Seeing Purpose in Your Problems and Pain, Part 8

the people that you read about in Scripture. I think sometimes we may have this misperception that the people that are written about in the Bible are holy people. Well, they are if you say that they were set apart for use by God, but they were far from perfect. They were flawed. They were sinners. Some of them have some pretty major baggage. And Pastor Ford points that out in today's message. I think that can be reassuring for us, because the Bible doesn't just gloss over the messiness of life.

It says, hey, you've made a mess of your life. So did these people that God used. And you know, that can carry forward to today. You may have made a mess of your life, but if you stand and if you turn to Christ, if we confess our sins, if we grow in our relationship with him, it's amazing how God may still use you. I think you're going to be encouraged in today's broadcast. So if you can join us in James chapter one as we continue seeing the purpose in your problems and pain. Here's Pastor Ford.

give you capacity in order to deal with it. And God, every time he shapes something, he fills it. Let me borrow from a preacher I heard on TV. I ain't going to call his name. He said. God created the earth with capacity. And then he filled it. Uh, God created the seas with capacity. Then he filled it. God created the sky with capacity. Then he filled it. God created man with capacity. Then he blew into him the breath of life. That was good stuff. I shout about that.

I said, that's good stuff. And so what God's doing right now? Come on, say he's shaping me. Yeah, so he can fill me so he can use me because I'm going somewhere and God's going to do something in my life. Amen. Amen. Yeah. That's what he's doing. Yeah. And so when you look at what's going on here, he wants us to know. Now, let me give all of it. Then I'll come back and just kind of review it for you. He says four things in verse three be. And four. He says, here's what God is doing.

He says, he says this resultant purposes in your problems and pain. Let me clarify them for you. First of all, God is testing our faith. What's he doing? Yeah, he says, sixth of all, he's teaching us endurance. What's he doing? He said, third of all, he's taking us to maturity. What's he doing? He said, last of all, he's transporting us to our future or to our destiny. What's he doing? Yeah. So every time we look at it like God looks at it, we ought to be saying, okay, I don't

like it. I don't understand what's going on. But bring it on. Bring it on. Because I know it's not going to make me bitter. It's going to make me better. I know that. Hey, hey, all things are going to work together for good to those who love the Lord and those who are the called according to it. I'm just happy, that's all. Because we go through some stuff all the time, don't we, baby? Mm. You know, in order to have a testimony, you gotta have a test.

Because the first four words in testimony is test. It's amazing to me how many Christians want to be overcomers and ain't never overcame anything. Yeah. And so here it is. He says, listen, this is just a test. Now I need to get you to Bible class. So since you won't come meet me once again, I'm going to meet you. And there are five sources of tests. Let me give them to you real quick. I'm not going to push them. There's the satanic source. The devil. Oh, yeah. He will

tempt us. He will test us. He's on us like white on rice. Like a duck on a June bug. Like stink on a hog. Uh, like grits on Al Green. Uh, like drugs on al heard. Yeah, uh, like a body shirt on a bishop. He's on us tight. I always like saying that every now and then. Uh, yeah. And so he's on us, and somebody said he's not bothering me.

That's probably because you ain't bothering him. Because if you don't meet the devil as you walk this Christian walk, it probably means both of you are going the same direction. First Peter five eight says, be sober. Be vigilant for your adversary. The devil walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Oh, yeah, he's looking for us, and he wants us to make God look bad. Then there's the secular source. That's the world. Uh, now there

are three words translated world in in the Greek New Testament. Uh, this one is cosmos, a cosmos. We get the word cosmetics from it. Now, what is the world? Get this. Every woman ought to have this definition down. Because what do you do in the morning? You put on your base, right? It ain't called base foundation. Okay, put on your foundation, then what you put on next, baby. Well, you is looking so good and you're all dolled up. I thought maybe you help a brother out this morning, but you

know what I mean. It's like you went in the mirror. You begin to look, you know, and you straighten out the weave. If you have one, or you put the wig on your head, you know, and you made sure everything was arranged so that you could get those compliments. You look good this morning. What is the world? It is the arranged system that leaves God out. That's it. Of course, I don't have to make any comments about that because we know we're living in it. Third one.

Third one. The self source. That's the flesh. Remember, the enemy is the enemy. The old sin nature. That's why Paul, remember in Romans six said, who shall free me from this body of death? And remember the the word picture. How many remember the word picture? Let me see your hands. I wasn't going to call on you. I just want to see if you remember the word picture. Okay. The word picture was if you committed premeditated murder, you murdered somebody.

They would strap that person on your back, and you would have to carry that person until the putrification from their body went into yours. And and you became diseased and died. That was your punishment. And he says, the flesh is like that. Who shall free me from this body of death? So, so, so so the spirit says we going to Bible study Wednesday night? And the flesh said, Uh-Uh, empire coming on. We going to prayer. Uh-Uh scandal coming on. Yeah.

So the flesh. Here's the fourth one. Here's the fourth one. The situational or circumstantial source? Natural cause and effect. Galatians says it this way whatsoever a man soweth, uh, God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. In other words, there are natural consequences that are situational or circumstantial that happen. It just happen because stuff happens. But here's the one he's talking about here, the sovereign source, that God will test our faith so we can know

exactly how much faith we have. See, salvation will get us into heaven, but the test is to get heaven into us. Y'all ain't going to pray with me, I said it. We studied Genesis 22 recently where God said to Abraham something none of us would ever want to hear about our children. Offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. And some of y'all saying, God wouldn't have to tell me to do that with mine. I'll volunteer. Yeah, right. Anyway, he says he says he says he. And so what's

he doing? Just the one question. Here it is. Here it is. There are four, but there's only one I want to focus on. In other words, do you love me more than the pagans love their God? You say that you will follow me anywhere. You prove that. Now will you give me anything? Do you love the gift more than you love the giver? And some of us love the gift more than we love the giver. Because he gave us the house. And we can't come to church because we have to clean it. Uh, he gave

us the clothes. But Sunday, the only day I got to wash my clothes. So I gotta go to work tomorrow, so I gotta have some clean clothes. Well, well, you must be pretty trifling if you don't have any clothes to wear. And you, you you. Let me, let me, let me just let it go. You know, it's like. It's like what you do go two months without washing anything and then does it take all day? No, it sure doesn't. And so do you love me? Will you serve me even when you don't like what I'm telling you?

What kind of faith do you have? Is it only faith that the faith of the comfortable? What about in conflict? You still love me as much as you said you love me. When I took the job that I gave you. When I took the money that I gave you. When I took the help that I gave you. Or will you say, yes? The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to praise you in the good time, but also in the bad time, in the glad times,

but also in the bad times. I am going to serve you. This is what we need. That's what we need.

or order copies on CD. Just stop by treasure. Truth. Radio.com. Again, here's Pastor Ford.

sure do. I'm going to do this thing. And and of course, Hebrews 11 tells us he believed God was going to raise him from the dead. But let me ask you some questions. Do you love your God as much as the pagans love their God? Because the Jehovah Witness goes out and knocks on doors and talks about their God 15 hours a week? Uh, do you love your God as much as the pagans love their God? Mormon youth give two years of their life to missionary work before they start their career. Do you love your

God as much as the pagan love their god? Uh, yeah. I heard say that the Hare Krishnas remember when they used to go to airport? Their goal was to give $200 a day to their organization. Do you love your God as much as the pagans love their God? Moonies believe that marriage is sacred, and, uh, it's between a man and a woman. And you shouldn't shack before you get married. Do you love your God as much as the pagan love their god? Uh, Muslims pray five times a day. Do you love your God as much as

the pagan love? Jews pray three times a day. Do you love the living God as much as they love their god? Mm. Yeah. And so sometimes what happens is that we need to understand God saying, Will you obey me when it's not easy to obey me when it's not comfortable to obey me? Now, now, I went to Walmart and got myself a piggy bank. Now, I remember in my early 20s I used to keep all my change in a purple bag. Oh, okay. I can tell who came out of the streets from who just laughed,

you know. So? So some of some of them weren't. Why are they laughing? Somebody holler out what the purple bag was. Crown royal. Yeah, but I remember in 1961, I was ten years old and my mama gave me a piggy bank. Now I got this one. This is different. This one has a little thing on the bottom. You can pull it out and get the coins. But but back in the day is anybody had one like I used to have it didn't have this on the bottom. How many of you had had a remember that. It

didn't have that. How would you have to get the. Because you yeah you you'd have to bust it. But see not from my family. You didn't bust it because mama paid for this. Yeah. So you don't bust nothing. Mama paid cuz then mama would whip your behind. So here's what you would do. You want to get some money out of it. What you would do is you take it, turn it upside down and you would shake it until something came out. See, you got to realize that God puts something valuable in every one of you.

Everybody la dee da dee and everybody, uh, he put it in you, and it's not going to come out of you very naturally. So sometimes what God has to do is turn you upside down and shake it until it falls out. Because God knows that unless you turn them upside down and shake them, what he put in them is not going to come out of them. And therefore, what needs to come out of you to prepare you for where God is taking you won't come out. And so God takes you and shakes you, and out comes

more faith. God takes you and shakes you, and out comes more power. And God takes you and shakes you, and out comes mercy and love and grace and peace and vision and you, you, yeah, it comes out of you. And you think I can't make it? And God says, oh yes you can. And it comes out of you, I can't take it. And you say, yeah, it's in. I didn't know all that was up in me. Come on, tell him. Shake me Lord. Tell something come out that you put in that I can use to move toward

what you have for me. Mhm. This thing getting gooder. But then notice not just test our faith notice teach our endurance. So he says let patience. He's used the word twice now in chapter one the word patience is hupomone say hupomone. And it literally means huppah. Under Monet abide to, abide under. In chapter five, he uses the other word macro to me, say macro to me, and macro long through me or minded. Now here's what it means. He bookends it with patience. In chapter one he says

you have to be patient in problems. That's hupomone. And then he says, I gotta take you to the bigger stuff. Chapter five. You gotta be patient with people. And so being patient with problems and patience with people, he says, to abide under. Why do I need to abide under? Because some things that happen to you are actually happening for you Sometimes when it looks like things are falling apart, things are really falling in place. But you must stand

your ground. See, God wants you to hold out instead of giving out. You gotta stay under it. Let me, let me just quote I'd like to read after Pastor Butler. Here's what he said. The old tongue in cheek adage, I want patience and I want it now reflects the difficulty of developing patience. Patience doesn't come overnight and it doesn't come without tribulation. He's got book, chapter, verse. You know what it is. Anybody know that verse in Romans

chapter six? That's right. Verse three. Tribulation worketh patience. If you've ever prayed for patience, what you said is bring me some trouble. I just I read everybody's mind just then. I ain't never praying for patience again. Never, never. Yeah, that's what you're praying for. four. And so Hebrews 12. That's a powerful patient here it says, wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race, that's why. Because

it's not a 100 yard dash. It's a 26 mile marathon. And he's saying, listen. So. So you gotta go for the long haul. Yeah. Mhm. See here's what we do. We come up with all these excuses about why we can't stay under what God is allowing or authorized for us to go through. And Romans 12 when it says, wherefore seeing we are compassed about with, you know what it's all about people who stood, people who stood their ground, who did not let any of their circumstances cause them

to get out from under what God was doing. Okay, let me call the roll. Because somebody said I'm too old to serve God. You know, I'm to leave it to the young folk. I'm just too old to serve God. And Moses said, you're never too old to serve God. I didn't start my ministry till I was 80. And then I served him for 40 years and served him until I was 120. How old are you? You're never too old. Somebody talking about. Well, well, see, I'm too young.

You know God can't use me. I'm just too young. And, uh, David says I was 17, uh, when the Lord used me to defeat Goliath. And Daniel says I was 16 when I was taken into Babylon, and and and, uh, became, uh, a president at an early age, and, and, uh, Josiah says I was eight when I came to the throne of Israel and started revival. And Jeremiah says, I got all y'all beat. I was in my mother's womb. Hey, he called me hey in the womb. I gave him praise in the womb. I guess you could call that

prenatal praise. Yeah, yeah. And so here it is. Here it is. Somebody said I can't put myself on the altar like Romans 12 one and two says, and. And Isaac says, I did. I did somebody saying, well, see, you don't have baby mama drama and baby daddy drama. And Jacob said, tell me about it. Mhm. Yeah. And, and so what's going on. I can't serve because I was a thought. Mhm. Yeah. And, and Rahab says look

uh don't let that bother you girlfriend. I ran the Best Little Whorehouse in Jericho and I'm in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Mhm. Yeah. And somebody says I was too much of a player, and David and Solomon look at each other and say wannabe. Somebody says I talk too much and I can't back up my claims. And, and Peter says, join the club. In other words, they could have given up. But they stood. They stood. They understood that the struggle that I'm going through is for

the future. I'm going to, that the struggle is a part of making me who I'm going to become.

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