Treasured Truth Weekend— Run Tell Dat, Part 2

And if we really understand what Jesus did for us on the cross, I think we are going to feel that compulsion or that need to go and tell that.

They have some great food. Well, one preacher long ago said it best. The gospel. Just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Yeah. You know, and say, look, if your soul is thirsty, like Isaiah said, come and buy water that's free, you know. And so that's oxymoronic. But most people would say that it's not oxymoronic. Come buy water that's free. Well, wait a minute. Well, how do you buy water that's free? It's free to me.

It cost Jesus his life on the cross. There's somebody who loves me more than anyone could ever love me on a human level. Yeah. He loved me so much that he died for me while I was his enemy. And, man, come on, Steve. Who wouldn't tell that?

gospel that saved us. Okay. Alright, alright. See, it was the gospel that took that 40 out of your hand and put a Bible in it. It was the gospel that turned your cursing tongue into praising lips. It was the gospel that took you from the party house, the jailhouse, the crack house, the frat house, the school house, the penthouse, the bar house, the outhouse, the white house, even your house,

and brought you to the church house. Yeah. It was the gospel that took that blunt, that bud from your lips. And now you get high on the Holy Ghost. It was the gospel that stopped you from sleeping around with every woman that was stupid enough to sleep with you, and now you're celibate. If you're single or if you're married, you're a homosexual. You get your sex at home. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, sister.

It was the gospel that kept you from getting your self esteem, from the fact that you have a man, and then you now get your self esteem from the fact that you have the man, Jesus Christ, that all your girlfriends think that you are crazy because you left a man you could see to hook up with a man you can't see. And now the man that you can't see is taking better of you than the man you could see. And so you're grateful that he came with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Touch your life. Touch

your heart. Young people. I know you're glad that the gospel help you understand that it's not the label on your clothes that give you value and worth, but that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Yeah, it was the gospel. Yeah. That content that wrote our name in the Lamb's Book of Life. It was the gospel that put God in our heart and pep in our step and sense in our head, and a Bible in our hand, and a song on our lips and a smile on our face.

Cuz I know some of y'all ain't cracked a smile yet. You have to buy better makeup. Mm. But not just the content of the scriptures. Notice the confirmation of the scriptures. Two times it says according to the scriptures. Now you gotta understand something. Uh, the first extant manuscript that we have of the scriptures were written approximately A.D. 45 by Mark. John, Mark, the first gospel, of which all the other gospels are, got some of their information and a lot of their information.

And so when it says here the Scripture is talking about the Old Testament Scripture. Now Paul says, let me tell you something. This is not new and improved. This is not something that you're hearing for the first time, he says. Back in the Old Testament, everybody begin to tell you about the fact that Jesus would die, be buried, and rose again and rise again the third day in the Old Testament. So you take Isaiah, what we call the fifth gospel in the Old Testament. What did he say?

He said that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of his peace was upon us, and by his stripes we were healed. 700 years before Jesus ever came to Calvary, Isaiah said in the scriptures, he's going to die, be buried. And now his resurrection is confirmation that you can trust the Bible that you can trust it. As a matter of fact, you know what amazes me in Psalm 22? It talks about the fact that Jesus would be crucified. Well, wait

a minute. This is at least 400 years before Rome ever started using crucifixion as a means of execution. So God said, I done already set this thing up. He's delivered up because of the foreordained counsel of God. And God says he going to die on a cross. And people back then were saying, what is a cross? And now he confirms it. It means you can trust God's Word. There's a whole lot of people that you can't trust.

There's a whole lot of people who said, like I said, I, James Ford junior, do take thee, Lesley Ann Moore to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold in sickness and health, and to hold to you only until death do us part. There's a whole lot of folk that lied, and it wasn't until death do you part. It's till death do you part? Come on. We know folk that lie. You. You try to turn and go the other way because, you know, they're going to say, hey,

can you let me hold something? And, uh, you know, hey, I'll pay you back on Friday. And like I said earlier, they don't tell you which Friday. They don't tell you what year. You ever loan somebody something and then go back to try to get it? They done kept it so long, they think it's theirs. There's a whole lot of people whose word you can't trust. Like when I said I won't be long this morning, y'all didn't believe that. We preachers, we have a saying. It's called a preacher, count.

Let me tell you what a preacher count is. And a preacher count is when somebody says to another preacher, well, how many members you got in your church, preacher. And, uh, the preacher says, well, about. See, that's how you keep it from being a lie about my practice here has been. I only count the people who come. I don't count

the people on the membership list. If we had everybody that came on the membership list, we have about 2000 members, but, you know, they didn't join other churches and all that kind of stuff. And so you never know who you got. So I've always only counted those who are here. Amen. So if everybody came, we'd have about 1500 members. But we're settle for about one third every. Every Sunday. Amen. And so, what's going on? Uh, we call it speaking evangelistically.

But see, here's what it means. And I say it all the time. Come on, help me out. The Word of God has no expiration date. That you and I know that I can trust this word. Why? Because the grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of our God endures forever. Because Isaiah 5511, so shall it be. The word that goeth forth from my mouth. It will always accomplish that which I set for it to do. It will never return unto me. Void. Psalm 119 107. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a

light unto my path. The Word of God is pure and is profitable for cleansing the soul. The Word of God is that which we need and we can trust it. Two preachers I heard him telling about it. Two preachers were in a guy's new. I thought it was a Rolls-Royce, but it was a Bentley. And they were in this Bentley, and they were in California, down that long road where people go and look at the coastline, and they were

about 50 miles away from, uh, gas. And and the other preacher looks over and he says, man, why did you do this? Do what? That thing is on E, man. It's on E! And so, man, I don't feel like walking. You saw the sign next gas, 50 miles. And he kept riding. He kept riding. He said, man, why do you do this to us? He said, open up the glove compartment and turn to the page that talks about

the gas and all that. So he turned to the page and then he chilled to he he calmed down because he read in the manual, uh, that this car has two gas tanks and that whenever one runs out of gas, you flip a button and that starts the second one and both of them took a chill pill. You know what? Why is it that one person has lost of their mom and they go to pieces, and another person has the peace of God that passeth all understanding.

Why one person can can have their house foreclosed and they're giving praise to God, and another person is going crazy and drinking and drugging and doing everything else to try to deal with. Why is that? Because one man read the manual and the other man didn't. One woman read the manual and the other one didn't. See, when you read the manual, it will let you know that there is no temptation taken you, but such as common

to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able to stand, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. There are some people who read the manual, and they get comfort because they know that the Bible says that. Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptation, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work that you may be complete

and entire, lacking nothing. There's some people who read the manual where it says in Romans 828, and we know that all things, not most all things, not some all things, work together for good to those who love the Lord and those who are called according to his purpose. There are those who read the manual and they taking a chill pill as we go down the road of life. Somebody help the shelter. Somebody cool, calm and collected. You

want to know why? Because they read the manual and they said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Somebody read the manual. Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning. Somebody read the manual. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yeah. And it takes faith to believe this. And the resurrection says you can trust God's word.

relationship with Jesus. And I hope that this program encourages you to do just that. We'd love to hear about it though. You can always get Ahold of us through our website. It's Treasure Truth Radio. Click on the contact link or you can always interact with us on social media like Facebook or Twitter, and you'll find those links at our website, treasure Truth radio. All right, let's get back to the message again. Here's Pastor Ford.

came and plopped down on the pew. We wasn't worried about whether or not it was going to hold us. You want to know why? That's what it's supposed to do. It was designed to hold us. Amen. Got support in the middle. And I'm like you, I sit over the support beam. Amen. He said, I don't have faith, okay? You don't have faith. You do have faith. You went to a doctor. You don't know to tell him about

a disease you can't pronounce. And he wrote a prescription that you couldn't read for a medicine that you can't pronounce. And you took to a druggist that you don't know anything about. And you get a drug that you can't pronounce, and you take all of it because you have faith in the doctor, in the diagnosis, in the prescription, and you take the medicine all by faith. Don't tell me you don't have faith. You got faith. Yeah, you got faith.

And then finally, finally, here's the last one. The triumph of the Savior. Uh, yeah. You see the testimony and and I'll I'll end on that. But I ain't going to say nothing about it, because in five through nine, you have the testimony of the spectators. Yeah. You got the testimony of the spectators. All these people that saw him. Uh, but but listen, look what's going on. What do you mean?

The triumph of the Savior. He rose from the dead. See, death is inevitable, but Jesus Christ conquered death that we can't escape. Brother was trying to tell it yesterday, and I was. I was saying, oh, man, he kind of. He kind of he kind of missed it a little bit because here's how the story goes. Uh, that a man was walking on 79th Street and, uh, he saw death. He went face to face with death. And death had

a puzzled look on his face. And the man looked at death, and he could kind of sense death is coming for me. So he went to a wise man, and he said, uh, I want to get away from death. And he said, look, get on a plane. Go as far as you can as quick as you can. And that's what he did. He went to midway, got on a plane, went to Minnesota, and when he got there, he said, I have escaped death. But then when he stepped out on the streets of Minnesota, he saw death.

Death tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and he had the surprised look on his face. Death said, let's go. He said, wait a minute. I ran from you. I ran from you to get away from you. And death said, you remember when I saw you on 79th Street in Chicago? And I had that puzzled look on my face? Yeah, yeah, he said, that's because I had an appointment with you tonight in Minnesota, and I was wondering how you were going to get there. Yeah. It's inevitable.

It's inevitable. Death is inevitable. Not Hebrews 927. It is appointed unto man once to die. But when you look at what's going on, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Here's what he said. Revelation 118 I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of death, hell, and the grave. Nietzsche said, God is dead. I'm with the late, great pastor S.M. Lockridge, who said, If God is dead, then

who killed him? What corner performed his autopsy? What undertaker received his body? What newspaper carried his obituary? And why wasn't I informed of his death? Because I'm the next of kin. And so he says, listen, we need to understand it, that Jesus Christ, at the end of the chapter, it'll say he took the sting of death. We can't understand it. But there was a family. They were going to a picnic on a Saturday after a hard day

of work. They had the two kids in the back, their older teenage son and their younger six year old boy. The six year old boy was allergic to bee stings. He could blow up and swell up and die without a shot. And so they were on the way and they told them, now be careful of bees. We're going to watch you real good. We're going to put you in your little net, he said. Okay, but while they were traveling, a bee got in the car. Dad said, we gotta pull over. But they were on a highway.

And so his big brother reached out and grabbed the bee and put it in his hand. But that week he had been studying entomology about bugs, and he had compassion and and so he just grimaced. And then he let the bee go. He tried to put him outside the window, but he was still buzzing around in the car, and his little brother was going, whoa, whoa. And the bee was buzzing around and his dad said, I thought you got the bee. And I thought you put it out the car. He said, dad, I got to be.

And I tried to put it out of the car, but I need to let my brother know the bee can't hurt him. And he opened up his hand and the stinger was in his hand. He had taken the bee's sting and he was letting his brother know. Listen, don't be upset. He can only make noise. He can't sting you because the stinger is in me. That's what Jesus Christ did for you and for me. He took the sting of death. O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? But thanks be to

God for the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's alive. And because he's alive, we are alive too. And then finally, and finally, the testimony of the spectators. Let me just say this. He says, we saw by Peter, then the 12, then James, then Paul, and 500. Now Peter is counted twice. That means there were 514 people that saw that resurrection. 120, though, were in the upper room after this event. My question is this where are the 396 folk? The other folk

who saw and witnessed the resurrection? How come they weren't in the upper room with the 120 that went out and ran and told that? I came to tell somebody that when we look at what God wants to do that. You and I gotta run and tell that. Let me just close. Why run? Tell that Pastor Ford? Yeah, because of all that I said. And I ain't going to recap it. Uh, but why? I watched, uh, I don't like reality shows that much. I don't watch them. It's a waste of my time. Uh, but there's one I

do like. And it is, uh, Undercover Boss. I'll never forget the first one I saw, which kind of hooked me on it, was the owner of the Cubs. Uh, he put on an employee uniform, and he was cleaning toilets and selling peanuts. Uh, people didn't know he was, uh, because he had on their uniform. Uh, but they didn't know he was management and service. And so he cleaned toilets and he passed out peanuts, and he he set himself under the authority of the one who was managing everybody. Uh,

he refused to exercise the power of his management. He did what they did. He ate where they ate. He took the break when they took the break. Yet he was the owner of the whole thing. Finally, uh, he revealed himself to them and then went back up to the owner's box. And then he called one employee up and he said you were an exemplary employee. This is the one they were putting all the work on. This is the one that everybody was hating on. And he said, listen,

here's what I'm going to do for you. I am going to pay for your college education. And so he paid for his college education. That's what this story is all about. Uh, that the owner, the creator of the earth, uh, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world. And they that dwell therein put on the uniform of humanity, step down, as the old preacher would say, through 42 generations. Then he lived among us, ate among us for 33.5 years.

A third years Jesus Christ healed the sick and he raised the dead. He did all of those things. He was among us. The Bible says, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. Oh, but he didn't exercise the attributes of deity, because being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but took upon himself no reputation, and be found in the fashion of a man becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And he went back up.

And guess what? One day he going to call us or to the office? To the owner's office, and he's going to say, you served. And everybody hated on you. You serve because you ran and you told everything about me, and now I'm going to reward you. Enter thou into the joy of your Lord. So then what we need to do is we need, we need. So. So can we go home? Oh! Hold up. That's my cell. Yeah. Oh, really? Well, thank you, thank thank thank you, Lord. Oh, okay. Jesus

said to let you all go home. And he said, run. Tell that.

this program, and I hope you'll do that. We do covet your prayers above all else, but if you're able to stand with us financially, would you come to treasure Truth radio.org? Click on donate and give an ongoing monthly gift or even a one time gift. Again, come to Treasure Truth radio.org and click on donate. Thanks for doing that. Thanks also to our producers, Amy Rios and Ryan McConaughey.

For Pastor Ford, I'm Steve Hiller. Treasure truth is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.