Don’t Quit Now, "God’s Not Through With You Yet"

“Don’t quit now,” God’s not through with you yet

John 21:1-2 MSG

1.After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee). This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed "Twin"), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, "I’m going fishing."

Now Peter, he was kind of still in limbo, because of what had happened before Jesus death and what he had said, when he denied that he knew Jesus.

I don’t know of any one, who has never felt like quitting at some point in their lives.

Things just didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, or someone did or said something to you. Or you did something to someone else and regretted it.

Maybe you have been praying and seeking God for a specific need for a long time.

And you almost think He has forgotten your address and you want to give up.

Don’t give up, your answer is closer than you think. Your miracle is just around the corner!

He hasn’t forgot about your need and He still knows your address, He knows everything about you, right down to the number of hairs on your head.

He Loves You!

As long as there is free will, There will always be trials,

either inflicted by the world and the accuser, or somehow self inflicted knowingly or somehow accidentally.

We have all shot ourselves in the foot on occasion and most of us have done it more than once,

The self inflicted ones are usually more painful, because we like to think that we can control what we do to ourselves.

I’m sure that Peter was no different in his way of thinking, earlier he had told Jesus pretty much, that he would do anything for Him.

John 18:10 Msg.

Just then Simon Peter, who was carrying a sword, pulled it from its sheath and struck the Chief Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Malchus was the servant’s name.

You see, he loved Jesus and wanted to protect Him, one minute willing to die for Him.

The next thing you know, he denies that he even knows Jesus At all,

John 18:25-27 msg.

25.Meanwhile, Simon Peter was back at the fire, still trying to get warm. The others there said to him, "Aren’t you one of his disciples?" He denied it, "Not me."

26.One of the Chief Priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?"

27.Again, Peter denied it. Just then a rooster crowed.

Talk about a major flip flop, he didn’t know if he was coming or going.

Poor Peter, He was an emotional train wreck, Can you imagine what he must have been thinking?

It’s a lot easier being courageous, when the guy who can do everything and anything and knows no limits in this world or the next, is standing next to you.

I’m sure his whole world was coming apart at the seams, or so he thought. What would he do now, without Jesus?

He probably felt like, Jesus where are you? You said you were the Messiah

and now you’ve been taken away like any other man and left us out here on our own, he still didn’t get it!

You can imagine how he felt, he had denied Jesus just like He said he would.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

The whole time Jesus was being persecuted, like the others, all he could do was watch from a far, wandering what in the world, would happen next.

He must have been feeling a lot of guilt and condemnation, like what’s the use,

I’m not worthy, I’ll just quit. I’m sure all kinds of synarios were going through his mind.

What he didn’t realize though was that, Jesus loved him in spite of what he had done and had already forgiven him completely.

Jesus had great plans for Peter, He wasn’t through with Him, It wasn‘t the end, it was only the beginning!

John 21:1-2 msg. (remember our text, Peter said “I’m going fishing”)

3-4.The rest of them replied, "We’re going with you." They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him.

5.Jesus spoke to them: "Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?"

They answered, "No."

You see a lot of times when we don’t know what to do, we go back to what we know how to do, or so we think we think we know how to do.

And sometimes when we do, we influence others to go along with us. (misery loves company)