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: Now, the very thing that you want for yourself—happiness, joy, contentment, security—this is exactly what Jesus wants for you also.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word. Today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here is Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: I want you to hold your Bible out and read with me John chapter 21, verse one. John chapter 21, verse one. It's on page 769 in the pew Bible. Together let us read: "Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way." Stop there.

Now notice, it starts out "afterward." That means it happened after he had appeared to the disciples. If you go back to chapter 20, he appeared to the disciples in the upper room behind bolted doors; this time Thomas was present. Now after that, he appeared again. Every time Jesus appeared, it was always on Sunday. It was always on the Sabbath of the Christian faith that Jesus made his appearance.

Afterward, Jesus. Now, it's Jesus. It's not a vision of Jesus, it's not a mirage in the desert, it's not a feeling that he is there. It is the crucified, dead, buried, resurrected Christ. It is Jesus himself that appears. Now notice it says he appeared. Say that with me: "he appeared." He appeared. When I read that, I thought that is exactly what he wants to do. Always, he wants to appear.

He wants to make himself known. He wants to appear in this Sunday morning service. I have been praying, "Lord, come on in, touch our hearts, forgive our sins, heal our hurts, bless our homes, bless our families, bless the couples." Make your appearance, Jesus. We want you. I believe he has answered prayer, and I believe he is here. I believe he is appearing. You see, Jesus loves our company. Can you believe that? He wants to hang around with us always, never to leave us, never to forsake us.

He really likes you and me. He really does. He appeared to these disciples, and notice it says he appeared again. I thought, "Lord, how many times do you have to call us? How many times do you have to appear to us?" You know what came back to me? Just as many times as it takes. I am trying to get through to you. He was talking to me, and I have a feeling he is talking to the whole congregation.

I am trying to get through, and I will keep appearing and appearing. Just like the disciples, they were a little bit dense when it came to spiritual things, and he had to appear, and then he had to appear, and then he had to appear. This is the seventh time in chapter 21 of John. This is the seventh time he appeared. Listen to this: every time he surprised them.

We act like if there is an answer to prayer, "Wow! What a surprise! Hey, it works!" You know, for years and years we have had many prayers answered, and then when we get one answered again, "Wow!" That is how the Lord does. He is always coming, and we seem to be always surprised that he cares for us, that he pays attention to us, that he listens to us, that we always have his ear. He appeared again. This was the third time he appeared to the disciples as a group, but it was the seventh time that he made his appearance.

Notice afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. This is the Sea of Galilee, and it happened this way. Verse two tells us who was there. There were seven of them present this time: Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Hold your Bible up and read verse three with me: "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Now notice, it is Simon Peter: "I'm going out to fish." I am going to go back and do what I used to do. He is dead. Jesus had already appeared at least three times to Simon Peter. In a three-week period, he had appeared three times. But Simon Peter was still discouraged; he was still down. I wonder sometimes what it is going to take for God to get through to us that we are special to him, that we need to listen to him, obey him, follow him. Simon Peter was having a hard time of it.

He said, "I'm going fishing." He is going back to the old trade. This is where he was when God called him. Jesus walked by the nets and called him to become a fisher of men. But now he says, "I'm going back and going to pick up the old trade again. I've got to make a living, I've got to take care of my family, and after all, fishing is good therapy." So, "I'm going to go fishing." The other guys said, "That's a good idea. We're going to go with you."

Notice what they did. They went out and got into the boat. Notice it does not say "a boat," but "the boat." It means they got back in the same boat that Peter got out of some time ago—three years ago—when Jesus called him. It was Peter's boat. It was not just a boat they got into; it was the boat. It was Peter's boat. Now notice what happened. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Nothing. I do not even like that word, do you? Nothing. I like the word something, but I do not really relish the word nothing. Nothing is an empty word, isn't it? Nothing is nothing. We all want something, and that is what Jesus brings to us: the blessing of something. I will tell you, when God gives a gift, he gives a gift. They caught nothing. Friend, that is how life is without Jesus. When Jesus is absent, you cannot expect very much. Actually, you might as well go ahead and expect nothing; that way you won't be disappointed. You will get exactly what you are expecting: nothing. They worked all night and got nothing.

I had to pause on that one and look at it a while. It was so sad to read about nothing. My question today to all of us is: what are your expectations? I do a lot of counseling, and that is one of the very first things I will ask an individual or a couple: "What are your expectations? What do you want?" Sometimes I will say things like this: "Three years from now, where would you like your life to be three years down the road from now?" Often they have not given a whole lot of thought to it.

People are going nowhere because they are not planning on going anywhere. You have to get on the train in order to go, or get in the car. You have to have a mentality and a goal, and the goal acts like a magnet that will pull you to it. What are your expectations? I have had so many couples come in and individuals say things like this: "I didn't expect our marriage to turn out like this. I didn't expect my life to turn out like this." So I ask them, "Well, what did you expect?" "Well, I'm not sure, but I didn't expect this."

What I am trying to point out this morning and when I am doing those counseling sessions is: without hope and faith in Jesus, life ends up with a zero or a minus sign. It does. It really does. But if you look to Jesus with faith in Jesus, knowing that Jesus is there, that Jesus can do something, then something will happen. He will take that which is nothing and he will turn it into something. This is what the Lord does.

The emptiness that exists in so many lives—and I want to talk to some people this morning whose lives are empty. There is a void there. You are just living a sort of a day-to-day existence, not sure exactly where you are going, what is going to happen. The goals that you have are not clear or not well-defined. The emptiness is there. You know something, friend? That is how this earth was when God started working on it.

We go all the way back to Genesis chapter one, verse two, and it says the world was empty and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. I thought as I read that, that describes the majority of the human race: empty and void with darkness. People are just staggering, no direction. Soon the years go by and they are middle-aged or they are approaching old age, and still life is empty. There is no satisfaction. They are still stumbling in the darkness. They have had no expectations, life has gone, and they have gotten nowhere.

Friend, there is a shepherd to guide us, to shepherd us, to direct us, to help us. Why? Tell me, why don't we look to him? Why don't we accept his offer? He will lead us to green pastures. He will cause us to lie down beside still waters. He will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. I mean, he will do everything you want for yourself. He will do it. But without him, you will fish all night and catch nothing.

I believe my heart is touched right now and heavy that some of you have been visited today by the Holy Spirit. He has come and applied Jesus, but you did not recognize it. The songs have been sung, the anthems have been sung, the word has been read, the prayers have been prayed. We are right in the middle of a sermon, and still you do not know that Jesus is here to bless you. I do not know what else to say. I do not know what else to do. Even Jesus himself did not know how to communicate his presence, and every time he tried, they did not recognize him.

Friend, Jesus loves you. Jesus is here for you. Jesus has a blessing for you. Please, in his holy name, do not miss it. Do not miss Jesus today. Notice it says in the scripture, verse four: "He stood on the shore early in the morning." That is when he arose. That was the time of the day he arose from the dead, wasn't it? Early in the morning. I read that and I thought, "Jesus is an early morning person." Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary went to the tomb; he was already out of there. I mean, Jesus is already ready for business—for healing, resurrection, blessing, forgiving, supplying business.

Jesus is out of there. He is an early morning person. And then I kept on reading and I thought, "Hey, he is an afternoon person too," because the two disciples were on the road to Emmaus, and lo, Jesus walked up. But they thought he was a stranger. But he is an afternoon person. I thought, "Well, I know he is a morning person, I know he is an afternoon person, I can pray in the morning and receive, I can pray in the afternoon." Then I kept on reading and thought, "Whoa, that evening he appeared to the disciples that night in an upper room behind bolted doors." I thought, "Hey, he is a night person too!"

He is an all-around, all-time, ever-ready battery, ready to go off with blessing, with healing, with light to all who will believe on him. But we just have an awful time, a difficult time recognizing him. He arose from the dead. People must make big mistakes. Mary made a big mistake; she thought he was the gardener, the caretaker. She did not recognize him. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus thought he was a stranger. Friend, what do you think about Jesus this morning? What are your thoughts? What is your opinion?

Would you recognize him if he came? If he walked right up to you, would you recognize him? I believe he is here. I do believe that. I prayed that he would come, and I know he answers prayer. I prayed that you would come, and here you are. I hope you all come back next week. I am going to pray. Do not stay away because my prayer won't be answered then. You want God to answer the pastor's prayers, don't you? So you be sure and come next week so my faith will grow stronger and stronger and I will pray more and more.

But here he comes and he makes his appearance, but the disciples did not recognize him. In Genesis chapter 28, there is a great story there of Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau. Jacob stole his brother's birthright, and Esau meant to kill him, to murder him. His twin brother had murder in his heart and purposed to kill Jacob. Esau purposed to kill Jacob because Jacob stole his birthright. But Jacob had to flee, and Esau was in hot pursuit.

Jacob, one night alone in the darkness, went across the brook, got by himself, took a stone, put it down, no doubt put something over it to make it soft. Let that be his pillow. His heart was palpitating; the adrenaline was flowing through his being. He kept thinking, "Esau is coming. Esau is going to kill me. I am going to die. I am going to die. What did I do back there years ago? My brother is going to catch up with me." He did not get much sleep that night. He was frightened for his life. His life was empty, his life was void, there was darkness. And then, listen, then it happened.

God revealed himself, and he saw a staircase from earth to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending. That was happening even when he did not see it. The staircase was there and the angels ascending and descending. Here was this man, afraid for his life. He had every right to be afraid for his life. This was not an imaginary thing. For years, Esau had declared, and everybody knew, "I'll kill him when I find him. My twin brother, I will kill him for what he did to me."

Jacob waited, waited for the coming death from the hands of his brother. But then he saw a staircase. He saw angels. Friend, I believe that if God somehow were to open our spiritual eyes this morning, we would see a staircase right here. We would see the angels of God right here, ascending and descending. There is a staircase for you to send up a prayer. You can climb that staircase. You can pray to God, for God is at the head or at the top of that staircase.

Jacob said, "This wilderness, this darkness, this emptiness, this is none other than Bethel, the house of God." People say, "I'm going to go to church today." Friend, come to the house of God. Come to the stairway of heaven. Come and be blessed, healed, saved, forgiven, and made whole. This is Bethel. This is the house of God. There is a staircase here today. You cannot see it, I cannot see it, but he is here. The angels of God are here. This place is inhabited, not only with people, but with invisible beings and with the very presence of Jesus himself.

But some of us are not going to recognize it. We are not going to recognize it. The blessing of God is here, the blessing of God is upon us, but we are not going to recognize it. You know that happens in our life. What I am referring to now are circumstances that are going on around us, and we do not know and recognize that it is God in all of this. You see, we think—you and I think—that God is in the good things that are happening to us.

If a blessing comes, if we feel good, if we get a promotion or a raise, "Thank God! That's wonderful!" But if we do not get that raise and somebody else gets that promotion, "Where's God? Where's my God? Why did God let me down?" We are happy for the good things and we recognize that is God, and we should, and we should give thanks. But when negative things or bad things or disappointing things happen, sometimes we do not recognize that God is in that also.

Here is Jacob, anticipating death, getting away from his family and his children lest Esau fall upon them. Jacob was in a terrible place, about as bad a place as anybody could possibly get in. He found out that God was in that same place with him. Friend, listen. What is going on in your life right now? Usually people come in with a sad story, and they should do that. They should come to their pastor for prayer. But friend, even then, it is hard to tell a person at that time that God is in this, that God is in this, that God is allowing this to happen, that there is nothing that passes God by that God is not aware of.

We do not have to explain anything to him, tell him, inform him, bring him up to date. He knows everything, and there is not one thing—listen, there is not one thing—that is happening in your life, good or bad, but that he is not aware of it and that he is not present to bless you and help you in that situation. Now take your Bible, hold it up to verse five. John 21, verse five. Together read this with me: "He called out to them, 'Friends, haven't you any fish?' 'No.'" It is always "no" without Jesus. It is always nothing without Jesus.

He called out and he said, "Friends." Now, this word friends is sort of a diminutive. It means like lads or children, those of you who are deficient in your spiritual faith. You are saved, you are a Christian, but you haven't grown too much. You are not so far along. You do not understand the things of God, and you get disappointed when prayers are not answered, when things turn out differently than you expect. You are still deficient in your Christian faith. That is what he was saying to these disciples. You are just still deficient. "Friends, have you caught any fish?" They had had nothing. They had nothing to show for their labors. That tells the story of a lot of people, doesn't it? We just have nothing to show for where we are, where we've been, where we have come. We just have nothing to show.