S1: Praise belongs to you. It's fit for you. It's custom
S1: made for you. It was designed for you. You and
S1: you are the only one that's worthy of all of
S1: our praise. Because you, God, let us come into your presence.
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 today. As we
S2: continue to look at Psalm 65 and the privilege of
S2: worship and pastor, yesterday, we began to talk about the
S2: fact that we worship God. We praise him differently than
S2: we may compliment or encourage someone else because of who
S2: he is. And it sounds like you're saying when we
S2: understand who God truly is and when we understand who
S2: we really are, the natural outcome of that is going
S2: to be praise.
S1: Amen. Amen. Preach it. Steve. You know, I saw a
S1: popular talk show host. Uh, he had his show at
S1: the white House when Barack Obama was president. And there
S1: was one interesting part in there where he got a
S1: little upset because it was his show. But people kept
S1: coming to President Barack Obama and saying something to him.
S1: So one little boy came to this talk show host
S1: and said, how are you doing? Mr.. So and so.
S1: And he said, wow. Finally somebody said something to me.
S1: I wrote it down. I said, what's wrong with him?
S1: He is in the white House. Yeah. Who cares about
S1: the person whose show it is? When you're in the
S1: presence of someone in their house. Yeah. You know, and so,
S1: I mean, it just relates to what we're talking about here. Sure.
S1: I mean, we're in his house. or I'm not talking
S1: about the building that we worship. Psalm 24 one the
S1: earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world,
S1: and they that dwell therein. Everywhere we are, we are
S1: in his presence. He is omnipresent, and so we always
S1: ought to have an attitude of worship wherever we are.
S1: This is our father's world.
S2: Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, he has created us, as we
S2: were talking about yesterday. You know, he is the one
S2: who has created us. And as sinful as we are,
S2: as you said, he allows us, you know, sinful people
S2: to enter into his holy presence. That's right. When you
S2: begin to wrap your brain around that and understand what
S2: sin truly did to Jesus, as I said earlier, yeah,
S2: you're just bound to worship him.
S1: And let me deal very quickly with those of you
S1: who are listening right now. Those of you who said, well,
S1: I don't feel worthy to worship him. None of us
S1: are right. We don't worship him because we are worthy.
S1: We worship him because he is worthy. I hope that
S1: sets you free to worship him no matter what's going
S1: on in your life.
S2: Well, join us in Psalm 65 as we continue a
S2: message entitled The Privilege of Worship. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: If we know we owe God worship, then we will
S1: understand as a privilege. That's our thing. That's our thing. Now,
S1: the six reasons why I'm only going to give you
S1: one today. That's all. Just one. Amen. Amen. I thought
S1: I could at least try to get a amen on
S1: something like that. I got six points. I'm only going
S1: to do one, but everybody know it's going to be
S1: a long one point. Hey, do you know, because we
S1: have a God who embraces us, we know we owe oh, God,
S1: we know worship is a privilege because verse one, we
S1: can come into his presence. Oh, you making light of that?
S1: Listen to what he says. Praise waiteth for thee, oh
S1: God in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
S1: What's he talking about here? Yeah, he's saying, listen. Praise
S1: belongs to you. It's fit for you. It's custom made
S1: for you. It was designed for you. You. And you
S1: are the only one that's worthy of all of our praise.
S1: Because you, God, let us come into your presence. You know,
S1: sometimes what I do is, uh, I will go places
S1: and I'll say to people, I say, uh, I'm glad
S1: to be your guest speaker. And, uh, you know, like
S1: Janet Jackson told her last husband, don't worry. I ain't
S1: going to keep you long. And then I'll say, but,
S1: you know, if you really knew me who it is
S1: that's speaking to you, you wouldn't have let me come
S1: up in here. But if I knew who I was
S1: speaking to, I wouldn't have came up in here either. Now, listen.
S1: And this is what I will share with them. We
S1: even look at it sometimes with ourselves and say, that
S1: person ain't worthy to come into my circle, or I
S1: ain't worthy to go in that person's circle. But yet
S1: we have a God where none of us are worthy,
S1: that invites us to come into his presence. Man, that
S1: is powerful stuff that the God of the universe is
S1: inviting us into. See, y'all don't understand that you don't
S1: get the impress of that. But notice what he says.
S1: That's why it's only one point, because he says that
S1: this is an invitation to his person, to his place,
S1: and to his praise. Yeah, it's his person, his place
S1: and his praise. Now notice this. Notice what he says.
S1: He says praise waited for thee. What's he talking about?
S1: And we're going to emphasize this a little more when
S1: we leave. In other words, they're all gathered together and
S1: they're waiting for the manifested presence of God. Because whenever
S1: God shows up to a worship service, uh, things begin
S1: to happen. He dwells in the midst of the praises
S1: of his people. Which means then if you ain't praising,
S1: he ain't coming. So they said, we owe you praise.
S1: So guess what? We ain't going to start til you
S1: show up. And so that's why you have a call
S1: to worship and an invocation. The call to worship is
S1: say you get rid of everything you're getting ready to do.
S1: Straighten up your face. Look like you glad to be here.
S1: Quit texting. Quit. Quit doing this. Quit doing because God
S1: is about to show up now. God, we invoke your presence.
S1: Would you show up and show out? We got ready.
S1: Now here comes God. And when God comes, he begins
S1: to show out. And he says, I'll let you come
S1: into my presence. And I'm telling you, it's powerful. Now
S1: I want you to notice it's based, first of all,
S1: on his person. Get this. This thing is just getting
S1: me today. Praise Waiteth for thee, O God. There's this person. Now,
S1: what does he do here? Get this, get this. Here's
S1: what he says. You can come into my presence based
S1: on my person, based on two things. Passion for my
S1: person and power from my person. Wait a minute. Get this,
S1: get this. Why couldn't he have said praise Waiteth for thee,
S1: O God, in Zion? Why say, oh, Imma tell you why?
S1: Because he wants God to know. We have passion for
S1: your person. We're passionate about you. We're passionate about you.
S1: Oh God, we're passionate, we're passionate, we're passionate about you.
S1: In other words, what's O for? O is the O
S1: of excitement. O is the O of exuberance. O is
S1: the O of enthusiasm. O is the O where? I'm
S1: so glad that I get a chance to come to
S1: worship God. That I ain't going to leave without praising him.
S1: I'm not going to leave without saying thank you. Passion. Okay.
S1: You know, we have a phrase chasing Jason. Uh, I
S1: don't know. They probably don't say it now because they
S1: didn't change. That was. That's old. But remember what it meant.
S1: It meant you were chasing your first high that you
S1: got when you shot heroin. Or when you snorted coke
S1: that first time. Uh, look, some of y'all, some of
S1: y'all know everybody looking so innocent. What's he talking about? Coke.
S1: He talking about a Coke and a smile. No. You
S1: got that? Bruises right around your nose. You know what
S1: I'm talking about. And they call it chasing Jason. Let
S1: me tell you why. Because the first time you do it,
S1: it is so powerful that every other time you do
S1: it is less. You are never able to get that
S1: first high, but everybody's chasing that first high. And here's
S1: what the songwriter says. Oh, I'm not chasing Jason. But
S1: I do know there's no high like the Most High.
S1: Come based on this person. Now check this out. When
S1: I first came, there was a brother here. He's casket clean.
S1: His name is Major Matthew. He's a pastor now. And man,
S1: this boy is cleaning the Board of Health. And so
S1: I said to him, I said, man, uh, man, I
S1: love those pocket squares. I've never seen them like that.
S1: And he said, oh, I get em made. My Korean tailor,
S1: he makes them along with my shirts and and my ties.
S1: I said, man, look, I said, you get your shirts tailored.
S1: He said, yeah, where do you get yours? I said,
S1: I get mine from the Salvation Army. That's it, that's it. Hey,
S1: ain't no shame in my game. You know what I
S1: used to do? I wouldn't go to Salvation Army in
S1: the hood. I'd go to the suburbs. Yeah, I go
S1: to suburbs, baby. And do some shopping in the second
S1: hand store in the sun. And I come in and
S1: people say, oh, that's a tailor made. One time I
S1: got about six shirts and they were monogrammed. They were.
S1: They were Egyptian cotton. And the first Egyptian cotton shirts
S1: I ever had. I got all six of them because
S1: they was the only ones in my size, because I
S1: was wearing a 22 then. And I got those shirts.
S1: I got those shirts to the Jones. But the only
S1: problem was they were monogrammed. D and I remember the
S1: first time I come in and everybody said, wait a minute,
S1: Pastor Ford, they're dead. And I said, yeah, I said,
S1: d d eternally mine.
S2: Are you listening to, Pastor Ford? And if you've been
S2: listening to this radio program for any length of time,
S2: that probably doesn't surprise you too much, does it? You're
S2: listening to a message called The Privilege of Worship. Really
S2: a look at Psalm 65 and spending a little time
S2: in Psalm 116 today as well. We're going to get
S2: back to this teaching in just a moment. But if
S2: you happen to miss any of the broadcasts in the series,
S2: you can come to our website, listen online, you can
S2: download MP3's, you can stream the program or order copies
S2: on CD. The website is Treasure Truth radio.org. Well, again,
S2: let's get back to the message. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, he had a monogram. And so
S1: I said, man, I'd like some of them. So he said,
S1: you know what I'll do? I'll take you to my
S1: Korean tailor. Come on, let's go. Monday. Then we get
S1: something to eat. So we went and we went to
S1: the Korean tailor. And he had he spoke English. That
S1: was sprinkled with the Korean accent. He said, ah, major.
S1: How are you? Major Matthews and Major? Everybody know how
S1: he is. If you don't know him, you. He don't
S1: mean no harm. But he said, oh, I'm fine. How
S1: are you? And I'm looking. I'm saying he say, no, no, pastor.
S1: He said we we talk like this all the time.
S1: You know, he liked me to relate to him, you know.
S1: And so he said, this is my pastor, Pastor Ford.
S1: He said, hey, Pastor Ford, I said, I'm doing fine.
S1: How are you? And, uh, he said, uh, I want
S1: you to make him some pocket squares. He wants four. And, uh,
S1: he looked at major. Ah, major, he said, would you
S1: do it for my pastor? He said, okay. So he
S1: told me what to give him as a down payment.
S1: Come back four days later and they'll be done. I
S1: came back, I walked in, he said, ah, Major Matthews.
S1: And I said to myself, no, pastor James Ford Junior,
S1: I ain't Major Matthews. I'm way better looking than him.
S1: So I got the pocket squares. I paid for them.
S1: They were really nice. I nice. I said, oh man,
S1: I'm going back and get some more. They said, go ahead.
S1: So I went back. I walked in, he said, Major Matthews,
S1: and I said, I'm Pastor Ford. So I ordered four more.
S1: So when I came back to pay the bill, he said, oh,
S1: Major Matthews. I said, excuse me, sir, I don't mean
S1: any harm, but why do you keep calling me Major Matthews?
S1: I sign the receipts. Pastor James Ford, junior. So my
S1: name is Pastor James Ford. He said wait wait wait
S1: wait wait wait. No no no. See this big job?
S1: Long time, very little money. So every time you want
S1: them done. I don't do this for no one else.
S1: I don't do this for no one else. Only for
S1: Major Matthews. And so, since I know getting very little
S1: money when you come in, I have to say to myself,
S1: Major Matthews, major Matthews, I do this for Major Matthews.
S1: Too much work, too much time, too little money. Major
S1: Matthews I came to tell somebody today. You get the
S1: privilege of coming into the presence of God, and you
S1: don't have what it takes to come. But every time
S1: he sees Jesus, you can come into his presence. Here's
S1: what the writer of the book of Hebrews said. He said,
S1: we have not a high priest who cannot be touched
S1: with the feeling of our infirmities. But in all points
S1: was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Therefore,
S1: because we have Major Matthews as our salvation, Jesus Christ,
S1: come boldly to the throne of grace, that you may
S1: find mercy and grace to help in time of need.
S1: You can walk up into the Holy of Holies. You
S1: can walk up into the presence of Jesus that you
S1: don't need a pastor and you don't need an elder.
S1: All you got to do is come into his presence. Now, look,
S1: he doesn't stop there. No. He says, yeah, we get
S1: to come into his presence. But but listen, he says
S1: secondly that we not only have come into his presence,
S1: we have the privilege of his person. We have the
S1: privilege of his place. Look at what it says. Oh, Zion. Uh.
S1: Praise waited for thee, O God, in Zion. Now everybody
S1: knows what Zion is. What's Zion? Jerusalem. The city of God. Yeah,
S1: the city of God. In other words, go through the
S1: Bible and you will see. Jerusalem is the city that
S1: God has chosen for his manifest presence. Uh, so Jerusalem
S1: is the center of the world? As a matter of fact,
S1: when we were there two years ago, I tell you,
S1: I broke out in goosebumps. And every time I talk
S1: about it, I break out in goosebumps because we walked
S1: up to Jerusalem. Because anytime you go to Jerusalem, you
S1: gotta walk up. And when every time you leave Jerusalem,
S1: you gotta go down. Yeah. And that's why God did
S1: it that way. Because he wanted you to know, anytime
S1: you come to the city of God, you're going up.
S1: And anytime you leave it, you're going down. And so
S1: I went there and I went to places where Jesus
S1: was in the city of Zion. When I went to
S1: the Garden of Gethsemane, uh, we sat down, just the
S1: four of us, and had communion, and there were tears,
S1: and we were crying because we're in the very garden
S1: where Jesus shed, as it were, drops of blood as
S1: he prepared to go in to suffer and die for us,
S1: but didn't want to go in his humanity, but then said,
S1: come on, let's be going. Could you not watch with
S1: me for one hour and got up and died on Calvary?
S1: And then when I went into the tomb. And guess what?
S1: You can't walk up in the tomb. You got to
S1: bow down to get in the tomb. Yeah. And so
S1: I bowed down and went in the tomb. I couldn't
S1: take it. I had to come out of there. I
S1: just was crying so profusely. I had to come out.
S1: I couldn't stay in. Oh, he lay here. He lay.
S1: And looking at that slab. He lay here, my lord,
S1: and then went to Jordan and got baptized and, uh, pastor, pastor, uh,
S1: Hickman baptized me and I baptized him. And then, uh,
S1: Pastor Marty baptized deacon Mark Ingram, and deacon Mark Ingram
S1: baptized him. And there were about 25 places where you
S1: could be baptized in Jordan. When I came out, I said, fellas,
S1: the Holy Ghost just gave me a revelation. They said,
S1: what's that? All those people there, they should have waited
S1: to get to this spot, because the Holy Spirit told
S1: me this is exactly where Jesus got baptized. But you
S1: get the idea. If you ever get a chance to go,
S1: oh please go. I know you want to go to Hawaii, but. Oh,
S1: if you can go to Israel, go to Israel. I
S1: know you want to go to Jamaica and the Bahamas,
S1: but if you get a chance, you will never forget it.
S1: Standing on the Mount of Olives, looking out upon the
S1: whole city of Jerusalem, having our guide say, as we
S1: look from left to right, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
S1: has slain the prophets, how I would have gathered thee
S1: like a chicken gathers her hens. But you would not.
S1: And he began to cry. And as we were watching,
S1: and he made us move from left to right and
S1: right to left, we just sitting up there for big
S1: old African American guys just sobbing like babies. Oh. Yeah.
S1: What a place, what a place. You know, we don't
S1: have that now. We don't have Zion here, but we
S1: do have a place now. We know that we're saints
S1: and that we're the church. But you know what this
S1: building is? This building is the embassy of heaven. And
S1: we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. This place is not
S1: our home. So every time we come here, we are
S1: on home soil. When we walk out and step on
S1: that sidewalk, we're on foreign soil because we are pilgrims
S1: and strangers in this earth. And so it's a privilege
S1: to be able to come into this place. How many
S1: know that? Well, at least as many of you didn't
S1: lie as the people at the 8:00 service lied, because, no,
S1: you don't. There's a whole lot of us that don't.
S1: We've got too many schmoes. S o how many? Remember
S1: what that means? Schmo. Go ahead. What does it mean?
S1: Sunday morning. Okay. You say, what are you talking about?
S1: I did this probably about ten years ago. I updated them.
S1: Let me give you Christ's Bible. Church stats. That's to
S1: tell you how we love this place. 25% of our
S1: congregation only come one Sunday a month. That's first Sunday
S1: when Hebrews 1025 is a command that says, forsake not
S1: the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some
S1: is exhorting one another so much the more as you
S1: see the day approaching. Yeah, you see the day of
S1: Christ coming. Amen. You should go to church more, not less. Yeah. 69%
S1: don't come to Bible study, even though the Bible says
S1: in acts chapter 241 and 42, they continue steadfastly in
S1: the apostles doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. 72%
S1: of our people don't give at least 10% of their
S1: income to God as a whole. We average 2%. The
S1: world averages for, well, we average 2.5%. And the world
S1: gives to their charities 4.5%, which means then unbelievers give
S1: about two times as much as believers give, and we
S1: say we're going to heaven and say they're going to hell.
S1: Yet they're more concerned about what's going to happen on
S1: this earth in an earthly existence with no hope of heaven.
S1: And it's not a cash issue. It's a commitment issue.
S1: You know what? Some of us spend more money going
S1: to the movies than we do giving to God. Some
S1: people spend more money on getting their lottery tickets than
S1: they give to God. Listen, most of you now don't
S1: look around at your neighbor. I'm talking to your neighbor,
S1: not you. Most of you would have more to give
S1: to God if you would give God some of your
S1: beer money. If you give God some of your wine money,
S1: if you give God some of your reefer money, if
S1: you would spend on God what you spend to go
S1: to a show, 65% aren't involved in any ministry within
S1: the church. They're not using their gifts for the body.
S1: According to First Corinthians 12, 89% don't come to corporate
S1: prayer Wednesday or Saturday. It's a sad state of affairs,
S1: but yet we all say we love Jesus.
S2: Well, those are really sobering stats, aren't they? You're listening
S2: to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message called The
S2: Privilege of Worship. You know, here at Treasure Truth, we're
S2: not a substitute for your local church. In fact, we
S2: hope that the teaching you hear from Pastor Ford helps
S2: to equip you to become more involved in your church
S2: and then help you disciple and invest in other believers.
S2: As a listener supported ministry, we really do rely on
S2: the generous gifts of people like you who believe in
S2: our mission, who understand the importance of Christian radio and
S2: want to see this program continue. So you can give
S2: your support when you call us at 888644 7660 or
S2: come to our website, Treasure Truth radio.org. You can also
S2: write and send a check in the mail. Our address
S2: is Treasure Truth, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten.
S2: When you give a donation today, we're going to send
S2: you a book by Pastor Ford called Seven Reasons Why
S2: God created marriage. Whether marriage is still on the horizon
S2: in front of you, or you're looking back at your
S2: wedding day in the rear view mirror, God's Word is
S2: something important to say about marriage. Our culture is inundated
S2: with negative messages about marriage. Whether it's the high divorce
S2: rate or the increasing number of people who are living
S2: together instead of getting married, this book gives a biblical response.
S2: So give a donation and request seven reasons why God
S2: created marriage. Call us at 888644 7660 or go online
S2: to Treasure Truth Radio.com. And thanks in advance for partnering
S2: with us as we share the gospel here on your station.
S2: I'm Steve Hiller, our producer is Amy Rios. Join us
S2: again next time for more Bible teaching from Pastor Ford
S2: here on Treasured Truth. A production of Moody Radio, a
S2: ministry of Moody Bible Institute.