Today on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. We're learning how to use our full potential for the Lord.

Today on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. We're learning how to use our full potential for the Lord.

He has already shown us mercy. And so our service and gratitude and servitude and offering to him is not to gain favor with God. It's because we have favor with God. There's a big difference.

He has already shown us mercy. And so our service and gratitude and servitude and offering to him is not to gain favor with God. It's because we have favor with God. There's a big difference.

Welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe, senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute here in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, we know everyone is uniquely and wonderfully made and everyone has something to contribute and offer to God. So, Mark, let's talk about the the concept that God calls us to something special.

Welcome to Bold Steps with pastor Mark Jobe, senior pastor of New Life Community Church and president of Moody Bible Institute here in Chicago. I'm Wayne Shepherd. Well, we know everyone is uniquely and wonderfully made and everyone has something to contribute and offer to God. So, Mark, let's talk about the the concept that God calls us to something special.

When I talked to so many people that have this idea that there's the called ones and then just regular people. Yeah, but, you know, that's such a fallacy because everyone that's a follower of Jesus is called, first of all, to live for him, but then called with some unique gifting.

When I talked to so many people that have this idea that there's the called ones and then just regular people. Yeah, but, you know, that's such a fallacy because everyone that's a follower of Jesus is called, first of all, to live for him, but then called with some unique gifting.

I believe that too. Yes.

I believe that too. Yes.

And purposes. And so Romans chapter 12 really highlights that Paul is telling us, hey, you are called now use your call, step into it. And I'm talking to someone today that you don't view yourself as a called person, but I want you to erase that image and I want you to embrace. You are a person with a purpose and a calling.

And purposes. And so Romans chapter 12 really highlights that Paul is telling us, hey, you are called now use your call, step into it. And I'm talking to someone today that you don't view yourself as a called person, but I want you to erase that image and I want you to embrace. You are a person with a purpose and a calling.

Maybe this is the very issue you've been thinking about in your own life. Let's listen to God's Word now stepping up to your calling.

Maybe this is the very issue you've been thinking about in your own life. Let's listen to God's Word now stepping up to your calling.

I recently read that the shuttle Columbia made a discovery as a scientist took a new look at the Earth from a different perspective. They studied the topography of the land, and they made an amazing discovery. They Discovered that in the Sahara Desert, the Sahara Desert is part of northern Africa, right below Spain. And if you look at a map, what you'll see is just desert after desert after desert, just miles and miles of arid sand land. Nothing grows there. It's very dry. The people that live there are rugged and nomadic, and they are in desperate need of water. As a scientist studied the earth from the Columbia explorer, what they discovered through some of their new instruments of exploration, that they were 26 lakes underneath the Sahara desert. It's heartbreaking to think that there are people that are starving and famished when what they need is right beneath them. 26 lakes that could provide water, but they have not yet learned how to tap into the resources that are right beneath them. That's a great picture. I think of many of our lives. Many of our lives live or lived in practical dryness, scarcity, barely surviving, not realizing that beneath somewhere very close, there is an abundance of resources that we have much more than what we know we have. Many people spend a good portion of their lives talking about what they don't have. Just listening to a conversation at a bus stop or an office water cooler conversation and you'll hear a lot of talk about, I wish I had. I don't have enough. It would be nice to have what they have. One day, maybe I will. A lot of conversation seems to revolve around what we lack. The emphasis of Scripture is not on what we don't have, but the emphasis that God gives is on what we do have. God will never hold you responsible for what you've never had. God will only hold you responsible for what you have and what you do with what you have. Here's what I know. I know that the great majority of us here have enough intelligence to get ahead. I know that most of us here have enough love to be able to share with our our spouse and with our children. I know that most of us don't utilize the majority of our brain, that we under utilize our gifts, that we underestimate estimate our body, that we underutilize our faith, that we do not develop our vision, that we don't use to the max, our money and our finances. I know that the great majority of us here live well beneath our potential. And so today, as we look at Romans chapter 12, I'm going to talk to you about stepping up to understand what you have and to move from being a consumer that simply looks and says, I have need to be in a contributor to say I have something to give. And the apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, was writing this letter to Rome, the believers that found themselves in the most powerful capital of the day, which was the city of Rome, that was that, the epicenter of the Roman Empire. He was writing to a church that was composed of people from all walks of life who had not discovered how much potential they had. And I'm going to begin reading in verse one of Romans chapter 12, and I'm going to ask that you simply stand for the reading of God's Word. It says, therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So today, I want to talk to you about four steps to move you from consumer to significant contributor and understand the potential that every one of us has. The first thing I want you to know as you sit there and I sit in so many times in my life, have just sat there under-utilizing my potential. The first thing I want you to know from this passage is this we begin. We start out using our full potential for God by offering your whole person as an act of worship to God. Notice what it says in verse one. He says, therefore, anytime you see the word therefore in Scripture, you need to ask yourself, what is it there for? Therefore means I'm building on a previous thought. Therefore means I've talked to you about something, and now building on what I've talked to you about. I'm going into the next thought. This is chapter 12. The Apostle Paul has 12 chapters he's building on. What has he been talking about in the last 12 chapters? He's been talking about how good God is. He's been talking about how people have been changed and justified and given gifts. So he's therefore, I urge you, because all I've told you about God, I'm urging you now, brothers, in view of God's mercy, what Paul is telling them is this God has been so good to you because God has been so good, because God has done so much, because God has given us so many opportunities. Therefore, we need to look at serving him back. We need to look at giving back to God because he has been so good to us. What has God done? What are his mercies? Well, if you look at the previous 12 chapters in Romans, he talks about justification. In other words, how all of us have sinned. And he made the way through Jesus to justify us before God. He talks about adoption in Jesus, that when we were slaves and on our own road, Jesus came and we've been adopted in God as sons and daughters of God. He talks about his grace instead of the law. We are no longer under the law that brings condemnation, but we're under grace, the favor of God. He talks about the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. You have been given God Himself to dwell inside of you as an incredible gift. He talks about how he helps us in the middle of our trials and afflictions. Uh, he talks about how God has chosen us before we chose him. He talks about the certainty that Christ is coming back again. And he talks about in in Romans chapter eight, the confidence that nothing or no one can separate us from this incredible love of God. So he's been talking to the believers about how much God has done. And he says, therefore, because God has done so much, because God has shown so much mercy. I challenge you to give back to God because he's given so much to us. I want you to notice he does not say, I want you to give to God so that God will be good to you. He says, God has already been good to you, and because God has been good to you, We are using our gifts to serve him, not to earn credit before God, but because God has already given us credit. Do you understand the difference? Many people spend their entire lives trying to gain God's favor, feeling like if they do good works. Walk a little old lady across the street. Give to charity once in a while. Listen to Christian music on the radio. Throw a couple quarters into the Salvation Army, can serve for some. Volunteer in some non-for-profit organization. They think, well, maybe if I do enough, God will look at me and have mercy. What Paul is saying is no God out of his own generosity, out of his own goodness, out of his own heart, out of his own love. He's already shown us mercy. We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it. We didn't merit it. We didn't gain favor. He has already shown us mercy. And so our service and gratitude and servitude and. Offering to him is not to gain favor with God. It's because we have favor with God. We serve him because he's first loved us. We give back to him not to gain favor, but because we already have favor. There's a big difference.

I recently read that the shuttle Columbia made a discovery as a scientist took a new look at the Earth from a different perspective. They studied the topography of the land, and they made an amazing discovery. They Discovered that in the Sahara Desert, the Sahara Desert is part of northern Africa, right below Spain. And if you look at a map, what you'll see is just desert after desert after desert, just miles and miles of arid sand land. Nothing grows there. It's very dry. The people that live there are rugged and nomadic, and they are in desperate need of water. As a scientist studied the earth from the Columbia explorer, what they discovered through some of their new instruments of exploration, that they were 26 lakes underneath the Sahara desert. It's heartbreaking to think that there are people that are starving and famished when what they need is right beneath them. 26 lakes that could provide water, but they have not yet learned how to tap into the resources that are right beneath them. That's a great picture. I think of many of our lives. Many of our lives live or lived in practical dryness, scarcity, barely surviving, not realizing that beneath somewhere very close, there is an abundance of resources that we have much more than what we know we have. Many people spend a good portion of their lives talking about what they don't have. Just listening to a conversation at a bus stop or an office water cooler conversation and you'll hear a lot of talk about, I wish I had. I don't have enough. It would be nice to have what they have. One day, maybe I will. A lot of conversation seems to revolve around what we lack. The emphasis of Scripture is not on what we don't have, but the emphasis that God gives is on what we do have. God will never hold you responsible for what you've never had. God will only hold you responsible for what you have and what you do with what you have. Here's what I know. I know that the great majority of us here have enough intelligence to get ahead. I know that most of us here have enough love to be able to share with our our spouse and with our children. I know that most of us don't utilize the majority of our brain, that we under utilize our gifts, that we underestimate estimate our body, that we underutilize our faith, that we do not develop our vision, that we don't use to the max, our money and our finances. I know that the great majority of us here live well beneath our potential. And so today, as we look at Romans chapter 12, I'm going to talk to you about stepping up to understand what you have and to move from being a consumer that simply looks and says, I have need to be in a contributor to say I have something to give. And the apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, was writing this letter to Rome, the believers that found themselves in the most powerful capital of the day, which was the city of Rome, that was that, the epicenter of the Roman Empire. He was writing to a church that was composed of people from all walks of life who had not discovered how much potential they had. And I'm going to begin reading in verse one of Romans chapter 12, and I'm going to ask that you simply stand for the reading of God's Word. It says, therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So today, I want to talk to you about four steps to move you from consumer to significant contributor and understand the potential that every one of us has. The first thing I want you to know as you sit there and I sit in so many times in my life, have just sat there under-utilizing my potential. The first thing I want you to know from this passage is this we begin. We start out using our full potential for God by offering your whole person as an act of worship to God. Notice what it says in verse one. He says, therefore, anytime you see the word therefore in Scripture, you need to ask yourself, what is it there for? Therefore means I'm building on a previous thought. Therefore means I've talked to you about something, and now building on what I've talked to you about. I'm going into the next thought. This is chapter 12. The Apostle Paul has 12 chapters he's building on. What has he been talking about in the last 12 chapters? He's been talking about how good God is. He's been talking about how people have been changed and justified and given gifts. So he's therefore, I urge you, because all I've told you about God, I'm urging you now, brothers, in view of God's mercy, what Paul is telling them is this God has been so good to you because God has been so good, because God has done so much, because God has given us so many opportunities. Therefore, we need to look at serving him back. We need to look at giving back to God because he has been so good to us. What has God done? What are his mercies? Well, if you look at the previous 12 chapters in Romans, he talks about justification. In other words, how all of us have sinned. And he made the way through Jesus to justify us before God. He talks about adoption in Jesus, that when we were slaves and on our own road, Jesus came and we've been adopted in God as sons and daughters of God. He talks about his grace instead of the law. We are no longer under the law that brings condemnation, but we're under grace, the favor of God. He talks about the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. You have been given God Himself to dwell inside of you as an incredible gift. He talks about how he helps us in the middle of our trials and afflictions. Uh, he talks about how God has chosen us before we chose him. He talks about the certainty that Christ is coming back again. And he talks about in in Romans chapter eight, the confidence that nothing or no one can separate us from this incredible love of God. So he's been talking to the believers about how much God has done. And he says, therefore, because God has done so much, because God has shown so much mercy. I challenge you to give back to God because he's given so much to us. I want you to notice he does not say, I want you to give to God so that God will be good to you. He says, God has already been good to you, and because God has been good to you, We are using our gifts to serve him, not to earn credit before God, but because God has already given us credit. Do you understand the difference? Many people spend their entire lives trying to gain God's favor, feeling like if they do good works. Walk a little old lady across the street. Give to charity once in a while. Listen to Christian music on the radio. Throw a couple quarters into the Salvation Army, can serve for some. Volunteer in some non-for-profit organization. They think, well, maybe if I do enough, God will look at me and have mercy. What Paul is saying is no God out of his own generosity, out of his own goodness, out of his own heart, out of his own love. He's already shown us mercy. We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it. We didn't merit it. We didn't gain favor. He has already shown us mercy. And so our service and gratitude and servitude and. Offering to him is not to gain favor with God. It's because we have favor with God. We serve him because he's first loved us. We give back to him not to gain favor, but because we already have favor. There's a big difference.

You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Today's message is called Stepping up to Your Calling. We will continue shortly. But you know, if you are looking for ways to help reach your full potential for God each week, be sure to sign up for Mark's encouraging email devotional, The Bold Stepper Weekly. It's absolutely free, delivered right to your inbox Monday mornings, and it will help you get to stepping in your walk with Christ. Mark, thanks for doing this.

You're listening to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Today's message is called Stepping up to Your Calling. We will continue shortly. But you know, if you are looking for ways to help reach your full potential for God each week, be sure to sign up for Mark's encouraging email devotional, The Bold Stepper Weekly. It's absolutely free, delivered right to your inbox Monday mornings, and it will help you get to stepping in your walk with Christ. Mark, thanks for doing this.

Absolutely. When our team comes together and we're trying to think through ways where we can just help people live in this, sometimes very challenging world without missing a step in their walk with God. And so The Bold Stepper Weekly is just one of those tools. It's an email with resources that comes out every Monday morning. Again, I've said it before, let me say it again. It's free. It includes a devotional thought. Um, there's some links to like a one minute bold step. There's you can listen on audio if you're driving or working out. We also have it in Spanish in a written form. And so this is just our way of saying, hey, we want to make sure that you're getting a good start to your week and that you are keeping in step with the spirit.

Absolutely. When our team comes together and we're trying to think through ways where we can just help people live in this, sometimes very challenging world without missing a step in their walk with God. And so The Bold Stepper Weekly is just one of those tools. It's an email with resources that comes out every Monday morning. Again, I've said it before, let me say it again. It's free. It includes a devotional thought. Um, there's some links to like a one minute bold step. There's you can listen on audio if you're driving or working out. We also have it in Spanish in a written form. And so this is just our way of saying, hey, we want to make sure that you're getting a good start to your week and that you are keeping in step with the spirit.

We are a full service ministry, aren't we? That's right. All right. Well, let me invite you to sign up for The Bold Stepper Weekly today. Visit our website at Bold Steps. Org and if you are already receiving the Bold Stepper weekly, here's an idea why don't you share it? Forward on to someone else. The link is right at the bottom there. You can easily copy that link and send it to someone else that you think might be interested in receiving it. So check that out. The Bold Stepper Weekly from Bold Steps. Now getting back to our message for today. It's titled Stepping Up to Your Calling. And here's Mark Jobe again.

We are a full service ministry, aren't we? That's right. All right. Well, let me invite you to sign up for The Bold Stepper Weekly today. Visit our website at Bold Steps. Org and if you are already receiving the Bold Stepper weekly, here's an idea why don't you share it? Forward on to someone else. The link is right at the bottom there. You can easily copy that link and send it to someone else that you think might be interested in receiving it. So check that out. The Bold Stepper Weekly from Bold Steps. Now getting back to our message for today. It's titled Stepping Up to Your Calling. And here's Mark Jobe again.

So he says, in view of God's mercy, I challenge you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This idea of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. The Jewish people understood what a sacrifice was because in the Old Testament, and even during the times of Jesus, when people approach God in the Jewish temple, they would have to offer an animal sacrifice. They would kill a lamb or slaughter a dove, and they would offer it on a sacrifice and burn it before God. And and it was their way of interceding for their sins. It was their way of making a live offering for their sins. In those cases, there would be a a rock altar, the blood would be spattered on the altar, and the animal would be killed, of course. Paul is using a different imagery. He's using the imagery of an altar, but he's saying, I don't want a dead sacrifice. I want a living sacrifice. I want you to visually place yourself on that altar and say to God, I'm not offering a pigeon or a lamb, because we don't do that anymore. That was Old Testament. We're in New Testament, but now we are offering ourselves before God, and we're saying, God, I belong to you, and I'm going to live my life as though I'm consecrated to you, as though, as though I'm a living sacrifice unto you and who I am and what I am. I belong to you, God. Now Paul says, offer your bodies. In other words, your whole person. That's fill in the blank. Offer your whole person as a living sacrifice unto God. Notice what he says a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Some people think that they go to a Sunday service to worship. Maybe you've used that expression. I'm going to a worship service. Uh, some. Sometimes even in church bulletins, they'll say worship starts at 11. But really, if you understand worship, worship is not an activity you engage in. It's a lifestyle that you engage in. Uh, worship is about how you live your life. Do you realize that it's not just coming into a service and having the songs going and raising your hands to God and saying how good you are, God. But do you realize that worship is worship is any act of service you do to God. Anything that you dedicate to God is an act of worship. Do you know that you could be washing dishes as an act of worship? You're washing dishes and say, Lord, I do this unto you. That's an act of worship. You're offering whatever you're doing to God. Do you know that you can drive your car as an act of worship? I need to work on that one still. Do you know that your job, whatever you do for a living, that as you offer the way you do your job, if you do it with integrity, if you do it with the right attitude, if you do it with the right heart, that you are worshiping God through your job, then pretty much anything in life that you do when you offer up to God and you do it for his honor and his glory, you are engaging in an act of worship. Worship. The word worship is from an Anglo-Saxon word. We get our English word worship from an Anglo-Saxon word that means worship, that you are giving someone worth and value. When I give God worth and value in what I do, I am giving him my worship. So therefore, you don't engage in worship on a half hour while you're singing on Sunday morning. Hopefully what Paul is saying is, I want you to see your whole life as an act of worship. When you get up in the morning. Good morning Lord. Let's do this day together. When you're making lunch for your sixth grader, that's on his way. Lord, I pray for my son, and I do this unto you. Whatever you do, you do as an act of worship unto God, you offer it to God. So therefore there's no dichotomy between the secular or the sacred. Some people make a big difference between the secular and the sacred. They think that praying is sacred. But, um. Hammering a nail at their work is secular. What God tells us and shows us is that praying is sacred. But if you hammer a nail and you're hammering, and you're doing your job with an attitude of trying to please God and doing everything you do for the glory of God, that hammering that nail can be as sacred as praying a prayer, because you're doing it for the glory of God. Are you tracking with me? This is really important. Some people have, they confuse. They think that certain things are holy and certain things are not holy. And I want to say that whatever you do in Jesus name with an attitude towards God to please him and offer it to God, you do it. It becomes holy. So your entire life becomes a living sacrifice of worship to God. That doesn't just kick in. When you enter into a building with a cross and a steeple on top, but that you are constantly engaging in worship, not just when you're singing, but whatever you're doing is an act of worship to God, because you've chosen to offer it to God and to show that you're doing whatever you're doing for God. You'll notice that in in verse two it says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The second step in utilizing your potential is you need to renew your mind so that you can understand your new purpose and your calling in life. Many of us don't understand our calling because the world is pressuring us to live a certain way and to act a certain way, and we've bought into their mold, and we're peer pressured into what everybody else is doing without understanding that we have a unique call. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. That word conform is the word to fashion, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Many of us, we come to Christ. You've opened up your heart and you say, God, I want you to come in and change my life and turn me around. And you start off with that new energy to turn your life around. But somewhere in the process, you get stuck, you stop changing, or sometimes you can revert to old patterns. Why not? Because God isn't faithful. Not because God isn't good. Not because Christianity doesn't work. Your spirit has been changed. But something more than your spirit has to change. Your mind has to be renewed so that your life continues to be changed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, you are thinking the way you process life. The truth, what your brain thinks about what your thoughts are about has to be transformed into the way that God, God's principles, and God's words in order for you to maintain the change that's happening in your life. So the Apostle Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You can't renew your mind without getting into the Word of God. The Word of God is truth, and the truth of God renews our mind. We meditate on the word. We study the word. We allow the spirit to process the word in our life. We start changing old ways of thinking for new ways of thinking. Um, that takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. It says, then as your mind is renewed, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. As your mind is renewed, you start discovering the will of God, how to live for God, how to have what your purpose is, what your destiny is. As your mind is renewed, you start learning the will of God in your life. But it takes the renewing of our mind.

So he says, in view of God's mercy, I challenge you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This idea of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. The Jewish people understood what a sacrifice was because in the Old Testament, and even during the times of Jesus, when people approach God in the Jewish temple, they would have to offer an animal sacrifice. They would kill a lamb or slaughter a dove, and they would offer it on a sacrifice and burn it before God. And and it was their way of interceding for their sins. It was their way of making a live offering for their sins. In those cases, there would be a a rock altar, the blood would be spattered on the altar, and the animal would be killed, of course. Paul is using a different imagery. He's using the imagery of an altar, but he's saying, I don't want a dead sacrifice. I want a living sacrifice. I want you to visually place yourself on that altar and say to God, I'm not offering a pigeon or a lamb, because we don't do that anymore. That was Old Testament. We're in New Testament, but now we are offering ourselves before God, and we're saying, God, I belong to you, and I'm going to live my life as though I'm consecrated to you, as though, as though I'm a living sacrifice unto you and who I am and what I am. I belong to you, God. Now Paul says, offer your bodies. In other words, your whole person. That's fill in the blank. Offer your whole person as a living sacrifice unto God. Notice what he says a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Some people think that they go to a Sunday service to worship. Maybe you've used that expression. I'm going to a worship service. Uh, some. Sometimes even in church bulletins, they'll say worship starts at 11. But really, if you understand worship, worship is not an activity you engage in. It's a lifestyle that you engage in. Uh, worship is about how you live your life. Do you realize that it's not just coming into a service and having the songs going and raising your hands to God and saying how good you are, God. But do you realize that worship is worship is any act of service you do to God. Anything that you dedicate to God is an act of worship. Do you know that you could be washing dishes as an act of worship? You're washing dishes and say, Lord, I do this unto you. That's an act of worship. You're offering whatever you're doing to God. Do you know that you can drive your car as an act of worship? I need to work on that one still. Do you know that your job, whatever you do for a living, that as you offer the way you do your job, if you do it with integrity, if you do it with the right attitude, if you do it with the right heart, that you are worshiping God through your job, then pretty much anything in life that you do when you offer up to God and you do it for his honor and his glory, you are engaging in an act of worship. Worship. The word worship is from an Anglo-Saxon word. We get our English word worship from an Anglo-Saxon word that means worship, that you are giving someone worth and value. When I give God worth and value in what I do, I am giving him my worship. So therefore, you don't engage in worship on a half hour while you're singing on Sunday morning. Hopefully what Paul is saying is, I want you to see your whole life as an act of worship. When you get up in the morning. Good morning Lord. Let's do this day together. When you're making lunch for your sixth grader, that's on his way. Lord, I pray for my son, and I do this unto you. Whatever you do, you do as an act of worship unto God, you offer it to God. So therefore there's no dichotomy between the secular or the sacred. Some people make a big difference between the secular and the sacred. They think that praying is sacred. But, um. Hammering a nail at their work is secular. What God tells us and shows us is that praying is sacred. But if you hammer a nail and you're hammering, and you're doing your job with an attitude of trying to please God and doing everything you do for the glory of God, that hammering that nail can be as sacred as praying a prayer, because you're doing it for the glory of God. Are you tracking with me? This is really important. Some people have, they confuse. They think that certain things are holy and certain things are not holy. And I want to say that whatever you do in Jesus name with an attitude towards God to please him and offer it to God, you do it. It becomes holy. So your entire life becomes a living sacrifice of worship to God. That doesn't just kick in. When you enter into a building with a cross and a steeple on top, but that you are constantly engaging in worship, not just when you're singing, but whatever you're doing is an act of worship to God, because you've chosen to offer it to God and to show that you're doing whatever you're doing for God. You'll notice that in in verse two it says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The second step in utilizing your potential is you need to renew your mind so that you can understand your new purpose and your calling in life. Many of us don't understand our calling because the world is pressuring us to live a certain way and to act a certain way, and we've bought into their mold, and we're peer pressured into what everybody else is doing without understanding that we have a unique call. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. That word conform is the word to fashion, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Many of us, we come to Christ. You've opened up your heart and you say, God, I want you to come in and change my life and turn me around. And you start off with that new energy to turn your life around. But somewhere in the process, you get stuck, you stop changing, or sometimes you can revert to old patterns. Why not? Because God isn't faithful. Not because God isn't good. Not because Christianity doesn't work. Your spirit has been changed. But something more than your spirit has to change. Your mind has to be renewed so that your life continues to be changed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, you are thinking the way you process life. The truth, what your brain thinks about what your thoughts are about has to be transformed into the way that God, God's principles, and God's words in order for you to maintain the change that's happening in your life. So the Apostle Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You can't renew your mind without getting into the Word of God. The Word of God is truth, and the truth of God renews our mind. We meditate on the word. We study the word. We allow the spirit to process the word in our life. We start changing old ways of thinking for new ways of thinking. Um, that takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. It says, then as your mind is renewed, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. As your mind is renewed, you start discovering the will of God, how to live for God, how to have what your purpose is, what your destiny is. As your mind is renewed, you start learning the will of God in your life. But it takes the renewing of our mind.

Tomorrow we'll hear the exciting conclusion of this message about reaching your full potential. So please join us then. This is Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Have you really thought about how you can live out your true calling? That's what we've been talking about today. But if you're still a little fuzzy on the details, we'd love to send you a copy of our latest Bold Step gift, because the world seems more chaotic and unpredictable than ever. Did you know that throughout history, times of crisis have often preceded times of spiritual awakening? In the book titled A Non-anxious Presence, Mark Sayers reveals how today's challenges might actually be setting the stage for tomorrow's renewal? As leaders and believers, we often try to control what feels uncontrollable. But what if God is using this season of uncertainty to shape something new in your church, maybe in your community, and even your relationship with him? A Non-anxious presence offers a hopeful perspective on leading through turbulent times, requests this bold step gift and discover how to navigate change while maintaining spiritual steadiness. Just call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639 or give online at bold steps. Org. Now to send your gift and request the book a Non-anxious presence in the mail. Write to us at Bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And when you give a gift, each month of $30 or more will add your name to our growing list of bold partners and will also send you a signed copy of Mark's book, Unstuck Out of Your Cave and Into Your Call, plus several other perks like the bi weekly bold partner post, video, email, and 50% off any item from Moody Publishers online store. Thank you for your generous investment in the media ministry of Bold Steps. Be sure to sign up today when you visit Bold steps.org. And before we sign off, let me remind you that all of these daily messages and the faith building resources can be found anywhere, any time, by downloading the Bold Steps app. So do that today by searching your app store for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of Mark's message. Stepping up to your calling. Learn how to use your unique abilities to fulfill your highest calling. Tuesday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

Tomorrow we'll hear the exciting conclusion of this message about reaching your full potential. So please join us then. This is Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Have you really thought about how you can live out your true calling? That's what we've been talking about today. But if you're still a little fuzzy on the details, we'd love to send you a copy of our latest Bold Step gift, because the world seems more chaotic and unpredictable than ever. Did you know that throughout history, times of crisis have often preceded times of spiritual awakening? In the book titled A Non-anxious Presence, Mark Sayers reveals how today's challenges might actually be setting the stage for tomorrow's renewal? As leaders and believers, we often try to control what feels uncontrollable. But what if God is using this season of uncertainty to shape something new in your church, maybe in your community, and even your relationship with him? A Non-anxious presence offers a hopeful perspective on leading through turbulent times, requests this bold step gift and discover how to navigate change while maintaining spiritual steadiness. Just call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639 or give online at bold steps. Org. Now to send your gift and request the book a Non-anxious presence in the mail. Write to us at Bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And when you give a gift, each month of $30 or more will add your name to our growing list of bold partners and will also send you a signed copy of Mark's book, Unstuck Out of Your Cave and Into Your Call, plus several other perks like the bi weekly bold partner post, video, email, and 50% off any item from Moody Publishers online store. Thank you for your generous investment in the media ministry of Bold Steps. Be sure to sign up today when you visit Bold steps.org. And before we sign off, let me remind you that all of these daily messages and the faith building resources can be found anywhere, any time, by downloading the Bold Steps app. So do that today by searching your app store for bold steps with doctor Mark Jobe. I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us again tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of Mark's message. Stepping up to your calling. Learn how to use your unique abilities to fulfill your highest calling. Tuesday on Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.