Newsletters and Sermons
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
How to Pray for a Miracle - 3/30/14
To listen to the sermon, click here.
HOW TO PRAY FOR A MIRACLE
Miracles Still Happen
Part 5
03-30-14 Sermon
A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight Luke 18:35-43 (NIV)
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
FIVE PRINCIPLES ON PRAYING FOR MIRACLES
1.
You Must Pray ________________________________
“As Jesus entered Jericho a blind man
was sitting by the roadside begging.
When he heard the crowd going by he asked what was happening and they
told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ He called out ‘Jesus!
Son of David! Have mercy on
me.’” Lk. 18:35-38
Psalm 142:1-2 “How I plead with
God. How I implore His mercy,
pouring out my troubles before Him.”
2.
You Must Pray _______________________________
Luke 18:39 “The people in front
of him told him to be quiet but he shouted even more loudly. ‘
Son of David! Have mercy on
me!’”
Colossians 4:2 “Don’t
be weary in prayer. Keep at
it. Watch for God’s answers.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “
Always keep on praying.”
Matthew 7:11 “God
loves to give good gifts to His children.
If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your kids how much more
does your heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to those who ask Him.”
Romans 8:32 “If God loved us
enough to send Jesus Christ His own Son to die on the cross for us, doesn’t He
love us enough to give us everything else?”
Why do I need to be persistent?
·
Persistence
shows how much_______________________________
·
It
prepares you_______________________________
“Perseverance must finish its work so you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4
3.
You Must Pray _________________________________
“Call unto me and I
will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you know not.” Jeremiah 33:3
“Don’t worry about
anything. But pray and ask God for everything, always giving thanks.”
Philippians 4:6
4. You Must Pray ____________________________________
“Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.” Lk 18:42
“According to your
faith it will be done unto you.” Mt 9:29
“Whatever you ask for
in prayer believe that you’ve received and it will be yours.” Mk 11:24
Two conditions for answered prayer: You must _________and
you must _______________
How can I increase my
faith?
Fill your mind with ___________________________________
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God.” Romans 10:17
Make _________________________________________
5. You Must Pray _____________________
“At once the man was able to see and he
followed Jesus thanking God. And
all the other people who saw this also praised God.” Lk 18:43
“Don’t worry about
anything. But pray and ask God for everything, always giving thanks.”
Philippians 4:6
HOW TO PRAY FOR A MIRACLE
Miracles Still Happen
Part 5
03-30-14 Sermon
The Bible is full of miracles
that happened to very, very ordinary people. People just like you.
People just like me. You
say, How come miracles never happen to me then? Why doesn’t God want to do a miracle in my life? He does. He’s waiting to do miracles in your life. He’s really is waiting to do miracles
in your life. You just have to pray
and He’ll do them. You say, “how do
I pray for miracle.”
I’m glad you asked that
question. Let me give you five principles on how to pray for a
miracle.
In Luke 18 is the story of
the blind beggar. As I told you
last week Jesus never did a miracle just to show off. He always did miracles to teach spiritual truths. Out of the story of the blind beggar
receiving his eyesight back, we learn the five principles that you can go home
right tonight and begin to put into practice in praying for a miracle in your
life – a financial miracle, a health miracle, whatever kind of miracle you
need. And we all need them at
different times in our lives.
1. You
must pray passionately
That means with all your
heart, with intensity, with feeling.
You need to pray with urgency.
You need to let God hear your heart. “As Jesus entered
Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by he
asked what was happening and they told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ He called out [literally in the Greek,
“he shouted”] ‘Jesus! Son of
David! Have mercy on me.’” That’s passion. He cries out.
Did you know that God is
listening to the tone of your prayer?
Not just what you say. He
knows you. We ask for a lot of
things in prayer we don’t want. We
say a lot of things in prayer we don’t mean. So God wants to hear you say, “God, I really want this.”
That’s what it means to pray passionately.
What I’m saying is this. God does not answer prayers that
you don’t put your heart into. Prayers
where you’re just mouthing the words.
You don’t really care.
You’re just kind of going through the motions. Jesus called it vain repetition.
The problem is the longer
you’re a believer the more it’s easy to get caught in the trap of perfunctory
prayers because you learn all the right phrases. Then when you sit down at the dinner table and you’re hungry
and you bow your head and go, “Bless this food to the nourishment of our
bodies. … Amen.” Ten four good buddy.
Over and out! Rub a dub,
dub, thanks for the grub. Yeah
God! And you get these certain
little phrases that you do. We
really get caught in these traps.
(A little boy heard the same prayer every night. They were holdings hands and heads
bowed. He said, “Dad, can I be the one to talk to our plates
tonight?”) God doesn’t listen
to that kind of prayer.
Why do you think David was a
man after God’s own heart? The guy
was an adulterer and a murderer yet God says He’s a man after My own
heart. How do you think He did that? Because David knew how to pray
passionately.
Psalm 142 “How I plead with God. How I implore His mercy, pouring out my
troubles before Him.” Circle “pouring out.” Here’s the first principle about
praying for a miracle: it’s better to
have heart without words than it is to have words without heart. Because God’s listening for your
tone. Do you really want Him to
work in your life? Do you really
want Him to do this miracle? Or do
you just pray it one time and forget it.
Like kids often say, “I want that,” and then they forget it. They don’t even think about it any
more.
Pray passionately when you
need a miracle. Sometimes the
greatest prayer is just one word –
Help! Help me! God is looking at your heart when you
pray. You don’t have to say all
these fancy thee’s and thou’s – O most
gracious mighty omnipotent ruler.
God’s our heavenly Father.
If my kids walked in and said, “O
great one of the household! Thou
who bearest our allowance. Be
generous unto thy humble servants.”
I’d be going, Huh?
He’s your heavenly
Father. Just say, “God, help! I need help!”
That’s what it means to pray passionately. The man cried out.
He began shouting, “God help me!
I want to see.”
2. When
you need a miracle you also pray persistently.
In other words you keep on
praying and you keep on praying and you keep on praying until the answer
comes. You don’t get
discouraged. Luke 18:39 says “The people in front of him [this blind
man] told him to be quiet [he was
making such a ruckus] but he shouted even
more loudly. ‘Son of David! Have mercy on me!’” He’s not going to miss his chance. He’s not going to be deterred. He’s determined. Nobody’s going to silence him. Nobody’s going to shut him up. Nobody’s going to stop him. I admire this guy! He’s got kind of a tenacious, bulldog
attitude here.
Let me ask you, when you pray
about something are you persistent?
Are you relentless? Do you
just keep on praying about it until the answer comes? Or do you just kind of pray for it once and if the answer
doesn’t come immediately, “Forget that!” You’ve got to be passionate. And you’ve got to be persistent when
you’re praying for a miracle. He
said, “Nobody’s going to stop me.”
Most people quit too soon
when they pray. Colossians 4:2 “Don’t be weary in prayer. Keep at it. Watch for God’s answers.” Circle “watch”. That means be diligent, vigilant,
alert.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “ Always keep on praying.”
Why do I have to be
persistent? Is it because God is
busy and I’m trying to get His attention?
No. God is always aware of
what’s going on in your life. He’s
always alert. In fact the Bible
says He knows what you need before you ask. So obviously that’s not the reason you need to be
persistent.
Is He saying I need to be
persistent because I’ve got to wear God down? I have to nag.
I have to pester. Beg. Like He really doesn’t want to answer
that prayer so when I met the magical number of 32 prayers then He’s going to
give me the answer. Is He saying,
I really don’t want to bless your life so you have to keep after it until
finally you wear me out until like a parent I say, Go ahead and do it. Take
the car. Just stop bothering me! No. That’s not
it at all.
Matthew 7:11 says, “God loves to give good gifts to His
children. If you being evil [imperfect]
know how to give good gifts to your kids
how much more does your heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to those
who ask Him.” God wants to
give more than you want to ask. So
the persistence is not to wear God down.
Romans 8:32 says “If God loved us enough to send Jesus Christ
His own Son to die on the cross for us, doesn’t He love us enough to give us
everything else?” Yeah! God solved your biggest problems when
He died on the cross for you at Calvary.
So everything else is small peanuts.
Then why do I need to be persistent? Two reasons.
1. Persistence shows how
much I really want something.
When I’m praying for a
miracle, persistence shows how much I really want something. Have you noticed that the longer you
have to wait for something the more you desire it? If you haven’t had dinner and I kept you three or four
hours, some of you would really be
desiring it. That’s what
persistence does. Many times when
you pray persistently it’ll clarify your prayers and you’ll stop.
“I really don’t want to pray for that any more. That’s not what I really want; this is what I want.” Sometimes God
wants you to be persistent so He can change your mind.
But there’s another reason
the other reason God wants you to be persistent with you pray, that means never
give up is because…
2.
It prepares you for the answer.
While you’re waiting, God is
working. He’s working on you. And God’s far more interested in
working on you than He is to answer your prayer. He wants to answer your prayer but He’s really more
interested in your character than your comfort. So He’s changing you.
The Israelites prayed for forty years, “God get us out of this desert!
We’re wandering around here in the middle of the Sinai peninsula. There isn’t a whole lot here!” They were bored. They were saying, God get us out. But all those forty years God ws
preparing them, strengthening them.
Their faith, their commitment.
So when He moved them into the promised land they took the place over.
God’s timing is perfect. He’s never late. He’s never in a hurry. We often get in a hurry but He does
not.
So you learn to pray
persistently and you learn to pray passionately. Two very important keys. James 1:4 “Perseverance
must finish its work so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” How many of you would like to be mature
and complete? Well, God’s going to
make you wait. [ I hear grumbling in the camp! ] “
Perseverance must finish…” that means not cut it off half way, not short circuit
the thing. It must finish its work
“…so that you may be mature and complete
not lacking anything.” If God
gave you every answer to your prayer instantly you would be a spoiled
brat. You really would! It’d be like a vending machine. Put in a quarter. But God is no vending machine. God is no genie. That’s a fairy tale. God loves you; genies don’t. Genies will give you bad things that
are bad for you. So will vending
machines. God won’t do that. While
you’re waiting God’s working.
God has given us a little
tool to teach us how to pray passionately and persistently. It’s called pain. When you’re in pain you pray
passionately. When your life is
falling apart you pray persistently.
When you have a loved one walk out the door and say I’m not coming back.
Or when you’re in the foxhole and bullets are flying over your
head. Or the boss has come in and
said, “Sorry, I’m going to have to let
you go,” and it’s ten days before Christmas. Or the doctor says, “I’m
sorry but there’s nothing else we can do.” Or when the bills are coming in and there’s nothing in the
checkbook. Or when you’ve worked
on your marriage and you’ve really sweated it. You’ve tried and nothing’s happening. You start praying persistently and you
start praying passionately.
That’s what this man
did. He said, “Lord! Father! God! Jesus! Help
me. Son of David!” When they
tried to stop him he said, “No way! I’m not going to stop. This is my one shot. I need a miracle.” And he wouldn’t give up.
3. If you
want a miracle in your life then you must learn to pray specifically.
Don’t be vague. Don’t be general. Spell it out. Be precise.
Tell Him exactly what you want in living color, in detail. In fact the more specific you can be
the greater the miracle.
One of the other common
weaknesses besides praying vain repititons is that we tend to pray these
generalistic prayers. Like “God bless America.” What in the world is a blessing? How will you identify it? Sometimes a blessing is a problem. Is that what you’re praying when you
pray, God bless my family. Blessings could be all kinds of
different things. How do you know
if you’ve got it? You need to be
specific. Many prayers – many of
my own prayers are pointless. And
so are yours. Vague prayers get
vague answers. The more specific
you are the more God can work.
In this story the blind man
knows exactly what he wants. He’s
very specific. In verse 40 Jesus
stopped and ordered the man be brought to Him. When he came, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see!’” he replied. He didn’t have to think about it. He didn’t say, I want You to bless me.
He said, “I want to see. I’m blind and I want to see.” By the way, do you think Jesus
needed that? No. He already knew. Why did He ask him, then? He wanted him to verbalize it. He wanted him to ask. He wanted him to tell Him what he
wanted. You need to tell God
specifically what you want.
If Jesus Christ came to you
right now, walked down to your seat, looked into your eyes and said those words “What do you want Me to do for you?” what would you say? Jesus said, What do you want Me to do for you? Blank check!
Would you be able to say, Here’s
what I want! Just like this
guy. Or would you just hem and
haw.
Over twenty times in the New
Testament the command to ask is given.
Jesus says, Ask. Ask and it
shall be given. Seek and you’ll find. Knock and the door will be opened. God wants you to ask.
God never shuts His
storehouse until you shut your mouth.
He says “Call unto me and I will
answer you and show you great and mighty things that you know not.” He wants to help you.
Philippians 4:6 “Don’t worry about anything. [That’s got to be the most difficult
command of the Bible. The easiest
one maybe would be “Be ye fruitful and
multiply.” We did a good job
on that one. You’re all here. ]
But pray and ask God for
everything.” Does that include
braces for the kids? Yes. Doctor bills? Yes. You need a
new car? It says everything. I don’t know anything that’s not included in
everything.
Why would God want to give me
everything? He’s not going to give
you stuff that’s bad for you obviously.
He wants to give you what’s good for you. Why? God loves
to show His mercy to the world by blessing His children. Ask for anything. Everything you need.
God’s work done God’s way doesn’t lack God’s
support. Where God guides God
provides. You step out on a limb – don’t be afraid to go out on a
limb. That’s where the fruit is!
The point is miracles happen
when you get specific in your prayer.
The fourth principle. If you need a miracle…4.
You must pray expectantly.
You must expect God to
answer. You must believe that He
will heal you, that He will do whatever you’re asking Him to do. Jesus tells us in verse 42 why He
healed the blind beggar. Jesus
said to Him “Receive your sight you
deserve it.” Is that what He
said? “Receive your sight, you’ve worked a lot for this.” No. “Receive your
sight. Your faith has healed you.”
If you don’t expect God to
answer your prayer don’t bother praying.
Because God works in our lives according to your faith. The Bible says, “According to your faith it will be done unto you.” Can you imagine this blind guy going up
to Jesus saying, “I don’t know if You can
heal me. I dare You.” No, the man indicated his faith by his
persistence and his passion, and Jesus picked up on that. Jesus says, your faith has healed you.
“Whatever you ask for in prayer
believe that you’ve received and it will be yours.” Don’t miss this.
Two things.
First there are two conditions for answered prayer.
First, you must ask and you must believe. Circle
those two words. Ask and
believe. What if I just
believe? No. The Bible says ask. Twenty times in
the New Testament it tells us to ask.
The second thing,
notice the tense change. Believe you have received it and it will be
yours. In other words, believe
you’ve got it now and then you’ll get it?
What? That’s what faith is. If you wait until after you’ve got it
to believe you’ve got it is that faith?
No, that’s gratitude. Faith
is thanking God in advance.
Believe that you have received it, that the answer is already on its
way.
It’s kind of like when you
get in the shower. In my house
when I turn on the hot water, it’s on hot but it’s not hot when it’s coming
out. But I believe it’s on the
way. So I believe I’ve got it and
pretty soon it comes on down.
There’s some spiritual battles going on that sometimes it takes a while
for the answer to get there. It
says believe that you’ve got it and then
you’ll get it.
You say, “Frank, I just don’t have much faith.” Just use what you’ve got. It doesn’t take a lot of faith for miracles. It’s not the size of your faith. It’s the size of your God. It’s who you put your faith in. A
little faith in a big God gets big results. You don’t need big faith. You don’t need big faith for miracles. You need a little faith in a big God. And you need big obedience to do what
God tells you to do.
Everybody has some
faith. It’s just what you put it
in. Most people put their faith in
themselves. Then they’re
disappointed. Take the faith that you’ve
been putting in anything or everything else and just focus it on God and watch
the miracles take place.
You say, Frank, how can I increase my faith? Two ways.
One, fill your mind with God’s word. The more you fill your mind with the
written word and the heard word of God the stronger faith you’re going to
have. The Bible says in Romans, “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.” That’s why every time you come to
church your faith is built up a little bit. Has your faith been built today? Yes. Just by
hearing stories and hearing God’s word. So the more you get into God’s book and the more you
hear him speak to you, your faith is built up.
The other way you build up
your faith is Make faith sized requests. It’s kind of like taking a stair step
approach to building your faith.
If you don’t have a lot of faith just start with a little request. Then as it gets bigger and bigger and
bigger you can ask for more and more and more.
If you ask for something that
you really could get on your own, or that could just happen, that is not going
to build your faith because you won’t know that God did it. You need to ask for something that only
God could bring to pass. That is a
faith sized request.
Let me say this. The biggest reason why you don’t see
miracles is because you don’t believe.
And the biggest reason you don’t believe is because you don’t think you
deserve it. So you’re afraid to
ask. “I don’t deserve that.”
And God says, You’re right. You don’t deserve it. You’ll never deserve answers to
prayer. It’s all by God’s
grace. Everything God does in us
and for us and through us and to us He does by His grace. You don’t deserve God’s blessing so
don’t worry about it. Just say
thank you. I’m a trophy of God’s
grace.
When you understand God’s
grace and how He loves you unconditionally then you’re going to pray the fifth
way…
5. Pray Gratefully
With gratitude and
appreciation, knowing that you could never deserve the answers that God does in
your life. There were two things
that the blind man did after the miracle where he received his sight. Verse 43 tells us. “At
once the man was able to see and he followed Jesus thanking God. And all the other people who saw this
also praised God.” Notice the
two things he did. He followed
Jesus and he gave thanks. When God
does a real miracle in your life that’s what you want to do. You want to follow Jesus and you want
to give thanks.
Do you pray gratefully or are
all your prayers asking and no thanking?
Do you take for granted what’s already happening in your life? That verse earlier under the third
point “Don’t worry about anything but
pray and ask God for everything you need…” Then notice it says, “…always
giving thanks.
I think we need to be as
specific in our thanking as we are in our asking. Like the old hymn says: Count
your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath
done! Count your blessings, name
them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done! You need to be specific and instead
of just, “God, thank You for blessing my
life.” Go home and make a list
of 50 or 75 things that you could thank God for. Specific blessings in your life.
I want to close with a few
stories:
Peg Leatherman….Chris….Dee
Randolph
“According to your faith it will be done
unto you.”
Prayer:
Today
Jesus Christ says to you, What do you want Me to do for you? He asks you the very same question that
He asked the blind man. What do
you want Me to do for you? So tell
Him right now what your deepest need is.
Tell Him passionately. Tell
Him like you mean it. It’s ok to
shed tears in church. Tell Him
what’s really hurting you, what’s really got you down. If you’ve never invited Jesus Christ
into your life start with that.
Say, “Jesus Christ I don’t even know You. Come into my life today and save me and forgive me and start
me on a new path.” Tell Him
that.
Today
as a sign of your faith, if you need a miracle in your life or in the life of
someone you are concerned about, I’m going to ask you to come down to the
communion rail this morning during our closing hymn as your way of saying this is my step of faith. I’m going to pray for you. We’re not going to do anything goofy to
embarrass you. I’m going to pray
for you then we’re going to close.
So if you’d say, I need a miracle
today, my friend needs a miracle today, my family member needs a miracle today,
and you’re thinking about something specific, just come down and I’m going to
pray for you.
Jesus
Christ, You know very single need represented here today. You know what we need even before we
ask. You know our hurts. Our struggles, our sins, You know our
fears, our loneliness, our grief.
Today passionately, persistently, specifically, expectantly and with
gratitude we ask for miracles.
Thank You that You’re a miracle working God. In Jesus’ name we pray. We thank You in advance for the answers that are already on
their way. Amen.
3-23-2014
To listen to the sermon from March 23, 2014 click here.
TURNING FAILURE INTO SUCCESS
Miracles Still Happen
Part 4
03-23-14 Sermon
Jesus Calls His First
Disciples
5 One day as Jesus was standing by the
Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding around him and
listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two
boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He
got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out
a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep
water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught
anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that
their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in
the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so
full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away
from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his
companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 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 fish for people.” 11 So
they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke
5:1-11 (NIV)
FOUR STEPS TO RECOVER FROM
FAILURE
1. Invite Jesus _________________________________________.
Luke 5:3-4 “Jesus got into one of
the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, to teach the people from the
boat. When He had finished speaking
He said to Simon, ‘Now go out where it’s deeper and let down your nets and
you’ll catch a lot of fish.’”
First
Peter used his boat for___________________________________
Then
Jesus took care of _____________________________________
Matthew 6:33 “Seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto
you.”
2. Admit that ________________________________________________.
Luke 5:5 “Simon
answered, ‘Master, we worked hard all night long and we caught nothing.’”
What is it that
causes failure?
1. A____________________________.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before
destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
2. D_________________________________.
Deut. 11:28 “You will
be cursed if you disobey the commands of God.”
3. D____________________________
James 1:6 “He who doubts is like
a wave, he’s unstable in all he does.”
4. D________________________________
Galatians 6:9 “We will
reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.”
Proverbs 28:13 “A man
who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them,
he gets another chance.”
3. Obey what Jesus ______________________________________.
Luke 5:4 “Then Jesus said,
‘Launch out into the deep water.’
Simon answered, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and we haven’t caught
anything. But because You say so,
I will let down the nets.’”
What has
God told you to do that you know to do that you’ve been delaying?
4. You can expect Jesus to turn things
around.
Matthew 9:29 “According to your
faith it will be done unto you.”
Luke 5:6 “When the fishermen did
as Jesus told them, they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. So they called their partners from the
other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats, so full
that they were almost sinking.”
Luke 5:11 “They left their nets [their
boats] and immediately followed
Jesus.”
They were more interested
in following the Blessor than having the blessing.
“’You will not succeed by your own strength or power, but by My
Spirit,’ says the Lord.” Zechariah 4:6
TURNING FAILURE INTO SUCCESS
TURNING FAILURE INTO SUCCESS
Miracles Still Happen
Part 4
03-23-14 Sermon
What do you do when you
fail? We’re going to look at that
today. Four steps to recovering from failure.
Maybe some of you failed just
this week. Maybe others of you
haven’t failed in twenty years.
But you need to write this down because you may need this very
soon. Failure is a part of life.
In this story of the
disciples they’d been all night fishing and they’d caught nothing. For me that’s nothing because I’m just
a casual fisherman. But these guys
made their living at it. They were
pros. They made their livelihood
at it. So they’re discouraged,
they’re tired, they’re frustrated.
They’re washing their nets on shore the next morning. And Jesus comes by. He says, I’d like to use your boat as a platform. And they say Fine. So they put Him
in the boat and pull out a little bit from the shore and Jesus speaks to the crowd. When He’s through speaking to the crowd
He says, “Take the boat over there. Launch out into the deep. Let down your nets and you’re really
going to catch some fish.”
They caught so many fish it not only filled up their boat, they had to
call another boat over and it filled up that boat. And the boats began to sink.
That’s what I call turning a
failure into a success.
Jesus never did miracles just
to show off. He always had a
lesson to learn, always had a truth.
There are four very important lessons He wanted to teach the
disciples. They’re lessons we need
to learn about turning failure into success. Regardless of whether you’re failing financially, failing in
a marriage, failing in your dream, failing in a business, failing to get
married, failing to stay married, whatever. These four things make the difference.
1. Invite
Jesus into your boat.
Invite Jesus into the
situation. Give Him control. The starting point for success is
this. Get Jesus in your boat. Luke 5:3-4 “Jesus got into one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, to
teach the people from the boat.
When He had finished speaking He said to Simon, ‘Now go out where it’s
deeper and let down your nets and you’ll catch a lot of fish.’” If you don’t get anything else that
we say this morning, get this: if you want to be a successful person in life,
you’ve got to get Jesus in your boat.
When Jesus was in the boat
they caught more in ten minutes than they did in ten hours. What was the difference? They had the same boat, same lake, same
fish, same fishermen, same nets.
The difference in the catch was now Jesus was in the boat.
Is Jesus in your boat? Have you invited Him into every
situation of your life? You say, “What does that boat represent?” For Peter it represented his
business. His boat was his
business. It was his
livelihood. It’s how he made a
living. It’s how he put food on
the table. So this is no small
matter here. Peter is saying to
Jesus, take my boat, use it as a platform
to speak to people. And Jesus
turns around and says, Let’s catch some fish. When Peter invited Jesus into his business the results were
incredible.
I’m not talking about making
Jesus your business partner. I’m
talking about making Him CEO of your career where He calls the shots. Jesus in your boat, in your
business. Whatever I want God to
bless I’ve got to give to Him. I
must dedicate to Him. I must say, “Here, use it.”
Catch the sequence of these
events.
First,
Peter uses his boat for Christ’s
purpose. Peter offered. He said, take my boat which represents my livelihood, get in it and use it as a
platform. By the way, you know
why they did that? Jesus got on
the boat, they went out a little from shore and Jesus speaks. The crowd sets on shore, a couple
thousand people probably. And He
speaks. You know why they did
that? Because in those days they
didn’t have microphones, sound systems.
And water magnifies sounds.
If you’ve ever been out on a boat, you speak and you can hear it a long
distance. So He was using it as a
platform so more people could hear Him.
That’s why He got in the boat, pulls a little ways from the shore and
the water magnifies the sound. So
Peter offers Jesus his business, his livelihood and says use it as a platform
to reach people, first.
Then
Jesus took care of Peter’s needs. That’s a principle of priority. The Bible says in Matthew 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” God says put Me first in your life and in every area of your life that you put
Me first, I’ll bless. If you put
Me first in your marriage, I’ll bless it.
If you put Me first in your finances, I’ll bless it. If you put Me first in your business,
I’ll bless it. Whatever you
want God to bless, you’ve got to get Jesus in that situation. That’s the difference between fishing
all night and catching nothing and catching a large catch.
That’s the first
principle.
2. The
second principle is, Admit that my own efforts have failed.
After I dedicate my career to
Christ, my job to Jesus, or any other area that I’m committing to Him, I admit
that my own efforts have failed.
I’m willing to admit that it just isn’t working out. The Bible calls this confession. Luke 5:5 “Simon answered, ‘Master, we worked hard all night long and we caught
nothing.’”
That’s no big deal for you
and me because when you go fishing, you go fishing for a couple hours. These guys have been fishing for twelve
hours. Their families were
depending on them catching something.
It’s like being unemployed.
They said, We’ve caught nothing. And, as I said, these guys are
pros. They’ve grown up on this
lake. They know where to fish,
what time to fish, what time of day to fish, they know just how far to drop the
nets. They’re pros.
But even the superstars
strike out sometimes. In baseball
if a person has a .300 batting average that means they struck out 70% of the
time. It wasn’t like these guys
were doing something they weren’t good at. They were doing what they did best. But it wasn’t good enough. So it was humbling for Peter to say
this, “Lord, I’m the pro around here but
I’ve caught nothing. My best was
not good enough.”
Have you ever felt like
that? Do you ever feel like, I try
so hard but it never is enough. I
do the best I can in this situation.
I’m really doing the best I can but it doesn’t seem to make any
difference. I worked all night
long, I’ve worked all my life and I’ve got nothing to show for it.
I want to say to you, if you
feel like giving up today you’ve got to take these steps. First, get Jesus in your boat. Invite Him into every situation of your
life. What we normally do is we
segment our life between the spiritual and the secular. We’ve got Jesus over “here” and our job
over “here”, Christ over “here” and our career over “here.” And never the twain shall meet. We say, God, You take care of the big problems like world peace and saving
people and the poor people and all that and I’ll take care of the issues like
who’s going to pay the rent and where do I invest my money, and how do I build
relationships, and how to I make the relationships I’m in last and work and be
meaningful?
All we do when we separate
into compartments like that is we miss out on God’s blessing. Because God wants to bless every area
of your life. If you’re
discouraged, get Jesus in your boat, invite Him into the very situation that
you’re ashamed of, the very thing where you’re failing, the very area that you
regret the most. Get Jesus in that
situation. And just honestly say,
“God, my best isn’t working. It’s
just not working. I’m not making
it in this area.”
What is it that causes failure? There
are lots of reasons.
1. Arrogance.
The Bible says, “A proud attitude leads to ruin. …
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” When we think we know it all, when
we think we’ve got it all together, we’re setting ourselves up for
failure. If you think, “I’ve never
failed!” get ready. Because that
arrogance is going to cause you to fail.
2. Disobedience.
“You will be cursed if you disobey the commands of
God.” Did you know that?
You say, How come nothing’s going
right in my life? Because
God’s told you to do some stuff and you’re not doing it. God is under no obligation to bless you
if you’re thumbing your nose to Him.
Not at all! The principles
and the commands in the Bible, God didn’t put them in here arbitrarily. He doesn’t set up in heaven thinking, “What command can I think of that will
really make life miserable for human beings? How can I steal all the fun from these people I’ve
created?” That’s not why He gives
commands. Every command in this
book is for your benefit. They’re
made by a loving God. God loves
you. He loves you more than you’ll
ever know. God wants you to be
happy. In fact, He knows what will
make you happy more than you do. But,
often what you think will make you happy is not really the truth. God knows what really will make you
happy. So He’s put certain
principles in His word and when we ignore them we set ourselves up for failure.
It’s all for your own
benefit. Any time you ignore a
command in the word you’re going to hurt yourself. So disobedience causes failure.
3. Doubt
“He who doubts is like a wave, he’s unstable in all he
does.” We fail and we sometimes just can’t make up our minds. We go this way, we go that way, this
way, that way. You get to be
thirty, forty, fifty years old and you’ve gone fifteen different directions in
your life. Why? Because you’ve never stopped long enough
to get God’s direction for your life and figure out what He put you on this
earth for. If you don’t figure out
what God put you on this earth for you’re going to fail at a lot of things He
didn’t put you here for.
4. Discouragement
Discouragement causes
failure. “We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and
give up.” The fact is a lot of
times we fail because we give up too soon. Anybody who watches basketball knows you often win the game
at the very last second. In a baseball
game you often win the game in the very last inning, the very last hit. We give up too soon.
There are many causes of
failure but regardless of the cause, the second step in recovering from a
failure – first you get Jesus in your boat, then second is just admit it and
say, “I am incapable of solving this issue
on my own.” That’s the first
step. Admitting. I’m not God. God’s God and I’m not.
This is beyond myself. My
life has become unmanageable.
If you’re going to recover
from a failure you’re going to have to humble yourself. God does not help prideful people recover. God helps people recover who admit, “My best is not good enough to break this
habit, this hang up, this hurt, or anything else in life. It just isn’t working.”
Proverbs 28:13 “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can
never be successful. But if he
confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.”
3. Step
number three is to obey what Jesus tells me to do.
Obey whatever Jesus tells me
to do in the area that I’ve failed.
I get Him in the boat, I admit that my best isn’t working, then I obey
whatever Jesus tells me to do. I
cooperate with His instructions, even when it doesn’t make sense.
In Luke 5:4 it says this “Then Jesus said, ‘Launch out into the deep
water.’ Simon answered, ‘Master,
we worked hard all night and we haven’t caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down
the nets.’” Circle “because You say so.”
The second reason why they
caught a lot in ten minutes when they hadn’t caught any in ten hours is now
they’re fishing under Jesus’ instructions. Jesus told them when to fish – now – He told them where to
fish – launch out into the deep.
And He told them how – let down your nets. He’s giving them specific instructions. And He’s guiding them step by step in
the very area they had just failed in.
I want you to notice that
Peter’s reaction is not what you’d typically expect to Jesus’
instructions. In the first place
he didn’t argue with Jesus. Peter
didn’t say, “I’m the pro. I’m the fisherman. You’re just a carpenter. What do You know about fishing? I’ve been doing this all my life. When I need a cabinet built, You can
tell me how to build it. But I
know fish!” He didn’t argue
with Jesus saying, “You don’t know what
You’re talking about.”
A lot of times we do
that. We say, “Jesus, You take care of the spiritual issues in my life but I know
where to invest my money. And I
know best what job offers to take.
And I know best what house to buy.
And I know best which car I should buy.” And Jesus is saying, “I’ll
help you in all these areas if you want guidance.” We just think He wants to help us in
the spiritual. No. He knows more about anything than you
know about.
Peter didn’t argue. Peter didn’t delay. He didn’t say, Why don’t we think about this a little bit before we launch out into
the deep? He didn’t say, Why don’t we wait until it’s evening again,
cooler weather, when the fish are feeding. When we went to Africa we saw how they did this. They would go out fishing at night and
hang lanterns out over the sides of the boats on poles. The lights would attract the small fish
to the surface and the bigger fish would come up to eat them. Then they would throw out the nets to
catch them. But during the
day, with the sun shining down, the fish were scattered all over the
place. That’s why they fished at
night.
But Peter didn’t say, Let’s wait a while until it gets dark again. He didn’t argue, he didn’t delay, he
didn’t hesitate, he didn’t listen to his feelings. He didn’t say, “Lord,
we’ve been up all night. We didn’t
catch a thing. If we sail out into
the deep, we will have to sail back in again. I haven’t been to bed yet. I’m dead tired.
Why don’t we just go home and get some sleep and then come back and go
fishing?” He didn’t listen to
his feelings. He was tired, he was
dirty, he was discouraged. And he
says, “But because You say so, I’m going
to do it. Because You say so, I’ll
try again.”
Some of you need to do that
with a situation in your life, “Lord,
I’ve tried. But because You say so
I’m going to try again. I’m going
to try again, only this time with You in the boat. With You calling the shots and me admitting I can’t do it on
my own.” That’s the
difference.
Unquestioned obedience is another
word for it. It’s called
faith. You say, “Because You say so.” Disobedience always hurts you. You miss so many blessings.
What has God told you to do that you know to do that
you’ve been delaying?
Every time you disobey you
bring curses on your life. You
keep God’s blessings happening in that area because you’re ignoring what He’s
told you to do.
Obedience always involves a
risk. That’s because it requires
faith. Jesus said, “Launch out in the deep. Go out in the deep waters. That’s where I want you to go.” Why? Because that’s where all the big fish are. The big fish aren’t up in the shallows. It’s tragic but most people live their
lives in the shallows of life.
They live very, very superficial lives. They just kind of piddle paddle around, splish and splash,
maybe catch a few minnows. And
they think, I’m living! When God
has said to you, “Launch out in the
deep. Go for it. Take that risk. I have a plan for you. Do what I tell you to do. Even if it doesn’t make sense.”
There are many so called
Christians barely get their feet wet.
They get just enough Christianity to bug them, not bless them. They’re afraid they’re going to get in
over their head and be some kind of fanatic.
One night a little boy came
downstairs crying a couple hours after he had been put to bed. His parents asked him what happened and
he said he fell out of bed. They
asked him why he fell out of bed and he said, “I must have stayed to close to where I got in!”
There are Christians like
that. They live to close to where
they got into faith in Christ.
They needed to go deeper. They
play around all their life in just the shallows of their faith. Why? Why don’t we launch out in to the deep when Jesus tells us? Because it’s scary. It’s safer in the shallows. No big wave is going to come along and
rock my little boat if I’m in the shallows. There is no risk.
If the boat capsized I would get wet but I could still walk to
shore. So I don’t want to go for
it. I don’t want to make the
effort. I’m afraid to really do
what God’s calling me to do.
Obeying Christ, even when it
doesn’t make sense will probably be the most difficult and maybe the most
frightening thing you’ll ever do.
But it will also be the most rewarding.
If you’ve taken these first
three steps – you have invited Jesus Christ into the area of your failure, you
have honestly admitted to Him “My best
isn’t working out. I can’t do this
on my own.” And you have
obediently followed whatever He tells you to do regardless of whether it makes
sense or not, then…
4. You
can expect Jesus to turn things around.
Look at this in Simon Peter’s
situation. If God tells you to go
fishing and then God gets in the boat with you and God tells you where to go
and where to let down your nets, do you think you will fail?
There was no way Peter was
going to fail now. Not a
chance! Because he was doing it
God’s way and in God’s timing.
Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith it will be done
unto you.” You get to
choose. If you’ve taken these
first three steps in your area of greatest failure, you can expect Jesus Christ
to turn things around.
God’s work done God’s way does not lack God’s
support. Where God guides, God
provides. If He tells you to do it, and you do it in faith, even when
it doesn’t make sense, you’re going to come out right. You’re going to be the one that
benefits from it.
Look at the result, Luke 5:6 “When the fishermen did as Jesus told them,
they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. So they called their partners from the
other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats, so full
that they were almost sinking.” In
other words, they had more blessing than they could handle when they did it
God’s way. In fact, they had to
share their blessings in order to keep from sinking
Don’t miss this point. God wants to bless your life. He really does. In fact, God wants to bless you as a
believer when you take these steps.
He wants to bless your life so much that you have so many blessings that
you have to share it with others.
God wants to bless your life so much that you become a blessing to other
people.
Verse 11 tells us what
happened when they got to shore.
It says, “They left their nets [their
boats] and immediately followed Jesus.” These fishermen had just caught the
greatest catch of fish in their lives and they leave it on the shore and
started following Jesus. Why? They
were more interested in following the Blessor than having the blessing. They were smart enough to realize, if
we follow this guy there’s plenty more where that came from. So rather, than focusing on the
blessing that Jesus could give they just focused on Jesus.
How about you? Are you tired, discouraged? Is there an area of failure in your
life and you’re just tired? You’ve
fished all night and you’ve caught nothing.
Take these four steps. First, ask Jesus Christ to come into
your life and into every area of your life. Even those compartments that you’ve kept the doors closed to. In any area and every area of your life
where you feel like “It’s just not
working out there.” Invite
Jesus into that area. Admit that
your best efforts have failed.
Obey God and do whatever He tells you to do. When God tells you to do it, you do it. Even though you think, I can’t afford it. You do it even though you think, I don’t have the time. You do it even though you say, I don’t know how, I don’t have the talents. Do it. Because You say so,
Lord. I’m tired. I’ve caught nothing. It isn’t working. But, because You say so, Lord,I’m going
to do it.
When you do that you can
expect a harvest of blessing you can’t imagine. Galatians says “Let us
not grow weary in doing well for we will reap a harvest at the proper time if
we do not get discouraged and do not give up.”
Prayer:
The
secret to success is the last verse.
It says, “’You will not succeed by
your own strength or power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.” Would you follow me in a
prayer? In your mind say this, “Jesus, I invite You into every area of my
life. Even areas that I’m most
ashamed about. Even the areas that
I regret and where I feel a total failure. I admit to You, Lord, that my best efforts have not been
good enough I’ve fallen short. I
ask You to forgive me for the things I’ve done wrong. For not following You when You’ve told me to do certain
things. And starting today I want
to obey what I know to be the will of God. Because You say so I’m going to keep trying this time with
You in the boat and You calling the shots, with You directing me. I want to expect You in faith to do a
miracle in my life. In Jesus’
name. Amen.
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