God Shows Up! Series

God Shows Up!

The Gospel of John

John 21:1-7 (Reading vs. 1-14)

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - August 22, 2018

(Revised July 25, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*In John 21, God tells us about one of the wonderful appearances of our Risen Savior. It happened on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and vs. 14 tells us that it was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples.

*We know that the LORD God is always here, because by His Holy Spirit, He's always everywhere. King David marveled at the omnipresence of God in Psalm 139. There in vs. 1-12 David declared:

1. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

3. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.

4. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

5. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.

7. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8. If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10. Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,'' Even the night shall be light about me;

12. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

*God is always here, and Christians, we know that, but there are times when the Lord makes us keenly aware of His presence. The first time I remember was in Athens Georgia during Spring Break in 1974. I was over a year away from trusting in Jesus. But I had been seeking the truth for over a year, and God was definitely working on my heart.

*That spring, I had gone back to Georgia to see my family and friends. And during a Saturday night of partying with college friends, the talk turned to religion. I remember telling my friends, "Maybe the Christians are right." Their response was instant and overwhelming. They absolutely rejected the message of the cross with great ridicule and passion.

*After that, I went outside by myself. On the top of a pine-covered hill, with the wind whistling through the trees, there, for the first time, I was aware of the presence of God. It was indescribably profound. God was patiently drawing me to trust in the Lord, and 14 months later, by the grace of God, I was saved!

*God shows up! And the more we seek Him, the more we will be aware of His constant presence. God tells us this in Jeremiah 29:11-13:

11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

*God will show up, and this meeting by the sea helps us understand. Let's begin by reading John 21:1-14.

MESSAGE:

*The Lord Jesus showed up by the Sea of Galilee, and He wants to show up in our lives too!

1. SO DON'T GET DISTRACTED.

*Christians: We must not get distracted by the things of this world. And we can see a possible distraction in vs. 1-3:

1. After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:

2. Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.

3. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing.'' They said to him, "We are going with you also.'' They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

*Some people believe this fishing trip was a big mistake for Peter. They think that he was giving in to the temptation to go back to the old life, back to the old ways. I’ve preached it that way myself, and there is some circumstantial evidence. The Lord had already called Peter away from his fishnets to fish for men. In Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'' There's also no evidence that Jesus told them to go fishing. And Peter’s statement in vs. 3 sounds at least a little willful: "I’m going fishing."