S1: The larger we make his name, the smaller he makes
S1: our problems. And that is, there's power in that name.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. As today we're
S2: continuing a message called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain.
S2: Really a look at the first 12 verses of James
S2: chapter one. And as we've been talking about all this week,
S2: we do all face problems in life. We all have
S2: pain that we're walking through. But when we can get
S2: our eyes off of that pain, off of that problem
S2: and on to Christ, it's amazing how he's able to
S2: comfort us, how very often he's able to give us
S2: assurance that he is in control and he is sovereign.
S2: And while we may not understand how he's going to
S2: work the situation out for our good, we can have
S2: a peace and assurance that that's exactly what he's doing.
S2: So if you can open your Bible to James chapter
S2: one and join us there as we continue the message
S2: seeing purpose in your problems and pain. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: The story is told of a king who had a friend,
S1: and they would hang out quite a bit. Even though
S1: he was. He wasn't in royalty. Uh, royal family or anything.
S1: And so, uh, one day the king took him hunting
S1: with him, and, uh, he was loading the gun for
S1: the king. Well, he made some kind of mistake. And
S1: when the king was shooting at an animal, uh, the
S1: gun shot off his thumb. Now, his friend was an optimist.
S1: He would always see the glass half full, never half empty.
S1: And so after every time something happened, whether it was
S1: positive or negative, he always said, this is good. And
S1: so when the King's thumb got blown off, the king said,
S1: look at this. He said, well, this is good. King said,
S1: no it isn't. My thumb is blown off. And you
S1: think it's good? This is good, King. How is it good?
S1: I don't know, but it's good. King. And so the
S1: king said, well, if it's so good, I'm putting you
S1: in jail for a year. And he put his best
S1: friend in jail. Anybody got anybody know any kings? And
S1: he put his best friend in jail. Well, he went
S1: hunting about a year later, and he went to a
S1: place in his kingdom where he knew he shouldn't have
S1: because it was inhabited by cannibals. So they caught the
S1: king out there by himself. They they strung them up
S1: like a Christmas turkey, put him on a spit, and
S1: was getting ready to fire him up to cook him
S1: and eat him. But somebody noticed that his thumb was missing.
S1: And these cannibals had a superstition. They wouldn't eat anybody
S1: if they weren't whole. And so they let the king go. gold.
S1: The king thought about it and said, when my thumb
S1: was blown off, my friend a year ago said, this
S1: is good. I didn't see how it could be good,
S1: but now I see that it was good because I
S1: didn't have a thumb. They didn't eat me. They let
S1: me go. So he went to his friend. He said,
S1: I'm releasing you from jail. He said, you got to
S1: forgive me. He told him the story and he said
S1: it was bad that I put you in in jail.
S1: And his friend said, no, it is good. He said,
S1: wait a minute, it's bad. I told you the story.
S1: Why do you keep saying it is good? He said, well, see,
S1: if I wasn't in jail, then I would have been
S1: with you. And I have both of my thumbs. Oh,
S1: it's an amazing story because the story emphasizes the fact
S1: that there are some things that you and I think
S1: are working against us that are actually working for us.
S1: Don't shout me down now. Genesis chapter 42, verse 36,
S1: Jacob says this. All these things are against me. Joseph
S1: is gone. Benjamin is gone. All these things are against me.
S1: And little did he know that those things weren't against him.
S1: They were working for him because he didn't know that
S1: God had told Joseph. There's going to be seven years
S1: of famine. So they would have been starving. They would
S1: have died off. And so the nation of Israel would
S1: have died before it got started. But what God did,
S1: because he could see ahead, he began to let things
S1: happen to Joseph and to Jacob. And he began to
S1: show them that your setback is just a setup for
S1: your comeback, that what I'm doing is I am working
S1: in the midst of things. So there's going to be
S1: a famine and Joseph's going to be big baller shot caller.
S1: He's going to bring you down. And for seven years,
S1: the wealth of the wicked will be stored up for
S1: the righteous. Help me somebody. Yeah. And so he will
S1: feed you and think about this, that that that lowly
S1: tribe of 75 went down into Egypt, and Egypt became
S1: the incubator in which birthed the Hebrew Nation. Because they
S1: went in 75 and came out over 2 million. God
S1: used Egypt as a womb where they could grow but
S1: be protected because Egypt was a world power. God knew
S1: how to work some stuff out. And so you look
S1: at this thing. It's amazing to me that when you
S1: look at it, and I know some of you came
S1: in here with a smile on your face, uh, but
S1: you got pain in your heart and and problems in
S1: your finances. Amen. And so I came to tell you,
S1: don't be like Jacob. You need to understand things that
S1: seem to be working against you are actually working for you.
S1: I came to deliver some mail. God told me to
S1: tell you things you think or against, you may sometimes
S1: work for you. Now James agrees. He teaches us that
S1: you must see purpose in your problems and in your pain.
S1: Last week we saw there are five ways in verses
S1: one through 12. In chapter one that a mature believer
S1: sees purpose in their problems and in their pain. Here's
S1: what we did. I'll summarize it just very quickly. We
S1: only dealt with point number one. Amen. It was verse one.
S1: Here it is. How then do we see. Uh, purpose
S1: in our problems and pain? We submit to the regal
S1: prerogative of God. That is, we understand that he is
S1: sovereign in positive situations and negative situations, good situations and
S1: bad situations. Things we like and things we don't like.
S1: God is still sovereign. And so he says, James, the
S1: servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
S1: the 12 tribes scattered abroad. Greeting. He wants them to
S1: submit to the sovereignty. Remember James as his identification. Uh, servant.
S1: That's his dedication. And Lord Jesus Christ, that's his affirmation.
S1: So he talks about the deity of Jesus Christ, Lord,
S1: the humanity of Jesus Christ Jesus, and the sovereignty of
S1: Jesus Christ. Christ anointed one, King of kings and Lord
S1: of lords. Let me bottom line it so I can
S1: get to at least the next two. You know what
S1: he's saying? Say, what's he saying? The larger we make
S1: his name, the smaller he makes our problems. Oh, yeah.
S1: That was worth your coming to church today. Yeah. You
S1: don't even have to pay for that. Amen. Amen. That is.
S1: There's power in that name. You know. You know what
S1: name I'm talking about? The name of the one who
S1: spoke the nothing and nothing became something. Uh, the one
S1: who spoke and the nothing that wasn't became the everything
S1: that is preach, Pastor Ford. I'm doing the best I can.
S1: The name of the one who said light, be, and
S1: light was the name of the one who made wet
S1: water come out of a dry rock. The name of
S1: the one who turned a waterway into a freeway. You
S1: ain't going to pray with me? The name of the
S1: one who turned two sardines and five rich crackers into
S1: a Moby Dick sandwich and fed all of 5000 men
S1: and probably 10,000 women and children of the name, of
S1: the one who turned a praise team into a conquering army,
S1: defeating Jehoshaphat enemies. You know that name? What's that name? Yeah.
S1: Bright morning star, Lily of the Valley. Power in that name.
S1: Salvation in that name. Deliverance in that name. Thank God
S1: for Jesus. Yeah. Come on. Holler it out. Calling Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
S1: Sweetest name, I know. Jesus. Jesus. That name that's above
S1: every name. That the sound of that name. Every knee
S1: shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is God
S1: according to the Word of God. Fill my TV coming on.
S1: Give him praise in the house of the Lord. Mm. Yeah.
S1: That name. I told you about it before. Brother said
S1: to us. What you going to do for your anniversary?
S1: You going to go downtown? He said you want to
S1: go to Puerto Vallarta? Stay. Stay in my condo in
S1: Paradise Village. Show you right. Ain't you got a pray?
S1: Already did. While you were saying it, God said, go ahead. Amen.
S1: Send us down there. Put three $3,000 in our pocket.
S1: Went down and went to the desk. And and daughter.
S1: I was almost disappointed because I said, We're James and
S1: Leslie Ford. And they said, we don't have a reservation
S1: for you. I said, I ain't no, I ain't come
S1: 8000 miles to be turned around. And I called his name.
S1: I said, well, Mr. So-and-so sent us here. And, uh,
S1: the the desk clerk said, why didn't you say so? Oh,
S1: you're going to be staying in his condo. Oh, well,
S1: let me tell you, you're going to be here for
S1: seven days. But here's what you have to do. Mr. Ford,
S1: you can't use your name. You have to sign his name.
S1: See you. Have you have access to all of the amenities,
S1: but you can't sign your name. You have to sign
S1: a his name. So I went and went to the
S1: spa and got the the whole works with a mudpack.
S1: And I signed his name, and I went to the
S1: gym to work out. And I worked out and I
S1: signed his name when I went to breakfast and it
S1: was free because I signed his name. I went to
S1: dinner and guess what? It was free too, because I
S1: signed his name. And so the whole time, uh, we
S1: just signed his. I came to tell somebody that there
S1: is a name that's recognized in heaven. And that name
S1: is Jesus. And so Jesus said, if you ask anything
S1: of the father, he'll give it to you. If you
S1: ask in my name.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
S2: Ford Jr. And what a powerful reminder of the name
S2: of Jesus and the fact that there is power in
S2: that name. We're going to go back to our message
S2: from James chapter one in just one moment. I want
S2: to let you know if you want to stay up
S2: to date with what's going on with Pastor Ford, you
S2: can always connect with us on social media. If you've
S2: not done so before, like us on Facebook, follow us
S2: on Twitter, and we'd love to interact with you that way.
S2: But let's get back to the message seeing purpose in
S2: your problems and pain. Again, here is Pastor Ford.
S1: So we looked at the regal prerogative of God over
S1: our person and then over our problems, he said. Your
S1: seeds scattered. Here's what he's saying. He's saying you're of
S1: the diaspora. That is, you are where you are, not
S1: by accident, but by providence. You are where you are,
S1: not by chance, but by choice that God put you
S1: where you are. Here's what he's saying. You have no
S1: control over your problem, but you do have a cause
S1: in your problem. Yeah, he says, look for the cause
S1: in your problem. Don't try to control it. Okay? Let
S1: me just bottom line, here's what he's saying. If you're
S1: not submitted to the regal prerogative of God, then your
S1: suffering won't make sense to you. See what usually, to
S1: our sense looks like nonsense begin to make sense when
S1: we use God's sense. Mm. You say? Say it again. Yeah.
S1: What you look at. That doesn't make sense. And it
S1: looks like nonsense. Makes sense when you use God. Sense.
S1: Is that. Is that alright? Alright, alright. So here now
S1: when you begin to look at it. He wants to know.
S1: Here's the second one. Let's get to it. Let's get
S1: to it. I got two today and then Imma let
S1: you go notice. Secondly, if you're going to see purpose
S1: in your problems and pain, he says in verse two,
S1: you must have the right perspective of your problems, the
S1: right perspective. In other words, you have to change your perspective. See?
S1: Come on, help me preach this. Look at your neighbor
S1: and say neighbor. How you see the problem often is
S1: the problem. That's right. Yeah, y'all know you say it
S1: all the time, but that's what he's saying. Uh, you know,
S1: I'm going to tell you about a small time preacher
S1: who's struggling, uh, with a small church in Dallas, Texas.
S1: Tony Evans, let me tell you what he said. He
S1: said when he was in seminary. Uh, what he had
S1: to do was, uh, work and go to school. And
S1: so he got a job at Trailways. And when he
S1: went there, there were about 4 or 5 other guys
S1: that worked on the evening shift. He had to work
S1: evening because he went to school in the daytime. He
S1: said that when he went in, they informed him, look,
S1: this is how we roll, uh, on this night shift. Uh,
S1: you could be late. Somebody will punch you in on time.
S1: You can leave early. We'll punch you out. Uh, everybody
S1: doesn't work all night. A couple of us will work, uh,
S1: for a couple hours. And while the others sleep. And then, uh,
S1: they wake up, and then we go sleep. And, you know,
S1: and that's the way we roll around here. So we
S1: want you to know, uh, that's what you gotta do.
S1: And so he began to to ponder and say, okay,
S1: now I want to be accepted by these guys, and
S1: I want to be socially alienated and ostracized. Uh, but
S1: I got to honor God. And and so, you know what, God?
S1: I know it's going to cost me, but I'm going
S1: to honor you, okay? And so what's his motivation? Honor God.
S1: So guess what happened? They did ostracize him. He said
S1: that whenever it was time to unload and and load
S1: some of his buses. Uh, nobody was around. They had
S1: to go to the bathroom. They had to do something,
S1: and they kept doing what they were doing, and he
S1: never participated in it. He said three months later, uh,
S1: the boss came to him and said, uh, come to
S1: the office. And, uh, he's thinking to himself, why are
S1: you bringing me to the office? I'm the only one
S1: around here that work. I ain't done nothing wrong. Call
S1: him in the office and said, for the last month,
S1: we've had, uh, one of our management team scoping out
S1: the evening shift, and we know that there's punching in
S1: and out of people who aren't even here. Uh, that
S1: half will sleep while half work. And, uh, you did
S1: not participate. We fired them. We're bringing on a whole
S1: new staff. We want to make you the manager of
S1: the night shift. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like
S1: when you look at it, the problem was the platform
S1: for his promotion to his new position and his higher pay. Amen. See,
S1: the problem is with your perspective. Is your theology greater
S1: than your theology? Say, what do you mean by that?
S1: You know exactly what I mean. Are you more concerned
S1: about your pain than God's purpose? Because if you are you,
S1: you will not see. See, here's what you need. You
S1: need a new perspective. Little boy was wanting to see
S1: the Bud Billiken Parade, so he was standing on the
S1: street and he was looking and it would look nice
S1: and everything. But all he could see was in front
S1: of me. He's short and all these people couldn't see anything,
S1: couldn't see good. And he said, parades. I don't like parades.
S1: And an old man was standing next to him who
S1: lived in the apartment behind him in the penthouse floor.
S1: And so the old man said to the little boy,
S1: come on, little boy. Now wait a minute. All you
S1: social workers, all you children, workers. Uh, listen, don't.
S3: No, no, boy, don't go with a stranger. Oh, no.
S3: Stranger danger.
S1: This is just an illustration, okay? That's that's all it is. Okay.
S1: So don't get excited. You know, don't call DCFS. Alright. So,
S1: so so he says, come on up. So he goes
S1: up to this man's penthouse. He looks down. He sees
S1: the beginning of the parade. He sees the ending of
S1: the parade. He sees everything in between. And that's what
S1: God told me to come tell you today that you're
S1: down from the ground looking at it, and it looks
S1: bleak and it looks bad, and it looks like ain't
S1: nothing ever going to come of this, but you just
S1: seeing a little part of it. You're being obscured by
S1: all the things that are around you. But you got
S1: an ancient of days who say, come up to heaven
S1: and look down on it rather than looking at it.
S1: And when you look down on it, you see it
S1: from a different light. You see the beginning of it
S1: and you see it ends, and you see the process
S1: that takes place in the middle that God is letting
S1: you know. I got this. When you look from the
S1: divine perspective, you know there's a beginning. You know there's
S1: an end. You know that I'm working and it looks
S1: beautiful when you see the whole thing from my perspective.
S1: My wife will tell you I'm not like everybody else.
S1: I complain, and then I'll put a caveat and I'll say, ooh, girl,
S1: you know what? What? I'm excited. Why are you excited?
S1: Because I'm under great persecution. Why are you excited about that?
S1: Because there's got to be great provision. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
S1: There has to be. Yeah. And so when we look
S1: at this, he's saying. View your trials from God's perspective, man.
S1: I tell you what it's like. It's like I'm a
S1: teacher and I know it. I'm looking at this thing
S1: this morning. I said, I see another outline for the
S1: book of James. I've got, I bet, you know, less
S1: than 25 outlines. Here's the outline I saw. Uh, Elder Strider.
S1: I was looking at it again. I said, wow, looking
S1: at it from God's perspective, here's what I saw. Verse
S1: one is God sent. Sin. Verse two. Is God seen?
S1: Verse three. Is God shaping? Verse four. It's God supplying.
S1: In other words, look at how he got this thing
S1: set up. He says, verse one, I sent it. Uh.
S1: Verse two. You gotta see it from my perspective. Because
S1: if you don't see it the way I see it,
S1: then you won't respond to it the way I want
S1: you to respond to it. Then I can't shape you
S1: the way I want to shape you. And I can't
S1: supply for you what I want to supply for you.
S1: Because your shape determines your supply, and your seeing determines
S1: if you know it was sent. And so they all
S1: fall in line together. I'm sending it. I want you
S1: to see it the way I see it, because I'm
S1: shaping you to make you into something that you currently
S1: are not right now. Why? Because I can't give you
S1: what I want to give you the way you are
S1: right now. Yeah. Some of you ladies ain't going to
S1: never get a husband because you won't get a divorce.
S1: He got quiet. It's like you, you you blessing us,
S1: then you just stole our blessing. Yeah. You're not going
S1: to get a husband. You can't live with yourself. How
S1: you going to live with somebody else? Brother, he ain't
S1: going to send you that fine woman you waiting on.
S1: He said get a job. Yeah. And so here, as
S1: you begin to look at this thing, man, it is,
S1: it is. Notice, uh, there's a A and a B
S1: under here. Notice the attitude that demonstrates the right perspective.
S1: He says count it all joy. What does that mean?
S1: What does that mean? Count it all joy. Well, you know,
S1: when we talked about this plenty of times, uh, that
S1: whenever you look at, uh, the baptizing work of the
S1: Holy Spirit, I belong to Christ's body. But the filling
S1: of the spirit, where joy is produced, my body belongs
S1: to him. So I belong to Christ's body. First John
S1: 1213 for by one spirit are we all baptized into
S1: one body, having all been made to drink of one spirit.
S1: But then once I get filled with the spirit. Galatians
S1: 522 and 23. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy.
S1: So joy is independent of circumstances. It is not based
S1: on what happens. And so David said, the joy of
S1: the Lord is my strength. But wait a minute. He
S1: was running for his life. But he said, the joy
S1: of the Lord is my strength, because if my joy
S1: doesn't come from the circumstances, it comes from the Savior.
S1: And so, uh, your sons turn against you. Yeah, but
S1: the joy of the Lord is my strength. Yeah, but
S1: your people turn to you. The joy of the Lord
S1: is my strength. Uh, but they want to kill you.
S1: Joy of the Lord is my strength. You're in the wilderness.
S1: Don't have food. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
S1: But where are you going to eat joy? The Lord
S1: is my strength. Well, what's going to happen? And when
S1: are you going to go back? I don't know, but
S1: the joy of the Lord is my strength. I don't
S1: know anything, but the joy of the Lord is my strength,
S1: I trust him.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor James Ford Junior.
S2: A message called Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain.
S2: And you can hear past programs on our website, including
S2: the first three parts of the series when you come
S2: to treasure Truth Radio. Well, the fact that you're listening
S2: today shows that you value clear Bible teaching with practical applications.
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