John Gray - Do It Again
I want you to go to the word. I want you to go to John chapter 21. You know, one of the things that has been heavy on my heart is how do we maintain, build upon, the momentum of the moments that we have, our weekend services from our pastor, words of hope, words of life, words of encouragement, words of redemption, words of salvation, how do we build on that? How do we build on our mid-week momentum? How do we build on our Sunday night hope and life momentum? How do we build on our mid-week women's ministry momentum?
Shout out to Jackie Garner, Debbie Porter, Aventer Gray, I heard they were doing it big for the women up there today and so I wonder, how do we build and maintain momentum because in moments like this when you hear how great thou art how great thou art those words can be drowned out when you have to deal with the reality of tomorrow and I don't want your tomorrow to be broken. I want you to be able to maintain and sustain this place of interaction and intimacy and relationship. How does that happen? You've got to be intentional. You have to be deliberate. You've got to be dedicated. You have to be focused. You've gotta be determined that Jesus is the one that you are pursuing and so tonight, my endeavor is to really encourage and challenge us to fight, to make sure that there is nothing that's interfering with our relationship with Jesus.
How many married folk we have in here, married people where you at? You know, sometimes people don't care that you're married, they'll still pursue. They see the ring, ladies you're at the gas station, your husband's somewhere else at work or whatever, some dude sees you, he sees the ring, but he says "How you doin'? You all right? You all right"? "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine". Thank you, little baby. Three years old, I'm doing good. What that was was an opportunity for interference but because you made it clear that you're in a coveted relationship, you're not gonna allow just any voice to come in and mess up what God is building.
In the same way that we fight for our marriages, we need to fight for our relationship with Jesus. It's harder because we don't see him tangibly and many of us, like me, maybe like you, we're very visual creatures. We can't just live, it'll be great if could all live in perfect faith all the time but it just doesn't happen. That's just the reality. So how do you get it back when you lose it?
Anybody ever been in that place where you just had that fire, you had that passion, you had that drive, "God, I love you. There's nobody like you. I thank you". Next day, "He don't love me. There's no way he can forgive me. I'm a mess". Couple days later, "Well I'm back Jesus. That devil thought he had me but I got away". The next day, "Lord could you ever love somebody like me, oh, retched man that I am? Who shall save me from this vile, filthy flesh"? I'm like Paul, "Jesus, I do what I don't want to do. I didn't mean to do it, it was just right there, I couldn't help it. I couldn't leave it right there. It was looking at me. It was talking to me, Jesus, please forgive me".
Jesus illustrates how we get that passion back, that fire back, how we rekindle and maintain our level of relationship. I don't want you going up and down on an emotional rollercoaster. It's time for the body of Christ to be sure of who you are, be sure of the promises of God, and be sure of what is ahead of you and it is not contingent upon what's behind you or even what's before you right now because the promises of God are in him, yes, in a man, through Christ Jesus. There's a scripture in John, chapter 21. John 21, and I'm reading from the first verse.
(NKJV) John 21:1-3, After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and [a]immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
It was just all in my sermon, pastor, buddy, just same subject, different part of the scripture. You had the alpha, I got the omega. See what I'm sayin'? Okay.
(NKJV) John 21:4-12, But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.
I want to talk to you about this story and about the relationship dynamic between Jesus and Peter because many of us have a little bit of Peter in personality in us. You know Peter. You know Peter, Peter was on fire. Peter was capable of supernatural revelation, capable of foolishness, capable of doing great things, on fire and then just as fast as he was on fire, you couldn't find him. He denied Jesus. He was up and down, like many of us. But in this story, we find Peter putting his coat on to go swimming. That's weird. If you know it's Jesus, why would you put your coat on to go swimming? It's strange. But I'm gonna tell you why he did it in a minute.
The title of my sermon is "Do it again". Do it again. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to the disciples after his resurrection but I need you to play this thing all the way out, for anybody in here who struggles with your faith, imagine what the disciples were going through. Imagine what it's like to be at the top of ministry. One day, you're a fisherman. The next day, you're walking with the Messiah. In a moment, your life changes. You go from regular, average, clock in, clock out, wash your nets, put up the boat, get up early, go home, talk about your day, you and the wife, ain't no TV so y'all watching the window and then one day out of the blue Jesus says, "You, come with me. You, come with me. You with the short hair, come with me. You with the braids, come with me. You in shape guy, come with me. You blessed and highly favored, come with me".
And Jesus chooses 12 dudes. That's what they really should be called, the 12 dudes, because disciples seems like it's so far, so hard to attain, "I could never be a disciple. I don't have a white robe". It's 12 dudes. He picked regular dudes. They were fishermen. Jesus was like, "Come here". "Who, me? You want me? All right, I ain't got nothing else to do".
Imagine the whirlwind of life that surrounded the 12 disciples, virtual unknowns only three years prior. Now thrust into public ministry, suddenly lives scrutinized, family lives turned upside down, walking with a man. Who is he? Is he a king? Is he a God? Is he a teacher? Is he a rabbi? Is he a charlatan? Who is this man? I don't know but there's something about him that makes me want to keep walking with him and for three years, they were there while Jesus did healings, and signs, and wonders, and miracles, and watched him stretch out withered hands, and watched him interrupt funerals, and watched him roll away stones, and speak to dead flesh and watch it get up.
They were there watching all of these things happen, miracles, signs, wonders, exorcisms, nothing could stop this man. This was their life. They were living the good life. They were ballers, shot callers, brawlers, sitting in the rims with the spoilers. They were with the king. Your swag is different when you roll with the king. For those that don't know what that means, it just simply means your confidence. I'm confident. I know Jesus. When you know Jesus for yourself, certain things that you survive, they don't bother you anymore. And even if it bothers you, it doesn't bother you for as long as it used to bother you. Am I talking to anybody in here?
Now, I'm trying to teach. I don't want to shout. My pastor's here, he make me nervous. But I need you to get this picture that for the disciples, the supernatural was normal. "Jesus, I'm hungry". "Just go ahead and just spit on the ground, make you a steak". I don't know if that really happened, but it could have 'cause if you read the end of the book of John it says this is just what we could write down, but there were so many other things he did, that if we wrote them, the whole world couldn't even contain it. These are just the miracles they could remember but everything he did was a miracle and I don't know who I'm talking to but in this season of breakthrough, everything that happens is about to be a miracle, sudden increase, sudden expansion, sudden overflow, a sudden yes where there was always a no.
I'm looking for somebody who has faith to believe that God can do it again. I've been trying to act right, but I can't act right no more. Is there anybody that needs God to do it again? Jesus is not stuck to the pages of a Bible. He is seated at the right hand of the Father waiting on some people with enough faith to believe that if he did it before, he can do it again and again starts right now. I need some miracle talkers. I need some faith walkers. I need some hand clappers, some crazy praisers, some regular people who have encountered a supernatural God, anybody ever been radically changed by the love of Jesus?
Imagine being a disciple seeing the life of Jesus day in and day out. You know if they were like me and you, they were waiting on Jesus to mess up. "Let me see how he act today. This girl been coming to every revival we been doin'. She just been showing off. She just been trying to get his attention. Let me see if he see it. I know he see that. I see it". Later on that night, they're like, "Hey, Jesus. You ain't see that lady"? "I know everything. I saw all that but I'm not gonna be moved by the flesh. We'll keep walking in the spirit, I got a job to do". He was in all points tempted, yet was without sin. That's my faith and I'm not letting anybody talk me down from that.
Imagine the disciples going from unknown to frontline ministry, no training, nobody ever heard of them, out of the blue, came out of nowhere, nobody knows you, now all of a sudden everybody needs you. I don't know what I'm saying, but there's a breakthrough in here for the unknown to become the necessary. If you believe I'm talking to you, this is probably your moment for a five to seven second praise break, from unknown to essential, from no phone calls to you don't have enough space on your voicemail, from no emails to multiple emails from multiple people saying, "Can you come here? Can you do that? Can you tell us how you did that? We need your skill set. We need what you carry. There's something about you". Something is the Holy Ghost. That is the Holy Ghost's other name. Something told me to call you. Something told me to bless you. Something told me to sow into you. Something tells me you're different than the other people who've applied for the same position. We're gonna go with you.
Am I talking to anybody over here? Anybody at home, am I? Go ahead and wave your hand at the kitchen table and just bless the Lord. Somebody say, "Do it again". Uh oh, I feel it. I feel it. I feel the breaking, I feel it. Don't mind me. If you're getting your breakthrough, you go ahead and praise God because you know, pastor, when the breakthrough comes, the attack comes even harder and as believers we've gotta know that when the attack intensifies, the breakthrough is on the other side of that thing.
I'm up here smiling now, but I was crying my eyes out earlier because they had to rush my boy back to the hospital, talking about a ultrasound, might be a hole in the heart, the devil is a liar. I'm telling you right now, devil, my son is healed. He is whole. Nothing's wrong. I'm gonna keep preachin'. My wife's gonna keep preachin'. We're gonna keep serving because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. God, you healed him once, do it again. He wanted that moment to shut my mouth, it only made me louder. Somebody needs to get loud in here. I know some of you are sitting with your hands on your chin and that's all right but if you want a breakthrough every now and then, you just gotta "Hey, do it again".
I'm ready for the next phase in my life. I'm ready for that life of adventure. I'm ready for that life of the supernatural being the regular occurrence. I want to be blown away by God. I want to be "Oh, I can't believe you did it again". Is anybody ready for the "Oh, he did it again. He did it again. I didn't think he could outdo himself but he did it again". But before you get to the revelation of "Do it again," you have to go through the midnight of "Where you at"? I'm talking to anybody that's ever had to ask, "God, where ya at? I like hide-and-seek, but not right now. Don't hide from me right now. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. I need to know where you are. I can't see my way out of this thing. I need to know where you are".