January 13, 2024 • 26 mins
Today on Bold Steps Weekend, Pastor Mark Jobe explains that making a quiet space in your life helps you hear the voice of God and put things into divine perspective. Mark continues the message titled Making Quiet Space in Busy Places to encourage you to block out distracting voices, and take time to listen to what God has to say.
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S1 (00:01):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend, Mark Jobe explains that making
a quiet space in your life helps you hear the
voice of God and put things into divine perspective.
S2 (00:11):
I believe that when you find your quiet space, it
helps you release the things that you have no control over.
First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on
him because he cares for you. Some of you need
to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares
on Jesus, because he's big enough to carry them.
S1 (00:29):
And welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, president
of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life
Community Church in Chicago. Today we continue the message titled
Making Quiet Space in Busy Places and encouragement to block
out distracting voices and take time to listen to what
God is saying to you and maybe what you need
to do. What a great time to consider this is
(00:51):
worth the start of a fresh new year. All bold
steps weekend messages are archived for you to conveniently listen
to again. Just go to Bold Steps weekend. Org right
now in Luke chapter ten with part two of the message,
here's Mark Jobe with today's Bold Steps weekend.
S2 (01:07):
You cannot have self-pity and have joy at the same time,
self-pity quenches joy. And you're not focused on God when
you're in self-pity. Self-pity has one focus, and the one
focus it has is yourself. Let me tell you, if
(01:28):
you're living right now in self-pity and people, how many
of you know we all go through our little pity parties?
How many of you have been through pity parties recently? Yeah.
How many of you are going through a pity party? No.
Don't raise your hand. Not today. I, you know. But
do you know what a pity party does? It makes
it feel like poor is me. I do all the work.
(01:48):
No one else cares. I carry all the weight around
the house. I do all the finances, if ever. If.
If other people would do their job, my life would
be happier. I would have more joy. No one else cares.
My siblings don't pitch in to help. For our aging parents,
all of it falls on me. No one else helps
me out. I wish everybody would do their part. I'm
the only one that does it. No one even cares.
(02:11):
And God, do you even care? Do you even notice
that I'm here? That's what self-pity does to you. Lord,
don't you care? Questioning the love of God. When you
fall into self-pity, you start to question even the love
of God. The concern of God. The character of God
(02:31):
is questioned. When you fall into the trap of self-pity.
And Martha was so overwhelmed. Not just because of this.
I can guarantee there's a history building up for her
to get to this point where she's wondering if Jesus
even cares about the situation, if he's even noticed, if
he even cares about the difficulty that she's going into,
(02:55):
she's already fallen into a victims mentality. The mindset. God
doesn't care about my situation, and if he doesn't care,
then I must not be important. Number four. If you
don't have a quiet time, if you don't get a
time where you refresh, where you feel, where you listen
to God, where you experience his love and understand, sit
(03:17):
at his feet and listen to what he has to say. Listen.
You'll start to get angry towards people that are closest
to you. Verse 40. My sister. Has left me to
do all the work by myself. I can hear the
(03:38):
anger in Martha's voice. She's not saying, hey, my beautiful
sister Mary. She loves to worship God. She's got a
sensitive heart. She just she's awesome. I love her sensitivity
and how she seeks the Lord. And she's just such
a beautiful soul. It's not that he's my sister. My sister.
(04:04):
Has left me to do the work by myself. Tell
her to help me. You see, what I've discovered is
that when we don't have a quiet place and we
start to get overwhelmed and worried and anxious and stressed
out and upset that usually we we, we know that
(04:25):
we shouldn't live that way. We don't like to live
that way. We find ourselves kind of blowing up in situations.
But then what happens is we start to blame it
on people around us. We start to feel like it's
people around us that have made us that way. And
if people around us would change, then we would be different.
(04:45):
And so we shift and say it's because of them
that we're upset. It's because of my boss. He gives
me too much workload. I'm stressed out is because of
my husband, who doesn't lift one finger around the house
to help with my kids or discipline them, or do
anything at all falls on me. If he would be
more proactive and a man maybe I wouldn't feel this
(05:06):
way is because of my family. That doesn't help at all.
They help just the people that they want to help
the special ones, but they never lift a finger to
help me. If they would help out, then I would
be different. And so we develop resentment and anger to
the people that are around us because we feel if
they were different, I wouldn't be stressed. There is no
(05:29):
one that can take your joy. But you know, there
is no one that can steal your peace but you.
You are not a victim. You need to take ownership
of your attitude and your joy. Now, there are circumstances
(05:52):
that make it hard, but there's no one that can
take away your joy. No one that can take away
your joy. You. You need to take responsibility for the
attitude that you have. Amen. Why don't we say it
out loud? I take responsibility for my attitude. No one
(06:14):
can steal my joy unless I allow it. Whoo! You
got that off your chest now. You see, the moment
that we start acting like victims as we act like
other people have made us the way we are. I
talk to people that are angry. I've sat down with
(06:35):
husbands that are abusive with their language, and our are
just menaces at the house, and they make it sound
like their wife has made them that way. And sometimes
they convinced that the typical tactic of abuser is to
make the person that they're abusing think that it's their fault,
(06:56):
that they're abusive. And sometimes people live under those circumstances
long enough that you almost think, yeah, it's, you know,
he's angry and abusive and swears and does things like
that because of me. No, no, no, no. Let me
tell you, he needs to take responsibility for that. No
one can make someone like that. They take responsibility for that.
It is not your fault that someone blows up that way.
(07:22):
Mary had fallen into the mentality of a victim, and
she was angry and explosive towards her sister because she
was playing the blame game. And by the way, she
was playing the comparison game. Look at my sister. I'm
doing more work than my sister is doing. I'm comparing
what I'm doing with my sister, and I feel like
she has a better life than me. Can I tell
(07:44):
you no one ever wins in the comparison game? No one.
And if you don't have a quiet place in a
quiet time, if you're not centered, if you haven't centered
yourself on God, if you have no quiet space, then
chances are you'll fall into a comparison game. The comparison game,
by the way, in today's society, is worse than it's
ever been before. In fact. We have a whole generation,
(08:10):
especially of young people. Because of media that make it
even more easy to compare themselves with other people. Because
every time someone puts up a Snapchat or Instagram or Facebook,
you don't post a picture on Instagram. You don't wake
up and say, wow, I look bad. This is a
(08:31):
bad hair day. I don't have a lot of those
bad hair days, but you don't wake up and say.
Let me take a picture of how bad I look.
People don't do that. You wait until you're at a
fun time. You've spent an hour getting ready. It's a
great hair day. You just. Your makeup's perfect. And then
(08:51):
you go. And you wait till friends are around. You
gather them around, they say, oh no, not smile. And
then someone that's at their house having a bad day
and alone by themselves. They look at the Instagram, they
see you with all your friends. You're looking so good.
And they compare themselves and they say, wow, look at
(09:14):
my poor life. I wish I had friends like that,
I wish I look like that, I wish I was
as happy as they're happy. But what you don't understand
is that they were just fighting before the friends, before
they took the Snapchat, that afterwards they got in a
big fight with each other and that they really don't
look that good all the time. But sociologists and psychologists
(09:34):
are doing studies today and are discovering that the rate
of loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety is at an
all time high, especially among our young people, in part
because we're super connected so that we can compare ourselves
with other people's lives. We're super connected via our mobile devices,
(09:58):
but we're very little connected relationally. And when you live
in a world of comparison. You're digitally comparing yourself with
other people. You're always going to lose when it's just
the highlight of the best moments that you're comparing yourself to.
(10:18):
And so I believe that when we play the comparison game,
we're always going to lose. When we get into that
mode of comparison. She's prettier, she's thinner, she looks better,
she has friends. Look at my lousy life. And we
play that comparison game. And it's a way that the
enemy uses the bashes down, beat us up, make us
think that we're the only one that struggles. The only
(10:40):
one that's alone. The only one that struggles with self-image.
Just use the only one that doesn't have a lot
of friends. Because we compare ourselves with this fabricated fake
thing that we call. Social media. Mary. Before the advent
of social media, was already struggling with the reality of
(11:04):
her own heart. Comparing yourself to her sister. And there
was a frustration. Frustration is the gap between reality. And
our own expectations. So if you don't have a quiet time,
if you haven't found a place to be quiet before God,
listen to center yourself, to hear his voice, to listen
(11:26):
to the voice of God. Chances are you're going to
struggle with a lot of these things that I just listed.
And then in verse 41 and 42. This is what
Jesus tells me, Martha. He says, you are worried. An
upset about many things. Listen. But only one thing. Say
(11:48):
one thing. Aren't you glad? It's just one thing. If
I gave you three, you couldn't remember it. But there's
one thing. You are worried and upset about many things,
but only one thing. Only one thing. One thing is needed.
Not three, not seven, not five. One thing is needed.
(12:10):
What do you mean, one thing? Jesus. Yeah. One thing.
If you do this one thing, it affects everything. If
you get this one thing right, everything in life is
affected by it. Your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit,
your happiness, your joy. You're filling of the spirit one thing,
one thing. If you don't get this one thing right,
everything suffers. One important, fundamental, foundational, powerful element that if
(12:35):
you don't have it in your life, everything else in
your life will, will, will have a detrimental effect on
how you live your life. It's one main thing that
so many of us ignore. We neglect. We step over.
We don't see this. One thing can make a huge
difference in this year. And Jesus himself said one thing.
(12:56):
One thing is needed. What is that one thing? Well,
he doesn't even go on to explain what that one
thing is, but he points to a picture. He points
to Mary. What is Mary doing? She's on the floor.
(13:17):
At the feet of Jesus, listening quietly to what he
has to say. Looking into his eyes. Hearing his voice.
Absorbing what he has to say in full surrender. She's
(13:42):
found her quiet space.
S1 (13:48):
Mark Jobe on focusing on the one thing. Let's take
a short pause in the message to remind you to
visit the Bold Steps Weekend website when you get a
chance at Bold Steps Weekend. Org. Our entire list of
broadcast is archived there for you to easily listen to
again at your convenience. By the way, we have a
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(14:08):
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as well by searching for Bold Steps Radio on YouTube.
(14:30):
Now with more on getting the first thing right here
again is Mark Jobe with the rest of today's Bold
Steps weekend message making quiet space in busy places.
S2 (14:41):
Can I tell you something? I've given you this illustration before,
but let me just remind you again how it works.
It's happened to me in the past before. Get up
early in the morning. My wife is still in bed
and so asleep. I don't want to turn on the light,
put my shirt on, start buttoning my. But my first button. Button.
(15:07):
My second button. By the time I get to the bottom, like, oh.
Can I tell you something? You get the first button wrong.
You get all the buttons wrong. One thing. One thing.
(15:27):
And many of us, what happens is we get the
first button wrong because. We haven't done the one thing
that affects everything. The one thing that Jesus said, this
is part of what you have to do. Let me
ask you this question. What would happen? If you decided
(15:48):
I'm going to get the one thing right every day.
The one thing, the one thing that Jesus said, this
is the main thing that you have to get right.
Instead of going to bed at night. And the last
thing that you think of is the 10:00 news and
who's getting killed and shot and tragedy around the world,
and violence and rape and murder. And you go to
(16:10):
bed worried and, and, and and just overwhelmed with the
dark cloud. And you get up in the morning and
you turn on the news again and you just hear
a lot of more political infighting and, um, just the
negativity of the news. And so you go to your
day and already you filled your mind with everything that's
wrong with the world, and you get in to Chicago traffic,
(16:33):
and it just adds to it, and you can't stand it.
And it's cold and the pressure at work and you,
by the time you walk into your work, you're already
in a nasty attitude. But what would happen if you decided,
I'm going to get the one thing, the one thing
straight every day? And you'd get up in the morning.
(16:56):
And before you turn on the television, before you check
your Facebook or Instagram, before you open the paper, before
you get anything else into your spirit. What if the
one thing that you did from the beginning that you
would find your favorite chair, your favorite spot, that you
would go into your office or the living room or
whatever it is, and that you would open up your Bible.
(17:21):
And that the first information you get from that day,
the very first thing that you get that day, would
be the Word of God. And then you would stop
and you would read a psalm and you would listen
to what God is saying, and you would breathe. Speak
to me, Lord. I'm listening. And you would spend a
(17:41):
little time praying and getting all those things that are
on your shoulders, all those things that you're worried about
and that you would say casting all your cares on
him for he cares for me. And so you throw
all those things on God, and you remember that he's sovereign,
and you read a Psalm and you let the Holy
Spirit speak to you and fill you with the fresh
new love, so that when you jump on the expressway,
(18:03):
you've already done that one thing. And when the guy
cuts you off, you can give him a smile and say,
these crazy Chicago drivers, man, I'm going to keep my joy.
And when you walk in your building, you say, Thank
God I have a job to work. I praise God
that I that I'm able to work here. And when
you see people, you don't see them as problems, but
you see them as God's creation and people that you
can love. And when you walk through the day, you've
(18:25):
already done that one thing and it's filled you up
and powered you up, and you are ready to tackle
the day because you have that one thing right. Hey,
I gave my life to Christ when I was 15
years old. Seriously? And that's one of the practices that
(18:49):
I was taught in the beginning. Back in the day.
They would call it devotions or quiet time. But I
determined as a 15 year old I still have the
Bible that I started with, that I would do that
one thing every day. Until this day. Every day that
I get up, I do that one thing first. Now
(19:10):
I know not everybody has to do it. The first
thing in the morning. Some of you are night people.
For me, it's the first thing I need to do
in the morning. I have my spot. I make my
cup of coffee, I don't know, I hear the voice
of God better with a cup of coffee. I get
(19:32):
my cup of coffee? I open up my Bible. I read.
I listen. I write a prayer out what I sins
that God is impressing on my heart. I pray. And
then you know what? Then I say, come on world,
come on world. Whatever you got, throw it at me.
(19:55):
Because I've done my one thing. And when I have
my one thing, I feel more filled. When I do
that one thing, I feel like I'm in the right place.
I've had time at the feet of Jesus to hear,
to listen, to be filled, to be empowered. And it
changes my day because I've done that one thing, that
one thing, that most important thing that's needed in my
(20:16):
and hey, it doesn't end. There is how many of
you know that you got to refill throughout the day
as well? The beauty. The beautiful thing about the power
of the living Jesus is that I have the Holy
Spirit inside of me. So it's not just in the
morning that can connect with God, but as I'm as
during the day, I can just say, Lord, help me
at this time I need I need a fresh empowerment
(20:38):
by Your Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is with
you 24 hours a day, that you can talk to
God at any time. The Bible says, pray without ceasing.
So I'm connected to the one thing I started with,
the one thing I'm flowing on, the one thing. And
I'm walking with Jesus during the day, on my good days.
And no matter what comes my way, I feel like, yeah,
let it come. Because I'm connected and filled with the
(21:01):
power of the living Jesus. One thing. And I'm just wondering, hey,
how's the one thing in your life. I believe that
when you find your quiet space. It helps you release
the things that you have no control over. First Peter
(21:22):
five seven says, casting all your cares on him because
he cares for you. Some of you need to stop
worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus,
because he's big enough to carry them.
S1 (21:35):
Well, that's Mark Jobe, and you're listening to Bold Steps Weekend.
I hope this message was helpful to you, and a
challenge to take moments each day to find a quiet
place to get centered on the things of God and
discover those new mercies and grace. You can replay this
message online at Bold Steps weekend. Org. While you're there,
be sure to check out all of the bonus content
(21:56):
and special resources we're offering. One resource we highly recommend
is our current bold step gift. And mark you have
more about it.
S2 (22:03):
Well, I'm here in the studio today with the good
friend Joe Stoll, and some of you are familiar with
that name. Joe was a pastor for many years, the
president of Moody Bible Institute, also the president of cornerstone,
a speaker, someone that's taught the Word of God for
such a long time and so appreciative of Joe and
(22:26):
his friendship. He's been encouraging and pastoring people for a
long time. And Joe, there are people right now because
of all that's happening in the world that are very
concerned as they start this year out. Can you speak
to someone that maybe is gripped by fear?
S3 (22:44):
Yeah, for sure. I think one of our challenges is
we tend to think horizontally everything that's happening around us.
And I think the wonderful transition is to begin to
think vertically, where we begin to focus on God. Because
guess what? He's stable. He's good, he's faithful, he never changes,
and he loves us and cares for us. So when
(23:06):
we focus vertically, the horizontal all of a sudden comes
into perspective and we have peace instead of fear, and
we have quiet in our hearts instead of the chaos
that tends to arrive. So when we did strength for
the journey, our daily devotional, one thing we were hoping
is that many people would get vertical with God and
(23:26):
begin every day with just a few minutes on with
the devotional, which would then dive them more deeply into
the Word of God.
S2 (23:34):
I love that, and by the way, Joe's talking about
our premium gift this month, and we're trying to get
as many people into the Word of God as possible.
So strength for the journey. Short devotionals, one for every
day to help you focus vertically instead of horizontally.
S1 (23:53):
Thank you Joe. Well, it really is the best time
to be diving into a devotional like this. So don't wait!
Reach out today and request this month's bold Step gift.
When you give a gift of any amount to support
this ministry, just call us at (866)Â 535-5580. That's (866)Â 535-5580. Or
(24:16):
give online and request strength for the journey. When you
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(24:36):
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(24:58):
by giving your first gift of any amount today at
Bold Steps weekend.org. Or call us at (866)Â 535-5580. That's (866)Â 535-5580.
And before we close today, I want to remind you
to sign up for Mark's weekly email devotional called The
Bold Step for weekly. It brings you a fresh perspective
(25:21):
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Steps weekend.org. Well, that's our time for today, but be
sure to come back next week when Mark shares a
(25:42):
message about handling life's disruptions, uncertainties and unfulfilled expectations. That's
next time on Bold Steps Weekend. Bold Steps Weekend is
a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend, Mark Jobe explains that making
a quiet space in your life helps you hear the
voice of God and put things into divine perspective.
S2 (00:11):
I believe that when you find your quiet space, it
helps you release the things that you have no control over.
First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on
him because he cares for you. Some of you need
to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares
on Jesus, because he's big enough to carry them.
S1 (00:29):
And welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, president
of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life
Community Church in Chicago. Today we continue the message titled
Making Quiet Space in Busy Places and encouragement to block
out distracting voices and take time to listen to what
God is saying to you and maybe what you need
to do. What a great time to consider this is
(00:51):
worth the start of a fresh new year. All bold
steps weekend messages are archived for you to conveniently listen
to again. Just go to Bold Steps weekend. Org right
now in Luke chapter ten with part two of the message,
here's Mark Jobe with today's Bold Steps weekend.
S2 (01:07):
You cannot have self-pity and have joy at the same time,
self-pity quenches joy. And you're not focused on God when
you're in self-pity. Self-pity has one focus, and the one
focus it has is yourself. Let me tell you, if
(01:28):
you're living right now in self-pity and people, how many
of you know we all go through our little pity parties?
How many of you have been through pity parties recently? Yeah.
How many of you are going through a pity party? No.
Don't raise your hand. Not today. I, you know. But
do you know what a pity party does? It makes
it feel like poor is me. I do all the work.
(01:48):
No one else cares. I carry all the weight around
the house. I do all the finances, if ever. If.
If other people would do their job, my life would
be happier. I would have more joy. No one else cares.
My siblings don't pitch in to help. For our aging parents,
all of it falls on me. No one else helps
me out. I wish everybody would do their part. I'm
the only one that does it. No one even cares.
(02:11):
And God, do you even care? Do you even notice
that I'm here? That's what self-pity does to you. Lord,
don't you care? Questioning the love of God. When you
fall into self-pity, you start to question even the love
of God. The concern of God. The character of God
(02:31):
is questioned. When you fall into the trap of self-pity.
And Martha was so overwhelmed. Not just because of this.
I can guarantee there's a history building up for her
to get to this point where she's wondering if Jesus
even cares about the situation, if he's even noticed, if
he even cares about the difficulty that she's going into,
(02:55):
she's already fallen into a victims mentality. The mindset. God
doesn't care about my situation, and if he doesn't care,
then I must not be important. Number four. If you
don't have a quiet time, if you don't get a
time where you refresh, where you feel, where you listen
to God, where you experience his love and understand, sit
(03:17):
at his feet and listen to what he has to say. Listen.
You'll start to get angry towards people that are closest
to you. Verse 40. My sister. Has left me to
do all the work by myself. I can hear the
(03:38):
anger in Martha's voice. She's not saying, hey, my beautiful
sister Mary. She loves to worship God. She's got a
sensitive heart. She just she's awesome. I love her sensitivity
and how she seeks the Lord. And she's just such
a beautiful soul. It's not that he's my sister. My sister.
(04:04):
Has left me to do the work by myself. Tell
her to help me. You see, what I've discovered is
that when we don't have a quiet place and we
start to get overwhelmed and worried and anxious and stressed
out and upset that usually we we, we know that
(04:25):
we shouldn't live that way. We don't like to live
that way. We find ourselves kind of blowing up in situations.
But then what happens is we start to blame it
on people around us. We start to feel like it's
people around us that have made us that way. And
if people around us would change, then we would be different.
(04:45):
And so we shift and say it's because of them
that we're upset. It's because of my boss. He gives
me too much workload. I'm stressed out is because of
my husband, who doesn't lift one finger around the house
to help with my kids or discipline them, or do
anything at all falls on me. If he would be
more proactive and a man maybe I wouldn't feel this
(05:06):
way is because of my family. That doesn't help at all.
They help just the people that they want to help
the special ones, but they never lift a finger to
help me. If they would help out, then I would
be different. And so we develop resentment and anger to
the people that are around us because we feel if
they were different, I wouldn't be stressed. There is no
(05:29):
one that can take your joy. But you know, there
is no one that can steal your peace but you.
You are not a victim. You need to take ownership
of your attitude and your joy. Now, there are circumstances
(05:52):
that make it hard, but there's no one that can
take away your joy. No one that can take away
your joy. You. You need to take responsibility for the
attitude that you have. Amen. Why don't we say it
out loud? I take responsibility for my attitude. No one
(06:14):
can steal my joy unless I allow it. Whoo! You
got that off your chest now. You see, the moment
that we start acting like victims as we act like
other people have made us the way we are. I
talk to people that are angry. I've sat down with
(06:35):
husbands that are abusive with their language, and our are
just menaces at the house, and they make it sound
like their wife has made them that way. And sometimes
they convinced that the typical tactic of abuser is to
make the person that they're abusing think that it's their fault,
(06:56):
that they're abusive. And sometimes people live under those circumstances
long enough that you almost think, yeah, it's, you know,
he's angry and abusive and swears and does things like
that because of me. No, no, no, no. Let me
tell you, he needs to take responsibility for that. No
one can make someone like that. They take responsibility for that.
It is not your fault that someone blows up that way.
(07:22):
Mary had fallen into the mentality of a victim, and
she was angry and explosive towards her sister because she
was playing the blame game. And by the way, she
was playing the comparison game. Look at my sister. I'm
doing more work than my sister is doing. I'm comparing
what I'm doing with my sister, and I feel like
she has a better life than me. Can I tell
(07:44):
you no one ever wins in the comparison game? No one.
And if you don't have a quiet place in a
quiet time, if you're not centered, if you haven't centered
yourself on God, if you have no quiet space, then
chances are you'll fall into a comparison game. The comparison game,
by the way, in today's society, is worse than it's
ever been before. In fact. We have a whole generation,
(08:10):
especially of young people. Because of media that make it
even more easy to compare themselves with other people. Because
every time someone puts up a Snapchat or Instagram or Facebook,
you don't post a picture on Instagram. You don't wake
up and say, wow, I look bad. This is a
(08:31):
bad hair day. I don't have a lot of those
bad hair days, but you don't wake up and say.
Let me take a picture of how bad I look.
People don't do that. You wait until you're at a
fun time. You've spent an hour getting ready. It's a
great hair day. You just. Your makeup's perfect. And then
(08:51):
you go. And you wait till friends are around. You
gather them around, they say, oh no, not smile. And
then someone that's at their house having a bad day
and alone by themselves. They look at the Instagram, they
see you with all your friends. You're looking so good.
And they compare themselves and they say, wow, look at
(09:14):
my poor life. I wish I had friends like that,
I wish I look like that, I wish I was
as happy as they're happy. But what you don't understand
is that they were just fighting before the friends, before
they took the Snapchat, that afterwards they got in a
big fight with each other and that they really don't
look that good all the time. But sociologists and psychologists
(09:34):
are doing studies today and are discovering that the rate
of loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety is at an
all time high, especially among our young people, in part
because we're super connected so that we can compare ourselves
with other people's lives. We're super connected via our mobile devices,
(09:58):
but we're very little connected relationally. And when you live
in a world of comparison. You're digitally comparing yourself with
other people. You're always going to lose when it's just
the highlight of the best moments that you're comparing yourself to.
(10:18):
And so I believe that when we play the comparison game,
we're always going to lose. When we get into that
mode of comparison. She's prettier, she's thinner, she looks better,
she has friends. Look at my lousy life. And we
play that comparison game. And it's a way that the
enemy uses the bashes down, beat us up, make us
think that we're the only one that struggles. The only
(10:40):
one that's alone. The only one that struggles with self-image.
Just use the only one that doesn't have a lot
of friends. Because we compare ourselves with this fabricated fake
thing that we call. Social media. Mary. Before the advent
of social media, was already struggling with the reality of
(11:04):
her own heart. Comparing yourself to her sister. And there
was a frustration. Frustration is the gap between reality. And
our own expectations. So if you don't have a quiet time,
if you haven't found a place to be quiet before God,
listen to center yourself, to hear his voice, to listen
(11:26):
to the voice of God. Chances are you're going to
struggle with a lot of these things that I just listed.
And then in verse 41 and 42. This is what
Jesus tells me, Martha. He says, you are worried. An
upset about many things. Listen. But only one thing. Say
(11:48):
one thing. Aren't you glad? It's just one thing. If
I gave you three, you couldn't remember it. But there's
one thing. You are worried and upset about many things,
but only one thing. Only one thing. One thing is needed.
Not three, not seven, not five. One thing is needed.
(12:10):
What do you mean, one thing? Jesus. Yeah. One thing.
If you do this one thing, it affects everything. If
you get this one thing right, everything in life is
affected by it. Your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit,
your happiness, your joy. You're filling of the spirit one thing,
one thing. If you don't get this one thing right,
everything suffers. One important, fundamental, foundational, powerful element that if
(12:35):
you don't have it in your life, everything else in
your life will, will, will have a detrimental effect on
how you live your life. It's one main thing that
so many of us ignore. We neglect. We step over.
We don't see this. One thing can make a huge
difference in this year. And Jesus himself said one thing.
(12:56):
One thing is needed. What is that one thing? Well,
he doesn't even go on to explain what that one
thing is, but he points to a picture. He points
to Mary. What is Mary doing? She's on the floor.
(13:17):
At the feet of Jesus, listening quietly to what he
has to say. Looking into his eyes. Hearing his voice.
Absorbing what he has to say in full surrender. She's
(13:42):
found her quiet space.
S1 (13:48):
Mark Jobe on focusing on the one thing. Let's take
a short pause in the message to remind you to
visit the Bold Steps Weekend website when you get a
chance at Bold Steps Weekend. Org. Our entire list of
broadcast is archived there for you to easily listen to
again at your convenience. By the way, we have a
variety of convenient ways you can listen to Bold Steps Weekend,
(14:08):
including our podcast. If you'd like to listen on the go,
just open up your podcast app on your mobile phone
or smart device and search for Bold Steps weekend with
doctor Mark Jobe. And then, if you'd also like to
access the special new video content coming out exclusively on
the Bold Steps YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe there
as well by searching for Bold Steps Radio on YouTube.
(14:30):
Now with more on getting the first thing right here
again is Mark Jobe with the rest of today's Bold
Steps weekend message making quiet space in busy places.
S2 (14:41):
Can I tell you something? I've given you this illustration before,
but let me just remind you again how it works.
It's happened to me in the past before. Get up
early in the morning. My wife is still in bed
and so asleep. I don't want to turn on the light,
put my shirt on, start buttoning my. But my first button. Button.
(15:07):
My second button. By the time I get to the bottom, like, oh.
Can I tell you something? You get the first button wrong.
You get all the buttons wrong. One thing. One thing.
(15:27):
And many of us, what happens is we get the
first button wrong because. We haven't done the one thing
that affects everything. The one thing that Jesus said, this
is part of what you have to do. Let me
ask you this question. What would happen? If you decided
(15:48):
I'm going to get the one thing right every day.
The one thing, the one thing that Jesus said, this
is the main thing that you have to get right.
Instead of going to bed at night. And the last
thing that you think of is the 10:00 news and
who's getting killed and shot and tragedy around the world,
and violence and rape and murder. And you go to
(16:10):
bed worried and, and, and and just overwhelmed with the
dark cloud. And you get up in the morning and
you turn on the news again and you just hear
a lot of more political infighting and, um, just the
negativity of the news. And so you go to your
day and already you filled your mind with everything that's
wrong with the world, and you get in to Chicago traffic,
(16:33):
and it just adds to it, and you can't stand it.
And it's cold and the pressure at work and you,
by the time you walk into your work, you're already
in a nasty attitude. But what would happen if you decided,
I'm going to get the one thing, the one thing
straight every day? And you'd get up in the morning.
(16:56):
And before you turn on the television, before you check
your Facebook or Instagram, before you open the paper, before
you get anything else into your spirit. What if the
one thing that you did from the beginning that you
would find your favorite chair, your favorite spot, that you
would go into your office or the living room or
whatever it is, and that you would open up your Bible.
(17:21):
And that the first information you get from that day,
the very first thing that you get that day, would
be the Word of God. And then you would stop
and you would read a psalm and you would listen
to what God is saying, and you would breathe. Speak
to me, Lord. I'm listening. And you would spend a
(17:41):
little time praying and getting all those things that are
on your shoulders, all those things that you're worried about
and that you would say casting all your cares on
him for he cares for me. And so you throw
all those things on God, and you remember that he's sovereign,
and you read a Psalm and you let the Holy
Spirit speak to you and fill you with the fresh
new love, so that when you jump on the expressway,
(18:03):
you've already done that one thing. And when the guy
cuts you off, you can give him a smile and say,
these crazy Chicago drivers, man, I'm going to keep my joy.
And when you walk in your building, you say, Thank
God I have a job to work. I praise God
that I that I'm able to work here. And when
you see people, you don't see them as problems, but
you see them as God's creation and people that you
can love. And when you walk through the day, you've
(18:25):
already done that one thing and it's filled you up
and powered you up, and you are ready to tackle
the day because you have that one thing right. Hey,
I gave my life to Christ when I was 15
years old. Seriously? And that's one of the practices that
(18:49):
I was taught in the beginning. Back in the day.
They would call it devotions or quiet time. But I
determined as a 15 year old I still have the
Bible that I started with, that I would do that
one thing every day. Until this day. Every day that
I get up, I do that one thing first. Now
(19:10):
I know not everybody has to do it. The first
thing in the morning. Some of you are night people.
For me, it's the first thing I need to do
in the morning. I have my spot. I make my
cup of coffee, I don't know, I hear the voice
of God better with a cup of coffee. I get
(19:32):
my cup of coffee? I open up my Bible. I read.
I listen. I write a prayer out what I sins
that God is impressing on my heart. I pray. And
then you know what? Then I say, come on world,
come on world. Whatever you got, throw it at me.
(19:55):
Because I've done my one thing. And when I have
my one thing, I feel more filled. When I do
that one thing, I feel like I'm in the right place.
I've had time at the feet of Jesus to hear,
to listen, to be filled, to be empowered. And it
changes my day because I've done that one thing, that
one thing, that most important thing that's needed in my
(20:16):
and hey, it doesn't end. There is how many of
you know that you got to refill throughout the day
as well? The beauty. The beautiful thing about the power
of the living Jesus is that I have the Holy
Spirit inside of me. So it's not just in the
morning that can connect with God, but as I'm as
during the day, I can just say, Lord, help me
at this time I need I need a fresh empowerment
(20:38):
by Your Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is with
you 24 hours a day, that you can talk to
God at any time. The Bible says, pray without ceasing.
So I'm connected to the one thing I started with,
the one thing I'm flowing on, the one thing. And
I'm walking with Jesus during the day, on my good days.
And no matter what comes my way, I feel like, yeah,
let it come. Because I'm connected and filled with the
(21:01):
power of the living Jesus. One thing. And I'm just wondering, hey,
how's the one thing in your life. I believe that
when you find your quiet space. It helps you release
the things that you have no control over. First Peter
(21:22):
five seven says, casting all your cares on him because
he cares for you. Some of you need to stop
worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus,
because he's big enough to carry them.
S1 (21:35):
Well, that's Mark Jobe, and you're listening to Bold Steps Weekend.
I hope this message was helpful to you, and a
challenge to take moments each day to find a quiet
place to get centered on the things of God and
discover those new mercies and grace. You can replay this
message online at Bold Steps weekend. Org. While you're there,
be sure to check out all of the bonus content
(21:56):
and special resources we're offering. One resource we highly recommend
is our current bold step gift. And mark you have
more about it.
S2 (22:03):
Well, I'm here in the studio today with the good
friend Joe Stoll, and some of you are familiar with
that name. Joe was a pastor for many years, the
president of Moody Bible Institute, also the president of cornerstone,
a speaker, someone that's taught the Word of God for
such a long time and so appreciative of Joe and
(22:26):
his friendship. He's been encouraging and pastoring people for a
long time. And Joe, there are people right now because
of all that's happening in the world that are very
concerned as they start this year out. Can you speak
to someone that maybe is gripped by fear?
S3 (22:44):
Yeah, for sure. I think one of our challenges is
we tend to think horizontally everything that's happening around us.
And I think the wonderful transition is to begin to
think vertically, where we begin to focus on God. Because
guess what? He's stable. He's good, he's faithful, he never changes,
and he loves us and cares for us. So when
(23:06):
we focus vertically, the horizontal all of a sudden comes
into perspective and we have peace instead of fear, and
we have quiet in our hearts instead of the chaos
that tends to arrive. So when we did strength for
the journey, our daily devotional, one thing we were hoping
is that many people would get vertical with God and
(23:26):
begin every day with just a few minutes on with
the devotional, which would then dive them more deeply into
the Word of God.
S2 (23:34):
I love that, and by the way, Joe's talking about
our premium gift this month, and we're trying to get
as many people into the Word of God as possible.
So strength for the journey. Short devotionals, one for every
day to help you focus vertically instead of horizontally.
S1 (23:53):
Thank you Joe. Well, it really is the best time
to be diving into a devotional like this. So don't wait!
Reach out today and request this month's bold Step gift.
When you give a gift of any amount to support
this ministry, just call us at (866)Â 535-5580. That's (866)Â 535-5580. Or
(24:16):
give online and request strength for the journey. When you
go to Bold Steps weekend org or send your gift
in the mail, you can write to us at bold steps. Weekend,
820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And for
gift of any size from our first time donors to
Bold Steps Weekend, you'll receive a thank you email with
(24:36):
a link to Doctor Jobs brand new E devotional that
you can download right onto your phone or tablet for
easy reading. That's two devotionals for just one gift from
any first time donor. So if you've never given the
bold steps weekend before, now is the perfect time to
do so. You'll get Doctor Stoles, strength for the journey,
and mark jobs 30 day devotional Bold steps with Jesus
(24:58):
by giving your first gift of any amount today at
Bold Steps weekend.org. Or call us at (866)Â 535-5580. That's (866)Â 535-5580.
And before we close today, I want to remind you
to sign up for Mark's weekly email devotional called The
Bold Step for weekly. It brings you a fresh perspective
(25:21):
from God's Word, filled with insight, encouragement, and helpful ways
to apply Scripture to your day to day life. It's
delivered every Monday morning straight to your inbox, absolutely free,
with no cost or obligation. So sign up today and
be ready for the next edition by going to Bold
Steps weekend.org. Well, that's our time for today, but be
sure to come back next week when Mark shares a
(25:42):
message about handling life's disruptions, uncertainties and unfulfilled expectations. That's
next time on Bold Steps Weekend. Bold Steps Weekend is
a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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