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S1: A lot of people have God in their life. Very few have God at the center of their life, making God a priority. Today on Bold Steps weekend.
00:00:09
S2: God is not Lord of your life. If he's just a part of improving your life, he is Lord of your life only if he occupies the central position in your life. And once he occupies the central position, then it's clear that your life belongs to him.
00:00:38
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Well, a spiritual life in neutral means that eventually things are going to start to decline. That's exactly what happened to the people of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 13. A spiritual coldness set in. And if we're not careful, the same can happen to us today. Part two of the message Making God a priority is next. Our series is Rebuild Your Life, Your City, Your World and bold. steps.org is the online home for this radio ministry. Bold steps and to hear any broadcast again or to see our featured resource, visit bold steps.org. Now here is Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
00:01:26
S2: Our finances are a reflection of our spirituality, and they're a symptom of how we're doing spiritually. And so you look at your checkbook, it's a great indicator of your spirituality and what was happening to the people of Israel. They had got so egocentric, they had become so consumed in themselves that they were not giving anything, that they were not giving to the things of God, the people of God. They were not giving outside of themselves. And so Nehemiah reminds him of two words that you'll find often in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament. Two words that I think merit definition. One is the word tithe, and the second is the word firstfruit. Let me start with firstfruits. In an agrarian society, the first, uh, the first reaping of their wheat, barley, uh, whatever their harvest was, that was called the firstfruits. That was the first of what a farmer would bring in. And God to sanctify the rest, basically to set the priority of their giving in place. What God indicated was that you need to give of your first fruits to the things of God. You know why that was so important? Because in essence, what they were saying is, God, you are central to my life. I will not give you the leftovers. I will give you the the first, the first portion, not whatever's left over. Are you tracking with me? You see, oftentimes we live our life and we live things on our ourselves, and then we give God our leftover God. If I have time for you, I'll give you time. God. If I have leftover finances, I'll give you finances. God says, I don't want anybody leftovers. I want the central part. I want a priority. Give me priority so I can sanctify the rest of what you do. You are indicating importance and value with the way you give your time, with the way you give your, your, your, uh, your finances. You indicate priority and value. Now, have you told your wife, honey, I love you. I really love you. You're like number one in my life. You say, great, can we go out for dinner? Sure. You know, I absolutely if the boss doesn't call me, if I don't have enough work, if my buddies don't call me for a game, if the neighbor beside me doesn't say, hey, you want to go out? If, uh, if my mother doesn't say you want to come over for some molé, you know what you know, then I will definitely go out to you because, honey, you are number one, you say. She would quickly say, wait a second, you know. No, I'm not number one. Hey, that's number 7 or 8 on the list. I'm not a priority in your life. You're saying that I'm getting the leftovers after all, that I am not a priority in your life. And it's the same thing with God. God is saying the priority of the firstfruits and the tithe is a New Testament word, but it's more of a mathematical word. The tithe means a 10th. It refers to 10% of what comes in. And so Nehemiah was establishing a pattern in giving that had been taught in the Old Testament, was affirmed in the New Testament, and it's called the firstfruits. In the tithe, you give first of what you have, and you give a tithe of what you have also to God. Now, every time I teach that principle, it's it's like for some people, they've never been exposed to it. It's like a, like a ton of bricks on their head. Like, are you kidding me, pastor? And that's like, whoa, really big. Well, you will discover if you have been part of this tithing, giving away a portion of your income for a certain amount of time, you will get to the point, like I and my wife are in our lives where I can't envision not giving that away, that you'll get into a rhythm of living where you say, you know what? I can't even imagine or fathom living without that. Because there's something good for my soul, for my life, for my mentality, for my spirituality. When I don't eat everything up on myself and become self-centered, materialistic, greedy. But I give away a portion of what I have because it's good for me and it's good for my soul. And it honors God. That's huge. So Nehemiah, he's gone for 10 to 12 years. He leaves Jerusalem in a spiritual state of revival. The people are. Yeah. God. Yeah. Family. Yeah. Worship. Yeah. Finances. We're living for God. We're going all the way. And ten years later. A decade is gone. Nehemiah goes back to Susa. He has no contact with the people. He leaves him in good condition. And here's what happens. Nehemiah, chapter 13 is all about spiritual relapse. Here's what I've noticed about my life, what I read in Scripture and what I observe about human condition in general. Unless we re-engage in our commitments, our tendency is to fall to the lowest level of expectation in areas of our life. I'm glad you got married, put on a wedding dress, stated some vows, cried, hugged, did a big hoopla over it. It was good. I'm going to tell you something about your marriage, though. Unless you're intentional about cultivating it and reigniting it and refreshing it, then you will eventually fall to the lowest level of expectation in your marriage. And if you're not careful, you'll end up 15 years later just living in the same house connected because you have children, business partners, because you share finances, but your souls will drift apart. The romance will flee, the sense of togetherness will go away. And you'll wake up one day and say and say, what in the world has happened to us? Because there has to be our cycles, is that our heart tends to grow cold and lukewarm unless we ignite it again. People that have good marriages are on a regular rhythmic way, igniting their marriages, investing and infusing life and romance and value in it. Getting away together. Doing things together that cultivate their marriage. If you leave it in neutral, it will decline. Some of you made health commitments at the beginning of this year and you do it every year. I'm telling you, I'm going to lose £30. And so I'm not going to put four sugars in my big Dunkin Donuts coffee in the morning. And you know what? I'm done with having two chocolate cake donuts every morning for my healthy breakfast. I mean, it's over. She made some commitments. And, and you know what? Basically we're our, we're about our fourth week, third week into the year. I'm not going to have two, but I'll have one chocolate cake in the morning. I'm not going to put four sugars, but I'm going to put two sugars in. And here's what happens. We need to periodically be reminded about our commitments that we've made. We need to have incentive in our heart to remind us, because if we're not reminded, if we're not reengaged in it, we will typically begin to decline. Not a big step at a time. No one becomes spiritually cold overnight. We become spiritually cold. One little step at a time. One step, one step, one step. We don't jump into spiritual, uh, rigidity. We we slowly go there. And so Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem that he left in a state of revival. It ten years have passed and he hears rumors that things aren't going that well, that the spiritual climate has changed. And when he comes back to Jerusalem, it tells us in verse four of chapter 13, he says, before this Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of God. Eliashib had been left in charge of the temple. And it says that he was closely associated to Tobiah. Now, Tobiah was one of the wealthy opponents to the revival that Nehemiah brought about. And he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. So when Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem, what he discovers is that in the very temple of God, the place where they used to keep the one, the new wine, the oil, the utensils, the incense, the tithes and offering grain that the priest had vacated. All that stuff had invited Tobiah to make basically a temple condo, because Eliashib was related to Tobiah, and because he was getting some money from Tobiah. So he wipes out. He brings him in the opponent to revival, is now living in the temple. Why? Because the sacred is giving place to the secular, and their spiritual fervency is declining. So Nehemiah comes back and here's the thing. I want you to write this down. If you're taking notes this morning. One of the very first things that he does is this they renounce, compromise, purify the sacred, and make room for an overflow ministry. So he comes back and this is what he says. He said, I was greatly displeased while I was gone. This is what happened. Verse eight, I was greatly displeased. And so I threw all of Tobias household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. What he did is he said, I want the house of God to be back to its state of function. I want God's things to be in the right place. I want to restore the centrality of the things of God and the priority of the things of God that are being displaced by the secular. I want to put the Bible on top of the newspaper and not vice versa. I want to put the worship above the Little League soccer that happens on Sunday morning to restore the priority. I want to put some quality dinner time around the table and prayer by the head of the household over the new episode of lost. I want to restore the priority of the sacred over the secular. I will not allow the secular to begin to displace the sacred, because I know I will go to a shallow place. Now here's the thing. Nehemiah was super angry. He was very distraught, very displeased by it because Nehemiah had been away. And sometimes it takes someone that hasn't seen us for a while to make observations about our life, because we see ourselves every day and we're not aware of our spiritual decline because it happens slowly.
00:13:27
S1: As Mark job encouraging us to make God a priority. And that's the title of today's message. We'll be learning what spiritual relapse looks like from the perspective of Nehemiah. We're at the halfway point, though, of this program, and we need to cut away for just a moment to let you know that we're not just on the radio, but also online at bold steps.org. We encourage you to download the Bold Steps app, which features full length original sermons from Mark Jobe, along with relevant teaching videos and exclusive series on topics like identity, purpose, and spiritual growth. Open up your App Store and download the Bold Steps app to check it out today. And if you prefer watching to listening, we've got you covered on YouTube. We have two channels for you to check out our main channel, bold steps with Mark Jobe features teaching clips, behind the scenes content, and extended videos. And if you want to watch complete radio programs like this one, subscribe to The Bold Steps with Mark Jobe programs on YouTube. Whether you're streaming, downloading, or watching, the goal is the same getting God's Word into your heart and life wherever you are. Now let's continue our message. It's titled Making God a Priority.
00:14:36
S2: Have you ever heard of the frog in the kettle syndrome? Okay, they say that if you put a frog in a pan of water and put heat under it slowly. I've never done this, although I remember as a nine year old wanting to do it, saying, let me try it out. But no, no, I've never done. My mom didn't let me. If you put a frog and you turn the heat just up slowly, very slightly, that that frog will get used to the warm water. You turn it up a little bit more, it'll get used to the warmer water. You turn it up a little bit more, a little bit more. And if you turn it up gradually enough, eventually the frog will lose consciousness and boil without jumping out of the water, because its body becomes accustomed to the heat and he doesn't realize that he's boiling to death. And here's a disclaimer kids, don't try this at home, please. But that's exactly what happens in our spiritual life. We begin to take steps of coldness, and we don't realize it because it's so gradual until an event from the outside, or an awakening from God or someone that hasn't seen us in a while encounters us and they say, you know, there's what happened to you. At one time you were really fervent, spiritually loved God, your life was unfocused. Wow. You've changed the other way. And you see, Nehemiah had been gone for ten years, so he noticed what needed to happen in their life. And so he says in verse ten, I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites, the Levites were the priests that served in the house of God, had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and I asked them, here's the question why is the House of God neglected? You see, what had happened is that they had got all these priests to leave their fields because they were farmers and brought them back. And they said, now you're going to serve in the house of God, the singers, and got it all going. And there was a centrality, a priority. The community had come around them, but then suddenly they'd begun to lose their priority, and they'd begun to lose the centrality of the house of God, the people of God. And so they stopped giving. And pretty soon all the Levites had to go back to their farms to start farming. So when Nehemiah came back, came back, he found himself with an abandoned temple. Basically, the, the, the temple had declined. People had scattered. The centrality of the things of God was no longer there. Now keep your finger here and go write two chapters back to the last verse. This. This represents ten years earlier. Go to the last verse of Nehemiah, chapter ten, verse 39, the very last statement. This is what the people all said with heartfelt conviction together ten years earlier. They said, we will not. What? Neglect what? The house of our God. That was ten years earlier. They had said it with conviction. We will not neglect your things. Oh, God. Ten years later had passed. Nehemiah is telling him, hey, what happened to the house of God? What happened to your commitment? What happened to your promise? What happened to your fervency? Ten years later, things have fallen apart. Remember your promises. Remember your commitment. Remember your prayer. Remember that at one time God was at the center. God was at the core. Remember that one time you woke up in the morning? The very first thing you did was pray. Remember that at one time you wanted to see what God had to say, and you would say if you encountered a tribulation or a trial, you'd say, we got to fast and pray about this. So my challenge here as we wrap up this time together is I ask you this question. Is there a need for God to reignite commitments and promises that have lapsed in your life? Are you a frog in the kettle of the spiritual lukewarmness and not realizing it? Is God awakening you to the centrality of God in your life? To moving God from a peripheral experience to the center of your life? Listen folks, there's no other way of doing Christianity except that anything else from God in the center is abdicating your Christianity for something that is less, something that is more shallow, something that is religious but not Christ centered. Wow. That's the challenge. And I don't know about you, but my life, if I don't guard it well, if I'm not carefully paying attention, it's easy to drift. And maybe you've been listening today and you felt like, you know what? My life has drifted and the priority and the centrality of God in my life. Sports, work, busyness, a boyfriend, a girlfriend has just kind of pushed God to the side a little bit. I think like Nehemiah challenged the people at a time to repent. And that simply means, God. I awaken and I realize, oh Lord, what have I done? And get back on track with God. And so maybe you want to take a moment right now and say, Lord, through the power of your Holy Spirit, I vow. I commit again to put my life back on track by putting you at the center.
00:21:04
S1: Yes. That's so important. Thank you. Mark. A much needed good word to all of us. Thank you. And let us know, please. If you made that decision to turn to Christ, you can contact us through our website, Bold steps.org. And while you're there, you can also request a special resource we have available this month. Only known as our Bold Step Gift, it's a book by Susie Larson titled Strong in Battle. And Mark sits down now with Susie to give us a better glimpse of what this book is all about.
00:21:31
S2: In your book, Susie Strong in Battle, you use the word battle as an acronym, and it's really a practical way of navigating hard times. So, Susie, can you give us a taste of what that looks like and how our listeners can start applying it to their lives?
00:21:48
S3: Absolutely. These kinds of things help me because, you know, I think we're perpetual forgetters at least I can be right. And so for me, the B is knowing what you believe, you know? Elijah asked on Mount Carmel, how long will you waver between beliefs? If God is the Lord, serve him. And in Romans four about Abraham, it said he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. He faced the fact. But he would not waver in unbelief regarding the promises of God. When you're in the battle, the question will remain Is God who he says he is? And that will be the first question the enemy asks you and you need to know, is he good? Is he faithful? And so these battles are a chance to look at the lies you believe and the truths you need. So not don't let one battle be wasted on you, because it's a chance to be firmed up and what you believe and who you believe in. And then the A is to acclimate and activate. We lose strength when we spend our time on social media, comparing and then despairing. You know, maybe your life isn't what you thought it would be. Most of us can say there are parts of our story for whom that's true, right? But if you can settle in to go, okay, but this is my story, all right? What is my song is my song of faith. I'm going to acclimate to the current trial I'm walking through and then activate my faith. You will weaken yourself if you consider other people's stories, their highlight reels, and you whine and complain and compare and despair. It's not a battle strategy that works. T is to trust that he's training you. I am convinced that every trial is packed with eternal possibility and it can't be wasted on us. The other T is to stay tender, teachable, thankful where you, I mean sincere gratitude opens up your spiritual eyes and the flip side of that entitlement blinds and deafens you spiritually. When you feel that God owes you, he's holding out on you. You deserve more than he's giving you. You've already lost your way. Find your footing again by looking around for things that you're truly grateful for. Because I'm telling you, no matter what storm you're in, there are blessings in your life that you would miss tomorrow if they were gone. And l listen for his voice, listen for his voice, and lean on his strength. And then finally, E is remember eternity. Engage your faith for the sake of eternity. Because this life is not all about this life, it's about the next life. And if you keep eternity in mind, you'll remember what you suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed when Christ returns.
00:24:08
S1: That's excellent Susie. Thank you. Mark, who wouldn't benefit from this book?
00:24:12
S2: I know, and I'm not going to ask that, uh, Wayne would repeat, uh, the battle of words there.
00:24:18
S3: Don't even ask me to repeat it.
00:24:20
S1: I was fiercely taking notes.
00:24:21
S2: But no, those are those are great reminders and such a good strategy. Sometimes in the middle of a battle, you just panic and you. But if you have a strategy in advance, it helps you. It's like, okay, pause and remember what you believe. Activate. It really is helpful. So thank you so much.
00:24:41
S3: Honored to be with you guys. Thanks so much for having me.
00:24:44
S1: Yes. If you'd like a copy of Susie's book, just send a financial gift of any amount to support Bold steps. You can give your donation and request a copy of Strong in Battle. Just go online to bold steps.org/give or give us a call at 800 DL. Moody that's (800) 356-6639. You can also send that donation in the mail and ask for the book by writing to us at Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois. 606 ten. Now, before you go, we want to remind you that you can easily access Mark's messages by having them automatically downloaded to your smart device for easy listening on the go. Just subscribe to the Bold Steps Weekend podcast by opening your podcast app and searching for Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Well, that's going to wrap up our program for now, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Thank you for joining us today. Be sure to come back next weekend when we'll continue our rebuild series with a message called Breaking Out of Spiritual Relapse. So we'll see you next time on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
S1: A lot of people have God in their life. Very few have God at the center of their life, making God a priority. Today on Bold Steps weekend.
00:00:09
S2: God is not Lord of your life. If he's just a part of improving your life, he is Lord of your life only if he occupies the central position in your life. And once he occupies the central position, then it's clear that your life belongs to him.
00:00:38
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Well, a spiritual life in neutral means that eventually things are going to start to decline. That's exactly what happened to the people of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 13. A spiritual coldness set in. And if we're not careful, the same can happen to us today. Part two of the message Making God a priority is next. Our series is Rebuild Your Life, Your City, Your World and bold. steps.org is the online home for this radio ministry. Bold steps and to hear any broadcast again or to see our featured resource, visit bold steps.org. Now here is Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
00:01:26
S2: Our finances are a reflection of our spirituality, and they're a symptom of how we're doing spiritually. And so you look at your checkbook, it's a great indicator of your spirituality and what was happening to the people of Israel. They had got so egocentric, they had become so consumed in themselves that they were not giving anything, that they were not giving to the things of God, the people of God. They were not giving outside of themselves. And so Nehemiah reminds him of two words that you'll find often in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament. Two words that I think merit definition. One is the word tithe, and the second is the word firstfruit. Let me start with firstfruits. In an agrarian society, the first, uh, the first reaping of their wheat, barley, uh, whatever their harvest was, that was called the firstfruits. That was the first of what a farmer would bring in. And God to sanctify the rest, basically to set the priority of their giving in place. What God indicated was that you need to give of your first fruits to the things of God. You know why that was so important? Because in essence, what they were saying is, God, you are central to my life. I will not give you the leftovers. I will give you the the first, the first portion, not whatever's left over. Are you tracking with me? You see, oftentimes we live our life and we live things on our ourselves, and then we give God our leftover God. If I have time for you, I'll give you time. God. If I have leftover finances, I'll give you finances. God says, I don't want anybody leftovers. I want the central part. I want a priority. Give me priority so I can sanctify the rest of what you do. You are indicating importance and value with the way you give your time, with the way you give your, your, your, uh, your finances. You indicate priority and value. Now, have you told your wife, honey, I love you. I really love you. You're like number one in my life. You say, great, can we go out for dinner? Sure. You know, I absolutely if the boss doesn't call me, if I don't have enough work, if my buddies don't call me for a game, if the neighbor beside me doesn't say, hey, you want to go out? If, uh, if my mother doesn't say you want to come over for some molé, you know what you know, then I will definitely go out to you because, honey, you are number one, you say. She would quickly say, wait a second, you know. No, I'm not number one. Hey, that's number 7 or 8 on the list. I'm not a priority in your life. You're saying that I'm getting the leftovers after all, that I am not a priority in your life. And it's the same thing with God. God is saying the priority of the firstfruits and the tithe is a New Testament word, but it's more of a mathematical word. The tithe means a 10th. It refers to 10% of what comes in. And so Nehemiah was establishing a pattern in giving that had been taught in the Old Testament, was affirmed in the New Testament, and it's called the firstfruits. In the tithe, you give first of what you have, and you give a tithe of what you have also to God. Now, every time I teach that principle, it's it's like for some people, they've never been exposed to it. It's like a, like a ton of bricks on their head. Like, are you kidding me, pastor? And that's like, whoa, really big. Well, you will discover if you have been part of this tithing, giving away a portion of your income for a certain amount of time, you will get to the point, like I and my wife are in our lives where I can't envision not giving that away, that you'll get into a rhythm of living where you say, you know what? I can't even imagine or fathom living without that. Because there's something good for my soul, for my life, for my mentality, for my spirituality. When I don't eat everything up on myself and become self-centered, materialistic, greedy. But I give away a portion of what I have because it's good for me and it's good for my soul. And it honors God. That's huge. So Nehemiah, he's gone for 10 to 12 years. He leaves Jerusalem in a spiritual state of revival. The people are. Yeah. God. Yeah. Family. Yeah. Worship. Yeah. Finances. We're living for God. We're going all the way. And ten years later. A decade is gone. Nehemiah goes back to Susa. He has no contact with the people. He leaves him in good condition. And here's what happens. Nehemiah, chapter 13 is all about spiritual relapse. Here's what I've noticed about my life, what I read in Scripture and what I observe about human condition in general. Unless we re-engage in our commitments, our tendency is to fall to the lowest level of expectation in areas of our life. I'm glad you got married, put on a wedding dress, stated some vows, cried, hugged, did a big hoopla over it. It was good. I'm going to tell you something about your marriage, though. Unless you're intentional about cultivating it and reigniting it and refreshing it, then you will eventually fall to the lowest level of expectation in your marriage. And if you're not careful, you'll end up 15 years later just living in the same house connected because you have children, business partners, because you share finances, but your souls will drift apart. The romance will flee, the sense of togetherness will go away. And you'll wake up one day and say and say, what in the world has happened to us? Because there has to be our cycles, is that our heart tends to grow cold and lukewarm unless we ignite it again. People that have good marriages are on a regular rhythmic way, igniting their marriages, investing and infusing life and romance and value in it. Getting away together. Doing things together that cultivate their marriage. If you leave it in neutral, it will decline. Some of you made health commitments at the beginning of this year and you do it every year. I'm telling you, I'm going to lose £30. And so I'm not going to put four sugars in my big Dunkin Donuts coffee in the morning. And you know what? I'm done with having two chocolate cake donuts every morning for my healthy breakfast. I mean, it's over. She made some commitments. And, and you know what? Basically we're our, we're about our fourth week, third week into the year. I'm not going to have two, but I'll have one chocolate cake in the morning. I'm not going to put four sugars, but I'm going to put two sugars in. And here's what happens. We need to periodically be reminded about our commitments that we've made. We need to have incentive in our heart to remind us, because if we're not reminded, if we're not reengaged in it, we will typically begin to decline. Not a big step at a time. No one becomes spiritually cold overnight. We become spiritually cold. One little step at a time. One step, one step, one step. We don't jump into spiritual, uh, rigidity. We we slowly go there. And so Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem that he left in a state of revival. It ten years have passed and he hears rumors that things aren't going that well, that the spiritual climate has changed. And when he comes back to Jerusalem, it tells us in verse four of chapter 13, he says, before this Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of God. Eliashib had been left in charge of the temple. And it says that he was closely associated to Tobiah. Now, Tobiah was one of the wealthy opponents to the revival that Nehemiah brought about. And he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. So when Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem, what he discovers is that in the very temple of God, the place where they used to keep the one, the new wine, the oil, the utensils, the incense, the tithes and offering grain that the priest had vacated. All that stuff had invited Tobiah to make basically a temple condo, because Eliashib was related to Tobiah, and because he was getting some money from Tobiah. So he wipes out. He brings him in the opponent to revival, is now living in the temple. Why? Because the sacred is giving place to the secular, and their spiritual fervency is declining. So Nehemiah comes back and here's the thing. I want you to write this down. If you're taking notes this morning. One of the very first things that he does is this they renounce, compromise, purify the sacred, and make room for an overflow ministry. So he comes back and this is what he says. He said, I was greatly displeased while I was gone. This is what happened. Verse eight, I was greatly displeased. And so I threw all of Tobias household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. What he did is he said, I want the house of God to be back to its state of function. I want God's things to be in the right place. I want to restore the centrality of the things of God and the priority of the things of God that are being displaced by the secular. I want to put the Bible on top of the newspaper and not vice versa. I want to put the worship above the Little League soccer that happens on Sunday morning to restore the priority. I want to put some quality dinner time around the table and prayer by the head of the household over the new episode of lost. I want to restore the priority of the sacred over the secular. I will not allow the secular to begin to displace the sacred, because I know I will go to a shallow place. Now here's the thing. Nehemiah was super angry. He was very distraught, very displeased by it because Nehemiah had been away. And sometimes it takes someone that hasn't seen us for a while to make observations about our life, because we see ourselves every day and we're not aware of our spiritual decline because it happens slowly.
00:13:27
S1: As Mark job encouraging us to make God a priority. And that's the title of today's message. We'll be learning what spiritual relapse looks like from the perspective of Nehemiah. We're at the halfway point, though, of this program, and we need to cut away for just a moment to let you know that we're not just on the radio, but also online at bold steps.org. We encourage you to download the Bold Steps app, which features full length original sermons from Mark Jobe, along with relevant teaching videos and exclusive series on topics like identity, purpose, and spiritual growth. Open up your App Store and download the Bold Steps app to check it out today. And if you prefer watching to listening, we've got you covered on YouTube. We have two channels for you to check out our main channel, bold steps with Mark Jobe features teaching clips, behind the scenes content, and extended videos. And if you want to watch complete radio programs like this one, subscribe to The Bold Steps with Mark Jobe programs on YouTube. Whether you're streaming, downloading, or watching, the goal is the same getting God's Word into your heart and life wherever you are. Now let's continue our message. It's titled Making God a Priority.
00:14:36
S2: Have you ever heard of the frog in the kettle syndrome? Okay, they say that if you put a frog in a pan of water and put heat under it slowly. I've never done this, although I remember as a nine year old wanting to do it, saying, let me try it out. But no, no, I've never done. My mom didn't let me. If you put a frog and you turn the heat just up slowly, very slightly, that that frog will get used to the warm water. You turn it up a little bit more, it'll get used to the warmer water. You turn it up a little bit more, a little bit more. And if you turn it up gradually enough, eventually the frog will lose consciousness and boil without jumping out of the water, because its body becomes accustomed to the heat and he doesn't realize that he's boiling to death. And here's a disclaimer kids, don't try this at home, please. But that's exactly what happens in our spiritual life. We begin to take steps of coldness, and we don't realize it because it's so gradual until an event from the outside, or an awakening from God or someone that hasn't seen us in a while encounters us and they say, you know, there's what happened to you. At one time you were really fervent, spiritually loved God, your life was unfocused. Wow. You've changed the other way. And you see, Nehemiah had been gone for ten years, so he noticed what needed to happen in their life. And so he says in verse ten, I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites, the Levites were the priests that served in the house of God, had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and I asked them, here's the question why is the House of God neglected? You see, what had happened is that they had got all these priests to leave their fields because they were farmers and brought them back. And they said, now you're going to serve in the house of God, the singers, and got it all going. And there was a centrality, a priority. The community had come around them, but then suddenly they'd begun to lose their priority, and they'd begun to lose the centrality of the house of God, the people of God. And so they stopped giving. And pretty soon all the Levites had to go back to their farms to start farming. So when Nehemiah came back, came back, he found himself with an abandoned temple. Basically, the, the, the temple had declined. People had scattered. The centrality of the things of God was no longer there. Now keep your finger here and go write two chapters back to the last verse. This. This represents ten years earlier. Go to the last verse of Nehemiah, chapter ten, verse 39, the very last statement. This is what the people all said with heartfelt conviction together ten years earlier. They said, we will not. What? Neglect what? The house of our God. That was ten years earlier. They had said it with conviction. We will not neglect your things. Oh, God. Ten years later had passed. Nehemiah is telling him, hey, what happened to the house of God? What happened to your commitment? What happened to your promise? What happened to your fervency? Ten years later, things have fallen apart. Remember your promises. Remember your commitment. Remember your prayer. Remember that at one time God was at the center. God was at the core. Remember that one time you woke up in the morning? The very first thing you did was pray. Remember that at one time you wanted to see what God had to say, and you would say if you encountered a tribulation or a trial, you'd say, we got to fast and pray about this. So my challenge here as we wrap up this time together is I ask you this question. Is there a need for God to reignite commitments and promises that have lapsed in your life? Are you a frog in the kettle of the spiritual lukewarmness and not realizing it? Is God awakening you to the centrality of God in your life? To moving God from a peripheral experience to the center of your life? Listen folks, there's no other way of doing Christianity except that anything else from God in the center is abdicating your Christianity for something that is less, something that is more shallow, something that is religious but not Christ centered. Wow. That's the challenge. And I don't know about you, but my life, if I don't guard it well, if I'm not carefully paying attention, it's easy to drift. And maybe you've been listening today and you felt like, you know what? My life has drifted and the priority and the centrality of God in my life. Sports, work, busyness, a boyfriend, a girlfriend has just kind of pushed God to the side a little bit. I think like Nehemiah challenged the people at a time to repent. And that simply means, God. I awaken and I realize, oh Lord, what have I done? And get back on track with God. And so maybe you want to take a moment right now and say, Lord, through the power of your Holy Spirit, I vow. I commit again to put my life back on track by putting you at the center.
00:21:04
S1: Yes. That's so important. Thank you. Mark. A much needed good word to all of us. Thank you. And let us know, please. If you made that decision to turn to Christ, you can contact us through our website, Bold steps.org. And while you're there, you can also request a special resource we have available this month. Only known as our Bold Step Gift, it's a book by Susie Larson titled Strong in Battle. And Mark sits down now with Susie to give us a better glimpse of what this book is all about.
00:21:31
S2: In your book, Susie Strong in Battle, you use the word battle as an acronym, and it's really a practical way of navigating hard times. So, Susie, can you give us a taste of what that looks like and how our listeners can start applying it to their lives?
00:21:48
S3: Absolutely. These kinds of things help me because, you know, I think we're perpetual forgetters at least I can be right. And so for me, the B is knowing what you believe, you know? Elijah asked on Mount Carmel, how long will you waver between beliefs? If God is the Lord, serve him. And in Romans four about Abraham, it said he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. He faced the fact. But he would not waver in unbelief regarding the promises of God. When you're in the battle, the question will remain Is God who he says he is? And that will be the first question the enemy asks you and you need to know, is he good? Is he faithful? And so these battles are a chance to look at the lies you believe and the truths you need. So not don't let one battle be wasted on you, because it's a chance to be firmed up and what you believe and who you believe in. And then the A is to acclimate and activate. We lose strength when we spend our time on social media, comparing and then despairing. You know, maybe your life isn't what you thought it would be. Most of us can say there are parts of our story for whom that's true, right? But if you can settle in to go, okay, but this is my story, all right? What is my song is my song of faith. I'm going to acclimate to the current trial I'm walking through and then activate my faith. You will weaken yourself if you consider other people's stories, their highlight reels, and you whine and complain and compare and despair. It's not a battle strategy that works. T is to trust that he's training you. I am convinced that every trial is packed with eternal possibility and it can't be wasted on us. The other T is to stay tender, teachable, thankful where you, I mean sincere gratitude opens up your spiritual eyes and the flip side of that entitlement blinds and deafens you spiritually. When you feel that God owes you, he's holding out on you. You deserve more than he's giving you. You've already lost your way. Find your footing again by looking around for things that you're truly grateful for. Because I'm telling you, no matter what storm you're in, there are blessings in your life that you would miss tomorrow if they were gone. And l listen for his voice, listen for his voice, and lean on his strength. And then finally, E is remember eternity. Engage your faith for the sake of eternity. Because this life is not all about this life, it's about the next life. And if you keep eternity in mind, you'll remember what you suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed when Christ returns.
00:24:08
S1: That's excellent Susie. Thank you. Mark, who wouldn't benefit from this book?
00:24:12
S2: I know, and I'm not going to ask that, uh, Wayne would repeat, uh, the battle of words there.
00:24:18
S3: Don't even ask me to repeat it.
00:24:20
S1: I was fiercely taking notes.
00:24:21
S2: But no, those are those are great reminders and such a good strategy. Sometimes in the middle of a battle, you just panic and you. But if you have a strategy in advance, it helps you. It's like, okay, pause and remember what you believe. Activate. It really is helpful. So thank you so much.
00:24:41
S3: Honored to be with you guys. Thanks so much for having me.
00:24:44
S1: Yes. If you'd like a copy of Susie's book, just send a financial gift of any amount to support Bold steps. You can give your donation and request a copy of Strong in Battle. Just go online to bold steps.org/give or give us a call at 800 DL. Moody that's (800) 356-6639. You can also send that donation in the mail and ask for the book by writing to us at Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois. 606 ten. Now, before you go, we want to remind you that you can easily access Mark's messages by having them automatically downloaded to your smart device for easy listening on the go. Just subscribe to the Bold Steps Weekend podcast by opening your podcast app and searching for Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Well, that's going to wrap up our program for now, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Thank you for joining us today. Be sure to come back next weekend when we'll continue our rebuild series with a message called Breaking Out of Spiritual Relapse. So we'll see you next time on Bold Steps Weekend with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
