This is Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're so glad you've tuned in today. Here at Connect with Skip, we believe there's no substitute for knowing God through His Word. And we want to help you stay grounded in his truth no matter what's happening in the world around you. That's why we've created the 30K 30-Day Challenge, a free daily email series designed to help you read, understand, and apply the Bible in fresh ways.
Every day, you'll receive a big picture overview of a New Testament book, along with key Bible passages to focus on, a prayer to guide you, and practical tools to help you put God's truth into action. It's free, it's easy to join, and it can make a lasting impact on your spiritual growth. Sign up now at connectwithskift.com. That's connectwithskip.com.
Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. Until the Lord returns, we stay busy. We wait actively. We don't put our feet up and our hands back. We go, I'm just waiting for the Lord.
No, as you're waiting for the Lord, stay busy, stay active. Luke 19 is a parable. The bottom line, Jesus says, therefore, occupy. or do business, occupy until I come. Stay busy.
Move Be active, live your life, pay your bills until the Lord. comes back. I've always discovered it's easier to direct a moving object than an object at rest. If you want to learn how to ride a bicycle, don't just park the bicycle and go watch a video on how to ride a bicycle. Book, How to Ride a Bicycle.
I'm gonna study this book. Get on that, baby. And let somebody push you. Because once that gets speed going and it's moving, it's going to be a lot easier to direct it once it's moving than when it's standing still. And so it is with us.
We move. We live our lives. We pay our bills. We make our decisions, trusting that the Lord's going to direct us as we're moving. And I think that's the way to do it: wait on the Lord.
actively. It's a great Text of scripture that has this principle. Let me tell it to you. In um Genesis 24, I believe. The servant of Abraham by the name of Eleazar, is being sent out by Abraham to find a wife for his son Isaac, right?
And so He describes the process. This is what he says. LEAs are speaking, and I quote. And I Being in the way. The Lord led me.
I being in the way, the Lord led me. Get in the way. Get in God's way. Get in the flow of where find out where God is moving and get in the way. And I, being in the way, The Lord led me, and the Lord will lead you as you and I are in the way.
And so the key is to stay busy, stay active. I want you to turn to one more scripture. You say, wait a minute, I thought this is John 21. Bear with me. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4 for just two more verses.
1 Thessalonians 4. If you're wondering where that is, it's right before 2 Thessalonians.
So just turn right and go down a few streets, and you'll see it on your right. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Verse 11. Paul writing to this young church. That you also aspire to lead a quiet life.
To mind your own business. I know some people that ought to underline that and memorize that one. And to work with your own hands as we commanded you. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. In other words, Stay busy.
Work hard. Pay your bills. You know why Paul wrote that? Most scholars believe Paul is writing this book. Here's one of the reasons.
Many of the Thessalonian believers had quit their jobs believing the Lord would come back at any moment. And if God's coming back, if Jesus is coming back, We might as well just. Quit our jobs and wait for him to come. Why go to work?
So, in quitting their jobs, they have time on their hands, and now they become, instead of busy, they become busy bodies. You start getting involved.
Well, you know what? I've been looking at your life.
Well, you know what? Get out of my life and go do your job. That's what Paul is saying. Stay busy, stay active. I remember in the um Jesus movement, we called it in the late 60s, early 70s.
That's when I was saved, mid-early 70s.
Now I was going to college. And um I was called unspiritual because I was going to college. And here's why. I had friends say, Jesus is going to come back. before you graduate.
Why are you in college?
Some of them were even quitting their jobs and get this, maxing out their credit cards. Because after all, if Jesus is going to come back, I can buy now and never have to pay. Not a good witness. Bad idea. A man went to a doctor.
And the doctor gave him a thorough examination. He goes, Doctor, you got to tell me what's wrong.
So, blood work. Total physical. And the patient said, Okay, doctor, lay it on me. Give it to me straight. Tell me what's wrong.
I can take it. He goes, You want me to tell you honestly what's wrong? He goes, Yes, sir. Doctor said there's absolutely nothing. Wrong with you except one thing, you're just plain lazy.
And the man thought about it for a moment. He said, Would you say that again in medical terminology so I can tell my wife? I think a lot of people try to couch their excuses in spiritual terminology.
Well, the Lord led, and I'm waiting. You know what? Paul says: stay active, stay busy. Be together. Be active.
Here's a third principle back in John 21: be obedient. Verse 5, Jesus said to them, Children, Have you any food? They answered him, No. He said, I love this part. I absolutely love this part.
Cast your net on the right side of the boat. It was only four feet from the first spot. And you'll find some.
So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude. of the fish. I love it when Jesus talks to these experts. They'd been fishing all night because that was the best time for net fishing in the Sea of Galilee. You begin at sunset and you fish into the night, and they were doing it all night and caught zip, zero, nada, nothing.
And Jesus asked them, what have you caught? And they said, we've caught nothing. It's interesting that Jesus was on the shore. And they didn't recognize him. We discover this a lot with some post-resurrection appearances.
There he is. They don't know it's him. How much is that like us? Right. We think God's abandoned us.
God's not here. He's right there. He said, he'll never leave you or forsake you. Remember the story in the Old Testament of Jacob when he ran away from home? And he went to this, what he would consider a God-forsaken place, way out in the middle of nowhere, put his head on a rock and.
Went to sleep that night thinking, God is so far away from me, I've ran away from his will. And he gets a vision that night, a dream of angels. descending a ladder from heaven to the earth and going back up. He wakes up the next day. And he said, Surely.
The Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. Did you hear that? I know it now, but I knew it not. Yesterday, last night, I didn't know he was in this place.
I thought. I was alone. The Lord is present tense in this place. And I knew it not, but I know it now.
So there's Jesus on the shore. There's the disciples in the boat. Jesus shouts out, hey. Have you dudes caught anything? No And so we'll cast your net on the other side.
Why did Jesus ask him the question? Is it because he didn't know the answer? Was he really trying to get information that he didn't already have? No. He asked them the question so they would admit their failure.
and recognize their need. My failure, I haven't caught anything. My need, I need to catch something. For a meal.
So, to admit their failure. to recognize their need. You will discover in the Bible that God uses this method. Frequently. He'll ask a question.
To Adam in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned, God cried out, Adam, where are you? God knew exactly where he was. He wanted Adam to admit where he was. Far away from you, God. Have you eaten of that tree that I commanded you not to eat?
Again, a question. Or Elijah, the prophet, who ran away down into the wilderness, sat under a broom tree, and said, God, I just want to die. God didn't go up to Elijah and go, Oh, poor little Elijah. He said this. Elijah?
What are you doing here? It's a good question. What are you doing here? Dude, you just killed thousands of prophets of Baal, and one little gal, one little lady, Jezebel, threatened your life, and you run away and you want to die. What are you doing here?
And so here to these guys. Did you catch anything? No. Because he wants them to admit their failure.
Now listen. We all fail. And did you know that failure is actually good for us? If you have all success, nobody wants to be around you. If you fail, At something.
It causes you to slow down, to pause. to think about your methods, to think about your motives, and to be open for something new. You learn from that. You are open to another thing like Casting your net four feet away. Most of the time, you go, huh?
What good is that going to do? They'll do it now. They've caught nothing and they admitted it. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we return to Pastor Skip's message, think about this.
If we really are living in the last days, wouldn't you want to know? The Bible doesn't leave us guessing about the future. It offers clear prophecies, solid truth, and real hope to anchor your faith in uncertain times. That's why this month, we'd like to send you two resources from Pastor Skip. The Bible from 30,000 feet 2 CD teaching from Daniel.
and his booklet, Are We Living in the Last Days? These explain key end times passages, how they apply today, and how to live with confidence in Christ. They're yours when you give $25 or more to support Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Request yours at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Let's return now to today's message.
Let me tell you about a failure. This young man was an aspiring politician. He ran for state legislature. He was defeated. He decided to quit politics, went into business, was eight Failure at business.
spent the next seventeen years of his life paying off the debts of a worthless partner who got him into debt. Then he found a girl that he was engaged to. She died. Then he decided, I'm going back into politics. Ran for several offices.
defeated, defeated, defeated, but eventually that man, Abraham Lincoln, became The President of the United States. He learned at each juncture from his failure and was open to. to trying something different. Have you caught anything? No.
And then Jesus says, cast your nets on the other side.
Now who was it that discovered it was the Lord? Who was it? John. The disciple Jesus loved John. It wasn't Peter.
Now I'm not going to chide Peter. But I am going to applaud John. Because this is so much like John, to be quick on the draw, right? At the tomb, who discovered Jesus was risen from the dead? Wasn't Peter, it was John.
They both looked in, and Peter saw it and believed. And Peter's just kind of scratching his head going. Cool. I don't know what this means, but John did, and Peter believed after John.
So John recognizes this and says, That's the Lord. And that's when Peter says, good enough for me, jumps in the water. With with his robon. Like, okay, well, how good is that? It's not going to keep you warm in the water.
Number two, you're going to get out soaking wet and colder than when you got in, but whatever.
Okay, so question. How did John figure out that's the Lord? Here's my hunch. John saw what was happening and said, There's only one explanation for this. This same exact thing happened to us two years ago.
Now, you don't have to turn there, but let me read this account to you. This is an account that happened two years, two and a half years prior to this. When Jesus called them formally to be his disciples, Jesus is at the Sea of Galilee. A crowd of people gather. Jesus steps into a boat, teaches from the boat, and after the sermon, It says, when he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
Simon answered and said to him, Master We've toiled all night and caught nothing.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Nevertheless, at your word I will let down the net. What I think Peter was saying to the Lord is: look. I'm the fisherman. You the preacher.
I know about fishing. You don't. I've done it all night and caught nothing, but you know what? You want to go fishing, preacher? I'll humor you.
I'll let down my nets.
So we did. And it says, when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish. And their net was breaking. John After the resurrection, he sees what is happening, goes. I know the explanation.
That has to be the Lord. Because this happened to us a couple years ago, and it was the Lord. You see, there are some things that happen in life and there's only one explanation. It's the Lord. How do you explain what happened on the day of Pentecost?
Thousands of people getting saved when Peter spoke. That's the Lord. How do you explain a drug addict or a prostitute getting off that stuff and being in love with Jesus? Only one explanation: that's the Lord. How do you explain what has happened here with this church, with this bonehead pastor?
There's only one explanation. It's got to be the Lord. And anybody who knows me really well goes, Amen, it is the Lord. But here's the deal. They were obedient.
Isn't it amazing that the difference, the only difference between failure and success, was four feet? One side of the boat? The other side of the boat. Do it. It's got to be the Lord.
I know people Who are in Christian service and they strive and they organize and they work and they spend, and there's no fruit, there's no results. Listen, you have to be more than competent and diligent and relevant. You need to be obedient. And listen carefully. Is this what the Lord is telling me to do at this time?
I want to follow as I'm moving in the way, I want to follow His impulse. Because I want to see fruit come out of it. Back in John, now finally, we will close it off by saying here's the fourth principle. We need to be intimate with the Lord. We need to be together.
We need to be active. We need to be obedient, but. Above all else. And springing from this last principle is: we need to be intimate with the Lord. Verse 12.
Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. Yet none of the disciples dared ask him. Who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord. Then Jesus came and took the bread and the Gave it to them, and likewise the fish.
Now, this is the third time that Jesus showed himself. to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. I can Almost guarantee you. That if you could have interviewed these disciples, Okay, so picture it. You're down there at the Sea Gallery, you got your little microphone.
News cameras right there. And you say your name, and Peter, John, James, come here. I'm gonna interview you guys. Listen, this is a pretty epic day, right?
So what was the best part of the day? That none of them would say the best part of today was being together in the boat. Even though they loved each other, that wasn't the best part of the day. They wouldn't have said the best part of the day was the miraculous catch of fish. Man, when we put the nets on the right side, it was that many fish.
Unbelievable highlight of the day, they wouldn't have said that. They would have all said, The highlight of the day. was eating breakfast with Jesus. When we were with him together, and it reminded us of that sweet intimacy of that Last Supper, and he was feeding us fish and bread. We were in his presence.
That was the best part. That was the highlight of it. And that's the principle of worship. We need to be together, that's fellowship. We need to be active.
That's partnership. We need to be obedient, that's stewardship. But we need to be intimate with Christ. That's worship. Do you know that it's possible?
to be so busy Doing the king's business. that you actually forget the king himself. You can work and serve and stress out. And you don't spend time with him. And that's a mistake because all of the activity All of the obedience, all of the togetherness should be formed in that place of intimacy with the Lord in worship.
There was a church. That did this. It was the church of Ephesus. Jesus wrote. A postcard, let's call it an email.
in Revelation 2. And he said to the church of Ephesus, You guys are great. You labor, you work, you persevere, you have patience. But I have something against you. You have left.
Your first love. Or one translation says, you don't love me like you did at first. You're busy, you're serving, you're working, you're active. But you don't love me. It's not based upon an intimate relationship.
You say, is that even possible? Is it possible to serve the Lord and not love the Lord? I'm here to tell you it is. Think with me. There's several different motives.
that keep Christians busy and active. And they're not always the best motives. Motive number one. Guilt. And they always talk about being involved at this church.
Okay. I want to alleviate my guilt, so I'll do something. I feel better. I'm not guilty. Reason number two.
There's some psychological need. To exercise a gift so that when I exercise this gift, when I sing, when I speak, I feel so much better, fulfilled.
Okay, not the best motive. Because you're doing it just for you. A third motive. Because when I do this thing, people see me. Not a good motive.
The best motive is because I love Jesus. I love him. and part of my worship to him. is to do this for him, knowing that I'm doing it. with him.
So it's more than your hands in the water. Getting fish, it's your heart's on fire. before the Lord. I close with a Story, true story. I read it, so it has to be true.
No, it's uh It was cited with names and dates and everything. True story: husband and wife.
sold stocks and bonds and a lot of their possessions and bought this. Cool killer. R V Motorhome. Had everything in it. It was their dream to drive around the country and see it.
They began in Southern California, going up Highway 1 and then the freeway. They were going up the coast into Oregon, Washington, and then across. The husband drove first. He was so stoked, he got behind the wheel and rode it for hours. But after a while, he was tired and said to his wife, Will you drive?
She said, I'd love to. She gets behind the wheel. She puts it on cruise control. Right? You maintain your speed, cruise control.
And then after it's on cruise control, she gets up. Goes back to use the bathroom. Because she thought cruise control was the same as Automatic pilot. In her mind.
Now that's what she told the California Highway Patrol after the accident. Um The R V was total. Husband and wife were were both okay. Motorhome is totaled. She thought Cruise control meant autopilot.
If you think that you can live the Christian life. on autopilot or cruise control, then you need to put on the brakes today. And think about all that you do in your fellowship, all that you do in your service, and even your obedience, and ask: does it come, is it formed by a heart of? I really am in love with Jesus. And all that I do springs from the time that I spend in fellowship with him.
That's the gas pedal. you need to use today. worship. Devotion. because all the rest will spring from that.
Thanks for listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we go, remember to request Pastor Skip's 2 CD teaching from Daniel, Bible from 30,000 feet. and his booklet, Are We Living in the Last Days? They'll give you clarity and confidence about the days ahead. And they're yours when you give $25 or more to support Connect with Skip Heidzig.
Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And while you're there, sign up for the 30K 30 Day Challenge and take your Bible study deeper. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word. here on Connect the Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition.
Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his wood. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
