The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: I'm a child of God. That's awesome when I think about that. The Almighty, the creator, that I've never seen, yet I'm His child, and there's the witness of the Holy Spirit within me, convincing me. I can't convince you that I'm a child of God, but the Holy Spirit convinces me that I'm a child of God.

I have a relationship now with this God. He's Abba Father. It's an intimate relationship. He's not a distant God far off, something nebulous out there yonder somewhere, He's right with me. Abba Father, an intimate relationship with the Almighty.

Guest (Male): Even in the midst of trials and tragedies facing us today, those who have a relationship with God through salvation in Jesus Christ have a reason to rejoice and celebrate. Today, Pastor Morris is going to remind us what a marvelous savior we have and why we should always rejoice without ceasing. Let's go to today's message called "Called to Joy."

Pastor Jack Morris: I want to ask you a question. Do you know what I want? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. I want a life, an existence that's stress-free, trouble-free, problem-free, challenge-free, obstacle-free. But I'm not going to get it. I'm not going to get it in this world.

Jesus says in John 16:33, "In the world you will have trouble." Whatever Jesus says is going to be like it is, right? So, are you in the world? Anybody here not in the world? Well, if you're in the world, Jesus says you're going to have trouble. My heart just about sank when I read that part, but I read the rest of it and He said, "but take heart, I've overcome the world."

That means I can't rid my life of problems or of trials. I can't get the victory over it, but He says "be of good cheer" or "take heart, I've overcome the world." He can help me. He can help me with my stress, with my problems, with my troubles, with my obstacles. That's what He's saying. You're in the world, you're going to have trouble, but take heart, be encouraged. I can handle it for you. Isn't that wonderful? Take heart.

Now, in 1 Peter 4:12, the Apostle Peter said, "Do not be surprised at the fiery trials that come your way." Fiery. I mean, there are things in this world that will come to us that will just consume us if we let it, but Jesus is telling us to be of good cheer, He's overcome the world. He's the overcomer. He'll fight the battle for you.

Are you hearing it? Are you getting it? The victory will come as you hear the truth, and the blessing of God will come upon you. Now, we'll all agree that there's too much sadness in the world. Too many pains, too many hurts, too many difficulties. There are countries and nations warring against each other, starvation, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

And how about the fire in Southern California just last month? Just last month, over 2,000 homes were destroyed by fire. Over 2,000 homes, and the statistics I've heard were anywhere from a half million to a million people were displaced. But then I read that a group of the people gathered in a Presbyterian church.

Sixty families in that church had their homes burnt to ashes. And I thought of our church. I thought that would be terrible if even one family lost their home. But 60 families of the Largo Community Church didn't have any clothes but the clothes that they had on to come to church Sunday morning. You lost your home, you lost everything. Where would you wash your face or shave or comb your hair?

One lady, Barbara Wooden, said that when she left her house, all she could grab was three boxes of photos and her grandfather's old cuckoo clock. That's all she had. But she gathered in that church with those 60 families and the rest of the congregation, and they began to have a testimony service, much like we're going to have here Wednesday evening.

In that Presbyterian church, different ones would stand up and say how thankful that they were that their family was spared. They began to thank God for the big things that had happened. You know, it's always right to thank God. They didn't dwell on the loss of the house, but they began to thank God for each other, for people, for family members, and also that their whole community wasn't burned and that some of their friends' homes weren't burned.

They talked about it, they shared about it, and they gave God the glory for caring for them and protecting them. But they also thanked God for the little things, and they began to testify how wonderful it is to have a friend whose shoulder they could cry on and whose arms they could put around and hug in church on that Sunday morning. Isn't that wonderful?

There's a lot of pain in the world today, but there's a lot that we need to focus on that is positive. Even in the midst of pain and negative things that are happening, we can look and find God's blessing and rejoice in it. There's a lady I talked to just last week. She doesn't go to this church, but she said that she's a Christian serving the Lord, as is her husband.

Her 19-year-old boy was shot with a bullet and killed. Now, he wasn't in trouble, and nobody was aiming at him. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, walking down the street. Everything was calm, but somebody took a gun and shot at somebody else. The bullet hit a tree, ricocheted off, and killed her 19-year-old son.

She still has one other son that's 16 years old, but she'll never get over that. How do you get over things of that nature? But she looks to God. She finds comfort in the Lord. She praises God that her family is saved. And there's another meeting place: Heaven. Friend, you need and I need to look at Jesus and to see the blessings that He has brought into our lives.

Family is so important, and we need to thank God for one another, don't we? We need to thank God for each other, for our spouse, for our children, for our home, for our jobs, for our church, for our friends, for shoulders to cry on, and for somebody to hug. God is good and God has given us a thousand gifts, and we need to rejoice over those gifts and be happy.

I talked to my daughter yesterday—actually, it was Friday. She lives down in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and she does sign language for the non-hearing. She works in the public school, but in the evenings and the weekends, she has this other job down in Atlanta where she does signing. It's an interesting thing, and I'm going to find out more about it when she's here Wednesday night.

She said that there's like a television set, and a non-hearing person will call in to her. When they call in, the set will light up and she can see that person. She has earphones on, and that person will sign with their hands and say, "I would like you to call my mother or my father or my friend." She gets their number, and when she's finished receiving the signs, she'll dial and then she'll talk.

She'll say, "You're getting a call from so-and-so, your son or your daughter. Will you accept this call?" Then the people will tell her, and then she'll sign back to the caller. Then they'll sign to her, and then she'll talk back to the family. Back and forth. She said to me, "Dad, it got so bad."

With the stories that they were telling, she said it's Thanksgiving time and people are so lonely. She said she received 25 calls from people looking for a place to go on Thanksgiving. They don't have any friends. Families are dysfunctional. There are conflicts in the family. She said she felt like putting everything on hold—and I don't know whether she actually did it or just felt like doing it—but she put the receiver down and just bowed her head and cried.

That was Friday. People are hurting. There are a lot of things that are wrong in the world, but I'm so thankful that you and I know Jesus Christ who blesses and gives faith and encouragement to our hearts. Aren't you happy? Aren't you happy for Jesus? Why don't you turn to your neighbor, your husband, or your wife, and say, "I'm happy for you. I thank God for you."

Now, here's the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is dependent upon the external. What you can see, what you can touch, what you can smell, what you can hear, or what you can buy. These things bring happiness, but happiness is temporal because these things are temporal.

Anything that can be seen is temporal. You're temporal. I can look at you, you can look at me, and we're temporal. We're only here for a short time, and everything that is seen is temporal. So all of these things that are seen are just here for a short time. They make us happy for the moment. But there's an abiding joy.

Happiness is not abiding. I want to be happy, you want to be happy, and we want to have things. Of course we do. But after receiving Jesus, I have received a new perspective about things. I value things to the degree they give me joy and they give me comfort. But I have now, because of God, the good sense to know that I don't want to put all my attention and focus on things because things will never satisfy.

For happiness, I look out and I see things. I purchase things, and I get things. When I see these things—a vacation or whatever it is—these things come in externally from the outside. They connect with my senses and they excite my emotions, but they come from the outside.

Joy, on the other hand, when Jesus says "I'll give you my joy," that starts internally and works its way out. Now Jesus is in my heart. He's the Prince of Peace, so I have peace in my heart. He is the joy of God, so I have joy in my heart. Now when I reflect upon Jesus in my heart and the love and the joy that He's given me, my senses are triggered in a different way.

It is not from something outside coming in, but from something inside that cannot be seen, that is eternal. It starts working its way out. My senses used to feel it coming from the outside. Things have now been reversed. Now the joy is coming from the inside, and it's moving out and it's being reflected out.

Even in the midst of tragedy, I can still smile. Even in the midst of hardship, I can still say, "Thank God I have Jesus in my heart." There is an abiding joy, and that's the joy and the blessing that God has come to give us. Isn't that wonderful? Can you say "Praise the Lord"? God has given us joy.

In your outline, point A, write down: New Status. Write down the word Status. I have a new status. I have a new position. I didn't always have this position, but when I became a child of God, I became part of the church of Jesus Christ. I became part of the family of God. Jesus redeemed me with His blood.

That means He paid a ransom for me. He paid a ransom price, His precious blood, and I'm redeemed. Now I have to think about that. I need to reflect on that. How wonderful it is that He would love me so much to pay such a ransom as His own precious blood. And then He made me a child of God.

I'm a child of God. That's awesome when I think about that. The Almighty, the creator, that I've never seen, yet I'm His child, and there's the witness of the Holy Spirit within me, convincing me. I can't convince you that I'm a child of God, but the Holy Spirit convinces me that I'm a child of God.

I have a relationship now with this God. He's Abba Father. It's an intimate relationship. He's not a distant God far off, something nebulous out there yonder somewhere, He's right with me. Abba Father, an intimate relationship with the Almighty. It's awesome.

Then I read in the scripture that I'm an heir and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. I want you to look up at the monitor and read this with me, Romans 8:17, together: "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

I think about that, that God would take a sinner like me and would make me an heir with Jesus. That means whatever God has given to Jesus, Jesus is going to share it with me. When I start reflecting on that new position, that new status, and how He has elevated me and taken me out of the corruption of the world, I rejoice in the Lord. Joy comes in my heart.

There's a song: "If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart." So no matter what happens and what the tragedy is, you're still redeemed. Give God praise. You're still a child of God. You still have an Abba intimate relationship with God. You're still an heir with Jesus. Nothing and no tragedy in this world can ever take that away from you. That's yours permanently forever and ever. Hallelujah.

Look at the next one, point B: New Privileges. Now that I'm redeemed and I'm a child of God, I have privileges. Look at some of the privileges that I have that I didn't have before. The privilege of prayer. I can pray. I can talk to God. I can go right into Heaven. Oh, think about it. You can go right into Heaven and talk to God.

Jesus has given you His name. You have a church. I will never underestimate the blessing that the church has been to me. The church took me in so many years ago and made me part of the fellowship. I'm unworthy to be a part of God's family and the church, but He brought me in. He brought you in.

I was talking to a person just the other day, and it was a reminder of the many people that have said to me, "Pastor, if it were not for the Largo Community Church, if it were not for the fellowship and the people who pray for me and love me and take me in and care for me..." It makes this man happy. I am so blessed, and I know exactly what they're talking about because I've experienced the same thing.

Have you experienced church yet? A lot of people go to church but they don't experience church. You've got to get in one of these small groups, Minister Phil. Experience church. We do the best we can here on Sunday morning trying to help each other to shake hands and to hug one another. I don't take that lightly. Those might be little blessings, but they're blessings just the same.

Point C in the outline: New Hope. Write down the word Hope. I have a hope and I have a future, and so do you. This world offers only happiness. This world offers only the temporal. This world will let you down, but I'll tell you something. If you know Jesus, you have hope and you have a future, and this world cannot get to that hope and touch it and diminish it in any way.

Now that I'm in the family of God, I have this status. I'm somebody special to God. I'm not worthy to be somebody special to God, but I am. I must be for Him to let His son die for me and take my sins so that I might not be punished. He let Jesus be punished in my place. So I must be special to Him, and that humbles me. You're special to God, and that should humble us and cause us to give thanks to the Lord.

Friend, we might lose everything and eventually we will. We're going to lose it all. You're going to lose your youth and get old. You're going to lose your old age and die. You can't take your house or your bank account with you. But I'll tell you what you can take with you: your hope and your future. Hallelujah. God has given each of His children a future in Him.

Whatever happens, and only the Lord knows what tomorrow's going to bring forth, all we know is this: in the world, we're going to have tribulation and trouble. The Apostle Peter said fiery trials would just about consume us, but we also know that Jesus said, "Be of good cheer. Take heart. I've overcome the world." He'll take you through every difficult place.

The place cannot be too difficult for Jesus to pull you through and give you the victory on the other end. He'll be there. So what I encourage you to do is to reflect on the blessing that Jesus has given you. When you get sad, think of Jesus. Think of your new status. Think of your new privileges. Think of the new hope.

You won't think those thoughts very long before you start stirring up that feeling on the inside. Joy is now hitting your emotions from the inside and causing your senses to rejoice, and now it's going to express itself so that others will see. It used to be that it had to come from the outside in.

Some people look to their spouse to make them happy. I want to tell you about this fellow. He saw this girl, he fell in love, and he said, "Boy, she's a deal." Then he got married and he began to look around and he thought, "I need a new deal." Then he got married again and he said, "I've got an ordeal."

Friend, it's Jesus who is going to make you happy. Don't look to your husband and blame him that you're not happy. Don't look to your wife and blame her that you're not happy. Don't get involved in that blame game. Get down before God. God will make you to rejoice, and your happiness will be a happiness of joy and rejoicing. Amen. God bless you.

Shall we bow before Him. Father God, you are our God through Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed, bought with a price, His precious blood. Hallelujah. We give you praise.

Guest (Male): Friend, regardless of your circumstance, please remember there is hope in Jesus and everlasting life with Him if you have accepted Him as savior. Go to Him now and tell Him your area of need, whether it be physical, spiritual, or financial, and remember Jesus is the answer.

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