S1: Remedial suffering is when God burns in character that cannot
S1: be changed. When God burns out, compromise out of our
S1: life and when God burns off carnality.
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 Heller. Glad you're with us today as we
S2: continue our look at James chapter one and a message
S2: called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain. And we
S2: all go through seasons of suffering. In today's broadcast, we're
S2: going to look at some of those reasons. Pastor Ford actually,
S2: in this message pulls out five of those. And as
S2: we just heard, at least one of those, we're going
S2: to drill down a little bit deeper into today that
S2: idea of remedial suffering and how often it's through the
S2: suffering that we face in life that God molds us,
S2: conforms us more into the image and likeness of His
S2: Son Jesus. Because if we're a follower of Jesus, really,
S2: that ought to be our goal. To be conformed more
S2: into his image and likeness. But sometimes that's painful, and
S2: sometimes it's frustrating, and sometimes it feels like the suffering
S2: you're in is never going to end. So having a
S2: proper understanding of suffering, I think, can be so helpful.
S2: So let's open our Bibles to James chapter one as
S2: we continue this message. Seeing purpose in your problems and pain.
S2: Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Now notice something because he says something about these things.
S1: He says, first of all, he says this. Aspects of
S1: suffering that show we have the right perspective. He says
S1: they are certain. Notice, he says, when you fall into
S1: divers temptation. Not if I don't need to say anymore.
S1: John 1633 in the world you shall have tribulation. Be
S1: of good cheer. I have overcome the world. He said,
S1: you're going to you're going to be hated on. You're
S1: going to be despised and rejected. You're going to be
S1: kicked to the curb. You ought to just. You. You
S1: better be scared when. When there's nobody hating on you.
S1: That generally mean you ain't doing nothing for Christ. Mhm. Yeah.
S1: And so first Corinthians chapter ten, verse 13, there's no
S1: temptation taken you but that which is common to man.
S1: But God is faithful who will not allow you to
S1: be tempted. Notice secondly, not just are they certain but
S1: they're sudden. He says, when you fall. And have you
S1: ever noticed that your trials, your tests, your temptations don't
S1: consult your daytimer? They don't ask to be put on
S1: your schedule. It just comes up and it just overwhelm you.
S1: And so he says you have no control over your pain.
S1: You just have control in your pain. Now, let me
S1: ask you a question. Say ask it. Why is it
S1: so important to have the right perspective about our problems
S1: in pain, so that we see it from God's perspective?
S1: And once we do, what will happen? I'll tell you
S1: what will happen. And Scripture affirms it. What happened? Pastor,
S1: for glad you asked. You ask intelligent questions because it'll
S1: turn my fear into faith. It'll turn my sighing into singing.
S1: It'll turn my pouting into praising. It'll turn my doubting
S1: into dancing. It will turn my worrying into worship. It
S1: will turn my trying into trusting, uh, the you know
S1: what they meant for evil. God said. I mean it
S1: for good. Uh, he'll say when I pass through the waters.
S1: I will not fear because you're with me. In other words,
S1: he said, you're going to get in some water and
S1: you're going to get wet. But don't worry, the only
S1: thing you need to worry about is this I ain't
S1: going to let you drown. So you may go down once.
S1: You may go down twice, but you ain't going down
S1: three times. Because I will be with you. And so
S1: and so. I'll never forget, uh, when we're in the
S1: other church, we just got a new carpet. Green carpet. And,
S1: you know, and I don't know why we got green,
S1: I don't know. Uh, somebody said money. No, we didn't
S1: have none over there. No, we ain't got much over here.
S1: That's why it's red. Uh, but anyway. So, so so, uh,
S1: they had a wedding, and I told them. Don't put
S1: anything on our carpet. They put candles down the aisle
S1: and let the candles burn, and it seeped into the carpet.
S1: And Dennis Sanders, who was our, uh, custodian at the time,
S1: I said, man, I'm upset. I'm calling them people. Hey,
S1: they going to pay for this? If we got to
S1: get a new carpet, they're going to pay us. I
S1: told them, don't be. And he said, don't worry about it, pastor.
S1: I said, what do you mean, don't worry about it?
S1: He said, I got this. Don't worry. He said, it
S1: won't have any damage. I said, come on, man, look
S1: how deep that's in the carpet. You start scraping it,
S1: you're going to scrape the piling. It's going to it's
S1: going to look bad. He said, pastor, I got this.
S1: I said, okay, I want to see how you going
S1: to do this? He went and came back. I said,
S1: what's that? He said, it's a heat gun. And then
S1: he had this piece of paper with him or a
S1: cloth or whatever it was. And so he put the
S1: heat to it. And then he said, Now I'm going
S1: to blot it. And he put the whatever it was
S1: down there. And the wax soaked up in the blotter
S1: paper or cloth, whatever it was, and you couldn't tell.
S1: I said, wow, I gotta write that down. He said,
S1: I knew you was going to use it as a
S1: sermon illustration. Yes, I am, because that's what God wants
S1: to do with us. Uh, that there's something in my
S1: character that just ain't right. And God says, oh, man,
S1: he's stubborn and hard. It's in the warp and the
S1: fiber of his soul. And so I need some heat.
S1: And he puts the heat of the conviction of the
S1: Holy Ghost on me. And then he blots it out
S1: with the Scripture, because I'm clean through the word that
S1: he's spoken unto me, and it blots out. And I
S1: look and I say, wow, I'm new in that area too.
S1: And so what you need to be crying out, say,
S1: what do we need to be crying out for? Boom
S1: boom boom. Mhm. Fire. Boom boom boom. Oh when it's hot.
S1: And God makes it hot because we've got a toxic personality.
S1: Give me some heat. We've got a fornication. Adultery. Give
S1: me some heat. Gossiping. Backbiting. Jealousy. Lying. Give me some heat.
S1: Turn up the heat. Give me some fire. In other words,
S1: it's Romans 828. All. All things work together for good
S1: to those who love the Lord. And so we have
S1: to have a right perspective. Regal prerogative. Let me finish
S1: this real quick. We have to. The third way. A
S1: mature believer sees purpose in their problem plan. Is, are
S1: y'all tired of the word? Okay, okay. Can I can
S1: I do one more? Thank you very much. Amen. Amen.
S1: You have to understand the refining process that takes place.
S1: He says in verse three, listen to this. Knowing this,
S1: that the trying of your faith works. Patience. Wow. That's powerful.
S1: That's that's. Now, look, some of you won't come to
S1: Bible study, so I got to bring Bible study to you. Okay.
S1: There are five kinds of suffering in the Bible that
S1: I find. Let me. Let me give you the five.
S1: If you take notes, you you may want these first
S1: kind of suffering is religious suffering. It's religious suffering. You
S1: say what? What what is that? It's when you suffer
S1: because your religion puts a stipulation on you that God
S1: does not. So every religion is false. Yeah. And and
S1: here's what first Corinthians 1022 says. They are not worshiping God.
S1: They are worshiping demons. Did you hear what I said?
S1: They're worshiping demons. I didn't say that. Don't shoot the mailman.
S1: It says it in first Corinthians 1022 that all religion
S1: other than Christianity is the worship of demons. They think
S1: they're worshiping God, but they're. Okay, let me give you
S1: an example. In India, people were starving. But it's not
S1: caused by a food shortage or by overpopulation. It's the
S1: result of religious belief because they are Hindus and Buddhists
S1: and they believe that that roach that you killed this
S1: morning was probably your Uncle Willie, who died ten years
S1: ago and came back as a roach. And so you're
S1: not allowed to kill rats, mice and cows. And so
S1: get this now. Why is there a hunger problem? Because
S1: of its religious suffering. Because you can't kill a cow.
S1: Every cow is sacred. So then one cow could feed
S1: seven people. Which means then, since they have 200 million
S1: sacred cows, they could feed. If they just chopped them
S1: boys up into Big Macs and Whoppers, they'd be able
S1: to feed 1,400,000,000 people. But their religion prohibits it. And
S1: the mice and the rats consume 50% of the stored
S1: grain in India. See? Religious suffering. Then secondly, and I
S1: gotta hasten on, there's rapacious suffering. Say Replaces what is rapacious.
S1: Rapacious is demonic suffering like the man in Mark five. Uh,
S1: he was touched not by an angel, but touched by
S1: a demon. And there were how many demons in him?
S1: How many thousand? 6000 demons. Now, that shouldn't surprise you,
S1: because some of y'all got more than that. I done
S1: dealt with some of y'all, and here's what I love
S1: about it. I have to I have to make this
S1: comment because it says. And they said, Jesus said, what
S1: is your name? And they said, now get this, they
S1: is plural because there's 6000 said is singular because only
S1: one spoke for all. Alright, well I said the church
S1: had that kind of unity. What is your name? Everybody
S1: would be saying her name. My name, my name. Joe Keisha.
S1: My name. Laquisha. My God, no, we're Christ Bible Church anyway.
S1: And so, uh, there's rapacious suffering. Then thirdly, there's retributive suffering.
S1: You say, what is that? That's that suffering for our sin.
S1: John 514. Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh
S1: uh John 513 through 17. That is some some of
S1: us are suffering on our own. It's kind of like
S1: I tell you all the time, you say, God, why
S1: am I in this financial trouble? Why you let this happen?
S1: And God says, my name ain't on. None of them
S1: slips on any of them credit cards. Yeah. Amen. Then
S1: there's redemptive suffering. What's redemptive suffering? Write down second Corinthians
S1: one three through 11 if you're doing that, uh, because
S1: redemptive suffering is when you don't suffer for yourself, that
S1: your suffering is so God can connect to somebody else.
S1: There was one year my wife was in the hospital
S1: five times for two weeks at a time. Three of
S1: those two sets of weeks, she led a nurse to Christ.
S1: So three people came to Christ while she was in
S1: the hospital. And we rejoiced because we said that suffering
S1: wasn't for you. That's suffering because you can go in
S1: there and witness. When Pastor Betts was in the hospital.
S1: He led people to Christ. And so here God allows
S1: us sometimes to suffer so that other people can be blessed.
S1: But here it is in this text. Uh, it's called
S1: remedial suffering. Let me give you the definition of a
S1: very handsome preacher on the South Side of Chicago. Uh,
S1: Pastor James Ford junior. Here's what he said. And I quote.
S1: Remedial suffering is a special course of study for helping
S1: students in the University of the Holy Spirit to overcome
S1: deficiencies in specific character, skills, ability, knowledge, or wisdom. Go ahead.
S1: Say wow. Now make it plain, pastor. Okay. It's simply remedial.
S1: Suffering is when God burns in, when God burns out
S1: and when God burns off, you say, what's he burning when?
S1: God burns in character. That cannot be changed when God
S1: burns out. Compromise out of our life. And when God
S1: burns off carnality.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. And really,
S2: I think a helpful look today at why God allows
S2: us to suffer in the midst of that pain and
S2: in the midst of that suffering, it can be very
S2: tempting to get angry with God and to doubt that
S2: he has our good in mind, but good to be
S2: reminded that he does indeed use that suffering for his purposes,
S2: his good purposes. Well, we're going to get back to this.
S2: Look at James chapter one. In just one moment. I
S2: want to let you know if you ever miss a broadcast,
S2: you can always order these programs on CD. You can
S2: also stream the broadcast or download MP3's. You'll find the
S2: links to do that when you come to our website.
S2: It's Treasure Truth radio.org. While you're there. Hope you'll spend
S2: a little extra time and check out the different links.
S2: You can see the books that Pastor Ford has written,
S2: find out more information about him and more. Just come
S2: to treasure Truth radio.org. Again, here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Someone that said a brook would lose its song if
S1: God removed the rocks. Yeah, that's true, that's true, that's true. Listen, listen, listen,
S1: let me tell you this real quick and I'm almost
S1: ready to let you go. See, there's some things you
S1: think are working against you are actually working for you. Okay.
S1: If you ask Wallace Johnson, uh, he understood the refining process.
S1: If you ask, uh, Wallace Johnson. Wallace Johnson. What's the
S1: worst day of your life? You know what Wallace Johnson
S1: would say? Say what would he say? Wallace Johnson would
S1: say it was when I got fired from the sawmill
S1: of which I worked for 20 years. You say, uh,
S1: Wallace Johnson, what's the worst day of your life? I mean,
S1: the best day of your life. Wallace Johnson would say
S1: the best day of my life is when I got
S1: fired from the sawmill that I worked for for 20 years.
S1: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I mean,
S1: I'd be looking at Wallace like you're looking at me
S1: right now. Wait a minute. How can it be the
S1: best day and the worst day at the same time?
S1: And here's what Wallace Johnson would say. He would say, yeah,
S1: it was the worst day. Uh, because my boss fired
S1: me out. Uh, but it was the best day because
S1: God wanted to lead me to my destiny. But I
S1: was too wrapped up in my history. So God then
S1: had to have my boss fire me out so he
S1: could take me up. Alright, so I began to realize
S1: that since I wouldn't leave the job, God had the
S1: job leave me. See, that's why I tell you that
S1: all the time. All the time I tell you that
S1: there's some people, uh. That you were my friend. I
S1: thought it was my friend. No, they were good for
S1: you where you were. They were not for you where
S1: you're going. Come on. You can say something. You can
S1: say something. Look at somebody say, hey, neighbor, quit giving
S1: penthouse access.
S3: We forgive him.
S1: To lobby level people. That's right. That's right. Because every
S1: hotel I stayed in to get to the penthouse, you
S1: need a key card. Mm. So, Wallace Johnson, how could
S1: it be? Well, yeah. See, because five years later, I
S1: became a millionaire. And before I died, I became a billionaire.
S1: Because once I got fired from the sawmill, I began
S1: to think. What did I dream about? I dreamed about
S1: as a Christian. Since I'm a pilgrim and stranger, I
S1: dreamed about the fact that maybe I could have help
S1: strangers who are coming from different places and coming to
S1: a foreign place that maybe they've never been to before.
S1: And I can roll out a welcome mat, and I
S1: can give them accommodations, and they can have food and
S1: meet other people coming from all over the place that
S1: they may never meet again. And so Wallace Johnson became
S1: the co-founder of Holiday Inn. Now explain refining, uh, look, look, look,
S1: here's what God is doing, this refining process. What about it?
S1: Here it is right here in a nutshell. Here it is.
S1: Here's the refining process okay, so everybody know what a
S1: concept car is okay. A concept car is a car
S1: that the manufacturer, uh, tests in private. They run them
S1: into the wall. You ever see them commercials? Yeah, those
S1: are concept cars. Here's what they want to do. They
S1: want to make sure that they're good enough for the public.
S1: So they crash them in private to approve them because
S1: the word trying is to approve. So they try it
S1: so they can approve it to make sure that when
S1: it goes public, it'll be able to withstand what it's
S1: up against. Me go on this side. Maybe you understand it.
S1: And so we are God's concept cars. What he's doing
S1: right now is he's crashing you on the little stage
S1: to make sure that he's preparing you for the big stage.
S1: So you don't understand. You don't understand, uh, what he
S1: does is he doesn't want to make himself look bad,
S1: so he has to build us up. And so he
S1: crashed that fender don't work. He puts this fender on us. Okay.
S1: And so let me make it plain. Here it is.
S1: God says, I want to deal with you in private
S1: so I can get you ready for public so that
S1: you don't embarrass me or yourself. So what God is
S1: saying is, listen, I want to get on your last
S1: black nerve, your last white nerve, your your last yellow
S1: nerve in this small place. And whenever you have victory there,
S1: I know I can put you in a big place.
S1: That is, if I can get you to have patience
S1: at home, you'll have patience on the job. If I
S1: can keep you from cussing somebody out in church, I
S1: can keep you from cussing somebody out at the job. Uh,
S1: I can make sure that whenever somebody cuts you off
S1: on the Dan Ryan, that you give them the whole hand,
S1: praise the Lord and not just tell them that they
S1: are number one. And so there it is. What does
S1: it do? The refiners processing. What are you talking about?
S1: Here's what the metallurgist does. He puts the gold in
S1: the fire and he turns up the crucible to make
S1: it hot. Why? So it can melt. Because when it melts,
S1: the dross comes to the top. Then he takes a
S1: scooper and scoops off the dross. And he's got gold
S1: that's purer. And he does two things. Come on, somebody
S1: knows it. Holler out. What does he keep his hand on? Thermostat.
S1: Because he controls the temperature with the thermostat. If it's
S1: not on long enough, then the impurities won't be burned up. Uh,
S1: but if it's too long, the metal will be burnished
S1: and it will be destroyed. So he knows exactly how
S1: high to make the fire. He knows exactly how long
S1: to keep you in it. Just stay in the fire
S1: because you need to understand whatever in you ain't out
S1: of you yet, or that thing wouldn't be bothering you
S1: like it is. How do I know God is done
S1: when it ain't bothering you like it's bothering you now then,
S1: you know. God has worked it out of you. And.
S1: And I'm done. You've been so, so kind to me.
S1: Let me just tell you. What is God doing? He's purifying.
S1: He's transforming. Think what God did. God transformed Moses from
S1: a murderer into a liberator. He transformed Joseph from a
S1: prisoner to a president. He didn't have to show his
S1: birth certificate. He took David from a kid to a king.
S1: He took Paul from a persecutor to a preacher. He
S1: took Rahab from a woman of the night into a
S1: woman of the light. He took the woman in John
S1: chapter four, from where she was shacking to she start sharing. Yeah,
S1: that's our God. He's into the transformation business. We ought
S1: to know it. Because he did what? He gets treasure
S1: out of trash. He gets jewels out of junk. He
S1: gets glory out of garbage. He gets riches out of rubbish.
S1: He gets diamonds out of debris. He gets righteousness out
S1: of riff raff. He gets majesty out of a mess.
S1: He gets worship out of waste. He gets deliverance from
S1: a drug addict. He can get praise out of a prostitute.
S1: And hallelujah, out of a homosexual. He can turn a
S1: pole dancer into a praise dancer. He can turn a
S1: drunk into a deacon and he can turn somebody illicit
S1: into an elder. That's our God. He has conformed us
S1: into his image. So remember, the next time your back
S1: is against the wall, remember that his back was against
S1: the cross. Yeah. Who suffered like Jesus? Who was God
S1: in the flesh? Foxes have holes. Birds of the air
S1: have nests. And the Son of man hath nowhere to
S1: lay his head. Think about it. Born in another man's manger.
S1: Preach in another man's town. Ate at another man's table.
S1: Wore another man's crown. Suffered another man's beating. Took another
S1: man's disgrace, bore another man's sin, and died in another
S1: man's place. The Bible says in Hebrews five eight, even
S1: though he were the son, he learned obedience by the
S1: things that he suffered. Jesus died in agony need so
S1: we could live life abundantly. And you ought to give
S1: him praise because of the refining process where he's turning
S1: you into who you are now, to who you are
S1: to be, where he's taking you from, where you are now,
S1: to where you are to be. And that is part
S1: of the process of your getting there. So I came
S1: to tell somebody, and I'm done, that your setback is
S1: a setup for your comeback. God is taking you somewhere.
S1: Go with God.
S2: That is pastor and author James Ford Jr. A message
S2: called seeing Purpose in your Problems and Pain. And if
S2: God has been using Pastor Ford's teaching in your life,
S2: we'd love to know about that. You can always drop
S2: us a note through the website. Just come to Treasure
S2: Truth Radio and fill out the contact form. You can
S2: also put a letter in the mail. Our address is
S2: Treasure Truth 820 North LaSalle Boulevard. Chicago, Illinois. 606 ten well,
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