James Greer (00:01):
Amen. I love that. This is not the end of the story. That’s kind of been the title of our whole series. I want to say, man, I miss everybody. I miss you. I love you.

James Greer (00:14):
I got here early this morning. I was driving around the parking lot and there’s a difference just being on our grounds. I prayed for our church. I prayed a hedge of protection around our members. I drive by the nursery and I prayed for our nursery. I prayed for a children’s department. I drove by our youth. I prayed for our youth department. I prayed for every small group that we have. I thank God almost every small group is having zoom meetings and trying to stay connected to best they can. There’s nothing like one-on-one. I’ll tell you one thing, one thing. You all are going to have to start cutting out some cardboard pictures of yourself where I could stick them in the audience. I mean, something’s got to give, but we got to do something. But anyway, got to stay connected and right now this is the best way we can stay connected. So, we just have to do that.

James Greer (00:43):
Starting Monday at noon, we’ll have a devotion every day. It’s called follow the feeling. I wrote it a while back, but it’s so needed today. Instead of following our feelings, and you’ve got a lot of feelings right now. Instead of following fear, we’ll follow the filling of the Holy spirit. And when we follow the filling of the Holy spirit, we’ll know we’re following the right thing.

James Greer (01:33):
So, starting Monday, everyday at noon, that we’ll have that devotion. So, kind of be looking forward to that. And then every night, it’s six o’clock, ether myself or one of the staff will be having a live devotional Journey Church, Facebook. And then every Tuesday night I’ll have a interview with a guest. We’ve had some great ones. One night we had Jessica Morris when she first got out at a hospital. Man, she thought she was going to die really from the Corona virus, and she told us what she went through. Talked to Molly Ivy, she’s an ICU nurse with the Corona virus. People is great. Then we had the Montels, coach Montel. And so see, it was just a fantastic interview. Hey, Tuesday night, this season you’re going to be a part of, we’ve got our, our superintendent Jeff Powell, and he’ll be answering some questions about what’s going on in the future.

James Greer (02:28):
So we’re going to really have a chance to stay connected. At 12 o’clock, follow the filling and every night at six o’clock. Let’s stay connected because you can’t do life alone. So let’s connect. Let’s cultivate relationships. Let’s combat the devil and the fear and loneliness. Here’s your verse for the week. It’s in the living bible. It’s in Isaiah 43:1,2. I mean, it says, when you go through deep waters, and we’re in some deep waters today and great trouble, I’ll be with you. No Lord, God is with us. When you go through the river of difficulty, you’re not going to drowned. And some people think they are right now. You’re not going to do it when you walk through the fire of oppression. Not just depression, but oppression many times, oppression is a spiritual battle. You’re not going to burn up. The flames will not consume you. So, that’s this week’s verse. We’ve got a verse every week, and many times this week when you’re calling people and contacting people and texting people encourage that. People just drop that verse in there with it. Okay?

James Greer (03:32):
So, the whole series has been, this is not the end of the story. When Jesus was put on the cross, that was not the end of the story. The Corona virus, that’s not the end of the story. I’ve taught you, if it’s not good, God is not done. Today we’re going to talk about how to go from fearful to be fearless. We’re going to see like the disciples they were very fearful, but at the end they were unbelievable fearless. And so let’s look, let’s look at the fearless disciples.

James Greer (04:09):
Number one. You know, if you want the outline, it’s there. All you have to do is click it. It says outline. And you can have the outline. You can follow the outline. You can go over the outline, you can use it for a devotion later on. But in John 20:19 it puts it this way, then the same day, the evening being, the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews. I mean, it was the first Easter. The disciples were together. They were in a house and they were afraid, and the doors are shut, and Jesus came and he stood in the midst, and he said to them, peace be with you.

James Greer (04:51):
I want you to know that Jesus is still in the midst of us. I want you to know he has the same words to us. I did a study this week and there’s always a lot of studies about Jesus lasts seven words and I did a study on Jesus’ first few words, and over and over and over. Jesus’ first few words after the resurrection was, peace be with you or peace be to you. He wanted us to have peace. He said, one of the great things now after the resurrection, Jesus in you and he is with you, and it was one of the main words he used over and over again. So, they would shut themselves out. So, you may not realize it, but at the first Easter celebration, it wasn’t in a church, it was in a home. It was with the door shut, and it was because of fear. Many of us for the first time in our life had to celebrate Easter at home with a door shut. Huh? Fearful of the Corona virus. But, that’s not the end of the story. No, no, that’s not it. Just like it wasn’t with Jesus.

James Greer (06:22):
I think if there’s ever a time that we have to learn the right perspective on fear is today. I think we should have a healthy respect for the virus. I think we should keep our distance. I think most of the time, me when I get out, I wear a mask, I continue to wash my hands, but I think the only person we should fear is God. And in Matthew 10:27 and through the following it gives us a new perspective on fear. It starts out, says whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight, whatever you hear in the ear, preach from the housetop. Now, I love that because I never preached from a housetop, but last Sunday, I got the preach from the top of a lift, and you talk about fun. I had a blast. Now, I loved it and we’re not going to do it every Sunday, but if we’re still on shutdown Mother’s day, I’m going to be on the lift and I pray you’re going to be in the parking lot. Amen?

James Greer (07:23):
Then it goes on verse 28 and it says, do not fear. Don’t fear what? Don’t fear those that can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell. Wow! That put a new perspective of fear for me. During times like this if we’re not careful, we get our fears mixed up. I can remember this week a Janice Ryland called me and told me that she had to bring her husband Randy to the hospital, and he’s still not doing real well. So, we need to pray for him, and we need to pray for her also. But, I also remember her saying, the last thing I told him is, Randy, make sure that you’re right with God. And she’s concerned with Randy. She was concerned with the virus, but she and Randy understand death, like most people don’t.

James Greer (08:32):
They lost their son, Brandon at a young age. That’s him. You probably can’t see it. I still carry his picture on my desk in the church office, to remind me that you don’t know when death is going to come. It can come at a young age. It could come today. It could come tomorrow. It may not be the virus. It may something unexpected. So, you should always be ready. Young age could kill the body, like it did with Claudia and Kurt’s daughter, Claire and Brandon, but it couldn’t kill their soul, because they’re in heaven. Thank God. Amen? I can remember, true story, I can remember when I was baptized and Brandon and man he loved the Lord. Even from a young age, we’re in that baptistry and by the way, I’m ready to baptize somebody. I’m missing baptizing. Somebody gets saved. Let’s get baptized, let’s rock and roll.

James Greer (09:31):
But anyway, I was back there and we got ready to go into the baptism and he looked at me and he said, brother James, there’s something going on. I said, what is it? He said, there’s a party going on inside of me. Isn’t that something. He said, right before he got baptized, he knew and accepted the Lord. The Holy spirit was working his life and he said, there’s just a party going on inside of me. I said, man, enjoy the party and now he’s in heaven partying. See, something might be able to kill the body, but it couldn’t kill the soul. He’s in heaven and Claire’s in heaven. Let’s get the right perspective on fear. Verse 28 said, don’t fear those that can cure the body.

James Greer (10:19):
Verse 28 said, don’t fear those that can cure the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is God, who is able to restore the body in the soul. In other words, there’s never been a better time than to get your relationship right with Jesus Christ. And if you’re not, today is the day. In other words, you do your best and then let God take care of the rest. And then it goes on in verse 29, it says, and are not two sparrows sold for copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father’s will. In other words, God understands it all. And then what you got to understand, our will is not always God’s will. But, God’s will is always right. And it’s always good for us in eternity. It may not seem that way temporarily, and we won’t understand it to eternity. But God loves us. God watches over us and we’re, we’re more important than the sparrows, Amen? And then he says, but the very hair on your heads are numbered. That’s good. God has fewer and fewer hairs that he has to keep up with me. But, I want him to keep up with them because when I get to heaven, I want them all back. Amen?

James Greer (11:12):
Then he goes on 31, he said, do not fear therefore. Man, he’s told us over and over and over. God has a word for us today, just like he did back then. Do not be afraid. Do not fear, therefore you’re more valuable than the sparrows. God says, you have great value to me. When we have the right perspective of fear, we have no fear. When we had the right perspective of fear of God, we don’t have to fear anything else. When we understand God is not only keeps us, protects us, provides for us, that nothing can come to us that does not have to go through God first. Now listen, don’t tempt God. Don’t do stupid things, but God’s in control. He is our father.

James Greer (12:30):
Let’s look how the disciples that were once locked behind the doors, the first Easter, they’re so afraid they wouldn’t even come out. And now let’s look at number two and now let’s look at the fearless disciples. Acts 1:4 and being assembled together. Can’t wait until we can assemble together again. Amen? You know what I thought? You know what one thing that has happened? We had gotten to where we took coming to church for granted. It’s just something we could do now. It’s not something that we just can do, it’s a privilege that we get to do it. Man, when we get to assemble together again, next time we ought to all be at church. Amen? And he commanded them not to depart to Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise from the Father. The promise from the father was the Holy spirit, which he said, you have heard from me. Well, for John, he was truly baptized. He baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy spirit. My goodness gracious, when they got baptized with the Holy spirit, when they got feel with the Holy spirit, when they got filled with the baptism, it changed their life. Says not many days from now, therefore, when they had come together, they ask him, saying Lord, at this time, are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

James Greer (14:02):
That’s so important to me because it’s like us that listen to this, what were their concerns? Jesus comes back. He tells him, be ready. The Holy Spirit’s going to come upon your life. He was trying to tell you, you’re fixing to be empowered. You’re going to be anointed. You’re going to have this new fearless, boldness about you. They’re saying, huh? When is the kingdom coming?

James Greer (14:28):
Many times, if you’re not careful, we’re saying, God, when is something going to happen? When is it going to happen, instead of what do you want me to do? Quit asking so many times, when is the virus going to be gone? When am I going to get to do blank? What am I going to go back to school? What am I going to go to work? What am I going to go to church? Are some of you that aren’t married, when am I going to get a mate? When am I going to get a boyfriend? And what you can do is replace the when with what, God, what would you have me do right now? And he’ll tell you.

James Greer (15:03):
And he said to them, verse seven, is it not for you to know the time of season which the father has put in his own authority? I often wonder if Jesus is about to come back soon. In fact, I think he is, but Jesus himself said right now, I don’t want you to worry about that. I think what you said he, it’s not for him to know. It’s not for me to know, but there is something that you need to know, that you need to know that what to do until he comes back. In verse eight, he tells us, but you shall receive power. See, I believe today if there’s anything that Christians have forgotten is the power of God, you shall receive power when the Holy spirit comes upon you. Yeah. When we get saved, the Holy spirit lives in us. But, sometimes I think we forget to activate that power that comes in our lives. Because you shall be a witness to me in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world. See, he says, I want to tell you what to be doing until my return comes. Where to receive the power, where to be fearless, where to be powerful witnesses on our job, to our families, everywhere we go. Maybe it would be written like this. Once you got the power, you need a fresh anointing, a fresh feeling of God.

James Greer (16:31):
I want to give you some examples what it looks like when your filled with God’s spirit. They got the power. They were no longer fearful. They were unbelievable fearless. They were bold and it hasn’t changed. It was the beginning of the church, but it wasn’t supposed to be the end. So many times a day we just come to church. We just sit. We just sour. We just soak. That’s got to change. He said, Christians, you’ve got the power. Let’s look at it. Acts 2:41 it says this. Then it said, those who gladly received the word were baptized. I can’t wait to baptize and I’d love to. It’d be this and that day, about 3000 souls were added to them. I don’t think they were afraid anymore. I think they were fearless. They were faithful. It was fantastic. They saw God’s favor because they were filled with the power and presence of God. They had the power. Amen?

James Greer (17:54):
Acts 4:13. That’s really one of my favorite verses, especially when God first called me in the ministry because I was so limited. I still am, but I was really limited. And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained. I’m know that’s me. It’s okay. I used to really embarrass me. Now I know that God uses my weakness because when I’m weak, he’s strong. The uneducated and untrained men and they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with education. I think you should get the best education. There’s nothing wrong with furthering your education. But, if that education does not lead to be in bold, with being filled with the power and the presence of God, that education has no application. And we need both. We need the educated that are bold, we need the uneducated that are bold. But, what we need more than anything, we need people to look at us and say, they have been with Jesus. So have you been filled? Are you bold, are you fearless?

James Greer (18:55):
Acts four 29 now, Lord, look on their threats. I mean, the disciples were fearful. Now he said, Hey, people are threatening me. They’re saying they might put me in jail. They might beat, me that tell me to stop talking about you. And they said, Oh no, no. Grant your servants that in all boldness, that I may speak your words, not my words, God’s words. The powers that speaking God’s word, not our word. Now they have gone from fearful to fearless and bold. The disciples looked at the problems. They looked at the threats. Today it might be the virus. And they said, Hey God, grant me boldness. Hey, Journey Church, hey people online, ask God to grant you boldness to speak God’s word. Don’t worry about your words, but God’s words, the power is in God’s word.

James Greer (19:09):
So, how do we go from being fearful to fearless? Number one, you’ve got to have the promise. The first thing Jesus told them to do was wait for the promise. The promise was the Holy spirit. And so you today, you get the Holy spirit when you get saved. So, the first thing you’ve got to do is make sure you’ve invited Jesus Christ into your life. At the end, we give an invitation. If you’re not sure that you’re, say, click on it. Listen to it, man. I want to be the one to invite help you invite Jesus Christ into your heart. So, make sure you say.

James Greer (20:01):
Number two, number two, maybe you’re saved, but you don’t have the power. You don’t have the anointing. You’re fearful. You’re not fearless. See, if you continue to live fearful, if you’re not bold, you’re not filled. That’s all there is to it. You might be saved and you might have the Holy spirit, but you’re not filled. The disciples, once there were filled, they got a fresh anointing. There were fearless. There were thousands getting saved. They had a supernatural boldness to speak God’s word, not speak your peace, not speak your peace, not who you are and not what you say. Not have your way, to speak God’s word. The powers in the word, not your word.

James Greer (20:48):
Acts 3:19 kind of gives us a short prescription on how to be filled again. You know if you’re fearful or if you’re fearless. You know if you’ve been bold, you know if you’re speaking God’s word and if not, repent, repent. Therefore and be converted that your sins be blotted out for the time of refreshing may come in the presence of the Lord.

James Greer (21:47):
He said, man, I’ve got it. This is what you can do. What wouldn’t you like to be filled with the power and presence of God where you had the right perspective on fear. Amen? Repent. Repent. From what? Repent because of your fear. Repeat because of sins. Repent because you hadn’t been filled. Repent because you’re not tithing. But, can I say something about tithing? Thank you, thank you Journey Church. It’s almost a miracle how many people are continuing to tie the line, and I thank God for you. Repent from that forgiving for jealousy, for gossip, for being ugly, for easily taken an offense, for being critical. So repent. I want you to repent where you can empty yourself and you can be filled with the spirit. Be converted. Change directions. Turn back to God. Allow God to blot out all your sins and joy. A new time with God.

James Greer (22:51):
A new time of refreshing, a new time of revival. It says like fresh, cool air poured upon your life. A new presence of the Lord. We’re no longer a fearful. We’re fearless. We’re bold. We have a supernatural desire to speak God’s word. We want to speak God’s word. We want to speak it out loud. And then we ask God, we ask God. God, would you fill us with this? Luke 11:13 it’s in the front of my bible. If you then being evil and we are, we know how to give good gifts to our children. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy spirit to those who ask why? When you ask why? Why don’t we say daddy, father, give us this spirit to those who ask. I mean, I really think we should do this. I think we should say something like this, father, and you say, father, I want to confess my sins. I want to confess my sins. Father, you say, father, I want you to fill me with your Holy spirit. I want you to fill me with your Holy spirit. And then you’ve got to remember this. You got to believe God does what he says he will.

James Greer (23:52):
Hebrews 11:6 says this, and without faith it’s absolutely impossible to please him. For he who comes to God, he must believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So listen, we’re going to go out this week. We’re going to be fearless, bold, speaking God’s word. We’re going to have a new perspective on fear. Our fear is going to be of the Lord, not of everything else. We’re going to remember Matthew 10:29 that says, don’t fear those who can kill the body and cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him. Who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell.

James Greer (25:12):
I’m going to give you, we give you a verse every week, every week, and I’ll get those out in a minute. If you don’t have this, you know you can go to jameswgreer.com and you can download it. You can also download this same peace book, or if you want the written forms. If you don’t know how to do that, you can message us and we’ll get them to you. Listen, it’s not so much right now what we want from you is what we want for you. We want to connect with you right now. We want to help you get through this time. We want you to grow through this time, but we want you to learn. Listen, if you’re fearful, we want you to learn to be fearless. We want you to be bold. We want you to ask God to fill you with the Holy spirit. We want you to speak his word with boldness.

James Greer (25:51):
The first week we gave you a verse for the week. It was 2 Timothy 1:7, you can speak it with boldness. God has not given me a spirit of fear, but a power, love and a sound mind. Speak that with boldness. The second week we say, Isaiah 40:1, comfort. Yes. Comfort my people. Lord. Yes. The third week we gave Isaiah 41:10, fear not, why? For I am with you. Be not dismayed. I mean God is telling us why. For I am your God, I will strengthen you. Yes, I’m going to help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That’s a great verse. When you have to be separated from your loved ones, when you can’t be with them. When even if they’re in a separate town or maybe they’re in the hospital, you can send them this versus saying, Hey, God will be with you. He will hold you with his precious right hand. Pray it with boldness.

James Greer (26:48):
Then we had Psalms 1:21 and it says this, the Lord will protect you and keep you safe from all your dangers. I mean, my goodness, verse eight says, and the Lord will protect you now and always wherever you go, man, God said. See? He was telling the disciples when they became bold, what they started doing is speaking God’s word with boldness. And not only did it help the people they were speaking to, it helped them grow in the Lord.

James Greer (27:18):
And then listen, this Psalms 27:13, I would have lost heart. I’d have given up unless I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Start looking right now for the goodness of the Lord in your life. Everything that’s going on, everything around you. But if you can’t find the goodness of the Lord, can I assure you the goodness of Lord is on its way. I’m talking about why you’re here, why you’re alive, the goodness of the Lord his own the way of your life. Be looking for it. If it’s not there, it’s coming. Speak it with boldness, believe it.

James Greer (27:45):
And then this week’s verse, Isaiah 43:2, when you go through deep waters and great troubles, I’m going to be with you. God is with you. When you go through the rivers of difficulties, you’re not going to drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression. You’re not going to get burned up. The flames, they’re not going to consume you. See man, I’m telling you, see God is with you. God is for you. He wants you to be filled with the power of the presence of the Holy spirit. I want to confront you right now. If you continue living in fear, you’re either not saved or you’re not filled.

James Greer (28:22):
Yeah, and you can do that today. Every single Sunday we have been blessed. People have joined the church. If today is the day God’s called you to join the church. Please, there’ll be a way that in a minute they’ll give an invitation and you can click on there and you can join. And, we’d love to have you. If you’re not sure that you’re saved, Oh, please, please, today is the day to accept Jesus as your personal savior. If you’ve never been biblically, publicly baptized, Oh, ho ho am I ready for that We want to baptize you. Maybe you know the truth today and the Holy Spirit’s just put his finger right on your heart, and you know that you were saved but you hadn’t been filled with the spirit because you’ve been filled with fear and worry instead of boldness. You hadn’t been speaking God’s word and you want to ask God to forgive you that, and you want to start speaking God’s word. You are, start speaking it with boldness. You want to have a new perspective on fear where the only one you fear is God and nothing else and nobody else. Let me pray with you. Pray for you.

James Greer (29:25):
God I do thank you today. I thank you that we have technology like we do. I thank you for your word for is so powerful. God, I pray that you touch hearts and lives today. God, I pray that you cast out fear God today. God, I pray healing for those that are sick. God, I pray insights for those doctors and nurses. God, I pray protection for those that are working on the front lines. Not only the doctors, the nurses, the ones in the ambulances, the grocery stockers, drivers, every one of them. God, I pray, especially for those watching online and those at Journey Church. God as their shepherd, I pray a supernatural hedge of protection around about them. God, I pray right now that you would give them that peace that surpasses all understanding and it’s in Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.