Watch the video on YouTube! Pastor Lauderdale’s sermon titled Try Again.
There comes a point in almost everyone’s life when quitting feels like the most reasonable option.
You gave it your best. You worked hard. You prayed. You sacrificed. Yet somehow, despite all your effort, you still came up empty.
That is exactly where Simon Peter found himself in Luke 5.
After fishing all night without catching a single fish, Peter and the other fishermen had begun washing their nets. Their workday was over. Their disappointment was fresh. Their expectations were gone.
Then Jesus showed up and asked Peter to do something that did not make sense.
“Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”
— Luke 5:4 KJV
Sometimes God’s greatest miracles begin with these simple words:
Try again.
Before Jesus addressed Peter, He was teaching a crowd that had gathered along the shore.
Here’s an important truth about that crowd: not everyone who gathers around Jesus is truly following Him.
Some people are fans.
Fans enjoy the blessings. They celebrate the miracles. They like what Jesus can do for them.
Followers stay with Him when life gets hard.
Followers trust Him when they do not understand. Followers obey even after disappointment. Followers remain committed through hell or high water.
Every believer must eventually answer this question:
Am I simply a fan of Jesus, or am I truly following Him?
Peter was not lazy. He was not inexperienced. He was not careless.
Peter was a professional fisherman. If anyone knew where and when to catch fish, it was Peter.
Yet despite all his knowledge and experience, he caught nothing.
Life can feel exactly like that.
You applied for another job. You tried to restore your marriage. You worked to repair a relationship. You battled an addiction. You prayed for your children. You served faithfully in ministry.
But despite your best efforts, nothing seemed to change.
Failure has a way of convincing us that our story is over. Disappointment whispers that there is no reason to keep trying.
But God specializes in writing new chapters after seasons of disappointment.
“Your last failure does not have to become your final chapter.”
One of the greatest truths found throughout Scripture is that God refuses to define people by their failures.
Peter failed. David failed. Jonah failed. Moses failed.
Yet God continued to call, restore and use each of them for His glory.
Jesus did not approach Peter with condemnation. He approached him with another opportunity.
That is the heart of the Gospel.
Jesus is still in the business of giving people another chance.
No matter how many times you have fallen, no matter how many mistakes you have made and no matter how many losses life has handed you, God still tells you:
Try again.
That does not mean repeating the same actions in the same way while expecting a different result. When God tells us to try again, He also shows us how to approach the situation differently.
Peter knew fishing. Jesus had worked as a carpenter.
From a human perspective, Peter had every reason to question Jesus’ instructions. Peter had the training, experience and professional knowledge.
But breakthrough often begins where self-confidence ends.
Sometimes our greatest obstacle is not the situation in front of us. It is our insistence that our own plan must be the right one.
Peter answered Jesus:
“Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
— Luke 5:5 KJV
Peter acknowledged his disappointment, but he did not allow his disappointment to have the final word.
“Nevertheless at thy word.”
Those words marked the turning point.
Peter surrendered what his experience told him and trusted what Jesus told him.
“When Jesus tells you to try again, He is not asking you to depend on your strength—He is inviting you to experience His.”
God may ask you to surrender what seems logical so He can accomplish what appears impossible.
Jesus did not simply tell Peter to fish again. He told Peter to change his position.
“Launch out into the deep.”
Sometimes the problem is not a lack of effort. We may have worked, struggled and pushed with everything we had.
The problem may be that we are working from the wrong position.
“Sometimes the problem is not your effort. It is your position.”
The position that needs to change may be physical, but it may also be mental, emotional or spiritual.
God may be asking you to shift:
We cannot expect a new outcome while refusing to move from an old mindset.
Scripture calls us to think differently:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
— Philippians 2:5 KJV
God often changes our perspective before He changes our circumstances.
There is an important detail in this passage that can easily be overlooked.
Jesus told Peter to let down his nets—plural.
Peter responded that he would let down the net—singular.
Peter obeyed, but his response was smaller than the instruction Jesus gave him.
Even after hearing the Word of God, Peter was still thinking according to the disappointment of the previous night.
He prepared for a small catch.
Jesus was preparing him for abundance.
“And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.”
— Luke 5:6 KJV
The catch was greater than the one net Peter had prepared could hold.
How often do we do the same thing?
We pray cautiously. We dream cautiously. We obey cautiously. We say we trust God, but we prepare only for what we believe is reasonable.
At Mt. Zion, we often say:
You have the faith. God has the power.
Small faith does not diminish the power of God. But it can limit what we are prepared to receive, carry and steward.
Every child learns to walk through a process of repeated failure.
A baby stands, wobbles and falls. Then the baby gets back up.
No one has to convince that child that falling once means walking is impossible. The child simply tries again.
“Failure is not proof that you are finished. It may be proof that God is still growing you.”
Every person who walks today once fell while learning.
Failure is familiar to all of us. From infancy through adulthood, growth requires us to attempt things we have not yet mastered.
Do not allow one disappointment to define your future.
Do not allow one failed relationship to determine every relationship that follows.
Do not allow one rejection to convince you that every door will remain closed.
Do not allow one relapse to convince you that recovery is impossible.
Do not allow one painful season to persuade you that God has abandoned you.
Get back up. Trust Him again. Walk again. Believe again.
When Peter followed the instruction of Jesus, the catch was so great that the net began to break.
The miracle was not found in Peter’s professional experience. It was not found in his natural ability. It was not produced by his strength.
The miracle followed his obedience.
Jesus already knew where the fish were. Peter simply had to trust Him enough to cast the net again.
God already knows where your provision is. He knows where your healing begins. He knows how your family can be restored. He knows the way out of the cycle that has kept you trapped.
He asks you to trust Him enough to follow His direction.
“Your breakthrough may be waiting on your next act of obedience.”
Trying again does not mean pretending the previous disappointment never happened.
Peter did not deny that he had fished all night and caught nothing. He brought his disappointment honestly to Jesus.
But he refused to let the previous night determine what he would do next.
As you move forward:
Romans 8:28 reminds us:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
— Romans 8:28 KJV
God can use the disappointment. He can use the delay. He can use the failure. He can even use the empty season.
Nothing is wasted when it is surrendered to Him.
You may feel like you have reached the end of your strength.
Your marriage may be struggling. Your family may be divided. Your career may feel stalled. Your recovery may have taken a painful turn. Your ministry may not look the way you expected it to look.
Start from where you are.
Surrender your strategy. Shift your position. Stretch your faith.
Reposition yourself. Realign yourself with God. Refocus on His Word.
Then cast your nets one more time.
Because when Jesus says, “Try again,” He is not asking you to repeat yesterday in your own strength.
He is inviting you to follow Him into something new.
Watch the video on YouTube! Pastor Lauderdale’s sermon titled Try Again.
