The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, some of us are worrying over things, fretting over things, that if we take them to God, those things will never happen.

Guest (Male): On today's Healing Word broadcast, we're continuing a series focused on Joshua and leading the people of Israel into the promised land. Let's join Pastor Jack Morris for the introduction of today's message, possessing the promise.

Pastor Jack Morris: Hello friend. I'm Pastor Jack Morris, and in just a moment, we're going to go into the sanctuary, and I'm going to preach the second message in this series concerning Joshua and the people of God, the people of Israel, possessing the promised land. God has given us precious promises in his word. You and I also have the promise of the land of milk and honey, not the geography where Israel is now, but I'm talking about the salvation land for us through Jesus Christ and his precious blood. He gives us rest, peace, joy in that land of milk and honey, salvation land.

Friend, the promises of God are alive today, and God wants to bring the reality of his promise to your life today. Let's go into the sanctuary, hear the word of God, believe what we hear, go to heaven with that promise, and experience the reality of the fulfillment of that promise in your personal life. Let's go into the sanctuary. I was standing by a young man, and he was writing a check, and he made it payable, and then he put the figures in, then he signed the check, and after he signed the check along the perforated line, he he tore it out and threw it down toward the ground.

I thought, isn't this strange? And he watched it, and I did too as it fluttered down when it hit the the floor. He said, it didn't bounce. It's okay. It's a good check. The promises of God do not bounce. God has the resources in heaven to cover that promise. His promises are his promissory notes to us. I know a fellow one time, he he must have had a lot of money because he he wouldn't cash his checks. He kept saving them, saving them. And he said, well, when I cash them, we were real close, and I knew him very well, and and he had these checks in his house on his desk, just lying all around.

And he said, well, when I cash them, I feel like I don't have the money has gone. I don't see it anymore. And I believe that there's a lot of God's people we have a lot of promises in the book, and all of these promises are just lying around somewhere, and we're not cashing them in. Now, God has a fortune of blessings for us. And if we read those promises, there they're they've been made out to us signed by the Lord Jesus Christ in his own blood. Listen, friend, those promises are sure, and they're not going to bounce, and we're going to look at some of them today.

Some of us are living in spiritual poverty, and we are loaded with checks signed in the blood of Jesus, just waiting for us to take them to the throne of grace. And God is the bank teller that will cash them in, and you will receive an abundance of blessing. I feel like I could stop right now because I think I've said it all, but maybe there's more to be said. There is certainly more for me and you to do to get these wonderful blessings of the Lord. Now, the God wants us to turn these promises into a reality.

The Lord has has just every page is just like a checkbook. You know, I could just tear that out just tear tear that one out and and just take them to the Lord and know that he hears and answers prayer. That's how I take them to the Lord, believing and then receiving from him. He wants us to experience the fulfillment of these promises. The scripture says in 2 Peter 1:4, listen to this. God has given to us his great and precious promises. Let me say it again. God has given to us his great Though it says this, it says his very great and precious promises.

Okay, God, you gave them to me. They're not doing me any good. Why aren't they doing you any good? I'm not cashing them in. I'm not receiving the blessing. It says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, I mentioned this 2 weeks ago in my message that God's promises are yes in Jesus Christ, and we say the amen to the glory of God, simply meaning yes in Jesus Christ, that Jesus signed that check. Jesus said, I'll stand behind it. That's my signature there. I endorse that with the blood of Calvary. Now, you and I are to say the amen.

That is cash it in, and then God will be glorified. You see, God cannot be glorified if I don't believe the promise and receive the experience of the promise. God makes the promise, and if I don't do anything with it, God sits up there, and I stand down here, and nothing is happening, and God is waiting, and God is saying, I've given you the wherewithal. Take it to the throne of heaven, the bank of heaven, and receive the blessing of the Lord. Now, God made a promise to Abraham many years ago when the children of Israel stood at the brink of the Jordan River, that promise was 400 years old.

It didn't have to be that old. The children of Israel could have marched right out of Egypt right into the promised land. But when Joshua and Caleb went into the promised land and came back with a report, everybody got frightened, and they were afraid to go in, and God circled them out into the wilderness for 40 years. Now, friends, it's time to go into the promised land. We've been out there too long wandering in in desert places. Let's relieve the Lord and march into the promised land. God made that promise to Abraham. 400 years passed, then God speaks to Moses and makes the exact same promise.

Moses now leads the children of Israel right up to the promised land. There's a river of Jordan that has to be crossed. Jo- The land is on the other side of Jordan. Then Moses dies. But before Moses dies, Moses says to Joshua and to the children of Israel, the promise still stands. Abraham died. I'm going to die, but the promise does not die. You're going to Joshua, you're going to take them on across into the land. So, here it is. Here's where Joshua is commissioned. I'm going to read Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 and 2.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua Now, God said to Abraham the promise. Then God said to Moses the promise. Now, God is saying to Joshua the promise. Now, friends, he's saying a promise to you today. Whatever your need is, wherever it whatever it is, no matter how many people cash in on that promise, that promise is still there for you to receive. Now, notice my servant Moses is dead. The Lord said to Joshua the son of Mun- Moses, verse 2, Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them to the Israelites.

I'm about to give it to you. I'm going to give it to you. It's going to come from me to you. I'm going to give it to you, but you have to get ready. I wonder I wonder what we have to do to get ready to receive the promise. Some of us are still hurting. The pain is still there. The promise hasn't been answered. The prayer hasn't been answered. Let's get ready. Okay? Hey, ge- turn to your neighbor and say, let's get ready. Come on. Let's get ready. God's going to do great things for us, marvelous things, wonderful things.

I am going to tell you a story that literally happened by setting my feet down on the ground. That 42 acres next door when that came up for sale for about a million dollars and a million dollars back then was really a million dollars. That was a lot of money. The church was poor. We didn't have anything very much, very little. We had had I thought to myself, if we could just buy 5 acres 5 acres, I was thinking for parking. I knew we were we were growing. I knew God was going to bless us, and we were going to grow.

And I thought, well, if we can afford 5 acres, maybe I can buy two 2 acres. We could park a lot of cars on two. And I started looking and searching and making telephone calls, and I don't know where it was along the way, but God put it in my heart and said, 2 acres? 5 acres? Why don't you go for 42 acres? Buy the whole farm. Get the whole enchilada. Go after it. I don't know where that came from, how that came, but it came. And one Sunday Saturday morning when the men's fellowship had met after breakfast, we were leaving.

And Phil, you were there. Couple of others. Any other people in that service? Any other other men in that service? Uh, yes. Husik was there. Dwayne was there. All right. You see how the church has changed through the years uh, numbers and in people. I said to the fellas that I I I was taking this promise here, and I said, let And it was cold. Oh, the wind was blowing, and the ground was harder than cement. It was frozen over. But there was a little place where we could pull off of Enterprise Road onto that farm.

And I told the men, I said, I'm going up there and park my car, and I'm going to get out, and I'm going to stand on the land, and I'm going to claim it with my feet. And anybody would like to come along with me, please do. Now, about 15 fellas followed me. Others had other things to do. They couldn't come. I understand that. Not everybody could come. We couldn't have enough room to park it all the cars if everybody had come. So, I'm sort of glad that only 15 came, but yet at the same time, you 15 saw something that the others didn't see.

We got out of the car, and we stood there on that ground, and we said, God, give us the 42 acres. Give us that million dollars wherever it's going to come from. That was going to be a housing development over there. And we claimed it. And praise be to God, the money came in, and we got it. And it's paid for. You see, the promises of God work. Now, this was a literal walking and claiming with our feet. But there there's a blessing of God, a spiritual blessing of God that we can't walk on it.

There may be conflict, financial difficulties, whatever, but we claim it in the name of the Lord Jesus by faith on our knees, whether literally on our knees or in our heart, on our knees, we're claiming it for the Lord, believing God that God's going to come through and bless us. You see, ours is the salvation rest. We have entered into the salvation rest. Let me let me say it again. Hold that in your mind. The salvation rest. When we accepted Jesus Christ, we crossed the Jordan into the land of salvation rest. But we're only on the banks of the other side of Jordan.

We now have the whole land. We have the whole book and all the promises there to bless us, to go on in and to claim these promises and to live in victory in our hearts, in our lives. Now, I know a person that that had thought this person had cancer, and we anointed and we had prayed, and after much time passed, this person said, I have a wonderful peace in my heart, not knowing what the end result was going to be. I just have a peace in my heart. It was a it was an abnormal peace.

It was a spiritual peace. It was a a divine peace. And then after the examinations and the biopsies were all taken, the word came back, there's no cancer there. There's no cancer there. Friend, some of us are worrying over things, fretting over things, that if we take them to God, those things will never happen. Fretting over business deals, physical problems, health problems, marital problems, we can fret and fret and fret, and God is up in heaven saying, cash the check. Cash the check. Bring it to me. God is on the throne. He is the almighty.

Jesus walked into Gethsemane. There that is, walking with your feet. He walked into Gethsemane. He walked into the land of promise, but there were there were evil spirits in that land of promise called Gethsemane. He put his disciples here. He took Peter, James, and John a little further, and then he walked in a a little further further into the the the land, and there he came face to face with Satan toe to toe, face to face. The war was on. Satan bruised his heel, and when Satan bruised his heel with sweat and blood, Jesus stomped his head and said, you are powerless over the salvation of my people.

I'm going to redeem them. I'm going to save them. They're going to be my people. Friend, you belong to God. Oh, I I need to call out to the top of my voice with with a clarion voice. You belong to God. You are not orphans and paupers. No, you are rich with the heavenly blessings of God, ready to be poured out upon you, and God's ready to bless you and to minister to you. Now, I I know that some of you have heard my story about the land repeatedly. You've heard it over and over. I'm mo- You may be getting nauseated hearing it again.

But let me let me say something, friend. That's an experience I'll never forget. Do you think the children of Israel ever stopped talking about the opening of the Red Sea? Do you think they did that? Of course not. They couldn't help it but talk about it and repeat it and and over and over again to themselves and to their children, to their grandchildren, to their great grandchildren. Friend, I'm going to keep telling that story, and if you're tired of listening to it, maybe I'll let you know next time I'm going to tell it again so you can stay home.

But that's a story. That's my story. That's your story. That's the story of the Largo Community Church, a miracle church, a church that prays and believes, and God answers our prayers and does great and mighty things for us. I just wonder what God's going to do for you. There there's something beautiful going to happen to you. Something beautiful is going to happen to you. I just know it. I believe it. So, we've gone into this land of salvation rest. That fretting, that worrying, that tossing, there was sleepless nights on and on it goes. You're in the land of salvation rest.

You know, you you you get up in the morning, you you have to fight the traffic to get to work, and then you work with people you don't like and they don't like you, and then you get back in that traffic and you come home again and and you just get your meal ready and and then it's 9:00 and 10:00 you got to go to bed only to get up and get back in that traffic and go back there to people you don't like and who don't like you and on and on. What a life.

What a life. You don't know what I'm talking about. But you know what? God's not going to change the traffic pattern. And God perhaps will not change the people you work with. But let me tell you somebody he can change and will change. Do you know who that somebody is? He will give you a peace that transcends all understanding because ha, you're in the land of salvation. You're in the land of salvation rest, and you can rest. You can be at peace. You can know God's wonderful peace. Someone says, can you explain? No, it's beyond explanation.

It's divine. It's something not of this world. It's coming in from the other world, the world where my citizenship is. I'm a child of God. I'm in the land of salvation rest. Sometimes God's people fail at something. They fail at their marriage. They fail at their career. They they fail being Christ-like in a particular situation. Then they think to themselves, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have thought that. I shouldn't have said that. I thought I was a Christian, and and I have so disappointed myself, and I know I've disappointed God. Now, friend, let me tell you something.

He's a forgiving God. He's a forgiving God. He will bless, he will forgive, and he will restore. He'll bring you back to where you were and take you even beyond that. And you'll know his power and his presence like never before. God will do this, and he will bless. Can you say praise the Lord? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. He's worthy to be praised. Now, notice this. We are standing on the promises. God wants us now to move into those promises, not just stand there on them, but to move into them.

Go claim them. Go cash that check. Friend, when you pray, that prayer won't bounce. God will hear that prayer, and he'll move heaven and earth because you are his kids. He loves you. The royal blood of Jesus flows in your veins. Your name is written in heaven. Jesus went into the garden, and he fought the battle. You don't have to keep fighting anymore. You don't have to get the stomp the serpent's head. Jesus already did that for you. You now have to claim the promise and move into the promise, living in the promise. You know, when you live in the promise, God makes us strong.

Now, this is this is what God said to Joshua in what Moses said to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31. I preached this 2 weeks ago, verse 6, and this is my verse. I'm claiming this verse for myself for you you need to claim this one or another one for this new year. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of them or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Now, I wrote that on a little 3 x 5 card. When I take my wallet out and put it on the dresser in the evening, that little card is either on that on that wallet or beside it.

You see what I'm doing. I'm claiming the blessing of God for me. I'm not going to be cheated out of this. That's God's promise. And I've got it in my heart, and I've got it on a 3 x 5 card. And when I walk by that dresser, sometimes I just stop and pick it up and read it. Put it down. I can quote it, but I'll read it. Let my eyes rest upon it. I know God's going to take care of me. And I want you to know you are important. There's no one more important to God than you are, and he's going to take care of you and bless you, his presence.

Guest (Male): God's word is alive, and it contains the life-giving promises that are as relevant today as they were when the people of Israel first received them. Friend, God is alive, and he wants to come to you and bless you, provide for you, and meet your every need. God is great, a wonderful God. Go to him today and invite him into your situation. If today's message strengthened your faith, we invite you to stand with the Healing Word through your prayers and your generous support. Every gift helps us take the gospel to more people who desperately need to hear that Jesus still saves.