James Greer: 00:00 You see what happened, really, KP felt rejected and uh, what he did was he felt rejected of course from his wife and one of the first things he did is tried to find something to comfort that rejection, whether it was pills or drinking. Uh, of course, he found out that it was only as he turned to Christ, that he found the peace that he was looking for. Everybody struggles with rejection some. I’ll never get ready to preach a message that I’m not saying, Oh God, I don’t know. Am I ready enough? Are the people going to be as receptive enough? So everybody does that. But we got to learn that, uh, to be really careful about rejection. Do you know that I’ll teach (and I’ll teach you today) that where Jesus was born, that the people that knew him the best rejected him the most? And do you understand because they rejected him, it caused them to miss out on the miracles and power of God.

James Greer: 00:57 Because see (listen to me real quick), you see what you’re looking for. In other words, when you come to church, you’re going to see what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for God to do an awesome work in your life, or if you’re looking for God to speak to you in your life, God will do that. But if you’re not looking for that, it probably won’t happen. See because when Jesus went to his hotel they weren’t looking for that. We’re going to talk about that later, but what I want to talk about is Journey Church first. I mean, do you understand just the last few weeks we had a kids camp? They had 30 kids go to camp and five kids got saved. Amen? Do you understand this weekend, this Saturday started VBS and it ought to be an awesome move of God? Do you understand the very next week our youth had 52 kids go to youth camp and five got saved?

James Greer: 01:41 Say, do you understand that we have seven more youth that went to CLEAR which is a leadership camp and four of them got baptized? Do you understand today at the third service, we’re going to baptize between five and six people? Do you see that God is doing a great movement of God here? Amen? But if you’re not careful, you’ll miss what God’s doing.

James Greer: 01:59 So I want us to learn to raise the bar on rejection today. See the enemy always wants rejection to be twisted around and turned to irritation. You know when I’m rejected, you’re rejected. If you’re not careful, it brings irritation. God wants to take rejection and turn it into redirection, and sometimes the redirection is a new path. Sometimes He wants to take our rejection and turned in to a redirection to Him. Your rejection is not a projection of failure in the future. Rejection means to refuse to grant a person that recognition or acceptance that they deserve. See, when you really feel rejection, you feel worthless and you know that it has to come from the devil because you know that wouldn’t come from God. God thought you had such great worth, He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to prove that He loved you and approve your worth. So when you feel worthless, that does not come from God.

James Greer: 02:56 Some people feel rejected from their parents and some people have been abandoned by their parents. I know many, many, many in our church that have been abandoned and feel rejected. And then if you’re not careful, you don’t know the right way to deal with rejection, so you bring it into the next marriage and the next relationship and the next thing something comes up and you say oh they rejected me.

James Greer: 03:20 David in the Bible, he was rejected by his parents. He was rejected by his brother. He was rejected by his wife. He was rejected by his sons and yet David was the one that killed Goliath. David was the one that the Bible said he had a heart for God. David said in Psalm 27:10, when my mother and my father forsake me (when my mother and my Daddy, they reject me), then the Lord, He’s going to take me up. So you got to learn when you feel rejected, there is somebody that will never reject you and that person is Jesus Christ.

James Greer: 03:51 Sometimes kids feel rejected because of school. I hated those days. I don’t miss those days. I can remember I lived in one part of town and they were going to bus me to another part of town and I came home and I said, “Mother, they all have brand new cars.”

James Greer: 03:51 She asked, “Everybody?”

James Greer: 03:51 I said, “Oh yeah.”

James Greer: 04:10 They all did. That’s too bad, but I felt that. I felt that I was almost rejected because of where I went because I was trying to get my acceptance by what I drove or what I look like or what I acted like or who I was a part of. And those are just terrible times because you feel rejected. Do you know not only the kids feel rejected? Do you know some parents feel rejected from their kids? They say, man, I love my kids. I’ve lived my life for my kids and now they reject me.

James Greer: 04:45 KP, that’s one reason you did what you almost did. You felt rejected. Even when KP first started coming to church, he struggled. He did. He struggled with rejection. He struggled with rejection from his ex. He struggled with rejection from himself, and it’s so great that I get to see the changes. You still struggle. I struggle. You struggle. We all struggle, but to see where you’ve come from and to where you are, praise God. Only God could do that in your life. Amen?

James Greer: 05:24 I want to start getting into the message of raising the bar on rejection, but I’m gonna stop for just a second. I want to pray for a Paco. Paco and Jessica, they usually sit right there. They serve every single Sunday. He’s outside and she sits on the front row when you come to the front. His brother was killed this weekend driving home from work and so I want to pray for him. Terry Driggers. Most of y’all know Terry Driggers, you know his mother just passed away about an hour ago. So I want to stop and pray for them, and then we’re going to get into rejection. Okay? Father, you’re a great, great God. I especially pray for Paco and his family and I pray for the Driggers, family, God, that you would comfort them as only you can do. God, I pray that our hearts would be receptive this morning. That could take the rejection that comes from others and turn it in to a new redirection, and you would bless us in a great and mighty way. In Jesus name, Amen.

James Greer: 06:06 Okay. Number one thing you’ve got to learn is this. The root all rejection is misplaced identity. If you don’t get this, you’ll never get the rest of it. So the root of all rejection is misplaced identity. Whether that’s you feeling rejected, or if that’s you trying to reject other people. Because you would never reject other people. You’d never make fun of other people. You never talked about the people. You never look at them the way you did. If you didn’t misplace your own identity, because when you see other people, you say, Hey man, Christ made them that way. Christ did that. They are God’s son. But see, then when you make fun of other people or you feel like you’re rejected, or if you feel like you can only be happy, if you feel like you can only be accepted, only my mom would accept me, my dad, my pastor, my wife, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, or whatever it is.

James Greer: 06:52 See, that’s misplaced identity because until you learn to find your identity in Christ, you’ll always struggle with rejection. Luke 10:16 puts it this way. He who hears you, hears me (talking about Jesus Christ about me and you.) If you’re a Christian, he who rejects you rejects me. So if you’re a Christian, Jesus was talking to a Christian, He said, if they reject you, they reject to me. In other words, Christ. And he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. But you know, after Jesus , but you know after Jesus preached about the rejection and he was saying, listen, when you get rejected, if you’re doing what you’re supposed to, if you’re a child of God, they’re really not rejecting you. They’re rejecting me. And so Jesus tells them that. Now Jesus said, okay now after you’re learning about rejection, I’m going to send you out to do the ministry. Verse 17 – and then the 70 (or Journey Church), you returned with joy. You returned from going out and doing what God called you to do.

James Greer: 07:51 Many times when they were out there, they were rejected, but yet even after their rejection, they returned with joy, and said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Man, there is power in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen? Even the demons shake. Even the demons have to obey it.

James Greer: 08:09 But see, back in Luke 10:5 (and we’ll get to it later), whenever you enter into a home, Jesus told them before they got there, He said give them your blessings. You know if it is worthy of the blessing, the blessing will stand, and if not the blessing is going to return to you. In other words, Jesus was teaching them even from the beginning and He’ll teach them later is (listen), you don’t have to worry about giving your joy away. You don’t want to worry about anybody stealing your peace because when they reject you, they reject me and I’ll give you the peace that you need during rejection.

James Greer: 08:38 Second, learn, learn to allow rejection to lead to a new power and protection. He said, they reject me, they reject you. He said, don’t worry about it. He gave them a new power. He gave him a new protection because their power and protection comes from God, not from a person. As long as you’re trying to get your self-worth from somebody else, you’ll never enjoy the power and protection of God. God said, I sent the 70 out. The devil’s even trembling. The devil was subject to them. Why? Because, had they been rejected? Sure they had, but they learned to handle rejection. So now they have this new power, new protection, because it no longer comes from people, but it comes from God. Verse 18 says, and He said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Man, in other words, man we got to see the power of God working in a great and mighty way. And it says, verse 19, it goes on. It says, behold I gave you. That’s us y’all. Jesus said, now I’ll give you, once you become a Christian, once you become in power of the Holy Spirit.

James Greer: 09:42 Matthew 8:28 also. He said, “I give you authority to trample over serpents, scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

James Greer: 09:52 You can actually allow (listen to me), you can actually allow to learn that rejection doesn’t hurt you. It can help you. It doesn’t hurt you, it can help you because you quit looking at other people for your acceptance and you look to God. So, don’t let it hurt you. Let it help you.

James Greer: 10:04 Third, let me tell you, this is so, so important. Learning to handle rejection Biblically can lead to a double portion of peace. Boy that is strange, isn’t it? Because I’m going to tell you, everybody is going to struggle with this. What’s going to happen is you’re going to have a time in your life and you have a confrontation with somebody you love. It can be your mate, it can be your friend. It could be your ex or your [inaudible], or your wife right now and you’re married or work or whatever it is. And what you want to do is you want to have peace, but they reject your peace. Look what God says in His word.

James Greer: 10:40 At Luke 10:5 it says, when you enter into a house, when you go trying to have peace say first peace to this house. In other words, I came to bring peace. If anyone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them. And if not, it will what? Return. What will happen if you go in peace and they reject you, they don’t accept you? God’s word says, hey that peace is going to then return unto you. Do you know why that’s so important? God said, listen, I gave you some peace. I want you to be a peacemaker. Now God convicts you and you’re saying, okay man, man, I really have a problem with my child, my mate. I don’t know who it is. Somebody in the previous and God’s convicted me. Now I want to go to their house and I want to that house and I’m going to go in peace. And man, if they receive me in peace praise God. Amen? They get peace. I get peace. We celebrate together. But if they reject me, God says, I’m not rejecting you. You did what I told you. Now you got the peace that I gave you to bring to them, and you get the peace that they would have had comes back to you. to you. So, the truth of handling rejection the right way , so on the truth of handling, rejects it in the right way, you can have a double amount of peace that you’ve ever had in your life.

James Greer: 11:49 So, yes it matters. Listen. It matters how you that you’re a peacemaker and it matters if you received those trying to make peace with you. It’s a big deal. The truth is nobody can rob or take your peace. You can give it away, but if you learn to handle it Biblically, nobody can have it.

James Greer: 12:10 Matthew 5:9 says blessed, happy. The amplified version says happy and a life of joy regardless of your circumstances are the peacemakers, so they shall be called the sons of God. God said, yeah, it does matter if you have peace, but He said what I’m telling you is you be the peacemaker. You cannot control what other people do when you try to make peace with them. Amen?

James Greer: 12:30 Isaiah 9:6 puts it this way. It says, for until your child is born (that’s Jesus Christ); unto you a son is given (that’s for us); the government shall rest upon His shoulder that’s coming soon, but his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and Prince of peace. That’s what I’m saying. He is the prince of peace and when you’re trying to bring peace and you’re rejected, they’re not rejecting you. They’re rejecting the very prince of peace, which God wanted you to have peace and wanted them to have peace. But they rejected you. You get a double portion of peace.

James Greer: 12:59 Fourth, rejection, rejection can actually bring protection. Proverbs 29:25. I won’t share it to you, but I can remember right now the very day that I learned that first and I had to apply it. I was confronted by somebody that was pretty powerful and influential and they said, you’re going to make this decision or blankety blank. And the decision was pretty well, you’re going to do what I tell you, go where I tell you, or we won’t be together anymore. It wasn’t a mate. It was an employer, and I remember going home and said, man, did I fear them more than I fear God? And is God there to protect me or what is this? I’m going to say the fear of man brings a snare. If I give into that, it’s going to be an entrapment. It’s going to be a hook. But whoever trusts in the Lord, they’re going to be safe. It doesn’t mean you won’t suffer. It means you’ll have peace and safety in the suffering.

James Greer: 14:04 Another translation puts it this way. And the message said, the fear of human opinion disables you. In other words, when you get your identity from something or somebody other than Christ, then you become susceptible and vulnerable to being damaged by rejection. See way too many people have gotten their identity from their parents, from their teachers, from their friends, and then what they do is they get that as a child and they never get rid of it as an adult. So if they’re not careful, people are always offending them. You get within this and say I can’t believe so and so looked at me that way. I can’t believe they didn’t speak to me that way. Or, they’re always bringing it into the current relationships because they’ve been trying to get their identity from somebody or something other than God. So listen, they become not only susceptible and vulnerable for rejection, but for the devil to use what God meant for good, to bring it to harm in your life.

James Greer: 15:19 The key to overcoming the rejection is very easy. You get to the point, you solve who you are. You solve your own identity. It’s the greatest thing in the world. When you can come to Journey Church and I could just be me? It’s fantastic. Now I know nobody else wants to be me and nobody else in the church wants to be me. I don’t want to go anywhere. Can you imagine me going to another church and slipping up and cussing? Y’all notice I haven’t cussed in three weeks. Y’all been praying for me. [Unintelligible] said guard oh Lord before my mouth. I came home and my son one time he was sitting there and he calls me. He never does that . He said, “Dad I was in church with you, and I can’t believe you said that.”

James Greer: 15:55 I said, “I don’t even know what I said.”

James Greer: 15:58 He said, “Dad you don’t even talk like that.

James Greer: 15:59 I still say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

James Greer: 15:59 He said, “You said SOB at church.”

James Greer: 15:59 I said, “No I didn’t.”

James Greer: 15:59 He said, “Yes you did.”

James Greer: 16:07 He usually doesn’t take notes, but he did that day. So what I’m telling you, that’s not good. We shouldn’t. We shouldn’t glorify cussing by any means, but what we can do is thank God I can come to church and just be who I am. I thank God you come to church and be who you are. I thank God we can come to church and just accept each other. Amen? That’s a great thing.

James Greer: 16:33 Psalm said at 118:8, it says it’s better to trust in what? The Lord, than be dependent on people. Man when you learn that it’s better trust in what God says, it’s better to trust in God’s word then depend upon people. See if you continue to be upset with people and you continue to feel like they’re rejecting you, it’s because you’re trying to depend on them and you’re not trusting God.

James Greer: 16:50 You know God summed it up. He said why you shouldn’t do that in Psalm 139:13. See, some of y’all are going to be set free today. Some of y’all if you’ll be honest, you know today that you’re allowing rejection to destroy your future. Some of you know you’ve really been over reacting to what people say and do to you, and today you’re going to learn a truth that if you will allow it. See, it’s what you’re looking for. Are you looking for God to set you free? Are you looking for God to do something in life? Or you just came and you’re just looking?

James Greer: 17:25 The Psalmist at 139:13 says, for you formed my inner parts,(talking about God) you covered me in my mother’s womb. Did God know you before you were born? Yes or no? Amen! Yes or no? Yes. Then he says, because of that, I’m going to praise you for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. I think sometimes what you need to do is take that part of the verse and put it on your mirror and get up every morning and say, “Praise God. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Way too many people don’t like the way they look, the way they act, and all they want to do is wish they were somebody else. My goodness gracious. I thank God I am who I am. Amen? You need to also. Marvelous are your works so that my soul knoweth very well.

James Greer: 18:06 Uh, 14. My frame was not hid from you. I love that part. My what? My frame. Now what the frame means, yeah I know what the frame means. Yeah. It says my built my building. I am sorry everybody can’t be built like me. Praise God. Amen. And all the church said Amen. And so are you. But, you know, I don’t look in the mirror and say, oh my God, I can’t believe you did that to me Jesus. Sometimes I’ll look in the mirror and say, oh God I can’t believe I’m that old. But I don’t get in the mirror and say, oh man, I can’t believe this. If you don’t like it, do something about it. But I could go to work, I could eat certain ways. I’m still gonna look about like I look. It’s just a blessing and a curse, all depends on who it is. But listen, He did that, and my frame wasn’t hidden from God. I don’t look this way by accident. You don’t look the way by accident. When I was made in secret and you skillfully want me in the lower parts of the earth, God said, listen, I did that. I’m made you that way. I created you that way. It says, in your eyes they saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book they were written down. Listen, the days fashioned for me, when as there was none of them, how precious, oh, how precious also are your thoughts for me. O God. How great is the sum of them? Do you understand? God says, listen. God is unbelievable. He said, God, I thank you for the way you shaped me physically, mentally and emotionally, and thank God for the future plans you have for me. You want to hear from God? God formed you. God created you. God loves you, and God has a plan for you. Accept who you are.

James Greer: 20:09 Second, how to go from rejection to redirection, okay? From from rejection to redirection, and then you can be released. We’ve got to rock and roll. Because see, until you overcome rejection and you allow it to redirect you, you’re never really released to be used by God. Until you go from rejection to redirection directed by God, you’re really not where you should be in your home, in your family, in your marriage, as a mom, as a dad. Because see you’re not letting rejection redirect you.

James Greer: 20:46 Mark 6:1 says, and when He (they’re talking about Jesus) went from there, He came to His own country and His disciples followed him. That’s good because that’s what disciples do. They follow Him. They follow Jesus. And when the Sabbath had come, you know, He began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing Him, they were astonished. What were they? They were, what? They were astonished what happened and they’re saying where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which has given Him? And what such mighty works has He performed by his hand? Man, they said, Jesus, man, you are just astonishing us with this wisdom and these mighty works.

James Greer: 21:23 I hope and pray when you come to Journey Church, that you’re receptive to being astonished by God. I really do, because that’s what God wants to do. He wants you to come to work. He wants you to see the mighty hand of God. He wants you to see the wisdom. He wants you to know, hey, 30 kids went and had 12, got saved or are 50 went and five got saved or 7 went and 4 got saved. I mean that’s an astonishing movement of God.

James Greer: 21:47 But then they said in verse three (listen to this), they is that just the carpenter’s son of Mary? Is that not just brother James preaching? I know him. He cusses every now and then. He doesn’t read very well. He didn’t have a very good education. I know him.

James Greer: 22:12 The reason they said we know that’s the carpenter’s son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon and His sisters were there also. You know why they said that? They said hey, isn’t that the son of Mary? You notice they didn’t say, isn’t that the son of Joseph, which they would normally say, you know why they said that? Oh yeah, we know that his mother, but I’m not sure who his daddy is. That’s what they were saying. So the were saying they man, I know him. I know who he is. I don’t know who his father is. Can I say something? If you don’t know Jesus’s father, you don’t know the Son and He’s not gonna work in your life.

James Greer: 22:43 We go to church and we miss the mighty hands of God working because (listen), when we miss who He is and what He’s doing, He can’t do much work in your life, and He can’t do much work in my life. You know, we see what we want to see. We see what we’re looking to see. But Jesus said to them, who’s he talking about? He’s talking to the prophets. Verse 4: I mean he’s talking to the disciples. He’s talking to me and you. He said, you came to Journey Church today and you heard a message and hopefully you see what God’s doing. He should be astonishing you, but He said a prophet is not really honored except for in his own country, among his relatives and his own house.

James Greer: 23:24 I’m will tell you, there’s nothing that hurts like being rejected from the people in your own family, but if it happened to Jesus, it’s going to happen to you. The next verse, what’s dangerous about that is this. He said, now He could do not many works there. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do many works there. You know He laid hands on a few people and they were healed. Listen. Now this is Jesus. Verse two, He marveled because of their unbelief. They started out, they were astonished at him, and then they turned and quit believing in what he could do. They started making fun of who he is. They began to reject him. It actually astonished God. Jesus is the son of God. He said, it just astonished me because of their unbelief. It astonished me because I went to my own. It astonished me that I went to my own family that I want to do greater works. I wanted their lives changed. I wanted to see miracles. It absolutely astonished me that they reject me. And it astonishes me every single Sunday when you come and I preach my heart out and you reject Jesus Christ. That’s astonishing to me.

James Greer: 24:28 They marveled at Jesus and then rejected him. He said, I can’t do many mighty works and He will not do many mighty works in your life until you start letting Him astonish you, and you recognize who He is. See how you see Jesus (you ready?) greatly determines the mighty works He’ll do in your life. Don’t allow rejection to stop you. Instead, let it allow you to reflection of what God would have you do. Jesus didn’t allow rejection to stop him. Instead, He used it for a teaching moment to bring his disciples to a whole new level. We’re not going to have time to get it all, so I’m gonna. Just tell you about it. What happened to this point on is the disciples mainly were watching Jesus and Jesus was doing the work. They were being astonished, by what he was doing. Jesus went to his own town and they rejected him. He calls the disciples. He said, listen, sometimes you’re rejected in your own city. But he said that’s not what you do.

James Greer: 25:17 You don’t let that stop. You don’t rejection stop you. You let rejection redirect you. And he said, now that you understand rejection, you come here, disciples, come here Journey Church. Now, in Verse 7, I called the 12 to gather me, and I started sending them out two by two, and I gave them power over unclean spirits. See He said until you learn to handle rejection, you can’t handle the power that God has for you in your life. And so that was a changing point from watching Jesus to performing what Jesus had called them to do. And He commanded them, look don’t take anything with you. Don’t take a staff with you. Don’t take a bag. Don’t take bread. Don’t take [unintelligible]. Don’t even take money. Do you know why? Because now they can depend on their trust that comes from Jesus to provide, to protect them. They got a new purpose, a new power. They got a new passion like they’ve never done. Jesus was teaching them to use (listen) rejection to redirect them to Jesus Christ.

James Greer: 26:05 I just wonder, are you ready to be redirected? Are you ready for God to use you? Are you ready to confess that many times that you have allowed rejection to defeat you and discourage you and to react in the wrong way. It’s only when you understand how to handle Biblical rejection that you can be ready to handle and be released to handle the power that God has for you.

James Greer: 26:43 Now, can I tell you something? There’s some things I know that God wants to do today. God wants every person here to accept Him as their savior. Every single one of you. If you’re here today and you’re not sure if you died, that you’d go to Heaven I can tell you that’s what Jesus wants for you. And given an invitation, man, He wants you to come. But there’s another invitation. There’s those who accepted Christ, but they still just feel rejected. They’re worried about what people say. They’re offended easily and they’re not happy and they think it’s their boss, they think it’s their mate, they think it’s their kids. Jesus has a word for you today.

James Greer: 27:19 You can be astonished. You can come accept who you are in Christ. You’re a child of the King. You’re loved. You’re forgiven. There is no condemnation, and He said, that’s who you really are. You’re fearfully. You’re wonderfully made. That’s how He wants you to go out of here. When the Bible said, the greatest commandment in the Bible is Love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, all your soul, and then love your neighbor as yourself. God wants you to do that. So for those of you (listen) that feel like you’ve been rejected, you’ve been discouraged, you’ve been defeated, you come today and you let it redirect your life. For those of y’all that have been rejecting other people and make fun of them, you come and you ask God to forgive you because really when you do that, you’re making fun of God.

James Greer: 28:03 You should never look at somebody and make fun of people again. The same way in the past, God created them that way, he built them that way, they look that way. So listen, what God says is you’re in your own house. The worst thing that ever happened is Jesus went to his own town and they just rejected him. I say, the worst thing that could happen, you come to your own church, hear God’s word from his son, Jesus Christ, and you go home the same way that you came. You go home, not astonished. You come home, not a change. You’d go home and you’re not accepted. You come home and you’re not forgiven.

James Greer: 28:39 So what I want you to do is stand, and let me pray with you and pray for you. God, you’re a mighty God and man, you love us. You accept us. Uh, you wouldn’t have sent your son to die for us if it wasn’t. You created us, you formed us. You said, we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. God open our eyes to the astonishment of the enemy, the devil, that when we feel rejection and we feel worthless, that we now know that it comes from the enemy. And God open our eyes that were accepted, that we’re loved. Open our eyes, that we need a closer and better relationship with Jesus Christ. Open our hearts that every time we feel rejection, instead as of today it redirects us and then redirects us back to Christ and who Christ made us. Some of you need to come today and accept Christ as your savior, join the church, and dedicate your life. Some of them just come to, uh, to pray for needs, some need to come and be Biblically, publicly baptized. But listen, don’t go home the same way that you came. Jesus had a word for you today. Respond to it where you can begin to use the power and presence that God has for you, and it’s in Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.