Pastor Robert Morris – God's Goodness

thank you thank you thank you I love you too I'm a little out of breath and I'm still recovering but I'm really glad to be back at Gateway Church and I want to tell you thank you thank you for your prayers I'm I'm here because of prayers and I'm here because of some phenomenal first responders and medical professionals that we need to pray for our first responders and medical professors every day I want to also want to say thank you Pastor Jimmy Evans because he stepped in you've been fed you've been led it's like having Babe Ruth on your bench and so I'm grateful for pastor Jimmy aren't you stepping I'm gonna share with you today what what happened and what God showed me I do want to ask you though to - if you can to donate blood I'm not gonna be giving any today but I will but I'm using all of it right now that I've got so my wife though on the first row was one of the first ones today to donate blood and I also want to tell you thank you for praying for for Debbie because it was tough thank you and before I share with you what happened I rely have some really great news to share with you that you're going to get excited about in 2009 we built the South Lake campus and as you know it was a recession but God told us to build and we it was some of the South Lake campus land everything was about a hundred million dollars where we'll pay 65 million at that but we had to borrow thirty five million our debt service never got about five percent but then we had opportunities to buy other campuses we had some campuses that we felt like we're babies on our doorstep we remodeled some our debt got to a little over sixty million dollars I know that's a huge number but you have to remember how large gateway church is our income the last couple of years has been about a hundred and forty million a year so to put that in perspective our it'd be like if you had a hundred and forty thousand dollars a total household income and you had a mortgage of sixty thousand so that's the way we again it never got over five percent of our budget ever went toward that service but about a year and a half ago I told you about this I told you about about a year ago but about a year and a half ago God spoke the elders to go through our ministry top to bottom and see if we could do things more effectively and more efficiently so not just more efficiently but more effectively and so we've been doing that and we never this is I'm so excited about this we never came to you and asked you to give more we just as elders and staff did the best we could to be really good stewards and we began paying down that debt and so the exciting announcement I have for you yes as of this week we are 100% debt free thank you lord so the story is that the day after Easter I had hernia surgery nothing went wrong everything was successful in some of our earlier social media post we it was our fault we said that it was complications from the hernia surgery it was not and one of the reason I want to say that is because the doctor that did the hernia surgery is one of our elders he's also the doctor that did the two surgeries that saved my life and so there was nothing he did nothing wrong at all six days later I started feeling bad Debbie and I many of you know have some land about an hour and a half two hours outside of the Metroplex it's where I write and we get away and relax and so it was a perfect storm in that we were away from this area where you know the surgeries were done and and then also it was race weekend and so it would have been difficult with the traffic and we're in a very remote area but I started feeling bad and I asked her to help me to get in the bathtub and as she did I passed out and this is why I appreciate you praying for Debbie because when I passed out my eyes were open and I stopped breathing for about a period of about thirty seconds and she she thought I'd died and so when I came to she was on the phone with 911 and so the paramedics came and we called the surgeon and they said well maybe you're dehydrated and so they gave me two bags of fluid we didn't know I was bleeding internally and but the two bags of fluid again or something that helps sustain my life that kept gave me more fluid for my heart to keep pumping and we waited a little while and then I asked her a little while later can you help me up now and I started to pass out again and so she called the paramedics back and in between we were doing my blood pressure and we had just a little machine you buy at the pharmacy so I really don't know whether this was accurate or not but it was my blood pressure was 50 over 35 and my heart rate was over a hundred which it's like when you exercise your heart's trying to pump that blood and so I was trying to pump blood but there wasn't much blood to pump this was different from when I was in Australia about six years ago I had a bleeding ulcer and I was passing blood so that's how I knew I was bleeding I thought well I must not be losing blood because I'm not passing blood but I was bleeding into my abdominal cavity so the paramedics came back they put me in the ambulance immediately and they were started doing fluids again and they checked the blood pressure but my blood pressure was actually too low to read it we're not registered at all and then this was a little surreal and there be a few little humorous parts in this they're humorous now but so there's one paramedical one side one the other and they're doing this and they're I can hear him talking and he's saying I can't I can't feel a pulse can you feel a pulse Ellen said no I don't I can't feel a pulse and I was thinking I can hear you I mean I'm not a medical professional but I'm pretty sure I have a pulse because I'm hearing what you're saying right now and so the one of the paramedics had moved to this smaller town where our land is too to just slow down he had been a helicopter paramedic for thirteen years and again it's amazing the people that God put in our path and so he knew I needed to be careful I did immediately and so he said to me said sir look at me can you understand what I'm saying and I shook my head yes and he said you need to be careful I did this is life and death and he said do you have helicopter insurance and I know that sounds strange but some people who have a place in remote place which we're not getting this for grandkids or whatever there's something you know you can do so anyway when he said life or death I don't know why I said this and I know this sounds a little bad the way I said it but I just he said life or death so he said you have helicopter insurance I said I don't know but I can afford it so you know what I what I meant was all figures if I have to sell the house well we're gonna you know I'd rather live you know of course later I got the bill and found out that I couldn't afford it so but insurance took care of it the helicopter the hospital stay was over two hundred thousand dollars and so I met my out-of-pocket expenses for the year so [Applause] but then they got out and they told Debbie and that's a tough thing for a wife to hear they said we'd pressures too low to read we can't get a blood pressure and we can't even feel a pulse and so we've called for a helicopter and then the guy said you might want to want to get in to talk to him and so we both thought that it was over and I actually said to the surgeon who's one of our elders I said I thought I was dying and he said you were you were dying and so yeah I mean I said goodbyes and I recorded a UH a video to our children and our grandchildren and so the helicopter took thirty five minutes to get there and then about ten minutes to transfer me over and then 45 minutes to get me to Baylor I'm saying that because you I had we found out later I had to torn arteries they were simply just pumping blood into my abdomen and you just have minutes when that happens you know so before we took off I asked to talk to Debbie again and I when we were waiting for the helicopter lay and it hadn't landed yet but I said to her I think you need to put this out on social media because I think I need all the prayers I can get and I believe that God did that God did something there I've been thinking about this because I've had several people say to me we have great leaders here the Kingdom that are here and I'm grateful for my friendship with Greg and rice and but I've had several leaders say to me the same thing they said Robert I don't remember in my lifetime a time when the body of Christ came together to pray for someone as much as they came together to pray for me and what I thought about was I think that's fantastic and it saved my life but if we could come together to pray for a dying person what would happen if we came together to pray for a diamond he sold one of the things that I'm hoping that could happen out of this is that God could use Mita to gather people to pray and hear through the body of Christ to pray and so anyway they took me to the hospital and I'm gonna share with you at the end what happened in the helicopter because I had a real encounter with the Lord I think it's going to encourage you when I landed they immediately put a port in my neck all my veins had collapsed your your body starts sending the heart start sending blood your vital organs I when I landed I had lost half my blood and if you all you got to do is look this up on the on the medical sites on the web how much blood does a person have to lose before he dies and it'll say forty to forty-five percent and I'd lost over fifty percent and it says without medical attention without yet then death is imminent so again the medical attention that I received in the helicopter another thing that was amazing was that the helicopter pilot got out and said to Debbie while they were loading me up this is my pastor and I'm gonna make sure he gets there quickly and I don't I don't know if there's a speed limit for helicopters but I I think he broke it so but anyway so we land in and they immediately put a port here that had four IVs in it and started giving me blood and fluids and eventually at one point I had nine IV bags going into me they took me in for a cat scan and they saw hewmet oma dried blood which is where the blood was gathering in my abdomen I could feel pain in my stomach and they it was the size according to surgeon a little larger than a cantaloupe and so they knew I was bleeding internally and so we're taking you in immediately they took me and they removed that they found where it was bleeding and cauterized it but they didn't know they looked but they couldn't find but there was actually another bleed in another place and lemon I just want to say this to both of the doctors that really attended to me are members of our church they're experts in their field ones on the board of Baylor one is the surgeon that you call when no one else can do the surgery type of a thing they are phenomenal they boasts have said to me and they called their colleagues to see if this is just to make sure they had missed anything but they said there's no medical reason why you started bleeding in two different places so they the fair first one was fixed they didn't know there was another one my blood pressure after surgery was 65 over 40 this is the picture it was just a moment ago briefly in the video but this is the picture we didn't post online but as you can see I don't look like I'm having fun but the next day they gave me a man my size has 12 units of blood they gave me six units of blood four units of plasma and two units of platelets and my blood pressure still wouldn't come up so that's when I knew he's probably still bleeding somewhere and so they took Mike in for a cat scan there was another cantaloupe size hematoma from just 20 for less than 24 hours for around 24 hours and so they took me back in that time they opened me up big time so I I apologize for not praying enough for every woman that's ever had a c-section and they did not do a bikini cut on me so I'm not it's not a it's not a very flattering scar that I have but they opened up and they moved everything around to find any other place I was bleeding and found another terror and cauterized it and and then I was beginning to recover I was in the ICU for four days in the hospital for eight days total I'm in the ICU I got pneumonia so it was a difficult time I also when I got out of the hospital I had night sweats for about two to three weeks and Debbie said I think they gave you blood from a menopausal woman so listen race so I would like to also apologize to all the ladies who've gone through that a couple of funny things that happen in the hospital and then I'll share with you what God showed me and I'll do that I can do that in and I in a moment I'm gonna share three things I actually want you to write him on your phone because I think they'll mean something to you but I because of the medicine I was hallucinating in the hospital and so my kids have these funny stories and Debbie who sat with me all night all night every night and then the kids would sit with me during the day so I always had it one of the family in there but I one night in the ICU I got very mad at Debbie because I thought that she had moved me to another hospital and I was very convinced that we were actually another husband I couldn't figure out why would you take me out of Baylor you know and she was saying I didn't take you out about her we're in Baylor and I said I can tell if you just look around we're we're not in Baylor anymore so when the doctor came in the next morning she told him she said he thinks that were somewhere else he doesn't think we're he thinks I'm moving him during the night and so the doctor came in and said he's a member of the church member he said pastor Robert you know hey how you doing today I said I'm doing okay I'm a little upset though and he said wall do you know where you are and I said yes I said I think I'm in Baton Rouge Louisiana and then that's not even the funny part then I said or New York obviously you can see how you could confuse Louisiana and New York as they looked so similar so and then one night I Debbie was on the couch and she was just exhausted and I would have to wake her up when I needed something I couldn't call the nurse I had tubes and there were times when I they had my hands tied down because I pulled the tubes out I wasn't a good patient and so so I was trying to wake her up and so I said Debbie Debbie Debbie and she was just exhausted you know and and so she she wasn't waking up and then I looked him to the right was my daughter-in-law Hannah and in my mind I thought she was texting on her phone or playing a game and so I said Hannah I need you to wake up Debbie and she just kept you know I said Hannah Hannah wake up Debbie and she you know I said Hannah Hannah and finally it woke debía so Debbie came over so what do you need we took everything she said were you calling for Hannah and I said yeah because she's standing look at her look at her she just standing there and she won't even look up from her phone and Debbie said that's the IV machine so [Applause] so I was talking to the I beat machine and then one other funny story we were I was it was during the day James had been sitting with me my son and Josh came in to relieve him and so they were away from the bed a little bit and James was telling him you know he's he's hallucinating so he's just he's talking out of his head and so this is what they say they say that I was you know like you know asleep and I just said up and said when was that movie made and James just like this said that movie right there and I said yeah that movie right there and he said 1984 and Josh started looking around like you know we're in the ICU there's not even a TV and here and then I said well when was that movie made and he said that all that one made till 2002 and Josh thought well maybe they brought some DVDs or something for dad to watch and I and so he turned and looked at James and James said oh there are no movies just he said I just go along with it because otherwise he'll argue with you so so we so I want to tell you the three things that God spoke to me and I really would like for you to write him down and just take it in your quite time because I think God will speak to you number one spiritual warfare is real now I had some medical problems and I needed medical help and again I thank God for the medical professionals but I also had a spiritual battle and that's where the prayer came in and you know there are people that blame everything on the devil but we are not like that we we are grounded in the word most of you are very mature believers but I think that we have a tendency then to be too logical sometimes and not realize that the enemies at work and we keep looking for the logical explanation and Jesus himself told us that Satan comes only to steal killing destroy I think he was trying to kill me and I think he would try to kill you too and I think he would try to steal from you and when the disciples asked Jesus teach us to pray the thing that the Lord Romani was he taught us to pray daily because he said give us this day our daily bread and in this daily prayer that he taught us he taught us to pray deliverance deliver us from the evil one protect us from the evil one so he taught us to do spiritual warfare every day and I think the Lord reminded me that it's very easy for me to have a quite time and pray and put my petitions before God every day but am i praying a heads of the Word of God around my family every day am I breaking words and curses that are being spoken against me and am I saying to Satan every day the Lord q and standing against the enemy so I want you to know that spiritual warfare is real the second thing that God reminded me of was that God answers prayer remember the surgeon said to me I only told you half of it he said Robert there's no medical reason why you had two arterial tears at the same time there's no medical reason but he went on to say listen to this and there's also no medical reason why you're still alive today there's no medical reason so again I'm not blaming everything on the devil and I'm very thankful for the medical professionals but I'm thankful for the prayers and I also as I said thank you for praying for debby as we went through this if you remember the helicopter took off our place is an hour and a half to two hours away she had to go around a different route because of race weekend and she had to drive back by herself and God was with her as a matter of fact this is a little humorous to me to her quite time reading through the Bible that day was about Lazarus she just said Lord I don't know if you were trying to tell me you're gonna raise him from the dead but many people have asked her how did it feel driving back she said well I was worried and I was concerned but I just I had a supernatural peace that God was going to take care of him and the third thing that the Lord showed me is that God is in control and all three of these things we already know we know spiritual warfare is real we know God answers prayer but God's in control you know when we talk about even the prayers many of us have heard the numbers but the numbers are so much higher than what we even hear but when you I heard about prayer meeting were being called for me all over the world past her friends of mine sent me texts and things they called a prayer meeting for me in India for 10 hours and 10 hours they prayed China the underground church called a prayer meeting for me and it spread through the underground Church in China in Guatemala they called a prayer meeting specifically for me and over 12,000 people showed up so it just shows how God answers prayer of the saints but he's in control when we were going to go back out to our land a few weeks later about three weeks afterwards and the doctors had cleared us and also asked for the elders to clear us because I believe the elders are my spiritual covering and covering is a good thing and so they prayed and had peace about it too and the doctor said I was out of the danger zone but as I was praying that morning I thought about driving back out there and the memory that Debbie had of seeing me pass out and seeing the helicopter land and things and there's a field when you drive into our land that's to the right and when they called for the helicopter Debbie said that ambulances from other counties and fire trucks state troopers deputy sheriff's begin to just come and she thought what are all these people coming for these these first responders actually lined that field with all of their light zones so that helicopter would know exactly where to land [Music] so I thought about in my prayer time that morning that field and the memory of Debbie seeing me take off in that helicopter and so I prayed that that field would always be a reminder of God's goodness and that our land our place of peace would would not be a bad memory for her but it would actually a memory of God's goodness and so we named that field goodness field so so that shows what God's doing in the helicopter this is the last thing I want to share with you in the helicopter I had an encounter with the Lord that I really believes going to minister to to all of you every person watching I I didn't go to heaven but the Lord's presence filled the helicopter just filled the helicopter and I felt like I was about to go to heaven and here's the thing that surprised me I've heard people say that for the believer there's no fear and death that's true I had no fear no fear at all also I've heard people say for the believer that there's peace in death and I was extremely peaceful but here's what surprised me I was happy I was excited I mean I knew I was leaving my family and my church family but I was excited that I was about to see Jesus that I was going to heaven I was so I can't even tell you how joyful I was now I thought about my family and my church family and the ministry that God's given me but these were my thoughts when I thought about my family and and you I just knew well God will take care of them there wasn't like a regret there wasn't a fear or a concern even I get with Debbie the children grandchildren I just knew God will take care of them in the church God will take care of God will take care of him I also knew this I knew they would be sad that I was going but I knew it would only be a really short time and I would actually see them again even my grandchildren and I just thought Lord I'm so happy I'm coming to heaven and I don't want to leave my family but they'll be here in just a little while I mean just a little while and so when I was telling my son James this in the hospital he said well you know scripture says the day is as a thousand years a thousand years as a day to the Lord he said did you think it'd be months before your grandchildren be there did you think it was slight days did you think it was seconds I mean what what timeframe did you think and I said I I didn't even think in time I just knew it wouldn't be very long and my son made a incredible statement he said that I think you're experienced eternity I think you experienced what you experience it was timeless and I'm telling you that I want to encourage you because for those of you who've lost a loved one I want you to know they are extremely happy they are joy filled and they know you're gonna be there pretty quickly they're just there's no time so I knew that but as I thought about my family and the church and the ministry that God's given me I just had this thought and so I voiced it to the Lord in that helicopter I said Lord I'm excited I am so excited about coming home I'm excited but I would like to be there for my family a few more years I'd like to be there for Debbie I I want to grow with Debbie I remember thinking that and of course some of you young people are thinking y'all are already grown old but you'll get here - smart aleck so but I want to grow old with Debbie I want to watch my children step into and fulfill the destiny God has for them and I want to watch my children grow up my grandchildren I want to see my grandchildren grow up so I said Lord I'm excited about coming as if this is it I'm ready to come but I'd like to stay for my family and when I thought about the ministry God's given me I said and I just don't think you're finished with me yet on earth I don't think you're finished with me and the Lord and the Lord said two words to me in the helicopter when I said I don't think you're finished with me he said I'm not and I knew I wasn't dying that date I just knew it it didn't matter anything else it didn't matter how much blood I'd lost he didn't matter I just knew God has spoken I'm not dying today because he's not finished with me yet I will I want to I want to say this to you though I've heard people say I'm going to live my life and in when I before I die I'll give my life to the Lord when it happened and I was dying there was a time God sustained me but when I passed out with Debbie I couldn't speak I couldn't say anything I just want to say to all of you because it's very important death can come quickly it can come in an instant and if you're waiting for some time later to get right with God you may not have the chance I'd like to ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes because I really believe that in every service and those watching online and those watching by television I believe every time someone hears this message I've asked Lord let someone accept Jesus let someone give his life for her life to Christ and so I just simply going to ask you because God will know every campus every campus those online those that watching my television if you would just say but no one's looking around please don't look around let it just be between me and you and the Lord but if you say pastor Robert I by an act of my will by simply in my hand I'm giving my life to Jesus today I'm accepting Jesus as my savior would you just put your hand up where I can see it put it way up high you ought to be proud to put it up it's the best decision nobody put it way up high that's wonderful it's wonderful you can put your hands down just in your heart and you tell Jesus right now I receive you as my Lord and my Savior and then we want to pray with you if you gave your life to the Lord or if you need prayer for any other reason at every campus we're gonna have a worship song in just a moment and we want to pray with you Lord thank you thank you for letting me stand on the platform of Gateway Church again thank you Lord for saving my life thank you Lord and I pray now God that you'll use this testimony to save many others in Jesus name Amen

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

Views: 204,311

Rating: 4.8555827 out of 5

Keywords: gatewaypeople, Gateway, Gateway Church, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, Savior, Dallas, Southlake, Texas, Jesus, Sermon, salvation, christ, Love, Healing, Heal, Sick, Sickness, Testimony, Miracle

Id: XcFGgTLY410

Length: 36min 49sec (2209 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 04 2018