WEBVTT - Get Back What You’ve Lost -- Part 1 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.519 Today on Bold steps, Mark Jobe explains the spiritual process 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.760 of regaining that which is lost. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:09.200 He loves you enough to shake you a little bit. 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:11.600 He'll do it a lot of different ways. He'll wake 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.000 you up by something that happens in your life. He'll 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.200 wake you up by a word of preaching that comes. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.479 He'll wake you up by someone that speaks to you 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.240 in a way that you didn't think he'll wake you 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.799 up by tragedy, by crisis, by threat. He'll wake you up. However, 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.040 he needs to wake you up. Sometimes God has to 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:26.680 wake us up. 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.320 Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.160 pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.080 Do you remember when you first became a believer? Many 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.120 of us listening right now remember it is a time 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.320 of joy and excitement where we were following hard after God. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.080 But maybe now you find yourself feeling as though something 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.280 is missing. Something's been lost over the years. Mark, let's 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:02.360 talk about this today. 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.120 Yeah. We're going to be looking at Psalms 51, which 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:12.399 is a compelling, powerful Psalm, one of the most I believe, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:17.759 but it's really a psalm of restoration of a man, David, 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.679 in this case, who had a heart after God, but 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.160 he allowed his heart to stray. Yes. And it's a 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.440 psalm of getting back to what we've lost. And so 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.399 this is going to be a message that speaks to 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.280 a lot of people today, getting back what you've lost. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.559 So if you can take your Bible now turn to 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.000 the Psalm, Psalm 51, and look at it with us 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.160 and get back what you've lost. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.080 A couple of years ago, we moved to a different house, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.520 and we had a little dog that I had given 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:52.800 to my daughter when she was 12 years old, much 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:57.280 to my chagrin. When she was three years old, she 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.810 looked at me with big, big brown eyes and said, daddy, 0:02:02.530 --> 0:02:06.530 can I have a puppy? How many of you have 0:02:06.530 --> 0:02:09.890 had your kids ask you for a puppy? Say no, 0:02:09.889 --> 0:02:14.650 say no. Just say no. And so I just she 0:02:14.650 --> 0:02:16.810 looked at me with. She wanted a puppy so bad. 0:02:16.810 --> 0:02:20.730 And I said, honey, uh, when you turn 12 and 0:02:20.730 --> 0:02:22.730 you can take care of a puppy, I'll get it 0:02:22.730 --> 0:02:26.130 to you. Well, she never forgot. I thought she'd outgrow it, 0:02:26.130 --> 0:02:29.530 but instead she put puppy posters on her wall, got 0:02:29.530 --> 0:02:33.730 a puppy calendar, research puppies. And when she was 12, 0:02:33.770 --> 0:02:35.770 she was like, I want my puppy. I want it 0:02:35.770 --> 0:02:37.769 to be a Shih Tzu. I know what color I know, 0:02:37.770 --> 0:02:39.130 and I had to give her a puppy, so he 0:02:39.130 --> 0:02:41.490 gave her a puppy. But we moved to a house, 0:02:41.490 --> 0:02:44.930 and this dog had this habit of just as soon 0:02:44.930 --> 0:02:49.649 as we opened the back door, she would run like 0:02:49.650 --> 0:02:53.090 freedom and she just run and we'd have to send 0:02:53.090 --> 0:02:55.650 one of the boys just chasing after her running. Hey, 0:02:55.690 --> 0:02:57.650 come back and come back. She'd just run, run, and 0:02:57.650 --> 0:02:59.690 then look at us like, come on, chase me and 0:02:59.690 --> 0:03:04.049 then just run. Well, one day they let her out, and, uh, 0:03:04.169 --> 0:03:06.970 we thought she was in the yard and she ran. 0:03:07.210 --> 0:03:10.090 And so I got a frantic phone call by my wife, 0:03:10.090 --> 0:03:14.930 and she said, Mark, come home. Angel's gone. I wanted 0:03:14.930 --> 0:03:17.890 to secretly say hallelujah, but I, I didn't, I didn't 0:03:17.889 --> 0:03:21.450 say that. I said, oh, really? Oh, I'm so sad. 0:03:21.690 --> 0:03:24.930 And she said, no, not so sad. Come home and 0:03:24.930 --> 0:03:28.570 find our dog. I'm like, ah. So I went home. 0:03:29.130 --> 0:03:31.730 My wife was really upset. She's going to get run 0:03:31.730 --> 0:03:34.250 over by a car. She's going to be lost out 0:03:34.250 --> 0:03:36.770 in the cold. She's not going to have food. And 0:03:36.770 --> 0:03:39.530 I was like, if she's hungry, she'll come back and no, no, 0:03:39.530 --> 0:03:42.650 go find her. And so I got in my car 0:03:42.650 --> 0:03:46.810 and I drove all around the neighborhood, could not find 0:03:46.810 --> 0:03:49.970 her looking for this little dog. And finally, about five 0:03:50.010 --> 0:03:54.130 blocks away, sniffing around someone's yard, I saw that little 0:03:54.130 --> 0:03:56.810 dog that looks like a skunk. And there she was. 0:03:58.130 --> 0:04:01.740 I stopped, jumped out of the car. Are aggravated. Got her. 0:04:01.780 --> 0:04:04.660 I brought her home. And you would. You would have 0:04:04.660 --> 0:04:08.580 thought that my wife just met her long lost sister. 0:04:08.860 --> 0:04:12.180 She was. Oh, my baby, I thought we lost you. 0:04:12.220 --> 0:04:16.260 Hugged her, couldn't believe it, and I thought, right there, 0:04:17.460 --> 0:04:21.780 the emotions of. I thought it was lost. But it's found. 0:04:22.620 --> 0:04:25.380 And all of us have found, experienced that emotion. Where 0:04:25.380 --> 0:04:29.300 you thought you lost something that maybe you would never recover. 0:04:29.300 --> 0:04:32.620 And the joy and elation that you feel when you 0:04:32.660 --> 0:04:36.860 discover that you refined what you thought was lost, that 0:04:36.860 --> 0:04:41.180 you find it's the lost and found. And so I 0:04:41.180 --> 0:04:43.460 believe today I want you to really listen to this message. 0:04:43.620 --> 0:04:47.900 I believe that some people here have lost something. There 0:04:47.940 --> 0:04:50.780 are some of you sitting in this auditorium. You've lost it. Yeah, 0:04:50.779 --> 0:04:54.460 you lost it maybe six months ago, maybe three years ago, 0:04:54.620 --> 0:04:58.420 maybe a year ago. You lost it and you've grieved 0:04:58.420 --> 0:05:01.060 over it. And some of you have learned to live 0:05:01.060 --> 0:05:04.299 without it. Some of you have just embraced like it's 0:05:04.300 --> 0:05:06.580 never going to return to me. I'm never going to 0:05:06.580 --> 0:05:09.900 find it again. It's never going to come back to me, 0:05:09.900 --> 0:05:12.420 and you've lost it. And God wants to speak to 0:05:12.420 --> 0:05:16.580 you today about, no, you lost it temporarily, but God 0:05:16.580 --> 0:05:22.580 wants to return it to you. And I'm talking specifically 0:05:22.580 --> 0:05:29.500 today about the process of regaining your joy and that 0:05:29.700 --> 0:05:33.820 energy and excitement that one time you had in following God, 0:05:35.820 --> 0:05:43.460 recapturing that joy, that restoration of your soul, that excitement 0:05:43.460 --> 0:05:46.300 about who Jesus is and following God, that energy to 0:05:46.339 --> 0:05:48.820 believe in faith for what God is going to do, 0:05:49.020 --> 0:05:51.220 that some of you have lost it. You've looked at 0:05:51.260 --> 0:05:56.260 the lost and found box, and it's not there. In 0:05:56.260 --> 0:05:58.740 our series about David, a heart after God. I want 0:05:58.779 --> 0:06:05.830 to turn your attention to Psalms chapter 51. Psalm 51. 0:06:09.070 --> 0:06:15.390 Psalm chapter 51 is a chapter indicating David's return. This 0:06:15.390 --> 0:06:19.310 is his lost and found chapter. This is his regaining 0:06:19.310 --> 0:06:22.109 something that he thought he had lost. This is his 0:06:22.150 --> 0:06:27.310 awakening chapter. And I think in this Psalm we discover 0:06:27.310 --> 0:06:34.550 some powerful, deep, compelling principles about regaining that which was lost. 0:06:35.589 --> 0:06:37.390 And I just want to warn you in advance, I 0:06:37.390 --> 0:06:39.950 believe that when it comes to joy, you have to 0:06:39.990 --> 0:06:42.870 release something before you gain something, and you have to 0:06:42.870 --> 0:06:46.750 make room for joy. I know some of you are 0:06:46.750 --> 0:06:48.670 here and you just say, just, I just want the 0:06:48.670 --> 0:06:50.909 joy back, the energy back. But I want to warn 0:06:50.910 --> 0:06:52.750 you in advance. It doesn't come that easy. You have 0:06:52.750 --> 0:06:55.830 to release in order to gain. You have to let 0:06:55.830 --> 0:06:59.470 go in order to receive. And many of us don't 0:06:59.470 --> 0:07:01.670 have the joy that God has called us to have, 0:07:01.710 --> 0:07:04.870 because we've been unwilling to release what we need to 0:07:04.870 --> 0:07:07.750 release in order to gain what we believe God wants 0:07:07.750 --> 0:07:14.989 us to have. Psalm chapter 51 is David's restoration Psalm. 0:07:14.990 --> 0:07:17.790 And so if you're taking notes, I'm going to take 0:07:17.790 --> 0:07:23.190 you through a short journey of restoration. And I sincerely 0:07:23.190 --> 0:07:25.670 believe that God wants to speak to some people today, 0:07:26.030 --> 0:07:28.630 that it's not a coincidence that you're here. It's not 0:07:28.630 --> 0:07:31.110 a coincidence that your heart has been stirred and awakened 0:07:31.110 --> 0:07:33.790 even by my intro to say, you know, pastor, I 0:07:33.790 --> 0:07:36.510 think you're talking to me. I'm not raising my hand. 0:07:36.550 --> 0:07:39.470 I'm not acting nervous. I'm not saying, yeah, you're talking 0:07:39.470 --> 0:07:42.230 to me, but if I could, I'd stand up and say, hey, 0:07:42.270 --> 0:07:44.870 how come you're talking to me? Because you are talking 0:07:44.870 --> 0:07:49.950 to me today. So if you're taking notes, write this down. 0:07:49.950 --> 0:07:54.470 Number one, you need to get it back. But to 0:07:54.470 --> 0:07:57.270 get it back, you need to wake up to your 0:07:57.270 --> 0:08:06.440 personal need to be clean again. David starts this Psalm 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:11.560 51 by saying, have mercy on me, O God, according 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.960 to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion. Blot 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:21.320 out my transgressions, wash away my iniquity. Cleanse me from 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.360 my sin. I gotta give you the background because all 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.280 we see is the prayer that David is praying. But 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:35.560 every prayer has the context of a life story. I 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.680 may just hear your prayer in a moment and your 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.920 desperate calling out to God, but I don't know that 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.040 you're desperate, calling out to God because your husband just 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.600 filed a divorce papers. So I need to know the 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.400 context of your prayer to understand why you're praying with 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.240 such fervency. This is on the heels of one of 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:57.200 David's darkest moments. He had lost what he had had 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:02.520 for a long time. And if you read the story, 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.480 you'll find it. It's a pretty famous. It's David's darkest 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:10.520 chapter in his life. David, in the time when kings 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.600 should go to war, instead of doing his duty and 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.000 leading the army and being engaged in his task, he 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.520 decided to send his men out. He went out to 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:22.360 the balcony. He had achieved success. He was the pinnacle 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.120 of his career. He had a lot going for him. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.240 He had wives and children and prosperity. I mean, life 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:33.720 was good. But even when life is good, sometimes we 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:38.800 mess up. Even when life is good, we pander and 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.360 cater to our own appetites. And so he steps out 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.040 in the balcony, and as he's out in his balcony 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.680 looking around, he. His eye is caught by a woman that. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.679 Not too far down the road, she's actually taking a bath, 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.280 which was not uncommon for those days to have their 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.679 bath up on the the rooftops of their house, and 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.850 she's taking a bath. And like any man would do. 0:10:00.890 --> 0:10:06.610 He's kind of like checking out her bath techniques. He 0:10:06.610 --> 0:10:10.730 starts staring and captivating and, you know, his mind starts wondering, wow, 0:10:10.770 --> 0:10:13.970 she's a beautiful woman. Man, I wonder who she is. 0:10:14.010 --> 0:10:16.850 And so she actually, he actually tells one of his 0:10:16.850 --> 0:10:19.610 servants to go ask for that woman and bring her. 0:10:19.610 --> 0:10:22.329 And so when the king asked for your presence, you come. 0:10:22.330 --> 0:10:24.650 And so she got dressed, came to the king. He 0:10:24.650 --> 0:10:27.570 found out that she was a married woman to one 0:10:27.570 --> 0:10:31.530 of his generals, one of his army commanders, but he 0:10:31.530 --> 0:10:34.850 had already started to slip, slide down that slope in 0:10:34.850 --> 0:10:37.050 his mind. And how many of you know, once you start, 0:10:37.050 --> 0:10:39.530 once you open up the door and start slipping and 0:10:39.530 --> 0:10:41.850 sliding down that slope that you can slip and slide 0:10:41.850 --> 0:10:47.410 really fast. So he's slipping and sliding down that slope, 0:10:47.410 --> 0:10:49.730 and he finds out that she's a married woman. He 0:10:49.770 --> 0:10:52.970 finds out that she's married to Uriah, but that doesn't 0:10:52.970 --> 0:10:56.489 stop him. In his mind, he's saying, this is wrong. Stop, David. 0:10:56.490 --> 0:10:58.690 What do you do when you're a married man? David? 0:10:58.690 --> 0:11:02.689 She's got a husband. David. David. Stop yourself. But once 0:11:02.690 --> 0:11:05.730 you've opened up that door, once you started to slide down, down, 0:11:05.890 --> 0:11:09.290 down that door. Maybe he just deceived himself like sin. 0:11:09.290 --> 0:11:11.290 Often times we're not going to do much. I'm just 0:11:11.290 --> 0:11:13.570 going to talk to her. We're just going to converse. Wow. 0:11:13.570 --> 0:11:16.290 She's beautiful. I'm going to flirt a little bit. It's 0:11:16.290 --> 0:11:19.089 not going to go anywhere. I have control, I'm not 0:11:19.090 --> 0:11:21.890 going to really do anything that would damage my character. 0:11:21.890 --> 0:11:24.250 And then one thing leads to the next. And once 0:11:24.250 --> 0:11:26.850 his engine is going and her engine is going, it's 0:11:26.850 --> 0:11:31.530 an unstoppable engine. And this married man, king man after 0:11:31.530 --> 0:11:35.449 God's own heart. Writer of the Psalms, a man anointed 0:11:35.450 --> 0:11:38.410 by God, called of God, filled with God, is now 0:11:38.970 --> 0:11:44.250 in bed with a married woman in his own palace, 0:11:45.809 --> 0:11:52.330 sends her away. Probably feels a little guilty about it. Wow. 0:11:53.010 --> 0:11:57.609 How did that happen? Then he gets word from Bathsheba. 0:11:58.170 --> 0:12:00.300 By the way, I think her name Bathsheba. So you 0:12:00.300 --> 0:12:07.100 can remember she's the bath lady. So Bathsheba sends word 0:12:07.100 --> 0:12:12.580 to him. Guess what? I'm pregnant. I have young people 0:12:12.580 --> 0:12:14.740 come to me and say, I just don't know how 0:12:14.740 --> 0:12:21.060 it happened. You don't know how it happened. Seriously? Because 0:12:21.059 --> 0:12:24.900 I could pretty sure I know how it happened. And 0:12:24.900 --> 0:12:27.220 here's the thing. Once you start slipping and sliding down, 0:12:27.220 --> 0:12:30.500 there's a tendency to cover our sin. There's a tendency 0:12:30.500 --> 0:12:36.540 to want to make up, excuse, minimize, do damage control. 0:12:36.620 --> 0:12:40.459 And so, David, instead of repenting before God, instead of confessing, 0:12:40.460 --> 0:12:43.300 he wanted to guard his reputation. He wanted to watch 0:12:43.300 --> 0:12:46.380 out for himself. And so instead of going down the 0:12:46.380 --> 0:12:50.780 road of repentance, he instead decided to go a different road. 0:12:50.780 --> 0:12:53.140 And when he found out that she was pregnant, he 0:12:53.140 --> 0:12:55.820 contrived in his mind, I'm going to ask her husband 0:12:55.820 --> 0:12:58.220 to come back from the front forces. And I'm going 0:12:58.260 --> 0:13:01.340 to say that I'm wanting a report and I'm going 0:13:01.380 --> 0:13:03.340 to say, hey, why don't you go home and sleep 0:13:03.340 --> 0:13:06.060 with your wife so that he thinks he impregnated her? 0:13:06.059 --> 0:13:09.620 So he brings Uriah back and and he finds out 0:13:09.620 --> 0:13:13.500 that Uriah is a man of honor. And he says, 0:13:13.500 --> 0:13:15.660 how can I sleep with my wife and go in 0:13:15.660 --> 0:13:18.020 when my men are out in the battlefield? So he 0:13:18.059 --> 0:13:20.780 sleeps at the entrance of his house because he doesn't 0:13:20.780 --> 0:13:22.900 want to go and sleep with his wife when his 0:13:22.900 --> 0:13:23.780 men are fighting. 0:13:29.660 --> 0:13:32.180 You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. And before 0:13:32.179 --> 0:13:34.780 we continue with today's message, we want to share what 0:13:34.780 --> 0:13:37.740 we've heard from you, our listeners. Mark, here's a message 0:13:37.740 --> 0:13:40.620 we recently received from a listener named Matt. He says, 0:13:40.620 --> 0:13:43.460 I'm not sure anyone will see this. Well, Matt, we 0:13:43.460 --> 0:13:46.219 see them all, don't we? We don't use them all 0:13:46.220 --> 0:13:48.500 on the air, but believe us, we do read them. 0:13:48.860 --> 0:13:51.460 He says, I've been on an amazing journey, a lot 0:13:51.460 --> 0:13:53.500 of ups and downs, but through it, God has blessed 0:13:53.500 --> 0:13:55.420 me with a wisdom to see my life and how 0:13:55.420 --> 0:13:58.380 God's calling me to truly live. I think that the 0:13:58.380 --> 0:14:01.069 church of today has compromised so much that it's hard 0:14:01.070 --> 0:14:03.870 for men to live godly. But there's still freedom in 0:14:03.870 --> 0:14:05.990 God through your ministry and with the help of others. 0:14:05.990 --> 0:14:09.110 I'm desperate to understand more every day and his purpose 0:14:09.110 --> 0:14:11.670 for me. Matt says, I'm praying that God will help 0:14:11.670 --> 0:14:13.790 me find a church that will bring change not only 0:14:13.790 --> 0:14:16.150 to my life, but that I can be the change 0:14:16.150 --> 0:14:18.430 in someone else's life. That's a great attitude. 0:14:18.710 --> 0:14:21.190 It is. And Matt, thank you for sharing. What I 0:14:21.230 --> 0:14:25.470 hear in this message is that God is awakening you 0:14:25.470 --> 0:14:28.830 to want to live more radically for him. And can 0:14:28.830 --> 0:14:31.110 I say this, Matt? I believe that God is doing 0:14:31.110 --> 0:14:36.070 that across our nation. But at this moment in time, 0:14:36.070 --> 0:14:41.670 in our history, especially among men, I've been just very, 0:14:41.670 --> 0:14:47.630 very genuinely encouraged and surprised at how many men I've 0:14:47.670 --> 0:14:51.430 talked to recently that have sensed that urgency to step 0:14:51.430 --> 0:14:53.030 up and live for God. 0:14:53.030 --> 0:14:54.030 Including young men. 0:14:54.270 --> 0:14:56.710 Many, many young men. I just had a conversation this 0:14:56.710 --> 0:14:59.110 past week, some 20 something year olds that just don't 0:14:59.110 --> 0:15:02.280 go to church, that are awakening to God, that are 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:06.320 getting married, that are saying no to pornography, that are 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:11.120 choosing to just abandon lifestyle of just living out there. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.640 So here's what I would encourage you to do, Matt. 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.080 There's no perfect church out there. You'll never find one. 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.680 And if you join it, or if I joined it, 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.920 it wouldn't be perfect anymore because we're imperfect. But find 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.560 a church, get plugged in, get into accountability, get into 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.760 a Bible study, make sure it's a church that preaches 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.760 the Word of God, and find a place that's going 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.680 to challenge you, push you forward. But that's biblically grounded. 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.400 And I think when you get serious about whether that's 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.000 a small church, a large church doesn't matter. Are they 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.320 in the word and get into accountability where men are 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.640 going to push you forward? The Word of God and 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.440 fellowship are going to help you grow as a man 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.120 of God. So continue on. Press forward. Don't get discouraged. 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.520 Matt, thank you for sharing your heart for God here today. Now, 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.320 if you have a prayer request, a question, or a 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.520 testimony you'd like to share with us, just visit us 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:10.080 online at bold steps.org. Or you can call our listener 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:18.960 line 312329 2011. Again (312) 329-2011. Let's continue with today's bold 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.400 steps message. Now get back what you've lost. Here's Mark. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.240 So David says I gotta ramp it up a little bit. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.600 So he invites him to the palace. Uriah. Hey buddy, 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.480 talk to him about how life is. Have a drink, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.400 have another drink. Get some. A little drunk so this 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.000 time lowers his defenses. Now he's getting the husband drunk, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.400 sending him back home, hoping that he's going to sleep 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.400 with his wife. But Uriah is a man of honor 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.600 and says, no, I can't sleep with my wife when 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.680 my men are out there in the battle. And so 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.880 David then goes to the next level of depravity. That's 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.000 the way sin is. It takes us from one level 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:58.800 to the next level to the next level, to the 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.880 next level. And he actually sends a note with Uriah 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:06.280 that says, Let Uriah go to the front of the battle. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.160 Take him to the heat where people are dropping, throwing rocks, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.520 and then back up. Let Uriah there. In other words, 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:20.840 let's try to fake his murder. And then he gets 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.480 a report that says, hey, guess what? There's a lot 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:28.040 of casualties. But by the way, Uriah is dead. Wait 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:33.520 a second. Who? Who is this we're talking about? Wait, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:38.320 who are we talking about here? Some chump down the street. 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:47.000 Some lowlife. Some no character ghetto figure that's messing with 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.200 his friend's girlfriend. No, no, we're talking about David, man. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:57.400 After God's own heart. David, writer of the Psalms. David, 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:01.530 builder of the temple, Whose son built the temple. Builder 0:18:01.530 --> 0:18:04.530 of the palace, David, who carried the Ark of the 0:18:04.530 --> 0:18:08.889 covenant back to Jerusalem. David who Jesus would be called 0:18:09.250 --> 0:18:13.609 the son of David. David. The lineage of the Messiah. 0:18:13.650 --> 0:18:18.010 That's who we're talking about. How can the mighty fall 0:18:18.010 --> 0:18:27.250 so quickly? David says, okay, it's all over. You know, 0:18:27.250 --> 0:18:30.050 sometimes when we've fallen, our hearts start to get hard. 0:18:30.290 --> 0:18:33.770 We minimize it. We justify it. We start getting cold. 0:18:35.130 --> 0:18:38.490 We start losing our joy. We start losing our closeness 0:18:38.490 --> 0:18:43.129 to God because we've opened up a door. We've started sliding, sliding, sliding, sliding. 0:18:43.130 --> 0:18:45.010 We say, it's not that bad. It's not that. It's 0:18:45.010 --> 0:18:47.290 not it's okay. I'm, I'm, I'm okay. I'm going to 0:18:47.290 --> 0:18:49.850 cover this. I'm going to get over this sliding, sliding, 0:18:49.850 --> 0:18:57.330 sliding down. Now he's a murderer, adulterer, liar. Conniver. And yeah, 0:18:57.369 --> 0:19:02.380 supposedly a man after God's own heart. But God always 0:19:03.220 --> 0:19:06.740 loves us enough to wake us up. And I don't 0:19:06.740 --> 0:19:08.460 know what state you're in today, but I want to 0:19:08.460 --> 0:19:10.700 tell you something. The God of the universe loves you, 0:19:10.740 --> 0:19:13.740 loves you. He wants you to find what you lost. 0:19:14.180 --> 0:19:16.020 He loves you enough to bring a wake up call 0:19:16.060 --> 0:19:18.140 to your life. He loves you enough to shake you 0:19:18.140 --> 0:19:20.699 a little bit. He'll do it a lot of different ways. 0:19:20.700 --> 0:19:23.540 He'll wake you up by something that happens in your life. 0:19:23.540 --> 0:19:26.020 He'll wake you up by a word of preaching that comes. 0:19:26.020 --> 0:19:28.260 He'll wake you up by someone that speaks to you 0:19:28.780 --> 0:19:30.860 in a way that you didn't think he'll wake you up. 0:19:30.859 --> 0:19:34.420 By tragedy, by crisis, by threat. He'll wake you up. However, 0:19:34.420 --> 0:19:37.940 he needs to wake you up. And suddenly David allows 0:19:37.940 --> 0:19:40.619 the prophet Nathan to come before him. And Nathan the 0:19:40.619 --> 0:19:42.739 prophet tells him a story about a guy that had 0:19:42.740 --> 0:19:44.419 a lot of sheep. And then there was a guy 0:19:44.420 --> 0:19:46.220 that had only one sheep, and the guy with a 0:19:46.260 --> 0:19:47.980 lot of sheep goes in and takes the one sheep 0:19:47.980 --> 0:19:50.139 that the one guy had. David's all mad about it. 0:19:50.180 --> 0:19:53.420 Who is that guy? Let's kill him. And and Nathan says, 0:19:53.420 --> 0:19:58.340 you are the man. Sometimes God has to wake us up. 0:20:00.140 --> 0:20:03.660 And David suddenly realized, hold on. What have I done? 0:20:04.660 --> 0:20:09.300 Hold on. What have I lost? Hold on. What's happened 0:20:09.300 --> 0:20:16.740 to me? And after he's woken up, he starts down 0:20:16.740 --> 0:20:20.619 the journey of trying to regain what he's lost. And 0:20:20.619 --> 0:20:25.060 I want you to see the insight to it. As 0:20:25.060 --> 0:20:28.460 soon as he wakes up, there's a drive, a need, 0:20:28.500 --> 0:20:34.939 a desire to be clean again. Have mercy. According to 0:20:34.940 --> 0:20:39.540 your unfailing love, your great compassion. He says, I want 0:20:39.580 --> 0:20:44.060 to be cleansed from my sin. You see, the first 0:20:44.260 --> 0:20:48.980 sign of true awakening is a realization of how much 0:20:48.980 --> 0:20:51.300 you need to be clean and how dirty we really 0:20:51.300 --> 0:20:54.460 are before God. Oftentimes, we're in the middle of our 0:20:54.460 --> 0:20:57.260 slipping and sliding. We're not concerned about being clean. We're 0:20:57.260 --> 0:21:01.540 just concerned about being Satisfied. We're concerned about our needs. 0:21:02.020 --> 0:21:05.180 We justify it. We minimize it. We explain it away. 0:21:05.180 --> 0:21:06.900 We try to deceive it. We try to say, it's 0:21:06.900 --> 0:21:10.020 not that bad. It's not really me. It's others. You know, 0:21:10.060 --> 0:21:13.419 if my wives would have really been there for me, David. 0:21:13.420 --> 0:21:15.219 I don't know how we explained it away, but he 0:21:15.220 --> 0:21:17.980 justified it in his mind. But once we're awakened by 0:21:17.980 --> 0:21:21.659 the Spirit of God, there is a desire, a drive 0:21:22.180 --> 0:21:26.460 to be clean before God. As long as you hang 0:21:26.460 --> 0:21:29.580 out in the darkness of a hard heart, as long 0:21:29.580 --> 0:21:33.540 as you hang out in the darkness of minimizing, explaining 0:21:33.540 --> 0:21:35.859 hardness of your heart, you really don't know how much 0:21:35.859 --> 0:21:38.100 you need to be clean. There are some of you 0:21:38.100 --> 0:21:41.500 today that desperately need to be cleaned by the power 0:21:41.500 --> 0:21:43.940 of the living Jesus, but you do not even know 0:21:43.940 --> 0:21:47.500 it because you're living in such moral darkness and such 0:21:47.500 --> 0:21:50.860 hardness from God that you're not. You don't even realize 0:21:50.859 --> 0:21:53.660 how dirty you are. You don't even realize the mud 0:21:53.700 --> 0:21:56.700 on your soul, the darkness of your heart, those hidden 0:21:56.700 --> 0:21:59.590 corners of your life. Because you're not really exposed to 0:21:59.630 --> 0:22:02.150 the light, but the moment you start making your way 0:22:02.150 --> 0:22:05.590 to the light, you start to realize, hey, what's happened 0:22:05.590 --> 0:22:09.389 to me? How could I have drifted so far from God? 0:22:09.390 --> 0:22:12.389 And no one can give you that light except for 0:22:12.390 --> 0:22:15.310 the power of the Holy Spirit. When he shines the 0:22:15.310 --> 0:22:17.710 light on us, and when the light comes, when an 0:22:17.710 --> 0:22:20.470 awakening comes, you can either fight it or you can 0:22:20.470 --> 0:22:21.350 embrace it. 0:22:26.790 --> 0:22:29.710 You're listening to Bold Steps, the Bible teaching ministry of 0:22:29.710 --> 0:22:32.270 Mark Jobe. Don't miss part two of our lesson titled 0:22:32.270 --> 0:22:35.790 Get Back What You've Lost, coming up tomorrow. In the meantime, 0:22:35.790 --> 0:22:37.389 if you'd like to catch up on any part of 0:22:37.390 --> 0:22:39.790 today's segment, or if you'd like to simply learn more 0:22:39.790 --> 0:22:44.270 about our ministry, just visit our website, bold steps.org. And 0:22:44.270 --> 0:22:47.070 for easier listening on the go, whether you're traveling or 0:22:47.070 --> 0:22:49.989 maybe running errands or just away from the computer, be 0:22:49.990 --> 0:22:52.629 sure to download the Bold Steps app featuring all of 0:22:52.630 --> 0:22:56.429 these daily messages and even more content from Mark. Mark. 0:22:56.430 --> 0:22:59.149 So many people today feel a real anxiety about where 0:22:59.230 --> 0:23:01.830 our country is headed. There's a sense that the ground 0:23:01.869 --> 0:23:04.630 is shifting under our feet, and honestly, it can lead 0:23:04.670 --> 0:23:08.070 believers feeling discouraged or maybe even fearful about the days ahead. 0:23:08.230 --> 0:23:10.030 How would you encourage a believer who's worried about the 0:23:10.030 --> 0:23:12.750 direction of the culture, and wondering how the church is 0:23:12.750 --> 0:23:15.230 supposed to prepare for dark and difficult days? 0:23:15.350 --> 0:23:18.429 Yeah, I talk to people all the time, believers that 0:23:18.470 --> 0:23:22.189 have a very dismal, dark view of the future, and 0:23:22.190 --> 0:23:25.710 sometimes they get full of fear that makes them want 0:23:25.710 --> 0:23:29.710 to hunker down, shut the windows, close the doors, and 0:23:29.710 --> 0:23:33.389 wait for the rapture. And I want to say there 0:23:33.390 --> 0:23:37.070 has always been difficult times throughout history, but God is 0:23:37.070 --> 0:23:37.950 still in control. 0:23:37.990 --> 0:23:38.510 Yes. 0:23:38.910 --> 0:23:43.270 And you read some of the warnings about the end times, 0:23:43.270 --> 0:23:46.910 and it does tell us that people's hearts will grow colder, 0:23:47.310 --> 0:23:49.389 that it will be more difficult. But I want to 0:23:49.390 --> 0:23:53.230 encourage you because God is always at work, even in 0:23:53.230 --> 0:23:54.189 the darkness. 0:23:54.230 --> 0:23:57.430 Well, our Bold Step gift is this book by Erwin Lutzer, 0:23:57.470 --> 0:24:00.560 The Church in Babylon. We're so grateful for this and 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:02.400 are offering this to our listeners right now. 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.440 That's right. And Pastor Erwin Lutzer, many of you know 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.760 who he is, and he's just a familiar voice, just 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:13.720 a real solid voice, pastored for many years in the 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:16.919 heart of Chicago. So he knows what it means to 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.520 be surrounded by a culture that doesn't always it's not 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:25.440 always favorable. He reminds us that God is always sustained 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:30.320 his people through difficult seasons, and that the church in 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.760 Babylon needs to know how to keep its focus with 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:38.280 grace and being salt in our culture, even when the 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:40.280 culture is turning worse. 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:43.360 To give and request your copy of The Church in Babylon, 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:47.919 visit us online at bold steps.org or call us at 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:54.679 800 D.L. Moody, that's (800) 356-6639. Or if you'd prefer, you 0:24:54.680 --> 0:24:57.239 can also send your donation in the mail. Write to 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:02.440 us at Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:06.960 606 ten. And before we end today's program, I want 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:09.440 to remind you to sign up for the Bold Stepper weekly, 0:25:09.440 --> 0:25:12.600 if you haven't already. Every Monday, you'll receive a devotional 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:15.840 from pastor Mark that provides fresh insight into God's Word, 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:18.920 some practical encouragement for your walk with Christ, and key 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:22.480 takeaways that reinforce his current teaching series. It's a great 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:25.120 way to stay connected to God's truth throughout the week, 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:27.879 and it's completely free. So if you haven't already, be 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:30.120 sure to sign up and get yours delivered next Monday 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:34.639 by visiting our website, Bold steps.org. Well, I'm Wayne Shepherd, 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:36.679 so glad to have you with us today. We'll see 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:38.880 you again next time for part two of today's message 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:41.639 on how to get back what you've lost. That's Wednesday 0:25:41.640 --> 0:25:46.560 here on Bold Steps with Mark Joan. Bold steps is 0:25:46.560 --> 0:25:50.680 a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.