Allow GOD to Reverse the Problems in Your Life
Trust God to handle problems and struggles in life.
James Greer
Aug 12, 2018 24m
This sermon deals with problems and struggles in life. Pastor Greer reminds us when things get to be too much to handle, that we need to remember that God can handle anything, He is there to help. Our job is to be right in our relationship with God. This opens us up to the caring and healing powers of God in our life. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
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Christian Living Fruits of the Spirit Prayer Questions of Faith Trials & Struggles WorshipTranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
James Greer: 00:01 Hey, I'll tell you what, next Sunday, you understand we're kicking off what's called a holy - I'm gonna let ya'll say that. I mean, you're going to see a shift in power, a shift in a place, and shift in purpose. You understand the holy shifts about shifting from the Old Testament to the New. It's shifting that you don't have to go through a priest anymore. You can now go to the person, Jesus Christ. Amen. You're going to want to be here. I mean, hey let's welcome Alexandria Campus. Amen. Go Alexandria! And Darrell, you can't have these Uggs. The reason they call them Uggs is because they're ugly.
James Greer: 00:36 Man, I'll tell you what, the praise team knocked a home run, amen? Yeah. Not only in Pineville, but Alexandria did too. Way to go, Justin. I mean, y'all are doing a great job over at Alexandria, Darryl and your daughter's there with you and Claudia. Hey y'all know, next Sunday y'all get a free tee shirt. Amen? And, uh, you've got to be here to get one at both locations. So I want y'all to come and get a tee shirt and bring somebody with you.
James Greer: 01:02 But the biggest thing I want you to do is have a shift in your life that you can experience a power in your life that you've never had in your life. But today, you know, we're going to be talking about, uh, problems. And uh, I want you to know I have problems, you've got problems. We've all got problems. But what you may not know (you ready?), here's a word from the Lord: that your problems are a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 01:28 See what you see as a big God says hey, it's just a simple matter. See, so it's not only a simple matter in the hands of God, you may have a problem but you may not know the biblical way to handle the problem that results in the power of God for him to handle the problem.
James Greer: 01:44 I want to give you a verse and then we'll come back to it at the end and it's not an order, but I want you to remember 2 Kings 3:18 today, and it says this, and this is a what? Simple matter in the sight of the Lord. What's a simple matter? These people had this unbelievable problem. They come down, and God starts telling them what to do. And at the end of the problem, God looks at them and He says, I want you to know something - that's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord. So what I want you to know, no matter how big your problem looks today, I want you to know if you'll follow the plan that we're going to have laid out because it's God's plans today, God said hey man, it's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 02:23 So what I want you to do today, we're going to find the problem, the plan, and then the power. So let's raise the bar on problems this morning. own problems. It starts at 2 Kings 3:9 and it said, and so there are two armies, and they joined also by the troops of Edom. No, really, you're gonna find out there's three kings and they're all joined together. They moved along around and about the route, through the (what?) wilderness for seven days but there was no water for the men or their pack animals.
James Greer: 02:55 So what had happened is they were in this unbelievable situation, they heard the Moabites. Moab was going to come after them and destroy them. So they said what we'll do is we'll unite three kingdoms and we'll get together and maybe we can stand. But what they did not do is they didn't go to the Lord. They said, we're going to stand in our physical strength. And then they said, oh no we can't believe that's going to happen. Oh, what shall we do now that we're in a problem and we ain't even checked on it? This King of Israel cried out, 'the Lord has brought us here to let the king of Moab defeat us'. He said man that is the problem.
James Greer: 03:23 So let's look at the problem. What was the problem? They were in the wilderness. You might be here today and you might be in the wilderness of your life. The reason they were in the wilderness is because, it wasn't because they did not prepare physically. It wasn't because they didn't have enough finances. It was because they didn't prepare spiritually.
James Greer: 03:49 See, we're going to all have problems, and we're going to all face unbelievable problems. And it doesn't matter at that point how physically able you are to handle the problem. It doesn't matter how financially you're able to handle a problem. If you're not spiritually able, it will drain you to the point you feel like you're defeated and discouraged. See the real reason they were in the wilderness is because they were trying to fight the other king, Moab, with their own power, own strength, own power, own money, own resources.
James Greer: 04:13 John 15:5 says, I'm the vine. You're the branches. He that abides in me and I in him can do all things and he's going to bring forth much fruit. God said, listen, when you abide in me and I in you, I'm going to bring much fruit. I'm going to bring love and joy, peace and power. But without me, you can do nothing. You said, well, I've been doing a lot. Yeah, but you can do nothing that's going to further the Kingdom of God when you're trying to do it on your own. So the first problem was, the reason they had a problem is they were trying to do it without God. The second reason is they were out of water that comes many times, you ready? Water is a type of the Holy Spirit.
James Greer: 04:56 See, when you're trying to go through school, your relationship, your marriage, your work, your finances, your health, and you're trying to do it without water, you feel like you're in the wilderness and about to dry up and die. When you're trying to go without the word, which empowers the Holy Spirit, you'll wear out easy. You'll get discouraged. You'll get defeated. You feel like you're drained all the time. You'll come and just man, I'm just drained. I feel discouraged and so defeated. You know, at work, it just seems like it's a problem all the time. I mean, when I come home, it's my wife, it's my kids, it's my husband. I'm just drained. It's because see, you don't have the water. The Bible says, be filled with the Holy Spirit. You don't have the spirit and the power of God. Did you know that I have written in the front of my Bible [unintelligible] it says, did you know I don't want you to be, uh, I don't want you to miss the mystery of the incredible power that the Holy Spirit gives you when you're operating in your God give gifts.
James Greer: 06:01 In other words, so when you're really doing what God called, you might get physically tired, but you get spiritually excited. I can come up here and I said, man, I, I'm so physically out of shape and out of condition. But I mean, when the Holy Spirit come, the Holy Spirit of power, I'm more excited than I ever could be. I love to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen? But I want you to live that way. I want it to be in your marriage, your finances, your health, every area of your life, because without it you will wear out. They had depended on their own words and own power instead of God's Word and God's power.
James Greer: 06:31 Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God is quick and it is powerful.
James Greer: 06:38 The third problem they had (it was really bad is, we do it, I do it, we've all done it) they began to blame God for their problem. Verse Ten says this, it says, oh, what shall we do? The King of Israel cried out as the Lord has brought us here to let the king of Moab defeat us. No, no. That's not. No, no.
James Greer: 07:00 Romans 8:37 says, we're more than conquerors through Christ. You know what? You got (listen, listen this is real important). You've got to stop seeing God as your problem and you better start seeing Him as your answer to the problem.
James Greer: 07:13 See, they got themselves into this situation. They had never even asked God about what they should do, so they got themselves into it. Many times when people don't understand why they're having trouble, when they don't understand what they're going through, when they don't understand why this happened to them, they begin to blame the only person that can help them, which is God. See they hadn't been serving the true and living God. To some extent half or three-fourths of the Kings and their people had been serving a false god. A false god is anything that you put before God (listen) that you think is going to give you what only God can. It can be money. There's nothing wrong with money, if it's not your God amen? Hobbies, nothing wrong with that, but if you're so busy with your money and so busy with your hobby that you can't come to church and you can't serve God, you're too busy.
James Greer: 08:02 And you better be careful because God can slow you down. I promise you. It can be people that you're trying to please people more than God. It can be pleasures. It can even be (some of y'all are like ugh), but there's a new game out called Fortnite and man, it's everywhere. Even it can't please you all the time. Many times the same people that are blaming God haven't even been to church. They haven't been in the Word. They haven't been under the Word, yet they're blaming the Word, which the word became flesh. It was Jesus Christ.
James Greer: 08:34 So see they had three things. They started without asking God. They had lack of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Then they began to blame God. So let's see. See because if you've got a problem, you need to plan for the problem. Amen?
James Greer: 08:48 Let's look at the plan that God had for them. 2 Kings 3:11, but Joab, uh, Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah. Judah and Israel are
still a type of God's people, even though Jehoshaphat had teamed up with the wrong people.
James Greer: 09:06 But he said, "Isn't there a Prophet of the Lord with us?"
James Greer: 09:10 In other words, isn't there somebody where we can get a word from God? And I'm going to preach on it in a minute. What you need more than anything else, every single Sunday, every single day, every single problem you have, what you need more than anything else is a word from God. The word of God today is (listen) your problem is a simple matter in the hand of God. Amen?
James Greer: 09:28 "If so, can we find out what to do?"
James Greer: 09:33 "Elijah is here, one of the kings of Israel's, uh, officials replied."
James Greer: 09:38 Then he added, "Isn't he Elijah's assistant?"
James Greer: 09:41 Let me tell you what, I don't care who he is. If he can get a word from God, that's who I want to go here. Amen? And the Prophet in that day was a type of, uh, he dispersed God's word.
James Greer: 09:51 "Fine," Jehoshaphat said.
James Greer: 09:52 "Hey he's just the man we want; he's just the guy we're looking for. Hey, we've had all these problems. We've been defeated. We're out of water. Let's get a word from God."
James Greer: 09:59 Wouldn't it have been nice if they had gone to God first?
James Greer: 10:03 Listen to this. And so the King of, uh, Jehoshaphat, he said let's do it. He said, listen, y'all ready? This is Elijah. They go to him and said, "We've got all these problems."
James Greer: 10:15 Look what he said. "I don't want any part of you."
James Greer: 10:21 I love it because man, this is my kind of man.
James Greer: 10:23 He said, "Man, y'all been living out there. You've been without God. You've been trying to do your own thing. Now you say, oh, give me a word from God."
James Greer: 10:29 He says, "I don't want any part of you", and then he snares at them, and that he really means.
James Greer: 10:32 He said, "I don't want anything to do with you."
James Greer: 10:34 But the King of Jordan, Israel (thank goodness) he said, "You've gone to false prophets and your father's and your mother's."
James Greer: 10:43 But now the King replied, 'No. For it is the Lord who has called us here to be destroyed for the king of Moab."
James Greer: 10:53 Well, really not. Verse 14 puts it this way. He said, "I swear by the Lord God that I won't bother you except for the presence of the king of Jehoshaphat’s."
James Greer: 11:05 Let me stop. There's three kings together. The one king, Jehoshaphat came. He was from Judah. He was a type of maybe a Christian that's been running around with the wrong people. Elijah comes to them and said (listen) to the other kings, I wouldn't even have time for you. I wouldn't even speak to you. I wouldn't even try to get a word from God, but listen, Jehoshaphat [unintelligible].
James Greer: 11:26 Can I tell you something real important? It does matter who surrounds you. It does matter who you go to when you have a problem and it really matters what you do. Listen, you ready? Verse 15 sums it up.
James Greer: 11:43 He said, "Now bring me someone to play a flute or a harp or music."
James Greer: 11:49 Jehoshaphat said, "Listen, I am so ticked off. You need to bring somebody to start playing some music to me."
James Greer: 11:52 And as the flute and the music play, a message of the Lord came to Elijah. You do understand what Elijah was doing. He said, I'm so ticked off. I'm so mad at you because you've been blaming the true and living God because you've been serving a false god, because you've been doing everything on your own. Y'all gotta play some music to calm me down. That's exactly what he's saying. Many times it's the music that leads you to worship, that gets you ready for the word of God.
James Greer: 12:21 See, I don't care who you are, I don't care where you go, I don't care what kind of Christian music it is. I've gone to Southern Gospel. I've gone to praise. I've gone to modern. When I'm sitting where you're sitting, I'm not saying, Oh, it's too loud. I don't like it. I'm saying, Oh God, I want to come into your presence and I want to get ready to hear a word of God. Amen? That's what I want you to do. That's what I want to do. That's why I came in early today. I said, man, God, I want to be in here getting ready to speak a word of God to the people, but I want them to be prepared to hear a word from God. Let music lead you - the right kind of music.
James Greer: 12:53 Let Christian music lead you to worship God, and let the worship lead you to the word of God. Because, you see, if you don't allow it to lead you to the worship and then to the word, see you'll have the worship which is part of your emotion, and God loves your emotions. But you don't get the word which calls you to walk straight. So you need to worship and you need the word. You know what the plan was? It says man, the plan is you just need a word from the Lord.
James Greer: 13:17 Elijah first reminded them while they got themselves into that in the first place. He said, y'all been going to false prophets.
James Greer: 13:25 I don't know what your problem is today. I do know one thing, the beginning to the answer to your problem is you need a word from God. You need to believe that your problems are a simple matter in the hands of God.
James Greer: 13:39 Psalms 50:15 says, call upon the name of the Lord in your time of trouble, and I will deliver you. Man, I just love the way Elijah addressed them. He said, first of all, I'm going to tell you why you're having a problem. I love this because I've had people come to me all the time.
James Greer: 13:54 We give an altar call and I love you to come and I love to pray with you and I love to see lives transformed, but so many times you want to come and say, hey, pray with me. Give me a word from God. I don't want to admit my part. I don't want to repent from my sins. But Elijah said, hey I want you to know the reason you're having this. He said, listen it's because you've been serving a false god because you hadn't been coming to God. And even Jehoshaphat said listen, you've been running around with the wrong people. You've been trying to get people to help you win instead of coming to me [unintelligible]. But he says nevertheless.
James Greer: 14:23 Man aren't you glad we've got a nevertheless God? Aren't you glad we got to a God [unintelligible] and nevertheless, I got myself into this problem. Nevertheless, He's got it. I got myself into it, and God's going to get me out. Amen? I love that.
James Greer: 14:38 See, if trouble and you've got a problem, the number one thing you've got to do is you get a word from God no matter what it takes. So whatever you're going through today, if you're having this unbelievable problem when I give the altar call or maybe you don't have to come here. We're going to give an invitation where they can respond. Right, Richie? From the paper too. You say hey God, I need a word from you.
James Greer: 15:05 If you're really listening, you've probably already had a word from God. Because God is speaking to you. He's speaking to me. He really spoke to me about my problems or a simple matter in the hands of God, and I'm the one that make them big. And the reason they're so big to me is because I try to handle them. I do just like these other Kings did. I go to the wrong place, and doing the wrong thing, and then when I finally have the energy and strength and power, I go to God. Nevertheless.
James Greer: 15:31 So first you know you've got to know that you've got a problem. Second of all, you've got to admit your part of the problem. You've got to hear word from God. You've got to be willing to admit your part of the problem.
James Greer: 15:42 You know James, I think it/s James 5:16 says confess your faults one to another, that you might be healed. Some healing, some cures will never come until you confess your part of the problem. Third, maybe the most important thing you've got to learn today is to obey the word once you get it. By faith (listen, you ready?) obey God's word even if it's hard, even if you don't understand it, even if you don't want to.
James Greer: 16:11 2 Kings 3:16. We're getting to the really, really good part. It's all good. And the Lord says to fill these dry valleys with trenches to hold the water he will send. Stop just a second. They had dry ground and the word [unintelligible] and said start digging holes. Has saying, dig it. Dig Ditches. In verse 17 he says listen, you're not gonna see the wind or the rain, but the valley will be filled. In other words, they were in a valley and it had dried up and he said, I want you to start digging. You dig the ditches. You dig the hole. When you do it, it's going to be filled. It's not going to be some natural thing. It's not going to be by water. It's not going to be by wind, but you yourself, you're going to see I'm going to have more than enough. I'm not going to give you what you need. I'm going to give you more than you need. Not only for you, but for your animals.
James Greer: 17:02 Before when the water comes, you have to dig. Y'all ready? Say this. Say, dig it. I like that. There used to be a word that people would say when they really liked something they'd say dig it.
James Greer: 17:14 Now this is a different kind of dig it, but it's a great cause. This dig, it is one where you get the water and you get the power. See in other words, if you want the power of God upon your life you've got to dig. You want the Holy Spirit? You want to be filled with the power and presence of God? I would say Amen, I do. I would say I want the power of God and you say Amen. Hey I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you say Amen. I want an answer to my problem. You say Amen. You've got to dig. [unintelligible]
James Greer: 17:46 Let me tell you what you don't do. Don't dig up dirt on other people. Keep your mouth shut. Don't even dig up the dirt in your past. Confess it, forsake it, and forget it. And don't continue to dig yourself into a hole. But what do we do? How can we dig down and hit the water?
James Greer: 18:08 Well the way that they were told, there were dry valleys and He said dig down. Really, what He was saying is dig down until you hit the rock. And when you hit the rock, I'm going to fill the valleys from bottom up. Not top down. I'm going to do it where you know that it had to come from the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the rock is Jesus Christ and where he says, the gates of hell shall not prevail.
James Greer: 18:26 In Matthew 16:18 he said, upon this rock, which is Jesus Christ, I will build my church, my life, my family, my finances, my marriage, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. So how do we dig down to the rock? Ready? Dig into God's word. You got a problem? Dig into God's word.
James Greer: 18:45 Hebrews 4:12 said the word of God is quick and powerful. Dig into prayer. James 5:16 tells us that the effects of fervent prayer of a righteous man does what? Availeth much. Dig into praise even when you feel pitiful. Listen, enter into the gates with what? Thanksgiving. I hope you're thankful you're here today. Enter into the courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name.
James Greer: 19:18 See what we do when we're having a problem is we start having a pity party and God said, no, no, no. Get into the word. Get into prayer. Get into praise. In spite of that, we want to change our pity into a praise that come into the power of God. Get into going to church every single Sunday instead of once a month. You know why we only come once a month these days? Because we're too busy doing other things. We are in our hobbies and our pleasures and our finances, and we're going and we're doing and we're taking our kids. I hope I get into this team. I hope I get into this [unintelligible]. I hope they get into Heaven.
James Greer: 19:53 Get into church. Hebrews says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as some of you have done. Dig in to obey God's word even when it's hard.
James Greer: 20:05 Deuteronomy 28:13. You know what it says? Obey them. The Lord is going to make you the head, not the tail. You'll always be on top and never be on the bottom. You get into God's word. You pray and you pray. As you come to church, you obey the word, you do what God's telling you to do.
James Greer: 20:21 You know what? Let me tell you some real important insight. You Ready? You can be as close to God as you choose to be. You personally have to make a choice. You can't make it for your mate. You can't make it for your children. I can't make it for you. But you're as close to God as you choose to be.
James Greer: 20:40 I told you what you need to do is start digging down and now there's some trash you need to get rid of. Some of you have some place you need to stop going to. Some of you need to stop spending time with certain people. Some of you need to give up things that keep you away from church. You need to give up where you can really go up. Some of you are in a relationship and you need to break it off. Some of you need to get married or tell him to get out. In fact, it's so much [unintelligible]. I'm thinking about having a service on it and I'm going to invite everybody that's living together. Hey, would y'all like to get married? And I just do one big service. Amen? I'm just saying. I'm serious. Does that apply to you? Sign up. Anyway, you might need to go to a person and ask for forgiveness. Amen? Because, listen, after all the digging, you dig down to those things. You get rid of those things. The power and the presence of God is going to come.
James Greer: 21:33 2 Kings verse 17 and 18, let's start summing it up. For thus, sayeth the Lord. You're not going to see the wind. You're not going to see the rain. In other words, you're not going to be able to say it rained, it just happened. You're not going to say the wind blew it over. No, no, no. Yet the valleys, they're going to be filled. They're going to be filled with water so that you, your cattle, your animals may drink. You're ready? My favorite verse this week, I wrote it in the front of my Bible. It says, I want you know this is just a simple matter in the sight of the Lord. Isn't that great?
James Greer: 22:08 They had three kings, no water, they're in the wilderness, they're about to get slaughtered, and God's prophet comes to them and says, that's just a simple matter in the hands of God. So I want you to know this: whatever you're going through, it's a simple matter in the hands of God.
James Greer: 22:21 And when you do that, when you start digging, when you start doing it again, I want you to start anticipating the power and presence of God coming into your life. I want you to do your part and God will always do His part. Use what you have, not what you wish you had. You start digging and God said, hey, guess what? I'm going to send the water. Some of y'all need to say man I've been in the valley. I've been in the wilderness. I need to start digging. I need to start digging today. I'm going to make some commitments. I'm going to make some commitments. I'm going to get into the word. I'm going to begin to pray. I'm going to begin to praise. I'm going to come to church. I'm going to obey the word. God said, man, you dig now. You're digging now. You're getting there.
James Greer: 22:56 I'm going to stop doing some things. I'm going to give up some things where I can go up, and then God just starts to impress it upon your heart. Through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, your problem's not really a big deal in the hands of God.
James Greer: 23:09 So, as I begin to close I want to ask you: Do you have a problem that you need to give to God this morning when I give the invitation? Quit worrying about anybody else. I want you to know whether you're up there or down here, if you've got a problem get ready to give it to God. I don't care if you're in Alexandria. I don't care if you're in Pineville. In a minute when we close, man, you just step out and give it to God. Are you ready for God's plan? Are you ready to hear a word from God? Are you? Are you willing to admit your part, and are you willing to obey no matter what it says? If those are the cases you can begin. If you'll do those things, you begin to anticipate the power and presence of God in your problem, and you can just get in your spirit and God says hey, that's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 24:02 Stand and let me pray with you. Father, I just thank you for your word. It is so powerful. It is so practical. God, we all have problems, but you already got a plan. We've got a problem, you've got a plan God and you've got the power. I pray for every single person here today, God. I pray for those that came with a problem that they might experience your power. I pray that each one of us had a word from you today, God. I pray that it encourages us there's absolutely nothing too hard for God. I pray God, as we do our part this morning and we come and we confess and we commit God, that you would give us a new spirit, a new freedom, a new power, a new joy that surpasses all understanding. And God that invitation [unintelligible] invitation come give your problem to God and let Him handle it. It's a simple matter. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
James Greer: 00:36 Man, I'll tell you what, the praise team knocked a home run, amen? Yeah. Not only in Pineville, but Alexandria did too. Way to go, Justin. I mean, y'all are doing a great job over at Alexandria, Darryl and your daughter's there with you and Claudia. Hey y'all know, next Sunday y'all get a free tee shirt. Amen? And, uh, you've got to be here to get one at both locations. So I want y'all to come and get a tee shirt and bring somebody with you.
James Greer: 01:02 But the biggest thing I want you to do is have a shift in your life that you can experience a power in your life that you've never had in your life. But today, you know, we're going to be talking about, uh, problems. And uh, I want you to know I have problems, you've got problems. We've all got problems. But what you may not know (you ready?), here's a word from the Lord: that your problems are a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 01:28 See what you see as a big God says hey, it's just a simple matter. See, so it's not only a simple matter in the hands of God, you may have a problem but you may not know the biblical way to handle the problem that results in the power of God for him to handle the problem.
James Greer: 01:44 I want to give you a verse and then we'll come back to it at the end and it's not an order, but I want you to remember 2 Kings 3:18 today, and it says this, and this is a what? Simple matter in the sight of the Lord. What's a simple matter? These people had this unbelievable problem. They come down, and God starts telling them what to do. And at the end of the problem, God looks at them and He says, I want you to know something - that's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord. So what I want you to know, no matter how big your problem looks today, I want you to know if you'll follow the plan that we're going to have laid out because it's God's plans today, God said hey man, it's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 02:23 So what I want you to do today, we're going to find the problem, the plan, and then the power. So let's raise the bar on problems this morning. own problems. It starts at 2 Kings 3:9 and it said, and so there are two armies, and they joined also by the troops of Edom. No, really, you're gonna find out there's three kings and they're all joined together. They moved along around and about the route, through the (what?) wilderness for seven days but there was no water for the men or their pack animals.
James Greer: 02:55 So what had happened is they were in this unbelievable situation, they heard the Moabites. Moab was going to come after them and destroy them. So they said what we'll do is we'll unite three kingdoms and we'll get together and maybe we can stand. But what they did not do is they didn't go to the Lord. They said, we're going to stand in our physical strength. And then they said, oh no we can't believe that's going to happen. Oh, what shall we do now that we're in a problem and we ain't even checked on it? This King of Israel cried out, 'the Lord has brought us here to let the king of Moab defeat us'. He said man that is the problem.
James Greer: 03:23 So let's look at the problem. What was the problem? They were in the wilderness. You might be here today and you might be in the wilderness of your life. The reason they were in the wilderness is because, it wasn't because they did not prepare physically. It wasn't because they didn't have enough finances. It was because they didn't prepare spiritually.
James Greer: 03:49 See, we're going to all have problems, and we're going to all face unbelievable problems. And it doesn't matter at that point how physically able you are to handle the problem. It doesn't matter how financially you're able to handle a problem. If you're not spiritually able, it will drain you to the point you feel like you're defeated and discouraged. See the real reason they were in the wilderness is because they were trying to fight the other king, Moab, with their own power, own strength, own power, own money, own resources.
James Greer: 04:13 John 15:5 says, I'm the vine. You're the branches. He that abides in me and I in him can do all things and he's going to bring forth much fruit. God said, listen, when you abide in me and I in you, I'm going to bring much fruit. I'm going to bring love and joy, peace and power. But without me, you can do nothing. You said, well, I've been doing a lot. Yeah, but you can do nothing that's going to further the Kingdom of God when you're trying to do it on your own. So the first problem was, the reason they had a problem is they were trying to do it without God. The second reason is they were out of water that comes many times, you ready? Water is a type of the Holy Spirit.
James Greer: 04:56 See, when you're trying to go through school, your relationship, your marriage, your work, your finances, your health, and you're trying to do it without water, you feel like you're in the wilderness and about to dry up and die. When you're trying to go without the word, which empowers the Holy Spirit, you'll wear out easy. You'll get discouraged. You'll get defeated. You feel like you're drained all the time. You'll come and just man, I'm just drained. I feel discouraged and so defeated. You know, at work, it just seems like it's a problem all the time. I mean, when I come home, it's my wife, it's my kids, it's my husband. I'm just drained. It's because see, you don't have the water. The Bible says, be filled with the Holy Spirit. You don't have the spirit and the power of God. Did you know that I have written in the front of my Bible [unintelligible] it says, did you know I don't want you to be, uh, I don't want you to miss the mystery of the incredible power that the Holy Spirit gives you when you're operating in your God give gifts.
James Greer: 06:01 In other words, so when you're really doing what God called, you might get physically tired, but you get spiritually excited. I can come up here and I said, man, I, I'm so physically out of shape and out of condition. But I mean, when the Holy Spirit come, the Holy Spirit of power, I'm more excited than I ever could be. I love to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen? But I want you to live that way. I want it to be in your marriage, your finances, your health, every area of your life, because without it you will wear out. They had depended on their own words and own power instead of God's Word and God's power.
James Greer: 06:31 Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God is quick and it is powerful.
James Greer: 06:38 The third problem they had (it was really bad is, we do it, I do it, we've all done it) they began to blame God for their problem. Verse Ten says this, it says, oh, what shall we do? The King of Israel cried out as the Lord has brought us here to let the king of Moab defeat us. No, no. That's not. No, no.
James Greer: 07:00 Romans 8:37 says, we're more than conquerors through Christ. You know what? You got (listen, listen this is real important). You've got to stop seeing God as your problem and you better start seeing Him as your answer to the problem.
James Greer: 07:13 See, they got themselves into this situation. They had never even asked God about what they should do, so they got themselves into it. Many times when people don't understand why they're having trouble, when they don't understand what they're going through, when they don't understand why this happened to them, they begin to blame the only person that can help them, which is God. See they hadn't been serving the true and living God. To some extent half or three-fourths of the Kings and their people had been serving a false god. A false god is anything that you put before God (listen) that you think is going to give you what only God can. It can be money. There's nothing wrong with money, if it's not your God amen? Hobbies, nothing wrong with that, but if you're so busy with your money and so busy with your hobby that you can't come to church and you can't serve God, you're too busy.
James Greer: 08:02 And you better be careful because God can slow you down. I promise you. It can be people that you're trying to please people more than God. It can be pleasures. It can even be (some of y'all are like ugh), but there's a new game out called Fortnite and man, it's everywhere. Even it can't please you all the time. Many times the same people that are blaming God haven't even been to church. They haven't been in the Word. They haven't been under the Word, yet they're blaming the Word, which the word became flesh. It was Jesus Christ.
James Greer: 08:34 So see they had three things. They started without asking God. They had lack of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Then they began to blame God. So let's see. See because if you've got a problem, you need to plan for the problem. Amen?
James Greer: 08:48 Let's look at the plan that God had for them. 2 Kings 3:11, but Joab, uh, Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah. Judah and Israel are
still a type of God's people, even though Jehoshaphat had teamed up with the wrong people.
James Greer: 09:06 But he said, "Isn't there a Prophet of the Lord with us?"
James Greer: 09:10 In other words, isn't there somebody where we can get a word from God? And I'm going to preach on it in a minute. What you need more than anything else, every single Sunday, every single day, every single problem you have, what you need more than anything else is a word from God. The word of God today is (listen) your problem is a simple matter in the hand of God. Amen?
James Greer: 09:28 "If so, can we find out what to do?"
James Greer: 09:33 "Elijah is here, one of the kings of Israel's, uh, officials replied."
James Greer: 09:38 Then he added, "Isn't he Elijah's assistant?"
James Greer: 09:41 Let me tell you what, I don't care who he is. If he can get a word from God, that's who I want to go here. Amen? And the Prophet in that day was a type of, uh, he dispersed God's word.
James Greer: 09:51 "Fine," Jehoshaphat said.
James Greer: 09:52 "Hey he's just the man we want; he's just the guy we're looking for. Hey, we've had all these problems. We've been defeated. We're out of water. Let's get a word from God."
James Greer: 09:59 Wouldn't it have been nice if they had gone to God first?
James Greer: 10:03 Listen to this. And so the King of, uh, Jehoshaphat, he said let's do it. He said, listen, y'all ready? This is Elijah. They go to him and said, "We've got all these problems."
James Greer: 10:15 Look what he said. "I don't want any part of you."
James Greer: 10:21 I love it because man, this is my kind of man.
James Greer: 10:23 He said, "Man, y'all been living out there. You've been without God. You've been trying to do your own thing. Now you say, oh, give me a word from God."
James Greer: 10:29 He says, "I don't want any part of you", and then he snares at them, and that he really means.
James Greer: 10:32 He said, "I don't want anything to do with you."
James Greer: 10:34 But the King of Jordan, Israel (thank goodness) he said, "You've gone to false prophets and your father's and your mother's."
James Greer: 10:43 But now the King replied, 'No. For it is the Lord who has called us here to be destroyed for the king of Moab."
James Greer: 10:53 Well, really not. Verse 14 puts it this way. He said, "I swear by the Lord God that I won't bother you except for the presence of the king of Jehoshaphat’s."
James Greer: 11:05 Let me stop. There's three kings together. The one king, Jehoshaphat came. He was from Judah. He was a type of maybe a Christian that's been running around with the wrong people. Elijah comes to them and said (listen) to the other kings, I wouldn't even have time for you. I wouldn't even speak to you. I wouldn't even try to get a word from God, but listen, Jehoshaphat [unintelligible].
James Greer: 11:26 Can I tell you something real important? It does matter who surrounds you. It does matter who you go to when you have a problem and it really matters what you do. Listen, you ready? Verse 15 sums it up.
James Greer: 11:43 He said, "Now bring me someone to play a flute or a harp or music."
James Greer: 11:49 Jehoshaphat said, "Listen, I am so ticked off. You need to bring somebody to start playing some music to me."
James Greer: 11:52 And as the flute and the music play, a message of the Lord came to Elijah. You do understand what Elijah was doing. He said, I'm so ticked off. I'm so mad at you because you've been blaming the true and living God because you've been serving a false god, because you've been doing everything on your own. Y'all gotta play some music to calm me down. That's exactly what he's saying. Many times it's the music that leads you to worship, that gets you ready for the word of God.
James Greer: 12:21 See, I don't care who you are, I don't care where you go, I don't care what kind of Christian music it is. I've gone to Southern Gospel. I've gone to praise. I've gone to modern. When I'm sitting where you're sitting, I'm not saying, Oh, it's too loud. I don't like it. I'm saying, Oh God, I want to come into your presence and I want to get ready to hear a word of God. Amen? That's what I want you to do. That's what I want to do. That's why I came in early today. I said, man, God, I want to be in here getting ready to speak a word of God to the people, but I want them to be prepared to hear a word from God. Let music lead you - the right kind of music.
James Greer: 12:53 Let Christian music lead you to worship God, and let the worship lead you to the word of God. Because, you see, if you don't allow it to lead you to the worship and then to the word, see you'll have the worship which is part of your emotion, and God loves your emotions. But you don't get the word which calls you to walk straight. So you need to worship and you need the word. You know what the plan was? It says man, the plan is you just need a word from the Lord.
James Greer: 13:17 Elijah first reminded them while they got themselves into that in the first place. He said, y'all been going to false prophets.
James Greer: 13:25 I don't know what your problem is today. I do know one thing, the beginning to the answer to your problem is you need a word from God. You need to believe that your problems are a simple matter in the hands of God.
James Greer: 13:39 Psalms 50:15 says, call upon the name of the Lord in your time of trouble, and I will deliver you. Man, I just love the way Elijah addressed them. He said, first of all, I'm going to tell you why you're having a problem. I love this because I've had people come to me all the time.
James Greer: 13:54 We give an altar call and I love you to come and I love to pray with you and I love to see lives transformed, but so many times you want to come and say, hey, pray with me. Give me a word from God. I don't want to admit my part. I don't want to repent from my sins. But Elijah said, hey I want you to know the reason you're having this. He said, listen it's because you've been serving a false god because you hadn't been coming to God. And even Jehoshaphat said listen, you've been running around with the wrong people. You've been trying to get people to help you win instead of coming to me [unintelligible]. But he says nevertheless.
James Greer: 14:23 Man aren't you glad we've got a nevertheless God? Aren't you glad we got to a God [unintelligible] and nevertheless, I got myself into this problem. Nevertheless, He's got it. I got myself into it, and God's going to get me out. Amen? I love that.
James Greer: 14:38 See, if trouble and you've got a problem, the number one thing you've got to do is you get a word from God no matter what it takes. So whatever you're going through today, if you're having this unbelievable problem when I give the altar call or maybe you don't have to come here. We're going to give an invitation where they can respond. Right, Richie? From the paper too. You say hey God, I need a word from you.
James Greer: 15:05 If you're really listening, you've probably already had a word from God. Because God is speaking to you. He's speaking to me. He really spoke to me about my problems or a simple matter in the hands of God, and I'm the one that make them big. And the reason they're so big to me is because I try to handle them. I do just like these other Kings did. I go to the wrong place, and doing the wrong thing, and then when I finally have the energy and strength and power, I go to God. Nevertheless.
James Greer: 15:31 So first you know you've got to know that you've got a problem. Second of all, you've got to admit your part of the problem. You've got to hear word from God. You've got to be willing to admit your part of the problem.
James Greer: 15:42 You know James, I think it/s James 5:16 says confess your faults one to another, that you might be healed. Some healing, some cures will never come until you confess your part of the problem. Third, maybe the most important thing you've got to learn today is to obey the word once you get it. By faith (listen, you ready?) obey God's word even if it's hard, even if you don't understand it, even if you don't want to.
James Greer: 16:11 2 Kings 3:16. We're getting to the really, really good part. It's all good. And the Lord says to fill these dry valleys with trenches to hold the water he will send. Stop just a second. They had dry ground and the word [unintelligible] and said start digging holes. Has saying, dig it. Dig Ditches. In verse 17 he says listen, you're not gonna see the wind or the rain, but the valley will be filled. In other words, they were in a valley and it had dried up and he said, I want you to start digging. You dig the ditches. You dig the hole. When you do it, it's going to be filled. It's not going to be some natural thing. It's not going to be by water. It's not going to be by wind, but you yourself, you're going to see I'm going to have more than enough. I'm not going to give you what you need. I'm going to give you more than you need. Not only for you, but for your animals.
James Greer: 17:02 Before when the water comes, you have to dig. Y'all ready? Say this. Say, dig it. I like that. There used to be a word that people would say when they really liked something they'd say dig it.
James Greer: 17:14 Now this is a different kind of dig it, but it's a great cause. This dig, it is one where you get the water and you get the power. See in other words, if you want the power of God upon your life you've got to dig. You want the Holy Spirit? You want to be filled with the power and presence of God? I would say Amen, I do. I would say I want the power of God and you say Amen. Hey I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you say Amen. I want an answer to my problem. You say Amen. You've got to dig. [unintelligible]
James Greer: 17:46 Let me tell you what you don't do. Don't dig up dirt on other people. Keep your mouth shut. Don't even dig up the dirt in your past. Confess it, forsake it, and forget it. And don't continue to dig yourself into a hole. But what do we do? How can we dig down and hit the water?
James Greer: 18:08 Well the way that they were told, there were dry valleys and He said dig down. Really, what He was saying is dig down until you hit the rock. And when you hit the rock, I'm going to fill the valleys from bottom up. Not top down. I'm going to do it where you know that it had to come from the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the rock is Jesus Christ and where he says, the gates of hell shall not prevail.
James Greer: 18:26 In Matthew 16:18 he said, upon this rock, which is Jesus Christ, I will build my church, my life, my family, my finances, my marriage, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. So how do we dig down to the rock? Ready? Dig into God's word. You got a problem? Dig into God's word.
James Greer: 18:45 Hebrews 4:12 said the word of God is quick and powerful. Dig into prayer. James 5:16 tells us that the effects of fervent prayer of a righteous man does what? Availeth much. Dig into praise even when you feel pitiful. Listen, enter into the gates with what? Thanksgiving. I hope you're thankful you're here today. Enter into the courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name.
James Greer: 19:18 See what we do when we're having a problem is we start having a pity party and God said, no, no, no. Get into the word. Get into prayer. Get into praise. In spite of that, we want to change our pity into a praise that come into the power of God. Get into going to church every single Sunday instead of once a month. You know why we only come once a month these days? Because we're too busy doing other things. We are in our hobbies and our pleasures and our finances, and we're going and we're doing and we're taking our kids. I hope I get into this team. I hope I get into this [unintelligible]. I hope they get into Heaven.
James Greer: 19:53 Get into church. Hebrews says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as some of you have done. Dig in to obey God's word even when it's hard.
James Greer: 20:05 Deuteronomy 28:13. You know what it says? Obey them. The Lord is going to make you the head, not the tail. You'll always be on top and never be on the bottom. You get into God's word. You pray and you pray. As you come to church, you obey the word, you do what God's telling you to do.
James Greer: 20:21 You know what? Let me tell you some real important insight. You Ready? You can be as close to God as you choose to be. You personally have to make a choice. You can't make it for your mate. You can't make it for your children. I can't make it for you. But you're as close to God as you choose to be.
James Greer: 20:40 I told you what you need to do is start digging down and now there's some trash you need to get rid of. Some of you have some place you need to stop going to. Some of you need to stop spending time with certain people. Some of you need to give up things that keep you away from church. You need to give up where you can really go up. Some of you are in a relationship and you need to break it off. Some of you need to get married or tell him to get out. In fact, it's so much [unintelligible]. I'm thinking about having a service on it and I'm going to invite everybody that's living together. Hey, would y'all like to get married? And I just do one big service. Amen? I'm just saying. I'm serious. Does that apply to you? Sign up. Anyway, you might need to go to a person and ask for forgiveness. Amen? Because, listen, after all the digging, you dig down to those things. You get rid of those things. The power and the presence of God is going to come.
James Greer: 21:33 2 Kings verse 17 and 18, let's start summing it up. For thus, sayeth the Lord. You're not going to see the wind. You're not going to see the rain. In other words, you're not going to be able to say it rained, it just happened. You're not going to say the wind blew it over. No, no, no. Yet the valleys, they're going to be filled. They're going to be filled with water so that you, your cattle, your animals may drink. You're ready? My favorite verse this week, I wrote it in the front of my Bible. It says, I want you know this is just a simple matter in the sight of the Lord. Isn't that great?
James Greer: 22:08 They had three kings, no water, they're in the wilderness, they're about to get slaughtered, and God's prophet comes to them and says, that's just a simple matter in the hands of God. So I want you to know this: whatever you're going through, it's a simple matter in the hands of God.
James Greer: 22:21 And when you do that, when you start digging, when you start doing it again, I want you to start anticipating the power and presence of God coming into your life. I want you to do your part and God will always do His part. Use what you have, not what you wish you had. You start digging and God said, hey, guess what? I'm going to send the water. Some of y'all need to say man I've been in the valley. I've been in the wilderness. I need to start digging. I need to start digging today. I'm going to make some commitments. I'm going to make some commitments. I'm going to get into the word. I'm going to begin to pray. I'm going to begin to praise. I'm going to come to church. I'm going to obey the word. God said, man, you dig now. You're digging now. You're getting there.
James Greer: 22:56 I'm going to stop doing some things. I'm going to give up some things where I can go up, and then God just starts to impress it upon your heart. Through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, your problem's not really a big deal in the hands of God.
James Greer: 23:09 So, as I begin to close I want to ask you: Do you have a problem that you need to give to God this morning when I give the invitation? Quit worrying about anybody else. I want you to know whether you're up there or down here, if you've got a problem get ready to give it to God. I don't care if you're in Alexandria. I don't care if you're in Pineville. In a minute when we close, man, you just step out and give it to God. Are you ready for God's plan? Are you ready to hear a word from God? Are you? Are you willing to admit your part, and are you willing to obey no matter what it says? If those are the cases you can begin. If you'll do those things, you begin to anticipate the power and presence of God in your problem, and you can just get in your spirit and God says hey, that's just a simple matter in the hands of the Lord.
James Greer: 24:02 Stand and let me pray with you. Father, I just thank you for your word. It is so powerful. It is so practical. God, we all have problems, but you already got a plan. We've got a problem, you've got a plan God and you've got the power. I pray for every single person here today, God. I pray for those that came with a problem that they might experience your power. I pray that each one of us had a word from you today, God. I pray that it encourages us there's absolutely nothing too hard for God. I pray God, as we do our part this morning and we come and we confess and we commit God, that you would give us a new spirit, a new freedom, a new power, a new joy that surpasses all understanding. And God that invitation [unintelligible] invitation come give your problem to God and let Him handle it. It's a simple matter. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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