The Healing Word

Announcer: Welcome to The Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. Here’s Pastor Jack Morris with today’s message that will grow your faith in God and lead you to a closer walk with Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: Today I want to talk about being an instrument for God, an instrument in God’s hands. We’re going to look at Moses in particular, how he was an instrument in God’s hands, and we’re going to think of our lives, our ministry, and how we can be an instrument in God’s hands. Only then are we going to see the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. You see, we have to listen to me. We have to get involved. You have to get involved.

The water’s not going to part until you move and put your feet into it. The miracles aren’t going to happen if we just sit and wait. We’re going to have to rise up and do. Moses heard the voice of God, obeyed the voice of God, and he experienced an outpouring of God’s mighty power. He had a rod, a staff, in his hand, and it was that staff that God told Moses to use for the people of Israel, for the glory of God, and the miracle of God happened.

I want you to be thinking all through this message: What do I have that God’s going to call to receive? What do I have that God wants me to give to Him so that He can perform a miracle in my life and in the life of others? That’s what I want you to hear all during this message. Okay, can we have the map put on the screen, please? Here they are at Rephidim. They came all the way down across the Red Sea, coming all the way down. They’re only about three months out of Egypt. They hadn’t gone very far. How on earth then did they stay 40 years in the wilderness? Well, I’m going to tell you about that later on.

Have you ever had a disappointment in your life? I mean a big disappointment. You thought something was going to happen, you were sure it’s going to happen, it was very much promised. Rephidim means resting place. They were promised rest. Other caravans had come through, they had heard about this wonderful place of Rephidim, and they could hardly wait to get there. They got there, and there was no water. Now, when they got to Marah, there was water, but it was bitter. But God turned the bitter water into sweet water.

But here, there was no water at all, bitter or sweet. They were disappointed, let down, angry at Moses, and they began to distrust God. They really were upset with God. God, You promised us rest, and here we are with nothing. Moses speaks to the people, and he gives them a rebuke. He said, "Why is it that you do not trust the Lord, that you put God to the test? Why do you not trust Him? Why are you acting so belligerent and hostile towards God?" God hasn’t done anything to you. God has only done good to you, nothing bad.

Then Moses turns toward God, and he prays. You see, when you don't know what else to do, you pray, right? And this is what Moses did. The scripture says, "Then Moses cried out to the Lord." I thought as I read this, why didn't all of Israel, that two million to three million people, wouldn't it have been wonderful if they all had gotten on their knees with Moses? He was their shepherd, and he said, "We need to pray. We’re in a very difficult situation. There’s no water here, and I’m a human."

Moses is saying, "I’m just a man like you are. Why are you ready to stone me? I’m as thirsty as the next guy. I want some water too. I’m not a magician, and I’m certainly not God, and I can't make it happen. The only thing I know to do is to get on my knees before God." Wouldn't it have been wonderful, what would it have looked like to see two to three million people on their knees before God? Can you imagine what would happen here at the Largo Community Church if all of us got on our knees in fasting and prayer before God? I’ll tell you, we’d move Prince George’s County.

But they didn't pray, but one man did. One man prayed. Sometimes I hear people say, "Well, I’m just one person." That’s all God needs. He just needs you. There were two to three million people complaining, and one man on his knees. It only takes one person to move that mountain. You can be that one person today. You can pray and believe God and see God working. Now, I want you to look at the screen and read what’s up here out together: "Then Moses cried out to the Lord, 'What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.'"

The Lord answered Moses: "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go." Now, Moses was just a man. He prayed. No one else was praying. Everyone else was complaining. Everyone else was saying, "You got us into this jam. You got us into this. We believed in you. We followed you." Isn't it something how quickly we can forget the blessing of God? They were complaining, but one man was praying. One man. And that man was Moses, and he was on his knees before the Lord.

And God answered him. Notice it says, "The Lord answered Moses." Say those words. That’s what happens when you pray. Amen? That’s what happens when you pray. The Lord answered Moses. No one else was praying but Moses, so the Lord answered Moses. Where was Aaron? Where was Miriam? Miriam was out on the beach leading the people, shouting, beating the tambourine, but why wasn't she on her knees there alongside her brother?

But one man prayed, and God did a great miracle in answer to one man’s prayer. Amen. Oh, if just one woman would pray in this church. If just one man would pray in this church, what would happen? The miracle of God would come upon us. Now Moses prayed to the Lord. The reason he prayed to the Lord was because he didn't know what to do. He was in a tough place. These people were becoming violent. Here were God’s chosen people who had experienced all the miracles of God, and now they were becoming violent.

They were ready to commit murder, even kill their own shepherd. When they don't get what they want, then they’re going to vent their anger onto this one man. Now Moses prayed. The scripture says in James chapter 1, verse 5, "If anyone lacks wisdom, if anyone is just nonplussed, you just don't know what to do, you’re just blinded, if any person lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally." God’s not going to upbraid or scold you for doing that. Instead, God’s going to pour out wisdom in abundance.

Friend, listen. Are you in a jam? Are you stuck? You don't know really what to do? You don't know how to get it going again for you? You don't need to raise your hand on that, but if I’m talking to you today, I want you to know this: God has wisdom to give to you. Insight. He’ll show you. Friends, we’re none very smart, are we? Really, when it comes down to it. We might be book smart, but living, God is the God of life. It’s life that we’re involved in. It’s life where we’re living, and it’s life where we get into trouble.

But if we pray to the Lord, if we seek God, if we’ll ask, God will give. I want you to remember that. If anyone lacks wisdom, if you lack just good common sense, go to God because God hears and answers your prayer. He will do it. He will answer. Now, this is what God said to Moses in Exodus 4:2, "What is in your hand?" Now, this was the question that God asked Moses back in Egypt when the plagues were coming. There was the Nile River. There was Pharaoh who needed to be convinced. All the logic, all the philosophy couldn't convince Pharaoh.

But God spoke to Moses, and He says, "What’s in your hand?" All he had was a shepherd’s staff with a crook. He said, "I want you to go down and smite the Nile." And he did. And it turned to blood, and the fish died. There was a great stench. What’s in your hand? God is going to use that, and He used it with Moses. It was the staff. All through the wilderness, Moses had that staff with him, and God kept using that staff as Moses would yield it to the Lord.

What’s in your hand, Moses? A staff. Let’s back up even before that. Moses was called of God to take the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses even questioned whether God was going to help him. He was afraid. He was nervous. Obviously he was because, again, he was just a man growing in faith. Moses was told by God to take that staff and cast it on the ground. He did. It became a serpent. God says, "Catch it by the tail." Are you kidding, God? I’m no snake handler. But he did, and it turned back into a staff again.

That staff again then was used in the smiting of the Nile. Now God is telling him, "Take your staff and these elders." He took the elders because God said, "I want somebody to be an eyewitness of what I’m going to do." God is always preparing to do something. But remember this: it all is preceded by one man or one woman praying and believing. Then the miracles happen. Moses took that staff, and he went before the Lord with it. Now, that staff is a symbol of life and a symbol of service.

It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 7:7, every person has his own gift. Someone has this gift, someone has another gift. But you didn't hear what I just read, did you? Every person. I say, "I can't sing, I can't teach, I can't deacon, I can't trustee, all I can do is just sit in a pew, pastor." No, no, no. I can't believe that because I must believe this: every person has his gift, her gift. Do you know I wrote that scripture in the constitution and bylaws of the Largo Community Church even before we had one service?

I said, "We’re going to start a church, and it’s going to be an opportunity for people to come and use their gift, the gift that’s in 1 Corinthians 7:7." I knew people had gifts because God said they have gifts, and they’re going to come, and they’re going to look for a place to apply that gift. The Largo Community Church would be a place where everybody would have an opportunity to use his or her gift to the Lord. So God is saying, "Listen, I want you to hear this morning." God is speaking and asking us, what’s in our hand?

Now I want you to think of what God has done for you, how God has gifted you, your capacities, your abilities, your finances. You have something. You have a talent, you have a capacity, you have ability. You can do something for God. Every person has it. You say, "Well, I’m praying that God will give me my talent." No, no, listen. God has already given it to you. Pray and ask Him to show you what He’s already given to you. You already have it.

What’s in your hand? I think of my friend, Pastor Charles Blair, and the church he pastored in Denver, Colorado, that big church he pastored for over 50 years. He now resigns the church. Pastor Blair resigns the church. He’s about 80 years old. One of the deacons of his church, an elder, Dick McGee, who was the first treasurer of the Largo Community Church, Dick was in Calvary Temple, Denver, Colorado. He moves to Washington, D.C., because of work, government work.

He helps one of the founding members of this church, then he goes back and he becomes an elder again the second time for Pastor Blair in Pastor Blair’s church. But they started a congregation also of Ethiopians. One of the Ethiopians really befriended Dick McGee, the layman, took him to Ethiopia, showed him the need there. Communism had fallen. Muslims were moving in very strongly. The governor, or in their term, the president of that region, is a Christian and asked, "Would you ask your pastor to help us spread the Christian gospel because the Muslims are going to be spreading their ideology?"

The president then wrote a letter to Pastor Blair and said, "Can you help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?" Pastor Blair said that he sat down to answer that letter, and he started writing. He said, "Dear Mr. President, I’m no longer a pastor. I no longer have a congregation. I have no resources but my own. I’m just one man." Do you hear it? I’m just one man. I’m just one woman. Friend, God takes one man. God takes one woman. Are you listening to me this morning?

He said while I was writing that letter, Pastor Blair said, God spoke to my heart and said, "You’re only looking and telling the president what you don't have. You’re only focused on what you don't have. You don't have a congregation, you don't have people to ask for money from, you don't have people to get involved with you. You don't, you don't, I don't, I don't, I don't." Always looking at what you don't have. God said to Pastor Blair, "What do you have?" And he stopped and he thought. And he said, "Well, I have some friends." God said, "That’s it. Go to your friends."

And that’s how Pastor Blair came to the Largo Community Church, because he considered me a friend. Then you people got involved, and now there’s a hospital that’s being built, there’s an orphanage that is there, there’s an elementary school that is there, there’s training of pastors that are there, there’s 1,800 churches that are there, all because Pastor Blair had some friends. Matter of fact, I heard from his wife yesterday. She wants you to pray for her. She’s elderly, very old now, and she loves this church and loves you people. She remembers you.

She said, "If you would ask the church to pray for me." So I’m asking the church to pray for her. But there is all of that there because he had some friends. Friend, again, what do you have? Don't ask God to give you something else. He’s already given it to you. You need to pray now, "God, show me what You have given to me so that I can give it to You." Moses had a staff, just an old stick. That’s all it was. Do you know how long he had that old stick? All the way back on the backside of the desert when he was tending sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro, and the burning bush.

It was that same old staff that caused the Nile to experience the plague. It was that same old staff that he put out over the Red Sea that had opened it up. It was that same old staff that he hit the rock and the water came out. Friend, you’ve got something to give to God that will bless God and bless you and perform miracles in your life. What is it? Do you have some time on your hands? Can you sing? Can you teach? I mean, all you have to do is be able to read and then tell the kids what you’ve read.

But, "I can't teach." Can you read? Can you talk after you’ve read? Then you can teach. Do you have a ten-dollar bill in your wallet? Well, friend, one of those dollars belongs to God. You already have it. Give to Him what’s already His. Hallelujah. When I was a young boy, maybe 14 years old, my grandmother was a practical nurse. She’s been gone for many years now. The Sunday School teacher that taught me, her name we all called her Sister Roberson. When I went to visit my grandmother, Sister Roberson was teaching the class for those young children.

Now, listen to me. Here’s a teacher filled with the Spirit of God. A teacher who loves her students, who prays over her students, prays for her students. I was visiting my grandmother. I’d never laid eyes on that woman in my life. I walked into that Sunday School class. I was late. Oh, forgive me, Lord. And I remember I hadn't given my heart to the Lord. I walked in and I walked in the back of the class, just a small class. As I was walking in, Sister Roberson looked at me, and before I sat down, she’d never laid eyes on me, and she said, "Young man, God has called you to the ministry to preach His gospel."

I thought, "Uh-oh, I’m caught." She said, "God has called you to preach. You’re going to preach." I hadn't even given my heart to the Lord yet. Well, that lady became ill with cancer. Everybody wanted to see her healed, but she didn't get healed. She went on to be with the Lord. It was her time to go. But I remember this: my grandmother was a practical nurse, and my grandmother said, "I have some time on my hands, and I have some know-how." And so the pastor came and picked my grandmother up in his car, and I went with her.

I got in the car with her, and we went over to Sister Roberson’s house. My grandmother took care of her and whatever her needs were. What I’m trying to say: my grandmother didn't have a whole lot to give, but she gave of herself. She gave of her time, she gave of her talent. She had something to give. Friend, what do you have to give? What is it that you have to give? Pastor Blair said, "I have some friends." My grandmother said, "I have some nursing skills." I’m going to do that.

There’s somebody’s grass that needs mowed, somebody’s house needs painted, somebody needs some food cooked and carried in. I don't know what it is, but there are needs out there. May God help us to see the need and to respond to the need. Now, some can do greater things than others. Others cannot do very much. But whatever it is, it’ll be for the glory of God, and it’ll be for your betterment, your blessing. God’s praise and blessing will come upon you because you’ve obeyed the Lord and you’ve done God’s will.

Moses led those two to three million people, and it was with that old staff that didn't look very important. Someone says, "Well, this isn't very much." It doesn't have to be very much. It just has to be what God wants and you give it to the Lord. There was a boy in the New Testament. This story has always inspired me ever since I was a young boy and became a Christian. There was five thousand people gathered. It was lunchtime. The people were hungry. They didn't have any food.

Jesus said to the disciples, "You fellows, go out there and feed those people. Give it to eat." And they said, "We don't have anything. You’re asking us to give them to eat, and we don't have anything here." But Peter said, "There’s a boy here that has five loaves and two fish." Jesus said, "Bring it." Doesn't have to be much. Just five loaves and two fish. Jesus took that little boy’s lunch. The little boy didn't have to go get the lunch; again, I’m telling you, he already had it.

What God wants from you is not what you’re going to get; you’ve already got it. It’s now in your possession. Ask Him to open your eyes so you can see what it is and then give it back to Him, and He will bless you and give it to you. Now Moses was willing. The scripture says in Luke 17:33, "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it." You try to hold on to those talents, try to hold on to that tithe money, try to hold on to that service, God has a way of getting it back, taking it away. Give it to the Lord, it’ll last for all eternity. Heaven will record it; you will be blessed here. Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Lose your life in God’s service, and you will be greatly and abundantly blessed.

Announcer: Do you desire a closer relationship with Jesus Christ through the hearing and application of His word in your life? Go to thehealingword.com and click resources. And there you'll find a trove of messages on living the Christian life. And remember, all of our resources are offered free of charge, which is our gift to you. And if you're blessed, bless us with your gift to The Healing Word ministry. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.