The Miraculous Catch of Fish

Father, we thank you that you speak to us through your word.

And Father, it's your word, not ours.

And you have all sorts of different things that you bring into our lives,

each of them different through your word.

And we invite and give you permission, Father,

to bring your word very deeply into our hearts,

the command center of our lives,

that your word would work its mighty power within us

so that we would know how to love you and serve you

in our day and in our age and in our context,

that we would know how to bring you glory

in our families, our friends, our neighborhoods,

in our jobs, in our retirement.

Father, to the very ends of the earth, including missionaries,

Father, bring your word deeply home to us

that we might know how to serve you

and to live in a way that brings you glory and lifts Jesus high.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So we begin a new sermon series today.

This is sort of the first Sunday of the summer.

In fact, it's so nice that I'm not here all by myself,

just me and Andrew.

This being a long weekend,

always one of the lowest attended services of the year,

so it's really good you're here

to open God's word on the Lord's Day.

And this 10-week sermon series,

it's going to be called Real Jesus, Real Miracles.

We're going to look at 10 different miracle stories in the Gospels.

We're not going to do any of the miracle stories from the Gospel of John

because those of you who, this is your church home,

you'll know that in the spring,

I finished a long series on John.

So we're not going to look at any of the John miracles,

but we're going to look at a variety of miracles.

And this first one that we're looking at,

I wish I had a flashy beginning.

All I can really do is just share from my heart.

I don't talk about this very much,

but it's a very, very common thing for ministers

that not maybe immediately after the service,

but shortly after the service,

a couple of hours after the service,

we often feel very, very tired and down.

And that feeling tired and feeling down

can last for at least 24 hours.

And scientists, doctors can tell you

that to get up like this,

standing in front of people and speaking

is one of the scariest things for North Americans to do.

And that's what I'm doing for you right now.

And so you produce adrenaline to do this.

And when the body produces adrenaline,

then later on, something comes to lower the adrenaline.

And that often makes you feel just blah, tired.

My poor, long-suffering wife has to put up with me

and not being very energetic or lively

for the rest of the day and into tomorrow.

But this week, I'm used to the fact

that often on Mondays, I don't feel very good.

And I just tell myself, well, tomorrow's Tuesday.

This will go away and tomorrow's Tuesday.

But this week on Tuesday,

I was still feeling pretty down, actually.

And I was walking down Bank Street in Centertown.

And I was walking from where our ministry space was

to a place where I was going to do some work.

And I was pretty down.

And I was just praying about it,

about how down I was.

And it was one of the things,

I don't want to make it sound like I'm more mystical than I am.

I'm not very mystical.

But it was as if the Lord said to me,

George, what is it you're preaching on on Sunday?

And then as I sort of thought about what I was preaching on on Sunday,

this text in Luke,

the Lord used the text in a very powerful way just to encourage me.

And I wish I could do that for you.

I don't know how many of you are discouraged.

I was just discouraged a little bit about how hard it is to be a Christian in today's world.

How we're the away team in today's world.

That's sort of what I was thinking of.

You know what the away team means?

Just think of those Raptor Golden State Warrior games.

And just think of the Golden State Warriors coming into Toronto.

Okay.

Well, we're the Golden State Warriors playing in Toronto.

That's just what it's like now to be a Christian.

The world cheers for the other side, not us.

Standing ovations for the other side, not for us.

And I was just really feeling despondent about it.

But this text, as I just thought about it,

it really lifted my spirits.

Between Somerset and Gladstone,

the Lord did a work on my heart as I thought about this text.

And I don't know what the Lord's going to do in your hearts today

as we look at this text, but let's look at the text.

So it's Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.

Luke 5:1–11

Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.

Luke 5:1–11

And this is a nature miracle.

Excuse me, a nature miracle.

And here's how it goes.

Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.

Luke 5:1–11

So just before I start reading this,

just a little bit for those of you who don't know some of these things.

The guy who's writing this never saw Jesus in the flesh.

And he's not Jewish.

He was a pagan who sometime after the death and resurrection of Jesus,

this pagan doctor, so he was well-educated,

he becomes a Christian.

We're never told how he goes from being a pagan to being a Christian,

but we know that he has gone from being a pagan to being a Christian.

And so one of the things that he does,

if you go back and you read the beginning of Luke

and the beginning of Acts, because he wrote both books as sort of a two-parter,

you'll see that what he said is he wanted to go

and look up all the eyewitness people.

And in a sense, he says, basically,

I went and studied and listened to the eyewitnesses.

And out of listening to the eyewitnesses

and maybe looking at some written documents as well,

I've put together a true story of things that really happened to Jesus.

And that's what Luke has done.

And that's who he is, and that's what he's done.

And he does it because he wants this man, Theophilus,

to know and understand who Jesus is.

So this is part of that process.

It's a book, and it's chapter 5.

There's a lot of chapters in the book,

but this is early on in the book, and it goes like this.

On one occasion, verse 1,

while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear the word of God,

Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.

I can't pronounce that very well.

Just pause here for a second.

Just a couple of things which are really interesting about this.

The first one is this thing when he says, on one occasion.

In the original language, it's a bit of a...

What he's saying is, this is something that happened.

He's saying two things by using this phrase.

One of them is, this is something that really happened.

If Luke was here and was doing it for you,

he'd say, if there was ever an ability to have a time machine,

and you folks went in a time machine, and you could program it,

you could go back in your time machine,

and you could watch this actually happen.

So it's a phrase that talks about it actually.

It's history.

This really happened.

The second thing is, he's trying to tell us

that he's not giving us a chronological thing.

He's...

It would be a little bit if you went to a...

It's a little bit like...

Think about it as you go to a funeral,

a memorial service,

and somebody gets up to speak about their mom,

or whatever, who died.

And often, when people at a memorial service,

when they get up and talk about their mom,

they don't do a strict chronology.

They'll tell you this story,

then they'll tell you this story,

then they'll tell you this story,

and then they'll tell you this story,

and some of them go on way too long.

But afterwards, they might not...

If you actually said,

sorry, did those stories all happen in that order?

They said, no, no, no, no.

They didn't happen in that order.

I just thought they were all interesting stories.

I told them in a certain order for your interest,

but I wasn't actually telling you the chronology.

And what Luke says,

when he says on one occasion,

he's telling you the same thing.

He's saying, I'm going to tell you a true story,

but it doesn't necessarily just immediately follow

after the last bit that I told you.

Luke does this all the way through his gospel.

And it drives 2019 Christians nuts,

because one of the things that we like,

that they didn't really care about,

was chronology.

We love chronologies.

We love it if there's a blog or a tweet or something

which can show a timeline.

You hear something happen in the news,

some shootings or something.

We love things like that, all the timeline.

Luke didn't care about that.

He's telling you about Jesus.

He's in a sense,

well, he's just telling you about Jesus.

And the stories are all true,

but they're not necessarily in a chronology.

Drives people like us nuts.

The other thing is,

just two other things about this story

to take a long thing.

It's very interesting.

Look again at what it says here.

They press in on him to hear the word of God.

There's a lot of important Bible doctrine,

which is just sort of,

it peaks its head up every once in a while.

And if you're not paying attention,

you don't notice that it's just peaked its head up

and then went underneath.

And if you add up all the times it peaks up,

you realize that it's a really important doctrine,

but it's just a doctrine that peaks up.

And what Luke is saying here is,

when you heard Jesus speak,

you were hearing God speak.

That's what Luke is saying.

If you had been there that day,

and what people understood is that

when they're listening to Jesus,

they're hearing God speak.

It's a huge claim,

but it just peaks itself up,

goes back underneath.

And this all happens,

the Gennesaret,

it's another name for Galilee.

So verse two,

that's just how it begins.

And now the story goes in.

Verse two,

and Jesus saw two boats by the lake,

but the fishermen had gone out of them

and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats,

which was Simon's,

Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.

And then Jesus sat down

and taught the people from the boat.

And just sort of pause here for a second.

Simon is better known to most people as Peter.

Jesus changes Peter's name later on in the story,

but originally his name was Simon,

a common Jewish name.

And Simon is a commercial fisherman.

So he's not just a guy going out there,

casting a line,

hoping to catch some fish

so he can have some fish for breakfast.

He's a commercial fisherman.

In those days,

commercial fishermen worked all night

so that in the morning,

the fish would be fresh

that they could sell at the market to make a living.

So Simon's a commercial fisherman.

He would have been fishing with a net,

not a line and a lure.

And that's what he's been doing all night.

And they're washing their nets.

Their work day is over, so to speak.

They're preparing to go home.

And Jesus asked if they could just move out a little bit

so he has a bit of distance to speak.

Verse 4.

And when he had finished speaking,

that's Jesus,

he said to Simon,

put out into the deep

and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon answered,

Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.

But at your word,

I will let down the nets.

And when they had done this,

they enclosed a large number of fish

and their nets were breaking.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat

to come and help them.

And they came and filled both the boats

so that they began to sink.

Now just sort of pause here for a second.

It's not as obvious in English.

It's obvious if you think about it in a second

when you see what Peter's going to say in a moment,

what Simon's going to say in a moment.

But the image here is

as if the fish are swimming into the net.

It's as if, you know,

if you had Polaroid sunglasses

and you could be looking at the water,

it's as if you could see a fish coming from over there

to get into the net.

And another fish from over there

coming to get into the net.

And another fish from over there

coming to get into the net.

And these fishermen,

they put down their net,

they try to bring them back,

and the fish are still swimming into the net.

And they're swimming into the net

and swimming into the net

and they're jumping into the net

and they're trying to pull the net into the boat

and the fish are still coming

and they call for the other boat.

And the other boat comes

and starts to try to help them

and maybe they're also throwing in their net at first

because they don't really know what they're doing.

But the fish are going into that

and the fish are going into that

and that's the image which is going on.

It's shocking.

It's shocking to these fishermen.

And we see that in terms of how Peter reacts.

It's a very, very, very powerful graphic image.

So you have to, you know,

you just imagine they're bringing these nets

into this flat-bottom boat

and as they're bringing them in,

the fish are flopping around

and Jesus is in the boat

with the fish all flopping around

and the fish swimming to get into the net

to get into the boat.

And Simon is seeing this net.

It's just pulling the whole boat over

and there are fish flopping all over the place.

And what does Peter do?

Look at verse 8.

But when Peter, Simon Peter saw it,

he fell down at Jesus' knees.

So if you're the type of person

who likes to picture things,

you picture Peter might even be kneeling

on a couple of fish.

They'd squish a way out of him,

but he just kneels right now

in the midst of all those fish

flopping around.

And he just goes on his knees.

He falls down

and he says to Jesus,

verse 8,

Depart from me,

for I am a sinful man,

O Lord.

For he and all who were with him

were astonished at the catch of fish

that they had taken.

And so also were James and John,

son of Zebedee,

who were partners with Simon.

They're just completely

and utterly shocked.

We're going to talk in a moment

about Peter's puzzling reply.

Why?

Like, why is it that Peter says

something like,

Depart from me,

for I am a sinful man?

That's a very puzzling thing to say

if you think about it.

Like, it's not something

that we think a Canadian would say

if that same thing was happening to us.

Not the average Canadian.

At least we don't think

that's how a Canadian would respond.

And so what does Jesus say?

Does Jesus say,

Come on, Peter, get up.

Come on, get up.

Come on, I'm just a guy.

Get up, you know?

He doesn't say something like that.

What does Jesus say?

Says the last part of verse 10.

And Jesus said to Simon,

Do not be afraid.

From now on,

you will be catching men.

And when they had brought

their boats to land,

they left everything

and followed Jesus.

And just that little thing

that Jesus says,

Do not be afraid.

From now on,

you will be catching men.

In the original language,

that word catching

is a very rare word

in the New Testament.

It's only used two times.

And the significance

of the word is

it means catching alive.

Not catching to kill,

but catching alive.

And it only occurs

one other time

in the New Testament.

So he says,

Do not be afraid.

From now on,

you will be catching men.

And when they had brought

their boats to land,

they left everything

and followed him.

Now what to think about this.

You know,

when I was a kid,

I loved comic books.

And where we grew up,

I mean,

not only did I get my allowance,

but where we grew up,

they were building developments

all around.

And my friends and I

would go after the working day

was over.

And we'd go and find Coke bottles

because back then

when you wanted to drink pop,

it had to be in a bottle.

They didn't have cans.

That's how old I am.

I was a kid

when they invented cans,

actually.

That's how old I am.

The wheel was just a couple

of weeks before I was born.

Fire the day after I was born.

But they still had to drink Coke

and stuff like that

in bottles.

And so me and my friends,

we would go

and go around the work sites

looking for a bottle

so we could take them

to a store,

collect the deposit

because they were deposit,

two cents

to bring a bottle back.

And I won't bore you

about how much you could get

for two cents

in those days.

Ask me after the service.

But for six bottles,

I could buy a comic book.

And that's the main thing I did.

And Silver Surfer,

the X-Men,

believe it or not,

my top favorite comic book character

was the Black Panther.

But I also really liked Spider-Man,

the X-Men,

and the Silver Surfer.

And I loved comic books.

And when I went to university,

and actually when I was

in high school as well,

if we were to have,

if I was to have read a text

like this to my non-Christian friends,

we'd get into a big argument

about how a miracle

could possibly happen

because that used to be

a big thing for lots of people.

But I have a feeling

that if I read this

to my barista friends

who are non-Christians,

not a single one of them

would ask the question

about how a miracle

could happen

because we're used

to Harry Potter.

We're used to the fact

that Dr. X

can just freeze everybody.

He could freeze.

It wouldn't be beyond belief

that Dr. X

could just make fish

to go into a particular net.

Aquaman can control fish.

Wonder Woman can control animals.

In Star Wars,

Luke Skywalker

could probably get fish

to do things.

He can do that

to the bad guys.

And so when I was in university,

something like this miracle story

would be a problem,

but it's not a problem

often for people today.

They just look at it

and say,

well, that's a pretty cool thing.

But here's the thing

to try to make it

a little bit less cool,

to look at the story

because it's not just

an early Marvel comic book.

I know Aquaman

and Wonder Woman were DC.

It's not an early comic book.

It's something very different

that's going on here.

If you could put up

the first point, Andrew,

that would be very helpful.

This is a true story

about Jesus

and a real miracle.

This is a true story

about Jesus

and a real miracle.

Now, some of you might say,

like I'm sure

if I was to say this

to some of my barista friends

and others

that I've met in coffee shops,

that I can well picture

some of them

would just mock me openly

and say that

this is all just invented.

In fact, George,

your comic book analogy

is perfect.

It's just as real

as Dr. X is real

or Wolverine is real.

Wouldn't it be cool

if Wolverine was real?

But that's an aside.

He's my favorite guy.

Anyway,

amongst those superheroes.

That says something

about my personality

that he would be my favorite.

But, you know,

lots of people

would still just say,

George, a story like this,

it's not a true story

and it's not a real miracle.

And just because

it's in the Bible,

are you saying

that just because

it's in the Bible

that we should believe it?

And I'm saying

yes and no to that.

Yes and no.

For Christians, yes.

For Christians, yes.

If it's in the Bible,

we believe it.

That's what Christians

are supposed to do.

Jesus believed the Bible

and we should believe him.

But for non-Christians,

no, I'm not obviously

saying that,

that just because

it's in the Bible

you have to believe it.

But, but, but,

at least let me

have a conversation with you

about what the Bible

is claiming.

Because beyond the fact

that it's a Bible,

this is something

that was probably written

before the year 70

by a pagan

who was a doctor

who became a Christian.

And he probably

became a Christian

because whether directly

through him talking

to eyewitnesses

or somebody who was

telling him what eyewitnesses

said,

he heard about Jesus

and Jesus' death

on the cross

and his resurrection.

And as a result

of hearing about Jesus,

he left being a pagan,

broke with his culture

to become a Christian,

and Luke is claiming

that this actually happened.

Now, you might say

that he's lying.

That's fine.

We can have a conversation

around that.

But let's at least

just grant him

what he's making the claim of.

And the claim is

that what I just read

to you

is a true story

about a man named Jesus

performing a real miracle.

It's not a myth.

It's not a comic book.

It's not a fantasy.

It's not a moral tale.

Luke is claiming

that it happened

in space and time.

And what he's claiming

is that Jesus

willed the fish

into the net.

He didn't pray to God

that God would hear

his prayer and act.

Jesus willed

the fish

into the net.

And the evidence

that Luke gives

is that it's not

a natural process.

It shocked

people who'd been

making their living

fishing

for years and years

and years

who grew up

by the Sea of Galilee.

It shocked them.

That it's not

a natural occurrence

that fish would come

swimming

into the net

to be caught.

It shocked them.

And that's what Luke

is claiming.

He's claiming

that it's

not a natural process,

that it's something

that natural processes

can't account for.

Now here there's

a bit of an aside.

You know,

it's really interesting

that superheroes

and Harry Potter

are so popular

in our day and age.

Like it really is.

I think it shows

something about

what we want

in our culture.

I have a,

I was talking

to a person

the other day

and I don't know

how it came up.

It came up about

human origins

and evolution.

And people

who aren't Christians,

they often like

to bring up

evolution with me

because they think

I'm going to become

very red in the face

and embarrassed

and start to go

like this

and try to

change the topic.

But amongst other things

what I said to her

was I said this.

I said,

how is it that you believe

she's really big

in social justice?

Really, really, really,

really big

in social justice?

I said,

how is it that you believe

that everything

that came to be

is a result

of the strong

eating the weak

but you think

that we should

love one another?

If that's in fact

the story

about how all things

came to be

that the strong

eat the weak

and the weak die

and the strong live,

if that's actually

how all things

came to be,

how on earth

could you believe

that it's important

that you love

one another?

That doesn't fit at all.

And I think

what we're seeing

in our culture

is this.

On one hand,

there's still

a very strong

belief in science

that everything

is a result

of cause and effect

and that evolution

is true.

It must be true

because our high school

science teachers

taught us

that it's true

and many of the

biology teachers

in university,

if you've taken

any biology,

and it's definitely

the case.

I think I told you

a couple of weeks ago

how,

this is about a year ago,

a CBC cameraman

stopped me

on a glorious summer day

when I was out

for a run along

the canal

and there'd been

some study

that middle-aged guys

like me who ran

were less likely

to have some type

of health problem

and he asked me

if I'd heard of the study

and I said I hadn't heard

and I paused and said

but that makes sense

because God probably

designed us

in such a way

that if you do

something like exercise

it's going to mean

other bad things

don't happen

and it was,

it was a deer

in a headlight moment

for him

because I think

the last thing

he'd ever met

was somebody

who talked about

God creating

human beings

in all other life

and he went

blah, blah, blah, blah

and then he tried

to get me

to backtrack

and I said no, no,

no, no, I'm not

just saying

it's a result

of evolution

I think God

designed us

in such a way

so that if we do

things that are healthy

it has other,

anyway, I'm sure

I didn't make

the clip on it

but in our culture

on one hand

we want to believe

that it's all

a result of just

of time and chance

and naturalistic laws

but on the other hand

there's something

within us

that rebels against it

because the fact

of the matter is

is that in comic books

Dr. X

is obviously

a fantasy

Wonder Woman

is a fantasy

Wolverine

is a fantasy

people who have

these supernatural

type powers

and these unbelievable

powers

there's a fantasy

yet on what

so we

I think our culture

there's this

double motion

that's going on

on one hand

we believe in evolution

and we believe in science

on the other hand

we believe in

we want to believe

in something like

a Harry Potter universe

and we want to believe

in something like

a Luke Skywalker world

where there's something

beyond just the physical

and the material

we want to believe

in something like

Dr. X

but these are

like two separate

realities

that don't connect

at all

but in the Bible

they do

in the Bible

they do

the Bible

they do

in a very

very powerful way

and

and only the Bible

communicates this

in a way

that actually

makes sense

because you see

at the end of the day

the Bible says

that all things

came to be

it's not

not because of a what

matter and energy

and laws of motion

and laws of nature

but a who

that our world

depends upon

something outside

of the world

for our world

to exist

our world

depends upon

something outside

of the world

for our world

to exist

and that's what

we see so

powerfully here

in the story

can you put up

the next point

Andrew

the creator

has invaded

his creation

to begin

to set things

right

and liberate

his fallen

image bearers

the creator

has invaded

his creation

to begin

to set

things right

and liberate

his fallen

image bearers

the reason

that science

developed

in a Christian

world view

it isn't that

before

Christianity

there wasn't

cleverness

and it wasn't

it's not that

outside of

like in Islam

and Buddhism

and Hinduism

and Confucianism

cultures

they didn't

invent

individual

things

but science

is something

more than

just being

able to be

clever

and invent

particular

things

at the

heart

of

the heart

of what

why it was

that Christianity

ended up

rooting

that which

we call

science

is because

that Christianity

believed in a

sense that a

designer

created all

things

and if a

designer

created all

things

then we

in a sense

could reverse

engineer what

he did

to figure out

how things

work

and it

really is

in the

context

of that

belief

you see

in animism

things can

just happen

in paganism

things can

just happen

you can't

trust that

there's any

type of

order in

reality

because a

god might

just decide

to do

this or

that

in animism

it might

be that

you angered

the plant

or you

angered

this or

you angered

that and

that's why

you get

sick

there's no

type of

order ultimately

it's chaotic

and in

Buddhism and

Hinduism in

a sense

all things

are one

to believe

that things

are different

is an

illusion

and so

why do

you try

to figure

out how

an illusion

works

that's

an illusion

it's

an illusion

to pursue

that

and even

in Islam

it's not

so much

that they

have a

doctrine

of creation

it's just

that god

does this

and god

does this

and god

does this

it's almost

like a

pagan god

but made

big with

no other

gods

but only

in

Christianity

is there

this

sense

that god

has created

all things

he designed

this world

to be

our home

for us

to fit

here

and he

designed

this world

not only

for us

to fit

here

but for

us to

tend

the garden

to care

for the

world

which

implies

that there's

ways for us

to care

for the

world

to figure

out how

the world

works

and god

is not

just a god

who made

things

and then

he sort

of forgot

about it

and it's

just sort

of running

and on

no no

that god

is

they look

at this

story

and how

Jesus

can

the same

god

who just

said

out of

nothing

let there

be light

and let

just there

to be

fish

to exist

let there

to be

birds

to exist

the same

god

the same

creator

who has

made all

things

and sustains

all things

he comes

and enters

this story

and the same

god who can

say let there

be fish

can say let

the fish

go to that

net

there's no

contradiction

to that

it's the

creator

he's entered

the story

and we

understand

at a very

very deep

level

that on

one hand

this world

really does

feel sometimes

like it

is our

home

when you

have a day

when the

temperature

is perfect

and you've

had a really

nice meal

and you're

with your

friends

and you're

just

you don't

feel healthy

because health

is natural

you don't

feel pain

you don't

feel unhealthy

and you

feel at one

and the

sunset is

beautiful

and the

city is

beautiful

and everything

is beautiful

and you

just

this feels

like home

the other

hand

when we

look in the

newspaper

or go

online

and we

see the

terrible

evil

things that

are done

in this

world

we realize

that on

one level

sometimes we

feel like

this is at

our home

on the other

hand

it feels

at times

as if the

world is

not right

and only

the Christian

faith makes

those two

experiences

comprehensible

and understandable

God made

this world

as our

home

and we

human beings

have rebelled

against it

and brought

evil and

destruction

and disorder

into this

world

and when

we see

this story

it isn't

just a few

things on

a creed

the

communication

that there

is a

creator

who entered

his creation

and reveals

that he is

the creator

by doing

this remarkable

thing that

only the

creator can

do

which is

just to

order the

fish around

merely by

his will

the creator

himself

has invaded

his creation

and we

fallen human

beings

often feel

threatened

by the

invasion of

the creator

because we

feel as if

this is

mine

and so it

is in our

culture

when God

draws close

we worry

about his

commands around

sexuality

and his

commands around

money

and his

commands

around forgiveness

and his

commands around

gentleness

and his

commands around

compassion

and his

commands around

mercy

and his

commands around

identity

and sometimes

we feel these

things as a

threat as if

this kingdom

is ours

but this

story reveals

that the

creator is

entering his

creation to

set things

right

we human

beings in

Canada

basically always

think that

I'm the

judge

I'm the

emperor

and God

whatever God

pretends to

be

he's on

trial

and the

fact of

the matter

is things

are looking

very bad

for God

it looks

as if

he's just

going to

be condemned

to being a

bad God

a bad idea

a bad thing

he's threatening

he threatens

my sense of

identity

he threatens

what I want

to do

with my

money

what I

want to

do

with my

time

what I

want to

do

with my

sexuality

my time

my money

my sexuality

and he

threatens that

but

this story

is saying

that what

we're seeing

here in

Luke is

more like

D-Day

and we

have fallen

prey to the

propaganda as

if Nazi

rule is

natural

and will be

forever

but the

king himself

the creator

himself has

come into

his creation

to begin to

set all

things right

all

things

right

there's

another

thing

which is

really

important

in terms

of

how

he

sets

all

things

right

when

you

come

to

read

the

end

of

the

story

if

later

on

maybe

as

part

of

your

project

for

the

summary

you

decide

you're

just

going

to

sit

down

and

every

day

read

a

couple

of

chapters

of

Luke

and

you're

going

to

read

it

all

right

from

chapter

one

and

you're

going to

read

it

all

the

way

and

you're

going

to

come

eventually

to

Luke

Luke 22 · chapter mention

chapter

22

and

23

where

Jesus

is

caught

and

then

he

dies

on

the

cross

and

the

resurrection

one

of

the

things

we

need

to

do

is

we

have

to

realize

that

what

Luke

is

doing

is

he's

asking

you

to

remember

everything

in

the

story

when

it

comes

to

that

time

of

the

crucifixion

because

if

you

remember

you

have

to

ask

yourself

how

is

one

who

can

cause

the

fish

to

come

from

all

over

the

lake

to

jump

into

the

net

how

can

one

like

that

die

upon

the

cross

and

who

is

dying

upon

the

cross

and

what

on

earth

is

going

on

if

Jesus

is

dying

on

a

cross

and

Luke

is

setting

it

up

through

story

not

through

doctrine

that

the

creator

has

invaded

his

own

creation

to

begin

to

set

things

right

and

the

pinnacle

and

the

linchpin

and

the

foundation

of

him

setting

things

right

is

the

creator

dies

for

his

rebellious

creature

the

creator

dies

in

the

place

of

his

rebellious

creature

is

key

to

him

setting

things

right

the

one

who

controls

nature

dies

on

the

cross

Peter

says

depart

from

me

for

I'm

a

sinful

man

and

Jesus

doesn't

say

yes

you

disgust

me

you

are

sinful

I

hate

you

no

he

says

in

such a

way

that

Peter

knows

that

it's

proper

that

he

follows

him

he

says

he

says

you

are

going

to

be

catching

men

catching

men

in

such

a

way

that

they

live

that

they

are

delivered

and

live

Peter

knows

he

has

to

follow

him

just

two

final

things

very

briefly

enclosed

if you

could

put up

the

third

point

to

follow

Jesus

means

doing

what

he

tells

you

to

do

and

also

to

pardon

me

I

had

to

bring

in

something

from

the

old

book

of

common

prayer

do

your

meat

right

and

bound

in

duty

old

English

that's

what's

that's

one of

the

things

which

is

so

powerfully

but

by

the

way

you

know

the

thing

that

encouraged

me

this

week

is

this

I'm

the

away

team

and

I

wish

I

had

more

fruitfulness

in

my

evangelism

than

I

do

but

at

the

end

of

the

day

the

creator

has

invaded

his

creation

and

the

one

who

creates

and

sustains

all

that

is

around

me

has

asked

me

unworthy

as

I

am

to

follow

him

and

to

proclaim

who

he

is

to

his

glory

and

the

Lord

brings

the

fish

that's

what

encouraged

me

the

creator

of all

things

invaded

this

world

and

died

for

me

and

he

asks

me