(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

I am super excited today because I'm not speaking.

Thank you, you guys laughed.

The last audience clapped.

I didn't know how to take that.

But, you know, I'm so grateful every time I'm here with all of you because I look out and I know, I don't know everybody, but I know a lot of you and I know where God has brought you from.

And I know that God has brought all of us here from all over this country and we are here now in South Carolina and to do his will, to build his kingdom.

And that's what we're here for.

And this gentleman who is going to be speaking to you today, his name is Dr. George Payton.

And God brought Dr. George and his wife here to our church.

And the moment they stepped on this property, they have blessed us.

Now, George is a, he's a retired pastor, but pastors don't get to retire.

So he's coming back up here, but he didn't wanna be, he said, Richard, I don't want a big drum roll.

So I'm gonna tell you about his wife, Claudia, okay?

Miss Claudia is one of the most genuine, gentle, prayerful, joyful people that you will ever meet.

She has spent decades in ministry and George ain't bad either.

And so if you guys would, please welcome Dr. George Payton.

God has been good to us.

He has blessed us to be alive and in our right mind.

And he's allowed us to come and make our way here this morning to his house of prayer.

So good morning, those of you who are here in the arena and those who are joining us via online.

Let us rejoice in the Lord because praise from the upright is beautiful.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever.

The plans of his heart to all generations.

Blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord, the people who he has chosen for his own inheritance.

So we first want to acknowledge our triune God, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because without God in our lives, we can do absolutely nothing.

And to the leaders here at Valerie's Church, Pastor Clay and Pastor Kim on their vacation, to Pastor Richard and Pastor Bernard, give another hand clap of praise for our praise team.

Amen.

Pastor Gerard, all the ministry leaders here at Valerie's Church, and to you, the Valerie's Church family, to any first-time visitors who are here visiting with us today, to any guests who are here today, we greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And don't let me forget my better half, Sister Claudia, because without her, I am in dire need.

So thank all of you for being here today.

Thank you for joining us today for this worship experience as we lift up the name of Jesus one more time.

Amen.

Lord, I need you now in a powerful and magnificent way.

I need you every hour of the day, for you are gracious and there is no tender voice like thine.

Bless me now to speak your word to your people.

Keep me humble as I speak.

And may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.

O Lord, for you are my rock and my Redeemer, my Savior.

Amen.

There is a word from the Lord today.

If you would take your Bibles and cell phones or your Bibles and open up to the Gospel of John.

Today, God's church has some unfinished business, and Jesus can help us to do and to be something more.

John chapter 21, verse 15, tells us.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Then he said to him, feed my lambs.

A thought for us today, unfinished business, something more.

Say that with me, unfinished business, something more.

Come on, say it, unfinished business, something more.

All right.

After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Jesus made three post-resurrection visits to his disciples.

The first one was on that very Sunday evening that he was resurrected, but Thomas was not there.

The Bible doesn't tell us why.

But then eight days later, he made a second post-resurrection appearance to his disciples, and then Thomas was there.

The third post-resurrection appearance was with his disciples out on the Sea of Galilee.

Peter, who would be the leader of the church, had to be restored because he was going to be a leader to lead the early church.

So Jesus had some unfinished business to conduct with Peter.

There was something more that had to take place in his life.

To do God's unfinished business, and to be and to do something more, we must be more than a doubting disciple.

The Bible tells us in John chapter 21, verses one to three, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and it was in this way he showed himself.

Simon Peter, Thomas Carl the twin, Nathaniel of Cana of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples were together.

And Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.

They were obedient to go back to Galilee, but instead of fishing for unsaved people, they were fishing for fish.

They went back to their former livelihood.

They were waiting on Jesus, but they did not do as Jesus commanded them to do.

Thomas is mentioned as part of this group, and so Thomas can help us in our life.

Thomas earned the nickname of Doubting Thomas.

And Thomas, like many of us, is a person who had to see it to believe it.

This means that Thomas had some unfinished business with Jesus, just like some of us.

We know that there's opposition in life.

We know that we have some times when we have doubts, but there is one thing that we can be assured of, that we know that is absolutely truth, that we have the ability to have sincere investigation when we've had some sincere faith to be in doubt.

And so eight days later, for Thomas to be and to do something more, more than a doubter, I want you to see this in your mind.

Jesus appeared to his disciples, but now there was some unfinished business that Thomas had to finish.

So Jesus said, Thomas, look at my wounds, see them for yourself.

Thomas, put your finger in the palm of my hand and feel it for yourself.

Thomas, reach your hand here into my side and see it for yourself.

I've got some unfinished business to do with you, so stop this doubting and start believing.

Amen.

So we have some unfinished business here, Thomas.

Jesus knew exactly what Thomas needed when he needed it.

And God provided the evidence.

Jesus lovingly brought Thomas back into faith so that he could go on to be and to do something more.

Well, how do we know?

John chapter 20, verse 28 says, he said, Thomas said, you are my Lord and my God.

I will never doubt you.

How do we know that?

How do we know that Jesus confirmed this for us in our life?

John chapter 20 and verse 29 says, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

But blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

These words have reached down through centuries to encourage believers who have doubts.

Church, we have to believe and never doubt because Jesus said he would never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus will not abandon us when it gets dark at night.

Jesus will not abandon us when we get sick.

Jesus will not abandon us when we have the loss of a loved one because of death.

Jesus will not abandon us when we have broken relationship and therefore we can trust in him.

And we will never doubt.

He is our provider.

He is our healer.

He is the one who deliver us.

He is the one who cares for us.

He's the one who loves us.

Without a doubt, we can always put our trust in Jesus if, if, if we open up ourselves to believe in him.

Sometimes, the whole of up upon our blessings in life is our own lack of confidence.

It's our own not asking.

It's our own not believing.

So what we need to do is stop doubting and let us never, let us be empowered because there is something more for us to do.

Amen.

To do God's unfinished business and to be and to do something more, we must stop being a doubting disciple.

But we also must stop being a denying disciple.

There was something more that Jesus needed to do, that he needed to set in motion with another disciple before he went back to heaven, before he had to leave his disciples to go on to do something more.

It was Peter.

Who would be the leader in the church.

The same Peter who had denied Jesus three times that even knew him.

And this would be one of the last conversations that Jesus would have with Peter.

With his role in the early church, Peter clearly had to be restored.

Just days earlier, having denied Jesus three times, he was around a fire and now he's getting ready to be around another fire to where he's gonna be restored.

Something had to be addressed.

Help me say it, somebody.

It was unfinished business.

Peter had to experience that night what it meant to depend on Jesus to catch some fish.

But more importantly, Jesus was in his life and Peter would have to depend upon Jesus for his future role as an apostle.

He needed, help me say it, something more.

He needed something more to go out and do what?

Fish for unsaved men.

He needed something more to go out and minister and teach and preach the word of God.

Yes, the disciples were obedient going back to Galilee, but instead of fishing for men, they were fishing for fish.

They went back to their former livelihood.

It's like some of us going back to our old ways.

Mm-hmm.

You know what I'm talking about.

Not fishing for fish.

You know what I'm talking about.

What about tomorrow, next week?

Will you go back to some of your old habits?

Will you go back to some of your old routines and priorities?

Will you go back to doing some of the things that thrills you to be what you wanna be, all caught up in me, myself, and I?

These possibilities happens to us just like it happens to happen to those disciples.

They had some unfinished business that was something more for them to do, but we understand about denying.

The disciples were not getting ready.

They were missing the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

They were missing the fact that there was something more for them to do, but they could not do it in and of themselves.

They had to have the experience of not catching any fish to have this carpenter help them catch some fish so that they can understand that without Jesus in their life, they could not do something more.

Without Jesus in our lives, we cannot do and be what God wants us to be.

We were missing, just like the disciples were missing something, or really someone.

Amen.

In John 21, chapter four through six, the Bible tells us, but when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Then Jesus said to them, children, do you have any food?

And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.

And so they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

They saw a person on the seashore, but they didn't know that it was Jesus.

It was a stranger to them.

They didn't recognize that there was something more for them to see.

Like their inability to catch fish, there was something more, something deeper for them to experience.

This stranger that was on the seashore, who was calling out to them, and they heard a voice.

They heard this word, children.

And so Jesus was reaching out to his disciples.

He reaches out to us.

He calls us his children, and there is something that we need in our lives, there's something that we need to recognize in our lives.

We need a change in our condition.

Amen.

He wants us to be something more.

He wants us to do something more, so that we can go out and catch those who are unsaved.

The disciples had to depend on Jesus.

They had to do that, but watch this.

They had to do something in a different way.

They had to draw in the fish, knowing that there was now a time that I have to try it again.

They had to try it again.

They had been fishing all night and caught nothing, but Jesus told them to try again and cast the net on the other side.

You got to sometimes do a different approach.

And when they threw the net on the other side, they caught more fish than they could bring in.

Jesus gives us something more.

Jesus is our source of truth.

Jesus is our source of wisdom.

Jesus is the one who takes us out of the darkness of our lives and doesn't leave us alone.

Jesus is the one who can help us to be something more.

Jesus is the one to help us to do something more.

Help me say it, somebody, something more.

It was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who recognized this stranger, Jesus.

Peter, old being Peter, couldn't wait to get to shore.

And he jumped out of the boat, into the water, to get to Jesus.

The same Peter who had denied him three times.

Looking back over Peter's life, it's so easy for us to sit here today and be critical of Peter.

How could he do such a thing?

Following Jesus for three years, denying that he even knew him.

Yes, Peter is the one, that same Peter, who carried a knife and pulled it out and cut off the servant's ear of the high priest.

But Peter was the only one who came to the defense of Jesus.

Peter was the one who almost drowned in the Sea of Galilee, but it was Peter who was the only disciple who walked on water.

Peter was the only one who denied knowing Jesus for three times, but yet Peter is the same one who became the leader of the early church.

When the disciples got to shore, something miraculous happened.

They were about to eat breakfast with the resurrected Jesus.

To do some unfinished business, you gotta be something more than a doubting disciple.

You gotta be something more than a denying disciple.

You must do more than discipleship.

After the miracle of catching the fish, something more would take place after eating breakfast with his disciples.

It was with the one we call Peter.

And the thing about it was that they were sitting there, eating with Jesus, and Peter's confidence was shattered.

They didn't say a word looking at Jesus.

Complete silence in the presence of Jesus to do something more, eating breakfast, yet not, John 21, 12b says, "'Yet none of the disciples dared to ask him, "'Who are you?'

"'Knowing that it was the Lord.'

"'And while they could believe, while they could see, "'while they knew it was the resurrected Jesus, "'there was something more that had to take place "'in their life.'"

Something more for Peter to do had to be restored.

Something more for him to have total commitment to go out and be an apostle of Jesus.

Something more that he had to know that he was going to depend on Jesus.

Something more than just filial love.

It was agape love.

The same love that Jesus had for him.

For him to go out and minister, for him to go out and preach, for him to go out and do the things that God wanted him to do, he had to have something more, agape love.

What about us?

Do we have agape love for Jesus?

Jesus turned his attention to Peter now.

He turns his attention to us now.

And he called him by name, not Peter, but Simon.

Taking him back to his former self.

Isn't it amazing how God takes us back?

Isn't it amazing how he wants us to see how low we were?

Isn't it amazing that now there's something more that's gonna take place in your life?

All that Peter had become, all that Peter would become, all of it, all of it came from God.

And we, like Peter, are nothing apart from God.

Peter would be something more with God.

Peter would be something more because now he's about to receive his new commission.

It was unfinished business.

It was something more.

To not fish for fish, but to fish for men.

John chapter 21, verse 15a says, so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

More than these, Jesus didn't really say what that meant.

Was Jesus referring to the other disciples who were there?

Meaning that Peter loved the other disciples more than he loved Jesus?

Or was maybe he was talking about the fish and the boat.

Was he referring to his job that he loved more than Jesus?

Peter answered.

John 21, verse 15b says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

The problem with that statement was that Jesus was using a word called agape love.

That's strong, intense, powerful love, supreme love, unconditional.

But Peter was using philio love, weaker love, less intense.

And so Jesus had to then say something to Peter to give him his first commission.

I want you in John 21, verse 15b says, feed my lambs, the young converts, the babies, the children, people with disabilities, people with special needs.

But then he had to have something more.

He had to have it a second time.

And even a third time, the second time he said, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?

He said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Ten, my sheep.

Third time he said, the third time he said, son of Jonah, do you love me?

And now the third time, old Peter was grieved.

I can just imagine that he was embarrassed in front of his other disciples that God asked Jesus, ask him three times, do you love me?

And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I love you.

And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

Peter had to deny Jesus three times.

And so he got three opportunities to fix it.

Three opportunities to confess Jesus as Lord.

Peter knew that Jesus was God and that he knew all things.

So what did he say even the third time?

You know that I phileo love you.

Jesus did not reject old Peter.

He didn't throw him away.

Oh no, instead, Jesus takes Peter so that he can go and finish his unfinished business to be something more, to do something more, to help in feeding Christ's sheep.

Peter, feed my lambs.

Peter, tend my sheep.

Peter, feed my sheep.

And that third time, well, Peter finally got the message.

Well, how about us?

For Peter to go on and do and be something more, it would be like us today.

What if Verizon or T-Mobile, whoever your telephone provider is, could establish a direct link between earth and heaven?

And it allow us right now to speak to Jesus via satellite.

What do you think Jesus would say to you?

What would Jesus say to me?

What would his instructions be for each and every one of us?

If I was sitting on one of those seats, I think I would be right on the edge of my seat.

I would be right on the edge of the seat.

I would be waiting to see what Jesus would say to me.

Jesus, what do you have as unfinished business for me to do?

What is it that you want me to be?

Is it something more?

Jesus would say it like this.

You shall be my witnesses everywhere you go, even to the end of the earth.

And after Jesus would say that, he would say, like he said to Peter, I want you to go and feed my sheep.

Church, we have a job to do.

It's something more, something more for us to be, something more for us to do, feed my sheep.

We don't need a satellite link to heaven, do we?

We already know the call for us is not just our commitment.

The call for us is more than being like the Pharisees.

The Pharisees had a 100% commitment to their religious belief system.

They just believed in the wrong thing.

They believed, they rejected Jesus Christ.

They rejected his truth.

They rejected it because they never accepted the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.

Could it be that God has some unfinished business with you and me, with Valorous Church, the church body here at Valorous Church, some unfinished business?

Stop doubting.

Don't be a doubting disciple.

When you have some trouble in your house, stop doubting.

Call on the name of Jesus.

When you have some unfinished business and something more for you to do, stop denying.

Stop being denying Peter.

Stop denying that Jesus is the one who is in control of all things.

And we are gonna follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

So stop denying.

Why?

Because there's some unfinished business.

There is what?

Something more for us to do.

We gotta do what?

Remember, there's some places that you're gonna go that you don't wanna go anymore.

So there's some things that you may wanna do that you don't wanna do anymore.

There's some things that you have to do that you understand it is something more for me to do.

Something more for us as a church to do.

All in serving the Lord, unfinished business.

Something more.

We must surrender.

Let us be encouraged with these words today.

God's plan for us is to keep on learning.

God's plan for us is to keep on being transformed by his Holy Spirit.

God's plan for each and everyone is to keep on growing regardless of how old we are.

God's plan for us is to keep on maturing in his word.

God's plan for us is to build up his church.

God's plan for us is to take care of his sheep.

God's plan for us is to feed his sheep.

God's plan for us is to tend his sheep.

God's plan for us is to do what?

Something more.

Each and every one of us has what?

Something more that we need to do.

And so as we do that, Jesus will help us to go out and do something more.

So after hearing this message today, there may be someone sitting there right now in your seat and you are like doubting Thomas, not believing in Jesus, and you feel with doubts.

In your seat pocket that's in front of you or behind you or right beside you, there is a card that we call the connect card.

It's your invitation.

It's your call for salvation.

It's your call to rededicate your life to Christ.

Fill it out.

And on your way out of the arena this morning, give it to someone in the connect tent.

Someone next week will be in touch with you to help you on your journey of faith.

Jesus told Thomas in John 20 and 29, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The Holy Spirit is ready to come alive in someone's life this morning.

It's not about how many times you've been in the church.

It's not how many times you come to worship service.

He's ready to be the permanent resident in your life.

He's ready to help you to be something more.

If you only believe, you will receive salvation and go on to serve to do something more in the kingdom of God.

Although we have the Spirit living within us, we can still have doubt.

We can still have denials.

So what we have to have is saving faith.

Faith that will have us not having doubts like Thomas.

Faith that will have us not denying Jesus when the times get tough.

But faith to love him with agape love and to believe in him.

And because of Jesus and his agape love, because of what we about to receive in returning that love, it is something more.

God is waiting to bring us to his heavenly home.

But until then, until we go home to meet with Jesus in heaven, let us continue to spread the gospel to the unsaved.

Let us make disciples.

Let us baptize them in the name of God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So God, we come now to the end of this worship experience.

And your favor is clearly unquestionable.

We have seen the power of your grace and your mercy.

We have seen your love in our life.

Yet, there is still so much that we do not understand about you.

Let us have something more.

Something more that will go deeper into your word.

Something more that will give us new facets of your nature.

Something more that we can expect the unexpected next week.

Something more that we can trust you when we cannot see you.

Something more, Lord, that we want to acknowledge that you have already done in our life, that no matter how much we have seen and heard, we still want something more.

We ask it all in the name of Jesus.

And we thank you and we say, amen.