April 17, 2025 • 24 mins
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He celebrated. And in His resurrection celebration, Jesus had prayer and praise. And on the next Treasured Truth, Pastor Ford will ask us, if we’ve followed Jesus’ example—has resurrection power caused us to pray more? Has it caused us to praise more? To learn more about how we should respond when we realize we need the resurrection power of Jesus in our lives, join us for the next Treasured Truth.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:00):
I just want you to see that Jesus Christ, in
this resurrection celebration, had prayer and praise. I want to
ask you, does resurrection power cause you to pray more?
Caused you to praise more?
S2 (00:18):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us today as we
continue our message, resurrection power. You can't keep a good
man down. And I don't know about you, but when
I hear that title, especially with this being Easter week,
my first thought is, well, this must be a message
about Jesus. And it is. But it's also a message
(00:41):
about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because of
his resurrection power. And as Pastor Ford just pointed out,
when we see his resurrection power, we're probably going to
be led to more prayer and more praise. Because when
we understand who Jesus truly is when we see that
(01:02):
He is God incarnate, the Son of God in all
his power and in all his glory with skin on
than it does, I think, lead us to more prayer
and to more praise when we realize the fact that
Jesus conquered sin and conquered death, and He Himself was
able to lay his life down and pick it up
(01:23):
again and give life to those who were dead around him.
How can that not lead us to more prayer and
more praise? Well, that's what we're looking at in today's broadcast.
So if you can open your Bible and join us
in John chapter 11 as we continue the message resurrection power.
You can't keep a good man down. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:45):
You want to grow. You know what you're asking God
to do. Put more weight on me. Give me more
difficult situations. Give me something I got to wrestle with,
struggle through and believe you and see you manifest yourself
in all of your glory. Hallelujah. And so then there
was the divine declaration. I'm almost done with my introduction.
(02:07):
I'm almost done with my introduction. Y'all laughing. This is
my introduction. Then there was the divine declaration. That was
last year. We had the Divine declaration. I called it
the greatest statement ever made. Why was it the greatest statement?
Pastor Ford, I'm glad you asked me. You asked intelligent
question it because it was the greatest identification I am
(02:28):
is the greatest declaration, the resurrection and the life. It
was the greatest confirmation, though he were dead. Yet shall
he live? It's the greatest invitation. Believest thou this? And
it was the greatest application, she said, Lord, I believe.
Now let's finish this text up. And, uh, the good
thing about it is the body of my message is
as long as my introduction. Amen. I didn't I didn't
(02:53):
say anything. Anything about my conclusion. Uh, so now now
we have resurrection celebration. Let's walk through. Imma drop em,
not push em. As my friend Romeo would say. Resurrection, celebration.
Now we come to the actual event where the power
that Jesus shows. I don't need to die to have
resurrection power. I am the resurrection and the life. And
(03:16):
because you can't keep a God man down, you're not
going to be able to keep a good man down.
Here it is. Notice in this resurrection celebration, there are
five elements of this resurrection celebration. Number one, let's go on. Move.
Look at the compassion of Christ. Verse 35 says, Jesus wept, man,
I tell you, there are two verses of Scripture that
(03:37):
everybody seems to know. This is one of them. Jesus wept. Uh, yeah.
I remember, uh, my sons. I used to tell them, okay,
to get a treat, you gotta have a memory verse.
You gotta give me a memory verse. And I ain't
going to tell you which one. Uh, came back with it. Uh,
but it was that one that's up in the balcony
right now. And he came back and he said, I
(03:58):
got my verse memorized. How you do it so fast,
he said. John 1135 Jesus wept. I said, oh no,
he said, that's a verse. He said, all right. Yeah.
And you know the other one, right? What's the other one?
This morning they said, John 316. No. Jesus turned water
(04:18):
into wine. Every time I witnesses, somebody got an alcohol problem.
That's what they remind me of. Jesus turned water into wine,
didn't he? Then he turned water into wine. Yeah. And
so Jesus wept. Now, here's my question. Here's my question.
Why is Jesus weeping? Didn't he already know he was
going to raise him? Answer yes. Then why are you weeping? Jesus? See,
(04:45):
there were two reasons that motivated Jesus while he walked
on earth. Uh. Here's one. He saw their faith. Uh,
Mark two five. Uh, he saw their faith. Luke 520.
He saw their faith. Uh. Matthew 1842. 42. Matthew nine two.
He moved because he saw faith. Why? Because faith is
(05:05):
the currency of heaven. That's how you cash in on
the promises of God. How do I know that? I
hate to get the Bible in this, but now a
word from our sponsor. He says without faith it is
impossible to please him, for he that cometh to him
must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently. So when Jesus sees faith,
(05:27):
he acts. But there's another reason. You know what it is. Say,
what is it? He was moved with compassion. Oh, I
love that, because sometimes I don't have faith. And Jesus
does it anyway. Because what is compassion? My pain in
(05:51):
his heart. Your pain in his heart. And so here,
now we see the compassion of Jesus. Jesus, why are
you crying? Because I'm not only God, I'm also a man.
And one of the things I want to convey to
my people is that I know the struggles that you're
going through. God the father doesn't know our struggles because
(06:15):
he is God and he does not experience anything. Remember
I asked you the question, has it ever occurred to
you that nothing has ever occurred to God? Alright, but
Jesus became a man and so he's saying, listen what
you're going through. Are you homeless? Son of man have
nowhere to lay his head. Uh, you have a home. Uh,
(06:36):
the Son of Man does not have a home. Foxes
have homes, birds have nests. But the Son of Man
hath nowhere to lay his head. You've been hated on.
He came into his own, and his own received him not.
The same ones who hollered Hosanna! Hosanna turned around on, uh,
Maundy Thursday and said, crucify him, crucify him! Yeah. Jesus
(06:57):
wants us to know that he can relate to every
struggle that we have and that he's crying out for them.
He feels their pain. Why, Pastor Ford? Because there's not
a friend like the lowly Jesus. No. Not one, no
not one. Hebrews 414 for we have not a high
(07:17):
priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
But in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin. How would you define compassion, pastor? Glad you asked.
I would call it the love of God that wants
the best for us. The wisdom of God that knows
what's best for us, the plan of God which is
(07:40):
the best for us, and the power of God that
does the best for us. Amen. Now, now, now listen, listen.
Jesus wants you to know you came in here today,
tore up from the floor. Got a smile on your face.
New clothes on your back. But sorrow in your heart.
And Jesus says he knows all about it. He knows
(08:01):
all about it. Now, let me just tell you this.
God didn't bury Lazarus. He planted him. See? How do
I know God hasn't buried you? Because you're still breathing.
And you're going through something. Which means he only planted you.
(08:24):
He didn't bury you. See, if you're buried, you're there
to stay. And the ground stays on top of you.
There's a flower called the lotus blossom. Got a picture
of it? Isn't that a beautiful flower? Guess why it's
(08:45):
so beautiful. Because when it started out, you have to
plant it in mud. So you put in the mud
and you put the mud on top of it. And
it only grows in moist places. And so what happens?
It looks buried. But then, because you can't put it
(09:08):
in dry earth, it won't grow. It needs mud. It
draws moisture from everything. It needs to survive and to thrive.
It draws from the mud. So guess what happens as
it's buried there? It looks buried. You go back one day.
It's still under the mud. Next day still under the mud.
(09:29):
But guess what? You keep going back. And one day
you'll see some shoots break through the mud. And then
you'll see a stem. And then you keep going back.
And you see that beautiful flower has blossomed. Some of you,
in some muddy situations in your marriage and your job
(09:52):
and your church, in your hood, you in some muddy situations.
But I came to tell you, you're not buried. No, no.
The mud is on you, but you are drawing what
you need to grow in the grace and the knowledge
of Jesus Christ from the very mud that's on top
of you. And as you begin to trust God, what
you'll find is you're going to break through the surface
(10:15):
of the mud and the mud that used to be
on top of you. Now you are on top of
it as, as as you continue to draw from that tragedy,
that travesty, then all of a sudden you begin to
blossom and and your leaves go out and, and and
you begin to look up and you look at yourself
(10:37):
and say, wow, I'm beautiful. Look at me. But I'm
not beautiful just because I'm beautiful, because of the mud
out of which I grew. Amen. Amen. Tribulation worketh patience. Yeah.
(10:58):
Look at somebody and say I'm not buried, I'm just planted.
That's right, that's right. I'm not buried. I'm just planted. Yeah. Now. Now, look. Secondly,
not just at the. Not just the compassion of Jesus.
I want you to see the commitment of Jesus. So
Jesus then proceeds to do two things. Prayer and praise. Yeah.
(11:24):
Prayer and praise. Listen to what he says. He said, father,
I thank thee. When? Verse 41. Then he took away
the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father,
I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I
knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the
people which stand by, I said it, that they may
believe that thou hast sent me. He said, he says,
I'm not doing this for my benefit. I'm doing it
(11:45):
for that. I'm going to have prayer and I'm going
to praise God, and it's going to be audible so
that people will know that you have sent me. That's
another sermon. I don't have time to do it all.
I just want you to see that Jesus Christ in
this resurrection celebration had prayer and praise. I want to
ask you, do you? Let me just cut to the chase?
(12:05):
You know, you you can go and study the text
for yourself. But do you does resurrection power caused you
to pray more? Caused you to praise more?
S2 (12:16):
You know, as we look at Jesus and His resurrection power,
I think that's the natural outflow from that. We will
pray more, we will praise more. We're going to get
back to this broadcast in just a moment. I know
that many of us try and catch a broadcast each
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(12:38):
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(12:58):
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you can simply come to our website, treasure. Org and
we'll link you to the download. Well, right now it's
time to get back to the message once again. Here's
Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:12):
See, there was a guy who went to Israel, and
he wanted to see how sheep were taken care of.
And so he got with this shepherd. And Shepherd said,
now it's time to feed the ewe lambs that haven't eaten.
So the shepherd would give him a lamb, and he would.
He would feed the lamb out of a bottle. So
after they got done, they fed about 8 or 9,
but they had over 100 ewe lambs. He said, man,
(13:33):
you got to tell me this. How do you know
the ones that have not eaten? He said it's very simple.
They don't have dirty knees. He said, I don't understand it.
What do you mean? When a ewe lamb feeds it
has his hind legs straight, but its front legs are
down and he's on his knees. So I know who's
(13:55):
been on their knees by the fact that they have dirt.
And when I see the dirt on their knees. I
know that they have eaten. Come on, let's look at
these today. Yeah. Is anybody pray this morning? Let's look
at knees today. Yeah. Because I guarantee you that your
knees is in direct proportion to your knees that you have.
(14:18):
Not because you ask, not because Jesus said men ought
always pray and not faint. Is anybody got dirty knees
up in here, up in here, up in here. Amen.
And so prayer works. Abraham's servant prayed and Rebecca appeared.
Jacob wrestled and prayed and prevailed with the angel. And
(14:40):
Esau's mind was turned from 20 years of revenge. Moses
prayed and Amalek was struck. Joshua prayed and Achan was discovered.
Hannah prayed and Samuel was born. David prayed and Ahithophel,
his hater, hanged himself. Uh, Asa prayed and victory was won.
Jehoshaphat prayed and God turned away his enemies. He turned
(15:01):
the choir into a marching army. Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed,
and in 12 hours a 185,000 Assyrians were slain by
one angel. Daniel prayed and the lions were muzzled. I
guess they said, It's Daniel will shut my mouth. Mordecai
and Esther prayed, and the plot to destroy the Jews
were thwarted, and Haman was hanged on his own gallows.
(15:25):
Nehemiah prayed and the king's heart was softened and he
gave him a letter. Leave and lumber. Elijah prayed, and
there were three years of drought, and he prayed again,
and it rained. The church prayed and Peter was let go.
What happens when you pray? Alright, alright then. He praised him.
He gave God the glory due his name. He said,
(15:48):
I want people to glorify you, man. You know, I
gotta cut to the chase on this because the songwriter
says we all ought to be praisers here's what he said.
I will bless the Lord. Oh, you reading the Bible, huh?
And his shall be in my mouth. That's right. See?
Notice he says praise should be done personally. Uh, I
(16:09):
will bless the Lord. It should be done persistently in
every situation, at all times. It should be done perpetually.
And his praise shall continually. It should be done publicly
in my mouth. You tell me you don't have anything
to praise him for. You lost your job, but you
didn't lose your mind. You better praise him. Yeah, you're
in church and you're not in the hospital. You need
(16:30):
to praise him. Yeah, you're sick in your body, but
you're not dead yet. You need to praise him that
your kids are in college, not in jail. You need
to praise him. Yeah, your kids are in jail, but
they're not in their graves yet. Praise him. I'm not
making what I want to make. Well? Who is? Praise him.
You got a job. I don't have a car. You
(16:52):
got a venture card? You better praise him. You better
praise him that you got legs to walk on because
some people don't even have legs. Yeah, I know what
you're saying. I'm not all I should be, but thank
God you're not what you're used to be. Somebody ought
to praise the Lord. Somebody ought to be thanking him.
Somebody ought to be grateful. He put food on your table,
(17:15):
clothes on your back. Then notice the commands of Jesus.
Notice the commands of Jesus. There are three commands. Notice
what he says. Roll the stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus.
You ain't have to ask him that. You got power
(17:36):
over death so you can say stone be obliterated and
it become pebbles. Why don't you do it that way?
Because don't miss this. Because I won't do for them
what they can do for themselves. I will only do
for them what they can't do, for they can roll
(17:58):
the stone. I don't need to do it. They can't
raise him from the dead. That's where they need me.
So he says, roll the stone. His participation with Jesus.
There's the first command. Participation with Jesus. He won't do
for you what you can do for yourself. So here's
what he's saying. I want you to do some things
to help Lazarus get to me. Oh, man. You know
(18:23):
what our response was? And their response was, she went
to Jesus and said, man, he's been dead four days.
That boy got an odor. He stinks. You know what?
Let me just say this. One of the number one
reasons why we as believers don't evangelize the way God
(18:44):
wants us to is because we don't want to rub
elbows with stinking sinners. Alright? They stink. And so we
are repulsed. But boy, if 50 gangbangers walked in here
with their pants on the ground, with their hats turned
to the side, displaying their colors for everybody. Be looking
(19:05):
for those who got conceal and carry in here today. Yeah,
here's what I'm saying. Are you lighting the way or
are you in the way? Alright. Yeah. You know what?
Let me tell you what happened. Food pantry gave out
food last week and so they always give me a bag.
(19:26):
So they gave me a bag and it had chicken
in it. And so I put the chicken in my
car and forgot about it. Monday is my off day.
So Tuesday when I was getting ready to come here,
(19:47):
I opened up the door and there was a foul
odor from. I took it out, threw it in the
garbage and from Tuesday to Friday I'm struggling to get
that smell out. I couldn't get that smell out. I'm
telling you, every time I open the door, I say, man,
I preach somewhere every night, every night. And so, you know,
(20:08):
I go places now. Now here. You know, I don't
do armourbearer. I don't do that stuff. And I just
my personal preference. I ain't saying nothing against anybody got him.
But I could carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen.
And so they have the I pull up and they
have the Armourbearer parked my car and I say, I say,
now look, when you get in my car, they're going
(20:30):
to be a smell man, you know? And I say, man,
the smell. No, it didn't bother me. Only one guy
told the truth. He said, man, it was funky up
in there, Jack. So here I am. I'm trying to
find something. I'm struggling to get the stink out. I
can't get the stink out. So then I go and
I'm walking past in my garage, in my window. I
have all of my automobile products. And then I saw
(20:52):
this just spray and walk away. I said, oh, wait
a minute, it said, arm and hammer, carpet and room.
Odor eliminator. Just spray. And I got it. And I
went and I sprayed everywhere. That thing was. And the
smell was gone. I said, look at this. Look how
this thing worked out for a sermon illustration. Because you
(21:14):
you there's no problem. You think it's your job to
get the stink off of folk. So you tell em,
don't don't wear earrings, don't wear this, don't wear that.
Don't do this, don't do that. Don't they. And they
still stinking because you can tell them not to do it.
But you can't give them the power not to do it.
But Jesus is just like the stuff in this plan.
(21:36):
Why are you struggling and trying? All you gotta do
is say, Jesus, take my hand while I run this race.
And Jesus says. And just walks away. The stink is gone.
S2 (21:54):
That's Pastor James Ford, junior, a message called Resurrection Power.
You can't keep a good man down. Are you listening
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(22:15):
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(22:36):
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Believe the Bible? In this helpful resource, doctor MacArthur provides
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(22:56):
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(23:18):
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(23:38):
left off on this study of resurrection power. On tomorrow's broadcast.
So join us for treasure truth. A production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
I just want you to see that Jesus Christ, in
this resurrection celebration, had prayer and praise. I want to
ask you, does resurrection power cause you to pray more?
Caused you to praise more?
S2 (00:18):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us today as we
continue our message, resurrection power. You can't keep a good
man down. And I don't know about you, but when
I hear that title, especially with this being Easter week,
my first thought is, well, this must be a message
about Jesus. And it is. But it's also a message
(00:41):
about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because of
his resurrection power. And as Pastor Ford just pointed out,
when we see his resurrection power, we're probably going to
be led to more prayer and more praise. Because when
we understand who Jesus truly is when we see that
(01:02):
He is God incarnate, the Son of God in all
his power and in all his glory with skin on
than it does, I think, lead us to more prayer
and to more praise when we realize the fact that
Jesus conquered sin and conquered death, and He Himself was
able to lay his life down and pick it up
(01:23):
again and give life to those who were dead around him.
How can that not lead us to more prayer and
more praise? Well, that's what we're looking at in today's broadcast.
So if you can open your Bible and join us
in John chapter 11 as we continue the message resurrection power.
You can't keep a good man down. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:45):
You want to grow. You know what you're asking God
to do. Put more weight on me. Give me more
difficult situations. Give me something I got to wrestle with,
struggle through and believe you and see you manifest yourself
in all of your glory. Hallelujah. And so then there
was the divine declaration. I'm almost done with my introduction.
(02:07):
I'm almost done with my introduction. Y'all laughing. This is
my introduction. Then there was the divine declaration. That was
last year. We had the Divine declaration. I called it
the greatest statement ever made. Why was it the greatest statement?
Pastor Ford, I'm glad you asked me. You asked intelligent
question it because it was the greatest identification I am
(02:28):
is the greatest declaration, the resurrection and the life. It
was the greatest confirmation, though he were dead. Yet shall
he live? It's the greatest invitation. Believest thou this? And
it was the greatest application, she said, Lord, I believe.
Now let's finish this text up. And, uh, the good
thing about it is the body of my message is
as long as my introduction. Amen. I didn't I didn't
(02:53):
say anything. Anything about my conclusion. Uh, so now now
we have resurrection celebration. Let's walk through. Imma drop em,
not push em. As my friend Romeo would say. Resurrection, celebration.
Now we come to the actual event where the power
that Jesus shows. I don't need to die to have
resurrection power. I am the resurrection and the life. And
(03:16):
because you can't keep a God man down, you're not
going to be able to keep a good man down.
Here it is. Notice in this resurrection celebration, there are
five elements of this resurrection celebration. Number one, let's go on. Move.
Look at the compassion of Christ. Verse 35 says, Jesus wept, man,
I tell you, there are two verses of Scripture that
(03:37):
everybody seems to know. This is one of them. Jesus wept. Uh, yeah.
I remember, uh, my sons. I used to tell them, okay,
to get a treat, you gotta have a memory verse.
You gotta give me a memory verse. And I ain't
going to tell you which one. Uh, came back with it. Uh,
but it was that one that's up in the balcony
right now. And he came back and he said, I
(03:58):
got my verse memorized. How you do it so fast,
he said. John 1135 Jesus wept. I said, oh no,
he said, that's a verse. He said, all right. Yeah.
And you know the other one, right? What's the other one?
This morning they said, John 316. No. Jesus turned water
(04:18):
into wine. Every time I witnesses, somebody got an alcohol problem.
That's what they remind me of. Jesus turned water into wine,
didn't he? Then he turned water into wine. Yeah. And
so Jesus wept. Now, here's my question. Here's my question.
Why is Jesus weeping? Didn't he already know he was
going to raise him? Answer yes. Then why are you weeping? Jesus? See,
(04:45):
there were two reasons that motivated Jesus while he walked
on earth. Uh. Here's one. He saw their faith. Uh,
Mark two five. Uh, he saw their faith. Luke 520.
He saw their faith. Uh. Matthew 1842. 42. Matthew nine two.
He moved because he saw faith. Why? Because faith is
(05:05):
the currency of heaven. That's how you cash in on
the promises of God. How do I know that? I
hate to get the Bible in this, but now a
word from our sponsor. He says without faith it is
impossible to please him, for he that cometh to him
must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently. So when Jesus sees faith,
(05:27):
he acts. But there's another reason. You know what it is. Say,
what is it? He was moved with compassion. Oh, I
love that, because sometimes I don't have faith. And Jesus
does it anyway. Because what is compassion? My pain in
(05:51):
his heart. Your pain in his heart. And so here,
now we see the compassion of Jesus. Jesus, why are
you crying? Because I'm not only God, I'm also a man.
And one of the things I want to convey to
my people is that I know the struggles that you're
going through. God the father doesn't know our struggles because
(06:15):
he is God and he does not experience anything. Remember
I asked you the question, has it ever occurred to
you that nothing has ever occurred to God? Alright, but
Jesus became a man and so he's saying, listen what
you're going through. Are you homeless? Son of man have
nowhere to lay his head. Uh, you have a home. Uh,
(06:36):
the Son of Man does not have a home. Foxes
have homes, birds have nests. But the Son of Man
hath nowhere to lay his head. You've been hated on.
He came into his own, and his own received him not.
The same ones who hollered Hosanna! Hosanna turned around on, uh,
Maundy Thursday and said, crucify him, crucify him! Yeah. Jesus
(06:57):
wants us to know that he can relate to every
struggle that we have and that he's crying out for them.
He feels their pain. Why, Pastor Ford? Because there's not
a friend like the lowly Jesus. No. Not one, no
not one. Hebrews 414 for we have not a high
(07:17):
priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
But in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin. How would you define compassion, pastor? Glad you asked.
I would call it the love of God that wants
the best for us. The wisdom of God that knows
what's best for us, the plan of God which is
(07:40):
the best for us, and the power of God that
does the best for us. Amen. Now, now, now listen, listen.
Jesus wants you to know you came in here today,
tore up from the floor. Got a smile on your face.
New clothes on your back. But sorrow in your heart.
And Jesus says he knows all about it. He knows
(08:01):
all about it. Now, let me just tell you this.
God didn't bury Lazarus. He planted him. See? How do
I know God hasn't buried you? Because you're still breathing.
And you're going through something. Which means he only planted you.
(08:24):
He didn't bury you. See, if you're buried, you're there
to stay. And the ground stays on top of you.
There's a flower called the lotus blossom. Got a picture
of it? Isn't that a beautiful flower? Guess why it's
(08:45):
so beautiful. Because when it started out, you have to
plant it in mud. So you put in the mud
and you put the mud on top of it. And
it only grows in moist places. And so what happens?
It looks buried. But then, because you can't put it
(09:08):
in dry earth, it won't grow. It needs mud. It
draws moisture from everything. It needs to survive and to thrive.
It draws from the mud. So guess what happens as
it's buried there? It looks buried. You go back one day.
It's still under the mud. Next day still under the mud.
(09:29):
But guess what? You keep going back. And one day
you'll see some shoots break through the mud. And then
you'll see a stem. And then you keep going back.
And you see that beautiful flower has blossomed. Some of you,
in some muddy situations in your marriage and your job
(09:52):
and your church, in your hood, you in some muddy situations.
But I came to tell you, you're not buried. No, no.
The mud is on you, but you are drawing what
you need to grow in the grace and the knowledge
of Jesus Christ from the very mud that's on top
of you. And as you begin to trust God, what
you'll find is you're going to break through the surface
(10:15):
of the mud and the mud that used to be
on top of you. Now you are on top of
it as, as as you continue to draw from that tragedy,
that travesty, then all of a sudden you begin to
blossom and and your leaves go out and, and and
you begin to look up and you look at yourself
(10:37):
and say, wow, I'm beautiful. Look at me. But I'm
not beautiful just because I'm beautiful, because of the mud
out of which I grew. Amen. Amen. Tribulation worketh patience. Yeah.
(10:58):
Look at somebody and say I'm not buried, I'm just planted.
That's right, that's right. I'm not buried. I'm just planted. Yeah. Now. Now, look. Secondly,
not just at the. Not just the compassion of Jesus.
I want you to see the commitment of Jesus. So
Jesus then proceeds to do two things. Prayer and praise. Yeah.
(11:24):
Prayer and praise. Listen to what he says. He said, father,
I thank thee. When? Verse 41. Then he took away
the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, father,
I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I
knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the
people which stand by, I said it, that they may
believe that thou hast sent me. He said, he says,
I'm not doing this for my benefit. I'm doing it
(11:45):
for that. I'm going to have prayer and I'm going
to praise God, and it's going to be audible so
that people will know that you have sent me. That's
another sermon. I don't have time to do it all.
I just want you to see that Jesus Christ in
this resurrection celebration had prayer and praise. I want to
ask you, do you? Let me just cut to the chase?
(12:05):
You know, you you can go and study the text
for yourself. But do you does resurrection power caused you
to pray more? Caused you to praise more?
S2 (12:16):
You know, as we look at Jesus and His resurrection power,
I think that's the natural outflow from that. We will
pray more, we will praise more. We're going to get
back to this broadcast in just a moment. I know
that many of us try and catch a broadcast each
and every day, but you may be away from your radio.
You may miss one of the programs. You don't have
to miss out. You can always come to our website,
(12:38):
Treasure Truth Radio, and listen online. You can also sign
up to be in podcasting this program. And another way
to listen. It's through the Moody Radio app. When you're
on the go away from the radio, you can still
hear Treasure Truth with the app. It's available for your iPhone,
your iPad, or your Android phone or tablet. The best part?
It's free. You can find it when you go to
(12:58):
your favorite app store like iTunes or Google Play, or
you can simply come to our website, treasure. Org and
we'll link you to the download. Well, right now it's
time to get back to the message once again. Here's
Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:12):
See, there was a guy who went to Israel, and
he wanted to see how sheep were taken care of.
And so he got with this shepherd. And Shepherd said,
now it's time to feed the ewe lambs that haven't eaten.
So the shepherd would give him a lamb, and he would.
He would feed the lamb out of a bottle. So
after they got done, they fed about 8 or 9,
but they had over 100 ewe lambs. He said, man,
(13:33):
you got to tell me this. How do you know
the ones that have not eaten? He said it's very simple.
They don't have dirty knees. He said, I don't understand it.
What do you mean? When a ewe lamb feeds it
has his hind legs straight, but its front legs are
down and he's on his knees. So I know who's
(13:55):
been on their knees by the fact that they have dirt.
And when I see the dirt on their knees. I
know that they have eaten. Come on, let's look at
these today. Yeah. Is anybody pray this morning? Let's look
at knees today. Yeah. Because I guarantee you that your
knees is in direct proportion to your knees that you have.
(14:18):
Not because you ask, not because Jesus said men ought
always pray and not faint. Is anybody got dirty knees
up in here, up in here, up in here. Amen.
And so prayer works. Abraham's servant prayed and Rebecca appeared.
Jacob wrestled and prayed and prevailed with the angel. And
(14:40):
Esau's mind was turned from 20 years of revenge. Moses
prayed and Amalek was struck. Joshua prayed and Achan was discovered.
Hannah prayed and Samuel was born. David prayed and Ahithophel,
his hater, hanged himself. Uh, Asa prayed and victory was won.
Jehoshaphat prayed and God turned away his enemies. He turned
(15:01):
the choir into a marching army. Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed,
and in 12 hours a 185,000 Assyrians were slain by
one angel. Daniel prayed and the lions were muzzled. I
guess they said, It's Daniel will shut my mouth. Mordecai
and Esther prayed, and the plot to destroy the Jews
were thwarted, and Haman was hanged on his own gallows.
(15:25):
Nehemiah prayed and the king's heart was softened and he
gave him a letter. Leave and lumber. Elijah prayed, and
there were three years of drought, and he prayed again,
and it rained. The church prayed and Peter was let go.
What happens when you pray? Alright, alright then. He praised him.
He gave God the glory due his name. He said,
(15:48):
I want people to glorify you, man. You know, I
gotta cut to the chase on this because the songwriter
says we all ought to be praisers here's what he said.
I will bless the Lord. Oh, you reading the Bible, huh?
And his shall be in my mouth. That's right. See?
Notice he says praise should be done personally. Uh, I
(16:09):
will bless the Lord. It should be done persistently in
every situation, at all times. It should be done perpetually.
And his praise shall continually. It should be done publicly
in my mouth. You tell me you don't have anything
to praise him for. You lost your job, but you
didn't lose your mind. You better praise him. Yeah, you're
in church and you're not in the hospital. You need
(16:30):
to praise him. Yeah, you're sick in your body, but
you're not dead yet. You need to praise him that
your kids are in college, not in jail. You need
to praise him. Yeah, your kids are in jail, but
they're not in their graves yet. Praise him. I'm not
making what I want to make. Well? Who is? Praise him.
You got a job. I don't have a car. You
(16:52):
got a venture card? You better praise him. You better
praise him that you got legs to walk on because
some people don't even have legs. Yeah, I know what
you're saying. I'm not all I should be, but thank
God you're not what you're used to be. Somebody ought
to praise the Lord. Somebody ought to be thanking him.
Somebody ought to be grateful. He put food on your table,
(17:15):
clothes on your back. Then notice the commands of Jesus.
Notice the commands of Jesus. There are three commands. Notice
what he says. Roll the stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus.
You ain't have to ask him that. You got power
(17:36):
over death so you can say stone be obliterated and
it become pebbles. Why don't you do it that way?
Because don't miss this. Because I won't do for them
what they can do for themselves. I will only do
for them what they can't do, for they can roll
(17:58):
the stone. I don't need to do it. They can't
raise him from the dead. That's where they need me.
So he says, roll the stone. His participation with Jesus.
There's the first command. Participation with Jesus. He won't do
for you what you can do for yourself. So here's
what he's saying. I want you to do some things
to help Lazarus get to me. Oh, man. You know
(18:23):
what our response was? And their response was, she went
to Jesus and said, man, he's been dead four days.
That boy got an odor. He stinks. You know what?
Let me just say this. One of the number one
reasons why we as believers don't evangelize the way God
(18:44):
wants us to is because we don't want to rub
elbows with stinking sinners. Alright? They stink. And so we
are repulsed. But boy, if 50 gangbangers walked in here
with their pants on the ground, with their hats turned
to the side, displaying their colors for everybody. Be looking
(19:05):
for those who got conceal and carry in here today. Yeah,
here's what I'm saying. Are you lighting the way or
are you in the way? Alright. Yeah. You know what?
Let me tell you what happened. Food pantry gave out
food last week and so they always give me a bag.
(19:26):
So they gave me a bag and it had chicken
in it. And so I put the chicken in my
car and forgot about it. Monday is my off day.
So Tuesday when I was getting ready to come here,
(19:47):
I opened up the door and there was a foul
odor from. I took it out, threw it in the
garbage and from Tuesday to Friday I'm struggling to get
that smell out. I couldn't get that smell out. I'm
telling you, every time I open the door, I say, man,
I preach somewhere every night, every night. And so, you know,
(20:08):
I go places now. Now here. You know, I don't
do armourbearer. I don't do that stuff. And I just
my personal preference. I ain't saying nothing against anybody got him.
But I could carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen.
And so they have the I pull up and they
have the Armourbearer parked my car and I say, I say,
now look, when you get in my car, they're going
(20:30):
to be a smell man, you know? And I say, man,
the smell. No, it didn't bother me. Only one guy
told the truth. He said, man, it was funky up
in there, Jack. So here I am. I'm trying to
find something. I'm struggling to get the stink out. I
can't get the stink out. So then I go and
I'm walking past in my garage, in my window. I
have all of my automobile products. And then I saw
(20:52):
this just spray and walk away. I said, oh, wait
a minute, it said, arm and hammer, carpet and room.
Odor eliminator. Just spray. And I got it. And I
went and I sprayed everywhere. That thing was. And the
smell was gone. I said, look at this. Look how
this thing worked out for a sermon illustration. Because you
(21:14):
you there's no problem. You think it's your job to
get the stink off of folk. So you tell em,
don't don't wear earrings, don't wear this, don't wear that.
Don't do this, don't do that. Don't they. And they
still stinking because you can tell them not to do it.
But you can't give them the power not to do it.
But Jesus is just like the stuff in this plan.
(21:36):
Why are you struggling and trying? All you gotta do
is say, Jesus, take my hand while I run this race.
And Jesus says. And just walks away. The stink is gone.
S2 (21:54):
That's Pastor James Ford, junior, a message called Resurrection Power.
You can't keep a good man down. Are you listening
to Treasure Truth? And you can request a copy of
today's program on CD when you come to treasure Truth Radio. Hey,
we're glad you're enjoying the Bible teaching on this program.
You know, we live in a secular culture where increasingly,
(22:15):
truth is said to be relative, where there are no absolutes.
People don't necessarily attack the Bible outright anymore. The attacks
are subtle, designed to undermine its authority. Ask a person
on the street, and they'll likely tell you that God's
Word is one book among many. Maybe it's helpful, but
it's not divinely inspired. Well, are you equipped to meet
(22:36):
those challenges? Do you have satisfying answers as to why
you believe the Bible? You know you can. We want
you to have a book by John MacArthur called Why
Believe the Bible? In this helpful resource, doctor MacArthur provides
solid answers to questions like, well, how can you trust
a Bible that's thousands of years old? And is God's
(22:56):
Word really inerrant? And how is the Bible different from
other religious books? Well, when you give a gift of
any amount to treasure truth, we're going to send you
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us at 888644 7660. Again, that's (888) 644-7660. Or go online
(23:18):
to Treasure Truth radio.org. If you prefer to write and
send a check in the mail, our address is Treasure Truth,
820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. And thanks
again for your generous support. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer
is Amy Rios, and Pastor Ford picks up where we
(23:38):
left off on this study of resurrection power. On tomorrow's broadcast.
So join us for treasure truth. A production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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