Just Faith It: Part 2 – How to Have Faith

James Greer (00:00):
Anyway, there’s so much bad news going on in the world. How about would you all like to hear some good news? Amen? I mean, in the last five weeks, every single Sunday we’ve had baptisms. Amen? I mean, you want to hear some more good news? This Sunday we’re going to be baptized again. Yay! Whew. I mean, you know, in Matthew 3, when Jesus was baptized, when he came up, God the father said, this is my beloved son who I am well pleased. See, I believe it pleases the father when people are getting saved and people are getting baptized. Amen?

James Greer (00:22):
I think in the new church in Acts 2, they said, they gladly received the word about 3000 were baptized. What I say is you all are gladly receiving the word and we’re having baptisms every Sunday. Amen? And in Luke 15, it says there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner that is saved. In other words, so now we got God the father that’s happy. Amen? You got people that are receiving the word and you all are happy and I’m happy. And then we got people rejoicing in heaven that are happy. So I say, we should all say, Amen. I’ll tell you. We’re just going to keep on and keep on.

James Greer (01:14):
We’ve got our new series called Faith It, and I’m glad you’re here. And I’m glad those that are online are with us too. I want to give you a quick review of what faith is. You’ve got to have the very basis to stay with us on faith. Faith is in Hebrews 11:1 it tells us what faith is. It says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. So we know that faith has to have substance. And faith has to have a foundation. And it’s evidence of things not seen. And so as evidence things not seen and for by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. I love the next part, it says, by faith we understand. I love this, that the worlds were framed by the word of God. The worlds were framed by what? The word of God.

James Greer (02:05):
That’s some power. Amen? The word of God can form the world. So, that in the things which are seen, were not made of the things which are visible. So, Hey, I’m going to give you a quick definition of faith. Okay? First of all, faith has substance. It’s a foundation. If you want your marriage, if you’re building a house, a church, whatever it is, it has to have a good foundation. And that’s what substance is. It’s a good foundation. And when your faith is right, you got a stable life. Faith brings stability to your life. Faith brings steadfastness to your life. So, when your faith is right, you have stability and you have steadfastness because your faith is built upon Jesus Christ, who is your rock. Your faith has evidence that says evidence not seen. It may not be seen, but it’s felt. Because blessed are the pure in heart for they see God. They don’t see God physically, because if they see God physically they’re dead, but you experience God, Amen?

James Greer (03:06):
You experienced Him in a powerful, you experienced Him in a practical way. I mean, every Sunday were seeing these people get baptized. We’re seeing lives get changed. So, we’re getting to see it. Titus 1:15 says, I love this verse. It says, that a person who has a pure heart sees goodness, impurity and everything. See, when your faith is right and your heart is right, you start seeing goodness in everything, instead of bad. And then faith the world was framed by God’s word. He was so excited about that. The word frame, it means complete. It was restored. It’s repaired. It was joined together. If God’s word can frame the world and it did, Amen? God just speaks the word and it comes about. Guess what he can do. He can restore and repair and join together anything that is broken in your life. That’s what faith is like. Amen? Woo.

James Greer (04:12):
Today we’re going to talk about how to have faith, but I was so excited about how to have faith. Saturday and this morning I tore up half the message. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It’s all right, though. It is exciting. Because when I was learning about how to have faith, then I wrote 17 pages. And then I got to this part about how this Centurion, and we’re going to get this in a minute. This is not the best yet. It’s just intro. Then I got to this Centurion and he walks up to Jesus and he says, would you heal my servant? And she said, yeah. And he said, I’ll go with you. No, no, no, you don’t have to go with me. Just speak the word. And later on, Jesus said, I’m marveled at his faith.

James Greer (05:00):
Well, now I’m rocking and rolling. I’m writing all this stuff. And now I said, how did his faith marvel Jesus? So, I’m going to go through the introduction so I can get that because man, wouldn’t you like to have enough faith to marvel Jesus? Amen? And what did the Centurion do that caused Jesus to be marveled? And if we get time, we’ll get to it, and we’ll go get time. But first of all, how do you get faith? You get faith by hearing. Romans 10:17 tells you, so faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. Let me just give you something since we’re not going to preach. You hear the word when I’m preaching. You’re hearing it right now. Every single Sunday, your faith should grow. But you hear it when I’m preaching it. But let me tell you another thing. You need to be hearing it when you’re speaking it. So, you need to hear it when I’m preaching it. So, you need to be in church, but you need to be speaking because you need to be confessing it. That’s why you need to be in church when you can, apart from if you underlying reasons to not be in church. And if you’re not on vacation, getting married. You need to come home and rest after your vacation.

James Greer (06:04):
But anyway, I’m just saying, but anyway, you need to hear the word. You need to hear it. When I’m preaching, you need to take it in. But I’m telling you it’s almost as important as hearing it, when I’m preaching, you need to learn to start confessing God’s word instead of your problems. Amen? Ephesians 6:20 says, I have been sent to preach. I love that because I have. God has blessed me and he sent me to preach. He’s not only sent me to preach. He sent me to preach this good news. God’s word is good news. And I’m doing that now. He’s allowed me to do it. He’s called me to preach. He’s allowed me to breathe and not allow me to preach. He’s allowed me to preach the good news and pray that when I preach the good news, I speak it without fear as I should. Don’t tell me that everybody has some anxiety and some fear when they go to preach. But man, I’ve written in my Bible and I get psyched up, but I said, God, didn’t give me a spirit of fear, but a power love and a sound mind. And God, I just can’t wait to preach. Amen?

James Greer (06:57):
Not only do I get to preach, I get to preach the good news. And we start talking about the good news of the Bible. I get to preach about restoring broken relationships. Then what I tell you about that one reason you need to be in church over and over and over. You’re going to have the devil trying to break down your relationships, break down your marriage, break down your children. And you come to church and you’re hearing the good news that God is trying to put them together and mend them together. And when you’re not in church, let me tell you what, you start drifting apart. That’s good, brother James.

James Greer (07:42):
Sunday after Sunday, I tell you Psalms 127:1 it says, unless the Lord builds the house, you labor in vain. And you say, why Brother James? Why do you keep telling you that? Because we need it. I need it. You need it. Everybody needs it. Amen? How do you get faith? Hear the word, speak the word. Amen. Romans 4:17 says this, when I say there’s a lot of people just like to simply hear themselves talk to talk. I’m not talking about those people. I’m talking about speaking the word. Romans 4:17 puts it this way, as it is written, I made you a father of many nations, but then he says in the presence of him who he believed God who gives life to this dead. And he calls these things, which did not exist to exist. I love God says, you remember, you know how powerful my word is.

James Greer (08:39):
I call dead things to life. I love the way the message puts it. The message says that with the word he made something out of nothing. Anybody that can speak the word and make something out of nothing. That’s pretty powerful. Amen. But God was also saying, because you become my spokesman. You’d be surprised how powerful the words you speak. Sometimes the words you speak began to make something out of nothing. Sometimes your marriage starts getting better by the words that you speak, you become the mouthpiece. Don’t keep saying I’m nothing, when you’re really something. Don’t keep saying I’m rejected, when you really accepted. Don’t keep saying I’m fearful, when he says you are to be fearful, fearless If you are saying it’s hopeless, it’s never hopeless. If you’re a Christian, you always have hope. I just heard that. Sometimes 4 out of 10 young people are now contemplating suicide. That’s a concern, because I want to tell you with Jesus Christ you got hope and you got a future, it’s way beyond your imagination. So, don’t confess the negatives, confess with your mouth the positive that Jesus has for you.

James Greer (09:33):
In Luke 17, the apostles were with Jesus. And in verse five, they said, Lord increase our, what? What did he want him to increase? Don’t you want God to increase your faith? Say Amen. I want God to increase my faith. And then so the Lord spoke to him and he said, I’m going to, and basically he said, you all want to increase your faith? Let me tell you how to do it. If you have the faith as a mustard seed. But, I want to tell you something about that later on. The faith of the mustard seed is your faith in Jesus Christ, not yourself. And I’ll prove it to you, When we get to the Centurion. If he had the faith of a mustard seed, you can study, you can think, you can wish, you can cuss. Or you can say, to this Sycamore tree or this Mulberry Bush and pull it up the roots and be planting a seed that’s going to be gone. Did you understand that?

James Greer (10:20):
They were asking Jesus Christ to increase our faith. And he was telling you better watch what you say. They said, you increase your faith by speaking the right words. He said, learn what you say. And what you say, if it comes from your heart, it increases your faith. You’ve got to have, your hearts got to be right and your mouths got to be right, and your faith is increased.

James Greer (11:21):
Romans 10:8-15 tells you how to do that. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. What comes out of your mouth is really what’s in your heart. That is the word of faith, which is priest. Now I want you heart in your mouth to be right where I can increase your faith. Like never before, because when your mouth and your faith is spoken, it’s unbelievable what God can do. And, and now I go, it says, that if you confess with your mouth and believe in a heart God raised him from the dead. You shall be what saved. Now I can tell you that word saved does mean, that’s how you go to heaven. If you’re in here today, and you’ve never done that, I pray that you would do that. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, that God raised Jesus from the dead, you can be saved. That’s why every time I pray with somebody and they want to accept Christ, I have them repeat the prayer that they believe Jesus Christ, because it says to confess it with their mouth. Amen? But that word also, not only will it get you to heaven, that same word says to heal to recover. It means to be made whole. To me made saved, it means to protect. And it means to strengthen. Okay.

James Greer (12:18):
Did you all hear Fred’s testimony? He has cancer. He’s had treatments. I pray God delivers him, but God will deliver him. He’ll deliver him here or he’ll take him home. But God is going to deliver him. He is saved and he is being saved. And so is Janet, so is Kenny and so is Miss Janice Riley. God is working with them. You see him working in them and God has saved them and God is saving them. Amen? That’s what it means. That’s what he’s talking about in that verse. Now for what the heart one believes unto righteousness. Like you’d never sin, but with the mouth, confession is made unto what? Salvation and to deliverance. Okay. All right.

James Greer (13:54):
So, how do we get faith? By hearing the word of God. Now we hear it by what you’re doing preaching. And we hear it by what we confess. Now, how can we have a faith? Great faith. So great that Jesus marveled at the faith. Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of faith? Amen? In Matthew 8:5-10. I think I just need to read through it first, if I can. And then we’ll come back. Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Centurion doesn’t even give his name, came to him, and he pleaded with him. Saying, Lord, my servant is laying at home paralyzed. Deathly tormented. He’s home. He’s sick. He’s being tormented. And Jesus said to him, I’m going to come and heal him. Stop. Now, if I had a sick person, alone at home and I said, Jesus, would you come here? He said, yes. I would be praising God. Jesus is coming to the house. Amen? Not this Centurion.

James Greer (14:38):
He answered and said, Lord, I’m not worthy that you should come under my roof. Now me, I would probably want Jesus under my roof. Matter of fact, I believe Jesus in the house today. Amen? But he said, you’re not worthy to come under my roof, but only speak 15 words. Only speak a word. Holy Moses, only speak a word and my servant would be healed. Gosh, isn’t that something. But he says, I’m a man under authority. In other words, he said, I’m a man under authority and over authority. You know, I got soldiers under me. If I say to this one, you go, guess what he does? He goes, I say, to another, you come. You know what? He comes. And to my servant, do this. Guess what? He does it. Then it goes on and says, when Jesus heard it. What’s the name of our message? Faith It. When Jesus did what he heard it, he marveled. And he said to those who followed, all those around him, see all those around him. Didn’t get it. All the disciples. Didn’t get it. All the children of Israel. Didn’t get it. Surely I say to you, I’ve not found such great faith, not even in Israel.

James Greer (15:42):
Let me give you a few insights that you’re not careful we miss. First of all, this Centurion was number one. Probably not in your outline, but I’d write it down. He was humble. He said, Jesus, you’re not worthy to come into my under my roof. Matthew 5:5 says, blessed are those who humble, they shall inherit the earth. He said, you’re not worthy to come into my house. Listen, you all ready? Thank God Jesus did not answer our prayers based on our worthiness, but His. That is so good. So many times. Yeah, clap Greg. That is good. You know what happened? Because the devil will say, hey, you’re not worthy enough for Jesus to work in your life. You’re not worthy enough for God to answer your prayers. You’re not worthy enough to do this, but Jesus answered the Centurions prayer based on the Centurions worthiness, he did it based on Jesus’ worthiness. I’m not worthy. because of me, I’m worthy because of him. Amen?

James Greer (17:12):
But this man was, he was humbled. You know, this man was probably well known. He was powerful. He had a lot of prestige. You know what you all, he wouldn’t worry about what everybody else thought anymore. He wasn’t worried about who saw him. He wasn’t worried about what he had to do. He just wanted his servant healed. Yet, we come to church. We’re worried about what people might think about us. What we might say, what we might do. I’ve had people say, I’m not going to get baptized because I don’t want people to see me. Picks the death barrel. It’s the beginning. They’re standing up for Jesus, but you don’t want anybody to see. True story, I’ve heard it several times. We have people come every Sunday and some of you are here right now. You have unbelievable problems in your life. You don’t want anybody to know. You don’t want me to know and you don’t want anybody else to know. Because you’re too prideful to let anybody know. I’ve had mates say, hey, don’t let the Preacher know that we have a problem. That’s not very humble. That’s prideful. So number one, he was humble.

James Greer (17:57):
Number two, he had great faith. He said, Jesus should just speak a word and he’ll be healed. I love this so much because it gave me a lot of freedom. Because if you’re not careful, the longer you’re a Christian, the more you study, you keep trying to build your faith up and you start thinking it’s you. If my faith was just better, if I just had more faith, if I just had the faith of grain of a mustard seed. If I just had the faith of a grain of a mustard seed in Jesus Christ, not me. This Centurions faith was not in himself, it was in Jesus. When you have great faith it’s not in you. Faith is in Jesus and who he is and what he can do and see that should grow your faith right now. The devil wants to blind us to that. He wants us to make us think it’s our faith and what we can do and how we can do it. But it’s not. If you have great faith, you’d learn that it’s in Jesus. This was a Gentile. He wasn’t even with the children of Israel. Yet he got it while everybody else missed it.

James Greer (19:08):
Number three, he understood authority. Like most never do. If you really read it, verse nine gets it for, I also am a man under authority. In other words, Jesus, you, what you don’t understand is what he was saying. He understood that Jesus had all authority and he said, I’m a man under authority.

James Greer (20:13):
I have soldiers under me. And I say to them, you go here and they go and you say, they come and they do this. And they do that. But you know what I said, after that, I love it. And he goes on to say that, verse 10, Jesus heard what? It, circle it. Okay. We’re going to faith it. But Jesus heard it. What did he hear? He heard that the Centurion understood authority like nobody else did. He understood that the Centurion understood that Jesus was the ultimate authority, not him, not the authorities over him. He had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people underneath his authority. He understood what it was like thousands of people in authority, but he understood it. What authority was, ultimately that Jesus is the ultimate authority. He’s the authority in heaven. He’s the authority on earth. He’s authority on who’s sick He’s authority on who’s well. Jesus has authority of this world still today. Amen. He got it. And Jesus marveled.

James Greer (21:12):
He’s authority on who’s well. Jesus has authority of this world still today. Amen. He got it. And Jesus marveled. That’s what Matthew 28:18 says, Jesus came. He spoken to them. He spoken to you. He said, all authority has been given me in heaven in earth. The Centurion got it. Most people in authority and under authority don’t understand what real authority is. Now, now, listen it tells us in Romans 13:1 it says, let every soul, how many? Part of them? Every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there’s really no authority, except from God. The authorities that exist or appointed by who God, if authorities don’t contradict or not contrary to what God says, we’re to obey the, what? The authorities over us.

New Speaker (22:33):
Right now in California, John MacArthur, he’s pretty good size preacher. And they decided to tell him not to have church anymore. John MacArthur said, I’ve been pastoring this church for 52 years. I’m going to have church. They said, we’re going to fine you for $20,000 and sue you. He said, I’m going to get lawyer and I’m going to sue you. And I believe that he said, I’m going to obey the authorities, unless they disobeyed God. Then I’m going to obey God. I think he’s right. He’s still having church. I believe that children have to understand that their parents are the authorities in their life. Not their best friends. Their parents are. Amen? I believe the pastor is the ultimate authority in the church. I believe that police are the ultimate authority unless they’re disobeying what God has for them to do. Amen?

James Greer (23:06):
I believe if you’re in the military that you have officers over you and they are your authorities. Amen? You don’t say I enlisted. I think I might do this, I might do that. Maybe not. I’m going to go home and talk to my mom and my dad and see if you’re in authority. No, they tell you to go. Here you go. Amen? They’re in authority. If you go to work tomorrow and you have an authority, you obey that authority because they’re over you. Amen? So act like it. Students, your teachers, the authority over you, principals authority over the teachers, the authority over them. See until you really understand authority and authority under authority. You’ll never have great faith. See this Gentile understood authority. He understood that Jesus Christ was the ultimate authority. And when we understand authority and live like God intended it only then do we grow in our authority. I don’t care what you believe. Ultimately, Jesus is in authority.

James Greer (23:56):
Fourth. He understood responsibility. When he said, he told them, you go, here you go there. And they go there and they do that. He said, I’m also under authority. He was saying, choose you, tell me to go here, go, there I’ll go there. He was telling Jesus, whatever you tell me to do, I’ll go do that. He was a responsible person. He was taking responsibility for the servant under him. And he was saying, will you today take responsibility what God would have you to do? If God called you to get saved, would you get saved today? Not Sunday. Amen. If God’s call you to stop doing something and start doing something, would you do it today, not some day. Amen?

James Greer (24:49):
Fifth, fifth, he believed in the power of the word of God. That’s the truth. He said, just say a word. My servant will be healed. I love it. That’s powerful. We’ve been learning the power word. God framed the world by his word. Here’s this Centurion, a Gentile. He said, Hey, you don’t need to come to my house, just speak a word and he’ll be healed. Did maybe there’s something going on in your life today and you need God just to speak a word to you. Let him do that.

New Speaker (25:28):
As I get ready to close, I’m going to kind of go over a summary of what I just told you. Number one, great humility. Would you really be willing to humble yourselves today? This morning I stopped worrying about what everybody else thinks and says and come to Jesus for whatever you need. Ask somebody to help you to pray for you. Maybe you really have a need. I’ll tell you what. Let’s just get real serious for a minute. I think most people start coming to church because they have a need. And I’m afraid a lot of people come to church that have a real need, but they don’t ever share the need. And what I want you to do today is write that need on that card, right? The real need, quit being so prideful. You’re worried about some, everybody grabbed a little card, pick it up, quit acting like you’re perfect because you’re not, I’m not, you’re not, nobody. You got problems. I got problems. We all got problems. You know, we do humble yourself. Say, God, this is where I need help. And you write it on there. And at the end of the service, we’re going to turn them in. Start asking God because see, I think God wants to answer your prayers. Because second is great faith. I want you to great faith to quit being in you. See you got a problem, but I want you to look at your problem now and say, I got great faith. My faith is no longer in me, my faith is in Jesus Christ. And there’s absolutely nothing too big, nothing too hard that Jesus can’t handle. I got my problem, but I’m giving it to Jesus.

James Greer (27:31):
I understand authority. If you’re in authority care for those under you. If you’re under authority, serve as unto the Lord, don’t talk about your authorities. Don’t gossip about them. Don’t complain. Be responsible, whatever you’re doing, be responsible to your boss and be responsible to your parents. Be responsible to God. Read his word. Do what he’s asking you to do. Believe in the power of God’s word. What word would you like for God to speak to you today? What word do you need to hear from him? If he said, Hey, God, I need a word from you today. You know what I believe? I believe God has a word for you. See, I don’t believe any of you are here by accident. I believe every one of you are here by divine appointment from God. I believe the same God that healed the Centurion servant wants to heal you. And yours might not be physically could be, might be spiritually, might be emotional. Might be financially. It might be marriage. And if you don’t write it down and if you don’t allow him, you go home with your pride and you keep living the way you’re living. That’s a choice you make. Stand, let me pray with you.

James Greer (29:53):
Father. You’re such an awesome God. I thank you for your message today. It didn’t come by accident. It came through the power and the presence of your Holy spirit in a powerful way. I pray for those align that they’d make a decision that let us know that type it in. Pray for those that are right here, pray. They would humble ourselves. Pray as Darryl makes his way up. They would follow through. If you can join the church. Today is the day to do that. If you’ve never really been biblically, publicly baptized the death, burial, resurrection. Today’s the day to make sure that you do that, next Sunday, we will do that. Those have been too prideful to share their needs. I pray today that if you share them, we will look at them and we will pray for them. We’ll get back with you. We’ll lift them up to God. We’ll find God’s word and we’ll let God’s word speak to it. Not us. We can’t do it, but God could speak a word into your problem and change your life. Whatever it is that you’d have God do for you. We pray that you let God have his will and his way it’s all in the precious name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said, Amen.

James Greer (30:49):
On behalf of Pastor James, we’re so glad that you joined us here today. If you still want someone to pray with you with people on standby right now that are wanting to pray with you and for you click the link below and someone will answer you. If you feel led right now to give to the ministries of journey church, all you have to do is a couple of things. You can go online. jcpineville.com. You can give that way you can text and give. You can also go to the app store and download our jcpineville app. And you can give through that app. Guys, we’re glad that you came. We’ll see you next Sunday.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.