April 29, 2025 • 24 mins
On the next Treasured Truth, as we continue our study in the book of James, Pastor Ford will remind us that sometimes the solution to our problem is in our problem. In other words, our deficiency—which is apparent to us in our problem—may be the provision for the sufficiency that God wants to provide for us. But often, we can’t easily see the truth about our situation. So, we must learn to trust God more fully for the outcome. 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 (00:01):
Sometimes the solution to your problem is in your problem.
That is, your deficiency may be the provision for your sufficiency.
S2 (00:21):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
We're going to continue our study of James chapter one
today with a message called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems
and Pain. And as Pastor Ford pointed out, sometimes it's
in the midst of our problem, in the midst of
our pain, that we see the sufficiency of God show up.
(00:45):
I think sometimes God allows us to get to the
end of our rope. Maybe we've been struggling to solve
this problem by ourselves for some time, but we're just
making matters worse. Maybe we've been in pain for so long.
You've finally come to the point where you've just given
up and said, God, I need you now. And it's
very often in those times of life where we finally
(01:09):
totally yielded and surrendered to God that he says, okay,
now that I've got your attention, now that you know
it's going to be me. Look what I'm going to do.
And he will meet us where we are. And very
often provide for us more than we would imagine. And
he may use that to grow us, to mature us
(01:30):
so that our faith is stronger, and so that he
may continue to conform us more into the image and
the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Well, that's part
of what we're going to be looking at in today's broadcast.
So if you can join us in James chapter one,
as we continue the message seeing purpose in your problems
and pain. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:51):
In southern Louisiana. There was an infestation of mosquitoes. Uh, now,
this was before West Nile, of course, but, uh, it
was serious nonetheless. Uh, I mean, uh, there was such
a proliferation of mosquitoes. Uh, it was kind of like, uh,
(02:11):
your relatives, when they find out that you came into
some big money. Or if you never had that happen,
just just come and do some big money. They come
out of the woodwork. Well, uh, these mosquitoes were everywhere. Uh, now,
to add injury to insult, uh, there was a threat
of a hurricane. Uh, a small one in comparison to most, uh,
(02:36):
not like Matthew category five, but, uh, this one was
a category one. And so here you got one problem
going into another problem. And I'm sure the residents, uh, were,
you know, in a quandary, wondering, how are we going
to survive this? Well, the hurricane hit didn't do a
whole lot of damage. Uh, but when the hurricane was gone,
(03:00):
the mosquitoes were gone. You know what that means. Say,
what does it mean? It means that sometimes the solution
to your problem is in your problem. You ain't going
to pray with me. That is, your deficiency may be
(03:21):
the provision for your sufficiency. In other words, it may
look like a detriment, but actually be an instrument for
being a supplement for your benefit. I'm working hard. Uh,
look at Second Kings chapter six. Uh, remember in chapter six,
(03:44):
there was a famine. And, uh, you know, famine is bad.
That means no food. Now, for a lot of us,
that's a crisis. Alright. Amen. And it says in chapter
six that 80 shekels Is what it costs for a
donkey's head and five shekels for a bowl of greens. Now, see,
(04:09):
we we we don't understand, uh, the terminology. So what
we'll do is we'll say what is the shekel? And
then somebody will tell us, well, it's about six worth
60 $0.01 in our currency. But you can't look at
it that way. Here's how you have to look at it.
If you look back at that time, what did that
mean for them? Well, the average person, it took them
(04:29):
four months to make 30 shekels. Now, if you put
that in our currency, that means it takes you approximately
four days to make one shekel. Everybody still with me?
I know. Okay, good. So it takes you about four
days to make one shekel. That means five shekels was
(04:50):
20 days pay. So you had to pay 20 days
pay for a bowl of greens. Now, wait a minute,
wait a minute. So let's take minimum wage and figure
this thing out. If you make $10 an hour, this
costs you $1,600. I have it on sale today. But
(05:21):
you get it. And that's serious, isn't it? That you
pay $1,600 for something like this? That's what the famine
had done. Uh, so they're they're they're having a problem, man.
They they're in a they're in a bad situation. And
so what happens? You know what happens? Uh, you got
these four lepers. We study them already, and what they
were doing was waiting for the food to come over
(05:42):
the wall because they weren't allowed to be in the, uh,
in the city. And so they were waiting for the scraps,
and then the the scraps stopped. Now, wait a minute.
You got a famine? You're a leper. You got problems.
You got issues. Man, this thing is a test. You're
testing in your health. Now you're tested for your physical well-being,
(06:02):
your food, and then the food stops because everybody in
there is hungry and they're eating their own scraps. Some
of us know what that means. Somebody said, what you
do with your leftovers. And my family, there never were
any leftovers. Amen. And so now, I mean, don't miss
(06:23):
the lesson because I think God stopped the scraps, uh,
because they would have stayed there. And so the test
was designed, uh, to move them because they were immobilized.
And so what do they say? We're going to go
to the enemy because we stay here. Uh, we could starve. Uh,
if we go there, they could kill us. Either way,
we're dead. So let's at least move toward where we
(06:46):
know we might be able to get something. And so,
I mean, you start walking and God starts working. Let
me say it again. You start walking and God starts working.
You know you ain't walking. Maybe that's why God ain't working. Yeah.
And so what happens now? Uh, they get there and, uh, their,
their effort. Remember, we studied this. Their effort was amplified
(07:09):
by God because at least they made an effort to
do something. So as they were walking for lepers, the Syrians, uh,
thought they heard an army because God amplified their efforts.
And so you don't always have to have everything you need.
All you got to do is walk to where God
tells you to walk, and God will amplify your efforts. Yeah.
(07:35):
And so here, now they get there. And what happens,
you know, the rest of the story. Uh, they get there.
The Syrians thought they were army. They left. Now, when
the Syrians heard that they had a famine, here's what
they said, man. They're down. This is a good time
to step on them, because there's a whole lot of people.
They wait until you're down before they step on you. Oh, man,
(07:58):
I thought I was in a praying church. anyway. I'm
just going to let it go. Go on. Preach. Okay,
I will, I will. And so what happens? What happens
to him? They they say, okay, we're going to siege them.
How long does a siege last? How many people know that?
Two years. That's the average. So what does that mean?
The Syrians came, and that means they had to bring
(08:20):
two years worth of food. Wow. Man, it's hard getting through, y'all.
And so they had to bring two years worth of food.
So what happened? The Syrians became the Israelites food pantry.
All I came to tell somebody is I tried to
finish this thing, is that you need to understand that
(08:40):
the Syrians became the solution to their problem. Which means then,
as I said earlier, that the solution to your problem
often is in your problem, that the solution to your
problem often comes with your problem. And so that's exactly what, uh,
(09:02):
happened to them. They went from insufficiency to sufficiency because
of God's all sufficiency, because the storehouses are storehouse shelves
of God are never empty. Psalm 8110 I am the
Lord your God, who brought you up out of the
land of Egypt. Open your mouth and I will fill it. Yeah.
(09:24):
Psalm 84 one for the Lord is a sun and
a shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good
thing will he withhold from them that walk upright. Or
our favorite Philippians 419. Can you say it with me?
Come on. That way I can get you to say something.
But my God shall supply all my needs according to
his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Amen. And so
(09:48):
here it is. Here's here's what I came to tell you.
James wants us to know. Sometimes your answer comes disguised
as your problem. Yeah, that's why the songwriter said I
have many tears and sorrows. I've had questions for tomorrow.
There's been times I didn't know right from wrong, but
in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials
(10:11):
were only to make me strong. Through it all. Through
it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus. I've learned
to depend upon His word. So I thank God for
the mountains. And I thank him for the valleys. And
I thank him for the storms he brought me through.
For if I never had a problem, I never know
that God could solve them. I wouldn't know what faith
(10:33):
in God could do. See, praise is what you do
when you remember what God has done. Let me say
that again. Praise is what you do when you remember
what God has done. Has God done anything for me
in the midst of all of your problems, in the
(10:54):
midst of all of your trials, has God come through
for you? Hallelujah. Yeah. And so James sang this song
before Andre wrote it. He tells us, see purpose in
your problems and your pain. And then he talked about
(11:17):
five ways a mature believer sees purpose in their problems
and pain. What we already did. I'm not even going
to review. Uh, we saw, first of all, verse one
that you submit to the regal prerogative of God. James
is identification. Uh, servant. Uh, that's his dedication, uh, of
Jesus of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his affirmation. And
so he said, listen, I submit to the regal prerogative
(11:39):
of God. God is sovereign. Then we saw, uh, verse two,
have the right perspective in your problems and pains. And
so how you see the problem is the problem most
of the time. And he says, you've got to count
it all joy. Uh, then we saw that. He said, listen,
you have to understand the refining process Cess in your
(12:00):
problems and God is doing something in your life now.
Verse three and four. He says, you need to understand
the resultant purposes for your problems and your pain.
S2 (12:17):
Now we're going to pause right there, but we'll get
back to this message. Seeing purpose in your problems and
pain in just one moment. You know, maybe as you've
been listening to this broadcast, there's been a question that's
come to mind about a Bible passage or about how
we apply this teaching in our own lives. Well, you
can always ask Pastor Ford your questions. Just come to
our website and click on the contact link. Fill out
(12:39):
that note there, give us your feedback and ask any
question you may have. Our website address is Treasure Truth
Radio org. And while you're there, go ahead and click
on the about link. There you can find out more
about Pastor Ford and Christ's Bible Church where he serves
as Senior Pastor. We'll link you to all that when
you come to treasure Truth Radio. Back to the message.
Here's Pastor Ford. Forward.
S1 (13:00):
Now I need to clarify something from the outset. You
know what he's trying to tell us? When you're going
through problems and when you're going through pain, don't pull
out your hair. Pull out your Bible. Yeah, because God
wants to reveal to us what? Listen what he says.
He says knowing this, that the trying of your faith
(13:22):
works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that
you may be complete and entire, lacking nothing. He's saying,
can I tell you something? Remember last week? Just just.
I just gotta say it again. I just like to
say it, that's all. It sounds good to me. Verse
one God sent. Uh, verse two. Uh, God. Scene. Verse three. Uh,
God shaped. Uh. Verse four. God supply. Uh, that's what's
(13:45):
going on. He's saying, listen, here's how you look at
your problem and your pain that God sent it. But,
but but it has to be God seen. You can't
look at it from a human perspective. You got to
look at it from the divine perspective. Why? So that
you won't look at it as adversity. You'll look at
it as a university that you will realize God has
(14:06):
me in school. And remember when the students taking a test,
the teacher is silent. That's why God ain't saying anything.
Whoever been in the taking a test in school and
the teacher is talking while you taking a test. So
God is shaping you. What's that? Capacity. Say capacity. And
then verse four. God supplies. Get it, get it. Look
(14:28):
at it. It's so well rounded. I sent this to you.
You gotta see it the way I see it. Because
I'm shaping you to fill you with something that's going
to prepare you for where I'm taking you. If you
don't go through this, you will not be prepared for
what I prepared for you. So it's already there and
it's waiting on you. I just have to give you
(14:50):
capacity in order to deal with it. And God, every
time he shapes something, he fills it. Let me borrow
from a preacher I heard on TV. I ain't going
to call his name. He said. God created the earth
with capacity. And then he filled it. Uh, God created
the seas with capacity. Then he filled it. God created
(15:12):
the sky with capacity. Then he filled it. God created
man with capacity. Then he blew into him the breath
of life. That was good stuff. I shout about that.
I said, that's good stuff. And so what God's doing
right now? Come on. Say he's shaping me. Yeah, so
he can fill me so he can use me because
(15:33):
I'm going somewhere, and God's going to do something in
my life. Amen. Amen. Yeah. That's what he's doing. Yeah.
And so when you look at what's going on here,
he wants us to know. Now, let me give all
of it. Then I'll come back and just kind of
review it for you. He says four things in verse three,
(15:54):
B and four. He says, here's what God is doing.
He says, he says this resultant Purposes in your problems
and pain. Let me clarify them for you. First of all,
God is testing our faith. What's he doing? Yeah, he says.
Second of all, he's teaching us endurance. What's he doing?
He said, third of all, he's taking us to maturity.
(16:14):
What's he doing? He said, last of all, he's transporting
us to our future or to our destiny. What's he doing? Yeah.
So every time we look at it like God looks
at it, we ought to be saying, okay, I don't
like it. I don't understand what's going on, but bring
it on, bring it on, because I know it's not
(16:35):
going to make me better. It's going to make me better.
I know that. Hey, hey, all things are going to
work together for good to those who love the Lord
and those who are the called according to it. I'm
just happy, that's all. Because we go through some stuff
all the time, don't we, babe? Mm. You know, in
(16:56):
order to have a testimony. Amoni you gotta have a
test because the first four words in testimony is test.
It's amazing to me how many Christians want to be
overcomers and ain't never overcame anything. Yeah. And so here
(17:20):
it is. He says, listen, this is just a test.
Now I need to get you to Bible class. So
since you won't come meet me, uh, once again, I'm
going to meet you. And there are five sources of tests.
Let me give em to you real quick. I'm drop.
I'm not going to push them. There's the satanic source.
The devil. Oh, yeah. He will tempt us. He will
test us. He's on us like white on rice. Like
(17:43):
a duck on a June bug. Like stink on a hog. Uh,
like grits on Al Green. Uh, like drugs on al heard. Yeah, uh,
like a body shirt on a bishop. He's on us tight.
I always like saying that every now and then. Yeah.
And so he's on us and and somebody said he's
(18:06):
not bothering me. That's probably because you ain't bothering him.
Because if you don't meet the devil as you walk
this Christian walk, it probably means both of you are
are going in the same direction. First Peter five eight says,
be sober. Be vigilant for your adversary. The devil walketh
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Oh yeah, he's looking for us, and he wants us
(18:27):
to make God look bad. Then there's the secular source.
That's the world. Uh, now there are three words translated
world in in the Greek New Testament. Uh, this one
is cosmos. Say, cosmos. We get the word cosmetics from it. Now,
what is the world? Get this. Every woman ought to
have this definition down. Because what do you do in
(18:51):
the morning? You put on your bass, right? It ain't
called bass foundation. Okay. Put on your foundation. Then what
you put on next, baby. Well, you is looking so
good and you're all dolled up. I thought maybe you'd
help a brother out this morning, but you know what
I mean. It's like you went in the mirror. You
(19:13):
begin to look, you know, and you straighten out the weave.
If you have one, or you put the wig on
your head, you know, and you you made sure everything
was arranged so that you could get those compliments. You
look good this morning. What is the world? It is
the arranged system that leaves God out. That's it. Of course,
(19:38):
I don't have to make any comments about that because
we know we're living in it. Third one, third one.
The self source. That's the flesh. Remember, the enemy is
the enemy, the old sin nature. That's why Paul, remember
in Romans six said, who shall free me from this
body of death? And remember that the the word picture,
how many remember the word picture? Let me see your hands.
(19:59):
I wasn't going to call on you. I just want
to see if you remember the word picture. Okay. The
word picture was if you committed premeditated murder and you
murdered somebody, they would strap that person on your back
and you would have to carry that person until the
putrification from their body went into yours. And and you
became diseased and died. That was your punishment. And he says,
(20:23):
the flesh is like that. Who shall free me from
this body of death? So, so, so so the spirit says,
we're going to Bible study Wednesday night. And the flesh said, Uh-Uh,
Empire coming on. We going to prayer. Uh, uh, scandal
coming on. Yeah. So the flesh here. Here's the fourth one.
(20:44):
Here's the fourth one. The situational or circumstantial source? Natural
cause and effect. Galatians says it this way. Whatsoever a
man soweth, uh, God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he reap. In other words, there are natural
consequences that are situational or circumstantial that happen. It just
happened because. Stuff happens. But here's the one he's talking
(21:07):
about here, the sovereign source, that God will test our
faith so we can know exactly how much faith we have. See,
salvation will get us into heaven, but the test is
to get heaven into us.
S2 (21:25):
You know God has a purpose in everything that we
go through. I hope that you're able to see that
with even more clarity after today's message. You're listening to
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(21:45):
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(22:06):
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(22:26):
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(23:36):
I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Be listening.
On Wednesday for the eighth part in the series called
Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. Treasure truth is
a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Sometimes the solution to your problem is in your problem.
That is, your deficiency may be the provision for your sufficiency.
S2 (00:21):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
We're going to continue our study of James chapter one
today with a message called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems
and Pain. And as Pastor Ford pointed out, sometimes it's
in the midst of our problem, in the midst of
our pain, that we see the sufficiency of God show up.
(00:45):
I think sometimes God allows us to get to the
end of our rope. Maybe we've been struggling to solve
this problem by ourselves for some time, but we're just
making matters worse. Maybe we've been in pain for so long.
You've finally come to the point where you've just given
up and said, God, I need you now. And it's
very often in those times of life where we finally
(01:09):
totally yielded and surrendered to God that he says, okay,
now that I've got your attention, now that you know
it's going to be me. Look what I'm going to do.
And he will meet us where we are. And very
often provide for us more than we would imagine. And
he may use that to grow us, to mature us
(01:30):
so that our faith is stronger, and so that he
may continue to conform us more into the image and
the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Well, that's part
of what we're going to be looking at in today's broadcast.
So if you can join us in James chapter one,
as we continue the message seeing purpose in your problems
and pain. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (01:51):
In southern Louisiana. There was an infestation of mosquitoes. Uh, now,
this was before West Nile, of course, but, uh, it
was serious nonetheless. Uh, I mean, uh, there was such
a proliferation of mosquitoes. Uh, it was kind of like, uh,
(02:11):
your relatives, when they find out that you came into
some big money. Or if you never had that happen,
just just come and do some big money. They come
out of the woodwork. Well, uh, these mosquitoes were everywhere. Uh, now,
to add injury to insult, uh, there was a threat
of a hurricane. Uh, a small one in comparison to most, uh,
(02:36):
not like Matthew category five, but, uh, this one was
a category one. And so here you got one problem
going into another problem. And I'm sure the residents, uh, were,
you know, in a quandary, wondering, how are we going
to survive this? Well, the hurricane hit didn't do a
whole lot of damage. Uh, but when the hurricane was gone,
(03:00):
the mosquitoes were gone. You know what that means. Say,
what does it mean? It means that sometimes the solution
to your problem is in your problem. You ain't going
to pray with me. That is, your deficiency may be
(03:21):
the provision for your sufficiency. In other words, it may
look like a detriment, but actually be an instrument for
being a supplement for your benefit. I'm working hard. Uh,
look at Second Kings chapter six. Uh, remember in chapter six,
(03:44):
there was a famine. And, uh, you know, famine is bad.
That means no food. Now, for a lot of us,
that's a crisis. Alright. Amen. And it says in chapter
six that 80 shekels Is what it costs for a
donkey's head and five shekels for a bowl of greens. Now, see,
(04:09):
we we we don't understand, uh, the terminology. So what
we'll do is we'll say what is the shekel? And
then somebody will tell us, well, it's about six worth
60 $0.01 in our currency. But you can't look at
it that way. Here's how you have to look at it.
If you look back at that time, what did that
mean for them? Well, the average person, it took them
(04:29):
four months to make 30 shekels. Now, if you put
that in our currency, that means it takes you approximately
four days to make one shekel. Everybody still with me?
I know. Okay, good. So it takes you about four
days to make one shekel. That means five shekels was
(04:50):
20 days pay. So you had to pay 20 days
pay for a bowl of greens. Now, wait a minute,
wait a minute. So let's take minimum wage and figure
this thing out. If you make $10 an hour, this
costs you $1,600. I have it on sale today. But
(05:21):
you get it. And that's serious, isn't it? That you
pay $1,600 for something like this? That's what the famine
had done. Uh, so they're they're they're having a problem, man.
They they're in a they're in a bad situation. And
so what happens? You know what happens? Uh, you got
these four lepers. We study them already, and what they
were doing was waiting for the food to come over
(05:42):
the wall because they weren't allowed to be in the, uh,
in the city. And so they were waiting for the scraps,
and then the the scraps stopped. Now, wait a minute.
You got a famine? You're a leper. You got problems.
You got issues. Man, this thing is a test. You're
testing in your health. Now you're tested for your physical well-being,
(06:02):
your food, and then the food stops because everybody in
there is hungry and they're eating their own scraps. Some
of us know what that means. Somebody said, what you
do with your leftovers. And my family, there never were
any leftovers. Amen. And so now, I mean, don't miss
(06:23):
the lesson because I think God stopped the scraps, uh,
because they would have stayed there. And so the test
was designed, uh, to move them because they were immobilized.
And so what do they say? We're going to go
to the enemy because we stay here. Uh, we could starve. Uh,
if we go there, they could kill us. Either way,
we're dead. So let's at least move toward where we
(06:46):
know we might be able to get something. And so,
I mean, you start walking and God starts working. Let
me say it again. You start walking and God starts working.
You know you ain't walking. Maybe that's why God ain't working. Yeah.
And so what happens now? Uh, they get there and, uh, their,
their effort. Remember, we studied this. Their effort was amplified
(07:09):
by God because at least they made an effort to
do something. So as they were walking for lepers, the Syrians, uh,
thought they heard an army because God amplified their efforts.
And so you don't always have to have everything you need.
All you got to do is walk to where God
tells you to walk, and God will amplify your efforts. Yeah.
(07:35):
And so here, now they get there. And what happens,
you know, the rest of the story. Uh, they get there.
The Syrians thought they were army. They left. Now, when
the Syrians heard that they had a famine, here's what
they said, man. They're down. This is a good time
to step on them, because there's a whole lot of people.
They wait until you're down before they step on you. Oh, man,
(07:58):
I thought I was in a praying church. anyway. I'm
just going to let it go. Go on. Preach. Okay,
I will, I will. And so what happens? What happens
to him? They they say, okay, we're going to siege them.
How long does a siege last? How many people know that?
Two years. That's the average. So what does that mean?
The Syrians came, and that means they had to bring
(08:20):
two years worth of food. Wow. Man, it's hard getting through, y'all.
And so they had to bring two years worth of food.
So what happened? The Syrians became the Israelites food pantry.
All I came to tell somebody is I tried to
finish this thing, is that you need to understand that
(08:40):
the Syrians became the solution to their problem. Which means then,
as I said earlier, that the solution to your problem
often is in your problem, that the solution to your
problem often comes with your problem. And so that's exactly what, uh,
(09:02):
happened to them. They went from insufficiency to sufficiency because
of God's all sufficiency, because the storehouses are storehouse shelves
of God are never empty. Psalm 8110 I am the
Lord your God, who brought you up out of the
land of Egypt. Open your mouth and I will fill it. Yeah.
(09:24):
Psalm 84 one for the Lord is a sun and
a shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good
thing will he withhold from them that walk upright. Or
our favorite Philippians 419. Can you say it with me?
Come on. That way I can get you to say something.
But my God shall supply all my needs according to
his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Amen. And so
(09:48):
here it is. Here's here's what I came to tell you.
James wants us to know. Sometimes your answer comes disguised
as your problem. Yeah, that's why the songwriter said I
have many tears and sorrows. I've had questions for tomorrow.
There's been times I didn't know right from wrong, but
in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials
(10:11):
were only to make me strong. Through it all. Through
it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus. I've learned
to depend upon His word. So I thank God for
the mountains. And I thank him for the valleys. And
I thank him for the storms he brought me through.
For if I never had a problem, I never know
that God could solve them. I wouldn't know what faith
(10:33):
in God could do. See, praise is what you do
when you remember what God has done. Let me say
that again. Praise is what you do when you remember
what God has done. Has God done anything for me
in the midst of all of your problems, in the
(10:54):
midst of all of your trials, has God come through
for you? Hallelujah. Yeah. And so James sang this song
before Andre wrote it. He tells us, see purpose in
your problems and your pain. And then he talked about
(11:17):
five ways a mature believer sees purpose in their problems
and pain. What we already did. I'm not even going
to review. Uh, we saw, first of all, verse one
that you submit to the regal prerogative of God. James
is identification. Uh, servant. Uh, that's his dedication, uh, of
Jesus of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his affirmation. And
so he said, listen, I submit to the regal prerogative
(11:39):
of God. God is sovereign. Then we saw, uh, verse two,
have the right perspective in your problems and pains. And
so how you see the problem is the problem most
of the time. And he says, you've got to count
it all joy. Uh, then we saw that. He said, listen,
you have to understand the refining process Cess in your
(12:00):
problems and God is doing something in your life now.
Verse three and four. He says, you need to understand
the resultant purposes for your problems and your pain.
S2 (12:17):
Now we're going to pause right there, but we'll get
back to this message. Seeing purpose in your problems and
pain in just one moment. You know, maybe as you've
been listening to this broadcast, there's been a question that's
come to mind about a Bible passage or about how
we apply this teaching in our own lives. Well, you
can always ask Pastor Ford your questions. Just come to
our website and click on the contact link. Fill out
(12:39):
that note there, give us your feedback and ask any
question you may have. Our website address is Treasure Truth
Radio org. And while you're there, go ahead and click
on the about link. There you can find out more
about Pastor Ford and Christ's Bible Church where he serves
as Senior Pastor. We'll link you to all that when
you come to treasure Truth Radio. Back to the message.
Here's Pastor Ford. Forward.
S1 (13:00):
Now I need to clarify something from the outset. You
know what he's trying to tell us? When you're going
through problems and when you're going through pain, don't pull
out your hair. Pull out your Bible. Yeah, because God
wants to reveal to us what? Listen what he says.
He says knowing this, that the trying of your faith
(13:22):
works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that
you may be complete and entire, lacking nothing. He's saying,
can I tell you something? Remember last week? Just just.
I just gotta say it again. I just like to
say it, that's all. It sounds good to me. Verse
one God sent. Uh, verse two. Uh, God. Scene. Verse three. Uh,
God shaped. Uh. Verse four. God supply. Uh, that's what's
(13:45):
going on. He's saying, listen, here's how you look at
your problem and your pain that God sent it. But,
but but it has to be God seen. You can't
look at it from a human perspective. You got to
look at it from the divine perspective. Why? So that
you won't look at it as adversity. You'll look at
it as a university that you will realize God has
(14:06):
me in school. And remember when the students taking a test,
the teacher is silent. That's why God ain't saying anything.
Whoever been in the taking a test in school and
the teacher is talking while you taking a test. So
God is shaping you. What's that? Capacity. Say capacity. And
then verse four. God supplies. Get it, get it. Look
(14:28):
at it. It's so well rounded. I sent this to you.
You gotta see it the way I see it. Because
I'm shaping you to fill you with something that's going
to prepare you for where I'm taking you. If you
don't go through this, you will not be prepared for
what I prepared for you. So it's already there and
it's waiting on you. I just have to give you
(14:50):
capacity in order to deal with it. And God, every
time he shapes something, he fills it. Let me borrow
from a preacher I heard on TV. I ain't going
to call his name. He said. God created the earth
with capacity. And then he filled it. Uh, God created
the seas with capacity. Then he filled it. God created
(15:12):
the sky with capacity. Then he filled it. God created
man with capacity. Then he blew into him the breath
of life. That was good stuff. I shout about that.
I said, that's good stuff. And so what God's doing
right now? Come on. Say he's shaping me. Yeah, so
he can fill me so he can use me because
(15:33):
I'm going somewhere, and God's going to do something in
my life. Amen. Amen. Yeah. That's what he's doing. Yeah.
And so when you look at what's going on here,
he wants us to know. Now, let me give all
of it. Then I'll come back and just kind of
review it for you. He says four things in verse three,
(15:54):
B and four. He says, here's what God is doing.
He says, he says this resultant Purposes in your problems
and pain. Let me clarify them for you. First of all,
God is testing our faith. What's he doing? Yeah, he says.
Second of all, he's teaching us endurance. What's he doing?
He said, third of all, he's taking us to maturity.
(16:14):
What's he doing? He said, last of all, he's transporting
us to our future or to our destiny. What's he doing? Yeah.
So every time we look at it like God looks
at it, we ought to be saying, okay, I don't
like it. I don't understand what's going on, but bring
it on, bring it on, because I know it's not
(16:35):
going to make me better. It's going to make me better.
I know that. Hey, hey, all things are going to
work together for good to those who love the Lord
and those who are the called according to it. I'm
just happy, that's all. Because we go through some stuff
all the time, don't we, babe? Mm. You know, in
(16:56):
order to have a testimony. Amoni you gotta have a
test because the first four words in testimony is test.
It's amazing to me how many Christians want to be
overcomers and ain't never overcame anything. Yeah. And so here
(17:20):
it is. He says, listen, this is just a test.
Now I need to get you to Bible class. So
since you won't come meet me, uh, once again, I'm
going to meet you. And there are five sources of tests.
Let me give em to you real quick. I'm drop.
I'm not going to push them. There's the satanic source.
The devil. Oh, yeah. He will tempt us. He will
test us. He's on us like white on rice. Like
(17:43):
a duck on a June bug. Like stink on a hog. Uh,
like grits on Al Green. Uh, like drugs on al heard. Yeah, uh,
like a body shirt on a bishop. He's on us tight.
I always like saying that every now and then. Yeah.
And so he's on us and and somebody said he's
(18:06):
not bothering me. That's probably because you ain't bothering him.
Because if you don't meet the devil as you walk
this Christian walk, it probably means both of you are
are going in the same direction. First Peter five eight says,
be sober. Be vigilant for your adversary. The devil walketh
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Oh yeah, he's looking for us, and he wants us
(18:27):
to make God look bad. Then there's the secular source.
That's the world. Uh, now there are three words translated
world in in the Greek New Testament. Uh, this one
is cosmos. Say, cosmos. We get the word cosmetics from it. Now,
what is the world? Get this. Every woman ought to
have this definition down. Because what do you do in
(18:51):
the morning? You put on your bass, right? It ain't
called bass foundation. Okay. Put on your foundation. Then what
you put on next, baby. Well, you is looking so
good and you're all dolled up. I thought maybe you'd
help a brother out this morning, but you know what
I mean. It's like you went in the mirror. You
(19:13):
begin to look, you know, and you straighten out the weave.
If you have one, or you put the wig on
your head, you know, and you you made sure everything
was arranged so that you could get those compliments. You
look good this morning. What is the world? It is
the arranged system that leaves God out. That's it. Of course,
(19:38):
I don't have to make any comments about that because
we know we're living in it. Third one, third one.
The self source. That's the flesh. Remember, the enemy is
the enemy, the old sin nature. That's why Paul, remember
in Romans six said, who shall free me from this
body of death? And remember that the the word picture,
how many remember the word picture? Let me see your hands.
(19:59):
I wasn't going to call on you. I just want
to see if you remember the word picture. Okay. The
word picture was if you committed premeditated murder and you
murdered somebody, they would strap that person on your back
and you would have to carry that person until the
putrification from their body went into yours. And and you
became diseased and died. That was your punishment. And he says,
(20:23):
the flesh is like that. Who shall free me from
this body of death? So, so, so so the spirit says,
we're going to Bible study Wednesday night. And the flesh said, Uh-Uh,
Empire coming on. We going to prayer. Uh, uh, scandal
coming on. Yeah. So the flesh here. Here's the fourth one.
(20:44):
Here's the fourth one. The situational or circumstantial source? Natural
cause and effect. Galatians says it this way. Whatsoever a
man soweth, uh, God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he reap. In other words, there are natural
consequences that are situational or circumstantial that happen. It just
happened because. Stuff happens. But here's the one he's talking
(21:07):
about here, the sovereign source, that God will test our
faith so we can know exactly how much faith we have. See,
salvation will get us into heaven, but the test is
to get heaven into us.
S2 (21:25):
You know God has a purpose in everything that we
go through. I hope that you're able to see that
with even more clarity after today's message. You're listening to
Treasure Truth with Pastor James Ford Jr. You know, there's
a lot of talk about the reliability of the Bible
or about the inerrancy or trustworthiness of God's Word, but
(21:45):
so often it's academic. You know, the question is simple
can we believe the Bible? But sometimes the answers from
trained theologians and professors are filled with jargon. That's kind
of difficult to understand. Well, Pastor John MacArthur recognized this
problem and decided to provide a solution. The result is
a compelling and easy to read book called Why Believe
(22:06):
the Bible? Now, this book provides biblical answers to common
questions about God's Word, and then shows how to get
the most out of the Bible into your own life.
You know, this is a book that every Christian should
read and then keep on the shelf as a reference
for those times where a friend, or maybe a skeptic
comes up with a new challenge about Scripture. And right now,
(22:26):
when you give a gift of any amount to treasure truth,
we're going to send you a copy with our thanks.
Just call us at 888644 7660. You can also go
online to Treasure Truth Radio org or send a check
in the mail. Our address is Treasure Truth, 820 North
LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. You know, your individual
(22:51):
gifts are hugely important to this ministry, but we also
need monthly partners, those willing to stand with us on
an ongoing financial basis each and every month, as you
do so with an auto gift of $30 or more.
We're going to say thank you with a discount to
Moody Publishers. You can receive 50% off every product on
the Moody Publishers website, and you can use that discount
(23:14):
on as many products as you'd like. Sign up to
become a monthly partner when you come to our website,
Treasure Truth Radio, or call us at 888644 7660. And again,
whether you call mail in a gift or give a
gift through the website, we want to say thank you
by sending you John MacArthur's book, Why Believe the Bible? Well,
(23:36):
I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Be listening.
On Wednesday for the eighth part in the series called
Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. Treasure truth is
a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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