Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe shares a convicting message about stepping up.
There's a man that I'm talking to here. Your wife is carrying the leadership that you should have carried, and she's doing what you should have done. And you say, well, she's doing better than I could do. No. And she doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent having to do what God called you to do that falls on her lap to do.
This is bold steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago, and he's president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday, Mark began challenging us with a powerful truth that when we say yes to following God, he begins to address those areas of delayed obedience in our lives. The things we've been putting off dealing with suddenly become priorities because
God wants to use us for his purposes. If you miss part one of this convicting message titled what are You Dragging Behind? You can find it at Bold Steps. Org. Now here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
It becomes clear in this passage that Moses has a father. Moses has a Jew. Moses has part of the called out people that it was clear back in Genesis, through Abraham, that it was very clear that when a boy male was born that they needed to be circumcised. Moses knew it. It was clear to him. We don't know exactly why Moses didn't circumcise his sons, but a lot of scholars believe that maybe he had been. Listen, he had been influenced by the culture. That among the Midianites it wasn't
the practice to circumcise babies. Some scholars believe that they were circumcised when they were older, when they were about to get married. That'd be a bad time to get circumcised, let me tell you. But nonetheless, culture, it wasn't culturally acceptable to be circumcised among the Midianites. So we don't know exactly why Moses delayed. We don't know exactly why he did not do what he knew he should do
with his son. We don't know exactly why he abdicated his responsibility of leadership, to lead his household well in the ways of God, and be clear and and definite in his obedience. But we do know this, that Moses, as a Jew, fully understood that he should circumcise, and that he had deliberately not circumcised, maybe because of the pressure of culture, more than likely because it was unpopular among the Midianites. But he had refused to circumcise his
male child, and it wasn't a problem. It wasn't a problem when he was just leading sheep. It wasn't a problem when he was not engaged in a higher call. But as soon as he was called to his higher call, then suddenly his delayed obedience became a big issue to God. Can I tell you something? Men look up at me. This is really important. If you're not doing anything, you're just kind of wasting your life meandering around, living fleshly, living without purpose, or calling or being used of God.
Then your lifestyle, your disobedience. Well, it doesn't affect a lot of people, affects you, it doesn't affect it's important, but it doesn't affect a lot of people. But the moment that you say yes to God, the moment that you respond to God and say, God, use me. The moment that you get serious about your walk with God,
then let me tell you something. Then your delayed obedience, your unfinished business becomes a priority in the Spirit of God because he's saying, If I'm going to use you, then you have to deal with the issues that have been asking you to deal with for a long time. Let me illustrate it this way. A couple decades ago, I grew up in the country of Spain. My father and mother, my mother is still alive. Bless her heart. Godly woman reads five chapters out of the Bible every day.
I don't think I've ever heard her complain. Loves Jesus. This typical die hard missionary. She lives in northern Spain right now. But my father, who rode horses to the mountains of Chile, my father, who had grease in his hands because he fixed tractors and cars as he witnessed to our neighbors. He was a guy that liked motorcycles and cars, but he had a passion for Jesus and he would use whatever tool he had there. Uh, he
became sick. I was in the US. I was pastoring, my brother was in the US as well, and my mother called me up and said, hey, you know, your dad's in the hospital here in northern Spain. It looks like it's pretty serious. Uh, could you boys fly to Spain? Because, I don't know. They're saying this could be very, very serious. And so I talked to my brother myself. He flew in from Tulsa. We got some emergency tickets, and I went to O'Hare airport, and we said, hey, we're flying
out to Spain today. The lady behind the counter said, where are you going? I said, we're going to Madrid, Spain. My brother was there and I said, ma'am, yeah, we're going to Spain. She looked at me. She looked at my passport and said, no, sir, you're not going anywhere today. I said, why not? She said, sir. She turned around and showed me my passport. She said, your passport's expired. Can I tell you something? I'd been driving around Chicago
with an expired passport. It didn't affect me. I'd been doing ministry, preaching with an expired pastor. It didn't affect me. I'd been paying my bills. I'd been ministering, preaching, raising my kids, driving my car. I'd been doing all those things as long as I stayed within the borders. It didn't affect me. The moment that I was ready to cross the border to another season, then suddenly my expired
passport kept me on this side of the border. Because as long as I was in this side, it was when I was crossing a border that suddenly my unfinished business became a problem. Now, it happened to be when the federal government was shut down. We seem to have a lot of that happening, don't we? They couldn't balance the budget, so they had shut down the federal building. So I said, no problem. I'm going to go downtown, and I'm going to go downtown Chicago and turn to
the federal building and get my passport renewed. So I hurried downtown, took my passport, went into the federal building. The security guard stopped me at the door and he said, where are you going, sir? I said, I'm going to. I need an emergency passport renewed. He said, sir, the federal government shut down. I said, well, how do I renew my passport? He said, Washington. I started calling a bunch of people. Anyone, any number I could get Ahold of.
A Washington finally got Ahold of someone, and I said, my father's been a missionary a long time. He's on his deathbed. I need my passport renewed. And miraculously, he said, go down to the federal building. I'm going to let it happen. I showed up at the federal building. He said, you're here again. I said, yeah, I have orders to open this building up. He said to me, you must have contacts in high places. I said, you don't even know how high.
Like way. Way, way up there.
Listen, I'm so glad I made it to my dad's bedside because a week later, he was dead. But I almost was hindered from an important, life changing, dynamic encounter with my father because I was living with unfinished business. Moses was not affected as a shepherd. His son was
probably about ten years old at the time. He'd been living ten years with an uncircumcised son, and it wasn't an issue until he was going to cross a border and going to another season and going to a higher call, and then suddenly it became an issue in his life. And I'm going to tell you something. Some of you are stuck at a border because of unfinished business. Your
passport is expired. Your obedience is expired. And God is saying, I'm not going to let you pass this border until you deal with the issue that I've been talking to you about dealing with it for a long time. Number two, write this down. Your baggage will show up unexpectedly and fall into the lap of your family and those that are closest to you. Notice what the Bible tells us. God was about to kill Moses, but Zafira, his wife, took a flint knife and she cut off her son's foreskin.
And she touched Moses feet with it. And she said to him, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. Can I just stop for a second and talk to you about that? I want you to know that when you delay and I'm talking to someone here, I know God put this passage in my heart. I didn't want to preach this passage because I feel like I've preached it before, but I feel like God said, you need
to preach that passage. There are some. There's a man that I'm talking to here that you have delayed in your responsibility as a husband and a father, and the responsibility to lead your household. The responsibility to disciple your family has fallen into the lap of your wife. Your wife is carrying the leadership that you should have carried. Your wife is taking the responsibility that was your God
given responsibility to carry. It's fallen into the lap of your wife and she's doing what you should have done. And you say, well, she's doing better than I could do. No. And she doesn't like it because ultimately she will resent having to do what God called you to do that falls on her lap to do.
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job here on Bold Steps. We'll continue in a moment. Let me remind you that all of these daily lessons can be found on our website. Bold steps. Org or on your favorite podcast app by searching for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. Just remember to click subscribe while you're there and leave us a message and a five star review to help others find the program. And for even more content on the go, you'll want to download the Bold
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Listen, this is what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that we don't know if Moses was very ill or somehow paralyzed, but Zafira knew that God was dealing with him. In other words, she was conscious that that Moses was in a very critical state. And so think about it. She sees Moses in a critical state. She knows intuitively that it's about circumcision. The angel doesn't tell her, Which makes me think that they've dialogued about it at times. And he's dying. He's unable to do
it himself now. He's probably very sick, and she takes a flint knife and she goes after her ten year old son and said, come here, son. Your dad should have done this a long time ago when you were a baby. It should have happened. Now I have to do it. I'll spare you the gory details, but she has to circumcise her boy because Moses had failed at
his responsibility. And now, when she has to do what should have been done ten years ago, when the baby was only a few days old, now she has to traumatize her son at an inconvenient time in a very difficult way. Doing with the flint knife. A rock should make us all go shudder a little bit, doing what Moses should have done a long time ago. And so she grabs Gersham. Mommy, what's going on? Your dad should have done this a long time ago. Mommy, why are
you doing this to me? And. I've told people before that I can just see Gersham at a Celebrate Recovery meeting. I remember when I was ten, I tried to block it out of my mind. Even now, I shudder to think about it. My mom. You know why? Because a man of faith. Listen. Listen to me. Because a man that had a dream, had a call, became disengaged with
his call, became neutralized in his passion. Not only did he give up the dream of setting the people of Israel free, but he gave up his zeal for God and the very basic steps of obedience that he should be taking. He didn't take and fell into the laps of lap of his wife. Can I tell you that when we disobey, when we release our call, when we don't follow through on what God has called us to do, God is going to raise someone to do it, and it will probably fall in the laps of the people
that are closest to you. I have seen a nation often times of passive men. I've seen a nation, often times households wrecked by men that are saved, but have allowed the sense of calling upon their life to Evaporate that have lived in passivity, in delayed obedience, in procrastinated obedience, are dragging things in their life that they should have done a long time ago. And it starts to affect their kids, and it starts to affect their marriage, and
it starts to affect their spiritual life. It starts to affect who they are not because they can't change it, but because they've they've been living in that land of neutrality and passivity. And a sense of God has passed me by. And if you think that God has passed you by, if you think that your life doesn't matter anymore, then you start living your life as though you were a Christian. Yeah, but not a Christian. With passion, with purpose,
with desire. Fulfilling a mission upon your life. You live your life in neutral passivity, and I believe that that's what Moses was struggling with. And can I say, I love the fact that God calls them and loves them, and God sees in him what he doesn't even see in himself. Come on. I'm talking to someone here today. You know, unfinished business can sabotage our destiny at times when we least expect it. I pastor in the city of Chicago and I started pastoring when I was 21
years old. I've had to go back and pretty much apologize to everybody I pastored when I was 21, because I really didn't know what I was doing too much at 21. But I remember the very first couple I married, I was so excited to marry them. By the way, I'd never done a marriage ceremony, and I had led him to Christ and I had led her to Christ. They were living together and had a five year old son. And so I do this all the time, by the way. It works pretty good. I said. So now that you're saved,
you know you need to get married. And he said, well, yeah, we're thinking of. We've been thinking about it for a while. You know, we're going to try to save up some money. And, you know, we're going to, you know, plan for a decent wedding. I said, okay, that's fine, but but I want you to remember that now that you're saved, you can't sleep with her anymore. Just, you know, your body is a temple to holy. He the guy said to me, but we got a five year old. I said, yeah,
it doesn't matter. You're still not married. So you you need to abstain sexually until you get married, he said, so how quickly can we get married then? I said, okay, now we're talking here. So I did some of the premarital counseling. I'm ready to get married three days before the wedding, three days before the wedding, the woman comes and says, she says, pastor, can I talk to you? I said, sure. She said, I have. I may have
a little issue. I said, what's your issue? She said, well, you know, a few years ago him and I were separated. We were going through a hard time. He kicked me out of the house. I was on my own. I needed money. Uh, there was a guy that wasn't from this country. He offered. He asked if he gave me $5,000 to marry him, if I would marry him, give him $5,000, and it would give him more of a legal status. And so she said, I married him. I haven't seen him. We never slept together. I don't know
where he's at, she said. Is that a problem? I said, it is because this country does not allow polygamy. So it is a problem. I can't marry you, I said to her and she and she said, well, what are we going to tell people? Well, I said, so. I said, send out an email and tell people we're having technical difficulties. And so we postponed the wedding for paperwork and technical difficulties until she could put an announcement in the paper
and announce it. But but here's the point that I want you to make understand, is that she could not go into the next level because she had unfinished business. This next thing that she dreamed about, this area that she was excited about, it held her back because she had unfinished business. Number three, if you're taking notes, write this down. Your baggage, when released, helps you move into a calling that is higher than where you came from. I want you to notice that Zafira, his wife. The
Bible tells us that she took a flint knife. She cut off her son's foreskin, and then she took it. And she threw the foreskin at Moses. And she said surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. And as soon as she had done that, verse 27, the Bible says, the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness and meet Moses. So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then suddenly Moses was alive again. Why? Because he obeyed suddenly when he when
obedience was orchestrated in his family. Then suddenly the doors were open to step into the call that God had upon his life. Suddenly, the pause button on his call was released so that he could begin to pursue God again. And when he stepped into when he met with Aaron, and when he met with the leaders of Israel, the anointing of God was back on Moses again. And the Bible tells us that Moses and Aaron in verse 29 brought together all the elders of the Israelites. And Aaron
told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. And he also performed signs before the people and they believed just a couple days later. Earlier, he was about to be killed by God, and now he's performing supernatural signs by God. Why? Because that anointing, that sense of call, was restored to his life once he dealt with baggage in his life, unfinished business areas in his life that he needed to obey. Do you have something in your life that God has been convicting you about for a
long time, but you have just been resisting? Do you have a step that you need to take?
You know, at that conference I gave an altar call and a bunch of men came forward, Christians that were dealing with unfinished business, and there was quite a few men that actually their unfinished business was they had not given their life to Christ. And so I want to pause right now and just quickly pray for you, as maybe you're wrestling with obeying what God wants you to
do as a result of this message. Father, I pause, and I pray for that man right now that has baggage that is not letting him step into the season you've called him into. I pray God that they would deal with delayed obedience, with disobedience, with baggage that you have already spoken to their heart about, whether it's sexual sin, whether it's areas of neglect. I pray in Jesus name that they would deal with it today. And I pray for that person, God who's unfinished business is giving themselves
to you. I pray in Jesus name that today will be the day of surrendering to the lordship and and and salvation of Jesus the Christ. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. Thank you Mark. Now let me invite you to learn more about taking your next step with Jesus. Just visit us online at Bold Steps. and then hit the connect tab and click on my next step in faith. Mark has prepared a personal message there for you, going deeper into what it means to truly know Jesus and what makes this relationship so life changing. We'd love to be a part of your journey and help you move past whatever's been dragging you back. So follow up with
us there. Again, it starts at bold steps.org, and then with just a few moments remaining, let me invite you to request a copy of this month's Bold Step gift, a powerful book titled A Non-anxious presence. In it, author Mark Sayers offers a fresh framework for understanding and engaging with a rapidly shifting culture. Instead of anxiety about change, you'll discover how to maintain steady faith and bold vision even in turbulent times. This resource couldn't be more timely.
God is moving in powerful ways, even through circumstances that may seem chaotic. So learn how to recognize divine opportunities in the midst of disruption and lead others with wisdom and hope by requesting your copy of a non-anxious presence. We'll send it to you with your gift of any size. To support bold steps, you can easily donate through a number of ways by going online to Bold Steps. Org or calling us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. You
can even send a check in the mail. Just address your envelope to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us tomorrow when Mark begins his next message titled, What's Holding You Back? We'll continue with some of today's important themes about breaking free from old bondages and how to take bold steps into our next season, so be sure
to listen Wednesday to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.