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: We we know where we are. We're in this world, and this world is not going to be kind to us, Christian or none Christian. The world is not going to be kind to us, but God is with us to bless us, to help us. And friend, you can leave with victory in your heart today by trusting the Lord and believing in him.

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: I want to talk a little bit about my faith and my goal. Hopefully, you'll be able to relate to it, and it'll be your faith and your goal also. In the world, we'll have tribulation, the Bible says. I remember uh when Karen and I were first married, we had financial problems, and so I can identify with those who have financial problems. It was in the 1950s, the mid 1950s, and the world, particularly the US, was in a recession. And I was a young preacher trying to get going, and it was very difficult. And and then when we came here uh to the Largo community to begin this Largo Community Church, as you I've told you before, I had approximately $300 to my name.

That's all I had, and I didn't have a place to live, and I had a wife, and I had two children to support. And I had no job and no income, and for I don't know how long we had the Largo Community Church before I got my first offering. It was a long time, and I had a child, two children, one of them in elementary school, one of them in high school. And you know how it is, you parents, how to support children. And I had a wife, and if one of the members, one of our board members, lent me $600, put with my $300, and I put a down payment on a house.

But then I had to trust God. How am I going to meet the mortgage payment, the mortgage payments? No furniture. So I know what it is to go through some of these things. This is not my first trial. No, it this life for me and Karen has not been a cakewalk. Not a bowl of cherries. It hasn't been for you. Some of you here have heavy hearts today. I was praying with the ushers just a moment ago before the service began. Bless them. They gather back here in the uh adult classroom, and they pray every Sunday morning before the service.

And one of them they all prayed, and one of them was praying God for those people who are coming in, walking across that parking lot today with heavy hearts. They're they're going through a difficult time. We we know where we are. We're in this world, and this world is not going to be kind to us, Christian or none Christian. The world is not going to be kind to us, but God is with us to bless us, to help us. And friend, you can leave with victory in your heart today by trusting the Lord and believing in him.

He is the almighty. Can you say amen?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: God is the almighty, and he's on the throne. You know there's there's a song that says we have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in his holy word. He's never failed us yet. Never. Never, and he never will. So friend, hold on. Don't give up. Don't quit. Keep believing. God is on the throne, and I don't know what he's working out in your life, but God is with you, never to leave you, never to forsake you. Do you trust him? Take your problems to the Lord. Someone What a friend we have in Jesus.

One of those ushers prayed. I remember reading it when I was reading some of church history of Spurgeon and the great London Tabernacle years ago with 10,000 people in his congregation. They didn't have a PA system or a sound system, but he preached the gospel. And he said to one of his visitors that came in, one of his pastor friends as I can remember, he said, I want you to see our furnace room. And the pastor thought the furnace room What do I want to go look at a furnace? He said, I want you to come here.

And so they went down into the lower level of the church, and he opened the door. It was before the Sunday service. There were over 200 people on their knees praying to God to bless the pastor and to bless the Sunday morning worship service to save souls, to heal the sick, and to bless. He said, that's our furnace room. That's what's happening in our church. That's why God is blessing because people are praying. Friend, if you don't pray, you're not going to get anything. But if you'll pray and seek the Lord and believe God's word, God will come through every time.

God will not fail. God will not fail. We walk by faith, not by sight. Come on, say those words with me. We walk by faith, not by sight. Someone said, well, when God answers prayer, I'm going to praise the Lord. Friends, praise the Lord anyway. The answer's coming. It will get here, but praise God now. That will reveal faith to him that it is in your heart because you're praising God. So praise God that he's going to take care of your children when those children are rebellious. Praise God that he's going to take care of your marriage when when your marriage is is really on the rocks.

So these these relationships. When you're having financial problems, praise God that he is going to give the answer, and the finances are going to come. Do you know that not one time did a creditor come to my house and not one time did a creditor call me or come to my office for this church. We have paid every debt on time and ahead of time. God has answered prayer. Friend, friend, I I'm just wondering, who is your God? You must serve a little tiny God because your God hasn't done anything for you, because you haven't prayed and asked him to do anything.

He said, ask and you will receive. But if you don't ask, you're not going to receive. And I wonder why you're not asking. Is it because you don't think that you that you think that God is too small, God is too weak, that God doesn't care? Come on, friend. We need to get our thinking straightened out. God is God. He is Abba Father. He loves us. He hears and answers our prayers. He is on the throne. If it doesn't work out in your time, in your way, praise him anyway. Praise him anyway. He is God.

Now, no one knows what a day is going to bring forth. No one knows what life's going to bring forth. We know if we live, we are going to have difficulties. There's going to be problems, but we do not walk by sight alone. Oh friend, do you hear me? We do not walk by feelings alone. We do not live by our thoughts, but by the word of God. God is almighty, and he's on the throne to hear and answer prayer. Now, I've talked to you about my faith. Here it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we live by faith, not by sight.

We live by this. We live by it daily, every day, every hour, every minute. We live by faith, faith in the Lord God almighty that called us from a world of sin, called us into his kingdom, called us into his house, called us and made us part of his body. God is working for his people today. Let him work for you. How do you do that? You pray and ask him to let it him work for you. Now, I want to talk about my goal. Here's my goal. Would uh we put the first slide on the screen, please.

Now, look at this. Look at this very closely. In the name of the Lord, look at it and let it sink in. We are born with a capacity for faith. Now, look at it. Read Romans 12:3. Read it to me in unison. God has not one of God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Listen. Do you know Do you know you have faith? You do. Everyone of you have faith. Everyone of you. Everyone of you have faith. God has dealt to each one of us, each one of us, a measure of faith.

Now, what are you going to do with it? You have it. You can you can store it away. You can hide it somewhere. You can be quiet and silent about it, or you can increase that faith through trusting his word, believing his word, and that faith will begin to grow. Now, you have a measure of faith. What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with it? You going to let it atrophy? Just let it become flabby? No, we're going to let it grow. All right, put up the second uh slide.

How to increase the faith you have everyone of us. Everyone of us. Without fail Someone says, I don't have any faith. Yes, you do. The Bible says so. I 'm not going to believe you. I'm going to believe the Bible. You have it. Now, it's up to you to whether or not you're going to increase it and build upon it. You have that foundation. Everyone has it. Now, you can begin to read the word, trust the word, believe the word, and let that faith begin to grow. Here's how you can grow it. Focus on God's word.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Focus on the word of God. How do you do that? Like you're doing it right now, you're hearing me preach the word. There's an opportunity for faith to begin growing. Read the word in private. Your faith will begin to grow. Get in small groups. Testify. Give your answers to prayer. Share with those in that small group. They will hear what you're saying. Your faith will begin to grow. Pray, worship, and praise the Lord even when you don't feel like praising the Lord, even when you don't feel like worshiping the Lord, even when you don't feel like praying.

Do it anyway. Jesus didn't feel like dying on a cross. He didn't He didn't feel like being abused and spit upon and lied to. He stood there, the man of God, the man of God, God the man. And he didn't open his mouth as a lamb led to the slaughter. Before his shears uh his mouth was closed. He didn't vindicate himself. He trusted in the Lord. There's a lot of things Jesus didn't feel like doing, but he did it out of love for us. So here now what you can do. Now, you're going to have to be very intentional about it.

Your faith will not grow like Topsy. You said, oh, I wish I had strong faith. You can focus on God's word, listen to others testify, pray, worship, praise the Lord. And it goes on day after day, month after month, year after year, and your faith will become strong. You'll be able to do exploits in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be able to trust him and believe him and experience miracles in your life. But you have to be intentional. Just coming in and flopping down in a pew, looking at your watch and saying, boy, he is preaching overtime today.

Now, you said you should say, praise God, he's preaching overtime. I'm hearing more of the word of God than I did last week. And and take your word and study it and pray in your private devotions. You have to be intentional. I I I want to say that over and over. We walk by faith, not by sight. We have to be intentional. We have got to do these things on purpose, and we have to do these things consistently. And your faith will grow till you have faith as a grain of mustard seed that you can say to this mountain, move, and that mountain will move.

Can you say praise the Lord?

Guest (Male): Praise the Lord.

Pastor Jack Morris: Amen. God wants us to have faith. Now, look at what the scripture says. My goal. So we make it our goal to please him. Now, how do I please the Lord? That is my goal. Uh to my knowledge, I have other goals, but they're all subservient. They're all under that goal. There is one predominant goal in life, and that is Jesus, following Jesus, serving Jesus, obeying Jesus. That is my goal. And when I do that, he heals my wife. He saves my son and daughter. He blesses the church. He pays the bills. It all begins to happen because Jesus has become the focus of our attention, and it has been intentional.

We keep our eyes on him. We follow him. My goal is to please the Lord. But then I go to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, and it says, without faith, it's impossible to please him. So I have a goal in life, my goal to please the Lord. But without faith, I can't please him. But with faith, I can please him. So he is saying to us today, grow your faith. Believe me. Trust me. Grow your faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Now, put up the third Okay. How can we grow faith? I don't want to ask questions that leave you hanging and let you go home without the answer.

Would you read it for me? You have kept my command to endure patiently. Notice, this is how we can have faith. This is how we know we have faith. You have kept my command. You have kept my command. Say that. You have kept my command.

Guest (Male): You have kept my command.

Pastor Jack Morris: In other words, you have been an obedient child. Don't think this, friend. Don't go out and break God's law, go against his written word, his his clear word. Then get down on your knees and pray for help. Listen. Bitter and sweet water doesn't mix. That that's oil and water. It's not going to mix. God says, keep my command. Now, if you are obeying God and keeping his command, you know you're walking in faith. Oh my, you got quiet on me. Why did you do that? Keep my command. Now, listen to this. Martin Luther King Jr.

said, I want you to listen. He said, I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life, says Dr. King, is not to be happy. Everybody wants to be happy. Everybody wants to have a good time. Everybody wants to get kicks and thrills. And and we think, oh, we're being blessed. I'm having fun. Listen. All of life is not fun. It's not all fun. It 's not all roses. It 's not all a cakewalk. Don't think when you're going through a difficult place.

Now, the scripture says, let me read it to you. He said, beloved, 1 Peter 4:12. Beloved, he's talking to you, you and me. We're the beloved. He said, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial you which is trying you as though some strange thing has happened. Don't don't get too excited. Don't get unnerved. Just keep walking. Keep walking. Walking by faith, not by sight. Just keep walking. Just keep walking in the Lord's will, in his word. Just keep walking. Nothing strange has happened to you. No, your heart might be broken. There may be tears, and there will be.

This world is a world of tribulation. Friend, how old do I do I have to be or do you have to be until you wake up that God knows those who are serving him, and he knows those who are not serving him, and those who keep his command. Those are the people who are walking by faith and are being blessed, getting answers to prayer, having miracles in their lives. This is God's will for you to keep. And then he says, endure patiently. Endure. If you can walk by faith even when everything seemingly is going against you, you're still walking by faith, living by faith.

You don't have to understand what's going on. That's not important for you to know and to understand what's going on. The only thing that is important for you and me to know is that I have my hand in his hand, his hand is in my hand. I'm walking by faith, not by sight. I'm coming this far by faith. I'm leaning on the Lord. I'm trusting his holy word. He has never failed me yet. That's all I need to understand. Uh that's all I need to understand. Trusting the Lord and believing his holy word. So prayer.

Be intentional. Endure patiently. Now, I'm increasing my faith for 4 years. I coughed and coughed and coughed. For 4 years, I stood in the pulpit, and I thought the words coming into my head. You're trying to preach the word of God. Why isn't God helping you and backing you up? That cough keeps interrupting you. That cough You know that cough I had, that was not only for me, that was also for you. That was to grow your faith, help you to trust the Lord. Let you know that your pastor is flesh and blood, that there's only one who can perform miracles, and that's the Lord.

God was working in this church. God was working in my life. God was working in your life for 1 year, 12 months, hacking and coughing up in the middle of the night, coughing until my head was sweat all over me. I couldn't go to sleep. I couldn't stop, couldn't catch my breath. Night after night, year after year, I thought, God, where are you? But I'm going to keep walking. That I'm going to keep believing. I'm going to keep trusting. I'm going to endure patiently. Thank God the victory came. Amen. The victory came. And your victory is coming also.

Your victory is coming also. God cares for you. He's no respecter of persons. He's the almighty. He loves everybody. Jesus died for everyone. Let's give our hearts to him and serve him and follow him and do his will. Someone says, I pray, Pastor, you don't know how long I've been praying. Friend, I don't know. I truly don't know how long you've been praying, but keep on praying. Keep on believing. Keep on being obedient. Keep on serving. Just keep on, keep on, keep on, keeping on. That's what God wants you to do. Now, you're walking by faith.

Anyone can praise the Lord when I get an answer. Anyone can praise the Lord when the healing comes. I should praise the Lord when the healing comes, but to praise the Lord before the healing comes. I wonder why did Karen have to fall? Why did they have to have blood in her brain? Why did that doctor come and tell me if the blood keeps on, you'll more likely lose your wife? So they really scared me to death, and they just stayed there. Fear. Fear will will cancel out faith, but faith will cancel out fear. Do you know what?

Amen. I knew I needed help, prayer help, faith help. I called the church. I called you people. You're all first on the list. I started calling prayer chains all the way to California, even even into the Philippines. I I sent emails. Pray. We need prayer. We need faith. My faith was wavering, but I knew that your faith was strong. I knew that God was hearing prayer, and I I should see my wife now. She's going to be here next Sunday. If you'll believe and I'll believe and I know she's believing, she's going to try to be here.

She wanted to walk last night. They wouldn't let her walk. I I think she's trying to get a little bit ahead of herself, but I'll tell you you talk about a football player. If they pass the ball to her, she's headed for a touchdown. Get out of her way. Friend, God God's almighty. God is almighty. He is on the throne. God is almighty. Martin Luther King Jr. said, faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. You don't have to see the top step, all the steps down and the bottom before you take that first step.

If you only see the first step, that's God's will, go ahead and take it. Pray without ceasing. Endure patiently, and God comes through. He comes through. He's the almighty. God has a blessing here for you today. I believe God is going to do something great. Some of us this morning, we need to say, Lord, I haven't been keeping your commands. Now, God already knows it, but he wants you to say it to him. He wants me to say it to him. God, I haven't been keeping your commands the way I should be keeping your commands.

I haven't been faithful in the ways I know that I should be faithful. Be honest. Be transparent with the Lord. You're not telling him something that's going to surprise him. He already knows. But then ask him to forgive you. Ask him to help you now, to give you strength. From this day forward, I'm going to walk according to the word. I'm going to read it daily. I'm going to come to church. I'm going to be consistent. I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going to keep the command of the Lord. And when I pray, I I know I'm not not going to take a wish list to God and expect God just to give it to me immediately if he wants to, and sometimes he does.

Sometimes prayer is answered immediately. Sometimes prayer takes 4 years, but God is God, and he answers prayer if we endure patiently. We walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith. And when I when I can't see with my natural eye I mean, I didn't go to one doctor. I went to about seven different doctors, and not a one of them until this last one was able to get up there and do surgery and and help. And I prayed all the time. Doctor after doctor would tell me, I can't do anything. I don't know what else to do.

I've done everything I know to do. I wouldn't stand here and tell you this if it weren't true. And I walked out of those offices wondering, God, am I going to have to stop preaching? Is my ministry over? Is my voice gone? Is is my day done now? I didn't know. I didn't know, but I kept believing and I kept praying and I kept preaching. I will preach and I will keep preaching the holy word. I'll preach faith. I'll preach faith. No, this isn't the first time. Now, you're on the other side of the fence.

Now, you're going to have to live what you preach. Friend, by God's grace and God's help, I'm I have tried to live what I've preached. I have. I have tried to live what I preach all these years. It's been almost 45 years I've had the privilege preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, telling God's people that God loves them, telling God people that God answers prayer, that we walk by faith, not by sight. And God has blessed, and the churches have grown, and the people have grown in the faith. So be intentional. Let the word of God reach out and get a hold of you.

You reach out and get a hold of it. Make it a part of your life and live for the Lord and walk with the Lord. And when you don't see with the natural eye keep on walking. Keep on walking. When the prayer doesn't come through, when on your timetable, when you think it should be coming through in a timely manner, keep on walking. When you still have pain, when you're still under hurt, when when you're still uh suffering, don't complain. Just praise the Lord and keep on walking. The the just shall live by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.

Can you say amen? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Praise be to God.

Guest (Male): If today's message has blessed you and strengthened your faith in God, would you consider partnering with Pastor Morris and supporting the Healing Word Ministry with your prayers and donating to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ reaching thousands, go to thehealingword.com and click the donate button to pledge your support. And remember, the faith-building message you heard today is our gift to you. Your donation is your gift to God. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.