Table For Two: How to Have Your Real Needs Met

James Greer (00:00):
Don’t you want to be a part of I am Journey Church? Amen. Woo. That’s going to be at the Alexandria campus. I will tell you, let me talk a little bit about it before we get in the middle of message. I love what Mark Patterson said. He said, listen, Jesus didn’t die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous. I love another thing he said, faithfulness is not just saying, I’m holding the fort down is storming the gates of hell. And the last commandment that Jesus gave us was he said, go therefore and make disciples to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, the Holy spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I Command you. And then he says, lo, I’ll be with you. In other words he said, as you go I’ll be with you. That was the last commandment. And then he reappears to the disciples. He says, you shall receive power when the Holy spirit is upon you and you shall be my witnesses.

James Greer (00:30):
Part of I am Journey Church, is all about us having teams. We’re going to go to the Alexandria campus. There’ll be six people to a team, one leader and five people. March 7th, we’ll go out into the neighborhood. There’ll be two people going together on each side of the street and there’ll be one person either driving the golf cart or something to pick up the material. You’re going to want to be a part of it. It’s going to be doing exactly what Jesus told us to do. And we’ll be out canvasing in about a two mile area. So, in the bulletin there is a place that you can go in and you can tear it out and you can say, I want to be a team leader. I just want to be a part, whatever it is. And it’s going to be leading up to the Easter fess that we’re going to have at the riverfront. So, you’re going to definitely want to be a part of that. There is also a devotion in here that you can get this going to start pretty soon. So, you want to, you want to be a part of every bit of it.

James Greer (01:31):
Hey, can you all see this table from there? Hey, you notice I have my purple on today. I got my purple because I’m dining with the King. That’s the whole point of this. I mean, listen, I’ve got grapes, strawberries, cheese. The title of the message is, a table for two. And it’s going to be so important, because what I want you to know, if you could learn today, this message is so important. If you really learned it, you could learn to have every need in your entire life met. That’s what it’s about. It’s going to come from Psalms 23 and it starts out and says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not. I shall not. That’s going to be so important because we’re going to talk about that word want later on. This is a really famous text. Is it not? But it’s probably one of the most neglected.

James Greer (02:24):
We’re going to read the entire text in a moment, but I want to focus on one verse for a moment. And it, Psalms 23:5. What it says is you prepare a what? A table. We’re sitting at the table. Before me, guess who prepared the table? The Lord Jesus Christ. And he prepared it for me and you. Every single day, every single morning, God’s sitting there with a table that’s prepared and he wants me and you to come. It’s before the presence of our enemy, He’s anointed my head with all the cup runneth over you. You do understand we’re in a war. We’re in a war and the enemy is the devil, and the devil is out to destroy you. Who’s he prepared a table for? Me and you. Who prepared it? The Lord, the shepherd, the good shepherd, Jesus Christ. Why has he prepared the table? He wants to protect us. He wants to provide and he wants to guide. You all ready? Everything that you need in your life is that the table. Everything.

James Greer (03:25):
When I first read it, it says, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not. Do you know what that word means? Shall not lack. You should not fail. You should not have need of. It’s so cool because really what it means is whatever you’re lacking in your life, whatever you’re lacking in your relationship, it’s at the table. Wherever your failure is in your life, and I have failures, you have failures, we all have failures. Hmm, but you want to go from failure to success. Amen. The key to success is at the table. So what’s the problem? We’re too busy. We’re too busy to come sit at the table, to sit with the shepherd. The real reason is we’re not just too busy. You ready? We choose to be too busy. Now, so what we want to do today is we want to blame our kids. We want to blame our job. We won’t blame our church. We will blame everything. But the real truth is you’re never going to sit at the table with the shepherd as long as you blame everybody else.

James Greer (04:45):
The truth is, we say we’re too busy, but the truth is we choose to be too busy. We choose what’s most important in our life. You look at our time and that is what’s most important in our life. We get to choose. What we choose is listen to this. We choose so many good things. We miss out on the best thing. So let me read the Psalms 23. Let me just read the whole thing and then we’ll get into it. Psalms 23 it says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, some of you are there, I will fear no evil. Don’t worry about it. Don’t fear.

James Greer (05:48):
God’s here to say whatever’s going through your life, you don’t have to worry about it. Why? for you’re with me. You’re my rod and our staff and that comforts me. Ha, ha. I prepared a table before you. I love that. I love the table. I love the table. Somebody said I want to eat, but anyway, I want to eat the wrong food. He wants me eat the right food. But this is a beautiful picture of every single morning of your life that God is sitting there and said, I have already prepared the table. It’s already ready for you, for me. And it’s in the presence of my enemy, because the enemy’s out there and he’s wanting to destroy you. He wants you to know you’re in a war. You’ve anointed my head with oil and my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. God says, and then I want you to know goodness is with you. Mercy’s with you, all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

James Greer (06:48):
So listen, we have a shepherd who’s already prepared a table before us, is waiting for us to come. Who’s prepared the table for me and you? The Lord has. Why is he prepared the table? Because we have an enemy that we’re at war with, but yet we got a shepherd who’s the champion. He’s got the rod, he’s got the staff, he’s there to protect us. He is before us. He is behind us. There’s no power to great for him. There’s nothing stronger than him. There’s no problem too big. So, the problem continually comes up. We choose to be too busy. It’s our choice. It’s not, our job is not our hobby. It’s not our kids. It’s you. It’s me.

James Greer (08:16):
Second, second problem is you ready? We allow the wrong people at the table. Of course, it’s like the devil, but the devil doesn’t come to the table looking like the devil. The devil comes to the table looking attractive, not like you think at all. He comes to the table, what I was going to do, I was going to come in and I was going to say everybody swap places at first. And if everybody in here swap places, at first you would feel uneasy, but before long you’d feel comfortable. And that’s what the devil does. He will ease in. Before long you feel comfortable with him there. So what you do? Before long, you let the wrong people sit at the table. Now say this table was reserved for me and Jesus. But when you start having the wrong people at the table, you start taking in the wrong things. And when you take in the wrong things, it’s not long you’re doing the wrong things.

James Greer (08:46):
We wake up in the morning and Jesus, we don’t take time. We’re too busy. We say, we got to go to work. We’ve got to be the kid. Did you know sometimes we rush so much? I rush just to rush. I caught myself though the other day rushing, rushing, rushing, rushing. My wife said, why are you rushing? I said, I’m just in a hurry. She said, well, we don’t have to be there for an hour. I know, but I’m just rushing. So, sometimes we get such a habit of rushing. We’re just rushing. So, we rush right past the table that can meet all our needs. Instead of, you ready? Instead of feasting with the father, we drive through fast food. This is McDonald’s. So I run through McDonald’s. I get me a happy meal. Wouldn’t it be crazy to have a happy meal when I could feast with the father? Fillet mignon, steak, lobster, whatever it is. You like best. No, no, no, no, no. I’m going to go to McDonald’s. See, that’s what we do. We have fast food. Everything’s fast, fast, fast, fast. So, instead of feasting with the father, we just have fast food.

James Greer (11:09):
Second, if you’re not careful, we’re walking and talking with the devil and instead of walking and talking with the deliver. See 1 Peter 5:9 says this, 5:8. It says this, be sober be vigilant. Why? Because of the adversary, the devil. He walks about like what? Roaring lion, seeking who he can devour. Listen, on the trip I got to see a lion it was pretty cool. Let me show you a picture of what a lion looks like. Oh, to be honest with you, that lion was really fixing the seek who he could devour. In fact, there is a lion and lionesses, or whatever they call them and they were all laying down and there’s a wildebeest that got off by itself. Yeah. And so they started stalking it and he didn’t want us to see him take it down. And so what they did says, Hey, we probably better move on, but that’s where the ion looks like. It wasn’t long though, we got to see a leopard and the leopard wasn’t quite the same. It took him down. Real story.

James Greer (12:19):
That’s what the lion wants to do. He stalking you. He trying to find a way to take you down. Listen, real close. He wants to get you away from the flock. Isolation will bring desolation. You get away and you get by yourself and then before long he’ll destroy you. That’s why it’s so important to come to church. That’s why it’s so important to be in a small group. See the enemy, the devil, he wants access to the table. In fact, what the devil wants is to have table talk. Yeah, he wants to have tabletop. You know, you want to know how, you know, if you’re having table talk with the devil? Do you want to know how you know if you have allowed the devil to the table? When you think there’s something better at the table. When you’ve allowed something else at the table other than the shepherd. When you’ve allowed your job, your wife, your kids, your hobby or your own habits that take the place. When you don’t have time to come to the shepherd, to the table, you’ve allowed somebody else to take the Shepherd’s place.

James Greer (13:54):
And whatever you’ve allowed to take the shepherd’s place before long, you start having table talk with the devil.You start saying, well, she’s a little younger. He has a little more money. She doesn’t really treat me like she should or give me what I need. He doesn’t really provide, he doesn’t love me like he should. You’re talking to the wrong person. He shouldn’t be at the table. I should take, I could take this at work. I don’t really get paid enough. I can cheat on my time. Yeah. Talking to the wrong person. I can have sex. We’re not married, but I’m thinking about getting married one day. See, you start justifying your actions. You’re talking to the wrong person. Once you give the devil place at the table, he wants to talk to you more. And his goal is to talk you out of your relationship with the shepherd because he’s your protector. He’s your provider. And his goal is to get you far enough away that he could eventually steal, kill, and destroy you, your relationship, your marriage, whatever it is. That’s what John 10:10 says. The devil came to steal, kill and destroy. That’s his job. That’s his plan.

James Greer (14:43):
Now, Jesus said, I came so that you got life and have it more abundantly. But, like I said, 1 Peter 5:8 what does it say? Be sober. Be vigilant because the adversary, who is the devil, he walks about like a roaring lion. He’s seeking who he can devour, who he can drown, who he can destroy. But you know the verse right before this talks about the shepherd. He says, I want you to come to the table. He has a word for you. See the word before this before 1 Peter 5:8 is 5:7 like this, cast all your cares on me because I care for you. Come come to the table before you face the devil. Come to the table and cast all your cares upon me. Come see the shepherd. Come see the champion. Come see the King. Come see the Lord of Lords, because he cares for you. Let him fight your battles. Let him take care of you.

James Greer (16:34):
Why didn’t Jesus tell him to leave the table? If Jesus is a shepherd. Why didn’t Jesus just tell the devil to leave? Jesus didn’t invite him to the table. You did. I did. We weren’t spending time with Jesus as our shepherd at the table, and so we left room and we invited him to there. The devil starts saying, your marriage, it’s just not going to make it. Jesus didn’t invite the devil, you did. You need to un-invite him. The devil says your kids don’t love you. They’re going to rebel. They’re never going to return home. That isn’t what the bible says. The bible says, train up a child the way to go when he’s old he’ll return. Rebuke the devil, un-invite him to the table. Be very careful when you start telling your friends about your problems, and your marriage problems. You’re inviting the devil to the table. You start telling them how bad your life is.

James Greer (17:48):
Listen, without claiming God’s promises like Romans 8:28, we’re more than conquerors through Christ. You’re inviting the devil to the table. God’s word never said you weren’t going to have problems. He never said you weren’t going to have valley’s, but he also said Psalms 23:4 he said, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he said, I will fear no what evil for I am with you. I’m going to be your rod and the staff. You might be in the Valley, but you need to tell the devil. I don’t have to fear, the shepherd is with me. He’s going to protect me. He’s going to strengthen me. He’s going to comfort me, so you might as well leave. So, you just say it in the name of Jesus. You need to leave. Amen? Some of you are saying, hey pastor, you just don’t know all the crap that’s going on in my life. I know I can read your face. I can read your mind.

James Greer (18:44):
Stop giving the devil a place in your life though. Is there any problem too big for God? Is there any problem too big for God? Will you quit acting like there is. Nobody cares about you, we think the people say. Nobody cares about me. Stop giving the devil place at the table. The truth is it cost God his son on the cross so, I think he cares about you. Amen? He cares enough about you to let his son die the cross. So, don’t say he doesn’t care because he does care. The real truth, I believe it’s time to take the table back. Amen? Too many people have given the table up, even in Christians, even at church, I believe it’s time to take the table back. It cost God his son to have a place at the table.

James Greer (19:43):
How do you take the table back? Number one, you just simply have to accept the father’s gift, his son, Jesus Christ. That’s you have to accept the gift. Number two, many of you have allowed the devil to sit at the table. IT’s time to rebuke the devil, in the name of Jesus Christ. he has to leave. That’s what James 4;7,8 is all about. Therefore, submit to God. Surrender to God. Run to God. Depend upon God, become preoccupied with God. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will. What? What does he have to do? Yeah. If we submit to God every resist the devil, he has to flee. Quote God’s word, quote it back to him and tell him he has to flee. Draw near to God and he’ll draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. The devil, we rebuke you in the name of Jesus. The word says, submit to God. Resist the devil. He has to flee. Haha. Amen? You’re ready to say this, in the name of Jesus, we rebuke you from our family, our home, and our table. Amen. That’s why Matthew 4:4, now you rebuke him, Amen? He has to leave.

James Greer (19:45):
So, now this is what you better do. You better get up in the morning. And he said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. These aren’t bread, these are grapes. But by every word that proceeded out the mouth of God. So you got to say, I’m going to start feasting with the father. I will start coming to the table. I’m going to cast all my cares off on him, because he cares for me. I’m going to enjoy being reminded that the shepherd wants to meet with me. I’m going to ask the Holy spirit to remind you every morning that you need to go to the table before you do anything else. So, when you get ready to go and you’re in the hustle and bustle, the Holy Spirit’s going to say, have you been to the table with the shepherd? And if you hadn’t, go to the table. In closing let me ask you this. What do you need this morning? Did you accept Jesus as your savior? Is there an area that you need to rebuke Satan in Jesus name? Tell him to get out.

James Greer (21:14):
Do you need to quit having table talk? Quit letting him get into your mind in certain areas? You need to submit to God, resisting where he has to lead. Is there a sin you need to confess? Says purify your heart. Then he says, and you shall not want. I love that. When he said, you shall not want. You ready? He says, what are you lacking? He’s giving an invitation. What are you lacking? He said, if you’ll let me be your shepherd, let me meet what you’re lacking. Where have you failed? Let me be your shepherd. Let me help you be a success. What do you have a need of? Let me be your shepherd and let me begin to meet that need. What a shepherd we have. Would you stand? Let me pray with you and pray for you.

James Greer (22:40):
God, I thank you that we have a shepherd. I thank you that you sent your son, where he has a place at the table. I thank you. If we except your son as our Lord and savior, that we can have a place at the table. God, forgive us for allowing so many other things to be at the table, God as an individual and as a church. As we come together, we want to rebuke Satan through the name and the power and the blood of Jesus Christ, from our family, from our homes, and from the table. We want to come to you in the areas that we’re lacking even today in your house, with your power and your presence. Whether it’s to join the church. Follow through in baptism or allowing you to meet our greatest need. Whatever it is, God help us to surrender to you. That’s the summit to run to you for help. Allow you to meet that need. It’s in Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.