The God Nod

Here's the message, but we are coming to the following cities Atlanta and Nashville, Tulsa, Fort Worth, Houston, Orlando, Sunrise, and Jacksonville. So get your tickets now. Some are already sold out, but maybe you can. Maybe you can pray and the Lord go answer. I have so much to share with you. I want you to sit down and get ready for the Word of God. Turning your Bible to Luke chapter five, verse one through eleven, you're like, WHOA, this is not how we do it. You give us

the scripture. Then we sit down, all right, but were's changing around with it? So sit down. I'm not going to give you my title yet either. So if you need something to write down, because some of you are so ocd that you you can't hear anything I say until you have a title to write down. So write down Luke five one through eleven. Then use that for

a title for now and Luke five one through eleven. Ah, I went on a whole journey this week to get to this passage because I started toward the end of Peter's ministry and in discovering the great faith that he finished with in his life, it led me all the way back to the moment when God called him. And this is what we're going to study today. This may be a two week sermon. This may be a two weeks sermon, so you don't need to be nervous. If I'm not done, I we'll leave and we'll see you

in seven days and I'll finish it up. One day, as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Ganessaret, sea of Galilee said another name for it in the Old Testament, it was Kinneret. That was the town that was around. So the Lake of Ganessaret or the Sea of Galilee, the region where Jesus based his ministry. The people were crowding around him, ignoring the social distancing mandates of the County of Galilee, and listening to the word of God.

He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets or mending their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for catch. Simon answered, Master, We've worked

hard all night and I haven't caught anything. But because you say so, this kind of makes me think the disciples were teenagers. Peter is rolling his eyes, but I'm gonna do it. I will let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they begin to sink. So God said,

I want to upgrade your problems. I don't want to take away your problems. Stop praying. God is going to take away your problems. He said, I want to give you HQP high quality problems. What kind of problems you want this year? Empty nets or sinking boats? So stop complaining. You're so busy. That's the proof of life is the problems. All right, God can clear your schedule real quick. I'm saying you could die. Your schedule will be clear real quick. And they done to the cast such a large number

of fish that their nets begin to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they begin to sing. So when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus's knees and said, go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus, this is

where I feel the oil for today's message. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on you will fish for people. I don't know about you, but that's not very comforting to me. It's actually scarier you're gonna fish for We're gonna what How does that work? And fish for people? That's actually it's kind of creepy. Jesus, where you can fish for people conjures up a lot of images, you know. But it says they pulled their

boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Now, I don't want to make light of the passage, but it is. It is a humorous exchange, and it's one of the most familiar pasts just for people who come to this church, because I end up here about once or twice a year. But I'll tell you why I end up here because it helps me with a question that I'm always wrestling with. Just all the time. I feel like I'm always wrestling with this question, and it's God,

what do you see in me? I want you to put that question in the chat or in your phone or right there on your scroll, your your notebook. God, what do you see in me? Now? Before I came out to preach, my oldest son said, I like your jacket. He liked what he saw on me. But that's a jacket. God, what do you see in me? That's the first thing people notice. What's on you? Oh, you got a haircut. Oh you lost seven pounds. They don't know. Oh, you gained bitterness. So God, say it out loud, God, what

do you see in me? That's a great prayer. God, What do you see in me? I know what my family says about me. I know what I see in me, But what do you see in me? God? What do you see in me? I think in a good marriage, both people feel a little lucky that the other one shows them. And I can't give you a Bible verse for this, but I think in a good marriage, a healthy marriage, as the years go on, you feel a little bit like, Wow, I can't believe I get to

be married to you. I certainly feel that way about Holly. I'm not just saying it for points. And we don't do this whole dysfunctional marriage thing where we'd like run a sitcom in our house and just put each other down all the time. Y'all can do that if you want. Oh, well, that's you know, culturally, that's normal. I don't care us culturally normal. I want to be spiritually whole. And so, yeah, we fight, and yeah we we we kind of you know what, We don't fight as much as they did

on all the shows. I watch King of Queens and all these shows where they just fighting all the time. That's not how we view marriage. And one thing that I've said to Holly before is what did you see in me? She won't tell you all this, but she They were lined up to date her when she came to North Greenville College. It was a Christian school. She had the whole book of Philippians memorized, and she had and she's beautiful, and so everybody wanted to talk to Holly.

And she had this little exclusivity claus because she was dating Jesus for a year, which a little side note, only made her more attractive because men love a chase. So now I gotta wait till this year with Jesus, and it just made it that much more appealing and alluring. Anyway, I have wonder. I promise you this all goes together. I promise some of you us your first time here, and you're like, he needs medication. No, I promise you. This is all part of my message. There's a little

part of me that says, how do you? But you know what, She's said the same thing to me before. She's like, why'd you just meet a marriage? And I don't. I don't know if you I don't know if you're cann relate to this. I just knew she's like I wasn't a great girlfriend. She was still learning how to relate in that way and dating Jesus and all this stuff. But she goes, it must have been something that you saw in me. I mean, no, it's I mean, it's easy to see, if you want to know the truth

how I feel about your appearance. But it was really deeper than that. Of course, I couldn't see all the support that she would bring in the love that she would bring at this moment. And I don't share this for UI guy thing. But we're coming up on twenty years of marriage this June, and I don't know where we're going to celebrate, but it's going to be expensive, and we're going there a long time, and we are leaving our kids and turning off our phones and praying

for the best when you're going. And so I'm drawn to this passage because I realized that at this moment in time, Peter has no idea what he's getting into by saying yes to a simple instruction. And Jesus, much like you didn't know when you said yes to go to lunch with me at Golden Corral, that I would pop the question and say, will you start at church with me? And even when I said will you start a church with me? You did not know that we would be attacked like we were attacked in twenty thirteen.

But you also didn't know that we would be in Singapore and Sydney and all over the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Valentine and roanov and Melbourne, Florida. God, what do you see in me? If you haven't studied the Bible a whole lot, you may be confused because I've been talking about Peter. But when I read the scripture we're reading about Simon. It says in verse three, he got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon. Jesus does this cool thing, he changes the

name of his chief apostle. But that hasn't happened yet. At this point in the story, he's still Simon, and so he's called Simon. The name from Simeon means he heard. And yet in all of the passage, it's very interesting because Jesus and Simon, who would later be known as Peter are communicating without saying a whole lot of words. They each only say a sentence, but their life is

completely altered. And this lets me know that we're we're studying the interaction between two men because men typically, I don't mean to be stereotypical, but typically men can communicate without saying anything. Prefer to communicate without saying anything. Buck used to come over and look waits for me. It'd be an hour and a half. We would have lifted a cumulative two thousand pounds and not said a word to one another. What an awesome gift we have as men?

Would you agree? Women have other gifts? But when women greet each other like women, I've noticed the other day women use vowel sounds, but we're like, hey, how are you, it's friendly as warm, it's say oh yes, like men, I love this about us. We can nod at you and know all we need to know about you from how you nod back or if you don't. And if you don't nod back, you might want to fight. But man and my rider is yeah, because and and all

nods are not created equal. There are different There are different kinds of nods, much like in Spanish, there's formal and informal. There's a formal nod that's this. There's an informal nod when you nod up. And when I started noticing this was in covid when when they made it illegal for us to touch each other for a year, and you don't want to walk through life not communicating with people, and you know, waving is kind of goofy hey, and so it's the thing like, I don't want to

touch you because that's uncomfortable. And then they put a mask on us, and then people are saying, well, you know, you can still smile with your eyes. I still haven't learned how to smile with my eyes. My eyes do not naturally smile. I can murder you with my eyes. How to do that? So when I started noticing during covid Is, I had to regain the power of the nod, just to let people know, because a man can walk by you and go, and so much can be loaded

in that nod. This is kind of what's up. Or it can mean you want some or it can mean a lot of things if you're not up, but just this, just this, It can mean I see you, my brother, I see you. It is not easy to be a man in this day and age. But you carry it well, my brother, carry on, soldier, carry on, my wayward son. All that from a nod And what got me about the text, and Marie and I went back to it is because we focus so much on the speaking part

in this passage. Every time I've ever appreached it, you know, because you say so, I will let down the net. Or Peter said to Jesus. Or Jesus said to Peter, all that is great. And if anybody knows how to talk, it's Simon Peter. He's always talking in the Bible. Never, Lord, this will never happen to you. If all deny you, I won't deny you. I'll stand with you to the death. Lord. Peter is always talking. But in this passage, let me point out a few things things that God is communicating

in the nonverbals. In verse one. Put it on the screen. It says Jesus was standing. He was standing by the sea of Galilee, the lake of Gannessere Kinnareth. The literal name means harp, like the instrument, the harp, because it was shaped kind of like that. That's what the literal name kinnereth means which is appropriate because Jesus is standing by the sea, which will be the scene of the greatest demonstrations of his power. In scripture, it wasn't just

a body of water. It was for him a classroom, a faith. He had an advantage over me in preaching one, He's Jesus. Two, he had nature as a backdrop to illustrate and to validate his words. So when I teach you about a storm, you've got a padded chair in an air conditioned room, climate controlled to we keep it cold here fifty nine degrees. We do that to keep

you awake. But Jesus, I think that the fact that he was standing by the sea of Galilee, the shape like a harp, is an indication that this body of water would be an instrument in the hands of the master teacher to give the lessons that his disciples would need after he had left them in the body, to carry on with the task of spreading the gospel. It's much more effective to teach about how to change a

flat tire if you have one right now. It's much more effective to teach about how to survive a storm if you're going through one right now. So when Jesus taught his disciples about faith, it was not a doctrinal seminar. It was not a the false uh what fear is false evidence appearing real or whatever the acronym is. That you heard these things before. It wasn't cute. It was a matter of life and death. So when they learned the lesson of faith, it was against the backdrop of

their greatest fear. He was standing by the lake. Peter didn't know what would happen on that lake. Peter didn't know one day he'd be walking on that water coming to Jesus. He certainly didn't know when he stepped out of the boat to walk on the water that five seconds later he'd be gasping for breath. Save me, Lord. But Jesus knew that at that moment. It is called the foreknowledge of God, or, if you like, predestination. It means that Jesus saw Peter walking on the water before

he ever even got in Peter's boat. It means Jesus knew he would help Peter up before Peter ever started to sink. It means that Jesus knew what would happen to you in your childhood before he called you into this season of your own parenting. It means that Jesus knew that you would be at church today because somebody dragged you so he could get you this word that he needs you to hear. He knew. God knows. We

say that almost like a cuss word. God knows. Oh, God knows when the kids are going to be back in school full time. God knows. And the alphabeta, gamma, delta variants are all gonna pass through and we can all go back. God knows who's gonna be in White House, and God knows. God knows what's gonna happen on the sea. One time. I'm sorry, y'all. I know I'm like over excited and it's a little off pudding. But by one time, one time he sent the disciples ahead of him into

a storm and stayed back and prayed. I said he sent them into a storm. I said, he sent them into a storm. Oh well, well, maybe maybe he didn't know it was gonna Maybe he didn't check the weather before he sent him out. His word is the weather forecast, ask Elijah. Elijah said, it's not gonna rain until I say so again. From the word of God that comes from my mouth. If Elijah had that kind of power the prophet of or nature, what kind of power does

Jesus have over the situations of your life. He's God, he's sovereign, he's the bread of life. He's the solid rock, and he's the living water. Oh yeah, the solid rock we sing about on Christ, the solid rock I stand absolutely, He's a firm foundation. He's the same yesterday, today, in forever. God doesn't change like the shadows change. God doesn't change like your best friend changes. God doesn't change like your hair color changes. God doesn't change like cultural climates change.

But seeing the same, God, who could be called the solid rock, is also the living water. He was standing by the sea because he wanted to teach you that real faith not only has to be solid, it has to be fluid. Why do you teach on the body of water. Well, one, because the storm will help you learn the lesson. But number two, the same way that that sea operates, it's the same way that faith operates, which is why I think he liked a fisherman to

be his disciples. See, a fisherman has to know that the fish that were here an hour ago might not be here an hour from now. The fish that weren't here an hour ago might be here now. To follow Jesus is to flow with Jesus. What better place for him to call a disciple than standing by the lake. See, Jesus hasn't even said anything yet, and he's already preaching. He's already preaching just by where he's standing. He's standing by the lake, and he's like, hey, everybody, look before

up in my mouth. You see this, See how it's calm right now. It might not be calm tomorrow. Life is like that, but you could trust me. You need an anchor for your soul. So remember, men can communicate with nonverbals. So Jesus is standing by the lake of Gennesaret Kenerett the harp. He's gonna play this lake like an instrument. He's gonna conduct the wind in the waves like a symphony to bring these disciples to greater faith.

Y'all got a clap on that right there, to know that Jesus is conducting even the conflict of my life. That Jesus says, waves, that's enough. They got this lesson. In fact, he might speak it to you right now if you listen, Peace be still, Waves die down, at his command, because he has all authority. Even the wind in the waves, obeying, even the wind in the waves, obey the one who was standing by the way. Is it good? It was to me. I had the best

time with God preparing this message. I was licking the bowl all week. Ah. I know there have been any left for you. Ah. They were crying around listening word to God. And then verse two says, so he stood in verse one, but watch this verse two. He saw he saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen. Now in this way, Jesus is like Holly. He had options. I don't think. I don't think. Sometimes we take that into account that God could have given

somebody else, those kids to raise two boats. Everybody say, two boats, that'd be a good rapper name. We got li YACHTI and we got two boats. When he saw two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets, I don't want to I don't want to use that yet, but I want to point it out to you. They were washing their nets. It was over for the night. It was over. The reason I'm gonna I'm gonna move past that is because I need to show you verse three, he got in. He got into

one of the boats, the one belonging to who. Now Peter is going to preach on the day of Pentecost, but he's still Simon at this moment. Peter is gonna give his life for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. History tells us he died as a martyr. He's going to write two epistles, first and Second Peter, appropriately titled don't you think now? First and second Simon. Yeah, first and second Peter. That's the potential of who he can be sef in the Hebrew Petrus, in the Greek rock little rock,

not big rock. That's Jesus on this rock. I will build my church big rock, little rock, Peter. Peter's the pebble skipping across the Sea of Galilee to create a ripple effect of the gospel that would carry to us today. But he's not even Peter the pebble yet, he's still Simon. I gotta make a confession to y'all. I'm still Stephen. I know I need to be pastor for at least about twenty five more minutes. And I'm not a hypocrite. I don't go home and kick the dog I've already

told you I don't have a dog. I'm not getting one, she said, yet false prophet on the front bro security. But y'all, he got in and then asked him to put out a little from shore. Isn't that the opposite order? Look at verse three. You need to see this. He got into Peter's boat and then asked him could use it.

So I'm thinking protocol is the other way around. Right, You see what I'm saying, Go get in a car after church and then ask the person if it's all right if you drive it and see how it works out. My mind says it must already be his. It must already be his. When Graham came in to see me today and said, you know, oh, I like your jacket, I said, I like your slides. I said, but those look like mine. He said, no, I got him from Elijah. I said, turn it over, it was mine. He said,

that's crazy. When I asked Elijah, could I borrow it? He said, get your own drip. But he actually got it out of your closet. So here's the point. I'm trying to say. Your boat is borrowed. Your boat is borrowed. Any drip you have any intelligence you have, in fact, every breath you have. That's why we praise him. Because the breath is borrowed. The breath is borrowed. The breath is borrowed. If you ever been in the hospital, you

get a new appreciation. The breath is borrow So now let everything that happen bread give it back, give it back, give it back, give it back it start. God, I'm gonna give you twenty one seconds to give it back the people, tall ship money twenty one Look at you, you'll turn buy there, you'll start in some start and storm. So bobo y, it was Sacy when I've made it, it was you waiting. But I'm sad it was Windy

Sonny picked me up. Come on, if you can't sell at least not just knocking like this, not not up, not down, not all around, take it back and forth. No, deevil, you can't have it with no long s. No, don't take your hand like this. Come on, you can't have my kids, you can't out my house. You can't after me. You'll get out my brave Samo and n boat. Not if I'm talking to you. You don't even have to let any body know what you're nodding about just nod at your neighbor. So yeah he did it, Yeah he

did it. He got in my boat, And I'm still Simon. I ain't challenges. How can you believe that you have the potential to be Peter when you act so much like Simon, the inner Simon. I gotta put some cardio in the regiment. If we're gonna preach like this in church. Let me show you another scripture, turning the pages, give me a minute to start. Ah, just say I'm still Simon. Say I'm still Simon. You either Simon or you're lying. When connotation of Simon is is like a read, it

means he hears. And it's so funny because Simon's name means he listens. But he's in trouble only when he's talking. Only when he's talking. We fished all night and caught nothing. Shut up Simon. Maybe that's what I'll call the message, shut up Simon, because sometimes I need my Simon on the inside, the one who's always saying, Oh, you're so stupid, and you're so weak, and look at you, you're so dumb, and everything's so horrible, and everybody they too dumb, and

two and that's it. I needn't. Let's just play the quiet game, all right, all right, Simon, let's find a game on your iPad. You shut up, because Peter, Peter has a purpose to accomplish. And I need to flow right now with God and follow Jesus in the season of my life. And I can't be this little child anymore that's always listening to my screaming, emotional five year old in the back seat telling me to pull over. We can't do it because it's too hard and nobody

appreciates me. Be quiet, Simon, Is that better? Be quiet? Simon? Shut up, Simon, Shut up, Simon. I don't want to feel bad, y'all say it. Shut up, Simon, put it in the chat. Shut up, Simon. Let Peter preach. There's a Peter in me too, Pabal rock firm, small but a solid. And then there's Simon. The scripture I want to show you is Luke twenty two. I was looking at it because I wanted to break it down where you could really get it and not just go, oh,

that's nice, but really get it. When Jesus was eating Passover with his disciples before he went to Jerusalem. Remember Jerusalem is where he died. See of Galilee, kinnerethe harp That's where he lived, That's where he ministered, that's where he based. But Jerusalem is where he was always headed. So whereas ministry started is not where it finished. And where your life starts is not where it finishes either, Simon.

But in order to get to his purpose, he had to go through a kind of death, so that for Peter to rise, Simon kind of had to die. Yet here's what's interesting. Jesus is speaking to this disciple, one of the three church fathers. The reason the church is here today really because of what he did for the gentiles of us, who are not Jews by ethnicity, but we're in Christ spiritually, we're grafted in. That's what started me studying. I was studying when Peter took the Gospel

to the gentiles. He didn't want to do it because Simon was telling him, this is not who you should preach to. This is not in the realm of your experience, this is not in your family background, this is not for you. But God knew how to pull the Peter out of Simon. God knows how to pull the grown man out of you, the grown woman out of you, the patience out of you, the fortitude out of you, the discipline out of you. He knows how to pull the Peter out assignment. But even after Jesus changed his

name to Peter. And I don't have time to show you that. But he said, he said, Jesus said, who do you say I am? He said, you're the Christist in a living God. She said, you are Peter. I am. You are tubble, And upon this rock I'll build my church. You're a pebble. You're made of the same stuff as me. You're made in the image of God. You're Peter. You don't even know what you're made of yet. You don't even know what you're made up yet. And when people tell you, oh, just do you, that'd be fine if

you knew you. And one day I'm going to preach a message called do the new you in e W do the new you. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. So when people say do you, we use that as an excuse. Oh, throw a ten partantrum. Do you just be however you are? Do you? Are? You still taking advice from your fifth grade yearbook, Raise hell over the summer and never change No, I'm changing like the sea is changing. I'm changing like the seasons are changing. And God is pulling the the Peter, the

solid out of the Stephen. He doesn't hate Simon, he said, you are Peter. Deeper in you, there is purpose on the surface, there is stuff that keeps you from seeing it. But God, what do you see in me? Beneath the sand of Stephen, beneath the sand of Simon, feelings and paths and pain and trauma? What do you see in me? Jesus said, you're Peter. That confession you made you were the Christ, the son I live in God. You know who I am, and I'm gonna show you who you

are because you don't even know yet. And this is a grown man and he's just discovering who he is. Who told you that's all you could be. I don't let anybody tell me what I can do because I'm white, or because I'm short, or because i'm forty one, or because I'm a man, or because I'm from Monk's corner. You don't get to tell me that what you see on me might have nothing to do with what God sees in me. No, I got the nod from God that's the third nod. I didn't tell you about that one.

There's the up nod, the down nod, and the god nod. When God gives you the nod, he doesn't look around to see who agrees. Yeh, aren't you glad? He doesn't ask your ex he doesn't ask your why, he doesn't ask your z. He doesn't ask any of that. He doesn't look around. Y'all good with that, y'all good. If I bless her, y'all good. If I send her a new person, y'all good. If I forgive him, y'all good. If I use him anyway, y'all good. If I'm raising them off, y'all good. If I use this boat. He

didn't ask any of that. He got in. He got into the boat before eat it even asked Peter if Peter wanted to be Peter. He just said, that's what you are. He even asks, he just got it, you are Peter. But watch this in Luke chapter twenty two, he's about to go to the cross. He said it to Jerusalem. Peter doesn't want him to go. Come on, man, let's keep going on to sea. I keep I keep picking her. You around in this boat, we can preach and heal and do this stuff. But he had to die.

He had to die to pay for your sin. He had to die to pay the ultimate price for you so you could put your faith in him. He had to die so Simon could be come Peter, so as the spirit could come. Peter wanted to keep Jesus from doing the very thing that would make him who he was supposed to be. And Jesus is telling the disciples, this is not going to go good. I'm going to rise in three days, but you're all going to fall away. And he turns to one disciple and says, Simon Simon.

In scripture, too is covenant. Two means covenant Moses. Moses take off their shoes when he says the name twice is covenant his partnership. I got you two boats, Simon, Simon. Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I pray for you, Simon. Aren't you glad that Jesus prays for Simon, not just Peter, that he sticks with Simon, not just Peter. I bet Jesus is proud of me when I preach good. I bet he's still in love with me when I hurt when I struggle,

and I need that because I am a pastor. I'm still Stephen. Put your name in the chat right now. I'm still say your name and say it out loud. I'm still don't let the hard surface spool you. I know I was lifting my hands in worship, but I don't always act like that. I don't always walk around the ball field give God a praise, come on, give him praise in the dugout. And even sometimes I hate to tell you this, but sometimes Stephen comes out in

places where pastor is supposed to be. Y'all are acting real, real, real judicy in here. Today. I was out to eat with this other preacher and he's like the nicest person in the world, not the nicest preacher, the nicest person in the world. Right We're far away from home, having a meal together, and I can tell you who the preacher was. You could probably figure out the nicest person in the world. I leave the table having great conversation. Families are there, and I'm going to the bathroom. This

is a few months ago. And as I go around to the bathroom, it's a small space, so you know, there's a whole other thing. Men nodding is something I can teach you. Men in the bathroom is a whole other breakout session for We'll do a men's night about this. There's rules there too. But before I go in, it's in one seater. So before I go in, there's a dude there talking loud on his phone, sitting right outside the bathroom door, and it's cramp. So I say, he's

got no mask on. He's talking on the phone, just over there, talking on the phone. And it's a one seater, and I say, this is this is protocol, right, I say, I say, hey, are you waiting for the bathroom? The man looks at me cold blood. It says I need six feet get back while he's talking on the phone, spitting on me. Because what I'm hearing is you, oh, you need you want to be six feet under? You want me to kill you, That's what you're saying. Because

I'm still Steven. But I looked around real quick. I'm like, anybody know me in here? I'm far away from home. And then and then, my have you ever had your inner Peter? Just in time? Kick in? I mean just in the nick of time, right I Stephen is coming out like right as Hebrew and Greek words are coming out right as I'm about to speak in tongues and tell him about six feet, I'm about to put sixteen.

I'm right at the moment because I'm still Stephen, and I'm doing better than I did because I didn't do it. I looked over. I was like, you cannot get in a fight while you are out to dinner with Jolo Stein. You can't do that. Joel's at the table, smiling, playing with Abby. Oh yeah, Steven, keep it down, move through it, Steven, Steven, And I'm so glad I didn't do anything but just

go to the bathroom. Now. I did hover her at this table a little when I walked back by just a minute, because he wasn't even big, y'all, and he was old. So as soon as I get to the table, I'm so glad that Peter, that Peter won that day. Because the person that was standing to the table talk talking to Pastor Joel said Pastor Steven, and I became pastor real quick, God bless you. I did my best. Joe Joel ostein interpretation, my impersonation. Nobody knew that Stephen

was still standing in that bathroom. I wanted to come out with an S on his chest. I'm not even that gonna fighter, but I'm crazy. I'm crazy. Jesus knew Peter was gonna cut off Barabbas's ear, and he called him Peter anyway. Jesus knew Peter was gonna cuss him out by the fire. Come about. I don't know him. Swear word. I don't know him, swear He knew Simon was still inside. But you know what I love about

Luke five. It is a living picture of a spiritual reality. See, it's one thing for Jesus to stand by the sea, It's one thing for him to see the boat. But what freaked Peter out? Because Peter was cool with all of that. Oh you see my boat, You got in my boat. You want to use my boat, you want to preach three hours. I was trying to go home and have breakfast and just nurse myself because we didn't catch anything today. Okay, fine, we'll try it. We'll give it a try. It wasn't when Jesus saw the boat

that freaked Peter out. It was the fact that he knew what was under the boat. And when Peter saw this. Give me the verse vers sake when Peter saw this. Oh, Simon, Peter, they were both in the boat. That's one I needs you to know. They're both in your boat, right, and they're both gonna stay in your boat. Oh no, Pastor Steven, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I'm still Simon, I'm still Simon. I can be Simon one minute, Peter

five minutes later, Simon again, five minutes. Every five minutes, Simon shows up. Can we do not gonna be crazy? Now? Can we act? I don't know. Can we be mad now? Can we dinner? Now? Can we think stupid stuff? Now? Can we be weird? Now? Quiet? Peter? Shut up? Simon. He got in the one belonging to Simon. Peter. I told you both boats. Did I tell you about both boats? I didn't tell you they were both in one boat, Simon and Peter. And that's what's going on in you

as I speak. There's your flesh, Simon, there's your spirit, Peter. There's your preference, Simon. There's your purpose, Peter, there's your past. Not if you know what I'm talking about. Not if Simon is sitting in the same seat with you right now while you're trying to pretend to be Peter and three honest people in South Charlotte today. I wanted to tell you that Simon and Peter were in the same boat so that you could know that Jesus got in the one belonging to Simon. In fact, he stood by

the lake. He sat in the boat. I didn't even talk about Jesus sitting with the next week. We'll do that next week he spoke to Simon. But look at verse seven real quick. When their boats began to sink because of the great catch, they signaled to the other boat. You will not believe what signaled means. In the original language. It means they nodded, yes it does, Yes it does. It literally means they nodded with their heads, yes it does, yes, yes,

yes yes. They couldn't use their hands they were pulling that net up. They couldn't use their voice. It wouldn't carry that far. So when James and John the other boat got the nod, they came over and both boats were so far that they began to sing. And what Peter didn't know in that moment was that the fish were only there to teach him a lesson about faith. Is that as he was drawing the nets out of the water. God was drawing the peter out of the simon.

This is why he did it by the sea, so he could show you that the real stuff, the real you, is deep down inside of you, not the surface stuff, not the surface story, not the behavior, not the mistake, not the things you think. That's just a thought level. That's just the wave. But if you let down the nets, there's a great catch down there. There's a rock down there, there's a strength down there, there's a hope down there. So so God send me with a command pull it out.

The nets are symbolic of you. The nets are symbolic of you. He said, I'm gonna make you fishers of men. I see something different in you than you see in you. You'll see yourself as a fisherman. And you're right, but you're not just a business man. You're a business man. That's from second jay Z. Y'all stay with me, because I hear God saying something to you. He sees something in you. And look, look, look, look like you're like

it's not there. Just because it wasn't there when you fished all night doesn't mean it's not there now you hear me, you, hear me, Let me release this word. You're ready now, you're right now, it's right now. From now on, you will fish for purpose. I feel God drawing something out of your desires, drawing something out of your dreams, drawing something out of your herd, drawing out, drawing it out, and yeah, yeah, yeah, yah, y'all. Remember he's still Simon. So when he sees all the fish

in his boat, he doesn't celebrate. He's scared. He's scared. Everybody who's been scared stand out. M hm m hmm. But I gotta qualify this. He wasn't scared of a battle. He was scared of a blessing who When Simon Peter saw this, he didn't see himself as Peter. Yet he's still saw himself as Simon. So you know, you can get the nod from God that he wants to choose you, but rejected inside of yourself. God's nodding it's you. I'm gonna use you. I'm gonna get you through this. My

promises are yes and amen. Before you were born, I set you apart. Do not say I am only a youth. Don't say I'm just a fisherman. God is not in like this, and everything in Simon is saying no, not me, Lord show him the scripture? Is it? Eight? Is that the verse when Simon Peter both in the same boat, just like two voices in your head right now, in the same sentence, Simon and Peter in the same boat, in the same body, in the same moment, in the

same experience. Because this can either this season is testing. It can either sift all the signing out and leave you strong like Peter, or it can cause you to give up on yourself. So Peter Simon speaks, Lord, I see this success amazing. He is scared of his success because he is aware of his brokenness. Am I talking about you? Am I talking about me? Am I talking about all the things that we try to push away that God wants to bring in our life, Because go

away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. And Jesus is like, you don't think I knew when I got in your boat. You don't think I knew both were in the boat, Simon and Peter, weakness and strength, faith and fear. I got in and you're not going to tell me when to get out. I heard God saying that, look the way this is a prophetic word for somebody. So stay with me. The way you do with people,

you're not going to get to do with Jesus. When people get too close and they're good to you and they love you, you push them away, You disqualify it, you don't hear. It rolls off of you like water. You're not going to get to do that with Jesus. I remember a difficult season me and Hollywood with I already told you how wonderful we are. We'll listen to this. There was a time, it's been several years ago, I was just going through. I guess I was being sifted.

You know what I'm saying, Like you don't have what it takes, all the Simon stuff. Simon says, Simon says, you're an idiot. Simon says, touch your ear, your other ear. Simon didn't say. Simon doesn't get to say who is Simon? And he gets to say what a dumb game? Simon said, go away. Jesus said, you don't get to say. I say so, Yeah, Simon, Simon satan Is asked to sit your feet, but I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. Yeah, they're with it. They're with it.

Go back to that scripture, and when you have turned back, strengthened your brethren. Next verse, next verse, next verse, next verse. And he replied, Lord, I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death. Next verse. And Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, when Satan is through sifting you, all that's gonna be left is the Peter that you really are. But that's not what I wanted to show you.

I wanted to show you that, just like Jesus got in Simon's bote without asking how many of you requested to be born, how many of you requested to be five foot eight and a half. I'm rounding up on five foot nine. How many of you requested to go through the rejection, the experience? No, no, no, Jesus got in the boat and you don't get to tell him when to get out. So imagine if Jesus had listened to Simon says get away, Lord, He's like, all right, James, John,

y'all got room over there for me. No, no, no, no no. When Peter got done with all of that, go away from me, Lord, Because the fishing is boat, it reminded him. He sees a boat full of fish, and he's like, oh God, he doesn't know what's in me. He sees you. Think he could see the fish at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee, and he can't see the sin at the bottom of you. He's Jesus. If he saw the fish that were under the boat, he saw the Simon that was in the boat, and

he still got in, and he still shows you. And I have prayed for you, Simon. I have prayed for you, Simon. Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. I'm gonna show you how to do this. Don't be afraid. Just like you were mending your nets, I'm gonna mend you. I'm gonna do with you, and I'm doing it right now. This is the spirit of the Lord. Simon's been talking to you all week. Let the Spirit talk for a moment. Jesus is not Siri. We don't give him little commands.

Let him talk for a minute. You keep telling God what you're not, what you can't. You keep telling yourself all that Simon was only in trouble when he was speaking. Let Peter talk for a moment. Let the God party you talk for Let the Holy Spirit talk to you. Let Jesus tell you what to do. Because you say so, I will let down the nutes. Oh God, how many opportunities have you pushed away because I don't want to

let you down? How much love have you pushed away because I don't want you to see me like I really am? You know a lot of us go through life with an operating belief. If you really saw me, you wouldn't like me. If I let you close, I'll let you down. If I let you close, you'll let me down. And after Peter got up off of his knees, Jesus was still nodding. I'm still gonna use you. You can deny me, but when you're faithless, I'm faithful. Remember I got in the boat, I made the first man.

And you're not getting rid of God that easily. You tried to run from him. How'd that work out? You're in church, some of you. It popped up in the algorithm. You were searching for online gambling tips, and I came on, it's God. You're not getting away that easily. You'm a puh. He's right here. The sea is a lesson, The nets are a lesson. Let him wash the nets, let him in the nets. Father, I'm I'm so thankful. I can't

hardly stand it right now. I was so scared that I would try to communicate this, but I wouldn't I wouldn't know how to say it. But I felt your grace for the last hour, and now I want to ask you to do something amazing. God, Draw it out, Draw it out of them. The change starts after the sermon ends. When Jesus had finished speaking, he turned to Simon and said, it's one thing for you to speak to a crowd, Lord, it's another thing for you to

speak to your child by name. I'm asking God that you would speak to every Simon, draw out every Peter. There's great purpose in this room. There is great purpose at the bottom of all of that shifting sand. And we believe you know what's under the boat, what's in the boat, what's on the boat? Most of all, who's in the boat. Lift your hands. Tell the Lord out loud. It is your boat. And you knew, God, you knew when you got in this boat. This Simon was stupid.

You knew when you got in this boat. But I'm not going to try to send you away going forward. Right now, in this moment, there is an invitation for someone who needs to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. So put your hands down for a moment, and I'm going to ask you to raise your hand again in just a moment. All over the world online, right here in this room, Simon, Simon, is God calling your name? Is this your day to give God your life?

You did it before. You fished all night, you caught nothing, and here you are with empty nets. That's good. That's room for Jesus in the boat. Now. I believe that everybody can get something from this message. But for somebody, this message is everything, the moment that the grace of God is coming into your life. Don't worry about fixing your nets yet. That's God's job. You just let him in your heart. It is by grace through faith we are saved. And you may not get this moment back,

not just like this. This is a holy moment with our heads bout and our eyes closed. I'm going to pray a prayer. The prayer is not magical, it's just an invitation. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. So right now I'm going to lead you in a prayer. I want you to repeat this prayer out loud after me. If you are ready to repent of your sin, place your faith in Christ, and make

Jesus the Lord of your life. I want you to repeat this prayer out loud after me. This is your moment. God is stepping into your boat. God is stepping into your spirit. God is stepping into your life. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, I am a sinner, You are a savior. Come into my life. I believe you died for me and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On three, raise your hand in the air.

If you pray that pray that prayer, one two three, shoot it up right now, right now, right now. We celebrate you, Ah. We celebrate the grace of God on your life. We celebrate the grace of God in your boat, in your home, in your marriage. We celebrate your new beginning. If he's a name, come on, give God a great braid all over the her. You've got a pretty praise praising. If you receive this work today raising if you receive this work today. Hello, nod if you got it, you

got the nod, you got God. No, you're the one I want to You're the one I chose, and you're not getting rid of me that easily. M hmm. That dark moment I told you about with Holly. She looked at me and she said, I'm not going anywhere. I said, I'm not. I'm just not that good as you think I am. I'm not that good. I'm not I'm not as good pastor as y'all think. She said, well, you're the one we've got, so show up. And I'm telling that to you. He got in the boat belonging to Simon.

I think we're gonna have to pick this up next week. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.