The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: I wonder today, I truly do wonder with all my heart, how many of us are here who are ready to say, "Lord, I give you my heart?" How many times I've said that, and how many times maybe we have done that, but we give him the crumbs. We give him the leftovers—leftover time, leftover money, leftover energy, leftover years. I have blessed myself with my time, my money, and my years, and I give him the crumbs. And yet I say, "I give you my heart."

Guest (Male): The grave is not the end of the story. Today, Pastor Jack Morris is here and brings a message of tremendous hope titled, "The Resurrection of the Dead." We'll learn what scripture says about the future resurrection and why every believer can face eternity with confidence through Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jack Morris: I'm going to talk about life after death, the resurrection of the dead. The scripture clearly teaches that we're all going to die, but it also teaches other things, things that are going to happen after death. God shares these wonderful eternal secrets with us, and for that, we are grateful that we are not in darkness and without hope as others. But we have Christ. We have hope.

I'm very much aware that there are those who do not have Christ and who do not have hope. My prayer and your prayer must be as people of God that people would come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. There is no other way into the Kingdom of God. There's no other way to go to heaven when we die but through Jesus.

Those of us who have given our hearts to him, we've done so because he came to us and spoke to us, and we heard his voice inside us calling us, pulling us, drawing us to himself. We gave our hearts to him. We made a choice to receive him, and he brought us into his family, forgave our sins, and this morning, we're children of God.

It is appointed unto man once to die. None know how long we're going to live in this life, and when we die, our bodies will go into the ground, but our spirit goes to be with the Lord. Even though our bodies are in the earth, our spirit, our consciousness will be with the Lord. Will we remember things in this life? Absolutely. You'll have a clear memory of everything you did and everything you didn't do.

Nothing will block your memory. You'll know who you are, you'll know where you are, you'll know who you're with, just like you know where you are this morning and who you're with this morning. Your body will be in the ground. Those people that we've taken to the cemetery, their bodies are in the ground, but if they died a Christian, their spirit is with Christ right now. There is going to be a future resurrection, but their spirit and their knowledge and their consciousness and their memory and their desires, their cognitions, they're all with Christ right now.

They are what the Bible refers to as disembodied spirits. They have a body that is visible, but yet it is not the body that went into the ground. The body that went into the ground, the Bible says, is going to come out of the ground. This is what the Bible teaches, and I believe the Word of God is truth and trustworthy, and we can follow it.

There are a couple of things I just need to make clear in the very beginning. Either we know Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, or we do not know Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Either we're saved, or we're not saved. Either we're a Christian, or we're not a Christian. Either we're a believer, or we're not a believer. Now, you're in one of those camps this morning. I'm in one of those camps. Everybody is in one of those camps. Either we are, or we are not.

If we are, we are indeed a blessed people. If we are not, then we're in a sad state, and we don't need to be in that sad state because all people can be blessed and in Christ simply by choosing to be blessed and be in Christ, by accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. And when we're in Christ, that means we know Christ and Christ knows us.

In John chapter 10, verse 14, we read the words of Jesus: "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." Now, notice those words, "I know my sheep," and his people are referred to as sheep. He calls us his flock, and sometimes he refers to us as his family. He likens us to sheep. He says, "I know my sheep and my sheep know me."

In Second Timothy, we read these words: "The Lord knows those who are his." Now, if you're a Christian, he knows you're a Christian. If you're a believer, he knows you're a believer. And if you're not a Christian and you're not a believer, he knows that too. He knows that. And if he knows you as a believer, then you also know him as your Savior, and that's a wonderful connection and relationship to know Christ and to be in Christ.

The word "know" simply means we have an endearing sense of oneness with Christ. We have an intimate relationship with Christ. We have heard his voice speak to our hearts, and we responded. My prayer is that this morning, some of us here will hear his voice speaking to our hearts, calling us to become a Christian. Someone says, "How do I become a Christian?" You become a Christian by asking Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins. It's just that simple.

Anybody can do it, and anybody can do it anywhere. You just say, "Jesus, I'm a sinner, come into my heart." You see, he went to the cross, he died for us, he took our place. He died a vicarious death. He died; I should have died for my own sins. But I couldn't be my own Savior, so he becomes my Savior for me. Now, I know that I have him in my heart. I heard his voice in this life.

How do we hear the voice of God? We hear it inside. It's a desire, a feeling that I want to become a Christian. That's the voice of God calling us to become a Christian. Now, if we hear that voice and we respond to that voice, the scripture says someday in the grave, there's going to be a coming out of the grave, there's going to be a resurrection. And if I hear his voice while I'm alive, then I'm going to hear his voice when my body is dead in the grave, and I'm going to come forth unto everlasting life.

If I ignore him and ignore his voice and put him off and reject him and say, "Later, I'll become a Christian," and I'm apathetic now and I'm indifferent now and I'm resistant now, and I die in that state—if I don't hear his voice now, I'll never hear his voice then when he says, "Come out." Only those who heard his voice in this life and chose to follow him will hear his voice then and come out of the grave to be alive and to follow him.

If his voice doesn't mean anything to you now—you don't hear him, you don't confess to him, you don't love him, you don't worship him—it'll be the same then. Those who hear him now will hear him then. Those who don't hear him now won't hear him then. I want to hear the voice of the Lord. I know that my life is short. Your life is short also. I want to follow him. I want to know him, live for him, and be his follower now and know that when that time comes, I will come forth out of the grave, and you will, and all of our loved ones will to ever be with the Lord.

Here's a mystery that we cannot fully comprehend, nor can we fully understand it. But isn't that how faith works, when we accept what Jesus says by faith without fully understanding it? If you can fully understand why you were born and you're alive now, then you're going to be one of the most intelligent people in all the world because even human life, human birth, we can describe it, but we can't understand why it happens the way it does.

God is telling us, the Apostle Paul says, "I show you a great mystery." So we're looking at that great mystery this morning, seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit to understand it. But do you know the Lord? Do you know if you were to die today, you would go to heaven? Do you know that? Ask yourself that question. Take a moment. No one can judge you but you yourself and God Almighty. Look into your own heart and satisfy yourself that you do indeed know him.

In the Song of Solomon, Chapter 6, verse 3, we read these words: "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." Say those words: "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." Do you really know that? Do you really know that I love him and that he loves me, that I am his and he is mine? "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

Now, those who die outside of Christ, listen to this, friends. The Psalmist says in 116, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." It's a precious experience in the sight of the Lord. But Ezekiel Chapter 33, God says, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." Oh, we're looking forward to standing in the presence of the Lord soon.

If the body goes into the ground, that is only temporary. How he's going to bring the body out of the ground someday, we don't know. The scripture simply says the trump of God shall sound, the voice of the Archangel will be heard. Again, God calling out. But if you don't hear the callout now—I see two and a half rows of teenagers back here, and I see all of these people here—if you don't hear the call of God now, you're not going to hear the call of God then. And if you don't hear it now, it'll simply be because you turn a deaf ear.

God is calling. We live in a world of injustice. There's no justice in this world; there never has been, there never will be. This is not paradise; this is not heaven. Satan and his angels, called demons, are in charge, and they're ruling. And if you dupe yourself into thinking that you're going to make things right in this life and everything is going to be sweet and wonderful and beautiful and just, and there'll be equality, then you are duped. It will not happen in this life.

We are here but for a short time. We're passing through. Heaven is our eternal home. This is temporary. Oh, I wish I could somehow tell the world and tell you. People are working and saving and accumulating and buying like this is forever. And yet some of those people are Christians, and they know better, that this life is so passing. The old must die, but we're also preaching funerals of young people, even babies.

Friend, may the Holy Spirit help us to know that we belong to Jesus and that he belongs to us, that we are his beloved. And then whatever happens out there won't impact us as those who have no faith. There's going to be two resurrections. And all who have died in Christ, their body is now in the cemetery, in the grave, but their spirit is with the Lord. They're there. They're praying for the rest of us, they're looking for the rest of us, and they're waiting for the day when God will call their body out of the grave and their body that went into the grave and their spirit will be reunited.

They're alive in God's presence now, waiting for the day of the reunion with their bodies. They have a spirit body now. It's very much like when Jesus went into the grave—three days, three nights—and then he came out of the grave with a glorified body. If Jesus tarries, we're all going to die. Fifty years from now, I suppose most of us will all be gone. And you have worked and labored and saved and hoarded and bought and accumulated for what?

I know that we have to use wisdom and prepare for our senior citizen years. But I see Christians—I'm not even talking about the unsaved—I see Christians delaying their spiritual life, delaying their ministry, putting off, waiting, getting ready, acting as though you've got lots of time. Who said you have lots of time? The Apostle James says, "What is your life? It is a vapor, like some steam coming from a tea kettle." You see it and then you don't see it. You're here and then you're gone. Not only the old, but the young also.

There is a life in Christ that is ours simply for the asking and taking and for the receiving. You see, he went to the cross for us. He shed his blood for us. His body was broken for us. It wasn't an easy thing to get us into the Kingdom of God for him, but it certainly is for us. We can come to him now and receive him as our Lord and Savior and know that whatever happens in this life, it's not very important. It's what happens in the next life that is important.

I yearn within me for the Christians today. I've called and called, and the clarion call of a gospel has gone out to the unsaved, God wanting all to come and receive him. But my heart as a pastor yearns to the Christian that is somehow enamored with the things of time, with the temporal, with the here and the now, getting it fixed or getting it all together. I mean, we're majoring in the minor, and we're minoring in the major. What's wrong with us?

Christians, I believe when the Christians wake up, we're going to see a harvest of souls come to the Lord. I really do. But last night, it dawned on me, on my consciousness, that I haven't prayed for a lot of people in my family like I should have been praying for them. And I wonder if I've ever really prayed for them. I just don't believe that they're going to face God and give an account for their life someday. If I did, I would be weeping over their souls.

I think Christians say they believe, but they don't pray and act and behave and serve God like they believe. And I'm talking about this Christian more than you, because I'm the one that hasn't prayed for my loved ones like I should have prayed for them. But I really believe we're moving closer and closer. We would have to be moving closer and closer to that time of coming into God's presence. And maybe some of those relatives are going to come into God's presence very shortly. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me to say, "You better pray for them," because God's not going to do anything but in relation to the church and the church's praying.

I wonder today, I truly do wonder with all my heart, how many of us are here who are ready to say, "Lord, I give you my heart?" How many times I've said that, and how many times maybe we have done that, but we give him the crumbs. We give him the leftovers—leftover time, leftover money, leftover energy, leftover years. I have blessed myself with my time, my money, and my years, and I give him the crumbs. And yet I say, "I give you my heart."

Maybe it's time to talk this way, don't you think? Maybe it's time to become very critical of how we're living and how we're behaving and how we're talking, and how we're talking but not doing. "Christians, rise up, oh church of God," we sang. It's time, don't you think? Let's bow before the Lord now, will you? Would you bow your heads, please?

I wonder today, I see all these young people here, I see parents here, I see husbands and wives, I see singles. Do you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? Some Christians, you know you haven't been doing what you know to do. The Holy Spirit has already spoken to your heart. You're not following Jesus, Christians. And I think maybe we're just as much a sinner as those of us in this circle, including myself in this circle today. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have all failed the Lord. But we need to make a call of repentance to the church. Oh, church of God, repent and come to the Lord and give your hearts to Jesus Christ. It's time.

God bless you, dear ones, for coming here today. You have heard the call of God. You're answering the call of God. You've come to give your hearts to Jesus Christ. You realize that there's no happiness and joy and justice and eternity in this life. You've come to Jesus. I want you to pray a prayer with me. I'll say the words, and then you pray them after me.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I give my heart to you. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart and save me. I give the rest of the days of my life to you to live for you, to serve you, to obey you. I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. He is my Lord and Savior, and I accept him. And I know tonight if I should die, I would go to heaven to be with him. Thank you for coming into my heart. Thank you for saving my soul. I love you, in Jesus' name.

Okay, now I want to pray for you. Dear God, you've heard the prayer of these sincere ones. You've looked into their hearts, you've touched their hearts, you've heard their prayer. You've forgiven their sins, you've received them into your family. Heaven rejoices today. Bless them and help them. It won't be easy for them to live for Jesus. Help them, Lord, now to come to church, to attend Bible classes, to read the Word, to follow the Lord in water baptism, to follow the Lord to the Holy Communion table. Lord, bless them and help them and keep your hand upon them. Put your arms about them and hold them tight to your heart that they would always serve you and love you and do your will.

Father, I pray for the Largo Community Church and your church everywhere, that we would become spiritually awake and we would reorder the priorities of our lives and that we would truly put Christ first and serve him. Bless our extended family and our loved ones who do not know the Lord, who are outside of Christ today. Our neighbors and friends and peers and people we work with. So many, Lord, are hurting and broken and bruised. Life has bruised them and broken them. And Jesus comes with love to heal them. Bless the church that the church would be the light in a dark place, bringing healing and love to all. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Jesus promised that those who belong to him will hear his voice and live forever. The resurrection is not wishful thinking; it's the promise of God to those who know Christ. We invite you to visit thehealingword.com where you'll discover more messages from Pastor Morris along with free spiritual resources and weekly devotionals. If this ministry is encouraging your faith, your support helps us continue reaching others with the gospel and the hope of eternal life. Next time in this series, Pastor Morris brings a message called "Judgment and Reward," explaining what happens when believers stand before Christ.