Latest / Word Radio / Bold Steps with Dr. Mark Jobe - How to Walk by Faith and Not by Sight -- Part 1

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Bold Steps with Dr. Mark Jobe - How to Walk by Faith and Not by Sight -- Part 1 · Word Radio

0:00
S1: Are you living in light of eternity? Find out today
0:04
S1: on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
0:06
S2: You should live every day in light of the fact
0:09
S2: that your body is very temporary. Don't buy into this
0:13
S2: false idea that you're going to live forever because you're not.
0:18
S2: And if you don't live with a sense of eternity,
0:22
S2: you will tend to have wrong priorities and live your
0:25
S2: life in a way that God doesn't want you to live.
0:40
S1: And welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, founding pastor
0:43
S1: of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Now, to set
0:46
S1: up today's message, Mark, we've heard the phrase to live
0:49
S1: by faith and not by sight, but unfortunately, it's quite
0:52
S1: easy to simply do the opposite and live according to
0:54
S1: what we see instead of what we believe. You know, Wayne,
0:57
S1: it is.
0:58
S2: So easy just to live for the here and the now.
1:03
S2: For the house and the car and the food and
1:06
S2: the vacation. But lives that are truly transcendent, that matter.
1:13
S2: They always live for a bigger purpose. And they understand
1:17
S2: that there is eternity here, that we have a soul
1:19
S2: and a spirit. There's things that we cannot see, that
1:22
S2: we cannot see, that only in faith we understand. And
1:26
S2: so if you've just been living for the here and
1:28
S2: the now, you're missing the mark. God wants to open
1:31
S2: up your eyes and say, hey, it's time to start
1:34
S2: living by faith and not just by sight.
1:37
S1: We're in the Bible. Second Corinthians chapter five. Today, the
1:40
S1: message how to walk by faith and not by sight.
1:43
S1: Here's Mark.
1:45
S2: You know, recently my wife and I were able to
1:47
S2: celebrate a getaway anniversary trip. I've been married to the
1:51
S2: same woman and still in love with her for over
1:55
S2: 30 years. Yeah. Over 30. And so we were flying
2:03
S2: back from our anniversary trip and we we took off
2:07
S2: in the airport and, uh, it looked like it was
2:10
S2: a pretty clear day and we started to land at
2:12
S2: another airport. And all of a sudden as we were
2:15
S2: descending and they say, now this plane is about to descend.
2:18
S2: As we were descending, suddenly we were enveloped by some
2:23
S2: very thick clouds. We were both leaning over, looking out
2:28
S2: the window, and my wife looked at me and she said,
2:33
S2: I can't see anything. I'm sure the pilot can't see anything.
2:38
S2: How in the world is he going to know how
2:39
S2: to land? I looked at her. I wanted to rev
2:45
S2: it up a little bit. I don't know how. And
2:46
S2: we better make our last one, but I, I thought
2:48
S2: I'd I said, here's the thing. The pilot doesn't have
2:53
S2: to see where he's going because he's got an instrument
2:57
S2: panel and a GPS and a radar system that guides them.
3:04
S2: So even though he can't physically see the runway, he
3:08
S2: can actually be guided by his instrument panel for a
3:12
S2: safe landing. That's exactly the way it is in our
3:17
S2: life as believers in Jesus Christ. Our panel, our instrument
3:24
S2: panel is the Word of God. It's faith. And sometimes
3:30
S2: you cannot see the invisible world. You cannot see God.
3:35
S2: You cannot see Jesus. You cannot see the Holy Spirit.
3:38
S2: You cannot see heaven. You cannot see the eternal world.
3:42
S2: But let me tell you what you can. You can do.
3:45
S2: You can see the instrument panel that tells us the
3:48
S2: Word of God. And as you walk by faith and
3:51
S2: not by sight, you reach your ultimate destination. Amen. Alright,
3:57
S2: so I want you to take your Bibles and turn
3:59
S2: to first second Corinthians chapter five, verse one through 11.
4:04
S2: You need to listen up. This is an important message
4:06
S2: for you to listen to, because I believe there are
4:09
S2: a lot of people that are living by sight and
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S2: not by faith. And the result is that there are
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S2: many people, including believers in Jesus, that are not motivated
4:21
S2: by what really matters, that have little confidence in the future,
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S2: and whose priorities are very mixed up because they walk
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S2: by sight and not by faith. Paul, in addressing the
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S2: Corinthian believers in in his second letter to the Corinthian
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S2: believers that we call second Corinthians, tells them what happens
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S2: when we start walking by faith and not by sight.
4:50
S2: I'm going to begin reading in verse one. It says,
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S2: for we know that if this earthly tent we live
4:56
S2: in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an
5:00
S2: eternal house in heaven not built by human hands. Meanwhile
5:07
S2: we groan, longing to be clothed instead with a heavenly dwelling.
5:13
S2: Because we are clothed, we are not found naked. For
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S2: while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened,
5:20
S2: because we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed
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S2: instead with our heavenly dwelling. Let me pause and tell
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S2: you this if you're taking notes, write this down. If
5:31
S2: you're walking by faith and not by sight, you will
5:35
S2: see beyond the temporary nature of life. The Apostle Paul
5:42
S2: talks about tents. He says, we know that if this
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S2: earthly tent were to be destroyed and people say, well,
5:49
S2: what is he talking about when he talks about an
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S2: earthly tent? Well, you know, Paul was a tent maker
5:55
S2: by trade. That was his daytime job. And so some
6:00
S2: people think, well, he made tents. And so he's talking
6:02
S2: about tents. That's just a side imagery that he's bringing about.
6:07
S2: But when he says tent, he's really talking about our bodies.
6:12
S2: A tent implies something that's temporary, flimsy, frail, and not
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S2: made to last a long time. That's a tent. When
6:24
S2: he compares our bodies to a tent, he is in essence,
6:28
S2: saying that your body is temporary. It's not meant to
6:32
S2: last forever. I know we try to make it last
6:35
S2: a long time, but if you make it to 72,
6:39
S2: that's the average age in America. People that make it
6:42
S2: to 90 are really living long. If you make it
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S2: to 100, we celebrate you and put you in the newspaper.
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S2: But our lives are really not that long. And the
6:54
S2: apostle Paul says, if the tent is destroyed, Look what
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S2: he says. So if this earthly tent, our body, if
7:04
S2: it's destroyed, if we die, we have a building from God,
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S2: an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
7:15
S2: So Paul is contrasting our temporary bodies with our eternal bodies.
7:20
S2: The Bible is clear that the moment that you die
7:25
S2: and this body goes into the grave, you are given
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S2: a a eternal body, an immortal body, a glorified body.
7:36
S2: It's not like flesh and blood like we know it,
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S2: but it's what will house your soul and your spirit.
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S2: It's a spiritual body. And so he's telling people, hey,
7:45
S2: there is much more afterlife, much more afterlife. You know,
7:52
S2: when I got married, I was married at 21. I
7:55
S2: was just starting the ministry. I was very poor. I
7:58
S2: was able to scrounge up enough money to take my
8:02
S2: wife on a honeymoon to Spain, where I grew up.
8:07
S2: But once I got to Spain, I didn't really have
8:08
S2: any money to get us around anywhere. And so my
8:12
S2: father was kind enough to leave his car at the airport,
8:16
S2: and I put a tent and his tent in the trunk.
8:20
S2: And so we did our honeymoon in a tent. I
8:23
S2: would drive to a nice place and say, honey, do
8:26
S2: you like it? You'd say, yeah, we'd put the tent up.
8:28
S2: And then we would drive up through the coast of
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S2: Spain and say, do you like this area? I'd put
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S2: the tent up and then we'd drive to France and
8:35
S2: put the tent up, drove into Switzerland, put the tent up.
8:38
S2: So we just stayed in a tent the entire time. Now,
8:44
S2: that may seem romantic and nice. I told my wife
8:50
S2: when we were approaching our 30th year anniversary. Hey, why
8:52
S2: don't we do the tent thing again, go to Europe?
8:54
S2: And she said, oh, no, I'm done with tents. Because
9:02
S2: here's the thing a tent implies temporary, frail. You may
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S2: spend a night in a tent, but you don't want
9:12
S2: to live in a tent unless you're homeless. And even
9:15
S2: the homeless people probably don't want to live in a tent.
9:17
S2: They want a more permanent place. A tent is something
9:21
S2: that you you live in because you have to. It's temporary.
9:25
S2: It's frail, but you're really looking for something much more permanent.
9:30
S2: But you understand that it's temporary. In essence, with the
9:35
S2: apostle Paul is telling these believers is, hey, embrace the
9:40
S2: fact that your body, that your life, that your existence
9:45
S2: is temporary. We sometimes deceive ourselves into thinking that life
9:52
S2: will go on forever, and that we don't want to
9:55
S2: think about the end, and we don't want to think
9:57
S2: about afterlife. And we don't want to think about death.
10:00
S2: And Paul is telling us the opposite. He's saying, think
10:03
S2: about death. Think about life after death. Think about eternity.
10:08
S2: In fact, you should live every day in light of
10:11
S2: the fact that your body is very temporary. Don't buy
10:15
S2: into this false idea. Don't buy into this narrative that
10:21
S2: you're going to live forever because you're not. And if
10:24
S2: you don't live with a sense of eternity, you will
10:28
S2: tend to have wrong priorities and live your life in
10:31
S2: a well in a way that God doesn't want you
10:33
S2: to live in. He goes on to say, by the way,
10:37
S2: in this passage. Meanwhile. We groan, longing to be clothed
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S2: instead with a heavenly dwelling. It's interesting that he says,
10:52
S2: while we're in our tent, we groan. How many of you,
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S2: as you get older, you can relate to the groaning part.
10:58
S2: Get up in the morning and. There's a little bit
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S2: of the burden of feeling the frailty of your age
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S2: and your body. But whether you're young or you're old. He,
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S2: in essence, says that like someone that's living in a
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S2: temporary state, we groan because we know we're looking and
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S2: longing for something more. We groan because we realize this
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S2: is not my permanent place. We groan because there's something
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S2: inside of us. Have you felt it? A longing for
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S2: something more, a sense that this is not the the
11:46
S2: final resting place. Something inside of you that tells you, yeah,
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S2: this is this is okay, I'm enjoying this, but this
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S2: is not really the end. You see, there's a groaning
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S2: inside of our soul. A longing for something more. Something
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S2: that's coming. Something that's on his way that a lot
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S2: of people miss.
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S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, and we're
12:16
S1: halfway through today's lesson. Pausing here for just a moment. Mark,
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S1: I want to share a quick note we received from
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S1: a listener named Diana. She says, I appreciate all bold steps. Does.
12:26
S1: And most importantly, how you are encouraging me daily to
12:28
S1: be an overcomer like the Word of God speaks of.
12:31
S1: May Jesus Christ bless each one there at Moody Radio.
12:35
S3: I love it. Diana, thank you for your word of encouragement.
12:39
S3: And I was just sharing with the team earlier. I
12:41
S3: just came back from some travels and just so encouraged
12:45
S3: by people that I meet in Europe and other parts
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S3: of the world, even that are tapping into bold steps
12:52
S3: that are telling me that God is using it in
12:54
S3: their life. By the way, a shout out to all
12:57
S3: those of you that listen internationally, and we'd love to
12:59
S3: hear from you, from whatever country you're listening to. Let
13:03
S3: us know that you're listening to. It's an encouragement to
13:05
S3: our partners. And we have a group of people, Wayne,
13:08
S3: that we call our bold partners.
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S1: Mhm.
13:12
S3: And those are that core group of people that says, hey,
13:16
S3: I really believe in this ministry. It's touched me. And
13:19
S3: I want other people to hear their monthly givers. And
13:23
S3: I just want to give a shout out to our
13:25
S3: bold partners and say, thank you. You helped this ministry
13:29
S3: keep going. And let me just tell you, you are
13:32
S3: helping it get into some corners of the world that
13:35
S3: would shock and surprise you at people that are being
13:38
S3: ministered to through this, uh, through this ministry. So we
13:41
S3: are very grateful for our bold partners.
13:44
S1: By the way, anywhere in the world. You're listening. You
13:46
S1: can reach us via email, bold steps@moody.edu, but unlock the
13:50
S1: benefits as a bold partner. Stay tuned for the end
13:52
S1: and I'll tell you all about it right now. Let's
13:54
S1: get back to the message. Walk by faith and not
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S1: by sight. Here's Mark.
14:02
S2: If you go on a trip sometime, you typically miss
14:07
S2: your bed. You may, you know, some of you are really,
14:11
S2: really particular about your bed. I go to the airport.
14:16
S2: I see people traveling with their pillows. Like, really? You
14:19
S2: need to take pillow. Some people say, I just can't
14:23
S2: sleep unless it's my pillow. You know, it's got to
14:25
S2: be the right pillow. The right. So they carry their
14:27
S2: pillow with them. You miss the food when you're away
14:31
S2: from Chicago for a while. You start. You know, if
14:34
S2: I'm out of the country for a while, the first
14:36
S2: thing that my wife and I do on the way
14:38
S2: from the airport, we order pizza. We just automatically order pizza. Why?
14:43
S2: We miss the Chicago pizza. So you miss the food.
14:47
S2: You miss your house. If you have pets, you miss
14:50
S2: your pets. But you know what you miss the most.
14:54
S2: You miss family. The people that you know, the people
14:57
S2: that you long for. What Paul is basically saying is, yeah,
15:01
S2: you know, you're away from home, but there's a longing
15:06
S2: inside of every believer to be in the unobstructed presence
15:10
S2: of Jesus, to be before God himself. There's something inside
15:15
S2: of our soul that longs for the presence of God.
15:18
S2: There's something deep inside of you that that that aches
15:21
S2: to be inside of his presence, unveiled in his glory,
15:26
S2: in this perfect place in which God sees you and
15:30
S2: you see God, and you can walk with God. That's
15:32
S2: built in the heart of every single believer, a longing
15:36
S2: to be home, a longing to be in the presence
15:39
S2: of God. And that's what the Apostle Paul is talking about.
15:42
S2: He says, meanwhile we groan to be clothed instead with
15:47
S2: the heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will
15:51
S2: not be found naked. For while we are in this
15:54
S2: tent talking about the body, we groan and are burdened
15:56
S2: because we do not wish to be unclothed. In other words,
15:59
S2: he's using the image of being clothed and unclothed. But
16:02
S2: what he's saying is there's a groaning inside of our heart.
16:07
S2: We don't want to take the tent off. In other words,
16:10
S2: we don't want to die. But at the same time,
16:13
S2: we feel like something is missing because we need our
16:18
S2: we need our immortality to swallow up our mortality. And
16:23
S2: there's something inside of us, if the Bible says so,
16:27
S2: that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
16:32
S2: And here's what I want you to know. I want
16:35
S2: you to know that although you can be content on earth,
16:39
S2: I want you to know that although you can experience
16:42
S2: joy on earth, this is not your ultimate dwelling place.
16:50
S2: If you feel a. A groaning, a discontentment, an unhappiness
16:58
S2: inside of your soul and think that maybe something is wrong.
17:02
S2: Maybe something is not wrong. Maybe what you really, really
17:06
S2: are looking for is to be home in the presence
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S2: with your father. Amen. Not only does faith walking help
17:14
S2: us see beyond the temporary nature of life. Secondly, when
17:18
S2: we walk by faith, we are confident about our future.
17:21
S2: Notice what he says in verse five. Now the one
17:24
S2: who has fashioned us for this purpose is God, who
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S2: has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what
17:32
S2: is to come. Therefore, we are always confident and know
17:37
S2: that as long as we are at home in the body,
17:40
S2: we are away from the Lord. For we walk by
17:43
S2: faith and not by sight. Notice what he says here.
17:47
S2: This is really important. I hope I can preach it
17:48
S2: well enough. The Bible says that God has fashioned us
17:52
S2: for this purpose. In other words, God's design that we
17:55
S2: live in a temporary body right now, but we long
17:58
S2: for eternity in our in our lives. But this is
18:01
S2: what he says. He says, who has given us the
18:07
S2: spirit as a deposit? What is he given us? Now,
18:13
S2: when we talk about spirit, there's little less spirit, which
18:15
S2: is your spirit as a human being. But then there's
18:18
S2: capital S spirit, which is the Holy Spirit. The Bible
18:23
S2: says that we know from other parts of Scripture that
18:27
S2: the moment that you come to Christ, God gives you
18:29
S2: the Holy Spirit. That is the third person of the
18:33
S2: Godhead that comes and the. The Holy Spirit indwells your body,
18:39
S2: the tent. Now listen to what he says. He says,
18:43
S2: because the spirit is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Now,
18:51
S2: when do you make a deposit? If you ever went
18:54
S2: to buy a house, they ask you for earnest money
18:58
S2: and you put money down. Usually 10 to 20% typically
19:01
S2: is what they ask for. You put money down. Why?
19:05
S2: Because what you're saying is, I'm putting down money because
19:10
S2: this house is not yet mine. But I'm serious about
19:13
S2: buying it. Ultimately, I will give the full amount to
19:17
S2: buy this house. And then you spend another 30 years
19:20
S2: paying for it. When a man proposes to a woman,
19:25
S2: he gives her a engagement ring. What does the ring mean?
19:31
S2: Some of you ladies are saying, I don't know. Ask
19:33
S2: my boyfriend. I've been dating him for three years and
19:34
S2: I still don't have a ring. What does it mean?
19:39
S2: An engagement ring is a earnest deposit. It's saying we're
19:44
S2: not married yet. But I'm going to marry you. This
19:47
S2: is just a reminder that it's on its way. It's
19:51
S2: a guarantee that I'm committed to marrying you all the way.
19:55
S2: When someone says, hey, you've been dating him for three years. Uh,
19:59
S2: what's going on with that? You just go. Mhm, mhm.
20:02
S2: And they know, oh, you're engaged because it's telling them. Yeah,
20:06
S2: but marriage is on its way. The moment that you
20:09
S2: came to Christ, God took the most important thing that
20:13
S2: he could his Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead.
20:18
S2: And he deposited it within your body. You walk around
20:22
S2: with the deposit that there's more to come. You have
20:26
S2: God in you, but you are not fully glorified the
20:30
S2: way God ultimately will glorify you. So you walk away.
20:35
S2: You walk around with the peace of God inside of you.
20:37
S2: God himself inside of you, and the Holy Spirit inside
20:41
S2: of you reminds you, hey, there's more to come. There's
20:43
S2: more to come. You're a child of the Most High God.
20:46
S2: He's going to do something in his life. You should
20:48
S2: live that way. There's more to come. You get around
20:51
S2: a place of worship like this and you taste heaven
20:54
S2: a little bit. It's the culture of where you're going
20:59
S2: as you start worshiping God, he says He's ABBA Father
21:02
S2: to you. The Bible tells us, listen, this is really,
21:04
S2: really important. When I went to rent a car recently,
21:08
S2: they said, uh, yeah, sir, could we have your credit card?
21:11
S2: So I gave them my credit card and they took
21:14
S2: some money out of my credit card and they said,
21:16
S2: this will be returned back to you. But this is
21:19
S2: a guarantee. This is a deposit guaranteeing that you're going
21:23
S2: to return this car because it was earnest down. Listen,
21:27
S2: the Holy Spirit is given to us. You walk around
21:31
S2: with the earnest deposit, guaranteeing that God is going to
21:35
S2: do something much bigger and greater in the future, that
21:38
S2: this is just a taste of what he's doing in
21:41
S2: your life. Look at what it tells us, for example,
21:45
S2: in Romans chapter eight, verse 23. Now only so. But
21:48
S2: we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit,
21:52
S2: groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sonship,
21:58
S2: the redemption of our bodies. Ephesians chapter one, verse 13
22:03
S2: through 14 says, in him you also have heard the
22:07
S2: word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have
22:10
S2: believed in him. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
22:14
S2: which is the guarantee of the inheritance, until we acquire
22:19
S2: the possession to the praise of his glory.
22:25
S1: That's Mark Jobe in a lesson titled How to Walk
22:27
S1: by Faith and Not by Sight here on Bold Steps.
22:31
S1: If you miss any part of today's program, feel free
22:33
S1: to catch up any time by visiting our website, Bold steps.org.
22:37
S1: While you're there, you'll also want to request your copy
22:39
S1: of this month's Bold Step Gift, a resource that goes
22:42
S1: hand in hand with today's message about living according to
22:45
S1: what we believe rather than what we see. And Mark,
22:48
S1: one of the things believers often struggle with is knowing
22:50
S1: how to actually rely on God day to day, not
22:52
S1: just believe in him, but lean on him for the
22:55
S1: decisions and relationships were navigating. How do you talk about
22:58
S1: that as a pastor?
23:00
S3: You know, Wayne, there's often confusion about the Holy Spirit.
23:03
S3: Sometimes people view the Holy Spirit as a power or
23:07
S3: a force or a flame or a wind, because Scripture
23:11
S3: uses that imagery. But the Holy Spirit is a person.
23:15
S3: The third person of the Godhead, God Himself. So when
23:19
S3: we talk about being led by the Holy Spirit, we're
23:22
S3: being led by God, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
23:24
S3: being filled by God. It is God's powerful weapon for
23:30
S3: us to be able to survive in this crazy world,
23:34
S3: that he's with us 24 hours a day. And we
23:38
S3: are not always aware of it. Right. And Anne Graham Lotz,
23:41
S3: in her book Jesus in Me Experiencing the Holy Spirit
23:45
S3: as a Constant Companion, she focuses on the fact that
23:48
S3: he's with us all the time our advocate, our counselor,
23:51
S3: our intercessor, our guide, the one who empowers us. And
23:57
S3: I think there's a lot of believers that need to
24:00
S3: sort of be reawakened to the deposit of the Holy
24:05
S3: Spirit in our lives to survive, and this powerful force
24:10
S3: that we have to be able to make it through
24:12
S3: anything that we go through God with us.
24:15
S1: Well, just go online to bold steps.org/give to make your
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24:23
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S1: steps.org or dial (800) 356-6639. Now, before we end today's program,
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25:32
S1: us to the end of today's program. But don't miss
25:34
S1: the second part of our message titled How to Walk
25:36
S1: by Faith and Not by Sight. That's coming up Friday
25:40
S1: on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a
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S1: production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.