The Healing Word

Guest (Male): Lord, I can do some of the things you asked me to do, but to love somebody like you love me? As I have loved you, you model my life. How can I do that, Lord? Through practice, through trial and error? How can I love others like you've loved me?

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. Today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Here is Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: A number of years ago, about 45 years ago, Karin and I pastored a little church in Baltimore, Maryland. If we had 75 to 100 people on a Sunday morning, we thought we had a crowd. It was a big church, but a little tiny sanctuary.

There were two people that started attending the church. They came from Korea. The man was a medical doctor who was doing his residency in psychiatry, and his wife was a pharmacist. He could speak English fairly well, and we could understand him. But the wife could speak it only one word at a time. We'd have to say a word, wait until she caught it, then say another word.

They kept coming to the church. Then one day, the wife said to Karin, my wife—not the country—she said, "I feel love here. There is love here. I can't understand your husband's sermon. He speaks too fast." I may have preached a little faster when I was younger, but it was just about the same speed of saying the words that I'm saying now. She couldn't get it, but she said, "I feel love in this church." She kept coming because she felt love. That's a good reason to go to church: to feel love.

Why don't you turn to your neighbor? Everybody turn to your neighbor and say, "I love you." Go ahead. Hey, listen to me now. Did you really mean that? Were you telling the truth? All right, I believe you were.

That couple came to our house. We were in their home. But one day in our home, we knew the wife, the pharmacist, was a born-again believer. She truly was. When you have love in your heart and you meet another person that has love, there's a bridge. It'll connect. It'll bond. You don't have to say a word. It's there. You don't have to put it on and act it with a phony, silly little smile.

Love is consistent. Love is everlasting. Love never ends. When you can leave and turn it off for a while, then come back and put it on again, leave and turn it off, that's not love. You know what I call that? You know what the Bible calls that? Hypocrisy.

That man came to my house, the psychiatrist. I asked him, "Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?" I had a feeling that he didn't. A lot of people who say they're Christians and they go to a Christian church, and they even take communion and are baptized, yet they do not have the true love of Jesus living in their life. They really don't.

I went to a church for many years. My parents also. I didn't know Jesus, and yet I was baptized and took communion. We talked about love, but there's something more. Yes, we do need to talk about it and sing about it, but we need to do it. So I asked him, "Do you know Jesus? Have you experienced the love of Jesus?" He was honest, really honest. He said, "No." The next question was, "Would you like to?" He said, "Yes."

We knelt by our couch, that psychiatrist and myself. We prayed, and Jesus came into his heart. Now he knows the love that his wife felt in the church. Now he can come to the church and feel that same love. Friend, I want you to know today that God loves you with an everlasting love, and his love will never end. It'll abide and live in your heart forever in this life and in the life to come.

Love can be something you feel, but it can also be something that you do and you behave. The love language is the language of Jesus. He spoke it with words and he demonstrated it with his life. What he was, he always was. He wasn't hot today for God, for religion, for salvation, and then cool tomorrow. He didn't come forth and say, "I love you," and give you a big hug, and then ignore you for the next day or so. No, it was consistent.

The scripture says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Jesus is not only speaking love and talking love. The scripture says the word was made flesh. The word that he spoke, he became.

Notice what the scripture says, and I quoted it from Acts chapter 10, verse 38: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing. Doing. Love does. Love behaves. Love acts. Love is more than words and songs, though it is that. But it is also a demonstration.

When John the Baptist, who was a cousin to Jesus in the flesh, was in prison, he was soon to be beheaded for his testimony. No doubt the man became depressed. He sent one of his disciples back to Jesus and said, "Are you truly the Christ that we should look for? The Christ that was indeed going to come?" Jesus just said this. He didn't give him a yes or no answer. He said, "Just go back and tell John that the blind are made to see, the deaf are made to hear, the lepers are cleansed, the lame walk, the dead are raised."

What was Jesus saying? "I'm doing love. I'm going about doing good. Go back and tell John what you've seen. Just give him the evidence." We can say love, but let's get out there and really do it with our lives and with our hearts. Then we will truly be doing love.

The ultimate gift that Jesus gave, the ultimate love gift, was crucifixion when he gave his body to be crucified on the cross. Taking our sins, your sins and my sins. How much he loved us to take away our sin so that we could be forgiven and the guilt be taken out of our lives, that we could have peace in this life and then go to heaven in the life to come. There's nothing we could have done to persuade him to do that.

There was no argument or reasoning that could persuade him to do that. He did it while I was still a sinner, before I ever loved him. I didn't even ask him, and yet love motivated him to do the most supreme gift of all gifts. No greater love has man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends.

He gave us a new commandment in verse 34 of John 13. He said, "A new commandment I give you." What is that new commandment? Love one another. Say it again. Read it. "A new commandment I give you: love one another." What is happening here is Jesus is soon going to go back to heaven. He knew that the world needed love. He was going to go, so he was now going to leave the ministry of loving with you and me, the church.

He said, "What I was to the world, now you be Jesus to the world. Go out there and love one another as I have loved you." His mission was almost complete, and he could not leave this world without a witness. That witness was love. That's the greatest witness. A minister not very long ago, I had lunch with this minister and he asked me, "Do you ask your congregation to bring people to church?"

I thought, well, once in a while I do, but I don't do that very often. Sometimes we'll have a friendship Sunday, and I'll ask everybody to bring somebody. But they're doing it anyway without me asking them. What has happened is people in this church have experienced the love of God, and then they meet a person in a crisis experience, and they share that love with them. They invite them to come to the church, and no one has asked you to invite people to come. You're inviting them because you're reaching out in love with the love of Jesus, with the witness of Jesus. You're inviting them whether I ask you to or not.

How many have come to this church originally, even if you've been here 30 years? You came here because somebody invited you. May I just see your hands? All right, look around all over this congregation. Thank you for putting your hands up. Thank you for accepting that invitation. Thank you for coming to the Largo Community Church, the church of friendship and joy and love. Maybe we need to add that to it, don't you think? The church of friendship, joy, and love.

Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." There's a lot of professing disciples, but they're not really showing love. But if you have love one for another—and you can only have that love if you know the love of Jesus personally for yourself—but if you have love one for another, all men will know. You won't have to even tell them. They'll see it in your actions. They'll see it in your life. They'll see it in your service. They'll hear it in your words. They'll know you by your love, by the love of Jesus, if you have love one for another.

This is true evangelism, reaching out in love. We're going to come to this table in just a few minutes, and we're going to experience the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate gift of love that Jesus gave. I remember how many times when I was a boy growing up in a church where we had communion every Sunday morning. That was wonderful. But it never quite got through to me that this was Jesus' ultimate sacrifice of love. I don't know whether the minister didn't tell us or what.

But friend, I don't want you to come here just to come here today. I want everybody to come that's in this sanctuary. I want you to come to the table of the Lord. But I want you to come knowing that this is God's ultimate gift of love to you. This is God saying, "I truly love you."

Listen to what Jesus says. He says, "Love one another." Now, that's a command, and I want to obey that command. I really do. I want to obey it. But there's a saying out in Missouri, and I lived in Missouri for a few years while I was going to college. There's a saying there: "I'm from Missouri, show me." Did you ever hear that? "I'm from the show-me state." So Jesus says, "Love one another. And if you have that love, all men will know you're my disciples."

Well, I want to do it, but that's rather abstract, just to say love one another. I want to do it, but I've got a little bit of the show-me state in me. I've got a little bit of Missouri in me. I want somebody to show me how to do this. How do I truly fulfill that? Then Jesus gives this statement. He says, "Love one another as I have loved you."

That stopped me in my tracks. That just about knocked me off my feet. Lord, I can do some of the things you asked me to do, but to love somebody like you love me? As I have loved you, you model my life. How can I do that, Lord? Through practice, through trial and error? How can I love others like you've loved me? With that everlasting love, that pure love, that unadulterated love? How can I do that?

There are some things I can do. Are you listening to me? I can be sympathetic. I can be kind. I can give to charity. I can be a hero. I can do a lot of things. But to love like Jesus loves? I can't do that. I really can't. Let me tell you why. Because Jesus loved me when I was a sinner. He loved me when I didn't love him. He loved me when I was disobedient to him. Now, how am I going to love somebody that doesn't love me back? How am I going to love somebody that has treated me with ill respect? I must confess to you, I'm a pastor, but you know I meet some people I don't like. Confession is good for the soul.

Will Rogers said, "I never met a man I didn't like." Well, I'd better clarify that because you might find another pastor. I never met a man that I didn't like, but I have met some men and some women whose behaviors about them that I didn't like. The way they talked, some of the language they used, I didn't like. Some of the jokes they tell, I didn't like that. So I do love people, but there are things about people I don't like. You still with me now? All right, we both all of us have our both feet on the floor now, don't we? We're down to earth.

But Jesus said, "I want you to love them even though you don't like their ways, because I loved you when I didn't like your ways. When I was a far-off lost soul, the Lord Jesus loved me. And now the Lord is telling me to love others just as he loved me."

Here's the mission. I can only do that as I receive love. That love to love others like he loves me, it doesn't come from within. It comes from without. It comes from the heavenly world. It's altogether other and beyond. Only as I am touched by the love of God, only as I open my heart and receive the love of God, only then can I give the love of God. I cannot give what I do not have. None of us can. Only as we know his love.

Friend, if there's somebody in your life that you're having a hard time loving, remember this: God loved you when you were unlovable. He loved you when you were contrary to his word. He loved you even before you were born, knowing that you were coming. He loved you. He loved you knowing that you were going to commit sin and turn away from him. He loved you. Now, I can do that, not in my own strength or by my own power, but by his strength and by his power. I can do that. I can love even as he loves.

In a moment, I'm going to invite you to bow your heads before the Lord and ask him to renew his love in your heart. If you've been a Christian, even if you've been a Christian for many years, that experience sometimes in all of us will grow somewhat dull, and we have to continue to renew that experience. We have to keep coming back. That's why we have this table once a month.

He says, "This do in remembrance of me. In remembrance of my love. In remembrance of my salvation. In remembrance of the forgiveness that I have brought to you, this do in remembrance of me." This is a time to come back and to be renewed in love. Now, when God fills you and renews you in his love, now you're going to be able to love like Jesus loves. That person that you've been having a difficult time loving, you'll be able to love them. You'll be able to forgive them. You'll be able to embrace them.

You will. Not in your own strength, but there will be love in your heart, power in your heart. That love of Jesus will come in. It will come in silently. It will come in gently. It will come in without ostentation. That love will come in, and you will know love. You will be loved. Once you are aware, keenly aware, that you are loved, now you're going to be able to love others like Jesus loves you.

This will be a great day, a great experience, a renewal or a revival, call it what you will. The love of Jesus is being poured out even here at the Largo Community Church, the church of friendship and joy. Even here this morning, come to this table, confess and repent and say, "Lord, I have sinned. Since I have taken communion the last time, I have sinned. I've been contrary. I haven't had the experience of Jesus in certain situations."

Just open up and talk to him that way. You'll open up the channel for the love of God to come in, and it will flow in. But if you come pretending, "I'm a saint, I've been saved for years," no, don't come with an arrogance like that. Come humility, come kneeling in your heart, come seeking Jesus, and you will experience love, everlasting love, wonderful love, his love. The whole world will become bright. All right, will you bow your head with me, please?

With our heads bowed in a moment of prayer, I'm praying for honesty today in my heart and in your heart. That you and I will be honest with ourselves, and we'll be honest with God. Perhaps you have never received Jesus as your personal savior. That is personally you have not asked him to come into your heart to forgive you of your sins. You haven't confessed your sins to him. Then today, do that. You'll experience God's love. It'll happen. God's love will come in, cleansing, forgiving, renewing, taking away the past, your guilt, your condemnation. It'll be gone. You'll be a new person in the Lord.

Would you like to accept Jesus as your personal savior this morning? Would you just raise your hand? I'm going to pray for you in just a moment. Okay. Okay. Anyone else? Yes. Okay. Anybody else? Yes, okay. All right. Now, those who raise your hand, just stay seated where you are. Just stay seated, but put your hand back up and hold it for just a moment. I'm going to pray for you.

Father God, you see these hands, and behind these upraised hands, there's a heart. A heart that is now calling to you for forgiveness, for cleansing, for a new start. Today, you're going to grant that request. Bless them. Come into their heart. Fill their heart with the very love of Jesus Christ. May this be their day of salvation. Truly for them, this is the day the Lord has made. Thank you for hearing their prayer, forgiving their sins, renewing them in the faith. Thank you, dear Lord. I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may take your hands down now. Now, Christian, where are you in your faith journey? I want to pray for you. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, you want a renewal today. You want to move close to God. You want the channels to be open for the love of God to flow from heaven into your very heart. You've been a Christian for a while, but right now you're seeking him anew. With your heads bowed and eyes closed, would you raise your hand? All right, I'm going to pray for you just like I prayed for the others. Keep your hands up.

Father God, thank you for these believers. These are your children, your girls and boys, your men and women. They love you. They love you for them to make this confession today. They truly are reaching out for your love, and you're touching their hearts. I pray, Lord, that your love will come. Your love will fill them, cleanse them, renew them in the faith, that they would know and experience very keenly with an awareness of the love of God flowing into their hearts and cleansing them and blessing them.

Help them, Lord, to go forth in Jesus' name and show love, demonstrate love, talk love, but do love, not in their strength, but in the strength of him who loved us and gave himself for us. Jesus. Amen.

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