July 26, 2025 • 26 mins
From being spiritually dead to being Made Alive in Christ is the topic today on Bold Steps Weekend. This message is the third part of an ongoing series called, When You Believe, Everything Changes and Mark will be diving into the book of Ephesians chapter 2.
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S1 (00:00):
From being spiritually dead to be made alive in Christ.
That's the topic today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe.
S2 (00:08):
You want to see God's beautiful museum? Look at a
life that was dead and now is alive unto God
and being transformed. That is God's living artwork. You are it.
Oh man. The art museum downtown. Nothing. Nothing compares to
the beauty of what God can do.
S1 (00:39):
Well, is it religion that changes you and makes you
a better person? Or is it something or someone else?
That's the topic Mark is exploring today on this edition
of Bold Steps Weekend. Mark Jobe is senior pastor of
New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute,
both in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Welcome to the program.
Today's message is one part of our ongoing series called
(01:01):
When You Believe Everything Changes. And if you've missed any
of the messages in this series, you can catch up
online at Bold steps.org. And while you're online, let me
invite you to sign up for my weekly email devotional,
The Bold Stepper Weekly. It's free and automatically delivered to
your inbox each Monday morning. All right, now let's get
started with today's message titled Made Alive. Here's our teacher,
(01:24):
Mark Jobe.
S2 (01:26):
Really? Who lives inside of you is the Holy Spirit
that carries with him the essence and the presence of Jesus.
Are you understanding technically, who lives inside of you? Really?
Is the Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead,
which has the nature of Jesus and the nature of
God right inside? But technically, it's the Holy Spirit that
(01:47):
lives inside of you that's transforming you. The difference between
religion and the message of the gospel is right there. Religion.
Most religions teach you that you have to try to
(02:08):
change your. Modify your behavior so that you become a
good person. You become a better person than you are
a bad person. It's religious behavior modification. Most religions teach you.
(02:29):
Try to be good. Try to be better. Try to improve.
Try to be nicer to people. Try to cuss less.
Try to give more. Try to be less selfish. And
if you do all these things and you really discipline
yourself to do these things, then ultimately if you look really, really, really,
(02:50):
really hard, then you will be acceptable to God and
you will have made it. That's what religion teaches the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Bible does not teach that.
(03:14):
Some of you aren't sure. Well, what are you saying, pastor?
I got to be bad. I mean, I don't understand,
I thought I thought I was here to be good,
and now you're teaching me that God doesn't teach us
to be good. No, no, no, I didn't say that.
I didn't say that. God doesn't teach you to be good.
Religion teaches you to be good so you can be
acceptable to God. The Bible teaches that once the Holy
(03:37):
Spirit is inside of you, you will be good, not
because you're trying to be acceptable unto God, but because
God is in you. You will be good because you're
acceptable to God already. You're working out of the goodness
that is in you, not working towards goodness to be accepted.
Are you understanding that there's a huge difference? That's why
(04:03):
he goes on to say, listen. Listen to what he says.
Why does he do this? In order that the coming ages?
Verse seven, he may show the incomparable richness of his grace,
expressing the kindness of Jesus. This is all so that
we can see the goodness of God, so that people
can point to you and say, God is good. Look
at that person, man. If God can do that in
their life, God must be real man. They were a mess.
(04:28):
God delights, I think sometimes in getting the messed up.
You don't always take the just the good. I think
God says I'm going to. I'm going to show you
what I can do with that person. See that person?
Everybody says, oh, no. Oh, then we'll never see them.
God says watch. Somebody God gets those people that are
(04:49):
really hard, turns them around, and people say, wow, I've
had it happen a lot. People walk in and say,
guess that person's in church. I know that person. They
come to church. Well, you knew them. You knew the
old self. Well, they're a new self now. I remember
(05:10):
one time I had led this guy to Christ. He'd
come out of prison, I'd mentored him, and he used to.
He used to lead a prostitution ring and and a gang.
And he was an usher. A guy walked into church
for the first time. He looked at the usher and
he came to me and said, pastor. I said, yeah.
He said, I'm new here. You know that guy that
(05:32):
you have an usher there? I said, yeah, yeah, I
know him. Last time I saw him, he had a
sawed off shotgun pointed at my head. I said, well,
you better take a seat then. You know, God can
change us. He delights in transforming us. No matter who
(05:52):
we are, where we've come from, that we are not
beyond the transforming power of God. It's for the riches
of his kindness that he manifests his glory. in verse eight.
Look what he says. Oh, I wish I could preach this.
Listen verse eight. For it is by grace. What is grace?
Not your neighbor next door? No, not what you say
(06:13):
before you have a meal. No. Grace is the unmerited,
undeserved favor of God. We don't deserve it. We can't
earn it. We can't make it happen to us. It's
just God choosing to be favorable to us because he
chooses to give us favor. That's grace. So listen. It
(06:40):
is because God chooses to show us favor that you
have been saved. What does it mean to be saved?
Saved from the wrath of God. It means to be
changed by the Holy Spirit. Saved from a destiny outside
of him. It is because of God's A favor that
(07:01):
you have been saved. And it's through faith. It's God's
grace that saves you. But it comes via believing. You
have to believe for it to come to you. It's
through faith in believing that it comes to you. But
it's God's grace. Listen. And this not from yourselves. It
(07:22):
is a gift of God. I love that. If you
could save yourself, it wouldn't be a gift. It would
be a merit. And when you came before God, we'd
pin a medal on your chest and said you made it.
They didn't because you were good and they were bad.
(07:45):
And you would say, praise me. Glory to me, I
made it. When it's a gift, all you can say
is glory to God.
S1 (08:06):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're
pausing the program for a moment to remind you that
if you would like to take advantage of the tools
and resources we have available to help you grow in
your study of the word, we'd love for you to
go online to our website and explore its bold steps. Radio.com.
You'll find books and past programs, even ask Mark a question,
(08:26):
which I'm going to do right now through a listener. Mark,
if you're ready for this.
S2 (08:29):
I'm ready.
S1 (08:30):
It comes from Karen in South Florida who listens. Pastor Mark,
you were speaking about heaven and hell in your afterlife series,
and you mentioned there was no such thing as soul sleep,
as some people believe. I always believed in soul sleep.
As the Bible said, those who died in Christ will
be raised first, as it says in Thessalonians. Why would
Paul say that the dead in Christ will rise first
(08:51):
when the trumpet blows? If that's not the case? I'm
sure Paul knew exactly what he was saying. So please
clarify your position that you spoke about refuting soul sleep.
Thank you. She says.
S2 (09:00):
Yeah. Thank you, Karen, for asking that question. And it's
a common area of confusion. So let me try to
just explain as quickly as I can. So first of all,
let me say that the term soul sleep or soul
death does not occur in the Bible. People holding to
the position of soul sleep or soul death are called mortalist.
(09:21):
The confusion arises around the term that's used in several
parts of the Bible, where death is referred to as sleeping.
For example, in First Corinthians chapter 15, it says. Then
he appears to more than 500 brothers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
(09:42):
Or in First Corinthians 1129 it says, for those who
eat or drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat
and drink judgment on themselves. That is why some among
you are weak and sick, and a number of them
have fallen asleep. In first Thessalonians. For we believe that
Jesus died and rose again. And so we believe that
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep
(10:05):
with him. So people read that and they think, okay, well,
when I die, I go into some sort of unconscious
slumber called soul sleep. However, there are other places in
Scripture that make it very clear that the moment that
we die, we go to the presence of Jesus.
S1 (10:26):
Praise God!
S2 (10:27):
So the term sleep is not referring to what actually happens.
Our soul doesn't fall asleep. It's a way of referring
to death for the believer. Death is just that we're
going to wake up again. Oftentimes in Scripture, instead of
saying death for the believer, it talks about the believer
sleeping because we will wake up again. It's not permanent.
(10:48):
But second Corinthians chapter five. Listen to this. Karen. This
is really good. It tells us that Paul is writing
and it says, therefore, being always of good courage and
knowing that while we are at home in the body.
We are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body and
(11:10):
to be with the Lord. King James says, absent from
the body, present with the Lord. Philippians chapter one, verse
21 and 22 also says, having the desire to depart
and to be with Christ, for that is much better
than to remain in the flesh. Jesus, when he died
on the cross, said, you will be in Paradise with
(11:31):
me today.
S1 (11:32):
So good one.
S2 (11:33):
Karen. To make a long answer shorter, simply this for
a believer that knows Jesus. When we die, you don't
go into this long slumber. You go directly into the
presence of Jesus.
S1 (11:47):
And isn't it great that we have God's promise, huh?
S2 (11:50):
Yes. I'm not looking forward to some big long nap
of years. I'm looking forward to go straight into the
presence of Jesus.
S1 (11:58):
I'm with you, Mark, I really am. Okay. Let's continue
today's message now. Thank you for that answer, Mark. Mark
is going to tell us now about the biggest lies
about religion.
S2 (12:11):
Glory to his goodness. Glory to his mercy. Because if
I had to try to do it on my own,
I would have failed. Listen, the Bible says all our
good works are as dirty rags before him. Listen, I
believe that sometimes religion has done more damage than good.
Because one of the biggest lies of religion is this.
(12:33):
Hear me. This is really, really important. One of the
biggest lies of religion is this. One of the biggest
lies that many religion teaches us is that our good
works will make us right before God. God says it
is by grace that you are saved, not by works,
(12:58):
so that you can't boast. Listen to me well. You
do not become right with God because of your works.
You do works because you're right with God. Let me
say that again. You do not get right with God
(13:22):
because of good works. You do good works because you
are right with God. You get right with God by
simply responding to the gift that he's given you. Not
by working so hard that the scale of the good
works outweighs the scale of the bad works. You will
(13:45):
never be good enough for God. Never. You can never
be holy enough for him. His standard is perfection, and
you and I miserably fail his standard. If there were
a way to get to God through our works. Jesus
would have never come if there were a way for
us to meet the standard of perfection and earn our
(14:08):
way into glory. Jesus would have never died. Jesus came
and died because there was no other way. Someone had
to pay the price because you and I could not
be good enough. And to try to earn our way
to God through good works is to insult the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. It's to spit in
(14:29):
the face of God and say, I think I can
pay this price. I think I can pay the debt.
You can't pay the debt. I can't pay the debt.
It was paid for us on the cross of Calvary
through the blood of Jesus Christ. All I can do
is receive it. You say, well, pastor, that seems too easy. Oh, no,
(14:56):
it's not easy. It's free, but it's not cheap. Oh.
It's free. God's salvation is a gift, it says. It's
not by works so that no one can boast. It's free.
What God requires in exchange for your life. God says
(15:23):
you want it. Give me your life and I'll give
it to you. You want the gift? Then give me
your life so I'll be Lord of your life. That's
what it means to be Lord, master of your life.
And I will come into your life. And I will
(15:43):
rule your life and run your life. And you will
die to yourself. And you will live unto me. And
I will make you a new person. But the old
person is gone. We had a baptism. Our 1015 service.
The old person. Gone. Buried. New person alive in Jesus.
(16:06):
You can't earn it. And you can't deserve it. But
it's not cheap. Oh, never, never, never mistake the freeness
of the gospel for cheapness of the gospel. Never mistake
the two. Some people think that's too easy. So I
can pray a prayer. No, no, no, it's not just
a prayer. It's a yielding of your life. It's a
giving of your soul. It's a giving up of ownership
(16:29):
and control and saying, you now manage my life. You
are Lord. Come inside of me. Be Lord, change me.
I am your follower. You are my Lord. I die
to myself and I live to you. That, my friends,
is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
S3 (16:47):
Hallelujah!
S2 (16:55):
So let me close with this verse ten. The last
verse here. For we are God's workmanship. Now this word
workmanship is an interesting word. It's translated in the ancient
Greek poema. Poema which where is. It's where we get
(17:19):
the word poem from. We are God's. Handiwork. We are
God's poem. We are God's. Hey, here's a better one.
We are God's work of art. We, you and I.
We are God's work of art. You want to see
(17:43):
God as it's at its best. Look at a life
that has been changed and redeemed and turned around. And
you see the art of God. You want to see
God's beautiful museum? Look at a life that was dead,
and now is alive unto God and being transformed, that
is God's living artwork. You are it. Oh, I look
(18:07):
around this place and it makes me want to bless
the name of God. I look around this place and
I say, God, you are so creative. I look around
this place and I say, whoa, are you powerful? God?
I look around this place and I say, God, you
are amazing. What? What makes me think he's so amazing?
Because I've seen God at work. I've seen what we
(18:30):
were and what we are now. I've seen what God
can do in living people. I've seen the artwork of God.
And it's beautiful. It's amazing. Oh, man. The art museum downtown. Nothing. Picasso.
Nothing compared to the beauty of what God can do. Yeah.
(18:57):
So there. You heard it. Working it out for his
good pleasure. Some of you are making a decision to
follow Christ because you've never surrendered. So you're not aware
that God has a plan to put your life together.
I'd like to pray with you. If you've never surrendered
your life to Christ, because I believe that God is
(19:17):
speaking to some people right now. So wherever you're at,
would you just bow with me for a moment? If
you are ready to surrender and pray this prayer. Dear God,
my life's a mess. I don't see a way forward,
(19:38):
but I bring my mess to you. I believe that
you can save me, change me, heal me, restore me.
And so I surrender this mess to you. I ask
that you would wash me. Cleanse me. I turn away
from the way that I've been living. And I turn
to you. And I choose to follow you today with
(20:00):
the limit and understanding that I have. But I surrender
myself to you. Thank you, Jesus that you died on
the cross. Thank you that you can wash me and
cleanse me and make me a new person. I pray
this in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (20:18):
Amen. If you prayed that prayer, I'd love to direct
you to our website, npr.org, and then click on the
link called My Next Step in Faith. You'll have further
explanation there about what it means to be a follower
of Jesus, and we'd love to send you a booklet
that helps you get started on your walk with God. Remember,
find a church to plug into that's preaching the word. Again,
(20:39):
our website is Bold Steps. Again, our website is Bold
Steps and the link called My Next Step in Faith.
When you sign up, learn more and we'll also send
you a personal letter. Sorry. And when you sign up
to learn more, we'll also send you a personal letter
from Mark. We'll send a New Testament Bible, the book
and anchor for My Soul and the latest edition of
(21:01):
our newsletter. Once again, you'll find this and much more
at bird-stamps.org. Well, during this month, we want to make
sure you know about our current bold step gifts still
available for a limited time. It's an impactful read from
author and pastor Mike Fabares, and Marcie joins us in
the studio now to talk about it.
S2 (21:19):
You know, I went to school, actually, with a fellow
student that we both grown up as pastors. He pastors
a church in California in Aliso Viejo called Compass Church,
a really dynamic church. If you live in that area,
please check it out. But he's written a book called envy,
(21:39):
a big problem you didn't know you had. Mike, tell
us what motivated you to write this book?
S4 (21:46):
Well, it was easy for me to look in my
own heart. And like you, Doctor Joe, my son is
a pastor, and I have no trouble looking at my
son and hoping that he does far better than I
ever have done. Yeah. And that's easy to do because
I love my son. Right. Both my sons are pastors,
and I love them excelling. I found that it was
not as easy for me to rejoice with my peers
(22:09):
who do better than I do. And I realized, wow,
how can that be? How can pastors look at other
people doing ministry and have feelings that aren't the same? Uh,
as I might have toward my own children? Of course
I love God. I love the kingdom. But you see,
I realize the difference is I don't love my fellow
Christian the way I ought to. And if I did,
(22:29):
I wouldn't be envious. I wouldn't start to think, well,
you know, that was kind of handed to him, or
he was in the right place at the right time. Or,
you know, people opened doors for that guy. I would
never think that about my own children. And so I've
got to recognize this exists in pastors hearts, missionaries hearts,
and certainly it exists in the business world. It exists everywhere.
And we've got to root it out when we find
(22:51):
it and start to realize love and real, true love
is the answer. And it brings great tranquility to our hearts.
S1 (22:57):
And pastor Mike, you say that confronting envy allows us
to experience the peace and contentment that really God wants
for us in the first place.
S4 (23:05):
Yes, if you think about it, in the Kingdom, we're
going to have a lot of different people with a
lot of different kinds of rewards, a lot of different
ranks of of, you know, prominence in the kingdom. And
we're always going to rejoice in those things. Right? We
realize there'll be no envy, no coveting, no jealousy. None
of those things will be active in the eternal state.
We will really rejoice as though everyone actually is our
(23:27):
brother and sister in Christ. And we've got to realize
that's a different experience. I think we all intuitively know
that than we have now. So let's try and enjoy
a little bit of that peace and that contentment now.
And that's going to I give the answers in this book.
The second half of the book is all about how
to fix this problem. Uh, the first half is about
diagnosing it. And I think a lot of people don't
look at this book or they wouldn't pick it up
(23:48):
because they don't think I don't have that problem. That's
why I tried to title this in a way that
would kind of hook them into looking at.
S1 (23:53):
Look a little deeper, huh?
S2 (23:56):
So good, so good. And such a big issue that's
not talked about enough. People are silent on this issue.
And so thank you, pastor Mike, for writing this book. Uh,
we love this topic, and I believe that a lot
of people will gain a lot of insight and maybe
step into contentment through it. So there you have it,
a big problem. You didn't know you had envy by
(24:17):
pastor Mike Fabris.
S1 (24:19):
And we'll be happy to send you a copy of
this gift today. When you give a gift of any
amount to support bold steps. Just give us a call
at 800 Moody or give online at Bold Steps. You
can also send your gift and request for Pastor Mike's
book envy by writing to us in the mail. Our
address is simply bold. Steps 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
(24:43):
Illinois 606 ten. And today, consider taking your support to
the next level by becoming a bold partner through monthly
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like a signed copy of Mark's book unstuck and access
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(25:07):
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So don't wait to become a bold partner with your
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(25:27):
Or give us a call at 800 Moody. Thanks for
joining us today. That's all the time we have right now.
I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again next weekend.
When Mark explains how we can tear down the walls
we've built and start living a life that's more pleasing
to the Lord. That's ahead. Next time, right here on
Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps is a
(25:51):
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
From being spiritually dead to be made alive in Christ.
That's the topic today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe.
S2 (00:08):
You want to see God's beautiful museum? Look at a
life that was dead and now is alive unto God
and being transformed. That is God's living artwork. You are it.
Oh man. The art museum downtown. Nothing. Nothing compares to
the beauty of what God can do.
S1 (00:39):
Well, is it religion that changes you and makes you
a better person? Or is it something or someone else?
That's the topic Mark is exploring today on this edition
of Bold Steps Weekend. Mark Jobe is senior pastor of
New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute,
both in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Welcome to the program.
Today's message is one part of our ongoing series called
(01:01):
When You Believe Everything Changes. And if you've missed any
of the messages in this series, you can catch up
online at Bold steps.org. And while you're online, let me
invite you to sign up for my weekly email devotional,
The Bold Stepper Weekly. It's free and automatically delivered to
your inbox each Monday morning. All right, now let's get
started with today's message titled Made Alive. Here's our teacher,
(01:24):
Mark Jobe.
S2 (01:26):
Really? Who lives inside of you is the Holy Spirit
that carries with him the essence and the presence of Jesus.
Are you understanding technically, who lives inside of you? Really?
Is the Holy Spirit the third person of the Godhead,
which has the nature of Jesus and the nature of
God right inside? But technically, it's the Holy Spirit that
(01:47):
lives inside of you that's transforming you. The difference between
religion and the message of the gospel is right there. Religion.
Most religions teach you that you have to try to
(02:08):
change your. Modify your behavior so that you become a
good person. You become a better person than you are
a bad person. It's religious behavior modification. Most religions teach you.
(02:29):
Try to be good. Try to be better. Try to improve.
Try to be nicer to people. Try to cuss less.
Try to give more. Try to be less selfish. And
if you do all these things and you really discipline
yourself to do these things, then ultimately if you look really, really, really,
(02:50):
really hard, then you will be acceptable to God and
you will have made it. That's what religion teaches the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Bible does not teach that.
(03:14):
Some of you aren't sure. Well, what are you saying, pastor?
I got to be bad. I mean, I don't understand,
I thought I thought I was here to be good,
and now you're teaching me that God doesn't teach us
to be good. No, no, no, I didn't say that.
I didn't say that. God doesn't teach you to be good.
Religion teaches you to be good so you can be
acceptable to God. The Bible teaches that once the Holy
(03:37):
Spirit is inside of you, you will be good, not
because you're trying to be acceptable unto God, but because
God is in you. You will be good because you're
acceptable to God already. You're working out of the goodness
that is in you, not working towards goodness to be accepted.
Are you understanding that there's a huge difference? That's why
(04:03):
he goes on to say, listen. Listen to what he says.
Why does he do this? In order that the coming ages?
Verse seven, he may show the incomparable richness of his grace,
expressing the kindness of Jesus. This is all so that
we can see the goodness of God, so that people
can point to you and say, God is good. Look
at that person, man. If God can do that in
their life, God must be real man. They were a mess.
(04:28):
God delights, I think sometimes in getting the messed up.
You don't always take the just the good. I think
God says I'm going to. I'm going to show you
what I can do with that person. See that person?
Everybody says, oh, no. Oh, then we'll never see them.
God says watch. Somebody God gets those people that are
(04:49):
really hard, turns them around, and people say, wow, I've
had it happen a lot. People walk in and say,
guess that person's in church. I know that person. They
come to church. Well, you knew them. You knew the
old self. Well, they're a new self now. I remember
(05:10):
one time I had led this guy to Christ. He'd
come out of prison, I'd mentored him, and he used to.
He used to lead a prostitution ring and and a gang.
And he was an usher. A guy walked into church
for the first time. He looked at the usher and
he came to me and said, pastor. I said, yeah.
He said, I'm new here. You know that guy that
(05:32):
you have an usher there? I said, yeah, yeah, I
know him. Last time I saw him, he had a
sawed off shotgun pointed at my head. I said, well,
you better take a seat then. You know, God can
change us. He delights in transforming us. No matter who
(05:52):
we are, where we've come from, that we are not
beyond the transforming power of God. It's for the riches
of his kindness that he manifests his glory. in verse eight.
Look what he says. Oh, I wish I could preach this.
Listen verse eight. For it is by grace. What is grace?
Not your neighbor next door? No, not what you say
(06:13):
before you have a meal. No. Grace is the unmerited,
undeserved favor of God. We don't deserve it. We can't
earn it. We can't make it happen to us. It's
just God choosing to be favorable to us because he
chooses to give us favor. That's grace. So listen. It
(06:40):
is because God chooses to show us favor that you
have been saved. What does it mean to be saved?
Saved from the wrath of God. It means to be
changed by the Holy Spirit. Saved from a destiny outside
of him. It is because of God's A favor that
(07:01):
you have been saved. And it's through faith. It's God's
grace that saves you. But it comes via believing. You
have to believe for it to come to you. It's
through faith in believing that it comes to you. But
it's God's grace. Listen. And this not from yourselves. It
(07:22):
is a gift of God. I love that. If you
could save yourself, it wouldn't be a gift. It would
be a merit. And when you came before God, we'd
pin a medal on your chest and said you made it.
They didn't because you were good and they were bad.
(07:45):
And you would say, praise me. Glory to me, I
made it. When it's a gift, all you can say
is glory to God.
S1 (08:06):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're
pausing the program for a moment to remind you that
if you would like to take advantage of the tools
and resources we have available to help you grow in
your study of the word, we'd love for you to
go online to our website and explore its bold steps. Radio.com.
You'll find books and past programs, even ask Mark a question,
(08:26):
which I'm going to do right now through a listener. Mark,
if you're ready for this.
S2 (08:29):
I'm ready.
S1 (08:30):
It comes from Karen in South Florida who listens. Pastor Mark,
you were speaking about heaven and hell in your afterlife series,
and you mentioned there was no such thing as soul sleep,
as some people believe. I always believed in soul sleep.
As the Bible said, those who died in Christ will
be raised first, as it says in Thessalonians. Why would
Paul say that the dead in Christ will rise first
(08:51):
when the trumpet blows? If that's not the case? I'm
sure Paul knew exactly what he was saying. So please
clarify your position that you spoke about refuting soul sleep.
Thank you. She says.
S2 (09:00):
Yeah. Thank you, Karen, for asking that question. And it's
a common area of confusion. So let me try to
just explain as quickly as I can. So first of all,
let me say that the term soul sleep or soul
death does not occur in the Bible. People holding to
the position of soul sleep or soul death are called mortalist.
(09:21):
The confusion arises around the term that's used in several
parts of the Bible, where death is referred to as sleeping.
For example, in First Corinthians chapter 15, it says. Then
he appears to more than 500 brothers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
(09:42):
Or in First Corinthians 1129 it says, for those who
eat or drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat
and drink judgment on themselves. That is why some among
you are weak and sick, and a number of them
have fallen asleep. In first Thessalonians. For we believe that
Jesus died and rose again. And so we believe that
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep
(10:05):
with him. So people read that and they think, okay, well,
when I die, I go into some sort of unconscious
slumber called soul sleep. However, there are other places in
Scripture that make it very clear that the moment that
we die, we go to the presence of Jesus.
S1 (10:26):
Praise God!
S2 (10:27):
So the term sleep is not referring to what actually happens.
Our soul doesn't fall asleep. It's a way of referring
to death for the believer. Death is just that we're
going to wake up again. Oftentimes in Scripture, instead of
saying death for the believer, it talks about the believer
sleeping because we will wake up again. It's not permanent.
(10:48):
But second Corinthians chapter five. Listen to this. Karen. This
is really good. It tells us that Paul is writing
and it says, therefore, being always of good courage and
knowing that while we are at home in the body.
We are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body and
(11:10):
to be with the Lord. King James says, absent from
the body, present with the Lord. Philippians chapter one, verse
21 and 22 also says, having the desire to depart
and to be with Christ, for that is much better
than to remain in the flesh. Jesus, when he died
on the cross, said, you will be in Paradise with
(11:31):
me today.
S1 (11:32):
So good one.
S2 (11:33):
Karen. To make a long answer shorter, simply this for
a believer that knows Jesus. When we die, you don't
go into this long slumber. You go directly into the
presence of Jesus.
S1 (11:47):
And isn't it great that we have God's promise, huh?
S2 (11:50):
Yes. I'm not looking forward to some big long nap
of years. I'm looking forward to go straight into the
presence of Jesus.
S1 (11:58):
I'm with you, Mark, I really am. Okay. Let's continue
today's message now. Thank you for that answer, Mark. Mark
is going to tell us now about the biggest lies
about religion.
S2 (12:11):
Glory to his goodness. Glory to his mercy. Because if
I had to try to do it on my own,
I would have failed. Listen, the Bible says all our
good works are as dirty rags before him. Listen, I
believe that sometimes religion has done more damage than good.
Because one of the biggest lies of religion is this.
(12:33):
Hear me. This is really, really important. One of the
biggest lies of religion is this. One of the biggest
lies that many religion teaches us is that our good
works will make us right before God. God says it
is by grace that you are saved, not by works,
(12:58):
so that you can't boast. Listen to me well. You
do not become right with God because of your works.
You do works because you're right with God. Let me
say that again. You do not get right with God
(13:22):
because of good works. You do good works because you
are right with God. You get right with God by
simply responding to the gift that he's given you. Not
by working so hard that the scale of the good
works outweighs the scale of the bad works. You will
(13:45):
never be good enough for God. Never. You can never
be holy enough for him. His standard is perfection, and
you and I miserably fail his standard. If there were
a way to get to God through our works. Jesus
would have never come if there were a way for
us to meet the standard of perfection and earn our
(14:08):
way into glory. Jesus would have never died. Jesus came
and died because there was no other way. Someone had
to pay the price because you and I could not
be good enough. And to try to earn our way
to God through good works is to insult the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. It's to spit in
(14:29):
the face of God and say, I think I can
pay this price. I think I can pay the debt.
You can't pay the debt. I can't pay the debt.
It was paid for us on the cross of Calvary
through the blood of Jesus Christ. All I can do
is receive it. You say, well, pastor, that seems too easy. Oh, no,
(14:56):
it's not easy. It's free, but it's not cheap. Oh.
It's free. God's salvation is a gift, it says. It's
not by works so that no one can boast. It's free.
What God requires in exchange for your life. God says
(15:23):
you want it. Give me your life and I'll give
it to you. You want the gift? Then give me
your life so I'll be Lord of your life. That's
what it means to be Lord, master of your life.
And I will come into your life. And I will
(15:43):
rule your life and run your life. And you will
die to yourself. And you will live unto me. And
I will make you a new person. But the old
person is gone. We had a baptism. Our 1015 service.
The old person. Gone. Buried. New person alive in Jesus.
(16:06):
You can't earn it. And you can't deserve it. But
it's not cheap. Oh, never, never, never mistake the freeness
of the gospel for cheapness of the gospel. Never mistake
the two. Some people think that's too easy. So I
can pray a prayer. No, no, no, it's not just
a prayer. It's a yielding of your life. It's a
giving of your soul. It's a giving up of ownership
(16:29):
and control and saying, you now manage my life. You
are Lord. Come inside of me. Be Lord, change me.
I am your follower. You are my Lord. I die
to myself and I live to you. That, my friends,
is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
S3 (16:47):
Hallelujah!
S2 (16:55):
So let me close with this verse ten. The last
verse here. For we are God's workmanship. Now this word
workmanship is an interesting word. It's translated in the ancient
Greek poema. Poema which where is. It's where we get
(17:19):
the word poem from. We are God's. Handiwork. We are
God's poem. We are God's. Hey, here's a better one.
We are God's work of art. We, you and I.
We are God's work of art. You want to see
(17:43):
God as it's at its best. Look at a life
that has been changed and redeemed and turned around. And
you see the art of God. You want to see
God's beautiful museum? Look at a life that was dead,
and now is alive unto God and being transformed, that
is God's living artwork. You are it. Oh, I look
(18:07):
around this place and it makes me want to bless
the name of God. I look around this place and
I say, God, you are so creative. I look around
this place and I say, whoa, are you powerful? God?
I look around this place and I say, God, you
are amazing. What? What makes me think he's so amazing?
Because I've seen God at work. I've seen what we
(18:30):
were and what we are now. I've seen what God
can do in living people. I've seen the artwork of God.
And it's beautiful. It's amazing. Oh, man. The art museum downtown. Nothing. Picasso.
Nothing compared to the beauty of what God can do. Yeah.
(18:57):
So there. You heard it. Working it out for his
good pleasure. Some of you are making a decision to
follow Christ because you've never surrendered. So you're not aware
that God has a plan to put your life together.
I'd like to pray with you. If you've never surrendered
your life to Christ, because I believe that God is
(19:17):
speaking to some people right now. So wherever you're at,
would you just bow with me for a moment? If
you are ready to surrender and pray this prayer. Dear God,
my life's a mess. I don't see a way forward,
(19:38):
but I bring my mess to you. I believe that
you can save me, change me, heal me, restore me.
And so I surrender this mess to you. I ask
that you would wash me. Cleanse me. I turn away
from the way that I've been living. And I turn
to you. And I choose to follow you today with
(20:00):
the limit and understanding that I have. But I surrender
myself to you. Thank you, Jesus that you died on
the cross. Thank you that you can wash me and
cleanse me and make me a new person. I pray
this in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (20:18):
Amen. If you prayed that prayer, I'd love to direct
you to our website, npr.org, and then click on the
link called My Next Step in Faith. You'll have further
explanation there about what it means to be a follower
of Jesus, and we'd love to send you a booklet
that helps you get started on your walk with God. Remember,
find a church to plug into that's preaching the word. Again,
(20:39):
our website is Bold Steps. Again, our website is Bold
Steps and the link called My Next Step in Faith.
When you sign up, learn more and we'll also send
you a personal letter. Sorry. And when you sign up
to learn more, we'll also send you a personal letter
from Mark. We'll send a New Testament Bible, the book
and anchor for My Soul and the latest edition of
(21:01):
our newsletter. Once again, you'll find this and much more
at bird-stamps.org. Well, during this month, we want to make
sure you know about our current bold step gifts still
available for a limited time. It's an impactful read from
author and pastor Mike Fabares, and Marcie joins us in
the studio now to talk about it.
S2 (21:19):
You know, I went to school, actually, with a fellow
student that we both grown up as pastors. He pastors
a church in California in Aliso Viejo called Compass Church,
a really dynamic church. If you live in that area,
please check it out. But he's written a book called envy,
(21:39):
a big problem you didn't know you had. Mike, tell
us what motivated you to write this book?
S4 (21:46):
Well, it was easy for me to look in my
own heart. And like you, Doctor Joe, my son is
a pastor, and I have no trouble looking at my
son and hoping that he does far better than I
ever have done. Yeah. And that's easy to do because
I love my son. Right. Both my sons are pastors,
and I love them excelling. I found that it was
not as easy for me to rejoice with my peers
(22:09):
who do better than I do. And I realized, wow,
how can that be? How can pastors look at other
people doing ministry and have feelings that aren't the same? Uh,
as I might have toward my own children? Of course
I love God. I love the kingdom. But you see,
I realize the difference is I don't love my fellow
Christian the way I ought to. And if I did,
(22:29):
I wouldn't be envious. I wouldn't start to think, well,
you know, that was kind of handed to him, or
he was in the right place at the right time. Or,
you know, people opened doors for that guy. I would
never think that about my own children. And so I've
got to recognize this exists in pastors hearts, missionaries hearts,
and certainly it exists in the business world. It exists everywhere.
And we've got to root it out when we find
(22:51):
it and start to realize love and real, true love
is the answer. And it brings great tranquility to our hearts.
S1 (22:57):
And pastor Mike, you say that confronting envy allows us
to experience the peace and contentment that really God wants
for us in the first place.
S4 (23:05):
Yes, if you think about it, in the Kingdom, we're
going to have a lot of different people with a
lot of different kinds of rewards, a lot of different
ranks of of, you know, prominence in the kingdom. And
we're always going to rejoice in those things. Right? We
realize there'll be no envy, no coveting, no jealousy. None
of those things will be active in the eternal state.
We will really rejoice as though everyone actually is our
(23:27):
brother and sister in Christ. And we've got to realize
that's a different experience. I think we all intuitively know
that than we have now. So let's try and enjoy
a little bit of that peace and that contentment now.
And that's going to I give the answers in this book.
The second half of the book is all about how
to fix this problem. Uh, the first half is about
diagnosing it. And I think a lot of people don't
look at this book or they wouldn't pick it up
(23:48):
because they don't think I don't have that problem. That's
why I tried to title this in a way that
would kind of hook them into looking at.
S1 (23:53):
Look a little deeper, huh?
S2 (23:56):
So good, so good. And such a big issue that's
not talked about enough. People are silent on this issue.
And so thank you, pastor Mike, for writing this book. Uh,
we love this topic, and I believe that a lot
of people will gain a lot of insight and maybe
step into contentment through it. So there you have it,
a big problem. You didn't know you had envy by
(24:17):
pastor Mike Fabris.
S1 (24:19):
And we'll be happy to send you a copy of
this gift today. When you give a gift of any
amount to support bold steps. Just give us a call
at 800 Moody or give online at Bold Steps. You
can also send your gift and request for Pastor Mike's
book envy by writing to us in the mail. Our
address is simply bold. Steps 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
(24:43):
Illinois 606 ten. And today, consider taking your support to
the next level by becoming a bold partner through monthly
gifts of any amount. These partners help us share God's
truth with listeners worldwide. Plus, you'll receive some special bonuses,
like a signed copy of Mark's book unstuck and access
to our Bold Partner post. Also, video messages straight from Mark.
(25:07):
And as a special thank you for when your monthly
gift is $30 or more, we'll give you an incredible 50%
discount on all items at the Moody Publishers online store.
So don't wait to become a bold partner with your
monthly gift. Right now, it's easy to sign up and
become an official monthly partner by going online to Boldsystems.org.
(25:27):
Or give us a call at 800 Moody. Thanks for
joining us today. That's all the time we have right now.
I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again next weekend.
When Mark explains how we can tear down the walls
we've built and start living a life that's more pleasing
to the Lord. That's ahead. Next time, right here on
Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps is a
(25:51):
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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