If you have a Bible, the book of Matthew, chapter 19, the book of Matthew, I'm gonna go through a couple of verses quick with you, and then we're gonna settle into the main scripture for the message this morning. But Matthew, chapter 19 verse 26 says this, with God, all things are possible. Who said that? Who said that?
Jesus, Jesus declared that with God, all things are possible. So if Jesus said it, why shouldn't we believe it? Amen? If Jesus said all things are possible, we should grab hold of that, and we should hold on to that.
Regardless of the difficulty, regardless of the battle, regardless of the struggle, regardless of the news headlines, regardless of what's happening in the world today. God is able, amen? He's able and he can do all things. And then we see in Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 17, Jeremiah says, oh Lord God, behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power.
How many believe God made the heavens and the earth by his great power? Amen? He says, oh Lord, behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing, say nothing. There is nothing, Jeremiah said, too hard for the Lord.
I want you to think about that today. If God held the stars in his hand and he flung them into space, how hard is your situation or your circumstance for God? How difficult is that thing that you're going through today for God? If God was able to create the heavens and the earth by his outstretched arm?
So whatever we need, our Father has it. Our Father has it, amen? Whatever I have need of my Father has it. I believe that.
I believe that. How many of you believe that today? Whenever you have need of your Father has it, he's able to do exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond, all that we could think or ask or imagine. Great is the Lord, the Bible says, and greatly to be praised.
My Bible says in Philippians chapter four verse 19, but my God shall supply. He didn't say you would supply. He didn't say you're rich relative would supply. He didn't say your employer would supply.
He didn't say the president of the United States would supply. He didn't say the government would supply. He said, come on, church, he said, but my God shall supply. Oh, your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Somebody ought to give him a hand clap for that. Somebody ought to give him a shout of praise for that. Someone ought to say praise the Lord. Hallelujah, glory to God.
For great is the Lord the Bible says, and greatly to, this is the God we serve. We don't battle from defeat, we battle from victory. We press on from victory, not from defeat, when we're going through difficult times. Listen, I've read the end of the book, we win.
We win, we win. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. That doesn't mean the weapon won't be formed. You've got a real enemy and he'll form a weapon against you.
He'll come at you. The Bible says with great wrath, you know why? Because he knows his days are short. He knows his days are short, and he's going to come at you with great wrath, but great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
Amen, for with our God, all things are possible. There's nothing that our God cannot do. I want to encourage you to go with me in Matthew chapter 17 and verse 24 through verse 27. Matthew 17, verse 24 through 27.
And when they came to Capernaum, they that received a tribute tax money came to Peter. Remember last week we talked about Zacchaeus? What was he? He was a chief tax collector, right?
And so we see here in Matthew 17 verse 24 through 27, right off of the heels of Jesus saying, they're going to kill me, but in three days I'll rise again. If you go back a few verses before this, Jesus tells his disciples, they're going to kill me, but on the third day someone say, third day. Come on, you might get me excited to preach this more. He said on the third day I will what?
I will rise again. I will rise again. Death has no hold, amen? Death has no hold.
The grave has no sting. He already defeated it, amen? And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute tax money to the temple. They came to Peter and said, death not your master meaning Jesus, pay taxes to the temple.
Verse 25, he sayeth, yes, Peter. He answered them and he said, yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him from saying what thinkest thou Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers?
Peter sayeth unto him of strangers. And Jesus said to him, then are the children free? 27, notwithstanding, say not withstanding. Jesus said, nevertheless.
I may remember that sermon a few weeks, nevertheless. Jesus said to Peter, not withstanding. In other words, nevertheless, lest we should offend them, we don't wanna be offensive to them. He said, so go thou to the sea and cast a hook and take up the fish that first cometh up.
So Jesus says to Peter, okay, they want their tax money, we don't wanna offend them. So go down to the sea, throw in a hook and the first fish you catch, don't look for what you think is the most colorful fish, don't look for what you think is the biggest fish. Peter, whatever the first fish is that comes up, take that fish and open its mouth. Thou shalt find a piece of money inside the fish's mouth.
Take and give unto them for me and for you. Jesus tells Peter something that sounds almost unbelievable. There's a need that represents, Peter and Jesus are doing their thing and the temple priests come and say, hey, have you not paid your temple tax today? They didn't have it.
How many of you have ever found yourself without something on you? And Peter says, oh yeah, we pay our taxes. Which anybody, if you're confronted by an IRS agent, they say, have you paid your taxes? What are you gonna say?
Oh yeah, I pay my taxes, right? Peter says, yeah, we pay our taxes. The Bible doesn't say, but I kind of imagine, because you know, I think strange sometimes. I think Peter may have just looked over at Jesus and said, you got a little something?
Because I'm broke. I ain't got no coin. And Jesus looked at him and said, I ain't got none either. But I'll tell you what, why don't you go down to the sea?
Well, that's not instruction. We're here, we're not dressed for fish and we're here. I'm not prepared for that. I didn't bring my nets.
The boat's not ready. I didn't go down to the sea. He didn't tell him to get his boat, which was familiar to him. He didn't tell him to get his nets, which were probably already clean to wash for the day.
He didn't tell him to get it, which they were customary throwing out the nets and bringing in great hauls, because they couldn't supply all of the need if they were fishing one hook at a time. See, Jesus didn't need all the fish. He needed one fish to fulfill the purpose of what he was going to do in that moment. And so he says to Peter, go down to the lake and go cast a hook and take up the very first fish that comes up.
And when you open its mouth, you will find a piece of money in the fish. Now listen, if I go by Keystone today and I see all of you out there throwing, I'm not telling you to go out there and throw a hook today. You know, if you do it at work, you come back and let me know, all right? But I want you to think about this for a moment.
Provision didn't come from the crowd. There was a lot of people there that day, but the provision didn't come from Peter. It didn't come from the crowd. And I've shared with my son-in-law yesterday, I said, isn't it interesting?
They just about everywhere Jesus was. There was a crowd, right? How many times have we heard there was a crowd. There was a crowd.
But the interesting thing about everywhere he went, the crowd that came, the crowd hindered the ones that really needed Jesus the most. The crowd, the crowd isn't always the answer, church. The crowd isn't always the answer. Sometimes the crowd will hinder people from getting to, well, you don't know, you don't know.
You don't hear that. Sometimes the crowd will keep people from getting to Jesus. The little woman with the issue of blood, she had to push through the crowd to get to the hem of his garment. Amen?
Sometimes the crowd, there was a man that had to cut a hole through a roof and lower down a man through the roof to get to Jesus. Why? Because of the crowd. The crowd.
Not everybody in the crowd is seeking Jesus. Not everyone in the crowd is looking for Jesus. Not everyone in the crowd is pro Jesus. There are some in the crowd that are in the crowd to be disruptive.
Hmm. My goodness. My goodness. Think about it.
The provision didn't come from the cross or from the crowd. The provision came from the cross. Jesus sitting at the last supper with his disciples. He declares one of them will betray him.
We all know Judas was the one. The other 11 called him Lord Judas, called him Rabbi teacher. Judas never acknowledged him as to who he was. Judas sat with him all the time, but Judas wasn't with him.
Judas sat in all the meetings. Judas heard all the teachings, but Judas wasn't really truly following. Not everyone in the crowd is a follower. Your provision isn't destined on the crowd.
It didn't come from a wealthy donor. It didn't come up from some backup plan that Peter may have come up with. It didn't come from alone. He didn't go borrow it from someone else and promise to pay it back.
The provision that happens in this story comes from obedience. Jesus gives an instruction. It may not have made any sense. God could have dropped that money in the pocket of Peter.
God could have paid that tax anyway. He desired to do it. But he wanted to show Peter the power of his might on that particular day. Jesus had done far greater miracles than to make a coin come out of a fish's mouth.
He chose something very unexpected that day. And I want to tell you something today. God may just use something very unexpected. He may use someone very unexpected in your life to do something great.
A fish with a coin in his mouth. Oh my. I believe today that the Lord wants to remind some of you that are here in this place. If you've been waiting on God, if you have been waiting on God to bring provision or to provide something that you've had need of, don't limit him to what only makes sense to you.
Do not limit God. Do not do it. If you are waiting on him, trust in the Lord, as Proverbs says, with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding.
When we are waiting for God to provide is a delicate time. When we are waiting for God to come through. It's a delicate time. It's a pressure moment.
It's a pressure moment. Because we don't know how the provision is going to come. We don't know how it's going to happen. And when the Temple Tax Collector came to Peter and asked, doesn't your teacher pay Temple Tax?
This wasn't just a financial question. It was out in the open in front of everybody. He did it publicly. It was a pressure moment that Peter found himself in.
Can I ask you this question? Have you ever found yourself in a pressure moment? Have you ever found yourself under pressure in the middle of a situation or circumstance? Peter was put on the spot at this very moment.
And some of you that are here today, some of you sitting in these chairs today, you know exactly what that feels like. Here it is. It's the bills come due. Deadlines are approaching.
More needs than money. Expectations are rising. How many of you know what I'm talking about? But remember, the Psalmist said, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. But I can tell you with all certainty today, the pressure has a voice. How many of you know that pressure deadlines have a voice? Lack has a voice.
And this is what pressure will say to you and I at times. Figure it out. You've got to figure this out. How many times have you ever sat down and tried to figure it out?
You tried to work it out. No matter how you did it, no matter how you worked it, it just didn't work out. You couldn't figure it out. You couldn't come up with the solution.
You couldn't make it right. You always come up with less. You couldn't, how many have ever been there? It didn't matter if you were using, you know, math that I use back in the 80s or you use that fuzzy math that I use today.
Not able to figure it out. Not able to, you know, I saw a real good one this morning. Deacon, Deacon came up to me this morning. He had a Bible in the sand.
Somebody gave him a Bible. And he came up to me and he said, pastor, he said, you see this Bible? I said, yeah, Deacon, that's a nice Bible. He said, somebody gave it to me.
He said, it's old. I'm looking at the end. I'm like that old. He said, it's old.
I said, really? That's how old is it? He looked me dead in the eye and then said to me, 1997. I slapped that kid upside his head, knocked him into that wall, three ushers, drug him out.
No, none of that happened. For those of you listening online, I didn't slap the kid. But he did come to move the Bible. I mean, so solemn and so just serious.
He looked me dead in the eye and said, it's old. You know the first thing crossed my mind? Don't tell him what year you were born. Old would have went to relic antique.
You know what I'm saying? Dead serious. He looked at me and he said, it's old. It's old.
I said, wow, Deacon, that is old. Whole time inside I'm busting. I'm just cracking up inside. Someday Deacon's going to realize that a year in as old as you think it is.
I used to think 65. I used to think people that were in their 60s was old. They ain't old anymore. In the 60s, they're spring chickens now, you know?
Isn't it funny how perspective comes? Something you just can't change. You can't change the day. You can't change the year.
It is what it is, right? You can't fix everything. I mean, you know, you can't fix everything. I mean, sometimes you just got to trust in the Lord with all of your heart.
It's not leaning on your own understanding because your brain, your head will mess you up at times. When Jesus said to Peter, go down to the sea and cast a hook. I don't know about you. But if I was Peter, I'd have been thinking, what?
Where are you up here in front? Everybody, you're going to tell me I got to go fishing. And then you're telling me up. Tell me you've ever heard a fish story.
Everybody got a fish story. Anybody that's ever a fish, they're a fish went from every time a fisherman tells a story that fish grows, right? And Jesus is telling Peter a fish story. He said, Peter, go down.
Cast your hook in. Pressure will tell you to try to fix it yourself. Peter wasn't by himself. He had the Lord with him.
The Lord will provide. Say, my Father, how's it? You know what pressure will say to you? Panic.
How many of you in this place have ever hit the panic button? It's that freak out moment, right? When you don't know how to fix it, you can't come up with the solution and then you just lose your mind, right? I remember one time I was watching a little Roscoe's.
Oh, good Lord, how many of you know with a little Roscoe's here? I said a little Roscoe's. I saw some people go, little what? And I remember, I remember Buckwheat, he reaches over, and he's shining shoes and he's buffing shoes.
And he reaches over and he grabs the tail of a lion. And anybody remember that episode? And he's buffing that shoe. And then all of a sudden, Buckwheat looks over and he sees that lion and the lion looks at him.
And he goes, hey, oh, I think I'm losing my mind. Have you ever thought you were losing your mind? How many of you ever thought you were losing your mind? Why, because you couldn't fix it?
You were panicking. How many glad Jesus does a panic? How many glad he done panicking? You know why I didn't panic?
Because the tax collectors weren't in control. The economy wasn't in control. The culture wasn't in control. Jesus was, and he still is in control.
Amen, amen. He's never surprised by the difficulty. He's never surprised by the bill. He's not confused by your need.
He's not scrambling to find resources. Why? Because my father has it. My father has it.
He knew about the coin before Peter knew about the problem. In that good news, to know that your Savior already has the solution before you ever stepped into your problem. And so in the middle of the mess, in the middle of the situation, what does Jesus do? He gave Peter an instruction.
He directed him as to what to do. Jesus tells Peter, go to the sea, he casts a hook, take the fish, Peter, a professional fisherman. He knew nets, he knew boats, he knew what it took to catch fish. But Jesus told him to use the hook.
Why? Because sometimes God will bypass your experience. Or your expertise to provide the miracle so that it's not based on your skill or your talent, but on his provision. Amen.
It's in your obedience. Peter could have argued. Peter could have disagreed. Peter could have said, well, Lord, that doesn't even make any sense.
How many times have somebody said something to you in your life and you said, that doesn't make sense? How many of you have ever just thought something in your own head and thought that doesn't make sense? How many of you today are not going to agree with anything I say today? You're just not going to respond to anything.
You're just going to sit there. Peter could argue. He could have said it doesn't make any sense. He could have said, listen, you're a carpenter.
You know how to build furniture. You're a good teacher. You're a rabbi. You know how to, I'm a fisherman.
I know how to fish. That's not how I catch fish. How many times have you ever told God in your life that's not how to do it? Notice Peter didn't debate the Lord.
He didn't debate. But what he did do was obey. Did you get that? There's a lesson.
There's a lesson for us. When he speaks ours is to obey. When he speaks ours is to obey. Our part is obedience to obedience.
His part is provision, say provision. Our is is obedience is is provision. Our is is obedience is is provision. Our is is obedience is provision.
Our is is obedience and his is provision. Our Father has it. Everything we have need of, he provides. Say with me, my Father has it.
Now did you just say it or do you really believe it? Say it again, my Father has it. We often want God to explain the strategy, the plan, before we're willing to obey the instruction. How many times do we have to know the end result before we're willing to?
Peter just took him at his word. Faith, faith, here we church. Faith does not demand explanation. Faith responds to direction.
Faith responds to instruction. Faith does not demand explanation. If Peter had stood on the shore analyzing fishing techniques, he would have missed the miracle. The provision, catch this, this is so powerful.
The provision was already waiting for Peter before he ever got there. Jesus said go down to the sea, cast your hook. When the fish comes up, open its mouth. The money will be in the fish's mouth.
The instruction was given. The instruction is given. Our is obedience, the obedience. His is.
Oh, you make me feel like you're learning something today. Our is obedience, his is provision. Take the instruction. We've been given an instruction book.
It's up to us to learn the instruction. To be obedient to the instruction, right? You know, man, we're so funny. You know, around the land, I get this question all the time around the land season.
I hear this a lot about denomination and who will go to what church and who won't go to what church because of the denomination. Some people won't go into this church because that's not their church and it's not under their banner. You know what? It breaks my heart, but it makes me laugh that we're so foolish to follow things to divide and separate.
Do you realize one day God created man, we were to walk and live in unity, in unison, right? Nothing's more pleasing to God than when we walk in unity. And we're all in unity together, right? And so we come and throughout history, a group of people over here said, well, I don't think the way they were doing it was right.
I think we should do it like this over here. So they changed some things and they divided. And then after a little bit of time, some people here said, I don't think the way they do it's right. We're gonna do it over here.
And then they do it for a while. And some people say, well, I don't think they're doing it, right? And so they do it over here. Can I help you this morning?
We don't follow, we don't follow under a banner. We follow under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The pillars of this church are not, are not, are not. Men, statues, men's, men's ideas or philosophies, ours are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen? And so over time, what happened was we created what is called, say with me, denominations. Denominations, the word denomos, a Greek word, the word denomos, a mathematical phrase, the word denomo means to divide. So what we've done over the years is we've divided and conquered, we've divided the house of God.
Because somewhere along the line, someone thought they needed to do it different than somebody else was doing it. And they kept doing it different. And then we have all these labels. We don't have a name, a denominational name over our door because at harvest, we've got Catholics and Lutherans and Baptists and Presbyterians and Methodists and Four Square and Church of God and lost.
And we've got people from all different backgrounds that gather under this door, but have come under the banner of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, His death, His resurrection, His cross. Come on church, we believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit.
Amen? We believe that Jesus came into this world. He was born of a virgin. Do you believe that?
We believe that He lived a sinless life. Do you believe that? We believe that He did good and He worked miracles on this earth. Do you believe that?
You believe that He was crucified and died on an old wooden cross? You believe He shed His blood for the remission of your sin? You believe that He was put in a borrowed tomb and laid there for three days? You believe He rose again?
Do you believe He ascended into heaven? Do you believe He's coming back again? We gather today under unity of the Spirit and the presence of God. My Father has it.
Not just because there's a banner over our door. Not because there's not a name on our marquee. But because He is King of Kings. And He is Lord of Lords.
Come on church. Some of you here today need to hear this simple fact, this simple truth. Your provision may be just waiting on you. Your provision may already be provided.
The only thing lacking is your obedience. And you know what is amazing before Peter ever cast that hook. The fish already had the coin. Boy, that's good.
If that doesn't excite you, I don't know what will. Let it get in your spirit today. Then our Father has it. Matthew says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
And everything you have need of who will provide it. God will provide. God will provide. Say it with me, my Father has it.
He arranged the fish, he arranged the coin, he arranged the timing, he arranged the catch. Come on church. With God, all things are possible. The miracle didn't begin when Peter cast the hook the miracle began when God gave the instruction.
The provision was all ready there. All Peter had to do was step into what Jesus told him. Some people think God starts working when they start praying. No.
He's always working. We sang this way. He's always working. God's working before the pressure arrived.
God was working before the need ever came to your door. He was working before you knew even what to ask for. And how many of you, sometimes it's so big and it's so desperate and it's so hard that you're not even sure what to ask for. But what you have need of, my Father has it.
And it's that same God that we worship today, that same God that the Bible talks to us about, that same God that we serve, that same God that guided the fish through the water is guiding the provision into your life. Say, my Father has it. I'm not saying that to you because I just want to hear you repeat after me. I'm saying that to you so that sinks in to your spirit, that with your mouth and your heart, you confess.
And you believe that your Father has it. He's never late. He's always precise. The provision came from an unlikely place.
Who in the world here would ever expect money to come out of the mouth of a fish? Certainly not a banker, not a tax collector, and not a fisherman. God deliberately chose something unusual so that no one could get credit for what they did. Wasn't coincidence.
It wasn't man's doing. It was divine. It was miraculous. How many of you agree with me today that going down and throwing a hook in the water and pulling up a fish, just as somebody told you 15 minutes ago, and you did it and you opened the mouth and the coin is in there.
How many of you believe that would be divine? If the money had come from a wealthy supporter, or people would say, wow, what a generous donor. If it had come from a business deal, they'd say, wow, that was a really smart move. Wow, they really.
But when it came from a fish, the only explanation is God did it. Say, God did it. My Father has it. Listen, if you limit God to what makes sense to you, you may miss what he's already prepared for you.
Do not limit God to what makes sense to you. The opportunity may come from an unlikely place. The door may open in a way that you never planned that would open. The answer may not look like what you have expected.
Don't reject the fish because you were expecting it to come in another way. Obedience unlocks. If you know takers, you're gonna write this down. Obedience unlocks.
What anxiety cannot. Obedience unlocks what anxiety cannot. Jesus didn't give Peter money. He gave Peter an instruction.
Sometimes we pray for provision, and God gives us direction. Sometimes we pray for provision, and God gives us direction. I live like this. I live like this every single day.
My wife can tell you, those who have walked with me a long time can tell you, I pray before I go wherever it is I go. Usually I pray before, if I go into a restaurant, I'll pray before I go to a restaurant. I'll pray, God, where would you have me to go today? Who would you have me to talk to today?
Who would you have me to touch today? Who would you have me to bless today? God, who are you gonna put into my life today? What can I do to be a blessing in someone's life today?
God, I need wisdom in this situation. God, I need wisdom in that circumstance. I had a situation just this past week where I needed to take care of something in Florida. And I did, you know, I'm not down there, and I wasn't able to take care of what I needed to take care of there.
And I started looking up some folks that I thought might be able to help me with this situation. And my brother was helping me out, trying to find somebody. And he said, well, I got these three individuals. And here's this one.
And here's that one. I said, send them to me. Send them to me. The first one I looked at, boom.
I said, that's it. He said, well, I'm gonna call all three. I know the first one, the first one. Cause I knew in my spirit, as soon as I saw the first one, for some reason, maybe it was cause I was studying the first fish, comes up.
As soon as I saw the first one, his name was CJ. I said, no, I wanna go with CJ. Well, don't you wanna get other estimates? Well, you can get other estimates, but I'm going with CJ.
And so I text this man that I never met before in my life. And I said, hey, brother, cause I knew in my spirit, when I saw CJ, I knew in my spirit that CJ was my brother. The other two were not my brothers. But I knew CJ was my brother.
So I text him, I said, hey brother. And I said some other things to him. He responded back to me. He calls me, sir Sean.
He made me feel regal. He said, sir Sean. And I said, and I text him back some other things. And I said, bless you brother.
And he texts me, oh bless you. And I pray blessing over your family. We start blessing each other's family over the texting. And he came and he took care of what needed to be taken care of for me.
And there was some extra expense that was entailed. It was, I don't know, it was close to $100. And he said, no worries about that. I'm just gonna take care of that.
Don't even worry about it. I'm not gonna charge you anymore than what I already told you I was gonna charge you. Why? Cause my father has it.
My father provides, my father directs, my father guides. Do you believe that today? How many believe he leads guides and directs today? When you need somebody in your life, God will direct you.
But do you seek God's direction? Do you seek his counsel? Do you seek his wisdom? Do you ask him for instruction?
We pray for relief and he gives us a step to take. Sometimes when you're weary and you're frustrated, the last thing you wanna do is take another step. Why? Because you're weary and you're frustrated.
But sometimes when you ask for relief, he tells you to take a step. We pray for a miracle. And he tells us to go do something. I prayed.
And I went to church on Wednesday night and I showed up two Sundays in a row. Come on, God. You know, there's gotta work somehow. There's gotta be a two-way street here, you know?
I mean, I'm working on this Sunday. That'd be three Sundays in a row. Can't ya help out, guy out? How many of you've ever thought that?
God, I'm living for you. I'm serving you. I'm doing everything I know to do. And he says, well, do this.
That doesn't make any sense. Show up to a night with a king. I don't like this thing. Music, I don't care.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go this Sunday. Well, I think I'd just rather stay home and sit in my recliner and chill out. Go to that store.
Go to that. I've had God lead me in places, some of the most unusual places to someone, just to speak of what we're doing. This, I don't know you. I don't know your situation.
I don't know your circumstance. But all I know is God told me to come over here and tell you this. And I don't know. And I've had people say to me, did he tell you anything else?
I said, no, that's all he told me. But just to be obedient to what? Listen, God asked you to do something. You don't have to add to it or take away from it.
Peter didn't go grab his net. He threw a hook because he did what Jesus specifically told him to do. Our says not to add to or take away from. Are you with me, Church?
Obedience is the bridge between promise and provision. Anxiety, fear, worry cannot produce what obedience releases. Worry didn't catch the fish. Fear didn't catch a coin.
Endowed didn't unlock a miracle. But it was obedience. Don't miss this. The coin was in the fish.
The fish was in the sea. The sea was created by God. Say, my father has it. Come on, worship team, make your way back to the platform.
It was never about lack. It was about the sovereignty of God. The very one who spoke to Peter still speaking to us today, the creator of everything. Jesus gave the command.
Creation responded. Jesus spoke to Peter. Peter did what he told him to do. Jesus spoke to the fish.
The fish did what it was supposed to do. And God still reigns today. Amen? How many of you know he's not short on resources?
He's not limited by markets. He's not restricted by systems or culture. He is not dependent on human networks. If he commands a fish to hold a coin, he can command things to come into alignment in your life and in my life.
So here it is for those of you who find yourself waiting. Maybe you're standing on the shore today. You've prayed. You've believed.
You've been waiting. It's not your job to figure it out. Your job is to catch. Cast the hook.
Your job is to be obedient. Your job is to keep showing up. Keep doing what he's told you to do. Keep walking in integrity.
Keep trusting his voice. Because somewhere, somewhere beneath the surface where you can't even see, provision is already swimming toward your obedience. And in the story, Jesus teaches us something incredibly powerful, incredibly powerful. Provision does not come from human systems.
It comes from divine sovereignty. The coin had already been prepared. The fish was already appointed. The time was already set.
And that same God who placed the coin in the mouth of that fish knows exactly how to take care of you and me. Amen? So when the instruction seems unusual, trust him. When the path seems unclear, trust him.
The answer looks different than you expected. Trust him. Our part is obedience. His part is provision.
Cast the hook. Say it with me. My Father has it. Come on, stand with me today.
Father in the mighty name of Christ Jesus, we stand in your presence today. We thank you for this place. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your direction and your guidance in our life.
We thank you Lord that when you give us instruction, when you speak a word, Father that your word is yes and amen, what you say will come to pass. Our system will be obedient. Yours is the provision. God, we trust you today with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and with all of our strength.
And today we have cast our cares upon you. Today we have thrown the line. Today, Father, we have been obedient to show up into this house to hear your word, to be encouraged, to be strengthened. Father, to be challenged, to be equipped.
And so Father, when we leave this place, seal your word in our hearts today that the enemy of our soul will not be able to come and he will not be able to take away or steal away from us. That what you have revealed to us today. Yours is obedience. Yours is provision.
Ours is to trust. And you are faithful. O Father, we bless you today. I pray that you open the eyes of every individual today that's hearing this message.
God, you'll stir our hearts. You'll open our ears that we will have heard and seen. Father, we will ponder and reflect and we will trust and obey. A songwriter once wrote, there is no other way but then to trust and obey.
And we're so thankful that we can stand today and declare in unity that our Father has it. Father, you care for everything. You are the creator of all things. And if you care for the lilies of the valley, how much more will you care for us?
So strengthen your people in our rising and in our sitting, in our coming and in our going. Wherever our feet may trod in whatever our hands may touch, Father, I pray would be blessed of you. Make your face to shine upon us, Father. Strengthen us.
Equip us for your glory and your honor. In Jesus name. Amen.