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: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let the peace of Christ be the king, the boss, the president. Let him rule in your life. Not the conflict, not the trouble. No, but peace is governing me. Peace is telling me. Peace is ruling.

Guest (Male): On today's healing word broadcast, we're continuing a series focused on events found in Matthew chapter 14 where Jesus feeds the 5,000 and later walks on water to meet the disciples who were in a boat and struggling against a horrific storm. Let's join Pastor Jack Morris and the congregation of the Largo Community Church for the message the rule of peace.

Pastor Jack Morris: Wouldn't it be wonderful to have peace at all times? Never to be disturbed ever again? Well, there can be peace or calm at the center because Jesus is the prince of peace and where Jesus is, he rules with peace. He's the king of Salem, the king of peace, our Lord Jesus. Well, the disciples were now in a storm and it was absolutely flip-flop from what they had on the mountain. Boy, last Sunday it was great. This Sunday it's not so great. Matter of fact, it's a little bit miserable. Has that happened sometimes? It does. So what is the Lord saying?

What is the Lord doing? What am I supposed to do? That's what today's sermon is all about. Hear the word of God, the healing word and be blessed by the healing word. So Jesus was on the mountain and he looked down in the valley, looked over at the lake and he saw the disciples straining at the oar. Friend, you can't fix it. This is life and we are people and people will always be people. They were straining at the oar. We things happen and we we strain to fix it. We we strain to move forward and we find out that the headwind is right in our face and we're staying right where we are until Jesus comes.

And when Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. When Jesus comes, all fears are washed away. He takes the gloom and he fills the life with glory. That's what he does. I strain at the oars, but Jesus fixes things. Let him fix it today, friend. Will you let him fix it? He'll do it and it'll be so wonderful and you will know that you've been in the house of God and in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you have your bibles open? Look at point A. What is the first word? Let. That is something that you have to let happen, that you have to allow to happen.

I have to get involved. The Bible says with God all things are possible. Now, notice it says with God. You with God make all things possible, not just God, but I've got to do my part to make it happen. And that's what he's going to do. You allow. You have a controlling factor in all that is going on. Don't let the sorrow, the the storm come in. Keep it out in the name of the Lord. Let Jesus come in. Let him abide. You see, there's a song and a hymn that we sing sometimes of how peace is divine.

You see, peace is from God. It it doesn't come from down here. Peace is not of this earth. Friction, hardship, pain, sorrow, death, sickness, that's all of earth, but peace is from above. It comes from above. Peace, peace, wonderful peace. What's the rest of it? Coming down from the father above. It comes from heaven. Look up, friend. Our redemption draweth nigh. Peace is coming down, blessing us. I know it's not Christmas yet, but it won't be very much longer, will it? It'll be Christmas. So I'm going to do a little bit of Christmas preaching today.

I want to talk with you about the Virgin Mary. Now, listen, friend, what happened to her can happen to you today and bring God's blessing and peace to you. The angel came to Mary and said, will you let him in? Will you let Jesus in? I'm using my own words right now, but she had the final decision. The Holy Spirit was talking to her. The angel Gabriel was the voice of God at that moment. And the angel came and said to her that you are blessed, you are highly favored, but you, Mary, have a decision to make.

You see, she could have decided, no, I don't want Jesus in my womb. You and I could say I don't want Jesus in my heart. I don't want Jesus in that that life producing part of me. For Mary, it was her womb. I don't want Jesus there. She had the power. She had the choice. Friend, you have it. The problem is you're not praying about it. You're not using it. But Jesus comes today to make your life more beautiful, to help you to get out there and fight the good fight of faith. It's a spiritual warfare and you don't know the direction the wind is going to come and blow against you.

But it will come. Jesus will even see to it that it comes to let you know that you got and I have some growing yet to do in the Lord.

Guest (Male): Are you seeking a way to start your week filled with hope and inspiration? Every Monday morning, receive a fresh devotional delivered right to your inbox to uplift your spirit and encourage you throughout the week. Pastor Jack Morris carefully crafts each message with scripture that speaks to the heart, reflections to inspire growth, and practical steps to help you live out your faith every day. These are words of hope and strength meant to meet you right where you are. Ready to begin? Just visit the healingword.com and click the banner to sign up. Start each week with renewed purpose, feeling connected to God and ready for what lies ahead.

Now, let's join Pastor Jack Morris for the conclusion of today's message.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, peace belongs to Christ. You can only get it through the prince of peace. He owns it. It's not mine. It's his. I I can't concoct it. I can't make it happen. I can I can try to play around it and all there's a lot of people they're using drugs and alcohol, pleasure, illicit sex, all kinds of things to have peace with a phony smile on their face, dressed in the very best, driving the very best, living in the very best, the very best vacation, and their hearts are miserable. Friend, if their hearts are miserable, your hearts are miserable, what's the difference between us?

We have Jesus. Jesus is for everyone who will turn to him and believe in him. We have Jesus. Peace belongs to him. When Jesus met the disciples in the upper room after the resurrection, they were bolted behind closed doors. Jesus walked right into the room, appeared, and he said, peace. I leave with you. What did you say, Jesus? They didn't have peace. They were fearful. Their Messiah had been crucified. They were behind locked doors because the effort was stamp out Christianity. Now, we got the leader, but we didn't get his followers. They're next. But Jesus said, peace.

Friend, open your heart as I seek to open mine today and hear him speak peace. Notice what he said, peace. Peace. My peace. Now, I I underscored the word my in my Bible and my notes. My peace. His peace. It's not my peace. Friend, you can't fix it. It's never going to change. 10 years from now, you will still be the same touchy person. No. Let's let's live in peace, live in victory, live in healing. He said, my peace I leave with you. My peace. You see, God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens and the earth belong to him.

I didn't create it. I'm living in it and I'm enjoying that part that I can enjoy that he had me. It it belongs to him. Peace belongs to Jesus. He's the prince of peace. He says, my peace I leave with you. My peace. Now, notice what he said. Peace, my peace I give to you. It's a gift. Friend, ask Jesus for a gift of peace. Ask it it comes right out of his heart. He he reaches he reaches right into his heart and he gives you what's his, what belongs to him. Friend, you're never going to have spiritual Christian Jesus peace until Jesus gives it to you.

And he's not going to give it to you until you tell him you need it. The same with salvation and with sins. How did you get rid of your sins? You look to Jesus. You ask him. The same is with peace and there are Christians today who are having difficulty with struggles. There there was a a man. He he lived among the tombs. He was in a terrible situation. He would break the chains that bound him. He would scream. That that this is going to the pendulum is swinging way over until Jesus came. When Jesus comes, Jesus came and Jesus asked him, what is your name?

And what did he say? Legion. There are numerous untold numbers of conflicts going on in me. I have a variety of personalities. Legion means 6,000. That was the number of the Roman regiment. A legion, a Roman soldier. Soldiers, 6,000 of them. And when he said to Jesus, my name is Legion. And I think and I pray and I I feel for people today who having all of these conflicts and they they know sooner seemingly they get over one, they have a short oasis of peace and then all of a sudden another one of those demons of Legion jumps on them.

Something happens, something crossed them. Something went wrong. Friend, there's never going to be absolute 100% right in this world. But Jesus comes to bring peace to the people of God. My peace I give to you, not your peace, not somebody else's peace, not peace you can buy, not peace you can go get. My peace I give to you. It belongs to Jesus. He gives it. No, he gives it not as the world gives, but as Jesus gives. How does the world give peace? Or let's put it this way. What what is the definition of peace according to the world?

How does the world define peace? The world defines peace as the absence of conflict. The absence of conflict, the absence of trouble. Friend, isn't that interesting how that all through the years, what it was back in 1922 or 26, the war to end all wars? While all this seemed like the nations of the earth seemed to hate Americans. There's trouble with Korea, trouble with Syria, trouble with Iraq, trouble with with the Turkey. It it just goes on and on. And and when we when the nations think that that conflict is over and conflict has been dispelled and there's no more cannons and and bombs heard, that's peace.

And that's how the world interprets peace. When there's no conflict, the absence of conflict no, Jesus is not in the absence of conflict. He's in the in the ministry of giving something. Jesus, the world says peace is the absence of conflict. Jesus is saying peace is the presence of something, not the absence of something. We're trying to resolve conflicts. Jesus is saying I have come to shalom you, to clothe you with shalom, to give you shalom. I want to put shalom on you, the garment of shalom. I want to give you something, not just the absent of something, but a gift from God.

And he comes to give us this. Remember the woman with the issue of blood, how Jesus was on his way to perform one miracle to raise that little 12 year old girl from the dead and this woman went through the line. Friend, when you seek, you'll find. When you are as determined as she was determined she was weak, emaciated, sick, but she pressed on through that line, went through the people, pushed the people aside. She must get to Jesus. And indeed she got to Jesus. Everybody who wants Jesus gets to Jesus. Everybody. You, me, the world, everybody.

Nobody is turned away. And she touched the hem of his garment. Did Jesus take something from her? No. He said, I felt virtue go out of me. He gave something. Jesus doesn't resolve conflict only. He gives peace. He's the prince of peace. Jesus fixes it by settling you at peace. All the storm might keep right on going, whirling around you, whirling around you, but there's calm at the center. Look at the eye of the storm. Let Jesus be that to you today and he will be. Now, I must close, but I'm going to start something that I am going to finish, Lord willing, next Sunday morning.

Look at this. I must read it to you. It says this, verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let the peace of Christ be the king, the boss, the president. Let him rule in your life. Not the conflict, not the trouble. No, but peace is governing me. Peace is telling me. Peace is ruling. Now, this is what I'm going to be doing the Lord willing next week. The word rule. You see the word rule? There it is on the screen. Rule in your hearts. Rule in the original language functions like an empire, like an empire at a baseball game or a football game or an empire.

The empire calls the shots. The empire makes the decision. Who disputes with the empire? Let peace be the empire. Let the peace call the shots. Let the peace do what peace can do. And peace will do for you exactly what you want because God loves you and he wants to bless you with peace. Let the peace of God rule in your heart, function like an empire. Again, I will say in our hearts like Legion, there's all of these tensions, conflicts going on, sorrows just clashing, clashing, clashing, straining at the oars. Oh, if I could just get out of this situation, if I could just get these thoughts out of my mind, they keep coming back.

If I could just settle myself. No, if I could. No, I can't. He can. Somebody ought to say praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And he comes today to bless. Let peace make the final decision, settle disputes, determine the right action. Let peace do it. Now, when I I'm going to start in the next week's sermon. Peace has been the voice of God to me all my years or the years that I have spoken peace, allowed peace. Talk to the Lord. Even about building the buildings, even about buying the land. Even when I'm trying to make a decision, even something so very very small, I I seek to make peace the governing factor.

Let peace make the decision. I haven't always made the right decision and that's because I didn't seek the Lord at that particular time. But when we were going to buy the 42 acres over there, I thought if we could just if we could buy five acres for parking, I would be so happy. And then I thought even if we could just get two acres, I would be so happy. And then the thought came by the whole thing. I mean, it was it are we serving a little tiny God? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

That piece of clay over there? And I thought now is that God or is that me? You know, I get excited, I get ambitious and and so I thought you know, I can't trust myself at times. I I can't ever really trust myself. And so I I didn't know whether that was God or was that me. And so I prayed. I said now, Lord, you speak peace to my heart about that over there. Well, peace came. That wasn't enough. You you can't make a quick decision. Don't make a quick decision. Give God time. You're not going to lose an opportunity day after day.

And I started telling the Lord, Lord, shall I put a contract on a piece of property that I don't have any money and I can't afford? Make a fool out of myself in Prince George's County? See, I start thinking about myself and my image and before the Largo Community Church. And so I began to pray. Lord, there's a peace and it's growing stronger day by day, week by week, month by month. It's growing stronger until I am at perfect peace. Get the contract, call the real estate, sign that contract. We're going to go for the whole thing.

There's a peace in my heart that the world never gave, a peace that cannot take away. And when we stepped out, the water became solid and we started walking on the water. The men of the church went up to the street. They parked their cars after a men's fellowship and I asked them about 15 of them and we stood on the land. Kusi Kuber there, Phil Maza was there, others were there. And we claimed it with our feet. But there was a peace that just overcame me over that period of time. The same thing happened about the building.

The same thing happened about everything. And when I have waited on God and looked to the Lord, he said, my peace I give to you. Now, there have been times that things have looked so good for the kingdom. And I felt oh, I want to do that. I want to get on the radio. I I want to get on the television. I want to do it. And I'll reach souls for Christ. And I started praying about it and a cloudy feeling came over. And so I said to the Lord, Lord, you know, I want to reach souls.

You told me to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people. And you're not willing that any should perish and yet, Lord, I feel this little bit of cloudiness. Now, is this me or is this you? Day after day, month after month. And then after a while, the cloudiness didn't go away and I said, it's done. I'm not doing it. It's not of God. There's not a pathway of peace. There's no peace in my heart. One time the Apostle Paul was going to Macedonia and he was going to take the gospel.

And the Holy Spirit said, no, don't you go there. You go there. So sometimes it may look good, sound good, but it's not according to God's timing at the moment. Later on, those doors open, but the timing was off. But am I ever glad that God has a clock and a will. And he reveals and he talks with the mouth of peace. And Jesus is here today. Now, I know there's some troubled hearts. Not that I know who it is, but I know because we're in a world of conflict, conflict everywhere among the nations, among the kings and presidents of the earth.

And they're just like us, people. And the enemy has come. The storm has is raging. Some of you are straining at the oars to get over something, to move beyond it. And you find yourself standing still you're the same place you were 6 months ago. But today the whirling winds might keep blowing, peace is going to come to your heart, a strength, the peace of the Lord. Are you ready for peace to come in? Jesus is here. The prince of peace is here.

Guest (Male): Are there storms in your life that are taking a toll and depriving you of peace? I invite you to take these problems to Jesus, who is the prince of peace. And let him demonstrate his power and love to you and watch as the storms in your life are calmed and your faith is increased. At the healing word ministry, we're here to bring the light of God's love and power of his word into the lives of those who need it most. Every message, every prayer, and every moment of encouragement is crafted to help you find peace, guidance, and strength in your journey of faith, meeting you where you are with hope and compassion.

But this ministry is only possible through the generosity of people like you. If the healing word has blessed you or someone you love, we invite you to prayerfully consider pledging your financial support. Your gift goes directly toward creating life changing content, offering healing prayers, and spreading the message of God's love to people everywhere. 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.