Today on Bold steps, Mark Jobe shows us how to be a light to the world.

Today on Bold steps, Mark Jobe shows us how to be a light to the world.

One light can be hidden. Two lights. Maybe it's hard to ignore. Thousands of lights put together. And when we start living for Jesus Christ and influencing our society, and when we come together as a community of faith, the light of Jesus Christ will attract other people in this place.

One light can be hidden. Two lights. Maybe it's hard to ignore. Thousands of lights put together. And when we start living for Jesus Christ and influencing our society, and when we come together as a community of faith, the light of Jesus Christ will attract other people in this place.

Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday, Mark pointed out how we are to be salt to the world around us. And today, as we conclude this series titled Step Up Living Higher, he'll be turning to the Book of Matthew chapter five to show us how we can be a light to the world. If you missed the first message, catch up online. Visit our program archive when you visit. Bold steps org. Right now let's join Mark as he explains how you can step up to a new you this year.

Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shephard. Yesterday, Mark pointed out how we are to be salt to the world around us. And today, as we conclude this series titled Step Up Living Higher, he'll be turning to the Book of Matthew chapter five to show us how we can be a light to the world. If you missed the first message, catch up online. Visit our program archive when you visit. Bold steps org. Right now let's join Mark as he explains how you can step up to a new you this year.

How many of you remember when you first came to Christ and God had done something in your life, and you look around and you think, the whole world needs to be saved? How can they be so dark? And everybody needs to know, everybody needs to hear this. So you go to the birthday party, your family's birthday party, and you wear a t shirt that says, turn or burn, and you have a big cross with you and a big King James Bible, and people go to talk to you. You're slapping beers out of people's hand and saying, telling them what they need to do. And you have them cornered like this and they're looking, how do I escape? And you wonder why people scatter while you're after them, and they stop inviting you to things all over? Why you say, well, because they just are hard hearted and don't accept the gospel. No, no, no, you're putting too much salt on it. You see if you're if you're salting something, well, you know, you get you get a little salt and it's a little salt like that. But if next time you go to salt your corn and you go like this. You just you just spoil the corn. You just messed it up. It's not that people don't want the salt. It's just you poured out too much at the same time. I know you're wondering now, what's he going to do with that salt? I'm not going to eat it. No, no, I'm not going to eat it. I'm just going to put it here on the side. I hope our cleaning people. Sorry. Cleaning people. I didn't mean to do that. So this is what. This is what Jesus says. But if the salt loses its saltiness, imagine salt that doesn't taste salty anymore. You would just be pouring like it would be like sand. It's granular, but it's not salty. If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? That's the question. How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. What Jesus is saying listen to me. Well, because these are pretty tough words. What Jesus is saying is that a Christian that that's lost their saltiness, a Christian that doesn't make people hungry for God, a Christian that doesn't have an effect on society around them, a Christian that has no influence. That's not letting the influence of Jesus come out of them. A Christian that's not operating that way is a person that's lost their purpose. They've lost the main reason why God engineered them and put them on earth. They've absolutely lost their purpose. And you say, no, oh no, no, pastor, I haven't lost my purpose. I'm climbing the corporate ladder and I'm going to give to charity. Listen, you can climb the corporate ladder and absolutely miss your purpose in life because your life is bigger than that. There's something more eternal than that. There's something more compelling than that. It's not about success as the world counts. Success. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a calling upon your life, and your calling involves influence. And if you've lost your influence, you have lost your purpose. Yeah, and it's time to regain it. I was thinking about this a minute. I was thinking, well, how do we lose our saltiness? I thought that there's three ways that Christians that I know that lose their saltiness. Three types of Christians that don't make people thirsty. Number one is what I would call cosmetic Christians. Cosmetic Christian is someone that's a nominal Christian. When you're filling out your Facebook status, you have to put something. So you put Christian. You were raised Christian, or you go to church. If you got to do something on Easter and Christmas, you go, so you're a nominal Christian, but in reality it's just more of a cultural thing than it is a real thing. You don't have a vibrant, dynamic relationship with God. You have a cultural heritage that you embrace. And so, yeah, well, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins, you know, they were all confirmed and baptized and go to such and such parish. And so I guess I'm one of those two. But but it doesn't really mean much to your life if you don't embrace it. It doesn't change you. It doesn't do anything to your life. It's like it's three generations removed from you. Or you could be a judgmental Christian. A judgmental Christian is a person that isn't. They haven't. They've embraced the religion, but not the relationship. And so, um, they when they look at the world, they don't see people that need the grace and the love of God. They see people that need to be condemned and judged. And oftentimes we see their pictures on the news. They're the people with the angry billboards and red faces and spit streaming out of their mouth and angry verbiage coming out of them because they they're like the Pharisees. They are judging and condemning the world, but not offering the world good news at all. And so nominal Christians or judgmental Christians, or they've lost their saltiness. They don't make people thirsty for God. You know how many people I've run in that don't run into that, don't want to have anything to do with God because they've run into judgmental Christians and they lump everybody together. They think we're all that. And I want to say, I'm so not in their camp. Well, I believe we need to seek speak for righteousness. And I believe that we need to call out sin. But I love the way that Jesus did it. Jesus was full of mercy and compassion. A lot of love when he called people out. Thirdly, is lukewarm Christians. You lost your fire. There's very little difference between you and the people out there, except for the fact that you go to church and maybe you say less swear words, but pretty much you and everybody else is living the same. There's no longer a fire in your soul, no longer an energy in your life. Because you've allowed the fire to die down. You've allowed your spiritual energy to wane. You've You allowed that fresh excitement for God to dissipate from your soul. You become lukewarm, and so you act and look like society around you. So when people are around you, they don't really know you're a Christian. They it doesn't make them want to be a Christian. It doesn't create a thirst for God in your life. Why? Because you're lukewarm. Those are people that have lost their saltiness. And Jesus says, have you lost it? Listen, you need to regain it. Or or you've lost your purpose and you're wasting the entirety of your life. Then he goes on and he talks to them. He uses another imagery which is very similar, but has a bit of a different focus to it. He says you need to be salt because salt causes people to thirst for the goodness of God. We need to be light. When we're light, others will see the goodness of God. Notice what he says in verse 14. You are the light of the world. Not you need to be the light of the world. You are light already. Some people think I need to be more light. No, no, no. You are light. You already have the light of God inside of you. You're already light, but you need to let your light shine. Many of us are light, but we hide our light. We cover our light. Our light doesn't. It's not as bright as it needs to be. Because somehow our light isn't shining. We are the light, but it doesn't always shine. Jesus spoke to his disciples in John chapter eight, verse 12 and he says, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. When Jesus was in the world, he said, I am the light of the world. When Jesus left the world, he said, you are the light. So what Jesus was. Now we are. Those are big shoes to follow, aren't they? We are the Jesus to this world. We are now the light of the the world. You say, pastor, I don't want that pressure because I got a lot of issues, a lot of faults. And listen, Jesus knew when he selected broken vessels like us that we were full of issues. Yet the beautiful thing about the gospel is he chose us in all our messes. There's not a person here that doesn't have issues. There's not a person here that doesn't have messes. There's not a person here that doesn't have history that they're ashamed of. All of us do. Not. Every history is the same. Not every story is the same. Not every issue is the same. And it's not about issues, but it is about being honest with our issues, confronting those issues, and being willing to bring those issues to the light. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. He's very clear that he's calling them to be light. You are the light of the world. And then he says a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Don't miss that dimension because he's not calling you simply to be a light. He's calling you to be a light that is connected to community. Because when a lot of dots together join, they create a bright focus. Some of you are light, but for some reason or another, you've stopped letting that light shine. I'm compelled by this imagery that he's giving us of a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. One of the things that aggravates me about the church is that often church. Oftentimes the church seems invisible. People don't even know the church is around. They don't know what the church is doing, oftentimes, because the light of the church has been contained in the four walls of a worship service. What I love about this building that we're in right now is that it was a factory. Some of you really didn't like it when you walked in. You're like, wow. Seriously a factory? I'm not going to go to that poor church. They don't even have money to build statues, man. They they need, like, up their offerings. I don't want people to know that this is a church because there's a steeple on it or a cross on it. I want people to know that this is a family full of faith, a community place, because they've been touched by people in this place. I want them to know. I want them to know because their cousin, who was suicidal, had people reach out to them, and now they're having hope and getting on target. I want them to know, because a couple on the verge of divorce came here and they had fusion Ministry reach out to them and help them out and get them on track. And now they're walking. Well, I want them to know, because there was a 16 year old nephew that came and he was a he was involved in gangs, and he realized, there's a way out of this, and you don't have to live in violence, but God has a purpose and a destiny. And they got out of there. I want them to know because someone was addicted to drugs and they came to celebrate recovery. Support recovery. And they broke their addiction and got out. I want them to know this place, because there was a man who had no idea what it was to be a father, and was taught by men in the church to step up to the plate of responsibility, to love his wife, to, to to guide his children, to take care of his family. I want people to know because they see the good deeds and they say that is a church because people of God are full of God.

How many of you remember when you first came to Christ and God had done something in your life, and you look around and you think, the whole world needs to be saved? How can they be so dark? And everybody needs to know, everybody needs to hear this. So you go to the birthday party, your family's birthday party, and you wear a t shirt that says, turn or burn, and you have a big cross with you and a big King James Bible, and people go to talk to you. You're slapping beers out of people's hand and saying, telling them what they need to do. And you have them cornered like this and they're looking, how do I escape? And you wonder why people scatter while you're after them, and they stop inviting you to things all over? Why you say, well, because they just are hard hearted and don't accept the gospel. No, no, no, you're putting too much salt on it. You see if you're if you're salting something, well, you know, you get you get a little salt and it's a little salt like that. But if next time you go to salt your corn and you go like this. You just you just spoil the corn. You just messed it up. It's not that people don't want the salt. It's just you poured out too much at the same time. I know you're wondering now, what's he going to do with that salt? I'm not going to eat it. No, no, I'm not going to eat it. I'm just going to put it here on the side. I hope our cleaning people. Sorry. Cleaning people. I didn't mean to do that. So this is what. This is what Jesus says. But if the salt loses its saltiness, imagine salt that doesn't taste salty anymore. You would just be pouring like it would be like sand. It's granular, but it's not salty. If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? That's the question. How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. What Jesus is saying listen to me. Well, because these are pretty tough words. What Jesus is saying is that a Christian that that's lost their saltiness, a Christian that doesn't make people hungry for God, a Christian that doesn't have an effect on society around them, a Christian that has no influence. That's not letting the influence of Jesus come out of them. A Christian that's not operating that way is a person that's lost their purpose. They've lost the main reason why God engineered them and put them on earth. They've absolutely lost their purpose. And you say, no, oh no, no, pastor, I haven't lost my purpose. I'm climbing the corporate ladder and I'm going to give to charity. Listen, you can climb the corporate ladder and absolutely miss your purpose in life because your life is bigger than that. There's something more eternal than that. There's something more compelling than that. It's not about success as the world counts. Success. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a calling upon your life, and your calling involves influence. And if you've lost your influence, you have lost your purpose. Yeah, and it's time to regain it. I was thinking about this a minute. I was thinking, well, how do we lose our saltiness? I thought that there's three ways that Christians that I know that lose their saltiness. Three types of Christians that don't make people thirsty. Number one is what I would call cosmetic Christians. Cosmetic Christian is someone that's a nominal Christian. When you're filling out your Facebook status, you have to put something. So you put Christian. You were raised Christian, or you go to church. If you got to do something on Easter and Christmas, you go, so you're a nominal Christian, but in reality it's just more of a cultural thing than it is a real thing. You don't have a vibrant, dynamic relationship with God. You have a cultural heritage that you embrace. And so, yeah, well, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins, you know, they were all confirmed and baptized and go to such and such parish. And so I guess I'm one of those two. But but it doesn't really mean much to your life if you don't embrace it. It doesn't change you. It doesn't do anything to your life. It's like it's three generations removed from you. Or you could be a judgmental Christian. A judgmental Christian is a person that isn't. They haven't. They've embraced the religion, but not the relationship. And so, um, they when they look at the world, they don't see people that need the grace and the love of God. They see people that need to be condemned and judged. And oftentimes we see their pictures on the news. They're the people with the angry billboards and red faces and spit streaming out of their mouth and angry verbiage coming out of them because they they're like the Pharisees. They are judging and condemning the world, but not offering the world good news at all. And so nominal Christians or judgmental Christians, or they've lost their saltiness. They don't make people thirsty for God. You know how many people I've run in that don't run into that, don't want to have anything to do with God because they've run into judgmental Christians and they lump everybody together. They think we're all that. And I want to say, I'm so not in their camp. Well, I believe we need to seek speak for righteousness. And I believe that we need to call out sin. But I love the way that Jesus did it. Jesus was full of mercy and compassion. A lot of love when he called people out. Thirdly, is lukewarm Christians. You lost your fire. There's very little difference between you and the people out there, except for the fact that you go to church and maybe you say less swear words, but pretty much you and everybody else is living the same. There's no longer a fire in your soul, no longer an energy in your life. Because you've allowed the fire to die down. You've allowed your spiritual energy to wane. You've You allowed that fresh excitement for God to dissipate from your soul. You become lukewarm, and so you act and look like society around you. So when people are around you, they don't really know you're a Christian. They it doesn't make them want to be a Christian. It doesn't create a thirst for God in your life. Why? Because you're lukewarm. Those are people that have lost their saltiness. And Jesus says, have you lost it? Listen, you need to regain it. Or or you've lost your purpose and you're wasting the entirety of your life. Then he goes on and he talks to them. He uses another imagery which is very similar, but has a bit of a different focus to it. He says you need to be salt because salt causes people to thirst for the goodness of God. We need to be light. When we're light, others will see the goodness of God. Notice what he says in verse 14. You are the light of the world. Not you need to be the light of the world. You are light already. Some people think I need to be more light. No, no, no. You are light. You already have the light of God inside of you. You're already light, but you need to let your light shine. Many of us are light, but we hide our light. We cover our light. Our light doesn't. It's not as bright as it needs to be. Because somehow our light isn't shining. We are the light, but it doesn't always shine. Jesus spoke to his disciples in John chapter eight, verse 12 and he says, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. When Jesus was in the world, he said, I am the light of the world. When Jesus left the world, he said, you are the light. So what Jesus was. Now we are. Those are big shoes to follow, aren't they? We are the Jesus to this world. We are now the light of the the world. You say, pastor, I don't want that pressure because I got a lot of issues, a lot of faults. And listen, Jesus knew when he selected broken vessels like us that we were full of issues. Yet the beautiful thing about the gospel is he chose us in all our messes. There's not a person here that doesn't have issues. There's not a person here that doesn't have messes. There's not a person here that doesn't have history that they're ashamed of. All of us do. Not. Every history is the same. Not every story is the same. Not every issue is the same. And it's not about issues, but it is about being honest with our issues, confronting those issues, and being willing to bring those issues to the light. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. He's very clear that he's calling them to be light. You are the light of the world. And then he says a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Don't miss that dimension because he's not calling you simply to be a light. He's calling you to be a light that is connected to community. Because when a lot of dots together join, they create a bright focus. Some of you are light, but for some reason or another, you've stopped letting that light shine. I'm compelled by this imagery that he's giving us of a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. One of the things that aggravates me about the church is that often church. Oftentimes the church seems invisible. People don't even know the church is around. They don't know what the church is doing, oftentimes, because the light of the church has been contained in the four walls of a worship service. What I love about this building that we're in right now is that it was a factory. Some of you really didn't like it when you walked in. You're like, wow. Seriously a factory? I'm not going to go to that poor church. They don't even have money to build statues, man. They they need, like, up their offerings. I don't want people to know that this is a church because there's a steeple on it or a cross on it. I want people to know that this is a family full of faith, a community place, because they've been touched by people in this place. I want them to know. I want them to know because their cousin, who was suicidal, had people reach out to them, and now they're having hope and getting on target. I want them to know, because a couple on the verge of divorce came here and they had fusion Ministry reach out to them and help them out and get them on track. And now they're walking. Well, I want them to know, because there was a 16 year old nephew that came and he was a he was involved in gangs, and he realized, there's a way out of this, and you don't have to live in violence, but God has a purpose and a destiny. And they got out of there. I want them to know because someone was addicted to drugs and they came to celebrate recovery. Support recovery. And they broke their addiction and got out. I want them to know this place, because there was a man who had no idea what it was to be a father, and was taught by men in the church to step up to the plate of responsibility, to love his wife, to, to to guide his children, to take care of his family. I want people to know because they see the good deeds and they say that is a church because people of God are full of God.

That's Mark Jobe and a lesson titled Stepping Up to a New You here on Bold Steps. We'll get to the final half in just a moment, but let me remind you that all of these daily messages are available for listening any time over on our main website at bird-stamps.org. And if you'd enjoy hearing these Bible lessons on the move, whether you're out traveling or exercising, then you'll love our podcast. Find us on most podcast platforms by searching for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. Remember to hit subscribe and leave a five star review while you're at it with a comment to help others discover the show. Have you heard about our Bold Steps app? It's packed with Mark's video teachings and even more content like the Bold Steps Minute, as well as a convenient Bible feature to help you pull up scripture. While you're in the app. Just open up your favorite app store today and download it for free. Now back to today's lesson. Here again is Mark Jobe with more bold steps.

That's Mark Jobe and a lesson titled Stepping Up to a New You here on Bold Steps. We'll get to the final half in just a moment, but let me remind you that all of these daily messages are available for listening any time over on our main website at bird-stamps.org. And if you'd enjoy hearing these Bible lessons on the move, whether you're out traveling or exercising, then you'll love our podcast. Find us on most podcast platforms by searching for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. Remember to hit subscribe and leave a five star review while you're at it with a comment to help others discover the show. Have you heard about our Bold Steps app? It's packed with Mark's video teachings and even more content like the Bold Steps Minute, as well as a convenient Bible feature to help you pull up scripture. While you're in the app. Just open up your favorite app store today and download it for free. Now back to today's lesson. Here again is Mark Jobe with more bold steps.

I believe that. So to wrap things up, let me just close with this. I believe that there's two types of light managers. And Jesus says neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone. I believe there's undercover Christians. That means they have a light, but they keep it undercover for whatever reason. Sometimes you know that we live in a world that's hostile towards Christians. A lot of people have stereotypes, and so you keep it undercover. You're the kind of person that goes to work, and you kind of feel like you should pray before your meal, but you don't want people to see you praying so you get a headache. Or you drop your napkin. Lord, I pray for this one for you, Jesus. Thank you Jesus, but you don't want people to know about it. You don't want people to know because you think people are going to think you're weird, wacko, fanatic, you know, holy roller, right wing extremists, whatever it is. Abortion clinic bomber. And so you say, well, I'm not going to I'm not going to let people know what I am. And so you, you just kind of keep it under cover, but or you're just awkward about your faith. And I want you to know that you let your light shine naturally. I've been married to my wife, Dee, for 26 years. You know I love her. She's a part of my life. If you know me for some time, I'll talk about her. Why? Because she's part of who I am. If you've known me for three years, it would be really weird if you knew me for three years and talked with me, worked with me somehow. And then my wife comes in and you say, wow, you're married. I think my wife would be like, yeah, no, I'm married. If you know me because she's a part of my life, I'll talk to you about. I'll talk to you about my kids. I'll talk to you about my wife. Why? It's natural. It's normal. Part of you knowing who I am. And she's such an important part of who I am. I'm going to talk about her and it's going to come out. That's the way it is with Jesus. Now, when I meet people, I don't say, hi, I'm Mark and by the way, I'm married. And here's a picture of my wife. And we've been married for 25 years. You'd say, well, that's a strange and weird. I don't do that. I just comes out naturally. But sometimes we talk about Jesus that way. We feel compelled and we meet someone. And by the way, I'm a Christian. You need to get saved, too. And. No, no, no, just hey, just chill out a little bit. Take a deep breath. Let Jesus shine. You don't have to be a preacher. You don't have to put on a King James voice when you talk to people about Jesus. Your first conversation. You don't have to give people a CD of pastor Mark. You don't have to do that. Love Jesus and let your love for Jesus come out naturally and talk about life and people. But but don't don't carve Jesus out of your conversation either. Let people know he's important and and people that are interested will ask, and so what is that Jesus stuff you're talking about? And then it allows you to be natural about your witness. And so some people are undercover. Some people are lampstand Christians. That means that you don't cover you live it out among people and you influence many people. And and I'll close with this. Listen, there's three things I want you to do to be a lamp stand. Lamp stand, Christian. And if you feel like you're light and salt hasn't been out as much as it should, I want to challenge you in three ways. Number one. Number one, tell your Jesus story. Everybody has a Jesus story. If you know Jesus, you have a story. It doesn't have to be dramatic. It doesn't have to be a like a television series drama. It's your story, but it's your story. And here's the thing about your story. No one can argue with your story because it's yours. People debate theology and people argue religion, but they can't debate your story. When you tell your story, someone says, I don't think it happened that way. No, hey, this is my story. Not your story. You can't tell me my story is not my story. Don't try to be a theologian. Just tell your story. Tell your Jesus story and tell it often. Secondly, live the Jesus life. See if you're telling your story, but you're not living the Jesus life well, people are going to see the dissonance between your life and what you say. It doesn't mean you're perfect, but it means that you, when you fail, you admit it. It means that you're living with integrity. You're trying to live the Jesus lifestyle. You're you're trying to walk with integrity. You're trying to allow how you live and how you work and what you say and how you talk. Reflect that you are a follower of Jesus. And number three, join the Jesus community. You see, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. One light can be hidden. Two lights maybe, but three, four, five, six, seven, ten, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 300, 405, six, seven, a thousand. It's hard to ignore. Thousands of lights put together. It just can't be ignored. And when we start living for Jesus Christ and influencing our society, and when we come together as a community of faith, the light of Jesus Christ will attract other people in this place. I don't want to be a cloistered, closed, four walls type of place. I want to be a place that every Sunday, every activity that we do. People are being drawn in that have no religious background or very religious or haven't visited. Listen, if you're here and you haven't been to church in ten years, I'm really glad you're here. And I hope we didn't scare you off. Seriously, I'm really glad you're here. And I hope that it was the life of someone. Or the testimony of the words, or the love or the grace or the invitation of someone that compelled you to come to a place like this. And I have to say, I'm absolutely biased. 100% biased. If you come, I want to see you follow Jesus. I do. I have an agenda. I'll be up front. My agenda is I want you to know the God that I know and experience. His love and his compassion and his forgiveness and his power and the fullness of the joy that I've experienced through His Son, Jesus Christ. And I'm upfront about that agenda. I'm biased towards Jesus, and I want you to know him because I believe it's the best decision you ever make in your entire life. I really do. I believe it. Yes, I am biased about Jesus and this program. We want people. Wherever you're at, listening in whatever state you're at to be drawn to Jesus, and we are unabashedly calling you. If you're not a follower of Jesus, to make a decision to follow Jesus and make no apology about that.

I believe that. So to wrap things up, let me just close with this. I believe that there's two types of light managers. And Jesus says neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone. I believe there's undercover Christians. That means they have a light, but they keep it undercover for whatever reason. Sometimes you know that we live in a world that's hostile towards Christians. A lot of people have stereotypes, and so you keep it undercover. You're the kind of person that goes to work, and you kind of feel like you should pray before your meal, but you don't want people to see you praying so you get a headache. Or you drop your napkin. Lord, I pray for this one for you, Jesus. Thank you Jesus, but you don't want people to know about it. You don't want people to know because you think people are going to think you're weird, wacko, fanatic, you know, holy roller, right wing extremists, whatever it is. Abortion clinic bomber. And so you say, well, I'm not going to I'm not going to let people know what I am. And so you, you just kind of keep it under cover, but or you're just awkward about your faith. And I want you to know that you let your light shine naturally. I've been married to my wife, Dee, for 26 years. You know I love her. She's a part of my life. If you know me for some time, I'll talk about her. Why? Because she's part of who I am. If you've known me for three years, it would be really weird if you knew me for three years and talked with me, worked with me somehow. And then my wife comes in and you say, wow, you're married. I think my wife would be like, yeah, no, I'm married. If you know me because she's a part of my life, I'll talk to you about. I'll talk to you about my kids. I'll talk to you about my wife. Why? It's natural. It's normal. Part of you knowing who I am. And she's such an important part of who I am. I'm going to talk about her and it's going to come out. That's the way it is with Jesus. Now, when I meet people, I don't say, hi, I'm Mark and by the way, I'm married. And here's a picture of my wife. And we've been married for 25 years. You'd say, well, that's a strange and weird. I don't do that. I just comes out naturally. But sometimes we talk about Jesus that way. We feel compelled and we meet someone. And by the way, I'm a Christian. You need to get saved, too. And. No, no, no, just hey, just chill out a little bit. Take a deep breath. Let Jesus shine. You don't have to be a preacher. You don't have to put on a King James voice when you talk to people about Jesus. Your first conversation. You don't have to give people a CD of pastor Mark. You don't have to do that. Love Jesus and let your love for Jesus come out naturally and talk about life and people. But but don't don't carve Jesus out of your conversation either. Let people know he's important and and people that are interested will ask, and so what is that Jesus stuff you're talking about? And then it allows you to be natural about your witness. And so some people are undercover. Some people are lampstand Christians. That means that you don't cover you live it out among people and you influence many people. And and I'll close with this. Listen, there's three things I want you to do to be a lamp stand. Lamp stand, Christian. And if you feel like you're light and salt hasn't been out as much as it should, I want to challenge you in three ways. Number one. Number one, tell your Jesus story. Everybody has a Jesus story. If you know Jesus, you have a story. It doesn't have to be dramatic. It doesn't have to be a like a television series drama. It's your story, but it's your story. And here's the thing about your story. No one can argue with your story because it's yours. People debate theology and people argue religion, but they can't debate your story. When you tell your story, someone says, I don't think it happened that way. No, hey, this is my story. Not your story. You can't tell me my story is not my story. Don't try to be a theologian. Just tell your story. Tell your Jesus story and tell it often. Secondly, live the Jesus life. See if you're telling your story, but you're not living the Jesus life well, people are going to see the dissonance between your life and what you say. It doesn't mean you're perfect, but it means that you, when you fail, you admit it. It means that you're living with integrity. You're trying to live the Jesus lifestyle. You're you're trying to walk with integrity. You're trying to allow how you live and how you work and what you say and how you talk. Reflect that you are a follower of Jesus. And number three, join the Jesus community. You see, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. One light can be hidden. Two lights maybe, but three, four, five, six, seven, ten, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 300, 405, six, seven, a thousand. It's hard to ignore. Thousands of lights put together. It just can't be ignored. And when we start living for Jesus Christ and influencing our society, and when we come together as a community of faith, the light of Jesus Christ will attract other people in this place. I don't want to be a cloistered, closed, four walls type of place. I want to be a place that every Sunday, every activity that we do. People are being drawn in that have no religious background or very religious or haven't visited. Listen, if you're here and you haven't been to church in ten years, I'm really glad you're here. And I hope we didn't scare you off. Seriously, I'm really glad you're here. And I hope that it was the life of someone. Or the testimony of the words, or the love or the grace or the invitation of someone that compelled you to come to a place like this. And I have to say, I'm absolutely biased. 100% biased. If you come, I want to see you follow Jesus. I do. I have an agenda. I'll be up front. My agenda is I want you to know the God that I know and experience. His love and his compassion and his forgiveness and his power and the fullness of the joy that I've experienced through His Son, Jesus Christ. And I'm upfront about that agenda. I'm biased towards Jesus, and I want you to know him because I believe it's the best decision you ever make in your entire life. I really do. I believe it. Yes, I am biased about Jesus and this program. We want people. Wherever you're at, listening in whatever state you're at to be drawn to Jesus, and we are unabashedly calling you. If you're not a follower of Jesus, to make a decision to follow Jesus and make no apology about that.

You're right up front with us on radio, just as you were when you preached this message in church.

You're right up front with us on radio, just as you were when you preached this message in church.

Mark, you know, this past Sunday, I preached and a couple came forward who had been invited by someone and they told me they're not church goers. They were living together, have two kids. The one guy was all, you know, tatted up. I could tell he came from a rough background. And so I said, can I pray with you? And they looked at each other and said, yes. And so I just prayed over them a short prayer. But when I opened up my eyes, they were both crying. Two people that admittedly, we don't go to church, we don't have a church background. And I just I know that they sense the love of God. And there's something powerful about the love of God that draws us to himself, even if you don't fully understand what it is. And so if you're listening today and you are feeling that tug, I want to encourage you to go to Bold Steps Radio. There's a little video that I have trying to briefly explain what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and I would encourage you to go there.

Mark, you know, this past Sunday, I preached and a couple came forward who had been invited by someone and they told me they're not church goers. They were living together, have two kids. The one guy was all, you know, tatted up. I could tell he came from a rough background. And so I said, can I pray with you? And they looked at each other and said, yes. And so I just prayed over them a short prayer. But when I opened up my eyes, they were both crying. Two people that admittedly, we don't go to church, we don't have a church background. And I just I know that they sense the love of God. And there's something powerful about the love of God that draws us to himself, even if you don't fully understand what it is. And so if you're listening today and you are feeling that tug, I want to encourage you to go to Bold Steps Radio. There's a little video that I have trying to briefly explain what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and I would encourage you to go there.

Yeah, just go to Bold Steps. Org and click the connect tab and look for the drop down. My next step in faith. Well, as a listener supportive ministry, Bold Steps relies on the voluntary donations of friends like you who share our vision. Right now, you can give a one time gift or sign up to be a bold partner when you commit to giving a monthly donation of any amount for either opportunity, just click the donate button at our website, boldsystems.org, or call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And when you give today, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of our latest Bold Step gift. Do you find yourself wondering how to navigate all the unprecedented changes happening in our society? Many believers feel caught off guard by the rapid shifts in technology and values and beliefs around us, and that's why we're excited to offer this month's Bold Step gift in a Non-anxious presence. Author Mark Sayers reveals a powerful perspective that seasons of upheaval often precede periods of profound spiritual awakening. Rather than seeing our current challenges as setbacks, what if they're actually setting the stage for revival? This timely book will give you fresh eyes to recognize God's hand at work, even in uncertain times. The opportunities for Kingdom impact have never been greater than they are right now, right where you live. Don't miss what God is doing in this pivotal moment. Learn to spot the seeds of renewal and lead with clarity through change by requesting a non-anxious presence. This book is our gift to you with any donation to support bold steps to give right now. Just go online to Bold Steps. Org or call us at 800. D.L. Moody. You can even send a check in the mail. Just address your envelope to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Well, that's our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again tomorrow for a special Bold Steps TV edition. It's coming up next time right here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

Yeah, just go to Bold Steps. Org and click the connect tab and look for the drop down. My next step in faith. Well, as a listener supportive ministry, Bold Steps relies on the voluntary donations of friends like you who share our vision. Right now, you can give a one time gift or sign up to be a bold partner when you commit to giving a monthly donation of any amount for either opportunity, just click the donate button at our website, boldsystems.org, or call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. And when you give today, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of our latest Bold Step gift. Do you find yourself wondering how to navigate all the unprecedented changes happening in our society? Many believers feel caught off guard by the rapid shifts in technology and values and beliefs around us, and that's why we're excited to offer this month's Bold Step gift in a Non-anxious presence. Author Mark Sayers reveals a powerful perspective that seasons of upheaval often precede periods of profound spiritual awakening. Rather than seeing our current challenges as setbacks, what if they're actually setting the stage for revival? This timely book will give you fresh eyes to recognize God's hand at work, even in uncertain times. The opportunities for Kingdom impact have never been greater than they are right now, right where you live. Don't miss what God is doing in this pivotal moment. Learn to spot the seeds of renewal and lead with clarity through change by requesting a non-anxious presence. This book is our gift to you with any donation to support bold steps to give right now. Just go online to Bold Steps. Org or call us at 800. D.L. Moody. You can even send a check in the mail. Just address your envelope to bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Well, that's our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again tomorrow for a special Bold Steps TV edition. It's coming up next time right here on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.