WEBVTT 00:00:11.544 --> 00:00:13.946 Well, good morning, Valley View.. 00:00:13.946 --> 00:00:14.881 Lord. 00:00:14.881 --> 00:00:24.623 You know, it's so good to just start the week by telling ourselves over and over again, Jesus, you're the one thing. 00:00:24.623 --> 00:00:29.195 Because almost every other message you hear this week will be the opposite of that. 00:00:29.195 --> 00:00:32.097 Like, you can't tell yourself that enough. 00:00:32.097 --> 00:00:39.371 It seems like at times, to counteract all the other messages that we hear and that we even tell ourselves. 00:00:39.371 --> 00:00:49.381 So thank you, Andrew, for leading us in that thank you worship team, because my heart needs that needs to be reminded over and over again. 00:00:49.883 --> 00:00:51.317 He's our one thing. 00:00:51.317 --> 00:00:56.456 There's there's nothing else, nothing else. 00:00:56.456 --> 00:00:59.692 And it takes so long to get that in my thick skull. 00:00:59.692 --> 00:01:01.560 And it's so hard. 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:13.807 But that's what we're fighting for here every week, especially as we have been working our way through the Book of John, which we've been doing now since September of 22. 00:01:14.106 --> 00:01:21.947 And we are now entering the final chapter of the book of John today, a little, mixed applause there. 00:01:21.947 --> 00:01:27.888 I don't really want to say I'm done studying part of the Bible, but maybe we should move on to other areas. A little mixed applause. 00:01:27.888 --> 00:01:28.989 That's okay. 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:31.724 We're going to wrap up the Book of John next week. 00:01:31.724 --> 00:01:34.960 It'll be our final sermon in the book of John. 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:37.864 And you may be wondering what we're going to do after that. 00:01:37.864 --> 00:01:40.367 Where are we going to go after that for the next 5 or 6 years? 00:01:40.367 --> 00:01:43.370 No, I won't take that long. 00:01:43.436 --> 00:01:47.774 You ever face those moments in life, though, where you're not quite sure what to do next? 00:01:47.774 --> 00:01:50.710 Maybe there's a bit of uncertainty. 00:01:50.710 --> 00:01:52.813 You're not sure how to move forward. 00:01:52.813 --> 00:01:55.349 You're in this waiting period, by the way. 00:01:55.349 --> 00:01:56.483 I know what we're going to do next. 00:01:56.483 --> 00:01:57.284 I'll share it next week. 00:01:57.284 --> 00:01:58.251 Don't don't worry. 00:01:59.653 --> 00:02:06.560 But we face those moments where there's the waiting, the uncertainty, not showing, not sure exactly what to do. 00:02:06.927 --> 00:02:15.769 one time in particular that stands out to me when that was very real was right after 911, right after the Twin Towers fell. 00:02:15.769 --> 00:02:21.341 You if you were around, then you remember that moment, and it's kind of hard to pull yourself back in that time. 00:02:21.341 --> 00:02:30.516 But man, that especially that week after, I just felt like I had no idea what to do with my life. 00:02:30.883 --> 00:02:35.122 it felt like there really wasn't anything worth doing at that point. 00:02:35.122 --> 00:02:45.164 I just had this mix of confusion and apathy and not sure what to do, and wondering what the future hell holds. 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:55.175 But as that kind of faded, this sense of, oh, I got to do something started to come on, I don't know what I gotta do. Something. 00:02:55.175 --> 00:02:57.644 And one of the guys I was serving in ministry with, he came to me. 00:02:57.644 --> 00:03:00.080 He's like, John, I got this idea, I'm going to rent this U-Haul. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.949 We're going to fill it up with stuff water, food, whatever. 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:04.784 And we're just going to drive up there. 00:03:04.784 --> 00:03:05.853 We're just going to drive up there. 00:03:05.853 --> 00:03:07.287 I got to do something. 00:03:07.287 --> 00:03:08.655 I hear you, we got to do something. 00:03:08.655 --> 00:03:09.956 Let's do it. Great idea. 00:03:11.324 --> 00:03:12.526 Let me call a friend first, though. 00:03:12.526 --> 00:03:14.594 I got a friend who serves in ministry up there. 00:03:14.594 --> 00:03:19.199 Someone I knew when we first started a ministry together, so called her. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:20.600 Listen, here's what we want to do. 00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:22.002 We know there's great need up there. 00:03:22.002 --> 00:03:24.138 My buddy myself, we're both excited. 00:03:24.138 --> 00:03:26.006 We just need to do something. 00:03:26.006 --> 00:03:28.975 And she goes, please don't come. 00:03:29.209 --> 00:03:31.578 Please do not come. 00:03:31.578 --> 00:03:33.514 The last thing we need is you two yahoos. 00:03:33.514 --> 00:03:38.786 She didn't say it that way, but that's what I heard in her voice, who have no idea what you're doing and just want to help. 00:03:38.786 --> 00:03:40.486 I appreciate that, thank you. 00:03:40.486 --> 00:03:43.122 But it is nuts up here. 00:03:43.122 --> 00:03:48.027 We don't need you adding to the trouble of someone else to care for in this moment. 00:03:48.027 --> 00:03:56.336 But we got to do something because the waiting can be hard when you're in the midst of waiting, I just. 00:03:56.336 --> 00:03:57.503 What do I do? 00:03:57.503 --> 00:03:58.538 I don't know what to do. 00:03:58.538 --> 00:04:01.908 Especially when you're waiting on God to show up. 00:04:01.908 --> 00:04:02.710 What do I do? 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:03.978 I need to do something. 00:04:03.978 --> 00:04:04.745 How do I wait? 00:04:04.745 --> 00:04:06.847 How do we wait? Well, one. 00:04:06.847 --> 00:04:16.156 Today's passage in John chapter 21, we're going to see the disciples who were in the midst of waiting on Jesus to show up. 00:04:16.257 --> 00:04:16.990 How do you wait? 00:04:16.990 --> 00:04:23.630 Well, I think we're going to see three lessons in here to take from that in terms of how we wait on God to show up in our lives. 00:04:23.630 --> 00:04:28.869 So we're in John chapter 21, and if you have a church Bible that will be on page 853, you don't have a Bible. 00:04:28.869 --> 00:04:30.271 We have those in the connection corner. 00:04:30.271 --> 00:04:31.805 We'd love to put one in your hands. 00:04:31.805 --> 00:04:33.072 You can keep that. 00:04:33.072 --> 00:04:37.244 Hold on to it, read from it and follow along as we read. 00:04:37.244 --> 00:04:41.482 I'm just going to read the first few verses to get our setting here in John chapter 21. 00:04:43.716 --> 00:04:54.228 After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberius, and he revealed himself in this way. 00:04:54.862 --> 00:05:06.005 Simon Peter Thomas called the twin Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together. 00:05:06.005 --> 00:05:10.577 Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. 00:05:10.577 --> 00:05:13.012 They said to him, we'll go with you. 00:05:13.012 --> 00:05:21.755 They went out, got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 00:05:22.956 --> 00:05:24.358 So the setting is. 00:05:24.358 --> 00:05:26.494 Last week we looked at Jesus. 00:05:26.494 --> 00:05:32.165 He had met the disciples for the first time after his resurrection. 00:05:32.165 --> 00:05:35.069 Then he followed that up by meeting with them again with Thomas. 00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:37.838 Thomas wasn't there the first time. 00:05:37.838 --> 00:05:39.406 And so now we have them. 00:05:39.406 --> 00:05:43.677 They've left Jerusalem, and they've gone to Galilee. 00:05:43.677 --> 00:05:46.079 Now why have they ended up back in Galilee? 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.814 We don't get all the details here. 00:05:47.814 --> 00:05:52.786 Sometimes you have to piece together all four of the gospel accounts Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 00:05:52.786 --> 00:05:56.990 You've got to look across them to fill in the gaps of the story. 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:03.531 And in Matthew, in Mark, Jesus says to them or says through someone else, you go on to Galilee, I'll meet you there. 00:06:04.865 --> 00:06:07.267 So they've been sent ahead by him there. 00:06:07.267 --> 00:06:10.137 They're waiting for him to show up. 00:06:10.137 --> 00:06:13.540 They should be expecting that he will show up. 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:15.742 He said, I'm coming to see you. 00:06:15.742 --> 00:06:17.043 You should be waiting on me. 00:06:17.043 --> 00:06:20.047 They're expecting me to arrive. 00:06:21.148 --> 00:06:29.956 And while they're waiting, their response to waiting in the midst of that is Peter, who's often kind of seen as the leader of the times. 00:06:29.956 --> 00:06:32.459 He's most prominent in the stories. 00:06:32.459 --> 00:06:35.396 He's the one that says, let's go fishing. 00:06:35.396 --> 00:06:38.331 And of course, all the other disciples are like, we're there with you. Yes. 00:06:38.331 --> 00:06:38.932 Let's go. 00:06:38.932 --> 00:06:43.437 Are seven of them their total don't know exactly where the others are now. 00:06:43.437 --> 00:06:48.009 Some have seen this, and there's a couple different ways to take this. 00:06:48.009 --> 00:06:50.144 You look at this and you see Peter going fishing. 00:06:50.144 --> 00:06:52.346 One way to take it is well, he's he's given up. 00:06:54.415 --> 00:06:57.951 And forget whatever this guy was doing, I don't even know where he is. 00:06:57.951 --> 00:06:58.685 He said he'd come. 00:06:58.685 --> 00:07:05.726 We don't know how long he's been waiting, but however long it is, if you're waiting on Jesus to show up, feels like a really long time. 00:07:05.793 --> 00:07:07.261 Forget it. 00:07:07.261 --> 00:07:09.029 I'm going back to what I used to know. 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:10.264 I used to be a fisherman. 00:07:10.264 --> 00:07:12.867 That's comfortable, that's safe. 00:07:12.867 --> 00:07:14.401 Let's forget fishers of men. 00:07:14.401 --> 00:07:15.302 I don't even know what that means. 00:07:15.302 --> 00:07:15.836 Let's go back. 00:07:15.836 --> 00:07:18.805 Let's fish for fish. 00:07:18.805 --> 00:07:20.875 That's one way to take it. 00:07:20.875 --> 00:07:23.810 Certainly could be what's going on in his heart in that moment. 00:07:23.810 --> 00:07:26.814 Because waiting is hard. 00:07:27.148 --> 00:07:28.815 Who likes to wait? 00:07:28.815 --> 00:07:30.218 When you're waiting on God to show up? 00:07:30.218 --> 00:07:31.386 It can be really hard. 00:07:31.386 --> 00:07:35.656 I mean, maybe you've been in a season where you've been waiting for him to provide a spouse. 00:07:35.656 --> 00:07:40.327 You've been single a long time, and you're just not sure you're tired of being alone. 00:07:40.327 --> 00:07:42.697 God, when are you going to show up? 00:07:42.697 --> 00:07:48.735 Or maybe he brought that spouse, and now you've both have been waiting for children, and that's been hard. 00:07:48.735 --> 00:07:50.237 And there have been challenges. 00:07:50.237 --> 00:07:53.774 And you're wondering, when is he going to show up? 00:07:53.774 --> 00:08:01.716 Or maybe it's a season of sickness and you need healing, or maybe that child wandered away from the Lord and you wonder, when is he going to bring him back? 00:08:01.716 --> 00:08:08.122 Or you're in need of a job and you've been jobless for so long and you wonder, God, what are you doing? 00:08:08.122 --> 00:08:12.259 When are you going to show up and give me direction? 00:08:12.392 --> 00:08:13.927 That's hard to do. 00:08:13.927 --> 00:08:17.197 I think many in that moment are tempted to just go, he. 00:08:17.197 --> 00:08:21.401 If he's not going to show up, forget him, forget it. 00:08:21.401 --> 00:08:23.004 Let me just go back to whatever I was doing. 00:08:23.004 --> 00:08:25.273 It wasn't great. 00:08:25.273 --> 00:08:28.141 It was okay. 00:08:28.141 --> 00:08:31.778 Maybe that's what's maybe that's what's going on here. 00:08:31.778 --> 00:08:34.548 Maybe the other side of it is just practical. 00:08:34.548 --> 00:08:34.716 Good. 00:08:34.716 --> 00:08:36.551 They've gone back to their hometown. 00:08:36.551 --> 00:08:40.855 Of course, sometimes when you go back to your hometown, you can fall into old patterns. 00:08:40.855 --> 00:08:43.423 And maybe you just wonder, what's my purpose and meaning in life? 00:08:43.423 --> 00:08:44.392 What should I do? 00:08:44.392 --> 00:08:45.759 By the way, I'm hungry. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:46.628 Let's go fishing. 00:08:46.628 --> 00:08:48.929 We know how to do that. 00:08:48.929 --> 00:08:50.030 Let's go get some fish. 00:08:50.030 --> 00:08:54.869 Is it willful disobedience walking away from the Lord or just boredom? 00:08:54.869 --> 00:08:57.337 You know, I don't think we can be 100% sure. 00:08:57.337 --> 00:09:03.745 In fact, any times you have been in waiting, there's a whole bunch of mixed of motives going on in your life. 00:09:03.745 --> 00:09:07.682 Sometimes you're not even able to kind of spell it all out. Exactly. 00:09:07.682 --> 00:09:09.350 Someone might ask you, what are you feeling? 00:09:09.350 --> 00:09:11.186 I haven't I'm not 100% sure. 00:09:11.186 --> 00:09:14.822 There's this and this other thing, and it's all mixed up together and I'm confused. 00:09:16.524 --> 00:09:22.897 But we get a couple of hints here in this last phrase in verse three that point out a little bit of what may be going on. 00:09:22.897 --> 00:09:23.898 Look back at verse three. 00:09:23.898 --> 00:09:31.373 At the very end it says they went out, but that night they caught nothing. 00:09:31.373 --> 00:09:36.543 John, you've seen as we've studied the book of John all throughout, it's full of symbolism and meaning. 00:09:36.543 --> 00:09:48.657 It's full of inferences pointing backwards to the Old Testament, pointing forwards to Jesus's return, cross-referencing back to other parts of the Book of John over and over again, and just this short little phrase. 00:09:48.657 --> 00:09:55.129 I think we see two symbols happening here, two things pointing towards other things. 00:09:55.129 --> 00:09:58.133 First off, they go out to fish at night. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.336 And of course, there's historic reasons to fish at night. 00:10:02.403 --> 00:10:09.711 That's true for sure, but night, in fact, the theme of light versus dark is a big theme all throughout the book of John. 00:10:09.711 --> 00:10:11.980 We've seen it show up over and over again. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:14.515 Jesus calls himself the light of the world. 00:10:14.515 --> 00:10:18.787 He brings light, covers over, pushes out the darkness. 00:10:18.787 --> 00:10:19.821 You think back to Judas. 00:10:19.821 --> 00:10:23.424 He went out to betray Jesus and it was night. 00:10:23.424 --> 00:10:25.326 Nicodemus showed up to see. 00:10:25.326 --> 00:10:28.529 See Jesus, to learn from Jesus at night. 00:10:29.130 --> 00:10:46.414 But the emphasis there, the inference, the symbolism is spiritual darkness in their lives, spiritual misunderstanding, maybe still some Jesus friendliness, but but darkness, spiritual darkness, misunderstanding. 00:10:47.448 --> 00:10:49.683 So there's that layer of what's going on. 00:10:49.683 --> 00:10:57.759 They go out at night, but then the results also point us to something else that's going on all night. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:00.761 And they caught nothing. 00:11:01.462 --> 00:11:06.467 Experienced fishermen out the entire night catching nothing. 00:11:08.035 --> 00:11:18.447 Some of the symbolism here is just when we are in spiritual darkness in our own efforts, the results are fruitless. 00:11:18.447 --> 00:11:19.780 They're nothing. 00:11:19.780 --> 00:11:29.524 You've probably been there in those seasons where you're striving and striving in your own strength, and nothing's happening, and you're wondering, where are you, God? 00:11:29.825 --> 00:11:32.159 What are you going to do? 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:42.270 But then there are those other seasons of dependance, of trusting, seeking, of listening. 00:11:42.403 --> 00:11:47.142 And he moves in ways you couldn't even have predicted or understood. 00:11:47.142 --> 00:11:50.144 And he gets all the glory. 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:53.381 That's the great place to be. 00:11:53.815 --> 00:11:55.317 Now Peter is waiting. 00:11:55.317 --> 00:11:56.884 They go fishing. 00:11:56.884 --> 00:12:01.756 I think we're going to see in this next group of verses the first response we should have in the midst of waiting. 00:12:01.756 --> 00:12:03.392 The first way to wait. 00:12:03.392 --> 00:12:05.527 Well, look at verse four with me. 00:12:07.461 --> 00:12:12.366 Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. 00:12:12.668 --> 00:12:17.371 Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 00:12:18.005 --> 00:12:23.544 Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? 00:12:23.544 --> 00:12:26.548 They answered him, no. 00:12:27.014 --> 00:12:29.851 He said to them, cast the night on the right. 00:12:29.851 --> 00:12:35.323 Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. 00:12:36.457 --> 00:12:46.301 So the interesting thing, I think first thing to note here is just that Jesus shows up on the shore and the disciples don't even recognize him. 00:12:48.202 --> 00:12:53.875 You know, in this moment you would think there'd be enough clues for them to pick up on it and go. 00:12:54.342 --> 00:12:56.678 That guy seems familiar. 00:12:56.678 --> 00:12:58.614 This happened before, by the way. 00:12:58.614 --> 00:13:04.019 We haven't looked at it in our study of John, but maybe you've read it over your course of reading through the Bible. 00:13:04.019 --> 00:13:05.053 Luke chapter five. 00:13:05.053 --> 00:13:09.191 This is when Jesus calls Peter and he's fishing. 00:13:09.191 --> 00:13:10.058 He's not catch anything. 00:13:10.058 --> 00:13:12.860 And Jesus says, castanets go out. 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:15.864 Throw out in the deep castanets. 00:13:17.932 --> 00:13:19.634 And here it is again on the beach. 00:13:19.634 --> 00:13:22.303 He's even calling them children. 00:13:22.303 --> 00:13:23.138 He did that before. 00:13:23.138 --> 00:13:24.572 Back in John chapter 13. 00:13:24.572 --> 00:13:30.446 You don't call other adult men children unless you're picking a fight. 00:13:30.446 --> 00:13:33.215 Or they're really good friends. 00:13:33.215 --> 00:13:37.653 There's a term of affection in this moment, and they don't get it. 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:39.955 They don't see who he is. 00:13:39.955 --> 00:13:52.433 I think the first thing for us to take away from this, in terms of how should we wait, well, is to be expectant, be expected, be in a state of expecting Jesus to show up. 00:13:52.433 --> 00:13:55.236 Jesus told us to go on ahead. 00:13:55.236 --> 00:13:57.572 We're here waiting on him and we're not even looking for him. 00:13:58.908 --> 00:14:05.748 Who could that weird guy be on the beach calling us children, telling us to do the things some other guy long ago told us to do? 00:14:05.748 --> 00:14:06.481 I have no idea. 00:14:06.481 --> 00:14:08.049 I wonder who could that be? 00:14:08.049 --> 00:14:08.417 No. 00:14:08.417 --> 00:14:20.296 Be expecting Jesus to show up, be looking for him to show up, trusting that he will show up even in the midst of up all night with a huge challenge. 00:14:21.563 --> 00:14:27.669 It's interesting how when you begin to look for things, how they start to show up, you've probably experienced this. 00:14:27.669 --> 00:14:37.480 Maybe you got that nice new sweater you saved up for, or a new car, or a new to you car, and you never had seen these anywhere before. 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:41.517 You thought you were the first person to ever own one, and now you see him everywhere. 00:14:41.517 --> 00:14:43.284 Everywhere you turn, there's a red pinto. 00:14:43.284 --> 00:14:48.289 You thought you were the only person to own it, and here it is. 00:14:48.289 --> 00:14:52.094 You never looked for it before, nor should you have. By the way. 00:14:52.094 --> 00:14:53.129 And it shows up. 00:14:53.129 --> 00:15:02.238 That's why we have a Bible reading plan as a church. By the way, when you're in God's Word, God's word tends to show up. 00:15:02.238 --> 00:15:03.572 When you're in it. 00:15:03.572 --> 00:15:04.440 It's crazy. 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.842 You'll read a verse that day, it'll pop up somewhere else. 00:15:07.842 --> 00:15:09.077 You hadn't read that verse ever. 00:15:09.077 --> 00:15:11.547 You don't think, here it is, here it is again. 00:15:11.547 --> 00:15:12.581 There it is again. 00:15:12.581 --> 00:15:30.600 I can quoted to this person this situation came up over when you're in God's word, God's word tends to show up, be expectant, be looking for him to show up. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:32.033 And so here's what happens. 00:15:32.033 --> 00:15:34.503 He says to them, have you caught any fish? 00:15:35.804 --> 00:15:37.907 Do you have any fish? 00:15:37.907 --> 00:15:50.052 And the funny part about this verse, if you could look at the original language, there's a word for the that goes on the front of that question that if that word is there, it implies the answer will be no. 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:56.893 So it's kind of like, if I were to ask it this way, you haven't caught any fish yet, have you? 00:15:56.893 --> 00:15:57.692 Yeah. 00:15:57.692 --> 00:16:01.931 Now, if I'm saying that to another man, he's like questioning his manhood at that point. 00:16:01.931 --> 00:16:02.597 What are you saying? 00:16:02.597 --> 00:16:04.966 That I can't catch fish now? 00:16:04.966 --> 00:16:09.004 I love their answer because this is the answer every fisherman knows to give every time. 00:16:09.004 --> 00:16:10.740 If anybody asks you, are you catch anything? 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:13.375 What do you always say? 00:16:13.375 --> 00:16:14.110 No. 00:16:14.110 --> 00:16:15.544 You say no. 00:16:15.544 --> 00:16:16.678 This is my honey over here. 00:16:16.678 --> 00:16:20.950 I'm not going to let you in on the fact that I'm catching all the fish right here. Nope. 00:16:20.950 --> 00:16:22.085 Nothing happening here. 00:16:22.085 --> 00:16:23.653 Move on to the next spot. 00:16:25.221 --> 00:16:27.956 And so they say no. 00:16:27.956 --> 00:16:30.927 Which is true in this moment. 00:16:31.326 --> 00:16:33.296 And Jesus knows it's true. 00:16:33.296 --> 00:16:42.270 We're not catching anything now, the only thing worse than being asked if you're catching anything when you're not is then be given advice. 00:16:43.105 --> 00:16:46.708 It's for then to someone say, have you tried over there? 00:16:46.708 --> 00:16:51.681 Now, depending on who you are, there's a couple of different ways to react or that depending on how you're wired. 00:16:51.681 --> 00:16:54.683 When I'm asked that, here's my response. 00:16:55.451 --> 00:16:57.486 Thanks. 00:16:57.486 --> 00:17:00.990 And inside, here's what I'm really saying. Go away. 00:17:00.990 --> 00:17:01.990 Leave me alone. 00:17:01.990 --> 00:17:03.793 Mr. know it all. 00:17:03.793 --> 00:17:04.693 Get out of here. 00:17:04.693 --> 00:17:06.229 Trying to tell me what to do. 00:17:06.229 --> 00:17:07.430 Don't you see me fishing? 00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:09.731 I know how to fish. 00:17:09.731 --> 00:17:13.201 And then when they're out of sight, I'll try that spot that they pointed out. 00:17:13.201 --> 00:17:15.070 And if I catch anything, I'll take the credit. 00:17:15.070 --> 00:17:19.075 And I'll secretly despise them for months on in for no one more than me. 00:17:20.276 --> 00:17:22.144 That's one approach, another approach. 00:17:22.144 --> 00:17:23.246 I think you see the other way. 00:17:23.246 --> 00:17:25.914 If someone asked my wife, Julie, that very thing, I'd be counting thing. 00:17:25.914 --> 00:17:26.982 No. Have you tried over there? 00:17:26.982 --> 00:17:28.384 Here's her response. 00:17:28.384 --> 00:17:30.385 Thank you. 00:17:30.385 --> 00:17:33.690 And she means it, by the way, and she'll try that spot right away. 00:17:33.690 --> 00:17:34.590 She'll catch a fish. 00:17:34.590 --> 00:17:38.428 They'll celebrate together, become best friends, posted on social media. 00:17:38.428 --> 00:17:43.132 Probably start a whole campaign that goes viral about catching fish for inner city children or something. 00:17:43.132 --> 00:17:46.134 Turn it into this huge, great thing. 00:17:46.935 --> 00:17:48.037 Now you see the difference there. 00:17:48.037 --> 00:17:50.240 One is teachable, approachable. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:18:01.518 One is looking for wisdom and insight and help open to hearing expectant, expecting to hear. 00:18:02.184 --> 00:18:03.185 What shocks me? 00:18:03.185 --> 00:18:05.721 Hear. 00:18:05.721 --> 00:18:09.125 Is the way the disciples respond in this moment. 00:18:09.125 --> 00:18:13.896 You're being called children pointed out that you can't catch fish and then given advice. 00:18:13.896 --> 00:18:15.731 Oh man. 00:18:15.731 --> 00:18:17.166 And look at how they respond. 00:18:18.434 --> 00:18:24.473 Cast the net to the right side of the boat and you will find some. 00:18:24.473 --> 00:18:25.974 Here's what they do. 00:18:25.974 --> 00:18:28.978 So they cast it. 00:18:31.213 --> 00:18:34.483 Immediate no questions asked. 00:18:34.483 --> 00:18:36.118 No complaining. 00:18:36.118 --> 00:18:39.990 No bowing up about you questioning my manhood. 00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:41.857 How dare you tell me where to fish? 00:18:41.857 --> 00:18:43.292 None of that. 00:18:43.292 --> 00:18:44.661 They cast it. 00:18:44.661 --> 00:18:47.663 Immediate obedience. 00:18:48.698 --> 00:18:51.701 I love that. 00:18:53.002 --> 00:18:57.973 Now let me ask first before we talk about what that means for us. 00:18:57.973 --> 00:19:04.280 Why do you think it is that they were so quick to obey just this? 00:19:04.280 --> 00:19:05.147 Yes, Lord. 00:19:05.147 --> 00:19:07.217 You said here. 00:19:07.217 --> 00:19:07.917 Maybe not, Lord. 00:19:07.917 --> 00:19:10.252 They didn't know yet who he was. 00:19:10.252 --> 00:19:10.987 Yes. 00:19:10.987 --> 00:19:13.990 Here, I'll try. 00:19:14.557 --> 00:19:16.192 As I've thought about this, I've thought about my own life. 00:19:16.192 --> 00:19:24.901 And I think sometimes, in fact, I'm going to put this up on the screen because it summarizes a lot. 00:19:24.901 --> 00:19:31.240 Sometimes you have to go through loss and failure to be open to hearing from God. 00:19:32.875 --> 00:19:34.443 God, why did you allow this to happen? 00:19:34.443 --> 00:19:40.650 I'm not saying every time, by the way, you've probably been through some horrible stuff that didn't make any sense. 00:19:40.650 --> 00:19:45.055 I get that, but sometimes you got to go through that. 00:19:45.055 --> 00:19:46.490 I'm going my own path. 00:19:46.490 --> 00:19:52.429 I'm trying it my own way to be open to hearing from him, for my heart to be tender to him. 00:19:52.461 --> 00:19:55.198 I tried that that didn't work. 00:19:55.198 --> 00:19:58.667 Okay. Lord, what do you have for me now? 00:19:58.667 --> 00:20:01.671 I really would like to hear from you now. 00:20:02.672 --> 00:20:11.847 Would they have reacted the same way if they had just been reeling them in, or netting them in one after another, over and over? Who's that guy? 00:20:11.847 --> 00:20:13.349 I don't know, who cares? 00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.618 I can't even hear him because of all of the sound of the fish. 00:20:15.618 --> 00:20:16.118 Who cares? 00:20:17.354 --> 00:20:20.891 Would they have been open to hearing from him? 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:23.993 All night? 00:20:23.993 --> 00:20:25.695 Nothing. 00:20:25.695 --> 00:20:27.763 Yes. We're desperate. 00:20:27.763 --> 00:20:30.767 Would you please speak to us? 00:20:30.834 --> 00:20:35.771 I think what we see in this is the second way to be waiting. 00:20:35.771 --> 00:20:38.775 Well, is to be obedient. 00:20:39.509 --> 00:20:41.345 Have the posture of obedience. 00:20:41.345 --> 00:20:42.578 Have in your mindset. 00:20:42.578 --> 00:20:45.615 When God speaks, I want to be ready to obey. 00:20:45.615 --> 00:20:47.483 I want to be ready to do what he says. 00:20:47.483 --> 00:20:51.821 I want to be ready to jump in, to dive in, to be a part of him moving. 00:20:51.821 --> 00:20:56.993 I'm looking for him to move, and I'm ready to say yes. 00:20:58.028 --> 00:21:00.329 I'm ready to watch him move. 00:21:00.329 --> 00:21:05.935 I'm ready to be a part of him doing something great. 00:21:06.303 --> 00:21:07.136 Be looking for him. 00:21:07.136 --> 00:21:10.473 Be searching for him, and be ready to obey. 00:21:10.473 --> 00:21:11.974 Be obedient. 00:21:11.974 --> 00:21:19.650 Now, there's an interesting interaction here that happens when John and Peter notice what has happened. 00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:22.653 So look back here in the passage. 00:21:22.685 --> 00:21:23.420 They cast it. 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:26.423 They haul it in a great quantity of fish. 00:21:26.789 --> 00:21:29.292 And then John and Peter both show up. 00:21:29.292 --> 00:21:37.134 Verse seven, that disciple whom Jesus loved, we've talked about before that that's John describing himself in that third person. 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:44.173 The author of this book, that disciple whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, it is the Lord. 00:21:45.142 --> 00:21:54.218 When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, threw himself into the sea. 00:21:54.218 --> 00:22:00.656 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far off from the land, but about 100 yards off. 00:22:00.656 --> 00:22:09.365 What I appreciate about this interaction you see between John and Peter, and we've seen them in different places already, and how they tend to approach things differently. 00:22:09.365 --> 00:22:12.769 I think they typify oftentimes different personality. 00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:22.846 As you might see in church, you have the think first person, the perceived first person, and then you have the act first person. 00:22:23.446 --> 00:22:26.083 One goes, I got to think this all the way through before we do anything. 00:22:26.083 --> 00:22:27.417 The other says, well, let's just get going. 00:22:27.417 --> 00:22:29.486 We'll figure it out later. 00:22:29.486 --> 00:22:31.989 In fact, I bet there's some of each of you in this room. 00:22:31.989 --> 00:22:34.223 Who's the act? First, I'm going to act. 00:22:34.223 --> 00:22:36.226 We'll figure it out later. 00:22:36.226 --> 00:22:37.795 We'll figure out what to do. 00:22:37.795 --> 00:22:38.162 Okay? 00:22:38.162 --> 00:22:40.096 These are the people causing problems in the church. 00:22:40.096 --> 00:22:43.099 Just look around. 00:22:43.567 --> 00:22:44.934 now, what about the think first? 00:22:44.934 --> 00:22:46.703 Man, I got to see this all the way through. 00:22:46.703 --> 00:22:50.540 And then maybe after I've thought about it a long time, I might raise my hand. 00:22:50.540 --> 00:22:52.875 I'm not sure yet I wasn't. 00:22:52.875 --> 00:22:55.278 Okay, okay, let me just ask this too. 00:22:55.278 --> 00:22:59.884 By the way, who, as you were doing that, realized I'm married to the person opposite of me. 00:22:59.884 --> 00:23:02.219 How do we see any of those? 00:23:02.219 --> 00:23:03.686 I'll raise my hand. 00:23:03.686 --> 00:23:06.155 These are the people to put on your prayer list. By the way. 00:23:07.223 --> 00:23:10.227 For the next decade, probably. 00:23:10.227 --> 00:23:10.728 Yeah. 00:23:10.728 --> 00:23:15.932 Look, what's beautiful is both John and Peter are central to the church. 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:17.500 We need both. 00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:22.873 If we only have the act first, people will bankrupt and burn out the whole church right? 00:23:22.873 --> 00:23:27.377 But if we only have to think first, people, we will have the best mission statement. 00:23:27.377 --> 00:23:29.180 It'll be 47 pages long. 00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:31.449 It'll have 133 sub points. 00:23:31.449 --> 00:23:35.085 It'll be done five years from now, and there'll be no one here to read it. 00:23:35.085 --> 00:23:37.488 But we got to have both. 00:23:37.488 --> 00:23:40.490 We got to work together. 00:23:40.723 --> 00:23:42.692 And it's a beautiful part of what's happening here. 00:23:42.692 --> 00:23:45.663 There's the Lord. I'm going. 00:23:45.663 --> 00:23:54.471 It's just a hint at some of what's going on here and in the life of our church and in every church. 00:23:56.807 --> 00:23:58.576 So John and Peter have this interaction. 00:23:58.576 --> 00:24:03.480 We get a hint of some of what the church is like. 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:13.190 Now look at verse nine, because not only did they catch a large number of fish, we're going to see Jesus interact with them in a way that points towards a third way to wait. 00:24:13.190 --> 00:24:18.929 Well, but also we're going to see more symbolism to highlight in this passage. 00:24:18.929 --> 00:24:27.203 So verse nine, when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it, and bread. 00:24:27.203 --> 00:24:31.142 Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have caught. 00:24:31.142 --> 00:24:40.785 So Simon Peter went aboard, hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them, and although there were so many, the net was not torn. 00:24:42.385 --> 00:24:46.324 Jesus said to them, come have breakfast. 00:24:46.390 --> 00:24:51.229 Now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. 00:24:51.229 --> 00:24:53.096 Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them. 00:24:53.096 --> 00:24:55.132 So with the fish. 00:24:55.132 --> 00:25:01.338 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 00:25:01.338 --> 00:25:16.287 First thing to point out here is when Jesus, when they come ashore and Jesus interacts with them and they realize this is the Lord, even though they're fearful that they don't want to kind of bring it up, kind of ruin the moment by asking him or not. 00:25:16.287 --> 00:25:17.154 We know it's the Lord. 00:25:17.154 --> 00:25:18.623 We don't even need to mention it. 00:25:18.623 --> 00:25:22.727 There's fear there, but there's excitement. 00:25:22.794 --> 00:25:29.933 What I love is that Jesus doesn't start out by chastising them for not knowing it was him, or the things they had done wrong. 00:25:30.867 --> 00:25:31.903 Then you know I was coming. 00:25:31.903 --> 00:25:32.502 What's the deal? 00:25:32.502 --> 00:25:34.105 Why weren't you looking for me? 00:25:34.105 --> 00:25:38.576 Come on guys, how many times we got to go over this? 00:25:38.875 --> 00:25:41.645 Now he just says, let's see. 00:25:41.645 --> 00:25:44.281 Come on, let's see. 00:25:44.281 --> 00:25:46.951 Come on guys, come on over. 00:25:46.951 --> 00:25:49.953 I've got some food ready for you. 00:25:50.288 --> 00:25:54.525 And the picture is pointing back to you in a subtle way. 00:25:54.525 --> 00:25:58.128 The feeding of the five thousands, the bread, the fish. 00:25:58.128 --> 00:25:59.696 Here you go. 00:25:59.696 --> 00:26:01.531 I'm at work. 00:26:01.531 --> 00:26:05.036 You can depend on me to multiply, to create. 00:26:05.036 --> 00:26:06.237 You know, this whole. 00:26:06.237 --> 00:26:12.210 This whole story is a big picture of Jesus at work to grow his church. 00:26:12.210 --> 00:26:14.345 It's not about fishing. 00:26:14.345 --> 00:26:15.946 It's not about fish. 00:26:15.946 --> 00:26:19.450 It's not even about Jesus performing miracles. 00:26:19.450 --> 00:26:22.386 It's about how he alone has the power to multiply. 00:26:24.721 --> 00:26:26.790 It's not about our efforts. 00:26:26.790 --> 00:26:28.558 And look, we put forth effort. 00:26:28.558 --> 00:26:29.192 We do. 00:26:29.192 --> 00:26:32.195 But we don't trust in our own efforts. 00:26:32.396 --> 00:26:38.635 You know, as I hesitate to say, this, but I really feel it. 00:26:38.635 --> 00:26:39.436 And I think it's true. 00:26:39.436 --> 00:26:44.875 I feel like God's at work here in some interesting ways. 00:26:44.875 --> 00:26:49.646 I mean, people are joining the church, people are getting baptized, guests are coming. 00:26:49.646 --> 00:26:50.214 I don't. 00:26:50.214 --> 00:26:52.717 And by the way, we work hard. 00:26:52.717 --> 00:26:58.423 Staff, elders, ministry leaders, volunteers, we we do work hard. 00:26:58.423 --> 00:27:07.999 But my hope is and I really think it's the case that we don't put our trust in our own efforts, because if the Holy Spirit doesn't show up, it doesn't matter. 00:27:08.066 --> 00:27:10.701 He is the one who multiplies and Jesus is showing them. 00:27:10.701 --> 00:27:15.773 This year you tried all night. Good luck in an instant. 00:27:15.773 --> 00:27:17.474 Fish overwhelming. 00:27:17.474 --> 00:27:20.478 Fish abundant abundantly. 00:27:21.679 --> 00:27:26.584 I think the third way we wait well is just to be present. 00:27:26.584 --> 00:27:28.853 Be present. 00:27:28.853 --> 00:27:30.288 Be in his midst. 00:27:30.288 --> 00:27:31.855 Be near him. 00:27:31.855 --> 00:27:33.892 God, I'm expecting you to show up. 00:27:33.892 --> 00:27:35.426 How do I get closer to you? 00:27:35.426 --> 00:27:37.327 How can I be near you? 00:27:37.327 --> 00:27:38.762 You may feel distant. 00:27:38.762 --> 00:27:40.932 How can I grow closer to you? 00:27:40.932 --> 00:27:41.965 I got to be in your word. 00:27:41.965 --> 00:27:42.967 I got to be in community. 00:27:42.967 --> 00:27:45.769 I got to be around people who are pursuing you. 00:27:45.769 --> 00:27:47.105 So that I can be close to you. 00:27:47.105 --> 00:27:51.476 Be present with him as best you can in the midst of the waiting. 00:27:51.476 --> 00:27:52.711 Be looking, be searching. 00:27:52.711 --> 00:27:55.713 Be present. 00:27:56.413 --> 00:28:00.117 Now, this number 153, we're going to talk about it for a second. 00:28:00.117 --> 00:28:03.121 And. 00:28:04.189 --> 00:28:06.590 There's a lot of different directions I could go with this. 00:28:06.590 --> 00:28:09.661 Some see this number and they go, look, this is just like fishermen. 00:28:09.661 --> 00:28:11.096 They're going to count their fish. 00:28:11.096 --> 00:28:11.895 Exactly. 00:28:11.895 --> 00:28:12.830 It's not 100. 00:28:12.830 --> 00:28:14.965 It's not about 150. 00:28:14.965 --> 00:28:20.204 Actually, if these were real fishermen, they would have said just under 200 probably at that point. Right. 00:28:22.641 --> 00:28:25.210 153 such a specific number. 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:26.845 We know John loves numbers. 00:28:26.845 --> 00:28:28.913 We have the seven iambs. 00:28:28.913 --> 00:28:32.049 We have the seven signs, the six water pots. 00:28:32.049 --> 00:28:32.817 He loves numbers. 00:28:32.817 --> 00:28:33.718 He loves symbolism. 00:28:33.718 --> 00:28:37.521 There's so much symbolism and structure all throughout the book of John. 00:28:37.521 --> 00:28:43.461 I'm just going to take a stab at one potential meaning of significance with this. 00:28:43.461 --> 00:28:46.463 Number 153 it might be a stretch. 00:28:47.065 --> 00:28:50.902 I'm saying that on the front end so you can decide. 00:28:50.902 --> 00:28:53.337 Let me tell you, this rabbit hole goes deep fast. 00:28:53.337 --> 00:28:55.640 When you start to read some of the studies on this number. 00:28:55.640 --> 00:29:13.325 If you want more, I can give you a chapter out, a whole chapter out of a book just on this number 153 and some of what it may mean, but we have to start by just realizing and understanding that every word of Hebrew or Greek also has a number value to it. 00:29:13.325 --> 00:29:15.961 It's based on the letter order of the alphabet. 00:29:15.961 --> 00:29:19.730 Then each letter gets a number, each word can get a number. 00:29:19.730 --> 00:29:23.969 And there's kind of this art and study of what are the numbers meaning behind it. 00:29:23.969 --> 00:29:34.945 And before we look at that, the first thing I always try to look for in Scripture is when I see a story or I see a teaching or I see idea, where else does it show up in Scripture, something like it, something similar. 00:29:35.946 --> 00:29:43.454 And the image here is of God multiplying his people through his power to bless the world. 00:29:43.454 --> 00:29:46.458 And the context is water and fish. 00:29:47.692 --> 00:29:50.695 Now there's some places we could look for similarities. 00:29:50.695 --> 00:29:56.500 There's one in particular, though, turning the Old Testament to Ezekiel chapter 47. 00:29:57.402 --> 00:29:59.837 We're going to examine this briefly. 00:29:59.837 --> 00:30:03.174 Ezekiel is in the prophetic section of the Old Testament. 00:30:03.174 --> 00:30:06.144 If you have a church Bible, it's page 688. 00:30:06.144 --> 00:30:20.925 It's after Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, limitations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and that whole section after Psalms and Ezekiel is pointing forward to a day when the Messiah has come and God has set up his reign on earth. 00:30:20.925 --> 00:30:25.497 And in fact, in chapter 47, there's a new temple that's been established. 00:30:25.497 --> 00:30:30.134 And the new temple, looking at verse one of chapter 47. 00:30:32.203 --> 00:30:36.040 The new temple from it is flowing water. 00:30:36.174 --> 00:30:43.115 In fact, thinking back to Jesus aside and blood and water, we talked a little bit about this out of the side of the temple comes water. 00:30:43.115 --> 00:30:49.755 It pointed us back to John chapter seven, where he says, from your innermost beings that word can also be translated. 00:30:49.755 --> 00:30:55.359 Side will flow rivers of living water, emphasizing the Holy Spirit. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:57.829 Like I said, lots of layers of symbolism here. 00:30:57.829 --> 00:31:00.632 So that's happening in chapter 47 to enter it. 00:31:00.632 --> 00:31:05.503 But then God takes Ezekiel and walks him down. 00:31:05.503 --> 00:31:17.215 The river, follows the trickle of water, and it goes from a trickle to a creek to a stream, to a river flowing to the ocean. 00:31:17.215 --> 00:31:18.517 And look at how it's described here. 00:31:18.517 --> 00:31:29.894 Look at verses nine and ten, and wherever the river goes, this river of life that's coming from the center of the temple, flowing out to bring life to all the world wherever it goes. 00:31:29.894 --> 00:31:36.669 Every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. 00:31:36.669 --> 00:31:43.008 For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh, so everything will live. 00:31:43.008 --> 00:31:45.310 Wherever the river goes. 00:31:45.310 --> 00:31:48.446 Fishermen will stand beside the sea from and get into. 00:31:48.446 --> 00:31:52.417 In that gleam it will be a place for the spreading of nets. 00:31:52.417 --> 00:31:57.489 Its fish will be a very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea. 00:31:57.990 --> 00:32:01.826 Okay, symbolically this fits with what's happening. 00:32:01.826 --> 00:32:03.796 Watch me multiply. 00:32:03.796 --> 00:32:05.931 Watch me spread. 00:32:05.931 --> 00:32:08.834 Watch me bless the world. 00:32:08.834 --> 00:32:11.836 Rivers of life flowing. 00:32:12.037 --> 00:32:13.204 The number 153. The. 00:32:13.204 --> 00:32:15.507 Let me show you at least one person. 00:32:15.507 --> 00:32:19.178 A couple of different people that I read saw it showing up here in a very specific way. 00:32:19.178 --> 00:32:28.453 So if you take those two names in Getty and then Liam, you take off the word in because that means spring of spring of Getty, spring of them. 00:32:29.922 --> 00:32:30.088 Okay. 00:32:30.088 --> 00:32:30.923 Just look at this. 00:32:30.923 --> 00:32:32.458 The word Liam, you counted up. 00:32:32.458 --> 00:32:35.461 It's 153. 00:32:36.694 --> 00:32:37.363 Coincidental. 00:32:37.363 --> 00:32:39.230 Probably. Maybe. Possibly. 00:32:39.230 --> 00:32:42.233 But then the word Getty is 17. 00:32:42.433 --> 00:32:46.704 If you do the math on it, on what that word means. Why is 17 significant? 00:32:46.704 --> 00:32:49.208 Well, 17 is the triangle of 153. 00:32:49.208 --> 00:32:52.211 That's if you I've kind of put it up there to spell it out. 00:32:52.211 --> 00:33:04.056 Sorry to bring up math this early in the week, but if you add up each number within that number of 17, one plus three all the way up to 17, you add those up together, you end up with the number 153. 00:33:04.056 --> 00:33:07.425 Now, maybe that's coincidental, right? 00:33:07.727 --> 00:33:17.502 It's certainly possible, but given the context of the story and what's happening here, I'm going to put up this quote on the screen from Don Carson in one of the commentaries I read. 00:33:18.738 --> 00:33:19.538 Here's the conclusion. 00:33:19.538 --> 00:33:30.750 The numbers represent places where, in the time of fulfillment of messianic hopes, gospel fishermen are to spread their nets. 00:33:30.750 --> 00:33:32.617 You see the connection here? 00:33:32.617 --> 00:33:33.285 Yeah. 00:33:33.285 --> 00:33:40.692 Oh, we remember that happening in the Old Testament, and it's being fulfilled here today. 00:33:40.692 --> 00:33:43.695 The disciples see that here today. 00:33:44.096 --> 00:33:47.066 It's being fulfilled. 00:33:49.268 --> 00:33:54.006 What does this mean for us as we seek to follow Christ? 00:33:54.406 --> 00:34:01.346 What does this mean for those who want to watch him work in your lives? 00:34:01.346 --> 00:34:05.284 I think pretty simply, it just means to be expectant. 00:34:05.284 --> 00:34:11.157 Be looking for him to move in your life. 00:34:12.925 --> 00:34:17.864 Be trusting that he will move, hoping that he will move. 00:34:17.864 --> 00:34:20.065 Longing for him to move. 00:34:20.065 --> 00:34:24.302 Assuming in his timing he's going to move. 00:34:24.302 --> 00:34:27.306 Be present and move toward him. 00:34:27.873 --> 00:34:35.715 It'll be passively just waiting for him to show up, move toward him, and then when he moves, be obedient. 00:34:35.715 --> 00:34:37.550 Be obedient. Yes, Lord. 00:34:37.550 --> 00:34:38.284 Right away. 00:34:38.284 --> 00:34:39.786 Yes, whatever you say. 00:34:39.786 --> 00:34:42.789 Yes. 00:34:43.289 --> 00:34:45.657 I had a friend who served in missions. 00:34:45.657 --> 00:34:50.862 He served in Africa, in this remote part of Africa, built his own house. 00:34:51.197 --> 00:34:54.333 It was cooler to sleep outside than inside the house. 00:34:54.333 --> 00:34:56.936 So hot there it was so remote. 00:34:56.936 --> 00:34:58.971 No plumbing, no running water. 00:34:58.971 --> 00:35:13.286 In fact, it was pretty much understood across the community that you don't touch items at the market with your left hand because they didn't have toilet paper, and everyone understood what the left hand was for. 00:35:13.286 --> 00:35:18.123 This is the kind of area he lived in, and he was learning. 00:35:18.123 --> 00:35:22.494 The language means translating the Bible into a language no one had ever translated in before. 00:35:22.494 --> 00:35:24.563 He's creating lessons for Bible study. 00:35:24.563 --> 00:35:35.675 He's investing, investing, starting a business so that he can mentor guys who are working for him, invest in their lives, and they're seeing so little fruit. 00:35:36.476 --> 00:35:39.378 By the way, there are seasons where God's not moving. 00:35:39.378 --> 00:35:42.882 That doesn't mean you're in sin sometimes. 00:35:42.882 --> 00:35:44.983 Who knows what he's doing? 00:35:44.983 --> 00:35:46.619 And he kept asking, Lord, do you want us here? 00:35:46.619 --> 00:35:48.086 Are we in the right place? 00:35:48.086 --> 00:35:50.188 It doesn't seem like much is happening. 00:35:50.188 --> 00:35:51.657 Yes. Stay. 00:35:51.657 --> 00:35:54.059 Yes. Be faithful. 00:35:54.059 --> 00:35:59.831 You never know in the moment what he might do decades from now because of seeds you planted. 00:36:00.632 --> 00:36:09.041 But there came a day he started to see that one of his children were really struggling, really struggling. 00:36:09.041 --> 00:36:12.077 And it became obvious it was time for them to go. 00:36:12.077 --> 00:36:14.179 It was time for them to come back. 00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:17.282 And so he came back to the States and we met. 00:36:17.282 --> 00:36:31.364 We had been a part of their ministry helping to contribute, help to send them overseas, always interested in what God was doing in his life, but having served in missions as well, I had a burning question for him and I knew it might be a little rude to ask him, but I wanted to ask anyway. 00:36:31.364 --> 00:36:33.298 I felt like, God, I'm really curious. 00:36:35.268 --> 00:36:39.072 Do you feel like a failure for that? 00:36:41.306 --> 00:36:45.344 We didn't see much fruit and now we're coming back before we saw revival break out. 00:36:45.344 --> 00:36:47.579 Do you feel like a failure? 00:36:47.579 --> 00:36:51.583 Wondering if you did what God wanted you to do. 00:36:52.585 --> 00:37:01.293 And he said, John, I knew that God had us in Africa for that season, and that was my ministry. 00:37:01.293 --> 00:37:03.429 That was my mission. 00:37:03.429 --> 00:37:08.400 And then and all at once, it became clear that my mission is now my son. 00:37:09.969 --> 00:37:11.170 Yes, Lord. 00:37:11.170 --> 00:37:14.039 I'll go. 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:18.143 Is Africa better mission field then your own children? 00:37:18.311 --> 00:37:20.914 Where's he called you. 00:37:20.914 --> 00:37:24.985 And he said I had to obey. 00:37:24.985 --> 00:37:26.052 I love on my son. 00:37:26.052 --> 00:37:27.753 I got to care for him in this season. 00:37:27.753 --> 00:37:29.289 And I know that's where God has me. 00:37:29.289 --> 00:37:32.057 Now be expectant. 00:37:32.057 --> 00:37:33.425 Be looking for him to move. 00:37:33.425 --> 00:37:37.197 Be trusting that he wants to guide you and be ready to obey. 00:37:38.565 --> 00:37:41.034 To join in what he's doing. 00:37:41.034 --> 00:37:41.568 Let's pray.