John 21. We're going to read the first 14 verses of the chapter. John 21, verse one. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way he showed himself. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we are going with you also. They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, children, have you any food? They answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it and plunged into the sea. But the other disciple came in the little boat, for they were not far from land, about 200 cubits, dragging the net with fish. Then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there. and fish laid on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have just caught. Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish, 153. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. This is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the last couple of years we've had the privilege of considering this gospel written by John. Lord, as we near its end, we pray that its purpose would be accomplished. These things were written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing we may have life in his name. Lord, I pray that those who have not yet believed would have their eyes opened, their hearts open, that they would receive your truth and believe. And for those of us who have believed, Maybe it was some time ago. Maybe a time that seems so distant. Would I pray that we would go on believing and that we would take this message to the ends of the earth, starting right here in Surry County. Offer your glory. Bless our time together. Do the work which only you can do. And I ask it in Jesus name. Amen. We've come to the end, right? We have this Sunday and next Lord willing, and we will be finished with this with our study of this gospel. Now, chapter 20 ended in such a way that it could have been the end of the book. He said at the end of chapter 20, truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in the book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. That would have been a sufficient place to put the final period, close the book and send it off to the publisher or whoever was going to read it. But we have a chapter 21 and some have said over the years that 21 doesn't belong. John didn't write it. It couldn't have written it. It doesn't make sense. Why did he end chapter 20 the way he did and then go on and write some more? Well, apparently those people have never heard of an epilogue. We all appreciate the books and the movies where the climax comes, we reach a conclusion, the screen goes black, and then it says something like, five years later. We appreciate that kind of closure. It ties up the loose ends, lets us know what happens after the fact. John's gospel began with a prologue. He didn't jump right into the ministry of Jesus. He began by telling who Jesus was. He was the Word of God from all eternity. The Word made flesh. And now that he's shared with us the life and ministry of Jesus with the intent that the reader may believe, he, to use an overused term, ties up some loose ends. So it does belong. It accomplishes a few purposes. One, it does tell us who Jesus was after his resurrection, just as the beginning told us who he was before his ministry. But it also gives us some insight as to Jesus's relationship to his disciples post-resurrection. No doubt they were wondering about that. He had been with them. They had lived with him for three years. Now he's died. He has risen. They're not seeing him every day. And they wonder if a time will come when they won't see him again. So what is that relationship like? He's used them to accomplish his purposes and now he doesn't need them anymore. What is that? And this passage gives us some insight into that. John 21 also answers the question about what happened to Peter. You know, the last big thing we hear from Peter is him before this little servant girl warming himself over a coal of fires or a fire of coals. The fire of coals, a charcoal fire. And she says, didn't I see you with Jesus? Aren't you one of his followers? And he denies Jesus. Well, if there wasn't a John 21, we wouldn't know what happened to Peter after the fact. Is there any hope for Peter and those who are like him? It answered a rumor that was floating around about John. Apparently, some people thought Jesus said John wasn't going to die. So John uses this chapter to clear that up. And then it explains also why John didn't record everything that Jesus did. He said in the very last couple of verses of the chapter that if everything that Jesus done had been written, all the books of all the earth couldn't contain it. So the chapter 21 is beneficial, it's profitable, it is inspired scripture and worthy of our consideration. One major thing, in addition to tying up these loose ends, chapter 21 reinforces yet again the reality of the resurrection. He said in verse 14, we just read it, that this is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. So of these purposes for John's epilogue for chapter 21, our section that we consider today, verse one through 14, deals mainly with Christ's relationship to the disciples now that he has been raised from the dead and it begins to deal with the restoration of Peter. And as we consider these things, there are some principles that apply not only to the disciples who were there when Jesus showed himself, but they apply to us also. So I'll give you some principles this morning. There's a lot to cover in this chapter, but since we start our service an hour earlier now than we used to, I don't feel bad if we go long. So just hang tight. Principle number one, Jesus primarily works in and through the ordinary. Jesus primarily works in and through the ordinary. So they had gone to Galilee to wait for Jesus, just like he had commanded them to do. He had commanded them to go to a certain mountain that he had appointed. We don't know exactly where, but he said, go ahead of me into Galilee and I will meet you there. Now, they didn't know this, but we know now that that was the place from which he would ascend into heaven. and give that promise that in the same way they saw him ascend, so he would descend when he came with his kingdom. Verse one says, after these things, Jesus showed himself, he manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. We know that more commonly as the Sea of Galilee. It was renamed by the Romans in honor of Tiberias, but it is the Sea of Galilee. And in this way, he showed himself. Verse two, Simon Peter. Thomas called the twin Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee. The sons of Zebedee are James and John and two other disciples unnamed. My guess would be Philip and Andrew just because they're so commonly associated with these other disciples. But they're waiting on Jesus to meet them in Galilee. And Peter says, fellas, I'm tired of waiting. I'm going fishing. And some of you said, Amen. How many fishermen in the room? OK, we've got a few. Peter says, I'm going fishing for some undisclosed reason. We don't know exactly why Peter went fishing. I like, I tend to think that it's because he's the impatient sort. You don't usually see Peter being one patiently waiting on Jesus to do what he says he's going to do. He's a jump the gun, got to stay busy kind of guy. And so he goes back to what he knows. That's what Jesus had called Peter from when he first became his disciple. Colt read it for you earlier. These men were called from being fishermen. to be what Jesus called what? Fishers of men. They were to follow Jesus. So Peter makes this executive decision and the others follow. And I think there's a simple lesson here in that be wary of the decisions you make because others will follow. And whether it was right or wrong for Peter to go fishing, I don't know. But he went back to what he knew and the others went with him. Now, Nathaniel, James and John, it made sense that they went because they were fishermen also. Thomas, we don't know what his occupation was, but, you know, he wasn't with the disciples once before and he missed something pretty big. So he's going to go wherever these guys go at this point. Peter says, I'm going fishing. Thomas says, me too. You never know what's going to happen. So they go fishing. They went out and immediately got into the boat. And that night they caught nothing. These were ordinary men doing an ordinary thing. And I would just like to say these are the kind of people that God desires to work through even today. Ordinary people doing ordinary things through whom God can do the extraordinary. We were talking about this just this week. I was talking about it with a group of men. These men, there was nothing special about them. They were hardworking men. They had a job that they were responsible, at least they were most likely businessmen to some degree because they were with their father. The sons of Zebedee had a family business, owned their own boat, made a good living for themselves. But to the rest of society, really, they were just fishermen. First Corinthians one Paul says, for you see your calling, brethren, not that many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen what the foolish things. There's your compliment for the day. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no flesh should glory in his presence. God isn't interested in how much talent you have, how much money you have, what your status in society is. God is simply looking for ordinary people who do ordinary things, who are willing to be used by him. And I'm thankful because that's just who I am. There's nothing special about me. Let's just be honest. There's not anything all that special about a bunch of you. Right. Come on, lighten up, folks. It's it's late enough in the morning. We're just regular people, but whoever you are, wherever you are, no matter what you do, God primarily works through the ordinary. And we should be thankful for that. And look at the second half of verse three, he says they went out immediately, got into the boat and that night they caught nothing. The fisherman's dream. Before we move on, this does this sound like something we've heard before? Fished all night, as the old kid song goes, they caught no fishes. We heard just a few minutes ago from Luke chapter five, this is the same kind of setting from which Jesus called these men three years earlier. Jesus had been preaching and teaching. The multitudes had gathered to hear the word of God. They were pressing in against him. He was backed up to the sea. People were closing in. There's a boat here with some guys cleaning their nets. So he climbs up in the boat, says, push out from the land a little bit, and he uses their boat as a pulpit. And he preaches to the crowds. Then afterwards, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let out your net for a catch. Now, Peter, again, foot in the mouth kind of Peter, thought, and what do you do for a living again? Oh, you're a carpenter. See, I'm the professional fisherman here. I've been out here working all night. I've cast my nets more times than I can count. There are no fish to be caught this day. They aren't around. But what did Peter say? He said, Master, we've told all night, caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word. I will let down the net. All right, if you say so, we'll give it one last go. What's it going to hurt? They let down the net and they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So we've seen a scene just like this before they like that night or three years ago, they had fished all night, they had caught nothing. And principle number two, know this before God will work, we must admit our own inability or our own failure. Because in verse four, he says, when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples didn't know that it was Jesus. And we don't know exactly why they didn't know it was Jesus. They were about 100 yards away. But beyond that, you know, we had Mary in the garden a couple of weeks ago and she didn't recognize Jesus. He showed himself to the disciples going to Emmaus and they didn't recognize Jesus. There's something about the resurrected body that right off the bat, they didn't place who he was. They didn't recognize Jesus. And Jesus said to them, children, have you any food? Now, the word children is a little bit different than what we think when we think children. He's not speaking to them like John did in his in his letters, my little children, you know, my beloved children. This is sort of just a generic term with, hey, guys, fellows, boys, guys, do you have any food and that word food, it's sort of a generic word, too. Specifically, it was like a relish that they would put on bread and eat. But then they started using that specific word to talk about food generally. And in this context is obviously talking about fish. So now if you're a fisherman and you fished all night, you're tired, you're worn out, you're about to call it quits and somebody walks up to you and says, hey, fellas, You don't have any fish, do you? That's the last question you want to hear, because the question is asked in such a way that he expected a negative response. You don't have any fish, do you? And they answered him, no. I mean, no explanation needed. They didn't try to say, well, you know, it's this time of year or the tide was like this or the weather, you know, they just know. They didn't catch anything. Tired of waiting for Jesus, they go out fishing on their own and they had absolutely nothing to show for it. Absolutely nothing to show for a night's work. Jesus is getting ready to do something extraordinary. We know it because we can read it's written down for us. He's going to do a miracle. But before he does this miracle, he makes them acknowledge that all the time that they had spent out there on their own was a waste. We have to remember that in the work of God, we are absolutely helpless on our own. We read it just back in John chapter 15. He said, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. And if that's not plain enough, he says, I'm the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me, you can do nothing. There's not a footnote, there's not an exception clause. He says, without me, you can do nothing. No exceptions. Hear me when I say this, self-made men, self-made women have absolutely no usefulness in the work of God. If you pride yourself in being one who takes care of yourself, you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, I can take care of me, I can do whatever I set my mind to, you have absolutely no usefulness in the work of God. Only those who humble themselves and depend on God's strength to work through them can be used by Him. I heard the saying my whole life in church, it's not about your ability, but about your availability. God isn't concerned with what you have to offer him, he just desires that you submit yourself to him for whatever his purposes are and let him do the work through you. You're just a branch on the vine, the vine does the work and you get to hang out on the fruit. He says we must abide in him, abiding in Christ includes abiding with him. Simply, it starts personally in your own Bible reading and praying. I've talked about it with several people lately, but we like to think that church people and that's that's who we are. We're folks who go to church regularly. We like to think that church people, surely they read their Bibles every day. Right. Don't we all, 100 percent of us in the room, have a habit of picking up our Bibles and spending time with God every day? Oh, if just 80 or 90 percent of us did, can you imagine what kind of change would happen? We must be people not only of the word, but people of prayer. That's what prayer is. When you pray, you're admitting that you can't do everything on your own. Simple, true, honest, humble prayer is acknowledging before God, God, I'm nothing without you. I need you. We must personally be in the scriptures and in prayer, but corporately as well as a body, we must gather for worship. We need the ordinances. We need to see people baptized. We need that encouragement. We need the reminders that that are given in the Lord's Supper. We need fellowship and in our context, that practically looks like Sunday school. Discipleship, we need people who are constantly pouring into us, you need to find people who know more than you who can help you grow as a Christian. And then you need to turn and find people younger than you that you can help. It's all about the basics. God uses simple people doing ordinary things who will humble themselves and acknowledge that we don't have it all together. God on our own, we can't do anything. We can set our we can make a vision statement. We can have a mission for our church to go out and reach the community and we can reach the community with something. We might can share the gospel with a lot of people, but without the power and the working of God, it will amount to nothing. It's not about the popularity of Simmons Grove Baptist Church. It's not about what our standing is in the community. It's not about how many people we can get to come to our church. It's about humility and obedience, simply doing what God has commanded us to do and depending on him to produce the fruit. All he requires of us is faithfulness. A third principle, when we obey, God will do a work through us that brings glory to him alone. When we obey, God will do a work through us that brings glory to him alone. Look at verse six. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat. Now, that suggestion could have been offensive. Like we said before, no doubt Peter had the thought cross his mind, really? You know, what does a few feet make from here to there? Why do I need to cast the net on the right side of the boat? Do fish know the difference between left and right? You know, Peter's left-handed. Maybe that's just the easy side for him. Why would I do something that's awkward and uncomfortable? Oh, there's a lesson in that. Why would we do something that's awkward and uncomfortable just because God told us to? We're the professional fishermen. What difference will a few feet make? You think the fish know the difference between left and right? You don't think we've tried that? You don't think we threw the net on both sides of the boat? We've been out here all night, you know. But When they simply obeyed. The miraculous happened. So they cast and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Something they couldn't have done on their own, something they didn't do, though they had tried all night. Now, all of a sudden, out of nowhere come all these fish and the nets are so full they can't even lift it over the side of the boat. Where were they? And there's only one explanation for what happened, verse seven, therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved, that is, John said to Peter, it is the Lord. The work that God had done for these disciples, the work that Jesus did right here, the only explanation was that Jesus did it. It had to be Jesus. No, he's 100 yards away. We can't exactly see him. He yelled at us, but it's hard to tell if that's his voice. But when they saw the work that he had done after they had been out there trying in their own efforts all night long and accomplished nothing, suddenly something's happened. John says, it's the Lord. It has to be. When we're obedient to the commands of God and that starts with the Great Commission, go to all the world, make disciples, baptize, teach. God will do works through us that only he can get credit for. The kind of work that I desire God to do in this church is not the kind of work where people look at us and say, well, Simmons Grove is doing something right. I don't want people to see what God does here and say, you know, Jacob Hall's doing a good job leading that church over there. I desire and I hope you desire it, it should be our prayer that God would do the kind of work here that when people see the work, they see the the intake of fish, when they see the people who are converted, when they see the Christians being matured and discipled and growing, they look at what's happening and say that has to be of the Lord. That has to be God's work. God is doing something over there. That's what we should desire. He'll do it if we'll just obey. But notice, too, he did it through them, not without them. Could Jesus have said, all right, you're fishy, fishy and fish started jumping up into the boat without them ever having to throw their nets down? Sure, sure he could have. He could have whistled and they would have piled into the boat until the boat sank. But they participated in bringing him glory. He didn't do it without them, he did it through them. They had to obey, they had to put the net down. And we can pray that God will do a great work in our church and in our community that will see revival across our state and our nation. We can pray for that. We can pray that the Lord would save people, that people would turn from their wicked ways, that they would humble themselves and pray, give themselves to God in his service. And he can do it. But he has chosen to do it by means and through a people, and we have to put the nets down. We have to do what he's commanded us to do, we have to open our mouths and tell people the gospel of Jesus. We need to trust God to do the work, we need to pray for these people and we need to obey and act on the work that he's called us to do. A man that I grew up knowing used to say, put legs on your prayers, pray for it and then get to work. They put their nets down, God does the work of catching fish, if anybody ever comes to be saved, if anybody ever is born again, if anyone ever knows the Lord, God did it. It's his miracle, not something we can do, but he has chosen to do it through his church. through his people. And doing it this way brings him glory. Remember, we're not wise or mighty or noble. He's using weak people, ordinary people who humble themselves and obey to do a miraculous work that only he can receive glory for. One more principle, number four. There is Grace and provision even for disciples who have failed. There is grace and provision even for disciples who have failed. Look again at verse 7. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. John was the first one to recognize that it was Jesus on the shore. Now, if you're Peter and you think about all that Peter's done just in the last few days, How do you react when you find out that that's Jesus standing on the shore? Ashamed? Embarrassed? I mean, he had a reason to be, right? How did Peter react when he first saw Jesus do a miracle like this? Remember Luke chapter 5, verse 8 says, When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. He wanted Jesus to get away from him. R.C. Sproul used to say that it was a good thing Peter wasn't a businessman too much, because if he had been Peter, and he brings in a catch of fish like that, he said, I would have whipped out a contract. Listen, you come here once a week, you do this, you don't have to work every day. You come do this miracle once a week, 50% partner, you get half the profits and we'll go like that. We wouldn't have been surprised if Peter had said something like that. But no, when Peter saw the working of God and he recognized Jesus for who he was, he said, depart from me. Go away, for I'm a sinful man. The natural reaction to the presence of God for a sinful human is fear and trembling. When you take the holiness of God, His righteousness, His mighty standard, and you compare it to the sinfulness of our own natures. We should fear. But that was before Peter knew Jesus, that was before Jesus called him to follow him, that was before he came to realize that he was the Christ, the one who came to deliver his people, to save them. See, at first he said, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man. And now we have here at the end of the ministry, after Peter knows who Jesus is, how does he react? He doesn't say go away. He doesn't fall down in the boat and hope Jesus didn't see him. He doesn't fear and try to get out of the presence of holiness. Rather, he says now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and he plunged into the sea. It's hard to explain what Peter does. Most of us take something off to go get in the water, you know, but he puts something on, tucks it in so he doesn't lose it. He takes off. He doesn't wait for them to bring the boats to land. He quits trying to help the guys get the net of fish up into the boat. John says, it's the Lord. And Peter says, all right, throws his coat on, he goes to shore, swims 100 yards. That's the difference. In seeing the holiness and the miracles of Jesus before knowing him and after knowing him. You see, we had that same experience before we knew Jesus, at least you should have. To hear of what Christ has done and to hear of his holiness and his righteous standard and that there is one day a judgment to come and you fear and you tremble, that is a right response to the holiness of God. We should fear. But now that he has known Jesus, now that he has seen him as the Christ, as the son of God, now that he has seen them as the one who has died for sins and rose from the dead, he can't get to Jesus fast enough. That's a sign of a true Christian running back to Christ, not away from him. Even after a failure, or might I say, especially after a failure. You see, before you knew Christ, whenever you were compared to him and your sin and his holiness, it scared you. But now that you know Christ, you see your sin and you see his righteousness and you say, that's what I need, and you run back to him every time. Some of you need to hear that because it's our nature. to sin and to think, oh, God's mad at us. Oh, I had a bad day at work today. Well, I deserved it. You know, he knows what I did yesterday. The kids have just gotten on my last nerve today, but you know what? I can't say anything. I deserve it because, you know, I really I really messed up yesterday. We're always thinking of what we've done and what God's going to do to get back at us for it. But let me tell you, for the one who is a true Christian, whenever we sin, our response ought not be get away from God, but our response needs to be run to him. You think his grace is any less now than it was on the day he saved you? Paul said, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. He said there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you have been born again, if you know the Lord, whenever you sin, you don't have to run away, but you can run back to him. And that grace is fresh, it's new every day. Verse 80 says the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from land, about 200 cubits, that's about 100 yards, dragging the net with fish. So Peter didn't even stay behind to help. He just ditched the guys and went straight to see Jesus. They catch up in the boat, they're dragging the fish, and then verse nine says, then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bred. Now, last time Peter was gathered with someone around a fire of coals, say it right this time, he was denying Jesus. And maybe when Peter gathers around with the disciples and he sees Jesus and he looks into that fire, he thinks, man, he'll never let this go. But he's already got fish laid out. He's making toast. He says, bring some of the fish which you've just caught. Why? He's already got his own fish. Isn't that amazing that they fished all night? Jesus could have said, fellas, you're tired. Come on in. I've got some. You can you can have some of mine. We'll have breakfast. He didn't need their fish. He could make his own. Remember, he fed 5000 like that. Fish and bread. This is the same miracle, just on a smaller scale. yet he asked them to bring some of theirs. God doesn't need the little puny offerings that we bring, but he lovingly takes interest in us and uses what we have. The thing that came to my mind was You know, this month we're collecting our North Carolina missions offering. By the way, plug, if you haven't given the North Carolina missions offering yet, today's your day. We'd like to hit our goal. But, you know, these kids collect offering back here in Sunday school and they bring their coins, their change, and they give. And, you know, compared to the goal that we set for the church, their change really isn't going to be that thing that pushes us over the line. And even what they bring, you know what? Joel takes a dollar to Sunday school, but five minutes before he goes to Sunday school, he comes up to me and says, hey, daddy, can I have a dollar? Even what he brings isn't his own. But how much do we treasure the participation of those children in giving to missions? I'm so thankful for the teachers back there who teach them about missions and missionaries. and encourage them to participate in the work. They're learning the value of it at that young age, they're offering. Maybe it's not much. But we treasure it. We value it. And you think about what we bring to God in our work. Even what we bring him isn't our own. He does the work through us. We bring it to him like we did it, and then he rewards us for doing it. That's grace and provision, if I ever saw it. God doesn't need our little gifts, but he uses us. Verse 11. Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish. Man, this guy, he had to be some kind of burly dude, I don't know. Because you've got all these men out there, they can't get this thing up on their own with all of them working together. And then Peter goes out there and drags the net to land full of large fish, 153. Much ink has been spilled over that 153. What's the significance of the 153? What does the number represent? Let me tell you what it is. It's a bunch of fishermen who had the biggest catch of their lives and they couldn't forget how many it was. So John wrote it down like, man, that was a lot of fish. It's just one of those details that reminds us that this is a true event. This isn't something some guy made up sitting in a corner, you know, in the second or third century. Just trying to write a story. These are true events. These are things that are impressed in John's mind that he can't forget. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Now, in Luke 5, when Jesus first called them, they took in so many fish, they couldn't bring them all in and the nets were broken. Now, they've brought them all to shore, they haven't lost any. They're able to count them. And the net is not broken. I don't want to say more about that than is justified. I don't want to impose anything here. But when he first called them, come follow me and I will make you fishers of men, they weren't ready. They needed to spend some time with Jesus. His work wasn't done yet. But now here we are three years later. They've been discipled. They've been taught Jesus has died and rose again. The work is done. Now they are ready and fully equipped to go out and do the work that God has called them to do. The net will not break. If we go out and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not in control of how many fish we bring in. God brings the fish, but we can be assured of this one thing. The net will not break. The gospel will not fail. Jesus has died. He has risen and he lives forever. He's coming again. And nothing will ever change that. There's nothing wrong with the gospel we preach. We just keep casting the net. Verse 12, Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. That ought to be somebody's favorite verse. One of my favorite meals for the whole year is going to Ganny's house on Christmas morning. She's 82 years old. She goes to the pantry of things. She's canned all year long. She gets out the sausage. She gets out the apples. She goes and gets her eggs. She didn't can the eggs. That's a set. That was during the fridge. You know, she, she used to make biscuits. Now she's, you know, she's 82, like I said. So we do sister Schubert's, you know, the little frozen yeast rolls. They're still delicious, you know. But one of my favorite meals of the whole year is to get together at her house on Christmas morning and eat with everybody. But I bet this fish and bread was a million times better than anything Katie could have cooked. She said, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord. Now, that's a miracle in itself. The disciples stayed quiet. Nobody spoke up. They knew it was him. It was unquestionable. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them. And likewise, the fish. Jesus's relationship with his people, with his disciples post resurrection is really not all that different from what it was before the resurrection. No, he's not with them around the clock. He's not with us in bodily form at all times. But the relationship is still the same, one of grace and provision. He receives us back when we sin when we fail. Some of you need to claim that grace this morning. Maybe you haven't been trusting Him. Maybe you've been trusting in your own ability to do the work. Maybe you need to humble yourself and simply obey. You come back to Him. He has grace for you. And He will give us what we need to do the work that He's called us to do. Where God guides, He provides, right? That's the old saying. Wherever he calls us, he will give us what we need to do the work if we will only trust him. The mission is clear. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to do all the things that I've commanded you. And then he says, and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. There is grace for us. There is provision for us. We must simply trust him and obey. Amen. Would you stand with me and pray? Lord, we thank you again for your word, and I pray that it would do its work in our hearts this morning. Save the lost. And motivate those who are saved. To trust you and be obedient to your word. In Christ's name, Amen.