Follow the Fillings Week 4 - Don’t Follow Your Feelings
Doves in the Bible are a beautiful picture of the peace of God.
James Greer
Jan 19, 2020 26m
In this sermon Pastor James Greer looks at stories of doves in the Bible. He teaches us that doves represent peace, and also are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He says when the Holy Spirit fills us after baptism, we will experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
James Greer: 00:02 Good morning Journey Church. Do you all see my doves? Amen? We're going to be talking about those doves today. Doves are a type of peace, and they're a type of the Holy Spirit. But before I do that, you all should've had something that was handed to you, both here and the Alexandria campus. Let's welcome the Alexandria campus. Amen? Woo. Hey Alexandria campus, I hope they can see the doves, it's going to be very important.
James Greer: 00:25 But let me tell you, I need you to get this today. And it's going to be very important, because this is our fourth and last week of Follow the Filling. Where the filling leads, we will follow. Amen? But listen, this is what I want you to know, if you really and truly want to follow the filling you have to grow spiritually. Spiritual growth is the only thing that guarantees that your life will get better. Well you're sitting there saying, I want to grow spiritually, but I don't really know how. That's what this is for. This is to help you. Don't worry too much about the score on the back, because I'm going to change the score. Because when I took the test and I didn't get to good, I'm going to lower it, where I can do better. But the main thing is this, if you want 2020 to be the best year ever, you need to do the spiritual checkup and you need to be honest. You know, God knows your heart anyway. So when you do the tests and you're cheating, he knows you're cheating. Amen? It's best if you do it with somebody, like we're doing it with the staff, and the staff's going to turn it in, and then we're going to talk about it. And then I'm doing it with a few guys that I'm wanting to grow in the Lord, and they'll turn it in, and we'll talk about it. It's great to do it like with your Journey group leaders, or small group leaders, or with your mate. They know anyway, they really know where you are spiritually already. So what you do is, you just kind of go through here. Now there's one of them there that says that you love your wife like Christ loved the church. Oh no, no, no, women, you've got to change that one, that you respect your husband, like God's word says so. Uh Oh. And so you just go through there and you total it up and you see where you're at. But the goal is this, then you go through it and you take kind of the ones that you're lowest on, your lowest numbers, and you work on those for a few weeks and you just try to bring the numbers up. And you wait a few more weeks, and you bring the next numbers up. And man, what an easy way to start growing spiritually. And when you understand spiritual growth is the only way to guarantee that your year will be better. Amen? All right, that's enough of that.
James Greer: 02:50 Now into the message. Okay? Let's talk about what we're going to do on our last message of Following the Filling. Let's talk about that our key verse is this, our key verse has been Ephesians 5:18 for 4 weeks. He says, "Don't be drunk with wine." And we talked about what it's like to be drunk with wine, and a lot of our people unfortunately knew what I was talking about. It makes when you're drunk with wine, you do things and you say things that you should not say. Amen? Don't do that with excess. But when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you do things and say things that you normally wouldn't do. And we want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that you're doing things and you're saying things that you normally wouldn't. Man, it's so exciting to baptize people, man. I mean, I think as of now, we've probably already this new year, we've probably baptized 14 people already. Amen? Woo. And if you all could just see their face when they come up, they're so excited. They say, man, God's given me a brand new start in life. But you've got to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit, because the world is just trying to press the life out of you. But it's been fun on this journey, a lot of us going journey together.
James Greer: 04:02 Some of you, this is the first time you've ever fasted, or especially fast with a purpose, and the purpose was for God to fill you so that you could follow. And sometime it's the first time you've ever followed the filling of the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit leads, you will follow. Amen? Do you all know last Sunday we had 40 first time visitors? That's unbelievable. That's just unbelievable. We had 18 people just last Sunday alone, join and be part of the family. I mean, we've got so much to celebrate, man. And so we just learn what God can do in our life, and we can have a peace that surpasses all understanding.
James Greer: 04:40 That's what we're going to be learning about by the way. You see the doves, they're doing pretty good. I wanted to let them go, but they said, please don't. We're going to be looking at how the doves are a type of peace, and they're type of the Holy Spirit. Doves are a type of peace, and they're a type of the Holy Spirit. Amen? You all don't look very peaceful to me, and I always wanted to know what the Holy Spirit will look like. And to me, he was a he, they don't look very comfortable. When Jesus was baptized, you all ready? The spirit descended on him as a type of a dove, it was a type of the Holy Spirit. Did you all know when you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit? So the dove is a type of peace. And what we're going to learn later on, when Noah released the doves and they returned. One time, one of the doves returned with an olive branch. And you'll know today, sometimes people are having disagreements and somebody will say, well, just extend an olive branch. And they are saying, it's a way to try to offer peace.
James Greer: 06:06 Way back in Isaiah, the prophet said, the Prince of Peace is on the way. Way back in Isaiah 9:6 it says, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall rest upon his shoulder." That's still coming. "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." And way back then, Isaiah said, the Prince of Peace is coming. He said, he's not here yet, but he's coming. The Prince of Peace is who? Say, Jesus Christ. Who's the Prince of Peace? Jesus. The dove is a type of what? Peace.
James Greer: 06:41 John 16:33 says, these things I have spoken unto you, (Journey Church) that in Me (That Jesus speaking.) you have peace." He's the Prince of Peace, he's the one in control, he's the captain of the peace. In the world you're going to have tribulation. We have a lot of people in our church, they're going through tribulation. Let's especially pray for the [inaudible] right now, they're going through tribulation, but our church needs to pray for them. We have several people, the Ruggles, they've got cancer. The [inaudible] have cancer. We've got some people on our security team that have cancer. We've got a lot of people that are going through tribulation, but the Bible says be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. When he says he's overcome the world, he means there's one thing I can do. I'll give you peace in the situation, or I'll remove the situation. or I'll take you home away from the situation. The God's still in control. Amen? He is in there.
James Greer: 07:41 The dove is a type of peace, he's a type of the Holy Spirit. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot help but to have peace in spite of the situation and the circumstances. John 14:27 says this, "Peace I leave with you, (Jesus speaking) my peace I give to you not as the world gives to you. In other words, Jesus says, I give you a different peace. The world's peace comes and goes, the world's peace is conditioned upon situations and circumstance, God's peace is conditioned upon our relationship with him. Don't lose your heart and don't be troubled, are you all ready, neither let it be afraid. I love it, because this is the fourth week and we've been preaching on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Every single week for four weeks, God has had a word for me, and he's had a word for you, and it's don't be afraid. See, I don't know what you're going through, I don't know. It could be on the job, could be finances, [inaudible] But God has a word for you this morning, and one is, don't be troubled and don't be afraid. Amen? He doesn't want you to be.
James Greer: 08:53 Peace is a byproduct of trusting God's promise and purposes and plan for your life. You could have peace in any situation. I'll give you a review real quick. How to have peace. Number one, you've got to be saved. You're saved from something to something, you're saved from hell to be a representative of God. You're saved. Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. So you have to be saved. You got to depend on Christ. Philippians 4:19 says, "But God shall supply all my needs according to his glory." He's going to supply what? All your needs. So you've got to be saved, you've got to depend on Christ, and then we have to learn to represent Christ, not ourselves.
James Greer: 09:38 See, the problem is today were so concerned about representing ourselves, representing our job, representing our church. No, no, no, if you want to have peace, you're saved, you're dependent, and you represent Christ. Amen? Because see, after you're saved, really and truly, Second Corinthians 5:20 says, "Then you're an ambassador, you're a representative for God." So what you do is you're saved, you're dependent, and you represent Christ in that situation, and those three together equal peace in spite of what's happening. They might not agree with you. They might not like you. And God doesn't say that, but you could have peace no matter what you're going in. Say my job when I come to church, Journey Church, every single Sunday, first of all, I'm saved. My second job is depend upon Christ when I come go preach. And my third is to preach to represent Christ when I'm up here. And God should give me peace, no matter what's going on. When you go on the job, that's your job. When you go to work, that's your job. When you go to your family, that's your job. And no matter what else is going on, God says, I'll give you peace.
James Greer: 10:34 But as you know, and I know, the greatest problem in the world is this, we keep following our feelings instead of the fillings. If we just follow the filling, it radically change every area, our marriage, our finance, our job, and our motion. And then in spite of any situation, any circumstances, we could have peace. Like I said, Isaiah had prophesied years ago that the Prince of Peace was coming. In Mark 1, it talks about him getting there, "It came to pass in those days that Jesus came to Nazareth of Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan." I love that, you know, I was very blessed last year or the year before because I got to go there and get into Jordan. And ask me whether I got baptized in the Jordan again. Amen, brother. I said, man, if Jesus got baptized in the Jordan, I want to get baptized there too. I've been saved, but I want to get baptized again. Amen? And then what happened? And immediately coming up... How can you come up unless you went down? It's just a question. People ask me all the time, how come you go down to come up when you baptize people? I don't know, because I think Jesus did. I I don't think baptism saves you. I think baptism is a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. I believe that Jesus went down, and he came up. So I believe when we baptize people, we bring them down and then bring them up. Amen? From the water, and he saw the heavens depart and the spirit descended upon him like a dove. So it descended on him like a dove.
James Greer: 12:23 The dove just now, the type of a dove has just now reappeared from thousands and thousands and years ago, which we'll find out. I told you the dove was a type of the Holy Spirit, and a type of peace. When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit and the Prince of Peace on your side. "A voice from heaven came and said, this is my beloved son who I am well pleased." I mean, if it pleased God the father, and it pleased the son to be baptized. If you haven't been baptized by going down and coming up, I think you should. Amen? And then he was led away into the wilderness. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the dove was a type of that.
James Greer: 13:06 What led up to this? What led up to this dove descending? Well, let me give you some insight. Way back when the flood came, there was Noah, and in the Ark, the animals, and there was a raven there. And before you can enjoy the peace, you have to learn to deal with the raven, and we'll talk about that. But way back in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, and the Lord, he saw that it had become wickedness of man. You do know that, listen to this really quick, you'll know that Jesus is coming back, because it says it'll be in like the days of Noah, which is what's going on. It was great on earth and every intent and thought of the heart was only do evil continually. And the Lord, he was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him. You know, I wrote beside that, that it grieved his heart that God has emotions. And so God said, I'm going to destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, birds and air. For I'm even sorry that I made them. One thing I know that God doesn't operate on emotion, though he has emotions. He's going to do what's right anyway, but look at this, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Amen? See, Noah built an Ark to save his family. Once they got into the ark, God shut the door. Once he shut the door, nobody else was allowed to get in. I think when the floods came, I think there was people beating on the doors and they wanted in and they wished that they had listened to God, but they couldn't get in. There'll come a time again that we won't have the grace of God. There'll come a time again that you wish you would have gone into the ark The ark was a type of salvation. God is our refuge, he is our protector, he is the one that takes care of us. And today is the day, in other words, f you've never accepted Christ, if you've never walked through the door, today is the day to do that.
James Greer: 15:27 Okay, so now they're in the ark, right? Genesis 8:6, "It came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made." Now that window of ark was probably at the top of the ark, and the reason that he opened the window at the top of the ark is because when we need God the most, we've got to look up. We've got to look up for hope and help, and we look up to God. And Psalms 121:1- 2 it says, "My eyes going to look up to God, that comes my help. My help comes from God who made the heavens and who made the earth." That's where my help comes. And then Noah, what he did, he sent out a what? And raven, not a dove, a raven. It kept going to and fro until all the waters had dried up from there. You all ready? Let's talk about the raven a minute. You're, Hmm? Do you know why he wouldn't allow the raven to come back in? The raven was a scavenger, they're eat flesh. They survive on the world. Most likely, do you understand why the raven didn't come back? The raven was most likely surviving on the floating, rotting bodies of people floating, the flesh. And because of that, Noah could never let him back in the ark. He would contaminate the rest of the animals, so he couldn't come back in. So he was surviving in the world, what we would call the flesh. Floating, bloated, and he couldn't come back in. You ready, if you want to learn to follow the filling, if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to continue to learn not to bring the world into your life, into your family. The ark was a type of your family of your home. You have to become spiritually sensitive to what you watch, to what you listen to, and who you're with.
James Greer: 17:44 That's why Matthew 6:22 puts it this way, "The lamp of the body is the eyes. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness, and therefore the light it's in is darkness. How great is the darkness." When it's talking about darkness, it means you come to the point you don't have any really good direction. You get to where you have no hope. You become gloomy. You say you're just gloomy in your whole life. First Corinthians 3:3 says this, "You're still not spiritual." You know how I know? Because there's jealousy and quarreling and fighting among you. You know what this shows, that you're not spiritual. You're not, you're acting like the world. In other words, you're acting like the flesh. The raven was a type of the world and the flesh, it was feeding on the flesh. I talked to you last Sunday about the flesh. You can go back and read it in Galatians 5:19. It says, "The flash feeds off of things like adultery and fornication and hatred and outburst of anger." Everybody has moments of anger. Amen? But if it becomes a lifestyle, it's because you're living out of the flesh. And people say, well, that's just the way it was. My father was that way, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, you're not a dog, and the Holy Spirit is not tricks. It's a power from God that will change your life. And it says drunkenness and envy and those things, it said don't bring into your life.
James Greer: 19:28 There was something else that happened in verse 8, "Noah, he also sent out from himself a dove." He sounded the dove to see if the water had rescinded from the face of the ground. The dove, she couldn't find a resting place, he couldn't find one for the soul of her foot, so she returned to the ark to him. Now listen, the difference is this time, she returned to him for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and he took her and drew her into the Ark to himself. Now notice this time the raven could not come back in, the dove, he opened the window for the dove, came in and gave the dove rest and peace and protection. The dove couldn't find a place to rest in the world, so it returned to the only place that the dove knew that God had created, which was the Ark. It was this refuge. It was a place of safety. Because many times you're going to go out in the world and maybe it's on your job, maybe it's at school, and you just can't find people. You can't find a place to find your rest, can't find peace, you can't find provisions, protection. So you've got to return, you've got to have a place that you can find that. To me, that's my home, that's my office, I have a place where I call my refuge. That's my resting place, that I need to go every morning. The Psalmist 46:1 says, "God is my refuge, he is my strength." It is a picture of them entering into the ark where God says, hey, this is your resting place, this is your protection, this is my provision for you. And God says, sometimes you're going to go in the world and you can't find it there, go back into my place. He's a very present help in time of trouble. Psalms 91:2 puts it this way, he says, "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, he is my fortress. My God, in him I'll trust." Refuge means, my hope, he's my shelter, e's my protection. Run back to him, he's got it for you. You've got to wait, wait.
James Greer: 21:51 Verse 10 goes on, said, "Noah had waited again, and yet another seven days." Because seven is one for completion. "And he sent a dove out again from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening. And behold a freshly plucked what? Olive branch was in her mouth, and Noah knew that the water had rescinded from the earth." Have you all ever said, you ever heard the word, just offer an olive branch. We still use it today. That's where it came from. It was a type of peace, we're trying to offer peace. And the dove came back, and had that, and it was a type of peace. And they were saying, follow the peace, Noah, not the world. The raven's gone, we can't have it back. I'm going to give you a brand new start. God said, I wiped the world out, I'm fixing to let you have a brand new start, a brand new beginning. That's what God wants for me and you, he wants you to come to the point that you want a brand new start in life. He wants you to quit chasing the world. He wants you to say, hey, I'm ready for this new start in my life.
James Greer: 22:57 So then he waited another seven days, and he sent a dove, and that time that dove didn't return. We don't hear from the dove again for thousands and thousands and thousands a years, we finally hear the dove return. Jesus is getting baptized by John the Baptist, and immediately comes up out of the water, and it happens. The heavens part, and the Spirit descends like a what? Dove. There he is, thousands of years later, he says, I'm the Prince of Peace, I'm a type of a Holy Spirit. I want you to part from the ways of the world and the flesh, and I want you to have a peace that surpasses all understanding. And the only way that you can have it, is you've got to enter into the pipe of the ark.
James Greer: 23:44 First of all if you're here today, and you've never accepted Jesus Christ, that's the only way because he is the Prince of Peace. And you need to step out. Second of all, if you're here, and there was a time that you did that, but you got so messed up in the world, you can't have peace and the world at the same time, can't have it. So you've got this turmoil going on. You might know that you're saved, you might've followed through in baptism, but you've got turmoil. And God says, repent, where time of refreshing will come, a time of newness, a brand new beginning. When he came with the olive branch, he said, man, you fixing to have a new beginning. Noah and your family, but you can't live like the raven, you've got to live like a dove. And so he saying would you do that today? Would you just come and say, hey, I'm ready to have that new peace, that new power, that new presence. Did you know when you were in the ark, nothing else could get to them? Do you know the real truth is they didn't do anything but do what Jesus told them to do. They just got in the ark and God shut the door, they didn't shut it. When you come to him for a refuge, he will provide, and he will protect, and he'll give you a hope, that will surpass all understanding. Some of you all today came discouraged and you need a hope, you need a provision, you need a peace that surpasses all understanding. Some of you all have never been biblically baptized, you hadn't gone down, and you hadn't come up, and today's the day you need to surrender to that. Maybe you need to come and join church. Whatever God's called you to do, I believe today is the day for you to do it.
James Greer: 25:31 Would you stand and let me pray with you and to pray for you. God, you're an awesome God. God, you know I don't believe anybody's here by accident, I believe everybody here is by divine appointment. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. God, I pray that we can follow the filling. God, those are here with turmoil, God, I pray that you'd give them peace. God, those that need a refuge, a comfort, a hope, God, they would find it in you this morning. Those that maybe need to follow through in baptism. Maybe they need somebody to pray with them and to pray for them. God, that wonderful thing, the Holy Spirit can teach them something maybe I didn't even preach on today, God, and you're just bringing it to their mind, powerful today, God. God, let us follow you, and we'll give you the honor and the glory. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
James Greer: 00:25 But let me tell you, I need you to get this today. And it's going to be very important, because this is our fourth and last week of Follow the Filling. Where the filling leads, we will follow. Amen? But listen, this is what I want you to know, if you really and truly want to follow the filling you have to grow spiritually. Spiritual growth is the only thing that guarantees that your life will get better. Well you're sitting there saying, I want to grow spiritually, but I don't really know how. That's what this is for. This is to help you. Don't worry too much about the score on the back, because I'm going to change the score. Because when I took the test and I didn't get to good, I'm going to lower it, where I can do better. But the main thing is this, if you want 2020 to be the best year ever, you need to do the spiritual checkup and you need to be honest. You know, God knows your heart anyway. So when you do the tests and you're cheating, he knows you're cheating. Amen? It's best if you do it with somebody, like we're doing it with the staff, and the staff's going to turn it in, and then we're going to talk about it. And then I'm doing it with a few guys that I'm wanting to grow in the Lord, and they'll turn it in, and we'll talk about it. It's great to do it like with your Journey group leaders, or small group leaders, or with your mate. They know anyway, they really know where you are spiritually already. So what you do is, you just kind of go through here. Now there's one of them there that says that you love your wife like Christ loved the church. Oh no, no, no, women, you've got to change that one, that you respect your husband, like God's word says so. Uh Oh. And so you just go through there and you total it up and you see where you're at. But the goal is this, then you go through it and you take kind of the ones that you're lowest on, your lowest numbers, and you work on those for a few weeks and you just try to bring the numbers up. And you wait a few more weeks, and you bring the next numbers up. And man, what an easy way to start growing spiritually. And when you understand spiritual growth is the only way to guarantee that your year will be better. Amen? All right, that's enough of that.
James Greer: 02:50 Now into the message. Okay? Let's talk about what we're going to do on our last message of Following the Filling. Let's talk about that our key verse is this, our key verse has been Ephesians 5:18 for 4 weeks. He says, "Don't be drunk with wine." And we talked about what it's like to be drunk with wine, and a lot of our people unfortunately knew what I was talking about. It makes when you're drunk with wine, you do things and you say things that you should not say. Amen? Don't do that with excess. But when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you do things and say things that you normally wouldn't do. And we want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that you're doing things and you're saying things that you normally wouldn't. Man, it's so exciting to baptize people, man. I mean, I think as of now, we've probably already this new year, we've probably baptized 14 people already. Amen? Woo. And if you all could just see their face when they come up, they're so excited. They say, man, God's given me a brand new start in life. But you've got to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit, because the world is just trying to press the life out of you. But it's been fun on this journey, a lot of us going journey together.
James Greer: 04:02 Some of you, this is the first time you've ever fasted, or especially fast with a purpose, and the purpose was for God to fill you so that you could follow. And sometime it's the first time you've ever followed the filling of the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit leads, you will follow. Amen? Do you all know last Sunday we had 40 first time visitors? That's unbelievable. That's just unbelievable. We had 18 people just last Sunday alone, join and be part of the family. I mean, we've got so much to celebrate, man. And so we just learn what God can do in our life, and we can have a peace that surpasses all understanding.
James Greer: 04:40 That's what we're going to be learning about by the way. You see the doves, they're doing pretty good. I wanted to let them go, but they said, please don't. We're going to be looking at how the doves are a type of peace, and they're type of the Holy Spirit. Doves are a type of peace, and they're a type of the Holy Spirit. Amen? You all don't look very peaceful to me, and I always wanted to know what the Holy Spirit will look like. And to me, he was a he, they don't look very comfortable. When Jesus was baptized, you all ready? The spirit descended on him as a type of a dove, it was a type of the Holy Spirit. Did you all know when you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit? So the dove is a type of peace. And what we're going to learn later on, when Noah released the doves and they returned. One time, one of the doves returned with an olive branch. And you'll know today, sometimes people are having disagreements and somebody will say, well, just extend an olive branch. And they are saying, it's a way to try to offer peace.
James Greer: 06:06 Way back in Isaiah, the prophet said, the Prince of Peace is on the way. Way back in Isaiah 9:6 it says, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall rest upon his shoulder." That's still coming. "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." And way back then, Isaiah said, the Prince of Peace is coming. He said, he's not here yet, but he's coming. The Prince of Peace is who? Say, Jesus Christ. Who's the Prince of Peace? Jesus. The dove is a type of what? Peace.
James Greer: 06:41 John 16:33 says, these things I have spoken unto you, (Journey Church) that in Me (That Jesus speaking.) you have peace." He's the Prince of Peace, he's the one in control, he's the captain of the peace. In the world you're going to have tribulation. We have a lot of people in our church, they're going through tribulation. Let's especially pray for the [inaudible] right now, they're going through tribulation, but our church needs to pray for them. We have several people, the Ruggles, they've got cancer. The [inaudible] have cancer. We've got some people on our security team that have cancer. We've got a lot of people that are going through tribulation, but the Bible says be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. When he says he's overcome the world, he means there's one thing I can do. I'll give you peace in the situation, or I'll remove the situation. or I'll take you home away from the situation. The God's still in control. Amen? He is in there.
James Greer: 07:41 The dove is a type of peace, he's a type of the Holy Spirit. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot help but to have peace in spite of the situation and the circumstances. John 14:27 says this, "Peace I leave with you, (Jesus speaking) my peace I give to you not as the world gives to you. In other words, Jesus says, I give you a different peace. The world's peace comes and goes, the world's peace is conditioned upon situations and circumstance, God's peace is conditioned upon our relationship with him. Don't lose your heart and don't be troubled, are you all ready, neither let it be afraid. I love it, because this is the fourth week and we've been preaching on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Every single week for four weeks, God has had a word for me, and he's had a word for you, and it's don't be afraid. See, I don't know what you're going through, I don't know. It could be on the job, could be finances, [inaudible] But God has a word for you this morning, and one is, don't be troubled and don't be afraid. Amen? He doesn't want you to be.
James Greer: 08:53 Peace is a byproduct of trusting God's promise and purposes and plan for your life. You could have peace in any situation. I'll give you a review real quick. How to have peace. Number one, you've got to be saved. You're saved from something to something, you're saved from hell to be a representative of God. You're saved. Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. So you have to be saved. You got to depend on Christ. Philippians 4:19 says, "But God shall supply all my needs according to his glory." He's going to supply what? All your needs. So you've got to be saved, you've got to depend on Christ, and then we have to learn to represent Christ, not ourselves.
James Greer: 09:38 See, the problem is today were so concerned about representing ourselves, representing our job, representing our church. No, no, no, if you want to have peace, you're saved, you're dependent, and you represent Christ. Amen? Because see, after you're saved, really and truly, Second Corinthians 5:20 says, "Then you're an ambassador, you're a representative for God." So what you do is you're saved, you're dependent, and you represent Christ in that situation, and those three together equal peace in spite of what's happening. They might not agree with you. They might not like you. And God doesn't say that, but you could have peace no matter what you're going in. Say my job when I come to church, Journey Church, every single Sunday, first of all, I'm saved. My second job is depend upon Christ when I come go preach. And my third is to preach to represent Christ when I'm up here. And God should give me peace, no matter what's going on. When you go on the job, that's your job. When you go to work, that's your job. When you go to your family, that's your job. And no matter what else is going on, God says, I'll give you peace.
James Greer: 10:34 But as you know, and I know, the greatest problem in the world is this, we keep following our feelings instead of the fillings. If we just follow the filling, it radically change every area, our marriage, our finance, our job, and our motion. And then in spite of any situation, any circumstances, we could have peace. Like I said, Isaiah had prophesied years ago that the Prince of Peace was coming. In Mark 1, it talks about him getting there, "It came to pass in those days that Jesus came to Nazareth of Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan." I love that, you know, I was very blessed last year or the year before because I got to go there and get into Jordan. And ask me whether I got baptized in the Jordan again. Amen, brother. I said, man, if Jesus got baptized in the Jordan, I want to get baptized there too. I've been saved, but I want to get baptized again. Amen? And then what happened? And immediately coming up... How can you come up unless you went down? It's just a question. People ask me all the time, how come you go down to come up when you baptize people? I don't know, because I think Jesus did. I I don't think baptism saves you. I think baptism is a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. I believe that Jesus went down, and he came up. So I believe when we baptize people, we bring them down and then bring them up. Amen? From the water, and he saw the heavens depart and the spirit descended upon him like a dove. So it descended on him like a dove.
James Greer: 12:23 The dove just now, the type of a dove has just now reappeared from thousands and thousands and years ago, which we'll find out. I told you the dove was a type of the Holy Spirit, and a type of peace. When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit and the Prince of Peace on your side. "A voice from heaven came and said, this is my beloved son who I am well pleased." I mean, if it pleased God the father, and it pleased the son to be baptized. If you haven't been baptized by going down and coming up, I think you should. Amen? And then he was led away into the wilderness. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the dove was a type of that.
James Greer: 13:06 What led up to this? What led up to this dove descending? Well, let me give you some insight. Way back when the flood came, there was Noah, and in the Ark, the animals, and there was a raven there. And before you can enjoy the peace, you have to learn to deal with the raven, and we'll talk about that. But way back in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, and the Lord, he saw that it had become wickedness of man. You do know that, listen to this really quick, you'll know that Jesus is coming back, because it says it'll be in like the days of Noah, which is what's going on. It was great on earth and every intent and thought of the heart was only do evil continually. And the Lord, he was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him. You know, I wrote beside that, that it grieved his heart that God has emotions. And so God said, I'm going to destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, birds and air. For I'm even sorry that I made them. One thing I know that God doesn't operate on emotion, though he has emotions. He's going to do what's right anyway, but look at this, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Amen? See, Noah built an Ark to save his family. Once they got into the ark, God shut the door. Once he shut the door, nobody else was allowed to get in. I think when the floods came, I think there was people beating on the doors and they wanted in and they wished that they had listened to God, but they couldn't get in. There'll come a time again that we won't have the grace of God. There'll come a time again that you wish you would have gone into the ark The ark was a type of salvation. God is our refuge, he is our protector, he is the one that takes care of us. And today is the day, in other words, f you've never accepted Christ, if you've never walked through the door, today is the day to do that.
James Greer: 15:27 Okay, so now they're in the ark, right? Genesis 8:6, "It came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made." Now that window of ark was probably at the top of the ark, and the reason that he opened the window at the top of the ark is because when we need God the most, we've got to look up. We've got to look up for hope and help, and we look up to God. And Psalms 121:1- 2 it says, "My eyes going to look up to God, that comes my help. My help comes from God who made the heavens and who made the earth." That's where my help comes. And then Noah, what he did, he sent out a what? And raven, not a dove, a raven. It kept going to and fro until all the waters had dried up from there. You all ready? Let's talk about the raven a minute. You're, Hmm? Do you know why he wouldn't allow the raven to come back in? The raven was a scavenger, they're eat flesh. They survive on the world. Most likely, do you understand why the raven didn't come back? The raven was most likely surviving on the floating, rotting bodies of people floating, the flesh. And because of that, Noah could never let him back in the ark. He would contaminate the rest of the animals, so he couldn't come back in. So he was surviving in the world, what we would call the flesh. Floating, bloated, and he couldn't come back in. You ready, if you want to learn to follow the filling, if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to continue to learn not to bring the world into your life, into your family. The ark was a type of your family of your home. You have to become spiritually sensitive to what you watch, to what you listen to, and who you're with.
James Greer: 17:44 That's why Matthew 6:22 puts it this way, "The lamp of the body is the eyes. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness, and therefore the light it's in is darkness. How great is the darkness." When it's talking about darkness, it means you come to the point you don't have any really good direction. You get to where you have no hope. You become gloomy. You say you're just gloomy in your whole life. First Corinthians 3:3 says this, "You're still not spiritual." You know how I know? Because there's jealousy and quarreling and fighting among you. You know what this shows, that you're not spiritual. You're not, you're acting like the world. In other words, you're acting like the flesh. The raven was a type of the world and the flesh, it was feeding on the flesh. I talked to you last Sunday about the flesh. You can go back and read it in Galatians 5:19. It says, "The flash feeds off of things like adultery and fornication and hatred and outburst of anger." Everybody has moments of anger. Amen? But if it becomes a lifestyle, it's because you're living out of the flesh. And people say, well, that's just the way it was. My father was that way, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, you're not a dog, and the Holy Spirit is not tricks. It's a power from God that will change your life. And it says drunkenness and envy and those things, it said don't bring into your life.
James Greer: 19:28 There was something else that happened in verse 8, "Noah, he also sent out from himself a dove." He sounded the dove to see if the water had rescinded from the face of the ground. The dove, she couldn't find a resting place, he couldn't find one for the soul of her foot, so she returned to the ark to him. Now listen, the difference is this time, she returned to him for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and he took her and drew her into the Ark to himself. Now notice this time the raven could not come back in, the dove, he opened the window for the dove, came in and gave the dove rest and peace and protection. The dove couldn't find a place to rest in the world, so it returned to the only place that the dove knew that God had created, which was the Ark. It was this refuge. It was a place of safety. Because many times you're going to go out in the world and maybe it's on your job, maybe it's at school, and you just can't find people. You can't find a place to find your rest, can't find peace, you can't find provisions, protection. So you've got to return, you've got to have a place that you can find that. To me, that's my home, that's my office, I have a place where I call my refuge. That's my resting place, that I need to go every morning. The Psalmist 46:1 says, "God is my refuge, he is my strength." It is a picture of them entering into the ark where God says, hey, this is your resting place, this is your protection, this is my provision for you. And God says, sometimes you're going to go in the world and you can't find it there, go back into my place. He's a very present help in time of trouble. Psalms 91:2 puts it this way, he says, "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, he is my fortress. My God, in him I'll trust." Refuge means, my hope, he's my shelter, e's my protection. Run back to him, he's got it for you. You've got to wait, wait.
James Greer: 21:51 Verse 10 goes on, said, "Noah had waited again, and yet another seven days." Because seven is one for completion. "And he sent a dove out again from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening. And behold a freshly plucked what? Olive branch was in her mouth, and Noah knew that the water had rescinded from the earth." Have you all ever said, you ever heard the word, just offer an olive branch. We still use it today. That's where it came from. It was a type of peace, we're trying to offer peace. And the dove came back, and had that, and it was a type of peace. And they were saying, follow the peace, Noah, not the world. The raven's gone, we can't have it back. I'm going to give you a brand new start. God said, I wiped the world out, I'm fixing to let you have a brand new start, a brand new beginning. That's what God wants for me and you, he wants you to come to the point that you want a brand new start in life. He wants you to quit chasing the world. He wants you to say, hey, I'm ready for this new start in my life.
James Greer: 22:57 So then he waited another seven days, and he sent a dove, and that time that dove didn't return. We don't hear from the dove again for thousands and thousands and thousands a years, we finally hear the dove return. Jesus is getting baptized by John the Baptist, and immediately comes up out of the water, and it happens. The heavens part, and the Spirit descends like a what? Dove. There he is, thousands of years later, he says, I'm the Prince of Peace, I'm a type of a Holy Spirit. I want you to part from the ways of the world and the flesh, and I want you to have a peace that surpasses all understanding. And the only way that you can have it, is you've got to enter into the pipe of the ark.
James Greer: 23:44 First of all if you're here today, and you've never accepted Jesus Christ, that's the only way because he is the Prince of Peace. And you need to step out. Second of all, if you're here, and there was a time that you did that, but you got so messed up in the world, you can't have peace and the world at the same time, can't have it. So you've got this turmoil going on. You might know that you're saved, you might've followed through in baptism, but you've got turmoil. And God says, repent, where time of refreshing will come, a time of newness, a brand new beginning. When he came with the olive branch, he said, man, you fixing to have a new beginning. Noah and your family, but you can't live like the raven, you've got to live like a dove. And so he saying would you do that today? Would you just come and say, hey, I'm ready to have that new peace, that new power, that new presence. Did you know when you were in the ark, nothing else could get to them? Do you know the real truth is they didn't do anything but do what Jesus told them to do. They just got in the ark and God shut the door, they didn't shut it. When you come to him for a refuge, he will provide, and he will protect, and he'll give you a hope, that will surpass all understanding. Some of you all today came discouraged and you need a hope, you need a provision, you need a peace that surpasses all understanding. Some of you all have never been biblically baptized, you hadn't gone down, and you hadn't come up, and today's the day you need to surrender to that. Maybe you need to come and join church. Whatever God's called you to do, I believe today is the day for you to do it.
James Greer: 25:31 Would you stand and let me pray with you and to pray for you. God, you're an awesome God. God, you know I don't believe anybody's here by accident, I believe everybody here is by divine appointment. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. God, I pray that we can follow the filling. God, those are here with turmoil, God, I pray that you'd give them peace. God, those that need a refuge, a comfort, a hope, God, they would find it in you this morning. Those that maybe need to follow through in baptism. Maybe they need somebody to pray with them and to pray for them. God, that wonderful thing, the Holy Spirit can teach them something maybe I didn't even preach on today, God, and you're just bringing it to their mind, powerful today, God. God, let us follow you, and we'll give you the honor and the glory. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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