S1: God want to get the fear out of me today?
S1: We say the punk out of us. He knew the
S1: way to do it was to put me in a
S1: situation where I had no help but him. And from
S1: that day forward, I ain't never scared.
S2: You're listening 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, and before we hear why you weren't
S2: ever scared. Uh, you got to clear something up for me. Okay. Today,
S2: we say get the punk out of us. Uh, what
S2: does that mean?
S1: Well, um.
S2: You're talking to a suburban guy here. When?
S1: When people get punked, it literally means that somebody did
S1: something that made you back down from something that you
S1: should not have backed down from.
S2: Okay.
S1: Yeah. And so, you know that. Yeah. It's a colloquialism.
S2: All right. All right, all right. So now we move
S2: on to what the point of today's broadcast is all about. God.
S2: God getting the fear out of you. How'd he do that?
S1: Yeah, well, I think he puts you in fearful situations,
S1: you know, and this that I'm going to share today
S1: happened when I was practically a new believer. I don't
S1: think I had been saved two years when this happened. No,
S1: not even a year when this happened. But I'll show
S1: you how it works today. Yeah. Then I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
S1: Steeler fan into his house.
S2: I've been in your office. Still Steeler fans, Steelers everywhere.
S2: A Chicago Bears fan.
S1: Well, you know, I tell them we ought to be
S1: just like I am with the Steelers. Everybody ought to
S1: have no doubt as to who my allegiance is to. Amen.
S2: It's true.
S1: So let me tell you how it has affected me
S1: even today. Uh, rewind the video a little bit. Go
S1: back to when we came to Chicago and I shared
S1: where we were living in Humboldt Park. We moved to
S1: South Shore and it got worse. And these guys were
S1: trying to recruit my kids, and this one little gangbanger
S1: came up. This was like in the middle of the day,
S1: pulled a gun on me. And, you know, I prayed, Lord,
S1: you know, if it's my time, you know, prepare me
S1: because I believe in thanatology. You know, that's the study
S1: of death. That is, you get dying, Grace, when it's
S1: time to die. So I actually felt like if this
S1: is the time he's going to give me grace to die.
S1: And the young man was impressed that I was not
S1: afraid that he had pulled a weapon on me. Yeah.
S1: You know, and I said, well, you know, I'm not
S1: afraid because God is on my side. You know, he
S1: never leaves me nor forsake me, you know. And so
S1: you may be able to kill my body, but he's
S1: able to kill your body and your soul and my
S1: soul belongs to him, and I start sharing the gospel.
S1: He put the weapon in his pants. Yeah. You know.
S1: And then turned and walked away. Crazy. It's crazy. I said, yeah, I'm.
S1: I'm out of my mind for Jesus Christ, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
S1: And later on, he never came to Christ. But later on,
S1: he said, Reverend, you know, I like a person. I
S1: like a reverend like you. The average reverend would have been.
S1: Come on now, we don't want to do this. And,
S1: you know, I mean, you just look there. You just
S1: look me in the eye. You weren't afraid at all.
S1: And I said, yeah, because I already told you, you know,
S1: God is on my side. Yeah. You know.
S2: So. Yeah. Well, we're going to hear a different story
S2: in today's broadcast. So we're going to start, though, by
S2: opening our Bibles to Psalm 27 and continuing the message.
S2: I ain't never scared. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: And so Ray and I were trying to witness to
S1: a brother named hook. His name is Michael. And, uh, Mike, uh,
S1: was like, like a sinner to the max. And didn't he?
S1: He would flaunt in front of us even though we
S1: were friends. And so, you know, we'd say, you know,
S1: he say, he say you're not smoking anymore, huh? And
S1: he light up a joint and blow it in your face.
S1: Stuff like that. Yeah, he do stuff like that. You
S1: ain't drinking no more, huh? Oh, you know, he would
S1: do stuff like that. Mike was so bad. Mike had
S1: two women that both knew that he was going with them.
S1: And he invited both of them to live with him,
S1: and they both came to live with him. So two,
S1: he living like Abraham, Hagar and Sarah and I. I
S1: never could figure out Sarah as a black woman doing
S1: that one anyway. Ain't no black woman I know now
S1: when she kicked him out. That's the black women I know,
S1: you know. But anyway. So. So, uh, two, two, ten
S1: in the morning, I get a call. Who's this? It's Hulk.
S1: What's wrong? Hook. What's wrong? We want to be saved, man.
S1: We want to be saved at 210 in the morning.
S1: I got up, brushed my teeth, put on my clothes.
S1: My wife said, where are you going? I said, hook
S1: called me. He want to be saved. You. You ain't
S1: going out there tonight, are you? Tell him you'll see
S1: him in the morning. He want to be saved now.
S1: I'm going now, he cried. Now I'm going now. And
S1: I got in what we call the gospel buggy. It
S1: was a car that was given to me. It was
S1: the first miracle that God showed me whenever I turned
S1: my car in. Because I had to make a choice
S1: between keeping my car and paying my rent. And anybody knows,
S1: before I got saved, it was no contest. I keep
S1: my car. But now that I was saved, I had
S1: to pay my rent. So I had to let the
S1: car go. And so Ray said, well, let's pray and
S1: ask God, God don't give cars. And boom! Two days
S1: later I was given a car and I called it
S1: the Gospel Buggy. And so I get in the Gospel
S1: buggy and I get ready to go. I leave Homewood,
S1: I head on up to Wilkinsburg, uh, where where hook live? Uh,
S1: when I get around the corner, uh, the car stops.
S1: I'm four blocks from his house. This is a dangerous place.
S1: Best I can tell you is it's like being in
S1: the bucket of blood at 3:00 in the morning. Amen. Amen.
S1: You know what I'm talking about. And and so and so. I'm.
S1: I'm saying, God, get this car to going. I gotta
S1: get the hook. And I can't be walking four blocks
S1: in in this because I knew. Because, see, before, uh,
S1: the the people that I was afraid of as a Christian, uh,
S1: was me before I became a Christian. Yeah. And so
S1: and so, you know, I said, man, I got to go. Okay, Lord,
S1: you're not going to start the car. You gotta protect me.
S1: So I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm singing and I'm singing.
S1: You know, Andre Cross was big back then. Andre Crouch
S1: was our Kurt Franklin and Tye Tribbett. And so I'm
S1: singing some Andre Crouch songs, you know, and and and
S1: and and just watching and and thinking man, you know,
S1: you used to be out in this, you know. Yeah.
S1: But that was before I became a Christian. So I
S1: come around the corner now Cemeteries here. And he lives
S1: on a dead end street. So once you walk, start
S1: walking up that street. There's only one way out. That's
S1: the back this way. So as soon as I turn
S1: the corner, I look out of my peripheral vision. I
S1: see a guy steps to block my entrance or exit, actually,
S1: because that's what it would have been. And I begin
S1: to pray. I said, Lord, I know this scenario. I
S1: used to do it myself. Me and my brother in
S1: law Bill. That's the way we were robbed. Somebody come
S1: behind them, step out in front of him. I said,
S1: I know somebody's going to step out in front of me.
S1: And a couple doors up, guy stepped out from a
S1: walkway and I said, oh man, I ain't got no money.
S1: And so, you know, folk, when you ain't got no money,
S1: you know, I said, okay, well, I'm just going to
S1: witness to him, Lord, I'm just going to witness to him.
S1: I said, you know, Ray said, you're a deliverer. I
S1: need deliverer right now. And I'm telling you, I didn't
S1: hardly get the words out of my mouth when I
S1: saw a light. And then I heard, whoop, whoop, whoop.
S1: Now they used to send me running. It put a smile.
S1: on my face. I turned around and looked. And them
S1: boys scattered like roaches. When you turn on the lights.
S1: Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Man,
S1: I'm so happy. And so he pulls up. He says,
S1: what are you doing, sir? I said, I'm going to hooks.
S1: I got my Bible. He called me. He wants to
S1: be saved. And so I'm going to save hook. Do
S1: you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?
S1: And he said, go on, save hook. And he turned
S1: on around and moved. So then I get up to
S1: where hook lives. Now there's three floors and you would
S1: think he lives at the first floor. You think the
S1: bottom bell was his second third? It wasn't that way.
S1: I hit the bottom bell, and, uh, as I hit
S1: the bottom bell, I'm ringing and ringing and ringing it
S1: and nothing's happening. Then I hear, step back now. Wasn't loud.
S1: It was in my head. Step back. And I stepped back.
S1: When I step back, the woman on the third floor
S1: whose bell I was ringing. That was the first one
S1: had slammed up her window and the pane fell out
S1: and the pane fell where I was standing. She called
S1: me a whole lot of names and I was blessing God.
S1: Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah! You saved me, Lord. Twice tonight.
S1: Twice tonight. And I went in. LED. Hooked to Christ. LED.
S1: Carrying the Christ. I don't remember what his other girlfriend's
S1: name led. All three of them to Christ. It's 5
S1: or 6:00 in the morning. I'm happy because I led
S1: three people to Christ tonight, and God brought me through
S1: all of that because he was more concerned about their
S1: salvation than I was. And I go back to the
S1: to the gospel buggy. I said, let me see. I
S1: turned the key. It started right up. I journal, I
S1: journal from the first day. I've got all my journals.
S1: I got 42 journals, I journal. God, I want to
S1: get the fear out of me. Today. We say the
S1: punk out of us. He knew the way to do
S1: it was to put me in a situation where I
S1: had no help but him. And from that day forward,
S1: I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared, I ain't
S1: never scared. I come to Chicago, I ain't know what
S1: was happening here. I walked up into gang areas, talk
S1: to gang bangers, going to crack houses. It don't matter
S1: because I ain't never scared like my mama used to say.
S1: They can kill me but they can't eat me. And
S1: if they eat me, I'll leave a bad taste in
S1: their mouth. And here's what God has done. He's saying,
S1: look what God has done in my car. And so now,
S1: as a pastor, let me just tell you, I ain't
S1: never scared. Why? Because God gets the devil off of
S1: my back. Yeah, and my enemy's out of my face
S1: and my bills off my mind and ignorant folk off
S1: my job. Adult dog kids out of my house and
S1: poor church members out of my church. Then he says,
S1: I ain't never scared.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth from Pastor Ford. A message
S2: from Psalm 27. I ain't never scared we're going to
S2: get back to this teaching in just one moment. I
S2: know over these summer months, many of us might be traveling.
S2: Maybe you've got a summer vacation coming up, but you
S2: don't want to miss Pastor Ford's teaching if you've not
S2: done so before, go get the Moody Radio app. That way,
S2: you can listen to treasure, truth, and many other moody
S2: produced programs and music streaming stations whenever you want. The
S2: app is free, and it's available for your iPhone, iPad,
S2: or your Android phone or tablet. Just come to our website, npr.org.
S2: Click on the app button at the bottom of the
S2: home page for more info. Again, it's Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: Back to the message. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Doctor John Adolf tells a the story. I gotta repeat,
S1: he says, uh, sister said, can you do my house blessing?
S1: He said, sure. He goes, and there's a couple people there,
S1: you know, it's afternoon. And so there are friends and
S1: family and, you know, church folk there, and they're eating
S1: little finger food and everything. And he said, he looks
S1: and on the coffee table he sees the picture of
S1: a very handsome man. So nobody asked. And he said,
S1: but he a pastor. And so he could ask some
S1: things other people wouldn't ask. He said, who is that?
S1: Is that your boo? Because if it is now, you
S1: can't let him move into your new house. She said,
S1: oh no no no.
S3: No no no no no no.
S1: She said, that's my ex. That's your ex-husband. That's my ex.
S1: Wait a minute. Why do you have a picture? He
S1: said he was confused. He said he looked. She had
S1: a jacuzzi, pool, Burberry carpet, big 60 inch flat screen
S1: TV and a picture of her ex just didn't go together.
S1: He said, tell me the story. Now I want, she said.
S1: He left me and my three kids. Abandoned us. And
S1: things went from bad to worse so that we eventually,
S1: because he kept the house, put us out. Eventually we
S1: were in a homeless shelter. But when he dropped me,
S1: it was then that Jesus picked me up. She said.
S1: And when he picked me up, he let me know.
S1: He won't do me that way. Because can't nobody do
S1: me like Jesus. Can't nobody. Do you like the Lord? Yeah.
S1: Pick you up, turn you around, place your feet on
S1: solid ground. Then she said, she said. And so then
S1: I went to school and I struggled to raise my
S1: kids and go to school. And I did it from
S1: a homeless shelter. And for three years I struggled and struggled.
S1: But I got my RN and I started saving my money.
S1: They let me stay. I stayed there five years, then
S1: got me an apartment, and then I was in an
S1: apartment for a year. I had saved up enough money
S1: to buy me this house, and when I got this house,
S1: I told my three kids, I'm putting the picture of
S1: your daddy right there on the coffee table to always
S1: remind me that if he hadn't dropped me, Jesus never
S1: could've picked me up because I had my eyes on
S1: him rather than on him. And now I'm serving the
S1: man who treats me better than any man ever did.
S1: And I guarantee you, every time I look at. Thank you,
S1: Jesus that I married that man. Thank you Jesus that
S1: that man dropped me. And thank you, Lord, that you
S1: helped me to realize I don't need anybody but you.
S1: That's it. Conquest in the past. Now, I got some
S1: questions for you. You trippin about a job? Didn't he
S1: get you the last job? Then can't he get you
S1: another job? Because if he did it back, then he
S1: can do it now. Out same God right now. He
S1: healed you before. He can heal you again. He got
S1: you your last boo. How that sound? The storehouses of
S1: heaven are full. Except for booze. Mhm. And I already
S1: told you who you want. Ladies. Who you want? You
S1: want a man who will give anything to make you
S1: his everything. That's what you want. Here's the last one.
S1: And I'm done. Here's the last one. He says I
S1: ain't never scared. Celebration about Yahweh. I ain't never scared.
S1: Conquest from Yahweh. And in other words, he's looking back. I,
S1: I gotta say it because remember what David did when
S1: he was fighting Goliath? What did he do? He looked back.
S1: He said, I'll defeat this uncircumcised Philistine. How how will
S1: you do that? Because I defeated the lion and the bear.
S1: See what he did? He went back and said he
S1: did it for me back there. A lion and a bear.
S1: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine man? That's what we need
S1: to do. That's what we need. Amen. That's what we need.
S1: Here's the last one. His confidence about God. Verse three.
S1: His confidence about God. This is what he says. This
S1: is all we got time for today. Though a host
S1: should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though
S1: war shall rise against me, in this will I be confident. See,
S1: he's saying, I'm confident, man. I'm confident about God. Oh, okay.
S1: Can I expedite this? Let me let me expedite this.
S1: Let me expedite this. Imma expedite this okay. Watch this,
S1: watch this. Here's what he's saying. Why am I confident?
S1: Verse one. Because of what he does in the present.
S1: Verse two, what he does in the past. Now he's
S1: saying if he did it in the past and he's
S1: doing it in the present, what makes you think he's
S1: going to stop now? He's going to do it in
S1: the future. So I'm walking toward my future, and I'm
S1: walking with confidence because I know I know what God does. Okay, okay,
S1: here it is. I get you to understand it and
S1: then we'll go home. Here it is. I'm thinking of
S1: five numbers. Now, I'm not going to tell you what
S1: my fifth number is. I want to see if you
S1: could tell me. Three, six, nine, 12, 15. I was
S1: going to say 681. No, I wasn't, because what did
S1: I do? Multiples of three. I said, wait a minute.
S1: Watch this now. Can can I, I don't I don't
S1: want to explain this. I set it up in a pattern,
S1: a pattern that is repeatable so that it's so set
S1: that I don't need to tell you where I'm going.
S1: You can tell me by the pattern. Did you get
S1: it that God has set up a pattern in your life?
S1: He has done things for you and for me that
S1: nobody else could do. And he set up the pattern
S1: and he says, listen, you know, I'm going to take
S1: care of you in the future because I took care
S1: of you in the past. I'm taking care of you,
S1: of the present. What makes you think if your salvation
S1: is justification in the past, sanctification in the present, and
S1: glorification in the what future? Let me read it to you.
S1: Romans 829. What does he say? Them who? He justified them.
S1: He also foreknew them. He foreknew them, he also glorified.
S1: Glorified is past tense. God, why do you tell me
S1: about the future tense of my salvation in the past tense?
S1: Because when I look at it, it's already done. It's
S1: already done. Up. It's already done. Yeah. You can be
S1: confident about your future because it's already done. It's already done.
S1: And and and so am I. Because when you look
S1: at what he's telling us, listen, he's saying I ain't
S1: never scared. Uh, but but here, here, here it is.
S1: You know, and I know that immediately this is talking
S1: about David. Ultimately, it's pointing to the Lord and Savior
S1: Jesus Christ. When he says, the Lord is my light.
S1: This is the first time in all of Scripture we're
S1: almost halfway through the Bible when he uses the word
S1: light as a metaphor for God first time. Now it's
S1: called the law of first mention. The first time means something.
S1: The Lord is my light. John 812 Jesus Christ is
S1: the light of the world, that we are stumbling in
S1: darkness without the light. And those of us who have him.
S1: Because when he says salvation, he's not talking about justification.
S1: He's talking about sanctification, that he illuminates us and he
S1: allows us to understand that he is all we have,
S1: but he is all we need. Have you found that
S1: out yet? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, II worship him and
S1: serve him because his bond is love. His burden is light.
S1: His goal for me is abundant life. And so he
S1: is the one who is the power of the powerful,
S1: the Ancient of Days, the ruler of ruler, the leaders
S1: of leaders. And, uh, he is the one that we need.
S1: He's the one who is, who was and who is
S1: to come. And so you need to know that you
S1: ain't never got to be scared. Why? Because when you fall,
S1: he lifts you up. And when you fail, he forgives you.
S1: When you're weak, he's your strength. When you're lost, he's
S1: the way. When you're afraid. He's your courage. When you stumble.
S1: He steadies you when you're hurt. He heals you. When
S1: you're broken. He mends you. When you're blind. He leads you.
S1: When you're hungry. He feeds you. When you face trials.
S1: He's with you. When you face persecution. He shields you.
S1: When you face problems, he comforts you. When you face loss,
S1: he provides for you. When you face death, he'll be
S1: there to carry you home. Absent from the body. Present
S1: with the Lord. And so he is the God who
S1: is my light and my salvation, my strength, in whom
S1: I trust. I never scared, I never scared. Father, we
S1: pray that you'll bless the truth to our hearts, for
S1: Christ's sake.
S2: Amen. Well, can you say with Pastor Ford that God
S2: is your light and your salvation? If the answer is no,
S2: you can change that right now by turning your life
S2: over to Christ. Just call 888. That's one 888. Need him.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth. You can find us online
S2: at Treasure Truth Radio.com. Well, it's no exaggeration to say
S2: that we're experiencing a marriage crisis in our culture. You
S2: can't turn on the news or scroll through social media
S2: without coming across concerning stories about how God's plan for
S2: marriage is being twisted and distorted to reflect the cravings
S2: of sinful people. Even in the church, marriages are in
S2: need of help and many are unsure where to turn.
S2: In the book seven Reasons Why God Created Marriage, Pastor
S2: Ford presents God's will for marriage, and he explains why
S2: it's so important to follow the principles laid out in Scripture.
S2: You can request a copy of this book when you
S2: give a gift of any amount to treasure truth. Call
S2: us at 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: You know, statistically, most people will get married at some
S2: point in their life. Unfortunately, many will also get divorced.
S2: But what if many of these divorces could be prevented
S2: by a biblical understanding of marriage? What if your marriage
S2: could grow even while your faith and understanding of God's
S2: Word also grows? As you read seven Reasons Why God
S2: Created Marriage. You'll begin to grasp God's incredible plan for
S2: marriage as a source of strength and faith for your life.
S2: So give a donation and request your copy today. Call
S2: us at 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: I'm Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us
S2: again tomorrow for more Bible teaching here from Pastor Ford.
S2: That's on treasure Truth. A production of Moody Radio, a
S2: ministry of Moody Bible Institute.