This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at christkingum.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. I'm going to read from the new international version. I think mine is like 1984, so the words are a little bit different than what's probably printed in your bulletin. I'm not sure when they updated it, but anyway, there's a few different wordings. I think you can figure it out. Okay, chapter 4, or chapter 4, verse 31. Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people, and they were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. In the synagogue, there was a man possessed by a demon and evil spirit, and he cried out at the top of his voice. Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Be quiet, Jesus said sternly, come out of him. Then the demon threw the man down before the mall, and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed, and said to each other, what is this teaching? With authority and power, he gives orders to evil spirits, and they come out. And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area. Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now, Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever in it left her. She got up at once, and began to wait on them. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people shouting, you are the son of God, but he rebuked them, and they wouldn't allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him, and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that's why I was sent. And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. One day, as Jesus was standing by the lake at Ganasseret, where the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon said, Master, we worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I'll let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boats to come and help them and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they'd taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebidi, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. For now on, you'll catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we see through just a couple of these stories here, your sovereignty, your control over all in nature. You don't need man's help. And yet, here it's mentioned that you went off in the morning in the solitary place, presumably to pray and to spend time with your father. So this morning, we're going to follow your example and spend time with our father. We want to know what God, our father has planned for and what his purpose is. So Heavenly Father, as we listen to Scott's teaching this morning, I ask you to help us to understand, give us eyes to see what you want us to do and ears to hear what you want us to do and your grace to respond and obey and do what you want us to do. So we thank you for the word that you've given us and asked that it would lighten our hearts this morning. I pray these things in the name of Jesus, amen. Thank you, Jerry. Well, good morning. Michael, these are a little bit brighter than normal. Kind of feel like I'm getting a tan. There he is, there. Thanks. I could probably benefit from a tan, but that's a different topic. Anyway, I'm glad you're here this morning. I'm particularly just feeling the need for the Lord's help this morning. So pray for me as I pray again. God just asked that you would come down that your Holy Spirit would be our teacher. Be mine, even now, and be all of us here this morning that your presence would come and that your spirit would work and move and God, the things that I say that are not of you would quickly be forgotten and things that are of you and are from your word and resonate with your word. God would be remembered and cherished and would be planted like a seed that would bear fruit. And it would bear fruit even before we leave here this morning. And the rest of this day and the rest of this week and the rest of this school year. For your glory and for your honor. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, I'm particularly excited because we start today the fall series that I've been thinking about since last spring called Follow Me. After we came off our leadership retreat as elders deacon staff and spouses last April, I think it was. It became very evident, very clear. That this is where the Lord was calling us. Last year we talked about share the story and we look at the different stories of the Bible. And we're going to do something similar in that but we're going to zero in on one particular story which I'll tell you about more in a just a second. But just quick review the last three weeks where we come to lead us up to this point to kind of launch us into this fall sermon series that will go all the way up until Christmas time. Just quick review with that. Let me see if my clickers work in a day. Oh, it's not looking. There we go. Was that near Ures? That was me. All right. All right. So of course we're good. We looked at verse 19 of Matthew chapter four, the last three weeks. And in the case you missed one of those or missed all three weeks, it was come Follow Me, Jesus said. I will make you fishers of men. So we looked at the first week, three weeks ago, the common Follow Me. And the key point was to be it. The key point was to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It was the primary and the most important thing that each of us could do. Remember I gave everybody a little piece of nasty, but a honey candy, which maybe some of you so I just found mine this week, by the way. I think it went through the wash. So I've taken care of it though. Be it. The importance and the highest priority for the follow-up of Jesus Christ is to follow Him. I know that's profound. You can kind of cool me on that. Put that on Twitter. Okay. But we seem to forget that so easily that to be a Christian, one-on-one, step one, is to follow Jesus Christ. And we looked on the next week, and we looked at the other phrase, the part of that, I'll make you fishers of men, and we talked about the importance of resting and trusting in that truth. And realizing whether we like it or not, in fact, we should like it because it's the purpose and plan of the perfect God in heaven, that He's called us to be about making disciples or other followers of Jesus. And that might sound real self-serving. It might sound like, you know, as this is part of a God-propaganda thing, and just trying to win more converts. But the truth is that there is a real holy God, who has created everything, and who will demand justice, in its final form, on the last day, whether Jesus comes back, or you go to meet Him first. And there is really a reality of the souls and men and women spending either eternity in heaven or eternity in hell separated from God. And that is really true. I remember you looked at, remember the video we looked at from the comedian that particular week, who was talking about how in loving, could you be not to share that truth with others, not to impart that truth to others, the importance of being reconciled to this God, who has made it possible through His Son. So Jesus invites us to be a part of that rescue mission, not because it's an agenda or an appendix to your life, and it might add a little bit of abundance, because life is about that. And there is a real reality that if you're not rescued from sins and from a broken relationship with God, that we will spend eternity separated from Him. And Jesus invites us to be a part of that. So our application that week, you remember, was to do it. It was not do it like in your own strength, but to do it in the sense of surrender yourself, to follow Him, and do what He's called you to do, to be a part of that, sharing in that mission, sharing in that rescue plan, which He invites us to do. So anyways, we look at that, and remember that's why we have His little bracelets, which we have His back, I think, on the walk-in table. I mean, this is a helpful tool. It says, be it once I do it the other. I'm wearing it just to remind me, invite you guys to grab them before you go. It'll be great. And then, last week, we pulled it all together with Impact Sunday, and when we talked about this picture, which I think is least helpful for me, to see that the importance of this represents Jesus Christ, that red ball, that if we align ourselves, and the importance of that, aligning ourselves to be impacted with Him, that's the key for transformation and for a heart that will follow Him. And then, only as we are being it, will we have the strength for His power to work through us to do it. To be carrying on the mission He's called us to, and you might even put this last ball, representing the world, our impact on the world then will come as a result of that, and it will come through Christ, and only by Christ, and that's what He's calling us to do. We can't do it unless we be it, and we can't be it unless we're in the line of impact, and the challenge was for us to do that this year, to come place ourselves in that, to be in a small group, to come and be a part of regular worship here, to come and serve and use your gifts, and which little plug for tonight, come to equip tonight, our first new meeting for the year called equip, six to seven, we have a chance to learn how to do that more. You'll hear more about that later as well too. So anyway, as we examine how this journey looks, this process of being it, a process of doing it, a process of aligning ourselves, we're going to study one of the first people that ever did it when Jesus came to earth. At times He did it well, at times He did it poorly, and sadly, or actually much benefit for us, we get to see examples of boats when He does it well, and when He does it poorly in the Bible. But even in His failure, He continued to follow Jesus Christ. He continued to stay faithful in that, and His name was Peter. One of the first things Peter would observe and experience personally was the reality that Jesus changes His followers. Peter would learn first hand, really from day one, but each other day that he spent with Jesus, that Jesus to be around Jesus was to be changed by Jesus. And Peter, this is such a classic story, right? We remember Jesus telling Peter to come join him on the water, because it shows Peter, Peter is the one that says, Lord, if it's you command me to come follow you. You know, and all the other 11 guys, aren't you thinking afterwards or thinking, why don't we speak up? You know, so He gets out there, but He sinks. It takes His eyes off of Jesus, right? And Jesus has to save them and pull them up out of the water. So why did you doubt? Peter was constantly living life that way, trusting, believing, stepping out, and messing up big, being restored big. If anybody tested the patience and the love of Jesus Christ, there was nobody of His followers, at least. I don't think more than Peter did. Yet He continued to come back. Jesus continued to woo him to himself. Let me say something that's really important this morning, right now. Please listen to this. There is no stronger apologetic or proof that you can ever give personally about who Jesus Christ is than a life deeply and intimately changed by Him. There is no stronger apologetic or proof that you can ever personally give someone of Jesus Christ than a life deeply and intimately changed by Him. You see, people will argue with you and if they haven't already, they will, at some point, argue with you about your theology, about what you believe in why you believe it, or about why your particular pathway of faith is different and how it could be better superior to others. Those kinds of questions will come up. What they can't argue with and what will silence them is if you demonstrate a life that has been radically changed and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about some religious image change. I'm talking about you look and you follow and you model Jesus Christ, the critics become quiet very quick with that. It's what I love about the story of a Chuck Colson. You're the guy, if you're old enough to know, caught up in the Watergate thing with Nixon, President Nixon, and the whole, the photo of all that was going on. I actually served time in prison because of that. When he first made a conversion to Christianity in prison and so on with that, people really were skeptical about it. But let me tell you a decade after decade after decade, the critics got quieter and quieter and quieter. Why? Because his life began to take on the image of the one he served, the one he followed. He could go off in some glamorous Hollywood television ministry where he was gathering many and living in mansions and whatever else there. He started a prison ministry, ministering to people that were just like him. And God opened up the door for him to do many other things, write books and speak of conferences and having all kinds of other impact. And even in his death, people were strangely silent to his critics, or critics to Christianity because here was a life that modeled and was consistent with what he lived and what he believed with that. Well, three things I want you to take away here today is we look at this proof, this principle that Jesus changes followers. And by the way, that is the key point for the morning and we'll say that over and over again. So if you're taking notes, you want to write that in. Jesus changes followers. The first thing I want you to see though, is we move beyond that, is how that happened in Peter's life. And the first thing was a changed name. The first thing was a changed name. That's number one. We didn't read from John chapter one, but if you look at the story of the life of Peter, we actually in John chapter one here, the very first encounter that Peter has with Jesus. Let me just read it to you from John chapter one, verse 35 through 42. It says, the next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. This is John the Baptist. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look, the Lamb of God. When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want? They said, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? Come, he replied, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying and spent that day with him. It was about the 10th hour. Andrew, who was one of them, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard that John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon. And tell him, we have found the Messiah. That is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you were Simon, son of John. You will be called Seifas, which when translated is Peter. Now think about that for a second. Have any of you met Simon for the very first time and they come up to you and say, hey, you. You're Brett. You're going to be called Bob. I don't think anybody probably has that story. Brett has ever happened to you. Not yet. Okay, Bob, that's not bad. So it just doesn't happen, right? It's kind of socially, it would be socially unacceptable. It would be almost inappropriate. It's awkward at the very least. Think about it for a second. This is where scholars believe that Peter was probably a follower of John the Baptist, too. It seems pretty obvious that his brother, Andrew, was. It's good reason to think that Simon Peter was as well, too. What does that tell us? It tells us these were guys that were open to seeing the importance of repentance, because that's what John was preaching. He was preaching a baptism of repentance. He was teaching a cleansing that was needed, not just for the proselytites who were coming in to the Jewish faith who needed to go through spiritual cleansing of the washing that was that baptism. There they were saying, hey, you Jews, you people of God, you sons of Abraham, you need it, too. That's what had drawn an Andrew and Simon Peter along the way. These guys were already open. They were already seeing the need. God was already working in their heart. And Andrew, his brother comes, you know, you usually trust right, you're sibling. You know, at least as adults, right? If you trust your sibling, he says, look, we found them aside. Here's the one. John, the one who we've been following, John the Baptist says, this is the one. So Simon had to come with some expectation, right? Some excitement with that. And then to be told, right from the get-go, hey, I'm going to change your name. It would have been radical if it were your least. And he changes his name from Simon, which means it is heard, which is derived, it's kind of a short and form derived from Sinian, which is the name that was common in Israel, which means God has heard to Peter, which we know means rock. Changing a name, rarely happened, later on in life, anyway. But the only ones that usually have power to name you are usually your parents, especially in this day and age. Mom and dad would decide what your name was going to be. And it would often be some kind of connection with the family or ancestry. Or it has something to do uniquely with the way or the time that you were born, or maybe what your purpose, they thought, would be in life. But a parent would have that kind of authority, but the only other person in this day and age that typically would would be a king or a master. Kings and masters have the ability and the power to change the names of those that serve them. I think right from the get-go. Peter, well silent at the time, right, is learning. And here's one that if he is the Messiah, he carries that kind of authority. And here he is exercising it. And of course, it's a good name change. It wouldn't be perceived as a bad thing, he called rock, necessarily. Also the other time, if it's not done by the authority of a parent, a king or a master, the only other time your name would have been changed in what happened in the scripture when it was done by God to give you a new purpose or a new plan that God was giving you. For example, Abraham was first called Abram. Sarah was first called Sarai. Their names were changed because God revealed some different purposes for them. Abram meant high father and God changed his name to Abraham, father of a multitude. Why was that important? Because he was going to make my father a new nation. The followers, the people of God. Sarai was the name that means my princess was changed to Sarah, mother of nations. Why? Because God was going to do that same work of growing a people, a faith through them. Now it would have been the other purpose here. So very clearly here, God's beginning to prepare that work here in Simon's life with this name change that happens with that. I remember when I was in high school on the high school football team. One particular year we had a new coach that was on the team. And he was working with me. I was running back. And at that particular time, if any of you grew up in Georgia, you might remember this. There was a running back at the University of Georgia named Pulpwood. That was his last name. And his first day out there, I remember he said, Pucket. Huh? I see if you deserve the nickname Pulpwood. Pucket. I like the way that sounds. I don't even know who Pulpwood was at the time, okay? I was early in my high school days and he was a freshman new football player. And obviously most of you don't even know who that is either. But at the time, he was apparently doing pretty well. But what that coach did on that particular day was cast a vision for something that he was hoping. Something he was hoping to develop in me as a player. And maybe just because it sounded good with Pucket, Pulpwood Pucket might have been nothing more than that. But I think the coach had an idea of trying to cast a vision for a young running back to move into the steps and follow the steps of something bigger possibly for his football career. I think God used that. That nickname stuck. People called me that there. It was a constant reminder of something I wanted to aspire to with that. I think at the very least, Jesus is doing the same kind of thing with Peter. Changing his name from Simon, God has heard to Brock. And if you know the story and you look down later with that, you know there's a lot that comes from that later on in the ministry here because Jesus changes followers. In the Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus, and there's so much skeptical questioning about who Jesus was, Jesus pulls in the 12th, it's huddle time. And he calls many says in verse 15, but what about you? He asked, who do you say that I am? And guess who speaks up? Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that on, that I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I think at some point the dots finally connected for Peter to go. Oh, okay. I kind of was wondering what the Peter thing came from, the rock came from. But on his statement that you are the Son of God, you are the Christ, the profession of faith. Peter finally moved in and stepped into the role that Jesus was preparing for the days to come and follow me. Following Jesus requires a name change. Meaning you no longer live for yourself, your name has been changed. Meaning the core of your identity has changed. I'm not sure if you're aware of this. Do you know that every single one of us here will have a new name in heaven? Revelation 3.12. To him who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down out of heaven from my God. And I will also write on him my new name. Because the very core of you are has been changed. You become a father of Jesus Christ. And it's fulfilled one day when you're with them and the new heavens and the new earth. And I'm not sure how that works and what that looks like. But the promise as a follower of Christ has to have your core of your identity changes. The promise is a name change that we all walk in. If your name hasn't changed and you're not a follower, the good news is Jesus changes followers. Second thing I want you to look in life of Jesus, like a Peter, was to change circumstances. Change circumstances. Peter's circumstances changed as he followed Jesus. As he drew near to Jesus, Jesus drew near to him. When he stayed close to Jesus, he witnessed many things. And this text that we read this morning, it was kind of a long passage there. But I want you to hear some of the context of what was happening, going on prior to this particular story of fishing. It says one that Jesus was speaking with authority. The people were amazed at his teaching. Is that because there weren't teachers? There are already there. Well, no, there were a lot of teachers around. The synagogues were already there and in place and running. And that's where they were going weekly to hear teachings. Now they didn't just hear them there, they could go to the temple and hear them at different times. Teachings were not a new thing. But he was teaching as one who had authority as if it was his word. Not somebody else's, because it was. He's casting out demons in this passage. He exercised authority not only in his teaching, but in the ability to cast out a demon, which we read about in one of the synagogues there. And that hadn't been happening really anywhere up into this point. People were amazed. And even more amazing as the demons came out, the demons seemed to recognize him. And they seemed to already know who he was. What kind of authority does that imply? Peter's watching this. All right, Peter has already been called. Peter's already been given this new name. Peter is not really sure what's going on. Let's just be honest. I think he would tell you that. He would say I was close probably most of Jesus' ministry, but I was really close in these early days. I think Peter would tell us that. And then we're told in this particular story too that Jesus comes to Peter's home. One of the first things that Jesus does comes to Peter's house. And his mother-in-law is there with some kind of high fever. And Jesus, after they ask him, hey, can you do anything for? He comes in and he heals her instantly with a fever. And she gets up and begins to help and serve. Peter's watching all this going on. Peter's getting a clue that everywhere Jesus goes, the circumstances are changing. People are amazed that his teaching is different than anybody else. Even demons are leaving the scene at his command. Illnesses were evaporating. And then after we're told in the text, after spending the whole night fishing, we've got any people who like to fish out here, I'm just curious. Do you ever spent the whole night fishing? Yeah, I don't think so. Oh, we have a few that have ladies too. I'm impressed. A little worried, but I'm impressed. After spending the whole night, whether that was just a long time, or literally the whole night, we're not sure about it. Spending the whole night, they had caught nothing. Now, if an fisherman, they always exaggerate the story about how big it was that they caught. But they don't ever use exaggerate the story. They tell you they caught nothing. If an fisherman tells you they caught nothing, he's telling you the truth. Or she's telling you the truth. There was nothing at all. After spending the night having caught nothing, Peter finds himself doing the best thing that his boat could do that particular morning. It became a platform for Jesus to float on, so you could set out from the shore a little bit to teach to the multitudes. In case you see Peter sitting in the boat just going, how long is this going to go? Looking at his empty nets, thinking this boat should be out catching fish, but in the last 12 hours, we caught nothing. Now, I'm sure he's intrigued by Jesus. He's listening to the teaching. But it hasn't really probably got a grip of him yet. Until Jesus finishes his message, let me pick up in verse 4. We already read it. It says, when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered, by the way, I think he answered very politely probably from what he was thinking. He said, Master, we worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled boat boats so full that they began to sink. We're talking, folks, thousands of fish would be needed to cause a boat to begin to sink. Two boats, at least. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, Bill, away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.
I'll let that story sink in a little bit. I don't know if you like me, if you want me to read it, you go, all right, we're talking about fish. That's kind of a cool thing, right? But weird things happen sometimes. And after all, it's just fish, right? Stinky, smelly fish. But this was Peter's domain. We know how we are, right? We identify ourselves really in a lot of ways, a lot by our vocation, a lot by our jobs, a lot by what we spend most of the day doing. If you ask a man to introduce himself, he will often include, in part of that introduction, something about his vocation, what he does. I think you'll have to say, well, do you have a family? So, yeah, I have a wife and kids. I ask a woman that thing often, and she's first to tell you, well, you shall tell you all about the kids. There's something unique about I think us men that were wired that we really find our identity in our task. And what we do day in and day out, what puts bread on the table or what we do that makes us feel like this is our calling, our purpose. This is Peter's. He's a fisherman. This is what he does. This is what probably his father did. This is what he's been doing all his life. And that particular morning, he had seen his incompetence. He hadn't caught a thing. He had seen and was very visible, visibly aware of his weakness. He could do nothing about it. He was completely out of control. He was looking at the reality of, you know, who knows what he was thinking. You know, had had been a really bad season. Was he concerned about, they weren't going to be able to eat as a family. Or they weren't going to be able to sell it in the market and get the money they needed to do other things. All kinds of things are going through his head. But let me tell you, it wasn't a good day. It started off a good day. This is who he was, was a fisherman. He felt only failure to some degree or another, that particular morning. But Peter realized for the first time, I think, that Jesus could be his Messiah. Oh, Peter got brought in by his brother, Andrew, at the very beginning, and said, hey, John the Baptist said, this is the one. This is the son of God, this is the Messiah, this is the Christ. He was there mentally going, all right, let's check this out. Let's ride this wave and see how we go. But I think on this particular day, something hit home to the point where Peter was like, oh my gosh, he could be my Messiah. To what we know, Jesus didn't know other miracles, that particular day, except for this one. And who did he ask to take him out fishing? Peter. Jesus asked Peter. And I think that's why we get this response from Peter. That Peter falls on his knees. You know, you would think Peter would be going, fish, you know, hold the fish, the fish, fish. You know, it's going to be a good day at the market. Wait till I tell my wife. Peter's the last thing he's thinking about is fish at that moment. And that's the key. Let me tell you for a found truth that I'm just beginning to discover. God's desire to work in your life. And to answer your prayers, most of us here are asking prayers all the time, every day. There might be a lot of things that we don't do for God, but one of the things that we do do is ask him for things. But his ultimate desire is to give you what you need most. And often it's not what you're asking, but he knows what's beneath it in the heart. Peter didn't need to catch fish. Absolutely. That's how he lived. That's how he supported a family. He was married yet children. We know that from historical records, this is not an option for a husband and a father. But Jesus was very aware that he needed something far more important than fish. He needed to know who he was. He needed to know the one that was in the boat with him at that particular moment. And by the way, we know, right, those of us that have read the New Testament, Jesus was just getting warmed up that day. Peter hasn't walked on water yet. Peter hasn't been in the boat yet when Jesus tells the winds and the waves to shh and within a second. You can see your reflection in the water. That's all that stuff's coming. Peter began to connect and how important it would be for him to understand who this person was that was with him because Jesus changes followers. If we ever feel like Jesus is only concerned about displaying his power in the spiritually important areas of our life, this should remind us otherwise. Jesus' intervention is all about revealing to Peter who he is so Peter will follow him more wholeheartedly. Peter isn't, by the way, think about it. He's not inspired to decide to open up a fish market. Okay, he's not going, dude, I have found the spot. Okay, this is where the fish are. Peter isn't inspired to write a book about fishing techniques and how you too can fill your boats to sinking size with fish. Again, Peter isn't thinking about fish, but the one who has commanded the fish from his very boat. Jesus' intervention in your life is not making you a success to impress others, to get a raise, to make a grade, to make the team, to build your resume of accomplishments. Jesus' intervention in your life is all about drawing you to follow him more wholeheartedly and seeing who he is. So, think about it. When you have a prayer, when you ask God to do something, he doesn't seem to step up to the plate and answer your prayer. It's not because he doesn't care about what you're asking about, because he often does answer those prayers, I think. Even very menial, small, petty prayers. They ask Davis if God will answer your prayer to give you a dog, and he will say, yes, God answers prayers. I think God does care about prayers like that. But God is trying to draw his followers into understanding that they don't even know how to ask for what they need most. And if he denies answering your prayer right now, it is not because he doesn't care, but because he's drawing you to himself, to realize that he is what you need most. Not the specific answer to your prayer. And when he does answer that prayer, specifically perhaps sometimes, it is all to point you to himself. Sometimes God knows that if he answers your prayer, I believe this, or my prayer, if he answers your prayer or my prayer, he knows that it will suck us away from him so fast. That he lovingly, like a good parent would say, look, you don't need another serving of that dessert. Trust me, you're good. I'm going to say no because I love you. You don't need to stay up another hour to night. You really need to get to bed because I love you. If he's a perfect father in heaven, he knows what his children need before they even ask. Thank God for unanswered prayers. I actually got a few in my head that I know that I prayed a different times that I look back even now I can still remember and go, thank you for not answering that prayer. That would not have been good. That would have not been really what I wanted. Thank him for unanswered prayers right now. Trust him. He will answer the heart prayer that you really have. I like the way Tim Keller says he says, God will always answer the prayer in a way that you would want him to if you knew what he knows right now. God will always answer a prayer in the way that you would want him to if you knew what he knew right now. Right? His perspective. His perspective is eternal. His perspective sees your heart. His perspective sees what's coming up. His perspective sees you coming home to him one day if you're true follower of his. Remember one of the ways I saw this firsthand was kind of been on football stories. I'll continue with one. Some of you have heard me share this with me for but it was going into my senior year playing football in high school. And this was kind of supposed to be my my year. I hope I'm not making sound like I was some star player. I wasn't our school was small and you know I was expected to come in. It was even a newspaper written up as the running back that was going to carry Henderson high school. I'm hoping to play off this year. Well, within game one or game two, I was quickly not playing anymore. I was watching from the sidelines. I wasn't actively hurt or had a bad game. There was a junior guy come out playing running back and somewhere along the way the coaches thought, you know, let's give the new guy experience and put Scott in the back of roll. Now for a guy who was really in the football and really that really mattered a lot. And he had many, many prayers about that being the year, you know, and wanting to play college football if I could or whatever else. That was devastating. I couldn't figure out why God. Why would you let that happen? I can't tell you at least as a high school senior at the disappointment that I felt at that point. Because I was like, man, I've been playing all my life. This is kind of my sport. Played other sports a little bit but I played this one 11 years. This was supposed to be the one to have the opportunity to do something really cool in the next level. Well, when you're not starting as a senior, it's probably not going to happen. It wasn't just game three, it wasn't just game four, but it continued on. And the disappointment grew. But I will tell you what also grew during that time too, was I had to realize, okay, football maybe wasn't what I was going to do down the road. And maybe that little sense of since ninth grade that I thought God was calling me into the ministry was maybe something that God was going to feed even more. And that passion began to grow and that thinking of a different line. And maybe you know, maybe I'm going to work for a church one there, be a youth director, do different things. God shifted my priorities and had a real line. Because the reality was I wasn't going to do football on the next level. You know that disappointment happened in that grade there. I was amazed at the night before my last senior game. You know, we had to win the next day's game to go to playoffs but we all kind of knew we weren't going to win. That didn't look good. And I wasn't expected to start much less play. And let's just say by chance I had a paper do that same Friday and that I didn't start it until the night before. Hypothetically speaking, let's just say that that maybe happened. And I remember thinking what's the big deal if I get much sleep tonight because it's really not going to matter. This is one of the few nights in high school college. I did this a little bit more often. But in high school in the few nights I did a literal all nighter where I never close my eyes and never lay down. Because I needed crank out a paper and this was before computers. So this is typewriter days kind of a thing here. I think my mom helped me with that type writing part which I appreciate. But I remember going to school that day going well this is weird. I never have literally had a all nighter on a day that I had school. So I got to school that day thinking I'm kind of in a phase. I know it's going on. Because I'm just kind of not there. But I get the paper turned in. I don't remember what I made on the paper. I'm pretty sure I passed it. But I just remember being in the game that night. Just kind of watching it. And sure enough we were down 7 and nothing. And we were kind of holding them tight on defense. That was good. But we were not doing anything on offense so wasn't looking good. And I just remember thinking this is my last football game of my career. And I'm watching it from the sideline. At this point I've been moved to second string back up defensive end. I guess I was somewhere in the ranking for a running back there. I've been third string or something. But my best chance to get in would be at the defensive end position. And as I was sitting over there sure enough at half time when we were in the locker room the starting defensive end who was an underclassman from me had heard himself. I didn't even know it at the time. And I threw it in the post like you think you can you can not. So this is the art pocket you're going to go in second half. And I thought oh wow. I look at the play at least a little bit on defense of end of my last senior game of the year. So I'm getting out there thinking well this is kind of nice. You know at least I get to play some here. And the whole time I'm out there I'm literally praying. I'm really going all right. I've had no sleep tonight. You know obviously I'm even not the score anymore. You know I've been praying. I forgot to tell you I've been praying that I would have a chance to make a touchdown my senior year. At least one time. And I'm literally praying. God you know would you give me a chance to the score touchdown my senior year. And the only thing I think of that could possibly happen you're not going to intercept a pass at defensive end. Unless it's a really really bad pass was you know God they got a run option. They have to run an option and the quarterback has to make a bad pitch. The next play. All right. Quarterback comes down the line. I'm the defensive end. I have second read on the quarterback. We're about next to pitch and it's a bad pitch. And this is like a movie right. Everything's going to slow motion. There's the ball on the ground. Okay. And I just see myself slowly moving towards it and picking it up and starting to run. And there were many players on that team. The other team that were much faster than I was. But I ran like run for us. I've had zero sleep the entire night. And the next thing I know I'm in the end zone. Running back a 63 yard return. And the game is tied. And I'm like thinking God did you just do that for me? Because I'm faithful I wasn't even my schoolwork the night before. And we won that game and over time to go to the playoffs. And the next thing. But I wasn't thinking about football that night. I was thinking about how big my God was. I don't get me wrong I enjoyed the game. That was fun. But I met something much bigger that day. The disappointment was very real. But like Peter the amazement to came to see God's work at hand. To realize who it was that I was serving. Who it was that was calling me to follow him. And my goodness if it was going to be through football I would have been fun. Never been fun. I've been great. But if it wasn't going to be through football I'm okay with that. If I'm not serving a God that's big like this. That would do that for me. That would let me pray that ten seconds before the ball snapped. And then to walk through it. Following Jesus comes with changed circumstances that will grow your love for following him. They will include disappointments. But they will also include amazements. Whoever's told you that you won't be disappointed as a Christian following Jesus told you a lie. Don't believe it you will be disappointed. But if you trust him you'll be astonished as well too.
If your circumstances haven't changed you're not a follower. Jesus changes followers. And thirdly, lastly, quickly. Peter had a change calling. Now Jesus had already told him in the earlier encounters. In fact the one I read in John 1 he already told him to follow me. He already invited him to follow me. And Matthew 4 that we read before chronologically apparently that had happened before too. Jesus had already come and told him to come follow him. It was like the third, maybe fourth time that Jesus in another context with his disciples that he tells them to follow me. But this one's a little different. Because Peter was thinking about fish one moment and then he was not thinking about fish the next moment. This one that texts his in verse 8. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus knees and said, go away from me Lord I'm a sinful man. That's a clue he understood. A little bit better who it was in the boat with him. For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Left everything. Thousands of fish. Do they could have made a lot of money? You know, they could have gone, let's kind of mark it and sell these first Jesus and be right behind you. Pass up a minute to not follow Jesus. No way it's not worth it. They left everything. Something solidified in Peter's life that day that he would continue to grow on. That would make him the rock. When Jesus would say, who do you say that I am? I think Peter thought about fish and then he thought about not thinking about fish and he said, you are the Christ, you are the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, yeah, now you are getting the Peter upon that rock. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He was no longer a fisherman. He was a follower of Jesus. But you know what, he still fished. Do you know that Peter still fished? He still had a boat. Why? Because there is a kind of other stories that happen with him in the boat and they are fishing. But Peter would never be a fisherman again. Something had changed deeply within him. He was a follower of Jesus. Oh, he fished. Jesus was telling one time, hey, you know, you need to pay taxes, go catch a fish and pull a coin out of his mouth. Peter's going with that. All right, we can do that. Peter's still fishing. Well, he's not a fisherman anymore. Food, that's gone. He's a follower of Jesus. He has a new calling, a fresh calling. He would be in the boat and fishing the rest of his life. But he would never see himself again as a fisherman because he wasn't that changed. Because Jesus changes his followers. He had a different calling. So I was thinking about this. A few guys, a few people came to my mind. I was thinking about Tony. Laurie might remember this when he first moved here. We had a pest control guy, a guy named Tony, that would come to our house. And we enjoyed having Tony coming over because Tony could not come over and spray for bugs without telling you about Jesus. So he's like, yeah, yeah, he's spraying for bugs. I might think, would you look for your spray in, okay, right here? But he's telling you about Jesus and how God's doing in his life. And we weren't surprised a year later when God called him to go to the mission field. Tony, the bug man, he wasn't a bug man. Well, he did a great job with it and lots of clients. He was a follower of Jesus. Or I think about the guy Mike, who was at my house late last night fixing another plumbing leak. Another story at our house there. You can't hang out and talk to Mike without Mike telling you about his church. Mike was in Titusville. I'm not familiar with the church really, but I know that it's growing. I know that he's excited to follow Jesus because he tells you about it as you're talking to him. Is Mike a plumber? No, he's a follower of Jesus. Does he do plumbing still? Well, yeah. Or is he about Johnny long? Angel and Jeremy know Johnny. Tony's one of my heroes just because Johnny after spending years on the mission field in Kenya, right? Has a renewal in his heart of the power of the gospel and grace in his life. And it changes everything. And as a pastor, as a former missionary on the mission field, he says, I got to go back. And they go back for another stint in Kenya for him to go back and to clarify and bring the true gospel of grace that he had not communicated very clearly. Because he didn't know it. Is Johnny a pastor in a missionary? Well, no. He's a follower of Jesus. I mean, he works as a pastor in a mystery, I guess you could say. He's a follower of Jesus. Jesus changes his followers. I don't care whether you're a housewife. I don't care if you're a doctor. I don't care if you're a school teacher. Kids, I don't care if you're a student. In middle school or high school. You're a pastor. You're a businessman. You're a plumber. You're a pest control person. Jesus changes that from day one. You no longer that. You're a follower of Jesus. And everything changes. And nothing will be the same. So as we start this series, as we follow this guy named Peter, you're going to see yourself in in my promise. The good and the bad and the ugly. But what I praise, you're going to see is Jesus. Because that's who Peter was following. So we need to follow. Let's pray. God, thank you so much that you do change followers. Because I'm one that needs to be changed. God, I think that you give us a new name. A new identity of who we are in Christ. God, I think that you change our circumstances. God, they'll be disappointments. And they'll be astonishments. But you are working through those. And I think you got it. You're all about changing our calling. We're no longer whatever we thought we were before following you. But we become followers of Jesus. And God, you take us for your purposes and for your glory and honor. So you continue to work that out with us this morning. We continue to draw our hearts to you. God, we set us free these next few months as we think about this. And we ponder this. And we meditate upon this. God, to follow more and more in love with you. And to follow you more wholeheartedly. And God, for those that maybe are here that don't know you. And they know they're not following you. But they would come to a place to surrender their lives. Even now, let's say, God, I choose you. I'm following you, Jesus. Take me. Leave me. I'm yours. God, that's our heart. That's our prayer. Let me pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.