Sunday Message Summary, 05 November 2023
On the day when Jesus called four fishermen – Simon, Andrew, James, and John – to follow Him and be His disciples, Jesus encountered the fishermen after they had endured an unsuccessful night of fishing by the Sea of Galilee. Simon and his partners were at their lowest, they had resigned themselves to their failure and defeat, they had tried so hard and for so long to catch fish and their efforts yielded nothing; they had put everything of themselves into their labors only to be dejected (disappointed), discouraged and hopeless. Now a crowd of people had gathered around Jesus to hear the Word of GOD, not for healing, not for prophecy, not to see miracles; they were seeking the Word of GOD. Jesus got into Simon’s boat and asked him to take the boat out onto the water a little; Jesus delivered His teaching to the multitudes from the boat; and when He was done teaching, Jesus told Simon to go to deep waters and cast his net into the water one more time. [Luke 5:1-5]
At this point, Simon called Jesus “Master” (a name commonly used in the Jewish faith for a Teacher or Rabbi) and told Jesus how they had labored all night and had caught not a single fish. As a child of GOD in this world, you will also have empty nets that do not catch anything after countless hours of fishing, you will have troubles and you will go through disappointment; this is a given for it is written that “in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” [John 16:33]. By overcoming the tribulations, distresses, sufferings, and troubles of this world for us through Jesus Christ, GOD has the final say in all of our situations. It is at that moment when we think it is utterly hopeless that GOD steps onto the scene and resolves it all. It matters not how bleak, bad, hopeless, beyond salvation and finished a situation seems; it is until we engage the LORD, until we seek the LORD, that the finality of anything and everything is revealed through what GOD says in His answer.
The Word tells us that GOD always answers when any child of GOD cries out to Him [Psalms 34:17]. It is seemingly very much like GOD for Him to intervene in our hopelessness. Ezekiel saw only dry bones in the valley, but GOD told him, he believed the word of GOD and GOD showed him that the dry dead bones can live again and have vitality [Ezekiel 37:1-14]. It is when we have reached the point of utter despair and desperation that we come to the end of ourselves; And when we have come to the end of ourselves, this is when GOD will step in because our hopeless situations attract GOD to us. It is always in the hopeless situation that GOD glorifies Himself, where we see His power and we glorify Him. In John 11:3-6, 17 Jesus creates a setup for GOD to be glorified. Jesus knew that Lazarus was alive in the spirit, in the unseen, but that GOD needed and was to be glorified through the seen sickness and the seen ultimate death of Lazarus in the worldly realm. Jesus deliberately delayed, He waited for everyone to see the situation to be utterly hopeless and beyond salvation before He showed up for Lazarus, Martha, and Mary (and of course for His disciples too).
When we reach the end of our tether and the end of ourselves, that is when we, firstly, want to see GOD and we seek the LORD passionately, and GOD knows this, and secondly, this is when we give GOD the glory as we see His power come through in the impossible utter hopelessness of it all. Before the miraculously great catch of fish, Simon was still unbelieving, seeing Jesus as just a mere Master/Teacher/Rabbi, a commoner, but after the miracle, believing in His glory, Simon changes his language and recognizes that Jesus is LORD [Luke 5:7-9]. The LORD has set you up with a situation that will glorify Him through your life and that will have you change your language to recognize that He is still LORD as He did with Simon. So let us not be quick to give up until we see GOD as LORD in our situations, until we see Him as LORD who settled peace over our troubles and predicaments. Whatever predicament, situation, or trouble that you – a born-again, spirit-filled, taught by the Holy Spirit child of GOD – encounter, is designed by the divine, and no such situation should shake you.
Everything you go through as a child of GOD is a divine setup, firstly for GOD to glorify Himself and, secondly, for you to know that He is LORD in all situations. If you have asked yourself why GOD waited to answer Simon and Martha when Jesus delayed in resolving their respective situations, the answer is this: GOD was doing a new thing. GOD wanted to reveal another level, another degree of glory, to His children. Whenever we see delays in our lives, we are to take heart and be encouraged because there is a new level of glory that GOD similarly wants to reveal to us in our lives. After all, GOD is doing a new thing in us, for us; And you will know that it is a big divine miracle because the breakthrough will show up in overflow and abundance (like the fishing nets that were breaking) and you will have so much that you will have to share it with others (like Simon calling his partners to fill their boat with fish from the same catch) [Luke 5:8-9]. Divine setups produce big turn of events because GOD appears in the turnaround. GOD knows everything; GOD knows of the situation before it happens; GOD knows how He is going to resolve the situation before it happens.
This means that when GOD asks you a question, He already knows what the answer is. So whenever GOD asks you anything, He wants to reveal your true nature to you and He does this to test you [John 6:5-6; John 11:14-15, 40; Ezekiel 37:1-3]. From this day on, know that GOD tests you to stretch your faith, He tests you to see how you behave and what you are going to do. Know that GOD delays your answer from coming because He is testing you to stretch your faith, to build your faith, to increase your faith. Know that it is when your faith is stretched that you become fortified in spirit, And know that this is important because GOD is doing a new thing and there is a next level of glory that requires you to be fortified to a new level in spirit for you to come into possession of the new. GOD heard every single plea and saw each time you cried out to Him, His delay in answering is by divine purpose. Know that it is not over until GOD says so, GOD has the final say. Do not be quick to give up; do not die in your dry valley of bones; do not die in your place of testing when you are yet to possess His promises. Nothing is a surprise to GOD, not the delay nor how you respond to the delay; just keep knowing and believing that in all things His is the final say.
It matters not how bleak, bad, hopeless, beyond salvation and finished a situation seems; it is until we engage the LORD, until we seek the LORD, that the finality of anything and everything is revealed through what GOD says in His answer
Know that GOD delays your answer from coming because He is testing you to stretch your faith, to build your faith, to increase your faith. Know that it is when your faith is stretched that you become fortified in spirit, And know that this is important because GOD is doing a new thing and there is a next level of glory that requires you to be fortified to a new level in spirit for you to come into possession of the new
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