September 20, 2025 • 26 mins
Today On Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe, you're learning to walk worthy in your God given calling. Mark will be moving forward in your study from the book of Ephesians, focusing your attention on three points that will help you live out your life's purpose and calling with passion.
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. We're learning
to walk worthy in our God given calling.
S2 (00:06):
Walk, worthy of the calling that you have upon your life.
You're called a child of the Most High God. You're
called to follow Christ. You have the Holy Spirit inside
of you now living that way. Start acting that way.
Start rising up to the call that you have inside
of you.
S1 (00:32):
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. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Last
time we started a message on Walking Worthy. And today,
as we move forward in our study from the book
of Ephesians, we're going to be focusing our attention on
three points that will help us live out our life's
purpose and calling with passion. We're in Ephesians chapter four
(00:56):
and now with the next part of our series, when
you believe everything changes, here is Mark Jobe.
S3 (01:06):
We live in the city of Chicago.
S2 (01:09):
And urban areas. Teach us to be a little bit aggressive,
don't they? It doesn't. It happen? It happens to me, man.
If I'm in line waiting to get on the expressway
and there's a long line and I'm on the Stevenson
waiting to get on to 1994, and someone drives all
the way up and they want to get in front
of me, I pull up to the guy in front
of me like, hey, you're not going to get in
(01:30):
front of me. I've been waiting. Anybody else go through that?
It's like you try to get behind me, but not
in front of me. I'm going to pull up five
inches to the car in front of me. Like I'm
staying really close to them because, hey, man, this is close.
Get in the line there. I mean, we're taught that
it comes out. And what gentleness means is that you
(01:56):
live in a way that's above the fray of all
the rest. It means that you show grace when everybody's pushing?
It means that when everybody else is fighting for the
line and what's going to happen that you take the
little old lady that that's there in the corner and
you say, ma'am, can I help you out? It means
that you you give a little, you give a little
help to the person that's in a wheelchair. It means
(02:18):
that when someone's pushing to get on the bus and everything,
you notice the, the, the person that's struggling with their
big suitcase and can't get along. It means that you
live with a different set of rules in your mind.
And the biggest set of rules is not how I
can get ahead just myself, but how I'm going to
watch out. I'm not playing the the rat race game here.
I'm living at a higher calling than the rest of
(02:40):
society around me. I'm living at a God calling size.
So it makes me different. It makes me think different,
operate different. It doesn't make me weaker. It makes me stronger.
It takes more strength to watch out. It takes more
strength to be gracious. It takes more strength to care
about others. It takes more strength to to have some
(03:04):
courtesy and decency in life than it does to be
rude and harsh and strong. Humility. Gentleness. Then he says, patient.
That's the third characteristic. If you're going to live a
life worthy of your calling, be humble, gentle, be patient.
(03:27):
You see, the root of impatience in our life is
when we just focus on our own world and think
that our world is more important than anybody else's world.
Think about it for a second. Your mom at home,
you're talking on the phone. Your three year old is
pulling on your skirt and you're trying to have the conversation. Wait, honey. Hey, mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Finally.
(03:52):
What do you want? Don't you see I'm on the phone? Seriously,
Every mother here can relate. You've been there. But really,
what it is, is it's when we get so focused
on our agenda, so focused on our thing, that we
don't consider other people around us. Patience means that you
(04:17):
seek to have a long fuse, not a short fuse.
Patience means that. Hey, you! You give people the benefit
of the doubt. Patience means that you don't snap right away,
that you that you have, that you're in a place
where you don't allow frustration to build immediately. If you
(04:39):
have the reputation of hey, don't mess with that person
because they're always in a bad mood. Hey, don't talk
to that person because they'll all snap. They'll, they'll they'll
bite your head off. Hey, that's not a good reputation
to have. I know, maybe someone told you it's a
good reputation. I know, maybe you thought that no one's
going to get over on me. And I'm hard and tough.
But that's not a good reputation when you're living at
(05:00):
a higher calling. Higher calling. People have long fuses. Every
time you lose your temper, every time you shout angry
words at home, every time you snap out at the
children and lambast the wife. And every time you go
(05:20):
into a little rampage or rage because you're mad at something. Oh,
I know the family will listen when you go into
a rage. I know everybody quiets down a little bit.
I know you get your way when you go into
a rage and throw a temper tantrum and raise your voice.
And then suddenly you say, yeah, that's what I want.
I want some respect in this place. But I'm going
(05:42):
to tell you, every time you do that, man of God,
you lose a little respect, you lose a little respect
from your kids, you lose a little respect from your wife. Oh,
you may gain their attention from a moment, but you
lose a little respect in the long run. On. Its
(06:02):
people that gain patience and maintain their emotions under control,
and they don't snap right away. And don't go off
the handle right away. But say I'm called to a
higher calling. That begin to reflect Jesus humility. Gentleness, patience.
(06:30):
And lastly, it says bearing with one another in love.
The last characteristic is love. Now, I want to just
clarify this for a moment, just in case you have
a misunderstanding of love. Love is not an emotion. God
never tells us in the Bible. Feel love. Never. You
can search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you
(06:52):
will never see God say feel love. God says love.
He doesn't say, feel love. Love is not an emotion.
Love is a commitment that we make. It's a choice
that we make as to how to treat someone. And
so love is choosing to treat someone in a way
(07:14):
that helps them out, in a way that's better for them,
in a way that believes that they can do good
in a way that considers them as important. That's what
love is. It's not an emotion. Do you realize that
you can love and not feel an ounce of love
in your being, and that you can still be loving? Oh,
let me say that again. In fact, let me tell you,
(07:36):
if you haven't learned to love when you don't feel
like loving, then you're still immature. You know how many couples?
I come sit in my office and they say, well,
we're thinking about separating or getting divorced. Why? We don't
love each other anymore. You don't love each other? No.
(07:58):
Just don't. Just don't feel it. Don't feel it anymore. Oh,
so it's about the goosebumps. It's about the hair in
the back of your neck standing up. It's about the
pitter patter. And you don't feel that. So if you
(08:21):
don't feel that you decided you're going to call it quits. Hello?
Grow up. That's high school, love. That's immaturity. You don't
let your feelings dictate the way you operate and live.
(08:44):
If you ran your life by feelings, then half the
days this year you would not go to work. I
don't feel like going to work today. If you ran
by feelings half the times, you wouldn't praise God. Half
the times you wouldn't read your Bible. All the times
(09:05):
you wouldn't pay taxes. You wouldn't clean up the house.
You wouldn't necessarily take your kid to the ball game. Hey,
if you went by feelings, you would be super immature.
Thank God that God doesn't go by feelings when he
loves us. Thank God while we are yet sinners, he
(09:25):
loved us. Thank God that when we were messing up,
he still loved us. Thank God that when we were
cursing him, he still loved us. Thank God that when
we fail him, he still loves us. Thank God that
he doesn't go by his feelings, but he's committed to
love us regardless of how we are. When we were
yet sinners, Christ still loved us. And maturity says, I
(09:50):
will love people. I commit to love people. And as
I love people and commit to that, I believe that
the feelings will follow. That's how it works.
S1 (10:08):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe, and
this is Bold Steps Weekend. We will continue this message
in a moment. But remember, you can always catch up
on these lessons anytime by going to our website, boldsystems.org. Now,
if you'd like to replay your share today's lesson, you
can also do that there, or listen and share the
message directly from your smart device by subscribing to our podcast.
(10:30):
Just search for Bold Steps Weekend with doctor Mark Jobe.
While you're there, you'll also want to subscribe to our
other Bold Steps programs such as Mark's Daily Bold Steps,
The Bold Steps Minute and Our Spanish Minute Paizo's audacious.
You'll find them conveniently located inside your podcast app. Now
let's return to Mark's message Walk Worthy here on Bold
(10:52):
Steps Weekend.
S2 (11:00):
In fact, let me tell you, if you haven't learned
to love when you don't feel like loving, then you're
still immature. You know how many couples? I come sit
in my office and they say, well, we're thinking about
separating or getting divorced. Why? We don't love each other anymore.
(11:22):
You don't love each other? No. Just don't. Just don't
feel it. Feel it anymore. Oh, so it's about the goosebumps.
It's about the hair in the back of your neck
standing up. It's about the pitter patter. And you don't
(11:44):
feel that. So if you don't feel that you decided
you're going to call it quits. Hello? Grow up. That
is a very. That's That's high school love. That's in maturity.
(12:06):
You don't let your feelings dictate the way you operate
and live. If you ran your life by feelings, then
half the days this year you would not go to work.
I don't feel like going to work today. If you
ran by feelings half the times, you wouldn't praise God.
(12:28):
Half the times you wouldn't read your Bible. All of
the times you wouldn't pay taxes. You wouldn't clean up
the house. You wouldn't necessarily take your kid to the
ball game. Hey, if you went by feelings, you would
be super immature. Thank God that God doesn't go by
(12:49):
feelings when he loves us. Thank God while we are
yet sinners, he loved us. Thank God that when we
were messing up, he still loved us. Thank God that
when we were cursing him, he still loved us.. Thank
God that when we fail him, he still loves us.
Thank God that he doesn't go by his feelings, but
he's committed to love us regardless of how we are.
(13:09):
When we were yet sinners, Christ still loved us. And
maturity says, I will love people. I commit to love people.
And as I love people and commit to that, I
believe that the feelings will follow. That's how it works.
(13:32):
You love in obedience and pray that the feelings will follow.
Because listen, not every day of the year you're going
to wake up madly in love with your husband or wife. Oh,
there'll be those moments. And hopefully if you cultivate it,
there'll be a lot. Every day is not a honeymoon, right?
You're not going to turn over every time. And you
you don't wake up with your wife's makeup. Perfectly well
(13:55):
done or eyelashes all done and her breasts smelling great
all the time. And it's not always like, well, you're
a lovely sight. That's, that's it's not going to happen
that way all the time. But you, you love because
you commit to love. And that's exactly what the vows say,
for better or for worse, for good. For for richer
(14:15):
or for poorer. Some say I'm stuck in the poor pasture.
I'm just waiting for the richer to come. But you
know the commitment is made there. And it's a commitment
to maturity. And what Paul is saying is that when
we choose a higher standard of living, we are choosing
to love people regardless of how we feel. And sometimes,
(14:38):
even when we don't feel, we still treat people according
to love because we're called to a higher calling. Walk
worthy of the calling that you have upon your life.
You're called a child of the Most High God. You're
called to follow Christ. You have the Holy Spirit inside
of you now living that way. Start acting that way.
(15:01):
Start rising up to the call that you have inside
of you. And then he closes up by saying. Verse three,
he tells us that if we're living according to our call,
that we're going to be bridge builders, peacemakers. Verse three says,
make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace. Now notice we don't we
(15:24):
do not create peace, but we maintain peace. What gives
peace to the body? Before there was Wi-Fi connection. There
was before. Way before Wi-Fi was was invented. There was
already wireless spiritual connection in the body. Because I have
the Holy Spirit and if you have the Holy Spirit,
(15:45):
we are connected to one another. We are united in Christ.
We are one body. You say, well, I don't even
like him. I sit on this side of the church
because I don't want to be near that person way
over there. Hey, I don't care if you like him
or not. You're part of the body. So he says.
He says make every effort. That means give extraordinary energy
(16:12):
to do what? What? To keep the unity of the spirit.
The unity of the spirit in the body through the
bond of peace. Because, you know, do you realize there
will always be forces trying to divide the body, pull
you away, push you apart, feel you, make you feel
like people don't care, I don't belong. That's not really
where I should be. People don't care. People. People don't
(16:33):
like me. Someone didn't call me up. I was sick
and I only got one call. And it was asked
me if I was serving in Sunday school. Do you
realize that the strategy of the enemy is to try
to conquer and divide? And if the enemy can make
you feel like an outsider in the family, well, that's
(16:57):
one of his greatest strategies. I come, but I'm not
really an insider. I don't, you know, I'm just kind
of on the fringes. It's the old fringe lie. I
could die tomorrow and people wouldn't notice. I'm in, but
(17:19):
I'm not really in. You know how the enemy works
overtime on that. Because the strategy of the enemy is
to conquer the divide, to make you feel isolated, to
turn you away from the very people that love you,
and the very family of God that can really help
you grow. When I was, I lived in a small
(17:43):
village in northern Spain, and my best friend was the
son of a shepherd. And in Spanish they say bastard.
But he wasn't a bastard of church bastard. He was
a bastard of sheep. And it was his job as
dad's job to bring about four, 4 or 500 sheep
(18:04):
into the town every day. They belong to different people.
He would take them out. They would graze on the hills.
The biggest challenge, though, when he brought the when he
brought the sheep into town, he had to cross a
railroad track. And so he always asked his son to
come down and help him. He'd have the sheep, dogs.
And I remember being there, and it was always sort
(18:25):
of like this adrenaline rush to try to get 500
sheep across the railroad track while we're looking to see
if a train is coming. And to try to get
him across. And one day we were down there at
dusk trying to get all these sheep across the railroad track.
And there was one sheep that was limping along. It
(18:45):
was an injured sheep. And it was it was way
in the back of the pack. And so we started
getting the sheep going across the track, and we saw
a train coming at a distance. Um, the train saw us.
And so, man, we were panicking, trying to get the
sheep going across pushing them and, and and we made
(19:06):
it just in time. The last, almost the last sheep
crossed over and then the train started going by and
my friend was holding on to the one sheep left
on the other side that was injured, and he was
just holding her. And I thought, great, wow, we made it.
It was because the sheep was injured that it couldn't
(19:29):
keep up with the rest of the flock. This sheep
so wanted to be a part of the rest of
the flock that the train was going. And halfway through
the train going, this sheep stuck its head right into
the train. First suicide I'd ever seen. But here's the
(19:55):
thing I later Thought to myself how much we are
like that sheep when we're injured. Emotionally have something against someone.
It kind of puts us to the side and it
keeps us away from. And although we want to belong,
(20:18):
we're away. And when we're away, we're not always as
protected from the dangers that are there. And I want
you to understand that one of the greatest strategies of
the enemy to take you down is to try to
pull you away from the people of God and the
things of God and the body of Christ, and make
(20:39):
you feel lonely and isolated and dejected and not a
part of what God is doing, and make you feel
like I don't really belong. That's not really who I am.
Someone hurt me. Someone offended me. I don't really I'm
not really there. I don't have a place where I
sit regularly. Or I went last Sunday and the place
I always sit. Someone sat in whatever light he may
(21:02):
use against you. But that's where Paul's Paul says, hey,
live worthy of the calling that you've had. And listen,
according to this call, recognize to keep the unity of
the peace of the spirit. Verse four. Because there's one body,
one spirit, one hope that you are called to because
(21:24):
there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of us all, who is over all and in all,
and through all in all. He says, listen, there's only
one God, not a lot of gods. We are all
part of one God and one faith, and one baptism
and one spirit that moves in us all. And so
(21:47):
what he's calling us to do is build bridges of unity.
There is no other God you can go to because
there's only one God. We're all part of one body throughout.
When God looks at the city of Chicago, he doesn't
see a bunch of churches. He sees one body. The
(22:10):
body of Christ moving in Chicago. That's what he sees.
And so he says, work at building the bridges of unity.
Because when you're called living according to the call, you
have the character and you'll be a peacemaker, a bridge builder. Amen.
S1 (22:36):
Mark, we all needed to hear this passage from Ephesians
four today, because it is a difficult passage to live
out all the time.
S4 (22:43):
It really is. And I love that this passage starts
with this phrase walk worthy of your calling. And that
means humility. Bridge building unity, which is difficult in a
time like this.
S1 (22:57):
Yeah. Very true. And, you know, Mark, it's even more
difficult to reach out and play our part in helping
the lives of those around us when we feel like
our own life has gotten out of control. So if
we want to walk worthy of our calling, I guess
it's pretty important to make sure we're centered on the
promise that God has a good plan for our lives.
S4 (23:13):
Wayne, that's easier said than done. When we're in the
middle of our trial, when we're in the middle of
our trauma, our mess, our difficulty, and I'm speaking to
someone right now that you're in the middle of the
most fiery trial of your life and you just say,
I don't know if I'm going to survive. I don't
know what to do. Why is this happened to me?
(23:35):
And I just want to remind you right now, at
this moment, that God has a plan. He has not
orchestrated this mess. But God can bring good out of
this mess.
S1 (23:48):
All right. Thanks, Mark. And remember, Bold Steps weekend. Along
with our daily program, bold steps can be heard on
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(24:09):
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(24:32):
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(24:55):
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(25:17):
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(25:37):
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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 with Mark Jobe. We're learning
to walk worthy in our God given calling.
S2 (00:06):
Walk, worthy of the calling that you have upon your life.
You're called a child of the Most High God. You're
called to follow Christ. You have the Holy Spirit inside
of you now living that way. Start acting that way.
Start rising up to the call that you have inside
of you.
S1 (00:32):
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. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Last
time we started a message on Walking Worthy. And today,
as we move forward in our study from the book
of Ephesians, we're going to be focusing our attention on
three points that will help us live out our life's
purpose and calling with passion. We're in Ephesians chapter four
(00:56):
and now with the next part of our series, when
you believe everything changes, here is Mark Jobe.
S3 (01:06):
We live in the city of Chicago.
S2 (01:09):
And urban areas. Teach us to be a little bit aggressive,
don't they? It doesn't. It happen? It happens to me, man.
If I'm in line waiting to get on the expressway
and there's a long line and I'm on the Stevenson
waiting to get on to 1994, and someone drives all
the way up and they want to get in front
of me, I pull up to the guy in front
of me like, hey, you're not going to get in
(01:30):
front of me. I've been waiting. Anybody else go through that?
It's like you try to get behind me, but not
in front of me. I'm going to pull up five
inches to the car in front of me. Like I'm
staying really close to them because, hey, man, this is close.
Get in the line there. I mean, we're taught that
it comes out. And what gentleness means is that you
(01:56):
live in a way that's above the fray of all
the rest. It means that you show grace when everybody's pushing?
It means that when everybody else is fighting for the
line and what's going to happen that you take the
little old lady that that's there in the corner and
you say, ma'am, can I help you out? It means
that you you give a little, you give a little
help to the person that's in a wheelchair. It means
(02:18):
that when someone's pushing to get on the bus and everything,
you notice the, the, the person that's struggling with their
big suitcase and can't get along. It means that you
live with a different set of rules in your mind.
And the biggest set of rules is not how I
can get ahead just myself, but how I'm going to
watch out. I'm not playing the the rat race game here.
I'm living at a higher calling than the rest of
(02:40):
society around me. I'm living at a God calling size.
So it makes me different. It makes me think different,
operate different. It doesn't make me weaker. It makes me stronger.
It takes more strength to watch out. It takes more
strength to be gracious. It takes more strength to care
about others. It takes more strength to to have some
(03:04):
courtesy and decency in life than it does to be
rude and harsh and strong. Humility. Gentleness. Then he says, patient.
That's the third characteristic. If you're going to live a
life worthy of your calling, be humble, gentle, be patient.
(03:27):
You see, the root of impatience in our life is
when we just focus on our own world and think
that our world is more important than anybody else's world.
Think about it for a second. Your mom at home,
you're talking on the phone. Your three year old is
pulling on your skirt and you're trying to have the conversation. Wait, honey. Hey, mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Finally.
(03:52):
What do you want? Don't you see I'm on the phone? Seriously,
Every mother here can relate. You've been there. But really,
what it is, is it's when we get so focused
on our agenda, so focused on our thing, that we
don't consider other people around us. Patience means that you
(04:17):
seek to have a long fuse, not a short fuse.
Patience means that. Hey, you! You give people the benefit
of the doubt. Patience means that you don't snap right away,
that you that you have, that you're in a place
where you don't allow frustration to build immediately. If you
(04:39):
have the reputation of hey, don't mess with that person
because they're always in a bad mood. Hey, don't talk
to that person because they'll all snap. They'll, they'll they'll
bite your head off. Hey, that's not a good reputation
to have. I know, maybe someone told you it's a
good reputation. I know, maybe you thought that no one's
going to get over on me. And I'm hard and tough.
But that's not a good reputation when you're living at
(05:00):
a higher calling. Higher calling. People have long fuses. Every
time you lose your temper, every time you shout angry
words at home, every time you snap out at the
children and lambast the wife. And every time you go
(05:20):
into a little rampage or rage because you're mad at something. Oh,
I know the family will listen when you go into
a rage. I know everybody quiets down a little bit.
I know you get your way when you go into
a rage and throw a temper tantrum and raise your voice.
And then suddenly you say, yeah, that's what I want.
I want some respect in this place. But I'm going
(05:42):
to tell you, every time you do that, man of God,
you lose a little respect, you lose a little respect
from your kids, you lose a little respect from your wife. Oh,
you may gain their attention from a moment, but you
lose a little respect in the long run. On. Its
(06:02):
people that gain patience and maintain their emotions under control,
and they don't snap right away. And don't go off
the handle right away. But say I'm called to a
higher calling. That begin to reflect Jesus humility. Gentleness, patience.
(06:30):
And lastly, it says bearing with one another in love.
The last characteristic is love. Now, I want to just
clarify this for a moment, just in case you have
a misunderstanding of love. Love is not an emotion. God
never tells us in the Bible. Feel love. Never. You
can search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you
(06:52):
will never see God say feel love. God says love.
He doesn't say, feel love. Love is not an emotion.
Love is a commitment that we make. It's a choice
that we make as to how to treat someone. And
so love is choosing to treat someone in a way
(07:14):
that helps them out, in a way that's better for them,
in a way that believes that they can do good
in a way that considers them as important. That's what
love is. It's not an emotion. Do you realize that
you can love and not feel an ounce of love
in your being, and that you can still be loving? Oh,
let me say that again. In fact, let me tell you,
(07:36):
if you haven't learned to love when you don't feel
like loving, then you're still immature. You know how many couples?
I come sit in my office and they say, well,
we're thinking about separating or getting divorced. Why? We don't
love each other anymore. You don't love each other? No.
(07:58):
Just don't. Just don't feel it. Don't feel it anymore. Oh,
so it's about the goosebumps. It's about the hair in
the back of your neck standing up. It's about the
pitter patter. And you don't feel that. So if you
(08:21):
don't feel that you decided you're going to call it quits. Hello?
Grow up. That's high school, love. That's immaturity. You don't
let your feelings dictate the way you operate and live.
(08:44):
If you ran your life by feelings, then half the
days this year you would not go to work. I
don't feel like going to work today. If you ran
by feelings half the times, you wouldn't praise God. Half
the times you wouldn't read your Bible. All the times
(09:05):
you wouldn't pay taxes. You wouldn't clean up the house.
You wouldn't necessarily take your kid to the ball game. Hey,
if you went by feelings, you would be super immature.
Thank God that God doesn't go by feelings when he
loves us. Thank God while we are yet sinners, he
(09:25):
loved us. Thank God that when we were messing up,
he still loved us. Thank God that when we were
cursing him, he still loved us. Thank God that when
we fail him, he still loves us. Thank God that
he doesn't go by his feelings, but he's committed to
love us regardless of how we are. When we were
yet sinners, Christ still loved us. And maturity says, I
(09:50):
will love people. I commit to love people. And as
I love people and commit to that, I believe that
the feelings will follow. That's how it works.
S1 (10:08):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe, and
this is Bold Steps Weekend. We will continue this message
in a moment. But remember, you can always catch up
on these lessons anytime by going to our website, boldsystems.org. Now,
if you'd like to replay your share today's lesson, you
can also do that there, or listen and share the
message directly from your smart device by subscribing to our podcast.
(10:30):
Just search for Bold Steps Weekend with doctor Mark Jobe.
While you're there, you'll also want to subscribe to our
other Bold Steps programs such as Mark's Daily Bold Steps,
The Bold Steps Minute and Our Spanish Minute Paizo's audacious.
You'll find them conveniently located inside your podcast app. Now
let's return to Mark's message Walk Worthy here on Bold
(10:52):
Steps Weekend.
S2 (11:00):
In fact, let me tell you, if you haven't learned
to love when you don't feel like loving, then you're
still immature. You know how many couples? I come sit
in my office and they say, well, we're thinking about
separating or getting divorced. Why? We don't love each other anymore.
(11:22):
You don't love each other? No. Just don't. Just don't
feel it. Feel it anymore. Oh, so it's about the goosebumps.
It's about the hair in the back of your neck
standing up. It's about the pitter patter. And you don't
(11:44):
feel that. So if you don't feel that you decided
you're going to call it quits. Hello? Grow up. That
is a very. That's That's high school love. That's in maturity.
(12:06):
You don't let your feelings dictate the way you operate
and live. If you ran your life by feelings, then
half the days this year you would not go to work.
I don't feel like going to work today. If you
ran by feelings half the times, you wouldn't praise God.
(12:28):
Half the times you wouldn't read your Bible. All of
the times you wouldn't pay taxes. You wouldn't clean up
the house. You wouldn't necessarily take your kid to the
ball game. Hey, if you went by feelings, you would
be super immature. Thank God that God doesn't go by
(12:49):
feelings when he loves us. Thank God while we are
yet sinners, he loved us. Thank God that when we
were messing up, he still loved us. Thank God that
when we were cursing him, he still loved us.. Thank
God that when we fail him, he still loves us.
Thank God that he doesn't go by his feelings, but
he's committed to love us regardless of how we are.
(13:09):
When we were yet sinners, Christ still loved us. And
maturity says, I will love people. I commit to love people.
And as I love people and commit to that, I
believe that the feelings will follow. That's how it works.
(13:32):
You love in obedience and pray that the feelings will follow.
Because listen, not every day of the year you're going
to wake up madly in love with your husband or wife. Oh,
there'll be those moments. And hopefully if you cultivate it,
there'll be a lot. Every day is not a honeymoon, right?
You're not going to turn over every time. And you
you don't wake up with your wife's makeup. Perfectly well
(13:55):
done or eyelashes all done and her breasts smelling great
all the time. And it's not always like, well, you're
a lovely sight. That's, that's it's not going to happen
that way all the time. But you, you love because
you commit to love. And that's exactly what the vows say,
for better or for worse, for good. For for richer
(14:15):
or for poorer. Some say I'm stuck in the poor pasture.
I'm just waiting for the richer to come. But you
know the commitment is made there. And it's a commitment
to maturity. And what Paul is saying is that when
we choose a higher standard of living, we are choosing
to love people regardless of how we feel. And sometimes,
(14:38):
even when we don't feel, we still treat people according
to love because we're called to a higher calling. Walk
worthy of the calling that you have upon your life.
You're called a child of the Most High God. You're
called to follow Christ. You have the Holy Spirit inside
of you now living that way. Start acting that way.
(15:01):
Start rising up to the call that you have inside
of you. And then he closes up by saying. Verse three,
he tells us that if we're living according to our call,
that we're going to be bridge builders, peacemakers. Verse three says,
make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace. Now notice we don't we
(15:24):
do not create peace, but we maintain peace. What gives
peace to the body? Before there was Wi-Fi connection. There
was before. Way before Wi-Fi was was invented. There was
already wireless spiritual connection in the body. Because I have
the Holy Spirit and if you have the Holy Spirit,
(15:45):
we are connected to one another. We are united in Christ.
We are one body. You say, well, I don't even
like him. I sit on this side of the church
because I don't want to be near that person way
over there. Hey, I don't care if you like him
or not. You're part of the body. So he says.
He says make every effort. That means give extraordinary energy
(16:12):
to do what? What? To keep the unity of the spirit.
The unity of the spirit in the body through the
bond of peace. Because, you know, do you realize there
will always be forces trying to divide the body, pull
you away, push you apart, feel you, make you feel
like people don't care, I don't belong. That's not really
where I should be. People don't care. People. People don't
(16:33):
like me. Someone didn't call me up. I was sick
and I only got one call. And it was asked
me if I was serving in Sunday school. Do you
realize that the strategy of the enemy is to try
to conquer and divide? And if the enemy can make
you feel like an outsider in the family, well, that's
(16:57):
one of his greatest strategies. I come, but I'm not
really an insider. I don't, you know, I'm just kind
of on the fringes. It's the old fringe lie. I
could die tomorrow and people wouldn't notice. I'm in, but
(17:19):
I'm not really in. You know how the enemy works
overtime on that. Because the strategy of the enemy is
to conquer the divide, to make you feel isolated, to
turn you away from the very people that love you,
and the very family of God that can really help
you grow. When I was, I lived in a small
(17:43):
village in northern Spain, and my best friend was the
son of a shepherd. And in Spanish they say bastard.
But he wasn't a bastard of church bastard. He was
a bastard of sheep. And it was his job as
dad's job to bring about four, 4 or 500 sheep
(18:04):
into the town every day. They belong to different people.
He would take them out. They would graze on the hills.
The biggest challenge, though, when he brought the when he
brought the sheep into town, he had to cross a
railroad track. And so he always asked his son to
come down and help him. He'd have the sheep, dogs.
And I remember being there, and it was always sort
(18:25):
of like this adrenaline rush to try to get 500
sheep across the railroad track while we're looking to see
if a train is coming. And to try to get
him across. And one day we were down there at
dusk trying to get all these sheep across the railroad track.
And there was one sheep that was limping along. It
(18:45):
was an injured sheep. And it was it was way
in the back of the pack. And so we started
getting the sheep going across the track, and we saw
a train coming at a distance. Um, the train saw us.
And so, man, we were panicking, trying to get the
sheep going across pushing them and, and and we made
(19:06):
it just in time. The last, almost the last sheep
crossed over and then the train started going by and
my friend was holding on to the one sheep left
on the other side that was injured, and he was
just holding her. And I thought, great, wow, we made it.
It was because the sheep was injured that it couldn't
(19:29):
keep up with the rest of the flock. This sheep
so wanted to be a part of the rest of
the flock that the train was going. And halfway through
the train going, this sheep stuck its head right into
the train. First suicide I'd ever seen. But here's the
(19:55):
thing I later Thought to myself how much we are
like that sheep when we're injured. Emotionally have something against someone.
It kind of puts us to the side and it
keeps us away from. And although we want to belong,
(20:18):
we're away. And when we're away, we're not always as
protected from the dangers that are there. And I want
you to understand that one of the greatest strategies of
the enemy to take you down is to try to
pull you away from the people of God and the
things of God and the body of Christ, and make
(20:39):
you feel lonely and isolated and dejected and not a
part of what God is doing, and make you feel
like I don't really belong. That's not really who I am.
Someone hurt me. Someone offended me. I don't really I'm
not really there. I don't have a place where I
sit regularly. Or I went last Sunday and the place
I always sit. Someone sat in whatever light he may
(21:02):
use against you. But that's where Paul's Paul says, hey,
live worthy of the calling that you've had. And listen,
according to this call, recognize to keep the unity of
the peace of the spirit. Verse four. Because there's one body,
one spirit, one hope that you are called to because
(21:24):
there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of us all, who is over all and in all,
and through all in all. He says, listen, there's only
one God, not a lot of gods. We are all
part of one God and one faith, and one baptism
and one spirit that moves in us all. And so
(21:47):
what he's calling us to do is build bridges of unity.
There is no other God you can go to because
there's only one God. We're all part of one body throughout.
When God looks at the city of Chicago, he doesn't
see a bunch of churches. He sees one body. The
(22:10):
body of Christ moving in Chicago. That's what he sees.
And so he says, work at building the bridges of unity.
Because when you're called living according to the call, you
have the character and you'll be a peacemaker, a bridge builder. Amen.
S1 (22:36):
Mark, we all needed to hear this passage from Ephesians
four today, because it is a difficult passage to live
out all the time.
S4 (22:43):
It really is. And I love that this passage starts
with this phrase walk worthy of your calling. And that
means humility. Bridge building unity, which is difficult in a
time like this.
S1 (22:57):
Yeah. Very true. And, you know, Mark, it's even more
difficult to reach out and play our part in helping
the lives of those around us when we feel like
our own life has gotten out of control. So if
we want to walk worthy of our calling, I guess
it's pretty important to make sure we're centered on the
promise that God has a good plan for our lives.
S4 (23:13):
Wayne, that's easier said than done. When we're in the
middle of our trial, when we're in the middle of
our trauma, our mess, our difficulty, and I'm speaking to
someone right now that you're in the middle of the
most fiery trial of your life and you just say,
I don't know if I'm going to survive. I don't
know what to do. Why is this happened to me?
(23:35):
And I just want to remind you right now, at
this moment, that God has a plan. He has not
orchestrated this mess. But God can bring good out of
this mess.
S1 (23:48):
All right. Thanks, Mark. And remember, Bold Steps weekend. Along
with our daily program, bold steps can be heard on
this station, on the internet and through your mobile device
with a new and improved Bold Steps app. And it's
because of the generous support of our monthly donors, known
as bold partners, that we can keep this program on
the air. Today, we invite you to become a bold
partner by signing up to give monthly with whatever amount
(24:09):
God leads you to. We value all donations, but it
really is the support of the monthly gifts from our
bold partners that we can continue to provide our listeners
with faith based encouragement on a regular basis. As a
bold partner, you'll also gain access to special resources created
exclusively for our monthly supporters, such as a signed copy
of Mark's book Unstuck and Access to the Bold Partner.
(24:32):
Post a special video message from Mark. Ready to join
the team? Simply visit Bold Steps or reach out by
phone at 800 Moody. That's (800)Â 356-6639. You can also write
to us at Bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 60,006 ten. And remember, when you give a financial
(24:55):
gift of any amount, you can request this month's Bold
Step gift a special book titled Walk Like Jesus by
our friend Dan Spader. Are you struggling to connect your
faith with your busy schedule? Walk Like Jesus shows you
how the life of Christ can transcend even the most
hectic 21st century lifestyle. This bold step gift doesn't ask
you to slow down. It shows you how to walk
(25:17):
with Jesus right where you are in whatever season of
life you're experiencing. Again, a copy of this bold step
gift is yours. When you give a gift today by
calling 800 D.L. Moody or go to boldsystems.org. And thanks
for joining us today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to
join us again next time when Mark explains how God
(25:37):
equips us for the work he has commissioned us to do.
Our message is called Unleashing People Power and you won't
want to miss it. Tune in next weekend 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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