Made Alive– Part 1

Today on Bold Steps with Pastor Mark Jobe … we’re learning how to be alive in the spirit. Ephesians 2 talks a lot about being spiritually alive, but it’s not something that we can do on our own. It might come as a shock, but there are a lot of dead men walking. Yes, they are alive … but they’re not spiritually alive. Today’s challenging message comes from the book of Ephesians chapter 2.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Today on bold steps with Mark job are learning how
to be alive in the spirit.

S2 (00:05):
When you are spiritually alive, you will not want to
be put in a spiritual coffin because your spirit will say,
this is not where I belong. My spirit is alive
and well, and when you're alive, you cannot be contained
in the coffin of the dead.

S1 (00:34):
Welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe. Mark is
a senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president
of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd.
We're in Ephesians chapter two today, Mark, which talks about
being spiritually alive. But that's not something we can do
on our own.

S3 (00:50):
No it's not. And Wayne, I know some people will
be shocked to know there's a lot of dead men
walking and the Bible talks about we can be dead
spiritually even though we're alive physically, right? And it talks
about a moment in time that has to come where
we become alive spiritually. And this is a powerful, powerful

(01:12):
insight into what it means to be born again and
going from death to life.

S1 (01:17):
If you have a copy of the scriptures with you,
turn to Ephesians chapter two. As Mark begins.

S2 (01:24):
We all have nightmares. Some have nightmares of being chased.
You run and run and run and all night you're
being chased. And about the time they catch up to you,
you escape and run and you're panicking and you hide
and run and they chase. How many of you had
that nightmare before? Some have nightmares of falling off buildings.

(01:49):
You're falling, falling, falling. Seems like you're going to hit.
And you never do, right? I'm told that if you do,
forget it. Life's over. So don't. Don't ever hit. Some
people have nightmares about being paralyzed. You're paralyzed. You can't
move a bone in your body. You try to scream
and you can't scream. Your mouth opens, but it doesn't

(02:11):
come out. And you just you feel like there's not
a bone in your body that can that can do anything.
Ever had that nightmare? Okay, some of you have all
of them. You must have a lot of nightmares. I
like I had that one, that one, that one. And
one of the worst nightmares that people mention, though, is
the nightmare or the dread of being buried alive. What

(02:36):
a terrible feeling it would have to be to be
buried alive. Recently, we've all watched with rapt amazement at
the miners that were buried in in Chile, um, and
just thousands of feet underground and and just the claustrophobic

(02:57):
feeling that they must feel. But the nightmare of thinking
that somehow you would be put in a coffin and
put six feet under the ground, only to wake up
and realize that you were buried alive. What a nightmare
that is. I'm told that George Washington had such a

(03:18):
fear that they would bury him alive, that on his
deathbed he talked to his servants, and he made them
vow that they would not bury him until 12 days
after he was dead. I mean, he just wanted to
make sure I don't want you to bury me alive.
So wait 12 days and then you can bury me.

(03:39):
In fact, there was a scare in the early days
because during some of the hundreds of years ago, during
some of the Middle Ages and some of the other
plagues that hit, uh, some people were actually literally, seriously
buried alive, in part because when some of these dreaded

(04:00):
plagues hit. The doctors and other family members did not
want to get too close for fear that they would
get the plague, so they sort of rolled the bodies
into coffins, not want to touching them, not wanting to
get sick. And there's historical evidence in some of these
places that actually people woke up and found themselves buried.

(04:21):
I read an article that just in August of this year,
there was a young mother in Mexico, Miss Hernandez, that
was grieving over a baby that she had had, and
the doctors had pronounced the baby dead, and they had

(04:42):
put this premature baby in a coffin, and they were
about to begin, commence the funeral ceremony to bury this.
And as the mother was weeping and crying and so forth,
she thought she heard some noise in this little coffin.
Now that's spooky. And she she kept hearing the noises.
So finally she opened the. She opened the little coffin

(05:02):
that her that her daughter was in. And lo and behold,
the baby was crying and moving around. It had been
mispronounced and saved her from a burial. But here's the thing.
When you are alive and when you are well, you
cannot be placed in the coffins of the dead. Because

(05:27):
when you're alive, that's not where you belong. When you're alive,
that's not where you want to be. When you're alive,
you want to burst out and say, I am not dead.
I am alive spiritually. The same thing is true when
you are alive spiritually, you will not tolerate being in

(05:52):
the place of the dead when you are spiritually alive.
When you are spiritually alive, you will not want to
be put in a spiritual coffin because your spirit will say,
I am. This is not where I belong. My spirit
is alive and well. And when you're alive. You cannot
be contained in the coffin of the dead. Ephesians chapter two.

(06:16):
Paul begins this second chapter of Ephesians with a very
interesting statement. He says. Verse one. As for you, now
he's speaking to believers. He says, as for you, you
were dead. In your transgressions and sins. Hold on. Dead? Yeah, dead.

(06:44):
I mean, he's talking to a bunch of people that
are Christians, believers. They know God. And he's saying to them, hey,
you were dead. And I'm sure they probably looked at
one another and said, dead. I mean, when were we dead? Well,
there's a lot of ways of being dead. You see,
I believe in the trichotomy of man. That means that

(07:07):
you compose. What makes up your being is body, soul,
and spirit, as found in First Corinthians chapter five. Your
body is the physical part of you. When you're born,
that little naked baby, everybody sees it, holds it, slaps it,
makes it cry. That's the physical part of you. But

(07:27):
then there's an unseen part of you called the soul.
The soul is that part of you that houses your intelligence,
your personality, your intellect, your will. And then there's another
part of you. There's the body, there's the soul, and

(07:48):
then there's the spirit. The spirit is the intangible part
of you. It's the part of you that relates to
the spirit world and more importantly, that relates to God.
Because God is a spirit and they that worship him

(08:08):
must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now we
are more aware of the physical world because the physical
world is what we see, touch, smell, feel. So we're
very aware of the physical world. We're somewhat aware of
the soul world because it's the thinking world, the thought world,

(08:28):
the personality world. But sometimes we're oblivious to the spiritual
world because we can't see it. We can't touch it,
we can't feel it. We walk right into the spiritual
world and don't always know what's happening in that unseen
world around us. But the spiritual world is as real
as the physical world. So Paul is speaking to these

(08:52):
believers and he's saying, you were dead. Now were they
dead in the body? No. Were they dead in the soul? No.
They could think and live where they were dead. As
in the spirit. So Paul looks at these people and
says before, in your former life, at another time you

(09:14):
were dead. Spiritually, you were dead. Now when were they dead? Well,
in order to understand when they were dead, we have
to understand how they died. He tells us this. As
for you, you were dead. In what? In your transgressions

(09:38):
and sin. What put them spiritually to death was their
transgressions and sins. Now we all pretty much know what
sin is, but some of us aren't quite sure what
transgressions mean. Well, let me define it for you. To
transgress Talks about our other translations say trespasses, transgressions. There

(10:08):
are similar words and synonymous basically to to transgress speaks
of a man as a rebel, or our lack of
desire of going God's way. When I when I'm a transgressor,
it means that I know what's right, but I don't
want to do it. Speaks of my rebellion towards God.

(10:30):
God's authority. Sin speaks of our failure to meet God's standard.
So one speaks about our desire to do our own
thing and the other speaks about our failure. So what
killed our spirit was our desire to do our own
thing and our failure to meet God's standard. It makes

(10:53):
me ask myself this question. However, when you were born,
you had a body, you had a soul and you
had a spirit. Was your spirit alive when you were born?
When did your spirit die? That's a good question, right?

(11:16):
Let's think about that for a second. It's transgression and
sin that kills our spirit. Can a baby sin a newborn?
Can they sin? Oh, no. They're not even aware how
to sin yet. There's no conscious of right or wrong.
They don't have the ability to sin. I believe that

(11:38):
every child is born with an innocent spirit within them.
That when you are born, you are born body, soul
and spirit, and the spirit that the spirit part of
you is innocent, free and responsive to God in a child.
In fact, let me go. Let me go a step further.

(12:01):
I believe that even when a baby is in the
womb of its mother, and doctors and other people call
it a fetus, I call it a child. I believe
that as that baby is developing its body, that it's
also developing its soul, but it also has a spirit.

S1 (12:27):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe right
here on Bold Steps. You can learn more about pastor
Mark in this ministry by visiting us online at Bold Steps.
Org or connect with Mark and the team on your
favorite social media page. You'll find us on both Facebook
and Instagram. And this comment came in via Facebook recently
from Roger. He says thanks for your inspiration. I enjoy

(12:48):
your messages on the radio. Well, thanks for that. Good
word Roger. We love hearing from our listeners. Stop by
and introduce yourself and where and how you're listening, and
we look forward to hearing from you soon. Right now,
let's go back into the second half of today's message,
where Mark Jobe has more to say about being made alive.

S2 (13:10):
Let me tell you why I believe this. I believe
it because. Do you remember the story? I mean, there's
several places in Scripture, but one of them that comes
to mind is that when Mary was pregnant with Jesus,
she encountered her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with
John the Baptizer. When they encountered these, two pregnant women

(13:35):
encountered each other. The Bible says that the baby within
Elizabeth's womb jumped, was filled with the spirit. The baby
in the womb was filled with the spirit when encountered
the baby Jesus within the mother's womb. So what's it?

(13:55):
Tell me? It tells me that that unborn baby had
a spirit And that the unborn baby was able to
be filled with the spirit even within its mother's womb.
That's why I'm so pro-life. To me, when an unborn
baby is not born, it's not a mass of tissue
or just some, uh, product of the mother's womb. It's

(14:17):
a child with a soul and a body and a spirit.
So that baby, when it's born, it's born with a spirit.
And that spirit is alive and innocent unto God. And
what kills the spirit is that once a child reaches
the age where they start sinning and oh, they will. Oh,

(14:40):
no parent has to teach a child to sin. I've
never had a parent come to me and say, you know,
we need to teach a course. On how to sin
for children. Because my kids are so good. I mean,
they're just so innocent and good. They just don't know

(15:00):
how to sin. So could we teach a little course
on sinning one on one? Never had a parent asked
me that. Most parents I have had parents come to
me with four year olds and say, pastor, can you
do an exorcism out of my kid? Because I, you know,
he's got some spirit in him. I don't know where
he got it from. I have had parents come to

(15:20):
me like that, but but but here's the thing. Listen,
children don't have to be taught to sin. Why not?
Here's the thing. When a child is born, they're born
with a spirit. Their spirit is clean and and and uncontaminated. However,
every child is born with a sin nature. Now, some

(15:44):
people believe, and some traditions of faith believe that because
a child is born with a sin nature, the sin
nature has to be cleansed from them at birth. And
so some people do infant baptism in order to cleanse
the sin, nature and so forth. But. But I want
you to understand something a sin. Nature never condemns us

(16:07):
before God. It is sin that kills our spirit, not
a sin nature. A sin nature means we have the
propensity to sin, that we're born with a disposition to sin.
Where did we get that from? We got it from
Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were were created without
a sin nature. They were made by God, without a

(16:28):
sin nature, but they were made in the image of
God so that God did not create robots. God did
not wind Adam and Eve up and say, you will
love me, serve me, and never sin. Yes, we will
love you. We will serve you. We will. No he didn't.
He didn't create him that way. He created them with
the power to make choices. And there came a time

(16:51):
when they made a choice to sin against God. As
soon as they chose to sin against God. The Bible
calls it the fall of man. as soon as they sinned.
Every child that was born after Adam and Eve inherited
the sin nature. Cain and Abel inherited the sin nature.
Their children inherited the sin, the sin nature. Every generation,

(17:14):
from people in Africa to Europe to Asia to Australia,
everybody that's come from Adam and Eve, which is all generations.
We've all inherited the sin nature. That means that the
moment that you were born, you were born without sin,
but you were born with the propensity to sin, that
when you got old enough, you would sin. That's why,

(17:34):
by the way, I believe that every child, it's not
the sin nature that condemns us, it's sin. That's why
I believe that a child, every child that dies before
the age of accountability, before they know right and wrong
and sin. I believe every child goes to the presence
of God. But it's a sin nature that gives us
the propensity to sin. That's why when Jesus came Adam

(18:00):
was created without a sin. Nature. Every child after Adam
had the sin nature. When Jesus came, Jesus had to
be born of a virgin and not through the seed
of man, because the sin nature is passed down through
the seed of man. That's why Mary became impregnated without

(18:22):
a man. Because if she had been impregnated by a man,
that child born would have the sin nature. So therefore
Mary was was was held the impregnation of Jesus, but
without the seed of man. So that Jesus, when he
was born, he was born without the nature to sin.

(18:43):
That's why the Bible refers to him as the second Adam.
There was the first Adam with the sin nature, and
Jesus was born also without a sin nature. He became
the second Adam, the firstborn. The Bible tells us among
many brethren, are you tracking with me? Just not. I
want to make sure I didn't lose anybody. Okay, this
is important. I know it's theology, but it's important. Now,

(19:08):
we were dead. Because by the time we reach a
certain age, we've all sinned. And what happens when we
sin is that we kill the spirit, that part of
us that relates to God, that part of it, that's
that hears the voice of God. And we sin and
sin and sin and sin and sin. So our spirit dies.

(19:28):
It's dead. The word used for death here means separated.
The Bible says, I want you to understand that when
you see the word death in the Bible referring to
our spiritual life, it means separated. For example, the Bible
says that some of us will have eternal life. Here's

(19:49):
what I want you to understand. The Bible teaches that
we will all exist forever because your soul and your
spirit are eternal. You will exist forever. I will exist forever.
You will exist forever. Your cussing. Drunken neighbor will exist forever.
Everybody will exist forever. Some will live forever and some

(20:13):
will die forever. The Bible declares that you live when
you know God. If you're separated from God, that's considered death.
To be separated from God is considered death. But we
all exist forever. So when the Bible talks about you
were dead in your trespasses and sins, your spirit was

(20:34):
dead inside of you because it was separated from God.
And when something is dead, you can speak to it,
you can tap it, you can move it, and there's
no response because it's dead, Paul said. You used to
be like that. He gives us three characteristics of spiritually
dead people. Number one, when we're spiritually dead, we are

(20:57):
spiritually The unresponsive to God's Spirit. But we are still
influenced by other spiritual forces.

S1 (21:13):
You're listening to Bold Steps, a message titled Made Alive
and Tomorrow. Mark Jobe will address the question what does
it mean to be spiritually dead? So let me urge
you to join us again. Mark, we have authors with
us for a moment here. The authors of Lies Boys
believe Aaron and Jason Davis, the parents of four boys,
and they've written this book. Now, they say that they
wish every boy who reads this book could come spend

(21:34):
a day on their farm. He could pick an apple
from their orchard, scramble up some eggs straight from the
chicken coop. Catch a jar full of lightning bugs. Uh,
Aaron and Jason. Is that offer open to men as
well as boys? I think I'd like to sign up
for that.

S4 (21:49):
Come on, everybody, come.

S1 (21:51):
Aaron, you both have written this wonderful book. What's the
difference between boys and girls when it comes to these
lies that we're talking about?

S4 (21:59):
You know, even that statement shouldn't be. But it is
countercultural that boys and girls are different. Uh, God made
us different. And our boys are growing up in a
culture where that's really, really confusing and we're trying to
erase all of those lines. And so one of the
things we address in the book is that God made
boys and girls different, and that those differences are good. Now,

(22:21):
all of us are prone to deception. Unfortunately, we all
are prone to sin and the enemy lies to all
of us. So lies are for all of us, big
or small, boy or girl. But I think just some
of the ways that God designed, uh, boys from the beginning,
that desire to lead, that desire to matter, um, that
desire to shepherd those are all God given desires. But

(22:42):
the enemy slithers in, as he did in the garden,
and he can tend to warp those desires. And so
we tried to help boys think about, yeah, you're different
than your sister. You're different than your mom. And, um,
that's good. We celebrate that. But how do you need
to be on guard as a boy and in the future,
as a band.

S3 (23:00):
Yeah. That's so good, Aaron. You know, I raised two
boys and one daughter, and I didn't have to teach them.
They just naturally gravitated towards just different things. Uh, my
boys always were. They wanted to be the warriors and
sword fighters and my daughters brave. But she wasn't that

(23:21):
attracted to sword fighting that much. She had other interests.
And and it's a beautiful thing that God has created
us differently. Uh, Jason, as you raise your boys, as
you speak into your boys lives, uh, especially at this age.
And you have teenagers, but this this book is from
6 to 12. What? What is the truth? That you

(23:42):
feel like? This is the main truth I want to
impart to them to combat these lies.

S5 (23:49):
Well, there are a lot of truths that combat these lies,
but one of the main ones is that we all
often feel like we're isolated and alone, and that we
can't communicate about our struggles with the people around us
because they wouldn't understand. But the truth is, we all struggle.

(24:12):
We all have faced sin. We need to live in
community where we can be open and honest about our
struggles so that we can help each other and and
grow in Christ's likeness together. And so that isolation that
a lot of times Satan wants us to live in
and feel like we're the only ones that are struggling

(24:34):
with this, or we are the only ones that are
involved and that nobody would understand where we're coming from.
It's a lie. And we live better and we live
more complete. When we live in community, we're open with
the people around us.

S1 (24:50):
Well, we are offering this bookmark to our listeners. Lies
boys believe. I can't think of a better thing to
put in the hands of parents and grandparents can.

S3 (24:57):
You know, this is a great resource tool. Thank you
for writing it. And I think there's a lot of
parents that will be excited about getting this book.

S1 (25:06):
And we want to send you a copy of Lee's
Boys Believe. When you make a donation of any amount
to support Bold steps, just call us at 800 D.L. Moody.
That's [phone] or give online at Bold Steps. You can
also send your gift through the mail. Write to us
at 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Thanks

(25:31):
for joining us today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to
come back tomorrow when Mark continues this discussion on being
made alive. He'll be diving into part two and you
won't want to miss it. That's Tuesday on Bold Steps
with Mark John. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.