The Uncluttered Life: Recharge & Release

James Greer: 00:00 Let’s welcome the Alexandria campus. Amen? Woo. I mean, Alexandria, they ought to be so excited. I was excited to be there, you were excited to be there, we were all excited. Amen? I’m telling you what, it was something. I think the ones that went, we probably got the greatest blessing, even probably more than the ones that we went to see.

James Greer: 00:22 Well, this is the last part of Table Talk. We started out with 23rd Psalm, and we had two chairs here because we learned that the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not want. In other words, he can meet every single need in our life, but we had an extra chair because we talked about that every day that he has a table prepared for us, that we needed to come to the table and meet with him every morning. Then when we talked about the reason that we don’t meet with him because our life is so cluttered, and we talked about the things that our life is cluttered with, and we talked about how we need to get the clutter out of our life.

James Greer: 01:03 But I’m going to be preaching a message today, and I think that I’ve never preached before in a subject that I’ve never addressed before, but it’s a clear doctrine throughout the whole Bible. One of the reasons I never addressed it is…one reason is I thought maybe it’s just kind of an Old Testament doctrine. I guess the other reason, because I didn’t practice it very well. But see, it doesn’t matter sometimes whether I do it or not. Let God be true and everybody else be a liar. Amen? So if God says it, and you can apply it, you’ll be blessed from it. Okay? Some people are tired of being stressed, and so if you’re tired of being stressed you can commit to learning how to be released and rest from your stress. You learn to get in a rhythm of God, that you learn to release, you rest from your stress.

James Greer: 02:12 I mean First Peter 5 says, “Cast all your cares on him, because he cares for me.” He said, there is a process of doing that. The key to uncluttering our life lies in Sundays. God created a way to destress and relief. See, all stress isn’t bad. Sometimes we have a stress deadline, if we didn’t have a deadline, sometimes we’d never get it done. So we’ve got to learn how to unclutter Sundays first, decide to let Sundays be the best day of the week The day to unclutter and to recharge. The real key is to having a great Sunday, it’s not just the preaching, it’s not just the teachers, not even just the people, the real key is you make up your mind that this is going to be the best day of the week. You decide that it’s going to be God’s day, and I’m going to give him the best part of my life before the rest of the week. You make a commitment that you’re going to unclutter Sundays, so that you have time for God. You decided to let Sundays be the best time of the week. You dedicate it to God, and to rest, and to your family.

James Greer: 03:27 You know, there used to be a time, y’all don’t remember that, there used to be a time on Sundays that everything was closed. I mean, there was nothing open on Sundays. You had to hunt a store open, and you could just buy the necessities on Sunday. Now there is nothing closed, everything’s open, and to some extent that does sound good. But see, it’s just one more thing that’s trying to pull us away from God, and to stresses in the world. And it did it in such a way that we almost missed it. Then remember, to get something great out of church, you ready? You need to put something great into church. See, so many times people want to come to church and get something great out of it, but you’re not putting anything into. You never get something great out of anything that you don’t put something great into.

James Greer: 04:21 See, were looking for a better life, but to get a better life, you have to learn that God has ordained rhythm of life. Most people don’t preach about it, most people don’t talk about it, but God created this that way. God wired us up that way, that we run best, we operate best, when we get in God’s ordained rhythm for our life. God’s rhythm is we stress and we release. We stress and release. Not all stress is bad, stress is bad when we don’t learn to release from the stress. You’re going to have stress, I’m going to have stress. But if you don’t learn how to release from your stress, that’s when you have stress, you have breakdowns, you have depression, you have everything that we have today.

James Greer: 05:15 Today it’s even in younger people than ever before, it used to be that young people didn’t worry about anything. Today, you have youth and young people that are so stressed out, they can’t function. I told somebody the other day, you’re never going to have it better, your parents are paying all the bills. You got it at home, they’re even paying your dadgum phone bill, I mean, get a life. But I’m so stressed, it’s because they have not learned to get into the rhythm of God. I mean God set up a rhythm. I mean, it’s unbelievable, God created the night. He created the day. You stress during the day, you release and rest during the night, but even that’s a rhythm. If you get that rhythm off, you get messed up. If you start saying, okay, I mean we’ve got a day, we’ve got a night, but I’m going to staying up all night and then I can’t sleep in the day, the rhythms all messed up. So when you get up and you stay up until 3-4 o’clock in the morning, then you’ve got to get up and go to work, your rhythm is messed up. Then you’re tired all day. Then you get home, well, I want to sleep all day, I can’t sleep at night. You see the rhythm. He has got a rhythm for you.

James Greer: 06:26 We need to take time during the day to release. I mean, my release time is in the morning before I have to face the day. So I have a particular room in my house that I go in and I get with God, and I try to release. At lunch. If you don’t have a time to release, it’s great. What you do is you can breathe out the stress, and you breathe in God and the Holy Spirit and go, wow. Breathe out and breathe in and practice releasing.

James Greer: 06:56 Second, God created the Sabbath for a day to release, that’s what it was created for. That’s why Sunday should be the best day of the week. You come to church, you worship, you serve God, spend time to rest and release. Part of releasing on Sunday is worship, but it’s serving. Whether it’s giving, teaching, ushering, parking lot, serving is part of your releasing process. As you come to church, and as you worship, and then you serve, you’re releasing. That’s part of it. If you’re not serving somewhere, let us know, we can find a place for you to serve. If you just come in and you receive and you don’t release, you’re missing part of the rhythm of God. He created you that way. He created you to take it in, but he also created you to let it out. I would encourage you to do this. Take the bulletin and write your name and say, Hey, help me find a place to release on Sundays. All kinds of places, there’s not one place, there’s many places all over the church, in every department, in the nursery, in the children’s, in the youth, in the parking lot. And I mean, it’s ushers, it’s all over, but release somewhere on Sunday.

James Greer: 08:26 The Psalmist said in Psalms 127:1-2, it says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, your labor is in vain.” In other words, when it says vain, it means it becomes false, it becomes empty. In other words, unless you’re allowing the Lord to build your family, your church, your home, your relationships, it becomes empty. Who builds it? Unless the Lord guards your city, or your job, or your home, the watchman stays awake in vain. In other word, now you’re staying up day and night. It is in vain, it’s empty, for you to rise up. Now you’re getting up early in the morning, you’re sitting up late, and you’re eating the bread of sorrow, for so he gives his beloved sleep though. In other words, there’s nothing wrong, I think you should work, and I think you should work hard. I think you can get up early, I think you should go to bed. But what he’s saying, if you don’t get the rhythm in, you’re going to miss it. If you miss God’s rhythm, you miss God’s rest. I think what Solomon was saying is, if you want to get the most out of life, you make sure you have God in your life.

James Greer: 09:35 The race isn’t won on only who works the hardest, but who works the smartest. I know about working hard. I mean, I used to get up early. I worked early, late, worked seven days a week. I preached Sunday mornings, sometimes before I come to church, I’d go preach at the prison. Then I’d come preach here, and I preached several times, and then I preached Wednesday, then I preached Sunday nights. Holy Moses, I went to visitation on Tuesday, I came back again and I preached on Wednesday. I went to the hospitals on Saturday, and that’s why I had a nervous breakdown at 50. I knew how to stress, I just didn’t know how to rest. You’ve got to stress and release, work hard and then rest, stress and release. Seek God on Sundays.

James Greer: 10:27 So that you can gain with him on Sunday’s, you know. And do you know what? Listen to this, if you would learn the rhythm of God, what you can gain on Sunday will outweigh what you could get if you worked on Sunday. Chick-Fil-A proves that, Chick-fil-A, they operate six days a week. They let their employees off on Sundays, to release, to go to church. Yet guess what Chick-fil-A does? Chick-Fil-A has greater income on six days than everybody else does on seven days. Uh oh, that’s a godly principle, that’s what it is. Exodus 16:29 says it this way, “Look, the Lord, he has made the Sabbath a day of rest.” For who? For you. On the sixth day, you know, he’s going to give you enough food if you work hard, you do what you’re supposed to, and then on the seventh day you’ve got enough. In other words, God says, if you’re doing what you’re just supposed to do, on the rest day, God’s going to provide for you on the seventh day. He said, really and truly, you do not have to work seven days a week.

James Greer: 11:42 In the book of Genesis, if you read the book of Genesis, it is said that the book of Genesis has the doctrine for almost the rest of the Bible. The doctrine is a principle of application that we can live by. And as I read Genesis 2:1-3, see if there’s a principle to live by, “Thus the heaven and the earth and all the host of them were finished, (God speaking), and on the seventh day God had ended his work, which he had done, and he…” Did what? What did God do? Let me give you a hint, free insight. If God worked six days and rested, we might need to Amen? “And from all his work that he had done.” And then not only, I had studied Genesis, I have read Genesis. I never got verse 3 in my mind. Then God did what? Uh oh, did you know that I believe there’s a blessing on the sabbath? God said, listen, I set apart the Sabbath day to bless you. He said, not only do I want to bless you this day, I want to sanctify. It means to set apart. I want you to be set apart, set apart for what? To be blessed. Sometimes the greatest blessing you can get is to be rested from stress. Amen? Then it says, because in it he did what? “Rested from all his work, which God himself had created and made.” Another translation puts it this way, verse 2 says, “By the seventh day God had finished all his work and he rested.” All right, God did what the seventh day? He blessed the seventh day and made it what? Special. I think God said, if I bless the seventh day and I made it special. I think if God wants the seventh day, and he wants to be special, we should start making it special. Amen?

James Greer: 13:55 And so again, I’ve never really preached on that, but I think that that’s one of the things that the devil can blind us from and cause us to miss it. And so now we’re rushing so much, and we’re going so fast. Now we go through seven days, and so we never stopped when Sunday is just another day. And we come in, and we just click it off the calendar, and we never enjoy the power and the blessings of God. Not only with God, not with our families, and nothing else. Be careful. Of course in Matthew 12:10 Jesus says, “And behold, there was a man, he had a withered hand. And they ask him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Stop. Well, they weren’t trying to do away with the Sabbath, they were really just trying to catch Jesus. They were trying to find something wrong with him, that they might accuse him of something. So Jesus said to them in the next verse, 11, then he said to them, I love the way he did this, “What man is it among you who has one sheep, and if he falls into the pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of him and lift him out.” In other words, he’s saying, listen, of how much more value than is one man than one sheep, therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. I love that God said mercy is greater than law. Jesus was not trying to do away with the Sabbath, and the rest on the Sabbath. But what he was trying to do is say, healing, and making somebody whole, and doing what was right, is one of the most important things you can do.

James Greer: 15:41 Now see, I think on Sunday, I think some of the greatest healing takes place. I think physical healing, emotional healing, and most of all spiritual healing will take place if you’ll allow it. Now see, the real thing is, verse 12 says this, “And he said to the man, stretch out your hand.” And when Jesus says something, it happens. “And he stretched it out and it was restored, and he was as whole as the others.” Sometimes the same word for salvation. Then the Pharisees, they went out and they plotted against him, how they might what? Destroy him. In other words, the Pharisees, they were not really caring, they didn’t care about the Sabbath. They were more concerned about how to discredit Jesus Christ. See, I don’t think you want to make the Sabbath like the Pharisees. You don’t want it to be so strict that you can’t enjoy the Sunday. You want Sunday be a special day that you can enjoy being with Jesus. You want it to be, hey, Sunday’s can be a day that I’m restored. Sunday’s can be a day that brings great healing. Sunday’s can be a day that I can spend with the Lord. Sunday’s can be a day I can spend with my family. See, the Pharisees had Sunday so restricted that you couldn’t even enjoy Sunday, we’ve taken Sundays and made it like just a regular day. I think there’s some place for both. Amen?

James Greer: 17:05 Another thing about Sundays, listen, Sunday is a great day to learn to be successful. It’s a great day. I mean, there’s all these books being written on, how to be successful. I mean, everybody has a different way. The problem with that, most of the people’s writing the books, guess what? They’re not successful. They’re only successful if you buy their books. It’s like all these books, how to be a millionaire, most of them aren’t millionaires. But if you buy enough of their books, they will be. But this book, this book, this book right here, one of the reasons you need to make Sunday’s the best day, because it’ll help you be successful in every area of your future. When you come to church, you ought to listen and learn and read your Bible, because it teaches you how to be successful in every area of your life. Do you want to be successful in your marriage? Say, amen. Do you want me to successful in your finances? Yeah. Do you want to be successful on your job? You can learn it in God’s word.

James Greer: 18:09 One of the reasons you come, and one of the reasons you say, Sunday is the best day of my life. In Joshua 1:8 it says this, it says, “The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.” God’s word. “You shall meditate it day and night that you surely should observe that you’ll do according to what is written in it for then I’ll make your way..” What? “…prosperous and then you’ll be a good success.” He doesn’t say in what, he said that just what’ll happen. God says, the way of a good success is through God’s word. You read it, you think about it, and you apply it, and you’ll be successful. What area do you want to be successful in? Okay, I’ll tell you what, read God’s word, apply God’s word, and God says, I can make you.”

James Greer: 18:49 Do you know, Deuteronomy 6:2 says this, I love this. Deuteronomy 6:2 says, “The purpose of this law, the purpose of reading God’s word, the purpose of learning God’s principles, is the cause you, your sons, your grandsons, to reverence the Lord, to honor God, by obeying all that he instructs you as long as you live. If you’ll do it, you’ll have long and prosperous years ahead of you.” God said, listen, I’ve got a purpose, I have a purpose for you coming on Sundays, I’ve got a purpose for you learning God’s word. Because listen, I want you to live a longer life, physical life, and I want you to have a more prosperous life. That’s a pretty good reason to come. Amen? Let me paraphrase it for you. A great reason to make Sunday’s the best day in the week of your life, so you can learn how to have a longer, prosperous life for you, your grandchildren, and your children. Amen?

James Greer: 19:54 Boy, Sunday needs to be a special day and a special place. Not just another place, but a special place. Remember many times people, including me and you, we walk in as a mess and we walk out almost like a miracle. We walk in with no peace, and we walk out with peace. We began to anticipate this Sunday’s a special day. Acts 7:33 says this, “And the Lord said to him, (He’s talking to Moses,) take off your shoes for you’re standing on Holy ground.” Yeah, it’s different ground, it’s set apart ground, it’s a right relationship with God. I think when you come in on the grounds, especially the sanctuary, you need to treat it like a Holy place. It’s not just someplace, it’s a Holy place. You don’t treat God’s house like you do everybody else’s house, you treat it as a special thing. Man, God’s in the house. Amen? Who’s in the house? God’s in the house. When God’s in the house, he changes things, and now he changes your life, he changes your finances he changes you physically, he changes you emotionally. When you walk in the door, say, hey man, God’s in the house. Amen? So treat it like that, act like that, anticipate it like that. I mean, he did that it way back.

James Greer: 21:14 He was telling what Moses did back in Exodus 3, and he’s telling us what we should do. It said, “The Angel of the Lord appeared to him, (Talking about Moses.) and a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.” Can you imagine walking out and seeing this flame coming out of the fire of a bush, and the bush not burning up? “So he looked and behold, the bush was burning, but it was with fire, but it wasn’t consumed. So Moses said, you know, I’ll turn aside and I’ll see this great sight.” Just like we all would. Why this Bush does not burn, God was getting his attention. “So when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called him (Good thing he heard.) in the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am.” The most important thing you can ever do, y’all ready? Is be ready to hear from God and respond when he speaks to you. “And then he said, don’t draw near this place.” Do you know what I wonder? I know my BB brain, it’s awful sometimes. I wanted to say, hey everybody, don’t do this, y’all go back and take your shoes off before you come in. Just a thought. I think about there are some cults, didn’t they do that? But God really wants a clean heart, not a clean shoe. But it was symbolic of that. What he was saying, don’t draw near to this place, he said, go take off your sandals. Their feet were dirty ,and he’s saying, really, I want you to clean your heart up, I want you to clean your life up. Take your sandals off first, for this place where you’re standing is Holy ground. God said, what I want you to do is I want you to come into the church, I want you to come to the sanctuary, I want you to know that God’s in the house. He wants to clean your life up, he wants to clean your heart out, he wants you to hear from him in a special way, and he doesn’t want your lead the same way you came. Amen? Now, if y’all leave your shoes on, that’s okay, I want you to. I think you’d be unholy for some of y’all not too, but anyway, that’s just a thought. Some of y’all feet stink. I’m not going to say who, and if your mate looks at you, that’s up to you.

James Greer: 23:33 Moses was about to hear from God. I mean, in a great way. I believe Sunday should be the best day week. And I believe when you come in, in a way you say, God, I know I messed up during the week, I know I did things, I said things I shouldn’t have done. I’m going to, so to speak, leave my sandals at the door. I’m going to confess it, I want to turn away from it. I want to come into your presence, I want to hear what you have to say for me. In other words, I want to go out different. I want you to know there’s nothing that you did this week, you ready, that God will not forgive you, and that God won’t clean you up. See, Moses wanted to hear from God. God wants to speak to you today through this. He wants it to be a special day. He wants you to learn to cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you. He doesn’t want to just be another check on the board because you spent your time. He wants to be with you. He wants you to hear from him. He does not want you to go out, worried and stressed. He wants you to know that he’s a Holy God, that he’s in control. He wants to go before you. He wants to be with you. He wants you to have such a relaxed day today, that you don’t have to worry about anything or anybody. Yeah, Monday, you’re going to have to have some stress, but today he wants you to rest, he wants you to release, and he wants you to remember that he is with you.

James Greer: 25:18 Isaiah, we’re getting ready to close. Isaiah 58:13 says this, “If you’re going to keep the Sabbath Holy, not having your own fun.” I mean, you can’t have fun. That’s not really what it is. “And business on that day, but enjoy the sabbath.” In other words, you’re going to change that joy for a greater joy, speaking of it with delight. In other words, enjoy the sabbath. Say it’s a great day, it’s the Lord’s day, it’s a Holy day, and honor the Lord that day. Not following your own desires and pleasures, nor talking silly like idiots. Say, man, today’s a great day. Then the Lord, he’ll be with you, he’ll delight you. And I’ll see to it that’s you’ll ride high. I love it, do you know what I wrote in my Bible? I want the right kind of high. Don’t y’all raise your hands. Plenty of us in here has had the wrong highs. Oh yeah, some of y’all, I don’t even know what he’s talking about. Well, good for you. But God said, listen, I want you to have a great day, I want you to have a Holy day, I want you to have my day, I want you to delight in my day. He said, I want you to ride high. I want you to have the greatest high that you can have. This high, you can wake up tomorrow and you’re still going to be okay. I want you to fully share in my blessing. God says, I want you to share in my blessings, my promises to Jacob, your father. The Lord has spoken. He said, man, God said, listen, I want you to ride high, I want you to share my blessings. Man, I tell you what, I don’t know about y’all, I want to share in God’s blessings.

James Greer: 27:22 God said, come unto me all that labor and heavy laden, and I’ll give you rest. If you’re here today, and you’re under a lot of stress, you need rest. We’ll give the invitation, he says, come unto me. He said, cast all your cares on me that care for you. Decide that Sunday is going to be the best day of your week, and unclutter and recharge, relax today. Find God’s rhythm for your life. Not just today, but every day, God has a rhythm for every person. Some rhythm is different. Some people you can sleep five hours and you’re fine, some people need eight hours, some people need 10 hours. Find God’s rhythm, not 16 hours and not two hours but find God’s rhythm. In that rhythm has to include God, God’s word, God’s power. You’ve got to have time to rest and release your stress to God, find the rhythm. God’s got a rhythm for you, stress, and release, and rest.

James Greer: 28:33 Understand that God wants you to succeed, and it’s through God’s word. Hearing God’s word, listening to God’s word, applying God’s word, and thinking on God’s word, he said that you can be prosperous in every single area of your life. And he said, listen, today is the day, he said, would you like to share in my blessing? Some of y’all that means to rest, some of you that means to receive a blessing, some of you that means you need to recover, to refresh, to rejoice, relax, to be redeemed. Some of you all have never really been redeemed by the Redeemer. Some of you are here and you’re not sure if you died, you go to heaven. Man, today would be the day I want to be redeemed. I heard God pulling at my heart. I’m not sure that I’m saved. I want to be redeemed. You heard from God, respond. You’re tired of stressing, you’re going to release it to God, where you can rest.

James Greer: 29:33 Would you stand and let me pray for you. God, you’re such an awesome God. Man, you’ve got things worked out for us that we don’t even know. You’ve already gone before us. Man, I love it, God, that you said you’ve got a high for us as the greatest high in the world. You said that you want us to share in your blessing. You said you want us to do it today. Help us to hear from you and to respond. Whether it’s to join the church, God, if we’re here today and we’ve never made it official, move on hearts. Let them hear you. Let them step out and say, today is the day I want to be a part of Journey Church, I want to make it my family. Maybe I want to be redeemed, I want to make sure I’m going to heaven. Maybe it’s a family, and you said, Hey man, God has the answer for my marriage, and I want God’s answer. Maybe you want to follow through in being biblically, publicly, baptized. And today is the day that you want to come and you say, hey, today’s the day I want to follow through and be baptized. Maybe you just want somebody to pray with you and pray for you. Whatever God says to you, just let him have his will and his way. It’s in the precious name of Jesus’ I pray. Amen.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.