You Are Destined for Greatness

James Greer: 00:00 Good morning Journey Church. Let’s give Alexandria a hand, Alexandria campus. Amen? Man, didn’t that praise team hit a home run today. Wasn’t that fantastic. They did great.

James Greer: 00:08 I’m going to tell you, I went and watched Lion King yesterday. Man, it was fantastic. I just loved it, me and the kids. And I’ll tell you one of the things that I learned, that most people are running from their God given destiny instead of running to it. Because of fear and guilt and deception, it often causes you to miss what God has for you. Even in the movie the Lion King, where it featured the young lion named Simba, whose destiny was the rule of the jungle as far as he could see, you know. And that was his inheritance. But, soon after, evil that was Scar, set a foot Simba’s father, and murdered him really. He murdered him and Simba flees and he runs from his destiny due to guilt.

James Greer: 01:14 Really it was a false guilt. And fear and deception and in the absence of good, evil takes over and alters everything and desolation comes in. And can I tell you that’s what sin does. When sin comes into your life, it becomes desolate and whether it’s your life, your marriage or whatever. But, there was this wise monkey comes into Simba’s life and helps him overcome his guilt and his fear and deception. And helps him to understand what his destiny was, and who he was and what power and authority he had. And the same is true with you. That’s what God wants to do. He wants to come into your life and help you find out who you really are. But the devil still tries to do that today. He still tries to get you to live in guilt and fear and deception. Where you miss out on your destiny. See, cause when you don’t know who you are, you don’t know what to do.

James Greer: 01:53 But, the opposite is when you know who you are, you know what to do. But, man was this cool thing when, Simba didn’t know who he was. He ended up eating bugs and worms, and nothing wrong with eating bugs and worms, unless you like steak and vegetables. Amen? Now, what you don’t know, what Richie was hinting to, next Sunday you are going to be challenged. You’re going to come into the sanctuary, and I want to challenge Richie who does not know his destiny sometimes, to eat bugs and worms. Now, that really happened. When somebody didn’t know who he was, that’s what he was doing. And he’s going to challenge some of you all. Do you really know your destiny? Are you willing to take the challenge? Now me, I like steak and vegetables myself. I know who I am but, some of you all will be challenged. You don’t want to miss it. It’s going to be hilarious.

James Greer: 02:41 You know you can’t really live and enjoy your destiny, though unless you know what it is. So, let’s spend a few minutes learning what is your destiny? Your destiny today is the same as it was from the very beginning with Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26, 28 it tells us, our destiny was, is and always will be the same. God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27 and 28 really give you a key. So, God created man in his image and in the image of God, he created male. And what? He created them.

James Greer: 03:33 So, really what he’s telling you now, even before he created female, he’s telling you they had the same destiny and God did what? God did what? God what? He blessed it. Can I give you a hint in church right now, your destiny is, and always will be, to be blessed by God. In the very beginning he said, I created you. You were created in God’s image, male and female. And God said, I bless them. You are destined to be blessed. And he said to them, be fruitful, be multiplied. Fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over the fish, the sea, the birds, air and everything that moves upon the earth. But, you know when I started thinking about destiny, what I was destined. When I realized that through 30 plus years of me, probably 35 now. I realize that most people, just like Simba did, continue to run from their destiny, instead of run to it. Adam and Eve, even when they sin they ran from their destiny, when they could have ran back to God and found it.

James Greer: 04:54 And then I said, what does it mean to even be blessed by God? If I said God in the very beginning, he said he made male and female and God said, I blessed them. You’re destined to be blessed by God. God said, I’m destined for you to be satisfied. I’m destined for my favor to be upon you. It means to have a favored status with God. That’s what blessed means. That means being endowed by God’s power, that leads to prosperity and success in every area of your life. God said, you’re destined for that. Now you say Brother James, you’re preaching prosperity and success. What? I don’t know. You’ve got to understand what true prosperity and success is. Joseph in the Bible was prosperous of success, but yet he was betrayed by his brothers. He was thrown in a pit. He was put in a jail. He was lied about. But, at the end, just like Simba reclaimed his throne. At the end, Joseph was the second most powerful person in the world. But see, because what you don’t know, many times when you’re going through life, you don’t see your ultimate destiny, but God does.

James Greer: 05:52 So God said, you’re destined to be blessed. If you don’t keep running from it. You’re destined to be fruitful or to be successful. You’re destined to have victory over sin if you don’t give up. But second of all, you’ve got to understand the reason most people don’t reach their destiny. Because number two, our destiny has to be tied to God’s destiny. See, most people’s destiny is their own personal destiny. It’s their own personal fame. It’s their own personal success. It is tied with popularity or financial gain.

James Greer: 06:46 But see, to really reach your destiny, it has to be tied to God’s destiny. And a big part of God’s destiny in my life, in your life. It’s bringing honor and glory to God, and that’s how we began to reach our destiny. In fact, the Psalmist said in Psalms 8:5-9 it says this, you made him. Who’s him? Man and woman. Who made them? God did. You might have just a little lower than the heavenly beings. Heaven is there, then we’re next, and what did we do? He crowned him with glory and honor, and you made him, man and woman, ruler over the works of all the hand. Everything is under our feet. Everything that we come, everything, all the flocks are hers, the beast, and everything that you can even think of is under ours. God said, listen, I want you to know that you are destined to be blessed. You’re destined to have victory. You’re destined to do what God called you to, but it’s to bring honor and glory to God. And that’s why it says in John 14:12 Jesus himself is speaking to me and you, and he said, most surely I say to you, Journey Church to you who believe, Jesus asks and says, do you believe in Jesus?

James Greer: 07:38 If you do say Amen. So he said, if you do the works that Jesus did, you will do also, only you’ll do greater works than Jesus did. Why? Because I got to go to my father. Jesus said, I can’t stay and be with everybody. I’m going to go up and be with my father where the Holy Spirit can come down and be with everybody. Then he said, what’s ever asked in my name? I will do. Why? That the father may be glorified through the son. God says, listen, I got this unbelievable work for you. This unbelievable destiny to give you, this unbelievable answered prayers for you, but I want it to glorify the father. Made me think, do I have something I need to ask the father? Do you have a prayer that you need answered that would bring honor to God? Because when he says anything, you ask of the father in my name, I’ll do it. I said, God, I got all kinds of things I’d like to ask of you? But, would it bring honor to God. Because our destiny has to be tied to God’s destiny. So first of all, God says, you’re destined to be blessed. Second of all, my destiny and your destiny has to be tied to God’s destiny for our life. Which part of that has do with bringing God glory.

James Greer: 09:07 Dominion and blessing was marred though. It was marred by sin. Yet, all creation is waiting for the greatness within God’s people to be revealed. Just like Simba was destined to be over that area, but false guilt and fear and deception caused him to run. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned. It marred us, it separated us. It caused guilt and fear and deception. And listen, just like Adam and Eve ran from their destiny. Listen to me. I believe most people are still running from their God given blessed destiny and they’re missing out on my blessings that God has for them. Why do they do that? Because they’re being deceived.

James Greer: 09:56 See, way back in Genesis 3:9, see if you want to know a principle, you can almost go back to the beginning and follow it all the way through. And then the Lord called Adam and he said to him after they had sin, he said, where are you? Adam said, I heard a voice in the garden. See, he always heard a voice. They used to walk in the garden and they had fellowship one with another. But now he was afraid. What caused the fear? Sin many times when we are afraid it is because of sin or deception. Because God did not give us a spirit of fear. So he was afraid because he was naked and he did what? He hid. And he said, who told you that you were naked?

James Greer: 10:38 Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, the woman whom you gave to me. Now he said, whose fault is it that I’m afraid? Whose fault is it? God it is your fault. It’s always a little lady’s fault. Amen? And men getting in trouble, whose fault it is? It’s my wife’s. She gave to me and I ate, and the Lord said to the woman, hmm, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, this is the truth though, the serpent deceived me and so I ate. So, it’s been since the beginning that men have hidden in blame and women have often been deceived. But, that was not God’s goal and it’s still not the goal. Guilt, fear, shame, blame is a result of sin and deception.

James Greer: 11:33 We saw it in the very beginning. Jesus comes on the scene in John 10:10 and he said, I want you to understand something, that the devil’s goal is to steal, kill, and destroy, but I’ve come on the scene and I want to give you life and I want you to have it more abundantly. He said, I want things to change. He said in 2 Timothy 3:13 he said, I want you to be aware of something. He said, in fact, evil men and false teachers, he’s talking about what’s going to happen. The closer the time comes to Jesus come, it had become worse and worse. False teaching is going to become worse and worse, not better and better. They’re going to be what? Deceiving many. They themselves have been deceived by Satan. That a lot of people are going to be preaching and teaching. They are going to be deceived their self.

James Greer: 12:21 They think they’re telling the truth. How do they deceive? How do you know your being deceived? How do you know when somebody’s deceiving you? Anything that’s pulling you away from Christ is deceiving you. That’s how you’re being deceived. What’s pulling you away. They make bad look good and good look bad. How could that be brother James? How can that be Pastor James? I’m going to tell you how you know you’re being deceived. Would you like to know, say Amen. Okay. That same word means being seduced. Anything pulling you away. It can be something good, but it’s not the best. You’re chasing money more than you’re chasing God, uh oh. Some people are chasing women instead of their wives. Some wives are chasing men instead of their husbands. That’s happening, Amen? You can be chasing your boyfriend or girlfriend more than you’re chasing God. I’ve heard people say, man, if they break up from me, I just don’t know what I’m going to do. Go to God. You’re being deceived. If I lose that job, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Go to God. You’re being deceived. You see you’re being deceived. Anything you’re allowing to pull you away more than go to God.

James Greer: 13:35 It can be your job. It can be a hobby. Nothing wrong with hobbies. I just don’t have one. I’ve tried it. I tried playing golf and I hit that guy’s house and he got all upset. I don’t think you should live on the golf course if you’re going to get upset with people like me when I hit your house. I don’t. I mean, give me my golf ball back and shut up. But I didn’t say that. I just said sorry. I mean, it can be your hobby, right? It can be pleasures. Did you know? It can be your kids. You can be deceived by saying, Hey, you know that I’ve got to put my kids first. No, no, no. You’ve got to put God first. It can be your mate. You can say, well, I’m going to church, going to church. They always said, put my family first, no they didn’t, they said put God first. There are some people that are so alone, they put their kids and their mate before God and what has happened? The ultimate goal of being deceived is bringing destruction, and God knows, the devil knows. If he can bring you far enough away from God, then he can destroy you. He came to steal, kill and what? Destroy, destruction. That’s his goal. That’s the end game.

James Greer: 14:52 Revelation 12:9,10 tells you, Satan is ultimately, he says he’s an accuser of a brother and he wants to bring guilt upon your life. He’s an accuser. Guess what though, he accused them before God, day and night, but guess what? He’s cast down. I love it because at the end of, towards the end, if you watched Lion King, whether it was that one or the one in the past. Scar who was an accuser, he was finally cast down to a fire and maybe the hyenas got him., but the devil is going to be cast down for the fire and it’s going to be forever and ever. Amen? He’s an accuser and that’s what he does to me and you. See Satan’s goal just like Scars, is to bring fear, guilt, shame, and deception upon your life. He walks around in I Peter 5:8 like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. You see, Jesus is the ultimate king, the lion who will defeat everybody else.

James Greer: 15:29 See, I want you to understand, Christ has redeemed us from that curse. Every one of us had been marred. Every one of us sinned. Every one of us has shame. Everyone has had guilt. Every one of us have been deceived, but God sent a Savior. I love this part. Galatians 3:13,14 Christ has what? Redeemed. What did Christ do? He redeemed. He can’t redeem you until you realize you’ve been cursed. He can’t redeem you until you realize you’ve been in sin. I know I’ve sinned. Guess what? You sin. I sin. We all sin. Thank God for Christ the Savior. He redeemed us. He redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us, for as written, curses anyone that hang on the tree that was Jesus, you all. That the what? Blessing. In other words, God said, hey I took your curse. I took your sin. Why? So that you can now have a blessing.

James Greer: 16:25 I told you what the blessing was of Abraham might be upon the gentiles. If you don’t know it, you’re probably a gentile. But guess what? It’s great to be a gentile today. Amen? Because Jesus redeemed us from the curse and now that we’re a gentile, we get to enjoy the blessings because of Christs Jesus that we might receive the promise of the spirit of faith. It’s like everybody said, did you know that? Now you’re a gentile, but you’re blessed and you have the same blessings that God promised to the Jews and everybody should say, Amen. We’ve been redeemed. I’ve been redeemed. If you’ve accepted Christ, you’ve been redeemed. If you hadn’t accepted Christ, you need to be redeemed. Amen?

James Greer: 17:12 You are destined to be blessed. You’re destined for greatness. Your destiny has to be tied to God’s destiny. The whole earth, you Ready? The whole earth is eagerly in groaning for you to reveal your greatness. They want it. All creation said, I’ve been waiting for this day. In Romans 8:19 it says, all creations waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. I am a child of God. I can reveal it to you right now. You don’t even have to wait. But, really what it saying is all the lost world is really groaning and waiting for you to reveal who you are. The world, the creation. God’s saying, man, I want you to reveal that you’re a new creature in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, as 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, God’s running all over earth looking for somebody to be strong. So how do we reveal who we are in Christ? Are you ready?

James Greer: 18:27 The proper answer is when I say, Are you ready? you say either yes or amen. Are you ready? Okay, good. Good. Okay. First of all, we reveal ourselves. We say we now have dominion over fear. Amen? Hey, we’re destined to overcome fear. You ready? We no longer run from fear like Simba was doing. We turn around and we run towards fear. How do we do that? 2 Timothy 1:7 says, God didn’t give me a spirit of fear, but of what? Of power and of love and a sound mind. So, when you have fear you don’t run from it. You got God’s word and you run to it and you said, hey, no, I don’t have to run from fear because I have God on my side. God is in me. He’s overcome the curse. I have been redeemed. And God said he didn’t give me a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Amen?

James Greer: 19:13 Romans 8:15 said, for I did not receive a spirit of bondage or fear against fear, but I received a spirit of adoption. Now adopted by God, and I can cry. I’m a father. He is my daddy. Amen? So I stopped being redeemed and I start revealing who I really am. I had been, I now have dominion over guilt and shame. I am destined to have victory over that. Romans 8:1 says, hey, there’s therefore no condemnation, no more guilt, no more shame to those who are in Christ Jesus. Know what? If you came in here today and you came with guilt and shame, that is a lie from the devil. If you confess it, and forsake it, forget it. If you confess it, and forsake it, you forget it. See, if you’ve confessed it and forsaken, you’ve put it on the blood of Jesus Christ and listen, if you keep bringing it back, bringing it back, that’s the devil you’re giving in to the devil. You’re saying that Christ blood was not great enough to pay the price for your sin, so those are not one person today. If you’re saved and you put your sins and your guilt and your shame under the blood of Jesus Christ, you need to go home today having dominion and freedom over that, that’s how you proclaim who you are. His blood and his price was great enough to pay for your sin.

James Greer: 20:28 You have dominion over defeat. We might fall, but you don’t have to stay there. A just man falls seven times, but he gets up again. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2:14 it says, thanks be to God who always leads us in victory through Jesus. Christ. Listen, we don’t have, we have dominion over the devil. You might as well start now. You don’t have to wait until one day you get to heaven. You are destined to overcome the devil. Just like Simba had run and run, run. He finally came back and again and then ran again. 1 John 4:4 says, you are of God little children, and you have overcome them. Why? Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Who’s in you? Christ Jesus. You’re destined, overcome.

James Greer: 21:20 You might need to be enlightened to understand it and if you’re here today, that’s how you’re here. Ephesians 1:18 says this. That’s why I wrote it, that your eyes of your understanding might be enlightened. You open your eyes. Open your eyes to God’s blessings. Open your eyes and quit running from God and start running to God. Quit running from your destiny and run to your destiny. Don’t be deceived that you may know what your hope is, your assurance is, of your calling. God has called you stop running from it. That you are rich of the glory of his, inheritance of your saints. You got inherited. What is inheritance? Verse 19 that is the exceedingly greatness of his power. That’s part of your inheritance. You’ve inherited this great power towards us, me and you who believe according to the working of his mighty what? Power, which he worked in Christ. Now he’s going to give you the illustration.

James Greer: 22:08 He said, you want to know how powerful it is? He worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. That’s pretty powerful. Amen? I mean when you can take somebody that has been nailed to cross and buried in the grave and you raised him up and then God said, that’s a picture of the power that I want to give to the Christian. I would say that’s power. Amen? And he says, that’s the kind of power I want to have with you. He said, as far above any principalities of power that might have dominion. He said, man, it’s the power the king of kings, the Lord of Lords, and he said, it now lives within you.

James Greer: 22:36 That’s power. You’re destined for it. As we get ready to close though, you’ve got to claim it. You’ve got to quit running from your destiny and you’ve got to turn around and say, I’m going to take a step today towards my destiny, towards my greatness, towards my blessing. How do you do that? First of all, if you understand it kept saying in you, with you, for you, said the same power that is within you. It’s just like the verse said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things pass away. All things become new. How do you get in Christ? There has to be a time. First of all, that you truly admitted that you sinned, weren’t redeemed, that you sinned and there’s only way to be redeemed as Christ through the blood and you said, hey, I’d like for him to come in and live in my life. That’s step one. Step two is, hey, I’m going to put all of my sins on the blood of Jesus Christ. Step three, I’m not going to live in guilt and shame anymore because God paid the price for me.

James Greer: 23:53 I’m going to believe God has a destiny for me and that destiny is to have dominion and victory and greatness. But I’ve got to understand that my destiny has to be tied to God’s destiny. It’s not just for me. They’re tied together. They’re tied together to bring honor and glory to God. You’ve got to understand that God’s waiting, the world’s waiting, for you to accept your destiny. Once you accept it, you just step into it. Just like a while ago, I was saying, you don’t run from fear. You run to it.

James Greer: 24:32 You claim your destiny by it, when you claim your promises. You personalize them. They’re yours. See, I don’t know how you came today. Maybe yours is fear, guilt, or shame. Maybe it was emptiness, may be was sorrow, but you know what? Jesus has already overcome. He’s already had victory. He’s gone ahead before you. He’s made a plan. He’s made a path. Not one person here has to go home the same way they came. That was not God’s plan. God’s plan was for you to step into your destiny to start today. Would you stand? Let me pray with you and pray for you.

James Greer: 25:10 God, what a great God. A powerful God. I thank you that we got the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords that’s on our side. Who’s with us and for us. God, I don’t know what people need to do today. Some need you to say, Hey, I just been sitting and sour and soaking and I need to step up and step out today. I need to begin to step into my destiny and I need to say, God, I don’t know where you want to use me. Wherever it is, God I’ll do that. Some of you need to come and confess and forsake that sin and go out without any shame, without any guilt. Some of you came with unbelievable sorrow. And all you need is the comfort of God. Some of you need to join this church. Some of you need to follow through in baptism. Some of you who just need somebody to pray with you. Some of you need to help you find your promises that can help you find your destiny. Whatever it is God would have you do. I pray that you let him have his will, and his way in your life this morning. It was in Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.