March 29, 2025 • 26 mins
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, you’ll learn how to ready yourself for the end of days. As we conclude our series, Beyond Now: How We Ready Ourselves for the End Times, Mark concludes the message this week from Matthew 24:36-51.
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
how to ready ourselves for the end of days.
S2 (00:07):
The best way to get ready is to get up
in the morning and say, Lord, my life today belongs
to you. And whether I have a time chart or not,
I want to live every day obeying you, loving you,
and serving you. Because that's how I live. Ready for
the end times.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago
and president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Today,
as we conclude our series Beyond Now How we ready
ourselves for the end Times, we're going to be discussing
the key attitudes we need in order to prepare ourselves
for the future. Mark started this message last weekend, so
(00:59):
if you missed the first part, You can find the
complete message online at Bold Steps. All right, now let's
jump into today's study from Mark Jobe. It's titled How
Ready are You?
S2 (01:11):
So you may show up one Sunday and you drive
into New Life parking lot and you ask yourself, wow,
are the bears playing to get today? Because this parking
lot looks very empty. And you walk in there. The
band is not there. People are looking a little confused.
(01:34):
Some straddlers are walking around saying, what? What's going on?
Where are people? What happened? There's a few people coming
in finding their seats. And I haven't seen pastor Mike.
I'm counting on you going, pastor Mike. So I haven't
seen pastor Mike. Where is he? So 1 or 2
(01:54):
things have happened. Either you forgot to turn your clock
back on the Sunday, that turns the clock back, and
you showed up early. Or it could be that the
rapture has taken place, because not everybody who claims to
be a church going individual is necessarily someone that's right
with God. I believe churches will have tons of people
(02:17):
that are left behind because it's not about joining a religion.
It's not about attending a church. It's about, are you
someone that is giving your life to Jesus Christ, walking
with him, filled with the Holy Spirit, and ready for
his return? Some will be left behind. There will be
(02:42):
some that will be left behind. And in the wake
of the disappearance of thousands of people, they will suddenly
realize that what was predicted and prophecy, what they've heard
about and taught about, was true. And it's at that
time that some of them will bow their knee and
repent and weep and say, God, I have. I have
(03:04):
not listened to your word. My mother's gone, my father's gone.
But I realize that I never surrendered to you. God,
I want to follow you now. And the Bible says
for those people, it will be a terrible, difficult, challenging
time of tribulation and persecution as they try to live
for God in a very, very challenging, difficult time. That
(03:30):
should not fill us with fear, but hope of understanding
that the God of the universe is in control and
has a purpose and a plan for his people. Yeah.
So live expectant. If someone tells you a time, a moment,
(03:51):
a day, do not believe it. But I believe as
believers in Jesus Christ, we should wake up every day
and say, today may be the day. Lord, come, Lord Jesus.
I believe that you should live your life in light
of the imminent return of Christ. Like he could come.
Come back any day now. And I expect it that
(04:11):
he could come back. And so I'm going to live
my life expecting that he's going to return. Every generation
should expect that in their lifetime, Jesus could return whether
it happens or not, in their lifetime. We live with
the imminent sense of the return of Christ. Sensing God
today may be the day believers in the New Testament
used to greet each other saying Maranatha, which means come,
(04:34):
Lord Jesus. Why would they say that? Because they believed
in the imminent return of Christ. Let me tell you
why we don't expect and anticipate and look forward to
the coming of Christ. If you live your life in comfort,
if there's relative safety, security and economic prosperity, we tend
(05:00):
to get enamored with this world, comfortable with our living.
In fact, most people in America, Christians that I know,
don't necessarily look forward to the coming of Christ. If
I were to say Jesus was coming Thursday. Some of
you would say, whoa, hold on. I had a quinceanera
(05:22):
planned for next month. It's going to really mess up.
I already put the deposit down. Some of you would
say I was about to retire in February. I mean,
come on. After all these years of working, finally I
was going to go and have some free time. And. Jesus,
you're coming now. Some of you say, hey, I already
(05:46):
put the down payment for our vacation in the Bahamas.
It's already bought over orbits. And now, Jesus, you're going
to mess up my vacation plans. But if you go
to a country where people are being persecuted, put in prison, tortured,
suffering their belongings, taken away, hiding because they, their wife
(06:12):
has been kidnapped, that they're living without their possessions, mere Bhai,
for the mere fact that they're followers of Jesus. They
would say yes, come, Lord Jesus. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Secondly,
(06:34):
Jesus tells us not only to live with a expectant
and informed attitude about his imminent return, but to stay
ready by living alert and watchful for his imminent return.
Verse 42 says this therefore. And anytime you see the word, therefore,
you need to ask, what is it therefore right? When
(06:56):
you see the word therefore in Scripture, it means that
it's building on the previous thought, because people will be
taken away, because one person will be left behind and
because Jesus will come unexpectedly. Therefore, keep watch because you
do not know on what day your Lord will come.
(07:17):
But understand this if the owner of the house had
known at what time of the night the thief was coming,
he would have kept watch and would not have let
his house be broken into. So you also must be ready,
because the Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him. In essence, what Jesus
is saying is that although you do not know the
(07:40):
day or the time or the hour or the month,
you do need to live with an attitude of readiness,
of watching and alertness. The opposite of ready is unready.
The opposite of alert is sleepy. The opposite of watching
is my eyes are closed. I'm unaware that something is happening.
(08:04):
I'm not seeing the signs of it. I'm not a
watchman on the tower. I've fallen asleep behind the wall.
And what Jesus is saying is that you need to
live your life with a watchfulness, a readiness and alertness
that knows this is going to happen at any time.
And we don't know when, when, exactly, but we're going
(08:27):
to live our life ready. A few years back, my
my daughter was in high school and she wanted to
do tutoring in a neighborhood in Chicago that was a
pretty rough neighborhood for a 16 year old girl to
be driving into. And so I sat down with her
(08:47):
and I said, okay. I went with her the first time,
and I said, you're going to go on your own,
but you're going to drive through this neighborhood, and I'm
going to tell you how to drive through that neighborhood.
So first of all, leave two car spaces ahead of you. Why?
Because if you have to make a getaway, you can
never get blocked in. Lock your windows. Be aware of
(09:11):
who's around you. Don't leave your purse on your seat.
Don't leave your cell phone on your seat. Make sure
that if someone approaches you, you know what's happening. My.
My wife didn't want me to let her drive to
that place, but I let her drive. But I warned her.
I want you to be alert. You have to be
careful because you're 16 years old and this is a
(09:33):
tough neighborhood you're driving through. And so I want you
to be alert. It's the same way. So she drove,
and she said, dad, I was watching, looking in the mirror,
kept some space before, had my foot on the gas
pedal just in case I had to take off fast. Why?
She was alert, watching, expecting. That's how we are to
(09:56):
live our life in Christ. We are to live our
life with our foot on the gas pedal, waiting and
expecting that the coming of Christ could be at any moment.
We live in light of the imminent return of Christ.
Some people that are real into Bible prophecy think that
they figured it out and they say, well, I'm not
(10:18):
worried yet because this prophecy has to happen or something
has to happen in Israel. So I think we have
some time. I don't think it's for you to tell
us if we have time or not. My Bible says
live ready. And so we live with this expectation that
Jesus could come at any time, any moment, any day.
(10:43):
You keep ready. What does that mean? It means listen.
The greatest way to keep ready. Is not to get
five transformers in your house. Bottles of water and a bunker.
In a time chart of the end days, predicting, yeah,
(11:06):
it's about three months away. No, no, that's not how
you get ready. The best way to get ready is
to get up in the morning, pull out your Bible
and say, Lord, my life today belongs to you. I
want to live with no unconfessed sin. I want to
live in obedience to you. I want to live full
of the Holy Spirit. And whether I have a time
(11:29):
chart or not, I want to live every day in
line with you, in obedience to you, obeying you, loving you,
and serving you. Because that's how I live. Ready for
the end times. See, I know people that have charts
(11:49):
but aren't living ready. I know people that have the
whole outline of the end times figured out, but they're
not living their personal life ready. You don't have to
be an expert in prophecy to be ready for the
coming of Christ. You don't have to know what the
ten horns of revelation mean to be ready for the
coming of Christ. You don't have to have diagrammed and
(12:12):
diagnosed the entire book of revelation and know what the
dragon means, and know who's coming from the East and
the south, the east, or the west. You don't have
to know all that to be ready. You have to determine,
I'm going to live my life surrendered to the Son
of God, full of the Holy Spirit. And. And if
he comes today, I'm ready because I'm living for him
(12:35):
every day of my life. That's how you live. Ready
for the coming of Christ.
S1 (12:44):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Today's
lesson is the second part of a study in Matthew 24.
It's titled How ready are You? And if you'd like
to replay or share this message, visit us online at
Bold Steps org. Mark will continue in a moment. You
can even listen and share the message directly from your
smart device by subscribing to our podcast. Just search for
(13:04):
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at the website, you'll also want to subscribe to our
other Bold Steps programs such as Mark's Daily Bold Steps
radio show, The Bold Steps Minute and Our Spanish Minute. Also,
you find them conveniently located inside your podcast number three.
S2 (13:23):
And I'll.
S1 (13:23):
Also invite you to join our vibrant and growing community
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S2 (13:27):
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S1 (13:28):
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S2 (13:31):
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S2 (13:36):
Radio, then, is the faithful and wise.
S1 (13:38):
Bold Steps.
S2 (13:39):
Radio. So now Jesus contrasts two people, the ready.
S1 (13:43):
Servant, into the second half of today's message.
S2 (13:45):
His title.
S1 (13:46):
Already are you.
S2 (13:47):
One he calls Faithful and wise, the other he calls wicked.
And he basically says, hey, imagine that there was a
master that owned a A precinct and a household. And
he leaves to go to a foreign country. And he
(14:08):
tells the manager in charge, hey, take care of my estate.
I will be back. Take care of it the way
I've trained you to take care of it. And so
that manager, when he leaves, he runs the household online
with the purposes of his master. He takes care of
the household as if his master was there. The owner
(14:30):
of the household. He runs it, prepares it. The house
is clean. The. The property's kept up. The employees are paid.
The four year is swept. The grounds are kept up well.
Because he knows that that's the way the owner of
the household wants it. And he's been left in charge
(14:53):
to manage the property. And when the owner returns, suddenly
he comes back and he says, wow, well done. You've
managed this property the way I would have had you
manage it if I were present. He said, there's another manager, though.
The owner leaves. He waves goodbye and he turns around
(15:14):
and says, party time. The boss is away. The children
will play like some of you do at work. But
he says, all right, the owner is gone. And so
now he starts acting like, hey, I'm not going to
run this household like my owner wants it to be run.
I'm going to start. I'm going to start having people
(15:36):
serve me, and I'm going to have a party. And
it gets drunk and he parties in there. He uses people,
abuses people, runs it, acts like he's the guy in charge,
uses everything for himself, gets in the wine cellar, pulls
out the oldest wine that he knows the owner would
only have. He breaks it open, acts like it's his.
He splurges, he uses. And then suddenly, when he's in
(15:58):
the middle of his big party. The outside is unkept,
people are in disarray. The other staff members feel abused
and trampled down. The inside is like one big party
and suddenly the owner of the household returns and says, hey,
what's going on? Oh, I didn't think you were returning
(16:21):
this quickly. That's how it will be with the coming
of the Son of God. There are some people that
understand about Christ that have heard the gospel, that have said,
I'm going to live my life as though my life
belongs to God. I'm purpose with God. He's entrusted me
(16:44):
with a mission and gifts and a vision, and I'm
going to live my life using my gifts and my
talents and my time and my treasure in line with
the purposes of God, because I know that my life
belongs to God and everything that I am belongs to God.
So I'm going to live my life as though God
(17:05):
is my the Lord of my life. Others have heard
about God and the gospel, but they determined to say, well,
he's not coming soon. I'm going to live my life
for me, and I'm going to act as though I'm
the owner of my life. Though every the talents that
I have belong to me, the resources that I have
belong to me. I'm going to have fun and party
(17:28):
and do what I want. I'm going to act like
I want treat people like I want because this is
all about me. And then God shows up. The image
that I have is a teacher that tells junior high students,
(17:51):
here's your assignment. I'll be back in five minutes. Behave.
And she walks out of the classroom. The door closes.
You know, there's always the one kid, right? He's the
first to get up and look out the window. She's gone.
He's the guy that gets everybody riled up. Pretty soon
(18:13):
he gets up front, acts like the teacher jumps on
her chair. He's on the desk doing a little dance.
Gets everybody riled up because they think, aha, she's not
coming back. There's a couple of them that are doing
their assignment, a couple of them that are still working
on it, and the class goes wild because they think, oh,
she's going to come back in about ten minutes, but
she comes back in about four minutes and catches the
(18:35):
dancer up on her desk. The Bible says basically, that's
the way it's going to be with the coming of
the Son of Man. So the question that Jesus stirs
(18:55):
us with is, are we ready? In fact, look at
what he says at the end. It's pretty harsh what
he says. It says the master of that servant comes
in the day when he does not expect him, and
at an hour that he is not aware, and he
he will cut him to pieces and assign him a
place with the hypocrites where there is weeping and gnashing
(19:17):
of teeth. Wow, that's pretty severe. Weeping and gnashing of teeth,
by the way, is always associated with a place of.
Of judgment often associated with hell itself. In other words,
that that servant that's not living for God. That servant
(19:39):
that's not following God. That servant that knows the message
but hasn't embraced it. When the Son of Man appears
and he's living for himself, then judgment comes upon that person.
I want to close with this. I believe that God
(20:00):
has called you and I in our generation to live,
prepared and ready for the coming of our Christ. I
just wonder. What would be your reaction? If you found
(20:23):
out that that day was two days from now? Some
of you would say, come, Lord Jesus, I've been waiting
for this day with such great anticipation and joy. I've
told everybody I can about you. I'm living for you.
(20:46):
I've walked in obedience. Oh, Lord, I'm not perfect. But
I'm forgiven and living for you. God, I wait for
that day with such glorious anticipation. Come, Lord Jesus. Others
would be scrambling. Oh, Lord, not in two days. I
(21:08):
haven't told my friends, my relatives. I haven't shared the gospel.
I'm not living the way I should be living. I'm
afraid of that day coming. I'm afraid. What to expect
and find when I meet you. Because I've been living
my life kind of doing my own thing. Father. And. Whoa! No,
don't come yet. Could you wait a month or two months?
(21:30):
Not ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?
I believe God is raising a generation of men and
women that are ready and willing to live with an
end times mentality. A generation of men and women that
are bold for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not
ashamed to be a light in a world that's getting darker.
(21:52):
I believe that God is raising a generation of men
and women that are living with readiness in their soul,
Expecting the imminent return of Jesus Christ, living in obedience
to him, walking in a way that honors him, so
that if Christ were to come back tomorrow, they would say,
I live ready every day. So come, Lord Jesus. And
(22:15):
I wonder which one of those you are if you're ready.
If you anticipate it. If you say, pastor, there's so
many things I need to get right before that happens.
So much I have to work on people I have
(22:36):
to forgive, steps I need to take. Things in my
life that I know God is displeased with, their habits
I need to release, and people I need to forgive,
and steps that I need to take and people I
need to tell I'm not ready. Now's the time. To
(23:00):
get ready.
S1 (23:11):
Mark job with the conclusion of a message titled how
ready are You? You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend. If
you'd like to learn more about our ministry, just visit
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(23:32):
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(23:52):
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(24:40):
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(25:25):
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next time right here on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jones.
(25:49):
Bold Steps Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a
ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
how to ready ourselves for the end of days.
S2 (00:07):
The best way to get ready is to get up
in the morning and say, Lord, my life today belongs
to you. And whether I have a time chart or not,
I want to live every day obeying you, loving you,
and serving you. Because that's how I live. Ready for
the end times.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago
and president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Today,
as we conclude our series Beyond Now How we ready
ourselves for the end Times, we're going to be discussing
the key attitudes we need in order to prepare ourselves
for the future. Mark started this message last weekend, so
(00:59):
if you missed the first part, You can find the
complete message online at Bold Steps. All right, now let's
jump into today's study from Mark Jobe. It's titled How
Ready are You?
S2 (01:11):
So you may show up one Sunday and you drive
into New Life parking lot and you ask yourself, wow,
are the bears playing to get today? Because this parking
lot looks very empty. And you walk in there. The
band is not there. People are looking a little confused.
(01:34):
Some straddlers are walking around saying, what? What's going on?
Where are people? What happened? There's a few people coming
in finding their seats. And I haven't seen pastor Mike.
I'm counting on you going, pastor Mike. So I haven't
seen pastor Mike. Where is he? So 1 or 2
(01:54):
things have happened. Either you forgot to turn your clock
back on the Sunday, that turns the clock back, and
you showed up early. Or it could be that the
rapture has taken place, because not everybody who claims to
be a church going individual is necessarily someone that's right
with God. I believe churches will have tons of people
(02:17):
that are left behind because it's not about joining a religion.
It's not about attending a church. It's about, are you
someone that is giving your life to Jesus Christ, walking
with him, filled with the Holy Spirit, and ready for
his return? Some will be left behind. There will be
(02:42):
some that will be left behind. And in the wake
of the disappearance of thousands of people, they will suddenly
realize that what was predicted and prophecy, what they've heard
about and taught about, was true. And it's at that
time that some of them will bow their knee and
repent and weep and say, God, I have. I have
(03:04):
not listened to your word. My mother's gone, my father's gone.
But I realize that I never surrendered to you. God,
I want to follow you now. And the Bible says
for those people, it will be a terrible, difficult, challenging
time of tribulation and persecution as they try to live
for God in a very, very challenging, difficult time. That
(03:30):
should not fill us with fear, but hope of understanding
that the God of the universe is in control and
has a purpose and a plan for his people. Yeah.
So live expectant. If someone tells you a time, a moment,
(03:51):
a day, do not believe it. But I believe as
believers in Jesus Christ, we should wake up every day
and say, today may be the day. Lord, come, Lord Jesus.
I believe that you should live your life in light
of the imminent return of Christ. Like he could come.
Come back any day now. And I expect it that
(04:11):
he could come back. And so I'm going to live
my life expecting that he's going to return. Every generation
should expect that in their lifetime, Jesus could return whether
it happens or not, in their lifetime. We live with
the imminent sense of the return of Christ. Sensing God
today may be the day believers in the New Testament
used to greet each other saying Maranatha, which means come,
(04:34):
Lord Jesus. Why would they say that? Because they believed
in the imminent return of Christ. Let me tell you
why we don't expect and anticipate and look forward to
the coming of Christ. If you live your life in comfort,
if there's relative safety, security and economic prosperity, we tend
(05:00):
to get enamored with this world, comfortable with our living.
In fact, most people in America, Christians that I know,
don't necessarily look forward to the coming of Christ. If
I were to say Jesus was coming Thursday. Some of
you would say, whoa, hold on. I had a quinceanera
(05:22):
planned for next month. It's going to really mess up.
I already put the deposit down. Some of you would
say I was about to retire in February. I mean,
come on. After all these years of working, finally I
was going to go and have some free time. And. Jesus,
you're coming now. Some of you say, hey, I already
(05:46):
put the down payment for our vacation in the Bahamas.
It's already bought over orbits. And now, Jesus, you're going
to mess up my vacation plans. But if you go
to a country where people are being persecuted, put in prison, tortured,
suffering their belongings, taken away, hiding because they, their wife
(06:12):
has been kidnapped, that they're living without their possessions, mere Bhai,
for the mere fact that they're followers of Jesus. They
would say yes, come, Lord Jesus. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Secondly,
(06:34):
Jesus tells us not only to live with a expectant
and informed attitude about his imminent return, but to stay
ready by living alert and watchful for his imminent return.
Verse 42 says this therefore. And anytime you see the word, therefore,
you need to ask, what is it therefore right? When
(06:56):
you see the word therefore in Scripture, it means that
it's building on the previous thought, because people will be
taken away, because one person will be left behind and
because Jesus will come unexpectedly. Therefore, keep watch because you
do not know on what day your Lord will come.
(07:17):
But understand this if the owner of the house had
known at what time of the night the thief was coming,
he would have kept watch and would not have let
his house be broken into. So you also must be ready,
because the Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him. In essence, what Jesus
is saying is that although you do not know the
(07:40):
day or the time or the hour or the month,
you do need to live with an attitude of readiness,
of watching and alertness. The opposite of ready is unready.
The opposite of alert is sleepy. The opposite of watching
is my eyes are closed. I'm unaware that something is happening.
(08:04):
I'm not seeing the signs of it. I'm not a
watchman on the tower. I've fallen asleep behind the wall.
And what Jesus is saying is that you need to
live your life with a watchfulness, a readiness and alertness
that knows this is going to happen at any time.
And we don't know when, when, exactly, but we're going
(08:27):
to live our life ready. A few years back, my
my daughter was in high school and she wanted to
do tutoring in a neighborhood in Chicago that was a
pretty rough neighborhood for a 16 year old girl to
be driving into. And so I sat down with her
(08:47):
and I said, okay. I went with her the first time,
and I said, you're going to go on your own,
but you're going to drive through this neighborhood, and I'm
going to tell you how to drive through that neighborhood.
So first of all, leave two car spaces ahead of you. Why?
Because if you have to make a getaway, you can
never get blocked in. Lock your windows. Be aware of
(09:11):
who's around you. Don't leave your purse on your seat.
Don't leave your cell phone on your seat. Make sure
that if someone approaches you, you know what's happening. My.
My wife didn't want me to let her drive to
that place, but I let her drive. But I warned her.
I want you to be alert. You have to be
careful because you're 16 years old and this is a
(09:33):
tough neighborhood you're driving through. And so I want you
to be alert. It's the same way. So she drove,
and she said, dad, I was watching, looking in the mirror,
kept some space before, had my foot on the gas
pedal just in case I had to take off fast. Why?
She was alert, watching, expecting. That's how we are to
(09:56):
live our life in Christ. We are to live our
life with our foot on the gas pedal, waiting and
expecting that the coming of Christ could be at any moment.
We live in light of the imminent return of Christ.
Some people that are real into Bible prophecy think that
they figured it out and they say, well, I'm not
(10:18):
worried yet because this prophecy has to happen or something
has to happen in Israel. So I think we have
some time. I don't think it's for you to tell
us if we have time or not. My Bible says
live ready. And so we live with this expectation that
Jesus could come at any time, any moment, any day.
(10:43):
You keep ready. What does that mean? It means listen.
The greatest way to keep ready. Is not to get
five transformers in your house. Bottles of water and a bunker.
In a time chart of the end days, predicting, yeah,
(11:06):
it's about three months away. No, no, that's not how
you get ready. The best way to get ready is
to get up in the morning, pull out your Bible
and say, Lord, my life today belongs to you. I
want to live with no unconfessed sin. I want to
live in obedience to you. I want to live full
of the Holy Spirit. And whether I have a time
(11:29):
chart or not, I want to live every day in
line with you, in obedience to you, obeying you, loving you,
and serving you. Because that's how I live. Ready for
the end times. See, I know people that have charts
(11:49):
but aren't living ready. I know people that have the
whole outline of the end times figured out, but they're
not living their personal life ready. You don't have to
be an expert in prophecy to be ready for the
coming of Christ. You don't have to know what the
ten horns of revelation mean to be ready for the
coming of Christ. You don't have to have diagrammed and
(12:12):
diagnosed the entire book of revelation and know what the
dragon means, and know who's coming from the East and
the south, the east, or the west. You don't have
to know all that to be ready. You have to determine,
I'm going to live my life surrendered to the Son
of God, full of the Holy Spirit. And. And if
he comes today, I'm ready because I'm living for him
(12:35):
every day of my life. That's how you live. Ready
for the coming of Christ.
S1 (12:44):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Today's
lesson is the second part of a study in Matthew 24.
It's titled How ready are You? And if you'd like
to replay or share this message, visit us online at
Bold Steps org. Mark will continue in a moment. You
can even listen and share the message directly from your
smart device by subscribing to our podcast. Just search for
(13:04):
Bold Steps Weekend with doctor Mark Jobe. While you're there
at the website, you'll also want to subscribe to our
other Bold Steps programs such as Mark's Daily Bold Steps
radio show, The Bold Steps Minute and Our Spanish Minute. Also,
you find them conveniently located inside your podcast number three.
S2 (13:23):
And I'll.
S1 (13:23):
Also invite you to join our vibrant and growing community
of believers on social.
S2 (13:27):
Media by living faithful and.
S1 (13:28):
Purpose, content and meaningful conversations. When you connect.
S2 (13:31):
With us on Facebook.
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Instagram or TikTok.
S2 (13:34):
Verse 40 search for.
S1 (13:35):
Bold steps.
S2 (13:36):
Radio, then, is the faithful and wise.
S1 (13:38):
Bold Steps.
S2 (13:39):
Radio. So now Jesus contrasts two people, the ready.
S1 (13:43):
Servant, into the second half of today's message.
S2 (13:45):
His title.
S1 (13:46):
Already are you.
S2 (13:47):
One he calls Faithful and wise, the other he calls wicked.
And he basically says, hey, imagine that there was a
master that owned a A precinct and a household. And
he leaves to go to a foreign country. And he
(14:08):
tells the manager in charge, hey, take care of my estate.
I will be back. Take care of it the way
I've trained you to take care of it. And so
that manager, when he leaves, he runs the household online
with the purposes of his master. He takes care of
the household as if his master was there. The owner
(14:30):
of the household. He runs it, prepares it. The house
is clean. The. The property's kept up. The employees are paid.
The four year is swept. The grounds are kept up well.
Because he knows that that's the way the owner of
the household wants it. And he's been left in charge
(14:53):
to manage the property. And when the owner returns, suddenly
he comes back and he says, wow, well done. You've
managed this property the way I would have had you
manage it if I were present. He said, there's another manager, though.
The owner leaves. He waves goodbye and he turns around
(15:14):
and says, party time. The boss is away. The children
will play like some of you do at work. But
he says, all right, the owner is gone. And so
now he starts acting like, hey, I'm not going to
run this household like my owner wants it to be run.
I'm going to start. I'm going to start having people
(15:36):
serve me, and I'm going to have a party. And
it gets drunk and he parties in there. He uses people,
abuses people, runs it, acts like he's the guy in charge,
uses everything for himself, gets in the wine cellar, pulls
out the oldest wine that he knows the owner would
only have. He breaks it open, acts like it's his.
He splurges, he uses. And then suddenly, when he's in
(15:58):
the middle of his big party. The outside is unkept,
people are in disarray. The other staff members feel abused
and trampled down. The inside is like one big party
and suddenly the owner of the household returns and says, hey,
what's going on? Oh, I didn't think you were returning
(16:21):
this quickly. That's how it will be with the coming
of the Son of God. There are some people that
understand about Christ that have heard the gospel, that have said,
I'm going to live my life as though my life
belongs to God. I'm purpose with God. He's entrusted me
(16:44):
with a mission and gifts and a vision, and I'm
going to live my life using my gifts and my
talents and my time and my treasure in line with
the purposes of God, because I know that my life
belongs to God and everything that I am belongs to God.
So I'm going to live my life as though God
(17:05):
is my the Lord of my life. Others have heard
about God and the gospel, but they determined to say, well,
he's not coming soon. I'm going to live my life
for me, and I'm going to act as though I'm
the owner of my life. Though every the talents that
I have belong to me, the resources that I have
belong to me. I'm going to have fun and party
(17:28):
and do what I want. I'm going to act like
I want treat people like I want because this is
all about me. And then God shows up. The image
that I have is a teacher that tells junior high students,
(17:51):
here's your assignment. I'll be back in five minutes. Behave.
And she walks out of the classroom. The door closes.
You know, there's always the one kid, right? He's the
first to get up and look out the window. She's gone.
He's the guy that gets everybody riled up. Pretty soon
(18:13):
he gets up front, acts like the teacher jumps on
her chair. He's on the desk doing a little dance.
Gets everybody riled up because they think, aha, she's not
coming back. There's a couple of them that are doing
their assignment, a couple of them that are still working
on it, and the class goes wild because they think, oh,
she's going to come back in about ten minutes, but
she comes back in about four minutes and catches the
(18:35):
dancer up on her desk. The Bible says basically, that's
the way it's going to be with the coming of
the Son of Man. So the question that Jesus stirs
(18:55):
us with is, are we ready? In fact, look at
what he says at the end. It's pretty harsh what
he says. It says the master of that servant comes
in the day when he does not expect him, and
at an hour that he is not aware, and he
he will cut him to pieces and assign him a
place with the hypocrites where there is weeping and gnashing
(19:17):
of teeth. Wow, that's pretty severe. Weeping and gnashing of teeth,
by the way, is always associated with a place of.
Of judgment often associated with hell itself. In other words,
that that servant that's not living for God. That servant
(19:39):
that's not following God. That servant that knows the message
but hasn't embraced it. When the Son of Man appears
and he's living for himself, then judgment comes upon that person.
I want to close with this. I believe that God
(20:00):
has called you and I in our generation to live,
prepared and ready for the coming of our Christ. I
just wonder. What would be your reaction? If you found
(20:23):
out that that day was two days from now? Some
of you would say, come, Lord Jesus, I've been waiting
for this day with such great anticipation and joy. I've
told everybody I can about you. I'm living for you.
(20:46):
I've walked in obedience. Oh, Lord, I'm not perfect. But
I'm forgiven and living for you. God, I wait for
that day with such glorious anticipation. Come, Lord Jesus. Others
would be scrambling. Oh, Lord, not in two days. I
(21:08):
haven't told my friends, my relatives. I haven't shared the gospel.
I'm not living the way I should be living. I'm
afraid of that day coming. I'm afraid. What to expect
and find when I meet you. Because I've been living
my life kind of doing my own thing. Father. And. Whoa! No,
don't come yet. Could you wait a month or two months?
(21:30):
Not ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?
I believe God is raising a generation of men and
women that are ready and willing to live with an
end times mentality. A generation of men and women that
are bold for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not
ashamed to be a light in a world that's getting darker.
(21:52):
I believe that God is raising a generation of men
and women that are living with readiness in their soul,
Expecting the imminent return of Jesus Christ, living in obedience
to him, walking in a way that honors him, so
that if Christ were to come back tomorrow, they would say,
I live ready every day. So come, Lord Jesus. And
(22:15):
I wonder which one of those you are if you're ready.
If you anticipate it. If you say, pastor, there's so
many things I need to get right before that happens.
So much I have to work on people I have
(22:36):
to forgive, steps I need to take. Things in my
life that I know God is displeased with, their habits
I need to release, and people I need to forgive,
and steps that I need to take and people I
need to tell I'm not ready. Now's the time. To
(23:00):
get ready.
S1 (23:11):
Mark job with the conclusion of a message titled how
ready are You? You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend. If
you'd like to learn more about our ministry, just visit
our website at Bold steps.org. While you're there, be sure
to check out some of the other faith building opportunities
and resources we have available, including this month's edition of
our Bold Step Gift. It's a relevant book that really
(23:32):
speaks to the times we're living in. Are you feeling
the impact of massive cultural social changes around us? With
so much turbulence and chaos in the modern age, many
Christians are wondering how to maintain steady faith in such
unstable times. If that's you, you'll want to get your
hands on the book titled A Non-anxious Presence. Throughout this
(23:52):
insightful book, author Mark Sayers helps us see our current
moment through God's eyes rather than being paralyzed by uncertainty,
you'll learn how times of disruption can actually become catalysts
for spiritual breakthrough. The truth is, God often does his
most significant work in seasons that often feel the most unsettling.
And right now, he's opening unprecedented doors for Kingdom Impact
(24:16):
in your community. Don't let anxiety about change hold you back.
Discover how to recognize and participate in what God is
doing by requesting a non-anxious presence. We'll send you a
copy with your gift of any amount to support bold steps.
Just call 800. D.L. Moody. Again, that's (800)Â 356-6639. Or donate
(24:40):
online and request the book when you go to Bold
steps.org or send your donation and ask for the book
at bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois. 606
ten as an added bonus, when you commit to giving
a monthly gift of $30 or more, you'll get a 50%
discount on any item available at Moody Publishers, including resources
(25:05):
that focus on discipleship, Christian living, relationships, and so much more.
It's just one of the ways we'll say thanks for
your monthly financial support as a bold partner. Once again,
to become a bold partner. Sign up and give online
at Bold Steps. And before we end today's program, we
encourage you to join us on social media. Get connected
(25:25):
to our growing online community of fellow believers and Bold
Steps listeners. You'll find us there on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
and YouTube by searching for Bold Steps Radio and Wayne
Shepherd inviting you to join us again next weekend to
hear another encouraging message from Mark Jobe. That will be
next time right here on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jones.
(25:49):
Bold Steps Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a
ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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