How The Fishermen Got Caught

Okay, let's open up in prayer. Father God, thank you for your

word. Thank you for these children who just established a baseline for our sermon.

Lord, May these words penetrate our hearts and minds by your holy spirit,

maybe we'd be convicted and be doers of your word in Jesus' name.

Amen. You know, when I was a teenager, my father took me

on a fishing trip, and looking back at it, I believe it was

the greatest fishing trip I had ever gone in my life. Now you may

say greatest fishing trip. What made it so great? Well, my father

took me and about six kids, teenagers we're all fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,

eighteen at the time, six fathers and kind of a father son type

trip. And we drove way up into northern Canada. And I'm just not

saying just cross the border into northern Canada. I'm saying we went way up

like maybe I don't recall, but maybe sixty degree latitude way up there.

And we got to the very remote location this lake, and I thought,

wow, this is this is pretty amazing. This is beautiful. This is

kind of like wilderness. And my dad said, no, we're going further,

He said, going further, how do you go further? This is

we're getting on a seaplane. We're getting on a seaplane. This is we're

getting on a seaplane. That's the only way we can reach the lakes and

these remote places to fish. We got on a seaplane and flew probably another

hour north, like amazing, this is the only way you can get to

these places. It was kind of an archabelago of islands and lakes, pristine

wilderness. And you know, when we got to the island, there was

only two log cabins, two log cabins, no running water, no electricity,

no cell phones at the time, and there was boats with engines and

enough gas to last us for ten days wilderness. And the pilot said,

listen, I'll come back and check on you in five days. Ten day

trip. I'll come back checking you five days. If you're okay, I'll

fly back and I'll pick you up at day ten. Now, the greatest

thing about this fishing trip was this. Every time we cast our line into

the water, within five to six minutes a bite and a catch. You

could literally catch ten fish in an hour. Can you imagine that? Through

And we were putting fishing lures, different types, colors, types, They

were biting everything. I once pulled up two fish at the same time.

That's how amazing this fishing trip was. In fact, it was so amazing

that being out in the wilderness like that. I mean, we saw bald

eagles, We saw just the pristineness of nature. We saw the sky lit

up. Have you ever been in a dark location? Very dark, no

lights, no nothing, you look up in the sky, no clouds.

I mean you could see the Milky Way band cutting across the middle of the

sky. That's how dark it was. And I'll even go further to say

this, have you ever heard of the Aurora borealis the northern lights? We

saw that too, That's how far north we were. And I remember the

colors of green and yellow and just the hues flickering in the amazing. Now,

that was the greatest fishing story, the fishing expedition. I had a

verbannon, But what I want to talk to you about today is the greatest

fisherman, m an that ever walked this earth. Not only is he the

greatest fisher man in terms of the quantity of fish that he caught, but

also that he could catch fishermen m e n That is those who made a

living catching fish. That's the title of the sermon today, How the fishermen

got caught? Now, in the next thirty minutes, I want to give

you the four essentials of how to get caught by the greatest fishermen Jesus Christ.

Now you might say, whoa, oh, oh, getting caught?

Getting you want to tell me the fourth essentials of how to get caught?

Getting caught doesn't sound like a good thing. That sounds like a scary thing.

No, let me tell you. Think about this. Where do fish

live? Fish live in the sea? Right? Is the sea light?

Or is the sea dark? Sea's dark? Right? See, the greatest

fishermen of the world wants to take us from the kingdom of darkness to the

Kingdom of light. Getting caught is a good thing. Now, Jesus wants

to bring you into this kingdom of light. But it's by your own free

will. You cannot get caught unless you, by your own free will,

your own decision, willingly want to be caught by the greatest fishermen. Getting

into the Kingdom of Light is not by means of coercion. It's not by

means of fear. It's not forced upon us. It's a free will choice

that we have turned Luke five. It's the calling of the first Disciples,

the Gospel of Luke chapter five, beginning in verse one. And I just

want to give you a framework for this. Now. First of all,

when Jesus the greatest fisherman, he has techniques, he has techniques to catch

these fishermen. He teaches them, he tests them, he reveals hisself to

them, and then he reassures them. Now the key here is Peter's free

will response. Peter provides the four essentials by which we can get caught.

And it's his response to Jesus that matter. Now. They're progressive, they're

successive, meaning they build upon one another. Sequence matters here. And I

would say this, being caught is the most adventurous thing you can do.

Being caught is the most adventurous thing you can do. It's bold, it's

courageous, it's daring. And I would say, if you get caught,

or you're in the process of being caught, I would call you a daring

disciple. You're a bold, courageous, daring disciple. Because Luke nine twenty

four would say this, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who

will save it. Let's examine essential number one Luke five. Pick it up

in verse one. Now, it happened that while the crowd was pressing around

him and listening to the word of God. This is Jesus. He was

standing by the lake of Genessseira, that's the lake of Galilee. And he

saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had

gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And he got into one

of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a

little way from the land, and he began. He sat down, and

he began teaching the people from the boat. You got the picture people pressing

around Jesus, pressing, pushing, meaning and they're listening to the word of

God. Meaning they're hungering for the word of God. They have great interest

in the word of God. They're thrilled to listen to the word of God.

They're pressing, they're pushing, they're trying to hear the word of God.

You see, the word of God is gracious words. In Luke Forward

twenty two. It says, yeah, gracious words were falling from his lips.

Gracious words, pleasant words, delightful words. That's what they're pressing to

hear. Jesus would even say his words are spirit and they are life.

Peter would even recognize later on that Jesus speaks the words of eternal life.

It never has a man spoken the way this man speaks. They're pressing pressure,

They're pressing around him. Now where is Peter? I believe Peter's in

the boat. He's with Jesus. Right, do you think Peter heard the

words of Jesus. Of course, he's now speaking to the crowds. He's

teaching the crowds, but he's also speaking to Peter. See, he's soffering

softening his heart. And that leads to essential number one of getting caught.

Essential number one is the foundation for everything. It sets the stage for all

other essentials. Essential number one Daring disciples are spiritually attentive to God's word.

Daring disciples are spiritually attentive to God's word. Why is that? Well,

it reveals the word of God, reveals the love of God for you through

Jesus Christ. God's word sets forth the plan of salvation. It's the means

by which we're reconciled to God. The Word of God provides us moral transformation,

spiritual transformation. In fact, it's the agent by which we must be

born again, the agent by which we go from the kingdom of darkness to

the Kingdom of light. Jesus would say to Nicodemus, truly, truly,

I say to you, unless you are born again. Unless one is born

again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. Now think about this,

how is one born again? Let's go to first Peter one Peter one,

twenty five. What's the agent? What is the means by which we're born

again? One Peter one twenty five, twenty three. For you have been

born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable, that

is, through the living and enduring Word of God. Seed is the Word

of God, living, enduring, imperishable for all. The flesh is like

the grass, all its glory, like the flower of grass. The grass

withers and the flower falls off, But the Word of the Lord endures forever.

Seed a seed is planted, It reminds me of the sower who plants

the seed of God. The seeds of the kingdom. You know, the

parable seed goes on hard ground. It thrown on hard ground. But what

happens? Birds can snatch it away because it's hard. Heart is hard.

But some falls on rocky ground. There's not enough soil. It springs up,

but then the sun scorches it. There is no real good soil for

it to land on. Others land in thorns and thistles. And what happens.

The cares of the world choke out the Word of God, choke out

that seed. But others fall on what good ground, attentive ground, ground

that will allow it to flourish? In what happens? Thirty sixty one hundredfold

does the Word of God grow? What is our spiritual attentiveness the Word of

God? Think about this, the Word of God. John one one in

the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the

word was God and jumped down to verse fourteen, and the word became flesh

and dwelt among us. Right. Christ is the word. Christ is the

word the seed planted in our heart. Christ. Now think about this.

Christ is the word the word word. The Greek word for word is logos,

And yes it does mean word, but it means more than just word

word. It's speech, it's utterance, it's narrative, it's statements. So

think about this. If I speak to you, what do I need to

use to speak to you? I need to use words to speak to you,

right, But what happens before I speak words to you? What's what's

what's the what's the moment? Right before these words come out of my mouth?

I think my mind? Right, I have a thought. I have

a thought and I want to express it to someone. I want to express

it to you. So I think something. Now do you know what I'm

thinking right now? No, we can't read each other's minds. But I

want to convey to you what's in my mind. So what do I do?

I think about it, and I say, I'm going to use certain

words and I'm going to express those words and I'm going to speak them to

you. And I want to do it in an organized, logical fashion,

clear, comprehensive in one sense, to convey that thought. Right. I

want to be articulate. I want to be able to communicate exactly what my

mind is thinking. Now, think about this. If christ is the word,

the narrative, the utterance is what's right before that it's got to come

from an intelligent mind. The mind of God. Wow, the mind of

God, his thoughts expressed speaking Christ. That's what we have. We have

a living, enduring, imperishable word, the Seed of God, the Word

of God. Powerful. And what does Christ? What does Christ speak?

Not only does he speak words that we read in the Bible, He's speaking

the will of God. He's demonstrating the character of God. He's speaking the

love of God. Not only in his words, but what he does,

he does the Cross. God is speaking us, speaking to us through Christ.

The word of God that we hold in our hands in this Bible is

the most important thing we could ever hold. We're we're exposed to the mind

of God. This is Christ speaking to us, living and enduring. You

know, I wish there was a phone application that could show me how much

time I spend in the Word of God. I know how much time my

other apps I spend. Oh, your screen time is up this week,

your screen time is down, your screen time is up. How much time

do we spend in the Word of God, the most important words ever to

be spoken to mankind? Someone could develop that app. I'll take it.

I just say that, But we need to be deliberate with our time,

purposeful, find that quiet place, whatever it is, fifteen twenty minutes,

half an hour when you can spend time in the Word of God. Distractions,

you know, there's so many distractions to keep us from the Word of

God. The enemy does not want us to understand the mind of Christ,

the Word of God. He wants us to focus on fleshly, earthly things,

and there's plenty of distractions out there. We have to guard our senses,

not only in what we eat, but what we see, what we

hear, everything. We need to dwell upon it, meditate upon it,

you know. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great poet,

essayist, philosopher, said these words, The mind, once stretched by a

new idea, never returns to its original dimension, never returns to its original

dimension. The Bible will stretch your mind. The Bible will grow you into

noble, high thoughts, holy thoughts, ideas that will continue to allow you

to grow in the Word of God. You cannot exhaust the mind of God.

You cannot exhaust the scriptures. They are your infallible guide to this life

and to entering into the Kingdom of life. So essential number one. Daring

disciples are spiritually attentive to hear God's word. Now, being attentive to God's

word is not enough. That's good, But you need essential number two because

essential number one doesn't matter unless you have essential number two. But if you

combine them together, explosive combination. Explosive combination. Let's keep reading Luke five,

verse four. When he had finished speaking, this is Jesus. When

he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep

water and let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered and said,

Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But I will do

as you say and let down the nets. Does Peter have doubts? Yeah,

Peter has doubts, right, Master, I'm professional at this. I

do this for a living. Nighttime is the best time to fish, right

night A nighttime is the best. And we caught nothing. We worked hard

all night. Nothing fish can't be caught during the day. They'll see the

net, they'll swim away. It's not possible to do that. Notice,

examine the text real closely. Here Jesus says, put out into the deep

water and let down. He says, let down your nets for a catch.

What does Peter say. He says, I will do as you say

and let down the nets. What's missing in Peter's voice track. He doesn't

say catch. He just says, I'll let down the nets. But you

know what, Peter is obedient. He's obedient despite his doubts. And that's

essential number two. Essential number two is daring disciples obey God's word despite their

doubts. Daring disciples obey God's word despite their doubts. What's the result of

obedience in this storyline verses six and seven. When they had done this,

when they had let down the nets, they enclosed a great quantity of fish,

and their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in

the other boat for them to come and help them, and they came and

filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. Wow, greatest

catch. Can you imagine the boats being flat full, overwhelmed, nets are

breaking, boats are sinking, all because Peter obeyed. See obedience leads to

reward and blessing, even if you doubt. See Christ giving evidence of what

he will do in our life if we obey. This was a test for

Peter, It's a test for us. Obedience is the golden thread that runs

throughout the whole of the Bible. Are we going to obey or are we

not going to obey? See spiritual attentiveness to the Word of God followed by

obedience is an explosive combination. Take the risk to obey even though you doubt

you know. I'll say this when I first heard of the Seventh day Sabbath.

When I first heard the seventh day Sabbath and someone told me, you

know what the seventh day Sabbath is, and you know you should keep it,

I was like, WHOA, I've never heard this before, seventh day

Sabbath. What is all that about? Never heard this before? And I

was convicted by it. I knew it was important to keep. I hadn't

been keeping it, but this denomination told me you should keep it. They

were saying, come on out deep, walk in, walk in greater truth.

So I did, but I was a little nervous about it. You

know why I was nervous. I was single at the time, and I

did a little mathematical calculation in my mind. I said, of the whole

Christian world, if she's a Christian, I'll marry her. She's got to

be a solid Christian. And then all of a sudden, I came to

know the Sabbath and I'm like, WHOA, not many women keep the Sabbath.

That narrowed my pool down significantly. I was like, I went from

figuratively ten possible potential wives down to one. I'm like, oh, those

aren't good odds. As an engineer, I look at the math, I'm

like, nah, that doesn't work. But you know what I did.

I was convicted by the word of God. I knew it was the right

thing to do, and I stepped out in faith and I said I'm gonna

do I'm going to obey the Sabbath, and I started keeping it. And

I came here and you know what. I came here, and you know

what this church said to me, Go deep? What do you mean,

go deep? You have the gift of teaching, Start teaching you have I'm

like, go deep. Wait, I don't know about this. I had

doubts. I'm not a teacher, I'm not even a speaker. But what

did I do? I went deep? Was I was I uncomfortable those first

few times? Marcia de Yeah, Marcia d was the first one ten twelve

years ago. Remember that Marcia d and Tom Minor sat there, Barbara and

us, Barbara Sydney. There was a handful of us. And I sat

down and I would just flip through notes and start to read them to people,

and we start to have a conversation. And I started my journey of

teaching. And I was obedient. Was I uncomfortable? Yes? Did I

do it? Yes? Did the Lord grow my talent? Yes he did.

I'm still growing in the talent. And you know what, my faithfulness

because I started teaching, my future wife was spiritually attentive to the Word of

God. She was searching, she wanted to know more. She wanted to

be obedient. And you know what, she came into my class one day

and I didn't know it. She comes into my class, she sits down,

people come and go on the class. I didn't think much of it.

She sticks with it. She's spiritually attentive. She's stuck with it all

the way through the Daniel Revelation series. She attended again, all the way

through the Daniel Revelation series. Well, naturally, what do you think happened?

You talk to you the students, You talk to people, and you

start to get to know them. Well, thank the Lord. Praise the

Lord. I'm married, have two wonderful kids now because I took a step

out and I said, I'm going to obey what God has told me to

do despite my doubts. Now, reward might not happen immediately, but God

knows your heart, he knows where he's leading you. Good catchy, it

was a good catch that's right. Thank you. I never thought and that's

how I met my wife. See, we have to ask ourselves this question.

What areas in our life have we not rendered full obedience? Are you

doubting God's power to work in your life? You see, God has a

thousand ways that you or I don't even know about to work and move and

affect your life. You know, we're called to go out into the deep

and let down our nets, obey despite your doubt. You know, Jesus

in the Sermon on the Mount, he goes up the Serm of Mount and

he speaks principles of the Kingdom of God. I'm going to go to Matthew

seven, verse twenty four. He speaks of the principles of the Kingdom of

God, and he talks about the Kingdom of God, and what's the Kingdom

of heaven is like what the Kingdom of Light is like. And he says

this at the very end of the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount,

he's bringing a ten to the law, and he says this. He says,

therefore, Matthew seven twenty four. Therefore, everyone who hears these words

of mine and acts on them, acts on them, may be compared to

a wise man who built his house on the rock. We're spiritually attentive to

the word of God, but we must act on them. We must act

on them and walk in obedience. See, there's only two classes of people

in the world at the very end, at the time of the judgment,

those who keep the commandments of God and those who don't. And Jesus would

say this in John fourteen, verse fifteen. If you love me, keep

my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. So essential number

one, daring disciples are spiritually attentive to hear God's word. Essential number two,

daring disciples obey God's word despite their doubt. Let's let's keep going in

on the story because we need to look at essential number three. Luke five.

Bear with me one second here lost my place Luke five, verse six,

verse eight. They've just signaled to their partners to come out and help

them. The boats are sinking verse eight. But when Simon Peter saw that,

he fell down at Jesus's feet, saying, go away from me,

Lord, for I am a sinful man. Now, yes, a result

of Peter's obedience was a great reward. That was a revelation of Christ's power

over nature. Fish my words, fish are jumping into the net, jumping

into the boat. But Peter now realizes his sense of shame and unworthiness because

he's in the presence of a perfect savior. And we need to recognize our

true spiritual condition, which leads to essential number three. Daring disciples acknowledge their

sinners and their need for a personal savior. Daring disciples acknowledge their sinners and

in need of a personal savior. You know, obedience is good, it's

right. We should do it. But we don't look to our obedience as

our for our worthiness, our acceptance before God, no good works. We

don't raise our self up in pride saying, look at what I've done.

Look at I tithe that I give, and I do these things, and

I use my talents in the church. Look how good I am. I'm

a good person. I'm a good Christian. That's good. We should be

doing those things, but our heart needs to be in the right position,

in the right mindset. Let's go to Isaiah six Isaiah six, verse one.

Isaiah six, verse one, in the year of King Usiah's death,

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the

train of his robe filling the temple. And in verse five, what does

Isaiah say? He says, woe is me, for I am ruined because

I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of

unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Host.

You see, Isaiah has a conception of his sinfulness, the insignificance of

man when compared to God the Almighty. He knows it. In fact,

Daniel has the same experience Daniel and Daniel ten. We won't go there.

Daniel experiences the pre incarnate Christ, and he falls on his face. John

the revelator would experience the resurrected Christ and falls like a dead man. See,

in the presence of a living God, we're sinners. We've fallen short

of the glory of God. You know, We may not see a great

vision like Isaiah. We may not see the pre incarnate Cloris like Daniel,

or the resurrected Christ in all of his glory like John the Revelator. But

you know what, just as Peter saw a great catch, we can see

a great law in the Bible Romans three twenty because by the works of the

Law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law

comes the knowledge of sin Romans three twenty three, for all have sinned and

fall short of the glory of God. Now notice the contrast where Peter Peter

falls at the feet of Jesus. He falls at the feet of Jesus and

says, Lord, depart from me, go away from me. Do you

see the tension there. He's holding on to Jesus in a sense, he's

falling at his feet, saying, go away from me. I'm a sinner.

Now here's the good news. You know, we can acknowledge we're sinners,

and we can bow at the foot of Christ. We can bow at

the foot of the cross because Christ freely pardons and restores all who come to

him. Take a look at Isaiah one. Isaiah one, verse eighteen says

this, Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. I

love that verse. Come now and reason together, says the Lord. He's

the Lord, God Almighty is inviting us to a dialogue. What a condescension

that the mighty God of all, the universe, creator of all, would

say, let's reason together. I mean that's a demonstration of his goodness,

his love, his humility toward us. I mean that he would allow us

to reason with him. God is not a despot trying to catch us when

we do wrong. He's a father. He wants relationship with us. Come,

let's reason together. Let's keep reading. Come now, let's reason together,

says the Lord. See he wants us to forstake sin and walk and

righteous. Look at this, Though your sins are as scarlet, they will

be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will

be like wool. You see, the worst of sinners find comfort and hope

in this verse. Sin can be eradicated and completely wiped out through God Almighty,

through Christ. And it says further, if you consent and obey,

you will eat the best of the land. But if you refuse and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword Truly, the mouth of the Lord

has spoken obedience. You see the Bible. Sorry, the blood of Christ

is the vital element in the plan of salvation. The blood of Christ is

the vital element in the plan of salvation twenty two twenty eight. Christ purchased

the Church with his own blood Ephesians one seven. We have redemption through his

blood forgiveness of sin Colossians one twenty. We have peace through the blood Hebrews

thirteen twelve. We are sanctified through his blood Revelation one to five. Christ

washed us from our sins by his own blood one Corinthians eleven twelve. This

cup is the new covenant in my blood. See. Christ wants us to

come to him to receive remission of sins, forgiveness of sins. There is

no sin that he cannot forgive, no sin, no matter what you've done,

no matter what pain you're feeling, no matter what is going on in

your life. Christ can forgive and will forgive if you come to him.

There's only one sin that he can't forgive, and you know what that is.

If you reject him, you say no, I don't want it.

You still have a free will. But Christ is inviting us to come come.

Essential number one. Daring disciples are spiritually attentive to God. Hear God's

word. Essential number two. Daring disciples obey God's word despite their doubt.

Essential number three. Daring disciples acknowledge they air sinners and their need for a

personal savior. But to be caught by the great fisher man. There's one

last step. Essential number four is the decisive element. Like the other three,

we have a free will and a free choice. The Kingdom of God,

the Kingdom of Light, does not come about by coercion or by force.

It's by our own free will. Essential number four. Daring disciples forsake

all and follow Jesus. Yearing disciples, forsake all and follow Jesus. Look

at Luke five verse ten. And so also were James and john sons of

Debuty, who were partners with Simon, and Jesus said to Simon, do

not fear. From now on you will be catching men. And when they

had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. They

left everything and followed him. In the context Peter Andrew James John the Calling

of the First Disciples, see these fisher men left everything, and they followed

Jesus. Now Jesus reassures Peter of his new occupation. Do not fear,

He's saying, Peter, come catch men with me. I find it interesting.

At the height of Peter's career, the greatest catch ever, two boats

filled, sinking nets breaking, he leaves everything. Someone benefited from those catch,

but Peter leaves it behind. So do the outter disciples now think about

this? When they leave everything to follow Jesus. They don't know the future

nor where Jesus is going. We know when we read the Gospels they all

have fawed, flawed characters, and we know they all make mistakes when we

read the Gospels. You see, you don't need to know the future.

Christ will make your path clear day by day. You don't have to have

a perfect character. Christ is going to mold you on the way, and

you don't need to worry about making mistakes. Just keep getting up. Christ

will encourage you to press on. For whoever wishes to save his life will

lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the

one who will save it. Now think about this. Peter launches out into

the deep as an ordinary fisherman. But when he comes back to land,

he launches out into the deep by faith to become a fisher of men.

See Christ wants us to become fishers of men and women and children. Know

that you go with Christ. Christ was with Peter in the boat the whole

time. It's not by our works. We have to have Christ with us

in the boat. We have to go out deep with Christ. We have

to move to a place where the fish are, where men and women and

children need to be saved. Go out deep, follow Jesus. Christ is

with you, living in and through you. Let's review the four essentials one

more time. For essentials to be caught into the Kingdom of Heaven, into

the Kingdom of light. Just daring disciples are spiritually attentive to hear God's word.

We have to place ourselves in a position. We have to spend time

in God's word. We have to prioritize God's word. These words are life,

these words are spirit. Never has a man spoken like this before.

But he gives us his word, the mind of God speaking to us,

his character, his will, his love for us. Daring disciples obey God's

word despite their doubts. What doubts may you have about being fully obedient to

God's word? Have you tested God in the tithe? I don't know about

giving ten percent. Test me in this and I'll pour it an abundant blessing.

Maybe God is leading some of you. I know we've got baptisms coming

November. In November we'll have a baptism. Maybe God is putting moving on

your heart. You're ready to be baptized? What area in your life?

During disciples acknowledge their sinners and need of a personal savior. We look to

Christ. We fall at his feet. We look to Christ, we look

at the we look at the cross. It's his blood that saves us.

He personally saves you when we believe in His blood and essential number four.

During disciples forsake and follow Jesus. They forsake all and follow Jesus. You

know where are you at in your spiritual journey? See Peter provides us the

framework for this. Are you on? Are you at the shore? Close

to the shore? Maybe you're just listening to Jesus. Maybe you are spending

attentively listening to Jesus. But is he calling you to go out to the

deep? Cast out your net? Is he calling you to further move to

areas that you haven't been before. See. I think a lot of us

need to start to move out to the deep. We need to get a

little bit uncomfortable and fully obey the words of Christ. Could you be lifted

up in pride because you're looking at your own good works. I'm obedient.

I go to church, I tie, I do all these good things.

I go on mission trips, I do all these things. That's good.

We should be doing it. God has called us to do that. But

is your heart in the right place? Do we recognize that we're sinners in

need of a savior? And have we left all to follow Jesus? I

mean, is there anything in our lives we have to examine ourselves. Is

there anything in our lives that we're holding on to that we don't want to

let go? You know again, buy your own free will, By your

own free will, you come into the Kingdom of Light. It's our response

to Christ. Now, I want to bring this to a close. If

you truly follow Jesus, you're a disciple. A disciple is someone who walks

after Jesus, listens to his teachings, an ardent follower of Jesus. And

I would even call you a daring disciple, a bold courageous disciple. If

you follow Jesus, and I want to read you what my favorite theologian defines

as the proof of discipleship full followership. My favorite theologian says this in This

Day with God page three fifty six. If any man will come after me,

Christ said, let him deny himself and take his cross daily and follow

me. This is the proof of dis scipleship. If church members would be

doers of the Word as they solemnly pledged themselves to be when they received baptism,

they would love their brethren and would be constantly seeking for unity and harmony.

Those who believe in Christ and walk humbly with him, who watch to

see what they can do to help and bless and strengthen the souls of others.

They cooperate with angels who minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.

Jesus gives them grace and wisdom and righteousness, making them a blessing to

all with whom they are brought in contact. They more humble than they are

in their own estimation. The more humble they are in their own estimation,

the more blessings they receive from God. Because receiving does not exalt them.

They make a right use of their blessings. For they receive to impart,

they receive to impart. May we all forsake all and follow Jesus, Father,

God, you know every heart, every heart in this place, even

those listening online. You know where they're at and their spiritual walk with you.

I'm just asking that you would move and convict them, gently, convict

them. May they be responsive to your calling. You know, if you

believe the Lord is speaking to you right now, while eyes are closed and

heads are bowed, if you believe the Lord is speaking to your right now,

to go out deeper wherever you may be at, maybe you need to

be more attentive to God's word. Maybe you need to now start to step

out deeper and obey God's word. Raise your hand, if I see that

hand, Thank you for those hands. Thank you, Lord, Jesus.

I pray for all those hands that went up. Lord. I pray that

you would move upon their hearts and minds, that you would reassure them that

the decisions that they make freely make to obey you is the right one.

Reassure them that they are making the right decision, as they walk obediently before

you, as they spend more time in your word, as they learned of

Christ and his selflessness. That they would manifest that selflessness by rendering service to

others, and that many would come to the cross and be freed from their

sins and walk in newness of life. I pray Lord, that many to

day here who have raised their hands, would become fishers of men and women

and children. That they would bring many into the Kingdom of Christ. May

they know that they go with you not by their own power, but they

go with the power and spirit of Christ. I prayed these things in Jesus

Name, by the power of His Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name, Amen, Amen,