Vantage Point Podcast - If You Say So... Now What?

0:00Welcome back to Vantage Point podcast and welcome to September, man. I hope you had a great Labor Day yesterday. We're going to jump right into this new series, man. But before we do that, last month, we talked about what it means to hear God clearer. Right? Clear and present was about recognizing his voice through all the noise, learning, discernment, paying attention, and eventually getting to a place where we could say what Peter said in Luke 5, if you say so. And while that was a great place to end August, it wasn't a great place to end the story. Right?

1:00Because it doesn't stop there. We spend a lot of time talking about saying yes to God, yes to the call, yes to instruction. And we celebrate those moments because they matter. And sometimes it takes everything in us just to get to a yes. But there's one question I feel we don't talk about enough. What happens after your yes? Right? What happens when that moment is over? What happens when the prayer ends, the emotion settles? And tomorrow morning you wake up having to live on the other side of that yes. Now what? Because saying yes is one thing. Living the yes is something entirely different. And a moment of obedience can happen in seconds, but a life of obedience gets worked out over days, months, years. Right? And that's where this series begins. So for September, we're going to be talking about if you say so. And it isn't just about having enough faith for one active obedience.

2:04It's about what happens when if you say so becomes more than something you said and it starts becoming the posture of your life. And Peter gives us a picture of that, right? You know what happens after he says those words, he lets down the nets, the catch came, the tear, the bolts filled up. Peter listened to Jesus. He obeyed that miracle, in scene, except Jesus wasn't finished. Because after that, Jesus says something that changes the conversation. And in the same chapter, Luke 5 verses 10 and 11, it says, don't be afraid, Jesus told Simon. From now on, you'll be catching people. They brought the boats to the land, left everything and followed him. And there it is. The nets were full. The miracle had happened. Peter had already obeyed, but Jesus was asking for more. He was asking for another yes. And that's where we begin this month, right?

3:07Not with Peter letting down the nets, but with him standing on the shore after. Because Peter yes, that yes wasn't the destination. It was a doorway. And sometimes we misunderstand obedience because we treat it like a finish line. God told me to do something. I did it, mission accomplished. But what if that thing got asked you to do wasn't the ending? It was an entrance. It was a doorway, right? That's what happened to Peter. He thought Jesus was talking about nets. Jesus was talking about his life, right? Somewhere between the nets going down and bringing the boats back to shore, that question got bigger. And Jesus is saying, come with me. Peter could have stopped with the miracle. He could have spent the rest of his life telling the story about the morning. Jesus produced this massive catch of fish. And honestly, that still would have been a pretty amazing testimony. He heard Jesus trusted what he said and watched something happen that he couldn't do on

4:10his own. But Jesus wasn't looking for Peter to leave with a great story. He was inviting him into a different life. And suddenly the question wasn't, will you let down the nets? It's will you follow me? That's a different kind of yes. See the first one required Peter to trust Jesus with this net. The next yes required Peter to trust Jesus with himself. But sometimes the first step is just God introducing us to what trust feels like. And somewhere along the journey we discover he was never after the thing we were holding. He wanted us. And that changes that thing we call obedience because now it's not simply what does God want me to do. It's also asking who is God inviting me to become as I follow him. And to be honest, we don't often know the size of the yes while we're saying. We think we're saying yes to one conversation, but God knows what that will unlock.

5:15We think saying yes to one opportunity is that that's it. But what God knows is that ultimately is going to expose us to more. We think we're saying yes to starting, but God's going to eventually keep asking about going and where starting isn't the main thing anymore. And maybe that's why we struggle with obedience. We want to know everything our yes contains before we let me give it. God, I'll do this, but what happens next? Where's it going? What's it going to cost me? We want to read the terms and conditions before we click agree. Sometimes God gives us answers. Sometimes he might let us see a little further down the road, but sometimes he just gives us the next step. Like Peter couldn't possibly understand everything contained in those words if you say so. He didn't know where following Jesus would take him or where or what would be asked of

6:18him. He didn't know what following Jesus would reveal about his faith, his fears, his strengths and his weaknesses. He knew what Jesus was asking right now. And at that moment, it was following me. And maybe you're asking God for step seven while he's keep pointing at step two, you want the destination and God keeps giving direction, right? You want the map, but all these in is follow me because our confidence isn't supposed to come from knowing everything that lives have had. It comes from knowing who we're following. And then Peter does something that makes this even more challenging. He leaves the fish. And let's think about that for a minute. The man had just had what could easily be considered. We said it earlier, the greatest fishing day of his life. He worked all night and caught nothing. And now in an instant, he had so many fish that couldn't even fit on the boat, but he leaves them.

7:19And I don't know about you, but I would have had some follow up questions, right? Because that's money sitting there. That's security. That's success. That's hunger solved first, probably multiple families, right? That's the thing Peter spent his entire night trying to get. And then he gets it and Jesus says, come with me. And I think there's something deeper happening here, right? Peter isn't walking away from failure. He's walking away from a success. He isn't leaving empty nets because fishing didn't work out. He's leaving full nets after getting exactly what he's been working for. And to be honest, sometimes following God isn't difficult because he's asking us to leave something bad. Sometimes it's difficult because he's asking us not to build our entire lives around something good. Sometimes we think like we spend so much time asking God to give us, give us these things,

8:22right? It comes to everything we struggle to move beyond, right? Because when he says it's time to follow him somewhere else, we can confuse the miracle with the destination. We become so fascinated by what God did that we miss what he's doing. So the door opens and we assume that was the point. The prayer was answered so that we got it. We're good. The opportunity came and we're good. But God is saying there's more. See this miracle was immense to become Peter's destination. It revealed enough about Jesus for Peter to trust him with what came next. The fish showed Peter something about Jesus, but what Peter learned about him mattered more than what ended up in those nets. Sometimes God isn't trying to bless what you're doing. He's trying to show you who you're becoming. So maybe the question isn't always God, what are you going to give me? Maybe it's God.

9:22What are you doing in me through what you've already given me? The promotion, the relationship, the new city, the opportunity, the answered prayer might not be the destination. It may be part of how God is moving towards something you couldn't see when you first said yes. And that's something I keep coming back to. Every yes creates another yes. And I wish there was one giant yes that said, ho, it all right, one moment where we could say yes, Lord, whatever you want, and never struggle, right? Question or hesitate or even get scared again, but that's not what following him looks like. Following Jesus as a yes, then it's a yes again. Yes, when the next thing is harder than the last thing, yes, when you don't understand. Sometimes yes, when you've gotten it wrong. And that part of that's part of why Peter works so well in this series, right? Because it's not about a biography of Peter.

10:24I'm not telling you about his life, right? And again, he's an incredible human being and live the life that's worth telling, right? But there's something incredible about watching someone who genuinely wants to follow Jesus learn what that yes actually requires. And there were moments when where Peter's yes looks strong and there were moments where his yes looks shaky, but he kept being confronted with another opportunity. And so will we. Your next yes might not look anything like your last one. Yesterday's may have produced immediate evidence. Today's might require you to keep walking without seeing anything change. Yesterday's yes may have been something everybody could see. Today's may be quiet when nobody appalls, but God. That's discipleship. It's a life that remains available to God. And maybe this is where we give ourselves a little grace because some of us think that if our yes was genuine, we should have everything figured out by now.

11:28Like I said, yes, why am I still struggling? I said yes, why am I still afraid? I said yes, why do I still have questions? Because saying yes doesn't instantly make you a finished person. It just makes you a follower. And I don't know about you, but as a follower, I'm still learning. I'm still being shaped. I'm still discovering places where my trust has to grow. And that means the fact that God is still working on you, right? Is an evidence that your yes failed? It's actually evidence that your yes opened the door to formation. Following Jesus doesn't mean you suddenly have perfect faith. It means you're following the one who is teaching you how to trust. There's going to be things you learn about God along the way, but there's also going to be things you learn about yourself. Some will encourage you, some may humble you, but it all becomes part of the formation. Someone says I should already be there.

12:29Following says I'm still moving. I'm still progressing. And maybe obedience isn't just doing what God said once. Maybe it's remaining available for whatever he says next. It's one thing to say, God, I'll give you this. It's another thing to say, God, after I give you this, I'm still yours. So maybe you've already said yes, and that's amazing, but now what? Maybe your first yes was starting and your next yes may be staying consistent. Maybe that first yes was walking away and your next one might be refusing to go back. Maybe your first yes was accepting the opportunity and your next yes might be becoming the person capable of sturdying it. Maybe your first yes was simply, God, I trust you. And now your next yes is allowing him to show you what trust actually looks like. Because every yes eventually has a morning after the moment passes, the emotion is settling.

13:32Right. The bolts are back to shore. Now you're standing there looking at everything in front of you, realizing he's still moving. Now what? Luke tells us what Peter did. They brought the bolts to land left everything and followed him. Luke doesn't say that Peter had the whole plan. He doesn't tell us Peter suddenly understood his purpose or knew exactly what catching people was going to look like. Because honestly, I doubt he did. He followed him. And maybe that's enough for today. Maybe you don't need the five year plan right away. Maybe you don't need to know every chapter and how it turns out before beginning a next one, even though you think you do. Maybe you simply need to ask, what's my next yes? Because the first yes will get you started. The next yes keeps you following. And that's where we're going to land in September. We're not standing beside empty nets wondering whether we're going to trust what Jesus said.

14:36We've already had that conversation. We're standing on the shore with full nets behind us and Jesus is moving ahead of us. And the question has changed. It's not, did I hear him? It's not, did I obey? But am I still willing to follow? Because your next yes won't always look like your first one. Sometimes God will ask you to trust him from familiar ground. And sometimes he'll invite you somewhere that doesn't feel quite as stable. But for today, sit with one question. You said yes, he's still moving. Now what? Let's pray. Father, thank you for every moment you've spoken and every opportunity you've given us to respond. Thank you for the grace to say yes, even when we didn't completely understand what you were asking. God don't let us become so comfortable celebrating yesterday's yes that we miss what you're asking of us today. Show us our next yes. If we've been standing at the doorway, give us the courage to walk through it.

15:39If we become attached to something that was only meant to be a part of the journey, help us loosen our grip. And if we're demanding the whole plan when you've already given us the next step, teach us to trust you with what we can't yet see. Remind us that following you doesn't require us to be finished. You're still forming us, teaching us, and growing us. So wherever you leave, give us the courage to remain available for whatever you say next. And when you speak, may our hearts remain open enough to say if you say so. In Jesus' name, amen.