Steven Furtick - Your Breakthrough Is Close
This is an excerpt from: The God of Already
What I really couldn't get over about this passage… I don't know if you noticed it. It said, "…they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards". Wait. So, let's do some math. They're in the boat, fishing, catching nothing. Jesus is on the shore 100 yards away. I don't know the exact dimensions of Peter's boat. It is Peter's boat. That's why Jesus chose Peter to be his disciple: because Jesus needed transportation. I've heard all of these deep things. "He chose Peter because he was…" Nope. It wasn't his boldness; it was his boat. That's why Jesus chose him. I'm settling it once and for all. And his boldness, but mostly his boat, because he needed to travel around. So, now Peter is back in that boat, and he's fishing. I don't know the exact dimensions of the boat, but I do know one thing. No matter how big this boat was… Is there anybody here who has a boat?
Come on. God is not going to strike you for having a boat. You can have a boat and tithe and go to heaven. All right. How big could the boat be? Let's say it was a pretty big fishing boat but just a singular boat. Some research I accessed (it doesn't say it in the text) said it might have been about eight feet wide, max. Does that sound about right? Is it conceivable that it would have been eight feet wide? Okay. So, you mean to tell me they have been fishing all night, and they are about to row in 100 yards to the shore, and from one side of the boat to the other is the difference between "We're starving" and "We're stuffed".
You mean to tell me that they've been out there all night, and at just the moment they're about to give up… I'm prophesying to somebody. At just the moment they're about to row the boat ashore 100 yards… What they don't know in that moment is that if they take the nets from the left side of the boat to the right side of the boat… If the boat is only eight feet wide, and the shore is 100 yards away, that means it's easier for them to keep fishing than it is for them to give up. Follow me. You have to go 100 yards to give up, but you only have to go eight feet for a great catch. And the fish aren't on the way when you drop the nets. The fish are already… At the moment you drop the nets, the fish don't start to swim. No! That's why Jesus got to the shore early. He told the fish to swim, and they did.
So, when you drop your nets in your "not yet" season, you need to know that what you're fishing for is not far from you. You might be eight feet away from a new day, eight feet away from restoration, eight feet away from freedom from your addiction, eight feet away from a relationship that will take you out of loneliness and bring you into fruitful union. Eight feet away! Wouldn't you hate to miss your harvest and find out it was only eight feet away? It's going to be big, baby. You're going to make a difference. You're going to tell others. You're going to help others. You're not just going to be selfish; you're going to serve others. God already knows what he has called you to do. The Devil wants you to pull that boat in and give up, because he knows you're eight feet away.
See, it is the principle that sometimes a small shift can make a big difference. Just to make a small shift today. You're not as far as you think you are. Whoever this word is for, it is burning like a fire in my bones. You're not as far as you think you are. I wish I could muster the faith I had when I told my dad that. You're not as far as you think you are. God can snatch you with his pinky finger. He's strong. His hand is not slack. I don't care how far you are. You're not as far as you think you are, not from God. He's God who told the sun when to rise, and it did. He's God. I'm talking about God who told the storm to be still, and it did. I'm talking about God who told the walls when to fall, and they did. I'm talking about God who told the bones "Come alive," and they did.
I'm going to add another one. And if he told the fish when to swim, and they did, he will again. Oh, it's the remix. We haven't even released the original yet, and we're already working on the remix, because he's God, and he's good, and he's faithful. Did you hear me, Devil? Because he's God, and he's good, and he's faithful. It's on the way! Let your nets down! So, I see a picture right now. Stay with me. I want to minister to somebody. You think you are so far from God. Watch this. Not only was Jesus only 100 yards away and they had no idea that he was, and not only were the fish only eight feet away and they had no idea that they were, but, Peter, you have already been restored in God's eyes.
Now it's time for you to be restored in your eyes. Receive it. Paul said you can go from having nothing to possessing everything. Having nothing yet to possessing everything. Your nets are empty. You don't have it yet. That doesn't mean it's not there. The gift you have is real. It just isn't fully grown yet. The forgiveness you have is real. You're just not fully acquainted and familiar with your freedom in Christ yet. I'm saving y'all money on a therapy bill. This is what they're going to do if you go over there. I'm trying to save you some money on a therapy bill. Drop a little something in the bucket for your therapist today. I want you to see the power of your yet. To believe in the God of "already" is to trust the God of "not yet".
With every step you take, with every habit you implement… A lady told me at Elevation Nights, she was standing there, and I did the thing y'all hate when I do. I said, "Turn to your neighbor and say…" She said, "I rolled my eyes. You made me say something to my neighbor. He was tall, and I was single, and he was single". She wrote me a letter and said, "Today, he is my husband". I'm not making it up. I'll print the email. I'll put it on Twitter Spaces and Myspace. I mean, something as simple as "Turn to your neighbor…" Turn to your neighbor really quick and tell them, "Not yet". "I thought he was finished". Not yet.
I'm done teaching, but I want to give you the picture from Luke 15, because I would hate not to give you this. Do you remember how I told you there are two stories here, and Jesus taught one, and then the other one he actually acted out? They're both saying the same thing: you're not as far as you think you are. There were two sons, and one said to his father, "I want my share of the inheritance". So he set out to a distant country. What kind of country? A distant country. While he was there, he spent all he had on riotous living. For a little while it went well, but then eventually, he came to a point where nobody knew how bad it was, and he longed to fill his stomach with the husks that the swine ate. He was that low.
Finally, the Bible says, he came to himself. I believe somebody is coming to yourself today, and God is already there. God already sees you like you really are. You just don't yet. He came to himself and said, "How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will arise and go to my father, and perhaps he will make me like one of his hired servants". Verse 20 is where it really picks up for our purpose as we close today. It says, "He got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him".
How many times did I read this story and never really notice what was happening? Just before this, this boy is making a story that he's going to tell his dad. He's making his plan to get back in good graces with his dad, to reconcile, to get back where he belongs. A lot of you are like that. You're like, "Okay. I'm going to get my life together. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to join a gym, and then I'm going to drink a smoothie, and then I'm going to… I don't want a smoothie; I want a milkshake. I'm going to drink a milkshake, and then I'm going to join a gym. I'm going to join that gym where they have milkshakes at the gym and pizza. I like that gym".
So, he's planning it all out, but he's tired. He's exhausted. He's ashamed. Not to make light of the story. I mean, he really doesn't know. "Am I even going to be welcome back? Is this even going to work"? I don't just mean this for people who are… I mean, I certainly mean this for people who don't know God. But for those of us who do, there are times in our lives where we think, "I feel sorry for you, Preacher. You're telling me all this, but you don't know how far I am. You don't know what's going on with me and my wife".
One guy finally told me the other day… He said, "I've been faking you out for five months. I keep telling you everything is good because I don't want you to think badly of me because you're a preacher. I haven't had a job for five months. I've been leaving the house every day, just going to Panera so my kids would think I had a job. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm running out of money".
All over the room there are "not yet" empty nets…all over the world. So, you get this strategy in your mind, and you think, "Okay. Here's how I'm going to get it together. Here's how I'm going to fix it". That could be exhausting. It could stop you from even taking the first step, really. I have to imagine with every step the boy is taking, he's thinking, "God, I hope Dad will have me back, even if he'll just let me sleep outside. I'll prove myself. I'll work my way back. I'll get there. I'll get there. It may take me years. I'll get there. So, I'm going to make a speech to him".
Remember, it's a distant country, so he has a long walk ahead of him. At some point along this long walk, as he's rehearsing his speech… "'Father, I'm no longer worthy. Make me a hired servant. I've disgraced you. I've shamed you. I've sinned, and I'm sorry.' Maybe I should put the first part first. 'I'm sorry. I have sinned.' No. 'I've sinned. I'm sorry.'" Every step, he's working this out and rehearsing it in his mind. "Here's how I'm going to get back. Here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to say to my father… I'm going to say to my father… I'm going to say to my father…"
While he's rehearsing his speech, somehow, someway, his father is already running toward him. You look up, and you realize, "Oh, he's already here". While he was still a long way off… While he still thought, "I have so far to go," the one he was planning to grovel to grabs him with grace and pulls him in. You're not as far as you think you are. It takes awhile to put your life back together, but it only takes a moment to be right with God.