S1: That's what Jesus Christ did. He took the sting of death.
S1: O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is
S1: thy sting? But thanks be to God for the victory
S1: through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's alive. And because he's alive,
S1: we are alive too.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm
S2: Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. As today we're continuing
S2: a message. Run tell dat and pastor. We began last
S2: time taking a look at what the gospel is, the
S2: good news of Jesus. And you're just talking a moment ago,
S2: the fact that he took that penalty, that sting of death.
S2: And if we really understand what Jesus did for us
S2: on the cross, I think we are going to feel
S2: that compulsion or that need to go and tell that.
S1: Oh, yeah, you just can't help it. when you're choosing
S1: a restaurant. Do you go to the one that has
S1: the real long line? Or do you go to the
S1: one where you can just walk in? Well, I don't
S1: know about everybody else. I'll wait in the line, because
S1: if everybody's waiting in that line, that tells me I'm
S1: going to be able to go in there and buffet
S1: my body. Amen. And then what do you do when
S1: you come out of there? And the food is good? Man.
S1: You tell it, man. You've got to go to this place. Yeah.
S1: They have some great food. Well, one preacher long ago
S1: said it best. The gospel. Just one beggar telling another
S1: beggar where to find bread. Yeah. You know, and say, look,
S1: if your soul is thirsty, like Isaiah said, come and
S1: buy water that's free, you know. And so that's oxymoronic.
S1: But most people would say that it's not oxymoronic. Come
S1: buy water that's free. Well, wait a minute. Well, how
S1: do you buy water that's free? It's free to me.
S1: It cost Jesus his life on the cross. There's somebody
S1: who loves me more than anyone could ever love me
S1: on a human level. Yeah. He loved me so much
S1: that he died for me while I was his enemy. And, man,
S1: come on, Steve. Who wouldn't tell that?
S2: Yeah. And for the person who says, pastor, I'm terrified
S2: to share my faith. I'm scared what people are going
S2: to think about me. I think, well, let me just
S2: put it to you this way. How do you respond
S2: to the person who is not sharing their faith, because
S2: they are concerned about what those around them are going
S2: to think?
S1: I would say there's a person who really, yet, at
S1: this particular point in time, have not comprehended the magnitude
S1: of what has been given to them in their so
S1: great salvation. But one day they will. And you won't
S1: be able to shut them up.
S2: Amen to that. Well, we're going to continue a message
S2: from First Corinthians chapter 15 today. So I hope you'll
S2: open your Bible and join us there. As we continue
S2: with run! Tell that here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Yeah, the content is the gospel and it determines where
S1: you will spend eternity. Somebody asked me, do you preach
S1: the full gospel? I said, yes, I do. I preach
S1: the full gospel. I preach that Jesus was God who
S1: became a man who died on an old rugged cross, buried,
S1: and then rose again the third day, ascended in the
S1: right hand of the father, and is soon coming. King.
S1: That's as full as it gets. It doesn't get any
S1: fuller than that. Amen. That's it. And so it is.
S1: And we know it. It is the content of the
S1: gospel that saved us. Okay. Alright, alright. See, it was
S1: the gospel that took that 40 out of your hand
S1: and put a Bible in it. It was the gospel
S1: that turned your cursing tongue into praising lips. It was
S1: the gospel that took you from the party house, the jailhouse,
S1: the crack house, the frat house, the school house, the penthouse,
S1: the bar house, the outhouse, the white house, even your house,
S1: and brought you to the church house. Yeah. It was
S1: the gospel that took that blunt, that bud from your lips.
S1: And now you get high on the Holy Ghost. It
S1: was the gospel that stopped you from sleeping around with
S1: every woman that was stupid enough to sleep with you,
S1: and now you're celibate. If you're single or if you're married,
S1: you're a homosexual. You get your sex at home. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, sister.
S1: It was the gospel that kept you from getting your
S1: self esteem, from the fact that you have a man,
S1: and then you now get your self esteem from the
S1: fact that you have the man, Jesus Christ, that all
S1: your girlfriends think that you are crazy because you left
S1: a man you could see to hook up with a
S1: man you can't see. And now the man that you
S1: can't see is taking better of you than the man
S1: you could see. And so you're grateful that he came
S1: with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Touch your life. Touch
S1: your heart. Young people. I know you're glad that the
S1: gospel help you understand that it's not the label on
S1: your clothes that give you value and worth, but that
S1: your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
S1: Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Yeah, it was the gospel. Yeah.
S1: That content that wrote our name in the Lamb's Book
S1: of Life. It was the gospel that put God in
S1: our heart and pep in our step and sense in
S1: our head, and a Bible in our hand, and a
S1: song on our lips and a smile on our face.
S1: Cuz I know some of y'all ain't cracked a smile yet.
S1: You have to buy better makeup. Mm. But not just
S1: the content of the scriptures. Notice the confirmation of the scriptures.
S1: Two times it says according to the scriptures. Now you
S1: gotta understand something. Uh, the first extant manuscript that we
S1: have of the scriptures were written approximately A.D. 45 by Mark. John, Mark,
S1: the first gospel, of which all the other gospels are,
S1: got some of their information and a lot of their information.
S1: And so when it says here the Scripture is talking
S1: about the Old Testament Scripture. Now Paul says, let me
S1: tell you something. This is not new and improved. This
S1: is not something that you're hearing for the first time,
S1: he says. Back in the Old Testament, everybody begin to
S1: tell you about the fact that Jesus would die, be buried,
S1: and rose again and rise again the third day in
S1: the Old Testament. So you take Isaiah, what we call
S1: the fifth gospel in the Old Testament. What did he say?
S1: He said that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised
S1: for our iniquities, and the chastisement of his peace was
S1: upon us, and by his stripes we were healed. 700
S1: years before Jesus ever came to Calvary, Isaiah said in
S1: the scriptures, he's going to die, be buried. And now
S1: his resurrection is confirmation that you can trust the Bible
S1: that you can trust it. As a matter of fact,
S1: you know what amazes me in Psalm 22? It talks
S1: about the fact that Jesus would be crucified. Well, wait
S1: a minute. This is at least 400 years before Rome
S1: ever started using crucifixion as a means of execution. So
S1: God said, I done already set this thing up. He's
S1: delivered up because of the foreordained counsel of God. And
S1: God says he going to die on a cross. And
S1: people back then were saying, what is a cross? And
S1: now he confirms it. It means you can trust God's Word.
S1: There's a whole lot of people that you can't trust.
S1: There's a whole lot of people who said, like I said, I,
S1: James Ford junior, do take thee, Lesley Ann Moore to
S1: be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold
S1: in sickness and health, and to hold to you only
S1: until death do us part. There's a whole lot of
S1: folk that lied, and it wasn't until death do you part.
S1: It's till death do you part? Come on. We know
S1: folk that lie. You. You try to turn and go
S1: the other way because, you know, they're going to say, hey,
S1: can you let me hold something? And, uh, you know, hey,
S1: I'll pay you back on Friday. And like I said earlier,
S1: they don't tell you which Friday. They don't tell you
S1: what year. You ever loan somebody something and then go
S1: back to try to get it? They done kept it
S1: so long, they think it's theirs. There's a whole lot
S1: of people whose word you can't trust. Like when I
S1: said I won't be long this morning, y'all didn't believe that.
S1: We preachers, we have a saying. It's called a preacher, count.
S1: Let me tell you what a preacher count is. And
S1: a preacher count is when somebody says to another preacher, well,
S1: how many members you got in your church, preacher. And, uh,
S1: the preacher says, well, about. See, that's how you keep
S1: it from being a lie about my practice here has been.
S1: I only count the people who come. I don't count
S1: the people on the membership list. If we had everybody
S1: that came on the membership list, we have about 2000 members, but,
S1: you know, they didn't join other churches and all that
S1: kind of stuff. And so you never know who you got.
S1: So I've always only counted those who are here. Amen.
S1: So if everybody came, we'd have about 1500 members. But
S1: we're settle for about one third every. Every Sunday. Amen.
S1: And so, what's going on? Uh, we call it speaking evangelistically.
S1: But see, here's what it means. And I say it
S1: all the time. Come on, help me out. The Word
S1: of God has no expiration date. That you and I
S1: know that I can trust this word. Why? Because the
S1: grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of
S1: our God endures forever. Because Isaiah 5511, so shall it be.
S1: The word that goeth forth from my mouth. It will
S1: always accomplish that which I set for it to do.
S1: It will never return unto me. Void. Psalm 119 107.
S1: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
S1: light unto my path. The Word of God is pure
S1: and is profitable for cleansing the soul. The Word of
S1: God is that which we need and we can trust it.
S1: Two preachers I heard him telling about it. Two preachers
S1: were in a guy's new. I thought it was a Rolls-Royce,
S1: but it was a Bentley. And they were in this Bentley,
S1: and they were in California, down that long road where
S1: people go and look at the coastline, and they were
S1: about 50 miles away from, uh, gas. And and the
S1: other preacher looks over and he says, man, why did
S1: you do this? Do what? That thing is on E, man.
S1: It's on E! And so, man, I don't feel like walking.
S1: You saw the sign next gas, 50 miles. And he
S1: kept riding. He kept riding. He said, man, why do
S1: you do this to us? He said, open up the
S1: glove compartment and turn to the page that talks about
S1: the gas and all that. So he turned to the
S1: page and then he chilled to he he calmed down
S1: because he read in the manual, uh, that this car
S1: has two gas tanks and that whenever one runs out
S1: of gas, you flip a button and that starts the
S1: second one and both of them took a chill pill.
S1: You know what? Why is it that one person has
S1: lost of their mom and they go to pieces, and
S1: another person has the peace of God that passeth all understanding.
S1: Why one person can can have their house foreclosed and
S1: they're giving praise to God, and another person is going
S1: crazy and drinking and drugging and doing everything else to
S1: try to deal with. Why is that? Because one man
S1: read the manual and the other man didn't. One woman
S1: read the manual and the other one didn't. See, when
S1: you read the manual, it will let you know that
S1: there is no temptation taken you, but such as common
S1: to man. But God is faithful who will not allow
S1: you to be tempted above that you're able to stand,
S1: but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape,
S1: that you may be able to bear it. There are
S1: some people who read the manual, and they get comfort
S1: because they know that the Bible says that. Count it
S1: all joy when you fall into divers temptation, knowing this,
S1: that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let
S1: patience have her perfect work that you may be complete
S1: and entire, lacking nothing. There's some people who read the
S1: manual where it says in Romans 828, and we know
S1: that all things, not most all things, not some all things,
S1: work together for good to those who love the Lord
S1: and those who are called according to his purpose. There
S1: are those who read the manual and they taking a
S1: chill pill as we go down the road of life.
S1: Somebody help the shelter. Somebody cool, calm and collected. You
S1: want to know why? Because they read the manual and
S1: they said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
S1: Blessed be the name of the Lord. Somebody read the manual.
S1: Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in
S1: the morning. Somebody read the manual. The Lord is my shepherd.
S1: I shall not want. Yeah. And it takes faith to
S1: believe this. And the resurrection says you can trust God's word.
S2: And great reminder from Pastor Ford of just the power
S2: of the resurrection and what that means in relation to
S2: our faith, and why we can have faith and confidence
S2: in what God says in His Word. Well, we'll get
S2: back to that teaching in just one moment. But you're
S2: listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr.
S2: A message entitled Runteldat. Just a great encouragement for us
S2: to be telling others about the opportunity to begin a
S2: relationship with Jesus. And I hope that this program encourages
S2: you to do just that. We'd love to hear about
S2: it though. You can always get Ahold of us through
S2: our website. It's Treasure Truth Radio. Click on the contact
S2: link or you can always interact with us on social
S2: media like Facebook or Twitter, and you'll find those links
S2: at our website, treasure Truth radio. All right, let's get
S2: back to the message again. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: My last definition I gave to the Wednesday night crowd.
S1: I told them, here's my new definition for faith. I
S1: got about 30 or 40 definitions for faith. Here's the
S1: last one I came up with. Faith is God giving
S1: insight into foresight like its hindsight. Now there are folk.
S1: Tell me. I don't know if I can believe that
S1: you use faith all the time. Some of us even more.
S1: Me and Brother Green have more faith than anybody else
S1: in this room. Why? Because we over £300 and we
S1: came and plopped down on the pew. We wasn't worried
S1: about whether or not it was going to hold us.
S1: You want to know why? That's what it's supposed to do.
S1: It was designed to hold us. Amen. Got support in
S1: the middle. And I'm like you, I sit over the
S1: support beam. Amen. He said, I don't have faith, okay?
S1: You don't have faith. You do have faith. You went
S1: to a doctor. You don't know to tell him about
S1: a disease you can't pronounce. And he wrote a prescription
S1: that you couldn't read for a medicine that you can't pronounce.
S1: And you took to a druggist that you don't know
S1: anything about. And you get a drug that you can't pronounce,
S1: and you take all of it because you have faith
S1: in the doctor, in the diagnosis, in the prescription, and
S1: you take the medicine all by faith. Don't tell me
S1: you don't have faith. You got faith. Yeah, you got faith.
S1: And then finally, finally, here's the last one. The triumph
S1: of the Savior. Uh, yeah. You see the testimony and
S1: and I'll I'll end on that. But I ain't going
S1: to say nothing about it, because in five through nine,
S1: you have the testimony of the spectators. Yeah. You got
S1: the testimony of the spectators. All these people that saw him. Uh,
S1: but but listen, look what's going on. What do you mean?
S1: The triumph of the Savior. He rose from the dead. See,
S1: death is inevitable, but Jesus Christ conquered death that we
S1: can't escape. Brother was trying to tell it yesterday, and
S1: I was. I was saying, oh, man, he kind of.
S1: He kind of he kind of missed it a little
S1: bit because here's how the story goes. Uh, that a
S1: man was walking on 79th Street and, uh, he saw death.
S1: He went face to face with death. And death had
S1: a puzzled look on his face. And the man looked
S1: at death, and he could kind of sense death is
S1: coming for me. So he went to a wise man,
S1: and he said, uh, I want to get away from death.
S1: And he said, look, get on a plane. Go as
S1: far as you can as quick as you can. And
S1: that's what he did. He went to midway, got on
S1: a plane, went to Minnesota, and when he got there,
S1: he said, I have escaped death. But then when he
S1: stepped out on the streets of Minnesota, he saw death.
S1: Death tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and
S1: he had the surprised look on his face. Death said,
S1: let's go. He said, wait a minute. I ran from you.
S1: I ran from you to get away from you. And
S1: death said, you remember when I saw you on 79th
S1: Street in Chicago? And I had that puzzled look on
S1: my face? Yeah, yeah, he said, that's because I had
S1: an appointment with you tonight in Minnesota, and I was
S1: wondering how you were going to get there. Yeah. It's inevitable.
S1: It's inevitable. Death is inevitable. Not Hebrews 927. It is
S1: appointed unto man once to die. But when you look
S1: at what's going on, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
S1: Here's what he said. Revelation 118 I am he that
S1: liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
S1: And I have the keys of death, hell, and the grave.
S1: Nietzsche said, God is dead. I'm with the late, great
S1: pastor S.M. Lockridge, who said, If God is dead, then
S1: who killed him? What corner performed his autopsy? What undertaker
S1: received his body? What newspaper carried his obituary? And why
S1: wasn't I informed of his death? Because I'm the next
S1: of kin. And so he says, listen, we need to
S1: understand it, that Jesus Christ, at the end of the chapter,
S1: it'll say he took the sting of death. We can't
S1: understand it. But there was a family. They were going
S1: to a picnic on a Saturday after a hard day
S1: of work. They had the two kids in the back,
S1: their older teenage son and their younger six year old boy.
S1: The six year old boy was allergic to bee stings.
S1: He could blow up and swell up and die without
S1: a shot. And so they were on the way and
S1: they told them, now be careful of bees. We're going
S1: to watch you real good. We're going to put you
S1: in your little net, he said. Okay, but while they
S1: were traveling, a bee got in the car. Dad said,
S1: we gotta pull over. But they were on a highway.
S1: And so his big brother reached out and grabbed the
S1: bee and put it in his hand. But that week
S1: he had been studying entomology about bugs, and he had
S1: compassion and and so he just grimaced. And then he
S1: let the bee go. He tried to put him outside
S1: the window, but he was still buzzing around in the car,
S1: and his little brother was going, whoa, whoa. And the
S1: bee was buzzing around and his dad said, I thought
S1: you got the bee. And I thought you put it
S1: out the car. He said, dad, I got to be.
S1: And I tried to put it out of the car,
S1: but I need to let my brother know the bee
S1: can't hurt him. And he opened up his hand and
S1: the stinger was in his hand. He had taken the
S1: bee's sting and he was letting his brother know. Listen,
S1: don't be upset. He can only make noise. He can't
S1: sting you because the stinger is in me. That's what
S1: Jesus Christ did for you and for me. He took
S1: the sting of death. O grave, where is thy victory?
S1: O death, where is thy sting? But thanks be to
S1: God for the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's alive.
S1: And because he's alive, we are alive too. And then finally,
S1: and finally, the testimony of the spectators. Let me just
S1: say this. He says, we saw by Peter, then the 12,
S1: then James, then Paul, and 500. Now Peter is counted twice.
S1: That means there were 514 people that saw that resurrection. 120, though,
S1: were in the upper room after this event. My question
S1: is this where are the 396 folk? The other folk
S1: who saw and witnessed the resurrection? How come they weren't
S1: in the upper room with the 120 that went out
S1: and ran and told that? I came to tell somebody
S1: that when we look at what God wants to do that.
S1: You and I gotta run and tell that. Let me
S1: just close. Why run? Tell that Pastor Ford? Yeah, because
S1: of all that I said. And I ain't going to
S1: recap it. Uh, but why? I watched, uh, I don't
S1: like reality shows that much. I don't watch them. It's
S1: a waste of my time. Uh, but there's one I
S1: do like. And it is, uh, Undercover Boss. I'll never
S1: forget the first one I saw, which kind of hooked
S1: me on it, was the owner of the Cubs. Uh,
S1: he put on an employee uniform, and he was cleaning
S1: toilets and selling peanuts. Uh, people didn't know he was, uh,
S1: because he had on their uniform. Uh, but they didn't
S1: know he was management and service. And so he cleaned
S1: toilets and he passed out peanuts, and he he set
S1: himself under the authority of the one who was managing everybody. Uh,
S1: he refused to exercise the power of his management. He
S1: did what they did. He ate where they ate. He
S1: took the break when they took the break. Yet he
S1: was the owner of the whole thing. Finally, uh, he
S1: revealed himself to them and then went back up to
S1: the owner's box. And then he called one employee up
S1: and he said you were an exemplary employee. This is
S1: the one they were putting all the work on. This
S1: is the one that everybody was hating on. And he said, listen,
S1: here's what I'm going to do for you. I am
S1: going to pay for your college education. And so he
S1: paid for his college education. That's what this story is
S1: all about. Uh, that the owner, the creator of the earth, uh,
S1: the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world.
S1: And they that dwell therein put on the uniform of humanity,
S1: step down, as the old preacher would say, through 42 generations.
S1: Then he lived among us, ate among us for 33.5 years.
S1: A third years Jesus Christ healed the sick and he
S1: raised the dead. He did all of those things. He
S1: was among us. The Bible says, he came unto his own,
S1: and his own received him not. Oh, but he didn't
S1: exercise the attributes of deity, because being in the form
S1: of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal
S1: with God, but took upon himself no reputation, and be
S1: found in the fashion of a man becoming obedient unto death,
S1: even the death of the cross. And he went back up.
S1: And guess what? One day he going to call us
S1: or to the office? To the owner's office, and he's
S1: going to say, you served. And everybody hated on you.
S1: You serve because you ran and you told everything about me,
S1: and now I'm going to reward you. Enter thou into
S1: the joy of your Lord. So then what we need
S1: to do is we need, we need. So. So can
S1: we go home? Oh! Hold up. That's my cell. Yeah. Oh, really? Well,
S1: thank you, thank thank thank you, Lord. Oh, okay. Jesus
S1: said to let you all go home. And he said, run.
S1: Tell that.
S2: Her until that. The title of today's message here on
S2: Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr. And
S2: a great challenge for us as well, that we do
S2: need to be sharing the gospel with those around us.
S2: We need to be telling that good news, and you
S2: can actually help us do that through radio as you
S2: give a gift of support and as you pray for
S2: this program, and I hope you'll do that. We do
S2: covet your prayers above all else, but if you're able
S2: to stand with us financially, would you come to treasure
S2: Truth radio.org? Click on donate and give an ongoing monthly
S2: gift or even a one time gift. Again, come to
S2: Treasure Truth radio.org and click on donate. Thanks for doing that.
S2: Thanks also 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.