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: Do you feel complete? Is your life fulfilled? Are you truly a happy person? I mean genuinely happy and joyous in the Lord?

Guest (Male): On today's Healing Word broadcast, Pastor Jack Morris brings a message rooted in the book of Acts, chapter 10, where we read about a pivotal moment in the early church when the Apostle Peter stood before a Gentile named Cornelius and declared that God's goodness and salvation were for everyone, not just a select few. As Pastor Jack leads us through these verses, we'll see that God wants to meet us right where we are and show his goodness in every area of our lives. Here's Pastor Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: The scripture that I have selected, I believe I've been directed by the Holy Spirit, and that is the story in the New Testament in Acts chapter 10 regarding Peter's visit to Cornelius, a man who loved God, but he really didn't know God. Cornelius loved God, but he really didn't know God. Now, I know that sounds paradoxical. It is paradoxical, but those who seek after God always find him because God is first seeking after us. And so God brings Cornelius into this wonderful relationship with himself, into the kingdom of God, into the family of God through Jesus Christ.

Peter goes to Cornelius because Cornelius was seeking. He was a searcher. Seek and you will find—isn't that what the scripture says? Now, if you're seeking this morning, you're going to find. God's going to bestow, God's going to give, but you need to seek. Cornelius was a seeker. He was a searcher. Inside of him, he intuitively knew that there was more to life, and he was reaching out for it. God did not disappoint him. God blessed him and brought goodness into his life.

Peter tells Cornelius about Jesus. You see, Jesus is the key to everything. Jesus is the key that unlocks the storehouse of God's blessing and God's favor. And Cornelius, being the man that he was, seeking God in the way that he was seeking God, seeking God to the best of his ability, seeking God in the way that he understood he should seek God, but he was not seeking God through Jesus.

And this was his problem. And Peter comes, directed by the Holy Spirit, to tell Cornelius that it is Jesus and it is through Jesus that God comes with all of his blessings. Jesus went about doing good. Everywhere he went, he did good. He healed those who were oppressed of the devil. He blessed, he forgave, he gave, and Cornelius was introduced to this wonderful Jesus, this one who was an itinerant who went about doing good, and Cornelius received the good into his life.

Cornelius had a reputation for doing good things. Cornelius was a good man. Now, this sermon this morning—let me tell you something—this sermon this morning is for the good people. I know I preach a lot of sermons trying to reach, well, "the bad people." But this sermon this morning is for the good people, those who have done good, who are good, who are living good lives, who love God. This sermon is for you. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand and identify yourself as a good person because I know every hand would go up.

Cornelius was a good man, but he didn't know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Did you hear what I said? He was a good man, but he didn't know Jesus. Now, he gave to the poor. He gave alms. He reached into his pocket and he gave his money away. Now, you've got to be good in order to give your money away, right? Most people are hoarding it, holding on to it, keeping it: "bless me, bless mine, bless those that belong to me."

But Cornelius was in a position that he could give his money away, and he did. He was a professional man. He was a centurion in the Roman army, a non-commissioned officer. He had 100 men in his charge. And so he was pretty well off. But he didn't keep it all. He wasn't frugal. He wasn't stingy. He gave. He was also a religious man. You come on, listen to me this morning. He gave his money away. He was a religious man.

He believed in God. He did not believe in a multiplicity of God. He believed in the one true God of Israel, and he prayed to that one true God of Israel. And when God spoke to Cornelius, God said this: "Your alms, your charitable gifts, and your prayers have come up before me." Listen, friends, when you do good, God takes notice. And when you are not doing good, God sees that also.

But never, never fear this: when you are blessing others, when you are doing good to others, it comes up before God. God said, "Cornelius, the gifts, the charitable gifts and the alms that you have given have come up before me." And God witnessed it. God looked upon it, and God saw this good man's heart. But Jesus wasn't in his heart, and Jesus needed to be in his heart.

This man prayed. Cornelius, your prayers have come up. I've heard your prayers. I've seen your gifts. I've seen all that you have done. Now I'm going to tell you about my gift to you, the greatest of all gifts, the gift most precious: the gift of Jesus. And so Peter comes. I want you to hold your Bible up now with me. Turn to Acts chapter 10, verse 38. I want you to hold your Bible up. Friend, listen. There are people here this morning—you're glad you're in church, and I'm glad you're in church also—but you're not going to get anything because you don't care what the Bible says.

That's right. You care, but somehow you don't think it means you, that it applies to you, that it's going to meet a need in your life. Friend, come on, take the Bible. It's God's word to you. Don't you care what God is saying to you this morning? Heaven is open. Heaven is open. When we open this book, heaven is open to us. So open this book because you're God's child. You're a good child, and God wants to do something good, but you have to let him do it.

Friend, you can either open heaven or close heaven this morning. You can do that. And God wants you to open heaven. Open your Bible. Look at this verse. Come on, stand up and read it. We have to receive this. Cornelius received the message that Peter brought to him. And when he received the message, the blessing and the glory and the favor of God came upon him. You're my people, and I want you to be blessed. I want the blessing and favor of God to come upon you. I want heaven to open before you. And when you open the word of God, God's speaking. God's talking.

Now, friends, just stand there just a moment. This is the life of Jesus in miniature. This tells the whole story in a sketchy form. This is Jesus. This is the whole story. This is the whole New Testament. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. That's it in a nutshell. That's it. And that's exactly what God desires to do for every one of us this morning, what it says here in verse 38.

Okay, you can be seated. Did you receive this? Did you receive it? How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. There was a special, and there is a special unction of power divine upon Jesus for you. Jesus is anointed for you. God anointed Jesus to do something good for you and me. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth—a divine power, a divine unction upon him to do this good.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went around—he didn't ignore the needs of people. He looked for people who had needs. And he is looking for people who have a need this morning. Do you have a need? Well, if you do, he'll do something for you. If you don't have a need—you don't go to the doctor's office when you're well, do you? Well, if you have a need, then you're a candidate for a blessing from God, and God's going to come and meet that need.

Jesus goes around and he looks for people who need healing. He looks for people who need forgiveness. He looks for people who are sad, who need to be made glad. He's looking for people who are in need today. And he has come, the same yesterday, today, and forever, to bless and to do good and to bring good into our lives. He went around looking, went around doing good. You see, that's the only thing that Jesus could do.

He's intrinsically good. He can only do good. You see, friend, listen to me. Jesus can't help himself. When you're good, you just do good. He just can't help himself. When he sees a need, he reaches out and blesses and meets that need. God is a good God. Jesus is his representative. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. And here was Cornelius, a good man. And Peter comes and introduces the good man Cornelius to another good man who is infinitely good.

And Cornelius could relate to that good man because he was a good man. And when Cornelius heard that there's another person who is good who gives good gifts, his ears perked up. That's why I'm saying I'm preaching to good people today, because good people, your ears are starting to perk up and you're starting to hear. Because you have been good and you know that Jesus does good, and he has come today to do you good, just like you have been doing good to others. Your goodness has come up before the Lord. He has witnessed the good things that you've already done. And now he says, "I want to do something back." What you've sowed, now you're going to reap it. You sowed goodness; I'm going to come now and give goodness to you. Isn't that wonderful?

Wow, just watch out. It's going to happen today. God's blessing is going to come. But here was the problem with Cornelius. He was a good man. He gave good gifts. He prayed. He believed in God. But he didn't know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, which meant simply his life was still empty. He didn't have the fulfillment there that he would like to have. He knew, he acutely knew, that there was still something missing in his life.

Now, there's a lot of good people in this world today. There really are a lot of good people. There are a lot of people who are philanthropists. They give, they bless, they give their money, they give their talent, they give their time, they give their know-how. They're out there doing favors for people all the time. They're good people. Good people, but they don't know the Lord Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. George Whitefield, that great Methodist minister of a yesteryear, was staying with a family, and they had a guest room.

And this family was so good to George Whitefield as George Whitefield preached throughout the colonies. And George Whitefield felt almost embarrassed to tell them that they needed Jesus because these people had all of the characteristics of a Christian, the personality of a Christian, but they just didn't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And George Whitefield said those people were just absolutely so good. He said one cold winter morning I was ready to leave, and he said I just couldn't bring myself to witness to them. So I took my finger on the frost on the window in my bedroom and I wrote these words: "One thing thou lackest."

There's a lot of good people in the world, but being good doesn't take anybody to heaven. Being good does not atone for sins. It does not. And so, friend, if you think your goodness is going to bring you into the kingdom of God, I want to tell you in all honesty you're mistaken. Only Jesus can bring you into the kingdom of God. Only Jesus can help you to know God and to live for God in this life and take you to heaven in the next life. Only Jesus.

And here was Cornelius, a good man who had done his very best, but his best was not quite good enough. And so God sends Peter to him to tell him about Jesus the good one. Now, when it says this, look at this verse again, verse 38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good." Who went about doing good. Say that: "who went about doing good."

Who went about doing good. That means he went about doing that which is perfect in its kind, which produces happiness and satisfaction. That's what Jesus was doing. Wherever there was incompleteness in a person's life, Jesus would make that life complete. Wherever there was emptiness, Jesus would fill the emptiness. Wherever there was a need, Jesus would meet the need. And the end result was satisfaction and happiness.

Now, only Jesus can really do that. Cornelius was a good man. He had a big family. All his family was present when Peter came, and Peter told the whole family about Jesus Christ. And when they heard, the Holy Spirit came upon them. There was the glossolalia; there was the presence of the Lord. There was the evidence of conviction that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life. And Cornelius embraced Jesus. And although he had done all this good in his life, yet he felt empty, but at that moment his life became fulfilled.

Friend, if you don't know Jesus today, if you do not know him as your personal Savior, he cares for you, he loves you, he'll forgive your sins, he'll fill your life. He's the only one that can do that. He will do that. That is the gift most precious that God will bring into our life. Now, notice some of the things that Jesus did. I want to reflect on that. He did good physically. Where there was blindness, he opened the eyes and they saw.

Where there was deafness, he opened the ears and they heard. Where there was lameness, he caused them to rise up and walk. Jesus went around doing good and meeting physical needs, moral needs, and spiritual needs. This is what Jesus did. Wherever there was a need, he just seemingly couldn't help himself. He had to reach out and to meet that need. And he did that, and he did it well. He did it fulfillingly, completely. He did it morally.

You know the story in the book of John, chapter 8, of the woman that was taken in adultery. I don't know that there's a story of the goodness of Jesus that is any more clearly written in the pages of the Holy Writ than this story of the goodness of Jesus. She was taken in the very act. The scripture says the very act. Somebody opened the door and stepped into the bedroom and saw the act. Now, there was a man involved also, but the Pharisees made sure that the man escaped.

This was a rigged situation to entrap Jesus. It was diabolical. But the woman was caught in the very act and they brought her before Jesus, and they said the law allowed them to stone her to death, but what do you say? And what did Jesus say? He said, "I don't condemn you." Now listen, you've got to listen to me now. Jesus did not condone her sex outside of the bond of holy matrimony.

I want to make it very clear that sex, intercourse, outside of marriage is a sin. It needs to be repented of, it needs to be confessed, and Jesus will forgive. But it is a sin and it breaks the law of God. But God is a good God who gives the good gift of forgiveness to those who ask. And friend, when we ask, regardless of how deep, how diabolical, how dark our sin, regardless of the depth of our sin, Jesus is a forgiving Jesus.

He will cleanse, he will wash in his blood, but you have to ask. In other words, you have to let God be good to you. And when you ask, God will forgive. But if you don't ask, if you don't repent, if you don't weep and cry over your sin—I don't know what it is today. People sin without shame. People sin and smile about it. People break the law of God and they don't feel any conviction.

Now, there is something, listen, there is something wrong. That sin will condemn your soul. That sin renders you a sinner. That sin shuts you out of heaven. Do you really realize you have yielded and followed your father the devil? You are no longer following your father God. Friend, you are a child of God. Repent and turn to the Lord and allow him to do something good in your life.

He does not condone sin; he forgives sin. Oh, I need to say it over and over. Jesus does not condone sin; he forgives sin. Listen, Jesus does not condone sin; he forgives sin. And when we ask, he will forgive. And every one of us here this morning has sinned. Every one of us. But God in mercy and in grace has been good to us. God has been good to me.

Now, this is what the Lord offers us. He says in Psalm 34, verse 8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." Oh, taste and see. Say that: "Oh, taste and see." That the Lord is good. Say it again: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." What does that mean? That means experience for yourself. See, I can taste something and I can say to Corinne, "Oh, my, that tastes good." And she smacks her lips, but she doesn't taste it.

She doesn't get the sweetness out of it. She has to taste for herself. And that is the way it is with salvation. Each of us must taste and see for ourselves that the Lord is good. And we're encouraged to do so; we're invited to do so. The scripture says in Psalm 73, verse 1, "Truly God is good." Friend, what God wants us to be this morning and to do is to be a taste tester. Taste and see that the Lord is good.