Spectacular Timing of God Understanding the Timing of God will Help Reduce Stress

James Greer: 00:00 Let’s hear it for that story, Amen. I mean Mike has a wonderful story. In fact, he’s over at the Alexandria campus right now, probably working in the sound booth, Art up there doing like you are doing. So we appreciate him, we appreciate his story. We’re excited to welcome Alexandria campus, Amen. I bet you Darrell doesn’t have one of these, and matching shoes. You know we’re going to be preaching about the time, and the God, and you can’t wear this all season. You know the timing has to be right to have a brand new nice sport coat like this. I know each one of you wish you had it, and you could go the right place, and you could get one. But I’m wearing it because the timing is right for God.

James Greer: 00:39 Hey, I want to have a prayer and I remember Dr Jonathan Hunter, he had had open heart surgery and he’s still in the hospital, so let’s lift him up. But let’s just have prayer. God, you’re such a great God. We invite you into this presence today, into our hearts, into our lives, in this facility. Now we know you’re the Lord. We know that you’ve redeemed us. You know, we know that Satan is defeated. And God, I pray that you would write the words on our heart today and we’d be willing to obey. I pray for Dr Hunter, God, that you would comfort him, and that you’d guide and direct the doctors. It’s in Christ’ name I pray, and everybody said, Amen.

James Greer: 01:13 Before I get into the story, I want to read Isaiah 9:6, because I’m ready to get into the Christmas spirit as you can tell, Amen. It says “Unto us, a child is born.” Has that happened? Amen. “Unto us, a son is given.” Did God give us a son? Amen. “The government is upon his shoulders.” Has that happened yet? No, it has not. But will it happen? Yes. I want you to know that whatever God says in this book is going to come about, that’s still to happen. Now he said, but his name is, he will be called wonderful. That’s one of the names of Jesus. I mean, God said, I want you to know I’m going to send my son, and what he did, he came and he went. We’re going to go with him, and then we’re going to come back again. But he said, until then I want you to know his name is wonderful. In other words, God says, I want you to know that the word wonderful means the extraordinary, the miracle, awesome God. He said, I am sending you the awesome God to be in your life. He’s the wonderful counselor. Some of you came today and say, man, I just wish I had some counseling. You can go straight to God now. He is the mighty God, there’s nothing too difficult for him. He’s the everlasting father, and he is the prince of peace. In other words, you need peace, we’ve got the prince of peace. That’s the whole point of Christmas. God said, listen, I’m sending my wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and the Prince of peace. And that has come about, that’s available for me and you, Amen? He says, I want you to have the wonderful life. I don’t want you just to be wandering through life. In fact, the sooner you understand the spectacular timing of God, and you understand it and apply it, the sooner you can start living the spectacular life that he has.

James Greer: 02:52 God’s Word said, my people began to perish for lack of knowledge. And we’re going to talk about today that God has a predetermined timing of God, can’t change it, it’s going to happen. We’re going to learn about the permissive timing of God, that God allows us to be a part of it. We’re going to talk about the predictable timing of God. I forgot to tell y’all, this is not in your notes, so you might want to write down predetermined, permissive and predictable. Predictable time of God is, in other words, if you do certain things, you’re going to get a certain reaction. It’s a God given law that did certain things you do, certain things will happen. And God says, I want you to understand this, I want you to understand the predictable timing of God, I want you to understand the permissive will and timing of God, because it’s so important. Because if you don’t, we go to one extreme or the other.

James Greer: 03:46 The first wrong extreme is the predetermined will of God, people said, well, if it’s predetermined, I just won’t do anything. Not long ago there was a big religious debate, I say religious debate. And a lot of our people kept saying, you know what is that? I said, don’t worry about it, don’t even get into it. And there was about everything was predetermined by God. And so why do we have to do anything if everything is predetermined? Because it’s predetermined that everything in this book is available to you, but it’s also the permissive will of God that gives you the freewill to claim it. So the predictable timing of God is very important, but if you get it wrong, you’ll say, hey, we don’t need to do anything.

James Greer: 04:28 The other wrong extreme is the permissive will of God. In other words, if we have enough faith, God’s just going to do what we say. And that’s wrong, and that’s being taught today. In other words, I’ve known people that were sick. I was at a person’s house one time, and the man died and his wife said, if I’d of only had enough faith, God would have healed him. That’s not true, no, it was late in life, he had a heart attack and he was dead. It didn’t have anything to do with her permissive will to have enough faith in God. God is the author of life and death. It was his time, God called him home, and her faith had nothing to do it. She got discouraged because she had been taught the wrong doctrine of the permissive timing of God, and that’s what messes up. There’s the extreme that God, it doesn’t matter what we do, because it’s is going to happen anyway. The other extreme, if we just had enough faith, God would do everything. So those two extremes will get you in trouble. So we’ve got to learn that’s a timing of God, and the will of God, is always perfect even when it’s not with us.

James Greer: 05:28 But many times, listen to this, I’m going to preach on this the first year, many times the timing of the situations that were going through can be changed by the permissive will of God. And so we don’t want to live in a terrible situation that God has already given us permission that we don’t have to live there. And so let’s first look at the example of the predetermined time of God. In Luke chapter two, verse six, it says this, “And so it was that while he was there, the days were accomplished, that she should deliver.” In other words, God said when she was there, when my time was right, when my purpose was accomplished, it’s going to happen. Can I tell you, when God’s purpose is accomplished in your life, and then whatever he has for you will be changed. If you’re on a job and you said, man, I can’t stand this job. Go ahead and let God accomplish his purpose on the job, and then he’ll either change your heart, or he’ll change that job. See when it comes about, when his purpose is accomplished, the days will come about. Another translation says this. It says while they were there the time. What happened, the what? The time came for the baby to be born. See, God’s time, his promises, listen to this, his promises have a timestamp on them. The rest is up to us.

James Greer: 06:45 See that this birth was predetermined, when it was going to happen, where it was going to happen. And she wasn’t going to have that baby until she got to where God had predetermined where she was going to have it, and he predetermined when she was going to have it. He predicted it. See he had prophesied in the Old Testament, so it was definitely going to come about in the New Testament. See when God predetermined something, there’s really nothing you can do to change it, that’s the predetermined timing of God. Mary was a perfect example, you couldn’t change that, the world couldn’t change it. Matter of fact, if you read the whole story, it said the king ordered the census for them to go pay taxes. Well, if you lived in the world that day, you’d think, man, that king is in charge. No, that king wasn’t in charge, that king was just doing what the king of kings told him, and God used him as a puppet just to get them where he already said they’d be. Amen?

James Greer: 07:38 Then there’s the permissive timing of God. This is the one that so concerns me. This is the one that we as Christians, God has already given us the promise. He said, I’ll permit the timing to be fulfilled by what you do. And I’m going to preach on it it starting in January, we’re going to have kind of a spiritual awakening. It’s going to be months and the whole church is going to go through the prayers about prayer, but it’s really more of a spiritual awakening, and an understanding. But we have the permissive will of God, and the predetermined will and timing of God.

James Greer: 08:18 I have a thing that I call the never again list, and I’ve given out hundreds, if not thousands. And in
that it talks to the predetermined, the permissive, and the predictive. There’s verses like Philippians 4:13, says, Never again will I say, I can’t. Because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The second one is one of my favorite, it says, “Never again confess fear. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and sound mind.” Now, God said, listen, I predetermined in my word that you don’t have to live in fear. My permissive will says, you can claim the word. And the predictable thing, if you apply the word, you don’t have to live in fear. Now you see that God didn’t give me a spirit of fear, but of what, of power, love and a sound mind.

James Greer: 09:01 Now, so you said, well I’m living here, I’m here today, and I’m in fear. Well, God predetermined you do not have to live that way, but he gives you a permissive will and timing to choose that. And when you choose that, I can predict that you no longer have to live that way, that is good Brother James. God then says, don’t confess, lack of faith. People saying, I just wish I didn’t have any faith. But the word of the Bible says, God gave every man the measure of faith, so instead of claiming you don’t have the faith, say, Hey God, I thank you for the faith that you’d given me. Never again will I confess weakness, the Lord gives me the strength in my life. See what I’m saying, you might feel you’re weak and you might be, but you don’t have to live that way. Never again will I confess the superiority of Satan over my life, because greater is he that’s in me, that he’s in the world. You said, man, it looks like Satan is defeating me, Satan’s has discouraged me, Satan has brought oppression on all my life. He’s brought oppression and depression and my whole life is a mess. You don’t have to live there though, Amen? Never again do you have to confess defeat. He said, well, I’m defeated right now. Well, God predetermined you don’t have to live there. He gave permissive will and timing how to get out of there, and he can predict if you’ll do what he says, you don’t have to stay there. For God has always caused me to triumph in Christ Jesus, so you can live a victorious life. See, it was predetermined by God to allow you to do that, it gave you permission to choose that, and it predicts what will happen if you do that. Then the one that we really need during Christmas, I never again do I have to confess, worry and frustration. I mean this time of the year, if you’re not careful, you’re not only worried, but you have times where frustration. Things like all the in-laws and outlaws are going to come together, and it brings problems. Amen? If they’re here with you, don’t say Amen. But you don’t have to live like that.

James Greer: 10:55 Isn’t it great that God sent the wonderful counselor, the mighty God? That he says, I don’t want you to live in worry and frustration. Now he said, I’ve predetermined, and I’m going to send my son, that you don’t have to do that. But I’m going to give my permissive will, and let you choose. Do you understand what I’m telling you? If you continue to live in worry and frustration, you have made the choice. You ready? To disobey God. That’s not his predetermined, that’s not his a permissive, and it’s predictable. Because he said, for I will cast all my cares on him, because he cares for me.

James Greer: 11:37 In other words, he saying, listen, at the end the service, if you came here and you’re all worried and all frustrated. As an act of obedience, as a picture of a spiritual application, you say, okay, God, here’s my worries, here’s my frustrations. I’m going to bring them the to the altar, cast them on you, and I’m going to go back. Now what you have to do, when you do that, many times you still have to keep casting them away. But God says you do not have to live it, it doesn’t matter what brother James says, it doesn’t matter what somebody else tells you. What really matters is God’s word because it’s true, and it will not never lie, it will never turn void, apply it to your life. Sometimes I have to carry these in my car, I have to read them out loud to change my stinking thinking, and it will. You know, this body is just a shell. This body does not have to control me. It’s the spirit and the emotions that live inside of this body, we control that through the power and presence of God. Never again will I say anything’s too hard for God. You do not have to live there. God said, listen, even when Jesus was born, in the very birth, Mary said, how can this happen? She said, absolutely nothing is too hard for God. Amen? God predetermined it, he gave you permission to choose, and he predicted the outcome. Amen. So now it gives you an idea.

James Greer: 12:44 All right, let’s go, that was the introduction. Luke chapter two, verse six. It says, when the time had come, and accomplished what it should, he was delivered. When the time had come, he predetermined what it was going to be. Now I want to give you an example of that. Okay? You Ready? I’m going to give you an example of how God predetermined, how he gave us permission, and how he predicted. In Exodus 3:17, it says, “I have promised.” God said, listen, I’ve already given you a promise. This is so important to get it. There’s thousands and thousands of promises in this book. Would you say amen? And this promise in this book to me and you, is just as great as the promise that God was giving to the children of Israel. He was saying, I have a promise, I have a predetermined prediction, I am prophesying to bring you up out of your misery. Woo, praise God, Amen. Some y’all came in here with misery, and God said, hey, I predetermined for you not to live in misery. That’s so good, if you don’t know it man, you almost just write that one down, and say, hey, I don’t have to live in misery. God said, he promised, he predetermined, he’s going to bring me out of that. And if you’re in misery now, look forward, let this word give you hope, and let your hope grow your faith. Say, Hey God, I don’t have to live there anymore.

James Greer: 13:59 And then he went on to say, hey, in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites and all the rest of minites. Anyway, but he said, I’m going to bring into the land flowing with milk and honey. It was all about the promise. God said, I’ll give you a promise. Had God given them a promise to go into the promised land, yes or no? Yes. He gave them the promise before they ever entered into the promised land, right? Yes. Had God given them a promise to give them the land of milk and honey? Say yes or no. Yes, he did right there, right? They hadn’t gone in there yet, but God had already given it to them. How long after God delivered them from bondage did it take for them to go into the land of milk and honey? About 40 plus years. How come? How come it them 40 years? How come God allowed them to go 40 years? Did God want them to wander for 40 years? Absolutely not. Could they have gone in a year? Absolutely, they could have. But see, there was the predetermined will. They’re going to go in there, and they did go in there, but the timing is the permissive will of God because they rebelled against God, and they wouldn’t obey God’s word. They had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. But listen, this is the good news, I don’t want our people at Journey Church wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, I want you to go into the promise of the promised land by using God’s promise, Amen. See, that’s the permissive will of God. He said, I gave you a promise to you can go in, but I’m going to give you the permission to choose the promise, and to obey it.

James Greer: 15:39 Second Corinthians says this, and 1:20, it says, all the promises of God are yea and Amen. I love that, because it’s what I’m preaching and you agree with it you say amen. Amen? And He said [inaudible] intend to be the glory of God. And another translation he puts it this way, I love it. What God has promised gets stamped with a yes, huh? God says, listen, I got a promise in here, I’m going to tell you right now, it’s yes. Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and we pray, the great amen. God’s yes and our yes, together, glorify the evidence of God. God’s yes and who’s? Our yes. God said, I’ve given you a promise and on my end, if it’s my word, I’m telling you yes. But if you have to say yes, then it’s Amen. God says, listen I got a promise stamp on it. Listen to Journey Church do you understand? Do not continue to believe the lies of the devil. If you’re living in a bad situation, and want to change your life, you can. God says, I got to stamp yes on that. You can change your life, you don’t have to stay in that life, you don’t have to stay in that bondage. You no longer have to do that based on God’s word, God’s permission, God’s predetermined, you can get a better life. Amen. Don’t waste the next 40 years of your life, let 2019 be the best years of your life. Amen.

James Greer: 17:02 Alright, let’s read the story. Luke chapter two, verse one, that’s where all the timing came from, “And it came to pass in the days that they went to the decree from Caesar Augustus that the world should be taxed.” Hmm, it’s much like today, if the government says you’re going to be taxed, you have to pay taxes. But see, what you forget when everything is going on in the world, and you watch TV and see what’s happening, you think man, the world is out of control, I can’t believe this. No, no, no, no, no, do you understand, God used him like a puppet. God had already predetermined, he had prophesied where the baby was going to be born, and so he used the government to just accomplish his purpose. And listen, God, you ready now? God will use your boss, and he uses open and closed doors to direct your life. And he went to be taxed, everyone unto his own city. Listen to this, it’s really important that he went to his own city. Where was Joseph’s own city? Bethlehem. He had to go, in essence said, I want you to go where you are from, I want you to go be with your family. And Joseph also went up to Galilee into to the city of Nazareth, of Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house of the lineage of David. In other word, he is saying, I want you to go up there, I want you to be with your family, that’s where they’re from.

James Greer: 18:35 And verse five says, “And to be taxed with Mary, the spouse, they’re engaged. Wife being great with a child, and so it was that while they were there, the days were what accomplished that she should be delivered. So in other words, it been accomplished. It’s going to happen, and it did happen just like he said. That is so encouraging, because you understand, God said it way back in the Old Testament. Now he’s fulfilling it in the New Testament. Now, whatever promises you have, and you just start reading the Bible, it should encourage you, it should give you hope. Whatever God says, it’s going to happen. Amen. And then she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn.

James Greer: 19:18 I want to show you some pictures, we’ve got to go to Israel, it was super cool. And we got to go in to where, we were standing outside fixing to go into the where Jesus’ birth was. And I see some pictures of Bethlehem, and then we…right there, stop a minute. That’s where they were saying they laid the birth of Jesus in a manger. May not be the same one? They preserved it, they said that’s where he was laid, and man, it was just so neat to be in a place there. And I’ll tell you some of the stories they told us. And so they said that that’s where he was born, I have one more picture I think. Yeah, they said, hey man, we laid him, and we put him right there in the manger. To be there was kind of cool, to see what they were saying that that’s where he was born, and actually be able to put your hand on the very place. In fact, some of you all showed an interest to go there. I’m not trying to encourage you or solicit you or anything. If you want to go, it’s about $2,500 plus your airfare, and you can tear out your little thing and write it down and probably go in September. If we can get ten people to go, we could go there. Again, I’m not trying to get anybody to go, people just ask about going. Did you know they said they wrapped him in swaddling clothes. And I want to tell you what our guide told us, that was really rags. That it was probably rags because she didn’t have the right things, and the poor people would wrap strips of cloth around them to keep them warm. And because she was going to have the baby in the manger, that she tore these strips and wrapped them round and round, almost like a mummy. Don’t you know they said when the shepherds came, you’ll know that he’s there because he’s what? Wrapped in swaddling clothes. She said there would not be another baby that would have been wrapped like that. They would have had a complete blanket, or they would have nothing on at all, but she had taken her poor clothes and took the rags and wrapped them around. Something else she said, they believe something different than we did, the ones that lived there. And they took us to a house and showed us what it meant, it says there was no room in the inn, right? She says here, that can be a house with many rooms. It says most, a lot, people were poor. They didn’t have many rooms, so Mary and Joseph went to the inn or to the house, the house that had many rooms, and where was Joseph from? He was from Bethlehem. You know what they think happened? They said they went to Joseph’s parent’s house who had many rooms. He was probably, Joseph’s parents were pretty well off they think, and they went to the room. But they didn’t have room for them, because they didn’t agree that Joseph was going to be married to a lady that had already become pregnant. Wow. Did they have to deal with rejection? Did they deal with shame? Yes. They still did what God called them to do. See what they learned was the most important thing we can ever do in life is do what God calls us to do.

James Greer: 22:23 You’re want to hear another story? They went there poor and broke, I don’t know, see I was raised out of the city. I’ve been in the barn, in a barn very long, it stinks. They went there so poor they had to wrap cloth around him, but when they left, gold, silver and myrrh. They went there broken as you could be, and left probably as rich as you can be. So God can take the worst circumstances in your life, and turn them around like they’ve never been before.

James Greer: 22:56 Okay? You Ready? Now we learned the predetermined will of God, the timing of God, that can’t change. We learned, the permissive timing of God, which we get to be part of it. I want to talk about the predictable timing of God. When I say predictable, I mean two different ways. First, the predictable Word of God, whatever God prophesied, is what happened. When Jesus was being born, and the wise men came into town, and they asked the king, where is the king, the birth of Jesus? Like he got jealous, he didn’t like it, so he wanted to know. He really wanted to know to kill him, but he called the priest in, they say, where is this Jesus going to be born? And they said, it already been prophesied in the Old Testament, the he will be born in Bethlehem. In other words, what he said, it’s going to happen. In other words, the part of the predetermined will of God, is understanding that everything he says is true. You have to have some authority in your life, or you have no authority. This word is the ultimate authority. And he had told back in Isaiah that they’re going to have a child that’s going to be born. He’s going to be wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of Peace. That’s what’s coming up. We get to live in the greatest age there’s ever been. We’re living in the age that God prophesied about the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and the Prince of Peace. He’s been born, he left the Holy Spirit, where we can live that life. That’s the predetermined will of God wants you to have that.

James Greer: 24:20 But then there’s the personal, predictable, timing of God. That’s where we live every day. I hear people go around, and they said, well, you know they’re doing something wrong and it’s not just God’s will or the devil made me do it and this, that and the other. No, no, no, no, no, I want you to understand that there’s a predictable timing of God that we all play a part of. That’s when it says in Galatians 6:7, “Don’t be deceived. Don’t let your mind to deceive your heart. God is not going to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, they shall also (What?) reap.” Timing in our personal life is almost predictable. Timing is so important, what we do in our life, it is important. It wouldn’t really be cool timing if I wore this suit during the summer would it, it’s got to be Christmas time. I mean you know, it fits, it works, right? Let me give you some more timing in your life. You’ve got to have the right timing if you’re going to ask your boss to have a day off, it needs to be the right timing if you’re going to ask your boss for a raise. Now let me tell what the wrong timing is, you come in late, you hadn’t been working hard, and you’re going to go in and ask your boss for a day off or a raise. See, that’s the wrong timing, that’s predictable timing, that’s our part. I mean if you’re a young person, you’re going to ask your parents to go out on the first date. Let me tell you what it better be the right timing, and the right timing better be after you’ve been doing good, right? Andrew, our youth guy, he asked Taylor to marrying him last weekend. I can’t believe that she said, yes, but it had to be the right timing. He brought her to [inaudible], and he played it all up, and he said, the timing is right. Let me tell you something that most people don’t realize. When we have a confrontation, whenever it’s possible, we need to do it at the right timing.

James Greer: 26:08 Now, I want to tell you what the right timing is, where you understand the timing in your own personal life, how you can predict it. All right? First of all, you ready? Equity greatly to determine the timing in every situation when possible, equity is everything. The equity greatly determines the right timing in your life. I wasn’t going to teach this today, because I’m going to use it in February when I do a little, two, three, week marriage thing, marriage boot camp. But y’all won’t remember it anyway. I mean, you know, I read something the other day, like hey forget 80 percent of everything he said. They’re going to go out, and say, he wore a funny suit. I hope you go out with the three P’s, and I hope you wrote them down. But anyway, that’s not what I’m talking about. You make a deposit into your account, and then you make withdrawals, that’s how you live life. You know, you pay down your house, and all of a sudden you have what? Equity in your house. If you have enough equity in your house, you can borrow against the equity, you can make a withdrawal, which I pray you don’t do that. The equity, the money you have in the bank, is the money that you have left after you made withdrawals, you paid your bills. How much equity you got in house, x number of dollars. I still have [inaudible]. But life is all about deposits and withdrawals, God set it up that way. It’s a biblical law that’s set, you cannot change it, nobody can. It’s predetermined by God, you sow, you reap, you sow, you reap, okay? It’s even when Mary’s birth, God made a deposit into Mary’s life with the seed, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in the right time, the seed grew, it was withdrawn through the birth of Jesus Christ. See it was sowing and reaping. If you have a bank account and you predetermined in your mind and you continue to make deposits, make deposits, and make deposits, alright? Now you’ve got $10,000 in there. Now you did that prior, now you’ve got to write a check, you’re going to make a withdrawal, right? I’m going to write a check for $500, but I got 10,000 in the bank, I’m not too worried about it, Amen? I mean, I’m still going to have $9,500. What if you had $100 in the bank, and you’ve got to write a check for $105? Now you’re getting all stressed out, and you’re getting all worried, because you didn’t have enough equity. The $500 was a whole lot more than the $100. What stressed them out, she just didn’t have the equity in the bank. Okay? For time, I’ve got to shut it down. But listen, I want to explain something, it’s the same thing in your marriage. You need to be going on a day to day basis making deposits into your mate’s life, because there’ll be withdrawals through tough times. How big the problem will be will greatly be determined by the deposits you’ve made in each other’s life, not necessarily by the problem. See, you can come across a big problem, but you’ve made so many big deposits into your mate’s life, y’all walk right through it. But there’s sometimes some little bitty something comes up, and it is making a major deal. Do you know why? Haven’t made the right deposits. See, it would be my goal that you start living a lifestyle of making deposits to God, to your mate, to your family, to your kids. When your kids are young, you better be building equity with them, because when they get older, you have then the equity to draw out.

James Greer: 30:43 All right, in closing, let’s get ready. Today is the right time for you to give your life to Jesus Christ, it is. The Lord said, there’s not willing that any should perish, but all would come. You’re here, God wants you here, he wanted you here at this time, but he’s going to give you permission to make a decision. Maybe you’re in a situation, and it’s really tough right now. And God says, listen, my permissive timing is I want to change your situation, but it’s not going to change until you claim my promises. See, you’re in the situation, but God wants to change it for the better, maybe the timing is today. Maybe you need to predict the rest of your life, or the future, or tomorrow, or your marriage, your finances, your kids, whatever it is, let’s start building equity in that, start committing. Say man, I want to, after today, I’m going to start building equity in my mate’s life, both of you. I’m going to start building equity in my kid’s life, I’m going to do it in my finance life, I’m going to do it on my job’s life. And I’m going to do everyone, because then I can begin to predict what’s going to come out when I have to make a withdrawal. Because Luke 1:37 says, “With God, there’s absolutely nothing impossible.” What’s impossible with God? Nothing, not your situation, not your circumstances. God said, listen, there is this thing I have predetermined for everybody in this room, John 10:10, “That you could have life, and you could have it more abundantly.” And he said, for you to do that, I’ve given you thousands and thousands of promises, but it’s your permissive will to choose. Whether you choose or don’t choose, you ready? I can predict your future.

James Greer: 31:14 So will you stand, and let me pray with you, and pray for you. God, I thank you for your word, I think it’s clear, I think it’s powerful. I’m so thankful that you’ve predetermined when Jesus Christ would be born. I’m thankful that I am here during that time, during that season in life. I thankful that he sent us the wonderful, mighty, counselor, the everlasting peace. God, I pray that there’s those here today, God, that you give them the permissive will to make the decision to change their life. Some of us to accept Christ, that’s your choice. Some of us to follow through in baptism, that’s your choice. Some of us to join our church today, that’s your choice. Some of you are in a situation that God wants to change, that’s your choice. Some of y’all came and your worried, and frustrated, and God said, cast all your cares on me, that’s your choice, you do not have to go home the same way as you came. I give the invitation, you can come to the front, you can put it on the altar, you can have somebody pray with you, pray for you. But listen, ultimately, it is your choice. God is drawing, God is pulling you, but he lets you choose. Now God, I pray that you’d have your way in every life here this morning. It’s in Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.