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: You're going to stand before God, and God's going to say, "What did you do with the thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, ninety years that I gave you?" You're only going to go round one time. This is it. What did you do with those abilities?

Guest (Male): Today on The Healing Word, every believer is uniquely crafted by God, not just saved by grace, but shaped with purpose. You have gifts, abilities, experiences, and passions that God intends to use for His kingdom. The question is not whether you can serve; it's whether you'll take the step to act. Let's join Pastor Morris now for today's message, "Shaped for Serving God."

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, notice it says "Shaped for Serving." It has nothing to do with physical shape. You have your bulletin. I want you to open it and look at the outline. The first thing I want you to do is to read in unison Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. Would you do that? Okay, you ready? Ephesians 2, verse 10. It's in your bulletin. You don't have to open your Bible. Just open your bulletin to the sermon outline. Together, let's read: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Now, underline the word "workmanship." You see, friends, you are a piece of work. God's work. You were made for a purpose, and that purpose was to contribute, not just consume. Regardless of how long you live on this earth, we none know how many days, months, years that we have. We only know we're here for a period of time and then we're going to go.

But the important thing is not how long you're here, but what you do while you're here. The contribution. It's not how long you live, but how you live. We need to make this contribution. It's not the duration of our life, but the donation of our life that we make. God has given each of us certain gifts, talents, skills, abilities, and He expects us to give them back to Him in dedication.

Now look at your bulletin and read with me in unison Job chapter 10, verse 8. Together let us read: "Your hands shaped me and made me." Now notice "SHAPE." S: Spiritual gifts. H: Heart. A: Abilities. P: Personality. E: Experiences. All spell SHAPE. God uniquely shaped you and me for a particular purpose.

Each of us is unique. Each of us has our own individual fingerprint and our own DNA, but each of us has a spiritual shape to be used for the honor and the glory of God. Now read with me 1 Peter 4:10, together in unison: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others." Now, this is the Word of God we're talking about this morning.

This is the Word of God. Listen, if you can sing, you need to sing. You need to be in the choir. If you can teach, you need to be in a classroom. If you can visit and comfort, you need to be out there doing it. If you can pray, and we all can do that, we need to be in prayer. But there are gifts that you and I have that we need to be giving back to the Lord.

So here it is, the fourth purpose in life. You're going to write this down. Write it down: Serve God by serving others. This is one of your purposes in life. Now, God gave us a model, and He gave us His Son. Jesus is the model. You and I are to be like Jesus. The scripture says the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Now we need to learn to serve like Jesus served.

Number one in your outline, write down the word "availability." Serving like Jesus means being available. Say that with me. Serving like Jesus means being available. In Matthew chapter 20 is a beautiful story. Jesus was walking out of Jericho. As He walked out of Jericho, there were two blind men that called out to Him, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." It's one of the most beautiful stories in the New Testament.

The beautiful thing about this is not that the man was blind, not that there was a crowd, not even that the man had faith to call out to Jesus, not even that the man had faith to know that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David. But the beautiful thing of the story—listening to me?—the beautiful thing of the story is when the man called out, here it is, the beautiful thing: Jesus stopped. That's the beautiful thing. Your prayer, your call, will stop Jesus.

Now, if you're going to serve like Jesus—listen, if you really want to be a servant of Christ—now, you can come to church for the next 20 years and just sit and soak. Sit and soak. You can come in here like getting in a hot tub, like a spiritual spa. Just come and enjoy yourself, and then get up and go home. You can do that, and I'm not going to say a word to you about it. I'll just love you and hug you as you come through the line.

But if you know that you're here because God put you here on this earth, and He put you here to do something for Him, and you have gifts and talents, but you're just sitting on your gifts and talents... friend, Jesus served. And He says to you and me, "Take up your cross and follow me." That means you and I must also serve if we're really going to fulfill our purpose. If you really want to be fulfilled and happy.

Now, some of us aren't as happy as we should be because we're not using talents, and those talents are stagnating within us, and mold is growing all around those talents. We've got to take them out and use them. But Jesus stopped. Do you know that most of His ministry of healing came about because of an interruption? Are you still with me?

You must be willing to be interrupted and stop what you're doing and start doing what He has called upon you to do, and that is to serve the person in front of you that needs serving. Most of Jesus' miracles were interrupted. The blind man, the two blind men, the lame man, the paralyzed man, the child that was dead.

Jesus was on his way to heal Jairus's daughter, and a woman with an issue of blood came through the crowd to touch the hem of His garment and interrupted Him. You know, most of us don't like interruptions, do we? We don't like that. But Jesus was willing to stop whatever He was doing to hear your prayer and mine, to hear the prayer of those two blind men and to heal them.

Now, I'm going to give you two enemies of serving God. Here are two enemies. You think about it. The first enemy that you have and I have from serving like Jesus served is—what do you think it is? Busyness. We're too busy to serve. Busyness. Do you know that I think I see some people with a big sign around their neck, hanging over their breast, with the big letters: "Do Not Disturb." We're just too busy, and that's keeping us from doing the Lord's work.

Guest (Male): The season of giving is a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives and share the love of Jesus with others. While so many are filled with joy and peace, others are struggling, facing loss, emotional challenges, and physical pain. That's why The Healing Word is here: to offer hope, encouragement, and the life-changing truth of Jesus Christ to those in need.

We love Jesus and we love you. Through your prayers and financial support, you can help us reach even more people with His healing message. Together, we can be a source of comfort and strength to those who need it most. Visit thehealingword.com to make your tax-deductible donation today. Let's end this year by spreading His blessings and sharing His love with the world. Thank you for standing with us. God bless you.

Pastor Jack Morris: To serve God is to serve God's people and to serve with gratefulness. Lord, you're giving me an opportunity. This is an opportunity to do something beautiful. Service isn't a duty; service is a delight. Say it with me: service isn't a duty. Service is a delight. Say this: service is not an obligation. Service is an opportunity.

Okay, now take your bulletin. It's in your bulletin, 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12. Read it out loud in unison. Go ahead: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service." Okay. God needs you, and God has first equipped you, and now He's asking for it back. He's asking for it back. Give it back to Him in dedication and commitment.

Number three in your outline, write down: serving like Jesus means being faithful. So number one, serving like Jesus means being available. That means interruptions; you serve when the opportunity is there. Serving like Jesus, number two, means being grateful. You're grateful for the opportunity to serve. Serving like Jesus means being faithful.

Now, what does faithful mean? Let me put it in not theological terms but just plain words. Faithful means you don't give up. You don't quit. You keep going. Listen, faithful means you don't quit in the middle of an assignment. That's exactly what it means. If Jesus had quit before He said, "It is finished"... but He stayed on the cross for you and me until it was finished. He had a job to do for God and a job to do for the lost humanity. You and me. He didn't quit.

Jesus nears the end of His ministry on this earth, and then He says to the Father, as He nears the end of His ministry in John 17:4, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work." I've completed the work, and by completing the work, brought glory to God. Now, I want to be able to say that when I go to heaven.

And because of Jesus Christ and His shed blood, I'm going to go to heaven someday. I know that. Not because of anything I've done, but because of what He has done. I'm trusting Him. And when I get to heaven, whether my life has been long or short—and it looks like it's going to be more on the long side right now—but when I get to heaven, I want to be able to say what Jesus said: "I brought you glory on earth by completing the work."

I want to be able to say that to Him. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, "Now it is required"—now notice that word "required." This serving God is not optional. If you have been bought with the blood of Jesus, now you are a love-slave to Jesus. This isn't an option. 1 Corinthians 4:2: "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

Now, I see people in this church that I admire so much, working and serving God, and they get no recognition and they never even get on the platform, not one time in a year. How about the men who help us park cars outside? How about the ushers and greeters who direct us to restrooms? You know, that's a real spiritual job, take somebody to the restroom. Some say, "I want to do something great for God." Okay, show people where the restroom is.

How about the ushers and greeters who take people to Sunday School rooms, show them a seat in the sanctuary with that smile and a handshake? How about the scout leaders and the parents who teach and transport and chaperone? How about the people who prepare communion? You know, these communion trays just don't show up on this table.

How about the people who clean the baptistry and fill the tank? How about the people who take the wet, drippy robes after a baptismal service home and wash them and iron them and bring them back again? Hey, there's a lot of people who are going to get the Master's "well done" when they get to heaven. They're unseen, unsung heroes.

Listen, friend, do you know why God brought you to the Largo Community Church? I'm going to let you in on a big, big secret right now. I want to tell you why you're here. You're here for three reasons, as I can see it, as I understand the Bible. Number one, God brought you here to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

Now, some of you had already received the Lord, but you received Him again. You came back to Him. But you came here first and foremost to establish a relationship with Jesus. The second reason you came here is that that relationship might mature and you might be discipled and developed in your spiritual life in Christ. But here's the third reason: God brought you here to serve His people.

God brought you here to serve. Again, not to sit, soak, and enjoy. But you are valuable to God and to the Largo Community Church. Now, friend, I have to close. But I want to ask you something. I want to ask you: what do you want to do with the rest of your life? Now, you can do one of two things. I want you to listen to me, young people up here on the platform also. I want you to listen to me.

You can do one of two things with your life. You can live it for yourself. You can featherbed and make life as comfortable as you can and just bless me, bless me, bless me all my life long. Or you can give your life back to Jesus, knowing that there's another life to come, that Jesus is coming soon. And that other life is the forever life.

So let me narrow it down and make it very concise. You can do one of two things with your life: you can waste it, or you can invest it. That's the decision that you have to make. Now, I pray that you'll invest your life. You might say, "Well, where's the need, Pastor?" I don't know that there's a program in this church, a ministry in this church, that doesn't have a need.

We need Sunday School teachers. We need choir members. We need ushers. We need people to help us with communion. We need people to help us with baptism. There are so many needs, and it is a shame when the house of God has all the people and all the talent and there is a need. There shouldn't be one need in God's house. God is calling for us to be faithful.

I want you to take your bulletin, look at the scripture, Matthew 25, verse 21. Matthew 25:21. Now, what happened was that one day, one day we're going to stand before God, just like this man did who had the talents. And God's going to ask us, "What did you do with the talents I gave you?" Oh, friends, the Bible is the Bible. It's the Word of God. It's not a fairy tale.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one thing in the Bible will pass away. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. You're going to stand before God, and God's going to say, "What did you do with the thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, ninety years that I gave you?" You're only going to go round one time. This is it. What did you do with those abilities? What did you do with those skills? You got a good education, what did you do with it? What did you do with your education?

Okay, read Matthew 25:21 together: "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.'" Friend, faithfulness. Good and faithful servant. You have been faithful, meaning you're loyal, constant, steadfast. And the motivation of it all has been your love for Jesus. That's your strength, that's your energy; you did it for Him.

Yesterday evening, I had no idea. I was reading my devotions and not preparing the sermon at all. But I read these words from Galatians 2:20: "The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." That just came so to me. The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And as I read on, it talks about that soon I'll stand before Him and He will present me and you faultless, pure, holy, righteous, and justified.

He will do that. He's going to walk me up to the Father. He's going to walk you up to the Almighty. And He's going to say, "Here's somebody that is pure, who is righteous, who is justified," not because he did anything or she did anything, but Jesus is going to step in front of you. When God looks at you, He's going to look at Jesus. That's who He's going to look at. And He's going to say, "Well done. Bring her into the kingdom. Bring her in. Bring him in."

Chambers says this: "How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God? We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices?" Friend, I need you as pastor of the Largo Community Church. I need you. I need faithfulness. I need dependability. Actually, I need exactly what He needs. And if you love Him as much as He loves you, you'll be there. You'll be faithful.

Do you know one time in the Philippines, the rain—I mean, one of those monsoon rains came down? I mean, it poured. The water was deep in the streets. We waded through the streets to get to the church. And here comes this one man. Now, everybody else stayed home, and I didn't blame them. I was almost wishing I'd stayed home too.

But the pastor was there, I was there, and in comes this man. Come what may—forgive my colloquialism or slang—come hell or high water, this man is here. He's dependable. You can take that to the bank. I mean, you know there are still Christians like that? And we have them right here, and I named some of the offices and places of ministry already.

But there are a whole lot more educated, talented, skilled people. Friend, give it to Jesus. Give it back to Jesus in dedication. Sitting and soaking won't count it. You'll come to the end of your life and you'll say, "Well, if I had it to do over..." Friend, you still have it to do. So do it. Give your heart to the Lord if you're not saved. If you're saved, begin developing your spiritual life and growing in the Lord.

Ask God where He wants you to be. Sometimes it's just a desire. I feel a desire. I mean, if somebody doesn't have a voice to sing, I'm not going to join the choir. But maybe I can teach. Maybe I can vacuum. Maybe I can help with a baptism. Where do you need me? I'm going to give it to Jesus. Whether it's a platform or whether it's behind the other wall where I'm not seen. Give it to Jesus. What do you have to give to Jesus? You have a lot. You're very valuable in His sight.

Guest (Male): What an inspiring word today from Pastor Morris. God didn't save us to sit still; He saved us to serve. You were created in Christ Jesus for good works, and when you offer Him what you have, God uses it in ways far greater than you could imagine. Thank you for being with us today.

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Each day includes scripture, reflection, and prayer to help you rediscover the true meaning of Christmas. It's completely free and available now. Just visit thehealingword.com and click on resources to download your copy. Let this season be filled with joy and the boundless love of Jesus. Don't miss out. Download "12 Gifts from Jesus" today. Join us for the next message in this uplifting series titled, "The Five Purposes of Life." Until then, blessings on you.