Embracing Full Obedience: Trusting God in Struggles

"Jenna had always dreamed of starting her own bakery for years she worked as a pastry chef in a busy restaurant waking up before dawn to bake bread and cakes and pastries for customers who never knew her name she had talent and she had passion and she had a desire to create something of her very own but more than that she felt deep in her heart that god had placed this dream inside of her after much prayer and a lot more planning she took a step of faith she quit her job she rented a small storefront and began jenna's sweet blessings bakery it was a humble start but she believed that god had led her to it she dedicated the shop to him praying over every loaf of bread every cookie every customer who walked into her doors she had launched into the deep if you will just like peter but things didn't go as planned the first few months were brutal some days she barely had any customers other days she would break bake more than she could sell she other days she'd bake more than she could sell and the leftover pastries would go stale the bills were piling up and the doubt kept creeping in she had obeyed god's calling but why was she struggling so much is this relatable to anybody today you obey god's calling and yet you still have us a struggle in your life." [00:02:00]

"One night, Jenna was exhausted and on the verge of giving up, but she prayed, Lord, I did what you told me to do. Lord, I stepped out in faith, but I cannot keep this up. I've worked all night, and I have caught nothing, if you will. She didn't realize it at the time, but she was echoing Peter's words in Luke chapter 5 and verse 5. Tired, frustrated, and unsure, if obedience had even been worth it." [00:04:50]

"The next morning, Jenna decided to give it one more go -round, one more try. She adjusted her business approach, and instead of baking for walk -in customers only, she reached out to local churches and businesses. She offered to partner with them for events and for fundraisers. To her surprise, people responded immediately. One church placed a huge order for a women's conference. A local school wanted a weekly supply of muffins for their staff lounge, and a business asked her to cater to their morning meetings five days a week. Suddenly, the orders overwhelmed her. She had more work than she could handle alone. She couldn't bake fast enough. The oven couldn't bake fast enough. She couldn't bake and cook fast enough. She had too much to do. Her hands could not knead the dough quickly enough. She started stressing out over the very thing she had prayed about." [00:04:55]

"That's when she realized she needed help. At first, she resisted. This was her dream, after all. But as the pressure increased, she finally did what Peter did in Luke chapter 5, verse 7. She called on some partners. She reached out to an old co -worker and offered them a job. She brought in a few volunteers from her church to help with packaging. She even hired a teenager from that congregation who wanted to learn how to bake themselves. And just like that, her breaking net was reinforced. The orders kept coming, but now she had a team, a team for the dream. The blessing was no longer overwhelming. It was sustainable. The bakery thrived, not because, listen now, not because she struggled alone, but because she learned to speak to her struggle. She learned how to speak to her struggle and to call for help. Today, Jenna's Sweet Blessings Bakery is not just a business, it's a ministry." [00:06:37]

"She provides free bread to shelters, gives jobs to the poor, and gives food to the needy. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's a woman. She's awesome. She's She always enables those in need and uses her platform to share her testimony of struggling before the catch. When people ask her about the secret to success, she always smiles and says, At first, I only let down one net, but when I finally let down all my nets, God filled them. Are you getting where I'm going today? I only let down one net. I still held on to kne to the other net, because I still held fit through arms, hands and legs. He said to me, Jeff, you've got to do something. thought that I knew how to do it I still thought that I could you know have a security blanket a safety net if you will I had to keep this one close to the chest I had to keep this one for me and I would give God a little bit but you know what he only blessed it a little bit it was when I gave God all my nets that he blessed me all the way and I'm here to speak to somebody today you've been partially obedient to and God is partially blessing you and you can live like that all you want and you'll still get to heaven probably but I'm here to cast some vision today cast some support today and some encouragement today to get that other net out your pocket and cast it down into the sea and see what the Lord will do in your life it's time to stop holding back it's time to stop second -guessing it's time to stop going halfway it's time to broken everything else to go all in it's time to give the lord a chance it's time to put them in the hot seat you know the very first sermon i ever preached i don't know why they trusted me i had just come into the church and i was asked to preach somebody saw a call on me i didn't even know it was there and so i preached a little arrogant sermon called put god in the hot seat and it was the same along the same lines if god said it then let him do it if that's what the book says then either god is a liar or or he's not there's no in between so put him in the hot seat and see what he'll do cast your nets out if god has called you to cast your nets don't stop with your net cast all that you have upon him and watch him not forsake you watch him not leave you watch him not leave you Watch him care for you and console you and support you. Watch him work a miracle in your life. But if you only want it to be partway, well, only cast one net." [00:07:57]

"When Jesus speaks, y 'all, his words are not suggestions. They're commands, carrying divine authority. Sometimes my kids think that when I speak it's a suggestion. Bless you. Go brush your teeth. They ain't even upstairs yet. I say, that was not a suggestion, y 'all. Go brush your teeth. But I want to go brush your teeth. Then they get up there to brush them teeth. And then, is this relatable? But when the Lord says, When the Lord says something, when the Lord says something, it's not a suggestion. It's not a suggestion. In Luke chapter 5, verse 4, Jesus tells Peter, Launch out into the deep and let down your N -E -T -S nets for a catch. Church, this was a clear and a specific instruction. Cast your nets, not one of your nets. You say, Pastor, I got it. No, you don't. Not yet. Peter, tired and fruitless after a night of fishing, he caught, nothing. He responds and he says, Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Is that what the Lord said? Is that what the, is that, you say, I'm doing what God told me to do. Oh, really? Is that what he said? Well, it's part of it. This slight alliteration in obedience might seem minor to you. But it leads to a major lesson for us today. Partial obedience brings unnecessary struggle." [00:10:23]

"Partial obedience brings unnecessary struggle. Peter's experience mirrors our own. It mirrors our own. We often trust God, but only to a point. I'm going to go to church when I feel like it. I'm going to give when I feel like it. I'm going to apply. I'm going to apply scripture to my life when it's convenient for me to apply that. You know, when I say, when I see vengeance is mine, you know, in scripture, I can apply that. But we don't realize that God is the one who said that. That's not a scripture for you to quote as you backhand somebody. You know what I mean? Come on now. We get into this rut where we take steps of faith, but we hesitate to go all in." [00:12:17]

"Peter believed enough to let down a net, a net by himself. But not enough to cast out all the nets with his whole staff. You have to stop and understand. Sometimes we read scripture and we just read it to read it and we think we're getting it, but we're not getting it because I didn't see the nets versus net versus Peter versus staff versus all this until I slowed it down. And I understood that scripture was trying to teach me a lesson here. Peter didn't trust God to cast out all his nets. Peter didn't trust God enough to take the whole crew out. Uh, Peter. Said, uh, I will obey partially by myself. Uh, was it simply fatigue? Was it doubt? Was it skepticism? Perhaps he thought we've already tried. Uh, we've already been there. I know these C's rabbi. I know these C's master. We've already done it and they're all hibernating. All the fish have gone on summer vacation. All the fish are tied up at Walmart. Uh, they got swallowed by the whale cause they didn't want to swim to Nineveh. I don't know. But what I do know is that them fish were not biting that night and we've already tried. Lord, nothing has happened. And how many times do you and I hesitate because our past experiences contradict God's present command?" [00:14:24]

"How many times is our faith concerning the future tempered by our view of the now or from the view of what has been God? You've never done it so far. So why would you start doing it now? This has never worked out for me before. But why is it that you believe that you speak to me that it's going to work out now? I've never been able to pay my bills. So why would you tell me to give to the church now? You know, it's never worked out in my schedule to come to church every time the church doors are open. So why would you be trying to get me to go? You understand my schedule, you understand my finances, you understand why I can't just apply every scripture that's in your book. Lord, you know that all my special circumstances that exclude me from doing what you want me to do. Why are you telling me to do it?" [00:15:49]

"How many times have we limited God because of where we come from? Or because our experiences or our knowledge or our understanding is more important, is more relatable, makes more sense. How many times do we limit God based on what we can figure out? How many times do we limit God based on what we see right now instead of relying upon his infinite resources and his infinite wisdom? I'll never get tired of telling this story. We were broke as a joke. This is many years ago. We was broke. It wasn't even funny. That's how broke. We was broke as a bad joke. We couldn't even afford the punchline, y 'all. And yet this lady in our church, she wanted to go on a mission. She wanted to go on a mission trip, and I felt the Lord tell us to give. So I gave a check that our bank account couldn't cash. And then it cashed you, and it was fine. And so the Lord told me to do it again and to do it again and to do it again. And I was handing this lady in our church money after money after money after money. And it turns out we gave something like two grand or something to this lady going on a mission trip. My bank account had never seen two grand in its existence. Yet the Lord supplied. Every time I would give, he would supply. Every time I would sign my name. On that check, I got a check. Every time I needed groceries, the groceries were paid for. It was like we had a never -ending supply of food. As I followed what the Lord said to do, holy and without regard, holy and without holding back, he supplied all of our needs." [00:17:59]

"But amazingly, despite Peter's partial faith, Jesus still blesses him. Verse 6 tells us that when he let down the singular net, he caught so many fish that the net began to break. Because he limited his obedience, he also limited, get this, his preparation for his blessing. If he had obeyed fully from the beginning, the burden and the struggle would have been distributed across multiple nets. You understand what I'm saying? He obeyed partway. So he had a full -sized struggle in his halfway obedience. You got to understand here that Peter had a self -inflicted wound. And he could have turned it around on God like we do in our day, don't we? Don't we? Or is it just me? I say, Lord, I obeyed you with an asterisk on that. And now I'm struggling. So why is it that I'm having a full -sized struggle? Church, the lesson today is this. Some struggles we face are natural. Not because God's failure to provide, but because of our failure to prepare." [00:20:21]