June 21, 2025 • 24 mins
On the next Treasured Truth, we’ll discover that the storms God allows to come into our lives aren’t meant to be stumbling blocks. Instead, He means for them to be steppingstones. Every storm was designed by God to get you to where He ultimately wants you to be. Join us for the next Treasured Truth, as Pastor Ford continues his current study in the book of Acts called “The Perfect Storm.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:00):
Here's what I'm trying to get you to see. Those
aren't stumbling blocks. Those are stepping stones. Every storm was
designed to get him where God ultimately wanted him to be.
S2 (00:21):
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 today as
we're going to continue a message entitled The Perfect Storm.
Now we're in acts chapter 27. And no big surprise.
In this chapter of acts, the Apostle Paul has set
(00:42):
sail for Rome and he gets caught in a storm. Now,
God ultimately allowed that storm to happen because many people
were saved spiritually as the result of that storm. That
might be one of the reasons that God allows a
storm to come into our lives. But there may be
other reasons why God allows storms. We've already looked at
(01:03):
how very often God gives storms or allows them to
inspect us, to correct us. He also does so to
protect us or even direct us. And that's exactly what
Pastor Ford was talking about just a moment ago. God
may want us to go down a certain path, but
for one reason or another, we're convinced we're to go
a different direction. We may even think that we hear
(01:26):
God telling us to go that way, but that's not
really the way he wants us to go. So in
order to redirect our steps, he allows a storm to
enter our lives and say, no, that's not where I
want you to go. I need to get you back
on track. As Pastor Ford was talking about, that storm
or stumbling block ultimately became a stepping stone because it
(01:46):
redirected our path back to God's path where he designed
us to be. We're going to continue to look at
that in today's broadcast. So if you can join us
in acts 27 as we continue the perfect storm. Here
is Pastor Ford.
S1 (02:02):
Now, that's what storms will do. Sometimes you get something
out of the storm that you didn't have before the storm.
And would not have had had you not had the storm.
And so we've been looking at what acts 27 tells us.
We've been surveying really hasn't been exposition. Just surveying give
(02:25):
you the fine lines. We said that God uses storms,
and when he uses them, they're perfect storms. Uh, so
we looked at and we already talked about that. Storms
are designed to inspect us. And we saw verse nine.
A failure to wait, foolish decisions following the crowd, fair
(02:46):
weather circumstances. Here it is. Bottom line is this you
never know what kind of faith you have until it's
tested by the storm, that storms are designed to let
us know whether or not we really have the faith
that we say that we have, because there's a whole
lot of folk that think they have faith. But when
(03:09):
the storm comes, they find out they don't trust God
at all. And that's really what it's all about. And
so many of us have had that. All of us
have gone through that. You had a financial difficulty. Did
you trust God? You had you had a health issue.
Did you trust God? Relationship problem. Did you trust God?
(03:30):
In other words, faith then. Second Corinthians seven five. We
walk by faith and not by sight. If we believe
what God has said, faith is believing. It is so,
even when it's not so, until it becomes so. Because
God said so. And so Paul had given them a word.
Will you believe the word? Will you trust what the
word has to say? And that's what God was doing
(03:53):
with this storm. Will you trust the word? Here's the
second thing the storm was designed to correct us. Some
storms come because we don't want to obey God. And
so we talked about Jonah. Jonah was supposed to go
to Nineveh. He wouldn't go. God sent a storm. And
(04:15):
then Jonah decided, you know what? I think I'll go
to Nineveh. And that's all he had to do, because
God picked up the fare with the Uber fish and
took him straight to Nineveh. And so God may be
trying to correct us in our storm because we're headed
in wrong directions. And, you know, the the the thing
(04:35):
about it is he's got time. He's eternal, got more
time than we have. And so, you know, and then
we saw thirdly, storms are designed to protect us. That's
Roman numeral three. That's what we studied last week. First
Thessalonians 518 in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So we
(04:56):
saw we must stand on the promise. Verse 24, we
must surrender to God. 25 and 26 we must strengthen
our faith. So are you in a storm right now?
Let me ask you a question. Are you standing on
his promises? Let me ask you another question. Have you
surrendered to God? Let me ask you another question. Have
(05:19):
you strengthen your faith? How do you strengthen your faith
through the Word of God? Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. Now let's look at this.
Storms are designed to direct us. Uh, so when you
look at what's happening with the apostle Paul, uh, he's
(05:40):
getting direction. Let me read this. What seems like the
best course of action is the worst course of action.
If God told us something different. And so now he's
sharing with them. Listen, you guys need to understand something. Uh,
God already gave us a word about what's going to happen, uh,
to this boat and to us. The boat's going to
(06:01):
be destroyed. We are going to survive. You got to
believe what God is doing. And you have to understand
that he has sent the storm to direct us. You know,
I was reading about David, and it's amazing, isn't it? Uh, remember,
David was anointed to be king. At what age? Anybody
(06:21):
remember 17 years old? When did he become king? How old?
30 years old. So you have a king's anointing on
a kid. So 13 years before he's ever going to
get where God wants him to be, God anoints him
(06:43):
for that. But here's what I want you to see.
And you know, God always calls the things that are
not as though they are. And so why did God
anoint him at 17? Because he wanted him to know
where he was taking him, so he would begin to
head in that direction. But guess what? God God doesn't
need us to help him and to go in the
direction he wants us to go. Guess what? He can
(07:05):
send a storm. So so so so here's what I
focus on. Where is he ultimately going to end up?
In the palace. How does he get there? A storm
named Goliath. See, everybody else was hiding in the officer's club.
Saul was in the officer's club. Hiding? Everybody else was
(07:26):
afraid of Goliath. He's too big to hit. What did
David say? He's too big to miss. So he kills him,
cuts off his head with his own sword. Anybody know
what happens after that? He's ushered into the palace. Where's
God going to take him? 13 years from the anointing
(07:50):
to the palace. What's the first step in God getting
him there? A storm? Look at the stepping stones to
the palace Alice for David. Storms. Storms. So he comes
back in. He just killed Goliath. Saul should be happy, right?
But the women are singing a song at the top
(08:12):
of the pop charts. Saul has slain his thousands, David.
His tens of thousands. It was probably a R&B. Or
maybe it was hip hop. I don't know. All I
know is Saul didn't like it. So you. You overcame
the storm of the enemy of the people of God
on the outside. Now you come on the inside. You're
(08:33):
in the palace, but you're not on the throne. And
what happens? Saul wants to kill you. Another storm. Then
he runs into the wilderness. Another storm. He goes, uh, down, uh,
to the Philistines. Another storm. But here's what I'm trying
to get you to see. Those aren't stumbling blocks. Those
(08:55):
are stepping stones every storm was designed to get him
where God ultimately wanted him to be. Okay, I guess
I'll have to get contemporary. Some of you know, and
you've been praying. We appreciate it. Uh, that my wife
has been hospitalized in the last month four times. So
(09:16):
she just got out of hospital Sunday. Now, let me
tell you about this last time. Uh, she has a
doctor's appointment on a Friday. I am on my way
to the airport to go to Phoenix, Arizona. And I
get a call. Baby? What? Sugar babe. The doctors are
going to keep me. And, uh, they're going to hospitalize me.
They can't let me go home because I fainted. I
(09:38):
said okay. Alright. So maybe what I need to do
is just cancel. No. Don't cancel, don't cancel. Call your boys.
Tell your boys their mother needs them this weekend. And
that's what I did. And both my boys stepped up,
took care of their mother. Here's what happened. So my
wife was having chest pains, heart palpitations and all this
kind of stuff. Oh, I'm talking about the last time.
This is the one before. I'm sorry. I get them
(10:00):
mixed up because it was four times in one month.
You have a tendency to get them mixed up. Well,
the one before I was at morning Bible study and
I went and I got a text message, and I
called Ethel Hill for it. She said, your wife's having palpitations.
The ambulance is here. They're rushing her to the hospital.
And so she thought she was having a heart attack.
Get there? No, because of the bronchitis and the acute asthma. Uh,
(10:23):
you're bruised, your muscles are sore. All of it feels
like a heart attack. But. But you're okay. But you
got pancreatitis. So what is that? We. They told us
what it is. Well, what happens with that? Well, there's
enzymes secreted from your pancreas. It should never be more
than a level of 200. What's hers? 900. That was
(10:46):
the first day. Thursday 1500. Friday over 1700. She's going
to have to have surgery. We're going to have to
do something about that. That's extremely high. That's dangerous for her. Okay,
so we need to transfer to our own hospital. That's Sunday.
So Sunday night it was over 1700. Monday morning I
(11:08):
get a call. Hey, honey, you had sugar, babe. What's up? Uh,
come get me. Take me home. What do you mean,
take you home? Come get me. Take me home. Aren't
we going to transfer you over to our hospital so
you can have surgery? No. Why? Because my level is 200. Amen.
I said so what happened? So what happened? Well, she
(11:30):
said she really doesn't know what happened. Uh, maybe there
was some gallstones that they couldn't see. Uh, that that passed.
And I said, what'd you tell him? I told him
I got a whole church praying for me. And the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman availeth much. Now,
here's my point. Here's my point. There's a storm. She's
(11:52):
got chest pain. We don't know about the pancreatitis, but
all of a sudden now, uh, because we had a storm.
We discovered something that we wouldn't have discovered ordinarily until
it was too late. But the storm brought us to
the hospital where we discovered the pancreatitis. God used that
(12:15):
to direct us. And often you and I need to
understand that God wants to move us and to direct
us to places which we don't want to go. Not
thinking about. And so God sends a storm. It happens
over and over and over again that we need to
(12:35):
realize that God does that. So Paul finds it out
that God is doing something. And what seems like the
best course of action is the worst. If God told
us to do something different.
S2 (12:52):
This is treasure truth with Pastor Ford, a message called
The Perfect Storm, and we'll get back to the teaching
in just a moment. Well, however, you've connected with us,
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(13:13):
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That's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Back to the message again.
(13:36):
Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:38):
Now, you know, I wanted to give you a couple
other ones, but you can go through the Bible and
you can see it. Okay, get this one. Just one more.
Exodus chapter 13. The children of Israel are on their
way out of Egypt. You know what? We say it
all the time. It took them one day to get
them out of Egypt. It took them 40 years to
get to Egypt out of them. Deuteronomy chapter one says
(13:59):
it was an 11 day journey from Kadesh Barnea to
the Promised Land. And so God had to get everybody out,
and they wandered in the wilderness. Now, why did God
lead them that way? Now we know because they didn't
walk by faith. They walked by sight. They did not
want to go into the promised land. But. But let
(14:19):
me read to you what it says in Exodus gives
us a different perspective, doesn't it? Exodus chapter 13, verse 17. 13.
Verse 17. Listen to what God says. This is what
I wanted to do. And it came to pass when
Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them
(14:41):
not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near. For God said, let's peradventure the
people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.
Wait a minute. All that wandering in the wilderness, all
that drama, all that trauma. God, you could avoid that.
Why did you let me go through this? You saw
(15:02):
it coming? Yes, I saw it coming. I led you
to the wilderness because I knew if you would have
kept going in the direction that you were going, you
would meet up with the Philistines, who are some gangbangers.
You weren't ready for that. So I detoured you away
from that because you weren't ready for it. I directed
(15:24):
you by that storm called the wilderness. And sometimes we
have to realize that's the perfect storm that God directs us.
And sometimes it's through a storm. Now, let me show
you something else. Alright. Imma show you something else. You
ain't going to like this one. But Imma show it
to you anyway. That even when the storm is your
(15:48):
fault and you're in sin now. You don't believe me,
do you? Look at judges chapter 14. I'm going to
show you something. Judges chapter 14. We talk about him
all the time. We need to leave him alone. Samson.
He-Man with a she weakness. Yeah, yeah. Women were not
(16:09):
his problem. He was his problem. Yeah. And so what happened?
Now watch this. Remember, he goes down to Timnath and
saw a woman in timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
And so what happens? He goes down to Timnath. Now
get this, get this, get this. Let me tell you
this real quick. Timnath means allotted portion. So it belongs
(16:30):
to the Philistines right now. But it used to belong
to God. It's the appointed place. Get it? In other words,
here's what happened. There was something that belonged to God
that you gave to the world. And the world took
God's appointment from you. Okay, I know you just went
(16:54):
over your head, right? You're saying I don't understand that? Uh, okay.
How many times have I said, you're on Facebook, but
you're not in his book. So if you spent the
time in the Bible that you spent on Facebook, you
have more faith. Appointed place. Appointed place. You've given what
was appointed to him, to the world. And now that's
(17:17):
drawing him. Now get this. Here's my whole point. I
just had to throw that out. Check out verse four.
But his father and his mother knew not that it
was of the Lord. Let me get this. God knew
this man's proclivity. He knows all of ours too, don't he?
(17:40):
And everybody has a proclivity, don't we? What's a proclivity?
Every one of us has a sin that we're fond of.
How do I fight what I like? Yeah. Every one
of us have one. Yeah. And so what happens that
he didn't know that this was of the Lord? In
(18:02):
other words, God chose him not just because of who
his parents were and that God knew. I'm going to
use this man's sin to accomplish my purpose. Now the
storm is his sin. He got a haircut and the
devil's barbershop. And then what happened? Listen, listen to this.
(18:23):
But his father and his mother knew not that it
was of the Lord. That he sought an occasion against
the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion
over Israel. Do you see what that verse is saying?
He's responsible for his sin. But God is going to
use his sin for his ultimate purpose. So this man
goes through this storm, gets his hair cut and and
(18:46):
all that kind of stuff chained, read into the story
that he killed more Philistines in his death than he
did in his life. And then remember this he's overcome
by guilt because God didn't say he had to die.
He asked God to kill him. Yeah, let me die
with him. So God said, sure, I'll do that. But
here's the point. Here's the point. What you're going through
(19:09):
right now, you need to get on your knees, is
what you need to do and see what God is
trying to do in your life, and then work with
him in getting that accomplished, because we all over the place.
I want to try this, and I want to do
(19:29):
this and I want to do that. What's God say?
Do what's he say. Do not what your pastor says,
not what your mama, your big mama, your daddy says
uncle Willie Bubba. Pookie nim. What is God telling you?
Because you gotta connect with that and you gotta roll
(19:50):
with that. I'll get this. Let me bring this in.
What did Paul want to do more than anything? Does
anybody know what Paul wanted to do? Where did he
want to go? More than anywhere else? Rome. That's his destination. Question.
Did he get there? Yes. How? Chained in a slave ship.
(20:15):
He's going in a slave slash prison ship now. I
don't know about you, but what it says to me
is this. You may like the product, but you may
not necessarily like the process. But we don't worry about
(20:36):
what's happening in the process because God is going to
put us through it whether we want to or not.
We focus on the product. This is where I'm going.
And so therefore I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.
I'm not detouring because this is where God has taken me.
And so Paul went to Rome. He got what he wanted.
(20:57):
It was just a rough ride getting in there. How
many people know that God works that way? Why? Because
of the next reason. Because of the next reason. What's
the next reason? Because God sends us storms to perfect us. Now,
(21:17):
now here. Here it is. What's going on? These guys
that are on here, they're not listening to Paul. Now
they're listening to Paul. Paul has shared with them. I
got a word from God about what we're going to do.
So Paul told them, he said, listen, let me give
you some reassurance. This ship will not. Well, first he
reprimanded them. You ain't listen to me. Uh. Then, uh,
he gave them reassurance. An angel of God came to me.
(21:40):
Then he gave him revelation and told me ship would
be lost. But you won't. And then he talked about
his reliance, I trust God. Then they turn around and say, okay,
if you trust him, since you told us what you
told us and it came true, then what we're going
to do is we're going to believe what you just
told us. See what happened to them. The word perfect.
(22:03):
You know it already, right? What is the word perfect?
It's our old friend Stelios who could holler out what
it means. Come on, real quick. What does it mean
to be complete? To fulfill the purpose for which you
were created? That's why you got to tap into purpose.
Purpose keeps you from drifting all over the place. And
(22:24):
so he promised them that. That God is doing a work.
Here it is James chapter one. He says, my brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may
(22:46):
be complete and entire, lacking nothing.
S2 (22:52):
What a reminder that God will use storms to shape
us into the person he would have us be, to
conform us more into the image and the likeness of
his son. Not always easy to have that perspective, to
be thankful in the midst of storms, but that's what
we're called to do as followers of Christ. Not to
be thankful because of the storm, but because of how
God may be at work in our lives in the
(23:14):
midst of that storm. Or you're listening to a message
called A Perfect Storm, and we're going to continue on
our next broadcast. If you want to make sure you
don't miss it, of course you can listen to your radio,
but you can also download the Moody Radio app. Not
only can you listen to Treasure Truth, but you'll be
able to listen to other moody programs and internet music stations.
(23:34):
You'll find links to the app, which is free. When
you come to treasure Truth Radio. Well, thanks for listening today.
Thanks to our producer, Amy Ross. I'm Steve Hiller. Join
us next time for Treasure Truth. A production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Here's what I'm trying to get you to see. Those
aren't stumbling blocks. Those are stepping stones. Every storm was
designed to get him where God ultimately wanted him to be.
S2 (00:21):
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 today as
we're going to continue a message entitled The Perfect Storm.
Now we're in acts chapter 27. And no big surprise.
In this chapter of acts, the Apostle Paul has set
(00:42):
sail for Rome and he gets caught in a storm. Now,
God ultimately allowed that storm to happen because many people
were saved spiritually as the result of that storm. That
might be one of the reasons that God allows a
storm to come into our lives. But there may be
other reasons why God allows storms. We've already looked at
(01:03):
how very often God gives storms or allows them to
inspect us, to correct us. He also does so to
protect us or even direct us. And that's exactly what
Pastor Ford was talking about just a moment ago. God
may want us to go down a certain path, but
for one reason or another, we're convinced we're to go
a different direction. We may even think that we hear
(01:26):
God telling us to go that way, but that's not
really the way he wants us to go. So in
order to redirect our steps, he allows a storm to
enter our lives and say, no, that's not where I
want you to go. I need to get you back
on track. As Pastor Ford was talking about, that storm
or stumbling block ultimately became a stepping stone because it
(01:46):
redirected our path back to God's path where he designed
us to be. We're going to continue to look at
that in today's broadcast. So if you can join us
in acts 27 as we continue the perfect storm. Here
is Pastor Ford.
S1 (02:02):
Now, that's what storms will do. Sometimes you get something
out of the storm that you didn't have before the storm.
And would not have had had you not had the storm.
And so we've been looking at what acts 27 tells us.
We've been surveying really hasn't been exposition. Just surveying give
(02:25):
you the fine lines. We said that God uses storms,
and when he uses them, they're perfect storms. Uh, so
we looked at and we already talked about that. Storms
are designed to inspect us. And we saw verse nine.
A failure to wait, foolish decisions following the crowd, fair
(02:46):
weather circumstances. Here it is. Bottom line is this you
never know what kind of faith you have until it's
tested by the storm, that storms are designed to let
us know whether or not we really have the faith
that we say that we have, because there's a whole
lot of folk that think they have faith. But when
(03:09):
the storm comes, they find out they don't trust God
at all. And that's really what it's all about. And
so many of us have had that. All of us
have gone through that. You had a financial difficulty. Did
you trust God? You had you had a health issue.
Did you trust God? Relationship problem. Did you trust God?
(03:30):
In other words, faith then. Second Corinthians seven five. We
walk by faith and not by sight. If we believe
what God has said, faith is believing. It is so,
even when it's not so, until it becomes so. Because
God said so. And so Paul had given them a word.
Will you believe the word? Will you trust what the
word has to say? And that's what God was doing
(03:53):
with this storm. Will you trust the word? Here's the
second thing the storm was designed to correct us. Some
storms come because we don't want to obey God. And
so we talked about Jonah. Jonah was supposed to go
to Nineveh. He wouldn't go. God sent a storm. And
(04:15):
then Jonah decided, you know what? I think I'll go
to Nineveh. And that's all he had to do, because
God picked up the fare with the Uber fish and
took him straight to Nineveh. And so God may be
trying to correct us in our storm because we're headed
in wrong directions. And, you know, the the the thing
(04:35):
about it is he's got time. He's eternal, got more
time than we have. And so, you know, and then
we saw thirdly, storms are designed to protect us. That's
Roman numeral three. That's what we studied last week. First
Thessalonians 518 in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So we
(04:56):
saw we must stand on the promise. Verse 24, we
must surrender to God. 25 and 26 we must strengthen
our faith. So are you in a storm right now?
Let me ask you a question. Are you standing on
his promises? Let me ask you another question. Have you
surrendered to God? Let me ask you another question. Have
(05:19):
you strengthen your faith? How do you strengthen your faith
through the Word of God? Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. Now let's look at this.
Storms are designed to direct us. Uh, so when you
look at what's happening with the apostle Paul, uh, he's
(05:40):
getting direction. Let me read this. What seems like the
best course of action is the worst course of action.
If God told us something different. And so now he's
sharing with them. Listen, you guys need to understand something. Uh,
God already gave us a word about what's going to happen, uh,
to this boat and to us. The boat's going to
(06:01):
be destroyed. We are going to survive. You got to
believe what God is doing. And you have to understand
that he has sent the storm to direct us. You know,
I was reading about David, and it's amazing, isn't it? Uh, remember,
David was anointed to be king. At what age? Anybody
(06:21):
remember 17 years old? When did he become king? How old?
30 years old. So you have a king's anointing on
a kid. So 13 years before he's ever going to
get where God wants him to be, God anoints him
(06:43):
for that. But here's what I want you to see.
And you know, God always calls the things that are
not as though they are. And so why did God
anoint him at 17? Because he wanted him to know
where he was taking him, so he would begin to
head in that direction. But guess what? God God doesn't
need us to help him and to go in the
direction he wants us to go. Guess what? He can
(07:05):
send a storm. So so so so here's what I
focus on. Where is he ultimately going to end up?
In the palace. How does he get there? A storm
named Goliath. See, everybody else was hiding in the officer's club.
Saul was in the officer's club. Hiding? Everybody else was
(07:26):
afraid of Goliath. He's too big to hit. What did
David say? He's too big to miss. So he kills him,
cuts off his head with his own sword. Anybody know
what happens after that? He's ushered into the palace. Where's
God going to take him? 13 years from the anointing
(07:50):
to the palace. What's the first step in God getting
him there? A storm? Look at the stepping stones to
the palace Alice for David. Storms. Storms. So he comes
back in. He just killed Goliath. Saul should be happy, right?
But the women are singing a song at the top
(08:12):
of the pop charts. Saul has slain his thousands, David.
His tens of thousands. It was probably a R&B. Or
maybe it was hip hop. I don't know. All I
know is Saul didn't like it. So you. You overcame
the storm of the enemy of the people of God
on the outside. Now you come on the inside. You're
(08:33):
in the palace, but you're not on the throne. And
what happens? Saul wants to kill you. Another storm. Then
he runs into the wilderness. Another storm. He goes, uh, down, uh,
to the Philistines. Another storm. But here's what I'm trying
to get you to see. Those aren't stumbling blocks. Those
(08:55):
are stepping stones every storm was designed to get him
where God ultimately wanted him to be. Okay, I guess
I'll have to get contemporary. Some of you know, and
you've been praying. We appreciate it. Uh, that my wife
has been hospitalized in the last month four times. So
(09:16):
she just got out of hospital Sunday. Now, let me
tell you about this last time. Uh, she has a
doctor's appointment on a Friday. I am on my way
to the airport to go to Phoenix, Arizona. And I
get a call. Baby? What? Sugar babe. The doctors are
going to keep me. And, uh, they're going to hospitalize me.
They can't let me go home because I fainted. I
(09:38):
said okay. Alright. So maybe what I need to do
is just cancel. No. Don't cancel, don't cancel. Call your boys.
Tell your boys their mother needs them this weekend. And
that's what I did. And both my boys stepped up,
took care of their mother. Here's what happened. So my
wife was having chest pains, heart palpitations and all this
kind of stuff. Oh, I'm talking about the last time.
This is the one before. I'm sorry. I get them
(10:00):
mixed up because it was four times in one month.
You have a tendency to get them mixed up. Well,
the one before I was at morning Bible study and
I went and I got a text message, and I
called Ethel Hill for it. She said, your wife's having palpitations.
The ambulance is here. They're rushing her to the hospital.
And so she thought she was having a heart attack.
Get there? No, because of the bronchitis and the acute asthma. Uh,
(10:23):
you're bruised, your muscles are sore. All of it feels
like a heart attack. But. But you're okay. But you
got pancreatitis. So what is that? We. They told us
what it is. Well, what happens with that? Well, there's
enzymes secreted from your pancreas. It should never be more
than a level of 200. What's hers? 900. That was
(10:46):
the first day. Thursday 1500. Friday over 1700. She's going
to have to have surgery. We're going to have to
do something about that. That's extremely high. That's dangerous for her. Okay,
so we need to transfer to our own hospital. That's Sunday.
So Sunday night it was over 1700. Monday morning I
(11:08):
get a call. Hey, honey, you had sugar, babe. What's up? Uh,
come get me. Take me home. What do you mean,
take you home? Come get me. Take me home. Aren't
we going to transfer you over to our hospital so
you can have surgery? No. Why? Because my level is 200. Amen.
I said so what happened? So what happened? Well, she
(11:30):
said she really doesn't know what happened. Uh, maybe there
was some gallstones that they couldn't see. Uh, that that passed.
And I said, what'd you tell him? I told him
I got a whole church praying for me. And the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman availeth much. Now,
here's my point. Here's my point. There's a storm. She's
(11:52):
got chest pain. We don't know about the pancreatitis, but
all of a sudden now, uh, because we had a storm.
We discovered something that we wouldn't have discovered ordinarily until
it was too late. But the storm brought us to
the hospital where we discovered the pancreatitis. God used that
(12:15):
to direct us. And often you and I need to
understand that God wants to move us and to direct
us to places which we don't want to go. Not
thinking about. And so God sends a storm. It happens
over and over and over again that we need to
(12:35):
realize that God does that. So Paul finds it out
that God is doing something. And what seems like the
best course of action is the worst. If God told
us to do something different.
S2 (12:52):
This is treasure truth with Pastor Ford, a message called
The Perfect Storm, and we'll get back to the teaching
in just a moment. Well, however, you've connected with us,
whether it's been online, through the radio, maybe through the
Moody Radio app, whatever it's been, we're glad that you're here,
that you're listening, and hope that Pastor Ford's teaching is
making a difference in your life. And it's all possible
(13:13):
because those who believe in this ministry give towards treasure, truth,
and moody radio. So if you're growing in your walk
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to our website. Just stop by Treasure Truth Radio org
and click on the link that says make a donation.
That's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Back to the message again.
(13:36):
Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (13:38):
Now, you know, I wanted to give you a couple
other ones, but you can go through the Bible and
you can see it. Okay, get this one. Just one more.
Exodus chapter 13. The children of Israel are on their
way out of Egypt. You know what? We say it
all the time. It took them one day to get
them out of Egypt. It took them 40 years to
get to Egypt out of them. Deuteronomy chapter one says
(13:59):
it was an 11 day journey from Kadesh Barnea to
the Promised Land. And so God had to get everybody out,
and they wandered in the wilderness. Now, why did God
lead them that way? Now we know because they didn't
walk by faith. They walked by sight. They did not
want to go into the promised land. But. But let
(14:19):
me read to you what it says in Exodus gives
us a different perspective, doesn't it? Exodus chapter 13, verse 17. 13.
Verse 17. Listen to what God says. This is what
I wanted to do. And it came to pass when
Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them
(14:41):
not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near. For God said, let's peradventure the
people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.
Wait a minute. All that wandering in the wilderness, all
that drama, all that trauma. God, you could avoid that.
Why did you let me go through this? You saw
(15:02):
it coming? Yes, I saw it coming. I led you
to the wilderness because I knew if you would have
kept going in the direction that you were going, you
would meet up with the Philistines, who are some gangbangers.
You weren't ready for that. So I detoured you away
from that because you weren't ready for it. I directed
(15:24):
you by that storm called the wilderness. And sometimes we
have to realize that's the perfect storm that God directs us.
And sometimes it's through a storm. Now, let me show
you something else. Alright. Imma show you something else. You
ain't going to like this one. But Imma show it
to you anyway. That even when the storm is your
(15:48):
fault and you're in sin now. You don't believe me,
do you? Look at judges chapter 14. I'm going to
show you something. Judges chapter 14. We talk about him
all the time. We need to leave him alone. Samson.
He-Man with a she weakness. Yeah, yeah. Women were not
(16:09):
his problem. He was his problem. Yeah. And so what happened?
Now watch this. Remember, he goes down to Timnath and
saw a woman in timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
And so what happens? He goes down to Timnath. Now
get this, get this, get this. Let me tell you
this real quick. Timnath means allotted portion. So it belongs
(16:30):
to the Philistines right now. But it used to belong
to God. It's the appointed place. Get it? In other words,
here's what happened. There was something that belonged to God
that you gave to the world. And the world took
God's appointment from you. Okay, I know you just went
(16:54):
over your head, right? You're saying I don't understand that? Uh, okay.
How many times have I said, you're on Facebook, but
you're not in his book. So if you spent the
time in the Bible that you spent on Facebook, you
have more faith. Appointed place. Appointed place. You've given what
was appointed to him, to the world. And now that's
(17:17):
drawing him. Now get this. Here's my whole point. I
just had to throw that out. Check out verse four.
But his father and his mother knew not that it
was of the Lord. Let me get this. God knew
this man's proclivity. He knows all of ours too, don't he?
(17:40):
And everybody has a proclivity, don't we? What's a proclivity?
Every one of us has a sin that we're fond of.
How do I fight what I like? Yeah. Every one
of us have one. Yeah. And so what happens that
he didn't know that this was of the Lord? In
(18:02):
other words, God chose him not just because of who
his parents were and that God knew. I'm going to
use this man's sin to accomplish my purpose. Now the
storm is his sin. He got a haircut and the
devil's barbershop. And then what happened? Listen, listen to this.
(18:23):
But his father and his mother knew not that it
was of the Lord. That he sought an occasion against
the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion
over Israel. Do you see what that verse is saying?
He's responsible for his sin. But God is going to
use his sin for his ultimate purpose. So this man
goes through this storm, gets his hair cut and and
(18:46):
all that kind of stuff chained, read into the story
that he killed more Philistines in his death than he
did in his life. And then remember this he's overcome
by guilt because God didn't say he had to die.
He asked God to kill him. Yeah, let me die
with him. So God said, sure, I'll do that. But
here's the point. Here's the point. What you're going through
(19:09):
right now, you need to get on your knees, is
what you need to do and see what God is
trying to do in your life, and then work with
him in getting that accomplished, because we all over the place.
I want to try this, and I want to do
(19:29):
this and I want to do that. What's God say?
Do what's he say. Do not what your pastor says,
not what your mama, your big mama, your daddy says
uncle Willie Bubba. Pookie nim. What is God telling you?
Because you gotta connect with that and you gotta roll
(19:50):
with that. I'll get this. Let me bring this in.
What did Paul want to do more than anything? Does
anybody know what Paul wanted to do? Where did he
want to go? More than anywhere else? Rome. That's his destination. Question.
Did he get there? Yes. How? Chained in a slave ship.
(20:15):
He's going in a slave slash prison ship now. I
don't know about you, but what it says to me
is this. You may like the product, but you may
not necessarily like the process. But we don't worry about
(20:36):
what's happening in the process because God is going to
put us through it whether we want to or not.
We focus on the product. This is where I'm going.
And so therefore I'm keeping my eyes on the prize.
I'm not detouring because this is where God has taken me.
And so Paul went to Rome. He got what he wanted.
(20:57):
It was just a rough ride getting in there. How
many people know that God works that way? Why? Because
of the next reason. Because of the next reason. What's
the next reason? Because God sends us storms to perfect us. Now,
(21:17):
now here. Here it is. What's going on? These guys
that are on here, they're not listening to Paul. Now
they're listening to Paul. Paul has shared with them. I
got a word from God about what we're going to do.
So Paul told them, he said, listen, let me give
you some reassurance. This ship will not. Well, first he
reprimanded them. You ain't listen to me. Uh. Then, uh,
he gave them reassurance. An angel of God came to me.
(21:40):
Then he gave him revelation and told me ship would
be lost. But you won't. And then he talked about
his reliance, I trust God. Then they turn around and say, okay,
if you trust him, since you told us what you
told us and it came true, then what we're going
to do is we're going to believe what you just
told us. See what happened to them. The word perfect.
(22:03):
You know it already, right? What is the word perfect?
It's our old friend Stelios who could holler out what
it means. Come on, real quick. What does it mean
to be complete? To fulfill the purpose for which you
were created? That's why you got to tap into purpose.
Purpose keeps you from drifting all over the place. And
(22:24):
so he promised them that. That God is doing a work.
Here it is James chapter one. He says, my brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may
(22:46):
be complete and entire, lacking nothing.
S2 (22:52):
What a reminder that God will use storms to shape
us into the person he would have us be, to
conform us more into the image and the likeness of
his son. Not always easy to have that perspective, to
be thankful in the midst of storms, but that's what
we're called to do as followers of Christ. Not to
be thankful because of the storm, but because of how
God may be at work in our lives in the
(23:14):
midst of that storm. Or you're listening to a message
called A Perfect Storm, and we're going to continue on
our next broadcast. If you want to make sure you
don't miss it, of course you can listen to your radio,
but you can also download the Moody Radio app. Not
only can you listen to Treasure Truth, but you'll be
able to listen to other moody programs and internet music stations.
(23:34):
You'll find links to the app, which is free. When
you come to treasure Truth Radio. Well, thanks for listening today.
Thanks to our producer, Amy Ross. I'm Steve Hiller. Join
us next time for Treasure Truth. A production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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