S1: Don't let the little things stop you from the everything
S1: that God has for you. And so he says, listen,
S1: here's what I want you to do. I want you
S1: to readily obey my precepts.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm
S2: Steve Hilbert. Glad that you've joined us today as we
S2: wrap up our series entitled takers. We began this series
S2: by being reminded of the promises that God gave to
S2: the nation of Israel and to Joshua to go and
S2: to occupy the land, to drive the people who were
S2: there out and to to subdue that land. And we
S2: began to pull out and apply principles that we can
S2: apply to our lives today. So, pastor, as we wrap
S2: up this series, is there a big takeaway that you
S2: hope somebody is going to be leaving this series with, uh.
S1: Well, first of all, I trust that there will be
S1: those that even though this message was aimed at those
S1: who are believers. But there would be those who have
S1: listened to this series who do not know Jesus Christ,
S1: who would take him as their Lord and Savior, that
S1: they would become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
S1: the Bible says that if you shall confess with thy
S1: mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart
S1: that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
S1: Will you take Jesus, receive him, believe on him, because
S1: the Bible says in acts chapter four, verse 12, and
S1: there is no other name given among men under heaven,
S1: whereby we must be saved. I tell people this when
S1: I do marriage seminars and the like, I always conclude
S1: like this Christ plus nothing equals everything. Everything without Christ
S1: equals Is nothing. If you meet me and forget me,
S1: you've lost nothing. But if you meet Christ and forget him,
S1: you've lost everything. We couldn't go up. So he came down.
S1: And now that he came down, we can go up.
S1: The Son of God became the Son of Man. That
S1: the sons of men may become the sons and daughters
S1: of God. I trust that you'll receive him as your
S1: personal Lord and Savior.
S2: That is the greatest thing that anyone ever could take
S2: from God's Word to begin that relationship with him. And
S2: if that's you today, I hope that you'll contact us
S2: here at Treasure Truth. You can always do so through
S2: our website. It's Treasure Truth radio.org, or if you even
S2: have questions still about beginning that relationship with God that
S2: you might call this toll free number. It's one 888.
S2: Need him one eight need him. Well, as I mentioned
S2: a few moments ago, this is the last broadcast in
S2: our series entitled takers. So one more time, join us
S2: in the book of Joshua, chapter one. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: And God tells them, listen, I'm going to protect you. Notice,
S1: notice with me notice because then not just God's protective power, uh,
S1: God's plan and God's promise, but then notice. Then the
S1: text tells us that God also wants us to realize
S1: that he will allow us to possess our God given
S1: possessions when we readily obey God's precepts, when we readily
S1: obey God's precepts. Just look at verses six and seven.
S1: Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this
S1: people thou shalt divide for an inheritance the land which
S1: I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be
S1: thou strong and very courageous, that thou may observe to
S1: do according to all the law which Moses my servant
S1: commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand
S1: to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
S1: Now get this. Get this with me. Let me. Let
S1: me do a couple of things. Let me show you
S1: some things. Three times he says to him, be strong
S1: and of good courage. Three times. Now notice he says
S1: it in verse six. He says it in verse seven,
S1: and he says it in verse nine. Here's all I
S1: want you to see. Every time he tells him to
S1: be strong and of a good courage, it's about something different.
S1: It's not the same thing. Look at what he says.
S1: Be strong and of a good courage that has to
S1: do with his provision. You see that be strong when
S1: it comes to your provision. But wait a minute. Look
S1: at verse seven. Only be strong and courageous about my precepts,
S1: obeying my precept. So be strong about obtaining your possession.
S1: Be strong about obeying my precepts. Then look at verse nine.
S1: Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage.
S1: Be not afraid. Neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord
S1: is with you. So be strong. Against persecution. So, so so.
S1: he's trying to cover all the bases. What? Why is
S1: he telling Joshua that? Because he knows that Joshua is
S1: feeling the fear. God says you don't have to be afraid.
S1: And that's what's stopping us. What is fear? Come on, everybody,
S1: say it together. False evidence appearing real. That's all it is.
S1: And how many fear knots are there in the Bible?
S1: Somebody said a lot. How many? 365. Somebody counted them. 300. Now,
S1: what does that tell you? One for every day of
S1: the year. God said, you know, my people are going
S1: to be afraid. They have a tendency to do that.
S1: But we know perfect love casts out fear because fear,
S1: fear and faith are like oil and water. They cannot coexist.
S1: If you fear, you rule out faith. If you have faith,
S1: you rule out fear. And so fear knocked on the door.
S1: Faith answered, nobody was there. That's what Doctor King said.
S1: And so we have to launch out and step out
S1: in faith. And he says, I don't want you to
S1: be afraid. And the word be strong and courageous literally
S1: speaks of not allowing other things to stop you from
S1: the things that God had. Let me put it this way.
S1: Don't let the little things stop you from the everything
S1: that God has for you. Amen. And so he says, listen,
S1: here's what I want you to do. I want you
S1: to readily obey my precepts. Mm. I had two dogs.
S1: They were pit bulls, Angel and Toby. And Angel was white.
S1: Toby was brown. And I had them trained to nonverbal commands.
S1: I did like that. No matter where they were, that
S1: Angel would come and heal at my left. Toby would
S1: come and heal at my right, and they would look
S1: up in my face to wake my next command. I
S1: go like this. They roll over. I go like this.
S1: They sit. If I ever point it at you better run.
S1: That's all I have to do to have them. I
S1: don't have to say sic em, just point. And they
S1: would attack. I often thought, boy, it would be nice
S1: if I could get my wife and children to respond
S1: like that. That would really be a great thing. You say, well,
S1: what's your point? My point is that these dogs waited
S1: on their master's command, that they didn't do anything. Like,
S1: for example, if they were hungry and my children or
S1: my wife said, here, come and get to eat. And
S1: I had told them to come and I had done this,
S1: they would not move. They keep looking at me. Don't
S1: look at them. Come here, come here, come here. And
S1: they look at me. And if I didn't release them,
S1: they wouldn't go. I said, man, wouldn't it be something
S1: if we treated our master like that? I was, I
S1: was down in. I did a revival in our six
S1: churches in on the island of Saint Croix. We have
S1: six churches there. And I did a revival there, and
S1: everybody had dogs. And so I was saying, I was saying, man,
S1: all these dogs. And they said, yeah, because there's a
S1: lot of thievery that goes on in the island. So
S1: I said, okay, well, if I wanted to rob your
S1: house because they go from island to island, there's nothing
S1: for them to go to Saint Thomas and some of
S1: the other of the islands, you know. And so I said, well, well, well,
S1: what would you you know, if you're away, I can steal,
S1: because I can poison your dog. You know, they told me, no,
S1: you can't. I said, why? They said, because these dogs.
S1: He said, there's three people on this island that everybody
S1: gets their dogs from, and they all train them this way.
S1: They will only take food from their master if their
S1: master didn't give. I said, boy, wouldn't that be great
S1: if the church was like that because we eaten everything.
S1: The devil throwing. I said, we eating everything. The devil
S1: throwing and man, he throwing stuff and we just. Oh
S1: I'm hungry. Oh, drew, I'm tired of waiting on you.
S1: Ain't no gods in the church. They either. They either
S1: he's in jail or he ain't got.
S3: A job or they're already married. Aren't all these church girls?
S3: They ain't giving nothing out, man. Let me, let me go.
S3: Where they dropping it hot. Backing it up. Oh, yeah.
S1: Obey God's precepts. Let me, let me just share this
S1: thing with you and give you these last two. Let
S1: me just get out of here. Uh, notice complete obedience.
S1: He says all. So not most all. All. Let me
S1: say one more thing, and then I'm going to move on.
S1: Give you this last two points. Did I ever tell
S1: y'all about the time, uh, in my pastorate where I
S1: went to jail? Now everybody just woke up, you see? Everybody? Yeah, yeah.
S1: First year I was pastor here, I went to jail,
S1: and we fellowship Christian Academy. My children went there. They
S1: had a play, and I was rushing. Everybody knows my
S1: right foot still ain't saved. And I went to 83rd
S1: and Jeffrey. And at that time, they had a sign.
S1: No turn on red 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.. It
S1: was 658. I didn't think it made that big a difference,
S1: so I made that turn at 658. I was halfway
S1: down toward the Kentucky Fried Chicken when I saw the siren,
S1: and I'm thinking he ain't coming after me. So I
S1: pulled over to let him go. Go on around. And
S1: he pulled behind me. I'm saying, now, what up with
S1: him now? And so he came out. He says, sir,
S1: let me see your license registration. I said, okay. He said,
S1: you have a out of town plate because at that
S1: time that's what we had. We still had our Pittsburgh,
S1: Pennsylvania plates. He said, you have a out of town license.
S1: He said you made an illegal turn. I said, no,
S1: I didn't. He said, yes, you did. I said, well,
S1: you know, I'm a pastor and I'm on my way
S1: down to take my children to Fellowship Christian Academy. And
S1: he said, I can't help that, you know, you you
S1: violated the law. I said, yes, I did, officer, he said.
S1: I know you did. You ain't got to tell me.
S1: You ain't got to agree with me. I saw what
S1: you did and I said, I said, well, you know, officer,
S1: I'm sorry. I was you know, I thought, well, it's 658.
S1: And then he said this. I'll never forget it. Now,
S1: this is 33 years ago. I'll never forget it. He
S1: said it's 658. 7:00. I said, but he said, answer
S1: my question. I said, no, sir. He said, alright then.
S1: He said, now this is out of town. License plate.
S1: Out of town license. Do you have a bail bonds card?
S1: I said, from Pennsylvania. He said, that ain't good enough.
S1: You got one for Chicago? I'm a Chicago police officer.
S1: I said no, sir, I don't. I said, how do
S1: we handle that? He said, you follow me. I'm not
S1: going to put you in the squad car roll. You bring,
S1: you follow me. You're going to jail. So my kids
S1: was in the back. They said.
S3: Daddy, you're going to jail.
S1: And my wife said, they're taking us to.
S3: And they said, oh, no. Daddy, why do you do that?
S3: You've got to go to jail.
S1: And so we went down there and thank God I
S1: got all my own recognition. Amen. Uh, you know, they
S1: didn't have any priors here in the city of Chicago.
S1: But you get the idea. God says I want complete obedience.
S1: And it's following the letter of the law. That is,
S1: if God said do it, then we ought to do it.
S1: And and what happens? He says, I want you to
S1: do everything now real quick. What happened? They got to
S1: I and they decided not to do it the way
S1: God said it. And Achan saw the Babylonian garments and
S1: hid them and disobeyed God. And Joshua got down to pray.
S1: And God said, quit praying. It's time to get up
S1: and deal with people who didn't do.
S3: What I said. Deal with.
S1: Them folks who didn't do.
S3: What.
S1: I said. And of course we know what happened at
S1: the end of that picture so as to be complete obedience. All.
S1: Not some, not most all. But then notice it's compliant obedience.
S1: That is when God says it, do it. And I
S1: want to share one story. Then I'll move on. But
S1: but I remember this missionary told this story. I don't
S1: know whether it's true or not, but he said he
S1: was in Africa and he told his, well, he said
S1: it was true. He told his son they were the
S1: place where the Black Mamba was. And the Black Mamba
S1: was one of the deadliest snakes in Africa, supposed to
S1: be more venom, more deadly than a cobra king cobra.
S1: And so it was coming out of the tree, and
S1: his son was under the tree, and the snake was
S1: going down to to to his son. He said, the
S1: only thing I had time to do was say, son, drop, roll, run.
S1: He said his son immediately dropped to the ground, rolled,
S1: and then got up and ran to him. I said, wow,
S1: he did. I said, what if it had been one
S1: of our kids son Drop, roll, run. But I got
S1: on my true. Ah! Hey! The time to obey God
S1: is now. It's always now.
S2: A vivid picture, but a powerful truth. The time to
S2: obey is now. We are listening to a message entitled
S2: takers from Joshua chapter one. And we'll get back to
S2: this message in just a moment, while I have a
S2: second one to remind you. Treasure truth is a listener
S2: supported ministry. We depend on your prayers and your financial
S2: generosity so we can keep bringing you Pastor Ford's teaching.
S2: So if you'd like to stand with us as a
S2: giving or prayer partner, find out how to do that
S2: or give your gift when you come to our website,
S2: it's Treasure Truth radio.org. Back to the message again. Here's
S2: Pastor Ford.
S1: Notice. Realize God's presence. Realize God's presence. Now, once again,
S1: God says, I am with you, and I'm just going
S1: to cut to the chase so I can go ahead
S1: and just do the last part. But listen, here's what
S1: he says. I am with you, that you need to
S1: understand that God's presence makes the difference. Now, let me
S1: just just cut to the chase because he says he says, listen,
S1: he says, for the Lord thy God. Nine B is
S1: with thee whithersoever thou goest. We have that prophecy and
S1: that promise in the New Testament that God's presence is
S1: always with us. And so then he tells us Isaiah
S1: chapter 43, verse two, when you pass through the waters.
S1: Not if when you pass through the fire, not if
S1: you are going to pass through water, you're going to
S1: pass through fire. I will be with you. Didn't say
S1: he put the fire out. Didn't say that. He drained.
S1: Drained the water. He just said, you won't drown. I'm
S1: with you. And sometimes God will not deliver you out
S1: of your problems. But he wants you to know he's
S1: always with you in your problems. Come on, Daniel, tell
S1: us that it was the presence of God. He didn't
S1: deliver you out of the lion's den, but he was
S1: with you in the lion's den. And the angels shut
S1: their mouth. They said, it's Daniel will shut my mouth.
S1: And all night he was there. And them lions were hungry,
S1: not hungry, hungry. And the next morning King Nebuchadnezzar said, Daniel,
S1: are you alright? He said, My God reigns, my God reigns,
S1: my God reigns. I don't care what they put you through.
S1: Your God reigns. And remember that sometimes their rejection was
S1: for your redirection that you sometimes didn't know. It's time
S1: to leave. And God says, okay, I gotta give you
S1: a little push. I gotta let them push you because
S1: I got something better for you. I got something bigger
S1: for you. Don't listen, listen. Don't ever think that no
S1: matter what happened to you, that it was designed to
S1: make you bitter. But God always says it's going to
S1: make you better. I don't know what he's going to do.
S1: All I do know is it's going to happen for you.
S1: It's going to happen for you. I don't know where.
S1: I don't know when, I don't know how, I don't
S1: know who. But it's going to happen for you. Little
S1: Johnny's mother said, Little Johnny, go in the pantry and
S1: get me a can of tomato soup and get me
S1: a can of chicken noodle soup. He said, mama, it's
S1: dark in there. I don't want to go in there.
S1: It's dark. Oh, come on, son, you have you have Jesus, right? Yes. Well,
S1: you know, you not only have Jesus in you, but
S1: he goes before you. He's already in that pantry. Well,
S1: Johnny say he is. Yes. So he went to the.
S1: He said, okay, mama. He went to the pantry door,
S1: opened it up. He said, Jesus, can you hand me
S1: a can of tomato soup and a can of chicken
S1: noodle soup? Here's the last one. Here's the last one.
S1: Here's the last one. Recruit God's people. That's ten and 11. Now,
S1: let me just let me just summarize this because I'm
S1: I'm going to let this go. But, but but it
S1: says recruit God's people. Remember what he said. Take my
S1: people in. Take those people out. Take that place over.
S1: Now he's saying, listen, you've got to get the people involved.
S1: Now I'm talking corporately. You can apply individually because there
S1: are individuals who are designed to help you get where
S1: you're supposed to go. Guess what? My education in undergraduate
S1: and in graduate was over $100,000. Ask me how much
S1: I paid. Not a penny. Other people came along and
S1: saw God's gift in me, and God gave me favor
S1: with them. And so I came to tell somebody, you
S1: don't need money. You just need favor, because favor never
S1: runs out when money does. I'd rather have favor than
S1: money any day. Y'all don't believe that. And I'm telling you,
S1: I've lived it. I've. I had faith every time I
S1: turn around. Favor favor favor favor favor favor. I said, man,
S1: I gotta do a message called the Flavor of Favor. Yeah,
S1: I gotta do a message like that because it's like, man,
S1: I ain't going to use anybody's illustration but my own.
S1: It's like, yeah, I was doing this. And then boom
S1: came up and this is my lady. Let me tell you,
S1: my ladies, I know. I said, I'm gonna get you
S1: out of here, I am. I said, I want to write.
S1: I told you before, I told you in January, this
S1: is my decade of destiny. I want to write at
S1: least five books a year. And some of you are
S1: saying you took you three years to write one book.
S1: How are you going to do it? I didn't know
S1: how I was going to do it. And then the
S1: woman who was the general editor, top woman for urban
S1: ministry for 20 years, God gave me favor with her,
S1: and she took a series of messages and turned it
S1: into a book in three weeks, three weeks. And so
S1: he said, you got to get the people involved. Now
S1: you get them involved in this order. Get the leaders
S1: together first, then get the laity together first. So he
S1: he begins to communicate to the leaders, listen to this.
S1: Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people saying, pass
S1: through the host and command the people, saying, prepare you victuals,
S1: for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan
S1: to go into the land which the Lord your God
S1: giveth you to possess it. Now basically, here's what he's saying.
S1: He's saying that that that the leadership needs to carry
S1: out what the Joshua is saying and share that with
S1: the people. So it is it is a hierarchy that
S1: we have here. We have elder rule. And so he says,
S1: I want to the participation of the laity. I want
S1: submission to the direction of the leadership. Verses 16 through 18.
S1: I want submission to the declaration of the leadership. Why?
S1: Because you're telling them what I told you, not what
S1: you're telling them. As long as you tell them what
S1: I'm telling them, then they can follow you as they
S1: follow Christ. Some people are born again. Some people are
S1: born against. It's like. It's like, uh. He said, you
S1: got to get the people together. Well, I was looking
S1: at the word action, and, you know, it's not one word.
S1: It's three words. Think about it. Act I. On action.
S1: Act I. On action. Let me close like I started.
S1: Because how I started was talking about this Joshua or Joshua.
S1: I don't know about you, but I am what I
S1: am because of. I am who I am. Yeah. That's right.
S1: That's what he said his name was I am. And
S1: Jesus is a taker. And so what did he do?
S1: He took away what we didn't need and gave us
S1: what we did need. He took who we shouldn't have
S1: and gave us who we should have. He's the Christological
S1: Robin Hood who takes from the poor and makes us rich.
S1: So Jesus is a taker. He took away my sins
S1: on Calvary because he's a taker. He took the sting
S1: out of death because he's a taker. He took victory
S1: from the grave because he's a taker. He took power
S1: from the devil because he's a taker. He took souls
S1: out of hell because he's a taker. He took my
S1: sin and our sin and gave us his salvation. Because
S1: he's a taker. He took our sadness and gave us
S1: his gladness. Because he's a taker. He took our brokenness
S1: and gave us his wholeness. Because he's a taker. He
S1: took our perversion, gave us his purity because he's a taker.
S1: He took our barrenness and gave us his is fruitfulness.
S1: Because he's a taker. He took our ashes and turned
S1: them into beauty. Because he's a taker. He took our
S1: weakness and gave us his power because he's a taker.
S1: And the greatest taking hasn't been took yet. That the
S1: Bible tells us in first Thessalonians chapter four, verses 11
S1: through 13, that Jesus Christ one day will crack the clouds,
S1: the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise.
S1: He said, he going to take up the dead, and
S1: their bodies are going to be changed in a twinkling,
S1: in a moment of an eye, he's going to take
S1: up the living. Then he's going to take us to heaven,
S1: and then he'll take us to the judgment seat. Then
S1: he'll take us to the battle of Armageddon. Then he'll
S1: take us into the New Jerusalem. Then he'll take us
S1: into all eternity and for all eternity. He's going to
S1: love us up because he took us. And we need
S1: to be like our Jesus. We need to be takers.
S1: Take the promises, take his plan, take his presence, take
S1: all of those things and accomplish what God said you
S1: can do.
S2: What a way to wrap up not just today's message,
S2: but this entire teaching series from Joshua chapter one entitled takers.
S2: By the way, if you've missed any of the broadcasts,
S2: I hope you'll come to our website and listen online.
S2: Stop by Treasure Truth radio.org. You can stream the programs
S2: or download an MP3 for free. That's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Hey,
S2: we're able to bring you this Bible teaching each and
S2: every day because of your generosity to those of you
S2: who have given a gift to treasure truth. Thank you
S2: for doing that. If you've never given a gift to
S2: this listener supported ministry before, I hope you'll do so
S2: today by coming to Treasure Truth radio.org and clicking on
S2: the donate button. Well, thanks for doing that. Thanks to
S2: our producer, Amy Rios for Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller.
S2: Treasure truth is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry
S2: of the Moody Bible Institute.