February 15, 2026 - Encountering God in the Face of Jesus Matthew 14:12-25

This is the summation of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Is are you allowing him to correct your thinking, to show you where you get off track off of his agenda and you get on your own personal agenda? And are you willing to change it to realign it? Secondly, are you willing to come apart from things, to leave some things behind, even good things that are holding you back from going where Jesus wants you to go? The third one is, are you following him? Are you admiring him from a distance, or are you actually following him and learning from him on a regular day to day basis? And do you understand, and are you connecting your gifting to this calling of fishing? [01:03:50] (44 seconds)  #RealignToJesus

Let me just say also that you can't skip and say, well, you know what? I I did the the repent part. Now I'm ready to fish. Now all of this can be happening simultaneously, but all four of these are essential. And you can't say, well, I've repented and I've come to Jesus, and I really like being a follower of Jesus. But that fishing thing, that seems like it's for other people. No. All of this is tied together. It's all part of the same package. It's it's one football. [01:04:34] (35 seconds)  #NoSkippingSteps

And so whether or not you think you're an evangelist, it's kinda irrelevant. Be a follower of Jesus is to be one who fishes for people. To be one who is a part of Jesus' agenda, which Jesus' agenda was the son of man came to seek and save the lost. So you're repenting. You're coming away from. You're following. It's all part of it's all part of you being a part of this program of Jesus seeking and saving the lost. [00:58:32] (37 seconds)  #FishForPeople

And we sometimes think of repentance, and we may think of someone who came to the altar and was crying out to God, and and that may be an expression of it. But at its heart, it is to change your thinking. It is to recognize that your thinking is inconsistent with God's thinking. Repent so that you can be a part of of God's plan, of God's kingdom, of God's reign. Change your mind and get your thinking in line with his thinking. [00:42:12] (34 seconds)  #RepentAndRethink

Holy spirit, I invite you to be the one that we hear and sense, and we receive loving correction, not condemnation. So reorient us, correct us. And, Lord, we say thank you. If if there's something you're pointing out to us, that's a gift. We don't have to feel bad about it. We say, man, Lord, you love me enough that you wanted to to restore me. Thank you, Lord. [01:08:12] (24 seconds)  #HearHolySpirit

Even good things. Even things that is like, well, who could who could call this wrong? Right? It's not wrong unless it's keeping you from Jesus. Repent. Change your thinking. It's no longer about me saying, hey. What is best for me? It's it's Jesus, what do you want? I wanna think the way you think. [00:52:13] (26 seconds)  #GoodCanHoldYouBack

So Peter, who at one time had to repent, get his thinking straight, had to do it again, had to another time get his thinking in line with God's thinking. So I say to you this morning that the very first step in our relationship with Jesus and staying in right relationship with Jesus is taking time to say, are my thoughts god's thoughts? [00:43:40] (28 seconds)  #AreMyThoughtsGods

And so whether or not you think you're an evangelist, it's kinda irrelevant. Be a follower of Jesus is to be one who fishes for people. To be one who is a part of Jesus' agenda, which Jesus' agenda was the son of man came to seek and save the lost. So you're repenting. You're coming away from. You're following. It's all part of it's all part of you being a part of this program of Jesus seeking and saving the lost. [00:58:32] (37 seconds)  #FollowingIsEvangelism