S1: Today on Bold steps, Mark Jobe shows us the depths
S1: of God's power in our lives.
S2: When the power of God opens up your eyes, you
S2: start realizing, I knew in my head that he loved me.
S2: But now I know the depth and the power and
S2: the height. And I really understand that God loves me
S2: and who I am in God. I mean, this is incredible.
S2: You need power to do that.
S1: And welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe. Mark
S1: is the senior pastor of New Life Community Church and
S1: president of Moody Bible Institute, both in Chicago. And I'm
S1: Wayne Shepherd. Well, yesterday on the program, we gave you
S1: the first point related to seeing the depths of God's
S1: power in our life. And Mark said we needed to
S1: be looking closely at our diet to see what we're
S1: feeding our inner man. We'll pick up that point as
S1: we turn to the third chapter of the book of Ephesians,
S1: where in verses 14 through 21, let's join Mark job
S1: right now for today's message called The Power at Work
S1: in You.
S2: The old Jew doesn't like Jesus presence in your life
S2: to begin to rearrange the furniture. The old you likes
S2: to keep the furniture where you want it, the old
S2: you likes the locked doors and say, hey, don't get
S2: in this door. This is my door. The old you
S2: tries to make the Spirit of God feel like a
S2: guest in the house, and the only way to overcome
S2: it is the power of God. Paul says, I pray
S2: that you would have power, that Christ may dwell in
S2: your heart, may be at home in your life. You
S2: need power to do that. Listen, you can't. You cannot
S2: overcome the flesh without the power of God. You cannot
S2: white knuckle it to change yourself. You need supernatural power
S2: of God to begin to defeat the power of the
S2: flesh in your life. Your flesh is strong, and the
S2: more you feed it, the stronger it gets. Okay, so
S2: you're hanging out clubbing for three four hours with a
S2: Diet Coke, and you don't think that atmosphere people are
S2: bumping and grinding and going to town, and everybody's there
S2: to find who they're going to hook up with and
S2: get a little fringe benefits on the side. At the
S2: end of the night, you don't think that atmosphere is
S2: affecting you at all. So you live that. Listen to
S2: B96 all day, watch R-rated movies and and, and, and
S2: Desperate Housewives is your favorite program. And then and then
S2: you wonder why you're so weak and you say, pastor,
S2: I just don't understand it. I just want to say, but,
S2: but but hey, I do come to church on Sunday. Yeah.
S2: And you get a 45 minute message a week. But
S2: you've been feeding your soul garbage. Garbage most of the week.
S2: And you come on Sunday and have a big glass
S2: of carrot juice. And you think that it's going to
S2: fix your diet when you've been eating fries and and
S2: and garbage all week long and you think one big
S2: glass of carrot juice is going to fix you up,
S2: come on. No wonder you're struggling. Whatever you feed the
S2: most is what will have victory in your life. And
S2: some of you, you have the Spirit of God inside
S2: of you. But you live your Christian life constantly struggling
S2: because you feed your flesh much more than what you
S2: feed your spirit. When your flesh and your spirit go
S2: to battle, which they will often go to battle, they'll
S2: be constant battles between your flesh and your spirit. Your
S2: flesh wins because your flesh is has more food than
S2: your spirit does, And your flesh is pumped up and
S2: strong and fighting your spirit. And you just say, I
S2: don't know how to overcome. Well, I know begin to
S2: feed your spirit and begin to starve your flesh. And
S2: I can guarantee you're going to see much more spiritual
S2: victory than you do flesh victory in your life. And
S2: Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I
S2: pray the second prayer is. And I pray, I love this,
S2: that you, being rooted. And established in love, may have power.
S2: By the way, he uses a mixed metaphor here. Rooted
S2: is what a tree does. Grounded is the image of
S2: a building that has a good foundation. The general idea
S2: is that you have a strong foundation. You have to
S2: be rooted and grounded in love. What love? The love
S2: of God. And I pray that you, being rooted and
S2: grounded in love. May have. There goes again. Power. Power
S2: for what? Power together with all the saints. Who are
S2: the saints? We are the saints. Some of you have
S2: been listening. Who are the saints? We are. Some of
S2: you are having a problem with saying that. Like, ah,
S2: I don't know if I can call myself a saint pastor,
S2: you know. No, no, no. If you have the Spirit
S2: of God inside of you, you're a saint called apart
S2: unto God. That we may have power together with all
S2: the believers or all the saints. To do what? Power
S2: to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
S2: is the love of Christ. We need power to grasp
S2: the multi dimension of God's love. Uh, week and a
S2: half ago I went to see a movie with my
S2: 11 year old son and one of his friends. It
S2: was about wolves. And we went to an Imax. We
S2: went to and it was just a regular theater. But
S2: as we walked in, they said, this is a 3D film.
S2: It was a cartoon film. And so they give us
S2: these little, uh, glasses as we walk into the theater
S2: and they're 3-D glasses. And so we put these glasses on,
S2: and when the movie starts in 3D, if you don't
S2: have the glasses on, you see things kind of fuzzy, right?
S2: Have you ever done that? Taking off your glasses? 3-D theater.
S2: It's kind of fuzzy. It's not really focused, but you
S2: put the glasses on and suddenly you see everything in 3D.
S2: and it literally looks like images are like coming out
S2: of the screen at you, right? In fact, I looked
S2: over to my son and his friend and they're going
S2: like this, you know, kind. Of like, you know, I'm
S2: trying to touch the image there because because it looks
S2: like the image is coming out. Well, what Paul is
S2: saying is that some of you know about the love
S2: of God, almost as though you were seeing the love
S2: of God through a ten by ten black and white
S2: old fashioned TV. And you know about God's love. And
S2: if someone were to ask you, does God love you?
S2: You say, yeah, you know, God is love. You know,
S2: I guess he loves everybody, but but, but but you're
S2: seeing it in, in black and white and technically, you know,
S2: he loves you. And technically, you know God is love.
S2: But you need power. You need supernatural power of the
S2: Holy Spirit that opens your eyes and reveals to you
S2: the incredible beauty and depth and power and multi dimension
S2: of God's love. And so when the power of God
S2: opens up your eyes, you start realizing, wow, I knew
S2: in my head that he loved me. But now I
S2: know the depth and the power and the height. And
S2: I really understand that God loves me and who I
S2: am and God, I mean, this is incredible. You need
S2: power to do that. Let me tell you why that's
S2: so important. A lot of what we struggle with in
S2: life has to do with our identity. When we do
S2: not understand the love of God, we will struggle with
S2: our own identity, our own worth. And when you struggle
S2: with your own worth and your own identity, you will
S2: struggle with making good decisions in your life because however
S2: you see yourself will determine most the decisions that you
S2: make in life. If I do not realize how precious
S2: and valuable I am to God, and that I have
S2: worth and dignity, because God loves me and he's sealed
S2: me with His Holy Spirit, and he's called me his own.
S2: And when I know that God loves me in this way,
S2: then when people start treating me in ways that aren't
S2: in line with God's love, when I start dating and
S2: a guy, a young woman starts dating and she's treated
S2: like dirt and called names and not respected when she
S2: knows who she is, in the love of God, she says,
S2: hey buddy, to the curve with you because I'm not
S2: going to live with that or accept that. You know why?
S2: Because she knows who she is, but if she doesn't
S2: know who she is, if she views herself, if she
S2: hasn't grasped the love of God and she views herself there,
S2: then she accepts and takes and lives with stuff because
S2: she feels like that's what she deserves, or that's all
S2: she can get. And so she lives being treated in
S2: the way that she sees herself. The same with a man.
S2: If a man does not understand who he is and
S2: his dignity and value that he's made in the eyes
S2: of his creator, then he begins to live low. He
S2: begins to act low. He begins to talk low. He
S2: begins to conduct his life in a way that's well
S2: beneath his power and his potential. Why? Because that's the
S2: way he sees himself. When he begins to understand who
S2: he is, when he begins to understand his value, his identity,
S2: his fullness of God that he's made in the image
S2: of his creator, and that God has empowered him to
S2: be something well beyond what others around us expect of him.
S2: Then he rises to be a man of God. He
S2: rises to speak in a different way, walk in a
S2: different way. He he rises well beyond the norm. Why?
S2: Because he knows who he is.
S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. We'll continue
S1: today's message in a moment. Mark, there's something I've been
S1: noticing lately that I think many of our listeners are
S1: thinking about. With so many voices competing for our attention.
S1: There's social media news cycles, workplace demands. It's easy to
S1: lose sight of what matters eternally. And I find myself
S1: wondering how many Christians today are investing their best resources
S1: in things that won't ultimately last.
S3: You know, Wayne, I remember when my youngest son was
S3: playing football in high school. It was a big game
S3: and I went there. I was cheering him on And
S3: I got a phone call and I thought, well, let
S3: me pick up this phone call just for a moment.
S3: So I went down and I got on the phone call,
S3: and it was right at that time that my son,
S3: he intercepted a pass. And afterwards he said, dad, did
S3: you see that? And I had to say I missed
S3: the moment I was distracted by something. And in the end,
S3: it wasn't an urgent phone call. Listen, right now, there's
S3: a lot of distraction. The political environment in our country,
S3: there's a drama every day. There's a lot that's happening internationally.
S3: There's wars, there's natural disasters. It feels like we are
S3: just sucked into it. But I want to say, don't
S3: miss the moment. I believe that we are seeing more
S3: people come to Christ at this season at a time,
S3: especially under the age of 35, than I have ever
S3: seen in our lifetime. It's happening in Africa and Europe.
S3: It's happening in the United States of America. We at
S3: Bold Steps are committed to not get distracted, but to
S3: make sure that we are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus
S3: at a time of uncertainty so that people can come
S3: to know him in this window of opportunity that we have.
S3: So we want to encourage you. Pray. Don't miss the moment.
S1: Such an important word, Mark. Thank you. And if you
S1: would like to become part of this eternal work today
S1: by visiting us, you can do that at Bold steps.org
S1: and make a gift or call us at 800 Moody.
S1: That's (800) 356-6639. And when you do, we'll send you a
S1: special gift as a way of saying thanks for partnering
S1: with us and sharing God's truth that will last eternally.
S1: More on that later. But let's get back to the
S1: message now. Again, here's Mark Jobe.
S2: And then he goes on to say the third request.
S2: It's all about power. The third request is power. to
S2: experience this love and allow it to fill you. Notice
S2: what it says in verse 19, and to know this
S2: love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to
S2: the measure of the fullness of God. Hold on. How
S2: can you know something that is too great for your
S2: knowledge to grasp? He says, I want you to know it,
S2: but it surpasses your knowledge. Like someone saying to, you know,
S2: the the trigonometry professor saying to the student, listen, I
S2: want you to know this, but it's way beyond you.
S2: I want you to know this, but it's indescribable. Your
S2: mind cannot grasp it. Listen, what God is saying is,
S2: I don't want you to know this merely intellectually, because
S2: your finite mind cannot comprehend the depth and the power
S2: of God's love. So the only way you can know
S2: it is by experiencing it. You know, there are certain
S2: things that you can't describe. You just have to experience, right?
S2: You know, you try to describe it just like, yeah,
S2: just how do you describe a rainbow to a blind
S2: person that's never seen color? Seriously, someone that's never seen black, white,
S2: blue never seen light. They've been blind all their life.
S2: How do you describe the colors of a rainbow to
S2: a blind person? I mean, think about it. Try to
S2: do it in your head a little bit. Come on.
S2: I mean, it's really hard to describe someone to something,
S2: to someone that has no reference to grasp it. And
S2: what God is saying is that, listen, you have no
S2: reference to grasp how powerful his love is. Oh, yeah,
S2: we can say, well, you know, it's like the love
S2: of a man and a woman that is so bland
S2: compared to the love of God. I mean, it's not
S2: even a reference. I mean, you can say, well, it's
S2: like the love of a mother to a son and daughter. No, no, no.
S2: It's too bland. It's not even a reference there. It's
S2: so big. It's so much bigger than that. It's so
S2: much undescribable than that. It's something that you cannot really
S2: grasp with your intellect, but you can only experience with
S2: your spirit. As God ever worked in your life where
S2: people were trying to say, well, what happened? And you
S2: just can't explain it? I just don't know how to
S2: explain it. I just know that he has. Oh. What happened? Well,
S2: tell me about it. Well, I just I don't know
S2: how to describe it. I don't know how to articulate it,
S2: but God is working and touching in my, my life
S2: in such a way that I cannot articulate it or
S2: describe it. You know why? Because it belongs to the
S2: spiritual world, and the spiritual world cannot fully be articulated
S2: by our physical world, by our physical words, because it
S2: happens in the spiritual realm. And the spiritual realm cannot
S2: be comprehended by the physical realm completely. The spiritual realm
S2: cannot be understood fully in the physical realm because it's
S2: another realm. And what God is saying is, I want
S2: you to experience the power of God inside of you
S2: in such a way, and listen what he says in
S2: verse 19, that you may be filled to the measure
S2: of all the fullness of God. That you may be
S2: filled to the measure of the fullness of God. That
S2: you're going to be filled in a way not to
S2: your own fullness, but to the fullness of God That
S2: God's going to be filling you in such a way
S2: that his fullness in you. It's almost like taking a
S2: person and submerging them into something. When you begin to
S2: understand the love of God, it's like God taking you
S2: and submerging you in that, in the love that cannot
S2: be understood or comprehended in the physical realm. You need
S2: the power of God to understand it. It changes your life.
S2: When you begin to understand how much God loves you,
S2: you rooted and grounded in that love. It's a spiritual
S2: dimension and it can only happen through the spiritual realm.
S2: That's why you can be one of the greatest intellects
S2: in the world, and still not begin to even grasp
S2: the infinite part of God, because your finite mind cannot
S2: understand the infinite nature of God Almighty. And then he
S2: closes with this. And I'll close with this. Verse 20
S2: now to him who is able. Oh, I love this.
S2: Now to him who is able, who is able, God
S2: is able. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably.
S2: How much is immeasurably beyond measure? Can't even measure. Can't.
S2: I can't take a tape measure and measure it. I
S2: can't take a scale and weigh and weigh it. I
S2: can't measure it. It's beyond measurement. Now, to him who
S2: is able to do immeasurably. Way, way, way, way, way
S2: beyond your comprehension. Way, way, way beyond your ability to
S2: measure it. Now to him who is able to do
S2: immeasurably more than all that we ask or even imagine. Say, well,
S2: I'm going to ask God for this. God says, you
S2: don't even know. And your little petty prayer. I'm going
S2: to blow you out of the water because you don't
S2: even know how to articulate what I'm going to do
S2: to you. You don't even know how to ask what
S2: I'm about to unleash in your spirit. Your little prayer
S2: to ask of it wouldn't even, wouldn't even describe half
S2: of what I'm going to do. In fact, you can't
S2: even imagine. You can't even imagine what I want to
S2: do in your life and in your spirit and in
S2: your destiny. To him who is able to do immeasurably
S2: more than all that you can ask or even imagine
S2: to that God, to that God that is way beyond
S2: what you could ask or imagine. Have you ever talked
S2: with a little kid when they're little? They're young and
S2: they say. Ask for something, and they think they're asking
S2: for a lot. I'm going to be rich. I'm going
S2: to have $100. They're like blowing you away. Like I'm
S2: going to be rich one day. I have 100, $100.
S2: And that's the biggest they can think of. They don't
S2: even know. They don't even have the capacity or the
S2: language to ask for what really is coming. They think
S2: they're asking big hundred. We're like 100. 100? Yeah, I
S2: think that's that's God with us. You say I'm asking for. Whoa!
S2: And God's like you're asking for. Whoa! Really? I'll blow
S2: that out of the water. Him who is able to
S2: do immeasurably more than whatever we ask or imagine. How
S2: does he do it? According to the power. That is
S2: already at work within us. Oh, it's already there. The
S2: seed of transformation changed. The seed of metamorphosis, the seed
S2: of your destiny and work in your life is already
S2: deposited within you. It's a power that's already at work
S2: within you. The power of God inside of you. According
S2: to his power that's at work in our inner man
S2: or our inner being or within us. All that we
S2: can say is to him be glory in the church,
S2: because we are the church, the manifestation of that. And
S2: in Christ Jesus, not only in this generation, but through
S2: all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
S1: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
S1: than all we ask or imagine, according to his power
S1: that is at work within us. To him be the
S1: glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
S1: forever and ever. From Ephesians chapter three. Mark, thank you
S1: for a great message today.
S4: Yeah. Thank you Wayne. Such a powerful passage.
S1: Now coming up tomorrow, the 4th of July, by the way, here,
S1: we're going to move on to Ephesians four with a
S1: message about living up to our God given calling and
S1: purposes how to walk worthy. Give us a preview, Mark.
S4: Yeah, well, first of all, happy 4th of July. Yeah, right.
S4: We want to pause and just say we live in
S4: a nation with all its faults, all its issues, one
S4: of the greatest nations in the world. And God has
S4: truly allowed us to be a blessing to many nations.
S1: Happy birthday to.
S4: Us. Yeah, happy birthday to us. In Ephesians, the apostle.
S2: Paul tells us that we are to walk worthy of
S2: our calling. In other words, you have a calling upon
S2: your life and so step up and walk worthy of
S2: that calling. That's what this message is about. Ephesians chapter four.
S2: When you believe everything changes, walk worthy.
S1: All right. Thank you Mark. We're looking forward to that.
S1: And with a few minutes we have left, let me
S1: remind you that we have a brand new bold step
S1: gift available that we highly recommend in a world of
S1: social media and constant comparison. The ancient sin of envy
S1: has never been more prevalent or damaging. Pastor Mike Weber's
S1: book envy, provides a biblical roadmap for identifying this destructive
S1: emotion and finding freedom through Christ. Request this essential, bold
S1: step gift today and begin your journey toward contentment and joy.
S1: Request your copy of Pastor Mike's book on envy. When
S1: you give a gift of any amount to support the
S1: Ministry of Bold Steps. Call us at 800. D.L. Moody
S1: that's (800) 356-6639 or give online at Bold Steps. You can
S1: also send your donation and request pastor Mike Weber's book,
S1: envy by writing to us at Bold Steps, 820 North
S1: LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Again, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
S1: Illinois 606 ten. And before we sign off, let me
S1: remind you that all of these daily messages and faith
S1: building resources can be found anywhere, anytime, by downloading the
S1: Bold Steps app. So do that today by searching your
S1: app store for the free Bold Steps app with doctor
S1: Mark Jobe. I'm Wayne Shepherd. That's our time for today.
S1: Be sure to join us tomorrow though, when Mark shows
S1: us how we can always be walking worthy of God's
S1: call in our lives. That's coming up Friday right here
S1: on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a
S1: production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.