Even though everything is gone, the house is in foreclosure. The relationship is jacked up, tore up from the floor up. And we look at things and we say, what in the world is going on? And God says, have no fear, I'm here.
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us. As today we begin a new message. Have no fear, God is here. And pastor, that sounds great. But when the house is in foreclosure, when that marriage is falling apart, when the doctor says it is cancer, whatever that thing is, that's absolutely rocked
your world. Trite little phrases don't really seem to help so much, so let's talk about practical application of that truth.
Well. That's really good, Steve. I mean, you asked the very difficult questions and.
And give you three minutes to answer.
I'm sure that there are myriads of individuals who are listening who said, go ahead, Steve. Get them. But, you know, I don't want it to be trite, but it is true. And that is this, that I have to live by my revelation, not my situation, not now. I know there's a modicum or a level of maturity that one needs to reach to have this perspective, but I have to look at it from the divine perspective and not from the human perspective. If I look at it from the
human perspective, I'm going to be depressed. I'm going to I mean, maybe do some things that I ordinarily would, but if I if I'm going to believe God and I'm going to trust him, then I have to see that his word is true. For example, I feel like I'm abandoned. His word says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So what do I do? The facts have to override my feelings, right?
Because their feelings lie to us.
They lie all the time. Steve, you know. And so I have to depend on and stand on his word and come to perverbial hell or high water. I've got to believe that what God said is true. And I'm, you know, I'm a believer for a long time. And I'm telling you, I'll go on record as saying God has never let me down. Now, he hasn't always done it the way I wanted it done. Sure, but he did it. Yeah, the old preacher would say it this way. He may not come when you want him, but he's
always right on time. How many people have got fired from a job only to find out that they weren't fired out? They were fired up. I've got 3 or 4 people. I've got a businessman. He owns his own business, sets his own time, makes his own money. He got fired and he just went to pieces. And then the Lord showed him that. You've been wanting to own a business, start your business. He started a carpet business and he's
doing very well. And if you would ask him, what's the best day in your life, a worst day in your life? When I got fired from my job that I worked on for 20 years, what was the best day of your life? When I got fired from my job that I worked on for 20 years. Yeah. So we have to learn how to wait on the Lord.
Wait on the Lord. And as he said, in the process of waiting on him to remind ourselves of what Scripture says, great reminder that we have to know Scripture.
Over.
And over. And secondly, we need to be preaching that to ourselves. Because if we're not, the temptation there is to let that bad just drive us into the crazy cycle. We fall into temptation. But if we're preaching to ourselves makes a huge, huge difference.
Don't forget this. The Bible says in Second Corinthians that we walk by faith and not by sight. Yeah, so anything that's seen is not faith. And we have to believe God.
Well, we're going to begin today's message from Isaiah 43. Here is Pastor Ford.
I remember going out witnessing and I used to do it by myself, even though I know Jesus sent them out two by two. And so one day I was out not too far from here, and I knew I was about to get jacked. I knew it, I knew it. I mean, I knew the scenario so well because I used to rob people. And so I knew the motif. I knew what was going on. I said, oh, man, they set me up. And I felt extra bad because I didn't have nothing of which to be robbed. And you know how that goes. You know, I mean, you
gotta give em something. And I didn't have anything. And I'm thinking to myself, all I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give em what I got. Imma give em Jesus, I don't care. I come from these streets. So it's. It's appropriate that the streets take me out. And so, you know I, I got a little holy boldness, you know. And so even when they surround me. Yeah. So what are you out here talking about? I said, I'm talking about Jesus, man. You know what I'm talking about. The
one who died on Calvary. I'm all bold and everything, you know. And they said, yeah, well, we got something else that we want to talk about. All of a sudden. I heard everything, alright. Pastor Ford and I looked around and was one of my police officers in uniform. Hallelujah. I'm thinking to myself it really wasn't alright, but everything is alright now. I got even bolder. Oh yeah, come on up. I'm talking to these guys. Come on, come here, come here, come here, come here, come here. Put my arms.
Now tell em about Jesus. Tell em about Jesus. So afterward, afterward, after we got done witnessing to him, he welcomed me back to the church. And he said, you know what they was about to do? I said, you know, I know I used to do it. He said. He said I was driving by and I said, there's my pastor. He in trouble. Boom. And he popped on out, man. Got that Glock on the side, got that badge jacked, had that uniform, and everything was all right. You want
to know why? Uh, because in that situation, he had more power than I had. Uh, he had more authority than I had. See, the uniform that he had on represented that he was a part of a citywide police force, a brotherhood of blue, that if you mess with him, you gotta mess with them, too. I came to tell somebody today. That's what our text is about today. Uh, that God says he's bigger than whoever and whatever is
bigger than you. He wants you to know that even when you find yourself in the midst of fearful situations, you don't have to fear because God is here. Yeah. And that when he shows up, he shows up with authority. He shows up with power, and he's dressed in a uniform that says he has the backing of heaven all around him. Angels that are at his beck and call. You don't have anything to worry about because God is here. Go ahead. Look at your neighbor. Help me preach and say,
don't be scared. Yeah, don't be scared. Tell him. Don't be scared. God is here. Yeah. Don't be scared. Yeah. And now, let me just just just quote what Isaiah says because I like the way he puts it together. Isaiah says, but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as an eagle. Now let me tell you what he means. He means that sometimes when you're in a storm, God allows you to escape. Say, escape. That's what we love.
Come on. You ought to say it louder now. Because I know you love it. Escape. Yeah, well, my wife and I, we're flying, general. And the pilot says, look out on the left side of the plane. We're sitting on the left side of the plane. So I look out and guess what? I see a storm. I had never seen a storm without being in a storm, Brother Dave. And he said, I got a signal from the tower that we were headed for a storm. So I got a new route and I didn't want to go over it.
I wanted you to see it. We rode right alongside of the storm. That's escape. Yeah. It's like we were supposed to be in that storm. And. And I'm. I'm saying this is powerful. I'm looking at the storm that I should be in. And God reminds me that sometimes you ought to be in it. But because you have me, I said they're going to escape it. You don't know how many times he saved you from an accident on
the Dan Ryan. How many times somebody was looking to rob you, rape you, cheat you, and God stepped in, and you don't even know today that God saved you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so. And so what happens? We escape. Some of you ought to thank God that he didn't answer the prayer. You pray for that woman. You pray for that man, and God didn't give them to you. Now, five years later, you go back and say, thank you, Jesus. Yeah, you gotta thank God for the prayers. He didn't answer. So,
so so Isaiah says he lets us escape it. Say escape it. But but then it says he shall mount up with wings as eagles. So what the eagle do? Here's the picture. The eagle in like a pigeon in a storm. The pigeon is flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping. But the eagle gets on the crest of the storm, spreads his wings and allows the momentum of riding the top of the storm to carry him. So he does not burn as much energy because he doesn't flap a whole
lot anyway. But he doesn't have to flap because the storm is carrying him. Some of us know that we were able to escape the storm and like an eagle, it didn't affect us. When we thank God because we got things out of the storm that we wouldn't have had had we not gone through the storm. But the storm didn't adversely affect us because God gave us eagles wings. But then it says, shall run and not be weary. What does that mean? There's some times that God enables us.
He strengthens us so that we go through the storm. But we are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to go through that storm. But here's who the people I came to talk to today. He said, you shall walk and not be weary. He says, some of you will have to endure the storm. Oh, I know we like to escape it. I know we like to be enabled. But God said, wait, wait, wait, wait. Every storm is not not going to be escaped. Every storm is not going to be enablement. Some storms are just
going to be endurance. I came to talk to 2 or 3 people today who are in the midst of a storm, and I want to ask you some questions. Say ask pastor. will you trust God's hand when you can't trace God's heart? Will you commit to him when you can't comprehend him? Will you follow him even when you can't feel him? Will you listen to him when you don't like what he's saying? Will you have faith in him when faith feels foolish and you look foolish to other people because of the faith that you have?
Is there anybody in here that understands that? We've got to believe that he's here, even when we feel alone and abandoned, that we've got to believe that he cares. Even though everything is gone, the house is in foreclosure. The relationship is jacked up, tore up from the floor up. And we look at things and we say, what in the world is going on? And God says, have no fear, I'm here.
Well, that is the title of today's message. Have no fear. God is here. Really? A look at the first seven verses of Isaiah chapter 43 today. Hey, we'd love to know how Pastor Ford's teaching is making a difference in your life. You can always give us your feedback through social media like Facebook or Twitter. You can also email us through the website. Just come to treasure. Org and click on the contact link. We recently heard from Rodney
who writes. Hi Pastor Ford, I've been listening to you for about two years straight and it's been really uplifting. I just wanted to thank you. It's really helped me through some very dark times in my life. God bless. Rodney, thanks for letting us know that you're out there, that you're listening, that this program is making a difference in your life. Again, if we've never heard from you before, come to Treasure Truth radio.org and click on the contact link.
Let's get back to our message. Have no fear. God is here. Once again, here is Pastor Ford.
Do we have any job believers in the house? Though he slay me yet? Where are the people with yet? Faith? I don't have a job yet. My body ain't healed yet. My marriage ain't what it ought to be yet. My kids ain't what they ought to be yet. Where are they yet? Give me some yet people. Do I get 2 or 3 yet? I'm a yet person. Yet? Mm. You go to work tomorrow. And the boss getting on your last black nerve. White nerve. Hispanic nerve. Yellow nerve. You just say yet? You go home, and the husband
and the wife ain't acting right yet. They call you up. You gotta come down to school for your kids yet. We're getting ready to give you a pink slip yet. Got red slips in the mail yet. Amen. Yet I will trust him. It's like. It's like Miss Seely. It's like Miss Seely, remember Miss Seely, miss Seely got fed up. And finally she said, yes, I may be a woman and I may be poor, and I may be ugly, but I'm here. Thank God I'm here. Okay, let me
show you. Let me show you how many of you were walking through and you said, I don't think I'm going to make it. Anybody ever been in that situation? I got a question. What you doing here today? Go ahead. Tell somebody I made it. I came through it, I walked through it. I went through the storm. God brought me out. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Come on, Sister Ford. Yeah. We can shout and dance. Every storm we went through brought us out. And then bring us out. our mealy
mouth and pouting brought us out victorious and dancing. Yeah, she doing a holy dance. I'm doing the best dance I can. Mm. And so now, in our suffering, in our storms, sometimes we look for God and we say, where are you? And God says, I'm where I always been. Well, what's our problem? Here's our problem. Say, what's our problem, pastor? We look in the wrong direction. Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Depression looks down. Faith. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
They had an old song. It came out of the hymnbook. But y'all. Y'all don't know about hymnbook. My faith looks up to thee. Remember that song? My faith looks up to thee, O Lamb of Calvary. Whoo! Yeah! Mm. If I had time, we'd sing it. I ain't got time. So Israel's in a storm. Now get this. And it's a storm of their own making. Now, wait a minute. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. I've got to get you to understand this because I don't know how many of you are like me. It's
like there are times now. Not every time, but there are times when I'm not right. And he still blesses me. Yeah. And you know what he's telling me, Mike? I want to bless you in spite of you and not because of you. Because if you see the blessings I give you in spite of you, then you're going to want some of those because of you blessings. Because the because of you blessings are greater than the in spite of you blessings. I want to be blessed. If he does
this while I'm walking, right? Why? I ain't talking right. What will he do if I get my act together? What will he do if I fellowship with him? What will he do if I give and serve and witness and tithe? What will he do? And so here, here he says, listen, Israel is moaning and groaning because they're in the storm. He's making them walk. And he says, let me tell you something in four chapters. Fear not, fear not, fear not, fear not fear. What is seven?
God's number for perfection or completion? He said it's seven times so that you will know. I don't care what your fear is. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. He's saying I'm not a fair weather friend. I'm a friend that sticks closer than a brother. This passage is pregnant. You know I'm a teacher. Let me just drop it. I ain't going to push it. As my friend Romeo would say, historically, it refers to God's deliverance from Egypt. Literally,
it refers to the Babylonian captivity. Deliverance. Prophetically, it refers to the Great Tribulation, when God fulfills all the rest of the promises that he made to Israel. Ultimately, it focuses on the deliverance of Jesus Christ as our kinsman Redeemer. Typically, it points to the church, and principally and practically it's a great passage for dealing with our fears. So in Isaiah 40 he says, listen, you have foes, you have fears,
you have fights. So he's telling us this, that your storms are going to take on three entities people, passions and problems. And then seven times, fear not, fear not. God says, you know what fear is? What is it? False evidence appearing real. That's what fear is. As a matter of fact, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior said it this way when he was asked, why do you keep going out? Aren't you afraid somebody's going to kill you? He said, ultimately, I think I will, uh,
be be martyred. But he said this. He said fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. Nobody was there. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Fear knocked at the door, faith answered. Wasn't nobody there? And so we need to know that we don't need to be afraid. Now, there are seven reasons and seven verses. Here they are. Verse one. He says, you don't need to be afraid because you're the property of God. Uh, verse two, you don't need to be afraid because of the protection from God. Uh, you don't
need to be afraid. Verse three, because of the person of God, you don't need to be afraid. Verse four, because of the passion or the love of God. Verse five, you don't need to be afraid because of the presence of God. Verse six, you don't need to be afraid because of the promises of God. In verse seven. You don't need to be afraid because of the purposes of God. Notice what he says. First of all, verse one. Let me tell you why you don't have to be scared.
Because you're my property. Now get this. This text. Now notice what God does. God goes back to the beginning and he takes them from the present to the past. Now, this is unusual. Now, we just studied the passage where, remember when Peter fell and he said to him in verse 30 of Luke 22, he said, you're going to sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Then
verse 31, you're going to deny me. Now why did he tell him that he was going to sit on the throne before he told him he was going to deny him, because God didn't want him to focus in on what is he wanted him to focus in on what shall be. He's saying, here's what shall be. Let me tell you that first you're going to sit on thrones. Now here's what it is you're going to deny me. Now,
why do that? Because if I tell you what you shall be, then you understand that what is shall not cancel out what shall be, so that you won't focus in on what is. You'll walk through it. You'll. You'll endure it because you want to get to what shall be. And so that's what we need to do. But this is different. He's telling them go back and see what was. Now let me show you what is. Now whenever you get in a place where you gotta walk through, you gotta look back and see what was. So you'll be
able to deal with what is. You say, pastor, I still don't understand it. Okay, then let me come and get you. Because I went to public school too. We focus in on what's happening now. God, focus in on what happened back then. Why? Because God takes us back so we can see history to comprehend our destiny. Because what he told us about what shall be. He made the promise in history about our destiny. Let me say
it another way. Let me say it another way, that God takes us back to history so he can share his eternal purpose and counsel for our destiny.
You may be listening right now, and life hasn't turned out the way that you planned. Instead of hope and optimism for the future, you're feeling despair. Well, let me encourage you right now to look back on the promises of God and see what he has in store for you. You're listening to Treasure Truth, a message called have no Fear. God is here. And this kind of encouraging and convicting teaching is what you can expect every day here on
treasure truth. We're careful to provide you with messages and resources that will grow your faith and help you walk in step with God. You know, pastor, one of the things that I think is really cool is just to hear from new listeners who stumble across this radio program, either online or through the radio, and it is there for them today because someone previously had given and helped get this program off the ground.
Amen. That's right. It reminds me of those lepers in the Book of Kings. They had found food in the Assyrian 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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