Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe shows us how to tear down the walls that separate us from God.
One of the purposes in which Jesus came to fulfill the mission of His father was the purpose of tearing down walls. Jesus is a wall breaker, and if we are to be the people of God, we also need to learn what it means to tear down walls.
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. Have you ever felt like an outsider? Maybe you moved to a new neighborhood or started a new job. Maybe you're starting a new school. You may feel like you're on one side of a wall and everyone else is on the other. Mark, let's talk about that here today.
Yeah, Wayne, there are walls that separate a lot of people in different ways. One of the most obvious wall is the one that separates man from God. And that has to come down first. But when that wall comes down, it actually leads to the tearing down of a lot of other walls around us Jew, Gentile, slave, free men, women, black and white, Hispanic, Asian God is a wall breaker.
Well, let's see what the Scripture says about this in Ephesians chapter two with Mark. Now our message tearing down walls. Here's Mark job with bold steps.
One of the tools used to tear down walls. It's called a sledgehammer. You know, walls are interesting, aren't they? We build walls normally for protection. We build walls because we want something kept out, and we build doors because we will. We want to allow something to come in. There's famous walls like East Germany from West Germany was divided by the Berlin Wall. One of the most famous walls was the. Or is the wall in China, the
Great Wall of China? A year and a half ago, I was able to go to China for some studies that I was doing, and I actually was able to walk on the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China took 200 years to build. Hundreds of thousands of people worked on that great wall made out of mud and mud bricks. The wall of China is 6700 miles long. And if you look at the terrain that
it was built on. It's just incredible that without tools that we have in our modern day world, that they were able to create this incredible wall going up and down mountains that would span such a large a large cycle. In fact, it's the only man made edifice that is able to be seen from outer space with the naked eye. You know why the Emperor of China built the wall of China protection. He believed that there was going to be invasion from Genghis Khan, and that he needed to
protect themselves from outside forces. And so he created this wall for protection. You and I have walls. Oh, they're not physical walls with bricks. But everybody has walls. Invisible walls. We put up walls towards people in our life that have hurt us, towards that family member that you just kind of can't stand. And so at a family gathering, you got that wall up. Oh yeah, you'll say hi, but you know, that wall is up. Hey, don't get too close because I know what happened last time. You
get close. There's walls sometimes in marriages. I just prayed with a couple at our last service that is tearing down walls. Even in their own marriage. There's walls that we have in our life. Sometimes just. We put a barrier of walls around us because some people walk with a wall around them, thinking that if people really got
to know you, they wouldn't like you. And so although you meet a lot of people, you keep people at a distance, never let anybody get too close because you feel if they really know the real me, they'll reject me. There's walls all around this place. The city of Chicago is known for some of its invisible walls. When I first came to Chicago, to the southwest side. People showed me a neighborhood and they said, you see this viaduct on this side of the viaduct? It's all white on
that side of the viaduct. It's all black now. There's no sign that says whites only, no sign that says blacks only. But there's like this invisible wall. People know you don't live in that neighborhood and you don't live in that neighborhood. If you're this color, you don't live over here, that color. You don't live over there. It's an invisible wall of racial divide, but it's a wall nonetheless. The thing about Jesus is that one of the purposes in which Jesus Came to fulfill the mission of his
father was the purpose of tearing down walls. Jesus is a wall breaker, and if we are to be the people of God, we also need to learn what it means to tear down walls. That's what Ephesians chapter two is all about. It's really about tearing down walls. And I'm going to begin reading in verse 11 of Ephesians chapter two, as the apostle Paul talks to these folks about the walls that need to be torn down. If you're taking notes this morning, just write this down. Breaking
down walls. What do you need to know about breaking down spiritual walls? The first thing you need to know is that the wall is a part of everybody's story at one time or another. Notice what Paul says. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles, you know what a Gentile is? A Gentile is a non-Jewish person. So you who were Gentiles, a non-Jewish person by birth, you were called uncircumcised by those who called themselves the circumcision.
Remember that at a time you were separate from Christ, excluded from the citizenship in Israel, foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. Well, the Apostle Paul wants to remind these believers that he's talking to. He wants to remind them that at one time they were on listen, they were on the other side of the wall. All of us at one time have been outsiders. How about it? You say? Well, not me, pastor.
And I'm like the ultimate popular insider. No no no no. You've been an outsider, too. Everybody's been an outsider at one time or another. Hey, when you transferred to the school in the middle of the school year, class had already started. Everybody knew where they were seated immediately at a lunch table. The clans and cliques all sat together. But there you were with your lunch tray. The new kid, the outsider wondering, should I sit at that table or
that table? Will they accept me? Where do I belong and where do I fit in? Anybody know what I'm talking about? The outsider. Maybe you were new at that job and just hired. And when you got to that floor and all your coworkers were there, you knew you were the outsider. You knew that everybody had their friends and talked a certain language, and they knew the system. But you didn't know the system because you're what? You're
the outsider. Or maybe you moved into that neighborhood and And everybody seems to have lived in that neighborhood forever. And everybody knows each other's kids and everybody knows each other's names. But you drive up and suddenly the conversation gets quiet and no one seems to acknowledge you. You see, you're a foreigner. You're an outsider. You don't belong. You're on the other side of the wall. There's nothing more intimidating than going to some events and walking in by yourself,
and everybody's talking and cliques and groups of people. But there you are, not really knowing anybody in the room, feeling a little bit like, I don't want to just stand here and look dumb. The best thing to do in those situations get a cup of coffee. At least you are doing something. Something about just having something in your hand that feels like at least I'm not just
standing there like this. I'm sipping my coffee. But there's something extremely intimidating about being in a place where you don't know people, and it doesn't seem like people want to know you because you're on the other side of the wall, the other side of the wall. You're the outsider, not the insider. Paul is talking to believers. He's talking to Christian, Gentile, non-Jewish people. And he's reminding them, never forget that at one time in your life, you also
were on the other side of the wall. Never forget, now that you're an insider. Never forget what it felt like to be an outsider, because it wasn't that long ago that you were on the outside of the wall. It wasn't that long ago that you didn't really understand the things of God, that you didn't really have Christ, that you didn't understand his promises, that you were without the hope of God in the world. It wasn't long ago that people looked at you. There was a divide,
by the way, between the Jews and the Gentiles. And in order to understand this, I have to give you a little bit of historical perspective. Of course, you know that Jesus was born a Jew, right? I know you've seen the paintings. He looks like a German with blue eyes and blond hair. But let me tell you, that's not what Jesus looked like. Oh, that's a medieval painting of Jesus. I can guarantee you Jesus wasn't white, blond and blue eyed. That wasn't Jesus. He was probably more
than likely olive complected skin. Dark hair like you would find in a in a middle eastern culture, Jewish individual. And that's the image, really, of Jesus. He wasn't movie star looking either. The Bible says he had no stately form or majesty that we would gaze upon him. It wasn't like he was. Whoa! Here is the latest Jewish movie star either. He was just a normal, natural individual, physically speaking. But he was born of Jewish descent. You could trace his roots all the way back to the
lineage of King David. And when Jesus was born, he never really traveled beyond 60 miles from his hometown. The 12 disciples that he chose were Jewish men. He ministered primarily in the context of Jewish people. Why? Not that Jesus wanted to exclude non-Jewish people, but he came unto his own, first of all, to give the message to them. And the Bible says, he came into his own, but his own received him not. And then to them he gave the right to become the sons of God, to whoever,
whoever believed on him. So he came first of all to the Jewish people who were the chosen people of God from generations previous. Through Abraham. He came to the Jewish people and he gave them the first opportunity to respond to his message. But he always the gospel always came first to the Jew, but then it expanded to the non-Jewish, to the Gentile. And you have to understand that as you read the New Testament, because a lot of the writings of Paul are directed in that direction.
We'll continue our message in just a moment here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. But first, Mark, if you'll permit me, I want to share something that's been weighing on my heart lately. I've been thinking about how throughout history, God has always raised up people who prioritized his mission,
even during some very turbulent times. Whether it was the early church during persecution or believers during world wars, or missionaries in hostile territories, there have always been those who kept their focus on advancing the gospel despite everything happening around them, and we've got a lot happening around us right now.
And Wayne, oftentimes it's in the midst of a lot of turbulence and turmoil that people start looking to the heavens in special ways. And I believe that we live in a moment like that. And I just want to say that as a pastor, I've been a pastor for over 30 some years in the city of Chicago. I have never seen the openness that I've seen. Now that's incredible. I'm having these conversations, especially with young people we've seen
at our church. Over a thousand people come to Christ and get baptized in the last 24 months, mainly under the age of 35, many that had no religious background and are just hungry for God. And I think the turbulence of the world has caused them to say I need something. And many of us as believers, we're getting too distracted by what's happening and not focused enough on the gospel. And so I want to bring your attention back to the opportunities that you have around you. That's
what Bold Steps is all about. Regardless of what's happening in our world, we believe that the greatest news that needs to be proclaimed is the good news that Jesus Christ is here. He's the Savior, and we do not want to miss this window of opportunity of so many people being open. So join us as we continue to boldly, passionately, powerfully, 24 hours a day through moody radio, proclaim the good news of Jesus.
And at Moody, we're sending workers into that harvest, aren't we?
We are. And so excited about that as well. Uh, we're sending people focused on the gospel. Bold steps, as you know, is making sure that we include a call to the gospel on a regular basis. And so excited to see people coming to Jesus.
Well, you who are listening can invest your resources in sharing God's life changing truth. To make a gift, simply go online to Bold Steps org or our phone number is 800. That's (800) 356-6639. And your partnership makes an eternal difference and will send you, by request, a special bold step gift as a token of our appreciation. We'll talk more about that gift later in today's message, but consider partnering with bold steps. Now back to the message. Here again is Mark.
Now, what you may not understand is that there was an extreme bias, prejudice and racial divide between Jews and non-Jews. In fact, if you read some of the Jewish literature of the time, some of the Jewish writers of the time indicated that God had created Gentiles for the sole purpose of fueling the fires of hell. It was unlawful for a Jew to help a Gentile woman give birth for the this, for simply the fact that he would
be helping another Gentile into the world. In the days of Jesus, a Jewish man would pray this prayer in the synagogue. He would say, thank you, Lord, that you did not, that I was not born a Gentile. And thank you, Lord, that I was not born a woman, because there was extreme bias towards women as well in the days of Jesus. If you went to the temple, even the temple itself showed that there was division. The
temple had the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was a place divided by a curtain, a heavy curtain. Behind that heavy curtain in the Holy of Holies area was the Ark of the covenant that had the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a few other artifacts that had been part of Israel's history, and it was a sacred place, a place which was considered the place where God would dwell in a manifest, special way. Only the high priest would allow to go into the Holy of
Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement. Before he went into the Holy of Holies, he had to sacrifice and make sure that he was cleansed. He wore robes, and at the bottom of that robe there were little bells. The bells would indicate movement. As he moved around. People
knew that he was busy. About once he went behind the curtain, you could hear the bells moving as he went about his sacrificial duties, but they also would tie a rope around his ankle, just in case he had not done everything right, and he was struck dead by the power of God, and no one could go in to retrieve the body. They had a rope around the ankle so that they could drag the body out in case God struck him dead. I mean, not a job
that everybody would want. Definitely discouraged church attendance nowadays, right? But outside of that court, the Holy of holies. And there was another court. It was a court of men, Jewish men. Only Jewish men were allowed to go into that court of men. They were permitted to go into that court and further away from the Holy of Holies. Then there was the court of women. Jewish women were allowed to enter into that court, but not into the court of men and not into the Holy of Holies.
And then further out, way out here there was the court of Gentiles. If you were a non-Jewish person, you were only allowed into the court of Gentiles, not into the court of women, not in the court of men, not into the Holy of Holies. You were way out there in the court of Gentiles, if you so happen to be someone that said, I want to get closer to the Holy of Holies, but yet I'm Gentile, and you would go into the court of women or go
into the court of men. Jewish law prescribed that you would be executed for violating that law.
You're listening to Bold Steps, the Bible teaching of Mark job. Today's message is titled Tearing Down Walls, and you can hear part two of the message on Friday's program. So listen in then. In the meantime, we encourage you to visit our website and check out all the special resources and opportunities we have available by going to Bold Steps dot one. Resource we really encourage you to check out is this month's exclusive Bold Step gift and to tell
us more about the book. We've got the authors right here, Aaron and Jason Davis, to speak with us.
Jason, you mentioned in your book Lies Boys believe that one of the most harmful lies that boys can fall for is that reading the Bible just isn't for me. And in an age of declining Biblical literacy. How can parents help their sons develop a love for God's Word and really want to read it?
I think that you're right on and it is a real issue. But an exciting thing is that searches for Bible related content, uh, have skyrocketed over the last several months. So I think there's a resurgence of interest in things of Scripture. But, uh, when we're dealing specifically with young men, I think that, yeah, it can be daunting, especially if they just randomly open up their Bible. And it's a,
you know, numbers and they're just reading these chains of content. Uh, and that's important content, but it's probably more appropriate for somebody that has a better grasp on the full scripture. So where I think families should start is with something simple like lies, boys believe something to spark an interest in Scripture and then challenging their their son. Hey, did you read the Bible today? Did you? Can you tell me about an adventure that Jesus had? Or tell me
about a challenge that Jesus faced? Tell me what the disciples were up to and make it relatable to story instead of just facts and figures and boys will relate more to the story, especially when it involves adventure or challenges and overcoming those challenges.
And if I could just talk to the mom or the grandma listening, it looks different for our husbands and our sons than it does for us. Uh, for me, it's a quiet morning with my Bible open and a cup of coffee nearby. I gather with a group of women in a circle every week, and for a long time I had that expectation for Jason, my husband and my sons. And it looks different for them. Jason and I teach boys and girls Sunday school, so he teaches
the boys. I teach the girls. We're on the same hallway, and the girls literally are sitting quietly in a circle with their Bibles open, reading the verses out loud, and we can hear the boys all the way down the hall. I don't know what they're doing, but they're they're loud.
And Jason.
Jason's taught me that it's important that those boys love church and that they walk out of Sunday school going, that was a great time. And they're getting the Bible, but it looks different than it does for us. And that's part of celebrating the differences between boys and girls. And so I just think as moms, we can sometimes have an expectation that our sons interactions with the word will be quiet and they will exegete with us and they will want to dialogue. And that just isn't always
how it happens. And they should have the freedom to explore the word in the ways that are meaningful to them.
Yeah, and I love that you're pointing out the differences with how boys and girls typically learn. There's always exceptions to that. But thank you so much. This is a great resource. I'm encouraged by the way, Jason, you mentioned that there's an uptick in biblical literacy. They say 22%
sales of Bibles have gone up. And I'm also encouraged that we live in a season where there's an upsurge also in young men going to church, and I do think that some of it has to do with the lies that they've been raised with, and they're looking for truth.
Absolutely. They'll find it in Scripture. They'll find that truth.
So let's get them started. Young lies, Boys Believe by Aaron and Jason. Thank you for this tool. I think it's going to be a blessing to a lot of families.
And we will send you a copy when you give a gift of any amount to support this ministry, just call 800 D.L. Moody. Again, that's (800) 356-6639 or donate online and request the book when you go to boldsystems.org. If it's easier, you can send your donation and request for the book in the mail. Our address is simply bold.
Steps 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And if these daily Bible teachings have impacted your life, we invite you to join our bold partner family through Monthly Giving. Your consistent support helps bring these biblical messages to listeners seeking God's wisdom. While one time gifts are valuable, monthly giving provides the stable foundation that keeps these programs on the air, consistently delivering the truth and encouragement you rely
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