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: Can you identify with any of these lost conditions, lost in a relationship to God, lost in direction of life that you should go in, lost in being loved and and and feeling love and giving love, lost in having failed, lost in a broken relationship? Can you identify with any of those? Friends, this is life. This is how life works. Hey, anybody hearing me this morning, if you're lost, God wants you back.

Guest (Male): Do you recall a time in life when you were lost, maybe as a child in a crowded store or on the road after taking a wrong turn? On today's Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris is going to talk about being lost and what the Bible has to say about it. Let's go to today's message. Let God find you.

Pastor Jack Morris: Have you ever been lost? You took a wrong turn, you got into a strange city, on a strange highway up in Atlantic City. A little 4-year-old girl, I I think she was 4 years old. I'll call her Mary. I don't remember her name. Got lost in Atlantic City on the boardwalk where there were thousands of people. And her parents lost this little 4-year-old girl. And it came over the loud system. Has anybody found a little 4-year-old girl that answers to the name Mary? Please come to the Lost and Found. Bring her to the Lost and Found.

The parents were frantic. Who wouldn't be? Over and over, they kept announcing, they kept announcing. And then finally over the loud system, we have found a little 4-year-old girl who answers to the name Mary. Parents, please come to the Lost and Found office and pick up your daughter. Lostness is a terrible thing. Some have become lost to Christ, to God, the Gospel, to the church, to the love of God. It's easy to get lost once we get our eyes off of our heavenly parent, our heavenly father that we prayed to just a moment ago when we called him Abba father.

Jesus gives a parable of a lost sheep. And this parable was prompted by the questions and statements made by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. The scripture says, and if you have your Bible, just follow along, it says, now the tax collectors and sinners, we we pretty well know who the sinners are, but these tax collectors these tax collectors were Jewish people who were employed by the pagan Roman government to take taxes from their own people. And sometimes they abuse that privilege by exacting more tax money and pocketing it. So the Jewish people hated the Jews who were employed by the Roman government.

That's who the tax collectors were. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathered around to hear him, to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered. You ever hear somebody mutter? A mutter, that means they they talked low enough. You could hear their voices, but you couldn't distinguish their words. You know, mutter. If you have something to say, say it. Don't mutter, you know. Let's hear it. That way then we can do something about it. Well, these people were muttering. And this is what they were muttering. This man, Jesus, welcomes sinners and eats with them.

Now this eating with him is more than just a simple association. It indicates acceptance and recognition. Listen, I'm so glad that Jesus eats with sinners, recognizes sinners, welcomes sinners. If he didn't, I would be left out and so would you. But for his grace and for his mercy, we give thanks. Now there are four key words in this parable. Jesus talked about the sheep that was lost, the shepherd that left the 99 and went after the and found that sheep and brought that sheep home amidst rejoicing. There are four key words that I'm going to call your attention to.

And I pray that you will listen, identify, be blessed, and made complete today. The four key words are lost, go after, until he find, and joy. Now what does it mean to be lost in the way that Jesus is talking about lostness here today? There are It's not like the little girl Mary up at Atlantic City where she was physically lost. These are the lost dimensions the of our life. And there are at least five lost dimensions. Now in the name of the Lord, listen and see if you can identify because if you can identify, you will be blessed and healed.

Blessed and healed today, right now. But if you can identify, then hopefully it'll just be a good sermon. But it'll be a healing sermon. He sent his word and healed them. And may the Holy Spirit send his word into our hearts today and we will be able to identify lostness, the five lost dimensions. Lostness, the first lostness is our relationship to the Lord. There have been those who have never had a relationship. They've never experienced God's love. They've never experienced his forgiveness. And then there are those who have experienced God's love and have experienced his forgiveness and now they have lost it.

One woman made this statement. She said, I'm not excited about being a Christian anymore. I 've just lost my excitement about being I used to be excited about being a Christian, but I'm not excited about being a Christian. Friend, you can lose what God has given. It It can just go away, but it won't go away without the Holy Spirit speaking and striving and convicting and dealing. God won't let you go easily. But listen to this. You can go and lose this blessedness of the Lord. Now this is one of the lostness that Jesus is talking about.

The scripture says the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. Things happen. Things are always happening. Things will continue to happen that will cause us or have the the effect of of of causing us to get our eyes and our affections off of Jesus. Things will happen. And we will think that perhaps this is a pasture land of a new turf that we can nibble our way into that will cause us to feel more satisfied and it will be more adventurous. And we just lose what God has so graciously given. We once had it.

We looked for happiness somewhere else and ended up losing everything. You see, everybody has a choice and a free will. Lostness, a lost relationship. There are those who are lost in direction. We We need direction in life. That There are so many alternatives, so many choices to make. And there's just a Sometime you're going down the highway and you see these bridges going over and under and around and you just there's just a maze of highways and you're trying to read the signs real quickly. You know. And sometimes we miss the turn and off we go.

And we go down a highway and you can't get turned around until you find an overpass. And sometimes it's a long time getting turned around. And some people, spiritually speaking, never get turned around. So if you are about to make decisions, and most of us are always making decisions, we can become lost in our decision making and and be lost. Jesus is talking about lostness. Listen, anybody here can identify with this one? How about lost love? This This simply Jesus is referring to lost love among people. Everybody needs to feel special to somebody. Is there anybody in your life that that you know that you really are special to that person?

Isn't that a good feeling? But there are those people who are so lonely today and they don't feel special to anybody. They don't know that anybody truly loves them. They're just out there lost in loneliness. And that's sad. Now friend, listen. Can you identify? Can you identify? If you identify with any of these five lost dimensions, you'll be healed today.

Guest (Male): We'll return to the message today following this invitation for you to check out thehealingword.com. There you'll find inspirational testimonies, messages from the word of God to empower your spiritual life and the Pray Now app that you can access to pray with Pastor Morris over a need in your life. Everything we offer on thehealingword.com is our free gift to you. So go there today and be healed. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message.

Pastor Jack Morris: How about lost and failure? Failure will put a person in a very dark place. And how many people have failed at something? They They've failed at employment. They've failed at their job. They've failed at school. They've failed failure. And now they're afraid to try again. They're just lost into that gloominess of failure and they can't can't seem to move forward anymore. They've failed at something last week, last month, last year. And they're still lost in that failure. What about a lost relationship? There's been a misunderstanding, an argument. Things have been said, cutting words. And now there's just silence with that person, sickening silence.

Lost in that silence, lost in that relationship. Can you identify with any of these lost conditions, lost in a relationship to God, lost in direction of life that you should go in, lost in being loved and and and feeling love and giving love, lost and having failed, lost in a broken relationship? Can you identify with any of those? Friends, this is life. This is how life works. And there's so much lostness. People, people everywhere, but inside there's that lonely lostness. Well, look what happened when Jesus Then Jesus told them this parable, verse three, verse four.

Here's the parable. Jesus said, suppose Now just suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. You know, God sometimes loses some of his people. And he 's now seeking to get us back. He wants us back in that love fold again. Says, does he not leave the 99 in the open field and go after? That's the second word. Go after. God wants you back if you're lost. Hey, anybody hearing me this morning? If you're lost, God wants you back. And that's why you're here this morning to God to bring you back into his love relationship.

Jesus left the 99 and he's searching for you. This is the pursuing love of God. Now Now God knows where you are. You may be lost, but he knows where you are. But he wants you to want to be found. He wants you to want him. And if you have a lost feeling today, any feeling of lostness at all in any of these five dimensions of lostness, this is nothing more than the Holy Spirit bringing this lostness to your attention. This This is God not making you to feel bad or miserable. He's just helping you to become sensitive to that area of lostness.

This area of lostness that you're becoming sensitive to is nothing more than the Holy Spirit calling you back to God. Now friend, if your life isn't moving forward and every day is a repeat of yesterday, if you're hurting, God will heal you. If you're thirsty, he'll give you the water of life to drink. If you're lonely, he'll comfort you and be that brother that that sticketh closer than a brother. And he'll bring good people into your life and companionship. If you fail, he will come and strengthen you and bless you and make you successful. Now listen, this is what God's going to do.

He's He's going to bring down the mountains. He's going to lift up the valleys. He's going to make you to walk on a level place again. It's been crooked. It's been stumbling. It's been hard. But there's a shepherd to guide you. You don't have to go groping, not when you have Jesus and Jesus has you. Now notice he said, I have found my sheep, my my sheep. The sheep belongs to him. You belong to him. You belong to God. He wants you back. You don't belong to sorrow. You don't belong to failure. You don't belong to loneliness.

But failure and loneliness and sorrow and broken relationships have reached out and captured you and imprisoned you. And you're living in that prison. But today God will release you and set you free and make you whole again. Now notice what he what he does here. He takes that sheep. He takes you, the lost one. He takes that sheep, the shepherd does, and puts it on his shoulder. Shoulder, strength. That's what shoulder is for. That's what shoulder means. That is strength. He lifts you up out of lostness. He lifts you up out of failure. He lifts you up out of that sad, sorrowful place.

Friend, don't live in the dungeon any longer. This is the day the Lord has made. This is your day. This is your day. Yes, be happy. Clap, rejoice. This is your day. To be blessed, to be healed, to be made whole in the Lord. Strength, protection, and safety. This is your day. Are you ready to come to the Lord? Are you ready to say, Lord, find me? I need your help. Come on. Let's look at the conclusion. Put it on the screen now. Come on, read it with me. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, that can be your testimony today. I once was lost and I was lost even when I came in at this church this morning in failure, in broken relationships, in a fractured relationship with God, in misunderstanding. I was lost. I once was lost. But now I'm found. I was blind. I was just a groping person, but now I see. Amen. Amen. I want you to bow your heads with me for just a moment. I'm talking to those who have lost their relationship with the Lord. You can identify with that woman who said, I've lost the excitement of being a Christian.

There's If you can identify with that one who is needing direction in your life, in your employment, in your marriage, you just need some direction. You're having a hard time putting it all together and figuring it out. Actually, you haven't been able to put it together and figure it out. You don't feel loved anymore. You don't feel special to anybody. That's a terrible place to be in. Let God love you. Let the church love you. There's people here who will love you. You failed at something. I don't know what it was, but but you just failed.

I hear people say, you know, I failed as a husband. I failed as a wife. I failed as a parent. I failed at my job. I failed at school. I failed in my finances. Friend, it can be different today. It can be different. Jesus will make it so and lift you out of failure and broken relationships. That That's not God's will. God wants to heal the church and make us truly brothers and sisters in Christ. Now friend, if I have said something today that has touched your heart, it was the Holy Spirit that said it.

If any of these five dimensions that I've mentioned spoke to you and you're in that group, one of those five, I'd like you to raise your hand. Okay. Oh, blessed be the Lord God Almighty, healing and wholeness is here today. All right, you may take your hands down. I want you to come down here with me. I love you. I'm your pastor. I want to be with you. I want to be close to you. I don't want to be on that platform. I want to be down here right with you. Come on down here with me now.

That's it. Just come right on down. Let's just form a line across here. Friends, this is the real world. And today look at the real people who are coming. But if you feel keenly touched by the Lord, you heard from heaven. God has spoken to you. Now God can't do anything until you feel it. And if you don't feel it, then the healing can't come. The forgiveness cannot come. The light bringing you out of darkness cannot come. But you're here because you feel it. You feel God. Now first, those of you that this everybody here, just bow your heads for just a moment because I just don't want people to see or be embarrassed.

If you're here because you have lost the excitement of being a Christian, your your relationship with God is fractured, or you need to come to Jesus and accept him as savior, any of those three, would you just put your hand up? Let me see. All right, put your hands down. God, I pray for these dear ones, so honest, so open, so desirous that you will find them. Let God find you today. Friend, you tell God, you whisper to God, you pray to God right now and tell him, Lord, I've just lost the excitement. He already knows you have, but tell him you have.

I've lost this excitement. My relationship has been fractured. Something has come between. I 've nibbled away into another pasture land. I'm coming home today. Jesus has found me. Hallelujah. Jesus has found me. Those of you who need direction, there's just a lot of things going on right now, too many things really. And it's just hard to decide between them all. You want to do God's will. You want to make the right choice. He'll put you into the right pasture on the right path. Raise your hand. Let me see your hand. I'll bless you. Okay, you put your hands down.

Father God, I pray for these dear ones. Lord, they love you. You love them. They're your children. They're your little ones. And life can become so confusing. And there's so many choices and so many alternatives to choose from. You're a shepherd. And a shepherd leads. And as we follow as we follow, we're going to make the right path because you you know the way. You know the path. And we're going to go down the path that you're going down. We don't have to choose. All we need to do is just choose Jesus. Hallelujah. Bless you, dear ones.

Today salvation has come to you. Now you're going to make the right choice. You whisper to the Lord right now where you are. While I'm talking and talking to others, you talk to the Lord about the direction you need. Those of you who have failed at something and you've been living in that failure for too long, it's put you in a dark place, made you to even doubt yourself to some degree. Your own self-esteem has been bashed in all of this. I want you to raise your hand. I'm going to pray for you. Oh, praise God.

Thank you, Father. You may put your hands down. Thank you, Father, for those that are coming out of failure, out of the shadow into the light of your glorious presence today. Lift them up, Lord. Put them on your shoulder of strength. There's rejoicing in heaven. The bells of heaven toll in joy today. Come out of failure. Come out of that dark place. In Jesus name, come up. Come up in resurrection. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God is here. God is blessing. This is your day. Truly this is the day the Lord has made.

You will rejoice because heaven is rejoicing in this moment.

Guest (Male): Feeling lost is a real emotion and can cause undue fear and anxiety. As we learn from the message today, God knows each one of us like a shepherd knows his sheep. And like a shepherd, he is always aware of where we're at and what we're feeling. So turn to him today and let his love encourage and guide you. Do you need Pastor Morris to pray with you about a struggle or decision you're wrestling with? The Pray Now app is available to you right now. Go to thehealingword.com. Click Pray Now and select the topic that matches your request.

Pastor Morris will provide encouragement, pray with you, and deliver a brief message on overcoming and living in victory. I also invite you to check out all the ministry resources available for you at thehealingword.com. There you can search and listen to messages that match your need and send your prayer requests directly to the pastor and he will pray for you and return an encouraging note. You'll find all these gifts waiting for you at thehealingword.com. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.