The Healing Word

Announcer: 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: Salvation comes from one source and one source alone. True joy, true happiness, true life, eternal life, one source, one source, one source alone. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Announcer: Welcome to the healing word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. As believers, we want to serve God and walk in his will. Though the path isn't always easy, today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, the title of the message is the Lord in our midst. And we're going to look at the tabernacle in the Old Testament for what the tabernacle was to Israel. Jesus Christ is to us. And we're going to be blessed as the word of God is unfolded by the Holy Spirit. We're going to be built up in the faith of the Lord. Now, first and foremost, I need to tell you that God loves you. I've told you that before you know that he does. He cares for you. He loves you. You were birthed into this world by him and for him.

Well, I might need to say that one again. You were created by God for God. He didn't create you for any other purpose. You're not a freak accident of nature. You came into this world by design, by planning, eternal, divine thought. God brought you here and you must know that. And I don't tell you that just to cause you to feel puffed up and and egotistical that you are somebody. But I tell you that so that you will know that you are somebody because of him. And knowing that, you will be humbled to give praise and to give sincere thanks to the Lord.

Now, when God birthed you, he birthed you with a plan, a wonderful plan for your life. He had specific plans for you. Just as each person has their own DNA and their own fingerprint, God has a specific plan to bring about blessing and glory to your life. The blessing and glory might be different from somebody else. But nonetheless, it will be blessing and glory. It's a wonderful specific plan that he has for you. Who will believe on him and receive him as Lord and Savior. Could you imagine anybody, any inventor creating something and then wondering why he created it?

Would that make sense? I mean, would Alexander Graham Bell make the telephone and then look at that telephone and said that's a funny looking thing. I wonder how we can use it. He had really he he don't you think he had something in mind when he made it, when he created it? I believe he did. And the the same I think of Thomas Edison. He brought light to darkness. God used him to light up our world. But you know, I think he had something in mind when he went through all of those experiments and trial and error and failure.

And finally, he succeeded. But I believe he had a plan long before he succeeded. I really believe he did. I'll just put this in about Thomas Edison. I every time I think about that man, my heart is stirred deeply. The man was a was a devout Christian. And this man who brought light to the world was slipping away in the darkness of death. He was dying and his family had gathered and the attending physician had all gathered around his bedside. And it seemed as though that he may have gone unconscious for a little while. And then he opens his eyes.

And he begins to move his mouth. His lips are moving and it appears as though he's trying to say something. This man who dispels darkness in the physical world. And the I believe it was the attending physician who was very objective about it all. The attend not a family member but attending physician puts his ear right down close to his mouth to hear what he is saying. His eyes are open. And this is what the attending physician said that he heard Thomas Edison, the man of light, say. Thomas Edison said, it's very beautiful over there.

Friend, God has a plan and a place for you in his plan. And that man who lit up our world and made the lights to shine saw a greater light, believed in that light. And he went to that city of light. That city built foursquare, the city of God. Now, can you believe that God would create you and me without a plan? I I don't believe Alexander Bell created the telephone and the phonograph without a plan. He had a plan. I don't believe Edison made the lights just come on without a plan. Now, the great inventor who created you and made you in his image.

He had a plan long before he made you. And he has a plan for you to experience and to realize. But that plan and realization of that plan can only be experienced in fellowship with him. You you can't experience the joy and the happiness and the design that God has for you separated from God. That's why so many people their lives are in a mess, absolute total confusion. Their lives are are are fraying at the edges. They're coming apart. They're trying to do it without the inventor, without the creator. It can't be done. But I pray today that the Holy Spirit will speak to you and help you to know that you are precious in his sight and that you have a plan, that he has a plan for you.

And I pray that your plan and my plan will be to connect with his plan and to know the power of his grace in our lives. Now, that's what God had for Israel, a plan. But they rebuffed his plan. Don't you forget it. You can do it too. I can do it also. We can resist God's plan and rebuff God and go our own way, try to do it ourselves and fail all along the way. But God has a plan. So I pray that you will turn your attention to God today. And as we go through this lesson and look at the tabernacle, God calling Israel back and he calls Israel to come back to him by way of the tabernacle.

They couldn't get back to him without the tabernacle and the ministry of the tabernacle. No more than you and I can get back to God and realign our life with his life but through Jesus Christ. So we have to connect with God but we have to connect through Jesus even as Israel connected with God through the tabernacle. Now, point A in your outline, write down the word purpose. God had a purpose for Israel. And we're going to look at God's purpose for Israel. And as we look at God purpose for Israel, I pray that you will consider God's purpose for you because he has a purpose, a beautiful purpose for each of us.

Now, God's purpose for Israel was first and foremost to be their God. He wanted to be their God. He wanted to bless them, keep them, protect them, provide for them, make them happy, joyous, successful. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Who's going to turn that down? Israel did. And there are a lot of people today doing the very same thing. God only has good in his plan. And how many people are rebuffing God and that goodness and ignoring it? Apathetic about it, passive. But God's plan is there. And I pray that our hearts will be open to hear and understand and receive and connect with God through Jesus Christ.

Now, that was his first plan to bless them, provide for them, protect them, do all of these things for them. The second plan he had was that the redeemer, Jesus Christ, would come through that nation. He designed Israel to be a holy nation, that a holy Savior would be born as a result of that nation. That was his plan. Now, God has a plan for the church today. We are the new Israel. We've been grafted in. Israel was a forerunner of the church to come. What Israel was, the church is. What the tabernacle was, Jesus is.

And if we will follow God plan, we will know the fulfillment of God's plan in our lives. There are so many unfulfilled people. So many today unfulfilled in their life, in their career, unfulfilled in their marriage, unfulfilled in their family. Or they're sticking together but it's not fulfilling. But today, listen to me, friends, know this that God loves you with an everlasting love. And through Jesus Christ, you can be connected with the one who put you here, birthed you here. God has a plan. And when we cooperate with him, we will know that plan. And that plan will become a reality in our lives.

Announcer: We'll be back with the conclusion of today's message in just a moment. But first, here's an invitation for you to make an impact on reaching souls with God's word.

Pastor Jack Morris: Hello, friends. I'm Pastor Jack Morris. I just want to take a moment to thank you for your prayers and your donations. In that order, prayers and donations, I need both from you. And if this ministry is to continue and I believe it's God's will for it to continue, I'm going to need your partnership more so than ever before. I thank God for you. I trust that the healing word is a blessing. Pray that God's word will go forth in mighty power for the saving of souls and for the healing of lives, emotions, and bodies. God bless you, dear one, in Jesus name.

Amen.

Announcer: If the healing word has blessed you or someone you love, we invite you to prayerfully consider pledging your financial support. Simply visit the healingword.com and click on donate now to make your tax deductible contribution. Together, let's continue to share the beautiful blessings of God's word with the world in need.

Pastor Jack Morris: Okay, number one under point A, Israel's rejection of God. Can you believe after God provided them, protected them, fed them, kept them, saved them, and then they rejected God? Can you believe it? Well, believe it. It happened and it's still happening today even among many of God's people. They're taking God's blessing and ignoring God. And friend, it it's not going to keep on that way. It just won't happen. And it didn't happen that way for Israel either. Watch Israel. There were numerous things that came into their lives, problems into the life of the people of Israel.

They became disobedient. That took them away from God. They ignored God's plan and just willfully didn't do what they knew to do. And most people today, most of us know the right thing to do. We know that already. Israel knew it but they didn't do the right thing, the thing that God wanted them to do. They were disobedient. They became wayward and they began to drift. When a person begins to drift from God, it's it's imperceptible in the beginning usually. I I don't know of anybody that ever came along and said, okay, on June the 12th, I'm going to ignore God.

Did you ever hear anybody say that? No. No, we don't say that but just gradually, gradually. All of a sudden, we start here, we get off course just a tiny little bit. But as we go along, when we get down to the end, we're way off course. And we wonder, how did I get in such a mess? How did my life end up like this? But we got off course way back there sometime. We didn't do anything real bad. We didn't commit any over it sin. We we we just became a little bit lethargic about spiritual things, thinking that oh, I can do this and I can go there and I can take care of that and I can miss here.

I'll get back on track in a few weeks. Yeah, I'll get back on track. I mean, it's it's that deception that comes into our own mind to think that we can make it without God for a little while. And uh Israel began to think those kinds of thoughts. And when they finally came to themselves, they weren't just a little bit away from God. They were in Egypt in slavery and they knew why they were there. That's the thing. Most people know why they're in the mess they're in. Most people do. We do, don't we? Uh Theresa Ware, are you here?

Where are you, Theresa? Okay, she wants to not here today but just a few weeks ago, some of us were here and we heard her testimony. And Theresa was a loyal member of the Largo Community Church, coming faithfully, bringing her son uh for quite some time. And then her mother died. And it became a real crossroads for her. She became extremely disappointed in God. And she thought, well, if God treats me that way, why should I treat him good? This was the kind of reasoning that started going through her mind. And so she drops out of church.

She stood right up here and told it, remember? Those of you were here. She said, my family went wrong. Got problems with my finances, problems with my career. She says, I knew I knew where it went wrong. I knew where I went wrong. I knew what was going on. And then she comes back to the house of the Lord and she stands up here in great humility and in great dignity. Tells us all about it. People usually know, don't they? Most of the times we know we need to serve God and to do God's will.

Well, there were a lot of things that were happening to Israel. And Israel allowed it to happen without consulting God. And they ended up in Egypt. They ended up in slavery. They ended up being abused. These are God's chosen people. This was not the plan of God for them. But they got themselves in that predicament because they just rebuffed God. They're not going to do anything real bad. We'll get it fixed later on. And they were in that terrible terrible predicament because of that attitude toward the Lord. Very gradual, very perceptive. But the thing it is, I want to tell you again, they knew what they had done.

They knew why they were enslaved. They knew why they were abused. They knew why. So God calls to Israel. His plan remains unchanged. He sends the plagues to soften Pharaoh's heart. He calls Moses to lead them out, to lead them out to a better place, a land flowing with milk and honey, a beautiful land. There there would be a pasture land. It would be a land that they would live off of that land and be blessed by it. A beautiful place, no longer abuse, no longer slavery but a beautiful land. And God called them to go forth.

And we're going to look at the map. Here's the map. Uh in this part here in Egypt is where they were. Now, there were only 75 of them that went down into Egypt. When Joseph was in Egypt, Jacob, his father, and and 70 four other people loaded their wagons and went down into Egypt. And because of a starvation uh and a great famine that was up in this land, and they they took their journey and they came down into this land. You see all of these tributaries that made the land lush for for pasturing. Now, I'm going to read Exodus 25 verses eight and nine.

God speaks to Moses and says this. Then have them make a sanctuary for me. That's God saying. Make them have a sanctuary for me. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. You see, God always has a plan. And it's a beautiful plan. And once that plan is followed, then the beauty will come out of that plan. So here here's the tabernacle. And here's the the the Holy of Holies. Here's the laver. Here's the the altar. Here's the door. Here's the desert. But you know, God can make an oasis for us even in the desert.

He can do something beautiful. Whoever you are, wherever you are, he can do it. But the thing is, friends, he wants to do it now. Why are we delaying repentance or delaying harmonizing ourselves with him? When we delay, then God delays. But the plan of God is there. Even before you were born, the great inventor had an idea and a plan for his invention. You. He put you in his likeness and his image. So God builds this tabernacle and he says, Israel must go by the way of the altar. Israel must be cleansed at the laver.

Then Israel can come into the presence of God. Jesus is the way to God. There aren't several ways to God. There aren't many ways to God. There is but one way to God, Jesus. And Jesus is open for everybody to pass through and to come through him and to enter into the very presence of the Lord. Now, on point B in your outline, as I said, write down the word tabernacle. Now, we're going to look at the location. The location is in the desert. But now, look at these flags representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

There the 12 tribes, all of them, all 12 of them listed in the scripture, they were to face the tabernacle, to face the tabernacle. Are you listening to me this morning? You've got to face Jesus. You've got to look the word of God in the face and allow the word of God to look you right in the face and then measure up to it. If we hide from the teachings of God, if we ignore the teachings of God, if we rebuff God, if we become lethargic and passive about spiritual things, friend, we're going to lose the battle.

And we're going to lose the relationship with him. Only through the tabernacle could they come into that special place. And the relation was close to the tabernacle. What that tabernacle was to them, Jesus is to us. And we sing a song, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full into his wonderful face. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. God has something more. God has something more for you, your spouse, your children. It's something that you can't give them. Oh, I know you've got a lot to give and I'm glad that you are prospering but there is life.

There is happiness. There's fulfillment and all the money in the world. Listen, what shall it profit a man or woman if they gain the whole world and give it to their children and their children end up in hell? What good? What good is it? Friend, listen to me. We need God. And God has made it so easy for us to find him and get to him. He's made it so easy. He put that tabernacle there. It's a And all the families, all the families faced the tabernacle. And my heart is is concerned at times when when when individuals or families will will face the tabernacle sometimes when it's convenient, when there's no place else to go or to do.

I can't do family altar. We have to get up. We're so rushed in the morning to get to the bus, get the kids, get the get the work. And we come home in the evening. Uh it's so late. I'll tell you, Pastor, it's so late for us to get into bed. I'll tell you, when Sunday comes, we're just almost too tired to get up but a lot of Sundays we are too tired to get up and go to church. Friend, you're getting your children educated. You're protecting your children. You're financing your children. You're doing all those wonderful things but you're too tired to give Jesus to your children.

And we need to harmonize our life. I mean, the parents need to harmonize their life because their kids can spot a hypocrite a long way off. Friend, we need Jesus. We need Jesus to be our source. Tell me, where do you really get your thrills? Where where does your family really get its kicks? That's what it's talking about. It's life comes from Jesus. And we have to so live and behave not every so many days or once in a while or when it's convenient but I mean every day our life revolving around Jesus. He's the head.

He's the source not only for the life that is to come but the head also dictates the activities of the body. That my head tells me when I can move my hands. My head tells me when I can move my feet. There are so many people and there are so much activity going on in some families that are unchristian because they've got the wrong head on. They need Jesus. Notice again, it says he is the head of the body. Salvation comes from one source and one source alone. True joy, true happiness, true life, eternal life, one source, one source, one source alone.

And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our life to overcome. Uh he is our joy and sorrow. He's our strength and weakness. He's our hope when the future looks hopeless. It's Jesus.

Announcer: We pray that you were blessed by today's message. But before we go, feeling stuck in habits or struggles that hold you back, the new ebook, God's Power for You, written by Pastor Jack Morris, is your guide to breaking free and transforming your life. This book isn't just about inspiration but real change through God's love and grace, filled with faith stories, practical steps, and biblical wisdom. You'll learn to tap into God's power to overcome obstacles and find lasting transformation. Don't let life's burdens weigh you down. With God's power for you, discover the courage, strength, and faith to live in victory.

Go to thehealingword.com and click on resources to receive your free copy today. Join us tomorrow for another healing word message. Until then, blessings on you.