S1: Today on Bold Steps, Mark and Josiah Jobe continue their
S1: powerful Father's Day message by speaking the blessing into the
S1: lives of others.
S2: Part of the power of the blessing is to look
S2: at your children and to remind them that God has
S2: a future for them that you see in them what
S2: they don't see in themselves. Yet we can choose today
S2: to allow everybody that's around us to experience the blessing
S2: from our life, as we're filled with the love from
S2: Jesus Christ. Amen.
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is president
S1: of Moody Bible Institute, and he's the senior pastor of
S1: New Life Community Church in Chicago. My name is Wayne Shepherd. Yesterday,
S1: we began a special Father's Day message, where Mark was
S1: joined by his son, Josiah, to explore the biblical concept
S1: of blessing, particularly the The powerful impact of father's words
S1: and actions can have on their children. We learned about
S1: the importance of meaningful touch and affection as the first
S1: component of conveying blessing. If you miss that first segment,
S1: I encourage you to visit our website, npr.org, to catch up.
S1: But right now, to continue the message and discover the
S1: similarity between Mark and his son Josiah's voices, here's the
S1: power of the blessing on bold steps.
S2: And we see here in Genesis chapter 27 that Isaac
S2: blesses his son as an example to us. And it says,
S2: Isaac said, surely the smell of my son is like
S2: the smell of a field. I've never said that to
S2: my son. Which the Lord has blessed. Let people serve you,
S2: and nations bow down to you. You know what Isaac
S2: was saying to his son and modeling to us here
S2: as parents and and anyone that can use the power
S2: of blessing, he was conveying value and security to his
S2: son when he says, A blessed field. This is the
S2: idea of someone that has tremendous life and reward. He's saying,
S2: he's saying, he's basically saying, hey, you're going to be
S2: so successful, you'll smell like money. My dad has never
S2: said that to me either. He's saying, nations don't just
S2: bow down to anyone. Hey, my son, I want you
S2: to know that you are someone of worth and value.
S2: I don't want you to guess all throughout life, or
S2: be chasing it from all these other things in life.
S2: My responsibility as a parent is to bless you and
S2: fill in that blank with words of life, to empower
S2: you to live a life of blessing. And so this
S2: is the responsibility of a parent. And, you know, in
S2: our home, um, you can my dad would many times
S2: do this verbally pull us aside and speak into our
S2: life words that were just so meaningful. But one of
S2: the practices that he showed us as well, and he
S2: did in our home, is he would write letters every
S2: once in a while to his children. And I actually
S2: brought one from my little collection I have here. This
S2: is a letter that was written when I was in
S2: high school. And he would type these out and he
S2: would write us personalized letters speaking it. And I want
S2: you to hear it because I want to model to
S2: you and show you a great example for my father
S2: of adding value and blessing your children if you weren't
S2: raised in a home like that. November 22nd, 2009. Dear Josiah,
S2: I have been praying for you more intensely lately. I
S2: know that life can be challenging in high school. That
S2: feels a long way away. This morning I preached about
S2: calling out the mighty warrior in our sons and daughters.
S2: I believe that God has some great things in store
S2: for your life. Do you hear it? Value from a parent.
S2: I believe that there will be a spiritual battle for
S2: your soul and destiny. I know that the enemy will
S2: try to derail your life from fulfilling God's purposes. He
S2: will attack you even stronger when you are young, because
S2: he knows that you are still forming your identity and
S2: are more vulnerable. I believe that you are a man
S2: of God in the making. I see in you the
S2: heart of passionate and sensitive worshipper like King David. You
S2: have a sharp mind and an intuitive heart. Great communication
S2: skills and a very disarming way of relating to people.
S2: One day God will use all your gifts and talents
S2: for his purpose and his glory. This is a father
S2: that got serious about saying, I'm going to bless my
S2: children in a biblical way, where they're not going to
S2: have any blanks, but they're going to know how their
S2: dad feels about them. And you say.
S3: Well, yeah, that's because you were raising Josiah and he
S3: was a good kid. But, you know, when your kids
S3: are teenagers, sometimes you think they're going to change the world.
S3: Other times you think they're going to end up in prison. So, uh,
S3: it depends on the day and their mood, But I
S3: do believe that as parents, and since it's Father's Day,
S3: let me just challenge the fathers. There is no one
S3: fathers that can speak the words of influence like you can.
S3: There's no substitute for you, fathers. Your words have impact.
S3: So we have the expression of physical affection. The second
S3: element of the blessing is words of affirmation. And the
S3: third aspect of the blessing is a picture of a
S3: special future. So not only are you letting them know
S3: that they're loved, not only are you saying letting them
S3: know the value that they have by the words that
S3: you speak into them, but you're also helping your children
S3: understand that you believe that they have a significant future,
S3: that they have a purpose in their life, that there
S3: is a forward momentum in their life. And you see
S3: it if you look at, uh, for example, Genesis chapter 48.
S3: Jacob named Israel. He's speaking over his two grandsons. And
S3: he says, May the people of Israel bless each of
S3: you by saying, God make you as prosperous as Ephraim
S3: and Manasseh. He was speaking into his grandsons, and he
S3: was saying, I want the world to look at you
S3: and say, I want to be like them. You're going
S3: to have such an impact that people are going to say, hey,
S3: Ephraim and Manasseh are the people that we want to
S3: be like. He was speaking into their future. They had
S3: not yet achieved, but he was seeing something in them
S3: that maybe they did not see in themselves. Uh, can
S3: I tell you that we live in a time right
S3: now that sociologists, psychologists are telling us that they've never
S3: seen a generation that is struggling so much with anxiety, loneliness, isolation, depression,
S3: and sometimes suicidal ideation. If you have a junior high,
S3: high school, or even college age, there is a pandemic
S3: of anxiety that exists, uncertainty about the future, doubting of
S3: their worth and value. And I think this word of
S3: blessing and affirmation is more important now, probably, than any
S3: generation before us, that it is vital, crucial, essential that
S3: we as parents are able to speak into the identity,
S3: destiny and the future of our children. You know, you
S3: can't dictate what your children are going to be, but
S3: you can't speak into the fact that you see qualities
S3: in them that you believe are going to do something.
S3: I heard of a doctor that was taking their, uh,
S3: second grader. Uh, they were going to drop them off at, uh, school,
S3: and they had left their stethoscope in the backseat. And
S3: so they saw their daughter pick up the stethoscope and
S3: start playing with it. And immediately they thought, hey, she's
S3: going to follow my footsteps. Be a doctor as well.
S3: Until the little girl in the back seat said, okay,
S3: this is McDonald's. What is your order? And so I
S3: don't think that you can I don't think that you
S3: can dictate what your children are going to be, but
S3: you can let your children know that what you see
S3: in them before they see it in themselves. You know,
S3: that's the nature of God, For example, Gideon in judges.
S3: He had never done anything, never accomplished anything yet. And
S3: when God meets Gideon, he says, mighty warrior. He wasn't
S3: a mighty warrior. He was hiding in a cave from
S3: the enemy. But God saw something in him before he'd
S3: ever accomplished anything. Can I tell you something? Listen. God
S3: sees your potential. Not just what you've done, but who
S3: you are, what you can do. He speaks value into
S3: your destiny. Value into your future. He speaks that which
S3: is not yet as though it were. And I believe
S3: you say, pastor, you don't know my kid. No, I
S3: don't know your kid. But here's what I know that
S3: every child is made in the image of God, and
S3: there's dignity and value in each of them, regardless of
S3: what difficulty they may be going through at the time.
S3: Part of the power of the blessing is to look
S3: at your children and to remind them that God has
S3: a future for them, that that that you see in
S3: them what they don't see in themselves yet. I used to.
S3: Tell my boys, hey, you're a man of God in
S3: the making. I repeat that over to them. Hey, one
S3: day you're a man of God. I see it already
S3: in you. I would tell my daughter you're a woman
S3: of worth and value. A godly young lady, that God.
S3: And they were just young. But I would speak it
S3: into them, see it in their lives. My. I remember
S3: one day my son Grant, who's 25 now, he's probably
S3: about six years old at the time. I would pray
S3: for them and I would say, I would say to Grant, hey,
S3: one day you're going to marry a woman, you're going
S3: to be a great husband, and you're going to be
S3: a father. You're going to raise some children. And he
S3: would look at me like, I'm going to raise children. Yeah,
S3: one day you're going to raise children. You're going to
S3: lead them well, you're going to speak into their destiny.
S3: One day. I could see it in you already that
S3: you're going to be a good father and a good
S3: and a good husband as well. And I'll never forget,
S3: as a six year old, he kind of looked at
S3: me a little scared, and he said, I said, I'm
S3: praying for your wife. And he said, how am I
S3: going to know who she is? There's so many women
S3: out there. And I said to him, well, son, do
S3: you trust me? He said, yeah. I said, can I
S3: choose her for you? He said, yeah. I said, let's
S3: shake on this. I'm going to remind you later. So
S3: we shake on it and I remind him now, hey,
S3: we shook on it. So that's a done deal. But,
S3: but but why am I speaking into them? Because a
S3: little boy needs to have a vision of themselves in
S3: the future. Can I tell you something, fathers? Let me
S3: just be clear about this. If the message that your
S3: sons and daughters are getting from you is a message
S3: of disappointment, constantly a message of you're going to fail,
S3: how come you're not this? Why aren't you this? You
S3: need to do this. You're never going to amount to anything.
S3: You're just like your uncle that ended up in jail.
S3: You're going to. If that is the constant message that
S3: you're speaking into your sons and daughters, then the image
S3: that they have of their future is one of doom,
S3: of failure. The image that they have of their future
S3: is one of already disaster. You are shaping their future
S3: destiny by how you speak into their lives.
S1: This is bold steps. And before we continue today's message
S1: with both Mark and Josiah Jobe, I want to take
S1: a moment to talk about the blessing that you, the listener,
S1: can share today with your neighbors and strangers across the
S1: globe by partnering with this ministry. Mark, we call them
S1: bold partners.
S3: We do call them bold partners. And some of you
S3: are already part of this team and we want to
S3: say thank you. If you're interested in helping us really
S3: get this message to the nations, then I want to
S3: encourage you to become a bold partner. This is a
S3: Specifically a great time of the year to do so
S3: because we're in the final month of our fiscal year.
S3: So whether you become a gold partner or decide to
S3: give a year end gift, our fiscal year in this
S3: would be great to do it before July hits us.
S3: So thank you once again for helping this ministry, coming
S3: alongside of us and really being significant partners in getting
S3: the gospel to the nations.
S1: Yeah. Let me invite you to sign up today. It's
S1: easy to set up a monthly investment in this ministry.
S1: You can do that online through our website. Or call
S1: our team and become a gold partner by dialing 800 D.L. Moody.
S1: That's (800) 356-6639. All right. Now back to the message again.
S1: Here's Mark with today's lesson, the power of the blessing.
S3: I remember sitting down with my wife years ago when
S3: our kids were in high school, feeling like our interaction
S3: with our kids was always correcting. Clean up your room.
S3: Do this. Do your homework. How can you turn down
S3: the music? Why aren't you doing this? Your room's a mess.
S3: My daughter would say. We would say, honey, how could
S3: you live in such a messy room? She says, as
S3: long as I have a path. And I remember sitting
S3: down with my wife and saying, you know, I feel
S3: like a lot of our interaction is just negative. It's
S3: just doo doo. How come you're not? And I said,
S3: you know, we need to make sure that we're speaking
S3: in a positive way to our children. We need to
S3: speak into their life and into their future. And so
S3: we deliberately decided every day we're going to find something
S3: to affirm, find something to speak into their life. They're
S3: at a difficult time, the teenage years. But let's make
S3: sure that we speak into their destiny and in their life.
S3: And parents, sometimes you're there to correct, you're there to instruct,
S3: but you're also there to inspire and shape their minds
S3: who they will be in the future. When I was
S3: 21 years old, I had started to pastor and I remember.
S3: Shortly into it, I was a little bit frustrated with
S3: it and I was doubting whether I was called. I
S3: was doubting whether I was wired to be a pastor.
S3: I wasn't sure I could do this or if I
S3: had the gifting to do it. And I sat down
S3: and I talked to my father, who had been a missionary,
S3: trained and raised many, many leaders. And I expressed to him,
S3: I don't know if this is what I'm good at.
S3: I don't know if I really have the ability to
S3: do this. And I'll never forget, I was doubting myself,
S3: doubting my calling, wondering about this. And my father, the
S3: seasoned man who'd raised a bunch of leaders who I
S3: respected deeply. He looked at me and he said, are
S3: you kidding me, Mark? He said, you're a man of God. Oh,
S3: I see integrity in you. I've seen the call of
S3: God in your life for years. I've raised a lot
S3: of men, and I could see when someone has a
S3: call of God upon their life. And he said to me,
S3: he said this to me. He said, I would be
S3: honored to be under your pastoral leadership. To be honest
S3: with you, I don't know if it'd be a pastor
S3: if I hadn't had that conversation at a key moment
S3: in my life where I needed someone that saw something
S3: in me that at the moment I couldn't see in myself.
S3: Let me tell you something. Fathers look up at me.
S3: Never underestimate the power of your words. Never underestimate the
S3: power of your affirmation. Never just assume. Will they know already.
S3: Speak into their identity. Speak into the future what you
S3: see in them. Make sure that they know not just
S3: what they fall short in, but make sure they know clearly, powerfully.
S3: What you see in them may be that they don't
S3: even see in themselves. It's the power of the blessing.
S2: As you leave this place and you, you go, um,
S2: you know, to your gatherings and to your dinners and lunches,
S2: you know, I pray that some of you would take
S2: it serious and you'd find someone that that you really love,
S2: that you've never blessed before. Or maybe you haven't blessed
S2: in a long time, and you'd go up to them
S2: and you'd give them a hug. I mean, a tight embrace.
S2: And then you would take time to say, I want
S2: you to know the value that I see, and fill
S2: in those blanks and then speak into their future with
S2: the power of the words that you have. I hope
S2: you're serious about that. But can I tell you that
S2: as we finish with this final step, that if you
S2: do all that one time, you'll miss out on the
S2: reality of all the power that can have from doing it,
S2: not just once, but living a lifestyle of doing it.
S2: And the final essence, or essential here to the blessing,
S2: is an active commitment to seeing the blessing fulfilled. This
S2: is not just checking the box off one time, but
S2: living a life style of coming alongside those people that
S2: you value and love the most, and embracing the fullness
S2: of the blessing in their life, not just one moment.
S2: They point back to maybe that's the defining, the starting moment,
S2: but they can say, I lived a life where, you know,
S2: I was loved in this type of way by my
S2: father or my mother. They they didn't do it my
S2: whole life, but they started speaking it into my story
S2: and not just repeatedly living the lifestyle of it, but
S2: allowing your words to match your actions. Let me be clear.
S2: If you go to one of your children or someone
S2: that you love today and tell them how much they
S2: mean to you and how much value they have and
S2: how much how special they are to you, but then
S2: your life does not align with your words. You rob
S2: the blessing of its power. You tell your children how
S2: much they mean to you, but you're not there at
S2: their games and how special they are. But you're not
S2: present in the house and how important marriage is. But
S2: you don't love your spouse. Those words don't bless your
S2: child because they're not backed up by the reality of
S2: a life that you believe in, a life that you're living.
S2: But I want to say this as we conclude that
S2: one of the probably the biggest reason why most people
S2: withhold part of the blessing is that their parents never
S2: gave it to them. So it's hard to give what
S2: you never received. But I want to just encourage you
S2: with this, that even though you may have never received
S2: those blanks filled in in your life, by your father
S2: or by your mother, that doesn't mean that you can't
S2: be a blessing to people around you. Because if you've
S2: trusted in Jesus Christ and the work that he's done
S2: on the cross, you've been adopted into a new family
S2: with a new calling, and you have a Heavenly Father
S2: who's declared a lot about you in the Bible about
S2: the value and the worth and how you chose you
S2: before the foundation of the world. And he speaks the
S2: value that maybe your earthly father was never able to
S2: speak into you. God Almighty, the Heavenly Father speaks those
S2: words of life into you. Listen to second Corinthians 517,
S2: which speaks to the reality of a Christian. This means
S2: that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
S2: The old life is gone and a new life has begun.
S2: Paul wants us to understand that maybe you weren't raised.
S2: Maybe these words weren't spoken into your life. Maybe you
S2: never received the blessing from your parent, but you are
S2: now living a new life in Christ, and you need
S2: to pave a new life and a new way for
S2: your family and all of those around you. You are
S2: called by God Almighty Himself to be a person that blesses,
S2: that your life would be a river to all that
S2: that are around you. And so we have a choice.
S2: Today is what Deuteronomy says today. I have given you
S2: a choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.
S2: Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the
S2: choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life so
S2: that you and your descendants might live. And so each
S2: and every one of us has a choice to walk
S2: away with today. Do we want to choose to walk
S2: out of the new nature that we have and the
S2: new reality because of what Jesus is on the cross?
S2: That even though we may have not lived a life
S2: of blessing so far, that we can choose today to
S2: allow everybody that's around us to experience the blessing from
S2: our life as we're filled with the love from Jesus Christ. Amen.
S3: Yeah. There you go. Well, that was Josiah Jobe, my son, who's.
S1: Sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two of you.
S3: It is sometimes. That's what my wife says when she's
S3: walking through the halls of the church. But, you know,
S3: you may be listening to this message and thinking, you know,
S3: pastor Mark, I don't think I've ever received the blessing
S3: from my father, or what it means to walk in blessing.
S3: And so I want to take a moment and just
S3: pray blessing over you, if that's okay. Father, I pray
S3: for that person that has never heard from the lips
S3: of their father words of encouragement, of affirmation, of destiny,
S3: of worth, of value spoken unto them, Father God. There's, um,
S3: a dryness, a vacuum, a longing. And I pray in
S3: Jesus name that they would hear from you, God, their
S3: heavenly Father, their real, authentic heavenly Father, that they would
S3: hear the blessing spoken over them. And so, God, I,
S3: I thank you for their destiny. I thank you for
S3: their worth. I thank you for that. They they're made
S3: in the image of you, their father. I thank you, father,
S3: that you have a purpose and a plan for their life.
S3: I thank you, father, that they are uniquely gifted and
S3: crafted by you. Father, I thank you that you've known
S3: their name since the day that they were born. That
S3: there's never been a day that you have not cared
S3: about their life. I thank you, father, that even in
S3: the brokenness and difficulty of life, father, that you were there,
S3: and that you have used the chapters of pain to
S3: help form and them character that equips them even for
S3: what they're doing today. Father. So I pray blessing and
S3: goodness in your favor in Jesus name. Amen.
S1: Amen. Thank you. Mark. You're listening to Bold Steps with
S1: Mark Jobe in the end of a special Father's Day
S1: message and the power of the blessing. We encourage you
S1: to revisit any part of this message you might have missed,
S1: or share with someone you would like to hear it
S1: by going to our website Bold Steps. On our homepage.
S1: You can also check out an exclusive new resource we
S1: have available something special from Mark's desk. Introducing our new
S1: 15 day devotional, more Than a Label Discovering Who You
S1: Are in Christ. In this transformative study, Mark guides you
S1: through Scripture to uncover the profound truth about your identity
S1: in Christ. You'll explore what God designed you to be
S1: and understand why knowing your true identity is so vital.
S1: This engaging devotional will help you recognize your God given
S1: purpose and calling as you engage with biblical truth and
S1: learn to embrace who you really are. This month, we're
S1: offering this powerful resource to you with any donation that
S1: supports our ministry. Don't allow society's definitions to limit who
S1: you are. Embrace the life and purpose God has specifically
S1: planned for you. Request your copy of More Than a
S1: label today, and begin the journey of discovering the extraordinary
S1: person God created you to be. Simply visit Bold steps
S1: to donate and request more than a label. Or call
S1: us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's 39 or mail your
S1: donation and request to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
S1: Illinois 606 ten. By the way, for daily inspiration and
S1: biblical wisdom on the go, be sure to follow Mark
S1: on social media, too. You'll find engaging content and a
S1: vibrant community of believers when you connect with bold steps
S1: on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Mark's YouTube channel is
S1: a great place to get exclusive video content. There are
S1: special messages there and updates from Mark. So just search
S1: for Bold Steps radio and hit that follow or subscribe
S1: button when you find us. I'm Wayne Shepherd, signing off.
S1: On Monday we begin a series called When You Believe
S1: Everything Changes. Don't miss the start of this faith building
S1: study Monday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps
S1: is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody
S1: Bible Institute.