March 25, 2025 • 26 mins
Today on BOLD STEPS, Pastor Mark Jobe shares a convicting message about stepping up. Last time, Mark began challenging us with a powerful truth … that when we say "yes" to following God, He begins to address those areas of delayed obedience in our lives. The things we've been putting off dealing with suddenly become priorities, because God wants to use us for His purposes. Today, he continues by showing us how what we are dragging can influence and affect those around us, using Moses as an example.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:00):
Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe shares a convicting message
about stepping up.
S2 (00:05):
There's a man that I'm talking to here. Your wife
is carrying the leadership that you should have carried, and
she's doing what you should have done. And you say, well,
she's doing better than I could do. No. And she
doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent having to
do what God called you to do that falls on
her lap to do.
S1 (00:38):
This is bold steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is the
senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago, and
he's president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday,
Mark began challenging us with a powerful truth that when
we say yes to following God, he begins to address
those areas of delayed obedience in our lives. The things
we've been putting off dealing with suddenly become priorities because
(01:01):
God wants to use us for his purposes. If you
miss part one of this convicting message titled what are
You Dragging Behind? You can find it at Bold Steps. Org.
Now here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
S2 (01:16):
It becomes clear in this passage that Moses has a father.
Moses has a Jew. Moses has part of the called
out people that it was clear back in Genesis, through Abraham,
that it was very clear that when a boy male
(01:38):
was born that they needed to be circumcised. Moses knew it.
It was clear to him. We don't know exactly why
Moses didn't circumcise his sons, but a lot of scholars
believe that maybe he had been. Listen, he had been
influenced by the culture. That among the Midianites it wasn't
(02:04):
the practice to circumcise babies. Some scholars believe that they
were circumcised when they were older, when they were about
to get married. That'd be a bad time to get circumcised,
let me tell you. But nonetheless, culture, it wasn't culturally
(02:24):
acceptable to be circumcised among the Midianites. So we don't
know exactly why Moses delayed. We don't know exactly why
he did not do what he knew he should do
with his son. We don't know exactly why he abdicated
his responsibility of leadership, to lead his household well in
the ways of God, and be clear and and definite
(02:46):
in his obedience. But we do know this, that Moses,
as a Jew, fully understood that he should circumcise, and
that he had deliberately not circumcised, maybe because of the
pressure of culture, more than likely because it was unpopular
among the Midianites. But he had refused to circumcise his
(03:08):
male child, and it wasn't a problem. It wasn't a
problem when he was just leading sheep. It wasn't a
problem when he was not engaged in a higher call.
But as soon as he was called to his higher call,
then suddenly his delayed obedience became a big issue to God.
(03:30):
Can I tell you something? Men look up at me.
This is really important. If you're not doing anything, you're
just kind of wasting your life meandering around, living fleshly,
living without purpose, or calling or being used of God.
Then your lifestyle, your disobedience. Well, it doesn't affect a
(03:53):
lot of people, affects you, it doesn't affect it's important,
but it doesn't affect a lot of people. But the
moment that you say yes to God, the moment that
you respond to God and say, God, use me. The
moment that you get serious about your walk with God,
then let me tell you something. Then your delayed obedience,
(04:15):
your unfinished business becomes a priority in the Spirit of
God because he's saying, If I'm going to use you,
then you have to deal with the issues that have
been asking you to deal with for a long time.
Let me illustrate it this way. A couple decades ago,
(04:37):
I grew up in the country of Spain. My father
and mother, my mother is still alive. Bless her heart.
Godly woman reads five chapters out of the Bible every day.
I don't think I've ever heard her complain. Loves Jesus.
This typical die hard missionary. She lives in northern Spain
(04:59):
right now. But my father, who rode horses to the
mountains of Chile, my father, who had grease in his
hands because he fixed tractors and cars as he witnessed
to our neighbors. He was a guy that liked motorcycles
and cars, but he had a passion for Jesus and
he would use whatever tool he had there. Uh, he
(05:23):
became sick. I was in the US. I was pastoring,
my brother was in the US as well, and my
mother called me up and said, hey, you know, your
dad's in the hospital here in northern Spain. It looks
like it's pretty serious. Uh, could you boys fly to Spain? Because,
I don't know. They're saying this could be very, very serious.
And so I talked to my brother myself. He flew
(05:46):
in from Tulsa. We got some emergency tickets, and I
went to O'Hare airport, and we said, hey, we're flying
out to Spain today. The lady behind the counter said,
where are you going? I said, we're going to Madrid, Spain.
My brother was there and I said, ma'am, yeah, we're
going to Spain. She looked at me. She looked at
my passport and said, no, sir, you're not going anywhere today.
(06:08):
I said, why not? She said, sir. She turned around
and showed me my passport. She said, your passport's expired.
Can I tell you something? I'd been driving around Chicago
with an expired passport. It didn't affect me. I'd been
doing ministry, preaching with an expired pastor. It didn't affect me.
(06:30):
I'd been paying my bills. I'd been ministering, preaching, raising
my kids, driving my car. I'd been doing all those
things as long as I stayed within the borders. It
didn't affect me. The moment that I was ready to
cross the border to another season, then suddenly my expired
(06:50):
passport kept me on this side of the border. Because
as long as I was in this side, it was
when I was crossing a border that suddenly my unfinished
business became a problem. Now, it happened to be when
the federal government was shut down. We seem to have
a lot of that happening, don't we? They couldn't balance
(07:13):
the budget, so they had shut down the federal building.
So I said, no problem. I'm going to go downtown,
and I'm going to go downtown Chicago and turn to
the federal building and get my passport renewed. So I
hurried downtown, took my passport, went into the federal building.
The security guard stopped me at the door and he said,
where are you going, sir? I said, I'm going to.
I need an emergency passport renewed. He said, sir, the
(07:36):
federal government shut down. I said, well, how do I
renew my passport? He said, Washington. I started calling a
bunch of people. Anyone, any number I could get Ahold of.
A Washington finally got Ahold of someone, and I said,
my father's been a missionary a long time. He's on
his deathbed. I need my passport renewed. And miraculously, he said,
(08:00):
go down to the federal building. I'm going to let
it happen. I showed up at the federal building. He said,
you're here again. I said, yeah, I have orders to
open this building up. He said to me, you must
have contacts in high places. I said, you don't even
know how high.
S3 (08:18):
Like way. Way, way up there.
S2 (08:25):
Listen, I'm so glad I made it to my dad's
bedside because a week later, he was dead. But I
almost was hindered from an important, life changing, dynamic encounter
with my father because I was living with unfinished business.
(08:46):
Moses was not affected as a shepherd. His son was
probably about ten years old at the time. He'd been
living ten years with an uncircumcised son, and it wasn't
an issue until he was going to cross a border
and going to another season and going to a higher call,
and then suddenly it became an issue in his life.
(09:07):
And I'm going to tell you something. Some of you
are stuck at a border because of unfinished business. Your
passport is expired. Your obedience is expired. And God is saying,
I'm not going to let you pass this border until
you deal with the issue that I've been talking to
you about dealing with it for a long time. Number two,
(09:31):
write this down. Your baggage will show up unexpectedly and
fall into the lap of your family and those that
are closest to you. Notice what the Bible tells us.
God was about to kill Moses, but Zafira, his wife,
(09:57):
took a flint knife and she cut off her son's foreskin.
And she touched Moses feet with it. And she said
to him, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
Can I just stop for a second and talk to
you about that? I want you to know that when
(10:17):
you delay and I'm talking to someone here, I know
God put this passage in my heart. I didn't want
to preach this passage because I feel like I've preached
it before, but I feel like God said, you need
to preach that passage. There are some. There's a man
that I'm talking to here that you have delayed in
your responsibility as a husband and a father, and the
(10:39):
responsibility to lead your household. The responsibility to disciple your
family has fallen into the lap of your wife. Your
wife is carrying the leadership that you should have carried.
Your wife is taking the responsibility that was your God
given responsibility to carry. It's fallen into the lap of
your wife and she's doing what you should have done.
(11:02):
And you say, well, she's doing better than I could do. No.
And she doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent
having to do what God called you to do that
falls on her lap to do.
S1 (11:17):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job here
on Bold Steps. We'll continue in a moment. Let me
remind you that all of these daily lessons can be
found on our website. Bold steps. Org or on your
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(11:40):
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(12:01):
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to connect with us outside the program. Now back to
Mark's lesson. Our message is titled what are you dragging behind?
Once again, here's Mark Jobe.
S2 (12:30):
Listen, this is what the Bible tells us. The Bible
tells us that we don't know if Moses was very
ill or somehow paralyzed, but Zafira knew that God was
dealing with him. In other words, she was conscious that
that Moses was in a very critical state. And so
think about it. She sees Moses in a critical state.
(12:53):
She knows intuitively that it's about circumcision. The angel doesn't
tell her, Which makes me think that they've dialogued about
it at times. And he's dying. He's unable to do
it himself now. He's probably very sick, and she takes
a flint knife and she goes after her ten year
(13:13):
old son and said, come here, son. Your dad should
have done this a long time ago when you were
a baby. It should have happened. Now I have to
do it. I'll spare you the gory details, but she
has to circumcise her boy because Moses had failed at
(13:36):
his responsibility. And now, when she has to do what
should have been done ten years ago, when the baby
was only a few days old, now she has to
traumatize her son at an inconvenient time in a very
difficult way. Doing with the flint knife. A rock should
(13:58):
make us all go shudder a little bit, doing what
Moses should have done a long time ago. And so
she grabs Gersham. Mommy, what's going on? Your dad should
have done this a long time ago. Mommy, why are
you doing this to me? And. I've told people before
that I can just see Gersham at a Celebrate Recovery meeting.
(14:24):
I remember when I was ten, I tried to block
it out of my mind. Even now, I shudder to
think about it. My mom. You know why? Because a
man of faith. Listen. Listen to me. Because a man
that had a dream, had a call, became disengaged with
(14:49):
his call, became neutralized in his passion. Not only did
he give up the dream of setting the people of
Israel free, but he gave up his zeal for God
and the very basic steps of obedience that he should
be taking. He didn't take and fell into the laps
(15:10):
of lap of his wife. Can I tell you that
when we disobey, when we release our call, when we
don't follow through on what God has called us to do,
God is going to raise someone to do it, and
it will probably fall in the laps of the people
(15:32):
that are closest to you. I have seen a nation
often times of passive men. I've seen a nation, often
times households wrecked by men that are saved, but have
(15:55):
allowed the sense of calling upon their life to Evaporate
that have lived in passivity, in delayed obedience, in procrastinated obedience,
are dragging things in their life that they should have
(16:16):
done a long time ago. And it starts to affect
their kids, and it starts to affect their marriage, and
it starts to affect their spiritual life. It starts to
affect who they are not because they can't change it,
but because they've they've been living in that land of
neutrality and passivity. And a sense of God has passed
me by. And if you think that God has passed
(16:40):
you by, if you think that your life doesn't matter anymore,
then you start living your life as though you were
a Christian. Yeah, but not a Christian. With passion, with purpose,
with desire. Fulfilling a mission upon your life. You live
your life in neutral passivity, and I believe that that's
(17:07):
what Moses was struggling with. And can I say, I
love the fact that God calls them and loves them,
and God sees in him what he doesn't even see
in himself. Come on. I'm talking to someone here today.
You know, unfinished business can sabotage our destiny at times
(17:28):
when we least expect it. I pastor in the city
of Chicago and I started pastoring when I was 21
years old. I've had to go back and pretty much
apologize to everybody I pastored when I was 21, because
I really didn't know what I was doing too much
at 21. But I remember the very first couple I married,
I was so excited to marry them. By the way,
(17:52):
I'd never done a marriage ceremony, and I had led
him to Christ and I had led her to Christ.
They were living together and had a five year old son.
And so I do this all the time, by the way.
It works pretty good. I said. So now that you're saved,
you know you need to get married. And he said, well, yeah,
(18:13):
we're thinking of. We've been thinking about it for a while.
You know, we're going to try to save up some money. And,
you know, we're going to, you know, plan for a
decent wedding. I said, okay, that's fine, but but I
want you to remember that now that you're saved, you
can't sleep with her anymore. Just, you know, your body
is a temple to holy. He the guy said to me,
but we got a five year old. I said, yeah,
it doesn't matter. You're still not married. So you you
(18:36):
need to abstain sexually until you get married, he said,
so how quickly can we get married then? I said, okay,
now we're talking here. So I did some of the
premarital counseling. I'm ready to get married three days before
the wedding, three days before the wedding, the woman comes
(18:59):
and says, she says, pastor, can I talk to you?
I said, sure. She said, I have. I may have
a little issue. I said, what's your issue? She said, well,
you know, a few years ago him and I were separated.
We were going through a hard time. He kicked me
out of the house. I was on my own. I
needed money. Uh, there was a guy that wasn't from
this country. He offered. He asked if he gave me
(19:21):
$5,000 to marry him, if I would marry him, give
him $5,000, and it would give him more of a
legal status. And so she said, I married him. I
haven't seen him. We never slept together. I don't know
where he's at, she said. Is that a problem? I said,
it is because this country does not allow polygamy. So
it is a problem. I can't marry you, I said
(19:44):
to her and she and she said, well, what are
we going to tell people? Well, I said, so. I said,
send out an email and tell people we're having technical difficulties.
And so we postponed the wedding for paperwork and technical
difficulties until she could put an announcement in the paper
and announce it. But but here's the point that I
(20:05):
want you to make understand, is that she could not
go into the next level because she had unfinished business.
This next thing that she dreamed about, this area that
she was excited about, it held her back because she
had unfinished business. Number three, if you're taking notes, write
(20:29):
this down. Your baggage, when released, helps you move into
a calling that is higher than where you came from.
I want you to notice that Zafira, his wife. The
Bible tells us that she took a flint knife. She
cut off her son's foreskin, and then she took it.
(20:52):
And she threw the foreskin at Moses. And she said
surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. And
as soon as she had done that, verse 27, the
Bible says, the Lord said to Aaron, go into the
wilderness and meet Moses. So he met Moses at the
(21:13):
mountain of God and kissed him. Then suddenly Moses was
alive again. Why? Because he obeyed suddenly when he when
obedience was orchestrated in his family. Then suddenly the doors
were open to step into the call that God had
upon his life. Suddenly, the pause button on his call
(21:33):
was released so that he could begin to pursue God again.
And when he stepped into when he met with Aaron,
and when he met with the leaders of Israel, the
anointing of God was back on Moses again. And the
Bible tells us that Moses and Aaron in verse 29
brought together all the elders of the Israelites. And Aaron
(21:54):
told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. And
he also performed signs before the people and they believed
just a couple days later. Earlier, he was about to
be killed by God, and now he's performing supernatural signs
by God. Why? Because that anointing, that sense of call,
was restored to his life once he dealt with baggage
(22:16):
in his life, unfinished business areas in his life that
he needed to obey. Do you have something in your
life that God has been convicting you about for a
long time, but you have just been resisting? Do you
have a step that you need to take?
S4 (22:35):
You know, at that conference I gave an altar call
and a bunch of men came forward, Christians that were
dealing with unfinished business, and there was quite a few
men that actually their unfinished business was they had not
given their life to Christ. And so I want to
pause right now and just quickly pray for you, as
(22:57):
maybe you're wrestling with obeying what God wants you to
do as a result of this message. Father, I pause,
and I pray for that man right now that has
baggage that is not letting him step into the season
you've called him into. I pray God that they would
deal with delayed obedience, with disobedience, with baggage that you
(23:21):
have already spoken to their heart about, whether it's sexual sin,
whether it's areas of neglect. I pray in Jesus name
that they would deal with it today. And I pray
for that person, God who's unfinished business is giving themselves
to you. I pray in Jesus name that today will
be the day of surrendering to the lordship and and
(23:45):
and salvation of Jesus the Christ. I pray this in
Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (23:50):
Amen. Thank you Mark. Now let me invite you to
learn more about taking your next step with Jesus. Just
visit us online at Bold Steps. and then hit the
connect tab and click on my next step in faith.
Mark has prepared a personal message there for you, going
deeper into what it means to truly know Jesus and
what makes this relationship so life changing. We'd love to
(24:12):
be a part of your journey and help you move
past whatever's been dragging you back. So follow up with
us there. Again, it starts at bold steps.org, and then
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Mark Sayers offers a fresh framework for understanding and engaging
(24:33):
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even in turbulent times. This resource couldn't be more timely.
God is moving in powerful ways, even through circumstances that
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in the midst of disruption and lead others with wisdom
(24:56):
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(25:17):
can even send a check in the mail. Just address
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us tomorrow when Mark begins his next message titled, What's
Holding You Back? We'll continue with some of today's important
themes about breaking free from old bondages and how to
(25:37):
take bold steps into our next season, so be sure
to listen Wednesday to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold
steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe shares a convicting message
about stepping up.
S2 (00:05):
There's a man that I'm talking to here. Your wife
is carrying the leadership that you should have carried, and
she's doing what you should have done. And you say, well,
she's doing better than I could do. No. And she
doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent having to
do what God called you to do that falls on
her lap to do.
S1 (00:38):
This is bold steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is the
senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago, and
he's president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday,
Mark began challenging us with a powerful truth that when
we say yes to following God, he begins to address
those areas of delayed obedience in our lives. The things
we've been putting off dealing with suddenly become priorities because
(01:01):
God wants to use us for his purposes. If you
miss part one of this convicting message titled what are
You Dragging Behind? You can find it at Bold Steps. Org.
Now here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
S2 (01:16):
It becomes clear in this passage that Moses has a father.
Moses has a Jew. Moses has part of the called
out people that it was clear back in Genesis, through Abraham,
that it was very clear that when a boy male
(01:38):
was born that they needed to be circumcised. Moses knew it.
It was clear to him. We don't know exactly why
Moses didn't circumcise his sons, but a lot of scholars
believe that maybe he had been. Listen, he had been
influenced by the culture. That among the Midianites it wasn't
(02:04):
the practice to circumcise babies. Some scholars believe that they
were circumcised when they were older, when they were about
to get married. That'd be a bad time to get circumcised,
let me tell you. But nonetheless, culture, it wasn't culturally
(02:24):
acceptable to be circumcised among the Midianites. So we don't
know exactly why Moses delayed. We don't know exactly why
he did not do what he knew he should do
with his son. We don't know exactly why he abdicated
his responsibility of leadership, to lead his household well in
the ways of God, and be clear and and definite
(02:46):
in his obedience. But we do know this, that Moses,
as a Jew, fully understood that he should circumcise, and
that he had deliberately not circumcised, maybe because of the
pressure of culture, more than likely because it was unpopular
among the Midianites. But he had refused to circumcise his
(03:08):
male child, and it wasn't a problem. It wasn't a
problem when he was just leading sheep. It wasn't a
problem when he was not engaged in a higher call.
But as soon as he was called to his higher call,
then suddenly his delayed obedience became a big issue to God.
(03:30):
Can I tell you something? Men look up at me.
This is really important. If you're not doing anything, you're
just kind of wasting your life meandering around, living fleshly,
living without purpose, or calling or being used of God.
Then your lifestyle, your disobedience. Well, it doesn't affect a
(03:53):
lot of people, affects you, it doesn't affect it's important,
but it doesn't affect a lot of people. But the
moment that you say yes to God, the moment that
you respond to God and say, God, use me. The
moment that you get serious about your walk with God,
then let me tell you something. Then your delayed obedience,
(04:15):
your unfinished business becomes a priority in the Spirit of
God because he's saying, If I'm going to use you,
then you have to deal with the issues that have
been asking you to deal with for a long time.
Let me illustrate it this way. A couple decades ago,
(04:37):
I grew up in the country of Spain. My father
and mother, my mother is still alive. Bless her heart.
Godly woman reads five chapters out of the Bible every day.
I don't think I've ever heard her complain. Loves Jesus.
This typical die hard missionary. She lives in northern Spain
(04:59):
right now. But my father, who rode horses to the
mountains of Chile, my father, who had grease in his
hands because he fixed tractors and cars as he witnessed
to our neighbors. He was a guy that liked motorcycles
and cars, but he had a passion for Jesus and
he would use whatever tool he had there. Uh, he
(05:23):
became sick. I was in the US. I was pastoring,
my brother was in the US as well, and my
mother called me up and said, hey, you know, your
dad's in the hospital here in northern Spain. It looks
like it's pretty serious. Uh, could you boys fly to Spain? Because,
I don't know. They're saying this could be very, very serious.
And so I talked to my brother myself. He flew
(05:46):
in from Tulsa. We got some emergency tickets, and I
went to O'Hare airport, and we said, hey, we're flying
out to Spain today. The lady behind the counter said,
where are you going? I said, we're going to Madrid, Spain.
My brother was there and I said, ma'am, yeah, we're
going to Spain. She looked at me. She looked at
my passport and said, no, sir, you're not going anywhere today.
(06:08):
I said, why not? She said, sir. She turned around
and showed me my passport. She said, your passport's expired.
Can I tell you something? I'd been driving around Chicago
with an expired passport. It didn't affect me. I'd been
doing ministry, preaching with an expired pastor. It didn't affect me.
(06:30):
I'd been paying my bills. I'd been ministering, preaching, raising
my kids, driving my car. I'd been doing all those
things as long as I stayed within the borders. It
didn't affect me. The moment that I was ready to
cross the border to another season, then suddenly my expired
(06:50):
passport kept me on this side of the border. Because
as long as I was in this side, it was
when I was crossing a border that suddenly my unfinished
business became a problem. Now, it happened to be when
the federal government was shut down. We seem to have
a lot of that happening, don't we? They couldn't balance
(07:13):
the budget, so they had shut down the federal building.
So I said, no problem. I'm going to go downtown,
and I'm going to go downtown Chicago and turn to
the federal building and get my passport renewed. So I
hurried downtown, took my passport, went into the federal building.
The security guard stopped me at the door and he said,
where are you going, sir? I said, I'm going to.
I need an emergency passport renewed. He said, sir, the
(07:36):
federal government shut down. I said, well, how do I
renew my passport? He said, Washington. I started calling a
bunch of people. Anyone, any number I could get Ahold of.
A Washington finally got Ahold of someone, and I said,
my father's been a missionary a long time. He's on
his deathbed. I need my passport renewed. And miraculously, he said,
(08:00):
go down to the federal building. I'm going to let
it happen. I showed up at the federal building. He said,
you're here again. I said, yeah, I have orders to
open this building up. He said to me, you must
have contacts in high places. I said, you don't even
know how high.
S3 (08:18):
Like way. Way, way up there.
S2 (08:25):
Listen, I'm so glad I made it to my dad's
bedside because a week later, he was dead. But I
almost was hindered from an important, life changing, dynamic encounter
with my father because I was living with unfinished business.
(08:46):
Moses was not affected as a shepherd. His son was
probably about ten years old at the time. He'd been
living ten years with an uncircumcised son, and it wasn't
an issue until he was going to cross a border
and going to another season and going to a higher call,
and then suddenly it became an issue in his life.
(09:07):
And I'm going to tell you something. Some of you
are stuck at a border because of unfinished business. Your
passport is expired. Your obedience is expired. And God is saying,
I'm not going to let you pass this border until
you deal with the issue that I've been talking to
you about dealing with it for a long time. Number two,
(09:31):
write this down. Your baggage will show up unexpectedly and
fall into the lap of your family and those that
are closest to you. Notice what the Bible tells us.
God was about to kill Moses, but Zafira, his wife,
(09:57):
took a flint knife and she cut off her son's foreskin.
And she touched Moses feet with it. And she said
to him, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
Can I just stop for a second and talk to
you about that? I want you to know that when
(10:17):
you delay and I'm talking to someone here, I know
God put this passage in my heart. I didn't want
to preach this passage because I feel like I've preached
it before, but I feel like God said, you need
to preach that passage. There are some. There's a man
that I'm talking to here that you have delayed in
your responsibility as a husband and a father, and the
(10:39):
responsibility to lead your household. The responsibility to disciple your
family has fallen into the lap of your wife. Your
wife is carrying the leadership that you should have carried.
Your wife is taking the responsibility that was your God
given responsibility to carry. It's fallen into the lap of
your wife and she's doing what you should have done.
(11:02):
And you say, well, she's doing better than I could do. No.
And she doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent
having to do what God called you to do that
falls on her lap to do.
S1 (11:17):
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job here
on Bold Steps. We'll continue in a moment. Let me
remind you that all of these daily lessons can be
found on our website. Bold steps. Org or on your
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(11:40):
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(12:01):
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to connect with us outside the program. Now back to
Mark's lesson. Our message is titled what are you dragging behind?
Once again, here's Mark Jobe.
S2 (12:30):
Listen, this is what the Bible tells us. The Bible
tells us that we don't know if Moses was very
ill or somehow paralyzed, but Zafira knew that God was
dealing with him. In other words, she was conscious that
that Moses was in a very critical state. And so
think about it. She sees Moses in a critical state.
(12:53):
She knows intuitively that it's about circumcision. The angel doesn't
tell her, Which makes me think that they've dialogued about
it at times. And he's dying. He's unable to do
it himself now. He's probably very sick, and she takes
a flint knife and she goes after her ten year
(13:13):
old son and said, come here, son. Your dad should
have done this a long time ago when you were
a baby. It should have happened. Now I have to
do it. I'll spare you the gory details, but she
has to circumcise her boy because Moses had failed at
(13:36):
his responsibility. And now, when she has to do what
should have been done ten years ago, when the baby
was only a few days old, now she has to
traumatize her son at an inconvenient time in a very
difficult way. Doing with the flint knife. A rock should
(13:58):
make us all go shudder a little bit, doing what
Moses should have done a long time ago. And so
she grabs Gersham. Mommy, what's going on? Your dad should
have done this a long time ago. Mommy, why are
you doing this to me? And. I've told people before
that I can just see Gersham at a Celebrate Recovery meeting.
(14:24):
I remember when I was ten, I tried to block
it out of my mind. Even now, I shudder to
think about it. My mom. You know why? Because a
man of faith. Listen. Listen to me. Because a man
that had a dream, had a call, became disengaged with
(14:49):
his call, became neutralized in his passion. Not only did
he give up the dream of setting the people of
Israel free, but he gave up his zeal for God
and the very basic steps of obedience that he should
be taking. He didn't take and fell into the laps
(15:10):
of lap of his wife. Can I tell you that
when we disobey, when we release our call, when we
don't follow through on what God has called us to do,
God is going to raise someone to do it, and
it will probably fall in the laps of the people
(15:32):
that are closest to you. I have seen a nation
often times of passive men. I've seen a nation, often
times households wrecked by men that are saved, but have
(15:55):
allowed the sense of calling upon their life to Evaporate
that have lived in passivity, in delayed obedience, in procrastinated obedience,
are dragging things in their life that they should have
(16:16):
done a long time ago. And it starts to affect
their kids, and it starts to affect their marriage, and
it starts to affect their spiritual life. It starts to
affect who they are not because they can't change it,
but because they've they've been living in that land of
neutrality and passivity. And a sense of God has passed
me by. And if you think that God has passed
(16:40):
you by, if you think that your life doesn't matter anymore,
then you start living your life as though you were
a Christian. Yeah, but not a Christian. With passion, with purpose,
with desire. Fulfilling a mission upon your life. You live
your life in neutral passivity, and I believe that that's
(17:07):
what Moses was struggling with. And can I say, I
love the fact that God calls them and loves them,
and God sees in him what he doesn't even see
in himself. Come on. I'm talking to someone here today.
You know, unfinished business can sabotage our destiny at times
(17:28):
when we least expect it. I pastor in the city
of Chicago and I started pastoring when I was 21
years old. I've had to go back and pretty much
apologize to everybody I pastored when I was 21, because
I really didn't know what I was doing too much
at 21. But I remember the very first couple I married,
I was so excited to marry them. By the way,
(17:52):
I'd never done a marriage ceremony, and I had led
him to Christ and I had led her to Christ.
They were living together and had a five year old son.
And so I do this all the time, by the way.
It works pretty good. I said. So now that you're saved,
you know you need to get married. And he said, well, yeah,
(18:13):
we're thinking of. We've been thinking about it for a while.
You know, we're going to try to save up some money. And,
you know, we're going to, you know, plan for a
decent wedding. I said, okay, that's fine, but but I
want you to remember that now that you're saved, you
can't sleep with her anymore. Just, you know, your body
is a temple to holy. He the guy said to me,
but we got a five year old. I said, yeah,
it doesn't matter. You're still not married. So you you
(18:36):
need to abstain sexually until you get married, he said,
so how quickly can we get married then? I said, okay,
now we're talking here. So I did some of the
premarital counseling. I'm ready to get married three days before
the wedding, three days before the wedding, the woman comes
(18:59):
and says, she says, pastor, can I talk to you?
I said, sure. She said, I have. I may have
a little issue. I said, what's your issue? She said, well,
you know, a few years ago him and I were separated.
We were going through a hard time. He kicked me
out of the house. I was on my own. I
needed money. Uh, there was a guy that wasn't from
this country. He offered. He asked if he gave me
(19:21):
$5,000 to marry him, if I would marry him, give
him $5,000, and it would give him more of a
legal status. And so she said, I married him. I
haven't seen him. We never slept together. I don't know
where he's at, she said. Is that a problem? I said,
it is because this country does not allow polygamy. So
it is a problem. I can't marry you, I said
(19:44):
to her and she and she said, well, what are
we going to tell people? Well, I said, so. I said,
send out an email and tell people we're having technical difficulties.
And so we postponed the wedding for paperwork and technical
difficulties until she could put an announcement in the paper
and announce it. But but here's the point that I
(20:05):
want you to make understand, is that she could not
go into the next level because she had unfinished business.
This next thing that she dreamed about, this area that
she was excited about, it held her back because she
had unfinished business. Number three, if you're taking notes, write
(20:29):
this down. Your baggage, when released, helps you move into
a calling that is higher than where you came from.
I want you to notice that Zafira, his wife. The
Bible tells us that she took a flint knife. She
cut off her son's foreskin, and then she took it.
(20:52):
And she threw the foreskin at Moses. And she said
surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. And
as soon as she had done that, verse 27, the
Bible says, the Lord said to Aaron, go into the
wilderness and meet Moses. So he met Moses at the
(21:13):
mountain of God and kissed him. Then suddenly Moses was
alive again. Why? Because he obeyed suddenly when he when
obedience was orchestrated in his family. Then suddenly the doors
were open to step into the call that God had
upon his life. Suddenly, the pause button on his call
(21:33):
was released so that he could begin to pursue God again.
And when he stepped into when he met with Aaron,
and when he met with the leaders of Israel, the
anointing of God was back on Moses again. And the
Bible tells us that Moses and Aaron in verse 29
brought together all the elders of the Israelites. And Aaron
(21:54):
told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. And
he also performed signs before the people and they believed
just a couple days later. Earlier, he was about to
be killed by God, and now he's performing supernatural signs
by God. Why? Because that anointing, that sense of call,
was restored to his life once he dealt with baggage
(22:16):
in his life, unfinished business areas in his life that
he needed to obey. Do you have something in your
life that God has been convicting you about for a
long time, but you have just been resisting? Do you
have a step that you need to take?
S4 (22:35):
You know, at that conference I gave an altar call
and a bunch of men came forward, Christians that were
dealing with unfinished business, and there was quite a few
men that actually their unfinished business was they had not
given their life to Christ. And so I want to
pause right now and just quickly pray for you, as
(22:57):
maybe you're wrestling with obeying what God wants you to
do as a result of this message. Father, I pause,
and I pray for that man right now that has
baggage that is not letting him step into the season
you've called him into. I pray God that they would
deal with delayed obedience, with disobedience, with baggage that you
(23:21):
have already spoken to their heart about, whether it's sexual sin,
whether it's areas of neglect. I pray in Jesus name
that they would deal with it today. And I pray
for that person, God who's unfinished business is giving themselves
to you. I pray in Jesus name that today will
be the day of surrendering to the lordship and and
(23:45):
and salvation of Jesus the Christ. I pray this in
Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (23:50):
Amen. Thank you Mark. Now let me invite you to
learn more about taking your next step with Jesus. Just
visit us online at Bold Steps. and then hit the
connect tab and click on my next step in faith.
Mark has prepared a personal message there for you, going
deeper into what it means to truly know Jesus and
what makes this relationship so life changing. We'd love to
(24:12):
be a part of your journey and help you move
past whatever's been dragging you back. So follow up with
us there. Again, it starts at bold steps.org, and then
with just a few moments remaining, let me invite you
to request a copy of this month's Bold Step gift,
a powerful book titled A Non-anxious presence. In it, author
Mark Sayers offers a fresh framework for understanding and engaging
(24:33):
with a rapidly shifting culture. Instead of anxiety about change,
you'll discover how to maintain steady faith and bold vision
even in turbulent times. This resource couldn't be more timely.
God is moving in powerful ways, even through circumstances that
may seem chaotic. So learn how to recognize divine opportunities
in the midst of disruption and lead others with wisdom
(24:56):
and hope by requesting your copy of a non-anxious presence.
We'll send it to you with your gift of any size.
To support bold steps, you can easily donate through a
number of ways by going online to Bold Steps. Org
or calling us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800)Â 356-6639. You
(25:17):
can even send a check in the mail. Just address
your envelope to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 606 ten. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join
us tomorrow when Mark begins his next message titled, What's
Holding You Back? We'll continue with some of today's important
themes about breaking free from old bondages and how to
(25:37):
take bold steps into our next season, so be sure
to listen Wednesday to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold
steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of
Moody Bible Institute.
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