June 27, 2025 • 24 mins
In Psalm 23 we read, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil.” But how could David say this, when his enemies wanted to kill him? Because he knew that God was with always with him. And on the next Treasured Truth, Pastor Ford will explain that just like David, we can overcome our fears knowing that God is always with us, so we don’t ever have to be scared. Learn more as Pastor Ford continues his message called, “I Ain’t Never Scared” on the next Treasured Truth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:00):
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're
going to do something though. Because you're with me. Because
as long as you're with me, I ain't never scared.
I ain't never scared.
S2 (00:21):
This is treasure. Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hillard. Glad that you're with us today as
we continue a message called I Ain't Never Scared. And pastor,
there may be somebody listening today who feels like they're
walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and
they're trying to fear no evil, but they're shaken. They're
(00:42):
scared right now, and they're trying to remember that God
is with them, but they're just struggling today. Can you
talk to that person?
S3 (00:50):
I would tell that person, start practicing the presence of
the person of God. When we first moved to Chicago,
we lived in Humboldt Park, which is largely Hispanic, and
my son, my oldest son was being recruited. And for gang.
S2 (01:11):
Gang.
S3 (01:12):
Yeah. For gang. And, uh, I would walk him to
school and then pick him up from school. He said
to me one day he said, you don't need to
do that anymore, dad. I'm not afraid. I said, you're not.
Help me to understand it. He said, well, we had
studied Psalm 23. He said, I realized something, that I
(01:37):
wasn't afraid because you were with me.
S2 (01:41):
Yeah.
S3 (01:42):
But then I was discounting the fact that even when
you're not with me, God is with me. Mhm. Yeah.
And I felt like God is more powerful than you.
And so as long as he's with me, I don't
need you.
S2 (01:58):
It's pretty profound for.
S3 (01:59):
I was in seventh grade when he. When he told
me that.
S2 (02:02):
Good for him.
S3 (02:02):
I said.
S2 (02:03):
Wow, son.
S3 (02:04):
You're absolutely right. Yeah. You know, and so, I mean,
a seventh grader. Yeah. You know, realizes in his walk
that God is more powerful than his very powerful father.
S2 (02:17):
Yes. Yeah. And I remember you years ago. You're a
big dude. Yeah. I was.
S3 (02:23):
Still big. I used to be 305. Now I'm down to.
S2 (02:27):
Yeah.
S3 (02:28):
You know, so I've lost some pounds and got 40
more to go.
S2 (02:31):
Oh. Looking good though. It kind of reminds me a
little bit. I don't know if you ever watch VeggieTales, but, uh,
this animated, uh, Christian TV show, uh, videos that came
out years ago. And I think one of the very
first ones they ever did was, uh, where's God when
I'm scared? Had a great song called God is Bigger
Than the boogeyman. He's bigger than the monsters on TV.
And he's watching out for you and me. So every time,
(02:53):
because I've now got little kids. And so, you know,
every time they're like, I'm scared of the dark. I'm
scared of this. I'm like, hey, remember that VeggieTales song?
God is bigger than the boogeyman, and he's with you.
He's watching out for you. So kind of similar to
what you're talking about there. You're going to have to
go check that out. Yeah, I think it was Junior
Asparagus and his dad. Well, we are going to move
(03:14):
on from VeggieTales here, and we're going to go back
to the Book of Psalms. We're in Psalm 27 today, though,
as we continue this message. I ain't never scared. Here's
Pastor Ford.
S1 (03:24):
You praise him when heaven's coming down.
S3 (03:26):
Yeah, but can you.
S1 (03:27):
Praise him when hell is breaking loose? Uh, yeah. Yeah.
You you you pray for Big Mama to live. But
she died anyway. Can you praise the Lord in spite
of it? Can you yet give him a praise? Yeah. Uh,
you got the interview, but you didn't get the job.
But can you praise God? Uh, that you are unemployed
in the midst of it? Can you praise him? Uh,
(03:49):
you've been praying for healing, and, uh, we don't put
so much oil on you. We could have fried ten
crates of chicken. Uh, but you ain't healed after 20 years.
Can you still get up in the midst of the
saints and tell everybody I will praise him. See you
pray for the child. But the child is still on drugs.
You pray for your for your relative and they're still gay.
(04:11):
They're still banging your house, still in foreclosure, your spouse
still cheating. The vision didn't go like you planned. But
can you say, like the psalmist, I will bless the
Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in
my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.
(04:31):
The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. Oh, magnify
the Lord with me, and let's exalt. Are there any
praises in the house? Are there any who will give
him the sacrifice of praise? Amen. Amen. Yeah. The sacrifice.
What do you mean by that? You buy at Payless,
(04:56):
but you praise him like you got it at Neiman Marcus. Yeah.
Give him some glory. You drive a hooptie. Uh, yeah,
but you drive it like you're driving a Bugatti. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You eat at Mickey D's every day, but you act
like you eat at McCormick and Schmidt's every night. Yeah. Yeah.
You wear polyester, but you praise him like you wear
(05:19):
an Egyptian cotton. Yeah, yeah. Your unemployment is about to
run out, but you running around acting like you're the
CEO of a fortune 500 company. You live in an
apartment in the projects, but you're walking with swag like
you got a mansion in Winnetka. I wish I had
some folk who understand how blessed they are, and can
(05:42):
just give God some praise for how I am right now.
You don't got to give me nothing else. You don't
got to provide anything else. You done already done enough
for me to praise you, to lift you up, to
magnify you, to give your name the glory. I ain't
never scared. I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared. Mm. Yeah. Mm. David,
(06:15):
would you understand? You want me to share with the congregation?
God will often change the things around you so he
can expose to you the things that are really in you. Oh,
somebody ought to be tweeting that. Now, that's worth taking
the cell phone out and tweeting that. Let me say
(06:37):
that again. That's Tweetable moment there. I said, God will
often change things around you so he can expose to
you what's really in you. See, all of us can
talk a good game in church, but what about on
(06:59):
the job tomorrow. Will you lift your hands and say
thank you, Lord, that I got a job? Amen. Now
look at what he's doing here. David is celebrating the
easiness of God. Aren't you glad God is and never was? Was?
(07:23):
There goes another tweet. Yeah. That that he's saying. He's saying. Listen,
the Lord is my light. He's my illuminator. Uh, the
Lord is my salvation. He's my liberator. And the Lord
is the strength of my life. He's my generator that
I've got a God that got me covered. Uh, that
he's my illuminator, my liberator and my generator. He gives
(07:44):
me power. He gives me protection. He gives me provision.
Everything I need is wrapped up in his purse. Amen. Mhm.
I feel good today. You get a deke? Yes, sir.
He said the Lord is my light. He said, what
do you mean, David? You know what I mean. Dispels darkness.
(08:07):
You remember what happened? The four of us were were
in my vehicle going to the cemetery. I looked down
and I had on. I had on black shoes. I
had on black pants. I had on a black vest,
had on a black jacket, had on a black hat,
had on a black overcoat, had a black Bible. And
(08:27):
I looked and I had on bright. You'll be laughing
at my socks. Just, just the old school man. We
this old school. This is what we used to wear.
Old school. Now you know. That's it. You see that purple?
The purple in there, baby. Shoot. It's coordinated purple in there.
Now come on. That's it, that's it. You know, your
pastor got swag. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So
(08:50):
whenever I sit down and pull em up. Yeah, yeah.
And so so so anyway, I had on brown socks,
I said, look, I got on brown socks. They said, man,
you should have kept them down. They're messing up your thing.
But you know what happened? I got dressed in the
(09:13):
dark and they. I'm looking at some of the brothers.
I know y'all done done this before. Y'all looking at
me like that. That man, that's stupid that we do
that sometime in the dark. But it took the light
to expose what was happening. If I'd have never come
in the light, I never would have known I wasn't
(09:35):
looking good as I thought I was looking. I never
would have known I was uncoordinated. Yeah. And that's why
he says the Lord is my light. You want to
know why? Let me. Let me just share this with you.
My mother in law, uh, took my my granddaughter Nini
to her first play. And, uh, her friend went. So
they were sitting, uh, my my my nanny. Nanny's here. Uh,
(09:57):
nanny's here. Her friend's there. So the first act was over,
the curtain goes down and the light goes out. And
my mother in law said, when the light went out, nay,
nay jumped in one jump into her lap, she said,
and the boy that was two seats away. He jumped
in Nina's lap in one jump, and they were saying,
what's going on? Why did they turn off the lights?
(10:17):
I'm scared. Hold me nanny. And she said, I told them, listen,
let me teach you something. They put the curtain down
and turned the light out because they're changing things, but
they don't want you to see them changing things. So
that's why it's dark. But in a few moments when
(10:39):
they get done setting everything up, they're going to raise
the curtain and turn on the light. And she said,
whenever they raise the curtain and turn on the light,
they they said, wow, did you see that? Everything has changed.
I came to tell somebody that you need to know.
(11:02):
The Lord is your light, that it's dark right now,
in your trouble, your trial, your test and your tribulation.
But the curtain is down and the light is up
because God does his best work in the dark. He
wants you to walk by faith, not by sight. So
he can't let you see what he's setting up, but
he's setting it up so that whenever the curtains go up,
(11:24):
you done gone from one level to the next level
and you just say, wow. Then hindsight, which is always 20, 20,
you look back and say, if it had not been
for the Lord on my side, where would I be
if it had not been? Mm. Yeah. He says yeah
(11:48):
God works in the night seasons. Mhm mhm mhm. He
said I ain't never scared. Yeah I ain't never scared.
S2 (12:02):
You're listening to a message entitled I Ain't Never Scared
from Pastor Ford, really taken from Psalm 27. And we'll
get back to this teaching in just a moment. If
you're ever in the Chicago area and you want to
visit Christ Bible Church of Chicago and hear Pastor Ford
speak live, you can get all the info you need
when you come to our website, npr.org, and click on
(12:23):
the about link. And if you ever have a question
about something Pastor Ford says on the broadcast, you can
send us a note at the website. We'll make sure
that Pastor Ford hears from you. Just come to treasure
Truth radio.org and click on the contact link. Well, if
you're just joining us, we are in Psalm 27. So
open your Bible as we continue the message. I ain't
never scared. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1 (12:45):
Look. Look what he says. The Lord is my light. Mhm.
The Lord is my sun. The Lord is my star.
The Lord is my beacon. The Lord is my flame.
The Lord is my fire. He's my luminescence. He's my incandescence.
(13:05):
He's my phosphorescence. He's my daylight. He's my highlight. He's
my night light. He's my moonlight. He's my twilight. He's
my shimmer and my glimmer. He is my razzle and
my dazzle. He's my brightness. He's my lightness. He's my
day and he's my ray. Yeah. He could have stopped there. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(13:30):
I used the thesaurus. He said the Lord is my
light and my salvation. He's my savior, he's my Redeemer.
He's my helper. He's my chain breaker. He's my fetter taker.
He's my heavy load bearer. Yeah. Huh. So he says
I ain't never scared. Who should, who should I fear? What, who,
(13:56):
what person, what doctor's report should I fear? What bar
should I fear? What neighbor should I fear? What family
member should I fear? What racist should I fear? No. Yea.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're going
to do something, though. Because you're with me. Because as
(14:17):
long as you're with me. As long as God is,
is and never was, was and never will be, will be.
As long as he is, is. I ain't never scared.
I ain't never scared. Yeah. Here's the second one. Here's
the second one. Here's the second one. He says, I
(14:39):
ain't never scared because of my celebration about God his person.
But then notice verse two, he says, I ain't never
scared because of my conquest through God. Listen to what
he says. When the wicked, even my enemies and my
foes come upon me to eat up my flesh, they
stumbled and fell. Man. I looked at the word stumble
(15:00):
and I looked at the word fail. And they're closely related.
And he could have used one. He didn't have to
say stumble and fail, but he wants us to know
in the first one. Uh, here's what the Bible says.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper. In other words,
they can form it, but it can't prosper. In other words,
they can use it to try to use it against
(15:20):
you and they can put it against you. But whatever
they're putting against you for is not going to happen.
And so he says, listen, I look back in the
past and I remember what God did. And so now
I just trust him. I gotta share this. It's one
of my favorite, favorite stories. Uh, here's what happened to
me when I, when I got saved. Uh, I was
(15:41):
going around witnessing. I asked God, let me witness in
every bar, pool hall, juke joint, uh, that that ever, uh, I,
I sold drugs in. And before I left Pittsburgh to
come to Chicago. God showed me. He let me fulfill
that promise I made to him everyone that was still open.
You know, and some of em. Some of them I
used to shut down before I got saved. And some
(16:03):
of them, I shut them down after I got saved. Amen.
Because I walk in there with the Bible and and
quote the scriptures and and chase everybody up out of there.
As a matter of fact, I was barred from some bars.
I was deep because I'd go up in there just.
And they wouldn't, you know, people would. Whenever I would
go up to put my arms around, have my Bible
(16:23):
go put an arm. They start backing away because they,
they said in the community, don't let him touch you
because he got some kind of touch. Everybody he touch
and open that Bible to, they get religious. And so, uh,
Ray and I were trying to witness to a brother
named hook. His name is Michael. And, uh, Mike, uh,
was like, like a sinner to the max. And didn't he?
(16:45):
He would flaunt it in front of us even though
we were friends. And so, you know, we'd say, you know,
he say he say you're not smoking anymore, huh? And
he light up a joint and blow it in your face,
stuff like that. Yeah. He do stuff like that. You
ain't drinking no more, huh? Oh. you know, he would
do something like that. Mike was so bad. Mike had
two women that both knew that he was going with them,
(17:08):
and he invited both of them to live with him,
and they both came to live with him. So two
he living like Abraham, Hagar and Sarah and I. I
never could figure out Sarah as a black woman doing
that one anyway. Ain't no black woman I know. Now,
when she kicked him out, that's the black women I know,
(17:29):
you know. But anyway. So. So, uh, two, two, ten
in the morning, I get a call. Who's this? It's Hulk.
What's wrong? What's wrong? We want to be saved, man.
We want to be saved at 210 in the morning. Mhm.
I got up, brushed my teeth, put on my clothes.
(17:51):
My wife said, where are you going? I said hook
called me. He want to be saved. You, you ain't
going out there tonight are you. Tell him you see
him in the morning. He want to be saved now.
I'm going now, he cried. Now I'm going now. And
I got in what we call the gospel buggy. It
was a car that was given to me. It was
the first miracle that God showed me whenever I turned
my car in, because I had to make a choice
between keeping my car and paying my rent, and and
(18:14):
anybody knows, before I got saved, it was no contest.
I keep my car. But now that I was saved,
I had to pay my rent. So I had to
let the car go. And so Ray said, well, let's
pray and ask God, God don't give cars. And boom!
Two days later I was given a car and I
called it the Gospel Buggy. And so I get in
(18:34):
the gospel buggy and and I get ready to go.
I leave Homewood, I head on up to Wilkinsburg, uh,
where where hook live? Uh, when I get around the corner, uh,
the car stops. I'm four blocks from his house. This
is a dangerous place. Uh, best I can tell you
is it's like being in the bucket of blood at
3:00 in the morning. Amen, Amen. You Chicago folk know
(18:56):
what I'm talking about. And and so and so I'm saying, God,
get this car to going, I gotta get the hook.
And I can't be walking four blocks in in this
because I knew. Because, see, before, uh, the, the people
that I was afraid of as a Christian, uh, was
me before I became a Christian. Yeah. And so and so,
(19:18):
you know, I said, man, I got to go. Okay, Lord,
you're not going to start the car. You got to
protect me. So I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm singing and
I'm singing. You know, Andre Cross was big back then.
Andre Crouch was our Kurt Franklin and Tye Tribbett. And
so I'm singing some Andre Crouch songs, you know, and
and and and and just watching and and thinking man,
you know, you used to be out in this, you know. Yeah.
(19:41):
But that was before I became a Christian. So I
come around the corner now cemeteries here. And he lives
on a dead end street. So once you walk, start
walking up that street, there's only one way out. That's
the back this way. So as soon as I turn
the corner, I look out of my peripheral vision. I
see a guy steps to block my entrance or exit, actually,
(20:01):
because that's what it would have been. And I begin
to pray. I said, Lord, I know this scenario. I
used to do it myself, me and my brother in law, Bill.
That's the way we were robbed. Somebody come behind them.
Step out in front of em, I said, I know
somebody's going to step out in front of me. And
a couple doors up, God stepped out from a walkway
and I said, oh, man, I ain't got no money.
And so, you know, folk, when you ain't got no money,
(20:23):
you know, I said, okay, well, I'm just going to
witness to him, Lord, I'm just going to witness to him.
I said, you know, Ray said, you're a deliverer. I
need deliverer right now. And I'm telling you, I didn't
hardly get the words out of my mouth when I
saw a light. And then I heard, whoop, whoop, whoop!
Now they used to send me running. It put a
(20:43):
smile on my face. I turned around and looked. And
them boys scattered like roaches. When you turn on the lights.
Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, man,
I'm so happy. And so he pulls up. He says,
what are you doing, sir? I said, I'm going to hooks.
I got my Bible. He called me. He wants to
(21:04):
be saved. And so I'm going to save hook. Do
you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?
And he said, go on, save hook. And he turned
on around and moved. So then I get up to
where hook lives. Now there's three floors and you would
think he lives at the first floor. You think the
bottom bell was his second third? It wasn't that way.
I hit the bottom bell, and as I hit the
(21:27):
bottom bell, I'm ringing and ringing and ringing it. And
nothing's happening. Then I hear, step back now. Wasn't loud.
It was in my head. Step back. And I stepped back.
When I step back, the woman on the third floor
whose bell I was ringing, that was the first one,
had slammed up her window. And the pane fell out
(21:49):
and the pane fell where I was standing.
S2 (21:55):
Well, a dramatic place to hit the pause button in
this message from Pastor Ford, but we're going to continue
this next time. Well, this is a listener supported ministry.
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(22:17):
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(22:38):
make a single gift in the amount of your choosing,
we'll send you a book by Pastor Ford with our thanks.
It's called seven Reasons Why God Created Marriage. You know,
marriage is a partnership where both partners have an equal
responsibility toward each other. And above all, both partners have
an obligation towards Christ. In Pastor Ford's book, you're going
(22:59):
to learn how to reset your marriage and build it
on the fundamentals laid out in the Bible. You know,
most of us wouldn't dream of building a house without
first checking the blueprints, making sure we're doing it right.
But it's astonishing how many couples try and build a
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Whether you're married, engaged, or praying for a future spouse,
(23:21):
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I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Join us
next time for the conclusion of this message. I am
(23:42):
never scared. That's right. Here on treasure. Truth. A production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're
going to do something though. Because you're with me. Because
as long as you're with me, I ain't never scared.
I ain't never scared.
S2 (00:21):
This is treasure. Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hillard. Glad that you're with us today as
we continue a message called I Ain't Never Scared. And pastor,
there may be somebody listening today who feels like they're
walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and
they're trying to fear no evil, but they're shaken. They're
(00:42):
scared right now, and they're trying to remember that God
is with them, but they're just struggling today. Can you
talk to that person?
S3 (00:50):
I would tell that person, start practicing the presence of
the person of God. When we first moved to Chicago,
we lived in Humboldt Park, which is largely Hispanic, and
my son, my oldest son was being recruited. And for gang.
S2 (01:11):
Gang.
S3 (01:12):
Yeah. For gang. And, uh, I would walk him to
school and then pick him up from school. He said
to me one day he said, you don't need to
do that anymore, dad. I'm not afraid. I said, you're not.
Help me to understand it. He said, well, we had
studied Psalm 23. He said, I realized something, that I
(01:37):
wasn't afraid because you were with me.
S2 (01:41):
Yeah.
S3 (01:42):
But then I was discounting the fact that even when
you're not with me, God is with me. Mhm. Yeah.
And I felt like God is more powerful than you.
And so as long as he's with me, I don't
need you.
S2 (01:58):
It's pretty profound for.
S3 (01:59):
I was in seventh grade when he. When he told
me that.
S2 (02:02):
Good for him.
S3 (02:02):
I said.
S2 (02:03):
Wow, son.
S3 (02:04):
You're absolutely right. Yeah. You know, and so, I mean,
a seventh grader. Yeah. You know, realizes in his walk
that God is more powerful than his very powerful father.
S2 (02:17):
Yes. Yeah. And I remember you years ago. You're a
big dude. Yeah. I was.
S3 (02:23):
Still big. I used to be 305. Now I'm down to.
S2 (02:27):
Yeah.
S3 (02:28):
You know, so I've lost some pounds and got 40
more to go.
S2 (02:31):
Oh. Looking good though. It kind of reminds me a
little bit. I don't know if you ever watch VeggieTales, but, uh,
this animated, uh, Christian TV show, uh, videos that came
out years ago. And I think one of the very
first ones they ever did was, uh, where's God when
I'm scared? Had a great song called God is Bigger
Than the boogeyman. He's bigger than the monsters on TV.
And he's watching out for you and me. So every time,
(02:53):
because I've now got little kids. And so, you know,
every time they're like, I'm scared of the dark. I'm
scared of this. I'm like, hey, remember that VeggieTales song?
God is bigger than the boogeyman, and he's with you.
He's watching out for you. So kind of similar to
what you're talking about there. You're going to have to
go check that out. Yeah, I think it was Junior
Asparagus and his dad. Well, we are going to move
(03:14):
on from VeggieTales here, and we're going to go back
to the Book of Psalms. We're in Psalm 27 today, though,
as we continue this message. I ain't never scared. Here's
Pastor Ford.
S1 (03:24):
You praise him when heaven's coming down.
S3 (03:26):
Yeah, but can you.
S1 (03:27):
Praise him when hell is breaking loose? Uh, yeah. Yeah.
You you you pray for Big Mama to live. But
she died anyway. Can you praise the Lord in spite
of it? Can you yet give him a praise? Yeah. Uh,
you got the interview, but you didn't get the job.
But can you praise God? Uh, that you are unemployed
in the midst of it? Can you praise him? Uh,
(03:49):
you've been praying for healing, and, uh, we don't put
so much oil on you. We could have fried ten
crates of chicken. Uh, but you ain't healed after 20 years.
Can you still get up in the midst of the
saints and tell everybody I will praise him. See you
pray for the child. But the child is still on drugs.
You pray for your for your relative and they're still gay.
(04:11):
They're still banging your house, still in foreclosure, your spouse
still cheating. The vision didn't go like you planned. But
can you say, like the psalmist, I will bless the
Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in
my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.
(04:31):
The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. Oh, magnify
the Lord with me, and let's exalt. Are there any
praises in the house? Are there any who will give
him the sacrifice of praise? Amen. Amen. Yeah. The sacrifice.
What do you mean by that? You buy at Payless,
(04:56):
but you praise him like you got it at Neiman Marcus. Yeah.
Give him some glory. You drive a hooptie. Uh, yeah,
but you drive it like you're driving a Bugatti. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You eat at Mickey D's every day, but you act
like you eat at McCormick and Schmidt's every night. Yeah. Yeah.
You wear polyester, but you praise him like you wear
(05:19):
an Egyptian cotton. Yeah, yeah. Your unemployment is about to
run out, but you running around acting like you're the
CEO of a fortune 500 company. You live in an
apartment in the projects, but you're walking with swag like
you got a mansion in Winnetka. I wish I had
some folk who understand how blessed they are, and can
(05:42):
just give God some praise for how I am right now.
You don't got to give me nothing else. You don't
got to provide anything else. You done already done enough
for me to praise you, to lift you up, to
magnify you, to give your name the glory. I ain't
never scared. I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared. Mm. Yeah. Mm. David,
(06:15):
would you understand? You want me to share with the congregation?
God will often change the things around you so he
can expose to you the things that are really in you. Oh,
somebody ought to be tweeting that. Now, that's worth taking
the cell phone out and tweeting that. Let me say
(06:37):
that again. That's Tweetable moment there. I said, God will
often change things around you so he can expose to
you what's really in you. See, all of us can
talk a good game in church, but what about on
(06:59):
the job tomorrow. Will you lift your hands and say
thank you, Lord, that I got a job? Amen. Now
look at what he's doing here. David is celebrating the
easiness of God. Aren't you glad God is and never was? Was?
(07:23):
There goes another tweet. Yeah. That that he's saying. He's saying. Listen,
the Lord is my light. He's my illuminator. Uh, the
Lord is my salvation. He's my liberator. And the Lord
is the strength of my life. He's my generator that
I've got a God that got me covered. Uh, that
he's my illuminator, my liberator and my generator. He gives
(07:44):
me power. He gives me protection. He gives me provision.
Everything I need is wrapped up in his purse. Amen. Mhm.
I feel good today. You get a deke? Yes, sir.
He said the Lord is my light. He said, what
do you mean, David? You know what I mean. Dispels darkness.
(08:07):
You remember what happened? The four of us were were
in my vehicle going to the cemetery. I looked down
and I had on. I had on black shoes. I
had on black pants. I had on a black vest,
had on a black jacket, had on a black hat,
had on a black overcoat, had a black Bible. And
(08:27):
I looked and I had on bright. You'll be laughing
at my socks. Just, just the old school man. We
this old school. This is what we used to wear.
Old school. Now you know. That's it. You see that purple?
The purple in there, baby. Shoot. It's coordinated purple in there.
Now come on. That's it, that's it. You know, your
pastor got swag. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So
(08:50):
whenever I sit down and pull em up. Yeah, yeah.
And so so so anyway, I had on brown socks,
I said, look, I got on brown socks. They said, man,
you should have kept them down. They're messing up your thing.
But you know what happened? I got dressed in the
(09:13):
dark and they. I'm looking at some of the brothers.
I know y'all done done this before. Y'all looking at
me like that. That man, that's stupid that we do
that sometime in the dark. But it took the light
to expose what was happening. If I'd have never come
in the light, I never would have known I wasn't
(09:35):
looking good as I thought I was looking. I never
would have known I was uncoordinated. Yeah. And that's why
he says the Lord is my light. You want to
know why? Let me. Let me just share this with you.
My mother in law, uh, took my my granddaughter Nini
to her first play. And, uh, her friend went. So
they were sitting, uh, my my my nanny. Nanny's here. Uh,
(09:57):
nanny's here. Her friend's there. So the first act was over,
the curtain goes down and the light goes out. And
my mother in law said, when the light went out, nay,
nay jumped in one jump into her lap, she said,
and the boy that was two seats away. He jumped
in Nina's lap in one jump, and they were saying,
what's going on? Why did they turn off the lights?
(10:17):
I'm scared. Hold me nanny. And she said, I told them, listen,
let me teach you something. They put the curtain down
and turned the light out because they're changing things, but
they don't want you to see them changing things. So
that's why it's dark. But in a few moments when
(10:39):
they get done setting everything up, they're going to raise
the curtain and turn on the light. And she said,
whenever they raise the curtain and turn on the light,
they they said, wow, did you see that? Everything has changed.
I came to tell somebody that you need to know.
(11:02):
The Lord is your light, that it's dark right now,
in your trouble, your trial, your test and your tribulation.
But the curtain is down and the light is up
because God does his best work in the dark. He
wants you to walk by faith, not by sight. So
he can't let you see what he's setting up, but
he's setting it up so that whenever the curtains go up,
(11:24):
you done gone from one level to the next level
and you just say, wow. Then hindsight, which is always 20, 20,
you look back and say, if it had not been
for the Lord on my side, where would I be
if it had not been? Mm. Yeah. He says yeah
(11:48):
God works in the night seasons. Mhm mhm mhm. He
said I ain't never scared. Yeah I ain't never scared.
S2 (12:02):
You're listening to a message entitled I Ain't Never Scared
from Pastor Ford, really taken from Psalm 27. And we'll
get back to this teaching in just a moment. If
you're ever in the Chicago area and you want to
visit Christ Bible Church of Chicago and hear Pastor Ford
speak live, you can get all the info you need
when you come to our website, npr.org, and click on
(12:23):
the about link. And if you ever have a question
about something Pastor Ford says on the broadcast, you can
send us a note at the website. We'll make sure
that Pastor Ford hears from you. Just come to treasure
Truth radio.org and click on the contact link. Well, if
you're just joining us, we are in Psalm 27. So
open your Bible as we continue the message. I ain't
never scared. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1 (12:45):
Look. Look what he says. The Lord is my light. Mhm.
The Lord is my sun. The Lord is my star.
The Lord is my beacon. The Lord is my flame.
The Lord is my fire. He's my luminescence. He's my incandescence.
(13:05):
He's my phosphorescence. He's my daylight. He's my highlight. He's
my night light. He's my moonlight. He's my twilight. He's
my shimmer and my glimmer. He is my razzle and
my dazzle. He's my brightness. He's my lightness. He's my
day and he's my ray. Yeah. He could have stopped there. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(13:30):
I used the thesaurus. He said the Lord is my
light and my salvation. He's my savior, he's my Redeemer.
He's my helper. He's my chain breaker. He's my fetter taker.
He's my heavy load bearer. Yeah. Huh. So he says
I ain't never scared. Who should, who should I fear? What, who,
(13:56):
what person, what doctor's report should I fear? What bar
should I fear? What neighbor should I fear? What family
member should I fear? What racist should I fear? No. Yea.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're going
to do something, though. Because you're with me. Because as
(14:17):
long as you're with me. As long as God is,
is and never was, was and never will be, will be.
As long as he is, is. I ain't never scared.
I ain't never scared. Yeah. Here's the second one. Here's
the second one. Here's the second one. He says, I
(14:39):
ain't never scared because of my celebration about God his person.
But then notice verse two, he says, I ain't never
scared because of my conquest through God. Listen to what
he says. When the wicked, even my enemies and my
foes come upon me to eat up my flesh, they
stumbled and fell. Man. I looked at the word stumble
(15:00):
and I looked at the word fail. And they're closely related.
And he could have used one. He didn't have to
say stumble and fail, but he wants us to know
in the first one. Uh, here's what the Bible says.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper. In other words,
they can form it, but it can't prosper. In other words,
they can use it to try to use it against
(15:20):
you and they can put it against you. But whatever
they're putting against you for is not going to happen.
And so he says, listen, I look back in the
past and I remember what God did. And so now
I just trust him. I gotta share this. It's one
of my favorite, favorite stories. Uh, here's what happened to
me when I, when I got saved. Uh, I was
(15:41):
going around witnessing. I asked God, let me witness in
every bar, pool hall, juke joint, uh, that that ever, uh, I,
I sold drugs in. And before I left Pittsburgh to
come to Chicago. God showed me. He let me fulfill
that promise I made to him everyone that was still open.
You know, and some of em. Some of them I
used to shut down before I got saved. And some
(16:03):
of them, I shut them down after I got saved. Amen.
Because I walk in there with the Bible and and
quote the scriptures and and chase everybody up out of there.
As a matter of fact, I was barred from some bars.
I was deep because I'd go up in there just.
And they wouldn't, you know, people would. Whenever I would
go up to put my arms around, have my Bible
(16:23):
go put an arm. They start backing away because they,
they said in the community, don't let him touch you
because he got some kind of touch. Everybody he touch
and open that Bible to, they get religious. And so, uh,
Ray and I were trying to witness to a brother
named hook. His name is Michael. And, uh, Mike, uh,
was like, like a sinner to the max. And didn't he?
(16:45):
He would flaunt it in front of us even though
we were friends. And so, you know, we'd say, you know,
he say he say you're not smoking anymore, huh? And
he light up a joint and blow it in your face,
stuff like that. Yeah. He do stuff like that. You
ain't drinking no more, huh? Oh. you know, he would
do something like that. Mike was so bad. Mike had
two women that both knew that he was going with them,
(17:08):
and he invited both of them to live with him,
and they both came to live with him. So two
he living like Abraham, Hagar and Sarah and I. I
never could figure out Sarah as a black woman doing
that one anyway. Ain't no black woman I know. Now,
when she kicked him out, that's the black women I know,
(17:29):
you know. But anyway. So. So, uh, two, two, ten
in the morning, I get a call. Who's this? It's Hulk.
What's wrong? What's wrong? We want to be saved, man.
We want to be saved at 210 in the morning. Mhm.
I got up, brushed my teeth, put on my clothes.
(17:51):
My wife said, where are you going? I said hook
called me. He want to be saved. You, you ain't
going out there tonight are you. Tell him you see
him in the morning. He want to be saved now.
I'm going now, he cried. Now I'm going now. And
I got in what we call the gospel buggy. It
was a car that was given to me. It was
the first miracle that God showed me whenever I turned
my car in, because I had to make a choice
between keeping my car and paying my rent, and and
(18:14):
anybody knows, before I got saved, it was no contest.
I keep my car. But now that I was saved,
I had to pay my rent. So I had to
let the car go. And so Ray said, well, let's
pray and ask God, God don't give cars. And boom!
Two days later I was given a car and I
called it the Gospel Buggy. And so I get in
(18:34):
the gospel buggy and and I get ready to go.
I leave Homewood, I head on up to Wilkinsburg, uh,
where where hook live? Uh, when I get around the corner, uh,
the car stops. I'm four blocks from his house. This
is a dangerous place. Uh, best I can tell you
is it's like being in the bucket of blood at
3:00 in the morning. Amen, Amen. You Chicago folk know
(18:56):
what I'm talking about. And and so and so I'm saying, God,
get this car to going, I gotta get the hook.
And I can't be walking four blocks in in this
because I knew. Because, see, before, uh, the, the people
that I was afraid of as a Christian, uh, was
me before I became a Christian. Yeah. And so and so,
(19:18):
you know, I said, man, I got to go. Okay, Lord,
you're not going to start the car. You got to
protect me. So I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm singing and
I'm singing. You know, Andre Cross was big back then.
Andre Crouch was our Kurt Franklin and Tye Tribbett. And
so I'm singing some Andre Crouch songs, you know, and
and and and and just watching and and thinking man,
you know, you used to be out in this, you know. Yeah.
(19:41):
But that was before I became a Christian. So I
come around the corner now cemeteries here. And he lives
on a dead end street. So once you walk, start
walking up that street, there's only one way out. That's
the back this way. So as soon as I turn
the corner, I look out of my peripheral vision. I
see a guy steps to block my entrance or exit, actually,
(20:01):
because that's what it would have been. And I begin
to pray. I said, Lord, I know this scenario. I
used to do it myself, me and my brother in law, Bill.
That's the way we were robbed. Somebody come behind them.
Step out in front of em, I said, I know
somebody's going to step out in front of me. And
a couple doors up, God stepped out from a walkway
and I said, oh, man, I ain't got no money.
And so, you know, folk, when you ain't got no money,
(20:23):
you know, I said, okay, well, I'm just going to
witness to him, Lord, I'm just going to witness to him.
I said, you know, Ray said, you're a deliverer. I
need deliverer right now. And I'm telling you, I didn't
hardly get the words out of my mouth when I
saw a light. And then I heard, whoop, whoop, whoop!
Now they used to send me running. It put a
(20:43):
smile on my face. I turned around and looked. And
them boys scattered like roaches. When you turn on the lights.
Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, man,
I'm so happy. And so he pulls up. He says,
what are you doing, sir? I said, I'm going to hooks.
I got my Bible. He called me. He wants to
(21:04):
be saved. And so I'm going to save hook. Do
you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?
And he said, go on, save hook. And he turned
on around and moved. So then I get up to
where hook lives. Now there's three floors and you would
think he lives at the first floor. You think the
bottom bell was his second third? It wasn't that way.
I hit the bottom bell, and as I hit the
(21:27):
bottom bell, I'm ringing and ringing and ringing it. And
nothing's happening. Then I hear, step back now. Wasn't loud.
It was in my head. Step back. And I stepped back.
When I step back, the woman on the third floor
whose bell I was ringing, that was the first one,
had slammed up her window. And the pane fell out
(21:49):
and the pane fell where I was standing.
S2 (21:55):
Well, a dramatic place to hit the pause button in
this message from Pastor Ford, but we're going to continue
this next time. Well, this is a listener supported ministry.
It's really your donations that keep treasure truth on the air,
broadcasting the truth each weekday. Now we want to give
a special thanks to our monthly partners, those who give
generously and at times sacrificially, to keep these broadcasts on
(22:17):
the air. You can become a monthly partner right now
by calling 88644 7660, by going online to Treasure Truth radio.org.
Or you can send a check in the mail. Our
address is Treasure Truth, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois
606 ten. Whether you become a monthly partner or you
(22:38):
make a single gift in the amount of your choosing,
we'll send you a book by Pastor Ford with our thanks.
It's called seven Reasons Why God Created Marriage. You know,
marriage is a partnership where both partners have an equal
responsibility toward each other. And above all, both partners have
an obligation towards Christ. In Pastor Ford's book, you're going
(22:59):
to learn how to reset your marriage and build it
on the fundamentals laid out in the Bible. You know,
most of us wouldn't dream of building a house without
first checking the blueprints, making sure we're doing it right.
But it's astonishing how many couples try and build a
marriage without first understanding what God intends it to be.
Whether you're married, engaged, or praying for a future spouse,
(23:21):
it's time to start building the right way. Give a
donation and request seven reasons why God created marriage. Call
us at 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.
I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Join us
next time for the conclusion of this message. I am
(23:42):
never scared. That's right. Here on treasure. Truth. A production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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