April 18, 2025 • 24 mins
On the next Treasured Truth, we’ll continue to look at what Jesus did for us on the cross. Pastor Ford will remind us that the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the coronation of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, then there could not be Resurrection Sunday. And he points out that many of us want the power of resurrection, but we don’t want to experience the pain of the cross. Join us as Pastor Ford concludes the message “Resurrection Power: You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” on the next Treasured Truth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:00):
Because the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the
coronation of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday,
there could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us
want the power of the resurrection, but we don't want
the pain of the cross.
S2 (00:24):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us on this
Good Friday. Really a fitting message today entitled Resurrection Power.
You can't keep a Good Man down. And as we
reflect on what we celebrate this weekend, as we think
(00:46):
about Resurrection Sunday, I think it is good for us
to first reflect on what happened on Good Friday, because
it was Christ going to the cross, laying down his life,
choosing to give it up there That allowed him to
pick it back up again. And for us to be
able to celebrate the resurrection like we will just a
(01:07):
few days from now. But, you know, before Jesus picked
up his own life, he raised another from the dead.
And that's what we've been looking at in our broadcasts
as he resurrected Lazarus from the grave. Now, there were
five elements of this resurrection celebration, and that's part of
what we're going to be looking at in today's broadcast
the compassion of Christ, his commitment, his prayer and his praise,
(01:32):
his commands and the coronation of Jesus. 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 (01:48):
There are three commands. Notice what he says. Roll the
stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus. You didn't have to
ask him that. You got power 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.
(02:09):
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 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.
Its participation with Jesus. There's the first command. Participation with Jesus.
(02:32):
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. Amen. Oh, man.
You know what our response was? And their response was,
she went to Jesus and said, man, he been dead
for a days. That boy got an odor. He stinks.
(02:57):
You know what? Let me just say this. One of
the number one reasons why we as believers don't evangelize
the way God 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
(03:20):
walked in here with their pants on the ground with
their hats turned to the side, displaying their colors for everybody.
Be looking 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.
(03:41):
You know what? Uh, let me tell you what happened.
Food pantry gave out, uh, food last week. And so
they always give me a bag. 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.
(04:02):
Monday is my off day. So Tuesday, when I was
getting ready to come here, 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
(04:23):
the door I say, man, I preach somewhere every night,
every night. And so, you know, 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 em. But I could
carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen. And so they
have the I pull up and they have the Armourbearer
(04:45):
parked my car and I say, I say, now look,
when you get in my car, they're going to be
a smell man, you know? And I say, man, the smell. No,
it ain'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
(05:06):
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 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.
(05:28):
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 you, there's your problem. You
think it's your job to get the stink off of folk.
So you tell them, 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 could tell them not
(05:51):
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. While 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.
(06:11):
The stink is gone. Because you got the right stuff
on it. Yes. Howard Thurman's mom really helps us to
understand this. You say what happened with her? She moved
out in the country. He bought her a house. Howard Thurman,
Google him. Great theologian, great man of God. With the
Lord now. And she moved next to a lady of
(06:35):
the lighter hue. And this lady had chickens. And every
day she would she wouldn't speak to her. And every
day she'd take chicken poop and throw it over her fence.
She did that for over a year. Then this lady
got sick with cancer. Howard Thurman's mom made her chicken
(06:58):
noodle soup. Took it over to her. Told her I
heard you were a sick neighbor. I want to pray
with you. And for the next couple weeks, she kept
bringing stuff and praying with her. And finally she couldn't
take it anymore. The neighbor said, why are you being
so kind to me? She said, Because Jesus was so
kind to me, and as bad as I was to him,
(07:20):
he was good to me, and I'm going to be
good to you. Well, that lady accepted Jesus Christ. And
on one day, Howard Thurman said his mother brought her
over a bouquet of roses. She looked at him. She said, oh,
how beautiful. Oh, I've never seen roses like this. How
in the world did you get them so beautiful? She said,
every time you throw that chicken poop over my fence,
(07:42):
I use it as fertilizer. I came to tell you. Listen,
somebody's putting poop on your job. Poop in your neighborhood,
somebody's hating on you. They're putting stink in your game.
But you know what? Use it as fertilizer. Every time
that ball's coming. Dum dum dum dum dum dah. And
you know. Praise the Lord. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Amen. Fertilizer. Yeah.
(08:05):
Every time you. You're berated and bashed and you didn't
do anything. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Every time somebody's hating on you. Fertilizer. Fertilizer.
Somebody's come up, girl. You don't look good in that dress. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Now,
(08:27):
she just heard the greatest declaration. You know what her
problem is? Problems don't die of old age. Alright? No.
What do you do when your seed doesn't match his. Say. Oh,
let me say that again. What do you do when
what you see doesn't match what Jesus said? Here's what
(08:50):
you do. You stand on it, expect it, speak about
it and wait on it. You stand on it, expect it,
speak about it and wait on it. You stand. They
listen to me over here. Maybe you will listen to me.
You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and
wait on it. You stand on it, expect it, speak
(09:11):
about it. And what I said. You stand on it,
expect it, speak about it and wait on it. Man,
I remember when I had hair, I had hair, I
used to go to Major's hair care and major have
me up in there like two hours. Man. I say, major,
first of all, I don't have that much hair, man.
(09:33):
You got me in here, man. It's too long, man.
It's too long. We got to cut this short. He said,
pastor Ford, he said, fill your hair because I didn't
have an afro. I mean, it was air conditioned. I
had holes in my head and everything. You know what
you did when I finally cut it off and quit
painting it? Gave me a standing ovation. I said, they
(09:59):
ain't never gave me a standing ovation for any sermon
I ever preached. And give me a standing ovation because
I cut off that hair. And so here's what he
said to me. He said, feel it. And it was
softer because I had real coarse hair. It was softer.
He said, yeah, it looked like curly. I ain't never
had curly hair. I'm too dark for that. And I said, okay.
(10:21):
He said, conditioner did that. You're sitting up there for
that hour so that the conditioner can go down in
the roots, and it could start in the roots and
soften up your hair. And that's why it's as soft
as it is. And he said, that's it. And that's
the missing ingredient for many of us. God is in
(10:44):
the conditioning business and we just don't want to wait.
Here it is, the participation with Jesus. But then notice
here we come. Now he coming out of the tomb.
Lazarus come forth. And theologians tell us that it's a
good thing he called his name. Because if he had
not called his name, everything that was ever dead would
(11:05):
have got up and came out of the tomb. Because
when the rapture happens, what's going to happen? He's going
to say, come forth. And everybody that ever died before
he gave that call is going to get up out
of the grave, ascend into heaven, and their body that's
been made for them temporarily in heaven will be reunited
(11:25):
with their soul, and they will have a spiritual body.
And then we who are alive will be caught up
together to meet the Lord in the air for the
power of the resurrection. Yes. I'm not waiting for the undertaker.
I'm waiting for the upper taker. I'm going up. Mortal
(11:46):
shall put on immortality. The natural shall put on the supernatural.
The terrestrial shall put on the celestial. The earthly shall
put on the heavenly. And I'm going to be with
Jesus around the throne of grace. You ought to be
praising him. Mhm. Lazarus! Come forth.
S2 (12:10):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message
called resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down.
And what a fitting theme for us to be thinking
about on this Good Friday. We'll get back to the
message in just a moment. You know, maybe as you're
listening to this program, somewhere along the line, a question
has come to mind about something Pastor Ford has said,
or about how to apply this to living out the
(12:32):
Christian life. We can always ask Pastor Ford your questions
when you come to our website. It's Treasure Truth radio.org.
Click on the contact link and ask your question or
give us some feedback. Who knows, if you ask a question,
we might even answer that on a future broadcast. And
while you're there, you can click on the Books by
Pastor Ford link on the left side of the home page,
and check out the different titles available as a paperback
(12:54):
or an e-book format. Again, it's Treasure Truth radio.org. Once again,
here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:01):
And then notice and I just skip this. But he
says help him with the grave clothes. It's the same thing.
The stone and the. Now remember, they wrapped them like
a mummy. Which means then since they didn't do individual legs,
they generally did them together. That means Lazarus floated out
(13:21):
of the grave as he floated out of the grave.
Now get this. Can I just say this? Hope somebody
get this. I don't have to try to get you
to understand it. He's resurrected, so he's alive, but he's
still bound. Amen. Alright. Preach, man. Alright, you say, but
(13:43):
you still fornicate. You say. But you're still cheating. You
say but you're still lying. You say. But you're still
buying bootleg videos. You say you're still buying lottery tickets.
You say Amen. Amen. Saved but bound. Yes. So? So
(14:03):
what's going on here? He. He says, listen, I want
you to understand there are some things that you gotta
help people with that help them get free. Some things
you gotta do. Remember what Jesus did for men? Carried him. Remember?
We had a message. Well, four messages and we entitled it.
Tear the roof off the sucker. Remember that? These four
guys said he's paralyzed. He can't get to Jesus. So
we're going to take him to Jesus. And Jesus saw
(14:26):
their faith. In other words, we talked about the fact
that Jesus didn't heal him because the man on the
palace faith, he told him, go and sin no more.
Here's a man that needed deliverance but couldn't get to
Jesus for deliverance, and for his friends carried him and
he got delivered. Sometimes they don't need faith. If you
have it, can you believe for somebody else's blessing? Can
(14:52):
you believe for somebody else's deliverance? Okay, now notice give
us four and five. Let's just let's just drop em.
Let's not push em. Next thing we see is the
coronation of Jesus. Why do you call it that? Now?
Let me just read this. Listen. Lazarus came forth. This
was said, verse 45. Many Jews believed on him, but
some of them went their way to the Pharisees and
(15:13):
told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the
chief priests and the Pharisees the council, and said, what
do we do for this man who does all these miracles?
If we let him alone, all men will believe, and
the Romans shall come and take away both our place
and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the
high priest that same year, said, you know nothing at all,
nor consider that it is expedient for us that one
man should die for the people, and that the whole
(15:35):
nation should not perish. He was prophesying and didn't even
know it. You know what he was saying? He was saying, listen,
somebody's gotta die for the nation. And he didn't know
that that he was fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament.
Now here's the. Here it is. They meant it for evil.
God means it for good. How could the condemnation be
(15:56):
his coronation? Let me just let me just do it
so I can give you the last one and get
on out of here. Remember when we talked about the
fact that Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan? Yes.
And he said to Judas, friend, betray me with a kiss.
Why did you call that coronation and not condemnation? Because
(16:17):
the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the coronation
of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, there
could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us want
the power of the resurrection, but we don't want the
pain of the cross. That's right. And so what happens
here when you begin to look at what's going on?
(16:39):
Here it is Jesus called a friend and enemy, and
Jesus called an enemy a friend. You want to know why?
Come on, help me get you out there. Say you are.
Because if your friend does not want the will of
God for you, then your friend has just become your enemy.
And if your enemy pushes you to the will of God,
(17:02):
then your enemy just became your friend. Peter didn't want
him to go to the cross, so Jesus said, get
behind me, Satan! Y'all, Satan is not the things that
be of God. And Judas kissed him so he could
go to the cross. And Jesus says, friend, Amen. Maybe
your haters are your elevators. Here's the last one. Chapter
(17:23):
12 Lazarus is alive. And notice what happens. He goes
from the tomb to the table because in chapter 12,
he's sitting at the table with Jesus. He's a silent
witness of the power. Now notice what Jesus did. All
(17:48):
of this because he didn't come when they wanted him to,
but he came when he knew he ought to. And
the bottom line was he wanted to commune with him.
(18:08):
I sure hope today is not the only day you
celebrate resurrection, because every day is a celebration of resurrection.
Let me read this true story to you real quick,
and I'm going to take my seat. You've been so gracious.
It's a true story. It's told by Professor Bruce Riggins
of McCormick, right downtown. There was a very dedicated Christian
(18:32):
woman working with underprivileged people in London. He. This professor
asked her what inspired her faith in action. This the
story she gave him. She said she was a Jew
fleeing the Gestapo in France during World War Two. She
knew she was close to being caught and wanted to
give up. She was hiding in a home in France
(18:54):
with a widow who hid Jews. She said it's time
for me to flee. It's no use. They're going to
find me anyway. They're close. The Christian widow replied, yes,
they will find someone. But it's time for you to
get with the people who are escaping. She said, give
me your identification. So she gave her her Jewish identification
(19:18):
and she gave the Jewish woman her French identification. When
the Gestapo came, the woman, who was French but had
the Jewish woman's ID, was taken into custody. Six months later,
she died in Auschwitz. And this woman said, I came
(19:39):
to know Christ as my personal savior because of that
woman's sacrifice for me. And now I spend, and I
will spend the rest of my life helping other people.
You see, what happened over 2000 years ago is that
the devil was coming because we are destined to go
to hell. The wages of sin is death, but the
(20:02):
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so we were there like that woman, waiting, knowing
the inevitable was going to happen. Death would knock at
our door and we would go to hell. But Jesus
changed IDs with us and he gave us the ID
of deity through his death, burial, and resurrection. And we
(20:23):
accepted that. And he took our identity in Adam so
that he was able to die for all of us
so that we could live with him. And so Jesus
died in agony so that we could live abundantly. He
went through hell for us so we could go to
heaven with him. And so we have resurrection power. I'll
(20:46):
tell you what it does. It puts wisdom in your
head and rejoicing in your heart, and hallelujah on your lips,
and clapping in your hands and standing in your feet
and praises Phrases out of your mouth. What should we do?
How should we respond to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ?
(21:07):
We ought to look back and thank God. We ought
to look forward and believe God. We ought to look
around and trust God. We ought to look within and
praise God, and we ought to look up, and we
ought to praise God. Is there anybody in here who
came today? Because Jesus got up, and now we can
wake up and we can get up, and we can
(21:28):
stand up and we can lift him up. Throw your
hands up. Say amen. Hallelujah. Praise his holy name.
S2 (21:41):
Well, that is a fitting conclusion to the message. Resurrection power.
You can't keep a good man down. This is treasure
truth with Pastor Ford. And you can always find us
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(22:02):
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(22:47):
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(23:09):
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(23:34):
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Because the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the
coronation of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday,
there could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us
want the power of the resurrection, but we don't want
the pain of the cross.
S2 (00:24):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us on this
Good Friday. Really a fitting message today entitled Resurrection Power.
You can't keep a Good Man down. And as we
reflect on what we celebrate this weekend, as we think
(00:46):
about Resurrection Sunday, I think it is good for us
to first reflect on what happened on Good Friday, because
it was Christ going to the cross, laying down his life,
choosing to give it up there That allowed him to
pick it back up again. And for us to be
able to celebrate the resurrection like we will just a
(01:07):
few days from now. But, you know, before Jesus picked
up his own life, he raised another from the dead.
And that's what we've been looking at in our broadcasts
as he resurrected Lazarus from the grave. Now, there were
five elements of this resurrection celebration, and that's part of
what we're going to be looking at in today's broadcast
the compassion of Christ, his commitment, his prayer and his praise,
(01:32):
his commands and the coronation of Jesus. 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 (01:48):
There are three commands. Notice what he says. Roll the
stone away. Wait a minute. Jesus. You didn't have to
ask him that. You got power 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.
(02:09):
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 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.
Its participation with Jesus. There's the first command. Participation with Jesus.
(02:32):
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. Amen. Oh, man.
You know what our response was? And their response was,
she went to Jesus and said, man, he been dead
for a days. That boy got an odor. He stinks.
(02:57):
You know what? Let me just say this. One of
the number one reasons why we as believers don't evangelize
the way God 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
(03:20):
walked in here with their pants on the ground with
their hats turned to the side, displaying their colors for everybody.
Be looking 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.
(03:41):
You know what? Uh, let me tell you what happened.
Food pantry gave out, uh, food last week. And so
they always give me a bag. 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.
(04:02):
Monday is my off day. So Tuesday, when I was
getting ready to come here, 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
(04:23):
the door I say, man, I preach somewhere every night,
every night. And so, you know, 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 em. But I could
carry my own Bible. Thank you. Amen. And so they
have the I pull up and they have the Armourbearer
(04:45):
parked my car and I say, I say, now look,
when you get in my car, they're going to be
a smell man, you know? And I say, man, the smell. No,
it ain'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
(05:06):
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 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.
(05:28):
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 you, there's your problem. You
think it's your job to get the stink off of folk.
So you tell them, 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 could tell them not
(05:51):
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. While 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.
(06:11):
The stink is gone. Because you got the right stuff
on it. Yes. Howard Thurman's mom really helps us to
understand this. You say what happened with her? She moved
out in the country. He bought her a house. Howard Thurman,
Google him. Great theologian, great man of God. With the
Lord now. And she moved next to a lady of
(06:35):
the lighter hue. And this lady had chickens. And every
day she would she wouldn't speak to her. And every
day she'd take chicken poop and throw it over her fence.
She did that for over a year. Then this lady
got sick with cancer. Howard Thurman's mom made her chicken
(06:58):
noodle soup. Took it over to her. Told her I
heard you were a sick neighbor. I want to pray
with you. And for the next couple weeks, she kept
bringing stuff and praying with her. And finally she couldn't
take it anymore. The neighbor said, why are you being
so kind to me? She said, Because Jesus was so
kind to me, and as bad as I was to him,
(07:20):
he was good to me, and I'm going to be
good to you. Well, that lady accepted Jesus Christ. And
on one day, Howard Thurman said his mother brought her
over a bouquet of roses. She looked at him. She said, oh,
how beautiful. Oh, I've never seen roses like this. How
in the world did you get them so beautiful? She said,
every time you throw that chicken poop over my fence,
(07:42):
I use it as fertilizer. I came to tell you. Listen,
somebody's putting poop on your job. Poop in your neighborhood,
somebody's hating on you. They're putting stink in your game.
But you know what? Use it as fertilizer. Every time
that ball's coming. Dum dum dum dum dum dah. And
you know. Praise the Lord. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Amen. Fertilizer. Yeah.
(08:05):
Every time you. You're berated and bashed and you didn't
do anything. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Every time somebody's hating on you. Fertilizer. Fertilizer.
Somebody's come up, girl. You don't look good in that dress. Fertilizer. Fertilizer. Now,
(08:27):
she just heard the greatest declaration. You know what her
problem is? Problems don't die of old age. Alright? No.
What do you do when your seed doesn't match his. Say. Oh,
let me say that again. What do you do when
what you see doesn't match what Jesus said? Here's what
(08:50):
you do. You stand on it, expect it, speak about
it and wait on it. You stand on it, expect it,
speak about it and wait on it. You stand. They
listen to me over here. Maybe you will listen to me.
You stand on it, expect it, speak about it and
wait on it. You stand on it, expect it, speak
(09:11):
about it. And what I said. You stand on it,
expect it, speak about it and wait on it. Man,
I remember when I had hair, I had hair, I
used to go to Major's hair care and major have
me up in there like two hours. Man. I say, major,
first of all, I don't have that much hair, man.
(09:33):
You got me in here, man. It's too long, man.
It's too long. We got to cut this short. He said,
pastor Ford, he said, fill your hair because I didn't
have an afro. I mean, it was air conditioned. I
had holes in my head and everything. You know what
you did when I finally cut it off and quit
painting it? Gave me a standing ovation. I said, they
(09:59):
ain't never gave me a standing ovation for any sermon
I ever preached. And give me a standing ovation because
I cut off that hair. And so here's what he
said to me. He said, feel it. And it was
softer because I had real coarse hair. It was softer.
He said, yeah, it looked like curly. I ain't never
had curly hair. I'm too dark for that. And I said, okay.
(10:21):
He said, conditioner did that. You're sitting up there for
that hour so that the conditioner can go down in
the roots, and it could start in the roots and
soften up your hair. And that's why it's as soft
as it is. And he said, that's it. And that's
the missing ingredient for many of us. God is in
(10:44):
the conditioning business and we just don't want to wait.
Here it is, the participation with Jesus. But then notice
here we come. Now he coming out of the tomb.
Lazarus come forth. And theologians tell us that it's a
good thing he called his name. Because if he had
not called his name, everything that was ever dead would
(11:05):
have got up and came out of the tomb. Because
when the rapture happens, what's going to happen? He's going
to say, come forth. And everybody that ever died before
he gave that call is going to get up out
of the grave, ascend into heaven, and their body that's
been made for them temporarily in heaven will be reunited
(11:25):
with their soul, and they will have a spiritual body.
And then we who are alive will be caught up
together to meet the Lord in the air for the
power of the resurrection. Yes. I'm not waiting for the undertaker.
I'm waiting for the upper taker. I'm going up. Mortal
(11:46):
shall put on immortality. The natural shall put on the supernatural.
The terrestrial shall put on the celestial. The earthly shall
put on the heavenly. And I'm going to be with
Jesus around the throne of grace. You ought to be
praising him. Mhm. Lazarus! Come forth.
S2 (12:10):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message
called resurrection power. You can't keep a good man down.
And what a fitting theme for us to be thinking
about on this Good Friday. We'll get back to the
message in just a moment. You know, maybe as you're
listening to this program, somewhere along the line, a question
has come to mind about something Pastor Ford has said,
or about how to apply this to living out the
(12:32):
Christian life. We can always ask Pastor Ford your questions
when you come to our website. It's Treasure Truth radio.org.
Click on the contact link and ask your question or
give us some feedback. Who knows, if you ask a question,
we might even answer that on a future broadcast. And
while you're there, you can click on the Books by
Pastor Ford link on the left side of the home page,
and check out the different titles available as a paperback
(12:54):
or an e-book format. Again, it's Treasure Truth radio.org. Once again,
here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:01):
And then notice and I just skip this. But he
says help him with the grave clothes. It's the same thing.
The stone and the. Now remember, they wrapped them like
a mummy. Which means then since they didn't do individual legs,
they generally did them together. That means Lazarus floated out
(13:21):
of the grave as he floated out of the grave.
Now get this. Can I just say this? Hope somebody
get this. I don't have to try to get you
to understand it. He's resurrected, so he's alive, but he's
still bound. Amen. Alright. Preach, man. Alright, you say, but
(13:43):
you still fornicate. You say. But you're still cheating. You
say but you're still lying. You say. But you're still
buying bootleg videos. You say you're still buying lottery tickets.
You say Amen. Amen. Saved but bound. Yes. So? So
(14:03):
what's going on here? He. He says, listen, I want
you to understand there are some things that you gotta
help people with that help them get free. Some things
you gotta do. Remember what Jesus did for men? Carried him. Remember?
We had a message. Well, four messages and we entitled it.
Tear the roof off the sucker. Remember that? These four
guys said he's paralyzed. He can't get to Jesus. So
we're going to take him to Jesus. And Jesus saw
(14:26):
their faith. In other words, we talked about the fact
that Jesus didn't heal him because the man on the
palace faith, he told him, go and sin no more.
Here's a man that needed deliverance but couldn't get to
Jesus for deliverance, and for his friends carried him and
he got delivered. Sometimes they don't need faith. If you
have it, can you believe for somebody else's blessing? Can
(14:52):
you believe for somebody else's deliverance? Okay, now notice give
us four and five. Let's just let's just drop em.
Let's not push em. Next thing we see is the
coronation of Jesus. Why do you call it that? Now?
Let me just read this. Listen. Lazarus came forth. This
was said, verse 45. Many Jews believed on him, but
some of them went their way to the Pharisees and
(15:13):
told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the
chief priests and the Pharisees the council, and said, what
do we do for this man who does all these miracles?
If we let him alone, all men will believe, and
the Romans shall come and take away both our place
and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the
high priest that same year, said, you know nothing at all,
nor consider that it is expedient for us that one
man should die for the people, and that the whole
(15:35):
nation should not perish. He was prophesying and didn't even
know it. You know what he was saying? He was saying, listen,
somebody's gotta die for the nation. And he didn't know
that that he was fulfilling the prophecy of the Old Testament.
Now here's the. Here it is. They meant it for evil.
God means it for good. How could the condemnation be
(15:56):
his coronation? Let me just let me just do it
so I can give you the last one and get
on out of here. Remember when we talked about the
fact that Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan? Yes.
And he said to Judas, friend, betray me with a kiss.
Why did you call that coronation and not condemnation? Because
(16:17):
the condemnation of Good Friday was leading to the coronation
of Resurrection Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, there
could not be a Resurrection Sunday. Many of us want
the power of the resurrection, but we don't want the
pain of the cross. That's right. And so what happens
here when you begin to look at what's going on?
(16:39):
Here it is Jesus called a friend and enemy, and
Jesus called an enemy a friend. You want to know why?
Come on, help me get you out there. Say you are.
Because if your friend does not want the will of
God for you, then your friend has just become your enemy.
And if your enemy pushes you to the will of God,
(17:02):
then your enemy just became your friend. Peter didn't want
him to go to the cross, so Jesus said, get
behind me, Satan! Y'all, Satan is not the things that
be of God. And Judas kissed him so he could
go to the cross. And Jesus says, friend, Amen. Maybe
your haters are your elevators. Here's the last one. Chapter
(17:23):
12 Lazarus is alive. And notice what happens. He goes
from the tomb to the table because in chapter 12,
he's sitting at the table with Jesus. He's a silent
witness of the power. Now notice what Jesus did. All
(17:48):
of this because he didn't come when they wanted him to,
but he came when he knew he ought to. And
the bottom line was he wanted to commune with him.
(18:08):
I sure hope today is not the only day you
celebrate resurrection, because every day is a celebration of resurrection.
Let me read this true story to you real quick,
and I'm going to take my seat. You've been so gracious.
It's a true story. It's told by Professor Bruce Riggins
of McCormick, right downtown. There was a very dedicated Christian
(18:32):
woman working with underprivileged people in London. He. This professor
asked her what inspired her faith in action. This the
story she gave him. She said she was a Jew
fleeing the Gestapo in France during World War Two. She
knew she was close to being caught and wanted to
give up. She was hiding in a home in France
(18:54):
with a widow who hid Jews. She said it's time
for me to flee. It's no use. They're going to
find me anyway. They're close. The Christian widow replied, yes,
they will find someone. But it's time for you to
get with the people who are escaping. She said, give
me your identification. So she gave her her Jewish identification
(19:18):
and she gave the Jewish woman her French identification. When
the Gestapo came, the woman, who was French but had
the Jewish woman's ID, was taken into custody. Six months later,
she died in Auschwitz. And this woman said, I came
(19:39):
to know Christ as my personal savior because of that
woman's sacrifice for me. And now I spend, and I
will spend the rest of my life helping other people.
You see, what happened over 2000 years ago is that
the devil was coming because we are destined to go
to hell. The wages of sin is death, but the
(20:02):
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so we were there like that woman, waiting, knowing
the inevitable was going to happen. Death would knock at
our door and we would go to hell. But Jesus
changed IDs with us and he gave us the ID
of deity through his death, burial, and resurrection. And we
(20:23):
accepted that. And he took our identity in Adam so
that he was able to die for all of us
so that we could live with him. And so Jesus
died in agony so that we could live abundantly. He
went through hell for us so we could go to
heaven with him. And so we have resurrection power. I'll
(20:46):
tell you what it does. It puts wisdom in your
head and rejoicing in your heart, and hallelujah on your lips,
and clapping in your hands and standing in your feet
and praises Phrases out of your mouth. What should we do?
How should we respond to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ?
(21:07):
We ought to look back and thank God. We ought
to look forward and believe God. We ought to look
around and trust God. We ought to look within and
praise God, and we ought to look up, and we
ought to praise God. Is there anybody in here who
came today? Because Jesus got up, and now we can
wake up and we can get up, and we can
(21:28):
stand up and we can lift him up. Throw your
hands up. Say amen. Hallelujah. Praise his holy name.
S2 (21:41):
Well, that is a fitting conclusion to the message. Resurrection power.
You can't keep a good man down. This is treasure
truth with Pastor Ford. And you can always find us
online at Treasure Truth radio.org. You know, these daily programs
are brought to you free of charge by the generous
support of our listeners. Increasingly, people are choosing to automate
(22:02):
their gifts on a monthly basis. We call them our
monthly partners because we view them as more than just donors.
When you become a monthly partner, we're uniting together for
the sake of the gospel, and together we can do
more than either of us could ever do alone. So
become a monthly partner today by calling 888644 7660 or
(22:24):
go online to Treasure Truth Radio. You can also support
Treasure Truth with a single gift of any amount. We're
going to say thanks for your gift with the book
by John MacArthur called Why Believe the Bible? You know,
those familiar with doctor MacArthur will know him from his
verse by verse approach to teaching God's Word. And in
this practical book, you're going to discover why he thinks
(22:47):
the Bible is so important and why we can have
absolute faith in the truthfulness of the Bible. Now, here's
just a sample of the chapters in this book. Who
can prove that God's Word is true. How did God
inspire His word? What did Jesus think of God's Word?
And can we add to God's Word? Now these questions
(23:09):
and many more are answered in the book. Why believe
the Bible? Request your copy today when you give a
donation of any amount to treasure truth. Call us at
888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. If
you prefer to write and send a check in the mail,
our address is Treasure Truth, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
(23:34):
Illinois 606 ten. Well, I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is
Amy Rios. Join us again next time for more Bible
teaching from Pastor Ford here on Treasure truth. A production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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