Easter Sunday - With Jesus, It’s a Win-Win
Understanding How It's Always A Win-Win With Jesus Christ
James Greer
Apr 4, 2021 26m
There is victory in Jesus. Because of His sacrifice, we cannot lose. It's always a win-win with Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, our sins are forgiven! We win because Jesus is victory. Sin has no power over Him. Accept Him as your Savior and be victorious. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
James Greer (00:03):
Morning, Journey Church. That's what I'm talking about, a full house. Amen? That's what church is supposed to look like. I'm going to tell you, didn't that praise team do a great job? Amen? I mean you get a praise team like that and then you get baptism after that, man, you ought to be excited. Man, Easter is my favorite time. It's like new beginnings, fresh starts. It's like the impossible becomes possible. It's a picture of how God can take what looks like the worst things in life like Jesus going to the cross and turn it around to what looks like the best things, the resurrection. And we're fixing to start a new series next Sunday. I want to encourage you to come. It's you were born for greatness. I'll tell you the title is, message today is win-win. Have you ever felt like you've gone around and said, man, I just can't win for losing?
James Greer (00:52):
I know. But today I'm gonna tell you the truth is you just can't lose for winning. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you can't lose really if you learn how to apply what we have today. In fact, you just become a win-win and that's what we want you. You can win absolutely in every situation that there is. We didn't like to say, I can just win, win. Amen? Y'all gonna have to come alive, man. We got this many people. Let's get excited. Amen? Tony, was exciting a while ago, all the baptism? And then your whole family said. Ooh, I know it was. I mean we want to give a shoutout to Janice Reiland too. I mean, you know, she just had her brain surgery yesterday in Houston. They removed the cancer. And she sent me the coolest picture. I wish I could show it but I didn't get permission so I won't. They had her in the wheelchair and they told her, do not get up. And they went out of the room and she sent me a selfie of her standing up going, haha, She gonna show them.
James Greer (01:53):
She went into surgery just kind of a win-win attitude. I got to pray with her yesterday morning before she went in. And she such a witness. She's living her life out like Janet did. She just says, hey, I'm going to, it's a win-win, as a Christian, as a witness. And she's kind of living out the same verse, Philippians 1:22. And we're gonna, we're gonna preach on that in little while. It says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And talking to her, she said, you know, if I die, I've really been missing my son Brandon and my mother. But I'm gonna get to see him. He died as a teenager, at a young age. I keep his picture on my desk to remind me that you never know how old. It was a tragic death. Matter of fact, I baptized him. When I baptized him, I'll never forget when I used to still baptize them. When he came up, he said, there's a party going on inside of me. He was just so excited. Wasn't but a few years later that he had a tragic car wreck. And so she said, you know, if I die, I win. I get to see my son. And he told us, and he said, I'll give your granddaughter a hug while I'm up there.
James Greer (03:05):
And she said, but if I don't, she said, I live For Christ. I said, well, I'm going to pray that you live and I'm going to pray that you'll live for Christ because I think that you can witness and minister to people that I would never be able to. And so let's just hear a big shoutout to Janice Reiland. Amen? But because of Easter, you can just have a win-win. And basically, that's what we want you to learn. Why can we not lose? How can we win? Philippians 1 starts out and it kind of tells us. In Philippians 1:19, it says, for I know there's something that you have to know, not just think about. You have to know this. You have to know that this will turn out for our deliverance. What he's saying is you got to know, whatever's going on in your life, whatever happens to you, whatever your situation is, you gotta know that it can turn out for your deliverance, for your good. Though through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ.
James Greer (04:03):
In other words, when the spirit of God's working in your life, he said, I want you to know. Everybody in here is going through something different. Some of it's major, some of it's minor, some of it's financial, some of it's personal, some of it's relational. But what God's saying, there's something I want you to know. There's something I want you to believe. If you want to have a win-win in your life, I want you to know, whatever it is, you can be delivered from it. You say, well, Brother James, you just don't know. I don't know but God does. And God knows the end and you don't. You know, the word deliver means you can be rescued. You can be, for your good, it can be for your safety. Then he says and tells you how it's according to your earnest expectations. I love that word expectations. Because everybody came with different expectations today. Some of y'all just came with expectations, I'm going to get in and get out. I understand that. I've come to church like that. I just can't wait to get here and get out. At least I went to church. Amen? That's an expectation. Some of y'all came and said, hey, I just came with the expectation that my husband gets saved or my wife gets saved or my kids get saved. I come with the expectation they change their life. And God has expectations that you change their life. That's good, Brother James.
James Greer (05:15):
So everybody came with different expectations. I've got an unbelievable expectation. Y'all to know what mine is? I'm gonna tell you anyway. You might as well say amen. My expectation is everybody in here makes a change in their life before they go home. And my expectation has a hope which means I have a positive future. That in nothing I shall be ashamed and I can do it with all boldness as always and now also in Christ that He might be magnified in my body, whether it's by life or by death. You can't lose because you got to know that you will be delivered and you need to be expecting every day. In other words, if you're going through something right now, you need to get up tomorrow and say, man, I'm just expecting God to deliver me. Don't get up and say, expecting it's going to get worse. Why are you doing that? Doesn't say that. You get up tomorrow and say, man, I'm just expecting tomorrow, it's going to be a better day and do it with a confident expectation. Just expecting it to get better. You know, death could not even hold Jesus. So your problem can't hold you down. Amen? You need to have a positive expectation. Let me tell you, there's simple expectation and there's exceeding expectation. Even Mary, we're going to see later on, she went to the tomb with a simple expectation.
James Greer (06:42):
She went to the tomb with a simple expectation of just simply finding Jesus in a dead body. But Jesus had an exceedingly expectation for her. When she got there, she didn't find a dead body. She had exceeding expectations. She found Jesus wasn't there. He was dead. He was alive. That way exceeded her expectations. Amen? Some of y'all came today, y'all thought y'all were gonna find a dead church. But you found one that was alive. Amen? Some of y'all thought you were just gonna come to church and go home the same way. But you're not. God's going to exceed your expectations. Amen? And then he goes on to say in verse 21, he sums up. Hey, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He's trying to tell you, he's trying to sum it up. When we really truly learn to live for Christ, you cannot lose. It's impossible. The only way you lose is when you're simply living for yourself. Because when you live for Christ, you can't lose. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Some of y'all say, I need to change my expectation. I've been just living for myself. And today, the decision is I'm going to start living for Christ where I can't lose. Why do losers lose anyway? Well, you can figure out in Matthew 27:62, it starts telling you. On the next day, the next day it was after they crucified Jesus, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees, they gathered together with Pilate. Well, that's great. The spiritual leaders and the political leaders. About like today, that ain't working out too good.
James Greer (08:20):
Anyway, they get in there together. And they're saying, sir, we remember why he was still alive, Jesus, how that deceiver said after three days, He will rise. See, the first reason that that losers are losers is they don't believe what Jesus said. It's just like, people today, just like many leaders today. They think Jesus is a deceiver instead of a deliverer. How's that working out for our world today? Not too good. I mean do you understand that what happens today and people and leaders and political and spiritual, when they start thinking Jesus is a deceiver instead of a deliverer, that's what happens? We have chaos. But let me tell you what, today how do you see Jesus? Do you see Him as a deceiver or a deliverer? What do you need to be delivered from today? Maybe it's sin or guilt or shame or your past. And if you don't believe He can do that, you are being deceived. So Jesus will never be deceived and he'll never deceive you. In fact, everything He ever said did come true. Verse 64, therefore, now they're going to do this, now they commanded the tomb be secure until the third day lest His disciples come by night and that they steal Him away to say to the people He has risen from the dead. So the last deception would be worse than the first.
James Greer (09:58):
The second reason losers lose is because they think they're in control. I thought, first of all, we're going to kill Him. Second of all, we're going to put Him in a tomb. Third of all, we're going to secure the tomb. Fourth of all, we're going to put guards around the tomb. And this is what happened. The more you think you're in control, the more things get out of control. See, the problem is, the reason some of y'all are so stressed out, so worried is because you think you are in control. One of the best things you can do, you want God to exceed your expectations, at the end of the service when we give the invitation, just say, God, things are out of control. And He's gonna say, boy, it took a long time for you to realize you can't control. And today you're going to make the decision to give God control. Pilate, he couldn't stop the resurrection. The devil couldn't stop the resurrection. Death couldn't stop the resurrection. Jesus isn't dead. He's alive. The grave couldn't stop the resurrection. What happened is what He left in the tomb was our sins, fear, guilt, and shame. Because Jesus is not dead but He's alive. That's one of the reasons I love baptism. Man, I just love it. It's a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. In fact, I love it so much, if you want to get baptized, you can come next service. I'll baptize you. I got shorts and T-shirt. You don't even have to wait. Amen? You just come at the end of service, say, I want to get baptized. I can arrange it. You can be baptized on Easter Sunday. Amen?
James Greer (11:27):
Let's go for it. Jesus did rise from the tomb but He left the sins and the shame there. Third reason losers lose is because they just wouldn't allow Jesus to forgive them. They wouldn't allow Him to forgive them for their guilt and their shame and their fear. Mainly because of their pride. There's some people that'll come to church today but they won't walk out and accept Christ because of their pride. You're more worried about what somebody else thinks about you than you are what Jesus can do for you. Don't do that. Jesus wants to exceed your expectations. Once you make the first step, man, you'll feel the power and presence of God will be with you the rest of the way. So if you're here today and you're not sure that you would go to Heaven, that was the whole point of the resurrection. He died for our sins and our shame, to forgive us, to give us a brand new start. So at the end of the service, I pray that you would settle it today. Verse 65 said, Pilate came to them and he said to them, now he says, you have a guard. So he's already put the stone. Go your way, make it as secure as you know how. So they went and they made the tomb secure. Sealing the stone and setting the guard.
James Greer (12:52):
Now see, they thought that they could seal it and make it secure. But the fourth reason that they were losers is because they tried to find their security in things. They said, hey, we got power, we got prestige, we got the guards, we got a stone. And they thought that would bring them security. The opposite of security is insecurity. The opposite of worth is unworthiness. See, security and worth is an inside. It comes from inside out, not outside in. See, true security and worth, it doesn't come from what you have. It doesn't even come from how you dress. I dressed up today. I was so glad. I got my good looking family here today. Would y'all like to see them before I get killed? Would all my family stand up? I'm so glad they're here. Come on, stand up. I'll tell you, they got some good genes, baby. They are good looking. But as good looking as they are, and they are good looking, they can't get their worth and security from how good looking they are. You can't get it from your IQ. You can't get it from your EQ. Your worth and security has to come from inside out. Your real security and worth, I'll be preaching on it again next week. But it has to come till you finally come to the point that you really know who you are in Christ. You have to know that you're accepted, that you're forgiven, and you're significant. When you don't find your worth and your security in that, every time circumstances and situations change, you become insecure. You become unworthy. So some of you need to come today and say, I need to find my security and my worth in Christ.
James Greer (14:41):
I've been trying to find it in the wrong people, in the wrong places, in the wrong things. So let's see how you win and why you win. In Matthew 28:1, it says, now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn. That's the day. Amen? We're celebrating Jesus is alive. Are y'all excited? Well, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary came to the tomb. Let's hear for the women. Amen? The women were the last ones to leave the cross and the women were the first one to come to tomb. Where were the men? They said, he's dead. They didn't even come check it out. He had told them that He was going to raise. At least the women came to get the dead body. The men didn't even show up. They had to go tell them He was alive. Thank you for the women. Amen? Go on, Mrs. Shirley. In the hole, they got to see there was a great earthquake. And the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven. And he came and he rolled the stone away from the door. And listen, and he sat on it. Guess what? The stone couldn't do it. I mean they thought they were gonna put a stone there. Then they put guards there. And the countenance was lightening and clothing was white as snow. You getting what happened to the guards? Guess what happened next? And the guards shook with fear and became like dead. Those dudes fainted.
James Greer (16:07):
Listen, when you got God on your side, you don't have to worry about anybody else. They had the political leaders, they had the spiritual leaders, they had stone, they put Him in a grave. These little poor women went up there and the stone rolled away and the guards fainted. I mean, man, when you got God on your side, you don't have to worry about everybody else. Amen? Well, get with it. Amen? So listen, I want you to be secure in what God has for you. And the angel had a message for them and He's got a message for me and he's got a message for you. And the angel said to the women and the angel said to you at Journey Church, downstairs, upstairs, and online. I love people watching online . Do you know where every Sunday we have more people watching online than we have here? And I thank God for that. But man, you cannot feel the electricity in here. You need to come. But he had a message. He said, don't be afraid. God has a word for you.
James Greer (17:01):
There's some people that came in today and you're afraid. I don't know. Some of it is you have relationship fears, financial fears, personal fears. And God said, I don't want you to be afraid. So I don't want you to be afraid for I know what you seek and it's Jesus who was crucified. Jesus knows what you seek. He knows that you're at church and this is where you seek Jesus. And I can tell you He's here. He's not in the grave. He's not in the tomb. He's here. And He knows that you seek Him. In fact, Deuteronomy tells us. But from there you will seek the Lord your God. And you're going to find Him for you seek with Him with all your heart and all your soul. So for those that came today seeking Jesus, you're going to find Him. You're going to find Him in a new way. And not only are you going to find Him, He wants to exceed your expectations because he sums up after he told him not to be afraid. This is why you don't have to be afraid. He said, listen, Jesus isn't here. He's risen.
James Greer (18:14):
As He said He would. You can come see the place where He laid. You can be assured of one thing. Jesus isn't dead. He's alive and He wants to be with you and He wants to be for you. One of the reasons you can win is because He's risen. He's not dead. He's alive. Romans 6:8 tells us this. It says, now if we died with Christ, in other words, if you invited Christ in your heart, we believe that we shall also live with Him. In other words, He died. He lived now. We live with Him. In other words, if we live, every place we go, Christ is with us and Christ is for us. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. The death He died. He died for sin once and for all. But the life He lives, He lives for God. In other words, He can't die. Jesus died once and for all for our sins. You can't kill Him again. And once you're saved, your sins have been forgiven once and for all. Now, listen, He just forgives you once and for all for your sins. But you still deal with the power of sin. You still have temptation even after you're saved. And the reason it did because Jesus never died to the power of sin because Jesus never sinned. He was tempted like we were in all ways. But thank God, He never did sin. Amen?
James Greer (19:46):
If He had ever said, He couldn't have died on the cross for our sins. So therefore He didn't die for the power of sin but He died for the consequences of our sin. If you'll accept Him as your Lord and Savior today, He will pay the price for your sin and your guilt and your condemnation and hell. You'll be free from all that. Amen? But you still have to deal with the power of sin. You're still tempted to sin. So there's basically two types of people here today. There's one type that need to deal with the consequences of your sin, your guilt, your shame. You want to make sure you're going to Heaven and not hell. And that was the whole point of resurrection. If you're not 100% sure that you would go to Heaven, today is the day Jesus will exceed your expectations. You may have come to church just to check it off and said, I went to church on Easter. And Jesus said, no, I've got more for you. I want you to make sure you're coming to Heaven with me one day. I want to give you a brand new start. I want to forgive you all your sins. Then like I said, my expectation is that everybody here will make a change. There's some that said, hey, I did that but I just lost my joy. I feel guilty. I don't have the love and joy and peace that God promised that we could have. It's called the fruit of the spirit. There's sins that I haven't dealt with. And Jesus said, confess them and forsake them and I'm faithful to forgive you.
James Greer (21:15):
He said, just deal with it. I'll give you a new refreshing that'll come upon your life. So as we get ready to close, I just don't know which one it is. I want you to be a win-win. I want you to win. If you accept Christ, then you go to Heaven. I want you to win. If you deal with sin where you can have a new love and joy and peace. I want you to come. If you have something that looks like an impossible situation, I want God to exceed your expectation. I mean anybody, our Savior Jesus Christ, that could be in a tomb and raised from the dead, I don't think your problem's too hard for Him. You just came with the wrong expectation. What if you came in a minute, what if you came with the true expectation that I'm going to give my greatest need to Jesus Christ? That's the expectation He wants you to have. He wants to exceed your greatest need with His greatest expectation. There's no way you have to come home. You give him the most impossible situation in your life. Mary came. She came to the tomb. At least she came. And you came to church and I thank God you came. She came thinking she was going to find a tomb and a dead body. Some of y'all came thinking you would come to church and you're just going to check it off. I found a dead church. She got there. Her expectation was exceeded, extremely exceeded. She found a risen savior that could never die again. I don't care why you came. I want you to find a risen savior.
James Greer (22:49):
I want your expectations to be exceeded. I want you to know, I want you to know without a shadow of doubt that not only that you would go to Heaven, that He is with you and that He is for you. See, Friday, He was on the cross. Everybody was discouraged. It looked like defeat. Saturday He was in a grave and it was all darkness. They went from defeat to unbelievable darkness. But Sunday came, light came, resurrection came, everything changed. I want you to know what two or three days in life can change. I don't care what's going on in your life. I don't care how bad it looks. I want you to know that Jesus Christ can radically change your life and He wants to change it. So whatever you're going through, it's my prayer that you would let Him radically change your life. I want you to know there's no sin too bad that Jesus didn't die for your sin. I want you to know that He would like to forgive you of any and every sin. Basically what He would like to do today is exceed your expectation beyond your imagination. But you know, He leaves that choice up to you. There were some that lost and there were some that won. And there'll always be that every single day. My expectation is everybody in this service has a decision to make whether you make it on your next step card or whether you come and talk to these ushers. Would you stand and let me pray with you and pray for you?
James Greer (24:31):
God, you're an awesome God who I love. I thank you for your Word. It wasn't by accident. Your Word was preached by divine appointment for these people and for me. God, some make a decision today for you to be their Lord and their Savior. Make sure that they would go to Heaven. They know that they've sinned. That sin separated from God. But they want to accept. They believe that you died on the cross and that you rose on the third day. And they want to invite you into their heart. There's those that have lost their joy and peace, power. And today, God, they'd like to renew their faith. They'd like to say, God, I've lost my love and my joy and peace. I'd like to come back to you. I want to confess my sins. I want to forsake them. I want to experience you all new again. There's those that maybe need to be baptized and they'd say, hey, I'm ready. Whether it's today or next week, I want to commit to being followed through in public baptism. I'm not ashamed of Christ. It's the power of God. Maybe they need to join the church and you've been visiting and you know today's the day. Maybe you just need somebody to pray with you and to pray for you. But see, I believe that God wants to exceed your expectations. But you have to come with the expectation to be exceeded. The choice is yours. God, I pray that you'd have your will and your way in every single person's life that's in here today. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Bruce Goulart (25:54):
On behalf of Pastor James, thank you for tuning in to our online experience today. I just want to say happy Easter and I'm so thankful that you chose Journey Church to tune into this Sunday. Also, if you need someone to pray with you right now, you just have to hit the link down below in your comments and someone will get with you right away. We also have an amazing Journey Church app that if you just get your app store, type in JC Pineville, you can download our app now. And this is a way to access old sermon series and other stuff that Journey Church has to offer. Now, I hope to see y'all next week. Thank y'all.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
Morning, Journey Church. That's what I'm talking about, a full house. Amen? That's what church is supposed to look like. I'm going to tell you, didn't that praise team do a great job? Amen? I mean you get a praise team like that and then you get baptism after that, man, you ought to be excited. Man, Easter is my favorite time. It's like new beginnings, fresh starts. It's like the impossible becomes possible. It's a picture of how God can take what looks like the worst things in life like Jesus going to the cross and turn it around to what looks like the best things, the resurrection. And we're fixing to start a new series next Sunday. I want to encourage you to come. It's you were born for greatness. I'll tell you the title is, message today is win-win. Have you ever felt like you've gone around and said, man, I just can't win for losing?
James Greer (00:52):
I know. But today I'm gonna tell you the truth is you just can't lose for winning. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you can't lose really if you learn how to apply what we have today. In fact, you just become a win-win and that's what we want you. You can win absolutely in every situation that there is. We didn't like to say, I can just win, win. Amen? Y'all gonna have to come alive, man. We got this many people. Let's get excited. Amen? Tony, was exciting a while ago, all the baptism? And then your whole family said. Ooh, I know it was. I mean we want to give a shoutout to Janice Reiland too. I mean, you know, she just had her brain surgery yesterday in Houston. They removed the cancer. And she sent me the coolest picture. I wish I could show it but I didn't get permission so I won't. They had her in the wheelchair and they told her, do not get up. And they went out of the room and she sent me a selfie of her standing up going, haha, She gonna show them.
James Greer (01:53):
She went into surgery just kind of a win-win attitude. I got to pray with her yesterday morning before she went in. And she such a witness. She's living her life out like Janet did. She just says, hey, I'm going to, it's a win-win, as a Christian, as a witness. And she's kind of living out the same verse, Philippians 1:22. And we're gonna, we're gonna preach on that in little while. It says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And talking to her, she said, you know, if I die, I've really been missing my son Brandon and my mother. But I'm gonna get to see him. He died as a teenager, at a young age. I keep his picture on my desk to remind me that you never know how old. It was a tragic death. Matter of fact, I baptized him. When I baptized him, I'll never forget when I used to still baptize them. When he came up, he said, there's a party going on inside of me. He was just so excited. Wasn't but a few years later that he had a tragic car wreck. And so she said, you know, if I die, I win. I get to see my son. And he told us, and he said, I'll give your granddaughter a hug while I'm up there.
James Greer (03:05):
And she said, but if I don't, she said, I live For Christ. I said, well, I'm going to pray that you live and I'm going to pray that you'll live for Christ because I think that you can witness and minister to people that I would never be able to. And so let's just hear a big shoutout to Janice Reiland. Amen? But because of Easter, you can just have a win-win. And basically, that's what we want you to learn. Why can we not lose? How can we win? Philippians 1 starts out and it kind of tells us. In Philippians 1:19, it says, for I know there's something that you have to know, not just think about. You have to know this. You have to know that this will turn out for our deliverance. What he's saying is you got to know, whatever's going on in your life, whatever happens to you, whatever your situation is, you gotta know that it can turn out for your deliverance, for your good. Though through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ.
James Greer (04:03):
In other words, when the spirit of God's working in your life, he said, I want you to know. Everybody in here is going through something different. Some of it's major, some of it's minor, some of it's financial, some of it's personal, some of it's relational. But what God's saying, there's something I want you to know. There's something I want you to believe. If you want to have a win-win in your life, I want you to know, whatever it is, you can be delivered from it. You say, well, Brother James, you just don't know. I don't know but God does. And God knows the end and you don't. You know, the word deliver means you can be rescued. You can be, for your good, it can be for your safety. Then he says and tells you how it's according to your earnest expectations. I love that word expectations. Because everybody came with different expectations today. Some of y'all just came with expectations, I'm going to get in and get out. I understand that. I've come to church like that. I just can't wait to get here and get out. At least I went to church. Amen? That's an expectation. Some of y'all came and said, hey, I just came with the expectation that my husband gets saved or my wife gets saved or my kids get saved. I come with the expectation they change their life. And God has expectations that you change their life. That's good, Brother James.
James Greer (05:15):
So everybody came with different expectations. I've got an unbelievable expectation. Y'all to know what mine is? I'm gonna tell you anyway. You might as well say amen. My expectation is everybody in here makes a change in their life before they go home. And my expectation has a hope which means I have a positive future. That in nothing I shall be ashamed and I can do it with all boldness as always and now also in Christ that He might be magnified in my body, whether it's by life or by death. You can't lose because you got to know that you will be delivered and you need to be expecting every day. In other words, if you're going through something right now, you need to get up tomorrow and say, man, I'm just expecting God to deliver me. Don't get up and say, expecting it's going to get worse. Why are you doing that? Doesn't say that. You get up tomorrow and say, man, I'm just expecting tomorrow, it's going to be a better day and do it with a confident expectation. Just expecting it to get better. You know, death could not even hold Jesus. So your problem can't hold you down. Amen? You need to have a positive expectation. Let me tell you, there's simple expectation and there's exceeding expectation. Even Mary, we're going to see later on, she went to the tomb with a simple expectation.
James Greer (06:42):
She went to the tomb with a simple expectation of just simply finding Jesus in a dead body. But Jesus had an exceedingly expectation for her. When she got there, she didn't find a dead body. She had exceeding expectations. She found Jesus wasn't there. He was dead. He was alive. That way exceeded her expectations. Amen? Some of y'all came today, y'all thought y'all were gonna find a dead church. But you found one that was alive. Amen? Some of y'all thought you were just gonna come to church and go home the same way. But you're not. God's going to exceed your expectations. Amen? And then he goes on to say in verse 21, he sums up. Hey, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He's trying to tell you, he's trying to sum it up. When we really truly learn to live for Christ, you cannot lose. It's impossible. The only way you lose is when you're simply living for yourself. Because when you live for Christ, you can't lose. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Some of y'all say, I need to change my expectation. I've been just living for myself. And today, the decision is I'm going to start living for Christ where I can't lose. Why do losers lose anyway? Well, you can figure out in Matthew 27:62, it starts telling you. On the next day, the next day it was after they crucified Jesus, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees, they gathered together with Pilate. Well, that's great. The spiritual leaders and the political leaders. About like today, that ain't working out too good.
James Greer (08:20):
Anyway, they get in there together. And they're saying, sir, we remember why he was still alive, Jesus, how that deceiver said after three days, He will rise. See, the first reason that that losers are losers is they don't believe what Jesus said. It's just like, people today, just like many leaders today. They think Jesus is a deceiver instead of a deliverer. How's that working out for our world today? Not too good. I mean do you understand that what happens today and people and leaders and political and spiritual, when they start thinking Jesus is a deceiver instead of a deliverer, that's what happens? We have chaos. But let me tell you what, today how do you see Jesus? Do you see Him as a deceiver or a deliverer? What do you need to be delivered from today? Maybe it's sin or guilt or shame or your past. And if you don't believe He can do that, you are being deceived. So Jesus will never be deceived and he'll never deceive you. In fact, everything He ever said did come true. Verse 64, therefore, now they're going to do this, now they commanded the tomb be secure until the third day lest His disciples come by night and that they steal Him away to say to the people He has risen from the dead. So the last deception would be worse than the first.
James Greer (09:58):
The second reason losers lose is because they think they're in control. I thought, first of all, we're going to kill Him. Second of all, we're going to put Him in a tomb. Third of all, we're going to secure the tomb. Fourth of all, we're going to put guards around the tomb. And this is what happened. The more you think you're in control, the more things get out of control. See, the problem is, the reason some of y'all are so stressed out, so worried is because you think you are in control. One of the best things you can do, you want God to exceed your expectations, at the end of the service when we give the invitation, just say, God, things are out of control. And He's gonna say, boy, it took a long time for you to realize you can't control. And today you're going to make the decision to give God control. Pilate, he couldn't stop the resurrection. The devil couldn't stop the resurrection. Death couldn't stop the resurrection. Jesus isn't dead. He's alive. The grave couldn't stop the resurrection. What happened is what He left in the tomb was our sins, fear, guilt, and shame. Because Jesus is not dead but He's alive. That's one of the reasons I love baptism. Man, I just love it. It's a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection. In fact, I love it so much, if you want to get baptized, you can come next service. I'll baptize you. I got shorts and T-shirt. You don't even have to wait. Amen? You just come at the end of service, say, I want to get baptized. I can arrange it. You can be baptized on Easter Sunday. Amen?
James Greer (11:27):
Let's go for it. Jesus did rise from the tomb but He left the sins and the shame there. Third reason losers lose is because they just wouldn't allow Jesus to forgive them. They wouldn't allow Him to forgive them for their guilt and their shame and their fear. Mainly because of their pride. There's some people that'll come to church today but they won't walk out and accept Christ because of their pride. You're more worried about what somebody else thinks about you than you are what Jesus can do for you. Don't do that. Jesus wants to exceed your expectations. Once you make the first step, man, you'll feel the power and presence of God will be with you the rest of the way. So if you're here today and you're not sure that you would go to Heaven, that was the whole point of the resurrection. He died for our sins and our shame, to forgive us, to give us a brand new start. So at the end of the service, I pray that you would settle it today. Verse 65 said, Pilate came to them and he said to them, now he says, you have a guard. So he's already put the stone. Go your way, make it as secure as you know how. So they went and they made the tomb secure. Sealing the stone and setting the guard.
James Greer (12:52):
Now see, they thought that they could seal it and make it secure. But the fourth reason that they were losers is because they tried to find their security in things. They said, hey, we got power, we got prestige, we got the guards, we got a stone. And they thought that would bring them security. The opposite of security is insecurity. The opposite of worth is unworthiness. See, security and worth is an inside. It comes from inside out, not outside in. See, true security and worth, it doesn't come from what you have. It doesn't even come from how you dress. I dressed up today. I was so glad. I got my good looking family here today. Would y'all like to see them before I get killed? Would all my family stand up? I'm so glad they're here. Come on, stand up. I'll tell you, they got some good genes, baby. They are good looking. But as good looking as they are, and they are good looking, they can't get their worth and security from how good looking they are. You can't get it from your IQ. You can't get it from your EQ. Your worth and security has to come from inside out. Your real security and worth, I'll be preaching on it again next week. But it has to come till you finally come to the point that you really know who you are in Christ. You have to know that you're accepted, that you're forgiven, and you're significant. When you don't find your worth and your security in that, every time circumstances and situations change, you become insecure. You become unworthy. So some of you need to come today and say, I need to find my security and my worth in Christ.
James Greer (14:41):
I've been trying to find it in the wrong people, in the wrong places, in the wrong things. So let's see how you win and why you win. In Matthew 28:1, it says, now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn. That's the day. Amen? We're celebrating Jesus is alive. Are y'all excited? Well, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary came to the tomb. Let's hear for the women. Amen? The women were the last ones to leave the cross and the women were the first one to come to tomb. Where were the men? They said, he's dead. They didn't even come check it out. He had told them that He was going to raise. At least the women came to get the dead body. The men didn't even show up. They had to go tell them He was alive. Thank you for the women. Amen? Go on, Mrs. Shirley. In the hole, they got to see there was a great earthquake. And the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven. And he came and he rolled the stone away from the door. And listen, and he sat on it. Guess what? The stone couldn't do it. I mean they thought they were gonna put a stone there. Then they put guards there. And the countenance was lightening and clothing was white as snow. You getting what happened to the guards? Guess what happened next? And the guards shook with fear and became like dead. Those dudes fainted.
James Greer (16:07):
Listen, when you got God on your side, you don't have to worry about anybody else. They had the political leaders, they had the spiritual leaders, they had stone, they put Him in a grave. These little poor women went up there and the stone rolled away and the guards fainted. I mean, man, when you got God on your side, you don't have to worry about everybody else. Amen? Well, get with it. Amen? So listen, I want you to be secure in what God has for you. And the angel had a message for them and He's got a message for me and he's got a message for you. And the angel said to the women and the angel said to you at Journey Church, downstairs, upstairs, and online. I love people watching online . Do you know where every Sunday we have more people watching online than we have here? And I thank God for that. But man, you cannot feel the electricity in here. You need to come. But he had a message. He said, don't be afraid. God has a word for you.
James Greer (17:01):
There's some people that came in today and you're afraid. I don't know. Some of it is you have relationship fears, financial fears, personal fears. And God said, I don't want you to be afraid. So I don't want you to be afraid for I know what you seek and it's Jesus who was crucified. Jesus knows what you seek. He knows that you're at church and this is where you seek Jesus. And I can tell you He's here. He's not in the grave. He's not in the tomb. He's here. And He knows that you seek Him. In fact, Deuteronomy tells us. But from there you will seek the Lord your God. And you're going to find Him for you seek with Him with all your heart and all your soul. So for those that came today seeking Jesus, you're going to find Him. You're going to find Him in a new way. And not only are you going to find Him, He wants to exceed your expectations because he sums up after he told him not to be afraid. This is why you don't have to be afraid. He said, listen, Jesus isn't here. He's risen.
James Greer (18:14):
As He said He would. You can come see the place where He laid. You can be assured of one thing. Jesus isn't dead. He's alive and He wants to be with you and He wants to be for you. One of the reasons you can win is because He's risen. He's not dead. He's alive. Romans 6:8 tells us this. It says, now if we died with Christ, in other words, if you invited Christ in your heart, we believe that we shall also live with Him. In other words, He died. He lived now. We live with Him. In other words, if we live, every place we go, Christ is with us and Christ is for us. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. The death He died. He died for sin once and for all. But the life He lives, He lives for God. In other words, He can't die. Jesus died once and for all for our sins. You can't kill Him again. And once you're saved, your sins have been forgiven once and for all. Now, listen, He just forgives you once and for all for your sins. But you still deal with the power of sin. You still have temptation even after you're saved. And the reason it did because Jesus never died to the power of sin because Jesus never sinned. He was tempted like we were in all ways. But thank God, He never did sin. Amen?
James Greer (19:46):
If He had ever said, He couldn't have died on the cross for our sins. So therefore He didn't die for the power of sin but He died for the consequences of our sin. If you'll accept Him as your Lord and Savior today, He will pay the price for your sin and your guilt and your condemnation and hell. You'll be free from all that. Amen? But you still have to deal with the power of sin. You're still tempted to sin. So there's basically two types of people here today. There's one type that need to deal with the consequences of your sin, your guilt, your shame. You want to make sure you're going to Heaven and not hell. And that was the whole point of resurrection. If you're not 100% sure that you would go to Heaven, today is the day Jesus will exceed your expectations. You may have come to church just to check it off and said, I went to church on Easter. And Jesus said, no, I've got more for you. I want you to make sure you're coming to Heaven with me one day. I want to give you a brand new start. I want to forgive you all your sins. Then like I said, my expectation is that everybody here will make a change. There's some that said, hey, I did that but I just lost my joy. I feel guilty. I don't have the love and joy and peace that God promised that we could have. It's called the fruit of the spirit. There's sins that I haven't dealt with. And Jesus said, confess them and forsake them and I'm faithful to forgive you.
James Greer (21:15):
He said, just deal with it. I'll give you a new refreshing that'll come upon your life. So as we get ready to close, I just don't know which one it is. I want you to be a win-win. I want you to win. If you accept Christ, then you go to Heaven. I want you to win. If you deal with sin where you can have a new love and joy and peace. I want you to come. If you have something that looks like an impossible situation, I want God to exceed your expectation. I mean anybody, our Savior Jesus Christ, that could be in a tomb and raised from the dead, I don't think your problem's too hard for Him. You just came with the wrong expectation. What if you came in a minute, what if you came with the true expectation that I'm going to give my greatest need to Jesus Christ? That's the expectation He wants you to have. He wants to exceed your greatest need with His greatest expectation. There's no way you have to come home. You give him the most impossible situation in your life. Mary came. She came to the tomb. At least she came. And you came to church and I thank God you came. She came thinking she was going to find a tomb and a dead body. Some of y'all came thinking you would come to church and you're just going to check it off. I found a dead church. She got there. Her expectation was exceeded, extremely exceeded. She found a risen savior that could never die again. I don't care why you came. I want you to find a risen savior.
James Greer (22:49):
I want your expectations to be exceeded. I want you to know, I want you to know without a shadow of doubt that not only that you would go to Heaven, that He is with you and that He is for you. See, Friday, He was on the cross. Everybody was discouraged. It looked like defeat. Saturday He was in a grave and it was all darkness. They went from defeat to unbelievable darkness. But Sunday came, light came, resurrection came, everything changed. I want you to know what two or three days in life can change. I don't care what's going on in your life. I don't care how bad it looks. I want you to know that Jesus Christ can radically change your life and He wants to change it. So whatever you're going through, it's my prayer that you would let Him radically change your life. I want you to know there's no sin too bad that Jesus didn't die for your sin. I want you to know that He would like to forgive you of any and every sin. Basically what He would like to do today is exceed your expectation beyond your imagination. But you know, He leaves that choice up to you. There were some that lost and there were some that won. And there'll always be that every single day. My expectation is everybody in this service has a decision to make whether you make it on your next step card or whether you come and talk to these ushers. Would you stand and let me pray with you and pray for you?
James Greer (24:31):
God, you're an awesome God who I love. I thank you for your Word. It wasn't by accident. Your Word was preached by divine appointment for these people and for me. God, some make a decision today for you to be their Lord and their Savior. Make sure that they would go to Heaven. They know that they've sinned. That sin separated from God. But they want to accept. They believe that you died on the cross and that you rose on the third day. And they want to invite you into their heart. There's those that have lost their joy and peace, power. And today, God, they'd like to renew their faith. They'd like to say, God, I've lost my love and my joy and peace. I'd like to come back to you. I want to confess my sins. I want to forsake them. I want to experience you all new again. There's those that maybe need to be baptized and they'd say, hey, I'm ready. Whether it's today or next week, I want to commit to being followed through in public baptism. I'm not ashamed of Christ. It's the power of God. Maybe they need to join the church and you've been visiting and you know today's the day. Maybe you just need somebody to pray with you and to pray for you. But see, I believe that God wants to exceed your expectations. But you have to come with the expectation to be exceeded. The choice is yours. God, I pray that you'd have your will and your way in every single person's life that's in here today. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
Bruce Goulart (25:54):
On behalf of Pastor James, thank you for tuning in to our online experience today. I just want to say happy Easter and I'm so thankful that you chose Journey Church to tune into this Sunday. Also, if you need someone to pray with you right now, you just have to hit the link down below in your comments and someone will get with you right away. We also have an amazing Journey Church app that if you just get your app store, type in JC Pineville, you can download our app now. And this is a way to access old sermon series and other stuff that Journey Church has to offer. Now, I hope to see y'all next week. Thank y'all.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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