How Long is Too Long Before We Give Up Our Miracle?
How Long is Too Long Before We Give Up On Our Miracles?
James Greer
Nov 15, 2020 37m
When faced with difficult situations or problems in our lives, it can be difficult for us to hold onto hope that God will perform a miracle on our behalf. However, the Bible tells us again and again not to lose heart and to continue to pray for our miracles for God can do anything. 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 (00:01):
The series is going to continue today and one of the verses that we're going to talk about says, then He, it's talking about Jesus, He spoke a parable to them, me and you, and He said that men ought to always pray. And when I read that, I found out I'm surely not praying like I should. And then it says, and not lose heart. A lot of people are starting to lose heart. A lot of people are getting discouraged. And one of the reasons is because of the coronavirus. And we're going to talk about that. I do pray shortly that we'll have a vaccine and that will help. But it's done something else too. A lot of people have quarantined themselves and isolated their selves. And one of the things I'm going to do, I'm excited to have Dr. Hunter here, and we're going to talk about the coronavirus from a medical standpoint. And then we've got Curt and Curt's in the medical field as well. But Curt lost his daughter to the, Curt and Claudia to the coronavirus. And so I'm just going to ask him a few questions about it. But the thing that I see is that the virus goes on and Dr. Hunter, you're still coming to church. So, what do you say about that?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (01:07):
Yeah, well, obviously, you know, we're at church today. I don't neglect and none of y'all would the neglect the fact that it's important for us to be together as a family of faith, to be together as believers. That's a commandment of Scripture. So that whole lockdown thing, that was hard on all of us. So we are all better for the week and beyond when we're here together. So I'm comfortable being here. Just we have to continue to practice the same safety restrictions that are in place.
James Greer (01:36):
Well, also, you talked about, now I do believe we should be safe and that's one, if you'll notice the distance now because I think with the singers, we need that distance. I believe that we do everything we can. You also talked about an age difference of being safe.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (01:53):
Yeah. And you know, we can't sugar coat it, right? The numbers are what they are. Just think about, you know, the last reporting period in Rapides Parish, we were 3.6% positivity. This past week, we're at 4.5%. Nursing homes will lock down at 5%. So we are right there. The numbers that you're talking about are from the CDC where they compared 18 to 29 year olds who we all know are very unlikely to get very seriously sick from the virus. But if you're 65 to 74 years of age.
Curt Fuqua (02:21):
Watch it.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (02:23):
Then you are five times more likely to be hospitalized and, get this, 90 times more likely to succumb to the virus than the 18 to 29 year old. So we just can't take our foot off the gas in terms of taking care of each other.
James Greer (02:38):
I don't really feel like I'm in that age group. But because I am, you know, I really, I don't want to tempt the Lord either. I try to be as careful as I can. You know, when we have a staff meeting, we all wear masks still even in our church office here. I don't go to the grocery store. I think it's okay if you do, but I still order my groceries and pick them up in the car and bring them home unless there's an emergency. So I do everything I can. I do feel like I still need to be at church every Sunday, especially since I'm the preacher. And but Curt, you and Claudia, I mean, y'all lost your daughter to the coronavirus, and yet I admire you. I mean when you're not working, every Sunday, y'all are here. How do you explain that?
Curt Fuqua (03:34):
You can go ahead and put that lyrics back up. I explain it by just, like I said, I think we come because our faith in Christ is stronger than our fear of this world. We all need to be together. You can't do life alone. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Maybe in our first service, I did better than I'm doing now. But when they sang this last song, I think of this song. I play this song quite often actually. And when they started playing it and Brother James asked me to do this this morning, I thought he was going to ask me some medical questions. Of course, we have a doctor here. He don't need to ask me no medical questions. But we see it every day in the hospitals. Dr. Hunter will affirm that with me. And we take our precautions.
Curt Fuqua (04:27):
We wear our masks. We do our sanitations and everything that we do to protect ourselves. But that lyrics, you can't go back to the beginning. And then the next one is you have no control of what tomorrow brings. But I know here in the middle is the place what you promise to be. And that's where Christ is with you. But you have to ask Him and you have to be here. And one thing I thought of earlier, I was like, okay, what do I say to encourage people? Well, God will allow you to decide where you want Him in your life. You can decide to put Him in the back seat. Hey, I got this, God. Or you can put him in the front seat and let Him take the steering wheel and drive your life. And that's what Claudia and I have tried to do, but we all mess up. I mean our motto is you mess up, we mess up, we all mess up.
James Greer (05:27):
And we've got a church full of them. Go ahead.
Curt Fuqua (05:29):
Go ahead. But for me and for Claudia and some struggles that I won't even mention, I had somebody come after service a while ago and he felt compelled after I spoke to, hey, will you pray for my son? I'm like, yes, I will. And I will. But we all have things we need to be prayed for, for each other. And that's where as a community of Christ, we need to do that for each other. I mean I have other struggles as well with another child of mine. And it's the same struggles this guy was asking for. So I'm like, yes, I'm gonna pray for you because I hope somebody is praying for my daughter. And.
James Greer (06:17):
Yeah, Curt, it says one of the reasons we should come to church in Hebrews is says, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. And then it goes on that we can encourage one another.
Curt Fuqua (06:28):
That's right. And I said earlier, who you hang out with is who you really are. So I'd rather hang out with you guys. You know? And all I can say is wear your mask, do sanitation techniques, you know, at all costs. Take the precautions because there's no rhyme or reason on this. Claire was 28 years old. So the statistics are there that more than likely you may just have a common cold or something like that. But you don't, there's no just direct thing that's going to say you're going to die, you're not going to die. I mean it's as bad as, it's worse than the flu. And we don't even talk about the flu and it's flu season.
James Greer (07:12):
I know it. But didn't you have a two-year-old granddaughter?
Curt Fuqua (07:15):
I did. A couple of months after Claire passed away, my two-year-old granddaughter which we don't know where she caught it. Did I bring it home to her? I hope not. I took, I've taken all the precautions I can. Did she catch it at Lowe's and the grocery store, here at church? We don't know because she was coming. She tested positive a few days later. She's two and she's sleeping in the bed between Papa and Cece. You know? And coughing in my face. Why didn't I catch this? I have not had the first symptom even from the time that my daughter passed away. And then she catches it. She's positive. She has a runny nose and everything. And two days later, I'm in the emergency room with my mother-in-law who's 82 who's weak, has a low O2 sat. We send her home and she did fine. I fried her some white perch and that cured her. So I think that's the cure to it. But you know, the statistics are out there of who it hits the worst, but nobody is immune. I know another physician who lost one of his sons. He was 18.
James Greer (08:26):
Well, I think what you're saying is right. I think first of all, we want people to be careful. But I also want to warn people about isolating themselves. Isolation can bring desolation and I think the devil will use this for people who say, okay, I'm going to skip a Sunday or skip two Sundays. Oh, I don't, I'm going to use that money for something else. And you know, for a while, that seems okay. But the long run, it's not. I've seen it over and over again. It brings destruction in lives and in marriage, emotionally, spiritually and financially. So that's my greatest concern is they don't get too far away not only from church but the Lord. And if you get away from the church too long, you're going to usually get away from the Lord and you're not going to get the encouragement that you need.
James Greer (09:11):
That's my greatest concern. And Dr. Hunter, this is a true statement now. Sometimes I'm out and I'll see somebody. Okay? And they might go to Lowe's. This was a true story. One of them was working out in the gym. Go to Walmart which I don't go. I said man, I've been missing y’all. Oh, I'm not going to go to church with this virus. To me, that doesn't add up. But so what do you say to people, and I'm not trying to give him on a guilt trip. I'm really not. I'm just trying to see what's going on here. What do you say to people that they go to work every day, they go to gym every day, they go to Walmart, some of them even go to Lowe's. If they don't go somewhere, else, [inaudible]. How do you justify that? Or how would you answer that?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (09:58):
Well, medically, I couldn't really justify that. You know, the virus is the virus and you can get that anytime you're within six feet of somebody for more than 15 minutes, if you touch a surface with the virus is still there.
James Greer (10:09):
Let me ask you something. I'm sorry. You said something. More than 15 minutes. So I'm gonna let you answer I'm a minute. But I've been wanting to ask you this. You know, I love to hug people. I'm not hugging and I hadn't since the virus started. But you know, I used to stand at the door and I hug everybody and that drives me crazy. So since I can't hug, I'm walking around and trying to at least bump a little bit and then I'll move on. But I wear my mask. Is that okay? Or do I need to stop doing that? I'm being, this is a really serious question.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (10:37):
That's lower risk.
James Greer (10:38):
Huh?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (10:38):
That's lower risk. What's considered a positive contact would be within six feet for more than 15 minutes. But you want to do anything, particularly like we mentioned, if you're in one of these higher risk groups to try to reduce your risk. So if you can cut back on any contact where you might be exposed, you want to do that. Now, do we have a vaccine coming? Yes, we do. But we don't know when that will be. And that will not be widely available to the public until maybe months down the line. You know, the higher risk groups, the frontline healthcare workers, they're going to get it first.
James Greer (11:10):
Now my age.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:11):
May be you.
James Greer (11:11):
Yeah, kicks in. Now brother.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:13):
But the way I see it is we have got to take care of each other. We are family in this church. And beyond this, we are all God's family. And like I mentioned in the first service, it's like that Rick Warren book, Purpose Driven Life. If y'all ever read that, you remember the first sentence out of that book? It's not about you. This whole mask thing and the distancing and the hand sanitizing, it's annoying for all of us. But try to get the politics out of it. We're trying to take care of each other until this vaccine is here. And then we can buckle down and distribute the vaccine and get through this thing together. But until then, we have to look out for each other and love each other to way God would intend us.
James Greer (11:50):
So with all that said, do you think it's okay?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:53):
Quickly.
James Greer (11:54):
Quickly? Quickly and move on?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:57):
Yes.
James Greer (11:57):
Okay. The reason I did that, I wanted to have both, we have a real personal affected emotional. In fact, I asked him before. I wouldn't dare do that. I asked him this morning, I said, okay, I asked him that question. And he said, yes. I think what has happened as devastating as that is, he turned it around almost to be a witness for Christ on how to walk through devastation and let God take something that's horrible and turn it around to the best you can do it. And you and Claudia have really been a witness of how to do that. So first, I want to thank you for that and see, is there anything else you'd like to say, Curt?
Curt Fuqua (12:37):
Claudia and my, we come because we have our faith in Christ that we're just temporarily here on Earth. I can be taken out by the coronavirus. I can be taken out by a tractor accident as my brother did 11 years ago.
James Greer (12:54):
That's true. I forgot about that.
Curt Fuqua (12:55):
None of us are immune to anything in this world. But our purpose in this world is to honor and love God. And you know, God could've taken Jesus off the cross. I couldn't do nothing for my daughter except love her and pray for her. But God had the power, but He left Him on the cross because, so I know how hard it is for me to have lost my daughter. Just think how hard it was for Him to see that happen when He had the power to change it. But He loved us enough to allow it to continue. And Jesus loved us enough to do it. So that being said, I feel safe coming to church. We wear a mask. We can do that elbow bump, fist bump. And I'm not even scared to hug whoever wants to hug.
James Greer (13:46):
Don't hug me.
Curt Fuqua (13:46):
I'm going to hug him as soon as I get done here. But Dr. Hunter and I both work in the hospitals, and we have to do direct care.
James Greer (13:58):
Now I know I don't want you to hug me.
Curt Fuqua (13:58):
And we've talked about it. We do the same thing. We wear our masks. We take precautions. And it should be done out of respect for the other person, not just because. Some people say, well, I'm not wearing my mask. Well, what if you catch it and then bring it home to somebody and you have the same effect that other people have shared of deathly illnesses or something? You know? So it is a virus.
James Greer (14:25):
I appreciate that. And if you remember what Dr. Hunter said, it's not all about you. I mean, you know? So I definitely appreciate it. Dr. Hunter, was there anything you'd like to say before we close?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (14:35):
Well, just look out after each other. And we got to push through this. You know? The front page of the town talk, I don't remember what the words were this morning, but they're concerning. And rightly so. And I don't like to be a Debbie Downer. I'm an optimistic person. But we've got to look after each other. Until the vaccine's there, do the right thing and let's get through this together.
James Greer (14:56):
We do. Because you know, we have a physical family, but church is a family too. And actually, you're actually going to be with a lot of your church family for eternity and I hope you are with your physical family. But your church family is going to be with you forever. So let's just try to take care of each other and let's hear it for both of them. Amen?
James Greer (15:18):
Man, it's Miracle Month, and we've got all kinds of miracles going on. I thank God for it. I hope you got your miracle list. If you don't, you got one in the bulletin. Write in what your miracle is. I mean I love it. I got to go see Mike Scott's come true. I was in the doctor's office with him, and I was recording it because I was going to send it to his wife because I love Mike. But sometimes he gets his stories mixed up a little bit.
James Greer (15:39):
And I was in there and the doctor was saying, yeah, I want to tell you. You just, you got a brain aneurism. And Mike kept doing this to his neck. And the doctor finally said, no, it's in your brain. And so I'm recording it, you know, and he says, but I wouldn't let anybody around here operate on you. And I said, wow. He said, you're gonna go to Tulane. So Tulane said, well, are you going to come down there and we're going to put a dye test on you and we're going. And they found the block, a spot. And said, okay. And then said, you'll come back and we're going to run something up and take a sample. And they ran the blood up there and it was gone. And so Mike was so stunned for two or three days. And he finally said, could it be a miracle?
James Greer (16:17):
I said, well, if you had an aneurysm, now it's gone. I call that a miracle. Amen? And so we've got all kinds. Your miracle might be financial. It might be emotion, might be spiritual. Most of our miracles that we really long for, a lot of them are family that we'd like to see something within our family. But God can do anything. The question today is just how long before we give up? I mean how long before we just quit praying? Well, you don't give up unless Jesus tells you to give up. Maybe you feel like you're just stuck and you're just not going forward. You're not going backwards. Number one, point number one is when you're looking for a miracle, Jesus tells us don't lose heart. Don't get too discouraged. He says in Luke 18:1, it says, then He spoke a parable to Journey Church.
James Greer (17:08):
Or really He's speaking to us. Whether you're here, upstairs or online, He said that men ought to always pray. And when I read that, I say, I really got convicted me. One thing I do is I don't pray enough. But He said, we should pray. We should be praying in the morning, when we're driving, when we're at work. And don't lose heart. Don't get discouraged. He said, many times, we get discouraged. He said, don't give up. Don't stop doing it. Don't lose hope. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of a positive future in spite of your present circumstances. You know why we lose hope? We usually lose hope because we have some impossible situation or a problem in our life.
James Greer (17:50):
And we start looking to people, places and things instead of Jesus Christ. So we get discouraged. But I love what the Psalmist says. The Psalmist says in 27:13, he says, I would have lost heart. I'd have given up. I'd have gotten discouraged unless I believed that I was going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you're discouraged, you get that verse say, hey, God, not only do I believe you can do a miracle. I think you can do it while I'm still alive. Amen? Now I want the guy to do the miracle while I'm here still to enjoy it. I know when I get to Heaven, it's going to be a miracle. But why not now? Amen? And he says, wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He says strengthen your heart.
James Greer (18:29):
Wait, I say, upon the Lord. And so when it saying capital L-O-R-D, he said, wait on the Lord, the God of all army, the ultimate authority. God says, let me encourage you. And Psalmist said in 130:5, he says, he'll tell you how to encourage you. He said, I wait on the Lord. My soul waits. And in His word, I do hope. See, the best way to hope, the best way to wait is to get into God's Word. Just believe His Word, read His Word, be encouraged in His Word. In other words, I wait in His Word, His promises of the situation. You got a problem. Amen? You find the promise and you hang on for the provision. See, that's the way you wait because over and over in the Bible, you're going to read where it says, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. And it's hard to wait on the Lord. Amen? You got a problem. You got a need. And the Bible's saying, wait. Get the promise that goes along with the problem. You got the problem. You got the promise. Hang on, wait for the provision. Second, second. And I love this part.
James Greer (19:41):
Your miracle isn't dependent on your ungodly boss. It doesn't matter if you work for an ungodly person. In fact, second verse saying there was in a certain city, a judge who didn't fear God. He didn't regard man. You understand? It says this judge, he was ungodly. Just because your boss might be ungodly or you think that he's ungodly. It might be a teacher. It might be a parent. And you just think they're so ungodly. That doesn't mean God can't work through them. How about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They were thrown into a fiery furnace. Yes? Why? By ungodly king for doing the godly thing. But guess what? They were thrown in the fires, but they would not burn. They would not bow. They would not burn. And because I would not bow and they would not burn, you recall, they tried to punish them but instead of punishing them, they got promoted.
James Greer (20:38):
If you would read Daniel chapter 3, you would see they didn't bow. They wouldn't bow to an ungodly king. They got thrown into the furnace. And when they came out, that king said, man, their God must be the God. And they got promoted out of the punishment. So sometimes what you see as a problem is nothing more waiting for God to promote you. But what happens? So many people say, hey, I'm not going to make a stand for God. How about Daniel himself? What happened to Daniel? Daniel got thrown into a lion's den. When he got thrown in the lion's, he went to sleep. God shut the mouth of the lion. The next morning, the king was troubled. Not Daniel. The king. He was troubled. He ran down and looked in. And he said, oh Daniel, are you there? And do y'all know what Daniel answered? He said long live the king.
James Greer (21:25):
That's not what I would've answered a king that put me in a lion's den. See, Daniel understood something that people don't understand that if you're a Christian and you're right with God, you're going to honor your authority but you're going to know the real king of kings is our Lord. And see, what he did, he made a decree after this king that put Daniel in the lion's den. He said, listen, I'm going to tell y'all, y'all are gonna fear Daniel's king. He is the God of gods, not me. And so what happened was this. You got to understand, if you handle it right, punishment, then the promotion. They were punished, they went to the palace. There's pain often comes before the promotion comes. But what you got to understand, they made a stand and that made them stand out.
James Greer (22:14):
If you don't ever make a stand for Christ, you're never going to stand out. Matthew 11:6 says, blessed, happy is he who's not offended because of Me. You say, well, I'm not offended because of Christ. But do stand up for Him? Matthew 10:32 says, whosoever confess Me before men, I'm gonna confess Him before the Father. But if you deny Me, I'm going to deny you. Man, wouldn't it be great that you could go to Jesus Christ and say, hey Jesus, I need this miracle. He said, hey, I'll go tell my Father about it? Did you know what we did with the staff Wednesday? We got the WhatsApp and we put all our names in there. And I said, let's challenge each other. Let's invite five people every week to church. And that started out pretty easy. Cool. First week, it's easy. The next week it's hard. But five people. Two of the people can be people that you're just missing at church. But three of them have to be people that don't go to church. It's not as easy as you think.
James Greer (23:21):
But what realized blessings and curses are greatly determined by how you confess or deny Jesus Christ in public. And let me give you a challenge. Amen? There's a next step card. Right, Darrell? Everybody has those? Start getting your next step cards out. Let me challenge you. If God says, blessed are those people that are not offended. He says, listen, if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before the Father. Listen, I am a child of God. Amen? But I want Jesus Christ confessing me before the Father because see, when I'm a child of God and He confess me before the Father, I don't have to worry about anything. He takes care of me. He provides for me. He protects me. So listen, I want you to do this. I want you to start confessing Him before the Father by simply inviting people to church.
James Greer (24:07):
Now I've asked Josh to put cards and invite cards in the back. They're there, Darrell? So they're in the back. This is the easier way. You just say, hey, man, what's your first name? Ask him and give him a card. And say, man, I'd love for you to come to church this Sunday. And that's all you got to do. Now, this is the one thing. You go around and y'all invite them. Okay? And I'll do my best to give them the plan of salvation every single Sunday. Amen? And we'll do it together. You invite them and I'll give them the plan. We'll have one of the greatest evangelism weeks and months that we've ever had and we're supposed to be doing it anyway. You're not just simply coming to church for you. He's not all about you. Amen, Brother James. Half the people come to church think it's just about you.
James Greer (24:58):
All right. Blessings and curses are greatly determined by how you confess or deny Jesus Christ in public. Number three, many times a miracle comes when we finally come to the point when we admit that we're totally helpless and hopeless. The widow was a type of somebody that was totally helpless. Verse 3 says, now there was a widow. That can mean a devastation happened in her life. It can mean she was lacking in the city. And she came to him saying, get justice for me. Something had happened devastating to her. From my adversary. Somebody had taken advantage of her. And he would not for a while. But afterwards, he said within himself, he had a self-talk. See, God can be speaking to somebody else even when you're going through something. He said, even though I don't fear God nor regard man. See, he's an ungodly person. Yet because this widow troubles me, I'm going to avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me out. You know, I love this. Yes, I want you to know the godly people can and do influence the ungodly. When God's ready, He can work a miracle in their heart. In fact, you know, really listen, the widow's troubles troubled him. The widow's trouble troubled the judge. When you're really in trouble, listen, when you're troubled and you go to Jesus, Jesus goes to the Father and He can trouble the person that's been troubling you.
James Greer (26:44):
In fact, not only can He trouble the person that's been troubling you, He can use the person that's been troubling you to bless you. So don't worry about who's bothering you. Don't worry about who your boss is. You worry about being in the right relationship with Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 23:29 says, it is my word. It's like a fire, man. When you start using God's Word, it is like a fire, says the Lord. It's like a hammer. It just breaks rocks to pieces, breaks hearts like pieces of rock. In other words, He can take the hardest heart and just crush it. See, God will always avenge His own if we will allow it. We're like miracles, walking miracles just waiting to happen. And then the Lord, He said, hear what the unjust judge says. I love when God said that because I'll just say, are you ready?
James Greer (27:39):
Are y'all ready? That's kind of what God was saying. He said, I want you to hear this. Too many times, you're just in church and you're not listening. And God is saying, I'm trying to get your attention. I don't want you to miss what I'm about to say. And then He goes on in verse seven and He says it. And shall God not avenge His own elect? It's like God's saying, you not think I'm gonna take care of you? Do you not think I'm gonna provide for you? Who cries out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? He said, God, don't you think I'm going to take care of you? You're my children. You ask for me, I'm going to avenge you. I'm going to take care of you. Why would you think God ain't gonna take care of you anyway? You understand that's kind of what God was saying? He said, I want you to pay attention. When you cry out to me, why would you think I'd not take care of you? He said, you're my elect. Avenge means to take care of, means to protect. It even means to retaliate. We're not to retaliate. It means to payback. But in the truest sense, listen to this, God might be punishing your enemy while you're simply enjoying the privilege of your citizenship and protection.
James Greer (29:04):
You're a citizen of God. It's a picture. We're a picture of the widow and God taking care of us. I love that we're elect. We're the chosen. Timothy says, you're a chosen generation. You're special. It's a miracle though for us to obey God. It's a miracle for us not to try to get vengeance for those people that have hurt us. We need to forgive and just move on. In Romans 12:19, it says this. Beloved, He's talking to Christians, He's talking to His chosen, He's talking to the elect. Do not avenge yourself. In Luke God was trying to tell you I'll avenge for you. I'll take care of you. I'll provide for you. If need be, I'll even retaliate. I'll pay them back. Rather give place to wrath. In other words, why don't you let me do it? Get out of the way. For it is written, vengeance is mine.
James Greer (30:14):
I will repay, says the Lord. See, one of the hardest things for you to do is just forgive and move on. Let it go. I've seen it happened over and over and over again. People that have hurt you, betrayed you, undermined you, stole from you. All these things. I see people, you're living in the past. You're still hurt. You haven't let it go. It's hurting you worse than it's hurting them. God says, listen, forgive them and move on. And vengeance is Mine and He'll take care of it. Amen? Fifth, God will always do His part. He always will. He said, you know, I'll tell you, He wants you to know. I'll tell you that He will avenge them and He'll do it speedily. Rather when the Son of man, will He readily find their faith on earth? See, some of you today need a miracle. God said, I'm here to do that. He said, but if you didn't have your miracle yesterday, don't give up. Maybe it's coming tomorrow. Jesus not only can, but will in the right conditions. If you've been taken advantage of, relax. Do you think God can't avenge? Did He not say I will avenge?
James Greer (31:31):
If you're feeling helpless and hopeless, you might be like the widow. You're finally at the point that you stopped depending on anything and everybody else and God can do a miracle in your life. Did you know that's usually when God does His great work, His great help, His great comfort? There's no miracle that God can't do unless it's outside God's will. I'm going to give you six things that you need to do if you really want a miracle. I don't know what's on your miracle list. It could be, most of them, I read them are personal. Some of them are family. Some of them are your kids. Some are relational miracles. Janet, yours is a physical miracle. It's really a miracle that you're doing as well as you are to be honest with you. It's a miracle how you go through that. It's a miracle every time you have a surgery and you come out and you're smiling. I just cannot believe it. But I love the pictures. But it is a miracle, isn't it, Tony? It's a miracle that y'all can still come every Sunday and it's a miracle that they do not blame God.
James Greer (32:41):
And she's gone through just unbelievable suffering and pain. And I love it that y'all are trying to live life out. Every time I see y'all catching fish, I love it. And so that's a miracle. That is the miracle. So financial, emotional, spiritual, family. You ready for the six things? First of all, you have to be one of God's elect. You have to be chosen. You have to be saved. See, because you got to be the elect, you've got to be chosen because listen, you got to go to Jesus where Jesus can go to the Father. You've got to be one of His children. You say, Hey, God, Jesus, I'm having problems. Jesus says, okay, you're one of the children. I'll go tell daddy and daddy takes care of it. So if you're here today and you're not sure that you're saved, the first thing you got to do is admit I'm a sinner. God, I want you to forgive me of my sins. I want you to come into my heart. Hey, guess what? You become the elect. You become chosen. Number one, you got to be the elect. Number two, you got to be willing to ask. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. And if you haven't got it yet, keep asking. You got to be elect.
James Greer (33:38):
You got to ask. Third, you got to believe. You got to believe. Hebrew says, God rewards those who believe. You got to be elect. If you're here today and you're not, you've got to ask. The Bible says, you have not because you ask not. You got to believe. Fourth, you got to forgive. God, place on everybody's heart today, if there's somebody that hasn't forgiven today, you choose to forgive and you move on. Fifth, you got to stop being ashamed of Christ. You got to stop denying Him. I'm telling you most of you today, it's going to be the first time you've had an opportunity to witness. You need to go out and get at least five cards and you need to invite five people to come back. And some of it, you need to put on the WhatsApp. I'll put y'all on a different app. You'll see people invite people. It's encouraging. And so you get them and you give them a card and you say, hey, I invited Joe to come this Sunday. But most people are not going to do anything unless they're accountable to somebody. So I challenge you.
James Greer (34:39):
You confess Him before men, He'll confess you before the Father. Well, wouldn't it be great to have Jesus Christ confess you before the Father? You go to Jesus. He says, yeah, I'm going to go tell the Father. Is there anything the Father cannot do for His children? Of course not. Are you ready? Sixth and last, expect Him to do it. If He didn't do it today, if He didn't do it tomorrow, expect Him to do it the next day. Make sure you're the elect, that you're chosen. Ask. In just a minute, I'm going to get prayer and ask Him. Believe. Forgive. Don't deny Him. And expect. Will you stand and let me pray for you? God, this is, you're an awesome God. Just thank you for your love.
James Greer (35:30):
I thank you that the Holy Spirit is here today. I pray that you'd press upon hearts that you're ready to do a miracle. God, I pray if there's somebody here that doesn't know you right now, that your Holy Spirit would work heavy on their hearts and they'd make a decision to invite Jesus Christ into their heart. You take the next step card and you just say, hey, today is the day. I want to make saved. I want to make sure I'm going to Heaven. And you just check it and you can bring it, lay it in the front and Pastor Darrell will get it. Some of you have never been biblically, publicly baptize. Why not? You ashamed? If you're ashamed to Him, He'll deny you before God. Today's a perfect day. Today is I'm not ashamed. And you come and you mark, I want to be baptized. You can lay that card on the alter and we'll call you next week. We'll make arrangements. Some of you've been coming. You've been visiting and visiting and visiting. Today is the day you know you want to become a member. Just check it. I want to become a member. And when they're singing, just walk up. Don't be worried about what everybody else thinks.
James Greer (36:40):
Some of you have an unbelievable miracle and you think today's the day that you're going to believe that God's going to do it and you're going to expect Him to do it. So whatever it is God lays upon your heart, I want you to just let Him have His will and His way. It's all in the precious name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said amen.
Andrew Barber (37:02):
On behalf of Pastor James, we want to thank you for joining us here this morning. If you need any prayer, we have pastors on standby who would love nothing more than to pray with you. If you would like to give this morning, all you have to do is give through the app, online or through text message. Once again, thank you for joining us. And we would love to see you back here, Facebook live or on our website next Sunday morning.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
The series is going to continue today and one of the verses that we're going to talk about says, then He, it's talking about Jesus, He spoke a parable to them, me and you, and He said that men ought to always pray. And when I read that, I found out I'm surely not praying like I should. And then it says, and not lose heart. A lot of people are starting to lose heart. A lot of people are getting discouraged. And one of the reasons is because of the coronavirus. And we're going to talk about that. I do pray shortly that we'll have a vaccine and that will help. But it's done something else too. A lot of people have quarantined themselves and isolated their selves. And one of the things I'm going to do, I'm excited to have Dr. Hunter here, and we're going to talk about the coronavirus from a medical standpoint. And then we've got Curt and Curt's in the medical field as well. But Curt lost his daughter to the, Curt and Claudia to the coronavirus. And so I'm just going to ask him a few questions about it. But the thing that I see is that the virus goes on and Dr. Hunter, you're still coming to church. So, what do you say about that?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (01:07):
Yeah, well, obviously, you know, we're at church today. I don't neglect and none of y'all would the neglect the fact that it's important for us to be together as a family of faith, to be together as believers. That's a commandment of Scripture. So that whole lockdown thing, that was hard on all of us. So we are all better for the week and beyond when we're here together. So I'm comfortable being here. Just we have to continue to practice the same safety restrictions that are in place.
James Greer (01:36):
Well, also, you talked about, now I do believe we should be safe and that's one, if you'll notice the distance now because I think with the singers, we need that distance. I believe that we do everything we can. You also talked about an age difference of being safe.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (01:53):
Yeah. And you know, we can't sugar coat it, right? The numbers are what they are. Just think about, you know, the last reporting period in Rapides Parish, we were 3.6% positivity. This past week, we're at 4.5%. Nursing homes will lock down at 5%. So we are right there. The numbers that you're talking about are from the CDC where they compared 18 to 29 year olds who we all know are very unlikely to get very seriously sick from the virus. But if you're 65 to 74 years of age.
Curt Fuqua (02:21):
Watch it.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (02:23):
Then you are five times more likely to be hospitalized and, get this, 90 times more likely to succumb to the virus than the 18 to 29 year old. So we just can't take our foot off the gas in terms of taking care of each other.
James Greer (02:38):
I don't really feel like I'm in that age group. But because I am, you know, I really, I don't want to tempt the Lord either. I try to be as careful as I can. You know, when we have a staff meeting, we all wear masks still even in our church office here. I don't go to the grocery store. I think it's okay if you do, but I still order my groceries and pick them up in the car and bring them home unless there's an emergency. So I do everything I can. I do feel like I still need to be at church every Sunday, especially since I'm the preacher. And but Curt, you and Claudia, I mean, y'all lost your daughter to the coronavirus, and yet I admire you. I mean when you're not working, every Sunday, y'all are here. How do you explain that?
Curt Fuqua (03:34):
You can go ahead and put that lyrics back up. I explain it by just, like I said, I think we come because our faith in Christ is stronger than our fear of this world. We all need to be together. You can't do life alone. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Maybe in our first service, I did better than I'm doing now. But when they sang this last song, I think of this song. I play this song quite often actually. And when they started playing it and Brother James asked me to do this this morning, I thought he was going to ask me some medical questions. Of course, we have a doctor here. He don't need to ask me no medical questions. But we see it every day in the hospitals. Dr. Hunter will affirm that with me. And we take our precautions.
Curt Fuqua (04:27):
We wear our masks. We do our sanitations and everything that we do to protect ourselves. But that lyrics, you can't go back to the beginning. And then the next one is you have no control of what tomorrow brings. But I know here in the middle is the place what you promise to be. And that's where Christ is with you. But you have to ask Him and you have to be here. And one thing I thought of earlier, I was like, okay, what do I say to encourage people? Well, God will allow you to decide where you want Him in your life. You can decide to put Him in the back seat. Hey, I got this, God. Or you can put him in the front seat and let Him take the steering wheel and drive your life. And that's what Claudia and I have tried to do, but we all mess up. I mean our motto is you mess up, we mess up, we all mess up.
James Greer (05:27):
And we've got a church full of them. Go ahead.
Curt Fuqua (05:29):
Go ahead. But for me and for Claudia and some struggles that I won't even mention, I had somebody come after service a while ago and he felt compelled after I spoke to, hey, will you pray for my son? I'm like, yes, I will. And I will. But we all have things we need to be prayed for, for each other. And that's where as a community of Christ, we need to do that for each other. I mean I have other struggles as well with another child of mine. And it's the same struggles this guy was asking for. So I'm like, yes, I'm gonna pray for you because I hope somebody is praying for my daughter. And.
James Greer (06:17):
Yeah, Curt, it says one of the reasons we should come to church in Hebrews is says, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. And then it goes on that we can encourage one another.
Curt Fuqua (06:28):
That's right. And I said earlier, who you hang out with is who you really are. So I'd rather hang out with you guys. You know? And all I can say is wear your mask, do sanitation techniques, you know, at all costs. Take the precautions because there's no rhyme or reason on this. Claire was 28 years old. So the statistics are there that more than likely you may just have a common cold or something like that. But you don't, there's no just direct thing that's going to say you're going to die, you're not going to die. I mean it's as bad as, it's worse than the flu. And we don't even talk about the flu and it's flu season.
James Greer (07:12):
I know it. But didn't you have a two-year-old granddaughter?
Curt Fuqua (07:15):
I did. A couple of months after Claire passed away, my two-year-old granddaughter which we don't know where she caught it. Did I bring it home to her? I hope not. I took, I've taken all the precautions I can. Did she catch it at Lowe's and the grocery store, here at church? We don't know because she was coming. She tested positive a few days later. She's two and she's sleeping in the bed between Papa and Cece. You know? And coughing in my face. Why didn't I catch this? I have not had the first symptom even from the time that my daughter passed away. And then she catches it. She's positive. She has a runny nose and everything. And two days later, I'm in the emergency room with my mother-in-law who's 82 who's weak, has a low O2 sat. We send her home and she did fine. I fried her some white perch and that cured her. So I think that's the cure to it. But you know, the statistics are out there of who it hits the worst, but nobody is immune. I know another physician who lost one of his sons. He was 18.
James Greer (08:26):
Well, I think what you're saying is right. I think first of all, we want people to be careful. But I also want to warn people about isolating themselves. Isolation can bring desolation and I think the devil will use this for people who say, okay, I'm going to skip a Sunday or skip two Sundays. Oh, I don't, I'm going to use that money for something else. And you know, for a while, that seems okay. But the long run, it's not. I've seen it over and over again. It brings destruction in lives and in marriage, emotionally, spiritually and financially. So that's my greatest concern is they don't get too far away not only from church but the Lord. And if you get away from the church too long, you're going to usually get away from the Lord and you're not going to get the encouragement that you need.
James Greer (09:11):
That's my greatest concern. And Dr. Hunter, this is a true statement now. Sometimes I'm out and I'll see somebody. Okay? And they might go to Lowe's. This was a true story. One of them was working out in the gym. Go to Walmart which I don't go. I said man, I've been missing y’all. Oh, I'm not going to go to church with this virus. To me, that doesn't add up. But so what do you say to people, and I'm not trying to give him on a guilt trip. I'm really not. I'm just trying to see what's going on here. What do you say to people that they go to work every day, they go to gym every day, they go to Walmart, some of them even go to Lowe's. If they don't go somewhere, else, [inaudible]. How do you justify that? Or how would you answer that?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (09:58):
Well, medically, I couldn't really justify that. You know, the virus is the virus and you can get that anytime you're within six feet of somebody for more than 15 minutes, if you touch a surface with the virus is still there.
James Greer (10:09):
Let me ask you something. I'm sorry. You said something. More than 15 minutes. So I'm gonna let you answer I'm a minute. But I've been wanting to ask you this. You know, I love to hug people. I'm not hugging and I hadn't since the virus started. But you know, I used to stand at the door and I hug everybody and that drives me crazy. So since I can't hug, I'm walking around and trying to at least bump a little bit and then I'll move on. But I wear my mask. Is that okay? Or do I need to stop doing that? I'm being, this is a really serious question.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (10:37):
That's lower risk.
James Greer (10:38):
Huh?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (10:38):
That's lower risk. What's considered a positive contact would be within six feet for more than 15 minutes. But you want to do anything, particularly like we mentioned, if you're in one of these higher risk groups to try to reduce your risk. So if you can cut back on any contact where you might be exposed, you want to do that. Now, do we have a vaccine coming? Yes, we do. But we don't know when that will be. And that will not be widely available to the public until maybe months down the line. You know, the higher risk groups, the frontline healthcare workers, they're going to get it first.
James Greer (11:10):
Now my age.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:11):
May be you.
James Greer (11:11):
Yeah, kicks in. Now brother.
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:13):
But the way I see it is we have got to take care of each other. We are family in this church. And beyond this, we are all God's family. And like I mentioned in the first service, it's like that Rick Warren book, Purpose Driven Life. If y'all ever read that, you remember the first sentence out of that book? It's not about you. This whole mask thing and the distancing and the hand sanitizing, it's annoying for all of us. But try to get the politics out of it. We're trying to take care of each other until this vaccine is here. And then we can buckle down and distribute the vaccine and get through this thing together. But until then, we have to look out for each other and love each other to way God would intend us.
James Greer (11:50):
So with all that said, do you think it's okay?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:53):
Quickly.
James Greer (11:54):
Quickly? Quickly and move on?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (11:57):
Yes.
James Greer (11:57):
Okay. The reason I did that, I wanted to have both, we have a real personal affected emotional. In fact, I asked him before. I wouldn't dare do that. I asked him this morning, I said, okay, I asked him that question. And he said, yes. I think what has happened as devastating as that is, he turned it around almost to be a witness for Christ on how to walk through devastation and let God take something that's horrible and turn it around to the best you can do it. And you and Claudia have really been a witness of how to do that. So first, I want to thank you for that and see, is there anything else you'd like to say, Curt?
Curt Fuqua (12:37):
Claudia and my, we come because we have our faith in Christ that we're just temporarily here on Earth. I can be taken out by the coronavirus. I can be taken out by a tractor accident as my brother did 11 years ago.
James Greer (12:54):
That's true. I forgot about that.
Curt Fuqua (12:55):
None of us are immune to anything in this world. But our purpose in this world is to honor and love God. And you know, God could've taken Jesus off the cross. I couldn't do nothing for my daughter except love her and pray for her. But God had the power, but He left Him on the cross because, so I know how hard it is for me to have lost my daughter. Just think how hard it was for Him to see that happen when He had the power to change it. But He loved us enough to allow it to continue. And Jesus loved us enough to do it. So that being said, I feel safe coming to church. We wear a mask. We can do that elbow bump, fist bump. And I'm not even scared to hug whoever wants to hug.
James Greer (13:46):
Don't hug me.
Curt Fuqua (13:46):
I'm going to hug him as soon as I get done here. But Dr. Hunter and I both work in the hospitals, and we have to do direct care.
James Greer (13:58):
Now I know I don't want you to hug me.
Curt Fuqua (13:58):
And we've talked about it. We do the same thing. We wear our masks. We take precautions. And it should be done out of respect for the other person, not just because. Some people say, well, I'm not wearing my mask. Well, what if you catch it and then bring it home to somebody and you have the same effect that other people have shared of deathly illnesses or something? You know? So it is a virus.
James Greer (14:25):
I appreciate that. And if you remember what Dr. Hunter said, it's not all about you. I mean, you know? So I definitely appreciate it. Dr. Hunter, was there anything you'd like to say before we close?
Dr. Jonathan Hunter (14:35):
Well, just look out after each other. And we got to push through this. You know? The front page of the town talk, I don't remember what the words were this morning, but they're concerning. And rightly so. And I don't like to be a Debbie Downer. I'm an optimistic person. But we've got to look after each other. Until the vaccine's there, do the right thing and let's get through this together.
James Greer (14:56):
We do. Because you know, we have a physical family, but church is a family too. And actually, you're actually going to be with a lot of your church family for eternity and I hope you are with your physical family. But your church family is going to be with you forever. So let's just try to take care of each other and let's hear it for both of them. Amen?
James Greer (15:18):
Man, it's Miracle Month, and we've got all kinds of miracles going on. I thank God for it. I hope you got your miracle list. If you don't, you got one in the bulletin. Write in what your miracle is. I mean I love it. I got to go see Mike Scott's come true. I was in the doctor's office with him, and I was recording it because I was going to send it to his wife because I love Mike. But sometimes he gets his stories mixed up a little bit.
James Greer (15:39):
And I was in there and the doctor was saying, yeah, I want to tell you. You just, you got a brain aneurism. And Mike kept doing this to his neck. And the doctor finally said, no, it's in your brain. And so I'm recording it, you know, and he says, but I wouldn't let anybody around here operate on you. And I said, wow. He said, you're gonna go to Tulane. So Tulane said, well, are you going to come down there and we're going to put a dye test on you and we're going. And they found the block, a spot. And said, okay. And then said, you'll come back and we're going to run something up and take a sample. And they ran the blood up there and it was gone. And so Mike was so stunned for two or three days. And he finally said, could it be a miracle?
James Greer (16:17):
I said, well, if you had an aneurysm, now it's gone. I call that a miracle. Amen? And so we've got all kinds. Your miracle might be financial. It might be emotion, might be spiritual. Most of our miracles that we really long for, a lot of them are family that we'd like to see something within our family. But God can do anything. The question today is just how long before we give up? I mean how long before we just quit praying? Well, you don't give up unless Jesus tells you to give up. Maybe you feel like you're just stuck and you're just not going forward. You're not going backwards. Number one, point number one is when you're looking for a miracle, Jesus tells us don't lose heart. Don't get too discouraged. He says in Luke 18:1, it says, then He spoke a parable to Journey Church.
James Greer (17:08):
Or really He's speaking to us. Whether you're here, upstairs or online, He said that men ought to always pray. And when I read that, I say, I really got convicted me. One thing I do is I don't pray enough. But He said, we should pray. We should be praying in the morning, when we're driving, when we're at work. And don't lose heart. Don't get discouraged. He said, many times, we get discouraged. He said, don't give up. Don't stop doing it. Don't lose hope. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of a positive future in spite of your present circumstances. You know why we lose hope? We usually lose hope because we have some impossible situation or a problem in our life.
James Greer (17:50):
And we start looking to people, places and things instead of Jesus Christ. So we get discouraged. But I love what the Psalmist says. The Psalmist says in 27:13, he says, I would have lost heart. I'd have given up. I'd have gotten discouraged unless I believed that I was going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you're discouraged, you get that verse say, hey, God, not only do I believe you can do a miracle. I think you can do it while I'm still alive. Amen? Now I want the guy to do the miracle while I'm here still to enjoy it. I know when I get to Heaven, it's going to be a miracle. But why not now? Amen? And he says, wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He says strengthen your heart.
James Greer (18:29):
Wait, I say, upon the Lord. And so when it saying capital L-O-R-D, he said, wait on the Lord, the God of all army, the ultimate authority. God says, let me encourage you. And Psalmist said in 130:5, he says, he'll tell you how to encourage you. He said, I wait on the Lord. My soul waits. And in His word, I do hope. See, the best way to hope, the best way to wait is to get into God's Word. Just believe His Word, read His Word, be encouraged in His Word. In other words, I wait in His Word, His promises of the situation. You got a problem. Amen? You find the promise and you hang on for the provision. See, that's the way you wait because over and over in the Bible, you're going to read where it says, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. And it's hard to wait on the Lord. Amen? You got a problem. You got a need. And the Bible's saying, wait. Get the promise that goes along with the problem. You got the problem. You got the promise. Hang on, wait for the provision. Second, second. And I love this part.
James Greer (19:41):
Your miracle isn't dependent on your ungodly boss. It doesn't matter if you work for an ungodly person. In fact, second verse saying there was in a certain city, a judge who didn't fear God. He didn't regard man. You understand? It says this judge, he was ungodly. Just because your boss might be ungodly or you think that he's ungodly. It might be a teacher. It might be a parent. And you just think they're so ungodly. That doesn't mean God can't work through them. How about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They were thrown into a fiery furnace. Yes? Why? By ungodly king for doing the godly thing. But guess what? They were thrown in the fires, but they would not burn. They would not bow. They would not burn. And because I would not bow and they would not burn, you recall, they tried to punish them but instead of punishing them, they got promoted.
James Greer (20:38):
If you would read Daniel chapter 3, you would see they didn't bow. They wouldn't bow to an ungodly king. They got thrown into the furnace. And when they came out, that king said, man, their God must be the God. And they got promoted out of the punishment. So sometimes what you see as a problem is nothing more waiting for God to promote you. But what happens? So many people say, hey, I'm not going to make a stand for God. How about Daniel himself? What happened to Daniel? Daniel got thrown into a lion's den. When he got thrown in the lion's, he went to sleep. God shut the mouth of the lion. The next morning, the king was troubled. Not Daniel. The king. He was troubled. He ran down and looked in. And he said, oh Daniel, are you there? And do y'all know what Daniel answered? He said long live the king.
James Greer (21:25):
That's not what I would've answered a king that put me in a lion's den. See, Daniel understood something that people don't understand that if you're a Christian and you're right with God, you're going to honor your authority but you're going to know the real king of kings is our Lord. And see, what he did, he made a decree after this king that put Daniel in the lion's den. He said, listen, I'm going to tell y'all, y'all are gonna fear Daniel's king. He is the God of gods, not me. And so what happened was this. You got to understand, if you handle it right, punishment, then the promotion. They were punished, they went to the palace. There's pain often comes before the promotion comes. But what you got to understand, they made a stand and that made them stand out.
James Greer (22:14):
If you don't ever make a stand for Christ, you're never going to stand out. Matthew 11:6 says, blessed, happy is he who's not offended because of Me. You say, well, I'm not offended because of Christ. But do stand up for Him? Matthew 10:32 says, whosoever confess Me before men, I'm gonna confess Him before the Father. But if you deny Me, I'm going to deny you. Man, wouldn't it be great that you could go to Jesus Christ and say, hey Jesus, I need this miracle. He said, hey, I'll go tell my Father about it? Did you know what we did with the staff Wednesday? We got the WhatsApp and we put all our names in there. And I said, let's challenge each other. Let's invite five people every week to church. And that started out pretty easy. Cool. First week, it's easy. The next week it's hard. But five people. Two of the people can be people that you're just missing at church. But three of them have to be people that don't go to church. It's not as easy as you think.
James Greer (23:21):
But what realized blessings and curses are greatly determined by how you confess or deny Jesus Christ in public. And let me give you a challenge. Amen? There's a next step card. Right, Darrell? Everybody has those? Start getting your next step cards out. Let me challenge you. If God says, blessed are those people that are not offended. He says, listen, if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before the Father. Listen, I am a child of God. Amen? But I want Jesus Christ confessing me before the Father because see, when I'm a child of God and He confess me before the Father, I don't have to worry about anything. He takes care of me. He provides for me. He protects me. So listen, I want you to do this. I want you to start confessing Him before the Father by simply inviting people to church.
James Greer (24:07):
Now I've asked Josh to put cards and invite cards in the back. They're there, Darrell? So they're in the back. This is the easier way. You just say, hey, man, what's your first name? Ask him and give him a card. And say, man, I'd love for you to come to church this Sunday. And that's all you got to do. Now, this is the one thing. You go around and y'all invite them. Okay? And I'll do my best to give them the plan of salvation every single Sunday. Amen? And we'll do it together. You invite them and I'll give them the plan. We'll have one of the greatest evangelism weeks and months that we've ever had and we're supposed to be doing it anyway. You're not just simply coming to church for you. He's not all about you. Amen, Brother James. Half the people come to church think it's just about you.
James Greer (24:58):
All right. Blessings and curses are greatly determined by how you confess or deny Jesus Christ in public. Number three, many times a miracle comes when we finally come to the point when we admit that we're totally helpless and hopeless. The widow was a type of somebody that was totally helpless. Verse 3 says, now there was a widow. That can mean a devastation happened in her life. It can mean she was lacking in the city. And she came to him saying, get justice for me. Something had happened devastating to her. From my adversary. Somebody had taken advantage of her. And he would not for a while. But afterwards, he said within himself, he had a self-talk. See, God can be speaking to somebody else even when you're going through something. He said, even though I don't fear God nor regard man. See, he's an ungodly person. Yet because this widow troubles me, I'm going to avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me out. You know, I love this. Yes, I want you to know the godly people can and do influence the ungodly. When God's ready, He can work a miracle in their heart. In fact, you know, really listen, the widow's troubles troubled him. The widow's trouble troubled the judge. When you're really in trouble, listen, when you're troubled and you go to Jesus, Jesus goes to the Father and He can trouble the person that's been troubling you.
James Greer (26:44):
In fact, not only can He trouble the person that's been troubling you, He can use the person that's been troubling you to bless you. So don't worry about who's bothering you. Don't worry about who your boss is. You worry about being in the right relationship with Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 23:29 says, it is my word. It's like a fire, man. When you start using God's Word, it is like a fire, says the Lord. It's like a hammer. It just breaks rocks to pieces, breaks hearts like pieces of rock. In other words, He can take the hardest heart and just crush it. See, God will always avenge His own if we will allow it. We're like miracles, walking miracles just waiting to happen. And then the Lord, He said, hear what the unjust judge says. I love when God said that because I'll just say, are you ready?
James Greer (27:39):
Are y'all ready? That's kind of what God was saying. He said, I want you to hear this. Too many times, you're just in church and you're not listening. And God is saying, I'm trying to get your attention. I don't want you to miss what I'm about to say. And then He goes on in verse seven and He says it. And shall God not avenge His own elect? It's like God's saying, you not think I'm gonna take care of you? Do you not think I'm gonna provide for you? Who cries out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? He said, God, don't you think I'm going to take care of you? You're my children. You ask for me, I'm going to avenge you. I'm going to take care of you. Why would you think God ain't gonna take care of you anyway? You understand that's kind of what God was saying? He said, I want you to pay attention. When you cry out to me, why would you think I'd not take care of you? He said, you're my elect. Avenge means to take care of, means to protect. It even means to retaliate. We're not to retaliate. It means to payback. But in the truest sense, listen to this, God might be punishing your enemy while you're simply enjoying the privilege of your citizenship and protection.
James Greer (29:04):
You're a citizen of God. It's a picture. We're a picture of the widow and God taking care of us. I love that we're elect. We're the chosen. Timothy says, you're a chosen generation. You're special. It's a miracle though for us to obey God. It's a miracle for us not to try to get vengeance for those people that have hurt us. We need to forgive and just move on. In Romans 12:19, it says this. Beloved, He's talking to Christians, He's talking to His chosen, He's talking to the elect. Do not avenge yourself. In Luke God was trying to tell you I'll avenge for you. I'll take care of you. I'll provide for you. If need be, I'll even retaliate. I'll pay them back. Rather give place to wrath. In other words, why don't you let me do it? Get out of the way. For it is written, vengeance is mine.
James Greer (30:14):
I will repay, says the Lord. See, one of the hardest things for you to do is just forgive and move on. Let it go. I've seen it happened over and over and over again. People that have hurt you, betrayed you, undermined you, stole from you. All these things. I see people, you're living in the past. You're still hurt. You haven't let it go. It's hurting you worse than it's hurting them. God says, listen, forgive them and move on. And vengeance is Mine and He'll take care of it. Amen? Fifth, God will always do His part. He always will. He said, you know, I'll tell you, He wants you to know. I'll tell you that He will avenge them and He'll do it speedily. Rather when the Son of man, will He readily find their faith on earth? See, some of you today need a miracle. God said, I'm here to do that. He said, but if you didn't have your miracle yesterday, don't give up. Maybe it's coming tomorrow. Jesus not only can, but will in the right conditions. If you've been taken advantage of, relax. Do you think God can't avenge? Did He not say I will avenge?
James Greer (31:31):
If you're feeling helpless and hopeless, you might be like the widow. You're finally at the point that you stopped depending on anything and everybody else and God can do a miracle in your life. Did you know that's usually when God does His great work, His great help, His great comfort? There's no miracle that God can't do unless it's outside God's will. I'm going to give you six things that you need to do if you really want a miracle. I don't know what's on your miracle list. It could be, most of them, I read them are personal. Some of them are family. Some of them are your kids. Some are relational miracles. Janet, yours is a physical miracle. It's really a miracle that you're doing as well as you are to be honest with you. It's a miracle how you go through that. It's a miracle every time you have a surgery and you come out and you're smiling. I just cannot believe it. But I love the pictures. But it is a miracle, isn't it, Tony? It's a miracle that y'all can still come every Sunday and it's a miracle that they do not blame God.
James Greer (32:41):
And she's gone through just unbelievable suffering and pain. And I love it that y'all are trying to live life out. Every time I see y'all catching fish, I love it. And so that's a miracle. That is the miracle. So financial, emotional, spiritual, family. You ready for the six things? First of all, you have to be one of God's elect. You have to be chosen. You have to be saved. See, because you got to be the elect, you've got to be chosen because listen, you got to go to Jesus where Jesus can go to the Father. You've got to be one of His children. You say, Hey, God, Jesus, I'm having problems. Jesus says, okay, you're one of the children. I'll go tell daddy and daddy takes care of it. So if you're here today and you're not sure that you're saved, the first thing you got to do is admit I'm a sinner. God, I want you to forgive me of my sins. I want you to come into my heart. Hey, guess what? You become the elect. You become chosen. Number one, you got to be the elect. Number two, you got to be willing to ask. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. And if you haven't got it yet, keep asking. You got to be elect.
James Greer (33:38):
You got to ask. Third, you got to believe. You got to believe. Hebrew says, God rewards those who believe. You got to be elect. If you're here today and you're not, you've got to ask. The Bible says, you have not because you ask not. You got to believe. Fourth, you got to forgive. God, place on everybody's heart today, if there's somebody that hasn't forgiven today, you choose to forgive and you move on. Fifth, you got to stop being ashamed of Christ. You got to stop denying Him. I'm telling you most of you today, it's going to be the first time you've had an opportunity to witness. You need to go out and get at least five cards and you need to invite five people to come back. And some of it, you need to put on the WhatsApp. I'll put y'all on a different app. You'll see people invite people. It's encouraging. And so you get them and you give them a card and you say, hey, I invited Joe to come this Sunday. But most people are not going to do anything unless they're accountable to somebody. So I challenge you.
James Greer (34:39):
You confess Him before men, He'll confess you before the Father. Well, wouldn't it be great to have Jesus Christ confess you before the Father? You go to Jesus. He says, yeah, I'm going to go tell the Father. Is there anything the Father cannot do for His children? Of course not. Are you ready? Sixth and last, expect Him to do it. If He didn't do it today, if He didn't do it tomorrow, expect Him to do it the next day. Make sure you're the elect, that you're chosen. Ask. In just a minute, I'm going to get prayer and ask Him. Believe. Forgive. Don't deny Him. And expect. Will you stand and let me pray for you? God, this is, you're an awesome God. Just thank you for your love.
James Greer (35:30):
I thank you that the Holy Spirit is here today. I pray that you'd press upon hearts that you're ready to do a miracle. God, I pray if there's somebody here that doesn't know you right now, that your Holy Spirit would work heavy on their hearts and they'd make a decision to invite Jesus Christ into their heart. You take the next step card and you just say, hey, today is the day. I want to make saved. I want to make sure I'm going to Heaven. And you just check it and you can bring it, lay it in the front and Pastor Darrell will get it. Some of you have never been biblically, publicly baptize. Why not? You ashamed? If you're ashamed to Him, He'll deny you before God. Today's a perfect day. Today is I'm not ashamed. And you come and you mark, I want to be baptized. You can lay that card on the alter and we'll call you next week. We'll make arrangements. Some of you've been coming. You've been visiting and visiting and visiting. Today is the day you know you want to become a member. Just check it. I want to become a member. And when they're singing, just walk up. Don't be worried about what everybody else thinks.
James Greer (36:40):
Some of you have an unbelievable miracle and you think today's the day that you're going to believe that God's going to do it and you're going to expect Him to do it. So whatever it is God lays upon your heart, I want you to just let Him have His will and His way. It's all in the precious name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said amen.
Andrew Barber (37:02):
On behalf of Pastor James, we want to thank you for joining us here this morning. If you need any prayer, we have pastors on standby who would love nothing more than to pray with you. If you would like to give this morning, all you have to do is give through the app, online or through text message. Once again, thank you for joining us. And we would love to see you back here, Facebook live or on our website next Sunday morning.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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