A Borrowed Boat | Borrowed (Part One)

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connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.

So glad that you're here with us.

Tom change Sunday. You are at the 11:00, not the

10:00, but just so glad being able to worship with you.

Hey, before we jump in, before we get started, I do want to

just kind of acknowledge something that we're probably

all very aware of is the tragedy that's that took place in our

community over the weekend. And just really wanting to spend

some time together as a as a church, as a body, as a

community, just pray for for everyone involved in that.

So. If you would.

If you just pray with me, God, you know exactly what's going on

in every heart, every mind, God, not just in this room, the God

in this community, God, the lives that that are so broken

and and hurting and grieving. God, we pray for the family of,

of Jason Hughes, God for, for Laura, for their boys, Owen and

Luke. God for their families.

God, for the families that these young people that that were that

were involved. God for the broken and the, and

the hurting in our community. God, whether they be colleagues

or friends or or neighbors, students.

God, I pray that your Holy Spirit will continue to do what

only he can do. God, we know that there are

deep, deep hurts and deep, deep pains.

So, God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would go to those deep

places and every heart and every mind and every life in our

community to do His deep work to bring about your deep healing.

God, in some way will we pray that Lord, that hearts and lives

will be drawn towards you. Got to pray that you would draw

us closer together as a community.

Got to pray that you would draw us closer to you and God that

you would just continue to pour your Holy Spirit out on this

community. Got our prayer is nothing short

of revival. So God, I pray that you would,

Lord, that you would bond up the wounded.

Got to pray that you would heal the broken.

Got to pray that you would comfort the grieving.

God, I want to thank you so much for placing Riverbend Church in

this community. God, where as a where as a body

together Lord, we can look to you as our only hope and God

that we can lead others to you. It was their only hope.

And it's in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. One of the things I would tell

you, and I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor and I

should, man, I love the local church.

I just love the local church. I love.

I love what other organizations do in the name of Jesus.

There's nothing like the local church.

There's nothing like the local body of believers.

I happen to believe, and I know that that you do as well, that

the local church is the instrument that God uses to

bring the hope of the gospel to the world.

And in times like this, we're just really reminded and it's

not it's not about Riverbend, It's not about anyone particular

congregation. It's about all Bible believing a

Jesus following churches in our area coming together and

pointing people back to Jesus. I really do believe that Jesus

is our only hope. And as a matter of fact,

tragedies like like the the passing of this teacher and this

coach and this husband and friend and neighbor this past

weekend, it just really reminds me and just continues to impress

upon me. I literally have no idea how

people make it in the world without Jesus.

I really don't and I'm not. I'm not just saying that on.

You know, as a, as a pastor or a preacher on a Sunday morning,

I'm saying that like legitimately just like walking

with people and talking with people and praying with people

how someone makes it without Jesus.

And I, I just don't, I don't get it.

But I, I see it often. I see like a sense of

hopelessness and, and I see, I see people that are, that are

chained and defined by, by struggles or, or their grief.

And you know, they're just living trapped.

They're, they're, they're living so constrained.

And, and then I, I come back to, to understanding why, why Jesus

instituted the church and calls the church the bride of Christ

to, for, for us to come and not just to for us to gather on a

Sunday morning to hear information from his word, but

for us to gather together and to be encouraged together and for

us to experience his Holy Spirit together and for us to be

launched out together. To take the good news of Jesus

to a broken world. And then what an incredible

honor that is, but also what an incredible weight that is as

well. And, and there's nothing like

like within the local church. There's nothing like being able

to. Celebrate how God can take

someone who is. Who is lost in their sins and

who is, who is broken and who's defined by their grief or their,

their, their, their struggles or their addictions?

And, and he can make them born again and give them new life.

And there's nothing like being able to celebrate that.

And, you know, like next week we get to celebrate that through

baptism. We're going to be able to share

some stories together and be able to celebrate how the Holy

Spirit of God changed not just lives a life, but change

trajectories of entire families and, and, and, and potentially

generational trajectory change. And we get to be a part of that.

What, what an incredible honor and privilege it is to, to be a,

part of something like that as a local body while still

ministering in the context of a, of a local community that God

has strategically placed us in. And you know, one of the things

I love is we, we're not called to be spectators.

We're called to be participants and that, and that's one of the

things that we're going to get to over the next several weeks

in the series called Borrowed is understanding that you know

Jesus humbly Jesus doesn't need any of.

US. Jesus doesn't need Riverbend

Church. He doesn't need me.

He doesn't need you. He doesn't need us, but he

chooses to use us if we're available and willing for him

to, to use us. So I think a lot of it is coming

at a time and season to where our eyes are open and our ears

are open to the needs around us. And there's strategic, strategic

opportunities for us to really just dive in and to move from

the sidelines onto the playing field from from spectator to to

participant. And you know, as excited as I am

about next week and, and being able to celebrate baptism.

And by the way, if that's a step that you know that you need to

take in your relationship with Jesus, I would highly encourage

you check, look at that connect card that you received on your

way in. Oh, by the way, if you're new to

Riverbend, my name's Ben get to serve as the pastor.

But you can take a look at that connect card that you received

on your way in. And there's a box like I want

more information on on being baptized and one of our pastors

and ministry leaders, They'll, they'll get in touch with you

and make sure that you're kind of good to go.

And so we can participate and celebrate.

You can participate. We can celebrate that as well.

But as excited I as I am about next week, I'm also excited

about, you know, several weeks from now because we have a very

strategic open door to where people are so very open and

receptive to being invited to sit with them at church, like a

neighbor, a Co worker, a classmate.

It is so easy during the Easter time to say, Hey, I don't know

if you have any. I don't know if you go to a

church or there's a church that you usually go to.

But if not, I would love for you to come with me.

And hey, you can sit with me. And, you know, let's get there a

little bit early to make sure that, you know, we can, we can

get some coffee and we can get some Donuts.

And if they're, if they're a young parent, make sure that we

can get some coffee and then some more coffee and then some

more coffee. But people are really open to,

to the things of God and open to, to coming to church around

Easter. And what that means is that's,

that's not just a strategic opportunity and an opening for

us. It means that there's also a

great need and an invitation for, like I said, for us to get

off the sidelines from being spectators and get on the field

and being participants and, and helping us serve and, and

volunteering. And, and, and one of the things

I would just point you to is you can look at the, what was handed

to you, the the note sheet and there are two connect cards and

one's kind of the normal connect card and the other's the, the

Easter Connect card. And, and one of the things that

I would encourage you to do is is to look at that Easter

Connect card and look at the different serving opportunities

that there are for you just to try something out maybe just for

that day for Easter to be able to serve like a lot of the

guests that are going to be coming onto our campus.

And I know that the thought is, listen, if I served during on

Easter Sunday, I'm not going to be able to sit in the service.

And we've already thought about that.

So for the first time on Saturday evening, April 4th at

5:30 in this room, we're doing an Easter service.

And it's going to be the exact same service that we do on

Sunday morning. We're doing it for volunteers.

So if you're serving on Sunday, we'd invite you to come on

Saturday to be able to worship together.

And we that gives us, our staff an opportunity to serve you, our

volunteers, but we really need your help in all the different

areas there. So I would highly, highly

encourage you and really invite you to move off the sidelines

from spectator to participant. And there's no better time to do

that than Easter. And I just really think that as

a church, as a body, you know, you'll be so incredibly blessed

by serving, by serving one another and by serving our

guests. This morning, though, we're

going to be starting a series that I've really been looking

forward to for a long time. And it's the series borrowed.

And, you know, with a bumper video, you'd already laid it out

for us. But we're able to read in the

Bible about Jesus's earthly ministry.

So we know that Jesus earthly ministry lasted about three

years. Was was was was crucified on a

cross, died physically, died physically, rose again three

days after his death and ascended back to heaven.

And that was in 33 years. So Jesus, his time span here

with us on earth was just 33 years.

But you know, when he starts his earthly ministry, we're told

that Jesus in the Bible is just recorded, that Jesus borrowed.

Five things in his ministry. He borrowed a boat, he borrowed

some bread, he borrowed a donkey, borrowed a room, and he

borrowed a tomb. And what we're going to dive

into this morning is we're going to look.

At that first thing that Jesus borrowed, that we're told that

Jesus borrowed, and as Jesus borrowed a boat, borrowed a

boat. And really what we're going to

look at is we're going to peel back some layers and really just

look at this question. So what I mean, it's a really

open and honest and really important question for us to

answer. Like Jesus borrowed a boat.

So what? What does it matter to us?

How does it change anything about today?

And how does the fact that Jesus borrowed a boat 2000 years ago,

how does it change the way in which I approach this coming

week? To dive into that this morning,

I want to invite you, if you have a Bible with you, to find

Luke chapter 5, Luke chapter 5. And if you don't have a Bible

Luke 5 · chapter mention Luke 5 · chapter mention

with you, then no worries. The passage is on the screen

behind me and it's also printed on the note sheet at the top of

the note sheet that you were handed on the way in.

So here's what I want to do. I want to go ahead and dive in.

Luke chapter 5, verse one says on one occasion while the crowd

Luke 5 · chapter mention

was pressing in on him talking about Jesus to hear the word of

God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Genezra and he saw two

boats by the lake, but the fishermen had already gone out

of them and were washing their Nets.

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's.

He asked him put out a little from the land and he sat down

and taught the people from the boat.

And when he'd finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into

the deep and let down your Nets for a catch.

Verse 5 And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night.

We worked really hard all night and we took nothing but at your.

Word, I let down the Nets and when they had done this, they

enclosed a large number of fish and their Nets were breaking.

So 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.

That's how many fish they caught.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees saying,

depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.

For he and all who are with him were astonished at the catch of

fish they had taken that they had taken.

And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were

partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not

be afraid. From now on you'll be catching

men. Many translations.

You may have learned that you'll be fishers of men.

And when they brought their boats to land, they left

everything. And followed him.

So here's the question for us that we've really got to grapple

with of all the things that happened in Jesus's life.

Why was it so important that this was recorded that that we

have this this account given to us?

Like what's the big deal about this passage that we just read

that God saw it so fit to make sure that Luke wrote it down

that the that the that the Holy Spirit of God inspired Luke to

write down this passage with with these details.

I think in order for us to answer that question, we've got

to look a little bit at the background of Luke 5 and a

little bit of explanation of Luke 5 S.

For example, by the time we get to Luke 5, Jesus had already

left his home to where for the 1st 30 years he followed in the

footsteps of his earthly father figure, Joseph, and he became a

Carpenter. So he left the carpentry

business and he left his mother Mary at home, and he started

that three-year trek for his earthly ministry.

And by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus has already

Luke 5 · chapter mention

gone to his hometown synagogue. And he, he, he's opened the

scroll and he, he, he, he, he, he read a passage out of Isaiah

about the coming Messiah and basically said, hey, Isaiah, who

he's talking about? That's me.

And there was a complete uproar in Jesus hometown to where his

own hometown, they rejected him, they called him a lunatic, they

called him a heretic, they called him everything under the

sun to where Jesus then left his hometown, traveled to a

neighboring town called Capernaum.

While teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus actually cast a

demon out of a man in that church service.

Can you imagine how wild that must have been?

Like being in a church service and, and Jesus calls a demon out

of a man And, and so after that church service ends, then Jesus

goes to Simon's house and this guy Simon, by the way, he is

going to be later on referred to as Simon Peter and many times

just as Peter, the apostle Peter.

So by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus and Simon,

Luke 5 · chapter mention

they'd already met each other because Jesus had gone to

Simon's house to where Simon's mother-in-law was.

And she was really sick. And Jesus, Jesus healed Simon's

mother-in-law. And you know, if you're with us

and, you know, wives, you might look at your husband and you go,

oh, that's so sweet. Like, honey, would you get Jesus

to come over to our house to heal my mom and husbands?

You're like, absolutely. Listen, don't lie in church.

But Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law.

And then the Bible tells us he did many other miracles outside

of Simon's house and in that area.

So by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus popularity,

Luke 5 · chapter mention

it's it's sky high. It's at an all time high.

So let me get you to kind of mentally put yourself in that

setting that we just read in Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

You got these massive crowds coming from from every which way

just to hear Jesus teach. There's just something about the

way that Jesus teaches. There's an authority about him

that they've never heard before. There's a there's a magnetism

about them, about him that they've never experienced

before, that there's something within their hearts that that is

drawn to him like they've never been drawn to another teacher

before. So these huge crowds are coming

from all over and they keep gathering and gathering, which

means that they keep pressing further and further in and Jesus

teaching by the by the by the lake.

And you can just imagine as the as the crowds keep pushing

further and further in because everybody wants to hear Jesus

and to hang on every word of Jesus, they keep kind of

jostling forward. And you can imagine Jesus just

kind of slowly, like backing up a little bit to the point to

where the back of his sandals start to fill the water because

the lake water starting to lap. Up against his ankles.

And then Jesus looks around and he sees 2 boats and he gets into

one of the boats and he asks its operator Simon, who will later

be Peter. Hey, we put out a little further

out into the water because Jesus made this request, because Jesus

knew three things. Number one is if Jesus moved a

little bit further and he was able to teach from a boat in the

water, then that gave him some more space to teach.

It also gave more space #2 it gave more space for the crowds,

for more people to gather in. And #3 Jesus knew something

about acoustics that maybe many people didn't understand over

2000 years ago, that that that that volume actually carries

sound, carries faster and further across the surface of

water. Then it does through just air.

So it amplified Jesus's voice to where he could teach to more

people, more people could could hear him.

And then after he finished teaching, then then he asked

Simon Peter, hey, put out a little bit further, you know,

like where you typically catch fish.

And after a brief discussion, Peter finally gives in and goes,

OK. And they let down their Nets and

they have the, the the hall of a lifetime.

I mean like a fisherman's dream to where you can imagine that of

these fishermen and their partners, there's probably one

guy that he's, he's kind of calculating all the profits

there and they, they've never seen anything like it.

They've never heard of anything like it.

So much so that that two boats are going out there and, and

both of them are starting to sink.

There's so many fish and it freaks Peter out.

And then Jesus looks at Peter and, and gives Peter the line

that, that, that the men's conferences and Christian

bookstores and Christian T-shirt companies will, will make a

boatload of money off of 2000 years later.

You'll be a Fisher of men. And then when they get back to

shore, Peter, James and John, they they leave their boats,

they leave their Nets, and they follow Jesus full time.

So we return to the question, why is what we just read?

Why is it so important that God gave it to us in Scripture?

I think it's very easy to forget three key things #1 Jesus didn't

need a boat, He proved later on he could walk on water #2 Jesus

didn't need the water to amplify his voice.

He's the one that spoke the entire universe into existence

and #3 Jesus didn't need Peter. Yet we see Jesus inviting Peter

into his ministry to be used for Peter's good and for Jesus's

glory. Can I tell you something really

quick? Whatever gifts or talents or

abilities that that God has given you and entrusted to you

and to me, God doesn't need those things.

And, and, and humbly, this may be a shock to, to our egos.

God doesn't need you and God certainly doesn't need me to do

his thing. Yet we see the invitation of

Jesus. We see the invitation of Jesus

playing out in Peter and it echoes over to us.

Let me kind of explain what I mean by that.

Let me get you to find Luke chapter 5, verse 3 at the top of

Luke 5:3

your note sheet. At the top of your note sheet is

going to begin with the phrase getting out of one of the boats,

which was Simon's. He asked him to put out a little

from the land. You you found it on your note

sheet and you get you to do something to circle that word

asked. Circle.

The word asked. We know that the New Testament

was written in the Greek language, right?

So did you know in the Greek language, there are two words

for asked? Here's the first one, a Teo.

A Teo often implies a more urgent demand.

If someone a teos you, it's a desperate plea.

It's almost like somebody rushing up to you.

Quick, quick, quick. Can I borrow your phone?

I need to use your phone. I've got to make a phone call.

That's a Teo, the second word for Greek.

Word for asked is orateo. Orateo often implies an inquiry

or request made on familiar terms.

That's asking Adam for permission.

The first Hey, quick, quick, quick.

I need to use your phone. That's an urgent request.

The second one, Orateo, is hey, can I show you something on your

phone real quick? Do you see the difference there?

Guess what? Guess which one was?

Used from Jesus to to Simon Peter.

There's the second one. There was no urgency in Jesus

voice. Hey, quick, quick, quick, quick.

I'm panicking. I don't know what to do.

These crowds are getting out of control man.

And you know, I'm not quite ready to walk on water yet.

I need you to put out in the put out into the into the water.

It wasn't an urgent request. It was a hey salmon, do you mind

like putting out into the water? Hey salmon, I want to I want to

show you something later on. Just put out into the water a

little. Bit you may say, Ben, what is

the big deal? Here's the big deal is did you

know? Did you know that Jesus, and

this is in your notes that Jesus, he doesn't take, he

invites. Jesus doesn't take, he invites.

He could have seized Peter's boat, but he didn't.

He asked Peter. He invited him.

Now what did? What did Jesus exactly?

What exactly did Jesus invite Peter into?

It was. Hey, Peter, I want to take what

you're already. Doing and I want to make it

matter forever. And the same thing is true.

What was true of Peter then and there is true of us here now.

The invitation of Jesus is this. Is He wants to meet you where

you are and to make it matter forever.

In other words, whatever Jesus has entrusted to you, the gifts

that he has gifted you with, He wants to use those giftings and

make those giftings matter forever.

The roles in which he has you in right now.

It could be as a husband or a wife, a friend, a neighbor, an

employee, an employer, A classmate, a teammate, a cast

mate, whatever it may be. He wants to use those and make

those matter forever to have an eternal impact.

Hey, hey, Simon Peter, listen, you can catch a lot of fish, but

you're always going to be like just catching one more fish to

feed one more mouth on one more day or, or.

I can if you hand over to me your giftedness as a fisherman.

I can make it matter forever to where I can use you to impact

generations. I can use you to introduce them

to my Heavenly Father. I can use you so that people can

be set free from pain and shame and guilt in their lives.

They can be forgiven of their sins, that they can have a hope

that when they die they will spend eternity with, with, with,

with me and my Father in heaven. I can use that.

And make it matter forever. The same invitation is for you

and I. As a matter of fact, I want to

kind of introduce you to a main truth that's actually serving as

the big idea throughout this series.

It's this. It's what Jesus borrows, he

blesses to use for our good and for his glory.

A lot of times people. Think people wrongly assume that

if you're going to really follow Jesus, all Jesus wants to do is

to take and to take and to take from you and basically just to

leave you on empty. And I've heard so many

testimonies of well-intentioned men and women that they share

their testimony and they spend so much time on like their pre

Jesus life and so little time on their post Jesus life that it

makes it really sound like they were having a lot more fun pre

Jesus. And I think that they that

they've completely misunderstood Jesus.

Jesus doesn't want to take from us to leave us on empty.

Jesus wants to remove the things in our lives that are harmful to

us and also so that we can make room and space for us to develop

into the men and the women that He actually created us to be.

You see what Jesus borrows, and we're going to see this playing

out over the next 4 weeks. We're going to see this playing

out all the way up through Easter.

What Jesus borrows, He uses to bless.

He blesses to use for our good and for His glory.

However, there's a very, very critical decision that Peter had

to make in Luke chapter 5 that we find ourselves having to

Luke 5 · chapter mention

make. If we really want Jesus to use

what we give over to Him to bless for our good and for His

glory, we've also got to make the same critical decision.

Luke chapter 5. Let me kind of unpack the

Luke 5 · chapter mention

critical decision that Simon Peter had to make.

And I think you'll see the semblance of the decision that

you and I have to make as well. When Jesus asked Peter, hey

Peter, after Jesus taught, hey Peter, put out into the deep.

Put down your Nets. Peter, a professional fisherman.

By the way, he's not a. Noob.

He he, he's not a novice, he's a professional fisherman.

This is what he does. And by the way, he's good at it.

Hey, Peter, put put out into the deep, put your Nets down.

Peter, very easily, as a professional fisherman, could

have politely told Jesus. Hey, Jesus, with, with all due

respect, gosh, I don't know how to say this.

I think you just need to stay in your lane.

You see, jeez, I'm, I'm really good with this arrangement and I

think everybody understands this arrangement.

But let me kind of unpack. It for you.

You teach and I fish. I'm not going to teach and you

don't tell me how to fish. That was a route that Peter

could have taken, or Peter, a professional fisherman, could

have humbly considered the possibility that Jesus actually

knew more about fishing than he did.

And by that response, look at how Peter responded back to

Jesus. Master, we toiled all night,

took nothing, but at your word I'll let down the Nets.

What? What is that?

That's Peter humbly considering. Maybe Jesus knows more about

fishing than I do. Have you ever thought about

that? That.

Whatever. You do or whatever you're good

at or whatever you're getting good at that Jesus, Jesus

actually knows more about that than you do.

As a pastor, I'll go ahead and tell you when it comes to

teaching or preaching or leading or counselling, Jesus knows more

about all those things than I do.

He made people. If you're If you're in the

construction business, Jesus knows more about construction

than you do. He created the universe.

If you're in the medical profession, Jesus knows more

about medicine and healing than you do.

He's a great physician. If you're a stay at home parent

and those kids are driving you nuts, Jesus a knows exactly how

much you want to introduce those kids personally to Him on those

days. But listen, Jesus knows more

about your kids than you do. He's the one that that uniquely

knit them together in the womb and he's the one that has great

plans for for them. I just want you to get us to

think for just a moment. Whatever you do, whatever you're

about, if you're a student, Jesus knows more.

About being a student than you do.

If you're an athlete, Jesus knows more about being an

athlete. Listen, if you're single, Jesus

knows more about being single. And always Jesus knows more

about what we're doing than we do.

I think intellectually we're all like, yeah, of course Jesus is

God. Of course, Jesus knows more than

I do He's God. Yet practically, I think the

vast majority of people live as if like, hey Jesus,

respectfully, and I think you just need.

To stay in your religious lane, just I, I, I'm good with you

having a voice and having a say and having authority on a Sunday

morning or, or Wednesday night or, you know, when, when we meet

together for, for our, for our life group or God, our small

group, God, I'm, I'm fine with that.

But when it comes to like my job and my career and my finances

and, and, and the way that I parent my kids, like honestly,

respectfully, I think you just need to stay.

In your religious lane. So here's the question, if we

intellectually know that Jesus knows more about what we are

about and what we do than we do, yet practically we struggle to

live under that authority or live under that reality, then

how exactly do we do we pivot? How exactly do do do we make

sure that the two are compatible, that we're living in

alignment with God? I think first of all, I think it

starts with an overall humble acknowledgement, Hey, whatever

I'm doing and whatever I'm about.

Like wherever I'm gifted or talented or whatever roles have

been entrusted to me, Jesus knows more about all of that

than I do. But it's not just an

acknowledgement, but that humble acknowledgement also is going to

always be evidenced by action. And here, here's what I mean.

Look back with me, Luke chapter 5 in verse 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Master, we toiled all night and we took nothing, but at your

word I'll let down the Nets. Jesus already taught, he's

already told Peter, hey, go out, put out into the deep, let down

your Nets. I want you to circle something.

Circle that first word master right there.

Circle that word master. That's how, that's how Peter,

something Peter referred to Jesus when Jesus first said,

hey, put out into the deep waters and let down your Nets,

Master, master. Greek word for master is

epistata. Epistata sounds like something

that you'd order at a Mexican restaurant, right?

As a matter of fact, if you go eat Mexican this afternoon, ask

your waitress if you if they have epistatas.

They'll probably confuse them anyway.

Epistata. Epistata is the Greek word that

indicates someone and acknowledges someone who's in

charge. This was Peter basically going,

Hey Jesus, I respect you. Epistata Epistata is a respect

for Jesus. So because Peter respected

Jesus, he he put out into the deep, he let down his Nets and

then Jesus blew his mind, blew Peter's mind and all the minds

of the fishermen around him by bringing in this like catch of

an absolute lifetime that would become absolutely legendary in

the fishing community. And that's saying a lot, right?

And then look in verse 8 how Peter responds.

But when Simon Peter saw it, the massive haul, he fell down at

Jesus knees saying depart from me for I'm a sinful man.

Oh what? Oh Lord, it's not epistata, the

Greek word. There is a word called Kyrie.

Kyrie, check this out. Kyrie indicates a supreme

authority and acknowledges Jesus's divinity.

This is Peter moving from Hey Jesus, I respect you to that's

epistata to Jesus. You are God and I am not even

worthy to be in your presence. Man, if I were to describe to

someone what it is like doing ministry in the context of the

Bible Belt, the US S that somebody had that somebody had

no knowledge of our regional culture, I would start with

explaining the difference between epistata and Kyrie.

Here's what I mean by that. We live in a culture and I think

that on Sunday mornings we have churches filled with people that

greatly respect Jesus, yet don't haven't surrendered their lives

to Jesus. There's a huge difference.

Did you know that you can respect Jesus and still not be

forgiven of your sins? Did you know that you can

respect Jesus, the the teachings of Jesus, the historical person

of Jesus, and still not have the Holy Spirit of God living in

you? Did you know that you can

respect Jesus and still not have the assurance that when you die

that you'll spend eternity with with with him and heaven?

It's only when we move from Epistata to Kyrie, it's only

when we come to a point where we say, I acknowledge you Jesus as

Lord, as Savior and Lord, you are God.

You are my only way to be forgiven.

This the the weight of the shame and guilt that's on me.

You're the only one that can remove that.

You are the only one that can cleanse my heart and cleanse my

soul from the inside out. So Jesus, I acknowledge that you

are God. I ask that you come into my

life. You take control of my life and

I I commit to following you because you are not just God,

You're my supreme authority. There is a massive difference

between tipping your cap at God and actually living up

underneath his divine authority. That is United States Southeast,

United States Bible Belt one O 1A respect for Jesus, yet not

living up underneath the surrendered Lordship.

Of Jesus let me ask you a question have you made that

distinction for your life I have no doubt I have no doubt that

very few if anyone is with us this morning has been with us

this morning whether in the room or online that does not at least

epistata Jesus. I have very little doubt that

there's anybody in here that that doesn't have just a just an

overall overarching respect for Jesus.

And I would say, all right, it's a pretty good starting place,

but a respect for Jesus is not going to transform your life,

Surrendering your life to Jesus, That's where the transformation

begins. That's when the transformation

takes place. Remember how I said that?

To pivot from this intellectual agreement that of course, Jesus

knows more about what I'm doing than I do?

And then, you know, actually applying that practically, it

starts with a humble acknowledgement, but then that

humble acknowledgement is moved over to action here.

Here's another part of that action.

Check out what Jesus responded to Peter.

Jesus said to Peter, do not be afraid.

Why do you say don't be afraid? Because again, put yourself in

that scene. It freaked Peter out.

Let me ask you a question. Is to the church people you

ever. Been in an.

Environment to where you saw the Holy Spirit of God move in such

a way that you were freaked out you'd never get over that will

you you ever you ever you ever walked out of a service to where

you're sitting there going I don't I don't I don't have a

compartment for what I just experienced that's kind of

outside the box that was normal to to where God just like

basically bust out the sides of our of the box that we.

Put them in and it kind of freaks us out.

This is what happened with Simon Peter.

He freaked out and Jesus said, hey Peter, don't, don't be

afraid. From now on, I'm going to make

you a medical professional. It's not what he said.

From now on, Peter, I'm going to send you to seminary to get your

PhD. It's not what he said.

From now on, I'm going to make you the.

Greatest speaker that this world has ever seen.

It's not what he said. He did not even say Peter.

After this point, I'm going to use your life as as probably the

most recognizable of my 12 closest friends, the, the, the

disciples, the apostles. We'll get to that later on.

I'm going to make you the most notable face and the.

Leader of the church. He didn't even say that.

What did Jesus say? From now on you will be catching

men. Why did Jesus?

I tell Peter from now on you'll be catching men.

Do not miss this because Peter was a fisherman.

Listen, there's so many books, there's so many conferences, so

many talks and sermons given on what it means to be a Fisher of

men. If Peter was a farmer, Jesus

would have used a different analogy.

If Jesus was a banker, he would have used a different analogy.

If Jesus was a teacher, If Peter was a teacher or a professor, he

would have used a different analogy.

The power of what Jesus just said here is, hey Peter, I want

to take however, all the ways that I've already naturally

gifted you, and I want to make those matter forever.

I want to make you a Fisher of Mim.

Check this out. When they brought their boats to

land, they left everything and followed him.

Check this out. When Jesus borrows a boat, he

teaches a crowd. When Jesus borrows A fisherman,

he reaches the world. I make no mistake about it.

What we give to Jesus, Jesus never diminishes.

He always multiplies. Coming back to our big idea, the

main truth that we're going to see running throughout this

series is what Jesus borrows again, He doesn't take, he

invites. What Jesus borrows, he blesses

to use for our good and for his glory.

So this is where we're going to land the plane this morning.

Got a couple questions for you and I wanted wanted to give a

little bit of space and margin on the on the back, on the

backside of our time together this morning.

Here's the first question that I got for you, probably the most

important question I could possibly ask you this morning.

Do you merely or simply respect Jesus or have you surrendered

your life to him? And if you're confused on the

difference, if I know what it's like to to wonder like do I just

have a big respect for Jesus or if I really surrendered my life

to him. Here's the good news.

You can leave here this morning with the assurance that you

surrendered your life to them. And that assurance means that

you can leave here with your sins forgiven and with a peace

that surpasses all human understanding and with a with an

overarching hope that whatever may come, that when you die,

you'll spend eternity with God in heaven.

And if that's you, then in just a moment, we're going to have

some pastors down front and we would love to, to pray with you

about how that can become your reality and clear up any doubt,

any confusion, any question there.

But if you know that you've surrendered your life to Jesus,

I want you to take a look at the bottom of, of, of your note

sheet. There's a section that has like

several blank lines at the bottom.

Here's what I want to get you to do.

I want you to take just a few moments and I want you to just

jot down the different roles that define your day-to-day

life. It could be a husband, a wife, a

friend, a neighbor, a teacher, a concrete pour, a banker, a

student, a lawyer, a doctor, stay at home parent, retired, be

anything like what God has entrusted to you in this season.

And once you have that down, here's what I want us to do.

Here's here's here's the invitation to us.

I want to encourage us to end our time together this morning,

taking what has been entrusted to us, what we just wrote down

and dedicating those over to Jesus.

Maybe maybe it's a rededicating those to Jesus like Jesus you

have entrusted to me in this season of my life.

Jesus I am AI am a husband and I know that you know more about

being a husband than than I ever will.

So Jesus would would you would you use me?

Would you guide me and Jesus my role as a husband.

Would you use that to point my family to you and to other

people to you, Jesus, my role as a as a pastor, you know more

about that than I ever will, but you use that and it's a

personalized prayer for you. Wherever you are, whatever roles

that define your day-to-day, reality is taking what God has

already placed in your hands. And this is going to be a common

refrain that we come back to and I would encourage us to to

actually pray this. God, would you use?

What's in my hands and make it holy?

Would you use what's in my hands and make it holy?

Listen, being used from God or you being used by God, it always

start from a place of surrender. What's He placed in your hands

and how can you give that back to Him?

So just a moment, we're going to pray.

If you want to come down and pray here at the front, I think

there's great power in that. You do that.

If you want to come down and pray with a pastor or pray with

one of our ministry leaders, then you come down and do that.

If you feel that you just need to grab somebody's hand or grab

somebody's arm and go, hey, can we go outside and can we talk?

Can we go outside the room and can we talk for a little bit,

then you do that. Maybe the greatest act of

worship is in just a moment when we stand and you know, as other

people are coming to pray, maybe our greatest act of worship is

just standing and sing praises to God.

My hope and my prayer is this is that the Holy Spirit of God

would move in freedom and power. But then that freedom and power

that we would start to fear God more and think more about what

God thinks about us rather than what we think other people

around us may think about it about us.

So let's pray. God, we thank you for this time.

God, we thank you for the fact that we do not pray to you.

We do not sing to you. We do not talk to you as if you

were distant and far off, but God, we acknowledge that you are

here with us. So God, I pray that you would

help us to experience your presence.

God, I pray that whatever you've laid on our hearts in terms of

our response. To you God that we'll be

obedient. To that God that we would care

more about what you think than what other people.

Around us may think. God, if there's anyone that is

struggling with with with an assurance.

That they've surrendered their lives to you, God.

I pray that Lord, that they would take that step out and

they would talk to a pastor and pray with a pastor and God, that

they would leave here forever changed.

God, we thank you for the assurance that you've given

those that have surrendered their lives to you.

God, I pray that you would open our eyes and open our ears to

the fact that you know infinitely more about what we do

and what we're about than we do. And God, you want to use where

we are, You want to meet us exactly where we are and make it

matter forever. God, but that starts with a

place of surrender. God, you never take, You only

invite. And this morning, you're

inviting us to hand it over to you.

God, we pray that you would move in freedom and in power, and

it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.

To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,

connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.