S1: What is a heart that's fully devoted look like? Today
S1: a challenge to go all in spiritually. Stay tuned.
S2: When God finds a heart that is fully devoted to him,
S2: it makes him stop. You know what that tells me?
S2: That hearts that are fully devoted to God are rare.
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 begin a three part message series
S1: that focuses on what it means to be fully devoted,
S1: what it looks like to be all in spiritually. And Mark,
S1: I think this is a subject that deserves a lot
S1: of attention.
S2: It really is. And Wayne, you know, this passage speaks
S2: to my heart because when Asa was young, He depended
S2: on God and relied on God. The more seasoned and
S2: experienced he got, the more he depended on his experience,
S2: his network. And I've often prayed, Lord, as a leader, um,
S2: I want to I want to keep that simplicity of
S2: a child. Don't ever let me get to the point
S2: that I think I can. My network, my relationships, my
S2: experience can sabotage that genuine, simple dependence on God.
S1: We cannot coast, can we?
S2: No we can't. And so this is a powerful message.
S1: Yeah it is. The title is When God Stops. And
S1: if you miss any part of today's broadcast or want
S1: to listen again. All of Mark's teaching is available online
S1: at Bold Steps. Radio.com. Now from our series Fully Devoted,
S1: here's today's message based in Second Chronicles 16. Mark Jobe
S1: with today's bold steps.
S2: I was at my son's high school graduation grant, I
S2: believe it was on a Sunday. And so we got
S2: there a little bit late, entered into the auditorium. It
S2: was packed out. We managed to get a seat, two
S2: seats together. My wife and I barely squeezed in, and
S2: then the first thing that my wife said is, where's Grant?
S2: So I looked over the sea of heads and they
S2: had all their graduation caps on, so they all looked
S2: the same and they had their graduation gowns on, so
S2: they all looked the same. And so I was scanning
S2: row by row. Let me see. No, no. Does that
S2: look like him? I can't really tell. I thought I
S2: found him. I looked a little bit closer. No, it
S2: wasn't him. I was going row by row trying to find.
S2: Where is Grant? Like, where's Waldo? Row by row trying
S2: to find. Where is Grant? Then finally I saw, I
S2: think I found him and I looked over. Sure it's him.
S2: I pointed to my wife. It's him. Do you see him?
S2: Look right over there. Second or third row? Over. Do
S2: you see him? And she said, aha, I see him now.
S2: Don't lose him, because we finally found him. There's a
S2: passage in Scripture that said, God does that. In fact,
S2: it says that the eyes of the Lord go to
S2: and fro throughout all the earth. He scans cities, neighborhoods, communities.
S2: His eyes go back and forth. It says in the
S2: Hebrew that literally it says, the eyes of the Lord
S2: go back and forth, scanning, looking. Can I find one?
S2: Can I find one? Lands on Chicago, 77 neighborhoods. Can
S2: I find one? Goes up on the north side, Rogers Park, Evanston.
S2: Can I find one? Goes down to the loop. Can
S2: I find one? Goes to the southwest side of Chicago.
S2: Neighborhood by neighborhood. Garfield. Can I find one? Goes home
S2: by home, home by home. Can I find one? Can
S2: I find one address by address? Can I see one?
S2: Where is it? What is God looking for that's so unique,
S2: that's so rare, that's so hard to find. And finally,
S2: when he sees one, his eyes stop and he says, aha,
S2: I got one, You say, what is so rare that
S2: God is searching for what is so unique that even
S2: God has to search for them? This verse of Scripture
S2: tells us that what God is searching for, that makes
S2: God stop at your address is one thing. When God finds,
S2: hear me. Hear me now. When God finds a heart
S2: that is fully devoted to him, it makes him stop.
S2: You know what that tells me? That hearts that are
S2: fully devoted to God are rare. Second Chronicles chapter 16,
S2: verse nine says, for the eyes of the Lord range
S2: throughout all the earth. Another translation says, for the eyes
S2: of the Lord move to and fro throughout all the earth,
S2: that he may strongly support those whose hearts are completely his.
S2: Or those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What
S2: this passage tells me is that if you position yourself
S2: with a heart that's fully devoted to God, that God
S2: will strengthen you, pour out his power upon you. God
S2: will stop and say, I found one, and if I
S2: found one, I'm going to pour power upon this heart.
S2: Strengthen this heart, because I found a heart that's fully
S2: devoted to me. So I wonder today, if God were
S2: to scan these rows back and forth from front to back,
S2: from end to end, whether he would stop in your chair,
S2: whether the heart of God would stop and say, yeah,
S2: I found one that's fully devoted, not halfway devoted, not
S2: partially devoted, not somewhat interested, not semi lightly committed. But
S2: if you would find a heart that says, aha, I
S2: found a heart that's fully devoted. Second Chronicles is really
S2: about a man by the name of Asa. King Asa.
S2: And I want to tell you a little bit of
S2: his story, because this passage is in the context of
S2: King Asa's story. And I'm going to begin reading in
S2: verse two. It says, then Asa brought out the silver
S2: and gold from the treasures of the house of the
S2: Lord and the king's house, and sent them to the
S2: king of Aaron, who lived in Damascus, saying, let there
S2: be a treaty between you and me, and between my
S2: father and your father. If you're taking notes, I want
S2: you to write this down. Fully devoted heart refused to
S2: give what belongs to God to others. Let me give
S2: you the story of King Asa a little bit and
S2: give you the context. King Asa was a king that
S2: started when he was young and when he started being
S2: king of Judah, of the Israelites. He was devoted. He
S2: was zealous. He started out wanting to follow God with
S2: all of his heart. He was a righteous king in Israel.
S2: Sometimes you had a good king, a bad king, a
S2: good king, a bad king. No, Asa was one of
S2: the good kings. He had a zeal for God. He
S2: wanted to follow God. He wanted to turn the nation
S2: back to God. He prayed. He called unto God. He
S2: had this fire and zeal about him that was compelling.
S2: People saw it and knew it. He was a man
S2: that was trying to seek after God. But as he grew,
S2: as he changed, as he went forward, something in his
S2: heart started to shift. Something in his heart started to change. Oh,
S2: he still believed in God. He still followed God. But something.
S2: The zeal, the fire, the drive, the The passion seemed
S2: to grow less and less the older he got. In
S2: the beginning, he was naively zealous about God. In fact,
S2: an entire army came against him and was about to
S2: threaten and wipe them out. They could have wiped them out.
S2: And instead of organizing his armies and instead of going
S2: to battle, what he did is he prayed. He got
S2: on his knees before God. He called a fast. He
S2: prayed before God. He called up unto God, God, spare us,
S2: deliver us, help us. Because I can't do this on
S2: my own. And God miraculously turned the whole situation around
S2: and King Asa came out winning simply because he called
S2: upon the name of the Lord. You know, there's something about.
S2: Young faith that's endearing. How about it? Something about first believing.
S2: You just start believing in God. And you're young and
S2: your faith is zealous and you're new to it, and
S2: suddenly you've been awakened from your spiritual deadness and you're
S2: excited about God and you do crazy things. Your car
S2: stops and can't get it started. So you lay your
S2: hands on the hood and you say, in the name
S2: of Jesus, I pray. Father, start this up and you
S2: go in and try it again. And if it doesn't work,
S2: you go out again. Lord, in the name of Jesus,
S2: I pray, come. Power the Holy Spirit, revive this car
S2: and you see your car start. You see things, crazy
S2: things that people are saying. You're nuts. Why are you
S2: doing that? Why? Because God has awakened you. You're excited
S2: about God. You pray like a little kid would pray.
S2: You pray with faith, with zeal, with excitement. You can't
S2: wait to get to the house of God and worship God.
S2: I've had some of you tell me that when you
S2: first came to God and God started working in your life,
S2: you couldn't come to a worship service without crying. You'd
S2: come in as soon as the song would start playing.
S2: You didn't know why you felt awkward. Some of you
S2: have told me you had to leave the auditorium because
S2: you just start weeping and crying. Why? Because the presence
S2: of God was so sweet and powerful. You just felt
S2: moved in your heart by the presence of God. You
S2: find yourself reading the Bible, getting up and saying God
S2: spoke to me, being excited, calling up a friend and saying, hey,
S2: I may sound crazy to you, but guess what? I
S2: read my Bible. I feel like God spoke to me.
S2: You see signs and there's zeal in your heart and
S2: you want to talk to people. You come early to worship.
S2: You raise your hands and something inside is moving you. Why?
S2: It's young faith, zealous faith. Faith that simply says, I
S2: trust God. But with time something happens. Sometimes, if we're
S2: not careful with time, with time we become more seasoned.
S2: With time we become more well, we know it. We
S2: become more self-reliant. We become more educated about religious things.
S2: We become more knowledgeable. And sometimes as our knowledge grows,
S2: our fire goes down. And sometimes as our familiarity with
S2: God grows, our passion goes down. And sometimes what we
S2: find ourselves with greater knowledge, but with less passion, we
S2: exchange one for the other. You know, the Bible says
S2: that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, you
S2: must be like a child. And you wonder why, like
S2: a child, I think it's not about not knowing. It's
S2: not about naivety. It's about the simplicity of faith that
S2: a child has when the father walks in and they say, daddy,
S2: when a little kid walks in. When, when my kids
S2: were small, I'd come to the door and when they
S2: were old enough, they were 3 or 4. They would
S2: run to the door. They wanted me to hold daddy,
S2: daddy and I'd pick him up and throw him daddy, daddy.
S2: And I'd try to hold them all at the same time. Why?
S2: Just the simplicity of a little kid excited that their
S2: dad is home. And if you hear them talk to
S2: their friends. My daddy is stronger than your daddy. I mean,
S2: they believe that their daddy could lift up cars and
S2: and their daddy could almost do anything. There's this. My
S2: daddy can do it. Wait till I call my daddy.
S2: My daddy is here. The simplicity of. Yeah, I know
S2: my daddy. If he's here, everything's okay. The simplicity of
S2: a child. And Jesus said, if you want to enter
S2: the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God belongs to
S2: those whose faith is like that of a child. Asa
S2: started that way, but something changed inside of his heart.
S2: In fact, now it tells us in Second Chronicles that
S2: early on in his career. He trusted God and prayed
S2: and God answered. But this time around, the same thing happened.
S2: The armies came against him, and this time around he
S2: was less passionate about his faith. He was less naive,
S2: less sincere, less zealous. This time he decided to make
S2: a treaty. And so he actually went into the house
S2: of God, into the temple, and he took all the
S2: gold and silver appliances and cups out of the house
S2: of God. And he took them all, and he got
S2: some from his own house. And he went and he
S2: brought the treasure before the king of Aram and said, hey,
S2: I'll give you this treasure, and let's make a treaty
S2: this time instead of going to God. He took that
S2: which belonged to God and gave it to someone else.
S1: You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe here
S1: on Bold steps. We will continue in a moment. Let
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S1: get back to Mark's study and being fully devoted to God.
S1: Once again, here's Mark Jobe.
S2: And I was thinking about that. The natural tendency for
S2: us as we grow older to become more self-reliant. The
S2: natural tendency to become more self dependent instead of God dependent.
S2: The natural tendency to lose our zeal to become a
S2: little bit more cynical. To become a little bit less passionate.
S2: I'm not impressed by a new believer that's zealous about God.
S2: I'm impressed by someone that's walking a long time in
S2: a zealous about God. You know, I'm not really impressed
S2: by a young dating couple that's only started to date
S2: three months, and they're all over each other and just
S2: looking at each other's eyes. Can't sit in church without
S2: rubbing each other's hair and get as close as they can. Like,
S2: are you 1 or 2? They can't tell. Because, yeah,
S2: they've only been dating a short amount of time. What
S2: I'm impressed with is someone that's been married for 20
S2: years and they still have a zeal and desire for
S2: one another. What I'm impressed is long term zeal. What
S2: I'm impressed is a zeal and a fervor that goes
S2: beyond the infatuation stage. But that goes for a long time.
S2: Let me tell you what I'm impressed with is not
S2: a new believer that zealous about God. What I'm impressed
S2: with is someone that's walked with God for 25 years
S2: and has a passion and zeal for the things of God.
S2: That's what impresses me. Something about Asa had changed. Instead
S2: of the simple, sincere faith of going to God, now
S2: he's making deals, now he's actually taking things from God
S2: and buying off his enemy. Now I want to tell
S2: you that it worked. But how many? How many of
S2: you know? Just because it works temporarily doesn't mean that
S2: it's good in the long run. You may do something
S2: right now that fixes something temporarily, Rarely, but that long
S2: term has a devastating effect upon your life. King Asa
S2: went into the temple, gathered the stuff and gave it away.
S2: I thought to myself, how do we do that today? Oh,
S2: we don't go into the temple, get things and and
S2: sell it. But we do it with our life. When
S2: we came to Christ, when we came to God. I
S2: was 15. When I gave my life to Christ, knelt
S2: in the basement of my grandmother's apartment, and I said, Lord,
S2: I know I could go in a lot of different directions.
S2: I was a sophomore in high school. My friends were partying.
S2: Everybody was going in their direction. I was being pulled
S2: one way or another. I kneeled beside my bed and
S2: I said, I know that I know about faith and
S2: I know about God because I was raised in it,
S2: but I have to. I have to choose. Will that
S2: be my God? Will that be my faith? Will that
S2: be my journey? Or is that the faith of my parents.
S2: At 15 years old, I knelt beside and I said, Lord,
S2: I'm going to follow you. I'm going to give my
S2: life to you. You will be my Lord, whatever the cost.
S2: And when I got up, I felt it like I
S2: have just given my life to Jesus. When you come
S2: to Christ, you say, you're Lord of all. My heart
S2: belongs to you, God. But you know, it's interesting that
S2: we can take well our time that really belongs to God.
S2: And you look over your week and you say, really?
S2: How much of your time have you actually given to God?
S2: I mean, really, if your life belongs to God, how
S2: much of your time have you actually spent on the
S2: things that belong to God? You say, hey Lord, my
S2: energy belongs to you. Lord, how much of your energy
S2: has actually gone into something that is God centered? Your praise? Oh,
S2: you give credit to people. You thank people at your job.
S2: You thank family members. You think other people. But really,
S2: how much of the credit have you given to God?
S2: And are we? Are we taking it from the house
S2: of God, from the things of God, and giving it away,
S2: and have very little that we can offer to God?
S2: How much of your talents? Some of you here are
S2: extremely gifted, extremely talented. God has enabled you to do things.
S2: Some of you are mechanical, some of you are artistic.
S2: Some of you are creative. Some of you have verbal skills,
S2: relational skills you have. You are uniquely qualified and uniquely
S2: empowered by God for certain things. But you're taking really
S2: all of that God is giving you and using it
S2: on things that have almost nothing to do with anything
S2: remotely related to God. Maybe good things, maybe nice things,
S2: but really, how much of it really belongs to God? Asa,
S2: as he grew compromised in his life. Asa as he
S2: grew his priorities, his resources. Instead of going to God,
S2: he started taking what God had given him, what belonged
S2: to God, and started giving it away in his own compromise.
S2: I'm talking about hearts that are fully devoted. Number two,
S2: not only does a heart fully devoted refuse to give
S2: what belongs to God to others, but also secondly, a
S2: heart that is fully devoted puts their reliance on God
S2: above all else. Notice what it says in verse seven.
S2: At that time, Hanani the seer or the prophet came
S2: to Asa, the king of Judah, and said to him,
S2: because you have relied on the king of Aaron, and
S2: have not relied on the Lord your God, Because you've
S2: relied on others and haven't relied on the Lord your God,
S2: you will not have a full victory. You see, what
S2: had happened is that Asa had stopped trusting God and
S2: he started trusting himself.
S1: You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe on
S1: bold steps, and be sure to join us Tuesday when
S1: we continue with part two of this message titled When
S1: God Stops. Mark, let's take a moment to talk about
S1: our bold step gift, the six conversations. Now you are
S1: a college president. I think it's appropriate that we have
S1: a guest who know something about that.
S2: Absolutely. I take my hat off to all college professors,
S2: and our guest today is actually a professor at Penn State.
S2: You know, as a college professor, she has a unique
S2: perspective on how younger generations engage in conversations. And so,
S2: doctor Heather Holloman is our guest. And welcome, Heather.
S3: Thank you.
S2: Heather. Speaking generationally, you see that young people, college students
S2: maybe interact a little bit different than previous generations. And
S2: so let me ask you, what changes have you noticed
S2: and how does your book, the Six Conversations address those challenges?
S3: Well, because there's such a reliance on their phone for
S3: texting and just the communication through social media, my students
S3: have really lost the ability to engage in meaningful conversation
S3: face to face. Most, most what I'm seeing is they're
S3: not really good at asking those first questions and then
S3: follow up questions. They've sort of lost that art of
S3: interpersonal curiosity, and I tell them it's their number one
S3: professional development skill to thrive in the workplace, to become
S3: a curious person about other people.
S4: You know. That's so true. Yeah. When when people are
S4: looking down at their smartphones and just engaging via social media.
S4: I've noticed a lot more awkwardness in just having natural conversations.
S1: So, Heather, can this book help us as parents relate
S1: to our young people?
S3: Yes, immediately. In fact, I give readers six ways to
S3: be naturally curious about people in their life and not be,
S3: and learn how to ask really good questions of especially
S3: young people. And so once you ask that first question
S3: in any of the categories of what it means to
S3: be human, parents will know how to ask a really
S3: good follow up question. And with young people, they love
S3: the social category. They love to talk about their friends.
S3: They also love to talk in the physical category. New things.
S3: They're listening to new foods. They're trying new things they've
S3: done with their rooms, things like that.
S4: Hey, I love that. So if you are a parent
S4: or a grandparent and you're saying, I really want to
S4: connect with my teenager or my college student and get
S4: involved in some spiritually more deep conversations, but they seem
S4: to shut down very quickly, this book may be a
S4: great resource for you.
S1: And we'd be happy to send you a copy of
S1: the six conversations. When you make a donation of any
S1: amount to support bold steps. Call us at 800 Moody.
S1: That's (800) 356-6639 or give online at Bold Steps. You can
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S1: at Bold Steps. I'm Wayne Shephard. We'll see you again
S1: next time when Mark continues this message titled When God Stops.
S1: That's coming up Tuesday here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
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