Amen. Look if you will and we will start reading in verse number 1 in John chapter 21 a very familiar passage of Scripture probably to most of you. Of course the disciples have already seen the Lord Jesus and we know after He, after Calvary and in His resurrected and we know that He has something still yet that He is planning on doing and we are going to look at now with His disciples. And so in John chapter 21 verse number 1 He said, After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias on this wise showed He Himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Canaan of Galilee, and the son of Zebedee, two other of his disciples, Simon Peter, saith unto them, I go fishing. And they say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, children, have ye any meat? And they answered him, no. By the way, you ever fished all night and not caught anything? And have somebody ask you, have you caught anything? Not a very pleasant response, but no. And notice, if you will, verse number six. And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship. And you shall find. And they cast their four. And now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. By the way, it seems like the disciples of at least Peter, James, and John wound up right back where they started. And Peter said, I'll go fishing. And it wasn't the fishing that was the problem. it was the forsaking, the purpose for which God again had done all that he had done in the time he had spent with the Lord. Verse number 7, he said, Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loves saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship For they were not far from land, but, as it were, two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. And as soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bred. And Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, 150 in three. And for all, there were so many. Yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord? Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead. And verse 15, So when they had dined, Jesus saith unto Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? more than these he saith unto him yea lord thou knowest that i love thee and he saith unto him feed my lambs he saith to him again the second time simon son of jonah lovest thou me he saith unto him yea lord thou knowest that i love thee he saith unto him feed my sheep verse seventeen, he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. and Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. And we are going to leave off reading right there. Let us go to the Lord in prayer, and we will get right into the message and what the Lord has put on our heart this evening. Father, thank you for the opportunity to get to be here. We sure enjoy this service. We have enjoyed Lord, the time that we've been able to spend here, we thank you for these missionaries, we thank you for this missions-minded pastor and church, and we thank you, Lord, that we can, again, just focus our attention for a few minutes on, Lord, what you'd have us to, Lord, to do, or to continue in doing, and, Lord, that you'd just help us to say what needs to be said, and to leave undone those things that ought not, and we ask it all in Jesus' name, amen. I know that if you are a normal person, and if you've been serving the Lord for any length of time, that there have been some times in your life, your walk with the Lord, that you've thought about quitting. And let me remind you again Our Lord did not quit, and I'm glad that He didn't. And the truth is that there's never a good time to faint. And as quite well you know, it seems like people faint. They faint in the most inopportune times. And as a child of God, we need to understand that God has a purpose and a plan for everything he allows to come in our life. Even though it may not be something we would have ordered or wanted for ourselves, and so it may not be something we desired, but I'm glad that he's in charge and he's in control. And I may be the only one here, but I don't think I am, that have had moments of thinking about quitting. And there have been times that, to be honest with you, I've thought about quitting, supporting our Faith Promise Program. I've thought about just, by the way, there have been times I've thought about just going back to the world. And I'm glad that those thoughts did not permeate my being so that I turned my back on the Lord and went back to the world. You know, truth is, I know that you know 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. And so, but I do know, again, that there are some times that we, if you will, entertain thoughts that we should not. And I'm thankful that the Lord always comes through and he provides for us that which we need just to keep on keeping on. And I want you to understand that that's what the Lord wants you to do. It may be there's some area of your life, your spiritual walk that you've thought about quitting. I went through some things a while back. There've been several times that I've I wondered, Lord, if it's going to be this way, then why am I doing what I'm doing? Why isn't it working out the way I wanted it to? And he always reminds me that he's in charge. He's still in charge, and you may not understand. There's something more important than understanding God, and that's simply trusting him. You know Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trusting the Lord. With all thine heart, lean not to thine own understanding, but in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. I'm afraid the Apostle Peter and these other disciples, Lord, they've decided that since the Lord has been crucified, by the way, they've already seen him in his resurrected body, They already knew that he was alive. And so, but, Peter says, I go a-fishin'. Now, we'll look at several things. We see, first of all, his decision. By the way, you need to be careful about the decisions that you make. Because they're gonna influence, not just, it's not gonna have just an effect on you. But if it's the wrong decision, it's gonna infect those around you. And boy, I'm glad tonight that the times that I thought about quitting, quitting on faith promise, quitting on being missions minded and supporting and helping missionaries and even going to visit mission fields and doing what we can to try to reach the lost. I'm glad that when I entertained those thoughts that I didn't let them rule the day. Amen. And I'm glad that the Lord always comes through. And I know the Apostle Peter and the other disciples, when they said, he said, I go fishing. He wasn't just going fishing. He was leaving. what the Lord had left him to do and decided that he's going to go back to where the Lord found him. And that's called being backslid, amen. And Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? Three times he asked him, feed my sheep. Twice feed my sheep, feed my lambs. And let me encourage you today. You know, it seems like one of the most tempting things that we face is when we are looking at quitting or looking at going back in some areas of our lives that we have advanced to prior to, that it seems like the missions program seems like it's one of the first to go. It ought not to be, amen. Why? Because I'm going to preach it some more, perhaps Sunday, but the main thing is still keeping the main thing the main thing. And I know that you know we have a great commission. We've been given it, not just to the missionaries, just to all of us, amen? And we're to do everything that we can, not only to help and support those that are going where we came. But you quite well know that the Great Commission has given, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now you can't be but one place at one time. But we are expected to do what we can do where we are and help those that go where we can't and be a part of what's going on. I believe a lot of times we miss out on the blessings of God. Again, these disciples are right back where they started. I guess you could say the Apostle Peter's stock market had crashed on him. He was just wondering, what in the world am I going to do now? I can sympathize with him, but I do not want to emulate him. And there are people that you know and I know that have made the wrong decision in a time of difficulty and perhaps some problems that have come their way that just decided to drop out. And I can think of several people that run through my mind even now. And I'm glad that I didn't do what they'd done. Because the truth is you'll always regret going away from God. You'll always regret, if you will, throwing in the towel. Now, there's times that I've had the towel in my hand. And if you've been saved very long, you'd have to admit the same thing. I want to tell you something. This world is still an enemy. Amen. And the devil does have your phone number. Matter of fact, he knows your social security number. And he knows where you live. And let me say this, I have too often answered that call. I got caller ID. And the Lord says, don't answer that, amen. But I want to hear what he's got to say. I want to hear what he's got to offer. Well, Peter did. He answered the phone sadly and said, I'm going back to what I used to do. And I don't know. He certainly, they had a lot of opposition. They had a lot of things. But can you imagine walking with the Son of God? with the power of God being displayed on every hand it seems and through those that were healed and those that were saved and then just shortly after he's gone and he's already appeared to him. He knows he's alive. He knows he's well. You know, I believe it ought to cause us to say I'm going to take heart in this matter. We see just a few things. Let me give you these few things and we'll move on. Verse number three, Peter says, I go fishing. Again, there's nothing wrong with fishing. I like to fish. But, you know, he was going back to where the Lord had called him from. And you say, what does that mean? That means he was backslid. And too often, there have been times I've slid back, and yet, We know how important it is for us to pay attention to what the Lord wants us to do and for us to do what He would have us to do whether things are going our way or not. And again, I believe that Peter kind of felt like my stock market just crashed when the Lord was crucified. buried and rose again even, and they knew that. But anyway, I'm afraid that too often we look around at the circumstances and we decide, you know what, I'm just going to go fishing. I'm going to go back to the way I was before. But the wrong decision doesn't make it any more your decision than it is when you make the right decision. And we are to choose you this day, whom you will serve, amen, and stick with it like Joshua did. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and just determined to do so. But anyhow, we see his decision, we see his distraction. The other disciples that were with him, they said, we also go with thee. If you're not careful, you go down willingly, then you'll, more than likely bring somebody down with you. And I want to try to encourage you this evening to realize that there are some folks that are watching you that wouldn't give me the time of day. They're listening to you that maybe wouldn't even listen to these missionaries that are here or this pastor. But you have an influence on them. And God gives us all a sphere of influence. And so we need to be careful and realize that He expects us to be that example. And so it is always too soon to quit. And we realize not only if we see His decision, was a bad one, and we see his distraction. And they said, we also go with thee. And we see this disappointment. You realize they had fished all night, and just as when the Lord called them to begin with, they had done the same thing. And we well know when Jesus showed up, their nest did fill up and break. And so But anyway, we know that now he's right back to where he started. And so we see the distraction. We see the disappointment when they caught nothing. And then we see the directions. Look back in verse number six. And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore. Now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. And now following what the Lord told them to do, following the directions, they cast the nets on the other side. And verse number 10, Jesus saith unto them, bring of the fish which ye have now caught. And so again, we see that the Lord has given them that which they were trying to do and cause them to recognize that without him, we can do nothing. And that's exactly what we'll accomplish without Him. Nothing. And anytime you go away from the Lord, you're going down. It's always downhill from there. And anytime we turn our back on the Lord and His will for our lives, and we're doing damage not only to ourselves, but there's going to be somebody else say, we also go with thee. And it seems that we get so self-absorbed sometimes that we forget the influence that we have on our children, our grandkids, our neighbors, our friends. I'll tell you, and I know especially in this area of missions, faith promise missions, boy, sometimes you think, well, there's more month at the end of the money. And we, well, the first thing we cut out is missions. It ought not to be, amen. And you say, Preacher, what should we cut out? I can't answer that for you, but I can say this, that everywhere that you and I can, we need to, you know, our faith promise, I'll just say this as a testimony, not that I'm bragging on me, but I want to brag on the Lord, but ever since we've been involved in faith promise, there's never been a week that we weren't able to or a month. We sometimes put it in monthly, and that way we're able to keep our faith promise going. You say, why, Preacher? Not just because the missionaries are counting on it, but because I'm counting on God's blessings. Amen? I don't give to get. But when we give for God's purpose, God's plan, then certainly there's going to be a return that's literally out of this world. Amen. And so we see the directions, we see the decision was bad, the distraction of Peter was bad, and then the disappointment. Now, they caught nothing. And then I want to get to the main meat of the message, but we see the directions from the Savior. Cast your net on the other side. And by the way, when they did, now the Lord says, bring of the fish, which you have now caught. And caught nothing doing it their way. But I guarantee you, we do what the Lord wants us to do in His time, He will make sure that we are producing what He's left us here to produce and do what He's left us here to do. And so we see the difference. And I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that the Lord has kept me and he directs us, and I like that song. It said, I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day, still praying as I'm onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. A higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. And we need to just keep pressing on the upward way. And know that it ain't always gonna be easy, but it'll always be worthwhile. It may not seem that anybody else is going with you, but truth is, the Lord's always there. He said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. And I believe that, amen. I believe it's true. And so, but anyway, then we see not only the difference, but we see his dinner in verse number 12 there. I just read, Jesus saith, come and dine. He didn't take of their fish. He already had fish on the fire when they got there. And quite well we know that his dinner, if you will, turned made a turn, made a difference, if you will, in what the Lord was trying to do for the disciples to get them to see. And by the way, when the shepherd shows up, in failure, he's still a friend. And when the shepherd shows up, they found a fire to warm by. And when the shepherd shows up, there's food to strengthen. there is favor to encourage, there is forgiveness to reinstate, all these things for the apostle Peter. His presence was revealed the shepherd of the sheep, the sovereign of the sea. He's the sustainer of the servant. He's the supporter of the spiritless. He's the seeker of the strayer. He's the strength of service. He's the securer of the saint. You see a lot of S's there. Well, we can get a lot more because the truth is our Savior is still to be the focus of our attention and our direction. You know, if you'll do what you do for the preacher, it won't last very long. Amen? If you do what you do for your Sunday school teacher or your family or your friends, it may not last. But if you and I keep our eyes fixed for looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, despised the cross certainly. endured the shame, but has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. We know right well where he's at now. And we know that we just need to keep looking unto him. And he's always been faithful, and he will always be faithful. And you guys going to the mission field, I don't know what you're going to face. But I know who'll help you to have victory over everything that comes against you. And it may not be easy. He never promised it would be. But he did promise it'd always be worthwhile. And those of you that are church members and you involved in the missions program through giving, and let me say, just as importantly, through praying for your missionaries. And I believe that. And I believe, again, every one of us ought to want to be a blessing and a help and find ways that we can be what we're supposed to be so we can do what we're supposed to do. And just making a difference. Again, some have a compassion, making a difference. We see his dinner. We see his discourse. Oh, man, this is convicting. Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these? feed my lambs. Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these? Feed my sheep. Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? Feed my sheep. Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." Well, quite well we know that the Apostle Peter, that was a head-hanging time for him, and I'm glad again to know that It may not seem like it's worth it now, but it will be worth it all when we see him. Just to look upon his face, the one that saved us by his grace, takes us by the hand, leads us through the promised land, the songwriter said. What a day, glorious day that will be. And I don't know how much regret I'll have I'm sure there will be some when we again come face to face with our Savior. You know, I have mixed emotions about the judgment seat of Christ and standing before Him. You know we're going to be rewarded according—well, the representations are silver, gold, and precious stones, or wood, hay, or stubble. And all that's going to be tried by fire. And we know that wood, hay, and stubble is not going to pass through the fire. Nothing left but ashes. I don't want to have to bring to my Savior the one that willingly took my place on Calvary. He did not go to Calvary because of any wrongdoing of His, but because of my sin. and because of the sin of the world. And I think about the discourse that Apostle Peter had to endure. Lovest thou me? More than these. I don't believe the Lord ought to have to ask any of us for what he's done for us. Lovest thou me? I believe it will show up, no doubt. I'll just be—go worldly on you for just a minute, but you'll be around me very long until you'll know that I love to hunt, love deer hunt. I love to fish. I mean, I'm not much of a sports fanatic. Some of you love football. My dad was an avid golfer, very good. And I played golf with him some. But, you know, every time I'd go golfing with him, I said, man, I couldn't hit the ball like where it's supposed to go. And somebody said, well, did you curse whenever you golfed and it didn't go right? No, I never cursed, but where I spit, the grass would die. Amen. You just make me mad. But there are a lot of things that I love to do. But I'm convinced that every one of us, from time to time, pretty regularly, ought to examine our lives and see, is my life what it ought to be? devotion where it should be? Is my love displayed as it ought to be? Lovest thou me more than these? Oh, you are talking about a convicting question. I can just imagine what Peter was dealing with. I know you know 1 Corinthians 15, 58. He said, Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, verse 57. He said, But therefore Somebody said, when you see the word, therefore, you ought to see what it's there for. Therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Well, that word labor sometimes a curse word. It's not in this case. Labor. Boy, I appreciate missionaries going to a foreign field. They're laboring here. Maybe one of the greatest labors, I believe, is one of the greatest preparations for a missionary is having to be on deputation. And all the trials that missionaries face, I've heard some of the horror stories that they have to do. And it's not always that way, but I like coming to a place like this, man, I tell you, and they've been taken care of. But it's not always this way. They're not always appreciated as much as your church has appreciated them. And let me say, I appreciate you for appreciating them. But you know this, that you'll never do anything for the Lord's servants, that there will not be also connected a reward and a blessing as well. We live in a world that's just so mixed up. I got about for more points, but we'll—this thing's got as many points as a porcupine, but we're going to let it stop. I just—we'll come down. Let me—just ask us. You ask yourself, lovest thou me more than these? You know, my wife does not demand it. But I have learned that she, let me use the word twice, loves to hear me say, I love you. I have found that she needs to hear that, especially the way that I depend on her. I started to say treat her bad, but that's just dependency. I sure hope and pray that when the Lord takes either one of us, He takes me first, because she wouldn't have any problem making it without me, but I don't know. But she's just been such a help to me, and still is. But, you know, the Lord so loved us. God so loved us. that He gave, and our Savior was willing to leave the splendor of heaven and the glory thereof to come. He did not come just to show off. He humbled Himself, became obedient even to the death of the cross. Do you know the worst thing about it all? He who knew no sin became sin. I might be made the righteousness of God in him. It's hard to fathom. Oh, I believe it, but it's still hard. No wonder the songwriter said. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as He. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much He cares for me. I can tell you the same. If you'd have been the only sinner in this world, I believe the Lord would have come and did everything that he did and went to Calvary. He had his face set like a plant, and I believe he still would have, and he'd have went to Calvary just for you and just for me. Oh, what a Savior. I look in the mirror sometimes and I say, God, why? Why would you save an old wretch like me? And I read about an apostle Peter and see all of his shortcomings. I like going back over to John chapter 6. I know you're all ready to go home, but I ain't, so John chapter 6. Jesus looks up and all of that multitude that was following him because he had fed them And he looks up, and he said, now except you drink my blood, eat my flesh, John chapter 6. And they got offended at that, and they said, can we eat this man's flesh and essence? And many of them turned back, quit following him. And Jesus looks at the disciples, and he says, will you go away also? same apostle Peter that said, I go fishing. Then John chapter 6 said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. What a great declaration by the apostle Peter there. And then to come to what he did and So I think, who am I? What's the reason we need to stay in this book? The reason you need to stay in the house of God and church, the reason you need to, by the way, stay on your knees and pray, the reason you need to stay actively searching, looking, and doing for what the Lord would have you do. Well, it's good to stay busy. I know it's not a Bible verse, but it is a Bible truth, and the idle mind is. devil works on, the flesh. Well, you say, what's this got to do with missions, everything? To whom shall I go? He has the words of eternal life. What's the same for every boy, girl, man, woman that ever has been born of man. I wonder tonight, will you consider the importance of missions? And I know this hasn't been exactly a missions message, but I felt very impressed with what the Lord would have us to do tonight. If you entertain thoughts, I'm just throwing in the towel. Say the Apostle Peter sure regretted it. Make up your mind tonight. You know what? The Lord may not always do everything that you want Him to do, and He doesn't always do what I want Him to do, but He always does what needs to be done, always. He's never made one mistake, one error, and all of us tonight can trust. I know you know Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. We trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. All thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Well, I wonder with our heads bowed for just a moment. I'm going to pray in just a minute, and we'll turn it over to the pastor. But have you had thoughts of, you've got the towel in your hands. Let me encourage you. Let me say this, you'll regret either stopping or going back. If you understand still, it's time to get moving again, get busy, get actively involved in praying for missionaries, supporting missionaries, doing more. I love being around Christians that are just looking for ways to be a blessing to the cause of Christ. And I've seen many of you here doing just that. But remember, the Lord's presence may not always be as obvious to you as it is right now. But don't look back. Don't quit. That way we have no regret. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the privilege to get