The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Today, let's give control to Jesus. Tell Him about it, focus on Him, look to Him, and trust in Him. We need to look to the Lord. We need to stand still. We need to remain firm and see the salvation of the Lord.

Guest (Male): Have you ever felt that life is not going the way you want it? And you're frustrated by failure and the perceived absence of God's presence? Today, Pastor Morris is going to take us to Galatians 5, where we find a description of the spirit-filled life and keys to overcoming by giving our problems and disappointments fully over to Him. Let's join the Sunday morning service at the Largo Community Church and hear the message, "When My Patience Runs Out."

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, in Galatians chapter 5, that's where I'm going to focus this morning. And I'm going to turn over there and I'm going to read that passage to you. Galatians 5:22: "But the fruit of the spirit..." Now, when it says "fruit," that means the virtue, the manifestation. That's the virtue of Jesus coming out, the manifestation of Jesus coming out. This is how Jesus will manifest Himself through you.

The fruit of the spirit—people are going to see love coming out, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And we need to continue to hear and receive from Jesus in order to have the strength to bring forth this kind of fruit that will reflect His glory.

There are nine manifestations, and I've just read them to you. But there's only one of them I'm going to focus on this morning, and that's patience. Because once we learn how to manifest the fruit of the spirit, any one of them, they're all manifested at the same time. So, I'm going to... but here's one I think maybe I needed to just look at more closely because I just felt to do this.

I was looking at my own heart, examining my own life, and I thought, "This thing could turn into a good sermon." And so, that's how you got it. Been working on me, the Holy Spirit is still working on me, and I believe He's going to be working in your heart today also. First thing I want to do is to define patience. Well, first thing about defining patience is to say what it is not.

Patience is not just hanging around or hanging in there. Here's what patience is: Patience is the ability to accept delay and disappointment graciously. Well, there it is. It's on the screen. The ability... come on, read it with me: The ability to accept delay or disappointment graciously. Patience is to remain steadfast under pressure. And patience is endurance, knowing God is in control. God's in control. He hasn't lost the universe yet. He never will. He's in control.

Sometimes tragedies happen in our lives over which we have no control whatsoever. And we're disturbed by it. Obviously, we are. All of us are this way. We're disturbed by these tragedies that happen to us. But God—listen to me, friend—God is designing something beautiful. He will take that that is nothing but ashes and bring something beautiful out of it. This is what God can do. And He does do it.

There was a lady that had a handkerchief. It was very sentimental to her. I don't know whether a child gave it to her or where she got it, but she loved that handkerchief. It was very valuable to her. And she spilled ink on it. Remember those inkwells we used to have to dip into? She had an ink spot on it and she couldn't get that ink spot out.

So she knew this artist that she took it in the car to the artist's house. This artist was her friend. And she told him the story and she said, "Look at this beautiful handkerchief and how it's stained, and I can't get it out. Can you do anything with it?" And she went home, and a few days later, there was an envelope in the mail. And she opened it up and she couldn't believe her eyes.

There was that handkerchief, and that artist had taken that smudge, that ink spot, and he designed something very beautiful around it. He used that ink spot as a base to design something beautiful. Now, I don't know about the ink spots that are in your life, but I want you to know that things will happen that'll put a smudge on your life and dampen your spirits and take away some of your joy.

But if you give that tragedy or that difficulty or that smudge or whatever it is, if you give it to God, God can take it and design something absolutely beautiful about it. He can do that and He's going to do that. He's here to do that. This is what God will do. We need to be patient when those hurts come, knowing that God is in control. That God has the last word. Not the hurt, not the tragedy, but God. And we need to put it into His hands and let Him handle it.

Now, I want you to think about it. What's going on, where you're hurt, where that smudge has been, how long that smudge has been there. No matter how long or how recent, give it over to God. He's the master artist. He created this universe and all the starry heavens and all the beauty thereof, and He can take something that is ugly that has happened to you and use that even as a base. And when you're finished with it all, you can say, "Boy, that really hurt back there, but it really all turned out to the good." Because all things work together for good. Doesn't it say that? Not some things. But this is what our God does.

Now patience is difficult to develop. You know that already, don't you? It's not an easy thing. But I'm going to tell you why it is so difficult to develop patience. Because number one, it's not part of human culture, not part of human nature. You see, we're not born with patience. I wish we were, but none of us are born with patience.

Now, you take that little baby at night. It wakes up in the middle of the night. It wants fed. It's hungry. It needs its diaper changed. It doesn't think, "Well, look, Mommy and Daddy need their rest. They worked hard all day. They got to get up and go back to work in the morning. I can just hold out a few more hours." Does it do that? No, it has a way of getting your attention, doesn't it? And it gets your attention. It wants help, it wants food, it wants comfort right now. Right now! We all want it right now, don't we? Am I talking to this church or...? We want it right now.

Well, we start getting a little older and we think, "Well, maybe this is going to develop some more patience." There's a little boy, he's four years old. He's been in this world for four years. By now he should have learned something about patience, wouldn't you think? I mean four years? It takes four years to graduate from college; you got to learn something in four years. He's in the car going to a friend's house with his mother was driving and there was a long trip.

And this little four-year-old kept asking mother, "Are we there yet?" Have you heard that one? "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" And so the mother finally she got frustrated. You ever get frustrated with one of your kids? And then she turned to him and she said, "When we get there, we'll be there." She said to her four-year-old, she said, "We have ninety more miles to go." He was silent for a moment and he spoke up and he said, "Will I still be four years old when we get there?"

So the baby doesn't have it, the child doesn't have it. I mean, we're growing up, we don't have it. But the one that I'll tell you the one that I like. This fellow comes up to a traffic light and his car stalls. Of all places. And he does everything that he can think of to get that car running, get that engine going again. He can't get it going. And he tried and tried. And behind him, there was a chorus of honks and horns blowing, and that just made things worse for him and he became more frustrated.

And after a while, in exasperation, he gets out of the car and he walks back to the car behind him and he tells the gentleman, he said, "Sir, my car stalled, I've done everything I can to get it started. Would you mind going up there and seeing what you can do with it? And while you're up there, I'll stay back here and blow your horn." So the baby doesn't have it, the child doesn't have it, the adult doesn't have it. When do we get it? How do we get it? What I'm trying to say: It's not part of human nature. It's just not part of human nature.

It's contrary to culture. I've been in a number of countries of the world. I—you remember how I used to go out to preach in Asia, South America, Africa, and various places. And I would teach courses in seminaries and we'd go just about all day long teaching and then there was the counseling time and I worked hard, I really did, the two weeks I was there. And then I'd come home and I'd be physically tired. But in those cultures, those cultures are so laid back.

They're not like Americans. We're always a day behind, need it yesterday. But they're so laid back and it would almost be in my mind and in my spirit almost like a vacation when I would come home because I started relaxing like they relaxed. But I got back home and got back in the rat race, and the rats won. So we're just trying to get it all done and there seems like there's just more and more to be done.

There's a church, I want to tell you about a church in Florida. This is real. This church in Florida advertises 22-minute worship services. They advertise to the people in general. They put their advertisement out, they said, "We will get you in and get you out in 22 minutes with an eight-minute sermon." Now don't get your hopes up. I don't do it that way.

But we like things quick. We like things microwaved. This one man took a microwave lunch—Bob, you don't like microwaves much, do you?—took a microwave meal to work. And he goes over at lunchtime to the microwave and he stands there and he reads the directions how to do it. And it says you put it in there for six minutes. He said, "Six minutes? Who's got that kind of time?"

Now, we want it done quickly, don't we? But it's just not in our nature, it's not in our culture to have it done that way. And it's erroneous thinking. We're just thinking wrong. We have the idea, as Americans, that the type-A personality is the man or woman that really gets ahead. We like that person that will just charge forward. The person will say, "Well, you know, I may be impatient, but I get things done." And so we've made a virtue out of impatience. We've made a virtue and we admire that person that is charging ahead in that manner.

Well, I want to tell you about patience and how patience is really developed. I'm right now to the meat of my sermon. Number one, we develop patience by abiding in Christ. Say that: abiding in Christ. Now read that message that's on the screen: "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, ye can do nothing."

Apart from me. Apart from me. Notice those words. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a branch is cut off from the vine, it's not drawing the energy from the vine, and so it just withers and dies. And this is what the Lord is saying: I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man or woman remains in me—remains, that's not hit and miss, but remains in me and I in him—he will bear much fruit. There's nine of them, and it'll be a reflection of Jesus. He will bear those fruit. But he said here, "Apart from me, ye can do nothing. Nothing."

I think of the mother that has the little baby. And some mothers choose to breastfeed their baby, and they do that. Others choose differently. But the mother that is holding that little baby and that little baby is just drawing nourishment from the mother and it has both of its eyes right up into the mother's eyes and the mother... it won't take its eyes off its mother. You see, it's focused. It's focused.

And it's drawing that nourishment. Now the little baby must draw the nourishment in order to grow and to become strong. Without the nourishment from the mother, the baby isn't going to make it. Now notice what He says: "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, ye can do nothing." That little baby without nourishment will die. Apart from the mother, that baby will never make it. That baby will die.

Apart from me, apart from Jesus, you and I are going to wither up on the vine—not on the vine, separated from the vine. We're going to dry up. We're never going to make it. Only in the strength of Jesus as we are related to Jesus, connected to Jesus. That mother is giving that baby the nourishment that the baby needs.

Now we need to read the Word of God, hear the Word of God taught, sing the Word of God, fellowship with God's people. He said, "If you remain," it's a remaining thing. Now the Lord's not going to make anybody do anything. But when we pray, we're looking into the eyes of Jesus and drawing nourishment from Him. When we're singing His praises, when we're worshiping with God's people, when we're in private with the Lord, we're looking up and we're drawing that nourishment from Him.

That baby is growing strong because it has a connection to the mother. It's what's in the mother that is going out of her into the baby. The baby doesn't have it. You don't have love, you don't have patience, you don't have gentleness. You don't, I don't have any of the fruits of the spirit. It has to come from Him. Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you. My joy I give unto you." It's something in Jesus. It's something in the mother that's leaving the mother, going into the child because the child is connected and is suckling from the mother.

Now the mother is there. She loves that baby. She's going to give her strength. Jesus is now going to give His strength. It's going to come right out of Him into you, the Christian. Right out of the mother into the baby. The strength is not in the baby; the strength is in the mother. And the baby is getting its strength and its nourishment from the mother.

So when it's time to pray, you look at your watch, you know, "Well, I'll catch up later." You can't say to the baby, "Don't cry now. I'll be back this afternoon. I'll feed you twice as much this afternoon." No. God doesn't grab you by the neck and say, "It's prayer time! What are you standing up? Get down there!" He's not going to do that. You go to Him. You go into His presence. He says, "Come boldly to the throne of grace. Come unto me, all ye that are labor." You've got to come. You've got to come. You've got to come!

He's already come to you and me and He's coming to us right now. He's put the Word in our hands. He's put the church before us. He's already done all of His coming to us. Now we have to come to Him. This is the next thing we need, is this I'm talking about now: self-discipline. We need to know what we need, and we need to come to the Lord and give ourselves to Him so that He can give like the mother. What's in the mother, what's in Him—love in Him—and He puts it into us. Joy in Him, my joy, my love.

Now I've got all of His strength and nourishment in me. Now I can be love. I can manifest love. I can bear the fruit of the spirit, and Jesus can be seen and glorified in me because I've disciplined myself to come to Him, to believe Him, and to worship Him. Self-discipline. I've got to do that. And we all miss it sometimes.

Now, what I'm doing, as I said at the beginning of this sermon, I'm giving to you what has been worked on in my own heart by the Holy Spirit. And last Friday, just two days ago, four times on the radio on WAVA, four times last Friday on Radio One, four times I told all of Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland—millions of people—that I'm the pastor of the Largo Community Church and I'm an impatient man. I told everybody that. You knew that anyway, didn't you?

We need help, friend, from God. There are things that are going on in our lives that we have absolute no control over. They're going to happen to us. There's going to be a smudge on the handkerchief. There's going to be a smudge on your life. Things are going to happen. But there's an old saying, maybe it's not so old: Don't sweat the small stuff. Give God the big stuff. He knows how to handle it.

Have you ever come up to a four-way stop sign? It's your turn to go, the other guy goes. Ruined your whole day! Or you're in the checkout line at the supermarket and it's your turn and somebody jumps right in front... "Lady, I was here! It was my turn!" You know, just out of sorts. Patience. We have got to get it done. She can't check those food out fast enough. So now we have self-checkout and any which way, we just go without checking out! We've got to get to that car and get going again.

The mother can't hurry up the feeding of that baby. You're going to take time to grow in Christ that we're to grow in the fear, in the reverence, in the admonition of the Lord. It takes time. And it will be God's timing and He will bless us and He will help us. Today let's give control to Jesus. Give all those smudges to Him and tell Him about it and focus on Him and look to Him and trust in Him. We need to look to the Lord. We need to stand still. We need to remain firm and see the salvation of the Lord.

The scripture says God will fight for you. We've got to give Him... but if we're going to do the our own boxing and do our own fighting, He'll let us do it. You see, God'll let us do anything we want to do. And usually we're the ones that do the things that takes the joy out of our life. But when we respond God's way—the only way we can respond God's way if we have the nourishment of God in us—the mother giving into the child, the Holy Spirit giving Jesus into us. God will do it. God's here to do it. And He will. You believe that? All right. Let's bow our heads before Him.

Guest (Male): In today's message, we learned Jesus is the source of everything we need to live a spirit-filled life. And our continued connection to Him is the only way to overcome life's frustrations and difficulties and live an abundant life. We hope that your faith has been energized today and The Healing Word ministry has blessed you. Before we go, here is Pastor Jack Morris with a special invitation.

Pastor Jack Morris: Hello, friend. The Healing Word needs your prayers and financial contributions. Your prayers bring the anointing of God on the word that is preached. Your contributions make possible the necessary money to keep the gospel message reaching those who need what only Jesus can offer. He offers them salvation, forgiveness of sin, healing, emotional healing, physical healing, spiritual healing. Thank you for being with me. We're together in the Lord's service.

Guest (Male): Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.