Choosing how to handle our battles from a spiritual perspective. That's today's topic on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
One of the greatest areas that will derail you is not guarding your heart, opening up crevices and cracks in your life that are allowed to go unchecked as they grow. It will be a fierce battle and I just want to encourage you this is a battle worth fighting.
And welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, life is full of different battles, and while some are worth fighting for, there are others that are better avoided. So, Mark, when it comes to knowing the difference, where do we start?
Yeah, there they are battles that we have to fight whether we want to or not. And in this message written by Paul to his young apprentice, Timothy, he talks about fighting the battle for purity, peace and people. And by the way, Wayne, I actually preached this message in chapel to an auditorium full of college students. And tomorrow we are celebrating the graduation of this class.
Saying goodbye to some of those.
Students. Yes. And so I wish I could bring all of our listeners to be at the graduation. As you see these students that for four years have prepared for their mission. And they'll be launched out to youth pastors and pastors and missionaries and counselors and teachers, non-for-profit leaders, and all kinds of different experiences in life. And so please pray for us tomorrow as we celebrate this year's graduation.
Very special day at Moody Bible Institute. Well, let's go ahead and begin today's study fighting the battles that matter. Here's Mark Jobe.
I think there's a lot of battles that you're going to fight, a lot of battles that you'll be sucked into, some of them that you choose. Some of them that people expect you to fight, some of them that you find yourselves in the middle that you maybe don't want to fight. I think of Paul's words to Timothy. He's raising a young man that knows he has a call upon his life. He's a bit timid. His father was more than likely not a believer Greek. His mother had
strong faith. His grandmother had strong faith. Paul really has invested a lot into young Timothy. He sees in Timothy what Timothy does not see in himself. Some scholars speculate that. Possibly Timothy's father was either absent or not super supportive of his Christianity, and it feels to me like Paul takes on a bit of this surrogate father relationship with Timothy. He treats him like a son, speaks to him like
a son, and he's launching Timothy. He's recruited Timothy believes in Timothy, and he's preparing him really to face a very turbulent, chaotic world. This is not one in which Timothy will be praised often, or it will be easy. He's preparing him to fight to battle. This was a turbulent time in the first century. People were being martyred, put in prison. in heresies were rampant, a disregard for Christians. It was not easy to lead. First and second Timothy
is really about. Spirit empowered. God chose what should be in Scripture and these two books, more than any other books in the Bible, I think, speak to the formation of young leaders. In first Timothy chapter six, verse 12, Paul says, fight the good fight of faith. And although in Second Timothy he doesn't refer as much to fighting, I think he's continuing the theme of what to battle. This happens to be actually the last book that the Apostle Paul would write. Uh, you know that Paul wrote
about 14 books of the Bible. Many people believe that shortly after writing this book, Paul was killed. So it's his final book, the final chapter, the final phrases to this young man that is going to carry on that, that he's passing the baton onto. And in this section of Second Timothy, chapter two, he challenges Timothy to fight three important battles. And I want to summarize them for you this morning, because I think they're the battles that, yeah,
we're still fighting. And these words are still important to us. The first I would define as the battle for purity. The battle for purity. Paul says to Timothy, flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. You know there are certain battles that you fight. You stand your ground, you stay and you fight. There's others that you run from. You just run. You fight when you know I can
win this battle. You run. When you realize I can't win this battle, I better get out of here. I was mentoring a young man a few years back, and he was really struggling with this whole area of lust and dating and women, and he had a propensity before he came to Christ to end up at parties in someone's bed. And so he was just saying, he was just saying, hey, pastor, I don't know. This is a
tough battle, you know? So when I'm there at the party and you know, there's a dance and I'm dancing, and this, I just don't feel like I know how to fight this battle and resist because I cave in every time, and then I beat myself up. I just want to know, how can I fight? I said, well, first of all, you're at a party. Dancing with the girl that's not a believer. And when you feel that temptation, I just want to say, here's the strategy I'm going
to give you. Run. Just run. Let me tell you, there are certain things that you need to assume I'm weak. And listen. Listen to me very well. If you have struggled in the area of sexual temptation, which I don't
know anybody in their early 20s. That doesn't. But if you struggle in the area of sexual temptation, struggle in the area of giving, in struggle, in the area of pornography, of crossing lines and dating, of not being able to maintain standards of purity, if you struggle in those areas, you need to assume I am weak, I am desperately weak, and so I don't tempt myself with weakness. I don't assume that I'm strong. I don't put on a mentality. I'm just going to resist. I'm going to avoid places.
I'm going to run out of, places I'm going to. Yes, do the cowardly thing in some people's minds, and I'm just going to run out because really, it's the brave thing. And the Apostle Paul is telling Timothy, flee, run! Evil desires of youth. He doesn't define it, but it's defined in other places. Purity. Sexual purity is not the only special pressure. And by the way, Timothy wasn't that young. He was in his 30s, probably at this time, late 30s.
But he's telling them to run and pursue righteousness. And he emphasizes that of a pure heart. First Corinthians chapter six, verse 18 says, flee sexual immorality. Every sin a person commits outside of his body, but the immoral person commits sins against his own body. Let me tell you, I just want I want to emphasize this because I care about your calling. I care about your future. I care
about your ministry. One of the greatest areas that will derail you is not guarding your heart, opening up crevices and cracks in your life that are allowed to go unchecked as they grow and eventually sabotage your marriage, your ministry, your purity, your life. You're going to have to battle intentionally in this area for purity. It will be a fierce battle. And I just want to encourage you, this is a battle worth fighting. I've been a pastor for
a long time. And I've had to, unfortunately, walk through. Too many times, the brokenness of infidelity in people that I would never expect it to. Many times. And I thought to myself, so many of these stories, if they would have addressed these issues ten years ago, 15 years ago, if they would have battled, addressed them, gone to the hard places, many of these sad stories could have been avoided.
You're listening to Bold Steps with Marc Job. We'll continue today's message in a moment. Marc, there's something I've been noticing lately that I think many of our listeners are thinking about, with so many voices competing for our attention. There's social media news cycles, workplace demands. It's easy to lose sight of what matters eternally. And I find myself wondering how many Christians today are investing their best resources in things that won't ultimately last.
You know, Wayne, I remember when my youngest son was playing football in high school. It was a big game and I went there. I was cheering him on, and I got a phone call and I thought, well, let me pick up this phone call just for a moment. So I went down and I got on the phone call, and it was right at that time that my son, he intercepted a pass. And afterwards he said, dad, did you see that? And I had to say I missed the moment I was distracted by something, and in the end,
it wasn't an urgent phone call. Listen, right now, there's a lot of distraction. The political environment in our country, there's a drama every day. There's a lot that's happening internationally. There's wars, there's natural disasters. It feels like we are just sucked into it. But I want to say, don't miss the moment. I believe that we are seeing more people come to Christ at this season of time, especially under the age of 35, than I have ever seen
in our lifetime. It's happening in Africa and Europe. It's happening in the United States of America. We have bold steps, are committed to not get distracted, but to make sure that we are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus at a time of uncertainty so that people can come to know him in this window of opportunity that we have. So we want to encourage you. Pray. Don't miss the moment.
Such an important word, Mark. Thank you. And if you would like to become part of this eternal work today by visiting us, you can do that at Bold steps.org and make a gift or call us at 800 Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And when you do, we'll send you a special gift as a way of saying thanks for partnering with us and sharing God's truth that will last eternally. More on that later. But let's get back to today's message now. Fighting the battles that matter.
The other battle worth fighting that Timothy talks about is fight the battle for peace. Notice what he says in verse 23, don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know that they produce quarrels, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone able to teach and not resentful. The greatest challenge that you're going to face if you go to the mission field. The greatest challenge you're going to
face if you work at a church setting. The greatest challenge that you're going to face if you go to a not for profit. And the greatest challenge that you'll face if you work at Moody Bible Institute is the relational component of ministry. It's not the world. It's not the outsiders. It's not the antagonist. It's your teammates. It's the people around you. It's a team that's supposed to be fighting with you that you're supposed to be going
to battle with. It's the jealousy, the resentment, the arguments, the pride, the undealt with, uh, hurt. The avoidance of talking through hard, tough issues. It's those issues that derail so many people. I was talking to someone that was in charge of a missions organization, and I said, tell me about why people go off the field, he said, we have a major problem. People go for four years and then they bail out and come back to America.
We've put all this training, all this energy, all this fundraising, all this work, and then they come back. I said, why? Because the mission feels too hard. He said, no, because they can't get along with their team members. It's the reality. Just because we're Christians doesn't mean we know how to navigate healthy relationships. Just because we love Jesus doesn't mean we know how to deal with resentment. Talk through hard issues, show kindness, not argue about stupid things. How many of
you think back seniors four years of. Moody. And you think, man, I had some stupid arguments that I was really intense on winning, but it had nothing to do with truth. It had more to do with pride and winning an argument. There are certain arguments you don't even need to be involved in. There are certain things you just need to walk away from. And the Apostle Paul is telling Timothy, don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.
There's all kinds. You could spend a lot of time arguing with, a lot of people, debating a lot of things that ultimately really do very little to advance the kingdom or help anybody else out, because you know that they simply produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome. But he's saying these arguments cause you to treat people in a different way. And he says, I want you to be kind to everyone. I want you
to be able to teach. And I don't want you to have resentments because it's easy as you go about ministry and working with people and people that you're supposed to be with, to allow baggage to accumulate in your soul and the very team that you're supposed to be a part of gets sabotaged by the toxicity of the relationships that are there. So guard it. Battle it, learn to have conversations. Avoid arguments that you don't even need to be engaged in, and guard the unity of the
relationships that you have. Proverbs 20 verse three says, it's it is to one's honor to avoid strife. But every fool is quick to quarrel. He's not talking about avoidance. I think that so many times that's the problem. But conversations with humility, important conversations that really matter, with humility, with kindness, with a teachable spirit, not with resentment. This word kind is also translated gentle unto all men. It's the idea of patience patient in bearing with someone's wrongs.
It's that whole idea of, hey, I want you to. I want you to listen, understand? People show patience, give grace, work with people. It's a battle that's worth fighting. And then the apostle Paul says in verse 25, the third
battle he lists is fight the battle for people. He says in verse 25, opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. He's saying, hey, there's people out there that don't know God. There's people out there that are confused and they're they're far. They're opponents. We look at them
as opponents of the gospel. Fight for them. These opponents that have been captured or trapped by the devil to do his will. People are worth fighting for. People are worth pursuing. People matter to God. Pursue them with love and gentleness. And he uses words like gently. You know, one of the problems I face as I try to engage with my unchurched, disconnected, non-religious neighbors is that they view oftentimes the church or evangelicals or people that are Christian.
They view them as combative and angry. And as I try to talk to my neighbors, they have a oftentimes a stereotype of of Christians that they're combative, angry, judgmental, unapproachable, and can't talk. Always like this. And it may be a stereotype, doesn't represent all of Christianity, but unfortunately represents too much of Christianity. And the Apostle Paul is telling Timothy, Hey, Timothy, I. There's a gentleness that needs to be there. There's a
hope that God will grant repentance. There's a compassion that you have as you engage in people that even our opponents to you, people that are trapped by the devil, people that are blind and they barely know what they're doing because they're so broken. And I want you to approach them with a gentleness as you reach out to them and love them, and help them come to their senses. The battle is fierce. Some of you are graduating and going straight to places of ministry. It'll be harder than
what you expect. You will be disappointed by people that you work with. You will question your call at times. But I want you to know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, his incredible favor and mercy, and calling upon your life. The love of God, the patience of God, the conviction of God, the power of the Holy Spirit is there to sustain.
Such a good message, Mark. Thank you. Would you pray for those listening to this lesson today? All of us who are listening, who want to step up and fight the way God has called us to.
Absolutely. So there may be some of you right now that are in a fierce battle for purity or maybe for peace. Or maybe you're in the midst of conflict with other people. And I believe that God wants you to fight this battle because it affects your destiny and your testimony. Father, I pray right now for that. Yeah, I pray for that person right now that is struggling because they are living with their girlfriend or boyfriend and God. They are realizing that their bodies are the temple of
the Holy Spirit. And you're calling them. You're calling them to acknowledge that their bodies are the temple and you're calling to live a different way. So I pray that you would give the conviction to either move out or to get married. Lord. I pray, Lord Jesus, for those that are in a battle of contention, that they would not see people as their enemy, but they would understand that people are broken and hurting. Father, and I pray that you would bring peace into places that are battle
fronts right now. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for those that are saying I will fight the battles that are worth fighting. Give them strength and integrity in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. We have a resource. Mark is called more than a label discovering who you are in Christ. It's, I think, is a great follow up to the message we just heard.
It really is, and it's fairly new. It just came out. It's a 15 day devotional based on some of the messages that I've preached, but with questions afterwards, just all focused on ripping those labels off that have been placed on you and discovering who you really are in Christ.
And you can request a copy for yourself or a friend who may need this reminder. It's available at bird-stamps.org under the resource tab. That's Mark Jobe on Bold Steps with a message titled Fighting the Battles that Matter. And if you want to revisit any part of today's lesson, be sure to listen online at Bold steps.org. And while you're on our page, be sure to check out our bold Step gift, because in today's world, our daughters are
bombarded with messages that don't align with God's truth. That's why Dana Gres's book Lies Girls Believe is such a timely resource. Addressing 20 common lies at girls ages 7 to 12. Believe this colorful, engaging book equips young girls to identify the lies that come against them and replace them with biblical truth. Request this essential, bold step gift to help the special girls in your life build an
unshakable foundation of faith. We'll send you a copy when you give any amount to support bold steps for an online donation, just go to Bold Steps org and you can also call us and give over the phone at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. Or send your gift in the mail by addressing your envelope to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And before we close, here's something you won't want to miss on Saturday or Sunday. Bold steps
goes weekend. Tune in to the weekend edition of Bold Steps for more powerful insights, inspiration, and life changing truths that carry you throughout the weekend. It's the perfect way to keep your focus on God as you head into the week ahead. To find out exactly when and how to listen to Bold Steps Weekend, just visit our website at Bold Steps under the programs tab. And trust me, you won't want to miss a single moment of this. Well, I'm Wayne Shepherd inviting you to join us again Monday
when Mark begins a message titled, what do you smell like? No, we're not talking about deodorant or perfume. Instead, it's a unique study in what Scripture says about our spiritual aroma. Don't miss the start of our next series called Bold Living, coming up Monday on Bold Steps with Mark John. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.