Latest / WPEL On Demand / Bold Steps with Dr. Mark Jobe - God Is Bigger Than Your Background -- Part 1

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Bold Steps with Dr. Mark Jobe - God Is Bigger Than Your Background -- Part 1 · WPEL On Demand

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S1: Today on Bold Steps, Mark Jobe challenges us to reconsider
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S1: our perspective of God's power.
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S2: Well, God wants to do is God wants to lead
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S2: you to a point of transformation in your own life
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S2: for you to hear the word that changes you. And listen.
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S2: Listen to me well. When you change, you begin to
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S2: change your circumstances.
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S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding
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S1: pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd.
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S1: You know, it's easy to say that God is the
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S1: creator of the universe. All knowing, all loving, all powerful.
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S1: But when it comes to everyday life, Mark, how big
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S1: is the God in our life? Really? Your series is
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S1: called Your God is too Small. You know.
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S2: When I've discovered.
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S3: Over the years that we have a tendency to downsize
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S3: God sometimes because we want to manage God, and we're
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S3: oftentimes more comfortable with a pocket sized God than we
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S3: are with the sovereign God of the universe. And so
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S3: this series is entitled Your God is Too Small. And
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S3: we're going to look at some characters that had to
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S3: right size God, so to speak.
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S1: In the Old Testament book of judges today. Judges chapter six.
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S1: This message is called God is Bigger than Your Background.
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S1: Here's Mark.
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S2: I believe that we live in a day and age
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S2: where we have reduced God to manageable size. Many of
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S2: us have placed God and reduce God to a pocket
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S2: sized God. As I mentioned last week, this God is
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S2: a God that can be controlled. This God is a
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S2: God that can be put away when necessary and taken
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S2: out when convenient. This is a God that revolves around
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S2: our life. This is a God that rotates around our needs.
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S2: This is a God that can be ignored when we
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S2: want to. A God that can be manipulated when we
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S2: like to. A God that really serves our purposes and
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S2: serves our need. Much like people treat a rabbit's foot
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S2: that they keep on a little keychain, and when they
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S2: need a little luck, they just kind of rub that
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S2: little rabbit's foot, hoping that good will happen to them.
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S2: And over this series, what we're discovering and learning is
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S2: that that is not the God of Scripture. The God
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S2: of Scripture is the kind of God that you can
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S2: spend all of your life trying to learn and discover
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S2: the intricacies of his knowledge and the mysteries of his understanding,
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S2: and try to discover his character. And you could devote
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S2: your entire existence to it, and yet you would only
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S2: scratch just the surface of who this infinite God really is.
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S2: He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.
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S2: He has no beginning. He has no ending because he
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S2: is the beginning and he is the ending. He's a
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S2: God that's omniscient and knows all things. He's a God
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S2: that's omnipotent and has all power. He's a God that's sovereign,
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S2: so he has control over all things. He is the
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S2: God that's omnipresent, that there is no place on this
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S2: earth or in the universe where God in some way
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S2: is not present. He's the God of Scripture. And as
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S2: we begin to look at the magnitude of our God,
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S2: it affects the way we live. It affects the way
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S2: we behave. It affects our worldview. And so in judges
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S2: chapter six, we have the story of a man by
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S2: the name of Gideon, a man by the name of Gideon. Now,
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S2: if you've ever read through the book of judges, which
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S2: is right after the book of Joshua, you will realize
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S2: that judges read somewhat like a roller coaster. I don't
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S2: know if you've ever been on. I think it's called
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S2: American Eagle at Six Flags. They still have that one.
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S2: Screaming Eagle. American Eagle. It's either American Eagle that people
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S2: scream on or Screaming Eagle. I'm not sure one of
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S2: those two, but it's a roller coaster right at the top.
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S2: When you're going up the roller coaster, you're like, yeah,
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S2: this is good. I'm going to the top. When you're
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S2: going down, you're screaming like, whoa, this thing's going to fall.
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S2: The book of judges is like a spiritual roller coaster.
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S2: In fact, what you see in the book of judges
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S2: is that people, the people of Israel, would find a
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S2: leader that was a good leader, and then they would
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S2: begin to get their lives on track spiritually. They would
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S2: repent of their idols. They would put God back at
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S2: the center of their worship. They would begin to align
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S2: their lives with God, and everything would go good for
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S2: a season. Then when the leader would die, they would
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S2: begin to slip away from their following of God and
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S2: they would slip back into idolatry. Slip back into disobedience,
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S2: and then finally, God would get fed up and God
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S2: would bring judgment. And when God would bring judgment, they
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S2: would live miserably. And then they would call out to
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S2: God and say, God, forgive us, rescue us all. How
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S2: did we get into this mess? And then God would
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S2: send another leader, and that leader would take him out
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S2: of the mess, and they would repent, and then they
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S2: would do good for a while, climb the rollercoaster again.
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S2: And then after they were at the top, they would
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S2: quickly forget about the problems that they had, and they
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S2: would slip fast down into the valley once again. Then
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S2: when they're down at the valley, they would call out
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S2: to God again. And you read this over and over
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S2: in Scripture. It's like a cycle. And some of you
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S2: say those people, but oh, hey, hold on a second.
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S2: Put the pause button because doesn't that describes so many
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S2: times your life and mine. You've walked away from God,
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S2: neglected the things of God. Oh, you believe he's there
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S2: but are not really living to him. And then suddenly
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S2: there's a crisis in your household. Your little child is
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S2: taken to the emergency room, and the doctors are saying,
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S2: we're not sure if there's a chance of their survival.
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S2: And suddenly you become a praying man and you start
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S2: crying out to God and praying, and you pull out
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S2: the Bible and you dust it off, and you're reading
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S2: Psalms every day, and you're listening to worship tapes, and
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S2: you're talking about faith and calling up every prayer leader
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S2: that you know. You're showing up at church on Sunday morning,
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S2: you're going to home group, you're going to prayer meeting. Man,
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S2: suddenly you became so religious people don't even recognize you.
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S2: And you're saying, oh God, if you come through, oh, God,
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S2: listen to my prayer. God, I promise that I'll follow you.
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S2: I'll promise I'll turn my ways around. I'll never go
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S2: back to who I was. Just answer this prayer of mine.
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S2: And then God somehow miraculously breaks through. The fever breaks.
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S2: Your child pulls through. You're crying and weeping. People are rejoicing.
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S2: You celebrate. And at last, about three months, and then suddenly,
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S2: like the people of Israel, slowly but surely, your memory
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S2: starts fading and those promises you made start going away.
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S2: And and, and the urgency starts leaving you and you
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S2: become less and less committed. And by the time a
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S2: year has rolled around, you're back to the same old,
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S2: same old. You were on the height of the roller coaster.
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S2: Now you're in the depths of the valley, because sometimes
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S2: our spiritual memory is very, very short. In the story
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S2: of Gideon, we pick up the story in chapter six.
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S2: When they're at the bottom of the roller coaster, they're
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S2: in the valley of despair. In fact, they've been at
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S2: the bottom of the roller coaster. It tells us in
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S2: chapter six for seven years. Chapter six, verse one, it
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S2: says again. Oh. Again. Again. The Israelites did evil in
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S2: the eyes of the Lord. It says again, because this
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S2: is a cycle. It says again, because this is a pattern.
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S2: And for seven years he gave them into the hands
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S2: of the Midianites. Now I want you to notice who
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S2: gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Who is he?
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S2: God gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Do
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S2: you realize that sometimes God will give you into the
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S2: hands of your enemies? Do you realize that sometimes God
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S2: is the author of your misery? Do you realize that
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S2: God sometimes is the author of a layoff, and God
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S2: sometimes is the author of your difficult time that it's
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S2: God that sometimes takes you in the midst of the storm.
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S2: It's God sometimes that causes your crop to fail. It's
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S2: God that sometimes allows your bank account to dry up.
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S2: It's God sometimes that allows chaos in the household and
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S2: in the family. It's God that allows it sometime, not
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S2: because it's his will, not because of his choice, but
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S2: because he allows us to inherit the mess that we
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S2: have created. You see, we never grow up if someone's
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S2: always cleaning our mess up after us or rescuing you,
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S2: rescuing us from the mess that we're making. Sometimes as
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S2: a parent, you have to let your child experience their
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S2: own mess. Hello, mama. I know you've been cleaning up
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S2: your child's room for a long time. I know you're
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S2: still making their bed, but they're 22, for goodness sakes.
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S2: Don't you think it's about time they learn to wash
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S2: some dishes themselves, make their own bed, vacuum their own
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S2: room a little bit. Hey, I know your son's 35,
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S2: but isn't it about time he learns how to pay
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S2: his own bills without coming to Mama and Papa to
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S2: borrow money? Hey, isn't it about time they learn a
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S2: little bit about growing up? And listen, listen, some of
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S2: you mamas have created mama's boys. And you know what?
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S2: They know that they never have to take responsibility because
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S2: you take responsibility for them. And you think, well, I
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S2: love my little boy, and I'm going to tell you,
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S2: you're loving your little boy in the chaos and ruin
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S2: and spoiled ness, because there comes a day and time
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S2: where they have to mop up their own mess, where
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S2: they have to experience the own sees that they've sown,
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S2: where they have to grow up. And it's what God
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S2: does with us. Sometimes God is a God of mercy,
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S2: and God is a God of grace, and God is
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S2: a God that's long suffering, but he will Extend his
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S2: mercy and he will extend his grace. But there comes
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S2: a time where we refuse to listen to the conviction
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S2: of God, where we refuse to go grow up. And
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S2: so there comes a time when God will say, okay,
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S2: now you will inherit the mess that you have created.
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S2: Now you will live in your own mess. Now you
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S2: will experience the difficulty and the pain of the mess
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S2: that you have created. And so it was with Gideon.
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S2: For years God had shown mercy. But finally God says,
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S2: you've sown the wind. Now you will inherit the whirlwind.
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S2: You've sown these seeds, and now you must live with
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S2: the consequences of what you've sown.
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S1: You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe as we
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S1: hit the midpoint of today's broadcast. We want to pause
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S1: and remind you that if you ever miss part of
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S1: these daily lessons, you can always find Mark's teaching on
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S1: our website and listen on your own time by going
12:03
S1: to bold steps.org. And if you'd prefer to have your
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S1: Bible teaching session while you're out in nature, maybe hiking
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S1: too busy or too inconsistent to fit in a whole
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S1: half hour lesson, no worries, you can still find some
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S1: great teaching in under a minute through the Bold Steps minute.
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S1: Check out the 62nd teachings and start listening today. Visit
12:37
S1: bold steps.org. All right, let's go ahead and continue with
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S1: today's message from Mark. It's titled God is Bigger than
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S1: Your Background. On bold steps.
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S2: The consequences for the people of Israel was that they
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S2: became a defeated people. Verse two because the power of Midian,
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S2: which was another nation, another tribe, was so oppressive that
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S2: the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain cliffs and
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S2: caves and strongholds. No longer could they live in cities
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S2: and villages like they were used to. Now they were
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S2: reduced to living in caves, hiding in shelters, running for
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S2: their lives. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites,
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S2: and other eastern people would invade the country. They camped
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S2: on the land and they ruined the crops all the
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S2: way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing
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S2: for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came
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S2: up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.
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S2: It was impossible to count the men and their camels.
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S2: They invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished
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S2: the Israelites that finally, finally, they cried out to the
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S2: Lord for help. Sometimes what precedes a God encounter, sometimes
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S2: what precedes a earnest cry unto God is a time
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S2: of having to hit rock bottom. Some of you are
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S2: sitting in this auditorium today, not because you woke up
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S2: one day with an earnest desire for God and to
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S2: learn his Word. Some of you are in here today
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S2: because you hit rock bottom so hard you had nowhere
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S2: else to turn. Some of you finally were awakened to
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S2: the reality of your desperation. After that divorce became so
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S2: painful you considered Suicide, or that addiction became so compulsive
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S2: that it was gobbling your life away, or that depression
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S2: became so great that you could see nothing but just
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S2: a dark hole. And it was at that place. It
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S2: was in that valley. It was at that area where
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S2: you lingered and lingered for a long time. And finally
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S2: you raised your eyes to the heaven. Finally you cried
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S2: out to God and you said, Oh God, I've had enough.
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S2: Rescue me, dear God. Help me, oh Lord. And sometimes
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S2: that's exactly the way we come to God. The Bible
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S2: says that they cried out to the Lord because of Midian.
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S2: Now I want you to realize that it took him
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S2: seven years to cry out to God. How many of
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S2: you know that sometimes we go in our valley, but
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S2: we figure we can handle our valley? I think I
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S2: can solve this problem. I got some tricks up my sleeve.
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S2: I got some people. I got some resources. I'm creative.
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S2: I know how to pull myself up by my bootstraps. Hey,
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S2: I've been down before. I'm getting up again. I'm getting
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S2: up swinging and fighting. I can do this. I've been
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S2: through worse before. Hey, my best friend is me. Number one.
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S2: Me and some of you have been down that road.
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S2: And some of you have exhausted your resources, tried your hardest,
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S2: fought the most you could, battled, pulled your strings, pulled
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S2: up again and again on your bootstraps. But still, even then,
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S2: you found yourself in the same valley without being able
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S2: to pull out. And when the Israelites cried out to
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S2: God because of many in verse eight says that God
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S2: did something that most of us don't want because most
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S2: of us, when we cry out to God in the
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S2: middle of our valley, in the middle of our whole.
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S2: What we want is we want a ladder, we want
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S2: a solution. But sometimes when we call out to God
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S2: in the middle of our problem, in the middle of
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S2: our hole, in the middle of our of our valley,
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S2: God doesn't always provide a ladder. God doesn't always provide
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S2: a quick solution. Sometimes what he does is he sends
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S2: a prophet. They cried out to God. It says, And
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S2: God sent them a prophet. You see, a prophet is
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S2: one that carries the word of God. And before we
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S2: can experience the solution of God, sometimes we need to
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S2: hear the word of God. Because if God just solved
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S2: our problem, many of us would never learn. Sometimes it's
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S2: in the lessons you learn in the middle of the
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S2: problems there, the lessons that are most engraved and tattooed
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S2: on our hearts. You see, pain has a way of
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S2: tattooing lessons deep within our soul. Uh, isn't that true? Hey,
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S2: you dated one time, and man, was it painful, man.
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S2: Did you make a mess? Next time around, you're a
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S2: little smarter. And that pain is a reminder. Be careful,
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S2: be careful. Hey, you went down that road before. And, man,
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S2: you ended up with a lot of heartache, a lot
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S2: of difficulty. And we are wired. We're wired to remember
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S2: the pain. And the pain serves to us as an
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S2: underlying underscore highlight. Hey, don't go down this road again.
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S2: And unless the lesson is followed with pain, sometimes we
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S2: don't learn the lesson. Pain is a gift to us.
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S2: At times. It's a gift to teach us. It's a
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S2: gift to remind us. It's a gift to make us
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S2: think again. Before I go down this road. And so
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S2: oftentimes God will let us experience some pain, not because
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S2: he doesn't love us, not because he doesn't hear us,
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S2: but because he does love us, because he does hear
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S2: us and he wants to change us. Some of you
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S2: have thought for some reason that if you came to
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S2: God that life would be painless. God never promised you
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S2: a painless life. Look at Jesus, who fully gave himself
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S2: to the will of the father and experienced the pain
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S2: of crucifixion and heartache and brokenness. Following Christ is not
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S2: a painless road. In fact, it's a road. Oftentimes, it's
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S2: riddled with pain and difficulty at times. But God is
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S2: there in the midst of it. And God sent them
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S2: a prophet that says, and the prophet said, this is
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S2: what the Lord, the God of Israel says. And the
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S2: prophets there to remind them, I brought you out of
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S2: Egypt and out of the land of slavery. I snatched
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S2: you from the power of Egypt and from the hand
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S2: of your oppressors. I drove them from before you and
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S2: gave you their land. I said, I am the Lord
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S2: your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites
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S2: in whose land you live. But you have not listened.
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S2: The prophet rose to simply say, explain why they're in
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S2: the mess they were in. And the prophet rose up
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S2: to say, you're in this mess because you haven't listened
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S2: to the voice of God. If you're taking notes this morning,
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S2: I want you to jot this down. God is bigger
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S2: than the mess we've created. He hears our earnest cry
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S2: and makes way for a second chance. Verse 11 says,
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S2: then the angel of the Lord came and sat down.
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S2: I love the fact that God is a God that
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S2: meets us sometimes in the middle of our messy life.
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S2: Because I'm going to be honest with you, 80% of
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S2: the messes that we are in. We have created those messes,
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S2: and sometimes we look to people around us and say, well,
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S2: they've made the mess. But the truth is that most
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S2: of our messes are self-created messes. Most of our difficulties.
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S2: It's a series of bad decisions that have created those messes.
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S2: Most of the valleys we go into, we didn't just
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S2: fall off a cliff and into the valley. We made
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S2: a series of decisions that led us into the valley,
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S2: and we kept making decisions until we went lower and
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S2: lower and lower. Most of our messes. We have created
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S2: the majority of them, and we ask God to save us.
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S2: And God often times will send us a word. Many
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S2: of us want a solution, a zap. What God wants
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S2: to do is God wants to lead you to a
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S2: point of transformation in your own life. For you to
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S2: hear the word that changes you. And listen. Listen to
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S2: me well. When you change, you begin to change your circumstances.
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S1: That's our Bible teacher, Mark Jobe, and you're listening to
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S1: Bold Steps. And if you missed any of today's lesson
22:16
S1: titled God is Bigger Than Your Background, or you want
22:19
S1: to catch up on an earlier program from this week's lineup,
22:21
S1: just go to bold steps.org. And when you go to
22:24
S1: our website, be sure to request your copy. This month's
22:27
S1: Bold Step gift, a resource I think will resonate with
22:30
S1: just about anyone who's ever felt like they're facing life's
22:32
S1: messes alone. And it has to do with the Holy Spirit. Mark,
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S1: a lot of Christians would say they believe in the
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S1: Holy Spirit, but if we're honest, many of us aren't
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S1: sure what it actually means to have a relationship with him.
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S1: What does that gap exist?
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S3: Yeah, I think sometimes it's we don't always understand who
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S3: the Holy Spirit is. Sometimes we've been involved in extremism,
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S3: sometimes we've been involved in neglect of the Holy Spirit.
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S3: People have viewed the Holy Spirit as a power, a force,
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S3: an unction, a wind, a fire, but not as the
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S3: person and the Holy Spirit is God Himself, the third
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S3: person of the Godhead. It's God living in us. In fact,
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S3: our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He
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S3: lives in us. If you're a believer today, the Holy
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S3: Spirit is inside of you and he's inside of you
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S3: with a purpose to guide you, to empower you, to
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S3: coach you, to open up the word, to help you pray.
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S3: He's a 24 hour coach and helper, helping us live
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S3: this Christian life that we could not live on our own.
23:38
S3: But sometimes we're vaguely aware of that, but we don't
23:41
S3: really understand how it all works.
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S1: And that's where Anne's book comes into play. Jesus in
23:46
S1: Me experiencing the Holy Spirit.
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S3: Absolutely. And it's our bold gift of the month. Anne
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S3: Graham Lotz is the daughter of Billy Graham, has a
23:55
S3: powerful ministry. We've had her speak here at Moody before, And, um,
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S3: she just breaks this down in an easy to understand
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S3: way for anybody that's saying, I want to know more
24:06
S3: about the Holy Spirit.
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S1: All right, just go online to bold steps.org/give to make
24:12
S1: your donation and request this bold step gift or call
24:15
S1: us at 800 DL. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. You can also
24:22
S1: send your gift through the mail. Write to us at
24:24
S1: Bold Steps, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60,006 ten.
24:30
S1: And here's something worth remembering it's not the size of
24:33
S1: any single gift that sustains a ministry like this one.
24:36
S1: It's the faithfulness of a monthly commitment. If you want
24:40
S1: to make the most of your giving, consider becoming a
24:42
S1: bold partner by spreading your donation out on a monthly basis.
24:47
S1: And when you sign up to give $30 or more,
24:49
S1: you'll receive a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck Out
24:53
S1: of Your Cave and Into Your Call, an exclusive biweekly
24:56
S1: Bold Partner post from Mark and a 50% discount off
25:00
S1: any item at the Moody Publishers online store. So sign
25:04
S1: up to become a Gold Partner today at bold steps.org
25:08
S1: or call 800 DL Moody. Now, don't forget to sign
25:11
S1: up for our weekly devotional. It's free! Mark sends it
25:14
S1: out to his email list every Monday. It's called The
25:16
S1: Bold Step or Weekly, full of biblical insight, relevant updates,
25:20
S1: and encouragement to start your week with God at the forefront.
25:23
S1: Make sure you're on the list for next week's edition
25:25
S1: by signing up today for The Bold Step Weekly on
25:28
S1: our website. Again, that's bold steps.org. Well, that's our time
25:33
S1: for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, and we'll see you back
25:35
S1: here tomorrow for the conclusion of Mark's message. God is
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S1: bigger than your background. That's Thursday's edition of Bold Steps
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S1: with Mark Joe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio,
25:48
S1: a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.