19th January 2024 - Celebration Service - Worship For Change

That he's come prepared. Thank you that he's downloaded from heaven.

Father.

I probably you'd bless his family, you'd bless all that.

He does at home.

Thank you that he's being to give us time to

be with us this morning, Feed us and feed him

as we as we gather around your word today in

Jesus name.

Amen, Well, good morning once again. Thank you Paster Dave

for having me here today. I mean, I think the

last time I was Hell must be like twenty years

or something.

Yeah.

Wow, we we had an amazing time of worship today.

God is looking for people who would worship him in

speed and in truth, saying hello to everybody at home,

Praise God.

All right, So.

Today the title of our message is a fresh Start.

I understand that's the thing, right, And I'm just gonna

I've said a fresh start at a timeline, and we're

gonna be looking at the story of Peter.

We'll know the story very well.

Harpita fished all night and didn't catch anything until when

Jesus showed up on the scene. So I'm going to

read look chapter five, verse one to eleven, fairly lengthy,

but for context is important that we understand I appreciate

what I'm going to be talking about today.

So I start out.

So it was as the multitude pressed about him to

hear the word of God, that he stood by the

lake of Genno Sauret and saw two boats standing by

the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and

were washing their nets verse three. Then he got into

one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him

to put out a little from the land, and he

sat down and taught the multitudes from the boats. When

he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launched out

into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.

But Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have

toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word,

I will let down the nets. And when they had

done this, they caught a great number of fish, and

their nets was breaking. So they signaled to their partners

in the other boats to come and help them, and

they came and filled both the boats, so that they

began to sink. Okay, let me go ahead, all right.

So when Simon pitched us saw it, he felt that

that Jesus is knee is saying, depart from me.

I am a seen ful man, oh Lord, for.

He and all who were with him were astonished at

the catch of fish which they had taken. And so

also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who

were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do

not be afraid. From now on you were catch men.

So when they had so, when they had brought their

boats to learn, they forsook all and followed him. How

many of us would agree with the fact that Peter, James,

they all.

Had a fresh starts, right, There was a fresh start

for all of them.

And so one of the things I realized in this

life is, you know, you could now I've been I've

been a Christian for upwards of thirty five years, originally

from Nigeria, but I was born here about fifty seven

years ago. I'm married to one wife, yeah, and we

both have a daughter. My daughter works and lives in

New York. So I've come to see that it's possible

to say I want to have a fresh start, right,

I mean, and I'm sure at the beginning of the year,

or maybe on the thirty first, we all said, oh,

I'm going to stop doing this. I'm gonna stop doing this,

I'm gonna stop doing this. I'm gonna start doing this now.

I'm not gonna ask while you're still doing these things

you said they're going to start doing. It's today is

what nineteenth of January. So I'm not gonna ask any questions.

All right, That's that's between you and yourself and God.

But you know, it's also possible for God to orchestrate

a fresh start in our lives. And that's one of

the things that we see happening here in Peter's life. Now,

this is one day in the life of Peter. He

wasn't He's not a rookie fisherman, right, this is not

the first day that is coming to the sea to fish.

Clearly he had been fishing for a very long time.

But this day they didn't or this night they didn't

catch anything. Actually, when I think about it, I think

God was the one who or castrated it that they

didn't catch anything that night. Now imagine the frustration that

Peter had to fish all night and not catch anything.

So here and his.

Friends were washing their nets, you know, to call it

a day, go home, and then come back maybe at

night and see if they could be lucky to catch

some fishes. Now, all of a sudden, there's this person.

I'm not sure that that was the first time he

came across Jesus. But Jesus was speaking and people were

guarding around him, and then I would say he has in.

Jesus had the f country.

To say to Peter, please, could you push your boat

a little bit further into the sea so I could

sit there and speak to these people. Now, I don't

know about you, but if I was Peter, I'm gonna

be like, what did you say? Listen, I've walked all nights.

I this is the last thing I want to hear.

I don't want anybody. I've had enough stress. I don't

want anyone to stress me any further. Okay, But for

some reason he does that, and gee, Jesus gets into

his boat and speaks, and we know that actually Peter,

instead of going home, he actually stayed because he could

have done home. I mean, honestly, I would have just

said to my colleagues, that's what is. When he finishes,

can you just let me pack the boats, I'm going home.

But he stayed. He stayed.

Now what do we see what happened afterwards? Jesus now wants.

Jesus finished peaching.

He now says to him, casts your nets into the

deep and let down your nets for a catch. Verse

five says But Simon answered and said to him, Master,

we have told all night.

Let me say something to us.

It's okay to express your frustrations to God. It's okay.

God can handle it. Yeah, I mean maybe my wife

can't handle it. Certainly my daughter can't handle it. You

see that you need to understand that there's there's some

God is not man. There's a song that we sing.

Wa'ts your song that talks about God is all together lovely? Right?

And God is all together worthy? Do you know that

I cannot say that about my wife? And certainly my

wife can say that about me. I'm certainly not altogether worthy.

I'm certainly not altogether lovely, because sometimes it could be nasty,

all right. So Jesus says, launch altitude deep and let

down your network catch and and Simon answered and said, look, Master,

we have told all night. Now to understand, listen to

what he said. He didn't say.

Mister, man or gentlemen. He said master.

I believe that he called him master because he hung

around to hear everything that Jesus had to say, and

came to a conclusion that there's something different about this man.

And then he calls him Master.

And even though he expressed his frustration and said listen,

we have told all night, he said, nevertheless, at your word,

I would lay down the nets. So it's okay to

express your frustrations. It's okay to complain. In fact, if

you read the psalms, if you read a couple of psalms,

if you see that something, there's some psalms, it starts

with complaints, but it always ends with praise if it

has a particulars time. I don't remember what i'd sum

seventy two or seventy three, it's between seventy and seventy five.

The first line of the psalm is why have you

forsaken us?

O God? And I'm like, how can you be so rude?

I mean, you didn't even start by saying, Oh God,

I praise you.

First line, why have.

You forsaken us? Oh God? But if you read it,

it ended with praise. So it took her to come

with your frustrations. As you kneel in prayer or start

whatever posture prayer you adopt, talk to God and tell

him I'll hurt you up. Maybe a friend hurts you,

or your boss hurts you at work, or the child

is wayward or something. Talk to God about it, and

to talk to God about it. Listen for what God

has to say. Do you understand, because I'm sure you

know that prayer is not just about talking to God.

Right.

I don't know how many of us have heard this saying,

and I think it applies to prayer. It says, the

reason why God gave us two ears and one mouth

is so that our ears will walk twice as much

as our mouth. So speak less, listen more, speak less,

and listen more, because God wants to speak to us,

and we must learn to hear God's voice. I think

that's one of the greatest game changers that we have

as Christians, that God speaks to us.

God.

Yeah, it's good to have a pastor, it's good to

have a vangelist, and all of those people in the offices,

I mean, in the body of Christ. But God has

taken everything that stands in the way, and he wants

to have a relationship with you and I directly. And

here's what a simple and profound way to learn to

hear God's voice is to read the word of God.

And I have an expectation that God will speaks to you.

And the way to expect that God will speaks to

you is to have a pen and paper close by

or a digital pad to write down anything and everything

that God says. And when God speaks to you, he

will bring his word to pass emen. So Simon says, Master,

we have toiled all night and caught nothing. He says, nevertheless,

at your word, I will let down the nets. Nevertheless,

at your word, I will lay down the nets.

Number six says.

And when they had done this, they caught a great

number of fish, and their net was breaking.

Clearly, this is the.

First time they had a net breaking catch. They've never

seen this kind of thing before. And what happened he

had to sink. Now to his other partners, thank god

his partners didn't go home sick. Now to the partners

in the other boat to come and help them. And

when they came and filled both the boats, the boats

began to sink. Now, one of the most profound things

that I see in the scripture is what we find

in verse eighty says And when Simon Peter saw it,

he fell down at Jesus's knees, saying the apart from me,

for I am a sinful man. So many times will

pray for stuff we ask God, no give me this.

We're trusting God for better finances. We're trusting God, you know,

for divine health, for provision and all of that. But

you know, sometimes you could pray for those things and

God could maybe God actually answers those things. And if

we are not careful women actually think that those things

came about due to the strength of our arms, to

the strength of our hands, and.

Will refuse to bring and give glory to God.

But what God did here, what Jesus Christ did here

blew Peter's imagination. He saw himself as unworthy. And I

see that is exactly what worship is about. Worship is

about responding to the worth of God. To understand, I mean,

let me use an example to just explain this.

So imagine if.

I walked into a bank, let's say it just busy

whatever whatever bank it is, and I worked in with

flip flops. I mean, I just worked in like I

look like an ordinary person. And so I walked up

to the tailer and I say, hey, you know what,

I have a problem with my internet banking up, but

I just want to check what my balance is.

Now.

The truth is as a human being that Tella is

going to size me, size me up, and his man

is probably going to think how much.

Could he possibly have in his accounts? Right?

Maybe he'll say maybe two hundred forty seven pounds. So anyway,

he checks the account and it sees that my balance

is one million, five hundred, one thousand, two hundred and

sixty seven pounds.

Do you know that I tell her is going to

look at me differently.

Yeah, he's gonna look at me different He's going to

be like I mean, he's gonna try as much as

possible to contain He's uh his surprise, that is, I mean,

if he, if he, if he or she didn't say

sir the first time, he's gonna say sir. Now do

you understand what I'm saying? One has changed? She just encountered.

She just saw how much I was worth. And that's

exactly what we're seeing here. Worship is about responding to

the worth of God. And that's exactly what Peter saw here.

That Jesus did this great and amazing thing. He saw

his worthiness and he saw his own unworthiness. You know,

what we see here is exactly resonates to what we

saw happen in the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah had prophesied

for five chapters, from chapter one to five, and in

his six chapter he saw the Lord high and lifted up,

and he said, I am a man of unclean lips.

Praise the name of the Lord. So what we see

here is when Peter had his encounter. And I prayed

that every one of us, honestly, I prayed at every

one of us, at one point in our lives will

have an encounter with God. It's so important that God

will grant you and encounter with himself.

And don't forget table leet encounter.

You see, having such an encounter would make it don't

let me say impossible, but almost impossible for you to

ever backslide. Yeah. I remember one day when I was

in school, and I'm bringing my lesson to my message

a close. When I was in the university, I mean

with Sella. We were in the same class. We studied

civil engineering together. And so I went to this fellowship

and I just give him my life to Christ. And

fellowship ended, and there's this lady who just walked up,

walked towards me. She introduced herself. Her name is Lara. Oh,

I'm Lara, I said, my name is Wally. That's she says.

Have you been filled at the Holy Ghost? I'm like,

I'm scared of that name Holy ghosts, I says, no.

I mean I could pray with you right now, you

get fuelled with the Holy Ghost.

Okay.

So we heard hands and as she started praying, and

all of a sudden, it was like my entire body

was on fire from the crowd of my head to

disolve my feet. I can never forget that. I can

never I left fellowship that night. My house was like

twenty five minutes away, and I walked home screaming on

the road, just praying in the spirit. So that's why

I pray that God would grant you and encounter with himself. See,

because we're entering into difficult days the world. No matter

what you say or pray, the world is going to

get darker. But it doesn't mean that you're like, shuldn't shine?

Do you understand that? It doesn't mean that.

I mean, look at the kind of things that have

happened in this world over the last one year, earthquakes, fires, wars, storms,

and it's like all these things are happening with increased rapidity.

Look at the things that have happened this year alone,

and today's just the nineteenth of January. We have to

ask God to help us, to show us a message,

to lead us in the way that we should go.

I want to say to us today, Peter had a

fresh starts. God orchestrated Jesus orchestrated a fresh starts.

Sometimes there might.

Be if you noticed Peter experienced a delay, realize that

he experienced delay, and it was that delay that he

experienced that introduced him into that fresh start. I'm not

saying that you're going to experience the delay. But sometimes

we need to just yield. And one of the things

that we need to say to God is God, just

have your way. Have your way in my life, not

my will, but yours be done. You said, because this Jesus,

this Holy Spirit, he knows more than I know.

You said. We live in a We live in a

part of the world.

Where science reigns, where there's so much knowledge. Oh, we're

moving into the age of artificial intelligence, and I've actually

using it. Sometimes I write a letter. Now I slap

it into AI. It brings out a more beautiful letter.

Right.

We all use Google Map when we're traveling, But let

me tell you something about Google. The Holy Spirit trumps Google. Yeah,

and I'll show you how. So you want to leave

from her to someone up somewhere you're traveling and you say, oh,

you got on Google.

How long it's going to take me? It shows you.

It shows you the root, and the Holy Spirit may

be telling you why don't you take this route? You see,

the Holy Spirit is starting to take that root. Because

Google doesn't know there's going to be an accident on

the road, and because of that accident, that are going

to be delayed. The Holy Spirit knows what is about

to come. He knows all things. And that's why, in

spite of all the AI and everything, let us still

depend and heald to.

The voice of God. Praise the name of Lord.

So, in whatever way you're starting afresh, I want to

say to you today, the Lord has gone ahead.

He has gone ahead of you. Do not be afraid.

Maybe you're just relocated to this part of town or

to this country. Maybe you're back getting married. You know,

a lot of young people are scared of getting married.

You're laughing.

I actually just say it's better to just get it

done with. And that's because there's so much Again, it

comes with influence. You see a lot of people who

are influencers, and maybe their marriage isn't working out well,

but that doesn't mean your shouldn't.

Amen.

Or maybe it's a new job and you're worried and

concerned has this going to turn out? Or maybe it's

starting life after the loss of a loved one.

The rest assured.

The Lord has gone before you, do not fear and

when God, and this is the last thing I want

to say. There are many of us here whom God

has spoken to to do something, maybe some ministry, maybe

it's about listen. I pray that God will grant you

the boldness to do the things that He has told

you to do. Did you hear what I said? I

pray that God will grant you the boldness. You see,

because the way this thing works is that God may

show you the end, but it most times doesn't show

you the steps. So you take one step. Is when

you take one step, there all lights be made available

to you, all right, So.

Take that step. That's what faith is.

Faith doesn't deal with the non faith, deals with your known. Yeah,

so don't be scared because you have the whole of

the god Head with you. Let us pray, Father, I

pray for all of us in this room and those

who are watching online. Lord, I ask of God that

you lead us by your spirit. Thank you, Lord for

the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank your Holy Spirit

for being in our lives. Lead us in the way

that we should go, for that is what you're here

to do in our lives. Show us things to come,

and grant us the bonus to do this thing. To Lord,

all the things that you lay in our heart. In

the Mighty name of Jesus, grant us a fresh start

in the areas that you desire. In the Mighty Name

of Jesus. This morning, I pray. Perhaps there's one person

here who wants to say to Jesus, I need you

in my life. I want to come back to you, Lord,

my Lord, and my God.

I know that you're eager to receive them.

You're eager to wrap your hands around them. Oh, maybe

there's someone who is here today who is burdened by condemnation.

Well speak to that condemnation you Lord, You do not condemn.

Condemnation is of the enemy, and we silence that voice

right now in Jesus' name, and we reiterate the love

of the Father. We declare the love of the Father

over everyone who is going through a part of condemnation

right now, whether they be in this room or whether

they be at home.

We declare to you that the Father loves you.

We declare to you now that the Lord himself feel

the embrace of the Lord.

Right now.

In the mighty name of Jesus, Thank you Father, for

in Jesus' name will pray Amen, hallelujah.