,
S2: send out an email and tell people we're having technical difficulties.
S2: And so we postponed the wedding for paperwork and technical
S2: difficulties until she could put an announcement in the paper
S2: and announce it. But but here's the point that I
S2: want you to make understand, is that she could not
S2: go into the next level because she had unfinished business.
S2: This next thing that she dreamed about, this area that
S2: she was excited about, it held her back because she
S2: had unfinished business. Number three, if you're taking notes, write
S2: this down. Your baggage, when released, helps you move into
S2: a calling that is higher than where you came from.
S2: I want you to notice that Zafira, his wife. The
S2: Bible tells us that she took a flint knife. She
S2: cut off her son's foreskin, and then she took it.
S2: And she threw the foreskin at Moses. And she said
S2: surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. And
S2: as soon as she had done that, verse 27, the
S2: Bible says, the Lord said to Aaron, go into the
S2: wilderness and meet Moses. So he met Moses at the
S2: mountain of God and kissed him. Then suddenly Moses was
S2: alive again. Why? Because he obeyed suddenly when he when
S2: obedience was orchestrated in his family. Then suddenly the doors
S2: were open to step into the call that God had
S2: upon his life. Suddenly, the pause button on his call
S2: was released so that he could begin to pursue God again.
S2: And when he stepped into when he met with Aaron,
S2: and when he met with the leaders of Israel, the
S2: anointing of God was back on Moses again. And the
S2: Bible tells us that Moses and Aaron in verse 29
S2: brought together all the elders of the Israelites. And Aaron
S2: told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. And
S2: he also performed signs before the people and they believed
S2: just a couple days later. Earlier, he was about to
S2: be killed by God, and now he's performing supernatural signs
S2: by God. Why? Because that anointing, that sense of call,
S2: was restored to his life once he dealt with baggage
S2: in his life, unfinished business areas in his life that
S2: he needed to obey. Do you have something in your
S2: life that God has been convicting you about for a
S2: long time, but you have just been resisting? Do you
S2: have a step that you need to take?
S4: You know, at that conference I gave an altar call
S4: and a bunch of men came forward, Christians that were
S4: dealing with unfinished business, and there was quite a few
S4: men that actually their unfinished business was they had not
S4: given their life to Christ. And so I want to
S4: pause right now and just quickly pray for you, as
S4: maybe you're wrestling with obeying what God wants you to
S4: do as a result of this message. Father, I pause,
S4: and I pray for that man right now that has
S4: baggage that is not letting him step into the season
S4: you've called him into. I pray God that they would
S4: deal with delayed obedience, with disobedience, with baggage that you
S4: have already spoken to their heart about, whether it's sexual sin,
S4: whether it's areas of neglect. I pray in Jesus name
S4: that they would deal with it today. And I pray
S4: for that person, God who's unfinished business is giving themselves
S4: to you. I pray in Jesus name that today will
S4: be the day of surrendering to the lordship and and
S4: and salvation of Jesus the Christ. I pray this in
S4: Jesus name. Amen.
S1: Amen. Thank you Mark. Now let me invite you to
S1: learn more about taking your next step with Jesus. Just
S1: visit us online at Bold Steps. and then hit the
S1: connect tab and click on my next step in faith.
S1: Mark has prepared a personal message there for you, going
S1: deeper into what it means to truly know Jesus and
S1: what makes this relationship so life changing. We'd love to
S1: be a part of your journey and help you move
S1: past whatever's been dragging you back. So follow up with
S1: us there. Again, it starts at bold steps.org, and then
S1: with just a few moments remaining, let me invite you
S1: to request a copy of this month's Bold Step gift,
S1: a powerful book titled A Non-anxious presence. In it, author
S1: Mark Sayers offers a fresh framework for understanding and engaging
S1: with a rapidly shifting culture. Instead of anxiety about change,
S1: you'll discover how to maintain steady faith and bold vision
S1: even in turbulent times. This resource couldn't be more timely.
S1: God is moving in powerful ways, even through circumstances that
S1: may seem chaotic. So learn how to recognize divine opportunities
S1: in the midst of disruption and lead others with wisdom
S1: and hope by requesting your copy of a non-anxious presence.
S1: We'll send it to you with your gift of any size.
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S1: Illinois 606 ten. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join
S1: us tomorrow when Mark begins his next message titled, What's
S1: Holding You Back? We'll continue with some of today's important
S1: themes about breaking free from old bondages and how to
S1: take bold steps into our next season, so be sure
S1: to listen Wednesday to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold
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S1: Moody Bible Institute.