This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to day two of our look through John chapter 21 and
daily drive time devotions. We're looking at verses nine to 14 today. It's
really the end of this passage on Jesus meeting with his disciples by the sea
and telling them to cast their net on the other side.

Jesus wanted to teach his disciples something about themselves and where they
were. Even more, he wanted to teach them something about himself and that he was
their resurrected Lord who had all the purpose, all the directions that they
needed for the rest of their lives. I've always loved John 21, nine to 14, the
verses we're going to look at today, because they make so personal our relationship
with the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Listen to what happened, John 21, nine to 14. When they landed, they saw a fire
of burning coals there with some fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them,
"Bring some of the fish you've just caught.

" Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large
fish, 153. But even with so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast. " None of the disciples dared ask
him, "Who are you? " They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised
from the dead. You remember the first two times in the upper room and now here
by the Sea of Galilee.

One of the purposes of this passage in this chapter, I believe, is to teach you
and I how to relate to the resurrected Lord. How to have what I would call a
real relationship with the resurrected Lord. They sat down and they ate
breakfast with him.

Jesus cooked. That's the way he desires to relate to us today. Now I know he's
not here in physical resurrection where he's cooking breakfast for you, although
that would be nice some days.

But I also know, and we need to be convinced, that Jesus is not some phantom.
He's not some ghost. He is just as real.

Even though I cannot hug him or he's not cooking me breakfast, he is just as
real. And I need to relate to him as the real Lord who is in heaven now, but the
real resurrected Lord. The resurrected Jesus.

And they're sitting around a fire with him, a fire that he had built. They're
eating a breakfast that he had cooked and they're talking with him about what's
happening in their lives. That's a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

And if there's anything I want for me and for you, it is that kind of a
relationship with Jesus. A real relationship. There are so many people who think
that our relationship with Jesus, with God, is somehow so spiritual that it's
not real.

It doesn't fit into my life. Well, spiritual can be real. I can experience a
real relationship with the resurrected Lord while I'm sitting in church, but I
can also experience a real relationship with the resurrected Lord while I'm
sitting at work on Monday.

And these verses tell us how. When the disciples on a seashore were having
breakfast with Jesus, they tell us how in the everyday experiences of life, you
and I can experience this relationship with the Lord. And I like to use the word
real and acrostic.

We don't do that often in drive time devotions, but every once in a while we
have to have an acrostic. I'd like to use the word real to talk about what you
and I can draw out of this passage about how to have a relationship with the
Lord. The R in real stands for this, recognize.

Recognize His presence everywhere. Now, maybe you feel His presence more at
church than you do at your job. You feel it when you sing at church or when
you're with other believers.

Or maybe you feel His presence more when you go into the mountains than you do
when you're in the middle of a traffic jam in the city. I just remind you that
although we feel His presence emotionally more in some places than others, His
presence is just real in every aspect of our lives. And so you recognize His
presence everywhere.

Jesus is here. Now, I know, even as I say that, for some of us that's
frightening to think about. Jesus is everywhere.

Jesus is here. Jesus was there when I did that, when I made that mistake, when I
committed that sin, when I went down that wrong road, Jesus was there. Yes, yes.

There's no place that God is not. There's no place that Jesus is not relating to
us. Even in the wrong place, Jesus is there to help to pull us out if I'll just
call on Him.

And I say that again, not to frighten you, but to encourage you that there's no
place that you are where you cannot call on Him. Here are these disciples. I
believe they were in the wrong place.

Jesus didn't want them necessarily becoming fishermen again, but Jesus was
there. He didn't say, oh, because you're not in Jerusalem, you're not here or
some other place, I'm not going to meet with you. No, He met them there.

Wherever you are, recognize His presence. That's a real relationship with Him.
The E in real stands for enjoy.

You enjoy His company. They just sat and they ate breakfast with Him. When is
the last time you enjoyed your relationship with Christ like that?

He just relaxed and enjoyed His company. You see, a lot of people read this
passage and they go crazy trying to find some spiritual significance to what's
happening here. Why did Jesus make the fire?

Why did He cook the fish? Was it trout? What kind of fish was it?

Why was it 153? Is there some spiritual significance to that, some code to that?
Here's the significance.

Jesus wanted to be with His disciples. That's the significance. He wanted to be
with them.

In fact, He tells us that He wants to be with us for eternity in heaven. I'm
afraid that for a lot of us, when it comes to our relationship with Christ, it
is so focused on our growth and our ministry for Him that every time we relate
to Him, we're talking to Him about some problem, some issue that's so big, it
kind of tires us out spiritually. When was the last time you were just with
Jesus Christ?

You hung out with Him and you just said, "Lord, I am glad you're here. "I am
glad that you love me. " I'll admit, I don't do enough of that.

I did some of it today as I was preparing this study, thinking about it, and you
know what? It feels pretty good. It feels good to recognize that I can relax and
enjoy the company of Jesus Christ.

What I'm saying is, have you learned to relax in His presence? When was the last
time you relaxed in His presence? Have you learned to let Him cook breakfast
sometimes?

Somebody on our research team wrote about this passage. I like to think of that
image of our Lord sitting on the shore with a fire, fish and warm bread and
offering it to us just when we need nourishment, just when we need love. So the
E stands for enjoy, enjoy His presence.

The A in real stands for accept, you accept His invitation. Jesus said, "I want
you to bring some fish "and I want you to come and eat. " You know, when you get
an invitation in the mail or in your email, there's really three different
kinds.

One is the, you get the invitation, you open it up and you think, there's no way
I'm going to that. I'm glad they sent it to me or I don't know why they sent it
to me but there's no way I'm going to that. The second kind of invitation is
the, well, maybe.

If something else doesn't turn up, maybe I'll go to that one. But then there's a
third kind of invitation where the moment you open it up, you think, I will
change everything else in my schedule to make that. I am not going to miss that.

I can't believe I got invited to this. Jesus's invitations to us are in that
third category. Change everything else because I cannot believe I got invited to
this.

Jesus invited me to spend time with him. Jesus invited them to come and eat
breakfast. Now here's the question.

How do you know if Jesus is inviting you? I mean, then he was standing before
them, he spoke, they heard him. Now he speaks into our hearts.

So how do I know? He's not going to show up on some seashore and actually be there
and speak an invitation. He's not going to send it to you in the mail.

So how do I know when Jesus is inviting something into my life? Let me give you
some ideas. Anytime you have a desire to worship, to get closer to God, that's
an invitation from Jesus Christ.

Accept it. You don't come up with those invitations on your own. Those are
desires that are put into your heart by God.

Accept that invitation. Anytime you have a desire to pray about something, it
just comes across your mind. I should pray about that.

That's an invitation from Jesus Christ. Accept it. And take a few moments to
pray about it in your relationship with him.

Anytime you think, I want to do something good for that person, that's an
invitation from Jesus Christ. Naturally, we want to do something good for
ourselves. We're selfish.

So when you think, I want to be unselfish, that's Christ working in your heart.
When that happens, accept it. Every time you hear in your heart, Jesus's words
come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest,
that's an invitation from Jesus Christ.

Accept it. You accept his invitations. This real relationship with Jesus Christ,
the resurrected Lord, R stands for recognize his presence everywhere, E, enjoy
his company, A, accept his invitations, and L is look to his leadership.

They sat down and he broke bread and he handed them fish and the disciples had
to think, we've seen this before. We've seen him breaking the bread and handing
out the fish and the feeding of the 5,000. We've seen him breaking the bread at
the last supper.

When you spend time with Jesus, he has a way of always reminding you of what is
important, taking you back maybe to what's important so you can go forward to
what's important. And in a real relationship with him, you're looking to his
leadership. But it grows out of the other thing.

Sometimes we try to start here, I think. God, show me what to do next. I need
your leadership.

No, you start with recognizing his presence, enjoying his company, then
accepting his invitation and out of that, out of that, you're able to look to
his leadership. As we end this study today of this passage about a real
relationship with the resurrected Lord, let's spend some time in a real
relationship with him right now. Just spend some few moments in his presence
right now.

I encourage you, relax in his presence. Rest in his love for you. Recognize
those words, I will give you rest.

Hear his invitation in your life for the day to day. Hear his love for your life
for your day to day. And as you hear him, look to his leadership.

Say, Jesus, help me to learn to live the kind of life you made me to live. Help
me to learn to be the kind of person that you've made me to be. I get so caught
up in what I want to do.

I get so caught up in the circumstances around me. Jesus, I pray that my life,
my words, my character would grow out of my real relationship with you today. I
pray this, Jesus, in your name, amen.

Join us tomorrow, we're going to be talking about the second of the three commands
in this chapter that lead to a resurrection of purpose in our lives.