God of Surprises

Today is the beginning of our mission series, and technically we weren't supposed to

start until next week. So we have all sorts of really fun things that

we're going to roll out next week, but we're going to take a soft

start today because we have a missionary in the house. For Heaven's sakes,

we can't let this just roll ride on by. So today we're going We

have Sean and Lindsay at Mahawan, and Lindsay is currently back with the kids.

And so hopefully if any of your kids come out of children's ministry today

wanting to be a missionary, we succeeded. And your answer is going to

be yes, yes, and amen. That's even better. I love it.

Yeah, none of this what you're gonna leave me? That's scary.

No, you talk bravery into those kids if they're here in a calling,

man, That's one of our biggest things as parents and as pastors of a

church is to get the call of God onto our children. We got to

get the call of God on our children, and we got to raise up

pastors, preachers, evangelists, missionaries, as well as engineers and teachers and

every other place of influence. A man, we raise our kids up to

be amazing. Okay, that's a whole other sermon. And I'm not even

the preacher today, but we are starting our mission series today, so I'm

going to give a little opening statement. I want to read a little passage

here, and this is going to be kind of our theme for the next

few weeks. And I want this to be I want to seed bed your

mind on your heart with this. I'm going to bring the word next week

and the week after that, and it's going to build off of this.

But this is our theme. This is kind of what we're springing off of.

And then I'm going to give them mic to Pastor Sean here. But

I want to read to you a passage out of Mark and this is out

of the Passion Translation, and here you go Mark twelve, starting with verse

twenty eight. Now, a certain religious scholar overheard them debating, and when

he saw how beautifully Jesus answered all their questions, he posed one of his

own. Don't you wish you could ask Jesus a question right now? I

would have so much fun. I'd be like those reporters in the newsroom thing

with President by excuse me, excuse me, right, Well, this guy

got a chance to ask a question, so he posed it one of his

own, and he asked him, teacher, which commandment is the greatest of

all? Okay? So I want you to understand the word greatest. The

word greatest means the one in the supreme position, the one that is always

the first out there in front, the most important thing. Because there's a

lot of commandments that these people, by the time they hit Jesus's day,

we're trying to keep five hundred and some odd laws and religious regulations. And

this guy steps and goes, hey, what's what's the most important one?

Wouldn't you like to know? Because at least you could get the most important

one, right right? So he's he asked which one is the greatest or

the most important? And Jesus answers him, and he says, the most

important of all the commandments? Think about him. Don't swear, don't cuss,

don't don't uh steal, don't lie, don't kill, don't murder yet

right coming from the lawyer over here, Uh don't what else? Don't you

know? Don't don't boil your the your goat in its mother's milk. That

one is in there. I don't know why. But there's a lot of

them. There is a lot of rules and laws. But Jesus is going

to tell him what is the most don't you want to know? The most

important of all the commandments is this. The Lord yah Awah, our God

is one. And you are to love the Lord Yahweh, your God.

That doesn't sound like a to do or a law. Love God's love.

Jesus puts loving above all of the rules and regulations and the doing and the

trying and the striving and all of that. He puts loving at the top.

And that word love is a god bay. And now he's going to

explain what he means by loving. Are you ready? You are to love

the Lord Yahweh, you'r God with every passion of your heart, every passion.

You're to love the Lord with every passion of your heart. Well,

you know, I kind of like I like shoes and I like jackets.

Right, So Jesus is saying, though you can love things, but every

passion of your heart needs to be for God. Amen, every passion of

your heart with all the energy of your being and with every thought that is

within you, and with all your strength. This is a great and supreme

commandment. And the second is this, you must love your neighbor. You

must love your neighbor in the same way that you love yourself. You will

never find a greater commandment than these. So I gotta love God with all

of my passions, with all of my being, with all of my strength,

with all of my mind, and then I have to love my neighbor.

That word love is the same word. So I'm asked there to love

my neighbor with all of my passions, with all of my strength, with

all of my mind, and all of my thoughts. And it also says

to do that as I love myself. So therefore I have to have myself

in alignment with myself. How many of you sometimes don't love yourself, or

maybe sometimes you love yourself a little too much. That sentence, that one

sentence fixed it all. We are to love God the way that just described

He just described it. We're supposed to love ourselves and our neighbors that same

way. Who's your neighbors? Who's your neighbor? Somebody helped me out every

human being. Yeah, we had names coming out. My neighbors, Jeremy

and Denny and Wendy and a few others. At my house. You all

have different neighbors, right, And it goes out beyond and beyond and beyond

every human being on this planet, every person, every person, every person,

maybe the ones that knocked you down, maybe the ones that ran you

off the road. I don't care who they are or what they've done to

you. There is no clause in that, a passage that says, except

for these ones here, it doesn't matter if they're your enemy, it doesn't

matter if they're your best friends, it doesn't matter if they don't look like

you. It does not matter. We love. And that's what makes this

place so different than everything outside of this room. Amen, And so missions

missions is loving. Missions calls us out of our own hearts and our own

minds, and our own worlds and our own needs, and out of what's

going on right here. You know, we get running the little rat race.

How many of you guys are running a rat race? Just raise your

hand, because it's every single one of us. We got our little circle,

and we're running in our circle, and we think our circle is really

important, and this is all that's there. But I will tell you what

God is so vast and so big. He's got people running all over this

whole phase of the planet spreading his word, and the light is growing and

the Kingdom is advancing. Amen. So when we do Mission series, the

fun thing about it is to hear about that. So I want Pastor Sean

to come on up here. Oh boy, thirty one years ago, hallelujah.

Thirty one years ago, this couple came through the door. She was

Native American and he was Burmese. Really Sean Sean, people, is his

name is? It's his namesake? Sh n Sean right here for the Sean

people came through our door over at the community center. You guys, some

of you guys drive past the community center back over there. We used to

have church there and we were having church with our little crowd of people,

and these people walk through the door. She's pregnant and they have a little

two year old dragon along behind, and we're like, oh, you know

anybody who walked through the door. We're like, yes, human beings are

coming to church. We're so excited, and we glommed onto them. We

loved on them. We got this. This young man's little brother born and

within about a year or two year and a half, somewhere in there,

they had shared their heart to go back to being missionaries, and we shove

them over the ocean and back over to Thailand. And so in the time

being, you're going to see some pictures of what happened there. But this

young man grew up. What do you think he grew up? And he

is unique, he's uniquely prepared to do what he's doing. So I'm not

gonna take any more time. I want you to share everything. Hallelujah,

Thank you so much. Oh let's get past a Joe a hand. That's

awesome. After that, I think I'll just close in prayer. You know,

well, it's so good to be home. It's so good to be

back. We head out to Thailand tomorrow actually to get back home. We've

been here for about five weeks and it's been fun. And I've had a

burger pretty much almost every male the last two days trying to load up.

And so it's an honor to be here, and it's honored to be speaking

this morning. And yeah, so my name is Sean Mahawan. I'm from

Thailand. I passed we passed a church over there and we have we have

an amazing team and ministry over there, and so I like to share with

you guys a little update before we get into the message and then we'll have

fun from there. Huh. So the first picture sterling my man, awesome

man, So uh there's there should be like an old school picture, like

a vintage like me as a kid and my parents lined up. Yeah,

there we go. Yeah, so this is my family about thirty years ago,

like Passa Joe was saying, they felt the call of God to go

back to Thailand and start planning churches. As they were there, though um,

like some needs arise then God had had a different plan, and so

they ended up studying a children's home. In the bamboo huts that you guys

see in the back there are actually the first dormitories there on the property almost

twenty five years ago, I believe, or yeah, ish twenty two years

ago. And then the next picture. Yeah, so they ended up studying

a children's home had thirties and started out with thirty six boys soldiers and it

and it grew from there. And I'm skipping through a lot of facts here,

but I'm just kind of giving you guys a overview here. So,

and the ministry's name is Trump is a christ International and this is the kids

now. So we have about twenty kids. Uh here um now at the

property and there this photo is taken in the rice field, Patty and so

that's that is a new Horizon Christian uh center, new Horizon Church rice right

there. You guys funded that, so we harvested that and it's it's feeding

us for the next six to eight months, and so it's amazing. It

helps out with the budget and everything, and so I think we're going to

do another another rice um next year two. And then the next picture,

Uh, that's Sanan who's taking the selfie with the boys. Uh. We

had a fish farm and it was time to get the fish and so all

the boys went in the muddy pond to get all the catfish and and all

the fish there. So you know, boy country boys stay like that.

And then uh, this picture here, they just went to the beach last

well this month. I told him that they couldn't go until I got back,

but they went instead. But this is just a picture of them when

they heard that they got funded to go to the beach. So a lot

of them saw the ocean for the first time. Actually all of them saw

the ocean for the first time. So super special form. And for the

last two years, Lindsay and I have been planning a church in Hingmai City.

It's the northernmost city, the largest city in the north and Thailand,

and it has over two million people. They're in the city, and so

we planted a church in the midst of three major universities in Thailand. There's

a great opportunity for us to reach the nation and especially the young people because

it's the first generation that's being educated and growing up in a modern society,

Western society. Therefore, they have a lot of questions and they're questioning the

tradition, the religion and all that. So they're searching for something that's real.

And we believe Jesus is real, and we believe that Jesus is the

answer for life and and and and all that. So it's it's a great

opportunity. And my parents just got back last October and so they they're pastoring

one of the churches that we have there and also running the children's home and

all that. Because Lindsay and I are focused on planning the church in Chennai.

Let's give your pastors a hand, by the way, because planning a

church is hard work. And and it's really tough. You got to prove

yourself all the time. And what else do I have to vent about about

church planning? Um? But so this picture here, Lindsay, my wife

who is here, just walked in from the kids ministry. She when I

can't find so backtrack. I passed it for seven years at a country church

before planning this church, and there I would preach in Sean gets translated to

the Thai language, so bilingual service, from worship, announcement, everything.

And then when we moved to Chennai, I saw it preaching in English and

that gets translated to the Thai language. But sometimes we can't find a translator

or an interpreter. And therefore Lindsay here has learned the language too, in

such a way that now if I can't find an interpreter, I'll just preaching

Thaie and then she translates that to English. And so not bad for a

Michigan girl. She was the one good thing in Michigan, and I took

her out and they're going to in the next picture. And so, like

I said, we were based in the midst of three major universities. So

one of the universities says a great park and so we play volleyball there and

open it up for other people to play with us. And afterwards we'll go

out to dinner and soon we'll just share the gospel, tell them what we're

about, and you know, they get to know us as people first before

they get to know who we believe in and what we're about. Our church

slogan it's a place to be long before you believe. So we have a

wide open door for everyone to come join us. And but we are unashamed

of bowl about the gospel in Jesus Christ and going to the next site.

So we do prayer walks and prayer times at the university campus. And that's

me looking like a country star, UM, and we're worship and we're praying

over the campus and praying for breakthrough. And the next picture, UH is

there another picture? This is our team started out with just Lindsey and I

in an intern that we forced to come notice kidding UM, And now it's

grown to many UH different UH age groups from like high schoolers to young adults,

and they're all passionate about getting reaching their own generation. And a couple

missionaries that has planned in Shingmai has also joined in in serving the local church

there. And this is crazy because none of this was the plan that we

had, h that I had, especially my faith was started a small house

church with a guitar, and that was my plan um And but then then

uh uh started talking to some people and then more people started giving. By

the time we were done, we signed a contract that we had no money

for. We raised around fifty to sixty thousand dollars about a bunch of equipment,

band stuff, no band, by the way, didn't have a band.

Had an opening service, twenty people showed up. Fifteen was from the

other church that we bust in. But we were pumped. Then COVID happened

and we didn't couldn't have service for about three months. And so we were

preaching online thinking that the world was going to watch, but nobody was watching.

But and you know, every time I refreshed the page was like one

view, two view, three view, you know, and and so but

fast forwardating to now two years later, we've had a full band every almost

every week at our church. So we've been blessed in that way, and

we have over a hundred people now coming to a Sunday morning service. So

praise God, it's God. And yeah, so let's dive into the wood

and then that way we can finish on time and go for lunch. Uh,

I'm ready, all right, let's go to Luke chapter five in verse

one. One day, as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea

of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the world of

God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen

had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats,

Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water.

So he sat in the boat and taught the crowd from there. When

he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, now go out where it

is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish. Master Simon replied,

we worked hard all night and didn't catch a thing. But if you

say so, I'll let the nets down again. And this time their nets

were so full of fish they began to tear a shout for help, brought

their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish

and on the Virgil sinking. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he

fell to his knees before Jesus and said, Oh Lord, please leave me.

I'm such a sinful man. For he was awe struck by the number

of fish that they had caught, as were the brothers, as were the

others with him. His partners James and John, and the sons of Zebede

were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, don't be afraid. From now

on, you'll be fishing for people. And as soon as they landed,

they left everything and followed Jesus, I want to speak about nets and boats

this morning. Let's pray, Father God, I thank you for your grace,

thank you for your mercy. Pray Holy Spirit, that you'll help me

to minister your word this morning, Holy Spirit, do what only you can

do. In each and every one of us. We thank you and we

praise you in the name of Jesus. Everybody said Amen, Amen, Amen.

So as for me personally, something that you'll get to know about me

if you hang around me enough, is that I don't like surprises such as

Christmas like. I don't like the surprise of the present at Christmas like because

it's torture because you know it's coming, but you don't know what it is,

and so I really really want to know it is. So it's like

causes me a lot of stress and anxiety because like I'm just wondering what's in

the gift. So I'm proud to say. And and now, since the

age of twelve, I've always known what I'm getting for Christmas. I might

act surprise, but I knew what it was before I opened the package.

And that's because I can't stand it from from the moment that I have an

inkling of that the gifts are going to be bought. I'm checking the credit

card tab, I'm checking the bank account, and when when I'm younger,

you know, if it's under the tree, I'm boiling the water. You

know. I'm putting the package so that way it would open it up and

repackaged nicely so that way nobody would find out. And so I just hate

waiting for the endless anticipation and also waiting for mail. That's the worst thing

for me. That's why I don't online shop, because I'm more of the

kind of guy that I like to touch it. I like to hold it,

I like to try it. I like to put it on if I

and see if I look good, and then I'll just take it home with

me. Like the online shopping thing just doesn't work for me, because like

I might like it, but there's it's like the anticipation of like would fit,

would be good? Will will work out for me. So that's why

when I had got a wife, I did it in person. You know,

you had to touch it, you had to look at it, and

then you you just bought it and took it home with you, right,

and so so it's like and even uber delivery, I hate that too.

I'm the most impatient person when it comes to that. It's like, because

I ordered the food when I'm hungry, right, so I wanted then not

not twenty minutes later, and so and so then you get angry at the

guy because he's he's driving, and then he goes backwards and then he skips

buildings, and then by the time he gets there, you're like really annoyed

at him. It's not really his fault, but but it's just I don't

like the surprise when he's going to get there. Um. But I do

like surprising people with a gift or with with a um like an open door

or something, you know. I like like creating opportunities for people. Um,

and I also like scaring people and spooking people out of nowhere. I

mean, my wife is like my my victim right here. And so and

then I find out my younger daughter and my eldest daughter, who's six years

old, also loves doing the same thing. I'm such a proud father and

and so we I grew up in a children's home. And how the children's

home was set up was on one side of the property was the boys dorm.

On the other side of the property was the girls dorms. And and

this this is because you know why and so so so, but every Christmas

or every holiday or every special moment, all the boys and girls will come

together and we'll have a party with play games or all that, especially during

Christmas time and it's days on end and and and then I had this idea

as a kid. I'm like, because every night, the girls would have

to go from the girl's dorm and then they'll walk to the boys dorm in

groups. I don't know why teenage girls always walk in groups, right,

And so then so I'm like, what if I just wait randomly in the

middle of the road and spook them and scare them. So this was before

a smartphone. Okay, this is how dedicated I was. I waited for

hours for the ultimate surprise, right, So I would wait there in the

bush, risking my life with the snakes and bugs and all that stuff,

and just waiting for the moment to just jump out and go. And then

when they screech and yell my heart fails with joy and satisfaction that I've successfully

done this. And but the thing was, every year it would get more

elaborate, and the planning and scheming it would be months ahead of time.

This is how much dedication it was. Halloween world around and I'm like creepy

clown mass. That would be awesome. And then and then I would like

keep on doing doing these things every year, and I would have so much

joy doing it. And just as much as I like surprises, I found

out that God also loves surprises, because, if you think about it,

a surprise, the ultimate goal of a surprise is to take your attention from

what it was on to focusing on what is happening right now. Right It's

like you might be walking like the girls, are you thinking about getting to

the door, and then all of a sudden Sean pops on going. You

go from thinking about going to the dorm to saying, who is this?

What is this? What is going on? And God loves surprises. And

just to prove to you, like how God loves surprises, is that For

example, Exhibit A is Mary and her wedding, the Mother of Jesus.

She was planning her indie wedding, you know, earth tones for everyone.

We don't have where shoes, we can bare foot over the grass. You

know, nobody's doing that. Everybody's doing it. And then and then it's

like, Joseph, it's going to be so special. We got a food,

beautiful wedding. It's going to be wonderful. And then an angel of

the Lord appears and says, surprise, you're pregnant, and which means it's

like, not only will you not have a wedding, but you'll be accused

of something that you haven't done. And Joseph is going to be mad at

you and he's going to be disappointed until the angel goes and tells him.

But it was a surprise all of a sudden. Right, she had a

plan. Americans, we love our plans. Right. I'm like, I'm

a type a person I like my plans. If the plan gets interrupted,

I get mad. Mad's the Christian word for what I wanted to say.

But I get mad. And then so the angel shows up ruins all her

plans, surprised them. And then Jesus loves surprises because when he died and

he rose from the dead, he told the disciple was to go wait and

wait in the upper room. Now, he could have entered that room anyway.

He could have knocked on the door and I would have surprised them,

but Jesus picked the creepiest way to enter the room, which was just to

walk through the wall and show up. Right, he could have appeared,

you know, like glowing lights come up, but no, he just walked

through the rocks through the door. And so Jesus liked surprises too. And

it also surprises me who got picks, because some of the people I see

doing the will of God, I'm like, how did they even get qualified

for that? Like like this morning, I woke up and looked myself in

the mirror, and I was surprised, one because of how amazing I looked.

A second was because of the things that I'm doing today. I'm surprised

by the fact that I'm speaking on stage. I mean, some of you

guys know me. When I was stuttering a lot, and like, this

isn't like something I even thought about doing. But then when God comes in,

It's like, one day you'll do that. I'm like surprised. Not

only that was like I had the honor of pastoring a church and learning how

to pastor in the country. It went from twenty people to more than one

hundred to now it's running over one hundred and twenty hundred and thirty regularly even

without me there, and and and then now we started the church, which

in Thailand it's a pretty good sized church, is fifty to sixty people.

In two years, we're going over one hundred people almost every Sunday. And

the whole time, I'm thinking, how like I didn't do this. It's

because if you think about it, there isn't one person in the Bible that

God approached to do something for him that went yes initially. Because when He's

going to come to you, no matter how much you prepare, it will

always be beyond anything you are capable of. And so and that's that's because

in First Conrinthians up the one verse twenty seven, who says instead, God

shows the things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they

are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those things that

are powerful. God shows things despised by the world, things counted as nothing

at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.

As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

So it surprises me when we look at this passage in Looke, who

God picks to be his disciples and where he goes because he didn't go to

seminary, he didn't go to the senagoge, he didn't go to Bible school,

he didn't go to a church. But he went to the beach.

That's my kind of Jesus, you know, he goes to the beach.

And so when the Bible says that he went to the edge of the water,

and as he went to the edge of the water, there's Peter and

his gang washing their nets, and the crowd follows Jesus. And on the

edge there Peter and his his his guys were like on the edge of the

water, but they physically but they were also on the edge spiritually alsole.

They were on the edge of their purpose and destiny. They were about to

transition from being fishermen to being fishers of men. But they had no clue.

Some of you thought you were just coming to church for a normal Sunday

service, but you're actually on the edge, on the verge of something new

in your life. And the amazing thing is, and the amazing thing is

that they weren't. They were. They were frustrated. There's nothing spiritual about

being frustrated. They're frustrated. They tried fished all night, they're washing their

nets. They failed, but their frustration isn't a failure, because sometimes the

frustration is a sign and a signal and an invitation to something knew that's going

to be happening in your life, and that the very thing that you're doing

might have been God and might have been for you that season. But God

has a new season coming for your life, which is why you're frustrated.

So as they were frustrated, Jesus is preaching. Then he shows up to

Peter's boat. He steps into the boat and asked Peter to do something.

Just as like you come to church this morning, you're probably like you know,

I just want to hear a good someone. I want to be in

a good service worship team. That great, and then I just want to

go home. But in God's presence is here, and that's amazing. But

when you encounter Jesus and when you encounter God, there's always a demand and

expectation that your life will never be the same again. And so so he

shows up and then he asked Peter for a favor. I mean, that's

so rude. First of all, he didn't ask to sit in Peter's boat.

It was Peter's boat. So he tells he not only didn't ask,

but he steps in there, he sits down, and then he's like,

hey, Peter, could you do me a favor and push me out into

the water. I mean, how would you react, I pastor Dwayne walked

into your car all of a sudden when you're about to go to lunch without

asking you, and then ask you for a favor to send him somewhere right,

how would you react? You would be confused, You might be angry

if you were me and and noticed though that how Peter responds to this request

will determine the trajectory of the rest of his life. Because there's moments in

your life where your response would determine where you go to next. And if

Peter was like you and I and maybe had the audacity to he'd be like,

come on, man, Like like I just I just worked all night.

I don't really have time for this. I don't know you notice,

respect man, but I don't have time. Peter would have missed out on

the biggest miracle of his life. He would have missed out in the greatest

and the greatest internship that he could have, that any of us could have.

I mean many of us would would would would give an arm to be

an internal Jesus, but he didn't know that. And just like Peter,

Jesus is in some of your boats this morning, and he's not only in

your life, but he's been asking you to do something for a while too.

But you know what, Peter obeyed, because Jesus could have gotten in

the boat and pushed himself off, but that's not the way God works.

He'll make himself available and he'll bring your presence there, but he'll also request

you to make the step. And so this morning, as we're talking about

missions and all this stuff, I want to ask you can Can God use

your boat? Can he use your business? Can He use your life?

Can he use your social media for his glory? I'm telling you, if

you would give room to Jesus, we have to live life. I mean,

well, I think, uh think we're going to do like pledges and

stuff for missions and gotten just It doesn't have just, It doesn't have anything

to do with just Thailand. It has a like many countries, many nations,

many missionaries. But like um, like I always challenge myself and challenge

everybody in our church and in my life to always make room for Jesus,

because sacrifice starts when it begins to hurt yourself. Like everybody got quiet obviously,

but we always have to make room for God to step in. It's

like, if God doesn't step in, then I don't know what we'll do

as a family. I don't know what I'll do as an individual. I

don't know what I'll do. But I feel like I need to make room

for God to step in, because that's how you live by faith. If

you can do it all yourself, then you're not living by faith. Amen.

And so all bolt is is a vessel that can float where everything else

is sinking in that's all vessel really is. So God is looking for a

vessel that will float while other people are sinking. I know the world's getting

darker and darker, but I believe the church is supposed to get brighter and

brighter and beg and begin to be a beacon of hope, a city set

upon a hill that cannot be hidden. And the only way that can happen

is Goda. The day is a one spiritual man on stage, but it's

when the whole church begins to set to live life as sons and daughters of

God and be a light in this world and be a witness. So Art

is looking for a vessel, for a life that will that will give room

for him so he can have you float in the midst of what in the

midst of an environment where everything else is sinking in because because when people are

struggling, and people look at you and they're like, why are you floating

as You're like, because I've got Jesus in my boat. Why do you

have peace in the midst of this economy? Because I've got Jesus in my

boat? Why do I have cancer? Why? Why do you have cancer

and have joy at the same time? It's because I have Jesus in my

boat. Because because Dan, you'll be able to say, it's not by

my mind, is not by my power, but it's by His alone that

I stand. And so can he use your boat? If you can imagine,

you know, Jesus is preaching from the boat. It says that he

was sitting on the boat, he was preaching, and as he finished preaching

and everyone's listening, Jesus is not only throwing the net out in the crowd,

but he's throwing the net out on Peter because before he was just focused

on his nat and frustration. But now Jesus put Peter in a situation where

he had no choice but to listen. I love Jesus because he'll do anything

to get people saved and hear the gospel. And I'm I'm a champion of

doing everything except for sin to get people to hear the gospel and accept Jesus.

I've paid people's way to church. They're like, oh, I can't

afford that because I got to go to work. Well, how much do

you get paid that day? And I'll pay you because and then for you

to come to church and come come see what we're about. Because I'm so

so confident that when people come in a room that the presence of God is

and they're having an encounter of Jesus. But the only reason why Jesus could

sit in Peter's boat, the only reason why that Jesus is that Peter's boat

could be used as a pulpit, was because he had no fish in his

boat. It's because he came out empty handed and he's frustrated. But he

had room for Jesus in his boat because he didn't have fish. Because if

you would think about it, I don't think Peter would have let Jesus in

his boat because he was washing the nets. If he had fish, Jesus

like, hey, could you do me a favor, you know, push

me out. You know, Peter could be like, hey, man,

I got fish here, I got to get to the market, I got

to sell, I got a donkey to pay off. I've got a family

to feed, I've got kids to go to school. Like you understand,

Like, I don't have time or room for you in my boat. And

the only reason why that Jesus had room to step in and said was because

he had no fish. The frustration the lack created room for Jesus to step

into the boat. Can he use your boat? And as Peter was in

the boat, you know, peters captured by Jesus at this point because he's

just listening to him. And after he's done preaching, he turns to Peter

and say, hey, can you throw out your net on the deep end.

It's just one inconvenience after another. Right, they've had a bad night.

Then this guy, who rabbi guy comes and starts preaching and annoying them.

And then not only that, he steps into the boat without permission.

Then on top of that, he also asked him for a favor. And

then now he's done with that, and here he looks to him. He

doesn't just end there. He says, hey, could you do the total

opposite of what you know to do? Because they've fished at night. That's

for a reason. Right now it's the daytime. You don't fish in the

day. You fish at night. You also fish when you fish, and

now you fish on the shore next to the shore because that's where the fish

come up and feed. Therefore, right now it's during the day and Jesus

is like, hey, just throw it out into the deep. It's the

opposite of what he knew to do. And that's what God asks you to

do sometimes, is that he'll come into your boat, he'll make himself available.

He'll ask you to do something, and then he'll ask you to do

something that's total opposite of what you know to do, the total opposite of

what the world will ask you to do or advise you to do. It

won't make sense, it will go against everything you know to do. But

I love this story because Peter wasn't like, yeah, amen, hallelu yeah,

let's do it. He was honest. He was like, look,

we've done it all night and it didn't work. But at your word.

See that's the key. But at your word. Another translation, another translation

says, because you said so, Because you said so, I'll throw it

out. See. The amazing thing about a Lord and savior is that you

can be honest about who you are and where you're acting in your faith.

As long as you're obedient, God will always bless and honor that obedience.

You will never go wrong by obeying what the Lord has told you to do.

Amen. Amen. Peter obeyed even when he didn't want to. It

was inconvenient. It was inconvenient because he had just washed the nets. You

know, how many times have we told God, like, ah, if

you would have been a little earlier. You know, if you would have

been a little earlier, I would be able to give, I would be

able to serve. But right now that's an inconvenience because it wasn't inconvenience they

washed the nets. I mean, how many times if my wife yelled at

me and the kids. I've just cleaned the house, you know, like,

and you guys have messed it up again, put your stuff away.

I think that's a normal thing, right But if I could have the band

come out, that would be awesome. Just one inconvenience after another. I

hope you get it. At this point is that the boat is our life.

You might be feeling feeling like your boat's empty. Maybe that's on purpose.

Maybe that's that's because the Lord's supposed to step in that spot, and

you're supposed to make a room for him in your family, in your finances,

in your job, in your workplaces. I always challenge our church and

our team and myself. It's like always making room for God to work.

I mean I like to go play football, I mean soccer, but it

will be referred to as football from now on since I have the mic and

I'm right, and I would play football on Sunday nights. And I was

really because you know, I'm a pastor. You know, I could like

claim I'm always living for others and all that stuff. But then it came

to football, and I was like, I just want to play football,

you know, I don't want to be the pastor. I don't want to

be anything. And I really just honed in on just having fun, which

is nothing wrong with that. But then I started getting convicted. I was

like starting looking left and right, and I was like, maybe I should

start talking to people, you know, and letting God use that boat,

which is football, to connect with more people. Not in a weird way.

I'm just saying, just get to know people, say HI, be

open to God using that boat to reach people. And it might be your

family. I know this family that was it's just a normal family in the

corporate world, but they had this kid that they took on vacation with them,

and I was shocked by that because like, it wasn't their kid,

it was just some random kid that would hang around their kids and and and

for me, that was a big deal because I know that in America,

in Asian families, we have like usually an open house where people can come

in and out and we just include everybody. But but you know, in

Western society, it's like this is mine, this is my house, my

kingdom, and it's just like, uh, don't like, don't come unannounced

because it would inconvenience me. And taking this kid who's not their kid on

vacation was a like kind of like a big moment for me to observe.

And so I asked the father of the house. It was like, hey,

why are you taking him with you? Like, and he's like,

wow, it's because we're the only family he's got where the only good example.

I'm the only example of a good father in his life. Because when

he goes home, he gets beat he gets ridiculed, he gets put down.

But in our house, we raise him up, we inclurage him,

and we include him in our family. It was just a small way.

Let God use our boat. It's a small thing. It wasn't even a

huge deal. But for that kid, it's like letting Jesus in the boat,

Lord use my family, you know. And as we go into missions

month and all that, it's like it might seem like a lot, and

it needs a lot, but but the fishers and loves might not seem like

much Like the boy in the hands of Jesus can feed five thousand people.

We're not talking in the mountain the amount. We're talking about the Lord Jesus

Christ. We can do more than enough. But he asked you to make

the first step. And so Peter gets the catch of his lifetime right,

and so so the fishing. He throws the net out, the net starts

to break, Like how much fish would it take to break in the nets?

How much fish would it take for a fisherman to call out to others

to bring their boats to get the the abundance that Jesus has provided. How

much fish would it take for nets to start breaking and boat and the boats

to start sinking sinking. I'm so thankful that we have a God that even

though we may not feel like it, we may not be full of confidence,

but just because we're obedience, we begin to experience the favor of God

in our life and begin to be a blessing. The boats are full.

It's a fisherman's dream. If I was Peter, I was, and I'm

reading this passage. I'm like, he's got to take selfies, he's got

to post about this. He got to get the guys together do a selfie

with all the fish in the boat. But he didn't do that. It

confused me because he didn't thank Jesus. He didn't thank God, he didn't

praise, he didn't say Amen. But instead he looks. The scripture says

that he looks at the boat, and then he looks at Jesus. Then

he looks at the boat again that's filled with fish, and then he looks

at Jesus. And then all of a sudden it dawned on him because up

until this point he knew Jesus as a teacher, Jesus as the rabbit by

Jesus, the one that inconvinced it, inconvenienced him. But for the first

time, it was Jesus, the Son of God. And right then and

there he said, I am not worthy leave me. And so at that

very moment he encountered Jesus, the Son of God, and even though he

felt unworthy, he told Jesus to leave him. God doesn't want you to

run away. God doesn't want you to flee from it just because it looks

too big for you to do, too big for you to accomplish, Because

at that moment, I believe if Jesus would have spoke, and he who

would have said, like, Jesus, I know you would deny me three

times. But I also see the Peter that on the day of Pentecost would

rise up and step out and preach three thousand people get saved that day.

I also see the Peter yet, Peter that would travel the world and begin

to preach the gospel, and the very ink that comes out of his hand

and pen would be called the words of God. Yes, I've see the

flaws Peter, but I also see the potential you have. Some of you

have been holding back from Jesus, and he's been in your boat for a

while. But Jesus also asking you to do something. So what would make

a man leave the biggest catch of his life and follow Jesus. It's the

love of a savior that sees beyond his flaws and sees the potential of what

he can do in you and through you. And so let God use your

boat, because that's the only reasonable response when you begin to think about the

grace on the cross and the love and the sacrifice that he made. He

gave his life. The apostle pause is the only reasonable response is you would

give your life. That's the only reasonable response. Not half your life.

That's kind of an insult to what he gave. It's Lord here, I

am use me, every party, every part of my life, my family,

my kids, my marriage, might everything. Let this be a tool

for you, Lord, and I like to pray for you this morning,

and then I'll hand it back to Pastor Joel. Father God, a thank

you for your grace. Lord Jesus, we welcome you into our bolt.

Holy Spirit, provide us with the boldness and faith to say yes to your

request. Let us begin to have your eyes to see those around us.

Let us have your heart for those around us. We thank you for your

grace and muscy and Holy Spirit. Do what only you can do in the

name of Jesus. And everybody said amen, thank you so much, guys,

thank you, good job. Hallelujah. Would you stay here for just

a moment. I want to pray over you. Would you be willing.

I have just been delighted today. It's been a little while since we've had

Seawanna lindsay here or whatever, and I've had the privilege of watching him grow

up, and I have sinsed all day today. First service a second that

there is a something new on this young man, something new. Yeah.

Jessica was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's something new on him.

And I believe that he's there. They're getting on the plane tomorrow night

and going to be on the ground by Tuesday. I believe that when they

land on the ground, they are going to be walking into something new,

something greater, something deeper, something broader. And I would love for you

let's launch them. Would you raise your hand towards him right now, and

let's just pray. Let's just intercede Father God. Lindsey, come on up

to Father God. I just pray right now over these two. Lord.

I ask you right now to just intercede in their lives. Lord God,

I think you that the anointing doubles, triples, quadruples upon them. God,

I pray right now, signs and wonders. I pray right now that

these people would be so instrumental when they land over there. In Jesus name,

God, I thank you right now that every outreach is filled with fruit.

God. I thank you, Lord God, I thank you Lord Jesus,

that their boat will be so full, that their boat would be so

full that they've cast their net where they didn't think they should, and it

wasn't in their right their plan. God. But I think you right now

that you're gonna bring such a full, such a full harvest, Lord God.

The fish are gonna be sinking their boat. They're gonna be calling to

other churches, please come help us with this harvest. There's gonna be a

great move of God in shang Mai, all across Thailand, all across the

Asian countries. Lord God, I think you right now that the spirit of

God is about ready to fall. The spirit of God is about ready to

fall upon these in Jesus name, God, a mighty, mighty, miraculous

outpouring of your spirit upon them. Lord God, May the Buddhists, May

every God in Thailand bow their need to Jesus. God. I think you

right now that there would be no longer rebellion, no longer false. God's

no longer false darctor and Lord God, but I think you right now the

spirit of God would be preached with eloquence and with clarity. God, I

thank you that just the healing of his stuttering is a sign that the Word

of God is gonna go forth in clarity and in strength. In Jesus Name,

Hallelujah, hallelujah, God, I thank you in Jesus Name, Jesus

Name. Every need is met, every dream fulfilled, every vision completed in

Jesus Name. Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah. You're gonna say something, Yeah,

I see. The Spirit of God has done a great work in you

two. He's been mining your hearts, going deeper and deeper and deeper,

and he's at the ore deposit that's in you. There's treasure in you that

you haven't even experienced yet. That's he is now making available to the people

of Thailand. You're going to be amazed what comes out of you two.

Treasure for the people, Treasure for the people. The Lord has mind your

hearts and prepared you to distribute like you've never known before. Blessings on your

lives in Jesus name. And I will confirm that first service, I saw

diamonds. I saw diamonds. That's like I could see inside of your chest

any sodd diamonds. And do you know how diamonds are formed? Pressure?

And that is what they have walked through. And I say, right now,

God, in Jesus Name, God, I think you right now that

every hard moment, every pressure, every troublesome moment, Lord, God has

been forming diamonds inside of you. There's no bitterness, there's no guile.

There's only diamonds that are just bubbling up. In Jesus Name, God,

I think you that jewels come forth in Jesus name, beautiful things, beautiful

things, treasures in Jesus name. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I would like to

ask we as a body today we would give in to Thailand. So if

you would for me, just if God has is also speaking into your heart,

would you be willing to give If you would be willing to just give

anything, five dollars, ten dollars, one hundred dollars, five hundred dollars,

I don't know, but would you be willing Every dime that we take

from this offering right now is going to go straight to them, and their

goal with this offering is to expand their outreaches, expand their going in and

going into the universities and the different things. So if you would be willing

right now, Sterling, would you please put up the giving slide because you

can QR coded, you can text online all of that. Father and Jesus

Name, God, we open our hearts right now in generosity to the people

of Thailand and to this wonderful couple. LORDA, I ask you right now

that mighty, mighty generosity would flood the gates in Jesus name even now.

Lord, I pray strength upon them. I pray might upon them. I

pray creativity. I pray they have answers in the night. I pray they

dream in the night, and you speak to them in visions in the daytime.

Lord God, I think you their children are blessed. God, go

forth, go forth, speak God. I pray right now that when Sean

and Lindsay open their mouths, order of the spirit comes forth and there is

great harvest in Jesus Name and Shesus Name. Amen, hallelujah. Thank you

for coming to church today. I hope that this has been a good day

for you. Encouragement that so much is happening around the world. Amen,

and just thank you so much. After the offering a buckets gone by,

why don't you stand up and let's go out singing. Let's go out worshiping

today and give someone a high five and a hug on your way out. Amen,