WEBVTT - Moving Beyond Your Past -- Part 2 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.360 Moving beyond your past. That's our topic today on Bold 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:05.840 Steps with Mark Jobe. 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:10.120 Whatever was our weakness in the past, it's not good 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.160 enough just for us to leave it behind. We need 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:19.319 to take bold steps of change, of obedience in the 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.160 direction that God has called us to. 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.920 Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.960 pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.720 Wayne Shepherd. Today, as we move ahead in our study 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.760 from the book of Exodus, we're going to learn how 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.640 to move forward past the binding cycles in our family history. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:50.960 If you have your Bible, turn with us to chapter 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.160 20 of Exodus, verse four. Right now, with a series 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.080 breaking free. What it means to walk tall again. Here's 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:58.880 our Bible teacher, Mark Jobe. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:04.480 So it starts with admitting and confessing. There is an issue, 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.319 and I can't excuse my anger issue by saying, well, 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.920 I'm half Irish and half Puerto Rican, so that's why 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.080 I blow up all the time. It's just sort of, 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.080 you know, it's my personality. No, no, you can't excuse 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:22.520 it that way. You can't blame it on your heritage, 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.640 your culture, your neighborhood. Don't tell me everybody did it 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.560 in Pilsen. Is that and that's why you do it yourself. 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.200 I don't accept that. Don't tell me what, pastor on 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.039 my side of the tracks, everybody. No, no, no, I 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.200 don't care what everybody did. You are not everybody. And 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.360 you are called to live a different life at a 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.280 different level, with a different system, with a different God, 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:52.160 with a different character, with a different value. That's your calling. Secondly, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.760 not only does it start with admitting and confessing, but 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.450 being willing to repent and renounce the binding patterns in 0:02:01.490 --> 0:02:05.970 you and your family. You are not responsible for what 0:02:05.970 --> 0:02:09.010 happened before. As I said before, but you're affected by it. 0:02:09.210 --> 0:02:12.250 I never knew Adam. Don't know what he looks like. 0:02:13.010 --> 0:02:16.650 I've seen artists renditions of Adam and Eve. The early 0:02:16.650 --> 0:02:19.530 Europeans painted them as white blond hair and blue eyed. 0:02:19.530 --> 0:02:22.890 I doubt very much he was. He was probably much 0:02:22.889 --> 0:02:28.530 darker than the Bible story pictures have of them, because 0:02:28.810 --> 0:02:33.930 all of humanity and the various ethnicities descended from Adam 0:02:33.930 --> 0:02:36.810 and Eve. I never knew Adam. I never knew Eve, 0:02:36.850 --> 0:02:39.530 but I have been deeply affected by Adam and Eve 0:02:41.050 --> 0:02:44.130 because Adam and Eve were put in this idyllic garden 0:02:44.130 --> 0:02:48.250 presence of God and made some choices that brought in 0:02:48.250 --> 0:02:52.570 what theologians call the fall of man, the depravity of man. 0:02:53.050 --> 0:02:56.209 And because of their sin and their choices, the sin 0:02:56.210 --> 0:03:00.730 nature has been passed down from generation to generation, and 0:03:00.810 --> 0:03:04.690 we are affected by Adam's sin. I'm not responsible for 0:03:04.690 --> 0:03:08.370 the fact that Adam sinned, but I am affected by 0:03:08.370 --> 0:03:14.530 the fact that he did sin. Several decades ago, there 0:03:14.530 --> 0:03:17.609 was a 18 year old man and a 17 year 0:03:17.650 --> 0:03:24.290 old woman in northern Indiana. Neither of them believers. One 0:03:24.290 --> 0:03:28.650 from an alcoholic family, another from a just a real, uh, 0:03:28.770 --> 0:03:32.570 tough foreman at the steel mill family. They went to 0:03:32.570 --> 0:03:38.890 a youth event hosted by youth for Christ. And at 0:03:38.930 --> 0:03:43.330 that event held in northern Indiana, in Gary, in the 0:03:43.330 --> 0:03:48.650 area of Gary, uh, evangelist by the name of James Riggs, 0:03:48.650 --> 0:03:53.450 was preaching to young people about coming to Christ and 0:03:53.450 --> 0:03:56.170 the need to change their life and to turn around. 0:03:56.610 --> 0:03:58.530 And two young people that did not even know each 0:03:58.570 --> 0:04:00.860 other came forward. And that night they gave their life 0:04:00.860 --> 0:04:05.420 to Jesus Christ. Three years later, they would meet each 0:04:05.460 --> 0:04:09.620 other in college and discover that they had given their 0:04:09.620 --> 0:04:16.300 life to Christ in the same meeting. That decision deeply, 0:04:16.300 --> 0:04:22.940 deeply affected my life because that couple would marry and 0:04:22.940 --> 0:04:25.620 that decision to follow Christ would lead my father and 0:04:25.620 --> 0:04:29.580 my mother to decide that they wanted to serve God 0:04:29.580 --> 0:04:31.980 with all of their heart. And so they. When I 0:04:31.980 --> 0:04:37.740 was six months old, I left this country. And they 0:04:37.779 --> 0:04:40.900 went to South America and wanted to serve God in 0:04:40.900 --> 0:04:43.460 the jungles of Ecuador. But the mission didn't have any 0:04:43.460 --> 0:04:45.980 doors open. And so they went to Chile, and then 0:04:45.980 --> 0:04:47.979 they went. They went to Costa Rica, then they went 0:04:47.980 --> 0:04:50.940 to Chile, and then they went to Spain. And because 0:04:50.940 --> 0:04:54.020 of their decision, because of a decision to follow Jesus 0:04:54.020 --> 0:04:57.900 Christ at 18 years old, I, I grew up all 0:04:57.900 --> 0:05:02.299 over the world in different countries, not not in Indiana, 0:05:02.300 --> 0:05:06.099 but all over the world. And and that deeply affected 0:05:06.100 --> 0:05:09.820 my life. Hey, I'm not responsible for the decisions they made, 0:05:09.820 --> 0:05:13.340 but I am deeply affected by the decisions they made 0:05:13.339 --> 0:05:17.900 in their life to follow Jesus Christ. And so it 0:05:17.900 --> 0:05:19.460 is with some of you. Some of you are going 0:05:19.500 --> 0:05:22.179 to point. Your kids are going to point to you 0:05:22.339 --> 0:05:29.660 as the cycle, as the new generation builders. And so 0:05:29.980 --> 0:05:33.180 we need to repent and renounce the binding patterns in 0:05:33.220 --> 0:05:38.539 you and your family. In Nehemiah chapter one, verses six 0:05:38.580 --> 0:05:41.580 through seven, Nehemiah says, when I heard these things, I 0:05:41.620 --> 0:05:45.060 sat down and wept. For some days I mourned, and 0:05:45.060 --> 0:05:48.940 I fasted and prayed before God of heaven. And I 0:05:48.980 --> 0:05:52.980 confess the sins of we Israelites, including my father's house 0:05:52.980 --> 0:05:59.979 and myself, have committed against you. You see, he confessed 0:05:59.980 --> 0:06:03.590 his sins. He didn't blame it on his parents, but 0:06:03.589 --> 0:06:08.349 he confessed his sins. Ezekiel chapter 14, verse six says 0:06:08.350 --> 0:06:11.150 something interesting. The prophet is talking about people that are 0:06:11.150 --> 0:06:14.270 turning around. And he says, therefore say to the people 0:06:14.270 --> 0:06:18.750 of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says, repent 0:06:18.990 --> 0:06:23.830 and turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices. 0:06:23.870 --> 0:06:28.150 He used two words, starting with an R repent and renounce. 0:06:28.870 --> 0:06:33.430 Let me explain what each of these mean. Repentance is 0:06:33.430 --> 0:06:37.190 a willingness to acknowledge my sin and turn away from 0:06:37.190 --> 0:06:42.270 it and embrace God's way. Repentance means I acknowledge this 0:06:42.270 --> 0:06:45.910 is a wrong way of living, and I'm willing to 0:06:45.950 --> 0:06:49.750 turn away from it and embrace God's way. That's repentance. 0:06:50.750 --> 0:06:53.630 In order to follow Jesus Christ, Jesus tells us that 0:06:53.630 --> 0:06:56.790 we are to repent and believe. You cannot become a 0:06:56.790 --> 0:07:01.270 follower of Jesus Christ without repenting. It's embedded in the 0:07:01.270 --> 0:07:04.109 process of being a follower of Jesus that you say, 0:07:04.110 --> 0:07:06.710 I know this is a wrong way, and I'm turning 0:07:06.710 --> 0:07:09.670 around and following a new way of living. It may 0:07:09.710 --> 0:07:12.870 be a new culture for me. It may be a 0:07:12.870 --> 0:07:18.750 shock to my system. I may suddenly lose half my vocabulary. 0:07:21.510 --> 0:07:23.670 Some of you come to Christ and you barely can 0:07:23.670 --> 0:07:27.190 talk anymore because you've so edited your language and your 0:07:27.190 --> 0:07:32.350 curse words that you're like, hello? Uh. It's like, do 0:07:32.350 --> 0:07:34.309 you stutter? No, I'm just trying not to. I'm trying 0:07:34.310 --> 0:07:36.790 not to cuss. And you, you've cussed so long that 0:07:36.830 --> 0:07:39.550 you know it's a foreign culture to you. You're just 0:07:39.550 --> 0:07:43.070 trying to figure out how to talk now, and you're 0:07:43.070 --> 0:07:45.990 trying to figure out what are the Christian swear words. 0:07:48.350 --> 0:07:51.030 And just, oh my gosh, doesn't seem like it's, I 0:07:51.030 --> 0:07:53.230 don't know, it doesn't seem hard enough for some of you. 0:07:53.230 --> 0:07:55.070 You're a truck driver and you're saying, oh my gosh, 0:07:55.110 --> 0:07:57.670 this doesn't just doesn't work. I need something a little 0:07:57.710 --> 0:08:00.310 a little stronger than that. And so some of you 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:04.320 are struggling with this new culture of just discovering what 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.880 it means to follow Jesus Christ and, and repent, um, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.520 and turn a new way and follow a new way 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:16.880 in God. But, uh, following God always requires repentance turning around. 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.440 And it also requires, according to Ezekiel, he says, repent 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:27.320 and renounce. Renounce is severing ties and declaring something to 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.360 no longer be a part of your life. In other words, 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.040 I declare this is no longer who I am. This 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.600 is no longer what I want to be. To renounce 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.559 something means that's not who I am. Maybe it is 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:46.360 who I was, but I renounce that. I'm no longer 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.880 going to be. No, that's not I. I reject that 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.400 as part of my destiny. That's not my identity. That's 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.520 not who I am. I renounce that from my life. 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.360 In other words, I close the door on it from 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.240 my life. No longer is it going to be a 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.679 part of who I am or what I am or 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.719 how I live, I repent, I turn around and I 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.240 renounce certain things from my life. That's what Ezekiel says. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:16.200 We repent and we renounce. And then thirdly, we take 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.640 bold steps of obedience to create a new culture and 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:26.480 break the existing pattern. See, I believe you don't just 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:31.280 leave a cycle. You have to start a cycle. Hello. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.800 It's like being in a current. Some of you have 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:45.040 been rowing, rowing your boat down that current. And so 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:47.280 you say, okay, I'm going to stop rowing in that direction. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.200 And so you put your oars in and you say, 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.840 I'm going to repent of it. I'm no longer going 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.960 to follow after it. And you just let your boat 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:59.000 in neutral, but your boat is still being forced down 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.329 that road by the by the current. If you're going 0:10:02.370 --> 0:10:04.370 to change a cycle, you have to turn the boat 0:10:04.370 --> 0:10:08.690 around and row in the opposite direction. Are you following me? 0:10:09.250 --> 0:10:11.810 Some people think that Christianity is all about what you 0:10:11.809 --> 0:10:17.170 don't do. No, you have it all wrong. Some Christians 0:10:17.170 --> 0:10:20.610 define themselves and I call them legalists. They define themselves 0:10:20.610 --> 0:10:24.610 by what you. What they don't do. Are you a Christian? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:10:24.650 --> 0:10:26.929 I'm a Christian. I don't swear, I don't chew and 0:10:26.929 --> 0:10:29.770 I don't go with girls. Who do you know? You know. 0:10:34.690 --> 0:10:38.850 You know this isn't about what you don't do. You 0:10:38.890 --> 0:10:44.329 don't define yourself by what you don't do. You define 0:10:44.330 --> 0:10:49.010 yourself by what you do. Do. I am a follower 0:10:49.010 --> 0:10:52.810 of Jesus on mission with Christ, and there are certain 0:10:52.809 --> 0:10:55.209 things I choose to leave out of my life, but 0:10:55.210 --> 0:10:58.770 I'm not defined by the don'ts. I'm defined by the do's. 0:10:58.890 --> 0:11:02.890 I'm defined by my mission, my purpose, my goal in life, 0:11:02.929 --> 0:11:06.290 my desire to live for God and His kingdom. My 0:11:06.290 --> 0:11:09.330 desire to make a difference. That's what defines me, not 0:11:09.370 --> 0:11:12.329 what I don't do. What I do do for God. 0:11:13.370 --> 0:11:16.770 What I live for is what defines me. And some 0:11:16.770 --> 0:11:20.370 people that have embraced religion think that religion is very 0:11:20.370 --> 0:11:22.650 limiting because they come to church and say, well, I 0:11:22.650 --> 0:11:24.290 can't do this, and I can't do that, and I 0:11:24.290 --> 0:11:26.569 can't do the other. And they all they see is 0:11:26.570 --> 0:11:29.729 the rules that they can't do because they're not living 0:11:29.730 --> 0:11:33.650 for the right things. And he becomes limiting. You know 0:11:33.650 --> 0:11:36.010 how many conversations I've had with young people that say, well, 0:11:36.050 --> 0:11:38.449 you know, when I'm older, I'm going to give my 0:11:38.450 --> 0:11:40.730 life to Jesus, because right now I just, I'm having, 0:11:40.770 --> 0:11:42.930 I just want to have too much fun. And there's 0:11:42.929 --> 0:11:45.250 a lot of things I can't do. And so when 0:11:45.250 --> 0:11:47.809 I'm older and I got sort of, I sold all 0:11:47.809 --> 0:11:51.370 my wild oats, then I'm going to settle down and 0:11:51.370 --> 0:11:52.930 I'm going to try to live for God. You have 0:11:52.929 --> 0:11:57.610 it all wrong. It's when you embrace a mission, a calling, 0:11:57.610 --> 0:12:00.050 an adventure of faith. It's much bigger than you. It's 0:12:00.100 --> 0:12:03.020 when you understand who God is. It's not like I 0:12:03.020 --> 0:12:05.020 wish I could be doing that. And I'm just hearing 0:12:05.020 --> 0:12:08.620 this boring life. No, following God on mission Full of 0:12:08.620 --> 0:12:12.059 the spirit is the most exciting, adventure filled life that 0:12:12.059 --> 0:12:15.780 you could ever engage in if you really engage in it, right? 0:12:21.940 --> 0:12:25.300 You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe. Maybe 0:12:25.300 --> 0:12:27.780 today's message has inspired you to go deeper in your 0:12:27.780 --> 0:12:30.820 biblical study. If that's the case, let me invite you 0:12:30.820 --> 0:12:33.420 to sign up for a free devotional email from Mark. 0:12:33.420 --> 0:12:36.820 It's called the Bold Stepper Weekly. It arrives directly to 0:12:36.820 --> 0:12:39.660 your inbox each Monday morning. To sign up for this 0:12:39.660 --> 0:12:43.819 free resource, just simply go to our website, Bold steps.org. 0:12:44.260 --> 0:12:46.300 And there at the website, you can also listen to 0:12:46.340 --> 0:12:50.300 past programs. You can share your bold story or ask 0:12:50.300 --> 0:12:53.140 Mark a question. Once again, all of that is found 0:12:53.140 --> 0:12:57.780 online at bold steps.org. Now let's get back into the 0:12:57.780 --> 0:13:00.660 second half of today's message here on Bold steps. 0:13:06.820 --> 0:13:09.060 And I love the fact that in Exodus it tells 0:13:09.059 --> 0:13:14.439 us that he he shows kindness, loving kindness to a 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:22.220 thousand generations after us. Notice what, for example, in Hezekiah. 0:13:22.380 --> 0:13:23.980 And you have to know a little Bible history to 0:13:23.980 --> 0:13:28.739 understand this. In second Kings chapter 20 verse five through six, 0:13:30.420 --> 0:13:33.020 he says, turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of 0:13:33.020 --> 0:13:36.140 my people. Thus says the Lord, the God of David, 0:13:36.140 --> 0:13:39.380 thy father I have heard thy prayer. I have seen 0:13:39.380 --> 0:13:43.020 thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On the third 0:13:43.020 --> 0:13:45.660 day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord, 0:13:45.660 --> 0:13:50.940 and I will add unto thy days 15 years. He 0:13:50.940 --> 0:13:52.940 was a king that was told he was going to die. 0:13:52.980 --> 0:13:57.060 He had a fatal disease. He called unto God. God says, 0:13:57.059 --> 0:13:59.380 I'm going to answer your prayer, and I'm going to 0:13:59.380 --> 0:14:03.190 give you 15 more years of life. Why does he 0:14:03.230 --> 0:14:06.990 do it? Listen. And I will deliver thee in this 0:14:06.990 --> 0:14:09.350 city out of the hands of the Assyrians. And I 0:14:09.350 --> 0:14:13.429 will defend the this city for my own sake and 0:14:13.429 --> 0:14:20.750 for my servant David's sake. Hezekiah was a descendant of David. 0:14:21.150 --> 0:14:25.710 You know how many years ago David lived before Hezekiah? 0:14:26.190 --> 0:14:32.270 250 years before. Here's a great, great, great, great, great, 0:14:32.270 --> 0:14:34.950 great great great great, great, great, great, great, great grandson 0:14:35.150 --> 0:14:40.510 of David. And God is still showing favor on Hezekiah 0:14:40.990 --> 0:14:47.070 because of David. Do you understand what that's saying? You see, 0:14:47.070 --> 0:14:51.590 your negative influence goes to four generations. Your positive influence 0:14:51.590 --> 0:14:55.950 of living for God and loving God affects generations after 0:14:55.950 --> 0:15:01.239 you in a multiplied degree. The loving kindness of God. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.360 But I believe we have to take bold steps to 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.080 change that cycle, to turn it around. It's like what 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:14.000 Gideon did in judges chapter six. His father was an idolater. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.520 His father was the guardian of the Astra poll, which 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.560 was a pagan god. And Gideon had grown up around that, 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.880 lived around that. And when Gideon decided to follow God 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.680 and be used of God, the first step that he 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.760 had to take was to tear down the Astra poll 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.240 and to use the wood of that poll as a 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:40.960 offering to God himself. The very thing that was the 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:46.120 negative part of Gideon's history became the fire that was 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.720 used to burn in the altar of God. Listen to me. Well, 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.000 some of you come out of an addiction background. Some 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.080 of you come out of a greed background. Some of 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.360 you have had problems with, uh, with with poverty, possibly 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.840 some people here come out of just a, a line 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:09.200 of incest or, uh, of, of infidelity, uh, you name it. I, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.480 I don't know, everything. That's their incarceration, you name it. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.640 Maybe you're lying and you say, I don't want to 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.040 be what my parents were. How many of you have heard, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.560 I don't want to be what my father or grandfather was. 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:27.920 And you're exactly the same thing. I don't want to 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:32.760 nag like my mother. Nag. Pick up those. Do this. 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.440 How many of you have ever woken up and said, 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:42.560 I'm becoming my mother? Or someone tells you you're just 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.120 like your father and that's not a compliment to you. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:50.720 You're just like your father because you don't become something 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:54.200 else by saying you're not going to become what the 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.840 negative part of your of your ancestors were. You do 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.160 not not become that because you determine I'm going to 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:07.440 be different, you become something different. When you determine. I 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.640 will take bold steps of obedience to break this cycle 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.880 that has characterized my life. And I'm not just going 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.560 to repent and renounce, but I'm going to go in 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.520 the opposite direction and make what was my weakness into 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:28.640 the strength of my future culture. Listen to me. If 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.440 you have been raised in a culture of poverty and 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.960 everybody in your family and descendants, they're all in welfare, 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.400 don't have jobs, and they live in poverty and they 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.120 live off the state. It's not enough to say, I'm 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.840 not going to live that way anymore, and I'm going 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.360 to get a job. Getting a job is the first 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.080 step that you take. But listen, if that's been your culture, 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.240 you need to you need to do more than just 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.360 get a job. You need to get a job, and 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.920 you need to start to become a giver. Because if 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.840 you're if your family history has been take, take, take, 0:17:57.840 --> 0:17:59.969 give me, I'm needy, needy. Now you need to not 0:17:59.970 --> 0:18:02.410 only get a job, you need to make money and 0:18:02.410 --> 0:18:04.970 you need to start giving to people that are in need. 0:18:04.970 --> 0:18:08.010 So you are breaking a culture. All you are taking 0:18:08.010 --> 0:18:12.169 what was your weakness and turning it into your strength. Listen. 0:18:12.170 --> 0:18:18.810 If you. Yeah. Listen, if your family history has been 0:18:18.810 --> 0:18:21.609 a family history of abuse and you have have been 0:18:21.609 --> 0:18:24.770 a woman that's just put up with abuse, lived with abuse, 0:18:24.810 --> 0:18:28.250 engaged abuse, and you determine I will no longer be abused. 0:18:28.250 --> 0:18:30.650 I'm not going to marry a man that abuses me. 0:18:30.650 --> 0:18:34.170 That's good. I'm glad you are stopping that cycle. But 0:18:34.170 --> 0:18:37.410 you need to do more than just stop the cycle now. 0:18:37.410 --> 0:18:39.889 You need to help other women that are abused, and 0:18:39.890 --> 0:18:42.290 you need to help them turn around. And you need 0:18:42.290 --> 0:18:44.689 to use what was a weakness in your past to 0:18:44.730 --> 0:18:50.370 be a strength in your future. Listen, you come out 0:18:50.369 --> 0:18:53.770 of a history of violence and gang banging and incarceration, 0:18:53.770 --> 0:18:56.090 and that was your past. You can't just say, I'm 0:18:56.090 --> 0:18:58.449 never going to go to jail again. It starts with that. 0:18:58.450 --> 0:19:00.780 But it doesn't end with that. You need to help 0:19:00.820 --> 0:19:03.820 other young men that are in a path that are 0:19:03.820 --> 0:19:07.660 leading down. You need to mentor other young men into 0:19:07.660 --> 0:19:11.100 a different life. You need to engage in helping others. 0:19:11.100 --> 0:19:14.220 What was ever your weakness needs to become your strength 0:19:14.220 --> 0:19:22.500 now in God. That's the way it works. Listen, it's 0:19:22.500 --> 0:19:25.300 not good enough that you just leave alcoholism behind. Listen, 0:19:25.300 --> 0:19:27.820 you need to help others come out of alcoholism as well. 0:19:27.820 --> 0:19:32.139 You need to help people gain freedom. Because whatever was 0:19:32.140 --> 0:19:37.340 our weakness in the past. It's not good enough just 0:19:37.340 --> 0:19:40.340 for us to leave it behind. We need to take 0:19:40.340 --> 0:19:47.580 bold steps of change, of obedience. In the direction that 0:19:47.580 --> 0:19:50.739 God has called us to. Some of you look at 0:19:50.740 --> 0:19:55.060 your past and you're ashamed of your past. You don't 0:19:55.060 --> 0:19:59.460 want to become what was there. And I want to say, listen. 0:20:00.420 --> 0:20:05.100 never let the enemy hold you in shame over your past. 0:20:05.619 --> 0:20:10.220 Because once God has washed and redeemed and cleansed, then 0:20:10.260 --> 0:20:14.700 your past now becomes a testimony to the transformation in 0:20:14.700 --> 0:20:18.260 your future and a powerful tool that he uses to 0:20:18.260 --> 0:20:22.500 help other people. God has a purpose and a plan 0:20:22.780 --> 0:20:27.700 for your life and even your history of struggle or 0:20:27.740 --> 0:20:33.060 failure or difficulty. God wants to redeem it for something good. 0:20:34.980 --> 0:20:36.940 So listen to me. If you're in here right now 0:20:37.540 --> 0:20:39.699 and you're just coming out of gangs and maybe you're 0:20:39.700 --> 0:20:42.180 tatted up with some gang tattoos that you try to 0:20:42.220 --> 0:20:44.460 cover up when you come to church and wear the 0:20:44.460 --> 0:20:47.500 long sleeves, and you don't want anybody to know your 0:20:47.500 --> 0:20:50.540 background or your past or your violence or who you 0:20:50.540 --> 0:20:54.740 were affiliated with, I want you to know that God 0:20:54.740 --> 0:20:57.700 has a purpose and a plan, even for that mess. 0:20:59.780 --> 0:21:04.580 He wants to tattoo something new. Not on your arm, 0:21:04.580 --> 0:21:14.260 but in your heart. Yeah. And yeah, you need to 0:21:14.260 --> 0:21:16.300 break out of that lifestyle, but you need to do 0:21:16.300 --> 0:21:20.020 more than just stop. Stop being a gang banger. You 0:21:20.020 --> 0:21:24.740 need to be a champion. A man that brings peace 0:21:25.420 --> 0:21:27.740 and stand up. And it starts with your family and 0:21:27.740 --> 0:21:29.820 it goes to your neighborhood. Listen, that's what God wants 0:21:29.820 --> 0:21:34.380 to do. He wants to redeem us. I believe everybody 0:21:34.380 --> 0:21:36.659 in this place has the power to move beyond their past. 0:21:36.660 --> 0:21:39.300 But I believe that if you don't take radical steps, 0:21:39.300 --> 0:21:42.460 bold steps to move beyond your past, that you will 0:21:42.460 --> 0:21:47.619 drift into whatever your past generation was. The sins of 0:21:47.619 --> 0:21:49.980 the parents fall into the laps of the children. We 0:21:49.980 --> 0:21:51.620 can keep it in our laps, or we can throw 0:21:51.619 --> 0:21:56.979 it off our laps. Let me say that again. It 0:21:56.980 --> 0:21:59.550 tells us in Jeremiah the sins of the parents fall 0:21:59.550 --> 0:22:04.950 into the laps of their children. The sins of your 0:22:04.950 --> 0:22:08.669 ancestors have fallen in your lap. It can be something 0:22:08.670 --> 0:22:12.030 that you hold on to and it becomes yours. Or 0:22:12.030 --> 0:22:15.790 it can be something that you say, no, no, it's 0:22:15.790 --> 0:22:18.230 not going to be mine. It's out of my lap 0:22:19.750 --> 0:22:24.429 and I'm going to determine that I become a new 0:22:24.670 --> 0:22:27.990 generation builder in Jesus name. 0:22:34.990 --> 0:22:38.510 Mark, such a powerful message today, moving beyond our past. 0:22:38.510 --> 0:22:41.350 I know as a pastor, you often have to counsel 0:22:41.350 --> 0:22:44.310 people who have trouble moving beyond their past, don't they? 0:22:44.510 --> 0:22:47.950 Absolutely, Wayne. And, you know, for years, the listeners have 0:22:47.950 --> 0:22:51.510 probably heard me say this, but I, I remind people, 0:22:51.510 --> 0:22:54.950 you have a bold step to take a cycle to 0:22:54.990 --> 0:22:57.669 break and a legacy to make. And so many of 0:22:57.670 --> 0:23:01.430 the people that I've ministered to have come to Christ. 0:23:01.470 --> 0:23:05.350 They're first generation believers, and so there's a lot of baggage. 0:23:05.550 --> 0:23:07.870 That old lifestyle just hangs on, doesn't it? 0:23:07.910 --> 0:23:10.990 A lot of baggage, a lot of brokenness, a lot 0:23:10.990 --> 0:23:16.430 of old living and sometimes, honestly, a lot of brokenness 0:23:16.430 --> 0:23:20.230 and how people were raised. And so there is a renewal, 0:23:20.230 --> 0:23:23.350 there is a shedding of the old, there is a 0:23:23.390 --> 0:23:28.790 breaking generational cycles in people's lives. And so if you're 0:23:28.790 --> 0:23:30.869 one of those individuals, I just want to encourage you 0:23:30.869 --> 0:23:34.270 right now, if you're a first generation believer and you 0:23:34.270 --> 0:23:37.270 look at your family's past and say, my family was 0:23:37.270 --> 0:23:41.070 a mess, and I've inherited their mess, and I'm trying 0:23:41.070 --> 0:23:43.350 to carve out a new lifestyle, I want to say, 0:23:43.390 --> 0:23:47.670 Praise God for you. Your decision to follow Jesus will 0:23:47.670 --> 0:23:52.750 have huge, huge ripple effects on your children and the 0:23:52.750 --> 0:23:55.350 battles that you've fought. They won't have to fight the 0:23:55.350 --> 0:23:58.230 way you've had to fight them. So continue on. 0:23:58.470 --> 0:24:00.280 All right. Thank you, Mark. And by the way, if 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:02.000 you'd like to know more about what it means to 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:05.240 follow Christ, Mark has recorded a special message for you there, 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:07.920 sharing about what it means to follow Jesus and what 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.879 makes this relationship so life changing. To access it, simply 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.480 go to bold steps.org and click on more. And then 0:24:15.520 --> 0:24:19.399 my next step in faith. What if the very thing 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:22.200 that's held you back for generations could become the place 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:25.760 where God gets the greatest glory? In the book, Goliath 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:29.400 Must Fall Winning the Battle Against Your Giants. Louie Giglio 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:32.159 reminds us that every giant we face, even the ones 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:35.320 passed down to us, has to come down eventually, and 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:37.879 it doesn't come down by our own strength. It comes 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:41.520 down because Jesus already won the victory. This month's Bold 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.200 Step gift will help you see your own giants clearly 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:47.560 and walk in the freedom Christ has already secured for you. 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:50.119 We'll send you a copy of this empowering, bold step 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:52.960 gift today. When you give a donation to Bold Steps 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:56.280 to request your copy, call us at 800 D.L. Moody. 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:04.959 That's 66639 or give online at bold steps.org/give. And if 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:08.280 you prefer mail, you can send your contribution to bold steps. 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:14.040 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Now, if 0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:15.760 you're looking for a convenient way to listen to the 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:18.680 program again or catch up on messages you may have missed, 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:21.200 be sure to check out the Bold Steps app. Download 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:24.880 the Bold Steps podcast or simply go to Bold steps.org. 0:25:26.000 --> 0:25:28.600 Thanks for joining us today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:30.840 to come back again tomorrow. When Mark looks at a 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:33.520 passage that has the potential to overcome some of those 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:36.640 forces that keep us stuck in life. Our message is 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.560 called living with a clean conscience, and you won't want 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:42.719 to miss it. So be listening. Tuesday for more bold 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:47.199 steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:50.440 Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.