The Healing Word

Guest (Male): The Healing Word Ministry on one place is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: It's the heart and God has come to bless us, to save us, to forgive us and he has done that and we give him praise.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. As believers, we want to serve God and walk in his will. Though the path isn't always easy, today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, I want you to take your Bible, hold it up and read Romans 12 verse 5. Would you do that in unison? Romans 12 verse 5. Together, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the other members. We are one body. We belong to each other because of Jesus. But friends, listen to me. It is so easy to get disconnected. And if the enemy wants anything, that's exactly what he wants. He wants God's people to become disconnected with each other. We it's so easy to get disconnected with our children, to become disconnected with our parents, disconnected with brothers and sisters, disconnected with friends.

It is so easy to love a church at one time and then become disconnected with that church. And Christian or no Christian, Christian, you played into Satan's hands when that happens. The devil has won through you when you become disconnected. Look at the scripture again. Come on. You you read it, but I don't know that we really got the message. Read it again. Romans 12 5 in unison. So in Christ we are many are one body and each member friends, I belong to you. You belong to me. We belong to each other and together we belong to the church of Jesus Christ all over the world.

That's exactly what I was telling that little congregation over there in the Philippines. The Largo Community Church loves you. We're one with you. We're just one church separated by miles, but not separated by the grace of God. Well, what causes people to become disenchanted with each other and with the church that Jesus died for? How how does this happen? Why do relationships fall apart? Go bad? How do we prevent it from happening? Okay, take your bulletin and write down the word destroys on line A. What destroys relationships? Number one, selfishness or self-centeredness. This is the number one problem that causes arguments, conflict, divorce.

A relationship begins with unselfishness. How about when a couple are dating? They both approach the door and the fellow says, oh, here, let me open the door. Let me help you. You go first. Remember how it used to be? And then as time goes by, we put more energy. Now, listen to me. We put more energy into building a relationship than we do maintaining a relationship. Amen. Now, I'm going to give you the five stages of a married cold. This kind you go that kind of a cold. Five stages of a married cold. See if you agree.

The first year of marriage, sweetheart, I don't like the sound of that cough. I've arranged for Dr. Notts to make a house call. Let me tuck you in bed. That's the first year of marriage. The second year of marriage, you look like you have a fever. Why don't you drive yourself over to the clinic? Get some medicine for yourself. I'll watch the kids. All right, here's the third year of marriage. Look, be sensible. After you've fed and bathed the kids and washed the dishes, you really ought to go to bed. Here's the fifth years of fifth year of marriage.

For Pete's sake, do you have to cough so loud that I can't hear the TV? Would you mind going in the other room until the game's over? You know, somewhere along the way we've we've stopped trying. We've stopped making the effort. You know, it's so easy to slide into selfishness. So easy. You know, friend truly, if there were more courting in marriage, there would be fewer marriages in court. Listen, if it started out at the dough roller, then you better go back to the dough roller. If it started out at Pizza Hut, take your mate and go back to Pizza Hut.

Someone said, oh, I got married and settled down. Oh, that's the worst thing in the world you could have done. I'm not getting married. Getting married is okay. It's the settling down. Wasn't it great in the beginning? What happened? We've just become very self-centered. I I I know this minister friend who talked about his own selfishness. I'm not talking about me now, you know. He said that one night he went to bed. Now, he said I I was only in bed 3 seconds. 1 2 3 and my wife was getting in bed 3 seconds after I gotten bed and she said, did you make sure the doors were all locked?

And he said, I pretended that I was in an alpha state and I said he said, how can I go to sleep in 3 seconds? He said I said no. So she got up and locked all the doors and I it's human to be selfish, isn't it? We're born. We grow up selfish. It's a juvenile thing to be selfish. Selfishness destroys relationships. Selflessness builds relationships. Say it. Selfishness destroys relationships. Come on. Selflessness builds relationships. And the best place to learn to be selfless is in a small group or in a family. That's where it's learned.

And we need to learn that because every person, every baby born in this world is born selfish. And somehow we have a hard time ever developing and growing out of that. And some of us never do. Some of us never do. It says in Philippians 2 4, look out for one another's interest, not just your own. Proverbs 28 25, selfishness only causes trouble. Now, the first thing that destroys a relationship as I began the sermon was uh selfishness. The second thing that destroys relationships is pride. Proverbs 13 10 says, pride only breeds quarrels or leads to arguments.

Now, people become critical of one another. They start judging one another when relationships are superficial. Shallow relationships. That's when that starts happening. Proverbs 16 18, pride will destroy a person. A proud attitude leads to ruin. It's humility that builds relationships. Now, look at point B in your outline and write down the word builds. What builds relationships? Now, what do I have as number one? This is what love does. Love takes the focus off of me and puts it on you. This is exactly what Jesus did when he came. If his focus had only been upon himself, he certainly wouldn't gone to the cross and suffered the pain and the agony that he suffered.

He would have saved himself. But he didn't save himself. He saved you. He saved me. Can you say praise the Lord? He focused his love on us. And when I began to focus my love on Jesus love, all of a sudden fear goes away, insecurities goes away, nervousness goes away, anxiety goes away. You see the scripture says, perfect love casts out fear. And when his perfect love comes into my heart, then I have none of these negative emotions. They go away. Now, God loves you and me much more than we can imagine. He truly does.

And one of the ways he demonstrates his love to us is through other people. And we need to love others just as he loves us. Now, in our families and in our small groups, we're going to learn how to love. And I understand that over half the congregation, half of this congregation is now enrolled in small groups. Is that right? Half. Now, I know that all of you can get in a small group because of work schedules. I know that. I'm being realistic. But when a church has half of its congregation involved in small group learning situations, I think of that pastor who was arrested and his wife taken out of the home, leaving behind two little daughters and the oldest one 10 years old.

Those children had to grow up and fare month after month and year after year on their own. Relatives had to feed them and care for them. Uh they didn't have any parents there. But these parents were so committed and the churches were all in houses, not in cathedrals, but in homes. And she said right now, she said, my dad they're still going on and he has mother and dad have 50 people in their house. They can't get anymore. But he has another church here and another church there. When I say church, in this home, in this home, in this home, he's sort of like a circuit rider.

He has all these churches and their houses are all filled up with people. And he goes out and visits all of them. Friend, I I have a feeling that you would be blessed to get in a small group. You would learn one another. You would enjoy one another. And we're all going to make mistakes. Ever so often we're going to blow it. Nobody is perfect. And we're all sinners, but in the small groups we learn how to love and we learn how to forgive. It's real real difficult to learn how to love or to forgive somebody in a congregation this size with this much distance between everybody and we only see each other once a Sunday or two times a month.

But in the small group these these things, spiritual things are learned and practiced and the Bible comes alive.

Guest (Male): We'll be back with the conclusion of today's message in just a moment. But first, here's an invitation for you to make an impact on reaching souls with God's word.

Pastor Jack Morris: Hello friends. I'm Pastor Jack Morris. I just want to take a moment to thank you for your prayers and your donations in that order, prayers and donations. I need both from you. And if this ministry is to continue, and I believe it's God's will for it to continue, I'm going to need your partnership more so than ever before. I thank God for you. I trust that the Healing Word is a blessing. Pray that God's word will go forth in mighty power to the saving of souls and to the healing of lives, emotions and bodies. God bless you dear one in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Guest (Male): If the Healing Word has blessed you or someone you love, we invite you to prayerfully consider pledging your financial support. Simply visit the healingword.com and click on donate now to make your tax deductible contribution. Together, let's continue to share the beautiful blessings of God's word with the world in need.

Pastor Jack Morris: They say I'm not whether sure whether this is true or not, but they say opposites attract in marriage. And she meets this guy who is so vivacious, so alive. Now, she's very quiet, very meek. She just so feminine and but he is just so alive. And so here the two opposites attract. And then after they get married about a year, she says to him, do you have to be so loud all the time? You're getting on my nerves. So you see when you get in a group or you get connected and you get close, that's when these differences begin to reveal themselves.

Now, how many of you had unrealistic expectations when you got married? Let me see your hands. Okay. The rest of you are liars. Listen, you never you never thought he was going to be like he is. You never expected she's going to be like she is. So when you come to the small group, when you come into that small group, now is when you're going to learn each other. Now, let me tell you the kind of people that go to small group meetings. This is awful. But it's true. There's that person who is always late.

And then they take 10 minutes to tell you why they were late. You have to sit there and listen to it. I mean every meeting. In that small group, there's the person who talks too long because they just love to hear themselves talk. They don't give others a chance. In that small group, you're going to meet people who give you too much information about their relative surgery. In that small group, you're going to meet the guy who had to go slip out of the room and go out and check the game score while there's a big discussion that's going on.

Keep the television low. In that small group, you're going to meet the person who turns every wise crack into some kind of a joke. He thinks he's a stand-up comedian. Now, you know what we call those people? Heavenly sandpaper. Now, right now I know what's happening. You're thinking, who is that person in my group? And let me tell you, if you can't think of that person, guess what? You're it. Now, what do you do with those Now, that's I'm talking about growing in Christ that you got to get with people like that to grow in Christ.

And if you're it, these people got to get with you so that they can learn how to love you and forgive you. But what do you do with people with these little irritations? Well, first, you ask God to fill you with love so you can forgive them and you learn the Bible to develop relationship skills. Secondly, you go to that person and say, it just may be me, but I've noticed that you're a jerk. Now, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. I should have stayed in the Philippines. We're better off with an ocean between us.

Well, what builds relationship? Number one, love. I'm going to say it. I'm going to ask the question. What builds relationship? Secondly, what builds a relationship? Forgiveness. Say it. What builds a relationship? Forgiveness. Now, that's essential to building any relationship. Husbands have to forgive wives. Wives have to forgive uh husbands, children, parents, parents, children. We have to forgive one another. Why? Because you are a forgiven sinner. And if you were not a forgiven sinner, your soul would be lost for eternity. You and I need to forgive even as he has forgiven us. And we are people.

Remember that. There are no perfect people. That includes you. And we need to learn how to forgive. And when we learn how to forgive, now we're being just like Jesus, aren't we? Because that's what he does best. He forgives. And we need to forgive. The scripture says in Colossians 3 13, bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. How did he forgive you? That's exactly how we are to forgive one another. And why should we forgive? Three reasons. Number one, for your own benefit because you are miserable until you forgive.

It'll keep you awake at night. It'll it'll possess your thinking. It'll rob you of joy. Resentment and anger only hurts the person who refuses to forgive. Number one, it will forgive you. It will benefit you. Number two, you need to forgive because you have been forgiven by God. You have been forgiven by God. Number three, you're going to need forgiveness in the future unless you die this afternoon because the longer you live, just that many times over and over and over again, you're going to grieve somebody. You're going to hurt somebody. You may want to.

You may not want to. But you're going to do it and you're going to need forgiveness. Friends, you and I are going to need a lot of forgiveness in the years to come because we're going to blow it a lot of times. And God forgives us. He hears our prayer and he forgives us. We ought to do the same for each other and we will if we have Jesus in our hearts. The Lord's prayer says, forgive us our debts, our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. We need to pray God, I want you to forgive me as much as I forgive everybody else.

If you don't forgive, then then God may not forgive you. He may not. But this is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. And in the small group settings, you and I are going to learn how to live and love and forgive and grow and become family. Hey, did you ever get upset with somebody in your family? With any of your siblings? Well, it's the same with the church. We're all in a love relationship, but every once in a while we're going to blow it. And when we do, we just hug each other and forgive and go on and serve.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father God, I'm so thankful for your church. The church in Asia, the church in America, the church in Europe, the church in Africa, the church, the islands of the sea. I'm so thankful that God so loved the world. I'm so thankful for the Largo Community Church and for the love that we have and the attitude of forgiveness, the attitude of love, the attitude of humility that is being shown and demonstrated. Lord, I'm so thankful that you remember our frame. You remember that we're but dust, that we're human, that we are going to make mistakes.

And as long as we're in this life, we will make more mistakes. But you are a merciful God. Help us, Lord, to be as merciful to one another as you are to us. Let's keep our heads bowed for just a moment. Friend, be honest. Are you a forgiven sinner? There's only two kinds of sinners, those who have been forgiven and those who have not been forgiven. And the only way to be forgiven is to confess and to say, Jesus, come into my heart. I've sinned. Forgive me. Have you done that? If you have or you haven't, this morning would be a wonderful time to give your heart to Jesus.

He'll forgive you, come into your heart, help you, bless you. He's a forgiving God. So bow your head, ladies and gentlemen, and pray with me. Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart. Save my soul. I have sinned, but on the cross you died for me. On the cross you took my sins. I give my sins to you this morning for you to carry them for me, for you to take them off of me. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins. Thank you for coming into my heart and life.

Lord Jesus, I'm going to live the rest of my life for you. I'm going to serve you and do your will. I'm going to read the Bible and live the obedient life. I'm going to come to church and grow spiritually in Christ. Even as you have given your heart for me, Lord Jesus, I give my heart to you.

Guest (Male): Prayer is such a vital part of our journey as Christians. It helps us keep connected to God, our source of power and peace. Through prayer, we find guidance, overcome temptation, discover our purpose and draw closer to God by expressing our gratitude and our need for him. With the Pray Now app available at thehealingword.com, you can choose a topic that speaks to what you're facing. Pray with Pastor Jack Morris and receive an uplifting message grounded in God's word and strength. Visit thehealingword.com today and find the encouragement you need to walk forward in faith. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message.

Until then, blessings on you.