to this passage. And one of the things I do is I try not to be redundant on passages. So when I'm wrestling over a passage, for instance, what I mean is praying, God, what do you want me to preach? What is it that you're leading me to? And he'll put a press upon my heart usually begins with a passage of scripture. And so that not because of God, but because of me, I take some time in prayer to ask God Am I right? Do I know what you want me to have? Is it what God's people need? So this interaction happens in the week with every preacher that's trying to preach what God wants. And so in those times, I go back in my notes, I have a schedule of, you know, what the the title of my sermons that I've taught and preached, and then I have a text and a column with text. So I went back to find out, because I know I've preached something on this, and I've never preached this message. I didn't even have a sermon on this, though I've heard it preached many times, but I did teach on it in 2020. It was almost right in the middle of COVID, and I was teaching in Sunday school about the miracles of the Lord. And what we have here is the first 11 verses about this great miracle that happened at the beginning of Peter's ministry with what the Lord did at the call of Peter here in verses 1 through 11. So let's read this whole 11 verses and we'll launch out into the deep is the name of the sermon today. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear him, the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the people out of the ship. Now, when he had left speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came. filled the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedees, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. It's a very interesting passage. It's hard to fit it all into one sermon. There's so many things that are preachable. in this passage, but let's have a word of prayer, and we'll ask for God's direction. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would please loosen my lips to speak. I pray, God, that you would help me beyond, much beyond my own inabilities, and help those that are listening to be led of your Holy Spirit to take home what it is that you have for us in this passage. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. That's one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Bible. And there are still plenty of miracles happening today. And I believe many miracles that God wants to have in your own life. Many people are like Simon Peter. He didn't understand. I don't believe he really understood the supernatural. I think it was really beyond him. He didn't understand what God was going to do. And in fact, his first and initial impression was, hey, I'm going to use my reason, my good old horse sense. I've toiled all night, OK? And he's looking at it from a fisherman, an experienced fisherman. Right? Peter's not a very young man. He's relatively young, but he's married, and that's how you get a mother-in-law. That's how I got mine, anyway. And his mother-in-law later is healed of being sick. But if you go to this place, there's... It's out there on the shores of where the Jordan River dumps into the Sea of Galilee. Gennesaret is just an older name for the same Sea of Galilee. And you're standing at Capernaum, and you can just visualize this, and it's not a rushing water, it's just kind of a... It was an excavation, you know, they're still excavating some of that when I was there some long time ago. And, you know, you can almost picture the Lord saying, as he was thronged, like, the people are coming to hear, everybody's trying to press to hear Christ. And he's getting closer and closer to the water, and he looks out, and the Lord is never surprised by anything. He had it all planned out. And he said, Simon, let me borrow your ship. And so they get in the ship, and the little fishing boat I've been in, I've seen the kind of ships that were there. They're maybe a little bit larger than what you would have as like a boat for a lake. It's not much bigger than that. And he goes out there and he sits down on one of the places and he begins to speak and he's teaching and preaching and probably as was his custom, he would preach the same type of message. So that's why we have a place in the Bible in the Gospels where some things are preached and then they're it seems like some other places they were summarized because probably he preached that message here and then preached it this way a little bit differently over here and preached a little bit differently in this place but preached basically the kingdom of God was here. That's what he came, preaching the kingdom. And so after he's done preaching, he of course looks over at Simon and says, and he knows, can you imagine the Lord? He's like, Simon, this is your day. And sometimes the Lord wants to do that with you. He wants you, in the difficulties you're facing and in the miracles that God, you're put into positions where God says, this is it. And he says, launch out into the deep. And let down your nets for a draft, okay? And good old fisherman, he argues a little bit. And says, I've toiled all night, I've caught nothing. nevertheless it thy word." What an amazing story. But this is This is a fisherman, he's an experienced man, he knows these things. And he comes to a point like you, and we say, man, I have faced this impossible situation, and I know the task ahead of me, and I know that it's impossible, and what God is asking for me to do is way beyond me. Has anybody ever felt overwhelmed by what God has asked you to do? Well, absolutely. And he expects you to feel that way. That isn't a mistake. You know, I'm looking down here at Shelby, feeling the call to go to Bible college. I'm sure you're feeling quite a bit overwhelmed at this point. And I remember in the same position 100,000 years ago when I was getting out of high school and I was in my last semester of high school like she is thinking, Bible college, how in the world is that gonna happen? God, there's no way I can do this, okay? And then you find out that God is the one that puts us in those positions. He says, I've got something planned for you, Peter. I'm laughing because the goal, look at the goal in verse number 10. You know what he's trying to bring us to is verse number 10, I'm sorry, verse 11. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. And what the Lord's trying to get at us is that he's trying to bring us to a place where the impossible situations of the future that are going to make or break your life or your family, you're going to get to the place where you say, oh, I recognize this again. I'm back in the deep. I'm back where the Lord has to do something. I'm back here like, if my children are gonna be saved, for some of you I'm saying, you look at the challenges you face. If my children are gonna be reached for God, I'm back into the deep where there isn't anything that I can do about it and God has to do some kind of great miracle. But God put you in this situation on smaller tests so that you would recognize it again that God is about to work on your behalf. And it's awesome. So at the end, we're looking around saying, hey, this old world with all of its problems, that's not what I'm living for. I'm living for something else. I'm gonna go catch men. I'm gonna be involved in this great supernatural work. I'm gonna get involved in something, because I've seen God do some things that can only be explained as the supernatural hand of God in a very wicked, dirty world. And it's fun. It's not just fun, it's like, it's what life ought to be. But each one of us, in our own lives, we're put into positions where God says, here's your day. Here's your time. This is your day, Peter. Launch out into the deep and let down your nets. Now, Verse number five, Master, we have toiled all night. Accepting the raw circumstances of life, you might feel like you've done everything that was expected of you. I mean, okay, anybody, raise your hand if you've had night shift, worked all night. Somewhere, I mean, look around, young people. Just hold your hands up, please, just as a lesson. Look around, young people. Okay, put your hands down. I just want all you young people to know we've all done our time. Don't think when you get in this world that the easy life you expect to have is gonna be handed to you. You gotta go carve it out. All right, now that's on the side. But you ever get done in the morning? I used to get done in the morning, way early in the morning, and it was the only time it seemed peaceful. I'm done with work, it's about four o'clock in the morning, I'm driving home, right? But I'm wiped out. And so Peter says, in his mind, he's thinking about the raw circumstances of this, saying, man, I don't think I can keep going all day. I mean, I've stayed awake for his sermon, which is, I'm sure, easier if the Lord were preaching, say amen, than if I were preaching. I've stayed awake for this sermon, I've done what the Lord wants me to do, I'm way past my time to rest, and I don't think I can keep going. And so there's an aspect in the things that God wants to do that are miracles where you're going to feel at times like you're on a, you're stretched beyond measure as Paul would have described it. That we're stretched beyond measure. Lord, are you really asking me to give more, to do more, to obey more? What are you trying to get at my life? And then at the end of the miracle, if you do what's right, you're gonna say, I'm ready to forsake all, all, and follow him. So that, Lord, is there anything else? By the time the miracle comes, you're saying, well, God, you did this for me, so is there anything else in my life that you want me to give? Is there something else? I don't need to sleep tonight. I don't need anything. I just need God. And when a person's put into that position, then, That's a powerful place in your life. That is a dynamic that can't be manufactured by man. And it only comes at the outstretched, the pressed-beyond-measure feeling. Launch out into the deep. You can say, I've toiled all night and I've seen little. You could say, my children aren't going to turn around. I'm not going to be able to witness to them. Or you could say, I don't think they'll be as good as they should be. I'm not gifted and talented as others. My soul winning efforts aren't going to be fruitful. You could be negative, negative, negative all your life, or you can listen to God and you can launch out into the deep. That's the choice. Luke, circumstances didn't, you might say, didn't give me a full plate as others. And that's true with all of us, right? It doesn't matter how smart you are. My dad used to tell me that when I was a little kid. I didn't understand it till later in life. He'd say, Don, remember that no matter how strong you are, there's always somebody stronger. No matter how tough you are, there's always somebody tougher, no matter how, and it was good advice for a little kid because you're looking around and it saved me from getting into some scrapes I shouldn't have been in, and I'm glad I didn't get into. I got my share of lickings just from my own pride as a young person, but think about the way that I avoided them, but you might say, hey, I've just not been given the intellect, but listen, whatever God wants you to do, You can do it because He'll do it through you. You just gotta launch out into the deep. I mean, it's more comfortable. First of all today, let me, I've got a verse written down. Turn to chapter 12. We're gonna come right back here to chapter five, but I want you to see this verse in chapter 12. You can accept your present position in life and never see the miracles because you're the one standing in the way. If you're not gonna exercise your faith and trust in God, and you're going to look just at how you feel, so there's an argument, there's like a tug of war in the Christian life between what God wants you to do, the faith, or the feelings of the individual. My own will. And if you're not gonna exercise your faith, you can accept the circumstances, and you can see nothing but the humdrum, or what you can produce. You're never seeing what God wants to do. You're never experiencing the miracles. for yourself. I'm convinced that we have experienced incredible miracles as a church, but a church can experience them, but you've never had the miracles in your own life. Look at chapter 12. I want you to see the perspective of God. Go to chapter 12. This is another, we see the repeat of Matthew 6, 33 in verse 31. Look at verse 12, 31. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now, we can go through the context of this, but I just want you to get a perspective of what God wants to do. So, Danny, here's the thing in my life. I don't think I've ever really doubted whether God can. Once I knew God was real and I got saved, I never questioned, can God? But I surely questioned, why would God even consider doing it in my life? Like, who in the world am I? How am I gonna get victory over anger like I had the problem of anger? And how am I gonna get the victory over other things in my life? How am I gonna be a pastor that God wants me to be, et cetera? On and on and on. And then how do you start a church? And then how do you start another one? Do you understand? How is this gonna happen? You say, well, I'm quite overwhelmed with God's plan. but so are you, wherever you are. Can God make you do, continue to wait on him? Yes. Can he give you the abilities you don't have? Yes. Now, you know, the testimony, like my father-in-law, as a testimony, I think you know him, but as the president of a Bible college, And as a pastor of a substantial church for 43 years, you'd never know that he grew up flunking from every elementary age school, every grade that he flunked and he got into trouble because he was just not, there really wasn't any system to help him. He'd suffer intensely from what's today known as dyslexia, but nobody knew really what it meant back in the 50s. And so even as an adult, as a pastor, he would say it's taking him 40 hours to put together a sermon, and yet God had called him to pastor a church and to do what seemed impossible. And then later, after seven years, he called him to start a Bible college. Who in their right mind was suffering from the history of dyslexia would ever consider to be the president of a college? So you're gonna be put in a position where you're gonna say, the only way that it's gonna happen is if God shows up. And when you're in that position, don't complain. Don't get upset with God. It is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. In other words, you could turn back to chapter five. It's God's plan. Yes, you're going to have to stretch. Yes, you're going to have to be above your own press beyond measure as Paul was pressed. But it is God that works in you and through you. And he wants to show great miracles. Great things. First point today is the capability. The capability. Notice Peter's objection to the command of Christ. So we have the command, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. And then in verse number five, Simon answering said unto him, master, which is sort of, he had just preached, it's an issue of respect, it's the word rabbi, it's like having the president there, even if you didn't agree with him. I mean, Simon's heart is not yet into this. He's listening, but he hasn't come to a verse 11 yet. He says, Master, we have toiled all night. Now, We need to realize every day that God can do anything He wants to do. When He commands, now get this in your head, sometimes I don't like cliches, but cliches stick with us better, right? So remember this one, God's callings are His enablings. When He commands, He will give you the capacity to do the command. That's faith in God. That's looking down at yourself and saying, just these hands, hey, it's just me. It's not anybody special. It's just, like as I always say, a cop's kid from Cleveland. It's just me, myself. The ugly face I shave every morning. It is just us doing our best, pressed beyond measure, and then God does some great things. That's faith. That's the experience. And when he does those things that are supernatural on occasion like this, we shake our heads and say, hey, whatever God wants, I'll forsake all. and follow Him. Because that's the life we need. Not the life of, well, I guess it just is never gonna happen. You know, you just kinda kick your heels into the dirt. You know, oh well, I don't know what, these other people are just lucky. That's the way people talk. And there's no luck in the world. It's God's blessing or not God's blessing. It is not happenstance. God has a plan. He has a desire to give you the kingdom. You say, God's calling me to preach and I don't think I can. Why don't you think you can? That's actually very good. Because you need to be dependent upon God. Follow God. Launch out into the deep. But Lord, I've toiled all night. Now what was Peter's viewpoint? Well, I'm not a fisherman. Terry, I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but I asked some fishermen about this. They say fish don't bite in the middle of the day. I mean, Peter's thinking in his mind, he's kind of implying by his words. Can you notice this in his reply? Look at the command in verse number four. At the end of it, he said, let down your nets. Right? Nets, plural. And Peter's response was, we've toiled all night and taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll go out there and let down one net. Now think about that. That's like saying, okay God, I'll give you a little bit of room. Why? Because he's the expert, Peter's the expert. Hey, I'm the fisherman, you're a carpenter. I'm not gonna tell you how to build, don't tell me how to fish. Actually, he's God in the flesh. And you need to really fall on your face before him. But until you see that, You're not gonna do that. But what I'm saying is, if you go to verse 10, what does he do? I'm sorry, you go back to verse eight. And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus. Why did he fall at Jesus' knees? Well, because they're in a fishing boat that really isn't compartmental. It's just one open, like, big canoe. It's like a large canoe. If you stood in the middle of it, it might come up to your, you know, the one side at the deepest come up to your chest. And it is filled. His partners, James and John, the sons of thunder are out there. Their boat is filled and they both are about to sink. There's Jesus standing up to his knees in fish, in the boat, and the knees were as close to the feet that Peter could get. Isn't that awesome? He's falling on a big pile of fish, saying, Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. You see, if you knew who God was, you wouldn't be worried about those impossibilities. You'd be looking at the possibilities through Christ. It's an awesome thing. I mean, think about it. And we look such with our earthly eyes and say, there's no fish in there. I caught nothing. Lord, I've fished and I've caught nothing. For instance, if the impossible situation is some unsaved loved ones, you might be saying in your mind, I've talked to them, and I've talked to them, and I've talked to them, and they're hard to talk to, and they will not listen to me about the gospel. Okay, you've told all night. You've caught nothing. You look down and there's nothing in your hands, but what if God wants to do something? So I'd say, hey, if the Lord commands, don't give up on him. Fall on your knees and pray for them. Fall before the hands of God. If you get down to his knees, get down to his feet. Fall down there and say, oh God, I want the miracles in my life. I want something more than this earthly life can produce. I want my family to be saved. You need to just pour out your soul to him. Get such a burden that that you like the burden that Moses had when his people had done wrong and made that golden calf. And after he goes back into the presence of God, he says, blood out their sin. What does he say? And if not, and there's a hyphen in the scripture, a hyphen. And then he says, if not, blot me I pray thee out of the book. He said, God, these people, I know they're rebellious, but they're mine. I love them. And if you're not going to save them, don't even save me. Wow. What a burden. Paul had that burden. I wish could myself were a curse from Christ. What did he mean? I wish I could go to hell and give my life if all of Israel could be saved. He wasn't lying. Maybe it's unsaved relatives you're dealing with that is the impossible situation. They're not going to get saved. There's no way. I know. I've toiled. I know. They don't listen. Oh, they're angry people. They're estranged from me. They're unable to talk to me. I have the same problem with some of my relatives. I've toiled all night, and I have caught nothing. After all, I'm the sole winner. I know a little bit about this. God, I know they're closed. The door's closed, Lord. He looks out there, he says, God, there's no more fish in that lake. I've toiled all night. There's not a fish left. We have overfished. I mean, the Lake of Gennesaret, the Sea of Galilee, is only like 13 miles long, something like that. You can check my dimensions, but I know when we're in the middle of it, you never lose sight of both sides. It's not even like three miles wide. You know, it's the one side, the west side of it, eastern side of it is more hilly. It's where those pigs were told to jump off the devil, got the pigs to go perish in there. And then it's, and the Golan Heights are up there. And then on the other side, it's kind of really nice sloping out where they preach the sermon on a mount and where some of these miracles you go and see. I mean, it's a nice place, a beautiful place. I went out swimming in it. It was a really beautiful place. But it's not a big place. He might be, as an expert fisherman, he might say, hey, we have overfished this sea. You see all these fishermen? And Capernaum was a fisherman's town. See all of it? We have burnt this place. That doesn't matter. When God wants fish to be somewhere, the fish will be there. He made a big fish called a whale that was right at the right spot to swallow an old rebellious prophet named Jonah. God sent, you read it in there in Jonah, God sent a big fish. When God wants a fish to be there, there'll be a fish there. Later, he sends Peter back out there, says put a fish, go catch a fish, and the first fish you'll pick up, which was common there, there's a type of fish that's in that sea that is prone to eat the garbage at the bottom, like a carp does. picked it up and it was a coin and it was enough for that taxing, you'll read later in the Bible, for both Peter and for the Lord himself. But when the Lord wants a fish, and in this case when he wants a gaba fish, he says, hey, they don't even have, literally, there could have been no fish, it might have been burnt out. God says, let there be fish, what'll happen? It could have been a creative act. We get to heaven, we're gonna find out how did he do that? How did he choose to do that? But he's God. And you can look at your circumstances and spend your whole days wishing that God would do something, and yet you won't launch out into the deep, you won't really let down the nets. Because you kinda think the door's shut. Whether it be Bible school, mission fields, a calling to preach, just victory over personal addictions or sins, or having a ministry, your nursing home being saved, people actually getting saved, not just having church at a nursing home, but God moving in that nursing home. I'm talking about a very serious matter. Peter's like, I'm the expert fisherman. But just because of you, I'm gonna go out, I'll let down one of the nets. Hey fellas, see that net there? I know it's got a little break in it, but I'll fix that later. We're gonna go let down a net. You know, because the master said. Not because he really believed. But God can put fish anywhere. Christians are like this. We get all these reasons why it's not working out. when God wants to do a miracle. Trouble is that most Christians will not act upon God's commands. And you really don't believe until you do. Oh, you have faith to be saved, but that was for you and for your soul. But faith to do great things for God starts by acting upon his commands. And then God shows up. He said, great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Not mundane and human things. Great and mighty things, Jeremiah 33 verse three. God wants to raise your kids, give you a good marriage. He wants to reach the lost. He wants to give you victory in your personal life. He wants to, some of you that are single, that are getting of age, God wants to give you his choice for you. God's plan. He has a plan. And I'm saying it is all at this point. It looks like doors are shut. Wait for that time when God says to obey. Second point. So the first point was the capability. Next point is the commitment. So go back to verse four and see what the Lord wants you to do. Launch out into the deep. And the response was, nevertheless at thy word, I will let down the net. All of the miracles of God that I can tell in the Bible came with a commitment on the part of the recipient that caused him to act upon what he believed. He told those 10, remember the lepers that came to Christ? Remember the 10 lepers? And then he said to them, he said, go and show yourselves to the priest. Now, if you read in Leviticus, there's a process that when somebody was healed from leprosy, because on occasion, a mild case of leprosy could be healed. They would occasionally run its course in somebody, but there was a process for the priest to pronounce them healed. And when they were healed, they had a sacrifice they had to offer of thanksgiving to God, and then they were allowed back to their homes. It was a big deal. So there are these 10 lepers, and they come to Christ, and he says, go and show yourselves to the priest. Now get this, and if you read there, the Bible says, and as they went, they were healed. Right? I mean, the other leper came to him, Lord, if you want, you can heal me. And he said, I will, and he touched him, and as soon as he touched him, there's another picture in there about the Lord coming to know our sin. The leprosy is a picture of sin. That's a different picture, but in this case, he says, go and show yourself. What did he tell the man after he had, that was born blind? He said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. And when he washed, he came seeing. So the point is that the commands of God come and His miracles follow. So the commitment on the part of a Christian is to say, I believe. Now, not just to say it, but when you really believe, you're going to act upon it. It's like a few times in this church's history so far, when the Lord has laid upon my heart, hey, it's time to get a bus, what do you do? Start looking for a bus. The bus isn't gonna come to me. We gotta go look for a bus. God put it on my heart. A church needs a building. God's laid it on my heart. What did I do? We go look for every, I've been in so many buildings in this town. Every building I could get in, I would look at. Until God said, this is it. My point is, God says go. He's already given you enough commands. God says do. God says wait. God says obey. And you know the Christian can do? You can start to get yourself excited, because God's about to do something. It's about to be something. The blessings raining down upon your family, upon your life, individually. And then the Lord builds your faith so that you say, I'm going to forsake all. No more net in my life. It's going to always be nets. I wanna let down, I'm gonna go buy some more nets and let them down. I wanna go catch some men. I wanna see God. So the Lord does this commitment. And by the way, he has a way, he has a way of showing himself. Like I've said, I've mentioned the other night, I said this night server, I was gonna save it for this night sermon to review the facts of how we got this building. When we put a bid on this building, and those that were there at the time, you voted, you unanimously voted to follow, and almost humanly speaking, it was irresponsible. I want you to remember this. The building, we had to put $150,000 down, and we only had $4,500. Now that's a stretch. And the Lord said to do it, and we said, and the church voted unanimous. Pastor, make a, and it was irresponsible in human terms. And what happened? God opened the windows and it happened. It was very much an experience like the Red Sea was parted and we were walking. I called my friends, other pastors up. I said, hey, you know, I'm gonna tell you when the Lord opens the Red Sea, the ground is nice and firm. God tries it out. When God does a miracle, He's not short of strength. He is not without power. He is complete in what He wants to accomplish. And it would have been impossible for a little group of people to get into a building that's worth, I have to insure this, you remember? $4.3 million is the insurance on this. And that's not the replacement cost of having it look like this. It would just be the square footage being replaced in modern, kind of cheaper type of building materials. So don't burn it down, please. I'm trying to tell you that the miracles of God are yours. He wants to give you the kingdom. But you have to be committed to his commands. So there's times when the Lord's gonna say, I know you're tired, keep on going. I know you've given, give more. Make sure it's the voice of God. So he says, nevertheless at thy word. So it needs to be connected. Look at verse number one of the chapter. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God. So they were attentive to the word of God. So the word of God and his impression in prayer, so the will of God, is included in this. Make sure you're right with God to know the word, to know God's will. And there's going to be a testing time when he puts you in a position that you have to launch out into the deep. You've long been past your sleep time. You think it's not going to work. It's not going to show itself. And you step out in obedience to God, and God promises he'll never fail you. So what is it that you need in your life? What's the miracle? What's the test? What's the fact that God's put you up against? In our present circumstances as a church, it is obvious that God is bringing us to the place where he says, launch out into the deep. What should you do? Keep believing, keep obeying, keep doing what God says, and God will meet you there. With trembling, I picked up that phone and called and said, I will offer $150,000 for that Presbyterian building, and I'm gonna ask you to come down on the price, and I'm gonna ask you to hold the mortgage for 10 years. Who does that? They agreed to it. Now they only came down $5,000. I was asking for like $50,000 off the price. And I trembled when I did it. That guy probably, if he knew my bank account, he would have said, I don't belong talking to this guy. But if he knew my God, he'd be calling me every day. Are you understanding the difference? And so God now, he puts our family back into, as a church, back into the position where I'm asking us to go and start another church, not me, you. This church to start another church. And I say with trembling and with a lot of prayer and wrestling and my heart broken. And I say, oh, God has something more for us. And I step out in the very next day. So last Monday, I step out and talk about it in church. And Monday by the evening, somebody called and said, I have one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your church. Coming here to Mountain Valley Baptist Church. To be used in the ministry in Chicago, your ministry. Pastors don't start churches, churches start churches. Launch out into the deep, but you'll never see the miracle until you step out. The miracles don't come and sit at your feet waiting for you to build up enough faith. Friend, the miracles come when you trembling obey the voice of God and you step out where you don't think you're gonna make it and God will show himself every single time. The commitment is that we have to go After you commit to obey by faith. I know it's not comfortable. I know it's like pressing us beyond measure to trust in God where we can't see. I know that. I know that it's not been easy for some. And I'm going to tell you this from the bottom of my heart. The decisions we're making are not easy for me. It's ripping my heart out, but I love the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can believe. I know you might not be comfortable, you might be overworked, and you might say, I've toiled all night, and it's time to go get some rest, and can't we sit back and enjoy the church building God's given us? Pastor, why don't you sit back a little bit instead of go, go, go? I don't know, but when God says launch out in the deep, I've been in the deep before. And it's where God wants us, and that's where I want to be every single time. Because it's there where you see the miracles. It's there when God shows himself. And we say, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. I don't deserve to have these blessings. I don't deserve to have a story to tell of The waters parting in Belize and seeing God bring people to church and touch people's hearts in a way that, man, some miracles happen there. You say, Pastor, are you Pentecostal? I'm not Pentecostal. But I've seen some miracles of God that are, you can't explain it any other way. And you look around and you say, I remember that time, I've told you before, I walked in a house and a kid was demon possessed. And I mean, his mom's got his head on her lap, and his body is like straight as a board. And I'm looking, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, you know? I'm like, ooh! I just walked into like a horror movie, and I don't watch horror movies, you know? And then I took another step, and I said, my name's Pastor Don from over here at this church. And somebody called that you had some problems, and the demons started to talk. That was scary. And I sort of looked around like, where's David Livingston? Where are the famous missionaries? Where are the big time Christians? I'm like, it's just the cops, kid. And I'm gonna say something to you. When that kid got saved that day and his body fell loose, and he trusted Christ, and the demons were gone. What a miracle of God. But I had to take trembling, take God at His word beyond my comfort zone to see Him do something I couldn't do. Now I never look for those situations and I don't even like to talk about them because I don't want to give any praise to the devil. I want to give all the praise to God that he can deliver you. But listen, if God can deliver that fella out of demon possession. By the way, I saw, it was another church that asked me to come and I saw the deacon right before I moved back to come here. And I said, how's that fella doing? He said he's never had another problem again. He's teaching Sunday school in his church. He was 12 then and by the time I left he was 6 years older, 18. Teaching Sunday school in his church. And if God can turn that kind of person like Mary Magdalene full of demons and make her a child of God and a faithful servant so the first person at the tomb on the resurrection day was Mary Magdalene. What a glory in history to have your name like that. But she had been tormented by devils. Then the devils that torment you can be overcome through the miracles of God. but you're gonna have to launch out into the deep. You're gonna have to exercise your faith. Capability, the commitment, now notice the command. The Lord is specific. Launch out into the deep, let down your nets for a draft. And as I've already pointed out, he accommodated, he placated what he was thinking, and then God showed him he's bigger than he is. I'd say when the Lord says to let down your nets, you better let down some nets, not net. How much more would be done for God if only we were willing to test the waters? There's something to be said about the deep. In one of the Psalms it says, they that go out into the deep, they understand the work of God in the waves and in the sea. But going out to the deep means you're no longer tethered to the shore. You're not close enough to jump out and be waist deep. You're out in the deep where you'd have to walk on water to be okay outside the boat. Later, Peter learns that, remember? You get out in the deep where you can no longer control the circumstances. And man, you are exactly where God wants you to be in those times. If God says, go do this, and you say, but I can't. It's unreasonable. It won't work. The door is shut. That's too dangerous for my life. God says, launch out into the deep where you are unable to stand on your own. And you're not tethered to shore. There's not a line to keep you. Well, this is my lifeline. Like my dear grandmother said, Don, you need to go get another degree so that if preaching can't feed your family, you have something to fall back on. And even at 14 years old, I told my grandmother as respectfully as I could, I said, Grandma, if God can't feed me, I'm not gonna be a preacher. I'm gonna fall back and I'm gonna land in the hands of the Almighty God. And I'm not worried about being tethered to the shore I'm not worried about having, as they say, all your ducks in order before you get started. I'm going to launch out into the deep, Lord, where you don't have control over everything. Boy, you're sometimes going to feel like, what are we doing out here? What is all this? And then God's going to say, hey, fish, fill that net. So, we don't understand the purposes of God and what he does for our lives. But we can know that we fit into his overall plan somehow. God has a plan for you. We obey his word, the revealed word of God, his will for you, then we listen to the Holy Spirit for what is not delineated in the Bible. There's no thou shalt go to Pocatello's for Don Whitaker in the scriptures. but we listen to what God the Holy Spirit speaks and we move when he says to do what he says. My last point is the cause and we notice why the Lord was doing this. I mean, there was probably a actual provision implied here. Peter's about to go and follow the Lord for three and a half years and then he's actually gonna follow the Lord all the way to Pentecost preach a sermon where 3,000 people get saved, and then he's gonna go on further and do great things writing two books of the Bible, and then he's gonna die a martyr's death, being crucified upside down, because he's preaching for this same Christ, right? Now get this, this is incredible. And so the Lord says, hey, all you fish jump in there, we need some fish to sell because he needs to provide for his family while he's traveling with me. That's probably what that was about. It wasn't like the Lord just wanted to make him rich. It was a provision involved, but I'm gonna tell you something, more than the provision like we've seen in this building, which is just bricks and mortar and wood, This stands as a testimony that God's people, once they launch out into the deep, you can believe in God. Then when you have to do the same, God will always care for you. He rewards those that diligently seek him. Remember, without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He's a rewarder. He is the rewarder. He is the one that, like all of those prayers that, Judy, that you prayed for your husband to get saved, all of those years, and sometimes you felt like, probably, I'm just guessing, oh, I don't know if he'll ever get saved. And those faint prayers that sometimes we get real thin in our faith, but God says, keep praying, keep praying, keep praying, don't give up. And then God breaks through the miracles and He brings this man to church to hear the gospel. How long did you come before you got saved? It was like a year and a half. And he started coming to the services. And the fun thing for me is that he didn't get saved because I preached a great sermon. I wasn't even preaching when the Lord finally brought that about. Pastor Blanco came from Belize and said I started as a What do you call that in Catholic church? Altar boy? And his testimony of getting saved in Belize. Terry came to me after church. Can I talk to you tomorrow? And he came in my office, explained a few things to him. He was ready. He got saved and trusted the Lord. His life has never been the same. And then I looked down at the Lord's table time and I was sitting there. The Lord's supper together. rejoicing that God can do after like 63 years of prayer. I'm asking, what does God want in your life next? What does He want? Doesn't He want your family to be saved and your life, your goals that God has for you? Doesn't He want you to see the draft of fishes in your life that you think are impossible, but you have the voice of God? The word of God says, commit yourself and I'll do greater miracles and you're gonna come back and you're gonna say, I don't know what to do with all these fish. And everything that God does in your life is a portrait of Him being glorified because when we see the greatness of God, we don't say, look what God did through me. We fall down before God and say, oh God, you're so great, why? Did you do this for us? Thank you. And then he says, it makes you want to say, Lord, whatever you want, you're mine. I'm yours. I'll forsake all and follow you. Whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, take me out into the deep. Take me beyond my comfort zone. Take me where I think it might look impossible. And the Lord later says to Peter, yeah, come on out, walk with me. I'll show you not only how to get out to the deep, but let's walk on some water. Come on, let's show you how to feed 5,000 people with just a few fish and some loaves. He says, let me accompany you into the house where your mother-in-law is passing away, and let me show you what God can do. Launch out into the deep, Peter, and let's see 3,000 saved at Pentecost. Let's see the power of God demonstrated. Peter, it's time for you to come home, and they're gonna crucify you upside down. And Peter says, I'll do it with a smile, after I've lived in the deep. There's nothing left of this earth I really want. And I'll forsake all and follow you. Let's all stand together. We're gonna close in prayer in just a minute. But maybe the Lord's touched your heart today that there's a need in your life. And you say, God's touched me and I'm not just emotionally drawn, but not just intellectually, but God is speaking to me. I know God wants me to launch out into the deep. Dear Father, I pray for this invitation. Yield our hearts to you. I pray we'd be committed to any command, any small command, no matter how big or small, but we would launch out into the deep. We would take every net we own and throw it into that sea. And God, Lord, I've been there. As the psalmist said, I wanna see your power and your glory so as I've seen thee in the sanctuary. I've seen you, and I wanna see that power again. Christian, if the Lord's dealt with your heart, as the piano plays, come on, the invitation is open.