I am who God says I am!

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I am who God says I am!

Luke 5:1–11 NRSV
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Intro:
The pivotal point of most of our lives is when we determine who it is we want to be in life, and what it is that we desire to do in life......
(pause)
And in most cases this statement is built around our motivators in life that helps us to determine how we anwser the question....
Who do I want to be?
But I believe a better question to be asked is not......
Who do I want to be.......?
But rather........
Who am I?
(pause and expound)
Expound on Identity formation/crisis
The journey of beginning and becoming at the start of the new year is especially powerful and exciting.
But the worst mistake many of us make is by..........
.......trying to be somebody that does not match who we really are
(pause)
And even when we sometimes experience what we call success...........
............if we are not standing in our authentic skin we have yet to really taste the aha moment of our lives where we are operating in all that God has created us to be.
(pause and expound)
Barrel: Me and Meka’s discussion on educational choices......
Would you have selected the same Bachelors degree out of high school if you had it to do all over again?
No.....
Because now we have a more clear view of Who we are!
.......and the power of knowing.........who we are......wont allow us to miss the target of who we want to become
(pause)
.......and when God finally shows you your identity
......your purpose has got to MATCH!
(pause)
Look at it now......
Luke 5.
Luke 5:1–3 NRSV
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
According to the text....
Jesus is now teaching from the boat of Simon...
The magnitude of how the people are being affected is observed in the fact that as Jesus was standing beside this lake in Galilee that the bible says....
“The crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God”
In other words....
Jesus was running out of room to stand in the crowd as they squeezed in close together to hear more of what he was saying.
(pause)
And I would imagine that the reason why.......
..........what Jesus is sharing with them is so powerful is because he is awnsering some pivotal life questions for them through the Word of God.....
(pause)
And whenever you have life questions.......
......when you find someone who has the awnser
........the Pull or the desire to search out that awnser is greater than GRAVITY!
(pause)
That’s why the devil throws lies at our lives on a daily basis
Because.......
........the easiest way to stall our power of becoming is by placing us into an identity crisis where we are chasing options of becoming that have nothing to do with who we really are.
(pause)
But here Jesus is dropping life awnsers that for most of these people are so life changing they begin to......
....PRESS IN closer!
(pause)
Freedom family may I suggest to you.......
.......that the teachings of Christ should do the same thing to us.
.......it should cause us to PRESS IN closer....
(pause/expound - PRESS IN!)
Look at it now...
Luke 5:4–7 NRSV
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
According to Luke’s Gospel....
Jesus is instructing Simon to do something else with his boats........
......At first he asks Simon to turn his boat into a pulpit on the beach because of all the people squeezing in to hear the message.
(slight pause)
And now........
......He is asking Simon to do something different.
(pause)
I want to point out several things here.....
The first thing is that Simon’s name in the Greek actually means.....
“One who listens or hears”
(pause)
And everything great that happens in this verse is only possible because Simon is willing to listen to what Jesus is asking him to do.
(slight pause)
Our ability and willingness to listen to teaching needs to be our next move!
(pause and expound)
Here’s the next thing I see in the text......
Jesus is giving Simon an instruction that is completely contradictory to what a proffesional fisherman would do.
he tells Simon to.......
“.....take his boats out into the deep water and drop his nets to go fishing”
(pause)
But here’s the problem........
......Every professional fisherman in Simon’s timeframe knows that you don’t fish with nets in deep waters!
Because...
In Simon’s time......fish fed at night in the shallow waters and migrated to the deep water in the day time...
And so......
.......In Simon’s mind his nets are not equipped to do what Jesus is telling him to do....
(pause)
This is why he responds to Jesus by saying......
“Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing!”
(pause)
In other words.....
“As a professional fisherman I have done everything possible to be successful!”
I wonder if there are any professionals in here this morning!
......you have done everything you know how to do to become successful at what you do
......you have followed all of the rules
And......
......that word “worked” in the text means labored or toiled until weary
meaning......
Just like Simon you gave it all you had through your proverbial night time experience.
(slight pause)
And the end results of your professional efforts is the fact that.......
“You aint caught nothing.....”
(pause)
You are an expert in your field......
You are successful at what you do....
And watch this.......
........
......when you don’t catch anything
........you are ok with those results because you feel satisfied that there is nothing else that can be done differently to get any different results....
But.........
that was before Jesus showed up!
(long pause)
Because now that Jesus has showed up........
........he is asking both Simon and you and I to do something that only makes sense through teaching!
(pause)
Freedom family....
.......there are some things that God has dropped in my life boat
.........that made absolutely NO SENSE!
Move to Atlanta from Charlotte, NC.
Start Freedom Church
(slight pause)
But.........
...........just like Simon if we are going to experience the reward that Jesus has next we have to be willing to obey teaching that makes absolutely ZERO SENSE......
(pause)
Freedom family....
.......there are some things that God has dropped in my own personal life boat
.........that made absolutely NO SENSE!
Move to Atlanta from Charlotte, NC.
Start Freedom Church
(pause)
Everytime.....
God wants to do something greater in my life....
.....I find my faith level being challenged at a new and deeper level!
(slight pause)
And just like Simon I find myself being completely transparent with God and saying.....
“Don’t none of this make sense to me........
......but if you say so!”
(pause)
In the movie OVERCOMER that we’re going to be viewing this month on Tuesday nights......
John Harrison makes his living as a high school basketball coach........
.......and through the plotline we learn that what he does should never be all he is.
.....and many times we look at the work of God in our lives as getting rid of the bad and replacing it with what is right.
But there’s nothing wrong with being a basketball coach......
......and there’s nothing wrong with the way Simon is fishing in this text....
But what God is getting ready to do is show them........
......who they were created to BE!
(pause)
And if we are truly going to be an OVERCOMER.........
We have to be willing to follow Simon’s example of obedience....
“Lord, if you say so!”
(pause)
And the bible says......
As soon as they dropped their nets into the deep.......
.......there was a CATCH so big they needed help to bring it in!
(pause)
And here’s what God showed me right here....
The bible says that....
“there NETS were at the breaking point
(pause)
And what God was showing me is that.......
Obedience to God’s Word repositions “The BREAKING POINT!”
......Simon you would have went home with nothing
.....Simon you was supposed to be in an empty experience
But because of your obedience......
......instead of failure as a professional
You experienced.......
You experienced.......
.........what it feels like to be an OVERCOMER
(pause and expound)
And according to verses 8 through 10.......
......Simon is so shocked at God’s power to include him in an OVERCOMING moment that he doesn’t even feel like he deserves to be in Jesus’s presence....
But Jesus tells him in verse 110....
Simon don’t worry about who you thought you were......
“I’m getting ready to show you who God says you are!”
(pause)
He says.....
“From now on you will be catching people!”
(pause)
Freedom family.......
Not only did Jesus show Simon how to really catch fish.........
.....but he also showed him who he really is!
.......and then he REDEFINED what his future purpose was going to look like!
(pause)
And............
........that’s why God brought you to Church this morning
.......because God wants you to know
“I am who God says I am!”
(pause and expound)
Your’e getting ready to have your best catch!
You’re getting ready to exerpience a NEW BREAKING POINT!
But most importantly.........
YOU are no longer going to experience an identity crisis.....................
God created you to.....
BRING in people and show them how to be an OVERCOMER!”
“Help others..................REPOSITION their BREAKING POINT!”
(pause)
Freedom......
Let me help you see how huge this is for us!
CONCLUSION:
Simon Peter,
.....could have never imagined the magnitude of what Jesus was doing in his life on that regular day of fishing.......
.......but he decided to follow Jesus and give him everything he had
.......he followed him and watched him die on the cross
......He encountered the risen Jesus
.....and watched him ascend into heaven.
But fast forward to Pentecost in the book of .....
Acts 2:40–41 NRSV
And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
FREEDOM family!!!
This is what happens when we find out who we really are!!!
Overcomers........
........draw other
..........Overcomers
And I know it don’t make sense.......
But I dare you to RUN BLIND and believe God by declaring....
“I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM!”
....................CLOSE and EXPOUND..................
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