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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

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Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

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Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: My name is Dustin Stradley and I'm the campus pastor

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Speaker 1: of Elevation Church in rowing Up, Virginia, and I have

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Speaker 1: the great honor and privilege of sharing the Word of

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Speaker 1: God today. And I think Pastor Stephen for this opportunity.

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Speaker 1: In fact, he wrote me a handwritten letter this past

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Speaker 1: week just telling me that he believed in me and

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Speaker 1: that he loves me. And that's the same pastor that

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Speaker 1: we get to see pour his heart out on this

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Speaker 1: stage every single weekend. He's the same man off the stage.

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Speaker 1: But if I can share with you real quick, as

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Speaker 1: we were singing that last song thinking about God moving mountains,

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Speaker 1: we were not just singing lyrics and going through the

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Speaker 1: motions of singing another song, but I started to think

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Speaker 1: about the mountains that God has moved in my life

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Speaker 1: even over the past couple of weeks. What it took

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Speaker 1: for me to get here to this stage today. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't any big life circumstance or anything that happened, but

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Speaker 1: the battles that I faced over the past couple of weeks,

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Speaker 1: the resistance that I faced to get here today. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't a battle in front of me or a battle

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Speaker 1: around me. It was a battle inside of me. And

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Speaker 1: oftentimes those are the hardest battles to fight. But I

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Speaker 1: thought about what Pastor preached last weekend as he was

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Speaker 1: laying right here on this stage, and he said, if

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Speaker 1: the battle is too big for you, it's not yours.

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Speaker 1: The battle is the Lord's. And on Wednesday, I was

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Speaker 1: laying face down on a couch in tears and infrustration,

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Speaker 1: just all of these insecurities in my mind, just out

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Speaker 1: of control. But in that moment, I vividly remember that

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Speaker 1: picture of surrender the Pastor Stevens showed us last weekend,

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Speaker 1: and that our battles are not gonna be won by

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Speaker 1: fighting and working as hard as we can in our

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Speaker 1: own effort, but it's gonna come through surrender. It's gonna

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Speaker 1: come through worship. And that's what I've been hearing today already.

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Speaker 1: It's people who came ready to surrender people who came

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Speaker 1: ready to worship. That's how we see victory. That's how

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Speaker 1: we fight our battles. And it's an honor to continue

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Speaker 1: in the flow today to see what God wants to

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Speaker 1: speak through me. I have nothing to lose at this point.

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Speaker 1: At this point, I'm here and I'm ready to open

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Speaker 1: my mouth and allow God to speak through me into you.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I am here on an assignment, but

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Speaker 1: I believe that you are also here on an assignment.

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Speaker 1: And if you open your heart and open your mind,

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Speaker 1: God's gonna deposit into you exactly what you need. So Valentine,

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Speaker 1: I need you to help me welcome all of our locations,

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Speaker 1: all of our campuses, tuning in Blakeney Campus, Lake Norman.

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Speaker 1: You see my favorite campus, Roanoke, Virginia. It's my family

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Speaker 1: are E fam tuning in online in living rooms, coffee

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Speaker 1: shops around the world. It's amazing what we get to

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Speaker 1: be a part of. I hope that we never take

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Speaker 1: that for granted. But I want to go ahead and

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Speaker 1: dive into the Word of God. Thank you, choir. Were

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Speaker 1: they not incredible? By the way. I believe that wherever

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Speaker 1: you are, God's going to speak something into you today,

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Speaker 1: we're going to dive into the Book of Luke chapter five.

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Speaker 1: If you have your Bible, you can pull it out.

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Speaker 1: If not, you can cheat off your neighbor. I don't

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Speaker 1: condone cheating in school, but you can cheat off your

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Speaker 1: neighbor in this instance, I'm gonna dive in right now.

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Speaker 1: So one day, as Jesus was standing by the lake

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Speaker 1: of Gannessera, the people were crowding around him and listening

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Speaker 1: to the word of God. He sow at the water's

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Speaker 1: edge two boats left there by fishermen who were washing

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Speaker 1: their nets. He got into one of the boats, the

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Speaker 1: one belonging to Simon, also known as Peter, and asked

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Speaker 1: him to put out a little from the shore. Then

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Speaker 1: sat down and taught the people from the boat. When

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Speaker 1: he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out

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Speaker 1: into deep water let down the nets for a catch.

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Speaker 1: Simon answered, but, Master, we've worked hard all night and

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Speaker 1: haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will

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Speaker 1: elbow your neighbor. And said, because he said so, I

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Speaker 1: will let down the nets. And when they had done so,

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Speaker 1: they caught such a large number of fish that their

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Speaker 1: nets begin to break. I love the word of God,

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Speaker 1: he is so faithful. So they signaled their partners in

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Speaker 1: the other boat to come and help them, and they

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Speaker 1: came and filled both boats so full that they begin

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Speaker 1: to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at

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Speaker 1: Jesus's knees and said, go away from me. Lord, I

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Speaker 1: am a sinful man. For he and all his companions

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Speaker 1: were astonished at the catch a fish they had taken,

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Speaker 1: and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee,

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Speaker 1: Simon's partners. Then Jesus set to assignmon, don't be afraid.

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Speaker 1: From now on you will fish for people. You will

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Speaker 1: fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore,

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Speaker 1: left everything and followed him. I need you to turn

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Speaker 1: to your neighbor and look at them with the most

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Speaker 1: confused look on your face, and help announce my titles.

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Speaker 1: Say this doesn't make sense. Now turn to your second option,

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Speaker 1: not going to get into why, with a confused look

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Speaker 1: on your face, and say this doesn't make sense. Jesus,

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Speaker 1: we are honored to be in your presence. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: make sense God that you would choose someone like us.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense God that you would send your

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Speaker 1: son into this world for our freedom God. But we're

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Speaker 1: thankful you did. We're thankful that we get to be

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Speaker 1: in your presence to send Jesus name that everybody said, amen,

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Speaker 1: you can go ahead and take a seat. I'm just

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Speaker 1: learning in life that there are many things that don't

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Speaker 1: make sense. Mattie and I have been married for three

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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty eight days, twenty two hours, thirty seven minutes,

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Speaker 1: fourteen seconds, but who's counting? And I remember last July

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Speaker 1: when I saw this beautiful woman of God coming down

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Speaker 1: the aisle, and this white boy jumped as high as

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Speaker 1: he could jump, which is not too high, and yelled Hallelujah,

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Speaker 1: true story as she was coming down the aisle. Because

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Speaker 1: in my mind, it did not make sense that a

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Speaker 1: woman like this, a thoughtful, encouraging, intentional, anointed, empathetic woman

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Speaker 1: of God like this, would want to marry someone like me,

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Speaker 1: with all of my issues and all of my imperfections.

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Speaker 1: And four months into marriage, we were having coffee one

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Speaker 1: morning and Maddie said, hey, Babe, I've been listening to

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Speaker 1: this new album. I think you'd really like it. I said, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: who's it? Bye? And she said, sir, mix a lot.

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Speaker 1: I said, like, sir, Mix a Lot from the eighties

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Speaker 1: nineties rapper producer Sir mix a Lot. She said yeah,

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Speaker 1: I said, babe, I didn't know you rolled like that.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing. Like, what's the name of this album? She said, Well,

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Speaker 1: you were singing it all night last night. It's called

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Speaker 1: Sir Snores a Lot. Now, my wife can call me

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Speaker 1: whatever she wants. But with all of my habits and

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Speaker 1: all of my annoyances, like she wants to be married

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Speaker 1: to someone like me, doesn't make sense. There's something else

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Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense. Mathematics. I hated math growing up,

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Speaker 1: still do to this day. In college, I had a

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Speaker 1: full semester of math classes except for one class. That semester,

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Speaker 1: I got a zero point four GPA. The only reason

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Speaker 1: I didn't completely fail was because I had volleyball and

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Speaker 1: that resurrected my GPA slightly. The following semester improved. I

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Speaker 1: got a zero point five GPA. Almost flunked out of college.

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Speaker 1: But my dad, who is six foot for two hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy pound country boy from Thomasville, North Carolina, where

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Speaker 1: I grew up, he's brilliant when it comes to math.

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Speaker 1: So we would sit down at the dinner table, and

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Speaker 1: he would teach me long division, mathematics, you know, one

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Speaker 1: oh one, multiplication and all the things. And I remember

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Speaker 1: my dad just telling me like, hey boy, man, if

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Speaker 1: you just take this and you can divide that number

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Speaker 1: right there, boy, and you carry the two over here,

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Speaker 1: and you just add sixteen right there, boy. You know,

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Speaker 1: take that right there. If you meet my dad, it's

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Speaker 1: exactly what it sounds like. And I said, Dad, this

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Speaker 1: does not make sense. Shut up, boy. It doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to make sense to work. And I realized more and

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Speaker 1: more that it doesn't have to make sense to work.

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Speaker 1: That's what I love about our church is unashamed when

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Speaker 1: we talk about tithing. It doesn't make sense for me

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Speaker 1: to take my heart earned money and just bring it

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Speaker 1: and give it back to God. But God said, when

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Speaker 1: we trust him with what he's placed in our hands,

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Speaker 1: that he will open the floodgates far beyond anything we

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Speaker 1: can imagine. It doesn't have to make sense to work.

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Speaker 1: And obeying God's word doesn't always make sense, but it

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Speaker 1: always works. And as I was looking at this passage,

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Speaker 1: there's so many things about Peter, and specifically in this

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Speaker 1: story that just don't make sense. Like Peter, who is

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Speaker 1: a pro fisherman and doesn't catch any fish at all.

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Speaker 1: Peter bro You've got one job. This is all you

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Speaker 1: do to provide for your family and catch the fish.

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Speaker 1: It didn't make sense for Peter. He was fishing all

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Speaker 1: night long, couldn't catch a thing. And how many of

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Speaker 1: you have been working so hard in this season yet

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Speaker 1: it's still not working. You're going to the gym six

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Speaker 1: days a week, sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, all

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Speaker 1: the freeze, yet you still don't have a six pack,

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Speaker 1: while Philip here eats McDonald's all day long, drinks Coca

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Speaker 1: Cola and has a twelve pack. Doesn't make sense. Not

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Speaker 1: bitter about it. Promise you've applied for twenty jobs over

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Speaker 1: the past two months, yet you're still unemployed. Doesn't make sense. God,

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Speaker 1: I'm pouring everything I have into my kids, yet they're

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Speaker 1: still running wild. Doesn't make sense. It also didn't make

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Speaker 1: sense that Jesus shows up after Peter had been fishing

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Speaker 1: all night, didn't catch a thing, tells him to throw

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Speaker 1: the nets right back into the same empty waters that

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Speaker 1: he had been fishing in out. Peter responded very politely,

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Speaker 1: very honoring, very obedient. I would like to think that

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Speaker 1: I would do the same, but maybe not like Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Bro You're really good at what you do, the whole

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Speaker 1: healing thing, changing the world. It's amazing. But stay in

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Speaker 1: your lane. I'm good at this fishing thing. I've been

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Speaker 1: fishing these waters all night long and there's nothing in

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Speaker 1: the water. But then he responded, and he said, but

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Speaker 1: because you say so, I will. And then Peter began

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Speaker 1: to pull in so many fish that the nets begin

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Speaker 1: to break, the boats begin to sink. Come on, boys,

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Speaker 1: we don't even have enough room in our boats. So

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Speaker 1: much blessing, more than he even thought possible. It was

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Speaker 1: Peter's obedience that prompted God's provision. Breakthrough is always on

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Speaker 1: the other side of obedience, but obeying God's word it

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Speaker 1: doesn't always make sense, but it always works. And there's

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Speaker 1: something interesting about Peter that also didn't make sense. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense that Jesus would choose someone like Peter

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Speaker 1: to be his right hand man, his disciple. Peter doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a religious background. He's an interesting guy and maybe

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Speaker 1: a little bit all over the place. And I feel

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Speaker 1: like I'll relate to Peter in some ways. But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense that God would choose someone like Peter.

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Speaker 1: And as we look at Peter's life, I think that

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Speaker 1: you're gonna find yourself saying some of the same things

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Speaker 1: that Peter might be saying. You and I both it

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Speaker 1: doesn't make sense that God would choose someone like you

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Speaker 1: or choose someone like me. And so I want to

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Speaker 1: go through a few things from the life of Peter

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Speaker 1: that I think that you and I are both going

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Speaker 1: to connect with if you're honest with yourself, because first,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense for God to choose you because

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Speaker 1: of your failures. Because of your failures, I want you

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Speaker 1: to write that down, Peter said, Master, We've been working

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Speaker 1: our butts off all night long, haven't caught a thing.

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Speaker 1: Peter was staring at failure. It would have made more

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Speaker 1: sense for Jesus to choose someone who is actually good

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Speaker 1: at their job. I mean, if I'm an NBA scout

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Speaker 1: for the Charlotte Hornets, probably gonna pick the guy who's

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Speaker 1: making the shots. If you're not making any shots, not

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Speaker 1: gonna pick you. It would have made more sense for

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Speaker 1: Jesus to choose someone who was succeeding. In this moment,

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Speaker 1: and Peter was standing in the middle of an empty

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Speaker 1: boat looking at failure. The empty boat to Peter represented failure,

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Speaker 1: and many of you in this season, you're standing in

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Speaker 1: the midst of a failure. Three weeks ago, you lost

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Speaker 1: your job. You have no idea how you're going to

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Speaker 1: provide for your family. You failed that class. You don't

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Speaker 1: even know if you're going to graduate now. And now

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Speaker 1: you're telling yourself you're so dumb and you don't know

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Speaker 1: if you'll ever amount to anything. You felt someone that

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Speaker 1: you love so much, You felt at that opportunity that

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Speaker 1: was given to you. Your failures, the failures that we

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Speaker 1: have in our life. It doesn't make sense that God

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Speaker 1: could use someone like us because of our failures. A

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Speaker 1: couple of months ago, Maddie and I and now that

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Speaker 1: we're married, I'm going to share lots of stories from

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Speaker 1: my marriage. Are you good with that? Good? Because I'm

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Speaker 1: going too. But we were at the dinner table. It

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Speaker 1: was one night after we had had a long week,

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Speaker 1: a lot of travel that week, a lot of events,

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Speaker 1: and we were tired. And this is our designated date

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Speaker 1: night d d N. Just made that up and we

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Speaker 1: were gonna we were gonna have some good conversation and

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Speaker 1: just you know, look into each other's eyes and express

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Speaker 1: our love for one another. And but I happened to

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Speaker 1: have my phone out at this date night, And don't

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Speaker 1: judge me, like you have these little sit down dinners

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Speaker 1: with your family technology free. Maybe you do, but we didn't.

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Speaker 1: So I'm on my phone answering a couple of emails,

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Speaker 1: answering a couple of text messages. Then I end up

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Speaker 1: mindlessly scrolling on Facebook, just telling someone happy birthday that

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Speaker 1: I haven't seen in fifteen years, very important things. Then

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Speaker 1: Mattie just so gently and encouragingly I don't even know

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Speaker 1: if that's a word, just slid her hand over and

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Speaker 1: placed it on mine and said, hey, babe, is that urgent?

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Speaker 1: Because I would love just to have a date night

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Speaker 1: right now. And I got so defensive in that moment.

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Speaker 1: I'm not proud of how I responded. I got a

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Speaker 1: little bit upset. I said, well, if you need kind

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Speaker 1: of pressure, you know, going through now, I just she said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but were you not just like on Facebook as I

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Speaker 1: gotta go. Yeah, but you know, I had to respond

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Speaker 1: to this message I got. I tried to even just

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Speaker 1: I'm just making stuff up at that point, and in

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Speaker 1: that moment, what she didn't realize is that I already

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Speaker 1: felt like a failure as a pastor, as a leader,

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Speaker 1: and now I feel like I'm failing her as her husband.

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Speaker 1: It's nothing she did. I chose to feel that way.

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Speaker 1: But we all have these moments where we're standing in

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Speaker 1: an empty boat, like Peter, looking at her failure, trying

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Speaker 1: to make sense of it all. But because Peter's boat

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Speaker 1: was empty, there was just enough room for Jesus to

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Speaker 1: step in. If Peter had a full boat, there wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been any room for Jesus to step in. And

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Speaker 1: if you've got some space in your life right now,

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Speaker 1: some emptiness that you're looking at, some dreams that have died,

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Speaker 1: some expectations that didn't align with your experience, maybe there's

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Speaker 1: just enough space in your life for God to step in.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you're exactly where God needs you for you to

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Speaker 1: rely on him. But I know for me, I like

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Speaker 1: to fill my boat up with all kinds of stuff, busyness.

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Speaker 1: I like to put busyness in my boat. We all

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Speaker 1: have our boats filled up so many times, the money

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Speaker 1: and success and likes and follows and accolades, and our

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Speaker 1: boats are so full that we don't even have room

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Speaker 1: for God. But I wonder if that empty boat represents

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Speaker 1: that maybe God can step in and do something for you.

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Speaker 1: But even then, I still like to come up with

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Speaker 1: these excuses on why God can't use me because of

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Speaker 1: my failures. But not only my failures. It's my imperfections, imperfections.

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Speaker 1: I want you to write that down. See Peter, he

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Speaker 1: had many imperfections. He was a highly emotional guy. At

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Speaker 1: one point, Peter's bitterly crying. At another point, Peter's passionately

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Speaker 1: jumping up and down, cutting people's ears off. And even

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Speaker 1: Jesus is like, yo, calm down, Peter, let us put

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Speaker 1: that back on. Man little out of control. Oh, Peter

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Speaker 1: was all over the place, constantly putting his foot in

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Speaker 1: his mouth. And we all have things about ourselfs, these weaknesses,

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Speaker 1: these imperfections. We don't like the way that we look,

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Speaker 1: we don't like the way that we talk, we don't

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Speaker 1: like these gifts or those strengths. But we all have

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Speaker 1: these things. And I know that oftentimes for me, my

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Speaker 1: imperfections are magnified the most when I'm scrolling and looking

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Speaker 1: at everyone else's perfect life, or, as Pastor Stephen would

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Speaker 1: brilliantly say, I'm comparing my behind the scenes to everyone

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Speaker 1: else's highlight reel, and we think that God only sees

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Speaker 1: our imperfections, even Moses. God calls Moses to deliver the Israelites,

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Speaker 1: but Moses is like, no, no no, no, God, you can't

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Speaker 1: use someone like me. I can't speak well, I've got

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Speaker 1: a speech impediment. God, my perfections. God, you can't use

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Speaker 1: someone like me. But God said, no, I want to

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Speaker 1: use exactly someone like you, Moses. God doesn't see your imperfections.

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Speaker 1: He sees pasture imperfections into who he created you to be.

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Speaker 1: God created you and his image, his perfect image. He

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Speaker 1: sees you through the lens of grace, He sees you

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Speaker 1: through the lens of love. He sees you for who

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Speaker 1: you are, created by Him. But I still tell myself,

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Speaker 1: but you still can't use me because of my imperfections.

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Speaker 1: But if it's not my imperfections, it's my sin, my sin.

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Speaker 1: I want you to write that down because in verse eight,

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Speaker 1: Peter responded, after he saw this miraculous catch of fish,

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Speaker 1: he fell at Jesus' knees and he said, go away

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Speaker 1: from me, Lord, I am a sinful man. What did

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Speaker 1: Peter do that was so horrible that he turned his

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Speaker 1: head in shame. What sin did he have in his

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Speaker 1: life that he didn't feel worthy to be in the

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Speaker 1: presence of God? Because sin will either make us run

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Speaker 1: to word shame or run towards salvation. And sometimes we

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Speaker 1: think our sin is so much bigger than the person

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Speaker 1: sitting next to us on our road right now. And

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Speaker 1: if they knew what I did, and if they knew

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Speaker 1: the kind of things that I thought about, what would

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Speaker 1: they think of me? Or what would they say about me?

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Speaker 1: Or if God knew? Well, God does know, and he

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Speaker 1: loves you. Anyway, Jesus came for the very reason that

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Speaker 1: he knew we all would sin and fall short of

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Speaker 1: the glory of God. But he died of death that

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Speaker 1: you and I should have died. Then he rose again

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Speaker 1: so that you and I could be set free from

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Speaker 1: our sin. But I still justify why my sin disqualifies

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Speaker 1: me from being used by someone like God. Peter said,

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Speaker 1: turn away from me, Lord, my sin is too bad.

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Speaker 1: You can't use someone like me. But if it's not

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Speaker 1: my sin, it's my history, my history. I want you

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Speaker 1: to write that down. Peter had an interesting history. Peter

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Speaker 1: at one point said that he wouldn't deny Jesus, but

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Speaker 1: then he denied him three times. Then he broke down

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Speaker 1: and he felt bad about it. Then at one point

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Speaker 1: Jesus looks at Peter and says, get behind me, Satan,

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Speaker 1: you're being a distraction. I mean, if God said that

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Speaker 1: to me, I'd be like, oh, snap, does that disqualify?

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Speaker 1: Am I done? Here? Like I think I'm fired from

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Speaker 1: the job. I don't think you can use me at

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Speaker 1: this point. And we all have a history experiences, we're

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Speaker 1: all predisposed as well. And I wonder for even Peter

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Speaker 1: what was passed down to him from previous generations. Maybe

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Speaker 1: your grandfather struggled with alcoholism, Therefore your father struggled with alcoholism,

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Speaker 1: and now you're destined in your mind to struggle with alcoholism.

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Speaker 1: There's no other way. The history says that's the way

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Speaker 1: it's got to be. Or your grandmother struggled with abuse,

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Speaker 1: and now your mother struggled with abuse. So now you're

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Speaker 1: trying to figure out who you are in the midst

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Speaker 1: of this cycle and can you break the cycle? And

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Speaker 1: is this what your history has determined for you as well?

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Speaker 1: Or maybe you're just you're cynical because everyone around you

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Speaker 1: is cynical, and that's the history, and that's what it's

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Speaker 1: always looked like, and that's what it's always been like.

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Speaker 1: And maybe you're criticizing all of these other people not

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Speaker 1: because of anything that's wrong with them, but really you're

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Speaker 1: just not pleased with yourself. We all have a history,

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Speaker 1: a background, experiences things that we disqualify ourselves to be

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Speaker 1: used by God. A few years ago, before Maddie and

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Speaker 1: I met one another, I was in another relationship and

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Speaker 1: we got engaged, and this was obviously a significant decision

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Speaker 1: for anyone in life to commit to something for a

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Speaker 1: lifelong journey. And from the outside, we had this picture

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Speaker 1: perfect relationship where everyone would think to themselves it together,

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Speaker 1: but on the inside not so much. And I don't

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Speaker 1: know about you, but how many of you realized just

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Speaker 1: because someone has it together on the outside doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: they have it together on the inside. And I'm pretty

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Speaker 1: good at putting a game face on and projecting outwardly confidence,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, man, you look like you have it together,

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Speaker 1: only if you knew the battles I fight, the insecurities

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Speaker 1: I wrestle with. And I remember waking up on a

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Speaker 1: Thursday morning coming to this realization that this engagement was

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Speaker 1: coming to an end, and nothing bad happened or immoral happened,

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Speaker 1: but we realized that as hard as we tried to

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Speaker 1: make this thing work, it wasn't gonna work, and we

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Speaker 1: needed to go our separate ways. And I remember that

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Speaker 1: day so vividly because I was driving a box truck

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Speaker 1: from North Carolina to Virginia. I was I was taking

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Speaker 1: some church supplies back to Roanoke. And as I'm driving

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Speaker 1: that box truck, I just had this rage and this frustration,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sitting in the front seat driving and I

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Speaker 1: just started to sob uncontrollably and to the point that

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Speaker 1: I could barely even see the road anymore. And I

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Speaker 1: pulled over into this abandoned parking lot and I set

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Speaker 1: in the box truck for the next two and a

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Speaker 1: half hours, yelling at God, God, why would you allow

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Speaker 1: me to go through something like this? God, this doesn't

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Speaker 1: make sense. After everything, God, I believe that you had

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Speaker 1: your hand on this. I'm walking in obedience with you,

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Speaker 1: Yet my expectation in my experience are not aligning. God.

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Speaker 1: Why And I started just throwing things around the box

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Speaker 1: truck and it just didn't make sense. Why I would

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Speaker 1: go through something of this nature. And I began to

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Speaker 1: have these overwhelming thoughts that this is the thing, this

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Speaker 1: is the thing. If I can't even leave one person

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Speaker 1: going to lead a staff, how am I going to

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Speaker 1: lead thousands of people at our church back in Roanoke, Virginia.

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Speaker 1: God can't continue to use someone like me. It's embarrassing.

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Speaker 1: I've failed all of my imperfections. Nah, he's going to

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Speaker 1: give up on me after after this one. And you

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Speaker 1: never know in the moment why you're going through something

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Speaker 1: like that. Of course, looking back, I see that God

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Speaker 1: was closing one door to open the best door of

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Speaker 1: my life. But at the same time, God started to

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Speaker 1: show me some things over the past few years. And

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Speaker 1: God started to even show me something through this text

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Speaker 1: that I found interesting. And I've read this and you've

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Speaker 1: probably heard the story many many times. If you haven't,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing to see what God does in the story.

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Speaker 1: It's a miracle. But when I read verse ten, which

427
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 1: I've read so many times, Jesus said to Simon, don't

428
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 1: be afraid. Easier said than done, God, don't be afraid.

429
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: From now on, you will fish for people, fish for people,

430
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: fish for people. I felt like God was connecting me

431
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,480
Speaker 1: back to that experience years ago. And then I couldn't

432
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,199
Speaker 1: shake this phrase and I felt like there was a

433
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: connection between the two, but it just didn't make sense. Okay, God,

434
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: I hear you fish for people. It's great, it's awesome, Like,

435
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: let's reach people for you. And Yep, that's what we're

436
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,880
Speaker 1: called to do. This's while we're on this earth. That's

437
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: what this church has always been about. But then God

438
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: took me back to the moment that I came to

439
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,360
Speaker 1: this church for the first time ten years ago. At

440
00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:45,719
Speaker 1: this point, I shared my story many times, but I

441
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 1: was so broken and I was in a messed up place,

442
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 1: trying to find my identity and drugs and alcohol, been

443
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: to jail multiple times, and somebody cared enough about me

444
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 1: to bring me into the presence of Jesus right here

445
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. And it was through this church that I

446
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 1: got saved and I experienced the tangible love of Jesus

447
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,639
Speaker 1: for the first time. That's what this church has always

448
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: been about. Thirteen years ago when Pastor Stephen Holly, these

449
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: core families started this entire church that God had called

450
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: them to was always about reaching people far from God.

451
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,160
Speaker 1: That's the mission of this church, so that people far

452
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 1: from God will be raised to life in Christ. I

453
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: was that person far from God. We're all far from God.

454
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,719
Speaker 1: They were relentless about bringing their friends and their family

455
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: into the presence of Jesus so they could experience the

456
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 1: same grace that you and I have experienced. And it's

457
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 1: not about you and I not being far from God.

458
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:38,879
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna go reach the people who are

459
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: far from God. We're all far from God. We all

460
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: need this, by the way, but that mission carries on

461
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: today even in Ronoke, Virginia, because in twenty twelve, it

462
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 1: started with a handful of people. Philip knows the story

463
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: very well because he was from Roanoke. It started with

464
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: a handful of people. But as of this year, we've

465
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 1: now seen five five hundred people make decisions to follow

466
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: Jesus in a city of ninety nine thousand people. And

467
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,119
Speaker 1: we're on a mission to reach every single person in

468
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: the entire city of Rowano. That's what has always been about.

469
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 1: Maybe someone brought you into the presence of God. I

470
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:13,680
Speaker 1: believe you're gonna bring somebody back with you next week

471
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,719
Speaker 1: so that you can see what God wants to do

472
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,639
Speaker 1: through you in someone else's life. God reminded me in

473
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: that moment that if I brought you through all of

474
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,280
Speaker 1: that back then I'm gonna bring you back through this.

475
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 1: But it didn't stop there. I still couldn't shake that phrase.

476
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 1: Fish for people, fish for people? What are you trying

477
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: to tell me? Fish for people? And then I read

478
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: verse ten, and God made it so clear. In verse

479
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 1: actually eleven, not ten. It said, so they pulled their

480
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: boats up on shore, and all the fish they caught,

481
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 1: everything they had worked for, they just left it there.

482
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:03,479
Speaker 1: They just left it all there, Jesus, fish for people.

483
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: I got everything that I worked for God, but I'm

484
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: just gonna leave it here. Fish for people, fish for people,

485
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: Fish for people. What are you telling me? God? Fish

486
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: for people? Show me fish for people. Stay with me,

487
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: fish for people. A little bit louder, fish for people.

488
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 1: One more time, fish for people. I wonder if Peter

489
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 1: in that moment, realized that the fish they were never

490
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: meant for Peter, the fish were for the people. All

491
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: the fish. Can I see my fish? All the fish

492
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: that Peter caught up until that point? There were a

493
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: few more in here A second ago. I think you

494
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 1: had some all the fish, everything he had worked towards

495
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 1: up until that point, just left it all behind. The

496
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: fish were never meant for Peter. The fish were for

497
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: the people. Philip, take my fish. I'm gonna come down,

498
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: because sometimes we think our failures, all the things that

499
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: happened in our life. I know you lost the job,

500
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 1: I know you messed up the opportunity. But what if

501
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: you went through that not just for you, but what

502
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 1: if you went through that to help someone else who's

503
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,280
Speaker 1: been through the same thing. The fish wasn't for me,

504
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 1: It was for the people. You're imperfections, the things that

505
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: you think are weird about you, the things that other

506
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: people are saying about you, the things that you don't

507
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: like about yourself, the things that you think that disqualify

508
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,760
Speaker 1: you from being used by God. What if it wasn't

509
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 1: for you, But what if all of that God wanted

510
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: to use to help someone else who has the same imperfections.

511
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 1: Your sin, the things that you've been hiding from in shame.

512
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: I know you had the affair and you thought that

513
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,479
Speaker 1: was the end. I know you're wrestling with looking at

514
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,160
Speaker 1: things on your phone that you know you shouldn't be

515
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: looking at, and you're afraid to tell your spouse. And

516
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not even big things, it's the little things.

517
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: It's the way we talk about people, things we had

518
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: never say to their face, but how we like to

519
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: talk about them behind their back. All of that sin.

520
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,200
Speaker 1: We think God can't use someone like us. But what

521
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: if God said, no, that's not for you. Everything you did,

522
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,720
Speaker 1: everything you've been through, Now I'm gonna use it to

523
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: help somebody else. It wasn't for me. It was for

524
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 1: somebody else else. Your history. I know the addiction is

525
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 1: trying to make its way into your life, and if

526
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: not already, I believe that God's gonna help you, through

527
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: the power of Jesus, to break the addiction, but not

528
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: just to set you free from him, but to also

529
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: help someone else who's going through the same thing. It

530
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 1: wasn't meant for me, It was for someone else. The

531
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: fish are not for me, They're for the people. And

532
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 1: God will work all things together for the good of

533
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 1: those who love Him, the good and the bad, the

534
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: pretty and the ugly, the clean and the messy, the

535
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: success and the failure. God works all things together for

536
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 1: the good are those who love Him, according to his purpose,

537
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 1: according to his plan. Every thing you've been through thus far,

538
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 1: it's not wasted. The fish aren't for me, they're for

539
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: the people. The fish can be thrown back up real quick.

540
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 1: The fish our failures, our imperfections, our sin, our history.

541
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: God works all of these things together for a purpose.

542
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: There is purpose behind your pain. You may not have

543
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: seen it in the moment. You may not see it

544
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 1: right now as you're standing in the middle of it,

545
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: but God wants to use it to help someone else.

546
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: And just a few months ago, I was sharing the

547
00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: same story that I just shared with you about this

548
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: engagement me to an end with someone else who was

549
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 1: going through the same exact thing. And oftentimes you can't

550
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: say anything when someone's standing in the middle of it

551
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,920
Speaker 1: to help them. And it's sometimes the worst when someone

552
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 1: tries to slap a Christian cliche on your pain and

553
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: dustin You're going to get through this, yeah, whatever, man,

554
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,319
Speaker 1: I know God is good, but it doesn't feel good

555
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: right now. But I said, hey, I know you're hurting.

556
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 1: I know it doesn't make sense. I know that you're

557
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 1: frustrated and you're mad at God and mad at yourself.

558
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 1: But I believe that at some point you're going to

559
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 1: be able to look back and see that there was

560
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 1: purpose behind this, that God was with you, that he

561
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 1: never left you. Then he reached out to me a

562
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,880
Speaker 1: few weeks later. I said, the very thing you just

563
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,920
Speaker 1: shared with me, all of that stuff. He said, that's

564
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,279
Speaker 1: the very thing I've been clinging to to get through

565
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 1: one of the worst seasons of my life. The fish

566
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:13,319
Speaker 1: were not for me. It was for somebody else years

567
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 1: before I saw the purpose behind it. But God is

568
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,879
Speaker 1: using it to help someone else. I believe God wants

569
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 1: to use you, even though it doesn't make sense because

570
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,439
Speaker 1: of your failures and your imperfections. It doesn't make sense

571
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,360
Speaker 1: that God could use you in your workplace. There's somebody

572
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 1: in your workplace who needs the love of Jesus like

573
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: you've experienced the love of Jesus. I believe God's going

574
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,200
Speaker 1: to use you to reach them. There's somebody in your

575
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,239
Speaker 1: school who needs to know and see what you've seen,

576
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: and your story is going to be the very thing

577
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 1: that God uses to set them free, like God has

578
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 1: set you free. What if Peter would have said, because

579
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,880
Speaker 1: you say so, God, I will, and threw the nets

580
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:05,319
Speaker 1: out into the water, but didn't bring any fish back.

581
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: In what if Jesus was telling him to get rid

582
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 1: of the nets because he had his identity in what

583
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 1: he did and never actually saw the blessing on the

584
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 1: other side. What a breakthrough, oftentimes is never about what

585
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,440
Speaker 1: we get. It's about God breaking us so that we

586
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: fall more in love with Jesus. What if it was

587
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: about Jesus all along. Because you say so, God, I

588
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: will even when it doesn't make sense God, even if

589
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 1: I don't see the blessing on the other side, even

590
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 1: if it doesn't show up the way I thought it

591
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 1: would God, even when it doesn't align with my expectations. God,

592
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: because you say so, I will, I'll take that step.

593
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of

594
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of

595
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the

596
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,320
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch

597
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,759
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you

598
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it

599
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:12,399
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take

600
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,799
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and

601
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God

602
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: bless you