WEBVTT - It’s Your Time, Part 2 0:00:00.350 --> 0:00:05.450 We focus on duration. God focuses on donation. We focus 0:00:05.450 --> 0:00:10.039 on longevity. God focuses on legacy. Somebody say, I've been 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.010 saved 20 years? Yeah, but you've been out of God's 0:00:13.010 --> 0:00:16.100 will for 18 of them. So at the judgment seat 0:00:16.100 --> 0:00:18.770 of Christ, you only get credit for two. 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.460 Welcome to Treasure Truth with Pastor James Ford Jr. He's 0:00:28.460 --> 0:00:30.980 a senior pastor at the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. 0:00:31.010 --> 0:00:33.589 I'm Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us today. As 0:00:33.590 --> 0:00:36.050 we dive back into the book of Esther and continue 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.979 a message called It's Your Time. And pastor, we began 0:00:39.979 --> 0:00:44.449 last time to talk about the significance of what we 0:00:44.450 --> 0:00:46.430 do between the time of our birth and the time 0:00:46.430 --> 0:00:48.860 of our death. Basically, how do we live out that 0:00:48.860 --> 0:00:53.240 dash that might appear on our tombstone? And I think 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:54.620 it was several days ago you were talking about the 0:00:54.620 --> 0:00:57.230 fact that, well, we can end up wasting a lot 0:00:57.230 --> 0:01:00.620 of time. That's obviously one thing we can do. How 0:01:00.620 --> 0:01:03.150 are we actually to live out that time? 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:09.360 Well, we need to get our direction from our Heavenly Father. Now, 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.690 I know somebody's saying, oh, I knew we were going 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.540 to have that answer. Yeah. You know, but that's the 0:01:15.540 --> 0:01:21.060 only answer why? We were created for a purpose. Okay. 0:01:21.090 --> 0:01:23.520 Ephesians two eight and nine for by grace you have 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.860 been saved through faith. And that is the gift of God, 0:01:25.860 --> 0:01:28.889 not a result of works, lest any man should boast. 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.750 Why do we stop at verse nine? Because the connective 0:01:33.780 --> 0:01:39.510 tissue for is a preposition that ties them together. It's 0:01:39.510 --> 0:01:43.410 a conjunction. And so conjunction junction. What's your function? The 0:01:43.410 --> 0:01:46.650 function of a conjunction is to tie two phrases together. 0:01:46.650 --> 0:01:50.040 Schoolhouse Rock, some of you know. Oh yeah. Yeah. And 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.800 so what does Ford do in Greek is called an 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.820 explanatory GA every time I see it, when I'm studying 0:01:56.850 --> 0:01:59.130 or when I'm getting ready to preach or teach, I 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.900 write the word reason because that's what I was taught 0:02:01.900 --> 0:02:05.800 when I matriculated at the Moody Bible Institute back in 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:10.900 the early 80s. My professor told me, when you see 0:02:10.930 --> 0:02:13.570 explanatory gap, the first thing that should come to your 0:02:13.570 --> 0:02:18.460 mind is the word reason. Because now explanatory GA is 0:02:18.460 --> 0:02:23.139 just that. It's going to explain why the previous verses 0:02:23.139 --> 0:02:26.799 were said. So then we were saved by grace. What's 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:32.740 the reason? We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 0:02:32.770 --> 0:02:39.010 unto good works. Don't stop there which God hath for ordained, 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.090 that we should walk in them. So everything I'm supposed 0:02:43.090 --> 0:02:47.260 to do has been set out from eternity. So then 0:02:47.260 --> 0:02:52.180 I pray, uh, the words of Proverbs three five and six, 0:02:52.180 --> 0:02:54.340 trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Lean not 0:02:54.340 --> 0:02:58.000 to thy own understanding in all, not some in all, 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.260 not most in all your ways Acknowledge him and he 0:03:02.260 --> 0:03:05.559 will direct your path. What's he directing my path to? 0:03:05.590 --> 0:03:10.690 To where he already put a road. Yeah. This is 0:03:10.690 --> 0:03:13.989 your road. I want you to walk in it and 0:03:13.990 --> 0:03:16.270 that's it. And so I want to know. And I 0:03:16.270 --> 0:03:19.240 pray about these things. I've been given opportunities to do 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.310 a whole lot of things. Some of them I say 0:03:21.310 --> 0:03:23.650 no because after I talked to him, he says, I 0:03:23.650 --> 0:03:26.980 don't want you doing that. That doesn't fit within your purpose. 0:03:26.980 --> 0:03:29.860 And here's what I love. The word workmanship is the 0:03:29.860 --> 0:03:33.190 Greek word poiema, from which we get poem. And the 0:03:33.190 --> 0:03:36.340 sad tragedy is the way we live our lives, some 0:03:36.370 --> 0:03:39.790 of us as believers. We don't read like a poem. 0:03:39.790 --> 0:03:43.120 We read like graffiti on a bathroom wall. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.260 Huh? Well, that is just the beginning of the program. 0:03:47.260 --> 0:03:49.990 That that is a message in and of itself right there. 0:03:49.990 --> 0:03:52.600 But we're going to get into Esther chapter four today. 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.500 So join us as we continue. It's your time. Here 0:03:56.530 --> 0:03:57.700 is Pastor Ford. 0:03:57.730 --> 0:03:59.470 And so what what am I trying to tell you? 0:03:59.500 --> 0:04:02.660 Now is the time to do what you later wish 0:04:02.660 --> 0:04:05.360 you would have done. Let me say that again. Now 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.660 is the time to do what you wish you would 0:04:08.690 --> 0:04:14.570 have done later. It's your time, see? Today is the 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:21.380 tomorrow that you talked about yesterday. And so it's time now. 0:04:21.410 --> 0:04:24.050 I mean, you know, it's like I'm. I'm praising God. 0:04:24.050 --> 0:04:26.330 And you know how some of us say we made 0:04:26.330 --> 0:04:30.469 New Year's resolutions in, in January, you know, I'm going 0:04:30.500 --> 0:04:33.170 to lose some weight. And then we wonder when we 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.590 get on the scale, why aren't we losing? Uh, I 0:04:36.589 --> 0:04:38.720 was wondering it, too. And I told my wife, let 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:44.330 me get on this scale. Hold my Twinkies. Yesterday is 0:04:44.330 --> 0:04:50.420 a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash. 0:04:50.450 --> 0:04:55.190 Spend it wisely. Now is the time to do what 0:04:55.190 --> 0:05:00.110 you later wish you would have done. God gives opportunity 0:05:00.110 --> 0:05:04.440 And we need to make sure that we jump on 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.070 his kairos with our chronos. Remember what happened to the 0:05:08.070 --> 0:05:12.120 children of Israel. God said, alright, I want you to go. I'm. 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.719 Open the door. They walked around with placards. Hades! No, 0:05:15.750 --> 0:05:18.540 I won't go! Hades! No, God said, the door is open. 0:05:18.570 --> 0:05:21.480 They said, but we ain't going. God said, okay, you 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.750 ain't going. Alright, I'm closing the door. So then Moses 0:05:24.750 --> 0:05:26.669 told him, God closed the door because y'all wouldn't go. 0:05:26.700 --> 0:05:31.529 When he told you to go. And, uh, they said, okay, 0:05:31.529 --> 0:05:33.900 we'll go. And God said, don't go. I'm not with 0:05:33.900 --> 0:05:36.270 you now. I had the door open. You wouldn't walk 0:05:36.270 --> 0:05:39.630 through the door. Now the door is shut. What happened? 0:05:39.660 --> 0:05:44.100 Somebody holler it out. What happened? They went up anyway. 0:05:44.100 --> 0:05:47.190 When God said go, they said no. And when God 0:05:47.190 --> 0:05:51.570 said no, they said, go. Dead monkey on the line somewhere. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.080 And so what happened? They went up there and got jacked. 0:05:56.370 --> 0:06:02.050 They got jacked because God is a God of time. 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.870 Remember what it says in Galatians four four in the fullness. 0:06:04.900 --> 0:06:09.039 Plethora the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son, 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.460 made of a woman made under the law to die. 0:06:12.490 --> 0:06:16.299 Jesus came at the right time. Oh, there is a 0:06:16.300 --> 0:06:19.060 right time, y'all. Oh, there is a right time. There's 0:06:19.089 --> 0:06:24.790 a set time. A fullness time. Noah was told to 0:06:24.820 --> 0:06:29.140 come into the ark and it was time. I don't 0:06:29.140 --> 0:06:30.940 have time to go through the whole thing, but you 0:06:30.940 --> 0:06:34.119 know the chronology. What is set? Okay, so what I 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.299 did was I went to a theological dictionary. Just. Just 0:06:37.300 --> 0:06:40.930 be patient with me, okay? Say we will, pastor. Okay. 0:06:40.930 --> 0:06:48.039 Thank you so much. Psalm 102 13. The set time 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:53.590 to favor Zion is gone. I looked up the theological dictionary. 0:06:53.620 --> 0:06:55.060 You apply it. Now listen to this. I'm going to 0:06:55.060 --> 0:06:56.589 give you all ten of them. I'm going to drop 0:06:56.589 --> 0:06:58.599 them and I'm going to push them. What does set mean, 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.180 number one to be established as a model to be 0:07:02.180 --> 0:07:06.620 set up. Number two, to be ready to catch prey, 0:07:06.650 --> 0:07:11.510 set a trap. Number three, to regulate for proper functioning. 0:07:11.510 --> 0:07:15.260 Like set a thermostat. And you're getting these now. I 0:07:15.260 --> 0:07:18.170 hope you're applying them as I'm saying them, because I don't, 0:07:18.290 --> 0:07:20.420 you know, there's ten of them. I can't apply all 0:07:20.420 --> 0:07:22.340 of them. It'll take me all day to do that. 0:07:22.370 --> 0:07:27.650 And so number four, to be positioned for action. Ready 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:34.460 set go. Number five to harden or to congeal. He 0:07:34.490 --> 0:07:38.600 set his face like a flint to fix by decree. 0:07:38.630 --> 0:07:43.640 God has set everything in order. Number seven to furnish 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:50.750 by example. Number eight to mark. Ready for use. Set 0:07:50.750 --> 0:07:54.920 the plate on the table to move. Number nine in 0:07:54.920 --> 0:08:00.230 a direction. He set off toward the north side. And 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:07.590 then ten to arouse to action. He got set for battle. 0:08:07.620 --> 0:08:10.770 Do you listen to all those? And it tells us 0:08:10.770 --> 0:08:14.490 what what this time is all about. Uh, that it's 0:08:14.490 --> 0:08:18.360 time for us to realize. It's time to do something 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:23.820 with the dash. We must car pay. DM. Come on, 0:08:23.850 --> 0:08:28.560 say it. Car pay. DM. What does it mean? Seize 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:33.000 the day. Seize the moment. The time is right. Right 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.760 now is the time to take the community. Right now 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.130 is the time to go back to school. Right now 0:08:38.130 --> 0:08:40.920 is the time to start the business. Right now is 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.320 the time to write your book. Right now is the 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.310 time to do it now, now, now, now, now is 0:08:47.309 --> 0:08:50.910 the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Today, 0:08:50.910 --> 0:08:54.120 if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Today 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.250 is the day to get saved. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.290 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:11.760 Yeah. Yeah. Temporary victory turned into a perpetual move of God. Mm. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.350 Andrew Carnegie, some of you know who he is, but 0:09:16.350 --> 0:09:19.080 we know him because we're from Pittsburgh. And most of 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:24.600 his meals were in Pittsburgh, and he was a steel magnate. Uh, 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:29.490 multi multi-billionaire back when, you know, that was he'd probably 0:09:29.490 --> 0:09:34.020 be richer than Warren Buffett today. Uh, but here's what 0:09:34.020 --> 0:09:37.079 he said. He said, uh, how'd you make it? You 0:09:37.110 --> 0:09:39.630 came here as an immigrant. How'd you make it? Well, 0:09:39.630 --> 0:09:41.280 he should have said I didn't come on a slave 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:47.670 ship and that that'd be first. But here's what he said. Quote, 0:09:47.970 --> 0:09:52.950 we were all told America was the land of opportunity. 0:09:53.220 --> 0:09:57.300 I acted on it. I acted on it. What are 0:09:57.300 --> 0:10:02.050 you acting on today? Wow. So what can you do 0:10:02.050 --> 0:10:04.209 with time? Let me. Let me run through this real quick. 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.160 What can you do with time? Well, the first thing 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.430 you can do with time is you can waste time. 0:10:10.570 --> 0:10:14.500 And we do it all the time. We waste time, 0:10:14.500 --> 0:10:19.420 we kill time. We bury our opportunities. Deuteronomy chapter one. 0:10:19.450 --> 0:10:23.350 Let's turn there real quick. Deuteronomy chapter one says this. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:28.210 Listen to this. These be the words which Moses spake 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.270 unto all Israel on this side of Jordan, in the wilderness, 0:10:31.300 --> 0:10:34.960 in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran 0:10:34.990 --> 0:10:41.650 TEFL Laban, Hazeroth and Di Zahab, there are 11 days 0:10:41.650 --> 0:10:46.240 journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:52.900 Kadesh Barnea. How many days to the Promised Land? 11. 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:58.089 How long did it take them? 40 years. Wait a minute, 0:10:58.090 --> 0:11:01.069 wait a minute, wait a minute, 40 years. I just 0:11:01.070 --> 0:11:10.880 did a little math. Times 365 is 14,600 days. So 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:23.420 then it took them 14,589 days longer than what it 0:11:23.420 --> 0:11:29.030 should have taken. You know why? Because God could get 0:11:29.030 --> 0:11:31.340 them out of Egypt. But he couldn't get the Egypt 0:11:31.370 --> 0:11:34.850 out of them, right? You know it because you you're 0:11:34.850 --> 0:11:37.160 sitting here. I remember when Babbie Mason was here. We 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.439 ought to bring her back. Babbie Mason was here, and 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.260 she said something I'll never forget. She said I. I 0:11:42.260 --> 0:11:45.710 was like some of you. I had too much church 0:11:45.710 --> 0:11:48.800 for the world and too much world for the church. 0:11:48.890 --> 0:11:51.020 You know how I like to say it. You got 0:11:51.050 --> 0:11:54.230 one foot in the world and one foot in the church. 0:11:54.230 --> 0:11:56.120 And when the rapture happened, you're going to split your 0:11:56.120 --> 0:12:00.270 pants on the way up. And here God has given 0:12:00.270 --> 0:12:06.030 opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. When you kill time, it 0:12:06.030 --> 0:12:09.510 can't be resurrected. Here it is. You've got to move. 0:12:09.510 --> 0:12:12.390 When God says move, you've got to strike while the 0:12:12.390 --> 0:12:16.110 iron is hot. Go while the door is open. They 0:12:16.110 --> 0:12:22.140 refuse to go and the door was closed. Haggai chapter one. 0:12:22.140 --> 0:12:26.430 Read it. God said, the problem with your not building 0:12:26.700 --> 0:12:29.280 what I told you to build the wall and my 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:37.620 temple is because your priorities are not my priorities. What 0:12:37.620 --> 0:12:41.040 are we going to do? Christ's Bible. It's time to mobilize. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:45.030 We need some real men to read. We're getting ready 0:12:45.030 --> 0:12:49.560 to go back out on the corners, man. We gotta mobilize. 0:12:51.570 --> 0:12:53.910 I don't know about you. I'm encouraged to hear that. 0:12:53.940 --> 0:12:56.520 I mean, the body of Christ being, the body of Christ, 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.340 the church getting out there and being the church in 0:12:59.340 --> 0:13:02.650 Jesus name. You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. 0:13:02.650 --> 0:13:05.290 A message called It's Your Time, and we'll get back 0:13:05.290 --> 0:13:07.540 to this message in just a moment. I want to 0:13:07.540 --> 0:13:09.220 let you know we're able to bring you Pastor Ford's 0:13:09.220 --> 0:13:12.220 teaching each day because of your generosity. Those of you 0:13:12.250 --> 0:13:14.410 who have given a gift to treasure truth before a 0:13:14.410 --> 0:13:17.290 huge thank you. If you've never given, would you consider 0:13:17.290 --> 0:13:20.980 doing so today? Come to our website, Treasure Truth radio.org 0:13:20.980 --> 0:13:22.630 and click on the donate button. You can give a 0:13:22.630 --> 0:13:25.150 one time gift or an ongoing monthly gift at Treasure 0:13:25.179 --> 0:13:29.410 Truth radio.org and click on donate again. Here's Pastor Ford. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:32.350 I told the story before, but you could tell it 0:13:32.350 --> 0:13:35.500 grates me to no end. Uh, we were given an 0:13:35.530 --> 0:13:42.520 opportunity to get $2 million worth of buildings newly rehabbed, and, uh, 0:13:42.550 --> 0:13:47.679 the board voted not to do it. I was like, 0:13:47.710 --> 0:13:53.290 are you serious? Somebody's going to donate to us. $2.5 0:13:53.290 --> 0:13:58.270 million worth of buildings in, uh. What's this over here? Uh, 0:13:58.300 --> 0:14:01.820 they're building it up now. What? What is it called? Brownsville. 0:14:02.660 --> 0:14:09.439 It was in Brownsville. Waste time. Man. What's the other 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.160 thing we can do? We can mark time. We can 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.650 mark time. You know what, Mark? Time. Who was in 0:14:15.650 --> 0:14:18.559 the military? Who was in the military? Who remembers this? 0:14:18.590 --> 0:14:26.630 We are marching. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Mark! Time! Whoo! Chop, chop. 0:14:26.660 --> 0:14:30.560 And you just. You just in place. You ain't going nowhere. 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.440 But you're moving. Oh, if that ain't the church of 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:37.100 Jesus Christ today we moving. But we ain't going nowhere. 0:14:37.100 --> 0:14:41.630 We just marking time. We just. We just. Meat. Meat, meat. 0:14:41.660 --> 0:14:53.630 Meat meat meat meat meat. Oh, okay. Listen, I shared 0:14:53.630 --> 0:14:55.490 this with you before, so I hope you'll just. Just 0:14:55.490 --> 0:15:01.520 remember it. Acts chapter 13 tells us that there were 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:10.400 593 years of history. But first Kings chapter one, verse 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:17.540 one says there were 480 years. Now most people look 0:15:17.570 --> 0:15:20.180 at it and say, see, there's a discrepancy in the Bible. 0:15:20.420 --> 0:15:25.520 There's no discrepancy. What's going on? Where where are the 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:33.530 missing years? Go to Book of Judges. That's where they are. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:39.920 Those missing years. If you add up how many years? 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:44.120 The children of Israel disobeyed God and he brought them 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:49.520 under captivity, there you'll find your years. In other words, 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:56.630 they didn't count. It didn't count. Why? Because the Captivities 0:15:56.630 --> 0:15:59.760 were given to you. Because you weren't obeying God. Somebody 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.370 said this, I quote, life is like a taxi cab. 0:16:02.370 --> 0:16:07.650 The meter is running, whether you're moving or standing still. Yeah. 0:16:07.650 --> 0:16:13.020 That's right. See, we focus on duration. God focuses on donation. 0:16:13.020 --> 0:16:18.030 We focus on longevity. God focuses on legacy. Somebody say, 0:16:18.030 --> 0:16:20.910 I've been saved 20 years. Yeah, but you've been out 0:16:20.910 --> 0:16:23.880 of God's will for 18 of them. So at the 0:16:23.910 --> 0:16:27.239 judgment seat of Christ, you only get credit for two. 0:16:30.090 --> 0:16:32.310 I've been a Christian 15 years, but you ain't done 0:16:32.310 --> 0:16:38.070 nothing sitting on your rusty, dusty and haven't done anything. Yeah. 0:16:38.310 --> 0:16:42.780 That's it. Jonah, go to Nineveh. And so what does 0:16:42.780 --> 0:16:44.730 it say? And Jonah paid his fare. Because whenever you 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.730 disobey God, you picking up the tab? God ain't picking 0:16:47.730 --> 0:16:49.710 up your tab. I say it all the time. I know, 0:16:49.710 --> 0:16:51.420 I know, they're tired of hearing it on the radio. 0:16:51.450 --> 0:16:53.700 You're shacking with the devil and want Jesus to pay 0:16:53.700 --> 0:16:54.450 the rent. 0:16:54.540 --> 0:16:54.990 Alright. 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:57.990 The word of the Lord came to Jonah. Go to 0:16:58.020 --> 0:17:02.470 Nineveh and preach against that great city. Jonah said, Hades, no, 0:17:02.500 --> 0:17:05.830 I ain't going. And he doesn't go. What does he do? 0:17:05.859 --> 0:17:08.530 He paid his fare, and he went down. And he 0:17:08.530 --> 0:17:11.889 went down from Jerusalem, down to a ship, down in 0:17:11.890 --> 0:17:14.709 the belly of the ship, down into the sea, down into. 0:17:14.740 --> 0:17:17.950 See what happened to him. Anytime you disobey God, the 0:17:17.950 --> 0:17:20.260 only direction you can go is down. 0:17:21.100 --> 0:17:21.639 Amen. 0:17:22.780 --> 0:17:27.430 So now he goes down. He tries to get away 0:17:27.430 --> 0:17:33.010 from God. That's a funny. You didn't laugh. How can 0:17:33.010 --> 0:17:40.060 you escape from the omnipresent God? He is everywhere. At 0:17:40.060 --> 0:17:43.149 all time. In all time. So how are you going to. 0:17:43.180 --> 0:17:45.580 And he running from the presence of the Lord. Now, 0:17:45.580 --> 0:17:46.959 let me tell you what the phrase presence of the 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:53.560 Lord means. He's running from the things that remind him 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.109 of the Lord's presence, like Jerusalem and the people of 0:17:56.109 --> 0:18:00.710 Jerusalem and the Tabernacle and all those kind of things like, oh, 0:18:00.740 --> 0:18:04.220 don't act like we don't do it. We backslide. We 0:18:04.220 --> 0:18:06.920 don't come to church, we don't read our Bible. We 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.949 don't pray. Why? We want to get away from the 0:18:09.950 --> 0:18:13.580 presence of the Lord. Well that's it. Yeah. We want 0:18:13.609 --> 0:18:15.680 to get away from it. And here's here's what I like. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.699 If you read chapter three, the word of the Lord 0:18:19.700 --> 0:18:24.020 came to Jonah a second time. Now, here's what you'll find. 0:18:24.230 --> 0:18:29.210 The exact words that God gave him in chapter one 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.170 are the exact words that he gave him in chapter three. 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:38.510 God didn't change his mind about what he wants you 0:18:38.510 --> 0:18:42.410 to do. Some of you have been called and you're 0:18:42.410 --> 0:18:50.570 running from God. The call's not going to change. It's 0:18:50.570 --> 0:18:54.020 not going to change. What is it that he told you? 0:18:54.050 --> 0:18:56.960 Five years ago he wanted you to do? He ain't 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.060 changed his mind about it. You say? Well, then, what's 0:19:00.060 --> 0:19:03.450 going on? He doesn't violate your free will. He's letting 0:19:03.450 --> 0:19:06.390 you do what you want to do. See, God doesn't 0:19:06.390 --> 0:19:10.320 make us change our minds. He only sends circumstances that 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:11.760 will make us change our mind. 0:19:14.550 --> 0:19:15.870 Yes, sir. Amen. 0:19:16.170 --> 0:19:18.060 How many of us ever said, God, if you get 0:19:18.060 --> 0:19:19.379 me out of this, I'm going back to church. And 0:19:19.380 --> 0:19:20.879 that's why you're here right now. Let me. Let me 0:19:20.910 --> 0:19:23.160 see some hands. Some honest folk. Some honest folk. There 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:27.149 you go. There you go. That's it. In other words, listen, 0:19:27.150 --> 0:19:32.219 when you're marking time, you're maintaining, but you're not attaining. 0:19:32.340 --> 0:19:32.879 Yeah. 0:19:33.180 --> 0:19:39.780 And so what happens? You're going through the motions. Wow. Yeah. 0:19:39.780 --> 0:19:43.590 You can you can mark time. Here's the third thing 0:19:43.590 --> 0:19:50.460 you can do. You can transcend time. You can transcend time. Uh, 0:19:50.460 --> 0:19:55.290 because the past should be a springboard, not a hammock. 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:56.010 Alright. 0:19:56.580 --> 0:19:59.590 Some people live so far in the past that their 0:19:59.590 --> 0:20:04.900 future is gone by the time they get there. Don't 0:20:04.900 --> 0:20:08.889 let your history wreck your destiny. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:10.660 Amen. Amen. 0:20:10.780 --> 0:20:15.700 What did Paul say? I'm pressing this. Come on. Everybody 0:20:15.700 --> 0:20:21.369 knows it. One thing I do forgetting. I press. Well, Paul, 0:20:21.369 --> 0:20:23.650 wait a minute, wait a minute. That's two things. No, 0:20:23.650 --> 0:20:26.650 it's one thing. If I'm going to press, I have 0:20:26.650 --> 0:20:27.460 to forget. 0:20:27.490 --> 0:20:27.850 Yeah. 0:20:28.270 --> 0:20:32.860 You know what the word forget means? It's a Greek word. FEMA. 0:20:32.890 --> 0:20:37.540 Here's what it means. Let it go. Let it go. 0:20:38.350 --> 0:20:41.050 When are you going to let it go? I know 0:20:41.050 --> 0:20:43.989 some things were very difficult. I know that there were 0:20:43.990 --> 0:20:46.210 some dastardly things that have happened. But when are you 0:20:46.210 --> 0:20:50.830 going to let it go? Way, way back in the past. 0:20:50.830 --> 0:20:55.960 Why are you going to let your past override your 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:01.630 present and your prophetic? God is able. You can go 0:21:01.630 --> 0:21:04.119 through it. I read the story of one of the 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:10.450 Miss America. She was Italian and, uh, very beautiful woman. 0:21:10.450 --> 0:21:14.500 And she went into a restaurant. She was the only 0:21:14.500 --> 0:21:18.250 one there. The owner grabbed her, took her in the 0:21:18.250 --> 0:21:25.600 back and raped her. That's devastating. She was devastated. And 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.590 she was a believer. God, how could you allow something 0:21:29.590 --> 0:21:33.129 like that to happen to me? And I serve you. 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.780 Fast forward to video. You know what she's doing now. 0:21:37.900 --> 0:21:44.560 She heads a ministry that ministers to rape victims. God 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:49.720 does that. Anybody ever heard of Johnny Erickson? Tada! Anybody? 0:21:50.260 --> 0:21:53.440 She was a beauty queen to dived into a pool 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:58.990 that had shallow water and, uh, became a paraplegic. Now 0:21:58.990 --> 0:22:03.619 she has the number one ministry in the world that 0:22:03.619 --> 0:22:07.310 ministers to people who are paraplegic. 0:22:10.250 --> 0:22:13.550 You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message 0:22:13.550 --> 0:22:17.780 called It's Your Time, and we would love to know 0:22:17.869 --> 0:22:21.200 how this current series maybe is making a difference in 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:23.600 your walk with Christ. How maybe he's reminding you it's 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:27.260 your time to step out and to do something in 0:22:27.260 --> 0:22:30.410 his name. Recently heard from a listener in Florida who says, hey, 0:22:30.410 --> 0:22:33.170 I'm loving your recent messages. You're all up in my 0:22:33.170 --> 0:22:36.379 kool aid, Pastor Ford. I'm going to pass this test 0:22:36.380 --> 0:22:39.410 my other storm. So keep it up, sir. Well, Gail, 0:22:39.410 --> 0:22:41.060 thanks for letting us know that you're out there, that 0:22:41.060 --> 0:22:43.910 you're listening, and that this Bible teaching from Pastor Ford 0:22:43.910 --> 0:22:46.670 is making a difference in your walk with Christ. If 0:22:46.700 --> 0:22:48.560 we've never heard from you before, there's a few different 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.870 ways that we can connect. First of all, you can 0:22:50.869 --> 0:22:53.870 just come to the website Treasure Truth radio.org and click 0:22:53.869 --> 0:22:56.480 on the contact link. Give us your feedback there, or 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.000 even ask a question to Pastor Ford. You can also 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.229 give us your feedback through social media. If you've not 0:23:01.260 --> 0:23:04.200 done so before, go ahead and follow us on Twitter. 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:06.630 Like us on Facebook. You can leave us your comments 0:23:06.660 --> 0:23:09.990 that way. 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Well, thanks to our producers, 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:45.690 Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey. For Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Miller. 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:49.200 Treasure truth is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:50.850 of Moody Bible Institute.