S1: I'm sending it. I want you to see it the
S1: way I see it. Because I'm shaping you to make
S1: you into something that you currently are not right now. Why?
S1: Because I can't give you what I want to give
S1: you the way you are right now.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr.
S2: Senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm
S2: Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today. As we continue
S2: our look at James chapter one and a message called
S2: Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. You know, this
S2: idea of God using the painful situations in our lives
S2: to get us ready for something else was something that
S2: I kind of struggled to understand at a certain time
S2: in my life. And then I heard a pastor at
S2: one time say, hey, if you're a parent, you might
S2: want to look at it this way is your kid
S2: when they're little, ready for everything you want to give them.
S2: And the answer is obviously no. I mean, you can't
S2: toss your keys to a four year old. You're just
S2: asking for major trouble if you do something like that.
S2: They go through a process of growing, of maturing. Comprehension
S2: gets more. They begin to take on more responsibility. If
S2: all goes well, and then eventually you're able to give
S2: them what you truly want to give them long to
S2: give them. But you couldn't in their immaturity. And you know,
S2: the same holds true for God and for us. There
S2: may be things that God wants to give us, but
S2: he's like, I need you to mature a little bit first.
S2: And so I'm going to walk with you through this
S2: difficult season so that I can give you what I
S2: want to give you. Well, that's what we're looking at
S2: in today's broadcast. So if you can join us in
S2: James chapter one, here's Pastor Ford.
S1: You know, I'm going to tell you about a small
S1: time preacher who's struggling with a small church in Dallas, Texas.
S1: Tony Evans, let me tell you what he said. He
S1: said when he was in seminary, Arie, uh, what he
S1: had to do was, uh, work and go to school.
S1: And so he got a job at Trailways. And when
S1: he went there, there were about 4 or 5 other
S1: guys that worked on the evening shift. He had to
S1: work evening because he went to school in the daytime.
S1: He said that when he went in, they informed him, look,
S1: this is how we roll, uh, on this night shift. Uh,
S1: you could be late. Somebody will punch you in on time.
S1: You can leave early. We'll punch you out. Uh, everybody
S1: doesn't work all night. A couple of us will work, uh,
S1: for a couple of hours. And while the others sleep.
S1: And then, uh, they wake up, and then we go
S1: sleep and, you know, and that's the way we roll
S1: around here. So we want you to know, uh, that's
S1: what you gotta do. And so he began to to
S1: ponder and say, okay, now I want to be accepted
S1: by these guys, and I want to be socially alienated
S1: and ostracized. Uh, but I got to honor God. And so,
S1: you know what, God? I know it's going to cost me,
S1: but I'm going to honor you. Okay? And so what's
S1: his motivation? Honor. God. So guess what happened? They did
S1: ostracize him. He said that whenever it was time to
S1: unload and and load some of his buses, uh, nobody
S1: was around. They had to go to the bathroom, they
S1: had to do something, and they kept doing what they
S1: were doing. And he never participated in it. He said,
S1: three months later, uh, the boss came to him and said,
S1: come to the office. And he's thinking to himself, why
S1: are you bringing me to the office? I'm the only
S1: one around here that work. I ain't done nothing wrong.
S1: He called him in the office and said, for the
S1: last month, we've had one of our management team scoping
S1: out the evening shift. And we know that there's punching
S1: in and out of people who aren't even here, that
S1: half will sleep while half work. And, uh, you did
S1: not participate. We fired them. We're bringing on a whole
S1: new staff. We want to make you the manager of
S1: the night shift. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like
S1: when you look at it, the problem was the platform
S1: for his promotion to his new position and his higher pay. Amen.
S1: See the problem is with your perspective. Is your theology
S1: greater than your theology? Say, what do you mean by that?
S1: You know exactly what I mean. Are you more concerned
S1: about your pain than God's purpose? Because if you are you,
S1: you will not see. See, here's what you need. You
S1: need a new perspective. Little boy was wanting to see
S1: the Bud Billiken Parade, so he was standing on the
S1: street and he was looking and it would look nice
S1: and everything. But all he could see was in front
S1: of me. He's short and all these people couldn't see anything,
S1: couldn't see good. And he said, parades. I don't like parades.
S1: And an old man was standing next to him who
S1: lived in the apartment behind him in the penthouse floor.
S1: And so the old man said to the little boy,
S1: come on, little boy. Now wait a minute. All you
S1: social workers, all you children, workers. Uh, listen, don't.
S3: No, no, boy, don't go with a stranger. Oh, no.
S3: Stranger danger.
S1: This is just an illustration, okay? That's that's all it is. Okay.
S1: So don't get excited. You know, don't call DCFS. Alright. So,
S1: so so he says, come on up. So he goes
S1: up to this man's penthouse. He looks down. He sees
S1: the beginning of the parade. He sees the ending of
S1: the parade. He sees everything in between. And that's what
S1: God told me to come tell you today that you're
S1: down from the ground looking at it, and it looks
S1: bleak and it looks bad, and it looks like ain't
S1: nothing ever going to come of this, but you just
S1: seeing a little part of it. You're being obscured by
S1: all the things that are around you. But you got
S1: an ancient of days who say, come up to heaven
S1: and look down on it rather than looking at it.
S1: And when you look down on it, you see it
S1: from a different light. You see the beginning of it
S1: and you see it ends, and you see the process
S1: that takes place in the middle that God is letting
S1: you know. I got this. When you look from the
S1: divine perspective, you know there's a beginning. You know there's
S1: an end. You know that I'm working and it looks
S1: beautiful when you see the whole thing from my perspective.
S1: My wife will tell you I'm like everybody else. I'll complain,
S1: and then I'll put a caveat and I'll say, ooh, girl,
S1: you know what? What? I'm excited. Why are you excited?
S1: Because I'm under great persecution. Why are you excited about that?
S1: Because there's got to be great provision. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
S1: There has to be. Yeah. And so when we look
S1: at this, he's saying. View your trials from God's perspective. Man,
S1: I tell you what it's like. It's like I'm a
S1: teacher and I know it. I'm looking at this thing
S1: this morning. I said, I see another outline for the
S1: book of James. I've got, I bet, you know, less
S1: than 25 outlines. Here's the outline I saw. Uh, Elder Strider.
S1: I was looking at it again. I said, wow, looking
S1: at it from God's perspective, here's what I saw. Verse
S1: one is God sent. Verse two Is God seen? In
S1: verse three Is God shaping? Verse four, It's God supplying.
S1: In other words, look at how you get this thing
S1: set up, he says. Verse one I sent it. Uh.
S1: Verse two. You gotta see it from my perspective, because
S1: if you don't see it the way I see it,
S1: then you won't respond to it the way I want
S1: you to respond to it. Then I can't shape you
S1: the way I want to shape you. And I can't
S1: supply for you what I want to supply for you.
S1: Because your shape determines your supply and your seeing determines
S1: if you know it was sent. And so they all
S1: fall in line together. I'm sending it. I want you
S1: to see it the way I see it, because I'm
S1: shaping you to make you into something that you currently
S1: are not right now. Why? Because I can't give you
S1: what I want to give you the way you are
S1: right now. Yeah. Some of you ladies ain't going to
S1: never get a husband because you won't get a divorce.
S1: Who got quiet? It's like you, you you blessing us,
S1: then you just stole our blessing. Yeah. You're not going
S1: to get a husband. You can't live with yourself. How
S1: are you going to live with somebody else? Brother, he
S1: ain't going to send you that fine woman you waiting on.
S1: He said get a job. Yeah. And so here, as
S1: you begin to look at this thing, man, it is
S1: it is noticed, uh, there's a A and a B
S1: under here. Notice the attitude that demonstrates the right perspective.
S1: He says count it all joy. What does that mean?
S1: What does that mean? Count it all joy. Well, you know,
S1: when we talked about this plenty of times, uh, that
S1: whenever you look at, uh, the baptizing work of the
S1: Holy Spirit, I belong to Christ's body. But the filling
S1: of the spirit where joy is produced, my body belongs
S1: to him. So I belong to Christ's body. First John
S1: 13 for by one spirit are we all baptized into
S1: one body, having all been made to drink of one spirit.
S1: But then once I get filled with the spirit. Galatians
S1: 522 and 23. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy.
S1: So joy is independent of circumstances. It is not based
S1: on what happens. And so David said, the joy of
S1: the Lord is my strength. But wait a minute. He
S1: was running for his life. But he said, the joy
S1: of the Lord is my strength, because if my joy
S1: doesn't come from the circumstances, it comes from the Savior.
S1: And so, uh, your sons turn against you. Yeah, but
S1: the joy of the Lord is my strength. Yeah, but
S1: your people turn to you. The joy of the Lord
S1: is my strength. Uh, but they want to kill you.
S1: Joy of the Lord is my strength. You're in the wilderness.
S1: Don't have food. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
S1: But how are you going to eat joy? The Lord
S1: is my strength. Well, what's going to happen? And when
S1: are you going to go back? I don't know, but
S1: the joy of the Lord is my strength. I don't
S1: know anything, but the joy of the Lord is my strength.
S1: I trust him so he says, count it all joy.
S1: That's a mathematical term. Notice first of all, it's a command.
S1: It's imperative. It's not dusty or old country buffet. He says.
S1: You better rejoice when you get into diverse temptation. And
S1: here's how he softens it up. Because notice he started
S1: with compassion. That is, my brethren, 15 times in James,
S1: my brother and my brethren. What's he trying to do?
S1: It's a hard situation, so I'm going to soften it
S1: up a little bit, but I'm still letting you know
S1: that even though I'm going to calm down the situation
S1: and let you know, hey, I'm being compassionate, you need
S1: to know it's still a command and I like how
S1: he does it. More of us need to learn that
S1: he's sensitive to their feelings, but he is astute in
S1: the scriptures. So what he does is he speaks the
S1: truth in love. He focused on the product, not on
S1: the pain.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message
S2: called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. We're going
S2: to get back to this message in just one moment.
S2: If you ever want to find out more about Pastor Ford,
S2: or maybe about Christ Bible Church, where he serves as
S2: senior pastor, you can always come to our website. It's
S2: Treasure Truth radio.org. Go ahead and click on the about
S2: link and you'll find more information there. Again, you can
S2: start at our website. Treasure truth radio.org. Back to the message.
S2: Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: And so that's what Paul did, didn't he? They said, Paul,
S1: we'll kill you. He said, that's okay. Uh, if you
S1: kill me, I'll be with Christ, because the die is gain.
S1: They said, well, we'll let you live. Well, that's cool too,
S1: because the live is Christ. Well, we'll make you suffer.
S1: He says, well, okay, let's bring it on. Because, uh,
S1: I know that this, uh, present suffering is nothing in
S1: comparison to the glory that's going to be revealed in us.
S1: So here's what he was saying. He's saying, look, if
S1: you kill me, I'm going to be with Christ. Yeah.
S1: And if you let me live, I'm going to live
S1: for Christ. And if you make me suffer, I'm going
S1: to get a reward for Christ. So bring it on.
S1: It's all about Christ. I'm going to be like Christ.
S1: I'm going to look like Christ. I'm going to be
S1: with Christ. And so over and over again he tells us,
S1: now notice something because he says something about these things.
S1: He says, first of all, he says, uh, this aspects
S1: of suffering, uh, that show we have the right perspective.
S1: He says they are certain. Notice, he says, when you
S1: fall into divers temptation. Not if I don't need to
S1: say anymore. John 1633 in the world you shall have tribulation.
S1: Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He said,
S1: you're going to you're going to be hated on. You're
S1: going to be despised and rejected. You're going to be
S1: kicked to the curb. You ought to just you. You
S1: better be scared when. When there's nobody hating on you.
S1: That generally mean you ain't doing nothing for Christ. Mhm. Yeah.
S1: And so first Corinthians chapter ten, verse 13, there's no
S1: temptation taken you but that which is common to man.
S1: But God is faithful who will not allow you to
S1: be tempted. Notice secondly, not just are they certain but
S1: they're sudden. He says, when you fall and have you
S1: ever noticed that your trials, your tests, your temptations don't
S1: consult your daytimer? They don't ask to be put on
S1: your schedule. It just comes up and it just overwhelm you.
S1: And so he says you have no control over your pain.
S1: You just have control in your pain. Now, let me
S1: ask you a question. Say ask it. Why is it
S1: so important to have the right perspective about our problems
S1: in pain, so that we see it from God's perspective?
S1: And once we do, what will happen? I'll tell you
S1: what will happen. And Scripture affirms it. What happened? Pastor,
S1: for glad you asked. You ask intelligent questions because it'll
S1: turn my fear into faith. It'll turn my sighing into singing.
S1: It'll turn my pouting into praising. It'll turn my doubting
S1: into dancing. It will turn my worrying into worship. It
S1: will turn my trying into trusting, uh, the you know
S1: what they meant for evil. God said. I mean it
S1: for good. Uh, he'll say when I pass through the waters.
S1: I will not fear because you're with me. In other words,
S1: he said, you're going to get in some water and
S1: you're going to get wet. But don't worry, the only
S1: thing you need to worry about is this I ain't
S1: going to let you drown. So you may go down once.
S1: You may go down twice, but you ain't going down
S1: three times. Because I will be with you. And so
S1: and so. I'll never forget when we're in another church.
S1: We had just got a new carpet. Green carpet. And
S1: you know, and I don't know why we got green,
S1: I don't know. Uh, somebody said money. No, we didn't
S1: have none over there. No, we ain't got much over here.
S1: That's why it's red. Uh, but anyway. So, so so, uh,
S1: they had a wedding, and I told them. Don't put
S1: anything on our carpet. They put candles down the aisle
S1: and let the candles burn, and it seeped into the carpet.
S1: And Dennis Sanders, who was our, uh, custodian at the time,
S1: I said, man, I'm upset. I'm calling them people. Hey,
S1: they going to pay for this? If we got to
S1: get a new carpet, they're going to pay because I
S1: told them, don't be. And he said, don't worry about it, pastor.
S1: I said, what do you mean, don't worry about it?
S1: He said, I got this. Don't worry. He said it
S1: won't have any damage. I said, come on, man, look
S1: how deep that's in the carpet. You start scraping it,
S1: you're going to scrape the piling. It's going to it's
S1: going to look bad. He said, pastor, I got this.
S1: I said, okay, I want to see how you going
S1: to do this? He went and came back. I said,
S1: what's that? He said, it's a heat gun. And then
S1: he had this piece of paper with him or a
S1: cloth or whatever it was. And so he put the
S1: heat to it. And then he said, Now I'm going
S1: to blot it. And he put the whatever it was
S1: down there. And the wax soaked up in the blotter
S1: paper or cloth, whatever it was. And you couldn't tell.
S1: I said, wow, I gotta write that down. He said,
S1: I knew you was going to use it as a
S1: sermon illustration. Yes, I am, because that's what God wants
S1: to do with us. Uh, that there's something in my
S1: character that just ain't right. And God says, oh, man,
S1: he's stubborn and hard. It's in the warp and the
S1: fiber of his soul. And so I need some heat.
S1: And he puts the heat of the conviction of the
S1: Holy Ghost on me. And then he blots it out
S1: with the Scripture, because I'm clean through the word that
S1: he's spoken unto me, and it blots out. And I
S1: look and I say, wow, I'm new in that area too.
S1: And so what you need to be crying out. Say,
S1: what do we need to be crying out for? Boom
S1: boom boom. Mhm mhm mhm. Five.
S4: I yell.
S1: Boom.
S4: Boom boom!
S1: Oh, when it's hot. And God makes it hot. Because
S1: we've got a toxic personality. Give me some heat. We've
S1: got a fornication. Adultery. Give me some heat. Gossiping. Backbiting. Jealousy. Lying.
S1: Give me some heat. Turn up the heat. Give me some.
S4: Fire.
S1: In other words, it's Romans 828. All. All things work
S1: together for good to those who love the Lord. And
S1: so we have to have a right perspective. Regal prerogative.
S1: Let me finish this real quick. We have to. The
S1: third way. A mature believer sees purpose in their problem plan. Is,
S1: are y'all tired of the word? Okay, okay. Can I
S1: can I do one more? Thank you very much. Amen. Amen.
S1: You have to understand the refining process that takes place.
S1: He says in verse three, listen to this. Knowing this,
S1: that the trying of your faith works. Patience. Wow. That's powerful.
S1: Let's let's now look, some of you won't come to
S1: Bible study, so I gotta bring Bible study to you. Okay.
S1: There are five kinds of suffering in the Bible that
S1: I find. Let me. Let me give you the five.
S1: If you take notes, you may want these first kind
S1: of suffering is religious suffering. It's religious suffering. You say what?
S1: What what is that? It's. It's when you suffer because
S1: your religion puts a stipulation on you that God does not.
S1: So every religion is false. Yeah. And and here's what
S1: first Corinthians 1022 says. They are not worshiping God. They
S1: are worshiping demons. Did you hear what I said? They're
S1: worshiping demons. I didn't say that. Don't shoot the mailman.
S1: It says it in first Corinthians 1022 that all religion
S1: other than Christianity is the worship of demons. They think
S1: they're worshiping God, but they're. Okay, let me give you
S1: an example. In India, people are starving, but it's not
S1: caused by a food shortage or by overpopulation. It's the
S1: result of religious belief. Because they are Hindus and Buddhists
S1: and they believe that that roach that you killed this
S1: morning was probably your Uncle Willie, who died ten years
S1: ago and came back as a roach. And so you're
S1: not allowed to kill rats, mice and cows. And so
S1: get this now. Why is there a hunger problem? Because
S1: of its religious suffering. Because you can't kill a cow.
S1: Every cow is sacred. So then one cow could feed
S1: seven people. Which means then, since they have 200 million
S1: sacred cows, they could feed. If they just chopped them
S1: boys up into Big Macs and Whoppers, they'd be able
S1: to feed 1,400,000,000 people. But their religion prohibits it. And
S1: the mice and the rats consume 50% of the stored
S1: grain in India. See? Religious suffering. Then secondly, and I
S1: gotta hasten on, there's rapacious suffering. Say rapacious. What is rapacious?
S1: Rapacious is demonic suffering. Like the man in Mark five. Uh,
S1: he was touched not by an angel, but touched by
S1: a demon. And there were how many demons in him?
S1: How many thousand? 6000 demons. Now, that shouldn't surprise you,
S1: because some of y'all got more than that. I done
S1: dealt with some of y'all. And here's what I love
S1: about it I have to I have to make this
S1: comment because it says. And they said, Jesus said, what
S1: is your name? And they said, now get this, they
S1: is plural because there's 6000 said is singular because only
S1: one spoke for all. Alright. Well I said the church
S1: had that kind of unity. What is your name? Everybody
S1: would be saying her name. My name, my name, my name,
S1: my God. No, we're Christ's Bible church. Anyway. And so, uh,
S1: there's rapacious suffering. Then thirdly, there's Is retributive suffering. You say,
S1: what is that? That suffering for our sin? John 514.
S1: Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh John 513
S1: through 17 that is some some of us are suffering
S1: on our own. It's kind of like I tell you
S1: all the time, you say, God, why am I in
S1: this financial trouble? Why you let this happen? And God says,
S1: my name ain't on. None of them slips on any
S1: of them credit cards. Yeah. Amen. Then there's redemptive suffering.
S1: What's redemptive suffering? Write down second Corinthians one three through
S1: 11 if you're doing that, uh, because redemptive suffering is
S1: when you don't suffer for yourself, that your suffering is
S1: so God can connect to somebody else. There was one
S1: year my wife was in the hospital five times for
S1: two weeks at a time. Three of those two sets
S1: of weeks, she led a nurse to Christ. So three
S1: people came to Christ while she was in the hospital.
S1: And we rejoiced because we said that suffering wasn't for you,
S1: that suffering. So you can go in there and witness.
S1: When Pastor Betts was in the hospital. He led people
S1: to Christ. And so here God allows us sometimes to
S1: suffer so that other people can be blessed. But here
S1: it is in this text. Uh, it's called remedial suffering.
S1: Let me give you the definition of a very handsome
S1: preacher on the south side of Chicago. Uh, Pastor James
S1: Ford junior. Here's what he said. And I quote. Remedial
S1: suffering is a special course of study for helping students
S1: in the University of the Holy Spirit to overcome deficiencies
S1: in specific character, skills, ability, knowledge, or wisdom.
S5: This is treasure truth.
S2: With Pastor James Ford Junior. And today's message is called
S2: Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. And for more
S2: teaching and additional resources, come to our website treasure truth.
S2: Radio You know, as Christians, we believe that God is
S2: the source of all reality and his word. The Bible
S2: is absolute truth. But we live in a relativistic age
S2: where claims to absolute truth are treated with skepticism and
S2: sometimes downright hostility. Perhaps you struggled to explain your beliefs
S2: to non-believers. Or maybe right now you're listening and you're
S2: wrestling with your own doubts about what the Bible is
S2: and how you should respond to it. Well, we'd like
S2: to encourage you with a book by Doctor John MacArthur
S2: called Why Believe the Bible? In this easy to read book,
S2: doctor MacArthur presents convincing evidence that we can believe the
S2: Bible and shows that God's Word is true not only
S2: in abstract religious terms, but also in our experience. So
S2: discover why the Bible is trustworthy and find out how
S2: it can change your life when you request this practical book.
S2: It's yours for a gift of any amount to treasure truth.
S2: Just call us at 888644 660 or go online to
S2: Treasure Truth Radio.com. If you prefer to write, you can
S2: send your check to Treasure Truth. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago,
S2: Illinois 606 ten. Well, maybe you're in a place today
S2: where you can give more than a one time gift
S2: and you'd like to become a monthly partner. Automating your
S2: donation is the best way to support treasure truth on
S2: this station, and to ensure that this clear and passionate
S2: Bible teaching continues to become a monthly partner, call us
S2: at 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth radio.org. Well,
S2: I'm Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us
S2: again next time for more Bible teaching from Pastor Ford
S2: here on Treasure truth. A production of Moody Radio, a
S2: ministry of Moody Bible Institute.