The Healing Word

Guest (Male): 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: Don't waste the rest of your life. Someone says, oh, if I had it to do over. Hey, anybody can say that. I think everybody says that. If I had it to do over. But this is the thing. You don't have it to do over. Neither do I. But you do have today and today is the day of salvation.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the healing word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. Today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: Two cowboys were talking. One was an older man talking to the younger man. And this is what the older man said to the younger man. Life is now, kid. You're living it. There ain't going to be another go around. The sermon title is don't waste your life. Life is now, kid. You're living it. There ain't going to be another go around. Don't waste it. You know, waste is a terrible thing. Really is any kind of waste. I remember growing up, my dad would talk about waste, you know, wasting food, wasting time, wasting money, wasting opportunities for education.

I I remember it. I remember those things that he said to me about waste. Number of years ago, Karen and I were in Ghana, Africa. I was teaching in Africa for the SIM at the Maranatha Bible College. And we met an elderly minister. I cannot remember his last name and I don't know that anybody ever called him by his last name. He was a Methodist minister. Everybody called him Pastor Willy. Oh, Reverend Willy was a well-educated man. He was educated at Yale University, received I think two graduate degrees in Yale University and then went back to Ghana to pastor.

And I asked him, I said, Pastor Willy, what do you remember most about America? He said how Americans waste food. I didn't expect that. He worked in the cafeteria and worked himself through to get his education. And I'm sure he saw a lot of food that it could have fed a lot of the people of his country that went to waste. Don't waste food. Don't waste an opportunity for an education. I have a cousin. When he was a young man and I was just a boy at the time, he got a full scholarship, full scholarship to West Virginia University in Morgantown to become a physician, become a doctor.

He had a good brain. He still does. He's a very old we're getting old now. Well, I am too. So if I was a young man then, you know, that he he's getting up there. But he he wasted his opportunity for a education. He wouldn't do his homework. He would go to movies and just hang out and and play and squandered his life away. And finally he lost his scholarship and he failed and was put out of the university. And I can still remember as a little boy family members, my mother and others talking about it, how terrible it was, how he squandered this wonderful wonderful opportunity that he had.

We we think of waste, you know, there's the waste of food and the waste of an education. But what about a life? Wasting a life. Life is now, kid. You're living it. There ain't going to be another go around. To waste a life. My mother gave me a Bible. I was going to bring it in today. I pulled it off the shelf and looked at it. It's an old Bible. It's worn out. It has a new back on it. Now the new back is just about worn out. I got it when I was a boy in Christmas 1949.

And I I wrote things in the flyleaf of the Bible, particularly those times when I had a spiritual experience and I I would write it down so I could remember it. And in 1960 when I was just about to start my ministry and to become a minister, I wrote these words down. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Life goes so quickly. So quickly. Yesterday I got a call man that attended the church. Not as often as his wife. His wife came very regularly. I'm talking about Kathy Freeman.

Her father is Dr. George Paulk. You remember the elderly gentleman that preached here several times. Well, Kathy and her husband would sometimes come to the church and but Kathy would come much more often than her husband and bring her children. Kathy's husband drowned just the other day. He was with his friends. They were rafting. I guess it was white water rafting on one of the rivers in West Virginia and the boat capsized. I mean the weather's warm. The leaves are still on the tree. People are still vacationing. You don't think about death and dying. Everybody else got out except this 45 year old man.

We're going to have his funeral here 11 o'clock this coming Thursday. Life is now. We're not going to do it two times. We're only going to do it one time, just one time. And now beginning next week, I am going to start a series of messages and we're going into the 40 days campaign. It's going to pass so quickly. It's only going to last six weeks. We're going to start off with a tailgate party here at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The church is coming together. I've never been to a tailgate party. I really don't know what to do.

I keep asking Dwayne, what what do we do in a tailgate? He said, well, you eat out of everybody's trunk. I mean their car, you know, the trunk, the lid in the back. They put food there and you lift it up and you reach in and you I said, well, that sounds easy enough. And we're going to start a great campaign. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of joy. You know what makes it fun and makes it a lot of joy? Because we're all together. Not the food in the trunk.

It's the people coming together. That what makes it fun. It's a joy to be with God's people. And we're going to then answer some questions having to do with life and how not to waste it. How to make it work. How to fill it with joy. Make it productive, fulfilling. That's what I'm going to do for six weeks. I'm going to talk about that. And we're going to meet in the homes of people and the host homes. It's going to be a wonderful time. But today I'm just going to begin by asking three questions, three basic questions.

This is a prelude to the 40 days campaign. And you take your bulletin out and online number one, Roman numeral one one, the question, what does God want? And then you write down three words, my whole life. Write it down, my whole life. Say it out loud. My whole life. Now, you're asking, you know, why did you factor God into this? Well, friends, to leave God out is to leave out life because you're breathing his air right now. And you're enjoying the life that he gave you right now. To take God out is to take air out of your lungs, to take the heartbeat out of your heart.

I mean you're nothing without him. You've got to start with God for the scripture starts with God. In the beginning, God. God has to be part of this for life came from God. And now God wants you and me to give the life that he gave to us. He wants us to give that life back to him. We live and breathe because of God. You see, I don't want to be a weed. You know what a weed is? Now, people don't like weeds, do they? You see, weeds take and never give back. Weeds will take the sunshine in a very selfish way.

It'll take the moisture in a very selfish way. It'll reach into the soil and take the nutrients from the soil only to enhance itself. But a weed never contributes. It only enhances itself. It just takes up the space of the beautiful grass and and other plants. It gives nothing back. I don't want to be a weed. You know, a lot of people are that's about what they are in life. They're just takers takers takers. Give me give me give me. How much can I get out of it? How much can I get out of life?

How much can I get out of you? How can you do something for me? It's just me me me. And you're nothing but a weed, just a weed. He told me to go ahead. I'm going ahead. That's all the encouragement I needed. Just a weed. In your bulletin you have, I believe, Ephesians 5:15 and well, you have your scripture open. It says, be careful then how you live. Say that. Be careful.

Guest (Male): Be careful.

Pastor Jack Morris: Be careful then how you live. Now, you may want to underscore that word careful, for it means attentive concern, showing close attention to details. Life is a precious thing we can and afford to waste it. Friend, you're only going to get one and you've got it now. It's a precious thing. And if it's handled properly, you'll get a lot of benefit out of life. You really will. Life will bless you back if you give that life to the Lord. But you have to be very careful with it, very careful with it. It's like a knife, like a pen knife or or any kind of knife.

You've got to be careful with a knife. A knife has a a purpose. And if it's used in the way that it's intended to be used and it's used carefully, it'll serve a great purpose. But a a a knife can be a very dangerous thing and a very hurtful thing. It depends on how careful you are with it. Now, I had a I want to I'm really talking about my cousins today. Two cousins, Buddy and Bubby. And they were These are my dad's sister. One sister had Bubby. The other sister had Buddy. And they were about the same age.

And they played a game that I started playing. But I don't see kids playing that game anymore and I'm glad they don't. You take a a pen knife and you open it up with one blade out and one blade down and you straddle a log or a bench, a wooden bench. And you take this part and you stick it in and then you you under the handle you you flip it and and if it comes down and sticks, I the way I remember it, you get so many points. Then it's his turn and he sticks it in and then he flips it and it comes back.

Well, my one cousin flipped it. And I often wondered why Buddy's eye had a white uh film over it. And I asked my mother one day, why does Buddy It just took away from his appearance so much. She said, well, they were flipping that knife one time and it went right in his eye. Friends, knives are not things to play with. And life is not something you play with either. You only have one. Life is now, kid. You're living it. There ain't going to be another go around. So don't waste it. Don't waste it. There are three words that I want you to look at.

It's in in your bulletin and uh you don't have to turn to it in the Bible. But it's Romans chapter 6 verse 13. You want to take your bulletin and hold it up and just read it right out of the bulletin. I put it in there for you. Let's read it together. Unison, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life and use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Now, there are three words that I want you to put a circle around. And that first word is give.

And the second word is yourselves. And the third word is completely. Put three circles there. Give. That's something that you have to do. God's not going to come and make you do anything. He's not going to come and make you live right. He's not going to come and make you to be a Christian. He 's not going to make you take communion. He's not going to make you go to church. He's not even going to make you go to heaven. That's what you have to decide. You have to give your heart to the Lord. You have to give your days to the Lord.

It's a decision that you have to make. So serve, madam, let's let's be wise. Let's not play with these days that we have. Let's thank God for them and give our hearts to the Lord. Now, notice it says, give yourselves. You can't give somebody else. I know some wives would love to give their husbands to the Lord or some husbands would love to give their wives to the Lord. You love to give your children. You can't do it. There's only one person. That's you. You have one heart to give and that's your heart. Give yourselves completely.

Say the word completely.

Guest (Male): Completely.

Pastor Jack Morris: Completely to the Lord. Completely that means all the way 100%. You know, there are still Let me Let me tell you something, friend. There are still numbers and numbers of Christians who are still straddling the fence. They're not in or out. They're still on the fence. And then these people will wonder why their life feels unfulfilled. Why they do not feel fulfilled. They they wonder why they're still so unproductive. They they wonder why their lives are still so shallow. Because they can't make up their mind whose side they're on. They just can't do it or they won't do it.

You know, there are so many people that are just dividing up their lives. They are. You know, a peace for this and a peace for that and a peace for God. They doing it. God wants us according to the scripture that you just read and that I just read to give ourselves completely to God. To give him our heart, give him our life. You know, there there are people that dividing up their lives that they'll they'll say, you know, I'll go to church, but my social life, God, that's off limits to you. My social life is my life.

Or they'll talk about their their career life. You know, God don't mess with my career. I know what I want. I worked hard. I got the education. I know how to do it. I don't need God in my career life or my retirement life. People say I I've saved. I've worked. I I've invested. I know where I'm going to retire. I can handle that. I don't need God in that part of my life or or my family life or where whatever. They're they're just peacing it out, peacing it out. But they will save a little peace for God because these are the people will say, you know, I believe in church and I go sometimes.

Yeah, that's how it is. They they're just dividing themselves up. They choose to do it that way. It's the wrong way. No wonder those people still feel shallow, unfulfilled and their lives still very unproductive. Now, God is in competition today. Really he is. God's in competition to our social life. He's in competition to sports. He's in competition to our family. He's in competition to school work. He's in competition to dating. He's in all of these things. Family, school work, career, sports, all of them can just sort of nudge God out just a little bit. Just nudge him out.

Now, there's nothing wrong with these. Actually, God approves of family, school work, sports, dating, career, retirement. God approves of all of that except in first place. God wants you to have all of these things. But he doesn't want you to put one of these things or some of these things in first place. Okay, number two in your outline. What does it take to give God my whole life? What does it take? Write down the word discipline. Now, that's a word that none of us likes, right? No one likes that word, discipline. See, discipline is a is very difficult, but it's difficult now, but it has great dividends.

See, my my cousin had that scholarship to go to college, to university, to get his MD degree. But he didn't discipline himself. It was too hard. It was easier to go to a movie. See see if you if you want to get your degree, you got to discipline yourself, don't you? Discipline is just another word for a habit. You you've just got to have some good habits, you know, for for your work and for your career. Uh there are I know a lot of people who are well disciplined when it comes to work and career.

They're they're very well disciplined. I mean they get up. They're usually there early. They give in a full day's work. Sometimes they leave late. I mean they're well disciplined. That's why they have the the job they have, the the position they have, the income they have. They are well disciplined in that area of their life, in their career and in their work, very well disciplined. How about people that go to the gym and work out? How about that? Pretty disciplined, huh? I see those guys that go like that, that muscle pops up. Then I go up.

I put mine up. I go See, I was out jogging the other day, more I was walking and then See, I call walking jogging. Uh I was walking and this younger man came this way and I went by and I said, how many miles? He said, 14. 14? Well, he didn't ask me how many Discipline. Isn't it strange we can discipline ourselves in all of these other areas with the exception of being spiritual? Can you say amen?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: Amen. Discipline, a habit, working out. How about TV shows? Man, we come running in the house. We turn that TV on. We grab our plate. We put the food on it. We You can't be late. It won't wait on you. But somehow we can get there. I mean that stadium fills up hours ahead of time in that parking lot. But when it comes to church, spiritual matters. Friend, if you want a life, if you really want a life, somebody said, get a life. Well, get God in your life and then you'll have a life. But you just have to do that.

You have to do that yourself. The scripture says in 1 Timothy 4:7, spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit. It's going to take some time. It's going to take some energy. Okay, number three, write down the word the cross. Why should I do it? Because of the cross. That's why. Why should I discipline myself? Why should I give my heart to the Lord? Because of the cross. Jesus gave his life How did he do it? Completely. He didn't peace it out for you. He didn't give you a piece of his love.

He gave you his heart. It cost Jesus something to die for you and me. When you come up to this table this morning, I want you to look. Don't just bypass it quickly. I want you to look. It cost him something. He had to discipline himself to stay on the cross when they wanted him to come down from the cross. It disciplined him. He disciplined himself. I want you to come and remember how much he loves you, how much he loves me. Friend, God wants to love you like you've never been loved before. But you've got to give him your heart.

You've got to give him all your heart. Now, a lot of us here this morning, most of our life, well over 50% of it is now gone. But you're still breathing. Your heart still ticking. And you still have today. God willing, you have tomorrow. Give him the rest of your life. Don't waste the rest of your life. Someone says, oh, if I had it to do over. Hey, anybody can say that. I think everybody says that. If I had it to do over. But this is the thing. You don't have it to do over. Neither do I.

But you do have today and today is the day of salvation. So come to this holy table. Experience Jesus and give him your heart. And if you have allowed anything to nudge him out, tell him, Lord, I've allowed whatever it is to nudge you out. But today I put you back on the throne of my heart. Today I'm going to crown you king of kings and Lord of lords. Today I'm going to worship your majesty. Today I'm going to serve you. From this day forward I'm going to come to the cross and see how you died for me.

See, it cost him something to die for me. It's going to cost me something to live for him.

Guest (Male): Prayer is such a vital part of our journey as Christians. It helps us keep connected to God, our source of power and peace. Through prayer, we find guidance, overcome temptation, discover our purpose, and draw closer to God by expressing our gratitude and our need for him. With the pray now app available at the healingword.com, you can choose a topic that speaks to what you're facing. Pray with Pastor Jack Morris and receive an uplifting message grounded in God's word and strength. Visit the healingword.com today and find the encouragement you need to walk forward in faith. Join us tomorrow for another healing word message.

Until then, blessings on you.