Without a clear vision of the future. It means just surviving and getting by. But God has bigger plans. Clarifying your purpose in life. Coming up next.
I believe that the church of the Living God, when it has vision, it mobilizes men and women to take action and make a difference in their community and their family and their life and their society. That's vision.
Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Maybe you've heard Proverbs 2918 before. It says that where there is no vision, the people perish. Now, the New Living Translation says, when people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. And Mark, today we're talking about vision.
Yeah, absolutely. I love this verse because there's multiple translations, but in essence, it's saying that without a vision, people go unrestrained, let loose or ignored. In other words, everybody does their own thing. And when there is a clear vision from God, it catalyzes our life in a particular direction. I believe that so many of us need to gain clarity about vision. Indeed. And this this passage talks about that. It's a powerful passage.
Well, we're going to talk about gaining a God centered vision. Mark's message is called do you See it yet? And our Bibles are open. I hope you can join us there in Second Kings Chapter six. Here's Mark job with today's bold steps.
When I was growing up, maybe, like some of you, my father would drive these cars that let's just say they needed some work to be done on them. He was a mechanic. And, uh, on the side, he was actually a missionary, but could fix almost anything. So he always had grease in his fingers and he would buy cars at a discount, very discounted. And sometimes only he could drive them because they had all these little quirks
and he would fix them sometimes on the spot. Some of you know what I'm talking about because you have cars like that. You look at your mufflers drag and you think, okay, $300 the mechanic, or should I just use some of that? Um, well, yeah. That, uh, duct tape mechanic. How many of you know what duct tape mechanic is? You just figure. Hey, you know, I'm just going to tie this muffler up with a little duct tape. It works. Well, some of you have fixed your cars
for years with duct tape. And, you know, we all have those cars occasionally in our lives where, you know, I've had the cars where I drive up to the ATM and my window doesn't work, so I have to open up the door, bang it against the ATM, try to pick my arm around side and go like this. Or those cars that you have to get in the passenger side because your car won't open? Or those cars that are just quirky. Come on, how many of you
know what I'm talking about? I've seen some of your cars out there, so I know I've seen the duct tape on some of your cars, so don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Well, my father had one of those cars, and we were on a trip, and it started to snow really heavy. And as we were driving, sure enough, the windshield wipers were not functioning. And so finally he he was trying to see and he said, Mark, I got I was probably about eight years old. He said, Mark, I got to pull over
to the side. So he pulled over to the side and I said, dad, what are we going to do? I mean, it's snowing. We're an hour and a half, two hours away from our house. We don't want to be stuck in the snowstorm. He said. Don't worry about it. I got this covered. He went in the trunk and rumbled through some things a little bit, and he came out with a roll of string and he said, watch this, this will work. So he. He tied a string to the right windshield wiper. He tied a string to the
left windshield wiper. He put the string in the window on my side. He said, hold this mark. And he put a string in the window on his side. And he said, we're going to make this work, Mark. Okay. So he got on the road and he pulled his side and it went like this. And he says, okay, now it's your turn. Mark and I pulled the side and it went like that. And then he pulled and it went like this. And he pulled it and went
like that. And we were able to make it home because we were able to see, you see, it was the back and forth clearing of our windshield that allowed us to have. Here it goes. Vision. When you have no vision, it's hard to move forward. You can drag a muffler for a while, but if you can't see, you can't go very far. You can go on a low tank of gas for a while, but if you can't see you, you don't get very far into your journey.
Because if if you can't see clearly, if you've ever been in a really bad storm or you've been in a snowstorm or a rainstorm, some everybody, when you can't see, you slow down because you don't really. You can't see where you're going. When you can't see forward, you go to the side of the road and stop the journey altogether because you say, I can't go forward if I can't see. Or you get in an accident because you start swerving out of your lane and get into someone
else's lane. Because why? Because you don't have clear vision. Vision allows you to see forward. And when you see forward, you can move quickly into your destination. But if you can't see into the future, if you can't see forward, then you can't. You have no power in the present to to drive in the direction that you're supposed to drive. I'm talking about vision. And I've noticed that when we lack vision in our own lives and you say, well,
vision pastor, it's hard to define vision. Grasp vision. Vision is that image of the future that, you know, it's the call of God upon you to go somewhere that you know that that's who you need to be. That's what you need to do. That's where you need to go. It's that sense of inner direction. It's that clarified purpose of life. It's that mental picture of a God ordained future that you say, yeah, that's where I'm supposed to go. That's who I'm supposed to be. That's what I'm supposed
to do. That's vision. Yeah. You know, Proverbs tells us that Proverbs 29 verse 18 says, where there is no. Say it again. Where there is no people perish. If there's no clarity about where we're going in the future, if there's no clear mental picture of a God ordained future, then people perish. Another translation says where there is no clear revelation from God, everybody does their own thing. When there's a clear vision for your life, it charges you
to work hard for the future. It makes you get up in the morning because you know what you're supposed to do, where you're supposed to go, what you're supposed to be. If a team has a vision, it unites it. It catalyzes energy towards a specific FIC purpose. Where there's vision, where there is no vision. And I've seen men and women leaders, countries, churches with no vision. And I've noticed that there's a common syndrome among people that lack vision.
I noticed that when when a man lacks vision, he tends to not lead his family. He tends to survive in his family. When a man lacks vision, he's not taking his family towards something. He's just surviving with his family in something. When a man lacks vision, he's not saying, I know this is where we're going. This is what me and my household will do. This is how we're going to live. This is what we're going to move towards. He just survives. He lets life happen to him instead
of making something happen of his life. Man, I'm preaching to myself, so this is good. But I don't know if I'm with anybody else in here who's listening, but hey, this is vision. Some of you need to know because I believe that God is speaking to some people here today about the lack of vision in your own life and the necessity of having vision. I've seen. Places without vision. When someone doesn't have a clear mental image of where they're supposed to be going, then they tend to ramble around.
They tend to lack energy. They tend not to have focus. They tend to be reactive instead of proactive. They tend to let life happen to them. They tend to just kind of flow with the punches because they're not really going anywhere. Concretely, anywhere specifically. There's no discipline, there's little motivation, there's little movement forward. Why? Because you don't know where you're going. And if you have no clear image of where you're going, then chances are you won't go there.
I'm talking about a lack of vision. I've seen nations that lack vision. And when a nation lacks vision, it just reverts to maintaining or infighting. I've seen churches that lack vision. And when a church lacks vision, it's not moving somewhere. It's just maintaining what it has. Do you realize 80% of the churches in America last year did not baptize one person? Now you heard me right. 80% of the churches in America did not baptize one person.
So what are the churches doing? Sometimes if you have if you lack vision, you start to maintain. You don't know where you're going. You just want to make sure you don't lose what you have. You just want to make sure that you keep people comfortable. You just want to make sure that not too much is happening. People are getting along. Not too much is stirring up. And so people come week after week to listen to a homily. Homily. Yeah. Homily.
They're listening to a nice message that sprinkled with enough spirituality to make you feel good, but not too much conviction to make you want to change or feel uncomfortable. So the idea is, I don't want to offend anybody or step on anybody's toes. I just want to make sure you feel okay so that you come back next week and you give a little tithes and offerings. We're not doing anything. We're just making people feel comfortable. We're
not moving anywhere. We're just making people feel okay. We're not mobilizing anything. We're just wanting to make sure that people are are coming back and sitting in their chair. We're not asking you to do anything. We're just asking you to show up and sit. A lot of churches in America lack men because men aren't great sitters. So men show up in church and they say, if the expectation of me is just to come and sit week after week and listen, they're not good listeners to how
many wives say amen. So if I'm going to sit, which I'm not really good at, and I'm just going to be asked to listen, which I'm not really good at either and occasionally give which I'm worse at, then I'm not sure I want to show up again. I believe that the church of the Living God, when it has vision, it mobilizes men and women to take action and make a difference in their community and their family and their life and their society. That's vision.
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe here on Bold Steps. We'll continue in a moment, but let me remind you that all of these encouraging Bible lessons can be found on our website. Bold steps. Of course, you can also hear us on any major podcast app by searching for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. Just remember to click subscribe while you're there and leave us a message in a five star review to help others find the program. And for even more content on the go,
you'll want to download the Bold Steps app. Watch and listen to an entire sermon series right from your phone, and discover even more teaching videos centered on biblical truths right at your fingertips. Just go to the App Store on your phone or mobile device and download the Bold Steps app today. Now let's get back to Mark's lesson. The message is titled do you see it yet? And once again, here's Mark Jobe.
I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Second Kings chapter six. We're going to be looking at a story. As far as I know, it's the first time I've ever preached out of this passage since I've been preaching, and I've preached out of a lot of passages in the Bible. The main character of the story is a man by the name of Elijah. Not to be confused with Elijah. Elijah was the iconic prophet that appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, one of
the most powerful prophets in all the Old Testament. He prayed and it did not rain for three years. The weatherman prophet. He prayed again and it rained. He confronted 400 prophets of Baal. They danced, pranced, cut themselves, worked themselves up into a frenzy, trying to get fire to come down from heaven and consume the altar. And Elijah. One prophet against 400 pagan prophets just stood there and said,
maybe your God is on vacation. Or literally he said, maybe your god's in the bathroom and can't hear you. And then when it was his turn, he didn't dance and prance and beat himself and yell and holler. He just said, Lord God Almighty, you hear my prayer now. Vindicate yourself in front of these people. Call fire down from heaven and consume this altar. And just to make sure that they knew it wasn't just because it was dry and fire came out, he said, let's dump water
on the altar. And as soon as he prayed, fire came down from heaven and consumed the altar. That's Elijah the prophet. But Elijah the prophet had a protege, a mentor, a someone he was mentoring. He was a farm boy. He knew about plowing, about dirt, about farming. He wasn't very sophisticated. He wasn't very knowledgeable about leadership. Elijah found him plowing some fields. Just doing a simple task, but a hard worker. And Elijah said, come and follow me.
And so young Elijah came and followed Elijah, and he started training him and mentoring him. Follow him and and carrying his suitcases and watching what he did. But I tell you something. When the time came for transition, the iconic prophet Elijah looked to his young protege and he said, what do you want from me? Here's where you see vision, because I believe during those times, Elijah, the young young man of God, was starting to dream. God, what could
you do through me when it's my turn? How could you use me? And he envisioned himself being a prophet, that God would use a man of God that he would use. He had a vision that had been boiling up inside of his spirit. He saw himself not just as a farmer, but as a man that could make a difference. A man that could move in power. And as soon as Elijah asked him what he wanted, he said, I want a double portion of what you have. You don't ask for bold things unless you have a vision
for it. You don't ask with courage or boldness or aggressiveness unless you've seen it already in your mind. He said, I want to double what you had. And Elijah said, you ask a hard thing. But the Bible tells us that God granted this young man a double portion of what Elijah had. And if you do the math and count the miracles that Elijah senior did and what Elijah did. Elijah did double the miracles of Elijah. God gave him
a double portion. Man, I'm praying for a generation of young leaders that will rise up and say, you know, what's happened in the past is good. I love it. I've learned from it, but I'm not settled for it. I want a double portion. I'm praying for men and women that have their own clarity of vision, that say, you know what? It's been good. But I believe that God wants me to go even further than the last generation. God,
give us the boldness of a double portion. Yes. So in Second Kings chapter six, we find this man of God. Encountering some trouble. Because the anointing of God and the call of God and vision comes with trouble. There is no vision without obstacles. There is no vision without testing. There is no God given preferred vision of the future. That will not be difficult. There's a man of God in this place that you never grew up in a godly home. You never saw a father train the children
in the ways of God. You never saw your dad bless you and the children beside the bedside. You never saw him pray. You never saw him crack a Bible. You never saw him not swear in the household, not bring booze in and get drunk on the weekends and be faithful to his wife. You never saw that. But in your mind, you're saying I want to be a cycle breaker. Legacy maker in Jesus name. And I never
saw it physically. But in my mind, I've seen a vision of the family man that I want to be of the man, the husband, the father that God is calling me to be. Maybe I never saw it in the physical, but I see a vision of it that God has placed in my heart. I see that vision, and that vision drives you. It drives you. Oh, you stumble or you fall and you think it's going to be easy. And then you start going and you realize, wow, this is harder than what I thought. How many of
you know what I'm talking about here? It's not easy to break cycles. You view yourself as a patient, loving man, but you get home and man you. You kick the dog, you slam the door, you're cranky, you're crabby, and then you realize, man, who I am is not matching up with the vision of who God has called me to be. So you. So you stop yourself and there's a vision. There's a conviction that says, that's not who I am. That, that,
that that's who my daddy was. But that's not who the future man of God is being called to be. I will not be. I will not be the old self. I will be the new self. God is calling me to something. And there's a battle there. There's a challenge. There's a battle to become the man that you envision yourself to be, but have never lived in reality. That's
called vision. And Elijah was called to be a man of God, but he was encountering some difficulty fulfilling the vision that God had called him to, to walk in. And I believe in this passage that we see that God has to open his eyes to three things as he starts pursuing his God given vision. If you're taking notes, write this down. The first thing that God starts to open his eyes to is to God's very own presence.
The presence of God. You see, you can't grasp the vision of God unless you first of all understand the presence of God. You see, it's the presence of God that enables you to understand the purposes of God.
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe on bold steps, and today's message is just part one of our series finale, titled Do you See It Yet? In case you missed an earlier lesson from our current study called Fully Devoted, be sure to visit our website and catch up when you can by going to Bold steps.org. Well, Mark, we're honored to have Heather Holloman with us today. She's the author of the Six Conversations our bold step gift.
Yeah. And Heather, one of the really unique elements of your book, The Six Conversations, is how you connect the latest research on relationships with biblical principles. What does Scripture tell us about, say, the art of conversation?
Well, really, you can learn so much from Philippians two, Romans 12, and Galatians six. All of those passages teach us how to be curious about other people. How to believe the best about them. Express concern and then share your own life. I love Galatians six about taking on other people's burdens. How do we know what they are if we're not interested in their lives and asking really good questions about our friends and loved ones?
And Heather, I know that you're this is not just a book about, uh, how to be a better communicator with people. You have an intention. And that is, hey, conversation is the bridge way to really share spirituality and the gospel with people. Talk about that a minute.
Well, that's right, so many people want to share their faith. They want to share these things that are so deeply personal to them, but they never know how to start the conversation. And what this book teaches is how to have a warm connection. So talking about Jesus never feels awkward or like you're selling something. You're just sharing your life with someone that you're having a great conversation with.
I love it the six Conversations by doctor Heather Holloman. And, uh, you need to pick this up. We can't wait to put this in your hands so that you can start to have those conversations with your loved ones that you've been wanting to have.
And we'll be happy to send you a copy of this bold step gift today. When you give a gift of any amount to support bold steps. Just give us a call at 800. D.L. Moody or give online at Bold Steps. You can also send your gift and request the six conversations by writing to us in the mail. Simply address a letter to Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
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