00:00:00
S1: Making a quiet space in your life helps you hear the voice of God, which will adjust your life and help put things into divine perspective. Bold steps is next.
00:00:11
S2: I believe that when you find your quiet space, it helps you release the things that you have no control over. First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Some of you need to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus because he's big enough to carry them.
00:00:40
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Today we continue the message titled Making Quiet Space in Busy Places. Encouragement to block out distracting voices, taking time to listen to what God is saying to you, and maybe what you need to do. What a great time to consider this as we are at the start of a fresh new year. All bold steps messages are archived for you to conveniently listen to. Again, just go to Bold Steps radio.org. But right now in Luke chapter ten with part two of the message, here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
00:01:20
S2: You know what happens to us when you start to feel worried, upset. You start to feel like other people are the reason that you're worried and stressed and upset, which makes you feel disconnected from people. And you start focusing in on self-pity. And when you fall into self-pity, you start to feel like no one really cares about you because all the weight is on you and you're not focused on God. When you're self-pity, self-pity has one focus, and the one focus it has is yourself. Let me tell you, if you're living right now in self-pity and. And people, how many of you know we all go through our little pity parties. How many of you have been through pity parties recently? How many of you are going through a pity party today? No, don't raise your hand. Not today. I you know, but you know what a pity party does. It makes us feel like poor is me. I do all the work. No one else cares. I carry all the weight around the house. I do all the finances, if ever. If. If other people would do their job, my life would be happier. I would have more joy. No one else cares. My siblings don't pitch in to help. For our aging parents, all of it falls on me. No one else helps me out. I wish everybody would do their part. I'm the only one that does it. No one even cares. And God, do you even care? Do you even notice that I'm here? That's what self-pity does to you. If you are in the. If you are in the grip of self-pity. Listen, brother or sister, I'm going to tell you you need to break that today or 2019 will be a miserable year for you. Lord, don't you care? Questioning the love of God. When you fall into self-pity, you start to question even the love of God. The concern of God. The character of God is questioned when you fall into the trap of self-pity. And Martha was so overwhelmed, not just because of this. I can guarantee there's a history building up for her to get to this point where she's wondering if Jesus even cares about the situation, if he's even noticed, if he even cares about the difficulty that she's going into. She's already fallen into a victim's mentality, the mindset. God doesn't care about my situation, and if he doesn't care, then I must not be important. Number four. If you don't have a quiet time, if you don't get a time where you refresh, where you feel, where you listen to God, where you experience his love and understand it at his feet and listen to what he has to say, listen, you'll start to get angry towards people that are closest to you. Verse 40. My sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. You see, what I've discovered is that when we don't have a quiet place and we start to get overwhelmed and worried and anxious and stressed out and upset that usually we, we, we know that we shouldn't live that way. We don't like to live that way. We find ourselves kind of blowing up in situations. But then what happens is we start to blame it on people around us. We start to feel like it's people around us that have made us that way. And if people around us would change, then we would be different. And so we shift and say it's because of them that we're upset. It's because of my boss. He gives me too much workload. I'm stressed out. It's because of my husband who doesn't lift one finger around the house to help with my kids, or discipline them or do anything. It all falls on me. If he would be more proactive and a man, maybe I wouldn't feel this way. It's because of my family that doesn't help at all. They help just the people that they want to help the special ones, but they never lift a finger to help me. If they would help out, then I would be different. And so we develop resentment and anger to the people that are around us because we feel if they were different, I wouldn't be stressed. There is no one that can take your joy but you. There is no one that can steal your peace But you. You are not a victim. You. You need to take ownership of your attitude and your joy. Now, there are circumstances that make it hard, but there's no one that can take away your joy. No one that can take away your joy. You. You need to take responsibility for the attitude that you have. Amen. Why don't we say it out loud? I take responsibility for my attitude. No one can steal my joy unless I allow it. Whew! You got that off your chest. Now. You see, the moment that we start acting like victims is we act like other people have made us the way we are. I talk to people that are angry. I've sat down with husbands that are abusive with their language and our our our just menaces at the house. And they make it sound like their wife has made them that way. And sometimes they convince that the typical tactic of an abuser is to make the person that they're abusing think that it's their fault, that they're abusive. And sometimes people live under those circumstances long enough that you almost think, yeah, you know, he's angry and abusive and swears and does things like that because of me. No, no, no, no, let me tell you, he needs to take responsibility for that. No one can make someone like that. They take responsibility for that. It is not your fault that someone blows up that way. Mary had fallen into the mentality of a victim, and she was angry and explosive towards her sister because she was playing the blame game. And by the way, she was playing the comparison game. Look at my sister. I'm doing more work than my sister is doing. I'm comparing what I'm doing with my sister, and I feel like she has a better life than me. Can I tell you, no one ever wins in the comparison game? No one. And if you don't have a quiet place and a quiet time. If you're not centered, if you haven't centered yourself on God. If you have no quiet space, then chances are you'll fall into a comparison game. The comparison game, by the way, in today's society, is worse than it's ever been before. In fact, we have a whole generation, especially of young people, because of media that make it even more easy to compare themselves with other people. Because every time someone puts up a Snapchat or Instagram or Facebook, how many of you know you don't post a picture on Instagram? You don't wake up and say, wow, I look bad. This is a bad hair day. I don't have a lot of those bad hair days, but you don't wake up and say, Let me take a picture of how bad I look. People don't do that. You wait until you're in a fun time. You've spent an hour getting ready. It's a great hair day. You just. Your makeup's perfect. And then you go. And you wait till friends are around. You gather them around. They say, oh, no, no. Smile. And then someone that's at their house having a bad day and alone by themselves, they look at the Instagram, they see you with all your friends, you're looking so good. And they compare themselves and they say, wow, look at my poor life. I wish I had friends like that, I wish I looked like that, I wish I was as happy as they're happy. But what you don't understand is that they were just fighting before the friends, before they took the Snapchat, that afterwards they got in a big fight with each other, and that they really don't look that good all the time. But sociologists and psychologists are doing studies today and are discovering that the rate of loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety is at an all time high, especially among our young people, in part because we're super connected so that we can compare ourselves with other people's lives. We're super connected via our mobile devices, but we're very little connected relationally. And when you live in a world of comparison, you're digitally comparing yourself with other people. You're always going to lose when it's just the highlight of the best moments that you're comparing yourself to. And so I believe that when we play the comparison game, we're always going to lose. When we get into that mode of comparison. She's prettier, she's thinner, she looks better. She has friends. Look at my lousy life. And we play that comparison game. And it's a way that the enemy uses to bash us down, Beat us up, make us think that we're the only one that struggles. The only one that's alone. The only one that struggles with self-image issues. The only one that doesn't have a lot of friends. Because we compare ourselves with this fabricated fake thing that we call. Social media. Mary, before the advent of social media, was already struggling with the reality of her own heart, comparing herself to her sister. And there was a frustration. Frustration is the gap between reality and our own expectations. So if you don't have a quiet time, if you haven't found a place to be quiet before God, listen to center yourself to hear his voice, to listen to the voice of God. Chances are you're going to struggle with a lot of these things that I just listed. And then in verse 41 and 42, this is what Jesus tells Martha. He says, you are worried and upset about many things. Listen, but only one thing. Say one thing. Aren't you glad? It's just one thing? If I gave you three, you couldn't remember it. But there's one thing. You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing. Only one thing. One thing is needed. Not three, not seven, not five. One thing is needed. What do you mean, one thing? Jesus. Yeah. One thing. If you do this one thing, it affects everything. If you get this one thing right, everything in life is affected by it. Your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit, your happiness, your joy, your filling of the spirit. One thing, one thing. If you don't get this one thing right, everything suffers. One important, fundamental, foundational, powerful element that if you don't have it in your life. Everything else in your life will, will, will have a detrimental effect on how you live your life. It's one main thing that so many of us ignore. We neglect, we step over. We don't see this one thing can make a huge difference in this year. And Jesus himself said one thing. One thing is needed. What is that one thing? Well, he doesn't even go on to explain what that one thing is, but he points to a picture. He points to Mary. What is Mary doing? She's on the floor. At the feet of Jesus, listening quietly to what he has to say. Looking into his eyes. Hearing his voice Absorbing what he has to say in full surrender. She's found her quiet space.
00:14:17
S1: Mark job focusing on the one thing here on bold steps. A short pause in the message now to make sure you know about a valuable tool for your walk with God is completely free. It's the Bold Steps app. With the app, you can access full sermon series from Mark right from your phone or mobile device, along with short teaching videos, biblical insights, and practical tools for daily living. Whether you're looking to take your first bold step or your next one, this app puts Mark's Bible teaching rate in the palm of your hand. Download it today from your favorite App Store. Just search for bold steps and start exploring. And just so you know, we'd love to hear from you. If today's message has impacted your life or if you have a testimony to share how God is working in your story, please reach out to us. You can send us a message through our website, Bold steps.org, or call our recorded listener line at 312.3292011. That's (312) 329-2011. Your story matters, and it may encourage someone else who's walking through a similar season. Now here's Mark Jobe again with more on getting first things right in our message titled Making Quiet Space in Busy Places.
00:15:31
S2: Can I tell you something? I've given you this illustration before, but let me just remind you again how it works. It's happened to me in the past before. Get up early in the morning. My wife is still in bed and still asleep. I don't want to turn on the light. Put my shirt on. Start buttoning my. Start buttoning my can't see. Button. My first button. Button. My second button. By the time I get to the bottom, like, uh oh. Can I tell you something? You get the first button wrong. You get all the buttons wrong. One thing, one thing. And many of us, what happens is we get the first button wrong because we haven't done the one thing that affects everything. The one thing that Jesus said, this is part of what you have to do. Let me ask you this question. What would happen if you decided I'm going to get the one thing right every day? The one thing, the one thing that Jesus said, this is the main thing that you have to get right instead of going to bed at night. And the last thing that you think of is the 10:00 news and who's getting killed and shot, and tragedy around the world, and violence and rape and murder. And you go to bed worried and and and just overwhelmed with the dark cloud. And you get up in the morning and you turn on the news again, and you just hear a lot of more political infighting and, um, just the negativity of the news. And so you go to your day and already you filled your mind with everything that's wrong with the world. And you get in to Chicago traffic and it just adds to it and you can't stand it. And it's cold and the pressure at work and you, by the time you walk into your work, you're already in a nasty attitude. But what would happen if you decided, I'm going to get the one thing, the one thing straight every day and you get up in the morning and before you turn on the television, before you check your Facebook or Instagram, before you open the paper, before you get anything else into your spirit. What if the one thing that you did from the beginning that you would find your favorite chair, your favorite spot, that you would go into your office or the living room or wherever it is, and that you would open up your Bible. And that the first information you get from that day, the very first thing that you get that day would be the Word of God, and that you would stop and you would read a psalm and you would listen to what God is saying, and you would breathe. Speak to me, Lord. I'm listening. And you'd spend a little time praying and getting all those things that are on your shoulders, all those things that you're worried about and that you would say, casting all your cares on him for, he cares for me. And so you throw all those things on God, and you remember that he's sovereign, and you read a psalm, and you let the Holy Spirit speak to you and fill you with the fresh new love, so that when you jump on the expressway, You've already done that one thing, and when the guy cuts you off, you can give him a smile and say, these crazy Chicago drivers, man, I'm going to keep my joy. And when you walk in your building, you say, Thank God I have a job to work at. Praise God that I that I'm able to work here. And when you see people, you don't see them as problems, but you see them as God's creation and people that you can love. And when you walk through the day, you've already done that one thing and it's filled you up and powered you up, and you are ready to tackle the day because you have that one thing right. Hey, I gave my life to Christ when I was 15 years old. Seriously. And that's one of the practices that I was taught in the beginning. Back in the day, they would call it devotions or quiet time, but I determined as a 15 year old, I still have the Bible that I started with, that I would do that one thing every day Until this day. Every day that I get up, I do that one thing first. Now I know not everybody has to do it the first thing in the morning. Some of you are night people. For me, it's the first thing I need to do in the morning. I have my spot. I make my cup of coffee. I don't know, I hear the voice of God better with a cup of coffee. I get my cup of coffee. I open up my Bible. I read, I listen, I write a prayer out. What? I sense that God is impressing on my heart. I pray and then you know what? Then I say, come on world, come on world, whatever you got, throw it at me. Because I've done my one thing. And when I have my one thing, I feel more filled. When I do that one thing, I feel like I'm in the right place. I've had time at the feet of Jesus to hear, to listen, to be filled, to be empowered. And it changes my day because I've done that one thing, that one thing, that most important thing that's needed in my. And hey, it doesn't end there. How many of you know that you got to refill throughout the day as well? The beauty, the beautiful thing about the power of the living Jesus is that I have the Holy Spirit inside of me. So it's not just in the morning that I can connect with God, but as I'm as during the day, I can just say, Lord, help me at this time, I need, I need a fresh empowerment by your Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is with you 24 hours a day, that you can talk to God at any time. The Bible says, pray without ceasing. So I'm connected to the one thing I started with, the one thing I'm flowing on, the one thing, and I'm walking with Jesus during the day, on my good days. And no matter what comes my way, I feel like, yeah, let it come because I'm connected and filled with the power of the living Jesus. One thing and I'm just wondering, hey, how's the one thing in your life? I believe that when you find your quiet space. Number one, it helps you release the things that you have no control over. First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Some of you need to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus because he's big enough to carry them. Number two, it helps you put life into divine perspective. Psalms 46 verse ten says, be still and know that I'm God. Number three the quiet place, the quiet time. It helps you hear the still small voice that adjusts your life. First Kings, chapter 19, verse 13. We see the story of Elijah that went into the cave, and it wasn't until the into the quietness of the cave that he heard the whisper of God's voice. Sometimes you can't hear the whisper when there's too much noise. Sometimes when the noise is going. When it's too loud, the noise inside of your head, the voices outside. You're not going to hear the whisper of God until you stop and start listening for the whisper, the whisper of the Holy Spirit that convicts you, that speaks to you, that guides you, the whisper of the Holy Spirit that's confirmed and spoken to you through His Word. And number four, it helps you focus on what really is important in life. Listen to what Lamentations chapter three, verse 22 through 23 says, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Oh, here it goes, here it goes. Are you with me? They are new. What? Say it out loud. They are new. What? Every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Hey, listen, I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me well. The mercies of God are new, fresh, new every morning. You know what I feel like? Sometimes I feel like sometimes God's mercy is like that mother that gets up early and makes a breakfast for her son or daughter because they have to go to work. And she's got it all made and she's, she's cooked the scrambled eggs and the bacon and the sausage and she's prepared and made the coffee and the, the son gets up and he says, mom, mom, that's nice. It smells good. I don't have time. I'm in a hurry. And you rush out of the house without tasting that which has been prepared for you. I feel like the grace of God is like that for so many of us that God, when you wake up in the morning, his mercies are new, new. It's a fresh mercy for that day. What is mercy? It's the compassion of God, the grace of God, the favor of God. God saying, here it is, tap into it. And you say, God, I'm too busy. I gotta go get my Starbucks coffee. God. And God is left with new mercies that are not tapped into. Not recognized. Tap into the goodness of God. Taste the goodness of God. Taste and see that he is good. Every single morning you say, well, pastor, I went to a Women's Encounter retreat four months ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was four months ago. God has fresh stuff for you every single day. Tap into it.
00:25:39
S1: Well, that's my job. And you're listening to Bold Steps. We certainly hope the last two days of teaching has been helpful to you, and a challenge to take moments each day to find a quiet place and get centered on the things of God, and discover those new mercies and grace. Thanks for listening. Mark. Next week we move ahead with a series of messages you've titled Life interrupted. Give us an overview.
00:26:01
S3: Absolutely. All of us have experienced seasons where our life is just interrupted, where we are T-boned by some unexpected event, right? And we need to know how to handle that. And so in Genesis chapter 39, we're going to start by looking at the life of Joseph that was T-boned on multiple occasions. But this message is called staying in God's Favor zone because we can be interrupted, displaced, but still stay in God's favor zone.
00:26:35
S1: All right. I'm looking forward to it. Make sure you don't miss the start of life interrupted Monday here on Bold Steps. Before we wrap up today, I want to make sure you know about this month's exclusive Bold Step Gift, a timely and encouraging book by Doctor Erwin Lutzer called The Church in Babylon. Heeding the call to be a light in the darkness. It's a resource that fits right in with what we've been talking about this week, carving out that quiet space to hear from God, even when the noise of our culture is pulling us in every direction. Doctor Lutzer will encourage you to stay rooted in your faith and be a light right where God has placed you. We'll send you a copy today. When you give a gift of any amount to support this ministry, just visit us online at bold steps.org or call us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And if you'd rather send your gift through the mail, you can write to us at Bold Steps, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois. 606 ten. As always, we want to say a special thank you to our bold partners, the faithful men and women who give a monthly gift to help sustain this ministry. If you've ever considered joining that family, I'd love to invite you to sign up today. When you give $30 or more a month, we'll send you a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck, along with a bold partner post and a 50% discount on anything at the Moody Publishers online store. Sign up today at bold steps.org. And don't forget, you can stay connected with us all week long by searching for Bold Steps Radio on Facebook and Instagram, or by subscribing to the Bold Steps podcast. Just search for Bold Steps with doctor Mark Jobe using your favorite podcast app. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Don't forget to stay connected with us between broadcasts, follow Bold Steps Radio on Facebook and Instagram for daily encouragement and ministry updates, and sign up for Pastor Mark's free Bold Stepper weekly devotional. Every Monday, you'll receive biblical insight and practical encouragement to help you start your week in God's Word. Come back next time and learn how to stay in your spiritual zone. That's on Monday's edition of Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
S1: Making a quiet space in your life helps you hear the voice of God, which will adjust your life and help put things into divine perspective. Bold steps is next.
00:00:11
S2: I believe that when you find your quiet space, it helps you release the things that you have no control over. First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Some of you need to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus because he's big enough to carry them.
00:00:40
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Today we continue the message titled Making Quiet Space in Busy Places. Encouragement to block out distracting voices, taking time to listen to what God is saying to you, and maybe what you need to do. What a great time to consider this as we are at the start of a fresh new year. All bold steps messages are archived for you to conveniently listen to. Again, just go to Bold Steps radio.org. But right now in Luke chapter ten with part two of the message, here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
00:01:20
S2: You know what happens to us when you start to feel worried, upset. You start to feel like other people are the reason that you're worried and stressed and upset, which makes you feel disconnected from people. And you start focusing in on self-pity. And when you fall into self-pity, you start to feel like no one really cares about you because all the weight is on you and you're not focused on God. When you're self-pity, self-pity has one focus, and the one focus it has is yourself. Let me tell you, if you're living right now in self-pity and. And people, how many of you know we all go through our little pity parties. How many of you have been through pity parties recently? How many of you are going through a pity party today? No, don't raise your hand. Not today. I you know, but you know what a pity party does. It makes us feel like poor is me. I do all the work. No one else cares. I carry all the weight around the house. I do all the finances, if ever. If. If other people would do their job, my life would be happier. I would have more joy. No one else cares. My siblings don't pitch in to help. For our aging parents, all of it falls on me. No one else helps me out. I wish everybody would do their part. I'm the only one that does it. No one even cares. And God, do you even care? Do you even notice that I'm here? That's what self-pity does to you. If you are in the. If you are in the grip of self-pity. Listen, brother or sister, I'm going to tell you you need to break that today or 2019 will be a miserable year for you. Lord, don't you care? Questioning the love of God. When you fall into self-pity, you start to question even the love of God. The concern of God. The character of God is questioned when you fall into the trap of self-pity. And Martha was so overwhelmed, not just because of this. I can guarantee there's a history building up for her to get to this point where she's wondering if Jesus even cares about the situation, if he's even noticed, if he even cares about the difficulty that she's going into. She's already fallen into a victim's mentality, the mindset. God doesn't care about my situation, and if he doesn't care, then I must not be important. Number four. If you don't have a quiet time, if you don't get a time where you refresh, where you feel, where you listen to God, where you experience his love and understand it at his feet and listen to what he has to say, listen, you'll start to get angry towards people that are closest to you. Verse 40. My sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. You see, what I've discovered is that when we don't have a quiet place and we start to get overwhelmed and worried and anxious and stressed out and upset that usually we, we, we know that we shouldn't live that way. We don't like to live that way. We find ourselves kind of blowing up in situations. But then what happens is we start to blame it on people around us. We start to feel like it's people around us that have made us that way. And if people around us would change, then we would be different. And so we shift and say it's because of them that we're upset. It's because of my boss. He gives me too much workload. I'm stressed out. It's because of my husband who doesn't lift one finger around the house to help with my kids, or discipline them or do anything. It all falls on me. If he would be more proactive and a man, maybe I wouldn't feel this way. It's because of my family that doesn't help at all. They help just the people that they want to help the special ones, but they never lift a finger to help me. If they would help out, then I would be different. And so we develop resentment and anger to the people that are around us because we feel if they were different, I wouldn't be stressed. There is no one that can take your joy but you. There is no one that can steal your peace But you. You are not a victim. You. You need to take ownership of your attitude and your joy. Now, there are circumstances that make it hard, but there's no one that can take away your joy. No one that can take away your joy. You. You need to take responsibility for the attitude that you have. Amen. Why don't we say it out loud? I take responsibility for my attitude. No one can steal my joy unless I allow it. Whew! You got that off your chest. Now. You see, the moment that we start acting like victims is we act like other people have made us the way we are. I talk to people that are angry. I've sat down with husbands that are abusive with their language and our our our just menaces at the house. And they make it sound like their wife has made them that way. And sometimes they convince that the typical tactic of an abuser is to make the person that they're abusing think that it's their fault, that they're abusive. And sometimes people live under those circumstances long enough that you almost think, yeah, you know, he's angry and abusive and swears and does things like that because of me. No, no, no, no, let me tell you, he needs to take responsibility for that. No one can make someone like that. They take responsibility for that. It is not your fault that someone blows up that way. Mary had fallen into the mentality of a victim, and she was angry and explosive towards her sister because she was playing the blame game. And by the way, she was playing the comparison game. Look at my sister. I'm doing more work than my sister is doing. I'm comparing what I'm doing with my sister, and I feel like she has a better life than me. Can I tell you, no one ever wins in the comparison game? No one. And if you don't have a quiet place and a quiet time. If you're not centered, if you haven't centered yourself on God. If you have no quiet space, then chances are you'll fall into a comparison game. The comparison game, by the way, in today's society, is worse than it's ever been before. In fact, we have a whole generation, especially of young people, because of media that make it even more easy to compare themselves with other people. Because every time someone puts up a Snapchat or Instagram or Facebook, how many of you know you don't post a picture on Instagram? You don't wake up and say, wow, I look bad. This is a bad hair day. I don't have a lot of those bad hair days, but you don't wake up and say, Let me take a picture of how bad I look. People don't do that. You wait until you're in a fun time. You've spent an hour getting ready. It's a great hair day. You just. Your makeup's perfect. And then you go. And you wait till friends are around. You gather them around. They say, oh, no, no. Smile. And then someone that's at their house having a bad day and alone by themselves, they look at the Instagram, they see you with all your friends, you're looking so good. And they compare themselves and they say, wow, look at my poor life. I wish I had friends like that, I wish I looked like that, I wish I was as happy as they're happy. But what you don't understand is that they were just fighting before the friends, before they took the Snapchat, that afterwards they got in a big fight with each other, and that they really don't look that good all the time. But sociologists and psychologists are doing studies today and are discovering that the rate of loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety is at an all time high, especially among our young people, in part because we're super connected so that we can compare ourselves with other people's lives. We're super connected via our mobile devices, but we're very little connected relationally. And when you live in a world of comparison, you're digitally comparing yourself with other people. You're always going to lose when it's just the highlight of the best moments that you're comparing yourself to. And so I believe that when we play the comparison game, we're always going to lose. When we get into that mode of comparison. She's prettier, she's thinner, she looks better. She has friends. Look at my lousy life. And we play that comparison game. And it's a way that the enemy uses to bash us down, Beat us up, make us think that we're the only one that struggles. The only one that's alone. The only one that struggles with self-image issues. The only one that doesn't have a lot of friends. Because we compare ourselves with this fabricated fake thing that we call. Social media. Mary, before the advent of social media, was already struggling with the reality of her own heart, comparing herself to her sister. And there was a frustration. Frustration is the gap between reality and our own expectations. So if you don't have a quiet time, if you haven't found a place to be quiet before God, listen to center yourself to hear his voice, to listen to the voice of God. Chances are you're going to struggle with a lot of these things that I just listed. And then in verse 41 and 42, this is what Jesus tells Martha. He says, you are worried and upset about many things. Listen, but only one thing. Say one thing. Aren't you glad? It's just one thing? If I gave you three, you couldn't remember it. But there's one thing. You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing. Only one thing. One thing is needed. Not three, not seven, not five. One thing is needed. What do you mean, one thing? Jesus. Yeah. One thing. If you do this one thing, it affects everything. If you get this one thing right, everything in life is affected by it. Your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit, your happiness, your joy, your filling of the spirit. One thing, one thing. If you don't get this one thing right, everything suffers. One important, fundamental, foundational, powerful element that if you don't have it in your life. Everything else in your life will, will, will have a detrimental effect on how you live your life. It's one main thing that so many of us ignore. We neglect, we step over. We don't see this one thing can make a huge difference in this year. And Jesus himself said one thing. One thing is needed. What is that one thing? Well, he doesn't even go on to explain what that one thing is, but he points to a picture. He points to Mary. What is Mary doing? She's on the floor. At the feet of Jesus, listening quietly to what he has to say. Looking into his eyes. Hearing his voice Absorbing what he has to say in full surrender. She's found her quiet space.
00:14:17
S1: Mark job focusing on the one thing here on bold steps. A short pause in the message now to make sure you know about a valuable tool for your walk with God is completely free. It's the Bold Steps app. With the app, you can access full sermon series from Mark right from your phone or mobile device, along with short teaching videos, biblical insights, and practical tools for daily living. Whether you're looking to take your first bold step or your next one, this app puts Mark's Bible teaching rate in the palm of your hand. Download it today from your favorite App Store. Just search for bold steps and start exploring. And just so you know, we'd love to hear from you. If today's message has impacted your life or if you have a testimony to share how God is working in your story, please reach out to us. You can send us a message through our website, Bold steps.org, or call our recorded listener line at 312.3292011. That's (312) 329-2011. Your story matters, and it may encourage someone else who's walking through a similar season. Now here's Mark Jobe again with more on getting first things right in our message titled Making Quiet Space in Busy Places.
00:15:31
S2: Can I tell you something? I've given you this illustration before, but let me just remind you again how it works. It's happened to me in the past before. Get up early in the morning. My wife is still in bed and still asleep. I don't want to turn on the light. Put my shirt on. Start buttoning my. Start buttoning my can't see. Button. My first button. Button. My second button. By the time I get to the bottom, like, uh oh. Can I tell you something? You get the first button wrong. You get all the buttons wrong. One thing, one thing. And many of us, what happens is we get the first button wrong because we haven't done the one thing that affects everything. The one thing that Jesus said, this is part of what you have to do. Let me ask you this question. What would happen if you decided I'm going to get the one thing right every day? The one thing, the one thing that Jesus said, this is the main thing that you have to get right instead of going to bed at night. And the last thing that you think of is the 10:00 news and who's getting killed and shot, and tragedy around the world, and violence and rape and murder. And you go to bed worried and and and just overwhelmed with the dark cloud. And you get up in the morning and you turn on the news again, and you just hear a lot of more political infighting and, um, just the negativity of the news. And so you go to your day and already you filled your mind with everything that's wrong with the world. And you get in to Chicago traffic and it just adds to it and you can't stand it. And it's cold and the pressure at work and you, by the time you walk into your work, you're already in a nasty attitude. But what would happen if you decided, I'm going to get the one thing, the one thing straight every day and you get up in the morning and before you turn on the television, before you check your Facebook or Instagram, before you open the paper, before you get anything else into your spirit. What if the one thing that you did from the beginning that you would find your favorite chair, your favorite spot, that you would go into your office or the living room or wherever it is, and that you would open up your Bible. And that the first information you get from that day, the very first thing that you get that day would be the Word of God, and that you would stop and you would read a psalm and you would listen to what God is saying, and you would breathe. Speak to me, Lord. I'm listening. And you'd spend a little time praying and getting all those things that are on your shoulders, all those things that you're worried about and that you would say, casting all your cares on him for, he cares for me. And so you throw all those things on God, and you remember that he's sovereign, and you read a psalm, and you let the Holy Spirit speak to you and fill you with the fresh new love, so that when you jump on the expressway, You've already done that one thing, and when the guy cuts you off, you can give him a smile and say, these crazy Chicago drivers, man, I'm going to keep my joy. And when you walk in your building, you say, Thank God I have a job to work at. Praise God that I that I'm able to work here. And when you see people, you don't see them as problems, but you see them as God's creation and people that you can love. And when you walk through the day, you've already done that one thing and it's filled you up and powered you up, and you are ready to tackle the day because you have that one thing right. Hey, I gave my life to Christ when I was 15 years old. Seriously. And that's one of the practices that I was taught in the beginning. Back in the day, they would call it devotions or quiet time, but I determined as a 15 year old, I still have the Bible that I started with, that I would do that one thing every day Until this day. Every day that I get up, I do that one thing first. Now I know not everybody has to do it the first thing in the morning. Some of you are night people. For me, it's the first thing I need to do in the morning. I have my spot. I make my cup of coffee. I don't know, I hear the voice of God better with a cup of coffee. I get my cup of coffee. I open up my Bible. I read, I listen, I write a prayer out. What? I sense that God is impressing on my heart. I pray and then you know what? Then I say, come on world, come on world, whatever you got, throw it at me. Because I've done my one thing. And when I have my one thing, I feel more filled. When I do that one thing, I feel like I'm in the right place. I've had time at the feet of Jesus to hear, to listen, to be filled, to be empowered. And it changes my day because I've done that one thing, that one thing, that most important thing that's needed in my. And hey, it doesn't end there. How many of you know that you got to refill throughout the day as well? The beauty, the beautiful thing about the power of the living Jesus is that I have the Holy Spirit inside of me. So it's not just in the morning that I can connect with God, but as I'm as during the day, I can just say, Lord, help me at this time, I need, I need a fresh empowerment by your Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is with you 24 hours a day, that you can talk to God at any time. The Bible says, pray without ceasing. So I'm connected to the one thing I started with, the one thing I'm flowing on, the one thing, and I'm walking with Jesus during the day, on my good days. And no matter what comes my way, I feel like, yeah, let it come because I'm connected and filled with the power of the living Jesus. One thing and I'm just wondering, hey, how's the one thing in your life? I believe that when you find your quiet space. Number one, it helps you release the things that you have no control over. First Peter five seven says, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Some of you need to stop worrying and start casting some of your cares on Jesus because he's big enough to carry them. Number two, it helps you put life into divine perspective. Psalms 46 verse ten says, be still and know that I'm God. Number three the quiet place, the quiet time. It helps you hear the still small voice that adjusts your life. First Kings, chapter 19, verse 13. We see the story of Elijah that went into the cave, and it wasn't until the into the quietness of the cave that he heard the whisper of God's voice. Sometimes you can't hear the whisper when there's too much noise. Sometimes when the noise is going. When it's too loud, the noise inside of your head, the voices outside. You're not going to hear the whisper of God until you stop and start listening for the whisper, the whisper of the Holy Spirit that convicts you, that speaks to you, that guides you, the whisper of the Holy Spirit that's confirmed and spoken to you through His Word. And number four, it helps you focus on what really is important in life. Listen to what Lamentations chapter three, verse 22 through 23 says, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Oh, here it goes, here it goes. Are you with me? They are new. What? Say it out loud. They are new. What? Every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Hey, listen, I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me well. The mercies of God are new, fresh, new every morning. You know what I feel like? Sometimes I feel like sometimes God's mercy is like that mother that gets up early and makes a breakfast for her son or daughter because they have to go to work. And she's got it all made and she's, she's cooked the scrambled eggs and the bacon and the sausage and she's prepared and made the coffee and the, the son gets up and he says, mom, mom, that's nice. It smells good. I don't have time. I'm in a hurry. And you rush out of the house without tasting that which has been prepared for you. I feel like the grace of God is like that for so many of us that God, when you wake up in the morning, his mercies are new, new. It's a fresh mercy for that day. What is mercy? It's the compassion of God, the grace of God, the favor of God. God saying, here it is, tap into it. And you say, God, I'm too busy. I gotta go get my Starbucks coffee. God. And God is left with new mercies that are not tapped into. Not recognized. Tap into the goodness of God. Taste the goodness of God. Taste and see that he is good. Every single morning you say, well, pastor, I went to a Women's Encounter retreat four months ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was four months ago. God has fresh stuff for you every single day. Tap into it.
00:25:39
S1: Well, that's my job. And you're listening to Bold Steps. We certainly hope the last two days of teaching has been helpful to you, and a challenge to take moments each day to find a quiet place and get centered on the things of God, and discover those new mercies and grace. Thanks for listening. Mark. Next week we move ahead with a series of messages you've titled Life interrupted. Give us an overview.
00:26:01
S3: Absolutely. All of us have experienced seasons where our life is just interrupted, where we are T-boned by some unexpected event, right? And we need to know how to handle that. And so in Genesis chapter 39, we're going to start by looking at the life of Joseph that was T-boned on multiple occasions. But this message is called staying in God's Favor zone because we can be interrupted, displaced, but still stay in God's favor zone.
00:26:35
S1: All right. I'm looking forward to it. Make sure you don't miss the start of life interrupted Monday here on Bold Steps. Before we wrap up today, I want to make sure you know about this month's exclusive Bold Step Gift, a timely and encouraging book by Doctor Erwin Lutzer called The Church in Babylon. Heeding the call to be a light in the darkness. It's a resource that fits right in with what we've been talking about this week, carving out that quiet space to hear from God, even when the noise of our culture is pulling us in every direction. Doctor Lutzer will encourage you to stay rooted in your faith and be a light right where God has placed you. We'll send you a copy today. When you give a gift of any amount to support this ministry, just visit us online at bold steps.org or call us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And if you'd rather send your gift through the mail, you can write to us at Bold Steps, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois. 606 ten. As always, we want to say a special thank you to our bold partners, the faithful men and women who give a monthly gift to help sustain this ministry. If you've ever considered joining that family, I'd love to invite you to sign up today. When you give $30 or more a month, we'll send you a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck, along with a bold partner post and a 50% discount on anything at the Moody Publishers online store. Sign up today at bold steps.org. And don't forget, you can stay connected with us all week long by searching for Bold Steps Radio on Facebook and Instagram, or by subscribing to the Bold Steps podcast. Just search for Bold Steps with doctor Mark Jobe using your favorite podcast app. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Don't forget to stay connected with us between broadcasts, follow Bold Steps Radio on Facebook and Instagram for daily encouragement and ministry updates, and sign up for Pastor Mark's free Bold Stepper weekly devotional. Every Monday, you'll receive biblical insight and practical encouragement to help you start your week in God's Word. Come back next time and learn how to stay in your spiritual zone. That's on Monday's edition of Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
