Holy Shift to “The Holy Land”

James Greer: 00:00 Good morning Journey Church. Man, I’m telling you I miss you, but I had a wonderful time, and I’m so excited, I want to share some of it with you. But first I want to welcome the Alexandria campus, Amen. You see this pink shirt? I wish Darrell could see my pink shoes that I have on. Anyway, really the truth is he can’t see that. It’s one of the few color shoes I don’t have, but I got a ten and a half, I’m going to find me some.

James Greer: 00:28 But anyway, let’s talk about that Holy Shift to the Holy Land. where the truth is the Holy Shift really started in the Holy Land. In fact, we started a series a few weeks back, and we started out our first week, we started out talking about the shift in the power of God in Acts 1-8, and it said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall be my witnesses.” Man I got to see the place, where that took place, unbelievable. So there’s this new power that we have. We talked about the shift in boldness that we had in acts 4:13 and it said, That when they had seen the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were unlearned men.” With the boldness, they became so bold about Jesus. I saw somebody on Facebook this week. I said, have you been bold enough to invite somebody to church this week? Amen. So let’s be bold this week, Amen. And there was a shift in the boldness of how to handle problems. Because in Acts 4:29, it talked about, it said, “Grant your servants boldness, even when people were threatening.”

James Greer: 01:37 So can I tell you something? You got a problem, you’ve now got the power, Amen. See, I got a problem, I got the power, so there was this new boldness on how to handle problems. There was this unbelievable, boldness in prayer in Acts 4:30-31, it says, “They stretched out their hands and they healed, and there’s wonders, and there were signs and your servant.” But 31 said, “And they had prayed, and assembled together, it was shaken.” Man, wouldn’t you like to pray in such a way that the whole place was shaking? That your life is shaken, that your job is shaken, that your family is shaken, in such a way that they know that Jesus Christ is there, and you’re speaking in a bold way.

James Greer: 02:17 So we talked about a shift from the Holy Shift to the Holy Land. But something I thought about this morning, every time you walk onto this ground, it’s holy ground. And when I first started preaching, I used to think it was my job to try to make everybody happy. But it’s not my job to make everybody happy, but it is my job to bring a message every single Sunday that does not make you only happy maybe, but helps you to be more holy. And when I say holy, I mean I want you to be holy, so special to God, that you’re set apart and that God wants to use you like you’ve never been used before. Holiness means to be totally devoted, dedicated to God, where God can use you in a special way. Listen, I don’t want you to just be happy, I want you to be holy, Amen.

James Greer: 03:04 So let’s move, and I want you to see some of the things on this trip. But before I do that, I can’t forget what God’s doing during the holy shift. We’re in our fifth week now, and God, we’ve already had 69 new members, Amen. Baptized 29. That’s 5.8 people every single Sunday since we began, we’ve had 37 people commit their selves to Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve got 165 visitors, Amen. And total this year alone, we’ve already had 137 new members, forty two of those from the Alexandria campus, way to go Alexandria. Last Sunday they baptized three, and they had people join. We baptized 110 already this year, Amen. I’ve got these little stickers all over my office, and it says, let’s celebrate 100 baptism in the year 2015. In fact, I had a plaque made, and that was so exciting. I never want to forget where we came from, where we can’t enjoy where we’re at, and where we’re going. This year we’ve already baptized 110 and 20 something, 21 of those were from the Alexandria campus. See, why the numbers really matter anyway, the numbers matter because every number, we’re in the life changing business. Every number has a name. Every name has a story. Every story matters to God, and if every story matters to God, and every name matters to God, it should matter to Journey Church, Amen.

James Greer: 04:35 I loved going to the Holy Land. It was a great experience, to me it was a great journey. But what I want to do, is I want to share it with you. But we had this guide, his name was Boaz. Yeah. Have to think about saying that one. But anyway, his name was Boaz, and he was sharp. But sometimes we’d get real commercialized, and Boaz would say everybody, let’s stop for a minute. Y’all sit over there and close your eyes, and think about Jesus being in this very place, and let’s read this scripture that was happening where you sat. Wow, that was something. What I want you to do today, is I want you to imagine going on the journey.

James Greer: 05:17 If there anything that I want to do… I used to say that the last half of my life was going to be the best half, now I say the last quarter of my life is going to be the best. But I want to bring you with me on my journey, my spiritual journeys, my physical journeys, my traveling journeys, I want us to the journey together. So just imagine that that’s what we’re doing. Because see, I learned something there. I couldn’t wait to get there, but I learned that it’s not, the location, it is not the land, it’s not even learning that brings joy and happiness. And see, I want to learn, I want to go location, I want to see the land, but joy is a journey to seek in Jesus Christ. See, it’s when we seek Jesus, we learn that, hey, it’s not just the location, though it had to happen at that location because it had already been prophesied that it would. It’s not just the land, though the land was great. It was not just learning, see in the real time of the holy land they had some learning of Pharisees that were way smarter than any of us. They could quote the first five books of the Bible, I mean they had learned, but they didn’t have a relationship. See it was the love of Jesus Christ that made it, it was his love for me and you, it was his love for the father. In Mark 12:30 says that we should, “Love the Lord thy God with all our heart and all our soul and in all our minds and all our strength.” That’s the first one.

James Greer: 06:37 The second one is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So see, what I want you to know is if you’re not happy right now, you’re not going to be happy if you go there. If you’re not happy, probably on your job, you’re not going to be happy if you change jobs. Believe it or not, if you’re not happy in your marriage, just because you changed and get another marriage, you’re not going to be happy. I want somebody to learn to be happy where we’re at, Amen. Proverbs 8:17 puts it this way, I love this. God said, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” I am going to tell you, when you really love somebody, you do learn about them. I mean who and what we love we seek after. I mean see, joy is not a matter of where we live, it’s not a matter of where we’ve traveled, it’s not even a matter of what we have. It’s learning. you ready, it’s learning to find Jesus everywhere we go and whatever we do. The Bible says in verse 18, riches and honor are mine, God says, to give. Where do riches and honor come from? From God. They are his to give, so are wealth and lasting success. Now, riches and righteousness is great gain, but so often people seek riches believing that it’s going to bring what only the right relationships can bring. See if we have the right relationship with God, and we have the right relationship with others, we’ve got joy.

James Greer: 08:02 See, joy is a byproduct of seeking Jesus, and having a right relationship with him. But man, Jesus wanted a right relationship with me, he wanted a right relationship with you, but before that he wanted a right relationship with the Jews. He wanted it with Jerusalem so bad, that we actually stood where he [inaudible] up, and he looked out there and he said he wept. The reason that he wept, he wept because he wanted a relationship with them. And I want you to know if you’re here today, Jesus wants a relationship with you. In Luke 19:41, it says, now as he Jesus, he drew near to Jerusalem, he saw the city. And he did what? He wept over it. Next verse says this, if you had known. Journey Church, if you had known, even you, especially in your day. Today is the day for you, the things that make for your peace. Jesus said, Jerusalem, if you’d have just known, if you’d have just known the way to have peace. And Journey Church, if you just listen, today could be the day that you have peace, but now they’re hidden from your eyes.

James Greer: 09:10 See, the Jews, to some extent, are blinded to what Jesus did for them. But the days are going to come upon you when your enemies will build embankments around you, surround you, and close you in on every side. Can I tell you two things about that? Number one, the rejection of Jesus Christ always has a consequence. When Jesus calls you to do something today, and you don’t do it, there’ll be consequences for your sin. There are consequences for not being obedient. But you know what else I learned more than anything else? What he said right there, I never knew, when Jesus got to Jerusalem it’s already happened. They’re surrounded on every side, there’s embankments, there’s enemies, they want to destroy them. Let me read you Luke 19:42 in the amplified version, and the reason I do this is when you read the amplified version, it’s almost like having a commentary. It says, Oh, you that you had known personally, even at least in these your days, the things that make for peace. When he stated the things that make for peace, he says, you know, for freedom from the distress that you’re living in, that’s experienced as a result of your sin. He said, Jesus was crying. He said, man, I want you to know the results of your sin, is you’re going to live a life that is unbelievably stressed out. He said, that’s not what I had for you. I wanted you to have peace. I want you to have security, I want you to have safety, I want you to have prosperity. I want you to have happiness, and it depends upon the right relationship with Jesus Christ.

James Greer: 10:43 Can I show you a picture of us standing on the hill of Jerusalem? And my wife is standing there, and she has her hand out, and she’s looking at Jerusalem, and isn’t it beautiful? I mean, my wife, I’m talking about. But Jerusalem, but what you can do now is, you see the Golden Dome in the background. The golden dome, it was beautiful to look at, but really see that’s a Muslim mosque. It was built over the original temple, and what I want you to know, see, God said there’s consequences for our sins. Jesus said, I wanted our people to be there, I wanted you to worship me freely there. But because you would not accept me, because you rejected me, I still protect you, I still love you, but you’re missing out on the very best thing I have for you.

James Greer: 11:27 We started walking man, this is just overwhelming you know? And walk down the hill, and you could see the city, and talked about him approaching. We saw a church, and it was called the Church of Tears. It was a building and it had tear drops on it, and it was a reminder that, that’s where Jesus wept. That he wept over Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is a type of those people that he loved so much, and he loves me and you. That’s the type of the people that me and you should love, because today the church is the people. And when is the last thing that you wept over somebody that you loved or when is the last time you wept over sin? When is the last time you realized that because of their sin, they lacked peace and security and safety and prosperity, and they’re missing happiness and they wept because Jesus said, I want a relationship with you so bad, and that he still does. See Jesus knows really that prosperity, and peace, and freedom from distress, and happiness is only a result of having the right relationship with him, and it was then and it is now. Now listen, we’re standing there, this is true. I mean, we’re just standing there, and it wasn’t long and we started walking down the hill, and we came to the Garden of Gethsemane, and at the Garden of Gethsemane he showed us picture of an olive tree. Said, you know, “That olive tree’s been there 2000 years.” He says, “It’s not only been two thousand years. He said, “Do you know right over here is probably where Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane?”

James Greer: 12:59 I said, “Oh wow.”

James Greer: 12:59 He said, “Do you want to go over there?”

James Greer: 13:00 I said, “Man, do I want to go over there?”

James Greer: 13:02 He said, “Well, let’s go over there.” We got there and he said, “Do you want to read?”

James Greer: 13:06 I said, “Man, do I want to read?” I was a little nervous. You’re almost overwhelmed, but I want to read where I was at the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:37. if we have it. Do we have the video there where I read it and said, when Jesus came to them and called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, sit here for a while I go and pray. And he went with Peter, and he the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and, he was deeply in distress. And he said, my soul exceedingly sorrowful. Well, I’m sitting there standing in the Garden of Gethsemane getting to read this. I mean it is unbelievable. And he says, stay here and watch with me, and he went a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, He said father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Well still, you’re just reading it, you can’t even comprehend what’s going on in your life. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. They slept with Peter and he said, what could you not even watch, he said, watch and pray. Lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He said it a second time and he said, Father, this cup can pass from me, but nevertheless your will be done. Later on he went and he found them asleep again. He said a third time, and he did it again and he went back to them and he said, okay, sleep. But then he said, verse 46, he says, arise and let us be going. The betrayer is at hand.

James Greer: 14:40 Well, at that time we had stopped reading, but I went home and I started reading, and after that verse 47, it says, “And while he was still speaking, behold Judas, one of the 12 with a great multitudes of swords and clubs and came with this chief priests and the elders with the people.” So guess what? Now his betrayer had given him a sign, saying, whoever I kiss, he is the one, seize him. And immediately he went up to Jesus and said, greetings, rabbi. And he did what? He kissed him.

James Greer: 15:22 I’m not going to do a whole message on the Garden of Gethsemane right now, because I am during Easter. But I do want to share some insights that I learned, that I’d never seen it before. Sometimes doing God’s will, it’s the hardest thing we’ll ever do in our life. I never saw it that way. It’s the easiest thing, it is the best. Now it is the best thing, but it’s not the easiest thing. Jesus said can this cup pass from me. I got up this morning. I was talking about the cup passing. Do you know, it’s the only time that I know that Jesus prayed, and while he was on earth that God, the father, didn’t answer the prayer. And see, we have times that we don’t understand. We feel like we’re pouring out our hearts, and we’re praying to God, and we feel like he doesn’t answer. But say God really did answer it, he just didn’t answer it at that time, the way Jesus in the flesh wanted, because God had a bigger picture than that. So sometimes you make a choice to do God’s will, it may be the hardest thing you ever do, But doing God’s will brings the greatest rewards, and the greatest blessings, but sometimes it’s not on earth, it is in Heaven. I’m so thankful that God didn’t allow Jesus’s prayer to be answered at that time. Because God was looking at it in a perspective of heaven, and Jesus, when he got in Heaven, I’m sure he rejoiced with the father, and he said, I’m so glad that you didn’t answer my prayer. And I’m going to tell you when we get to heaven, there’s going to be all these prayers that we’re going to be thinking. God, thank God that you didn’t answer, because we didn’t know the heavenly impact that it had. I mean, what if he had answered his prayer? We wouldn’t had the death, burial and resurrection. We wouldn’t have the power of God upon our lives. We wouldn’t have the strength and security that we have, and we wouldn’t have assurance of going to heaven, but we do. When we’re living on earth though. We’ve got to remember, Hebrews 13:14 said, “This is not our home. I’m just visiting down here.” Now when I get to heaven, I hope I get to come back and visit Journey Church. But that’s not my home, I’m looking forward to my home that’s in heaven, that will last forever.

James Greer: 17:33 When making decisions, we need to base our decisions based on heaven, not just what we see here on earth. It is also said, there’s no greater hurt than being betrayed by somebody that you love. I mean, Jesus had just been in the upper room with the disciples. Now he’s at the Garden of Gethsemane. He was with the people that he loved the most. He was with people that he poured out his life too. He was with the people that we’re going to take the ministry, and yet you see where Judas speaking with the 12 and the multitudes, he said, whoever I kiss, he is the one. Can I tell you something if Jesus was betrayed by somebody that loved him? You will be too. Fifth, remember this, we’re most like Christ when we forgive those people who had betrayed us and hurt us the most. I mean in Luke 23:34, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And he was talking about the people that put him on the cross, he was talking about me and you. I don’t think Judas fully understood the results, the consequences of his sin.

James Greer: 18:36 So now here we are, we’re at the top and we see the dome, and we see Jerusalem. We see Jesus wept over it, and Jesus loves you, and how bad he wants a relationship with you. We walked down to the Garden Gethsemane, and we talked about what Jesus prayed to the father, and the father didn’t answer him. He said the blood sweat drops fell off of him, it’s agony. And then we almost walked past this, we got out of there because man, I was just basking in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we’re walking down, and he said, you know, before we get to town, and I won’t show you something. He says, the field of blood. He said, y’all just look over there. So we almost walked past it, and one of them said, man, that’s a message on greed. I said, well, let’s go back there a minute. We look and we took a picture. I don’t know if we have that picture or not, it’s called the field of blood. If we do, it needs to be there now. But anyway, it says this in Matthew 26:14, it says, “One of the twelve called Judas Iscariot, he went to the chiefs and he said this, what are you going to give me to deliver Jesus to you? And they counted out 30 pieces of silver and from that time on Judas, he looked for an opportunity to betray him.” But see, he got what he thought he wanted, Judas did. So many people, they think if I could have more money, if I could just have more success, if hat person would just do what I wanted them to do, then I’d be happy.

James Greer: 20:03 And so Judas sold out, and people sell out all the time. And then in Matthew 27:3, it said, and Judas, his betrayer, saw that he had been condemned, he was remorseful. You know what I said, too bad he didn’t repent. He was remorseful, he was sorry that he didn’t get the results that he wanted. He was even sorry what happened to Jesus, but if you read the story, he went back and tried to give the silver to the people that he got it from. Boy wouldn’t have been a different story if Judas said, man, I betrayed you, you’re stuck on the cross, but I shouldn’t have done it. Jesus, would you forgive me? I’m sorry. Did you know that Jesus would have forgiven him? But he brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. So many times what we are, is we’re sorry that we got in trouble. We’re sorry for the results, but we’re not sorry for our sins. Verse 4, is saying, “I have sinned. I betrayed innocent blood, and they said, what does that have to do with us?” You see to it. Listen to this, then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple, and he departed and he went and he did what to himself? Hanged himself. Sometimes silver and gold is not going to really give you what you think, Amen. But the chief priests took the silver and gold, and said, It is not lawful for us to put it into the treasury. Oh no, it’s lawful to pay somebody to kill somebody, but it’s not lawful for us to do that, because they are a price of blood. Now look what they did with it. And they consulted together, and bought with them a potter’s field to bury strangers. And guess what they called it? Therefore that field has been call the field of blood to this day.

James Greer: 22:05 Wow. I mean, so we’re walking by, and they said that’s the field of blood. I couldn’t even comprehend it, but when I got home, I started thinking and go, silver and gold won’t bring the results that we think we will often times. You can’t put riches before relationship, or it’ll bring ruin or destruction into your life. Do you see, what he thought, that he could have silver, he thought he could have riches. But what he needed was a relationship, and I see marriages, I see families, I see churches, I see businesses say, if I just had more riches, I’d be happy. No if you had a better relationship with Jesus Christ you’d be happy. And because of that, people are making all kinds of crazy decisions. And First Timothy 3:9 says this, “But those who crave to be rich, they fall into all kinds of temptation and snares, and many foolish things, and useless and godless and hurtful desires. They plunge men into ruin, and destruction, and misery, and [inaudible]. See what I saying, it’s not the money, it’s the love for the money. It’s the craving to be rich, it is the trying to get your way it. Listen, listen, I’m not going to preach on gambling, but I’m going to tell you, if think you can gamble and get rich, you’re wrong.

James Greer: 23:17 Me and my wife, we got married, we didn’t have a honeymoon. I went and married at the justice of the peace. I mean I got married at the justice of the peace. Back then you had to give blood, I almost fainted, and then I worked my way back home. But it wasn’t long, man, I won a trip. I said, hey baby, this could be our honeymoon. Then we went to Las Vegas at the MGM, and I mean country comes to city. I walk in, I’m taking pictures, I said, whoa. A person stopped me. They said, you can’t do that. I said, man, but this is fantastic, I’m in Las Vegas, and I want to win a lot of money. And my wife, she said, you’ve got to slow down. I said, oh honey, you go to bed, I got this. Well, back then I didn’t even have enough credit to get a credit card, so I brought x number of dollars cash and I wanted to rent a car so we’d rent a car. Thank God we had to put up a deposit, the next morning she came down, I lost all her money. That is a bad way to start a honeymoon. I didn’t even want to tell her. I thank God though that we had put a deposit on the car. And I learned that guess what? Riches isn’t going to make me happy, and trying to get rich too fast, the wrong way, is going bring misery.

James Greer: 24:37 I’m not preaching against gambling, I’m preaching against letting gambling control you, instead of you controlling gambling. There’s some people that go to the casino, man, they can watch the movie, and spend $20, and go home. Praise God. There’s some people that are crazy like me and think you’re going to really win, that is called stupid. I mean you think they put on all these shows, and build all these great things, because you lose? What I’m trying to tell you is don’t let something else control you, don’t make crazy decisions. How many people here today have jobs just because of what they think they can make in the money? There’s nothing wrong with making money, as long as you tithe with the money. And there is nothing wrong with getting promotions. But if it takes away from the Lord, and takes away from your family, what I’m telling you is this, riches without relationships, are you ready? They will bring ruin and destruction to your life.

James Greer: 25:29 Second, betrayal, are you ready? Betrayal always hurts the person doing the betraying the most. See when I read that, I thought, man, he hurt Jesus so bad with what he did. He caused Jesus to be put on the cross, but he did. But the truth about Jesus, they couldn’t kill Jesus. They killed him, put him in the tomb, and he rose again, Amen. See what started out to be the greatest betrayal in the world, ended up being the greatest blessing for me and you. And Judas, he went out and hung himself. You see what I’m saying? To the people that betray you, and it hurts, and it should. But it hurts them worse than it hurts me, and worse than it hurts you, so we got to learn to forgive those people. We got to forgive them where God can use us. We’ve got to forgive those people who lied to us, who cheated about, who talked about, that betrayed us, because really what you’ll learn if you’re careful, if you’ll watch it from beginning to end, you’ll actually feel sorry for them. I can remember the lady that embezzlement hundreds of thousands of dollars from our company, and we lost everything we had. And when we found out where she’d lost it, she’d lost it gambling. They said down in Marshfield, they said they had a big picture of her in the casino, big deal. I saw her about five years ago, looked horrible, and she died early death, big deal. I would much rather have what I had, then have what she got. See what I want to tell you is people are going to lie about you, people are going to hurt you, people are going to betray you, forgive them before they ask. Some people will never ask, it hurts them a lot worse than ever hurts you.

James Greer: 27:10 So let me give you some closing insights. Jesus loves you, and he wants to make peace with you. Don’t allow sin and rejection, to rob, your peace, your security, your safety, your prosperity, your happiness and joy. If you’re here today, and you don’t have this peace and this joy, I’m going to give the invitation in a minute. And Jesus said, hey, that’s what I was weeping about, I wept over Jerusalem because that’s what I wanted for them. Later on he said, I went to the cross because that’s what I want for you. He said, I want you to feel secure in who you are, I want you to feel safety, I want you to have peace, and I want you to have joy. Maybe you have a loved one, that it’s been a long time that you know that they don’t have this peace, and this joy, and this happiness, this security. Maybe you need to come today, and come to the altar, maybe you need to weep for them. Maybe there’s a sin, there’s consequences for the sin, but today you want to come and weep over that sin and ask God to forgive you. Third, maybe you’ve been betrayed, or maybe you’re the betrayer. If you’ve been betrayed, forgive them today, because I actually feel sorry for them, it is worse on them. I know it hurts us, but in the long run, when we take care of it the right way, we handle it the right way, no matter how bad it is, God can turn into a blessing just like he did with Jesus. Maybe you were the betrayer, maybe you were the Judas, and maybe your sorry, but maybe you haven’t got things right with Jesus Christ. Maybe you’ve allowed the guilt and the shame to destroy other relationships. And today Jesus said, hey man, I came to die for people like you, would you come and just confess it and then forsake it, let me give you a new freedom, and a new peace, a new security, and a new hope, and a new joy. Maybe yours has been silver and gold, or money, and it’s bringing destruction because of your job, you’re putting your job over your relationship. Now, I think you should work, and I think you should work hard, but I don’t think anything should come over with your relationship with Christ. I don’t think anything should come over your relationship with your mate and your kids. And so how do you know? How do you know? On your job, are you influencing people for Christ, in your school, in your hobbies? See are you just there for the money, are you just there for the silver, are you just there for the gold? Are you there for the God given purpose that God has given you? To make a difference, to further his kingdom? See, I don’t know what’s going on in your life. I know one thing, there’s absolutely nothing too bad that you’ve done, that God can’t give you peace. There’s nothing too hard, that he can’t give you a new start.

James Greer: 30:18 So if you stand, let me pray with you, and pray for you. God, you’re such a great God. I thank you for this wonderful opportunity that I had, but God, I know it’s just not a land, it’s not a place. I know my joy and my happiness has come from a person, and I know that person is you. God I pray for those here today that may not know you, and they want to come today, they said, I got to have this peace, I got to have this security. See it doesn’t matter what was going on in the world, it’s are you focused on Christ? Maybe God’s calling you to join the church. maybe he’s called you to follow through in public baptism, or maybe he’s called you to forgive somebody, maybe he’s called you to forgive yourself. Whatever God’s called you to do, man, I pray this morning, that you’d let him have his will and his way in your life. It’s in Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.