S1: Even though everything is gone, the house is in foreclosure.
S1: The relationship is jacked up, tore up from the floor up.
S1: And we look at things and we say, what in
S1: the world is going on? And God says, have no fear,
S1: I'm here.
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 Hillard. Glad you're with us. As today we begin
S2: a new message. Have no fear, God is here. And pastor,
S2: that sounds great. But when the house is in foreclosure,
S2: when that marriage is falling apart, when the doctor says
S2: it is cancer, whatever that thing is, that's absolutely rocked
S2: your world. Trite little phrases don't really seem to help
S2: so much, so let's talk about practical application of that truth.
S1: Well. That's really good, Steve. I mean, you asked the
S1: very difficult questions and.
S2: And give you three minutes to answer.
S1: I'm sure that there are myriads of individuals who are
S1: listening who said, go ahead, Steve. Get them. But, you know,
S1: I don't want it to be trite, but it is true.
S1: And that is this, that I have to live by
S1: my revelation, not my situation, not now. I know there's
S1: a modicum or a level of maturity that one needs
S1: to reach to have this perspective, but I have to
S1: look at it from the divine perspective and not from
S1: the human perspective. If I look at it from the
S1: human perspective, I'm going to be depressed. I'm going to
S1: I mean, maybe do some things that I ordinarily would,
S1: but if I if I'm going to believe God and
S1: I'm going to trust him, then I have to see
S1: that his word is true. For example, I feel like
S1: I'm abandoned. His word says, I will never leave you
S1: nor forsake you. So what do I do? The facts
S1: have to override my feelings, right?
S2: Because their feelings lie to us.
S1: They lie all the time. Steve, you know. And so
S1: I have to depend on and stand on his word
S1: and come to perverbial hell or high water. I've got
S1: to believe that what God said is true. And I'm,
S1: you know, I'm a believer for a long time. And
S1: I'm telling you, I'll go on record as saying God
S1: has never let me down. Now, he hasn't always done
S1: it the way I wanted it done. Sure, but he
S1: did it. Yeah, the old preacher would say it this way.
S1: He may not come when you want him, but he's
S1: always right on time. How many people have got fired
S1: from a job only to find out that they weren't
S1: fired out? They were fired up. I've got 3 or
S1: 4 people. I've got a businessman. He owns his own business,
S1: sets his own time, makes his own money. He got
S1: fired and he just went to pieces. And then the
S1: Lord showed him that. You've been wanting to own a business,
S1: start your business. He started a carpet business and he's
S1: doing very well. And if you would ask him, what's
S1: the best day in your life, a worst day in
S1: your life? When I got fired from my job that
S1: I worked on for 20 years, what was the best
S1: day of your life? When I got fired from my
S1: job that I worked on for 20 years. Yeah. So
S1: we have to learn how to wait on the Lord.
S2: Wait on the Lord. And as he said, in the
S2: process of waiting on him to remind ourselves of what
S2: Scripture says, great reminder that we have to know Scripture.
S1: Over.
S2: And over. And secondly, we need to be preaching that
S2: to ourselves. Because if we're not, the temptation there is
S2: to let that bad just drive us into the crazy cycle.
S2: We fall into temptation. But if we're preaching to ourselves
S2: makes a huge, huge difference.
S1: Don't forget this. The Bible says in Second Corinthians that
S1: we walk by faith and not by sight. Yeah, so
S1: anything that's seen is not faith. And we have to
S1: believe God.
S2: Well, we're going to begin today's message from Isaiah 43.
S2: Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: I remember going out witnessing and I used to do
S1: it by myself, even though I know Jesus sent them
S1: out two by two. And so one day I was
S1: out not too far from here, and I knew I
S1: was about to get jacked. I knew it, I knew it.
S1: I mean, I knew the scenario so well because I
S1: used to rob people. And so I knew the motif.
S1: I knew what was going on. I said, oh, man,
S1: they set me up. And I felt extra bad because
S1: I didn't have nothing of which to be robbed. And
S1: you know how that goes. You know, I mean, you
S1: gotta give em something. And I didn't have anything. And
S1: I'm thinking to myself, all I'm gonna do. I'm gonna
S1: give em what I got. Imma give em Jesus, I
S1: don't care. I come from these streets. So it's. It's
S1: appropriate that the streets take me out. And so, you
S1: know I, I got a little holy boldness, you know.
S1: And so even when they surround me. Yeah. So what
S1: are you out here talking about? I said, I'm talking
S1: about Jesus, man. You know what I'm talking about. The
S1: one who died on Calvary. I'm all bold and everything,
S1: you know. And they said, yeah, well, we got something
S1: else that we want to talk about. All of a sudden.
S1: I heard everything, alright. Pastor Ford and I looked around
S1: and was one of my police officers in uniform. Hallelujah.
S1: I'm thinking to myself it really wasn't alright, but everything
S1: is alright now. I got even bolder. Oh yeah, come
S1: on up. I'm talking to these guys. Come on, come here,
S1: come here, come here, come here, come here. Put my arms.
S1: Now tell em about Jesus. Tell em about Jesus. So afterward, afterward,
S1: after we got done witnessing to him, he welcomed me
S1: back to the church. And he said, you know what
S1: they was about to do? I said, you know, I
S1: know I used to do it. He said. He said
S1: I was driving by and I said, there's my pastor.
S1: He in trouble. Boom. And he popped on out, man.
S1: Got that Glock on the side, got that badge jacked,
S1: had that uniform, and everything was all right. You want
S1: to know why? Uh, because in that situation, he had
S1: more power than I had. Uh, he had more authority
S1: than I had. See, the uniform that he had on
S1: represented that he was a part of a citywide police force,
S1: a brotherhood of blue, that if you mess with him,
S1: you gotta mess with them, too. I came to tell
S1: somebody today. That's what our text is about today. Uh,
S1: that God says he's bigger than whoever and whatever is
S1: bigger than you. He wants you to know that even
S1: when you find yourself in the midst of fearful situations,
S1: you don't have to fear because God is here. Yeah.
S1: And that when he shows up, he shows up with authority.
S1: He shows up with power, and he's dressed in a
S1: uniform that says he has the backing of heaven all
S1: around him. Angels that are at his beck and call.
S1: You don't have anything to worry about because God is here.
S1: Go ahead. Look at your neighbor. Help me preach and say,
S1: don't be scared. Yeah, don't be scared. Tell him. Don't
S1: be scared. God is here. Yeah. Don't be scared. Yeah.
S1: And now, let me just just just quote what Isaiah
S1: says because I like the way he puts it together.
S1: Isaiah says, but they that wait on the Lord shall
S1: renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as
S1: an eagle. Now let me tell you what he means.
S1: He means that sometimes when you're in a storm, God
S1: allows you to escape. Say, escape. That's what we love.
S1: Come on. You ought to say it louder now. Because
S1: I know you love it. Escape. Yeah, well, my wife
S1: and I, we're flying, general. And the pilot says, look
S1: out on the left side of the plane. We're sitting
S1: on the left side of the plane. So I look
S1: out and guess what? I see a storm. I had
S1: never seen a storm without being in a storm, Brother Dave.
S1: And he said, I got a signal from the tower
S1: that we were headed for a storm. So I got
S1: a new route and I didn't want to go over it.
S1: I wanted you to see it. We rode right alongside
S1: of the storm. That's escape. Yeah. It's like we were
S1: supposed to be in that storm. And. And I'm. I'm
S1: saying this is powerful. I'm looking at the storm that
S1: I should be in. And God reminds me that sometimes
S1: you ought to be in it. But because you have me,
S1: I said they're going to escape it. You don't know
S1: how many times he saved you from an accident on
S1: the Dan Ryan. How many times somebody was looking to
S1: rob you, rape you, cheat you, and God stepped in,
S1: and you don't even know today that God saved you. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
S1: And so. And so what happens? We escape. Some of
S1: you ought to thank God that he didn't answer the prayer.
S1: You pray for that woman. You pray for that man,
S1: and God didn't give them to you. Now, five years later,
S1: you go back and say, thank you, Jesus. Yeah, you
S1: gotta thank God for the prayers. He didn't answer. So,
S1: so so Isaiah says he lets us escape it. Say
S1: escape it. But but then it says he shall mount
S1: up with wings as eagles. So what the eagle do?
S1: Here's the picture. The eagle in like a pigeon in
S1: a storm. The pigeon is flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping. But
S1: the eagle gets on the crest of the storm, spreads
S1: his wings and allows the momentum of riding the top
S1: of the storm to carry him. So he does not
S1: burn as much energy because he doesn't flap a whole
S1: lot anyway. But he doesn't have to flap because the
S1: storm is carrying him. Some of us know that we
S1: were able to escape the storm and like an eagle,
S1: it didn't affect us. When we thank God because we
S1: got things out of the storm that we wouldn't have
S1: had had we not gone through the storm. But the
S1: storm didn't adversely affect us because God gave us eagles wings.
S1: But then it says, shall run and not be weary.
S1: What does that mean? There's some times that God enables us.
S1: He strengthens us so that we go through the storm.
S1: But we are enabled by the power of the Holy
S1: Spirit to go through that storm. But here's who the
S1: people I came to talk to today. He said, you
S1: shall walk and not be weary. He says, some of
S1: you will have to endure the storm. Oh, I know
S1: we like to escape it. I know we like to
S1: be enabled. But God said, wait, wait, wait, wait. Every
S1: storm is not not going to be escaped. Every storm
S1: is not going to be enablement. Some storms are just
S1: going to be endurance. I came to talk to 2
S1: or 3 people today who are in the midst of
S1: a storm, and I want to ask you some questions.
S1: Say ask pastor. will you trust God's hand when you
S1: can't trace God's heart? Will you commit to him when
S1: you can't comprehend him? Will you follow him even when
S1: you can't feel him? Will you listen to him when
S1: you don't like what he's saying? Will you have faith
S1: in him when faith feels foolish and you look foolish
S1: to other people because of the faith that you have?
S1: Is there anybody in here that understands that? We've got
S1: to believe that he's here, even when we feel alone
S1: and abandoned, that we've got to believe that he cares.
S1: Even though everything is gone, the house is in foreclosure.
S1: The relationship is jacked up, tore up from the floor up.
S1: And we look at things and we say, what in
S1: the world is going on? And God says, have no fear,
S1: I'm here.
S2: Well, that is the title of today's message. Have no fear.
S2: God is here. Really? A look at the first seven
S2: verses of Isaiah chapter 43 today. Hey, we'd love to
S2: know how Pastor Ford's teaching is making a difference in
S2: your life. You can always give us your feedback through
S2: social media like Facebook or Twitter. You can also email
S2: us through the website. Just come to treasure. Org and
S2: click on the contact link. We recently heard from Rodney
S2: who writes. Hi Pastor Ford, I've been listening to you
S2: for about two years straight and it's been really uplifting.
S2: I just wanted to thank you. It's really helped me
S2: through some very dark times in my life. God bless. Rodney,
S2: thanks for letting us know that you're out there, that
S2: you're listening, that this program is making a difference in
S2: your life. Again, if we've never heard from you before,
S2: come to Treasure Truth radio.org and click on the contact link.
S2: Let's get back to our message. Have no fear. God
S2: is here. Once again, here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Do we have any job believers in the house? Though
S1: he slay me yet? Where are the people with yet? Faith?
S1: I don't have a job yet. My body ain't healed yet.
S1: My marriage ain't what it ought to be yet. My
S1: kids ain't what they ought to be yet. Where are
S1: they yet? Give me some yet people. Do I get
S1: 2 or 3 yet? I'm a yet person. Yet? Mm.
S1: You go to work tomorrow. And the boss getting on
S1: your last black nerve. White nerve. Hispanic nerve. Yellow nerve.
S1: You just say yet? You go home, and the husband
S1: and the wife ain't acting right yet. They call you up.
S1: You gotta come down to school for your kids yet.
S1: We're getting ready to give you a pink slip yet.
S1: Got red slips in the mail yet. Amen. Yet I
S1: will trust him. It's like. It's like Miss Seely. It's
S1: like Miss Seely, remember Miss Seely, miss Seely got fed up.
S1: And finally she said, yes, I may be a woman
S1: and I may be poor, and I may be ugly,
S1: but I'm here. Thank God I'm here. Okay, let me
S1: show you. Let me show you how many of you
S1: were walking through and you said, I don't think I'm
S1: going to make it. Anybody ever been in that situation?
S1: I got a question. What you doing here today? Go ahead.
S1: Tell somebody I made it. I came through it, I
S1: walked through it. I went through the storm. God brought
S1: me out. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Come on, Sister Ford. Yeah.
S1: We can shout and dance. Every storm we went through
S1: brought us out. And then bring us out. our mealy
S1: mouth and pouting brought us out victorious and dancing. Yeah,
S1: she doing a holy dance. I'm doing the best dance
S1: I can. Mm. And so now, in our suffering, in
S1: our storms, sometimes we look for God and we say,
S1: where are you? And God says, I'm where I always been. Well,
S1: what's our problem? Here's our problem. Say, what's our problem, pastor?
S1: We look in the wrong direction. Sorrow looks back. Worry
S1: looks around. Depression looks down. Faith. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
S1: They had an old song. It came out of the hymnbook.
S1: But y'all. Y'all don't know about hymnbook. My faith looks
S1: up to thee. Remember that song? My faith looks up
S1: to thee, O Lamb of Calvary. Whoo! Yeah! Mm. If
S1: I had time, we'd sing it. I ain't got time.
S1: So Israel's in a storm. Now get this. And it's
S1: a storm of their own making. Now, wait a minute.
S1: Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
S1: I've got to get you to understand this because I
S1: don't know how many of you are like me. It's
S1: like there are times now. Not every time, but there
S1: are times when I'm not right. And he still blesses me. Yeah.
S1: And you know what he's telling me, Mike? I want
S1: to bless you in spite of you and not because
S1: of you. Because if you see the blessings I give
S1: you in spite of you, then you're going to want
S1: some of those because of you blessings. Because the because
S1: of you blessings are greater than the in spite of
S1: you blessings. I want to be blessed. If he does
S1: this while I'm walking, right? Why? I ain't talking right.
S1: What will he do if I get my act together?
S1: What will he do if I fellowship with him? What
S1: will he do if I give and serve and witness
S1: and tithe? What will he do? And so here, here
S1: he says, listen, Israel is moaning and groaning because they're
S1: in the storm. He's making them walk. And he says,
S1: let me tell you something in four chapters. Fear not,
S1: fear not, fear not, fear not fear. What is seven?
S1: God's number for perfection or completion? He said it's seven
S1: times so that you will know. I don't care what
S1: your fear is. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. He's
S1: saying I'm not a fair weather friend. I'm a friend
S1: that sticks closer than a brother. This passage is pregnant.
S1: You know I'm a teacher. Let me just drop it.
S1: I ain't going to push it. As my friend Romeo
S1: would say, historically, it refers to God's deliverance from Egypt. Literally,
S1: it refers to the Babylonian captivity. Deliverance. Prophetically, it refers
S1: to the Great Tribulation, when God fulfills all the rest
S1: of the promises that he made to Israel. Ultimately, it
S1: focuses on the deliverance of Jesus Christ as our kinsman Redeemer. Typically,
S1: it points to the church, and principally and practically it's
S1: a great passage for dealing with our fears. So in
S1: Isaiah 40 he says, listen, you have foes, you have fears,
S1: you have fights. So he's telling us this, that your
S1: storms are going to take on three entities people, passions
S1: and problems. And then seven times, fear not, fear not.
S1: God says, you know what fear is? What is it?
S1: False evidence appearing real. That's what fear is. As a
S1: matter of fact, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior
S1: said it this way when he was asked, why do
S1: you keep going out? Aren't you afraid somebody's going to
S1: kill you? He said, ultimately, I think I will, uh,
S1: be be martyred. But he said this. He said fear
S1: knocked at the door. Faith answered. Nobody was there. Oh,
S1: I love that. Yeah. Fear knocked at the door, faith answered.
S1: Wasn't nobody there? And so we need to know that
S1: we don't need to be afraid. Now, there are seven
S1: reasons and seven verses. Here they are. Verse one. He says,
S1: you don't need to be afraid because you're the property
S1: of God. Uh, verse two, you don't need to be
S1: afraid because of the protection from God. Uh, you don't
S1: need to be afraid. Verse three, because of the person
S1: of God, you don't need to be afraid. Verse four,
S1: because of the passion or the love of God. Verse five,
S1: you don't need to be afraid because of the presence
S1: of God. Verse six, you don't need to be afraid
S1: because of the promises of God. In verse seven. You
S1: don't need to be afraid because of the purposes of God.
S1: Notice what he says. First of all, verse one. Let
S1: me tell you why you don't have to be scared.
S1: Because you're my property. Now get this. This text. Now
S1: notice what God does. God goes back to the beginning
S1: and he takes them from the present to the past. Now,
S1: this is unusual. Now, we just studied the passage where,
S1: remember when Peter fell and he said to him in
S1: verse 30 of Luke 22, he said, you're going to
S1: sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Then
S1: verse 31, you're going to deny me. Now why did
S1: he tell him that he was going to sit on
S1: the throne before he told him he was going to
S1: deny him, because God didn't want him to focus in
S1: on what is he wanted him to focus in on
S1: what shall be. He's saying, here's what shall be. Let
S1: me tell you that first you're going to sit on thrones.
S1: Now here's what it is you're going to deny me. Now,
S1: why do that? Because if I tell you what you
S1: shall be, then you understand that what is shall not
S1: cancel out what shall be, so that you won't focus
S1: in on what is. You'll walk through it. You'll. You'll
S1: endure it because you want to get to what shall be.
S1: And so that's what we need to do. But this
S1: is different. He's telling them go back and see what was.
S1: Now let me show you what is. Now whenever you
S1: get in a place where you gotta walk through, you
S1: gotta look back and see what was. So you'll be
S1: able to deal with what is. You say, pastor, I
S1: still don't understand it. Okay, then let me come and
S1: get you. Because I went to public school too. We
S1: focus in on what's happening now. God, focus in on
S1: what happened back then. Why? Because God takes us back
S1: so we can see history to comprehend our destiny. Because
S1: what he told us about what shall be. He made
S1: the promise in history about our destiny. Let me say
S1: it another way. Let me say it another way, that
S1: God takes us back to history so he can share
S1: his eternal purpose and counsel for our destiny.
S2: You may be listening right now, and life hasn't turned
S2: out the way that you planned. Instead of hope and
S2: optimism for the future, you're feeling despair. Well, let me
S2: encourage you right now to look back on the promises
S2: of God and see what he has in store for you.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth, a message called have no Fear.
S2: God is here. And this kind of encouraging and convicting
S2: teaching is what you can expect every day here on
S2: treasure truth. We're careful to provide you with messages and
S2: resources that will grow your faith and help you walk
S2: in step with God. You know, pastor, one of the
S2: things that I think is really cool is just to
S2: hear from new listeners who stumble across this radio program,
S2: either online or through the radio, and it is there
S2: for them today because someone previously had given and helped
S2: get this 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: Assyrian 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 npr.org and click on donate. Thanks for doing that.
S2: Thanks to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. For
S2: Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a production
S2: of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.