June 10, 2025 • 40 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, it's good to be with you.
We're going to be in Luke,chapter 5, today, if you want to
get there ahead of time.
Just a couple quickannouncements this coming up
Saturday we're going to have abunch of guys up here on the
campus praying.
It's also during the youthfundraiser car wash, so you can
be praying for them to cleanyour car really good while
you're praying for everythingelse.
But then Sunday is serve day,so we're not going to be here.
(00:23):
So I want you not to get mad atme.
I've told you a couple weeksago.
Now it's next week.
So next week we're going to beserving the community.
If you signed up already, youcan get your free t-shirt.
You're already on mission byjust wearing that thing.
It's got a beautiful storybehind it.
If you haven't signed up yet,sign up today so you can
(00:43):
participate next week.
You can go out there and getyour shirt as well.
Then the following week, june22nd, we're going to come back
together here.
We're going to do a food drive.
So summer's kicked in and thatmeans school doesn't meet and a
lot of families and a lot ofkids depend on, like the school
lunches as like nutrition andfood for the summer, so we want
to be able to provide throughour food pantry.
(01:03):
It just gets busier in thattime of year and so we could
fill the shelves there, so we'lldo a food drive, so that way we
just don't have people dealingwith the food insecurity issues.
But then, june 22nd throughAugust 3rd, we're going to have
a series and a conversationabout the Holy Spirit, something
we've never given All rightWell, it's going to be excellent
.
Ever given All right?
(01:27):
Well, it's going to beexcellent.
We have never spent this muchtime exploring this, so I'm
really excited about what we'regoing to experience together and
how you get to participate thatas well.
So remember, though, next weekwe're not here.
You got that.
We're somewhere else, but we'renot in here.
But if you're in the buildingwith us today or you're with us
online, you're surrounded bypeople who actually have a story
(01:48):
to tell, and their lives have astory to tell about how their
lives and when their lives beganto actually intersect with
Jesus in a really practical way.
Not just that they learnedsomething on a Sunday or growing
up, or beliefs, or a bunch ofthat stuff that they learned
something on a Sunday or growingup, or beliefs, or a bunch of
that stuff.
But when they began the peoplesitting right next to you when
(02:12):
they began to literally followJesus and that it impacted their
life in such a way that theyactually have a story to tell
that Jesus, in some really goodways, upended and changed their
life, and it certainly that'sthe case for me personally.
So this initiative that we'rewrapping up today has been about
multiplying their stories,multiplying your stories,
multiplying other people's, mystory's all over this city and
(02:35):
all over this county.
It's not a fundraiser, it's nota capital campaign.
It's about being a generouschurch, a generosity initiative.
Because here's the thing We'vetalked about this a bunch when
you follow Jesus with your money, it's absolutely amazing the
impact and what happens in aperson in the city, in the
nation and even all over theworld.
(02:56):
In fact, if you're not even areligious person at all and
you're here just checking thiswhole thing out and you have
ever intersected withChristianity, it's actually
because someone was generous ina generation that was before you
.
Someone was generous in ageneration before you got to sit
here where you're sitting here,because they came along before
you.
They created maybe a church orthis church.
(03:17):
They created a school, or thatBible study that you love, or
that curriculum or that bookthat has been so profoundly
impactful in your life.
So what we're doing is we'rejust trying to be more and more
and more a part of what God isactually doing all over the
world.
What actually began 2,000 yearsago when Jesus entered into the
world, became one of us, diedfor our sins, rose again and
(03:38):
then that literally hisresurrection.
After that happened, it igniteda spark that has burned and
continues to burn all around theworld.
And again, we're just trying tobe as much of a part of that as
we can possibly be, and we'regoing to give you an opportunity
, actually at the end of thisservice, and a moment to turn on
a commitment card a little bitlater today.
(03:59):
But before we do that, Iactually want to tell you just a
couple of stories.
So first is Peter's story.
This is from Luke, chapter 5 inthe New Testament.
This isn't a once upon a timestory.
It's actually a narrative ofsomething that actually took
place, that actually happened,that ultimately, ultimately, it
influenced all of us, and here'show the writer Luke records it.
(04:21):
He says one day Jesus wasstanding by the Sea of Galilee
and the people were crowdingaround him and listening to the
Word of God.
So everywhere Jesus went, therewas a crowd where there was
just people crowding around himand listening I love this to the
Word of God.
This is so interesting how Lukewrites this and I don't have a
(04:43):
whole lot of time to unpack thisright here.
But when Luke wrote this, thisis a few years after the
resurrection and long beforeanyone actually puts the Bible
together.
The first century churchconsidered everything that came
out of Jesus' mouth as the wordof God, and we think of the word
of God as a scripture, as theBibles, and they're like.
No, we were there, weparticipated, we heard words
(05:06):
coming out of his mouth and weequated them to the word of God.
So, jesus, he's teaching andhe's teaching and this crowd is
drawn.
He goes and he keeps having tostep back because the crowd is
just getting bigger and bigger.
And then he's right there inthe sea of Galilee, and then the
text tells us this that then hesaw at the water's edge two
boats left there by fishermenwho were washing their nets.
(05:28):
Now, this is how this workedFishermen fished at night.
Why?
Because the air was cool, thewater was cooler, the fish came
closer to the surface and theyfished with nets, even in deep
water.
But after fishing all night,what they'd do is they'd pull
their boats up on shore, they'dtake their heavy saturated nets
(05:50):
and they would take them andthey'd stretch them out over
these big wooden stands thatthey had built to keep them up
off of the ground so they couldclean them and then they could
let them dry during the day andthen they would go home and then
they would go to bed becausethey had been working all night.
And so, luke, he tells usbecause this crowd that came to
hear Jesus that he ends upgetting in one of the boats.
He says he got in one of theboats, the one belonging to
(06:12):
Simon.
Now pause, real quick.
This is actually Peter.
For those of you who aren'tfamiliar with this, his name
originally is Simon.
Jesus changes it later when hebecomes a disciple.
So this is Simon Peter, and heasked them to put out a little
bit from shore and then he satdown and taught the people from
the boat.
So what this kind of does is itcreates this natural
amphitheater kind of thing withthe water between the crowd and
(06:33):
him, and this was like a littlebit disruptive, you would think,
for Peter, because, like anyonewho's been working all night I
see some of you here right now,actually anyone who's been
working all night, youunderstand this Like you have
your day planned out right.
His plan was to dry the nets,to clean the nets, stretch the
nets out and then go home, getsomething to eat and then go to
(06:53):
sleep.
But this wasn't, you know, itwasn't the most disruptive thing
.
Like just to sit in the boat.
Like I can come sit in the boata little bit longer.
Let Jesus finish his message.
Like some of you are here rightnow, you're like I'm gonna go
to church, I'm gonna listen tothis message and then I'll go
home and do my thing.
Besides, I think he actuallyowed Jesus a favor, because if
you look before in Luke, justbefore this, you discover that
when Jesus came to town, hefound out that Peter's
(07:16):
mother-in-law was sick and hewent to Peter's home and he
healed Peter's mother-in-law.
But here's the thing Even if youknow how this story works out,
because we all know how thisstory works out, if you've been
able to read about this, I justwant to pause for a moment.
I just want us to go, like,find a rock to sit on and try to
like, sit in this space andthink about what's happening in
(07:37):
this moment.
Even in the life of Peter, thisis just a normal.
Another day, peter had no ideaLike in this moment.
He had no idea the story.
We know the story.
There was no story at this time.
Peter had no idea what even theday had in store for him.
So I just want to sit in thatIf we could just sit in this
like there's, we don't knowwhat's getting ready to happen.
(07:59):
See, peter, he was born in thissmall town next to the Sea of
Galilee and he lived in thatsmall town.
He even had family members thathad lived in this small town
next to the Sea of Galilee andhe lived in that small town.
He had family members that hadlived in that small town.
He probably knew that he'd diein that small town and this was
a small community.
But what he didn't know wasthat he was going to be very
wrong about that, because thisis actually where they buried
Peter, not in some small town onthe north end of the Sea of
(08:20):
Galilee.
He was buried in Rome.
This is the Basilica of StPeter.
It took 120 years to build thisand some of you have been there,
michelle.
My wife and I were taking agroup of like 25 people this New
Year's to go see it and, likeyou're just going to want to lay
down on the floor and just like, look at it, how majestic it is
, this amazing building.
I don't even know in that timehow they built it when they
(08:42):
built it, but it took 120 yearsand this is where the remains of
Peter is.
And that day, as he's sittingin this boat listening to Jesus
teach, he had no idea what hisfuture holds.
I mean, he just assumes he'sgoing to live and die in a small
fishing town and he's sittingthere and he's listening and
wondering how long is this guygoing to go on?
(09:04):
Like many of you do when I talkright, because I'm tired and I
just want to go home and I wantto get some sleep Peter had no
idea what hung in the balancethat day.
I'll pause on Peter's story.
I just want to fast forward acouple thousand years to a day
that I had no idea what hung inthe balance.
This is a screenshot of mycalendar from February 5th 2010.
(09:27):
At 8 am in the morning I had anappointment.
I was in Gilbert Arizona,walking in a garden space at a
place called the Coffee Shop Iknow really original name when I
had my interview with PastorKen Jensen it's right there, 8
am I had no idea what hung inthe balance in this conversation
.
And as we began to have thisconversation about church and
(09:50):
what it would look likepotentially of my small family
coming out to this area andwalking alongside and doing
ministry together, it was so fun.
It was like we finished eachother's sentences, but there was
so much of this that actuallydidn't make any sense at all to
us.
Like I had no idea what hung inthe balance.
It was kind of nuts to eventhink about this idea, because I
lived in Gilbert Arizona.
(10:11):
We had only had now for a monthand a half, our newest young
one.
This is Malachi.
We had just adopted him fromEthiopia.
He was only eight months oldand he was really sick at the
time.
He was going through a lot ofattachment issues.
We had a two-year-old Maddie.
My wife worked in the schooldistrict, so she was going to be
teaching the rest of the yearand then we were flying out here
(10:31):
and we were going to be goingand checking this place out at
the end of February and to comeout here and to see, like what
it would look like, or if weshould even do this.
Now I'm going to tell you thisseemed extremely irresponsible.
Why?
Because coming out here andthen taking a job here meant
that I was actually going to becommuting between Gilbert,
(10:52):
california and Gilbert Arizonain Northern California, leaving
my family behind and going backand forth.
So now my wife this isn't agood way to stay married is
going to stay home with two kids, one new one that's dealing
with all of these issues.
Not only that, but thanks 2010,we were renting a home that
they just decided to stop makingtheir payments and we got a big
sign or a thing that says we'regetting kicked out because it's
(11:14):
being foreclosed on.
So now we're homeless and we'relike God, what are we doing?
Right?
Like why we shouldn't even dothis.
This seemed this idea of comingout here and doing this like
what hangs in the balance,seemed extremely irresponsible.
But let me tell you this If Ihad known about all of you, if I
knew about what was going totake place and I knew about all
(11:36):
of this and the things that Godhas done since those days.
It would have been a reallyeasy decision, right?
It would have been really easyto make that decision that was
so extreme and everything thathung in the balance.
But you don't know, right,you've experienced this.
You don't know.
There is no guarantee in thefuture of what hangs in the
(11:56):
balance of things and times inyour life of the day.
There's not necessarily goingto be a bow at the end of this
or a happy ending.
Here's the deal.
You don't know what's on theother side of saying yes to your
Savior and for some of us, thisscares the snot out of us, like
it's one of the scariest things.
You don't know what's on theother side of saying yes to that
nudge that God wants you to dosomething that's unusual, or
(12:19):
something that seems so painfulor something that feels so
sacrificial, something thatyou're not gonna be able to
explain very well to yourfriends and your family.
But there's just something inyour heart, like you just know
that he wants you to go.
Or you just never know what'son the other side of that push.
You never know what's on theother side of that saying yes to
(12:41):
Jesus.
I can tell you personally, I'vejust experienced this so many
times.
I literally could spend daystelling you stories, days of I
had no idea what hung in thebalance of that and that nudge
and that push and saying yes tomy Savior.
It happened with our kids andthe expansion of our family.
We never anticipated, neverwere interested in this
(13:03):
internationally and locally, howit's actually expanded our
family and it's changedeverything.
And that's just one tiny littlepiece.
And so, peter, you know, back toPeter.
So, peter, in this moment he'ssaying, oh, this is kind of an
inconvenience, like, but come on, we'll sit in my boat.
And I mean, just think about it, this scene, Like he has to
push off, he has to push hisboat on the shore.
(13:23):
About it, this scene like hehas to push off, he has to push
his boat on the shore.
He jumps in, he sits there,listens to Jesus, and then Luke
says that then he taught himfrom the boat.
And then, when he finishedspeaking to this crowd, he made
his second request to Simon, andSimon's, you know, getting
ready to pull back.
He's like, finally, amen, let'sgo, I'm hungry, let's go to
(13:43):
lunch, like we're gonna go homeand this is great.
And then Jesus turns to Simonand he said hey, simon, let's
put out into deep water and letthe nets down for a catch.
Now this is very disruptivewhat's taking place?
Because now the nets arealready clean, they were drying
(14:04):
and Peter's tired.
And so Simon Peter politelysays like hey, master, we've
worked hard all night and wehaven't caught anything.
Now, this summarizes a lot ofyour fishing experiences.
I get this.
It's tough on the ego.
We haven't caught anything.
In other words, jesus, wedidn't catch anything in ideal
(14:25):
conditions.
We were fishing when you'reactually supposed to fish and we
caught nothing.
The odds of us catchinganything in non-ideal conditions
I mean, the sun is up, thewater is warmer, the air is
warmer, and then I can only.
It's like, as he looks around atthis crowd and he has to think,
if we push off and startfishing now, like there's so
many people in the, you havedrawn quite a crowd they're
(14:48):
going to think we're crazy.
Like this isn't the time to bedoing this.
And maybe there's justsomething about the rabbi from
Nazareth, like maybe it wassomething that he heard him say,
maybe it was the fact that hemiraculously healed his
mother-in-law, and so it's likePeter takes a deep breath.
Maybe he glances over at hisbrother, andrew, at the shore,
(15:09):
kind of shrugs his shoulders,then he says, even though this
doesn't make any sense, eventhough people are going to think
I have lost my mind, butbecause you say so, because you
say so and I'm going to tell you, friends, this is the best and
the scariest way to live.
(15:30):
It's the best Because you don'tknow what's on the other side
and you'll never regret sayingyes to the Savior who actually
loves you.
You'll never regret movingforward when you know that God
has actually asked you to dosomething, to engage with
something, and it's the best wayto live your life.
(15:50):
Now here's the thing, and myhunch is this that most of us,
that many of us and my hand's upon this one many of you have
had a moment or two in your lifethat you've been following
Jesus long enough, and everyonce in a while, there's
actually this sense in youthat's like I think I need to do
this.
I think it's not going to makea whole lot of sense to a whole
(16:15):
lot of people.
It doesn't even make a wholelot of sense to me right now,
but for now, for me, it's kindof becoming this moral
imperative that I feel like thisis what God wants me to do and
you've made that reallydifficult decision and on the
other side, whatever thatdecision is, you came away from
that decision.
Like I have saying, I'm so glad.
(16:36):
I'm so glad that I said yes tomy heavenly Father.
But here's the thing, here's thedynamic, what maybe you have
never experienced in your life,or maybe actually you're on the
verge of experiencing for thevery first time, believing a
whole lot of stuff about God anda whole lot of stuff about
Jesus.
That's like interesting andfascinating, just to believe.
(16:56):
But here's the deal when youract of obedience, obeying, when
your faith actually moves you toaction, your faith then begins
to intersect with God'sfaithfulness and something
happens in us that can't happenin any other way and suddenly
(17:17):
there just aren't words that candescribe it.
They become narratives thatliterally now begin to leap off
the pages as we read this flattext and we're like that's me,
that's what I'm experiencingright now Suddenly happens in
you and whatever that thing is,that you did becomes less
important than the fact that youexperienced the faithfulness of
(17:39):
God.
And that's actually what growsour faith, that's what grows
your faith and that's why Jesus'invitation in the first century
and in the 21st century is notbelieve in me.
His invitation is actually tofollow me, to obey me and to
actually experience myfaithfulness, and then
something's going to happeninside of you that you could
(18:01):
never go back.
Back to Peter, he says becauseyou say so, I will let the nets
down.
Now, luke, as he's writing this, unfortunately he doesn't give
us much detail after that, likehe moves really fast through the
narratives.
Like many of the narratives inthe New Testament, they're just
(18:23):
compressed.
Jesus did ministry for three anda half years.
There is so much that we don'tknow.
In fact, at the end of thegospel of John, the last line
from John is literally he sayslook at, jesus did a whole bunch
of other stuff and if we wroteit all down we couldn't.
It would fill all the books ofthe world, like it's just too
much to talk about, to writeabout.
(18:44):
But here, if we can just slowthis scene down again, remember
you're taking a seat on a rockand you're trying to put your
self in this space, slowing itdown, because here's what they
had to do, like for this tohappen, for them to go.
That's because you say so, I'mgoing to let the nets down.
They had to like go, pull backover to the shore.
They had to gather a coupleguys or his crew.
(19:07):
They had to go to the standswhere the nets were out and then
begin to roll the nets back up,then lug them over to the boat
and then push off and row theirboat out.
But Jesus also said let's goout into deep water.
So maybe they even had to putup a sail.
I mean, this was going to take aminute and Peter's this whole
time is probably thinking thisis a complete waste of time,
(19:28):
Like what are we doing?
I'm not going to get any sleepnow.
He didn't catch anything lastnight.
Now I'm not even going to getanything.
Get to go out tonight becauseI'm going to spend the whole day
out here fishing with the rabbiwho clearly doesn't know
anything about fishing.
How many times have we told Godwhat he does not know or
(19:48):
understand in our lives?
God what he does not know orunderstand in our lives?
So they get to their spot, theyhave to untie the nets.
They have to unfurl the netsover the side, fasten them and
then wait.
And we don't know how long theywaited.
I mean, maybe they didn't waitlong.
We don't know what they talkedabout.
We don't get anything aboutthat.
(20:08):
Maybe they talked aboutsomething that Jesus had said.
Maybe they just stared at eachother in silence Looking around.
Maybe Peter was just looking athim, being like I really wish
the crowd would disperse alittle quicker, because this
might be the most embarrassingmoment of my life.
And then suddenly the boat beganto rock and Luke says I mean,
(20:29):
he just rushes right to the end.
Like we just don't get all thecontext here, it just gets right
there.
He says that when they hadfinally gotten out there into
the deep water and dropped thenets at the wrong time of the
day, they caught such a largenumber of fish that the nets
began to break.
And suddenly Peter's concernchanges from his reputation to
(20:50):
the fact that he's about to losehis nets.
And we read this and we're likeno way, this is a miracle.
It's like winning the lottery.
It's the best thing in theworld.
Whoa, look at what God does.
And Peter's like no, no, no,this is not cool.
Like this is not good.
My nets are.
If we lose our nets, I'm goingto lose my livelihood.
Like if we take the boats backwithout the nets.
(21:13):
We have to create the netsourselves.
We can't just order them, wehave to make them.
We can't just purchase them, wehave to create them, and maybe
these nets have been in ourfamily for a generation or two.
This is going to be a majoreconomic setback.
So then the text says so.
He signaled for the partnersand says get this other boat to
come and help them.
And they came and filled bothboats so full that they began to
sink.
This went from bad to worse.
(21:36):
It's like now we're gonna loseeverything, like we're sinking
now, like Peter suddenlyrealizes.
Now the problem is the rabbi.
This has never happened before.
Something unusual is takingplace.
So he takes his hands off thenet and the text says when Simon
Peter saw this, when heexperiences, he's not grateful,
(21:59):
he's terrified, he's terrified.
He falls at the knees of Jesusand in essence he says would you
please get off my boat, go away, lord.
I don't know exactly who youare, but I am a sinful man.
I know who I am and if I'mbeing punished for something, I
(22:19):
promise you that if we get back,especially with the nets in the
boat, that would be reallygreat.
If we can get back.
My net stop will be Jerusalem.
It'll take me a couple days toget there.
I will go to the temple.
I will sacrifice whatever Ineed to sacrifice to make things
right with God, because clearlyI have done something to make
God angry with me.
For he and his companions wereastonished or other languages
(22:41):
used there.
They were shocked, evendismayed, like what is happening
at this catch of fish that theyhad taken.
And so were James and John'ssons of Zebedee, which were his
partners, and I think this isn'tin the text.
I think Jesus is just kind oflaughing because he's the only
one who knows what's coming.
They're afraid, they're shocked, they're dismayed.
(23:02):
They can't put two and twotogether.
But he knows that on the otherside of Peter's willingness to
say because you say so, I'mgonna do something and Jesus
said this to Simon Peter, it'sso powerful it's like he smiles
and says don't be afraid, fromnow on you will fish for people.
(23:25):
You know it's interesting heactually says don't be afraid to
them.
Later on in the Sea of Galileein another interesting moment.
But right here he even says, oractually says don't be afraid
to them.
Later on in the Sea of Galilee,in another interesting moment,
but right here he even says orfear not, don't be afraid.
From now on you will fish forpeople To which we go.
What Like?
What does that even mean?
It makes no sense to them.
(23:46):
There wasn't a metaphor foranything like that in this
culture.
But at this time, this moment,this scene, it's certainly not a
time to ask questions oh, whatdoes that mean, lord, as they're
trying to deal with all oftheir stuff?
So then it says that they rowedtheir boats back to shore.
And then the text says, whenthey got there, they left
everything and followed him, andthe rest is literally history.
(24:15):
The rest is why we're here.
The rest is why so many of ushave said yes to him, and with
our lives as well.
And here's the thing.
Here's kind of the parallel.
Peter's day began with afinancial decision.
I didn't catch anything lastnight.
I'm not going to catch anythingin the daytime.
I probably won't be able to goout tonight.
It began with this financialdecision.
I didn't catch anything lastnight.
I'm not going to catch anythingin the daytime.
I probably won't be able to goout tonight.
It began with this financialdecision.
You know what it ended with?
(24:35):
Well, it ended with nothing todo with fish or fishing.
This was the last thing at thistime that was on his mind,
because his yes, because hisbecause you say so decision
actually intersected with thefaith and the reality and the
activity of the Savior, andeverything changed and together,
(24:59):
this small group of people whohad this experience on this day,
on the other side of thisbecause you say so moment, would
launch a movement that changedliterally and continues to
change the world, changed myworld and has changed many of
your worlds as well, because yousay so.
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Because you say so, now many ofyou, you've been tracking along
with this all-in initiative,and we started this at the end
of going through this long stintof the gospel according to
Matthew, and that's why you'vemade a because you say so
decision.
That's why so many of you arecommitting money that you don't
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even have yet, committing moneyyou haven't even made yet,
simply because you feel like ourheavenly father said this is
what I want you to do.
I have another story about abecause you say so and the
Heavenly Father saying this iswhat you want to do, where it
just doesn't make a whole lot ofsense.
Back in January, it wasactually January 11th 2021.
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We're trying to come out of theCOVID situation.
We have barely met for the lastyear as a faith community, both
here here and for those of youwho don't know.
At that time we had a campus inSan Francisco and on January
11th, in my quiet time with theLord, he asked this really
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interesting question.
He says hey, lawrence, are youa kingdom person?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I am.
And he was kind of like, really, how much Are you just
interested in building yourkingdom or my kingdom?
And I went what does that mean?
Like no, of course, like yours.
So we kind of posed thisquestion as we're looking at
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this new campus that we have inSan Francisco, that's lost all
momentum and San Francisco, asyou guys know, is just even more
tough in that season and we hada staff over there we're trying
to support.
And he kind of just whisperedis there someone else in the
kingdom that doesn't have aplace and a space and resource
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to gather?
Is there someone else that hasmore momentum than you do?
Is there somebody else who hasbetter relationships in more
momentum than you do?
Is there somebody else who hasbetter relationships in the city
than you do?
And I said, wow, I mean, I'msure they do, but we're awesome,
like we already decided, likewe're the ones that are supposed
to do this.
And it became this conversationwhere it was like, oh, really,
like I don't think that's whatit's going to be, and so I kind
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of responded back this is theargument.
This feels like Bruce Almightyto you, doesn't it?
Like I'm having this weirdconversation with God.
And I said you know, lord, Idon't feel like you called me to
be a transitional pastor ofthis place to do all of this
work, to see what was takingplace and to come alongside of
these people just to then handit over to another faith
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community to do something.
And he said, I know.
And I said but I wouldn't havedone it if this is what you
wanted to do.
And he said, I know, that's whyI didn't tell you.
So I was like, oh, this waslike it won't work.
It's the middle of the day,like we haven't caught anything,
we're not going to catchanything.
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We do it your way.
He said, I know.
And so a day later it took me aday, which actually isn't that
long I was like you know, it'slike that whole.
Have you ever done that whereyou really want to say no to
somebody, but you're like I'llpray about it.
You already know your answer.
It's just like your weirdspiritual excuse.
So the next day I was like I'llcall somebody.
So I made a phone call to somerepresentatives at Reality San
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Francisco who, by the way, atthis time is founding themselves
homeless.
They weren't going to be ableto meet in the place.
They had no place to meet.
Oddly enough, they had greatmomentum in the midst of COVID.
They had beautifulrelationships for the last 11
years and just asked them likehey, and they were like yes, we
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need something.
And they had everything forkingdom, and that began a
conversation for the next sixmonths that ultimately
transpired to doing a hugekingdom discount to give them
that space and to sell thatproperty to them, which now is
overflowing, being completelyfilled and used, and ultimately
gave us two healthy churches.
Because what many people didn'tknow is, at the time we were
carrying almost $11 million ofdebt and we were able to take
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what they gave us and just useit completely to pay off of all
of our debt.
And so it was because, yeah, itis worth a clap Like God should
be celebrating this.
And it was the outcome of a.
Because you say so.
It does not make sense.
I do not want to do it.
It feels like it's a bad idea.
I'm embarrassed.
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We're what's happening?
Are we failing?
All of the things that youwould think, all of the things
that Peter was experiencing,many of you experienced, I
experienced, and yet, like wehad no idea, I had no idea what
hung in the balance in that dayand how it would change
everything moving forward.
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Anyway, here's why I'm tellingyou that this whole thing we're
doing right now, it's our turn.
It's our turn to go all in thiswhole thing.
This is.
It's so big in some ways andit's so personal for us,
especially my wife and I In someways.
It's so amazing for us.
And I just want you to know Iwould never ask you to do
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something that I have not doneyet first and already
participating in that I didn'talready go for.
And nobody is more amazed atwhat's happening than us.
And here's what I want you toknow, because of our history
together.
And here's what you do know,and some of you guys know
Because some of you this isactually your story personally
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that somewhere today in thiscommunity, or somewhere today in
your community.
Wherever your community is Today, in Solano County or around the
Bay, or those of you who arejoining us online around the
world today, close or far away,there's a college student,
there's a high school student, anewly married couple, a
recently divorced dad, amiddle-aged widow who's just
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trying to figure out what doesthe future look like.
There's a struggling marriedcouple.
There's a frightened teenagegirl who just took a pregnancy
test.
And they don't know you andthey don't know me and they've
never heard of us.
But because of what you'reabout to do, us are about to
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intersect with their story,simply because he said so and
you said yes.
Now here's the thing In a lifeof an organization like ours, 34
years, in the season of thelife of somebody you kind of get
to, in the season of the lifeof a senior pastor like myself.
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This is like usually, whenpeople start to like step back
and like, ah, we're going toquit taking chances and we're
going to quit taking risks, youstart circling the wagons and
protect the assets.
This is kind of likened to thatexample I've given to you many
times in the last couple ofweeks.
This is when it's just morecomfortable being keepers of the
aquarium.
Like I don't feel like fishingtoday.
I need to rest.
I'm kind of tired of mendingnets and casting nets.
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Like that's a lot of work,that's pretty risky, all those
things and we've all seen that.
And I'm just going to tell you Idon't want to be a part of an
organization like that I hopeyou don't want to be a part of.
I definitely don't want to be apart of a church like that.
I don't want to lead or pastor,both personally and I'll just
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tell you financially.
This, frankly, is the mostmoney we have ever given away in
our lives.
Right now, making a commitmentto go all in and to be clear.
We understand and to be clearto you there's no guarantee,
like you never know what's onthe other side of saying yes to
Jesus.
In fact, there's actually onlyone way to know what's on the
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other side of saying yes toJesus.
In fact, there's actually onlyone way to know what's on the
other side of saying yes toJesus, and I learned this a long
time ago it's better to findout than to miss out.
You get to find out rather thanmiss out, and I don't want you
to miss out.
I don't want us to miss out.
So we're going forward andsince I don't want you to miss
out, I actually want you to getout your card, your commitment
card.
Let me explain what we're aboutto do For those of you who have
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been praying about thisdecision, like us, or who came
prepared today to turn your cardin today.
Every once in a while, I reallybelieve this that every once in
a while in life there's kind oflike a holy moment because of
what's on the other side of whatyou're about to do, because
what's on the other side of this.
It's kind of a I mean, I reallybelieve it's kind of a holy
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moment because, collectively, weyou and me, all of us are going
to try to do something that'sso big that only God can make
happen, the way that we onlyhope and dream that it could
happen.
So right now, I'm going to giveyou like two or three minutes
to just sit and to think and topray and, honestly, I just want
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you to thank God for theopportunity that you're even
here, the opportunity that we'vebeen given to partner with our
Savior, where our action andfaith get to intersect, to do
this work here and now, and thenwe're going to worship Asher's,
going to lead us in a song ofgratitude, and if you're
watching with us online rightnow, if you'll just follow the
instructions on the screen,we're going to direct you to
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where you can fill out a card oryou can directly give to this
all-in initiative and those ofyou in the room.
If you don't have one, you wantto check it out?
You can take out your phone andjust even the next two or three
minutes you can set this stuffup right now.
You know, one of the thingsthat we talk about here when it
comes to giving is like ifyou're not giving anything, just
start with something.
We're not connected to anyother association.
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Nothing else supports us exceptyou.
Nothing else supports movingand putting gas in the car to
get towards our mission, visionand values than us, and so it
just starts with that.
Maybe today is time for some ofyou just to give something, say
you know what?
I'm going to go all in withsomething and start there.
I know 30 of you just lastmonth decided to do that for the
first time.
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Amazing and thank you.
And then after that it's likewell, I'm going to start doing
this consistently.
And so maybe part of this isjust going to be setting up.
You know I'm going toconsistently partner with this.
Because you say so.
I'm going to let the nets downand see where this goes and then
, abundantly, just a growing inyour giving and what that looks
like so that we could go all in.
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Let me pray for us and thenwe're going to have a moment
with music, reflection, and thenAsher will come out.
She'll invite you to be able tocome forward and put your cards
in the baskets and just kind ofyour own little holy moment as
you process how you'repartnering with this Father in
heaven.
Thank you, thank you for justalready what I have personally
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got to witness.
Thank you for the testimoniesin this room, thank you for just
a front row seat to see you atwork, even when we think it's
not going to work.
It doesn't work that youcontinue to do a work in through
us and to us, just this brokenmess of people.
God, I just ask that we wouldall just be surprised and in awe
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of this moment and what you'regoing to do in the future, that
we would reflect and look backto June 8th, 1158 in the
afternoon, because you said soand we said yes, thank you for
the life change that we'vealready seen this year.
The over 100 people that havealready made a first-time
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decision just this year for yourname.
The 89 people who were baptizedand we got to watch their
testimony already this year.
The hundreds of students thathave already come through the
student ministries this year andare yet to come.
The families that have impactedthe grief share programs that
we have.
Those are grieving the bondageof addiction that's being broken
through Celebrate Recovery, themen's ministry and women's
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ministry, and just the teaching,the support groups.
God you know, thank you for itand just that you have given
this opportunity to cast thenets wider.
We do all this to bring youglory and honor.
Because you say so In your name.
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We pray amen.
So take your holy moment withthe Lord right now.
Then Audrey's gonna lead us insome worship and then she'll
give you an invitation to go putyour card in the basket.
Thank you, I'm going to make ahole in the bottom of the box.
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I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
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Thank you, thank you.
All right, it's good to be with you.
We're going to be in Luke,chapter 5, today, if you want to
get there ahead of time.
Just a couple quickannouncements this coming up
Saturday we're going to have abunch of guys up here on the
campus praying.
It's also during the youthfundraiser car wash, so you can
be praying for them to cleanyour car really good while
you're praying for everythingelse.
But then Sunday is serve day,so we're not going to be here.
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So I want you not to get mad atme.
I've told you a couple weeksago.
Now it's next week.
So next week we're going to beserving the community.
If you signed up already, youcan get your free t-shirt.
You're already on mission byjust wearing that thing.
It's got a beautiful storybehind it.
If you haven't signed up yet,sign up today so you can
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participate next week.
You can go out there and getyour shirt as well.
Then the following week, june22nd, we're going to come back
together here.
We're going to do a food drive.
So summer's kicked in and thatmeans school doesn't meet and a
lot of families and a lot ofkids depend on, like the school
lunches as like nutrition andfood for the summer, so we want
to be able to provide throughour food pantry.
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It just gets busier in thattime of year and so we could
fill the shelves there, so we'lldo a food drive, so that way we
just don't have people dealingwith the food insecurity issues.
But then, june 22nd throughAugust 3rd, we're going to have
a series and a conversationabout the Holy Spirit, something
we've never given All rightWell, it's going to be excellent
.
Ever given All right?
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Well, it's going to beexcellent.
We have never spent this muchtime exploring this, so I'm
really excited about what we'regoing to experience together and
how you get to participate thatas well.
So remember, though, next weekwe're not here.
You got that.
We're somewhere else, but we'renot in here.
But if you're in the buildingwith us today or you're with us
online, you're surrounded bypeople who actually have a story
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to tell, and their lives have astory to tell about how their
lives and when their lives beganto actually intersect with
Jesus in a really practical way.
Not just that they learnedsomething on a Sunday or growing
up, or beliefs, or a bunch ofthat stuff that they learned
something on a Sunday or growingup, or beliefs, or a bunch of
that stuff.
But when they began the peoplesitting right next to you when
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they began to literally followJesus and that it impacted their
life in such a way that theyactually have a story to tell
that Jesus, in some really goodways, upended and changed their
life, and it certainly that'sthe case for me personally.
So this initiative that we'rewrapping up today has been about
multiplying their stories,multiplying your stories,
multiplying other people's, mystory's all over this city and
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all over this county.
It's not a fundraiser, it's nota capital campaign.
It's about being a generouschurch, a generosity initiative.
Because here's the thing We'vetalked about this a bunch when
you follow Jesus with your money, it's absolutely amazing the
impact and what happens in aperson in the city, in the
nation and even all over theworld.
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In fact, if you're not even areligious person at all and
you're here just checking thiswhole thing out and you have
ever intersected withChristianity, it's actually
because someone was generous ina generation that was before you
.
Someone was generous in ageneration before you got to sit
here where you're sitting here,because they came along before
you.
They created maybe a church orthis church.
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They created a school, or thatBible study that you love, or
that curriculum or that bookthat has been so profoundly
impactful in your life.
So what we're doing is we'rejust trying to be more and more
and more a part of what God isactually doing all over the
world.
What actually began 2,000 yearsago when Jesus entered into the
world, became one of us, diedfor our sins, rose again and
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then that literally hisresurrection.
After that happened, it igniteda spark that has burned and
continues to burn all around theworld.
And again, we're just trying tobe as much of a part of that as
we can possibly be, and we'regoing to give you an opportunity
, actually at the end of thisservice, and a moment to turn on
a commitment card a little bitlater today.
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But before we do that, Iactually want to tell you just a
couple of stories.
So first is Peter's story.
This is from Luke, chapter 5 inthe New Testament.
This isn't a once upon a timestory.
It's actually a narrative ofsomething that actually took
place, that actually happened,that ultimately, ultimately, it
influenced all of us, and here'show the writer Luke records it.
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He says one day Jesus wasstanding by the Sea of Galilee
and the people were crowdingaround him and listening to the
Word of God.
So everywhere Jesus went, therewas a crowd where there was
just people crowding around himand listening I love this to the
Word of God.
This is so interesting how Lukewrites this and I don't have a
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whole lot of time to unpack thisright here.
But when Luke wrote this, thisis a few years after the
resurrection and long beforeanyone actually puts the Bible
together.
The first century churchconsidered everything that came
out of Jesus' mouth as the wordof God, and we think of the word
of God as a scripture, as theBibles, and they're like.
No, we were there, weparticipated, we heard words
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coming out of his mouth and weequated them to the word of God.
So, jesus, he's teaching andhe's teaching and this crowd is
drawn.
He goes and he keeps having tostep back because the crowd is
just getting bigger and bigger.
And then he's right there inthe sea of Galilee, and then the
text tells us this that then hesaw at the water's edge two
boats left there by fishermenwho were washing their nets.
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Now, this is how this workedFishermen fished at night.
Why?
Because the air was cool, thewater was cooler, the fish came
closer to the surface and theyfished with nets, even in deep
water.
But after fishing all night,what they'd do is they'd pull
their boats up on shore, they'dtake their heavy saturated nets
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and they would take them andthey'd stretch them out over
these big wooden stands thatthey had built to keep them up
off of the ground so they couldclean them and then they could
let them dry during the day andthen they would go home and then
they would go to bed becausethey had been working all night.
And so, luke, he tells usbecause this crowd that came to
hear Jesus that he ends upgetting in one of the boats.
He says he got in one of theboats, the one belonging to
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Simon.
Now pause, real quick.
This is actually Peter.
For those of you who aren'tfamiliar with this, his name
originally is Simon.
Jesus changes it later when hebecomes a disciple.
So this is Simon Peter, and heasked them to put out a little
bit from shore and then he satdown and taught the people from
the boat.
So what this kind of does is itcreates this natural
amphitheater kind of thing withthe water between the crowd and
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him, and this was like a littlebit disruptive, you would think,
for Peter, because, like anyonewho's been working all night I
see some of you here right now,actually anyone who's been
working all night, youunderstand this Like you have
your day planned out right.
His plan was to dry the nets,to clean the nets, stretch the
nets out and then go home, getsomething to eat and then go to
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sleep.
But this wasn't, you know, itwasn't the most disruptive thing
.
Like just to sit in the boat.
Like I can come sit in the boata little bit longer.
Let Jesus finish his message.
Like some of you are here rightnow, you're like I'm gonna go
to church, I'm gonna listen tothis message and then I'll go
home and do my thing.
Besides, I think he actuallyowed Jesus a favor, because if
you look before in Luke, justbefore this, you discover that
when Jesus came to town, hefound out that Peter's
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mother-in-law was sick and hewent to Peter's home and he
healed Peter's mother-in-law.
But here's the thing Even if youknow how this story works out,
because we all know how thisstory works out, if you've been
able to read about this, I justwant to pause for a moment.
I just want us to go, like,find a rock to sit on and try to
like, sit in this space andthink about what's happening in
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this moment.
Even in the life of Peter, thisis just a normal.
Another day, peter had no ideaLike in this moment.
He had no idea the story.
We know the story.
There was no story at this time.
Peter had no idea what even theday had in store for him.
So I just want to sit in thatIf we could just sit in this
like there's, we don't knowwhat's getting ready to happen.
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See, peter, he was born in thissmall town next to the Sea of
Galilee and he lived in thatsmall town.
He even had family members thathad lived in this small town
next to the Sea of Galilee andhe lived in that small town.
He had family members that hadlived in that small town.
He probably knew that he'd diein that small town and this was
a small community.
But what he didn't know wasthat he was going to be very
wrong about that, because thisis actually where they buried
Peter, not in some small town onthe north end of the Sea of
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Galilee.
He was buried in Rome.
This is the Basilica of StPeter.
It took 120 years to build thisand some of you have been there,
michelle.
My wife and I were taking agroup of like 25 people this New
Year's to go see it and, likeyou're just going to want to lay
down on the floor and just like, look at it, how majestic it is
, this amazing building.
I don't even know in that timehow they built it when they
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built it, but it took 120 yearsand this is where the remains of
Peter is.
And that day, as he's sittingin this boat listening to Jesus
teach, he had no idea what hisfuture holds.
I mean, he just assumes he'sgoing to live and die in a small
fishing town and he's sittingthere and he's listening and
wondering how long is this guygoing to go on?
(09:04):
Like many of you do when I talkright, because I'm tired and I
just want to go home and I wantto get some sleep Peter had no
idea what hung in the balancethat day.
I'll pause on Peter's story.
I just want to fast forward acouple thousand years to a day
that I had no idea what hung inthe balance.
This is a screenshot of mycalendar from February 5th 2010.
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At 8 am in the morning I had anappointment.
I was in Gilbert Arizona,walking in a garden space at a
place called the Coffee Shop Iknow really original name when I
had my interview with PastorKen Jensen it's right there, 8
am I had no idea what hung inthe balance in this conversation
.
And as we began to have thisconversation about church and
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what it would look likepotentially of my small family
coming out to this area andwalking alongside and doing
ministry together, it was so fun.
It was like we finished eachother's sentences, but there was
so much of this that actuallydidn't make any sense at all to
us.
Like I had no idea what hung inthe balance.
It was kind of nuts to eventhink about this idea, because I
lived in Gilbert Arizona.
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We had only had now for a monthand a half, our newest young
one.
This is Malachi.
We had just adopted him fromEthiopia.
He was only eight months oldand he was really sick at the
time.
He was going through a lot ofattachment issues.
We had a two-year-old Maddie.
My wife worked in the schooldistrict, so she was going to be
teaching the rest of the yearand then we were flying out here
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and we were going to be goingand checking this place out at
the end of February and to comeout here and to see, like what
it would look like, or if weshould even do this.
Now I'm going to tell you thisseemed extremely irresponsible.
Why?
Because coming out here andthen taking a job here meant
that I was actually going to becommuting between Gilbert,
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california and Gilbert Arizonain Northern California, leaving
my family behind and going backand forth.
So now my wife this isn't agood way to stay married is
going to stay home with two kids, one new one that's dealing
with all of these issues.
Not only that, but thanks 2010,we were renting a home that
they just decided to stop makingtheir payments and we got a big
sign or a thing that says we'regetting kicked out because it's
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being foreclosed on.
So now we're homeless and we'relike God, what are we doing?
Right?
Like why we shouldn't even dothis.
This seemed this idea of comingout here and doing this like
what hangs in the balance,seemed extremely irresponsible.
But let me tell you this If Ihad known about all of you, if I
knew about what was going totake place and I knew about all
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of this and the things that Godhas done since those days.
It would have been a reallyeasy decision, right?
It would have been really easyto make that decision that was
so extreme and everything thathung in the balance.
But you don't know, right,you've experienced this.
You don't know.
There is no guarantee in thefuture of what hangs in the
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balance of things and times inyour life of the day.
There's not necessarily goingto be a bow at the end of this
or a happy ending.
Here's the deal.
You don't know what's on theother side of saying yes to your
Savior and for some of us, thisscares the snot out of us, like
it's one of the scariest things.
You don't know what's on theother side of saying yes to that
nudge that God wants you to dosomething that's unusual, or
(12:19):
something that seems so painfulor something that feels so
sacrificial, something thatyou're not gonna be able to
explain very well to yourfriends and your family.
But there's just something inyour heart, like you just know
that he wants you to go.
Or you just never know what'son the other side of that push.
You never know what's on theother side of that saying yes to
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Jesus.
I can tell you personally, I'vejust experienced this so many
times.
I literally could spend daystelling you stories, days of I
had no idea what hung in thebalance of that and that nudge
and that push and saying yes tomy Savior.
It happened with our kids andthe expansion of our family.
We never anticipated, neverwere interested in this
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internationally and locally, howit's actually expanded our
family and it's changedeverything.
And that's just one tiny littlepiece.
And so, peter, you know, back toPeter.
So, peter, in this moment he'ssaying, oh, this is kind of an
inconvenience, like, but come on, we'll sit in my boat.
And I mean, just think about it, this scene, Like he has to
push off, he has to push hisboat on the shore.
(13:23):
About it, this scene like hehas to push off, he has to push
his boat on the shore.
He jumps in, he sits there,listens to Jesus, and then Luke
says that then he taught himfrom the boat.
And then, when he finishedspeaking to this crowd, he made
his second request to Simon, andSimon's, you know, getting
ready to pull back.
He's like, finally, amen, let'sgo, I'm hungry, let's go to
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lunch, like we're gonna go homeand this is great.
And then Jesus turns to Simonand he said hey, simon, let's
put out into deep water and letthe nets down for a catch.
Now this is very disruptivewhat's taking place?
Because now the nets arealready clean, they were drying
(14:04):
and Peter's tired.
And so Simon Peter politelysays like hey, master, we've
worked hard all night and wehaven't caught anything.
Now, this summarizes a lot ofyour fishing experiences.
I get this.
It's tough on the ego.
We haven't caught anything.
In other words, jesus, wedidn't catch anything in ideal
(14:25):
conditions.
We were fishing when you'reactually supposed to fish and we
caught nothing.
The odds of us catchinganything in non-ideal conditions
I mean, the sun is up, thewater is warmer, the air is
warmer, and then I can only.
It's like, as he looks around atthis crowd and he has to think,
if we push off and startfishing now, like there's so
many people in the, you havedrawn quite a crowd they're
(14:48):
going to think we're crazy.
Like this isn't the time to bedoing this.
And maybe there's justsomething about the rabbi from
Nazareth, like maybe it wassomething that he heard him say,
maybe it was the fact that hemiraculously healed his
mother-in-law, and so it's likePeter takes a deep breath.
Maybe he glances over at hisbrother, andrew, at the shore,
(15:09):
kind of shrugs his shoulders,then he says, even though this
doesn't make any sense, eventhough people are going to think
I have lost my mind, butbecause you say so, because you
say so and I'm going to tell you, friends, this is the best and
the scariest way to live.
(15:30):
It's the best Because you don'tknow what's on the other side
and you'll never regret sayingyes to the Savior who actually
loves you.
You'll never regret movingforward when you know that God
has actually asked you to dosomething, to engage with
something, and it's the best wayto live your life.
(15:50):
Now here's the thing, and myhunch is this that most of us,
that many of us and my hand's upon this one many of you have
had a moment or two in your lifethat you've been following
Jesus long enough, and everyonce in a while, there's
actually this sense in youthat's like I think I need to do
this.
I think it's not going to makea whole lot of sense to a whole
(16:15):
lot of people.
It doesn't even make a wholelot of sense to me right now,
but for now, for me, it's kindof becoming this moral
imperative that I feel like thisis what God wants me to do and
you've made that reallydifficult decision and on the
other side, whatever thatdecision is, you came away from
that decision.
Like I have saying, I'm so glad.
(16:36):
I'm so glad that I said yes tomy heavenly Father.
But here's the thing, here's thedynamic, what maybe you have
never experienced in your life,or maybe actually you're on the
verge of experiencing for thevery first time, believing a
whole lot of stuff about God anda whole lot of stuff about
Jesus.
That's like interesting andfascinating, just to believe.
(16:56):
But here's the deal when youract of obedience, obeying, when
your faith actually moves you toaction, your faith then begins
to intersect with God'sfaithfulness and something
happens in us that can't happenin any other way and suddenly
(17:17):
there just aren't words that candescribe it.
They become narratives thatliterally now begin to leap off
the pages as we read this flattext and we're like that's me,
that's what I'm experiencingright now Suddenly happens in
you and whatever that thing is,that you did becomes less
important than the fact that youexperienced the faithfulness of
(17:39):
God.
And that's actually what growsour faith, that's what grows
your faith and that's why Jesus'invitation in the first century
and in the 21st century is notbelieve in me.
His invitation is actually tofollow me, to obey me and to
actually experience myfaithfulness, and then
something's going to happeninside of you that you could
(18:01):
never go back.
Back to Peter, he says becauseyou say so, I will let the nets
down.
Now, luke, as he's writing this, unfortunately he doesn't give
us much detail after that, likehe moves really fast through the
narratives.
Like many of the narratives inthe New Testament, they're just
(18:23):
compressed.
Jesus did ministry for three anda half years.
There is so much that we don'tknow.
In fact, at the end of thegospel of John, the last line
from John is literally he sayslook at, jesus did a whole bunch
of other stuff and if we wroteit all down we couldn't.
It would fill all the books ofthe world, like it's just too
much to talk about, to writeabout.
(18:44):
But here, if we can just slowthis scene down again, remember
you're taking a seat on a rockand you're trying to put your
self in this space, slowing itdown, because here's what they
had to do, like for this tohappen, for them to go.
That's because you say so, I'mgoing to let the nets down.
They had to like go, pull backover to the shore.
They had to gather a coupleguys or his crew.
(19:07):
They had to go to the standswhere the nets were out and then
begin to roll the nets back up,then lug them over to the boat
and then push off and row theirboat out.
But Jesus also said let's goout into deep water.
So maybe they even had to putup a sail.
I mean, this was going to take aminute and Peter's this whole
time is probably thinking thisis a complete waste of time,
(19:28):
Like what are we doing?
I'm not going to get any sleepnow.
He didn't catch anything lastnight.
Now I'm not even going to getanything.
Get to go out tonight becauseI'm going to spend the whole day
out here fishing with the rabbiwho clearly doesn't know
anything about fishing.
How many times have we told Godwhat he does not know or
(19:48):
understand in our lives?
God what he does not know orunderstand in our lives?
So they get to their spot, theyhave to untie the nets.
They have to unfurl the netsover the side, fasten them and
then wait.
And we don't know how long theywaited.
I mean, maybe they didn't waitlong.
We don't know what they talkedabout.
We don't get anything aboutthat.
(20:08):
Maybe they talked aboutsomething that Jesus had said.
Maybe they just stared at eachother in silence Looking around.
Maybe Peter was just looking athim, being like I really wish
the crowd would disperse alittle quicker, because this
might be the most embarrassingmoment of my life.
And then suddenly the boat beganto rock and Luke says I mean,
(20:29):
he just rushes right to the end.
Like we just don't get all thecontext here, it just gets right
there.
He says that when they hadfinally gotten out there into
the deep water and dropped thenets at the wrong time of the
day, they caught such a largenumber of fish that the nets
began to break.
And suddenly Peter's concernchanges from his reputation to
(20:50):
the fact that he's about to losehis nets.
And we read this and we're likeno way, this is a miracle.
It's like winning the lottery.
It's the best thing in theworld.
Whoa, look at what God does.
And Peter's like no, no, no,this is not cool.
Like this is not good.
My nets are.
If we lose our nets, I'm goingto lose my livelihood.
Like if we take the boats backwithout the nets.
(21:13):
We have to create the netsourselves.
We can't just order them, wehave to make them.
We can't just purchase them, wehave to create them, and maybe
these nets have been in ourfamily for a generation or two.
This is going to be a majoreconomic setback.
So then the text says so.
He signaled for the partnersand says get this other boat to
come and help them.
And they came and filled bothboats so full that they began to
sink.
This went from bad to worse.
(21:36):
It's like now we're gonna loseeverything, like we're sinking
now, like Peter suddenlyrealizes.
Now the problem is the rabbi.
This has never happened before.
Something unusual is takingplace.
So he takes his hands off thenet and the text says when Simon
Peter saw this, when heexperiences, he's not grateful,
(21:59):
he's terrified, he's terrified.
He falls at the knees of Jesusand in essence he says would you
please get off my boat, go away, lord.
I don't know exactly who youare, but I am a sinful man.
I know who I am and if I'mbeing punished for something, I
(22:19):
promise you that if we get back,especially with the nets in the
boat, that would be reallygreat.
If we can get back.
My net stop will be Jerusalem.
It'll take me a couple days toget there.
I will go to the temple.
I will sacrifice whatever Ineed to sacrifice to make things
right with God, because clearlyI have done something to make
God angry with me.
For he and his companions wereastonished or other languages
(22:41):
used there.
They were shocked, evendismayed, like what is happening
at this catch of fish that theyhad taken.
And so were James and John'ssons of Zebedee, which were his
partners, and I think this isn'tin the text.
I think Jesus is just kind oflaughing because he's the only
one who knows what's coming.
They're afraid, they're shocked, they're dismayed.
(23:02):
They can't put two and twotogether.
But he knows that on the otherside of Peter's willingness to
say because you say so, I'mgonna do something and Jesus
said this to Simon Peter, it'sso powerful it's like he smiles
and says don't be afraid, fromnow on you will fish for people.
(23:25):
You know it's interesting heactually says don't be afraid to
them.
Later on in the Sea of Galileein another interesting moment.
But right here he even says, oractually says don't be afraid
to them.
Later on in the Sea of Galilee,in another interesting moment,
but right here he even says orfear not, don't be afraid.
From now on you will fish forpeople To which we go.
What Like?
What does that even mean?
It makes no sense to them.
(23:46):
There wasn't a metaphor foranything like that in this
culture.
But at this time, this moment,this scene, it's certainly not a
time to ask questions oh, whatdoes that mean, lord, as they're
trying to deal with all oftheir stuff?
So then it says that they rowedtheir boats back to shore.
And then the text says, whenthey got there, they left
everything and followed him, andthe rest is literally history.
(24:15):
The rest is why we're here.
The rest is why so many of ushave said yes to him, and with
our lives as well.
And here's the thing.
Here's kind of the parallel.
Peter's day began with afinancial decision.
I didn't catch anything lastnight.
I'm not going to catch anythingin the daytime.
I probably won't be able to goout tonight.
It began with this financialdecision.
I didn't catch anything lastnight.
I'm not going to catch anythingin the daytime.
I probably won't be able to goout tonight.
It began with this financialdecision.
You know what it ended with?
(24:35):
Well, it ended with nothing todo with fish or fishing.
This was the last thing at thistime that was on his mind,
because his yes, because hisbecause you say so decision
actually intersected with thefaith and the reality and the
activity of the Savior, andeverything changed and together,
(24:59):
this small group of people whohad this experience on this day,
on the other side of thisbecause you say so moment, would
launch a movement that changedliterally and continues to
change the world, changed myworld and has changed many of
your worlds as well, because yousay so.
(25:20):
Because you say so, now many ofyou, you've been tracking along
with this all-in initiative,and we started this at the end
of going through this long stintof the gospel according to
Matthew, and that's why you'vemade a because you say so
decision.
That's why so many of you arecommitting money that you don't
(25:41):
even have yet, committing moneyyou haven't even made yet,
simply because you feel like ourheavenly father said this is
what I want you to do.
I have another story about abecause you say so and the
Heavenly Father saying this iswhat you want to do, where it
just doesn't make a whole lot ofsense.
Back in January, it wasactually January 11th 2021.
(26:03):
We're trying to come out of theCOVID situation.
We have barely met for the lastyear as a faith community, both
here here and for those of youwho don't know.
At that time we had a campus inSan Francisco and on January
11th, in my quiet time with theLord, he asked this really
(26:24):
interesting question.
He says hey, lawrence, are youa kingdom person?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I am.
And he was kind of like, really, how much Are you just
interested in building yourkingdom or my kingdom?
And I went what does that mean?
Like no, of course, like yours.
So we kind of posed thisquestion as we're looking at
(26:46):
this new campus that we have inSan Francisco, that's lost all
momentum and San Francisco, asyou guys know, is just even more
tough in that season and we hada staff over there we're trying
to support.
And he kind of just whisperedis there someone else in the
kingdom that doesn't have aplace and a space and resource
(27:06):
to gather?
Is there someone else that hasmore momentum than you do?
Is there somebody else who hasbetter relationships in more
momentum than you do?
Is there somebody else who hasbetter relationships in the city
than you do?
And I said, wow, I mean, I'msure they do, but we're awesome,
like we already decided, likewe're the ones that are supposed
to do this.
And it became this conversationwhere it was like, oh, really,
like I don't think that's whatit's going to be, and so I kind
(27:31):
of responded back this is theargument.
This feels like Bruce Almightyto you, doesn't it?
Like I'm having this weirdconversation with God.
And I said you know, lord, Idon't feel like you called me to
be a transitional pastor ofthis place to do all of this
work, to see what was takingplace and to come alongside of
these people just to then handit over to another faith
(27:51):
community to do something.
And he said, I know.
And I said but I wouldn't havedone it if this is what you
wanted to do.
And he said, I know, that's whyI didn't tell you.
So I was like, oh, this waslike it won't work.
It's the middle of the day,like we haven't caught anything,
we're not going to catchanything.
(28:16):
We do it your way.
He said, I know.
And so a day later it took me aday, which actually isn't that
long I was like you know, it'slike that whole.
Have you ever done that whereyou really want to say no to
somebody, but you're like I'llpray about it.
You already know your answer.
It's just like your weirdspiritual excuse.
So the next day I was like I'llcall somebody.
So I made a phone call to somerepresentatives at Reality San
(28:38):
Francisco who, by the way, atthis time is founding themselves
homeless.
They weren't going to be ableto meet in the place.
They had no place to meet.
Oddly enough, they had greatmomentum in the midst of COVID.
They had beautifulrelationships for the last 11
years and just asked them likehey, and they were like yes, we
(28:58):
need something.
And they had everything forkingdom, and that began a
conversation for the next sixmonths that ultimately
transpired to doing a hugekingdom discount to give them
that space and to sell thatproperty to them, which now is
overflowing, being completelyfilled and used, and ultimately
gave us two healthy churches.
Because what many people didn'tknow is, at the time we were
carrying almost $11 million ofdebt and we were able to take
(29:22):
what they gave us and just useit completely to pay off of all
of our debt.
And so it was because, yeah, itis worth a clap Like God should
be celebrating this.
And it was the outcome of a.
Because you say so.
It does not make sense.
I do not want to do it.
It feels like it's a bad idea.
I'm embarrassed.
(29:42):
We're what's happening?
Are we failing?
All of the things that youwould think, all of the things
that Peter was experiencing,many of you experienced, I
experienced, and yet, like wehad no idea, I had no idea what
hung in the balance in that dayand how it would change
everything moving forward.
(30:03):
Anyway, here's why I'm tellingyou that this whole thing we're
doing right now, it's our turn.
It's our turn to go all in thiswhole thing.
This is.
It's so big in some ways andit's so personal for us,
especially my wife and I In someways.
It's so amazing for us.
And I just want you to know Iwould never ask you to do
(30:24):
something that I have not doneyet first and already
participating in that I didn'talready go for.
And nobody is more amazed atwhat's happening than us.
And here's what I want you toknow, because of our history
together.
And here's what you do know,and some of you guys know
Because some of you this isactually your story personally
(30:47):
that somewhere today in thiscommunity, or somewhere today in
your community.
Wherever your community is Today, in Solano County or around the
Bay, or those of you who arejoining us online around the
world today, close or far away,there's a college student,
there's a high school student, anewly married couple, a
recently divorced dad, amiddle-aged widow who's just
(31:07):
trying to figure out what doesthe future look like.
There's a struggling marriedcouple.
There's a frightened teenagegirl who just took a pregnancy
test.
And they don't know you andthey don't know me and they've
never heard of us.
But because of what you'reabout to do, us are about to
(31:31):
intersect with their story,simply because he said so and
you said yes.
Now here's the thing In a lifeof an organization like ours, 34
years, in the season of thelife of somebody you kind of get
to, in the season of the lifeof a senior pastor like myself.
(31:51):
This is like usually, whenpeople start to like step back
and like, ah, we're going toquit taking chances and we're
going to quit taking risks, youstart circling the wagons and
protect the assets.
This is kind of likened to thatexample I've given to you many
times in the last couple ofweeks.
This is when it's just morecomfortable being keepers of the
aquarium.
Like I don't feel like fishingtoday.
I need to rest.
I'm kind of tired of mendingnets and casting nets.
(32:13):
Like that's a lot of work,that's pretty risky, all those
things and we've all seen that.
And I'm just going to tell you Idon't want to be a part of an
organization like that I hopeyou don't want to be a part of.
I definitely don't want to be apart of a church like that.
I don't want to lead or pastor,both personally and I'll just
(32:33):
tell you financially.
This, frankly, is the mostmoney we have ever given away in
our lives.
Right now, making a commitmentto go all in and to be clear.
We understand and to be clearto you there's no guarantee,
like you never know what's onthe other side of saying yes to
Jesus.
In fact, there's actually onlyone way to know what's on the
(32:56):
other side of saying yes toJesus.
In fact, there's actually onlyone way to know what's on the
other side of saying yes toJesus, and I learned this a long
time ago it's better to findout than to miss out.
You get to find out rather thanmiss out, and I don't want you
to miss out.
I don't want us to miss out.
So we're going forward andsince I don't want you to miss
out, I actually want you to getout your card, your commitment
card.
Let me explain what we're aboutto do For those of you who have
(33:19):
been praying about thisdecision, like us, or who came
prepared today to turn your cardin today.
Every once in a while, I reallybelieve this that every once in
a while in life there's kind oflike a holy moment because of
what's on the other side of whatyou're about to do, because
what's on the other side of this.
It's kind of a I mean, I reallybelieve it's kind of a holy
(33:42):
moment because, collectively, weyou and me, all of us are going
to try to do something that'sso big that only God can make
happen, the way that we onlyhope and dream that it could
happen.
So right now, I'm going to giveyou like two or three minutes
to just sit and to think and topray and, honestly, I just want
(34:06):
you to thank God for theopportunity that you're even
here, the opportunity that we'vebeen given to partner with our
Savior, where our action andfaith get to intersect, to do
this work here and now, and thenwe're going to worship Asher's,
going to lead us in a song ofgratitude, and if you're
watching with us online rightnow, if you'll just follow the
instructions on the screen,we're going to direct you to
(34:29):
where you can fill out a card oryou can directly give to this
all-in initiative and those ofyou in the room.
If you don't have one, you wantto check it out?
You can take out your phone andjust even the next two or three
minutes you can set this stuffup right now.
You know, one of the thingsthat we talk about here when it
comes to giving is like ifyou're not giving anything, just
start with something.
We're not connected to anyother association.
(34:51):
Nothing else supports us exceptyou.
Nothing else supports movingand putting gas in the car to
get towards our mission, visionand values than us, and so it
just starts with that.
Maybe today is time for some ofyou just to give something, say
you know what?
I'm going to go all in withsomething and start there.
I know 30 of you just lastmonth decided to do that for the
first time.
(35:11):
Amazing and thank you.
And then after that it's likewell, I'm going to start doing
this consistently.
And so maybe part of this isjust going to be setting up.
You know I'm going toconsistently partner with this.
Because you say so.
I'm going to let the nets downand see where this goes and then
, abundantly, just a growing inyour giving and what that looks
like so that we could go all in.
(35:32):
Let me pray for us and thenwe're going to have a moment
with music, reflection, and thenAsher will come out.
She'll invite you to be able tocome forward and put your cards
in the baskets and just kind ofyour own little holy moment as
you process how you'repartnering with this Father in
heaven.
Thank you, thank you for justalready what I have personally
(35:52):
got to witness.
Thank you for the testimoniesin this room, thank you for just
a front row seat to see you atwork, even when we think it's
not going to work.
It doesn't work that youcontinue to do a work in through
us and to us, just this brokenmess of people.
God, I just ask that we wouldall just be surprised and in awe
(36:17):
of this moment and what you'regoing to do in the future, that
we would reflect and look backto June 8th, 1158 in the
afternoon, because you said soand we said yes, thank you for
the life change that we'vealready seen this year.
The over 100 people that havealready made a first-time
(36:38):
decision just this year for yourname.
The 89 people who were baptizedand we got to watch their
testimony already this year.
The hundreds of students thathave already come through the
student ministries this year andare yet to come.
The families that have impactedthe grief share programs that
we have.
Those are grieving the bondageof addiction that's being broken
through Celebrate Recovery, themen's ministry and women's
(37:01):
ministry, and just the teaching,the support groups.
God you know, thank you for itand just that you have given
this opportunity to cast thenets wider.
We do all this to bring youglory and honor.
Because you say so In your name.
(37:25):
We pray amen.
So take your holy moment withthe Lord right now.
Then Audrey's gonna lead us insome worship and then she'll
give you an invitation to go putyour card in the basket.
Thank you, I'm going to make ahole in the bottom of the box.
(38:33):
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
I'm going to make a hole in thebottom of the box.
(39:44):
Thank you, thank you.
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