First Love

Guest (Male): Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robyn Kassas and Dr. Nathan Kassas, where faith meets real life. In this weekly broadcast, you will discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deepen your relationship with Jesus, and encounter him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again.

No topic is off-limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us; your journey back to first love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Dr. Robyn, it is Friday! Our second Friday and we are excited for the weekend. Some Sabbath rest is well needed.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, and we do need a rest.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And we have come to the end of the fish gate.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's right, but it has been a journey, a journey that each and every one of us has gone on, including us.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Definitely. I'm not just giving information and letting others live it; I'm living this myself. I'm on a journey of the fish gate myself with the Lord. And it's ironic, we literally just got fish in our own space.

Anyway, if you don't know who we are, my name is Dr. Nathan and this is Dr. Robyn. We are so honored to be guiding your drive home or waking you up, wherever you're listening from.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Or challenging you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, that definitely is what we do. And we are going to use this episode to kind of round off.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: With prophetic statements and also just unfold some things that we maybe skipped over a bit quickly and revisit them. Because then we're coming up to the old gate in our next week, and that's all about revisiting. What is it you are remembering?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. The punchline of the old gate, just to whet your appetite, is God has to change some things, like your brain and your mind and your emotions, but there are some things that have to remain unchanged.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And some things have to be thrown into the sea of forgetfulness.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, there are some memories you can't pull up.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But there are some that God wants you to remember.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. Okay, so rounding this off, I'm going to read a couple of key statements to get us started. And then, Dr. Robyn, I would like you to expound on them and give them a couple more revelatory punchlines and how the people listening can actually apply it to their life.

The sheep gate teaches us whose we are, but the fish gate teaches us our response. He develops our response and why we are. It's attached to the purpose that God has given us, and that is to be fishers of men and not fishers of fish. The fish gate is where calling begins. Calling does not begin through striving but through following. What would you say about that, Dr. Robyn?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Because we have to go beyond the calling of following, but we have to start somewhere. The coming is the sheep gate, and the fish gate is the following because that is where we learn to recognize and respond.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And I'd like to say here too that even though Peter is the fisher, Jesus is the great fisherman. It's the fulfillment of Jesus in this gate. Peter's not the only fisher in this story. Jesus is the great fisherman. Everything about the fish gate points to Christ.

He calls, he feeds, he restores, he multiplies, he searches, he forms, he sends. Jesus is not gathering people merely to increase their number. He's actually gathering them to transform them. That's why God gathers people, not for quantity, but for quality.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I think it's important the fish gate also is connected to multiplication. That's what he did: loaves and the fish. He took it, he broke it, and then from the breaking it multiplied. It multiplied and it was put in the boat.

How many disciples were in the boat? Jesus had twelve and there were twelve baskets in there. It was always there as they were going across to the other side. Look back and remember what took place.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Didn't I say I would take you to the other side? My Lord. But the problem is, Pastor Robyn—and I call you pastor because I like to call you that too, not just doctor—Pastor Robyn, we let the storm dictate what we remember.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, the fear of the water and the storm and the fear of drowning and not getting to the other side even though he said we would get there.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: See, I think it's so back-to-front. The things that we're meant to forget, we remember, and the things that we're meant to remember, we forget. Lord, give us a new mind.

Something that we're bringing out about this importance of the fish gate as we bring it into the introduction for the old gate is that the Lord has gotten Peter to a point here. Now I want to go back to John 21 because we talked about it in the beginning before we go into the break. Because you would think Peter is set.

But he gets into this question in John 21, verse 20, right after the Lord has said follow him. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, and also had leaned on his breast at the supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays you?" Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"

Now this is in response to the Lord restoring Peter and saying, "Peter, all I want you to do is follow me. I'll do the rest. Just you get up and follow." And then Peter straight away shifts the actual multiplying that God is trying to do in him right now. He shifts the actual attention and he goes, "But what about John? Are you calling him to follow you like you're calling me to follow you?" And Jesus' response is priceless.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Actually, he says, "Mind your own business." I love it. He says, "Mind your own business. What is it if whatever I choose? This is not your business. God chooses here who sits, not you."

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And this is so important, Dr. Robyn, because when the Lord reinstates us, if we have not let go of the old mindsets, the old gate... If we don't remember that he said it was Simon, bar-Jonah, that he was talking to... He never mentioned John's name. He never mentioned Andrew's name. He mentioned Simon, son of Jonah. So the Lord's saying this is for you. We will allow this moment to escape us again and we'll have to go around the mountain.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And we don't want to go around the mountain. One thing we learned about going around the mountain, it was a journey that took too long. From Egypt to Kadesh-barnea, it should have been an 11-day journey, but it was forty. Forty years, that's right.

Looking at that tree, here I go again. It was when they said, "This is too hard." The old way of thinking got in between them and their relationship with God. The Lord said, "Right, you'll just wander. You'll wander now until you die out."

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord Jesus. And again I see this in Peter. He's come so far. Remember, he's not there fully because he can't agape because he's still dealing with recovery. And you see it in the next conversation point: "Well, what about John? Does he follow you the way I follow you?"

The Lord had just referred to Peter about how he would have to give his life. He said, "When you were young, you got to determine where you led yourself, but now someone else will determine where you're led." And that, I think, is the price of not surrendering. Leading yourself... Do people realize that if you lead yourself you have to do it forever?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: When I'm counseling someone I say, "You better enjoy this because you're going to have to do it for the rest of your life if you don't surrender to the Lord."

Dr. Nathan Kassas: What's important here is Peter's DFM mode, his default mode, is trying to kick back in in this moment. And Jesus, through a very strong rebuke, even with a little bit of sarcasm, interrupts the neural loop. And I think sometimes the Lord has to allow his rebuke, his correction, to stop us from repeating the same mistake.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And Peter has to listen and hear: "Mind your own business."

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. Let's go to a break and we'll come back.

Guest (Male): Looking for a real relationship with Jesus? Join Dr. Robyn Kassas and Dr. Nathan Kassas every weekday for First Love, where prophetic insight meets real theology. Learn how God's voice activates your mind, body, soul, and spirit, helping you renew your mind, transform your life, and return to the one who loved you first. Catch First Love Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more at torcc.org. The one who loved you first is still loving you best.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, Dr. Robyn, I took some five minutes to mind my own business.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I think that's really important because it is God's business.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It's true. It's funny because Peter's journey begins with "Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men." After all his failure, denial, restoration, and transformation, Jesus brings him right back to the first thing he said: "Follow me."

Dr. Robyn Kassas: To his first love. But then this is what happens. When God brings him back to his first love, Peter turns and looks at somebody else. He wants the same expectation asked of someone else as much as it is of him. You do not do that.

You do not expect someone else to have to walk the same way as you do because you are different from your brother. Each one of us is at a different place. It's unique.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So I want to read a couple of key things I've written down here. The Lord says to Peter, "You follow me." Peter had heard his assignment, but immediately instead of looking at Jesus, he looks sideways. "What about this person? What about that person?" Peter is being told by the Lord here: John's journey is none of your business.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: A true mature disciple doesn't need every circumstance to make sense before obedience begins.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. Dr. Robyn, what I'm trying to bring out here as this final clincher for the fish gate is this: the fish gate is also about learning where to look. When God reinstates you, will you keep looking ahead at Jesus, or will you look around at others and go, "Well, what about him? Mine doesn't look like his. Mine doesn't look like hers"?

I've got a really important thing here about the psychology of comparison, because this is what comparison will do. It will creep up when God has reinstated you and given you an original assignment.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: When you haven't fully heard the word, you will continually refuse to obey.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. Here I'd like to bring out some neuroscience. Human beings naturally engage in social comparison. We assess ourselves partly by observing other people. For example: how far they are in life, how did they receive, why is their path easier, why is their ministry growing and mine isn't? Why did God give them that opportunity? Why haven't I received mine?

Here's something that's so key for anyone listening: comparison can shift your internal reference point from calling to ranking. God is giving you a call, not a rank.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: When he calls, there are conditions. We need to know this, and I need to say this tonight. There are three parts to the call. You're chosen. God chooses you because he's called you, but you have to wait to be commissioned. That comes as a result of obedience.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, and the great commission for Peter doesn't really take place until later on in Acts 2, where he's in the upper room and the Holy Spirit comes upon him.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: He changes. He definitely does, because that's when he says he goes out and he preaches to the three thousand. I think the Lord is... it's like putting money in the bank; you want interest from your deposit.

So does the Lord. He wants his dividends. He wants interest on putting all that time into you. And that means the interest is coming into his heart field so that he can bring you back to the original plan.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you won't access the original plan, Dr. Robyn, if you're moving in comparison. Comparison will get you to forsake your calling for a ranking. It's like a scoreboard.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I'm sorry, you are not to compare yourself with anyone.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Or yourself, the scripture says.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Or anyone. You're not to compare yourself because we are all individuals.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is important for the fish gate. I want to bring out another aspect of the fish gate as we tie up: don't fish in somebody else's waters.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's right. Real fishermen know where their water is at and they know the type of catch that they're called to get. Sometimes, let me say this to you, you've been a big fish in a little pond and you've had all the say, and now God puts you in a big pond and you're only a little fish. God knows what you need.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is so true. I'd like to give you a key statement for someone out there that is experiencing comparison. I've experienced it a lot myself, hopefully by the grace of God overcoming it: comparison can make you abandon a personal revelation because you're distracted by somebody else's assignment.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And your expectations are never someone else's expectations. That's what makes you individual. You would not want to be compared to someone else.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The thing about comparison, Dr. Robyn, is when you begin ranking yourself in your mind against someone else and on the scoreboard of heaven—or what you think the kingdom is being measured by—you will actually begin to interpret your assignment through that person's outcome.

If that person gets a success in a field such as family, life, or finances, you will begin to interpret your assignment as not being enough, as being unsuccessful. You will see your assignment from the Lord as saying, "Well, God must not be really moving in my life because I'm not having the same outcomes."

This is where we go to what you said about Peter with John. I love how Jesus doesn't explain to Peter here. He doesn't make it equal. He says, "Mind your own business. This is between John and me, and what's between me and you is between me and you."

As believers, we do this. When God is about to heal us, we always shift the attention off because we think like sheep; the grass looks greener on the other side. You've said this continually throughout this series.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, and I think we all need to hear maybe three things that the Lord is saying. First: come. Then: follow me. But don't stop there. Learn to live in me and allow me to live out of you and abide.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: In rabbinic terms, to follow someone, there's a saying that you would follow them so much that their ashes would become the dust that you would wear. Everywhere they went, you would go. Everything they did, you would do. You would imitate their life as if it was your own. "Your people, my people. Your God, my God. Where you go, I'll go." That's what Ruth said. That's really following.

You can't follow Jesus and be so busy looking over your shoulder following John. You have to follow Jesus. This is what Peter was doing. Right there in front of him is standing Jesus, and Jesus is saying, "Follow me," just like the man who was at that pool.

Comparison was tempting Peter to look over his shoulder and go, "But what about John?" You can't look at Jesus and be following him but be so consumed with looking over your shoulder to see who else or what else.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Or who else is doing what you're doing.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Maturity is being able to celebrate John's assignment without questioning your own.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's very important because you're looking at the whole picture and not just some of the picture.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. And this is an important statement here: Peter turned around to look at John.