Fishing for Miracles • Priscilla Shirer

good morning chch good

morning amen what a gift it is for me to

be with you again you you might not

remember me but I remember y’all six

years ago was the last time we had an

opportunity to be here so it feels like

a gift to me to be back with you you may

take your seats thrilled to share God’s

word um with you this

morning and um honored to to do that it

feels so surreal sometimes when in my

case right now I’m halfway across the

globe from where my family is right this

minute I was talking to my son and my

husband just a moment ago on the phone

they are in Saturday and here we are on

Sunday so I told them I’m already in

your

tomorrow asking God to go ahead and

provide solutions for you you don’t even

know you have those problems yet and the

fact that the Lord is in our future

already um preparing for us and being

able to be here with you feels like a

gift to me and U to my family as well so

thank you so much for inviting me I said

this in the first service we’ll say it

again now and some version of it as well

tonight because I am unable to stand in

this house without honoring the leaders

that the Lord has given you at this

particular church and I’m going to tell

you why because part of the priv

privilege that we have in Ministry to go

to so many different kinds of churches

different parts of the world you need to

know that every church does not have the

testimony that they actually have

pastors and leaders who have

integrity that don’t happen everywhere

and that the Lord has entrusted the

state of your souls your spiritual

growth to leaders that actually love

Jesus and love each other and you really

can come to know the measure of a person

not

just by how they walk through good times

it’s how they walk through bad times

it’s how they walk through hard things

and since I have seen you six years ago

our family has been through hard things

and so have the D Youngs and to be able

to be with them and to see how the Lord

has sustained you and kept you how he’s

healed you how he’s brought us all to

today after six years of such hard

things for all of us it’s been a it’s

been a long six years hasn’t it the

whole Globe has been through stuff and

the same God that has sustained Us in

Texas USA has the same God been

sustaining you here in Auckland New

Zealand I’m so

grateful so it’s a gift to be here and

as always I’m excited about the word of

God because it is living and active and

sharper than any two-edged sword so I

have asked him to open up all of our

spiritual ears here on this campus and

then on the others that are tuning in

right now that the Lord would open up

all of our spiritual ears so that you

don’t hear me but you hear the voice of

god let’s pray together Lord Jesus I

thank you so much for your word and I

thank you today that you have a word for

all of us we are leaning in Father we’re

sitting on the edge of our seat to hear

what you have to say in Jesus name

everybody agreed and said amen amen amen

one of the reasons why I respect um and

and am so endeared to to Paul and Marie

is because they have raised three sons

and my husband and I have three sons her

boys are a stage above mine and so

anybody that has raised boys and

survived they bless me because it means

if they made it I can make it too our

sons now are 21 years old 19 and 15

years old and so they are becoming grown

men now and because they are older I

take a lot of time now in Nostalgia just

to think back about their younger years

and some of the things that we would do

together and for a decade or so we lived

in a fairly rural part of our Metroplex

Dallas Fort Worth in Texas it was about

20 25 minutes from the Heart of the City

intentionally we could get there quickly

but when we drove home it felt like it

was world’s away and I loved it so much

I was endeared to this little lazy quiet

two-lane road where we got a little

teeny small house lived there for 10

years while the boys were little the

reason why loved it is because it had a

big yard there was a lot of room out

there for them to run around and play

and I’m the kind of Mama that believes

in go outside and play out there in the

country I wish the boys would tell me

that they were bored anytime they did I

would say do you see that tree right

there go play with

it you can eat the tree you can play tag

with the tree I don’t care what you do

but go outside and enjoy yourself and

one of the things they enjoyed the most

was the fact that our neighbor who lived

across the street she’s been one of my

closest friends for over 20 years now um

her name is Rachel the boys call her

aunt Rachel there is a pond in the front

of Rachel’s property and so we would

take advantage of that we would walk

across the street often to go fishing I

bought two little uh uh fishing poles

that were on sale at the local low Mart

around the corner I bought a tackle box

inside The Tackle Box I bought some

extra those little bobber thingies that

you put inside and just in case you need

more and I got some scissors to cut the

line and also I got some gloves that I

put in that box because I don’t know if

y’all can tell by looking at me or not

but I don’t mind going fishing but I

ain’t going to actually touch no

fish so we would take those two fishing

poles and whatever hot dog meat we had

left in the refrigerator because that

was our bait because you know we’re

professionals and we would walk across

the street to Aunt Rachel’s Pond we

would stand there in a little Cove that

was nestled under trees so the shade

provided this little Cove for us to

stand also the shade made all the little

small fish this pool right there in this

particular Corner we would drop the

lines in and almost immediately there

would be tugs on the line and within two

or three minutes we would catch a fish

we would toss that one back in two or

three minutes later five minutes later

we’d catch another fish if we were there

for an hour we could catch eight to 10

fish little small sun perch one after

the other and my boys loved it the

reason why why they loved it is because

you know this is the kind of fishing of

5-year-old needs in their life just

instant gratification one after the

other and we did it several times a week

through the week because it was very

convenient to just hop on over there

across the street so I thought and

assumed because we did it so much at

home and they loved it that they must

just like fishing in general and so one

summer we were out of town and we were

near a lake and I said okay boys let’s

get these same fishing polls that I had

brought with us for that particular trip

let’s go fishing we walked over to that

Lake put the lines in the water and we

fished and

fished and Lord have mercy we

fished and after 45 minutes an hour

turning into an hour and a half has it

ever happened to any of you that you’re

doing something for your children and

then you look up and realize your

children aren’t even there

anymore that’s exactly what happened to

me on this day we’re there fishing and

it was taking so long and I looked up

and realized the boys had run off they

were now in a yard nearby throwing a

football they weren’t even participating

in the fishing anymore and so I yelled

over to them and I said boys what in the

world are you doing I didn’t come out

here for my health this morning I came

out here to spend time with y’all get

back over here and let’s fish the oldest

one who at the time was about seven he

yelled back at me and said mom we don’t

like fishing like

that and the second son said yeah Mom

fishing is not supposed to be this

hard I stood there for a little while

longer with that line in the water

and I chuckled at what my boys had said

particularly that Second Son fishing is

not supposed to be this

hard it occurs to me that in a group

this size on this Sunday morning both in

this room and on the other side of the

screen there are some of you in some

Dynamic some area of your life feel

exactly the same way my boy did that

there’s some assignment some fishing

trip where you have invested in your

life an amount of energy amount of

emotional investment an amount of ideas

or time or money trying to sustain the

marriage or build the business or raise

the kid or or Foster that Ministry that

the Lord has entrusted to you that

you’ve given it everything you’ve got

and you feel like for all of the

investment you given you haven’t gotten

anything to show for it that you’ve made

all that investment but with little

benefits you feel like you’ve got only

empty hands to show for everything that

you’ve been giving to your family or to

those friendships or to that that job or

in that Ministry and you just feel

discouraged because you’ve given so much

and you have gotten so little back you

feel like my boy that fishing wasn’t

supposed to be this

hard there’s a fisherman in scripture

who knows exactly how it feels because

in Luke Chapter 5 we meet a fisherman

who wasn’t just fishing for an hour or

two like me and my boys he was fishing

all night long and this brother caught

absolutely nothing his story is found in

Luke chapter there’s encouragement for

any of us who are here today and

honestly you are right now or you have

been in a season of life where you just

need to know that that it’s not a waste

of your time your energy your investment

that there is encouragement for here for

anybody that’s ever had a fishing trip

gone bad Luke chapter 5 verse 1 and two

sets the stage it says now it came about

that while the multitude were pressing

in around him that ises Jesus and

listening to the word of God he was

standing by the lake of janzer that’s

another phrase for the Sea of Galilee

and verse two says he saw somebody say

he saw saw come on y’all he saw he saw

he saw two boats Lying by the edge of

the lake but the fishermen had already

gotten out of them and they were washing

their Nets let’s just start right here

with these two verses because in it Luke

paints this picture for us to show us

what’s happening on this particular day

when Jesus shows up on the shoreline of

the Sea of Galilee and he sees Simon

Peter this is after Simon has already

fished all night all night long he’s

discouraged and disappointed and

overwhelmed maybe even a little

underwhelmed because he’s given so much

and gotten so little back he’s already

abandoned his boat when Jesus sees him

on this particular morning and Luke

wants to paint this vibrant picture so

you know what the entire scene looked

like on this particular day he said in

verse one that there was a multitude

Scholars say this isn’t a couple dozen

people it’s not even a couple hundred

people thousands of people were likely

gathered on this day and Luke wants you

to know that they were pressing in on

Jesus multitudes of people hoarding

around him vying for his attention

trying to get as close to him as they

possibly could because people in this

day and age when Jesus was walking the

Earth they weren’t not convinced yet

that he was the Messiah they didn’t

quite know if he was the Redeemer that

you know the kingdom of God was at hand

they weren’t positive about all that

stuff but what they did know was that

when this guy showed up blind people

could see they knew that wherever this

guy went the lame started walking and

the dead were raised and that every

single time he opened up his mouth his

words were dripping with an authority

they had never ever heard before so

wherever Jesus went a crowd of people

came to where he was and they were not

satisfied just sitting calmly and

sedately like you and I are here today

just sitting and casually listening

there was nothing casual about this

crowd because they wanted to get as

close to Jesus as they possibly could

they were elbowing their way through the

crowd they were vying for his attention

they were calling out to him this was a

whirlwind of chaos as the people pressed

in on Jesus because they knew that if

they could get close enough they might

be able to be like that woman with the

issue of blood who when she got close

enough to Jesus she reached out and

touched a Hem of His Garment and power

left him and went to her and changed the

trajectory of her entire life so these

folks wanted to get close to Jesus I

mean come on y’all think about how we’d

feel if Jesus were our preacher this

morning there wouldn’t be anything

casual about that Gathering because we’d

be wanting to get as close as we

possibly can and so this multitude is

pressing in on Jesus and Luke Paints the

picture so you’ll know that Jesus has

literally physically been backed up

against the shoreline of the Sea of

Galilee by this multitude pressing in on

him there’s literally nowhere else for

him to go and in the middle of all this

chaos all this clamoring and all of this

confusion verse two says he

saw one man who’d had a bad night

fishing

I want you to know that no matter how

big the crowd gets no matter how big the

multitude is no matter the multitude of

problems and issues that are also

pressing in on Jesus no matter how many

other prayer requests or needs or issues

or dilemas or problems that our Lord

also has to contend with you need to

know that even in the midst of the

Whirlwind that is happening around you

you serve a God who sees

you he’s got his eyes on on

you this is encouraging for us today

because sometimes we can look around us

in a room like this on a Sunday like

this we can look around us and we

realize that there’s so much happening

in the lives of the people who came

forward earlier or the person sitting

behind us or beside us or we watch the

news and realize that God’s got so much

to contend with in other countries and

on other continents and governments of

the world that he is orchestrating and

in the midst of all of that chaos and

all of that confusion we can feel like

our little lives are lost in the crowd I

need you to know that even if your mama

doesn’t know about your fishing trip and

even if your spouse is unaware all the

nights you’ve spent awake the tears that

you’ve cried the beads of sweat that

have bubbled themselves up on your brow

as you’ve tried to figure out how to

deal with that problem in your family or

on your job or in your ministry or in

your health or on your finances you need

to know that even if nobody else sees

you serve a god who’s got his eyes on

you

nothing nothing that has happened in

your life has been lost on God he knows

the investment you’ve been making he

knows what you’ve been giving he knows

what you have been sewing into the seeds

the seeds you’ve been sewing into that

particular area of your life he knows

the discouragement that you feel because

you’ve given so much and have gotten so

little back even if nobody else knows

your God has got his eyes on

you it would be easy for us to read

something like that in verse two a

little observation about Jesus seeing

Simon Peter or to hear it taught and

preached on a Sunday especially if we

come like you do to an incredible Bible

teaching Church like like this one

worshipful Church like this one we can

get so used to it that we see something

like this that God sees us that he’s a

Ware of us that he knows us and if we’re

not careful it can start to roll off our

shoulders casually like it’s no big

deal so I just want you for just a

second to let it be absorbed into the

recesses of your heart so that the

gravity the weightiness of it the power

of it hits you squarely in the eyes this

morning that the god of the

universe sees

you that there’s nothing small or casual

about the fact that this is God we’re

talking

about this is the one who is orch

orchestrating the throws of the universe

right now while we’re sitting in this

room he’s controlling the throws of the

galaxies he’s handling neighborhoods in

the Galaxy that scientists haven’t even

yet discovered exist he’s taking care of

those he is the one that made sure that

the sun got positioned in the sky

exactly where it’s supposed to be he’s

the one that will hold it in place all

day long till it swaps places with the

moon later on tonight he’s the one

tonight that will hang every single star

in the sky he will know every single one

of them by name he will know every

single one of them by number he is the

one that is making sure while we’re

sitting in this room that the Earth is

spinning on its axis at just the right

speed that you and I can sustain life

here this is a God who is allmighty and

all powerful and is all Sovereign and

all holy and that

Great Mighty God sees

you what manner of love is

this that a God that great who does not

have to have relationship with us but

chooses it out of his love for us to be

concerned with the details of your life

your marriage the raising of those kids

your health your finances the the things

that are tucked within your heart and

your mind that your closest friends may

not even be aware of you serve a God who

knows and he

sees thank you God that you see

us and the scripture says that when he

sees Simon Peter Simon Peter has already

gotten out of the boat and he is washing

his net the Lord Jesus sees the detail

of what’s happening in this man’s life

who is so discouraged because of where

he finds himself on that particular

morning I remember SE several years ago

I was watching one of the um national

news programs in the States called The

Today Show and on The Today Show back

then this is many years ago they were

doing a story on religions of the world

that week every day they were taking a

different religion and they were

highlighting it on the show talking

about the details of it the day I caught

it I remember I was sitting on the edge

of our bed I was folding all the kids’

clothes and I was watching the news and

that day they were doing a story on the

Buddhist faith I remember I didn’t know

much about Buddhism and so I just sat

there for a moment listening it kind of

caught my attention Campbell Brown is

the name of the reporter at the time she

was describing how she and her camera

crew had to fly halfway across the world

from where the studios are in New York

USA they flew all the way to Hong Kong

to do this story once they flew halfway

across the world then they had to drive

three hours to get to the base of a

particular Mountain where they then

climbed up 268 stairs so that they could

get positioned for this story in front

of one of the Buddha statues that stands

in Hong Kong she described the length of

the trip she described the energy the

effort required to make this pilgrimage

and then the camera panned around and

you could see pilgrims there people who

had saved up for a lifetime she said so

that at least once in their life they

could fly halfway across the world and

make the three hour drive and climb up

268 stairs so that they could get down

on their knees to pray to their God

little

G so I’m watching this story and you

know I had several thoughts as I was

watching it but one of them was this

that if I had to save up a lifetime’s

worth of money and travel halfway across

the world to make a three-hour drive to

climb up 268 stairs to pray I would

never

pray ain’t nobody got time for

that and while there climbing up to talk

to their God little G an idol habc 2:20

says Idols have hands but can’t do

anything they have ears but can’t hear

they have eyes but can’t see they have

heads but nothing in them that can

actually think to do anything for you

and with you while they’re climbing up

to talk to their God little G the one

true and living God our God he comes

down to talk to

us

never let it roll off your shoulders

casually that this great all Mighty God

has chosen to condescend because he

wants to come see about you that’s how

much he loves

you and he sees Simon Peter and then

verse three says he got into one of the

boats which was Simon’s boat and he

asked him to push out a little way a

little distance from the land and then

he sat down on this boat and he started

teaching the multitudes from the boat I

will tell you that when I’m reading the

scriptures just personally like in my

own personal devotional life or if I’m

sitting in church which I usually am

every Sunday listening to the pastor

preach if there is something that is

repeated in the scriptures like

sometimes you will see truly truly I say

to you if something is repeated then I

know it’s not repeated because God likes

to hear himself talk I know that if it’s

repeated that means I’m supposed to pay

close

attention the same thing is true if

you’re ever reading through the Bible

and something seems to

contrast the Bible is inherent which

means if something appears to be a

little bit of a contrast you should lean

in and pay attention what captures my

attention about verse three Jesus got

into the boat is that just one verse

earlier in verse two Simon got out of

the

boat in verse two Simons out in verse

three Jesus is

in the very thing that was so

discouraging so disappointing so

frustrating so overwhelming to Simon

that all he wanted to do was get out of

it is the same thing that when Jesus

showed up and was looking around for a

place to stand a platform to turn into a

pull pit he chose the abandoned boat

circumstance of s’s

experience he planted himself in

someone’s emptiness and turned it into a

place to declare to everybody gathered I

am who I say I am and I can do what I

say that I can do Jesus will get into

the thing you and I most want to get out

of the place in your life where you’ve

experienced the most emptiness the place

where you and I have invested the most

but we keep coming up empty-handed this

should be the day that we realize those

empty places shouldn’t discourage us

instead of looking down in

discouragement we ought to lift up our H

eyes to the hills from when cometh our

help because our help comes from the

Lord and he is in the business of

turning empty platforms into pulpits he

puts himself into our emptiness and he

declares to everybody in our sphere of

influence I am who I say I am and I can

do what I say that I can do do in other

words our emptiness y’all it isn’t

fruitless it isn’t in vain the fishing

trip you’ve done where you feel like

you’re getting the least amount of

benefit or harvest from that if the Lord

has allowed the emptiness that means

he’s leaving room for his feet in your

life he’s leaving room for his

presence okay our God is Sovereign

somebody say Sovereign there are many

attributes that make up I like to look

at the attributes of God like links in a

chain there are many links in the chain

of God’s character like he is Holy

omnipresent omniscient list goes on and

on one of my favorites the one that

endear me most to our God is that he is

Sovereign sovereignty means he existed

before time began he was in eternity

past in fact the only reason time began

Genesis 1 is because God was already

there so that he could say Let There Be

and there was he was an eternity past he

has seen the entire spectrum of time

Genesis 1:1 all the way to Revelation

the end of time which we have not yet

seen and he’s already been an eternity

future sovereignty means he’s been and

has seen the entire spectrum of Time and

Eternity but sovereignty doesn’t just

mean he’s seen it sovereignty means he’s

got the whole thing in the palm of his

hands your life and mine the lifespan

that we have whatever it is it differs

for each of us it’s a blip on the radar

screen of Time and Eternity and if he’s

got the whole thing in the palm of his

hands that means he’s got your life in

the palm of his hands too sovereignty if

you believe in God’s sovereignty it is

what will allow you to do what Psalm

46:10 says Be Still cease to strive my

version is chill

out and know that I am God sovereignty

is what lets us know he’s got our back

right so if we take God’s sovereignty

and we apply it to this passage Luke

Chapter 5 it means that Jesus knew

before Simon ever went fishing in the

first place that he was going to fish

and catch

nothing and he let him go

anyway he knew before he ever cast

before Peter ever cast the net the very

first time Jesus was already fully aware

that he was going to exert that much

energy and that much effort when it was

midnight and then 1:00 a.m. and then 2

a.m. in the we hours of the morning he

knew the discouragement he knew the

disappointment he knew the confusion

that Simon was going to feel and he let

him fish anyway the reason why is

because if he would have allowed Simon

to fill up the platform of his boat with

all those flipping flopping fish there

would have been no room for his feet and

Jesus knew in his sovereignty there was

a morning coming he knew there was going

to be a multitude he wasn’t going to

want any one of them to miss the clarity

of his words he knew that they were

going to be gathered around and that he

was going to need a place to stand in

order to turn that landscape into a

natural Amphitheater so that his voice

echoed off the Hillside and every person

from the very first row all the way to

the furthest reaches didn’t miss one

word that he had to say Jesus knew he

was going to need a place to stand so he

let Simon fish knowing his emptiness

would be turned into a pull pit there

are seasons in our life God L y’all

where the Lord will allow us God will

call us to fishing trips where he knows

up front you ain’t going to catch

nothing he’s going to let you fish

anyway he’s going to call you to an

assignment that he knows is just outside

of your reach that no matter what your

skill is your talent is no matter your

connections or your money or the degrees

that you may have on your wall he knows

there’s nothing you’re going to be able

to do in the natural that’s going to get

you to that result and the reason why he

does that is because it creates in your

life what I like to call God

margin God margin is the empty space

that exists between our natural

resources and the assignment of God on

our life that God margin is the empty

space where he leaves room for himself

to step into your experience and to

declare to everybody watching your life

that he is a God who is able to do

Ephesians 3:20 and 21 now unto him who

is able to do exceedingly abundantly

above and beyond anything that you can

ask or think to him be the glory in the

church and in Christ Jesus both now and

forever come on somebody ought to say

Amen to

that and so if like me you’ve got some

empty margin in your life look to the

hills Jesus is on the way he’s left room

in your life so that he can stand there

because there is a multitude there’s a

sphere of influence that is gathered

around your life the people that follow

you on social media or the folks that

work in the same office as you or the

the the students at your school

University student or or Elementary

student there are people that are

watching your life and the most profound

message you or I will ever teach to

somebody else will not come from the

words that we say they will come from

the empty spaces in our life where God

stepped in and took nothing and made it

something then they will not be able to

deny that this Jesus must be worth

serving that this Jesus must be worth

following that he must be worth

committing my life to because if he did

it for them he can also do it for

me that is the testimony of this family

that the Lord has entrusted you to at

this church the testimony is that when

the medical community can’t do it and

when there are no more solutions and

when there’s no more um opportunity for

people to be able to figure it out the

Lord says but I will be a sustainer and

I will be a keeper and I will confuse

folks with my capacity

to take nothing and make it

something that testimony right there no

one can

deny so the Lord will allow emptiness

the Lord will sometimes in ways that

confuse us and discourage us that we do

not understand he allows emptiness and

then he steps into it and says I got

your

back so he steps into Simon’s experience

he’s standing there on the boat he is

preaching and teaching to all the

multitude that are gathered that day the

landscape has now become natural

Amphitheater every person can hear every

word that he says and after he finishes

speaking verse four says he looks at

Simon and he

says now let’s go deep sea

fishing he doesn’t look at the

multitudes he looks at the

disciple he looks at the one who has had

a front row seat everybody else was

standing from afar Simon was next to him

he looks to the one who has literally

had a front row seat to everything that

he’s been saying the one who has heard

the word up close and personal the one

who has been sitting in the church the

one who has heard the Bible being taught

with Clarity the one who has an had an

opportunity to see the testimonies of

others that he’s moved he looks not at

the multitudes but he looks at the

follower of Jesus the disciple and he

says let’s see if you’re just going to

be a hearer of the word or whether

you’re going to be a doer

also and I can’t tell whether or not you

actually believe me in shallow water we

got to go to deep water for that shallow

water is where you can stand up on your

own two feet I prefer shallow water

because you know I’m tall enough to

handle shallow water the problem is in

deep water I’m in over my head in deep

water that deep water place of Faith

it’s where we feel uncomfortable because

we’re out of our depth often times the

Lord will call us to a deep water place

of Faith because it’s where he will say

to the disciple this this is where I get

to see whether you believe everything

you said amen to on Sunday

morning and I just believe that the only

reason he would allow me to fly halfway

across the globe to be with you on this

Sunday morning is if he is fully

intending to set you up for a deep water

experience with him that I’m going to

tell y’all in the next few days after a

Sunday morning like this one he is going

to call some of you into the deep where

you’re going to have to believe that he

is who he says he is is he can do what

he says he can do and you’re not going

to experience that in the shallow only

in the

deep and so he calls him out to deep

water and Simon says exactly what I

would have said if I would have been in

that experience Simon says to him in

verse 5 Jesus you do know we have

already been fishing all night long

right we we’ve already tried this Jesus

you know what Jesus how about you stick

to the preaching and I’ll take care of

the fishing Jesus you don’t know what

you’re talking about I’m an experienced

fishermen this is what I do I know that

the fish on the Sea of Galilee Are

caught in the dark which is why he was

fishing all night long and in shallow

water we don’t go to deep water in the

middle of the day to catch fish what

you’re saying does not make sense and

sometimes the way that you and I can

know that God actually is Whispering to

us is that what he’s saying do quite

make sense because his ways are not our

ways and his thoughts are not our

thoughts and as high as the heavens are

above the Earth that’s how high his ways

and his thoughts are above our own and

we would do well to stop trying to dumb

God down so that he makes sense to

us because God y’all he is not just a

bigger version of you he’s in a class

all by himself he’s in a category all by

himself and sometimes the way he moves

many times the way he moves and operates

has Dimensions attached to it that our

human capabilities and capacity can’t

even comprehend and consider consider so

Simon says it doesn’t make sense but at

your bidding I will go

anyway because for the disciple there is

no separation between the secular and

the sacred there is no fishing versus

teaching preaching uh committing myself

to the scripture all of it is sacred my

entire life as a disciple is sacred no

matter what I’m doing in my Monday

through Saturday it doesn’t wait until

Sunday for me to be committed to the

Lord no my Monday is his and my Tuesday

is his and my Wednesday is his and

whatever I’m doing on Thursday and

Friday and Saturday it is all for his

glory so if I’m a teacher then you teach

that classroom for the glory of God and

if I’m a lawyer well the bar association

is getting ready to see what it looks

like when God tries a case and if I’m a

doctor well it’s going to look like what

it would if God is represented in this

room for healing and the solving of

people’s problem whatever I Do I Do It

For the Glory of God so Peter says I’m

going wherever you going Jesus let’s go

and they go out into the deep water and

Jesus looks at Peter and

says cast out your

net

now Jesus could have

said fish get in the

boat come on y’all know he could have

done it right because this is Jesus it’s

the same one that had just said when and

waves be

still and creation had obeyed him this

is the same man who the disciples had

looked at in another passage and they

had said what manner of man is this that

the winds and the waves even obey him so

he could have said fish get in the boat

y’all know the fish would have just

started jumping into the boat from

everywhere but he didn’t command the

fish he commanded the

disciple he said I have a miracle for

you but you have to partner with me in

order to receive it you’ve got to cast

in your net in order to get what I got

coming to you anyway whatever the Lord

has planned for you in these days that

are getting ready to follow after a

Sunday like this where he’s speaking so

clearly to us he is going to tell you in

some way to cast out your net to give

the apology to extend the gift to cross

the aisle to to U make sure that you

make sure to get over the breach that

you have with that particular person to

S financially whatever it is that he’s

going to ask you to do to write the

first verse to extend yourself in some

way and for any of us who are willing to

cast out our net we will get to be

recipients of something the likes of

which we cannot even

imagine in the scripture there are over

8,000 promises the promises for God’s

people in the scriptures are basically

opportunities to experience God that’s

what the promises are and most of those

8,000 promises y’all he didn’t not put

them in our hand he put them in our

reach it means you have to do your part

to grab hold of his

part and when Simon cast out his

net verse six and 7 says that they

pulled it in and it was brimming over

with fish that they could barely get the

net into the boat there were so many

fish that the Nets actually began to

break and they cast it in again and it

filled once more the same Waters that

had been completely lifeless and

fruitless the night before now all of a

sudden there were fish everywhere that

it seemed like couldn’t wait to get into

the boat and there were so many fish

that the boat began to sink that’s a lot

of fish right

there and it says in verse seven that

Peter looked over towards the shore and

he signaled to his Partners remember

this is Luke’s writing he is the one

that all likes to give us a lot of Det

detail so that we know and can have in

our imagination exactly the picture of

what is happening he has specified for

us here that Simon didn’t call out to

his

partners he

signaled the scripture doesn’t tell us

exactly why he didn’t say anything but I

just wonder if it’s

because he was

speechless that that when his mind tried

to come up with the right words to say

he couldn’t even figure out how to

describe what it was that God was

doing what

if God is setting you up to stun you

speechless where when you try to

describe the testimony of what God Did

In The Emptiness of your marriage or The

Emptiness with your parenting the

teenager or The Emptiness in your

finances or The Emptiness in your health

or The Emptiness on your job or The

Emptiness in your ministry you have no

explanation all you can do is signal to

folks around you and tell them come and

see how good God has been to

me and with a fi boat full of fish they

went back to the shore and when you have

time read the whole passage because they

rode Back To The Shore and when they got

to the Shoreline verse 11 says Jesus

looked at them and

said now follow

me and they left

everything including the

fish because now they realize this was

never about the fish anyway it was

always about becoming a follower of

Jesus Christ that their greatest

ambition had been the catch but the

catch was only designed to lead them to

the

Christ that really all of this all of

the disappointment the discouragement

the heartache the confusion of those

previous verses had all been about

introducing them to an up close intimate

relationship with Jesus

Christ and the only difference in this

story from the very beginning to the

very end is that at the beginning Jesus

was not in the boat and in the end he

was and when Jesus gets into the boat of

your life it

changes

everything not just your

circumstances it changes

you the fish are no longer as critical

to you as they once were because you

realize this is about going wherever

he’s going and sticking with Jesus and

walking with Jesus and and making sure

that when I see him face to face I hear

well done good and faithful servant he

changes everything about you sometimes

the biggest Miracle God does is not in

our circumstances the biggest Miracle he

does is in our own hearts and Minds he

changes you he changes me he Chang es

your Ambitions he changes your appetites

he changes your attitude everybody

anybody ever needed their attitude

adjusted he changes us and then he

whispers to us come follow

me and then we lay everything down at

his feet and we follow hard after him

would you bow your heads with me

please I want to ask you if there is

anybody in this room and you were

discouraged because of the fishing trip

of your life maybe you were just about

to jump ship and give up and throw in

the towel and you hear the Holy Spirit

whispering to you today I got you I see

you and I have a plan for you if you are

discouraged and you’re just about to

quit but you hear the spirit speaking to

you today I cannot wait to pray for you

and to ask the Holy Spirit to guard you

up as you move forward in the assignment

that he has for you if that’s you would

you please stand to your feet and allow

me to pray for you in any area of your

life if you need the Lord to be near and

present

stand and then there may be others of

you even while they are standing who are

here and you realize Jesus isn’t even in

your boat you realize you’ve been rowing

and fishing all by yourself in your

marriage with the parenting and your

finances on your job and you need to

make sure that Jesus is not just in the

boat but he’s at the Helm of the ship

calling the shots if you have never

placed faith in Jesus Christ and you

want to make sure you don’t leave here

today without making sure he is in the

boat with you please stand to your feet

so that we can pray for you today best

decision you’ll ever make in your life

is making sure Jesus is on that

boat yes I see you thank you

yes yes

sir Lord Jesus for every brother or

sister under the sound of my voice who

is standing I first thank you Father for

the fishing Expeditions you have

assigned to every single one of us we

yield them to you and father I ask right

now in jesus’ name that the blanket of

discouragement that may be cloaking

someone’s shoulder that you would

supernaturally lift it off in jesus’

name and that you would replace it with

a cloak of encouragement father I pray

that you would offer them Supernatural

support Supernatural wisdom Supernatural

strategy Supernatural insight and father

for the emptiness that exists in our

life we thank you in advance that they

will become platforms through which our

life displays your glory and your power

through our lives father we pray against

every scheme of the enemy that are

assigned to any of our Lives we thank

you that right now that assignment is

cancelled in the name of Jesus and by

his blood that has been shed on Calvary

and from this day forward we will walk

in Victory and freedom in Jesus name

father any fish you give us we’re

already committing to lay it down at

your feet and be followers of you and

you alone and for everyone who is in the

room if you’ve never placed faith in

Jesus Christ the Bible says if you

confess with your mouth and believe in

your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord you

shall be saved so I’m going to pray and

let’s all repeat this prayer together we

can build an atmosphere of faith for

those who are praying it for the first

time let’s pray Lord Jesus Lord Jesus I

am a sinner I am s in need of a savior

in of and I believe and I believe that

you are that

savior so today I place faith alone

In Christ Alone to remove my

sins take up residence in me in the

person of the Holy

Spirit right now in Jesus name in Jesus

name come on everybody shout

[Music]

amen