S1: When you understand that there's significance in your suffering, it'll
S1: turn fear into faith. It'll turn sighing into singing. It'll
S1: turn doubting into dancing. It'll turn worrying into worship. It'll
S1: turn trying into trusting. You will know what God is doing.
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 Hillard. Glad that you've joined us today as we
S2: continue a message. Have no fear. God is here. Pastor,
S2: want to pick up on something you said a moment ago?
S2: You said when you understand that there's significance in your suffering,
S2: it will turn fear into faith. When we're in the
S2: midst of suffering, though, it can be hard to see
S2: any significance in that because it just hurts. So how
S2: do we find significance in the midst of suffering?
S1: Well, we have to believe, first of all, in the
S1: sovereignty of our God, that God never allows anything to
S1: happen to us. That is not going to benefit some
S1: kind of way, that it will benefit us, it will
S1: benefit him, it will benefit somebody else. We never know
S1: until he reveals it to us. But we have to
S1: have that mindset that says, I know that God is sovereign.
S1: So job one and two, the devil comes and wants
S1: to destroy him, and God puts limits on him. And
S1: so he puts a restraining order on the devil. He
S1: puts an ankle bracelet around him and says, you can
S1: only go this far. You can only do this. That's
S1: the sovereignty of God in the midst of our suffering.
S1: And whenever we we begin to understand that, we know
S1: that what the Bible says is true. James says it
S1: this way. He says, my brethren, count it all joy
S1: when you fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, there's the
S1: understanding that the trying of your faith works. Patience. But
S1: let patience have her perfect work that you may be
S1: complete and entire, lacking nothing. See, he's saying, listen, God's
S1: not wasting anything. He's kind of like my mama was.
S1: You know, she would make chicken and peas and carrots.
S1: And then the next day, you know, the leftovers. She
S1: put some cream over them and say, mama, what's this?
S1: This is chicken classic or chicken a la king. She'd
S1: always put some kind of big name on it, you know,
S1: and we realize it's just leftovers from yesterday. And God
S1: takes that pain, that suffering, the leftover things in our life.
S1: And he makes them supreme, Allah king. And we can
S1: go back because hindsight's 2020. We can go back and
S1: look at certain areas, things that we went through, the
S1: pain and all those things we didn't like. Right. But
S1: we'd have to admit the only reason we are where
S1: we are is because of what God allowed us to
S1: go through, and where he brought us from.
S2: Yeah, very often it is the most painful circumstances of
S2: life where we recognize the fact that we truly do
S2: need God. That maybe we've been trying to do things
S2: in our own power, and we've got to totally turn
S2: it all over to him.
S1: Yeah, well, what do you do when you're like Joseph?
S1: He didn't suffer for his sake. He suffered for whole
S1: nations sake, right? Yeah. So, you know, we focus on
S1: the palace when we should be focusing on the purpose.
S1: God says I sent him ahead and they hurt him.
S1: Put him in chains. But he preserved my people.
S2: Yeah, well, as you pointed out just a few moments ago,
S2: at the beginning of this conversation, we really have to
S2: believe and trust in that sovereignty of God. And when
S2: we do, we can see the significance in that suffering.
S2: We're going to look at that a little bit further
S2: in today's message. So join us in Isaiah 43 as
S2: we continue. Have no fear. God is here. Here's pastor Ford.
S1: Everything that happened to you. God allowed it for a purpose. Amen.
S1: Wait a minute. You. You're. Rape. Murder. I didn't say
S1: he did it because he didn't do it. The devil
S1: did it. Yeah. No, no, no, God does not do evil.
S1: James 113. But he does allow it. Why? Because he's sovereign.
S1: So everything that happens, God allowed it. He has a purpose.
S1: And we need to go through the pain trying to
S1: find the purpose. Why God? Or what are you trying
S1: to do in this situation? Now get this. Let me.
S1: Let me show you real quick. Use myself as an example.
S1: I have two boys. They got nine kids, and both
S1: of my boys take care of their children. And, uh,
S1: I began to say, okay, God, what's the outcome of
S1: this thing? Because one of the things that that I
S1: really grew very belligerent about is that I didn't have
S1: a dad. In hindsight, I share some of that stuff
S1: with you. Uh, you know how I beat up a
S1: guy who had his father at the parent teacher meeting
S1: and and don't know why? And then later on, I
S1: realize it's because his dad was always there for him,
S1: and I didn't have one. And I was jealous of
S1: the fact that he had a father, and I didn't. And, uh,
S1: I began to say, okay, look at what God did.
S1: Because I didn't have a father, because I didn't have
S1: a father. I got saved because my oldest son became
S1: the catalyst to my salvation. When my wife said to me, okay,
S1: what about Jay? And I had said I'd never abandon
S1: my children. Now, here I was, getting ready to do
S1: the same thing to my son that my dad did
S1: to me, and God used it to bring me under
S1: conviction and to bring us to Jesus Christ, both on
S1: the same night.
S3: Wow. Amen, Amen.
S1: And then I raised my boys, and I was with them.
S1: And and she she didn't have to go to school.
S1: I went to school, and she didn't have to do any.
S1: I did, I did, I did, I did it, and
S1: I tell her, my boys, I said, you know what?
S1: I really admire you as fathers? You guys are good fathers. And, uh,
S1: my youngest baby boy, y'all know it. It ain't no secret.
S1: He he got four baby mama. And then he finally
S1: got his life together and said, I'm going to marry
S1: the one I love. But all through coming up, even
S1: when he didn't have a job, he borrowed money to
S1: make sure his children were taken care of. And I
S1: said to him, I said, I said, I admire you
S1: because you went to school. You went to. And he
S1: wrote me a letter that brought me to tears every
S1: time I read it. It reduces me to tears. And
S1: he just basically said, dad, you always telling me I'm
S1: such a wonderful father. He said, dad, the bottom line
S1: is the reason I'm a wonderful father and the reason
S1: I went to school with all of my children, because
S1: you came to school for us. The reason why I
S1: do what I do is because of the example that
S1: you set as a father, and then he would always
S1: put a caveat. He said he said dad. And and
S1: always both of them have said it to me and
S1: it always just I, I am asking God, make me
S1: as much man as my father. And I go back
S1: and I have to say, in the midst of everything,
S1: I give thanks. I hated the fact that I didn't
S1: have a father. I wanted a father so bad that
S1: every man that would show me attention, I would cling
S1: to him like he was my father. And they would say.
S4: Would you leave me alone?
S1: And now I realize that the lack of a father
S1: spurred me on to salvation and to be a good father.
S1: And now I see my children loving their children like
S1: I love them.
S3: Yeah.
S1: I don't know what you're going through. I don't know
S1: who this is for. I just came to tell you.
S1: All things work together for good to those who love
S1: the Lord and those who are the called according to it.
S1: Are you going through it right now. You don't think
S1: that God is with you, but God hasn't abandoned you.
S1: Because even when you don't walk faithful with him, he says,
S1: yet I remain faithful. I will never leave you nor
S1: forsake you. Lord, I'm with you always, even until the
S1: end of the age. Thank God, thank God, thank God.
S1: Thank God.
S3: Amen, Amen.
S1: For somebody who loves me with a. Never tell them
S1: I'm with you. I'm there with you I formed you.
S1: Now I know what you're thinking. Why does he use
S1: Jacob in Israel? It's very simple. Jacob is his old name.
S1: Israel is his new name. Jacob is his name. Under justification.
S1: He needs to be saved. Uh, but how many know?
S1: Just being saved, is not it? You gotta surrender. And
S1: so Israel is the name of surrender. So remember what happened? Uh,
S1: he wrestled with God all night, and and everybody thought. Hey,
S1: you walking with a limp? And he's saying, no, that's
S1: not my limp, that's my pimp. It's the battle that
S1: you want to lose. Yeah, it's the battle where he
S1: broke my stubborn will and I submitted to him. And
S1: so this just means the transition has been made. Now,
S1: I'm not perfect, but the transition has been made. I've
S1: moved from justification to sanctification. And so this pimp is
S1: a symbol of the fact I wrestle with God and lost.
S1: He broke my will like he broke my limb. And
S1: he gave me a.
S4: Limp.
S1: So that I would always remember that God is in control.
S3: Amen, amen, Amen.
S1: Uh, and so Jacob, that's my name in salvation. Israel,
S1: that's my name in sanctification. So, Jacob, I was free
S1: from the penalty of sin. Uh, so Israel, I was
S1: free from the power of sin. Uh, so, Jacob, that
S1: took me out of sin. Uh, Israel that takes sin
S1: out of me. Uh, Jacob, I'm free from the damnation
S1: of the devil. Uh, Israel. I'm free from the domination
S1: of the devil. Uh, Jacob. He opened the door of
S1: the sheep gate. Uh, Israel. Uh, I'm able to graze
S1: in green pastures, huh? Yeah. And then he says I
S1: redeemed you. I've redeemed you. Remember Harry Connick Jr. Anybody
S1: know him? Harry Connick Jr is the heir apparent to
S1: Frank Sinatra. And during Hurricane Katrina, he left his mansion
S1: in New York and went down to New Orleans. And
S1: when he got down there, he was being interviewed in
S1: a boat. And they said to him, they said, uh, listen, uh,
S1: we want to get this interview, blah, blah, blah, blah.
S1: All of a sudden he saw a movement on a
S1: porch that was like a third story porch, but the
S1: other two were underwater and the roof. And he said,
S1: there's movement over there. Take that boat over there. So
S1: they said, well, we want to finish the interview. He said,
S1: take the boat over there. So the boat he was
S1: in went over there and the boat with the camera
S1: just followed him. When he got over there, there was
S1: a man who was an elderly black man who was
S1: crippled and had been there. He said, how long have
S1: you been there? Three days. He said, I'm so weak,
S1: I can't even holler. When people go by. I just
S1: wave and hoping somebody would notice. And you notice everybody else.
S1: I've been here three days and I just said, I'm
S1: just going to die here. And so he was naked
S1: and they they put the things on the camera so
S1: you couldn't see anything personal. And so Harry Connick Jr
S1: pulled off his coat, wrapped it around that naked black man,
S1: lift that old man up and then put him in
S1: the boat, and then took him to his trailer house,
S1: and then clothed that man and fed that man and
S1: took care of that man. I said, that's redemption. That's
S1: what God did for you and I. Jesus left the
S1: mansion of heaven. It wasn't black white, it was deity
S1: and humanity. And he came down to the vestiges of
S1: a hurricane of sin. And he saw us dead in
S1: trespasses and sin, unable to help ourselves. So he clothed
S1: us in his righteousness. And then he lifted us up.
S1: Underneath are the everlasting arms. Then he took us into
S1: the ark of safety. And then he blessed us with
S1: all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That's our Jesus. He
S1: ought to get praise and glory in the house of
S1: the Lord.
S3: Yeah.
S1: Yeah, that's what he did. He took us from devastation
S1: to restoration. He says you're mine. I created you, formed you,
S1: redeemed you and called you by my name. Call somebody
S1: by his name. Say Christian. Say you. Christian you.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James
S2: Ford Jr. And we're going to get back to this
S2: message in just one moment. Well, if you're ever on
S2: the go and you want to hear treasure truth, but
S2: you're not near your radio, you can always listen with
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S2: Or you can also go to your favorite app store
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S2: the Amazon App Store, and Google Play. Or again, if
S2: you just want to link to it, come to our website.
S2: It's Treasure Truth radio.org. Another way you can listen is
S2: to come to the website and listen online. You can
S2: stream programs through your computer or mobile device. You can
S2: also download mp3's or order copies of this broadcast on CD.
S2: You'll find all the info you need when you come
S2: to treasure Truth Radio. Let's get back to the message.
S2: Have no fear. God is here. Again, here's Pastor Ford.
S1: Secondly, preservation. Let me hasten. Let me hasten preservation. Verse two.
S1: He says, don't be scared. Why? Because of the preservation
S1: of God, the protection of God. Now notice, when thou
S1: pass through the waters, I will be with thee. And
S1: through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou
S1: walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
S1: shall the flame kindle upon thee. Notice, he says, when,
S1: not if. Notice he says, when? Not maybe. Notice. He
S1: says when. Listen. Verse one. Uh, people may think because
S1: of verse one that salvation is a trouble exempt card. Uh,
S1: you know, it's like some, some people think that. Listen,
S1: don't believe the hype you hear about the Christian walk
S1: is all all flowers and no bees and no work
S1: and all ease. That's a lie from the pit of hell.
S1: It smells like smoke. You say? How do you know that?
S1: Because John 1633 Jesus said, in the world you shall
S1: have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome
S1: the world. Because he said in James one two he says,
S1: my brethren, count all joy when you fall into divers temptation.
S1: Because Peter said in first Peter chapter one, verse seven, Beloved,
S1: don't think it's strange. The fiery trials that test you.
S3: Hallelujah!
S1: It's part and parcel of it. Listen, people kill me.
S1: But here's what I found. Even the song we sing.
S1: It's not right. Is it banned? Here's the song. They said.
S1: What's the song? What's the song? Pastor, here's the song.
S1: I looked at my hands and my hands looked new.
S1: And I looked at my feet. And they did too.
S1: No they didn't. My hands didn't change. I looked at
S1: my feet and they were the same old crusty, rusty,
S1: dusty feet that if I didn't put lotion on them.
S1: See some of you light skin, people can get away
S1: without wearing lotion. Us dark people, we got to wear lotion.
S1: It show.
S3: Up.
S1: My wife will tell me in a minute. Put it.
S1: Put a lotion on, baby. Put lotion on. You know
S1: that that that ash gray shows up real good, don't it?
S1: Go on. Going dark.
S4: Come on.
S1: Yeah. So. No no no no no no no no
S1: no no no no. Listen, if you were a poor
S1: cook before, you get saved, after you get saved, you're
S1: going to be a poor saved cook. If you had
S1: an empty bank account before you got saved, when you
S1: get saved, you're going to have to be a saved
S1: person with an empty bank account. Okay, Imma leave it alone. No.
S1: Same old hands. But they didn't do the stuff that
S1: they used to do. Same old feet. But they didn't
S1: take me to the places I. Same old mouth. But
S1: the stuff that came out of it. Then don't come
S1: out of it now. Same old body, but it don't
S1: sleep where it used to sleep. It don't do the
S1: things with the people. It used to do the things
S1: with the people it.
S4: Did with.
S3: Greece, man.
S1: Let me go ahead and and tell you this and
S1: just pick it up where we leave off. But listen,
S1: I Listen to Moody all the time. And they had
S1: soldiers coming back from Desert Storm. And the testimony was this, uh,
S1: the first in battle? Who's the first in battle? Marines. Hurrah.
S3: Hurrah!
S1: Semper fi till we die. Amen. Marines. And so these Marines,
S1: they're going to go in first. And so, uh, the
S1: believers get together and pray, Lord, this is not just
S1: about America. This is about your glory. These individuals believe
S1: in Muhammad and all this. And we believe in Jesus.
S1: We believe we're fighting for a just cause. And, uh,
S1: please give us bright sunshine on the day of the attack. Well,
S1: the day of the attack, it had to be cancelled
S1: because it rained cats and dogs, and it rained for
S1: three days. And these believers got together each day, and
S1: they were praying and they were saying, wait a minute.
S1: What's going on? God, we're asking you. We're doing this
S1: for your glory. And one astute believer said, well, let's
S1: wait and see what happens, because maybe he's answering our
S1: prayer and we don't know it. No, we prayed that
S1: it wouldn't rain. And it's raining cats and dogs. What?
S1: A third day it stopped raining. And here was his testimony.
S1: I wrote it down. I said, oh, that'll preach anywhere.
S1: He said. That day it stopped raining. We came to
S1: the field, we looked across that desert and the sunlight
S1: was hitting these hundreds of thousands of objects, and gleam
S1: was coming off of them. And we realized they had
S1: mined the whole desert, that a lot of us would
S1: have lost our lives had we not had the rain.
S3: Yeah. Good stuff. That'll.
S1: Tell your tell, tell, tell your neighbor there's purpose in
S1: your problems. Come on. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Tell them
S1: there's significance in your suffering. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. You
S1: remember what happened with Joseph in the pit? He was
S1: forsaken by his family. He was abused in Potiphar's. He
S1: was falsely accused by his foes. He had accusations in
S1: the prison. He was forgotten by a friend. He was abandoned.
S1: I'd like to say it this way. He succeeded on
S1: his back.
S3: Yeah.
S1: That his problems were platforms to take him to the palace. Hmm.
S1: And so what did he name his children? Manasseh and Ephraim.
S1: Manasseh means forgetting. You know what he's saying? He's saying, uh, yeah.
S1: I went through hell, but it don't affect me because
S1: of where God brought me. Because if I hadn't have
S1: gone to the pit, there never would have been a
S1: part of her. And if I had gone to Potiphar,
S1: there had never been a prison. But if I'd never
S1: gone to the prison, there'd never be a palace. Do
S1: you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
S1: I know you're tired. I ain't even going to get
S1: to the third one. I'm just going to go ahead.
S1: So when you understand it, well, what happens, pastor Ford?
S1: What was the other one twice blessed. How was he?
S1: Twice blessed because he saved all his people. And then
S1: he got blessed to become a prince of Egypt.
S3: Yes.
S1: So if you know that, what will happen? What will happen,
S1: pastor Ford, when you understand that this significance in your suffering,
S1: it will turn fear into faith. It'll turn sighing into singing.
S1: It'll turn pouting into praising. It'll turn doubting into dancing.
S1: It'll turn worrying into worship. It'll turn trying into trusting.
S1: You will know what God is doing. Hmm. Hmm. Here
S1: it is. God says I protected you. Now think about this.
S1: Who has been the most despised nation in history? The Jews. Israel.
S1: You know what they did in 1948 became a nation.
S1: You know what they did in 1963 had a six
S1: day war where they were outnumbered as high as 30
S1: to 40 to one, and whipped three different armies in
S1: three different directions in six days because God protects them.
S1: America is a unique entity in the history of the world.
S1: Read history. No nation ever rose to prominence as quickly
S1: as America, even though it was on the backs of slaves.
S1: No country has lasted in power as long as America,
S1: even though it's diminishing now. You want to know why?
S1: One of the reasons is Israel was always protected by America.
S1: That's why God said, I'm gonna protect my people. Now,
S1: I know what you're thinking, but let me ask you
S1: some questions. Seeing any Philistines lately, how about Jebusites, Moabites, ammonites, Canaanites,
S1: mosquito bites, termites. We've seen the Shi'ites. You get my point.
S1: God protected them. God sustained them. God did what only
S1: God could do for them.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A message
S2: called have no fear. God is here. And I hope
S2: that as you've been listening to this broadcast today, you've
S2: been encouraged just being reminded of that truth. Well, Pastor
S2: Ford is still hanging out in the studio with me here. And, pastor,
S2: one of the things that I know across the board
S2: at Moody Radio, we try and do and specifically on
S2: this program with our Ask Pastor Ford programs, is answer
S2: listener questions about how the Bible applies to their lives.
S1: Amen. And, you know, it's really interesting that the word
S1: application literally means to fold together. And so what do
S1: you do? You take a piece of paper and fold
S1: it together. And the two ends represent two things. One
S1: end represents the word of God and the other end
S1: represents the lives of people. So application is when you
S1: bring the Word of God and the lives of people together,
S1: because it's God's Word that gives us the power to
S1: be able to live the Christian life and listen. Life
S1: is complicated, but I love what the venerable scholar Doctor
S1: Warren Wiersbe said. He's with the Lord now. But he said,
S1: when I open the Bible, God opens his mouth. And
S1: when I close the Bible, God closes mouth. And I
S1: need to let you know if you're listening today, uh,
S1: the reason you listen to Moody Radio and to treasure
S1: truth is because God never opens his secrets to a
S1: Christian with a closed Bible.
S2: Well, you can help open those secrets, open those Bibles
S2: to those who tune in to this radio program as
S2: you give. Give your gift online at Treasure Truth radio.org.
S2: Thanks for doing that. And thanks to our producers, Ryan
S2: and Amy for Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Ehler treasure truth
S2: is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody
S2: Bible Institute.