Beta Blessings

bad if you don't know what this means. When I read it and the church people all start shouting and you're like, what, that's all right? But look at the scripture in Revelation chapter twenty two, verse twelve. Look, I am coming soon. My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I didn't give them verse fourteen, but I bet they can put it

in after. Blessed are those who wash their robes. Verse thirteen says I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning, and the end blessed are those who wash their robes. And I want to preach about blessings today, but not just any kind of blessings. There's all kind of blessings. I want to talk to you very specifically about beta blessings. That's my subject today. Beta blessings, be eta beta blessings. And let's begin our study of the Word of God. You may be seated

beta beta blessings. Put it in the chat, Beta blessings. Say it out loud, Beta blessings. Y'all in the room. When I say put it in the chat for y'all, you don't have a chat right now, so you could just say it all right, you can actual chat it. It's a substitute for people who can't say it out loud, but y'all can do it for real. So everybody say beta blessings. Some are using thumbs, some are using tongues. But beta, you know, Beta. I don't mean like a

sorority or something like that, alpha beta gamma. I don't want to bring any flashbacks to the people of God. I don't mean like blood pressure, like beta blockers. I saw that on an infomercial. I don't mean that I don't mean like like in the stock market where where it measures the stock. Not that kind of beta. That's not what I'm thinking of. Not the beta club that I was in an eighth grade. How many y'all are in beta club? I was in beta club. But that's

what I'm talking about. I'm talking like Chunks always does this. He always signs up for the beta versions of software. I guess he's like an early adapter. Which is so funny because when he first started the church, he didn't even know how to use a spreadsheet, and he was the CFO. He had a notebook with a golden Retriever on the cover of the notebook, and all the church finances were in it, and there wasn't much to write down,

so it was all right. That was like the beta version of Elevation Church, right, the beta version of our bookkeeping. Now there's all this audits and committees and subcommittees and everything like that. But now he's like always telling me about the new software. Graham was laughing at me the other day. He said, I needed the new iPhone. I don't even know which one this is? Which one do I have? The ten? The X? Do you call it

the X? Or the ten, and he was like, you need the twelve and I said, I didn't know that I missed eleven. He said, he said, you need the twelve junior. What's it called? The mini MENI I love to make them cringe. That's why I do that. I pick out stuff I can say to make them cringe. That's my favorite thing. It's just a privilege of being the pastor and having your kids in church. The iPhone twelve or they hated so much. I don't know. I'm not a beta guy. Chunks will get all this new software.

It'll be the beta version, which means, of course it's still being tested. And he likes it. And I'll be like, is that good that new operating system? And he's like, I don't know yet. This in the beta version. So I put this sermon in my phone. I was looking at the note in my iPhone X Senior. I put this sermon in my phone beta blessings, and I checked on the info tab on my ever note and it said I put it in twenty eighteen, and it's been

that long in my phone. And then there comes a time when God will ought me to release it and preach it. And when I put it in my phone Beta blessings. I was thinking about the things that God does in our lives in certain seasons that at first we're not sure if it's a blessing because it's in beta. When I wrote this sermon down in twenty eighteen and couldn't figure out exactly how to preach it, I thought it was wasted. It wasn't wasted. It was in beta.

Can I preach like I've been waiting to preach us for three years. We've been following the Israelites through the wilderness and they are in between seasons. I read you a scripture where Jesus said, I'm the Alpha and Omega. That is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Alpha and the last letter Omega. That's why he says I'm the beginning and the end the last book of the Bible. He says, I am Alpha and Omega. I want you to write this down. It's a little bit of a

long sentence, but Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. But I need a beta blessing for the spaces in between. Helped me. Holy Spirit. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God was with them. He never stopped being with you. He's not waiting for you at some future destination. I

want to get closer to God this year. That doesn't come five Bible books that you've memorized later and then a lot of times we'll be like, God, bring me back to the love that I have when I first met you, which is typically overrated in our imagination because we weren't as holy as we like to tell ourselves

that we were when we first met him. So when you say he's the alpha and the Omega, you've got to also mentioned right that he is also beta, that's in between alpha and omega, and that's where we need his presence the most. How many understand that when a new year changes and a new year begins and there's so much excitement, or when a new year ends and there's so much desperation, we've kind of missed the point

that some of God's greatest blessings are beta. Some of God's greatest blessings are in the form of watch this Mana. I don't know if you've been watching the sermons or slacking off, but I'll catch you up real quick that I've been talking about Mana in the Wilderness that he gave them mana, which means what is it? In that cool they needed food and God gave them something, and they didn't recognize it as a blessing at first. What is it? That's what mana means. Everybody say what is it?

What is it? And then mana also means what it is? It is? And I don't yet know what it's going to be. And that's true about your life. And that's true about the thing that you're praying about right now, and that's true about everything that God has put inside of you. I want to look at this real quick because it's so powerful. In Joshua chapter five, it gives us a picture of this transition. Put it on the screen for me. Joshua chapter five, I could find it

in my Bible. We could do it quicker, it said the day after the Passover, This is the Israelites, after going through the wilderness for forty years, after dealing with the situation for forty years. The Bible says that they celebrated the passover and they ate some of the produce of the land that God had promised. What kind of bread? What did I preach about last week? I'm not going to invite y'all back if y'all don't help me preach about this last week, please tell me the sermons stuck

that law. So they came out of Egypt with unleavened bread. They didn't have the time for it to rise, but they had to go. And sometimes you've got to set out with a word from God not knowing all of the details. Even Abraham had to do this. God set in Genesis chapter twelve to Abraham. This was before he even had an h in his name. This was before Vana White even sold him. This was before. This was back in the times when Vana White used to manually

turn the letters. Some of y'all don't know, this was a long time ago. This is back in the very beginning. Did I just preach wheel of fortune by accident? Yes? I did, Yes, I did. I did it on purpose too, for the real ones. And watch this. Before Abraham knew where he was going, he had to leave what he knew. Don't quit your job, don't sign a divorce paper. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about abandoning your

way of thinking. And the Lord said in Genesis chapter twelve, verse one, go from your country, your people, your father's household, to the land. I will show you you notice how specific God was about what he was leaving from, and how vague God was about what he was going to. That's where beta blessings are required. That's the beta version of the blessing of God. And follow it a verse further.

This is God's original blessing to his people, coming through Abraham, the father of our faith, to the nation of Israel. Would all come through this one man, but it was still in beta. It would all come through one man, but it was still in beta. And the Lord had such a big vision for how he wanted to use Abraham as a blessing. I will make you into a great nation. I'll bless you. I'll make your name great, and you will be a blessing. One more verse. Show

you how big this is. Let me show you how big this is what God had in mind to do through Abraham. Let me show you how big this is what God had in mind to do when he created you. Let me show you how big the picture is that God sees while you're so zoomed in on the part of your life that you don't like. He said, I'll bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you in all people's own earth will be blessed through you. You see how big that blessing was, But it was

still in beta. Correct me if I'm wrong, Tesla. But when they have it in beta, they don't release it to everybody. You have to sign up for that. God was gonna bless the whole earth through Israel, not just them. But we encountered them the last few weeks in the wilderness while they were still in beta. The Lord told me, I'm preaching to some people today who are in the beta version, the beta version, and when it's in the beta version, they're usually working out some bugs. Ask somebody

next to you, got bugs. That's why I don't put it on my phone until later, because I want to wait till they get all the bugs out. And I wonder did God take his people through the wilderness for forty years, around and around in circles to get the bugs out? And I wonder has God left some of the things in our life in a holding pattern or brought us into spaces where we're not getting what we're praying for, or it's not happening as fast as we wanted to, because maybe He wants to get the bugs out.

So I'm praying a prayer over my life this week. God, get the bugs out, because I don't want to release a version to the world. See, before I preached this message to you, I preached it to myself so I could get the bugs out. Because before I release it, before I put it out on YouTube where everybody with the broadband connection and an opinion can judge it, I want to make sure it's what God wants to say.

I had it in my phone three years to preach to you because God wanted you to have it right now. But it wasn't wasted. It was in beta. God said, there's some stuff you prayed for, there's some stuff you asked for. There's some stuff I know you need. It's in beta. It's in beta. It's in beta. This relationship isn't a bad relationship. It's in beta. It's in beta. This song I'm working on isn't a bad song. It's

just in beta. That book I worked on last year that's not ready to be released yet, it wasn't a waste of time. It's in beta. I put it in a box in my room to remind myself that Lazarus might go in a box for a minute, but he will rise again. What was the Lord telling me? I gotta remember he was saying something about boxes in beta. He was telling me, oh, when we get too attached to the beta version, it puts God in a box. Let's go deeper. Sit down, look, I'm not even standing

up well, and your step ahead. These aid Beta blessings, Beta blessings. The mana was not meant to be on the menu permanently. It was a seasonal provision. And when the mana went away. I don't know if you saw that in Joshua five. At first they thought this is really bad. This is really bad. How many of you had something in your life last year that you go, this is really bad. This is really bad, y'all. There's three people in the church who had a storm last year.

These are some Caribbean crews. Christians in here. Come. I'm looking for some pirates of the Caribbean that had to fight some battle. Beta. The manner was what God gave them in between. That's what I mean by Beta blessings. I'm someone who really fights for my relationships. I don't throw people away. There's people in this room right now that are on my staff. I should have fired him fifteen times. I'm not looking at anybody more, and they probably should have not, you know, been mad at me

and left. But you know I'm loyal. I really am loyal, true, you know me the whole time, all right. Sometimes in that effort to be loyal, not necessarily to a person, I always want to be good to people. If I'm your friend, I'm your friend. But sometimes I'm loyal to something that the Lord used in one season at the expense of something that he's bringing in this season. And I want to take that off of people, and I

want to take that off of jobs. In all the ways that we use sermons as an excuse to not have perseverance, let us think in this is a This is not a confirmation for you to quit, but it is a command for you to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow grow. Elevation church. They used to call it evolution church. And I'm like, well, both are right. And I'm not talking about Darwin or something like that, or from the Goo to the Zoo to you or any of that.

I'm saying like changeing. It always changes. But isn't there a temptation? I read this thing from a rabbi wrote this quote. He said that our wisdom is distinguishing between those things which must remain unchanging in our lives and those changes we should accept an embrace. I read it

over and over again. I wrote it out, I read it, I wrote it, and I said, Lord, show me that because in Joshua five, once Moses had taken the people as far as they could go, he was I guess you could say, in some ways beta, not like a beta male. I don't mean it like that, like not that he was passive. I'm saying he was what God gave them to get them to a certain place. God gives you that, He gives you instruments, He gives you provisions,

He gives you manna. When Joshua led the people to the edge of God's promise, the man of stop, that was bad. No, it wasn't. It was beta. And I want you to shift your mind this week and see things in your life that are in development and be able to say, it's not bad. It's in beta. It's not bad. It's in beta. And when the real product gets finished, they updated. You don't keep the beta version

on your phone forever. When they came to the edge of Canaan when God gave them the ability to sow and reap, they couldn't go out their tents and just collect the man anymore. Oh and by the way, this is underscored so brilliantly in I believe it's Exodus chapter sixteen, where it said they were to go out and get

the manna they needed for that day. When they tried to keep the mana too long for the next day and didn't have the faith that God would put it there, it would rot, it would stink, and there would be maggots in the manna, maggots in the mana. That what God gave them became infested with their lack of faith when they kept the mana too long, when they kept the beta too long, guess what got in it? Bugs? Bugs us, Do you see it? It said the maggots

would eat the mana. But if they used what they were supposed to use, if they did what they were supposed to do, if they moved to the rhythm of the voice of God, there would always be more mana. And now, if we want to watch all of these economic predictors, and we want to watch all of these these social conclusions, and we want to watch all these talking heads who say the worst things to keep us watching.

Then we will have maggots in our manna. God gave us certain things for seasons, seasons, seasons, and it's time to grow up. Y'all. Didn't shout over that. Y'all like the magots better, y'all like the maggots better than the maturity. Oh, I'm the worst about this. I'll find something that works and I'll just keep doing it. I mean, when I used to preach sermons series. I mentioned this earlier. There came a time where that was that was a blessing.

I told Holly the other day. I used to need to plan my sermon series twelve weeks in advance when I started, so I could have time to study. I didn't know what I was doing. You still don't, thanks a lot. I just say what. I just say it so nobody else can't. It's a deeply embedded insecurity that manifested me being sarcastic on stage in front of thousands of people, and so I used that as a way to study. Okay, I'm going to preach on this and that and the other, and it let me study over

the course of years. Though the way God began to speak to me, and I'm just using this as an example. You would have your own I would start to use that as a crutch, and it would keep me from speaking what God was saying to me right now and trusting Him in the moment, because I would rely on the structure, not the spirit. There's nothing wrong with sermons series, and maybe God will use that again one day, But right now, I've noticed that the Lord has me in

a different place, and to do that takes trust. Do you remember Malachi three, Bring the tithe into the storehouse. Some of y'all have PTSD over that scripture. You know, bring the tithe or God's gonna curse you. Bring the tithether, God's gonna puncture your lung. Bring the tithe and you have flat tire. It's been all been done. I don't think that scripture is about just tithing ten percent. It is about that, but it's about trust. It's about trusting

God to transform you. It's about trusting God to teach you. It's about trusting God and the transitions of your life. So He's saying to the nation, I couldn't believe when I saw this, this is what set it off for me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this test. That's an important word. Test. That's what they do in beta, they test the product. That's what God did in the wilderness. He tested his people, not because he didn't know. He

wasn't trying to get information about him. He wasn't doing any at Graham on the Israelites. It's testing where the bugs get worked out, where I learned not to be petty, offended and paranoid, and to rely on God as my source. He said, test me, test me, test me, He said, test me. No, you test us. He's like, no, no, no, I'm not the one who has bugs to begin with. I'm just getting things out of you. Why why is God? Why is God getting the bugs out of me? Right

now here? It is. See if I'm not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing. The test is to create space in my life, and I'll put so much blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Now, So Lord, I want to have room to receive anything you bring into my life. I want to have room to receive it. And I can't do that. I can't have room to receive what you're bringing in my life if every square inch of my mind is occupied. And then the next verse said

something crazier. He said, test me. See if I won't bless you and I verse eleven, you're not gonna believe this will prevent pests. There's the bugs again. I'll get the pest out of your crops. I'll get the bugs out of your thinking. I'm working things out of you, see, because if I release it too soon, you won't be ready. So trust me. In this space called the wilderness, God's getting the bugs out. God's getting the bugs out. Some of you have really good kids, they're just buggy. I asked, Chunks,

is that software good? Should I get it? He's like, I don't know yet. It's buggy right now. But just because it's buggy in beta doesn't mean it's not good. And when God gets done getting the bugs out of your kids, the things that you spank them over, the things that you put them in time out over, I'm sorry, this is very politically correct Culture twenty twenty one. I don't want to be canceled, uh, the things that you encouraging them strongly to modify in their behavior. See how

many y'all raise your hand. We're just gonna do it. Have a strong willed kid, at least one in your family. Parents Fars Fars, Fars Fars fans, parents are how many would say they're even borderline stubborn, borderline stubbornlin? Can I get a stomer? Can I get a border lin stubber? Can I get a word line stubber online online stubborn stumber and stubborn, strong, wild strong one? Okay, okay, okay, you know how right now it's an immature form, but

it's gonna be boldness. It's just in beta. It's in beta. It's in beta. I got some bless ads, but they're in beda right now. They feel like a burdad, but it's a blessed God's getting the bugs out of my crops. This here, my build will be a delightful wand my vine, well, it's truth in season. How many of y'all got a beta blessing right now? Something God is working on something. God is doing something. God is perfecting something. God is

establishing something. He's completing something, he's revealing something, he's revising. You got it? You got it. I got it in beta already, know alpha. I know who started it already, know Omega, I know who's gonna finish it. But watch me right now, praise God. In the beta stage. Work the fucks out, get the bitterness out, get the unbelievable, get it out so that you will have room too receive it. It's something in beta. It's just in between. It's just in beta. It's just in between. It's just

in beta. It's in beta. Are you blessed? Yeah, it's in beta. Doesn't look like you're blessed. Doesn't look like a blessing. Watch this some of the things that turn out to be the biggest blessings when they're in beta, they're the buggiest. How ma, y'all ever bought a boat?

It was a blessing for a minute, wasn't it. Back when I was a little listen, we had a subscription service for music called not Spotify, Columbia House, Oh my wheel of fortune, Columbia House, saying shout him to God with a voice of oldness, because they would sell you twelve CDs p for a penny, that's practically free. I heard the Israelites in Egypt talking about we had fish for free in Egypt. Numbers eleven five. We had fish for free in Egypt. We had fish for free, and

we also got beat half to death in Egypt. It was free at first. You've already heard the masterful speech. Free at last, but free at first. That's the things that come into your life looking like a blessing, but it's not. You would send off this little card, you know, when you were sending off that car. It was the first step toward a collection agency. I had a collection agency on my back at age thirteen, twelve CDs for free, and they were free at first, but then there was

a selection of the month. It was a negative billing kind of situation where if you didn't send back this card automatically here comes to your mailbox, not the CDs that you wanted. Go to your mailbox, like, what's this? Open it up? This is Michael Bolton? Who want Michael Bolton? It was free at first. The Michael Bolton CD is twenty five dollars. Going to your mailbox, open up the package and they sent you Ace of Base, Like no, I want a motor at Ace of Spades. This is

Ace of Base. Oh that she wants is you know this is terrible, but it was free at first. It was free at first. It was free at first. Then they keep sending you stuff that you didn't ask for. It was free at first. I don't mean to get up in your fortnication. It was free at first. I don't mean to get up into things that you do that are free at first. It could be a lot of things. Let's just don't get on the sex stuff.

I could talk about manipulation, y'all like me saying fortnication better than manipulation, because everybody in this room has tried to manipulate what God gave you at one point in time. And it works at first. It works at first until you're looking down spice girls, wondering how am I going to pay for this? The fish for free at first, and they said fish in Egypt. Now my mind is really weird. So I get on a theme and I just stayed there until almost wear it out to death.

The fish in Egypt is what they wanted to go back to. Right, that's the same thing from the twelve Tribes of Israel as the twelve Disciples. And I want to show you this continuity, to show you a beta blessing. Do you remember when Peter and I'll teach you this story real quick. It's a good one. And Luke five was fishing all night and caught nothing. That was a really frustrating thing, but his lack of success was actually a blessing because it set the stage for him to

meet Jesus. At that exact moment, he's putting the boat up, and I know a lot of us have failed at things I have, you have, and it's hard to see those things as a blessing when they're in beta. And while he's washing his nets and cleaning out all of the particles that would brought the nets so couldn't use them again, the Lord goes and preaches in his boat to be a disciple, and they went, listen, you want

to talk about a blessing. They went from empty nets to sinking boats, and for some of you this is going to be a year of boat sinking blessings. Do you receive that some of those blessings will not come in the form of material possessions, although if you need that, may God do it for you. But some of those blessings will come in the form of things that no material possession can be exchanged for and it is going

to be a year for some of us. I declare this over your life, with no trace of sarcasm or manipulation. This is going to be a year of boat sinking blessings in your life, boat sinking blessings in your life. And you know how they're going to come. Not when you pray for a blessing, but when you obey. What took the nets from being empty to being so fool that they couldn't even stand the catch was when Peter said, look at verse five, We've worked hard all night. This

isn't working. But because you say so, pray to be blessed, fine, pray about it, but obey to be blessed. Obey so beta blessing works better. Obey to be blessed. Right, Not, I'll obey this when you bless me, lord, not if you bless me Lord. No, just because it's the right thing, just because it's who I want to be, just because that's what I'm supposed to do, not because of something external. This is who I am. That's why I'm kind, That's why I'm going after it, That's why I'm still doing it.

That's why I'm still surfing right out of obedience. And this is so awesome because they went from empty nets to boats sinking blessings. And the the question is will you have room to receive it? Peter didn't. He needed another boat, He needed more room to receive. When the boats were so full of fish that they couldn't hold him, he had to signal his partner. And for this stage of your life, you are not going to be able to stay in isolation. I know you used to do that.

You did that to survive. That's how you did it. You were a fighter and you kept people off of you, and you did that, but that is going to prohibit you from receiving in this season. You've got to signal the other boat in this ridge. You tom been thinking about this in beta for three years just so God could release it to us today. Because we're in beta, aren't we come on with your buggy self, your little buggy beta behind looking at me all angelic celestial. I

bet you were a beta boyfriend, JT. So wonder, Brittany, aren't you glad that she looked past the bugs and saw the beta that you could be. I'm in beta. By the way, buggy boyfriends turn into messy men. So watch it, watch it, watch it, watch it. But should we do with homework and all that? What a blessing he is to you? What a blessing she is to you. And the more we allow God to do in our own lives, the more ready we are to receive from partnership.

So much to it. They haul in all these fish, right, what a blessing. And then the craziest part of the text, I need you ready to receive this. Do you have room for a little more? Come on, say, I have room to receive. I have room to receive it. So when they caught the fish, they saw Jesus for who he was. When they caught the fish, he gave them a calling. They tried to push Jesus away. Peter said, I'm a sinful man. Look at verse nine. I'm a sinful man. I'm a sinful man. Luke five nine, I'm

a sinful man. No, you're not a bad man. You're just in beta. I got a plan for you. I got a work to do in you. You're just in beta. Don't give up on yourself. You just in beta. I know you're buggy and whiney, but I'm just in beta. He's the Alpha and the Omega, and I'm in Beda and I'm blessed. Now what I saw next challenged everything I thought I knew about the Bible, because I thought that Jesus blessed them to catch the fish. And then

what happened in verse ten, You got it. They were astonished by the catch of fish, and so were the partners, and he said, don't be afraid. From now on you a fish for people. Verse eleven got me. They pulled up their boats and left everything the blessing that they just had. And I read it, and the Lord said, that's because the fish wasn't the blessing. That wasn't the blessing. That was the bait. Coming right up in your kitchen. I'm coming right up in your kitchen. See that miracle

that Jesus gave them. That wasn't the blessing. That was the Now talking about beta, I'm talking about bait. Be a. I thank you, little buddy, of I said, what do you mean. It's like I'm having this conversation with the Holy Spirit, not out loud, but just thinking about it, you know, just thinking about it, trying to go deeper in it and go how did they leave the blessing that they just had, and how can we do that? And how can things be moving around in our life

and it seems like good things are going away? And how can I be okay with that? How can I move forward in that? How can I do it? See, the ketch a fish was just what God used to get them to their calling. It wasn't really the blessing. It was just the bait. The man of was just the means to get them to Canaan. That's all it was. It was just the beta, the bait, the beta, the bait.

It was the bait that God used. Like when I went to college, I got a scholarship, not a full scholarship, but enough scholarship that God gave me to get there, and I thought that was a blessing and it was, but it wasn't just a blessing. It was bait. Because when I got to college, I went to BSU, which was the Baptist Student Union, and they asked me to be the greeter on the team. And I thought that was good. I have a good personality. What a blessing

that they want me to be a greeter. And it was, but it was also a debate because another person on the Greeter team, her name was Holly Boyknot, the artist formerly known as Holly Boy Knot. And so when I met Holly boy Not, I figured, what a blessing to be on the welcome team of BSU with Holly boy Not. But that wasn't really the blessing. That was just the bait because then they asked me to be the leader of a summer ministry impact team that would go across

the state of South Carolina to preach to people. I thought, what a blessing. I'm the only freshman that Mason Easterlink ever asked to do this. What a blessing did I get to do it? But that wasn't even just the blessing. That was the bait because he also said I get to pick my team members. So I circled back to the welcome Somebody, shout over your beta blessing right now, because I promise you God knows how to get you

where he wants you to go. So I want you to know the thing that you thought was the blessing, that wasn't even it. That wasn't even all. That was just the but dning. I have the OUTBA have the old man. God, that's just the bait. That's just the beta. You haven't seen your best self yet. You haven't seen your risen self yet. This is just a rough draft. There will be revisions. I'm in beta, God said beta blessing. He said, I got blessings I want to bring to you.

So I'm using things to to bait to get you in the places where I want you to be. I'm using the things that you hate to bring you into the blessings that you prayed for. It wasn't even the blessing. That was just the bait. It does not yet appear what we shall be. I just got a glimpse of it right now. You think that acorn is sexy, there's an oak inside that acorn. Oh you thought you thought the beta was good, Wait till God gets thees bugs out. And that's why you have to keep surviving and living

and not kill yourself and not give into it. That's why, because there is a blessing so big for Abraham, there is a blessing so big for you that you are a part of, not just to you, but through you, for your family and your children and their children. And so God, if you want to release me into the world. God, I want you to get the bugs out, not to make me perfect. I'll never be perfect. Peter walked away from the fish, followed Jesus, saw miracles, lost his faith

at the cross, met him again after the resurrection. He's still in Beda, after all he saw. He's still in Beda. And you think you're supposed to be arrived by now, Please don't, please, don't put that pressure on yourself. I'm in Beda data. That's not an excuse for me not to grow. It's the reason why I have to because I want to see, don't you. I want to see. I want to see what I can be if I'm

really free. Minister LJ. It took me all the way to John twenty one, and something real strange occurs in the text, because it seems like in the Bible that Israelites want to go back to the fish, that we're familiar, and it seemed like so did the disciples. And in John twenty one, the Peter who would receive Holy Spirit power and preach on the day of Pentecost. Stop. You have no idea what God is going to use you

to do. You just don't know. You can't know what he's already done through you that you don't even know about. But Peter did what we always do in that beta stage of our life, you know, the in between the beta. Alpha is great, it's exciting. Omega is great, it's fulfilling. But beta, that's really different. Middle school, mid life. What do these things have in common? They are both the stages of life where we talk about people losing their minds.

Why because it's the beta stage, the in between stage. So when I saw this in John twenty one three, I judged Peter because it said he'd already seen the risen Lord, and he said to his companions verse three, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing, all right. The fish represents what he was familiar with and what he was

good at. He's trying to go back to beta. Peter's trying to be Simon again, fighting the battles like you used to fight, doing it in your own strength, going back to old stuff, old old stuff that's not even part of the new creation. It's not even part of the original you. It's just layers. And I don't want to judge him over a fishing trip. It didn't like he went to the strip club. He just went fishing. So I want to read it to you. Stand where

you are received this work. I want you to put your body in a posture that you're going to receive what I want to show you. They went out and got in the boat that night. They call it not that sounds familiar, sounds like luke Fi. Sounds like a few years ago, sounds like the wilderness, sounds like our habits are addictions twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, twenty nineteen, sounds like that you well. Jesus shows up again at the point of what they've perceived to be their failure,

but it was really his whole point. I speak it over your life. Sometimes the failure is the goal because of how positions you and the Lord waited till the last man, till they got all the bugs out, till they got their muscles sore, till they've done all they could do. Jesus stood on the shore. The disciples did not realize it was Jesus, and he called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish? Pay attention to this verse? No,

they answered. Then he said, throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. When they did when they did something different, when they did it a different way. God is saying, do it a different way, do it a different way. This is what we've been talking about. This is what God has had me walking us through. Do it a different way, a different way, a different way to meet those needs that were put there by God. One that doesn't push

him out of the picture. One that doesn't leave you feeling worse. Fish you can eat that you don't choke on the bones, things that don't make you feel like crap in the morning, things that don't make you go further and further into isolation. He said, friends, haven't you any fish? And then when they threw it on the other side, they were unable to haul in the net because the large number of fish boats sinking. Blessing. But then the disciple whom Jesus loves said to Peter, it

is the Lord. And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say his the Lord, he wrapped his outo garment round for you, taking off jumped in the water. I want to preach about that. I don't preach about this. The other disciple following in the boat towing the net full of fish. The fish the blessing. They were not far from the shore, about one hundred yards football field. Now verse nine, when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread.

I don't want you to miss the significant of this for your life. Verse eight says they towed the net full of fish, and verse nine says when they landed they saw burning coals with fish already on it. So then Jesus in verse ten says, bring some of the fish you have just caught. Bring the blessing I just gave you. Next verse, Peter climbed back in the boat and dragged the net ashore. Peter's alpha male, Ah ah, I got a whole net. Ah ah. Always struggling this

you always trying. Ah. It was full of large fish one hundred and fifty three, who's counting. But even with so many, This is the thing about God's blessing. It didn't break the net. That's the thing about God's blessing. It doesn't break the net. And I'll leave you with this thought because I know you're full now and I want you to be able to digest what you heard. But I should show you this. Jesus said, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, who

are you? They knew it was the Lord. In Verse thirteen says Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. So the question is which fish? The ones they had just caught, are the ones that he had already cooked. All the things we bring to God in our effort to do better, in our effort to be blessed, we find that when we get to the shore and recognize him for who he is, he's already cooking while we couldn't catch all night.

I don't know what our global church family is going through because God doesn't see crowds. He sees people. But he must see someone who has been fishing all night and catching nothing. He must see somebody that's so frustrated you're about ready to just put the nets up, go home, quit quit being present, and all of that. Or he must see somebody who's stuck in a version of you

that isn't really you. Because he had this message in my heart for three years, but today this is the release date for you for what you've been holding, for the expectation you put on yourself that doesn't come from God. Right now, with your hands to heaven, and I lift mine too, let's just decide that. Let's just decide that we're not going to let the blessing of God that's in our life right now die in the wilderness. Lord, I'm really thankful that you're the Alpha because you begin

the good work in me. I'm really thankful that you're the Omega because you'll finish today. I want to praise you for Beta, the second letter of the Greek alphabet, the one that lets me know you're every step in between. I pray right now for every man, woman, boy and girl who's been in beta. Oh i've got this issue, I've got this insecurity. Oh I've got this. I got it, I got it. It's all right, it's all right, it's all right, it's all right, it's all right, it's just Beta.

I thank you that your blessings are more than fish. I thank you that your blessings are more than feelings. How we long, Lord to eat the bread that doesn't perish, the food that doesn't spoil, and that's your word. I thank you for every blessing that you used and every battle to bring us to the place where we are right now. This is where we are supposed to be. We praise you right now. We praise you with our mouths, we praise you with our hands. We praise you for

the beta blessings. We worship you, We worship uke. That nothing is wasted, not a crawl, not one jot, not one tittle, not one word falls from your mouth that it does not produce. We thank you. Were on the edge of Canaan. We are stepping into exceeding great and precious promises. When that which is perfect has called, that which is incomplete goes away. Oh God, we thank you for the Manna. But today we're eating grapes. We thank you God. We thank you God. We thank you God.

We thank you for the Law. But we're under grace. We thank you for Moses. But Jesus is our Josuah. We thank you, we honor you, we worship you. I hope you received that blessing today and walk in it the blessing in between, not waiting on a future state to celebrate, not living in a past that's never coming back, but celebrating God's presence with you right now. I bless you in Jesus' name, His favor upon you, his presence before you, his power within you. God is for you today.

Receive this blessing. Thank you for being a part of our family. Thank you for giving to support this ministry. Thank you for sharing the messages. You say it every week, God, I mean it every week. It's such a blessing to be joined with you and connected in ministry. I'll see you next time. Make sure to subscribe. We love you, We bless you.