Luke chapter number five, the gospel according to Luke chapter number five. And it came to pass everything you're believing God for is gonna come to pass. And it came to pass that as the people pressed, everybody say pressed. Come on, say it like you mean it, pressed upon him to hear the word, to hear the word of God.
He, which is Jesus, stood by the lake of Gennesaret. It came to pass that as the people pressed on him, as the people pressed on him to hear the word while Jesus was standing next to the lake that Jesus, we'll find out in a minute, began to try to find a way to deliver the word to the people. When they began to press on him. Now I have children.
I know what being pressed upon feels like. When I come home and I'm tired and it's late at night, and I just wanna watch about five minutes of TBN and go to sleep, or five minutes of SportsCenter and go to sleep. Listen, my kids, they'll hear that. They'll hear my truck come in the drive, maybe my truck's too loud.
They'll hear my truck come in the driveway. They'll hear that door open, maybe I need to grease the door. They'll hear the door open and really hear me close the door. They hear the dog bark a couple times and man, they could be dead asleep and they will wake up and they will run in and they'll stick their little heads around the corner and say, Daddy, is that you?
I say, it's me, baby. Come over here and see me. And they jump on the, jump on the chair and then they start pressing on me. What did you do today, Daddy?
Well, Daddy worked all day. Well, what'd you do, Dad? Well, listen, okay, so I started out in this town, then I was in this town, and I had to do this, had this. Well, then what'd you do?
What'd you have for lunch? I don't remember even eating lunch. You didn't eat lunch? Mama didn't feed you?
I said, well, Mom, I mean, I'm older than you. I can fix my own lunch occasionally. You're four, okay? I'm older than that.
But they press on you. These kids that press on you. They say, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
Can we go fishing today? Well, not today. Tomorrow. Well, I don't know about tomorrow.
The day after tomorrow. And just, they just press. They just press. The Bible says this.
The Bible said when Jesus had some kids that were starting to press on him, that his disciples effectively, they began to just say, hey, you guys need to leave Jesus alone. He's too busy for you kids. And Jesus said, hold the phone, Peter. He said, you let those babies come to me.
As a matter of fact, give me one of those lads. And he sat him on his knee and he said, you guys can't even make it to heaven unless you are converted like one of these kids. And a kid's got no problem pressing on somebody that they want to talk to. Their grandparents, we have wonderful grandparents on both sides.
My parents and my wife's parents that do phenomenal with our kids. When they walk in the room, my kids, they go like into hyperdrive. They begin to press on them. They begin to just pursue them.
They begin to try to figure out if they got any money in their pocket. You got some money? No. You got some candy?
No. You got something to drink? No. Why are you here?
They don't say that. But they press on them. My kids will press on them. I remember we first had Haley, our first baby.
She's nine now, about to be 10 in a month. Loves God with all her heart. Just a powerful young lady for God. But I remember I was talking to my doctor.
My doctor's a good man. Been our doctor for over 10 years. And just a real good man. And we were talking about kids.
And, you know, Haley was just a little baby. She was just starting to where she could walk and she'd come. I never forget when I would come home and we had a glass door in the back. And she would bang on that door when she saw my truck.
I remember I'd look over from my truck because the driveway was here. I'd look over and I'd see that little baby banging on the glass because daddy was home. And I thought, man, I've got to have my act together now. So I would, I would get myself happy on purpose.
And I'd go and I'd pick her up and I'd squeeze her and I'd tickle her. And I'd go, I'd go throw her on the bed and tickle her on the bed. Then I'd let her chase me around the house. And I still do that today with my other kids and her.
But all through, it was just, it was just a real precious time. I remember we were having a talk one time, me and my doctor. And he said to me, he said, sometimes, he said, I have to stop a half a mile from the house. He said, sometimes I'll sit there 15 minutes.
Sometimes I'll sit there five minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. He said, but I know my children didn't do anything today that has brought any frustration that is on me from work, that is on me from the world, that is on me with some adult decision I've got to make. So when I walk through the doors of my house, I'm going to be as happy or more happy to see them than they are to see me because they have not deserved any of the frustration that's on my life right now. And I thought, brother, that's brilliant.
I used to live on a road called Greenwater Drive. And I would stop about the beginning of Greenwater Drive on days when I was a little bit frustrated. I still do it today, but now I've got a really long driveway, so I'm stopping at the end of it. But I would drive and stop it on Greenwater Drive.
And I'd sit there and I'd say, Lord, I thank you in the name of Jesus that I can cast my cares upon you. I thank you that my mind is stayed on you. Therefore, I have perfect peace. I thank you in the name of Jesus that when I see those babies, they're going to see the love of God pour out of me like the Father that you are to me.
I'm going to be to them in the name of Jesus. I'll never put my frustrations of the world and business and work and all the other things that happen on them. I'm going to celebrate them the way they celebrate me and more. And let me tell you this.
If your purpose to never put the frustrations of your life on your children, your children will never have to deal with the frustrations that you deal with. Let me say it different. David, if you'll kill Goliath, Solomon can have a temple. There's giants in your life.
You kill them. Your babies don't have to. There's giants in your life. You deal with them.
Your children don't have to. It doesn't mean that they won't maybe try. It just means they'll see them as a defeated foe and not something that has caused attitudes and issues in life to change and shift. And now we're like a just a limb being blown about in the breeze.
But here's the situation. All these people, they're pressing on Jesus. They're pressing on Jesus. And Jesus began to find a way to get the word to them.
If you're taking notes, write this down. When you desire to hear the word, listen to this, God will get the word to you. When you come to church, I encourage you, if it's your first time here, I'm happy you're kicking tires and we'd love to meet you after service. I'll be in a room back there called the First Touch Lounge.
I'd love to say hello. We even have a free gift for you. But if you're a member of this church and you're, you're living for God and you're, you're pursuing the things of God and you're, you're all about it, listen to me. I ask you as your pastor, don't come in here thinking you're fixing to hear a motivational speaker.
Don't come in here like you're fixing to watch, you know, your favorite soap opera. Don't come in here like you're fixing. I want you to come in here trying to put a demand on the word of God because when you begin to press and try to receive the word of God, listen, most of the time you're going to receive something that I say, not because I say it, but because you are pressing to receive it. Because you are desiring to receive it, because you are pressing to get there.
Now I've got plenty of times in our Bible where there's plenty of people that are around Jesus, but all of them don't get the miracle. But the ones who press, the ones who desire, the ones who say, man, I'm coming to the house of God. I'm not wasting God's time. I'm not wasting my time.
In Jesus' name, the kids all got their shoes on. Most of their shoes match and one of them's tied. We're going to get into the house of God. When we get in the house of God, I'm going to sit there.
I'm going to open my Bible. I'm gonna write down a note if I get a note, if I put it on my iPhone, I'm gonna put it on my iPhone, but I'm gonna do everything I can to try to hear what God's trying to say in this time, in this generation. Because one word from God can change your life for eternity. I've had words.
I remember one time, one in particular. I was, I was, I was a young man. We just got married and I was repenting every, Our Bible is riddled with people who are chosen from those crowds while all the naysayers on the side, oh, I don't like that. It doesn't feed me.
I don't feel like I'm getting fed. There are people, they're too loud about it. They love God too much. They wave their hands.
I even saw a lady dancing over there. I don't understand why they're dancing over there. What are they dancing about? I don't understand why they're so excited about it.
It doesn't make any sense to me. Listen to me. The more diligent you become serving God, and the Bible says that we do our work as unto the Lord, which means we don't work for our employer directly. We work for our employer, but we're actually working for Jesus Christ.
When we put our hand to the plow in that fashion, what happens is the hand of God, the calling of God, the next step for you shows up in the moment when you need it most, and you don't even know when that is. Peter didn't know he needed that. He just thought, I'm going to fish. I'm going to enjoy it.
He was Galilean. Josephus writes about Galileans and says they were always up for adventure. Says that they were always chivalrous, but bold. You know the type.
A fisherman in that age, you just picture it, they're the type that would probably be the first to get into a little scuffle, but they would be the first to open the door for a lady. They're the first to sign up for the whitewater rafting trip. Matter of fact, if it was 10 life jackets and there was 11 people going, they'd say, I don't need one, brother. I'm fine.
Galileans. Jesus chose from among them, but literally found them busy. He found them being diligent. He found them working.
He found them putting their hand to the plow. And Jesus got in the boat and sat down and he began to teach the people out of the ship, which is to say this, Simon Peter's boat was his profession and his profession turned into the perfect pulpit. Your profession is one of the greatest opportunities you have to be a witness to those around you because everybody here, unless you're like a dog catcher in a town with 10 people, at your job, when you go to it, you're probably going to see one or two people as a minimum. Most of us more than that.
You're going to deal with contractors. You're going to deal with subcontractors. Literally, your profession, it's like God bringing people to you. We have to go out to try to win the loss.
We have to go get them at every turn. We do outreach and we're focused on them. We don't slow down about it. But listen, what happens is when you go to work, it's like God has said, listen, these are some people I'm going to bring to you five days a week, sometimes for 40 hours, sometimes more time than you will spend with your family during the week.
These people are going to be around you. And we're looking outside of it trying to figure out, oh, God, I wish you'd call me in a ministry and there's 12 people that are hurting and dying and bleeding all around us. Because your profession can be your pulpit. Matter of fact, most times in our Scripture, that's where it starts and sometimes it's the greatest calling you can imagine.
I still have people to this day that call me from over 15 years ago that I worked with on a daily basis. And it wasn't like I was beating the Bible on them all the time. It wasn't like it was constant. But you're going to have lunch.
You're going to be eating a Subway sandwich with somebody. And you're going to be able to recognize, because you've been around them so long, you're going to be able to recognize when most times they're feeling like a 10 and then they come in and they're like a 6. Their whole attitude is like a 6. And you say, what's wrong, brother?
What's wrong, Susie? Well, you know, I don't want to put my stuff on you, but I got my son. He's just got this thing. He's got this report and doctors haven't been able to figure it out.
Can you just sit there with your sandwich? Hmm, that's a meatball sub. Put down your sub. Have a drink of Sprite.
You say to someone, well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray and believe God in the name of Jesus that that sickness becomes a thing of the past. And I'm going to pray until you tell me it's broken. Let me tell you what happens 99 out of 100 times.
The presence of God, the power of God, maybe not exactly how we feel and sense Him when we're all together. This is like the safe place. But the power and the presence of God begins to move because what happens is the Bible promises that His Word, when you will say His Word, it will not return void. Now the power of God has an opportunity to walk into work in that person's life.
All because you're in the right place at the right time. And listen to this. You didn't have to do anything to get audience with them because you work with them five days a week. I still get phone calls.
I got one recently. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning. Buzz, buzz, buzz. I don't know why they call it silent.
It's not silent on your phone. Buzz, buzz, buzz. I look over. I'm not going to answer because it's 2 o'clock in the morning, right?
And I look and it's a friend of mine. And I answer the phone. I said, hello? You awake?
Oh, yeah. I mean, just, yeah. Now? You got a minute?
All the time in the world. What's up? You remember that time we had that talk and you said that if I did this and if I believed? I said, I do.
You still believe that with all my heart. I think I'm ready. Because my current profession was my pulpit. And it works perfect because you don't even have to go get them.
They're already there. Now, when he left speaking, when he got done speaking, after the word of God was preached, let me say it that way. He said to Simon, the one who let him borrow the boat. Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught or for a catch.
When he was done ministering the word, he told him, now you need to launch out. There are Christians in America today that have more word on the inside of them than some of the greatest missionaries that are having revivals with tens of thousands of people in Asia, in Africa, in South America. Not because they know more than we do, but because when they received the word, they chose to launch out into the deep. When Jesus, when the word of God speaks to you, it's time to respond to the word.
Peter says to Jesus, Master, listen, I appreciate this. We have toiled all night. We fished all night long and we didn't catch anything. Nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the net.
Now, let's just think about this conversation for a minute. Jesus gets done preaching the bread of life, the word of the living God to all these wonderful people that were pressing on him, that desired to hear from him. He took Simon's profession and he transformed it into one of the most public and beautiful pulpits that has ever existed. We still talk about it today.
And Peter says to him, he says, I fished all night long. Now, we know that God never says anything that he doesn't know the answer, nor does he ever ask us a question that he doesn't know the answer. So Jesus knew Peter had fished all night long. So what Jesus said to Peter was this.
I want you to take your ship. I want you to push it out into the deep water and I want you to try one more time. Some of you, you've been pressing on something. You've been believing God in an area.
And it seems like you've been believing him for ages and years and maybe even decades. And you're like, I don't know what to do. I'm being diligent. I'm cleaning my nets.
I'm not disrespectful of what God has put in my care, custody and control. I'm not disrespectful of what God has done in my life. But I don't know what to do. I'm doing everything I know to do.
I am literally performing at the best of my ability. And I'm not just saying that. The word of the Lord for you today. Try one more time.
And if you drop your nets and it comes up empty. Try one more time. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing five years from now, but I know I will be doing it one more time. I don't know exactly what our church is going to look like.
It will not be this building, I promise you. This will probably be like a school, maybe a Bible school or a youth facility. I don't know all the future, but what I do know. By the power of the living God.
If something doesn't work, we will try again. Sometimes perseverance beats perfect performance. But in our lives, we get to the place where we hear the voice of God. Jesus knew they had fished all night.
Peter was saying, I've done everything in my capacity. And Jesus basically said, man, I know. For me, will you do it once more? He lets down his net, the Bible said.
At his word, verse 6. And when they had this done. I love the way King James said it. When they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fish.
And their nets started to break. Which is to say this. If you will do what God tells But then the slow kindness. If you say, man, I just, I know I need God to move in my life.
Take a note from Peter and get diligent about what he's got you doing right now and you will find him showing up on your behalf. There's so many times in our life, we try to figure out what's the next step and we want to skip the step we're on. But the Bible says, the steps of the righteous are ordered by God. I wish it said the escalator of the righteous, the elevator, come on, the hot air balloon, the rocket ship.
Let's just boom, and sometimes God will just bypass himself and you just go, boom, you just shift. Without fail, if you'll stay diligent, if you'll honor God in every way to the best of your ability, don't look at what you're doing begrudgingly, look at what you're doing as one of the most fertile fields for evangelism that has ever been put on the planet is the 40-hour work week. And lastly, when God says it, just do it. Peter had fished all night long, but he still did what the word of the Lord told him to do.
And because he did, his friends, his family, the other boat, they all benefited. Amen? Give God a hand of praise, I'm done teaching. Matter of fact, stand to your feet if you would.
If you're here today and you're not right with God, I'd like to speak with you for just a moment.