April 26, 2025 • 26 mins
People do all sorts of things to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. They go to the gym, go for a walk, watch what they eat … play brain games. But mark Jobe, president of the Moody Bible Institute, is here today to tell us that there are things we need to do to keep ourselves healthy spiritually, too …
Become part of our Advance Team: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/moodypresents/partners
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:01):
Today on Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Building habits to
keep you spiritually healthy until Christ returns.
S2 (00:09):
As you begin to have joy. Learn to express that
joy in song, in words, in thanksgiving, in a smile
on your face. Because rejoicing means I find a way
to express my joy.
S1 (00:24):
Welcome to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe, senior pastor of
New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute
in Chicago. I'm John Yeager, joined in the studio now
by Doctor Jobe. You know, pastor Mark, people do all
sorts of things to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.
They go to the gym, go for a walk, watch
what they eat, maybe play some brain games. But but
(00:47):
you're here today to tell us that there are things
we need to do to keep ourselves healthy spiritually too, right?
S3 (00:51):
Yeah. Normally we think about this at the beginning of
the year, and typically it's been said that it takes
21 days to build a habit. Now, I've heard that
disputed here and there, but nonetheless, habits are the framework
of our life, and they determine much of what our
future will look like. In fact, I believe it is
(01:12):
not what we do occasionally write, but what we habitually
do that has a compounded impact on our life.
S1 (01:18):
Yeah, let's think about that spiritually in light of Christ's return.
S3 (01:22):
Absolutely. So the apostle Paul really dives in straight into this,
telling us, hey, as we get ready for the return
of Christ, there are some habits that you need to
put into your daily rhythm that will sustain you as
we await the coming of Jesus.
S1 (01:37):
All right. Thank you, pastor Mark. What do you say
we dive into our study for today? Our message is
called Habits to keep you Spiritually Healthy. Here's Mark Jobe
on Moody Presents.
S2 (01:49):
Experts tell us that it takes 21 days to develop
a habit. 21 if you can do something consistently 21
days in a row, Chances are, by the end of
that 21 days, you will have developed a habit that
you can continue to keep going in your life. Here's
(02:11):
the thing about habits it's not what you do occasionally
that makes a difference. It's what you do habitually that
has a compounded impact on your life. What affects your
life the most right now is not what you've done occasionally.
(02:33):
But if you look over this last month and ask yourself,
what do I do habitually? It's those practices that are
actually changing your life more than anything else. You say, well, well, pastor,
I went to the gym one day last month and
I worked out for five hours straight. Man, I was
(02:55):
so sore after that. I think I'm on my way
to health. Oh, no no no no, it's not that.
You went one day in a month. It's what you're doing.
And then you pigged out on Doritos and Cheetos and
Weber's cake. Uh, it's it's what you do on a
(03:17):
habitual basis. The habits that you develop that actually begin
to form who you are. Uh, I heard that Aristotle
said good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Someone else has said the habits that we develop in
the first half of our life, when we get older,
(03:38):
the second half of our life are basically putting into
practice the habits that we started in the first half
of our life. So I'm going to challenge you to
ask yourself, what are the habits that most affect your life?
What are the habits that you are in because your
future will look like the habits that you are practicing today?
(04:01):
so make sure that your habits are the right habits.
First Thessalonians. Verse 16 through 22 are about habits. Not
just any habits. These are about the habits to prepare
us for the coming of Christ. If you choose to
put into practice the habits that we're going to talk
about this morning, your life in a year from now
(04:25):
will be radically different because of the habits that you've
chosen to put in practice today. Okay. Guaranteed. A year
from now, if you practice these, talk to me about it.
I can guarantee you start tomorrow with these habits. It
will radically begin to change your life. I'm going to
ask that we stand for the reading of God's Word.
(04:46):
I will be reading First Thessalonians chapter five, verses 16
through 22. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, Give thanks,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
(05:07):
Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances,
but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good.
Abstain from every form of evil. The word of God.
You may be seated. For habits that if you start
(05:29):
to put in practice, they alter your attitude. But in
the long run, your attitude is what alters pretty much
everything in life. Your the way that you see life.
Your attitude towards things affects your relationships. It affects your future.
It affects the way you think. It affects your marriage.
(05:49):
It affects your parenting. It affects your spiritual life. Everything
in life is affected by your attitude. And so these
four habits really have to do with our attitude. Habit
number one. It's very simple. It's almost in staccato form.
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. Let's
(06:09):
start with the first habit. The first habit is this.
Rejoice always. Make an attitude of rejoicing. Your default mode.
What does it mean to rejoice? Well, to rejoice means.
It means to put in practice the attitude of joy.
(06:30):
The act of expressing joy and gladness. There's one thing
to have joy. It's another thing to express joy. So
to rejoice means that I have joy within me and
I find a way to express it. I don't know
what you do when you're full of joy. Hey, you
(06:50):
just found out you got a raise. What do you do?
You just found out that you got three extra days
of vacation. Do you whistle? Do you start singing? Do you? Little.
Do a little jig in your house? Uh, I'm not sure.
But you express joy somehow. And so what the Apostle
(07:10):
Paul is telling us is that if you are people
of God, which we are one of the fruits of
being full of the Spirit of God. In Galatians it
tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
long suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance. The second fruit of
the spirit is joy. So if you are full of God,
(07:32):
you will be full of joy. And if you're full
of joy, you need to start to learn to rejoice.
In other words, you need to start to give a
voice to the joy that's in you. Learn to express
the joy that is in you. If I run into
someone that has been a believer for a while, but
(07:52):
they seem sad all the time, they seem unhappy all
the time. It's kind of like, yeah, I love Of Jesus.
I know something's not right there. Something's gone amiss because
one of the characteristics of being full of God. Is
it doesn't mean that you go around with a silly
(08:14):
smile on your face all the time, but it means
that you have a spirit of joy. There's something. There's
an energy about you. There's an expectation of a better
future based on hope. There's a sense of I'm glad
to be alive because God is on the throne. I
have a destiny. My sins are forgiven. My name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I know who
(08:35):
wins in the end. I may go through difficult times now,
but guess what? I am full of the joy of God,
and I show my joy on my face. And so
the Apostle Paul is saying, he's not saying learn to
be happy. He's saying, rejoice. Rejoice is an action verb.
(08:59):
It means Give voice to your joy. Give an expression
to your joy. So listen to what it says in
Psalms 118, verse 24. It says, this is the day
that the Lord hath made. Whose day is it? It's
God's day. He made it. This today is the day
(09:22):
that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and
be glad in it. God, this is your day. I'm
going to be glad because it's your day. Look what
it tells us in Philippians chapter four, verses six through eight.
The apostle Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. And
(09:42):
just in case you misunderstood him, he says, hey, I'm
going to tell you again and again. I say, rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Now it is impossible for
me to constantly have a spirit of joy because sometimes
we go through hard times. Your car breaks down, you
got a flat tire. You. Whatever happens, you. It's hard
(10:07):
to always rejoice. And so what the Apostle Paul is saying,
he doesn't say, rejoice in your circumstances always, because sometimes
the circumstances are bad. He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Because if your joy is based on your circumstances, you're
not always going to have joy. But if your joy
(10:28):
is based on who God is, listen. God never changes.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your circumstances may
change and they may be bad sometimes, but God is
still good. So therefore you can rejoice in the Lord
regardless of what your circumstances look like, because sometimes even
(10:50):
your bad circumstances, for those that love God, he turns
it for the good. I just had a conversation with
a fellow yesterday and it reminded me how God takes
bad circumstances and turns it for the good. Two weeks
ago he had talked to me. He's from one of
our other campuses and he said, pastor, I have a
question for you. He said, talk to me about it.
(11:10):
He says, I'm looking for a job I've been on. Um,
I've been on workman's comp for a little bit. And unemployment,
it's running out. I've been looking for a job, he said.
I got a job offer. But here's the thing. It's
part time. It's on. It's on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
He said Tuesday, I have a leadership meeting, Thursday I
(11:33):
have worship, practice and Sunday it's my time for God
and I feel like if I take this job, it'll
totally take me out of all of what I all
of my time with God, all of my ministry with God.
He said, what do you think I should do? I said, well,
you need to work, I know that. But I'm just
believing and praying that there's some other job out there
(11:57):
that's not going to take you away from the things
of God on Sunday, so you need to wrestle through it.
I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do,
but if I were you, man, I'd be looking for
an option. An alternative. And so he wrestled through it.
He talked with his wife and, uh, he he declined
that that that part time job that was making minimal,
(12:21):
minimal wages. And so he was on his way to
try to fill out some other job application. And his
car got a got a flat. A flat tire. He thought, oh, man,
here I am. So he he had tires at a
Firestone that he had insured. So he went to the
Firestone that he was at, asked him how long it
(12:42):
would take. They said it was going to take a
couple hours to to fix your tire. He said, oh, man.
So he said, but I'm going to make the best
of this. I'm going to make the best of it.
So he went around the tire place, handing in applications
to a few places around the tire place. Now that's incentive.
That's saying I'm going to make the best of whatever
(13:04):
comes my way. So he went around a couple places there.
There happened to be a place that was hiring that
didn't that they called him back. It wasn't on Sunday,
and it was double the pay that the other job
was offering him. And yeah, here's the thing. His flat
(13:24):
tire seemed like, hey, I'm not going to rejoice in
a flat tire, but I believe that it was God
taking him to the Firestone to get him connected to
a job that would be double the pay and not
have to work on Sunday. Someone better be excited about that.
How about it?
S1 (13:49):
You're listening to Moody Presents with pastor Mark Jobe. Today's
message is titled Habits to Keep You Spiritually Healthy. And
if you've missed any of the messages in this series
titled defiance. Turn your life upside down. Well, you can
catch up online when you go to Moody Presents. And
while you're there, be sure to sign up to get
(14:09):
three great teaching videos from the Land of Israel. It's
an automated email feature that's delivered right to your inbox,
so sign up now at Moody Presents. But first, let's
jump back into our message on creating healthy habits. Here's
Mark Jobe.
S2 (14:31):
The point is that even in our bad circumstances, God
still has a plan that God can bring good, even
out of our bad. And so he says, rejoice in
the Lord. And that's what it tells us in James.
By the way, in James chapter one, it says this
verse two through four, consider it pure joy. What? When
I get a raise, when I win the lottery. Consider
(14:52):
it pure joy. What? My brothers, whenever you face trials. Trials? Yeah. Trials.
Like something goes bad. It's tough. Consider it pure joy
when you face trials of many kinds. Why should I
consider pure joy? Because you know that the testing of
your faith. Why is our faith being tested? Because it's
(15:15):
hard to rejoice when it seems like we're in the
middle of a test. Because you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance. And why do I want perseverance? God.
Because perseverance must finish its work so that you may
be mature and complete, not lacking anything. In essence, what
(15:39):
he's saying is, when you're faced with a trial, I
want you to rejoice even in the trial. Because listen
to me. Look up at me. This is huge. God
has a purpose, even in your trial. And if you
let God have his way, he will turn your trial
into something good in your life called maturity and completeness.
(16:05):
So even in the midst of a hard time, he says, rejoice.
So what's he talking about? He's talking about the habit
of joy. If you're known as a unhappy person, you
need to get a soul fix. Seriously, if everybody knows you,
it's hard for you to smile. You're grumpy and complaining
(16:26):
all the time. Don't blame it on Jesus. That's your
own nasty attitude. Because if you're full of God, the
people of God need to be joyful people. And let
me tell you something about joyful people, about joy. The
Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
In other words, when you have joy, you have energy.
(16:49):
When you have joy, you have energy. Have you ever
noticed the higher your joy, the greater your energy? Have
you ever got excited about something you're going to do
that makes you really happy. You dragged yourself to work
all week long. I can barely get up. Oh, it's
so hard to get out of bed. And then they say, then.
(17:11):
Then your husband says. Guess what? We figured out we're
going to go to Disneyland for five days with the kids. Florida.
Warm weather and suddenly to get ready for vacation. It's
like you're energized. You're like, hey, let me pack. Let
me do this. You get out of bed excited. Why?
Because now you have joy. And joy produces energy. And
(17:32):
here's the thing. Your energy boosts better than Red Bull
and Monster and. And double shots of espresso in your coffee. Uh,
better than that. What energizes your life is the joy
of God. And so as you begin to have joy,
learn to express that joy in song, in words, in thanksgiving,
(17:57):
in a smile on your face. because rejoicing means I
find a way to express my joy. So one of
the habits that God, first of all, expects for his
people is that we would be we would be a
people that would habitually rejoice in life, that we're constantly
in a state of, I'm going to find a way
(18:19):
to rejoice in whatever circumstance I am. Habit number one,
rejoicing needs to be your default mode. Habit number two.
He says, rejoice always. Verse 17 pray without ceasing. I
remember reading that verse when I was young and thinking, impossible,
(18:40):
how can you ever pray without ceasing? I mean, you
gotta eat, you're eating. You're going to pray while you're eating.
I mean, you gotta sleep. I mean, seriously, how can
you pray while you're sleeping? You gotta work and read
a book and there's other things that you're doing. I mean,
how can someone pray without ceasing? Well, if you read
exactly the word here found in the Greek. A better
(19:03):
translation would be pray without intermission or pray consistently. When
when you do something consistently, habitually, it means you're continuing
to do it without taking big breaks from it. That
(19:24):
makes sense, and it's something I'm continuing to do. Someone says, hey,
are you talking to your are you are you talking
to your son lately? You say, oh yeah, we talk
all the time now. Seriously, do you talk all the time? No.
It means that you're constantly having a conversation with them,
that you're not estranged, that you haven't stopped talking, that
(19:46):
you're in the habit of talking on a regular basis.
So praying without ceasing means this is what it means.
Listen to me. Some of you have the idea that
when you pray That you have to get on your knees.
Close your eyes. Raise your hands. Get in a certain
(20:10):
part of your house that you pray in. And that
that is the way that you pray. And you say.
You say. I'm going to have my prayer time. Get
on your knees. Raise your hands. Close your eyes. Squint.
Real bad. Because you pray better when you're squinting real hard. Now,
(20:31):
there's nothing wrong with praying like that. There's times that
we have to set aside times for prayer. But obviously,
you can't walk around like that. So what's it telling
me about praying? What? What Paul is telling us is
that you should be in a continual conversation with God
(20:52):
throughout your day. That means you wake up in the morning,
you say, good morning, Lord. And I slept well. You go,
you go downstairs and you say, this is going to.
I got a lot of stuff going on this day. Lord,
give me strength and energy. It means that you're having
this continual conversation with God throughout the day where you're
listening to God. You are talking to God that you
(21:13):
don't go big periods of time ignoring God or not
speaking to God, that you're in a lifestyle of prayer
where you're just having this ongoing non-interrupted at little times
during the day, you're just saying, oh Lord, help me here,
because this is really tough. I'm going to talk to
my boss and it's a tough one. God, give me
patience and insight. All right, I'm going to. Lord, help
(21:34):
me push this big guy over the way I'm trying
to get on this bus. God, give me strength and energy.
I don't know, whatever the prayer may be. You're in
this continual conversation with God throughout the day. Uh, you're
sitting down for lunch, and the Lord puts someone on
your heart. You see him over there at the lunch table,
someone that seems lonely and you're listening to God, and
God gives you a compassion for that person. So you
(21:54):
just get over. You walk over. Hey, how you doing?
Let me talk to you. You're just in this constant Conversation,
continual dialogue with God. That's what it means to pray
without ceasing. So if you're going to be in this
constant dialogue with God, this habitual dialogue with God, it
means a couple of things. It means the use of
voice is not essential element for prayer. You can't go
(22:18):
around praying out loud everywhere. You can't be on the bus.
You know, Lord, I pray. I pray for the bus driver.
He looks like he's a little dangerous. God, I pray
for my husband. No, no. Do you know that you
can pray in your head? He said, well, if I
pray in my head, is it really prayer? Hey, God.
Thank God he can read your mind. Some of you
(22:39):
say amen. Some of you say, oh, he can. Oh,
I didn't know that. But I'm going to challenge you
that you would begin to put into practice the habit
of practicing the presence of God wherever you are and
whatever you do.
S1 (23:04):
Challenging you to practice the presence of God wherever you are.
That's today's message from pastor, author and Bible teacher Mark Jobe.
And this is Moody Presents. You can find us each
week right here on your local radio station or catch
us online at Moody Presents. Moody presents. And thanks for
(23:25):
remembering that there's a cost to creating this program. There
really is. And for a gift of any size, we're
going to send you a copy of your future Self Will.
Thank you. Secrets to Self Control from the Bible and
Brain Science by Drew Dick. Let me share an excerpt.
Drew writes. Habits are hard. They're not shortcuts or life hacks. Yes,
eventually they enable us to live better lives without exhausting
(23:48):
our willpower. But they start with a burst of effort.
Our brains are lazy. Our wills are weak. Our nature
is bent. Even if we employ all the right approaches,
quote unquote. It still takes sweat and struggle and and
striving to break the inertia of your old ways of
doing things and then move in a new direction. Listen,
(24:09):
God is waiting eagerly to respond with new strength to
each little act of self-control. Small disciplines of prayer, feeble
searching after him. Isn't that encouraging? And there's a whole
lot more where that came from in this book. Your
future self will thank you. Our gift to you when
you support the ministry of Moody Presents with a financial
donation of any amount, you can call (800)Â 040-7022 804 07022
(24:39):
or give online at. Moody presents. Moody presents.org. You can
also send in your donation in the mail. Just address
your envelope to Moody Presents, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 606 ten. That's 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois.
(25:02):
606 ten. As an added bonus, when you give a
gift of $30 or more each month, you'll get a 50%
discount on the entire Moody Publishers catalog, including all of
our Bible studies, Christian living, accessories, DVDs, children's books, and
so much more. So don't wait. Become a part of
the Moody Presents Advance team today. You'll be glad you did.
(25:23):
Just go to Moody Presents Dot. Habits to keep you
spiritually healthy. We'll continue our study next week. I'm John
Gager inviting you to join us then. And we'll learn
how to create and cultivate an atmosphere of thanksgiving and joy.
Our message is called habits to Keep You Spiritually Healthy.
(25:43):
And you can hear it right here on Moody Presents
with Mark Jobe. Moody presents is a production of Moody
Radio and the Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Building habits to
keep you spiritually healthy until Christ returns.
S2 (00:09):
As you begin to have joy. Learn to express that
joy in song, in words, in thanksgiving, in a smile
on your face. Because rejoicing means I find a way
to express my joy.
S1 (00:24):
Welcome to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe, senior pastor of
New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute
in Chicago. I'm John Yeager, joined in the studio now
by Doctor Jobe. You know, pastor Mark, people do all
sorts of things to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.
They go to the gym, go for a walk, watch
what they eat, maybe play some brain games. But but
(00:47):
you're here today to tell us that there are things
we need to do to keep ourselves healthy spiritually too, right?
S3 (00:51):
Yeah. Normally we think about this at the beginning of
the year, and typically it's been said that it takes
21 days to build a habit. Now, I've heard that
disputed here and there, but nonetheless, habits are the framework
of our life, and they determine much of what our
future will look like. In fact, I believe it is
(01:12):
not what we do occasionally write, but what we habitually
do that has a compounded impact on our life.
S1 (01:18):
Yeah, let's think about that spiritually in light of Christ's return.
S3 (01:22):
Absolutely. So the apostle Paul really dives in straight into this,
telling us, hey, as we get ready for the return
of Christ, there are some habits that you need to
put into your daily rhythm that will sustain you as
we await the coming of Jesus.
S1 (01:37):
All right. Thank you, pastor Mark. What do you say
we dive into our study for today? Our message is
called Habits to keep you Spiritually Healthy. Here's Mark Jobe
on Moody Presents.
S2 (01:49):
Experts tell us that it takes 21 days to develop
a habit. 21 if you can do something consistently 21
days in a row, Chances are, by the end of
that 21 days, you will have developed a habit that
you can continue to keep going in your life. Here's
(02:11):
the thing about habits it's not what you do occasionally
that makes a difference. It's what you do habitually that
has a compounded impact on your life. What affects your
life the most right now is not what you've done occasionally.
(02:33):
But if you look over this last month and ask yourself,
what do I do habitually? It's those practices that are
actually changing your life more than anything else. You say, well, well, pastor,
I went to the gym one day last month and
I worked out for five hours straight. Man, I was
(02:55):
so sore after that. I think I'm on my way
to health. Oh, no no no no, it's not that.
You went one day in a month. It's what you're doing.
And then you pigged out on Doritos and Cheetos and
Weber's cake. Uh, it's it's what you do on a
(03:17):
habitual basis. The habits that you develop that actually begin
to form who you are. Uh, I heard that Aristotle
said good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Someone else has said the habits that we develop in
the first half of our life, when we get older,
(03:38):
the second half of our life are basically putting into
practice the habits that we started in the first half
of our life. So I'm going to challenge you to
ask yourself, what are the habits that most affect your life?
What are the habits that you are in because your
future will look like the habits that you are practicing today?
(04:01):
so make sure that your habits are the right habits.
First Thessalonians. Verse 16 through 22 are about habits. Not
just any habits. These are about the habits to prepare
us for the coming of Christ. If you choose to
put into practice the habits that we're going to talk
about this morning, your life in a year from now
(04:25):
will be radically different because of the habits that you've
chosen to put in practice today. Okay. Guaranteed. A year
from now, if you practice these, talk to me about it.
I can guarantee you start tomorrow with these habits. It
will radically begin to change your life. I'm going to
ask that we stand for the reading of God's Word.
(04:46):
I will be reading First Thessalonians chapter five, verses 16
through 22. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, Give thanks,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
(05:07):
Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances,
but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good.
Abstain from every form of evil. The word of God.
You may be seated. For habits that if you start
(05:29):
to put in practice, they alter your attitude. But in
the long run, your attitude is what alters pretty much
everything in life. Your the way that you see life.
Your attitude towards things affects your relationships. It affects your future.
It affects the way you think. It affects your marriage.
(05:49):
It affects your parenting. It affects your spiritual life. Everything
in life is affected by your attitude. And so these
four habits really have to do with our attitude. Habit
number one. It's very simple. It's almost in staccato form.
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. Let's
(06:09):
start with the first habit. The first habit is this.
Rejoice always. Make an attitude of rejoicing. Your default mode.
What does it mean to rejoice? Well, to rejoice means.
It means to put in practice the attitude of joy.
(06:30):
The act of expressing joy and gladness. There's one thing
to have joy. It's another thing to express joy. So
to rejoice means that I have joy within me and
I find a way to express it. I don't know
what you do when you're full of joy. Hey, you
(06:50):
just found out you got a raise. What do you do?
You just found out that you got three extra days
of vacation. Do you whistle? Do you start singing? Do you? Little.
Do a little jig in your house? Uh, I'm not sure.
But you express joy somehow. And so what the Apostle
(07:10):
Paul is telling us is that if you are people
of God, which we are one of the fruits of
being full of the Spirit of God. In Galatians it
tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
long suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance. The second fruit of
the spirit is joy. So if you are full of God,
(07:32):
you will be full of joy. And if you're full
of joy, you need to start to learn to rejoice.
In other words, you need to start to give a
voice to the joy that's in you. Learn to express
the joy that is in you. If I run into
someone that has been a believer for a while, but
(07:52):
they seem sad all the time, they seem unhappy all
the time. It's kind of like, yeah, I love Of Jesus.
I know something's not right there. Something's gone amiss because
one of the characteristics of being full of God. Is
it doesn't mean that you go around with a silly
(08:14):
smile on your face all the time, but it means
that you have a spirit of joy. There's something. There's
an energy about you. There's an expectation of a better
future based on hope. There's a sense of I'm glad
to be alive because God is on the throne. I
have a destiny. My sins are forgiven. My name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I know who
(08:35):
wins in the end. I may go through difficult times now,
but guess what? I am full of the joy of God,
and I show my joy on my face. And so
the Apostle Paul is saying, he's not saying learn to
be happy. He's saying, rejoice. Rejoice is an action verb.
(08:59):
It means Give voice to your joy. Give an expression
to your joy. So listen to what it says in
Psalms 118, verse 24. It says, this is the day
that the Lord hath made. Whose day is it? It's
God's day. He made it. This today is the day
(09:22):
that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and
be glad in it. God, this is your day. I'm
going to be glad because it's your day. Look what
it tells us in Philippians chapter four, verses six through eight.
The apostle Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. And
(09:42):
just in case you misunderstood him, he says, hey, I'm
going to tell you again and again. I say, rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Now it is impossible for
me to constantly have a spirit of joy because sometimes
we go through hard times. Your car breaks down, you
got a flat tire. You. Whatever happens, you. It's hard
(10:07):
to always rejoice. And so what the Apostle Paul is saying,
he doesn't say, rejoice in your circumstances always, because sometimes
the circumstances are bad. He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Because if your joy is based on your circumstances, you're
not always going to have joy. But if your joy
(10:28):
is based on who God is, listen. God never changes.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your circumstances may
change and they may be bad sometimes, but God is
still good. So therefore you can rejoice in the Lord
regardless of what your circumstances look like, because sometimes even
(10:50):
your bad circumstances, for those that love God, he turns
it for the good. I just had a conversation with
a fellow yesterday and it reminded me how God takes
bad circumstances and turns it for the good. Two weeks
ago he had talked to me. He's from one of
our other campuses and he said, pastor, I have a
question for you. He said, talk to me about it.
(11:10):
He says, I'm looking for a job I've been on. Um,
I've been on workman's comp for a little bit. And unemployment,
it's running out. I've been looking for a job, he said.
I got a job offer. But here's the thing. It's
part time. It's on. It's on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
He said Tuesday, I have a leadership meeting, Thursday I
(11:33):
have worship, practice and Sunday it's my time for God
and I feel like if I take this job, it'll
totally take me out of all of what I all
of my time with God, all of my ministry with God.
He said, what do you think I should do? I said, well,
you need to work, I know that. But I'm just
believing and praying that there's some other job out there
(11:57):
that's not going to take you away from the things
of God on Sunday, so you need to wrestle through it.
I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do,
but if I were you, man, I'd be looking for
an option. An alternative. And so he wrestled through it.
He talked with his wife and, uh, he he declined
that that that part time job that was making minimal,
(12:21):
minimal wages. And so he was on his way to
try to fill out some other job application. And his
car got a got a flat. A flat tire. He thought, oh, man,
here I am. So he he had tires at a
Firestone that he had insured. So he went to the
Firestone that he was at, asked him how long it
(12:42):
would take. They said it was going to take a
couple hours to to fix your tire. He said, oh, man.
So he said, but I'm going to make the best
of this. I'm going to make the best of it.
So he went around the tire place, handing in applications
to a few places around the tire place. Now that's incentive.
That's saying I'm going to make the best of whatever
(13:04):
comes my way. So he went around a couple places there.
There happened to be a place that was hiring that
didn't that they called him back. It wasn't on Sunday,
and it was double the pay that the other job
was offering him. And yeah, here's the thing. His flat
(13:24):
tire seemed like, hey, I'm not going to rejoice in
a flat tire, but I believe that it was God
taking him to the Firestone to get him connected to
a job that would be double the pay and not
have to work on Sunday. Someone better be excited about that.
How about it?
S1 (13:49):
You're listening to Moody Presents with pastor Mark Jobe. Today's
message is titled Habits to Keep You Spiritually Healthy. And
if you've missed any of the messages in this series
titled defiance. Turn your life upside down. Well, you can
catch up online when you go to Moody Presents. And
while you're there, be sure to sign up to get
(14:09):
three great teaching videos from the Land of Israel. It's
an automated email feature that's delivered right to your inbox,
so sign up now at Moody Presents. But first, let's
jump back into our message on creating healthy habits. Here's
Mark Jobe.
S2 (14:31):
The point is that even in our bad circumstances, God
still has a plan that God can bring good, even
out of our bad. And so he says, rejoice in
the Lord. And that's what it tells us in James.
By the way, in James chapter one, it says this
verse two through four, consider it pure joy. What? When
I get a raise, when I win the lottery. Consider
(14:52):
it pure joy. What? My brothers, whenever you face trials. Trials? Yeah. Trials.
Like something goes bad. It's tough. Consider it pure joy
when you face trials of many kinds. Why should I
consider pure joy? Because you know that the testing of
your faith. Why is our faith being tested? Because it's
(15:15):
hard to rejoice when it seems like we're in the
middle of a test. Because you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance. And why do I want perseverance? God.
Because perseverance must finish its work so that you may
be mature and complete, not lacking anything. In essence, what
(15:39):
he's saying is, when you're faced with a trial, I
want you to rejoice even in the trial. Because listen
to me. Look up at me. This is huge. God
has a purpose, even in your trial. And if you
let God have his way, he will turn your trial
into something good in your life called maturity and completeness.
(16:05):
So even in the midst of a hard time, he says, rejoice.
So what's he talking about? He's talking about the habit
of joy. If you're known as a unhappy person, you
need to get a soul fix. Seriously, if everybody knows you,
it's hard for you to smile. You're grumpy and complaining
(16:26):
all the time. Don't blame it on Jesus. That's your
own nasty attitude. Because if you're full of God, the
people of God need to be joyful people. And let
me tell you something about joyful people, about joy. The
Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
In other words, when you have joy, you have energy.
(16:49):
When you have joy, you have energy. Have you ever
noticed the higher your joy, the greater your energy? Have
you ever got excited about something you're going to do
that makes you really happy. You dragged yourself to work
all week long. I can barely get up. Oh, it's
so hard to get out of bed. And then they say, then.
(17:11):
Then your husband says. Guess what? We figured out we're
going to go to Disneyland for five days with the kids. Florida.
Warm weather and suddenly to get ready for vacation. It's
like you're energized. You're like, hey, let me pack. Let
me do this. You get out of bed excited. Why?
Because now you have joy. And joy produces energy. And
(17:32):
here's the thing. Your energy boosts better than Red Bull
and Monster and. And double shots of espresso in your coffee. Uh,
better than that. What energizes your life is the joy
of God. And so as you begin to have joy,
learn to express that joy in song, in words, in thanksgiving,
(17:57):
in a smile on your face. because rejoicing means I
find a way to express my joy. So one of
the habits that God, first of all, expects for his
people is that we would be we would be a
people that would habitually rejoice in life, that we're constantly
in a state of, I'm going to find a way
(18:19):
to rejoice in whatever circumstance I am. Habit number one,
rejoicing needs to be your default mode. Habit number two.
He says, rejoice always. Verse 17 pray without ceasing. I
remember reading that verse when I was young and thinking, impossible,
(18:40):
how can you ever pray without ceasing? I mean, you
gotta eat, you're eating. You're going to pray while you're eating.
I mean, you gotta sleep. I mean, seriously, how can
you pray while you're sleeping? You gotta work and read
a book and there's other things that you're doing. I mean,
how can someone pray without ceasing? Well, if you read
exactly the word here found in the Greek. A better
(19:03):
translation would be pray without intermission or pray consistently. When
when you do something consistently, habitually, it means you're continuing
to do it without taking big breaks from it. That
(19:24):
makes sense, and it's something I'm continuing to do. Someone says, hey,
are you talking to your are you are you talking
to your son lately? You say, oh yeah, we talk
all the time now. Seriously, do you talk all the time? No.
It means that you're constantly having a conversation with them,
that you're not estranged, that you haven't stopped talking, that
(19:46):
you're in the habit of talking on a regular basis.
So praying without ceasing means this is what it means.
Listen to me. Some of you have the idea that
when you pray That you have to get on your knees.
Close your eyes. Raise your hands. Get in a certain
(20:10):
part of your house that you pray in. And that
that is the way that you pray. And you say.
You say. I'm going to have my prayer time. Get
on your knees. Raise your hands. Close your eyes. Squint.
Real bad. Because you pray better when you're squinting real hard. Now,
(20:31):
there's nothing wrong with praying like that. There's times that
we have to set aside times for prayer. But obviously,
you can't walk around like that. So what's it telling
me about praying? What? What Paul is telling us is
that you should be in a continual conversation with God
(20:52):
throughout your day. That means you wake up in the morning,
you say, good morning, Lord. And I slept well. You go,
you go downstairs and you say, this is going to.
I got a lot of stuff going on this day. Lord,
give me strength and energy. It means that you're having
this continual conversation with God throughout the day where you're
listening to God. You are talking to God that you
(21:13):
don't go big periods of time ignoring God or not
speaking to God, that you're in a lifestyle of prayer
where you're just having this ongoing non-interrupted at little times
during the day, you're just saying, oh Lord, help me here,
because this is really tough. I'm going to talk to
my boss and it's a tough one. God, give me
patience and insight. All right, I'm going to. Lord, help
(21:34):
me push this big guy over the way I'm trying
to get on this bus. God, give me strength and energy.
I don't know, whatever the prayer may be. You're in
this continual conversation with God throughout the day. Uh, you're
sitting down for lunch, and the Lord puts someone on
your heart. You see him over there at the lunch table,
someone that seems lonely and you're listening to God, and
God gives you a compassion for that person. So you
(21:54):
just get over. You walk over. Hey, how you doing?
Let me talk to you. You're just in this constant Conversation,
continual dialogue with God. That's what it means to pray
without ceasing. So if you're going to be in this
constant dialogue with God, this habitual dialogue with God, it
means a couple of things. It means the use of
voice is not essential element for prayer. You can't go
(22:18):
around praying out loud everywhere. You can't be on the bus.
You know, Lord, I pray. I pray for the bus driver.
He looks like he's a little dangerous. God, I pray
for my husband. No, no. Do you know that you
can pray in your head? He said, well, if I
pray in my head, is it really prayer? Hey, God.
Thank God he can read your mind. Some of you
(22:39):
say amen. Some of you say, oh, he can. Oh,
I didn't know that. But I'm going to challenge you
that you would begin to put into practice the habit
of practicing the presence of God wherever you are and
whatever you do.
S1 (23:04):
Challenging you to practice the presence of God wherever you are.
That's today's message from pastor, author and Bible teacher Mark Jobe.
And this is Moody Presents. You can find us each
week right here on your local radio station or catch
us online at Moody Presents. Moody presents. And thanks for
(23:25):
remembering that there's a cost to creating this program. There
really is. And for a gift of any size, we're
going to send you a copy of your future Self Will.
Thank you. Secrets to Self Control from the Bible and
Brain Science by Drew Dick. Let me share an excerpt.
Drew writes. Habits are hard. They're not shortcuts or life hacks. Yes,
eventually they enable us to live better lives without exhausting
(23:48):
our willpower. But they start with a burst of effort.
Our brains are lazy. Our wills are weak. Our nature
is bent. Even if we employ all the right approaches,
quote unquote. It still takes sweat and struggle and and
striving to break the inertia of your old ways of
doing things and then move in a new direction. Listen,
(24:09):
God is waiting eagerly to respond with new strength to
each little act of self-control. Small disciplines of prayer, feeble
searching after him. Isn't that encouraging? And there's a whole
lot more where that came from in this book. Your
future self will thank you. Our gift to you when
you support the ministry of Moody Presents with a financial
donation of any amount, you can call (800)Â 040-7022 804 07022
(24:39):
or give online at. Moody presents. Moody presents.org. You can
also send in your donation in the mail. Just address
your envelope to Moody Presents, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 606 ten. That's 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois.
(25:02):
606 ten. As an added bonus, when you give a
gift of $30 or more each month, you'll get a 50%
discount on the entire Moody Publishers catalog, including all of
our Bible studies, Christian living, accessories, DVDs, children's books, and
so much more. So don't wait. Become a part of
the Moody Presents Advance team today. You'll be glad you did.
(25:23):
Just go to Moody Presents Dot. Habits to keep you
spiritually healthy. We'll continue our study next week. I'm John
Gager inviting you to join us then. And we'll learn
how to create and cultivate an atmosphere of thanksgiving and joy.
Our message is called habits to Keep You Spiritually Healthy.
(25:43):
And you can hear it right here on Moody Presents
with Mark Jobe. Moody presents is a production of Moody
Radio and the Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.