Bold Steps with Dr. Mark JobeToday on Bold Steps, Pastor Mark Jobe explains how you can find your life’s calling. Over the past few days, we’ve been looking at two biblical kings, David and Saul, and contrasting their potential and opportunities. David started to rise because he allowed God to use his Passion and Courage for His purposes. We’re going to learn about a third quality … Confidence and living with purpose.
Today on Bold Steps, Marc Jobe explains how you can find your life's calling.
Every person here, you have a purpose and a call on your life. Do you know that? And unless you understand that you have a purpose and a call on your life, then you will lose confidence because you don't really know what you're living for or what your bigger purpose in life is all about.
Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago, and Wayne Shepherd. Over the past few days, we've been looking at two biblical kings, David and Saul, and contrasting their potential and opportunities. David started to rise because he allowed God to use his passion and courage for his purposes. And Mark. Today we're going to learn about a third quality. And that's confidence.
Yeah. You know, David, is this iconic figure that, um, you know, is celebrated throughout Scripture, and he's incredibly confident in what he pursues to do at a young age. But what strikes me, Wayne, is his confidence isn't built on his own personality, his his sense of his own strength. What I love about David is he's a man after God's own heart, which means that his confidence is drawn from who he is in God and the God of the Psalms.
And you see.
That you see it really strongly evident. So when I say confidence, I'm not talking about standing in front of the mirror and telling yourself, I'm great, I'm great, I'm good, I'm good, I'm powerful, I'm smart. No, I'm talking about a humility that comes from trusting God and a confidence that's built out of our relationship with God.
Well, let's learn from Scripture now as we turn to Mark's message. Confidence. Living with certainty.
What comes to your mind when I. When I say confidence? Uh, you see, sometimes we have a distorted view of confidence because oftentimes we think of self confidence. And self confidence means that we're confident in ourself. And that doesn't seem so bad. But I think self confidence can be a snare if you don't watch it. I believe the best kind of confidence is God confidence. Uh, because self confidence centers on on our self and uh, I believe can lead to pride and can lead to a lot of downfalls. Some of us are like that little boy who was working on his self confidence, and he got up in the morning and he said, I'm a great hitter. He was really into baseball. I'm a great hitter. He looked at the mirror and said, I'm a great hitter. He went out to practice for baseball. He kept telling himself, I'm a great hitter. I'm a great batter, a great hitter. So he took a ball, threw it in the air, tried to hit it, and he missed. He said, I'm a great hitter. Strike one, he said. Took another ball, threw it up and said, I'm a great hitter. Tried to hit it and he missed again. Strike two, he said. Took a ball, threw it up in the air. Tried to hit it again. Strike three, he said. Then he changed and said, I'm a great pitcher. I'm a great pitcher. And you know, self confidence is like that. Sometimes we try to talk ourselves into saying that we're good, we're better and you know, it's attractive. Self confidence. Uh, because oftentimes the opposite of self confidence is doubting ourselves or insecurity. And uh, so we believe that confidence is a good thing. But I am convinced that the best confidence is the confidence that's rooted in the person of God. When you know who you are before God, you have a good, solid identity of who you are before God. It doesn't become a prideful confidence. It becomes a strong, steady confidence based in who you know. God is not who you know that who you are. And so today I want to look at David, because I believe David is the model of God confidence. And in order to do so, there's a story that's found in first Samuel chapter 30 that really illustrates the confidence of David. Now you remember that King Saul had been appointed and anointed by God to be king. But King Saul had a problem. King Saul was very insecure. And, you know, sometimes insecure leaders will drive other people around them away. If I'm insecure, I don't want anybody to rise up. Because if anybody around me rises up, I want to put him down. Well, Saul was a very insecure leader. In fact, he was plagued by a spirit that would torment him. And he was obsessive about thinking about David. And he was constantly afraid that David was going to take his throne away. And so King Saul mounted this crusade to get David and wasted a lot of time and spent a lot of time trying to get David, who he feared. So David had to flee the country. And it tells us that David actually had to flee the country and join the Philistines. Now, if you remember, how did David start his career as king? By killing the warrior Philistine, which was Goliath of Gath, and now he finds himself years later, having to run to the Philistines and tell the Philistines, I'll be on your side, because King Saul was driving him out of the country. So he's joined the Philistines, and he goes out with the Philistines on one of their crusades. And when he returns home with his men to the city of Ziglag, he discovers that the Amalekites, while he was gone on a fighting crusade, the Amalekites have swooped into his town. They've kidnapped people's wives, their children, ransacked the town, burnt everything down. And now we pick up the story right there. So it says. Verse three of chapter 30. When David and his men came to Ziglag, they found it destroyed by fire, and their wives and their sons and daughters had been taken captive. Look at verse six. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him. Each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord is God. How many of you know that when things are going well, everybody loves the leader, but when things start going bad, everybody thinks it's the leader's fault. If you've ever led anything, you're the captain of the team. When? When you're winning, everybody loves you. But when things start going bad, everybody wants to know how you got them in that mess, right? When the bonuses are going out at work. Everybody loves the boss. But when overtime has to be cut and they're talking about layoffs, everybody wants to know how come the boss got a big bonus and why? Why they're in that mess. Right? So when things start going bad, we always look at the leader. David returns with his men. These are warriors. These are outcasts, marginal people that have been, uh, attracted to David. They get home. And the worst nightmare of their life is right in front of them. Their wives and children are gone, their houses are burnt down, all of their possessions have been stolen. And it says they break down and they start weeping and crying. These are grown men weeping and crying until they have no more strength left. And after this episode of weeping and crying, they finally raised their eyes and the men suddenly looked to David, their leader, and all of them start grumbling. If he hadn't taken us out on this, if he hadn't taken us to the Philistines, if he had had more foresight, this wouldn't have happened. Let's kill David. The Bible says they started talking of stoning David. Stoning means they grab a bunch of stones and they literally pelt someone to death. And I love David's response. Notice David's response in the middle of crisis. The Bible says David was greatly distressed, but he found strength in the Lord his God. I love that phrase. He found strength in the Lord his God. Let me ask you a question. Where do you find strength when you're distressed and troubled and in crisis? Where do you go? Some people go to the bottle. Oh, man, things at work are going bad. Oh, this is terrible. I need to go to happy Hour bar. Some people gamble. And I. Things are stressful at home and just. I can't handle things. We're. Let's go to the boats. Some people lose themselves in a long movie. I don't know what to do. I just just I need some relief. Let me go watch a three hour movie. Lord of the rings all in a row. Some people go for a jog. What? Where do you go when you're stressed? When you feel overwhelmed with life, when troubles are really pressing in on you, when you feel like you don't have a solution, where do you find your strength? Where does it come from? The Bible says that David found strength in the Lord his God. You see, there's there's strength that comes from the presence of God. There's something about the person that knows God that gets away and says, God, I can't handle it. God, the pressures are too big. God, the bills are mounting up. God, there is pressure on me right now. There's a crisis in my household, at my job, and we get away and go to the presence of God. And there's something about learning to go to the altar of God and find strength in the Lord God. And David in the middle of this crisis, he goes to God. Now, how did he go to God? It doesn't tell us, but I'm imagining, I assume, that when all the men were ready to stone him, Dave says, I. I just need to. I just need to see God for a minute. So he goes away. He gets alone with God. And there's something that happens when he comes back. He's different. There's a strength about him. He's no longer weak and I don't know what to do. There's an inner renewal and strength about him. Let me tell you, coming to God doesn't always give you the answer, but it does strengthen your soul. Because what happens when you go away and get alone with God is that you realize that God is on the throne, that God does have the solution, that God hasn't been surprised that God is sovereign, that your problem. Listen to me. Your problem. In the grand scheme of things, is a very small obstacle for God to overcome. You see, the big problem is the weakness of your heart, not the power of God. And so I would challenge you. I would encourage you. Uh, I believe that we need to get in the habit of, during our crisis to get a, get a part and go to the presence of God and say, God, strengthen my soul. I think that problems have a way of doing this. Uh, oftentimes our problem may not be that big, but how many of you know, the more you look at your problem, the bigger it seems to get. How many of you have experienced that? The more you look at it, the closer it gets. You know, our problems may seem small, but man, the closer I look at it, I just. That's bigger than the whole world. It's bigger than this room. Why? Because if I'm looking at my problem, rather than putting it in perspective, when I begin to look at God in the midst of my problem, then I realize that God is much bigger than my problem, that God has a solution, that God will make. A way that God strengthens my soul gives me a sense that he's with me. He doesn't take away my problem, but I leave there knowing, yes, God is on the throne. He's bigger than my problem. And it says that David found strength in the Lord his God.
Getting into the presence of God. That's what we're discovering with today's message from our series, Rise Live Your Best Life Yet. You're listening to pastor Mark Jobe, and this is Bold Steps. We love to hear from you. I hope you're using our website, Bold Steps radio.org. There you can share your testimony. It's on the left side of the page. It's bold testimonies. Just click on that and share what's on your heart. Or you can ask Mark a question. Can I put one of these questions from our listeners to you right now, Mark. Absolutely. All right. This person says, Mark, I would appreciate your prayers. I am inspired and motivated to live every day for God. But due to some bad choices in my family, I'm living with some consequences that keep dragging me down. Some days I just can't understand how God would love me and forgive me when I have so much junk holding me back. Thanks for your messages and encouragement to keep going and trusting God for my destiny.
Well, I would say this to our listener and some days I can't understand how God could love me with so much junk holding me back as well.
All of us could say that, right?
Yes, all of us could say that. And it's really understanding grace. And to my listener struggling with, um, just accepting the love of God, I would say there's nothing that you could do to earn it or deserve it. That's the beautiful thing about grace. It's all been done for us. And so we we live for God not to try to earn or gain his acceptance, but we live for him because we are accepted and because we are forgiven. That becomes our motivation.
Yeah. Thank you for that comment. If you do have a comment or question, just go to our website. Bold steps radio.org. On the left side of the page, look for ask a question. We'd love to hear from you today. Bold steps radio.org. All right. So much for our time out here. Let's go back to the message. Confidence. Living with certainty.
The other thing I want you to notice about David in the midst of this tough time, is that David not only finds strength in God, but he also seeks the direction of God. And notice what it says in verse seven and eight. David was committed to God's process. And it says, Then David said to Abiathar, Abiathar was the priest, the son of Ahimelech bring me the ephod. The ephod was the outer robe that a priest would wear when he sought God. Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the Lord, shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake it? And then he heard the words from God, pursue it. He answered, you will certainly overtake them and succeed in this rescue. Does this strike you a little bit strange that David would go to God to ask if he should chase after the people that had robbed his wife and children? I mean, that's to me sounds like a no brainer, right? Unless you didn't really like your wife and you had to really pray about it. It seems like the normal thing to do. I mean, God, they've taken my wife and my children. Lord, should I chase after them or not? In my mind I say, of course you should chase after him. I mean, what do you think this is, your wife and your kids. It's the natural thing to do. Pursue them. Get up. Why are you praying? You're wasting time. But I think what it tells us is it shows us David's dependence on God. How many of you know that our natural, rational mind isn't always the same as God's mind? What seems natural to us to do in the physical realm? Sometimes God tells us to do the opposite. Uh, for example. Uh, when someone is hurt us or done us wrong, our natural tendency, the rational thing is hurt them back. But God says and said, bless your enemies. That doesn't seem rational to me, but that's what God says. Uh, God says if you're if you're lacking in an area of your life, then release. And so in that area. So it'll come back. But in the natural mind, our natural mind says, grab it, hold it. Because if you're lacking, you better hold tight on to it. You see, the ways of God are not always the same as the ways of man. And our dependence on God needs to say, Lord, every decision in my life I will seek you, because I want to know what you have to say about my next step. Seeking God. And I want to challenge you and encourage you. Even if a decision that you're making seems to be rational and a and a normal decision that everybody else would do, I think you need to bring every major decision before God and say, God, is this what you want me to do? You say, well, how do I know? Well, you look in the word. You get godly counsel. You pray. Sometimes you fast. You seek the presence of God. You ask that God will give you discerning spirit so that he will make clear what you should do or shouldn't do in your life. And so the Bible says that God spoke to him clearly and said, pursue. You will certainly overtake them and succeed in your rescue. So not only does our confidence come from our the strength that we find in God, our confidence, first of all comes. They're not from self confidence. David didn't say, I'm a strong warrior. I can do it. He said, God, I'm dependent on you. What do you want me to do? What are you asking me to do? The second thing I want you to write down is this confident people discover a clear purpose, a clear purpose, or a clear mission. I notice that he says that the Word of God came to him and said, you certainly will overtake them and succeed. And so in verse nine, David and 600 men with him came to Bezer ravine, where they stayed behind, and 200 men were unable and exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and 400 men continued the pursuit. So once David had a direction of where he should go, David had a clear purpose, a clear mission that he should throw himself into. Let me just say this about confidence. I believe that oftentimes when our purpose is not clear, then we begin to lose confidence. I believe that a clear purpose helps give greater confidence to our life. When you are aimless and have no real sense of mission or purpose or vision or plan beyond yourself, I think that it robs confidence from your life. Every person here. You have a purpose and a call on your life. Do you know that? And unless you understand that you have a purpose and a call on your life, then you will lose confidence because you don't really know what you're living for or what your bigger purpose in life is all about. Listen to me well. Your purpose in life is not just to get ahead and retire early and spend the next 20 years laying on some beach in Florida with a little, uh, retirement home. That's not your main purpose in life. You have a bigger destiny than just material prosperity. Your life is more transcendent than that. Men, can I talk to you for a second? Men. I believe that we have a lot of men that lack confidence, because they don't know what they're living for or don't know the purpose in life. I see a lot of men that have given up and are passive men that have very little sense of destiny because they're not really sure what they should be living for. And I see a stripping away of a lot of men that can make a difference and really lead and and alter their community and change people's destiny. But I see oftentimes a generation of passive men. Because they're not really sure about what they're called to do. No clear sense of destiny. Very little sense of I want to change something, do something and prove something. Very little sense of leadership, very little sense of God can use me. Very small sense of God can actually use my talents and my gift to alter the destiny of my marriage and my children and my family. Very little sense of I can rise up and help transform my neighborhood or my community. Very little sense that God can use me, that the world can be changed by people that have courage and confidence to really make a difference in life. A call that's bigger than me, bigger than a paycheck, bigger than the car that I drive, that my life can have an impact, and that God has a purpose and a plan, and that God has wired me in his divine purposes from eternity past, through eternity present. That God has a call and a purpose on my life to really make a difference where he has placed me in the here and now.
You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe.
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