Understanding How Church Helps You To Become A Disciple

James Greer (00:01):
Man, I was so excited to be a part of that baptism a while ago. Ron is 80 years old. He has two of his kids, Mike and Kathy. And we're so glad you're here. And Kathy, thank you for your service. She was honored with the metal, the silver star. So thank you for your service as well. Amen? Hey, we're talking about don't just come to church, but go be the church. And you're getting to be part of being the church. The church is a gathering of people, Gathering people celebrating Jesus as a risen savior of a living God that results in a movement of God and people getting baptized. There's going to be seven people, Lord willing, baptized today. Amen? I mean that's so exciting because there's so much bad news going on the outside and we're celebrating good news on the inside. Amen? I mean really God's original intent and meaning and purpose for the church is for us to go. I mean it was to go, not just to sit, not just to sour, not just the soak. In Matthew 28:18 through 20, it tells us that. It says, and Jesus said, and Jesus came and He spoke unto them. Me and you. Saying all authority. When He says all authority, He says all power, all strength. And really what Jesus was saying is I am transferring all power, all authority, all strength. He says, it's been given to me. I'm going to give it to you. Heaven and earth. And this is what He says I want you to do with it. He says, go therefore and make disciples. Go and make what? Say disciples. Of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I'll be with you always, even until the end of ages. Amen.

James Greer (01:58):
Now what I'd done, I had gotten my message all worked up. I was so excited. Said, go make disciples. And man, I'm going to say, hey, Journey Church, let's go out. Let's put hangers on every door. Today's the last day that you can sign up. You can go out afterwards. I think Josh will be in the back and you can sign up with him and you can get a t-shirt, you know, and be ready to come this Saturday I think at eight o'clock in the morning or you can get the details. But everybody, you want to be a part of it, no matter where you're at. We got people going all over the place. And then I thought, Darrell, we said, go make disciples. Amen? But we hadn't taught anybody how to be a disciple. I mean if you want to get tie a go make disciples, it'd be a good idea If we'd teach our people how to be disciples. Amen? So what if I gave you four simple steps to become a disciple? Because I'm telling you, when you read the New Testament, when you see the disciples, man, they were on fire. I mean every disciple had a DNA to serve Jesus like never before. The disciples were so excited about serving Jesus, even they were persecuted, they were celebrating. Wouldn't you like to have that kind of discipleship, that kind of excitement in your life, that kind of joy? Amen? And I can give you the four of the simplest steps. You're going to say that so simple. Well, I'm just kind of simple.

James Greer (03:20):
Number one, you're going to say, oh yeah. By the way, these aren't in your notes. You might have to write them down. You know, there was a time in church that you didn't have notes and you had to write them yourself. This is one of those times. Just say, number one, come to church. That's a thought. You want to be a disciple. Come to church. Hebrews 10:25, it tells you something there. It tells you, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. That means come to church. As in a manner of some. Huh? Says some people have started doing that. But exhorting one another, so much more as you see the day approaching. In other words, the day is approaching by the way if you don't know it. In other words, so much more as you see the day that Jesus is coming back. If you don't realize what's going on in the world, everybody says, everything's so strange. No, it's not. Jesus said things aren't going to get better and better the closer it comes to Him coming back. It's going to get worse and worse. Let me read the same translation in the contemporary English version. And it's in Hebrews 10:25. Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting together. Absolutely. With the virus, there's a lot of people who've gotten out of the habit of going to church. Amen? But it says, don't do that. The Bible said, don't get out of the habit of going to church. Instead, it says we should keep encouraging them.

James Greer (04:57):
So if you know somebody that's not going to church, it's our job that are in charge to encourage those that are out of church. Amen? So everybody's got a project. Everybody hear this in church and know somebody that's out of church, it's your job to encourage them to get in church. That's good, Brother James. That's one of the parts of what disciple is for you to encourage other people that are out of church to get in church, especially since you know the day of the Lord's coming. Don't you know that Jesus is coming back? And when He comes back, wouldn't you like to be in church serving God? Amen? So number one, come to church. Let it become a habit. Your habits determine your happiness. The right habits, you have happiness. Wrong habits, you don't. Number one, come to church. Second, fellowship at church.

James Greer (05:54):
When those who gladly receive the word baptized that day, there's about 3,000 souls that were, that's not a bad day at church. 3,000. We're all back there celebrating seven which is pretty good for us. Amen? And we should celebrate seven people getting baptized. Amen? Well, what about 3,000? Amen? But they continued steadfast in the Apostle's doctrine. And say fellowship. And breaking bread and in prayer. See, number one, you need to come to church. It needs to be a habit. Number two, you need to have fellowship at the church. That means you need to be in a small group, Journey group or service group. By that, small group, Journey group, service group, you need to be in a place that you can share and care, a place that you can share and be cared for. That's what we're here for. I mean there's going to be a time that you need somebody. You can't do life alone. You're going to hurt. Somebody in your family is going to hurt. And you need to be cared for. And in small group, we care for each other. We share for each other. So number two, fellowship, come to church and fellowship. Second, fellowship. Amen? You got it? Number three, serve at church.

James Greer (07:12):
I love this Luke 12:35. And it says, in my version, it says, be dressed and ready to serve. Is that cool? Be dressed, ready to serve. I mean you need to be ready. It's in our spirit. It's inborn for a Christian to serve. When you get saved, you might not know what to do, but you know you need something to do. It's the DNA of a Christian. I love in 1 Corinthians, I wrote it in this morning in the amplified version. And it says now about your spiritual gift, now about when you're doing in serving what God called you to do, the special endowment of supernatural energy. I love, I love 1 Corinthians 12:1 because I get to experience. Can you imagine at my age? I cannot, do y'all know that I'm 68 years old and I feel like I'm 30 when I'm preaching?

James Greer (08:11):
I really do. I love it. Somebody said the other day, we might have to have four services, Brother James. What are you going to do? I'm going to preach four times. Amen. I'd love to have that problem. Amen? I mean because when I get to do that, I get to experience a supernatural empowerment of a supernatural energy, brother. I don't want you to be misinformed. I don't want you to be ignorant that when you're operating, when you're serving what God's given you, He gives you a supernatural energy. It's not what I'm get giving away. It's what I get. John 4:34 in the amplified version. I want you to know, Jesus said unto them, He's talking to me and you, He said, my food, my nourishment, my strength, my power, my endurance is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish the work. What He's saying is it's as you serve and you give, you really get you. You can't understand it. That's how you get your nourishment. That's how you get your satisfaction. Serving brings satisfaction that you can't understand. See, most people, I went to church, most the time I never understood this when I was young. I really didn't.

James Greer (09:20):
I thought Jesus was always trying to get me to stop doing something and start doing something that wasn't fun. I thought He was trying to be a joy robber. He's not trying to do something to hurt us. He's not trying to do something to rob our joy. The truth is He can give us something that we desperately want. Everybody desperately is looking for joy. They're looking for a joy that the world can't take from you and that the world can't give you. It's a joy that comes from like in Matthew 25:23. It says, the Lord said unto them, well done, thy good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I'll make you ruler over many thing. Enter into the what? Joy of the Lord. Enter into the what? Joy of the Lord. Most people don't know how to enter into the joy of the Lord. I'm going to tell you. There's four simple things you can start doing. It says in Matthew 25:23, it said, if you'll be faithful in a few things, we're giving you a few things to do. Number one, to come to church. Number two, you fellowship in the church. Right? Number three, you serve in the church. Number four, you give to the church.

James Greer (10:30):
Now you remember, it's not what God wants from you. It's what God wants what? For you. I love in Proverbs 3:9, honor the Lord with thy possessions and with the what? First fruit of the increase. That's the first 10th of everything you make. I used to think God was wanting my money. It's like God was broke or something. Poor old God. Church needs this money. Can I tell you, God does not need your money. Our church does not need your money. But I can promise you, you need the blessings of God. You know why? You know what verse 10 tells you? He tells you, it tells you what to do. Verse 10 tells you why to do it. Let's read verse 10. It says this. So your barns will be filled with plenty. He says, I want your barns to be filled with plenty. And your vats overflowing with new wine. Verse 9 tells you what to do. Verse 10 tells you why to do it. When He says your vats overflowing with new wine, he said, it's a type of joy and blessings and prosperity. God says, listen, the only reason I want you to give the first 10th is because I want you to have, I want you to know a joy and a blessing and prosperity that you can know no other way. And I told you, so God says there's four simple things to do. Come to church, fellowship, serve, and give. And you can enter into the joy of the Lord.

James Greer (11:55):
He said, Matthew 25:23, you've been faithful over a, say few things. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy. Enter into what? Joy of the Lord. What are the few things? There's a few things y'all can do. This is so simple. Make it a habit to come to church. Amen? It has to become a habit. The right habits lead to happiness. You need to have fellowship in the church, a place that you can care and share. Amen? Serve in the church. Find a place to serve. Serving people are those satisfying people. Give, tithe to the church because of what God wants for you. You enter into the joy of the Lord. You'll enjoy, there's a secret of connection between service and salvation that brings joy. The secret of service and salvation if you learn it that equals joy. The joy I'm talking about, it surpasses all understanding.

James Greer (13:09):
A lot of people do the connection and have the joy. They don't even know what it is. Some people come to church all their life, join the church and they still miss it. The secret of service and salvation that equals joy is this. You come to church, you began to connect your service personally with those that are getting saved at Journey Church. You know that you're a part of it. And you have a joy that surpasses all understanding. Your service connects with those that are getting saved and you enter into a joy that surpasses all understanding. You said, well, I was in the parking lot. Yeah, but you parked somebody. And that person decided to come into church and their attitude and their heart was open and that you were part of them getting saved. You work in the children's part, you work in the nursery. And their parents came and their parents were receptive. Their parents got saved. Their children were in the children's department and they got saved. Their children's got saved. And all the workers said amen and they all celebrated together and you should have an unbelievable joy. Amen?

James Greer (14:15):
It's a secret that should not be kept secret. Service, the salvation that's connected to those people that are getting saved. We should be sharing it. Steven, Darrell, shouldn't be a secret. Children's department. Amen? I think y'all got kids being baptized today. Amen? Y'all should be excited. Do you understand their lives are going to be changed for eternity? Amen. Congratulations on getting engaged too. Okay. Let's go. 1 Corinthians 3:8, you know what it says? Now he who plants and he who waters, they're one. Each one's going to receive his own what? Reward according to his labor. Some of you water, some of you planted. Hey, we're going to get our reward together. For we're God's fellow workers and you're God's field. You're God's builder. I mean, you know, one of you water, one of you plant, we're going to all rejoice together. Man, we enter into the joy of the Lord together. I mean it's unbelievable. But there's also something else.

James Greer (15:25):
I want you to have the joy that's unspeakable and it's available every single person. Also, I want you to know if you're not careful, the longer something exists, the easier it is to miss the original intent of something. Same thing with church. The longer the church exists, the easier it is to miss the original intent of the church. Therefore you miss the power and the presence of church. Attending the church, we're supposed to be, we're supposed to go make disciples. But if you're not careful, it's not long, we become inward focused instead of outward focused. It happens with relationships. The longer you're married, if you're not careful, you become self-focused, inward focused instead of outward focused. Man, when you were first married or engaged, you're so focused on the other person. It's so exciting when they smile, the way they talk. Man, if you're not careful, you start going inward focused. What can they do for me? It happens in church.

James Greer (16:40):
They come to church. Man, I'm so excited. I love the preaching. I love the singing. And then they're not careful, it's all about me. Did they take care of me? Did they meet my needs? Did they do what I want them to do? It's not all about you. Did you know life's not all about you? Do you know church is not all about you? When you're married, it's not all about you. When you actually learn that life is not all about you, oh, it's a wake-up call. But you live better. Acts 1:8 says this, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, this is what you do. You become a witness. In Jerusalem, that's your neighborhood. You get to go out Saturday. Everybody gets to go out. You guys in the back, you get the sign up. You can hand out packages everywhere you go. And Judea and Sumeria and the uttermost parts of the world.

James Greer (17:34):
So the New Testament purpose was to go, is to go and be fruitful and multiply. Guess what the Old Testament purpose was? Genesis 1:28, it told us the same thing. Genesis said, bless them. And God said, be fruitful and do what? Multiply. Fill the earth. Subdue it and have domain. You have victory over it. I mean the purposes have never changed. It's the Old Testament to the New Testament. It's all the same original intent. It was to go and be fruitful and multiply. But so many times, like always, we wanted to rebel. I could bring it all the way to Acts when in the very beginning, when the Holy Spirit fell and they had all these different people there and everybody was in different languages, but they could all hear in one language because God said, I want y'all to hear where you can all go. And instead of going, they stayed.

James Greer (18:24):
So by Acts 1:8, guess what happened? Persecution came. But the point of persecution was that they were scattered. God told them to come. God told them to go and they didn't go. So they were all scattered throughout all the regions of Judah and Samaria. That's where He told them to go in the first place. So they stayed. So they scattered. Let me tell you something. In Genesis 11, the whole earth, they were speaking one language again. God had already told Noah back in 9:1, he said, I want you to be fruitful and multiply. By Genesis 11, they decided not to do that. Now they came together on a journey and they landed in China and they dwelt there. And they said among themselves, let us make us bricks and let's bake thoroughly there and let's build a stone and asphalt and mortar. And so now they're going in verse 4, it says, listen to this. And they said, come let us build themselves a city. That isn't what He told them to do. Let's build a tower to the top of the heavens. He didn't say build a tower to Heaven. He said, bring other people to Heaven with you. Let's make a name for what? Ourselves. He didn't say make a name for yourselves. I don't want to be scattered. He told them to scatter. They're doing everything that He told them not to do.

James Greer (19:54):
He said, you know, they said, they were trying to gather. He told them to scatter. Verse 5, but the Lord came down to see what the city was doing which the sons of men. He said, let's go see what they had built. What did He tell them to do? Be fruitful and multiply. Scatter through all the world. Tell people about the Lord. And the Lord said, indeed, the people, man, look at what they've done almost. They're one language. What they began to do. Now, there's nothing that's, purpose in their heart. It's withheld from them. In other words, they can do just about anything that they want to do. Let us go down. We're going to confuse their language that they don't understand one another. Why is He going to confuse their language? Because He told them to go and they said no. They said, no, we're not going to scatter. He said, yeah, you are. And the Lord scattered them abroad. What did He'd do in Acts chapter 8? He scattered them abroad from the face of the earth and they ceased building the city.

James Greer (21:02):
I mean it's over and over again. Confusion comes when you have the wrong priorities. That was the tower of Babel they called it. And the Lord caused confusion of the language and the earth and the Lord scattered them. And same thing happened again. God's not the author of confusion of peace. What I'm trying to tell you, when God says to go, you got to go. Amen? Well, God's telling you, when you become inward focused, you're going to have problems in your life, in your marriage, in your church, in every area of your life. So are you inward focused or you're outward focused? Are you inward focused on your relationship or are you outward? When you go to your job, is all about you or what you can contribute? When you come to church, is it all what you can get or is it what you can give?

James Greer (21:43):
If you're inward focused, guess what? You're going to have confusion. You're going to feel like you're being scattered. You might not even understand what the problem is. Free insight. It's you. As I get ready to close, let me go back to Matthew 28:19. It simply said, go. It didn't say gather. The reason that we gather is to go. We come here together, little C church, where we can go and be big C church. That's it. No other reason. We gather to go. Whether you go to work, go to school, go to your house, you come to go. You come to church and leave where you can be the church wherever you go. That's your purpose in life. People say, well, I'm so worried about where I'm going to work, what I'm going to do, what job, whatever you do, that's what you do. You gather and you go. Go therefore and make disciples. Well, you got to become a disciple first.

James Greer (23:03):
To become a disciple, first of all, you got to make sure you're born again. There has to be time that you are reborn. That's so simple. You have to know that you sin. I can tell you everybody in here has sinned. This black represents sin. I've sinned. You sinned. We've all sinned. That sin separates you from God. God loves you so much. He didn't want you to be separated. This red represents the blood. God loves you so much. He sent his son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross and shed His blood. You know, you sinned. you believe Jesus died for your sin. You're willing to invite Him into your heart today. He'll wash away all your sins, past, present, and future. And one day, when that day comes, you'll know for sure, this gold represents Heaven and that you'll go there. So the first step, the very first step today, if you're not sure it's for you to go to God, you go God and ask Him to forgive you your sins and Jesus to come into your heart as your Lord and Savior. So if you've not done that, in just a minute, I'm going to give an invitation. Would you do that? You got a next step card. You can do it there. Or you can come and we'll have people in the front.

James Greer (24:15):
Next, I talked about being a disciple. Make it a habit of coming to church. Maybe you've gotten out of habit and you need to say, hey today on my next step card or maybe you need to come to front and you'll say, I'm going to make it a habit. I'm going to make it a habit. I'm gonna start coming to church. I need to be in fellowship. I need a place I can share and care. I can share with other people and care for other people. And I care for them. They can care for me. And today I'm going to come to the front or mark on my next step card. I need to be in a small group or share group or serve group. And if you don't know where, we'll help you find that place. You can just come an hour early or stay an hour late. You can do that. It's God's day, not your day.

James Greer (24:59):
You need to serve. Every member at Journey Church is a minister, not just the people on staff. You are too. Every member I want to have a ministry because that's where you find joy. So if you don't have some type of ministry and you're not serving in some area, today's the day to do that. Just come to the front or mark it on your next step card. We give to what we love and what we love, we give to. If you're not giving and you're not tithing and you're a member here, then you're robbing God. And so as of today, I'd like you to say, hey, I'm going to start tithing. I'm going to start giving. That's the first 10%. you can't out give God. It's for what God wants for you, not from you. And you just take your next step card and you say, bingo, I'm going to start giving 10% of my next check. You just write it or you do like 60% of y'all start doing now and it's automatic every week or every month. It's just an automatic draft. However you want to do it.

James Greer (26:05):
Some of y'all have confusion going on in your life, in your family, in your marriage. That's what happened in the New Testament and the Old Testament. The reason that confusion came is they got God's order out of order. They became inward focused and God said, that's not it. You're going to be outward focused. You're going to gather where you can go. And they just wanted to gather. They didn't want to go. And you become so inward focused just on you and just your family that you don't serve anybody else, you don't give to anybody else, you don't give to anything else. And you wonder why you have confusion. You're too inward focused. The cure to your confusion is not to get more, it's to give more. And today you're going to make a commitment that you're going to start giving more. You're going to get your life in order, instead of being so disorder. You become godly focused.

James Greer (27:05):
So if you would, would stand and let me just pray with you and pray for you? God, you're so awesome, God. I love you. I thank you, Holy Spirit for the message. Thank you for talking to the people that are here and those that are online and help us make the commitments that we need to make, help us to understand the truth, God. That it's not what you want from us, but it's what you want for us. You want us to enter into that joy. Touch hearts this morning, whether it's on the next step card or whether it's to come down to the front. Give them the power of your presence, God, like never before. For those that are not sure if they died and they'd go to Heaven, guys, that's the most important decision anybody can make today. For those who've not been publicly, biblically baptized since they know they were saved, since they're this older age and they know it now, that they wouldn't come and say, hey, I want to get publicly baptized today. Maybe it's to join the church. And you know this is the church that God wants you to be and today you want to make that commitment, whether it's to come to the front or mark your card. Maybe that's one of the things that you're not a disciple, whether it's coming to church or fellowship or serving or giving and you need to pick one of those. Maybe there's confusion because you've been inward and you want to become outward focused or whatever God lays upon your heart. I pray that you'd let Him have His will and His way. It's in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Bruce Goulart (28:36):
If you need prayer right now, we have people on standby that will pray with you right now. There's a link down in the comment section below that you can click on and fill out and someone will get with you right away. Now, I just want to personally invite y'all to join our Journey Fam. There's a link down in the comments that you can click on and sign up for our Journey Fam. So I hope that you take the time to sign up for us. I hope to see y'all next week as we continue our series, Don't Just Go to Church. Thank y'all.

Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.