October 4, 2025 • 26 mins
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, you'll be learning how to mature and grow in God's power and provision. You have been given unique gifts and talents to help further the Kingdom of God, but how should you use those abilities to encourage and help bring people to Christ? That's what Pastor Mark explores today in this message.
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S1 (00:01):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
how to mature and grow in God's power and provision.
S2 (00:08):
When you begin to realize that God can use me,
you start growing. You start maturing. You move from being
a needy person to being a person that has the
power to give. Oh, there's a change that happens there.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president of
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well,
we all have been given unique gifts and talents to
help further the kingdom of God. But how should we
use those abilities to encourage and help bring people to Christ?
That's the topic we're going to explore today in our
(00:57):
message called Unleashing People Power. As part of our series
when you believe everything changes. So let's get started with
today's Bold Steps weekend. Here's Mark job.
S2 (01:08):
You go straight to the father. Through Jesus Christ the Savior,
you have access. Direct access. Any man that tells you
that to receive forgiveness of sins, you have to go
through a middle man is a person that tries to
maintain control over you. You have direct access to God. Listen,
(01:33):
I'll pray for you. And I pray for people on
a regular basis as a brother that's praying with you.
But your prayers are heard like my prayers are heard,
because you have the same Holy Spirit and the same
access to God via Jesus Christ that I have. Because
you are a son or daughter of God as well,
if you've been washed by the blood of the lamb,
(01:53):
and so you don't need an intermediary of a pastor,
clergy rabbi to pray for you because God hears your
prayers as well. Listen, when we baptize, if you've ever
been to a new life baptism, have you noticed that
we make sure that it's not the pastors that baptize everybody? Why?
(02:15):
We do it on purpose? Because I want you to
understand and know that it's not the holy men, so
to speak, that baptize and mentor that you, the people
of God, empower with the Spirit of God, disciples of
Jesus Christ. You have the power also to baptize in
Jesus name as we make disciples. So we have men
(02:36):
and women and young and old baptizing in Jesus name. Why?
Because we want you to understand that you have the
power in yourself and the calling of God upon your
life to help make disciples. Now, are you tracking with me?
Because this is huge. When we serve communion, I make
(02:58):
sure that it's the ushers that serve communion. I may
participate and be a part of it. But, but but
I take no special communion that you can't take. I
don't say no. You could take the bread, but I
take the wine and the bread because I'm holier. No, no, no,
(03:20):
that's not the way it works here. I take the
same cracker and the same juice you take. Why? Because
I want you to understand. There is no dichotomy between
the holy and unholy here. There is just what the
Bible calls the priesthood of all believers. This is important.
(03:42):
This is huge because some of you were brought up
in in traditions that caused you not to pray, not
to minister, not to reach out, not to use your
gifts because you've been taught you're not qualified or holy
enough to do that. That's only for certain holy people
that do that. And I want you to know, know,
(04:02):
know that spiritual leaders have been called to prepare God's
people and release God's people to do the work of
the ministry. That my main job is not to see
how many people I can pray for, although I pray
for people. But my job is how can I get
(04:22):
others to pray for others? My main job is not
let me see how many people I can lead to Christ.
My main job is how can I empower the body
to share their faith and lead a lot of people
to Christ? My main job is not how many people
can I personally teach, but how can I empower a
lot of you to be teachers so that you take
(04:43):
the faith and teach others? My main job is not
to see how many people I can personally visit at
the hospital that are sick, but how can I release
and empower the body to care about people that are
sick and in the hospital, and release the body of
Christ to do the work of the ministry? Two. I
(05:03):
have no desire to minister to 4000 people. Me personally.
No desire. I don't have the capacity. I don't have
the time. It's not my desire to personally, uh, pray
for everybody and personally visit everybody and personally minister to everybody.
Because if that were my heart, then I would somehow
(05:25):
believe that I'm the only one that can do it,
which is a lie, because the Spirit of God has
been spread around this place and there is a body
full of the spirit. Do you understand how this is
one of the greatest lies that have kept the people
of God, Christians trapped and bound, not using their gifts,
(05:52):
not stepping up to the calling in life, not feeling
like they could read the Bible, but someone had to
read the Bible to them. not praying, not ministering, not
leading anything, but kind of waiting for the holy people
to do that. Listen, I want to unleash the power
of the body so the church can become the church
full of God, full of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
(06:13):
fully empowered by God, fully accomplishing the mission of God
upon this earth. And so he says that apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists,
they are there to prepare God's people, to equip, to prepare,
to empower God's people so that the body of Christ
(06:37):
may be built up, leads to my third point. The
third thing to remember is that we use our gifts.
Remember that we use our gifts so that we can
grow to the full maturity and leave spiritual nursery behind.
Notice what it says in the verse 12. It says
(06:57):
to prepare God's people for works of service so that
the Body of Christ, we are the Body of Christ,
may be built up. Verse 13, until we all reach
unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of
the fullness of Christ. Verse 14. Then we will no
(07:18):
longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching,
and by every cunning and craftiness of men in their
deceitful schemes. In essence, what Paul is saying is that
spiritual leaders are given to help empower us to release
(07:40):
the church, to do its work. And when the church
is released, the people of God are released to begin
to do the work of God. Then something happens when
you begin to discover that you have a gift and
that God can use you. When you begin to mentor someone,
pray over someone when you begin to share your faith.
(08:04):
When you begin to learn that, you also can be
a blessing and encouragement. When you can share a verse,
when you can. When you begin to realize that God
can use me and you start moving in that way,
then there's something that happens to you. You start growing.
You start maturing. You start realizing, I'm not a person
(08:29):
that always needs, but I'm a person that has the
ability to give. You move from being a needy person
to being a person that has the power to give. Oh,
there's a change that happens there. Oh, there's something that
happens when you transition from I need, I need to
(08:50):
I can give, I can give. Uh, there's something that
happens when you transition from, hey, can you pray for
me to. Can I pray for you? There's something that
happens when you bring someone and you say, hey, pastor Mark,
I brought. I got one for you. Get em, pastor,
(09:11):
tell em. Go ahead, tell em. They need Jesus. Tell em.
You tell em. Oh, I'm willing to do that. Never
be afraid to do that. I'm blessed to be able
to do that. But I'm even more blessed when you
don't have to bring em to pastor Mark to say,
tell em, pastor, when you can. Tell him yourself, when
you can say, let me lead you to Jesus. Let
(09:32):
me pray with you. Let me explain the gospel. Let's
kneel on our knees right now. Let's give your life
to Jesus and pray over you. When you begin to
have that power and confidence inside of you that you
can lead someone to the feet of Jesus. Hey, I'm
blessed to baptize people, but hey, it's a great blessing
to me when you finally learn to mentor someone and
(09:55):
teach them the the Bible studies that lead to baptism
and that you pray over someone as they go into
the water and you dunk them in the water and
they come out of the water and you do it
in Jesus name. Hey, that's an incredible blessing to me. Why?
Because now I know you've you've gone from I need,
I need to I can give, I can give, and
(10:16):
you are going from one place of maturity to the
next place of maturity.
S1 (10:25):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job right
here on Bold Steps weekend, and we've paused our message
to let you know that we'd love to hear from you.
You'll find us online at Bold Steps, or connect with
us on your favorite social media platform, or listed on
both Facebook and Instagram as Bold Steps Radio, and we
look forward to hearing from you there. A listener recently
took the time to write us a note. Leon in Chicago. Mark,
(10:48):
he says, I feel like pastor Mark spoke directly to
me on the radio today. His message has truly blessed
me in my struggle. Thank you.
S2 (10:55):
Yeah, well, Leon, that was the Holy Spirit taking his
word and speaking to you. Write exactly what you needed
to hear. And I love that about preaching the Word
of God. And so I want to encourage you. Please
give us feedback. We love to hear from our listeners
like Leon, so many people that just tell us what
God is doing in their life and the bold steps
(11:16):
that they're taking.
S1 (11:17):
It's amazing how radio can be such a personal ministry,
isn't it, Mark?
S2 (11:20):
It really.
S1 (11:21):
Is. Thank you Leon, and for anyone who wants to
tell us their story, your bold story, go online and
share it with us at Bold steps.org by clicking on
Bold Testimonies. Now let's return to the second half of
today's study. Mark is just one last point to make
about truth and love.
S2 (11:43):
Hey, I'm blessed to baptize people, but hey, it's a
great blessing to me when you finally learn to mentor
someone and teach them the the Bible studies that lead
to baptism and that you pray over someone as they
go into the water and you dunk them in the
water and they come out of the water and you
do it in Jesus name. Hey, that's an incredible blessing
(12:05):
to me. Why? Because now I know you've you've gone
from I need, I need to I can give, I
can give, and you are going from one place of
maturity to the next place of maturity. Oh, you say, well, pastor,
I need to. I need to know more. Oh, I
(12:27):
know we all need to know more. The pastor I'd
love to be used, but I need. I need to
take more notes. Oh, I'm sure you do. I need
to learn more about God. I need to, like, get
it all down first. Well, I'm sure you do. But
(12:50):
here's the thing. I have two teenagers, one that's gotten
their driver's license, and one, help me. Lord, that's getting
his driver's license. No, he's actually a pretty good driver.
So my 16 year old son right now, that's in
the midst of getting his driver's license. He's got his
(13:10):
permit right now. He can go to class after class
and read book after book and watch video after video
on how to drive. Put your turn signal on, how
to merge, how to park and do all that. But
I can guarantee you that after months and months of
studying a book, he's still not ready to drive. I
(13:32):
can't put him in a car and then say, okay,
you're ready, son. Take a trip to California. Because the
best way you need to learn, he needs knowledge. But
the best way to really learn to drive is you
have to start driving. And everybody's a little rough in
the beginning, and everybody's a little jerky. And everybody has
(13:53):
a little bit of a trouble merging onto the expressway.
When you first learn it, right? When Josiah first started learning,
he says, dad, I'm pretty good at everything but merging
on the expressway. I said, okay, son, let's do it.
We got up there first time emerged on the expressway.
(14:14):
There's a big semi. Merging on. We're going like side
by side by the semi. He said, dad, what do
I do? I said, you either speed up or slow down,
but let's not compete with this semi. One or the other.
But you know what? You don't learn that from a book.
You have to get out there and you have to
do it. Listen, you can gain a lot of wisdom
(14:36):
by sitting in a service like this or going to
a Bible, a Bible study. But I'm going to tell you,
you will never grow to the place you need to
grow until you actually start doing the work of ministry,
until you actually start talking to someone, praying for someone,
sharing your faith, ministering to someone, encouraging someone doing the
work because that's the way you grow. You grow When
(15:00):
you discover your gift, you roll up your sleeves and
you start serving somewhere, doing something, utilizing your gifts because
that's the way you grow the most. And what the
Apostle Paul is telling us is that when we begin
to use our gifts, everybody, then we grow in faith
(15:23):
and we grow in the knowledge of the Son of
God to become mature to the full measure of the
fullness of Christ. And then we're no longer babies, infants.
Babies are tossed this way and tossed that way. They're inconsistent.
They're up and down. Someone comes in. They can easily
be deceived because they don't have a lot of discernment.
(15:46):
He says, when you start using your gifts, when you
start operating in your gifts, you will leave babyhood behind
and you will start to mature. So now you're less
up and down, and now you're not so easily deceived.
And now it's not every little teaching that sends you
over here and sends you over there. Why? Because you're
developing maturity. Spiritual maturity. And then finally, number four, I'm
(16:17):
talking about unleashing the body. In verse 15, he tells
us the atmosphere in which this needs to happen. He
says instead, instead of being babies tossed back and forth,
instead speaking the truth in love. Oh. Number four, remember
(16:41):
that truth and love are the atmosphere that releases full
participation and growth. Speaking the truth in love. We will
grow up into him who is the head that is Christ.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by
every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love
as each part does its work. Now hear me. We
(17:05):
want to be a church that is full of truth
and love. What happens if we're just a church that's
full of truth? Well, when all you have is truth
but you don't have love, you tend to come across
as judgmental, critical. Have you ever talked to someone? That's right.
But they say it wrong. Well, you know they're right,
(17:30):
but they just say it wrong. Well, this person, they're
going to hell. Well, maybe they are going to hell. But,
you know, there's a way of saying it differently. Like, man,
really want to help them not go there. There's truth
in love. And if all you know is truth, then
(17:53):
you'll you'll be critical, dogmatic, even though your truth is right,
your truth will typically push people away a thin people
because all you're concerned about is truth. Is it right now?
On the other hand, if all you have is sort
of this gushy, mushy love, we just need to love em. Well, hey,
(18:18):
they're really messing up. I know, I don't want to
say anything. I just want to love them. Hey, they're
lying and cheating. I know, I'm just going to love them.
Help them feel the love of God. The people of God.
I don't want to judge him either. One is is
out of balance. Well, God says is you need truth
(18:39):
and love, truth and love. You need the truth to
be spoken and listen. The truth sometimes hurts. The truth
sometimes offends. The truth sometimes cuts to your heart. The
truth sometimes offends you. The truth sometimes will make you
feel like, man, I'm mad at that pastor. He's. Oh,
he told me this was the truth. Yeah, it's the truth, but.
(19:06):
But if it's mixed with love. Let me tell you something.
If you try to take a tank across a bridge
that's really flimsy, it's going to fall. If you're going
to take your big truth across the bridge, it needs
to be a strong bridge of love. The more people
(19:27):
know you care, the more people will care what you know.
The more people know you care, the more people will
accept what you have to tell them in truth. If
people don't know you care, then people don't care what
you know or don't care what you tell them. And
so the power of a healthy church is when a
church has truth and love, where you wrap your arm
(19:50):
around someone and say, bro, I need to talk to
you and this is going to hurt, but I love you.
And that's why I'm telling you it needs to be
a place where there's strong truth, but there's strong love
mixed together. And in that kind of atmosphere, people start
growing and utilizing their gifts and releasing what God has
(20:12):
called them to and grow. You know how many people
you know? How many guys? Do you know how many guys?
I've put my arm around at this altar and said, hey, bro,
glad you're going in. Jesus. How come you're not marrying
this woman that you're living with right now? You know
(20:32):
how many guys have done that to. A lot, a lot,
a lot of guys. And you know what? I can't
think of one that said, hey, hey, don't don't tell
me what to do. No no no I don't. Because
I'm not saying why you living with that girl. You
(20:53):
shouldn't be living. Are you a Christian? You shouldn't come
to this church if you're living. I never say that. Never.
I'm not judging. I'm not kicking them out. I'm saying, man,
I feel like a father here, bro. What's up? Who's
dragging their feet on commitment here? Let's make this right
(21:16):
with this woman. You're going to get all the goodies, man.
You need to make all the commitment, too. You need
to do what's right. Why? Listen, because I believe God's
way is the best way, and I want to. And
if there's a brother struggling, if there's a brother struggling,
you know, I want to be able to put my
(21:37):
arm around and say, hey, bro, I've heard you're struggling.
Let's talk about that. What's going on? Truth in love.
I don't avoid it. I don't want to avoid it.
I want to speak direct. I want to be honest.
But I want to do it in love and listen.
When that atmosphere exists throughout the church, when people are
speaking the truth in love, there's something Releasing empowering. That
(22:00):
happens because people start to grow. When you start speaking
into their lives, listen, you may be here in the
church and you may be in a small group and
someone's struggling and you say, well, I hope pastor Mark
deals with this guy. He's really struggling, man. Listen, chances
are I don't even know they're struggling. I may not
even know their name. I may not even know who
(22:23):
they are. But I tell you what. There's someone in
the group that has the same spirit that pastor Mark has.
The Holy Spirit has the same ability to love and truth.
And so instead of waiting for pastor Mark to say,
I hope pastor Mark knows about this person, listen, you
(22:44):
need to say, hey, I know you. We've been in
the same group. Let's talk, man, let's have coffee together.
I want to encourage you. I want to bless you.
I want to push you forward. I know you're struggling.
I've struggled too. Let me minister to you. That is
the body of Christ.
S1 (23:12):
Mark, you're a pastor. When someone comes up to you
with that question at church, how do you respond to them?
S2 (23:17):
Yeah, well, I try to start by telling them, hey,
you have gifts that can be used in this place,
and there's a place for you. And so we have
a new to new life desk. I send them to
the desk and say, get some information, but I like
to encourage him. First of all, get involved with people.
If there's a small group, join a small group, join
(23:37):
a Sunday school class. Make sure you know some people
and then say, what are my passions and how can
I serve this body?
S1 (23:45):
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(24:06):
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(24:27):
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(24:49):
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(25:10):
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the time we have. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us again
next weekend when Mark starts a message titled putting on
the New You. It's from our series called When You Believe.
Everything Changes and you'll hear it here on Bold Steps
(25:31):
Weekend with Mark Joel. Bold Steps Weekend is a production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
how to mature and grow in God's power and provision.
S2 (00:08):
When you begin to realize that God can use me,
you start growing. You start maturing. You move from being
a needy person to being a person that has the
power to give. Oh, there's a change that happens there.
S1 (00:37):
Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is
senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president of
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well,
we all have been given unique gifts and talents to
help further the kingdom of God. But how should we
use those abilities to encourage and help bring people to Christ?
That's the topic we're going to explore today in our
(00:57):
message called Unleashing People Power. As part of our series
when you believe everything changes. So let's get started with
today's Bold Steps weekend. Here's Mark job.
S2 (01:08):
You go straight to the father. Through Jesus Christ the Savior,
you have access. Direct access. Any man that tells you
that to receive forgiveness of sins, you have to go
through a middle man is a person that tries to
maintain control over you. You have direct access to God. Listen,
(01:33):
I'll pray for you. And I pray for people on
a regular basis as a brother that's praying with you.
But your prayers are heard like my prayers are heard,
because you have the same Holy Spirit and the same
access to God via Jesus Christ that I have. Because
you are a son or daughter of God as well,
if you've been washed by the blood of the lamb,
(01:53):
and so you don't need an intermediary of a pastor,
clergy rabbi to pray for you because God hears your
prayers as well. Listen, when we baptize, if you've ever
been to a new life baptism, have you noticed that
we make sure that it's not the pastors that baptize everybody? Why?
(02:15):
We do it on purpose? Because I want you to
understand and know that it's not the holy men, so
to speak, that baptize and mentor that you, the people
of God, empower with the Spirit of God, disciples of
Jesus Christ. You have the power also to baptize in
Jesus name as we make disciples. So we have men
(02:36):
and women and young and old baptizing in Jesus name. Why?
Because we want you to understand that you have the
power in yourself and the calling of God upon your
life to help make disciples. Now, are you tracking with me?
Because this is huge. When we serve communion, I make
(02:58):
sure that it's the ushers that serve communion. I may
participate and be a part of it. But, but but
I take no special communion that you can't take. I
don't say no. You could take the bread, but I
take the wine and the bread because I'm holier. No, no, no,
(03:20):
that's not the way it works here. I take the
same cracker and the same juice you take. Why? Because
I want you to understand. There is no dichotomy between
the holy and unholy here. There is just what the
Bible calls the priesthood of all believers. This is important.
(03:42):
This is huge because some of you were brought up
in in traditions that caused you not to pray, not
to minister, not to reach out, not to use your
gifts because you've been taught you're not qualified or holy
enough to do that. That's only for certain holy people
that do that. And I want you to know, know,
(04:02):
know that spiritual leaders have been called to prepare God's
people and release God's people to do the work of
the ministry. That my main job is not to see
how many people I can pray for, although I pray
for people. But my job is how can I get
(04:22):
others to pray for others? My main job is not
let me see how many people I can lead to Christ.
My main job is how can I empower the body
to share their faith and lead a lot of people
to Christ? My main job is not how many people
can I personally teach, but how can I empower a
lot of you to be teachers so that you take
(04:43):
the faith and teach others? My main job is not
to see how many people I can personally visit at
the hospital that are sick, but how can I release
and empower the body to care about people that are
sick and in the hospital, and release the body of
Christ to do the work of the ministry? Two. I
(05:03):
have no desire to minister to 4000 people. Me personally.
No desire. I don't have the capacity. I don't have
the time. It's not my desire to personally, uh, pray
for everybody and personally visit everybody and personally minister to everybody.
Because if that were my heart, then I would somehow
(05:25):
believe that I'm the only one that can do it,
which is a lie, because the Spirit of God has
been spread around this place and there is a body
full of the spirit. Do you understand how this is
one of the greatest lies that have kept the people
of God, Christians trapped and bound, not using their gifts,
(05:52):
not stepping up to the calling in life, not feeling
like they could read the Bible, but someone had to
read the Bible to them. not praying, not ministering, not
leading anything, but kind of waiting for the holy people
to do that. Listen, I want to unleash the power
of the body so the church can become the church
full of God, full of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
(06:13):
fully empowered by God, fully accomplishing the mission of God
upon this earth. And so he says that apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists,
they are there to prepare God's people, to equip, to prepare,
to empower God's people so that the body of Christ
(06:37):
may be built up, leads to my third point. The
third thing to remember is that we use our gifts.
Remember that we use our gifts so that we can
grow to the full maturity and leave spiritual nursery behind.
Notice what it says in the verse 12. It says
(06:57):
to prepare God's people for works of service so that
the Body of Christ, we are the Body of Christ,
may be built up. Verse 13, until we all reach
unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of
the fullness of Christ. Verse 14. Then we will no
(07:18):
longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching,
and by every cunning and craftiness of men in their
deceitful schemes. In essence, what Paul is saying is that
spiritual leaders are given to help empower us to release
(07:40):
the church, to do its work. And when the church
is released, the people of God are released to begin
to do the work of God. Then something happens when
you begin to discover that you have a gift and
that God can use you. When you begin to mentor someone,
pray over someone when you begin to share your faith.
(08:04):
When you begin to learn that, you also can be
a blessing and encouragement. When you can share a verse,
when you can. When you begin to realize that God
can use me and you start moving in that way,
then there's something that happens to you. You start growing.
You start maturing. You start realizing, I'm not a person
(08:29):
that always needs, but I'm a person that has the
ability to give. You move from being a needy person
to being a person that has the power to give. Oh,
there's a change that happens there. Oh, there's something that
happens when you transition from I need, I need to
(08:50):
I can give, I can give. Uh, there's something that
happens when you transition from, hey, can you pray for
me to. Can I pray for you? There's something that
happens when you bring someone and you say, hey, pastor Mark,
I brought. I got one for you. Get em, pastor,
(09:11):
tell em. Go ahead, tell em. They need Jesus. Tell em.
You tell em. Oh, I'm willing to do that. Never
be afraid to do that. I'm blessed to be able
to do that. But I'm even more blessed when you
don't have to bring em to pastor Mark to say,
tell em, pastor, when you can. Tell him yourself, when
you can say, let me lead you to Jesus. Let
(09:32):
me pray with you. Let me explain the gospel. Let's
kneel on our knees right now. Let's give your life
to Jesus and pray over you. When you begin to
have that power and confidence inside of you that you
can lead someone to the feet of Jesus. Hey, I'm
blessed to baptize people, but hey, it's a great blessing
to me when you finally learn to mentor someone and
(09:55):
teach them the the Bible studies that lead to baptism
and that you pray over someone as they go into
the water and you dunk them in the water and
they come out of the water and you do it
in Jesus name. Hey, that's an incredible blessing to me. Why?
Because now I know you've you've gone from I need,
I need to I can give, I can give, and
(10:16):
you are going from one place of maturity to the
next place of maturity.
S1 (10:25):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job right
here on Bold Steps weekend, and we've paused our message
to let you know that we'd love to hear from you.
You'll find us online at Bold Steps, or connect with
us on your favorite social media platform, or listed on
both Facebook and Instagram as Bold Steps Radio, and we
look forward to hearing from you there. A listener recently
took the time to write us a note. Leon in Chicago. Mark,
(10:48):
he says, I feel like pastor Mark spoke directly to
me on the radio today. His message has truly blessed
me in my struggle. Thank you.
S2 (10:55):
Yeah, well, Leon, that was the Holy Spirit taking his
word and speaking to you. Write exactly what you needed
to hear. And I love that about preaching the Word
of God. And so I want to encourage you. Please
give us feedback. We love to hear from our listeners
like Leon, so many people that just tell us what
God is doing in their life and the bold steps
(11:16):
that they're taking.
S1 (11:17):
It's amazing how radio can be such a personal ministry,
isn't it, Mark?
S2 (11:20):
It really.
S1 (11:21):
Is. Thank you Leon, and for anyone who wants to
tell us their story, your bold story, go online and
share it with us at Bold steps.org by clicking on
Bold Testimonies. Now let's return to the second half of
today's study. Mark is just one last point to make
about truth and love.
S2 (11:43):
Hey, I'm blessed to baptize people, but hey, it's a
great blessing to me when you finally learn to mentor
someone and teach them the the Bible studies that lead
to baptism and that you pray over someone as they
go into the water and you dunk them in the
water and they come out of the water and you
do it in Jesus name. Hey, that's an incredible blessing
(12:05):
to me. Why? Because now I know you've you've gone
from I need, I need to I can give, I
can give, and you are going from one place of
maturity to the next place of maturity. Oh, you say, well, pastor,
I need to. I need to know more. Oh, I
(12:27):
know we all need to know more. The pastor I'd
love to be used, but I need. I need to
take more notes. Oh, I'm sure you do. I need
to learn more about God. I need to, like, get
it all down first. Well, I'm sure you do. But
(12:50):
here's the thing. I have two teenagers, one that's gotten
their driver's license, and one, help me. Lord, that's getting
his driver's license. No, he's actually a pretty good driver.
So my 16 year old son right now, that's in
the midst of getting his driver's license. He's got his
(13:10):
permit right now. He can go to class after class
and read book after book and watch video after video
on how to drive. Put your turn signal on, how
to merge, how to park and do all that. But
I can guarantee you that after months and months of
studying a book, he's still not ready to drive. I
(13:32):
can't put him in a car and then say, okay,
you're ready, son. Take a trip to California. Because the
best way you need to learn, he needs knowledge. But
the best way to really learn to drive is you
have to start driving. And everybody's a little rough in
the beginning, and everybody's a little jerky. And everybody has
(13:53):
a little bit of a trouble merging onto the expressway.
When you first learn it, right? When Josiah first started learning,
he says, dad, I'm pretty good at everything but merging
on the expressway. I said, okay, son, let's do it.
We got up there first time emerged on the expressway.
(14:14):
There's a big semi. Merging on. We're going like side
by side by the semi. He said, dad, what do
I do? I said, you either speed up or slow down,
but let's not compete with this semi. One or the other.
But you know what? You don't learn that from a book.
You have to get out there and you have to
do it. Listen, you can gain a lot of wisdom
(14:36):
by sitting in a service like this or going to
a Bible, a Bible study. But I'm going to tell you,
you will never grow to the place you need to
grow until you actually start doing the work of ministry,
until you actually start talking to someone, praying for someone,
sharing your faith, ministering to someone, encouraging someone doing the
work because that's the way you grow. You grow When
(15:00):
you discover your gift, you roll up your sleeves and
you start serving somewhere, doing something, utilizing your gifts because
that's the way you grow the most. And what the
Apostle Paul is telling us is that when we begin
to use our gifts, everybody, then we grow in faith
(15:23):
and we grow in the knowledge of the Son of
God to become mature to the full measure of the
fullness of Christ. And then we're no longer babies, infants.
Babies are tossed this way and tossed that way. They're inconsistent.
They're up and down. Someone comes in. They can easily
be deceived because they don't have a lot of discernment.
(15:46):
He says, when you start using your gifts, when you
start operating in your gifts, you will leave babyhood behind
and you will start to mature. So now you're less
up and down, and now you're not so easily deceived.
And now it's not every little teaching that sends you
over here and sends you over there. Why? Because you're
developing maturity. Spiritual maturity. And then finally, number four, I'm
(16:17):
talking about unleashing the body. In verse 15, he tells
us the atmosphere in which this needs to happen. He
says instead, instead of being babies tossed back and forth,
instead speaking the truth in love. Oh. Number four, remember
(16:41):
that truth and love are the atmosphere that releases full
participation and growth. Speaking the truth in love. We will
grow up into him who is the head that is Christ.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by
every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love
as each part does its work. Now hear me. We
(17:05):
want to be a church that is full of truth
and love. What happens if we're just a church that's
full of truth? Well, when all you have is truth
but you don't have love, you tend to come across
as judgmental, critical. Have you ever talked to someone? That's right.
But they say it wrong. Well, you know they're right,
(17:30):
but they just say it wrong. Well, this person, they're
going to hell. Well, maybe they are going to hell. But,
you know, there's a way of saying it differently. Like, man,
really want to help them not go there. There's truth
in love. And if all you know is truth, then
(17:53):
you'll you'll be critical, dogmatic, even though your truth is right,
your truth will typically push people away a thin people
because all you're concerned about is truth. Is it right now?
On the other hand, if all you have is sort
of this gushy, mushy love, we just need to love em. Well, hey,
(18:18):
they're really messing up. I know, I don't want to
say anything. I just want to love them. Hey, they're
lying and cheating. I know, I'm just going to love them.
Help them feel the love of God. The people of God.
I don't want to judge him either. One is is
out of balance. Well, God says is you need truth
(18:39):
and love, truth and love. You need the truth to
be spoken and listen. The truth sometimes hurts. The truth
sometimes offends. The truth sometimes cuts to your heart. The
truth sometimes offends you. The truth sometimes will make you
feel like, man, I'm mad at that pastor. He's. Oh,
he told me this was the truth. Yeah, it's the truth, but.
(19:06):
But if it's mixed with love. Let me tell you something.
If you try to take a tank across a bridge
that's really flimsy, it's going to fall. If you're going
to take your big truth across the bridge, it needs
to be a strong bridge of love. The more people
(19:27):
know you care, the more people will care what you know.
The more people know you care, the more people will
accept what you have to tell them in truth. If
people don't know you care, then people don't care what
you know or don't care what you tell them. And
so the power of a healthy church is when a
church has truth and love, where you wrap your arm
(19:50):
around someone and say, bro, I need to talk to
you and this is going to hurt, but I love you.
And that's why I'm telling you it needs to be
a place where there's strong truth, but there's strong love
mixed together. And in that kind of atmosphere, people start
growing and utilizing their gifts and releasing what God has
(20:12):
called them to and grow. You know how many people
you know? How many guys? Do you know how many guys?
I've put my arm around at this altar and said, hey, bro,
glad you're going in. Jesus. How come you're not marrying
this woman that you're living with right now? You know
(20:32):
how many guys have done that to. A lot, a lot,
a lot of guys. And you know what? I can't
think of one that said, hey, hey, don't don't tell
me what to do. No no no I don't. Because
I'm not saying why you living with that girl. You
(20:53):
shouldn't be living. Are you a Christian? You shouldn't come
to this church if you're living. I never say that. Never.
I'm not judging. I'm not kicking them out. I'm saying, man,
I feel like a father here, bro. What's up? Who's
dragging their feet on commitment here? Let's make this right
(21:16):
with this woman. You're going to get all the goodies, man.
You need to make all the commitment, too. You need
to do what's right. Why? Listen, because I believe God's
way is the best way, and I want to. And
if there's a brother struggling, if there's a brother struggling,
you know, I want to be able to put my
(21:37):
arm around and say, hey, bro, I've heard you're struggling.
Let's talk about that. What's going on? Truth in love.
I don't avoid it. I don't want to avoid it.
I want to speak direct. I want to be honest.
But I want to do it in love and listen.
When that atmosphere exists throughout the church, when people are
speaking the truth in love, there's something Releasing empowering. That
(22:00):
happens because people start to grow. When you start speaking
into their lives, listen, you may be here in the
church and you may be in a small group and
someone's struggling and you say, well, I hope pastor Mark
deals with this guy. He's really struggling, man. Listen, chances
are I don't even know they're struggling. I may not
even know their name. I may not even know who
(22:23):
they are. But I tell you what. There's someone in
the group that has the same spirit that pastor Mark has.
The Holy Spirit has the same ability to love and truth.
And so instead of waiting for pastor Mark to say,
I hope pastor Mark knows about this person, listen, you
(22:44):
need to say, hey, I know you. We've been in
the same group. Let's talk, man, let's have coffee together.
I want to encourage you. I want to bless you.
I want to push you forward. I know you're struggling.
I've struggled too. Let me minister to you. That is
the body of Christ.
S1 (23:12):
Mark, you're a pastor. When someone comes up to you
with that question at church, how do you respond to them?
S2 (23:17):
Yeah, well, I try to start by telling them, hey,
you have gifts that can be used in this place,
and there's a place for you. And so we have
a new to new life desk. I send them to
the desk and say, get some information, but I like
to encourage him. First of all, get involved with people.
If there's a small group, join a small group, join
(23:37):
a Sunday school class. Make sure you know some people
and then say, what are my passions and how can
I serve this body?
S1 (23:45):
And one of the ways you can be a blessing
to people in your community and across the world is
by partnering with us. When you give a financial gift
of any amount sent on a monthly basis will add
your name to our growing list of fellow listeners who
are using their gifts of time and finances to help
further the mission of Bold Steps Weekend. These monthly donors
are known as Bold Partners, and when you join, we'll
(24:06):
send you a signed copy of Mark's book, Unstuck Out
of Your Cave and Into Your Call. Plus several other bonuses,
including Mark's exclusive biweekly bold partner post, video, email and
partnering with us has never been easier. Just sign up
today online at Bold Steps when you give. Be sure
to request a copy this bold step gift. What does
(24:27):
the Bible say about the future by Doctor Charlie Dyer?
With so much uncertainty in our world today, wouldn't it
be great to know what the future actually holds? This
month's Bold Step gift cuts through all the speculation and
doomsday predictions to give you biblical answers about the end times.
What does the Bible say about the future? Help you
understand God's plan with confidence rather than fear. So call
(24:49):
800 D.L. Moody. That's (800)Â 356-6639 or request Doctor Dyer's book
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don't forget you can always catch Bold Steps weekend and
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So no matter where you are and what you're doing,
(25:10):
you'll never have to miss a minute of Mark's bold
and passionate teaching. Download the Bold Steps app today or
learn more when you visit Bold Steps. Well, that's all
the time we have. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us again
next weekend when Mark starts a message titled putting on
the New You. It's from our series called When You Believe.
Everything Changes and you'll hear it here on Bold Steps
(25:31):
Weekend with Mark Joel. Bold Steps Weekend is a production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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