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: The one who made you is the one who can tell you why he made you. And without knowing him, that's why there are people by the thousands and the thousands illicit sex, drugs and alcohol, teenage suicide. They don't know why they're here. They don't know why they were made. They don't know the maker. We've got to get back to the blueprint.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. 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: What on earth am I here for? That's a question that is seriously being asked because most people don't know why they're here. They really don't know why they are alive and living on this earth. They have no idea. You see, none of us asked to be born. We didn't ask anybody and nobody consulted us, not even God. But here we are, and he gave to us a life. We didn't ask for this life, but we have it. But we don't know why we're here, we don't know why we're on earth, and we don't know what to do with the life that God has given to us.

But in these next 40 days, beginning this morning, we're going to search and and search deeply with the sincerity of heart to find out. And it's not going to be too difficult to find out. God's going to help us. God's going to show us, and we're going to know our purpose and find fulfillment in that purpose before the Lord. Now, philosophers and educators and theologians through the years have come up with the same root to find out why we were here. Ask a theologian, ask a philosopher, ask an educator, ask a poet, and you know what they'll tell you?

Look within. Look within, and you'll find out why you're here. So, we look within, and what do we find? Loneliness, emptiness, confusion. Most of the people of the world today are mixed up. And when we look within, all we see is a mixed up, confused, empty, lonely life. So, the question continues to be asked, but the answer continues to evade us. We still don't know, and the best brains cannot tell us our purpose for being, why we're here. Do you know that suicide is the number two killer among college teenagers, high school teenagers, elementary school teenagers?

Somebody said, Pastor, you know, do we need to do what we're doing right now? Can't we put it off? Absolutely not. We can't put it off. They're not going to stay elementary, high school, college students. They're moving on. And many of them are depressed, discouraged. Let me tell you why they're depressed. Someone said, well, Pastor, how do you know they're depressed? Because they're killing themselves. They're killing themselves. A number of years ago, I was pastoring a church in Baltimore, Maryland, small congregation. One of the young men, a nice looking young fellow, he would come to church.

The last time I saw him, he had on a a a maroon blazer, white shirt and neck tie, 15 year old. I saw him walking toward his Sunday school class. Then I got a call. Can't even think of his name right now. His name just slipped me that quickly and I've I'm it doesn't matter, does it? Got a call that he hung himself in the bathroom. 15 years old. I went to his house that night. His uncle was there uh at the house. His uncle was the Sunday school director of the church I was pastoring.

It was his nephew that hung himself. The doctor came, the physician came, friend of the family. Others were there. The mother was on a date, and we waited to the wee hours of the morning for the mother to come in. And when she came in, her eyes were all these people here. We had the I don't know the sad fortune to tell her that her son just hung himself. Friends, let me tell you something. We can't wait. We can't wait on that building. We can't wait to do 40 days of purpose. We can't wait. We have got to do what we're doing because God has called us to do it.

And today is the day of salvation, and now is the accepted time, and we're going to do something for God in the name of the Lord. Let's do it. Let's do it. Can you say amen? That's do it. These young people killing themselves, the number two killer. And if they don't kill themselves because they are looking within, and this applies to adults also, and finding nothing but emptiness, they're turning to drugs. I mean, it's no secret why so many people are on drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, pleasure because their lives are just so empty and they're trying to fill their life with something.

And then the little girls are coming home pregnant. They didn't mean to get pregnant, but they didn't know what to do. They want somebody to touch them, to love them. They want to fill the emptiness. The the little boy is the same thing. Friend, the the church has an awesome responsibility. And we can't expect the government or the education or the public schools or even the Christian day schools to do what we are called to do. We can not shirk this responsibility. And we're not. We're not doing it. We're looking to the Lord for the salvation of our young people and for everyone that we know.

The other day, Karen and I were at the supermarket at the We were standing in line and there was a man behind us. I don't really know how we struck up the conversation, but the man started telling us how he he fell. He was up high. I suppose he construction worker but he fell and he fell on the cement and he hit his head and he's since then had several brain operations. He's a college graduate. He knew calculus. He said, but I my long-term memory is gone. He said, I don't know how to do calculus now.

I don't and and other things that he he can't remember. But he said, life is more precious to me now than before. He said, actually coming over here today, he said, I saw some beautiful flowers. I just stopped, got out, walked over and looked at him. Then I came on in. Well, that was the man behind us. Well, a lady in front of us overheard the conversation. And she turned around and she looked at the young man, who maybe 37 40 years old. She turned and looked at him. She said, sir, God not through with you yet.

And I'll never forget when after I had spoke to him about life and how short life is at the longest. And I said, sir, your life could have been even shorter. She turned and said, God's not through with you yet it just hits me. The young man said, I believe that but I don't know why he left me live. I don't know why he put me back. I don't know what his purpose is for me. Now, that's a lot of people. That's some people right here now wondering of what it is that God has spared us, given us life, put us back here on earth.

Okay, take your outline. You have an outline on line eight. We're going to look at some questions pertaining to life. And some of the questions that we're going to seek answers for today, beginning today and the next 40 days. So, please don't miss one of the services. For the next six Sundays, here are some of the questions we're going to find answers for. We're not only going to seek answers, we're going to find answers. Here's the question. Why was I born? Why am I alive on earth? Does my life matter? What is my purpose? Those are a few of the questions we're going to ask and answer.

These questions have plagued the minds of philosophers and theologians and educators and poets for all periods of human history. They've been asking this question and trying to answer it, and the answers are not clear. They're they're elusive. Um but people continue to ask. The psalmist asked, remember how fleeting is my life for what futility you have created all men. And the new century version says, why did you create us for nothing? They point be in your outline, look at the question, and then we're going to answer one, two, three and four. Answers, answers, answers. We want answers, don't we?

God give us answers, and he has given us answers. But we are the ones that are turning the deaf ear. Pray, I pray, I pray with all my heart that today your ears will be open, that you'll hear today and in the next 40 days, you young people. I'm talking to you too. I'm so glad you're here. Talking to Randy the other day and come to find out so many of our teenagers will go to Sunday school, but they don't come into church. They'll come into church maybe to take communion on communion Sunday. But they have lived year after year without ever hearing a sermon that the pastor has ever preached.

Parents, parents, come on. Help me win your young people to the Lord. Get them in here. There's only one life. And most of our children are going to end up just as speechless and without answers as their parents. And it's time. It's time. They get some answers. We're going to get some answers. Okay, answers to the questions of life. Number one, the first thing we need to know before we go one step further. Number one, God made you. Write down the word made. God made you. You are no freak chance of nature. You came listen friend, you came from God's hand just as much as Adam came from God's hand.

And God fashioned Adam, and he fashioned you. He had a purpose for Adam. He has a purpose for you. God has a purpose for everything he makes. God just doesn't do things by priests. No, he has a purpose. He he just doesn't play with his miracle working power to amuse himself. That's not the God of the Bible. Jeremiah, God says this in Jeremiah chapter one verse five. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Now, I want you to listen to it again.

Before I formed you, I formed you. I formed you. Do you get it? Are you listening to it before I formed you? First to form something, there has to be a desire to do the forming. And so God had a desire for you to be here. He had a desire to form you. And he doesn't form anything for nothing. He always has a purpose. Now, notice he said, before I formed you. So, that's the desire. What was the motivation for him to follow through with his desire? The end purpose. He had an end purpose for you and me.

And because he saw the end purpose, he said, I'll form that person for this purpose. Now, notice he said, before I formed you, I knew you. God knew the end purpose for your life and my life even before he formed us. He knew it. It was in his mind. Remember the scripture, I know the plans I have for you. God has plans for us. Now, Paul uses an analogy in Romans chapter nine about the uh the potter and the clay. You know, the potter will pick up the clay and put the clay on the wheel and start the pumping the wheel and he starts fashioning a vase or a bowl.

The potter has something in mind when he starts fashioning that that he he's pumping the wheel and he's fashioning it. The potter doesn't say, well, you know, I'll just make something for the fun of making something. I don't have anything else to do today, so I'll just make something. And whatever it turns out to be, it'll just turn out to be. Now, I don't never heard of a of a construction man or a potter or an architect doing such a thing. The potter had something in mind. And then Paul goes on to say in in Romans chapter nine that after he fashions this vessel, the vessel doesn't turn and say to the potter, I don't like how you made me.

Why did you do that to me? I don't want to be a bowl. I want to be a vase. I don't want to be a cup. I want to be a glass. No, God has a purpose. Paul is saying in Romans nine, he has fashioned each of us to do something beautiful and wonderful for him and for ourselves to bring happiness and joy to our own lives. So, number one, God made you. Say that with me. God made me.

Guest (Male): God made me.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, if we ever get that in our head, and I believe we are, we're we're serious about the 40 days of purpose. We're really serious. That's the first thing before we can answer any other question as to our purpose. We have to know that God made us, that we're no freak accident of nature. Now, number two, God made you to last forever. Write down the word forever. The purposes for which God made you on and put you on this earth is not only for this lifetime, but he made you to last forever. He built good stuff into all of us.

Sinner and saint alike. Now, the psalmist says in Psalm 33 verse 11, the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. I need to say that again. Read that again. That went went by too quickly. God has plans. And the scripture says, the plans of the Lord stand forever. The purposes of his heart through all generations. He didn't make you just to be a toy or a plaything for a few years for himself. But he made you and me to last forever. Now, when our earthly life is over on earth and we're a Christian, we are going to go to heaven.

We're going to leave this world and we're going to go into the presence of the Lord. This life is just a warm-up act. It's just the best vestibule for heaven. So, get ready, get ready, get ready. We're going to heaven. And whatever we have been down here, we're going to look at it again when we get there. Some of us are going to be very happy and very glad. But some of us are going to be very sad. We're going to be in heaven. We're going to be sad. But we're going to look back over the 30, 40, 70, 80 years, 90 years that we had here.

And the scripture says, we're going to break and weep because we're going to say, God, you gave me a life for a purpose. And I just turned it all on me to bless me and enhance me and educate me and and make me wealth. I just blessed me. You gave and I have put. You gave and I put. But somewhere along the way, we gave our heart to the Lord. And the scripture says, we're going to break and we're going to cry. But then the Lord's going to come and he's the Bible says in Revelation, he's going to wipe all tears from our eyes.

He's going to welcome you in. But you're going to live for eternity knowing that you flew it. Oh, I've got to hear him say well done, good and faithful servant. I just have to hear him say that. Now, the earthly tent, our bodies are only temporal and it's a temporary place. It's compared to a flimsy tent. That's all. Our bodies are so flimsy. But there's a building from God, an eternal house. It has a solid structure. It's permanent. It's not temporary. See, you matter to God. You really do. You matter to God. I want you to say to me, I matter to God.

Now, I want you to turn to your neighbor on either side and say, you matter to God. You know, you matter so much to God. Let me tell you why you matter so much to God. Why I know you matter so much to God. You matter to God so much that he wants to keep you with him forever. Now, when something really matters that much, it really matters. And that's how he made us forever, for himself. We really matter to God. Now, number three, I want you to write down the word God made you to love you.

Write down the word love. So, number one, let's review. God made you. God made you to last forever because you matter to him and he wants to keep you with him forever. But why did he make you? To love you. In Ephesians chapter one verse four, for he, God, chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Now, friends, I want you to know something. If you don't get anything else out of these 40 days, you don't get anything else, I want you to know this. God uh you God loves you.

Say it with me. God loves me. God loves me. Or that I pray that that will get to my heart and your heart today. We don't get anything else. We don't learn anything else that we will learn that that God made you to love you. You see, friends, listen to me. God didn't need you nor did he need me. God didn't need you. God wanted you. That's why I made you. He wants you. He wants me. There was a pompous lawyer. Now, not all lawyers are pompous. We don't have a pompous lawyer here at the Largo Community Church.

Every time one of them goes through the line, whether they're a man or a woman lawyer, I give them a hug and say, you're my favorite lawyer. And if one of them over here is be saying that to the other one after I said it to her, I'm in trouble. But I mean, we've got some wonderful, humble Christian lawyers. But I'm going to talk about a pompous lawyer. A pompous lawyer was reading the client's last will and testament to a group of greedy relatives. They came in They're ready to hear what's coming to me. What am I going to get?

So, the lawyer reads the last will and testament of his client. Quote, I, John Jones, being of sound mind and body, spend it all. Now, when Jesus wrote his last will and testament for the church, he shared his spiritual riches. Instead of spending it all, he paid it all. All you and I need to do today is to receive the blessing that he paid for. Not only did he write his will, he went to the cross and he died so the will would be enforced. Friend, you have a tremendous inheritance in Christ, an eternal inheritance in Christ.

Embrace it today. So, number one, God made you. Number two, he made you to last forever. Number three, he made you to love you. And number four, he made you for a purpose. He had something in mind for you. But the purpose can only be realized in knowing the maker. Did you hear me? The one who made you is the one who can tell you why he made you. And without knowing him, that's why there are people by the thousands and the thousands. Illicit sex, HIV, drugs and alcohol, teenage suicide. They don't know why they're here.

They don't know why they were made. They don't know the maker. And we've got to get back to the blueprint. And the one who did the drawing, the maker. And then we will know our purpose. We cannot know our purpose and being apart from him. That's why the philosophers, the theologians, the poets, the prophets have struggled throughout all human history to find an answer. But apart from God, my purpose cannot be known. And in the next 40 days, we're going to find out why we're here because my great effort for you and me and for this church is to help us know the maker.

We want answers, quick answers, easy answers. But you can't get the answer without knowing God. The the question is, do you know him? Is he still off in the distance? Is your idea and concept still a little bit fuzzy? Today, he wants you to know that he made you, that he made you to last forever, that he made you because he loves you. When you know that, you