Casting the Net

Good morning. Let's stand and let's lift our praises up this morning. Let's give Him praise. Oh I can't help but, I can't help but Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God Worship, worship, worship the Lord For who He is and what He's done Because of this we overcome our hurt Worship, worship, worship the Lord Aren't you thankful for what He has done for us this morning? When I consider the love of the Savior And His unrelenting grace A heart full of passion and total surrender He never backs away But it starts a stirring deep in my spirit And the pool is just too great Oh I can't help but, I can't help but Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God Worship, worship, worship the Lord For who He is and what He's done Because of this we overcome our hurt Worship, worship, worship the Lord A wonder working, new life birthing God who makes a way Past erasing, sinner saving God who empties graves Jehovah-Jireh, He's my provider I've left His home in death I can't help but praise A wonder working, new life birthing God who makes a way Past erasing, sinner saving

God who empties graves Jehovah-Jireh, He's my provider I've left His home in death I can't help but, I can't help but Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God Worship, worship, worship the Lord our God Worship, worship, worship the Lord For who He is and what He's done Because of this we overcome our hurt Worship, worship, worship the Lord Oh, thank you Jesus for all Your touch You made a way for us piano And I remember how You provided How You held me through the night And I remember how You sustained me When You stepped in to save my life If I knew then what I know now I would be still and let You work it out Jesus, I was tossed in the water, but I never went under You were always on top Jesus, when I went for the fire, You were right there beside me You were always on top You were always, always, always on top And I remember how You carried When I couldn't take a step And I remember how You loved me When I couldn't love myself Jesus, I was tossed in the water, but I never went under

And You were always on top Jesus, when I went for the fire, You were right there beside me You were always on top You were always, always, always on top You're so faithful, God There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that You weren't in it Never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You There's never been a day, never been a minute There's never been a moment that You weren't in it Never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that You weren't in it There's never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You There's never been a day, never been a minute Never been a moment that You weren't in it There's never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You Jesus I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always blue Jesus But I went through the fire You were right there beside me You were always on time You were always

You were always on time You were always You were always on time Always You were always You were always on time There's never been a day, never been a minute There's never been a moment that You weren't in it There's never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You There's never been a day, never been a minute There's never been a moment that You weren't in it There's never been a time that You didn't see me through, God So I worship You We worship You Lord, You're so faithful, God So I worship You You were always on time Jesus, when I went to look But I never went under You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were right there beside me You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time

Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time

Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were always on time stop into the back end of that 18 wheeler where we would have been parked. Yeah. Yeah. I really believe that was a moment. And so how many of y'all are having a moment where the Lord's trying to tell you something? That's why he's invited you to revolution church. And he's saying, please, will you listen? Cause I have plans for you and this body here needs you. Right. And if you're sitting there thinking, but what can I do? You know what? When he created you, he was very specific and he knew what assignment he had for you. So he's already put those gifts and talents in you and let us help you discover what those gifts and talents are. Let's, let's find a place where you can serve, make a difference. You know, this life that we live isn't just about us, right? It's about impact, helping our community, helping the people sitting beside you. Would you all agree? Yes. All right. And in the word, you know, we talk about Kings and priests, right? Some of us are called to minister the word and some of us are called to fund the kingdom. And so I'm asking, will you partner with us with the great things that God is doing here? Right. I was reading about the widow and the two mites. Some of us think, well, I don't got a whole lot to give. And I remember those days who I was a single mama with three babies. And I I'll be honest. I wasn't a tither. I wasn't, I opened my wallet and all I had was a $20 bill. And I remember thinking, you know what? I've got enough gas in my car to get to work this week. And I think we've got enough food in the fridge. I think the kids will be good. And I remember dropping that $20 and feeling like the widow with just the two mites. Do you know God is an on-time God? He knows our needs long before we even realize we have them. And listen, we don't give because we expect to get, we don't, but that's just how God works, y'all. It's just kingdom law, right? And so that week I'm not even lying. I had sold a house in California. They had messed up our escrow. I got an escrow check out of nowhere that sustained me for at least three more months. Y'all that's our God. You hear me? And so as you're sitting here, he's asking, will you be that conduit? Will you share the blessings that God has poured out on

you? Because he's got more blessings for you. Amen. All right. So there are different ways you can give. We've got the tap tags on the back of the chairs. Uh, you could go to our website. You can go to the church app. You can even be old school and drop it in the bucket on your way out. No judgment. All right. Let's pray, y'all. Lord, I just thank you for this community. I thank you for every single person sitting in this room. Father God, I don't believe it's an accident that they're here this morning. You have something for them, Lord. So prepare our minds and our hearts to receive the message, Father God. And may we be transformed today. May we hear your call, Lord, and be obedient to answer that. And so just be with us, Father, as we go throughout the week, that we can continue to be amazing ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We just love you. We praise you. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. And the church says, Amen. So please meet us at the table of the new believers. Charlie, here at Revolution, we're all about being the hands and feet of Jesus. And leading up to that is Helping Hands. Registration for that opens in April for our volunteers. And those dates will be July 18th and July 25th this year. All right, Amy, if you miss any of these things, check out our website, our church website, or the church center app. All the information will be there that you need. Plus, we have a lot more to go through. We have a lot more going on. Connect 1, which is where Pastor Pacer shares his vision, our values for our church. Don't miss it. It is on the last Sunday of every month. And so there'll be lunch provided there. It's a great event to go to. We also have Connect 2, which talks about the values and the benefits of membership. That is going to be on the first Sunday of every month. Check that out as well. Awesome. And right after Connect, we have baptism coming up on April 26th. That will be at The River. You can register for that on our church center app. All right, and even more, we have our Marriage on the Rock class starting next week, a 10-week series. Check out more information, again, on the church center app and the website. We hope to see you there. Church, we are so excited that you're here today. We hope you're here. You enjoy the rest of the service. ♪♪ Good morning. How's everybody doing today? Glad to be in God's house. Come on. Hey, slap your neighbor's hand and say,

it's good to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. How many of you guys love Daylight Savings Time? A few of you do, okay. Awesome. You know, every year during Daylight Savings Time, we have a record number in our third service, okay. It's all those people that forgot to set their clocks back. They show up at third service. Anybody ever missed a church service because of Daylight Savings Time? Let me see your hand. Come on. Look around here. Come on. Hold it up high. A few did. Yep. There's a schoolteacher. Lisa Hannah, I see your hand go up. Come on. Well, I have to confess, Connie and I showed up. We were going to Rio Central. We showed up in the parking lot. The parking lot is, like, full. I said, what's all these people doing here so early? And what I didn't realize was I was so late. And that's when we were doing one service. But welcome to Revolution Church. So good to see all of you. Help me welcome 743 correctional facilities joining us right now from all over the nation. God bless every one of you, especially we want to give a shout-out to Blount County, the local correctional facility here,

and all those surrounding Monroe County, Loudon County, Two and Sevier County. God bless every one of you. Thank you for picking up your device and joining us today. We're week two of this sermon series. It's an Easter series. It's titled Sunday's Coming. How many of you are glad Sunday's coming? Amen. Yeah. We're excited about it. So good to see everybody in the house of the Lord today. You know, around here we get excited about Sundays. I mean, we get fired up. Why is it? I mean, Sunday is the Lord's Day. We celebrate it because it's the resurrection. It's also the day that we get to come together as the entire church body and worship the Lord together. I love it, and I appreciate it. Well, our theme verse for this series was written by David, who is a warrior, was a warrior, a worshiper, and a man after God's own heart. I want you to look at Psalm 100, verses 1 and 2. If you have your Bibles, turn there, Psalms 100, 1 and 2. Here's what David said. He said, Shout with joy to the Lord all the earth. Come on, somebody. Shout with joy. How many of you have something to shout about today?

Anybody have a reason to shout with joy? I know you do. If you've got Jesus in your heart, you do. He said, Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him singing with joy. Doesn't it feel good to worship the Lord with gladness? How many of you know we're supposed to be happy people? Amen. Everybody smile real big. We're supposed to be happy people when we come into the house of the Lord. And the title of the message, I want to go ahead and jump straight into the message today. The title of it is Casting the Net. Casting the Net. How many of you like fishing? Let me see your hand real quick. If you like fishing, hold up your hand. We've got a lot of fishermen in the house. I will tell you, I'm an outdoorsman, but I'm not a diehard fisherman like many of you are. If they're biting, I'm all about it. If they're not, I'm ready to do something else. Okay? I like hunting for big game, you know, like big animals. I'm not much into the little fish. But anyway, warm weather has fishermen really thinking about it now. They're heading out to the rivers, to the lakes, even the oceans and the streams.

And I was just thinking last, it was last weekend, Connie and I were in Gatlinburg on our Friday date day, and we were walking along the sidewalk over by the aquarium, on the backside of the main drag, and we're just walking up through there, having a good time. It's beautiful weather out. It's warm out. But what was crazy is we noticed that up and down the banks of the river, people are fishing like everywhere. It's like everybody's out fishing. Now, what was interesting, again, males, females, but I think everyone that we saw, pretty much every one of them, were using this setup called a fly rod. Anybody ever used a fly rod? Hold up your hand if you've ever tried to use one. Tried. You see I said tried, okay? Yeah, those things, I don't know who created them or designed them, but those things are hard to use. My son bought me one for Father's Day a few years ago. He said, here, Dad, I'm going to buy you this fly rod. And along with it, he bought me a half-a-day training session with an outfitter out of Townsend. And so I go half a day with this outfitter, and we go up on the river, Laurel Creek, going up by Cades Cove, the little creek on the right. We get out there, and, of course, there's trees everywhere. I was in the trees more than I was in the water. And those things, they're different than a spinning reel. You're supposed to pull when typically you cast, and it's all back and forth, and I spent most of the day

just trying to learn how to cast it, never got it down, and it's been in my closet ever since, okay? Just saying, but anyway, most of us, or most of you, when you go fishing, you're generally, you're fishing after like a certain type of fish. Maybe you're trout fishing, or you're bass fishing, or crappie fishing, catfish, but maybe you're going to the ocean. You're after the red snappers. Anybody like a red snapper in here today? Few of you do, they're awesome. But anyway, when I was looking at the earliest type of fishing, doing some research, the very earliest type of fishing was spear fishing. It was fishing with a spear. Taking a spear with maybe a hook on it, a bone with a hook, and you're going out into the water. Anybody ever spear fish? Let me see your hand if you've done that. We got one in the house, come on, let's give it up for the one. You must have lived around the ocean. But anyway, that's something I've never done, watched it on TV, looks like it would be really, really hard. It obviously requires a lot of time, accuracy, and patience, and which is something that most of us don't have, right? But when the net fishing was invented, it was a game changer, okay? You know, fishermen went from catching

just a few fish per day to now catching maybe hundreds, or even more. And it really changed from like an individual sport or profession into like group fishing, casting these big nets. You know, when I was thinking about this message, when I was probably maybe eight, 10 years old, something like that, we were on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach. Anybody been to Myrtle Beach before? That used to be a very common place from this area. Most people would go there, and in the summertime, they were gonna take a trip to the beach. And so we were there, and it was fall of the year. I remember that this particular year, they had cast these nets on the beach, and they were pulling these nets in. I don't know if you've ever seen that, but as a young boy, I was absolutely astonished because they were pulling these nets in by the beach, and I'm over there looking at them, and I mean, it's full of different kinds of fish. There's, I mean, there's fish that don't even look like fish. There was one, I remember, it's all puffed up, and I found out that's a puffer. They call a puffer, I call it a blowfish, but whatever, it was very weird. And something else about those fish in the ocean, you don't reach down and just pick them up

like you do the bluegill and the crappie around here. They have teeth, and they'll bite you. You know what I'm saying? So you gotta be careful with those. But anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. You know, when you read in the Bible about fishing, you're gonna see that there's quite a few passages in the Bible that talk about fishermen, that talk about fish. And so, you know, when I look at people like Peter, James, John, Andrew, these guys were fishermen. They weren't casual fishermen. They were professional fishermen. They did this for a living. This was their livelihood. It was built around fishing. And from what I can read, they didn't use bait casters or were spinning reels or definitely didn't use the fly fishing. They used nets. And they would cast nets off of their boats. Again, a little more history I found out about the boats. The boats typically were about 27 feet long and about seven and a half feet wide. So they weren't massive, but they would go out in these boats and they would cast their nets and they would fish. And so one morning, after all night fishing, Peter and his friends, they had been fishing and they ran in to Jesus.

He's on the shore. He's teaching some people and he made this profound statement and I wanna share it with you. It's found in Matthew chapter four, verse 19. He said, then he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So last weekend, I asked you guys, I said, I want you to think of a name, someone that you know who's lost. And we're gonna write them down. We're gonna pray over those names. We're even gonna speak those names. You know, we did that last week and you guys did that and it was awesome. And I appreciate it. I wanna share with you a testimony that's already come from last weekend. So there was a name when I said, let's shout that name and I pulled the microphone down. And I shouted that name with the microphone down. Today, that individual was in the first service. Amen, praise the Lord. He came, he came. Not only did he come. But when I had a call for salvation today, after giving the gospel message of Jesus, I noticed him way up in the stadium seats, raise his hand.

At the end of the service, we did an altar call. People came down for prayer. I looked around, I didn't see him. My wife looked over at me and she said, I feel like I should go pray for this individual. Be obedient, Connie. Connie walked back there and led him to the Lord today. He accepted Jesus, amen? Praise the Lord. Come on, give a shout to the Lord because that's what it's all about. I mean, someone who didn't even, didn't even come close to believing in God, living a lifestyle contrary to everything that the Bible teaches, accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior and beginning his journey. I love that about this church, that you welcome people in. You invite them in, you welcome them in and then they come to Jesus and that's just the beginning. Look over at your neighbor and say, that's the beginning. And then from there, we start this journey of discipleship. And Wednesday night was absolutely phenomenal. If you didn't get a chance to be here or hear it, we had those that graduated from discipleship. Come on, let's give it up for all those who've led discipleship, who are leading discipleship because it's one thing to raise your hand

and say yes to Jesus, it's another thing to follow him. And that's what God's called us all to do. So this coming week, we're gonna expand this message. We're gonna continue inviting, but this week I want us to think more on the lines of casting a net, okay? Casting a broader net. I believe God's wanting to bring them in by the multitudes. I believe God's gonna line up the lost people to get in here because there's people interested in Jesus and they're wanting to be saved. So this is gonna be our prayer, is God allow us all to cast our nets this week. I want you to watch this video that talks about the lost. One, two, three. Another reaction. Oh, God this might be a better reaction. I love you, Jesus. He's up. HM, I'm waiting for you. Just come, God, come, come, come. I've got such a big mask I figured he would go. God, thank you so much for all these lessons that injection you're giving us to try and bring more people that look all that that they are. I want you to give us power. Tell them that it's up to us, that it's up to us. Amen. Praise the Lord.

I just feel led right now for us to stand and say a prayer for the lost. Every single one of us. Imagine the impact of all of us corporately praying that God will bring the lost in, that he will go out, convict the hearts of those who are away from him. Can we pray that right now? Let's all pray. Father, we come together right now, together as a church body, corporately, asking you, Father, to go after the broken, the hurting, the abandoned, the rejected, those living in shame, those living in darkness, God. Father, those living in the subdivisions in this community, those living in the homes all around us, Lord. I pray you go down every avenue, every road in the name of Jesus, Lord, and you start drawing the lost out. Father, that they would come to the cross. They would come to the acknowledgment, Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord. God, we're praying that you break every chain. God, we pray that darkness would flee Blount County. God, we ask you. you to infiltrate this community with your light, with your love, Father, with your acceptance. God, I ask you to draw people today. God, we are asking you corporately as a church to save the lost, to rescue them, to find them, to go after them, to convict them, to arrest them, to bring them to a place of repentance.

In Jesus' name and everybody's sin. Amen, come on, praise the Lord. We believe he's gonna do that. There's power, there is power when we pray together. Corporate prayer, corporate gatherings is incredible. If you have your Bibles, look at Luke, chapter five, verses one through seven. One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and he taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, now, go out where it's deeper, let down your nets to catch some fish. Master, Simon replied, we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again. Verse six, and this time their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear. A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat. And soon, both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. I have three takeaways today that I wanna share with you.

Three things that I believe the Holy Spirit's spoken to me about. Number one, Jesus specializes in filling empty vessels. Amen? I wanna say that again. Jesus specializes in filling empty vessels. You may be here today and you feel empty. You feel alone. You feel abandoned, maybe rejection. There's whatever it may be that you're feeling today, I want you to understand that Jesus specializes in filling people like yourself. Amen? You're not alone, because this is what the enemy does in our life. I want you to notice something that the Bible tells us in that passage I just read, that there were boats lined up along the shoreline. Jesus was speaking to the multitudes. He was teaching them the word of God. Lots of people had gathered around, but Jesus, for whatever reason, decided that he was gonna step into a boat and go out in the water, maybe so the people could hear him better, maybe so his voice would amplify better across the water. But what we do know is that Jesus could have stepped in any boat on that shoreline. Now, this was probably not a boat dock. It was probably not an arena.

It was probably just simple boats tied up to the shoreline for the people that had fished the night before. Again, he could have stepped in any boat, but the Bible tells us that Jesus walks up to an empty vessel or an empty boat, and he steps into it. Now, this is a principle. When it comes to God stepping into empty vessels, we see it Old Testament, we see it in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, Jesus even demonstrated this, and we can see that in Philippians chapter two, verses five and seven. I want you to take a look at those verses. Philippians two, five and seven. Paul said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Look at verse seven. It said, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. Now, I wanna draw your attention to verse seven there. Made himself of no reputation. So that no reputation, there's a Greek word that defines that, and that Greek word used here is kino, K-E-N-O-O. This is the original language that this no reputation was taken from.

Now, what's interesting is the meaning of this Greek word, and it simply means to empty. So what the Bible's telling us is that Jesus came and emptied his self, and as a result, God now has exalted him to the highest position, amen? And so this is a principle that you and I, God's called us to empty ourselves. What is it that we need to empty ourselves out of or from? What's in our life that don't belong? What's in our life that don't line up with God's will? I would say all of us could find something, amen? Some of us could find multiple things. You know, it could be absolutely anything. It could be pride. Maybe there's pride in my life that God's saying, Pastor, you need to empty yourself of that. Could be envy. Could be bitterness, could be unforgiveness, the list goes on and on and on. But I would say that for a lost person today, if you're listening to me, that thing that you need to empty yourself out from is unbelief. Because unbelief keeps us from accepting Jesus and receiving salvation. But I think all of us could probably find something to empty ourselves out of. And before God can fill us to the maximum place that He wants us to be filled, we've got to empty ourselves and make room for more of Jesus. How many of you know Jesus wants us to make more room for Him today? Amen? Making more room for Him. So Jesus emptied Himself, and I think we should as well. But as I said, this principle of emptying ourselves, it's not just New Testament,

it's Old Testament as well. And I find that in 2 Kings 4. I want to give you an example where it was found there. So in 2 Kings 4, there was a widow. And this widow was married to a man who was in ministry, and her husband had taken on a lot of debt. Okay, had tons of debt. Now, her husband had passed, and it looks like she's running the risk of losing her son to satisfy the debt. They're coming after her son to satisfy the debt. So as a result, she's in a desperate place. She doesn't know what to do. And so she reaches out to the man of God. His name is Elisha, the prophet of God. And she reaches out to Elisha and asks him, what do I do? I'm in a desperate place, and I'm getting ready to lose my son. Can you tell me what to do? I want you to look at the advice that Elisha gave her. 2 Kings 4, verse 3. And Elisha said, check this out. Borrow as many what? Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and your neighbors. Now, I want you to pick up right here. He didn't say, now, she was running out of oil, okay? Her jar of oil was just about empty. She's out. And so instead of Elisha saying, I want you to go to your friends that have oil and ask them for jars of oil. He didn't say that. He said, I want you to go out and find empty jars.

And so again, it's a principle that when we come to the Lord empty, then God will and can fill us. Now, look at verse 5. And she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her. Now, every time they would bring a jar to her, God would miraculously, supernaturally fill it up with oil. What does the oil represent in Scripture? Come on, what's it symbolic of? Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. So when I come to the Lord with an empty vessel saying, God, fill me. I'm empty. I'm hungry. I want more of you. Guess what's going to happen? He's going to fill you and not just fill you up. He's going to fill you to overflow before you start touching other people. So as long as her sons would bring an empty jar, the oil kept flowing. The oil didn't stop flowing until there was no more empty vessels. So one thing we can learn today is that Jesus specializes in filling empty vessels. And we empty ourself of the things of this world. And I'll tell you guys, listen to me. I work more in the secular world than I have worked as being a pastor. And this world will jump on you. Am I right? I mean, it will impact. It gets on you. It's almost like I need Sunday morning worship to just shed some of that stuff, shake it off, right? You know, you ever feel that way? And it does. And so emptying ourself from the things of this world puts us in a good position to be filled with God and with his Holy Spirit.

Now, second takeaway that I want you to look at here today. Second takeaway is this. Your miracle is closer than you realize. Somebody needs to hear that today. I'm going to say it again. Your miracle is closer than you realize. What have you been praying for? What have you been asking God for? What are the desires in your heart? What is it that you've been yearning? You've been wanting to see God move in an area in your life. I want you to hear me. Listen, this is for you today. That thing is closer than you realize. Your miracle is closer than you realize. And sometimes what happens is if it doesn't happen quickly, then many times we give up. Have you ever gave up on a prayer? Have you ever prayed a prayer over and over and you just sort of gave up? I have. Every year. year, January. Start my journal. I have prayer requests that I'm praying for. A lot of them's related to this church, to the ministry. But for over 30 years, there was one request that I put on there every year. And I even questioned, should I even keep putting it on there? 30 years it's not happened. That request was for Mayford Kerr, my father-in-law, to accept Jesus.

And it didn't happen, year after year after year. And he was like a father figure to me. He didn't go to church. He didn't serve God. He wasn't a believer in Jesus. And if somebody knocked on their door, I was going to say politely ask him to leave. Sometimes it wasn't even politely. This was just my father-in-law. He was a man's man. He was a tough guy. But for whatever reason, his other family members, all of them, even mother and dad and all of them, were godly people, lived for God their whole life. He's the only one. And then God puts me in that family. And it's like, OK, I think God's wanting me to witness to him, but he's hard to talk to. I remember the only time that he ever gave me an indication that he was going to give his life to the Lord was I was at a t-ball game at Alcoa. I sat over there on the little bleachers, aluminum bleachers, at Alcoa Little League, and sitting next to my father-in-law. And out of the blue, he just looked over at me, and he said, someday, I'll live for the Lord. Just out of the blue. I hadn't witnessed him or nothing. It's like, I didn't even know what to say years ago. But I remember, and it's like, wow. What I didn't realize was maybe God

was letting me hear that so I would know to hang on to it for the rest of his life. Because year after year after year, and nothing was answered. I even questioned, is this a lack of faith because I keep writing his name down? Was one time not enough? Do I need to keep doing this? Do I need to keep praying for him? Is it really going to happen? But I want you to understand something. That miracle was there, and it was going to happen, but it was in God's timing. It was all according to God's timing. And many of you, I've shared this story multiple times, but it had such an impact on me, I want to share it again. A storm had came through Blount County, knocked some limbs over it. We were down at his house. I was picking up the limbs. He's 80 years old at the time. I'm picking up the limbs, putting them in my truck to take them back to Townsend to burn them or get rid of them. And I'm piling them up. And he's, like I said, he's up in age now. Connie, her mom and dad's on the back porch. I pile up the truck. I pull back up to the back of their house, and I run in to wash my hands and listen to what happened. I'm washing my hands. I look in the mirror, and the Holy Spirit

in Mayford's heart will never be in a better place to receive me than it is right now. I'm telling you, it was like, Stephen, it was like I heard the words from heaven. I knew that as much as anything I've ever known. With God standing there right in front of me and speaking it, wouldn't have been any more obvious. Are you guys with me? You know what you know. You know when God speaks to you. And it was like, OK, I'm drying my hands off. I walk out on the back porch. I'm looking for an opportunity. And Connie and they're all laughing and cutting up and having a big party like they always do. And I'm looking for an opportunity to share Jesus with him. As soon as there was a split second, I said these words. I said, Mayford, can I pray with you to accept Jesus today? Period. There was no witnessing. There'd been 30 years of witnessing. Are you guys with me? Your lifestyle should be a witness. When he knew that I would get up every Sunday morning to take his grandkids to the house of the Lord, when I would teach them to do what's right, he knew. He watched. He understood. Even though he wasn't a follower of Jesus,

he would go to McDonald's to his small group, Heidi. Wasn't official small group, but it was the old crowd. And he would brag on his son-in-law. I got feedback. He loved me. He believed what we were doing. He just didn't think it was for him, because maybe he had done too much wrong in his life and non-deserving. So what happened that day? It got really quiet. Then he looked at his wife. He looked back at me. And he said, I can't live that life. Here was my response to Mayford. I said, Mayford, I can't either. I said, that's why Jesus came. He came to forgive us of our sins. He came to cleanse us of our sins. He came to help us when we couldn't help ourselves. It got quiet again. Then his wife spoke up. And she said, Mayford, if you'll pray that. Prayer, I'll pray it with you. You reached out and grabbed my hand and accepted Jesus. Amen. Praise the Lord. I hope to the Lord that's encouraging for some of you that's been praying a long time. But what I do want you to hear is your miracle is closer than you realize.

And it was for Peter, James, and John. God had a great miracle for them. He was getting ready to rock their world. And so we see what happened was that Peter, James, and John, they had fished all night and not caught nothing. Now, this is not your casual fisherman. These are professional. They knew where to go. They didn't have GPS or whatever else these modern-day fishermen have. But they knew where the fish were at. They knew where to go. They knew where to drop their nets. They knew the best place. Hadn't caught anything. Jesus steps into their vessel. He's out there teaching the crowds. And then when He's through, He looks at Peter and He said, Peter, He said, I want you to take your boat out a little deeper and cast your net. What did Peter say? He said, We've done this all night. They knew the best fishing was at night in that area. We've done it all night. Didn't catch anything. But if you say so. You see, if you and I had that mentality and that attitude,

Lord, if you say so, then I'm going to do it. How many of you realize that He's already said so in His Word for you and I to just be obedient, to do the things of the Lord? But if you say so, so they go a little deeper. Here's what I learned from that is guys, there's times in our life we need to go a little deeper. This shallow religion, this Sunday morning, I'll call it Sunday morning religion or Easter Christmas religion. Guys, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in that because all I know is when I asked the Lord to forgive me in my 20s, that He radically changed me. You didn't have to force me to come to church. You didn't have to give me a wake up call. I don't care if it's daylight savings time. I might've been late, but I would get there. You guys with me? We're going to get there. Why? Why? Because something happened inside. You see, we don't need to teach habits. We need to teach the importance of getting people in His presence. In the presence of the Lord's where change happens.

Can I hear an amen to that if you believe it? The miracle worker was now in their vessel. The miracle worker, Jesus, is now in your vessel. If you're a believer in Christ, He's inside of you. Can I hear an amen? The miracle worker is living inside of you. Sometimes it requires going a little deeper. Now, they cast their net. He does what He says. Cast the net. Can you imagine when He cast that net, they expect Him to get nothing, and now He's got it. We're stuck. Something, that net's hung up. Can you imagine? And then finally, they probably get it budging, and they realize, no, it's not hung up. It's just full of fish. And listen, it's so full that we can't get it all in our boat. We're going to need some help. See, when God starts moving, the power of God starts moving. It's not just going to impact one boat. It'll impact multiple boats. When you and I start praying over our community, over our town, over our neighborhood, it's not just going to impact Revolution Church. It'll impact every church.

A high tide raises all the boats. They all come up. Can I hear an amen to that? So it's like, we need help. Call the other boat. They call the other boat. They fill it up. Now, these guys' world is rocked. Jesus has showed up. And so, one thing, another thing I get out of this is when you and I cast our nets correctly, the harvest is going to be great. Casting it correctly is important. Not through condemnation. Not through judging people. Casting it correctly. You see, the Lord's told me, he said, listen, it's time to cast the nets across Blount County. There's a draw. People are hungry. I don't care where I go. People are wanting to talk about Jesus. I mean, they're interested. I'm talking about lost people. It's at the steakhouse. It don't matter. It's wherever we go getting your hair cut. They want to talk about Jesus They're interested in what you got and I think part of it is because the Spirit of God is in you and it's drawing people You know Smith Wigglesworth. They said he would get on an airplane Sit down and the person next to him would just start crying

Had no clue it's the Spirit of God God's calling you and I to go deeper He's saying go deeper with me and watch what I do in this land. Come on somebody. He's saying go deeper. I Know I know you were raised in the Bible belt. I know you learned John 3 16 at a young age I know you can quote the verses, but he said go deeper with me Get in my presence. It's okay to get to a place where tears start flowing down your cheek Can I hear an amen to that? Listen to me some people say well tough guys don't do that bull tough guys do do that and tough got more tough more guys need to do that David did it and he was tougher than any of you times ten Come on somebody. Whoa, I felt a preach coming on right there Luke 5 9 and 11 it said for for he was all struck By the number of fish they'd caught As were the others His partners James and John the son of Zebedee were also amazed and Jesus replied to Simon. He said this don't be afraid from now on You're gonna be fishing for people Your professions getting ready to change Your life's getting ready to radically change Listen to me You're gonna be a fisherman of men He knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. He understood exactly and he goes on he said and as soon as they landed They left everything and followed Jesus See, here's the problem guys We're over here in the world We come to an altar. We raise our hand. We say yes to Jesus and We start following him, but we start bringing some of our baggage along with us Are you guys with me now and we carried along and we can't figure out why we're always frustrated While we're always upset why this thing's not working for me. It works for for Jim. It works for Brett

Why doesn't it work for me? It may be I Didn't leave everything When Israel first crossed the Jordan River The first thing they came against was the city of Jericho a small town well entrenched It was called a stronghold God told Joshua before you move on into the promised land. You need to take care of business This stronghold you've got to get rid of it And and and it's not gonna be you I'll get rid of it. All you need to do is march and shout Come on, somebody we can learn something right there. You just need to march and shout you praise me you lift me up and you just keep on marching and Jericho will fall But here's what happens Jericho's a stronghold The Bible tells us in the New Testament that you and I are to pull down every stronghold that sets itself up against the knowledge of God See these strongholds could be thoughts. It could be unforgiveness It could be whatever and what happens we accept Jesus, but we still live life with these strongholds today. I want to challenge you Do what the Word of God says pull those strongholds down in Jesus name Separate yourself leave everything and follow him. I promise you that's what we need. Amen third takeaway last takeaway last point Jesus wants to fill you to overflow so that you can and I added this in here so you can naturally say naturally So you can naturally affect others. You see I'm not a fan on giving you a script on how to witness Go out and say these things do this do that and and and you'll win people over That's not the way it works for me here's what I'm a big fan of you get in the presence of the Lord Jesus and He will naturally Fill you to overflow and you will start witnessing and ministering and it comes naturally Okay, it's not you quoting all these verses It's going in and realizing that guy's lost that girl's lost that guy needs a Savior that girl needs forgiveness

and then just Being there and if the presence of the Lord's there they'll fall under conviction and they'll want what you've got Amen, and that's what that's what he's called. So when Jesus fills your vessel You don't have to strive to impact others. Jesus didn't have to force Peter James John Andrew. He didn't have to force them to follow Him. What happened? Why did they follow Him? Somebody help me. Why did they follow Jesus? Huh? They loved Him. What else? They believed. They got in His presence and they just, the overflow of Jesus, the residue landed on them. Then they become like Jesus. And that's what happens in our life. They weren't forced. It was the overflow of His presence. And this is what happens in your life. Listen closely to this part. I'm getting ready to close. When you are filled with God's Holy Spirit, I'm not talking about just a little touch. I'm talking about an overflow. When you put yourself in a position where you say, God, if you have more, Jesus. My mind just went back to an old lake years ago in my thirties. And I was so hungry for more of God. It was midnight. I was standing out beside this lake and I looked up to the heavens. I said, God, if your Holy Spirit's real, baptize me. Fill me with the Holy Ghost. I want it. We have to get to the point where we're that hungry for more of God. Are you guys with me now? It's not about three point message. It's not about gathering. It's about getting to a place where, God, I'm just hungry for more of you. When we get there, here's what I promise you is going to happen. He'll fill us. He'll fill you. He'll fill you with the Holy Spirit. Look at Peter. Look at Peter before he was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter two, he denied Jesus. He would fly off the handle. He'd get mad. He had anger issues. He had a lot of stuff going on in his life. But something significantly shifted and changed from Acts chapter two for the rest of his life. What happened? Somebody help me. He got filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told these fishermen, he said, before you go into all the world, stay. Everybody stay. He said, stay. Terry, wait in the city of Jerusalem until the promise of the Father comes. The Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I'm going to send him. And when he comes, he's going to fill you. He's going to be your guide. He's going to be your comforter. He's going to be your boldness, your strength. But you've got to stay. You've got to wait until you're filled. And now look at Peter. It happens. Peter is energized. There's a supernatural presence about him that he had never carried before. He stands in front of a bunch of haters,

a large crowd of haters. And he preached the gospel with such power that everyone, everyone there, they're saying, what must we do to be saved? This guy's been with Jesus. That girl's been with Jesus. That child has been with Jesus. That's what we need. That's what the church needs in 2026. We just got to be with Jesus. And when we're filled in the Holy Spirit, it's going to overflow on everyone around us. Let's stand. Let's pray real quick for the lost before we move on. Father God, right now in Jesus name, our prayer is that you rescue the lost, whether they're in a, in a jail cell, they're here in person, they've tuned into live stream, wherever they're at. We know you love them. We know that you care. You came for the lost. Right now, I pray you, you save the lost. If you're here now and you say, pastor, I'm that guy that, I'm that girl that, that's hurting, rejected, fearful, whatever it may be. Maybe you're here and you'd say, I'm, I'm addicted. I'm struggling. The sin of my life. I need to empty myself out of these things that's been holding me captive. I need Jesus. If that's you right now, you just say, pastor, please remember me in prayer with everyone. Please pray right now for everyone. In this place, would you raise your hand right now if you'd say pastor, please remember me in prayer. Amen. Hold it up Hi, come on. Well, there's nothing to be ashamed about their hand going up all over this place. Come on. Amen. Amen We need him. We need Jesus God touch every person right now got every hand that's going up those Incarcerated the thousands of inmates that are listening right now touch them God save them deliver I'm set up for you God break every chain show me that they're loved show them that you care Show them they're not alone. I Want you to look at me for just one second If you're lost today Jesus made it very simple. He said confess me as the Lord of your life. Jesus died for our sins We know that he was laid in a borrowed tomb on the third day God raised him from the dead and he's now today as I'm preaching as we're standing. He's at the right hand of the father He's waiting on you the invitation is given he's waiting on you and I pray today if you've not accepted Jesus you'd do that today If you have accepted Jesus and you've drifted away I pray you come back to him today If you need to empty yourself out of some of these sins that so easily attached to us from being in this world I pray you empty him out today. I'm gonna ask the worship team to come prayer team to come

There's people in here today that you may need healing in your body Here's what the Bible says when the gospel goes forth, I'll back it up with signs and wonders How many of you believe that there's miracles in this house today, amen, I believe that with all my heart I don't question it for one second Because it's the Word of God Let's worship the Lord this last song if you won't pray for anything. I'm gonna invite you to come We have this prayer team and they've been praying for this moment to pray for you I want to invite you to come right now. If you would if you don't have to leave, please don't let's be real reverent during this time of worship Blessed assurance Jesus is mine He's been my fourth man in the fire time after time Born of his spirit Washed in his blood And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough Well, I trust in God My Savior He will never I trust in God my He will never Fix our mission Oh Cuz I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps So this is my story And this is my soul I'm praising my risen King Oh I trust in God I trust in God My

He will never He didn't fail you then, He won't fail you now. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. God, my Savior, the One who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the One who will never fail. He will never fail. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him. I trust in God. I trust in God. I trust in God. Come on, church, lift up your voices. I trust in God, my Savior, the One who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the One who will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail. We thank You, Lord, for everything that You do. We thank You for just being here every single step of our lives. From the moment we open our eyes for the first time to the moment we close them for the last.

You're always with us. We thank You, Lord. You saved us. You died for us. We thank You for that, Lord, and all we can give You is our praise. And I just pray that everybody in this room and everybody that's not in this room, people online, people that aren't online, aren't even in church right now, I pray that they can find you and trust in you because we all need you. And I just pray as we step out into this week that we can trust that you will be there with us and that you make sure everything is okay. I just pray in the mighty name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.