Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: and this is our podcast and I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: We welcome you right now. Please be sure to let
Speaker 1: us know right now in the comments or the chat
Speaker 1: where you're joining us from is significant, and then our
Speaker 1: prayer teams can just start praying for you by name
Speaker 1: that God's presence would reach you in a powerful way.
Speaker 1: I also wanted to announce to you what they didn't
Speaker 1: tell you on Fox News or CNN. This is the
Speaker 1: year of the Lord's Favor. Breaking news. The Lord is
Speaker 1: good and his love endures forever. So just to give
Speaker 1: you a preview, we're gonna finish with favor. The Lord
Speaker 1: spoke that to me. He said, finish with favor, and
Speaker 1: I'll preach about that in coming weeks. But right there
Speaker 1: in the chat, right there in the comments, say I
Speaker 1: want to finish with favor, and that's what Jesus did.
Speaker 1: He said that it's the year of the Lord's Favor. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are blind eyes that need to be open. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are a lame that need to walk. Yes, they're
Speaker 1: a poor that need to be helped. It's always been
Speaker 1: this way, but this is the year of the Lord's favor.
Speaker 1: This is the year of the Lord's favor. Now everybody
Speaker 1: has an opportunity to participate in this and believe with
Speaker 1: this because we're receiving a year end offering. We set
Speaker 1: the date for December thirteenth. You can give any time
Speaker 1: up until then. You can go to Elevation Church dot org.
Speaker 1: And the best thing to do if you really believe
Speaker 1: that everything you have came from God, is to set
Speaker 1: up a recurring gift of a tithe. That's our way
Speaker 1: of saying to God, I trust you and I thank
Speaker 1: you all at the same time. Listen, listen, I feel
Speaker 1: I'm clicking off. They're going to watch an old Charles
Speaker 1: Stanley sermon or something like that. Listen, listen, look at me.
Speaker 1: You get to thank him and trust him with the
Speaker 1: same act of obedience. And that's a powerful thing. Elijah,
Speaker 1: I've been tied in since sixteen and so for every
Speaker 1: fifty dollars on a beat you sell, five is God's
Speaker 1: Really it's all his but we returned that top part
Speaker 1: back to him. And if you do it, it'll make
Speaker 1: room for him to prove himself in your life. I
Speaker 1: promise you that. How many have experienced that? And you
Speaker 1: can testify him? So I know it's like, well, this
Speaker 1: has been a hard year, and yeah, it's been a
Speaker 1: hard year. I'm not going to make it harder by
Speaker 1: stopping trusting God. That would be that would be a
Speaker 1: really weird thing to do. So We're just going to
Speaker 1: move forward expand God's kingdom. The offering is centered around
Speaker 1: the word favor, so I just call it the Favor
Speaker 1: Offering twenty twenty. We always choose a word and you
Speaker 1: can find out how to give there and give above
Speaker 1: and beyond. Holly and I are going to give our
Speaker 1: gift on December thirteenth, challenge you to do the same
Speaker 1: all over the world. How many are grateful for the
Speaker 1: givers that make it possible for these gospel messages to
Speaker 1: go out? Thank God for you, Come on, say it
Speaker 1: in a chat, Thank God for you, all of the givers.
Speaker 1: God is doing great things through you, and God is
Speaker 1: about to speak a great thing to you. How many
Speaker 1: believe that? Say amen, You've got great faith to say
Speaker 1: amen before you even hear my scripture. So today I
Speaker 1: want to take one verse of scripture and I'll launch
Speaker 1: from this verse. And it's a very powerful verse found
Speaker 1: in Luke chapter five. Thank you God for this little message.
Speaker 1: Help me to communicate it in a way that will
Speaker 1: make a difference in somebody's life in Jesus' name, Luke
Speaker 1: five eleven, one verse. I promise you that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: the sermon will be shorter, but this is the verse.
Speaker 1: So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything
Speaker 1: and followed him. You probably need to hear that another
Speaker 1: time to let it sink in just the magnitude of
Speaker 1: what they did. They pulled their boats up on shoreft.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say it because I don't want
Speaker 1: to do it. I don't want to leave everything. I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to leave some things, the stuff that I'm
Speaker 1: tired of. I want God to take that away. But
Speaker 1: I guess I better preach how I said that in
Speaker 1: the verse, left everything and followed him. I want to
Speaker 1: speak to you today about the momentum of a decision.
Speaker 1: The momentum of a decision. God, you're already doing such
Speaker 1: an awesome work in this place can feel it. And
Speaker 1: I believe it's happening everywhere that someone is connected to
Speaker 1: this word, whether it's by a Wi Fi signal, or
Speaker 1: whether it's in a campus with a building that says
Speaker 1: church on it, or anywhere in between. Speak your word.
Speaker 1: We're listening, and our answer is a man in Jesus name.
Speaker 1: You may be seated. Oh, Holly, I forgot to tell you.
Speaker 1: I had this interesting conversation with Jenny Losco. After Holly
Speaker 1: did a reflect sermon. Some of her friends who were
Speaker 1: here came over to the house and they were roasting
Speaker 1: hot dogs by the campfire and s'mores and which I
Speaker 1: don't eat this'mores. I'm a health food kind of guy,
Speaker 1: so I eat hot dogs and sausages. It's low carb lifestyle.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't understand. And Jenny wrote a book last year,
Speaker 1: and I thought the title of the book was so great,
Speaker 1: and I know the story behind it, so for me,
Speaker 1: there's even more power because I've watched her live it
Speaker 1: and her husband Levi. They passed her church in Montana.
Speaker 1: You've met them before, they've been here before. Her book
Speaker 1: was called well now I forgot it Fight to Flourish. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great title. Don't think because I didn't remember
Speaker 1: in that moment that it was bad time. It's a
Speaker 1: great title. In fact, that's what I asked her. I said, Jenny,
Speaker 1: how did you think of that title? Because I'm a
Speaker 1: title guy. I spend just you can ask my family
Speaker 1: notepads trying to get a title for each sermon, and
Speaker 1: so I'm a title guy. I said, I feel like
Speaker 1: that title, fight to Flourish is a whole sermon in itself.
Speaker 1: I feel like you could charge fourteen ninety nine just
Speaker 1: for the title and not even have to write the book.
Speaker 1: And I said, when did you decide to call it?
Speaker 1: That awkward silence, she goes, hmmm, I don't really remember.
Speaker 1: I said, well, try to remember. I really like to know.
Speaker 1: I'm really interested where he's sitting outside. Were sitting inside
Speaker 1: where you, you know, with a group that somebody else
Speaker 1: suggested to you to go through some other titles, and
Speaker 1: you chose that one. Were you watching Rocky and there
Speaker 1: was a flower on the table and you went fight
Speaker 1: to Flourish? You know, like what happened? And is that
Speaker 1: Iran or remember she went all the way back and
Speaker 1: she went through the chain of events that led her
Speaker 1: to write the book. Of course, the book was written
Speaker 1: about how they lost their daughter, Lynda, who went to
Speaker 1: heaven suddenly about eight years ago. And she never set
Speaker 1: out to write a book, but somebody had suggested to
Speaker 1: her that God could use what she had been through
Speaker 1: and the way that she trusted God through it to
Speaker 1: help them through what they're going through. And of course
Speaker 1: you're resistant to something like that at first, and that
Speaker 1: makes sense, but you know, she eventually did it, and
Speaker 1: she walked through that, and she knew exactly where she
Speaker 1: was when someone said that needs to be a book,
Speaker 1: and she knew exactly where she was when she decided
Speaker 1: to begin, and she went through all of that, and
Speaker 1: she gave me the chain of events, but she couldn't
Speaker 1: remember the moment of decision when she said I'm gonna
Speaker 1: call it Fight to Flourish. She couldn't remember. She remembered
Speaker 1: when she saw the cover and she thought, that's how
Speaker 1: it needs to look on the cover, but she couldn't
Speaker 1: remember when she made the decision that that's what it
Speaker 1: was going to be called. And that was interesting to
Speaker 1: me because she went back through all of these events,
Speaker 1: but she couldn't remember the exact moment of decision. She remembered, well,
Speaker 1: this led to that, and that led to that, and
Speaker 1: that led to that, and this was painful, and this
Speaker 1: was purposeful. Boom boom boom boom boom, And this I
Speaker 1: knew in my heart, And this somebody else said. But
Speaker 1: even though I can remember the events that led to
Speaker 1: it with clarity, I don't really remember the moment of
Speaker 1: decision specifically. I thought that was I thought that was
Speaker 1: kind of interesting that there's a difference between an event
Speaker 1: and the decision. So one thing I like to teach
Speaker 1: since everybody now likes to be offended all the time.
Speaker 1: It's our national addiction. We are addicted to being offended
Speaker 1: as a nation. And if you're offended, I said, that,
Speaker 1: wouldn't that just finish my point? I don't think you know. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: you know one thing I taught years ago and it
Speaker 1: seemed to help people, so I thought i'd put it
Speaker 1: in the sermon up front, is that offense is an event.
Speaker 1: That's something that happens to you, and it's a real thing.
Speaker 1: Offense is an event. But offend, dead offended, offendad how
Speaker 1: do you pronounce it? Offended? That's a decision. So notice
Speaker 1: what we just did. We just separated the event from
Speaker 1: the decision. So somebody, you know, doing something to me
Speaker 1: that they shouldn't have done might be something that I
Speaker 1: didn't choose, but my response to that is a decision,
Speaker 1: the momentum of a decision. Beginning to separate this out
Speaker 1: is probably important if we're parenting teenagers, because unless you
Speaker 1: understand what led to the decision, you will always try
Speaker 1: to correct the behavior. I was praying for one of
Speaker 1: my kids one day and I was like, why do
Speaker 1: they keep doing that? And it was like the Lord
Speaker 1: said back to me, I don't know. Why did you
Speaker 1: do the same thing when you were their age? And
Speaker 1: I was like, ah, right, it's called puberty. But isn't
Speaker 1: it easy to explain somebody else's decision as unwise while
Speaker 1: justify your own as completely warranted. I'm really good, and
Speaker 1: I think I should get a professional job at breaking
Speaker 1: down other people's decisions. You know, they shouldn't let their
Speaker 1: kids do that, they shouldn't spend that, they can't afford that,
Speaker 1: Why would they go there? Why would they say that?
Speaker 1: Why would they think that? I am so good at
Speaker 1: diagnosing your decisions? But I've got to be honest. There
Speaker 1: are some things I do that if you press me
Speaker 1: for it, I really can't tell you why or when.
Speaker 1: For instance, I can't tell you when I became a
Speaker 1: cynical person, but I just know that I am a
Speaker 1: lot of that. I never woke up one day and
Speaker 1: I was like, Thursday, March fourteenth, this is the day
Speaker 1: I didn't make a declaration of cynicism. People don't make
Speaker 1: a declaration of depression. I think today I'll go into
Speaker 1: a deep state of depression. It's not a decision, and
Speaker 1: you don't really remember exactly when you started feeling this way.
Speaker 1: Maybe you could trace back some events, but it's a
Speaker 1: different thing to understand the decision. And that's why we
Speaker 1: have to be a student of how God works in
Speaker 1: our lives to understand that every decision has a parent
Speaker 1: called an emotion. Every emotion is a descendant of a thought.
Speaker 1: If I don't deal with the thought that created the emotion,
Speaker 1: I'll try to make a different decision, only to be
Speaker 1: overpowered by something that is deeper than what I am
Speaker 1: dealing with at the surface of my decisions. And then
Speaker 1: I'll know why I bought a peloton and turned it
Speaker 1: into a coat rack for my sweatshirts, because when I
Speaker 1: decided to buy the Peloton, I was in a certain
Speaker 1: state of mind. I was in a certain state of
Speaker 1: guilt and condemnation. This is not a real illustration about me.
Speaker 1: I'm just using it. I heard this from some people
Speaker 1: that you make a decision, and you make the decision
Speaker 1: in this certain state of mind, and then you encounter
Speaker 1: a challenge and the decision that you made in the
Speaker 1: state of mind where you saw clearly the decision that
Speaker 1: you made, in the state of mind where that better
Speaker 1: part of you, where the spirit of God lives in
Speaker 1: rules and reigns and knows what's best for you, gives
Speaker 1: into something deeper in you that pulls you back into stuff. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're getting real quiet. And every decision has momentum. Now
Speaker 1: I am not a scientist, nor the son of a scientist.
Speaker 1: So there are people in books that can tell you
Speaker 1: the mechanics of decisions that you make. They can tell
Speaker 1: you why you pick this over that, and they can
Speaker 1: tell you about the neurology and I can't. But I
Speaker 1: chose Luke five to eleven because where I live in
Speaker 1: the scriptures, that seemed to me like a very dramatic
Speaker 1: decision to leave everything and follow Jesus. What does it
Speaker 1: mean to follow Jesus? For the people who did it
Speaker 1: right here, I'll show you exactly what it meant. It
Speaker 1: was simple. See, that's what they did. For us, it's abstract.
Speaker 1: For them, it was physical. He's not describing a spiritual
Speaker 1: decision here. It's just a physical one. They left everything.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that they left their way of thinking.
Speaker 1: That just means they left their boat, their nets, and
Speaker 1: their fishing supplies. They left their bait, but they didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily leave their beliefs. So at some point they set
Speaker 1: out and they followed Jesus. I kind of wish it
Speaker 1: was this clear for us, that following Jesus was as
Speaker 1: simple as come here to be you be Jesus. Won't
Speaker 1: that be fun? Just for a minute now, no pressure,
Speaker 1: Just walk. That's all that's all you did. I think
Speaker 1: I could do it better, follow Jesus if it was
Speaker 1: that simple all I gotta do. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: this is not so hard right now? And ship back
Speaker 1: down and we'll make you Jesus again later in the sermon.
Speaker 1: But following Jesus for me is not a physical decision right.
Speaker 1: Physical decisions are sometimes easier, but to be a disciple.
Speaker 1: This is a passage about the calling of the disciples.
Speaker 1: You know them, you love them. They're famous, they're dysfunctional,
Speaker 1: they're crazy, they're stupid. They blow it. They don't understand
Speaker 1: that Jesus is going to the cross, so they try
Speaker 1: to stop him from going there. That's who he chose
Speaker 1: this as disciples. This is how he called them, and
Speaker 1: this is this is what they did. They pulled their
Speaker 1: boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. There's
Speaker 1: a hymn we used to sing called I have decided
Speaker 1: to follow Jesus. Will you sing it with me? Cherish Cherish?
Speaker 1: I know you love to sing. I have decided. Do
Speaker 1: you know it? I know you were not a church girl,
Speaker 1: so this one might have passed you in your prime.
Speaker 1: You were singing about different things back when I was
Speaker 1: growing up in the church, and I know that. But
Speaker 1: there came a point. I have decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: You'll know it. I have decided to follow Jesus. I
Speaker 1: have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.
Speaker 1: It's great and singing it is one thing because for
Speaker 1: most of us to sing that all it cost us
Speaker 1: is breath. For the people who did it in this scripture,
Speaker 1: it cost them their boats. And I want to show
Speaker 1: you in this scripture this is really really insightful to me.
Speaker 1: And I can't possibly show you everything that's in this
Speaker 1: text because well, honestly, when they followed him, it led
Speaker 1: to so much more than they could know in that moment,
Speaker 1: like when they started following Jesus. And I want you
Speaker 1: to think about it, because some of you have stopped
Speaker 1: following Jesus, and some of you are just starting to
Speaker 1: follow Jesus, and some of you are in stride trying
Speaker 1: to decide, and so everybody needs this message. As they
Speaker 1: followed him, Although it sounds very dramatic what they did
Speaker 1: on the surface, there were a chain of events that
Speaker 1: led up to the decision, and then there were a
Speaker 1: chain of events that this decision set in motion that
Speaker 1: would be very powerful. Think of all the amazing things
Speaker 1: that they would see because of this decision to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: Think of what it must have felt like to be
Speaker 1: there when blind Bartimaeus for the first time started to
Speaker 1: describe colors and sights and objects and shapes. Think of
Speaker 1: what it must have been like to see a man
Speaker 1: come through the roof and you didn't even know what
Speaker 1: Jesus was going to do, whether he was going to
Speaker 1: fuss at him for destroying property or or surprise, he
Speaker 1: healed him. That's what he wanted. He wanted the kind
Speaker 1: of faith that would break through a barrier and do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to get to his presence. Think of
Speaker 1: how amazing it would have been for them to see
Speaker 1: a woman who was caught in the act of adultery,
Speaker 1: but instead of stoning her, the only one who had
Speaker 1: the right to punish her, instead center away with the
Speaker 1: new reality of who she was. Think of all they
Speaker 1: saw because of a decision to leave everything and follow him.
Speaker 1: They didn't know when they left everything that they would
Speaker 1: gain everything in fact, by human calculations. And I know
Speaker 1: this is going to be controversial and somebody's going to
Speaker 1: get offended when I say it, but I studied it,
Speaker 1: and if you get offended, you're the one that's for anyway,
Speaker 1: Listen to this from a human perspective, this is a
Speaker 1: dumb decision. I'll tell you why. Because the boats that
Speaker 1: they left were full of fish, and fishing is what
Speaker 1: they did for a living so Luke five eleven. From
Speaker 1: a strategic standpoint, I'm not talking about a spiritual standpoint.
Speaker 1: From a strategic standpoint, is the dumbest decision that Peter
Speaker 1: James and John. That's who they are in the text,
Speaker 1: that Peter James and John could have made to pull
Speaker 1: their boats up on shore. This is their transportation, this
Speaker 1: is their vehicle for their commercial activity, this is the
Speaker 1: this is their life, this is their way of life,
Speaker 1: and they walk away from it to follow somebody who
Speaker 1: hasn't even proven that what he said is true yet. Wow. Wow,
Speaker 1: By any rational decision making analysis, this is dumb. At
Speaker 1: the very least. It's a little quick yeah yeah, where
Speaker 1: you don't have to do it with no net, do you.
Speaker 1: That's a phrase that means like you don't have any
Speaker 1: safety net, any backup plan. They follow Jesus with no net.
Speaker 1: They left everything. Somebody say that's dumb. It's not disrespectful
Speaker 1: to the Bible. It's just a practical fact. That's a
Speaker 1: dumb thing to do. It's a dumb thing to do.
Speaker 1: But what gave them the confidence to make such a
Speaker 1: bold decision? Now, in order to understand this decision or
Speaker 1: your teenager's decision, or Jenny Lusko's decision, or the decisions
Speaker 1: that you're making right now, the ones that are sabotaging
Speaker 1: you and the ones that are causing you to succeed.
Speaker 1: In order to understand those decisions, you kind of have
Speaker 1: to work backward. And this is why we keep trying
Speaker 1: to change. We can't change. Keep trying to pray, can't pray,
Speaker 1: keep trying to get up at five am, can't get
Speaker 1: up at five am, So then we try four thirty,
Speaker 1: like that's gonna fix it. Just get more dramatic. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna this is the time,
Speaker 1: this is the And maybe that's just my personality. I
Speaker 1: relate to Peter in the text because when I did
Speaker 1: decide to do a low carb lifestyle, I just did it.
Speaker 1: I didn't go shop, I didn't plan, I didn't stock
Speaker 1: the pantry. I just turned to Holly and said, I'm
Speaker 1: fat and I'm done. And I don't think I ate
Speaker 1: a carbohydrate for eighteen months. And if I went to
Speaker 1: preach somewhere where they were doing a barbecued chicken, I'd
Speaker 1: sneak the chicken in the bathroom and wash the buffalo
Speaker 1: sauce off the chicken because I have problems because something
Speaker 1: is wrong with me, and I understand that about myself.
Speaker 1: Now that's not how you're supposed to do it, but
Speaker 1: that's how I do it. That's how I do stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, the craziest things that I do, I just
Speaker 1: I just I just do it. Just just do the thing,
Speaker 1: you know. Around the campfire with the ladies, they were
Speaker 1: I got to be honest, I hadn't talked to a
Speaker 1: group of four ladies in a while until after Holly's
Speaker 1: reflect the other day. And ladies talk about different stuff,
Speaker 1: and some of it is not mentionable on a worldwide
Speaker 1: platform for the gospel, some of the things that they
Speaker 1: were talking about around the campfire. But I hung with them.
Speaker 1: I sat around fire and I talked with them, and
Speaker 1: we started telling marriage proposal stories. And mine's real embarrassing
Speaker 1: because I had an elaborate plan to do something really
Speaker 1: special for Holly. But I wanted to do it so
Speaker 1: bad once I bought the ring, because I took all
Speaker 1: my money, I mean, I left five dollars in the
Speaker 1: bank account from the ATM and took it upstairs to
Speaker 1: level three of this point on shop of a guy
Speaker 1: that I could trust who was up there, and I
Speaker 1: got her ring, and I asked her dad and I
Speaker 1: and I wanted to propose that day. So I ended
Speaker 1: up taking her to Pizza Hut. I didn't propose a
Speaker 1: Pizza Hut. I didn't propose it Pizza Hut because I
Speaker 1: feel a really really strong hatred from all of the
Speaker 1: ladies in this church right now. But but but I
Speaker 1: took her to Pizza Hut. I proposed, I wrote a song.
Speaker 1: I did it. I had to do it once. I
Speaker 1: had to do it. I had to do it once
Speaker 1: I realized I could do it. I had to do it.
Speaker 1: I didn't have time then to wait around. So I
Speaker 1: relate to this this kind of decision that I just
Speaker 1: I just can't eat cheetos anymore. Look at me, Look
Speaker 1: how I look. I can't do this anymore. I've got
Speaker 1: to do something different. And how many of you are
Speaker 1: like that, like like just this, uh, just this ability
Speaker 1: and and and I can feel the rest of you
Speaker 1: judging us. There's there's wisdom, Pastor Steve. Pastor Steve is
Speaker 1: the name I use when I'm making fun of somebody
Speaker 1: who there's wisdom. And I know there is wisdom, but
Speaker 1: there's also in here an impulse to make a decision.
Speaker 1: And I think we'll understand more why they made the
Speaker 1: decision if we understand the events that led up to it.
Speaker 1: The events that led up to it, I think we'll
Speaker 1: understand more why they did something so dramatic if we
Speaker 1: understand the context. So I want to go all the
Speaker 1: way back to verse one, and I want to read
Speaker 1: this Bible story that is called Jesus calls his First Disciples.
Speaker 1: That's the headline of it. In my Bible, Jesus calls
Speaker 1: his first disciples. How did the disciples who decided to
Speaker 1: follow Jesus and leave everything that they knew before that,
Speaker 1: that they depended on before that, and everything that was
Speaker 1: familiar before that? How did they decide to do it?
Speaker 1: When you understand the events, you can understand the decision.
Speaker 1: When you understand the difference between the two, you can
Speaker 1: understand that an event doesn't have to define the rest
Speaker 1: of your life unless you allow it to. God gives
Speaker 1: you the power to make a different You don't have
Speaker 1: to be a drunk for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be mean and hateful for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. You don't have to be pessimistic
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. So how do they do it?
Speaker 1: Why did they do it? I want to understand the events,
Speaker 1: and then maybe I can understand the decision. It starts
Speaker 1: like this, the decision to be a disciple. I will
Speaker 1: say one more thing before I read this. Giving your
Speaker 1: life to Christ is one decision, and many have done
Speaker 1: that and many will do it today. I'm going to
Speaker 1: give you the opportunity to do that at the end
Speaker 1: of my message today. But deciding to receive God's grace
Speaker 1: and deciding to be his disciple, those are two different things.
Speaker 1: One is an event, it's something God does. It's by grace.
Speaker 1: You're saved through faith, not of works. That's not decisions
Speaker 1: that you make that earns God's grace. Then it's not
Speaker 1: grace that's what God does. But to follow him this
Speaker 1: is a decision. And the Bible says one day, as
Speaker 1: Jesus was standing by the lake of Ganessarah, you may
Speaker 1: have heard the Sea of Galilee, maybe more from ther
Speaker 1: same thing, same body of water. That's where Jesus ended
Speaker 1: up basing his ministry, and this is where it started.
Speaker 1: The people were crowding around him and listening to the
Speaker 1: word of God, so no social distancing going on. In Luke,
Speaker 1: chapter five, verse one, they're pressing in on him, and
Speaker 1: he needs a little space so his voice can amplify.
Speaker 1: So it's a very practical need. He saw at the
Speaker 1: water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who
Speaker 1: were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats,
Speaker 1: the one belonging to Simon, and asked them to put
Speaker 1: out a little from shore. Then he sat down and
Speaker 1: taught the people from the boat. When he finished speaking,
Speaker 1: listen to this, he said to Simon, put out into
Speaker 1: deep water. Everybody say deep water. Right there in the chat,
Speaker 1: say deep water, deep water, and let down the nets
Speaker 1: for a catch. So now I want you to put
Speaker 1: let down. You already put deep water, and now I
Speaker 1: want you to put let down. In the chat, everybody
Speaker 1: say let down. Say it again, say let down, let
Speaker 1: down the nets for a catch. And Simon, that's the
Speaker 1: name of Peter. Before he was called Peter, his name
Speaker 1: was Simon, and Jesus gave him the name Peter cephas
Speaker 1: petros rot. Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night
Speaker 1: and haven't caught anything. Besides, we're professional fisherman. And you're
Speaker 1: a good preacher, and you were doing good with that sermon.
Speaker 1: But the time to catch fish has already passed. And
Speaker 1: it's fine that you're using my boat to preach, but
Speaker 1: telling me how to fish is something different. You hear
Speaker 1: the attitude. We've fished all night but caught nothing. But
Speaker 1: because you say so, I will let down the nets.
Speaker 1: And when they had done so verse six, they caught
Speaker 1: such a large number of fish that their nets began
Speaker 1: to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat,
Speaker 1: this is so good to come and help them. And
Speaker 1: they came and filled both boats so full that they
Speaker 1: began to sing. When Simon Peters saw this, he fell
Speaker 1: at Jesus's knees and said, go away from me. Lord.
Speaker 1: I am a sinful man. For he and all his
Speaker 1: companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
Speaker 1: and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
Speaker 1: Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid.
Speaker 1: From now on you will fish for people. So verse eleven,
Speaker 1: right back where we started. They pulled their boats up
Speaker 1: on shore, left everything and followed him. Now that you've
Speaker 1: heard the chain of events, do you understand the decision
Speaker 1: a little bit better? I do. It helped me because
Speaker 1: as someone who is drawn to dramatic decisions. Day fast
Speaker 1: thirty day fast, I've done both of those. Haven't done
Speaker 1: it in a decade, but I did it one time. Okay,
Speaker 1: I just got to be honest about that. I haven't
Speaker 1: done it in a long time, but I'm down with that.
Speaker 1: And ask somebody who wants to go deeper in God.
Speaker 1: I want to go deep, God, do something deep. God
Speaker 1: has been speaking to me lately that the deepest things
Speaker 1: he will do in my life start shallow. I know
Speaker 1: it sounds like a contradiction of everything you would normally
Speaker 1: hear in a pulpit, because we want we want a
Speaker 1: deep sermon, a deep word from God, one that we
Speaker 1: can't understand, so then we don't have to obey it.
Speaker 1: But while I was reading the text, I was drawn
Speaker 1: to first eleven. I was like, Yes, Lord, I want
Speaker 1: to follow you wherever you leave, Do none go with me?
Speaker 1: That's the second verse of him. You didn't learn when
Speaker 1: you were a kid, cherishing one. You were at the
Speaker 1: club and they were singing in church. They said they'll
Speaker 1: go with me. I still will follow Yes, Lord, I
Speaker 1: just want to go into the unknown. I will follow you, Lord,
Speaker 1: I will follow you. Yay. Though I walked through the
Speaker 1: Valley of the Shadow of Death, and the Lord's like,
Speaker 1: can't you hadn't even read your version Bible plan start shallow.
Speaker 1: That's about the deepest thing that you could do. Leave
Speaker 1: everything and follow him. But notice in the verse. It's
Speaker 1: in the verse. It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible.
Speaker 1: I don't understand everything about decision making science, but I
Speaker 1: understand something about scripture, A little bit about scripture. I
Speaker 1: understand a little bit about scripture. And it said that
Speaker 1: the boats were at the water's edge, the crowds were
Speaker 1: coming around, and in verse three, he got in a
Speaker 1: boat and asked him to put out a little I
Speaker 1: stopped when I read the word little, and I realized
Speaker 1: that before they left everything, they did a little thing.
Speaker 1: So the reason that we keep on deciding to do
Speaker 1: stuff and then we go from deciding to disruption to denial.
Speaker 1: It's a cycle, deciding to disruption to denial. The reason
Speaker 1: sometimes is because we stay too deep. And I want
Speaker 1: to give you a story that I never had the
Speaker 1: guts to share before right now. But something about this
Speaker 1: year has made me a little bolder. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's just that I think that Jesus is coming
Speaker 1: back next Thursday and it doesn't matter anyway, so get
Speaker 1: me out of here. Whatever. I feel a little conspiracy
Speaker 1: theorist rising up in me this year. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I never had all that before, but it's coming now. Anyway.
Speaker 1: When I was going through a period of criticism and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to live in it because God knows it,
Speaker 1: it's about this time in twenty thirteen, many were in
Speaker 1: the church and it was weird because it was more
Speaker 1: criticism than we had ever experienced as a church. It
Speaker 1: kept coming. That's all I want to say about that part.
Speaker 1: I lived in fear for six months, and to really
Speaker 1: tell you the extent of it, let me tell you
Speaker 1: the text that I sent to Chunks after about three
Speaker 1: months of it. I said, if anything happens to me
Speaker 1: and I don't make it, you got Holly and the kids. Right.
Speaker 1: I wasn't suicidal. I just didn't know if I could
Speaker 1: keep day after day after day. I was trying to
Speaker 1: preach through it, and I didn't know if I could
Speaker 1: or something bad would happen. I didn't know what bad
Speaker 1: would happen. But so during that time, that'll make you pray,
Speaker 1: and it'll make you pray deep things. Lord. I need
Speaker 1: your peace. I need your vindication of the things. Many
Speaker 1: of the things they're saying are not true and they're twisted,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to keep having to deal with this.
Speaker 1: So Lord, to deliver me. When I tell you what
Speaker 1: brought me peace, you are not going to be satisfied.
Speaker 1: Because while I was praying the deep prayers, you know,
Speaker 1: I found some prayers in the psalms where David was
Speaker 1: praying stuff like smash my enemies heads against a rock.
Speaker 1: I found some great scriptures during that time that I
Speaker 1: never saw before, very very meaningful to me. But now
Speaker 1: my answer wasn't on my Bible app. It was on
Speaker 1: my Twitter app. And when I decided to delete Twitter.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds shallow, but that little I don't
Speaker 1: even know if people use Twitter anymore because I haven't
Speaker 1: been on it really in seven years. They put stuff
Speaker 1: out that's not me, that's somebody on a computer somewhere
Speaker 1: putting Bible verses out in my name. I can't go
Speaker 1: on there. I can't go on there. And I was
Speaker 1: telling my friend, it's like when I deleted all this stuff.
Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna tell you what God's gonna speak to
Speaker 1: some of you through the sermon today. He's going to
Speaker 1: tell you to delete something that is defeating you because
Speaker 1: you think victory is so deep. The battle is the lord's,
Speaker 1: but the app is yours, the brain is yours, the
Speaker 1: decision is yours. And when I deleted Twitter, I told
Speaker 1: my friend, it's like I thought there were mountain lions
Speaker 1: in my yard waiting to attack me, and then I
Speaker 1: saw it was just squirrels. It was just squirrels, and
Speaker 1: I thought I can't survive it because I was surrounded
Speaker 1: by squirrels. I know it sounds so silly, I prayed.
Speaker 1: I said, God, I can't tell them to do that.
Speaker 1: I need to It's it's a lot of stuff going
Speaker 1: on in people's life. I need to go to the
Speaker 1: Book of Revelation, Book of Revelations. Put an s on it.
Speaker 1: Book God, I need a book, a revelation. I need
Speaker 1: to go into the beast, the market, a beast, the
Speaker 1: six six six, the number of the beast. God said
Speaker 1: some of the some of the some of the things
Speaker 1: that they're praying for me to deliver them from. I
Speaker 1: have given them the power to delete. Can I preach
Speaker 1: a shallow sermon? Jesus didn't call them to leave their boats.
Speaker 1: He called them to push out a little It's a
Speaker 1: little decision I was. I was talking to a friend
Speaker 1: about depression. They said, uh, uh, have you gone for
Speaker 1: a walk today? Like you don't hear me? Is spiritual warfare?
Speaker 1: They said? No? I said, wal not war. You're trying
Speaker 1: to be so deep you don't need God to give
Speaker 1: you the victory. You need to go get some vitamins.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that the
Speaker 1: problem isn't deep. I'm saying that sometimes the solution is
Speaker 1: so simple. Lord, give me a simple solution. Not just
Speaker 1: what they did. Put out a little bit from the shore.
Speaker 1: They put out a little bit from the shore. Hey
Speaker 1: leave a little bit of this space. What one thing
Speaker 1: are you willing to do different with this addiction that's
Speaker 1: so deep in your life that you don't think you'll
Speaker 1: ever be free from it. Will you do a little
Speaker 1: thing different? And that that little event, that little thing,
Speaker 1: let to something so massive. Peter would be the one
Speaker 1: who would preach the Holy Spirit into the earth. The
Speaker 1: next chapter two. If you Rediscernment and Acts two, you'll
Speaker 1: be like, this dude is deep. He didn't start deep,
Speaker 1: he started shallow. I just don't want you to think
Speaker 1: it's always that deep. It was a little decision. How
Speaker 1: many believe that's a little decision just to put your
Speaker 1: boat out a little bit and let me use it
Speaker 1: for a few minutes while I teach. That's a little decision.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna watch Church Elevation Church today. That
Speaker 1: was a little decision. But God can do a deep
Speaker 1: thing with the shallow star. Now. I think if I
Speaker 1: were the devil, I'd try to get you so overwhelmed
Speaker 1: with something that felt so deep that you wouldn't do
Speaker 1: something so simple. I think that's his strategy. But God's
Speaker 1: strategy was very simple. Remember, these are the ones that
Speaker 1: Jesus wants to use. It's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: trick because he's asking them to carry him in the boat,
Speaker 1: but he really wants them to become boats so that
Speaker 1: the Gospel can go out through them. And it's really
Speaker 1: a picture. It's really a picture of the purpose that
Speaker 1: he's given them. This helped me he put out a
Speaker 1: little bit, and then Jesus preached. And then verse four,
Speaker 1: when he had finished speaking, somebody say first the word.
Speaker 1: First the word, he said to Simon Peter put out
Speaker 1: into the deep water and let down the nets for
Speaker 1: a catch. Now let's go deeper. So put out a little, now,
Speaker 1: put down the nets. Put out a little. Now, put
Speaker 1: down the nets. Put out a little, put down the nets.
Speaker 1: Don't try to do too much at first. Don't leave
Speaker 1: the boat yet. I need it right now, I little
Speaker 1: put down the nets. I think this is really powerful.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's I don't think it's a small thing.
Speaker 1: I really don't. The more I study it, the more
Speaker 1: I realize that every decision that others see contains millions
Speaker 1: of little decisions that were invisible. So how could they
Speaker 1: do that? How could why would they make that decision?
Speaker 1: There were a million little decisions when they said I do.
Speaker 1: They never thought there would be a time when they didn't.
Speaker 1: And I remember, early in our marriage, getting in a
Speaker 1: fight with Holly on the phone and one of us
Speaker 1: hung up on the other one. I don't know which
Speaker 1: one hung up on the other one. I really don't
Speaker 1: remember the details of this. Maybe conveniently. But I remember
Speaker 1: one of us hanging up, and I remember talking about
Speaker 1: that and saying, we're never going to do that again.
Speaker 1: We're never going to hang up the phone on each
Speaker 1: other in the middle of a conversation again. Because nobody
Speaker 1: walks away from someone that they gave their heart to
Speaker 1: all at once. Decisions have momentum. So today I hang
Speaker 1: up on you. Five years later, I hate you because
Speaker 1: I put out a little See this works both ways.
Speaker 1: Nobody decides I would like to be straddled with an
Speaker 1: addiction that will follow me to the grave. Nobody decides that.
Speaker 1: What I do decide sometimes is I don't want to
Speaker 1: feel the way I feel, so if I do that,
Speaker 1: I won't have to feel this. The decision has momentum,
Speaker 1: and then in a horrible thing for somebody who's who's eleven, twelve,
Speaker 1: thirteen years old, that they can look at something on
Speaker 1: their phone and out of curiosity they can see something
Speaker 1: that will take them into a place that will wrap
Speaker 1: them with something that will limit them the rest of
Speaker 1: their life from being able to be free mentally. Nobody
Speaker 1: decides I want to have something that masters me the
Speaker 1: rest of my life. That's not the decision, but decisions
Speaker 1: have momentum. Because I was impressed by what they did.
Speaker 1: Push out the boat and let down the nets. These
Speaker 1: are the nets they just got done washing. These are
Speaker 1: the nets. These are big nets. One guy said that
Speaker 1: they were twenty five feet in diameter, so it takes
Speaker 1: a long time to clean them. And they're made of linen,
Speaker 1: so if you don't clean them, they're gonna rot and
Speaker 1: they're not gonna last very long. And I thought it
Speaker 1: was cool that they were just fishing. They didn't go
Speaker 1: out that day to decide to follow Jesus. They went
Speaker 1: out to catch fish. Can we talk about daily decisions
Speaker 1: for a moment. This is what they did every day.
Speaker 1: What do you do every day? What do you do
Speaker 1: every day? This is not what they did on Christmas
Speaker 1: and Eastern This is what they did every day. This
Speaker 1: is what that not what they did on New Year's Eve.
Speaker 1: Like the calendar is going to change your habits. I
Speaker 1: have no idea what this motion is. Don't even worry
Speaker 1: about it. The point of the illustrating, the point I
Speaker 1: don't know where that came from. The point of the
Speaker 1: illustration is this is what they did. What do you
Speaker 1: do just by being there. Now, I'm telling you that
Speaker 1: this is Bethsayeda. This is a fishing village. Bethsata means
Speaker 1: house of the hunt. But they fished, they were fishermen.
Speaker 1: They were from Bethseda. That's where Peter was from, Bethsata.
Speaker 1: So guess what you do when you grow up in
Speaker 1: a fishing village. You fish. It wasn't deep, it wasn't
Speaker 1: a decision. Peter didn't go to a job fair, taking
Speaker 1: Enny of Graham and the Myers Briggs a est n
Speaker 1: j elemento p a d d adhd, none of that.
Speaker 1: We wanted a deep God. I want a calling from
Speaker 1: you and a purpose of my life. And the deep
Speaker 1: goes the deep. He he went fishing and he caught nothing.
Speaker 1: Can you make a positive decision even after you've experienced
Speaker 1: a negative result. This is what amazed me. See, when
Speaker 1: I get on a roll, I can do amazing things.
Speaker 1: I can do amazing things. When I get on a roll,
Speaker 1: it's like boom, knock them down, Boom, there's another one. Boom,
Speaker 1: another one, Boom, another one. I don't mean to bring
Speaker 1: DJ call it up here with me on the stage,
Speaker 1: but I just I feel like sometimes I can get
Speaker 1: in a zone. This is not the situation, this is
Speaker 1: not the event. It was after the event of a
Speaker 1: failed night of fishing, at the point where they were
Speaker 1: vulnerable because they were exhausted, that they did what he
Speaker 1: said anyway. And twenty twenty has been a year for
Speaker 1: us to have to learn how to do what we
Speaker 1: know God has called us to do anyway, and to
Speaker 1: know that we can have a feeling and not act
Speaker 1: on it and make a different decision, have a temptation
Speaker 1: and not act on it. You know how. Grace is
Speaker 1: the power to cover your sin. It's also the power
Speaker 1: to change your decisions. And only because you're frustrated doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you have to make decisions that create more frustration.
Speaker 1: When they did what Jesus told them to do, when
Speaker 1: they obeyed the word of God, and that might mean
Speaker 1: a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
Speaker 1: That might not mean anything having to do with a
Speaker 1: fishing that, but it could. It could be a career thing.
Speaker 1: I always get scared when I preach like this that
Speaker 1: people are going to take Loop five to eleven, quit
Speaker 1: their jobs and leave their boats and follow him. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take something. If you leave your boat without a
Speaker 1: backup plan. In this economy, it's gonna be a minute
Speaker 1: before you're gonna leave your apartment, leave your house too,
Speaker 1: because they are not going to take the message of
Speaker 1: the Lord as a mortgage payment. So you better be
Speaker 1: very careful that you put out a little bit from
Speaker 1: the shore. Praised him glory to his holy name, and
Speaker 1: the twenty four elders said, amen. But see, decisions have momentum, right,
Speaker 1: so put out a little bit from the shore. Put
Speaker 1: down the nets. Boom boom boom by bay bah, and
Speaker 1: their nets were breaking. But the nets were not the
Speaker 1: only thing that broke in that moment. When I obeyed
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord, it breaks the flow of frustration.
Speaker 1: We fished all night caught nothing frustration. When he put
Speaker 1: down the nets. Not only did the nets break because
Speaker 1: God blessed them so much, because they were just obedient.
Speaker 1: Not only did the nets break, but so did the
Speaker 1: flow of their frustration. So did the flow of their failure.
Speaker 1: So did the flow of their fear. You do not
Speaker 1: think your way out of the flow of fear, failure
Speaker 1: in frustration by thinking deeper about it. It broke the
Speaker 1: flow when they did something different. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: talk to people different. I'm gonna have to manage my
Speaker 1: thought life different. I'm gonna have to manage my time different.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to manage my money different. And we
Speaker 1: hear the truth, and we still won't tithe, And it
Speaker 1: would break the flow. It would break the flow of
Speaker 1: everything that comes to me is for me, and it
Speaker 1: would open me to receive the blessing of God. And
Speaker 1: we hear the truth, and the word of God speaks
Speaker 1: from our boat, Jesus gets done speaking, and we still
Speaker 1: won't drop the nets. I heard the Lord say, drop it.
Speaker 1: I heard the Lord say, drop it. That applies to
Speaker 1: every offense that you've been carrying. Drop it. That applies
Speaker 1: to every empty net that's in your life, where you've
Speaker 1: been failing and carrying the fail you're around a fishing
Speaker 1: all night and catching nothing, and what you did last week,
Speaker 1: and even the fight that you had before you clicked
Speaker 1: on this YouTube video, and even the stuff you looked
Speaker 1: at online before you came to online church today. I
Speaker 1: heard the Lord saying, drop that, drop that. Sometimes we
Speaker 1: don't drop the net because we're so busy, we're so
Speaker 1: we're so caught up in the discouragement. You know, it's
Speaker 1: really hard to drop the net when you're drowning in disappointment.
Speaker 1: I make good decisions when I'm in a good flow.
Speaker 1: Oh this worked, and that worked, and this did good
Speaker 1: and that did good. That is not the occasion in
Speaker 1: Luke five. That is not why they left everything and
Speaker 1: followed him. He got in their boat at a bad time.
Speaker 1: How annoying is this? He came in their boat as
Speaker 1: a distraction, you say, well, pastor Steve, Yeah, I'm back
Speaker 1: on it. The Lord is never a distraction. It was
Speaker 1: for Peter. He was trying to wash his nets. He
Speaker 1: was still dealing with a knight of coming up empty,
Speaker 1: and God was trying to fill him in that moment
Speaker 1: with not only fish but faith. Now, can I keep going?
Speaker 1: We can stop right now and I'll preach this again
Speaker 1: in the future. Or we can go a little deeper.
Speaker 1: We could go a little deeper. We can go a
Speaker 1: little deeper. If you want to go deeper, say it
Speaker 1: in the chat. I want to go deeper, say it
Speaker 1: in the comments. Because none of this was really my message.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry that I tricked you into thinking that
Speaker 1: I was preaching about Peter's decision. It would be irresponsible
Speaker 1: for me to tell you Luke five eleven and not
Speaker 1: tell you Matthew twenty six. And when they followed him
Speaker 1: with the first step, they never knew what the next
Speaker 1: step would bring. They never really understood Jesus, even though
Speaker 1: they were attracted to him. They never really undersstood why
Speaker 1: he came, even though they were willing to follow him
Speaker 1: wherever he went until he went to the cross. And
Speaker 1: Kyph has put him on trial. And look at Matthew
Speaker 1: twenty six. Because they said they left everything and followed him,
Speaker 1: But there were some things they didn't leave. Their concept
Speaker 1: about what the Messiah would be, their concept about what
Speaker 1: the Christ would be, their concept of what it would
Speaker 1: mean to follow God. They left their nets and their boats.
Speaker 1: But look what the Bible says. It says that all
Speaker 1: this had taken place, that the writings of the prophets
Speaker 1: might be fulfilled. In all the disciples deserted him and
Speaker 1: fled receiving grace. Receiving grace is a one time decision.
Speaker 1: Following Jesus is a by moment. Am I following in
Speaker 1: this moment? Is this his thought? Am I walking in peace? Right? Now?
Speaker 1: That's what we mean to say. You're a disciple. There's
Speaker 1: a difference between the event of becoming a Christian and
Speaker 1: the decision of being a disciple. You don't make the
Speaker 1: decision of discipleship once you make it daily, daily, daily.
Speaker 1: And I'm preaching to somebody who stopped following, and I
Speaker 1: needed you to know that that decision doesn't mean God
Speaker 1: can't use you. I also wanted you to know that
Speaker 1: the disciples who started the movement of Christianity made the
Speaker 1: same decision you did. And since you're wondering why Jesus
Speaker 1: shows Peter, I think I'll tell you because he knew
Speaker 1: he would do something dumb. He knew Peter would cut
Speaker 1: off Malcus's ear in the garden. He knew Peter would
Speaker 1: do something dumb. He knew Peter would speak up and
Speaker 1: blurt out, you are the Christ. He knew Peter would
Speaker 1: do something dumb. He knew Peter would drop his nets
Speaker 1: after they were clean and put up for the night.
Speaker 1: He knew Peter would do something dumb. I know a
Speaker 1: preacher never told you this before, but do something dumb
Speaker 1: for God. I don't mean something that's contrary to wisdom.
Speaker 1: I don't mean burn down your life. I don't mean
Speaker 1: any of that. You know, I don't mean do something unbiblical.
Speaker 1: You know I don't mean that, I don't teach that.
Speaker 1: But do something that seems dumb, but really what God
Speaker 1: is using to take you deep. Because sometimes the dumbest
Speaker 1: stuff on the surface leads to the deepest stuff later.
Speaker 1: So it would be dumb for you to forgive them.
Speaker 1: Do it. It would be dumb for you to trust
Speaker 1: God and keep praising Him although your body is sick,
Speaker 1: But do it. Do something dumb. It would be dumb
Speaker 1: for you to sit and listen to a sermon for
Speaker 1: two hours on the weekend, But do something dumb. It
Speaker 1: would be dumb for you to believe that God is
Speaker 1: still good while you're going through hell. Do something dumb.
Speaker 1: That's why he chose Peter. He said, I need somebody
Speaker 1: who will be dub enough by the world standard to
Speaker 1: do what I say and not care what anybody think
Speaker 1: some about it, Are you dub enough? The message of
Speaker 1: the Cross is foolishness, foolishness to the world, but it
Speaker 1: is the wisdom of God, the power of God. Not yet.
Speaker 1: I want to tell you that the reason he picked Peter,
Speaker 1: and the reason he chose you, and the reason you
Speaker 1: can have confidence to know that there is no decision
Speaker 1: that you can make that will predate God's purpose for
Speaker 1: your life is because he knew you would do something dumb.
Speaker 1: You did something dumb. You did something dumb, and you
Speaker 1: learned from it and you grew from it. You did
Speaker 1: something dumb. There's no honest people in the building, but
Speaker 1: put in the chat. I did something dumb, and raise
Speaker 1: your hand on an emoji. Since all the plastic saints
Speaker 1: came to church today, I did something dumb. Peter denied
Speaker 1: Jesus just like the other disciples. The only one who
Speaker 1: stayed was John. Peter did something dumb. And now if
Speaker 1: God's purpose for Peter depends on Peter's decision is over,
Speaker 1: you feel like that I screwed it up. You know
Speaker 1: what we do. We go through things and they're painful,
Speaker 1: and we don't take the opportunities and we weren't there
Speaker 1: like we should have been there, and we go back
Speaker 1: and say things that make absolutely no sense, like if
Speaker 1: I move in, Well, I know now you didn't, but
Speaker 1: now you do, and now you've got different wisdom. Right now,
Speaker 1: in this moment, you've got wisdom from that painful experience.
Speaker 1: You've got wisdom from that dumb decision. So I was
Speaker 1: talking to one of my good friends the other day
Speaker 1: and he was beating the crap out of himself. Not you,
Speaker 1: It was somebody else. You were doing it too, But
Speaker 1: this was another conversation. I've noticed a lot of people
Speaker 1: are doing this lately. And he was saying, I should
Speaker 1: have done it different. I would have done it different.
Speaker 1: I could have done it different. I could have I
Speaker 1: would have I should have done it different. And I said,
Speaker 1: you would have and you will. But don't judge yesterday's
Speaker 1: decisions with today's wisdom. That's only going to paralyze you,
Speaker 1: and the momentum of shame will carry you to an
Speaker 1: even deeper place of the spirit. How many have experienced this,
Speaker 1: the momentum of saying I said, I said to my friend,
Speaker 1: I said, you are literally this was a deep pain.
Speaker 1: This was not what he wished. He would have bought
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars in a on of zoom stock at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the pandemic. This was much deeper than that.
Speaker 1: I said you, you would have done it different, and
Speaker 1: you will do it different. But you are using today's
Speaker 1: wisdom as a weapon to beat yourself up for yesterday's decisions.
Speaker 1: And God doesn't want you to do that, because in
Speaker 1: the wisdom of God he chose you, knowing that you
Speaker 1: would do something dumb. Do you believe that? I want
Speaker 1: to help you. Believe that? And I want to help you.
Speaker 1: From Luke chapter five, verse three, where the Bible says
Speaker 1: that Jesus saw at the water's edge. Isn't that a
Speaker 1: beautiful image? I'm on the edge. I could do it
Speaker 1: this way, I could do it that way. I'm making
Speaker 1: a decision. Jesus got into one of the boats, the
Speaker 1: one belonging to Simon. He hadn't even changed his name yet,
Speaker 1: but he chose his boat. That's his whole name. He
Speaker 1: hadn't even grown yet. He hadn't even done anything right yet.
Speaker 1: In fact, we find out later in this story that
Speaker 1: Peter said, I'm a sinful man. Go away from me, Lord,
Speaker 1: some of you been doing that. Not me, Lord, not me.
Speaker 1: I'm not a good person, not me. I'm not a
Speaker 1: good parent, not me. I'm dumb. I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, not me, anybody but me. That's what Peter said.
Speaker 1: But put the verse back up, because this was the
Speaker 1: revelation I got that Peter's destiny didn't begin with Peter's decision.
Speaker 1: It said that there were two boats. That means Jesus chose.
Speaker 1: You see, this is a fishing village. There's way more
Speaker 1: than one boat available. And how did he choose? I
Speaker 1: wonder did he go? Eenie meenie, miney moe. I'm picturing
Speaker 1: Jesus right, I'm picturing Jesus is choosing whose vote do
Speaker 1: I want to preach from. I'm launching a ministry. Not
Speaker 1: only am I launching a boat, I'm launching a movement.
Speaker 1: I'm launching the gospel. I'm launching the work. Whose vote?
Speaker 1: Here's a boat, there's a boat. Eenie meanie, miney moe.
Speaker 1: Catch a disciple, buy his vote. And I felt like
Speaker 1: God was saying, I knew what was in Peter when
Speaker 1: I got in his boat. He got in your boat,
Speaker 1: the one he knew where I was broken. When he
Speaker 1: got in my boat, he knew what I didn't know.
Speaker 1: When he got in my boat. He knew where I
Speaker 1: would fail when he called me to follow us. So
Speaker 1: it wasn't my decision that started this. He got in
Speaker 1: the boat. See, we thought it started when Peter let
Speaker 1: down the nets. No, we thought it started when Peter
Speaker 1: let out a little from the shore. No, you thought
Speaker 1: it started when you were born. No, he said, before
Speaker 1: you were born. I formed you. I knew you. I
Speaker 1: knew the good stuff, the funky stuff, the weird stuff,
Speaker 1: the perverted stuff, the twisted stuff, the genetic stuff. I
Speaker 1: knew your dumb stuff. And I got in your boat
Speaker 1: because it's you I called, and it's you like shows,
Speaker 1: and I know whose boat I'm stepping in. See, the
Speaker 1: momentum depends on who made the decision. And if you
Speaker 1: think you choset God, then it is dependent on you.
Speaker 1: But when you get a revelation to Peter God much
Speaker 1: later in his life, it took him years. Man he
Speaker 1: went back fishing in John twenty one and didn't catch
Speaker 1: fish again. He never really got it, but he still
Speaker 1: preached why because Jesus knew his condition before he called him.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything more important than this to
Speaker 1: teach you about the grace of God and the life
Speaker 1: of faith. Is that God's decision predated your dysfunction. He
Speaker 1: knew Peter was a cussing mess when he got in
Speaker 1: the boat. He knew he was an impulsive idiot when
Speaker 1: he got in the boat. He knew you were predisposed
Speaker 1: to these emotions when he got in your boat, when
Speaker 1: he came in your art, he saved you by graze.
Speaker 1: I just want you to know that, Gus, because where
Speaker 1: it starts determines where it stops. And if God's purpose
Speaker 1: for your life stopped with your last bad decision, it'd
Speaker 1: be over for all of us, for all of us.
Speaker 1: But Peter said something later in his life that I
Speaker 1: think he learned in that boat. And this scripture came
Speaker 1: to me right before I came out. It was the
Speaker 1: last thing God gave me, and it's the last thing
Speaker 1: I want to show you, he said. In second Peter,
Speaker 1: you know he went on to write some of the Bible.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool that God picked him as an author
Speaker 1: of the Word of God. Well, he was cleaning empty nets.
Speaker 1: We get so arrogant and we get so crazy that
Speaker 1: we think something we brought to God drew him to us. No, No,
Speaker 1: he chose you before all that, before the achievement. Put
Speaker 1: all those trophies back in the basement. God doesn't need
Speaker 1: any of that. God doesn't need any of that. And
Speaker 1: I didn't even know where this scripture was. But it said.
Speaker 1: I had to look it up. It said, no prophecy
Speaker 1: ever had its origin in human will, but prophets, though human,
Speaker 1: spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. That's powerful all in itself. That no prophecy
Speaker 1: has ever had its origin. It doesn't start with the
Speaker 1: human will. It didn't start when they left their boats.
Speaker 1: It started when Jesus stepped in. And the momentum of
Speaker 1: that decision can carry you through any season of your life,
Speaker 1: any set back, any shame, I'm saying anything you can name.
Speaker 1: He took it all to the cross, buried it all
Speaker 1: in the grave, and there's a resurrection that can happen
Speaker 1: if you realize that no prophecy ever had its origin
Speaker 1: in the human will the way I saw it, and
Speaker 1: I had to set this up last minute, so you'll
Speaker 1: pray it works. Bring me that little road case. I
Speaker 1: asked him, Do you have anything that I can show
Speaker 1: the people? And I want you to get this. Wherever
Speaker 1: you are in the world, everybody say, momentum, momentum, momentum, momentum, momentum.
Speaker 1: You've been praying for that in your life. You have
Speaker 1: been very, very stuck and frustrated and disappointment and in
Speaker 1: a state of disappointment this year. And the truth is
Speaker 1: some of us are drowning in it. We're drowning in it.
Speaker 1: We fished all night, we fished all year, We've caught.
Speaker 1: Nothing's changing now. I just said, give me something heavy
Speaker 1: on the stage so I can leave them with an image,
Speaker 1: because I know how you are. You're luck I am,
Speaker 1: and we'll forget everything, but sometimes if we see it,
Speaker 1: we can get it. It hit me. I need somebody
Speaker 1: who's not very strong to come here real quick, and
Speaker 1: you'll have to identify yourself. I'm certainly not going to
Speaker 1: point at you, and I mean I need you to
Speaker 1: be real weak. I need you to be like you
Speaker 1: hadn't seen a gym since COVID start, You hadn't seen
Speaker 1: a gym since why two K. That's who I need
Speaker 1: right now, y'all remember why two K. I need like
Speaker 1: you have not seen it. I mean, like you really
Speaker 1: are strong? Is she really not strong? I mean I
Speaker 1: don't mean her character, I mean just yeah, just so, so,
Speaker 1: who is it who's the weakest person in this section?
Speaker 1: I mean I need the weakest. I wish you were
Speaker 1: all here so I could do a whole poll. Who
Speaker 1: is the weakest person in the room physically weakest person
Speaker 1: in the room? Is it you? Like? For real? Okay,
Speaker 1: come here overalls, and you got to hurry because this
Speaker 1: is winding down. Now, everybody in the room stand up.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you this and I need you to.
Speaker 1: I need you to just follow my instructions. Just follow,
Speaker 1: follow follow everybody say, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow,
Speaker 1: follow follow, So thank you for volunteering. I chose you
Speaker 1: because you said you were weak. I chose you because
Speaker 1: I said, eenie meanie, miney mo. Remember how it went,
Speaker 1: catch you talk about to if he hollers, I could change.
Speaker 1: I could make a whole Christian song out of it.
Speaker 1: You know, if he sends, I won't let go eeny
Speaker 1: meanie miney mo. I could do all this stuff. This
Speaker 1: is what I do. And remember how we'd say my
Speaker 1: mama told me to pick the very best one. And
Speaker 1: I know this is so simple and so silly, but
Speaker 1: sometimes it's the shallow stuff that sticks with us. It
Speaker 1: was like, how did he pick Peter? And I heard
Speaker 1: my father told me to pick the very worst one,
Speaker 1: the weakest one, the most impulsive one. And he got
Speaker 1: in that boat, and that gave me hope because I
Speaker 1: may dumb decisions. So it's not my decision and my
Speaker 1: good decisions that I'm putting my faith in, not as
Speaker 1: a pastor, not as a parent, not as a husband,
Speaker 1: not as a man. His decision. Give that one good push.
Speaker 1: All you're allowed to do is push it as hard
Speaker 1: as you can with one push. Don't keep your hands
Speaker 1: on it. Three two one. Who's the strongest person in
Speaker 1: the room. Who's the strongest person in the room. I
Speaker 1: mean the strongest person in the room. I mean the
Speaker 1: strongest person in the room. I mean, who's the strongest
Speaker 1: person in the chat? Somebody, somebody give me a fleximoj
Speaker 1: in the jack Hong Kong. Who's the strongest person I
Speaker 1: need the strongest person in the room. I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to say, I'm gonna have to select somebody. If somebody
Speaker 1: done volunteer, in fact, get get me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me three strong people. Notice I didn't just say men.
Speaker 1: I am very very politically correct, y'all. I don't know
Speaker 1: ifend anybody who's the strongest give me the three strongest people.
Speaker 1: You're coming. They're all pointing at you. You, They're all coming.
Speaker 1: I know you got flowers on your surf, but they
Speaker 1: said you're strong. Come on, man, let's go. Let's go.
Speaker 1: I need one more burnie or you coming. Who else
Speaker 1: is coming, strongest guy in the room, Yeah he is,
Speaker 1: he is. Come on, come on, all three of you,
Speaker 1: come on up, Come on up, Come on up. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to remind you of this. Y'all start clapping,
Speaker 1: because this is about to hit you. This is about
Speaker 1: to hit you. Line up, line up, line up, line up,
Speaker 1: line up, line up. When I say three all on
Speaker 1: one side, I want you to push it as hard
Speaker 1: as you can. With one push, you don't get the
Speaker 1: lock out, you don't get to do anything. But I
Speaker 1: just want them to realize you can be there for
Speaker 1: a backup in case we do it. But I heard
Speaker 1: the I heard the scripture say at the water's edge
Speaker 1: was a boat, and I was thinking about all my
Speaker 1: dumb decisions and how prophecy in the word of God
Speaker 1: over your life doesn't originate with the will of man.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking about the momentum of the decision.
Speaker 1: So what I thought about is how far it goes
Speaker 1: depends upon how strong you are when you started. So
Speaker 1: on three one two, three, push it. Look at that,
Speaker 1: ketta kata katad Oh, look at that. And it's all
Speaker 1: right because I wanted it to fall. And it's all
Speaker 1: right because I planned for it to crash. And it's
Speaker 1: all right because I set it up for the illustration,
Speaker 1: and I knew it would fall when I call them,
Speaker 1: and I knew it would break when I chose it,
Speaker 1: and I knew what was in it when they pushed it.
Speaker 1: So the question is who started this, Who brought you
Speaker 1: into the earth, Who chose who? I don't think you
Speaker 1: chose Jesus. I think he got in your boat a
Speaker 1: long time ago. If I'm the one pushing it, eh,
Speaker 1: no offense, Eh. If it's Peter's decision, If it's Peter's prophecy,
Speaker 1: if it's human will it stops when I sin. But
Speaker 1: if you understand that, no prophecy, no word God spoke
Speaker 1: over your lot, no simony gave you. Nothing. He puts
Speaker 1: you to do started with you. I hear the Lord saying,
Speaker 1: the momentum is not based in your decision, It's based
Speaker 1: in his. Clap your hands and give him praise. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Come on,
Speaker 1: given praise, give him praise. Give him praise all over
Speaker 1: the world. Give him praise. Come on a simple thing.
Speaker 1: Clap your hands, a deep praise, a simple thing, a
Speaker 1: simple illustration, a simple thing. If he started it, no
Speaker 1: one can stop it. So sometimes I tell God, it's
Speaker 1: your boat. You made me, You know me, you chose me.
Speaker 1: I guess you knew what was in my heart when
Speaker 1: you got in my boat. So use me. Lord. I
Speaker 1: want to go deeper in this season, but I want
Speaker 1: to call you right now to make a decision to
Speaker 1: receive his grace. So bow your head and close your eyes.
Speaker 1: The presence of the Lord is in this moment, and
Speaker 1: the presence of the Lord was in the moment before that.
Speaker 1: It'll be in the moment after this. But this is
Speaker 1: a moment of decision for someone to place your faith
Speaker 1: in Jesus Christ. The Lord spoke to me to do
Speaker 1: the invitation myself today, which I don't always do. But
Speaker 1: he said that there was someone who needed to stop
Speaker 1: trying to save themself and stop trying to earn his love,
Speaker 1: and stop trying to fix their life on their own,
Speaker 1: but to receive his grace. Let him in your heart.
Speaker 1: That's by grace through faith, right now I want to
Speaker 1: pray a prayer with you, and I'm going to close
Speaker 1: my eyes and bow my head, and I just want
Speaker 1: us to think like it's just me and you and
Speaker 1: God now, no distractions. And the Bible says that everyone
Speaker 1: who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Speaker 1: Will you make this your day to leave your boat,
Speaker 1: your nets, your old way of life and be a
Speaker 1: follower of Christ. God has already decided what he thinks
Speaker 1: about you. He demonstrates his love toward us in this
Speaker 1: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
Speaker 1: and he wants to get in your life. He wants
Speaker 1: to come in take over. So right now, if you'll
Speaker 1: pray this prayer with me, I believe God will hear
Speaker 1: and he'll enter your heart take your sin away. The
Speaker 1: Bible says you will be born again from above. And
Speaker 1: I want you to repeat this prayer after me, everyone
Speaker 1: praying together for the benefit of those who are coming
Speaker 1: to God, are coming back to God, who have stopped
Speaker 1: following or who have never started following it all. This
Speaker 1: is your moment of decision, the moment of decision. Repeat
Speaker 1: after me, Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need
Speaker 1: of a savior. And I believe that Jesus Christ is
Speaker 1: the Son of God and the savior of the world.
Speaker 1: And today I make Jesus the lord of my life.
Speaker 1: I believe he died that I would be forgiven and
Speaker 1: rose again to give me life. I receive this new life.
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. On the count of three,
Speaker 1: if you prayed that prayer, raise your hand one, two, three.
Speaker 1: If you're watching online, put it in the chest. Say
Speaker 1: I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus. Say it in the chat,
Speaker 1: say it in the comics. Come on, we want to
Speaker 1: celebrate with the Acheles. That's the best decision of your life.
Speaker 1: And God made that decision a long time ago. You
Speaker 1: are accepted, you are chosen, you are predestined. You are
Speaker 1: his child. Come on, let's give him praise on every
Speaker 1: location all around the world. Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord.
Speaker 1: I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to
Speaker 1: follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back,
Speaker 1: no turning back. Let's make it present tense. I am
Speaker 1: deciding to follow Jesus this moment. I am deciding to
Speaker 1: follow Jesus. I am deciding to follow Jesus every step,
Speaker 1: no turning back, push off a little, no turn So
Speaker 1: we're gonna even say simple things. So you know, I
Speaker 1: am deciding to stop complaining. That's what it looks like
Speaker 1: to follow Jesus. I am deciding to get off Facebook.
Speaker 1: I'm modernizing the helm. Come on, saints, I am deciding
Speaker 1: to follow Jesus. I am deciding to follow Jesus. I
Speaker 1: am deciding to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the end of my message's decision time. Now what
Speaker 1: are you going to do with the word that you
Speaker 1: just heard? I pray that you'll put it to work
Speaker 1: in your life, put it into practice, use it as
Speaker 1: a foundation to build your life on Christ. Know that
Speaker 1: nothing that you have done or will do is going
Speaker 1: to push His love away or earn it. He chose you.
Speaker 1: The scripture says in John fifteen sixteen that I chose you.
Speaker 1: You didn't choose me. But you know what, I'm really
Speaker 1: thankful for those of you who choose to connect with
Speaker 1: this ministry. You choose to pray, you choose to give,
Speaker 1: you choose to serve, you choose to watch, you choose
Speaker 1: to share the messages. That makes a big difference. And
Speaker 1: I just want to remind you again that as we
Speaker 1: get the word out together, like we don't have votes,
Speaker 1: but we have broadband and Wi Fi and all of
Speaker 1: these ways of sharing the gospel, that what you do matters.
Speaker 1: So I know that we're praying for you. Make sure
Speaker 1: you subscribe to the channel, and all of you who
Speaker 1: are giving to our favor twenty twenty offering thank you
Speaker 1: for all of you who are giving. Thank you. It's
Speaker 1: because of you that the Gospel and the Word of
Speaker 1: God goes out. And know that God chose you. You
Speaker 1: got in the right boat. We love you, See you
Speaker 1: next time.