Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe has a timely message about division, unity and the key component of our attitudes.
Some of you are feeling the weight of conviction right now because the spirit inside of you is grieved. Stuff that needs to be out of your heart, and the only way to get rid of it is through repentance. Acknowledging it, calling it out, turning around and saying, Lord, baptize me afresh in your kind of love. Change my heart, God, because it's gotten hard.
Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Yesterday we began a really relevant message from Mark called Attitudes That Divide Us. It's no secret that we're living in incredibly divisive times. From social media debates to family gatherings, it seems like tensions are running higher than ever. And sadly, Christians aren't immune to this trend. So today, Mark continues
with practical biblical wisdom for maintaining unity even when differences arise. Now, if you missed yesterday's program, remember you can always catch up at Bold steps.org or through our Bold Steps app. Let's join Mark now as he continues with part two of attitudes that divide us here on Bold Steps.
So I would say this if you're experiencing anger today, you need to treat it as a dashboard. In your car. You have a dashboard and there's a lot of lights. I know some of you ignore them all the time. Like, yeah, there's a light that's been going on. I don't I just don't pay attention to the lights. Let me say pay attention to the lights. Because that light is telling you you need to change the oil or you need to put oil in that car. Yeah, it's just a light.
All these lights just. And anger is like that. It's a dashboard in your life that tells you there's something in your life that's undealt with. If you are here today and you have anger, the stress, it's my roommate. It's the pressure. It's the unfairness, it's the finances. It's whatever you blame it on. But listen, people around you know that you're angry. You need to pay attention to the dashboard. Why is it going off all the time? Because there's something at the root that you need to
deal with. And here's what the Apostle Paul says. The apostle Paul says, hey, be angry, but don't sin. Anger can show up in explosiveness, stewing, irritability, hostility, aggression. And then, Paul, I don't have time to get way into this, but Paul gives us basically three rules for anger. Number one, don't let it turn be angry and don't sin. Anger can quickly turn into damaging destructive behavior if it's not channeled. Hey, yeah,
you get angry at your roommate. That's normal. But when you start to become critical, demeaning, when you start to become abusive with your words, when you start to slander, you've crossed the line and let anger become sinful. Don't let anger turn. Feel the emotion, the urge, but don't let it turn to something destructive. And that's why the apostle Paul tells us, by the way, uh, he says,
don't let the sun go down while you're angry. In other words, if you let it, if you let it stew without dealing with it, it turns, let anger stew and don't deal with it. It'll turn to bitterness, resentment. It'll turn to revenge. It'll turn to hate. It'll turn to a critical spirit. It always turns. And so the rule that the apostle Paul gives is deal with it that day. In essence, what he's saying is you need
to deal with it that day. So I've learned, if I want to have a really good fight with my wife and and have time to stew, I pick the fight early in the morning. That way I have all day. I'm just kidding. He's not really talking. It's not just about the 24 hour rule, but it is about do not wake up the next day not having dealt with your anger. And then number three, listen. He says, don't give the devil a foothold and give no opportunity to
the devil. Can I tell you something? A foothold is when someone tries to close the door and you put your foot there and you can't close the door. You ever done that? Run around playing with your roommates or as kids. They try to close the door, you put your foot in there, and then you can yell in the door and you put your hand in there. Try to reach in, do something. Throw something in there that's
called a foothold. When you give the devil, here's what the Apostle Paul is saying a foothold gives the enemy opportunity to get greater stuff into your life. Look up at me. This is really important. I see a correlation between people that struggle with ongoing anger and a challenge with lust. It goes hand in hand. If you give the enemy a foothold, I believe it opens the door to lust. It opens the door to rebellion. It opens the door to spiritual apathy. It opens the door to violence.
It opens the door to abuse. It opens the door to depression. If you don't deal with your anger and you let it fester, you let it turn to something. Uh, that that that you say, well, I'm not angry anymore. You're not explosive anymore, but you're still angry. Um, I have couples in in marital counseling tell me that all the time. They say, well, you know, I was angry, but now I'm not angry. Yeah. Yeah, I was I could have killed him yesterday. And now he walks in
from work and says, hey, babe, how you doing? Don't babe me. And you say you're not angry? No, you're not explosive, but you're still angry. And if you don't deal with this door. If you don't close this door, if you don't deal with. That's what's at the root of it. Listen, if you have trauma in your heart, if you have. If you have scars in your soul, which a lot of us do, we live in a broken, messed up world. And a lot of you have been
raised in families that were broken, dysfunctional, Unhealthy, toxic. And if you had a healthy family and had good parents and had good investment, then you are the rarity and you better thank God for that. But the great majority have brokenness. A lot of brokenness. And a lot of
times that brokenness is not dealt with. And at the core, there's anger because of the scars, because of the the critical spirit, because of the words that were hurled at us, that affected our identity, because of the disillusionment that we've experienced, because of the abandonment that we feel, because of the emptiness of our soul, because of the hurt that is within us, because that sense that we don't belong when others seem to belong because of that, that those deep
scars inside. And listen the you are not responsible for how you were raised and the scars that were perpetrated on you, but you are responsible for what you do with it before God. And if you don't go to the root, if you don't deal with it, if you don't call it out, if you're not honest about it, it will come back. And it will show up as anxiety, as addiction, as depression. I've seen very gifted pastors, extremely gifted pastors and leaders grow ministries that were very powerful,
but they never dealt with the core issues. And then one day we wake up and we hear of the implosion in their household, in their marriage and their family. And we say, how could that have happened? I know exactly how it could happen, because someone did not deal with the core issues that kept surfacing with anger, and they just kept going on, kept burying it, kept acting like it didn't exist, kept excusing it. Because sometimes when there's gifting, we just kind of camouflage and say, well, hey,
look how God is using them and everything must be. Well, here's the here's the thing about our gifting. Our gifting is not tied in. We don't deserve or earn our gifting. It's given to us. It's the grace of God. So you can operate in your gifting and be struggling deeply inside. You can be failing interiorly but yet have success, so to speak, on the outside. And no one can tell until there's a massive implosion in your marriage and your life.
Addiction comes out, an affair comes out, abuse comes out because that has to deal. Hey, some of these some of these pastors should have dealt with their issues when they were in Bible college. And they wouldn't be in the news now. We'd be celebrating what God did. But not grieving over the implosion. And I feel an urgency. I think they tried to block me from climbing up here as I'm going to. It didn't work. Didn't work.
I feel an urgency in my spirit. An urge as as someone that spends, I spend a lot of time raising pastors, coaching pastors, dealing with brokenness. I feel an urgency in my spirit to remind you, if your dashboard is flashing, please pay attention. Deal with it now. Deal with it now.
This is Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. And we'll get back to today's message in a moment. Mark, speaking of unity and attitudes, I'd like to surprise you with a really kind voice message we recently received from a listener named Marilyn. Take a listen to this one.
My name is Marilyn Lewis. I live in Dallas, Texas. I would like to leave a comment for Doctor Jobe. His sermons are so very powerful and uplifting. And may God continue to bless his life. Thank you.
Isn't that nice?
Hey, Marilyn, I love that. Thank you so much for that word of encouragement. You know, we get people from really all around the country that are letting us know how God is using this ministry in their lives and touching them in ways, uh, touching family members, Helping people come to Christ. And so it is encouraging. Hey, we listen to all the messages and when you send in a prayer request, we also pray for all the prayer requests that are sent our way.
Thank you Marilyn. And if you've never reached out to us before, we encourage you to take a moment today and send us maybe a letter or maybe a message online, as Marilyn did. Maybe share your story, or a question or a prayer request with us at Bold Steps. Just go to our website, Bold steps.org or give us a call and leave your message, as Marilyn did on a recorded line by dialing (312) 329-2011. Write that down (312) 329-2011. Of course, you can also email us at Bold Steps at Moody's.
Let's get back to our message now. Attitudes that divide us.
The apostle Paul goes on. He says, number three, stop being a taker. Start being a giver. Verse 28, he says, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anybody that's in need. This is bigger, and you may not consider yourself a thief here, but there's an attitude of a thief. A thief says I'm entitled. I can take that which which
I haven't worked for because people owe me. That's an entitlement spirit that says people owe me so I can take things from other people. A taker is always looking at how they can get stuff from people, how they can use people. A giver is always asking, how can I empower and help people around me? And the Apostle Paul says, listen. He says, don't get a job just so you can pay your bills. He goes radical and he says, get a job so you can pay your bills. And by the way, work hard so you can give
to others. The attitude that I'm calling you, which is contrary to how the world thinks, is an attitude of Tude of giving. Number four. Stop talking trash. And start encouraging people with your words. Notice what he says in verse 29. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit
those who listen. Do an inventory of your talking and ask how much of your talking is actually benefiting others, or how much of it is actually damaging others, building up yourself, laughing at others, laughing at other people's issues at their expense to build yourself up. Listen, how much of your communication is actually building? Building others up? And what the Apostle Paul is talking. He's talking about unity. And he's saying, you know, a lot of us in
our communication, Ishim were unwholesome. That word unwholesome comes from the word corrupt. And, um, can I just tell some of you, some of you need to get off social media? Amen. Amen. You're like a volatile, explosive, angry person on social media. I mean, I see very mild, meek people. I see some of their posts and I'm like, whoa. One little comment.
And you're like, ah.
You would never talk to someone like that in person. But on social media, when you're anonymous, you go at it calling people other believers. I don't know what Jesus you follow and who you think you are, but you go at it like a out of control. And social media oftentimes is a platform that gives itself to volatility and explosiveness, and most of it is not well prepared for good dialogue and engagement. It's not about let me
hear what you're saying on the other side. It's I'm going to prove how wrong you are and how right I am, and I'm going to throw out the heaviest words that I can, the most polarized words that I can. And here's the sad thing. I expect it from the world, but I see it in the church way too much. The latest battle, of course, is politics. And could I just remind you that you need to see your politics through the lens of Jesus instead of Jesus through the
lens of politics? Can we remember that? Can I also remind you that before your left or right or center and independent, that you are a follower of Jesus, that you will belong to the kingdom of God, that that is your allegiance, that that is your identity. Any identity that supersedes your identity as a believer in Jesus will ruin your testimony, because you allow politics to supersede your identity in Jesus. Or you can allow the fact that you're a male to supersede your identity in Jesus, or
a female or black or white, Hispanic or Asian. Listen, we there's a variety of people that follow Jesus. But first of all, what unites us is we are one in Jesus the Christ. That is our common denominator, and that should be our primary identity. I got that out of my system. Feels good. And let me close with this. And I could do a whole message on this. Stop grieving the spirit. And start putting on the attitude of God. Verse 30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit. The
moment that you came to Christ. You became indwelt with the third person of the Godhead. And your body became the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now God is present everywhere, but there's a certain powerful indwelling that you now possess. When you walk in the chick fil A down the street. Guess what? The indwelling of the Spirit of God just walked into chick fil A. There's something different. You change the atmosphere. Why? Because you. You are a follower of Jesus.
And you bring the Holy Spirit into a place in a fresh, new, powerful way. Something. Something to think about. But guess what? You can't check the Holy Spirit out. He doesn't. You can't say, hey, could you wait outside? I'm going into the seedy barred. If I was talking to my congregation, I'd tell CD barred or, you know, going to smoke weed or going into strip bar, because we have a lot of people that are coming straight out of the world. I know I don't have to
tell you that. But you can't check the Holy Spirit at the door. Because you were sealed to the day of redemption. You don't seal and unseal. And then he says this. Listen, verse 31, how do we not grieve the spirit? Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, you may not know what the word clamor means, but in the Greek it means the outcry, protest of a noisy commotion. Listen in argumentative attitude. Let all clamor and argumentative attitude that shows up on social media red hot.
And slander. Which means you talk about people behind their back and it's not anything constructive. Be put away from you along with all malice, and instead be kind to one another kind, which means you're actually looking at people's emotions and how they feel about what you're saying. Be tender hearted. That means that it's the opposite of hard hearted. Like, I don't care what I say. They just need to tough up. Hey, tender hearted means I care about you.
I actually am concerned about how you feel. I have a sensitive heart to people that are broken and hurting. Forgiving one another, releasing people quickly, even as God in Christ has forgiven you. You want to stop grieving the spirit. There are some of you right now, and I know it because in a crowd like this, there has to be. There's some of you right now that you have no joy because you're grieving the spirit through disobedience. And when you grieve the spirit, you have no joy because the
fruit of the spirit is joy. You cannot have the God of the universe grieving inside of you. And you go around happy, lucky, feeling energized and good. Some of you are feeling the weight of conviction right now because the spirit inside of you is grieved by bitterness, anger, slander, disobedience, attitude, stuff that needs to be out of your heart. And the only way to get rid of it is through repentance. Acknowledging it, calling it out, turning around and saying, Lord,
baptize me afresh in your kind of love. Change my heart, God, because it's gotten heart.
Attitudes that divide us a powerful lesson, Mark. I really think this biblical teaching is so valuable for all of us in today's age.
So if you've been struggling with anger, the lights on your dashboard have been going off and people around you are somewhat afraid of what mood you're going to wake up in this, I'm talking about chronic anger. Then I believe there's a root that you need to deal with. And so, father, I pray for that person right now that struggles with chronic anger. I pray in Jesus name that you would show them the root of their pain, their bitterness, their unhappiness. I pray God that they would
go to that hard place. I pray that they would forgive people, release people, repent of attitudes, deal with it, carve it out of their heart, father, so that they can stop grieving the spirit and move on with a joyful, purposeful existence that you've called them to. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Yes, Amen. Thank you Mark. Such a great reminder for the days we're living in. You're listening to Bold Steps, and tomorrow we'll hear Mark ask the question. What is holding you back? We'll be in Judges chapter seven for a countercultural lesson on being left self dependent and becoming more God dependent. You'll want to hear what that's really about, so be sure to join us then. And before we wrap up today, I want to invite you to get your copy of this month's exclusive Bold Step gift. In
today's challenging cultural landscape. Young girls face unprecedented pressure from social media and friends and entertainment before they even reach their teenage years. They're bombarded with messages that can distort their understanding of themselves, relationships, and especially their worth in God's eyes. That's why we're excited to offer you Dana
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real life scenarios that resonate with their experiences. Whether for your daughter, granddaughter, niece, or any young girl you mentor, lies girls believe is a treasured investment in her spiritual journey. So request your copy when you support bold steps with a gift of any amount. Just go online to Bold steps.org. org and request lies. Girls, believe or call us at 800 Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. Or if it's easier, you can send your donation and request the book in the mail.
Write to us at bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And also, don't forget to connect with us on social media. You'll find daily inspiration and a vibrant community of believers when you follow bold steps on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, just search for Bold Steps Radio and join the conversation. Well, that's all the time we have today. I'm Wayne Shepard. We'll see you again tomorrow. When Mark
asks the question, what's holding you back? That's coming up Thursday right here on Bold Steps with Mark John. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.