WEBVTT - God Will Always Finish What He Started, Part 1 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.880 I don't care what happens. God is going to do 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:07.520 what God said he's going to do. And you can't 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.280 say anything or do anything. No circumstances. Nothing that the 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:16.040 devil does will ever persuade me of anything other than 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:17.320 what God promises. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:28.000 Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.920 junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.760 I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us. As today 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.640 we begin a message of encouragement. Just a powerful reminder 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:41.680 from Philippians chapter one that God will always finish what 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.400 he started. You know, there's a great truth in Philippians one. 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.920 It's actually verse six and it says, and I'm certain 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.000 that God, who began the good work within you, will 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.279 continue his work until it is finally finished on the 0:00:55.280 --> 0:01:00.120 day when Christ Jesus returns. You know, we can cling 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.960 to a promise like that. When we come to know 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.960 Christ and begin a relationship with him, he begins a 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.440 new work in us. We're given a new heart, and 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:13.399 he begins what the Bible calls sanctification the process of 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.000 shaping us, changing us, molding us more into the image 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.039 and likeness of Jesus. And that's a process that will 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:26.440 run throughout our entire life, our moment of salvation. That's instantaneous. 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.800 That's what the Bible calls justification. You're declared right with God. 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:34.560 But that process of becoming more godlike, more Christ like, that, 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.160 is a life long process, and we're not going to 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.400 get that right at least all the way right this 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.199 side of eternity. But as Philippians chapter one verse six 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.040 just said, once God begins that work in you, he 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:52.360 will faithfully see that play out through your entire life. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.520 And we can engage in that, or we can fight 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.400 against that, and that process will take longer than it 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.720 could have. Otherwise we may not get as far down 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.400 the path as we would like to get, depending on 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.480 how we engage in that. But we can cling to 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.639 the truth that God will always finish what he started. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.200 So join us in Philippians chapter one. Here is Pastor Ford. 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.160 Some of you have probably never heard the name of 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:28.119 Eugene Lang. Eugene Lang is a millionaire, and he had 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:34.400 heard about the plight of African American students, uh, in Harlem. 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:36.680 As a matter of fact, the school that he went 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.320 to to talk to the students in the sixth grade 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:46.280 class had a 50% dropout rate. Wow. With only a 14% 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:51.520 graduation rate. Well, say, that's low. Say, that's super low. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:58.120 So Eugene Lang went to this class of sixth graders, 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.590 50 one sixth graders. And this is what he said. 0:03:01.790 --> 0:03:06.270 He said, I'm a millionaire and God has told me 0:03:06.510 --> 0:03:11.030 to come in here and to tell you that every 0:03:11.030 --> 0:03:14.669 one of you that graduates from high school, I will 0:03:14.669 --> 0:03:18.030 pay for your college education. I will pay for your books. 0:03:18.030 --> 0:03:20.510 I will pay for your food. I will pay for 0:03:20.510 --> 0:03:25.070 your housing. I will cover all of your expenses throughout 0:03:25.070 --> 0:03:30.510 all of college. If you graduate from high school. Right? 0:03:31.190 --> 0:03:38.630 That 12th grade class didn't graduate 14% because 48 out 0:03:38.670 --> 0:03:41.630 of 51 students went to college. 0:03:41.670 --> 0:03:43.470 Alright. Amen. 0:03:44.230 --> 0:03:48.790 90% or more. And when asked, one of the students 0:03:48.790 --> 0:03:51.510 was asked, what made you want to do this? He said, well, 0:03:51.550 --> 0:03:54.830 first of all, the man was a millionaire. So we 0:03:54.870 --> 0:03:57.430 knew he wasn't lying when he made us the promise 0:03:57.430 --> 0:04:00.510 he could actually pay for us to go to college 0:04:00.630 --> 0:04:03.950 and pay for everything. So he was a millionaire, but 0:04:04.310 --> 0:04:06.590 he made us a promise. He said, I don't know 0:04:06.590 --> 0:04:08.230 if you know it, but I live in the ghetto 0:04:08.350 --> 0:04:11.070 where I have no hope, where I have to worry 0:04:11.070 --> 0:04:14.110 about being shot, where I have to worry about no food, 0:04:14.110 --> 0:04:16.030 where I have to worry about all the other things. 0:04:16.029 --> 0:04:19.510 Our unemployment rate is higher than anybody else's. And this 0:04:19.510 --> 0:04:21.150 man gave me hope. 0:04:21.589 --> 0:04:21.950 Yeah. 0:04:22.350 --> 0:04:24.870 So then in sixth grade, I said I could go 0:04:24.870 --> 0:04:27.350 to college if I can get to the seventh grade 0:04:27.350 --> 0:04:29.870 and seventh grade. I said, I can go to college. 0:04:29.870 --> 0:04:31.909 If I can go to the eighth grade and eighth grade. 0:04:31.910 --> 0:04:33.550 I said, I can go to college if I can 0:04:33.550 --> 0:04:35.429 make it to the ninth grade, and in ninth grade, 0:04:35.430 --> 0:04:36.910 I can go to college. If I make it a 0:04:36.910 --> 0:04:39.150 10th grade, in 10th grade, I can go to college. 0:04:39.150 --> 0:04:41.470 If I make it to 11th grade and 11th grade, 0:04:41.470 --> 0:04:43.669 I can go to college if I just graduate from 0:04:43.670 --> 0:04:46.830 12th grade. And he said, and I graduated, and he 0:04:46.830 --> 0:04:52.150 paid everything for that young man. And 48 of them 0:04:52.390 --> 0:05:00.510 not only went to college but graduated from college. I said, 0:05:00.589 --> 0:05:03.549 look at that. They had a man that they believed 0:05:03.550 --> 0:05:07.469 his promise that gave them hope to live and believe 0:05:07.470 --> 0:05:11.430 in the future. When we have somebody who's way richer 0:05:11.430 --> 0:05:15.030 than Eugene Lang, who made us more promises than he 0:05:15.029 --> 0:05:18.070 ever made us. And my question is, why aren't we 0:05:18.110 --> 0:05:20.750 saying God has brought me to this point? And so 0:05:20.750 --> 0:05:23.430 no matter what my circumstances say, I know he's going 0:05:23.470 --> 0:05:25.270 to take me on. So I'm going to move to 0:05:25.310 --> 0:05:27.870 the next point, because I know that God has a 0:05:27.870 --> 0:05:30.989 blessing that's waiting on me. Is anybody in this church 0:05:31.029 --> 0:05:36.390 praying with me so that now I've got his promises 0:05:36.630 --> 0:05:43.070 and I've got a hope that no one can diminish, destroy, 0:05:43.270 --> 0:05:47.350 distinguish because of who promised me? 0:05:47.830 --> 0:05:48.190 Yes. 0:05:48.230 --> 0:05:52.110 What he promised me. Is there anybody standing on the 0:05:52.110 --> 0:05:55.870 promises of God, my savior? 0:05:56.070 --> 0:05:56.630 Yes. 0:05:56.870 --> 0:05:59.950 Yeah. You see, when you begin to look at this book, 0:05:59.950 --> 0:06:01.670 I gotta give you the context before I give you 0:06:01.670 --> 0:06:05.430 the content. Uh, the church at Philippi wasn't a mega church. 0:06:06.350 --> 0:06:12.430 It was a storefront church. Just a small storefront church. 0:06:13.190 --> 0:06:15.390 But here's what they do. Say what did they know? 0:06:16.430 --> 0:06:20.150 That God judges a church not by what size it is, 0:06:20.310 --> 0:06:24.790 but what sort it is. Y'all ain't praying with me. Yeah. 0:06:24.790 --> 0:06:28.350 And so this church started in acts 16 with a vision. 0:06:28.589 --> 0:06:32.550 And the vision that they had, uh, was Paul had 0:06:32.550 --> 0:06:36.630 a vision, and he wanted to go in to, uh, Asia. 0:06:36.630 --> 0:06:39.710 And God said, no, I want you to go into Europe, 0:06:39.710 --> 0:06:44.230 go into Macedonia, and remember everything he needed to fulfill 0:06:44.230 --> 0:06:49.550 the vision he had after he started walking toward the 0:06:49.550 --> 0:06:54.150 vision right over your head. Some of you are here 0:06:54.150 --> 0:06:57.990 today saying God didn't do much work for me last year. 0:06:59.029 --> 0:07:06.630 Maybe Be. God wasn't working because you weren't walking. Yeah. 0:07:07.270 --> 0:07:09.869 That's it, that's it. In other words, God says, here's 0:07:09.870 --> 0:07:12.190 the vision. And he started walking to it. And what 0:07:12.190 --> 0:07:16.830 did he provide? He provided people. Luke was added on 0:07:17.070 --> 0:07:19.990 after he started walking in the vision. Oh, then he 0:07:19.990 --> 0:07:24.110 added the paper. Yeah, he was added after he started walking. 0:07:24.150 --> 0:07:28.190 See you waiting for everything. You're from Missouri. Show me. 0:07:28.190 --> 0:07:30.630 And God says no. You walk by faith and not 0:07:30.630 --> 0:07:33.270 by sight. You step out and do what I told 0:07:33.270 --> 0:07:36.110 you to do. Even when you don't see what you need, 0:07:36.110 --> 0:07:37.150 where it's coming from. 0:07:37.310 --> 0:07:37.830 Yes, sir. 0:07:38.670 --> 0:07:40.630 I'm preaching better than you. Amen. And that's for sure, 0:07:40.630 --> 0:07:44.510 I know that. Yeah. Second Kings, chapter seven, verses five 0:07:44.510 --> 0:07:46.750 and six. We studied it before you remember it. We 0:07:46.750 --> 0:07:50.030 talked about the lepers and leprosy. Make your extremities fall off. 0:07:50.030 --> 0:07:52.430 So here they go. They say if we stay here 0:07:52.430 --> 0:07:54.550 and do nothing, we going to die. 0:07:54.830 --> 0:07:55.310 Yeah. 0:07:55.590 --> 0:07:58.270 If we go to the Syrian, the enemy's camp, we 0:07:58.270 --> 0:08:02.390 may die. Okay. since we're just going to die, we 0:08:02.390 --> 0:08:07.190 might as well die walking. So they start walking toward 0:08:07.190 --> 0:08:10.390 where the provision was, not knowing that God was going 0:08:10.390 --> 0:08:13.710 to open the door. Here's what they said. The enemy left. 0:08:13.710 --> 0:08:19.630 What happened? They heard the sound of a mighty marching army. 0:08:20.030 --> 0:08:24.870 God magnified their efforts, and so they put their best 0:08:24.870 --> 0:08:30.550 foot forward. And God added his super to their natural. 0:08:33.429 --> 0:08:33.829 Yeah. 0:08:36.870 --> 0:08:41.670 Look at our girl, Ruth. God magnified her efforts. At 0:08:41.670 --> 0:08:43.550 first thing I like about her is she living with 0:08:43.550 --> 0:08:45.510 her mother in love and not her boyfriend? 0:08:45.790 --> 0:08:46.469 Alright. 0:08:47.110 --> 0:08:49.630 Uh, but remember what happened? She said we're going to 0:08:49.630 --> 0:08:52.470 work if we gotta eat. And she begin to work 0:08:52.470 --> 0:08:55.670 in the field of Boaz. And she got a Boaz, 0:08:55.710 --> 0:09:00.230 not a bozo. That's right. And guess what God did? 0:09:00.340 --> 0:09:05.819 he magnified our efforts because now she owns the field. 0:09:05.980 --> 0:09:10.699 She used to work in. That's right, that's right. That's it. See, 0:09:10.740 --> 0:09:17.300 God can take you from the outhouse to the penthouse. Amen. Amen. 0:09:17.300 --> 0:09:20.059 And so Paul's in prison, and it's not three hots 0:09:20.059 --> 0:09:24.140 and a cot. And the Philippian believers are upset because 0:09:24.140 --> 0:09:26.980 they love Paul. They genuinely love Paul. And he's in 0:09:26.980 --> 0:09:31.100 jail not for pushing crack, but for preaching Christ. That's right. And, uh, 0:09:31.140 --> 0:09:32.980 what did he do? It was the Epistle of Joy. 0:09:33.020 --> 0:09:35.420 You already know that. Tell you every time. But but 0:09:35.420 --> 0:09:37.660 they're saying, you know, Paul, we're tore up from the 0:09:37.660 --> 0:09:39.940 floor up by you being in prison. And Paul said, 0:09:39.980 --> 0:09:43.060 take a chill pill. You know I'm good. Why are 0:09:43.059 --> 0:09:45.380 you good? In chapter one, he gives five reasons Imma 0:09:45.420 --> 0:09:47.180 work to what we're talking about today. Here's the first 0:09:47.179 --> 0:09:50.860 reason he says because of my perspective. He said, see, 0:09:50.860 --> 0:09:53.420 you're looking at and say, man, what misery. And I'm 0:09:53.420 --> 0:09:57.220 saying what mercy that God would use me to witness 0:09:57.220 --> 0:10:01.179 the people I never get to witness to before. Yeah. Powerful. 0:10:01.220 --> 0:10:03.380 He says it's my perspective. But then he said, it's 0:10:03.380 --> 0:10:05.860 my passion. Verse 21, for me to live is Christ, 0:10:05.900 --> 0:10:08.180 to die is gain. He says, I got a love 0:10:08.179 --> 0:10:11.260 and a passion. And when you love Christ like I do, 0:10:11.500 --> 0:10:15.580 what you suffer for him is just a little affliction 0:10:15.580 --> 0:10:19.100 in the light of the future glory. And then he says, 0:10:19.100 --> 0:10:22.460 because of what my priority is, my priority is the gospel. Now, 0:10:22.460 --> 0:10:26.220 I done told this story seven times. It's the seventh 0:10:26.220 --> 0:10:27.740 time I'm telling it. So I guess I can wrap 0:10:27.740 --> 0:10:31.579 it up that that Brother White and his daughter Destiny 0:10:31.620 --> 0:10:34.459 were on their way to church. He sees some brothers 0:10:34.460 --> 0:10:36.860 standing on the corner. Nine of them. And the Holy 0:10:36.860 --> 0:10:41.820 Spirit says, stop and pray with them. I know he's thinking, 0:10:41.860 --> 0:10:46.380 gotta be the devil. He tells his daughter, I think 0:10:46.380 --> 0:10:47.939 God wants me to pray for her. She said, we're 0:10:47.940 --> 0:10:50.180 going to be late. He said, But God said to stop. 0:10:50.220 --> 0:10:53.459 Long story short, they stopped. They asked the brothers, can 0:10:53.460 --> 0:10:56.700 we pray for you? All nine of them said, yeah, okay. 0:10:57.020 --> 0:10:59.300 And they prayed for all nine. He shared the gospel, 0:10:59.300 --> 0:11:01.340 and all nine of them made a profession of faith 0:11:01.340 --> 0:11:06.699 in Jesus Christ. Amen. He says, I want to take 0:11:06.700 --> 0:11:08.420 you to church with me. And they said, we'll agree 0:11:08.420 --> 0:11:11.220 to go. And so he picked up, uh, two people, 0:11:11.220 --> 0:11:13.500 and she had brought the young lady who accepted Christ 0:11:13.500 --> 0:11:15.420 because she led her, a young lady to Christ on 0:11:15.420 --> 0:11:17.660 the same corner, and she picked him up, brought her 0:11:17.660 --> 0:11:20.339 to church with her children. And this is the this 0:11:20.340 --> 0:11:22.940 is the part that got me that he was going 0:11:22.980 --> 0:11:25.980 to pick up one of the guys and was told 0:11:25.980 --> 0:11:31.020 he died two hours ago, but he died with his 0:11:31.020 --> 0:11:38.540 Bible in his hand. Man. That's it. That's it. 0:11:40.179 --> 0:11:44.740 You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. Powerful story there. 0:11:44.940 --> 0:11:48.420 We're going to continue this message in just a moment. 0:11:48.540 --> 0:11:51.179 So do you hope you'll hang with us? I do 0:11:51.179 --> 0:11:53.860 want to let you know, though, speaking of stories and 0:11:53.860 --> 0:11:56.900 books that Pastor Ford has written a number of books, 0:11:56.900 --> 0:11:59.339 and you can check those out by coming to our website. 0:11:59.700 --> 0:12:01.900 You'll find a link there that says Books by Pastor 0:12:01.900 --> 0:12:03.860 Ford on the left side of the home page. You 0:12:03.860 --> 0:12:06.579 can check out the different titles available as a paperback 0:12:06.580 --> 0:12:10.220 or in an e-book format. And if you've ever read 0:12:10.220 --> 0:12:12.660 a book by Pastor Ford or something he's said on 0:12:12.660 --> 0:12:15.620 the radio has impacted you in some way, maybe it's 0:12:15.620 --> 0:12:18.900 helped you, you know, strengthen your marriage, get your finances 0:12:18.900 --> 0:12:22.140 figured out, or even brought you into a relationship with Jesus. 0:12:22.420 --> 0:12:25.220 We would love to know your story. You can visit 0:12:25.220 --> 0:12:27.820 the contact page of our website and let us know 0:12:27.820 --> 0:12:30.339 how God has used this program in your life. Come 0:12:30.340 --> 0:12:34.300 to treasure Truth radio org and click on contact. Again, 0:12:34.300 --> 0:12:35.380 here's Pastor Ford. 0:12:35.580 --> 0:12:37.660 That's it. When you begin to look at it, he said, 0:12:37.660 --> 0:12:41.380 it's my perspective. It's my passion. It's my priority, it's 0:12:41.380 --> 0:12:44.500 my purpose. But here is where we're going to land. Uh, 0:12:44.500 --> 0:12:49.060 verse six, it's my promise that keeps me going. Amen. 0:12:49.100 --> 0:12:51.940 It's promise. That's what verse six is. It's a promise. 0:12:51.940 --> 0:12:55.060 You came today and you say nothing different today. It's 0:12:55.059 --> 0:12:57.740 another Sunday. But I'm still going through trauma. I'm still 0:12:57.740 --> 0:13:00.980 going through testing. I'm still going through tribulation. I'm still 0:13:00.980 --> 0:13:04.339 having tragedy and it seems like it's all over. But 0:13:04.340 --> 0:13:06.420 I came to tell you this morning that the fat 0:13:06.420 --> 0:13:09.980 lady hasn't sung. It's not over yet that God will 0:13:09.980 --> 0:13:12.780 take your natural and add his super to it and 0:13:12.780 --> 0:13:18.660 do something super natural. And he took Moses and a stick. 0:13:18.900 --> 0:13:21.540 He took his natural and added it to his super. 0:13:21.540 --> 0:13:24.860 And all the children of Israel walked across the Red 0:13:24.900 --> 0:13:28.860 sea on dry ground. Not mud, but asphalt. Uh, he 0:13:28.860 --> 0:13:31.580 did the same with the priest. Uh, when they're getting 0:13:31.580 --> 0:13:34.540 ready to go over Jordan, he said, tell the priests 0:13:34.580 --> 0:13:37.740 to put their foot in Jordan. Why do that? Because 0:13:37.740 --> 0:13:40.380 I already promised. Imma get you across. But I want 0:13:40.420 --> 0:13:43.420 to see. Do you believe the promise when the circumstances 0:13:43.420 --> 0:13:47.220 tell you that the promise can't be fulfilled? Jordan is 0:13:47.220 --> 0:13:51.060 overflowing its banks. You got mountains on this side you 0:13:51.100 --> 0:13:55.100 can't cross on land. Everything. Put your foot in the 0:13:55.100 --> 0:13:58.940 problem so that I can see that you believe by faith. 0:13:59.140 --> 0:14:02.100 You don't wait till the battle's over. You shout now. 0:14:02.660 --> 0:14:06.220 They put their foot in the water by faith, believing 0:14:06.220 --> 0:14:09.059 that God was going to do something. Anybody ever read it? 0:14:09.059 --> 0:14:13.140 And it said the water rose up like a wall. Yes, sir. 0:14:13.420 --> 0:14:17.420 And they walked through on dry ground. Yes, man. That's 0:14:17.420 --> 0:14:20.380 what a promise will do for you. And this is 0:14:20.380 --> 0:14:23.820 a promise. And I'm trusting that we will believe the 0:14:23.820 --> 0:14:29.540 promise that God has for us. Yeah, maybe he hasn't 0:14:29.540 --> 0:14:33.700 added his super because you haven't given him your natural. Alright. 0:14:34.100 --> 0:14:36.980 The little boy with the fishes and the loaves. Come on, everybody, 0:14:37.020 --> 0:14:40.820 holler it out. Where did the multiplication take place? In 0:14:40.820 --> 0:14:44.540 his hands. So he put them sardines and crackers in 0:14:44.540 --> 0:14:46.860 his hands and then begin to pass them out. You 0:14:46.860 --> 0:14:50.460 remember break it is means he did it one time. 0:14:50.460 --> 0:14:54.140 Passing out is an infinitive ING. He kept on doing it. 0:14:54.140 --> 0:14:56.260 He broke it once and kept on passing it out. 0:14:56.260 --> 0:14:58.420 He broke it once and kept on passing it out. 0:14:58.420 --> 0:15:01.930 Where did the multiplication take place. Maybe you broke because 0:15:01.930 --> 0:15:04.770 your money ain't in his hands. Maybe your marriage is 0:15:04.770 --> 0:15:07.650 jacked up because your marriage ain't in his hands. Maybe 0:15:07.650 --> 0:15:09.730 you don't have a business because you didn't put the 0:15:09.730 --> 0:15:13.850 business in his hands. Because whatever you put in his hands, 0:15:13.970 --> 0:15:23.970 he multiplies it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That education you want, 0:15:23.970 --> 0:15:26.770 is it in his hands? That apartment you want, is 0:15:26.770 --> 0:15:29.090 it in his hands? That house. You want that car? 0:15:31.410 --> 0:15:35.250 This is God's promise. Philippians one six. Now the word 0:15:35.290 --> 0:15:38.410 promise is in the Bible 50 times. How many times? 0:15:39.050 --> 0:15:43.090 50 times. 50 times. One person counted. I didn't go 0:15:43.090 --> 0:15:44.650 behind him to see if he was telling the truth. 0:15:44.650 --> 0:15:46.970 I'm just going to take his word for it. He 0:15:46.970 --> 0:15:51.490 said there are 3573 promises in the Word of God. 0:15:51.490 --> 0:15:54.090 Let me ask you something. How many do you need 0:15:54.090 --> 0:15:58.850 to get to your destiny? One. This is as good 0:15:58.850 --> 0:16:03.210 as any. Yeah, it's a problem. Have you ever noticed 0:16:03.210 --> 0:16:08.490 what God does with his promises? See, this is why 0:16:08.490 --> 0:16:12.810 you need the promise. Why? Because God will speak to 0:16:12.810 --> 0:16:17.210 you about plenty. When you're in poverty. Alright. Because God 0:16:17.210 --> 0:16:21.410 will speak to you about health when you're sick. Because 0:16:21.450 --> 0:16:24.810 God will speak to you about a car. And all 0:16:24.810 --> 0:16:27.930 you got is a venture card. Because God will speak 0:16:27.930 --> 0:16:32.090 to you about a house and you have Pacific Garden Mission. Yes. 0:16:32.330 --> 0:16:37.010 Because God always promises. And a promise means you don't 0:16:37.010 --> 0:16:43.130 have what you want yet. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have 0:16:43.130 --> 0:16:49.810 what you want yet. This Philippians one six is the 0:16:49.810 --> 0:16:53.810 Jeremiah 2911 of the Old Testament. Anybody got that memorized? 0:16:55.970 --> 0:16:58.130 That's right. I know the plans I have for you. 0:16:58.130 --> 0:17:00.250 Plans for good and not for evil to bring you 0:17:00.250 --> 0:17:03.610 to the expected end. Now, anybody know what the context 0:17:03.610 --> 0:17:09.810 of Jeremiah 2911 is? Anybody? They were in captivity because 0:17:09.810 --> 0:17:13.449 of their disobedience to God. Yet in the midst of 0:17:13.450 --> 0:17:17.730 their disobedience, God gave them a promise that told them, 0:17:17.730 --> 0:17:20.450 where you are right now is not where you're going 0:17:20.490 --> 0:17:25.050 to end up, right? That's good news. That's good news. 0:17:25.330 --> 0:17:28.369 I'm going to bless you in spite of you. That's 0:17:28.369 --> 0:17:31.410 good news. Luke chapter 20, verse 30 and 31. Here's 0:17:31.410 --> 0:17:33.170 what he said to the disciples. He said to Peter, 0:17:33.170 --> 0:17:35.570 he said, he said to Peter and the disciples, you 0:17:35.570 --> 0:17:39.330 shall sit on 12 thrones of Israel and judge Israel. 0:17:39.930 --> 0:17:42.330 Then in verse 31 he said, y'all going to betray me? 0:17:42.690 --> 0:17:44.169 Now here's what a teacher does. I look at it 0:17:44.170 --> 0:17:46.890 and say, wait a minute. Why didn't he say, you're 0:17:46.890 --> 0:17:49.649 going to betray me? But don't worry, you're going to 0:17:49.650 --> 0:17:52.330 sit on 12 tribes. He gave them verse 30 before 0:17:52.330 --> 0:17:55.130 he gave them verse 31. My question is the teacher 0:17:55.130 --> 0:17:59.010 is why? And did it hit me? Because verse 30 0:17:59.010 --> 0:18:03.730 Bertie tells them about their failure. Verse 31 tells them 0:18:03.730 --> 0:18:06.850 about their future, and God is saying, I won't let 0:18:06.850 --> 0:18:09.570 your failure stop your future. See, y'all don't know when 0:18:09.609 --> 0:18:13.609 to shout yet. No matter how bad you done messed up, 0:18:13.609 --> 0:18:17.050 I still got something better. The best is yet to come. 0:18:17.090 --> 0:18:19.890 Come on, say it, say it. The best is yet. 0:18:19.930 --> 0:18:23.290 Say it again. The best is yet to come. Wait 0:18:23.290 --> 0:18:24.649 a minute. Wait wait wait wait, wait a minute. So 0:18:24.650 --> 0:18:27.609 what's verse 30? Verse 30 is your. Not yet. Verse 0:18:27.609 --> 0:18:30.169 31 is your right now. And I want you to 0:18:30.210 --> 0:18:32.530 know that your right now will not stop you from your. 0:18:32.570 --> 0:18:35.330 Not yet. So whenever your right now looks bad, look 0:18:35.330 --> 0:18:37.450 to your not yet, not to your right now. Because 0:18:37.450 --> 0:18:40.609 you're not yet. I got you prosperous in your right now. 0:18:40.650 --> 0:18:42.649 Everything's tore up from the floor up. But if you 0:18:42.650 --> 0:18:44.770 focus on your right now, you'll never get to your 0:18:44.810 --> 0:18:47.170 not yet. So focus on your. Not yet, because you're 0:18:47.170 --> 0:18:50.810 not yet will drag you. Come on man, from your 0:18:50.810 --> 0:18:56.970 right now. Whoo! Pastor Ford. Pastor ford, pastor ford. It's 0:18:56.970 --> 0:18:59.810 a sorry dog. Won't wag his own tail. damn. Yeah, 0:18:59.810 --> 0:19:06.490 that's preaching there. And so what happens this year is 0:19:06.490 --> 0:19:10.490 my best year. Alright. Yeah. How do you know that? 0:19:10.490 --> 0:19:13.730 I got a promise. You ain't seen it yet? I 0:19:13.730 --> 0:19:16.010 got a promise. You don't know what's going to happen. 0:19:16.010 --> 0:19:17.850 I got a promise. You don't know how long you're 0:19:17.850 --> 0:19:20.250 going to live. I got a promise. And so let 0:19:20.250 --> 0:19:24.570 me tell you how I read it. Pastor Ford, being 0:19:24.570 --> 0:19:27.850 confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun 0:19:27.850 --> 0:19:30.890 a good work in Pastor Ford will perform it for 0:19:30.890 --> 0:19:35.290 Pastor Ford until the day of Jesus Christ. I put 0:19:35.290 --> 0:19:37.290 my name there. 0:19:37.970 --> 0:19:39.210 Alright, alright. 0:19:41.170 --> 0:19:43.409 You say, what about my name? Put your own name there. 0:19:45.130 --> 0:19:48.210 Claim your own promise. I hope there's a promise that 0:19:48.210 --> 0:19:51.530 you're claiming that you're believing God for. You heard what 0:19:51.530 --> 0:19:54.650 K-Love said. She had to put her foot in the water. 0:19:54.650 --> 0:19:58.890 She quit her job before she knew that God would 0:19:58.890 --> 0:20:03.370 expand her ministry. And for 14 years, she's never been hungry. 0:20:03.609 --> 0:20:08.050 For 14 years, she's never missed a house note payment. 0:20:08.050 --> 0:20:11.169 In 14 years, she never missed a car note payment. 0:20:11.170 --> 0:20:13.250 As a matter of fact, you saw what she said, 0:20:13.410 --> 0:20:15.930 that that when I called her, she was saying, God, 0:20:15.930 --> 0:20:19.050 how are you going to provide for this car note payment? 0:20:19.050 --> 0:20:21.770 And boom, here you call. She's been doing it for 0:20:21.770 --> 0:20:29.209 14 years, standing on the promises of God. But notice, 0:20:29.810 --> 0:20:31.850 how do I do this? How will God finish what 0:20:31.850 --> 0:20:34.250 he starts when I hold to his promise? Here's the 0:20:34.250 --> 0:20:38.090 second thing. When I have a positive outlook, notice what 0:20:38.090 --> 0:20:42.730 the text says. Being confident. Stop. The word confident literally 0:20:42.730 --> 0:20:47.570 means to have a settled persuasion, a firm conviction. Now, 0:20:47.570 --> 0:20:50.130 I'm not giving you all of the outline, but those 0:20:50.130 --> 0:20:53.370 of you who are in outlines notice letter A would be, 0:20:53.369 --> 0:20:59.090 then it's continuously confident. In other words, being is ING word, 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.040 which means then it never stops. Not just flash in 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.760 the past, back and forth. You know, sometimes I'm up, 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.440 sometimes I'm down. But a subtle persuasion where I am 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:13.320 convicted and believe that I don't care what happens. God 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.560 is going to do what God said he's going to do. 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:21.280 And you can't say anything or do anything. No circumstances. 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.640 Nothing that the devil does will ever persuade me of 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:27.879 anything other than what God promised me. 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:28.960 That's right. Amen. 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.280 See? Say this with me. Belief is what I hold. 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:39.600 Conviction is what holds me. That's right. Belief is what 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.560 you hold. Conviction is what holds you. Does the conviction 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.680 hold you? Have you ever been persuaded by a promise? 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.879 Have you ever seen your circumstances change in the light 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.040 of God's revelation? 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.920 That's a good question to ask yourself, and I hope 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.840 as you look back over life, you. You can pick 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.360 out times where, yeah, you can identify with that. You 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.679 can see that in your life while you're listening to 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.400 a message called God will always finish What he started. 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:12.439 We're going to continue this teaching next time. Hope you 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.120 make it a point to listen. You can obviously right 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.320 here on the radio, but you can also listen online. 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:19.520 If you can't catch us live when the program is 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:21.840 on the air, you can come to our website and 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.520 listen at Treasure Truth radio.org. There you can stream the program, 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.480 download an MP3 for free, or even order a copy 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.680 of the broadcast on CD. Again, our website is Treasure 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:35.520 Truth radio.com. You know, pastor, one of the things that 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.960 I think is really cool is just to hear from 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:42.360 new listeners who stumble across this radio program, either online 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:46.280 or through the radio, and it is there for them 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:50.119 today because someone previously had given and help get this 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:51.320 program off the ground. 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.400 Amen. That's right. It reminds me of those lepers in 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.640 the Book of Kings. They had found food in the 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:01.800 Syrian camp And they said we would be remiss if 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.040 we didn't go back to the city and tell everybody 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:08.920 the famine is over. There's a feast. Well, I'm telling you, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:12.560 not just treasure truth, but when you listen to Moody Radio, 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:17.560 you feast on the Word of God. Great expositors of 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.600 the Word of God. And who would not want someone 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:25.000 else to be built up in their most precious faith 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.200 by the teaching that comes across the Moody Network? And 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:30.159 you can do that. 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.600 You can do that by coming to Treasure Truth Radio org. 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:35.760 Click on that donate button there. You can give a 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.080 one time gift or an ongoing monthly gift. Again, that's 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:41.840 at Treasure Truth radio.com and click on donate. Thanks for 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:44.560 doing that. Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:47.080 For Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.840 production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.