Today on Bold steps with Mark job, we're discovering what the Apostle Paul meant when he talked about the mystery of Christ.
All of you here have gifts of God, God's given gifts. God gives that person one gift, that person, someone else a gift. But we all have supernatural gifts given to us by God that are graces that God has put onto our life, that equip us for the mission that God has called us to accomplish.
And welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe. Mark is senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute, both in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, we all know people who are great at keeping secrets. And then there are others. Not so much. Mark, where do you fall on that scale?
I'm a great secret keeper.
Are you.
Actually. Finally, you have to torture it out of.
Me to get me. But, you know, my kids growing up weren't that good. My wife would plan a surprise birthday party or something special, and she would tell my kids, don't tell dad. Invariably, they would come running to the door and say, hey, dad, we have a secret we can't tell you, and it wouldn't take much to get it out of them. I like really okay. Well what? And they would just want to blurt it. Okay, dad.
And they would tell me. That's cool. Well, Ephesians chapter three talks about the mystery, the secret of the gospel and how it was revealed to us. And I think this is a very, very compelling, powerful passage.
It is indeed Ephesians chapter three today from our series. When you believe everything Changes. Here's Mark Jobe.
Here's what I believe. I believe that everybody's called everybody. Some people think that there are certain certain people that are called and others that are not called. And so they sort of have two categories of people. These are the called people and these are the non called people. I happen to believe that everybody's called. Now not everybody responds to their call. Not everybody understands their call. Not
everybody engages in their call. But I happen to believe that everybody in this room, you have been called, you have a calling on your life, a specific, unique, custom made mission that God is, has, has engineered for you and called you to. And Paul is talking about really his mission. And in verse one of Ephesians chapter three, he says, for this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles. Now he uses a very interesting Steam introduction there. He says, I, Paul,
the prisoner of Christ Jesus, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Well, Paul happened to be in house arrest. Don't raise your hand if you've been in house arrest here, but I'm sure some of you have. And nowadays, it's not the house arrest in the days of Paul. Nowadays, they put a little ankle bracelet on you, and they can track whether you leave the house or not. In the days of Paul, there were no ankle bracelets. So he was in a house guarded by some guards. He was not
in a physical prison. He was in the equivalent of 26 ankle Cook County. Because really, Cook County is a jail and the jail is there for you to await sentencing or await trial. And in essence, Paul was awaiting trial in front of the Roman emperor. But it would take sometimes months and even sometimes years to come before the Emperor because, uh. Hey, that that's. There's a long wait there. Paul was in house arrest, and he says this. He says I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the
sake of you Gentiles. The reason that Paul was in house arrest was because he had a mission in his life. And his mission, his particular mission and vision, had led him to preach a message that was unpopular in Jerusalem, and therefore they had arrested him and were going to put him to death. But he appealed to Caesar. And now, because he was following his mission and his calling in life, he's in prison. Let me just start by saying this.
Sometimes we feel that if we're doing the work of God and following the mission of God, that everything's going to be easy, but we feel that doors are going to pop open in front of us, that if there's any obstacles, God's going to send lightning bolts to just fumigate him out of our way. That the Red sea is going to be parting open, that there's going to be a smell of roses that's going to lead us to the path of God, and that we're always going
to be happy, energized, and never have obstacles. Not. That's really not the way it works. Paul was following his mission and his call, and he ended up in prison. Sometimes your call, your mission will have a heavy price tag on it. And it doesn't mean just because you're going through a hard time, it doesn't mean that you're on the wrong track. Sometimes God's mission and his call
will lead us to hard times. Now, in order to understand the call of God on your life, there's four things you really need to understand about pursuing with boldness and confidence the mission that God has for you. I've summarized them into four words. The first word is calling. Calling. Look at what it tells us. In verse two. Paul says, surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you. If you're taking notes,
write this word calling down. Uh, calling has to do with the gift that drives us to our mission. Paul says, hey, I'm sure you've heard by now about the. He says the administration of God's grace, that word administration, if you look it up in the Greek, means a special stewardship or special assignment. I like that word special assignment. So Paul says, surely you've heard about my special assignment of
God's grace that was given to me for you. So Paul is admitting that he has a special assignment and that that special assignment was given to him by God's grace. Now, here's what I want you to understand. The word grace in the New Testament Greek is carrots. It's where we get our English word charisma from. Uh, when you say this person is charismatic, it literally means this person is grace filled. Uh, this person is full of grace favor.
We use it in the context of not not theologically charismatic, but personality charismatic. When you say that person's charismatic, it means they have an attractional power that people are drawn to them, that that they have a charisma about them that draws people to them. They have grace or favor upon their lives. Paul says, I have a special assignment that I have been called to, and it's been given
to me by God's grace, God's favor. Here's the thing that you need to understand about callings and missions in life. Your calling and your mission in life is a gift of God to you. It's a grace of God, a gift of God. It has nothing to do with you earning it, deserving it, marrying it. It has nothing to do with your history background, with your educational background. It has nothing to do with your personality. It has nothing
to do with your talents. It has everything to do with God choosing simply, merely out of the goodness of his heart, out of the overflowing of his purposes. Just to give you a grace really important that you understand this. Because if you don't understand the grace of God, you
will make a lot of wrong assumptions. For example, do you realize that when you are given a gift from God, a grace from God, that even if you are slipping away from God spiritually, you can still use that gift because it doesn't depend on whether you are good or bad? A gift is a gift. You don't merit it. You don't deserve it. You have it. When you're doing well, you still have it when you're doing bad because it's
a gift of God. Are you tracking with me? Let me explain it in a way that you may understand. A couple of years ago, I ran into a pastor that I didn't know very well, but I had met him before. He was out of the ministry. He. He had pastored a church of 7800 people, a church that was well known, doing a lot of things, seeming to lead a lot of people to Christ. When I when I asked him what happened, he basically told me his story.
He said that he had been a pastor for a long time, had a had a master's degree, a doctorate degree, was married, had a couple of kids, but there was a crack in his life. A moral crack in his life. And it started with internet pornography. He got into internet pornography. It led to exploring websites, uh, where he was getting on, uh, chat rooms with married women. It went on to getting on chat rooms with married women, to hooking up with married women in cafes, and then actually going to hotel
rooms with these married women. And so over a period of a year, this pastor, that pastor, a pretty large church, doing a lot of ministry, was involved with over a dozen women. Other married, unhappy married women, was involved with a dozen women over a period of a year while he was still pastoring the church and get up on Sunday morning and teach and preach. And people were still coming to Christ, and people would approach him afterwards and say, well,
that word was for me. It really touched me. I needed to hear that they were having the services, people were getting saved and people were getting baptized. And yet on Friday night he was in some hotel room with a married woman having sex. I'm like, how in the world could that be? I mean, hold on. Was he pretending? Was it a fake? No. Let me tell you what it is. The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. That means that when God gives you a gift, you
can use that gift. Even if spiritually you're not doing well, you can still use a gift, and that gift can operate, and that gifts can still function. And that gift can still bless people, even when your character is not measuring up to the administration of that gift. Are you tracking it?
You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. We'll continue today's message in a moment. But first, Mark, I want to talk about something that's become a growing concern within Christian leadership circles. Our world is going through a whirlwind, pretty dramatic developments and changes, not just here in America, but around the globe. And we need to remind ourselves. As Christians, we have a much higher calling than any political movement, don't we?
Wayne, turn on the news. And there is drama all over the place. From rumors of wars to economic crisis.
To actualization.
To actual wars that are happening to bombings. And it is easy to get distracted by all this, worried by it, anxious by it, sort of sucked into it. But here's what I want to say. This is a great time for the good news of Jesus Christ and the hope of the gospel.
Amen.
There are a lot of people coming to Christ throughout the world, and you may not hear about it, because there's other news that is prominent and is taking people's attention. But there is an undercurrent of a harvest evangelism. And that's what we're all about right now, is a moment where people are shaken, where there's concern. But there are so many people that are turning to the heavens, and we at Bold steps have determined we will not miss
that moment. And so we are asking you to partner with us, help us out, because right now is a great time to be calling people to Jesus.
We urge you to give online at Bold Steps. Org or you can call us. The number is 800. D.L. Moody and that works out to be (800) 356-6639. And when you do give, we'll be sure to send you a special gift which will tell you more about later in the program today. Well, thank you for that, Mark. But let's go back to your message now here on bold Steps.
Never put a man or woman, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, anyone on a super spiritual pedestal. Because sometimes, I mean, oftentimes I run into people that they think that because someone has a gift that's ministered to them and God is using a gift that that person doesn't walk. They sort of float on clouds. Oh no, they don't walk. They float. And we sort of pedestalize people and think, oh no, they don't pray like I pray, man, I, I, I pray and get put on pause by God. They
pray and have that direct line. God says, yeah, you called. They never struggle with sin. And sometimes we put people on pedestals because the gift that is being ministered through them, without realizing that the gifts and call of God are irrevocable and have nothing to do with the man or the woman that is using the gifts. They're gifts of God, and a person doesn't lose a gift even when their heart is falling away from God. They don't lose a gift.
That's why we all hear of these scandals where where God can use someone. And then behind the closed doors, we find out that there's impropriety there. There's laundering of money, there's sexual scandal, power abuse and were shocked that they happen because the gift and the call of God are irrevocable. So be very careful ever to elevate someone too high. Every man and every woman's feet are made of clay. Hello. Only Jesus will never disappoint you. Now, eventually, when someone's
character isn't isn't right. Eventually that will catch up to them. And it'll sabotage whatever they're doing. And it'll leave. Leave? A lot of hurt, messed up people. Uh, because the character of an individual eventually will show itself. It may take a while before their character catches up to their gifting, but eventually it'll show itself. That's why. Listen, some of you have the gift of evangelism, and. And I've had people with the gift of evangelism. They fall away from Christ.
They're not even going to church. They're at a bar drinking it up. And next thing you know, I'll meet someone in church and I'll say, how did you get. Well, I met this guy at a bar and he started talking to me about God. Why? Because even though you may be backslidden. Listen, your gift doesn't go away. It's still there. So your backslidden. Fallen away from God, doing lousy. You go to a bar, you see someone, your gift kicks in, you start talking about God and you say
you need God is what you need. And here let me tell you about God and your ministering, even though your heart is away from God. Why? Because your gift has nothing to do with your spiritual life. It's irrevocable. It's a grace of God. It's just like salvation. Salvation is a gift of grace. You don't earn it by being really good and you don't lose it when you're bad. It's a gift. It's a gift. You can't earn a gift. You can't lose a gift when you really have a gift.
Though in the Spirit of God dwells inside of you, you're going to want to live for God because it's inside of you and it's real. So Paul is saying that he had an administration, a special assignment given to him by the grace of God, by the grace of God. But I want you to understand. I want you to understand and grasp that all of us have gifts of God that have nothing to do with how we've merited or earned it. Now you can take a gift and you can not unwrap it. Hello. All of you here
have gifts of God, God's given gifts. But not everybody unwrap their gifts. Sometimes you have a gift. You don't use it. You don't unwrap it. You leave it there. How many of you know you can get a gift? You say, ah, I don't think I'm going to like that gift. Just leave it there. Not wrapped. It's still yours. You still possess it, but you're not using it. Every Christian has gifts. They come to you via the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. Their gifts of encouragement, teaching, wisdom, faith, healing, evangelism, whatever. There's a whole bunch of lists of gifts. You have that gift. You're not better be better than someone else because you have this gift, and someone else has that gift because you didn't do anything to earn it or deserve it. Just because you have the gift of teaching doesn't mean that you're better than someone that doesn't have
the gift of teaching. Just because you have the gift of faith doesn't make you better than someone that doesn't have the gift of faith, because you did nothing to earn it. God just gave it to you. It's your gift. God gives that person one gift, that person, someone else a gift. But we all have supernatural gifts given to us by God that are graces that God has put onto our life, that equip us for the mission that
God has called us to accomplish. God has gifted you with things, empowered you with things, and it's those people that walk in faith that usually utilize their gifts more. Number two, I'm talking about how to embrace and understand your calling, how to engage in the calling that you have by looking at what Paul says about his calling.
Verse three says, that is the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly in reading this, then you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations, as it has now been revealed by His Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. Paul now says, not only does he have a calling given by God's grace. Paul goes on to say, what feeds my calling is that I have revelation. He uses
the word mystery in the Greek. It's the word mysterium in our English language. When we think about a mystery, we think about something that's dark, obscure, secret, unknown to other people. That's really not the emphasis in this passage. It simply means something that is known to that person, but unknown to others. Paul says, I have a mystery that's been revealed to me that people before me did not understand, but I understand. What is that mystery? The
mystery was simply this. The Jewish people thought for hundreds of years that the promise that the covenants that they were the chosen people, and that no one outside of them was chosen.
Learning the different types of revelation will continue this message tomorrow. So please keep listening to bold steps with Mark job now. Today we're joined by two special guests, Aaron and Jason Davis, who've written a book that tackles a challenge every Christian parent faces how to help our boys navigate the lies our culture is throwing at them. Their book is called Lies Boys Believe and the Epic Quest for truth.
That's right. Wayne. You know, last month we offered the companion to this resource Lies Girls Believe. I remember so Aaron, as a mother of four boys. Yeah, you heard it for boys. What motivated you to write this book?
Well, obviously my own sons. You're right. So everybody listening. It's okay for you to gasp at that. Four sons. That's what Jason and I have. So it's a rowdy house. But there are primary concern. But they're also a good indicator of what's happening in the wider culture. And everybody seems to be talking about boys in crisis, secular and Christian. But we want to point our boys to the truth, and the truth is found in God's word. And so
we let our boys go first. They were super involved in the project and I hope this is an outflow of our parenting. But we also hope they're just four examples of what can happen when God gets Ahold of boys, when they're young and they fall in love with His word when they're young and they start living for truth.
So, Jason, you have built in research, huh?
Yeah, it's made it easy. We didn't have to travel a lot to do the market research for this one.
And, Jason, what ages would you say this book is targeted towards young men?
Uh, probably 6 to 12 would be the target demographic. That's probably not the right terminology, but, um, we found that our boys in that age group really resonated well with the content and the message.
You know, I think this type of book is so needed. There are so many, so many parents struggling with just the lies that our culture is just saturating our young people with. But young boys especially are at a disadvantage these days when the image of what it means to be a man or grow up to be a man is really been erased and very confusing.
This is critical, isn't it?
Yeah.
Aaron and Jason, thank you so much for writing this book and making it available to our listeners.
It's been a real pleasure.
Yeah, we're just honored to get to serve families and the church in this way.
Remember, we'll send you a copy when you give a donation of any amount. Call 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639 or give online at bird-stamps.org. You can also send your donation in the mail. Just address your envelope to Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606. Ten Bold Steps and our sister program, Bold Steps Weekend, in addition to radio, can be heard on the internet or through your favorite
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for the exciting conclusion of Mark's message. The secret to freedom and confidence. Learn how to be clear and confident about God's call on your life. Tuesday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.