January 17, 2011 Forward Motion Faith

It Was All About the Nets

Today’s services were absolutely awesome!  Totally blown away by both services.  Usually, as a rule our two services take on their own life.  Since the Holy Spirit leads both of them and the Holy Spirit is in constant motion – we rarely see a “duplicate” service in demonstration.  Our service order is the same but we don’t usually see a “repeat” demonstration of the Spirit.  Today was a bit different.

I prayed early this morning in the sanctuary.  I sensed I was missing something but just couldn’t put my finger on it.  In our first service worship service the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me a direction I needed to go with the services (note the word “services” is plural – what happened in the first service the Holy Spirit led me to believe was going to be repeated in the second service). It was about the nets.  It was relatively simple – I just had not received it.

The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “There are people here today who have “broken nets”.  The words sound like “brokenness” when you say them repeatedly.  Broken nets is indicative of brokenness.  Until the brokenness is dealt with you can’t move into the deep waters to catch a large supernatural catch of fish.

Jesus walks up to the disciples who are “mending their nets” (John 5.1-11).  He finds four disciples – Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John.  The following steps take place in a life changing moment in these men’s lives.

1. It’s about the nets. 

The whole day today had a relationship to these nets.  Here is what the Holy Spirit led us to do today.  It wasn’t about mending, repairing or restoring the nets.  It was about replacing the nets.

Jesus never mentioned the activity of the men mending their nets.  He never mentions the nets again until He tells Simon Peter to cast the nets overboard for an unbelievable catch. This being said, Jesus stopped the net mending and had Simon Peter get in his boat and surrender command to Him.  Here is the key to what happened today: this wasn’t about mending or repairing the brokenness.  This was about replacing the nets.  When Simon Peter finally had to grip the net to fish with  – it was a new one, the old one had been supernaturally replaced.  The old was still on the shore in an unfinished condition of restoration. 

There are times God can and wants to mend, repair and restore.  But there are times he wants to replace the brokenness.  Today in both of our services – He replaced brokenness.  We left some broken nets on the shore of yesterday’s experiences.  He led us into  a new net position.  It isn’t always about restoration – sometimes it’s about replacement.

The broken nets were a symbol of former failure.  They had fished all night and had caught nothing. Absolutely nothing.   That was a huge failure for a professional fishing crew.  They knew where to fish and how to fish.  But they were working in the flesh.   Simon would engage in the same activity but this time it would be under divine direction and it would be successful.  Sometimes we have to leave yesterday’s failures on the shore, untie the boat, get in with a new Captain and move in forward motion faith.  Failure doesn’t have to be fatal or final.

2. Untie the boat. 

You can’t even consider pushing into shallow water much less go deeper until you untie the boat.  This is about control.   It’s about surrendering control of your “life ship” to the Lord.  We will never go deep with the Lord until we walk away from attempts at mending something that needs to be replaced.

3. Listen and learn.

“Push out a little” is about moving in forward motion faith in stages.  First stage is listening and learning.   This is the shallow water of listening and learning.  Simon Peter would hear whatever Jesus was teaching that day in its entirety.  Did Jesus put Simon Peter in a “fixed listening” position so Simon would be a captive audience?  Does He put you and I in a fixed position of listening and learning?  I sure hope so!  We do know that Simon had not yet learned to walk on water yet…so maybe He did put Simon Peter in fixed position of listening and learning.

4. Respond and Reward

The next command Jesus would give to Simon Peter would be to “launch out into the deep for a catch”.  Really?  Are you serious?  Here was a carpenter telling fisherman how to do their job.  And it worked because this fisherman had listened and learned and now he would respond and obey. Oh, Simon had an opinion alright –  but the point of his lesson learned was in his statement, “Nevertheless, at Your Word”.  Badda boom badda bing!

Opinions aren’t bad until they keep from obedience.  All of us have an opinion about this and that.  All of us!  Something happened to this opinionated fisherman that morning.  He surrendered to the word and will of the Lord.  When he did he found a new way of fishing! 

5. Blessed to bless.

When Simon Peter reached to his feet there was a new net.  Not an old repaired and restored net.  A new one and the new one brought in such a load of fish that Simon had to ask for help to contain the catch.  This is nothing less than being blessed to bless.  Simon Peter took his lesson learned and applied to it responding and received a reward – as well as did others around him.

Your blessings are given so that you can bless others.  2011 is already in forward motion due to our fasting and seeking God.  The two services proved that this morning.  I can’t wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us.