S1: James is saying, you're going through something right now, but
S1: you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
S1: you are in getting out of your pain.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
S2: Ford Jr, senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us today as we
S2: continue our message from James chapter one, seeing purpose in
S2: your problems and pain. And as we began to look
S2: at in yesterday's broadcast, we all go through pain and
S2: we all go through problems. And as we're walking through that,
S2: it can be hard to grow spiritually. It can be
S2: hard to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because I
S2: get it. We want the easy way out. We want
S2: the pain to stop. We want the problem solved immediately.
S2: But sometimes in doing that, we shortcut what God is
S2: wanting to do in our lives. Very often he may
S2: be trying to teach us something by allowing us to
S2: be in that problem or in that pain for a season.
S2: And when we shortcut that, we're not growing like he
S2: wants us to grow. So I think it can be helpful,
S2: as we're in a season like that, to not only
S2: be looking for the way out, but to keep in
S2: mind that our goal really ought to be honoring Jesus
S2: in the midst of that pain. And as we do so,
S2: we're bound to grow in spiritual maturity. We're going to
S2: continue to look at that today from James chapter one.
S2: So if you can open your Bible and join us
S2: there as we continue the message seeing purpose in your
S2: problems and pain. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Don't ever write anybody off because you don't know what
S1: God can do when he gets Ahold of somebody. Look
S1: at me, look at me. Folk wrote me off. People
S1: would be out witnessing and wouldn't give me a track
S1: because I was pushing drugs. But look at me now.
S1: I'm preaching Christ. I went from pushing drugs to preaching Christ.
S1: I went from LSD. Try to get a PhD. I mean,
S1: you know, God is doing the thing. Somebody would say,
S1: look at him, poor little welfare boy. Family of ten.
S1: You know, mama went third grade education. Well, I earned
S1: all my degrees except the one I was given. Yeah.
S1: Don't ever write anybody off. She was fired from her job. Uh, and, uh,
S1: she was told you are unfit for television. So the
S1: first job she had, uh, as a TV announcer, she
S1: was fired. Now she owns her own. And she is
S1: the richest African-American in America, worth over $3 billion. What's
S1: her name? Everybody. Same time Oprah. Now, I don't agree
S1: with her philosophy, but I sure wouldn't mind having some
S1: of her money. I. Will say I would too. And
S1: so what's going on here? Listen, he's saying listen, let
S1: me tell you about my identification. Uh, my name is James.
S1: But then look at his dedication. There are seven words
S1: in the New Testament translated servant or minister. And this
S1: is the one. Dulas. Dulas. Guess where it fits. Come on,
S1: holler out a number from 1 to 7. Holler out
S1: a number from 1 to 7. Seven. It's the worst term.
S1: It's the most abject term that one could use for slavery.
S1: And that's what he uses. Now you say wait wait
S1: wait wait wait. See? He's saying, look, am I suffering?
S1: I submit to the regal sovereignty of God. He could
S1: have said, God, my brother. He could have said, James,
S1: if I'd have wrote it. So you think he would
S1: have said James, a servant of Jesus Christ? James, half
S1: brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what I'm saying?
S1: Ate at the same table with him. You know what
S1: I'm saying? In the same crib. You know what I'm saying?
S1: I am somebody. But he doesn't say that. He puts
S1: none of the relationship. He says, let me tell you
S1: who I am. A slave to Jesus Christ. That's why
S1: he could do anything he wants. Because I'm a slave
S1: to Jesus Christ, man. He's saying, listen, this word is
S1: really powerful. You know what it means? It means absolute conformity,
S1: abject humility and undivided loyalty. Let me say it again.
S1: It means absolute conformity. It means abject humility. And it
S1: means undivided loyalty. When you wanted to be a dulos
S1: and you were set free, guess what you have to do.
S1: You had to get in all h.w.l. I spell it
S1: because I can't pronounce it real well. And you had
S1: to put it through your ear so everybody would see
S1: the whole and know that you voluntarily became a slave
S1: even though you were free. And so Christ set us
S1: free from the slave market of sin. And he wants
S1: us to volunteer to become his slave. Here's what he's saying.
S1: Your will is all that matters. Not my wants. Not
S1: my pain. Not my problems. Not my trials. Not my tests.
S1: No no no no, I'm not saying that you don't
S1: feel the pain. I'm not saying that. And he won't
S1: say that. I'm not saying that you have to like it. No,
S1: I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you submit to
S1: what God has either authorized or allowed to happen in
S1: your life. In other words, he's saying your will is
S1: all that matters to me. James is saying, I'm not
S1: going to tip on Jesus because I'm telling you, there's
S1: a lot of Christians, man. We're the bride of Christ.
S1: We're married to Jesus. But the devil is our side piece.
S1: We're here with Jesus on Sunday and we shacking with
S1: the devil on Monday. And I already told you, you
S1: can't cast out a devil you sleeping with. We say devil,
S1: I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. He say,
S1: shut up and go and get in this bed. Mm
S1: mm mm. Yeah. You say, well, what did he say?
S1: He's saying, listen, I need you to understand this, that
S1: I submit in my person to the regal sovereignty of God. Listen, listen, I'm.
S1: I'm working on a message. I don't know if I'm
S1: going to get to it, because, you know, I have
S1: been all over the place here lately, you know, but, uh,
S1: I'm working on some messages, And one of the things
S1: I'm going to do is talk about what is the
S1: biblical basis, everything that we're going in. When I listen
S1: to the news, here's what I hear. I hear fruit,
S1: I hear, shoot, I hear nothing about fruit. Yeah, the
S1: problem is not with the world. The problem is with
S1: the church. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll go on record
S1: as saying. Why? Because. Thank you, Tony Evans. Because when
S1: you look at a football game, two teams on the field,
S1: they're both trying to make goals. But the most powerful
S1: people on the field are not part of the teams,
S1: the most powerful guys. There's five of them that's on
S1: the field. They're called the referees. Guess what? They don't
S1: have equipment on and they never pumped any iron. Most
S1: of them. And they never shot any steroids, but they
S1: got more power than everybody on that field. And their
S1: job is to make sure that what happens on that
S1: field is the instructions from the manual that came from
S1: New York. See, the NFL headquarters sent down a manual
S1: and said this is how the game ought to be played.
S1: And so the referees have the most power, because if
S1: that £350, uh, offensive tackle, uh, does something that's not
S1: in this book, he can throw that yellow flag and
S1: throw him out of the game. God has called us
S1: as the Church of Jesus Christ because we have a manual,
S1: and it didn't come from this world. It came from heaven.
S1: He gave us this manual, and we are the referees
S1: on this earth. And when the earth decides they're not
S1: going to listen to the manual, we throw out the
S1: flag of salvation, put them in check, and say, this
S1: is what thus saith the Lord. That's what we need
S1: to do. Amen. And it's time that the church be
S1: the church. So anyway, so what's happening? In other words,
S1: James is saying you're going through something right now, but
S1: you need to be more committed to Jesus purpose than
S1: you are in getting out of your pain. Amen. That's
S1: a hard message. Alexander the Great. He conquered the whole
S1: known world by the time he was 33. Same age
S1: as Jesus. But he died at 33, in an alcoholic stupor.
S1: Because a man who could control all those troops and
S1: all those nations all over the world couldn't control his
S1: own nature. Know anybody like that? So he wants the
S1: wealth of this city. He brings his troop. But the
S1: city is on a mountain. They made this city on
S1: a mountain, and it only has one way to approach it.
S1: And it has a wall that they built around. So
S1: if you could scale the mountain, you still have to
S1: scale the wall, which is about 30ft high. Alexander marched
S1: his troops up. Supposed to be true story marched his
S1: troops up and said to the king, who was on
S1: the wall, open the gates, open the gates, and let
S1: me in, and no one will lose their life. King said,
S1: you can't get up in here. You can't get all
S1: your men on on this narrow way, and you can't
S1: scale these walls. We have about three years worth of provisions,
S1: so go ahead and siege us because you ain't getting
S1: up in here. He said. Let me show you why
S1: you need to let me in. He called a division
S1: of his troops lined up in four, just like our military,
S1: and he said, forward. March 4x4 they came to the
S1: edge of the cliff, and without hesitation they kept marching.
S1: So four went over on down the mountain. Four more,
S1: four more, four more, four more, until the whole division
S1: marched off to their death off of that mountain. He
S1: looked up at that king. He said, you better have
S1: them open the gates. And the king said, open the gates,
S1: because there's no way we're going to be able to
S1: defeat a king who has followers who obey him like that.
S1: And that's what the world needs to know. People come
S1: in here now, pastor, pray for me. Pray for me.
S1: I need a job. Oh, God. I need a job.
S1: Then he come in. I don't care if you ain't
S1: having a testimony time. You gotta have a testimony time.
S1: I gotta tell this, Saints Friday I got my last
S1: unemployment check, but.
S3: Hallelujah. Oh, thank you, thank you. Monday I got my job. Wow.
S1: Two years later, y'all pray for me. I need to
S1: get another job. Because them people on that job, they
S1: ain't right. That boss. He ain't right. I'm the only
S1: Christian on. Why do you think God put you there
S1: in the first place? Yeah, you're taking the salt out
S1: and God got you the job. So you can show
S1: people that everybody that people who love the Lord aren't
S1: like everybody else. They don't do Facebook on company time.
S1: They don't take pens and paper. And what else do
S1: people steal from the job? Toilet tissue. Paper clips. Ink pens.
S1: Taking long lunches and stuff like that. A man so
S1: God can say. I have some people who don't talk
S1: about the boss because they realize ultimately he's just an agent.
S1: God is the source. I work for God. That's why
S1: I don't take extra breaks. Won't lift your head up.
S1: So I don't know. I'm talking to you. Got your
S1: head all down every time I say something. Stole something
S1: from the job. Taking extra breaks. Pretty soon you're going
S1: to be on the floor, I better stop.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, and he
S2: is going to stop for just a moment. But he'll
S2: be back in less than a minute as we continue
S2: the message. Seeing purpose in your problems and pain. You know,
S2: I know we can't always be listening to the radio
S2: for each and every broadcast, but you don't have to
S2: miss Pastor Ford's teaching a couple different ways that you
S2: can get that when you're on the. Go first, go
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S2: to use iTunes. For your podcasting, would you rate that?
S2: That will help us be found by even more people.
S2: You can also get the Moody Radio app. It's free
S2: and it's available for Apple products. And Android products. And
S2: it really makes it convenient for you to listen on
S2: the go as it fits your schedule. And not only
S2: can you listen to this program, but other Bible teaching
S2: programs produced by Moody Radio, you'll find the app at
S2: your favorite app store. Just look for Moody Radio. Well,
S2: let's get back to the message. Once again. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: And so what is it? It is, it is. We
S1: understand that we are like the old children's game. Remember it,
S1: Simon says. Anybody old enough, old school like me, we
S1: used to play Simon Says, bunch of us. And we say,
S1: we say, Simon says, oh, run and you run. Simon says, stop, run!
S1: And you ran. Simon didn't say it. You out. Jesus
S1: said tithe. Jesus said witness. Jesus said serve. Jesus said, worship.
S1: Jesus said, be good stewards. Jesus said, love one another.
S1: Honor one another. Serve one.
S3: Another. Bear one another's.
S1: Burdens. Mm. Now notice with me. Notice with me. So then,
S1: not just the regal prerogative of God over your lives.
S1: Notice the regal prerogative of God in your problem. Say,
S1: where do you see that pastor? Right there. To the
S1: 12 tribes which are scattered. He's he's writing to Jewish Christians.
S1: They are saved. But the Jews and he says they're scattered.
S1: Who remembers the word from from our Bible study. Uh,
S1: Wednesday Bible study. You remember it? Yeah. Diaspora or diaspora?
S1: Dia is a preposition. Spora means seed. So here's what
S1: it literally means. Seed sown. It's the word picture of
S1: a farmer who has weeded up where he's going to
S1: plant and then cultivated it, furrowed it, and then fertilized it,
S1: then dropped the seed in and put the soil on it.
S1: Here's what he said. God is sovereign in your problems. Why?
S1: Because like a farmer, he's strategically placed you where you are.
S1: And what he did was cover you with dirt. Now,
S1: what he wants you to do is when the sunshine
S1: of his promises and the water of his word hits you,
S1: he wants you to begin to grow in the grace
S1: and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
S1: and that whatever time he has you, he hasn't buried you.
S1: He just planted you. You are in incubation mode so
S1: so that once you begin to break free from the
S1: dirt that's on you, you will begin in your growth
S1: to lift your hands toward heaven. And you'll look down
S1: on what used to be over you, and you'll look
S1: up and blossom and give God some glory. I'm telling you,
S1: that's what it is. It's not an accident. It's providence. God,
S1: where am I? Right where I placed you. God, why
S1: am I still here? Because this is where I left you.
S1: Adelaide Pollard. Anybody ever heard her name? Okay, I bet
S1: you you sang her song because Adelaide Pollard wanted to
S1: go to Africa as a missionary. This was back in
S1: the time when women weren't doing that. And, uh, she
S1: knew God had called her to do this, so she
S1: tried to raise support from the church. Uh huh. Uh,
S1: you heard what I said. That's right. She tried to
S1: raise support from the church. Didn't get it. Here's what
S1: she said, and I quote, I went through a crisis
S1: of soul. What does she mean by that? I went
S1: through a crisis of soul. God, you called me to this,
S1: but you haven't provided for it. You called me to this.
S1: But there's an issue or a problem. Now you call
S1: me to this and I'm in pain because I don't
S1: see this happening the way you said it ought to be.
S1: So she went to a prayer meeting that night, and
S1: one of the teenagers, she said, that's a senior citizen.
S1: One of the teenagers just prayed a one line prayer.
S1: And she said, God minister to her in that one
S1: line prayer. She went home that night. And this is
S1: the song she wrote. Have thine own way, Lord. Have
S1: thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay.
S1: Make me and mold me after your will. While I'm waiting.
S1: Yielded and still have your own way. Lord, have your
S1: own way. Wow, man. That's it. When are we going
S1: to realize that the Christian boat is a rowboat, not
S1: a motor boat? Because in a motor boat, you got
S1: all that power and you can see where you're going.
S1: But if you're in a rowboat, you can't see where
S1: you're going. It's the old coxwain. Remember that? That thing
S1: in the Olympics, the coxwain. They got the longboat with
S1: all the guys in it. They say stroke, stroke, stroke.
S1: This guy. Tell him to stroke. He ain't doing nothing.
S1: He's standing up there. He controlling the way they go.
S1: Stroke and the speed and everything. And you know what?
S1: That's Jesus. We rowing, supplying what's necessary to get things done.
S1: And what happens? Jesus is saying row row row row row.
S1: Notice secondly with me notice secondly with me the regal
S1: prerogative of God. You gotta be committed to it to
S1: have strength in your struggle. But then notice secondly, and
S1: this is where I'll stop. You got to have the
S1: right perspective about your struggle. Look at what it says,
S1: my brethren. Count it all joy when you fall into
S1: divers temptation. I want you to see something here, because
S1: what he's going to tell us two things he's going
S1: to say. There's an attitude towards suffering that demonstrates you
S1: have the right perspective. Here's what he said. When we
S1: go into trouble, let me just speak for myself, because
S1: I know ain't nobody going to relate to it. Going
S1: through something. Why? Why me? Why now? Why this? And
S1: James is saying that's not the right perspective. It's not
S1: the right question. Not why? What? See, God must work
S1: in you before he works for you so he can
S1: work through you. Let me say that again that God
S1: must work in you before he works for you, so
S1: he can work through you. The idea is he wants
S1: to work through you. So whenever you begin to think
S1: about it, we talked about this before. Some of you
S1: may remember there on the boat and the boats doing
S1: the Nae Nae. I don't know how to do it, but,
S1: you know. Stanky leg. Stanky leg. The boat. The boat.
S1: The boat is doing it, all right. It's doing it.
S1: And they're. They're afraid. Fishermen who fished on the Sea
S1: of Galilee all their life as little boys, as teens,
S1: as adolescents, as adults. And there's a storm that they
S1: ain't never seen before. And they say, man, Jesus, this storm.
S1: What you going to do? And Jesus says, don't be afraid.
S1: And then he says, storm, shut up. Now here's the question.
S1: Some of you may remember. Why did he tell them,
S1: don't be afraid before he stopped the storm. Because in
S1: my way of thinking, if he stopped the storm, they stopped.
S1: Be afraid. No. Jesus knew he must steal the storm
S1: on the inside before he steals the storm on the outside.
S1: Because often when he steals the storm on the outside,
S1: the storm is still raging on the inside. You don't
S1: believe it? Okay, then why are you still struggling with
S1: something that happened ten years ago? Why are you still
S1: struggling with. Why are you still tore up from the
S1: floor up about some stuff that was done to you
S1: that you ain't got over yet? Cuz you got a
S1: storm inside. And Jesus had to steal that storm. Why?
S1: Why not me? Why not now? Why not? This attitude
S1: determines action. That's what he's trying to get us to see.
S1: And he says, count it all joy. Now I'm talking
S1: about counting many. But wait a minute. What do you mean, joy?
S1: I'm glad he didn't say happiness. Wanna know why? Because
S1: happiness depends on what happens. But joy is independent of circumstances.
S1: So we know two things. Because he used the word joy.
S1: Number one, we know it's the fruit of the spirit.
S1: Number two, we know that it is joy that's independent
S1: of circumstances. That's what we know.
S2: That is Pastor James Ford junior, teaching us to have
S2: joy in the spirit despite our circumstances. You're listening to
S2: Treasured Truth and a message Pastor Ford calls seeing purpose
S2: in your problems and pain. Now, as Christians, God wants
S2: us to be people of the word. I mean, that's
S2: how we grow in our understanding and discover truths like
S2: we're hearing today about having joy in our suffering, but
S2: were surrounded by a worldly and secular system in which
S2: all truth we're told is relative and there are no absolutes.
S2: You know, the Bible isn't as openly attacked as much
S2: as it's generally undermined. And the result is that it's
S2: not just unbelievers who then begin to question God's Word.
S2: Many Christians are beginning to have doubts as well. To
S2: help you answer the pressing questions of our times, like
S2: how did God inspire the Bible? And what did Jesus
S2: think of God's Word? We'd like you to have a
S2: book by Doctor John MacArthur called Why Believe the Bible? Now,
S2: this helpful book provides timeless answers to timely questions, and
S2: you can request a copy when you give a gift
S2: of any amount to treasure truth, just call us at
S2: 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. And
S2: you know, there's another way to support this ministry, and
S2: that's by becoming a monthly partner. While we're grateful for
S2: every gift we receive, when you partner with us, it
S2: sustains our ability to broadcast God's Word every weekday on
S2: this station and 24 over seven on our internet podcast.
S2: Become a monthly partner when you call us at eight,
S2: 88644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. I'm
S2: Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us Wednesday
S2: as we continue this message on seeing purpose in your
S2: problems and pain. That's here on Treasure Truth. A production
S2: of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.