The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: When Jesus says do something, I should do it, shouldn't I? And I should do it reverently, and I should do it with worship in my heart.

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: Notice you have an outline in your bulletin. We're not going to put it on the screen, the outline, until I get to a particular verse, and then I'll call for it. But notice in verse 24: "And when He, Jesus, had given thanks..." Whenever you see the word "Eucharist," that's what "given thanks" means. Eucharist means given thanks.

When Jesus had given thanks, I am amazed that He would give thanks that He could suffer and die and go through all of the agony that He suffered and experienced. But He was thankful that He could do that for us in order to bring us into the Kingdom of God. He gave thanks, and then He broke the bread, and He said, "This is My body, which is for you." The next two words: "do this."

Do this. Now, He is telling us to do this, those of us who are Christians, who know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, who have our hearts washed away, the sins in His precious blood. He says, "do this." If you're a Christian today, and I believe you are, then you are to do this. It's not optional coming to the altar to take Holy Communion. Neither is it optional to be baptized.

These are two ordinances or two sacraments that every Christian must engage in and do with thanksgiving, even as our Lord gave thanks. Do this. This is our worship. This is the recognition that I am now a true believer, that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And so I'm going to do this because He said, "do this." When Jesus says do something, I should do it, shouldn't I? And I should do it reverently, and I should do it with worship in my heart.

No one can worship for me. No one can worship for you. You must do your own worshiping, your own confessing, your own repenting, your own service. God is looking to us as individuals to participate in His body and in His blood, in His church, and in His service. Notice Jesus said, "do this," to His disciples. They heard Him with their ears. They heard Him say, "do this."

My prayer has been, up until this very moment and including this very moment, that each of us today would hear Him call us to this altar. That we wouldn't just get up and, by rote, come down here because this is the first Sunday and we normally do this. But there would be a call, the Holy Spirit drawing us to this holy altar to worship Him, to remember His broken body and His shed blood.

Knowing that it's because of this that we're here celebrating and worshiping Him, that we have the hope of eternal life. May the Holy Spirit speak to us before we come to this altar, and may we feel a draw, a pulling, a desire to come and to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ and His victory over our sins. He said, "do this," and then He said, "in remembrance of Me."

I'm thankful that we have this time to come aside and to remember, because we get in such a hurry. Life can become so hectic. Jesus, on one occasion, said to Martha that she was so distracted by preparations. And He said to Martha, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things." I know no one in here is worried and upset about many things. We're all calm, cool, and collected today.

Martha, Martha. You know what I thought about that? I thought maybe she had reason to be a little bit distracted. Not excusing her behavior, but when she looked up and she saw Jesus and twelve other men—thirteen great, big, husky, hungry men—walking in her house for dinner. I know if I brought thirteen men home and I said, "Corinne, look who's here!" After it was all said and done, she'd say, "Next time, bring two or three at a time, but don't walk in with thirteen hungry men into the house when we're not prepared with enough food."

I could imagine this very realistic lady, Martha, looking at these thirteen men, and she had to get busy real quickly. Life sometimes springs things on us that we're not ready for or even prepared for. And we need to come aside, come apart, be quiet before the Lord, still our souls before Him, because life is just coming at us with all force and it doesn't let up. It just keeps coming, all the activities of life.

It can happen. When we come to this altar, we're to come not just to remember some historic event that took place. It's like when I would maybe go down to the Washington Monument and I would walk around it and admire it. This is not a time to admire. This is a time to worship and to remember that it cost Christ His life. And not only His life, but the suffering in order to bring us into the Kingdom of God.

There's a song, "Lead Me to Calvary." That's what the Holy Spirit is doing today. Listen to His voice today. "Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget Thine agony, lest I forget Thy love for me." Friend, it's so easy to forget. Lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid. Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow, lead me to Calvary.

"This do in remembrance of Me." We want to remember Jesus. There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved. There's only one, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. We must remember Him. He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." When you do it, verse 26 says, it's what Jesus is saying. Jesus says, "You proclaim the Lord's death."

This is what you're doing when you come to this altar today. You are proclaiming, you are announcing, you are extolling that the Lord died for me. Not rote, not academic, not historic, but this is efficacious now to cleanse me from all my sin and all my transgressions. Anything I've done wrong, I can come to this altar and know that our Lord is gracious to help me.

When He says "this do," there are many commandments in the Bible. Jesus is saying numerous things, but He never asked us to do anything but what it is for our benefit. That's the thing that sometimes we get a little confused on. We think that He's going to ask us to do something that's going to take away some pleasure, some activity, that He's going to subtract something from us and from our lives.

Anything and everything He asks us to do is a blessing to us. He doesn't need the blessing. He is blessed forever, eternally blessed. But when we do His will, it'll bounce back, it'll boomerang back, it comes back to us, everything He asks us to do. Friend, have you ever asked your daughter or your son to do something that wasn't best for them to do it?

The Lord's asking us to do something today, and that is to remember. And even now, it's sometimes difficult even in church to get the hectic out of our mind and to remember to do what the Lord has called us to do. It's a little unusual, sometimes, well, I suppose all the time, to celebrate a person's death. You don't say, "Whoopee! He died! Isn't it wonderful she died?"

We don't do that. But that's what Jesus is asking us to do. He's asking us to celebrate His death. When Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, there was a tendency to begin to remember the day of his death and to begin to put that on the calendar and to celebrate that until some wiser heads came along and said, "Hey, wait a minute. We're not going to celebrate him leaving us. We're going to celebrate his birthday, his coming to us."

That's so unusual that Jesus would say, "Celebrate My death." For it is in the dying that He took our place and He took our sins. And we are to remember His death, His burial, and His resurrection. He is known in His dying. He came for this very purpose, to die for my sins and for your sins. The scripture says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree."

He Himself. First Peter. He Himself. He didn't get a substitute. He didn't get an angel to come and do it for him. He Himself, the Son of God, came. O Holy Spirit, come to us today. Open our minds. Quicken our thoughts. Help us to understand to the best of our human ability to understand what Jesus did for us. I pray that that prayer will be answered for every one of us, that He came.

He came. Not another, but He came and He died for us. And He wants to be known to us in His dying. Jesus was a great teacher. He was the master teacher. Even His enemies said, "Never did a man speak like this man spoke." But He did not want us, or He did not ask us to remember Him for being a great teacher. He was a great healer.

He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He made the lame to walk, the blind to see. But never did He say, "Remember Me as a healer." He's the resurrection and the life. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He raised the widow's son from Nain who was dead. But He didn't say, "I want you to remember Me as one who raises the dead."

This is what He did say: "I want you to remember Me, this do in remembrance of Me." My broken body, remember it. My blood, remember it. It was for you. For you. Now notice it said, "until He comes." How long am I to do this? Until He comes. I'm never to come to this table, and I know there are churches all over the world that celebrate the Lord's Supper and Holy Communion, but they do not talk about this part.

They leave out those words. The words of Jesus, they leave out: "until He comes." He's coming again. Isn't that good news? He's coming again. That doesn't scare me at all. Matter of fact, I look up and say, "Lord, I never want to die. I want to be raptured while I'm still alive." I want to hear the trumpet sound. The dead in Christ raise, I want to see them come out.

I want to see all of that, and then I want to be caught away to be forever with the Lord. I am to keep coming to this altar and remembering His broken body and His shed blood until He comes. You see, Holy Communion does two things. It looks in two directions. It looks back to Calvary, to Him dying on the cross taking my sins. But it also looks ahead to His coming again.

This is what Jesus said. I'm going to turn over very quickly, let me see if I can find it without losing a lot of time. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins, or the forgiveness of sins."

Listen, here's the part I want you to hear. "I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom." Friend, we're going to have a great Holy Communion service someday, and Jesus Himself, Jesus Himself will be at the head of the table. And He will remember with us what He did to save us and to bring us into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is coming again. This is the good news of the church. Jesus is coming again. Now notice what it says in verse 27. I'm going to verse 27. "Therefore, whoever eats and drinks the cup, the bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner..." You mean I can do this in a wrong way? I can do this wrong? Well, I can do it in an unworthy manner.

How can I take communion in an unworthy manner? It doesn't mean that I need to feel worthy because I never come to this table feeling worthy. And there are people who will not come to the table because they don't feel worthy. Friend, if you feel that you deserve His death, that you deserve Him wearing a crown of thorns, that you deserve He took nails, if you feel that you deserve it, get out of this place.

You shouldn't be here. Certainly, you shouldn't come. But if you feel, "I don't deserve this. I'm not worthy to go to that altar," now you're ready to come. Now you're ready to come. You can come to this altar in the manner in which He wants you to come. But He says, "in an unworthy manner." Would you put on the screen the verses that I asked you to put on the screen?

Notice it said, how do we do this in a worthy manner? "A man ought to examine himself." That's what it says, right? Watch with me closely. It's for your benefit. Watch with it. This is the word of God. Let God talk to you. Is God talking to you now? Am I right with my brother or sister? Read that scripture with me from Matthew chapter 5 in unison.

Pastor Jack Morris and Congregation: Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Pastor Jack Morris: That's one of the first things I need to ask myself. You need to ask yourself: am I right with my brother? Look at this. I'm going to read from First John chapter 4, verse 20. "Anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen..." Have you seen anybody around here that you're really not close to in love with? Have you seen anybody around here that you're just not comfortable in their presence?

Have you seen anybody around here or anywhere else that you'd just rather avoid? You wish they'd go through that door so I can go through that door? You still with me? If that is the case, in the name of the Savior who died for you, please don't come to this altar. Your life may be shortened, or there may be sickness in your life or in your home that doesn't go away. This is what He says.

This is what the Bible says. Friends, let's come, not unworthily, in an unworthy manner. If you, okay, I must make it right with my brother. I must make it right with my sister. I cannot love God if I come to this altar and I get right here, right down to the front, and I remember. Notice, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember..."

Friend, don't come down here sacrilegiously, but come reverently. Come according to the word of God. Otherwise, you may, you just may drink and eat damnation to your soul. And there remember that your brother has something against you, or you have something against him or her. Friend, it's time to examine yourself. Let a man, let a woman examine himself.

If you get right here, you have the wafer in your hand, you even dip, don't put it in your mouth. If you remember that you have, take it away, wrap it in a napkin, go make things right, because you can't be right with God and not right with your brother or your sister. If I get to this altar and I remember there's a sin that I haven't confessed, go back and sit down or go over and kneel down and confess it to the Lord.

Then get up and come back to the altar. Don't come with unconfessed sin in your life. If you know you have done something contrary to the word of God where there's a guilty feeling or a conviction, then listen to it. That's the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's the voice of the Holy Spirit. And then, is my worship authentic? Have I truly worshiped in spirit and in truth?

Have I truly expressed to the Lord my thanksgiving, my worship? Have I truly honored Him for what He has done for me? Have I done that to the best of my ability? If you've done those three things and any other thing that the Holy Spirit speaks to you. This is the word of God. Let's obey. Let's listen. Let's walk according to the truth. Do you know what'll happen?

God's blessing will be upon you. He will grace your life. I'm not talking about reaching some spiritual standard of perfection. That's not what Jesus is talking about. And He's not asking us to do anything that is not within our means to do. But He's not asking, "I've got to be perfect to come down to this altar." No, just do what the Lord says.

Get right with your brother, confess your sins, worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Just be a good Christ-following man, a good Christ-following woman to the best of your ability. And if you feel that you haven't, then just say, "Lord, I haven't followed you quite like I should. Forgive me." That's all it'll take. Just like a little child would simply talk to Jesus and ask for His help.

He's not asking you to be a perfect human being. And I even hesitated to preach this today, but I must preach whatever is in the book. But I had some hesitation because I thought maybe I would make it sound as though you have to be perfect in order to come. No, everybody is welcome. Whosoever will may come. All you need to do is just love everybody.

Then you'll love the God that you haven't seen, if you love everybody that you do see. And then just confess your sins. Otherwise, you'll come and it'll be rote, it'll be ritual, it'll be meaningless. You'll go through the motions, you won't feel any joy, any happiness, any release. God wants you to experience His presence and His power in a new and living way today. Do these things. Now, I want you to look at the screen and read the conclusion with me.

Pastor Jack Morris and Congregation: Come celebrate Jesus and His love. He died to save me. He ever lives to love me. Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: Shall we pray? Father God, thank you for Your holy word that instructs us in the way of righteousness, the way of truth, the way of life. Your word. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for breathing it to us today. Lord, help me to care for Your people as You would have Your people cared for. Holy Spirit, we look to you to bring Jesus to every heart.

Now, friend, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed for just a moment, let's do what the Bible asks us to do, what the Lord asks us to do. He said, "do this." Do what? We're going to examine ourselves. Is there any wicked way, any sin, any division? This is the time to confess it, to turn away from it. And in turning away from it, we are automatically turning to Him.

Blessed be His holy name forevermore. Thank you, Father, for hearing us, hearing our confession, receiving us as a little child, as a parent would receive a little child. We're little children, Lord, in spiritual things, in spiritual matters. We come as a little child to you today, thanking you for Your grace, Your love, Your forgiveness, for making us new persons in Christ Jesus. In His name, amen.

Announcer: We hope that today's message has been a blessing and has strengthened your faith in God. But before we go, here is Pastor Jack Morris with a special invitation.

Pastor Jack Morris: I want to thank you for your past support to *The Healing Word* ministries. Your prayers and financial gifts have kept this ministry on the air. You have been a great blessing because you have a passion for souls. Friend, your prayers and generosity will take the healing word into the future where eternal souls wait, souls who need Christ, souls who need healing, need forgiveness, need His love.

I'll be frank. I can't do it without you. I need you. I love you, and I thank God for giving you to me to pray and support this ministry. Together, we're soul winners for the Lord. Please send an offering and help me with this ministry. Thank you, and God bless you. I'm Pastor Morris.

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