S1: They have an opportunity. There will always be opposition that
S1: whenever you step out in faith, you better believe something
S1: will come along to make you fear, so that you
S1: need to understand that victory will always be followed by
S1: a valley.
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 Hillard. Glad you're with us today as we
S2: begin a new series called How Haters Hate and pastor,
S2: I love the title of the series because it seems
S2: as if any time we step out and do something
S2: for God, you're going to get pushback. You're going to
S2: get people who are going to criticize that. And I
S2: even heard you say just a moment ago, you may
S2: very often, in fact, it's almost a guarantee there's going
S2: to be some sort of valley experience after that.
S3: Well, it was with Elijah. You know, he just defeated 5000,
S3: I mean, five, 5500 prophets of Baal. I'm reading that
S3: Bible upside down, 500 prophets of Baal. And then he
S3: runs from one woman, right? You know. Well, well, you
S3: know what, Steve? I'm just going to be honest. I
S3: think I'd rather face 500 men than one woman.
S2: One woman too. Exactly. Especially that one. Oh my.
S3: Goodness. You know, it's like I was just thinking, what's
S3: the difference between a cantankerous, evil woman and a pit bull?
S2: I can't wait for this answer.
S3: Lipstick.
S2: Ah!
S3: Nice. And so you always have it, though, you know,
S3: because if it were a freeway, everybody would be doing
S3: something for God. Yeah, but it's mountains and peaks and
S3: valleys and and so, you know, sometimes you have to
S3: go through something in order to accomplish something for God's glory.
S3: And you look at the people who made the greatest Impact.
S3: They were the ones who experienced the old adage new level,
S3: new devil. I've rephrased it. I found when you go
S3: to a new level, you got stronger devils. Yeah. You know.
S3: And so here you have individuals, uh, that if you say,
S3: I'm getting ready to go on a diet, I'm getting serious.
S3: Do you know somebody's going to make you a pound cake?
S3: Of course. You know something that you love. And I
S3: just thought of you and made this, you know? So
S3: there's always a challenge.
S2: Oh, of course there is. Absolutely. You know, and I remember, um,
S2: going on youth retreats when I was younger. Uh, my
S2: daughter came back from a missions trip not that long ago. And,
S2: you know, one of the things that, you know, the
S2: youth pastors and those who are on the trip said is, hey,
S2: be ready. You've just been on this mountaintop experience. You've
S2: been doing things for God. You're going to get slammed
S2: when you get back home. And sure enough, that does happen.
S2: So we may have some people who are at the
S2: mountaintop right now. How do they get ready for the
S2: valley that's coming?
S3: Uh, well, you just ride in on your fellowship with God?
S3: Take the hit knowing that he's with you. It happened
S3: to him. Matthew chapter three. You have God the Father
S3: audibly glorifying the son. You have the son in the
S3: water tangibly, and you have the Holy Spirit visibly. And
S3: then what does chapter four say? Then was Jesus led
S3: in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil? It
S3: even happened to our Lord.
S2: Yeah, you got to expect it.
S3: That's right.
S2: Well, we're going to be in Nehemiah chapter two today.
S2: So if you can open your Bible, join us there
S2: as we begin the message. How haters hate. Here's Pastor Ford.
S3: I used to be a courier boy. Now, you wouldn't
S3: understand it because I'm from Pittsburgh. It was called the
S3: Pittsburgh Courier. Uh, but all you have to do is
S3: think of Chicago Defender. And so I was a courier boy.
S3: It was a weekly African-American newspaper. I believe it was
S3: the second in the nation. Uh, but, uh, it came
S3: out once a week, and, uh, a friend of mine,
S3: he was a courier boy, but he was getting ready
S3: to quit. And so they made a nickel off of
S3: each paper, and the paper was $0.20. Now, you know,
S3: I just dated myself. But all of you know, I'm 65,
S3: so I'm old school in his house. I'm back in
S3: the day when you could take a penny and get
S3: two pieces of candy. Yeah. Hey, man. Yeah, I remember
S3: a loaf of bread was $0.15. Okay, so that's how
S3: old I am. I'm proud to be able to say it. Hey, man.
S3: And so I was looking forward to it, because each
S3: courier boy got a nickel off of each paper. And
S3: so he his paper route had a hundred people. That
S3: was $5 a week. Do you know how much candy
S3: that would buy. And so I asked him, I said, man,
S3: I want to take you a route over. He said,
S3: I'm quitting next week. And so I went to my mama.
S3: I said, you know, Leroy's quitting and I want to
S3: take over his route. Can I can I do it?
S3: Can I? No, no no, no. You get robbed on
S3: that route, you get beat up. No, no, I don't
S3: want you doing that, mama. I'm not worried about. I'm not.
S3: I just want I want to do it. I want
S3: to do it. No, no, no. And I just wore
S3: her down. Wore her down. So finally, whenever Leroy gave
S3: up his route, I took his route. So I said, Leroy,
S3: why do you want to quit your route, man? Making
S3: a nickel of paper, he said, I can tell you
S3: in one word. I said, what's that? He said, Skippy.
S3: I said, Who's Skippy? He said, you going to take
S3: this route? I said, yeah, he said, you going to
S3: find out real quick. And so my first week on
S3: the route, because my mama said, you know, I'm worried
S3: about you. I said, don't worry about it. I got
S3: my stick. And as long as I got my stick,
S3: I'm going to be able to whoop anybody that comes
S3: to comes to rob me. And so, uh, I'm, I'm
S3: selling my papers, and I'm doing real good. Finished up.
S3: All the papers are gone. Everybody did deliver the house
S3: to I delivered it. Everything was hunky dory, baby. And
S3: so I'm pocket full of chains. Rattling few dollars in
S3: the pocket, you know, happy and skipping. And then. Then
S3: a guy stood in my way. I said, what? What's
S3: wrong with you, man? Who are you? He said, my
S3: name is Skippy. So I went home. My mother said,
S3: what's wrong? I said, I got robbed. You got robbed? Yeah.
S3: Who robbed you, Skippy? Well, why don't you hit him
S3: with the stick? He took that, too. I mean, that's
S3: injury to insult. I got robbed and he took my stick.
S3: But you know what? I learned something. I wonder, have
S3: you learned it yet? I was bad as long as
S3: I was by myself. Yeah, I was bad as long
S3: as there was no opposition, but as soon as there
S3: was opposition in the old school terminology, I found that
S3: all I was doing was selling wolf tickets. I don't
S3: know what y'all call it today. That's what we used
S3: to call it. Whenever you're talking loud but you're saying
S3: nothing or that you're you're all talk but no walk.
S3: And that's what I was that day. And don't laugh
S3: at me because many of you have been in that situation.
S3: It's easy to talk about what you're going to do
S3: when there's no opposition. Help me, somebody. If you don't
S3: believe me, ask Peter, because remember what Peter did. Uh,
S3: you're going to deny me. Uh uh. And remember, on
S3: Wednesday night, we said that Peter was sincere about it.
S3: He did not know that denial was in him. Let
S3: me tell y'all something. Some of you got some punk
S3: in you that ain't been discovered yet. Because you have
S3: met the person that's going to punk you. You're bad
S3: till you meet that person or that circumstance or that situation,
S3: and then you find out. I thought I didn't have
S3: any punk in me, but I did. And so, you know,
S3: Peter did it. He let his mouth write a check.
S3: His commitment couldn't cast. We talk about it all the time,
S3: and some of us are great at talking big at
S3: church on Sunday and failing to walk it at work
S3: on Monday. Don't shout me down now. Yeah. Have you
S3: ever noticed that every time you make a commitment to
S3: serve the Lord, to reach a goal, to accomplish a vision,
S3: or to see a dream fulfilled, the devil says, we'll
S3: see about that. We'll see about that. Yeah, yeah. You
S3: said I'm going to stay out of debt. Devil says
S3: we'll see about that. And the next day. Here it comes.
S3: Pre-Approved credit card. No application necessary. Just sign on the
S3: dotted line. Huh? Yeah. You said. Yeah. I'm going to
S3: wait for Mr. Right, and here he comes. Mr.. Right now.
S3: You say, you know what, man? I'm going to keep
S3: myself pure till I get married. I ain't even going
S3: to look at a woman the wrong way. And here
S3: she come. Boom chicka. Skirt the size of a postage stamp. Yeah, yeah,
S3: you know what I'm talking about. The devil says. Yeah,
S3: we'll see about that. You say I'm going to quit gossiping,
S3: but here comes the juiciest piece of gossip that you
S3: ever heard. And it was about Elder Green. Huh? Yeah.
S3: And so you say, hey, I'm going to give more
S3: time to his book. That's until you got caught up
S3: in Facebook. Mm. Yeah. And so here it is. We
S3: say it all the time. I'm committing to come to
S3: Bible study on Wednesday night, and all of a sudden,
S3: overtime is offered. All of a sudden, Empire got a
S3: new season. Mm. Now, we shouldn't be surprised. And we
S3: say it all the time. I'm not going to lie anymore.
S3: And then we find that a lie is a present
S3: help in the time of trouble. And so don't be
S3: surprised that the devil does it to us. Didn't he
S3: do it to the Lord Jesus Christ? He most certainly did.
S3: Matthew chapter three. We have the baptism of Jesus. God
S3: took on flesh, came down, dwelt among us. Now he's
S3: going in the water to be baptized, and the father
S3: is there audibly, and the spirit is there tangibly, while
S3: Jesus is in the water physically and God gives him
S3: that great commendation. This is my beloved son in whom
S3: I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. God gave to Jesus.
S3: Remember we studied it. He gave to him affection. He
S3: gave to him. Acknowledgement he gave to him attention. And
S3: that's the great victory. But what happened in chapter four?
S3: The Bible says, then the devil tempted him in the world.
S3: You see what happened? God put him on display and
S3: here comes the devil. I tell you, I don't care
S3: who you are. I dare you to say you're going
S3: to lose weight. I guarantee you somebody's going to cook
S3: your favorite dessert and offer it to you. Y'all know
S3: because y'all say it to me all the time. I
S3: know you got sugar diabetes, but I made you this.
S3: Your favorite. You love banana pudding. You ain't nothing but
S3: the devil. I don't want to tip you. Don't worry
S3: about it. And that's what he does to all of us.
S3: So in Nehemiah chapter two, verse 19, guess what? We
S3: see how haters hate. We get to see how those
S3: individuals that are just natural haters come out. I don't
S3: care what you're making an effort to do, you better
S3: expect a hater to show up. Now, if you don't
S3: expect a hater to show up, maybe it's because you're
S3: the hater. Don't look around. We don't want anybody to
S3: be convicted. And so what do they do? Imma drop em.
S3: I'm not going to push em. I'm going to walk
S3: through all ten of these. Number one, number one, they
S3: come at a critical or a crucial time.
S2: That's number one. We're going to get into that. And
S2: the other nine in just a few moments here on
S2: Treasure Truth, you're listening to a message called How Haters
S2: Hate from Nehemiah chapter two. And we're going to get
S2: back to this teaching in just a few seconds. If
S2: you ever miss a broadcast, you'll find it online. Come
S2: to Treasure Truth radio org. Stream the program through your
S2: computer or mobile device. Download the MP3 or order a
S2: copy on CD that's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Again, here's
S2: Pastor Ford.
S3: Look what happens in verse 19 because it's only one verse.
S3: All these principles come from one verse. But when Sanballat
S3: the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Gershom
S3: the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and
S3: despised us, and said, what is this thing that you do?
S3: Will you rebel against the king? Then I answered them
S3: and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will
S3: prosper us. We're his servants. So when you look at
S3: it now, look what's going on in Nehemiah 218. We
S3: study that at least five times in my 35 years
S3: of ministry. And this morning I asked how many heard
S3: the message. Only eight people raised their hand. How many
S3: heard that message? Nehemiah 218. Then I told them of
S3: the hand of my God, which is good upon me,
S3: as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me.
S3: And they said, let us rise up and build. So
S3: they strengthened their hands for this good work. Let me
S3: see how many people heard that. How many heard it?
S3: At least once. Okay. At least once. At least once.
S3: Look at that. Four people. Five. See, that's how I
S3: know I could do them again. Because most of y'all
S3: that heard it, you ain't hear it all anyway. You
S3: was texting. Just kidding. Just kidding. And so they come
S3: in now. Now what's the what's the backdrop? You know it.
S3: How long had the wall been down? 13 years. Wait
S3: a minute. Can I ask you a question? Where were
S3: they those 13 years? You don't hear anything from them? Why?
S3: Because nothing was being done. You better listen to me.
S3: Haters only rise up when something is trying to be done. Yes.
S3: That's when they rise up. So listen, you were going
S3: back to school and somebody said, ain't you too old
S3: for that? Where's the money going to come from? Uh, well,
S3: you know, I mean, if you ain't got it by now.
S3: How old was your mama when she got her degree? Grandmother, 90,
S3: got her bachelor's at 90. How old are you? A doctorate? Oh.
S3: I'm sorry. Excuse me. I don't want to hate on granny.
S3: Then she got her doctorate at 90. Well, that's convicting me. Yeah.
S3: And so, what's going on here? Nehemiah 218. Then I
S3: told them the hand of my God was good upon me.
S3: You remember the sermon? We talked about it and broke
S3: it down in three aspects. Then we came at it
S3: again and had a different outline every time. But here
S3: was the first outline I gave you that when you
S3: have a vision and when you want the wall to
S3: go up, when you want to do something in this
S3: community to stop black on black crime, when you want
S3: to do something in this community to help in the
S3: housing market and the job and everything. And so you
S3: look at this thing, what happens? First of all, they
S3: are motivated. It says, uh, Nehemiah told them divine revelation.
S3: And and then what did they do? They rose up. Uh,
S3: there's the church organization. So it says, and they said,
S3: let us rise up and build. So they were motivated, uh,
S3: and build activated. They strengthened their hands for this good work.
S3: They were consecrated. They were Max. Motivated, activated. Consecrated. Max.
S3: So now they're ready to go. A wall that's been
S3: down for 13 years is about to be built. Look
S3: at verse 19. But and remember, I always told you
S3: this a conjunction of contrast. It literally means what comes
S3: after is going to cancel out what came before. So
S3: here it is. They have an opportunity. Verse 19, there
S3: will always be opposition that whenever you step out in faith,
S3: you better believe something will come along to make you
S3: fear so that you need to understand stand. That victory
S3: will always be followed by a valley. So what's going
S3: on here? I mean, Nehemiah now has this unholy trinity
S3: in verse 19. Wow. Very antagonist. And guess what? They're
S3: the worst kind of haters. Why do you say that,
S3: Pastor Ford? See, there are haters. They stab you in
S3: the back. This ain't that kind. These are the kind
S3: that slap you in your face. Oh, yeah. These are
S3: the haters that punch you in the nose. Big bad,
S3: bold booty. Bodacious. Make no bones about it. Haters. You
S3: know what they are. Say what are they pastor for?
S3: They're a fight. Going somewhere to happen. I guess this
S3: must be old school day. Because I remember the house party.
S3: We'd be in house party. Everything be nice until they
S3: showed up. And whenever they showed up, you always knew
S3: this was is going to end up being a fight.
S3: Every time they come. Matter of fact, when I saw
S3: him coming. This time to go. Come on, baby, I
S3: grabbed my girlfriend. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Because
S3: he said, you know, he going to jump up here.
S3: He going to try to cut in, want to dance
S3: with you and all that kind of stuff. Then they're
S3: going to be a fight up in there. And I'm
S3: ready to leave now because I can't whoop him. And
S3: so here it is now. And and and I like
S3: what Fred Smith said. I read this article. You can
S3: see it if you just Google Fred Smith. The care
S3: and feeding of critics. He talked about five kind of haters.
S3: There are the hostile haters. These are people who resent
S3: authority per se. They disrespect la di da di and everybody.
S3: They have no respect for authority whatsoever. They disrespected their parents.
S3: They disrespected their teachers. They disrespect the authority, the police,
S3: they do all kinds of stuff and they're against leadership. Uh,
S3: then you have your people who are your high level haters. Uh,
S3: these are the haters with natural leadership ability. They become
S3: leaders of the minority, uh, majority and feel that they
S3: have to be in opposition in order to serve their function.
S3: The more capable they are, the more difficult they are
S3: to deal with it. Uh, then you just have your
S3: hater haters. These are the people who criticize to show
S3: how much they know more than you know anybody like that.
S3: And then the last two there, the haters. These are
S3: individuals who are like a hound dog laying on a
S3: cocklebur and refuse to move or roar. Roar. He said,
S3: you know what the kookaburra is? Every new idea. Roo
S3: roo roo just got to say something. Don't know nothing
S3: but got to say something. Roar, roar Hmm. Yeah. And
S3: then finally, there's the honest hater. Say, what are you
S3: talking about? A person who is genuinely interested and really
S3: wants to see a spiritual change. So we don't throw
S3: out the baby with the bathwater. Now, you do know
S3: the difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Say, what
S3: is it? Constructive criticism is when I criticize you. Destructive
S3: criticism when you criticize me. Now, I had to put
S3: this down. I've been ministering in this church, one church
S3: 35 years. Amen. 35. Now, let me tell you what
S3: I've learned about criticism in 35 years. In five, I
S3: started to say five seconds, but it ain't going to
S3: be that quick. Here's what I learned. And I've got
S3: 35 journals. I've been journaling 40 years, and here's what
S3: I put in my journals. What I've learned about criticism
S3: over the year I coalesced them. I've got 16 things
S3: I've learned positive about negative criticism. Here it is. Number one,
S3: you depend more on God. When you get criticized. It
S3: ought to push you to God. You ought to depend
S3: upon him more. Stop trusting yourself as much and start
S3: trusting him more. Number two, it develops your character because
S3: you see what kind of person you are. And I'm
S3: telling you, early in my ministry, I didn't have the
S3: character I have now late in my ministry, and there's
S3: some people who, if they were still members of the church,
S3: would tell you when he first came, he still had
S3: some of that gangster in him. Because when you said
S3: something that that blew him up, he snatched you. I
S3: remember that there's a brother who will tell you he
S3: said something I didn't like. I snatched him in my office,
S3: lift him up against the wall and said, what the
S3: did you say? And I skipped that word because it
S3: wasn't a godly one. Now I had to repent. And
S3: I repented to him. But now I just smiled. Amen.
S3: It keeps you humble.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor James Ford Jr,
S2: and we're going to hear more on how to deal
S2: with critics as this message continues. If you missed any
S2: part of today's program, you can find it online. Just
S2: come to Treasure Truth Radio org and look for the
S2: title How Haters Hate. You know, it doesn't matter whether
S2: you're surrounded by friends or being attacked by critics, God
S2: calls every Christian to share the gospel. Now, of course,
S2: it's easier if the people you witness to are friendly,
S2: but we need to be ready with an answer to
S2: any response. At Treasure Truth, we want to equip you
S2: with a practical tool that can teach you to become
S2: a successful soul winner by using God's Word to answer
S2: difficult questions. The book is called How to Witness to Anyone,
S2: and it's written by R.A. Torrey. Now, Doctor Torrey was
S2: one of the great evangelists of the last century, and
S2: he created this book as a practical reference guide for
S2: Christians who don't always know where to turn when faced
S2: with difficult questions. So if you struggle with how to
S2: respond to skeptics, if self-righteous non-believers have you stumped, or
S2: if you're just looking for hints on how to be
S2: more effective when you share the gospel, this book is
S2: for you. Contact treasure truth with the gift of any
S2: amount and request how to Witness to Anyone by R.A. Torrey.
S2: Call us at 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure
S2: Truth Radio.com. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios,
S2: and we're going to hear more from Pastor Ford tomorrow
S2: as we continue the message. How Haters Hate, treasure, Truth
S2: is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody
S2: Bible Institute.