The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Prayer is that which moves the hand of God. And when we pray in faith, God honors that prayer. And it's the word of God that builds us up in the faith. But you've got to pray the prayer first, and then God's hand opens up to you, and he begins to bless and to give in a great and wonderful way.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word. 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: Let's take our Bibles. Let's hold them up. And with faith and strong conviction, let's say this is the word of God.

Guest (Male): This is the word of God.

Pastor Jack Morris: Let's bring it down, put it over our hearts. You pray this prayer after me. Father God, I thank you for your word.

Guest (Male): Father God, I thank you for your word.

Pastor Jack Morris: It's forever eternal.

Guest (Male): It's forever eternal.

Pastor Jack Morris: For my edification and spiritual growth.

Guest (Male): For my edification and spiritual growth.

Pastor Jack Morris: I give you praise and thanks.

Guest (Male): I give you praise and thanks.

Pastor Jack Morris: Open my heart to receive your word today.

Guest (Male): Open my heart to receive your word today.

Pastor Jack Morris: Give me ears to hear and a heart to receive.

Guest (Male): Give me ears to hear and a heart to receive.

Pastor Jack Morris: In Jesus' name.

Guest (Male): In Jesus' name.

Pastor Jack Morris: Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: Kingdom, power, and glory. Prayer is just about everything, is it not? Prayer is that which moves the hand of God. And when we pray in faith, God honors that prayer. And it's the word of God that builds us up in the faith. Friend, listen to me. You're already missing part of the sermon. Stick with me now because this is for you, and God is speaking because God wants to hear your prayers. But you've got to pray the prayer first, and then God's hand opens up to you, and he begins to bless and to give in a great and wonderful way.

Now this has been a and is a very short prayer. There's only about 57 or less Greek words. But this prayer covers all of life and even heaven. In 57 Greek words, all of life is covered and heaven. I had to repeat that because I was afraid you may have missed it. You see, God is concerned about life, and he's also concerned about life now and life everlasting life in heaven. Would you put on the screen the Lord's prayer? And I want you to read it. I know we pray it every Sunday morning, but I want you to read it now with me in unison.

Together. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now you notice I separated that last phrase, that last part from the upper part simply because that last phrase, thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. is not in a lot of the original manuscripts.

It was added in the second century by the early church. You see, when the early church, the early Christians went through the Lord's prayer. Now Jesus gave us all all the upper part. The church gave us for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. That last part was an addendum. It was attached. You see what happened? The early church, the early believers, when they would pray this prayer, they became so filled with joy, praise, thanksgiving. They just couldn't stop and say and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For if God does all that we've just prayed, all that is above the first part, if God does all of that, he is worthy of praise. He's worthy of thanksgiving. How can you pray a prayer and receive all of those blessings without saying thank you? Now notice how it starts out. It says our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It starts out with praise, and it ends with praise. Again, I've mentioned, and I think I've been guilty of this too, coming to God with a big list of requests. God do this. God take care of these financial needs.

God heal this person. God save that person. And the Lord is saying praise him, praise him, praise him. He is worthy of all praise. Now I I want you to keep looking at that prayer. I'm going to just briefly summarize. Notice how it starts. Our Father. That very first word I preached the whole sermon on that first word. Our. It doesn't say my father, but it is okay. A lot of times I I in my private praying, I'm praying my father. But Jesus is wanting us to know that we're part of the family of God.

It's our father. He wants us to know that we've been redeemed that we now belong to God, and we also belong to the church. When you give your hearts to Christ, you belong to the people of Christ. And he wants us to know who we belong to. We're not part of the kingdom of the world anymore. We're part of the kingdom of God. And then the next word Father. That's God's name. Father. That we all have the same dad in heaven. He's my dad. He's your dad. He's your dad. He's my dad. We are a blessed people.

Now when the early church prayed that prayer and began to think what they were praying, all of a sudden they burst forth. Let's let's keep going on. Now it says thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as in heaven. Thy kingdom come. Meaning let the will of God, the kingdom of God come into my life. I want to be a subject of that kingdom. I want God to sit upon the throne of my heart and rule and reign my in my life. Well, the early church started thinking about what God had done and how Jesus had come into their heart.

Well, they were on tiptoe praising the Lord because they're part of the citizens of heaven. Their name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You can't pray this prayer, or they couldn't at least, without all of this going through their mind. And this is exactly what Jesus would have us to remember and so much more. The kingdom to come, the will of God. The will of God is not being done in this kingdom of earth now. The will of God is not being done. This earth is being ruled by the lust of the eye, the lust of life, and the pride of life.

The reasoning and the rationale of people. But there's coming a day when he's going to rule and reign. He'll be king of kings and Lord of Lords. That's enough to make any Christian stand up and give praise to the Lord. Somebody ought to say amen. Then he says give us this day our daily bread. Simply meaning that God takes care of our physical earthly life in its entirety. Then he goes on to say and forgive us our debts. We have been forgiven. Now what God has done for us couldn't have been done anywhere else. He has done this.

We are forgiven. We are forgiven. And we also now have the power to forgive those who hurt us. And then it says and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil or from the evil one. What you see on the screen is what is in the King James version. And I like that one a whole lot. I really do. Deliver us from temptation. Friends, we're not strong enough to deliver ourselves or to keep ourselves from sin. But we know one who is. And then the early church went through all of that. They thought about it.

They prayed about it. They had to rejoice as a result of what they were praying. And then they all stood and said for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Only your kingdom, only your power, only your glory could have done all of this for me and for the church that I'm a member of, the body of Christ. Praise be to the Lord forevermore. Now friend, I want you to think about it. When we pray the Lord's prayer on Sunday morning or you pray it in your private devotions, you are part of a kingdom.

I remember several years ago, been a long time ago, Karen and I were in in England, and it was the Queen's mother's birthday. And mobs of people were around Buckingham Palace. Mobs. Thousands upon thousands. And we can only get so close because there was a big gate and it was closed. We couldn't get in. And she would come out and give that little wave at everybody. Everybody. But Jesus opened the gate to his kingdom and says come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest by taking away your transgressions and your sins.

Friend, you have to realize who you are today in Christ. Your name is in heaven in the Book of Life. The sins that would have condemned you to eternal damnation has been forgiven. You can't pray this prayer with some thought into it, with some thinking into it without ending up giving God glory and praise for what he has done. The kingdom of God now, but the kingdom of God is also future. The kingdom of God invisible now. You can't see the kingdom of God in me. I can't see it in you, only in your behavior and your talk, uh in your love that is shown.

But to just to look at a person, you can see the kingdom of God. It's invisible. But someday, when I heard that song at at at funerals, that's the only time I heard it. Soon and very soon, we're going to see the king. Remember that one? Yeah. Well, someday, soon and very soon, we're going to see the king. We're going to see the king, and the king is coming to see us. He's coming for us. Now when the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary the Virgin and told her that she was going to be the mother of our Lord, the angel told her that he would have a kingdom.

He would sit upon the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there would be no end. Now friend, there's something inside of you that will be no end. God has put eternity in your hearts. You're already part of eternity. Right now you're living in eternity. When you die, you really won't die. You'll just move out of this life into the other life in a twinkling of an eye. You won't even know when it happened. It'll happen so fast. You are part of something great and wonderful, part of something that is eternal. And this is God's mercy and God's grace to us.

Now the scripture says when the kingdom of God becomes visible and the Lord comes, we will see the greatness of God and the majesty of God in all of God's glory. The scripture says the kingdom of God of this world has become the kingdom of our Christ. And he will reign forever and ever. But let me tell you something. Before he begins reigning then, he's going to have to start reigning now in your heart. Meaning you're going to have to submit and obey and let him be king of kings and Lord of Lords. I read in the Old Testament where the elders come to the Lord and they take the crown and they put the crown at the feet of Jesus.

I read that and I thought I know it was the Holy Spirit that helped me to think it through. Holy Spirit saying before you cast your crown at his feet there, you're going to have to cast your crown at his feet here because what you are here is what you'll be there, and what you're not here, you won't be there. Friend, come on. Let's get ready for heaven. Let's get ready for that visible kingdom of God that is soon to come and coming very very soon. The scripture says in Revelation chapter 19 heaven opens and he whose name is the word of God comes forth to rule the nations.

And his name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Friend, somebody is your king and somebody is your Lord. And so it is with me. Meaning somebody is ruling your life. In most cases that somebody is me. I rule my own life. I want what I want, my own ambitions, my own goals, my own dreams. I just keep reaching for them and reaching for them and reaching for them. I need to reach for the kingdom of God, open my heart and allow the kingdom of God to reach for me. And then my life will know that joy and that peace that pass all understanding.

Power. For thine is the kingdom and thine is the power. Look at that. Isn't that something? Thine is the kingdom and thine is the power. Power belongs to the Lord. He has power to forgive my sins. He has power to make me a new creation in him. Only he can do it. Where can I get my sins forgiven down this earth? Where can I find a new life in Christ? Could I go over to Johns Hopkins Hospital and say hey, look in there. Transform my heart. Get the sin out of me. Or this is the great universities of the world.

There is but one. There is but one, and his name is Jesus. Say that with me. His name is Jesus.

Guest (Male): His name is Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now say power belongs to the Lord.

Guest (Male): Power belongs to the Lord.

Pastor Jack Morris: Power belongs to the Lord. He has the power to cancel your sin and mine and to make us brand new in him and to give us life everlasting. Power belongs to the Lord. You see, he has power to cancel my sin. He has power to give me new life. He has power to infuse me with new life. And if Jesus tarries his coming and he doesn't come soon and I die and my body goes in the grave, he has power to resurrect my body out of that grave. He resurrected his own body. And now within me and within you is resurrection power.

Now when that early church began to go through that prayer and hear all of that in their hearts and in their minds, they couldn't help but praise the Lord and give glory to God because God has done all of these things. And then the last word glory. For thine is the kingdom and the power. Oh, the power to save me, the power to keep me saved. The power to power to keep me and to lead me from temptation and from the evil one. For thine is the glory. Friend, it's time to give glory to God.

He's done for us the great and the mighty, the wonderful and the holy. Oh, look again at this prayer. Look at it. Our Father. Your kingdom. Daily bread. Forgiveness. Leading us away from temptation and from the evil one. Delivering us. Yes. Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the glory. Thine is the power. This is what God is. Oh, there's there's one more word. I've I've got this I've got to look at that one more word, and then my sermon is finished. But this prayer that Jesus taught is never finished. And I hope that you will think about it, not just pray it, but with your mind and your thoughts giving glory to the Lord.

And that one more prayer is that one more word. Amen. You see that word amen? So let it be. In the Hebrew that word simply means fixed, true, unchangeable, divine certainty. Now looking at that prayer one more time. Our. I'm in the kingdom of God. I'm in the church. The church is in me. That's fixed. That's true. That's unchangeable. That's a divine certainty. I belong to you. We belong to each other. That's forever fixed. Friend, you don't have to worry about the enemy taking you down. The only thing you have to worry about is you taking yourself down and separating you from the body of Christ.

Listen. We want God to give priority to us. We need to give a little bit of priority to the church that he said that he's building. He said I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The gates of hell are prevailing against some Christians who have forsaken the church and only acknowledge the church when it's convenient for them. And then they wonder why are things going so wrong? All of this adversity. The gates of hell are prevailing against you, but not the church. I'm getting excited. I've got to calm myself, save some of this energy for the 11:00 people.

Someone said he had me in mind when he preached that. Well, come back at 11:00. I'll have you in mind again. Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Look at it. My father. Your kingdom is for ever fixed, forever settled, unchangeable. It's a divine certainty. Our daily bread. He's going to take care of it. You've been so taken up with taking care of yourself, baby. Just baby. I don't know who you are. But maybe you have. And in so doing, you're not very far off from people who are not saved because they're taken up with all of the material and financial things of the earth.

But you're the kingdom of God. You're the people of the Lord. You belong to Christ. Give praise and thanks to him. Jesus himself is the amen. The scripture says in Revelation 3:14 these are the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. The amen. He's fixed you. You're unchangeable. God is your father. That's a divine certainty. That's what that word amen. And that's why the early church had to say for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. And then they put the amen on it.

Friend, are you able and are you willing to pray that prayer and submit to the kingdom of God? And are you willing and able to put the amen saying what I have prayed is fixed, forever settled in heaven. It's a divine certainty. And all the the powers of darkness can't change it. I have security. That's what everybody's looking for, right? Getting old age and having a good pension, security. Friend, listen to me. You're going to die and leave it all behind anyway. Lay hold to that which is eternal and everlasting.

Guest (Male): We pray that you were blessed by today's message. But before we go, are you seeking a way to start your week filled with hope and inspiration? Every Monday morning, receive a fresh devotional delivered right to your inbox to uplift your spirit and encourage you throughout the week. Pastor Jack Morris carefully crafts each message with scripture that speaks to the heart, reflections to inspire growth, and practical steps to help you live out your faith every day. These are words of hope and strength meant to meet you right where you are. Ready to begin? Just visit thehealingword.com and click the banner to sign up.

Start each week with renewed purpose, feeling connected to God and ready for what lies ahead. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.