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Well, today I want to give you a message. I've titled it Launch Forward. Launch Forward. Look back to Launch Forward. Your past is a launch pad, not a landing place. God gives us moments in our life that are memorials that help create some momentum inside of us. And I don't want you to use your past to beat you down. I want you to think about what God has done in your past to help you launch forward. And I'm grateful for the Bible. I want you to look in your Bible at Joshua chapter 4. Then we'll look at 1 Samuel 17, then Luke 5. Joshua chapter 4, and Joshua is the pastor that took the baton from Moses. Moses died in Joshua chapter number 1. Moses was the pastor in the wilderness, right? He led him out of Egypt. He was in the wilderness for a while, and then God took him, and it was time to pass the baton forward. And Joshua's leading them forward into the promised land. And God tells them, hey, listen, guys, in verse number one of Joshua 4, it says, It came to pass when all the people were clean, passed over Jordan. So they passed over. That the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe of man, and command ye them, saying, Take you hence out, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priest's feet stood firm, twelve stones. Everybody say, Twelve stones. And ye shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place there where ye shall lodge this night. So he says, Hey, listen, I want you to get twelve guys, each guy's gonna get a stone. And I want you to bring that stone out, and I want to have a spot where you're gonna create a memorial, a remembrance, something to look back on to remember what I did for you. And you're gonna carry that stone on your shoulder and you're gonna put it in a spot, and it says this in verse 6 that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them. That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan, when the waters of Jordan were cut off, these stones shall be a, what's it say? Memorial unto the children of Israel forever. So here's what he says. I want these stones to serve as a sign to speak to your children to remind them of what I did in your life. For those of you who are maybe 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 years old, your kids, if you don't have any memorial stones to share with them where you came from, they'll think that you've always had it like this. They'll see the house, they'll see the car, they'll see the job, they'll see the blessings, and they won't realize, hey, you came out of Egypt. You came through that wilderness experience, and it wasn't a one-and-done thing. It was God sequentially growing you from faith to faith, and you had some hard times in the past. And God delivered you, and God brought you to where you're at right now. And so, what God told these uh uh uh these these in the children of Israel is saying, Hey, get these stones. Because why? Because people are gonna forget. We forget, don't we? We forget the blessings of the past, we forget what God did five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago. We forget that we used to be stuck dead in trespasses and sins. We forget all the miracles of the manna. We forget how He spared us from the plagues and how he delivered us and set our feet upon a rock and established our goal. We can forget, can't we? We really can. And so these stones were to serve as a memorial. And it says this in verse 10 for the priest which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according to all that Moses commanded Joshua, and the people hasted and passed over. So they clean passed over. And the Bible says this in verse 14. On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life. You say, why did they why did they magnify Joshua? Because Joshua now was now their pastor. He was now moving them forward, and God had raised him up and brought them forward into a new place, into the into the promised land, and they were now looking back at where they used to be. And they had those memorial stones. Hey, do you have any memorial stones in your life? Do you have any some places that you used to live? Do you have any jobs you used to have? Do you have any situations maybe you used to be in debt or used to have uh cancer or you used to have a wayward child and then God healed and saved and delivered? Do you have any situations like that? I sure hope you do. Because we're not just reading about the God of the Bible as if it's past tense. He's the God of today as well. And he's still doing miracles in our life today. And those past signs, those past symbols, are not landing places. They're launch pads for you to remember what God has done in the past. Now, if you do a good job of taking inventory of what God has done, you can use it as fuel for your fire for the giants that you're gonna slay in the days ahead. Because you know you got some giants ahead of you, right? You know you got some situations ahead of you. Just because you go from the wilderness to the promised land doesn't mean it's gonna be uh easy, easy, easy all day long. Those giants aren't just gonna give you their cities. Those situations that you're looking to advance in, they're not just gonna walk away. You gotta fight for it, friend. Have you ever seen a fighter who lost their hope? You ever seen a fighter who's there physically, but they're not there mentally and emotionally? Oh, yeah, they're physically there, but you can tell they don't have the same fire inside of them. It's like a marriage that's been together for 30 years, but now there's no more love and feeling, there's no more hugging, there's no more kissing, there's no more holding hands, there's no more dating, they're just roommates. They're there physically, but not emotionally and mentally. Oh, it's like the church member who's been in the church for 10 years. They've served in the nursery, they've ushered, they've done all these things. They're there physically, but spiritually and mentally and emotionally, nothing. We're just roommates. There's no intimacy, there's no closeness, there's no giddy up, there's no fire, there's no pop. But have you ever seen somebody who's hungry? They really, really, really want it. They really, really want it. They're hungering and thirsting for righteousness. You ever seen a fighter who can't wait to get out the gate? They're coming, right? They're coming for this. They want it. You can tell when somebody wants it, you can tell when they want their marriage, when they love their spouse, when they love their church, when they love their work their job, when they love their workout, because they're not just there physically, they're there emotionally and spiritually and mentally. They're studying the game, they're servants of what uh and how to advance. They're all the way in. These people are few and far between. Why? Because life will just kick the hope right out of you. It really will. And so these memorial stones are important to see what God did in the past, and they should serve as a fuel for your fire to help you to advance forward. I want to give you an example of how this works. Go over in your Bible to 1 Samuel chapter number 17. There was a new battle that was up ahead, and David is taking food to his brothers, and Goliath is out there, and he's taunting the nation of Israel, and he's saying, Bring me a man that I may fight with them. And he's mocking Israel. He's mocking the God of glory. And David shows up and he's like, What is happening here? Who's this giant? What's he doing? What's happening here? I don't like this. And David's asking questions, like, what's going to happen to whoever takes out this giant? And then they're like, Well, hey, the king will hook him up big time. He'll bless him big time if uh if he takes him out. And in 1 Samuel chapter 17, are you all there? Say amen. Okay, it says this. David shows up and finds out what's going to happen if he takes him out. And it says this, one of his brothers, Eliab, in verse 28, his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. He said, Why comest thou? Why camest thou down hither? And whither whom uh hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and thy naughtiness and thine heart, for thou art come down, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. Here's what his brother, older brother's doing. What are you doing here, David? Here's a little pip squeak. You're just trying to see things. What are you even trying to do here? He's almost dismissing him. And here's the problem sometimes with family. Family can get so familiar that they forget that there's power in their brothers and sisters, that there's ambition and there's drive and there's potential. And then what can happen is sometimes in a church family is you can poo-poo and push down and and and not see the value of the stimulation of the Holy Spirit, what's happening in other brothers and sisters in your family. And you can push them down and you can think the worst. I don't want to be a Christian that thinks the worst of other people. There's a lot of people that are walking, talking, critical cynics. Oh, it can't be done. We're stuck. My health is always this way, the marriage is always this way, the church is always this way, the nation is always this way. It's a lot of people who have given up, they've quietly given up. And here David is asking, what's going to be done? And Elijah's like, What are you even doing here? Listen, when God is stirring something in your heart to do something, don't be surprised when you have some negative confirmations of people trying to shut you up and sit you down. And here's why they do that. Because they themselves are not stepping up. And so, because they won't step up, if you try to step up, you'll make them feel bad. And your faith will call out their unbelief. And so, anytime you're trying to step up to a situation and you have somebody else trying to push you down, just see it as a negative confirmation. And I have found people are for you a lot of times as long as your success doesn't outweigh their success. The moment your success outweighs their success, they get jealous, they get critical, they get bitter. And they try to pull you down. See, people that are stuck want to pull everybody else down to be stuck. And so, when you're full of the Holy Ghost of God, you need to have some memorial stones that when you're around stuck people, they don't hold you down to. And so David hears this from his brother, and the Bible says this, and David said in verse 29, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? He's almost like, Why are you coming at me? You ever had somebody coming at you when you're trying to do something good? Maybe you're checking for a job or you're checking for a ministry or checking for a spouse or you're trying to find out the lay of the land and you're trying to do something good, and you got other people trying to hold you back and hold you down. And David's like, What have I now done? By the way, don't we have a job to do? Isn't there a cause? Isn't there a reason we're doing this? Isn't there a reason we go to church and have family and fight for our nation? Isn't there a reason? There is. And David is like, is there not a cause? And he turned from him in verse 30 and he says, Hey, and he spake after the same manner. And the people told him, Yeah, man, if you take on the Goliath, man, you're gonna get the reward. Hey, listen, you do the job, you risk it, then you get the biscuit, friend. If you're gonna put skin in the game, blood, sweat, and tears, hey, then you can have the trophy. Our problem nowadays, and what we've done over the last 20 years, is every kid gets a trophy. Every kid that strikes out, everyone that quits gets a trophy. No, listen, if you struck out, you quit, you lost, listen, you don't get a trophy. Your reward is the feedback that you need to do better again next time. But you don't get the dessert for striking out and messing up and making errors and showing up late. Nuh-uh. Uh-uh. Because if you start rewarding disobedience and laziness, then people get the wrong signals in their head. And so David here, he hears this, and the Bible says this in verse 31. And when the words were heard, which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul. Saul's the king. And he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail him because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. Hey, listen, you're gonna have people that tell you you can't do it. You're too young, you're too old, you're too tall, you're too short, you're too poor, you're too rich. It doesn't matter what it is. You're too white, you're too black, you're you don't speak this language. People will give you all kinds of stuff that will hold you down. And it's because it's their preconceived notion of who you are and what's possible. And man is looking on the outside. They're judging us based on what we look like physically. But here's what they're not seeing: they don't see our heart, they don't see our past, they don't see the battle wounds and the repetitions privately that you did when nobody was watching. They don't see that that you are executing privately over and over and over again. All they do is they see one person physically. I want to tell you this: you're more than your physical body. You're a spirit and a soul that has a body. You are not a body first that has a soul. Get the order correct. Because if you don't get that order correct, then other people will landlock you down in their prism of how they think life should be. And so Saul looks at this, and and I don't blame him, David's probably not the biggest, strongest guy. And if you if you stack him against Goliath, surely you can understand humanly speaking, he doesn't look like he can win. And it's in moments like that you have to remember we walk by faith and not by sight. We walk by faith and not by sight. God is well able to deliver you, God is well able to deliver you from debt and from depression and from destruction and from divorce. God is able, friend. He is able. How many of y'all got a big God out there? Come on, I got a big God. We got a big God. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. We cannot walk around as unbelievers, we cannot walk around as naysayers and cynics and critical of everything. We must walk around as giant slayers, as mountain claimant giant slayers that walk with God and seize the prize. That's what faithful believers do. They believe in possibility when everybody else is stuck. A believer believes in God and says, I know my God can do this, I know he's well able. Oh God, don't let them quench my faith and quench my spirit. God, let me see it as negative confirmation and help me to move forward. And so David hears this. Now, he still has to persuade the king to let him go forward to fight. And the Bible says this. After he hears Saul tell him, You can't do it. By the way, you're gonna have a lot of people that tell you no, no, you can't. But all that's just the price tag for admission. All that rejection is just building you up with some calluses. And by the way, you need some calluses. You need to be hardened a little bit, you need to take some hits so you can find out what you're made of, right? And to be able to keep moving forward. Those who have wimpy personalities and weak wills, they they cave at the first opposition that comes upon them. But God strengthens us through those negative oppositions. And so the Bible tells us this David says to the saw to Saul the king respectfully, he says, Okay, Mr. King, you don't think I could do it? Thy servant kept his father's sheep. Let me tell you a story, King. I used to watch my daddy's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered him out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and I smote him, and I slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. And David said, Moreover, the Lord, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the ha the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go and the Lord be with thee. You know what he said? Let me just tell you a story. King, you don't really even know who I am. You don't know what I've done. And here's one of the challenges with us. People think they know you. They think when they see you physically, they know everything about you. They size you up and they think, oh, he or she can't do it. It's very, very important at times that you remind people or for the first time share with them who you are. You tell them what you've done. Now I get we're not supposed to live in pride and arrogance, but there is a time for you to make sure you put out what your accomplishments are. Like if you go to a job interview and they say, I don't know if you could do it, and you say, Yeah, I'm not that good, they're not gonna hire you. Right? But if you say, uh, listen, I can handle this job site. I poured concrete over here, I framed these walls over here, I did this electrical job over here, listen, I did this massive real estate deal over here, listen, I put this together over here, and surely I can do this too. Which one gives confidence? The one who has a track record of success. So don't think being a Christian means that you don't have any success in your life. You need to have some successes that you point to in order to persuade or clarify or open up people's mind as to who you are. And so that that brings me to this question: what are your accomplishments? What are your wins? Now, all of us have some wins. Some of us have more. We've stacked and packed a lot more wins than other people. And by the way, if you've stacked and packed a lot more wins than other people, that means something. That means there's faithfulness, there's credibility, there's risk, there's a lot of stuff inside there. You overcame adversity. There's a ton of things inside there that caused you to stack a ton of wins like that. And so if you're if you're living down in as somebody who doesn't have a lot of wins, and you see somebody up there, let me tell you something. That took a lot of work. It took a lot of risk, it took a lot of pain, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of fighting lions and bears and devils and demons and fasting and prayer for them to have what they have. And so, what I want to encourage you with right now is what are some of your past wins? Because you need to be able to point to some past wins when you're going up for a new job opportunity, when you're going to take on a new Goliath. Why? Because if all you do is see that Goliath and the size of the Goliath and you look at yourself in the mirror and all you see is yourself physically, you're gonna back away. But if you look back at your memorial stones, if you look back at, you know what? I I remember when I didn't think I was gonna pass that test, but I prayed and I and I and I got God's help and I passed that test. I remember when I didn't have that license, and now I got that license. I remember when I didn't have that job and now I got that job. Hey, I remember when I didn't have that spouse, but now look at I got that spouse. Praise God for that. Amen. I remember I didn't have a baby, but look at this. Now I got a whole lot of babies, right? A lot of children, right? Look, I remember when I didn't have any grandkids, but look at I got all kinds of grandkids going on. I remember when I didn't have a ministry, but now look at I got I got all these ministries going on. All of these are memorial stones. They're not just places of deliverance where you you were in drugs or debt or depressed. Those those are memorial stones, but there are also situations where there were impossible odds that it didn't look like you were going to be able to win, and God showed up and gave you the win. He gave you that vehicle, he gave you that job, he gave you that church, he gave you that ministry. Or how about this? He took you from one uh ministry in Egypt and he brought you into a ministry in Egypt or in the wilderness. So you had a ministry in Egypt, but now he moved you to a ministry in the in the wilderness. But then he says, you know what? I don't want you in that ministry anymore. I don't want you at that job anymore. I'm gonna move you now and I'm gonna move your ministry over here to the promised land. So you need to have these moments in your life where you look back and you go, oh, look what God did. When you take all that power and that substance, how do you feel when you start tracing back all of your wins? You start feeling good. Hey, I remember when I couldn't even bench 140, then I couldn't bench 190, then I couldn't bench 225, then I couldn't bench 275, then I couldn't bench 315, and then I couldn't, and then I couldn't bench 365, then I couldn't bench 400. I still can't bench 400. But listen, you every one of those things is a sequential growth win. That you were striving for something, you tried it, you failed, and then you tried it again, you got a little stronger, and then you you won. Those are memorial stones of victories. When you start writing those out, then you're going into a new situation. You get yourself built up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, realizing God brought me through all that stuff. I'm gonna take out this Goliath now. Anybody got any Goliaths in their life right now? Some situations in your life they look really, really big. This is the way to get yourself really built up in a strong way. Now, some of us in here we're dealing with with maybe we're on a string of losses. You ever seen a team that, or a Christian or a person, or a church, they've been losing a lot. Man, it stinks to lose. I hated losing last night with my Padres. And the Dodgers, Abraham's Dodgers won. I hate that. Oh, now you're for the Padres, Joe? Okay. Wait, if we lose tomorrow and the next day, you can have a Dodger shirt on. But listen, sometimes you can you can get in slumps, right? You ever got in a slump? You ever seen a golfer get the yips, or a baseball player he's got a hitch in a swing? Or you got a Christian who used to be on fire, they used to be a soul winner disciple, or and now listen, they can barely make it to church. They don't even read their Bible anymore. You got you got in a slump. Listen, when you get in a slump, there's some things you can do to get out of a slump, right? But what happens if you quit? If you quit, you stay in that slump forever. You stay there. Well, I want to show you where where Peter was in a little bit of a slump, okay, and how God got him out. Go over in your Bible to Luke chapter number five. Luke chapter five, y'all enjoying this? Amen. Me too. I love the Bible. I love church, I love being here. Luke chapter number five, and then I'm gonna give you about four or five points and try to put this thing together in a nice way. Luke chapter 5, look what it says here. Verse number 1. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, Luke 5, verse 3, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drop. And Simon said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. So here's what he said. So Jesus basically says, Hey guys, I need to use your boat. I want to preach a little bit. Right? Hey, if God wants to use your boat or your house or your car, will you let him? Will you let him have a Bible study in your house? Will you let him do ministry through you in your heart? That's basically what he did here. Hey, can I use you? Can I use what you got? And I found the more I let Jesus use everything I got because it's all his anyways, the more he blesses me personally afterwards. That's just how that works. When you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then he says, Oh good, I'm glad that you're not trying to be a uh owner of everything, but you're a steward. It's not about accumulation, it's about letting the Almighty use you. Well, here he gets in the boat and he's preaching and teaching, and then he finally gets done. He says, Hey, Pete, let's launch out, buddy. Let's go deep sea. Let's go out a little further. And uh, and and Peter says, Listen, Master, we've toiled all night, we've caught nothing. Here's what he said. I'll put it in our terms. We struck out. I got sacked. I was a QB, I got sacked. Um I was a builder, and it was a money pit. I was a flipper, and uh, you know what? It's uh I I didn't make any money, I actually lost money. I lost time. I tried to start a business and it fell apart. I went for a ministry thing and it and it just it felt fell to pieces. I got I tried to get married before and she was crazy or I was crazy, but it didn't work, okay? It's just gone. And I failed. And sometimes we can get in these these moments where we tried something and we failed and we think we're a failure. Failure is an event, it's not a person. And failure is part of life. If success was guaranteed in every endeavor you take, you would not need faith. Success is not guaranteed. There's an element of risk, there's an element of failure. And so it requires you to have faith, to trust God, to have the confidence to step out, and if it falls apart, at least you got the benefit and the wisdom of the growth of what does not work. I love what Edison said. He said, I didn't fail 10,000 times, I learned 10,000 uh ways, it doesn't work. I succeeded 10,000 times on what not to do. And part of having this faith journey is you're gonna go through slumps. You're gonna go through situations where, you know, I tried it and it didn't work, and I went fishing and it didn't, I didn't catch anything. And then you're gonna feel like down and defeated, and like, oh, I'm no good, I can't do it. And if you stay there, you're stuck. But I'm thankful that Jesus many times will say, Listen, launch out into the deep. I I know your failures, I know your past, I know you went through. I saw you last night, I saw you trying to fish, I saw you trying to do that, I saw it didn't work for you. I saw that, I was there, I recognize it. But listen, I've got something better for you, and I've let you fail. How about that? God will let you fail. That way, when when he's on the boat and he tells you to do something great, like launch out in the deep, and there's a massive success, you'll realize that your success is because of him. It wasn't because of your intelligence, it wasn't because of your might, it wasn't because of your power, it wasn't because of your education and academia, it wasn't because of all of your hustle and all this other stuff, it's because you yielded to God. And you were willing to have the courage and the grace and the humility to be able to say, God, nevertheless, listen, I fished all night, it didn't work before, but if this is what you want, I'll do it. So will I. Send me, God. Even though I failed in the past, I will follow you and do this thing. So what does Peter do? He says, Nevertheless, at your will, I'll go ahead and do it. He said, We went fishing, we caught nothing, but if this is what you want to do, and by the way, sometimes you've got to do that. Sometimes you've got to have that honest talk with God. I tried this before, it didn't work. I tried, I tried this parenting thing, I tried these marriage thing, I tried this ministry thing, I tried this business thing, I tried it just didn't work, and I still have the scars to prove it. Here's how you can tell you're healing. You want to know how you're healing from a past failure, a past ministry endeavor? You can tell you're not healed yet when the wound, you don't want to talk about it, you don't want anybody to see it, you don't want it to be brought up. You can tell you're starting to heal in a good way when it's already scabbed over and the scars there, and you're willing to say, hey, check out this scar. This is what I learned. And you're willing to put yourself back out there again. Right? When you have a wound from something that's fresh, it's harder for you to put yourself out there. But when when the wound heals and it solidifies and it scars and it helps, then you're like, okay, I got the healing, I got the wisdom, I got the mindset. Now I'm gonna put myself back out there again. And when you start putting yourself back out there, you get yourself in position to see God work again. And so here we see that Jesus gets in the boat, he says, Let down your nets for the draught, and the Bible says he let down a net, the net, right? Now look what happens in verse 6. And when they had had had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and the net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were on the other ship, that they should come and help them, and they came and filled both ships so that they began to sink. And when Peter saw uh when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished at all and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes that were taken. So imagine this. You're broke, you got nothing, you spent all of your time and energy, you feel like a failure. And Jesus says, I got you, son, let's go. And then all of a sudden, you get the biggest, best payday of your life. You got so much increase coming in that you're like, Hey, I got so much, come help me! Come on! Can you imagine the guys over there, like, oh man, look at Pete's hooked up over there, man? Let's go help him. And they get over there and they're pulling up all these fish and they're bringing it together. Peter gets so humbled by this, he's like, falls on his knees and says, God, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. Now, why? Why, why does he say depart from me? Does he really want God to depart from him? Not really. But have you ever looked at yourself and your own sinfulness, your own selfishness, and your own pride, and how you would maybe self-sabotage and you wouldn't put yourself out there because maybe you doubted yourself or you doubted others, you doubted God, and you just like you see how kind of like fear and doubt and unbelief has held you down, and then you see God show up and do something for you, you just feel so unworthy, right? And that's his heart. He's like, God, just I don't even deserve this. And he recognizes his sin and he falls down before him. Now, Jesus is teaching something bigger here. Ooh, this is so good, thank you, Lord. It's not about the fish, it's not about the failure, it's not about the slump, it's not about any of the physical things that you're thinking it's all about. It's not about the project, it's not about the license, it's not about the test, it's not about the marriage, it's not about the kids, it's not about any of that. You say, what's it about, preacher? It's about Jesus building your faith in who he is. All of those things are tools that he's using to try to cultivate a Christ-likeness inside of you. And so, what he'll do is he'll let you fail through these experiences to get you to realize you're not the savior, but he's the savior. That when you fail, he doesn't fail. And what he's doing is he's pulling out self so he can have places to put the Savior's spirit and power inside of you. And so look what Jesus says to him next. After Peter realizes it's not about how smart he is and how strong he is and how intelligent he is, and and it he says, Depart from me, I'm a sinful man. He sees all this big uh hookup of fish. Verse 10. And so was also James and John the son of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. See, what was he doing? What was he doing? He was he was changing his heart and his life. That's what he was doing. He was saying, Listen, now that you recognize I know and have the power to do all these things and you failed and I didn't, I I want you to realize I don't really want you to be a fisherman anymore. I want you to go catch men. I want you to be a soul winner. I want you to be a preacher for me. I want you to minister for me. But he had to break him on the inside. See, God can't use you as a preacher of the gospel until you realize it's not about your preaching. It's not about your intelligence and how sharp and smart you are and all this stuff. He can use you as a preacher when you realize I'm nothing. I'm I'm nothing, I'm nobody, I'm I have nothing by myself, but it's all about you, God. See, then you're dead to self. And when you're dead to self and you're alive to God, God can use not just your boat, not just your house, but he can use your whole vessel. He could use everything for his glory. And now he'll use you to catch people and to draw them to Christ. And so here he tells them, launch forward. Hey, are you in a situation right now? Maybe you're empty. You're like, this is the last time in my life I should ever be launching forward. Like, I have failed so many times, and now you feel God tugging at your heart. Hey, I want you to try that date. Hey, I want you to try that ministry. Hey, I want you to launch out over there. And when you point to your failure, you need to recognize Jesus is pointing to his power and what he can do. And it's okay for you to be honest with him. Like, I'm not saying you stuff down your past issues and failures and harms, but I am saying, like, share it with him, but don't let it stop you. Don't let your past be a landing pad that quenches your growth for future success. Look to it and go, hmm. I have some memorial stones of good transitions in my life, and I have some good successes I can look back on, and then I have some past failures I can look back on. And all of these are the culmination of God's work building up my faith and my character and who I am so that he can use me for his glory. Can you see how God can use your failures and your successes? Can you see how God takes you from one place in your life to another place in your life? That's the work of faith. And if you're in here today and you think, okay, I've already done all that, listen, God will take you from this faith spot to the next faith spot. And by the way, he doesn't always ask you for permission with how you like it. Sometimes he just dries up the brook. Maybe you have a nice job and a nice house and a nice car, and then God says, hmm, I think I'm going to just dry up your finances. Didn't he do that for the man of God Elijah? Yeah, remember he was feeding him with the raven and the brook dried up? And and sometimes God dries up your current situation in order to get you to a place where you're like, okay, where do you want me to go now, Lord? I'm empty. I feel like a loser. I feel like I've lost. I I don't know what to do. That's the right spot. That's the right spot. Because now you're not, your faith is not so tied to your house or your temporal job or your income flow. It's God, you put me in a place where all I have is you. And by the way, Lord, you're enough. So you just show me what you want me to do, and I'm happy to follow you. If the cloud is moving, I will move. And in that situation with Elijah, he said, Hey, I've got a widow woman that she's going to provide for you and take care of you. Here's something I've learned in ministry. You know, when I first planted the church, I always thought, man, we have to have all these people to make sure that, you know, we can take care of everything. Then I realized just one widow woman can take care of all the bills. You know that? I've learned by experience, and this is why I get back to that, the quality of just one relationship, of just focusing on the ministry of one and making sure you're doing a great job. Because what God will do is sometimes He'll take you from this big crowd of people that you think that your success and your livelihood is based on the size and the quantity of your clients and customers and the people you serve, and God will say, actually, I'm controlling what what how you're taken care of, and he'll refocus you away from the crowd and into just the individual. And you and I have to be willing to say, God, my success is not tied to numbers. It's all based in you. It's all based in you. So, question for you guys Is anybody in here going through a dried-up season? Maybe it was flowing good before and now it's not flowing. In those moments, is God done? He's not done, is he? But there's somebody else up ahead that he already has a handful of purpose for you. But you have to stay listening to him, that still small voice in the word of God, to say, okay, God, show me what you want me to do. And he'll navigate you right where you're supposed to be. But if you get upset and throw a temper tantrum and go home and I'm not doing this anymore, you miss the biggest blessing of it all. It was never about the financial, physical, all that stuff. It was always about your heart with God. You don't want to do anything that's going to quench your heart with God. You want to make sure that your heart's staying growing in Christ because the the trials that are coming upon you, think it not strange concerning those fiery trials which are to try you. They're working faith inside of you. And so write these, write these points down and I'll be finished. Hopefully, this is ministered to your heart. I know it's helping me a lot. Number one, remember where you came from. Remember where you came from. Listen, I I still drive by off of Julian Avenue, where my dad and I lived in this studio apartment when I was uh eight, nine, ten years old. I still remember where I lived. A little shack. I still remember this. And and and I still remember going around Lakeside and and being a little hooligan and just messing everything up and getting in fights and not knowing what I was doing. I still remember that. I know who I am. I know where God brought me from. Do you remember where He brought you from? When you drive by certain places, do you remember? I still remember places that I drive by and go, ooh, I should have died right there. Oh, I remember I should have got killed right there. I still remember these moments. And I think, thank you, God. Thank you for delivering me. I was I was such a wretch. I was so ignorant in unbelief. Thank you, God. Number two, remember who helped you. Remember who helped you. Do you remember who helped you? Maybe an aunt or an uncle or a grandma or a grandpa or a friend or a maybe a father figure. Could be a number of people. But remember who helped you. Nobody gets to this level alone. You've got to be able to let see who God's using to grow you up. Who taught you, who corrected you, who believed in you. God bless those nursery workers. They are helping us. Remember, hey, parents out there, if you got little babies back there, remember who helped you. Right? Number three, number three. Remember your victories. You need that. It's gonna strengthen you. Remember those victories. David remembered the lion, he remembered the bear, and then he got a new victory over Goliath. So hold on to those things. And then the last point, number four, this is so important. Reach for what's ahead. There's some good stuff ahead, brothers and sisters. There's some really good stuff. It's not over yet. Press toward the mark. Press. Listen, when you're pressing, there's gonna be a little bit of a struggle with it. That's good. That tension is good. It's how you develop. So in your life right now, depending on where you're at, just remember God didn't bring you here to keep you here. God brought you here to grow you. And then he's gonna help have you reach forward for what's ahead. When he starts stimulating that, just let him guide you. Let him guide you, and let him lead you by faith.