The Healing Word

Announcer: 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: Now listen, is Jesus just talking? Is this just a lot of hot air when he says, I chose you for joy, I chose you for love. What else? I chose you for friendship, I chose you for answered prayer. Is he really telling us this? Is he really making promises like this? Let's put him to the test. Let's go to him in prayer. Let's seek him. Let's experience his love, his friendship, his caring for us. He really, truly cares for you, and He'll put joy in your heart today. He'll put love in your heart. He'll put that close intimacy of friendship in your heart, and He'll answer your prayers. This is what Jesus will do.

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: Blessings for the chosen. I want you to look at the screen and read in unison 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. Would you read that verse in unison? But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now notice what it says. You, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Did you know you were all that? Well, you are, if you know Jesus as your personal Savior, you're all that and more, and more. So we need to give him praise and give him thanks.

Can everybody say praise the Lord? Praise the Lord. Can everybody say thank the Lord? Thank the Lord. Praise God forever and forever. In the Old Testament, Israel, the people of Israel were referred to as a chosen people. But in the New Testament, believers, Christians who are redeemed are referred to as the chosen people. You who know Jesus are the chosen people. You have given your heart to the Lord. You know Jesus as your Savior. You're in the family of God. Your name is written in the book of life. God has chosen you. He has redeemed you. Now, this was one of the themes throughout Paul's letter in the New Testament.

When I say Paul's letter, I'm talking about the books that Paul wrote in the New Testament. He wrote more in the New Testament, more books in the New Testament than anybody else, and this was a prominent theme, being chosen by God, being elected by God, being predestined by God. Paul says, do you know who you are in God? You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. You belong to the Lord. Now, the Lord has chosen us. Point A in your outline, read those few words that you see at verse 19. I have chosen you. These are the words of Jesus. I have chosen you. Now, notice he says, I have. I've done this.

I didn't consult with anyone else. I chose you. I redeemed you. You are mine. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without consultation, the three Trinity together chose us to be the people of God. Now, the question comes to me when I think of this, why me? Why you? Why did he choose us? We were lost and in sin, going our own way, living our own life, living our life the way we felt that we wanted to live it, ignoring God completely, and then God reaches down and chooses us. Now, why did he do that? Here's a mystery. It just staggers my imagination. It boggles my mind. God chose us to redeem us, to save us, to be with us, to bless us in this life, to take us to heaven for eternity with him.

He chose us. Now, when he looked in your heart, he saw something different. He knew that you would respond, and so he chose you, and sure enough, you responded to his call of grace. He says in verse 16 of this same chapter, you did not choose me, I chose you. I wasn't looking for God. I wasn't, neither were you, but he took the initiative, and thank God he did, and he chose us. Now, he didn't choose us for something that we could give to him, because what can I give to God? Everything belongs to God. The atmosphere, the dry land, the rivers, the fish in the rivers, the minerals in the soil, everything belongs to God.

What could I possibly give to God? But he decides he wants to give to you and to me with no strings attached. You may have seen these ads come over the computer telling you, well, I don't pay any attention to them anymore, but the first one or two that came over the computer and told me said, Mr. H. Jack Morris, you have just won a free cruise to the Bahamas or to Aruba or somewhere else. I thought, wait till I tell Corinne. I've got a free cruise. And then I started reading down, you know, I thought, what? And it said to me, it said, but you have to bring somebody along, and that somebody that you bring with you has to pay full price.

And for that person to sleep in the cabin with you, you have to pay a small fee. And when I went through the whole thing, I found out, hey, they're not giving me anything. I'm paying full price. You know, the world won't give away anything, will it? The world will take, and the world is a taker. All day long, on the radio, in the newspaper, on the computer, wherever you go, the world is trying to take something from you. The world is saying, oh, I'll give you this, but you have to pay that. You find out the world is not a giver, the world is a taker. But Jesus gives. He gave himself. He said, I have chosen you to be my very own.

Now, point B in your outline, here are some of the select blessings that he has decided to give to us, and he has already given to us. And number one, I want you to write down the word joy. We have been chosen for joy. Now, look up at the screen and read the words in verse 11. We're reading out of John chapter 15, verse 11. Read together. So that my joy may be in you. So that my joy may be in you. And in one translation it says, so that my joy may remain in you. My joy. The joy that Jesus has. The joy that he already has. It's not a joy that I produce, but it's a joy that's coming right out of his heart, and he is giving it to me.

It's divine, it's wonderful what he is giving. It's not a joy of my producing. I'm not trying to make myself happy, although I do sometimes try to make myself happy, and I'm happy when I succeed in making myself happy, but it's a joy that he gives, and it's his joy. He manufactured it, so to speak. It belongs to him. It was created in his very heart, and he's taking something out of his very heart, and he's giving it to me. See, what Jesus is saying in so many words, I'm going to make you just as happy as I am. Are you happy today in the Lord? Oh, what a wonderful Lord he is, and what beautiful gifts he gives, and what more beautiful gift than this one, joy.

And it says that, as it says, that it may be in you or remain in you. Now this is not a passing joy. This is not ephemeral. This doesn't pass away. This is a joy that abides. It's not a momentary thing. It's not a flash in the pan. It is a remaining joy, this joy that Jesus gives.

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Pastor Jack Morris: Now, it's difficult to explain this joy because a person must have it and experience it in order to know about it. I can't explain it, but I know what it is to have it. And those of you who have this joy, will you say amen? Amen. All right, you know what I'm talking about. I don't have to explain it now, do I? Do I? You already have it. It's already within you, this wonderful joy that the Lord gives. Now, Jesus, I want you to think of this with me. This joy that our Savior has, this joy, Jesus had it in good times and in times that were not so good. This does not mean when he says, I am going to bless you for joy with joy, I have chosen you for joy.

It does not mean that there's not going to be some down times, some sad times, some difficult times, but that joy will remain. It'll be an underneath base foundation that will carry you through even those down times. Now, I can see Jesus in my mind's eye as I read these scriptures. My imagination just gets very active. I can see him healing the sick, raising up a cripple, touching the hand of Peter's mother-in-law, and she had a fever, and she comes right out of the bed well. I can see Jesus, and I can just see the big smile that comes on his face when he sees people getting well, being blessed, good things happening.

I can just see him expressing joy on his countenance. He is so happy when he does something good or when you and I allow him to do something good. You want to make Jesus happy this morning? You want to make him happy? Let him do something good for you. Pray a prayer so he can answer that prayer. He can't answer a prayer that hasn't been prayed. But if you want to put a smile on his face today, know the joy of the Lord and let him just put that joy in you. But now notice this, the scripture tells us that not only in the good times did Jesus smile and have joy, but in those times that were not so good, he would smile and have joy in his heart.

The scripture says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. You see, even when there is joy and blessing in your life, there is also a cross, and a cross is something you are crucified on. A cross is something that causes you to die. A cross, listen to me, causes pain and death. Now, Jesus said, I'm going to give you joy, but in living, you might have some pain. There might be some difficulty. Matter of fact, he said, in the world you'll have tribulation, not might be, there will be some difficult situations. But even in those difficult situations, he says there's going to be joy.

Now, stay with me, will you? Here it is. Jesus was going to the cross, but for the joy that was set before him, he could endure the cross. For the joy that was set before him. Now he is saying, I am giving you my joy. I had my joy even when I went to Golgotha, even when they spit on me, they abused me, even when they lied, threw their teeth right in my face. He said, I still had that joy. Even when they told me and others around me that these good works that I was doing were the works of the devil. Even they even said, Jesus said, they even called me a blasphemer. Blasphemer simply means irreverence toward God.

Now, Jesus reverenced the Father. He loved the Father. He and the Father were one. He even prayed, Abba, Father. No one could be closer than Jesus and the Father. And I suppose that cut him to the heart when they said, you have irreverenced your Father. You have irreverenced God. And then they called him Beelzebub. Friends, you think you've been called some names. Beelzebub. Beelzebub simply means you are the prince of the devils. You are the one that is leading the strategy of hell. You are the lord of flies. You are the lowest of the lowest. But Jesus said, I had joy. I could go to that cross, I could be nailed, I could bleed, I could die.

Not only did I have joy in the good times, but when the bad times came, and those times were really, really, really bad. It don't get any worse than that. He said, I still had joy. You have joy? Wonderful joy? That's the kind of joy that Jesus gives. Now, you can't produce it, you can't manufacture it, but you can receive it, and Jesus is giving it out today. Hallelujah. Yesterday, I went in that hospital. I was there at Walter's Friday, Corinne and I were there, and then went in the hospital. Now, Irene needs just about as much prayer as her husband because she is going through it, and she is a wonderful lady.

Such composure. And I went in there and I saw the condition, and it just seemed like death was there everywhere, and yet there was joy. There was joy even in the presence of sorrow, there was joy. Friends, there's joy that Jesus gives, and that joy comes to you through Jesus. Actually, it's his joy. He made it happen, and he makes it happen in our hearts today. Chosen for joy. Say that. Say, I am chosen for joy. I am chosen for joy. That that's exactly. He chose you to give you joy. Oh, I should stop the sermon right now, shouldn't I? And just go dancing to the parking lot. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Come on. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. He gives me living water and I thirst no more. Remember it? Come on. He gives me living water and I thirst no more. He gives me living water and I thirst no more. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Can you say amen? Hallelujah. Yes, that's... Praise be to God. Now, he also chose us, number two, for love. Write down the word love. Read what's on the screen. Love each other as I have loved you. As I have loved you. Oh, the love that he has placed in our hearts, the love that he has placed upon us, it's a love that won't go away.

It's a love that will endure. It's a love that will pass. Now he says, love the church as I have loved you. How do we know that he loved us? The scripture says he gave himself, he loved the church and he gave himself for it. He demonstrated his love. You see, love is not something you just say. Love is something you do. Love is an action word. Love makes people behave differently. It made Jesus behave differently. He went to the cross for us. He died there, but he rose again. And now he tells us to love one another. So that means we need to do something for one another, to one another, right?

If we are to love him like he loves the church, he gave him, the church means believers, people who are born again, those who have been redeemed. He loved the church. How do I know he loved the church? He gave himself. Now, notice he didn't give us any particular gift. He's not saying, oh, I took some of the gold from heaven. I took some of the gold off of one of the pearly gates. I'm going to give you something very special that I have created. No! He said he gave himself. You're going to have to put some time. You're going to have to do some things when it inconveniences you and your family.

You're going to have to put a neighbor in Christ first sometimes. Jesus does that all the time, doesn't he? We're always first. Now look what it says in number three, write down the word friendship. Chosen for friendship, say those words. Now read the scripture. I have called you friends. These gifts, the gift of joy, the gift of love, the gift of friendship. I mean, Jesus is giving today. He's giving. He, he's not only promising, but he's fulfilling the promises, and there are no strings attached. He's just blessing and giving, blessing and giving. And one of those great gifts is friendship.

Now, I use that term, and I'm sure you do too, much more lightly than how the scripture uses it and how Jesus uses it. He said, I have called you friends. You're his friend. He calls you friend. That doesn't mean just he's somebody he sees on the street and you nod to him, say, hi, friend. Not that kind of friend at all. No, this is a very special, intimate relationship with God Almighty that you have, that so many of God's people don't even know that they have. They don't even know it. But you can go to him at any time, and he's right there. Let me tell you about a friend that I have. You know what that means, don't you?

You ever see people go like that? Now, this man and I have been friends for a long, long time, many years. I have and friends, we've been in their home, we've had dinner with them. this man has called on me because of my position as a pastor to write letters to agencies for his children. There were times that his children needed certain letters written for certain causes, and I would write them on the church stationery and work with this family. they don't come to the church here. They don't live anywhere near this church, but friends, very, very close friends. And I thought, and then I called him one Sunday afternoon.

Hey, isn't it all right to call you Sunday afternoon? And if you don't want to answer, you just let it go on the answering machine. And then after a while, you race it off, and I wonder why I didn't get a return their phone call. The, so I called him, and so I got him on the phone, I called him, hey, this is Jack. I said, hey, am I interrupting? That's where I went wrong. He said, well, it is Sunday afternoon. Whoa, bye-bye. Well, it is Sunday afternoon. Hey, what are friends for? I mean, I was relaxed, church was over, I was home, I was relaxing, I called my friend. And I really did interrupt him.

I called him at the wrong time. Now I get lots of phone calls, and I welcome them, and I love them, and I want you to call me, and don't ever think that you're calling me at a time that I'm too busy to answer your call. No, I have gotten up from the table and answered calls and talked with people, and usually I feel so uplifted and energized after talking to the people of God, and I love that. But when he said that to me, I began to wonder, hey, how far does friendship go? What is friendship like? And so I might call him some other time, but I'm not going to call him on a Sunday afternoon again.

The scripture tells us that Jesus is our friend and that Jesus calls us friend. And my favorite hymn is, what a friend we have in Jesus. You have a friend in heaven. Do you know that? You have a friend. His name is Jesus. He cares for you. He loves you. And fourthly, write down the word answered prayer. Chosen for answered prayer. Read together in unison, verse 16. The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Now listen, is Jesus just talking? Is this just a lot of hot air when he says, I chose you for joy, I chose you for love. What else? I chose you for friendship, I chose you for answered prayer.

Is he really telling us this? Is he really making promises like this? Let's put him to the test. Let's go to him in prayer. Let's seek him. Let's experience his love, his friendship, his caring for us. He really truly cares for you, and he'll put joy in your heart today. He'll put love in your heart. He'll put that close intimacy of friendship in your heart, and he'll answer your prayers. This is what Jesus will do. Friend, listen to me. You're chosen to be blessed. God didn't choose you to get something out of you, he chose you to give something to you.

Announcer: Feeling stuck in habits or struggles that hold you back? The new e-book, God's Power for You, written by Pastor Jack Morris, is your guide to breaking free and transforming your life. This book isn't just about inspiration, but real change through God's love and grace. Filled with faith stories, practical steps, and biblical wisdom, don't let life's burdens weigh you down. With God's power for you, discover the courage, strength, and faith to live in victory. Go to thehealingword.com and click on resources to receive your free copy today. If The Healing Word has blessed you or someone you love, we invite you to prayerfully consider pledging your financial support.

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