The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: You see friends, God has a plan and it's a wonderful plan, and it's a plan that works and God's going to do a plan for you and bring that blessing and he's going to remove that obstacle. There are giants that rise up their ugly heads, Goliaths, and God will bring them down. You have a power source.

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: Your power source or the source of power. Friend, I believe that God has great things in store for his people. I really do, but I also have the conviction that some of us are not receiving the full benefit of our life in Christ. I want to talk about that today and help us all to receive the Lord and his fullness in a way that perhaps we have not received him and his fullness before.

God has great things for us. There are obstacles that stand in our way in receiving these great things that the Lord has for us. I want to go over some of those obstacles today and by the power of the Holy Spirit, not my power, not your power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, see those obstacles removed, those things that are standing between me and the blessing of the Lord.

You may not be blessed to the degree you want to be blessed because there's something that is hindering, there's some obstacle, there's something that is standing between you and the blessing and that has to be moved aside, moved out of the way so the full flow of the Spirit might come in. Today can be your day. God has a great blessing, a great surprise.

Two weeks ago, I talked about fear and the title of the message was "Removing Fear." Fear can be one of those obstacles. I remember bringing the message that faith is one of those means by which fear is removed. Faith is when you face your fear, you don't run from your fear, you face your fear like David faced Goliath and Goliath was out of the way, Israel was free, and the blessing of the Lord came upon them.

We face our fears with the Scripture, the word of God. The Bible talks about the washing of the Word. The word of God washes our mind clean and brings about a purity. The pure in heart shall see God. Not only see God in eternity, but the pure in heart shall see God now. We do need the Word and we come sometimes in a very nonchalant way to the Bible, to the word of God and we need to come with openness of heart and with all sincerity of heart.

We talk about prayer, how God answers our prayer when we pray. Fear is removed and love, perfect love casts out all fear. There are other obstacles in addition to fear and I'm going to run through some of them very quickly, but obviously I can't mention all of them. Think about what it might be. You say well I don't know what's holding up this answer to prayer.

I don't know why I don't have the joy like I know I should. I know I'm saved and in Christ, but the peace isn't there like it once was. Well today, the Lord will come and I believe that he will open our spiritual eyes that we can see that obstacle and say there it is, call it for what it is.

Some of us are hindered by financial difficulties. These financial difficulties are taking our attention, absorbing a lot of our attention, a lot of our thinking, a lot of our energy. Family problems and family challenges will draw us away, will come between us and the blessing. We're just trying to move beyond this family problem, but we just can't seem to move in that direction and move beyond.

Marital problems, health issues, sometimes we're sick, we're down physically, things are going on with us physically. Friend, when you're having a physical problem, you can't feel very spiritual, but the Lord will bless and bring healing and wholeness and we can move beyond. How about the job-related problems that come that might be something on the job or a person on the job or some family member or some friend or somebody you know.

Dating sometimes can be a difficult thing where it will stand between us and the challenge that the Lord has for us and the blessing that he wants to give to us. How about a past failure? We've done something, we feel guilty, if I were a Christian I shouldn't have done that, but that comes back to haunt us, that memory. How about sexual orientation? I don't feel that I should be sexually attracted in the way that I'm being attracted. That can be a hindrance.

Friend, there are obstacles. Shall I go on? There are many obstacles that will stand in our way and block us from our inheritance. You see God has an inheritance, that inheritance is salvation, forgiveness of sins, joy, peace, happiness, patience, love, all in the Holy Spirit. We get it one time, we get it one Sunday, we don't get it the next. It's not free flowing, it's not consistent.

But today God's going to help us and we're going to have a blessing that is going to come from the Lord that's going to bless us and move us beyond. Somebody say Amen? Somebody's going to be surprised today. There is a power source. We can't fix those family problems. We can't fix those sexual orientations. We can't fix those financial challenges and all of them that I've mentioned and there are so many more.

We can't do it, we've been trying. How many weeks, months, years we've tried, but those challenges are still there. Friend, that Goliath has to come down. If there's going to be victory, Goliath has to have his head chopped off. David knows how to do it. The one that came from David, the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ is part of that lineage. We're going to look to him and he's going to give us the power and the strength to do what you want to have done in your life, in your family, in your finances, on the job, with your sexual orientation. What you can't do, he can do it.

You have, listen to me, you have a power source. Let's look to the Lord and see what it is. He has it. I want to tell you a little story. You have to be a little older to know about the TV series a number of years ago. Remember George Burns and Gracie Allen? Oh you do. Okay, well I can move on very quickly now. That was a great family entertainment, I enjoyed it.

Gracie Allen, Gracie was simplistic. She, I'm trying to think of the right word to talk about Gracie Allen, but in real life she was a brilliant lady. She was a businesswoman and she put together many of those shows and her mind was great. On the show she would do some of the simplistic things and it was very humorous. She was a very sweet lady.

Well she bought a big clock and brought it to her house. And the clock lost time, not a little bit of time, but I mean it lost hours and it was a very expensive clock. It was so big she had a repairman to come in to check it out to see what was wrong. He came in, he told her there's nothing wrong with this clock. It runs perfectly. He said, "Do you plug it in?"

She says "I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is. I don't want it plugged in and waste electricity all day long." Well friend, some of us only go to God when we have a need or a problem. We need to get plugged in. There's obstacles out there, but we get plugged in, then we get unplugged. We get unplugged by some of those family members, marital problems, sexual orientation challenges, all of those that I've just mentioned. They seem to have a way of getting our attention and unplugging us.

Friend, let's get plugged into Jesus. There is a power source and he is the power source to help us. There's obstacles out there, but those obstacles can be overcome. I want to tell you about three preachers that died, all three of them on the same day. And they all three went to heaven: Billy Graham, Joel Osteen, and T.D. Jakes. Now listen, this is a joke.

They're all still living. But they all died the same day and they went to heaven. When they got to heaven, God met them and told them, "Fellows, glad to see you, but I'm not ready for you yet. Your mansion is still six weeks away of being completed. Another six weeks we'll be ready for you. You just got here too soon. You're going to have to go down below and wait six weeks and then I'll call you up."

God sent them down below. Two weeks later, Satan called God and said, "You've got to get these three preachers out of here. They're destroying what I've arranged and set up. Billy Graham is giving altar calls and everybody's getting saved. You talk about an obstacle. Joel Osteen's taking all those saved people and he's formed the biggest choir and they're all singing praises to God. And T.D. Jakes has raised enough money to air condition this place. You've got to get these guys out of here."

Friend, obstacles can be challenges, but there's a way to overcome those obstacles. We face them head on in the name of the Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and we go forward with Jesus and receive the blessing that God has for us. Friend, we've been praying little prayers, but we have a great big wonderful God. And he's great big and wonderful right now where you are.

Right now, this is what happened to the children of Israel and particularly to Caleb, who was a follower of God and a close friendship with Joshua and with Moses. The children of Israel came to the land that God had promised them. Just like this promise is for you: blessing, healing, wholeness, joy, forgiveness of sin. People of God had a promise, a land. You have a promise, the salvation land. You have a promise, but some of us are not receiving that promise because of that obstacle. But that obstacle is being removed right now. Right now God's removing that obstacle.

Joshua gave to Caleb a tract of land that Moses had promised him. Moses told Joshua and Caleb because of their faith and their wholehearted following of him, they were going to be blessed with their salvation land. You know I thought of that secular song, "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest, this land was made for you and me." Friend, this salvation is our salvation, made for us by the Lord Jesus himself.

He bought it at Calvary and he gave it to us freely. We should be the happiest people on the face of the earth because we know the Lord as our personal Savior and we have entered salvation land. But there are obstacles now hindering us from going in and possessing the land. We've crossed over, as Israel did, they crossed the Red Sea, they got in. But now Joshua told Caleb and the others, you've got some land now that you have to go in and conquer and take it and receive it.

Joshua told Caleb the land is yours, just as Moses had promised. You see the children of Israel could have gone, they didn't have to walk in the wilderness for 40 years. They were in the wilderness for 40 years because they had fear in their hearts. They didn't believe that God could deliver and give them the power to overcome those giants in the land.

What happened was when they left Egypt, it was a straight shot right up to Canaan Land. They could have been there in a matter of days and they were on the edge of the promised land in a matter of days. Moses sent out spies to check out the land, a number of men. They all came back, two came back with a positive report, but the majority came back with a negative report.

The majority came back and told the people of Israel, "There are giants up there. Anakites, giants. We can't take the land. Fortified cities." The Scripture says their hearts melt with fear, the people of Israel, their hearts melt with fear. Joshua and Caleb said, "Look, we can take it. We can go in and take the land now." But because of the majority, friend democracy isn't always that good, particularly when it's contrary to the word of God.

You can't outvote the word of God or vote a portion of the word of God out. And the people voted out God. They accepted fear. God turned them around, they went into the wilderness, they stayed in the wilderness 40 years and every one of those people whose hearts melted with fear, who believed the majority report, God kept them in the wilderness until every one of them died. Only their children and their grandchildren were able to go in.

You see friends, God has a plan and it's a wonderful plan and it's a plan that works and God's going to do a plan for you and bring that blessing and he's going to remove that obstacle. There are giants that rise up their ugly heads, Goliaths, but God will bring them down. You have a power source. After 40 years, they finally got there again the second time. This time they were ready to go in.

Caleb went to his friend Joshua. It was Caleb and Joshua that came back with a positive report. Caleb said to Joshua, "You and I basically we had the positive report. We could have gone in 40 years ago if the people would have had faith in God. But now we're going to go in. I was 40 years old, I'm now 85 years old, but I'm just as strong now as I was then and I want that promise."

Friend, you've got to tell God you want the promise. You've got to go after it. He said "I want the promise that Moses gave to me. I want that mountain." There're giants on that mountain, but listen to what Caleb said: "The Lord helping me, I will drive them out." The Lord helping me, I'm going to drive this conflict out of my marriage, this conflict out of my heart, this unrest out of my mind, this difficulty that I'm having. With the Lord helping me. Notice again, the Lord helping me.

Now I want everybody here to say that: the Lord helping me. Now once again, you know when you stood up just a moment ago and you thought about the situation in your life that is blocking the blessing of God coming in fullness. I want you now to think about it again. Come on, get it in your mind and now say the words of Caleb: "The Lord helping me."

Come on, plug that clock in Gracie Allen and let the juice begin to flow. Get connected with God again. If your sins or wrongs that you have committed this past week or month or year and it comes back to you, tell the Lord, "Yes, Lord, I did an unchristian thing, I said an unchristian thing, I thought an unchristian thought." Tell the Lord. Face that. You have to face it. That's your giant. Bring that giant down. But until you bring that out into the open, into the light, it's the light of God that will kill it and destroy it and make it go away forever.

You have to face your giant. You have to know this thing has gotten the best of me, but now today in Jesus' name, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to get the best of it and I'm going to overcome it. Caleb went into the land and he claimed the land. Now you're saved. You're in the land of salvation. But there is so much more that God has for you. Great, great answers to prayer, great victories are yours today because you're a child of God. Don't forget who you are.

The disciples, Jesus sent 70 of the disciples out to teach the word of God, heal the sick, and perform miracles. All 70 came back and they came back rejoicing because demons were subject to them. Jesus then told them after he listened to their report, "I beheld Satan as lightning fallen from heaven." That's what he said. You see friend, the devil is a big bluff.

He's already come down. Jesus said, "I saw him fall from heaven," but he's trying to resurrect himself in your thinking, in your life, in your family, in your finances, in your marriage, in your sexual orientation, whatever it is. He has already been defeated. Jesus told those disciples, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." But here's the point I want you to get.

Then Jesus said don't rejoice over that, that devils are subject to you, that there are healings, that there are miracles. He said, "Rejoice because your names are written in the Book of Life." What he was saying is if you can just remember who you are. If you can just remember that you're in the land of salvation. If you can just remember what I have done for you. You begin to rejoice in that, a lot of things are going to take care of themselves.

Friend, God is with us today to do something beautiful and something wonderful for us. You are in the land of salvation. You're already crossed over. But now go in and take possession of the land. Move that giant. Cut his head off. Believe God. You're a child of the Lord and you have the Lord's power, only you need to be plugged in. Challenges will continue to come throughout our life, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. You have a power source. All right let's bow our heads before the Lord.

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