Message title: The Next Thing
If you like you can turn to one scripture today, Luke 5.
I want to talk to you about something a little more serious. I had to learn this the hard way from myself, and I'll be honest, it's not easy, but it's so worth it because, God will refuse to tell you about His next steps for your life until you do this. I mean it, it’s that's serious.
Luke 5:1-6, So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret (The sea of Galilee), 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. (So, the fishermen are not in the boats, they are on the shore washing their dirty nets from a night of fishing. But I want you to watch what Jesus does right here) 3 Then He (Jesus) got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. (Now mark that right there, keep in mind this is the first thing Jesus ever asked Peter to do.)
(So, Jesus says) …put out a little from the land. "And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat." (“What does Luke chapter 5 mean? - BibleRef.com”) (So, they’re not alone on the beach, there’s like a huge crowed, men women and children everywhere, filling up the entire beach. And Jesus gave one of his sermons on the mount talks) 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (That was his second request of Peter. You’ll see why that’s important in a minute.) 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.” (I can hear a big sigh come out of Peter when he says to Jesus his excuse followed by a pause and then, “nevertheless” okay I’ll do it even thought I don’t want to at all. Now look at what happened next.) 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
Twice Jesus gave orders to Peter. “Push out a little way”, and second, “go fishing again.”
Question: What would Peter have missed, had he not obeyed?
Everything that came after that. Being part of Jesus’ inner circle, all the first-hand miracles such as his own mother in laws healing that took place right after he followed Jesus. Walking on water! Being the special guest speaker on the birthday of the church, the Day of Pentecost!
He would have missed out on What’s Next!
1. What’s next?
I recently read the story of a soldier during the time of World War 2. He was a young guy in Florida in a library one day. Now this is during the war, and he said he just picked up a book and noticed these little notes in the margin, handwritten, very heartfelt. He looked in the front of the book and he noticed the name of the previous owner and her address, and it was a lady named, Holly, who lived in New York City. So, he sat there and wrote Molly letter introducing himself, letting her know how he had come across her book and told her how he was about to be shipped off overseas to Europe the next day.
And then he invited her to respond so they could just talk about the book. Well, he was so surprised when he got a letter back from her that for the next 13 months, they wrote each other back and forth. In their letters they got closer and closer and found themselves falling in love across the miles.
Now keep in mind, up to this point they hadn’t seen each other. So, he asked her for a photo, but she wouldn't send one. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Could have been the first catfish fraud that took place. OK 13 months later, after corresponding all this time. He was coming back home and routing through New York City. This was their big opportunity to meet for the very first time and they planned to meet and then go to dinner. So, she wrote him, and she said, I'll be waiting for you when you get off the ship. She said, you'll know it's me by the pink flower in my hair. Well, he was so excited and nervous. The moment arrived; he stepped off the ship. And right then this beautiful woman came walking towards him, she took his breath away. Stunning, tall, gorgeous, elegantly dressed, in shape, she looked like a movie star. Well, he was so captivated by her beauty, he didn't even realize she was not wearing a pink flower in her hair, and the woman simply passed him by.
He felt so dumb for getting his hopes us like that. When he finally came back down to earth he noticed another lady, older than the first, walking in his direction. He saw that she had grey hair and a worn-out dress, but she was also wearing the pink rose in her hair.
Disappointed but determined not to show it, he called out to her with a smile. He saluted her and said, Hello Miss, my name is Bernie, you must be Holly.” He said, “I'm so glad finally to meet you, can I take you to dinner?”
Well, the woman looking at him with surprise on her face and said, “Young man, I’m not sure what's going on here, but the young lady that just passed you, she asked me to wear this pink flower in my hair and told me that if you invited me to dinner then I was to tell you she'll be waiting for you at a table in the restaurant there across the street.”
Can you imagine how surprised he was? It was all a test! Can you believe that?
He had a choice when he was faced with disappointment, but he sucked it up and was respectful anyway. That young wise woman wondered about him. The test was her way of finding out, “What kind of character he had, “Would he do the right thing even when it's hard, even when he doesn’t understand or don't even like it?
God will not only give us the desires of our heart, but even more when He see that our priority is to be respectful to Him.
So, I want you to know today that God wants to see you do the right thing, especially when it's hard. And when you pass the test, get ready, God is about to impact your destiny.
You know, (here is point #2) I remember hearing a minister who said,
2. “God will never advance his instructions for your life beyond your last act of disobedience.”
I'm going to repeat that, He said “God will never advance His instructions for your life beyond your last act of disobedience.”
I memorized that because it struck me so hard. See, you may be asking God, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Please tell me. And he's saying, “Go back to the last thing I told you to do and check to see if you did it.”
And if you didn't, God's gonna bring you back to it, and bring you back to it repeatedly until you finally learn how to walk uprightly before Him?
What has God asked you to do?
• It could be something like getting out of a relationship that you know God doesn’t want you in. But since you’ve delayed, you now have built strong soul ties with that person, and it hurts too bad. You know what? You're gonna stay stuck.
• It could be that God told you to get your finances in order, to stop spending so much money on late night infomercials, but you keep getting drawn into the temptation to spend. You're gonna stay stuck financially.
What if Peter would have said to Jesus? What if Peter had not obeyed! He would have missed out on every amazing “next step” had he not pushed out his boat again, one more time even though the idea of it made absolutely no sense at all.
I remember reading the five love languages. You know the five love languages are physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, gifts, and quality time.
Do you know what God's love language is? It's obedience.
Listen to this scripture in John 14:15.
John 14:15, Jesus says, “if you really love me, you will obey.”
What was he saying? It was this…
3. God interprets my love for Him by how well I obey when He speaks.
You know, I recently heard about Pastor David Yonggi Cho of South Korea, you know, he was the pastor of the world's largest church. He was asked what his secret to success was. You know what he said? Pastor Cho said, “I pray, and I obey. ““I pray, and I obey. “
You should probably write that down. That's a great thing to remember and remind your kids and grandchildren of.
But here's the thing, and this is why it’s so serious. Obedience with God is truly a heart issue. If you lack the heart for God, you will lack faith in God.
When God tells you to give something or to do something, or to say something, that's between you and Him. This is not a public or Facebook moment.
He's watching to see if you are going to do the right thing. He's not trying to make things hard. He's trying to bring your deliverance from the devil because He sees what’s down the road.
It’s your obedience that opens the door for God to bless you extravagantly. But if you don't fully obey what God's telling you to do, you're never going to move beyond your current circumstances. Did you hear me?
4. I will never move beyond my current circumstances, until I obey.
I told you today was a little more serious.
You know, I remember hearing a teacher say, “There are two messages in the Bible, only two, and they're told thousands of different ways.” And this is what it is.
Do what I tell you to do, you'll be blessed. Don't do what I tell you to do, and you will live under a curse. That’s clear, right? I’ve lived under some curses in my day, how about you?
I mean, think about Jonah in the Bible. God told him to go to Nineveh. And Jonah went the complete opposite direction, toward the city of Tarshish. He rebelled and ended up getting swallowed by a whole mess of problems. He almost died, and then a big fish spits him out on the white sand beach of Nineveh.
And what did God tell Jonah? So, what I told you to do the first time. Jonah, go to Nineveh. So, what do we find?
5. God’s instructions never change.
All Jonah did was waste a lot of time.
So, see God's instructions for your life will never change until you do the last thing, he told you to do. And it might be as simple as clean your house. That was my first instruction. To clean my life and clean my living spaces.
6. To obey the Lord quickly and quietly.
ILL: You know when I was a little, about 3. Dad had trained me to obey him the first time. He expected my first response when told to do was to immediately do it. He told me the story that one day, I was running across our front yard and ran right into the street. That’s something I think all of us have done, right? He said that before I could cross, there was a car racing down the road in the lane I was about to enter. He said, I shouted, “Jonathan Stop! He told me the car was driving fast enough it probably would have killed me had I not stopped on a dime.
What I'm trying to say is this, not only will disobedience slow down your progress with God in your life. But depending on the circumstances, obedience itself could save your life!
How much more could it be the very thing that God is waiting for from you to open your next door. So set your mind to obey quickly and quietly.
7. Because delayed obedience is still disobedience.
So, what is it that God may have told you to do in the past and you didn't do it because it was too hard?
And here it is a year later or 30 years later and you're still caught up in stagnant disobedience?
What’s the thing you’ve refused to do that is clogging the flow of your life like a plugged-up drain?
Would encourage you today. Take bold steps of obedience. Don't talk yourself out of God's will because it doesn't make sense to your mind.
See, anybody can obey when it doesn't take much faith, when it's easy and it's logical.
But doors of opportunity, doors of favor and blessings are going to open by the strength of the Lord for you more than ever when you simply obey.
So let me tell you how I began to build up my courage to obey, even when it’s not what my flesh wants to do.
• For a long time, I've been leading myself to listen to the word of God and to faith building messages every day.
• Every single day, see, faith comes by hearing, and the more I heard God’s word the more I decided to obey because I know it is leading me to doors of opportunity and success in my life with the Lord.
And just imagine one last thing, the lack of obedience in our lives never only affect us, it affects others too.
Think about that, “Who else could be waiting on you to simply obey?
Maybe if you were to finally go through with that one area of obedience God has been pointing out to you, you might finally find the purpose God has for you at this point in your life. It’s most likely waiting on the other side of your obedience.
If God has pointed out “His last request” to you and you realize that you need to go back and complete it; I want to pray with you.
(Prayer) Speak out a blessing over the church and on those who the HS is speaking to right now.
Note: If you would like to use my Power Point and or Handouts I would be glad to share them with you upon request.
