Taking God At His Word 26-Apr-2026 10AM

Now, this is where you can't read the Bible too fast because I just told you, I used to applaud Simon. I used to give him blue ribbon. I I I used to because I thought that he was an obedient servant but when you read the text, the most he gets is a participation trophy. Because he really does not do what he was told to do. Yeah. Y'all read the Bible. Verse four, here it is. Jesus, launch out in the deep, let down your nets. Verse five, Simon says, that didn't work last time but since you asked me to, I'll let down the net. [02:03:44] (42 seconds)  #ParticipationTrophyFaith

And and and I'm about done but this is the point of reflection that I can't let alone because the fact of the matter is too many of us are in spaces where god is saying, I want to bless you with multitudes. But you're only giving me the minimum. This season of life ministry, god has called us to a space where we don't just give him one net Rather we give him everything we have, trusting that if god gives a command to do something we've never done and surrender more than we've ever surrendered. [02:13:21] (43 seconds)  #NoMoreMinimum

the request you're making requires more effort than I really wanna give. Because that requires me to get dirty something I've already cleaned. So, instead of doing what you're asking in totality, I'm just going to do part of it and hope that's enough for you to breathe on it and do something Jesus y. Jesus calls him. To let down his nets but Simon says, Imma give you one. Now, before you point your long finger of judgments at brother Simon, let me remind you, you are not the hero of the story. [02:05:24] (48 seconds)  #FullSurrenderOnly

Because I submit that there's a lot more of Simon in all of us than we care to admit. Because I submit when you've done the same thing the same way for a sizable amount of time without any new results or new progress, it becomes really easy to going do that. To We're in your head and wondering what has gone wrong, to it becomes real easy to not give god everything but just to do enough to get by. What happened to all my amens? When you've been in a space where you've done all you knew to do without any new results, it becomes real easy to give God the bare minimum. But my friends, let me remind you that partial obedience is still disobedient. [02:06:12] (64 seconds)  #StopGivingTheBareMinimum

Verse five, Simon says, that didn't work last time but since you asked me to, I'll let down the net. One more again. Let's try again. Verse verse four, Jesus says, launch out to the deep. Let down your nets. Verse five, Simon says, that ain't work last time, but since you told me to, I'll let down my net. Yeah. Time's strong. I have nothing to do all week long. Jesus says, let down your nets. Plural. Plural. Simon says, since that didn't work last time, I'm only gonna let down my net. Singular. [02:04:17] (43 seconds)

Here's the shot of the text. If you're faithful in giving god your obedience, god is faithful to give you overflow. But here's the part I like the most. I'm gone. Really am. Verse seven says, once they realized they had too many fish for just their boat, they beckoned to their partners in the other book so they could come help them. [02:14:04] (36 seconds)

Fresh off of his thirtieth birthday, Jesus Christ emerges from the Jordan where he is then led by the spirit into the wilderness. Right. Seemingly an undesirable place for the newly baptized son of god to spend his early moments in ministry. He is reminded in the early stages of his journey that with new levels come new devils. Lucky for him, he does not try to fight the enemy by acting like the enemy, but rather with every attack of Satan, he counters with the authority of scripture. [01:42:08] (45 seconds)

The implication here is that Simon says to himself, because what you're asking me to do does not make sense to me, I'm only going to do part of it. Yeah. It's going to get tight. Here it is. He says to Jesus, since I've already washed all of my nets, the request you're making requires more effort than I really wanna give. Because that requires me to get dirty something I've already cleaned. [02:05:00] (38 seconds)