S1: Putting God at the center of your life opens your
S1: eyes to his presence, protection and purposes more in having
S1: a godly vision. Next, on bold steps.
S2: Open up your eyes and see that the Lord of Lords,
S2: the King of Kings, the Almighty God of the universe,
S2: is on your side. It makes me get up with
S2: a new vision and say, yeah, we'll charge hell with
S2: a squirt gun if God is on our side.
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody
S1: Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church
S1: in Chicago. Today, we continue our look at Elisha and
S1: what it means to have open eyes and God's vision
S1: in the midst of a seemingly impossible situation. That's next.
S1: As we continue with part two of this powerful message.
S1: Do you see it yet? To listen again, visit our website.
S1: Bold steps bold steps.org. Now here is Mark Jobe with
S1: today's bold steps.
S2: Just this past week, I had an experience that reminded
S2: me again I need to trust the voice of the spirit.
S2: I was asked to speak in Vancouver so and so.
S2: I was praying, God, I want to be encouragement to
S2: these pastors. I want to speak life into them. I
S2: want to some of them are tired and discouraged. So
S2: help me, Lord. And so we gathered at this big
S2: church with several hundred pastors there, and I got up
S2: to speak on stage. But before I got to speak
S2: on stage, I felt like the Lord was saying to me.
S2: As I was praying for the pastors, I felt like
S2: God was saying, I want you to pray for Jerry.
S2: Like Jerry. Yeah, pray for Jerry. So I started praying, Lord,
S2: I pray for Jerry. I don't know who he is
S2: or what he's doing, but I pray for Jerry. I
S2: felt like this got a real clear word for Jerry.
S2: A man 50 years or older. Older man 50 years
S2: or older. Name is Jerry. Clear word. Hey. He's moved
S2: into his calling, but he stepped back because of the
S2: fear of man. He needs to disregard the fear of
S2: man and pursue the call of God. A very clear word.
S2: So I kept thinking. I'll run into a Jerry. I'm
S2: saying hi. Hi. What's your name? Doesn't happen to be Jerry,
S2: does it? You kind of look like Jerry. I wanted
S2: to go, people. Hey, are you Jerry? Jerry and I
S2: couldn't run into any Jerry. So finally, it was kind
S2: of the last day of the conference I was supposed
S2: to be speaking. So I got up, and I kind
S2: of gave my message, gave it all people were being
S2: prayed for, and I just thought, all right, let me
S2: just throw it out there. I said, is there a
S2: Jerry in here 50 years or older? Because I, I
S2: need to talk to Jerry. I've been praying for Jerry.
S2: And I said, raise your hand if you are. No
S2: hand went up at all. So I went down and
S2: I was just kind of standing awkwardly standing there. Afterwards,
S2: some older man came up to me and said, you know,
S2: my middle name is Gerald. No one's ever called me Gerry,
S2: but I'm wondering if it was me. I said, no,
S2: God would have said, Gerald, no, no, go go go.
S2: Sit down. I think God knows he could call you
S2: Gerry if your name was Gerry. Don't say no. Don't
S2: make it up now. And some pastor came running up
S2: to me afterwards. Like agitation and a voice, he looked
S2: at me and he said, I know who this word is,
S2: for I know the Gerry. I said, good. Introduce him
S2: to me. He says, he's not here. I said, what
S2: do you mean he's not here? No. He was supposed
S2: to come. I invited him at the last minute. He
S2: cancelled out as soon as you said. Gerry, me and
S2: my friend looked at each other. We knew exactly who
S2: we were talking to. God is working in his life.
S2: What's your message for him? And so I told him.
S2: He said that's exactly. That's exactly it. He's a pastor,
S2: he said, I texted him and said the speaker from
S2: Chicago is calling out your name, dude. He texted me
S2: back and said, come on. So we went to the
S2: hallway and he said, I'm going to call him up.
S2: So he calls him up. He said, Jerry, I got
S2: the speaker from Chicago that's calling out your name. He's
S2: got a word from you. I'm like, hey, Jerry. My
S2: name is Mark. And I gave him my word and
S2: he said, pause at the end of the other line.
S2: And he said, I receive that. And his wife was
S2: on the other line. She said, thank you. We needed
S2: to hear that. Now, now, here's what I want to say.
S2: Early on in ministry, I probably wouldn't have said that
S2: up front. I would have probably said, I'm not. I'm
S2: not going to say that. But I've learned over the
S2: years that I don't want to. I don't want to
S2: leave a place without just dropping everything that God has
S2: put on my heart. I want to I want to
S2: release everything that's there. Even though it may seem crazy
S2: because I understand that God is the God of the universe,
S2: I understand that in this auditorium there are people here
S2: that I don't know. I don't know your name. I
S2: don't know your face. I don't know your story. You're
S2: sitting there and say, I don't even want to know you.
S2: I don't even like you. But I'm here. Someone dragged
S2: me here. But here's what I know. Listen. The spirit
S2: of the living God knows you deeply, powerfully. And if
S2: you open up your ears and eyes, God will speak
S2: to you even. Though you try to remain anonymous, because
S2: in God there is there is no anonymity in the
S2: presence of Almighty God. Secondly, write this down not only
S2: his presence, but his protection. So they got up in
S2: the morning and the servant of Elijah went outside, and
S2: he saw something that horrified him. The entire town was
S2: surrounded by chariots and warriors with spears, horses, shields. They
S2: were surrounded by the enemy. They woke up in the morning.
S2: And surrounded by the enemy, went to bed at night
S2: feeling like they were safe. Woke up in the morning
S2: and they were surrounded by the enemy. He says in
S2: verse 15, when the servant of the man of God
S2: got up and went out early the next morning, an
S2: army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city, and
S2: he said, oh, no! My Lord, what shall we do?
S2: Have you ever felt like that? You ever gone to
S2: bed at night feeling like everything was okay and woke
S2: up in the morning and you're hit by a ton
S2: of bricks? A crisis, a difficulty, something that you didn't expect.
S2: And you wake up and you say, oh no, my Lord,
S2: what shall we do? And you look around at your
S2: physical circumstances and you feel like I am surrounded like
S2: never before. There is no way out. This is going
S2: to end up in catastrophe. This is worse than I
S2: thought it was going to be. The news is bad.
S2: The circumstances are terrible. There's no way out. God, why
S2: have you let this happen? So the servant goes. The
S2: servant goes to Elijah, and he says, Elijah, have you
S2: seen it? Have you seen we're surrounded. We're going to die.
S2: Have you seen what's going on out there? Do something.
S2: What are we going to do, Elijah? Seems. Eerily tranquil.
S2: He's not threatened. He's not panicking. He's not pacing. Verse 16,
S2: he says, don't be afraid. Have you ever been in
S2: the middle of something and someone says, don't be afraid.
S2: And you're like, yeah. What do you mean? Don't be afraid?
S2: Are you seeing what I see? Do you understand what
S2: I'm saying? Don't tell me to calm down. This situation
S2: demands panic. Don't be afraid. By the way, can I
S2: tell you that fear is the antithesis of faith? You
S2: cannot be filled with fear and faith at the same time.
S2: One pushes out the other. Your faith will push out
S2: your fear, or your fear will push out your faith.
S2: You cannot be contained with both at the same time.
S2: You have to decide what's going to fill you. Is
S2: it fear that's going to fill you, or is it
S2: faith that's going to fill you because one will push
S2: out the other?
S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. We'll continue
S1: today's message in a moment. But first, Mark, I want
S1: to talk about something that's become a growing concern within
S1: Christian leadership circles. Our world is going through a whirlwind,
S1: pretty dramatic developments and changes, not just here in America,
S1: but around the globe. And we need to remind ourselves, yourselves.
S1: As Christians, we have a much higher calling than any
S1: political movement, don't we?
S2: Wayne, turn on the news. And there is drama all
S2: over the place.
S3: From rumors of wars to economic crisis to actualization, to
S3: actual wars that are happening to bombings, and it is
S3: easy to get distracted by all this, worried by it,
S3: anxious by it, sort of sucked into it. But here's
S3: what I want to say. This is a great time
S3: for the good news of Jesus Christ and the hope
S3: of the gospel. Amen. There are a lot of people
S3: coming to Christ throughout the world, and you may not
S3: hear about it, because there's other news that is prominent
S3: and is taking people's attention. But there is an undercurrent
S3: of a harvest evangelism. And that's what we're all about
S3: right now, is a moment where people are shaken, where
S3: there's concern. But there are so many people that are
S3: turning to the heavens, and we at Bold Steps have
S3: determined we will not miss that moment. And so we
S3: are asking you to partner with us, help us out,
S3: because right now is a great time to be calling
S3: people to Jesus.
S1: We urge you to give online at Bold steps.org. Or
S1: you can call us. The number is 800 Moody. And
S1: that works out to be (800) 356-6639. And when you do give,
S1: we'll be sure to send you a special gift which
S1: will tell you more about later in the program today. Well,
S1: thank you for that, Mark. But now let's continue with
S1: the final part of our message titled do you see
S1: it yet? Here's Mark Jobe.
S2: Do you remember Peter when he was called out to
S2: walk on the water and he started to walk on
S2: the water because Jesus called him. And the Bible says,
S2: as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus and
S2: started seeing the waves, he was overcome with fear. And
S2: as soon as he was overcome with fear, he started
S2: to sink because his faith would no longer keep him
S2: them afloat. What happened is he had faith when he
S2: was walking, but his fear displaced his faith and he
S2: started to sink. So you have to decide what's going
S2: to fill you. Fear or faith? Because you can't be
S2: filled with both at the same time. One is going
S2: to push out the other. Have you ever played King
S2: of the Hill before when you were kids? God at
S2: the top of the mound and there had to be
S2: one king of the hill, and you would try to
S2: push the one guy out so you could get there.
S2: You're acting like you never played that game. You must
S2: have been on video games, I don't know. We played
S2: King of the Hill when I was growing up, and
S2: only one person could be at the top. It's like
S2: that with faith and fear. Only one can be the top.
S2: It's either faith or fear. You can't have both standing
S2: at the top of the hill. He said, don't be afraid.
S2: Oh come on. Verse 16, the prophet said, those who
S2: are with us are more than those who are with them.
S2: The servants looking out and saying, I don't get it.
S2: There's two of us and there's thousands of them. Don't
S2: get it. Elijah looks over at him. Oh man, this
S2: is going to hit some of you because some of
S2: you need exactly, exactly what happened to the servant needs
S2: to happen to you. Exactly what happened to the servant.
S2: Verse 17 down. Because some of you, God is speaking
S2: to you through verse 17. Verse 17 Elijah prayed over him,
S2: and this is what he prayed. Open his eyes. So
S2: that he may see. You say, well, pastor, I thought
S2: he could see the soldiers. Oh, yeah, he could see
S2: the soldiers of the enemy. But he needed to open
S2: up another set of eyes. Not the physical eyes. He
S2: needed to open up the spiritual eyes so he could
S2: see in the spirit world what was really happening. And
S2: as soon as Elijah prayed that his eyes would be open.
S2: There was a spiritual awakening that happened in the servant.
S2: And suddenly he saw in the realm of the spirit
S2: where he had never seen up until this point, because
S2: he was viewing life in the realm of the flesh
S2: and not in the realm of the spirit. And the
S2: Bible says that when he opened up his eyes again,
S2: he saw another army say, another army. Oh, you're surrounded
S2: by the enemy's army, but you haven't seen the other army.
S2: And he opened up his eyes. And there was another army.
S2: The army of God. Chariots of fire. Horsemen. The horsemen,
S2: like the horsemen of apocalypse, full of fire, full of strength.
S2: And the other army was surrounding the enemy's army. And
S2: they outnumbered the enemy by far. And that's why Elijah said, hey,
S2: those that are with us are greater than those that
S2: are with them, but you can't see it unless you
S2: open up your spiritual eyes and see what's really happening
S2: in the spiritual realm. Can I tell you something? Listen,
S2: some of you operate in the realm of the flesh.
S2: The Bible says flesh gives birth to flesh. Spirit gives
S2: birth to spirit. Some of you live your life in
S2: the realm of the flesh, the five senses, and you
S2: are very, very unaware of what's happening in the spirit realm.
S2: There's a round that you cannot see that's a real realm.
S2: Not just spiritual. I mean, there's stuff in the physical
S2: that you can't see. How many germaphobes do we have
S2: in the house here? How many have already put that little,
S2: that little bottle of hand sanitizer? You've already used it
S2: a couple times. You said hi to your friends, hi
S2: to your friends. Out of your friends. You say he
S2: looks sick. Come on now. I'm not a germaphobic, but
S2: my wife is on the borderline. She opens up all
S2: the doors like this. Salt and pepper. At the restaurant,
S2: she gets a napkin and she says. You know how
S2: many nasty, dirty germs are in this salt and pepper?
S2: And she does it like that. I mean, she's she's
S2: starting to get me worried about germs now. I'm like,
S2: I was never worried before. But she says, you know,
S2: I go to sign. I go to sign the little
S2: thing on with your finger where it says sign. When
S2: you pay something, she says, you know how many people
S2: have put their dirty fingers on that? That's full of germs.
S2: Now I'm starting to see germs all over. It's like,
S2: oh man, I never was worried about it, but I'm
S2: starting to see germs all over now. I saw that
S2: guy sniffling. I bet he's got the flu. And I'm.
S2: I'm like, seeing germs all over. You know, the thing
S2: about germs is you can't see them, but they're there.
S2: People for years didn't know why people were getting sick.
S2: They didn't understand germs. This unseen little scientific in entity
S2: that can infect you and cause you to go down
S2: in a big flu and be out for a long
S2: time because it's in the air. I'm. Some of you
S2: are saying I got to get out of here, pastor.
S2: You are. You're making me think about this. This guy
S2: next to me, that it's unseen world. But do you
S2: realize that there's an unseen world out there called the
S2: spirit world? Do you realize, just like if I were
S2: to have a black light, to see all the germs
S2: and bacteria that are in this place, we would be
S2: surprised at how much bacteria and germs are in this place.
S2: But if we were to have a spiritual light that
S2: would indicate what is happening in the spirit world, that
S2: there is a lot happening in the spirit world in
S2: this place. Every single one of you has a spirit.
S2: That spirit part of you is the part that interacts
S2: with the spirit world. There's the Holy Spirit and there's
S2: the not so holy spirits out there as well. The
S2: Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead empowering you,
S2: convicting you, drawing you, bringing you to the presence of God.
S2: Some of you in this place right now, the Holy
S2: Spirit is saying, you don't even know Jesus. You need
S2: to come to. You're under conviction. You don't have a
S2: life in God. And if I could see in the
S2: spirit world, I would see conviction coming upon you. What's
S2: it feel like? It makes you want to run away
S2: or run to God? That's conviction. But you have to
S2: feel like changing. That's conviction drawing you. Some of you,
S2: you walk in a place like this, you feel the
S2: power of the Holy Spirit bringing about the release of
S2: healing power, because God is a healer. And if I
S2: were to look out in the spirit world, there are
S2: some that are receiving the power of God to heal
S2: their emotions, to heal their body, to heal their life.
S2: Because you've been calling upon it. And in the presence
S2: of God, healing is released. Listen, I don't know. And
S2: if you were to see in the spirit world, there's
S2: some of you that are being tormented by spirits that
S2: are not of God afflicted, entrapped. There's a lot of
S2: spiritual activity that we don't see with the naked eye,
S2: but it's there. The Bible talks about angels. God is
S2: a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him
S2: in spirit and in truth. Can I tell you? Without
S2: the presence and the power of the Spirit of God
S2: in this place, if we were to show up to
S2: church and there was just a bald headed guy chatting.
S2: This would be a pathetic place. Place we convene in
S2: the name of Jesus. And the Bible says that where
S2: 2 or 3 are gathered together in his name, he's
S2: in the midst of them. And lastly, let me close
S2: with this. And not only you open your eyes to
S2: his presence. You open his eyes to his protection, but
S2: you open your eyes to his purposes. You see, Elijah said,
S2: watch this. And as all the armies were around them,
S2: there was a an army greater than the army that
S2: was there surrounding them. And Elijah said, bring blindness upon
S2: this army. And in one instant the entire army of
S2: the enemy went blind. So when you're blind, when you
S2: can't see, you don't know where you're going. Vision either
S2: allows you to know where you're going, or vision, if
S2: it's taken away, causes you to not know where you're going.
S2: How many of you know that the enemy can be strategic?
S2: And sometimes God needs to bring confusion in the camp
S2: of the enemy. And so he brought blindness to the army,
S2: and this entire army's aimless, not knowing where they're going.
S2: And Elijah says, follow me, follow me. This army that
S2: had been so fierce, this army that had been so
S2: threatening suddenly was reduced to a little kid like kindergarten.
S2: Follow me. And he led them right into Samaria, right
S2: into the city, right into the place where the armies
S2: of Israel were at. And then when the armies of
S2: Israel surrounded him, he said, Now God opened their eyes,
S2: they opened up their eyes, and they were surrounded by Israel.
S2: And the King says, Elijah, what should we do? Should
S2: we kill him? He said, no, no, no, no. Give
S2: him something to eat. They gave him something to eat.
S2: He says, I want you to see what you have seen.
S2: I want your king to know there's a God in Israel.
S2: Now go back and tell your king. And the Bible says, Aram,
S2: no longer rated Israel man. Aaron was afraid of Israel
S2: now because they knew there was a God alive and well,
S2: and they had a purpose. It brought peace to Israel.
S2: Let me close with this. Listen, there have been times
S2: as your pastor that I've looked at the challenges of
S2: our city, the violence of our city, the bigotry, racism
S2: divide of our city, brokenness of our city, addiction where
S2: I've done the funeral of kids that have been shot
S2: open because they just lived on the wrong side of
S2: the block, or someone that overdosed on heroin, and it's
S2: brought overwhelming sense of God. We're so small, so limited.
S2: How can we ever, ever make a difference? In times
S2: like that that I've sensed the Holy Spirit say to me,
S2: open your eyes, because those that are for you are
S2: greater than those that are against you. Open up your
S2: eyes and see that the Lord of Lords, the King
S2: of kings, the Almighty God of the universe, is on
S2: your side. And if God be for you, who in
S2: the world can ever be against you? Remember, if God
S2: is on your side, it makes me get up with
S2: a new vision and say, yeah, we'll charge hell with
S2: a squirt gun if God is on our side. If
S2: he's on our side, let's do it in Jesus name.
S1: Mark that picture of Elisha's servants opening his eyes and
S1: seeing God's army surrounding the enemy that has such a
S1: powerful one. We don't often think about the spirit world,
S1: but it's very much a part of who we are.
S1: And God tells us that we're in a battle.
S2: It it's a powerful image. And Wayne, I think that
S2: so many of us are like Elisha's servant, that we
S2: see the physical world, we see the circumstances and we
S2: get overwhelmed. But we haven't had our eyes open to
S2: the spiritual realm. And I love the fact that Elijah says,
S2: greater are those who are for us than those who
S2: are against us. And I'm wondering if we're speaking to
S2: someone right now that you feel absolutely overwhelmed and under
S2: the circumstances, and you just are full of anxiety and panic.
S2: Could I tell you this? If God is for you,
S2: if God is for you, I want you to open
S2: up your spiritual eyes and realize that there is nothing.
S2: Nothing that is too hard or impossible for our God.
S1: Well, the message we heard today ends our series fully devoted.
S1: But remember to hear any message again or even the
S1: whole series. Just go to Bold steps.org. You can listen
S1: to it there online, and maybe pass this message series
S1: along to someone else by giving them the website. Again,
S1: it's bold steps dot while you're there, don't forget that
S1: today is the last day to receive our featured Bold
S1: Steps gift for the month of April. Doctor Heather Holloman's
S1: book The Six Conversations. If you've struggled in your life
S1: to build intimate, authentic relationships, this book offers practical strategies
S1: for meaningful communication and connection. This bold step gift will
S1: help you transform surface level interactions into life giving relationships
S1: no matter where you are, and we'd be happy to
S1: send it to you when you give a gift of
S1: any amount to support this ministry, just visit us online
S1: at Bold Steps. Org or call us at 800. That's
S1: 803 Five six, 6639. And if you'd rather send your
S1: donation and request this book in the mail, you can
S1: write to us at bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
S1: Illinois 606. Ten. Speaking of mail, we also want to
S1: encourage you to reach out to us with any biblical
S1: or spiritual question you may have for Mark. You can
S1: write to that same address, or simply click on the
S1: link on our website that says ask a question or
S1: email us at. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you back tomorrow
S1: for the start of a message series titled Beyond Now.
S1: How are we ready ourselves for the end Times? Mark
S1: will start by answering the question how close are we?
S1: That's Thursday here on Bold Steps with Mark John. Bold
S1: steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
S1: Moody Bible Institute.