- 3 months ago
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00:00well hi y'all I'm so glad to have an opportunity to be with you having been
00:18able to be here during the women's conference and to be a part of that and
00:22now to be able to share with you during a part of your Sunday services really is
00:26a huge treat for me I said to the women that I appreciate you letting me kind of
00:31hobble up on your platform this is what happens when you try to take on your
00:37growing boys in a rousing game of basketball and so my husband and I had a
00:43three-on-three game with the boys that we invited a couple friends over and the
00:46big boys and we had this game and I used to not have to bring my a game when I
00:52played the boys you know I had to let them win but the problem now is that I
00:55brought my a game and they still won they beat me very badly and I walked
01:00away with what we thought may have been a broken foot but just some pulled
01:04tendons and I was glad because I didn't want to be I didn't want to miss this I
01:07didn't want to miss being a part of this church you need to know that the work
01:12that happens in and through this church through the leadership of this church it
01:17precedes you we we hear about what God does through your church in this area and
01:22so to have an opportunity to serve you is our privilege so I bring you greetings
01:26from my home church in Dallas Texas where my daddy is my pastor has been since I
01:30was one year old when they started the church where we still are members and
01:35love serving God there and I'm excited to share God's Word with you this morning
01:39because I believe in the power of God's Word anybody believe in the power of God's
01:44word amen it is not just a book you know with ink on a page the Holy Spirit causes
01:54it to come alive to us its spirit in life to us and so let's pray and see what it
02:01is that he has to say to us today Lord I thank you so much for the privilege of
02:06hearing you speak thank you God that every single time we come to the
02:10scriptures we can expect to feel the warm breath of God brushing across our
02:15cheeks as you speak a present tense word into our lives so God I'm praying that
02:21you would do what only you can at this second service on this wet cold Sunday in
02:25Austin would you take this one little message would you divide it a couple
02:29thousand different ways so that everybody under the sound of my voice will
02:34hear a direct personal word straight from the mouth of God Lord we are glad each
02:39other is here but we didn't come to see each other we came to see you so speak
02:43Lord we are your servants and we are listening in Jesus name everybody agreed
02:48and said amen amen amen as I mentioned Jerry and I have three boys together
02:56Jackson is 12 then little Jerry jr. is 10 and Jude is our surprise six-year-old and my
03:04full-time job you should know that my normal regular life job is that I am a
03:09stay-at-home mom really I counted as my privilege to raise these boys who will
03:15grow up to be warrior men for Christ or I will spank them so my life is very much
03:21like like anybody who's a parent you know how it is when you are maybe in the
03:24summer months when you're at home with your children and they're not going to
03:27school during the day they're at home all day long 24 7 you know how it is
03:32every day the goal of your life is to try to figure out how do I get to bedtime
03:38more quickly today than I did yesterday so you fill the hour with activities and
03:42errands and things to just keep life full when when your children are younger and
03:48when they're at home and so I do the same thing we play basketball together we
03:52run errands together we do a lots of different things and one of the things we
03:56enjoy doing is going fishing I like taking the boys fishing we live in a
04:02fairly rural part of the Dallas Fort Worth area we like it that way it's
04:07quiet enough lazy enough out in this little south of downtown Dallas just just
04:14so that we feel like we're worlds away we can get to the city really really
04:17easily but our little two-lane road is little lazy and sleepy and quiet and got
04:22horses over there on that property and somebody over there's got some cows and
04:26our neighbor across the street has a pond Rachel is one of my best friends and she
04:32and Tom live across the street and they let us come and use their pond we love
04:36going fishing on this pond every now and then when the weather is nice the boys
04:41and I will grab some fishing poles that I bought on sale at the local super
04:44Walmart around the corner a tackle box that I also bought on sale at the local
04:49super wall super Walmart I have several things in in the tackle box not the
04:54least of which is some gloves because y'all know I don't mind going fishing but
04:57I ain't finna touch no fish so I sent one of the boys to the refrigerator to grab
05:02whatever hot dog meat is left over from the day from the week that's going to be
05:06our bait we put it inside the tackle box and we go across the street and we
05:11fish we enjoy fishing on this pond because when we put the line in the water in
05:16this particular corner that's underneath some trees we really love this one
05:20little cove at the pond because in this particular corner it's like a bunch of
05:24fish a school of small fish always seem to be right there in that particular
05:29corner so when we put the line into the water almost immediately we feel some
05:34tugging and then within three to five minutes likely we're going to have a fish
05:38it's going to be a small you know sun perch or something like that but we're
05:42going to we're going to catch a fish within five minutes so then we throw it back we do it
05:45again in five minutes we have a fish if we stay there at the pond for an hour or
05:49more we're going to catch 10 15 fish maybe in the course of that time my boys
05:54love fishing like that instant gratification it's the kind of fishing a
06:00six-year-old needs in his life so we do it fairly frequently I thought that since
06:05we like fishing so much at home that the boys must enjoy fishing just in general so
06:11there's a Christian camp that we go to pretty much every year actually since I was
06:15five years old we gone we've gone to this camp so now we take our family they
06:18have a big lake there and the boys got up early one morning this particular week we
06:23were at camp they got up early one morning was too early for the dining hall
06:27to be open for breakfast so I said well boys the lake is down by the dining hall so
06:31why don't we go down to that lake and fish this morning until it's time for
06:34breakfast so we got those same fishing poles that we brought along with us that
06:37same tackle box we walked down to the lake and we fished and fished and fished it's
06:48that painful kind of fishing not only was there not a tug on the line but but we
06:54certainly didn't even see anything underneath the top of the water I mean
06:58we just we just had nothing going on we couldn't seem to catch anything and I was
07:04getting intense and intentional about figuring out what was going on and
07:07figuring out a way to catch a fish when I looked up and it occurred to me that my
07:12boys weren't even there anymore they had run off into a nearby field and they were
07:16playing football with each other I don't know if that's ever happened to you
07:19where you're doing something for your kids and then you realize your kids aren't
07:22even there anymore I yelled over to the boys and I said boys I am not out here
07:27early in the morning for my health I came out here for y'all get over here and fish
07:31with me again one of them yelled back to me and said mom we don't like fishing
07:35like that the other one yelled over to me one of one of the other oh one of the
07:41older older ones yelled over to me and said yeah mom fishings not supposed to be
07:45that hard so I sat there on the dock for a little while longer with the line in the
07:51water and I thought about what my second son had said I giggled a bit thinking
07:56about it fishing is not supposed to be that hard it occurs to me that in a group
08:05this size there are some of you that know exactly how that feels because
08:09you've been fishing not necessarily out on a pond but in your own life and in
08:15mind you know we have all been commissioned and called to our own
08:18individual fishing expeditions it's the marriage that you were in it's the
08:22ministry God compelled you to start it is the business that is that you work at
08:27it is the parenting it is some area of your life where you are investing some
08:33time some energy some effort you are investing your passion your creativities
08:40your ambition your ideas you're investing your skill your your talent you are
08:45sowing in your life to this this ministry or this business or this person and maybe
08:52you're in the room on this Sunday morning and honestly this Sunday meets you a
08:55little bit discouraged because you have been fishing and fishing but you feel
09:00like you keep coming up empty-handed that the investment you are putting in to you
09:05just doesn't seem to be equal to the benefit that you're getting out and so
09:09after all you've been giving to you it just feels like a fishing trip that has
09:13gone bad you keep on putting in but it doesn't seem like you're getting the
09:17same invest the same benefits out there is a fisherman in scripture who knows how
09:22it feels to have a fishing trip gone bad because he didn't just fish for 45
09:27minutes or an hour like me and my boys this brother that we're gonna read about
09:30he fished all night long and caught absolutely nothing so if you have your
09:36Bible and you want to turn with me to Luke chapter 5 please feel free to do that or
09:41if you have your iPhone your iPad any manner of I-ness just flip on over to Luke chapter
09:465 because that is where we meet a fisherman and through his story I think we're going
09:51to find encouragement for day today for anyone who is in the room who's ever been fishing
09:56and you felt like you've caught nothing Luke chapter 5 verse 1 says this now it came
10:03about that while the multitude were pressing in around him that is Jesus and listening to
10:09the word of God he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret lake of Gennesaret is another
10:14term for the Sea of Galilee so he's standing at the Sea of Galilee verse 2 says and he saw
10:21somebody say he saw Jesus saw two boats they were lying at the edge of the lake but the
10:27fishermen had gotten out of them and they were washing their nets let's just start right here
10:32with these two verses because we get to meet Simon the fisherman in these two verses the exact
10:37same way that Jesus saw him on this occasion as he taught a crowd of people that were gathering
10:42around him Simon at this point has already fished all night long he is already discouraged disappointed
10:49irritated upset because he has been pouring in all of his time and energy and effort all night
10:56long into this fishing trip but he has yielded no benefits he has no fish and when Jesus sees
11:02him on this occasion Simon has already abandoned his boat he has already gotten out of that which
11:08represents his discouragement and irritation he's abandoned the boat and Luke wants to make sure that
11:15we get the whole picture of what this looked like when Jesus spotted Simon he says in verse 1 that there was
11:21a multitude of people that were gathering around Jesus he uses the word multitude specifically because
11:27he wants to make sure that you and I know it wasn't a couple dozen people that were there that day not
11:33even a couple of hundred there were likely two or three or maybe even more thousands of people that were
11:40gathered around Jesus on that occasion everywhere Jesus went when he showed up there would be masses
11:46of people that would be gathered around him and listen everybody didn't believe that he was who he said he was
11:52they weren't quite sure about this whole messiah business but what they did know beyond any reasonable
11:58doubt is that when this Jesus showed up blind people could see what they knew for sure is that deaf ears
12:04could hear that the lame could walk and that dead people were being raised what they knew was that
12:09every time this Jesus opened up his mouth and spoke his words were dripping with an awe and an authority
12:16they had never heard before they had heard good teaching before from the Jewish leaders of the day
12:21but they ain't never heard nothing like this before and so everywhere Jesus showed up the crowd came
12:27and they brought with them their ailments and their needs they brought with them the discouraged and
12:32the downtrodden they brought with them their their health issues and their financial issues and
12:38they were trying to get as close as they possibly could to Jesus they wanted to be like the woman with
12:43the issue of blood do you remember who forced her way through a crowded group of people she wanted to get
12:49close enough so that she could just reach out and touch the hem of his garment and when she did
12:54power left him and went to her and so Luke wants to make sure you understand that this was not a calm
13:02casual sedate group of people that were sitting in their chairs just casually listening to the word of
13:08God like you are this morning these people were with Jesus and they knew what he could do for them
13:13and so they were a clamoring chaotic group of people verse 1 says where they were pressing in on Jesus
13:20he was backed up against the shoreline of the sea of Galilee because people were coming at him from every
13:26direction vying for his attention trying to elbow their way through the crowd they were up shouting out
13:32his name they were trying to get his attention there was chaos swirling all around I want you to just
13:38think of how you'd feel if Jesus were your Bible study teacher and in the midst of all of that chaos
13:46in the midst of all of these people vying for the attention of Jesus verse 2 says he saw one man
13:54who'd had a bad night fishing I've got good news for you today shoreline no matter how big the crowd gets
14:04no matter how many other ailments God also is dealing with no matter how many other prayers
14:10might be lifted up to him no matter how many other needs he is also contending with you need to know
14:15that we serve a God who sees you that your fishing trip has not been lost on God that your mama might
14:25not know and your dad might not know your spouse might not be aware that when you turn off the lights
14:30at night and roll over that tears are rolling down your face because of that issue that you're
14:35trying to figure out how you're going to make it through your spouse might not be aware your kids
14:40might not understand your parents might not have your back but you need to know we serve a God who
14:45sees his eyes are on you every single tear that you have cried not one of those tears has been lost in
14:53the carpet fibers of your bedroom floor every single one has been captured in the palm of almighty God
14:58you need to know that brother every single bead of sweat that has formed on your brow as you've
15:05tried to figure out how to deal with that particular issue in your family or your business life you need
15:10to know that every single bead of sweat has been noticed by the hand of God he cares about and sees
15:19everything that concerns you he saw Simon and he sees you you are not lost in the crowd it doesn't matter
15:27how big shoreline gets it doesn't matter how many campuses you have to multiply to it doesn't matter
15:33how many online viewers will view these services you need to know in the midst of it all God sees the
15:39collective but he also sees the individual you are seen and known and cared for by God and never in a million
15:49years should we consider this very fundamental aspect of our faith that God sees us never should
15:55we ever hear it or contemplate it and it roll off of our shoulders casually as if it is not something
16:01unbelievably profound that the God of the universe sees me that he can't with all the stuff he has to do
16:12and he cares about my 24 hours he cares about what's happening in my heart and in my mind and on my job and in my
16:20ministry and he cares about my family he cares about what breaks my heart he cares about the details of my
16:27life that a God that great would care about a woman or a man like us that's something that should never be
16:34casual to us because he is God after all he has stuff to do y'all
16:39he is the God that is the one that causes the sun to rise in the morning he is the one that makes
16:47sure it stays exactly in its place until it swaps places with the moon he is the one that makes sure
16:53that this earth that you and I can exist on he's the one making sure that it is spinning on its axis at
17:00exactly the right speed as to make sure that human beings can sustain life here he is the one that
17:06will hang every single star in the sky and will know its number and will know its name and will make
17:11sure that it is hanging exactly where it should until the morning rises he is the one that will make
17:17sure that galaxies galaxies that scientists have not even yet discovered that they exist he is the one
17:24that is making sure it's hanging exactly where it ought to be and that God who is orchestrating
17:29the throes of the universe has his eyes on you there's nothing casual about that that he would
17:37see people like us and somebody today is here on this Sunday and you just need to be encouraged
17:43because you need to know that you may feel so unseen by the people in your sphere of influence
17:49but your God listen I drove up 35 from Dallas to tell you his eye is on you
17:55that he sees he's aware
17:59I was I'm watching an episode of the today show I have for years as have many of you I'm sure and
18:09this was years ago when Campbell Brown was one of their only kind of roving reporters and on this
18:14particular day she had been for the entire week during a series on religions of the world the day I
18:20caught it she was on the Buddhist faith so I kind of I was folding clothes there on the edge of the
18:25bed and I'm distracted now because she's talking about the Buddhist faith I was intrigued I don't
18:28know much about it so I was just listening she and her camera crew had flown over to Hong Kong
18:33they were standing in front of one of the big statues of Buddha there's one of she was standing in front
18:39of one of five of them that is in and around the area she said she said that they had to fly halfway
18:44across the world and then the statues are on the sides of mountains and so they had to climb up 268
18:50stairs she and the camera crew with all their equipment to get up to the side of this mountain
18:55where the statue was and she began to chronicle um what it means to be a Buddhist and she talked about
19:02the faith itself and then she began to mention how the goal of everyone who subscribes to the Buddhist
19:07faith is that they save up as much money as they can a lifetime's worth if they have to
19:12so that at some point they can make this pilgrimage so that they can come halfway around the world and
19:18go to one of these Buddhist statues and then climb up the two to three hundred stairs so that they can be
19:24near this statue and pray to their god and I'm sitting on the edge of the bed folding clothes and all I can
19:33think to myself is if I had to save up all that money and fly halfway around the world and climb up
19:40three hundred stairs to pray I would never pray can I get one witness in the house now
19:45I mean ain't nobody got time for that
19:48and while they're climbing up to talk to their god little g
19:55our god capital g the one true god he comes down to talk to us
20:03y'all he doesn't have to he chooses to condescend because he just loves us so much
20:16he sees simon in and I want you to know today that because he sees simon in this scenario that
20:23we can also have full confidence that he also sees us and you know what's so interesting is again
20:27luke is so descriptive which is why I love the book of luke so much because I liked all the juicy details
20:32and he gives us lots of details he wants us to know that when simon got out of that boat and
20:37jesus sees him out of the boat that simon and his fellow fishermen are doing something very specific
20:42they are washing their nets now if we did not know that simon was finished fishing we're not sure
20:50about that now we know for sure I mean he is out of the boat that brother is washing his net he is
20:55throwing in the towel it is over he is done fed up finished and I've often heard simon given a bad time
21:02a hard time when I've heard others maybe teach on this or read some materials about it they were
21:07concerned that maybe simon has thrown had thrown in the towel too quickly maybe he should have hung
21:12in there stayed on the boat instead of abandoning it and maybe thrown out that that net one or two
21:18more times to just hang in there a little bit and try again but do you know that of all the people
21:24I have heard give simon a hard time for getting off of the boat and for washing his net there is one
21:29person in this story who sees that simon's out of the boat he sees that simon is washing his net but
21:35he doesn't say one negative word to him and it's jesus jesus sees exactly what's going on here he
21:41doesn't say one there's no not one scold there's no rebuke there's no negative word to simon and I
21:47think this might be why because I want you to know if I had been fishing all night long and had caught
21:53nothing the last thing I'd be doing is washing my net I'd be trying to sell my net on ebay
21:58I would not be trying to wash my net because if you are washing your net yes it means you're done
22:05but it also implies that you have every intention of using it again otherwise why would you be caring
22:11for the net unless at some point maybe not right now but you are planning on getting back on that
22:16boat and casting it out once again do you know the reason why you come to church on a sunday the
22:23reason why you gather sisterhood at the sisterhood meetings or once a year at the women's conference
22:27like we just had the reason why you come is because we don't come in here in our perfection
22:32we drag our torn and tattered nets of our marriage and our ministry and our job and our broken hearts
22:38we bring them into the building and it's in this place that we wash our nets and there's no rebuke
22:44there's no negative reaction from our god when we've got to wash our nets we abandon the boats
22:49of our regular lives not to escape our reality just to come aside long enough to wash and tend our
22:55nets and then get back to the realities to which god has called us with our nets intact and prepared
23:01to go and please notice that the fisher men plural were washing the net nets were so large and so big
23:09and then there were weights uh strategically positioned around the outsides of the nets and that's that's how it
23:14would sink and catch fish they would cast it out heavy as it was with the weights in place around
23:20the circumference and those weights would cause it to sink and drag down to the bottom of the sea floor
23:24so it was a heavy net and the weights made it even heavier fishing was never meant to be a one
23:30fisher person job it was meant for several fishermen always in scripture you see fishermen plural fishing
23:38and washing nets because it was never meant to be a job for one person when you were born into the family
23:44of god you need to know you were not born into an only child situation this is a family and the reason
23:50why church on tv is a good addition to your membership here but should never supplant or replace it
23:57is because when you're not in this room you are missing out on being connected with your fellow net washers
24:03you and i are supposed to have people who are around us who love us enough to get down on their
24:11hands and knees on our behalf and help us to tend the net of our marriage and the net of our ministry
24:17and the net of our broken hearts the net in our parenting and then encourage us to take that net
24:23and get back onto the boats that god has called us to and so simon's washing his net and jesus jesus sees
24:33that happening and then verse 3 tells us what happens next he got into one of the boats which was simon's
24:41that's jesus jesus got into simon's boat jesus got into simon's boat and asked him to push out a little
24:52away from the land he sat down he began teaching the multitudes from that boat jesus got into one of the boats
25:01that's verse 3 jesus got into the boat what's most interesting to me about verse 3 is not actually verse 3
25:09what's most interesting to me about verse 3 jesus getting into the boat is that in verse 2 simon just got out of the boat
25:17verse 2 simon got out verse 3 jesus got in
25:22the very thing that was so discouraging so disappointing so frustrating so overwhelming to
25:38simon that all he wanted to do in verse 2 was get out of it was the very thing in verse 3 that when
25:44jesus was looking around trying to find a place to stand so that he could proclaim his word to the
25:49people who were gathered when he was trying to find something that he could turn into a pulpit
25:54he discovered the abandoned boat circumstance of simon's experience and he got into it and proclaimed
26:01his word through simon's experience do you know what this tells us this tells us not only that he sees
26:09you it tells us that he will use the part of your life you think is useless the abandoned boat
26:15circumstance of your life that portion of your journey that you're wondering how in the world
26:20anything good can come out of that it's so empty it's so dry i've been fishing but i haven't been
26:26catching anything that empty platform on your life is preparing itself for the feet of jesus to come
26:33and stand declaring his power not only to you but also to the people in your sphere of influence who
26:40are watching on and need to see a life that has been invaded by the hand of god he will use the part
26:48of your life you think is useless that portion of your journey that you're you're wondering whether
26:52any good can come out of this because you haven't been able to catch any fish for that one
26:56your marriage is still hanging on by a thread you keep investing but that particular child is still
27:01making decisions you cannot you just can't figure out why they are you've been investing and you've
27:06been fishing but your your ministry is still uh in its fledgling place and it's still difficult for you
27:12to figure out how to uh what step you're going to take next you've been fishing but on your job man you
27:18still haven't gotten that promotion that you that you thought would have come your way a lot sooner
27:22you've been fishing and fishing and now the platform is empty you cannot catch anything and you feel
27:28like it's going to be a useless part of your life good news he's the master of taking the useless
27:34and making it useful for his glory and also for your good he'll use the part of your life you think is
27:41useless
27:41i believe in the sovereignty of god god is sovereign somebody say sovereign
27:51sovereignty means that our god stood before time that is pre-genesis 1 1 the only reason there is
28:00a genesis 1 1 let there be light let there be such and such the only reason there is one is because
28:05god already existed so he could say let there be and it was sovereignty means god stood before time
28:13he has seen the entire spectrum of eternity past all of time from genesis 1 1 to the end of time which
28:24we have not yet seen and he has seen into eternity future sovereignty means not only that he has seen
28:31it all sovereignty means that he has the whole thing in the palm of his hand that's sovereignty
28:37sovereignty when we believe it is what allows us to do church what psalm 46 10 says be still relax
28:48chill out and know that he is god sovereignty means what happened to you last week surprised you but god
28:55was not in the heavens going oops that one slipped past me
28:58he's sovereign he's already been there and done that
29:04if we apply god's sovereignty to luke chapter 5 then what this means is that while simon was out in
29:12the deep while he was out in the waters fishing all night long and catching nothing when he kept
29:18throwing out that net he's an experienced fisherman he kept throwing out that net and pulling and
29:23nothing and he's surprised and shocked and it's incomplete disbelief when he does it again and there's
29:28still nothing and again and there's still nothing and he cannot for the life of him comprehend this
29:33tragic situation this fishing trip gone bad what it means that even though simon didn't quite
29:38understand what what was going on jesus in his sovereignty did and jesus knew in his sovereignty
29:45something simon and his humanity could never know that there was a morning coming and that in the morning
29:52jesus already knew there was going to be a crowd of people that were going to be gathered around him and
29:57he was going to have to try to find somewhere to be able to stand to make sure that his voice was
30:02uniquely amplified so that the people on the front row all the way to the folks that were in the far
30:07reaches of the group would be able to hear every word that was going to come out of his mouth jesus in
30:12his sovereignty knew that if he let simon catch all those fish the deck of that boat would be filled with
30:18flipping flopping fish and there would be no room for his feet so jesus in his sovereignty listen to me
30:24he allowed simon to fish and catch nothing for the purpose of leaving room for himself
30:31i want you to know that in his sovereignty god will oftentimes put you in a scenario on purpose where
30:40he knows that your skill is not going to be able to handle it your talent is not going to cover it
30:44your money is not going to be able to get you where you need to be the diplomas on your wall are not going
30:50to cut it this time your connections your your abilities he puts you specifically in a scenario
30:56where he knows you are going to fish and give it your all but you're still going to come up empty
31:01handed and it's a difficult place for us to be in but he knows that if we are always capable of filling
31:07up our own beat our own boats with fish there will never ever be room for his feet in our lives
31:14and so in his sovereignty he allows emptiness it makes us uncomfortable but in that discomfort we
31:23are given an opportunity a great gift to see what it looks like when jesus plants his feet on the deck
31:31of our lives he will use the part of your life you think is useless he's gonna make a miracle out of
31:38that mess my friend he's gonna turn that thing around for for your good and for his glory so my
31:46mom my mom is a master chef um actually she's just my mom but there's no cooking like your mom is
31:53cooking you know i will tell you that when i grew up i'm sure that so many of you are like this in your
32:00families when you're growing up when you think back we're when we were growing up there was none of
32:05this go out to eat dinner business on sunday that was like a special treat and we would go to wyatt's
32:11cafeteria do y'all remember wyatt's cafeteria um that's where we would go that was a special treat
32:17every now and then but most of the time on sunday there was no going out to eat my mom cooked sunday
32:23dinner it was like a deal you know what i mean it was a big deal we look forward to that sunday
32:29dinner it was a meal that sometimes she would start cooking on saturday night so we would we
32:35would smell the roast cooking all night long we would wake up with our mouths salivating we hadn't
32:41even gone to church yet we were already ready for sunday dinner you know she'd have the macaroni and
32:46cheese laid out and ready she'd have these yeast rolls rising and maybe a sweet potato pie and she'd
32:51make some fresh green beans am i killing y'all i'm killing it's lunch time it is lunch time
32:56so she would make all this stuff and we loved sunday dinner and i gotta tell you now that i'm a mom
33:05with three kids myself she had four three kids i cannot for the life of me figure out how that woman
33:12did it i appreciate her so much more i appreciate don't you appreciate your parents so much more
33:17the older you get i appreciate my mama so much i got i have one oven i don't have double ovens i have
33:23one oven my mom had one oven at the time for the life no matter how hard i try i cannot figure out
33:29how you get all that food on the table all hot at the same time i can't do it my poor family poor
33:36jerry something's gonna be cold something's gonna be cold
33:38i'm trying babe i'm trying
33:44so now i understand why on monday and tuesday my mother didn't cook nothing
33:53it had been so much work on the weekend you know all that cooking and cleaning all those dishes all
34:01that time spent it was so much work i totally get it now but i will tell you what she did do
34:06on monday she would go into the refrigerator and see all the leftovers from sunday a little
34:11broccoli left a little onion a little chicken there a little macaroni you know what i'm gonna
34:15cut this dice it she would kind of put everything together in this big casserole baking dish and
34:20she'd stir in some cream of mushroom soup because you know that's just what you do
34:24she would sprinkle on top some shredded cheese because you know cheese makes everything better
34:29then she would put it inside of the oven for just a little while and she would stand there
34:35watching it to make sure that it was at the perfect perfect baked goodness and she would
34:39at the right time take it out she would set it on the table in front of the family on monday and
34:44tuesday she would give it some french sounding name
34:47we thought there was a brand new dish in front of us we devoured it we loved it so much but it
34:55wasn't something brand new it was just leftovers in the hands of a master
35:00so this is what god does with your life he looks at every single season of your life and he takes
35:07this little bit and that little bit this little part that you thought was useless and wouldn't do
35:11any good or bring any good for anyone or anything and he takes all those bits and pieces and he
35:16chops it up and dices it and reconfigures it and then he pours a cream of the holy spirit on top of it
35:22and he mixes himself into the equation and then he sprinkles a little grace and mercy on top because
35:30you know grace and mercy make everything better and then he puts you inside of the oven of fire and
35:37trial for just a little while but like any good loving master chef he's standing there ready to take
35:43you out at just the right moment and then he gives you a brand new name y'all he he changes your identity
35:50and then he places you in front of a lost and dying hungry world that needs to know that our god is
35:57good
35:58amen
36:04church listen to me there are some people
36:11as great as this church is that will never darken the doorsteps of this church or any church
36:18they just not coming they're not there are stereotypes or there are things from their past experiences with
36:27other christians or churches that have made them steer clear from darkening the doorsteps of this church
36:32they may never come but they can see the church in you
36:35they can they can hear because you're their co-worker you're their neighbor they can see how
36:41there was this emptiness in your circumstances and then you can show them what it looked like when
36:45jesus christ stepped into this thing and turned it all around and changed it and made it something
36:51beautiful they should be looking at us like how in the world did that happen and then you can point
36:56them to the one not because you talked so great about who jesus is but because when they looked at
37:02your life they couldn't help but see how great our jesus is
37:07and so he sees you he sees you and he will use the part of your life you think is useless
37:20and when jesus finished speaking to the crowd verse 4 says he turns to simon and he says push out into
37:29deep water and let down your nets for a catch simon answered and said excuse me
37:34master we've worked hard all night long we've caught nothing but at your bidding i'm gonna let down my net
37:41anyway verse 6 when they had done this they enclosed a great quantity of fish so much so y'all that their
37:51nets began to break verse 7 says so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come
37:57and help them and they came they filled both the boats with fish and both boats started to sink
38:03y'all that's a lot of fish so here's the deal god says he's been in shallow water jesus has been in
38:11shallow water teaching the people from simon's boat he's talked to them from shallow water he turns to simon now
38:19and says let's go deep i don't know about you all but i don't prefer deep water like in my life i like
38:25shallow water situations because in shallow water i can stand up on my own two feet i got it covered in
38:30shallow water deep water is the place where i'm in a scenario where i am in over my head and i don't
38:37know how i'm going to be able to keep myself afloat simon had a decision to make even though he was
38:43going to this irrational uncomfortable place of risky faith which by the way went against his
38:49experience as a fisherman an experienced fisherman on the sea of galilee knew that to catch fish you
38:54fished in shallow water jesus was saying to him the exact opposite of his experience let's go to deep
39:00water simon had a decision to make will i lean on my own understanding or will i trust that where he's
39:07leading me is the place for me to be even if it does not make sense simon said yes lord it doesn't
39:13make sense we've already tried this but jesus will go out to the deep water and in the deep water simon
39:19got the miracle of a lifetime the shallow water was to teach them the deep water was to teach him
39:29the shallow stuff was for everybody else the deep stuff is for you when god calls you to the deep
39:39the place of risky irrational faith in him listen if you'll say yes lord he's he's fully planning to
39:47do something for you it's a setup do you understand it's it is a divine setup when god calls you to the
39:53risky place of faith if he could just find some folks that will say yes lord and row out into the
39:58deep risky place of faith with him where you're in over your head and by the way maybe you're in
40:03here this morning you're already in over your head can i just tell you that once you're in over your
40:07head it doesn't matter how much further you go you're already up under there now so just keep going
40:13to the places where god is calling you knowing that if he's called you there you are better off
40:18with him in deep water than you would ever be in shallow water standing on your own two feet
40:23shallow water might be more comfortable but the fish aren't in shallow water
40:30the fish are in the uncomfortable place and and he throws out his net and all of a sudden the water
40:37that that was completely lifeless and fruitless the night before all of a sudden it is teeming with
40:42fish there are fish everywhere i mean it's almost like they just want to get in the boat
40:46themselves in fact you do know that jesus could have said fish get in the boat and fish would
40:54have just started jumping out of the water into the boat right this is the same god who said wind
40:58and waves be still and they obeyed he could have done that but he didn't he said simon you cast out
41:06your net in other words he wanted simon to cooperate with him in the experience of the miracle
41:13in the scriptures there are over 8 000 promises that are available for you and i as daughters and
41:19sons of god over 8 000 opportunities that we have to experience god but do you know most of those
41:26promises in the bible he did not place them in our hand he placed them in our reach which means to grab
41:34hold of god's part you first have to do your part is he asking you to cast out your net exert a little
41:42effort and energy do it there's fish waiting on you my friend so many fish in fact that verse seven
41:52says simon had to signal to his partners
41:54if it would have been me y'all i would have called out to my partners i would have been like
42:07cheryl laura get over here you are not gonna believe this i cannot wait for you to see this
42:13but this author wants us to know for sure that simon did not yell he signaled
42:18the bible doesn't tell us exactly why that is but i just wonder if the reason why simon signaled
42:27the reason why he didn't say a word is because he was speechless
42:32because when his brain tried to come up with the right words to describe what he was seeing in
42:40front of him it couldn't so the best he could come up with was
42:43i want to ask you church when's the last time god stunned you speechless
42:52when's the last time you saw a miracle of a lifetime in your personal circumstances i want
42:58to tell you something if he's calling you out to deep water in fact if you are here or listening on
43:04this sunday morning i believe that the only reason he would put you under this word and me under this
43:10word is because he's telling you right now i'm getting ready to call you deep in the next week or
43:15two or month god is going to beckon you to deep water today he's telling you in advance if you will
43:20say yes and come with me to the deep and cast out your net i'm telling you you are putting yourself
43:25in a position to be stunned speechless by the miracle working power of god in your life
43:31so today if you've been discouraged because you've been fishing and catching nothing
43:42i want to pray for you i want to pray that that discouragement would be lifted off of you today in
43:47jesus day i want to pray that you would be encouraged in knowing that you are seen by god
43:52that he will use the parts of your life that you think are useless that he's a master at that
43:59and i want you to always remember that that when we venture out into the deep risky place of faith with
44:05him he can do a miracle in the very place in the very environment where it seems to us today
44:12that a miracle can never be done if you're struggling in some specific area you've been
44:18fishing in your marriage or in your ministry on your job or with that child or in your classroom
44:23man you've been fishing and catching nothing i believe this morning he's preparing you for a miracle
44:27let me pray for you lord jesus would you make us men and women of risky faith lord if you call us to
44:36the deep we're gonna go because we want every single thing that you have for us and more
44:42so lord i'm asking you in jesus name to lift in discouragement off of anyone who under the sound
44:48of my voice who is a bit overwhelmed today lord because they've been giving and giving and giving
44:53and they feel like they have seen no benefits for their investment lord i just pray that your hand
44:59would be upon them that you would comfort them that they would know that you see them would you
45:03wipe the tears from their eyes lord and god i'm going to ask that you would would use all the
45:09useless places of our stories to bring you glory thank you lord that you are setting us up you are
45:16preparing us to do great and mighty and wonderful things through our lives thank you for simon's story
45:22because it sure encourages us we're grateful lord in jesus name amen
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