Into The Deep, Week 3 - Deep Discoveries

Tim Rivers | February 19, 2023

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Transcription

So good to be here. If you are a guest for this, we want to say Welcome to Embassy City. We are so delighted that you are here for all those that are watching online and then the overflow, thank you for being with us. I believe that God wants to do something special in somebody's life. When we're in the house of God anything can happen. And generally what stands between us just being present and us receiving something special is expectation. And if you got up this morning and you brushed your teeth, please brush your teeth.

<laugh>,

You washed your face and you did your hair and you got dressed and you came to church. Don't let this moment slip away. Yeah, but get something from the Lord. Yes. Because he is here. Yep. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. If you old school is liberty. I heard some of y'all say Liberty,

<laugh>.

All right, grab your Bibles. We're going to the book of Luke, back to the Luke chapter five, and we're continuing in our series that we've called into the deep. Last week we talked about miracles. The week before that we talked about launching. And today we're just going to continue to go through this chapter and see what God says. All right, Luke chapter four Luke chapter five, I'm sorry, verse number four. 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. Now want you notice that Simon first calls Jesus master, 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 boats to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me. For I am a sinful man. When you're in the presence of greatness of a miracle, it makes you feel tiny. When you're standing right in front of a miracle that you know couldn't have done by yourself, it had to have been God. You realize just how small you are in comparison to a great big God. But watch what he calls him. Now, he's a department for me, for I'm a sinful man. Oh Lord. He went from calling him master to calling him Lord, Jesus has to be more than just your master. He has to become your Lord. He said, 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 Zebedee who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on, somebody said, from now on, from now on, you will be catching men. And somebody say, amen. Amen. So for the next little while I want to teach, preach, preach

Whatever happens on this subject, deep discoveries. Deep discoveries. Dear Lord, we come to you right now and we just ask for your presence to fill this place. I pray that in the next few moments, you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive and a mind to understand that your word reveal itself to us. Help us to walk out of here different than the way we came. Help us to get out of the way and make room for your presence. We give your name all the praise, all the glory, all the honor because you are worthy of it in Jesus' name. And somebody say Amen. Amen. See Grace, How sweet the sound you singing, I see if you know, sing it, sing amazing grace. Oh yes, always. Thank you Lord. Found was, now I see somebody give Jesus some praise in this place. How many are you thankful for? The amazing grace of God?

Hallelujah.

I was lost, but His grace found me. I was blind. But now I see.

Go ahead.

I got to preach. I got to move on.

Thank you.

We've been in this series called Into the Deep,

And I love this topic but I want to take just a minute to explain or maybe explore this idea of the word deep. Because in Luke chapter five, when the scripture says Jesus told Simon to put out into the deep that word deep is the Greek word, and that word means depth. It doesn't mean distance, it means depth. What's interesting about the deep or depth is that there's no mathematical equation to determine depth. Depth simply means far below the top or the surface. What's interesting about the deep is that you can't determine the deep from the top. Have you ever flown over the ocean and looked and you see this vast body of water and that it is probably deep, but the reality is you don't know how deep it is. Yeah, same thing is true of a pool. If you ever walk up and you see a pool that there's a shallow end and a deep end, but from the top, you can't really tell how deep, deep is and how shallow, shallow is. The thing about depth or the deep is you can only understand depth by experience

Because deep to a person that's three feet tall is shallow to a, that's six foot tall. So deep can only be determined by the person's experience. Here's what's interesting about the deep. How do you know if you've gone deep? Here's how. If your feet can no longer touch the bottom and keep your head above the surface, that's when you've gone deep, how you've gone deep with Jesus. When your feet, your flesh can no longer keep your head, your mind above the surface. And what's interesting about the deep or the depths even in the context of scripture, is that there's always this mystery that surrounds the idea of the deep. We don't really know what's out there. We know that there are deep parts, but we don't really understand what's out there. In fact, our very introduction to God in Genesis chapter one, the Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved on the waters.

So even our introduction to God, he is moving in the deep. And what's interesting about the deep is that we hear these stories about sea creatures and beasts and monsters that are in the deep, and we think of that as just being myths and folk lords and legends. But if you go back to ancient times, not many seamen and fishermen would get far past the shore. They always wanted to stay in a line of sight of the shore because they were afraid of what beyond what they can see. So I have that theory that the earth is flat. A lot of guys thought, if I go too far, I may fall off the edge of the earth. And so I got to stay within the line of sight of the shore. And even today, when we talk about the deep, when we talk about the ocean, for instance, did you know that our planet is covered by over 70% in water, and yet less than 5% of the ocean has been explored?

We know more about space than we do about the oceans. 94% of all living species exist in the ocean. So I want to tell you my personal story my personal experience with the ocean, and that is last year our family went on our sabbatical. So we took six weeks off and four those weeks a month, we stayed in Puerto Rico. And it was amazing. We basically did nothing. We woke up, we either went to the pool or we went to the beach. We just had a good time. But one of the things that's always been on my bucket list is I wanted to go scuba diving. And what's interesting about scuba diving, and I'm an adventurer by nature, and so I was looking up scuba diving, and when I realized that only less than 1% of the US population have gone scuba diving, I'm like, well, I don't want to be in 99%.

But here's the thing about scuba diving. Generally speaking, if you go scuba diving in what it's called, the open water in the ocean, you have to get Patty certified. But the problem with being certified is it takes a lot of time. You have to go through a knowledge development in class, and then you usually do a contained test in a pool, and then you go into more shallow water, but maybe a lake or the ocean, and then you go out into the open ocean. And I didn't want to go through all that. And so I figured, you know what? We are in Puerto Rico. I know I can find a place here that's just going to let me go. Just give me a couple of pointers and let's go. So I found a place and the lady said, Hey, we'll let you join a group of students who are learning to get certified, and you can just join us.

We'll show you the ropes and then you can go down with us. And I said, how deep we going? She said, well, all the cool stuff is at 40 feet. And I said, okay, cool. I'm down. Let's go. So I ended up going to this boat and got all my equipment situated, and I'm here with a group of students and we start heading out toward the open ocean. And while we're heading out, because I have never been scuba diving, I decided to ask the other students what their experience was like. So Ill ask this one lady, Hey, well, so what was your experience? How has it been? And she commenced to tell me that the day before they went scuba diving, they went underwater for the very first time. She said, I was just so overcome by claustrophobia and fear and anxiety. Then I ended up having a panic attack.

I said, in the water? She goes, yes. I said, what happened? She said, well, they had to get us out of the water. And then I just freaked out on the boat and by this time I'm really reconsidering, do I really want to be a part of the 1%? But I was like, all right, you know what? It is just her experience. Well, while she is talking, her sister who's also on the trip is off on the side of the boat getting nauseous and sick. Then the boat finally comes to the place that we're going to start testing and another student jumps out of the boat and starts throwing up in the ocean. By this point, I'm like, yo, do I really need to do this? What am I trying to prove? You know what I mean? I can swim in a pool, but I'm also like, you know what?

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can say I'm part of the 1%. Let's do this. So I get my gear on. The lady gives me a five minute lesson on all the stuff, and I'm going to like, okay, I got this. So we go into the water and one thing the instructor says, we're first going to go to 20 feet, and at 20 feet we're going to learn some of the equipment. We're going to do some exercises. You, you'll lay down, we're going to work on buoyancy, we're going to wear a and I didn't even know what that meant. I was like, okay, whatever. Just don't let me drown. Yeah. And weights and stuff like that. So we get down there, we're 20 feet in the water and the instructors told us before we got in there, we're going to do a mask test. And what that means is when you're down there, you're going to let a little bit of water get into your mask, and then you're going to push on your mask and blow out with your nose and it'll clear the mask. Now, when you're underwater, it is unnatural to breathe. So I'm breathing through this regulator with my mouth and I'm telling myself, make sure you don't breathe through your nose because you'll will die.

No other option you, you'll just drown. So I'm telling myself, okay, breathe through your mouth. Just go through the test and then we'll get to go see cool stuff. So I'm down there a little bit water in, and she's right in front of me and I

<laugh>.

She says, good. She goes to the next one. Well, as I'm standing there, more water's leaking into my mask, and I'm like I don't think that's supposed to happen, but I know how to clear it. So I push down on mask when more water starts leaking in, and by this time I'm like, this is what I've heard about how people end up being shark bait.

So I touch my clear it out. So next thing you know, more water is coming in. Now I'm 20 feet. When you're diving, you can't just go to the top because you'll, you'll faint. That's another whole situation. So I'm sitting there and I'm trying to starting freak out because the instructor is way over there with somebody else, and I cannot yell. I can't get her attention. And the only person that's right beside me is the girl that just had the panic attack. So me being a good godly Christian person and trying to think over my mind, all right, do I sit here and drown or do I go ahead and risk freaking her out so she can get me some help? And I decided I'm going to go ahead and freak you out, sis, <laugh>,

Because We're in this together. We both trying to survive. You know what I'm saying? We're a body of students. And so I said, Hey,

<laugh>.

So she starts freaking out.

So by see I ends up going over there and getting the instructor. Instructor comes and looks at the mask, and by this time, my mask is just filled up with water and I can't see underwater. So I am literally just trying to feel around and I'm like, God, this is not what I came to look for. I came to see coral and beautiful little fish and reach. So the lady grabs me and we go back to the top and then we get into the boat and she says, Hey, you did nothing wrong. It was just an equipment failure and I've really never seen that happen. I mean, I've seen leakage, blah, blah, blah. And I'm in the, I'm on deck now and I'm like, I don't know if I want to go back in

<laugh>

Because we didn't come to go there to 20 feet. We came to go to 40 feet because what I really wanted to see was at 40 feet, not at 20 feet, but I had a decision to make as I was sitting in that boat, do I allow my experience and my disappointment and my fear and my anxiety at 20 feet to dissuade me and persuade me not to go deeper into 40 feet? Because see, what I really wanted was deeper in 40 feet, but my experience at 20 feet was trying to block me from going into the deep, because see, 20 feet, we didn't go to 20 feet to go see fish and coral. We just went to 20 feet to practice for 40 feet. Oh lord, I'm preaching now.

So I'm sitting there on the deck and I got to make up my mind. It's what I want to experience at 40 feet greater than the fear that I experienced at 20 feet. And if so, I got to be willing to get myself back in this water and risk everything to go deeper, to experience something that only 1% of people experience. Here's what I love. I decided I'm going to go in there. And the instructor, she came to me and she said, Hey, listen, Tim, you did everything. You were poised, you were calm. Your oxygen didn't run out. We changed your mask. All the equipment is working fine. And here's what I'm going to promise you if you're willing to go a little deeper. She said, I'm going to be with you the whole way, and if there's anything that happens to you, don't you worry because I'm going to be right there beside you. Even if you run out of oxygen, I've got an extra regulator and I'll give it to Woo. I'll give it to you and you can use my oxygen. And she said, oh, by the way, I have never in my 40 years of diving ever lost anybody that's gone into the deep. We always get to experience things that other people don't see. If you are willing to go deeper, you will see stuff that other people won't see.

So I went deeper, and when I got deeper, I was so encapsulated by the beauty and the serenity of what it was under the ocean, all the corals, and I got to see one of the largest brain corals that exist. I got to see fish. I got to see Reese. I got to see such amazing things. And here's what was cool when I got down there and I got to experience all of the miracles and all the amazing things in the deep, I couldn't even remember what happened at 20 feet. Oh my Lord, if you are willing to go deep with Jesus, you will forget about all the disappointments that you experienced before, but you got to be willing to go deeper.

Yeah, that's

So good. So I want to go back to Luke chapter five because, and when we read the story about Peter, Peter is just minding his own business. When Jesus rose up to him and Jesus says, Hey, I want to go a little deeper and I want you to go with me. And so Peter, he says, I'm willing to go. So he surrenders his boat, his nets to Jesus, and he goes out into deep, and when he gets into the deep, he experiences, he discovers what I believe are three things. When he gets out into the deep, the first thing that Peter discovered is he discovered who Jesus really is. Now, I want you to understand in Luke chapter five, verse five, the scripture says that Jesus that Peter looks at Jesus and he says, master, we toiled all night and took nothing. At this point, Peter's experience with Jesus was shallow because he only understood Jesus for what Jesus did for others.

His revelation of Jesus was that Jesus was a master word, master means teacher or rabbi or superintendent. So when Peter looked at Jesus, he just looked at Jesus as being a great teacher. His experience with Jesus was only under the context of what Jesus had done for somebody else. Because for Simon Peter, Jesus was the one that healed his mother-in-law. Jesus was the one that healed many people. Jesus was the one that taught a lot of people, but to me personally, he's just somebody that's using my boat. See, as long as Peter was dependent on his own strength and his own ability to fish, he was going to catch nothing. And when he caught nothing, Jesus was always just going to be a preferential rabbi, just a teacher, just a philosophical person, just a person that's got a little bit of a good word. Can I tell you that as long as you stay in the shallow, Jesus will only be in the context of what he is to other people.

That's why shallow Christians will easily walk away because Jesus has never moved past just being a master, just being a teacher. If you're in the shallow, Jesus is just a religious preference. He's just a good word. When I need it, he's just a genie in the bottle. He's just somebody I need because I'm sick. He's just somebody and you can glory and you can rejoice for somebody else. But when Peter got out there in the deep, Jesus said, you know what? I've done miracles for everybody else. I've touched other people, but this time, this miracle is for you personally. And when Peter started taking up nets and realized, wait a minute, these fish are not for them. These fish are for me, and it's so great that I got to share it. At that point, he realized this is not just another teacher. This is not just another rabbi.

This is not just somebody who's got a great word, but this Jesus has just personally interrupted my life and changed my destiny. You cannot know who Jesus is until you are willing to go into the deep. Yeah, because here, here's what I'll tell you. If Jesus is only somebody else's Jesus, you will be willing to walk away at any point. But when Jesus invades your space and he does something in your life, it becomes so undeniable that you cannot walk away. I'm glad that you got a blessing. I'm glad that you got a miracle, but I'm also glad that God gave me a blessing. I'm glad that God gave me a miracle. So when you see me worship, I'm not worshiping for you. I'm worshiping because of what he's done in my life because I had a problem and God fixed it. I was down and he picked me up. I was going the wrong way, and he made me find the right way. When it becomes personal to you, yeah, it'll change your direction because Jesus has to move past just being somebody else's savior, somebody else's Lord. He's got to become your personal Lord,

Right?

He's my rose of sharing. He's my lil of the valley. He's my bride and morning star. He's my prince of peace. He is my yes, sir. If you want to discover who Jesus really is, you have to be willing to go into the deep with

Him.

But I'm glad that Peter didn't just realize who Jesus

Was.

The second point is Peter discovered who

He was. Oh Lord, check this out.

Peter Exclaims, I'm a sinful man.

Depart from me, oh Lord

Jesus. And Peter's life moves from just being master to being Lord. But I want you to notice something in this text up unto this point. Simon was just called Simon Luke Pens, and he writes about Simon up unto this point, Simon was just the one whose mother-in-law got healed. Simon, the one by the shore cleaning his nets, Simon, the one who let Jesus borrow his bone, Simon, the one who said, master, we will go into the deep. Simon was just defined as a fisherman, just another person, just another business owner. He didn't have anything special about him, but when he had an encounter with Jesus and he recognized who Jesus really is, Jesus turns around and tells him who really he really is. And if you, you read theologians and commentaries on this passage, it's very important to note that Luke doesn't just call him Simon, he says, and Simon Peter,

Because up until this point, Simon thought he was just a fisher who was meant to catch fish. He thought he was just a business owner, but when he had an encounter with Jesus, his identity changed from just being Simon to being Simon Peter, what do you mean about Peter? Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. Then Peter said 'em unto them, repenting me, baptize every one of you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ, Peter and Silas, oh, you find all types of scriptures now referring to him as Peter. Why? Because his identity was given to him when he discovered who Jesus really is. You will never know who you are until you know who Jesus is. We will spend so much time trying to figure out who we are. We'll take every personality test. We'll ask everybody's opinion. Hey, I'm an eight. Excuse my attitude. I'm a eight <laugh>. We'll take every strength finder. We'll go through all the Myers Briggs. We'll take all the tests, ask everybody's opinion. What do you think I am? How do you think I should react? And we think that we can find our identity outside of Christ. You will never be able to define yourself. I hate to say this, you're too jacked up.

Amen.

To define yourself. You can tell us all day long who you really are, but you don't really know who you are until you have an encounter where Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ will tell you. I know you think that you are the tale, but no, you're the head. I know you think that you're a buyer now you're the lender. I know you think you're last. Now you're first. I know you think you're down. Now you're up. I know you think you don't have any hope. No, no. You got full of hope. I know that you think you're that, but when you meet Jesus, Jesus will redefine who you are.

That's True. We're living in a world of identity crisis. Everybody's trying to define themselves. Everybody's asking everybody's opinion about who they are. You will never know who you are until you know who Jesus is. But it doesn't stop there. He doesn't just find out who Jesus is. He doesn't just discover who he is. But the third point, he's, he discovers his purpose. When you are willing to go into the deep of Jesus, you will not just discover who Jesus is to you personally. You will also discover who you are, but Jesus doesn't just leave you there. What I love about what Jesus does in this mor moment after Peter exclaims to Jesus, Jesus, I'm a sinful man, depart from me. The scripture's given us indication that when you are standing next to the realization of who Jesus is in your life, you will have a complex about your own limitations. That's

Right. Amen.

How can I do this that you've asked me to do? I am a sinful I'm not even worthy to be. In all throughout scriptures, you will see that Moses did it. Abraham did it. David did it. Isaiah did it over and over. All these people that encountered the Lord. When they stand in his presence and they realize who he is and they recognize who they are in relation to him, it makes them feel so small. But only when you come to the point where you can humble yourself is when God can give you your purpose.

Good.

Our culture tries to convince us that we have to seek after our purpose. Go find your purpose. Go discover your purpose. Go. Go look for your purpose. Now, fam, if you want to find your purpose, if you want to discover your purpose, you cannot discover your purpose outside of pursuing Jesus.

That's good.

Jesus looks at Peter and he says, do not be afraid because from now on you will be catching Men.

You thought your purpose was to catch fish. You thought your purpose was to be a captain. You thought your purpose was to have a fleet of boats to be a business owner. But I'm telling you, I'm not even going to change your gifts and talents.

I'm not going to change what you're gifted with because what I gifted you with is what I'm going to use for your purpose. Amen. Oh Lord. So many of us are trying to develop new gifts and new talent, but can I tell you that every person is born with the gifts and talents that God is going to use for your purpose? The problem is not the talents. The problem is Jesus ain't in the boat. Peter's job was not to stop fishing. Jesus just redirected what type of fish he would catch. If you want to find your purpose, you got to develop the gifts and talents that God has given you and yield them to the Lord. Notice this, Peter gave his gifts and talents, his boats, his nets, his experience as the sailor. He gave them to Jesus, and when he gave his gifts and talents to Jesus, Jesus redirected his purpose.

So good.

That sounds too easy. If Jesus is not a part of what you do now, you will never find your purpose because only in deep pursuit of Jesus will you clearly discover your purpose. Here's what I love about this story. Discovery is not something that doesn't exist and now exists. The reason why this message is titled Deep Discoveries is because the word discovery memes to uncover this cover, pull the cover off. Unveil, expose. It's like a Christmas gift. When our kids around January to start asking for Christmas gifts, <laugh> actually Christmas, Christmas day. What are we getting next year? <laugh>, Jan, Denise and I will go and we will buy them gifts. We will purchase them paid for 'em, and we will place it under the tree. But when they're under the tree, they are wrapped. So when the children walk in on Christmas day, the gift didn't just magically appear. It was always there, but at the right time, in the right place with the right people, they get to unveil and discover what was always there. If you want to find your purpose, you have to look no further than Jesus because Jesus will help you unveil, discover, uncover, pull back

What he already put in you. Purpose is not about new gifts and talents. Purpose is about that. God has designed you for it. Yes. Well, I'm a business owner. I don't see how that can glorify God fam, if you are in pursuit of Jesus, God will do things through your business that someone who is not following Him, yes, will not experience your purpose is found in pursuit of Jesus. Here's my last point. This is what I love about what Jesus does in Peter's life. He says, Peter, if you will pursue me, I will show you things that you couldn't get in the shallow. Many of us, we don't ever experience the deep things of God

Because

We're too afraid to go deep with the Lord.

So our experience with the Lord is only based on what we've seen God do for other people. Oh, I know he's a healer because I've seen him heal that person. I know he's a provider because I've seen him provide for that person. I know that he can give you purpose because I've seen them walking your purpose. But can I tell you, you finding more for your life is very simply dependent on your willingness to go deep with Jesus. And you may be sitting like, well, how do I go deep with Jesus? If you're taking notes, write this down. I'm going to give you four things that if you do this, I promise you you'll go deeper with Lord. Number one's pray. You will never really truly understand the Lord if you don't talk to him. Prayer is our way of communicating with God. It's like if me and my wife never talk, we can be married, but we ain't going to have a great relationship cause we have to communicate. This is what you do every day. Pray. Now, depending on how you grew up and what your parents were like, you may think that the Lord only talks at 3:00 AM

I'm telling you, growing up, I used try to sneak in the kitchen and get me yourself out of the fridge, and my dad would be sitting there at the table, the Rosa side like, okay, I think I'll go back. I'll see you at 8:00 AM <laugh> the Holy Ghost is stick at 3:00 AM. Can I tell you that Jesus is the same at 3:00 AM as is 3:00 PM Yes. Whatever works for you, just pray. Here's how you know if you have a prayer life, if you go a day without praying and you miss it, how do I know if our prayer life, if you can go a day without praying and not react at all, you got to work on it. But if you go a day without praying, you're like, man, something is missing today. You developed the prayer life. Start off five minutes, three minutes, 15 minutes, three hours. Who <laugh>? That's that deep holy ghost. You know what I'm saying? But pray every day. Here's the second thing. Read the Bible. Get into his word. People are like, I want to hear from the Lord. I got you fam bow. The word of God is God's word to us. If you want to know how to hear from the Lord, you first of all got to learn how to hear from the Lord. Get into the Bible, read the scripture every day, and that'll attune your ears to hearing from the Lord. Here's the third way worship.

Worship is worth ship. It means that we put God in his rightful place in our lives. When you're driving down the road, listen to some worship music and worship the Lord. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, turn off some of that other stuff.

Yeah.

I'm about to start naming names <laugh> about start. Get on some of these artists, turn on some of the other stuff and turn on some worship music and spend time exalting him. The Lord loves to be exalted. I'm telling you, if our kids come in and they know how to work me and they start telling me, daddy, you're so awesome. You're amazing. I know they're pulling my leg, but y'all about to go get a sucker. I love to give gifts to our children when they recognize who I am in their lives. When you learn how to worship God, the heart of God is moved.

That's

Right. Here's a fourth way. Exercise your faith. Faith is simply believing that God tells the truth. These are practical steps.

Faith is believing that God tells the truth. So if God said it, I believe and I will trust and do it. Peter had a choice when Jesus said, Hey, launch into the deep. He could have been like, fam, you're a great teacher, but you ain't no fishermen, so I'm good. I hear your word. I'll let you borrow my boat in a limited way, but nah. Peter's exercising his faith to go into the deep, allowed him to experience a miracle. And when he experienced a miracle, he discovered who Jesus really was, who he really was and what his ultimate purpose is. And he was so convinced about his relationship with Jesus that just a few chapters later, Jesus is walking on the water. Everybody's scared. It's the spirit. I told you man, they were tripping about the deep. It's the ghost. Peter is the only one that looks. And I was like, yo, the last time I went out there, I caught a lot of fish. Wow. And I was in a boat. So this time, if it be down, my God, yeah. Bid me. Come unto the we ain't got a extra rowboat now, fam, I'm going into the deep this time walking on water.

You see the exponential displays of God that happened in Peter's life because he made a decision to go into the deep with Jesus the first time. Yeah. The rest of the time that reread about Peter, phenomenal things are happening through his life. I'm talking like get delivered from prison, not dying. People getting healed miracle signs and wonders. He can't deny what's happened in his life because he made a decision to go into the deep with Jesus. My greatest prayer for all of us is that we would have a personal encounter with Jesus that is so real that he's all that matters. Because when he's all that matters, he will lead you into more. Your life will be empty if you remain in the shallow. I promise you that. You got to be willing to go into the deep and when you do, oh, I love this. Jesus says, don't be afraid. I don't what everybody been saying, fam, don't be scared. Don't worry. Just like the instructor that told me after I came up, I was tripping, y'all, I ain't trying to get back in this water. She said, don't be afraid. You good Cause I'm with you. And when you go down there, you'll be so distracted by all the miracles that you see down there. You won't even remember what happened at 20 feet. Yes. You won't even remember that you are wearing a mask and breeding out of a tank

That you'll be so caught up with the beauty that's in the deep that you'll want to stay there. Oh my Lord. What would life be like if we got so used to being in the presence of God that we never want to go back to shore?

That's good.

What would life be like if I didn't have to worry about finding my purpose? Because I found him.

Wow.

What would life be like if I didn't have to worry about what anybody else thinks about what I'm doing? Right. Because I'm with him. What would life be like if I don't have to try to explain and defend everybody on Facebook and Instagram because I know who he is to me and I know who I am to him and I know what we are going to do together.

Yeah, that's true.

You no longer in competition with anybody. Peter was not tripping or worried about the other disciples. Y'all stay in the boat. I'm going to go walk on water. What happens if it don't work out? I got you fam. Even when he sang, Jesus will still rescue him.

And Deep discoveries. Anybody want to discover Jesus in a deep way? Yeah. I'm not satisfied to be on the shore. I want to go deeper. I want to go deeper. From now on, you will be catching men. It don't take God a long time for the turnaround. You thought you were catching fish to kill him. You about to catch men so that they may live. You thought you were using your boat for this. Now you're going to use your boat for that. He's the God of a turnaround. He's a miracle working God. But you got to be willing to go into the deep. I can't take you there. Your husband can't take you there. Your wife can't take you there. Your parents can't take you there. You got to make the decision. Would you close your eyes and bow your heads? Lord, I pray that you would take us deeper, deeper in your presence, deeper in your word, deeper in our communication with you, deeper in our faith. I pray that today we would make the commitment to surrender all of our gifts and our talents to you. Lord, I've tried to go out and catch fish by myself and I came up empty,

But when you are in the boat with me, you always exceed my expectations. You always do more than I thought was possible. I tried to define my own life and yet you showed me new life. I tried to define what I was really called to do, but little did I know that you had something else for me.

You Didn't change my gifts or talents, you just redirected how I use them. And so right now, God, to everyone that's in this room, everybody that's watching online, I pray that in hot pursuit of you, we would discover who you are, who we are

And Our purpose. Cause our purpose is revealed in pursuit with you. Let's not get so caught up in the culture's definition of pursuing purpose and trying to find meaning and well, those things are not bad. Those things pale in comparison to a divine revelation. Discovery of who we are created to be by the one who created us. So Lord, we surrender to you our hearts, our minds, our hands are feet, our thoughts, our ambitions, everything. God, we lay at your feet. I pray God that we would move past God, just the motions of being a Christian and that we would just surrender everything to you. That knowing you becomes more important, God. Then building our own platforms and finding what we're designed to do that discovering you, God becomes the driving motivating factor of our existence. So Lord, we give you everything. Everything. Help us to go into the deep. Even though we don't know what's in the deep, we're going there. Even though I don't know what lays beyond and how. Right? So I pray for my brothers and sisters right now, God, that you would do a deep work in them and then do so, and in so doing God that they would discover amazing things we give you. Name the praise, the glory, the honor because you're worthy of it. In Jesus name. Everybody say amen. God bless you.