S1: I don't care what happens. God is going to do
S1: what God said he's going to do. And you can't
S1: say anything or do anything. No circumstances. Nothing that the
S1: devil does will ever persuade me of anything other than
S1: what God promises.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us. As today
S2: we begin a message of encouragement. Just a powerful reminder
S2: from Philippians chapter one that God will always finish what
S2: he started. You know, there's a great truth in Philippians one.
S2: It's actually verse six and it says, and I'm certain
S2: that God, who began the good work within you, will
S2: continue his work until it is finally finished on the
S2: day when Christ Jesus returns. You know, we can cling
S2: to a promise like that. When we come to know
S2: Christ and begin a relationship with him, he begins a
S2: new work in us. We're given a new heart, and
S2: he begins what the Bible calls sanctification the process of
S2: shaping us, changing us, molding us more into the image
S2: and likeness of Jesus. And that's a process that will
S2: run throughout our entire life, our moment of salvation. That's instantaneous.
S2: That's what the Bible calls justification. You're declared right with God.
S2: But that process of becoming more godlike, more Christ like, that,
S2: is a life long process, and we're not going to
S2: get that right at least all the way right this
S2: side of eternity. But as Philippians chapter one verse six
S2: just said, once God begins that work in you, he
S2: will faithfully see that play out through your entire life.
S2: And we can engage in that, or we can fight
S2: against that, and that process will take longer than it
S2: could have. Otherwise we may not get as far down
S2: the path as we would like to get, depending on
S2: how we engage in that. But we can cling to
S2: the truth that God will always finish what he started.
S2: So join us in Philippians chapter one. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Some of you have probably never heard the name of
S1: Eugene Lang. Eugene Lang is a millionaire, and he had
S1: heard about the plight of African American students, uh, in Harlem.
S1: As a matter of fact, the school that he went
S1: to to talk to the students in the sixth grade
S1: class had a 50% dropout rate. Wow. With only a 14%
S1: graduation rate. Well, say, that's low. Say, that's super low.
S1: So Eugene Lang went to this class of sixth graders,
S1: 50 one sixth graders. And this is what he said.
S1: He said, I'm a millionaire and God has told me
S1: to come in here and to tell you that every
S1: one of you that graduates from high school, I will
S1: pay for your college education. I will pay for your books.
S1: I will pay for your food. I will pay for
S1: your housing. I will cover all of your expenses throughout
S1: all of college. If you graduate from high school. Right?
S1: That 12th grade class didn't graduate 14% because 48 out
S1: of 51 students went to college.
S3: Alright. Amen.
S1: 90% or more. And when asked, one of the students
S1: was asked, what made you want to do this? He said, well,
S1: first of all, the man was a millionaire. So we
S1: knew he wasn't lying when he made us the promise
S1: he could actually pay for us to go to college
S1: and pay for everything. So he was a millionaire, but
S1: he made us a promise. He said, I don't know
S1: if you know it, but I live in the ghetto
S1: where I have no hope, where I have to worry
S1: about being shot, where I have to worry about no food,
S1: where I have to worry about all the other things.
S1: Our unemployment rate is higher than anybody else's. And this
S1: man gave me hope.
S3: Yeah.
S1: So then in sixth grade, I said I could go
S1: to college if I can get to the seventh grade
S1: and seventh grade. I said, I can go to college.
S1: If I can go to the eighth grade and eighth grade.
S1: I said, I can go to college if I can
S1: make it to the ninth grade, and in ninth grade,
S1: I can go to college. If I make it a
S1: 10th grade, in 10th grade, I can go to college.
S1: If I make it to 11th grade and 11th grade,
S1: I can go to college if I just graduate from
S1: 12th grade. And he said, and I graduated, and he
S1: paid everything for that young man. And 48 of them
S1: not only went to college but graduated from college. I said,
S1: look at that. They had a man that they believed
S1: his promise that gave them hope to live and believe
S1: in the future. When we have somebody who's way richer
S1: than Eugene Lang, who made us more promises than he
S1: ever made us. And my question is, why aren't we
S1: saying God has brought me to this point? And so
S1: no matter what my circumstances say, I know he's going
S1: to take me on. So I'm going to move to
S1: the next point, because I know that God has a
S1: blessing that's waiting on me. Is anybody in this church
S1: praying with me so that now I've got his promises
S1: and I've got a hope that no one can diminish, destroy,
S1: distinguish because of who promised me?
S3: Yes.
S1: What he promised me. Is there anybody standing on the
S1: promises of God, my savior?
S3: Yes.
S1: Yeah. You see, when you begin to look at this book,
S1: I gotta give you the context before I give you
S1: the content. Uh, the church at Philippi wasn't a mega church.
S1: It was a storefront church. Just a small storefront church.
S1: But here's what they do. Say what did they know?
S1: That God judges a church not by what size it is,
S1: but what sort it is. Y'all ain't praying with me. Yeah.
S1: And so this church started in acts 16 with a vision.
S1: And the vision that they had, uh, was Paul had
S1: a vision, and he wanted to go in to, uh, Asia.
S1: And God said, no, I want you to go into Europe,
S1: go into Macedonia, and remember everything he needed to fulfill
S1: the vision he had after he started walking toward the
S1: vision right over your head. Some of you are here
S1: today saying God didn't do much work for me last year.
S1: Maybe Be. God wasn't working because you weren't walking. Yeah.
S1: That's it, that's it. In other words, God says, here's
S1: the vision. And he started walking to it. And what
S1: did he provide? He provided people. Luke was added on
S1: after he started walking in the vision. Oh, then he
S1: added the paper. Yeah, he was added after he started walking.
S1: See you waiting for everything. You're from Missouri. Show me.
S1: And God says no. You walk by faith and not
S1: by sight. You step out and do what I told
S1: you to do. Even when you don't see what you need,
S1: where it's coming from.
S3: Yes, sir.
S1: I'm preaching better than you. Amen. And that's for sure,
S1: I know that. Yeah. Second Kings, chapter seven, verses five
S1: and six. We studied it before you remember it. We
S1: talked about the lepers and leprosy. Make your extremities fall off.
S1: So here they go. They say if we stay here
S1: and do nothing, we going to die.
S3: Yeah.
S1: If we go to the Syrian, the enemy's camp, we
S1: may die. Okay. since we're just going to die, we
S1: might as well die walking. So they start walking toward
S1: where the provision was, not knowing that God was going
S1: to open the door. Here's what they said. The enemy left.
S1: What happened? They heard the sound of a mighty marching army.
S1: God magnified their efforts, and so they put their best
S1: foot forward. And God added his super to their natural.
S3: Yeah.
S1: Look at our girl, Ruth. God magnified her efforts. At
S1: first thing I like about her is she living with
S1: her mother in love and not her boyfriend?
S3: Alright.
S1: Uh, but remember what happened? She said we're going to
S1: work if we gotta eat. And she begin to work
S1: in the field of Boaz. And she got a Boaz,
S1: not a bozo. That's right. And guess what God did?
S1: he magnified our efforts because now she owns the field.
S1: She used to work in. That's right, that's right. That's it. See,
S1: God can take you from the outhouse to the penthouse. Amen. Amen.
S1: And so Paul's in prison, and it's not three hots
S1: and a cot. And the Philippian believers are upset because
S1: they love Paul. They genuinely love Paul. And he's in
S1: jail not for pushing crack, but for preaching Christ. That's right. And, uh,
S1: what did he do? It was the Epistle of Joy.
S1: You already know that. Tell you every time. But but
S1: they're saying, you know, Paul, we're tore up from the
S1: floor up by you being in prison. And Paul said,
S1: take a chill pill. You know I'm good. Why are
S1: you good? In chapter one, he gives five reasons Imma
S1: work to what we're talking about today. Here's the first
S1: reason he says because of my perspective. He said, see,
S1: you're looking at and say, man, what misery. And I'm
S1: saying what mercy that God would use me to witness
S1: the people I never get to witness to before. Yeah. Powerful.
S1: He says it's my perspective. But then he said, it's
S1: my passion. Verse 21, for me to live is Christ,
S1: to die is gain. He says, I got a love
S1: and a passion. And when you love Christ like I do,
S1: what you suffer for him is just a little affliction
S1: in the light of the future glory. And then he says,
S1: because of what my priority is, my priority is the gospel. Now,
S1: I done told this story seven times. It's the seventh
S1: time I'm telling it. So I guess I can wrap
S1: it up that that Brother White and his daughter Destiny
S1: were on their way to church. He sees some brothers
S1: standing on the corner. Nine of them. And the Holy
S1: Spirit says, stop and pray with them. I know he's thinking,
S1: gotta be the devil. He tells his daughter, I think
S1: God wants me to pray for her. She said, we're
S1: going to be late. He said, But God said to stop.
S1: Long story short, they stopped. They asked the brothers, can
S1: we pray for you? All nine of them said, yeah, okay.
S1: And they prayed for all nine. He shared the gospel,
S1: and all nine of them made a profession of faith
S1: in Jesus Christ. Amen. He says, I want to take
S1: you to church with me. And they said, we'll agree
S1: to go. And so he picked up, uh, two people,
S1: and she had brought the young lady who accepted Christ
S1: because she led her, a young lady to Christ on
S1: the same corner, and she picked him up, brought her
S1: to church with her children. And this is the this
S1: is the part that got me that he was going
S1: to pick up one of the guys and was told
S1: he died two hours ago, but he died with his
S1: Bible in his hand. Man. That's it. That's it.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. Powerful story there.
S2: We're going to continue this message in just a moment.
S2: So do you hope you'll hang with us? I do
S2: want to let you know, though, speaking of stories and
S2: books that Pastor Ford has written a number of books,
S2: and you can check those out by coming to our website.
S2: You'll find a link there that says Books by Pastor
S2: Ford on the left side of the home page. You
S2: can check out the different titles available as a paperback
S2: or in an e-book format. And if you've ever read
S2: a book by Pastor Ford or something he's said on
S2: the radio has impacted you in some way, maybe it's
S2: helped you, you know, strengthen your marriage, get your finances
S2: figured out, or even brought you into a relationship with Jesus.
S2: We would love to know your story. You can visit
S2: the contact page of our website and let us know
S2: how God has used this program in your life. Come
S2: to treasure Truth radio org and click on contact. Again,
S2: here's Pastor Ford.
S1: That's it. When you begin to look at it, he said,
S1: it's my perspective. It's my passion. It's my priority, it's
S1: my purpose. But here is where we're going to land. Uh,
S1: verse six, it's my promise that keeps me going. Amen.
S1: It's promise. That's what verse six is. It's a promise.
S1: You came today and you say nothing different today. It's
S1: another Sunday. But I'm still going through trauma. I'm still
S1: going through testing. I'm still going through tribulation. I'm still
S1: having tragedy and it seems like it's all over. But
S1: I came to tell you this morning that the fat
S1: lady hasn't sung. It's not over yet that God will
S1: take your natural and add his super to it and
S1: do something super natural. And he took Moses and a stick.
S1: He took his natural and added it to his super.
S1: And all the children of Israel walked across the Red
S1: sea on dry ground. Not mud, but asphalt. Uh, he
S1: did the same with the priest. Uh, when they're getting
S1: ready to go over Jordan, he said, tell the priests
S1: to put their foot in Jordan. Why do that? Because
S1: I already promised. Imma get you across. But I want
S1: to see. Do you believe the promise when the circumstances
S1: tell you that the promise can't be fulfilled? Jordan is
S1: overflowing its banks. You got mountains on this side you
S1: can't cross on land. Everything. Put your foot in the
S1: problem so that I can see that you believe by faith.
S1: You don't wait till the battle's over. You shout now.
S1: They put their foot in the water by faith, believing
S1: that God was going to do something. Anybody ever read it?
S1: And it said the water rose up like a wall. Yes, sir.
S1: And they walked through on dry ground. Yes, man. That's
S1: what a promise will do for you. And this is
S1: a promise. And I'm trusting that we will believe the
S1: promise that God has for us. Yeah, maybe he hasn't
S1: added his super because you haven't given him your natural. Alright.
S1: The little boy with the fishes and the loaves. Come on, everybody,
S1: holler it out. Where did the multiplication take place? In
S1: his hands. So he put them sardines and crackers in
S1: his hands and then begin to pass them out. You
S1: remember break it is means he did it one time.
S1: Passing out is an infinitive ING. He kept on doing it.
S1: He broke it once and kept on passing it out.
S1: Where did the multiplication take place. Maybe you broke because
S1: your money ain't in his hands. Maybe your marriage is
S1: jacked up because your marriage ain't in his hands. Maybe
S1: you don't have a business because you didn't put the
S1: business in his hands. Because whatever you put in his hands,
S1: he multiplies it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That education you want,
S1: is it in his hands? That apartment you want, is
S1: it in his hands? That house. You want that car?
S1: This is God's promise. Philippians one six. Now the word
S1: promise is in the Bible 50 times. How many times?
S1: 50 times. 50 times. One person counted. I didn't go
S1: behind him to see if he was telling the truth.
S1: I'm just going to take his word for it. He
S1: said there are 3573 promises in the Word of God.
S1: Let me ask you something. How many do you need
S1: to get to your destiny? One. This is as good
S1: as any. Yeah, it's a problem. Have you ever noticed
S1: what God does with his promises? See, this is why
S1: you need the promise. Why? Because God will speak to
S1: you about plenty. When you're in poverty. Alright. Because God
S1: will speak to you about health when you're sick. Because
S1: God will speak to you about a car. And all
S1: you got is a venture card. Because God will speak
S1: to you about a house and you have Pacific Garden Mission. Yes.
S1: Because God always promises. And a promise means you don't
S1: have what you want yet. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have
S1: what you want yet. This Philippians one six is the
S1: Jeremiah 2911 of the Old Testament. Anybody got that memorized?
S1: That's right. I know the plans I have for you.
S1: Plans for good and not for evil to bring you
S1: to the expected end. Now, anybody know what the context
S1: of Jeremiah 2911 is? Anybody? They were in captivity because
S1: of their disobedience to God. Yet in the midst of
S1: their disobedience, God gave them a promise that told them,
S1: where you are right now is not where you're going
S1: to end up, right? That's good news. That's good news.
S1: I'm going to bless you in spite of you. That's
S1: good news. Luke chapter 20, verse 30 and 31. Here's
S1: what he said to the disciples. He said to Peter,
S1: he said, he said to Peter and the disciples, you
S1: shall sit on 12 thrones of Israel and judge Israel.
S1: Then in verse 31 he said, y'all going to betray me?
S1: Now here's what a teacher does. I look at it
S1: and say, wait a minute. Why didn't he say, you're
S1: going to betray me? But don't worry, you're going to
S1: sit on 12 tribes. He gave them verse 30 before
S1: he gave them verse 31. My question is the teacher
S1: is why? And did it hit me? Because verse 30
S1: Bertie tells them about their failure. Verse 31 tells them
S1: about their future, and God is saying, I won't let
S1: your failure stop your future. See, y'all don't know when
S1: to shout yet. No matter how bad you done messed up,
S1: I still got something better. The best is yet to come.
S1: Come on, say it, say it. The best is yet.
S1: Say it again. The best is yet to come. Wait
S1: a minute. Wait wait wait wait, wait a minute. So
S1: what's verse 30? Verse 30 is your. Not yet. Verse
S1: 31 is your right now. And I want you to
S1: know that your right now will not stop you from your.
S1: Not yet. So whenever your right now looks bad, look
S1: to your not yet, not to your right now. Because
S1: you're not yet. I got you prosperous in your right now.
S1: Everything's tore up from the floor up. But if you
S1: focus on your right now, you'll never get to your
S1: not yet. So focus on your. Not yet, because you're
S1: not yet will drag you. Come on man, from your
S1: right now. Whoo! Pastor Ford. Pastor ford, pastor ford. It's
S1: a sorry dog. Won't wag his own tail. damn. Yeah,
S1: that's preaching there. And so what happens this year is
S1: my best year. Alright. Yeah. How do you know that?
S1: I got a promise. You ain't seen it yet? I
S1: got a promise. You don't know what's going to happen.
S1: I got a promise. You don't know how long you're
S1: going to live. I got a promise. And so let
S1: me tell you how I read it. Pastor Ford, being
S1: confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun
S1: a good work in Pastor Ford will perform it for
S1: Pastor Ford until the day of Jesus Christ. I put
S1: my name there.
S4: Alright, alright.
S1: You say, what about my name? Put your own name there.
S1: Claim your own promise. I hope there's a promise that
S1: you're claiming that you're believing God for. You heard what
S1: K-Love said. She had to put her foot in the water.
S1: She quit her job before she knew that God would
S1: expand her ministry. And for 14 years, she's never been hungry.
S1: For 14 years, she's never missed a house note payment.
S1: In 14 years, she never missed a car note payment.
S1: As a matter of fact, you saw what she said,
S1: that that when I called her, she was saying, God,
S1: how are you going to provide for this car note payment?
S1: And boom, here you call. She's been doing it for
S1: 14 years, standing on the promises of God. But notice,
S1: how do I do this? How will God finish what
S1: he starts when I hold to his promise? Here's the
S1: second thing. When I have a positive outlook, notice what
S1: the text says. Being confident. Stop. The word confident literally
S1: means to have a settled persuasion, a firm conviction. Now,
S1: I'm not giving you all of the outline, but those
S1: of you who are in outlines notice letter A would be,
S1: then it's continuously confident. In other words, being is ING word,
S1: which means then it never stops. Not just flash in
S1: the past, back and forth. You know, sometimes I'm up,
S1: sometimes I'm down. But a subtle persuasion where I am
S1: convicted and believe that I don't care what happens. God
S1: is going to do what God said he's going to do.
S1: And you can't say anything or do anything. No circumstances.
S1: Nothing that the devil does will ever persuade me of
S1: anything other than what God promised me.
S4: That's right. Amen.
S1: See? Say this with me. Belief is what I hold.
S1: Conviction is what holds me. That's right. Belief is what
S1: you hold. Conviction is what holds you. Does the conviction
S1: hold you? Have you ever been persuaded by a promise?
S1: Have you ever seen your circumstances change in the light
S1: of God's revelation?
S2: That's a good question to ask yourself, and I hope
S2: as you look back over life, you. You can pick
S2: out times where, yeah, you can identify with that. You
S2: can see that in your life while you're listening to
S2: a message called God will always finish What he started.
S2: We're going to continue this teaching next time. Hope you
S2: make it a point to listen. You can obviously right
S2: here on the radio, but you can also listen online.
S2: If you can't catch us live when the program is
S2: on the air, you can come to our website and
S2: listen at Treasure Truth radio.org. There you can stream the program,
S2: download an MP3 for free, or even order a copy
S2: of the broadcast on CD. Again, our website is Treasure
S2: Truth radio.com. You know, pastor, one of the things that
S2: I think is really cool is just to hear from
S2: new listeners who stumble across this radio program, either online
S2: or through the radio, and it is there for them
S2: today because someone previously had given and help get this
S2: program off the ground.
S1: Amen. That's right. It reminds me of those lepers in
S1: the Book of Kings. They had found food in the
S1: Syrian camp And they said we would be remiss if
S1: we didn't go back to the city and tell everybody
S1: the famine is over. There's a feast. Well, I'm telling you,
S1: not just treasure truth, but when you listen to Moody Radio,
S1: you feast on the Word of God. Great expositors of
S1: the Word of God. And who would not want someone
S1: else to be built up in their most precious faith
S1: by the teaching that comes across the Moody Network? And
S1: you can do that.
S2: You can do that by coming to Treasure Truth Radio org.
S2: Click on that donate button there. You can give a
S2: one time gift or an ongoing monthly gift. Again, that's
S2: at Treasure Truth radio.com and click on donate. Thanks for
S2: doing that. Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey.
S2: For Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a
S2: production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.