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: Some of you are going through some hard times right now. And I pray, I really do, that God will help you to hear this message and to learn how to trust God.

Guest (Male): Psalm 107 verse 20. He sent his word and healed them. 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: This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. We're going in the sanctuary at the Largo Community Church and I have a special message on trust. It's about trusting God. The Holy Spirit has spoken to my heart and I'm giving to you I believe in a very prophetic way what the Holy Spirit has given to me. It'll help you grow in Christ, live a victorious overcoming life. You will know joy even in adversity. That's the title of the message, trusting God in adversity. The Apostle Paul said, I know the one in whom I have trusted and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.

Friend, there's going to be adversity now, in the future, in your personal life, in your home life, family life, there's going to be adversity. But trust God, believe God. Trust is a deep reliance on the Lord. It's a settled confidence. Come with me into the sanctuary and hear this message. Let your faith soar. Let it grow strong. Trust God and God will bring you through any and every adversity. Trusting God in adversity. One of our classes, adult classes, had a Bible study and they used the book written by Jerry Briggs, trusting God. It was a great study.

I have a copy of the book, an excellent book on how to trust the Lord, how to put your trust in God. Now, through the years I've been studying trust. How do we put our trust in the Lord? I've been asking myself some hard questions like this. Jack Morris, do you trust God? We sing trust and obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but trust and obey. But am I really trusting God? Well, I want to. I hope I am. I'm trying to. But do I really know when I'm trusting God? Do I really have a good definition of the word trust?

How do I know I'm trusting God when I don't even have a definition of the word? I I'm I'm struggling a little bit today and I'm going to do what I can by the help of the Holy Spirit to help us to know how to trust God in adversity. Now, in the preface of Jerry Briggs's book Trusting God, he writes these words. It comes right out of the Bible. They're not inspired by the Holy Spirit, but I think they are, maybe. Listen to this. All of us experience adversity at different times and in varying degrees throughout our life.

Isn't that basically what the Bible says? Jesus, in the world you'll have tribulation, you'll have adversity, you'll have hard times. It isn't always going to be smooth. Didn't Jesus tell us that? Try to help us to get ready for the hard times when they come, what to do when the hard times come, how to trust God in the hard times. Don't raise your hand on this one. But some of you are going through some hard times right now. And I pray, I really do, that God will help you to hear this message and to learn how to trust God.

And the Holy Spirit will navigate you through that difficult time that you're in. Now, some of you, some of us, hard times are up ahead. If you live just a little bit longer. For we go from hard time to hard time that we have the Lord to help us if we trust him. Let's find out what it is to really trust God. There's a lot said about trust. We have an American motto. What is the American motto? Anybody? In God we trust. The 84th uh uh Congress adopted that motto. The uh it was a joint resolution that was adopted by the 84th Congress in 1956.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. He approved it and the very next year in God we trust was printed on paper currency. And then shortly thereafter it's on every every coin, every paper currency. Um every day you and I touch those words. Every day you handle money. Every day. Just about every day, at least. But day after day after day all life long with these two hands, your fingerprints are all over those words. When you touch that nickel or dime or dollar in God we trust. There are a number of states that have those words on the license plates.

All right, here's the definition of trust. Here it is. Trust is a deep reliance on the Lord, a settled confidence in God's care and faithfulness to his word. A deep reliance on the Lord. That's more than a motto, a slogan, a settled confidence in God's care and faithfulness to his word. So here's the hard question I've been asking myself and I hope you will ask yourself that question too. And that is, am I trusting God? Simply meaning, is God in control of the events of my life? I want you to think about it. Is God in control of the events of my life?

I'm going to talk a lot about myself today. I'm going to talk about myself more than I should talk about myself. But I want you to think about yourself and your family and and relate. There are major catastrophes that have happened in my life and I am sure in yours also. Major catastrophes. I'm going to name a few of them. I think of my sister and brother-in-law being killed on the Baltimore Beltway. I've told you about it before, number of years ago. I was maybe 28 or 29. She was only 26 at the time. Instantly killed two children in the backseat.

Both of the children went through extensive surgeries. They lived, the children. But Grace, my sister and her husband, Jimmy, both of them instantly killed. We walked into the funeral parlor. There's the wife. There's the husband. We go out and we get in the hearse. Uh get in the limousine. There are two hearse in front of the limousine. One with my sister in it, one with her husband in it. My mother, Corinne, myself, others we were in the limousine behind the the hearse. And just before the hearse pulled off to take us to the cemetery, my mother turned to me and she said, why did God allow this to happen?

I about gulped. And then she really put it to me. You are the minister in the family. You know theology. You know the Bible. Tell me. Then she started quoting scripture to me. She said the Bible says, if a child honors his or her parent, God will give that child long life. Your sister was only 26. She honored her father and her mother. Where's her long life? Is the Bible true? What am I going to say? And then the hearse pulls out the two hearse and we pulled out and followed. A major catastrophe. Friends, things happen in this life.

I think of my dad dying of cancer at age 49. Corinne's dad died of cancer age 42. I think of my cousin Ronnie Stanley, Reverend Ronnie Stanley. He's now crippled with a cane, has difficulty speaking. A pastor all his adult life. He drove his wife to the shopping center. He stayed in the car. She only had a little errand to run in this particular store and she would be right out. So he sat in the car and waited on her. And uh very successful pastor. Had a beautiful singing voice. He would sing. He would also preach.

When she came out of the store and got in the car, she looked at him and she said, Ronnie, what's wrong with you? He had a major stroke in a matter of two or five minutes from she time she got out of the car, went in the store, came back out. There he was. He was in the hospital. I don't know how many weeks. Can't pastor anymore. Can't preach. Oh, once in a while he a minister will ask him to preach and he will struggle through a sermon. He limps. He walks. He can't talk. Why would God allow this to happen to one of his servants?

A pastor who was so very very faithful to the Lord. Has very little income now. Once in a while we're able to send him some money. Lives in Pennsylvania. Major catastrophes. Then there are floods. There are mudslides. There are forest fires devouring houses. There are 16 little elementary 17 elementary school children shot to death in an elementary school. Another church. A man goes in and shoots everybody to death with the exception of two people. One of them was the pastor's daughter in that church. Another church down south was bombed and little girls were blown blown up.

Now, friend, I'm going to talk about trust. Can you trust God with the affairs and the events of your life? Things are happening and things will continue to happen. How do we trust God? There are smaller things, maybe a little more insignificant, the loss of a job, a rebellious child, a business adventure that fails, disappointments. And there's just a whole lot of small little irritations that cause you to worry, fume, fuss, be irritated. Hey, anybody here get irritated easily?

Guest (Male): 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 wanted 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 it 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.

Guest (Male): 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 a world in need.

Pastor Jack Morris: I want to talk about now just a few things that I have trusted to the Lord. I number one, I have trusted my soul to God. I truly have. I started when I was just a little little boy. I trusted my life to the Lord. I got away from God and then when I became a teenager, I gave my 14 or 15, I gave my heart back to the Lord. I trusted God. Trusted my soul to the Lord, meaning my heart, my mind, my intellect, my will, my entirety. I trusted to the Lord. I put my soul in God's hands knowing that God was going to keep my soul because I know that I could not keep it myself.

The problems, the difficulties, the temptations, the hardships, I can't keep my soul right with God. But God can keep me. And I put my soul into God's hands and God has kept me all these years for that. I am so very thankful and so very grateful. I've trusted my future to the Lord and only God knows what the future holds for any of us. We plan and we anticipate. But only God knows fully and completely. And God is never taken by surprise. You and I are but not God. He knows us and he knows our future completely.

He knows us. This is our God. I've also trusted my family to the Lord. Married. You know I've been married to Corinne for a long long time. Wonderful wife. Wonderful marriage. Thanks be to God. Uh I trusted my wife to God. When I say I trusted my family, I'm going to run down the list now. I trusted Corinne to God. I particularly trusted that terrible accident that she had about six or seven years ago when the doctor told me if the brain didn't stop bleeding, he came out of the examining room and he said you may lose her or we may lose her.

Talk about being frightened. Okay, now's the time to trust God. I am standing there nearly scared to death. Just a few years ago I'm pastor. I stay behind this pulpit every Sunday morning just about where I do stand here even when I have a guest preacher. But not that many guest speakers. We may lose her. Thank God she was spared. She's still here. But she is suffering today consequences of what happened back there years ago. And you know I feel like saying, how long, oh Lord, how long? Are you going to heal her? Maybe. Maybe not.

I don't know. No one knows. But that's where trust comes in. I'm trusting God with the events of our life. But never one time never one time in all those years, six or seven years ago, have I heard Corinne complain and ask, Jack, you're a pastor. Why has this happened? Does the Bible have anything to say about falling and a brain bleeding? And a doctor saying, we may lose her. Never one time did I hear her say, I'm sad, I'm hurt, I'm disappointed. God let me down. One time I heard her say this, the devil knocked me down, but God picked me up.

I did hear that. I did hear that. Friend, the devil is is up to his old tricks. He's doing things to God's people. But we do not have to be victimized by that event. You see, by God's grace I'm learning how to trust. I have some learning yet to do. But I'm learning. I'm on my way. Oh, we had a a daughter, Rebecca. Rebecca wanted children. She had miscarri- several miscarriages. Now the I believe in my heart that life starts at conception. That being the case, I have several grandchildren in heaven that I have never met.

I'm going to meet them someday. She has some children there also. She's had some very difficult times in her marriage. But she's going to a Bible teaching church, a great pastor and she loves the Lord and serving God. My son rebelled when he entered his teens about 14 or 15 years old. We had a terrible time. Caused a lot of friction in the home. I'm trying to pastor a church and help other parents with their children and I can't even take care of my own. Talk about embarrassment. But God helped me and gave me grace and I kept on.

Friend, you don't quit. You don't quit. Anybody can quit. Anybody. But it takes God's strength and God's power. And he will give you that strength and he will give you that power no matter where you are and whatever your situation might be. God will be there today. My son is married to a Christian woman. He raised two Christian daughters. They go to a Bible teaching church. They love the Lord. They tithe their income. He had stage four cancer. The Lord healed him. There is absolutely no trace of it today. Here's that rebellious boy that I couldn't control for a while.

But he gave his heart to the Lord and he's been serving God faithfully all these years. Now I want to tell you something, friends. This Largo Community Church has one of the greatest youth ministry programs that I know of anywhere around. And we have leadership here that is spiritual and on fire for the Lord. So get your kids involved in the leadership of this church, uh in the youth of this church. God will bless them and God will help them and take them through. So I ask myself the question, am I equal to life's happening?

No, I am not equal to some of the things that I've just mentioned to you. But I know him who is equal to the one who cares, who loves, who empowers, who keeps us going. When we can keep ourselves going, he keeps us going. There's a scripture verse and it's on the screen now. Second Timothy 1:12. I want you to read it in unison with me. Come on, together. I know the one in whom I trust and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.

Yes, Jesus is coming again. Some of us may leave this world by way of death before he comes. But he's coming very soon. But I read those words and they covered in my heart so much and they do to this day. Paul the Apostle said, I know the one. I I I don't know about him. I I don't know of him. I know him. And I know he keeps his word and he honors his word. Remember the definition of trust. A settled confidence in God's care and his faithfulness to his word. I know the one.

Who is that one? Whom I trust. And I am sure that he is able. He has the power. Friend, how big is your God? And I know he's able to guard what I've trusted to him. I trusted my wife to him. I trusted my son to him. I trusted my daughter to him. And I've trusted my soul to him. And he still has us right there in the palm of his hand keeping us going when some of the biggest heaviest things have happened to us. But God is God. And he's our heavenly Father and he cares for us so greatly.

I know it's knowledge from experience. It's not just head knowledge. I didn't read this in a book. This I know. I know from experience. I know his love because I've experienced it. I know his forgiveness because I experienced it. I know how he has kept me through and my family through very difficult times because I'm still here standing before you enabled to declare God is faithful. God is faithful and he has carried us through his love, his saving grace, his power to keep. And I've entrusted it all to him and only he knows what's up ahead.

But I know this. He is God, the Almighty. Jesus taught me to call him Father. And I'm in Father's house today in my heart, not only being in this building. Yes, this is Father's house. But in my heart when I leave here and go and get in my car and drive away, I'm still in Father's house and Father's house is in me because the Father is in me. What a savior. What a God.

Guest (Male): We hope that today's message has been a blessing and has strengthened your faith in God. But before we go, here is Pastor Jack Morris with a special invitation.

Pastor Jack Morris: Have you ever asked God why? Why this sickness? Why this divorce? This disappointment? Why these troubles and problems? Why God? Friend, I've just completed an e-book entitled From Asking Why God to trusting him. It's a faith journey. I'll be glad to send it to you free of charge simply for asking. Some of the life situations addressed in the e-book are God's timing in answering prayer, a journey of faith through suffering, reasons for unanswered prayer and more. For your free copy go to the healingword.com and sign up. That's the healingword.com and I'll send you a free copy of From Asking Why God to trusting him.

I'm Pastor Jack Morris.

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 the healingword.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.

Pastor Jack Morris: Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.