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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.
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How many know life can be pressing? It's very easy to let good things get crowded out. But one thing we can learn from this crowd is we're not to let anyone or anything keep us or crowd us away from hearing God's word. Whatever, you gotta push through, push through. Because if you don't push yourself, no one else is gonna do it for you. But this crowd pushed through to hear the word of God. And Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, sometimes the Sea of Tiberias. Different names, different gospels. But I wanna make this point. We see here that Jesus is standing. At that time in history, rabbis only taught when they were seated. If you remember, when Jesus, you know, preached in his hometown, he stood to read the Scriptures, but he was seated to preach. And the fact that Jesus was standing here lets us know that Jesus wanted to teach, he wanted to preach, but he was waiting for an opportunity. There were so many people. He was waiting for an opportunity. Address the entire crowd, leaving no one out. And here's an important point we see here in this verse. God wants us to take as many people along with us as possible on this journey. And he doesn't want to leave anyone out. And while he's standing there, he has this great, great need of ministry. I mean, there was probably thousands of people, if not hundreds. And all of them had their own needs, their own issues, their own stories. And he's looking a way to meet the needs of the crowd. And God is still looking for a way. He's looking for boats which he can use, lives he could use to meet the needs of those watching, those standing by, those pressing in. So he spies out two boats. And if you were standing there, you'd notice that those boats were not necessarily the largest boats or the most attractive boats. All Jesus was looking for were available boats. You see, with God, you don't have to be special, just available. God's not focused on our ability, but our availability. God is not searching the earth for platinum vessels, gold and silver vessels, just willing vessels. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro the earth looking for a heart in whom he could show himself strong. He was just looking for some people willing to put aside their own agenda, put aside perhaps even their own schedule in order to do good for the kingdom. And when you have a heart willing to put aside things that might be Important to you to advance the gospel, you become a candidate for great things. So he's paying attention. He wants to minister to more people. And that's the way God is today. He wants to minister to even more people. Thank God for the 804. But what about the 8004? We haven't reached just yet. Let's keep going. But the fishermen had gone out for them and they were washing their nets. This was probably the most unpleasant time of the day for fishermen. At the end of the day, they'd come back to shore and they would have to. They used buckets and water and used their fingers to pick out all the debris. But also they had to make sure they got out all of the organic waste that was in the nets, whether it was blood or tissue from fishes or what have you. Because if they caught fish with dirty nets, actually it would poison the fish. And if you poison the fish, you poison the eaters. So this was an important part of the day, but it wasn't the most exciting part of the day. And I think it was compounded by the fact that going to find in future verses that they fished all night long, but they had caught nothing. How many of you know when you fish all night and your family's waiting for you and you got to pay some bills, you kind of end up in a bad mood. You know, when you work that hard and you have nothing to show for it. So these men were tired, they were defeated, and they were ready to go home. But then Jesus. Then Jesus got into one of the boats, which was Simon's. Don't let your mood dictate your manners. Despite what you might feel like if you make yourself available, Jesus might get in your boat too. But I want you to notice something here. Jesus did not leave their boats until they were full. So yeah. Yeah, already you got it. Thank you. He got into this boat and he said to him, listen, I'm going to start with a little bit before I get to much. And he asked him to put out a little. Peter has just worked all night and he's thinking, dude, don't you know the night I just had? I'm about to go home to Mrs. Peter and all the little baby Peters with nothing to show for where I said I was last night. So despite the mood. And Jesus ain't afraid of nobody, he's not afraid of your mood either. Despite the mood, the frustration. Jesus is a master. And he asked him to put out just a little from the land. Now I know in my life, maybe you're Better than me. Maybe God loves you more than me. I doubt it, but maybe he does, you know? But in my life, it's usually when I have been thrown to the mat the hardest, when things have gotten the darkest, when my heart is at its lowest, that Jesus shows up out of nowhere. And while I'm in a bad mood and tells me I can push out just a little bit further. Y'all serve the same God? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then Jesus sat down. He was standing on the shore, but you sit down to teach. And then he sat down and he taught the multitudes from the boat. All Peter was doing, as I just said, all he was trying to do was provide for his family. But the harder he worked, the worse things seemed to get. The Bible doesn't say this, but I suppose the bill collectors might have been waiting at the dock. Of course, hungry mouths were waiting for Daddy to come home with some fish. But despite all that was on his mind and all he had left to do in the day, he still made room for Jesus. You see? Don't judge me by my success. Judge me by how many times I got knocked down but got back up again. Peter failed the night before, but he got back up again and saluted his commander and his master and allowed him to use his boat. And when he had stopped speaking. This is important. Notice Jesus did not turn things around until he was finished or he stopped speaking. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I've noticed in my life, Jesus doesn't turn it around until I'm finished learning the lesson. Jesus. This side of the room. Jesus is not going to turn it around until he's finished teaching you the lesson. This side of the room. Just. Okay. Jesus is not going to turn it around until he's finished teaching you the lesson. This. Okay. Center. Center. Okay. How many are waiting for Jesus to turn it around? Jesus will not turn it around until he's finished teaching. Teaching you the lesson. Are you with me? All right. When he had stopped speaking. We think Jesus should turn it around because it hurts. We think Jesus should turn around because we're tired. We think Jesus should turn around because we're frustrated. But Jesus does not turn it around until he's finished. You see, God is such a great teacher. He designed it so that if we don't learn the lesson, it repeats until we do. So why does this keep happening in my life? It repeats until we do. One more time. Why does this keep happening in my life? It repeats until we do. So he said to Simon, this time he's not asking, can I use the boat? Simon had let Jesus on board. And how many of you want Jesus to be the master of your fate, the captain of your destiny? Yeah. Learn from Peter today. So he says, simon, I need you to do something. Now. You gave me the boat. You were gracious and generous. You allowed me to use your stuff. But in order for you to reap the harvest I have for you, you're going to have to obey me. And what I'm going to ask you to do may not make a lot of sense to you, but Jesus is God taking on flesh. How many know God sees things from a different angle, a different perspective? Yeah. He said, peter, your blessing is tied to your obedience here, not to your weariness, not to your frustration, not even to your need. It's tied to your obedience. He said, simon, launch out into the deep. Today's message is for people that want to get out of the shallows. They want to get out of knee deep. People who are willing to risk going out over their heads so God can show you that everything over your head happens to still be under his feet. He says, simon, I got something for you, boy. But it's out in the deep. It's not in the shallows, not close to the shore. You're gonna have to reach for this, boy, launch out into the deep and let down your nets, plural. Jesus didn't stutter. They just washed their nets, plural. And he said, put down your nets, plural. Watch this for a catch. So Jesus probably looked at him with sympathetic eyes and said, I know what happened last night. I know what happened last time. But this time's gonna be different. Last night, you did it in your own strength, but this time, you're gonna do it at my word. And there's gonna be different results because you did it at my word to let down your nets for a catch. My Bible says weeping may endure for a night, but you got to hold on to mourning because joy comes in the morning. Someone said, hope stands for, hold on. Pain is going to end. But Simon answered, and he shared with Jesus his heart. And you got to tell the Lord the truth. And don't be afraid to. To tell him what you're feeling. He is Lord, but he's that friend also that sticks closer than a brother. And he said to him, master, we have toiled, which in the Greek literally means to be worn out and exhausted. We have toiled all night. And what Peter was doing, he was looking Jesus in the face, and he said, lord, I hear what you're saying. But mostly I'm done mentally, Lord, I'm drained spiritually, I feel like I'm dead. Physically, I have nothing left. But in that sentence, Peter got one thing right. He said to him, master, when you're tired, when you've done all you know to do, you prayed, you cried, you cried, you prayed, but you keep coming up short. Can you still call him master? Can you still salute him as Lord? Master, we have worked hard at the I'm not lazy, I'm about my business. Jesus, we toiled all night long and caught nothing. He was a good Jewish boy. And what he was saying to Jesus is master, I fasted and I prayed. I even had bishop pray. And then I had the elders lay hands on me. I bound and I loosed. I marched around the wall seven times. I put handkerchief under pillows and I sowed a seed. But I still caught nothing. No matter what I do, nothing seems to work. Mass is not that I'm lazy, it's just not working. But then Peter speaks this million dollar word, lord, I'm tired. I got nothing left. I don't really want to do this. Nevertheless, despite what I feel, despite what it seems like you are my Lord and my God, nevertheless. And sometimes you gotta close your eyes, circumstances screaming at you yesterday, screaming at you and say, lord, but nevertheless. But watch. Watch how he finishes this. He says, nevertheless, at your words. If you're going to stomp with the big dogs, if you gonna level up in your life, you're gonna have to have some nevertheless moments with God where it don't matter what it look like, what God, because you say so, I'll do it. Nevertheless, moments are those moments that you don't let past disappointments, past failures, past setbacks talk you out of following God's word. You say all that praying, all that fasting, laying the hands and the handkerchiefs. Now listen, none of that was wasted. All that was good. Because every right thing you did is what carried you to the zero hour you were in today. I know you wanted the big fix, but all those things you did carried you to the position you're in to experience what you're about to experience. Nevertheless. And it's your word. Not because I think so, not because it seems so, not because others suppose so, but only because Jesus, you say so. This is the highest level of faith. Despite what happened yesterday, God, I'm gonna trust you today at your word. Lord, I'm gonna let my net down. I'm gonna try one more time again, but I need you to notice the emphasis. I Made a couple verses back. I think it was verse four. So where Jesus told Peter, let the nets plural down. But in that verse it said, I will let down the singular net. You see, Peter just finished washing all the nets and he didn't want to have to do it again because some carpenter was acting like he knew more about fishing than some fishermen. Fishermen know you can't fish in the middle of the day. The fish go to the bottom, they get away from the sun. Peter's probably thinking, listen, Rabbi, you know you preach some good things, but you might want to stick to your business. I know fishing, and we work these waters all night. Jesus, yes, I am. But Peter said, nevertheless, at your word, I'll do it again. I'll do it again. I'll do it again. Have you ever believed and not really believed? Am I the only one? You had enough faith to do it, but not enough to do it all the way. This is where Peter was, but I want you to notice Jesus met him where he was, and he will meet you where you are if you let him. And when they had thought about this, talked about this, no, when they had done this, stop just thinking about it, praying about it, do it. You will make mistakes like Peter, but do what's right and let God handle what's left. And when they had done this, you got to do it to see it. And there are things God has for you, but it's not going to happen apart from you doing the thing God has told you to do. And when they did it again, not just thought about it, talked about it, imagined it, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. How many of y'all want God to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you ask or think, yeah, yeah, yeah. They only met the God of exceedingly, abundantly and above all. You can ask or think when they did it, but I notice a pattern in Scripture. God often has to break us, break our self reliance, break our commitment to just expect results like everyone else gets before he breaks our nets. So if you're tired and frustrated, you are positioned, you are being broken so you can experience the breaking of your nets. So they signal to their partners in the other boats to come and help them. What I want to tell you is what God wants to do in your life is too big just for you. He wants to impact everybody you're connected to, everybody you know, everyone you partner with. It matters who you partner with in life. And they came and filled both boats, not just Peter's, but all his partners. My goal is God, not only bless me, but everyone connected to me. Everybody a part of what I'm doing in life. May it flow down from the head to the beard to the collar to the filled. Both boats. Peter didn't ask for two boats, but both boats. In 1986, archaeologists discovered an average boat that came from. Actually, they call it Peter's boat that came from this period. The boat was 26.5ft long, 7.5ft wide. And watch this. He was able to hold 2,000 pounds. Now imagine if there were, I don't know how many men were in each boat, but imagine there were five men in each boat and they each weighed 200 pounds. In order for the boat to start to sink, they would have had to have caught over a thousand pounds of fish. God wants to blow your mind. God wants to blow your mind. And they caught and filled not just my boat, but your boat. So that both of our boats, all of our boats began to sink. If you make your boat available to God, you can't lend more than God can repay. You can't give more than God could give back. I discovered even in my own life, you can't build a building big enough to hold all that God's prepared for those who love him. Even this life is not big enough for all that God has for those who love him. Jesus said, he was talking to his disciples and they were like, you know, he was talking about rich men and all this stuff. And he said, well, you know, we left everything. What's going to happen? And Jesus said, he said, listen, no one leaves houses, lands, family, brethren, and doesn't receive 30, 60, 100 fold in this life and in the life to come. The point I'm trying to make to you is this life is not big enough for all God has for you. Now, the eternity is bright and everything. But don't push it off at eternity because we're like, well, it's going to get good when I get to heaven. Now, the way Jesus saw it is, I got so much for you in this life. It's going to take the next life and all of eternity for me to roll out all I have for you. God's love is eternal. It's not temporal. God is more than imaginative. I don't know what to call Him. His intellect is beyond words. You know, I can create something from something, but he created everything out of nothing. I can mix colors and make beautiful combinations. Well, I can't draw, but, you know, imagine I could. I might be able to make beautiful pictures and combinations. But imagine making color from no color when you never saw color, there was no concept of color. And out of nowhere you make the trees green. Out of nowhere you make the sky blue. This is the intellect of the one that's committed to love you and reward you and keep you. Verse 8. And in this verse, you're going to see all that I've been teaching you this morning is accurate. When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. You see, what had happened was Peter was told to let out several nets, but he didn't really believe the young rabbi. So basically to humor Jesus, to respect Jesus, he put the net out. And sometimes I don't always believe the way I should, but if I would at least honor Jesus, at least respect God enough. Well, he put out the net just to be respectful, but he didn't want to clean up all the mess because he didn't really believe much would come of it. How many of you have done some things just because God said so, but really didn't expect much to come from it? Sometimes that's enough. I don't always get my faith perfect. Sometimes I believe with unbelief. I trust, but I still doubt. But he said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. O Lord, my Bible says that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. God wants to be so good to you that you find yourself on your face on the carpet saying, oh God, I'm sorry that I doubted God. How could I question oh God, you are a good God. God, I am a sinful man. Oh God, I don't deserve. God wants to. His goodness leads us to repentance. And Jesus responded to Simon. He said, do not be afraid. And when God really blesses you, it'll make you a little embarrassed, it'll make you a little afraid. How could God. What is God that is mindful of me? What is this God that thinks about me like the sands of the sea? Who is this God? God. God doesn't want to beat you into submission if you let him. He wants to bless you into submission. That's the good God we serve. But watch Jesus always the teacher said, you see all this happening. You know, your wife's gonna be happy. These are fishermen. They're gonna go and sell these fish. You know, you don't catch thousands of pounds of fish every day. So this positions Peter to go into ministry, to follow Jesus. But Jesus cared about every detail. And this is the only reason why? Mrs. Peter said he can go. It's like, well, if that dude could do that, we gonna be all right. That's what he was thinking. That's right. Okay, that's not in the Bible, but I think that's what's happening. Almost there. He said, from now on, you will catch men. This miracle was an object lesson. What God did with the fish, he ultimately wanted to do with people, with men. You see, God will bless you materially because he ultimately wants you to use it spiritually. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all the goodness of God, led them to repentance. When you experience his goodness, you can leave everything, everyone, every issue behind. They forsook all and followed them. I believe that God is about to show up in some of the biggest ways we have ever seen in our lives. But it's not for us to brag about it. It's because he loves us and because he wants us to have confidence that he is Jehovah Jireh and He could provide for anything life throws our way. You see, Peter was a fisherman, and Jesus wanted to speak in his language, so he used fish. God wants to speak to you in your language. I don't know what it is he needs to speak to you with. But if you will make your boat available, if you are willing to push out and launch out into some of the deeper waters, you will discover that he is a faithful God. He's an on time God, and He will keep you. He will provide for you. You have no reason to fear, no reason to worry. You know, he watches, you know, over the lilies. Doesn't he care for you? You'll never go big if you keep making God so small. God is the God of the spiritual. But out of the spiritual came the natural. And thank God for all the blessings in heaven, but it's not complete until they materialized on earth. And God wants you to begin to believe God for bigger things, above and beyond all that. You guys, all Peter really wanted was just enough fish to make Mama happy. But when he brought it to God, God almost sunk his boat. God wants to almost sink your boat. Or think. This message is for people who need big change in their lives. You're tired of the little, you're tired of the petty, tired of the small. You're tired of using a microscope to sort out what God's doing in your life. Jesus is addressing people with some big sins. If you just got little cute sins. I'm not talking about. I'm talking about people with some big sins. He's talking to people that need big answers to big problems in their lives.
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God.
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God wants you to be on your face almost apologizing because he blessed you so much. It's his goodness that leads us to repentance. Today we're talking about fish. But the greatest blessing, it's for him to forgive me of all our sins. Yes, it is. If he could forgive you of something that big, paying your light bill ought to be small. Providing for your children ought to shrink in comparison. If he can wash away your sins, y'all remember your sins. I don't want you. Don't, don't you get stuck there. But if he could do something that big, what's the little issue you're facing in life? No one is ever too lost to be saved.
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Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekrer.com by clicking the link in the description.