This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions and our look together
through John chapter 21, the final chapter in this incredible gospel, good news
of what God has done because of Jesus Christ. I want to say to you,
congratulations. You've made it through this entire study of the book of John.

And today, as we launch into a look at this final chapter, I'd say to you that
this chapter is a powerfully personal chapter about the resurrection of Christ.
And it's a chapter that you don't find in the other gospels. In the other
gospels, you have the story of the resurrection and that is the chapter that
ends.

Well, we talked about the resurrection last week. And in John, you get what I
would call a bonus chapter. You know, like how you get a bonus track at the end
of a CD, but this is more powerful.

This is more news about the resurrection. And as we walk through this chapter
this week, you're going to find that it's personal news about how the resurrection
can make a daily difference in your life, in your person and who you are. In
John 21 verses one to eight, the disciples of Jesus are going to meet the
resurrected Lord at the Sea of Tiberias.

The Sea of Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee are the same place. Tiberias is just
one of the cities. The names were used interchangeably.

And Tiberias now and then has this idea of a vacation spot. In fact, I just
looked up Tiberias on the internet and it said, from your first glimpse of
Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee, you understand that this area and why this area
has been a popular tourist attraction for over 2,000 years. So the disciples,
they've met the resurrected Jesus in the upper room.

We talked about that last week a couple of times. And then they plan a little
fishing vacation. Some people think they just went fishing, but others think,
and I would agree with them, that there was more than just a pleasurable fishing
trip going on here.

Here are the disciples. They know that the Lord has resurrected, but they don't
know what's next. They don't know where he's taking them next.

They knew how to follow him for the three years they followed him on the earth.
He was with them all the time. They just went where he went.

But now that he's resurrected and they just see him every once in a while, what
are they supposed to do? And so instead of taking a step forward, they did what
many of us do when we're not sure what to do next. They took a step back.

They went back to what they knew. Many of these men were fishermen. They were in
fishing business.

And so they went fishing. And Peter was the leader in this, we're going to see
in just a moment. He took six other disciples with him.

There's an example there. People are following you whether you know it or not.
Half of the disciples are on this fishing trip because of Peter's leadership.

And they go on this trip and they're just fishing. They're maybe looking
longingly back to the past and wondering about the future. And they make an
amazing rediscovery while they're on this lake.

It's a rediscovery of purpose. I am personally convinced that Jesus can help you
make the same rediscovery this week. Maybe purpose has been lagging in your life
recently.

Or maybe you're wondering what's next. Or maybe your life is filled with
purpose, but you want to keep it energized. This is a chapter for anyone who
would like to experience a resurrection, a daily resurrection of purpose in
their life.

And as we walk through this chapter, we're going to see together that this new
purpose is discovered through three specific commands that the resurrected Jesus
gives to his disciples in these verses. Beginning with the first of these
commands, which we see in verses one to eight. The command to cast your net on
the other side.

Listen to what happened. John 21, one to eight. Afterward, Jesus appeared again
to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.

It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana
and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples were together. I'm
going out to fish, Simon Peter told them.

And they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat. But
that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not
realize it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends, have you caught any fish?

No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and
you'll find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of
the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as
Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around
him for taking it off and he jumped into the water. The other disciples followed
in the boat towing the net full of fish for they were not far from shore, about
a hundred yards.

What a story. In these verses, Peter and the other disciples went from what I
would call an erosion of purpose to an explosion of purpose in their lives. It
starts with this erosion of purpose.

They're not sure what to do next. They're at Galilee. They decide to go fishing.

They go out and fish. And there's that phrase in these verses. That night they
caught nothing.

They go back to the familiar, back to the secure. And maybe even there they're
trying to rediscover purpose. But it never works that way.

It just doesn't. Maybe we say to ourselves that we're trying to rediscover
motivation and purpose for our lives. And if I can go back to some old town, old
job, old relationship, I'll find it there.

I've discovered, you've probably discovered the same thing. I can learn from the
past, but God's purpose is not behind me. God's purpose is not behind you.

It is always out in front of you. There is always something new that he has for
your life. And that night they went to the past and they caught nothing.

Instead of finding purpose, they found frustration. And when you get into that
trap of life, what you find is life becomes a rut. And can you think of a more
frustrating place than being in a rut?

Now the only good thing to say for ruts is it's easy to steer. You know what
you're doing next. But in a rut you lose purpose.

And Jesus is standing on the shore. And he knows that this has happened all
night. The sun is, get this sense of the sun is beginning to come up.

They can barely make out that there's somebody on the shore and they hear him
yell out to them. Have you caught anything? They didn't recognize him at first.

Why not? Well, maybe because of the light, but I think there's a more important
reason. They didn't recognize Jesus at first because they weren't looking for
him to be there.

But Jesus met them right at that point of their life. And he takes them from
this erosion of purpose. Maybe that's where you are right now.

To an explosion of purpose. Cast your net on the other side. And this explosion
of this moment where John realizes and Peter realizes it's the Lord.

Jesus on the shore saying cast out your nets and they're unable to haul them in.
It had to remind them, had to remind them of the first time this had happened in
their lives. When Jesus had first called them and said, put your net on the
other side, fish here.

And the nets had broken in that case. Jesus showing the direction for their
lives led to this explosion of purpose. And Peter certainly exploded with this
idea it's the Lord and he jumps in the water.

Casting your net on the other side is this, oh, Jesus is here. He's even here
experience of life. If you're in a frustrating circumstance right now and you
wonder if Jesus is there, he is.

Jesus is there. There's no place you can go where Jesus isn't. So Jesus is
there, but they didn't see him as being there.

But there came this moment when there he is and Peter jumps in the water. Now,
everyone who reads this passage, the first question to have is, why did he put
his garment back on to jump in the water? Well, maybe it was to honor Jesus.

Some people think that he didn't want to show up in front of Jesus without a
shirt on. But the truth of the matter is we really have no idea why he did that.
I'm going to ask Peter when I get to heaven why he did that.

We try to find great significance in this. John may have mentioned it because he
thought it was so funny that his friend put his shirt on to dive into the water.
The interesting thing to me is that it's one of those details that tells you
this is an eyewitness telling this story.

He was there. He knows exactly what happened. Another detail is the number of
fish.

They knew that they had caught 153 fish, we're going to find out as we walk through
this story. Fishermen always count their fish. And Peter is a fisherman.

He throws his net in. There's so many fish he can't haul them out. And he
realized, oh, it's Jesus.

And when he realizes that, he jumps in the water, he leaves the fish behind and
he swims to meet Jesus. Only those of you who are fishermen listening to this
can understand the significance of that. A fisherman who left his catch, one of
the greatest catches he'd ever had, left it behind?

Why? Because he discovered what his real purpose was. It wasn't in the boat.

It wasn't with those fish. He immediately realized that it was with Jesus on
that shore. He's the one I need to be with.

That's where you discover, rediscover purpose in your life. Remember your
purpose. It's not in the routine that you're caught up in every day.

We all have routine in our lives, but that's not where your purpose is. It's not
in the conflict that you're caught in right now. We all have conflicts.

That's not where your purpose is found. It's not in the trial that you're going
through right now. Remember your purpose.

It's with Jesus Christ and his direction, his guidance in your life. Peter
rediscovers his purpose at the end of a night of frustration and failure.
Remember purpose and success are two different things.

Don't confuse them. You will have successes in life. You will have failures in
your life as you live out God's purpose for your life.

So what do you do? Well, you don't chase success because even there you can find
frustration. You don't chase success.

Instead, you decide to pursue God's purpose. You see this simple command, the
simple command to cast your net on the other side after a night of frustration
for those disciples teaches us some invaluable lessons about God's purpose in
our daily lives. It reminds us that failure and discouragement do not mean that
you've lost your purpose.

It's often the place where you rediscover your purpose. It teaches us that the
secret of success is not trying harder. It had been trying harder all night
long.

It wasn't until Jesus showed up that everything changed. This story teaches us
that the problem is not where we are, but who we're listening to. They didn't
need to be fishing in a different place.

They just needed the direction of the living Lord. And this story also teaches
us that we're never far from God's purpose when we let Jesus give the orders.
You see, for these disciples, the difference between purpose and failure was
just the width of the ship, rediscovering God's purpose for their lives.

This week, as we walk through what God has to say to our lives about his purpose
and renewing it in a daily way, I'd like to take a moment right now to talk to
Jesus and to ask him that he would do what only he can do in our lives. As you
talk to him, just say, Jesus, is there another side where I should be casting my
net? Am I doing again and again the same things, but I'm not really listening to
you?

Is there something you want me to be doing that I'm not doing? Begin that
conversation with the Lord right now and then continue it this week. If you have
a commute time, I encourage you during your commute time after you turn off
drive time devotions, take some time to think.

If you're doing this at your computer, just take five, 10 minutes just to be
quiet and listen. Lord, what do you want me to be doing? I want to listen to you,
I want to hear from you.

I want to know which side you want me to be casting my net on and then I want to
show up and be with you and draw my purpose from you. Jesus, strengthen me to do
that, I pray in your name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow.

We're going to be talking more about what it means to cast your net on the other
side.