My question to each of us this morning is, “Do you have a personal relationship with God”?  It is easy to follow Jesus in a crowd. Many people based their relationship and experience with God in what is happening in a congregation. When God want to do something in the life of a person the person needs to relate personally with God.

We know that God is the father of everyone, but each person also need to be able to claim God as his or her father. He desires to be your father. 2 Corinthians 6:18 – “And, “I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

As powerful as He is, the almighty wants a relationship with you. A personal relationship.

Anytime He wants to do something, He doesn’t work through a crowd. 2 Chronicles 16:9 – “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

Your spiritual growth is determined by how you personalize your relationship with God.

You are to relate with God as if no other person is following him. How others are taking their journey with Him is not supposed to have any effect on your own journey. Your journey with Him must be peculiar to you.

God will not do the things he has planned for you until you are ready for a personal relationship with him. A relationship not dictated by another person. A walk not affected by another person’s walk. Have you not wondered why people leave the church immediately a person leaves? They won’t have any issue with the choir leader, but because Brother Lagbaja has an issue with the choir leader it becomes their issue.

Do you know why God doesn’t journey with a crowd? There are too many distractions and if one is not careful one become lost in the crowd. Also, how do you access your growth in a crowd? Let me tell you something, I used to think something was wrong with me, when those big preachers come around and they blow air out and people begin to fall and I am still standing. Then I realized that God want to be particular about me. I am peculiar. Say I am peculiar.

God want to be able to call you by your name. There are things others will do and there will not be any problem, you just put your hand in it and you get burnt. When God focuses on you, it is personal, peculiar and particular. Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

You have no clue what God’s plans are for that man or that woman.

Going back to the Bible passage we read John 21. The story started in verse 1. This was after Jesus was crucified, resurrected and just before he appeared to them for the last time. 7 of the disciples were together and Simon Peter said “I am going fishing”. And the other six also replied “We are going with you”. KJV said “We also go with thee”

Many get their life ruined by “Me also”. It makes you a copycat when all you do is follow others. Your destiny becomes a copy of another person’s destiny. You take up another person’s life journey. Another person’s failure becomes your failure, because of me also. You abandon your peculiarity. A person who wants to go far with God doesn’t use the words “I also”.  Such a person becomes just a shadow of what God wants them to be.

Your prayer life must be different. How you study the Bible must be different. Your walk with God must be different.

Some join their journey with God to another person’s journey and get disappointed on the way. No one can disappoint me because you’ve not appointed me.

Some follow the crowd because they don’t want to be alone. You can never be alone when God is with you.

1st problem with the story: They don’t know why he chooses to go fishing. They don’t know what the cost of the journey might be. The man Peter backslides and the other six also just backslid without knowing it.  No wonder

–          They toiled all night and caught nothing. A follow follow Christian catches nothing at the end of his or her journey. Verse 3. Your journey will not be a wasted journey in Jesus name. You will not fish in dry water in Jesus name.

–          When follow follow Christian are led to dry water, they don’t know, they just follow.

2nd problem with “we also”:

–          They don’t recognize the Lord anymore. Verse 4. Look at that story. The Bible did not say that Jesus had changed in appearance, but they failed to recognize even His voice.  Lack of personal relationship makes one lose one’s connection with God.

3rd problem: The one they followed ran back to Jesus. Verse 7. When individuals start retracing their steps back to Jesus they don’t usually tell the people they’ve misled. The follow follow Christians are always left in the dark.

Notice that when they were done eating, he did not address them all but singled out Peter. He did not even call him Peter, but called him a name that made Peter understood who called him.

When God want to deal with a man He calls the man by His intimate name, so there won’t be any misconceptions. The Question “Do you love me” was particular to Peter. He is asking you the same question this morning. Do you love Him? If the question was directed to the seven and just 4 of them answered it would seem as if every one of them loves Him. If we ask the church this morning do we all love Jesus, even if half of us answered yes, we might think that all of us love Jesus.

When he called Zacchaeus, the call was particular to Zacchaeus.

God wants a relationship with you, He want to take over the journey of your life. He desires a deeper relationship not dictated by the church, not dictated by your pastor, not dictated by any other relationship.

He is ready to bless you, he is ready to elevate you. He is ready to commit so much into your hands. Why not determine in your heart today for a personal relationship with Him.

Verse 19. Jesus said to Peter “Follow me”. It was a personal invitation. Peter didn’t understand it. He looked around. Verse 21 said he started asking about John. What was his business with John? Verse 22 – Jesus asked him what was his business with what he wanted to do with the man. You just follow me. Peter understood it. My prayer is that you will understand it in Jesus name.

I pray for you this morning, that the blessings that comes with having a personal relationship with God will become yours in Jesus name.