S1: When you know who God is and not just talk
S1: about who God is, but walk who God is, then
S1: guess what? You ain't never scared because you never lose
S1: sight of who God is and what God is able
S1: to do.
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
S2: begin a new message entitled I Ain't Never Scared. And pastor,
S2: I think all of us have come up against circumstances
S2: in life that have rocked us, have terrified us, frankly.
S2: And you're scared. But you're saying when you have a
S2: right view of God, when you know who he is,
S2: no reason for that to scare you anymore.
S1: No reason. And you know, we're emotional creatures. I'm not
S1: disregarding that. But our volition controls our emotion. In other words,
S1: something I know cognitively really overrides my emotional response to
S1: where I'd be tore up from the floor up. Now
S1: I'm signed up from the ground up because I'm being
S1: dictated by my volition. What I know about God give
S1: you a classic example. Okay, Hezekiah, Israel's being besieged, Judah
S1: is being besieged. And I believe it was the Syrians.
S1: They're coming or us Syrians. It was one of them.
S1: It was the enemies. They were outnumbered, surrounded. The king
S1: sent a letter. Look at all the other nations, you know.
S1: You know what he did with that letter. You know
S1: what he did. He laid it out before the Lord,
S1: and he said. See what they're saying about you? Yup, man.
S1: And you know what happened? God sent one angel in
S1: one night who killed 185,000 Syrians or Syrians or whoever.
S1: They were.
S2: The enemy?
S1: Yes. And so that's what I'm talking about. You don't
S1: think he had some fear? Of course he did. But
S1: he understood who God is. And he said, oh, this
S1: really is not against me. Yeah. Let me tell you,
S1: that's what I do all the time, Steve. I evaluate,
S1: I say, did you do something wrong in this Pastor Ford? Uh, well, no,
S1: I don't see Holy Spirit. Will you reveal? Because sometimes
S1: I'm blind to my own sin. I'm ignorant to my
S1: own foibles and failures and faults. So reveal to me
S1: I don't get anything. You know, I assume. Okay. And
S1: I lay it out before the Lord. I remember when, uh,
S1: this was years ago. Over 25 years ago. Our church
S1: almost split. Mhm. And it was because one person, uh,
S1: didn't feel like I was the kind of leader he wanted. Uh,
S1: you know, I'm more of a inclusive kind of leader. Yeah.
S1: You know, I'm not this kind of dictator person. I'm
S1: the pastor kind of person. I believe in shared leadership.
S1: I believe the Bible teaches that. Sure. And so sometimes
S1: there's a danger in that, in that, you know, you're
S1: just one of the fellas. You got one vote like
S1: everybody else. So long story short, they meet to have
S1: a vote of confidence about going to the congregation, about me.
S1: So somebody calls me and says, you better get down there.
S1: They're meeting on you. So I go down there, I say,
S1: what am I going to do, Lord? I mean, I
S1: need to address this. So long story short, Steve. Guess
S1: what happens. Say what? What? I get to the door
S1: to church. His wife is there. She has sunglasses on.
S1: She pulls him off and says. See what he did
S1: to me last night? Ooh. And I said, oh, wow.
S1: She said, I'm getting ready to go in here, so
S1: don't try to stop me. I said, I'm not going
S1: to try to stop you. She went in. The coup
S1: was done. Huh? It was done, man. The guys walked out,
S1: you know, and they were saying, this is the guy
S1: who wants us to have a vote of confidence about
S1: our pastor. Yeah. Man, I say she's over to the Lord, man.
S2: Yeah. Yeah. And now, anytime things arise, you can always
S2: look back to that and see how God moved. Gives
S2: a sense of peace now, doesn't it?
S1: Say it man. Say it.
S2: Well, I wish we had more time, but we do
S2: need to get to Psalm 27 and begin a message
S2: called I ain't Never scared. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Now, anyone who's a connoisseur of good music, any connoisseurs
S1: of good music in the house. Okay, okay. Anybody who
S1: is a connoisseur and all you that raise your hand
S1: said that you are know that the best music comes
S1: from the 60s and the 70s. The best music. I
S1: don't care. Hey, listen, you actually had to know how
S1: to sing in order to cut a record. Yeah, yeah.
S1: As a matter of fact. And and listen, listen, we
S1: had nothing like they have today. Nothing like they have today. Really.
S1: And I'm not saying all the today's music is bad.
S1: I'm just saying a whole lot of it is. Our
S1: music had a message. Mhm. And you could actually understand
S1: the words. Oh yeah. I mean I mean who could
S1: ever forget groups like The Temptations. Yeah. Who could forget
S1: groups like the Supremes. Yeah. How about Smokey Robinson and
S1: the miracles? Yeah. I mean, we had groups like that.
S1: We had groups who could ever forget the the bands
S1: like James Brown and the Fabulous Flames. Yeah. Look at that.
S1: Some of y'all going back. Yeah. Or Frankie, Beverly and Maze. Yeah.
S1: How about Earth, wind and fire? And who could ever
S1: forget Teddy Pendergrass? And don't forget about Luther Vandross.
S3: Woo woo woo woo woo. whoa.
S1: And so we had that kind of music. As a
S1: matter of fact, if truth be known, uh, many of
S1: you children, uh, who are young adults don't know it. Uh,
S1: but when you were conceived, uh, that was some of
S1: the music that was in the background. Amen. And so,
S1: you know, I don't know much about today's music, but
S1: I know when my children would grow up, when they
S1: were growing up, they're adults now. I always made sure
S1: what they were listening to so they could listen to
S1: it when they were out of my presence, because they
S1: would sneak into it. But in my house, uh, I
S1: would do a room raid. One of my kids told me, elder, uh,
S1: you know, don't I have any privacy? No, you don't
S1: have any privacy because you can't have your privacy. Living
S1: in my house. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing in here that
S1: belongs to you. Everything is in my name. So whenever
S1: you start paying your mortgage and your own life. Buying
S1: your own clothes and your own food. Then you got
S1: the right to call something private. But as long as
S1: you're up in my house, ain't nothing private. So I
S1: would check out what they were listening to. Yeah, as
S1: a matter of fact, I got my oldest son back
S1: because when he got his first apartment, uh, he gave
S1: me a key because he had a key to my house.
S1: I gotta have a key to your house. So I
S1: went in. When he was at work, I turned on
S1: all the lights, all the radios, all the TVs. Then
S1: I went into his refrigerator. Uh, deacon. I took his
S1: orange juice. I drank it all down. Made sure I
S1: had black marks around. Around the around the cup of
S1: the thing, then put it back in empty. He came
S1: home talking about what's going on in here, and I
S1: gave him the name of his two brothers he didn't
S1: know he had, but they always talked about him, I
S1: don't know. Well, who did it? Not me. And so
S1: when I got grandkids, I did the same thing I
S1: said to one of my Our grand grandchildren, who shall
S1: remain anonymous. I said, let me see that iPod. Let
S1: me see that iPod. And so I could tell that
S1: I wasn't going to like what I heard because my
S1: grandchild said, oh, you want to, you want to, you
S1: want to hear my what? No, no, no, don't give
S1: it to me. Right. So I took it and I
S1: looked on there as a person I had never heard before.
S1: It had a picture of him. His name was Bone Crusher. Yeah.
S1: And so I saw Bone Crusher said bone Crusher. Then
S1: I put the headphones on and my ears start bleeding.
S1: The profanity was so bad. Uh, and she looked at me.
S1: She said, is it going to be time out? I said, no, no, no, no,
S1: that's your daddy and your mama. Time out. I'm from
S1: the older generation. We didn't have time out. We had
S1: lights out. That's what we had talking about time out.
S1: You just gotta do it low enough. But but even
S1: though that was in the late 90s when I, uh,
S1: confiscated that iPod, uh, there were four words that this
S1: guy was saying that I've never forgotten. And now, some
S1: 20 years later, I want to title my sermon the
S1: words I heard because I heard him say, uh, I
S1: ain't never. No. I want to know what all y'all
S1: good Christians doing. Knowing I ain't never scared. South side.
S1: I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared I ain't
S1: never scared. I ain't never scared. And you know what?
S1: Bone Crusher wasn't the first one to say it. That's
S1: what I want to talk to you about today. David
S1: is saying, I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared.
S1: I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared. Listen to
S1: what he says. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
S1: Of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is the
S1: strength of my life. Whom shall I fear? See what
S1: David's saying? I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared.
S1: West side. Somebody say you liking that too much. Now you.
S1: Move on now. You ain't got your carnality out. And
S1: so David is letting us know in this Psalm. He
S1: wants us to understand this important truth. God will keep
S1: us from being paralyzed by fear when we trust him.
S1: In the midst of all that we're going through in
S1: our trials, our tests, and our tribulation. God says, I've
S1: got to get that fear out of you. Uh, because
S1: it will paralyze you. It will immobilize you. It will
S1: keep you from what I have for you. When you
S1: go through what you've gone through. In other words, God
S1: says what you fear does and and your haters and
S1: everybody else. It keeps you from seeing God. It keeps
S1: you from seeing what he has for you. It blocks
S1: your vision. It keeps you, uh, under doubt and worry
S1: and all the things that keep us. And he says, listen, uh,
S1: but when you know who God is and not just
S1: talk about who God is, but walk who God is,
S1: then guess what? You ain't never scared. You ain't never
S1: scared because you never lose sight of who God is
S1: and what God is able to do. Come on, let's
S1: give him a hand. And so here's the thing. Here's
S1: the thing. He he says, listen, our dependence upon God
S1: determines our demonstrations from God or, what we depend upon
S1: God for he provides when we trust him to do it.
S1: So David says, I ain't never scared. He gives seven
S1: reasons I won't get to all of them. You know that. Uh,
S1: but listen to what he says in this Psalm in,
S1: in verse one. I ain't never scared because of my
S1: celebration about God. He says, number two, verse two, I
S1: ain't never scared because of the conquest, my conquest through God.
S1: Verse three he says, I ain't never scared because of
S1: my confidence in God. Verses four through six he says,
S1: I ain't never scared because of my communion with God.
S1: Verses seven through ten he says, I ain't never scared
S1: because of my communication to God. 11 through 13 he says,
S1: I ain't never scared because of my counsel from God.
S1: And then he ends up in verse 14 with the
S1: icing on the cake. He says. The seventh reason I
S1: ain't never scared is because of my commitment to God.
S1: And so if you can get these principles and walk
S1: out with them, you could walk out in the parking lot,
S1: turn on your boom box and your ride bump it.
S1: I ain't never scared. I ain't never scared. I ain't
S1: never scared.
S2: As Pastor Ford, with the message taken from Psalm 27,
S2: I ain't never scared. And we're going to get back
S2: to this teaching in just a moment. If you ever
S2: have a question about something you hear on the broadcast,
S2: you can always ask Pastor Ford your question by coming
S2: to our website, Treasure Radio. Org. Clicking on the comment button,
S2: you can ask a question right there. And who knows,
S2: we might answer that on a future broadcast, but either way,
S2: we'll make sure that he sees that. Again, our website,
S2: Treasure Truth Radio. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: So notice first of all, he says, I ain't never
S1: scared because of my celebration about Yahweh God. And so
S1: he lets us know some things. Let me show you.
S1: Imma drop em now. Push em. Notice what he says
S1: in verse one, two and three. Get it? In verse one,
S1: I'm celebrating God's provision for my present. Verse two I'm
S1: celebrating God's protection in my past. Verse three I'm celebrating
S1: God's providence about my prophetic future. Notice what he's saying.
S1: I got full coverage that God has me covered, that
S1: he covered me. Right now. The Lord is the Lord
S1: is the Lord is in his person. He's present. But
S1: then you need to know. Verse two I know he
S1: protect me in the present because he protected me in
S1: the past, and because he's here with me right now,
S1: because he's always taking care of me in the past.
S1: I look to my future and I know everything's covered
S1: there as well. So I ain't never scared now. I
S1: ain't never scared then. I ain't never scared. Yeah. And
S1: that's what he wants us to know. See? See, David
S1: wrote this psalm at a time when he was running
S1: for his life. And so, uh, scholars don't agree whether
S1: he was running from Saul or Absalom, if Saul. It
S1: was early in his life it was Absalom. It's later
S1: in his life. But who cares? You know, if you're
S1: running for your life. It don't matter whether it's family
S1: or foe. You running for your life. And so he's
S1: running for his life. And so what's the celebration about?
S1: Because God's asking him the question that he may be
S1: asking you and I. David, you can praise me when
S1: you're ruling, but can you praise me when you're running?
S1: You can praise me when everything's going well. But how
S1: about when everything is going bad? And David is saying, listen, listen,
S1: I want you to understand something in this Psalm. I'm
S1: giving you this psalm because I want you to know
S1: that every time I get into adversity, I look and
S1: see that I've got full coverage. But then I begin
S1: to realize that my good days I weigh my bad
S1: days so I won't complain. I'm going to praise him
S1: because my good days. You know that song, right? Well,
S1: Mother Carter went home to be with the Lord, and
S1: I funeralized her. I did her homegoing celebration, and one
S1: of the things I tried to do was this. I
S1: tried to get the family to see that her good
S1: days outweighed her bad days, because she was 88 years old.
S1: And this is what I said to them to try
S1: to encourage them, like David is trying to encourage her.
S1: I said, listen, there's a song that says my good
S1: days outweigh my bad days, so I won't complain. I
S1: tell you, family, you should not complain because her good
S1: days outweighed her bad days. She was without Christ eight years,
S1: but she walked with Christ for 80 years, so her
S1: good days outweighed her bad days. She was sick for
S1: the last six years, but she was well for 82 years.
S1: Her good days outweighed her bad days. God promised her
S1: threescore and ten, but she lived fourscore and eight. Her
S1: good days outweighed her bad days. For 20 years she
S1: was without her boo. Uh, Reverend John Carter. Uh, but
S1: for 36 years, uh, she was with him. Her good
S1: days outweighed her bad days. She walked with Jesus for
S1: 80 years, but now she'll walk with him for all eternity.
S1: Her good days outweigh her bad days. I said she's
S1: singing her song. When she was here on earth, she
S1: sang her favorite song. What a friend we have in Jesus. Uh,
S1: about Jesus. But now she's in heaven singing what a
S1: friend we have in Jesus. Looking at Jesus, her good
S1: days outweigh. Listen, listen, will you take a walk down
S1: memory lane and count your blessings? Name them one by one. Uh.
S1: That you have been blessed by God no matter what
S1: you're going through. And even as bad as this country is,
S1: it's still the best country in the whole world. Aren't
S1: you glad you was born here? Mm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
S1: that's what he's saying. What about you? You praise him
S1: when heaven's coming down. Yeah, but can you praise him
S1: when hell is breaking loose? Uh, yeah, yeah. You, you
S1: you pray for Big Mama to live. But she died anyway.
S1: Can you praise the Lord in spite of it? Can
S1: you yet give him a praise? Yeah. Uh, you got
S1: the interview, but you didn't get the job. But can
S1: you praise God, uh, that you are unemployed in the
S1: midst of it? Can you praise him? Uh, you've been
S1: praying for healing, and, uh, we don't put so much
S1: oil on you. We could have fried ten crates of chicken. Uh,
S1: but you ain't healed after 20 years. Can you still
S1: get up in the midst of the saints and tell
S1: everybody I will praise him. See you pray for the child.
S1: But the child's still on drugs. You pray for your
S1: for your relative and they're still gay and they're still
S1: banging your house, still in foreclosure, your spouse still cheating.
S1: The vision didn't go like you planned. But can you say,
S1: like the psalmist, I will bless the Lord at all times.
S1: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul
S1: shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall
S1: hear thereof, and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
S1: and let's exalt. Are there any praises in the house?
S1: Are there any who will give him the sacrifice of praise? Amen. Amen. Yeah.
S1: The sacrifice. What do you mean by that? You buy
S1: at Payless, but you praise him like you got it
S1: at Neiman Marcus. Yeah. Give him some glory. You drive
S1: a hooptie. Uh, yeah. Uh, but you drive it like
S1: you're driving a The Bugatti. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. You
S1: eat at Mickey DS every day, but you act like
S1: you eat at McCormick and Schmidt's every night. Yeah, yeah,
S1: you wear polyester, but you praise him like you're wearing
S1: Egyptian cotton. Yeah, yeah. Your unemployment is about to run out,
S1: but you're running around acting like you're the CEO of
S1: a fortune 500 company. You live in an apartment in
S1: the projects, but you're walking with swag like you got
S1: a mansion in Winnetka. I wish I had some folk
S1: who understand how blessed they are, and can just give
S1: God some praise for how I am right now. You
S1: don't got to give me nothing else. You don't got
S1: to provide anything else. You done already done enough for
S1: me to praise you, to lift you up, to magnify you,
S1: to give your name the glory. I ain't never scared,
S1: I ain't never scared, I ain't never scared. Mm. Yeah. Mhm.
S1: David would you understand. You want me to share with
S1: the congregation. God will often change the things around you
S1: so he can expose to you the things that are
S1: really in you. Oh somebody ought to be tweeting that.
S1: Now that's worth taking the cell phone out and tweeting that.
S1: Let me say that again. That's Tweetable moment there. I said,
S1: God will often change things around you so he can
S1: expose to you what's really in you. See, all of
S1: us can talk a good game in church, but what
S1: about on the job tomorrow? Will you lift your hands
S1: and say thank you, Lord, that I got a job?
S3: Up.
S2: With a message called I ain't never scared. That's Pastor
S2: James Ford Jr. You're listening to Treasure Truth, and as always,
S2: you can download this program at our website. You can
S2: also stream the audio there. Just come to Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: We've all heard the statistic that half of all marriages
S2: end in divorce. I mean, divorce is painful. It's a
S2: messy process that nobody foresees in their future when they're
S2: saying their wedding vows. But as many know all too well,
S2: divorces still occur. Now, there can be many causes behind
S2: the breakup of a marriage, but there's one way to
S2: stay on track, and that's by having a marriage that's
S2: built firmly on a biblical foundation. In the book Seven
S2: Reasons Why God Created Marriage, Pastor Ford draws on years
S2: of pastoral and counseling experience, and he unpacks the biblical
S2: framework that God designed for every marriage. This is a
S2: book that you'll want to own whether you're married, engaged,
S2: or hoping to be married someday. You can request a
S2: copy right now when you give a gift of any
S2: amount to treasure truth. Just call us at 888644 7660
S2: or go online to Treasure Truth radio.org. Whether your goal
S2: is to strengthen your relationship with your spouse, prepare for
S2: an upcoming marriage, or even gain wisdom to offer to
S2: a friend whose marriage is struggling. Seven Reasons Why God
S2: Created Marriage offers plenty of biblical insights for your benefit.
S2: Request your copy when you call and give your gift.
S2: Our number is 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure
S2: Truth Radio.com. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producers, Amy Rios. Join
S2: us next time as we continue the message. I ain't
S2: never scared here on Treasure truth. A production of Moody Radio,
S2: a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.