We need those who utilize their gifts and are faithful with it, who can't be run off, who say, God called me to this, I'm going to do this to the best of my God given abilities. I may not always do it right, but I'm going to keep doing it till I get it right.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. As today we're beginning a message entitled Get Involved in pastor. It sounds like you're really calling the church body to get busy to use the gifts that God has given us.
Well, yes, it's based on that title of, uh, that great theologian, James Brown.
Okay.
You know, he used to say, everybody over here get involved. Everybody right here get involved. Everybody over everywhere get involved, get involved. And that's what we need in the church of Jesus Christ. We're called a body and we need every member.
Absolutely we do. But as you said, sometimes we can be hesitant to get involved. But this is not just a suggestion from Scripture. This is a command.
Amen, brother. Preach it.
Okay.
That's right.
Well, I'm going to let you do that in just a moment. We're just going to chat for a couple more minutes here, okay? But, uh, if this is such a command and somebody is kind of hesitant to say, I'm not sure how to get involved, where to get involved, I hear you talk about the fact that God has given me gifts and abilities, but I don't know what they are. How do I know what to do?
Well, here's what God does. You ever notice he hits moving targets? Yeah. You know, people need to be actively involved in something. Here's what I share with people. Start somewhere and God will either affirm or move you on. You know, and so you have a spiritual gift. Every believer has at least one. Uh, so you are to discover it, develop it and deploy it. That's what we need in the Church of Jesus Christ. We need people who will utilize their giftedness. And so here's where I
say start. What do you have a passion for? Yeah. What do you feel burdened for? And once you have a burden for something, you know, like I always tease and say, you know, like my wife saw me, had to have me beg me to marry her. That's a burden. That's a burden, brother. That's a burden.
And she's been carrying that burden for about 46 years, right?
Wait a minute. I'm telling the jokes.
Okay. All right, all right, all right.
But you're right. I tell everybody she's filled with the spirit to be able to put up with me. As a matter of fact, this week, 46 years.
Congratulations.
Amen.
Yeah, well, as you said, we need to discover, develop and deploy. And that's what we're going to be talking about in this message entitled Get Involved. If you can, open your Bible to Colossians chapter four. As we begin the message here is Pastor Ford afford one.
The pastor had gone to a conference, and they had said that the two greatest sins in the church is ignorance and apathy. And so he went back and he hooked up with the head of his elder board, not deacon board, head of the elder board, and said, what do you think is wrong with the church today? He said, I don't know and I don't care. You'll get that on the way home. But ignorance and apathy are the two dastardly duos that plague the Church of Jesus Christ. Uh, F.B.
Meyer I put his quote down there for you. He said one thing pierces and breaks the heart of God. It's not the world's iniquities, but the church's indifference. The churches indifference. And so when we look at the church, uh, we understand and know, uh, that what's happening in the church is more akin to. And we talk about it all the time. Uh, anybody remember, uh, the Nehemiah principle? It's called the Pareto principle. Pareto principle? In the business world,
that's what it's called in the church. The Nehemiah principle. What is that? That is this that 20% of the congregation is doing, 80% of the giving and the service that 30% of the congregation is doing, the other 20% of the giving and the serving, and 50% Do nothing. I sure hope we don't have any 50 percenters in here.
Which means then, uh, since in the African American community, we have a 16% unemployment rate, and since in, uh, national average is 9%, uh, then, depending on how you look at it, 41% more unemployment in the church than
in the world. And so when we look at this thing, uh, we understand that when you look at what's happening in the church, since these people are doing more, uh, than what they ought to be doing, some things are left undone and there's some ministry that's not happening because somebody is just sitting on the premises rather than standing on the promises. Some of you will remember this because it's not the first time you heard this. Uh, this is
about Fred. Somebody. Thomas. Everybody. Susan. Anybody. And Joe. Nobody. Fred. Somebody. Thomas. Everybody. Susan. Anybody. And Joe. Nobody. Were neighbors, but they were not like you and me. They were odd people in most difficult to understand the way they live. Life was a shame. All four belonged to the same church. What? You would not have enjoyed worshiping with them. Everybody went fishing or
shopping or stayed at home to visit with friends. Anybody wanted to worship but was afraid somebody wouldn't speak to him. So guess who went to church? Nobody, really. Nobody was the only decent of the four. Nobody did the visitation. Nobody worked on the church building once. They needed a Sunday school teacher. Everybody thought anybody would do it, and anybody thought somebody would do it. And you know who did it? Nobody. That's exactly right. So what happened? A
fifth neighbor, an unbeliever, moved into the area. Everybody thought somebody should try to win him for Christ. Anybody could have made the effort. You probably know who finally won him. Nobody. This little parable brings the focus again to the fact that each of us is personally responsible for God's work. If we leave it for somebody or everybody or anybody, nobody will do it. Let's work till Jesus comes. And so Paul closes his epistle, uh, his colossian epistle. It's
a prison epistle. And so he wrote it in his what? Imprisonment first Roman imprisonment. Right. And so it was one of how many books that he wrote in his first Roman imprisonment. Four books that he wrote in his first Roman imprisonment. And what are those four books that he wrote in his first Roman imprisonment? See, y'all always talk about he do that over, he do that over. And Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Alright. So at the close of this epistle. Now what's this
epistle about. It's about the completeness of Jesus Christ, his deity, and then the danger to it, and then our duties. So he says, listen, I want you to know he's the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality. We talked about it before. What did he do? He said he is deity. He is sovereignty. And what did he sandwich in the middle our humanity? So we are who we are because of the deity and the sovereignty of Christ. Wow.
That ought to make you feel special. Your sandwich in between the sovereignty and the deity. Go ahead, say it, say it, say it. I am somebody because I am in Christ. Amen. And so then, uh, he talks about it and he says, listen, let me tell you about his deity. Now, let me tell you about the danger. These people who are Gnostics, who do not want, uh, to accept the fact that he's God in the flesh. Now, let me tell you your duty. So here he's saying, listen,
you have an obligation. So as he closes this chapter, I want you to see that he talks about these individuals. And he begins, uh, let me just read the first and the last. He says in verse seven, all my states shall declare unto you who is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you, for the same purpose, that you might know your estate, and comfort your heart with Onesimus,
a faithful and beloved brother. So he goes through this Archippus my fellow prisoner Marcus, he begins to name all these people. Uh epaphras. Verse 12. And so he names these individual Epaphras Luke, Demas, all of those. Here's what he does. He gives us the categories. Now, all these names fit four categories. First of all, he talks about the men who stayed there criteria or their characteristic was faithfulness. What were they faithfulness that he's saying? Uh, I'm naming
all these men. Some 20 in all, but let me give you their category. They were faithful. They were dependable. They were steadfast. And if we ever need some folk who are steadfast, we need it in this church. Amen. We need some individuals who stick by the stuff, who make a commitment to do something and fulfill it for the year that they said they were going to fulfill it. Amen. Yeah. And so here he says there are men who stayed.
And listen, we we need we need those who volunteer, who utilize their gifts and are faithful with it, who can't be run off because somebody said something they didn't like, who can't be put down, uh, because somebody don't like the way they did something who said, God called me to this? I'm going to do this to the best of my God given abilities. I may not always do it right, but I'm going to keep doing it till I get it right. That's what we need in this church.
Then the men who prayed. So you had those who were prayer warriors, and you need them because nothing is going to be accomplished in this church apart from prayer. Why is little being done? Because there is little prayer. That's why, that's why. So then, these are individuals who were fervent in their supplication, fervent in their supplication.
It's a good reminder and challenge for us about the importance of prayer here on Treasure Truth, where you're listening to a message from Pastor Ford entitled Get Involved. As we've been looking at Colossians chapter four, verse 17, and we're going to get back to this teaching in just a moment. Want to let you know if you want to make sure that you don't miss a future broadcast,
you can come to our website, Treasure truth radio.org. Come there right now and sign up to begin podcasting the program. That way you'll be able to listen to whenever it fits your schedule, you know, at your convenience. And if you happen to use iTunes for your podcasting, would you go ahead and rate the podcast? By doing that, you'll help us be found by even more people, and they in turn, can discover the powerful teaching of Pastor Ford and his way to present the truth of God's Word.
You'll find those links when you come to our website. Treasure Truth radio.org. Again, here's Pastor Ford.
Then there are men who strayed. Y'all see that? Yeah. So then the next line is, these were the ones who failed. And so individuals who. They're a part of a body. Uh, but it's like they don't function. And he's saying, here's the individuals. And he calls them by name. I ain't calling no names. Uh, but what's wrong with them? Failure. They failed. They're Yeah. The men who strayed, they failed. So their stumbling blocks to the people of God, their
stumbling blocks. Okay, so let me start all over. The men who stayed and the word is faithful. Then the next line steadfast. The next one is the men who prayed fervent. They were on fire. Fervent. Then the word is supplication. Supplication. So I'm talking about the four categories of individuals. So the men who strayed, they failed. So they are stumbling blocks. They're stumbling blocks. So we have to ask ourselves in this congregation, what are you? Because
you're one or the other, you're not in between. You're either a stepping stone or a stumbling block. That's it. So you you you know what you are. What are you. Because every member has been called to the body of Christ to do something for the cause of Christ. So our service doesn't substitute for our giving, and our giving is no substitute for our service. I have persons say to me, well, I'm gonna give you some money because, you know, uh, you know, you need money to need
you to. I need you and your money. Yeah. Not not either or both. And. Yeah. Need you to roll up your sleeves and get busy. Use your spiritual gift. I don't have time. You don't have time to serve God. Okay. I ain't sitting with you in service. The lightning bolt hits you. Jack, I'm going to be far away from you. And so then there were men who played. They were frivolous. Yeah. Frivolous? They were frivolous. Frivolous just means to be playing around with God. Come see. Come saw. Oh, well, I can
take it or leave it. I can come to church or not. I can come to Bible study or not. I can pray at home. These people are shaky. Shaky? Yeah. Uh, so he says to him and say to Archippus. Now, uh, Archippus is mentioned two times. In Scripture. He's the son of Philemon. The son of Philemon. So in Philemon, he's called a fellow soldier. He's called a fellow soldier. That is, he stood strong in the faith. Archippus loved the fight. So he must have been a Baptist. And so here,
Ephesians tell us he uses the word hist. Me. It means to stand for times. He uses it, and each one is significant. Let's walk through it. He says, I want you to stand against the evil devil. That is, we resist the devil. Resist the devil. Stand evil. De resist. And so we then, are those who are called to be sober. Be vigilant, because our adversary, the devil, walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the Bible tells us that we submit ourselves to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee. So we have to stand against the devil. We have to resist him. But then the second stand is not talking about the evil devil, it's talking about the evil day. Is there an evil day in which we're living? You better believe it. So then we must stand. That one tells us we must be resilient. Yes, we must be resilient. You know what that means. Be able to bounce back from stuff. Man, too many of us wear our feelings on our shoulders.
First time somebody doesn't say something, or sometimes somebody says something. Here we go. I ain't coming to church no more. Why? Because one ignorant person. So if they sit over here, sit over there. You ain't gotta sit with them. It's like what would happen if every leader let one ignorant person stop them from leading? Wouldn't be no leader. You would never have a pastor. Because I'm going to tell you this. Somebody offends me every time I come. Somebody
said something to me that's out the box all the time. Emails, letters. You know what I do? I file them in that receptacle beside my desk. That's what I do. Because some people have the gift of criticism. Now, now, if it's if it's if it's a valid comment, I always listen to every valid comment. But. But there are people who. They just say things just to hurt you. Yeah. And so I know those folk. And so I don't worry about it. I don't worry about it at all. They, they,
you know, they come with the territory. You know, if you ain't ready for that, you ain't ready to do ministry. So then he says, stand not just against the evil devil, the evil day, but the every device. And he's talking about resources that the devil has strategy. That's what the Bible calls it, from which we get the word strategy. And so what we have to do is we have been given the keys to the kingdom. Now, what do keys do? Open gates. And what gates? Already open the
gates of hell. So every time hell has a resource, we have a key. Every time hell puts up a gate, we have a key. And then at the end it says stand at the end. And that is to be resolute. Resolute that is always ready to fight. So then next line. He was a fellow soldier, but not a fellow worker. And so he was the one that would charge hell with a water pistol and tell God I'll put it out. He was a fellow soldier, but not a fellow worker.
Now let me show you. They go hand in hand that that that God wants the soldier and the servant to come together. So in Nehemiah chapter 14, here's what Nehemiah says. Let me just read it to you. It says in verse 17, be everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work. With the other hand he held a weapon. So they had a shovel in one hand and a weapon in the other hand. Nehemiah said, stand on the wall. Be ready to work. Be ready to war. Every Christian is a warrior and every Christian
is a worker at the same time. So then basically then how do you encourage saints to serve? God led you here not just to come and get the word. God led you here to work. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. It's time to work people. So how do you encourage them? This one verse and like I said, we studied on a Sunday before, but this one verse, listen to it. He says the first thing you do and say to our shepherds, stop.
He says, the first thing you do is confront them to instigate them, confront them, to instigate them. Him. What do you mean? Confront them to instigate them? Where do you get that? And say to Archippus? Confront them. To instigate them. Say, what are you talking about? Here's here's what he's. Here's what he's doing. There is what's called an ox goad. Anybody know what an ox goad is? Let me tell you what an ox goad is. It's a long stick that a farmer would use. And at
the end, it had a sharp point. And if the ox didn't work, the farmer would stick the ox with the ox. Goad. Stick a stick. Uh, so Paul says there are people who are oxen. That's that's what he likens us to. Why? Because oxen will work. So we're all oxen because we've been given that nature by Christ.
That is Pastor James Ford Junior, reminding us that it's not enough just to be in a tender or an observer. We need to get involved. While you're listening to Treasure Truth, and you can find us online at Treasure Truth radio.org. You know, if you're a longtime listener, it's no surprise to you that this is a listener supported ministry. We're glad to be able to provide Pastor Ford's teaching free of charge, so that lives can be transformed through an
encounter with God's Word. But even though it's free to listen, it does cost money to produce this program and purchase airtime. And that's where your support comes into play. Regardless of the size, your financial gifts are an essential part of what God is doing through treasure truth. So give a donation when you call 888644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth radio.org and a thank you for your gift of any amount. We're going to send you Pastor Ford's book,
seven Reasons Why God Created Marriage. You know, statistically, most people will get married at some point in their life. Unfortunately, many will also get divorced. But what if many of these divorces could be prevented by a biblical understanding of marriage? What if your marriage could grow while your faith and understanding of God's Word also grows? Well, as you read seven Reasons Why God Created Marriage, you'll begin to grasp God's incredible plan for marriage as a source of strength
and faith for your life. So give a donation and request your copy today. Call us at 888 644 7660 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com. Hi, I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios. Join us again Tuesday as Pastor Ford continues this message about getting involved right here on Treasure Truth. A production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.