The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, what does God think about you? What does God think about me? That's what's important.

Announcer: Welcome to The Healing Word. On the program today, Pastor Morris is going to explore the subject of God's grace and how this unmerited favor that He supplies to us can change our outlook and bring about thankfulness in our hearts. Let's go to an introduction of the message: Grace.

Pastor Jack Morris: Hello friend, I'm Pastor Jack Morris. We're at the Largo Community Church and God has given me a special message today entitled "Grace." One word. There's not a more beautiful word in the entire Bible than the word grace. And God has come to us in grace, in loving kindness, to bless us, forgive us, heal us. Come with me into the sanctuary. Hear this message and be blessed, greatly blessed by God's grace.

Father, I thank you for your holy word. (Congregation: Father, I thank you for your holy word.) Spoken again today. (Congregation: Spoken again today.) With your breath and voice. (Congregation: With your breath and voice.) Bless your word to my heart today. (Congregation: Bless your word to my heart today.) May the Holy Spirit sow the seed of the word. (Congregation: May the Holy Spirit sow the seed of the word.) And may it bring forth a great harvest for Jesus. (Congregation: And may it bring forth a great harvest for Jesus.) In Jesus' name, Amen. (Congregation: In Jesus' name, Amen.) Amen.

I couldn't think of a better word to call this message today than to call it grace. Grace. It's all about grace. All about the loving kindness of our God. That's what grace is. Kindness, kindness, kindness. God doing kind things. Always, always kindness. And when we have the spirit of God in us, kindness comes forth from our lives. Not conflict, not confusion, but lives of kindness. It's Jesus within.

It's all about grace. I can't think of a more beautiful word than the word grace. It's the central concept of the New Testament and it's the center of Christianity. It's the centerpiece. Grace. If it weren't for God's kindness, we would be in a very difficult situation today. But God has come to us through Jesus and has given us kindness.

You know, the Apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the 27 New Testament books or letters. They were letters, we call them books now. He wrote 13 of them. Some of them he emphasized mercy, some he emphasized peace, some he emphasized love. But in those books and in all other books, every book, are you listening? Every book starts out with grace and every book of those 13 books ends with grace. The beginning of every one of Paul's books: "Grace to you." And when it comes to the conclusion of that book: "Grace with you." Friend, if you have kindness in your life, you're going to be a beautiful person, every bit as beautiful as this word grace is.

Let me explain what the word grace means. It simply means God's favor: undeserved, unearned, and unrepayable. Okay, there it is on the screen. I want you to read this. This is the definition of this word that we're going to be talking about in this message today. In unison, let's read it together. "God's favor: unearned, undeserved, unrepayable." You and I didn't deserve it. There's nothing we could have done or that we did do to earn it. And now that we have it, we can't repay God for such kindness as that. God is such a wonderful God, a good God, a great God.

Now, let's continue this definition. Would you put that on the screen for me, please? All right, read that first sentence together in unison. "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more." Let's go to the next one. "There is nothing we can do to make God love us less." You are loved with an everlasting love. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

A number of years ago, you may have heard of the man's name, Dr. Karl Barth. I'm sure every pastor and every Bible teacher and theologian can understand when I say the name Karl Barth. Karl Barth went to the University of Chicago and all of the scholars gathered around him for a conference and all the students of divinity. What a privilege it was to be in a room with that spiritual giant and that great theologian. They were asking him many questions and one student spoke up and asked him this question. He addressed him, he said, "Dr. Barth, of all of your studies of theology, what is the most profound truth you have learned in all these years?" And without any hesitation, he immediately said, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

We want to become so deep in our theology. Friend, you can't get deeper than that. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Young and old can experience love and know the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this grace that God gives, this love that He gives, this kindness that He freely gives—and I use the word freely. There's no charge to it. Now listen, I hope everyone young and old can understand and I'm not preaching over anybody's head today.

Young and old. There's a little baby who came in here, a one-year-old, Judy Cox's little granddaughter came in here this morning, just a-waddling and a-toddling, and I picked her up and I kissed her on one cheek and then I turned her around and I kissed her on the other cheek and a little smile came. Everybody understands love. Everybody. And God came so that you and I could understand Him and He poured out His love in great measure. He didn't know how to do it any other way but to give Himself through His Son.

This love, this grace is free. There is no charge to it. Now by instinct, a lot of people feel that we've got to earn it. "Nobody wants a handout, don't give me charity." That's pride, isn't it? I guess that isn't too bad to have that kind of pride, but we don't want a gift or charity. We want to do something to earn it. But this we can't earn, we can't deserve it, and we can't repay it. It is free. Friend, what is better than free? When God gives His grace to us, He gives it freely.

Now if I were to mention the major religions of the world, you would recognize every one of them. But I'm going to start down the list. There's one major religion, they have a code of law. When you follow that code of law, you can be a part of that religion. There's another one that has a covenant. When you adhere to the covenant, now you can be part of that religion. There's another one that has an eightfold path to becoming part of that faith and then there's another one that's called the doctrine of Karma, that means doing good deeds.

But when it comes to Christianity: "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling." That's God's love. That's grace that God gives to us. Now it's free to the recipient, but it's costly to the giver. It cost God the darling of heaven, His only begotten Son. It didn't cost me a thing, but it cost God everything. Jesus gave His life. Friend, you can't give more than when you give your life and He gave all to us.

You know, the sociologists have a theory, it's called the looking glass theory. And that theory basically is this: that you become the person that the most important person in your life thinks you are. Who's the most important person in your life? What does that person think of you? Now if we knew what God truly thinks of us, we would be overwhelmed and amazed that God loves us so much even when we were yet in our sins. God cares that much for us. But it's difficult for us to get a hold of that or for that to get a hold of us, that God cares for us with an everlasting love and He is here to kiss us with grace and kindness today and to bring His blessing into our lives.

Now I'm going to conclude with a story from the Bible that clearly is an illustration of grace. It comes out of 2nd Samuel chapter 9. It's the story of Mephibosheth. That's the man's name. Some of those names in the Bible, where they got them I don't know. But I'll tell you I'm wondering sometimes about our children's names. I can't even pronounce some of our children's names today. But I learn, I'm learning. But Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul.

Now you remember that King Saul was the first king of Israel. The second king was David who wrote the Psalms. Now King Saul had a son named Jonathan. Jonathan and David became very close friends long before David became king of Israel. Well, it was Jonathan, the son of Saul, who had a son that he named Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was crippled because his nurse dropped him when he was an infant and it crippled both of his feet. He couldn't take care of himself, he couldn't work, he couldn't earn a living. He was crippled.

Now Saul was killed in battle, Jonathan was killed in battle. Mephibosheth was left. King David began to inquire. He said, "Is anybody left of the household of Saul?" And one of David's servants said, "Yes, there's a crippled man named Mephibosheth who is the son of your dear friend Jonathan, who was the son of Saul." David sent word to bring Mephibosheth in. David brought him into the palace, sat him at his table, and Mephibosheth, the rest of his life, lived in the king's palace and ate at the king's table.

Mephibosheth could give nothing back to David. He had nothing to give. He couldn't even give to himself, let alone give to David and he sat at that table with the king and ate all of those wonderful years. Crippled. Now as David began to inquire, "Is there anybody left of the household of Saul?" The Holy Spirit is inquiring and searching today to bless us and to bring God's grace into our lives. God is looking for sinners. God's not looking for nice people necessarily. He likes nice people, but He's looking for people who cannot help themselves.

Life in some way has crippled them and there are many people today who are mentally crippled, not physically. Oh, you're bright, you're intelligent, you've got good jobs, everything seems to be beautiful. But in your mind, something back there in your history—a hurt, a pain, a disappointment—has crippled you and you have been crippled in your mind all of these years. Sin is a crippler and we have carried that. We can't get rid of it no more than Mephibosheth could heal his feet. He was dropped.

Sin has done a mark on each one of us, but there is healing in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are loved and God wants to be kind to you, but you've got to come in when the Holy Spirit calls you. And I believe the Holy Spirit is calling people today, even out of this congregation. He's calling you to come so that God can put a kindness in you and put a kindness upon you and put grace into your heart. He comes to liberate us.

You may have read in the Washington Post yesterday or heard on the media that a man by the name of Mr. Harwood, who had served for 30 years in a penitentiary in Virginia for a crime he never committed. 30 years. How do you give back 30 years of a person's life? But DNA revealed that he was not the murderer and they released him and they let him go and today he's a free man. But for 30 years he lived under that condemnation and he was not guilty.

Now listen, you and I are guilty. The scripture says everyone has sinned and we have sinned even after becoming a Christian. And some of us are still carrying that and it has crippled our thinking. We're not as happy as we were before that crippledness came. Church doesn't mean as much as it used to mean. Oh, maybe we're still saved, but friend, you're crippled in your mind and only God can release you from it. You can't release yourself no more than Mr. Harwood could release himself. How many years are you going to keep carrying that sin or that grudge or that hurt? How many more years? You've carried it for years already.

But today is the day of salvation. But oh, you're too proud. Everybody will think I've done something wrong. Friend, what does God think about you? What does God think about me? That's what's important. But God is here to say "I care for you, I love you." Like I kissed that little baby today, one cheek and another cheek. Let God be good to you, but you've got to come in. The Holy Spirit is out there searching. Mephibosheth is found. Mephibosheth is brought. You're Mephibosheth today. You're living with a crippled mentality because of something back there. Oh friend, come on. Let it go, give it up, confess it to the Christ who cares for you and loves you and you will experience God's grace. It'll come into your life today.

Amen. Yes, Jesus is the center of it all. He's here to be the center of your life. Up until now, that grudge, that pain, that hurt, that disappointment, that anger has been on the throne of your heart and it has been ruling your disposition. Oh, once in a while you'll have a laugh and you have a good time when you're with the fellows or you're with the girls, but when you're with yourself, that condemnation is still there. But today you can get rid of it. He'll get rid of it for you. He'll take it away. Oh, there's going to be plenty of opportunity to get angry again as long as you're alive, we're in this world.

But you have a Lord and a Savior to love you, to walk with you, to keep you, and to keep your life filled with grace. The grace of God. Friend, what I'm talking about today you can't earn it, you can't buy it, you can't pay for it. The only thing you can do is give it up to Jesus and when you do, the blessing of God comes. Are you ready to give your heart to the Lord? Now I'm going to give an altar call to Christians who are carrying grudges and memories from the past. You can't forget it, you can't get it out of your mind.

It keeps coming back. "Oh, I've forgiven." Oh, no you haven't. You're bluffing yourself. You've hypnotized yourself into thinking it's over. It's not over as long as you can keep remembering it and keep pulling back and the pain's still there and it caused you to withdraw, then it has not been forgiven. Stop deceiving yourself. Come to the Lord today. And if you're not saved, you haven't given your heart to Christ, this is the day that God wants to love you. He loves you every day, He's loved you every day since you were born, but you didn't know it, but you can experience it today, this morning. God's grace, God's grace. Amen. Bow your heads with me, please.

Father God, isn't it amazing that I can call you Father? All your people can call you Father, just like Jesus called you Father? You're our Father through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the centerpiece of our life, the centerpiece of salvation. Jesus is the one. We come to you today. We come to you, the Holy Spirit has gotten to us. The Holy Spirit has tracked us down. We've heard something that has touched our heart. Lord, help us to come to Jesus and to receive from Jesus. Are you ready to respond to that call? Now if you don't respond, some of you need to respond.

Those who need to respond, if you don't respond, by your action you're saying that sermon was for somebody else, I didn't even need to hear it today. But that sermon was for people here, for you and for me. Will you come? I want to pray for you. I want to pray for you. Okay, here they come. Come on right now. God bless you. God bless you. If you don't know Jesus, you come. If you do know Jesus, you come. If there's a grudge, there's a hurt, there's a pain, friend, are you going to carry it for another 10 years? Give it up today by confessing it to the Lord Jesus.

This is the day the Lord has made and He made it for you. Don't miss your day of grace, your day of opportunity. Oh, blessed ones, blessed ones. Oh, how blessed you are today by coming. Heaven sees you, heaven looks into your heart, heaven comes with grace and mercy today. Now I want you to pray to the Lord. You must, I say it again, you must acknowledge that pain, that hurt, the cause, and if it's a person that has caused it, you must name that person to the Lord.

Say, "Lord, this person," and then you name that person. You have to lay it out as clearly, as honestly, as transparently—friend, you do that. God laid it all out for us, didn't He? So clear and so transparent. Okay, I'm going to pray for you. You pray now. I've just told you how to pray. I'll have to move quickly, but the other pastors will be with you following me. In the name of the Lord Jesus, may there be healing. May there be wholeness. May every crippledness of mind and heart be healed. In the name of the Lord, be healed of the crippledness of mind, body, and heart. Be healed in Jesus' name. Let the grace of God come upon you. Be blessed, be healed. Oh, may the joy of the Lord be restored. May the blessing of God come upon you. It comes upon you now in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.

Announcer: We hope that the message today, Grace, has blessed you and strengthened your faith in God. We'd like to invite you to join Pastor Jack Morris and The Healing Word family in both prayer and support of this ministry. Your prayer strengthens us and your gifts, large or small, help us extend the reach of God's word to more people who need His hope. Every gift is deeply appreciated. To stand with us today, simply visit thehealingword.com and click on the donate tab. Together we can share the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message.