S1: You left ministry to go back to fishing. Now you're fishing.
S1: Have you caught anything? You backslid. Did you gain anything
S1: by it? Now, if you said yes, let me tell you.
S1: Look out! Because whatever you gain when you backslide is
S1: going to become a curse to you when you get
S1: back in the fellowship.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford Jr.
S2: Senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm
S2: Steve Hiller. Glad that you're with us. As we continue
S2: a message called It's Your Time. And pastor, you bring
S2: up a sad fact, and that is that many will
S2: come to a saving knowledge of Christ. They'll begin a
S2: relationship with him. But then something may happen in their
S2: lives where they're really questioning and wondering, is it really
S2: worth it? May decide for a season of time that
S2: they don't want to follow after Jesus. It's just not
S2: worth the cost to them at that point in time,
S2: and they may go on to have other successes. They
S2: may go on to experience other good things. And you're saying,
S2: if that's the case, watch out.
S1: Oh, most definitely. And uppermost in my thinking was Abraham.
S1: Remember what he did? Him and lot. There was a
S1: famine in the land. Now he's where God told him
S1: to be. Sometimes where God places you will be in
S1: the midst of a famine. But in Egypt they were feasting.
S1: So here's what he said. I'm going down to Egypt
S1: and here's what he learned. It's better to have famine
S1: in the will of God than to be feasting out
S1: of the will of God. Now, what did he bring
S1: back out of his backslidden way? He brought back wealth. Yeah,
S1: he brought back Hagar.
S2: Hmm.
S1: Yeah. So cattle, wealth. Hagar. All three became a curse
S1: to him. You know, especially Hagar.
S2: Oh, exactly. You know, when you say occurs to him,
S2: that's the first one that comes to mind, right?
S1: No big trouble. Yeah, I mean, big trouble. I don't
S1: know what the patriarchs were thinking with 2 or 3 wives.
S1: You know, you and I have one, and that's too much.
S2: We're going to keep it right there at one. Okay? Okay.
S1: Yeah, we'll keep it at one. And and then we'll
S1: ask God for the power to be able to lead
S1: our families. Amen. And so what happened? I mean, why
S1: did God do that? We have to learn that God
S1: has to allow us to suffer the consequences of not
S1: fellowshipping with him. If he allows that to be something
S1: that sustains us and adds to us, then we begin
S1: to think, what do I need God for anyway? Yeah,
S1: I did it and I was able to accomplish it.
S1: But no, no, you accomplished it. But it was not
S1: a blessing to you. Yeah. You know, and the Bible
S1: tells us that the Lord adds to us and he
S1: adds no sorrow to it.
S2: Hmm. That's a good word right there. And with that,
S2: let's go ahead and get into Esther chapter four as
S2: we continue the message. It's your time. Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Those missing years, if you add up how many years
S1: the children of Israel disobey God, and he brought them
S1: under captivity, there you'll find your years. In other words,
S1: they didn't count. It didn't count. Why? Because the Captivities
S1: were given to you. Because you weren't obeying God. Somebody
S1: said this, I quote, life is like a taxicab. The
S1: meter is running, whether you're moving or standing still. Yeah.
S1: That's right. See, we focus on duration. God focuses on donation.
S1: We focus on longevity. God focuses on legacy. Somebody say,
S1: I've been saved 20 years? Yeah, but you've been out
S1: of God's will for 18 of them. So at the
S1: judgment seat of Christ, you only get credit for two.
S1: I've been a Christian 15 years, but you ain't done
S1: nothing sitting on your rusty, dusty and haven't done anything. Yeah.
S1: That's it. Jonah, go to Nineveh. And so what does
S1: it say? And Jonah paid his fare. Because whenever you
S1: disobey God, you picking up the tab? God ain't picking
S1: up your tab. I say it all the time. I know,
S1: I know, they tired of hearing it on the radio.
S1: You're shacking with the devil and want Jesus to pay
S1: the rent. Alright. The word of the Lord came to Jonah.
S1: Go to Nineveh to preach against that great city. Jonah said, hey,
S1: he's no, I ain't going. And he doesn't go. What
S1: does he do? He paid his fare and he went down,
S1: and he went down from Jerusalem, down to a ship,
S1: down in the belly of the ship, down into the sea,
S1: down into. See what happened to him. Anytime you disobey God,
S1: the only direction you can go is down. Amen. So
S1: now he goes down. He tries to get away from God.
S1: That's a funny. You didn't laugh. How can you escape
S1: from the omnipresent God? He is everywhere. At all time.
S1: In all time. So how are you going? And he
S1: running from the presence of the Lord. Now, let me
S1: tell you what the phrase presence of the Lord means.
S1: He's running from the things that remind him of the
S1: Lord's presence, like Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem and
S1: the Tabernacle and all those kind of things like, oh,
S1: don't act like we don't do it. We backslide. We
S1: don't come to church. We don't read our Bible. We
S1: don't pray. Why? We want to get away from the
S1: presence of the Lord. That's it. Yeah. We want to
S1: get away from it. And here's here's what I like.
S1: If you read chapter three, the word of the Lord
S1: came to Jonah a second time. Now here's what you'll find.
S1: The exact words that God gave him in chapter one
S1: are the exact words that he gave him in chapter three.
S1: God didn't change his mind about what he wants you
S1: to do. Some of you been called and you're running
S1: from God. The call's not going to change. It's not
S1: going to change. What is it that he told you?
S1: Five years ago he wanted you to do? He ain't
S1: changed his mind about it. You say? Well, then what's
S1: going on? He doesn't violate your free will. He letting
S1: you do what you want to do. See, God doesn't
S1: make us change our minds. He only sends circumstances that
S1: will make us change our mind. Wow. How many of
S1: us ever said, God, if you get me out of this,
S1: I'm going back to church. And that's why you're here
S1: right now. Let me. Let me see some hands. Some
S1: honest folk, some honest folk. There you go. There you go.
S1: That's it. In other words, listen. When you're marking time,
S1: you're maintaining, but you're not attaining. Yeah. And so what happens?
S1: You're going through the motions. Wow. Yeah. You can you
S1: can mark time. Here's the third thing you can do.
S1: You can transcend time. You can transcend time. Uh, because
S1: the past should be a springboard, not a hammock. Alright.
S1: Some people live so far in the past that their
S1: future is gone by the time they get there. Don't
S1: let your history wreck your destiny. What did Paul say?
S1: I'm pressing this. Come on. Everybody knows it. One thing
S1: I do forgetting. I press. Well, Paul, wait a minute,
S1: wait a minute. That's two things. No, it's one thing.
S1: If I'm going to press, I have to forget. Yeah.
S1: You know what the word forget means? It's a Greek word. Aphiemi.
S1: Here's what it means. Let it go. Let it go.
S1: When are you going to let it go? I know
S1: some things were very difficult. I know that there were
S1: some dastardly things that have happened. But when are you
S1: going to let it go? Way, way back in the past.
S1: Why are you going to let your past override your
S1: present and your prophetic? God is able. You can go
S1: through it. I read the story of one of the
S1: Miss America. She was Italian and, uh, very beautiful woman.
S1: And she went into a restaurant. She was the only
S1: one there. The owner grabbed her, took her in the
S1: back and raped her. That's devastating. She was devastated and
S1: she was a believer. God, how could you allow something
S1: like that to happen to me? And I serve you.
S1: Fast forward the video. You know what she's doing now.
S1: She heads a ministry that ministers to rape victims. Right.
S1: God does that. Anybody ever heard of Johnny Erickson? Tada! Anybody?
S1: And she was a beauty queen, too. Dived into a
S1: pool that had shallow water and, uh, became a paraplegic.
S1: Now she has the number one ministry in the world
S1: that ministers to people who are paraplegic. And she ministered
S1: to all of them. I did her camp up in Minnesota.
S1: I mean, there were there were down syndrome children. There
S1: were I mean, it was it was like, uh, I mean,
S1: just fantastic ministry going on. There was a banker there.
S1: I gotta tell you his testimony. You would know who
S1: these people were. Uh, some of them were very poor.
S1: Some of them were very rich. All of them came free.
S1: I was there as the camp pastor for the week.
S1: And so I preached a message in the morning. A
S1: message in the evening. Message in the morning. Message in
S1: the evening. And so I preached ten times, uh, that week.
S1: So I'm sitting in there and this one brother, a
S1: Hispanic brother, start crying. I can't take it. I can't
S1: take it. I can't take this kid. I can't take
S1: this kid. And all these men got up and start
S1: smothering him with love. And they were all crying. And
S1: you know me. I'm a crybaby. I ain't had nothing
S1: to cry about. But since they was all crying, I
S1: didn't want to be left out. I started crying too.
S1: And then this one guy said. I know how you feel.
S1: My son has the exact same malady that your son
S1: has and this is what we've been able to do,
S1: he said, I'm going to give you my number. He said,
S1: I'm going to be with you, brother. I'm going to
S1: stick with you. So so, you know, I, I afterward,
S1: I was talking to this guy. It was a bank president.
S1: I said, oh, really? He said he said, let me
S1: tell you something. He said, I used to be so proud.
S1: I used to be so arrogant. He said, because, you know,
S1: I make about $6 million a year. Wow. So let
S1: me have your car. Who's your car, bro? So what happened?
S1: God gave us a down syndrome child. Changed my life.
S1: He said I made a commitment to Jesus Christ. And
S1: I haven't turned around. I haven't turned back. And he said,
S1: God gave me that child because I needed to be
S1: humbled to where my $6 million was his $6 million.
S1: And that man told me, he said, uh, we live
S1: on about a half $1 million a year, and the
S1: rest of it I give away. He said. And I
S1: served with Johnny and this board and these people, and
S1: I just help people with their children. I said, wow,
S1: that's powerful, man. That's transcending time. Yeah. If you go
S1: back in the Old Testament, you'll see, uh, Methuselah, his
S1: name means after he dies, it will come. So God
S1: gave him the the name of Methuselah. Now, uh, about
S1: 369 years Enoch was born. So you have 600 years
S1: before Methuselah dies. So what happened? His father's name meant
S1: after he dies, it will come. And what did Enoch do?
S1: Enoch walked with God, and he was not because God
S1: took him.
S2: This is treasure. Truth with Pastor Ford. A message called
S2: it's your time. And we'll get back to this teaching
S2: in just a moment. Hey, I know many of us
S2: live busy lives. You're on the go, and it can
S2: be hard to listen to Pastor Ford's teaching at the
S2: same time every day on the radio. I totally get that.
S2: I'm right there with you. But if you don't want
S2: to miss it, you can always listen online by coming
S2: to Treasure Truth Radio org. You can also begin podcasting
S2: the program. That way you'll have it on hand and
S2: you can listen whenever it's convenient for you. You can
S2: also listen on the go if you have the Moody
S2: Radio app. It's free and available for your iPhone, your iPad,
S2: or your Android phone or tablet. And you can find
S2: it by going to your favorite app store, like the
S2: iOS App Store or Store, Google Play and searching for
S2: Moody Radio, or we'll link you to it when you
S2: come to our website. Just stop by Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: Let's get back to the message from Esther four again.
S2: Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: Now you got to do some work on your own now,
S1: but here's what you're going to find. Write down first
S1: Chronicles 1232. That'll help you see what's going on. What?
S1: What happened? His daddy became the one that helped him
S1: transcend time. He believed that after his daddy died, it
S1: will come. And so he placed his faith in Yahweh,
S1: and God took him. I like the way the old
S1: preacher would say it. He say, Enoch and God was walking,
S1: and they were talking and fellowshipping and and finally, uh,
S1: they stopped talking. And God said, well, you know, Enoch,
S1: you're closer to my house than you are to your house.
S1: Why don't you just come on to my house? So, yeah,
S1: that's it, that's it, that's it, that's it, that's it.
S1: And so we thank God. Here's the last one we
S1: need to redeem time. The Bible says redeeming the time
S1: for the days are evil. Let me let me just
S1: tell you, you can make up for lost time. Uh,
S1: we know it. In acts 13, we have the failure
S1: of John Mark. Uh, he goes to the mission field
S1: with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, and he leads the
S1: mission field, and Paul is upset. Uh, but but Paul says,
S1: you know, a person who puts their hand to the
S1: plow and turns back is not fit for the kingdom.
S1: So he doesn't want anything to do with John Mark.
S1: But why does he change? Why does he say at
S1: the end of his life in Second Timothy he says,
S1: Bring John Mark with you, for he's profitable for the ministry.
S1: Well what happened? I mean, you know what happened. You
S1: know what happened. Uh, Mark leaves the mission field. Who
S1: does he hook up with? Barnabas. Barnabas, his uncle, becomes
S1: the son of encouragement and says, okay, just because you
S1: make a mistake. Paul is the great apostle, but he
S1: ain't always right. And so you can be forgiven. God
S1: is the God of not a second chance, but another chance.
S1: So come on, man, let me encourage you. Come with me.
S1: And so he goes with Barnabas. And then later on,
S1: Barnabas passes him off to Peter. Yes, sir. And Peter says, man, look,
S1: I denied him three times, so don't worry about it.
S1: And and Paul then began to recognize, hey, you know what?
S1: I kicked him to the curb when I should have
S1: done what Barnabas and Peter did. I should have developed him,
S1: is what I should have done. Alright. And thank God.
S1: How many know what the first gospel written. Written in A.D. 45.
S1: What's the first gospel? The gospel of John. Mark. Mark.
S1: Is John Mark had not. Somebody said we can redeem time.
S1: Had somebody not said that God can restore the years
S1: that the locust and the canker worm have eaten. Had
S1: somebody not said that God is a God of a
S1: second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, I don't
S1: know what you're, uh, trying to overcome right now, but
S1: you can't overcome it because greater is he that's in
S1: you than he that's in the world. Because you're more
S1: than a conqueror through him that loved you. And you
S1: need to recognize and acknowledge the fact God wants to
S1: use you with all your flaws, with all your failures,
S1: with all your foibles, with all the things that are
S1: wrong with you. God says, step out with what is
S1: right and let me deal with what is wrong. Mm.
S1: You can start all over again. I can imagine Peter
S1: telling him the story. Say, you know, I denied him
S1: three times. And then I went back to fishing and
S1: eight guys follow me. And what was Matthew doing following me?
S1: He was a money man, not a fish man. But
S1: he followed me. He shows you the power of my leadership.
S1: I had the keys to the kingdom, he said. And
S1: then we were there on my fishing boat. And then
S1: somebody hollered from the shore, children! And we looked at
S1: was Jesus, and we're grown men. And he called us children.
S1: What a comforting, comforting word, because it meant no matter
S1: what you do, you're still my children. Amen. Then he said,
S1: have you caught anything? We said we fished all night
S1: and we've caught nothing. He was looking at us, John Mark.
S1: And he was saying, is what you're doing working for you, right?
S1: You left ministry to go back to fishing. Now you're fishing.
S1: Have you caught anything? You backslid. Did it? Did it
S1: benefit you? Did you gain anything by it? Now, if
S1: you said yes, let me tell you. Look out. Because
S1: whatever you gain when you backslide is going to become
S1: a curse to you when you get back in the fellowship.
S1: You don't believe me? Ask lot. Ask Abraham. They backslid,
S1: and he came out of Egypt with Hagar and a
S1: whole lot of cattle and wealth, and it became a division,
S1: a diversion. And so he said, yeah. And then he said,
S1: cast your net to the other side. And we pulled
S1: up 153 fish. And I remember why I left Jesus
S1: for fish, and he gave me fish. So now I
S1: pulled off my outer coat and jumped in the water
S1: because I left him for fish. Now I'm leaving the
S1: fish for him Because I realize he is the one
S1: who is my supply. He is my peace. He's my reconciler.
S1: He's the one that I. In him I live and
S1: move and have my being. And without him I can
S1: do nothing. And I swam to him. Amen. And when
S1: I got there, it was like he was saying, now, Peter,
S1: that you only want me. Come on, let's eat some fish.
S1: And he had fish. Catfish already fried Louisiana hot sauce
S1: bottle right beside him. Spaghetti in the pot, the coleslaw
S1: in the bucket and the Kool-Aid in the mason jar.
S1: He had everything there. And then he said to me, Peter,
S1: do you love me? Then get busy, son. Peter, do
S1: you love me? Get busy, son. Peter, do you love me?
S1: Get busy, son. Because I'm going to turn your cowardice
S1: into courage. And I need you to preach the gospel
S1: on the day of Pentecost. To reverse what happened at
S1: the law. Because at the law, 3000 people died when
S1: the law was given. Uh, but when you preach on Pentecost,
S1: 3000 people will be saved. I'm going to reverse what
S1: happened over 2000 years. And, Peter, I'm going to use you.
S1: I hope some of you peters out there will realize
S1: it's your time. Yeah. Bless the truth to our hearts.
S1: Our father, we pray for Christ's sake.
S2: Amen. Pastor Ford, as we're wrapping up this message from
S2: Esther chapter four entitled It's Your Time. Have you ever
S2: missed one of the broadcasts in the short little series,
S2: or you just want to listen to it again? I
S2: do hope you'll come to the website. There you can
S2: download an MP3 for free, or you can stream the
S2: broadcast or even order a copy on CD. Get started
S2: when you come to treasure Truth Radio. Now, pastor, there
S2: are a lot of places that we can choose to
S2: put our money and to expect some sort of return
S2: on investment. But when we give to Christian radio, to
S2: Moody Radio, and to treasure truth, really we're choosing to
S2: invest in something that really is Kingdom.
S1: Of course. Well, what is the gospel? The old preachers
S1: used to say the gospel is just one beggar telling
S1: another beggar where to find bread. Yeah. So when a
S1: person gives to treasure truth to moody Radio, that's exactly
S1: what they're doing. They're extending the gospel to individuals who
S1: ordinarily would not hear the gospel. And so that's what
S1: you're doing. There's a crown. It's called a soul winner's crown.
S1: First Thessalonians 219 and is given to all of those
S1: who win souls for Jesus Christ. And when you invest
S1: in Moody Radio, that's exactly what you're doing. I think
S1: there's going to be a surprise in heaven because we think, well,
S1: I didn't articulate to anyone the good news. And God says,
S1: you know, you get this crown because you gave so
S1: that someone else could articulate the good news.
S2: Well, you can give right now by coming to Treasure
S2: Truth radio.org and clicking on the donate button. Again, that's
S2: a treasure. Truth radio. Thanks for giving and for listening.
S2: Treasure truth is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry
S2: of Moody Bible Institute.