The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: What God is doing is causing us to see things that perhaps we haven't seen before, to hear things that perhaps we haven't heard before. I want to hear the choir differently than I've ever heard them before.

I want to hear that sermon, the word of God differently. I don't want to just rush through, but I want to experience what God wants me to experience.

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: Called and chosen. Every one of us here today, called and chosen of the Lord. Many are called, but few are chosen. But God called us, and we responded, and he chose us. I want you to think about that today as I talk about this message.

Jesus leaves Nazareth, as I've already mentioned a few weeks ago, he goes to the river Jordan, he's baptized. After his baptism, the Spirit of God leads him into the desert to be tempted of the devil. After 40 days, he now returns to Jordan, and there he meets John the Baptist again, and he begins calling his disciples. I'm going to read John chapter 1, verse 35 and 36.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God." A disciple is a person who we might call a student, one who is a learner, one who is a follower. It's another word synonymous with the word Christian when it is applied to a follower of Jesus.

John the Baptist had disciples, he had students, he had people who he was mentoring. And now some of his disciples turned and began to follow Jesus. This was what John wanted. And when Jesus passed by that way right after the temptation in the wilderness, John said to his disciples, "Look, look, behold! Do you see what I see? Do you see him? He walks among us. He looks like everybody else, but he's not everybody else. He's the Lamb of God." And so the disciples looked. "Which one?" "That one! That one!"

Now, what God is doing is causing us to see things that perhaps we haven't seen before, to hear things that perhaps we haven't heard before. I want to hear the choir differently than I've ever heard them before. I want to hear that sermon, the word of God differently. I want to look, pause, stop, meditate. I'm here for a purpose, that something spiritual might happen to me, for I need that strength. I need that input from the Spirit of God.

I don't want to just rush through, but I want to experience what God wants me to experience. And I believe that there are those today that are going to get something very special, very, very special out of the service because Jesus is here. He's passing among us. Some of us are going to think that was just a time in the bulletin for the anthem; they sang the anthem. It was time to take the offering; they took the offering. We've done that before. It's time for the sermon. No, it's time to experience Jesus in a new way.

Oh, I would love to hear from you after the service. How did you experience Jesus differently today? Did you look with your heart? Did you see? This is a moment in time, something special God has prepared, and now he's going to give to us. Look, the Lamb of God! He's one who walks among us.

Now when he said Lamb of God, this is the one, the Lamb of God who's going to drink the cup of our sin. He's going to go into Gethsemane, and he's going to take our sin. It boggles the imagination. Every wrong thing that I've ever done or ever will do, Jesus took it willingly, accepted it, and he drank that sin into his own body in Gethsemane, into his very being.

And it began to course through his bloodstream. His bloodstream. All night long, that went through his bloodstream until he overcame. And then when he went to Calvary and his veins were opened up, a pure, holy antitoxin for sin came forth. Overcoming blood. That's why you and I can overcome anything. Did you hear what I said? You can overcome anything and be victorious in any area of your life because Jesus overcame at Calvary.

The Scripture says he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crucified for our iniquities. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. I read that and I thought, how many times have I read that? How many times have I heard that Scripture and how many times have I been unmoved by what I've heard, what I've read? He was pierced for our transgressions. I've heard that so many times. He carried my sins in his body on the cross. I know that.

Friend, does that touch you, move you, stir you in any way to know that Jesus did this for you and me that we possibly couldn't do for ourselves? And then it says he was crucified, but then it goes on to say he arose! Look, the Lamb of God! In Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, John said, "Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain." I saw a lamb looking like it had been slaughtered, run over by a car, tore up, and then standing in the center of the throne.

And here's a paradox: a lamb slain, but a lamb standing. Meaning simply, slain for the sacrifices of our sin, but he didn't remain slain. He arose and he is standing, the resurrected mighty conqueror for us to help us to overcome all of those difficulties and problems in our lives. Think of the difficulties, think of the problems, think of the challenges. And now he's not slain, he's not run over by a car and all tore up. He's a Lamb of God, resurrected in great power, and he now calls disciples to follow him.

Verse 36 says, when he saw Jesus passing by, John the Baptist when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God." When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. They began to follow Jesus, no longer John the Baptist. John the Baptist said that "I'm unworthy to unloose the sandals on his feet. I'm just his forerunner. It's not for you to stay with me; it's for you now to follow the Lord Jesus."

And the Scripture says Andrew was the first to follow Jesus. What a place in history! The very first Christian, the very first follower of Jesus. Now some of you are the very first people in your family to accept Jesus as your Savior. Some of you came from families who are Christian, your parents were Christian.

But I remember when God spoke to my heart and called me out of my family when I was 14 or 15 years old, the very first one. And then I had the privilege to reach out to my parents and to my sister and to others in my family and to lead them to the Lord. God calls. He called and Philip answered that call.

Now the second disciple, it is thought, was the one who wrote the book of John. It was none other than John who also wrote the book of Revelation. And the first thing that Andrew did—now notice this—the very first thing he did was to go get Peter, his brother, and to tell him, "We have found the Messiah." You see, friends, when something so tremendous, so wonderful, so cataclysmic happens when you become a Christian, that's not just joining the church or being baptized or taking communion, although those are wonderful things and every Christian should do those things.

But when you have an experience, I mean a true, life-changing, born-again experience with the Lord, you have to share it. I mean, you're going to explode if you don't. It's just there within you. You have to. Now notice Andrew couldn't hold it in to himself. He just couldn't hold it in. He had to share it. Now if you can live without sharing your testimony, the chances are you don't have a testimony. I don't think you heard that one, did you? You did. Okay. But if you have a testimony, you have to share it.

Andrew spent at least two hours with Jesus. It said it was the tenth hour, and that must have been about four o'clock in the afternoon. That means at six o'clock the new day started. So he spent two hours face-to-face with Jesus and had a transforming experience. And he goes home and he tells the Apostle who was to become the Apostle Peter, "We have found the Messiah." He didn't go home and say, "Oh, I joined the church" or "I was baptized." That would have been a wonderful testimony. But he went home and he said, "I have found the Messiah. I have found the Christ."

Now actually, in reality, Jesus found Andrew. Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you." And when I read that, I thought about God choosing me. God choosing you. Boy, he got a prize when he got me. No, he got another sinner that needed cleansing, needed saving, needed redemption. And he chose to do that for me long before I knew him and chose him. He chose me.

You think of the changes that have taken place in your life. Think about it as I go along. When Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, Peter also became so transformed that even his name was changed. His name was Simon, and then Jesus changed his name to Cephas, and we know his name as Peter. When you pronounce his name in Aramaic, it's called—we call him Cephas.

But the same name when you translate it over into Greek and call him his name, it's Peter. So he said, "Your name now is going to be Peter." It was such a transforming relationship. Now I don't know that your name has changed since Jesus saved you, but your character, your personality, these things change. Wonderful things change. I now have a spiritual appetite for spiritual things that I didn't have before, but Jesus saved me and made that happen.

Now when Jesus was talking to the disciples—now notice what happens here—Andrew gets Peter. Peter now comes and has that same experience that Andrew has. Jesus is talking to the disciples on one occasion. He had to know, Jesus had to know that these disciples actually knew who he was.

Now just about everybody in America knows the name Jesus. Just about everybody. But not everybody has a personal relationship with the man Jesus. But he says to Peter, when Peter said Jesus said, "Whom do men say that I am?" Well, Peter had that divine revelation and he speaks out very quickly, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Now Jesus says, "On this rock, I'm going to build my church." Simply meaning, "I'm going to build it right on you, Peter, and I'm going to build it on the apostles." Now the apostles also had this revelation of Jesus, and it's recorded in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. They are the foundation of the church. They laid the first teachings, they wrote the Gospels and the Epistles.

And so this is the foundation. But Jesus now says, the Apostle Paul now says, the apostles are the foundation of the church, but Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the church. Any building that's built out of stone or any building, they have cornerstones, four cornerstones. And Jesus is the cornerstone. If you pull out one of the cornerstones, the building will flop, it'll grow weak, it'll collapse. Jesus is the church.

Jesus is our cornerstone. Meaning he has given you a life and me a life in him that is never going to collapse. We haven't built on sand, we have built on the rock, Christ Jesus. You are here forever. You now are permanent. Did you get that? You are an eternal being. You're on the rock, Christ Jesus, who is now the chief cornerstone.

And now here's Jesus's response to Peter. He said, "On this rock I will build my church. I will build this that is happening here today in the Largo Community Church, and this that is happening in each individual life is the building plan of the Lord Jesus Christ." He is doing this construction work and he's doing it in you and me. And some of us, we still need some more construction work done. We're not quite complete yet.

But he's working on us and he's not going to give up on us. He's taking us; he's building us into the superstructure of the church. Now notice he said, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Was it last week I talked about the temptation of Jesus? The temptation, and how that temptation, the three broad strokes of temptation, how they come to each of us very similar, almost exactly the same way that they came to Jesus.

But now listen to this. Those of you who are tempted, who are being hurt or pressed down, the burdens of life are on you, the stresses are taking away your energy, you're here today by great effort. Listen, listen. Jesus says the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Though all hell assail me, Jesus will not fail me. The gates, we think of gates.

In ancient times, cities had gates around them, walls around them, and there were the gates. Now the gates were significant places in that city structure. At the gates of the city, that's where the council would come, the elected and the appointed officials, and that's where they would make laws for the people in that walled city. That was like what we would call today the courthouse.

The courthouse was a place—or the gates—a place of strength, a place of protection, a place of justice. And the Lord is telling us that this place of strength, this place of the strength of Hades, this walled place called hell will not be able to affect us, bring us down, destroy us. Notice it says here, "though the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

All the plots and stratagems and strength of Satan. Sometimes the thought is that the gates of the city, thinking now of Hades, the gates, if the gates of Hades were opened against you and all the demons of that place would flood out against you—think of your temptation. Is the enemy attacking you? How strong is this persecution against you?

Though the gates of Hades would open out and the troops of hell would march out and attack you, you are stronger! You have Jesus! You will not be subdued or come down. This is the message of God for God's people who are going through very difficult places. In the old Mesopotamian literature, it was thought that when a person died, their spirit would descend into the netherworld and pass through seven gates.

Friends, there is a netherworld. There is an unseen world. The enemy of our soul, Satan himself, is the principality that governs that world. And that enemy will attack the church and attack God's people in various ways to discourage, to defeat, to tear you down. But listen, when God has put you on the rock, God has established you, you will not fail.

Listen to me, you're not listening to me this morning. You will be victorious. You will be an overcomer. All the gates of Hades opening their mouths and the demons coming against you, you cannot, you will not fail because you're on the rock, Christ Jesus. Amen! I want you to think about this when you leave the church today, when you go back into that situation that is so difficult, when you're hearing about it again, when the attack is on.

The gates of Hades, Hades, the powers of death and all the satanic forces. Because why? Friend, God called you. God chose you to be his faithful servant. This is what John said, the one that wrote the book of John that we just read from. We turn now to the book of Revelation, chapter 17, verse 14. "He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers."

Read that, Revelation 17:14 with me again. "He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers." See, God has called you and me to be overcomers. He's called us to victory. He's planted our feet on the solid rock. You will not fail.

No matter how weak you feel, how trembly you feel, how anxious, how fearful, don't go by your feelings. Go by what God is saying in his word. His word will not fail; his word is there. You have been called. Called out, called out from sin in the beginning. But today, this morning, some of you need to be called out from that emotional state that you're in right now.

Called out from that fearful state that you're in, from that anxious, fearful position that you're in. The situation may not change immediately like you would like it to, but you don't have to live in that fearful state emotionally. God will help you, God will bless you, God will empower you. You will live victorious and overcoming. God has called you.

He is the Lord of lords, he is the King of kings, and with him, with him, with him... are you with him? The called, the chosen, the faithful. He has called you, he has chosen you to bless you, to cause you to be an overcomer and victorious in him.

The greatness of life is ours in Jesus. Now we're going to bow our heads in just a moment. And those of us who are experiencing these difficulties and we wonder when they're going to stop, how we're going to overcome them, will we ever get past this situation? Yes! A thousand times yes! You will overcome. You will get past it. God is with you. You're built on the rock and Jesus is the chief cornerstone, and all of Hades opening its gates against you can't stop what God has started. Amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us for today's message. We hope it has deepened your faith, renewed your trust in God, and healed your body, soul, and spirit. Before we go, we'd love to share how you can become part of The Healing Word family, growing together in Christ and sharing God's love and encouragement with others.

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