WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:02.720 You can take a seat. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.120 So today's a big Sunday. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.080 You probably don't realize that, and maybe you haven't been with us a long time. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:14.000 For those of us that have been here for uh 13 months, it's a big Sunday. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.960 Is anybody realizing what this morning is? 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:28.000 It is the 47th sermon, the final sermon of the book of John that we have been going through for 13 months. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:32.240 I mean, the final chapter, the final story, the final sermon. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.240 Some of you thought it would never end. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:42.159 I mean, some of you thought we were going to be in that upper room around that table forever because I took eight sermons or something just there. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:54.240 But we are at the end of this, and so Jesus has died, Jesus has resurrected, he has shown himself to disciples, and then this group of disciples, they head from Jerusalem and they head back north to Galilee. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:55.840 And they're around the Sea of Galilee. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:04.159 So if you picture a very dry area, a big don't picture a sea, picture a big lake, is what you should picture. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.680 A huge lake and mountains all around it. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.000 And don't you just wonder what these guys were talking about about the journey up there? 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:17.120 I mean, imagine the emotional volatility that has occurred in the past couple weeks of these guys. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.879 I mean, they're thinking at one point that Jesus is sort of going to take over the country. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.439 He's going to take over Israel. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:38.640 And then that kind of is devastated, and then they see their friend, they see their teacher beaten, and they see him crucified, and then they're on the run because they're scared and they bail on him, and then they're locked, they're locking themselves in a room, and then he shows up, and then he's alive, and he was dead. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.640 I mean, can you imagine all that's going on inside of them? 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.879 And is anybody voicing that on the on the journey up to the galley? 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.560 I don't know if anybody's like willing to go there and talk about any of this. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:57.040 But they're up there and then at some point they decide they're going to go out fishing. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.400 Now, we don't know if they decide to go out fishing for economic reasons. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.040 We don't know if they just went out fishing because they're hungry. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:08.000 We don't know if they they went out fishing because they're returning to their old way of life. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:12.960 But what we do know from this story is we get this sense of aimlessness. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:18.080 We get this feeling of they're just kind of lacking purpose here. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:20.080 And they really shouldn't be. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:24.159 I mean, they in Matthew, we read, Jesus was very clear with them. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.400 You know, you should be making disciples and baptizing, going into all nations. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.439 I mean, he called them and said, You're gonna be fishers of men. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:39.599 I mean, he told them what to do, you know, to carry this story to the next town and the next town, the next tribe, the next language, and the next culture. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:43.199 And yet here they are in their fishing. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:47.759 Now, mind you, there's nothing wrong with fishing where I'm from, it's fishing, so we'll just call it fishing from the rest of the way out. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.400 I'm not gonna go all the way and say fishing, it's fishing. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.840 And so they were fishing. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:56.479 But we get this sense that it's a lot more than fishing. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:02:57.680 Right? 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:03.039 I mean, it's this question going on inside of them, like, how are we supposed to do what he asked us to do? 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:08.719 And maybe for us it's this question of sort of like, what are we supposed to do with our lives? 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:11.520 What is it we're supposed to do? 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:18.080 And so in John 21, we read that they have been out fishing all night. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.199 I once went fishing with my friend Tyler. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:23.280 We went fishing behind Regina Conway's house. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:29.520 Regina's daddy was the sheriff, and we went fishing in the pond behind her house in a little John boat, and I think Josh Thomas was there. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.400 We fished for like an hour and a half, and I caught nothing, and I was so frustrated. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:36.000 An hour and a half of fishing. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:43.680 I think I fished like twice in my life, and that was one of them, behind Regina's house for an hour and a half, caught nothing, so frustrated. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.639 These guys have been out there all night. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:49.759 And this was the thing they're supposed to be good at. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:55.439 Like, if I can't do anything else, at least I can fish. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:02.800 And they're coming up empty, nothing, sitting, hoping, waiting, nothing. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:07.599 And maybe you're here, you know this feeling, right? 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:13.199 Like, like, at least I should be good at this, and even that's kind of falling apart on you. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:25.920 And so they're so desperate, they take a word from a guy on a beach and they don't even know who it is about what they should be doing, and they're the professional fishermen. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.600 And so let's just jump into the story in verse 4. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:34.800 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:38.079 He called out to them, Friends, haven't you any fish? 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.000 No, they answered. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:42.000 Humiliating answer, right? 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.360 He said, Jesus said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:52.160 And when they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.480 They're just covered in fish. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.959 And like a lot of relief, right? 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:58.480 Finally. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.279 It's been all night. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:12.160 And they've been trying to provide by their own means on that left side of the boat for so long, and finally a word from outside came, and they cast the net on the right side, and finally some relief. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.480 And so we have two sides of the boat. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:23.199 We have this left side, which is by we're going to look at the rest of the sermon, is identity and purpose by means of yourself. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:26.879 Like self-realization, self-creation. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:28.480 It is a way of demand. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:35.920 And then you have this right side of the boat, which comes from a word from outside from Jesus, from God's grace to you. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:47.759 And it is identity and purpose by way of Jesus' word spoken to you, and this is the way of grace and the way of God's provision for you for identity and for purpose. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:49.040 Verse 7. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.839 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:00.480 As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:06.959 And that's interesting because for us, when we swim, we take clothes off, but he's put it on and jumped into the water. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:20.480 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards, and when they landed, they saw a fire burning, co fire-burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:23.759 Peter just goes for it. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:27.040 Like so I mean, that's pretty desperate. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:40.319 I mean, that's a pretty desperate place where you just so much don't know what to do that you just you just go overboard to s to swim, and you gotta get there as soon as you possibly can. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:51.920 I mean, so Peter, this is just a feeling that Peter's been so scattered and feeling aimless and just needing um needing Jesus. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:55.600 Anybody been there? 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:17.040 Right, where you feel so feel so scattered or kind of broken or fragmented inside of yourself, um with your your grades or what degree you're gonna get or your job or your family or children, you're so fragmented, you're so scattered, and so inept in some degree, and you just you need him, you need that outside word. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:28.800 And so Peter is making his way straight to Jesus, and then Jesus said to them, they get up on the shore, bring some fish you have just caught. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.560 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and he dragged the net ashore. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.319 It was full of large fish, 153. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:40.160 But even with so many that the net was not torn. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.199 So ultimately, these patches about purpose. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:44.720 I've been thinking about this all week. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:47.759 Uh, earlier this week, I went and visited my grandmother, Granny. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.040 Granny's been here a few times. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.720 You've you've probably seen her. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:57.199 Um, and so she had a heart issue of maybe six weeks ago, and so she went from her sister living into a nursing home. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.360 So she's been at the nursing home for the last six weeks or two months, somewhere around there. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.959 So I went to visit her. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.959 And so when I went to visit her, uh so fantastic of an experience because she wasn't up in her room. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:24.720 Um, you know, she wasn't like there's a lot of people you get there, and most of them are in wheelchairs, and they're just they're sitting in the wheelchair and they just sort of shuffle their feet to maneuver around and they're going up and down the halls and they're like hanging out, talking to each other, or a relative's there, and they sit outside and chat. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:31.199 And uh Granny was in the beauty salon, and so I walk in and she's under the helmet dryer. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:39.519 I don't know what it's called, maybe it's just called a dryer, but it's a helmet, the thing that comes down, and she's under she has her rollers in and then she's getting her nails done. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:54.080 And I sit in there with her and we talk for a while, you know, and just being there and talking to her for an hour or so, and we walked around, I pushed her around, and we went, sat outside, and you're watching everybody kind of meander around. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:09:04.879 And it just started thinking about purpose, and I started thinking about, you know, it was probably about a year ago we went through her condo, and and we had to clean the place out. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:13.679 Like, I mean, everything that she had worked so hard to accumulate was now being sold and given away. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:16.480 I mean, a lot, a lot given away. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:23.440 Every person there, almost all their stuff's been given away. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.240 There's probably bank accounts, and the number goes up and down, and all of that will be given away. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.039 And probably some of them still have homes somewhere else or something like that, and that house will be given away. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:34.879 Right? 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:35.919 I mean, we know it, right? 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.639 Like no no hearse has a U-Haul behind it. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:39.840 Doesn't happen. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:49.039 I I will leave everything, everything I'm working so hard to accumulate and to have, I will leave it all behind. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:58.159 And I know that, but I mean you get somewhere like that, and and these people are so close and they've already given away pretty much everything, and it's just so clear. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:01.679 Here's my point. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.440 You should you should make money. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:13.440 You should build businesses, you should make art, you should, you should earn a degree, you should have a nice house. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:18.720 I mean, you should be a raging success for the glory of the one who gave you abilities. 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:20.559 Great. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:21.519 Do it. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:22.799 Please, do it. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:25.039 For the kingdom, you know, do it. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:30.320 Um but the accumulation, all of that cannot be your purpose. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:32.240 It's not enough. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.440 It's like fishing off of the left side of the boat. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:50.000 But when we fish from the word spoken to us and we begin to cast nets on the right side of the boat, and I'll begin to kind of break that down here as we go through the passage, everything changes. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:50.879 That's point number one. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.320 Point number one is our purpose is about our identity. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.960 We tend to think of it the other way around. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:01.600 Um, that we try to think about it as well, our purpose is about what we do. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:04.399 Well, our purpose is not really about what we do. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:08.159 A purpose is what we do, but that is rooted in our identity. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.840 Our purpose is about our identity. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:13.759 That's where it comes from. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:17.679 Because understanding who you are births what you do. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.799 It births at what you want to do, it bursts what you want to do with your life. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:27.679 And so if we jump back to that beach and the disciples are there and they're gathered around that fire, and Peter's probably, he's probably looking in that fire. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:30.720 And in the book of John, there's two fires over coals. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.120 This one, and then the one, there was another one. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.960 And Jesus had just gotten taken captive. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:47.519 And they're questioning him, and he's about to be persecuted and beaten and crucified, and Peter's there, and hey, hey, hey, aren't you one of his followers? 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.840 And he's warming himself around this fire, and hey, and he's looking into those coals. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:52.879 Aren't you one of his followers? 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:54.480 No, I'm not, I'm not one of his followers. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.240 Hey, aren't you one of his followers? 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:56.720 No. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:11:59.519 No, aren't you one of his followers? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:00.639 No, I'm not. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:05.440 And now he's around another fire. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:20.159 And here Jesus is with him, sitting with the most volatile screw-ups of the disciples who denied him, who bailed on him at the most crucial moment, and we begin to get this conversation. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:28.879 So Peter being aimless, not sure what to do with purpose, and the conversation doesn't go straight into like, let me give you the list of things to do. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:34.240 The conversation is about what he should do, but there's this underlying stuff going on about who he is. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:35.840 So let's look at this conversation. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.200 Verse 15. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:43.919 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.639 Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.720 Jesus said, Feed my lambs. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.320 Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.440 He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.519 Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:01.039 So clearly there's a connection here between loving Jesus and loving people. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.759 Jesus is clearly communicating this. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.159 Third time. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.279 Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.360 Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him this third time. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.720 And maybe he was hurt because he remembered those three denials. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:18.960 Do you love me? 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.919 Lord, you know all things. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:25.039 You know that I love you. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:26.960 Jesus said, Feed my sheep. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.600 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:39.679 But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:44.080 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:46.879 Then he said to him, Follow me. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.559 So the first part was our purpose is about our identity. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:51.360 That's where it's rooted. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.120 Our second is this, and this is a long point. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.440 I couldn't whittle it down, so I'll just read it twice. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:07.039 It's this Jesus doesn't create purpose in Peter by demanding change in him before loving him, but rather by loving him and then leading him into change. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:08.480 It's pretty important to realize. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:09.840 I'll read it again. 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:22.159 Jesus doesn't create purpose in Peter by demanding change in him before loving him, but rather by loving him and then leading him into change. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:26.320 This is the difference between the message of the gospel and the message of religion. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:44.480 Like moralistic do better religion is about this imprisoning, and it is about if you do enough, if you can climb up this hill to this temple of God, if you can do that and get yourself pretty righteous on your own, then we will welcome you in. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:15:00.720 Christian faith is that Jesus is down on the shore waiting for this beaten-up, aimless Peter, the one who denied him to swim and struggle ashore so he can have a conversation with him. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:08.960 Jesus kept calling Peter Simon. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:16.399 In John 1, uh Jesus is the one who gave Simon this nickname, Peter, which means the rock. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.480 Which is kind of ironic, right? 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:26.159 I mean, he gave a nickname to the kind of the wimpy disciple who keeps screwing up. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.480 He gave him this nickname of the rock. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:39.360 And Jesus would call Simon, he would call him Peter, like sort of calling him like, like, I know you're so much more than what you are right now, and sort of declaring this word over him. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:50.480 It is powerful to receive a name over you that you did not deserve. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.960 And maybe you've here you're here, you've never had anybody whisper a name over you. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:58.000 Right? 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:03.360 Like with my little girls, I love to, I'll tell them like I have a secret for them, say, come here, I have a secret for you. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:11.279 And they'll come up and I'll just whisper in their ear, like, you know, I'll say, You are you are lovely, you are clever, you are brave. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.399 Maybe you didn't grow up with that. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.799 It is powerful to receive that. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:25.840 And maybe you're here and you're just trying to like kind of like shed and shake off the names you were called. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:36.080 And you're trying to replace the name you were called by fishing off that left side of the boat, and it's not, nothing's coming in. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.600 See, the name you receive's gotta come from the shore. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.360 It's gotta come from Jesus declaring it over you. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:54.559 And that is powerful because the one who created you has the ability to proclaim over you a name that you are even before you become it. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:03.120 And isn't it good news to know we are beloved to God before we deserve to be beloved? 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.960 Because our sin was put on Jesus and his righteousness was put on us. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.960 So we are righteous before we are righteous, we are perfect before we are perfect. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:12.480 This is amazing. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:21.279 And so we get Jesus on this beach, sort of calling Peter out, like he's he's he's saying, like, feed my lambs, like here's what I want you to do with your life. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:25.839 So he's giving them purpose, but at the same time, he's rem he's reminding him of his identity. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:31.519 And every time he calls him Simon, Peter's going, God, would he call me Peter? 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.680 I wish he would call me Peter. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:39.119 And it's just Jesus kind of slightly saying, Man, you're you're being your old self. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:40.400 This isn't who you are. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.240 Isn't it amazing? 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.319 This is the turning point for Peter. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:18:01.680 And all of a sudden, uh he becomes this bold force in the rest of the New Testament story where he preaches and he builds churches and he writes books, and all of a sudden you're going, is how is that that guy? 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.319 Like how how can it be the same guy? 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.960 And it's because Jesus loved him and led him into change. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:21.359 Unto the point of what this is talking about here in verses uh 18, where it talks about, see, Peter went on to die a death of crucifixion in Rome under Nero in AD 64. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:23.839 The one who denied. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:27.839 Point number three. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.440 This has to do with Peter, it has to do with me, it has to do with you. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:42.240 When the toil of identity begins to be at rest in the grace of God, you are free to fish with a new purpose. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:51.440 See, if you're not at rest in the grace of God, you will continue to fish to build your own identity, and it taints all sorts of stuff. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:07.039 But when your identity is at rest in who you are as God's child, it frees you then to go into work and to have schoolwork and to have friends and athletics and art and whatever your pursuit is, it frees you to do it. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:26.799 And maybe you say, What you don't know me, like I'm an accountant, I'm a teacher, I change oil down at Poppy's car wash, and you say, I'm not really good in anything, I don't, I don't know what I could have to contribute, and and maybe you'd say, Um, you know, I'm not true at Cathy, I'm not Billy Graham, I don't have some platform. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:28.160 Maybe you say I'm not Lecrae. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.720 Is anybody keeping up with Lecrae at this point? 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:31.839 Anyone? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:33.599 Like four of us? 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.559 He was on Tonight's show two weeks ago. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.680 I'm not even into hip hop, and I'm excited about this. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:41.440 So he's I'll fill you in. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:58.319 So Lecrae, uh, he's a Christian rapper, or maybe better said, he's a rapper who is a Christian, and he hit number one on billboard and Christian music at the same time, the first time in history this was done. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:02.319 And maybe you look at that and you go, well, I I don't have I don't have that. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:09.519 Like I don't have some fame to be some force of influence in my culture, to be you know, some fisher of men like that. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:12.480 I'm not on, I'm not with Jimmy Fallon, you know, I'm not on the stage with him. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:14.640 I don't I don't have any of that. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:23.279 This week uh in The Atlantic, they wrote an article about Lacrae, in case you were hoping it's not an intellectual subject, it is. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.559 Uh, and here's what Lacrae said in The Atlantic. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:33.200 Everyone's job, everyone's vocation is an extension of their faith and how they see the world. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:35.359 Every job is an act of service. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:41.599 If I was working at a call center collecting debts from people, I would call and try to help them and try to serve them. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:47.440 See, this is about having a greater purpose in the midst of ordinary life. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.319 It's not about all of a sudden you become some radical success or some radical platformer. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.200 Everybody knows your name. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:07.680 It is about that the grace of God has been radical to you in your ordinary life. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:18.799 Who knows what might happen with a story where the grace of God has become radical? 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:21.920 Who knows what happened to that family? 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:22.960 What happened to that person? 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.079 What happened to that couple? 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:25.519 What happened to that neighborhood? 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:26.799 What happened to Marietta? 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.319 What happened there? 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.559 So fine, you're fine, you're ordinary. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:37.440 I'm very ordinary as well. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.480 But the grace of God to you is not. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:55.920 Last Friday night we were at my friend John's house, and uh there's a whole bunch of friends that I grew up with in high school and college, and a lot of us married uh like kind of our friends as we grew up. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:59.759 Like Christy and I went to high school, and several other friends we married, we kind of married friends. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.119 So we all know each other, even the spouses know each other, and there's about 15 little kids running around. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:14.640 And we got finally sat down for the meal, and the kids are off running around, and we sit around or sit around this dining room table, and the conversation got a little teary. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:20.720 I think I've talked about my friend David maybe once before in the last year or so, and David was so pivotal to me. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.279 And I I don't know if he ever knew it. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.319 And I just said, I said, David, you probably don't remember this. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:37.119 I said, when I was in ninth grade, do you do you remember I hurt my back, I hurt a bone in my back playing basketball, and he had hurt his knee, and we were at the same rehabilitation place. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:43.839 And he started to drive me as he was a year older from school to the rehab place, and what he befriended me. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.039 What he didn't know is he that I was at a crossroads in my life. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:50.559 A breaking point. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:51.759 He had no idea. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.000 And he didn't have some great agenda. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:57.680 He just was being a friend to a new guy. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:00.000 But for me, it was huge. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:06.480 I mean, even around that table, I'm getting kind of emotional about saying it, and he's like, man, no problem. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:07.519 I mean, he didn't even think of it. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.440 It wasn't even a big deal to him. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:15.039 And then my friend Parker said, he said, Maya, it's in Maya, Mary David, it's a close circle. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:20.640 And then my friend Parker, he looks across the table to Maya and he says, Maya, you probably don't remember this. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:26.160 But when I was a junior, I was very confused in kind of my faith and where it what it meant. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:36.079 And he said, You had a Bible study at your house, and I couldn't believe, like you were involved in all these clubs, and you're a cheerleader, and you're so busy. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:42.720 I couldn't believe that you would take the time to host and lead a Bible study at your house. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:50.000 He's like, I just remember coming away thinking, like, man, why would she do that? 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:55.279 And I really didn't think that much about it. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.279 I was kind of ordinary. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.200 And it just sort of like went around the table. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:12.079 Comments about what was life-changing to us in the midst of ordinary life, and not from the platforms of fame. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:21.599 Most of the time when I hear a preacher talk about being a fisher of men, I hear about maybe we'd even voice it as evangelism. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:30.799 Most of the time when I hear about this, I hear about what I'm not doing well, everything I should be doing in the world, and I feel extremely guilty because I'm not doing most of it. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:34.319 That's how usually I come, that's how usually I go home. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:39.680 Because usually I feel like how Peter must have felt walking up on that shore. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:40.880 Right? 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:45.039 I mean, Peter's just got to wonder like what's he gonna say? 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:47.920 What is Jesus gonna say to me? 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:54.319 Like, am I still usable to him as a broken, very self-consumed person? 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:58.079 Am I usable to him as a very ordinary person with an ordinary job? 00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.440 Am I usable? 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:01.599 Can he love me? 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.279 Can he love me? 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:04.559 You ever wonder this? 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:09.519 Can he love me if he really knew the desires of my heart for my future? 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:16.480 And John ends his book, 21 chapters, 47 sermons. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:20.000 Somebody else is probably preaching it in 20 sermons because they're better than I am. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:23.119 And but 21 chapters. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:32.640 He ends his book, his story about Jesus, not with a hero for us to look at and go, man, I'm gonna try to be that and I'll never be that, but I'm gonna keep trying to be that. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:34.160 He ends with Peter. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:37.039 And before that, he ended with Thomas, right? 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:39.519 The doubter, and now he ends with Peter. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:51.440 He's just so desperate and so weary that he jumps out of a boat and he struggles through the water and he stumbles up on the shore. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:06.559 And he finds out, Peter finds out what the entire book of John is about, what the entire Christian faith is about, and it's that Jesus is standing there and he's waiting to care for you and to feed you and to talk to you. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:07.759 Right? 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:12.880 I mean, it's Jesus saying, come on, have some fish on the fire. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:14.640 Let's sit down. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:15.680 Let's talk. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:18.000 We're gonna talk about who you are. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:21.359 We're gonna talk about what you should be doing with your life. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:23.119 Let's sit down. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:25.279 You can get warm and we can talk. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:26.960 Let's pray together. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:31.039 Jesus, thank you that you call us to lives bigger than ourselves. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:39.119 But you do not demand this without radically proclaiming a name over us that we are your beloved always and forever. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.640 God, we are lacking in so many ways. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:51.599 When it comes to being fishers of men, when it comes to feeding lambs, when it comes to being about people other than ourselves. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:27:04.880 And so thank you that we can rest in you and we can begin to learn what it means to have our identity at rest in you, so that we can fish off the right side of the boat. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:33.119 God, would you shine your light into the parts of our hearts that have still not relinquished control and self realization over to you so that we might be able to receive from you your provision for us, that we are valued and we are righteous in Christ alone. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:34.079 Amen.