James Greer (00:01):
Morning Journey Church. Woo man, it’s exciting to preach to the people, Amen? Of course, we’d love for people to watch us online. We’d like them in the parking lot, but I like people. Amen? Man, you all are alive. I was sitting back in the other room waiting. I could hear you all singing and participating and hey, if you all don’t know it, church is essential. Amen? I mean church is the people, and you all are the church. So, I’m so excited that we’re back together and I think we’re going to get to have more and more people every week that they’re going to as it goes, we are going to trust God. We’re going to still not tempt God, we’re going to be safe. But listen, I’m excited about the message today. It’s how three women overcame an impossible situation, and we’ll give you four steps to apply that can help you.

James Greer (00:53):
And it could’ve said, women that show us how to have confidence in a crisis. And really we’ve been going through a crisis. Going through something we’ve never gone through in our life. It’s not going to go away that quick. We still got time. And I know it’s inconvenient to have to come in and to be sitting apart and to wear a mask, but we’ve got to do what we have to do to until we get through it. You are going to learn the power of prayer this morning. You’re going to learn how bad it is that you need to be ministered to by Jesus. And you need to build your house in advance before a crisis comes. You’re learning the how you need to turn to Jesus, when the crisis comes and you’ve got to learn it. Give him the honor and glory.

James Greer (01:35):
So, we’re going to learn about three women today, and they had so much in common. You’re going to learn about the Shunammite woman, Mary and Martha. Elijah in the story is a type of Christ. And you’re going to see the power in prayer through Elijah. Elijah also in the Bible was a godly man, but they’ll say, the righteous man. The Shunammite woman, Mary and Martha, all use their homes as a way to minister to godly people. And it was also using their gift. They were using their gift to build their house upon the rock before the crisis came. The Shunammite woman, Mary and Martha both lost their loved ones. The Shunammite woman lost her son. Mary and Martha lost her brother. If there’s ever some women that could talk to us, in the Bible, about how to go through a crisis, it’s these three women.

James Greer (02:41):
You know women can be emotional. Women can be emotional. Amen? But, I’m going to tell you the right emotional women that use their faith has to be fantastic, because these women use their emotional faith that came out to be almost a miracle. So, my wife is the strongest when we’re in a crisis. Always. When I’m the weakest, my wife is always the strongest. Thank God. When I’m the weakest, financially, she’s the strongest. When I’m the weakest personally she’s the strongest. When I’m the weakest spiritually, she’s always the strongest. So, it seems like they know how to do it. And so, the greatest ministry that she has is the ministry of her presence. And that’s the same with many of you all.

James Greer (03:27):
So, it’s just unbelievable. We’re going to look at Elijah first because he teaches the power of prayer. And later on we’re going to see how he used that power to bring one back. Elijah was not only a type of Christ, but he teaches the privilege and power prayer. James 5:16-18. It’s a verse I often quote, but what I don’t quote is what’s before it. That’s what I want you to learn today. It says, confess your trespasses one to another. That’s not used in part of the prayer. Amen? I want to pray, but I’m not sure I want to confess my sins to you. Confess your trespasses one to another and pray one for another that you might be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now, I take the last part of that prayer and I love it because effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man. It says Elijah, he was a man with nature, just like me and you, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn’t rain. You know what? It didn’t rain for three and a half years. He turned around and prayed again that it would rain, and it rained. That’s pretty powerful. Amen? That’s powerful prayer. But I often wonder, God, why don’t we see that kind of power today?

James Greer (04:57):
One of the reasons is a lot of times that was written in a context that sometimes we don’t read. What do you have to do when you’re studying the Bible is always, when you come up to something like that, is read before it and read after it. And if you read before it, if you read James 5:13, it tells you the context that it was written. Is there any among you suffering, let him pray. Is there any cheerful? Let him sing songs. Is there any among you sick? Uh oh, let him call the elders of the church. Let them pray. Anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now, knowing him back then could be a lot of things, the pouring out. It’s almost like a a medicine or a massage. If you read this in the context of saying, Hey, use the doctor and God. Use everything you can do to get all the help you can get. It was written in the context at the very minute that you think that that sickness come, you call them and they pray with you. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up and there’s a really little word right there. You see it. If. If he committed sins, he will be forgiven. It doesn’t say that there will always be heal, but it does say they will be forgiven.

James Greer (05:56):
If that sickness, you do know there’s sickness that comes from sin? And there’s this particular sickness sin, if you call the elders and they anoint him with oil and pray over him and they confess their sins one to another and pray one for another, they could be healed. So sometimes, but you also wanted to see the power of prayer. He prayed and it didn’t rain for three and a half years. He prayed again and it came. So, that’s power and prayer. Amen? Now I want us to look at the Shunammite woman, Mary and Martha. I want to first look at Mary and Martha and how they learned to build their house upon the rock that you can easily miss. How they use their gifts that’s very seldom taught. How they knew how to pray because they spent time with Jesus.

James Greer (06:50):
In Luke 10:38 it tells us, now, it happened as they went, that he there was Jesus. He entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into the house. When you bring somebody in your house, it’s usually because you have an intimate close relationship. Well, a lot of times my wife said, don’t bring them in the house unless you call me first. Amen? And when I do, I get in trouble. Because when you bring somebody in the house, it’s somebody that you want to have a special relationship. And she had a sister who was called Mary, who also sat at the feet and heard Jesus, his words, but Martha was distracted with much serving. And she approached Jesus. Lord, don’t you care my sister? You know she’s left me to do the serving alone, and therefore tell her to get up and help me. Can you imagine going out and telling Jesus what to do? I think Jesus is quite capable of taking care of it. But anyway, and Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you’re worried and you’re troubled about many things.

James Greer (08:10):
Can I tell you something? A lot of you here, a lot of you online, a lot of you in the parking lot. You’re here and you’re worried and you’re troubled about many things. And Jesus had an answer one thing is needed. Mary has chosen that good part, who won’t be taken away from her. The good part was she decided to sit at the feet of Jesus and be ministered to. This is so, so important. Martha and Mary both opened up their house and use a gift. They had the gift of hospitality that was showing. They were using their gifts to build a house upon the Lord before the crisis came. But you see, you’ve got to be, this is really important. You’ve got to be ministered to by Jesus, before you can really minister. When I say minister, it’s to care for other people.

James Greer (08:35):
When you try to minister to others, it can be in your home. It can be in church, it can be on the job. When you try to minister the others without being first ministered to by Jesus, it will be miserable. I can tell whether it’s on job, whether it’s in the house or church, when I hadn’t allowed Jesus to minister to me and I tried to go out and minister to others. My temper gets a little short. I’m not as patient, I’m not as joyful, so, when we have been ministered to by Jesus, it brings joy to actually do the ministering. It’s backwards. It’s almost miraculous. Ministry is when we try to meet the needs of other people. It’s like some Sundays we have 60, 90, 100 volunteers all over the grounds ministering. We have Wednesday night people teaching, people in nursing, people in the parking lots. We have people all over the place. What looks like they’re the ones giving, but they’re always the one that received the most back. Mary and Martha were willing to use their home as a way of hospitality. It’s the way that they were ministering.

James Greer (09:27):
The Shunammite woman did the same thing. 2 Kings 4:8 it says, now it happened on one of the days that Elijah went to Shunem where there was a noble woman, and she was, I love this, and she persuaded him. What’d she do? She persuaded. She went after him. She’s persuaded him and said, Hey, come in for some food. So it was often his. He passed by. He would turn in there and eat some food. She persuaded him. She wanted him to come. She said, Hey, I want to use my house. I’ll use my gifts. I’ll use my abilities. I want to use it to minister. Do you understand as you minister to other people is the closest you ever get to ministering to Jesus Christ? That’s how we minister to Christ.

James Greer (11:04):
Let me give you a few insights. Both of them use the gift of hospitality to minister. When you use your gift of ministry, that’s the only thing you have to minister to God and to Jesus. When you minister to other people after you have been ministered to, that’s how you minister to Jesus. When we minister and use our gifts the right way, we’re the one that’s blessed in a unusual way. 1 Corinthians 12:1 says, now about my spiritual gifts brother, I don’t want you to be misinformed. I don’t want you to misunderstand it. I want you to understand what happens. The supernatural energy, brother, I do not want you to be misinformed. He said, listen, when you, when you’re using your spiritual gift, he says, I want you to know there’s a supernatural energy that God gives you and he says, I want you to know about you. You don’t understand, you’re going to always get more preaching than I am given when I give it, I get more back. Anything you do for God, he always blesses you more.

James Greer (11:46):
I told him last week, they said, man, what’s it like to preach three services? I said, I’d much rather preach three service to people than one service to a camera. Amen? Now, if you’re online, Amen. I love you. I’m glad you’re watching. I hope the volume is up. I hope it’s working. But I love people. Ministering is one of the important ways that you build your house upon the rock before the crisis comes. You’re going to see that both Mary, Martha, and the Shunammite woman, all were using that ways to build their house upon the rock before the crisis. Because of Matthew 7:24, it tells how important is to build a house. Therefore, whosoever hears these words of mine and does them, is like the wise man who built his house on the what? Rock. Built his house on the what? Built his house on the rock, right? The rock is Jesus Christ.

James Greer (12:29):
Okay, and the rain is sent in, the floods came and the winds blew and they beat on the house nowhere. Everybody’s going to have troubles. Everybody’s going to have trials. Everybody’s going to have tribulation and it did not fall. Why? Because it had a strong foundation and that foundation was the rock. Who is Jesus Christ. He tells you how important it is. He says you’re going to face trials. I’m going to face trials. We’re going to all have storms in our life. That’s why it’s so important that you build your foundation on the rock. And one of the ways you do that is by ministering to other people, because you all ready? It’s character that gets you through a crisis. Character that you have built up that gets you through a crisis. But not everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them doesn’t do them. They’re going to be like the foolish man who built his house on the what? The sand. And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew beat on the house and it fell. And great, great was the fall. You’ve got to be building a foundation before the crisis comes. You’ve got to be using your gifts. You’ve got to be ministering. That’s one of the ways you begin to build the foundation. Both Elijah and Jesus were ministered to by women. They both use their home as hospitality.

James Greer (14:04):
They later both had family members die. One was her son and one was her brother. I’ll give you an illustration of the Shunammite’s son, and Mary and Martha’s brother, and then we’ll go see the actions they took. 2 Kings 4:19 says, and he said, the son did. The Shunammite woman said to his father, my head, my head. So, he said to the servant, carry him to his mama. You all ever notice when you are really hurt, and who you want to see? Everybody wants to go see mama. Even the kids want to go see him. Do you know what? When I’m really sick, I want to see my wife. I don’t want to see the kids. I don’t want to see anybody else. When I’m really hurting. I said, go get mama. Now, that’s when I call David sometime, Go get mama. And I know what that boy is thinking. He said, man, I’m really hurt. He really was hurting and he said, go get mama. But the thing that happened is when they had taken him and brought him there, guess what happened to mama? Said she was on her knees until noon, and he what? Died. That’s a pretty big crisis. Amen? So, she faced crisis. Mary and Martha faced the crisis.

James Greer (15:27):
In John 11:14 Jesus said to them, very plainly, I want you to understand your brother, Lazarus is dead. That’s a crisis. See that, but they still both believe that they could live again. These women teach us how to respond in a crisis. Let’s look at the Shunammite woman. 2 Kings 4:21,22, again she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. In other words, as soon as her son died, the first thing she did was turned to the son, turn the man to God. She said, I got a crisis and I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to take action. She had already been building her house upon the rock. She had already been serving the man of God and now she said, I’ve got a crisis. So what I’m going to do, I’m going to take my son, I’m going to take him to the bed of the man of God and I’m going to shut the door upon him.

James Greer (16:27):
And he went out. So, he knew what he was going to do. And then she called her husband, please send me one of those young men. I don’t really think it was quite that calm. Please send me one of those young men and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of where? God, and come back. What she did immediately was turn her dead son and responded to turn to God. This is not about raising the dead. It’s about what you do during a crisis. I don’t believe personally you were living in that dispensation, that time period, but it’s a picture of a type what to do when you’re faced with the most impossible situations in your life. So, let me give you four things you do over and over again. I’ll give them to you now. I’ll give it to you later.

James Greer (17:17):
First thing you need to be building your house upon the right foundation which is Jesus Christ, by ministering before the crisis. Amen? Second, as soon as you find the crisis, first thing immediately respond, is cry out to God. Let it let it become a habit. I got a crisis. I’m going to cry to God. I’ve got a crisis. I’m a cry to God. What do you do when you have a crisis? Cry to God. Amen? Third, I’m going to believe there’s nothing too hard for God. Immediately I will believe there’s nothing too hard for God, so you don’t know my such situation. You don’t know mine. Nothing is too hard for God and forth. Thank God over and over for what he’s done and what he might be fixing to do. You do those four things every time, every time, every time you got to do it until it becomes second nature, it becomes the way you’re living. It becomes a lifestyle.

James Greer (18:03):
2 Kings 4:32 let’s see the response. And when Elijah came into the house where the child was laying dead on his bed, he went in and he shut the door. You know, Jesus says something about shutting the door behind him. In Matthew 6:6 he tells us, to do the same thing when he prayed, when we pray. And 34 says, and we went up, he laid on the child and he put his mouth, mouth to mouth resuscitation. And then anyway, it has eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. And he stretched forth his body on the child. And guess what happened? The child became warm. He returned to walk back and forth in the house and again. He went up and stretched himself out on him and the child sneezed seven times. You know what seven means, huh? It’s completion. And the child opened his eyes and he called Elisha. That was his servant. And said, Hey, go get Shunnamite woman. So, he called her and she picked him up and went. Then she came in to him and picked him up. So he was alive. What’d you do after you picked up? She thanked him. She fell at his feet and she bowed to the ground and she picked him up, her son up and went out. She didn’t stop there. She stopped and gave him honor and glory. She did the same thing that you go see over and over. She had already served. She turned to God. She didn’t believe it was still impossible. And then she thanked him.

James Greer (19:37):
Let’s look and see what Mary and Martha did. John 11:5, now Jesus loved Mary, her sister, and Lazarus. Jesus loves you. I think this is so interesting. When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two more days. The place where he was until he died. But it said that he did what? He loved them, didn’t he? I want to camp out here just a minute, just because you’re facing sickness and we have a lot of people in our church that are, Amen? I mean, cancer is running rampant in our church, all ages. We’ve got people traveling today going back to MD Anderson. We’ve got some coming in, some going out, some fixing to go. You’ve got them all over. We’ve got people with leukemia. What didn’t Jesus say before this verse? He said, Jesus love Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

James Greer (20:56):
And then Jesus stayed two days and he died. I want to tell you, this is one of many places, but I’ll show you more just because you have sickness, death, and tragedy upon your life and your family. By no means, does it mean that Jesus does not love you. He loves you many times it means he trusts you. In fact, I got to looking about that and some of the greatest men in the Bible, Job, because he was righteous, he suffered. Simon Peter. Paul wrote three fourths of the new Testament, yet he was beaten in prison, stoned and shipwreck. If you go to the hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11 it talks about some of them were tortured, some of them were scourged, some of them were stoned and some of them were fed the lions. These were heroes of faith. So, just because you might have a sickness or maybe have a tragedy, that does not mean God does not love you. It may be he loves you and that he trusts you. Patriarchs like Joseph.

James Greer (21:57):
Jesus said to them plainly, he’s dead. It’s all he did and he said, I’m glad. Can you imagine? Jesus said, he’s dead. I’m glad he’s dead, but then it goes on writing, for your sake. I was not there that you might believe. He said, many times you ready. Many times sickness and tragedy are not for our sake. I know that doesn’t help. It still hurts. You still have pain and you should. Many times we don’t understand the why. We just have to say what God are you trying to teach us and other people? He said the others might believe it. It didn’t. Lazarus say one word about what Lazarus did wrong. Nothing. That’s not true. He said, I did this where others might believe. And matter of fact when he raises Lazarus up in a minute, you’re going to see, I’m going to speak it out loud where others can see it. It was all about reaching other people. I wrote a side note this morning, probably shouldn’t have. I said, God, sometimes suffering and pain is to be a witness. Our church ought to be a great witness. Amen?

James Greer (23:11):
Anyway, Jesus came and found him in the tomb, which looked like an impossible situation, but I’m going to skip around a little bit because in John 11:21 Martha saw Jesus and said, if you’d been here my brother would not have died. And 22 says there’s something really interesting, but even now I know, I know, I know whatever you ask God, God will give you. I love that because she didn’t say that Jesus was going to bring her brother back to life. She said, I know you can now this is going to shake some of you up, but I want you to get the whole truth of it. She knew Jesus could, but she didn’t know Jesus would. True faith is believing Jesus can. I do believe Jesus can do anything. Amen. I don’t know if he’ll do everything because my wheel and Jesus will are not always lined up together. Well, my will and his will are lined up together. He will do it. So the hardest thing you can ever do is find your will to be lined up with his wheel. I believe Jesus can do anything, but I don’t know if he’ll always do what I want him to do. Does that make sense or not? So it makes a difference.

James Greer (24:31):
And then if you, if you go on down to verse 26 and he says, whoever believes, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And he says, do you believe this? She said, yes Lord. I believe. You know what he said, I believe that you, you’re the Christ. You’re the son of God who’s coming to the world. That’s the most important question everybody should ask. Everybody that’s in this room. Everybody that’s watching online, everybody in the parking lot. Most important question you ever asked, do you believe that Jesus is who he said he is? Do you believe he’s the son of God? Do you believe he’s your Savior or do you believe? You’ve got to ask him in your heart to go to heaven? You’ve got to believe.

James Greer (25:29):
Then it went on verse 33 it said, therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, remember this, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled. I started looking at groaning. It’s desperation sometimes the right groaning gets us in the throne room. The throne room of God. Say it over and over. They said where they laid him and they told him. He said, come. See, and then the first few verses I learned, I’ve memorized. Jesus wept. You might not know it, but Jesus has emotions too. He cares. He loves and he cared for him. He groaned. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him? He showed his emotions. They could tell they loved him. Verse 37 but some of them said, this is what it is, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying. This is where you got to be careful. I’ve done this many times and you’ll do it. When you’re going through suffering, when you’re in pain, your loved ones are hurting. You want to start saying, why God? Why God? Why you couldn’t have done this? God, why didn’t you do that? And that’s not the right answer. It’s what God? What are you trying to teach me? What I need to learn? How are you trying to use me, but my first response, many times it’s why and not what. And Jesus again, he groaned in himself.

James Greer (26:44):
If you drop down to verse 40 Jesus said, did I not say to you that if you believe you would see the glory of God, now you’re going to see what he said. They took away the stone from the place where the dead man was laying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said, father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who were standing by, I said this. Jesus was saying, first of all, he was with the disciples and he said, Hey, one of the reasons that Lazarus is dead, because I need you to learn the strength. You need to know that I am the Messiah. You need to know that I am Jesus Christ. Now he said, well, the reason I’m going to speak these words out loud, is because the people around here need to know who I am. They need to know that I came to save them from their sins, that the people standing by could know it. Doesn’t say anything about Lazarus, do anything wrong, nothing about Mary doing anything wrong, nothing about Martha doing anything. That they might believe that you sent me. He wanted them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ so they could be saved.

James Greer (27:14):
And then he went on to say these words, he cried out with a loud voice and he said, Lazarus, come forth. What do you think happened when Jesus said Lazarus come forth? e came forth. He who was dead, came alive. Amen? This is what I want you to see. And last verse 43 it says, Hey, and when Jesus said these things, he cried out the loud voice and Jesus, and Lazarus came for the reason. I want you to know that as this Jesus brings dead things back to life. Amen? You might have a dead marriage. Jesus can bring it back to life. Your finances might be ruined, Jesus can bring it back to life. Your health might be bad, but Jesus can bring it back to life.

James Greer (28:09):
See, I don’t care what’s going on in your life. The dead have to obey Jesus. He can bring whatever’s dead in your life back to life. Amen? But it’s to give Jesus the honor and glory, not me, and not you. The story wasn’t really about Martha or Mary or Lazarus. It wasn’t about the Shunammite’s son. It was all giving God the honor and glory They had to minister to others and we have to learn to be ministered to first. And if you don’t ministered to first, you’ll end up being misery. If you’re trying to minister to other people, you’re ready? In your home, on your job and your church. If you’re just saying, man, I really want to care for my mate and my kids in a new way. I’d like to be more patient with them. I’d like to be calmer with them, like to love them more, and I just seem like I cannot do that. It’s probably because you’re not allowing Jesus to minister to you before you try to minister to them.

James Greer (29:13):
So, it looks like you’re miserable sometimes. Sometimes he’ll say, well, let’s look like you don’t love me. Just look like you’re always upset with me, it’s because you hadn’t been ministered to. So, you need to face the day and say, what I need more than anything else is I need to be ministered to by Jesus where I can then minister the right way, to my family and my job and my church. I don’t want to be misery. You ready? The fact is this, you can’t stay miserable if you’re being ministered to by Jesus. You can’t do it. Can’t do it.

James Greer (30:24):
Most often, in my case, Jesus ministers to me when I’m reading his word. He has the Holy spirit impress something on my heart. If you’re not reading God’s word, you’re not being ministered to. It goes, John 1:14 says, and the word became what? Flesh, and dwelt among us. What did the word became? Flesh. Jesus is the word. So he got a minister. You’ve got to what? Read the word. You read the word, then you can call upon them the Lord in time of trouble.

James Greer (30:34):
Psalms 50:15 call upon me and time of trouble, I will deliver you. They did what? They called upon God. They wanted him get the glory. They believed there was absolutely nothing too hard for God. They believed that Jesus could do the impossible. I believe he can too. I believe in, like I said, Matthew 17:20 Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, surely I said to you, if you even had the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, which is type of impossible situation, move from here to there and it’ll move. I love that verse because it also says, if you say not, think about it. If you speak God’s word to the right problem, the right way, and you meet the conditions of the problem, it will move. And nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 19:26 says this, but Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible. With God all things are possible.

James Greer (32:10):
So, as we get ready to close I want to give you some insights. Number 1, do you need to be ministered to? Well, I hope when you’re taking in God’s words, he’s doing two things. He’s ministering to you and he’s convicting you. And the word of gospels would be sharp as a two edged sword. It convicts and it comforts it convicts and it comforts of his doing the word. If you’ll let him have his way. Some of you need to be ministered to by salvation. Maybe you’re watching online or maybe you’re here and you’re not sure if you died, you’d go to heaven. Jesus wants to minister to you. He said, even this, he said, I love you. He came, he gave his for you. You give it good. Tell him, Hey, I believe that you died for me. I believe you are the son of God. I want to forgive my sins. I want you to come into my heart. Some of you emotionally, don’t you think Mary and Martha, and the Shunammite woman had this unbelievable emotional time they had the faith? The first thing they did is they turned to God of men. The first thing they did is turned to Jesus and Jesus administered to them emotionally.

James Greer (33:00):
Let him minister to you emotionally. Some of you it’s spiritually. Some of you have gotten away from the word, and some of you online, you’ve gotten out of church. Some of you’ve gotten so used to watching it online, you said, Hey, I might just keep doing that. Not. If you can get here, you need to start getting here. God said, don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together. We’re going to start increasing the capacity. Go ahead and get your tickets Monday though those, they will be sold out probably by Wednesday, but you need to be here. They’re fixing the ease. Some of the regulations, we’ll start being able to start getting more people in here.

James Greer (33:50):
So, you need to come to church. I thank you for watching online. I love that. But I want to preach to people and you need it to, you need to be ministered to. God says, one of the reasons we come to church is to encourage one another. I know it’s not the same right now. And I can’t wait until this back, but I mean just looking out here and all you all now, can I tell you that encouraged me. I was back in the back with Dean. I heard you all say an Amen. And I’ll tell him Dean. Oh praise God. That is so exciting. I can’t wait to get out there. Some of you all need to be minister to spiritually and you get back in the word. So let me, I’ll start in your small group today. Amen. Aren’t you already? Like two of you all are. Yes. So, we’ve got a couple of small groups starting today and we’ve got three or four starting the next Sunday. So we’re easing our way back. Amen. Thank you. Yes. And we’ve got the nursery opened, the children’s partner open today. Amen?

James Greer (34:52):
So I mean, we’re, we’re moving forward, we’re trusting God. We’re trying not to tempt him. We’re trying to be safe. But man, I’m so thankful. I’m so thankful that you all are here. So thankful that you keep coming back. I want to invite those online to come. So maybe you need to be ministered to by Jesus, salvation emotionally or spiritually. Romans 8:26 has been my verse this week and it says, when I don’t know how to pray, the spirit himself will make intercession for me. Not only just for me personally, but for those people I’m trying to pray for.

James Greer (35:26):
Second, I want to ask you something. How are you ministering? How are you building your house upon the rock? It can be a lot of different ways. Use your gift. You’ve got to be ministered to at first, but sometimes people do it with meals. Sometimes they do it with masks. I went somewhere the other day and I said, Hey, I’m getting you. Would you like more of the masks? I got it in my pocket right here, they gave it to me. Sometimes it’s maintenance. They help. Sometimes it’s motivation. Man, we have got some of the best encouragers I’ve ever seen in our church. They send me notes and they encourage me. Some of the guys even said they love me. I love you too. Volunteers, there’s so many ways I think those, that minister on Sundays, are those satisfied people in church? I do. It’s not what God wants from you is what he wants for you. Have you actually prayed and asked Jesus to either remove the problem or give you the grace and power to go through the problem? I see our people doing it all the time. And you need to start thanking him even beforehand. For what He’s done and what He’ll do. Let me pray for you.

James Greer (36:27):
Father, I thank you for today. It’s a great day of celebration. I want to thank you for what you’ve done. God, I want to thank you for what you’re going to do. Every Sunday it’s just going to get bigger. It’s just going to get better. I just pray. If there’s somebody here that doesn’t know Jesus Christ at the end they will see there’s a invitation. They can take it. They have guest cards they can fill out. I pray for those online, God, that they would make a commitment. They would take in your word. I pray that you’re ministering to them even online. Those again that are watching God pray a hedge of protection around us. God, I pray that you would continue to give us wisdom to go forward and God, we want to give you all the honor and all the glory and everybody said Amen.

James Greer (37:37):
Hey guys, on behalf of Pastor James, I want to thank you for joining us in worship today. If you’re out in the parking lot, man, give us a honk. If you are online with us right now, just type in amen. It’s so good to have you this morning in worship with us. If you’re, if you’re wanting to have somebody to pray with today, we have people on standby right now wanting to pray with you and for you. So, just simply click the link below and ask whoever’s there to pray with you and they want to pray. If you right now are wanting to give, we want you to give whatever the Lord has laid on your heart. Click on the link below. It’s simply give. We have a dynamic children’s department and man, their worship is phenomenal. Click on the link below and go in and enjoy our children’s worship. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you. Thank you for your love. Your mercy. Father I ask you right now to be with pastor James. Lord, use him to minister to people, to touch people’s hearts so that they would change their and come running you. Father I ask you to bless the gift and the giver in Jesus name. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.