Being equipped for the work God has called us to do. That's the topic today on Bold Steps with Mark job.
Spiritual leaders help you discover the gifts and abilities that are inside of you, so that you begin to realize God can use me and I have the ability to pray and minister and reach out and do the stuff that the holy men do. Because why? Because I am holy, too.
Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark job. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. We're going to talk about the power of God in us today. Mark, I've heard you say that you believe Christians seriously underestimate that power and provision.
I really do, Wayne. And so many people are used to the concept of going to a service and having a pastor, a rabbi, a priest to sort of do the holy things. But that's not at all the picture that God gives us in Scripture.
That's not biblical Christianity.
It's not all of us have gifts. All of us have a calling. All of us need to roll up our sleeves and say, God, use me. So in this message, you're going to discover a little bit how God has wired you to use you.
I like the title Unleashing People Power. Let's get into today's message now with Mark Jobe.
And there's four principles. I've distilled it down to four principles. I want you to remember, as we talk about releasing the power of God among his people. And I want to begin reading in Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. I'm reading out of the New International Version. It says, but to each one of us. That's us. That's people that believe to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Now, let me stop there. To each one of us, grace has been given. The word
in the Greek for grace is Keras. I've told you this before, but it's the word that we get charisma from. It's the word we get charismatic from. Keras means a gift that God gives us, that we can't earn, we can't deserve, we can't work for. It has nothing to do with how good you are or how bad you are. It has nothing to do with how long you pray or don't pray. How much of the Bible you read or don't read, how many sins you've committed or haven't committed.
It has nothing to do with the quality of your lifestyle. It has everything to do. With what? With the good pleasure of God. So what he says is to each one of us as believers, people that know Jesus Christ and have His Spirit inside of us. To each one of us a keris has been given a gift, has been given a grace has been given. Not to some. It's not one, two, three. You get it? One, two, three, you get it one, two, three, you get it. No, it's to everyone. Every single person has received this gift,
these gifts. It may be one gift. It may be multiple gifts. It doesn't really explain it in this passage, but in other passages of Scripture, it does. These gifts have to do with supernatural, what we could call talents or supernatural Abilities that God gives to you, not just for you to enjoy, but for you to use for the benefit of others. It may be the gift of encouragement, or it may be the gift of faith. It may be the gift of exhortation, the gift of mercy. It
may be the gift of healing. It may be the gift of word, of wisdom. It may be the gift of administration. I mean, there's a whole bunch of gifts that could be given, but they are given to you, not for yourself. They're given to you so that as you use those gifts, you actually begin to build up in power. Help the people that are around you. Your gift is a gift to this body. So he says, but to each one of us, a gift has been
given as Christ apportioned it. Verse eight. Now this is a bit of a tough passage here, so stay with me. It says this is why it says now. He quotes Psalm 68 out of the Old Testament when he ascended on high. When Christ ascended on high, he led captives, prisoners. Another translation says in his train or in his entourage. So when Christ ascended on high, he led prisoners in his entourage and he gave gifts to men. Quoting Psalm 68. Now Paul knows that's kind of difficult for people to
understand what he's saying. So in verse nine, he explains what he's saying. What does he ascended? What does Christ ascended mean, except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. Now what is Paul saying? Paul is giving
us the image of Christ as a victorious conqueror. When when a warrior goes off to war and he wins the battle, he gets to keep the spoils of the battle that he's won and he gets to take all the spoils with him. And then when he comes back to his own camp or to his own city, he distributes the spoils or the gifts that he has to those that he loves. Why? Because he's victorious. And now
he can share in his victory. The image that he gives us is Jesus coming to earth victorious, being put to death, descending to the lower regions, which means he was buried, resurrecting on the third day, uh, after 40 days. The Bible says that the disciples were gathered around and Jesus levitated. Wouldn't that been fun to watch? They're there around him, and Jesus starts levitating off the earth. Slowly
he's rising. Floating. He stops as the disciples stand there with their mouths open wide like, hey, Jesus, just did this balloon disappearing act on us? Now what are we supposed to do here? And as they stand there with their mouths open, an angel says to him, why do you stand there with your mouths open wide? This Jesus that has now ascended will in the same way descend when he comes again. And he left. When Jesus was
in the grave, he defeated. He defeated the power of sin, the power of death, and the power of demons and powers and principalities. Because only if you have sinned can the grave keep you down. Uh, you know, theologically, you need to understand that the reason that Jesus rose from the grave is that Jesus had no sin. He was sinless. So therefore the grave could not tie him down. There was no power in death because he was sinless. So he raised on the third day, and he ascended to heaven.
And he sits at the right hand of the father, placing all principalities and rulers and everything under his feet. And because he's victorious and he's conquered death and Satan and sin and disease. He's conquered all of that. He has the ability and the power to give gifts to whoever he wants to give gifts. Why? Because he is victorious. Now, I know once in a while I run into someone that says, I wish I would have lived when Jesus lived. Man, it would have been so cool just to hear Jesus,
to walk beside him, see what he looks like. What did his voice sound like? It would have been so cool just to sit at the feet of Jesus and say, hey, Jesus, I got four questions. I just wondered, you know, since Adam was never born, really, since he was created, did he have a belly button or whatever question you may ask him? So you got a better one than that? And I know people that really think that they would love to have lived when Jesus was on earth. But
here's the thing. It tells us in John chapter 15 and 16. That the reason that Jesus left Jesus said, I must go because if I go, I will send to you. Oh, I will send to you the helper, the Paraclete, the advocate, the one that walks alongside of you, your own personal coach, as long as I am on earth. Listen, if Jesus were on earth today, you know he would have 12 apostles. And I know some of you think that he would choose you as an apostle, but okay,
let's just say he didn't choose you. Then there's some crowd. Believe me, you wouldn't be palling around with Jesus. You'd be at the back of some crowd saying, Jesus over here! And he'd hard to get access to Jesus if he were physically here. So Jesus left so that you would
not have to have that problem. So every believer that would come thousands upon thousands, upon thousands upon ten thousands of believers that would come after him would have direct access to him, so that now, via the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus is in every single believer 24 hours a day. Coaching, empowering, guiding, giving wisdom. He's there when you go to sleep and there when you get up. He's there when you ride the El and he's there
when you drive in traffic. He's there when you're at a bears game and a Bulls game, he's there when you're in the kitchen and he's there when you're in the office. He's there. He's there all of the time. It's a powerful thing to have the presence of Christ inside of you. And that's why Jesus left, so that the presence of Christ would be inside of us. And along with the presence of the Holy Spirit comes the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well.
You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark, Joe. We're pausing our message for just a moment to talk a little bit about our Bold Partner program. Mark.
Yeah, we have a fantastic, bold partner program that helps us really get the gospel all over the world through Bible teaching. And I'm always so encouraged, Wayne, when some of our friends from Africa or different parts of the world reach out to us and let us know what God gives us.
A lot of perspective, doesn't it?
It really does. And we received a message from someone in Zambia that says, uh. Hello. Announcer I once was lost without Jesus. In those days, I thought I was on the right track with God not knowing that I was going astray. Many in the village discouraged me from listening to the Bold Steps program being via Latala FM radio, since it has the message right for my fellow Muslims in the village. Then when I started listening online, it changed me. My heart now is impacted simply because of
the Bold Steps program. Moreover, right now I am mobilizing many to join me. I thank God for taking me out of Islam. Your listener. And then they give their name. I'm not going to read their name.
But praise God for that, huh?
Yes, I am so grateful that God is reaching people in villages in Africa. People that were far from God. People that were confused about who Jesus is. Taking them right into a saving relationship with Jesus, the Christ that encourages my heart so much.
We're honored that you would listen to bold Steps and receive God's Word through us. You can sign up to become a bold partner online right now and be a part of this team. Whatever amount God is calling you to invest is okay with us. Just go online to Bold Steps org and become part of that, uh, that ministry to that listener in Africa and so many more. So you can become a bold partner again when you
contact us. Bold steps.org or call us that number to call is 6639 and you can remember it as DL Moody. 800 DL Moody. All right. Mark is going to be laying out the second principle now when it comes to unleashing people power. So let's get back to the message.
The second thing that Paul tells us to remember is not only that each of us has been given a special gift that we have not earned or deserve. But then he also goes on to tell us that we need to remember that the leadership gifts. Oh, I wish you could hear me. This is really huge that the leadership gifts are given not to do the work of ministry, but to empower or to equip the people to do the work of ministry. Okay, I'm about to show you one of the biggest lies that is affected Christianity down
through centuries of existence. Notice what he says. Open your Bibles. Let's start with verse 11. It was he who gave some. He's talking about giving gifts to the body. Everybody has a gift. And now he says he's also given the gift of leaders to the church. And he lists five leadership offices or callings that he's given to the church.
Some people call this the five fold ministry. He says, and he's given some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, and some to be teachers. Now these are callings that he gives. Each one of these callings are different. Trick question here. How many of you believe that there were only 12 apostles? Uh, since I said it's a trick question, you're not raising
your hand. Okay, good. Because although many people believe that there were only 12 apostles, the reality is there's more than 12 apostles. In fact, the fellow that wrote Ephesians, the Apostle Paul, we call him what Apostle Paul now was a Paul, one of the 12 that walked with Jesus. No, Paul wasn't even around walking with Jesus when Jesus had his 12 apostles. He wasn't a part of the 12. In fact, it wasn't until Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again,
ascended into heaven that Paul was even converted. He was converted. After Jesus was gone, he was on the road to Damascus and had this encounter in which he had a vision of Jesus. He fell off his horse. He was converted radically. And then he became an apostle. And so they called him the Apostle Paul. So what I want you to understand is that there's more than 12 apostles. There was more than just Paul. There were other apostles and scriptures as well. So what is an apostle? The
word apostle means sent with a message. There are some leaders that are apostles that are sent with a message to start what the Apostle Paul do. After he became converted, he started churches. He would go around. He did several missionary journeys. He started churches, raised leaders, oversaw them. He grew the work, and then he appointed people to do that. That was an apostolic gift. So the apostles are sent out to start work in churches, appoint leaders, get them
up and going, and they multiply churches. That's what apostles do. Then there are, he says, not only are some apostles, but then there are some that are prophets. What is a prophet? A prophet is someone that speaks, that foretells and foretells God's Word for that moment at that time. Sometimes it involves the foretelling, which means talking about future events, but sometimes it just involves, hey, this is what God
is saying to us today. Now. And you know that it's a it's a word from God for us at this moment and this time that we need to hear. That's prophet. And then he says, evangelist. Evangelist is someone that proclaims the gospel and recruits people to the cause of Christ. They do it with great anointing as they proclaim the simple gospel message of Jesus. Many people come to Christ and they have the ability to communicate it simply, powerfully with anointing so that many people come to Christ.
So you have apostles, prophets, evangelists. Then he says pastors or another translation is Shepherd. What does a shepherd do or a pastor do. A pastor cares for the flock. They make sure that people don't fall away. They make sure that the hurting are cared for. They protect the sheep. They watch over the sheep. If someone is straying, they make sure they bring them back. They, they they're concerned about relationships and building the community, making sure that people
don't go astray. And then you have teachers. What does a teacher do? A teacher understands truth and communicates truth. They break it down. They they they communicate it in such a way that people understand sometimes complex truth in a simple way, because it's taught. So people are built up five fold Ministry. Say it with me apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, five fold ministry. Here's what I want
you to grasp. Look at verse 12. What is the The responsibility and the job of these five fold ministries. What is it to do the work of the ministry? No no no no no. What is it? Say it out loud. To prepare God's people for the work of service. So the the responsibility of a pastor is not to do the work of God. It's to prepare people to do the work of God. The responsibility of an apostle is not just to plant churches. It's to prepare people
to plant churches. The responsibility of a prophet is not just to prophesy, but to prepare people to unleash them into the prophetic. The responsibility of a teacher is not just to teach, but to teach people how to begin to teach and understand the word, to release them into that listen. The spiritual leader's job is not to do the work of the ministry. It's primarily to empower the people of God to do the work of the ministry.
What spiritual leaders do is spiritual leaders help you discover the gifts and abilities that are inside of you, so that you begin to realize God can use me, and I have the ability to pray and minister and reach out and do the stuff that the holy men do. Because why? Because I am holy to.
Learning to discover the gifts and abilities you have to further the kingdom. This is bold steps. You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark Jobe, and we'll continue our lesson this time tomorrow. So join us again right here. But if you ever want to revisit a previous message from Mark or share one of these Bible teachings with a friend, just go to our website, Bold Steps on our home page. You'll also see our new bold step
gift and Mark. There's very often in our lives a problem we don't know exists, but when we're made aware of it, it's something we need to deal with. It's sin, isn't it? Let's talk with pastor Mike Fabares about that.
That's right. And it's called envy. We don't often talk about it. People don't like to admit they have it. But Wayne, what I've realized is that especially with this generation, there's a constant comparison, especially through social media. Think about it. They've talked about the mental health effects of anxiety, depression. But oftentimes because we're constantly comparing ourselves, young girls are looking at images of beautiful, thin models and feeling like,
that's me. And what can I do? I wish I was that we call them influencers. And so I think it's had a huge effect on people's lives.
Well, let's talk with pastor Mike Fabares about it. He's written a book called envy a Big Problem you didn't know you had, pastor Mike, do, do you want to react to what Mark has said?
Yes. I think social media has done something for us in our generation that's had a lot of, uh, unexpected negative effects on us. One is getting a window into people's best, right? They're always posting the best night out that they've had with their spouse, or the best summer vacation, or they're looking the best in their Easter photos. And we didn't used to have that unless we were sharing
photos with our best friends. But now we're sitting there voyeuristically sometimes looking at other people's lives and wondering why everyone's life is better than our own. And that is a problem, and sometimes it motivates our lives. I think of Ecclesiastes, and this is a passage that most people don't ever even come across or think about. But it says, Here's Solomon saying, I saw so much toil and skill in people's work that came from a man's envy of
his neighbor. And I think to myself, sometimes we never at peace with what we have. We never enjoy what we have because we're always looking at other people on social media thinking, well, I've got to keep working till I can achieve that. And there's so many problems with that analogy in terms of how we're viewing life. It's not it's not reality. But we have to get to the place where we say, you know, this envy is stealing my contentment. It's stealing my joy. It's making me
want things I don't have. Instead of really enjoying the things that God has given me. It is a thief and it will steal our contentment.
Well, Mark, we're happy that the Scripture is an antidote for this issue of envy. And Mike brings that out clearly in his book, envy, which is our bold step gift right now.
It really is. And so if you're really struggling with contentment and find yourself just despising what you have or unhappy with who you are, your circumstances, the root problem may just be envy. We'd love to put this book into your hands. Written by pastor Mike Fabares.
Yes, we'll be happy to send you a copy when you give a gift of any amount to support bold steps. Just give us a call at 800 D.L. Moody or give online at Bold Steps. Give. You can also send your gift and request for Pastor Mike's book envy by writing to us in the mail. Simply address your letter to Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. By the way, we'd love to hear from you and get you connected with our growing online community and our
social media pages. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Just log in, search for Bold Steps Radio and be sure to subscribe or follow when you get to our page. Thanks for being with us today. Be sure to join us tomorrow when Mark will talk about the final two principles for unleashing God's power and provision into the world. Our message comes from our series called When You Believe. Everything Changes and you'll hear it Wednesday on Bold Steps
with Mark John. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.