December 7, 2024 • 26 mins
Have you ever prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, watching and waiting for God to show up and make everything all right? If so, you might need to change your perspective and realize that God could be waiting on you.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend, Pastor Mark explains why timing is everything. Mark will be going to the book of Luke chapter one, and he'll be teaching how our obedience to God is the key to releasing our spiritual breakthroughs.
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps weekend, Mark Jobe explains why timing
is everything.
S2 (00:05):
Some of you say, well, I'm going to wait until
I this comes through before I obey God in this area.
And God is saying no. Obey. Obey because obedience is
the door to breakthrough. It always is. So obey first
and then see what God does.
S1 (00:36):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of
New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd.
Have you ever prayed for a spiritual breakthrough? Watch it.
And waiting for God to show up and make everything
all right? Well, if so, you might need to change
your perspective and realize that God could be waiting on you.
(00:58):
Today we're opening our Bibles to the Book of Luke,
chapter one, and we'll be discovering how our obedience to
God is the key to releasing our spiritual breakthroughs, so
to share some pivotal encounters with God. Here's our Bible teacher,
Mark Jobe with part two of his message titled Timing
is Everything.
S2 (01:15):
Zechariah doubted the promise of God and he lost his speech.
He complicated the delivery of the promise of God. Number
four most people will not understand your personal breakthrough encounter
with God. When God is breaking through, getting you out
of the waiting room. When there's an encounter with God,
(01:36):
most people will not understand fully your own personal encounter
with God. It says. Meanwhile, while Zacharias was in the
temple experiencing the Word of God and an angel of God,
the people were outside waiting for Zacharias and wondering why
(01:59):
he stayed so long in the temple. Some of them
were probably whispering. Maybe God struck him dead. Someone else
is saying he's old. He probably fell asleep. What is
he doing in the temple so long? When he came out,
he could not speak to them because he doubted the
promise and his speech was taken away. They realized he
(02:22):
had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept
making signs to them, but he remained unable to speak.
Think about it. Zechariah has just been given the greatest
news of his life. What you've been praying for, waiting for,
for 40 years. The birth of a son, your wife
(02:43):
to get pregnant. It is been given to you. So
he comes out of the temple wide eyed, excited, looking
at the people, and they're like, hey, what took you
so long? I know someone was saying I know he
(03:04):
was going to lose it. He was getting old. We
should have. He should have retired already. He lost it.
But from his miming, they they they kind of got
the idea. He's seen a vision. They couldn't quite understand
what he had seen, but they were able to understand.
He had seen a vision. Can I tell you this?
(03:26):
Sometimes when God is working in your heart and you
have an encounter with God that's deep and powerful and spiritual,
it is difficult to explain to others exactly what God
has done in your heart. How do you explain in
the natural what has happened in the supernatural? How about it?
(03:49):
How do you explain in the natural? I recently encountered
a someone who had actually visited this church a while back,
a couple of years ago, and she visited this church,
and I saw her in a public place, and I
saw her and she ran up to me and she said, Mr. Job,
she said, can I talk to you? I said, sure.
(04:11):
And she said, the first time I encountered the gospel
was when I visited your church. And she said, then
I fell away. I wasn't coming, and I started going
to this church. And she said during the service time,
she says, something happened to me. They called people forward
to pray and I don't know how to explain it,
(04:33):
she said. But I just started to weep and cry.
I just felt overwhelmed, like something I had never felt before,
like something was happening deep inside of me. And she
said I had this uncontrollable crying and crying, overwhelmed by it.
She said, what was that? I said, it's called the
(04:57):
Holy Spirit. Zacharias couldn't quite explain with his limited vocabulary
exactly what had happened within his heart when he tried
to explain it to these people, but he knew that
he had had a fresh encounter with God. Number five
(05:20):
people of faith gather with people of faith to survive
the gap. Time. So it tells us that, um, in
verse 39, at that time, Mary got ready, and I'm
not going to go into the whole Mary story. But
you have to remember that Elizabeth was old. How old?
(05:43):
I'm not really sure how old, but more than likely
in her 70s or older. And Mary was young, probably 16,
17 years old. So they were second or third cousins,
but one was an older woman. Not that if you're
70 or 80 here, you're old, but, you know, just
(06:04):
a more mature woman. And another one was 16 years old.
So it tells us that at the time, Mary, the
16 year old, got ready and hurried to the town
in the hill country of Judea. Why? Because the angel
had told her that her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant.
(06:26):
Five months pregnant. And so Mary, when she heard the
news from the angel that she was going to be pregnant,
that she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit,
she wanted to go find her cousin, who was also
pregnant in a supernatural way. Because people of faith need
(06:48):
people of faith to maintain their faith. Strong people of
faith need to be around other people of faith, to
make sure they can stand strong until they receive the
fullness of the promise. I don't know about you, but
when God is doing something in your life, you want
to be around other people where God is doing something
(07:09):
in their life too, because they can't. They're the only
people that can semi understand what God is doing in
your life. Other people look at you like, are you crazy?
What are you talking about? But you understand that other
people who have faith and have experienced God, they know
what you're talking about. They sense. Yeah, I know what
you're talking about. And so Mary ran to find. Find Elizabeth.
(07:33):
And the Bible says where she entered Zechariah's home. And
she greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby,
the baby in Elizabeth's womb, the older woman, the baby
leaped in her womb. Amen. A leaping baby. I remember
(08:00):
when my wife was pregnant, she would say she would.
She would be laying in bed and she says, Mark, Mark, Mark, look.
And I look over and I'd see kind of her
stomach doing little waves like, you know, I'm wondering, is
that an elbow? Is that a head? And sometimes it
felt like the baby's like dancing or something or kicking
or moving around. And but I don't know if I
ever saw a baby leap. You know, there was never
(08:22):
a boom boom, you know, happened in her stomach. But
but this was a when Mary entered the house of Elizabeth,
the baby leaped within her womb, and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit in a loud voice. When she
(08:43):
was filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed, blessed are
you among women, and blessed is the child that you bear.
But why am I so favored that the mother of
the Lord should come to me? As soon as the
sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in
my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed
(09:04):
that the Lord will fulfill his promise in her and listen.
And Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months, and
then she returned home. I think that Mary needed to
be around another woman that understood her. She needed to
be around another woman that was going through something similar
like she was going through. How can a fetus jump?
(09:29):
And some people wonder, by the way, when a child
is conceived, is it a glob of tissue or is
it a human being? And there's a lot of debate
in our culture about when does a human being become
a human being. And many people have bought into the
(09:50):
idea that when a baby is born and breathing, then
finally it becomes a human being. But as long as
it's in the womb of a mother, it's just a tissue.
It's a fetus. It's not a human being. Therefore, we
can take its life by any means of abortion if
we choose to do so, because it's not really a
(10:11):
human being. My Bible says that John the Baptizer, as
a baby, had a spirit and jumped because maybe his
mind was not developed enough to understand it. His body
was still being developed, but he had a spirit within
(10:33):
him that when he came in contact with the powerful
Spirit of God, he was moved in his spirit and
jumped with joy. It says, I believe that we're made
of body, soul, and spirit. I believe that a baby,
even before it's born, has a spirit and has the
(10:53):
value of a human being. I also believe that when
someone is old and their mind has gone and their
body may not be there. Their spirit is still there.
In fact, I've had this experience a couple of different times,
and the first time it happened to me, I kind
of freaked out a little bit because it was just
kind of. But it reminded me that the person has
(11:15):
a spirit. I was called to a hospital and there
was a 90 year old. He was at least 90
years old, and his family told me that he had
been in a coma for a week, so he had
been in a coma, unable to respond mentally. Physically, he
was set up by machines and he was breathing, but
he would not die and would not get better. And
(11:35):
so his family called me to visit the hospital. I
wasn't sure if they wanted me to pray that he
would resurrect, or if they wanted me to pray that
he would go to glory. Because sometimes when you're 90,
you're kind of in between. And so when I went
into the room, I saw this man that had been
laying in a coma for a week, an entire week,
without any response. And I went up to him and
(11:57):
his family was speaking in Spanish. So they said say
he understands only Spanish. And as I went to pray,
I felt like the Lord prompted me to pray that
he would be released into his presence. So I went
up close to him and I. I whispered to him.
Your family's here. I did it in Spanish. De familia
esta aqui en tu Corazon. Es tiempo de irte con
(12:21):
el senor. It's time to go with God. Peace is here.
Your your grandkids are okay. And so I just said, Lord,
take him now. Receive him into your presence. 30s. After
I prayed that the machine started going beep beep beep
(12:41):
beep beep.
S3 (12:42):
Beep.
S2 (12:45):
The nurse came into the room. The nurse came into
the room and she looked at the family and said, sorry,
I'm sorry to tell you, but that your relative is gone.
And I was reminded by that. The family was like
all amazed that it had happened that quick, but I
believe that he was hanging on and even though his
mind could not fully understand and his body was still
breathing with machines, I feel like his spirit needed to
(13:07):
be released. I went home and told my wife and
she said, you're like the angel of death. I said, no, no, no,
that's not it. I mean, he was ready to go.
She said, don't pray for him. Don't don't come to
my hospital bed if I'm sick because I want to pray.
Pray for a resurrection. I don't want to pray for death.
It's like, okay, all right. So but I believe I
(13:29):
believe that he was ready to go and his spirit
was still in his body. And just like a baby may,
there might not be fully developed or their body, but
they they are a body, soul and spirit. And the
spirit doesn't vacate the body until it's time to go.
And I think some people can stay alive because their
soul is clinging to the physical part of their body.
(13:51):
And sometimes they have to be told, hey, stop clinging,
release and go meet your maker. Amen.
S1 (14:04):
We're learning about the power and process of spiritual release
here on Bold Steps weekend, and Mark Jobe has more
to say about this fundamental experience when he returns with
the second half of today's program in just a moment.
So stay with us. If you've been encouraged by Mark's
bold and passionate teaching, let me encourage you to go
online and learn more. You'll find us at Bold steps.org.
In fact, one of the most encouraging resources that we
(14:27):
offer our listeners is something you can receive each and
every week. Absolutely free. And that's Mark's weekly email devotional
called The Bold Stepper Weekly. If you're not receiving this
encouraging devotional already, it's easy to sign up so you
can get it beginning Monday morning. Just go to Bold Steps.
Org and look for the tab there. Bold Stepper Weekly.
You can sign up there. There's no cost, no obligation.
(14:50):
We just love to have you part of the team.
Listening and reading The Bold Stepper weekly. All right, now
let's get back into today's message titled Timing is everything.
S2 (15:05):
Mary spent three months with Elizabeth. She needed to be
around someone of faith because she knew that she had
been promised a child. But between the promise and the delivery,
she needed to be around someone else that understood faith.
(15:28):
Some of you are in the waiting room, and the
worst thing that you could do is get around people
that don't understand the waiting room. Some of you need
to link up with someone else that is in the
same waiting room, but is believing with you and you say,
let's believe together. Some of you need to get around
(15:50):
someone that has faith like you have and say, you
know the world may not understand us. They might all
think we're crazy, but we're going to stay in this
waiting room and not lose our joy and not give
up on God until God brings about the promise. Some
of you need to get around some people of faith.
(16:11):
Three months Mary needed to be around her. Her aunt.
Number six obedience unleashes breakthroughs in the spiritual realm that
can come no other way. Verse 57 says, when it
was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave
birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard
(16:37):
that the Lord had shown her great mercy and shared
her joy. Everybody heard, hey, there's an old woman giving
birth to a baby man. God is good. He answered
her prayer. This is supernatural. Incredible. So she gave birth
to a baby. And the. And verse 57 says, on
(17:00):
the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and
the Jewish culture, and the eighth day they would circumcise
the child. And it was often at that time that
they would also give the child a name. They would
give a name that usually they would give the name
of the father or the name that represented the family clan.
(17:20):
And so they came on the eighth day to circumcise
the boy, because circumcision was a sign of the covenant.
Circumcised the boy, and as they circumcised the boy, Zechariah
was there, his mother was there, and they wanted the
relatives wanted to name him Zechariah Junior. But his mother
(17:41):
spoke up and said, no, he's to be called John.
And the relatives thought, well, John, why are you going
to call him John? I'm sure his father wants him
to be called Zechariah a little zachy. And so they
said to her, there's no one among your relatives whose name? John.
(18:02):
But you remember the angel had said when he was born.
His name shall be John. And so then they made
signs to his father. This is funny to me. Then
they made signs. Signs to his father to find out
what he would name the child. Now, why are they
making signs to his father? He's not deaf. He just
can't speak. But you know, sometimes people when they. I
(18:25):
don't know, I've seen it happen before. I've been to
Spain sometimes, or had people from Spain come over and
they don't, you know, understand English very well. I introduce
him to someone and say, hi, his name is Jose
and people say hi, your name is Jose. My name
is Jorge. Well, he's not deaf. He just doesn't understand English. So,
you know, it's, you know, raising your voice isn't going
(18:48):
to help them understand. So it's just kind of our
natural proclivity to kind of try to anyways. So they're
making signs to him. And and they ask him. He
asked for a writing tablet. And so they give him
a writing tablet. And to everyone's astonishment, he wrote on
(19:10):
the tablet, his name is John. And I love this
because it says immediately or suddenly. I love that strength
of that word immediately. Say it out loud immediately. Because
sometimes things happen progressively, and other times they happen immediately.
(19:32):
It says, and immediately his mouth was opened and his
tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
Immediately what happened that would cause this to release his
tongue immediately? What happened was obedience. He obeyed, and immediately
(19:53):
there was a release. He followed through in obedience, and
immediately there was a release. Let me tell you something
about the way God works. You see, oftentimes it's obedience
that is the door to immediate change. Many of us
are waiting for change before we obey, without understanding that
(20:17):
it's obedience that leads to change, that we need to
obey first. And then the change happens. And some of
us are saying, well, God, when you do this or
do that, then I'm going to obey without understanding that
you're actually prolonging the process by waiting for change to
come before you obey. Sometimes you have to take the
(20:39):
hard step before the release and the breakthrough comes. Sometimes
you have to say, okay, I'm you're waiting to feel
like you want to forgive that person. And you're saying, well, God,
when you make me feel like I want to forgive,
then I will take the step. But you don't understand
that you have to take the step of forgiving first
before you feel the forgiveness come upon you, so you're
(21:02):
prolonging the process. Some of you say, well, I'm going
to wait. I'm going to wait until whatever. I'm going
to wait until I this comes through before I obey
God in this area. And God is saying, no. Obey.
Obey because obedience is the door to breakthrough. It always is.
(21:23):
So obey first and then see what God does. Zacharias obeyed.
His name will be John. And then suddenly there was
a release in the supernatural that affected the natural and
what he was bottlenecked in and wasn't able to do.
He was able suddenly to do because God released favor
in his life after obedience has come. Stop delaying obedience.
S1 (21:53):
Yes, let's stop delaying obedience. A powerful challenge that we
can accept right now, wherever we are in our journey
with God. But you know, Mark, for some of us,
impatience can be more of a struggle than obedience when
we've been following God's direction for our lives in that
long awaited breakthrough, still hasn't happened. What do we do then?
S2 (22:11):
You know, Wayne, impatience is an issue. And like this
story with Zacharias and Elizabeth, they had waited for a
long time. But I think we cannot miss the point.
And maybe especially as we enter into this Christmas season
and even as we approach the end of the year.
I'm wondering if there's some listeners that you have gone
(22:35):
this entire year. We're about to finish 2021, and yet
you still have been postponing like, yeah, I'm going to
do it, I'm going to do it, but you haven't
done it. And and I'm talking to someone specifically here
today that you were convicted months ago about a step
(22:55):
you needed to take, someone you needed to forgive, a
step of obedience. Maybe it's getting baptized. Maybe it's finally
surrendering your life to Christ because you say, I'm not
quite ready, I'm going to do it. Maybe, yeah, maybe
it's having a conversation with that boyfriend or girlfriend to say,
you know what? We're not sleeping together anymore until we
get married. I don't know what your obedient step is,
(23:18):
but if you've been postponing, it's time to stop right now,
right here and say, God, I will take this step
of obedience today.
S1 (23:27):
Right. Thank you, Mark. And as we continue to walk
in obedience, waiting for all that God has in store,
we can remain filled with genuine, unwavering hope by keeping
our eyes on Jesus. And to help you make this
practical step toward the goal, we'd like to send you
a copy of author Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ.
It offers a refreshingly honest, fact based approach to Christianity,
(23:49):
making it an excellent gift for any skeptic or seeker.
Using his skills as an award winning legal journalist, Strobel
investigates the claims about Jesus with the precision of a
detective presenting the evidence for Jesus in a clear, compelling way.
So get your hands on this transformative, bold step gift
and spend this Christmas strengthening the foundations of your faith
(24:11):
or encouraging someone you know to do the same. We'll
send you a copy of The Case for Christ when
you donate to the Ministry of Bold Steps. Just go
online to Bold steps.org, or pick up the phone and
call us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And you
can also send your gift through the mail. Our address
(24:32):
is bold. Steps 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 606 ten.
And during this season of giving, we know that you
have many choices to make about where you spend your
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(24:54):
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(25:17):
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search for bold Steps weekend with doctor Mark Jobe. That's
our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you back
next weekend for a message from Mark, simply titled surprises.
We'll be learning about the spiritual principles of breakthrough timing
(25:39):
as we go deeper into our series. Jesus. The Story
Behind Christmas. So we'll see you next time on Bold
Steps Weekend with Mark Jones. Bold Steps Weekend is a
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps weekend, Mark Jobe explains why timing
is everything.
S2 (00:05):
Some of you say, well, I'm going to wait until
I this comes through before I obey God in this area.
And God is saying no. Obey. Obey because obedience is
the door to breakthrough. It always is. So obey first
and then see what God does.
S1 (00:36):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of
New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd.
Have you ever prayed for a spiritual breakthrough? Watch it.
And waiting for God to show up and make everything
all right? Well, if so, you might need to change
your perspective and realize that God could be waiting on you.
(00:58):
Today we're opening our Bibles to the Book of Luke,
chapter one, and we'll be discovering how our obedience to
God is the key to releasing our spiritual breakthroughs, so
to share some pivotal encounters with God. Here's our Bible teacher,
Mark Jobe with part two of his message titled Timing
is Everything.
S2 (01:15):
Zechariah doubted the promise of God and he lost his speech.
He complicated the delivery of the promise of God. Number
four most people will not understand your personal breakthrough encounter
with God. When God is breaking through, getting you out
of the waiting room. When there's an encounter with God,
(01:36):
most people will not understand fully your own personal encounter
with God. It says. Meanwhile, while Zacharias was in the
temple experiencing the Word of God and an angel of God,
the people were outside waiting for Zacharias and wondering why
(01:59):
he stayed so long in the temple. Some of them
were probably whispering. Maybe God struck him dead. Someone else
is saying he's old. He probably fell asleep. What is
he doing in the temple so long? When he came out,
he could not speak to them because he doubted the
promise and his speech was taken away. They realized he
(02:22):
had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept
making signs to them, but he remained unable to speak.
Think about it. Zechariah has just been given the greatest
news of his life. What you've been praying for, waiting for,
for 40 years. The birth of a son, your wife
(02:43):
to get pregnant. It is been given to you. So
he comes out of the temple wide eyed, excited, looking
at the people, and they're like, hey, what took you
so long? I know someone was saying I know he
(03:04):
was going to lose it. He was getting old. We
should have. He should have retired already. He lost it.
But from his miming, they they they kind of got
the idea. He's seen a vision. They couldn't quite understand
what he had seen, but they were able to understand.
He had seen a vision. Can I tell you this?
(03:26):
Sometimes when God is working in your heart and you
have an encounter with God that's deep and powerful and spiritual,
it is difficult to explain to others exactly what God
has done in your heart. How do you explain in
the natural what has happened in the supernatural? How about it?
(03:49):
How do you explain in the natural? I recently encountered
a someone who had actually visited this church a while back,
a couple of years ago, and she visited this church,
and I saw her in a public place, and I
saw her and she ran up to me and she said, Mr. Job,
she said, can I talk to you? I said, sure.
(04:11):
And she said, the first time I encountered the gospel
was when I visited your church. And she said, then
I fell away. I wasn't coming, and I started going
to this church. And she said during the service time,
she says, something happened to me. They called people forward
to pray and I don't know how to explain it,
(04:33):
she said. But I just started to weep and cry.
I just felt overwhelmed, like something I had never felt before,
like something was happening deep inside of me. And she
said I had this uncontrollable crying and crying, overwhelmed by it.
She said, what was that? I said, it's called the
(04:57):
Holy Spirit. Zacharias couldn't quite explain with his limited vocabulary
exactly what had happened within his heart when he tried
to explain it to these people, but he knew that
he had had a fresh encounter with God. Number five
(05:20):
people of faith gather with people of faith to survive
the gap. Time. So it tells us that, um, in
verse 39, at that time, Mary got ready, and I'm
not going to go into the whole Mary story. But
you have to remember that Elizabeth was old. How old?
(05:43):
I'm not really sure how old, but more than likely
in her 70s or older. And Mary was young, probably 16,
17 years old. So they were second or third cousins,
but one was an older woman. Not that if you're
70 or 80 here, you're old, but, you know, just
(06:04):
a more mature woman. And another one was 16 years old.
So it tells us that at the time, Mary, the
16 year old, got ready and hurried to the town
in the hill country of Judea. Why? Because the angel
had told her that her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant.
(06:26):
Five months pregnant. And so Mary, when she heard the
news from the angel that she was going to be pregnant,
that she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit,
she wanted to go find her cousin, who was also
pregnant in a supernatural way. Because people of faith need
(06:48):
people of faith to maintain their faith. Strong people of
faith need to be around other people of faith, to
make sure they can stand strong until they receive the
fullness of the promise. I don't know about you, but
when God is doing something in your life, you want
to be around other people where God is doing something
(07:09):
in their life too, because they can't. They're the only
people that can semi understand what God is doing in
your life. Other people look at you like, are you crazy?
What are you talking about? But you understand that other
people who have faith and have experienced God, they know
what you're talking about. They sense. Yeah, I know what
you're talking about. And so Mary ran to find. Find Elizabeth.
(07:33):
And the Bible says where she entered Zechariah's home. And
she greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby,
the baby in Elizabeth's womb, the older woman, the baby
leaped in her womb. Amen. A leaping baby. I remember
(08:00):
when my wife was pregnant, she would say she would.
She would be laying in bed and she says, Mark, Mark, Mark, look.
And I look over and I'd see kind of her
stomach doing little waves like, you know, I'm wondering, is
that an elbow? Is that a head? And sometimes it
felt like the baby's like dancing or something or kicking
or moving around. And but I don't know if I
ever saw a baby leap. You know, there was never
(08:22):
a boom boom, you know, happened in her stomach. But
but this was a when Mary entered the house of Elizabeth,
the baby leaped within her womb, and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit in a loud voice. When she
(08:43):
was filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed, blessed are
you among women, and blessed is the child that you bear.
But why am I so favored that the mother of
the Lord should come to me? As soon as the
sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in
my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed
(09:04):
that the Lord will fulfill his promise in her and listen.
And Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months, and
then she returned home. I think that Mary needed to
be around another woman that understood her. She needed to
be around another woman that was going through something similar
like she was going through. How can a fetus jump?
(09:29):
And some people wonder, by the way, when a child
is conceived, is it a glob of tissue or is
it a human being? And there's a lot of debate
in our culture about when does a human being become
a human being. And many people have bought into the
(09:50):
idea that when a baby is born and breathing, then
finally it becomes a human being. But as long as
it's in the womb of a mother, it's just a tissue.
It's a fetus. It's not a human being. Therefore, we
can take its life by any means of abortion if
we choose to do so, because it's not really a
(10:11):
human being. My Bible says that John the Baptizer, as
a baby, had a spirit and jumped because maybe his
mind was not developed enough to understand it. His body
was still being developed, but he had a spirit within
(10:33):
him that when he came in contact with the powerful
Spirit of God, he was moved in his spirit and
jumped with joy. It says, I believe that we're made
of body, soul, and spirit. I believe that a baby,
even before it's born, has a spirit and has the
(10:53):
value of a human being. I also believe that when
someone is old and their mind has gone and their
body may not be there. Their spirit is still there.
In fact, I've had this experience a couple of different times,
and the first time it happened to me, I kind
of freaked out a little bit because it was just
kind of. But it reminded me that the person has
(11:15):
a spirit. I was called to a hospital and there
was a 90 year old. He was at least 90
years old, and his family told me that he had
been in a coma for a week, so he had
been in a coma, unable to respond mentally. Physically, he
was set up by machines and he was breathing, but
he would not die and would not get better. And
(11:35):
so his family called me to visit the hospital. I
wasn't sure if they wanted me to pray that he
would resurrect, or if they wanted me to pray that
he would go to glory. Because sometimes when you're 90,
you're kind of in between. And so when I went
into the room, I saw this man that had been
laying in a coma for a week, an entire week,
without any response. And I went up to him and
(11:57):
his family was speaking in Spanish. So they said say
he understands only Spanish. And as I went to pray,
I felt like the Lord prompted me to pray that
he would be released into his presence. So I went
up close to him and I. I whispered to him.
Your family's here. I did it in Spanish. De familia
esta aqui en tu Corazon. Es tiempo de irte con
(12:21):
el senor. It's time to go with God. Peace is here.
Your your grandkids are okay. And so I just said, Lord,
take him now. Receive him into your presence. 30s. After
I prayed that the machine started going beep beep beep
(12:41):
beep beep.
S3 (12:42):
Beep.
S2 (12:45):
The nurse came into the room. The nurse came into
the room and she looked at the family and said, sorry,
I'm sorry to tell you, but that your relative is gone.
And I was reminded by that. The family was like
all amazed that it had happened that quick, but I
believe that he was hanging on and even though his
mind could not fully understand and his body was still
breathing with machines, I feel like his spirit needed to
(13:07):
be released. I went home and told my wife and
she said, you're like the angel of death. I said, no, no, no,
that's not it. I mean, he was ready to go.
She said, don't pray for him. Don't don't come to
my hospital bed if I'm sick because I want to pray.
Pray for a resurrection. I don't want to pray for death.
It's like, okay, all right. So but I believe I
(13:29):
believe that he was ready to go and his spirit
was still in his body. And just like a baby may,
there might not be fully developed or their body, but
they they are a body, soul and spirit. And the
spirit doesn't vacate the body until it's time to go.
And I think some people can stay alive because their
soul is clinging to the physical part of their body.
(13:51):
And sometimes they have to be told, hey, stop clinging,
release and go meet your maker. Amen.
S1 (14:04):
We're learning about the power and process of spiritual release
here on Bold Steps weekend, and Mark Jobe has more
to say about this fundamental experience when he returns with
the second half of today's program in just a moment.
So stay with us. If you've been encouraged by Mark's
bold and passionate teaching, let me encourage you to go
online and learn more. You'll find us at Bold steps.org.
In fact, one of the most encouraging resources that we
(14:27):
offer our listeners is something you can receive each and
every week. Absolutely free. And that's Mark's weekly email devotional
called The Bold Stepper Weekly. If you're not receiving this
encouraging devotional already, it's easy to sign up so you
can get it beginning Monday morning. Just go to Bold Steps.
Org and look for the tab there. Bold Stepper Weekly.
You can sign up there. There's no cost, no obligation.
(14:50):
We just love to have you part of the team.
Listening and reading The Bold Stepper weekly. All right, now
let's get back into today's message titled Timing is everything.
S2 (15:05):
Mary spent three months with Elizabeth. She needed to be
around someone of faith because she knew that she had
been promised a child. But between the promise and the delivery,
she needed to be around someone else that understood faith.
(15:28):
Some of you are in the waiting room, and the
worst thing that you could do is get around people
that don't understand the waiting room. Some of you need
to link up with someone else that is in the
same waiting room, but is believing with you and you say,
let's believe together. Some of you need to get around
(15:50):
someone that has faith like you have and say, you
know the world may not understand us. They might all
think we're crazy, but we're going to stay in this
waiting room and not lose our joy and not give
up on God until God brings about the promise. Some
of you need to get around some people of faith.
(16:11):
Three months Mary needed to be around her. Her aunt.
Number six obedience unleashes breakthroughs in the spiritual realm that
can come no other way. Verse 57 says, when it
was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave
birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard
(16:37):
that the Lord had shown her great mercy and shared
her joy. Everybody heard, hey, there's an old woman giving
birth to a baby man. God is good. He answered
her prayer. This is supernatural. Incredible. So she gave birth
to a baby. And the. And verse 57 says, on
(17:00):
the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and
the Jewish culture, and the eighth day they would circumcise
the child. And it was often at that time that
they would also give the child a name. They would
give a name that usually they would give the name
of the father or the name that represented the family clan.
(17:20):
And so they came on the eighth day to circumcise
the boy, because circumcision was a sign of the covenant.
Circumcised the boy, and as they circumcised the boy, Zechariah
was there, his mother was there, and they wanted the
relatives wanted to name him Zechariah Junior. But his mother
(17:41):
spoke up and said, no, he's to be called John.
And the relatives thought, well, John, why are you going
to call him John? I'm sure his father wants him
to be called Zechariah a little zachy. And so they
said to her, there's no one among your relatives whose name? John.
(18:02):
But you remember the angel had said when he was born.
His name shall be John. And so then they made
signs to his father. This is funny to me. Then
they made signs. Signs to his father to find out
what he would name the child. Now, why are they
making signs to his father? He's not deaf. He just
can't speak. But you know, sometimes people when they. I
(18:25):
don't know, I've seen it happen before. I've been to
Spain sometimes, or had people from Spain come over and
they don't, you know, understand English very well. I introduce
him to someone and say, hi, his name is Jose
and people say hi, your name is Jose. My name
is Jorge. Well, he's not deaf. He just doesn't understand English. So,
you know, it's, you know, raising your voice isn't going
(18:48):
to help them understand. So it's just kind of our
natural proclivity to kind of try to anyways. So they're
making signs to him. And and they ask him. He
asked for a writing tablet. And so they give him
a writing tablet. And to everyone's astonishment, he wrote on
(19:10):
the tablet, his name is John. And I love this
because it says immediately or suddenly. I love that strength
of that word immediately. Say it out loud immediately. Because
sometimes things happen progressively, and other times they happen immediately.
(19:32):
It says, and immediately his mouth was opened and his
tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
Immediately what happened that would cause this to release his
tongue immediately? What happened was obedience. He obeyed, and immediately
(19:53):
there was a release. He followed through in obedience, and
immediately there was a release. Let me tell you something
about the way God works. You see, oftentimes it's obedience
that is the door to immediate change. Many of us
are waiting for change before we obey, without understanding that
(20:17):
it's obedience that leads to change, that we need to
obey first. And then the change happens. And some of
us are saying, well, God, when you do this or
do that, then I'm going to obey without understanding that
you're actually prolonging the process by waiting for change to
come before you obey. Sometimes you have to take the
(20:39):
hard step before the release and the breakthrough comes. Sometimes
you have to say, okay, I'm you're waiting to feel
like you want to forgive that person. And you're saying, well, God,
when you make me feel like I want to forgive,
then I will take the step. But you don't understand
that you have to take the step of forgiving first
before you feel the forgiveness come upon you, so you're
(21:02):
prolonging the process. Some of you say, well, I'm going
to wait. I'm going to wait until whatever. I'm going
to wait until I this comes through before I obey
God in this area. And God is saying, no. Obey.
Obey because obedience is the door to breakthrough. It always is.
(21:23):
So obey first and then see what God does. Zacharias obeyed.
His name will be John. And then suddenly there was
a release in the supernatural that affected the natural and
what he was bottlenecked in and wasn't able to do.
He was able suddenly to do because God released favor
in his life after obedience has come. Stop delaying obedience.
S1 (21:53):
Yes, let's stop delaying obedience. A powerful challenge that we
can accept right now, wherever we are in our journey
with God. But you know, Mark, for some of us,
impatience can be more of a struggle than obedience when
we've been following God's direction for our lives in that
long awaited breakthrough, still hasn't happened. What do we do then?
S2 (22:11):
You know, Wayne, impatience is an issue. And like this
story with Zacharias and Elizabeth, they had waited for a
long time. But I think we cannot miss the point.
And maybe especially as we enter into this Christmas season
and even as we approach the end of the year.
I'm wondering if there's some listeners that you have gone
(22:35):
this entire year. We're about to finish 2021, and yet
you still have been postponing like, yeah, I'm going to
do it, I'm going to do it, but you haven't
done it. And and I'm talking to someone specifically here
today that you were convicted months ago about a step
(22:55):
you needed to take, someone you needed to forgive, a
step of obedience. Maybe it's getting baptized. Maybe it's finally
surrendering your life to Christ because you say, I'm not
quite ready, I'm going to do it. Maybe, yeah, maybe
it's having a conversation with that boyfriend or girlfriend to say,
you know what? We're not sleeping together anymore until we
get married. I don't know what your obedient step is,
(23:18):
but if you've been postponing, it's time to stop right now,
right here and say, God, I will take this step
of obedience today.
S1 (23:27):
Right. Thank you, Mark. And as we continue to walk
in obedience, waiting for all that God has in store,
we can remain filled with genuine, unwavering hope by keeping
our eyes on Jesus. And to help you make this
practical step toward the goal, we'd like to send you
a copy of author Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ.
It offers a refreshingly honest, fact based approach to Christianity,
(23:49):
making it an excellent gift for any skeptic or seeker.
Using his skills as an award winning legal journalist, Strobel
investigates the claims about Jesus with the precision of a
detective presenting the evidence for Jesus in a clear, compelling way.
So get your hands on this transformative, bold step gift
and spend this Christmas strengthening the foundations of your faith
(24:11):
or encouraging someone you know to do the same. We'll
send you a copy of The Case for Christ when
you donate to the Ministry of Bold Steps. Just go
online to Bold steps.org, or pick up the phone and
call us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And you
can also send your gift through the mail. Our address
(24:32):
is bold. Steps 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 606 ten.
And during this season of giving, we know that you
have many choices to make about where you spend your
time and resources. And we want to say how thankful
we are for like minded believers who prioritize the mission
of sharing God's Word with new listeners. Today, we invite
(24:54):
you to help us continue this important work and become
part of the team as a monthly donor by signing
up as a bold partner when you give a monthly
gift of $30 or more. You'll also receive a number
of personal benefits as well, including discounts on. Moody publisher items,
special content from Mark, and more. Becoming a bold partner
is quick and easy when you go to bold steps.org.
(25:17):
And one more thing be sure to subscribe to our
podcast for easy listening on the go. Just open up
the podcast app on your phone or smart device and
search for bold Steps weekend with doctor Mark Jobe. That's
our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you back
next weekend for a message from Mark, simply titled surprises.
We'll be learning about the spiritual principles of breakthrough timing
(25:39):
as we go deeper into our series. Jesus. The Story
Behind Christmas. So we'll see you next time on Bold
Steps Weekend with Mark Jones. Bold Steps Weekend is a
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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