"Go Over, Go On, Go In" John 21:1-14

Good morning!

This afternoon we have a membership meeting.

After service, it shouldn't take too long.

But it is important that we can talk about things that pertain to us as members.

And regular attenders of U.S. fellowship Baptist church.

We'll lift up some folks who have some Red Bull sickness going around.

And folks who are trying to be here and having trouble with that.

So the word is promotion. You know what it means? You promote. And I think that song

just said Jesus lived a life to shout your fame. And I was really just waiting to see

what the Lord wanted to do. And so promote your ministries. Promote what we're doing.

I have a friend, a brother in the Lord, that was in the same church I was at. He's going

through a lot of time. Back in the day I'd have to have a horse and I'd have to walk

and get a letter to my brother, take three days. But I get to say, hey, check out our

podcast and he's listening to it. And he gets to hear the truth. Now I want you to understand

that it's not easy promoting love and goodness when you have a heart that's so full of love

when people are rude and disrespectful. But what were we when we were first saved? The

disciples that Jesus had were zealots. Those were called assassins. They assassinated people.

Killers, thugs, the fishermen weren't always nice. People were disrespectful. Look at John

and James, the sons of thunder. They wanted to burn down a village. They were not nice

people. But when you reach out and you promote what we're doing here, listen, we are all

gems to this crowd. Every one of us is a nugget to the treasure. You guys, the briskards,

talking to all you guys. Every one of your ministries is so important right now. And

if you don't start plugging them, I'm going to start plugging them. I wonder why we're

all these people are going to start coming. Because people are hungry. People want to

hear the truth. And I know people are going to try to take advantage. It doesn't matter

about them. It's about the people. We're going to find out who really, really wants

to live for Jesus. And if we don't start promoting it, I'm going to finish with this because

I can tell you, it's the word. Jesus, when he got baptized, I was going to do a bunch

of statements, quick announcements. Jesus got baptized and the first thing he was driven

to the desert. What's the next thing he did? Perform miracles? No. He promoted. The kingdom

of heaven is near, repent and believe in the good news. The kingdom of heaven is near,

repent and believe. Just start telling everybody. Walking villages and the day would come to

him and there would be miracles. There would be signs. There would be wonders and God would

speak to them. But he promoted it. So it's in you to promote this. You can't, I can't

share your ministry. Because you have a great testimony. You all have a great testimony

that I can never have. My testimony is exciting because I'm excited Jesus saved me at 23.

I was dead in my life. Dead. Dead. No one even told me except a 70 year old man decided to

say, I don't know this guy, but I'll do what God says. I would have died at 22, 21, 16,

25, 24. I see God and I'm like, okay. I didn't know I was going to hell. It doesn't matter.

God's wrath is there. It's nothing I can do. Jesus saved me through that person. You have

a testimony. You have to, if you don't want to share the glorious things you have every

day. I share people with the music I have, the things I hear. We have an app. Share the

app. It's working now. It's awesome. Awesome app by the way. Websites. I'll enter just

real quick. A quick testimony. Two people that I was scared to walk up to down the street.

People I would have never walked up to. I'm like, okay. I'm going to do what I'm going

to do. Shaking as I can. They're going to kill me. They're going to beat me up. Not

saying they're going to. I'm scared. Very scared. I walk up and I just say, hey, just

want to let you know we deliver groceries over here. It's 419-242-3340. They're like,

hey thanks. They did not want me to come up in their car and talk to them. As soon as

I started rejoicing and sharing the Lord Jesus, they're like, where's your church and stuff?

It's almost like you can't take the thud, you can't take the hurt, the bitterness out

of a person until you share the truth. Until you share hope. They're not going to let go

because they have nothing to give into. They have nothing to have. We have to do this.

You don't. You don't want to. You don't. But we have to do this. Promote. That's my word.

Promotion. Promote your ministries. Promote everything that you have. Let's do it.

Alright, let's pray together and then we'll worship God. I'm just going to put this up

here. My uncle Art has been in the hospital. He's been in the hospital for a couple weeks

now with a long one. He got it, got over it, got it again. And according to my mom I got

comfortable yesterday, he's at the point now where he's giving up. He's been through a

lot of that so we need to pray for him. He essentially told her don't expect any more

of that. We'll pray God you'll turn that around. Okay, did you have your hand up, careful?

Alright, let's pray. Father in heaven, you are a giving God. You have loved us. You have

strengthened us. You have encouraged us. You've given us passion. You've given us energy.

Lord, you've blessed us with love in our lives, family members, and friends, and church members

who are united, who care about one another. You've blessed us with finances. You've blessed

us with a roof over our head. You've blessed us with a place to worship. You've blessed

us with sunshine, even on the days when it's cold. Lord, you've blessed us with fresh

air. You've blessed us with freedom. The list just goes on and on and on. You've been given

forever since before we were here. And then the reality is Lord, we have misused some

of those great blessings. We have to do some of the things that we should. We have to be

strong like we could, or we confess our weakness to you. We ask your forgiveness. We're grateful

that we're taught and we understand in our heart of hearts that forgiveness is available

for all sins through Jesus Christ who died upon the cross. Lord, I thank you for every

person that made it here today. Every person that overcame barriers and difficulties to

do that. Every person that had it in their heart to be here but didn't make it. Thank

you for all those who were in the app this week or on the podcast or listening on Facebook

or on their Alexa in their living room. Father, I thank you that our church, which by some

human standards is not very big, is actually very big. And in the kingdom of God, we are

a tool that you can use. I thank you that our key verse, 1 John 1-3, and it simply says

that we proclaim what we have seen and heard. Lord, that we've got a story to tell that

we have seen and we have heard. We praise you, Lord, that you called us to that. And

we would share that we need your courage, we need your strength, we need your wisdom,

we know exactly when to speak up and what to do. Lord, I think there's almost no time

that we couldn't bring up the awesome things that you've done and glorify you. We intend

to sing songs of praise to you today, Lord. We intend to stand and sit, to work together

to study your word. Teachers in the children's department have prepared. Children have come

expecting to learn about Jesus. But I hope we've all come expecting today. Father, I

thank you for being our God. The truth is, Lord, we need you every moment of every day,

including right now. Would you take over this service? Give every strung of every string

and every push of every button and every pass of every click and every encouraging word.

We talk about what we've seen in the scripture this week as we read the Bible and learn

from you and hear from your Holy Spirit. Lord, would you work in this place? We pray this

in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

Alright, stand up, stretch a little. We're going to move around a bit. We're going to

dance and praise and enjoy the beautiful weather. It's warm and it's not hot in here, not yet.

Come on.

Let's stand in your name.

Let's stand in your name.

Let's stand in your name.

Let the dark night fall in heaven. Still I will stand. Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.

Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.

Let the light shine down on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Let's stand in your name.

Let our hearts dance our praise. Oh, stand in the arm of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.

Let the light shine down on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Come on.

I could be your name

I could be the light of the night

I could be a warrior's name

Come out and take away

Come out and take away

My heart will just set on you

I could be your name

Every black field, a foreign land

I'm trying to make you brave

When the darkness is near, the sea runs

Still they will stay

I could be the name of the light

I could be your name

I could be the light of the night

I could be a warrior's name

Through the wall, through the valley

Of the shadow of death

Your love and love is passing out there

Through the wall, through the hill

Of a storm of its light

We will come back and do you a favor

I will be your evil

My heart is ending

And it's fighting with me

Oh, then shall I feel

Oh, then shall I feel

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Through the darkness, through the storm

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Every heart and every love

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Oh, no, you'll never let go of me

The night has come

It's full of my damn notes

The night is making my heart

The night is making my heart

Only only I can

Only only I can

But until that day comes

The day will be on you

And I will be on you

For I'm fighting with me

And it's fighting with me

Oh, then shall I feel

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Through the darkness, through the storm

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Every heart and every love

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Oh, no, you'll never let go of me

Oh, no, you'll never let go of me

The night is making my heart

The night is making my heart

Only only I can

Only only I can

But until that day comes

The day will be on you

And I will be on you

For I'm fighting with me

And it's fighting with me

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Through the darkness, through the storm

The night is making my heart

The night is making my heart

Only only I can

Only only I can

But until that day comes

The day will be on you

And I will be on you

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Every heart and every love

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Oh, no, you'll never let go of me

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Every heart and every love

Oh, no, you'll never let go

Of me, of me

Alright, we didn't get to do this last week

because we had our special Easter service program going on

and so maybe you've seen last week prepared to share

maybe you're prepared to share today, I hope so

How have you been studying your Bibles?

What have you seen? What have you heard?

Even as you were walking

God sort of said to you in your spirit

the Holy Spirit spoke to you and said,

Hey, pay attention

There's something I want you to see

What do you got, Arjun?

Um, I'm pretty sure we've heard the drugs

So there was a, me and the kids have been watching

this show, Fortune Fire

Really cool show

and they make knives and swords and stuff

and it's really cool

and, but there's something that I found really interesting

in the show and it's how you test the sharpness of a knife

So if, a lot of people would say, well, if some

if it could cut through wood, it's obviously sharp

but if you look at it like an actual like axe

that chops wood, they're not that sharp

They're not as sharp as like a utility knife or something like that

and the reason is because it has to have a thicker edge

so it can do more of chopping

and it brought to the mind of having the right tool for the job

and for us as a Christian, the right tool for our job

is the Holy Spirit

We can't do anything

Come up, sit down

We can't do anything without the help of Jesus

and when we look at our toolbox of stuff that we need as a Christian

that should be the first thing we go to

and it's a very important tool because

Jesus' Holy Spirit will give you the strength to carry out the stuff that he tells you to do

but like I said, there's other parts of it too

We also have to have the Bible

because without the Word, we don't have the wisdom

and there's also, we have to have our faith

because without faith, all the works we do are dead

so we have to look at it from, I guess this is the way I look at it is

because I'm a mechanic, I have a bunch of tools

but I use all of those tools

and as a Christian, we are provided so many tools from God

our own gifts, our own abilities, we are provided so many things from God

that we can use

but what we fail to do is we fail to use all of them

We want to hone in on one specific thing, one specific tool

but in reality, you have this giant toolbox full of different things that you can do

instead of trying to grow and put all of your blood, sweat, and tears in one specific thing

you have to learn how to expand your horizon and grow from there

and use all of your abilities, use all of your gifts

because you might find out that something you do is better than what you think you're good at

That's a good word, that's a good word

Alright, who else?

Ms. Chris

There you go, video

The internet is not working

The internet is down, so we can get audio from your phone if we need to

Okay, I guess I could just read the song

Okay, let's do that

Alright, so there's a song, it's an old song by Simon and Garfunkel

and then now just George does it

Oh, I love that song

I like George better, but I like the video better

So it says, Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk to you again

Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping

And a vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone

Meet the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night and touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never shared and no one dared disturb the sound of silence

Fools, said I, you don't know, silence like a cancer growth

Hear my words so I may teach you, take my arms so I may meet you

But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made

And a sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming

Then the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls in tenement halls

And whispered in the sound of silence

So to me this obviously is not a Christian song, it's a secular song

But it goes to show something that we are laughing in society today

So I text out, what's the first, what do you think of when you hear the word intimacy?

Most people said sex, which is not surprising because that's what people think of when they think of intimacy

But there are many aspects of intimacy besides sex

And I'm just going to share four, and the worst one is emotional intimacy

Candid, authentic sharing of thoughts and feelings

Being able to tell each other your deepest fears, dreams, disappointments, and most complicated emotions

As well as feeling seen and understood when you do

This is gained by each person refraining from judgment or context when the other is sharing

So Matthew 7, 1-6

Do not judge so that you will not be judged, for in the way you judge you will be judged

And by your standard of measure it will be measured to you

Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the blob that it is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck of your eye, and behold the blob is in your own eye

You hypocrite, first take the blob out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye

Do not give what is willing to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before a spline

For they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces

You have to be emotional people, you have to build that emotional intimacy

You will build that by texting somebody

You do not build that by just putting something on Twitter or Facebook

It is done face to face

Second one, intellectual intimacy

Comfort with communicating beliefs and viewpoints without worrying about potential conflicts

Each person in the relationship has the freedom to think for themselves and believes their opinions are valued instead of feeling pressured to agree

Luke 6.31

Treat others the same way you want them to treat you

It is okay to have a conversation, it is okay to disagree on whatever point it is

But you have to have the confidence that you can do that without somebody saying, I hate you, I will never talk to you

You just have to get over that fear and just do it

And the more you talk something out, the more you may find out you are not as far apart as you thought you were

Number three, experiential intimacy

Shared experiences lead to inside jokes and private memories that can intensify a connection

The act of teamwork and moving in unison toward a common goal like grading and experience also establishes a feeling of up-closeness

We are going to go to Ecclesiastes 4, 9-12

Old Testament

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor

For either of them falls, the other one will lift up his companions

But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up

Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him

A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart

The more we share experiences, the stronger you get

The more we know about each other, the more we know how someone is going to react to something

The more we can joke about the fact that Pastor Dan doesn't like to have black nail polish on his fingernails

If you ever want to know about it, ask him

It's these kind of connections that we make, spirits and light together

That we are able to share things and turn that sharing towards God

The fourth one I have is spiritual intimacy

This closeness forms when you share poignant moments with others through praying and worshiping

It can also be done in other ways too

Like observing the creation of God, observing a sunset, a flower, beautiful trees

Studying together

These are just a couple of ways, I'm sure there are hundreds of ways

And for that we're going to go to 1 John 1 through 4

What is from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at

And touched with our hands concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested

And we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father

And was manifested to us

What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also

That you too may have fellowship with us, indeed our fellowship is with the Father, with the Son Jesus Christ

These things we write so that our joy may be seen, please

Now you're probably wondering how this ties into that song

Think about it, without intimacy between people you turn to darkness

You don't have someone to turn to

Without the intimacy between you and God you turn to the darkness

All these people are talking and nobody is listening it says

People are speaking and no one is hearing

That's the way our society is today when you think about it

People talk on the surface

People don't talk about deep things

They don't get deep down

And if we don't do that starting here in the church, building intimacy between us and between God

How are we going to show them the whole color stuff

Good stuff, alright, anybody else?

I think I want to just touch on one thing, I'm not going to share what I'm going to share because I'll share it for next week

But Ms. Chris just shared experiences, spiritual intimacy

Experiential intimacy and stuff

Our inspirational moment, if you go to another church you will not find anything like this what we're doing right here

And I'll tell you why

I went through Bible college in Lansing and I first found it there

And then I ran into a very heavily in seminary and I'm being completely transparent with you

And that is that pastors do not trust their church

That's why

Now we have an understanding if somebody says something that's unbiblical in the inspirational moment

Somebody else will correct it

We're working together here

If you stood up and you said, you know God told me I could be rich if I just do this and this

Whatever, we would correct it

We once had somebody stand in the inspirational moment and tell us that God had told them that they were going to win American Idol

And we corrected it, it's been a long time ago but it happened

So the point is this is us experiencing together

You read something in your Bible?

You're not going to find in the Bible God teaching you something that wasn't meant for you to share with anybody else

It's not going to happen

It isn't there

A disciple listens to the teachings of the master and then conveys those teachings to other people

None, zero, absolutely zero amount of your learning from the Bible was meant for you alone

In the least, the fruits that arise out of those teachings were meant for other people

That's in the least

But more likely you're meant to share whatever it is that you discover

And we get this opening, this opportunity to do that

And so I encourage you today to experience this Christian walk

To spend it together

That is what the church is and you will find untold resources, untold untapped strength

In sharing your thoughts about the Word, your experience, what you've been through, what you're struggling with

I can't tell you the number of times I've felt relief or strength just sharing with somebody what I was feeling

And ironically I've had a number of people come to me and share what they're going through

And it's a heavy burden, they're going through a heavy burden

And I am kind of empathic, not a spiritual gift type of empathic

But I feel for people when they're hurting

And after they tell me, normally I hurt, I ache, right?

But at the same time, because they shared with me, I felt strength

And after the fact I felt rejuvenated and energized because I realized that we're in it together

And so that when I feel like I'm alone, I know I'm not alone because you're with me

Because I'm with you when you're feeling like you're alone

And so that's what she's talking about

That's part of what Inspirational Moments is about

It's also about what singing spiritual songs is like

You look at the New Testament church, that's what he did

So as we worship, which we're about to do again

Those of you who are choosing maybe not to sing or just to kind of meditate on the words

Be aware you're missing out on a great experience

You're like, well I don't sing good, I'm not a good singer

Okay, well I don't sing good either, I'm not a good singer either

Okay, the point is, it's a joyful noise made unified unto the Lord

And when we're unified and doing that, it's experiential

There was a certain Sunday on Main Street

When outside on Saturday night, Sunday morning, it just dumped snow

Snow just dumped

We got like, I don't know, 15 inches or something in 20 hours or whatever

And those of us who were like the main core group

Like, you know, I'm not missing church no matter what

Showed up, we were like three families

About 15 people that showed up

And we worshiped God and it was powerful, it was phenomenal, it was an awesome experience

We had to go outside with shovels before the service and shovel

And there was everybody out there doing that

Just to get from their car, to find a place to put their car and so on

Because it had been stolen right up until before service

That's an experience and we went through it together

Some of you were here or were around at that time

We've had other experiences, good and bad, sometimes bad things happen

And we're raising our children together

Ariana, thank you

We're raising our children together, right

We're kind of airing our dirty laundry

We know we make mistakes, right, we have issues

And that experiential intimacy becomes spiritual intimacy

And we together can stand for the Lord

So she's absolutely right on target, this is what we're trying to do with this

And we, that we, every time you see we proclaim

Remember the we and we proclaim what we have seen and heard

That we is all of us believers in the local church, it's all of us

So you're part of the we, so you proclaim

That's who we say we are, and that is who we are, alright

We're going to be together at this time and then we'll worship the Lord a little bit more

And we'll do more of that, I encourage you, if you discover something in scripture

You come, you say, listen, if we come in here

And the inspirational note, now mind you, it's got to be God's stuff

But if you come in here and it's God's stuff and it's packed out

Then we will shorten or dismiss the sermon for the day

Or we'll cut songs out of the worship, we'll do what we have to do

Because this is about speaking for God and hearing from God

That's what it's about, okay

And if you're amongst people like, man I have a hard time listening when somebody else is talking

Check your heart condition, figure out why that is

Because a drunk man or a small child or somebody on their deathbed

Can speak the most profound word of God

And I have been present at all three of those instances

When that happened, and I went, pfft

God just spoke, that was powerful, I'll never forget it

And I can share those stories with you, we're not going to do that now

The point is, you can hear the voice of God

In the voices of other people, right Ariana?

We're not going to do that, can we?

So Aaron, my brother and my son, would you pray for us as we transition

Tithes and offerings and more worship?

We're ending to this day, and before

Aaron is here getting us

Let's just still lead together in this

Crazy time in the world

And you would give us the strength to encourage you to allow

And speak your message into the world

And we would be true, we would be true

And we would be true to those people who are here

And where we're at

And I feel those of us that are sick, those that couldn't be here

They feel

They're frustrated, always sort of sick and hurting

And we would be there for them

Do you get it?

It's like seeing you

Listen

Alright, we're going to break the rules for a minute.

We're doing every move I make.

Children, if you think you know the motions enough to help lead, you can stand on the stage.

And face that way.

Come on, let's go. If not, you can stand on the floor and face this way.

If you want to help lead, you can stand up in the middle.

Don't hit each other when you're doing motions.

Every move I make I take in you. You make me move, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.

Every step I take I take in you. You are my way, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.

Jesus, mercy with a prayer. Everywhere I move I see your face. Your love has captured me. Oh my God, it's love.

Oh, can it be?

Every move I make I take in you. You make me move, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.

Every step I take I take in you. You are my way, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.

Jesus, mercy with a prayer. Everywhere I move I see your face. Your love has captured me. Oh my God, it's love. Oh, can it be?

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

I'm not good with emotions, or the words, or the sound.

I'm a big kid.

If you ever up front get into emotions, don't follow me.

The moon in Sunday winds, morning sun was set

The savior of the world was fallen

His body on the cross, his blood pouring out the runs

The weight of every nerve upon him

Ooh, ooh, ooh

The final breath again, his heaven locked away

The son of God was made in darkness

The battle in the rain, the war runs at his wage

The power of hell forever broken

The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away

His path was broken, and he overcome

Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be

As will every soul to be

Forever he is, for his blood

Forever he is, living on

Forever he is, living, he is alive

He is alive

The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away

His path was broken, and he overcome

Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be

As will every soul to be

Forever he is, for his blood

Forever he is, living on

Forever he is, living, he is alive

He is alive

We sing hallelujah

The Lamb has overcome

We sing hallelujah

The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away

His path was broken, and he overcome

Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be

As will every soul to be

Forever he is, for his blood

Forever he is, living on

Forever he is, living, he is alive

He is alive

He is alive

Who but you

Can breathe in me, the trail of galaxies

Can dream of me, what kind of love

Is writing my story till the end

With mercy sent from above

What kind of king

Chose to wear a crown that bleeds and stars

To win my heart

What kind of lord

Tells me all the reason he can't see

Inside the grave

Who but you

Standing here before my eyes

Every part of my heart cries

He is alive

When my mercy's doing up

Let this heart's and pain turn to one

He is alive

Hallelujah, risen Lord

You're the one I'm falling for

I am free, because he is

Alive

Who could see

And send the demons back from where they came

I'm just one day, one other night

Let it so, be broken every time

Till he hears my

Hallelujah

Sometimes the darkness is too dark

To bring crying into your heart

Alive

There's one more, so we come

That's the one, the one and the one

Alive

Hallelujah, risen Lord

You're the one I'm falling for

I am free, because he is

There's a will, a promise, a key

That may be hope, it ain't nothing

Sadness, and the world's desires

Healing, breathing in our lives

The answer to our mystery

The answer to our victory

We never got away

We're starting from everything

Alive

Look on my things, how they come

Death has lost, and love has won

Alive

Because I see you

Alive

Alive

Question

Answer

Insanity or Christianity

You've heard the saying that says that

Insanity is doing something over and over again

Expecting a different result

You realize that now we've been going for nearly 2000 years

Since Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection

Awaiting his second coming, that he's coming back again

We have been performing some of the basic functions of the Kingdom of God

Supposedly, sometimes maybe we don't do it so well

Loving one another, a new commandment I give you that you love one another

Sharing the Gospel witness

Telling people about the Christ, the risen Lord

How Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected

We talked last week about, from 1 Corinthians 15, about the Gospel, the essentials of the Gospel

Surely someone, over the last 2000 years, can be attributed with holding onto the true Gospel of Jesus Christ

I submit to you that there is a perverted Gospel, we talked about that last week

And there are those who have warped, and not done, what it was that Jesus really told us to do

Not simply been who it was that we were supposed to be in Christ

But surely there are those, somewhere is a strain of Christianity

I believe that it leads to this place

Somewhere there is a strain of Christianity that has continued to be and to do that which Jesus commanded us to be and to do

And I submit to you that by and large, in large numbers, that strain of Christianity

That biblical message that goes back to the basics of what Jesus taught, what he asked the disciples to be

Has not seen the fruit that the perverted Gospels have seen, that other methods of the Gospel have seen

If it becomes about money, if it becomes about prosperity, if it becomes about health

When there are miraculous healings, even though miraculous healings may not truly be God healings

It still gathers a crowd

But Christianity, the Christianity that Jesus preached, that if you would follow me

Take up your cross daily, deny yourself and come follow after me

The willingness to set aside oneself, to deny oneself, one's desires and what one wants in the flesh

To take up the cross, meaning to die if necessary, and to follow Jesus

That that form of Christianity has yielded to some extent the same thing over and over and over again

And it is persecution, a need to persevere, a barely scraping by, struggling, satisfying faith

Yes, I understand people have gotten saved, we wouldn't be here today if somebody hadn't stuck to the Gospel and shared the Gospel with us

Yes, I understand that people have, I have, in my lifetime experienced an amazing turnaround because of the Gospel

But in reality, the Church, while having spread the world wide, has continued to be perverted over the years

Is it insanity to think that another Church, another Christian, another field seeded with the Gospel can prosper and grow

When so many are not interested in hearing it, or are more interested in hearing a perverted Gospel

Or even a completely false religion, a cult, do you realize that we live in a day at which a man who believes in Allah

Who is not God, though they will claim he is the same God of Abraham, it is not

You read who Allah is, it is not God

That a person who believes in Allah and follows Allah with a fanatic faith will strap on a bomb suit

And blow up a coffee shop just to kill 12 people so that they can go to heaven forever and get themselves 23 virgins

But Christians who believe in absolute certainty and know that they have been saved, born again

Will not inconvenience themselves or give beyond what they are financially able or sacrifice themselves

To do what it is that God would really have them do

The thought of giving up our job, meaning we might not be able to provide for our families, might not be able to provide for our food

So scares us in comparison to the thought of cults who would go, well I am going to strap on a vest and blow myself

Clearly they are not going to have a job the next day, they are not going to take care of their family the next day

And the reality is they are going to hell the next day, but they believe to lie and therefore are willing to so fanatically commit themselves

To the course of action that they will lose their life in doing so

Yet the true faith of Jesus Christ, the following of Christ when the Holy Spirit comes in

Regenerates you and seals you for the day of redemption so that you will one day spend eternity in heaven with God

Is not by and large in most cases seem to be leading people to a fanatic following of Jesus

Insanity or Christianity?

We are going to look at a sermon today entitled going over, going on, going in

And it is an episode in the lives of the disciples as they encounter the risen Christ who is after Jesus is alive

And I submit to you that there is a lot to be learned about the second coming of Christ from the first coming of Christ

So if you grab your Bibles if you would and turn with me to John chapter 21

John 21 · chapter mention

Thank you so much, this is the word of God, doesn't matter whether I get it right or not

You listen to Jesus, you listen to the Holy Spirit, you learn and grow from this text

John chapter 21 beginning in verse 1

John 21 · chapter mention

So again you already know, I have already set the context for you

This is an appearance of Jesus after his death, burial and resurrection

John 21 verse 1

John 21:1

After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias

And he manifested himself in this way, meaning the way that he is about to describe

The sea of Tiberias is also known as the sea of Galilee

Essentially over there there is kind of like two big bodies of water

They divide, really they are the eastern border of the promised land

And east of that is not really the promised land

But there were God's people who settled over there because it was a very fertile land

And God allowed that to the tribes

And the men of those tribes were required to come across the Jordan and work and help everybody else get their land

They were allowed to settle and then they were allowed to settle on the other side of the river

That river which connects these two bodies of water, one of which is the sea of Galilee

And he manifested himself in this way, verse 2

There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee

And the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples

Simon Peter said to them all, I am going fishing

And they said to him, we will also come with you

They went out and they got in the boat and that night they caught nothing

And so here they are on the side of the sea of Galilee, boats available

They got no fish, no sustenance really per se

But they got skill, they can fish

Some of them have been fishermen their whole lives

Some of them not so much

But there are fishermen amongst them who have been fishermen their whole lives

They can fish

And so Simon Peter says, I am going fishing

And they say, alright, we will go with you

And they get in the boat and they go out on the sea of Galilee and they begin to fish

But all night long they fish

Now this is net fishing, you toss a big net, weighted net in the boat with a rope tied to it

And then as you pull on that rope it kind of closes the net a little and pulls it up out of the water

And the idea is it is supposed to have fish in it

And all night long they are rowing or partly sailing that little boat

Or not so little really, around the water, tossing the net

And it goes, wait for it to settle down, pull the ropes, haul it up

It is no small task to haul it up anyway even when it is empty

Which probably it was rarely totally empty, there was bits of stuff in it but never fish

All night long, let's go try over here

No fish, let's go try over here

No fish, all night long and it seems they are literally beating their heads

Against the brick wall of fishing

Now they have done this before, probably they have fished before without any great results

Don't know that for sure but it has probably happened

This might be bizarre that they would go all night long with no fish

That is probably peculiar

But in this case they go all night long throwing the net in, hauling the net out

Maybe more than one net and they catch nothing, verse 4

But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach

Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus

So there they are in the water, it is the dim, the day is coming, the sun is coming up

There would be mist, fog if you will

Visibility would be somewhat limited

And when you first read this you think that might be why they don't recognize that it is Jesus

He is over on the shore

There isn't night light, there isn't necessarily a great big moon

Or low cloud canopy or anything like that, it is dark

But it is just starting to get brighter outside

And there stands a man on the shore

They didn't know that he was Jesus, verse 5

Jesus therefore said to them

Children, you did not have any fish, do you?

Now what is interesting in the original language is that this comment is just a little bit snarky

It comes with a little bit of attitude

It is more like, hey you have no fish do you?

You can think of it like a New Yorker kind of thing

You have no fish do you?

Now people have read a ton of stuff into that over the years

You could say, well what the heck were they doing fishing anyway?

They were told to be waiting for him to come

So that the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would go and spread the word to all the world

Why are they fishing anyway?

Why are they going back to what they used to do?

They are not supposed to be fishers of fish anymore, now fishers of man

There is a lot of things that one could say about it

But the bottom line is he says, you have no fish do you?

And they answered him, no

Which is a fact, what are they going to say?

No

And then verse 6 says, and he said to them

Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat

And you will find a catch

So they have already cast the net on the right hand side of the boat

That has already happened

They have done it a dozen times all night long

Probably more than one net maybe, we do not know for sure

Interestingly enough, if you have ever been out fishing

And I went fishing a number of times when I was younger

I kind of like fishing because I could spend time with people who I was with

But I kind of do not like fishing because

As far as I can see, fishing is sitting and waiting for your dinner to come

And it is the waiting part that kills me

I would almost rather eat a square fish on a cheesy bun for McDonald's

Than wait 3-4 hours for the first bite

But here is an experience that I have had on more than one occasion

My limited experience with fishing

I have been out fishing

And I have seen someone catching a lot of fish while I am catching none

And in my heart I said

Why are they catching a lot of fish when I am catching none?

A couple of times I even said

What bait are you using?

And they said, well it is a worm or it is a fly or so this or that

And I had one fisherman out on the pier, out on the lake

Actually give me one of the same exact flies that he was using

He said, here try this

One time I went out on the boat with my dad and my brother

And it was just the three of us

We had a little boat my dad had bought back in the day

Went out on the boat, we were out by the water treatment plant out on Lake Erie

And literally every time I put my hook on the water

Within about a minute I would get a fish

Every time, put it in the water

It didn't matter if it was down a few feet, down 5 feet, 10 feet

Put it in the water and within about a minute I would get a fish

I am like, oh there is another one, I will reel it in

And eventually I caught my quota

There is a certain amount of fish that you are allowed to catch

And we were going to try to honor that

But my dad had caught, guess what, zero fish

My dad is on the left side of the boat, we are on the right side of the boat

I caught a fish every one to three minutes

And my brother caught a fish about every five minutes

So pretty soon we caught 24 fish between the two of us

I think tomorrow was the amount you are allowed or something like that

And we were throwing back little fish and only trying to keep the biggest fish

Because we were technically not allowed to catch any more fish

And my dad is kind of mad and he goes over and he says, hey let me in there

And he shoves his way into that spot

And he puts his hook in the water and all three of us waited apprehensively

Until three minutes had passed

And then five

And then ten

And not a bite

And we are watching, my dad with his hook in the water

So for the first three minutes he is expecting

He is like, okay here we go, going to catch a fish

And then five minutes he is like, resigned

Ten minutes he was angry

And he said, you put your rod back in the water to my brother

So my brother puts his rod back in the water

Within like two minutes

Catches a fish

This is the thing about fishing

Sometimes it is there and sometimes it is not

You have to fish all night and not catch anything to know for sure it is not there

You know what I am saying?

But the fact is they knew they were fishing the water

They had fished these waters before

They had always caught fish before

So is the miracle that they caught no fish?

Is that the miracle?

The miracle is that they were brought to a moment in time

In which they had resigned and said, look we are not going to catch any fish

The night of fishing is coming to an end

We have done everything that we know to do

We have done it just the way we always did it

And we have caught no fish

And there is a nagging question about whether they should keep fishing

Whether they should try again

Whether they should march to the nearest town

And try to buy loaves of bread with a penny that is in their pocket

Whatever, they are at the moment of question

That nagging feeling that I have been abandoned

That all my efforts are for naught

And now it is time to either continue or not

And he says, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat

And you will find a catch

Now, again they have already done that

So you think as these fishermen are in the boat

That they have ever had a time in the past

Where somebody else was catching fish and they were not

And somebody else said, well try this

Sure, they have been there before

And most of the time it changed nothing

But here is a man, they don't know who he technically is

But they have got a feeling maybe that something is a little odd

They know that Jesus has been resurrected

They have seen him since he has been resurrected already

And they think, what the heck?

What do I got to lose?

And it says, they catch, they cast therefore

And then they were not able to haul it in

Because of the great number of fish

There were so many fish in the net

They couldn't get the net up into the boat

They started hauling it like, oh this is heavier

Must be more boots than this one

And they haul it up

And sure enough, there is a literal almost ton of fish

There is a ton of fish, hundreds of pounds of fish

Then seven says, that disciple therefore whom Jesus loved

And I have mentioned this to you before

That a lot of times in the book of John

When you hear that phrase, that disciple whom Jesus loved

You know that is usually talking, probably talking about John

They didn't normally name themselves and say like I said

It was very rare for that to happen

Especially if it was something positive

They almost never did that because it would be considered unhumble

And then people wouldn't read your writings

They would dismiss them

That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved

A pretty good title, except we know Jesus loved all the disciples

But just means that guy that was there said to Peter

It is the Lord

So he, in his ecstatic recognition, suddenly says

It is the Lord

That's why there are so many fish

When there were no fish, there are so many fish now

Because it is the Lord

And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord

He put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work

And it was common for them to have an outer garment like a robe

And then to strip that off and work in basically their undergarments

Which just would look like a cloth wrapped towel

Like a big man's diaper basically

And he was working in that as many of them probably were

And he put it on and then he kind of ties it up

Because otherwise it interferes with your leg swimsuit

He ties it around, it was typically tied up

And pulled the strap tight

And so now it looks like he's got a three times oversized under big man's diaper on

And he throws himself into the water

But the other disciples come in the little boat

For they were not far from the lance

He really wasn't that far

There really was no reason to go through all that rigmarole

And jump in the water and try to swim to shore

And get there and be the first, right?

Except if there's a reason why you might want to do that

The other disciples came in the little boat

For they were not far from the lance

But about 100 yards away

It's really not that far

Dragging the net full of fish

Here they come, they can't even get it in the boat

And Peter of course left them in that predicament

You're stuck, I'm not

Jumped out of the boat, swam to shore

And so when they got out upon the lance

They saw a charcoal fire already laid

It's just a coal fire that has been cooked down to being hot

Without having necessarily open flames

It's the best kind for cooking

And they saw fish already on it

And bread

And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish

Which you have now caught

So they were supposed to bring some of the fish from that net

Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land

Full of large fish

So then he goes and helps the other disciples

And they can't get out of the boat

Because that's a vertical straight up over the ledge of the boat

But they can drag it up along the shore

Up onto the beach

And they do, they find it full of large fish

It says 153 fish

That's what they counted

There's been a lot made out of that phrase

That there was 153 fish

You're like, first of all, why would they care?

Well of course you care

There's no fish all night long

And then suddenly there's a ton of fish

And we're like, someday someone's going to wonder how many fish

We're going to have to tell this tale someday

We better count or at least get a basic idea

And so somebody counted

And there were 153 large fish

Fishermen always tell how many they catch

Yeah, but usually they inflate the number

In this case they didn't have to

Okay

So in this case they didn't have to inflate the number

Because our salt was already large

And people, they're probably thinking

Well someday we're going to tell this tale

And we're going to

Everybody's going to think we're inflating the number

But we don't want to inflate the number

So we all need to know an exact number

And get our story straight if you will

But anyway they counted the fish

Also there's a study called gematria

That people have done

Gematria means when you take letters

And you use the numbers that they represent like code

But in the Greek language

All letters also represent numbers

So aoda, which is the first letter

Represents a number 1

And there are 24 numbers

So it goes up to 24

Or 24 letters goes up to 24

And so people have tried to figure out

What might the 153 fish represent

And they found out that a number of key phrases

An example might be

Cana of G for Galilee

Cana of G which was where?

Where Jesus completed his first ever miracle

Which was what?

Shut your minds

Turn the water into wine at the wedding feast

So people said well did you know

That the gematria value of cana of G is 153

So that was his first miracle

And this was essentially the close in the backside miracle

Of that miracle

People found out that you can make the feeding of the 5000

Using certain phrases

Certain Greek words

You can make the feeding of the 5000

Equal to 153

But in order to do it you have to misspell one word

So they said well if it was 157 it would be exact

So they said well the original scribe

Or maybe they miscounted the fish

Where it was actually 157

And this is just like the feeding of the 5000

So bottom line is people have studied the 153

I'm going to say to you that the number 153

May have some symbolic significance

But I don't frankly care

What I care about is what my Jesus is doing in this story

What am I supposed to learn about the circumstances here

And what am I supposed to do about it

That's what I really care about

I mean I want to know anything that God wants me to know

But what I really want to know is God who am I in you

What am I supposed to do and so on

So he says bring some of the fish

He goes to this net full of large fish

153 of them

And although there were so many

The net was not torn

Now there is another story over in the book of Luke

Where they had fished

And he cast the net in

They got so many fish

This is a similar instance

Which might also be why

John, if it was John, recognized Jesus

Because John was present at that instance

He said cast the net in

But they hauled the nets out

And the nets were breaking

There were so many fish

But here despite the fact that there were 153 fish

And to draw similarities to the other instance

This net was not torn

A little further

Jesus said to them come and have breakfast

Now he is already cooking

But probably not enough for everybody necessarily

And they cooked some more

And he has got something for them to eat

Some bread and fish for them to eat

While they are waiting for the others to be cooked

None of the disciples ventured to question him

Who are you Lord?

Knowing that it was the Lord

Now it is interesting that they make that mention isn't it?

Remember that when he appeared to them in the room

The upper room

They had a hard time believing it was him

Even though they were seeing him with their own eyes

Because of the joy that they were experiencing

The more joy you have in Christ

At what God is doing in you

The more difficult it is sometimes to truly believe

It is like you have to divorce yourself of all reason

You have to move away from the logic

And the step by step deduction

That you have got to get where you are at

And instead go well I just believe because it is true

They kind of had a nagging question

Who are you inside them?

But they were dismissing that question

Despite the fact that it was there nagging at them

They were dismissing it because they knew

They knew it says that he was Jesus

Verse 13

Jesus came and took the bread

And gave them and the fish likewise

And then it says in 14

This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested

To the disciples after he was raised from the dead

Now that is a reference by John to the three stories

That was the three that he has shared

And he is not including the women

But it is not the third actual chronological time necessarily

It is the third time that John has recorded

Alright so out of this text and these 14 verses here

I think there is a few kind of like almost poetic aspects of it

So the first thing I want you to see is that

They had to make the choice to going over

So they are in the boat thinking about coming to shore

They are about 100 yards out

And he says cast the net on the right side of the boat

And you will pull up a great harvest of fish

So they had to make the choice to do that

Having received useless advice to spectators over the years

And even other fishermen who did not know any better than they did

How to throw a net in the water and haul up fish

Over the years having received tons and tons of useless advice

Having worked all through the night tirelessly

Or really let's just say very tiredly probably all through the night

Stripped to their man diapers

Haulin in the nets all night long

And the sun starts to come up

And every hour of the night that passed

And every toss of the net that was drawn back

They were in disbelief

They could not believe it

They were like how are we not catching any fish

Can this still be true

I've done this my whole life

My daddy taught me to do this when I was just a little boy

I've always put my trust in this skill

And now this skill is failing me

My strength is failing me

My intellect is failing me

My experience is failing me

My training is failing me

It's all coming to naught in this moment

And I cannot believe that now here comes this stranger telling me

That all I have to do to be successful is what I have already done

That's it

All you have to do to be successful says the stranger on the shore

Is just cast the net again

And he doesn't say that you might get a fish

He says that you will get a harvest of fish

A haul of fish

You will get a net full of fish

So I'm not saying if now you're in the area where fish are

And if you cast the net in you'll get a few fish

And you can cast it in a few more times

And you're going to cast and haul and cast and haul

And haul up 40, 50 fish to sell at market today

So you all can have money for the next few days

That's not what he's saying

He said cast the net one more time

Do it one more time

Go over to the other side of the boat

Which is no different from this side of the boat

And cast the net one more time

And you'll get a haul of fish

They had to listen and know whether or not to accept this advice

That was a choice they had to make

There are many voices in the world

It happens that there are many people telling us how to do

What we have already been doing

I'm a member of a pastor group on Facebook

That's only open to SBC pastors

At least supposedly because there's some folks in there

That comment even will say I'm not really technically an SBC pastor

But nobody's kicked them out of the group or that kind of thing

But anyway they'll say this is what our church is doing

And we're having this huge revival

And you get down the list of things they're doing

Guess what they're doing

They're preaching the word like it's written

They're doing Bible study

They're sharing and giving and caring about each other

Basically developing compassion amongst members

They're going out in the community, spreading the word, inviting people to come to church

You're going to get down that list and you're going to find absolutely zero, nothing, nada, not a thing that we're not doing

Ironically what you will find is that they're not doing a lot of things that we are doing

And the things that we are doing are similar things to the kind of things they're doing

Like community sharing, outreach, that kind of thing

Well we do it and we maybe even do it more actively or more creatively or more aggressively than they do

And yet at times, like well I'm just going to be transparent

There's never been a time, never been a time where our numbers swole from 50 to 250 in a month or in three months

But they'll get on the group and they'll say well this is what we're doing and it's working

Just do this

Like the fisherman who says, you go to the fisherman and say well what kind of fly bait are you using there

Well I've got this, well that's the exact same kind I have

What kind of rod do you got, same kind of rod I got

Same kind of reel you got, same kind of reel you got

I'm like literally three feet away from you in the water

And you've caught seven fish in the last hour and I've caught none

And it begins to not make any sense

Why would you keep putting your rod in the water

Why would you keep doing the same things that you need to do

And Jesus says, just do this and it'll work

And you look at him and you go, well that is the thing that we're doing

That is exactly what we're doing

But they had to have the will and the desire to go over to the right side of the boat

I did that backwards, it should be go over to the right side of the boat

Or your right side is over here, right

Go over to the right side of the boat and throw the net in

They had the will to do it again

The very same thing that they already knew would work, should work, but didn't

And all the voices that are in the world are trying to tell you that there is another way, a better way

Something different, short circuit it, pervert it a little bit, strain it, change it, make it different

I am doing nothing different today than I have done for the last 15 years

I've studied the Word and I'm bringing to you what I feel like the Holy Spirit has convicted me to share

It is the third sermon that I wrote this week in preparation for today

And the other two are now sitting out

In two weeks I've written three sermons that I've not preached

Because I wrote them and the Lord says I want you to see this

And then He says now go write the sermon for Sunday

And so here I am preaching to you what the Lord God shared with me

It's written on this piece of paper

I'm not doing anything different than I've been doing for over a decade

Yet to me this Word spoke to me so powerfully that it is in a way different

Are you willing to go over to the other side of the boat and do again today what it is that Jesus has called you to do

But I don't have enough friends, I don't have enough money, my health is not quite right

I'm struggling with my relationships, if I say the right thing they'll do what I want them to do

And if I don't say the right thing they won't do, I've got to manipulate them or otherwise

I've got to be angry and upset in order to get people to listen to me

None of that is true, if you warp it, if you change it, if you twist it, if you've already warped it, changed it or twisted it

Then you're not even talking about doing the same thing you've been doing, you need to repent and begin to do the right things

But if you haven't done that and now you're contemplating it, you're tempted

You say, well I can walk away from that which God has called me to do and do this

About 12 years ago I realized that I was frustrated with what I was doing

First we thought the Lord was going to move us out of state

And then the Lord said, no you're going to stay and do what you're doing

And I'm like, okay, we're going to do what we're doing, that's fine, we're just going to do what we're doing

And I was frustrated, I was like, man, God, this is, you know, this is like beating my head against a brick wall of preaching and teaching and serving and being in the church

And it's not moving, it's not taking off

But I hear about people who, they had their launch Sunday, which we didn't use the launch model

They had a launch Sunday, they had 300 people come and then in six months they have 150 come, but those 150 stick

We've never had 150 people and all these passion online, what are they doing?

They're nothing but preaching the word, teaching, serving, all the same things

I'm like, Lord, it just doesn't seem to, and this is what I said to myself

I said, self, you can go somewhere else, you can teach Sunday school, you can preach pulpit supply

You know you will never stop preaching and teaching the word because that's what you're called to

But maybe you just don't have to do it here, maybe you just don't have to be the pastor for New Heights

Maybe they're pushing for something and you're yielding your will and your desire to these people rather than to God

So you can just walk away from doing what you're doing and go over here instead

And then whatever church you wind up in, you're going to be teaching or preaching the gospel

So that's your calling is to teach and preach the gospel

You're not going to miss out on that, you're not going to abandon God

You're just going to do it in a different way than what God told you to do it

And the sound of silence

And as you can see, I didn't do it

I almost did it, I debated with myself, asked my wife, I talked to her about it

In fact we've had that conversation a couple of times

I want to say to you that there is nothing more exhausting for me personally, and I'm being transparent

Than to preach the word of God the way it's written and see people not living it by my estimation

And I always have to curb myself and I understand that's my flesh

I understand that can be sinful if you're judging whether people are doing it or not, whatever

I understand it's a very dangerous road

But for me to preach the gospel the way it's written and see people not living it out the way it's written

Even in a body of 40, 50, 60 people, that is exhausting

You say I get it because I'm doing what it is I think I'm supposed to do it

And I'm looking at other Christians and I don't think they're doing what they're supposed to be doing

And it's exhausting for me to continue doing what I think I'm supposed to be doing in the Lord

When I see other people who aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing

Just look at the world for a minute

It's exhausting to live the way we have been called to live, to do the thing that we've been called to do

While we live amongst people who are prospering for their wickedness

Young 17 year old millionaires who are on TikTok flirting with their skin flashing

And now they're millionaires

All because they were willing to show more than they ever should have been showing in the first place

And because there's freakish people who are willing to watch them over and over and over again

Just do seven second dances enough that they can get advertisement

And now they're making a million dollars a year or whatever

Because they're willing to walk a road of wickedness

And before you say well that couldn't be me anyway because ain't nobody attractive in this room that could do that

We have girls in this room who are going to be tempted to do that, you're going to be tempted to do that

Because wickedness is prospering them, they're getting ahead

Start up businesses, side incomes

Leaving behind my job for another job that will pay more

And we as Christians we're asked to switch our course, go over and do the very same things that we were already doing

And if you can honestly say I'm not really studying my Bible then you're asked to study your Bible because that's what you were commanded to do in the first place

And you say I'm not really telling anybody about Jesus, we are asked to go over and tell people about Jesus

But nobody's going to get saved, you don't get to decide that

You're called to go over and do the things that you were already called by God, by Jesus to do and to do them again today

Will it sometime look like insanity? Yes it very well might sometime look like insanity

In fact to the reasoning world, to those who are applying their estimation of what you should be doing

Most of them are probably looking at you going what are you nuts?

You give 13% of your income into the church service, you do that every paycheck, you give 13% or 15 or 18 or 10 even

You could give 5 they still think you're crazy, you do that consistently

What are you getting for that? What is your advantage for that? How are you getting ahead?

Do you have more money in your checking account? No

I don't have more money in my checking account because I do that

But probably you actually do but it's not that the world would see it or that you could see it mathematically

It requires faith and then you exercise your faith and you do the things that you do like RJ said earlier today

Without faith our works are dead, if you're doing the things that God would call you if you've already gone over

Then you're not going to have any benefit for the kingdom, any benefit for God, any benefit for you spiritually

But if you're doing them because it's what God wants you to do

It's because you believe in the Lord, you trust in the Lord, you're waiting on the Lord

If you're going over again, you know I wonder, I wonder what would have happened if he had said go over to the right side of the boat

Put the net in and you'll get a haul of fish and they'd have put it in and now I got any fish

And then a minute later if he'd have said now go to the left side and put it in and you'll get fish

Would they have had the strength? Would they have had the endurance?

Could they have stayed the course and I'm getting ahead of myself?

Would they have done it again?

I submit to you I believe they would have done it again

And they'd have put it on the left and got no fish and then the right and got no fish and the left and got no fish

And the right and got no fish and they'd have went until sundown

If they knew it was Jesus telling them they'd have went until sundown left and right and left and right

And finally hauled in that giant load of fish

Because they knew it was Jesus and he was asking them to go over and do it again

You're like well I used to study my Bible a lot, go over and do it again

I used to pray a lot, go over and do it again

The very same things that God said would provide fruit almost 2000 years ago

Wait a minute it was before Jesus was ever born

So 5000 years ago the very same things that God said would provide fruit will provide fruit today

If you want to be with the Lord, taken care of by the Lord, if you want to abide in the Lord and He and you

You will go over and do the very same things that God called you to do before

Secondly they had to go on and as I said I got a little ahead of myself

They had to continue, they were pressed to continue after they were already tired

And had done so much of what they thought they were supposed to be doing

They had to go on, you've got to go on, my goodness Jesus talks about going on

So many texts about going on

Turn with me if you will to Matthew chapter 25

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Is it 25 or 24?

I'll let you know in one second

You can head that way

It is 24, there we go

Matthew 24 verse 6 I'll start in

Matthew 24:6

No particular reason, this is the discourse of Jesus

And Jesus is speaking and He says

And you will be hearing of wars and rumour of wars

See that you are not frightened for those things must take place

But that is not yet the end

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom

And in various places there will be famines, that means going without food

And earthquakes, you know what that is

But all of these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs

Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you

And you will be hated by all nations on account of My name

That's pretty rough stuff right there

That the disciples of Jesus which would include us will be killed

And hated by all nations on account of Jesus' name

And at that time many will fall away

And will deliver up one another and hate one another

And many false prophets will arise and they will mislead many

And because lawlessness is increased

Most people's love will grow cold

Wait for it right here

But the one who endures to the end he shall be saved

There will be one more verse and it says

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world

For a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come

I get it, there is every kind of fear and rumour of fear

There is every kind of reason to surrender, to give up

There is every kind of reason to be distracted

We are right now in our house in a raging debate praying

It's not really a debate, it's more like just how to get it done

At this point a programming session, a thinking, plotting session

How are we going to get it done?

To get rid of some of the influences of Satan

Of the evil spirits of the world system that have infiltrated our house

And it's like, oh you got your stuff all together pastor

You got no problems like that, oh yes I do, we all do

And you should be thinking about what hooks does Satan and the world system have in your home

You want your home to be a place of peace, a place where you can serve God and continue on to the end

Ask yourself, what have you allowed to influence you?

What voices are telling you that you can stray slightly off course until everything will be okay?

Grace was not designed to cover your stupidity

Grace was designed to cover your sin

God is no fool, you shall reap what you sow

They had to go on, they had to go on after they were tired

They had to go on after their minds would say the effort is spent, it's over, it's done

They had to go on, and you could be there

If you are not there today you will be there sometime in your Christian walk

If you have been there before and you went on after that then you know what today is like

You say well I've been there before and I'm there again today, then you already know what to do

You go on, you do again what you were already told to do in the first place

It might not be a bad idea to question yourself to find out as you feel like you're so tired and fatigued

And you feel like you're so wore out, you feel like you can't go on

Ask yourself, are you even doing the things that you're supposed to be doing

Or have those things been pushed aside by the things that you want to do or the world has led you to do

Or the strange teachings and instructions of the enemy have brought you to do

Are you truly doing that which it is that God would have you to do

We have workers, we have people who work, we have sharers, we have servers, we have compassionate people in our church

And they are going about doing the things that they feel like they are supposed to do

I submit to you it is entirely possible that you will begin to do things that you think are for the Lord

And can prosper the kingdom that were never yours to do in the first place

And you might check yourself and go I'm running out of steam, I'm at the end of my rope

I've gotten next to nothing, I don't know how to keep this

It's become insanity not Christianity

And when it's become insanity not Christianity, you give up, give out, give in and quit

You say all those times you said I would never quit on Jesus

All those times you said I will always stick with Jesus and do the things that Jesus would have me to do

When you get to the moment in time where he's asking you to go on

It just could be that you already left him

That you already walked away and began to do things, good things that you like and enjoy

And that have filled your life and you may have to go no I said I would never allow those things

Those good things to press out the good things that Jesus commanded

And Jesus is saying to you read your Bible and pray and serve and give and love the other believers

I mean show up for them face to face, talk to them, compassionate, lift them up, encourage them

Work with them, bear their burdens as they bear yours

Blend your life together with the community of God, those are the commands of Jesus

They're not suggestions, it's not one way you can live for Jesus

It's the only way you can live for Jesus

And you got to the point where there were other things, important things, good things

Maybe even somewhat godly things and those things began to press out the basics

And now someone would walk right up to you and they would say what must I do to be saved?

And you would go well come to church with me on Sunday

You got to ask that question, you really need to talk to my pastor because he knows the answer to that question

Or you'd give over those responsibilities over to somebody like Tony Tate who has his own issues

Probably I think he would willingly say more than most and yet you'd go but he's fine

He can trust the gospel of God, the soul of that person over to him because he's willing to speak up

Messed up as he is he can speak up

I'm not so messed up but I'm not willing to speak up

Are you hearing the logic that we're following as we're not going on doing what it is that Jesus would have us to do?

Where does it come from?

It's older than you are

It's older than any of us in this room

It's older than all of us in this room combined

Because it was present in the Garden of Eden

All Adam had to do

All Adam and Eve had to do was just go on attending the Garden of Eden

But see day in or out or whatever they attended the Garden thinking you know what's this really getting us?

You know we're going to get all these kids and be healthy, safe

Another day walk with God and coolness the Garden I do enjoy that time we have with him

But now here's something

This fruit is good like all the other fruits

But now I see it may also be beneficial for wisdom

Well God never said we're going to eat of the fruit

He only just said we could tend the fruit

Well of course we want to be like God

Everybody should want to be like God, God's a good guy

So we just eat of the fruit

Fear of the Lord? No

God is too good, He wouldn't destroy us for that

No fear

And it goes back to the beginning and it's been with man ever since

And we do the same things instead of going on doing what it is we should have been doing

Or going over and doing it in a slightly different way

But it's the thing that God wants us to do the way he wants us to do it

We allow our thought processes, our choices to be invaded by the teachings of the enemy

If you're following along in your Bible turn with me to 2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians chapter 3

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

It's in the T's

2 Thessalonians chapter 3

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

I'll begin reading in verse 10 so you get there

2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10 it says this

2 Thessalonians 3:10

It says, For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order

If anyone will not work, neither let him eat

In other words, there is a basic process by which you're supposed to live

You need to be doing what you're supposed to be doing

If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, then you can reap the rewards for that

And it's as simple as if you won't work you shouldn't eat

But he's saying that because in verse 11 he says for because

We hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life

In other words, you're not being intentional about doing the things you're supposed to do

Doing no work at all

But acting like busybodies

You've always got something to say about everything

But you're not doing anything about anything that really matters

Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ

To work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread

In other words, you do your work, earn your keep, and take care of yourself

13, but as for you brethren, do not grow weary of doing good

See, it doesn't matter whether or not those people who were being busybodies

Those people who were stirring up trouble and not actually doing what they're supposed to be doing

It doesn't matter whether they were going to start doing what they're supposed to be doing

Or they're going to start working and earning their keep

Or they're going to haul their load or not

He says, but as for you, you don't grow weary in doing good

Now that's assuming you're doing good

Don't grow weary in doing good

Verse 14, it says, and if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter

Take special note of that man and do not associate with him so that he may be put to shame

And yet, do not regard him as an enemy

So even if they will not take our direction

Even if they will not start to do the things they're supposed to do

Don't regard him as an enemy

But admonish him, that means correct him, encouraging him as a brother

You got a problem with somebody in the church that ain't know what they're supposed to be doing?

Then you go to them and correct them and admonish them and encourage them as a brother or a sister

If you've ever been corrected or admonished as a brother or sister

You need to realize that the person who corrected you is probably the person in this world who loves you the most

This whole concept of if they leave me alone, they love me and let me do what I want, then they love me

That isn't true

The person who won't correct you doesn't love you at all

Or at least they're too busy doing something else to love you right now

But the person who would come to you and correct you and encourage you and admonish you and set you on the right course loves you so much

Zoe will throw a fit because she's not allowed to play with something she's not allowed to play with

But I submit to you that she never doubts for one second

The great emotion that exists between her and her mother

When her mother's picking her up and carrying her away from what she so desires to play with

You need to understand that the person who corrects you probably loves you more than anybody else

But even if your correction is not heard

Even if your correction is lost on deaf ears

You are not to grow weary

You are supposed to be continuing to do the basic things that you were given to do

Those we talk about calling spiritual disciplines

We talk about exercising our spiritual gifts

We talk about being the church, loving one another

We're supposed to be doing that which we are called to do

You say it looks like insanity, not Christianity

It's because you have allowed the reason of the world to creep into your thought processes

Will the son of man find faithfulness on the earth?

It is largely going to be determined by the fact whether or not we have faith

If we have faith we will be full of niss

When somebody else comes and tries to give you another niss

You'll say that's not my niss, I just want my faithfulness

And then third, so first of all it was about going over

Secondly about going on, and then third they had to go in

They had to go in

I love how they went in, don't you?

I mean Peter girds himself up in his giant man diaper

Robe thing that he tied all around his waist

And got it up in between his legs so he could swim

And jumps off the boat and swims a hundred yards

And his clothes soaking wet and heavy

Surely without his sandals to get to Jesus

And then the one who sat at the dinner the night before Jesus' crucifixion

He said, Lord, I go with you, I'm with you

I will not abandon you no matter what even if I will be crucified

Even if I will be destroyed

And Jesus said, no actually you'll deny me three times before it's through

The one whom Jesus loved, the one whom Jesus laid back on at that same dinner

He thought, fish, he's fishing, fishing in the boat

No fish, all night long fishing in the boat

Stranger on the shore, Jesus is resurrected

A plus B plus C equals, oh it's the Lord

And Peter's like, alright I'm out of here

Are you following Jesus? Are you following somebody's idea of Jesus?

Do you not understand that Jesus the Christ was God the Son?

He was God in the flesh, nothing was created except that which was created through Him

He was the living Word, while there is the spoken Word and the written Word

He was the living Word, Jesus

Don't run to your pastor or your church, run to your Jesus the next time you're hurting

You've got to go in, you've got to

There's going to come a time when going into Jesus is all that's left

And if you're not willing to go into Jesus now, you may not be willing to go into Jesus then

And that would be a pretty scary situation, wouldn't it?

If the only road left to you that's healthy and hopeful, that gives you anything

Is responding to Jesus' call, when He calls, you better be in the habit of it

That's a muscle you had better train

And to do that you're going to have to get out of your head some other ideas, some other controversial things

Think, well, I could just do this for a while and then come back to Jesus

Oh my gosh, the world is such a crazy place, how can we keep just going on like it's the same as it was yesterday? It's not

How can we still meet for worship on 11.30 on Sunday mornings when we know that there might be people who walk in our building and try to blow some people away?

How can we still meet for worship and praise when the war over political ideologies is so rampant in America?

How can we keep our eyes focused on what Jesus taught when there are so many things that we need to know and learn about what's going on in the world

In the political arena and what might be dangerous to us?

Do you understand that in the Ukraine right now in the middle of war, churches to this day, to this Sunday right here

With bombs going off and whatever have continued to meet for worship and prayer and actually extended their worship times more

The churches that the buildings have been blown up and are gone, they're meeting in subway stations and underground basements

And wherever they can find it, they're cramming people in as much as they can and their numbers have grown

Do we need a war in the United States of America to reach people for Jesus or are we just going to do it because it's what he told us to do?

We're worshiping still, we're talking about, can we worship when we're in COVID and praise God we did

But a lot of folks did, a lot of churches gave it up, they didn't go on, they didn't continue to go in

They decided not to go over and do it again

Some of them even decided not to worship God and meet because they were afraid that that would be a bad witness to people they were trying to reach

Serving Jesus unfailingly, serving Jesus without stopping is never going to be a bad witness

It's always going to be just exactly what you were supposed to do in the first place

Matthew 24 beginning in verse 29, we were here before, we're back again

And then we're in the conclusion, Matthew 24 beginning in verse 29

It says this about the second coming of Jesus, Matthew 24 verse 29

Matthew 24:29

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light

And the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heavens will be shaken

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn

And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory

Don't miss the fact that all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the signs of the coming of Jesus

I suppose we had better not be in that number mourning when they see the signs

And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory

And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds

That is to say those whom God has chosen for himself, the ones that God chose

And whether or not you respond to the gospel as the primary qualifier

He will gather together the elect from the four winds from one end of the earth to the other

Now skip down to verse 35

He says, Heaven and earth will pass away, that means every single thing you could possibly ever experience while you are alive will pass away

But my words shall not pass away

But of that day and hour no one knows, no one knows exactly when it's going to happen

Not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah

Wait for it

For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, were marrying and giving in marriage

Until the day that Noah entered the ark

And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away

So shall the coming of the Son of Man be

We'll go a little further in a second, just two more verses

I want you to understand that because it sometimes looks like insanity

The world will decide not to go over and do it again

Because it sometimes looks like insanity, the world will decide not to go on and persevere and not grow weary and doing good

Because it sometimes looks like insanity, when everything starts to fall apart and it will

The world will find all kinds of systems and other methods to stick close to what they appreciate

Their money, their time, their talents, their sex, their drugs, their rock and roll, their alcohol, whatever

Whatever they appreciate

Many of those things are not bad things by the way

But the bottom line is they'll put that first before God in that moment

That'll be their sustenance

When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and people are mourning all the world over

Someone will crank their music

When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and all the world over

Someone will snort a little bit of coke to feel better about that instant

When the horn sounds, Jesus is coming and all the world over mourns at his approach

Someone will punch a time clock

When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and all the world over and his approach is obvious

Someone will grab the TV remote

Someone will pull their children to them for one last hug

Someone will look longingly at their wife or their husband

Someone will stop to sniff a rose going, yeah, I always knew I should have done that

Never did it for 50 years and they'll stop and just get one sniff in before they go to hell

They don't understand

They don't understand implies that there are those who do understand

You know who did understand?

Noah and his family

In the ark

Having wait for it

Built an ark

And allowed the animals to come and fill it and store up the feed and everything else

On dry ground

On a planet

On which a drop of rain had never fallen

That's not fishing all night and getting no fish

That's fishing for months and getting no fish

And yet he built the ark

And then the rain began

And God himself shut the door

And it'll be like that in the day when Jesus comes again

Don't let it be like that in the day when Jesus comes again for you

Choose to be like Noah and build the ark

Choose to be like his family and trust my words

Choose to be like God's people and follow God

And do what it is that God would have us to do

Going over again to do what we were supposed to do in the first place

Going on to continue doing the things that we're supposed to be doing

Despite all that's falling apart around us

Going into Jesus over and over again

And every time he beckons and every time he calls

Every time he makes himself available

Which is basically all day every day

Abiding in the Lord

Verse 40 says this

He says, Then there shall be two men in the field

One will be taken and one will be left

Two women will be grinding at the mill

And one will be taken and one will be left

There is a dividing line in the sand

And it has nothing to do with what you're doing on a day by day basis

It has to do with if you will respond affirmatively

When your commander in chief

When the Lord of the universe

When the creator of all things

For the purchaser of your soul

The one who brought you back from the dead

When he calls, will you come?

And these things, all of this

That's around us including all those idiots

That try to tell you you've got to be one thing or another

All of that was given for us to enjoy

And we laugh

And we enjoy

But we do so all the while going when Jesus calls

I will be ready

And you do that by going over

And doing what you were supposed to do in the first place

By going on doing what you know to be right in the Lord

And by going in daily when he calls

It may look like insanity

For those who don't know Jesus

But if you were dead in your trespasses and sins

And you he hath quickened, you he hath made alive

By grace, through faith

Then you know

He's nobody to be trifled with

The scripture says that some

Having believed in the Lord

Return to their wicked ways

Hebrew says that how will God treat those who knew?

And then trampled the Son of God again

And it is a fearful thing

To fall into the hands of the living God

Ours is a relationship with the living Christ

Because he is alive

Because he died for you, you now live for him who died for you

Because you are alive in Christ

All old things have passed away

And everything has become made new

And you can partake in lots of things that go on in the world

But none of them can ever be important

He said, what about my kids?

What about my family members? What about my loved ones?

None of them can ever be important compared to Jesus

Elsewise, if I am in my house one day

Dodging my little Roomba vacuum cleaner

And Jesus calls

And Ariana calls at the same time

Which call will I answer?

Be careful

It's so easy to fall in love

With the things of this life

But we are asked to go over again

And do the things that he has called us to

To go on doing what we are supposed to do

To go in to him

To recognize him

To want to be the first

Not because we despise anyone else

But because this I know

I belong with him

To the point that I will wrap up my man diaper

And jump in the water and swim a hundred yards

To get to be with Jesus

In the Old Testament there is a story in the book of Ezra

The Israelites have come home

Some of them

It's estimated that less than 20% of the people who were carried off in captivity

Ever came back into the land

One of those two times was led by a man named Ezra

He was basically a priest

And they were going to re-institute under Cyrus

He gave them permission and offered resources

To go back and re-institute temple worship in Jerusalem

So they come back and they settle in the land around Jerusalem

There is no walls to Jerusalem

The city is unprotected

So it's regularly abused

There is no temple anymore

The land is there

But everything is in ruin

And they say well we know why we are here

But they settle down and they are starting to get ready

They are building their houses

They have tents, taverns, whatever they need to be ready to live

So that they can start building

And then they look out and they see all around them in the land are all these enemies

Enemies that have been

I don't use this term lightly but it's a reality

But enemies that have been raping Jerusalem on a regular basis

And all are looking at them and they are like ah what is this all about?

And they look out at those enemies and they realize ok now we are in danger

We are in danger of quitting

We are in danger of our mission failing

We are in danger of not having enough

We are in danger of being eliminated

They could come in here and they could kill us

We are in danger of failing in our mission

Cyrus gave us the resources and the manpower and sent us out here and let us go back to our home

But we are in danger of not doing what God wants us to do

And they have to make a decision

A battle plan

They have to decide what to do as they are sitting in a city, Jerusalem

With no defenses

Very limited weaponry, no walls, no siege engines

No trenches to keep the enemy at bay

No picket fences

And they look out and the enemies surrounding them

All these different peoples that have been storming Jerusalem for decades

Over half a century

And they are like what do we do?

And so you know what they did?

They built the temple

They did what God sent them to do

They turned their back on their enemies

And they built the temple

They collected the supplies

They focused their building at first on the sacrificial area

And the truth is the building got stopped before the foundation was ever laid

But the sacrificial area

They built it and they began sacrificing to God

When you go in

You will find the strength to go over and go on

When you go in, God will purify that in you that is right now corrupted

When you go in, God will show up and make happen what he said he was going to do through you

If you won't go in, you will eventually quit going over, quit going on

You will back down off of some of the things you know the Lord would have you do

And I submit to you, you will be in severe danger of not answering that call when the time comes

And he who doesn't answer the call never really got saved in the first place

Go over, go on, and go in

The next time you are faced with a real problem, start in your Bible, start in prayer, start in worship

Turn your music up, but not because you just love loud music, but because you are praising God

And if you go in, you will go over

And if you go over, you will go on

I mean seriously, once you have hauled up one net load of fish, 153 fish

Once one time, you have seen God do amazingly in your life

And I hope you have already seen it, but once you have done that, why would you ever back down?

If God is the only one that can do that, why would you ever back down?

The next time you are faced with an enemy, a trial, or a difficulty

Go into Jesus and get the strength to go over, maybe do it a little differently, but do the things you are supposed to do

And to go on doing what it was you were supposed to be doing from the beginning

If you are waiting for me to give you a rocket science recipe on how to be a great person, how to become more intellectual, how to make yourself more beautiful and more healthy

It ain't going to happen

I am not that kind of preacher, I preach the word of God, and God calls us into him

Go into Jesus

If you are here today and you have never seen God do that kind of miracle in your life

You have never seen God transform somebody's soul, somebody's heart

Then you need to admit it, admit that you are separated from God

You need to believe that he will save you and commit your life to following him today

And get saved for the first time

If you are here today and you have been saved, but you have been unwilling to go over and do it

Do that one thing that God is really calling you to do

Because you say, well this other stuff isn't working so well, so why would that work any better?

Or you have been unwilling to go on because you have been doing it over and over again

You feel like you are doing it, you feel like you are faithful, but you have discovered in yourself a lack of endurance

And you are ready to quit

Go into Jesus and let him give you the strength to continue and persevere in what it is that he called you to

I ask the praise team to come forward at this time

And lead us in a hymn of really kind of like closing our services, but also in the name of the invitation

If you happen to be here today and you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior

This is the opportunity to make that public decision to do that

And if you are here today and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior

But you realize you have not been going on doing the things that he would have you to do

Or you have been going on doing those things but distracted, unwilling to do them in the way

And he is now calling you to do it and you commit your life to him and you follow him and you do what he would have you to do

But it isn't about me, I am not imploring you for my sake

I have already wrestled with this and I am already looking at places where I am not going over

And other things that I was supposed to do

And I am already looking at things that maybe I am not going on to do

And I am repenting in my own life

I am asking you to do the same for your sake and for Jesus sake

As we sing this song, would you stand with us and sing

And if you are responding in some way and you don't have to sing

Just come and share with us what is on your heart today

How God has called you to go over or to go on or to go in

Just as I am without one thing

But that Thy blood was shed for me

And that Thy blood has come to me

And the blood of God I come

As we sing this next verse, you sing along with me, that's great

But if the Lord is putting something in your house

Think about what you are spending most of your time and your effort on

What you are doing, it could be your job, it could be your finances

It could be your health, whatever you think about that

How would I do that thing, that thing that I am doing

It's a good thing, but how would I do that

Jesus' way, specifically His way

If Jesus were in my skin, how would Jesus do it

Think about that for a moment, that's not how you are doing it

That I am asking you to stand with me and say I am going to do it

The way Jesus would do it, that's going over

Think about that for a moment, by the last time you are tired

Or frustrated about what you were doing before

Or what you are doing in general

And you are thinking about quitting

If it's something you weren't doing it for Jesus, then quit

You are like what? Remember I just said you can do your job for Jesus

If I tell you to quit your job, I am telling you to do your job for Jesus

If you are not doing it for Jesus, then quit

If you are not doing it for Jesus, then quit