DeSonte Cole

DeSonte Cole | April 21, 2024

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What's up everybody, and welcome to Embassy City Church. Hey, I'm so delighted that you're here. I am not here in person, but you are left in great hands. We have coming up a very, very, very special brother. He is our newest member on staff here. He's one of our pastors. And we are delighted because we get to hear a word from the Lord from this good brother. Hey, many of you have already met him, some of you have not. And I promise you, if you haven't met him, you want to meet him because he will light up your world. He's the salt of the earth. He's a light in this room and he's about to deliver an amazing word from the Lord. So open up your ears, open up your hearts. Would you stand to your feet all across this place? And let's make some crazy noise and welcome Desante Cole. Preach the word, bro.

Hey y'all. I love it. Good to see y'all. How y'all doing? Everybody good? Everybody good? Yeah, it's so good to be home. So good to be around family. And I didn't know if we was going to get out of worship. We just would've laid out here in the floor together. But it's okay. God is doing something great and I'm excited to be here. If you love Jesus, make some noise.

I love that. That was so good. First of all, I want to give honor where honor is due. Can we celebrate our leaders, Dr. Tim and Janice Rivers? Oh, we can do better than that. We want them to feel the love. Amen. It's one thing to honor and it's one thing to walk in honor because you see it modeled and that's thing, one thing that we do is we see it modeled time after time, after time. And I'm so grateful to be here, to be a part of this experience, to see their legacy and their leadership. And we just beginning. Do y'all agree? We just beginning. Alright, I want to do a couple things. The first thing I want to do is, yes, I'm one of the new pastors here on staff. I'm so delighted to be here. It's an honor to serve you all. And if you haven't met me again, see me, I'm usually in dress down, but today's a little different. Just had to remember if I could still dress up just a little bit. But we got it. And I want to do two things. Well, one thing I want to show my family there, here, but if you haven't seen them, there's going to be a picture coming up that is the coal world crew. That's what we call ourselves. My wife Jacinda. She's the queen of my heart. She's here with us today.

I love you girl. Okay? I had to get it out. I'm sorry. Y'all know me. It's home. I can be home, right? We're home, right? Okay. I'm just going to be me. We good? That's my boo thing and we'll just leave it right there. And I have two little ones there They are my daughter's, Amaya, she's seven, she will be eight soon. She's all things cheerleader and princess. All the things you may get hit with a roundhouse or a front walkover, I think that's what it's called. But be careful. And then I have my little superhero. His name is Kai. He just turned five on Tuesday and we solicit your prayers couple Tuesdays ago. Excuse me. We solicit your prayers. Some of y'all laughing because y'all know what I'm going through. Y'all pray, pray hard, amen. But that is the cold world crew and I'm so grateful that we are here and you've just embraced us so and we love y'all. One more time. Can you make some noise for Jesus? All I am excited, I'm excited, I'm excited. Today we're going to take an assessment. I know some of y'all got a little tight, like what? Right out the gate we are going to take an assessment, more or less. We're going to take a look at your evaluation of a couple of things more recently, your posture.

And what I love is there's so many things when it comes to dealing with posture, but as we're evaluating today, there's a couple of things that I need you to understand that it's going to take some work. See, when I mentioned evaluation and assessment, some of y'all got a little tight, some of y'all stood up a little straight. I love it. We ready today. But it's in regard to what your posture actually reveals. See, I can see when you were thinking about alignment, some of y'all went straight to the vehicle and I can see some of your wheels turning literally. But we're not talking about the vehicle today. We're talking about the N word man. Recently I spent a couple times a couple conversations rather talking with some good brothers of mine who specialize in chiropractic care. And we were sitting there, we were having a conversation. I said, Hey, can you give me a couple things that happen when you're misaligned or when you're out of alignment? They said, sure. And what was crazy is both of them, obviously they're professionals, but they came up with the same exact realm. Here's some things that can happen. Your brain function decreases

Your immune system and deficiency response. You lose mobility in terms of your extremities and in terms of your limbs and your joint systems. You can also have an inability to have restful nights. You can lose sleep and this is all based on your alignment. But what was funny to me, and some of y'all are like, listen, that ain't got nothing to do with me, but it does. I'm coming down your row because what they let me know is at minimum 47% of people walk around in overcompensation. And what that means simply is I'm disassociated to where I can operate seamlessly. I'm disassociated to where I can operate at a high capacity. And what that also means is somewhere I'm relying on another part of my body to do more work than it's supposed to because I'm not walking in the place I'm supposed to in alignment.

And so we got to deal with some stuff today. Are you ready? I don't know about you, but if you're anything like me, we are in a fight. Don't leave me out here by myself whether it's traffic or them little kids y'all just saw or anything else that's pulling on us. We are in a don't leave me out here by myself. We are in a fight, right? But today, somebody say today I won't tell you to turn to your neighbor yet. You know how we do. You kind of just like turn, but still say it forward. Just look forward and just shout today. Yeah, I know some of y'all, it's okay. We home. Take a deep breath and we're going to learn how to understand what our alignment looks like at all costs. Are we ready? That's the title of my message. I want you to go ahead and go to Luke chapter number five.

We're going to get ready to rock and roll if you're ready. Say I'm ready. Ready. If not, just look on the screen and you can read along with us. I'll be reading out of the ESV. On one occasion while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Guinness Orette. Another translation says it's the Sea of Galilee. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets, getting into one of the boats, which was Simons. He asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, master, we toiled all night and took nothing but at your word.

I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled the boat so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, depart from me. For I am a sinful man, oh Lord, for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John sons of Zee who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on you'll be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Let's pray. Spirit of the living God, do what you want to do in this place.

Remove our frailties and have your way. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now I told you we were talking about alignment, correct? And there are some things that we got to deal with, but before we get there, I want to step right into the scene of where we are here in this section of text when we're dealing with Jesus and obviously the first call of what's happening. See, we understand that we have a narrative of Jesus doing some things. We see the pronouncement, we see the lineage, we see the baptism, we see him proclaiming the gospel and we also see him stepping on the scene full of the spirit of God when he gave the devil a masterclass on how to land and sit and function on the word of God. I don't know about you, but there's some things that we have to recognize that's only going to happen at His word. And so we get into this place, we understand this place and he's announced his assignment. Not only has he announced it, he understood it as the young people say, they still say that. Yeah, okay. They still say that. Good. He understood the assignment. Even somebody was like, I don't know. I don't know.

They understood the assignment and he even escaped a near death experience in his own town, his own hometown. And as he's going through what really struck me in previous chapter four that he slipped through the crowd unnoticed, which reminds me that we have to consistently and constantly evaluate our posture because we don't want to miss Jesus in plain sight on the observation of our own self motives.

So we have to deal with this thing called posture. See, he's healing including mother-in-law. You see a little bit previous before that he's driving out demons and he's proclaiming the gospel. And I love the Luke in perspective because Luke is going to do one thing. He's going to let you know what the gospel of the Lord is saying. He's going to let you know that it's going to be proclaimed. He's going to let you know obviously from a physician's perspective that there's some things that he saw a little bit different. And what I love about it is he gave us all the tea.

Y'all thought I was going to say something else? No, he gave us all the tea. We see it in plain sight. And as he's going, we step into this scene and we see that Jesus sees insight in a moment that would transform everyone involved. And I love that He sees not only what's happening on the lake, but he sees a moment to go past potential in going to purpose. Purpose. See, he sees some things and he understood some things and he understood that his assignment was still being fulfilled and he said, I've got to do some things in this place, but I don't just see boats. I see a pulpit.

I just don't see boats. I see a pulpit. I see an opportunity for the gospel to be shared right in front of my eyes because there's something that I got to pull out of some people, but I got to take them a little deeper. See, what we need to understand is as he sees this insight, he steps into the pulpit. I mean the boat. He steps into the boat and he sits down. Can we just give God 10 seconds of praise that he can step into an unlikely situation and sit there with us? See, we're praising and we're excited, but it was custom for the rabbis of that time to sit down while they were teaching counterculture to us. Today we stand, but I'm very thankful that God still modeled and gave us a course of what it looked like to be postured. See, he sits in the boat and he sits there and he starts teaching and he says, even though the crowd's oppressing against them, he creates some distance just a little bit because there's something that he has to do in this moment. And I want to let you know that transformation is subjective.

That even though he was doing something in the moment, it still took some work. It still took an opportunity for them to have to do something on the other end. See, there's power in your posture, but if you're disjointed in your alignment, then we're sitting here walking around in dysfunction. See, we told you, we told going to go to work today because at 47% may be sitting right next to you. Just look at your neighbor or even look forward and say, he ain't talking to me. Some of y'all really did it too. I love it. The first thing we have to understand is posture is more than position. It's about purpose. We understand this, but what do you do when things aren't lining up? What do you do when it feels like everything's going away? What do you do when this is your thing but it's not working? What do you do when the frustration, I have to get back to the place of alignment and I have to reevaluate because there's something that someone else is depending on. We'll get there in just a minute. Ask me how I know. Thank you. I'm glad you asked.

More recently, last year I was on a lake in Texas more or less on a sailboat. And I have to say that out loud again, not just to flex, but just to thank God that this little inner city kid was actually on a lake, on a sailboat in Texas. We're from Reno, Nevada, small, small place by way of Denver, Colorado for the last 12, 13 years. And now I'm sitting on a sailboat on a lake in Texas. Now, manmade or not, we'll argue that later, but we were on the lake and I'm excited. I'm with a good dear brother of mine. Great moment for us. We're hanging out, we're sitting on this lake and when we're on the lake as we approach it, I feel like a little kid again. I'm asking all the questions internally because externally I can't show that I'm just a little afraid. I had a little trepidation because to be honest, I have some great experience with water in crisis. I'm okay in the water, I'm good now. I'm not Michael Phelps. I can't do all that, but we going to get through it. And so I have this moment. I put on the life jacket. I'm sitting there, we I'm taking pictures. You know how we get, oh, I'm on the lake, we out here

Hit this side, we out here. I'm excited. But I wasn't aware that there was some work that I was going to have to do on the sailboat as well. See, the person I was with, my brother, my mentor, he's learned in this position, he's learned on the lake, he's learned on this sailboat. He spent time directing and learning and navigating how to navigate the waters on this sailboat. He brings me along for a journey and I said, okay, let's go ahead and go for it. But I'm still quivering on the inside, not knowing that there's something that I'm going to have to do on the other side while we're on the lake. And so we're sitting there, we get in and we're putting this whole thing together, which was very crazy to me. I thought that you just hopped on the sailboat and you're good to go.

No, not the case. You had to go to the rental spot, put on the life vest. After you put on life vest, you go around to the place, untie it, you got to put it together. You got to slide some things in the hooks to make sure that when you're on the water you don't blow away. And I'm literally blown away. I'm putting stuff in. May have done it wrong, but I'm here today. So I think we did all right. May have done it wrong. We're putting it together. And I sit back and I look at this amazing body of this sailboat and I'm like, wow, we made it. But then the real journey began. We pushed away off the dock and I was like, okay, God, I'm good. We made it this far. I'm good. But there was more. And when I got on the sailboat, I'm thinking, I'm cooling.

I'm taking pictures. Put this on the Instagram. You know what we do? Put this on the Instagram, I'm ready to go. But I had to put my phone away. There was some work that I had to do. We're sitting there and we're navigating the course and I'm feeling good right in the middle and we're taking off and it's good. And then we go out a little deeper and I start to get nervous and worried and I'm shaking a little bit, but I'm holding my own. I'm holding my own. I'm sitting there, but I'm inside. I'm like, Lord Jesus, help us on this lake. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm thankful that he knows what he's doing. You're navigating the whole course the whole night. I'm having this whole discourse back and forth and I know y'all laughing. This is serious. I'm having this whole discord back and forth and while we're sitting there, what happens is every now and then in order for us to turn, my brother looks at me and he says, Hey, there's going to be some times where I'm going to give you a cue.

You're going to have to sit from where you're at at this position, go under, I don't even remember what it's called, the long I don't know what it's called. Go under the thing and sit on the other side so we can navigate the other way. So first of all, we had to put this thing together, not my position. Then I'm on here praying for my life. Now you're telling me I have to move in a boat while we're on the water. I got to do both things at once. I have to navigate both worlds at once. I'm just trying to relax. But now I have to build both and I have to work and I have to do some internal work and some external work, but I have to make sure I'm in alignment. That's what had to happen on that lake because every time he would give me the cue, I would literally have to move from my seated position, get low, duck under, come up and go sit on the other side. But that only happened if I was in alignment with the person who was directing me on the water. I got to say that one more time. It only happened right, because I was in alignment with the person that was directing me in the water. And I'm going to let you know this. It was a little scary, but growth happens in discomfort. I thank God that growth happens in discomfort and see what happens is we think we're inadequate, but we really have an assessment problem.

We're in a time where we are certainly celebrating, but we're dealing with conflict. We're in a season where we're detouring from our instructions, but we're developing callous heart. See, we're in a time where we have to consistently evaluate our posture because there's work for us to do. We're in a season where we're tolerating the norm when we're called to greater, we're in a season where our reflection has to be current because we have to get back to the place where we can remember what God has done in us and through us. Remember what he did for us, and get to the place where we can receive. That way we can be resilient for those that are watching and connected to us. See, I couldn't understand why I had to do the work on the boat. Why Jesus, I'm just here to chill you. I'm here. I'm chilling. I got my life vest on. I got my hat, I got my phone. I'm chilling. The music's playing. I'm good. But there was more because I wouldn't appreciate the experience of learning what alignment looked like had I not been involved in the process. See, I got to get out the way here pretty soon, but before I do, I got to remind you this, that posture cannot be the same for new seasons as they were in previous seasons.

See, there was some discomfort there, but I literally had to shift myself and shift my position to get under something that I thought was already stable, but I had to move and I had to move in the right alignment so that way we can navigate the waters together and we made it hallelujah. And I'm going back, but in this season, we can't just assume we're in alignment. We actually have to apply the necessary steps to ensure that we are in alignment because I don't know about you, don't leave me out here by myself, but it's a fight. Some of y'all are like, I'm fighting traffic. Some of y'all are like, I'm fighting these kids this morning. Some of y'all are like, I'm fighting with my spouse right now. Just look forward. Don't look over. But we're fighting. We're fighting someone who doesn't care anything about us because we've literally robbed his kingdom and brought others to the kingdom of heaven.

And so as we're fighting, it's necessary for us to understand that it's not the same. My posture in this season cannot be the same in previous seasons. What I love about this, can we go deeper? What I love about this is Jesus is now navigating this tension with Simon and he's still providing a masterclass on what it means to be a differentiated leader. And all that means is differentiation is meaning that I'm connected to a place that's deep, but I can take others along with me and not lose sight of my mission. That sounds like Jesus saying, I know the will of the Father. I know what he's called me to do. And oh, by the way, Simon, I'm going to take you deeper and not lose my connection because I got to bring you to a place where there's something on the inside of you that's going to pull out that's going to change. Nations literally. See, Jesus has given us his masterclass and sitting in there and he's completely sitting in a constricted situation. But can we just thank God that he works in the unusual, y'all don't believe it? Can we just thank God that he works in the unusual, we're sitting there and I know Simon's frustrated. We don't have to imply that we can see that because if there would've been us, I'm just going to be honest, it would've been meet Jesus. What? First of all, I'm washing mine, I'm done.

I'm folding them. I'm done. And you call to do what? This is my profession. Ain't you? Aren't you a carpenter? You ain't on this same water, on this same boat with these same nets, with these same partners dealing time, after time after time, understanding what the waters look like, understanding where the fish are going to be, understanding how it's going to be in terms of me catching it. You weren't out here,

But Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no. Let's go a little bit deeper. Can we go deeper? I love this because most scholars agree that the location can't be specifically set for sure, but Jesus places us right in front of this amphitheater and then he goes out a little bit deeper and he's not only talking to the crowd, but he's talking to Simon and his partners. He says, Hey, listen, there's something that we're going to do in just a moment, but I need you to make sure you're right. So sometimes we have to disassociate ourselves from people who are in the crowd around us, not believing God for the things that we're believing him for because he wants to do something within us. But the question is, will we push out into the deep just a little bit? Now it's UNC circumstantial because now Simon is a professional, him and his boys on what they're professionals. And you're telling me to do what? First of all, it is daylight. The fish know we're here.

Jesus, the fish know we're here because see, in that time what would happen is they call this thing dragnet fishing and they would have a tremble net. And the tremble net had three different layers. And so there was a layer at the top that was the outside layer. There was a layer layer at the bottom that was kind of the other outside layer. And right in the middle there was an inner mesh lining that was kind of the bag. And they would go through and the boat would rumble and scare the fish and let the fish know, and the fish didn't know what to do. So they're swimming into the net. And those that were caught in the outer layer sometimes would try to get into the inside layer to get out. But once they got into the inside layer or the inner court, oh, it's not just about being outside. I have to pursue and get inside, and they were caught alive. I love this perspective now because Simon is like, listen, Jesus, I'm a professional. We've been out here, we've been on this water, we've been doing this thing, we've been hanging out, we've been understanding what it is, time after time, after time after time again, and you're telling me to do what?

Nah, fam, not going to happen. Not going to happen. But not only in this moment, it was an amazing opportunity to see the proclamation of the gospel. See Matthew's perspective in this story gives us an immediate unreserved. Yes, mark shows an encounter, but here in Luke, Luke has given the official call to Apostleship and he's saying, I got to do something deeper with y'all. Not just with you Simon, but with your partners as well. I just got to ask the question, please oblige me. Where is your boat and who's on it with you? It's not just about the boat. Simon, I know you. You're a professional. I knew that before you knew that it's not just about the boat, but it's about the partners that are with you because there's something that I've got to do, but I've got to show you in an unconventional way that I am God. See, we forget that he's God, but God, I don't know how you're going to do it and I'm tired. I'm just paying these bills. I'm just working. I'm frustrated. I'm doing this thing time to time and time and I praise you and I worship you, and I thank you and you're great. You're amazing. Hallelujah. And these kids are driving me crazy and I'm praying and I'm trying to fast, but I am God. When did God require all of that from you?

He said, I just want to know, do you have a yes at the but at my word, I got to look it up in the KGV, sometimes I call him King Jimmy. Y'all don't judge me. Charge to my big toe and not my heart. But in this text verse five, it says, master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. This is the part that we can shout at. Never the less the other translation says, but at your word. So you mean to tell me I'm a professional, I'm sitting here, I'm having an encounter. I know what's going to happen. Jesus. Jesus like, no, you don't. You know what? Whatever. Nevertheless, I'll do it at your word. I'll do it because this isn't my first encounter with you. I just saw you heal my mother-in-law not too long ago. So I'll call you master and we'll go for it. But what does this look like? I'm sitting here, I'm trying to figure it out. I'm frustrated. My guys were trying to do something. They're trying to wash down their nets, but whatever, we'll just go out and we'll let 'em down at your word.

When was the last time you anchored yourself on his word? See, I love this because in modern literature, the climax is usually at the end of the story. But in the Luke in perspective, this is what's called a castic measure. And what that means is the climax is in the middle. And the same way that the story started is the same way that it will finish. And so we're sitting here, we get through the nets, we see how it's working, and Jesus begins Peter's journey of discipleship now by calling him away from his profession, but by challenging him to be bolder in it.

I'm not pulling you away from what you're doing, I'm just calling more out of you. I'm not pulling you away from what you're used to. I'm just calling more out of you. I know you're frustrated and I'm still calling more out of you. I know you're heavy and I'm still calling more out of you. I know you're in confusion and I'm still calling more out of you because there's something that you have to do. But the question becomes, are you reflected and standing on the but at your word? See, I know we're a generation likes to stand on business, but when was the last time we stood on the but at your word? See, see, what gets me excited is this whole nevertheless piece because in this nevertheless piece, Jesus didn't ask how Simon was feeling in the moment. He already understood. He said, would you still go? And we have to get to this place as he's encouraging us as disciples today that I've got to say, nevertheless, I will praise you. Nevertheless, I will worship you. Nevertheless, I will walk with you. Nevertheless, I will build a sailboat when I don't know why I'm building a sailboat. Nevertheless, I will raise these kids in the fear of the Lord. Nevertheless, I will understand what it means to be posture.

See, we're wrestling in this tension and Simon shows us we're in two worlds. His natural man, his professional man, and he's also wrestling in the spirit. God is calling him to do something and he's sitting in two worlds. I'm trying to be a disciple, but I'm still seeing what's going on. I'm trying to be a disciple, and I still see that this is unconventional. I'm trying to be a disciple and I still see my partners washing their nets. I'm trying to be a disciple. What is going on in Jesus calmly looks at him and gives him an opportunity to realize where he is.

The tension between two worlds and the unconventional moment is two voices, again, the professional and the fledging disciple. But what that does in the moment is disciple raises up in him a place of faith. Not only that, but he experiences the futility from fishing and something that is countercultural to what he's done. But as he's sitting there in this countercultural moment, his faith begins to stir up in him, not just for him, but for his partners, not just for his partners, but for the nation. Because what happens is, yes, we know discipleship is demanding and it's going to take some work. So he's calling him to this course of discipleship. And not only that, he's sitting in the tension of the model, of the miracle, of the mission, of the mandate, and of the mantle. I got to run that back. He's sitting Simon in front of Jesus. He's sitting in the tension between the model, the miracle, the mission, the mandate, and the mantle. The moment, okay, I'm fishing. We're out here countercultural. Alright, throw down your nets. Nevertheless, I'll do it. The miracle, here comes the fish. Wait, how did we get here?

How did this happen here? The mission, I love this part. Not only this, but now you'll be the one. You'll be the one to catch men.

Then we understand the mandate. It's time not just for us to be deeper in this moment, but for you to go deeper. And here is the mantle. I've called you to the nation. See, what we love about Peter is we understand that he's a little radical cut off. Somebody might say something slick, real raw, real ragged. But he was the most exceptional of the apostles

So much that he was one of the greatest early leaders of the church in Jerusalem doing things that others couldn't see. Why? Because he had a moment of death. And he understood that in this moment, discipleship is more than just me. It understood that it was more than just I was positioning it, understood that it was more than what I was just doing. He understood that I was in this moment, and it has to be on the but at your word. But I got to go back to the nevertheless point. Can we talk just a minute for nevertheless, if we're talking about what nevertheless looks like, we can look at the great cloud of witnesses who said, you know what? I'm going to align myself to this no matter what. And then nevertheless, this moment's going to happen. We can talk about Hannah, talk about a posture and a position that's greater than she was in trepidation through taunting, gave birth to Samuel, dedicated him to the Lord. And here comes Samuel. Samuel stepping on the scene and saying, you know what? The voice of the Lord is rare in this time, but I hear something.

I hear something, and he goes to his mentor who already was in turmoil, but he goes back four times and says, listen, I don't know what to do, but here I am nevertheless, I'm going to stand on your word. And his word came to pass and his word came to pass. Man, his word came to pass. We can talk about the blind man named Bartimaeus. I love that because all in all, he said, you know what, y'all ain't going to tell me to be quiet when I hear the saviors coming through. I don't know what y'all been through, but today I'm getting my healing. I don't know what y'all been through, but today I'm getting my response. I don't know what, don't be quiet. What son of David, son of David, I'm sorry, media team. I'm loud. I'm sorry, but have mercy on me. I'm going to stand at your word and understand that you can do it even if it's unconventional. We can talk about Mary who we see. She stood on the word even in bewilderment. You want me to do what I'm called to do what? And then his name shall be what?

And he shall do what?

Talk about something that you're carrying that will affect generations past you. I felt that thing. Talk about something that will carry, that will affect generations past you. When was the last time you said, you know what? God, I trust you at your word because this nevertheless is different than my last. Yes. See, there's a difference. I can have a, nevertheless, that means it doesn't matter what my feelings are. My yes can be conditional. Oh, don't leave me out here by myself. My yes can be conditional, but that nevertheless that says, you know what? I don't want to go in here and deal with my boss, but nevertheless, you gave me the spirit to do so. I don't want to go in here and serve, but nevertheless, you gave me the heart to do so. I don't want to be a witness for you at the gas station and at the grocery store. But nevertheless, you've called me to do something and it's going to affect generations and generations and generations and generations beyond me because it's not just the moment, it is the mantle. And I just believe we are a generation that will not drop the mantle

Or will we see when it comes to mantling, you have to understand that that nevertheless has a little bit more weight to it and sometimes it has weight to it, but in either way, we're still unconventional because we're seated right in front of Jesus. And what I love about Simon's response is it's similar to Isaiah, right when he was getting ready to go, this is called a theophany for the theologians in the room. And that's just a broad term of Jesus revealing himself to humans. Don't worry, Dr. Tim will be back soon. We will go over that more in depth. But as we go into it for today, this theophany, Peter says one thing. Oh, I called him Peter. Wait a minute, wasn't it Simon?

Because now in this moment, I recognize who I am. I recognize my futility. I recognize that I'm in the presence of a wonder working unconventional God, and I recognize that I'm not worthy. And so I cry out to you and I go from master to Lord. And I also go from Simon to Simon Peter. I wish I had a couple people in the room that said, you know what? It doesn't matter. Yes, he's been master over a couple things, but I'm ready for him to be Lord. See, Lord means it's a nevertheless master means I can't give him a yes. And it can be conditional. But Lord says, nevertheless, I'll trust you. Lord says, nevertheless, I'll go. Lord says, nevertheless, I'll push out into the deep if you're calling me there because this is not just about me. I've got some partners with me. I've got some partners with me. And as we're evaluating our position and our alignment and our posture, it's not about you, but it is about the post that you are responsible for. See, I had to break it up real fast because it's not just about me and don't mind me. I'm just going to have a quick moment. But posture looks like this. If we were to break it up, it is the post you are responsible for,

Or maybe it's the post you are responsible for, or maybe it's the post oh, oh that you're responsible for or maybe here it is, all that to get to here. It's the post that you are responsible for. So the question becomes, I know that I'm unworthy and I know that I can do things in his strength and I know I can push away in the deep, and I know that I can have another encounter on water and I can look at the midst of my partners and step out on it because I've had an encounter with you before and I know all of these things because at the end of the day, my post is too ask the question, how may I serve you? Because it wasn't just a moment of discipleship, it was a moment of destiny.

It was a moment of destiny. There's something for him to do that way He had to get it that way. Those were around him could get it. And that way, those that were around him, as you see later, later they become the solid three that hang out with Jesus. Peter, James and John, Peter James and John, Peter, James and John, Peter, James and John. Some of y'all going to go home singing that. I'm sorry, I had a moment with my 5-year-old son. He'll catch on the songs and we'll go. But as we see Peter, James, and John, it was because of that encounter that they learned in the moment. That is more about just what I'm doing here in an unconventional way. It is how may I serve you? How may I serve you at work? How may I serve you in this marriage? How may I serve you as I evaluate my relational equity with others? How may I serve you as I'm trying to raise a generation of world changers? How may I serve you in the midst of confusion? How may I serve you in a world that is going crazy every day? How may I serve you in the midst of me being frustrated? How can I serve you in the midst of me having a weight on me? How can I serve you in the midst of me crying out to you? How may I serve you?

Because this is more than just a moment and the miracle, it's about the mental. It's about the mental. And what I love about this is in this moment, this is the good news of the gospel, is that grace precedes repentance. And even in that moment that they were sitting there and he cries out, he has an opportunity to see things from a different point, a different vantage point, he gets a new revelation, not only of Jesus but of himself. And he walks in and says, now you'll be the one to catch or to fish for men. And that word is translated to catch alive. Remember how we talked about the outer chambers of the tramble net and the interchange of that net? What if this whole experience was to understand how we can catch men alive? What if this whole encounter in this moment sitting here on this boat in unconventional ways, is to have the question of how may I serve you and how may I catch you alive? But wait a minute, how do you catch something alive if they're walking around dead? That wasn't even my notes. Holy Spirit, I felt that.

How do you catch something alive? It's walking around dead. Last I read in scripture, he said, let us make man in our image. That means we're alive and we have to catch them back to that place where they come back to life. Because again, it's not just about me. It has some connection to do with my partners. It for sure has some connection to do with the generations. But the question becomes, how may I serve you through frustration? How may I serve you? God, this is what I'm, this is why, no, no, no, no, no. How may I serve you? This is the posture that we're responsible for. This is the alignment that we are responsible for. This is the position that we have to reevaluate because it's a yes more specifically, it's a nevertheless, it's posture, it's divine alignment, and we have to navigate that family. I got to share one thing for you before I go. The author, John Lynch says this, Peter could have become one of the top four or five fishermen on the entirety of Galilee. Maybe that was his potential, but even if he accomplished that, it wasn't his destiny. It wasn't his destiny. See, destiny is that thing that God has for you that you'll get when you push out a little bit, that you'll get, when you get in that unconventional way that you'll get when those unconventional moments are attached to your nevertheless and not your conditional. Yes. And if I could tell you one thing today, when you evaluate your posture, when you evaluate your alignment, you bring together those disjointed parts of you and you walk the way you were called to walk. You move the way you were called to move.

You serve the way you're called to serve. And that doesn't mean things are going to pull on you because as we alluded before, 47% of us are walking around overcompensated because we're getting pulled priorities. Were getting pulled postures, were getting pulled alignments, were getting pulled priorities, were getting pulled. But when we anchor, what happens is the shifting help stabilize us. And I can stand surefooted on the but at your word. The reason why I know this to be true, I'm talking to three people today, three groups rather. The first group are those who are kind of like, Simon, you know what? This is my profession. This is what I do. This is what I did. And they're having this moment, this encounter with Jesus. They're saying, how may I serve you? The second group I want to talk to is a group that says, I've been in alignment before and I've shifted away from it. How do I get back into that place? And the third group I want to talk to is the group that doesn't know the grace of God. Because even in the moment, the good news is that Jesus, as he recognized what was going on with Simon in that moment of revelation and transformation for him, he didn't push him away,

It drew him closer. And the good news is that we're standing in a place where as we get aligned, we can draw closer. This is what yes looks like. This is what nevertheless looks like. This is yes Lord, to your will and to your way. This is, yes, Lord. I'll trust you and I'll obey. And when spirit, I hear y'all singing, don't start it. When your spirit speaks to me with my notice, it didn't say, with my overcompensated heart, with my whole heart. I'll agree and my answer will be yes, Lord. Yes. The reason why I know this to be true, and sometimes it takes you laying you down. Sometimes it takes you laying down the thing that you thought was going to be amazing. God says, nah, I didn't call you to that. That means my ambitions, that means my thoughts. I have to lay them down. Ask me how I know. Thank you. A few years ago, my family and I in Colorado serving, building, growing, serving, developing some amazing things. And the Lord said, it was time. What? We're good. Go out a little deeper. And in the midst of the transition here

In an unconventional way, God showed up for us to get here. Very close family, friends that we reconnected with later, but no family at all. You want us to get away from what to do, what to be where. No, I'm good, but my arms are too short to box with God. And it literally took me laying down something that was thriving because God said, I need you to be prepared for where you're going, and I got something to do that's bigger than what you think it's going to be in this place. So what did we do? We cried. We sought counsel. We loved, we ate a whole bunch of cake and we said, nevertheless. And sometimes laying something down is very hard, but when you realize what's attached to it, you give the answer and say, how may I serve you? And the reason we're standing before you today privileged is because we understood that this post in this season needed to require an unconditional. Nevertheless, and I don't know who I'm talking to today, but if you're in one of those three categories that we talked about, I want to create a space right here for you

To say, God, I've been wrestling with some things. I've been fighting with some things. You've been calling me to lay some things down. You may even been calling me to lay me down. Not the cute one that I say before bedtime, but the real me. I want to give us an opportunity to come right down here at this altar as I feel the Holy Spirit moving to say, Lord, this is my place of divine alignment. This is my, nevertheless, this is my I'll anchor at your word. This is my how may I serve you? Everyone standing, I want to pray. What's crazy is sometimes we'll say it, but is it planted yes to your will and to your way? We'll say it, but has it taken root? My whole heart agrees here in this moment, in this season, in this climate, I can't play no more games because there's generations of world changes on the inside of you that are waiting to come out. So as I give God my, nevertheless, I also ask the question, who are my partners? Who am I partnering with so that we do everything that God has called us to do in service? If you're here and you don't know the Lord,

It's an ample opportunity to know about this Jesus who proclaimed the gospel everywhere he went, wrapped himself in the problem, walked through generations and died on a cross just for you. He modeled that service so that we in turn can be servants to others. And if you don't know him, I just want to create the opportunity. You don't got to raise your hand. We not going to embarrass you. Just acknowledge the moment between you and God. Second group is if you say, you know what, pastor, I need to get back into that place of alignment. This moment's for you too, and that person that's wrestling with laying something down, worship team said it earlier. A miracle can happen now, but do you have the capacity? Do you have the question? Do you have the answer and the statement out of your mouth to say, you know what? Nevertheless, heads bow all over this place. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this time. We thank you for this divine alignment moment. We thank you that you work, God, you are sovereign. And today, on this 21st day of April, in this unconventional service, we cast out our nets.

Say nevertheless, do what you want to do in and through us as we lay ourselves down. And for the person who doesn't know Jesus, we can just repeat this prayer. We can all repeat it as a family. Amen. Because we're partnering with you. Hallelujah. To serve, we say, father God. Father God, I admit, IAdmit

That I'm unworthy. I'm un. I'm a sinner. Sinner. But I thank you. I Thank you

For your gift that you came in, lived a perfect life, and died and resurrected just for me, For me,

And I accept and I receive this free gift of life and service. In Jesus' name. Amen. Can we make some noise right there?