S1: He says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
S1: of Christ. Woe! Not ashamed. That's our biggest problem, isn't it?
S1: We're ashamed of Jesus. And Jesus said, if you're ashamed
S1: of me in this perverse and adulterous generation, I'll be
S1: ashamed of you before my father which is in heaven.
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 Heller. Glad you joined us today as we continue
S2: a message winning the lost, no matter the cost. And, pastor,
S2: I think if you were to ask most believers if
S2: they're ashamed of Jesus, they'd say, no, no, I'm not.
S2: I'm not ashamed of him. But then if you were
S2: to ask them, when's the last time you told someone
S2: about Jesus in your relationship with him? Many believers would probably,
S2: with a little bit of shame, have to say, yeah,
S2: it's been a long time, right?
S3: Because we would not like to think that we are
S3: ashamed of Christ, but you know, there are little things
S3: that you can do. It's the little things when you're
S3: tempted to be ashamed of Christ. I am a pescatarian now,
S3: not a pesky person, but pescatarian. That means I eat fish, vegetables,
S3: and fruit, and I go to a place that has
S3: what they call live food. And there are individuals there
S3: that are of a different faith.
S2: Okay.
S3: And so I'm tempted to be coward in front of them,
S3: you know, with the gospel. So here's what I do.
S3: I go in, they say, hey, how are you doing today?
S3: I say, I'm doing fine because I don't have a
S3: problem that Jesus can't solve. That's my tagline. Yeah. You know,
S3: and so. And I use it all the time. And
S3: in times when I think, man, I don't want to
S3: say anything. I get that out. And that kind of
S3: breaks the ice. Like, okay, I done broke the ice.
S3: I might as well go for the gold right now.
S2: Absolutely. You know, we're talking about the first half of
S2: what we heard you say just a moment ago. Many
S2: of us maybe have not considered the second half where
S2: Jesus says, if you're ashamed of me in this perverse
S2: and adulterous generation, I'll be ashamed of you before my
S2: father which is in heaven. That's a pretty heavy thing
S2: to think.
S3: About, really. And theologically, there's a difference of opinion. You know,
S3: if you ask five preachers, you get six different answers.
S3: But there are some who think that's in the context
S3: of prayer. That whenever you pray, if you were ashamed
S3: of Christ, he's not going to acknowledge you at the
S3: right hand of the father. And there are those who say, no.
S3: That's a reference to the judgment seat of Christ, where
S3: he will wipe away all our tears, because there will
S3: be shame and sadness at the judgment seat. When we
S3: see what we could have done and what we could
S3: have accomplished for his glory. But we didn't.
S2: Yeah. And that's a good reminder that why we do
S2: have to face the judgment seat of Christ one day,
S2: and we will be judged for our thoughts and actions
S2: and deeds and maybe missed opportunities. There is no condemnation
S2: in Christ. He is going to wipe away that shame
S2: one day.
S3: This is the kicker for me, Steve. How could you
S3: not publicize someone who saved your life? And he's done
S3: that for us eternally. Yeah. I mean, come on. It's
S3: a no brainer.
S2: Well, it's a good reminder and challenge that we do
S2: need to be winning the lost, no matter the cost.
S2: In fact, that's the title of today's message. So join
S2: us in Romans chapter one. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: If God did it for you, he could do it.
S1: Don't you feel obligated to let somebody know who's going
S1: through what you went through? That God is a healer.
S1: That God is a deliverer. That God can set you free.
S1: That he can write your name in the Lamb's Book
S1: of Life. We ought to feel obligated. Obligated to tell people.
S1: Paul says, man, I just feel compelled. I can't help myself.
S1: I feel compelled to do it now. Thirdly, look at thirdly,
S1: look at thirdly, look at thirdly, because of converts. That's
S1: the first stick of dynamite he throws in our lap.
S1: Then because of compulsion, that's the second stick of dynamite.
S1: Now notice the third one, verse 15, because of compassion.
S1: Notice what he says. So as much as in me is,
S1: I am ready to preach the gospel to you that
S1: are at Rome also. The word to preach the gospel
S1: is one word in the Greek. You ain't gotta say
S1: you ain't mine. It means to preach the good news.
S1: What is the good news? Well, the good news is
S1: Jesus Christ died, was buried, rose again the third day.
S1: That's the good news. Ascended into heaven seated at the
S1: right hand of the father. Soon coming. King. That's the
S1: good news. If there is good news, there must be
S1: bad news. What's the bad news? If you don't accept him,
S1: You are going to go to hell if you don't
S1: believe that there is a hell. Die without Jesus and
S1: one minute after you die, you will believe in hell.
S1: So what happens? You know what? Here's what gets me.
S1: I have a classic sermon. You know, we call them
S1: classics when we want to do them again. And it's
S1: it's entitled seven Things in Hell that ought to be
S1: in the church. How many have heard that message? Seven
S1: things in hell. That one, one, two, three, four. I
S1: could preach that again. There ain't ten people heard that.
S1: One of the things I talk about is what are
S1: what are some of the things in hell I'm going
S1: to talk about any of them. But but one, the
S1: rich man said, send somebody to tell my five brothers
S1: not to come to this place. There is more concern
S1: for lost people in hell than there is in the church.
S1: That's a shame. Hey, what would you do if you
S1: saw somebody's house on fire and, you know, they were
S1: in there and they didn't know it, and they were
S1: going to burn up, what would you do? Would you
S1: tell them? Yeah. Then why aren't you telling your unsaved
S1: loved ones, family and friends that their house is on
S1: fire and that if they don't accept Jesus Christ, they're
S1: going to go to hell? Amen. They're going to go
S1: to hell. Yeah. Mm. Because of compassion, he says, I'm eager.
S1: I can tell you what you love by listening to
S1: what you talk about the most. I can tell you
S1: what you love by what you do with your time.
S1: There's a police officer, a state trooper from Florida. I
S1: don't know if he's still around. It's about 20 years ago,
S1: a a young lady who was engaged to be married
S1: was run over by an 18 Wheeler, uh, killed, trapped
S1: in the car. He couldn't get the license plate because
S1: the wheels were over the license plate. He reached in
S1: and grabbed her purse and looked for identification. He opened
S1: up her purse, which had a flip with one of
S1: these dual things with a checkbook. He looked through the checkbook,
S1: saw her name and everything. But then he looked through
S1: the checkbook and he saw every first of the month.
S1: There was an exorbitant amount of money. So when he
S1: finally contacted relatives, your relative, uh, is is is is here,
S1: and we're trying to extricate her from the car and blah, blah, blah, blah.
S1: Her fiance came down as they were, you know, they're
S1: just being on the scene. He said to the state trooper.
S1: He said, man, he said we were going to be
S1: married next week. He said, so sorry. He said, but
S1: I say trooper said, I have a question. And he said,
S1: what's the question? He said, listen. I looked through her
S1: checkbook and it was an exorbitant amount of money to
S1: this church every, every first of the month. He said, yeah,
S1: because she was a Christian, she loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
S1: She believed in tithes and offerings. He said, really? This
S1: state trooper was led to the Lord by her fiance
S1: right there. Here's the testimony that he went around giving
S1: saved by a checkbook. Amen. That God used a committed
S1: Christian's checkbook. Now, my question would be if somebody looked
S1: at our checkbook. Book. Could they know we love Jesus Christ?
S1: Could they get saved by looking at our checkbook? Okay,
S1: I'll leave that alone. Let me move on. Let me
S1: move on. Let me move on. Compassion. Compassion. But people
S1: don't care how much you know until they know how
S1: much you care. Remember the little boy who would go
S1: visit with his grandmother and his granddaddy? And they lived
S1: on the beach, and he would go on the beach
S1: every morning and walk. Well, this morning there were thousands
S1: of starfish all over the beach, all over the beach.
S1: So he went out and he started picking them up
S1: and throwing them in the ocean, picking them up and
S1: throwing them, just running along, picking some of them up,
S1: throw them in the ocean. The teenager saw him stepped
S1: in his way and the little boy tried to step around.
S1: He stepped in his way and he stepped in his
S1: way again. He said, little boy, don't you understand? With
S1: the thousands of starfish that are stranded on this beach,
S1: it's an exercise in futility. You can't make a difference.
S1: He ran around. The elderly gentleman, picked up some more,
S1: picked up some more, stopped and turned around and said, sir,
S1: I beg to differ with you. It does make a
S1: difference to the ones that I've thrown back in. It
S1: makes a difference. How do we change the community? One
S1: person at a time? That's it. That's it. So there
S1: are people who are going to hell from the church.
S1: There are people who are going to hell from the bends,
S1: from the mansion. So so, so, so don't get it twisted. Yeah.
S1: What's wrong with our community? Because I'm going to tell you,
S1: it's a change of nature, not a change of name.
S1: One brother said to me, you need to change your name.
S1: You got your slave name, put an X behind it.
S1: Call your name Abdullah Muhammad X. And I said, listen,
S1: if I would rob you as James Ford Junior, I'll
S1: rob you as Abdullah Muhammad X, because it's not a
S1: change of name that I need. It's a change of
S1: nature that I need and only Jesus can change the nature.
S1: That's it. And so he says yes, then, then then
S1: then because of confidence. Verse 16, because of confidence. Imma
S1: break this down as quick as I can. I'm just
S1: going to tell you what he says. He says, for
S1: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Whoa!
S1: Not ashamed. That's our biggest problem, isn't it? Yes. We're
S1: ashamed of Jesus. And Jesus said, if you're ashamed of
S1: me in this perverse and adulterous generation, I'll be ashamed
S1: of you before my father which is in heaven. Man,
S1: we can't be ashamed. How can we be ashamed of
S1: the person who gave us life? How can we be
S1: ashamed of the person who changed us? Therefore, if any
S1: man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
S1: have passed away. Behold all things. How can we be
S1: ashamed of the one who wrote our name in his book?
S1: How can we be ashamed of the one who washed
S1: us in his blood? How can we be ashamed? The
S1: one that adopted us into his family sealed us with
S1: the Holy Spirit of God. How can we be ashamed
S1: of the one who died on Calvary for our sins,
S1: even if we were the only people who lived on
S1: the face of the earth, how can we be ashamed
S1: of him?
S2: Really a powerful question and a great challenge for us today.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth, a message called Winning the lost,
S2: no matter the cost. And we'll get back to this
S2: teaching from Romans one in just a moment. Well, I
S2: want to let you know that you can always follow
S2: Pastor Ford on social media. If you've not done so before,
S2: you can like us on Facebook and follow us on
S2: Twitter or on Facebook. You can even listen to this
S2: program directly through the Facebook homepage. So come to the
S2: website treasure. Org and click on those social media links. Again,
S2: it's treasure. Truth. Radio.com. Once again, here's Pastor Ford.
S1: My friend Marvin Daniels, when he was the youth pastor
S1: of Compassion Baptist. It used to be Merle Avenue. He
S1: was walking down Jeffrey, going under the viaduct to go
S1: to 95th Street. Some, some, some bangers rolled up in
S1: a Hooptie threw an Uzi out the back window and said, declare!
S1: So I told him, I said, I know you was
S1: feeling good about that because they thought you was a teenager.
S1: And I said, what'd you do, man? You know, because
S1: I know what I would have done. He said, what
S1: would you have done? I said, man, I would saturate
S1: the place with my absence. Rather they say there he
S1: go than there he lay. I remember my motto when
S1: I was in grade school. He who thinks to run
S1: away will live to fight another day. Hey, I said,
S1: what did you do? He said, I prayed a quick prayer.
S1: I said, God, just like in acts chapter four, when
S1: they beat him and told him not to proclaim, give
S1: me power, he said, I started walking toward him. I said, yeah,
S1: what'd you say? He said, I walked toward him and
S1: I said, I'm not a a Latin king, but I
S1: do serve the King of kings. I'm not a just
S1: a gangster disciple, but I am a disciple of Christ.
S1: And my leader, like your leader is not with you,
S1: but my leader is not in jail. He's at the
S1: right hand of the father making intercession for me right now,
S1: as I'm witnessing to you, I don't have a sign
S1: like you. My sign is the cross. The cross of
S1: Jesus Christ. I don't have a color like you. My
S1: color is red, which stands for the blood of Christ.
S1: And I'm out doing the same thing you're doing. I
S1: want you to declare. I want you to become one
S1: of God's gangbangers. Because the Bible says that if I
S1: can declare with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and
S1: believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead,
S1: thou shalt be saved. Do you want to become one
S1: of God's gangbangers? They said that in words. Crazy threw
S1: the Uzi in the back seat and pulled off. And
S1: he said, I hollered out, I'm crazy for Jesus. I said, man,
S1: that's what it means not to be ashamed of the
S1: gospel of Jesus Christ. Hey, I tell you, like my
S1: mama used to say, my mama would fight anybody. Man. Woman. Dog. Cat.
S1: It didn't matter. And I say, mama, why you do
S1: something like that? She said, because they can kill me.
S4: But they can't eat me.
S1: And I think about it. Nobody can take me out
S1: unless God is ready for me to go. That's the
S1: way I look at it. So Imma go anywhere. I
S1: don't care if they shoot me. It was God's will
S1: that I go.
S4: Out that way. Yeah.
S1: It's good preaching, man.
S4: So why should I be afraid? Imma live forever. Yeah.
S1: Now I know what you're thinking I am too, but
S1: I ain't ready to go today. But that ain't your decision.
S1: There are people who haven't witnessed, just been in the
S1: wrong place and got shot. Yes. If you're going to
S1: get shot, at least get shot for Jesus. Yes. Amen.
S1: That's it. Pastor Presley White, in the presence of the Lord,
S1: was witnessing. Witnessing at the book of the blood. How
S1: many know where that is? Bucket of blood. That's on
S1: the west side. West side. And Pastor White went out witnessing,
S1: and he said he walked into the gangbangers. They were whittling.
S1: One guy was whittling and he said, I want to
S1: give you a gospel track. And the guy stabbed through
S1: the track and cut his finger. He said, I just
S1: asked God, what should I do now? God said, just
S1: turn and walk away. He said, I just turn and
S1: walk away. He said there was a church and I
S1: knocked on the door. My hand was bleeding profusely and
S1: the pastor came to the door and said, well, what happened?
S1: What happened? He said, I told him what happened. He said,
S1: Pastor Ford, his answer hurt me more than the cut.
S1: I said, what did he say? he fixed up my hand,
S1: bandaged up and said, you're going to need stitches. And
S1: he said, you should have known better than to try
S1: to talk to them people anyway. He said, that hurt
S1: me more than the cut. Yeah, that here was somebody
S1: that didn't see the value and the worth in a
S1: life that Christ died for. Here it is because of
S1: converting power. Verse 16, because I'm convinced it's the power
S1: of God. Okay, I gotta tell you this story. It's
S1: the power of God. Dunamis of God. Implosive. Okay, I
S1: gotta tell you this story. You already heard it. I
S1: hope you heard it. It was about the Washington family.
S1: Come on, Brother Washington, raise your hand. Everybody look at
S1: Washington right there. His daughter was was diagnosed with a
S1: congestive heart condition, and they took pictures of it and
S1: all that kind of stuff. And, uh, we came and, uh, said, okay,
S1: we're going to pray. She wanted prayer. And so nine
S1: women stood on this platform, uh, the last Sunday I
S1: preached here, anointed her with oil, told her to throw
S1: her hands up, and thank God, uh, Brother Washington took
S1: his family to the doctor the next day, told the doctor,
S1: you know what? I'm going to walk by faith. We
S1: were all going to take this test. But no, we're
S1: not all going to take the test. I'm just going
S1: to believe God. Just give her the test the doctor
S1: gave her the test came back and said, I don't
S1: know what's going on. I can't I don't see anything.
S1: I mean, it was there. I don't know what's going on.
S1: I don't I can't explain it to you. Now get this.
S1: It's the power of God. But wait a minute, wait
S1: a minute. Every miracle. See, see, see. Here's where people
S1: get it twisted in gospel. John. He did seven signs.
S1: They're not called miracles. They're called signs. Why? Because a
S1: sign points to something. When you see a sign. Chicago.
S1: Ten miles. That means you got ten miles before you
S1: get to Chicago. That's what the sign. The signs were
S1: all to point to the fact that he was God
S1: in the flesh. That's why he did the signs, the healing.
S1: Why would he let a pretty young girl like that
S1: be diagnosed with congestive heart failure so he could set
S1: it up so that when the power of God is demonstrated,
S1: and when that doctor told Vernon that he didn't know
S1: how it happened, Vernon said, I do. And that doctor
S1: heard about Jesus with irrefutable evidence that it was the
S1: power of God. Because he said, because yesterday our church
S1: believed God and laid hands and anointed with oil, and
S1: God healed her. Now, whether he accepted or not, he
S1: heard about the power of God unto salvation to everybody
S1: that believes. Here's the last one. Here's the last one.
S1: Notice verse 17. Here's the last stick of dynamite because
S1: of conveyance. You know, it just starts with, with with
S1: a C. What do you mean, what it conveys? Here's
S1: what he says. For therein is the righteousness of God
S1: revealed from faith to faith. As it written, the just
S1: shall live by faith. There's a this. This is a
S1: sermon all by itself. Let me say this the just
S1: shall live by faith comes from Habakkuk. It's only three
S1: times in the New Testament. It is Romans 117 right here.
S1: Galatians chapter. I didn't put it down. And it's in
S1: Galatians in Hebrew. And here it is. Romans focused on
S1: the just. It tells about who they are, how you
S1: get justified. Galatians talks about shall live. And then Hebrews
S1: talks about by faith. So he brings it together, breaks
S1: it down, and explain it to us. What he say,
S1: it's the righteousness of God. The word righteousness is in
S1: the book of Romans over 60 times. You think he's
S1: trying to make a point? He's trying to make a point.
S1: How do you get a person righteous? How do you
S1: get a person living right, doing right. Get em saved. Why?
S1: Because faith acronym is forsaking all I trust him. Guess what?
S1: It is in Mandarin Chinese. Some of you remember this
S1: Mandarin Chinese. It had to be put together by somebody
S1: who was a believer. Guess what the word righteousness is.
S1: They have characters. Now guess what the word righteousness is like.
S1: Over me. That's the word for righteousness in Mandarin Chinese.
S1: A picture of a lamb over the word me. So
S1: how do you get righteous in Mandarin Chinese? Have the
S1: lamb over you. Amen. Man, this God loved us so
S1: much that he sent somebody to witness to us. The
S1: perfect witness came. His name is Jesus Christ. We have
S1: to give. Now, here's the application. Here it is, here
S1: it is, here it is. How many of you on Facebook?
S1: How many of you on Facebook raise your hand? Okay.
S1: How many of you, uh, tweet. How many of you text?
S1: How many of you on Instagram? How many of you
S1: on some of these other things I don't even know about? Okay,
S1: here's what I want us to do. I want us
S1: to do a gospel Bombshell. Alright, okay, here it is.
S1: Here's the gospel bombshell. This week I want you to
S1: inundate every every media form that we have. So how
S1: many of you have unsaved friends, relatives, associates or neighbors? Okay,
S1: let's make a commitment to do this Monday. Take every
S1: one of those meetings that you have. So Monday, here's
S1: what I'm going to do. I'm going to email, text message,
S1: put on Facebook and do an Instagram. Say how are
S1: you going to do Instagram? I'm going to take a
S1: picture of me and say, Happy in Jesus. John 316.
S1: That's what I'm going to do. And then Tuesday I'll
S1: do another one, you know. But how many of you
S1: make a commitment every day? Monday, Tuesday? At least once
S1: in every form of the day. You tell everybody you
S1: eating barbecue and where you are and all that kind
S1: of stuff. And some of us, you know, I look
S1: at some of them, I don't stay on a whole
S1: lot because I don't I don't like to be on it.
S1: But some of some of your Facebook pages, I look
S1: at them and say, man, you wouldn't know there was
S1: a Christian and all that stuff they're putting on Facebook.
S1: Look at the way they're dressing, man. They really believe somebody.
S1: Believe they're a Christian. Anyway, so now what we can
S1: do is let's use it for Jesus. Alright, okay, okay,
S1: I need to see. I need to see just by
S1: standing how many are going to do it every day. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday.
S1: Thursday Friday. Saturday. Come on. Alright. Amen. God bless. How
S1: many of you will do it? Five days. Stand up.
S1: How many of you do it? Four days. Three days?
S1: How about two days? Can I get a one day?
S1: Can I get you to pass out of track? You
S1: got anybody? That's not saying that you can write a
S1: letter to if you don't want to talk to him. Hey,
S1: you know what I've been wanting to tell you about
S1: the best friend I have. His name is Jesus. And
S1: then just tell him why he came and what he
S1: did and who he is.
S2: You know, successful evangelism doesn't mean winning people to Christ.
S2: It just simply means being faithful to share the message
S2: of the gospel. Really, the results are up to God.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. Today's program
S2: is called Winning the Lost, no matter the cost, and
S2: you can find it when you come to our website,
S2: along with a complete archive of sermons. Just come to
S2: treasure Truth Radio. You know, pastor, there are all sorts
S2: of voices in culture that are bombarding us with messages
S2: that are so contrary to God's Word and to what
S2: Scripture says. And I think one of the reasons that
S2: listeners may want to consider giving a gift to support
S2: is that Moody Radio and Treasure Truth can help us
S2: stand firm.
S1: Amen. Because Moody Network will give us the gospel straight,
S1: no chaser. And we don't want to mix anything with
S1: the Word of God, because if you dilute it, you
S1: pollute it. And you know, Steve, I went on an
S1: all fruit diet, and I gained weight and I couldn't
S1: understand what happened. I mean, you know, all I had
S1: was apple pie, peach cobbler, you know, you see where
S1: I'm going? You get where I'm going. That everything I
S1: added to it polluted it and took away its nutritional value.
S1: That's what's happening with the word of God today. Hey,
S1: Moody encourages all of us not to be politically correct,
S1: but to be biblically correct.
S2: Well, you can help us do that to to share
S2: the truth of God's Word with those who will come
S2: across this program and across Moody Radio by giving a gift.
S2: Come to Treasure Truth Radio org and click on the
S2: donate button. Thanks for doing that and for listening today.
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.