Today on Bold Steps with Mark job, we're learning how our biggest issues could be part of God's greater plan.
Some of you have been given gifts by God, but you have been injured and because of your injury, some of you have put your gifts on hold. And so you put it aside and it shrivels up, so much so that it almost feels like you don't have a gift. Why? Because you haven't used it in so long that it shriveled up.
And welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. You know, all of us have issues with dealing with things that make us feel broken or invisible may be inadequate. But, Mark, you're going to show us today how God can use even our greatest struggles for his divine purposes.
And Wayne, what I love about Jesus as he stepped into people's brokenness and issues. He wasn't afraid to call them out, and even to ask people to bring to the light the things that maybe they were somewhat embarrassed about. And this story goes right to that place. I think it's going to minister to a lot of people.
It's no accident you've tuned in today, so let's listen together. The message you have an issue here on bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
My mother, bless her heart, she's 86 years old. She is one incredible woman. She lives in northern Spain, lives independently at 86 years old. She walks about four miles a day, and she prays while she walks. And she reads five chapters of the Bible a day. And, um, I don't know if I've ever heard her complain about anything. And, um. So she's just a real encouraging woman. I actually speak to her every Sunday on my way to church. I FaceTime her, uh, on the way to church and we
have a little dialogue. Spain is seven hours ahead, so she's already been to church and she's ready to chat. But, you know, a few years ago, this, uh, overall healthy woman, 86 years old, uh, started to develop macular degeneration, which means that you start to lose your sight. And so although she's overall healthy, she's actually technically blind, officially blind. And, um, I was talking to her not too long ago, and I was saying, mom, how are you handling this blindness
that you have? And she says, oh, Mark, I'm doing well. I can still see I'm walking. And, uh, she said, my, the only challenge I have is she says as I walk through the village, people recognize me. She's taught English for years, and so she's She literally taught hundreds of people English. And so they call out when they see her and they say, Susana. And she says, I say hi to them and they start talking. How you doing? You're looking great. What's going on? I was with her
a while back and I said, mom, who's that? She says, I don't know. I said, mom, you don't know. She says, I can't see them, so I don't know who they are. And so I said, mom, we got to come up with a better strategy here. So her strategy now is when someone says, hey, Susana. She says to them immediately, hi. She says, I can't see you, so you need to tell me your name. And so they tell her. They they tell her her name, and then she's able to
know who they are because she can't see them. Now she wants to see them, but they are unseen to her because of her lack of vision. Now, I just want to say today that there are many of you in this auditorium. In fact, we live in a day and age where there is a lot of people that feel unseen and unheard. Unseen and unheard. In fact, post Covid, this is even more exaggerated. The sense that I'm not sure if anybody sees me. I'm not sure if anybody
hears me. I'm not sure if anybody really knows me. Listen. And I'm not sure if anybody even cares to know me. That is a massive sentiment by Buy a lot of people right now in this nation, in the state and in the city of Chicago. And so I want to talk to you today about that very topic. We're in a series called seen. And what happens when you have an issue in life and you don't feel like people
see you, hear you, or even care about you. There's something about that that generate feelings of abandonment, helplessness, anger, resentment, hopelessness, loneliness, and even a sense of well, is this all worth it? Mother Teresa said one time, the most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved. And so today, I want to take your attention to a scripture, a text and scripture found in Mark chapter three. Mark chapter three.
I've entitled this message. You have an issue. Hey, let me just say you have an issue. You know, every person in this auditorium, we have issues. Go ahead. You know that person beside you that looks like they have it all together? I mean, they're dressed pretty good. They seem like they speak very properly. They seem like they have it all together. You know, can I just cue you in on something? They have an issue. In fact, they have multiple issues. I want you to turn to
the person beside you. And just with a smile on your face, not a frown. Just say you have issues. Some of you have been wanting to tell that person for a long time. A long time. And some of you whispered, and I'm going to tell you what those issues are right after the service is over, some of you are way too excited to tell that person they have issues, so settle down now a little bit. This story is found in three of the Gospels. It's found
in Mark chapter three, verses one through six. It's found in Luke chapter six, verses six through 11, and it's found in Matthew chapter 12, verses eight through 14. Now, for those of you that are just getting used to your Bibles, there's four four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're written by four different individuals, but oftentimes they'll tell the same story because they were there, and they're telling
the story from different perspectives. Sometimes we'll get a few different details from one person to another, because it's three different people telling you the story from different angles. But when you see a story found in more than one of the Gospels, you realize, hey, this was a prominent story of those days. Uh, a story that was repeated to a lot of people. And this happens to be found in all of the Gospels except the Gospel of John.
And I'm going to read you. Beginning in Mark chapter three, verse one, it says, another time Jesus went into the synagogue. The synagogue, for those of you not familiar with the Jewish culture, was the equivalent of what our church is today. It was a group of individuals that gathered together for studying of the Scripture, and they typically gathered on the Sabbath. And a man with a shriveled hand was there. Verse two.
Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a day of rest. And especially some of the Pharisees had put all kinds of rules about what you. Could or couldn't do on the Sabbath. And so some of them had the idea that even. Healing someone on the Sabbath was considered work, and so therefore it would be. Um, it would be a sin to heal on the Sabbath in
their mind. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, stand up in front of everyone. Then Jesus asked them, which is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save a life or to kill it. But they remained silent. Then he looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts. And he said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the
Herodians how they may kill Jesus. If you're taking notes this morning, I want you to write this down. I'm talking about the fact that Jesus sees us even when we have issues. The first thing I want you to understand about issues is this. Our issue is often the battleground for a greater purpose in God's plan. The Bible tells us again that Jesus went into the synagogue, which he often did. He was considered a rabbi, which means a teacher by many of the Jewish people. He was
vilified by some. He was adored by others. He was unusual because the Pharisees, which were more like lawyers of the Bible. They spoke in very demeaning, very stoic ways about the laws of God, almost like an attorney would speak about the laws of the land. But Jesus was different. The Bible says that Jesus spoke as one who had authority. He spoke as someone who had power. Yet at the same time, he showed a compassion and an empathy that they were not used to.
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job. We'll continue this bold steps message titled you have an issue right after this quick break. If you haven't been to our website yet, we encourage you to visit and see all the faith building resources, opportunities, and sermon series we have available. Just go to Bold Steps. You can even have these daily lessons downloaded automatically to your phone or
mobile device by subscribing to the Bold Steps podcast. If that's how you listen to bold steps from your mobile device, why not leave a comment or give us a five star rating so that others who are searching for solid Bible teaching programs can find us? That'll make it easy to stay up to date with these Bible teachings while you're at the gym, or maybe away on vacation, or simply working from home. Just open up your podcast app
and search for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. And if you'd like to get even more connected with us, and perhaps tell us a little about your testimony and how Bold Steps has played a part in your spiritual growth. We'd love to hear from you. You can send us a message online at Bold steps.org, or give us a call and leave your message on a recorded line. And that number is (312) 329-2011. Again 312329 2011. Now let's get back into today's message. Here again is Mark Jobe.
The synagogues were places where the Pharisees loved to be because they dressed in long robes and they were viewed as the experts. It tells us in this passage that the Pharisees were there, and more than likely it doesn't tell us in this passage, but more than likely the Sadducees were there as well, and the Sadducees and the Pharisees did not get along, because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and the spiritual life. So they
were at odds with the Pharisees. There was about 6000 Pharisees that lived in Jerusalem, but he includes another group of people that you don't often hear about. It's the first time it's mentioned in the New Testament. The Herodians. The Herodians were a political group that were backers of King Herod and wanted him to rise to power. So you have the Pharisees, the Sadducees, you have the Sanhedrin, which were the priests of the of the temple at
that time. And then you have the Herodians, which were a political group, and they're all mixed in in the synagogue. They all have their angle. They all listen. They all have their agenda. But when Jesus steps in, he sees people. Not agendas, not angles, but people. He sees people and he sees their issues. He sees their pain. He sees what causes them to be disabled. He sees what causes
others to point fingers at them. And I want you to understand that what is happening here, because we don't always understand that oftentimes our issue that the healing of our issue or the dealing with our issue has bigger purposes in the plan of God. Let me say that again. Some of you, as I speak right now, you have issues in your life that are issues that bring shame to you. There are issues that you don't want other people to know about. There are issues that cause embarrassment
to you. You try to cover it up, camouflage it, not talk about it, excuse it, minimize it, act like it doesn't exist in your life. I don't know what those issues are. You could have an issue with addiction, and you have to pop a pill every day, a few pills every day, just to keep going, just to keep what you consider to be the sanity of your mind.
Maybe you have an eating disorder. You don't want anybody to know it, but you have to throw up every time that you have a meal because you have body dysphoria issues and you feel some way about your body or how people see you. Maybe you're addicted to some area in your life that causes you great shame. Maybe you have a pornography issue and it becomes your default place to go to. You're ashamed about it. You don't want your wife and kids to know about it. But
you know what? If someone were to scroll down the history of your internet search, it would become very obvious that you have an addiction in that area. Maybe you have a chapter in your life that it's embarrassing to you. Maybe it's a disability that you try to hide because you feel like it causes people to look at you as an inferior individual. Maybe there's part of your history that causes you to walk in shame because of how
you were raised. Maybe it has to do with sexual or emotional abuse that you were raised with, and it's a chapter of your life that you'd rather blot out. It surfaces. It affects you. It touches you. It causes you to have difficulty engaging in a healthy relationship. But it's there. We all have issues, and some of those issues are the issues that we want to hide. We don't want other people to see. We don't want other people to know about. In this synagogue, there was a man.
The Bible tells us that had a withered hand. Now, the term in the Greek is in the passive verb, which indicates that this man more than likely was not born with a withered hand, but somehow had experienced an injury of some sort that had caused him to be incapacitated in that hand. Now some versions use the word withered. Some versions use the word shriveled. The idea is that at one time he had a functioning hand. But something happened.
An accident. non-Biblical literature indicates, and we don't know how reliable it is, but non-biblical literature indicates that he was a stonecutter, that his job was to. Back in those days, they cut stone to build houses and so forth, and that he had experienced an injury, and so therefore it had left him unable to work and use his hand. He doesn't tell us in Mark, but in Luke it tells us that it was his right hand. The right hand in the Jewish culture was the hand that would
bestow blessing upon the children. If you were to put your hands upon the heads of the children, you would put your right hand and you would bless them. The right hand was considered the clean hand. It was the hand that they ate with. It was the hand of blessing. It was the hand that most people worked with. And to have your right hand disabled and shriveled up was a sign of embarrassment, of inability to work. Of probably
having to beg. Of not being able to bless. The Bible tells us that this man had a shriveled hand. You know you can hide a shriveled hand at first when you meet someone. In those days, they didn't shake people's hands. But you can cover it up. You can hide it. You don't want to draw attention to it. And I'm sure he sought to do so. But eventually, within a few moments of getting to know that person, if you got to know them well, it would become
obvious that they had a shriveled hand. Shrivel means that it's injured to the point that because of an injury, it's been in disuse so long that I've lost the ability to continue to use it. I tell you what, I run into a lot of people with shriveled areas in their life. They've been injured. Sometimes it's emotional. Sometimes it's spiritual. Sometimes it's physical. They've been injured. And somehow, some way that causes them to feel like I can
no longer use this. And so they stop using something that God intended them to use, and they go so long without using it that eventually they they become unable to use it. It shrivels. It atrophies. Years ago, when I was younger, I broke my arm twice. My right arm snapped the bone. I fell off a tree. Snapped the bone, they put a cast on it. Back in the day, they would put casts with, uh, you know, it would harden. And. And then I was riding on a bike with my friend, and we fell off a bridge.
I know I caused my mother to pray a lot, and I broke my arm again. The arm that had been broken got broken again. And so they had to have a cast on my arm for a long time. And I'll never forget when they finally decided to take the cast off my arm and kind of with pliers back in the day, they'd cut it off and my arm and I compared my arms, and this one was this thin. It had shriveled up because I had not used it in so long, and I had to sort of regain the strength of that which had not been
used for a long time. Man, I'm talking to someone here today.
You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe and his message titled You Have an issue. We'll continue our lesson at this time tomorrow. So join us again right here. But in case you ever want to revisit a previous message from Mark, or want to share one of these Bible teachings with a friend, just go to our website at Bold Steps. Well, Mark, we are honored to have Heather Holloman with us today. She's the author of the Six Conversations, our bold step gift.
Yeah. And Heather, one of the really unique elements of your book, The Six Conversations, is how you connect the latest research on relationships with biblical principles. What does Scripture tell us about, say, the art of conversation?
Well, really, you can learn so much from Philippians two, Romans 12, and Galatians six. All of those passages teach us how to be curious about other people, how to believe the best about them, express concern, and then share your own life. I love Galatians six about taking on other people's burdens. How do we know what they are if we're not interested in their lives and asking really good questions about our friends and loved ones and Heather.
I know that you're this is not just a book about, uh, how to be a better communicator with people. You have an intention. And that is. Hey, conversation is the bridge way to really share spirituality and the gospel with people. Talk about that a minute.
Well, that's right. So many people want to share their faith. They want to share these things that are so deeply personal to them, but they never know how to start the conversation. And what this book teaches is how to have a warm connection. So talking about Jesus never feels awkward or like you're selling something. You're just sharing your life with someone that you're having a great conversation with.
I love it. The six conversations by doctor Heather Holloman. And, uh, you need to pick this up. We can't wait to put this in your hands so that you can start to have those conversations with your loved ones that you've been wanting to have.
Thank you, Mark, and we'll be happy to send you a copy. This bold step gift today. When you give a gift of any amount to support bold steps, give us a call at 800 D.L. Moody or give online at Bold steps.org. You can also send your gift and request the six conversations by writing to us. Simply address your letter to Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And today we want to say how thankful we are for the incredible men and women who
make this program possible. They're known as our bold partners, and through their faithful monthly donations, they help keep these Bible teachings on the air in your local community and across the world. So if you've come to value the bold, Bible based teaching of this program, but you're not yet part of the team, I want to invite you to
become a bold partner today. It's easy to sign up online, and when your gift is $30 or more each month, we'll send you some special bonuses like a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck, access to our Bold Partner post, and a 50% discount on all items at the Moody Publishers online store, so sign up to become a bold partner today by going to Bold steps.org, or give us
a call at 800. D.L. Moody that's (800) 356-6639. And did you know you can also find videos of Mark's teachings even more bold steps content available on the Bold Steps app. Whatever your interest, you'll find both long and short form videos that speak to relevant topics and issues in your daily life. Just open your favorite app store today and download the Bold Steps app for free. I'm Wayne Shepherd inviting you to listen again tomorrow when Mark continues this lesson.
It's titled You Have an issue. Don't miss this redemptive lesson Friday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.