Treasured Truth

Sometimes, when we’re taking care of God’s business and serving in ministry, we are hesitant to acknowledge the gifts of other people in our midst.  We see them as an intrusion against our own ministry, instead of an infusion of help from God. And instead of seeing them as a threat, Pastor Ford will encourage us to begin to discover the gifts of others, help them develop their gifts and deploy them into service for God’s glory.

Today, Pastor Ford will help us identify some very practical ways we can tell if God has called us to a certain ministry, before we dive in head first to what we think we’ve been called to do.  We’ll learn how to discover our passions and priorities, and identify our desire to glorify God and follow His guidance. Find out more on today’s Treasured Truth.

As we start a new study from Matthew 5, we’ll consider the influence that believers have on the lost world around them. According to Pastor Ford, their influence actually keeps the world from becoming more depraved. They can’t reverse the depravity that already exists in the world, but they can help retard its further development.

God calls those who have believed in Jesus to do the work of His ministry in the church and around the world.  They’re called by Him and God chose them because of their passion for certain ministries. But Pastor Ford will explain today that there are those who went, but weren’t actually sent.  In other words, they were appointed to a certain ministry by man, but not anointed for it by God.  So, as we seek to take care of God’s business, we need to be sure we are called by Him to do what we’re doing.

Today we take a break from our normal programming line up so Pastor Ford can answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life.  The topics he’ll be explaining include how to deal with infidelity in marriage and the importance of being sober in the Christian life, especially as marijuana is becoming the most commonly used “recreational” drug throughout America.

The most commonly known verse in the Bible is John 3:16—"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”  And it clearly states there that Jesus died for the whole world.  But, Pastor Ford will explain today that only those who believe in Jesus will actually be the benificiaries of the salvation that verse describes.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is described as the light of the world.  And those who have believed in Him have been drawn to His light.  But this gospel also addresses those who are doing religion for appearance’s sake, not because they are drawn to Jesus, just like the Pharisees were doing at that time.  Today, we’ll see how Jesus pointed out that they had plenty of religion, but they didn’t have righteousness and they didn’t have a relationship with Him.

As we begin a study today in the Gospel of John, Pastor Ford will explain how Christianity doesn’t tell us to pull ourselves up by our boot straps, because we don’t have any straps and we don’t even have any boots!  In other words, we have no means by which we can save ourselves.  But what Jesus does tell us in this gospel is that we need to be born again.

When you look at the storm you’re going through, then you’re ready to give up.  But when you look through the storm, you have resolve to go on.  And that’s what we need to do! We need that resolve to look through the storm, keep going, keep on pushing through the difficulty, and to keep on doing what God has called us to do.

Today, Pastor Ford shares a story about how God wanted to remove fear from his life.  And God knew the way to do it was to put him in a situation where he had no help but the Lord Himself.  And, because Pastor Ford has been able to look back on that situation, he’ll explain how, from that day forward, he’s never been scared.