The Healing Word

Announcer: The Healing Word program is a ministry of the Largo Community Church, where Christ is honored and people are loved. You're invited to join us in worship via live streaming this Sunday morning at either 9 o'clock or 11 o'clock. Visit largocc.org and click on watch live.

Pastor Jack Morris: I am Yahweh, your physician. Now, why would God tell me that and tell you that and put that in his word if he didn't mean it that he was going to heal?

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: Divine healing. The word divine simply means proceeding directly from God. Now, let me say it again. Oh, I like to hear those Bible pages turning because I know you're in the word and now the word is going to get in you and when the word gets in you, Jesus gets in you and faith becomes strong within you. Divine proceeding directly from the Father. Now, when I say divine healing, that means healing proceeding directly from God. Does God heal? Yes. He heals in many ways. He heals through love, through compassion, through medicine, through nature, but he also heals directly in answer to prayer.

And we're going to look at some of God's doing. May it build faith in our hearts and may it help us to believe and receive. Does God heal? Yes. Does God always heal in every situation? No. We have to bear in mind, keep in mind that we are living under the curse of Adam. We have sinned. There are thorns and thistles on the earth. There are there are situations that exist all because of sin. And this sin, this curse is someday going to be lifted, but it is not lifted yet. It is still here. Now, quickly, I want to point out that divine healing is a gift from our God.

God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Adam ate, he died a spiritual death. He was separated from God. You can't sin and have fellowship with God. God will not have fellowship, nor will he touch, nor will he come in contact with the unclean, and sin is unclean. He said when you God said to Adam, when you eat, you 're going to die. He died a spiritual death. God left him. Eventually, he lived so many years and then he died a physical death. So, we're all going to die and there are no doubt will be some type of sickness that will come into our life that God will not heal us of and that sickness will serve his purpose in causing us to leave this world and to go into the next world.

In Isaiah 38 verse 9, the prophet said, Isaiah, in the days was Hezekiah sick unto death. He had a sickness that was going to bring him death. Although God healed him, yet he got sick again and he died. Then Jesus said in John 11:4, this sickness is not unto death. So, sickness also serves the purpose of God. Some sickness brings death. Some sickness we'll pray and believe and God will bring healing. But even when God brings healing, it's only temporary because you're still going to die. I was talking to Pastor Blair the other day and many of you told me you're praying for him.

He's 89 years old. He's very ill. He wants to live. He's 89. He can't live very much longer. His time is is quickly running out, but he said to me over the phone with a very strong voice thanking me for all the people who are praying for him. His voice is now coming back and he said, I'm going to live. I'm not going to die. So, bless his dear heart. He was going to go to Fiji and be part of the conference there and help me do the the teaching in the pastors conference the first few days, but he's not going to be able to go, obviously.

But God does heal, doesn't he? He does heal. Now, divine healing is a promise from the Lord. I want you to look at the screen and I want you to read these words from Exodus 15 verse 26. Read these words. I am the Lord who heals you. You know that I have had a cough for a long time. Actually, that cough lasted 26 months. Nearly every night I was out of bed for an hour to 2 hours coughing until I would break out in perspiration. My hair was all wet. My clothes were wet and I was just then the next day I was just exhausted.

That went on month after month. Now, I must have a must be a strong man to be able to make it all that time, but I kept praying, but I also kept going to physicians. And matter of fact, I went to eight. I was praying. I said, dear Lord, what what's going to happen? You know, I I need healing. I need help and I I've been saying that for 26 months. And while praying that verse of scripture came across, I saw it in my mind, I am the Lord who heals. That came to me so forcefully.

I saw it. I read it while I was on my face before the Lord in prayer and from that moment on, my voice started coming back. I 'm sleeping the nights through. I 'm not coughing anymore. Now, I don't know why it took 26 months, but it did. It took all of that time. The other day I was down at Dr. Beale's office where Francis is the administrator and Dr. Beale's been a friend of mine for many years. Actually, he spoke in the pulpit one time over when we were over in the chapel. Then a dear friend and he had pumped more medicine and more IVs into me.

It's a wonder I'm not that big around right now. And this is the woman that keeps sticking me, sticking me. And she loves that job. And putting those bags of IVs in me vitamin C and I don't know what else, all of the the medication. And I mentioned to Dr. Beale's and said, Dr. Beale's, I was praying and the Lord touched me and the verse of scripture it just came into my mind, I am the Lord that healeth thee. That was the King James version. God knows I'm more acquainted with that because from childhood younger days, so God uses the King James on me very often.

I mean, with you into the NIV now, but that King James just came, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Well, Dr. Beale's turned and his mouth dropped open and his eyes were big and he said, wow. And he said, did he tell you what I gave you that made you well? Don't take the credit, Dr. Beale's. I said, no, he didn't. He said, Beale, the next time he talks to you like that, ask him what it is that made you well. I said, well, maybe he'll tell you and not me. So, now I am the Lord Yahweh who heals Rapha.

Yahweh means the supreme one, the existing one, the master and Lord of all. Rapha means heals or physician, restores the health. Literally, it means I am Yahweh, your physician. Now, why would God tell me that and tell you that and put that in his word if he didn't mean it that he was going to heal? That is exactly the literal pronunciation and the the the word Yahweh, your physician. Notice what God did. Now, notice this. God takes his name Yahweh. Sometimes we refer to it as Jehovah. And he takes his name Rapha and he combines those names and makes it a compound name Yahweh Rapha, meaning Yahweh, your physician.

Now, God is making a promise here to us and if we will believe the promise, stand on the promise, accept the promise, the blessing of God will come to us. God healed in the Old Testament. He healed perhaps the very first healing in answer to prayer was when Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife who were barren and didn't have children. And now there was healings before, but this was a a prayer that a person prayed for another person and God blessed and healing came and they had children. Then there was Naaman who dipped in the river Jordan seven times and then Elijah and Elisha and many others.

There were there are number of healings in the Old Test in Tale Testament and also in the New Testament. Now, divine healing fulfills a prophecy and I want you to look at the screen and read this. Read it together. Surely he took our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet we did him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Now, these verses largely deal with sin and deliverance from sin and forgiveness from sin, but these verses also talks to us about healing, divine healing, healing that proceeds directly from God. All we like no before that and by his wounds we are healed. Now, that was a prophecy. Now, in the New Testament we're going to turn to Matthew chapter 8:16 and see the fulfillment of that Old Testament prophets. Read it with me. When evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to him and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

This was to fill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. He took up our infirmities and carried our sicknesses and diseases. Now, the prophecy came in Isaiah. The fulfillment began to happen in Matthew by the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Exodus 15:26 He said, if you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.

Now, put up the words that you just had there. Listen carefully. Say those words.

Congregation: Listen carefully.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, notice what the scripture says again. In verse 26, we just read it. If you listen carefully, we must listen to the word of God. We must have our ears and hearts open to the word of God so that the word of God can come in. You know and I know without saying we are not good listeners, are we? This man amens me. We are not good listeners, are we? No, we we we really not. We're not good listeners. We do not focus attention. You see, one of the reason and it's not altogether our fault, but we can work at it and change the situation.

We're not good listeners because we are bombarded with so many messages all day long. Our mind has a difficult time filtering out the unwanted messages. We're getting messages when we want them and when we don't want them. Some of those messages we want, some we don't want, but our mind has a difficult time and our mind is constantly working throughout the day to filter out the unwanted. Every waking moment a message is coming. Every waking moment it seems like someone's wanting our attention. Our brains are being Listen. Our brains are being abused by overstimulation. We're just hearing it and hearing it and and our minds are having a difficult time to assimilate and with some of that we're hearing, we're assimilating it only to find out I didn't want to assimilate that.

I didn't want to take that in at all. Our brains are being abused by overstimulation and our attention buttons are being pushed too fast too often. So, this is why there is a difficult time in growing faith in our hearts today because of all of these messages, all of this overstimulation, all of the people wanting our attention and to cause ourselves to to settle down for just a moment to listen now to the voice of God, it becomes a difficult task. You see, one of the big causes is the Internet. It has opened to us a door of continuous, relentless stimulation, brain stimulation.

There are cell phones, video games, digital music players, personal computers, cable, satellites, TV and radio and it just goes on and on. Now, notice he said, what's the next word?

Congregation: If you listen carefully.

Pastor Jack Morris: If you listen carefully, you're going to have to, but if you do, your faith will be built. You will be in a position to ask God and to pray the prayer of faith, but if you don't, notice if if if that's a big word, isn't it? If you listen carefully. Listen carefully. The second thing, do what is right. Say those words.

Congregation: Do what is right.

Pastor Jack Morris: Okay. Now, not only do we have to listen, we have to do what we're listening to. I mean, we can listen to the word of God and there is no change in our lives so very often. Uh we must not only be hearers or listeners of the word, but we must listen and say, look, God, you're going to speak to me today. The pastor has a prophetic message. I want to know how this is going to change my life, how how I 'm going to behave and think and and feel differently when I leave the church today.

You've got to talk sincerely, intentionally to God and listen and listen carefully. Only if you do will you get the blessing of faith and grow in faith and in your ability to pray, but if you don't, you remain the same, your faith remains weak and these things that you may be praying for aren't happening because the word of God hasn't come in. You have to listen and you have to do what is right. You have to do that because God only will bless those who are right or who are righteous. Now, the next one is pay attention.

Say those words.

Congregation: Pay attention.

Pastor Jack Morris: This is a condition of being ready. This is and and I'm I 'm so concerned about being ready. We we we can't we we can't move into the realm of the spirit when we have lived in the realm of the secular and the mundane and the material all week long and all week long and then all of a sudden we run in here, bang, we get in the spirit. It doesn't work that way. Many of us come in in the flesh, we leave in the flesh. We just don't It just doesn't connect right. It It just doesn't connect at all, but it says pay attention.

Now, simply this means like a sergeant speaks to a buck private and say, tension. Shoulders up, chest out, belly in. You've got to be eye to eye contact with Jesus and with the word. This is the only way it's going to happen. One day one of these privates from up in the part of I'll say my part of the country up in Western Pennsylvania, I 'll say, he just He didn't want to be in the army at all, but he was drafted and they they just took his uniform and he walked by the assembly line and they just threw the uniforms at these guys and he put on the uniform and he's walking down the street and he passed a colonel.

And just as he passed the colonel, the the colonel turned around and and stopped and and called to him and said, private. Private, were you you talking to me? He said, yes, I'm talking to you. He said, didn't you see this uniform? And the private said, don't sweat it, buddy. Look what they gave me. Now, I've See, I should be hurrying along in my message and not not doing this stuff, but that's exactly what it means. Pay attention. Now, it's difficult to pay attention because of all this overstimulation of our mind and the brain does not hold thoughts a very long.

The brain continually When you're hearing a sermon, you can't help it. I can't help it either. None of us can really help it unless we intentionally begin to discipline our brain. The brain is only turned on a matter of seconds, sometimes a minute, maybe a minute and a half, and then they'll jump to something else. And it may only jump to something else very quickly and then it'll jump right back again. All all all the time that's going on, your brain goes, your thoughts will go to something else. Home, afternoon, cars up on the Enterprise Road, people sitting next to you, your brain will just go off somewhere.

It'll be like a a quick instant daydream. In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. The devil is doing everything to stop the seed from taking root in your life and bringing forth fruit uh a hundred fifty, fortyfold, thirtyfold for his glory and his honor. Now, I'm going to have to close the message. I'm going to do it very quickly. See in your outline receiving divine healing. In Mark chapter 1 verse 15 look at the screen and read these words with me. These are the words of Jesus. The time has come, he said.

The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news. Now, God is ready to do something. The time has come. It came number of years ago with the coming of Jesus. When Jesus came, he's the king and when the king is present, the kingdom of God is present. So, the time has come. Repent and believe. Now, if you're not a believer, you have no claim to the promises of God. You must repent and believe confessing your sins and coming into the kingdom of God and being part of that kingdom in order to receive the benefits of that kingdom.

You're still with me? Your mind's jumping and so is mine. To be part of that kingdom. The kingdom of God is both present, Jesus said, at hand, Mark 1:15, and the kingdom of God is also future. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15. The kingdom of the Lord, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. Now, when healing takes place Now, notice the kingdom of God is both present and future. We're still living under the curse. Thorns and thistles, sickness and death, it's still here. There is a time coming in the future where we'll eat of the tree of life and live forever, but not now.

But when healing comes, when answer to prayer comes, it is that future kingdom of God that is breaking in to the present. God somehow breaks in to your present situation, your present life, where you're living, what you're experiencing in your body, in your family, in your finances. It's the kingdom of God breaking into the present. Now, what we're getting when we get an answer to prayer is only a little foretaste of what we're going to have forever and ever world without end when the Lord Jesus comes. So, now here's how to receive it. Let's go through it very quickly now.

Listen. Say the word listen.

Congregation: Listen.

Pastor Jack Morris: I've already spoken to you about that because we're being so overly stimulated by all kinds of messages. So, we need to listen. It says in in in Psalms 46 verse 10 be still. Say that with me.

Congregation: Be still.

Pastor Jack Morris: And know

Congregation: And know

Pastor Jack Morris: that I am God.

Congregation: that I am God.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, we sang that a moment ago. It says be still. Now, what that that means simply is this to quiet the mind from all distractions. That's all that means. Someone says, oh, I I you know, I want to sing, I want to be happy, I want to clap, you know, I want to shout. Sure, I do too. That's wonderful. That is not what this is saying. This is not meaning you have to stop all of that. That what it is saying, you've got to get your mind quiet before God so you can hear what God is saying.

God is saying but there is so much other coming in that you have to turn around everything Hold it just a minute. Be quiet. Will you be Will you be quiet just a moment? Somebody's on the phone. You know, I I want to listen. Now, that's what it is with God. God is speaking to us and he said now, be still. Still everything else so you can hear what is thus saith the Lord. You can hear God and hear everything else all at the same time, but you cannot Listen to me, friend. You cannot just say, you know, God promised me healing and I 'm going to pray for God give me healing.

I claim it, I claim it, I claim it. Hey, it's not going to work that way. You got to bring yourself down before God, quiet your soul before God. You you can't be out there running and just going going going going working working, signing contracts, working out deals, working working and then just run into the power of God and say, God, catch me while I'm on the run. Now, you you're you're way ahead and God's way back here and God's will seeing you go over the horizon somewhere. Now, we're always in a hurry, but God says be still.

Just shut up, stop, turn off, calm down. No wonder children today have ADHD. And there there's more of that today in our children than than ever before. And and we're we're we're just making them because we are insisting that they they watch this, they hear this, they learn that and keep them going, keep them going, keep Friend, you need to say to your child, look, we're not going to do it the homework until after we pray. I'm going to pray a two or three minute prayer to keep their attention. We're not going to watch television until we have to this two or three minute family prayer.

Friend, you're going to have to. Your children can't do it. They're not going to do it. Why should they do it when mom and dad aren't doing it and telling them to do it? Friends, it's time to be still and when we are still, you will know, you will personally experience answer to prayer in your life and the kingdom of God that is coming will already come into the presence and you will receive divine intervention like you've never had it before.

Announcer: Do you need Pastor Morris to pray with you about a struggle or decision you're wrestling with? The Pray Now app is available to you right now. Go to the healingword.com, click pray now and select the topic that matches your request. Pastor Morris will provide encouragement, pray with you and deliver a brief message on overcoming and living in victory. I also invite you to check out all the ministry resources available for you at the healingword.com. There you can search and listen to messages that match your need and send your prayer requests directly to the pastor and he will pray for you and return an encouraging note.

You'll find all these gifts waiting for you at the healingword.com. Join us tomorrow for another healing word message. Until then, blessings on you.