Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is Christian entertainer Anthony Evans.
The daughter of Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas,[1] Priscilla grew up well acquainted with the Bible. As a freshman at the University of Houston, she interned with a Christian radio station. Soon listeners were calling the station, inviting Priscilla to speak at their Bible study groups and other events. Soon she was invited to lead a weekly Bible study at the Zig Ziglar Corporation and then to join its speaker team. Priscilla has worked as an independent contractor for CBS and hosted a local television show, but recently she has focused solely on Christian ministry opportunities. She calls Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, her mentor in ministry.

Together the Shirers established Going Beyond Ministries, a speaking bureau featuring Priscilla. The parents of three young boys, the Shirers share ministry and family responsibilities. While Priscilla continues to minister full-time, Jerry manages his schedule and other business aspects of Going Beyond Ministries.

Priscilla speaks around the world at churches and other events, including the LifeWay Christian Resources-sponsored Going Beyond conference and Deeper Still: The Event, where she shares the stage with Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. She has also authored several books.

Shirer graduated from Duncanville High School and Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree from the latter in Biblical Studies.

In 1993, Shirer was a freshman at the University of Houston. Shirer was married in 1999 to Jerry Shirer, former Hilton Hotels executive. The couple has three sons.

In 2013, Shirer was a speaker at the 2013 Women of Faith conference. In 2015, Shirer made her film debut in the Kendrick Brothers film War Room. In October 2016, Shirer was recognized as one of four prominent women of faith during the 10th anniversary of God’s Leading Ladies Life Enrichment Program at The Potter’s House.[1] Shirer also featured at the 47th GMA Dove Awards.

but I have a teenager this year Jackson

is our oldest than Jerry Junior is our

second son and then our little one his

name is Jude I told the ladies this

weekend Jude is our surprise boy we

still don’t know how he got here he

slipped in by the skin of his teeth and

so we got Jude I named him Jude on

purpose because that is as close as I

could get to Revelation because it’s

finished it’s the end of the line is

over but we got Jackson Jerry junior and

Jude we live in a fairly rural part of

the dallas-fort Worth area we actually

like it that way because we feel like

we’re worlds away even though it only

takes about 10 12 minutes or so to get

to everything we need in the city it

just feels nice and slow and lazy kind

of Sleepy and quiet we like it there are

you know horses over there on somebody’s

property and cows over there on somebody

else’s property and our neighbor

directly across the street happens to be

one of my closest friends for the past

12 years or so and she has a pond at the

front of her property we love that so

much and we love living out there we

have you know lots of trees and anytime

my boys have the nerve to say to me that

they are bored I say oh no you not you

see that tree right there go play with

it you can eat it you can play tag with

it I don’t care what you do with it but

you’re not going to be bored out here in

the country today boy I’m the kind of

moment that believes they need to go

outside and so I send them outside we

have those creeks and those trees and

bugs and mud and things boys need in

their lives and that pond

we love that pond because I will take

the three boys fishing we will get the

fishing poles that I bought on sale at

the local Super Walmart around the

corner and the tackle box that I also

found on sale there we have several

things in the tackle box some extra

baubles because we always seem to lose

those little bombers across the water

and we’ve got extra hooks we always seem

to need extra hooks I also have some

scissors in that tackle box and I also

have some gloves because y’all know I

don’t mind going fishing but I ain’t

finna touch no fish so we grab all that

stuff and any hot dog meat we have left

over from the week that’s our bait and

we walk across the street to the

and we fish we love this one particular

corner on the pond because there are

some sheets some trees that shade this

particular corner nicely and because it

seems like all the fish seem to gather

right there in this little particular

cove on the pond and so we will fish

right there we love fishing right there

because when we put the line in the

water within about five minutes we’ve

got a fish on the line we take it all

throw it back in celebrate the catch and

then we put the line back in within

three to five minutes we’ve got a tug

and we’ve got a fish we catch fish very

regularly every time we put that line

and in fact if we’re out there for an

hour we got 10-12

fish that we’ve caught before we leave

instant gratification this is the kind

of fishing of six year old needs in his

life we enjoy so much fishing at home

that I thought the boys would enjoy

fishing as well just in general no

matter where we were and so we go to a

Christian camp every single summer as a

family they have a lake down by the

dining hall one morning the boys woke up

early dining hall wasn’t even open for

breakfast yet I said boys let’s grab our

fishing gear that we brought with us

let’s go down to the lake and fish until

it’s time for breakfast so we grabbed

those same fishing poles the same tackle

box we walked down to the lake and we

fished and fished and fished not only

was did we not catch anything there

wasn’t even a bite on the line it seemed

like all the fish were asleep under the

water and I just became intense and

intentional I wanted to figure out why

they weren’t responding I was trying

hard to get some response from those

fish have you ever been doing something

for your kids and then you realize it

becomes more about you than the kids and

I’ve got all serious and intentional and

I actually looked up in real life my

kids weren’t even there on the dock

anymore they had run off to a nearby

field they were throwing the football

with each other I looked over to the

yard and I said boy I didn’t come out

here for my health this morning I came

out here for y’all get over here and

let’s fish one of them yelled back to me

and said mom I don’t like fishing like

that

the other one yelled over to me my

second son and he said yeah mom fishing

ain’t supposed to be that hard

i sat there with the line in the water

for just a few more minutes and I

thought about what my second son had

said fishing is not supposed to be that

hard it occurs to me that in a group

this size there are very men as many of

you who this sunny Sunday morning has

met you at a time in your life where

maybe you would not burn alive those

exact same words but honestly you feel a

little bit discouraged because you have

been investing your time your energy

your efforts your experience your

creativity your ideas you have been

investing in a relationship in a

ministry in a business in an

organization and you feel like you’ve

been putting in so much of yourself and

getting so little back and you knew that

that fishing trip when you signed up for

it that marriage or starting that

ministry or starting that business or

parenting that child you know what was

going to require some work because all

fishing trips do you just didn’t think

it was going to be this much work and

you didn’t think you would invest this

much and yield so few results and so

you’re a little bit discouraged because

as you as a church have been talking

about finishing strong you’ve hit these

pockets along the way in your journey

where you feel like you’ve been fishing

and fishing but you haven’t been

catching anything there haven’t been any

benefits that in your mind equal to the

investment that you have been putting in

like when you walk down the aisle and

you said I do you knew that that

assignment that marriage that fishing

expedition was going to require some

work because all fishing expeditions do

but these two years later or five or 10

or 20 years later you just didn’t know

it was going to be this much work

for when you had that baby and you held

that sweet precious thing in your arms

those first couple hours you know that

they always feel sweet in the first

couple hours and you held that baby in

your arms but now these 10 years later

these 16 or 21 or 30 years later you

didn’t know it was going to be this much

work or you said yes to be a follower of

Jesus Christ and you told him you would

go wherever he leaves you just didn’t

know he was gonna lead you here to do

this in this way you thought that it was

going to be yes

work but not this hard and you certainly

didn’t think you’d have to give so much

of yourself

and in exchange be prepared to to catch

so little and so I want to talk to any

of you to get today who are a little bit

discouraged because you do want to

finish strong

you just feel like along the way you’ve

had some fishing trips that have gone

bad that you’ve been invest in yourself

and pulling in so little and you’re

discouraged and you need some

encouragement to continue there is

encouragement for us today from the

story of a man in Scripture and listen

this brother didn’t just fish for 30

minutes or 45 or an hour there’s brother

fished all night long and caught

absolutely nothing his story is found in

Luke chapter 5 if you still actually use

a Bible with paper pages turn on over to

Luke chapter 5 or you can use your

iPhone your iPad any manner of is just

get on over to Luke chapter 5 if you

don’t have a Bible that’s okay because

the person next to you cannot wait for

you to lean over and look on their

device with them Luke chapter 5 verse 1

now it came about that while the

multitude were pressing in around him

that’s Jesus pressing it around Jesus

and listening to the Word of God Jesus

was standing by the lake of Gennesaret

the lake of janessa Rhett is another

phrase for the Sea of Galilee verse 2

says and he saw somebody say he saw he

saw two boats lying by the edge of the

lake but the fishermen had gotten out of

them and they were washing their nets

let’s just start right here in these two

verses y’all because we get an

opportunity here to see Simon the

fisherman exactly the same way Jesus saw

him when he approached on this

particular day at this point in the

story Simon has already done his fishing

all night long he is discouraged and

disappointed frustrated probably

irritated he has gotten out of the boat

he has abandoned that was represent his

disappointment and discouragement and

when Jesus shows up he sees Simon

already out of the boat already washing

his net I love when authors of the

scriptures are

descriptive when they want us to know so

much juicy detail that they don’t leave

it out because in verse one he gives us

a whole lot of information he wants us

to know that Jesus is surrounded by a

crowd of people and he doesn’t use the

word crowd he uses the word in the

original language that translates to

multitude he wants you to know that

there aren’t a couple dozen people here

or even a couple hundred scholars say

there were probably thousands upon

thousands that were with Jesus that day

and the author goes to great detail to

make sure you know that they were not

just gathered they were not calmly

casually sedately sitting and listening

to the Word of God like you are this

morning he said that the multitude was

pressing in on Jesus I want you to get

the picture here Jesus is being backed

up against the shoreline of the Sea of

Galilee he has nowhere else to go

because the people have pressed him

there

these people are a clamoring chaotic

confusing group of people who are trying

their best to vie for position to get as

close as they possibly can they want to

be like the woman with the issue of

blood who was able to force her way

through the crowd enough that she was

able to get close enough and reach out

and touch the hem of His garment so that

power left him and went to her do you

remember that story these people wanted

to be like like that like that woman

they brought their needs with them they

brought their ailments with them they

brought their friends and their loved

ones that are in need of a touch from

this miracle worker because let me tell

you something even if they weren’t yet

quite sure about this whole Messiah

business they didn’t know about

salvation and redemption and all that

what they did know was that when this

man showed up blind people could see

what they knew beyond any reasonable

doubt was that when this man showed up

deaf ears could hear the lame could walk

the dead were raised and what they knew

for sure was that they had heard good

teaching before from the religious

leaders of the day the Pharisees and the

Sadducees but the scripture tells us

that when Jesus opened up his mouth his

words were dripping with all and in

authority they had never ever heard

before

and so wherever Jesus was a multitude

followed because they had never seen a

phenomena like this so this crowd is

pressing in on Jesus it is chaotic it is

clamouring is confusing they are

screaming at the top of their lungs they

want to get close to Jesus this is the

picture the author is painting and in

the midst of all this confusion all this

chaos with people vying to get close to

him I mean just think of how you would

feel if Jesus were your Bible study

teacher and with all of that chaos and

confusion swirling all around all around

verse 2 says Jesus saw one man who’d had

a bad night fishing I have good news for

you this morning

it doesn’t matter how big the crowd gets

it doesn’t matter how big people church

ever becomes it doesn’t matter how many

services you have to contain to gather

in all of the people who come from the

four corners of this city to be a part

of this service it doesn’t matter how

many other needs are being vocalized to

God in prayer you need to know know that

no matter how big the crowd and no

matter how many needs you serve a God

who sees you that you are not lost in

the crowd and he is fully aware and

concerned and and engaged in the details

of your life in mind we serve a God

who’s got his eyes on you and if you’re

discouraged because you’ve had a fishing

trip gone bad because you’ve been

investing so much of yourself and you’re

wondering if anybody sees if anybody

knows if anybody’s aware if anybody’s

going to appreciate or applaud or value

what it is that you put in you need to

know that your spouse might not know

when your kids might not care and your

best friend may not be aware and your

parents may not be interested you need

to know that even if nobody in your

sphere of influence sees you serve a God

who’s got his eyes on you he knows all

about your fishing trip he knows all

about what you’ve invested in what

you’ve given he knows about how it hurts

your heart that you’re seeing so little

of benefit from this investment that

you’ve been making

you serve a God who sees you and never

in a million years y’all should we hear

this fact that God sees us never should

we hear that and it roll off of our

shoulders casually as if it’s no big

deal God sees the God of the universe

cares about me this is God we’re talking

about y’all know he don’t need us right

he chooses to be in relationship with us

this is the god of the universe he’s the

one that the appointed hour this morning

made sure that the Sun was in its place

he is the one that will hold it steadily

there until it swaps places with the

moon later on this evening he is the one

that will hang every single star in its

place who knows every single one of them

by name and by number he is the one that

is controlling the throes of the

universe that is making sure that

galaxies that scientists have not even

yet discovered that they are exactly

where they need to be and will remain

there he is the one that is making sure

while you and I are sitting in this room

that the planet that we are on spins

spins on its axis at just the right

speed not too fast nor too slow that you

and I cannot sustain life here he is the

one controlling the throes of the entire

universe and in the midst of all of that

he sees about you he cares about making

so if you’re the one who goes to sleep

at night but actually you don’t sleep

because there are minutes that turn to

hours of you fretting and worrying and

wondering whether or not you can fix

this fishing trip problem in your life

your spouse is sound asleep and they

don’t know or if you’re the one who has

cried so many tears and you’re wondering

if the tears have gotten lost in the

carpet fibers of your bedroom floor you

need to know that every single one of

those tears has been captured in the

palm of Almighty God that gives you

brothers are the one who’s had sweat

bubbling up on your brow as you’ve tried

to figure out how you’re going to get

past this dilemma in your marriage or

your finances or on your job you need to

know that your wife might be unaware or

that your boys on the job might be

unaware but you need to know your God

has seen every single one of those beads

of sweat the moment you’ve stayed awake

the time you spent on your knees not one

of those prayers have ricocheted off the

ceiling and gone nowhere every single

one of them have reached the ears of

your God his eyes have seen and it’s

ears have heard and Isaiah 59 said that

if I’m not so short that he cannot save

you and I have a God who’s got his eye

on us but not only that verse 3 takes it

one step forward look what verse three

says it says Jesus got into one of the

boats which was Simons he got into one

of the boats not just anybody

Simon’s boat and then he asked Simon to

push out a little way from the land

Jesus then sat down he began teaching

the multitudes on the shore from Simon’s

boat listen to that first line again

Jesus got into one of the boats the

author wants to make sure you know this

wasn’t just any old regular boat this

was Simon spoke I will tell you that in

my personal just quiet time that if I’m

reading through a passage of Scripture

and something is repeated in a very

short space of time I know it’s not

repeated because God likes to hear

himself talk

I know it’s repeated because I’m

supposed to pay attention like when you

see in the scriptures truly truly I say

– you verily verily that’s like sho’nuff

for real that’s what that means so I pay

attention the same thing is true if

there is something that is contrasting

in a very short space of time something

is different than that it reads

somewhere else that means because I know

the Bible is inerrant and I know that it

is infallible that I’m to pay attention

to what the nuances there are trying to

teach me so when I read in verse three

that Jesus got into the boat what’s most

intriguing to me about that is not the

Jesus got in in verse three if that in

verse two Simon got out in verse two

Simon gets out of the boat in verse 3

Jesus gets into the boat

the very thing that was disappointing

and discouraging and irritating enough

to Simon inverse to that all he wanted

to do was get out of it is the very

thing in verse three when Jesus is

looking for a place to stand to declare

his message he deems fit to plant his

feet and turn into a pulpit so that he

can proclaim his message to those who

are gathered what does this tell us it

tells us not only that he sees you it

tells us that he will use the part of

your life you think is useless the

abandoned boat platform of your

experience the season of your journey

that really all you want to do is get

out of it and move on and abandon it and

go somewhere else with your journey that

empty place is most likely where Jesus

is going to plant his feet in your

experience and proclaim his power and

his goodness and his glory not only to

you but to the people who are on the

shore of your life your sphere of

influence the folks in your job at in

your high school classroom and on your

university campus and in your

neighborhood and in that organization

they’re going to see the glory of God

because you have emptiness that was

filled by a savior who sees you and

loved you he’s going to use the part of

your life you think is useless be

encouraged my friend there is nothing

beyond the repair of God there is

nothing beyond the use of God there is

no vain a fruitless portion of your

journey we serve a God who can use

anything at any time

any way he chooses he’s good like that

he uses the part of your journey that

you think is useless my mom is a master

chef actually she’s not really

technically a master chef she’s just my

mama and there’s no cooking like your

mama’s cooking and I don’t know about

you guys but I grew up you know on

Sunday there was really rarely just

going out to eat dinner business on

Sunday mom cooked Sunday dinner right it

was this whole thing it was very

exciting I remember her starting

sometimes on Saturday night and she

would have a roast or something cooking

all night long I remember getting I

remember smelling it all night long and

we get up on Sunday we hadn’t even gone

to church yet we were starving we wanted

whatever she had been making the yeast

rolls would be rising the macaroni and

cheese would be bubbling I’m making

y’all hungry aren’t I yeah it was a huge

experience that Sunday dinner I loved it

so much and now as a mom with three

children myself and a husband I know how

much work Sunday dinner is I appreciate

my mom so much more and I still put a

left me can figure out how she did it

because I have one oven my mom only has

one oven no double ovens I cannot for

the life of me figure out how you get

all that food on the table all hot at

the exact same time something’s going to

be cold at my house because I can’t

figure it out I just I can do so between

all the dinner and all the dishes all I

appreciate my mom so much more and I

also know why she didn’t cook nothing on

Monday or Tuesday she was tired ain’t

nobody got time for that this is what

she would do though she would go into

the refrigerator and look at the

leftovers

LeBron Khalil of macaroni little chicken

list onion she would take all that stuff

out she would chop it all up reconfigure

it dice it put it all together she would

probably pour in some cream of mushroom

soup stir that in sprinkle some cheese

on top because you know cheese makes

everything all right then she would put

it into the oven at 350 and she would

sit there at 350 waiting for the exact

right moment when it was all bubbly and

perfect she would pull it out of the

oven then she would give it this French

sounding name and set it on the table in

front of us we thought it was this

brand-new masterpiece but it wasn’t

something brand new it was just

leftovers in the hands of a master okay

let me tell you what God is going to do

with the useless portions of your

journey and of your life in mind what

he’s going to do is take a good peek at

all of that then he’s going to pull it

out he’s going to chop it up reconfigure

it he’s going to rearrange it then he’s

gonna pour the cream of Holy Ghost on

top of that thing stir it in sprinkle on

some grace and mercy because you know

grace and mercy makes everything better

then yes you’re going to put you in the

oven of fire and try

and he will leave you there at for just

the right amount of time like any good

master chef you go pull you out before

it’s too much and then y’all then he’s

gone the best part is he gives you a

brand new name he stamps you with

himself and then he sets you down in

front of a lost and dying world that

needs to know our God is mm-hmm that’s

what he does it’s just best work if

finest work is when he takes our messes

and makes a message out of them it is

greatest work upon us to take what we

think is useless and to show us how

useful it can be so here’s Simon with

all of this emptiness this empty

platform no fish in sight but it is

turned into a pulpit from which Jesus

proclaims the message that he had can I

tell you that the people on your job and

the people in your neighborhood high

school students the folks in your class

they do not need to hear us talk about

how good Jesus is what they need is to

see somebody who had some emptiness and

Jesus filled it they need to see a

marriage that was hanging on by a thread

but now the two of you are not still

just married you are happily married and

it is a testament to emptiness that he

filled the world needs to see somebody

who was lost and now they’re found blind

but now they see and when they see the

message of Christ being proclaimed

through our experience that is when they

want to know about this God we serve and

this is how he does it he uses the empty

platforms of our experience the tough

portions of our journey where we feel

like we’re not yielding any fruit he

uses that as an opportunity as margin in

your life to step in and make his

presence known and put his power on

display through your life I believe that

God is sovereign

somebody say sovereign sovereign do you

believe that about four of you okay let

me tell you what sovereignty is

sovereignty means that our God existed

before time began eternity past Genesis

1:1

not the beginning for God the only

reason why there was a Genesis 1:1 is

because God already existed so that he

could say let there be and there was God

has been in eternity past he has seen

all of time from the beginning Genesis

1:1 all the way to the end of the

spectrum of time which you and I have

not yet seen but he is not just not

there our God has also already seen into

eternity future so he has seen all of

the spectrum from eternity past through

time and history into eternity future

but sovereignty does not just mean he’s

seen it sovereignty means he’s got the

whole thing in the palm of his hand

sovereignty is what allows you and I to

do what Psalm 46:10 says be still see

striving chill out and know that I am

God sovereignty means that last week

that thing that happened to you

surprised you but God was not in the

heavens going oops

that would slip past me nope he’s

sovereign he’s already been there and

done that sovereignty means he’s got

your back okay you believe he’s

sovereign it’s still only like ten of

y’all do you believe he’s sovereignty

[Applause]

alright so we’re going to apply his

sovereignty to Luke chapter 5 okay God

already knows Simon is out in the deep

water all night long fishing this is an

experienced fisherman y’all this is what

he does he fishes on the Sea of Galilee

he always catches fish but this night he

cast out his net brings it in shops no

fish he casts it out again brings it in

disappointed discouraged shocked know

this now the midnight hour is coming 1

a.m. 2 a.m. it’s the bleakest time of

night he’s becoming more and more

frustrated and discouraged and

disappointed every time he pulls in that

net and there are no fish because he

could not in his humanity know what

Jesus in his sovereignty would have been

aware of what Jesus would have known was

that there was a morning coming and

Jesus would have known that

in the morning there were going to be a

multitude of people gathered and they

were going to need to hear his message

he knew he was going to need to try to

find a place to stand to make sure that

his voice would be amplified in such a

way that everybody from the very front

row of that group all the way to the

furthest reaches of that group would not

miss one word that was going to come out

of his mouth and so jesus knew listen

that if he allowed simon to catch all

his own fish the platform of that boat

would have been so filled with a bunch

of flipping flopping fish there would be

no room for his feet so in his

sovereignty he allowed simon to fish and

catch nothing so that there would be

margin for jesus to stand you maybe in

your life right now in a position where

no matter what you do you not going to

catch fish and this is a hard part of

this message because i don’t know about

y’all but when i fish i like to catch

something if i’m going to devote my time

or my energy my effort to a circumstance

if i’m going to pour that in i want the

benefits for all this that I’m investing

amen but sometimes God will purposefully

specifically strategically put you in a

position where no matter what your skill

is no matter how talented you are no

matter the diplomas on your wall no

matter how much money you have no matter

how many connections you have made no

matter who you are or what you’ve done

no matter how hard you fish you’re not

going to catch anything because if you

and I can always catch our own fish we

will work ourselves out of an

opportunity to see what it’s like for

his feet to be in our lives so listen if

you’re discouraged today because you’ve

got some emptiness don’t let that

discourage you you want to look up and

holy anticipation because of he’s

allowed the emptiness that means he

intends to fill it

he’s going to use the part of your life

you think is useless he’s going to make

something out of that emptiness he’s

going to use it ever he’s going to turn

that empty platform into a pulpit where

he’s going to declare his glory so as

far as we can tell

Simon’s the only person on the boat with

him he sits in shallow shallow water in

the boat with Jesus while Jesus is

speaking to the crowd but then Jesus

turns to Simon after he finished

speaking to the crowd finished preaching

the message he turned to Simon in verse

4 and he says push out him to deep water

and let down your nets for a catch push

out into deep water

I like shallow water you see in shallow

water I can stand up alone 2 feet deep

water is when I’m in over my head

Jesus says Simon let’s go deep Simon had

a front-row seat for that message

everybody else was on the shore Simon

was in the boat sitting right there

looking right up at Jesus while Jesus

was speaking to the crowd Jesus turned

to him after hearing the Sunday message

and says let’s see if it worked

let me tell you the point of church the

point of view gathering on this Sunday

if not so that you and I can sit

together and applaud the message and say

amen to the message and then go outside

and not be willing to go deep when God

calls us soon we have wasted our time

and energy it’s sunday after sunday

pastor Herbert stands and he teaches you

and I the truths from Scripture and yet

we go out and live not in response to

what it is that we’ve heard the beauty

of the church is that what we hear when

we have a front row seat to the teaching

of Jesus that when the Holy Spirit was

to our heart on Monday let’s go deep we

say yes sir because I believe what I

heard is in church on Monday y’all this

is like a huddle huddle in a football

game when we go to football games you

know you don’t mind the huddle you

appreciate that the team is huddling but

if they huddle for three hours you

have a problem with that because we

didn’t pay all that money per ticket to

watch 11 Men in Tights bending over

huddling that’s not what we came for

what we came for is to see the

difference that the huddle is gonna make

on the field of play

well yo this is the huddle this is easy

up in here we can wave our hands we can

applaud we can celebrate we can

fellowship with one another enjoy the

huddle but at some point here in a few

minutes we go break uttal and we’re

supposed to leave these doors and score

touchdowns for the kingdom of God

because we’ve Auto so I’m telling you

right now I’m telling you right now that

the reason why the Lord allowed me the

privilege to be here from Dallas today

the reason why you came on this Sunday

morning I know some of you this morning

we’re like I don’t think I’m gonna be

able to make it’s Church and yet somehow

you came to church and let me tell you

the reason why because he wants you to

know right now that in the days and

weeks coming up the Holy Spirit’s going

to whisper to you trust me come to deep

water and he wants you to know right now

that if you will trust him and come to

deep water you were setting yourself up

for something spectacular because look

what happens in Simon’s experience

Simon answers and he says to him Master

we’ve worked hard all night long we’ve

caught nothing we’ve already tried this

Jesus

but that’s your bidding I’ll go anyway

and when they had done this they

enclosed a great quantity of fish and

their nets begin to break and so Peter

Simon Peter signals to his partners in

the other boat for them to come and help

them and they came they still both the

boats and both of them begin to sink

y’all that’s a lot of fish the waters

that had been completely fruitful

unfruitful completely unproductive the

night before all of a sudden now the

waters are just teeming with fish there

are fish everywhere almost as if the

fish could not wait but to get in the

boat in fact you know that Jesus could

have said fish get the boat and you know

fish would have just started jumping

into the boat just Roberta’s oh this is

the same God who said to the winds in

the waves

peace be still and they obey so he could

have done it but he didn’t do that he

said

iemon you come to deepwater with me you

cast out your net in other words he

allows us to act in faith in order to be

a participant in the recipient receiving

his miracles and promises in our life do

you know that there are over 8,000

promises written in the scripture for

daughters and sons of God promises in

the scripture are basically

opportunities for us to experience God

there are over eight thousand of them in

the scriptures do you know that most of

those he did not put in our hand he put

them in our reach in other words we have

to do our part in order to grab hold of

his part and so yeah he’s going to call

you to deep water and he’s going to ask

you to trust him cast out your net in

that empty place where you already feel

like there’s no hope how would I do this

again well you do it again because it’s

different this time Jesus is in the boat

with you so fish we’re coming out of

everywhere so many fish that verse seven

says Simon signaled to his partners it’s

specific to tell us that he signals once

us to know he didn’t call out to them if

it would have been me think about it

I wouldn’t we have called out hey yo get

over here you I’m not going to believe

this

that’s not what he did he signaled the

scripture does not tell us why but I

wonder if the author has gone to so much

lengths to make sure we know how Simon

called him I wonder if the reason why he

signaled and didn’t speak is because he

was speechless yo when his brain tried

to come up with the right word to

describe what he was seeing happening in

front of him his brain couldn’t even

come up with the right vernacular so the

best he could come up with was

I want to ask you

when’s the last time God stuns you and I

want to suggest to you that as you think

about finishing strong in your life

every single time you and I come across

a season or a pocket in our marriage or

in our parenting or on our job or in

these relationships that we have with

others there when we come across these

empty places where we’re fishing and

catching nothing I want to suggest to

you that the purpose is because he’s

setting you up to stun that he’s putting

you in a right position so that you can

know what it’s like to have the speed of

Jesus invade your circumstances and then

to follow him by faith and see what it

was like when in obedience he responds

to you and reveals to you and shows you

and allows you to be a beholder of his

miracles in your life and I think the

reason why we’re here on this Sunday

morning is because he wants you to know

right now but if you’ll come deep if

I’ll come deep when he calls us will get

to see Ephesians 3:20 now unto Him who

is able to do exceedingly abundantly

above and beyond like lotsa fish

anything you can ask or even think to

that Great God be the glory in the

church that’s us and in Christ Jesus

both now and forever somebody ought to

say