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.

Guest (Female): Welcome to the healing word. Today pastor Jack Morris delivers a powerful reminder in a message titled his poverty, my riches. The gospel is the story of Jesus giving his all so we could receive the treasure of salvation and eternal life. Welcome to the healing word. In today's broadcast pastor Jack Morris shares how building your life on Christ provides a sure foundation that cannot be shaken. This message is titled a rock foundation.

Pastor Jack Morris: A rock foundation. You know Jesus is in the construction business. He's building and what he builds will last forever. He's building lives, individual lives that are given over to him, surrendered to him. He's building marriages that are given over and surrendered to him, families, careers, whatever is given to the Lord, God will take it, build it, make it strong, cause it to stand and cause it to last forever. So I encourage you today as you hear this message to turn your life, your marriage, your family, your career, whatever you have, just give it over to the Lord Jesus Christ and see what he can do with it.

He'll do great and wonderful things, marvelous things. He'll cause whatever you give to him to stand, to last, to become strong. This is his blessing upon us. Now I'm going to talk about our individual lives given over to the Lord and then I'm going to talk about secondly our marital lives given over to the Lord. This is an analogy the man that builds his house upon the rock, the man that builds his house upon the sand. It's analogy of of our building, our lives, our marriages, our careers, our future. And so let's look at it today and learn from the word of God so that when the storm comes and believe me it will come.

No one is exempt. The winds will blow, the streams will rise, but the house that is built on Jesus, the rock foundation will stand forever. Now as you follow the outline, I want you to write down some words but we're going to be writing them now in the in the subtitles, not the main title of the paragraph. But number A, the building of a house. Number one, there are two builders. Verse 24 says the wise man built and a foolish man built. The word foolish in the Greek translated into the English is moron. So there's some morons out there who are building without Jesus.

Don't be a moron. A moron is one who is mentally deficient. And though the people are educated and very intelligent by the world's standards, yet if they do not have Jesus, they're morons. They're very foolish. There are two houses. The wise man is building his house, the foolish man is building his house. But here is the the interesting thing. Both houses look alike. The superstructure, that part that is above the ground, appears the same. Matter of fact it looked like these two men had the same architect. They had the same building design. Their houses were comfortable, beautiful, expensive that was above the ground, everything that was ostentatious, everything that could be seen with the eye.

The wise man built with the future in mind. The foolish man built only for today, only for now. It's like the scripture says eat, drink and be merry. Get the most that you can out of life. This was the foolish man. He built with no forethought at all. But the wise man knew life and how life is and the troubles and the problems and the difficulties and the stresses that are going to come. And he was ready. The moron was short-sighted, no long-range plans at all. Two foundations. Number three, two foundations. The wise man built on the rock and foolish man built on the sand.

Now let's look at the houses that are being built. As I said I'm going to talk about our personal lives and then our marriages. People look pretty much alike, don't they? Wherever you go. I see two neighbors that we move into the neighborhood. My neighbor buys a house. I buy a house. I park in the my car in the driveway. He parks his car in the driveway. Both of us go out to the mailbox to get the paper in the morning. We get in our car, we go to work in the morning. In the evening we we come back and we park.

On Saturdays we mow the grass. Nice neighbors. We wave at each other. We say hello. Really nice people. You can't tell the difference, but one of them one of them is very foolish because one of them is only building for today. The other is building for not only today, but for the future. But you look at them, they all look alike, all these neighbors. They're all doing about the same thing. Nice people, neighborly people. But one of them is wise and the other is very foolish. And so it is with our marital lives. I meet couples all the time and some of them are building their marriages on on the sand for a foundation to their marriage.

I talk to couples when they come to me for marital counseling and almost inevitably I'll ask them how did you meet? Where did you meet? What attracted you to this man? What attracted you to this woman? And usually every time they'll say well I like the way he look looks. I I like her looks. And then I'll say well why did you go out on a day? Why did you ask him for a day? Why did you ask her for a date? Why did you go on the second day? Why did you go on the third date?

Well we were very comfortable together. We were he was a good conversationalist. She could talk. She was a good conversationalist. He made me laugh and and so they on and on they go looking only at what they could see, ostentatious appearances and listening and talking and comfortableness, never thinking for the most part that soon they're not going to see each other just once or twice a week, but when they get married they're going to be thrown together for 16 hours, seven days a week and it's going to be all together different when they went out on a date.

They all dressed up and she put on her best perfume and he put on his cologne and everything was nice and mannerly and beautiful, but that is not the real person. Like I said before, the real person is at home in a cage waiting to get out. It's later that you find out who he really is and who she really is. I mean anybody can even talk Christianity, look Christianity, act like a Christian. But if their heart is not right with God, they're building their marriage on sand and it will soon fade and it will all be gone in a matter of time because pressures are going to come.

The winds are going to blow. The streams are going to rise. And the personal life and the married life will be nothing more than a pile of rubble when the world gets finished. See in your outline the houses built on the rock foundation. Now I'm gentlemen look up here at me. All the men in here today, are married men in particular and men who think they're going to get married. I want you to raise your hand and wave at me. Okay, now I want you all to stand up. Ladies you stay seated. Stand up men.

Come on stand up. All of you men stand up. Now there's a scripture, verse 24, and I want you to read it in unison with me. Look up at the screen. Come on just just the men. Ladies you be quiet. I'll get to you in a minute. Okay, come on men. Therefore

Guest (Male): Everyone who is doing or of and

Pastor Jack Morris: Okay, stay standing. Here's God's word to husbands. We're going to read now verse 25 of Ephesians 5. Husbands, I want you to there it's it's a husbands love your wives. That Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25. Okay, now I want you to look up there and underscore the words husbands love your wives just as those two words. Think about that. Just as and then the word gave. Just as Christ loved the church and gave, just as gave. Say that. Just as gave. Okay, you may be seated husbands. God's word to husbands. He's talking about the apostle Paul is talking about self-sacrificing love, taking relationship.

People marry thinking what that man can do for me, what that woman can do for me. He's going to make me happy. He's going to fulfill my life. I want to be married because I'm going to be happier because he's going to do that for me. Their wife the same, the husband the same thing. She's going to do this for me. She's going to bless me. She is going to make me happy. I'm going to get a lot out of this. I'd much rather be married than to be single because that person I'm married is going to do wonderful things for me.

Then hang it up. Happiness is a choice and if you don't make yourself happy, your husband can't do it, your wife can't do it. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself. Love just as Jesus, husbands listen to me now, just as Jesus acted toward you, you are to act that way toward your spouse. One or two husbands amen that to me. Now listen fellows, how did Jesus act toward you when you were unworthy, unlovable, a mean scoundrel? He saved you and forgave you. You don't treat your wife nice when she's nice to you.

When you were ugly to Jesus, he loved you and gave himself for you and died on the cross to redeem you. Just as. Did you see those words? That's how you to love your wife just as Christ loves you and gave himself for you. You are to give yourself. You are to give yourself to your wife. If you love Christ like you love your wife, I wonder how long you're going to be saved. How do you treat your wife? You're to treat your wife like you treat Jesus. And if you're not treating her like you treat Jesus, then you are a subtitled husband, not even worthy of the name husband.

Now love, listen to me, listen to me. Love can only be known by the actions it prompts. Say that with everybody, wives also. Love can only be known by the actions it prompts. Love is not an expression of affection. Love is not an impulse of feeling. Love is not a natural inclination. These gave himself. That's love. You see when the apostle Paul wrote this, he he couldn't help but think of the cross. Everything he wrote, he brought the cross into it. He brought Calvary into it. Friend, listen husband, you've got to bring the cross into your marriage.

You've got to bring Calvary into your marriage. Look what Paul says. He couldn't get away from the cross of Christ. Love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself. He gave himself at Calvary for the church. Just as. Now married love looks like the cross. Married love looks like the cross. The love you receive from Christ is to be implemented in your marriage. Love, let me tell you this friend, listen to me carefully now. Love is entering another person's life. When Jesus saved you, did he not enter your life? Did he not enter your heart?

When you are in love with your wife or the wife is in love with her husband, that love, that life, my life enters into Korean. Her life enters into me. That's what it means when there's one flesh. When I accepted Jesus, he entered into my heart and he received me into his heart. Now that kind of foundation will last when the storms come, when the rains come, when the streams rise. But marriages are falling apart everywhere. There are just as many divorces in the church as outside the church. But somehow we are attracted to each other by physical attraction, by sexual drives, by good conversationalist and what we think we're going to get out of the marriage.

And that is as carnal as can be. That's not Calvary. That's not Golgotha. That's plain carnality. The same that's produced in the world. Listen to this. First John 4 9 and 10. This is how God showed his love, showed his love. Love must be shown. If there's love there, it will show itself. This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Hallelujah. Just as. Now number two, God's word to the wives. Write that down. Now fellows you remain seated. It's your turn ladies. It's my time and my turn to get on you. Will you stand up ladies? And I want you to read Ephesians 5 33 with me. Read it together. And the

Guest (Male): wives must respect their husbands.

Pastor Jack Morris: Okay, just stay standing ladies. Read it again.

Guest (Male): And the wives must respect their husbands.

Pastor Jack Morris: Listen. If the husband loves the wife like Christ loves the church, she'll have no problem at all. Mr. making you the head of the house. I have no problem at all making Jesus my head. I have no problem at all reverencing him, obeying him. But you come along with your manly, carnal, masculine, macho authority. Listen that's the way the devil does business. Jesus doesn't do business that way. Jesus gives himself. Now wives, if you have a husband that loves God, that is serving the Lord, that is giving himself to you like Christ gave himself to the church, then you respect that man.

The respect means you reverence him. It shouldn't be hard for you to do that, should it? I mean if your husband is just giving and giving to you, laying down his life for you, it should be easy to submit to that man just as easy it is to submit to Christ. Now this what this means to respect him is to reverence him means to build him up. That man needs some encouragement. It's a hard world out there and and men have problems with their peers and living with their peers and working with their peers showing forth their Christian life.

Compliment him, encourage him, reverence him, support him, build him up, treat your husband like a person of superior standing among men. Treat him like he's the greatest man on earth. Love him with all your heart. Look at him like there is no other man on earth that can compare to my man. That's what it means. No man on earth can compare to my husband. I love him. I'm going to support him. You know what will happen? Jesus expression of love will foster reverential love toward him to to my cause me to reverence him. And when when you are loved, your husband loves you like Jesus loves you, then you'll love your husband just about like you love Jesus.

And when the storms come and they're coming to the wise and they're coming to the morons. When the storms come, coming to Christians and non-Christians, believe me you haven't been married very long, you're going to experience storms. If your life, your marriage is built on the rock Christ Jesus, now your marriage can be built on the rock until your the husband is built on the rock, until the wife is built on the rock. If both of you are on the rock and you're together and your life is in his life and her life is in him and your life is in each other, then you're one flesh.

And when the storms come, you'll make it. You'll live for Jesus. You'll live for each other and you will stand and your marriage will stand. Now it takes two to make it work. It takes two to make a marriage. One person can destroy a marriage. But two people must work together built on the rock to make it work. Ladies, do you still love me? How about you fellows? All right, you may be seated ladies. Houses sometimes you look at the walls and they'll have a crack in the wall. And it's not the wall, it's the foundation has shifted.

And marriages that are built on the foundation of the word, the couple or as individuals will often allow things, activities, priorities to shift the foundation off the word of God. The enemy does not want your house built on the rock, but on the sand. And it's these pressures that come, these activities, these priorities that will shift the foundation. And when that happens, there's going to be a a crack in the wall of your house. There's going to be a a crack in your marriage. And there's a crack, it means a separation. There's going to be a gap between the husband and the wife, an open space.

They're not going to be together. Something's going to pull them apart and the devil wants that to happen. And many a marriages now are are coming apart at the seams because of so many activities. And so the the cracks are empty spaces. You can go back and patch the crack. How many times a husband and wife will come back and they'll say okay, let's forgive one another, let's forget the past, let's take it and go on from here and never deal with the real issue. They just patched up the crack. They didn't get he didn't get his life back in right with God.

She doesn't get her life back in right with God. Patching up the crack will only make that crack appear in a matter of weeks or months or years. It'll come back again. Cracks in the relationship. We must go to the source. See the stress in of everyday pressures is a slow assault that will zap the heart right out of the marriage and leave that marriage listless. You know long work hours, long compute commutes, long commute for her, long commute for him, her workplace, his workplace, childcare, bills, anxieties, trying to make ends meet. These are the things that will will blow against the house and against your marriage to destroy it.

The winds are coming. They're going to blow hard. The rains are going to come down. It's not always going to be sunshine and roses. The streams are going to rise. Why am I telling you this? Because Jesus is telling you this. Don't be a foolish person. Wise up. This is life and life isn't easy. Life is not easy on marriages.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for the healing word. As you go through the week, may you stand on the rock, Jesus Christ, who is strong enough to hold you through every storm. At the healing word ministry, we're here to bring the light of God's love and power of his word into the lives of those who need it most. Every message, every prayer and every moment of encouragement is crafted to help you find peace, guidance and strength in your journey of faith, meeting you where you are with hope and compassion. But this ministry is only possible through the generosity of people like you.

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