April 22, 2025 • 24 mins
On the next Treasured Truth, as we continue our study in the book of James, Pastor Ford will ask us to consider this question—even though we’re going through something right now, are we more committed to Jesus’ purpose than we are to getting out of our pain? To hear more about how to see purpose in your problems and pain, be sure to join us for the next Treasured Truth.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:00):
James is saying, you're going through something right now, but
you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
you are in getting out of your pain.
S2 (00:18):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
Ford Jr, senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today as we
continue our message from James chapter one, seeing purpose in
your problems and pain. And as we began to look
at in yesterday's broadcast, we all go through pain and
(00:39):
we all go through problems. And as we're walking through that,
it can be hard to grow spiritually. It can be
hard to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because I
get it. We want the easy way out. We want
the pain to stop. We want the problem solved immediately.
But sometimes in doing that, we shortcut what God is
wanting to do in our lives. Very often he may
(01:02):
be trying to teach us something by allowing us to
be in that problem or in that pain for a season.
And when we shortcut that, we're not growing like he
wants us to grow. So I think it can be helpful,
as we're in a season like that, to not only
be looking for the way out, but to keep in
mind that our goal really ought to be honoring Jesus
(01:26):
in the midst of that pain. And as we do so,
we're bound to grow in spiritual maturity. We're going to
continue to look at that today from James chapter one.
So if you can open your Bible and join us
there as we continue the message seeing purpose in your
problems and pain. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:44):
Don't ever write anybody off because you don't know what
God can do when he gets Ahold of somebody. Look
at me, look at me. Folk wrote me off. People
would be out witnessing and wouldn't give me a track
because I was pushing drugs. But look at me now.
I'm preaching Christ. I went from pushing drugs to preaching Christ.
(02:07):
I went from LSD. Try to get a PhD. I mean,
you know, God is doing the thing. Somebody would say,
look at him, poor little welfare boy. Family of ten.
You know, mama went third grade education. Well, I earned
all my degrees except the one I was given. Yeah.
(02:29):
Don't ever write anybody off. She was fired from her job. Uh, and, uh,
she was told you are unfit for television. So the
first job she had, uh, as a TV announcer, she
was fired. Now she owns her own. And she is
the richest African-American in America, worth over $3 billion. What's
(02:54):
her name? Everybody. Same time Oprah. Now, I don't agree
with her philosophy, but I sure wouldn't mind having some
of her money. I. Will say I would too. And
so what's going on here? Listen, he's saying listen, let
(03:14):
me tell you about my identification. Uh, my name is James.
But then look at his dedication. There are seven words
in the New Testament translated servant or minister. And this
is the one. Dulas. Dulas. Guess where it fits. Come on,
holler out a number from 1 to 7. Holler out
a number from 1 to 7. Seven. It's the worst term.
(03:38):
It's the most abject term that one could use for slavery.
And that's what he uses. Now you say wait wait
wait wait wait. See? He's saying, look, am I suffering?
I submit to the regal sovereignty of God. He could
have said, God, my brother. He could have said, James,
(03:58):
if I'd have wrote it. So you think he would
have said James, a servant of Jesus Christ? James, half
brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what I'm saying?
Ate at the same table with him. You know what
I'm saying? In the same crib. You know what I'm saying?
(04:22):
I am somebody. But he doesn't say that. He puts
none of the relationship. He says, let me tell you
who I am. A slave to Jesus Christ. That's why
he could do anything he wants. Because I'm a slave
to Jesus Christ, man. He's saying, listen, this word is
(04:43):
really powerful. You know what it means? It means absolute conformity,
abject humility and undivided loyalty. Let me say it again.
It means absolute conformity. It means abject humility. And it
means undivided loyalty. When you wanted to be a dulos
(05:06):
and you were set free, guess what you have to do.
You had to get in all h.w.l. I spell it
because I can't pronounce it real well. And you had
to put it through your ear so everybody would see
the whole and know that you voluntarily became a slave
even though you were free. And so Christ set us
free from the slave market of sin. And he wants
(05:27):
us to volunteer to become his slave. Here's what he's saying.
Your will is all that matters. Not my wants. Not
my pain. Not my problems. Not my trials. Not my tests.
No no no no, I'm not saying that you don't
(05:48):
feel the pain. I'm not saying that. And he won't
say that. I'm not saying that you have to like it. No,
I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you submit to
what God has either authorized or allowed to happen in
your life. In other words, he's saying your will is
all that matters to me. James is saying, I'm not
going to tip on Jesus because I'm telling you, there's
(06:10):
a lot of Christians, man. We're the bride of Christ.
We're married to Jesus. But the devil is our side piece.
We're here with Jesus on Sunday and we shacking with
the devil on Monday. And I already told you, you
can't cast out a devil you sleeping with. We say devil,
(06:31):
I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. He say,
shut up and go and get in this bed. Mm
mm mm. Yeah. You say, well, what did he say?
He's saying, listen, I need you to understand this, that
I submit in my person to the regal sovereignty of God. Listen, listen, I'm.
(06:53):
I'm working on a message. I don't know if I'm
going to get to it, because, you know, I have
been all over the place here lately, you know, but, uh,
I'm working on some messages, And one of the things
I'm going to do is talk about what is the
biblical basis, everything that we're going in. When I listen
to the news, here's what I hear. I hear fruit,
I hear, shoot, I hear nothing about fruit. Yeah, the
(07:13):
problem is not with the world. The problem is with
the church. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll go on record
as saying. Why? Because. Thank you, Tony Evans. Because when
you look at a football game, two teams on the field,
they're both trying to make goals. But the most powerful
people on the field are not part of the teams,
the most powerful guys. There's five of them that's on
(07:36):
the field. They're called the referees. Guess what? They don't
have equipment on and they never pumped any iron. Most
of them. And they never shot any steroids, but they
got more power than everybody on that field. And their
job is to make sure that what happens on that
field is the instructions from the manual that came from
(07:57):
New York. See, the NFL headquarters sent down a manual
and said this is how the game ought to be played.
And so the referees have the most power, because if
that £350, uh, offensive tackle, uh, does something that's not
in this book, he can throw that yellow flag and
throw him out of the game. God has called us
(08:18):
as the Church of Jesus Christ because we have a manual,
and it didn't come from this world. It came from heaven.
He gave us this manual, and we are the referees
on this earth. And when the earth decides they're not
going to listen to the manual, we throw out the
flag of salvation, put them in check, and say, this
is what thus saith the Lord. That's what we need
(08:40):
to do. Amen. And it's time that the church be
the church. So anyway, so what's happening? In other words,
James is saying you're going through something right now, but
you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
you are in getting out of your pain. Amen. That's
a hard message. Alexander the Great. He conquered the whole
(09:03):
known world by the time he was 33. Same age
as Jesus. But he died at 33, in an alcoholic stupor.
Because a man who could control all those troops and
all those nations all over the world couldn't control his
own nature. Know anybody like that? So he wants the
wealth of this city. He brings his troop. But the
(09:23):
city is on a mountain. They made this city on
a mountain, and it only has one way to approach it.
And it has a wall that they built around. So
if you could scale the mountain, you still have to
scale the wall, which is about 30ft high. Alexander marched
his troops up. Supposed to be true story marched his
troops up and said to the king, who was on
(09:46):
the wall, open the gates, open the gates, and let
me in, and no one will lose their life. King said,
you can't get up in here. You can't get all
your men on on this narrow way, and you can't
scale these walls. We have about three years worth of provisions,
so go ahead and siege us because you ain't getting
(10:06):
up in here. He said. Let me show you why
you need to let me in. He called a division
of his troops lined up in four, just like our military,
and he said, forward. March 4x4 they came to the
edge of the cliff, and without hesitation they kept marching.
So four went over on down the mountain. Four more,
(10:26):
four more, four more, four more, until the whole division
marched off to their death off of that mountain. He
looked up at that king. He said, you better have
them open the gates. And the king said, open the gates,
because there's no way we're going to be able to
defeat a king who has followers who obey him like that.
(10:54):
And that's what the world needs to know. People come
in here now, pastor, pray for me. Pray for me.
I need a job. Oh, God. I need a job.
Then he come in. I don't care if you ain't
having a testimony time. You gotta have a testimony time.
I gotta tell this, Saints Friday I got my last
unemployment check, but.
S3 (11:15):
Hallelujah. Oh, thank you, thank you. Monday I got my job. Wow.
S1 (11:21):
Two years later, y'all pray for me. I need to
get another job. Because them people on that job, they
ain't right. That boss. He ain't right. I'm the only
Christian on. Why do you think God put you there
in the first place? Yeah, you're taking the salt out
and God got you the job. So you can show
(11:42):
people that everybody that people who love the Lord aren't
like everybody else. They don't do Facebook on company time.
They don't take pens and paper. And what else do
people steal from the job? Toilet tissue. Paper clips. Ink pens.
(12:05):
Taking long lunches and stuff like that. A man so
God can say. I have some people who don't talk
about the boss because they realize ultimately he's just an agent.
God is the source. I work for God. That's why
I don't take extra breaks. Won't lift your head up.
So I don't know. I'm talking to you. Got your
(12:28):
head all down every time I say something. Stole something
from the job. Taking extra breaks. Pretty soon you're going
to be on the floor, I better stop.
S2 (12:43):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, and he
is going to stop for just a moment. But he'll
be back in less than a minute as we continue
the message. Seeing purpose in your problems and pain. You know,
I know we can't always be listening to the radio
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(13:05):
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(13:29):
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let's get back to the message. Once again. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:36):
And so what is it? It is, it is. We
understand that we are like the old children's game. Remember it,
Simon says. Anybody old enough, old school like me, we
used to play Simon Says, bunch of us. And we say,
we say, Simon says, oh, run and you run. Simon says, stop, run!
And you ran. Simon didn't say it. You out. Jesus
(14:00):
said tithe. Jesus said witness. Jesus said serve. Jesus said, worship.
Jesus said, be good stewards. Jesus said, love one another.
Honor one another. Serve one.
S3 (14:15):
Another. Bear one another's.
S1 (14:18):
Burdens. Mm. Now notice with me. Notice with me. So then,
not just the regal prerogative of God over your lives.
Notice the regal prerogative of God in your problem. Say,
where do you see that pastor? Right there. To the
12 tribes which are scattered. He's he's writing to Jewish Christians.
They are saved. But the Jews and he says they're scattered.
(14:38):
Who remembers the word from from our Bible study. Uh,
Wednesday Bible study. You remember it? Yeah. Diaspora or diaspora?
Dia is a preposition. Spora means seed. So here's what
it literally means. Seed sown. It's the word picture of
a farmer who has weeded up where he's going to
plant and then cultivated it, furrowed it, and then fertilized it,
(15:01):
then dropped the seed in and put the soil on it.
Here's what he said. God is sovereign in your problems. Why?
Because like a farmer, he's strategically placed you where you are.
And what he did was cover you with dirt. Now,
what he wants you to do is when the sunshine
(15:23):
of his promises and the water of his word hits you,
he wants you to begin to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
and that whatever time he has you, he hasn't buried you.
He just planted you. You are in incubation mode so
so that once you begin to break free from the
(15:44):
dirt that's on you, you will begin in your growth
to lift your hands toward heaven. And you'll look down
on what used to be over you, and you'll look
up and blossom and give God some glory. I'm telling you,
(16:08):
that's what it is. It's not an accident. It's providence. God,
where am I? Right where I placed you. God, why
am I still here? Because this is where I left you.
Adelaide Pollard. Anybody ever heard her name? Okay, I bet
you you sang her song because Adelaide Pollard wanted to
(16:31):
go to Africa as a missionary. This was back in
the time when women weren't doing that. And, uh, she
knew God had called her to do this, so she
tried to raise support from the church. Uh huh. Uh,
you heard what I said. That's right. She tried to
raise support from the church. Didn't get it. Here's what
(16:51):
she said, and I quote, I went through a crisis
of soul. What does she mean by that? I went
through a crisis of soul. God, you called me to this,
but you haven't provided for it. You called me to this.
But there's an issue or a problem. Now you call
(17:15):
me to this and I'm in pain because I don't
see this happening the way you said it ought to be.
So she went to a prayer meeting that night, and
one of the teenagers, she said, that's a senior citizen.
One of the teenagers just prayed a one line prayer.
And she said, God minister to her in that one
(17:37):
line prayer. She went home that night. And this is
the song she wrote. Have thine own way, Lord. Have
thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay.
Make me and mold me after your will. While I'm waiting.
Yielded and still have your own way. Lord, have your
(17:59):
own way. Wow, man. That's it. When are we going
to realize that the Christian boat is a rowboat, not
a motor boat? Because in a motor boat, you got
all that power and you can see where you're going.
But if you're in a rowboat, you can't see where
you're going. It's the old coxwain. Remember that? That thing
(18:23):
in the Olympics, the coxwain. They got the longboat with
all the guys in it. They say stroke, stroke, stroke.
This guy. Tell him to stroke. He ain't doing nothing.
He's standing up there. He controlling the way they go.
Stroke and the speed and everything. And you know what?
That's Jesus. We rowing, supplying what's necessary to get things done.
(18:45):
And what happens? Jesus is saying row row row row row.
Notice secondly with me notice secondly with me the regal
prerogative of God. You gotta be committed to it to
have strength in your struggle. But then notice secondly, and
this is where I'll stop. You got to have the
right perspective about your struggle. Look at what it says,
(19:06):
my brethren. Count it all joy when you fall into
divers temptation. I want you to see something here, because
what he's going to tell us two things he's going
to say. There's an attitude towards suffering that demonstrates you
have the right perspective. Here's what he said. When we
go into trouble, let me just speak for myself, because
I know ain't nobody going to relate to it. Going
through something. Why? Why me? Why now? Why this? And
(19:33):
James is saying that's not the right perspective. It's not
the right question. Not why? What? See, God must work
in you before he works for you so he can
work through you. Let me say that again that God
must work in you before he works for you, so
he can work through you. The idea is he wants
to work through you. So whenever you begin to think
(19:55):
about it, we talked about this before. Some of you
may remember there on the boat and the boats doing
the Nae Nae. I don't know how to do it, but,
you know. Stanky leg. Stanky leg. The boat. The boat.
The boat is doing it, all right. It's doing it.
And they're. They're afraid. Fishermen who fished on the Sea
of Galilee all their life as little boys, as teens,
(20:15):
as adolescents, as adults. And there's a storm that they
ain't never seen before. And they say, man, Jesus, this storm.
What you going to do? And Jesus says, don't be afraid.
And then he says, storm, shut up. Now here's the question.
Some of you may remember. Why did he tell them,
don't be afraid before he stopped the storm. Because in
(20:38):
my way of thinking, if he stopped the storm, they stopped.
Be afraid. No. Jesus knew he must steal the storm
on the inside before he steals the storm on the outside.
Because often when he steals the storm on the outside,
the storm is still raging on the inside. You don't
believe it? Okay, then why are you still struggling with
(21:00):
something that happened ten years ago? Why are you still
struggling with. Why are you still tore up from the
floor up about some stuff that was done to you
that you ain't got over yet? Cuz you got a
storm inside. And Jesus had to steal that storm. Why?
(21:22):
Why not me? Why not now? Why not? This attitude
determines action. That's what he's trying to get us to see.
And he says, count it all joy. Now I'm talking
about counting many. But wait a minute. What do you mean, joy?
I'm glad he didn't say happiness. Wanna know why? Because
happiness depends on what happens. But joy is independent of circumstances.
(21:43):
So we know two things. Because he used the word joy.
Number one, we know it's the fruit of the spirit.
Number two, we know that it is joy that's independent
of circumstances. That's what we know.
S2 (21:56):
That is Pastor James Ford junior, teaching us to have
joy in the spirit despite our circumstances. You're listening to
Treasured Truth and a message Pastor Ford calls seeing purpose
in your problems and pain. Now, as Christians, God wants
us to be people of the word. I mean, that's
how we grow in our understanding and discover truths like
we're hearing today about having joy in our suffering, but
(22:19):
were surrounded by a worldly and secular system in which
all truth we're told is relative and there are no absolutes.
You know, the Bible isn't as openly attacked as much
as it's generally undermined. And the result is that it's
not just unbelievers who then begin to question God's Word.
Many Christians are beginning to have doubts as well. To
(22:40):
help you answer the pressing questions of our times, like
how did God inspire the Bible? And what did Jesus
think of God's Word? We'd like you to have a
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(23:02):
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(23:22):
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Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us Wednesday
as we continue this message on seeing purpose in your
(23:42):
problems and pain. That's here on Treasure Truth. A production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
James is saying, you're going through something right now, but
you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
you are in getting out of your pain.
S2 (00:18):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
Ford Jr, senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today as we
continue our message from James chapter one, seeing purpose in
your problems and pain. And as we began to look
at in yesterday's broadcast, we all go through pain and
(00:39):
we all go through problems. And as we're walking through that,
it can be hard to grow spiritually. It can be
hard to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because I
get it. We want the easy way out. We want
the pain to stop. We want the problem solved immediately.
But sometimes in doing that, we shortcut what God is
wanting to do in our lives. Very often he may
(01:02):
be trying to teach us something by allowing us to
be in that problem or in that pain for a season.
And when we shortcut that, we're not growing like he
wants us to grow. So I think it can be helpful,
as we're in a season like that, to not only
be looking for the way out, but to keep in
mind that our goal really ought to be honoring Jesus
(01:26):
in the midst of that pain. And as we do so,
we're bound to grow in spiritual maturity. We're going to
continue to look at that today from James chapter one.
So if you can open your Bible and join us
there as we continue the message seeing purpose in your
problems and pain. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:44):
Don't ever write anybody off because you don't know what
God can do when he gets Ahold of somebody. Look
at me, look at me. Folk wrote me off. People
would be out witnessing and wouldn't give me a track
because I was pushing drugs. But look at me now.
I'm preaching Christ. I went from pushing drugs to preaching Christ.
(02:07):
I went from LSD. Try to get a PhD. I mean,
you know, God is doing the thing. Somebody would say,
look at him, poor little welfare boy. Family of ten.
You know, mama went third grade education. Well, I earned
all my degrees except the one I was given. Yeah.
(02:29):
Don't ever write anybody off. She was fired from her job. Uh, and, uh,
she was told you are unfit for television. So the
first job she had, uh, as a TV announcer, she
was fired. Now she owns her own. And she is
the richest African-American in America, worth over $3 billion. What's
(02:54):
her name? Everybody. Same time Oprah. Now, I don't agree
with her philosophy, but I sure wouldn't mind having some
of her money. I. Will say I would too. And
so what's going on here? Listen, he's saying listen, let
(03:14):
me tell you about my identification. Uh, my name is James.
But then look at his dedication. There are seven words
in the New Testament translated servant or minister. And this
is the one. Dulas. Dulas. Guess where it fits. Come on,
holler out a number from 1 to 7. Holler out
a number from 1 to 7. Seven. It's the worst term.
(03:38):
It's the most abject term that one could use for slavery.
And that's what he uses. Now you say wait wait
wait wait wait. See? He's saying, look, am I suffering?
I submit to the regal sovereignty of God. He could
have said, God, my brother. He could have said, James,
(03:58):
if I'd have wrote it. So you think he would
have said James, a servant of Jesus Christ? James, half
brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what I'm saying?
Ate at the same table with him. You know what
I'm saying? In the same crib. You know what I'm saying?
(04:22):
I am somebody. But he doesn't say that. He puts
none of the relationship. He says, let me tell you
who I am. A slave to Jesus Christ. That's why
he could do anything he wants. Because I'm a slave
to Jesus Christ, man. He's saying, listen, this word is
(04:43):
really powerful. You know what it means? It means absolute conformity,
abject humility and undivided loyalty. Let me say it again.
It means absolute conformity. It means abject humility. And it
means undivided loyalty. When you wanted to be a dulos
(05:06):
and you were set free, guess what you have to do.
You had to get in all h.w.l. I spell it
because I can't pronounce it real well. And you had
to put it through your ear so everybody would see
the whole and know that you voluntarily became a slave
even though you were free. And so Christ set us
free from the slave market of sin. And he wants
(05:27):
us to volunteer to become his slave. Here's what he's saying.
Your will is all that matters. Not my wants. Not
my pain. Not my problems. Not my trials. Not my tests.
No no no no, I'm not saying that you don't
(05:48):
feel the pain. I'm not saying that. And he won't
say that. I'm not saying that you have to like it. No,
I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you submit to
what God has either authorized or allowed to happen in
your life. In other words, he's saying your will is
all that matters to me. James is saying, I'm not
going to tip on Jesus because I'm telling you, there's
(06:10):
a lot of Christians, man. We're the bride of Christ.
We're married to Jesus. But the devil is our side piece.
We're here with Jesus on Sunday and we shacking with
the devil on Monday. And I already told you, you
can't cast out a devil you sleeping with. We say devil,
(06:31):
I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. He say,
shut up and go and get in this bed. Mm
mm mm. Yeah. You say, well, what did he say?
He's saying, listen, I need you to understand this, that
I submit in my person to the regal sovereignty of God. Listen, listen, I'm.
(06:53):
I'm working on a message. I don't know if I'm
going to get to it, because, you know, I have
been all over the place here lately, you know, but, uh,
I'm working on some messages, And one of the things
I'm going to do is talk about what is the
biblical basis, everything that we're going in. When I listen
to the news, here's what I hear. I hear fruit,
I hear, shoot, I hear nothing about fruit. Yeah, the
(07:13):
problem is not with the world. The problem is with
the church. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll go on record
as saying. Why? Because. Thank you, Tony Evans. Because when
you look at a football game, two teams on the field,
they're both trying to make goals. But the most powerful
people on the field are not part of the teams,
the most powerful guys. There's five of them that's on
(07:36):
the field. They're called the referees. Guess what? They don't
have equipment on and they never pumped any iron. Most
of them. And they never shot any steroids, but they
got more power than everybody on that field. And their
job is to make sure that what happens on that
field is the instructions from the manual that came from
(07:57):
New York. See, the NFL headquarters sent down a manual
and said this is how the game ought to be played.
And so the referees have the most power, because if
that £350, uh, offensive tackle, uh, does something that's not
in this book, he can throw that yellow flag and
throw him out of the game. God has called us
(08:18):
as the Church of Jesus Christ because we have a manual,
and it didn't come from this world. It came from heaven.
He gave us this manual, and we are the referees
on this earth. And when the earth decides they're not
going to listen to the manual, we throw out the
flag of salvation, put them in check, and say, this
is what thus saith the Lord. That's what we need
(08:40):
to do. Amen. And it's time that the church be
the church. So anyway, so what's happening? In other words,
James is saying you're going through something right now, but
you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
you are in getting out of your pain. Amen. That's
a hard message. Alexander the Great. He conquered the whole
(09:03):
known world by the time he was 33. Same age
as Jesus. But he died at 33, in an alcoholic stupor.
Because a man who could control all those troops and
all those nations all over the world couldn't control his
own nature. Know anybody like that? So he wants the
wealth of this city. He brings his troop. But the
(09:23):
city is on a mountain. They made this city on
a mountain, and it only has one way to approach it.
And it has a wall that they built around. So
if you could scale the mountain, you still have to
scale the wall, which is about 30ft high. Alexander marched
his troops up. Supposed to be true story marched his
troops up and said to the king, who was on
(09:46):
the wall, open the gates, open the gates, and let
me in, and no one will lose their life. King said,
you can't get up in here. You can't get all
your men on on this narrow way, and you can't
scale these walls. We have about three years worth of provisions,
so go ahead and siege us because you ain't getting
(10:06):
up in here. He said. Let me show you why
you need to let me in. He called a division
of his troops lined up in four, just like our military,
and he said, forward. March 4x4 they came to the
edge of the cliff, and without hesitation they kept marching.
So four went over on down the mountain. Four more,
(10:26):
four more, four more, four more, until the whole division
marched off to their death off of that mountain. He
looked up at that king. He said, you better have
them open the gates. And the king said, open the gates,
because there's no way we're going to be able to
defeat a king who has followers who obey him like that.
(10:54):
And that's what the world needs to know. People come
in here now, pastor, pray for me. Pray for me.
I need a job. Oh, God. I need a job.
Then he come in. I don't care if you ain't
having a testimony time. You gotta have a testimony time.
I gotta tell this, Saints Friday I got my last
unemployment check, but.
S3 (11:15):
Hallelujah. Oh, thank you, thank you. Monday I got my job. Wow.
S1 (11:21):
Two years later, y'all pray for me. I need to
get another job. Because them people on that job, they
ain't right. That boss. He ain't right. I'm the only
Christian on. Why do you think God put you there
in the first place? Yeah, you're taking the salt out
and God got you the job. So you can show
(11:42):
people that everybody that people who love the Lord aren't
like everybody else. They don't do Facebook on company time.
They don't take pens and paper. And what else do
people steal from the job? Toilet tissue. Paper clips. Ink pens.
(12:05):
Taking long lunches and stuff like that. A man so
God can say. I have some people who don't talk
about the boss because they realize ultimately he's just an agent.
God is the source. I work for God. That's why
I don't take extra breaks. Won't lift your head up.
So I don't know. I'm talking to you. Got your
(12:28):
head all down every time I say something. Stole something
from the job. Taking extra breaks. Pretty soon you're going
to be on the floor, I better stop.
S2 (12:43):
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, and he
is going to stop for just a moment. But he'll
be back in less than a minute as we continue
the message. Seeing purpose in your problems and pain. You know,
I know we can't always be listening to the radio
for each and every broadcast, but you don't have to
miss Pastor Ford's teaching a couple different ways that you
can get that when you're on the. Go first, go
ahead and subscribe to this podcast. And if you happen
(13:05):
to use iTunes. For your podcasting, would you rate that?
That will help us be found by even more people.
You can also get the Moody Radio app. It's free
and it's available for Apple products. And Android products. And
it really makes it convenient for you to listen on
the go as it fits your schedule. And not only
can you listen to this program, but other Bible teaching
programs produced by Moody Radio, you'll find the app at
(13:29):
your favorite app store. Just look for Moody Radio. Well,
let's get back to the message. Once again. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:36):
And so what is it? It is, it is. We
understand that we are like the old children's game. Remember it,
Simon says. Anybody old enough, old school like me, we
used to play Simon Says, bunch of us. And we say,
we say, Simon says, oh, run and you run. Simon says, stop, run!
And you ran. Simon didn't say it. You out. Jesus
(14:00):
said tithe. Jesus said witness. Jesus said serve. Jesus said, worship.
Jesus said, be good stewards. Jesus said, love one another.
Honor one another. Serve one.
S3 (14:15):
Another. Bear one another's.
S1 (14:18):
Burdens. Mm. Now notice with me. Notice with me. So then,
not just the regal prerogative of God over your lives.
Notice the regal prerogative of God in your problem. Say,
where do you see that pastor? Right there. To the
12 tribes which are scattered. He's he's writing to Jewish Christians.
They are saved. But the Jews and he says they're scattered.
(14:38):
Who remembers the word from from our Bible study. Uh,
Wednesday Bible study. You remember it? Yeah. Diaspora or diaspora?
Dia is a preposition. Spora means seed. So here's what
it literally means. Seed sown. It's the word picture of
a farmer who has weeded up where he's going to
plant and then cultivated it, furrowed it, and then fertilized it,
(15:01):
then dropped the seed in and put the soil on it.
Here's what he said. God is sovereign in your problems. Why?
Because like a farmer, he's strategically placed you where you are.
And what he did was cover you with dirt. Now,
what he wants you to do is when the sunshine
(15:23):
of his promises and the water of his word hits you,
he wants you to begin to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
and that whatever time he has you, he hasn't buried you.
He just planted you. You are in incubation mode so
so that once you begin to break free from the
(15:44):
dirt that's on you, you will begin in your growth
to lift your hands toward heaven. And you'll look down
on what used to be over you, and you'll look
up and blossom and give God some glory. I'm telling you,
(16:08):
that's what it is. It's not an accident. It's providence. God,
where am I? Right where I placed you. God, why
am I still here? Because this is where I left you.
Adelaide Pollard. Anybody ever heard her name? Okay, I bet
you you sang her song because Adelaide Pollard wanted to
(16:31):
go to Africa as a missionary. This was back in
the time when women weren't doing that. And, uh, she
knew God had called her to do this, so she
tried to raise support from the church. Uh huh. Uh,
you heard what I said. That's right. She tried to
raise support from the church. Didn't get it. Here's what
(16:51):
she said, and I quote, I went through a crisis
of soul. What does she mean by that? I went
through a crisis of soul. God, you called me to this,
but you haven't provided for it. You called me to this.
But there's an issue or a problem. Now you call
(17:15):
me to this and I'm in pain because I don't
see this happening the way you said it ought to be.
So she went to a prayer meeting that night, and
one of the teenagers, she said, that's a senior citizen.
One of the teenagers just prayed a one line prayer.
And she said, God minister to her in that one
(17:37):
line prayer. She went home that night. And this is
the song she wrote. Have thine own way, Lord. Have
thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay.
Make me and mold me after your will. While I'm waiting.
Yielded and still have your own way. Lord, have your
(17:59):
own way. Wow, man. That's it. When are we going
to realize that the Christian boat is a rowboat, not
a motor boat? Because in a motor boat, you got
all that power and you can see where you're going.
But if you're in a rowboat, you can't see where
you're going. It's the old coxwain. Remember that? That thing
(18:23):
in the Olympics, the coxwain. They got the longboat with
all the guys in it. They say stroke, stroke, stroke.
This guy. Tell him to stroke. He ain't doing nothing.
He's standing up there. He controlling the way they go.
Stroke and the speed and everything. And you know what?
That's Jesus. We rowing, supplying what's necessary to get things done.
(18:45):
And what happens? Jesus is saying row row row row row.
Notice secondly with me notice secondly with me the regal
prerogative of God. You gotta be committed to it to
have strength in your struggle. But then notice secondly, and
this is where I'll stop. You got to have the
right perspective about your struggle. Look at what it says,
(19:06):
my brethren. Count it all joy when you fall into
divers temptation. I want you to see something here, because
what he's going to tell us two things he's going
to say. There's an attitude towards suffering that demonstrates you
have the right perspective. Here's what he said. When we
go into trouble, let me just speak for myself, because
I know ain't nobody going to relate to it. Going
through something. Why? Why me? Why now? Why this? And
(19:33):
James is saying that's not the right perspective. It's not
the right question. Not why? What? See, God must work
in you before he works for you so he can
work through you. Let me say that again that God
must work in you before he works for you, so
he can work through you. The idea is he wants
to work through you. So whenever you begin to think
(19:55):
about it, we talked about this before. Some of you
may remember there on the boat and the boats doing
the Nae Nae. I don't know how to do it, but,
you know. Stanky leg. Stanky leg. The boat. The boat.
The boat is doing it, all right. It's doing it.
And they're. They're afraid. Fishermen who fished on the Sea
of Galilee all their life as little boys, as teens,
(20:15):
as adolescents, as adults. And there's a storm that they
ain't never seen before. And they say, man, Jesus, this storm.
What you going to do? And Jesus says, don't be afraid.
And then he says, storm, shut up. Now here's the question.
Some of you may remember. Why did he tell them,
don't be afraid before he stopped the storm. Because in
(20:38):
my way of thinking, if he stopped the storm, they stopped.
Be afraid. No. Jesus knew he must steal the storm
on the inside before he steals the storm on the outside.
Because often when he steals the storm on the outside,
the storm is still raging on the inside. You don't
believe it? Okay, then why are you still struggling with
(21:00):
something that happened ten years ago? Why are you still
struggling with. Why are you still tore up from the
floor up about some stuff that was done to you
that you ain't got over yet? Cuz you got a
storm inside. And Jesus had to steal that storm. Why?
(21:22):
Why not me? Why not now? Why not? This attitude
determines action. That's what he's trying to get us to see.
And he says, count it all joy. Now I'm talking
about counting many. But wait a minute. What do you mean, joy?
I'm glad he didn't say happiness. Wanna know why? Because
happiness depends on what happens. But joy is independent of circumstances.
(21:43):
So we know two things. Because he used the word joy.
Number one, we know it's the fruit of the spirit.
Number two, we know that it is joy that's independent
of circumstances. That's what we know.
S2 (21:56):
That is Pastor James Ford junior, teaching us to have
joy in the spirit despite our circumstances. You're listening to
Treasured Truth and a message Pastor Ford calls seeing purpose
in your problems and pain. Now, as Christians, God wants
us to be people of the word. I mean, that's
how we grow in our understanding and discover truths like
we're hearing today about having joy in our suffering, but
(22:19):
were surrounded by a worldly and secular system in which
all truth we're told is relative and there are no absolutes.
You know, the Bible isn't as openly attacked as much
as it's generally undermined. And the result is that it's
not just unbelievers who then begin to question God's Word.
Many Christians are beginning to have doubts as well. To
(22:40):
help you answer the pressing questions of our times, like
how did God inspire the Bible? And what did Jesus
think of God's Word? We'd like you to have a
book by Doctor John MacArthur called Why Believe the Bible? Now,
this helpful book provides timeless answers to timely questions, and
you can request a copy when you give a gift
of any amount to treasure truth, just call us at
(23:02):
888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. And
you know, there's another way to support this ministry, and
that's by becoming a monthly partner. While we're grateful for
every gift we receive, when you partner with us, it
sustains our ability to broadcast God's Word every weekday on
(23:22):
this station and 24 over seven on our internet podcast.
Become a monthly partner when you call us at eight,
88644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. I'm
Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us Wednesday
as we continue this message on seeing purpose in your
(23:42):
problems and pain. That's here on Treasure Truth. A production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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