I don't care what happens. God is going to do what God said he's going to do. And you can't say anything or do anything. No circumstances. Nothing that the devil does will ever persuade me of anything other than what God promises.
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 that you're with us. As today we begin a message of encouragement. Just a powerful reminder from Philippians chapter one that God will always finish what he started. You know, there's a great truth in Philippians one.
It's actually verse six and it says, and I'm certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. You know, we can cling to a promise like that. When we come to know Christ and begin a relationship with him, he begins a new work in us. We're given a new heart, and he begins what the Bible calls sanctification the process of shaping us, changing us, molding us more into the image
and likeness of Jesus. And that's a process that will run throughout our entire life, our moment of salvation. That's instantaneous. That's what the Bible calls justification. You're declared right with God. But that process of becoming more godlike, more Christ like, that, is a life long process, and we're not going to get that right at least all the way right this
side of eternity. But as Philippians chapter one verse six just said, once God begins that work in you, he will faithfully see that play out through your entire life. And we can engage in that, or we can fight against that, and that process will take longer than it could have. Otherwise we may not get as far down the path as we would like to get, depending on how we engage in that. But we can cling to the truth that God will always finish what he started.
So join us in Philippians chapter one. Here is Pastor Ford.
Some of you have probably never heard the name of Eugene Lang. Eugene Lang is a millionaire, and he had heard about the plight of African American students, uh, in Harlem. As a matter of fact, the school that he went to to talk to the students in the sixth grade class had a 50% dropout rate. Wow. With only a 14% graduation rate. Well, say, that's low. Say, that's super low. So Eugene Lang went to this class of sixth graders, 50 one sixth graders. And this is what he said.
He said, I'm a millionaire and God has told me to come in here and to tell you that every one of you that graduates from high school, I will pay for your college education. I will pay for your books. I will pay for your food. I will pay for your housing. I will cover all of your expenses throughout all of college. If you graduate from high school. Right? That 12th grade class didn't graduate 14% because 48 out of 51 students went to college.
Alright. Amen.
90% or more. And when asked, one of the students was asked, what made you want to do this? He said, well, first of all, the man was a millionaire. So we knew he wasn't lying when he made us the promise he could actually pay for us to go to college and pay for everything. So he was a millionaire, but
he made us a promise. He said, I don't know if you know it, but I live in the ghetto where I have no hope, where I have to worry about being shot, where I have to worry about no food, where I have to worry about all the other things. Our unemployment rate is higher than anybody else's. And this man gave me hope.
Yeah.
So then in sixth grade, I said I could go to college if I can get to the seventh grade and seventh grade. I said, I can go to college. If I can go to the eighth grade and eighth grade. I said, I can go to college if I can make it to the ninth grade, and in ninth grade, I can go to college. If I make it a 10th grade, in 10th grade, I can go to college. If I make it to 11th grade and 11th grade, I can go to college if I just graduate from 12th grade. And he said, and I graduated, and he
paid everything for that young man. And 48 of them not only went to college but graduated from college. I said, look at that. They had a man that they believed his promise that gave them hope to live and believe in the future. When we have somebody who's way richer than Eugene Lang, who made us more promises than he ever made us. And my question is, why aren't we saying God has brought me to this point? And so no matter what my circumstances say, I know he's going
to take me on. So I'm going to move to the next point, because I know that God has a blessing that's waiting on me. Is anybody in this church praying with me so that now I've got his promises and I've got a hope that no one can diminish, destroy, distinguish because of who promised me?
Yes.
What he promised me. Is there anybody standing on the promises of God, my savior?
Yes.
Yeah. You see, when you begin to look at this book, I gotta give you the context before I give you the content. Uh, the church at Philippi wasn't a mega church. It was a storefront church. Just a small storefront church. But here's what they do. Say what did they know? That God judges a church not by what size it is, but what sort it is. Y'all ain't praying with me. Yeah. And so this church started in acts 16 with a vision.
And the vision that they had, uh, was Paul had a vision, and he wanted to go in to, uh, Asia. And God said, no, I want you to go into Europe, go into Macedonia, and remember everything he needed to fulfill the vision he had after he started walking toward the vision right over your head. Some of you are here today saying God didn't do much work for me last year. Maybe Be. God wasn't working because you weren't walking. Yeah. That's it, that's it. In other words, God says, here's
the vision. And he started walking to it. And what did he provide? He provided people. Luke was added on after he started walking in the vision. Oh, then he added the paper. Yeah, he was added after he started walking. See you waiting for everything. You're from Missouri. Show me. And God says no. You walk by faith and not by sight. You step out and do what I told you to do. Even when you don't see what you need, where it's coming from.
Yes, sir.
I'm preaching better than you. Amen. And that's for sure, I know that. Yeah. Second Kings, chapter seven, verses five and six. We studied it before you remember it. We talked about the lepers and leprosy. Make your extremities fall off. So here they go. They say if we stay here and do nothing, we going to die.
Yeah.
If we go to the Syrian, the enemy's camp, we may die. Okay. since we're just going to die, we might as well die walking. So they start walking toward where the provision was, not knowing that God was going to open the door. Here's what they said. The enemy left. What happened? They heard the sound of a mighty marching army. God magnified their efforts, and so they put their best foot forward. And God added his super to their natural.
Yeah.
Look at our girl, Ruth. God magnified her efforts. At first thing I like about her is she living with her mother in love and not her boyfriend?
Alright.
Uh, but remember what happened? She said we're going to work if we gotta eat. And she begin to work in the field of Boaz. And she got a Boaz, not a bozo. That's right. And guess what God did? he magnified our efforts because now she owns the field. She used to work in. That's right, that's right. That's it. See, God can take you from the outhouse to the penthouse. Amen. Amen. And so Paul's in prison, and it's not three hots and a cot. And the Philippian believers are upset because
they love Paul. They genuinely love Paul. And he's in jail not for pushing crack, but for preaching Christ. That's right. And, uh, what did he do? It was the Epistle of Joy. You already know that. Tell you every time. But but they're saying, you know, Paul, we're tore up from the floor up by you being in prison. And Paul said, take a chill pill. You know I'm good. Why are you good? In chapter one, he gives five reasons Imma work to what we're talking about today. Here's the first
reason he says because of my perspective. He said, see, you're looking at and say, man, what misery. And I'm saying what mercy that God would use me to witness the people I never get to witness to before. Yeah. Powerful. He says it's my perspective. But then he said, it's my passion. Verse 21, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. He says, I got a love and a passion. And when you love Christ like I do, what you suffer for him is just a little affliction
in the light of the future glory. And then he says, because of what my priority is, my priority is the gospel. Now, I done told this story seven times. It's the seventh time I'm telling it. So I guess I can wrap it up that that Brother White and his daughter Destiny were on their way to church. He sees some brothers standing on the corner. Nine of them. And the Holy Spirit says, stop and pray with them. I know he's thinking, gotta be the devil. He tells his daughter, I think
God wants me to pray for her. She said, we're going to be late. He said, But God said to stop. Long story short, they stopped. They asked the brothers, can we pray for you? All nine of them said, yeah, okay. And they prayed for all nine. He shared the gospel, and all nine of them made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Amen. He says, I want to take you to church with me. And they said, we'll agree
to go. And so he picked up, uh, two people, and she had brought the young lady who accepted Christ because she led her, a young lady to Christ on the same corner, and she picked him up, brought her to church with her children. And this is the this is the part that got me that he was going to pick up one of the guys and was told he died two hours ago, but he died with his Bible in his hand. Man. That's it. That's it.
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. Powerful story there. We're going to continue this message in just a moment. So do you hope you'll hang with us? I do want to let you know, though, speaking of stories and books that Pastor Ford has written a number of books, and you can check those out by coming to our website. You'll find a link there that says Books by Pastor Ford on the left side of the home page. You can check out the different titles available as a paperback
or in an e-book format. And if you've ever read a book by Pastor Ford or something he's said on the radio has impacted you in some way, maybe it's helped you, you know, strengthen your marriage, get your finances figured out, or even brought you into a relationship with Jesus. We would love to know your story. You can visit the contact page of our website and let us know how God has used this program in your life. Come to treasure Truth radio org and click on contact. Again, here's Pastor Ford.
That's it. When you begin to look at it, he said, it's my perspective. It's my passion. It's my priority, it's my purpose. But here is where we're going to land. Uh, verse six, it's my promise that keeps me going. Amen. It's promise. That's what verse six is. It's a promise. You came today and you say nothing different today. It's another Sunday. But I'm still going through trauma. I'm still going through testing. I'm still going through tribulation. I'm still
having tragedy and it seems like it's all over. But I came to tell you this morning that the fat lady hasn't sung. It's not over yet that God will take your natural and add his super to it and do something super natural. And he took Moses and a stick. He took his natural and added it to his super. And all the children of Israel walked across the Red sea on dry ground. Not mud, but asphalt. Uh, he
did the same with the priest. Uh, when they're getting ready to go over Jordan, he said, tell the priests to put their foot in Jordan. Why do that? Because I already promised. Imma get you across. But I want to see. Do you believe the promise when the circumstances tell you that the promise can't be fulfilled? Jordan is overflowing its banks. You got mountains on this side you can't cross on land. Everything. Put your foot in the problem so that I can see that you believe by faith.
You don't wait till the battle's over. You shout now. They put their foot in the water by faith, believing that God was going to do something. Anybody ever read it? And it said the water rose up like a wall. Yes, sir. And they walked through on dry ground. Yes, man. That's what a promise will do for you. And this is a promise. And I'm trusting that we will believe the promise that God has for us. Yeah, maybe he hasn't added his super because you haven't given him your natural. Alright.
The little boy with the fishes and the loaves. Come on, everybody, holler it out. Where did the multiplication take place? In his hands. So he put them sardines and crackers in his hands and then begin to pass them out. You remember break it is means he did it one time. Passing out is an infinitive ING. He kept on doing it. He broke it once and kept on passing it out. He broke it once and kept on passing it out. Where did the multiplication take place. Maybe you broke because
your money ain't in his hands. Maybe your marriage is jacked up because your marriage ain't in his hands. Maybe you don't have a business because you didn't put the business in his hands. Because whatever you put in his hands, he multiplies it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That education you want, is it in his hands? That apartment you want, is it in his hands? That house. You want that car? This is God's promise. Philippians one six. Now the word promise is in the Bible 50 times. How many times?
50 times. 50 times. One person counted. I didn't go behind him to see if he was telling the truth. I'm just going to take his word for it. He said there are 3573 promises in the Word of God. Let me ask you something. How many do you need to get to your destiny? One. This is as good as any. Yeah, it's a problem. Have you ever noticed what God does with his promises? See, this is why you need the promise. Why? Because God will speak to you about plenty. When you're in poverty. Alright. Because God
will speak to you about health when you're sick. Because God will speak to you about a car. And all you got is a venture card. Because God will speak to you about a house and you have Pacific Garden Mission. Yes. Because God always promises. And a promise means you don't have what you want yet. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have what you want yet. This Philippians one six is the Jeremiah 2911 of the Old Testament. Anybody got that memorized? That's right. I know the plans I have for you.
Plans for good and not for evil to bring you to the expected end. Now, anybody know what the context of Jeremiah 2911 is? Anybody? They were in captivity because of their disobedience to God. Yet in the midst of their disobedience, God gave them a promise that told them, where you are right now is not where you're going to end up, right? That's good news. That's good news. I'm going to bless you in spite of you. That's good news. Luke chapter 20, verse 30 and 31. Here's
what he said to the disciples. He said to Peter, he said, he said to Peter and the disciples, you shall sit on 12 thrones of Israel and judge Israel. Then in verse 31 he said, y'all going to betray me? Now here's what a teacher does. I look at it and say, wait a minute. Why didn't he say, you're going to betray me? But don't worry, you're going to sit on 12 tribes. He gave them verse 30 before he gave them verse 31. My question is the teacher is why? And did it hit me? Because verse 30
Bertie tells them about their failure. Verse 31 tells them about their future, and God is saying, I won't let your failure stop your future. See, y'all don't know when to shout yet. No matter how bad you done messed up, I still got something better. The best is yet to come. Come on, say it, say it. The best is yet. Say it again. The best is yet to come. Wait a minute. Wait wait wait wait, wait a minute. So what's verse 30? Verse 30 is your. Not yet. Verse
31 is your right now. And I want you to know that your right now will not stop you from your. Not yet. So whenever your right now looks bad, look to your not yet, not to your right now. Because you're not yet. I got you prosperous in your right now. Everything's tore up from the floor up. But if you focus on your right now, you'll never get to your not yet. So focus on your. Not yet, because you're not yet will drag you. Come on man, from your
right now. Whoo! Pastor Ford. Pastor ford, pastor ford. It's a sorry dog. Won't wag his own tail. damn. Yeah, that's preaching there. And so what happens this year is my best year. Alright. Yeah. How do you know that? I got a promise. You ain't seen it yet? I got a promise. You don't know what's going to happen. I got a promise. You don't know how long you're going to live. I got a promise. And so let
me tell you how I read it. Pastor Ford, being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in Pastor Ford will perform it for Pastor Ford until the day of Jesus Christ. I put my name there.
Alright, alright.
You say, what about my name? Put your own name there. Claim your own promise. I hope there's a promise that you're claiming that you're believing God for. You heard what K-Love said. She had to put her foot in the water. She quit her job before she knew that God would expand her ministry. And for 14 years, she's never been hungry. For 14 years, she's never missed a house note payment. In 14 years, she never missed a car note payment.
As a matter of fact, you saw what she said, that that when I called her, she was saying, God, how are you going to provide for this car note payment? And boom, here you call. She's been doing it for 14 years, standing on the promises of God. But notice, how do I do this? How will God finish what he starts when I hold to his promise? Here's the second thing. When I have a positive outlook, notice what the text says. Being confident. Stop. The word confident literally
means to have a settled persuasion, a firm conviction. Now, I'm not giving you all of the outline, but those of you who are in outlines notice letter A would be, then it's continuously confident. In other words, being is ING word, which means then it never stops. Not just flash in the past, back and forth. You know, sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down. But a subtle persuasion where I am convicted and believe that I don't care what happens. God is going to do what God said he's going to do.
And you can't say anything or do anything. No circumstances. Nothing that the devil does will ever persuade me of anything other than what God promised me.
That's right. Amen.
See? Say this with me. Belief is what I hold. Conviction is what holds me. That's right. Belief is what you hold. Conviction is what holds you. Does the conviction hold you? Have you ever been persuaded by a promise? Have you ever seen your circumstances change in the light of God's revelation?
That's a good question to ask yourself, and I hope as you look back over life, you. You can pick out times where, yeah, you can identify with that. You can see that in your life while you're listening to a message called God will always finish What he started. We're going to continue this teaching next time. Hope you make it a point to listen. You can obviously right here on the radio, but you can also listen online.
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Amen. That's right. It reminds me of those lepers in the Book of Kings. They had found food in the Syrian camp And they said we would be remiss if we didn't go back to the city and tell everybody the famine is over. There's a feast. Well, I'm telling you, not just treasure truth, but when you listen to Moody Radio, you feast on the Word of God. Great expositors of the Word of God. And who would not want someone else to be built up in their most precious faith
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