He's saying, remind them who they're working for, that God's call and ultimate accountability will be to him. That is God's call on your life, that God has gifted you, that he has given you the things that he wants you to do.
This is treasure. Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us. As today we continue to look at Colossians chapter four in a message entitled Get Involved. And, pastor, I think it's so important for us to understand that while God may have placed us in a job where we're working for a boss, ultimately that individual is not the one that we are truly working for.
That's right. Well, you know, Paul said in Ephesians, he said, on our jobs we're to work as unto the Lord. Yeah. Boy, that elevates your job performance. Amen. And, uh, remember, uh, Paul said at the judgment seat of Christ, and we're all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. What is that pastor for? That is where we're going to be evaluated based on the works that God has foreordained,
that we should walk in them. Ephesians 210. And so God wants us to know he's already set forth in eternity past the works that we're supposed to do, uh, here in the present, uh, or in time. And, uh, he's going to say, okay, this is what I have given you to do. Uh, here's what you did. Uh, here's what you didn't do, but here's the evaluation of what you did. And Paul said, this way he will evaluate it based on what sort it is, whether it's gold, silver,
precious metal, wood, hay, stubble. And here's what I like, Steve. He didn't say he's going to evaluate it based on what size it is. Okay, he said, what sort it is. So for all the pastors that are listening, listen, it is not the size of your church. It's the sort of your church. Because I remember when I tripped and I had growth in my ankle, but it wasn't good growth because it was swollen. Now that I don't have
anything against large churches. We're a mid-sized church, but I don't have anything because some of them have grown well. Praise the Lord for my friend Pastor Meeks and the Salem Baptist Church, a mega church. He preaches the Word of God. He gives the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have accountability, church discipline, evangelism, discipleship. And so they're a
mega church. Uh, but there's a lot that, you know, they're going to be surprised that the Lord is just going to say it's a great size, but not a great sort. And so we evaluate our work. Steve had said all that to say this, we evaluate our works. What is going to be the main criteria at the judgment seat of Christ? Not just what you did. Manner of your work. Sure. Why you did it. The motivation I have it happen to me all the time. Somebody standing in front of Walgreens, I give them a dollar.
Did I do that to glorify Christ or did I give it to them so I don't have to be bothered? Well, you know, it all depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Sure. You know, but at the judgment seat of Christ, I'll find out for sure.
Yeah, that's very true. And we all will.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I was going to say that. And so will you, Steve. But yeah, you know, I just wanted to leave you out of it. You know, everybody ought to take out their own garbage.
Yeah, that's very true. And yeah, I'll be there too, along with, well, the rest of us. But right now, I hope you'll join us in Colossians chapter four as we continue a message entitled Get Involved, here's Pastor Ford.
And so here, notice it's a responsibility. It's the responsibility of the body to encourage the body. It is not my job alone. So I tell you all the time, if you see somebody missing, call the office. You know, I haven't seen brother or sister so and so in a long time. So that somebody can get in touch with them and find out if they need some help. Hebrews 1024 he says, provoke one another. The word is peroxisome, from which we get, you know what a paroxysm, a
paroxysm is, right? When somebody has a paroxysm, it's like an epileptic seizure. It just comes on Sunday. And here he's saying it's like a sudden outburst. You know what a mother Eagle does when she wants her eaglets to fly before she does that. Before she does that. Because she. what? She pulls out all of the feathers and everything that made it comfortable, because she makes it out of thorns. And then if they don't get out, she turns the
nest over. But usually all she got to do is take out the animal skin and and all the things that made it comfortable and soft. And when them baby eaglets sit down and get stuck, they they try to fly away. I got to get away from here. I thought mama loved me. But it's time to fly. Come on. Come on people. It's time to fly. And here's what I hear all the time. Well, I don't think I know enough. Who said you had to know enough? Who said that? The woman in John chapter four. And so
what happened? I'll tell you what happened. She got saved and then went to Moody Bible Institute and took her the course in evangelism, then went back to the city and said, uh, the Roman road said, is that what she did? No, she got saved. And she went into the village and said, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. That's what he did, huh? Yeah. So you don't need a whole lot. Here it is. Secondly. Secondly, says confront them to instigate them. Notice. Secondly, challenge them
to involvement. It says it say to our churches, take heed to the ministry. The word is Aleppo. It literally means to look to something. In other words, here's what he's telling. Here's what he's telling us. Archippus. He was the pastor of this church. Something caused him to look away from the ministry. And Paul says, tell him to look back. Look at what God had committed to his care. We'll see that in a minute. So something had turned
him away. Some decision. Maybe somebody damaged him. Maybe some board meeting got out of hand. Maybe he felt like he was unappreciated. Maybe he was doing too much. Maybe he was trying to make up for some of the 50% that was doing nothing. And so. Sometimes we have to realize, like Habakkuk had three chapters one, two, three. And so you look at the book of Habakkuk and what you'll find is chapter one. He's looking at the storm. Chapter
two he's looking through the storm. Chapter three. He's looking above the storm. Now you have to ask yourself, what are you doing right now? No, no, I'm not talking about your neighbor. I'm talking about you in terms of your ministry involvement in this assembly. Are you looking at the problems you're looking through, or are you looking beyond because I submit to you? Unless you're looking beyond, you'll
never make it. Because the only way to make it is to look beyond, to see what God has called us to do, that we haven't finished, and to say, I'm going through all of this, and I will be like Habakkuk. I will stand upon my watch and wait to hear what he will say to me when I am reproved. See, a lot of Christians are like wheelbarrows. No good unless you push them. A lot of Christians are like canoes. No good unless they're paddled. A lot of Christians are like kites. If you don't keep them
on a string, they'll fly away. Some. Some Christians are like a football. Never know where they're going to land next. Some are like balloons full of hot air and ready to blow up. Some are like trailers have to be pulled. Some are like neon lights that go on, off, on, off. In other words, Esther 414. Remember what she said? Mordecai said, look girl, God gave you that beauty for such a time as this. I mean, you, you know, if you don't do what God called you to do, he's going
to get somebody else. How do you know that you weren't raised up for such a time as this? And remember now what what what kind of time is it? What kind of time is it? Anybody remember? I know you remember because I'm going to talk. Oh, okay. Okay. It is what? It's ate at time. What is at time? At time is purpose. Time. Purpose time. That's good, That's good. What are the other three? Not you two. Uh, what are the other three times? No, I was trying to
prove a point. You know, I'm always trying to prove a point. No, no, no, no, you be quiet. I know you know it. Come on. I want to hear from them. What is it? Kairos. That's right. Kairos time. What kind of time is that? That's perfect time. That's God's time. He works in the Kairos. What's the other one? Chronos. Alright. Chronos time. And what is that? That's people time. That's right. Come on. What's the other kind of time? Eschatos time.
Eschatos time. What is that? Prophetic time? Prophetic time? Those are the four kinds of time. And I tell you all the time, there is no hammer time. And so he says, for such an act as this, that this is the time Christ's Bible Church, we are on the precipice of what God wants to do in us. See, the people, uh, you know, and I'm only doing this, uh, because he's one of the newest and that's that's that's, uh, Elder Anthony. Okay. Look at what God is doing with
our singles ministry. We had none, and now they've been out evangelizing. And a couple weeks ago, they led two people to Christ. They've been involved in helping other ministries. I mean, remember what I told you? New people are not an intrusion. They're an infusion. We are doing things because God led that man here that we've never done before, and it's moving us forward. Amen. Amen. And that's what
you bring to the table. You bring your giftedness. You bring the things that God has put in your heart and spirit. And you're in a church where you can do it, where you don't have a pastor that's holding you back, that gotta control everything. Amen. You have freedom and liberty to fulfill together the plan of God and the vision that he's given to us. And the tragedy is some of you are still sitting on some of the most powerful stuff that hasn't even been released yet.
And when we get to heaven, you ain't going to be able to blame me. That's right. Because God knows about this sermon. God know how often I've been in 35 years of ministry. I've only started one thing in this church. You know what that is? Sites. Every other ministry was started by somebody who said, God is leading me to do this every ministry. And so if you're sitting on your giftedness, the ministry, guess what? The word is diaconate. It is. It is the word from which
we get deacon. And it literally means double worker. Double worker. So every deacon deacon knows this ought to be chosen because they're double workers. Yeah.
That's kind of a challenging thought, isn't it? You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford and a message entitled Get Involved, and we're going to get back to this teaching in just a moment. You know, the best way that you might be able to listen is just on the radio. I know many of us have found the program that way, but we want to make it easy for you to listen wherever you happen to be. And so there are a few different ways you can do that.
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Jeremiah was telling the story of a woman whose daughter was ill and the prescription was needed, and they called the doctor that night, and the doctor called it in to the pharmacy. And she went and was in such a hurry to get the medicine that she left her keys in the car and locked her keys in the car. So she came out. Oh no, oh no. She got a hanger trying to do it. And she said, Lord,
please help me. She had just finished the prayer. When around the corner came a big burly guy with a beard, you know, looked like a like a, like a motorcycle gang dude. And he said something wrong. She said, oh, well, I locked my keys in the car. He said, oh, you know, opened her car. She said, wow. Do you know I pray for you? And I almost rejected God's answer to my prayer because I the way you looked, I say, how'd you do that so fast? He said, well,
you know, I just got out of prison yesterday. Uh, and, uh, you know, I was in prison, uh, for stealing cars. She said, I need to thank God, she said. He grabbed she grabbed his hand and said, Lord, I thank you for answering prayer. And you even sent me a professional. Amen. Hey, that's it, man. That's it. You are God's professional. I can't do what God gifted you to do. I'm gifted to do what I'm doing. I need to stay in
my lane. I need to listen. Listen. I don't know whether you know it, but there are people here who know when I haven't had time to study like I usually study. They told Paderewski. You don't. He's the great piano player. You don't need to practice. Dude, he said if I miss a Miss of practice. Then I know it. If I miss more than one, everybody else going to know it too. And that's what it is. And so you are God's professional. See, the doors are locked in
ministry and we're jamming them and we're pulling. But God sent you because you know how to use the coat hanger of your spiritual gifts to unlock the door of opportunity for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, listen, here's what I want you to do. Confront them. To instigate them. Challenge them to evolve. Here's the third one. Change their insight. Notice this, he says, which thou hast received in the Lord. What do you mean, change their insight? See?
Because sometimes, pastor, why? Why don't you tell people I want you to do this? I want you to do that. Why do you say, hey, this is a possibility? Would you pray about it? Because I don't want them to think that they're doing it for me. Amen. Amen. They are not doing it for me. If you're doing it for me, you need to stop because it ain't going to help you. It ain't going to help me. And it definitely not going to help the church. He says, let them know this this thing came from the Lord. Uh,
he's saying, remind them who they're working for. That God's call and ultimate accountability will be to him. That is God's call on your life that God has gifted you, that he has given you the things that he wants you to do. Ephesians 210. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Who can finish it? Which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them? That God hath foreordained, that we should walk in them. Mm. And so here it is God's call on your life.
So ministry is not something we do for God. It's something God does in and through us. Hebrews 1320 and 21. It says, God shall establish you. The word is. Did anybody remember when we spent four sermons studying one word? Anybody remember that? From which we get the word artist in the middle. Cardiology comes from that word. And what does it mean, remember? Matter of fact, in this Bible study, because we said, Carter. To do what? To mend a broken bone. Reset the bone. My star pupil sitting up
in the front. Then it meant what? To reset a broken bone. What does that mean? It means that sometimes in ministry, I mess up, I break a bone, and God says it's going to be painful. But now it'll grow back. You'll heal and I'll use you again. And then I go mess up again. Sister Mendoza, you got to snap it back in. It's painful. It hurts, but it heals. But then it also meant to mend a broken net. You say? What do you mean? That this is a fishing? Like. Like if you're going fishing, fishermen
go for a specific fish. They know what the fish want. They put it on the line. When you net fish, you don't know what you're going to get. Come on, sister Denise. Am I right about it? You don't know who and what you're going to get, you know? And so what happens? Your net breaks and he says, listen, when it comes to you, me, our cod, our Tiso, I'll reset the broken bone when it comes to ministry. I'll mend the net again. I'll mend the net again.
Then Carter Tiso meant equipping a soldier to go out to battle. And so he says, look, you put on the whole armor of God and there's none for your back. Why? Because God don't want any coward soldiers. But don't worry, your back is covered because goodness and mercy.
Shall follow me all the days of my life.
And then the fourth was to outfit a ship for a journey, giving the ship everything that was necessary to make the journey. That's his promise. Thank you God. Wow. Billy Graham was asked one time would he do anything else? And he said. He said, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ, and I would not stoop to be a king or the president of the United States. He said, that's a
step down. It's a step down. And I tell everybody, you know, I hey, I was just with the Minnesota Vikings and, uh, you know, they asked, you want some autographs? You want mine. I don't collect autographs. What I do is way more important than what they do on that field. They ought to be asking for my autograph.
Amen.
Amen. Because what I do has eternal consequences. I ain't lying. And my kids just convinced me. Dad, you're going to all these teams. You ain't taking no pictures, man. We going to put them on Facebook. I said okay, okay, okay, I'll start taking them. I'll start taking them. But yeah, yeah, yeah. You know it's like I ain't impressed. Mhm. Here's the last one. Completion should be the intent. Uh you say what are you talking about. He says that he fulfill it.
The word is plural. Say plural. It literally means to fill it up till it can't be filled anymore. In other words, man, we need to get to the place where we are, like the Apostle Paul. What did he say? I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. I have finished the race, and therefore there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord has preserved for those who love him, and those who love his appearing.
At his Pastor Ford here on Treasure Truth. As we're wrapping up this message called Get Involved. It comes from Colossians chapter four, and you can listen to any broadcast in the short series you may have missed. Just come to our website. It is Treasure Truth Radio org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again,
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