More Than Survivors – Part 2

But when we try to shut him out, or we attempt to find victory through our own strength, we end up missing out on the victories he has already prepared for us. So, to continue learning about what it takes to be more than survivors, let's join our Bible teacher, Mark Jobe for today's lesson.

I knew that. No. You're wrong. Coming to church doesn't eliminate your sins. This is not an act of of penitence. You don't get any points in heaven. There's no. Well, you came to church, so we'll mark off five lies now. No, that's not the way it works. Listen, you come to church not to be forgiven. You come to church because you are forgiven. You come to church to worship him, to give gratitude to him, to praise him, to honour him,

to say thank you. Because I am forgiven. I'm here to bless your name and elevate you and say you are great not to get forgiveness, but because I have forgiveness. You see, it's different. That's the gospel. Much of the world stands condemned because they're trying to earn their way to God. They have not understood that the price has been paid, that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. And so he tells us that he says, how much will God also graciously give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life and is at the right hand of God, is also interceding for us. The Bible says, who is it that condemns? You see, even though you've been washed and cleansed, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and submitted your life to God, you have been cleansed and washed. There's nothing that you can do to

get any cleaner before God. The price has been paid 100% completely. But some of us live condemned. The Bible says, who is it that condemns? No one. It tells us in the book of revelation. The book of Revelation says that there's accuser of the brethren who accuses them before God day and night. Do you know that there's someone that's accusing you day and night before God? day and night. Everything that you do. Hey, look what he did. Look what she did. Oh, they were in church. Right in

the parking lot after church. Someone cut them off and they swore. Look at them. And they claim to be a follower of yours. They're selfish. They're angry. Look at them. They're accusing you day and night, 24 hours before the throne of God. Someone is hurling accusations about who you are and what you've done. And some of that accusation begins to filter into your mind and being. And let me tell you what the Bible says right here. It says, but there is someone else at the right hand of

God interceding for us day and night. His name is Jesus the Christ, the son of the living God. When the enemy says, you know that is real. Hey, did you see how he blew up at his wife? He's only been married two years. Do you see how he sinned? How he. How he lied, how he got mad, how he drove. And the enemy is saying, look at Israel. See, he claims to be. And you know what Jesus is saying every time that an accusation is hurled, Jesus says, paid in full, paid in full. I paid it on

the cross. It's been washed, it's been cleaned. I paid for, paid for, paid for, paid for, paid for day and night. The enemy accuses. Day and night Jesus justifies because he is paid in full, the debt that has been hurled against us, so that there is no condemnation and no accusation that can stick because it's been paid for 100% by God, 100% through His Son Jesus Christ. Our sin has been paid for. That is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Until we understand that our life

will constantly be in disarray. Until you understand the power of the gospel, you'll be constantly struggling. Constantly feeling condemned. Rejected. Insufficient. Shamed. Guilt ridden. Living your life without joy. Yesterday we celebrated my son Grant's graduation. And so we put up a little tent in the backyard because it was going to be hot. What I didn't know is how windy it was going to be. So I put up the tent. I was really happy. I put it together. A lot

of work in the sun. Put it together. My wife calls me desperately. She says, Mark. I said, what's wrong? She says, I'm hanging on to the tent. The lake keeps going up. It's going to blow away. I said, well, hon, just let go of it. I don't want you to blow away with it. Just let go. And the tent toppled over two times. I secured it with ropes. I tied it to the side, but the wind was so strong that it kept toppling over, coming apart because the

wind was blowing it. And finally we had someone that came over and he said, I have a solution for it. What you need is you need to weight it down. So we got some of my son's weights, like weights, and put it at the bottom of the legs and tied it to it because the weight of it held the tent down. Listen to me. Some of you need the weight of understanding what it means to be fully forgiven and saved and condemnation free. That's the only thing that is going to hold an anchor to your life.

If not, you're going to be guilt ridden. You're going to be full of striving. You're going to try to save yourself. You're going to feel full of shame unless you understand the weight of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it anchors your soul. You will be super inconsistent, fluctuating up and down until you finally grasp the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is what anchors your life so you're not thrown all over the place. Yeah, that's what

he that's what he tells us here. Number three, he says, not only is nothing random, not only is all access granted. Number three, we cannot be separated. Verse 35 says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or Dangerous sword as it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we

are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And it says in verse 39, nothing shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I could only preach this. Some of you would be changed today. You'd never see your relationship with God the same. If I could only preach this, some of you would be transformed. If this could go from here to here, that there is nothing on earth or in heaven,

there is nothing. As a believer, if you've accepted Christ, given your life to him, been washed and dwelt by the Holy Spirit, that there is nothing in heaven and on earth. There is nothing that could ever happen to you, nothing that you could ever do, that can separate you from the incredible, powerful love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. scene. Have you ever been separated? Have you ever forgot your kid somewhere? I have a friend.

Close friend? I'm not going to mention his name. He was on a family trip. Has four kids. Stopped at a gas station. Got everything loaded up. Filled his car with gas. Took off. 15 minutes into the journey there. Nice. Listen to some music. His wife leans over and says, where's our daughter? He says he asked the other kid, hey, where's they mention her name? Where is she? The kid's like, I don't know, I don't know. He says to his wife, I thought you were watching her, she says. I thought

you were watching her. We left her at the gas station. So 15 minutes into the trip, they had to turn around, drive all the way to the gas station. They ran into the gas station desperately, and there their little daughter was swinging her legs about four years old, swinging her legs with the gas station attendant talking, and she said, mommy, did you forget me? And they were like, no, honey, we didn't really forget you and I'll not forget you.

We didn't really leave you. It's. Have you ever been separated? Have you ever been lost? There's something. Something about being separated from someone that loves us. That's hard. Something about the distance that leaves a vacuum separation. Some of you have experienced the death of a loved one that you were really close to. I have a good friend who is 87 years old and his wife died last year. He's 60 years old. I talked to him two days

ago and he cried. In fact, it seems like every time I talk to him on the phone, he cries. He's sad. 60 years of marriage and she's gone. Leaves a hollowness and emptiness like. Wow. It's hard being separated. He says. You know God is faithful. But man, I miss her. It's hard being separated. But here's what God says. That I know you can be separated from loved ones.

I know you can be separated from things. But here's something about the love of God that when you come to God and His Spirit is placed inside of you, there is nothing. No one, no time, no place, no power nor force, no evil, no good, no height, no depth that is able to separate you ever again from the powerful love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is impossible now to separate you from the love of God.

to leave a comment and let us know. Also on social media, be sure to connect with us there as well. You'll find us at Facebook and Instagram by searching for Bold Steps Radio. All right, time to get back to Mark's message now for today. More than survivors.

Angels can't separate you. Demons or evil spirits can't separate you. The present. What you're going through can't separate you. Whatever happens in the future can't separate you. Nor power can separate you. There's no height. Anything in the heavens that can separate you. There's nothing down deep that can separate you. There's nothing in all of creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is a inseparable force

in the universe that no one can break. Listen, some of you live with this constant separation anxiety. Like a little baby that's attached to the mom. And you give it over to someone that they don't know and they're like, mommy, mommy, does that ever happen to you? Oh, you're so cute. Come to your auntie. You hold the baby. The baby takes one look at you, looks at mom, and goes. We call that separation anxiety. Listen to me. Well, some

of you live with separation anxiety. You have this feeling that you can be separated from the love of God. That you may do something that will cause God to stop loving you. That you may say something that will cause God to say, you know, I'm I'm done with you. I tried, I gave you my best. I'm just sick of it. That you may fail in a way that somehow will turn the love of God away from you. And you constantly live with this. I hope I'm making it. I hope God accepts me. I hope when I die, I.

I'll squeeze through the gates of heaven. Hopefully. I hope that I'm good enough. I hope that I'm religious enough. I hope that I've made it. I hope that God still listens to me. I hope that God hasn't turned his back on me. I hope that he hasn't given up on me. I hope that I haven't disappointed in a month and you come to worship and instead of worshiping God with freedom, you sit there with your head down and kind of ashamed, feeling inadequate. Guilt ridden. Wondering

if you've measured up. Can I be honest with you? You haven't. You never will. You never can. You're never able to. That's why you need Jesus. But once you have him, the Bible says that you are sealed unto the day of redemption. And there's nothing in life, heaven or hell that can ever break away. The love that God has for you. You will never, ever be separated from this incredible, powerful, undeniable force called the love of God. There's never a moment in your life that you ever

have to wonder again. Does he love me? He's not a fickle boyfriend. It's not. He loves me. He loves me not. Nothing will ever be able to separate you from that incredible, powerful love of God. So you can walk through this life knowing now the only thing that can hinder the love of God is your own doubt of his love. God loves you whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, whether you accept it or not. His love is powerful. But sometimes

we live our life doubting his love. Doubting whether we're accepted. You see, the power of Christianity is how fallen and broken and condemned we really are. You and I don't deserve the love of God. We never have deserved the love of God. We never will deserve the love of God. It is God who loved us while we were yet sinners and broken and fallen. And he loved us, and he pursued us, and he washed us, and he cleansed us. And he not only did he do that, but he

took us. And he said, now, no matter what your past has been, no matter where you've been, how long you've been there, who you've been with, how many times you've fallen, I'm going to place the most precious thing I have myself, my Holy Spirit, inside of you. Now you are washed. You're redeemed. You're sealed. I live inside of you. I live with you. And nothing can separate you from the love that I have for you. Nothing at all ever again can separate you from the love

of God. That's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you need to raise your head to heaven in a new way and say, God, forgive me for doubting your love. Forgive me for trying to earn that which I can never earn. That's freely given. Forgive me, God, for trying to cleanse myself when I can never cleanse myself. There's one that cleansed me. It's the power of the love of God. It's the power of the gospel. And

there's something that happens when we live condemnation free. There's something that happens when we know that he loves us, and that no matter what we do, nothing can separate us from that love. There's a freeing, a powerful freedom that comes in, that makes us want to live for Jesus in a more powerful, compelling way. Romans chapter eight starts with no condemnation. In Romans, chapter eight ends with no separation. The most powerful force on earth is the

love of God. And some of you are walking and living as though it were an intermittent signal, like your internet reception here. Some days gone the next. I believe that some of you today. Need to come to this altar and just worship God and say, God, forgive me that I've ever doubted your love. And today I receive

and accept your unconditional love. Yes. So you may not be in a church auditorium to go to an altar, but wherever you're at, I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to some people today where you have doubted his love, where you have gone by your feelings and believe that somehow God has abandoned you, or walked away, or is not always present. And let me just read this again.

For I am convinced, Paul says, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so I want to pray with you right now. I want to pray that you would be firm in your grasp that God is not far away, that nothing, nothing

can separate you from his love. Father, I pray for that person right now that because of bad experiences in the past, because of abandonment, because of lies by someone that said they would love them and then walked away because of divorce, because of separation, because of infidelity. They doubt that your word is true, that you will be faithful.

And I pray in Jesus name that you would heal that wound and that today, God there would be an assurance, a confidence that nothing or no one can separate us from this powerful, compelling love that no one can even describe or understand. But that is true, that is faithful, that is secure. I pray that that would be ingrained in the spirit, that there would be a confident assurance of that love. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

It is ironic that in today's age of cell phones and social media and video calls, so many of us are struggling to find real relationships and community. Did you know that research shows that a lack of social connection highlights health risks as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day? It's a scientific fact. Real relationships are key to a healthy life. That's why we're passionate about this month's resource, a book from Doctor Heathen Holloman titled The Six Conversations.

This book shows you exactly how to build intimate, authentic relationships, offering practical strategies for meaningful communication and connection. This bold step gift will help you transform surface level interactions into life giving relationships, no matter where you are. We'll be happy to send it to you when you give a gift of any amount to support this ministry. Just visit us online at Bold Steps. Org or call us at

800 Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And if you'd rather send your donation and request the book in the mail, you can always do that. Write to us at bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Well, that's all the time we have for today, but be listening. Tomorrow when Mark begins a new series titled seen. Don't miss this informative lesson Thursday here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.