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 know that of the most important thing about you is your thoughts are your thoughts? That's the most important thing about you. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says as a man or woman thinketh in their heart, so is he or she. You are what you think, and you think what you're looking at.

Guest (Male): 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: I heard a story, and I want to tell you the story I heard. And it was about a little boy who needed eyeglasses. He had something wrong that he couldn't see clearly, and so his parents took him to the optometrist, and the optometrist fitted him up with a set of glasses. Now, the little fellows could see clearly. So, the optometrist was about to put the glasses on the little boy when the father said, "No, no, no. You you give them to me." And the optometrist closed the little case and handed it to the father, and the father handed it to the son.

Now, the father was a very stingy stingy man. He didn't like to spend money on anything, not even the family. And he handed the glasses to his wife, and he said, now, I only want you to give these to Johnny when he wants to look at something. We're looking all the time. We we're focusing. We're gazing. We're always seeing, but sometimes we don't see what we're looking at. We see it, but we miss it. But I think of you remember that trumpet player of years ago named Louis Armstrong. Yeah. I hear the older people say yes.

Uh I remember him too. Um he he sang. He had a a strange voice. It sounded like he had gravel in his throat. But no one could sing the song that I'm going to read to you now like Louis Armstrong could sing it. He was the first to record it back in 1967. That's why I say the older people here are we're remembering. The title the the title of the song is What a Wonderful World. Remember that? He had his trumpet and had his handkerchief up there and and then he sang that with all that gravel in his voice.

Listen to these words. I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky are also on the faces of people going by. I see friends shaking hands and saying, how do you do? But they're really saying, I love you. I hear babies cry and I watch them grow.

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world. I see Friend, there's some things that we need to see today. Things beautiful in our world that God created just for us to enjoy. I believe Christians should enjoy nature more than anybody else because we know the father in heaven who created it all. But there's another world that he also created. It's called heaven. It's our eternal home, our eternal world where we're going to after this world. Hey, do you know this isn't going to last forever down here?

Have you looked in the mirror lately? Hey, you're on your way out. I want to encourage you this morning. We focus every moment. The eyes look. The mind sees and focuses. Thoughts are created. Do you know that of the most important thing about you is your thoughts are your thoughts? That's the most important thing about you. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says as a man or woman thinketh in their heart, so is he or she. You are what you think, and you think what you're looking at. And you choose what you're looking at.

Every person has the power of choice. This is a God-given gift, and we make choices. All that we achieve or fail to achieve is a direct result of the way we think and focus our thoughts. Now, the mind is like a garden that needs to be cultivated, and that's what I hope to do today by the power of the Holy Spirit, to do a little bit of mind cultivating so that our thoughts will bring blessing to our lives and bring glory to the world. This world we we look, we see the beauty of God, we appreciate it.

I I love nature, and I I'm sure you do too. Every year, I've just got to go to the ocean for a few days and just sit under the umbrella and look at the waves and that that massive body of waters and look at the horizon and this few weeks ago, for the first time in several years, I was down at the ocean and I went in. I went swimming. I thought, hey, I still can do it, and I did it. And Corrie watched from the shore nervously. But I made it, and it was great, and it was fun.

You see, God created that for me and you. And then every couple of years, I I have to go back to the Allegheny Mountains. That's where I was born and raised in those mountains, so tall, so stately. You know, I derive strength from that, and as I ride the highway, I look down in the valley at the green pastures and the cows grazing, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. It's yours. It's mine. God has given it to us. But I want to talk about another world also. You see, there are things in this world that easily distract us.

Now, what Louis Armstrong was singing about what a wonderful world, he was talking about singing about nature and what God created. He wasn't thinking about guns and drugs and murder and racism and wars. That that's not the world that's beautiful. It's the world that God made for us to enjoy, look at, appreciate, and give thanks for. Thanking him for the ocean, the streams, the lakes, the mountains, thanking God. God is a great God. He is a giving God, and he gives his blessing to all of us. But it's it's so easily to be distracted. I I read the report that was done of a research done by Microsoft.

Microsoft did this, and I'm not making this up. Microsoft surely should know what they're talking about, right? And they came back with a report that man's, women also, attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish. Yeah, Microsoft. I don't know whether to believe it or not, but I believe most everything else Microsoft tells me. They say that and I don't know how they measured it, but they say that that the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. The attention span of a person is 8 seconds. So, every 8 seconds, I've got your mind, and every 8 seconds, I lose you somewhere out there in my sermon preaching.

So easily distracted, but then I read in verse 27 of Hebrews 11 that Moses saw something that no one else saw. He saw him who is invisible. The one that cannot be seen, Moses by faith saw him, and every person, every child of God can see Jesus or have a relationship with Jesus if they focus their attention toward Jesus. In verse 25, verse 26, and verse 27, in those three verses, we read this about Moses repeatedly. In those three verses, we it starts out by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. What is faith? It's something deep inside you that cannot be seen by an x-ray or an NRI.

I can't find it, but God created each of you and me with faith. We all have faith, and we're using it all the time. A man, an architect, he has a picture in his head of a bridge across the water. He takes pencil and paper and he draws it out. He gives it to the contractor and it's built. It all began with faith that that can be built and put across. Somebody else sees a skyscraper, Empire State Building, the Twin Towers or whatever in New York. Sees it in his mind or she sees it in her mind.

Takes pencil and paper, puts it on the drawing board. By faith, draws it out and says it can be done, and sure enough, it's done. Faith is working all the time. Why not let it work for that which is spiritual and that which is eternal and receive blessing into your life. Friend, you can believe. You're always believing, but perhaps you're only believing in the temporal, the things that are here and now that you can enjoy, hold in your hand or count. But there is a life beyond this life. And to have that life in you now brings joy and peace long after this life is is over.

But in those three verses, 25, 26, and 27, it says Moses chose to identify with the people of God. Much like you are choosing to identify with the people of God at the Largo Community Church this morning. You're here because you chose to be here. You had a reason to come, and you thought it was a good reason. And lo, here you are in the house of God. Moses was a Hebrew. He was not an Egyptian. He grew up in the palaces of Pharaoh, but when he got older, he said, I'm not one of them.

I'm one of them. He chose to identify himself with a nation of slaves. Why would anybody want to choose a nation of slaves? Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians, and Moses said, they're my people. They're my kind of people. And he made a choice. He made a choice. He exercised that power of faith, the ability to choose. And he made a choice to be with God's people. He identified with the people of God. And then it goes on to say that not only did he choose, but he rejected. You see, if you're for something, you're automatically against something.

Friend, what are you really for today's? Sometime we haven't even stopped to think it over and think about it. That's why we have membership classes here. We want people to identify with the people of God openly and and publicly. So, get in that membership class, friends. Be a Moses. Identify with God's people. The people of God are the salt of the earth. The salt of the earth is that which preserves the people of God are the light of the world. Friend, be light and be salt. Be with people who are light and salt. Be with the people of God, the people whom you are, the people of God.

Well, he chose, but in choosing, he rejected. Three things Moses rejected. He rejected power. He rejected wealth. He rejected pleasure. The listen to me. The very thing that you and I want, we want power. We want to be in control. And Moses had that that prospect. He he was the son or the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. That made Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his grandfather. Now, Moses was in line to become another Pharaoh, to become the king of Egypt. Power, the greatest, most powerful army on earth at that time. He he could make a wish, and his wish was somebody else's command, and he rejected all that power.

For those who feel like there are nobody you may feel like you're weak and inferior, and you wish, oh, I wish I had more power. I wish I could get promoted. I wish I had a stronger position. We we want power. We want power in our home. We want power on the job. We want to be in control. Moses said, hey, I'll give it all up because I see something better. Moses also gave up pleasure. He could have had a life of laughter and fun all the time. He didn't have to lift a finger to anything.

All he had was to year after year after year enjoyment, pleasure, play. Hey, don't don't you want to have some fun in life? Oh boy. It's even fun to go to church, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, fun. That's all he had, and all he at his disposal, just fun and pleasure. And then he rejected wealth. Now, listen. How don't raise your hand. If somebody were going to give you money with no strings attached, would you reject it? If you found it somewhere or if your boss offered you a raise, would you say, oh no, I don't want that.

I don't want that. He, Moses, he had it all. He had power. He had pleasure. He had wealth. And he gave it all up to identify with a nation of slaves because the slaves belonged to God, and he knew he belonged to God. He knew who he was. He knew whom he belonged to. He belonged to God. Friend, who do you belong to? Come on, think about it. I belong to myself. I belong to this day. I belong to this life. Friend, you don't belong to much. Whatever you belong to is wearing wearing out very very quickly.

Moses said, I want to belong to him. I don't see him, but yet by faith, I know he's in my heart. I know I'm one of those people. I identify with those people. They're my kind of people, and he rejected it all. And then he left Egypt. He left those opulent palaces. He left the pleasure. He left the treasure. He left it all. Friend, you can't have both. You can't have both. Moses left it all, turned his back on it, and followed the Lord. Verse 27 says he didn't fear. No, he didn't fear that he was going to be destitute, bankrupt, without food, without money.

He he didn't worry about the people he was identified with and what was going to become of them which was also going to become of him. He didn't fear. You see, in Christ, there's security. In Christ, there's there's faith. There's hope. There's love. There's joy. People today feel so insecure. How secure are you on your job? Are you guaranteed that you're not going to get a pink slip someday? You're breathing today, but friend, come on. Wise up and let God get a hold of you and you get a hold of God and you become an eternal being and enjoy this life and enjoy the life to come.

It's all yours for the receiving and for the asking. He didn't fear. And verse 27 says he persevered. You see, he made a choice. Moses did. He made a choice, and he never went back on it. He never was sorry. He never regretted that he identified with the people of God. He never went back on it. He persevered. Oh, he had problems. Of course, he did. Life is is not a bowl of cherries. It's not a cakewalk. Life can be very difficult even for Christians. But this is the difference. We have the invisible one inside us coming forth with visible power to overcome and live above.

Now, the people without Jesus, they only have their own intellect, their own strength. They can only rely on themselves or rely on a person as next to them who is just as weak and inferior as they are. Come on, get with the superior one and know life and know Jesus and life everlasting. Friend, let me ask you today, what are you looking for? Oh, I'm looking for a raise. I'm looking for a better vacation. I'm I'm I'm looking for a better spouse. What what are you looking for? You're going to maybe get what you're looking for, but I can tell you this is not going to last.

It's not going to last. There's only one lasting thing in this world, and that's Jesus and faith in him in him. Friend, you can last because you have him who is invisible living inside. Now, I wonder as I put this message together, I was wondering to myself, Jack Morris, if Jesus appeared to you visibly and you saw him, and I would love that to happen. It's never happened. I would love it to happen, but it said never happened. He's always been invisible to me. But I thought to myself, if if he made himself visible to you, would you love him more so?

And then the answer came back, I don't think I would. I don't think I would love him more so because he appeared to be visibly. Then I thought of Fanny Crosby, that songwriter and poet writer that wrote over some says it was 3,000 poems and hymns, and I read another place where it was over 8,000. She was blind from age 6 weeks old. The doctor made a mistake, and she became blind, and she never saw another thing, another human face. She didn't know red or yellow or green. She didn't know what people looked like. She could touch their face.

She was blind. She studied at the Institute for the Blind in New York, and later, she was a brilliant woman. You see, friend, she loved God, and God was real to her. She never saw a human face, and she never saw the face of Jesus. But she wrote hymns and songs. She wrote Blessed Assurance, the very song that we're going to sing at the conclusion of this service. Blessed Assurance. She wrote Safe in the Arms of Jesus. She wrote Sweet Hour of Prayer. Also many songs that she wrote, beautiful songs. And then she said this.

She said, if I had a choice, and she didn't, but she said, if I had a choice, I would still choose to be blind because I know when I die, I'm going to look upon the face of my beloved Savior. He will be the first face I've ever seen. Friend, again, what are you looking for? She was looking to see Jesus. And then she said this. She said, if I could choose to have my sight all my life long, if I could have chosen to have that, she said, I may not have written the beautiful hymns about Jesus because listen because I would see things in this world that may have distracted me.

I want you to think today real deep. What are you looking at? What are you thinking about? Who do you have your eyes on? Where are your thoughts? Focus them on Jesus. You'll sing his glory. You'll sing his hymns. You'll know him. Friend, you may think of heaven as real. You may think that heaven is not real. It does not matter what you think. I saw him who is invisible. I know whom I have believed. My faith has become the anchor of my soul, and God doesn't love me anymore than he loves you, and he doesn't love you anymore than he loves me.

God so loved the world, you and me and everyone in it, that he gave his only begotten son. Do you care that somebody gave his life for you? Have you thanked him for Jesus? He loves you. He will forgive your sins for you have sinned and I have sinned. We have all sinned, but when he confessed those sins in a split second moment of time, those sins are heard and forgiven. God's throne is open to whosoever will today. God is here. But I'm not just waiting on heaven to come. I've had a great life down here.

As I said, there've been problems and difficulties, and some have been greater and more heavy and severe than others, but I'm still here. I've had joy unspeakable, peace that is transcending, peace that only a believer in Christ knows, joy that only a believer in Christ knows. Friend, do you know what I'm talking about today? Yes, I'm no I'm not so heavenly minded that I'm no earthly good. Yes, I believe in heaven. I know there's a city for me. But right now, I can go through that problem, that difficulty, that trial, that trouble seeing him who is invisible because I know he's there.

He said he would be there. He's here today to answer your prayers and to bless your life.

Guest (Male): 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. Again, pray now at thehealingword.com.

Guest (Male): Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.