December 21, 2024 • 26 mins
You know, sometimes life can feel a little out of control. Something can happen to you that’s so shocking or devastating that you end up asking the question, “Where is God?”
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, Mark will explain the answer to that question as he continues with the message titled, Surprises.
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
more about God's perfect timing.
S2 (00:06):
God is smarter than us. God is sovereign. God is powerful.
And so I choose to trust God, even though I
may not fully understand how God works, because in the end,
he gives it back to me and it makes sense
in his time and in his agenda.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
president of Moody Bible Institute, and he's the senior pastor
of New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd.
You know, sometimes life can feel a little out of control.
Something can happen to us that's so shocking or devastating
that we end up asking the question, Where is God? Well, today,
(00:58):
pastor Mark will explain the answer to that question as
he continues with the message titled surprises. Now, if you
missed the first half of this important lesson, make sure
you catch up online by going to Bold Steps. Org
but right now, let's open our Bibles to the book
of Matthew, chapter one, verses 15 through 25. As we
join Mark with today's message.
S2 (01:19):
Sometimes God gives us an insight into how he's going
to bring good out of our tragedy, but not always.
Sometimes we go through tragedy, difficulty, surprises in life and
we have no idea why they happen. No idea why
it happens to us at this time, at this moment,
at this season. No idea. I've pastored for a long time,
(01:42):
so I've been at the funeral of too many young
men in their teens and 20s. I've had to speak
into tragedy and difficult circumstances and circumstances that cannot be explained.
And I never try to explain why, Because I don't
know why. Say, well, maybe God is doing this. No,
(02:07):
that's not for me to say. There are certain things
in life that we don't know that we're not going
to see until we reach the other side. This past week,
I was having some trouble with my Mac computer, so
I went to the Apple Store to see a genius.
(02:32):
That's what his card says. Genius. I figured I'd ask
him questions about the meaning of life. He didn't seem
that smart. But I knew that he knows about Mac
computers more than what I know about Mac computers, and
(02:54):
I needed to free up some space in my memory
and my computer. And so I brought it to him
without fully knowing. And I said, hey, you're the genius here, right?
I need to free up some space in my computer.
So I gave him my computer and as my wife
was there, I chatted. I wasn't worried about understanding what
he was doing. I don't know exactly everything that he's
(03:17):
just sounds like gibberish to me. Some of the technical
language he was using, all I knew is that he
knows more about it than I know about it, so
I'm not going to be fully concerned about understanding exactly
what he's doing and exactly how he's doing it. I'm
just chit chatting with my wife while he's doing that,
because I trust that he knows more than me. And
(03:41):
sure enough, when he gave the computer back to me,
there was a good chunk of extra memory on my computer.
You see, the way it works with God is similar.
We may not understand exactly what God is doing. We
may not understand exactly how God is doing it. We
(04:01):
may not understand the timing of God. We may not
understand the ways of God. We may not understand why
God allows certain things in our life. But here's what
I do understand that God is smarter than us. God
is sovereign. God is powerful. And so I choose to
trust God, even though I may not fully understand how
(04:23):
God works, because in the end, he gives it back
to me and it makes sense in his time and
his in his agenda. Amen. The angels told Joseph that
there was a purpose and a plan in what he's doing,
(04:45):
but not always do we understand it. Sometimes we are
simply called to trust God. Number three. Surprises may stir
your fear, but only you choose the strength of your obedience.
(05:12):
Verse 24 says, When Joseph woke up, he did what
the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he
took Mary as his wife. But he had no union
with her until she gave birth to a son, and
he gave him the name Jesus. You know, you may
(05:35):
have encountered a surprise in life that's thrown you off.
You may have encountered an upset in your plans that
you did not expect. You're living with something that you
did not anticipate. You're living with a tragedy that you
did not orchestrate. You're living in a town that maybe
(05:57):
you didn't plan to live in. Living in a neighborhood
that maybe you hadn't planned on. Maybe living in circumstances
in your family that you did not expect, or living
with a difficulty that you did not write into your
life plan. But yet, as the angel told Joseph, do
(06:21):
not fear. Make sure that in the midst of your surprises,
you don't let your surprises drag you down. It's in
the midst of your surprise that you say, I may
not understand it, but I'm choosing to be obedient and
faithful to God because it's in the middle of my
circumstance that I say what I cannot understand. I leave
(06:45):
up to you God. But what I do understand, I
take responsibility for, and I choose to follow and be
obedient to you and trust you. God, in the middle
of this chaos that I cannot quite comprehend. You see,
our responsibility is obedience and trust. God's responsibility is the rest.
(07:05):
Joseph woke up and he did what the angel of
the Lord told him. He took Mary and he said,
I'm going to marry her even though she's pregnant. And
I don't understand exactly how she got pregnant and exactly
what this baby is going to look like and who
this baby is going to be. I'm going to follow
(07:26):
through and I'm going to be obedient to God. You see,
that's a hard thing to do when we don't understand
how it's going to turn out to be obedient in
the midst of tragedy. I love the fact, by the way,
that Joseph married Mary, even when he didn't quite understand
(07:54):
how it would all turn out because he was being obedient.
And the Bible says that he this was double tragedy
for Joseph because he marries Mary and she's pregnant. And
then after they get married, he can't have he can't
consummate the marriage sexually because the because he's he's waiting
(08:14):
until she has the baby. And by the way, I
run into people oftentimes occasionally that say, well, you know,
I like this church. I, I like that you guys
follow the Bible, but I don't like but you guys
don't believe in Mary. And I want to say, no way.
I'm a big believer in Mary. I love Mary. I
(08:39):
believe that Mary was blessed, and I believe that God
chose her and that she was a virgin, and that
Jesus was birthed out of her. I think she was
an incredible woman with incredible faith that did incredible things.
I'm a huge believer in Mary, but. I believe that
(09:01):
Mary gave birth to a Savior. His name is Jesus,
the only mediator between God and man. And I believe
that Mary would be offended if I prayed to her
instead of her son, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
I believe in Mary, but Mary didn't die on a cross.
I believe in Mary. But Mary wasn't sinless. I believe
in Mary, but Mary was not the Son of God.
(09:23):
The Bible says there's one mediator between God and man,
and that is the man Christ Jesus. I think Mary
would be offended. I believe that Mary would be offended
at us for praying to her instead of going to
her son. Mary would be shocked at the people that
(09:44):
have bypassed Jesus to go to her. Mary would say,
what are you doing? It's Jesus, the son that I
gave birth to. He's the Emmanuel. He's the one that
died on the cross. He's the Son of God. I
was just a blessed woman, a vessel, a one that
God chose to give birth to this beautiful son. But
(10:05):
it's Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who we
are to go to. We should believe in Mary. We
should bless her and thank her for her role in
the Christian story. But we should never put anybody in
the category of Jesus. There's one mediator between God and man,
(10:28):
and that is the man Christ Jesus.
S1 (10:36):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Our
message is titled surprises, and our study comes from Matthew
chapter one, verses 18 through 25. If you'd like to
hear this message again, or if you'd like to send
a link with today's program to someone who might need
to hear this message, you can do that online at bird-stamps.org.
And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to
(10:58):
the Bold Steps Minute, a special one minute feature you
can hear any time, no matter what your schedule looks like.
Add this convenient 62nd Bible teaching to your podcast lineup,
and get a daily dose of encouragement and wisdom right
where you are any time of the day. Again, it's
called the Bold Steps Minute, and to learn more, just
visit Bold steps.org. All right. Now more from Mark Jobe's
(11:19):
message here on Bold Steps weekend.
S2 (11:27):
Joseph took her home and married her, but did not
consummate the marriage until Jesus was born. By the way,
the Bible tells us that Jesus did have other half
brothers and sisters through Mary. That Mary was married to
Joseph for many years and had other brothers and sisters,
(11:50):
and that doesn't make her less holy. In fact, it
would be wrong if she was married and did not
have sex with her husband and have other children. It
doesn't take anything away from her. doesn't degrade her, take
anything away from her. But she had a family besides Jesus.
Jesus was the only one born of the Holy Spirit.
But she. But Mary did have other brothers and sisters
(12:11):
as well. And that's part of the beautiful story of
the gospel found in several of the Gospels, explaining who
Mary was and the brothers of of Jesus brothers as well.
But the Bible tells us clearly that Joseph obeyed when
(12:32):
it came to Mary, even in spite of his circumstances.
And I want to wrap it up with this, but
I want you to hear me well. There are some
of you that have been surprised by life. And you're
letting that surprise in your life leads you to chaos.
(13:00):
And dysfunction. And you're letting that surprise drag you all
the way down. And I'm saying that the Word of
God is telling you that in the middle of your surprises.
It's more important than ever before that you will be
(13:21):
obedient to God, and you trust God through the surprises. Oh,
I don't know why your best friend died of cancer
at 32, but I do know that for you to
go to the bottle and start drinking drowning your depression
and drunkenness is telling God that you don't think he
(13:46):
knew what he was doing. I do know that the
right response is saying, God, I have no idea why
you took this person. Beautiful person. I wouldn't have done it. God,
but I'm going to trust your goodness. I'm going to
trust that you bring all things to the good of
those that love you. And I'm going to honor their memory,
(14:06):
and I'm going to serve you and trust you and
follow you like never before. Because I may not understand
surprises in my life, but I do understand that you're
still on the throne. You're still good, you're still sovereign.
And I'm going to follow you with all that's in
my heart. Listen, I don't understand why your marriage ended
(14:30):
in divorce. But I do understand that your children do
not need a divorce, father. That falls into depression, that
lets their life go out of control. That is sucked
into the surprise. You say, well, this is not how
I expected it to happen, pastor. I didn't think I
would be celebrating Christmas by myself around a tree while
(14:53):
my wife's with some some other man, their stepfather, celebrating Christmas. Listen,
I don't understand the tragedy of it. I don't understand
exactly why it happened. But I do understand this. Don't
allow the tragedies of life, those things that you cannot explain,
those things that surprise you, to derail you from your
call and your purpose in God. Get back on track.
(15:15):
Go back to your anchor. Begin to trust God. And
the best thing that you could do for your children
is to live for God with all of your heart
and all of your mind, and be the father that
they really need. I do understand that. Life may have
(15:36):
thrown you some curveballs, but God is still on the
throne and God is able to take whatever surprises you had,
no matter how difficult. He's not the author of them,
but to squeeze good out of them. You know, at 19,
(15:59):
if you would have asked me what I was doing,
I had a pretty clear plan. It did not involve Chicago.
I had already identified where I was going to live,
(16:21):
right beneath the border of France, on the northern coast
of Spain. There's a land there called the Basque Country.
Beautiful place near the coast. Mountainous. I had written that's
(16:41):
where I'm moving to after I finished studying in Chicago.
I had my plan. I had my system. I had
it laid out. And I'll never forget the day when
I was 20 years old. When I felt like God
challenged me, spoke to my heart. Would you love Chicago?
(17:10):
Like northern Spain? Chicago? Mhm. Lord, you're like, making this
hard on me here. But, but but now, in retrospect,
I want to tell you something. God's plans trump my
(17:31):
plans any day, any day. As we close our time together,
(17:52):
maybe you're wrestling through some surprises that came your way
this season of life. Maybe life is not exactly how
you planned it. Maybe you feel a victim of circumstances
(18:13):
that you can't control. Maybe you're mad at God. Maybe
you blame God. We make our plans. But ultimately, God
(18:36):
determines our destiny. And so today, the right response to
surprise is, is God? I may not understand it. I
may not be able to comprehend why. Now hear me.
(18:58):
But in the middle of it, God, I choose to
trust you, believing that all things work together for the
good of those that love you and are called according
to your purposes. So if you're struggling through some surprises
that you've gotten in life, would you let God speak
(19:19):
to you through the power of His Holy Spirit right now?
Would you just say to God, God, I'm struggling with
this curveball? But I'm not going to let this curveball
(19:39):
keep me bitter, angry, cynical. Doubtful. I'm going to turn
to you and trust you, God. I'm going to press
in to obey you, Lord. Believing that even out of
(20:01):
the bad you can bring good Lord, believing that you
can weave everything together for your will and your purposes.
So today I trust you, God. Give me the power
of the Holy Spirit to do so. I pray, spirit
of the living God, that you would come even now,
(20:23):
blowing out the anxiety and the fear, replacing it with
faith and trust. Even now, father, that person that's been discouraged.
I pray that they would find an anchor in you. God.
Even now, that person that's been wondering why I pray
that their why would be erased. For who not? Why not?
(20:51):
Why did it happen? But who am I trusting? I
pray God that the trust would be planted in you
fully and completely. Even at this time, God do it
even now.
S1 (21:14):
Mark Jobe concluding today's Bold Steps weekend. Now, if you
joined us late or need to catch up from an
earlier message in our current study called Jesus The Story
Behind Christmas, just go to our website boldsystems.org. Well, our
bold step gift is Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ.
Such a classic book from an apologist who's made such
(21:34):
an impact in the world. Mark, just one little factor.
You know this book, The Case for Christ, has sold
5 million copies. Isn't that amazing?
S2 (21:41):
Amazing. And you know, I read it when it first
came out. Lee is from the Chicagoland area, and it's
just such an impactful book, and I love the approach
from a doubting investigator that comes to Christ through his
own research.
S1 (21:56):
Well, he's with us right now.
S2 (21:57):
Lee, it's great to have you in the studio with
us today.
S3 (22:00):
Great to be with you, my friends.
S2 (22:02):
And you know, Lee, this came out a few years back.
And so you've had the opportunity of maybe hearing some
people that have read the book and responded to it.
Can you tell us a few stories?
S3 (22:13):
Sure. One of my favorite stories involves the famous motorcycle
daredevil rider Evel Knievel. Evel was on the you know,
he lived a very wild life, I'll say. Yeah, I
heard profane. It was like he was a gambler. He
was a drinker. I mean, he and he was on
the beach one day, and he heard God speak to
him on the inside. And God said to him, Robert,
(22:35):
which is his real name? Robert, I've saved you more
times than you'll ever know. Now you need to come
to me through my son, Jesus. Wow. Well, it stunned him.
He didn't know who Jesus was, so he called his
friend Frank Gifford. The sportscaster who was also a Christian, said, Frank,
I had this experience with God. Who is Jesus? And
Frank said, um, get that book The Case for Christ. Um,
(22:55):
it'll it'll explain everything. So Evel Knievel's wife gets him
the book, he reads it and it cements his faith
in such a remarkable way that he had one of
the most profound born again experience of anybody I've ever met.
He and I became friends. He called me to thank
me for writing the book, and we were good friends
(23:17):
for the rest of his life. In fact, when he
died on his tombstone, he had engraved Believe in Jesus. Wow.
And wow. The day he was baptized, he gave his
testimony and the pastor literally ripped up his sermon and
told everybody, you've heard the gospel. And if you want to,
if you want to receive Christ right now, come forward
(23:37):
and be baptized. And 700 people in two services came forward.
So he was quite a character and a true brother
in Christ.
S1 (23:47):
So that's just one of countless stories of people who
have come to Christ, Mark through this book, and we
hope that even more will come to Christ as our
Bold Steps listeners ask for it. Yeah.
S2 (23:55):
And I want to just challenge our listeners. Some of
you have friends, family members, relatives, neighbors that when you
talk to them about Christ, they say, well, that's just
a bunch of fairy tales. I really don't believe that.
And especially if they have intellectual challenges to this, this
would be a great book to give to them, to
(24:18):
start to open up that dialogue for the gospel.
S1 (24:21):
So let us send you a copy of Lee's book,
The Case for Christ Today. Just request it when you
give a gift of any amount to support bold steps
by going online to Bold Steps. Org or by calling
us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. You can even
send a check in the mail. Just address an envelope
(24:41):
to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten.
And by the way, if you haven't already, be sure
to subscribe to our Bold Steps Weekend podcast on your
phone or mobile device and take these daily messages with
you wherever you go. Simply open up your preferred podcast app,
search for Bold Steps Weekend with doctor Mark Jobe and
(25:03):
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new Bold Steps app, which features full length original sermons
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(25:27):
Simply log in to your account, search for Bold Steps
Radio and click the subscribe button. Well, that's our time
for today, but thanks for joining us. I'm Wayne Shepherd,
wishing you a merry Christmas and encouraging you to join
us next weekend when Mark begins a new message called
How to Return Jesus to Christmas. That's next time right
here on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps
(25:50):
Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
more about God's perfect timing.
S2 (00:06):
God is smarter than us. God is sovereign. God is powerful.
And so I choose to trust God, even though I
may not fully understand how God works, because in the end,
he gives it back to me and it makes sense
in his time and in his agenda.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
president of Moody Bible Institute, and he's the senior pastor
of New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd.
You know, sometimes life can feel a little out of control.
Something can happen to us that's so shocking or devastating
that we end up asking the question, Where is God? Well, today,
(00:58):
pastor Mark will explain the answer to that question as
he continues with the message titled surprises. Now, if you
missed the first half of this important lesson, make sure
you catch up online by going to Bold Steps. Org
but right now, let's open our Bibles to the book
of Matthew, chapter one, verses 15 through 25. As we
join Mark with today's message.
S2 (01:19):
Sometimes God gives us an insight into how he's going
to bring good out of our tragedy, but not always.
Sometimes we go through tragedy, difficulty, surprises in life and
we have no idea why they happen. No idea why
it happens to us at this time, at this moment,
at this season. No idea. I've pastored for a long time,
(01:42):
so I've been at the funeral of too many young
men in their teens and 20s. I've had to speak
into tragedy and difficult circumstances and circumstances that cannot be explained.
And I never try to explain why, Because I don't
know why. Say, well, maybe God is doing this. No,
(02:07):
that's not for me to say. There are certain things
in life that we don't know that we're not going
to see until we reach the other side. This past week,
I was having some trouble with my Mac computer, so
I went to the Apple Store to see a genius.
(02:32):
That's what his card says. Genius. I figured I'd ask
him questions about the meaning of life. He didn't seem
that smart. But I knew that he knows about Mac
computers more than what I know about Mac computers, and
(02:54):
I needed to free up some space in my memory
and my computer. And so I brought it to him
without fully knowing. And I said, hey, you're the genius here, right?
I need to free up some space in my computer.
So I gave him my computer and as my wife
was there, I chatted. I wasn't worried about understanding what
he was doing. I don't know exactly everything that he's
(03:17):
just sounds like gibberish to me. Some of the technical
language he was using, all I knew is that he
knows more about it than I know about it, so
I'm not going to be fully concerned about understanding exactly
what he's doing and exactly how he's doing it. I'm
just chit chatting with my wife while he's doing that,
because I trust that he knows more than me. And
(03:41):
sure enough, when he gave the computer back to me,
there was a good chunk of extra memory on my computer.
You see, the way it works with God is similar.
We may not understand exactly what God is doing. We
may not understand exactly how God is doing it. We
(04:01):
may not understand the timing of God. We may not
understand the ways of God. We may not understand why
God allows certain things in our life. But here's what
I do understand that God is smarter than us. God
is sovereign. God is powerful. And so I choose to
trust God, even though I may not fully understand how
(04:23):
God works, because in the end, he gives it back
to me and it makes sense in his time and
his in his agenda. Amen. The angels told Joseph that
there was a purpose and a plan in what he's doing,
(04:45):
but not always do we understand it. Sometimes we are
simply called to trust God. Number three. Surprises may stir
your fear, but only you choose the strength of your obedience.
(05:12):
Verse 24 says, When Joseph woke up, he did what
the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he
took Mary as his wife. But he had no union
with her until she gave birth to a son, and
he gave him the name Jesus. You know, you may
(05:35):
have encountered a surprise in life that's thrown you off.
You may have encountered an upset in your plans that
you did not expect. You're living with something that you
did not anticipate. You're living with a tragedy that you
did not orchestrate. You're living in a town that maybe
(05:57):
you didn't plan to live in. Living in a neighborhood
that maybe you hadn't planned on. Maybe living in circumstances
in your family that you did not expect, or living
with a difficulty that you did not write into your
life plan. But yet, as the angel told Joseph, do
(06:21):
not fear. Make sure that in the midst of your surprises,
you don't let your surprises drag you down. It's in
the midst of your surprise that you say, I may
not understand it, but I'm choosing to be obedient and
faithful to God because it's in the middle of my
circumstance that I say what I cannot understand. I leave
(06:45):
up to you God. But what I do understand, I
take responsibility for, and I choose to follow and be
obedient to you and trust you. God, in the middle
of this chaos that I cannot quite comprehend. You see,
our responsibility is obedience and trust. God's responsibility is the rest.
(07:05):
Joseph woke up and he did what the angel of
the Lord told him. He took Mary and he said,
I'm going to marry her even though she's pregnant. And
I don't understand exactly how she got pregnant and exactly
what this baby is going to look like and who
this baby is going to be. I'm going to follow
(07:26):
through and I'm going to be obedient to God. You see,
that's a hard thing to do when we don't understand
how it's going to turn out to be obedient in
the midst of tragedy. I love the fact, by the way,
that Joseph married Mary, even when he didn't quite understand
(07:54):
how it would all turn out because he was being obedient.
And the Bible says that he this was double tragedy
for Joseph because he marries Mary and she's pregnant. And
then after they get married, he can't have he can't
consummate the marriage sexually because the because he's he's waiting
(08:14):
until she has the baby. And by the way, I
run into people oftentimes occasionally that say, well, you know,
I like this church. I, I like that you guys
follow the Bible, but I don't like but you guys
don't believe in Mary. And I want to say, no way.
I'm a big believer in Mary. I love Mary. I
(08:39):
believe that Mary was blessed, and I believe that God
chose her and that she was a virgin, and that
Jesus was birthed out of her. I think she was
an incredible woman with incredible faith that did incredible things.
I'm a huge believer in Mary, but. I believe that
(09:01):
Mary gave birth to a Savior. His name is Jesus,
the only mediator between God and man. And I believe
that Mary would be offended if I prayed to her
instead of her son, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
I believe in Mary, but Mary didn't die on a cross.
I believe in Mary. But Mary wasn't sinless. I believe
in Mary, but Mary was not the Son of God.
(09:23):
The Bible says there's one mediator between God and man,
and that is the man Christ Jesus. I think Mary
would be offended. I believe that Mary would be offended
at us for praying to her instead of going to
her son. Mary would be shocked at the people that
(09:44):
have bypassed Jesus to go to her. Mary would say,
what are you doing? It's Jesus, the son that I
gave birth to. He's the Emmanuel. He's the one that
died on the cross. He's the Son of God. I
was just a blessed woman, a vessel, a one that
God chose to give birth to this beautiful son. But
(10:05):
it's Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who we
are to go to. We should believe in Mary. We
should bless her and thank her for her role in
the Christian story. But we should never put anybody in
the category of Jesus. There's one mediator between God and man,
(10:28):
and that is the man Christ Jesus.
S1 (10:36):
You're listening to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Our
message is titled surprises, and our study comes from Matthew
chapter one, verses 18 through 25. If you'd like to
hear this message again, or if you'd like to send
a link with today's program to someone who might need
to hear this message, you can do that online at bird-stamps.org.
And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to
(10:58):
the Bold Steps Minute, a special one minute feature you
can hear any time, no matter what your schedule looks like.
Add this convenient 62nd Bible teaching to your podcast lineup,
and get a daily dose of encouragement and wisdom right
where you are any time of the day. Again, it's
called the Bold Steps Minute, and to learn more, just
visit Bold steps.org. All right. Now more from Mark Jobe's
(11:19):
message here on Bold Steps weekend.
S2 (11:27):
Joseph took her home and married her, but did not
consummate the marriage until Jesus was born. By the way,
the Bible tells us that Jesus did have other half
brothers and sisters through Mary. That Mary was married to
Joseph for many years and had other brothers and sisters,
(11:50):
and that doesn't make her less holy. In fact, it
would be wrong if she was married and did not
have sex with her husband and have other children. It
doesn't take anything away from her. doesn't degrade her, take
anything away from her. But she had a family besides Jesus.
Jesus was the only one born of the Holy Spirit.
But she. But Mary did have other brothers and sisters
(12:11):
as well. And that's part of the beautiful story of
the gospel found in several of the Gospels, explaining who
Mary was and the brothers of of Jesus brothers as well.
But the Bible tells us clearly that Joseph obeyed when
(12:32):
it came to Mary, even in spite of his circumstances.
And I want to wrap it up with this, but
I want you to hear me well. There are some
of you that have been surprised by life. And you're
letting that surprise in your life leads you to chaos.
(13:00):
And dysfunction. And you're letting that surprise drag you all
the way down. And I'm saying that the Word of
God is telling you that in the middle of your surprises.
It's more important than ever before that you will be
(13:21):
obedient to God, and you trust God through the surprises. Oh,
I don't know why your best friend died of cancer
at 32, but I do know that for you to
go to the bottle and start drinking drowning your depression
and drunkenness is telling God that you don't think he
(13:46):
knew what he was doing. I do know that the
right response is saying, God, I have no idea why
you took this person. Beautiful person. I wouldn't have done it. God,
but I'm going to trust your goodness. I'm going to
trust that you bring all things to the good of
those that love you. And I'm going to honor their memory,
(14:06):
and I'm going to serve you and trust you and
follow you like never before. Because I may not understand
surprises in my life, but I do understand that you're
still on the throne. You're still good, you're still sovereign.
And I'm going to follow you with all that's in
my heart. Listen, I don't understand why your marriage ended
(14:30):
in divorce. But I do understand that your children do
not need a divorce, father. That falls into depression, that
lets their life go out of control. That is sucked
into the surprise. You say, well, this is not how
I expected it to happen, pastor. I didn't think I
would be celebrating Christmas by myself around a tree while
(14:53):
my wife's with some some other man, their stepfather, celebrating Christmas. Listen,
I don't understand the tragedy of it. I don't understand
exactly why it happened. But I do understand this. Don't
allow the tragedies of life, those things that you cannot explain,
those things that surprise you, to derail you from your
call and your purpose in God. Get back on track.
(15:15):
Go back to your anchor. Begin to trust God. And
the best thing that you could do for your children
is to live for God with all of your heart
and all of your mind, and be the father that
they really need. I do understand that. Life may have
(15:36):
thrown you some curveballs, but God is still on the
throne and God is able to take whatever surprises you had,
no matter how difficult. He's not the author of them,
but to squeeze good out of them. You know, at 19,
(15:59):
if you would have asked me what I was doing,
I had a pretty clear plan. It did not involve Chicago.
I had already identified where I was going to live,
(16:21):
right beneath the border of France, on the northern coast
of Spain. There's a land there called the Basque Country.
Beautiful place near the coast. Mountainous. I had written that's
(16:41):
where I'm moving to after I finished studying in Chicago.
I had my plan. I had my system. I had
it laid out. And I'll never forget the day when
I was 20 years old. When I felt like God
challenged me, spoke to my heart. Would you love Chicago?
(17:10):
Like northern Spain? Chicago? Mhm. Lord, you're like, making this
hard on me here. But, but but now, in retrospect,
I want to tell you something. God's plans trump my
(17:31):
plans any day, any day. As we close our time together,
(17:52):
maybe you're wrestling through some surprises that came your way
this season of life. Maybe life is not exactly how
you planned it. Maybe you feel a victim of circumstances
(18:13):
that you can't control. Maybe you're mad at God. Maybe
you blame God. We make our plans. But ultimately, God
(18:36):
determines our destiny. And so today, the right response to
surprise is, is God? I may not understand it. I
may not be able to comprehend why. Now hear me.
(18:58):
But in the middle of it, God, I choose to
trust you, believing that all things work together for the
good of those that love you and are called according
to your purposes. So if you're struggling through some surprises
that you've gotten in life, would you let God speak
(19:19):
to you through the power of His Holy Spirit right now?
Would you just say to God, God, I'm struggling with
this curveball? But I'm not going to let this curveball
(19:39):
keep me bitter, angry, cynical. Doubtful. I'm going to turn
to you and trust you, God. I'm going to press
in to obey you, Lord. Believing that even out of
(20:01):
the bad you can bring good Lord, believing that you
can weave everything together for your will and your purposes.
So today I trust you, God. Give me the power
of the Holy Spirit to do so. I pray, spirit
of the living God, that you would come even now,
(20:23):
blowing out the anxiety and the fear, replacing it with
faith and trust. Even now, father, that person that's been discouraged.
I pray that they would find an anchor in you. God.
Even now, that person that's been wondering why I pray
that their why would be erased. For who not? Why not?
(20:51):
Why did it happen? But who am I trusting? I
pray God that the trust would be planted in you
fully and completely. Even at this time, God do it
even now.
S1 (21:14):
Mark Jobe concluding today's Bold Steps weekend. Now, if you
joined us late or need to catch up from an
earlier message in our current study called Jesus The Story
Behind Christmas, just go to our website boldsystems.org. Well, our
bold step gift is Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ.
Such a classic book from an apologist who's made such
(21:34):
an impact in the world. Mark, just one little factor.
You know this book, The Case for Christ, has sold
5 million copies. Isn't that amazing?
S2 (21:41):
Amazing. And you know, I read it when it first
came out. Lee is from the Chicagoland area, and it's
just such an impactful book, and I love the approach
from a doubting investigator that comes to Christ through his
own research.
S1 (21:56):
Well, he's with us right now.
S2 (21:57):
Lee, it's great to have you in the studio with
us today.
S3 (22:00):
Great to be with you, my friends.
S2 (22:02):
And you know, Lee, this came out a few years back.
And so you've had the opportunity of maybe hearing some
people that have read the book and responded to it.
Can you tell us a few stories?
S3 (22:13):
Sure. One of my favorite stories involves the famous motorcycle
daredevil rider Evel Knievel. Evel was on the you know,
he lived a very wild life, I'll say. Yeah, I
heard profane. It was like he was a gambler. He
was a drinker. I mean, he and he was on
the beach one day, and he heard God speak to
him on the inside. And God said to him, Robert,
(22:35):
which is his real name? Robert, I've saved you more
times than you'll ever know. Now you need to come
to me through my son, Jesus. Wow. Well, it stunned him.
He didn't know who Jesus was, so he called his
friend Frank Gifford. The sportscaster who was also a Christian, said, Frank,
I had this experience with God. Who is Jesus? And
Frank said, um, get that book The Case for Christ. Um,
(22:55):
it'll it'll explain everything. So Evel Knievel's wife gets him
the book, he reads it and it cements his faith
in such a remarkable way that he had one of
the most profound born again experience of anybody I've ever met.
He and I became friends. He called me to thank
me for writing the book, and we were good friends
(23:17):
for the rest of his life. In fact, when he
died on his tombstone, he had engraved Believe in Jesus. Wow.
And wow. The day he was baptized, he gave his
testimony and the pastor literally ripped up his sermon and
told everybody, you've heard the gospel. And if you want to,
if you want to receive Christ right now, come forward
(23:37):
and be baptized. And 700 people in two services came forward.
So he was quite a character and a true brother
in Christ.
S1 (23:47):
So that's just one of countless stories of people who
have come to Christ, Mark through this book, and we
hope that even more will come to Christ as our
Bold Steps listeners ask for it. Yeah.
S2 (23:55):
And I want to just challenge our listeners. Some of
you have friends, family members, relatives, neighbors that when you
talk to them about Christ, they say, well, that's just
a bunch of fairy tales. I really don't believe that.
And especially if they have intellectual challenges to this, this
would be a great book to give to them, to
(24:18):
start to open up that dialogue for the gospel.
S1 (24:21):
So let us send you a copy of Lee's book,
The Case for Christ Today. Just request it when you
give a gift of any amount to support bold steps
by going online to Bold Steps. Org or by calling
us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. You can even
send a check in the mail. Just address an envelope
(24:41):
to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten.
And by the way, if you haven't already, be sure
to subscribe to our Bold Steps Weekend podcast on your
phone or mobile device and take these daily messages with
you wherever you go. Simply open up your preferred podcast app,
search for Bold Steps Weekend with doctor Mark Jobe and
(25:03):
hit that subscribe button. We're also excited to announce the
new Bold Steps app, which features full length original sermons
from Mark, along with short teaching videos and exclusive series
on relevant topics like identity, depression and family. Just open
up your App Store and download the Bold Steps app
and check it out today. And of course, you can
always connect with us online through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
(25:27):
Simply log in to your account, search for Bold Steps
Radio and click the subscribe button. Well, that's our time
for today, but thanks for joining us. I'm Wayne Shepherd,
wishing you a merry Christmas and encouraging you to join
us next weekend when Mark begins a new message called
How to Return Jesus to Christmas. That's next time right
here on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps
(25:50):
Weekend is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
Moody Bible Institute.
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