Pastor's Big Ask | Overloaded and Overwhelmed?
Do You Struggle With Feeling Overloaded And Overwhelmed?
James Greer
Sep 26, 2021 27m
Do you struggle with feeling overloaded and overwhelmed? Did you know that stress and worry are a result of striving to do what only God can do? Satan desires for us to become condemned. God wants to give us mercy and what we need. To have power and peace with God, we must turn it all over to Him. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
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struggle with feeling overloaded and overwhelmed struggle hard times difficult times god jesus christ saviorTranscriptionmessageRegarding 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: [00:00:00] Amen. Man, we're going to continue our series in the Pastor's Big Ask. And the question is, why are so many people overwhelmed and overloaded and stressed out? And I'm going to give you several reasons why even before we get into the message. The Bible says in the Psalmist, he says in Psalms 38:4, he says, my guilt. He said, my guilt has overwhelmed me. And some sometimes guilt. He says, overwhelm me like I'm loaded down with weights. And so sometimes guilt will just overwhelm us. And God doesn't want you to have guilt. Guilt is a result of unconfessed sin. God brings conviction, which He wants us to confess our sins, and guilt is a result of unconfessed sins. So one of the things the Bible says real clearly in the Psalmist 38:4, he says, one of the things that guilt brings overwhelming. The Psalms says at 36:12, it says, those who do evil will be defeated, but they're overwhelmed. And so if we continue to do the wrong things and we know we're doing it, eventually we're doing them, but yet we feel overwhelmed. And that's when God says confess them and forsake them. Turn around. Change directions. The Psalmist said in Psalm 55:5, it says, fearful and terrible and horrified, I was overwhelmed. Fear will cause you to be overwhelmed. But you know, we change our fear for what? Faith. God didn't give me a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind. Amen? And then the Psalmist said in 143:4, he said, therefore, my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart is within me. It’s distress. I'm all stressed out. Stress and pressure will cause us to be overwhelmed.
James Greer: [00:01:50] And so God doesn't want us to continue to be stressed. I say, let me tell you, there's two ways to handle overwhelmed and stressed. I'm going to preach about them, but I want to tell you up front in case I get carried away and we don't get to the end. But we probably will. Amen? Now, when we're in staff meeting, I always ask people, I say, I give them a question. I say, what's the answer? Well, Josh always says Jesus. Well, that's the answer. He always gets the answer. What is it? Jesus. Well, Jesus is the answer. But how about the application? How to apply Jesus to the problem? Amen? And so, you know, to stop being overloaded, you got to understand you can't save yourself. When I say save yourself, it's the biblical word called striving. Striving is biblical. Striving is when you try to save yourself and others. It's trying to do for yourself what only God can do. And we're going to be preaching on it. It's very important that you understand that. Stress is a result of striving, trying to do for yourself and others what only Jesus can do. And the second is you got to learn to understand and enjoy the mercies because they're new every day. Man, when you don't understand and enjoy mercies, you can't really enjoy life. So let's see how Jesus put it in Matthew 11:28. It says, are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burnt out on religion? I love that because when people say, he's a pastor. Is he very religious? I say, no way. I'm not very religious, but I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen?
James Greer: [00:03:35] I love people that have a relationship, but that religion will get you in trouble every time. And then He gives an invitation. So if you're here, if you're tired, if you’re worn out, if you're burnt out. I hear people, how are you doing? Man, I am burnt out. Jesus said, come to me. He said, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. You'll be restored. He said, and I'll show you how to take it. I'll show you how to have a real life, a real rest. God says, I've got it for you. I want to give it to you. Hey, walk with me. Work with me. So you'll learn something. He's going to say, walk with me, work with me, and watch how I do it. Learn, not try. Everybody says, I'm trying, I'm trying. Don't try, but learn. Learn the rhythms of grace. Man, I'm going to tell you. Remember the word rhythm. Say rhythm. Your life has a rhythm. You might not know it, but it does. Listen, I won't lay anything heavy or ill fit on you. In other words, I'm not going to overburden you. In fact, He says, what I want you to do is keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. I mean it's an absolutely invitation from God to change your life. He said, God says, I want you to know you've got a rhythm. You've got to learn to walk, work, and watch Jesus. Just do it like He did. Listen, because we have so much access today to so much media, so much information. Hmm, we got to remember him. He's in urgent care. Do you realize how much media we take in today?
James Greer: [00:05:22] More than any other time in history. It's overload. Actually, what happens is this. Our body and our system can't handle it all. We have so much information coming in between the media and TV and everything that we feel like we're overloaded and overwhelmed even before we do anything. Jesus is telling us we're spending too much time watching and learning about the world and not the Word. See, if we would learn to walk and to learn, Jesus said, from me, you could find rest and peace. In other words, you've got to start picking. You've got to start picking the Word and still the world. You got to start, I'll tell you what, sometimes I have to stop listening to the news. I mean just out of habit, I have to turn it off sometimes or I have to pick Christian music instead of secular music. I have to pick Christian preaching instead of the news. If I just listen to secular music and secular news. And now I'm not against secular music. I'm just saying after a while, if you listen to the news and nothing but the world long enough, it'll discourage you. You’ll think the world is falling apart. You know what? Let me tell you, despite what you've been listening to, what you've been watching, Jesus is still in charge. Amen? But see, it's what you're taking in. You take it in the media. You're taking it in, you’re taking it in, you’re taking it in. You'll be overwhelmed. I don't think we were ever geared up to take that much bad information in.
James Greer: [00:06:53] Matthew 1:20 says this. Listen, while Joseph, he thought about these things. He thought about his engaged wife being pregnant. The Angel of the Lord came unto him in a dream. Thank goodness. And said, and the angel said, Joseph, descendant of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Why? Because the baby is the Holy Spirit. Okay, sure. But anyway, the baby is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him, say Jesus. Jesus. Because Ge will save His people from their sins. What will Jesus do? Save His people from their sins? All right. And then in Matthew 1:23, he says this. Behold, the virgin shall be with the child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Now, here's everything. Every time you say Jesus, you're really saying Savior. Amen? Jesus is our Savior. Important. I can't save my kids. I can't save my wife. I can't save my country. The only thing I can do and you can do, we can be sowers of Jesus who is the Savior. We're to be sowers of Jesus who is the Savior. See, I can and should be a sower of hope, love, encouragement, and mercy. But I'm not their Savior. And see, what happens, when I start getting overwhelmed, what happens is I'm trying to save myself or I'm trying to save my wife or I'm trying to save my kids. And I get overwhelmed.
James Greer: [00:08:27] And what happens is you start trying to save them, save yourself, save your kids, save your family, save your marriage, you'll become over worried. You're not the Savior. Hope you know Him, but you're not Him. Being overwhelmed is a sign, it's a red flag that we're trying to be the Savior. We need to stop, we need to walk, we need to work, we need to watch, we need to learn from the Savior. And we can relax, and we can rest. Jesus is our Savior, and He has said, God is with us. He said, the Savior is with us, but we are not the Savior. We need to let the Savior take care. The Bible calls it striving. We stress from striving. Striving in the biblical terms is trying to do for yourself and others what only God can do. It produces stress. We strive to produce love, joy, and peace, right? But the Bible says in Romans 14:17, that's the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not what you eat, it's not what you drink, but it's righteousness, peace, joy of the Holy Spirit. See, righteousness was given to us. It's a position. It's not a problem. You can't strive for it. Jesus stretched out His arm and gave it to you. See, that's positional righteousness, and then there's personal righteousness. Positional and personal righteousness gives you peace and power with God. Positional righteousness, you get it salvation. You can't strive for it. You can't buy it. Jesus stretched out His arms and gave His life for it.
James Greer: [00:10:08] Now, personal righteousness, you can't strive for it, but you can ask for it. You can't strive for it, but you can ask for it. God, forgive me of any known sin. See, we may get harder than it is. You ask for it by any sin that God brings to your mind. Positional righteousness, you get at it at salvation. Amen? You can't strive for it. You can't work for it. Jesus paid the price for it. Personal righteousness, you ask for it. You can't be good enough to get it. I sin. You sin. And so what you do is, God, would you bring to my mind that I need to ask forgiveness of, who I've hurt, who's hurt me, I forgive them. And then you get positional right with God. That's what that verse James 5:16 is all about. Confess your trespasses one to another, pray one for another that you might be what? Healed. See, part of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing is confessing your sins. If you're going to ever, this was a great testimony while ago, the testimony he gave. But you know what? You don't want to go pray with somebody and for somebody until you get personal and positionally right with Christ. Amen? Why? Because the Bible says, confess your trespasses one to another. Pray one for another that you might be what, Terry? Healed. Amen? The effective, fervent prayer of a what? Righteous man, woman, boy, or girl availeth much.
James Greer: [00:11:44] It's an unbelievable power. He gives the illustration. If you kept reading, it said, he prayed, it didn't rain for three, three and a half years. He prayed again, it rained. That's power. Amen? And he said he was a man just like me and you. He said that power is available if you're right. John 6:27 puts it this way. Don't waste your energy striving. Striving is a waste of energy. For perishable food and things that you can't take with you. Work for the food that sticks with you, the one that's going to last, food that nourishes you, that lasts for a life, food that the son of man provides. How does He provide it? How does He provide it? He says in John 6:35, He tells you. He says this. He said, I am the bread of life. How do you get the bread of life? Through God's Word. Jesus is the bread of life. He said, quit striving for things that won't last. He said, start striving for things that will. Then He said, I'm the bread of life. The person who aligns with me will hunger no more, and he'll thirst no more. In the other translation, He said, I am the bread of life. Whosoever comes to me will never thirst, never hunger again. He said, you don't want to be hungry, you don't want be thirsty again? Come to the bread of life. He said the bread of life will meet your needs and you'll never hunger and thirst again. He said, stop striving and start thriving.
James Greer: [00:13:05] And He tells you how to do it. You have to take in the Word and less of the world. The world is bombarding us, and our systems cannot handle it. We've got to stop doing it. He says, you know, the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, he comes in many forms. And I think one of the greatest forms he comes is through the media and the airway today. And he will try to destroy you. Jesus said, I have come that you can have life and you can have it more abundantly. You have to choose to stop being overloaded and overwhelmed. We have to stop walking and working and learning from the world, and we've got to start learning from Jesus Christ. God created us, you ready? With a rhythm. You got a rhythm in life. Everybody does. He created us that way. You've got to shut down at night. Some people, that's five hours, some people it’s six hours, some people it's eight hours, some people it’s ten hours, some people I know it's 12 hours. A few of y’all, it’s 14. Let's chill, let's get up. It's time to roll. But everybody does have a rhythm. Some people in the morning, they rock and roll. I love mornings. My wife said, would you please stop speaking to me? I have a dog that loves the mornings and I have one that doesn't. But I mean I like mornings. I mean my wife said, well, go do something. Amen. You like mornings? How many people like mornings? Amen? All right. How many of y'all don't? Oh, no. That's all right. But I like mornings. But it's a rhythm, isn't it? You just got to get into the rhythm.
James Greer: [00:14:52] You know, when you're overloaded though, listen, you're overloaded, this is the good part. When you're overloaded, you get to go to bed. You have the wonderful opportunity the next morning to take in the bread of life and wake up. Hey, hey. You're no longer the Savior. You take in the bread of life. Who is the Savior? And you got a new start. Did you know you don't have to wait? Did you know that with the rhythm of life, if you really understood it, in fact, I don't know how people make it, Christians and especially non-Christian, I don't know, but even Christians, I don't know how you make it when you don't understand that God created you with the rhythm. And not just the rhythm of how you sleep, not just the rhythm of how you work, but I believe that you have a rhythm that. I believe you need to learn your rhythm on how you work, how you rest, and everything.
James Greer: [00:15:46] But not only that, you got to learn your spiritual rhythm. God created you every day. Every day is a brand-new start in your life. Every single day. God never created you to bring your guilt, fears, and faults into the next day. Whoo, that's good, baby. Listen to this. Listen to this. God's mercy is new every single morning. Lamentations 3:22 says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed. You're not consumed with guilt, regret. You know why? Because His compassion fail not. Guess why? Because he says, they are new sometimes, every now and then? They are new when? Every single morning. Great is His faithfulness. Man, that is so simple. It is so profound. You can't even believe it. You're just a short time away from a brand-new start. I don't care what you did. I don’t care how bad you are. I don't care what you regret. Listen, I'm not easy on seeing. I'm great on truth. I don't care. Do you understand what you did yesterday, you can go to bed tomorrow and have a brand-new beginning? Because He said, listen, I want you to have a new morning every single day.
James Greer: [00:16:50] Why in the world when He said, I'm faithful and you can have a brand-new start, a brand-new day, take your mistakes and pass them over and start over again? Because His mercy is new every single day. Listen, you know what? You know what? We deserve wrath. We deserve judgment. But God doesn't give us that. He said, I'm going to give you mercy. Man, how could you stay in the ministry without the mercy of God? How could you stay married? How could you stay at work? How could you continue to be a Christian without the mercy of God? The undeserved forgiveness, unearned kindness we get from God. And that's what God wants us to give to others. You can't strive for it. You can't get it. God wants to give it to you. It's crazy. You're crazy if you don't take it. I mean, man, they're new every single morning. What's new? God's mercy. You know, we have a hard time understanding and comprehending it, but God says, I'm giving it to you, and He wants us to give it to other people. You know? This happens in marriages. Marriages, they start doing good for a while, doing good for a while.
James Greer: [00:17:55] I'll be dang gum if somebody says, but don't you remember what you did? Yeah. We done talked about that for 15 hours. I already asked forgiveness 15 times. Aren't you glad God doesn't do that? I mean we ask God, God, do you forgive me? I mean God’s telling you, you know, you know what you did on Monday, I don't even hold it against you on Tuesday. Don't we have a great God? Man, what if we did that on marriages? What if we got married and man, we did something said, hey, honey, I'm sorry, forgive me and you never brought it up again? Precious Jesus. Hallelujah. I wouldn't have to do marriage counseling anymore, and y'all would keep coming to church. They say the God of second chance. God's not the God of a second chance. Because when we ask Him to forgive me, He doesn't even remember what we talked about. It's over. We've got a God of mercy. It's not a ticket to sin. It's because we sin, He sets us free. Man, He's a god of mercy. I mean look at David. Did y’all know that King David, he was a man after God's own heart. But you know what? Do you know David had committed adultery before? Did you know David had murdered before? And you say, I never did any of those things. No, but you have sinned. Everybody at our church sins and then some. You know what the Psalmist said? Have mercy upon me. Yeah, David needed mercy. But so do you, and you can get it every single morning. Oh God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitudes of your tender mercies bought out my transgressions. They’re tender. I love that. They're fresh is what he means. They're new.
James Greer: [00:19:40] His mercies are tender today as they were when you were 30 or when you're 70 or 7 or 17. He said, listen, God's mercy is going to outlast your sin. God's mercy is going to outlast your life. I mean it's so important that you understand that because you understand Satan is an accuser of the brother. Satan goes around and tries to accuse you of your path, your sin, tell you what you can't do, tell you what you shouldn't have done, and he keeps whispering in your ear and reminding you. He tries to make you feel hopeless. He tries to make you feel helpless. Revelation 12:10 says this. He said, when I heard a loud voice saying from Heaven, now salvation and strength and the Kingdom of your God and the power of Jesus Christ, I have come. You know what he says then? For the accuser of the brethren. That's the devil. What does the devil run around doing? Accuser of the brother. And he uses other people too. The devil uses others to try to discourage you and defeat you. Who accused them before our God day and night. He's been cast down. You know what you can really do? The devil is going around. He's accusing you. God said, I'm giving you mercy. The devil is accusing you. God said, I'm going to give you mercy. The devil is trying to discourage you. The devil is trying to, I mean God's trying to give you victory. And so guess what? The next time the devil comes to tell you and tries to discourage you about your future, tell him about his future because the Bible says he's going to be cast down forever and ever and ever. Amen? Don't listen to the devil.
James Greer: [00:21:13] Listen to God. You only one morning away from a brand-new start, brand-new mercies. And they’re tender, and they'll outlast as long as you live. In closing, let me give you some insights. Wouldn't you stop trying to strive? Stop trying to do for yourself and others what only God can do. When you keep striving, you'll be stressed. And some of you came today, some of you online, some of you upstairs, you’re just all stressed out. And God's giving you an invitation this morning. He said, listen, I want you to come and just say, hey, God, I've been striving so hard and that sounds good. But I want to quit striving. I'm not the Savior. You're the Savior. You sent your son, Jesus Christ, and I want to turn what I've been striving and I'm overwhelmed, I want to give it to you. And you said in Matthew, you gave me an invitation this morning. You said, if I'd come to you that you’d give me rest. God, I want to believe you over the world. I want to believe your Word. And today you're going to come, and you're going to choose rest. You’re going stop trying to be the Savior. You're going to let Jesus do His job. That's why God sent Him to pay the price to do that very thing. Some of you need to receive God's mercy today. It’s new every morning. It's a brand-new morning. I don't know how you can keep going. We mess up every day. We do things, we say things, we think on things. And I don't want you to. I want us to live the best life we can.
James Greer: [00:22:53] I want God to give us the power to overcome all the sin we can. But in spite of that, we still do some things we shouldn't do. God said, that's why I give you mercy. It’s new every morning. Don't bring your baggage over and over and over and over, let it get deeper and bigger and bigger. God said, listen, I gave you a Savior. I gave you my son. I want you to know that my mercy is new every single morning. You can start over today. You can leave your baggage at the altar. You don't have to go home with it. In fact, until you learn to do that, listen, it'll get heavier and heavier and heavier. You feel like you're overloaded. Doesn't matter where you go. You go to work, you're overloaded. You come home, you're overloaded. You even come to church, and you're just overloaded, stressed out. You can't get any rest. And that's the devil. And you’re here not by accident but by divine appointment. And God wants you to leave it here. He wants you to enjoy His mercies. He don't want to give you what you deserve. He wants to give you what you need. Some of you need mercy in your marriages and your relationships. Stop bringing up the past. Let's get excited about the present and the future and where we're going and what God has for us.
James Greer: [00:24:19] Let it be a brand-new start. See what God has for you. And I'm telling you, He wants the last half to be the very best half of your life. There's absolutely nothing too hard for the Lord. Only thing that’s too hard for the Lord is you rejecting Him. So if you’ll stand and let me pray with you and pray for you. Father, I just thank you for today. God, I pray, first of all, if there's somebody here that doesn't know you as our Savior, that right now, they’d say, hey, I'm tired of trying to be the Savior, and I believe Jesus died for my sins. I'd like to invite Him into my heart. For those that said, hey, I know that I'm saved as far as going to Heaven, but I've been striving to live my life and save my family. I’ve been striving on the job. And I'm going to let you be the Savior. I'm going to do like you said in Matthew. I'm going to come to you and I'm to begin to learn from you, I'm going to watch you, I'm going to work with you. And I'm going to find rest. Some of you need to come for mercy. Leave your baggage here today. When it says overloaded, you know what that means. You even know partly what's overloading you is worrying, fear of what could happen in the future.
James Greer: [00:25:48] And Jesus said, I don't want you to worry about the future. It has enough to worry about. He said. I just want you today. I want you to let it all go. I want you to relax. I want you to believe that I'm really not only the Lord but I'm the Savior, that I'll take care of the future and I'll take care of today. I want you to have an act of obedience. Just to act like, hey, I'm leaving it at the altar. Maybe you need somebody to pray with you and pray for you. They'll be there to do that. Maybe you've never joined the church and today you want to make it your family. And today’s the day. Maybe you’ve never followed through in biblical public baptism. You've come to church, come to church. But you know now. Maybe as a baby, you were. Now you want to know what you're doing. You say, hey, I want to follow through in baptism. I know that His mercies are new every day, and I want to be baptized and have a brand-new start. Whatever God has laid upon your heart, I pray that you let Him have His will and His way this morning. I ask in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Bruce Goulart: [00:26:42] On behalf of Pastor James, I just want to say thank you for joining our online experience today. Man, what an amazing day today with week 2 of Pastor's Big Ask. Man, it was just an incredible sermon today. Now, if you need someone to pray with you right now, we have someone on standby willing to pray with you right away. There's a link down in the description that you click on and fill out and someone will get with you right away. Thank you so much for joining our online experience today. And I hope to see you next week and I hope that you have a great week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
James Greer: [00:01:50] And so God doesn't want us to continue to be stressed. I say, let me tell you, there's two ways to handle overwhelmed and stressed. I'm going to preach about them, but I want to tell you up front in case I get carried away and we don't get to the end. But we probably will. Amen? Now, when we're in staff meeting, I always ask people, I say, I give them a question. I say, what's the answer? Well, Josh always says Jesus. Well, that's the answer. He always gets the answer. What is it? Jesus. Well, Jesus is the answer. But how about the application? How to apply Jesus to the problem? Amen? And so, you know, to stop being overloaded, you got to understand you can't save yourself. When I say save yourself, it's the biblical word called striving. Striving is biblical. Striving is when you try to save yourself and others. It's trying to do for yourself what only God can do. And we're going to be preaching on it. It's very important that you understand that. Stress is a result of striving, trying to do for yourself and others what only Jesus can do. And the second is you got to learn to understand and enjoy the mercies because they're new every day. Man, when you don't understand and enjoy mercies, you can't really enjoy life. So let's see how Jesus put it in Matthew 11:28. It says, are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burnt out on religion? I love that because when people say, he's a pastor. Is he very religious? I say, no way. I'm not very religious, but I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen?
James Greer: [00:03:35] I love people that have a relationship, but that religion will get you in trouble every time. And then He gives an invitation. So if you're here, if you're tired, if you’re worn out, if you're burnt out. I hear people, how are you doing? Man, I am burnt out. Jesus said, come to me. He said, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. You'll be restored. He said, and I'll show you how to take it. I'll show you how to have a real life, a real rest. God says, I've got it for you. I want to give it to you. Hey, walk with me. Work with me. So you'll learn something. He's going to say, walk with me, work with me, and watch how I do it. Learn, not try. Everybody says, I'm trying, I'm trying. Don't try, but learn. Learn the rhythms of grace. Man, I'm going to tell you. Remember the word rhythm. Say rhythm. Your life has a rhythm. You might not know it, but it does. Listen, I won't lay anything heavy or ill fit on you. In other words, I'm not going to overburden you. In fact, He says, what I want you to do is keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. I mean it's an absolutely invitation from God to change your life. He said, God says, I want you to know you've got a rhythm. You've got to learn to walk, work, and watch Jesus. Just do it like He did. Listen, because we have so much access today to so much media, so much information. Hmm, we got to remember him. He's in urgent care. Do you realize how much media we take in today?
James Greer: [00:05:22] More than any other time in history. It's overload. Actually, what happens is this. Our body and our system can't handle it all. We have so much information coming in between the media and TV and everything that we feel like we're overloaded and overwhelmed even before we do anything. Jesus is telling us we're spending too much time watching and learning about the world and not the Word. See, if we would learn to walk and to learn, Jesus said, from me, you could find rest and peace. In other words, you've got to start picking. You've got to start picking the Word and still the world. You got to start, I'll tell you what, sometimes I have to stop listening to the news. I mean just out of habit, I have to turn it off sometimes or I have to pick Christian music instead of secular music. I have to pick Christian preaching instead of the news. If I just listen to secular music and secular news. And now I'm not against secular music. I'm just saying after a while, if you listen to the news and nothing but the world long enough, it'll discourage you. You’ll think the world is falling apart. You know what? Let me tell you, despite what you've been listening to, what you've been watching, Jesus is still in charge. Amen? But see, it's what you're taking in. You take it in the media. You're taking it in, you’re taking it in, you’re taking it in. You'll be overwhelmed. I don't think we were ever geared up to take that much bad information in.
James Greer: [00:06:53] Matthew 1:20 says this. Listen, while Joseph, he thought about these things. He thought about his engaged wife being pregnant. The Angel of the Lord came unto him in a dream. Thank goodness. And said, and the angel said, Joseph, descendant of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Why? Because the baby is the Holy Spirit. Okay, sure. But anyway, the baby is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him, say Jesus. Jesus. Because Ge will save His people from their sins. What will Jesus do? Save His people from their sins? All right. And then in Matthew 1:23, he says this. Behold, the virgin shall be with the child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Now, here's everything. Every time you say Jesus, you're really saying Savior. Amen? Jesus is our Savior. Important. I can't save my kids. I can't save my wife. I can't save my country. The only thing I can do and you can do, we can be sowers of Jesus who is the Savior. We're to be sowers of Jesus who is the Savior. See, I can and should be a sower of hope, love, encouragement, and mercy. But I'm not their Savior. And see, what happens, when I start getting overwhelmed, what happens is I'm trying to save myself or I'm trying to save my wife or I'm trying to save my kids. And I get overwhelmed.
James Greer: [00:08:27] And what happens is you start trying to save them, save yourself, save your kids, save your family, save your marriage, you'll become over worried. You're not the Savior. Hope you know Him, but you're not Him. Being overwhelmed is a sign, it's a red flag that we're trying to be the Savior. We need to stop, we need to walk, we need to work, we need to watch, we need to learn from the Savior. And we can relax, and we can rest. Jesus is our Savior, and He has said, God is with us. He said, the Savior is with us, but we are not the Savior. We need to let the Savior take care. The Bible calls it striving. We stress from striving. Striving in the biblical terms is trying to do for yourself and others what only God can do. It produces stress. We strive to produce love, joy, and peace, right? But the Bible says in Romans 14:17, that's the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not what you eat, it's not what you drink, but it's righteousness, peace, joy of the Holy Spirit. See, righteousness was given to us. It's a position. It's not a problem. You can't strive for it. Jesus stretched out His arm and gave it to you. See, that's positional righteousness, and then there's personal righteousness. Positional and personal righteousness gives you peace and power with God. Positional righteousness, you get it salvation. You can't strive for it. You can't buy it. Jesus stretched out His arms and gave His life for it.
James Greer: [00:10:08] Now, personal righteousness, you can't strive for it, but you can ask for it. You can't strive for it, but you can ask for it. God, forgive me of any known sin. See, we may get harder than it is. You ask for it by any sin that God brings to your mind. Positional righteousness, you get at it at salvation. Amen? You can't strive for it. You can't work for it. Jesus paid the price for it. Personal righteousness, you ask for it. You can't be good enough to get it. I sin. You sin. And so what you do is, God, would you bring to my mind that I need to ask forgiveness of, who I've hurt, who's hurt me, I forgive them. And then you get positional right with God. That's what that verse James 5:16 is all about. Confess your trespasses one to another, pray one for another that you might be what? Healed. See, part of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing is confessing your sins. If you're going to ever, this was a great testimony while ago, the testimony he gave. But you know what? You don't want to go pray with somebody and for somebody until you get personal and positionally right with Christ. Amen? Why? Because the Bible says, confess your trespasses one to another. Pray one for another that you might be what, Terry? Healed. Amen? The effective, fervent prayer of a what? Righteous man, woman, boy, or girl availeth much.
James Greer: [00:11:44] It's an unbelievable power. He gives the illustration. If you kept reading, it said, he prayed, it didn't rain for three, three and a half years. He prayed again, it rained. That's power. Amen? And he said he was a man just like me and you. He said that power is available if you're right. John 6:27 puts it this way. Don't waste your energy striving. Striving is a waste of energy. For perishable food and things that you can't take with you. Work for the food that sticks with you, the one that's going to last, food that nourishes you, that lasts for a life, food that the son of man provides. How does He provide it? How does He provide it? He says in John 6:35, He tells you. He says this. He said, I am the bread of life. How do you get the bread of life? Through God's Word. Jesus is the bread of life. He said, quit striving for things that won't last. He said, start striving for things that will. Then He said, I'm the bread of life. The person who aligns with me will hunger no more, and he'll thirst no more. In the other translation, He said, I am the bread of life. Whosoever comes to me will never thirst, never hunger again. He said, you don't want to be hungry, you don't want be thirsty again? Come to the bread of life. He said the bread of life will meet your needs and you'll never hunger and thirst again. He said, stop striving and start thriving.
James Greer: [00:13:05] And He tells you how to do it. You have to take in the Word and less of the world. The world is bombarding us, and our systems cannot handle it. We've got to stop doing it. He says, you know, the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, he comes in many forms. And I think one of the greatest forms he comes is through the media and the airway today. And he will try to destroy you. Jesus said, I have come that you can have life and you can have it more abundantly. You have to choose to stop being overloaded and overwhelmed. We have to stop walking and working and learning from the world, and we've got to start learning from Jesus Christ. God created us, you ready? With a rhythm. You got a rhythm in life. Everybody does. He created us that way. You've got to shut down at night. Some people, that's five hours, some people it’s six hours, some people it's eight hours, some people it’s ten hours, some people I know it's 12 hours. A few of y’all, it’s 14. Let's chill, let's get up. It's time to roll. But everybody does have a rhythm. Some people in the morning, they rock and roll. I love mornings. My wife said, would you please stop speaking to me? I have a dog that loves the mornings and I have one that doesn't. But I mean I like mornings. I mean my wife said, well, go do something. Amen. You like mornings? How many people like mornings? Amen? All right. How many of y'all don't? Oh, no. That's all right. But I like mornings. But it's a rhythm, isn't it? You just got to get into the rhythm.
James Greer: [00:14:52] You know, when you're overloaded though, listen, you're overloaded, this is the good part. When you're overloaded, you get to go to bed. You have the wonderful opportunity the next morning to take in the bread of life and wake up. Hey, hey. You're no longer the Savior. You take in the bread of life. Who is the Savior? And you got a new start. Did you know you don't have to wait? Did you know that with the rhythm of life, if you really understood it, in fact, I don't know how people make it, Christians and especially non-Christian, I don't know, but even Christians, I don't know how you make it when you don't understand that God created you with the rhythm. And not just the rhythm of how you sleep, not just the rhythm of how you work, but I believe that you have a rhythm that. I believe you need to learn your rhythm on how you work, how you rest, and everything.
James Greer: [00:15:46] But not only that, you got to learn your spiritual rhythm. God created you every day. Every day is a brand-new start in your life. Every single day. God never created you to bring your guilt, fears, and faults into the next day. Whoo, that's good, baby. Listen to this. Listen to this. God's mercy is new every single morning. Lamentations 3:22 says, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed. You're not consumed with guilt, regret. You know why? Because His compassion fail not. Guess why? Because he says, they are new sometimes, every now and then? They are new when? Every single morning. Great is His faithfulness. Man, that is so simple. It is so profound. You can't even believe it. You're just a short time away from a brand-new start. I don't care what you did. I don’t care how bad you are. I don't care what you regret. Listen, I'm not easy on seeing. I'm great on truth. I don't care. Do you understand what you did yesterday, you can go to bed tomorrow and have a brand-new beginning? Because He said, listen, I want you to have a new morning every single day.
James Greer: [00:16:50] Why in the world when He said, I'm faithful and you can have a brand-new start, a brand-new day, take your mistakes and pass them over and start over again? Because His mercy is new every single day. Listen, you know what? You know what? We deserve wrath. We deserve judgment. But God doesn't give us that. He said, I'm going to give you mercy. Man, how could you stay in the ministry without the mercy of God? How could you stay married? How could you stay at work? How could you continue to be a Christian without the mercy of God? The undeserved forgiveness, unearned kindness we get from God. And that's what God wants us to give to others. You can't strive for it. You can't get it. God wants to give it to you. It's crazy. You're crazy if you don't take it. I mean, man, they're new every single morning. What's new? God's mercy. You know, we have a hard time understanding and comprehending it, but God says, I'm giving it to you, and He wants us to give it to other people. You know? This happens in marriages. Marriages, they start doing good for a while, doing good for a while.
James Greer: [00:17:55] I'll be dang gum if somebody says, but don't you remember what you did? Yeah. We done talked about that for 15 hours. I already asked forgiveness 15 times. Aren't you glad God doesn't do that? I mean we ask God, God, do you forgive me? I mean God’s telling you, you know, you know what you did on Monday, I don't even hold it against you on Tuesday. Don't we have a great God? Man, what if we did that on marriages? What if we got married and man, we did something said, hey, honey, I'm sorry, forgive me and you never brought it up again? Precious Jesus. Hallelujah. I wouldn't have to do marriage counseling anymore, and y'all would keep coming to church. They say the God of second chance. God's not the God of a second chance. Because when we ask Him to forgive me, He doesn't even remember what we talked about. It's over. We've got a God of mercy. It's not a ticket to sin. It's because we sin, He sets us free. Man, He's a god of mercy. I mean look at David. Did y’all know that King David, he was a man after God's own heart. But you know what? Do you know David had committed adultery before? Did you know David had murdered before? And you say, I never did any of those things. No, but you have sinned. Everybody at our church sins and then some. You know what the Psalmist said? Have mercy upon me. Yeah, David needed mercy. But so do you, and you can get it every single morning. Oh God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitudes of your tender mercies bought out my transgressions. They’re tender. I love that. They're fresh is what he means. They're new.
James Greer: [00:19:40] His mercies are tender today as they were when you were 30 or when you're 70 or 7 or 17. He said, listen, God's mercy is going to outlast your sin. God's mercy is going to outlast your life. I mean it's so important that you understand that because you understand Satan is an accuser of the brother. Satan goes around and tries to accuse you of your path, your sin, tell you what you can't do, tell you what you shouldn't have done, and he keeps whispering in your ear and reminding you. He tries to make you feel hopeless. He tries to make you feel helpless. Revelation 12:10 says this. He said, when I heard a loud voice saying from Heaven, now salvation and strength and the Kingdom of your God and the power of Jesus Christ, I have come. You know what he says then? For the accuser of the brethren. That's the devil. What does the devil run around doing? Accuser of the brother. And he uses other people too. The devil uses others to try to discourage you and defeat you. Who accused them before our God day and night. He's been cast down. You know what you can really do? The devil is going around. He's accusing you. God said, I'm giving you mercy. The devil is accusing you. God said, I'm going to give you mercy. The devil is trying to discourage you. The devil is trying to, I mean God's trying to give you victory. And so guess what? The next time the devil comes to tell you and tries to discourage you about your future, tell him about his future because the Bible says he's going to be cast down forever and ever and ever. Amen? Don't listen to the devil.
James Greer: [00:21:13] Listen to God. You only one morning away from a brand-new start, brand-new mercies. And they’re tender, and they'll outlast as long as you live. In closing, let me give you some insights. Wouldn't you stop trying to strive? Stop trying to do for yourself and others what only God can do. When you keep striving, you'll be stressed. And some of you came today, some of you online, some of you upstairs, you’re just all stressed out. And God's giving you an invitation this morning. He said, listen, I want you to come and just say, hey, God, I've been striving so hard and that sounds good. But I want to quit striving. I'm not the Savior. You're the Savior. You sent your son, Jesus Christ, and I want to turn what I've been striving and I'm overwhelmed, I want to give it to you. And you said in Matthew, you gave me an invitation this morning. You said, if I'd come to you that you’d give me rest. God, I want to believe you over the world. I want to believe your Word. And today you're going to come, and you're going to choose rest. You’re going stop trying to be the Savior. You're going to let Jesus do His job. That's why God sent Him to pay the price to do that very thing. Some of you need to receive God's mercy today. It’s new every morning. It's a brand-new morning. I don't know how you can keep going. We mess up every day. We do things, we say things, we think on things. And I don't want you to. I want us to live the best life we can.
James Greer: [00:22:53] I want God to give us the power to overcome all the sin we can. But in spite of that, we still do some things we shouldn't do. God said, that's why I give you mercy. It’s new every morning. Don't bring your baggage over and over and over and over, let it get deeper and bigger and bigger. God said, listen, I gave you a Savior. I gave you my son. I want you to know that my mercy is new every single morning. You can start over today. You can leave your baggage at the altar. You don't have to go home with it. In fact, until you learn to do that, listen, it'll get heavier and heavier and heavier. You feel like you're overloaded. Doesn't matter where you go. You go to work, you're overloaded. You come home, you're overloaded. You even come to church, and you're just overloaded, stressed out. You can't get any rest. And that's the devil. And you’re here not by accident but by divine appointment. And God wants you to leave it here. He wants you to enjoy His mercies. He don't want to give you what you deserve. He wants to give you what you need. Some of you need mercy in your marriages and your relationships. Stop bringing up the past. Let's get excited about the present and the future and where we're going and what God has for us.
James Greer: [00:24:19] Let it be a brand-new start. See what God has for you. And I'm telling you, He wants the last half to be the very best half of your life. There's absolutely nothing too hard for the Lord. Only thing that’s too hard for the Lord is you rejecting Him. So if you’ll stand and let me pray with you and pray for you. Father, I just thank you for today. God, I pray, first of all, if there's somebody here that doesn't know you as our Savior, that right now, they’d say, hey, I'm tired of trying to be the Savior, and I believe Jesus died for my sins. I'd like to invite Him into my heart. For those that said, hey, I know that I'm saved as far as going to Heaven, but I've been striving to live my life and save my family. I’ve been striving on the job. And I'm going to let you be the Savior. I'm going to do like you said in Matthew. I'm going to come to you and I'm to begin to learn from you, I'm going to watch you, I'm going to work with you. And I'm going to find rest. Some of you need to come for mercy. Leave your baggage here today. When it says overloaded, you know what that means. You even know partly what's overloading you is worrying, fear of what could happen in the future.
James Greer: [00:25:48] And Jesus said, I don't want you to worry about the future. It has enough to worry about. He said. I just want you today. I want you to let it all go. I want you to relax. I want you to believe that I'm really not only the Lord but I'm the Savior, that I'll take care of the future and I'll take care of today. I want you to have an act of obedience. Just to act like, hey, I'm leaving it at the altar. Maybe you need somebody to pray with you and pray for you. They'll be there to do that. Maybe you've never joined the church and today you want to make it your family. And today’s the day. Maybe you’ve never followed through in biblical public baptism. You've come to church, come to church. But you know now. Maybe as a baby, you were. Now you want to know what you're doing. You say, hey, I want to follow through in baptism. I know that His mercies are new every day, and I want to be baptized and have a brand-new start. Whatever God has laid upon your heart, I pray that you let Him have His will and His way this morning. I ask in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Bruce Goulart: [00:26:42] On behalf of Pastor James, I just want to say thank you for joining our online experience today. Man, what an amazing day today with week 2 of Pastor's Big Ask. Man, it was just an incredible sermon today. Now, if you need someone to pray with you right now, we have someone on standby willing to pray with you right away. There's a link down in the description that you click on and fill out and someone will get with you right away. Thank you so much for joining our online experience today. And I hope to see you next week and I hope that you have a great week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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