“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)
Notice though, when they returned to what they knew, without Jesus being involved in it, they were not successful
Even after they had given it their all, they had no success, nada, zilcho. Not even one little, iddy biddy sunfish.
You know the kind a small boy’s first catch is, you take a picture of it, but the only thing you see in the picture is the smile on the boys face, because the fish is to small.
But notice what happened after they quit trying to do it on their own and relied on Jesus!
John 21:6 & 10-11msg.
6.He said, "Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens."
They did what he said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren’t strong enough to pull it in.
10-11.Jesus said, "Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught." Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net to shore, 153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn’t rip.
Even when you think, you’ve done something wrong against God and your not worthy of His goodness to you, you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
When you do that, you still make it about you and want you have done. That’s the opposite of Grace!
Its not about what you do to merit Gods goodness and His amazing ability to bless you, its about what He already did to make it available to you!
When your going through something and you feel like giving up, its almost like you think that your all alone in your dilemma,
Nothing could be farther from the truth, you may have left the scene of the incident,
you may have went somewhere both physically and spiritually, but God hasn’t went anywhere!
He’s still right there waiting for you to ask Him for His help, ready to deliver!
Nothing can take you away or stand between you and Gods Love! Nothing!!
You’re the one who lets something get between you and God, not Him. He is completely committed to the relationship!
1st Peter 4:12-13 MSG
12-13.Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.
Look back to verse three of our text
In the last part of that verse it says: "they caught nothing that night" (and believe me it’s not like they didn’t try)
Any good fisherman knows how to try real hard to catch fish, when there not biting.
This tells us God did not intend for them to return to something Familiar! Because when you return to something that you already know,
it doesn’t require very much faith on your part, because you already know what to expect.
(familiarity, will never stretch you and allow your faith to grow)
Jesus said Himself: No one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Luke 5:36-39 NKJ
Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.
37. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.
38. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
39. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
God wants to take our walk with Him to new levels, He wants us to grow in our relationship with Him and as we do,
He will reveal more of Himself in our walk with Him all along the way.
Human nature sometimes, or should I say almost always fights change that were not ready for, we like to think the old way is better.
That’s why the phrase, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” rings true with most people.
Peter wasn’t ready for the change that was happening, most times like Peter, were never ready for change when its happening.
But God was doing a new thing to bring us closer to Him, God is always continuing to do new things in all of our lives.
He wants to take us to new levels and show us more of his goodness each and every day.
And the more we rely on Him and His goodness and not on our own abilities,
the more we realize that He is our power source, instead of ourselves,
And when we do, the more miraculous things start to come about in our lives.
TBS. Zech 4:6 (KJV)
6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
“Its not by might, its not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of Hosts”.
God wanted Peter and those who were with him (and us as well) to know,
That you can’t do it on your own, He didn’t want Peter to do it on his own, and He doesn’t expect us to either!
He wants us to know, He will be there every step of the way to help us, always telling us just where to throw the net!
Jesus was their power source, He was their source for everything,
When He showed up on the scene, everything changed for the better, it always does,
the more Jesus is involved in anything, the better everything goes!
John 21:11 NKJ.
Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.
Jesus, blessed them and blessed them good! Not because of what they had done, but because of who He was.
Your blessing does not depend on what you do, if it did, you’d never get one!
You would toil all night and day only to come up empty handed every time.
Were not so different from Peter you and I, sometimes we think were so tough, only to find out differently through our own humility.
Have you ever heard this quote?
* When the going get tough the tough get going, But reality for a lot of us is,
* When the going gets tough, we find out we ain’t as tough as we thought we were,
sometimes it’s not that easy completing the task that’s been set before us.
A lot of people just give up and want to quit when come up against difficulties, they find themselves saying what’s the use?
Their response should be: My God, has never failed me yet!”
It doesn’t matter what happens, God is still God! And whatever comes my way, were going through it together and I‘m gonna come out a winner on the other side.
Jerm. 16:21 (KJV)
21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
He has given us His rightousness thru His Son Christ Jesus, everything Jesus has available to Him we have available to us, through our relationship with Him!
1 Pet 2:9 (KJV)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Peter wasn’t the only man to ever fall short of the mark. All men fall, great men get up and keep going.
The saints are just the sinners who fall down and get back up and keep pressing towards the mark!
King David Fell from greatness, even going to the point of murder to get what he wanted,
yet we find him rising from the dust of his failure, shaking himself off and crying out to God “Take not thy Holy Spirit from Me!”
He said:
*I can live without my Kingdom
*I can live without my children
*I can live without my mother and father
*I can live without my laptop and my
Ipad
*But I cannot live without your presence in my life!
When it seems like the accuser and the world are dishing out more than you think you can take, remember this:
Sometimes people make mistakes: Thank God for His Grace and Forgiveness!
People always tend to look back when times are tough,
God isn’t interested in your past, your past was forgiven when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
He is more concerned with your future, just as He had big plans for Peter, He also has big plans for you as well!
2 Cor. 5:16-21 Msg.
16-20.Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look.
We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore.
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.
The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!
Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.
God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.
God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives.
God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them.
We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
21.How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
When you look at or think about the Cross of Calvary know this one thing,
Jesus never gave up on us, the bible says in the midst of his trial, even when He was beat beyond recognition, He "NEVER SAID A WORD!
So when you think you want to quit, think about all He did for us so we could be forgiven. It makes our circumstances look, oh so insignificant doesn‘t it?
Jesus knows us inside and out, He understands more than you think he does
*People will fail you!
*Family will fail you!
*Friends will fail you!
*Your Government will fail you!
*You will even fail you!
Life will let you down sometimes
This one Fact remains the same, God will never let you down, He will never fail you!
He’s all the time busy, working behind the scenes, to get good things lined up to happen to you.
He is continually working all things for our good when you put your faith and trust in Him.
So if life tries to throw you a curve ball, throw it right back and know that God will take care of you, no matter what happens.
Will there be times of struggle, times you get tired and feel like quitting, probably.
TBS.(the bible says) His strength is perfect, when our strength is gone!
Before the beginning of the world, God knew you and has had a plan for your life from that very moment.
You have had placed on you, the highest calling ever known to mankind,
to serve and to know the love and goodness of God! (Hallelujah, Glory to God!)
You may have been looked over, passed over and set aside by the world, But not by God!
He actually chose you, long before you chose Him.
You are one of His treasures, one of His most valued possessions, He loves you more than you will ever know!
Lets pray.
