The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: When you take the word of God and you believe the word of God and you become fully persuaded that God is El Shaddai, I'll tell you, you can speak to mountains and they'll go into the sea.

Guest (Male): Have you ever looked at your situation and thought, "There's just no way"? Today on the Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris begins a powerful new series, "The Names of God," with a message called "Don’t Laugh at Impossibilities."

We'll discover God as El Shaddai, God Almighty, the one who specializes in doing what seems humanly impossible. From Romans chapter four, we'll show you how Abraham became fully persuaded and why that kind of faith still changes lives today.

Pastor Jack Morris: Jesus healed a little boy who was taken with seizures. He had a demon in him, the scripture says. The people prior to that doubted that this little boy would ever get well, ever be delivered, or that these seizures would ever stop.

Jesus says, "If you have faith, nothing will be impossible to you." Again, Jesus says, "With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." And I believe it. Don't you? I truly believe it.

It was impossible, biologically speaking, for Abraham and Sarah to have a son at their age. Biologically impossible. He was an old man. The reproductive organs stopped a long time ago. But even after God said, "I am God Almighty," even after God said that, Abraham laughed. I don't know, I may have laughed too. You may have laughed too.

It's something that God will say things to us, and we will say things to one another, and we will quote these scriptures, but to act upon them? To believe them for me, for my child, for my husband, my wife, or my situation? "Oh, I believe them, but they don't work for me."

But they do! God wants these promises to be your promises, and he wants to reveal himself as the God Almighty, All-Sufficient, All-Powerful, the God who is enough for every situation. So he reveals himself to Abraham by the name God Almighty, or the Hebrew pronunciation is El Shaddai.

The purpose of the message is that we might come to know God intimately, that we might come to grow in our faith. If we know him intimately and we grow in our faith, there will be released unto us his power. To have the power of God to touch your life, to touch a member of your family, to touch a situation that you're involved in, it is something phenomenal that will cause you to praise and rejoice in him forever and ever.

And I want everyone here—I really do, because God wants everyone here—to be touched by his power, to have an experience of the divine, of the supernatural. We experience church, we experience religion, we experience hymns, we experience words, and we experience fellowship. But there is something that God wants us to experience that comes from out of this world, and we're going to learn about it as we study the various names of God.

Jesus says these words: "I have manifested thy name unto men which thou gavest me out of the world." There's a particular group of people, the people that have come out of the world, who have been redeemed, who are no longer in the world and following the world but now are in Christ, in the church, following Christ.

Those are the select ones who learn to believe and to those persons Jesus is revealing the name of God, meaning he is revealing the power and intervention and love and grace of God to those people. He said, "I have declared thy name." In Old Testament times, particularly, a person's name summed up the whole person.

If you heard his name or her name, you knew their personality, you knew something about their character, you knew something about their dealings with men, and their relationships with men. Even today, think about it, what a person is called. There was a time I was called a boy. Then I was called a man. Then I was called a boyfriend. Then I was called a bridegroom. Then I was called a husband. Then I was called a father. Every one of those tells you something about me, don't they?

Sarah was called a girl, a girlfriend, a bride, a wife. Everything that I was called, she was called, and you were called. It tells us something. This is what God is doing. There are eighty different names of God in the Old Testament. There are eighty of them. I'm not going to deal with all eighty of them; you might get bored after a while.

The Apostle Paul, this great Apostle serving the Lord, planting churches, there was a cry within his heart. One day he articulated that feeling. He cried out and said, "Oh, that I might know him!" And I thought, "Well, Paul, surely you know God." "Oh, that I might know Christ in the power of his suffering, in the power of his resurrection, oh that I might know him!"

We know him as a Savior, as a Redeemer, as a Heavenly Father. But now to come to know him in a way that he works in our lives and answers our prayers and changes our personality so much that he even changes our names. Let's look at this scripture and find out what God is trying to do. God is saying, "I want you to know me."

Let's look at it together. The first part, point A, is the question: when did God covenant with Abraham, or when did he talk to him and make a promise to him? God sovereignly chose to do something extremely significant, and he made a promise to him. The original promise was when Abraham was 75 years old. You're never too old to learn God and learn something more about God.

He was 75 years old, and we get this from Genesis chapter 12. In Genesis chapter 12, when Abraham was 75 years old, God promised a very special promise: that he was going to give him a posterity that would be innumerable. If you can number the sands on the beach at the sea, or number the dust of the earth, or the stars of the heaven, God said you'll be able to number your seed, which will be the fulfillment of my promise. God made that when Abraham was 75 years old.

He confirmed that promise—and you can write down the number 99—in Genesis chapter 17. He was now 99. Sometimes we wonder why it takes God so long to get things going. At age 75, Abraham thought, "Well, there might be a possibility that we can still have children, I don't know."

But when he was at age 99, he says there is no possibility that my wife's going to get pregnant now. Absolutely all possibilities are gone. Isn't it wonderful when we give up, God says, "I'm just getting ready to start"? When we say it can't be done, God says, "I can do it." When we laugh, God says, "Have faith."

The Lord is with us to do great and mighty things in our lives. I'm going to read from Genesis chapter 17, beginning at verse one. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you."

That's the covenant he made in Genesis 12 when Abraham was 75. "I'm going to confirm that, I'm going to bring it to pass, I'm going to do what I promised. I will greatly increase your numbers." Abram fell face down and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations.

No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you."

This was the promise. Verse 15 says Abraham fell on his face before the Lord. Verse 17: and he laughed and said, "Will a son be born to a man 100 years old? And will Sarah bear a child at age 90?" So we know there is about a 10-year difference between this couple, age-wise. But this was the promise that God gave, and now God is bringing it about.

Look at point B in your outline: How did God reveal himself to Abraham? Look at verse 17. When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said—what did he say? "I am God Almighty." That's how he revealed himself: by telling Abraham his name. In Hebrew, the word is El Shaddai. I am God El Shaddai.

Now, the word El Shaddai comes from two Hebrew derivatives. The first one is El, and the second one is Shaddai. The word El means God Almighty. God strong, God powerful, God all-sufficient. It's the same El that comes from the Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God." There was no heaven, there was no earth, no stars, no dry land, no vegetation, and no animal life.

And then God comes and says, "In the beginning El, Elohim, God Almighty." And when God Almighty appears, dry land appears, skies appear, planets appear, vegetation appears, and human life appears. There is nothing but death, and when Elohim appears, there is life.

So here's this same El, this God coming forth, bringing forth almighty life through his spoken word. When God spoke to Abraham and said, "I'm going to give you a posterity," he was not only thinking of the nation of Israel and the people of Palestine and the people of that part of the world—he was thinking of that nation also—but there was a spiritual nation.

Hear what I'm going to say now very clearly: there was a spiritual nation that God was talking about that would be as innumerable as the dust of the earth and as the stars of the heaven. And this nation would be born from the veins of Jesus Christ. A spiritual Israel, a new Israel that would be coming forth, an innumerable people that would call God Father and accept Jesus Christ.

I'm going to turn quickly; you can listen or you may want to turn to Revelation chapter seven. Here we see the complete fulfillment of that promise. In Revelation chapter seven, you here this morning are part of that fulfillment of that promise. Did you know that? Did you know that you are the spiritual seed of Abraham?

And that you are part of the fulfillment that God made, for you came from Abraham just as Isaac, Jacob, and David? Now you have become children of God, the new Israel by faith, and here is the final fulfillment of it—we're only the partial fulfillment of it.

In Revelation chapter seven, beginning at verse nine, John looks into heaven by the Holy Spirit and he said, "After this I looked and before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice."

Now, this is what you're going to say someday. Here's the script: you are going to stand before the throne of God, children of the New Covenant, the very covenant that God made with Abraham. You're going to die and go to heaven or be raptured and go to heaven, but you're going to stand and this is what you're going to say with an innumerable group of people, a people that cannot even be counted because there are so many of them.

It all started in Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 17 with a promise that God made for Abraham. You see, you are part of a plan. You didn't know it. You thought you were just born. You thought your mother and dad fell in love and you started with a gleam in your dad's eye and one thing led to another and here you are.

Not at all. You are part of a divine plan that is ultimately going to climax in heaven with you saying these words. Look at verse 10: "And they cried out in a loud voice." Here's what you're going to say: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb."

The scripture says when you say that and that heavenly host says that, all the angels were standing around the throne, around the elders, and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God saying, in response to what you said, "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!"

Can you say "praise the Lord"? Now, that's what we're part of—a great scheme. God just didn't crank the universe up like you would an old alarm clock. You crank it up, you sit it over there somewhere, you leave the house and go somewhere, and it's off by itself just ticking away.

God just didn't crank up the universe and people start being born and things start happening. No, God had a very divine plan and we're moving. There's a goal out there and I just read it to you from Revelation chapter seven, and we're moving in that direction. The word El means God Almighty, and nothing—hear it now—nothing will stop his plan.

There is no power that can stop his plan. This is the way it is and this is where we're going. Abraham can laugh, you can laugh, I can laugh, and the world can laugh, but God's plan is going to be fulfilled exactly because he is almighty. There might be some might and power in the world, but there is only one that is almighty.

He has the control and that's the direction we're going in. And I'm so thrilled to be part of something that is going someplace, something that is happening, and something that is coming right out of the very heart of God's love. Now, the word Shaddai means the All-Sufficient Nourisher.

Shaddai occurs 48 times in the Old Testament. 24 times it's derived from a Hebrew word that is translated—are you listening?—breast. He is Almighty God of strength. He is a tender God who is almighty but who nourishes us like a mother. He's unstoppable, this God. Listen to it now: the strong one to deliver, the tender one to nourish and satisfy.

Now, look at the word under point B, number one: El meaning, you can write in the word, Almighty or All-Powerful. Shaddai meaning All-Sufficient Nourisher. But what does this mean to us, point C, in a very practical way? What does this mean to me right now? I know the promise now and I know what's going to happen then.

But now in a very practical way, what does the name El Shaddai, or God Almighty, tell us about God and his desires for us today? Number one: you can write in the word strong. El meaning God who is all-powerful and almighty, meaning he will work with us, he will fight our battles for us, he will defeat our enemies for us, he will conquer our foes, and in knowing him, we will never know defeat.

Now, not that you're not going to lose some battles and have some setbacks and some disappointments. That will happen. But in your heart, you will know that there's a greater plan, a greater scheme of things, and that God is in control even when I'm disappointed. This is what he's trying to say.

Everything isn't going to just roll along perfectly after you become a Christian. Everything's going to be okay, and you'll never have setbacks or defeats. No. On one occasion Jesus was talking to the people of Israel and he talked about them being subjects or slaves of Rome.

The people of Israel stood up and they said, "We're not the slave of anybody." But they were! They were paying taxes to Rome. They said, "We are the seed of Abraham, we're not anybody's slave." What were they saying? "We may look like slaves, we may pay taxes like slaves, but in our heart we're free men, we're children of God."

That's what he's saying. You may have problems in this world, and as the song says, you may fight bears during the week and things may come along and setbacks may get you down. But in your heart you know who you are, you know whose you are, and you know what plan you're of.

You know that you're not here and all of life is just one great long string of capricious things. No, you are part of a heavenly divine plan, a design—that's it, you're part of a design. And regardless of what happens, you can say, "I'm disappointed, I'm discouraged, and I feel beaten down, but in my heart I have victory, because I'm going to heaven. I'm a child of God, my name's in the book, he has his hand on me, and he has a plan for me."

You have that kind of confidence because you know him through Jesus, you know God Almighty, El Shaddai. Look at the second point. It says there: write the word all-sufficient. Write that word down: all-sufficient. Shaddai—we talked about the word El meaning strong, now Shaddai meaning sufficient, and you might go ahead and write down number three: nourisher.

God as Shaddai is telling us that he is El with all this power, and Shaddai is pouring this power into us. He is not Almighty just for himself, to please himself, or to entertain himself, to go out there and say, "Oh, I think I'll have a nice day today. I'm going to fling a few more stars. I'm going to plant a few more planets." No, he's not doing anything now for himself but for us.

He is El the Almighty, and Shaddai pours the almighty our way and gives the almighty to us, meaning he is the one who is our all-sufficiency. Now, Sarah received life into her dead reproductive organs. God poured this almighty Shaddai life into her even when she was old and tired and at the age of 90.

Now listen to this from Romans chapter four, verses 19 through 21. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God and did not consider his own body or the body of Sarah as good as dead but was fully persuaded. Think of this: fully persuaded. Say those words: fully persuaded. That's when God starts doing his thing, when Abraham becomes fully persuaded.

Not half-persuaded, not thinking, "Well, it might work, it might not work." If you take that attitude, I guarantee—God guarantees, hear me now, this is a prophecy—it will not work. But when you take the word of God and you believe the word of God and you become fully persuaded that God is El Shaddai, I'll tell you, you can speak to mountains and they'll go into the sea.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to "Don't Laugh at Impossibilities," reminding us that when God speaks, impossibility is never the final word. If today's message encouraged your faith, we invite you to explore Pastor Morris's ebook, "God's Power for You," available online.

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