That's right. What a blessing. Church fighters, what a heritage. This is off track, but I guess it follows the mantle of Sunday school this morning. He was running rabbits, he told us. But we did try ancestry one time, and I think my uncle got back about five generations, and it was so ugly, I told him to quit. And so maybe it did get better eventually, but we never found out. And so anyhow, it's a joy to be here. I sure love all of y'all. Love Pastor Daniel and been excited, been anticipating this for quite some time. And probably like the rest of you had a lot of big plans a few weeks ago, getting ready for this. And I got hit with that respiratory virus or whatever it is going around, about like the rest of us. and finally got over it the other week. And so this, I hadn't even been in a pulpit in a while. So I thank the Lord, got some rest. And then what a first place to be, to be back here. And so many of you, sounds like you're getting better. A few of you still talking. You know how it takes your voice. Of course, it'd probably help if it wasn't 70 one day and 30 the next. And, but so anyhow, I'm glad you're healthy and you're here and been talking with preacher about the prayer meetings this week. And he was telling me about how God's been meeting with his people. And I appreciate those of you that's been here and been praying, because I promise you whether a meeting comes or goes, if I've ever been taught anything, the sacrifice that God accepts does not come from a couple of preachers that come to town. We cannot bring revival, a move of God in our back pocket. But it comes and it rises and falls off of the core of the church and how they obey God. And then folks like me, we just sort of get to reap the benefits and get in on it. So it's a humbling thing how you've honored God and sought God this week and then get to be in the presence of God. Like Brother Terry just said a while ago, I'm excited about the week. I hope that you are. How many of you would agree with me on this this morning? We need God. like never before. God's just been building this thing. Lord was reminding me of this real early this morning, trying to spend some time with him, getting ready for the day. How many of you remember this past summer, how God met with us here to meet him? And then you remember what happened in Newland there, Brother Ethan Green's on the mountain. And I hope you know that that was a direct effect of what happened here. It carried from here right over there. God partnered everybody up and did something great that probably only eternity will reveal what all's been done. We was just talking the other day and checking in on some of them. And so many of them, God's still moving. One thing some of you may not have heard about is several area churches, even after the tent went down, and this is one of the main ways you know God was in something. Several of those area churches had small pockets of a move of God in their own churches in the days to come. Brother Rim, many of y'all met him, broke out at his home church while he was preaching on a Sunday night, and so they continued on all week long with him preaching. God did a work up there in Bethel Baptist, I believe it is as well. and spruce pine. Yes, sir. And if you think back, it even started before last summer, last power conference. God really did a work. And then that bubbled over on some of the prayer trips. The men got touched here. Then we went to Myrtle. Then it was Oasis. Then there was the meeting that y'all had up here in April. And so what I'm getting at is if we start the year right, we really get our hearts tender to the Lord, get close to Him. There's no telling what might all happen this year, but you sure can end right if you don't start right. And so I hope that the Lord will help us this morning. I'll be honest with you. I'll say it like I've heard Brother Daniel say it many times. I've argued with the Lord and sure tried to get out of this one. I got some new thoughts. I've been working over the holidays, being home and excited about them. And I tried every way possible to get into some of them this morning, maybe later this week, but the Lord won't let this thought off my heart. Luke chapter number 22. I heard preacher talking this morning in Sunday school about that. We better fear that old man. It never gets away from us. And the Lord really settled in my heart. Then brother Luke praying while ago, referring to it as well. We better know how, no matter how long you have served God without him, we'll be in a mess in the blink of an eye. So I trust this to help you this morning. You stand with me if you don't mind. Luke chapter number 22 and verse number 54. Of course, a whole lot of this is centered around the theme that God has given the church for this meeting and it is all about Him. Every good thing we've ever got or ever will get will have something to do with Jesus Christ, what He's done in our lives. He is worthy. This message starts a lot rougher than it ends, so hang with me this morning, all right? Luke chapter number 22, verse number 54, the Bible says, Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into a high priest's house. And notice this phrase now, the Bible says, And Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were sat down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw him and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, man, I am not. Two people's done notice, but notice verse 59 now. And about the space of one hour. Watch the wording in our Bible now. After another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this man was also with him. Might I just stop and say this this morning, the world's paying a whole lot more attention to our Christian life and testimony than we probably realize, whether they say it or not. For he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet spake, the cock crew. I love verse 61 though, the Bible says, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he'd said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. By the help of the Lord, that verse number 54 there at the end, and Peter followed afar off. By the help of the Lord for just a little while, I want to preach on this thought, living outside his view. of being outside the view of our Lord. Our Father, we do love you today. God, one more time, we humble ourselves as thy little servant to your throne room at thy feet of majesty, Lord. God, you're everything. You're our all in all in Christ alone, Lord. How true. God, we know today we can't. You'll have to do it. God, he must increase, so I must decrease. Christ is the main attraction, the own attraction. Give us holy unction to be able to preach the riches of Christ. God, the goodness of God, which leadeth man to repentance. God, no doubt there's lost people today. I pray you'd save them, Lord. Our heart longs to see them saved. Convict them, draw them, Lord. God, stir the saints of God as well. Render the devil and his crowd powerless. Rub their nose in the blood. God, embarrass God all to hell. May you get all the glory. Show thy power and majesty in the house of God today. Lord, God, meet the needs of thine. God, we need you, trust you. God have your will and way and we'll glorify you. Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. You can be seated today. Before we ever get into this this morning, I know the thought that may run through your mind, it's ran through mine before. Boy, when you start talking about about denying Jesus, starts talking about that you're going to go before the world and say, I don't know who he is and I don't know anything about him. The initial thought would be, I love God too much to do that. The initial thoughts of our heart and maybe it would even be not necessarily even a bad thing. I would like to think that even if a gun was pulled to my head, I would not deny the Lord that I have to see face to face one day and behold his wounds of died for my soul. I would like to think, but might I just be honest with you this morning and may we accept this reality this morning, that if it could happen to Peter, it could happen to any one of us. I don't care how long you've been saved. I don't care how much Bible you can quote, how many prayers you pray, or even how many messages we preach. Every single one of us says, Brother Daniel said this morning, we have that depravity on the inside. It never goes away from us. It is the struggle of our life. It's always the war. Our greatest enemy, as he said, is not the devil. My greatest enemy is me. If I didn't have the problem with a sin nature, the devil would have nothing to tempt. There would be nothing he could do to me. There is the great struggle on the inside. And let me just say this about Peter. You may know this, you may not, but so we're on the same page this morning because if it can happen to Peter, it can happen to us. Why you say it like that preacher? Because he saw it all. He He felt it all. He heard it all. I've never seen the earthly body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the miracle of all miracles when God became man. I've never saw him face to face. I've never heard his audible voice. I didn't see Lazarus get up out of the grave. I didn't see man's hand come back. I didn't see him heal leprosy. I didn't see the Lord speak life and calm the waves and the sea. I didn't see or hear anything that Peter did. I sure didn't preach one day on Pentecost with that kind of power and thousands get saved in a few days. I've never experienced what Peter has. I've never seen the Lord like Peter has. Yet he walked away from God. Yet he had a dark moment in his life. Yet he went back on God. So if after all that experience, happen to Peter, it can sure happen to you and me today. So we better know that this message can be for any of us at any time. Let me show you the rough part first, how Peter left him. Number one, he left him because he got lofty. with his dedication. These actions are important. Remember this phrase this morning, small actions carry major consequences. You don't leave God in five minutes. It's a small, slow downward spiral for the most part. Number one, he got lofty with his dedication. Verse 33, the Bible says it like this, and he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with both in the prison and the death. Here's what happens, and I'm gonna preach this quickly and get where the Lord has my heart, so listen fast. But the Lord here is trying to prepare his disciples for his departure. He knows that he's getting ready to die, as we were just singing about. He knows what's coming, and he's trying to get us ready. But right in the midst of the Lord talking, Peter steps up and interrupts God. If you was raised like I was, you don't interrupt adults while they're talking. You might have interrupted my daddy one time, but he would have gave you a great reminder if you know what I'm talking about. You would have remembered it the next time. He didn't do anything except love us and try to, because why? Listen, he had experience I don't have. He has wisdom that I don't have. So if somebody should be doing the talking in a situation where we need to figure something out, I would say he's more qualified than I am. And what he has, I don't have. So I need to do the listening and him do the talking. But with that being said, we're not just talking about interrupting a wise man. We're not talking about interrupting adult or a parent, we are talking about Peter in this story. Simon Peter interrupts the God of heaven in human flesh, the one who spoke the worlds into existence by his own wisdom, by his own words, and the same words that created worlds and flung stars off his fingertips, that same God is talking and trying to help, and Peter is interrupting him. Do you know the only reason you interrupt somebody is because you think what you have to say is more important than what they have to say. Now, we all do it sometimes. We get excited and we go to talking. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when somebody's trying to help you, but you're more interested in telling them what you know or what you think or how you feel about it, and you're not willing to take any help. Peter here is interrupting the God of heaven, and he's not just interrupting him. It gets worse. He's rebuking him. He's saying, I'm not only going to interrupt you, but you're wrong. And then he says, but if you are gonna die, he says, I'm ready to go with you. You read the context, follow the gospel. Here's the picture that's painted. Peter steps up in front of the rest of the disciples. And if he was Southern, like we are, he gave a double tug on the britches. You know how us men do? Yeah, that's me. Yeah, that's my truck. Get proud about something so bad. Yeah. Yeah. It's just though Peter steps up, gives a double tug. He says, Lord, I don't know about the rest of them lightweights back here. They're sort of the JV team, but I'm the best that you've got. And if you are going to go to the cross, you ain't going without me. I'm ready to go to the worst parts of whatever happens. I'm ready to die." And about that time, God, Jesus in flesh, turns around and rebukes him, says, "'Get thee behind me, Satan.'" Knows he's operating in the things of the flesh. He steps up and speaks to him. He says, "'Peter, you ain't ready to go to death. You're not even gonna keep the words that you know me. You're gonna deny me thrice.'" Here's what I'm saying this morning. Before he ever denied the Lord, before he was ever warmed by the wrong fires, it started when he got He got too lofty. He got too big for himself. He got to the place where he said, you know what? I got this thing under control. Can I just say something this morning? I know that some of you look so pretty. You got your nice church clothes on. You know God. You're carrying your Bible. We all try to pray and live for God. Many of you in here do, no doubt. And you want to serve the Lord. But can I remind you of something? Don't ever forget where grace found you. Don't ever forget that it was all Jesus that made the difference in your life. Peter forgot where God had brought him from. And he forgot that it was only the grace of God that was blessing him and keeping him. And Peter started thinking he hadn't figured out himself. So he got lofty. He got too proud. He thought he was better than everybody else. Paul said, but for the grace of God, so go I. We better know today, the man that's drunk himself silly on New Year's weekend is no better or worse than we are. We're nothing outside the grace of God. We're just glad the Lord's found us and changed our lives and grace has kept us in the right places. We better know this morning, one ounce of pride can get us in a mess with God. He got lofty with his dedication, but number two, he got lengthy in his distance. and Peter followed afar off. Here's what happens. He was so close to God at one time. He was the spokesman of the disciples, the inner circle, the one that God would probably use to the greatest capacity of the disciples. He was the chief, they're close. But the Bible says he followed afar off. How far is afar? Well, that's a good country term, it's like yonder. Where's yonder? Now, if you ain't from the country, people like us tear your nerves up. You ask me how to get somewhere, I'm gonna say, well, go down yonder and turn left, and then go just a little bit further down there by the building and turn right, just down there a little ways, it'll be on the left. Well, where's yonder? Yonder, where's little ways? Right over there a little ways. Why, how many of you believe every word in your Bible's right? Why does the Holy Ghost, the author of our Bible, say it far off? Because if he would have said that Peter was 27 steps from the Lord and he got in trouble, You know what we'd do? Our flesh would convince us to go 26 and a half and stop. And say, I'm close enough to God that I ain't in trouble. But I'm far enough away, I might can get a little enjoyment out of this side too that my flesh wants. The Bible says he followed afar off. How far is afar? Well, let me illustrate it this way this morning. You be the Lord, buddy. We're gonna stand right here together. Come up here with me. One time, they was this close, ladies and gentlemen. They were locked in together. But the Bible says there come a day where Peter started drifting. Listen, Peter didn't wake up one morning and take off sprinting away from the Lord and run immediately to a fire and say, I don't care nothing about him, don't know him, who cares? And start living the way he lived. Oh, no. When that pride got involved, he started thinking that he could do it on his own. And you realize that when you're this close to God, you know what the devil does every day? He walks around and around and around that hedge that is formed when we're hooked in arm in arm with our Savior. He's just waiting on one little spot. Outside of getting saved the greatest battle you'll fat in your life is staying close to God Hardest things to get safe swallow your pride Know what's right obey the Holy Ghost believe God in full faith and trust Jesus get saved number two Staying close to God doing what's right? There's a war. It's a struggle. Flesh is pulling out. You're having to pull in through the Spirit, man. There's that fight going on. And listen, if the fight's that hard, if you don't believe that it is the utmost value to be this close to God, You won't fight that battle. The price won't be worth it. So you know what Peter does? As soon as he starts getting proud, and he says, well, I got this thing under control. I'm a good man. I'm living right. I'll go. I'm better than the rest of them. I'm doing better than they are. I got this. I'm telling them that. I can handle it. You know what he does? He says, boy, this fight's awful strong. I'm probably all right. I'll just take a step. But then he'll take another step. And then the devil in the flesh will push you to another step. See, some of you here this morning, you're at a wayward distance from the Lord. I don't care if it's six inches or 60 yards, it doesn't matter. Any distance is too much, the devil's already gonna have you. You're in a mess, you may not even know it yet. But here they are, had to get him. Maybe you prayed a prayer. Maybe you begged God for something that didn't happen. So you took one step, you kind of backed up a little bit, you got deflated. Then somebody died and God broke your heart. You just didn't think it was gonna go that way. And there's another step. And then something at the church just don't quite go the way you wanted it to. And another step. And then maybe the somehow your flesh convinces you the preacher just don't love you like he does others. So then there's another step. and then something happens at your job or one of your kids goes crazy and others that didn't have come to church, their kids are fine and coming to church now and you say, what's the use? And you take another step. And if you ain't careful before you know it, you're way over here somewhere far as the Bible says. And you said, how in the world did it even come to this? Thank you, buddy. Now listen, y'all know me, I don't have a mean bone in my body. I'm not picking on nobody this morning. I didn't even pay attention to faces. It doesn't matter to me. I didn't even know what God wanted me to preach. My whole focus in the back, I was still trying to get settled between a couple of messages. But hear me. You know how I know for one reason outside, obviously the Holy Ghost has already put it in my heart that this is important and this is the right message for today because in a crowd this size, the building's almost full, but here's how I know that inside of us, we have some of this because there wasn't half as many people as here right now in Sunday school this morning. Get mad at me if you want to, don't shoot the messenger. I've just given you what God told me to preach. You know that I love you. But if we was humble and desperate and broken and wanted to be as close to God as we could be, we would be here because we'd say, boy, I don't know what this week holds, but I need everything the preacher's got to say. I need everything when this Bible's I won't be open at any time. I'm a candidate to be here. I need to hear from God. But do you know why we don't? Because we're floating. There's a little bit of coast mode in us. I'm as guilty as anybody at times. That's why we don't read in the morning every day like we should, or at night, whenever your time is. That's why we neglect some of the small things. But remember this morning, small actions carry major consequences. Peter started thinking he didn't need everything else that Jesus was saying to the rest of the disciples. He was doing all right, or he was gonna do it his way, but one step. to another, to another. And then you find yourself faced with major consequences. We find lofty and lengthy. And then lastly, we find he's loose with his denials. I won't get into all of it this morning. I want to finish up here on what Jesus did for him. Do you hear me this morning? He first denied who he was. He said I don't know anything about Jesus. He denied Jesus then in the next time he said I am NOT now He's denying himself then the last time in verse number 16. He says that I don't know what thou sayest He goes from denying who Jesus is to who he is and then by the time it ends He's denying everything that he's ever seen You do understand this morning that means that Peter, talking about his Lord and Savior, is saying, by the end of this thing, when it spirals out of control, and he's warming by the fire, you're either living in faith or you're running in fear. They don't exist well together, and they won't exist together very long. You will give way to one or the other, and by the time he's in fear, by the world's tires, here's what he's saying. He's saying, I don't know about Lazarus. I don't know about all them miracles. I don't know about all that he taught us and all he prayed. I don't know about any of them things. Either number one, he really believes that. that he has come to the place that he's convinced himself it was all some figment of the imagination. Or number two, he knows he believes it, but out of fear he's lying. But either way, somehow the pull of this world, the flesh, and the devil is so strong that it is able to overcome him to the point that he is willing to go with them versus Jesus. After all, he saw, felt, and heard. Hey, one little step, one little wedge comes in. We better run to Calvary. Keep it small. Keep the sin list small, as the old preacher would say. Stay on our knees. Stay close to God because it can happen just like that. Now Peter's in a mess. Here's my heart and I'm out of the way. Looks like it's all over. If we stopped the story there and went home, it'd be pretty depressing. But I'm glad there's a God that's full of grace and mercy. And his goodness is always running after us. If that's you this morning and you're in a mess, you're in a good place. The Lord wants to help you today. That's how Peter left him, but look how Jesus found him. Verse 61, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. You go to Israel, one of the most powerful things that'll come to your mind is when you get a grasp that when you go to the high priest's house, when you're at Caphas' house, this is where Peter would have been. You can go to the porch, it's still been preserved, where the fire would have been on the outside, but there is a wide open door, really a wall that is not there. You can clearly see to the inside. It's a room about this big, so Peter's out on the porch, but he's looking in at the Lamb of God. Jesus is beginning to suffer. He's beginning to be beat and mocked. He's fixing to head to the cross in just a few short hours. Why? to die for your sins and mine, to purchase the sins of the world, to pay the price, to be able to satisfy the wrath of the Father. Here's what I'm saying this morning. He's beginning to take the punishment on the inside for exactly what Peter's doing on the outside. One of the greatest pictures of grace you will ever see is Peter's watching him suffer, yet he's committing sin. If anybody should have got a kick in the forehead, If God should ever thrown anybody out and said, I ain't fooling with you anymore. It would have been Simon Peter. We would have never tolerated that. What would you have done if you were God? And that was Peter doing that while your son was suffering for him. And he didn't even care as he watched. That shows you the heart of God. Don't misunderstand your Bible. It doesn't say that Peter looked to the Lord and said, hey, look my way, help. I'm done now. Oh, no. No, that day comes. But the Bible says it first started the Lord. looked his way. You wanna know how much Jesus loves you? You wanna know how far the goodness of God goes? While Jesus is literally down, and he is bound, and he is allowing them to inflict pain upon his body, he's not worried about himself, he's not thinking about himself, but his eyes are on one of his children. That's in a mess, and he's almost, it's as though he's saying, Peter, just hang in there. I'm dying because you got that on the inside. You can't do anything about it, but I'm gonna die for you. The story ain't over yet, and he looks Peter's way, and that look must have been one of such mercy, yet such firmness, that it struck fear in Peter's heart, but it struck love as well. It's that perfect weaving of the two, like a real father has, where he can hurt his child to a healthy amount for discipline, yet that child feels so much love that the worst part of the punishment is not the whipping, but it's the fact he let the father down. Peter goes out and weeps, weeps bitterly because there was such gentleness in his Savior. Sometimes my mind wonders, I'm a visual guy. I wonder if the Lord was down. And I wonder if they're already beginning to mock him and beat him. And I wonder if he doesn't mouth the Peter and says, I'm gonna fix this. It ain't over Peter. I wonder what moved his heart so much. Oh, he's firm yet gentle. So we find this and we're moving on this morning to the last one. But I'm glad that before Peter ever was looking for God and looking for help in his mess, Jesus was already looking his way. God was already preparing a miracle in his life and a transformation before Peter was ever in a mess. We find gentleness in his complexion. We also find this when Jesus found him, he was generous in his call. Listen to these verses right here. Last ones this morning in John, chapter number 21, verse number 12. Jesus saith unto them, come and dine. And none of his disciples durst ask him, who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord. Here's where the Lord will have us close this morning. Peter goes out, he whips bitterly, no doubt he's under conviction. Some people would say then, well, if he's under conviction and he really is sorry, why has he got his outer coats off? Why is he back fishing? I'll tell you why. Because I believe that the devil and the flesh had convinced Peter that he had messed up so much, it was all over. And he could never, never ever again have the favor of God He could never, the way we would put it today, come to church and pray and love God and bring value to the house of God. He was an outcast forever. He was a has-been. And so there he is sitting, wallowing in his pity, wallowing in his failure, stumbling across and weeping and thinking and reminiscing about how it all happened and how he wished he could go back and do some things different. I'm sure I'm not the only one here this morning that wishes I could go back and redo some things. Boy, I'm glad grace goes deeper, but there's some scars that never leave. It's like the devil, if you'll let him, he'll just keep pounding them wounds and pounding them scars that are left over and reminding you. But boy, I'm glad. And Peter's all that discouragement. And all of that looking like it was all over. And all that darkness the devil had put in his life. I just picture that day when the Lord is resurrected. He could have went anywhere and saw anybody. He's only got a few short weeks and he's going back to heaven. He's only got a short time, Brother Terry. He could have seen anybody. Guess who he goes looking for? The Bible said that he stepped out on the seashore and he called out. He's looking for Peter. And he said, children, have you any meat? They don't know it's the Lord. Nobody knows yet. It's the darkness that's there. It's the distance that's there. You realize that sometimes you can get in such a dark, dry place, you can't even recognize the Lord when He comes. The storm can get so intense, you can't even see your hand. You sure can't see the Lord. But when they couldn't track His face, and when they couldn't even quite make out His voice, you know what made them realize it was the Lord? It was His generosity. because he asked him one question. He says, have you any meat? Here's how I know that Peter had been under conviction and he was really truly ready to get things right with God because he didn't lie. He didn't beat around the bush. You know what he said? We've told all night and we've called nothing. Nobody that's a hunter or fisherman ever tells the truth. You're not going to go to the local breakfast joint and say, I must just be the worst hunter, worst fisherman there ever was. I fished, I hunted all day. Everybody else seemed to be kidding. No, we always say, well, I was close. I was almost there. Well, I ain't killed one, but I've called three or four in for somebody else. We always got a but. Because there's a measure of pride in all of us. We don't want to look like the worst. If Peter didn't beat around the bush, he don't even know who that is. He's a master fisherman. What humility to call back out to somebody not even knowing who it is and say, I've caught nothing, my whole life's like this. I can't even fish. Look at the transparency. You wanna know this morning, if you're a candidate for God to really do a work in your life and help you with some things, you willing to be that transparent and honest? Are you still making excuses? You still got your butts. You still got your, well, there's this and well, there's that. No, he just got honest. And then number two, he says, cast your nets on the right side. Listen, if Peter wasn't so broken, you know what he would have said? The same thing I'd have said. I know this lake. I've been here all my life. I've covered it all night. I ain't throwing them out again. They're exhausted. But he said, we have told all night, but nevertheless at that word. If you're desperate enough this morning, no matter what God says, no matter how God says, no matter what he asked or how or why he asked, if you're broken enough, And if you're ready, you'll say at thy word, God, if you want me to come here, I'll come here. God, if you want me to pray, I'll pray. God, if you want to make something right with somebody, call them, I'll do it. Listen, I want to see God move and I hope you do too. But listen, without obedience, it's impossible to please him. Make all the sacrifice, give all in that offering you want it to. Give what you want to, cook what you want to, bring what you want to this way. Do whatever all you want to do, but obedience is better than sacrifice. You ain't getting no word of God till your heart is totally yielded. And when Jesus saw his heart like that, here come them fishes. 153 fish. Boy, that's a fishing trip I'd like to be on. And guess what? As Warren Wearsby, I believe it was, said, the net didn't break. Do you know 153 fish was one of every fish that was known to be in that lake? And Bible commentators tell us this, the Jewish people believed it represented all the different people from around the world. all the nations. You know what was happening? Jesus was letting Peter know your life ain't a failure and it ain't over. And you ain't done catching fish. You ain't done seeing me move. You ain't done having something in your life that you can give God glory for. And he's showing the power and the sufficiency of Christ. The nets didn't break. The Lord knows where they're at. He didn't make excuses. He just said we told all night and we got nothing. You hear me this morning, if you're hearing your loss, you're in a mess, you've been denying God, you're running from the Lord, you're backslid, you know you're saved, but you know there's a long distance between you and God. You're cold and indifferent. I don't care what it is. I want you to know something this morning. There's a God that was looking after you before you ever started looking for him. I can prove that in one simple statement. If God's eye wasn't on you, you wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't have showed up. The only reason you're here and letting me preach to you is because something's pulling you on the inside. And there's enough curiosity at least. You came. You're curious. If you truly knew for sure that you had nothing to do with this and you was done, you wouldn't be here. But there's a God who died for you and he's looking your way and he loves you today. And his gentleness and his generosity, it's pulling you. He said, preacher, you don't know what a mess I'm in. No, you don't know what a miracle my God can do. If he can drop 153 fish in the middle of the nets, if he could go after Peter, if he could fix the disciples, if he didn't give up on them, if he could turn that around, he can sure turn around what's going on in your life. But here's the reality this morning. Everybody wants the fishing experience. but nobody wants the confession. That's it. You can't have the miracle of the fish and the blessings and the goodness of God. You can't have the elation of the moment when Peter says, it is the Lord. And he jumps out and leaves him boys with the fish and runs all the way and swims in and dives at the Lord's feet and says, master, you've come. You don't get that till you first answer the question honestly. Have you any meat? For some of you, that means you gotta get lost to be found. You gotta quit arguing with God and get honest about it. For some of you, you gotta quit saying, well, I'm better than the rest of the hypocrites and arguing about your callous, hard lifestyle of being like Peter falling afar off. We ain't measuring to one another, we're measuring to Christ. Don't worry about the rest of them, they'll have their day. The reality is this morning, are you right with God? Have you obeyed everything the Lord has put in your heart? That is the basis and the formula of revival and a move of God, like what we're looking for. Are you thoroughly right with God? That looks different for everybody. Everybody's at different levels, got different needs. God works in different ways in people's lives, but in your life, Have you done everything the Holy Ghost has put his finger on? Everything he's asked you, good and bad, have you minded God completely? Have you any meat? Hey, go answer that today. You may be thoroughly right with God, and that ought to humble us to crawl up on Calvary at the feet of our Lord and say, God, it doesn't have to be this way. I should be the Simon Peter. I have been out there before. I hadn't always got it right. Thank you for grace and gentleness and goodness that has brought me back. The reality is no matter who we are this morning, no matter where you're at with the Lord, It fits all of us. Because all of us need the same answer in this story. And that is to get closer to God than we ever have been. He ran to Jesus. He knew who He was in His generosity. You'll see that it was the Lord all along in your life weaving all of that. Once you get honest. You may not even realize it's God until you get honest. You're going to have to take a step of faith first. Peter had to put himself out there and take a shot in this desperate, dark moment. Nobody else knew who that man was. They didn't know it was the Lord, but he found out it was. You ain't got any other hope, you might as well. You tried everything else. But here you are. Aren't you tired of roller coasters and frustrations and failures and shortcomings? Aren't you tired of grabbing for everything else and it's like sand and it slips through? He said, I'm afraid I can't do it. I'm done. I'm done, I promise. The last one, I'm not even gonna preach him. He was gracious in his command. He did not ask Peter to do anything that he wasn't gonna equip him to do. He said, do you love me? You know all that about the lingo and the translations, how that's factored down to lower levels of love. He got down to where Peter could actually do what he said he was going to do. And when he asked him, he said, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. He didn't ask Peter to do anything. He wouldn't give him the grace to do. There's not a preacher that can preach without the grace of God. You can't do it unless God equips you to do it. But that's not just true in preaching. God will give you the grace needed to get saved. God will give you everything you need to come clean. Get right with God again if you're backslidden. He can wipe the whole slate clean and give you liberty and break all the bonds in your life. All that bondage and all them strongholds, He can set them free. Whom the Son has set free is free indeed. There's power in the Lord. If you need to forgive somebody, he'll give you the grace if he asks you to do it. Some of you may bear some deep scars. but he can let you let them go if you want it. There's a lot of people that God's forgiven them, but they've never forgiven themselves. And that's why they never really step out and serve God, because every time a meeting like this comes around, the devil goes to beating on them. Tells them who they was, what they did. People's gonna know you ain't worthy. Listen, ain't a narrow one of us worthy of nothing. whether you was moral on a church pew or whether you was drunk in a bar, took the same blood and the same grace to say this. Pride is just as bad a sin as drunkenness and anything else. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Ain't nobody better than nobody. But you gotta be willing to forgive yourself. I've experienced all these in my life. I remember the day the Lord saved me. But I also remember the day the Lord called me home. From living backslid for two, two and a half years. I remember that general approach, but it was firm. He said, it's now or never. You coming now, or you going early to heaven? Amen. But that goodness, that gentleness, Brother Terrence, That's why I ran home from that beach trip early and got to church on Sunday. That goodness was chasing me. He is a pullin'. He is a pullin'. You say, what'd you do? I had to choose the Lord, but he is a pullin'. It's like in salvation, that goodness, I was looking. He is a pullin' my eyes. I said, hey, none of my friends in the world have been like that. Nobody else is treating me like that. Nobody else can speak like he does. I'm just telling you this morning, there is a God who can turn everything around in your life. I am living proof of it. He can turn it around. He can not just save you. He can restore you. He can bring a prodigal lifestyle home, and he can put purpose in your life. I am not qualified to be up here outside the Lord. I have made as many mistakes and done as many things I'm not proud of as probably anybody in the building, but ain't you glad that there is grace that can go deeper? He never gives up. That goodness, as the song says, we sung it this summer here, It's never gave up on us. He's looking for you today. He had you surrounded. He don't even know how much God loves you today. The devil tells you there's no hope. The devil tells you to go fishing, but God's walking on the shores of your life today. He's calling out to you. He's got great plans and purposes. He's got better than this world. He can restore, but you have to answer the question this morning. Are you going to get honest with God? Are you gonna keep doing it your way? Keep trying to fight your way through, keep making excuses. It's up to you. When it comes to this part, God won't make you. He'll make you wish you did. Small actions carry major consequences. One step at a time, you leave God. But might I leave you to let this marinate in your heart, let the Holy Ghost make it real to you. Consequences can be good just as much as they can be bad. You also get back to God one little step at a time. And you may not know how to fix it all. And you may not know where to even really work it all out, but just do the first step. You got to start somewhere. And that's this morning, right now. What's God saying? Need to come pray? Pray. Feel like you need to get saved? Come, let us take a Bible. Love on you. Help us talk. Let us help you see the Lord. You backslid? You can't look and say, well, I want to fix it all and I want to do all this for God. You got to start with the small things. You didn't leave him quickly and you don't get back just by diving in the deep end and all of a sudden everything. Listen, there's going to be some fight to it. But you take that step today. You tell the devil, he has held you back for the last time by the grace of God. Deny your flesh and break it. Get desperate. Get desperate. Peter was absolutely desperate. That's why he answered the way he did. And he was willing to try whatever he was told. I wonder, are we like Simon Peter this morning? Are we that desperate? Let's stand all over the building. Sis, maybe you come sing or play for us this morning.