Jesus in Peter’s Boat: The Call to Deeper Faith

We came to hear a word from the Lord. So if you brought your Bibles, get your Bibles out right now. And I want to tell you, there are times when God gives you a word that will mark you the rest of your life. There are moments in life where when you receive a word from the Lord, you cannot stay the same. I'm praying today will be one of those days where you hear the word of the Lord and it actually does something in you that you can't stay the same. where the rest of your life is no longer the same as the previous days because God spoke to you. God gave you a word and you decided to do something differently because you received a word from the Lord. If you believe that today and you brought your Bible holding the air like you care, even if you didn't bring your Bible, please participate and shout word when I count to three. Here we go. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word so God's word gets into us.

There are times in life that I think we mistakenly think the Christian faith is more like a Hallmark movie or a Hollywood movie where we accidentally combine the fantasy of what we think following Jesus is like versus what the reality of following Jesus is like. What I mean by that is God works in our good days and our bad days. God works on the mountains and he works in the valleys. God works when we are full of gladness and when we have sorrow. He He's not a God that just works in the good days. He He's the God that works even in the most difficult of days.

God's ways are so much different than our ways. In fact, the scriptures say his ways are higher than our ways. So there's some acknowledgement in our lives that there are times that sometimes we don't get it. And we've got to actually align our ways with his ways. That maybe God is doing more than we actually understand. Maybe God's doing more than I previously understood. Maybe God's doing more than what I've experienced in the past. Is it possible that we have a God that's able to do more? Is it possible that that God's ways are so different than the ways of the world because he takes the last and he makes them first? He takes the weak and he makes them strong. He says, "Of all the examples in this world that I want you to think about the kingdom, I want you to think about a kid. I need you to

think a little more like a child. I need you to trust me just a little more because it's the mindset of a child that enters the kingdom of heaven. It's not those that have it figured out. It's those that say, "Lord, I need you. Lord, I want you. Lord, I depend on you. Lord, if if I don't have you, then what else do I have in this world?" You see, here the here's the thing about God. He will take the worst part of your life and he will let that be your worship. You see, the very thing that you don't want in your life could be the very opportunity of God. Like, you might have think, well, I've made such mistakes. I'm not sure God could use me. Let me just tell you, your addiction can be an opportunity to set you free and set others free.

Your brokenness is actually an opportunity to be restored, to be healed, to understand how far you've come from where you are and to where God wants you to be. You see, your entire life is an opportunity to worship God, to give God everything. There's a common thread in all of humanity. Doesn't matter what nation you live in. Doesn't matter what family you were born in. There's a common thread in all of humanity. And it's the commonality that every single one of us need. It doesn't matter how rich you are or how poor you are. You could be homeless on the streets with absolutely nothing. Or you can be a very wealthy businessman or businesswoman. You could be a boy or a girl. It doesn't matter who you are. The common thread is this. We all need Jesus.

Every one of us. There there comes a point in your life where you realize it doesn't matter if you have all the talent in the world. Every athlete needs Jesus. Every musician needs Jesus. Every politician needs Jesus. You see, it's a common thread because Jesus is fully God. He's the one that made us. He's the one that was there in the beginning and he'll be there in the end. But here's the deal when it comes to Jesus. He doesn't force any of us to follow him. He's a God that gives a great invitation to absolutely everyone. You're never too young to surrender your life to Jesus. You're never too old. Is never too late with God. But he will not force you to follow him. So this is the seriousness

of our heart today to say, "Will I hear the invitation from God and will I respond?" And when you respond, if you're willing to give God everything, everything changes. Revival happens. the kingdom of God breaks forth. All of a sudden, you realize, I've been settling for less than the best. But when you give God everything, you get to experience heaven, not someday or another day, but right here on earth. And there are moments, and I I believe we're in one of those moments right now that God takes us from the comfort of where we are to where he wants us to be. What I'm referring to is I believe some of us have only experienced a shallow Christianity. And God is calling us into deeper places today. God is calling us from the shores of safety, to the shores of comfort, to the shores of predictability, to go into the

deeper places that you've never ever been before. I'm calling to the deep places that is actually the unknown. You don't even know what's going to happen there. There might be a storm where now you need to depend on the Savior to silent the storm. There there might be something out there that you've never experienced before. But I believe God is calling us into deeper places. That's the kingdom of God. He's not calling you to attend church. He's not calling you to learn about the Bible. He's calling you to be a disciple. He's calling you to surrender your all. There's got to be more to who God is. I like how the psalmist says in 42:7, "Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls." deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. There is a deep place that God is calling you into today.

If you want the deep things of God, you've got to be willing to go deeper. So, the first thing we acknowledge today, if deep calls to deep, you've got to say, "There's more to God than I've ever experienced before. There's more to God than my parents showed me, more than the church has displayed to me. There's got to be more to God. And if I want more, I've got to be willing to go to those deep places. The title of today's sermon, it's more than a title. It's something I want us to take away today. It's something I want us to experience in our lives today. Here's the title. You could write this down. Launch out into the deep. Launch out into the deep. If deep calls the deep, I'm challenging you today. Launch out into the deep. Say it with me. Launch out into the deep. Today, I want you to take that with you. I want

you to to to be so transformed by God's word. We live differently. Luke chapter 5 is where we're going today. If you brought a Bible, Luke is one of the 66 books we have in the Bible. It's the third book of the New Testament. Luke writes about the life of Jesus. We find ourselves in the fifth chapter. It's the beginning of Jesus ministry. He's calling those to follow him. These are called disciples. They're students. They're going to follow Jesus as the rabbi, the teacher. Luke chapter 5. We're going to look at the first 11 verses of the fifth chapter of Luke. If you're able to today, would you stand for the reading of God's word? I'm going to read you the text and instead of three points today, I'm going to break down the application of all the texts that we're reading today. And I want you to see how we can experience what we find right here in Luke 5. On one occasion while the crowd was pressing in on him, that's Jesus, to hear the word

of God, he was standing by the lake of Guanessireet, that's also the Sea of Galilee. It's just a different name for the same lake. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets, getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's. That's also Peter. This was his birth name. Jesus would later change his name to Peter. He asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they

enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boats to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of de Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

You can stay standing. This is the word of the Lord. God, we just pray today that you would speak to us through this word. That there would not be a single person that's not pierced by your word. God, would you teach us your ways? Let this not be a story that we learn about from the days of old, but may this be a reality in our lives. God, take us to deeper places. I invite you now, Holy Spirit, to speak to every heart. Let there be a fire in your word today. It's not a preacher that saves. There's nothing I can do that can make your word alive, but you can. So I invite you, God Almighty. Let your word come alive in our hearts. Leave us not the same, God. Wake up the spiritually sleepy today. Bring back the dead who are who are dead in their faith. God, I pray today you would just revive us again, oh Lord. Let us rejoice in you. I ask in the mighty

name of Jesus. Somebody shout, "Amen." Amen. You may be seated. In Luke chapter 5, we have Simon Peter who's a fisherman and he's exhausted. He's been working all night. And as the scripture teaches us, he caught nothing. His nets are empty. His strength is gone. His expectations are low. And then just one moment changes everything. Jesus gets in his boat. just one moment all of a sudden was not the same because Jesus gets into his boat. Not to go fishing, not to go wakeboarding or wake surfing, but to have church.

Jesus gets in the boat to have church. Everything changes with Jesus. If you read the previous chapter in Luke chapter 4, Jesus steps onto the scene. He's just beginning his ministry. It's brand new. People are just hearing about Jesus. And he's healing the sick. He's going into the synagogues, which is like a Jewish church is where they would sing songs and they would teach the Jewish scriptures, which is what we have in the Old Testament. And he would go into the synagogues and he would teach. And people could not get enough of Jesus. So they were following Jesus wherever he would go. So the crowds now in Luke chapter 5 are pressing into Jesus. And instead of just telling them to go home, he decides to have church right here on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

It's the same lake that Simon fished all night in. He gets in the same boat that Simon had fished in. But something changes when Jesus gets in the boat. Because Jesus, although he's fully man, he is fully God. When the presence of God steps into your life, everything changes. It's no longer empty. is no longer ordinary. You just invited the God of the universe, the one that made heaven and earth into your life. The one that is eternal, that has no beginning and no end, is stepping into your life. What human effort could not do all night, God can do in just a moment. And it happens with the presence of God. And I came here to announce to you that Jesus is still stepping into our boats.

This is a metaphoric picture of who you are. This boat represents the profession of Peter. He's a fisherman. That's who he is. But Jesus didn't wait for Peter to go to the synagogue. Jesus stepped into his story. He went to his workplace. He didn't say, "You got to wait till Sunday so that you can see me." He said, "I'm willing to go right where you are. I'm willing to step right where you are." In fact, you might have toiled all night and took nothing. But I'm here to let you know that the presence of God changes everything. Jesus steps into the story and he steps into his boat. Now, I wonder what you need to let Jesus step into your life. Maybe he's already there and you just got to open up your eyes and your ears because the question in this story is

not Jesus able to do more. It's will we listen to Jesus? Will we obey Jesus? Will we launch out into the deep? Will you be the one that's willing to surrender your all and just do what Jesus says? We've been speaking of revival as we prepare for church in the park in just one week. In just one week, we will not be sitting here in the four walls. We will be right in the heart of our city. We will be at Drake Park. Service starts at 11:00 a.m. You don't want to miss out on this because we believe not for just an event. We're believing for revival. But I came to remind you today, revival begins with the presence of Jesus. Revival begins with the presence of Jesus.

Revival begins with the presence of Jesus. At this point, Jesus has been speaking. He's been carrying his authority. But now, he's going to share with us that it's not just something we observe. It's something that he invites us into. Let's look at verse three. When Jesus gets in the boat, getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. Jesus steps into the boat to have church. But he had church in the most unorthodox of all places. In fact, we've now looked back and we could look at the mechanics of what Jesus was doing with acoustics. Jesus was actually sitting in the boat

speaking to the people on the shore much like what you would have today like in an amphitheater. His voice would have been projected in such a way that everyone would be able to hear him like like a rabbi. He's sitting down like we read in Matthew 5:1. He sits down to teach with all authority. My friends, today I I don't know what you are coming in with, but Jesus knows exactly what you've been through. He knows what your last night was like. And when Jesus steps into the boat of your life, what you're acknowledging is Jesus is stepping into your marriage. Jesus is stepping into your workplace. Jesus is stepping into your school. Jesus is stepping into your home. Jesus wants to step into your parenting. Jesus wants to step into your disappointment wherever you've been before.

Jesus is willing to step into those places not because you have it all figured out, not because you've been successful, not because you got your life right first and God is so proud of you, but he's willing to step into your boat when you've had one of the most miserable nights of your life. And it seems so cliche to continue to say this, but I got to say it again. Just let Jesus into your boat. It changes everything. When Moses was leading the Israelites from Egypt to this land that God promised, he's taking them from being slaves to free people. That's our identity in God. He takes us from where we were to where he wants us to be from darkness into his marvelous light. And on this journey, Moses realized it's not about his leadership.

It's not about how strong they are as a people. It's not even about where they're going to this land that God promised. He says in Exodus 33:15, Moses said to the Lord, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here." Moses understood that I don't want to go anywhere without you, God. I could have everything in this world, but if I don't have you, I have nothing. In fact, Moses would go on to say, "What sets us apart as a people is your presence." There were other armies that were stronger. There were other people that were more numerous that there were other people that had more wealth. But Moses is saying, "We we don't need those things. We need you.

I want you." It's a desperation of I don't want to go anywhere without your presence. Because it's the presence of God that provokes power. It's the presence of God that shows you what you were made for. The one that made you. It's the presence of God that you realize what you were made for. And what the church me needs more than anything else, more than programs and strategies, we don't even need crowds. We need Jesus. We need the presence of Jesus. Psalm 16:11 reminds us, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is the fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forever more. It's in the presence of God that you get the joy that you're made for.

Nothing will be able to give you that but God's presence. I like how Paul reminds the Corinthians in his second letter. He he says the Lord is spirit. We have one God and three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Not three gods. One God and three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He says the Lord is spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. And we need more Christians not to know this verse, but to live this verse. to say, "I want the spirit of the Lord. I want the presence of God to go with me. I might be saved and I might be sealed with the Holy Spirit, but but I want the presence of God to be with me wherever I go." Because when the presence of God shows up, everything has to change

from from empty nets to full nets, from a hardened heart to a tender heart. See, you can spend your entire life being angry and bitter, but when the presence of God shows up, he he can change the hardest of hearts. You can spend your whole life trying to figure out who you are, trying to cover up the pain of what you what was done to you. You can make miserable mistakes in your life. But when the presence of God shows up, he heals. He restores. All of a sudden, you have a living hope. Peter thought that his boat was there to catch fish. But Jesus saw his boat as an opportunity for gospel.

Gospel means what? Shout it out. It's the good news. Maybe wherever you are in life, it's an opportunity for some gospel. Whether you're a framer or whether you're a teacher or whether you're a barista or whether you're a barber or or whether you're a businessman or woman or whether you're a stay-at-home mom or or maybe you're now retired or or maybe you're a student. Maybe where you are is an opportunity for Jesus to preach where he otherwise wouldn't have preached. That people don't need to go into the synagogue. They just need to see your life. And when they see your life, they get to see Jesus. The greatest miracle in this story is not the abundance of fish in the story. It's Jesus.

We have Jesus. We get Jesus. And when you get Jesus, he cannot leave you the same. Jesus calls us deeper. Jesus always calls us deeper. Jesus always calls us deeper. He He never ever ever leaves you the same. Here's the good news of Jesus. You could come as you are today. He just loves you way too much to stay the same. Listen, you you can come before Jesus today, but if you really hear the presence of Jesus, let me just tell you, he's not going to say, "Go follow all of these rules and then come back to me." He's not going to go say, "Go clean your life up first and then come back to me." No. He says, "Meet with me right now, and I'm going to call you into places that you would never ever have gone on your own because I'm going there with you. I'm not going to abandon you in the

deep places. I'm not going to leave you there in the deep places. You might not know why I'm taking you there, but I'm taking you there because I know the plans I have for you, thus says the Lord." These are good plans. They're to prosper you. He's a God of abundance. He doesn't want to leave you empty. He He wants to take you to the places where he's going to overflow. Luke 5:4, when he had finished speaking, Jesus just finished preaching a sermon. And Luke doesn't even tell us what the subject was. He doesn't tell us the three points of the sermon. He doesn't say what the scripture was he was teaching on. He finishes preaching. Just imagine what kind of sermon he preached that day. It had to have been good. It's Jesus. That's not even the focus of the text. But as a preacher,

I've got to wonder. He finished speaking and nobody's talking about the sermon. They're talking about going fishing. He finished speaking and he looks over at Simon and he says to Simon Peter, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets. Not just one, but I want you to take all of your nets for a catch. I need you to hear this carefully because some of you think if you follow Jesus, your life is going to be more like a Hallmark movie. It's just going to be easy. The music's going to be dramatic. You lock eyes with that person you love and it's so easy.

[snorts] Jesus does not call us to a comfortable life. He calls you to leave the place where you are. Now, put yourself in Peter's shoes. He's exhausted. Some of y'all don't want to serve in Journey Kids because you think life's too exhausting already. I can't give up an hour on Sunday. I don't got the time or the energy. You want to You want to experience the ways of God. He's not calling you to comfort. There there's there's an American Christianity and there's there's the Bible Christianity. And the Bible Christianity says, "I know you worked all night, but I need you to work a little bit more. I'm going to call you to a place that you ordinarily wouldn't go." Now, now just consider this for a moment. The preacher is telling the fisherman what to do.

And even if you would have looked back on Jesus life, his father was a carpenter. And according to the the standards, the traditions of the Middle East, Jesus would have been a carpenter. The carpenter is trying to tell the fisherman what to do? Y'all just ever want to tell somebody like, "Stay out of my business, okay? Like, I know my life better than you know my life. Like, I don't need your counsel. I don't need your advice. I don't need you to tell me what to do." You ever just had somebody try to just give you a little bit of a little bit of help? See, a lot of us are fixers in life. We want to fix people. We want to fix their problems. And nothing's worse than trying to tell somebody how to fix their life. Jesus tells Peter, "I'm going to fix your life. Where you are is predictable. I need you to go to places that you wouldn't go right now." First century fishermen had many

different ways of fishing. Just think about this. 2,000 years ago, they were fishing the same way we fish today. They would fish with large nets. There was one style of fishing where they would use a a large net near the shore and they would go out as far as they could with that net and then they would allow the fish to come in and they would grab a portion of that net and they would go back to shore and then they would just drag the nets to shore. There was another type of fishing that many of you do even today and it was with a hook. Jesus once told Peter, "Hey, taxes are due. Could you go fishing? Take a hook and catch a fish." That's a word for somebody here today. That's just a joke. I was trying to be funny. It didn't really land well, but uh I was trying to say like, "Hey, God wants you to enjoy life. Go enjoy what you do

sometimes." And Peter went fishing with a hook and he caught one fish. Does anybody remember what was inside the fish's mouth? There was a coin to pay the taxes. Sometimes God provides for you in unorthodox ways. He's not going to provide in the normal ways. But in this particular case, they they would fish with a method that we actually see in at the end of John after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter goes fishing after the resurrection. He goes back to what's familiar and it's a really similar story. They fish all night and they caught nothing. And there was a type of fishing when you would go into the deep that you would throw out these massive nets and they would be multiple nets. In fact, you could not do it alone. You needed other boats so that you would pull in the nets together. In fact, often time you would need somebody to actually jump in the water to to grab the net to be able to swim and pull it over to the boat.

Hence, at the end of John, it says that he had to put on his clothes to dive in to the water to swim. Do you guys remember that story? because more than likely he was he he was fishing with this style here where they'd go out in the middle of the night, they'd throw out their nets and then they would bring them together in their boats and whatever the catch they got, they would divide it amongst themselves. As is the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. This was a fishing business. But they did that all night and they caught what? Nothing. You you ever feel like that's your life after your first, second, third marriage and you still have nothing? I speak to somebody. Your first business, second business, third business.

I don't know what your story is, but there there's going to be moments where you try and you try. You pray and you got nothing. You go read your Bible and you got nothing. You go to church and you got nothing. Jesus says, "I know you didn't do it, but I'm going to do it for you." You see, they would fish all night, and there there's a number of reasons they would do that. Let me just uh show you an an image uh first of some fish here. This is actually at the Sea of Galilee. This is this is Genezerate. This is near the shore. Can y'all see those fish? Uh this is like probably about 10 ft of water. This is actually at the same lake. It's called the Sea of Galilee, but it's a fresh body of water. It's called the sea because of the size of the lake. It's a fresh body of water. This is in Israel. In fact, I'm taking about 50 people to Israel in just about a month. We're going to go to this very same lake where this happened. This is

near the shore. Do you see all those fish? You can see it because it's not that deep. And so, it's easy to see the fish. And what they would do uh when I was there is they would throw bread onto the top of the water and the fish would come up and eat the pieces of bread. And you could see the fish. It was really easy to catch fish. on the shore. But let me show you the next image. This is in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. You can't see any fish. It's too deep to see anything. The fishermen would fish at night because the fish would come up to the top. They would come up at night. I don't know if they're eating bugs or what the case was, but they knew how to fish. And you would fish all night. You'd clean your nets early in the morning. You'd go home and you'd sleep all day.

Now Jesus says, "I know this is what you normally would do, but I need you not to do what's normal. I need you not to do what you've done before. I need you not to do what you think is the right answer." There are moments that God will call us to do that. I'm believing that he's even calling us as a church. There's a deeper experience with God and it's not what you have figured out. [snorts] God's calling you into deeper places. Some of you, you've never experienced God's power. That's because you have a shallow purity. Some of us want to see revival in our city. But are we willing to persist in prayer? Some of us want more miracles, but without all the obedience.

And God is calling us into deeper places. He's calling us into deeper prayer. He's calling us into deeper worship where we we don't care about anybody but the one we're worshiping. He's calling us into deeper giving financially that I don't hold on to my my money. I trust God with everything I have. God is calling us into deeper dependence on the Holy Spirit. That God, if you don't go with me, I don't want to go into this place. God, if you don't go with me, I don't want to go to work. God, if you don't go with me into my car, I don't want to go. God, I just want you with me every day, every hour. Ephesians 3, Paul is is praying and in verse 19, let me just share with you verse 19. Ephesians 3:1 19, Paul is praying. He says this. He says, "Oh, that you would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all." Somebody shout all the fullness of God.

That there's more. Oh, that you would be so mind blown of how much God loves you. That all you want is more God, not more religion, not more of what you've had before. But God, I want more of who you are. Because if I'm going to walk by faith, I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what you're going to do. I don't know how you're going to do it, God. But I want more of the fullness of God. Revival happens when there's obedience. Simon was on the shore. He He knew the shallow water, but Jesus was calling him beyond what he could imagine. This is where revival takes place, where we give God everything. Romans 12:1 reminds us what real worship is. It's to present your bodies, your life as a living sacrifice.

That's everything. God, I'm giving you everything holy and acceptable, which is your spiritual worship. That's saying yes to God in every area. It's not some places. It's not one foot on the shore and one foot on the boat saying, "Okay, God, take me to deeper places." You got to get in the boat and go wherever God is telling you to go to to the deep places. You got to be willing to obey. And we see in the story, obedience is what opened the door. Obedience opens the door. If Simon would have just argued with Jesus, which by the way, he could have argued. He had reasons to resist Jesus. Do do you agree with that? I will just tell you today, if you're looking for an excuse in your life, you have one.

You do. Your life is probably worse than the people around you actually know. Your parents probably were worse than you've ever told anybody. You've probably experienced hurt in the church more than you've told anybody. People are looking for a reason in this generation. The devil loves us to live with excuses to deconstruct our faith to say, "I don't know enough about Christianity, so I'm just not going to believe it. I have been hurt by the church, so I'm just not going to participate in the church." You know what? My parents did something to me that really wounded me, so I I'm going to abandon them and not let them see their grandchildren. I mean, we have a lot of re we live in such a great nation, and people have the audacity to say, "Not my president. Yes, he is.

I don't care what kind of you may hate that man, but he is your president. And so we do the same with God. If you're looking for an excuse, you can have one. But if you want to go to the deeper places, you've got to obey even if you don't know what it's going to look like. Listen to Peter. Simon says, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing." He He had the reason to resist. He was tired. He was disappointed. Undoubtedly, he wanted to go take a nap. Come on, somebody. Someone who builds with his hands is trying to tell him what to do with a net. We toiled all night, but at your word, I will let down the nets. In his exhaustion, Peter is acknowledging maybe there's

something to this man. I suspect it was the sermon he just heard. And [snorts] he says, "At your word, you carry a greater authority. At your word, at your word, I will go." My friends, if you really want to experience revival, you will have no clue what it's going to look like. But Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." James, who was the halfbrother of Jesus, he says, "Listen up, church. Be doers of the word, not just hearers only, deceiving yourself. You are not really getting God if you show up and you hear the word of God and then you don't go do the word of God. We are required to be doers of the word. To hear the word and then say, "God, I don't know what this is going to look like. I'm a little freaked out. In fact, I've never been

here before, but I'm going to do what you tell me to do." Faith is not just believing that God can fill the nets. You actually have to go to the deep places so he'll fill the nets. Partial obedience is not going to get you the miracle. You've got to go where God's calling you to go. And someone's waiting for God to move. And it's not just someone. There's probably some people here today. You're waiting for God to do the miracle. You're waiting to experience the power. You're waiting for more in your life. And God's over here just saying, "I'm waiting for you. I've called you to deeper places. You don't even trust me with your finances. Oh, that's the number one excuse I hear from people. I can't give to the church because I just don't have enough money. Oh, according to the word of God, you can't afford not to give to God. If you don't trust God with what you have now, why would he trust you later?

If you don't say, "God, I'm going to give you what I have now so that if you give me something later, I can acknowledge that what I got later was from you and it wasn't for me." But I've got to be willing to obey. I've got to be willing to say, "Tithing isn't just something for people who have it all figured out. Tithing is for people who trust God." Serving is for people that love the Lord. It's about more than just just doing it when it's convenient. It's about more than just doing it because well, I'm able to fit it into my time. God is calling every single one of us to obey him at his word. And let me just warn you right now. It won't be convenient and it won't be comfortable when he he tells you, "Forgive that person. I don't feel it, but I'm gonna obey it." Make that phone call.

Tell that person you've forgiven them. Ask that person for forgiveness. Sign up to serve. Go ahead and give when you didn't even know what God was going to do. But you're going to surrender your all to God. You're going to start because he says it. If we look at different translations, we can see the seriousness of what Peter actually says. The New Living Translation says, "But if you say so," meaning I don't believe you, but if you said it, I'll do it. It's like Simon says, "I'm not going to do it, but Jesus, if you say, if you say so, whatever you say so, I'm going to do." I like how the King James version says this old English for those of you got that got that old English. Nevertheless, meaning I don't believe this at all, but nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.

This is where we get to see God work because it it won't be Peter's expertise. It won't be his experience, but God gets to do the work in your life. Now, it's not because you're smart enough, strong enough, or because wow, you've been a Christian long enough. Nope. You get to let God show up and do the work. Oh, the power of obeying the word of Jesus. There is power in the word of Jesus. There is power in the word of You know, the number one thing Satan wants to keep you from is this book. Second thing he wants you to do is to read this book and not see the power of this book. That's right. Isaiah says of the Lord, "So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty." If you hear the word of God and you do the word of God, let me tell you, it will never be void. It will never be empty. God is a God of abundance.

So I came to remind you today, Jesus is the God of abundance. Jesus is the God of abundance. He is not the God of scarcity. He's not the God of might. He's not the God of maybe. Jesus is the God of abundance. Look, look at Luke 5:6. And when they had done this, they went to the deep places. They obeyed the word of God. Now, they had to do something with it. They they they they laid down their nets. They enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. Now, they spent all night catching nothing. But in one moment with God, it changed everything. Oh, you should write this down. We do not have the God of quickly. We have the God of suddenly. You may have been working hard. You may have been be praying prayers. But let me just tell you, don't give up too soon.

He is the God of suddenly. In just one moment, he can change absolutely everything. You know, every time we read about fishing in the scriptures, it's an image of the church. Seriously, every time, even going back to Ezekiel, when when he sees this little bit of water coming out of the temple, eventually it ends up in a dead place representing the Dead Sea and all of a sudden it turns to life and there's fish. Fish represent people. And in the New Testament, every time you read about fishing, it's an image of what God wants to do. What does God want us to do? He doesn't want the church to be empty. He wants it to be full. He wants the church to be freaking out. We're busting at the seams. What are we going to do? You know, we were reminded just this week, we had a great family meeting on Thursday because that's what we are.

We're a family. And the elders gave a report and it was updated. I can't believe it was only a year ago. A year ago, that kids church wing wasn't even open. A year ago, we had a more than a hundred less seats than we have right now. We busted open these walls to add seats on the side, not just for the convenience so y'all could look at the backside, but because we needed room. And we want to make room for your neighbor. We want to make room for your co-workers. We want to make room for that stranger down the street. We want to make room for the person that's lonely and hurting. We want to make room because there's enough room for everyone. This is not addition. This is an abundance. The nets were breaking. They toiled. They tried. They got nothing. But with God, it changes everything. Let me just warn you today. When you give your life fully to God, he's going to change everything. You might only have five loaves and two fish, but you

put that in the hands of Jesus, he could feed 5,000. I don't know what you have right now, but when you give God everything, he's going to provide. He might take you down to the ravine and you feel lonely like there's nothing else there, and you don't even know where the food's going to come from. Don't worry, he'll send a raven to give you food. You see, he's the God that will provide for you, but you got to obey. You got to go where he wants you to go. Right here in this church, we have a room full of miracles of God showing up when it just doesn't make sense. I've heard so many stories even recently leading up to church in the park like Mickey who who who in just one moment, not months, not years, just in one moment gave his life to Jesus and gave up 51 years of addiction suddenly. And come to find out, it wasn't a suddenly, it was years and years and years of a daughter that prayed. She didn't give up praying for her dad.

or Gary who met with me just about a week ago and tells me his story. He was homeless on the streets of Bend for years, 15 years homeless. I'm not talking about in a shelter. I'm talking about on the streets in the middle of the winter in Bend, Oregon. And he would go through the trash and he would just hope to find something and he would find needles that were used for meth that had other people's blood and just a little bit of meth and he would stick it in his veins hoping that he would die that night. Looked like it was over. You know how many people probably drove by Gary thinking that he was just a a nobody? He's just a somebody on the streets. Well, I'll tell you today, Gary has been set free. Gary today has a home. Gary today works on our facility team. Gary today, when he talks about God, he says, "My father did it." Gary today no longer needs a needle because he has the hope of Jesus.

He was baptized right here on this stage and now he gets to testify to the goodness of God. It's never too late with a God. See, God's able to provide when we can't even see it. He's still making cancer disappear. He's still healing backs. He's still providing financially. When the Israelites had no food, all they had to do was wake up and see that our God is a provider. And even when they complained and said, "I just want some meat, Lord." He provided quail. We've got a good God of abundance. Come on, somebody. You have thought too small of God for too long and it's time for us to go to deeper places to have a holy expectation next Sunday that God wants to fill our

nets. Here's the good news. They signal to their partners in the other boats to come help them. And they came and filled their boats so that they began to sink. My friends, I believe that God is not just calling Journey Church to revival. Central Oregon shall be saved. We're believing over every church in this region that believes in Jesus Christ and believes in the Bible that it's not just journey that will overflow, but we will get to see a move of God in our generation. This is more than what just we can carry. This is more than what we could contain. But we've got to believe that this is not something that could be managed, but a move of God is something only God can do. As Paul writes, now to him who is able, he's able to do more than you could ask. He's able to do more than you could ever dream. We can't manufacture this kind of revival, but we can make room for it and drop our nets in the deep end.

Joel prophesied, "And it shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit on all." Somebody shall all all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. God wants to use every single person so that they would know that he is the God of kindness. Some of us wonder, well, where where is God working? Peter says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness." But God is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. You might be here on the shore wondering when God's going to work. But he's so patient, just waiting for you to go into the deeper places so that you wouldn't just think it's for somebody else. But God is calling you, no matter who you are, no matter how ordinary you are,

that you would open up your eyes. And in our day, according to Jesus, he says in John 4:35, he says, "I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest." Friends, this world needs Jesus. You know, just one little invite this week could change someone's life forever. I'm not talking about just [music] putting a piece of paper in someone's hands. I'm talking about inviting them into a movement of God. Inviting them into revival. They may not even know what that looks like, but here's what we know it's going to look like. God's going to get the glory. People will be astonished. Revival produces a holy astonishment. Luke 5:8-9 says, "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O

Lord." That's the gospel to recognize your need for Jesus. Apart from you, I'm a sinner. But Jesus died on the cross for every single one of your sins. He was buried in the tomb and he defeated death. On the third day, he rose from the grave. Oh, the power of Jesus. Verse 9 says, "For he and all who were with him, Simon, James, John, all who were there were astonished." Somebody say, "Astonished." Astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. You know what my prayer is this Sunday? We would be stinking astonished. That's right. We we would be astonished. I didn't think that person could be saved, but they are. I didn't think that person would ever surrender their life to Jesus, but they did. We would be astonished. Children stepping into the river. Someone walking by Drake Park stops and hears the gospel and gives their life to Jesus.

That one person that you invited, you didn't think they'd come, but they're going to come. Let us go into our life with a holy expectation that God would astonish us. You know what's missing from the church today? astonishment. I'm constantly amazed at what God can do. Constantly. Every time I think I've heard it all, I'm like, "Whoa, my God, he's so good. There's nothing too hard for him." Revival doesn't impress people with what people can do. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. Romans 2 reminds us it's God's kindness that's meant to lead you to repentance. Repentance means you turn to God. And I'll tell you right here, the heart in this room, if you would just repent today, you're going to experience

more of God's kindness than you've ever experienced before because there's more. The abundance of God did not leave lead to arrogance. Peter was not like, "H, guys, look what kind of fisherman I am. Look how good I am." He had an Isaiah 6:5 moment. Woe is me. Who am I compared to God? Isaiah said, 'I'm just a man of unclean lips, and I've been with men with unclean lips. And you know what God did? He gave Isaiah a coal, and he touched his lips. Isaiah couldn't do it as on his own, but God did it for him. Peter couldn't save himself, but Jesus did for him. Revival is not about any one of us. It's about us turning to the power of Jesus.

And when we do, this is what Jesus says in Luke 5:10. Jesus, he says to Simon in this moment when Simon is like, "What the heck is happening? Who are you? I did what you told me to do and I never expected this." This is what Jesus says. Luke 5:10, Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. Sometimes we ask God to bless what we're doing, but God's getting ready to use you as a blessing to others. God's calling you not to just continue the same thing. He didn't say, "Listen, Peter, from now on, your business is going to thrive. You're going to be the best fisherman that the Sea of Galilee has ever seen before. Oh, Peter, it's all about you." No, that's the Hallmark movie.

There's a plot twist. Peter, you who likes to be alone in the middle of night where no one can talk to you, you're now going to have a platform and you're going to preach. But but but but not me. I'm a fisherman. Yep. Yep. You you're going to start fishing for men. Some of you say, "I would never do that." And Jesus says, "Oh yeah, let's go to the deep places." And this is the most serious verse, and this is where we'll leave this today. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. They left everything. Don't miss this. They didn't follow Jesus because they were empty. It's like, well, I got nothing else but Jesus. No,

they had everything. And they said, Jesus is even greater than everything. I want Jesus more than anything. I'm willing to give up everything for Jesus. And that that's what he calls you to do. He said if [music] anyone if all of you if you're going to follow Jesus, he says daily, you got to pick up your cross and follow me. You've got to die to your old life. You got to die to yourself. You got to die to the ways of this world. It's not about you. It's all about Jesus. And so I remind you today, Central Oregon shall be saved because it's not about fish. It's about people and every person represents someone made by God. And when we say there's hope for everyone, we mean there's hope for everyone.

In my emptiness, he still called me into the deep places. In my toiling, he said, "It's not about you trying anymore. Obey my word. Do what I tell you to do, and you'll get to experience all that I have." Maybe today you recognize you've been far from God. This is your great invitation right now. In this moment, if you came into church today and you're uncertain of your salvation, you're uncertain what happens when you die, you can know right now that if your heart stops beating, you are forever saved. See, the Bible says that in Jesus, you have a free gift of eternal [music] life. It's free. All you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and he rose from the grave. And the same power that rose Jesus from the grave is the same power you receive in the Holy Spirit. And if

you want that today, it's yours right now. Your whole life is led up to this moment. Suddenly, you gave your all to Jesus. In the seriousness of this moment, would you close your eyes? Don't leave right now. I want I want you to seriously consider this. And it might be somebody around you. So, I'm just going to ask in this moment, could you take this so serious if you would acknowledge that today you want to believe in Jesus, you want to be forgiven, you want to start following Jesus for the rest of your life. And let me tell you, it's an adventure. He's a God of abundance. You'll be forgiven of your sins. You'll be given the gift of eternal life, a friendship with God. If that's you, would you just raise your hand nice and high? Be proud of this moment. Say, "Yes, I believe. Yes, I want Jesus. Yes, I want to trust Jesus with my whole heart."

This is for you today. God's been calling you. He's been waiting on you. Is there anybody else? Just raise your hand nice and high. We want to give you a booklet. This book list tells you this is the best decision you've ever made. This is just one step and more decisions. Is there anyone else today right where you are? Just throw high. I don't I don't want to miss you today. I want to celebrate. The Bible says there's joy in heaven when you repent, when you turn to God, when you trust God. Is there anyone else right where you are? I do not want you to miss this moment. Don't think that you have to keep trying. You don't have to keep trying. You have to release your pride today and say, "I'm done doing it on my own. I want to give my life to Jesus." This is your moment to go deeper. Is

there anybody else? Just raise your hand right where you are. I'm [snorts] sensing there's a man or men in this room that are are so prideful that they don't want to release it. Praise be to God for the young that are willing to say yes, yes, yes. Everything changes. everything. Your whole life from this day forward, you're forgiven. You're loved. You're redeemed. You are righteous according to what scripture say. You are righteous. Praise God. See, I was thinking it was a man, but a young woman raised her hand. But if there's a man in here that's so proud, he thinks, well, if somebody sees me, raise my hand. I don't know what the person next to me is going to think. It's It's time for you to quit thinking what anyone thinks and go to the deeper places. Is there anyone else? I I've seen a few hands and I want I just don't want to miss this.

Praise God. I see that. Amen. I want you to join with me in prayer. I'm going to keep it short, but from this day forward, keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying. Don't stop praying. Praying is talking to God. And God says you can talk to him all the time, anywhere. Just get real with God and talk to God everywhere you go. I'm going to just pray a short prayer. I want you to repeat this out loud with me. Everyone that believes in Jesus, say, "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you. I repent of my sins. I receive the Holy Spirit. Take me to deeper places. I surrender my life for your glory. You died for me. You rose again. You set me free in Jesus name. Amen. And amen."

And amen. Come on, you can celebrate the Lord today.