Understanding How To Multiply Your Joy Through Your Faith

James Greer: [00:00:00] Morning, Journey Church. I'm going to tell you next Sunday after each service, if you want to, I want to invite you to just walk back there and see it. Amen? Man, God is really blessing us. We're going to continue our series called Multiply, and today is Multiply Your Joy. Anybody want some more joy? John 15:11 is kind of a key verse. It says this. These things I have spoken to you and to me, that my joy, Jesus' joy. He says, my joy may remain in you. So first of all, where the story come from? Jesus. Jesus is talking. He's saying these words. He says, these things I have spoken. He said, God's Word has spoken to you and to me that my joy might remain in you. So I tell you, first of all, you've got to have Jesus to have the right kind of joy. So at the end of service, if you don't know Jesus as your personal savior, today is the day. And that your joy may be full. See, I want you to have joy. Amen? But it's not so much what I want. But isn't it great that Jesus not only wants you to have joy, but He wants you to have the fullness of joy. Man, I'd be rocking if I was y'all. Thank you, Jesus. I tell you almost every Sunday that everything in your life rises and falls on your personal fellowship with Jesus, including joy and peace.

James Greer: [00:01:20] I tell you that all the time. Right? But what I don't tell you is a simple way how to have fellowship. I say everything in your life rises and falls on your personal fellowship with Christ. Everything. Your marriage, your job. Everything does. Your emotional well-being. And so what I decided the other day before I go right into the rest of lesson is give you three or four things where you can have fellowship with Christ. Since everything rises and falls on that, you need to know how to have it. Amen? So number one, number one, spend a little personal time with the Lord each morning to strengthen your vertical fellowship. You can use something like this. You can read God's Word and read it a few minutes. What I do is I usually read a few minutes or a little bit. Sometimes I'm usually studying. But for you, read till you hear from God. Sometimes that's a real short amount of time. Sometimes it's longer. Ask those four questions that I've been teaching you. I'll tell you over and over, it's not the amount you read. It's how you hear from God. And I say, hey, you know, just do it. Like I said, just ask the questions. Is there a promise to claim, a commandment to obey, an insight to share and learn, or an action to take?

James Greer: [00:02:38] So first of all, every morning, take a little bit of time to strengthen your vertical relationship with Christ. It says. But you, when you pray, go into your room. I'm blessed. I have a specific place that I go every morning, and when I go in there, I just feel like, Hey, me and God are there together. But now I don't think God would. It's pretty messy. Sometimes I need to clean it up. I've got stuff everywhere. My wife does not even like to go in there. It makes her nervous. It does. She said, shut the door please. Please, if we have company, please don't say come to my office. Don't let anybody in there. It's bad, but I said, God doesn't care. He doesn't. He just wants me and him be together. But when you pray, you go in your room. And when you shut the door, you pray to your father, who is in a secret place, and your father who sees you in secret rewards you openly. In other words, I'm going to go to him in the mornings, just me and God. But then I got to go out in the open place. I got to go to places like work. Don't y'all get tired dealing with people? How's life? It's great if there just wasn't people in it. You know? But you have to. But, boy, they're a lot easier to deal with if you've already been with Jesus. Amen? If I missed being with Jesus a few days, can I tell. And can my wife tell. She knows. Man, I'm just not the same person. The Bible says this. It says, Hey, but Jesus answered and said, It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone. But every word that precedes without the mouth of God. in other words, He said, You need to get your strength, your energy from God. You can't live on bread alone. That's physical. You got to get spiritual to go along with it. So first thing, you get some vertical fellowship. Start every morning with God, right? That's vertical. Are you ready? Then you got to spend some time with other believers. That's horizontal. I can't wait to do this. Anyway. Each of the believers. Acts 2:42. And they continued steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Say fellowship. And the breaking of bread and prayer. Now, what's cool is pretty soon we're going to have something that's called Journey on the go. And what you can do, especially if you're not in a small group, you can take this and you'll be able to say, Hey, man, this is fantastic. I can use this to find my purpose and my mission and my passion. And you know what Jesus basically did? He traveled around with 12 people. That's what He did. And basically they traveled around and they had some discussion. They shared some insight, and they prayed.

James Greer: [00:05:49] That's what they did. And this is where it can be outside of church. It could be on your job somewhere. It could be in a park. It could be in your home. It could be in coffee shop, the restaurant. And we're going to give you some tools to use. And it's journey on the go. So you need some horizontal fellowship with other Christians. That's why it's so important to be in a small group, a journey group or something like that. If you're in that, that's great. That's one of the ways during the week, you fellowship with them, you come to church, or you get in a journey on the go group. So that's horizontal. Then you've got to be really careful what you think on day and night. Because that brings your inner peace. And you need inner peace fellowship. You got horizontal, you got vertical, and you got inner. Man, I'm going to tell you, when you don't have inner, it's tough. Those who are dominated by sinful nature think about simple things. But those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. In other words, He's telling you, you better be careful what you think about, and He's telling you be careful what you think. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. Uh-oh. You know, y'all thought some bad things. You didn't die.

James Greer: [00:07:17] If you did, everybody in here just boom, boom, boom. What He's telling you, though. Listen to this. You lose your fellowship. You lose your peace. You lose joy. Your relationship. You still, if you're saved, He's still your Father. That's why I'm telling you the most important thing in the world is your personal fellowship with Christ. So now it says, listen, when you're thinking on the wrong things and you're thinking long enough, it controls your mind. And mind leads to death. What's the death? You lost the joy and peace. You're still alive. You're just not enjoying joy and peace. But let the spirit control your mind, it leads to, oh, man, to life and to peace. That is good. That's why I was so excited, man, when I went to that conference and that scientist got up there and started telling us all that and telling us how to control our brain and, you know, on and on. She said, and we can prove, we got thousands and thousands of tests. You know, we got MRIs. Yeah, I'm writing Romans 12:2. Be not conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I wanted to pass her a note, but there was 5,000 people there. They probably wouldn't appreciate that. But anyway. But neuroplasticity tells you, proves you can change the way you think, the structure of your brain by changing what you think on.

James Greer: [00:08:40] I had a wonderful opportunity to use it this week. You've got to want to change, though. Had an opportunity to meet with a young man and he was devastated. And but he was brilliant. So we had a hard time communicating. But he loved that word. He knew what it meant. And he said, I want to look at that word. I said, Look at it. I said, So if I could give you the tools, I can't change anybody, but God and the right word can. Gave him a never again list and who you are in Christ and God's promises. Did you know, now this doesn't work for everybody that quick. Almost immediately, the next few days, he changed. He dominated his mind with what he had, what we had given him, and he changed. It worked that quick. Now, you can't always do that. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes it takes months. But I'm telling you, it's a fact. So what you might think, What do I need to change that I'm thinking? You know how to worry, don't you? Amen? Well, instead, you meditate on God's Word. But you worry. You can wonder. Because, man, how great it could be. You can doubt. So you can dominate your thoughts. The great right thoughts lead to right actions. The great right actions lead to great results, and that's what God wants.

James Greer: [00:10:02] And after you do those things, you're starting to have inner fellowship. But then there's one more. Last one, last one. Confess and deal with the sins, any sins and offenses. Okay. So we've got horizontal. We've got vertical, right? Now, we got both. This is the tough one. You got to deal with any sin and offense so you don't interrupt your vertical and horizontal fellowship with Christ. You don't interrupt it. By that, it says, I love this. But if you walk in light as He is in the light, you have fellowship. Say fellowship. With one another first. Uh-oh. That just gets me so bad. Because do y'all have problems with people sometimes? Yeah. And then I know I'm going to preach Sunday. And I needed to try to get it right with them. And sometimes you can't. Even though you say, you might say, I'm sorry or forgive me. What I found out is we can't control what somebody else does. We can only control what we do. I told somebody this week, he said, [inaudible]. Said, man, that was like a ton lifted off of me. Said. Why? I said, Because it was like a burden. I had this unbelievable burden to I could get this lifted off of me. And you just lifted it. He said, You shouldn't have been carrying the burden. I said, Oh, yeah, I was carrying it.

James Greer: [00:11:32] And so kind of who is it maybe you need to get right with? It can be in your family. It can be your wife. Could be your kids. Be some idiot at work. Hey. What's that new word you're teaching me? Dank. Y'all know what dank is? How many of y'all know what dank is? See there, dude, not one person raised their hand in the first service. That means stupid. Nobody else know it either. He said, with you, pastor, it's safer that you don't use the word or know it. Sometimes people at work, isn't it? Sometimes people at church. But He's trying to tell you He wants you to have fellowship with one another. And then He said, in the blood of Jesus Christ, His son cleanses from all sins. You notice what He's saying first? Get right with God, get right with others, and then the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed you from all your sins. Did you know because you're here today, even before I start preaching, you can be forgiven of all your sins? Is that not cool? It can be. You saw that young girl that got baptized. Was that not great? I went back to hug her this morning. I didn't know my granddaughter was sitting next to her. And I walked right over and hugged the other girl. And I said, Hey, come here. And I got a picture with her. My granddaughter's sitting there going. She came around from behind.

James Greer: [00:13:06] I did not even see her. She finally said. I said, Oh, I love you more. Come here. Did you know today if you just did those four things, you could be as clean and white as snow, just like she is? But if you say I have not sinned, you're just deceiving yourself. And truth is not in us. Deception is something. Deception comes from the devil and he wants you to deceive you and he doesn't want you to confess your sins. But if you do, God is faithful and just. He'll forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Okay, quick, quick, quick. Y'all ready? That's how you have fellowship with Christ. Okay. But today we're going to talk more about how to multiply your joy. I'm going to bring you up to date from last week, and then we're going to get going. Are y'all ready? Whew. Okay. Last week, we taught you the very nature of God is to multiply, and we said God created man and woman. He said, bless them. And He said, Be fruitful and...? That's pretty good. Be fruitful and...? And guess what? What do you think the first commandment in the Bible was? It was not no. It was not you can't eat fruit. Well, it's not no, but it was go. It was not you can't eat the fruit. It was multiply. If Adam and Eve been out there multiplying, they wouldn't be eating the fruit they shouldn't been eating.

James Greer: [00:14:29] Oh, yeah, man. So it's all how you see God. I mean, God's a multiplier. And I can tell you all through the Bible, I mean, God wants to multiply everything in your life. And we have people drink the water out there and get pregnant. So anyway. The first commandment was not no. It was go. So God is the God of multiplication. Second thing we learn, the very way of multiplication is always the same. It's to sow. Whatever you sow, you shall...? The results of sowing is multiplication. We told you that happiness or joy is a result of the right habits, practice, and repeated over a long period of time. That's what happiness or joy get. You get joy or happiness by repeating the right things over a long period of time. So what area of your life that you're not happy and that you don't have joy, you learn to practice the right habits over a long period of time, and eventually you will grow in that area. But you've got to remember something. Our mind kind of does this. You got to control your mind and what comes into your mind. I'm going to give you three things to ask yourself real quick. Is this true? Is it helpful? And is it kind? If it's not, disregard it. Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it kind? No, it's not. Disregard it.

James Greer: [00:16:02] You can start thinking about something might happen six months from now and a year from now. You can't control that. And so let's get right into the multiplication. My key verse is these things I have spoken unto you, unto me, that my joy remain in you, and that your joy might be full. He's saying the greatest joy, Jesus' greatest joy was always pleasing His Father. He said He died so not that we could have a joyless, empty existence, but to have abundant life. In the very verse that he's talking about, he says, I want you to have joy. The very definition of joy is joy can be defined as a positive confidence that we possess by knowing and trusting God regardless of circumstances. It goes along with Proverbs. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, not your way. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. In other words, sometimes when I'm really worried or I really have a problem, what I need to say is I need a word from God. Have you ever heard somebody say I need a word from God? I need to hear from God or I need one of God's promises to get me through till I get the provision. You can't do it on your own. And if you do, you'll just keep worrying and you keep wandering around.

James Greer: [00:17:16] So sometimes you just need a word from God. See, joy is an inner delight derived from a relationship with Christ. Happiness is circumstantial. Joy is relational. He goes on and says, As my Father loved me, I also love you. Abide in my love. I used to always struggle with abide. How can I abide with Him all the time? It means think on Him, draw on Him, but it also means this. Get your energy, your strength, draw on, lean on, get your direction. So He says. My Father loved me and I also love you. Abide in my love. In other words, when you need strength, when you need energy, when you need direction, when you need any of those things, draw that from Him. If you keep my commandments, that used to always bother me. Anybody in here can keep all the commandments? If you did, Jesus wouldn't have died for you. You're bunch of mess ups. I am too. Right? So I used to say, man, I can't do that. But if you keep doing the right things, you will abide in my love. If you do what you know you're supposed to do, that's the only thing you're accountable to do. Just as I kept my Father's commandment. He did them all and He abide in His love. You're not going to be able to keep all of them. But I'm going to tell you what it really, what He's trying to teach us is something that's very, very important. When we don't know what to do or we keep doing the wrong things, it's going to drain you dry.

James Greer: [00:19:00] Have you ever done the wrong thing and it just kept bothering you and bothering you and bothering you. If not, you're not a Christian. First thing you need is come get Jesus. One of the ways I know people are Christians, they used to come, I used to be on the front. I used to love to be on front and pray with people. I'd just get down there, and they'd come to me and say, Man, I need to get saved again. You know, you're not going to believe what I did. And I feel so guilty. I said, what you did? And they'd tell me. I'd said, You're probably saved. They said, How come? I said, Because you feel so guilty. See, when you're saved, you get the Holy Spirit lives in you and He's guide and He'll direct you. So one of the things you got to know is this. You keep doing the right things over and over and over, and you begin to have joy again. You begin to have it with you again. These things I have spoken to you. Why? That my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Doing the right thing over and over and over again. Then He says, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I loved you.

James Greer: [00:20:02] See, when you break, when your love cycle is broken, when you don't have relationship, the right relationship with each other, you don't have peace and joy. Have you ever, don't raise your hand and don't look at your mate. This is hypothetical. Have you ever had a big fight with your girlfriend, your boyfriend, or your mate? And say, I'm just not going to make up? That's stupid or whatever that word you said. Don't you feel terrible? I mean, have you ever left? I left going to work. I mean, I'd call my wife back and start, I don't want that uneasiness. And that's why He said, Hey, love one another. He's talking about right relationships brings the right joy. Everything, you ready? Everything in life is about relationships. On your job, it's about relationships. Your spiritual life, it's about relationships, relationships and fellowship. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down one's life for his friends. Most people think they'll be happy if they could just get something. If they were happy if they could just get something, the movie stars and the millionaires would be the happiest people in the world, wouldn't they? Wow. Now, there's this channel that comes on at 6:00, and I watch it sometimes just to see how many times they get married again. Who's she marrying now? And they get these big old rings. I think, gawlee, a million dollars for a ring?

James Greer: [00:21:43] And you know, you're not going to stay married. Maybe she married and just gets the ring. I don't know. But what I'm saying, so that doesn't do it. So let me tell you what it is. It's doing the right thing over and over and giving to the right thing over and over. Doing the right thing and giving to the right thing. So you can't out give God. But it's not just taking all the time. You can't have a relationship in your marriage if you're just taking all the time. You can't have a relationship with anybody else if they just taking all the time. I mean, there are some people that I was with for a long time and I was trying to win them to Christ. But when I finally told my wife, I said, Man, I got to quit. I said, They don't do anything but take, take, take, take, take. You know, and after a while, I said, Man, I've just got to go my way, you know, and just do your thing. Because relationships are built on both people taking and giving. Amen? And so that's what he said. You know? But I want to tell you, He said love or loved at least six times in five verses. If God says something once, it's very important. Amen?

James Greer: [00:22:51] But if He says it five or six, seven, eight times, it's very important. He's trying to tell us that joy comes together when you have the right relationship with people and the right relationship with Jesus. That's it. And He said it over and over. He repeated it over and over and over again. And it says, Hey, man, you can have the right relationship with Jesus, you have the right with other, you can have joy. Doing the right things over and over again and giving to the right things, you will have joy. That's number one. Two, how to have more joy. Well, how to have more joy, the Bible says, in Nehemiah, it says do not have sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is my strength. When you have the joy of the Lord, you have a new strength. So number one, joy of the Lord gives us strength. Number two, in God's presence, we find joy. 1 Chronicles 16:27. Strength and joy come from his dwelling place. What is his dwelling place? When I go into my closet and shut the door, that's my dwelling place for God. If you don't have a dwelling place, everybody's not blessed like me that they have a certain place. But what I did when I had all my kids at home, sometimes I'd have to get up at 4:00 in the morning to beat them. And I would be so quiet. I said, Oh, please, God, don't let them hear me shut the door.

James Greer: [00:24:09] Please don't let them hear me. It was hard. They shut the door. Somebody wake up. And I didn't have the time I have now. And then, how many have kids? Don't do what I did. Don't sit them down on the Bible, sit them down and read the Bible to them every day. Sit down and we're going to have Bible study. Find something a little more interactive. You know, they like to interact. But so I would have to get up, I'd get up before my wife. I'd get up before the kids where I can have at least a few minutes with God. Because the Lord is the strength of my life. He is the shield. He's my heart. Trust in Him. And He's my helper. The heart leaps with joy and I will thank Him in Psalms. What it says, sometimes when you're just reading God's Word and you're with God's Word, you start taking the focus off of your strength and you put it on Him. He's your protector. He's your strength. He's your provider. That's why you do that. So it comes from His presence. Third, this isn't taught very much, but it's very, very, very important. We get joy. Joy comes from God. It comes from His presence. Number three. Listen. Having the right boundaries in your life. It could be one of the most important things you can learn today because it's not taught.

James Greer: [00:25:24] When you have the right boundaries in your life, you can operate in your life more peace and joy than you've ever had in your life. God began with boundaries. The psalmist puts it this way. The law of the Lord is perfect. It revives the soul. The statute, the statute. The rules. The laws. The boundaries of the Lord. They're trustworthy. They make the wise the simple. God's saying, listen, I put boundaries there to make the wise the simple. In other words, you don't have to be too sharp, thank God. But if you operate within those boundaries, He says, Hey, I can make you wise. Some people in here, you need to be a little wiser. Amen? So boundaries are for our protection and peace and joy within those boundaries. Within those peace and boundaries, God said, Look, I'm going to protect you. I'm going to give you more peace here. The first boundary is ever set was in the garden of Eden. He said, Hey, man, God set the first boundary, Adam and Eve, I'm going to put you in the garden. But I'm going to put some boundaries around here. In Genesis 2:15 and 16, He told them, He said, The Lord took man and he put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Guys, before you get married, you need to be working. For God to send you a woman, you need to be working. He was working and taking care of it.

James Greer: [00:26:44] And then God gave him a woman. And what did she do? Let's preach. And the Lord commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. He commanded who? The man. Right? That's why man got charged with it. But you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now first, commandment was not that. It was multiply. For when you do, you shall surely die. Did they die physically? No. But they lost their joy and they lost their peace. See, God gives us freedom of choice. When they got outside of their boundaries, see, they lost it. Now they lost their joy and they lost their peace. That's why I'm telling you, everything rises and falls on your fellowship with Christ. When you get outside your boundaries, you start getting spiritual fellowship. When you're within the boundaries, God says, I'll meet every need in your life. That's very important. The first step. The first step of getting out of your boundaries is this. Focusing on what you don't have instead of enjoying all that you have. He gave the man the most beautiful garden ever was. He said, you can have anything in this garden you want. Free. Just don't do that. Don't touch that one tree. What did Eve want? The one thing she couldn't have. Be careful, men, women, boys, and girls, the wife, your husband you with now, that's the one God wants you to have, not the one you see somewhere else. That's the way it is.

James Greer: [00:28:34] The job. The car. Got to be careful about that. You got to be careful because it says when the woman saw, uh-oh, she was looking for something she shouldn't be looking at in Genesis 3:6. You know what she said? When she saw that the fruit of the tree was good and pleasant for the eye, you know why she did that? Because she wasn't out multiplying like God told them. And it was pleasing to the eye. She also, it was desirable to gain wisdom. She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband. Wimp. Wimp. Wimp. God just commanded him, don't do it, didn't He? Now, see, when your wife commands you to be stronger than God, you in trouble. You hear, men? God's right first. Then your wife. Who was with her and he ate. So they put boundaries around it and so they did it anyway. And that was the problem. And so you break it and then then they opened their eyes and both of them opened their eyes. They realized they'd been naked. Don't you know when he brought her to him and she was naked, he said, Oh, Mama. But now he saw it different. So they sowed fig leaves together and they made a covering for themselves. Okay. Now they're trying to cover their sin.

James Greer: [00:30:02] They're trying to hide. Their eyes were opened and they saw they're naked. And they said, Oh, we're aware of our covering. Instead, listen. Instead of focusing on all that God given them, they started focusing on the one thing they didn't have. Really important. Your homework for today. Start thanking God for everything you do have. Start thanking God for what you do have in spite of anything else in your life. Focus on what you do have, not what you don't have. Okay. Once we have sinned and got outside God's boundaries, this is why, we often blame others for our sin and hide the sin. You'll say, did you do that? No, I didn't do that. Why are you looking at me? They hid from God. They were afraid of God. God asked the woman, Why did you do it? And she said, the serpent did it. And she asked the man. The man said, It's the woman you gave me, God. Everybody blamed everybody. You know? That's why it's bad. See, they blame others for their problems instead of trying to solve the problem. Until you can admit, you ready, until you can admit you've got a problem, you can't solve the problem. And if you see what really happened, you inherited a nature to cover up your problem and blame somebody else for the problem instead of dealing with the problem.

James Greer: [00:31:34] And the problem doesn't get better. That's good, Brother James. Everyone has boundaries and they're for our protection. Romans 13:1 tells us, I got a rock. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. Why? For there is no authority except from God. Where does all authority come from? And the authorities that exist are appointed by who? God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. In other words, God said, you keep getting out of your boundaries, you're going to lose your joy. You keep getting out of your boundaries, you lose your joy because you lose your fellowship. Every place you go has boundaries. Your family has boundaries. Men, women, you got boundaries. Young people, you got boundaries. As a wife, as a husband, you got boundaries. You know what the boundary is? How far am I going to go? I mean, if I'm at work, I got boundaries for women that come in or where I go with women. I got boundaries if I'm a woman, where I go and what I do with men. You know what I mean? You've got to have boundaries as a couple. You got to have boundaries who you go out with and what you do. See, because who you listen to and who you're with is who you're going to become. Boundaries. That protects you. Young people have got to have boundaries.

James Greer: [00:32:58] When the Bible says, Children obey your parents and Lord for this is right, you know, they don't like to hear that anymore. You know the rest of the verse? Honor your father and mother. Why? The first commandment with the promise. You know what the promise is? That you may go well and have a good life. But the devil don't want kids to believe that. They want to disobey. But see, God has boundaries. The boundaries is, hey, obey your mother and father. So everybody, if you're single and your dating, you better have boundaries for your date because you'll cross them. Need boundaries. 1 Corinthians said, Don't fool yourself. Bad companies will destroy you. And it doesn't matter. It says don't receive evil communications. It applies to adults, kids, and young people. So you got boundaries on your job. Do you know your boundaries on your job? We often tell people at church, stay in your lane unless we ask you. Stay in your own lane unless we ask you. And that's the boundaries. I can remember when Richie came. After about a month, he came in and said, Look, I need to know my boundaries. He said, I work better. I want to know my boundaries. He wasn't getting outside. He said, I can work better if you just tell me what my boundaries are. And he said, I have peace there. I don't have peace because it was me. I didn't do it.

James Greer: [00:34:22] You didn't give me the expectations. You didn't give me the boundaries. You just said go. I said, thank you. I said, I love that you want boundaries. And he works fantastic within boundaries. And basically, we just say, Stay in your lane. Men, stay in your lane. Women, stay in your lane. On the job, stay in your lane. You don't have to worry about what everybody else is doing to you. Stay in your lane. That's what you got to do. So you got boundaries all over your life. So you got to remember that joy comes from God. It comes from the presence of God. You got boundaries in your life, and you got to just simply understand the right information consistently applied, you can have joy. If you really want to multiply your joy, the first thing is you've got to get the joy giver in you who is Jesus Christ. If you're here today and you're not sure that you have Jesus in your heart, we're going to give an invitation in just a minute and you should come. The second, you get to stop looking for joy in the wrong places. It's not in people, places, or things. It's a spiritual thing. It comes from having your fellowship right with Jesus. And now you know how, we told you there's four or five things you can do and you can fellowship. It's just doing the right things and giving to the right things over and over again.

James Greer: [00:35:35] You can have joy. Do you have boundaries in your life? You need to have personal boundaries, spiritual boundaries, and financial boundaries. Your life will be a lot better. You'll have more joy, more peace than you've ever had. Next Sunday, I'll be preaching on how to multiply your peace, that you can't multiply your peace if you stay out of your boundaries. Just think today, What are my boundaries? What are my boundaries in my home or my job? Spiritually, What are my boundaries? You got spiritual boundaries. Do you know how you know when you're out of bounds? You're convicted. You get heavy in your heart. And you're out of bounds. That's why. You can leave that boundary today, that burden today, because Jesus said, come unto me, all that are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Have you been unfaithful and ungrateful for what you have? Would you start focusing on all that God's given you today? Just thank God. I mean, just praise God. God, I just thank you for what I have, not for what I don't have. Wherever you're at, whatever you have, just thank God for it. Happiness is circumstantial. Joy is relational. Everybody in here can have joy. Would you stand and let me pray for you? God, I just thank you that we can have joy because it comes from you. God, we give in ways to have it. But first of all, we got to know you as our personal savior.

James Greer: [00:37:08] If there's anybody here that does not know you, I pray today is the day. Second, if they haven't followed through in public baptism like we just had. Man, I love a celebration. That they would come and say, Hey, maybe I was baptized when I was young and don't really remember it. Or maybe I never have been baptized like that, the death, the burial, and resurrection. And today I'd like to do that. Maybe you'd like to physically join the church and say, Hey, I'd like to come and be a member here. Be part of the family. Maybe you got a burden and maybe you need to relieve that burden. Don't keep carrying it around, carrying around. I love to be free of burdens. And you want to come have somebody pray with you and pray for you. Maybe God laid somebody on your heart. Today after church, you need to call them and just try to get it right. You can't control what they do. All you can do is control what you do. And after you've done the right thing, just say, Hey, thank you, Jesus, and you move on. If it works out, great. If it doesn't, you're still free of that burden. Whatever God's called you do, I guarantee you, if you ask the Holy Spirit, He'll put His finger on at least one thing. So you let Him have His will and His way in your life. I ask it in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.


Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.