Today on bold steps, Mark Jobe shows you how to live a changed life.
Real transformation will only stick when you put on the new. At the same time that you take off the old. You will not stay changed unless you learn that it's not just about not doing things, it's about doing other things. It's not just about taking off, it's about putting on.
Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, Mark, we're going to continue our study from the book of Ephesians now. And today's message is about change. I guarantee that people listening right now are thinking of all the changes they'd like to see in someone else. And don't what you think.
Yeah. That's where our mind normally goes. And I have to tell people in service sometimes. Please don't elbow your husband or your wife. Uh, think about yourself first. Uh, but you know, Wayne, in this passage, the apostle Paul reminds us that there is a taking off and a putting on. You know, if you've been a been at work and you're working outside and you're all dirty, you don't say, hey, I'm going to change and put on a new a clean set of clothes over the dirty
set of clothes. First of all, you have to take off the dirty set before you put on the new. And Christianity is that way. You're going to be eliminating things from your life, but you're putting on the new self as well.
Putting on the new you. Here's Mark Jobe.
Ephesians chapter four. I'm going to begin reading in verse 17. So I tell you this. The apostle Paul is writing to the to the Ephesian believers. So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord. Now you know he's serious when he says, I insist on this. Have you ever been in a discussion or argument with a boss or a coworker or your spouse? And they say, I insist on this. You know that when they use the word insist that they're saying, I'm drawing the line.
The line in the sand. This is non-negotiable. This is super important. So Paul is saying, what I'm about to tell you is super important. It's non-negotiable. What is it, Paul? I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord. That you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. When he refers to the Gentiles, he's not talking about an ethnicity. He is talking about people that do not yet know No God.
And what Paul is saying, he's addressing believers, people that claim to be Christians, people that have the Holy Spirit inside of them. And he's saying to them, hey, I have an issue with you. And here's my issue. I know that you know, God, I know that His Holy Spirit is inside of you. But I insist that you stop living as though you did not know God. I insist that you stop living like your old self. I insist that you start living like you know God and
that you like your new self. I insist that you change. Now here's what I have observed. I've observed that some of us have lived so long in our old self that when we become our new self, we drag in a lot of the culture of our old self into our new life. How many of you know what I'm talking about? We've lived so long a certain way that now that we can live a new way, we're not sure we know how to live that new way. So we drag some of our old self into our new life.
I'm told that to train an elephant. Now, I've never trained personally trained an elephant. I have a little Shih Tzu dog. Now I don't have it. It's my wife's dog. That I got stuck with. I, I promised my daughter when she was three years old. She said, daddy, daddy, can I have a dog? And I said, honey, no. But she had these big eyes and this little sweet smile. Daddy,
I really want a dog. So I told her, honey, when you're 12 years old, when you can take care of your own dog, take it out and feed it. I will get you a dog. I thought she would forget. It. I thought it would blow over. I thought it was a phase. By the time she was ten and 11, she had posters of dogs. She had researched it on the internet. She knew what kind of dog she knew exactly. She had told the kind that doesn't shed and the
size and so forth. So when she was 12, on her 12th birthday, I had to get her a dog. I've never trained an elephant, and I can barely train the dog that we have. He's she's very unruly. But I'm told that when you train an elephant that what circus trainers do is they will take this mammoth beast, this beast that weighs tons and tons, and they will
take a powerful, powerful stake and pull. And they will put it deep within the ground, and they will tie the foot of that elephant to that stake, a huge metal pole. The elephant in the beginning, when it's chained to that pole, will try to escape, it will pull and it will tug and it will roar, and it will run, and it will try to pull away from it, and it will go several days fighting against being chained to this pole. And finally the elephant will realize I
cannot escape. This chain keeps me bound. No matter how much I try, how much I struggle, how much pain I inflict upon my leg to try to get loose, I cannot escape. So after a while the elephant stops trying to escape. It becomes used to being bound. It accepts the fact that I'm bound. And when I have the chain on my foot, on my foot, I cannot escape. I'm told also that what a trainer will do once the elephant has that mentality that it cannot escape that.
They can take a little tent peg, a small tent peg, and they can put it in the ground and put the chain onto the the hoof of this big animal. And although the elephant could easily pull that little tent peg out of the ground, the elephant doesn't try. Because the elephant feels like I'm bound. The chain makes me bound. It's so used to be bound that even when it can escape, it does not because it thinks I can't escape.
It's the way things are. There's so many of us have lived so long in our old life, so many years in the old self that once we are set free, we're somewhat like that elephant. We're so used to being bound, so used to being chained, that even though now we have the power to be set free, even though now we have the ability to run and be released, We stay bound by something that cannot bind us. We say entrapped by things that cannot hold us down. We act
as though we are slaves when we're not. We live as though we're still bound to the old lifestyle when we're actually set free. This afternoon, I want to talk to you about what it means to put on the new you, creating the image of God so that you can walk in the freedom that God has called you to. I tell you this and insist on the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles in the futility of their thinking. Paul tells us that the Gentiles, the people without God, they live the way they do
because they think a certain way. Thinking determines behavior. If you think a certain way, you will behave a certain way. And he goes on to describe what a mind without God thinks like. And so in the next few verses and verses 18 through 19, he describes what a person's mind is like when they do not have God in their life. Notice what he says. He says they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God, because the ignorance that is in them due to the
hardening of their hearts. He says when someone doesn't have God in their life, their mind, the way they think is darkened because they don't have the light switch of God. There's something that happens when you come to know God, and the Spirit of God comes inside of you. It's almost like a light switch goes on and you see right from wrong. You understand things that you did not understand before. Why? It's the light of God. You experience that the light switch goes on and you realize this
makes sense. Why was I living that way? I can't believe it. And once the light has gone on in your life, you look at other people where the light hasn't gone on yet and say, why don't they get it? I remember sitting down and talking with a young man who had come to Christ about two years earlier, and he was telling me, I just don't understand my family and my friends. Why can't they get it? I mean, it's so simple. It's so clear. It makes so much sense. The way of God. Why are they so blind? Why
don't they understand? And I said, hold on, how long did it take you? I mean, up until two years ago, you were in the dark as well. When you're in the light, when you solved the problem, the problem looks easy. If you grew up knowing a different language. If you grew up knowing Spanish and you speak Spanish fluently. You look at people trying to learn Spanish and say, why don't they get it? Because it's easy to you. You
got it already. But try learning Mandarin or Korean. If you don't know it, you'll realize how difficult it is, right? If you don't know it, then if you have it, you think it's easy. If you don't have it, you wonder why people don't get it. And so it is with the light. And so what Paul is saying is that people that do not have God, the light of God on in their life, yet they are darkened in their understanding, which means that there are certain things that
they don't see because only God can show them. And so they're darkened in their in the way they see the world without the light of God. They're separated from the life of God. They don't have this intimate walk with God. They may know about God, but God is not a part of their existence and their fellowship and their life. And it says, and because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardening of their hearts, they're ignorant about certain things, not because they cannot understand,
but because their heart is hard. And a heart that is hard does not sense and understand the things of God. Yet only a softened, broken heart can understand that which God is trying to speak to them.
You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe and we'll return to our message shortly. Mark, you know what I've been reflecting on lately? The incredible privilege we have as believers living in this particular moment in history. I love to study history, but never before have we had such powerful tools for sharing the gospel globally, instantly reaching people in remote villages. That happens through bold steps, doesn't it? Or in close countries, in crowded cities alike. But we
have this unprecedented opportunity. And it comes with a tremendous responsibility, doesn't it?
You know, I heard recently that moody radio programming is, um, heard in 190 countries is what someone said. Wow. And, um, technology has allowed us to do that. And I'm amazed when suddenly we get a email from Eastern Europe of someone saying, hey, I haven't found a church yet, but I listened to Bold Steps. Recently, someone told me that a doctor in Mexico had joined their church, and they
got saved through bold steps. And I'm like, wow, this is amazing how seeds are just being shot throughout all the world. We know specifically that there are people in closed countries right now that listen in secret, because it's dangerous for them to be caught listening to Christian radio. This is an amazing time to get the gospel out there. There are close to 9 billion people in the world, and there are millions and millions of people that have
very little gospel presence in their world. They are saturated with false religion, with heresies, with a lot of different ideology that does not allow Jesus Christ to come to the forefront. And so radio, podcasting, our technology as people can live stream, this is one of the ways that we get past the guards at the borders and we
through the airwaves. God has given us a beautiful gift to go past the guards, into the houses, into the homes, and right to into the bedrooms and kitchens where people live so that they are hearing the good message of Jesus like never before. And we are passionate about this. We know that there's a lot of other believers that are passionate as well, and we're saying, join us, please.
This is a powerful moment for us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially as the world is being shaken in so many ways.
I believe there are some listening right now who are not just hearers of the word, but want to be active participants in spreading that word. So today could be your day to step into that calling by giving to bold steps. Just go to Bold Steps to make a gift or call 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. Remember, your gift of any amount helps share God's Word with those
who need it most. Really, around the world, when you give any amount, we'll send you a special gift as our thanks and we'll take time to tell you about that just a little bit later here in the program today. But let's get back to the message now. Here again is Mark.
So they're darkened. They're separated. There's ignorance there in verse 19 says having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. And when someone's mind is darkened and they don't have the light of God, yet they are awakened. Since they are spiritually dead, they are awakened to their to their senses, and the way they experience the world is through their senses. And
sometimes that makes them give themselves over to sensuality. In other words, uh, people that don't have the spiritual light on, they give themselves over to sensuality. And that results in all kinds of indulgences and and promiscuity and sleeping around and getting drunk and high and whatever other senses they can awaken inside of them. And it tells us that they give themselves over to sensuality, to indulge in every kind of impurity. But here's the thing with a continual
lust for more. Even though they throw themselves into these things, these things don't satisfy them. So they feel like they need more and more and more. It's like an empty barrel. They keep trying to fill it, but it stays empty. So they try to fill it more and more and more and more and it stays empty. I know a lot of people like that. I know a lot of people that throw themselves in the hard party life just to be filled and go from one party and drunkenness
and girl to another, and just it never ends. But when I sat down and talked to them, here's what I know. There's a real hollowness and emptiness there. There's an emptiness. So Paul says, people that don't know God have this, this kind of thinking in their mind. And he says, here's the problem. Some of you know God. You have the Spirit of God inside of you, but you're still living as if you never met God. You have come to God. You have the spirit inside of you.
You can change your lifestyle, but you're like the elephant that stays bound even though you can be free. You're not walking in the freedom that God has called you to. You're still living according to your old life. Your old life still dictates how you live, even though now you're a Christian, you're a Christian living your old life. And so now he goes on to explain what needs to happen in our life if we are going to experience
absolutely true transformation. Notice what he tells us in verse 20. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. There may be people that were taught that way and they weren't taught to change. But listen, you were not taught that way. And I think I could say that clearly to this congregation, as your pastor, I can say, hey, listen, you weren't taught that way. You weren't taught that you could stay the same. You were taught that when you come to Christ,
there is change. You were taught that when you come to Christ, you leave the old behind. You were taught that God has the power to change you into a new, vibrant living full of faith, creativity and vision. Individual that is the new you. You were taught that you don't have to live that old life. You were taught that you have the power to become a new person in Jesus Christ. Now, now, why is it that people get stuck even though they have the power? You have the
Spirit of God inside of you. Why is it that some people get stuck in the old lifestyle, even though they have that power inside of them to change? Well, Paul goes on to describe why that happens in verse 22, he says, you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off the old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. To be made new in the attitude of your mind, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness. So you take off, you change, and you put on.
Listening to the Bible. Teaching of Mark job. Today's message was the first of a three part message titled putting on the New You. Next time, Mark will address how to stop walking in our old ways and start facing the issues holding you back. So please join us again Friday for more bold steps. And when you visit our website, you'll discover our latest Bold Step gift, a thought provoking
book by respected pastor Mike Fabares. We're fortunate to have pastor Mike join us in the studio today, Mark, to share more about this compelling resource.
Proverbs tells us that envy makes the bones rot. I mean.
That's a pretty, pretty direct.
Vivid image of rotting bones there. But a tranquil heart gives life. Uh, you know, I went to school, actually, with a fellow student that we both grown up as pastors. He pastors a church in California in Aliso Viejo called Compass Church, a really dynamic church. If you live in that area, please check it out. But he's written a book called envy, a Big Problem you didn't know you had. Mike, tell us what motivated you to write this book?
Well, it was easy for me to look in my own heart. And like you, Doctor Joe, my son is a pastor, and I have no trouble looking at my son and hoping that he does far better than I ever have done. Yeah. And that's easy to do because I love my son, right? Both my sons are pastors and I love them excelling. I found that it was not as easy for me to rejoice with my peers who do better than I do. And I realized, wow,
how can that be? How can pastors look at other people doing ministry and have feelings that aren't the same as I might have toward my own children? Of course I love God. I love the kingdom. But you see, I realize the difference is I don't love my fellow Christian the way I ought to. And if I did, I wouldn't be envious. I wouldn't start to think, well, you know, that was kind of handed to him, or he was in the right place at the right time. Or, you know, people opened doors for that guy. I would
never think that about my own children. And so I've got to recognize this exists in pastors hearts, missionaries hearts, and certainly it exists in the business world. It exists everywhere. And we've got to root it out when we find it and start to realize love and real, true love is the answer. And it brings great tranquility to our hearts.
And pastor Mike, you say that confronting envy allows us to experience the peace and contentment that really God wants for us in the first place.
Yes, if you think about it, in the Kingdom, we're going to have a lot of different people with a lot of different kinds of rewards. A lot of different ranks of of, you know, prominence in the kingdom. And we're always going to rejoice in those things. Right? We realize there'll be no envy, no coveting, no jealousy. None of those things will be active in the eternal state. We will really rejoice as though everyone actually is our brother and sister in Christ. And we've got to realize
that's a different experience. I think we all intuitively know that than we have now. So let's try and enjoy a little bit of that peace and that contentment now. And that's going to I give the answers in this book. The second half of the book is all about how to fix this problem. Uh, the first half is about diagnosing it. And I think a lot of people don't look at this book or they wouldn't pick it up
because they don't think I don't have that problem. That's why I tried to title this in a way that would kind of hook them into looking at.
It, look a little deeper, huh?
So good, so good, and such a big issue that's not talked about enough people are silent on this issue. And so thank you, pastor Mike, for writing this book. Uh, we love this topic, and I believe that a lot of people will gain a lot of insight and maybe step into contentment through it. So there you have it, a big problem. You didn't know you had envy by pastor Mike Fabares.
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resources created exclusively for our monthly supporters. So if you're ready to join our team, simply visit npr.org or reach out by phone at 800. I'm Wayne Shepard. Be sure to join us tomorrow. And Mark continues this message putting on the new. You learn how to let go of the past as you take a bold step forward. That's Friday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.