The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Turn to the Lord. He'll wipe the slate clean, he'll give you a new life in him. Regardless of who you are or where you've been or what has happened, he'll wipe the slate clean and give you a new life. That's what God gives.

Guest (Male): On yesterday's Healing Word broadcast, Pastor Morris focused on the story of a crippled beggar in Acts chapter three, who was healed by the power of God, and how that same healing power is available to all. Today's message continues to expand on that story, and the message Peter delivered to an astonished crowd. Let's join the Sunday morning service at the Largo Community Church for today's message, "Explanation of a Miracle."

Pastor Jack Morris: Peter and John went to the temple, the hour of prayer, 3:00 in the afternoon. They passed through this beautiful gate made of Corinthian bronze, overlaid with silver and gold, and just glistened in the brilliancy of the sun. And there was a lame man. This man had been born lame, 40-year-old man. His legs—it doesn't say this in the scripture, but never having walked, you know his legs had atrophied, had shriveled and turned and twisted.

When he looked at Peter and John, he expected to receive some money from them, but Peter and John were broke. They didn't have anything to give him. But they said, "Such as I have, such as I have." Friend, what do you have today? Praise to God, love for the church, caring for the poor. You do have something. We have a praise to give to the Lord and a blessing that the Lord wants to give through us to others.

May God help us that we won't be a self-centered, selfish people with our feelings always out there. I'm not getting too many "amens" yet, but we'll warm up as we go along. And Peter said, "I don't have any silver and gold, but such as I have." And the man no doubt reached out his hand expecting to receive something, and Peter grabbed him by the hand and said, "In the name of Jesus, rise and walk." This was the first miracle performed by the apostles.

Jesus had performed many miracles, but now he's performing miracles through the apostles who are ready to give themselves to those people who are in need. Now the scripture says, that Joe read to us just a moment ago, verse 11, that all the people were astonished, and they came running together to see this great miracle. These people had been going to the temple and passing by this man year after year after year.

God always has a time when he's going to do his miracle, when he's going to answer prayer. And this man had to wait a little while. Any of you been waiting 40 years for an answer? An old preacher long time ago said this: he said God's trains run on time. God has a schedule for everything. It's for us to wait on the Lord and to receive.

All the people came running together, they were amazed at what they had seen, and then Peter begins to explain this miracle that had just happened, an outstanding miracle, an awesome miracle. Look at verse 19. Do we have it for the screen, verse 19? Well, let me read it. Peter tells the people that they had done this thing in ignorance.

He said, "You crucified the author of life. You killed him, you handed him over to be killed, and then you killed him." Listen, Peter told it like it was, didn't he? And he wasn't afraid and no intimidation to hold back at all. And then he says in verse 16, he says, "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him as you all can see."

Now here he is, Peter, explaining this miracle. Now I've heard people say, well, if you can explain a miracle, it's not a miracle. Well, not quite so. Peter said, "Don't look at us as though we did this. Let me explain how it happened. This is not something of human creation, this is something of Jesus' name." The miracle is explained in the name of Jesus.

Now you see the screen. It says, "The Explanation of a Miracle." The birth of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the healings, the miracles, the sins—our sins forgiven, the crucifixion where he carried our sins, his resurrection, his resurrection appearances, his ascension, his returning again. Put all of that together, add them all together, and they equal in the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus is not a formula that we just tack onto the end of a prayer. We think of Jesus, the man who did all of these things and blessed us with all of these blessings. And we're constantly giving thanks to him day by day. This man and all of his living is so enrapturing our hearts, now we can pray in the name of Jesus. He's important to us.

His virgin birth, the life that he lived, his teachings—we are obeying his teachings. We know what his teachings are and we love them and we yield our lives to them. And when he said, "in the name of Jesus," this is what happened: this man was healed and he walked. Friend, I believe that God desires to do great and wonderful things for his people. Matter of fact, I know he does.

But we have to get a concept of Jesus, not just formulas, but we need the reality of the man himself, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and coming again. Now Peter says, "You did this in ignorance." And he calls the people to repent. In verse 19 he says, "Repent then and turn to God." Come on, let's read it all together, there it is on the screen.

Here's a threefold blessing, come on: "Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus." Now there are three wonderful blessings contained in that scripture. And here they are, look at them on the screen. Call them out to me now: "Sins forgiven, refreshment, Christ coming again."

Sins forgiven. He says, "repent and turn to God." Now who is Peter talking to? Is he talking to criminals, to terrible ugly sinners? No, he's talking to church people, temple-worshipping people. People who go to the temple and pray at 9:00 in the morning, 12:00 at noon, and 3:00 in the afternoon. These are temple people who claim to be children of Abraham, praying people.

And he said, "You must turn to God. You must turn to the Lord and have the sins wiped away," meaning like you take a chalkboard, a whiteboard or a blackboard and you take and you just wipe it away. A clean slate, a new life, a new beginning. This is what God blesses and this is what God gives, and this is one of the promises of God, and God's going to keep his promises.

Notice he said your sins are going to be forgiven. Your sins. And then he says the second thing, what is the second? Refreshing. Refreshing. There's going to be a refreshing from the Lord. When God lifts that load of sin and transgression from us and when we enter into his nearness and his presence, there comes a freshness.

Every so often, how many people have computers, you know how to use a computer? Sometimes you have to click the button and say, or move the cursor and say refresh, right? Well, sometimes you have to do that with your heart and your life. You have to come to God and kneel before him in your heart and say, "God, refresh."

Things are getting me down. I'm tired. People are disappointing me. People are upsetting me. I'm glad I'm not upsetting nobody, but people are upsetting me. And we need that refreshing from the Lord. And we wait on him and we stop long enough to get that refreshing from the Lord. Now I know everybody must have had a little pebble sometimes caught in your shoe on the inside when you're walking.

You got a pebble in your shoe, you know you shake your foot, that pebble's in your shoe and it irritates you. But you keep on going right away, you don't take your shoe off right away, you keep thinking, well, it'll go away or it'll move under my toe somewhere. And then all of a sudden there it is again. And then finally, finally, you take your shoe off and the tiniest little pebble caused you the greatest amount of annoyance.

It caused you to stop what you were doing and empty it out—the tiniest little pebble. That's the way life is. When we're walking through life, we pick up in our spirit a little pebble somewhere. Something angers us. Got a little pebble in your shoe now. That anger there. Something maybe we're jealous of. Now I've never met a person—one time I met a man years ago that told me that he had jealousy in his heart.

But most people never confess to having jealousy in their heart. But we have it there sometimes nonetheless. Sometimes there's a lustful eye and a sexual sin in our thoughts. Hey, we got a pebble in our shoe. Friend, you got to confess that pebble out in prayer in confession. You got to confess that evil thought, that sexual thought, you got to confess it out in prayer.

That hurt feeling, that disappointment, you got to confess it out in prayer. You got to get that pebble out of your shoe if you're going to walk with God, or your walk with God isn't going to be a pleasant walk. And when you get that little pebble out, whew, the times are refreshing. Now if you heard that a distant uncle who was worth millions of dollars had died, word came to you, and that this uncle had you in his will, that your name was there, wouldn't you like to read that will and read your name and see what he left you?

Well, the answer is obvious, of course you would. He has a will for you, he put your name in that will. There's something there for you. Friend, if you trust God and you read God's word—there is a dearth today of people reading the word of God. Actually, in the Christian church, most of us are biblically illiterate. We don't know the promise to claim it, to receive it.

Then we say sometimes, "I wonder why we don't have miracles like they had back in the New Testament days." Well, all of these promises, and you saw three of them and now you heard the fourth one, all of these promises are ours in Christ Jesus in the name of the man who was born of the virgin Mary, who lived a sinless life, who healed, who performed miracles, who took our sins to the cross, who died and was buried and rose again and is coming again.

When we know this man and we have an intimate relationship with this man, we're going to have the blessings that this man has to give to us. So this distant uncle died and there you are in his will, and you're anxious, "Oh, I want to get to that will. I want to get to that will." Wouldn't it be something where you say, "Oh, I want to get to the word of God. I just can't wait for another Sunday to come so I can study the word of God again." The word of God.

There was a lawyer some time ago who had a client and the client died. The client was worth 120 million. Now get this, that's a lot of money, isn't it? 120 million dollars he left, and he left that money to an heir. Now keep in mind we are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus. He left that money, but the lawyer couldn't find the heir. They didn't know where he lived, they didn't have his address.

So the lawyer contacts a detective agency and tells them his problem. He said, "I need somebody. I don't have the time, but I need somebody to get out there on the streets and find this man, track him down." So the detective agent director said, "I'm going to put my best detective on this case. A woman who is very ambitious, very smart, and if anybody can find that heir, this young woman can find the heir."

Well, a few weeks later the detective got a call. It was that young woman detective. She said, "I've got good news for you. I've found the heir." The detective said, "Wonderful. Where?" She said, "He's right here with me in the hotel and as soon as we get back from our honeymoon we're going to contact your office." Well, she was young, she was ambitious, and she was smart.

Hey friend, some of us may not be quite so young, but I hope we are as ambitious and as smart to find out that we'll give our heart and marry our soul to the Lord Jesus Christ who gives and who blesses in abundance. Now you've heard of joint checking accounts, and I suppose—I'm guessing that the couples here today have a joint checking account. Corrine and I have a joint checking account and I can draw on that account anytime I want to, she can draw on it anytime she wants to.

We have a co-checking account. Does that mean that one of us can go to that checking account and draw out 50 percent of that anytime we want to? No. No. That means that any one of us can go and draw out 100 percent anytime we want to. We are co-owners, co-joint checking account. Now this is exactly what the Lord has done for us. He has blessed us, he has made us a joint heir.

That means that we are an heir and a co-heir with Jesus, meaning everything that God gives to Jesus, God gives to us. And we can draw upon the promises of God 100 percent whenever we pray in the name of him who loved us and gave himself for us and arose from the dead and is with us by the power of the Holy Spirit and is coming again to receive us. We can draw on the promises of God. Friend, draw on his promises today.

You are a joint heir. Go to the checking account on your knees before the Lord. Read the promise of God and when you read that promise of God, get a concordance and learn where that promise is, and then call upon the Lord. And when you say "in the name of Jesus," you are writing the signature on that that God will honor and that prayer will come through and the answer will be yours. This is what God is doing for his church and for the people who believe him.

I want to tell you about a minister, I only heard him one time. He's retired now. His name is Dr. Fred Craddock. Dr. Craddock is one of the most well-recognized ministers, preachers in America today. He's from Tennessee. He and his wife went back to Gatlinburg on a short vacation, and one evening they went in this restaurant—quiet little restaurant to have a quiet private dinner.

While they were there, they saw this tall, white-haired, distinguished-looking man come walking in. And this man went from table to table, shaking hands with people and talking to people and greeting them, and everybody acted happy to see him. And Reverend Craddock looked over to his wife and said, "Oh, I hope he doesn't come to our table." Guess what happened?

Finally that man came around to that table, looked at Reverend Craddock and said, "Sir, my name's Ben Hooper." You listen to this, you might have a relative, you might be an heir. Said, "My name's Ben Hooper," and asked him his name and then asked him, he said, "Where are you from, Reverend?" He said, "I'm from Oklahoma right now, that's my home." Said, "Well, what do you do for a living?" And he said, "I'm a teacher at Phillips University Graduate School. I teach seminary students homiletics."

So Ben Hooper said, "You teach young preachers how to preach." And he said, "Yes, I do." With that this man pulled up a chair to that table and sat down. And he said, "I have a story to tell you." And inside Reverend Craddock groaned, he said, "Oh no, another preacher's story." He said it seems like everybody has one.

Ben Hooper said, "I was born not far from here on the other side of the mountain." And he said, "When I was born, my mother was not married. And I had a hard time of it." He said, "When I'd go to school, the children at school would call me a name, an ugly name." And he said, "That name just cut." And he said, "At recess, I wouldn't go around the kids, I'd go off to myself because of the name that they would call me."

He said, "On Saturday afternoons, when I would go downtown, when I would walk down the street, people would turn and keep looking at me." And he said, "Their eyes just burn a hole through me." He said, "Everybody was trying to figure out who my father was." He said, "I had a hard time." And he said, "The church I went to got a new preacher. And this particular Sunday I wanted to hear the new preacher, and so I went to church."

He said, "Now I would normally go in late because I didn't want to speak to people." Anybody come in late because of that? I hope not. And he said, "And before the benediction I would slip out early because I didn't want to be in the crowd of people because everybody was staring at me trying to figure out who my father was."

The new preacher pronounced the benediction real fast and he said, "I jumped up to get out." And he said, "I got mixed in with a crowd of the people." And he said, "I was trying to get out." And he said, "When I got to the door, I felt this big hand on my shoulder. And I looked up and the preacher was looking right down at me, this brand new preacher."

The preacher looked at me and said, "Whose boy are you?" And he said, "I felt like the world had come down on me. Even the preacher is against me, everybody trying to find out who my daddy is." And he said, "I didn't say a word." And he said, "I was only 12 years old." He said, "I looked up again" and he said "a big smile came across his face."

The preacher said, "I know whose son you are. I see the family resemblance." He says, "You're a son of God." And then the preacher, he said, said to me, "Son, I want you to go out and claim your inheritance." And he said to Reverend Craddock, he said, "That was the most important single sentence that anybody ever said to me in all my life, when he said you're a son of God."

The man shook Craddock's hand, got up from the table, started visiting his friends among other tables. And he said as he walked away, Craddock remembered, he said, "Years ago, the state of Tennessee elected an illegitimate boy to the governorship two times, and his name was Ben Hooper." Friend, God has so much for you and me today.

Stop thinking of all of the bad things, stop thinking that others are picking on you, look to the Lord. He's got his hand on you. He is the one that picked you for his kingdom and for his will to be revealed and become a reality in your life.

Guest (Male): It's reassuring to know that a savior who is full of love and mercy knows who you are, identifies with your situation, and has a plan for you. The power of Jesus is as relevant today as it was to the early church in the book of Acts. Go to him in prayer right now, where you are, and praise him for his great love and sacrifice for us.

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