WEBVTT - Take Your Place – Part 2 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:03.640 Today on Bold steps with Mark job. We're learning how 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:06.080 to be victorious in our walk with Christ. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.879 What God does is he fills our spiritual tool belt 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.200 with the tools that we're going to need to be successful. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.440 God does not call you to be a follower of 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.320 his without giving you everything you need to succeed. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.800 Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark job. Mark is president 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.560 of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.200 Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, going 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.920 against the crowd or the cultural norms of any given 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.239 society can be difficult to do. But it's nothing new, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.200 as we'll see. Today, it's something that even the apostles 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.120 had to deal with and work through. Our message is 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.840 called Take Your Place, and if you have your Bible handy, 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.200 flip to the book of Ephesians, because Mark is going 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.880 to be showing us that when you believe, everything changes. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.200 Hey, you come to Christ, men, there may need to 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.400 be a bonfire while you pull out those Playboy magazines 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.399 and other such things and get rid of it. Because 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.880 what you start realizing is that this is incompatible with 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.640 my new life in Christ. There are certain things that 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:28.240 when Christ comes in, you leave behind that. That's called conversion. 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.959 And they had this huge bonfire experience, and God began 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.800 to work in such miraculous ways that it was at 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.520 this time that the Bible tells us that even the 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:43.080 handkerchief that came from Paul and touched people was healing 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.760 people from physical diseases, such as the anointing and the 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.560 power of God upon Ephesus at that time. There are 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:54.640 times when God works in some miraculous, powerful way, supernatural 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.440 that we cannot explain when God is seeking to do something. 0:01:59.920 --> 0:02:04.250 It is also at that time that there was a 0:02:04.250 --> 0:02:08.290 major riot, because anytime the church progresses, there will always 0:02:08.330 --> 0:02:13.770 be opposition. Count on it. When God begins to do something, 0:02:13.970 --> 0:02:17.770 there will always be opposition to what God is seeking 0:02:17.810 --> 0:02:24.050 to do. This time, the opposition came via the unions 0:02:24.050 --> 0:02:31.450 of the city of Ephesus. Making idols and pagan gods 0:02:31.810 --> 0:02:35.810 was a big business. In the days of Ephesus, there 0:02:35.810 --> 0:02:38.650 were hundreds of gods that existed. There was the god 0:02:38.650 --> 0:02:42.090 of fertility, and there was the god of vengeance. There 0:02:42.090 --> 0:02:44.850 was the god of the shoemakers and the god of 0:02:44.850 --> 0:02:48.010 the sailors. There was the god of the farmers, and 0:02:48.010 --> 0:02:54.410 the god of the multitude of things of gods. And 0:02:54.410 --> 0:02:56.690 every person. If you went into their house in those 0:02:56.690 --> 0:03:00.329 days in Ephesus, everybody would have their little statues, the 0:03:00.370 --> 0:03:03.250 gods that they would pray to, and they were sort 0:03:03.250 --> 0:03:07.010 of their sponsoring gods, so to speak. And if you 0:03:07.050 --> 0:03:10.769 walk down the streets of Ephesus, there were statues of 0:03:10.770 --> 0:03:14.370 different gods that would line the streets of Ephesus. And 0:03:14.530 --> 0:03:19.170 and the tradesmen made much of their money by building 0:03:19.169 --> 0:03:23.090 these statues out of wood and and out of rock 0:03:23.130 --> 0:03:26.970 and out of iron. And they would build these statues, 0:03:26.970 --> 0:03:29.810 and it was a big money business, and people would 0:03:29.850 --> 0:03:34.250 buy their statues and dedicate their statues. When people started 0:03:34.250 --> 0:03:39.130 coming to Christ, the union trades workers began to realize 0:03:39.170 --> 0:03:46.050 Christianity has no God statues. They have an invisible God 0:03:46.810 --> 0:03:50.810 that they worship, an invisible God that they worship, that 0:03:50.810 --> 0:03:55.690 claims that he rules heaven and earth. And they began 0:03:55.690 --> 0:04:00.330 to realize that if Christianity spreads, we will lose our business. 0:04:01.300 --> 0:04:07.100 No one will buy statues anymore. We'll lose tens of 0:04:07.100 --> 0:04:10.260 thousands of dollars and go out of business. So they 0:04:10.260 --> 0:04:16.580 organized a riot. How many of you know that? Sometimes 0:04:16.580 --> 0:04:20.220 the opposition of Christianity is not just on religious views. 0:04:20.220 --> 0:04:28.219 Sometimes it can be political, racist and economic. Hello. Don't 0:04:28.220 --> 0:04:33.580 be naive into thinking that opposition will just come. Out 0:04:33.580 --> 0:04:40.980 of spiritual opposition. When we went to buy this church 0:04:40.980 --> 0:04:44.220 building here that you're in right now, this was a factory, 0:04:44.740 --> 0:04:50.140 84,000 square foot factory. And we decided that we were 0:04:50.140 --> 0:04:54.580 going to buy this building and convert this building into 0:04:54.580 --> 0:04:58.580 a church ministry center, and we're super excited about it. 0:05:01.740 --> 0:05:04.820 We were challenged by raising the money for this because 0:05:04.820 --> 0:05:06.859 it's a lot of money. It was $2 million to 0:05:06.900 --> 0:05:15.420 buy this building. 2 million? Thank you. Jesus. There's a 0:05:15.420 --> 0:05:21.020 lot of money. That's a whole nother story. How God 0:05:21.020 --> 0:05:24.500 provided that and how people sacrificed. But when we went 0:05:24.500 --> 0:05:28.580 to get this building, uh, the building in Chicago, you 0:05:28.580 --> 0:05:32.340 have to zone a building for something. This building was 0:05:32.339 --> 0:05:37.380 zoned for manufacturing. For what? Factories are zoned for. And 0:05:37.380 --> 0:05:40.420 we need to design it for a church use. And 0:05:40.420 --> 0:05:42.660 in order to zone it for a church use, you 0:05:42.660 --> 0:05:46.340 have to get approval downtown at City Hall. And in 0:05:46.339 --> 0:05:48.820 order to get approval downtown at City Hall, you have 0:05:48.820 --> 0:05:52.140 to go through the alderman's office here. And in this case, 0:05:52.140 --> 0:05:54.979 to go through the alderman's office here. He had a 0:05:55.020 --> 0:05:58.580 zoning board that we had to come before, and the 0:05:58.580 --> 0:06:02.029 zoning board had to approve it in order to change 0:06:02.029 --> 0:06:04.390 the status so that we could get a church here. 0:06:04.990 --> 0:06:10.310 And I thought, no problem, no big deal. They're going 0:06:10.350 --> 0:06:12.670 to love us because we do a lot of good 0:06:12.670 --> 0:06:16.430 for the community. We'll help out, we'll bless, we'll open 0:06:16.430 --> 0:06:19.350 up the doors, and we will do anything that we 0:06:19.350 --> 0:06:22.270 can to help the community. And when we went down 0:06:22.270 --> 0:06:24.870 to try to get the zoning, most of the people 0:06:24.870 --> 0:06:30.229 on the zoning board were favorable. Happy for us. But 0:06:30.230 --> 0:06:34.909 there was a few people that were belligerently opposed to 0:06:34.950 --> 0:06:42.790 us starting a church here. Aggressively opposed, like door to door. 0:06:43.270 --> 0:06:47.630 Say no. Oppose it. Get against it. And I didn't 0:06:47.630 --> 0:06:52.310 understand why they said it would be parking congestion. And 0:06:52.310 --> 0:06:54.310 they said it would be hard. But when it all 0:06:54.310 --> 0:06:57.270 came down to it, what I heard behind the doors 0:06:57.310 --> 0:07:00.070 is there was two issues with us having a church here. 0:07:00.190 --> 0:07:12.030 Number one. Number one, there were too many Hispanics. Straight 0:07:12.030 --> 0:07:20.950 out blatant bigotry. Sometimes that's how the devil opposes things. 0:07:21.470 --> 0:07:27.350 It's not always theological. Sometimes it's blatant prejudice and bigotry. 0:07:30.390 --> 0:07:35.630 And number two, it was religious. We were an evangelical church. 0:07:40.110 --> 0:07:42.910 And there was opposition behind thank God. Praise God that 0:07:42.910 --> 0:07:45.030 God is the opener of the doors. And God can 0:07:45.030 --> 0:07:47.670 go before us, and God can open and God can 0:07:47.670 --> 0:07:52.350 close doors. God fights our battles. God rises up. God 0:07:52.350 --> 0:07:55.110 does things when things are opposed. But but it doesn't 0:07:55.110 --> 0:07:57.750 mean we didn't work on it. And so I want 0:07:57.750 --> 0:08:01.360 you to understand that that sometimes opposition will arise on 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.080 a lot of different ways to the progress and spread 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.760 of the gospel. It doesn't always come just out of 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.480 theological persecution. It can rise up out of economic and 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.600 racial bigotry that that that rises up to try to 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:18.440 put the stop to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:26.280 in this case, it was economic. Christianity did not make 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:32.319 statues and the early Christians did not have other gods. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.079 I oftentimes run into people that walk into this auditorium 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.920 coming from different backgrounds, and they look around at this 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:47.440 bland auditorium and they think to themselves, this must be 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:55.080 a poor church. They can't even afford statues. I mean, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:09:00.880 where are the images of statues of Jesus and Mary 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:10.160 and the Saints. And. Poor, poor church. Well, let me 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.800 just say this. That there's a reason that we don't 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.400 have statues. And I know some of you grew up 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.720 in traditions where you would walk into a church and 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:23.680 there would be many images, um, of different saints and 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:29.199 images of Christ and Mary and many other religious images. 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.720 But I want you to understand that we deliberately have 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:37.079 no Jesus on a cross here. We deliberately have no 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:42.480 statues of Saint Paul or Jude or Peter or the 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:47.880 Virgin Mary. We deliberately have no statues. Why? We have 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.520 no statues. Because one of the Ten Commandments is. Thou 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:57.280 shalt have no graven images before me. One of the 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.770 Ten Commandments is that we will make no graven images 0:10:00.970 --> 0:10:04.730 that we worship and pray to. And I've been around 0:10:04.730 --> 0:10:07.290 way too many places where people would go up to 0:10:07.330 --> 0:10:11.410 an image of stone and touch it and pray to it. 0:10:11.410 --> 0:10:14.330 And even though they know it's not Jesus, you look 0:10:14.330 --> 0:10:17.290 to an image of Jesus and you begin to think 0:10:17.290 --> 0:10:20.170 that it's sacred. And I've been to too many places 0:10:20.170 --> 0:10:24.530 where people are making pilgrimages to touch a statue, be 0:10:24.530 --> 0:10:28.290 blessed by a statue, pray to a statue. The Bible 0:10:28.290 --> 0:10:33.170 calls that idolatry. And the very thing that you think 0:10:33.170 --> 0:10:36.809 is going to help you pray is actually angers the 0:10:36.809 --> 0:10:44.050 heart of God. Therefore, we have no statues in this place. 0:10:45.130 --> 0:10:47.689 When you worship Jesus, I want you to envision and 0:10:47.690 --> 0:10:51.610 pray to a Jesus that's risen, alive, reigns on high 0:10:51.650 --> 0:10:55.050 over the earth. A living Jesus, not a Jesus on 0:10:55.050 --> 0:11:02.170 a cross. When you approach Jesus, I don't want you 0:11:02.170 --> 0:11:04.970 to approach a statue and touch a statue and ask 0:11:04.970 --> 0:11:07.570 for blessing from a statue. I want you to go 0:11:07.570 --> 0:11:10.569 in prayer and look to the heavens and say, Jesus, 0:11:10.610 --> 0:11:13.170 you are alive in spirit and in truth, and I 0:11:13.210 --> 0:11:16.090 come to you as a living being, asking you to 0:11:16.090 --> 0:11:19.610 touch me, bless me, answer my prayers. That's the living 0:11:19.610 --> 0:11:28.530 Jesus that we follow and worship. And you say, pastor, well, 0:11:28.809 --> 0:11:31.330 what about the images that I have in my home? 0:11:31.330 --> 0:11:33.610 I don't want to be harsh or critical of anybody 0:11:33.610 --> 0:11:36.810 if you have images or statues in your home, but 0:11:36.809 --> 0:11:39.170 if it were me, I would get rid of them. 0:11:41.210 --> 0:11:46.370 There's too much danger in making these images something sacred, 0:11:47.410 --> 0:11:52.490 something holy and beginning to put your confidence in something. 0:11:53.090 --> 0:11:56.370 An image made in the image of God rather than 0:11:56.370 --> 0:12:03.099 in God Himself. There is no nothing made out of wood, stone, 0:12:03.140 --> 0:12:06.180 marble that can help you. It's the spirit of the 0:12:06.179 --> 0:12:08.980 living God that has power to help you. It's he 0:12:08.980 --> 0:12:12.100 that saves you. And we must be very careful not 0:12:12.100 --> 0:12:20.740 to fall into idolatry. This huge riot that broke out 0:12:20.740 --> 0:12:28.420 in Ephesus broke out because they were afraid that Christianity 0:12:28.420 --> 0:12:34.660 was building no statues anymore. I've been in the amphitheater 0:12:34.660 --> 0:12:41.740 in Ephesus. That amphitheater, said to be 490ft in diameter, 0:12:42.220 --> 0:12:46.100 63 rows of seats that provide seating for an audience 0:12:46.100 --> 0:12:53.579 of close to 24,000 people. 24,000. How many does the 0:12:53.620 --> 0:13:01.660 United Center seat? 20 Has the capacity to seat as 0:13:01.660 --> 0:13:06.140 many people or more than the United Center, in my estimation. 0:13:07.620 --> 0:13:10.620 I've been in that theater. I was there in Turkey, 0:13:10.620 --> 0:13:14.339 and I knelt on the stage of that platform, and 0:13:14.340 --> 0:13:18.940 I envisioned a crowd of 20,000 people. That was anti 0:13:18.980 --> 0:13:23.660 Paul and the church. And I remember kneeling there and 0:13:23.660 --> 0:13:27.420 I prayed, Oh God, give me the boldness that Paul 0:13:27.420 --> 0:13:29.820 had to be able to stand up in front of 0:13:29.820 --> 0:13:32.700 a crowd, of be willing to stand up in front 0:13:32.700 --> 0:13:35.660 of a crowd of 20,000 angry mob that would have 0:13:35.660 --> 0:13:38.580 killed them. Yet he was so desirous to preach the 0:13:38.620 --> 0:13:41.980 gospel that they had to hold them back for him 0:13:41.980 --> 0:13:45.459 not to go in there and preach the gospel of Jesus. God, 0:13:45.460 --> 0:13:46.859 give us that boldness. 0:13:52.020 --> 0:13:54.980 You're listening to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe, or 0:13:54.980 --> 0:13:57.380 pausing our message to let you know about our Bold 0:13:57.380 --> 0:14:00.630 Partner program. Mark, we are so thankful for people who 0:14:00.630 --> 0:14:02.309 support us on a monthly basis. 0:14:02.350 --> 0:14:06.429 Yes, we have a growing number of bold partners that 0:14:06.429 --> 0:14:10.350 are saying, we believe in this ministry. 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Now, for those of 0:14:41.790 --> 0:14:44.070 you who want to step up and give at least 0:14:44.070 --> 0:14:47.110 $30 a month or more, we will send you a 0:14:47.110 --> 0:14:50.430 link for a 50% discount off anything in the Moody 0:14:50.470 --> 0:14:53.310 Publishers catalog. And there's always something new coming from Moody 0:14:53.310 --> 0:14:54.510 Publishers and Wayne. 0:14:54.510 --> 0:14:56.310 That's a deal in and of itself. 0:14:56.350 --> 0:14:56.670 I like. 0:14:56.670 --> 0:14:59.630 It. I'm looking at some of the books through Moody Publishers, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.920 and we have counted all joy with John Perkins, that is. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.359 Looks like a great book. The Pathway to Freedom Alistair Begg, 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.520 The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Classic, right. And 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.520 here's one that I actually wrote the foreword to. Or 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:18.120 an endorsement for Michael Riedel, Nick's book, the 50 Most 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.360 Important Bible Questions. And of course, he has a program, 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:26.080 a weekly program called Open Line where he answers Bible questions. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.680 So that's just a sample of what's from Moody Publishers. 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.000 But this discount applies to the whole catalog. So $30 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.080 a month or more gets you this 50% discount. Click 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:39.320 on the Bold Partner program at Bold Steps. Now back 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.359 into God's Word with Mark Jobe. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.920 Four years later, Paul was in prison in Rome, and 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.440 it was from that prison in Rome that Paul wrote 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.240 to the church that he loved. He wrote a letter 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:09.840 to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one, verse one. It says. Paul, 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.480 the apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:17.480 to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.120 Now let me ask you a question. When he says, 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:25.120 I'm writing to the saints in Ephesus, to whom is 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:31.640 he referring? Christians. Now, I'm going to shock some of 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.400 you with this, because some of you, when you think 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:38.440 of a saint, you think of someone that lived a very, 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:43.480 very good life, did a lot of very, very good things, died, 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.480 did a couple miracles, and then years after they die, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.080 the church votes on it and decides to make them 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.720 a saint. And then we see pictures of them with 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:58.160 a halo, and we believe that they are the saints. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.800 But I'm going to destroy your image of that. When 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.560 he says, like in the book of Romans, it says 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.280 to the saints and the book of First Corinthians it 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.680 says to the saints, when he says to the saints 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:16.119 in Ephesus, he's talking. He's talking to everyone that's a 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.440 believer and follower of Jesus Christ in the Bible is 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:26.119 considered a saint. Well, I know that shocks some of you, 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.200 but if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, washed 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.520 by the blood of Jesus with the Holy Spirit inside 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.679 of you, you are a legitimate saint before the eyes 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.439 of God. So just to break down that mentality a 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.240 little bit, let's just practice for a moment, say Saint. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.600 And now put your name behind the word saint. Go 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.760 ahead Saint. For some of you, it's really like, whoa, 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:57.240 this is hard to do. Saint mark. I like the 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:02.570 sound of that. And from a biblical perspective, that's the 0:18:02.570 --> 0:18:07.010 way God sees you. You are considered a saint not 0:18:07.010 --> 0:18:09.490 because of what you have done or not done, but 0:18:09.490 --> 0:18:12.889 because of what Christ has done for you and in you. 0:18:13.050 --> 0:18:16.130 The word saint comes from the word holy. The word 0:18:16.130 --> 0:18:20.170 holy means set apart unto something. So any person that 0:18:20.170 --> 0:18:22.770 has been set apart unto God for the work of 0:18:22.770 --> 0:18:26.090 God is considered a saint in the Bible. So when 0:18:26.090 --> 0:18:29.370 the Apostle Paul says to the saints that are in Ephesus, 0:18:29.369 --> 0:18:33.370 he's saying to the church that is in Ephesus, the 0:18:33.369 --> 0:18:36.970 called out believers, the ones that know Jesus Christ as 0:18:36.970 --> 0:18:41.609 Lord and Savior, to the to the saints in Ephesus, 0:18:41.609 --> 0:18:45.369 the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you 0:18:45.570 --> 0:18:49.850 from God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And 0:18:49.850 --> 0:18:54.010 now Paul begins to explain. And for the first verses 0:18:54.369 --> 0:19:00.300 that you see in verse three through verse Uh 13. 0:19:00.619 --> 0:19:03.899 He begins to talk to them about what they have 0:19:03.900 --> 0:19:07.500 and who they are in God. Or another way of 0:19:07.500 --> 0:19:12.020 saying it is what they have in their spiritual tool belt. 0:19:13.780 --> 0:19:19.379 Oftentimes what God does is he fills our spiritual tool 0:19:19.420 --> 0:19:21.820 belt with the tools that we're going to need to 0:19:21.859 --> 0:19:25.900 be successful. God does not call you to be a 0:19:25.900 --> 0:19:29.460 follower of his without giving you everything you need to succeed. 0:19:30.340 --> 0:19:33.540 God knows that in the future you may encounter a 0:19:33.580 --> 0:19:35.659 wall that needs nails in it. So he gives you 0:19:35.660 --> 0:19:39.659 a hammer. God realizes that in the future you may 0:19:39.700 --> 0:19:43.140 encounter something difficult to take out, so he gives you pliers. 0:19:43.619 --> 0:19:46.980 God fills your tool belt, your spiritual tool belt, in 0:19:46.980 --> 0:19:50.340 order for you to succeed in life and in Christ. 0:19:51.100 --> 0:19:54.740 And he has filled your spiritual tool belt with all 0:19:54.780 --> 0:19:58.619 the tools that you need to live victorious in Christ 0:19:58.619 --> 0:20:03.740 Jesus all the way victorious. And so in Ephesians, what 0:20:03.740 --> 0:20:06.939 he starts telling us is he starts telling us what 0:20:06.940 --> 0:20:10.699 is in our spiritual tool belt. And I'm going to 0:20:10.700 --> 0:20:13.340 show you for a second what he's placed in your 0:20:13.340 --> 0:20:15.740 spiritual tool belt. If you're taking notes this morning, write 0:20:15.740 --> 0:20:20.699 it down. Number one, you are blessed. So one of 0:20:20.700 --> 0:20:25.700 the things that's in your tool belt is your position 0:20:25.700 --> 0:20:28.740 in Christ. Notice what it says in verse three. Praise 0:20:28.780 --> 0:20:31.859 be to God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 0:20:32.300 --> 0:20:36.260 who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every 0:20:36.260 --> 0:20:42.100 spiritual blessing in Christ. Praise be to God in our father, 0:20:42.100 --> 0:20:46.020 our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in spiritual realms. 0:20:46.020 --> 0:20:53.100 With what? With every spiritual blessing. Not just some. Every 0:20:53.100 --> 0:20:57.980 spiritual blessing. Listen to me well, listen. This world is 0:20:57.980 --> 0:21:05.780 divided into two worlds. There's a dichotomy means divided into two. 0:21:06.060 --> 0:21:09.220 We have the physical world that is, the world that 0:21:09.220 --> 0:21:14.980 we can see, touch, smell, feel, hear. That's the physical 0:21:14.980 --> 0:21:18.020 world that we live in. But just as real as 0:21:18.020 --> 0:21:21.700 the physical world, there is a spiritual world as well. 0:21:22.060 --> 0:21:26.300 It's a world that you cannot see. You cannot feel, 0:21:26.619 --> 0:21:31.500 you cannot touch, you cannot smell, you cannot hear because 0:21:31.500 --> 0:21:36.980 it's in the spiritual realm, in that spiritual world. There 0:21:36.980 --> 0:21:41.380 is good spirits and bad spirits. There is the Holy Spirit, 0:21:41.380 --> 0:21:44.419 which is the Spirit of God. But there are also 0:21:44.500 --> 0:21:49.060 fallen spirits or evil spirits as well. Our spirit is 0:21:49.060 --> 0:21:51.940 in that world. Half of our body is in the 0:21:51.940 --> 0:21:54.820 physical world, and half of our self is in the 0:21:54.820 --> 0:21:59.709 spiritual world. Your physical body is here. But listen, the 0:21:59.710 --> 0:22:03.950 moment that you die, you do not cease to exist. 0:22:04.109 --> 0:22:07.710 Because you are not just made of body, you are 0:22:07.710 --> 0:22:13.110 made of body, soul and spirit. Your soul and your spirit, 0:22:13.109 --> 0:22:18.790 which are spiritual, continue to live even after your body dies. 0:22:19.430 --> 0:22:21.910 Are you tracking with me? There have been many people 0:22:21.910 --> 0:22:25.149 that have been close to death. Have you heard the stories? 0:22:25.150 --> 0:22:28.470 When someone's on an operating table and they're about to die, 0:22:28.950 --> 0:22:33.190 and they tell stories about how they see themselves. The 0:22:33.190 --> 0:22:37.030 back of the doctor's head operating on their body, trying 0:22:37.030 --> 0:22:39.670 to revive them. And when they come back to life, 0:22:39.910 --> 0:22:45.350 they'll talk about having seen themselves on the operating table. Why? 0:22:45.630 --> 0:22:49.109 Because their soul and their spirit is starting to leave 0:22:49.109 --> 0:22:53.550 their body. And as their body's revived, then they go 0:22:53.550 --> 0:22:57.030 back into their body. And so you and I live 0:22:57.030 --> 0:23:00.230 constantly in two worlds. We live in the world of 0:23:00.230 --> 0:23:03.030 the spirit and we live in the world of the body. 0:23:03.470 --> 0:23:06.670 Many of us believe that the solutions to our problems 0:23:06.869 --> 0:23:11.790 are that we need more in the physical world. And 0:23:11.790 --> 0:23:14.230 someone asks you, well, what's your problem? Will I need 0:23:14.230 --> 0:23:17.870 a raise at my job? I need a bigger house, 0:23:18.510 --> 0:23:22.350 I need a car. I need more health to my body. 0:23:22.750 --> 0:23:25.790 And we're aware of our physical world. But I want 0:23:25.790 --> 0:23:29.629 you to understand me. Well, the key to the physical 0:23:29.630 --> 0:23:33.869 world is, first of all, found in the spiritual world 0:23:34.470 --> 0:23:39.709 because our spiritual world influences and affects our physical world. 0:23:40.150 --> 0:23:43.550 Whatever is changed in the physical world, first of all, 0:23:43.590 --> 0:23:45.710 is changed in the spiritual world. 0:23:52.630 --> 0:23:54.670 This is bold steps, and you're listening to the Bible 0:23:54.670 --> 0:23:57.030 teaching of Mark Jobe. And here at Bold Steps, we 0:23:57.070 --> 0:23:59.840 love getting letters from listeners like the one we heard earlier. 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.080 And if you'd like to share your story with us, 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:04.280 there's a number of ways you can reach out. You 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:07.880 can send us a message through our website, npr.org. You 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:12.240 can email us at Bold Steps. You can also call 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:14.320 us and leave a recorded message over the phone by 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:23.520 dialing (312) 329-2011. That's 312329 2011. And of course, as always, 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.280 our mailing option just send your letter to Bold steps. 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:32.440 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And then 0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:35.280 I have a final question for you today. Who are 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:39.199 you really? When someone asks, tell me about yourself. What 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:42.480 do you say? Well, the world often assigns us labels 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.120 as followers of King Jesus. We've been given a brand 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:47.680 new identity. And that's why we're thrilled to offer you 0:24:47.680 --> 0:24:50.640 more than a label. Discovering who you are in Christ. 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:53.199 A brand new 15 day devotional from the desk of 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.800 Mark job. In this powerful new resource, Mark takes you 0:24:56.800 --> 0:24:59.600 on a journey through God's Word to reveal the truth 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:03.480 about your identity in Christ. Through this devotional, you'll uncover 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:06.720 who God created you to be while your identity matters 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:09.000 and how to live out your true purpose in calling. 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:12.040 This exclusive new resource is available to you with your 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:15.560 donation of any size to support the ministry. So whether 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:18.320 it's a single donation or a faithful investment as a 0:25:18.320 --> 0:25:21.560 monthly bold partner, request your copy of More Than a 0:25:21.560 --> 0:25:27.560 Label when you give today at Bird-stamps.org. I'm Wayne Sheppard 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:29.959 on behalf of the entire Bold Steps team, thanks for 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:32.240 being with us today. Be sure to join us again 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:35.520 tomorrow when Mark concludes this discussion on learning to take 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.560 your place. This message comes from our series when you 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:41.960 believe Everything changes, and we invite you to listen Wednesday 0:25:41.960 --> 0:25:46.440 to hear more bold steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps 0:25:46.440 --> 0:25:49.280 is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody 0:25:49.280 --> 0:25:50.440 Bible Institute.