Understanding How To Maintain Your Relationship With Jesus

James Greer: [00:00:00] Man, let's hear it one more time for them. Well, this is the last part of our series, His Needs and Her Needs. And next Sunday, we start a new series called Fight. And everybody that's married understands that. But you don't have to be married to understand fight, because the very first series, the name of the message next Sunday is Can you fight with God and win? And you might be surprised about the answer. The answer to the first series, Can you fight with God and win? And sometimes the answer is going to be yes. But today's a really different message. You're going to not only follow along your outline, you'll have to write notes because it's not the same message. The staff loves it when I get up on Saturday morning, and I rewrite the message. And then I send it to them and say, well, you don't really have to put it in if you don't want to. That means I really want you to go Saturday and redo it. And of course, they do. And so the message will be on the screen and you'll have to take note. The message was originally how to affair proof your marriage. But it's really talking about physically and spiritually. It's going to apply whether you're physically, earthly married or not. Because really, if you're a Christian, male or female, you're engaged. You're engaged because the truth is you're the bride of Christ, and Christ is coming for you. How would you live if you really knew that Christ was coming for you?

James Greer: [00:01:37] Jesus doesn't like His bride to be having affairs. He doesn't like you cheating on Him. So the first thing I want you to learn this morning is that you are the bride of Christ. And in 2 Corinthians 11:2, it says, I am jealous over you with a jealousy that comes from God. God says, He's jealous and He's jealous for you. And it comes from God. Where does this jealousy come from? The right answer is God. Where does this jealousy come from? Amen. And He says, and I promised to give you to Christ as your only husband. He said, I'm going to give you the Christ, and you only have one husband. You said, Well, I'm married and I've been married two or three times. I've got a bunch of husbands. My oldest sister, who I love the most, man, I mean, she like raised me and I love her. Every time I have an anniversary, I call her. I said, Hey, guess what? We've now been married 48 years. And she said, Man, I'm trying to catch you even though I'm getting close. I'm almost been married 48 years. But it took me three husbands to catch you. But He said, No, you only have one husband. That's Jesus Christ. I don't care how many times you marry, and I don't care if you're not married.

James Greer: [00:03:05] You have one husband and that husband is Jesus Christ and you are the bride. He said, Not only that, I want to give you a pure bride. In other words, that you're the bride of Christ, and I don't want you to be running around on me. I want you to be pure. I don't want you to be having other affairs. See, there is a godly jealousy that is okay. When it says a godly jealousy, here it's talking about I'm zealous. I am zealous to have a right relationship with you. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a jealous right relationship with God. I mean, if you're married, you should want to have a jealous relationship with your mate. Amen? But God says, I'm zealous. I mean, God the Father gave you a son where you could have a relationship with Him. And godly jealousy is I'm jealous when you put anything before me. When you put any relationship or anything before the relationship with Christ because He wants to be with you. What you put before your relationship with Christ is considering what we would call having an affair. And He's jealous. As Christians, an idol or idolatry or an affair is looking to anything or anybody other than Jesus to meet any and every physical, emotional, spiritual need that we have. When you look to anything other than Christ, that's idolatry. Now, Christ might use other things to meet your need.

James Greer: [00:04:46] But that's just a conduit that Christ uses to meet your need. Christ uses my wife to meet my needs. Amen? She's a conduit. I go to work and I get paid. And God uses that money to help meet my needs. That's a conduit. But I have to look to Christ, not to those things to meet my need. Amen? Y'all do know it's a little cold in the first service every Sunday? Those aren't purple just to be purple. I told him, could you please turn it up a little bit? Amen? So, Josh or whoever has the little computer, turn it up a little bit. They said, well, then it gets too hot the third service. Hey, I'm worried about the first service. And everybody said. But anyway, anyway. In Ephesians 5:27. He, who is Jesus, He died so that He could give the church. That's me and you. If you're saved, you're the church. Amen? To Himself like a bride in all her beauty. I don't know about that. Darrell, turn the heat up a little bit. But anyway, when Jesus looks down and we're the bride of Christ, He said, No matter who you are, no matter if you're male or female, He said, You're beautiful to Him. He looks through the blood of Christ. That's why. He died so the church could be pure, faithful, without fault, with no evil or sin, or any other wrong thing in it. Isn't that something? What He said I want you know, first of all, number one, I want you to know if you're a Christian, you are the bride of Christ.

James Greer: [00:06:34] Amen? You're pure. Yeah. He wants you to behave that way. He wants you to know that. He wants you to know that I'm coming for you. Jesus is coming for you. You're His bride. He wants you to be faithful to Him. He doesn't want you to be cheating on Him. Amen? I mean, nobody wants you to be cheating on your mate. Amen? Much less Christ. Second, second, second. Second, I said, Flee sexual immorality. And that's if you're married, don't be cheating on your mate. Amen? And spiritually, don't be cheating on Christ. Amen. It's a physical. You ready? When I say, you ready, y'all are supposed to say yes. Are you ready? It's a physical picture of spiritual application. Most people don't even know you're the bride. Some of you are not married. Y'all been vacationing. You're the bride. 1 Corinthians 6:17. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Himself. In other words, the two become one. If you're married, it's okay. Because God said, then the two become one. Marriage is the only thing that you can say, one plus one equals one. Anything else, one plus one equals two, but not in the marriage. One plus one equals one. God said that's okay. But He says after that, He says, flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does or a woman does is outside the body.

James Greer: [00:08:27] But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. And He wants you to know. Or did you not know? Didn't you know that your body is a temple to the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have of God and you're not your own? In other words, you and God, for you have been bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and the Spirit which are God's. In other words, he said, Flee anything or anybody that's going to cause you to commit immorality against your mate or Christ. How do you do that? Christ is in you, the hope of glory. The Holy Spirit lives in you. He says, don't be committing immorality outside your marriage. But He said, also, the physical picture of a spiritual application as well. Don't put yourself in a situation that you have to flee. In other words, the same is true in your relationship with Christ. Why put yourself in a situation you're so committed to something or somebody that you don't have time for your husband who is Christ? It might be true. It might be time for you to flee some of the things that cause your husband to be jealous. Your physical husband might be jealous because you never have time for him. But how about your spiritual husband? How about Jesus? How about the righteous jealousy? Because you never have time for Him.

James Greer: [00:10:06] Because you're running around with somebody else. Uh-oh. Never thought about that. See, whether you're single or married, you've got a husband. He does not want you to be so busy you don't have time for Him. I don't like it when my wife's gone very long. I mean, I'm a big baby. I mean, my wife, I just don't like to be alone. But Jesus Christ, He wants a relationship with you and He doesn't want you to be so busy that you don't want to be with Him. Did you know the real truth about a husband and wife? You're supposed to have such a relationship that it's supposed to be a picture of you and Christ. So are you so busy you don't have time for your husband? I'm talking about your spiritual husband. He's going to be with you when everything else is gone. Righteous jealousy. Okay? Y'all ready? Are y'all ready? You might not be. Righteous jealousy will need to discipline when you don't have time. Righteous jealousy leads to discipline because God the Father has a son who's named Jesus Christ who is your husband. You're the bride. And He'll discipline you because He wants you to come back in the right relationship. He'll remove things and pull them away where you then have time for Him. Hebrews 12:6 says, the Lord disciplines those who He loves. Now see earthly parents, anymore they don't do that. They say, Hey, little John, sit in the corner.

James Greer: [00:12:16] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. How far are you going to go? Whip his butt. Now, God does it this way. Y'all ready? True story. True. True, true. God nudges you. Kind of like looks at you. Says James, you know you better chill. James, go sit in the corner. Okay, James, I'm going to whip your butt. James, I'm going to really whip it. James, I'm going to scourge you, which is very difficult. But unlike me, well, my son is not here, I'd scream sometimes and holler. Say, Jimmy, I'm gonna tear your butt up. God doesn't do it angrily. He does it out of love. He does it out of zeal. He says, Look, I'm only doing it because I want what's best for them. I want this relationship with them. So He will, listen, I wish I had time to explain it. There's so many Christians that God loves that they don't realize that He's trying to discipline them because He loves them and they don't know what's going on in their life. They're not making time for Him. And the husband is saying, I want the relationship with you and you've got so many things going on and you don't even know what's going on in your life. You don't know why you're going under the pressures and the stress and the discipline in your life. And Jesus is saying, Hey, I'm your husband and I want time for you. Third, magnify the consequences in a relationship.

James Greer: [00:14:01] Of course, remember, in your physical relationship, the destruction sexual sin will cause you and your family physically. But also, there's consequences, spiritual relationships. Remind yourself of the loss and destruction of godly righteous jealousy that you bring upon you and your family. Godly righteousness brings discipline such as financial, emotional, and yes, physical. One of the best examples I know, and I'm not going to read the story, is the prodigal son. If you don't know the story, you need to look up the story of the prodigal son. He was the son. It's a type of a say person. And he thought he had it all together, like so many young Christians do. I'm talking about not age, just immaturity. And they want to do it their way. So he got his finances from his dad, he got his inheritance, and he went out and he partied and wined and women and blew his money. And he was broke. He lost his finances. He lost his friends. He lost his food, and he lost his facility. Listen real close. It's a picture of the way that God disciplines us. When God touches my finances, He gets my attention. Sometimes when He touches my friends, when He touches my food, when He touches my facility, when He touches my health. He was finally in the pigpen. He is disciplining. For what purpose? To hurt him? No. Because He loved him. When he finally came to his senses, he said, I'm going back to my father.

James Greer: [00:16:10] But his father was there waiting with open arms and he said, Father, I don't deserve to be your son. And as he's confessing his sins, his father was there with open arms. His father's loving him. Instantaneously loving him and forgiving him. And he hugged him and he put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. And he said, Son, let's have a party. I'm so glad you came home. Some of y'all need to come home. Why keep living in the disciplined life when God says, come home? That's what he's talking about in John 15:5. You do know the very verse that's written on the plaques that were given out was written in the context of John. And John 15:1 says, Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. He takes away the rights and the privilege of those that are unfaithful. You lose the abundant life of love and joy and peace. John 10:10, I've come that you could have a life and you could have it more abundantly. You lose the fruit of the Spirit, which is the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness, goodness, faith, self control against such there is no law. He said, Look, I'm going to take those away from you. Why did He take them away? Because you weren't being fruitful. You weren't doing what God called you to do.

James Greer: [00:17:44] And it should read like this. The gifts of the fruit of the Spirit are those who are in the right relationship with Christ. You want the fruit of the Spirit? Be in the right relationship with your husband. When you're in the right relationship with your husband, you have love and joy and peace and gentleness, goodness, faith. When you're in the right relationship with your husband, you have life and you have it more abundantly. There are so many Christians who said, I don't have love, joy, and peace. I don't have the abundant life. You don't have the right relationship with your spiritual husband, which is Jesus Christ. Amen, Brother James. Some of y'all, your light should go on. Quit blaming everybody else. Quit blaming your physical husband. Quit blaming your physical wife. Quit blaming your boss. Look inside. It's you. Some of you need to say, Oh, me? John 15:6 says, If you don't abide me, he is cast out and his branches are withered away. Then they're gathered up and thrown into a fire and they're burned. You lose your effectiveness. You lose your purpose. You're never really happy. You're never really content. I'm going to tell you, when you lose your purpose, what God called you do after you're saved, you're never happy at whatever you do. You go from job to job, from husband to husband, wife to wife, person to person, church to church. Hey, it's you. You just wither away. You're just living your life.

James Greer: [00:19:24] Man, I'm 69. I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm more fruitful than I've ever been. Third, maintain your marriage. Maintain your relationship with Christ. Well, let me give you a strange way to maintain your relationship with Christ. Plan how you're going to respond. I could tell you. I could tell you read your Bible, confess your sins, make a private time every day. Those are just like with your mate. You know that. You've heard all that, right? How about this, which you haven't heard? Plan ahead of time. How are you going to respond when you're upset with your mate and God. I'm never upset with God. I have been. You've just never been hurt bad enough then. You lose your four or five-year-old granddaughter, you're going to be upset. You're going to have times you're upset. How are you going to respond when you're upset? How are you going to respond when you're upset with your mate? And if you tell me you've never been upset with your mate, you're lying. You're lying, Cecil. Okay? You've been upset with Cecil. You're not going to lie. Just Cecil's lying. Okay. Or you're not married. I mean, it's just that easy. But how do you plan ahead of time? Whether you're going to go outside, cuss, blame, da da da. After you do that, what are you going to do? I plan ahead of time because I know it's coming. I know there's going to be times that I'm upset with Debbie.

James Greer: [00:21:16] There's going to be more times that she's upset with me. I hope she's planning. If not, we're all in trouble. Of course, I carry my phone with me and I type in under my notes. I type in Debbie. Y'all quit texting me while I'm preaching. Oh, that's a good picture of all of us, y'all. Anyway, they sent a picture of all of us standing up front. But anyway. And I type in the good qualities. The truth about the longevity of the 48 years. I actually take them out. I go outside and read them. Because I don't want to make a decision when I'm ticked off. Because that's an emotional decision. That's not true. That's how I feel. That's not a fact. So how about the rest of the time when she's the greatest encourager in my life? When she's loyal and she lets me spend time. She wants me to be satisfied. She respects. You know the greatest thing about my wife? She makes me feel like I'm a hero. No, she does. She tells me all the time. You're the hero in my life. She might be lying. I don't know. I do not care. But she really does. And after you read that for a while, not near as mad as I was. No, no, no. How do you respond? Let me ask you, how do you respond? You plan. You ready? Ahead of time. You want to maintain a relationship? No, no, no.

James Greer: [00:22:58] You get in a fight and you just respond on your emotions. Oh, that's not going to work. You're going to say things and do things you're sorry for. You're going to do that anyway. And when you do that, quick as you can, just say, I'm sorry. Forgive me. If you say I'm sorry, you forgive me, I hate to say I'm sorry, will you forgive me? Hate doing it with my wife, hate doing it with my kids. But you just got to do it sometimes. Amen? You do that enough, you'll quit doing it. But anyway. So that's one. Then how are you going to respond when you're upset with God? Now y'all sit like this. I know you've never been upset with God. Good for you. Mr. Goody Goody. You've never asked God, Why did you allow that? Why did that happen in my life? Why did I lose my loved one? Why now? Why my job? Why my family? Why my finances? Why did you do that, God? Man. I'm trying to go to church. Or I'm not going to church. But anyway. God, just why did you do it? You're in control. It could have been better. Well, of course, you can do stuff like, you know, you know all things work together for good for them who love the Lord. When I'm going through something, do not quote that verse to me. Please don't do that. I know that verse better than you do. And I understand that verse. But don't do that.

James Greer: [00:24:27] Can I tell you the best way to respond, to be prepared before it comes? The best way to respond is to prepare before the storm comes because the storm is going to come. You're going to have storms in your life. And in Matthew 7:24, it gives you a great way. It says, therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them will be like him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. You know what happened? And the rain descended. The storms are coming. I don't care who you are. And the floods came. They're coming. And the winds blew. And they're going to blow. And they built on the house. And they did. They did not fall. It shook. You were upset. For the foundation was on the rock. See, but anyone who hears these sayings of mine and doesn't do them will be like the foolish man who built it on the sand. And there's plenty of those that did that. And you know what happens then? It comes, but they crumble. So it makes a difference, the best way you respond to maintain a relationship, whether it's your mate or whether it's God, is be prepared before the storm comes. And then I hang on to this verse. And it's in the Psalms, Psalms 27. I have it written down in my Bible and I believe it and I claim it. I would've lost heart.

James Greer: [00:26:02] I would've given up. I would've quit unless I believe that I'd see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In other words, while I'm still alive, God, I will see your goodness again. Therefore, I'm gonna wait on Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen my heart. Wait, I said, upon the Lord. I had some more. But I'm going to run out of time. So I can't preach all the rest of it to you. I got to start closing. God had so much to say to me Saturday morning. I have such a great relationship with the Father and me being the bride. Those are the special times that I don't always have that I wanted to share with you. But I want to close with this. Do you have the love of Christ? Is He your husband? Are you the bride? Most important thing, if not, this morning is the best time to make sure that you had a time that you said, Hey, God, I want Jesus Christ to be my Savior. So do you really know that you're the bride of Christ? Have you been living in a way that calls Christ to be righteously jealous? In other words, could some of the things you've been going through in your life be because of the way you've been living and you've been blaming other people? You know, like the prodigal son. God's touching different areas and you've been blaming other people.

James Greer: [00:27:47] And as God said, I love you so much. I'm zealous to have the right relationship with you, and I can instantaneously change it. And you can have the love and the joy and peace that I have for you. It's not really what you thought. And God wants you to open your eyes today. Could some of the discipline be because He wants you to be with Him? Maybe you need to come and confess some sin. Because, listen, I can tell you, you ready? If you're Christian and you don't have any fruit in your life, you got sin in your life. If you're Christian and you don't have any fruit in your life, God is going to discipline you because He wants you to have fruit in your life. You just ask God, what is the sin that you want me to confess today? The love and joy and the peace that He wants you to have. And maybe it's the prodigal type son. Maybe it's the friends, the food, the facility, the finances. Some of you, it's time to reschedule, rearrange, reprioritize your life where you going to have more time with Christ. When I say more time with Christ, I'm not talking about just time in the Bible, but that's very important. But just do what He called you to do, to serve Him the way He called you to serve Him, to be at church when you should be at church, to meet the needs of other people that He hey lays upon your heart so that you can then enjoy the abundant life.

James Greer: [00:29:27] John 10:10. So would you stand and let me pray with you and pray for you? God, I love you. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to know that we're the bride of Christ, that you're our husband, that you're coming for us. There's a righteous jealousy. That you love us so much, that you're jealous that we don't have a relationship with you. God, everybody here knows right now if they have that relationship or not. Like the prodigal son, as he started walking to God, you start walking down the aisle and you confess that sin. God's there waiting on you. His arms are open and He's going to love you and He's going to restore your joy instantaneously. Just like that. If you're here and you don't know Christ as your Savior and He's not your husband, today's the day to do that. Maybe you need somebody to pray with you and pray for you. Something I didn't preach about today. We got people in the front. Maybe you want to come and join the church. Why don't you do that today? Maybe follow through in baptism. Whatever God's laid upon your heart, if you'll allow Him, the Holy Spirit, which we learned, He lives in you and He wants to guide you, He wants to direct 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.