The Final Say || Pastor Teddy Matthews

So Father, we pause to give you praise because you have the final say. Over every situation, over every circumstance, you have the final say. So we give you your name, the praise, the honor, and the glory, and we simply ask you to have your way. It's my prayer, Lord, that you will do what we have seen you do again, which is speak to all of us collectively while also speaking to us individually. You know the needs of these, your people, but God, we know you. And so we simply ask you to have your way. Think with my mind, that which I did not plan to say, I pray you would give, that which I'm not supposed to say, I pray you would take it away. Think with my mind, speak with my mouth, so that you and you alone may be glorified. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, and we all say together, amen, and amen again, and won't you put your hands together and celebrate the Lord? This is the day that the Lord has made. Oh, we could do better than that. I said, won't you put your hands together and celebrate the Lord? This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice together and be glad in... Won't you put your hands together and celebrate the Lord for our pastors, even in their absence, Pastor Darius? We could do better than that. So won't you celebrate our pastors? Pastor Darius Daniels and Pastor Shemekia Daniels, we are incredibly grateful for them, for who they are, for how it is that they lead us and care for us and pray for us and serve us, and we are praying that while they are away and while we cannot wait for them to return and get back, we are praying for rest and replenishment and renewal over them, and hopefully that is you all's prayer, is that they are replenished and that they are refreshed, and we look forward to our pastor's return on next Sunday. And won't you clap it up? Some of you all were here.

Some of you all weren't, but clap it up for Dr. Marcus Dudley, who brought the word this morning for our 9 o'clock, and I have the privilege to stand here for our 11 o'clock here at Gwinnett. I don't get to see some of you all too often. I'm normally at the 9, but what's up, family? And for those who are not aware of who I am, my name is Teddy Matthews, and I have the precious privilege of serving on this team here at Change Church, and I do not take even this moment or this opportunity for granted. It is an honor. I love our pastors. I love Change Church, and there's no place, no place on the world, on the earth like it. I believe there's something that the Lord wants to say to his people today. If you're ready for the word, say yes. I believe there's a word that can be found in the gospel of Luke, Luke chapter number five, Luke chapter number five. I hear people turning pages. Come on now. I prefer to have a Bible open as well. You never know what the technology is going to do, so I hear you turning. I'm not mad at it. I got mine, but for those who don't, Luke chapter five will be on the screen. Begin reading at verse number one. Here's how it reads. It says, one day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. And he saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and he asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water. Some translators say launch out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. English standard version says, master, we've toiled all night and caught nothing but at your word. I was born New World school. I was raised old school. So, I grew up learning the Bible in King James version and it says it this way. It says, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing but nevertheless. Oh, I got a couple neverthelesses but nevertheless, I will let down my net. For the time we have together, I want to tag our brief exchange. He has the final say. I said he has the final say. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, we need to have a dialogue about destiny and a conversation about your calling because the truth of the matter is there are some things you and I need to know. One of them is a truth about the most critical conversations you will ever have. And I know some of you all talk to different people throughout the day. I would imagine some of you all talk to God periodically throughout the day. But what I am contending is one of the most key and critical conversations is actually with a voice you probably have not given a name to. That while your contacts have names, while God has a name, that there is a voice that is louder than you would ever think. But it talks to you and most of the time you have no clue it's speaking. That voice is silence. Because what do you do when silence is what you're experiencing? It's one thing when you have adversity. Adversity is recognizable. I can see it coming. I can see tension. I can see trouble. I can see calamity. But what do I do when I'm stuck in a season of nothing? Where there's nothing but me in silence. I am actually contending that one of the loudest conversations you'll have is conversations that never happen out loud. It's when there is a break in between the conversation of what God said and what you see. The gap between the conversation between faith and fear. The gap between the conversation of what heaven promised and what life is producing. The conversation with silence. I am contending today that life has a voice. And pain has a voice. And delay has a voice. That logic has a voice. But there's a voice called silence. That when silence is speaking to you and you're not aware of it, silence can do more damage than you're aware of. Because silence can tell you some stuff about you and because you don't realize silence is talking to you, you don't realize the damage it's causing for you. Silence has a way of speaking when you have questions with no answers. Silence has a way of speaking when you have timelines that have not come to pass. Seasons where everything doesn't seem to quite be falling apart. But seasons where not anything seems to be coming together. And I'm going to lay out my claim early that there is nothing that will test your faith like nothing. You heard me correctly. That there is nothing that will test your faith like nothing. That adversity can test you, but adversity has nothing on uncertainty. Yeah, adversity is something some of us have a little bit of resilience training in queue. I've wrestled with enough mountains. I've fought through enough difficulties to have some resistance training against adversity. But uncertainty. Seasons when I don't know what and I don't know who. Seasons when I don't know when and I don't know how have a different way of testing me. That nothing tests your faith like seasons of nothing. Seasons where you thought you knew what was about to happen and that's not what happened. Seasons when you thought you knew the people around you and you knew nothing about them. Seasons when nobody tells you no so you have no information and you at least can handle a no because you at least know what's done. You can handle when the door closes because at least you get something to process but seasons of silence say nothing. Nothing is different because nothing forces you to finish the story with your imagination and it is dangerous to leave yourself to your imagination because your imagination will create a revelation

and that revelation is based on your interpretation and you will always end up in trouble when you are left to the mercy of your own interpretation. Is there anybody here that can attest to the fact that you've gone through enough situations, gone through enough circumstances and you started to interpret the story from what you saw and what you saw was not the full story because there's nothing more dangerous than leaving yourself subject to the mercy of your own interpretation. But what do I do when the season is silent? What do I do when I have no answer for what I'm going through? What do I do when I see no recourse or remedy for my pain? No answer. No movement. You pray and nothing. You believe and nothing. You fast and nothing. You obey and nothing. You keep serving and nothing. And I know this is not a subject that many of us like to deal with publicly but is there anybody here that if you're honest you're not necessarily in a bad season but you're in a blank one. You're in one. It ain't bad but I don't know. It's not quite bad but I don't know what word to use to describe it. I'm trying to figure out what's going to happen in the future. I'm clear God's been good in my past but I have no clue what's going on now. Seasons of nothing. And I don't know if you've noticed but one disappointment rarely changes you. It is when I experience repeated disappointment. One answered prayer normally doesn't shake our faith. It is when there are seemingly perpetual unanswered prayers. One closed door generally doesn't hurt my feelings but when I keep applying and I can't get an answer. I don't want to talk about disappointment. I think there's an argument to be made today about something called prolonged disappointment. When I'm not just going through a day of silence but I'm navigating a season of silence and I'm experiencing prolonged disappointment. Prolonged disappointment is what happens when hope keeps making appointments that reality never keeps. Prolonged disappointment. Disappointment doesn't become dangerous because it hurts. Anybody know disappointment hurts? But it's not dangerous because it hurts. It's dangerous when it starts teaching. See some of us may have not navigated enough circumstances for your disappointment to start teaching you.

Because disappointment has a way of speaking. It may not always tell you the truth but it's going to tell you something. It may not always tell you what you need to know but it's going to tell you something it wants you to know. And what I am contending today is that nothing will test your faith like nothing. Because when you don't have an answer disappointment will. And disappointment has a way of discipling you. It can turn expectation into exhaustion. It can turn delay into feeling like denial. Is there anyone here who can attest it can even take caution and make you a cynic? It is where I said that I wasn't going to to become hostile. I said I wasn't going to become contentious but my caution has now turned into cynicism. I went from saying I believe it can happen to it's probably never gonna happen. Silence. Seasons of nothing. Here's the danger of seasons of nothing. It's not that nothing is happening. It's that something is happening on the inside of us while nothing's happening outside of us. During seasons of nothing God seems silence. God seems silence. So my silence starts talking and it starts telling me things about me And it's in seasons of silence Seasons where nothing is testing me that I have to remember this truth. I Have to remember that the enemy knows he can't cancel God's promise. So he tries to corrupt your perspective The enemy knows he can't cancel God's promise So what he does is try to alter your perspective And I wonder if there's anyone that is clear on this truth. And that truth is the devil is a liar I'll say it again. Is there anybody clear on this truth? The devil is a liar It's not religious rhetoric. It's not a church colloquialism Jesus makes the claim in John 8 when he says that he is a liar enough As a matter of fact, he goes as far as he is the father of lies and that there is no truth in him Now the good news about that is that means he does not lie periodically It means he lies consistently. It means whatever he says to me has some iteration of it. That ain't true So whenever I start wondering what my silence is saying to me in the silence starts telling me something that is Contradictory to what God said to me. I can look at the story and tell that story you alive now

I don't know if there's anybody who is mature enough to handle that kind of conversation But there will be times when you have to look yourself in the mirror and say I don't know what you thought you were gonna Say to me today, but she was alive I don't know what you thought you were going to do to me while I was going through this But she was alive now when I was growing up, I couldn't say the word lie had to say you was tell a story But what I realized is the devil don't just tell me stories the devil be lying to me He'd be trying to trick me and convince me and to bring me down and to start Confessing things over me. And if you don't believe it if you think that you are Unable to be caught up in his traps. I want to tell you were introduced to this truth in the garden That if he could trap up Eve In the form of a question You mean to tell me you think you are impermeable you mean to tell me you think He can't speak to you and he's not speaking to you. He showed up to Eve not looking like the devil He showed up to even the garden looking like a serpent. He showed up looking like he belonged there He showed up looking like he belonged because the devil is a liar a lie is deception He is deceptive in all of his ways not in some of his ways in all of his ways Whatever he shows up. He shows up in the form of deception And I want to ask you the question is It possible that your silence Has been lying to you. Is it possible that the silence that the Uncertainty of the season has been telling you a story that is different than the story God has said about you that is different than the promise you believe to be true about you Silence has a way of speaking So here's what I have to learn. I have to learn that if I'm going to navigate seasons of nothing I have to resist the lies It's not that they won't come is that I have to resist them I have to make a conscious decision to put on what Paul says in Ephesians is put on the full armor of God So that way I will be able to resist the attacks It's not that the attacks won't come Paul actually writes and make it clear You ought to be able to do it because you have to know the wiles of the enemy

Because if you don't know how he works You will always be surprised that he's working none of us should be surprised that he's working if you pay attention to how he's moved He works through deception So you have to learn to resist the lies Here it is in seasons of nothing if you're gonna navigate them number one You have to reframe your perspective if you look at the story here and Luke chapter number five you find Peter and He is there with others They are on their boat Jesus is standing by as Jesus is standing by he has been teaching he has been working and he sees at the water's edge two boats Left there by fishermen who were washing their nets He sees people who are finished with what they were doing because they had caught nothing from what they were trying So he's looking at them preparing to give up preparing to pack up and to go home I Peter actually says Master we've toiled all night and caught nothing when he's asked the question. He's indicating that Jesus We've tried this we've worked hard to toil is to strain while working We've been working and we've been working hard and we've been working at it. We've been we have not been doing nothing We've been doing something but we came up empty We've been trying this thing but this thing wasn't working he says He got into their boat The one belonging to Simon And he asked Simon to put out a little bit from the shore. He sits down Now they've been out working They've been out toiling. They were getting ready to go home They were preparing to leave and Jesus walks over and says can I get in your boat to be exact?

I actually don't quite see the form of a question I just see him see the boat and get in the boat. He actually shows up Unexpected and uninvited and he introduces himself to them while he's on the boat and says hey push out a little bit Some of you don't see it yet But there are seasons in your life Well, whether you are fully aware of it or not That while you weren't even looking for him he has a way of Showing up that right when you were about to give up and right when you were about to throw in the towel and right when You were about to walk away from it all he just steps in And gets in your boat He shows up watch this thing. He get he shows up. He gets in their boat and says once you just push out a little bit After he says won't you push out then he sits down and starts teaching he gets comfortable. They were tired Jesus is comfortable. They are fatigued and frustrated Jesus is comfortable and chillin. They are flustered at their failure. Jesus is comfortable and chillin They are they are frustrated. They are disappointed and he chillin Is It possible as Frustrated as you are as Disappointed as you may be He's sitting right next to you chillin He's sitting right next to you saying if you will look at me and see how unbothered I am By what you're up against if you would look at me and see how unbothered I how much peace I have in the middle of Your predicament I could change whatever you're going through you're looking at the wrong thing. I'm sitting right here. He sits down starts teaching After he starts teaching so they've already launched out into the deep and he says won't you go out a little bit further? and Then when you go out, I want you to let down your net And this is key and critical because when he shows up he shows up as a carpenter

By trade they're fishermen by trade So the carpenter shows up to tell the fishermen how to do their job They've been unsuccessful at what they were trying to do and how they were trying to do it They knew what to do when to do it and how to do it They have been doing this for a long time, but Jesus shows up and says I got another way And There's some of us who because we know so much There's some of us who because of our own education Expertise and experience you are trying to argue with the father about what he's telling you to do You are arguing with the father saying I tried this before and it didn't work I tried that I tried this and I tried them and none of it worked, but he's saying won't you just Launch out Into the deep I know you were out there before but I want you to go further I'm going to use something that would normally never work to do something to show you who I am in your life Like I want you to see nothing about that should have worked Everything about the request was illogical He says won't you do it Peter responds Master We've toiled all night. We've worked hard all night and caught nothing He's letting him know we've actually tried all the stuff And I feel like there's a few of us That have tried all the stuff in the stuff Don't work the way the stuff Used to work and what happens when you're stuck in a place with the stuff that used to work don't seem to work So we tried all night caught nothing Then he introduces this this phrase But if you say so I

Let down my net Nevertheless But at your word He introduces he introduces this concept to us Because he lets us know it's not just about reframing our perspective. He's in the boat. Sure It's also about remembering what you know about God He says nevertheless at your word see this is not Peter's first encounter with him at all By the time we get to this story in Luke 5 Jesus has already healed Peter's mother-in-law So he don't know a whole lot about him, but he know enough to know something about you ain't normal I've heard about your teachings. I've seen you work miracles So master is what he calls them He calls him master in the form of commander You are able to speak and when you speak something changes Now I don't know if it will But if you say so It hadn't worked for me But if you say so He says I caught nothing. I haven't caught anything That means he's been trying and it wasn't working, but he says but if you say so You got to remember What you know about God surviving seasons are nothing number one You got to reframe your perspective number two You got to remember what you know about God some of us in here, you know too much about him to doubt him That in some seasons of your life faith might have seemed illogical you not there no more That it actually makes no sense not to trust God now because you've seen him work too good before That there are seasons in your walk with the Lord where doubt is what makes the most sense and there's other seasons where it's like Hey, I gotta have faith He's been too good He's only ever been good I haven't always liked the way he made it good, but he's always been good

Because trust is not the absence of feelings It's the refusal to allow my feelings to have the final say whether or not I liked it. He's always been good Psalm 13 David writes these words. He starts off by saying how long Lord will I wait for you? How long will I torment myself by your absence and he concludes psalm 13 was saying surely God Has been good to me So he starts off with a how long and he concludes it with the surely you've been good Because regardless of how I feel it does not change his goodness Remember what you know about God We went through a sermon series this year called name-dropping, you know that he's Jehovah Rohi he is a shepherd He leads you besides still waters He is Jehovah Nissi he is your banner in victory he is Jehovah Shalom he is your peace He is Jehovah Jireh. He is our provider He is Jehovah Rapha. He is a healer And whatever he is he is who he has always been he says I am the same Yesterday today and forevermore Your circumstance doesn't change his character I Know your silence is talking. I Know nothing is speaking But you got to remember what you know about God You got to reframe your perspective. You got to remember what you know about God. You have to release your logic Some of us we know too much I've got no witnesses You don't know what I mean when I say that, huh, it's when God start talking and you start arguing It's when he says something to you and you start telling him more about what you what he's saying to you So he has said something to you He has placed a word on your heart and you start telling him about how you feel and he's telling you what he knows He says I know the plans I have for you Jeremiah I Know you keep telling me about the calamity that you see but I'm telling you I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you an expected in Some of us

Some of us Have allowed seasons of nothing to speak so loud that you don't know your feelings from faith So you're allowing your feelings to tell you what's true My feelings can tell me what the fact is, but the fact is not the truth The truth is what God said The fact is what I see and there is a very distinct difference and what you have to understand Is that if you allow the other voice to win is gonna win If you allow the other voice to win is gonna win Feelings are great indicators, horrible dictators, and some of us have to practice, I came across this phrase a couple weeks ago, it's emotional sobriety. It's the ability to feel deeply without allowing your feelings to become your leader. Yeah, this season might hurt. It doesn't mean anything about you. Going through tough times don't mean you can't overcome it. But if you're not careful, your feelings can tell you a story about what you're going through. It's the ability to feel deeply. It is the discipline of letting God's truth direct your life instead of allowing your emotions to determine your direction. Some of us, if we're honest, are letting our feelings determine our direction. It's the middle of the year. I thought it'd be a different year. I didn't think I'd be this way in July. I had goals. I had plans. I had resolutions. I'm in another marriage that I feel like isn't working. I'm in another situation I never thought I'd get out of. I had another deal that went wrong. I had another person betray my trust. Whatever the case may be, you need emotional sobriety.

All that stuff may be true, but don't allow that to form a narrative about who you are. I need to reframe my perspective. I need to remember what I know about God, but I got to release my logic. He says, I want you to launch out into the deep, and I want you to let down your net. Peter's expertise, his education, his experience would have not done it. There was no reason to. Some of us have to understand obedience is what unlocks the miracle. It's not what you think. It's who you know. You have to release your logic. It's not going to make sense. Scripture says, for his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Some of us have to release the desire to know everything and to learn what it means to trust God. He's calling us today to trust him, to obey without understanding. I'll say it again, to obey without understanding. That's where faith rises. If I know all the answers, it doesn't require faith. Trust is the bridge for when I don't know what's going on. Trust actually does not require understanding. I just believe it. You sat in that chair because you trusted that it was going to hold you up, but you did not know. Some of y'all got kids. Y'all have to be like, trust me, I don't got time to explain everything, just trust me. It's the Lord saying to you today, just trust me. Release your logic. Reframe your perspective. Remember what you know about God. Release your logic.

The last one is respond to God's word. He responds. He says, nevertheless, that's your word, I let down my net, and it says he catches so many fish. It is a net-breaking, boat-sinking catch. It blows their mind. It was a miracle like they had never seen before, but it was only because they released their logic and responded to God's word. It was so many fish that they had to call for those who were on the shore to come get some, and I wonder, not just are you holding up something in your life, what are you holding up for others who are the beneficiaries of your obedience? You know, who's not receiving what's possible because you let the silence convince you of something that's not true? Respond to God's word. After they get the miracle, though, you discover the miracle wasn't the message. He used the miracle of the fish to introduce them to another aspect of who he is, because he concludes the miracle of the fish to say, if I could take care of provision, you think I can't take care of you? If I could make fish appear, if I could do a miracle like this, what would happen if you'd give me your life? Because see, some of us are excited about the fish, just like, it ain't about the fish. I could have did that without doing that. I didn't do that to give you fish. I did that to teach you about me. so he after they get that they like oh my gosh God oh my gosh it says they're in awe they're astounded by his wonders he says good now I want you to abandon all of that and follow me and I will make you fishers of men I want you to see that what I did with that I want to do with your life somebody here today that's what he might be saying to you I want to do something with your life I want to use your story I want to use your obedience to do

something that eyes have not seen that ears have not heard I want to use your obedience but you got to respond to my word if you don't leave me alone I'm if you'd only trust me you see what happens family I want to make sure you understand what the title of this sermon is really saying to us regardless of what the silence has said the doubt has said the frustration has said your mistakes have said your history has said your mama has said your daddy has said your friends have said the labels have said culture has said the church you were at before has said he has the final say he overrules he overturns he makes ways he opens doors he parts seas he is a way maker a door opener a strength giver a deliverer a protector a provider he has the final say