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: Friend, if anything today happens, you you're going to have to make yourself visible to Jesus, make yourself accessible. And how do you do that? You call out to him. You call out. You say, Jesus, I'm over here. I have this problem in my finances, in my marriage, with my children, uh with my own life. You you make yourself available. You give Jesus an opportunity, and Jesus looks for opportunities.

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: The question, is it possible that I could forget to be thankful? That I could stop remembering the blessings of God and all of his mercies. Is that possible? That's the story of the 10 lepers who came to the Lord Jesus. That's why it's in the Bible so that we can read it and be admonished by it, corrected by it. Forgetting is a weakness of human nature. Now, we live in the Washington DC area, a city of monuments. Why monuments all over the place? Help us to remember lest we forget. And it is possible and it does happen that we sometimes, more often than we want to acknowledge, we forget what God has done for us.

We begin to take it for granted and almost almost begin to think and believe that we have done all of these wonderful things to ourselves and for ourselves. Now, as we go through this story this morning, 10 lepers, one of them truly truly thankful returning to the Lord. The other nine, they went on their way. They had other things to do. Important things, religious things, even obeying Jesus. But they failed to come back to the source and give thanks to the Lord. I'm believing and praying that we will see Jesus in a new light. This is not a story of the 10 lepers, but it's a story of Jesus.

My prayer is that we will see Jesus in a new light. Let's look for Jesus in this story. Now, I'm going to read from the 17th chapter verses 11 and 12. You may follow along if you like, but just listen. Now, on his way, this was Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. He was going into a village. 10 men who had leprosy met him and they stood at a distance. Now, I I I have to pause here and go back. He was on his way to Jerusalem.

Three times in the book of Luke, it's mentioned that he was on his way to Jerusalem. Friend, listen to this. He's on his way to Jerusalem. When all of this takes place in Luke 17:11, he's on his way. Luke 9:51, set his face. Luke 13:22, journeying toward Jerusalem. What's going to happen at Jerusalem? Well, right outside the city limits, there's a hill called Golgotha, a hill called Calvary where Jesus will fulfill his ultimate purpose for coming into this world to die on the cross and to take our sins in his own body on the tree.

That's the greatest act of mercy and grace that he could possibly fulfill while here. That was his ultimate purpose in coming. He is on his way to do the most important thing. And here he comes across 10 unclean men with a communicable disease. And he stops. Now, he's on his way to the cross. He could have said, I have come to bear your sins. I must go to the cross. Then I'll come back and take care of you because when I go to the cross, I'm taking care of the sins of the world and your sins.

Let me go to the cross. No. Here is a mission, but it is a mission within a larger mission. But Jesus stops. I want you to see Jesus in this passage today. You know, this is reminiscent to this story of the 10 lepers, reminiscent of the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. The scripture says Jesus had to pass through. He said, he must pass through Samaria. There was a woman there, a a woman that had sinned repeatedly. Uh she had had many men in her life and the man she was living with at the moment wasn't even her husband.

She was so so out of touch with the community, uh so living in in this situation that she couldn't even go draw water when the other woman went to draw water. No doubt they would scorn her, maybe call names, even throw stones at her. She would have to go out there, this woman, at times when no one else was there, no one else was present. But the person that she needed to be present was indeed present. Jesus was there. Jesus was there. Friend, I I hope you and I will realize in some spatial way this morning that Jesus is here.

If I go through this message and talk all about Jesus and you don't experience Jesus, some of us, I think already have in the singing and in the praying and we've experienced him. He's here. He goes out of his way to do nice things, good things, wonderful things, miraculous happenings to people. And Jesus is here to do these things for us even today. Now, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and he meets these 10 men. 10 men. Now, obviously he knew all things. He knew where they were. He knew he was going to meet them.

He knew what he was going to do for them. And I believe, I truly believe that maybe all week long, Jesus was waiting for this Sunday morning service here at this church knowing that you were going to come and that he was going to meet you in a very unusual way. He does some of the most wonderful unusual things, doesn't he? Do you need him today? Well, he's here and he is going to do something very beautiful and very wonderful. He's never too busy to be sidetracked or to be detoured. And I believe he's he's maybe gone out of his way to come over here today to see you and me and to do something.

I need him today. Do you need the Lord? He's here to bless us. Now, notice what the scripture says. He saw them and he heard them. Let me go back to verse 12. It says as he was going into the village, there met him men who had leprosy, met him. And they stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, master, have mercy on me. Friends, when you're desperate, you're desperate. And these were some desperate men and they weren't afraid to call out. They needed to. This this may have been their last chance.

No doubt the the message of Jesus had preceded him and somebody informed them that Jesus was coming and they were stationed at a place where he could see them and where they could meet him. Now, they stood at a distance. They they didn't move up too close to him because they had this communicable disease and the law of Leviticus said that they must stand at a distance and call out unclean unclean if anybody were to come close to them. But Jay, they were standing where Jesus could see them. They made themselves visible. They they they made themselves accessible.

That friend, if anything today happens, you you're going to have to make yourself visible to Jesus, make yourself accessible. And how do you do that? You call out to him. You call out. You say, Jesus, I'm over here. I have this problem in my finances, in my marriage, with my children, uh with my own life. You you make yourself available. You give Jesus an opportunity and Jesus looks for opportunities. He can't do anything if we don't make ourselves available. If those fellows had run off and hid somewhere and hadn't seen Jesus and Jesus hadn't seen them, but Jesus is looking today and I I believe he's scanning the congregation scanning all of us looking for an opportunity to bless and to do something beautiful.

Now, Jesus will hear us when we pray. Uh your request will provide him an opportunity. If if I call out to him today, if you call out to him today, and I'm going to give you an opportunity to do that in just a few moments, he will hear you. That's why this story is in the Bible not to entertain us or enlighten us, our intellect only, but to help us to believe and to reach out and to embrace what he has for us. The scripture says ask and it will be given. And it also says you have not because you ask not.

When Jesus rose from the dead in Matthew 28, he gives the great commission. And this is what he says, well among other things, he said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power, all authority. Now, what is Jesus going to do with all of that power and all of that authority? What's he going to do with it? He's going to bless you with it. You're the apple of his eye, the psalmist says. And he really cares. He really cares. Now, he's just waiting in heaven with all of that glory, all that power, all that forgiveness, all that healing, all those answers to prayer.

He's just waiting. Well, somebody ask me. Will somebody here reach out to me? When you do, the connection is made and the glory and the blessing begins to flow. Will you reach out to him today? Will you do that? Jesus heard these men. Jesus saw these men. And the scripture says, we're going to put on the screen. I'm going to put verse 14 put on the screen so that all of us can let's let's read it together in unison. When he saw them, he said, go show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed.

Now, notice he saw, he said, they went, they were cleansed. It's just that simple. Jesus sees. He already knows, but he waits for us to connect with him, to become one with him, to to bring it to him. He he sees. Now, he is speaking and he will speak to our hearts and bring blessing and glory to us. He wants to speak a blessing into your life. And he says to them, go show yourselves to the priest. And they went and they were cleansed. Now, that's what prayer is. Prayer is is is asking. These men called out, Jesus, master, have mercy.

Prayer is presenting your request verbally, calling out. Prayer is also obeying. They went just like he asked them to and encouraged them to. Prayer is obeying. Prayer is asking. Prayer is obeying. Prayer is receiving. They were cleansed. Let me say it again. Prayer is asking. They called out, Jesus, master, have mercy on me. That's what we're going to do in just a moment. You're going to call out to him your need. You're going to present it to him. He is going to speak to you to give your heart to him and all your life to him to obey him.

Then then you're going to hear him speak the blessing of God into your heart. You're going to praise him and you're going to receive from him. He he never turns anybody away. He never does that. He's not going to turn anybody away now. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And that's what I said. This whole message today is about Jesus and you and the connection that you are going to make with him today. Now, Jesus spoke to them. He told them to go show themselves to the priest. The priest acted as physicians in that day.

They were going to authenticate what Jesus had done. They were going to verify that. Now, one man in verse 15, look at verse 15, one of them. You see that word underscored one? That's unbelievable. Isn't it? That is is just unbelievable that 10 would receive and one would give thanks. But friend, that's no different than what's going on today. It's just unbelievable how many people aren't in church today. It's unbelievable how many people think that they have done everything in their lives, all this goodness that has come to them. They have done it per by themselves, for themselves.

It's just unbelievable that so many people don't feel their need of God and they're going to take things into their own hands and live their own life and usually mess up everything. It's just unbelievable. But believe it, it happened. One of them, when he saw, now notice it says when he saw one of them. We come to God as individuals. We come to God. Now, if there isn't anybody else in your home giving thanks and worshiping the Lord, you do it. No one else going to church, you do it. See we we come to God.

Nobody can confess your sins but you. No one can be baptized for you. That's an individual thing. No one can take communion for you. That's an individual thing. Friend, it comes down to this, you and Jesus. It's just you and Jesus, one of them, just one of them. And then notice what it says. When he saw he was healed, you you see when when God does something, you can see it. I mean, it isn't something, well I hope he did. I think he he may have done it. Friend, you'll know it. If you pray a specific prayer, you'll get a specific answer.

But many times our prayers are just so broad stroke. Lord, bless me. And he's wondering now, wonder which blessing they really which which one? Yeah. Tell him what kind of blessing. The name name it. Name that blessing to him. You know, we sing a a song, count your blessings. Name them one by one. We can count them. You can see. I can almost see that man looking between his fingers. The leprosy is gone. Feeling his ears, feeling his nose, looking at each other. Hey, round your ear and neck, it's gone. They didn't have a a mirror or looking glass with them, but they began to look at each other, look at themselves.

They could see. Count your blessings. I'll go back to my salvation. I give praise to God for the greatest of all blessings, Christ coming into my heart. When I asked him to come in, he was so anxious to come in. He he wanted to forgive me. He wanted to make me a Christian. And when I asked him to do it, he was just there on standby ready to do it. Then he blessed me all my life long, kept me to this very hour, have a good health and strength. Oh, I have just so much to praise for God for.

I have a Christian wife, a Christian son and daughter and grandchildren. I have a house. I have a home. I have a beautiful congregation I love and I have money to spend and buy things with. You know, I'm I'm counting my blessings. 1 2 3 4 5. Not only counting them, I'm naming them. This is what God will do. But God needs to be thanked. That's just the the courteous thing. He says when he saw that he was healed, he came back. Now, he was on his way to the priest to have the priest verify.

But he he stopped. And I know this man wanted to go home. He hadn't seen his wife and children or kissed them in a long time. He was unclean and he didn't want to communicate that disease to them. But he came back and the scripture says he prostrated himself. He fell on his face. He fell on his face and with a loud voice, I can't get too much louder than what I am. I'll need to turn my mic off. But I'll tell you something, friends. When it's real, you know it's real. And when it's real, you rejoice in it.

I mean, I I can't just tiptoe myself through a worship service. I can't do it. I have to tell him. And he he knows he can read my heart, but the scripture says confession is made with the mouth. He wants me to talk it to him. Well, look what he talked to me, this whole book. And this man fell on his face and with a loud voice, he praised God. You see what was going on. This man had a burning love in his heart for the Lord. It wasn't just on Thanksgiving day. That wasn't it.

It wasn't a date on the calendar. Now, I have to give thanks because this is Thanksgiving. No, the Thanksgiving was literally a fire in his bones, a fire in his heart. He couldn't do anything else but think of Jesus. He couldn't think of anything else but the source of his blessing. He had to go back. He he knew he wouldn't be complete. I don't know why the others didn't know that, but he knew that he needed not only physical healing, but there was something in his heart, something in his soul. And he went back and Jesus, I don't know that I've ever read a scripture where Jesus was sort of taken by surprise, although I'm sure he wasn't, but it does appear.

And that's for my benefit and yours. But I'm sure maybe God is surprised sometimes when he gives us a house and gives us a family, he gives us money, he gives us a job and an aptitude to do the job. He gives us he gives us, he gives us, he gives us. That word loud voice and falling on his face, it's there to let us know that when you know you've got it, you know you've got it. When you know you truly know. And then Jesus said to that man in verse 19, he says, rise and go.

Your faith has made you well. Not only well on the outside, but through and through all the way to the innermost being, your heart. You have you have been saved, forgiven, healed, made whole. Body, soul and spirit is rejoicing. And I recognize it and you have the blessing of God. The other men had spirit had physical healing. This man had physical healing plus spiritual healing. Jesus is available to make it happen. Do you need a happening from Jesus today? Well, he's here to make it happen. He's here to make it happen. Blessed be his name.

Now, I'm going to bow with you in prayer and I want you to I want you to bow with me also. We're going to look to the Lord. There are needs. There are needs. Family needs, marital needs, financial needs, employment needs, needs that I haven't even mentioned. But you know what your need is. We're going to go to the one who meets needs. We're going to go to the source. Let me pray for you. Just keep your heads bowed for a moment. Father God, I thank you for your blessings, your promised blessings, your fulfilled promised blessings.

I pray for every person here today that has a need. Some need forgiveness. They've done some things, behaved in a way. The guilt is now so keenly felt. You will forgive and cleanse and take it away and peace will come. What a wonderful thing you'll do today. Others need a physical blessing. They're they're ill. Others need a financial blessing perhaps. Whatever the need is, Lord Jesus, you are the one, the great physician of body, soul and spirit. And of all of life, you are the great physician. How about our heads bowed for just a moment.

Just keep your heads bowed. Don't look around. You have a particular need. Maybe I mentioned it, maybe I didn't. Would you like to raise your hand, please, anywhere? Dear ones, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, hands went up everywhere. Stand up. I want to pray for you. I'm not going to ask you to come forward. I'm just going to ask you to stand where you are. Let me have a prayer for you. Now, as I pray, think of that need. Whisper it to the Lord Jesus Christ. You may want to do it out loud when you get home and even in a loud voice, but right now it's going to be just private between you and Jesus.

Father God, I thank you for all of these dear ones on their feet, all of these deeds that are represented by the people standing. But you're a savior who loves and cares, who forgives and heals, who blesses and makes well. You're a savior, present, here right now. You knew this moment was going to happen. And truly for all who have a need today, this is the day the Lord has made. Bring healing, spiritual healing, physical healing, mental and emotional healing. Help the ones who are having difficulty in the marriage or in the home with their children, family difficulties.

Bring healing, bring wholeness. There's some Lord who may be sad, little bit depressed. Things are happening in their lives. Just a a a a lot of various things that's working on them right now. They know they're a Christian, but they just don't have the joy that they want. God even now help them to know that you are aware of even the sparrow that falls to the ground. That you know all of these various things that are impacting their life and taking away their joy. Financial needs, job related, career related needs, educational needs. Thank you, Lord, for answered prayer.

Guest (Male): Do you need Pastor Morris to pray with you about a struggle or decision you're wrestling with? The pray now app is available to you right now. Go to the healingword.com, click pray now and select the topic that matches your request. Pastor Morris will provide encouragement, pray with you and deliver a brief message on overcoming and living in victory. Again, pray now at the healingword.com. If today's message has blessed you and strengthened your faith in God, would you consider partnering with Pastor Morris and supporting the healingword.com ministry with your prayers and donating to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ reaching thousands, go to the healingword.com and 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.