Mending Our Nets

God bless you.

Glad you came so far.

Say amen so far.

If I don't mess it up.

It hadn't been too bad so far.

Thank you for your faithfulness and your prayers.

Had a great, very positive staff meeting today.

We have our staff meeting on Wednesday at 1:30 and it went very

well.

I learned more.

I'm still learning.

When I jumped on this train, it was moving still pretty fast.

And so anyway, I'm trying to get caught up, but God bless you

for your prayers and just keep on praying.

I preached a sermon many years ago, and it wasn't new to me, but

I, you know, simplicity.

The older you get, the more you like to simplify.

Am I right?

And did you know the Bible says we're to serve God in simplicity

and godly sincerity.

Simplicity.

The devil likes to get us all tangled up in things that matter

in eternity.

And sometimes people think, well, you're oversimplifying.

But, you know, there's five things to me for you to not just

survive these days, which you're living, but to thrive.

And one of them is to come to church.

Not everybody comes to church and they're not going to really prosper

very long without the church.

And that's the first thing.

And then number two, praying.

Okay, I'm simplifying.

Come pray.

Read the Bible, read.

So far, so good.

Simple.

Come to church, pray, read the Bible, learn to give.

Giving, that's living.

That's what Jesus did.

He gave.

He gave.

He gave.

And he continues to tell us, give, and it shall be given unto

you.

And we're not to be storage tanks, we're to be pipelines.

God wants to bring it to us through heaven and let us give to

him and give to others.

And a lot of people are trying to get through life, but they haven't

learned to give yet.

They think, well, I'm going to one day, but right now I can't afford

it.

Well, we can't afford not to give.

It all belongs to God.

He only asked 10 cents out of a dollar and he doesn't even make

us do that.

But he says, I'm gonna bless you if you do.

And Malachi 3 says, you're gonna have some problems if you don't.

Okay.

And then there's one left.

What was the first one?

Come.

Come to church.

Simple.

Just come.

Number two is pray.

Number three is to read the Bible.

Number four is give.

And number five is tell others about Jesus.

You say, I wish life could be that simple.

Well, so do I.

And I haven't gotten there completely yet, but I'm working on

it.

And the sooner you can simplify, the better.

You say, well, you don't have half the problems I have.

Well, that's probably true, and I'm not minimizing that.

But if you could just focus on those five things, it'll help you

and it'll help the church.

And so I hope that you'll continue faithfully.

I know I'm preaching to those that do all those things already,

but I just felt like sharing with you tonight.

Take your Bible and go to Luke chapter number five and hold your

finger there and we're gonna go over to Matthew chapter four.

Tyler King was sharing some things with me today and I told him

I'd like to share this with the church again for a matter of

prayer.

But he's our youth director, of course, and over there in another

building.

But he said, this Friday, not tomorrow, but the next Friday, from

10 o' clock in the morning till 11, he'll be back at the Northwest

High School speaking to the FCA club.

There are usually around 200 people that comes to that club.

Kids, young people, students.

Be in prayer.

As we resume our public school outreach.

It currently exists in two parts, FCA clubs and athlete outreach.

In the next week or two, we're going to meet with the coaches at

Northwest High School to resume the athletic component of

the outreach.

That's getting harder and harder to do to even walk into a

public school system if you're a Christian.

And so I'm glad that Brother Tyler has a burden to reach young

people not just here, but over there and over there and over there.

And so this is an opportunity possibly for him to get more influence

over those kids.

And so please make that a matter of prayer.

Okay, we're in Luke chapter number five, verse number two.

Let's pick up at verse one.

It came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the

word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships

standing by the lake.

But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their

nets.

I'd like you to focus on those.

They were washing their nets, if you want to underline that.

Washing their nets.

But there was something else they were doing.

And it says in verse four, you may remember this story.

When he had left speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the

deep and let down your nets.

He said, all the nets for a draught.

And Simon answered and said unto him, master, we've toiled all

night and have taken nothing.

And then These next six words, these some of the most important

words in our life, whether things make sense to us or not.

And many times they don't, humanly speaking.

But he said this.

He said, nevertheless, we've done this all night.

This is our profession.

We're fishermen.

Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.

Well, he only let down one.

I guess that's what it says.

Jesus said, let down.

The net's plural.

But a lot of people say, well, I'll let down one.

Well, you know the rest of the story.

They beckoned unto their partners which were in the other

ship.

Because it says in verse six that when they had done this, they

enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake.

Okay?

So get that in your mind.

You know this story.

You've heard a lot of great sermons on this passage.

Their net break, and it's interesting, they beckoned on other

partners which were in the other ship that they should come

help them.

And they came, filled both the ships, both ships so that they began

to sink.

I don't know if we have any fishermen in here, but I doubt if

any of you caught so many fish that your boat was fixing to sink,

but maybe you have.

And when Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart

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

That was his reaction to the miracle.

He'd never seen that happen before, for he was astonished, and

all that were with him at the draught of fishes which they had

taken.

And then in verse 10, was that famous words of Christ that we sang

when we were children.

Fear not.

From henceforth thou shalt catch men.

I will make you fishers of men if you follow me.

Some of you may remember that.

And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook

all and followed him.

So Jesus said, follow me.

Follow me and thou shalt catch men.

Back up to Matthew 4, 21 Matthew chapter 4, verse number 21.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the

son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee,

their father, mending their nets.

Okay, so we saw one where they were cleaning their nets, and now

they are mending their nets.

And he called them.

And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed

him.

So you see, there was two things about fishermen those days.

They had to clean the debris, the trash, the rocks, the sticks,

whatever else.

They had to clean them out.

They couldn't just use them and never clean them.

But because after they cleaned them, they saw that There was some

tears, some rips in the things they were doing in the nets.

They couldn't.

They're all clean now, but there's holes in the net, so they

had to mend them.

And they had to do this on a pretty regular basis.

You agree?

If they caught anything, if they kept throwing those nets, you

never know.

I remember when my little kid, my grandfather, took me fishing and

I caught an eel.

You ever seen an eel or heard of an eel?

Not good.

They remind me of snakes.

And I hate all snakes.

Dead and alive, okay, but I just dropped the pole and ran.

I was just a little kid, 21, maybe 22, but I dropped it and ran.

I didn't want it.

And so finally Granddad talked me into putting another line out,

and I did.

And something hit it and I didn't even wait to see what it was.

I dropped it and ran again.

Granddad pulled it up and it was a boot, an old boot on the bottom

that had pulled up.

But I didn't want to mess around with anything that wasn't

a fish.

Well, these fishermen had to do this on a regular basis.

They first clean them, then they mend them, then they let them

dry in the sun, and then they'd cast him out again and it

would go round and round.

So what?

Jesus walked the streets of his day.

I've walked on some of those streets where Jesus walked.

He walked to the synagogue regularly.

He walked to special places to pray.

Do you have a special place to pray?

Jesus did.

There was a certain place that he went up on the mountain alone

to pray.

He walked in and out of homes.

It's interesting, in Mark 2, the Bible says it was noised that

Jesus was in the house.

I think it was Peter's house.

Wouldn't it be something?

Would Jesus come to the house, to your house?

Hopefully he lives there.

He's already at your house.

But Jesus would walk in and out of homes.

Most of us love to imagine Jesus walking on the seashore.

He did that often.

He must have liked that.

The sea in the Bible is always a picture of humanity, the world

restless and lost humanity.

And when he began to gather his disciples, he.

He said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

You do the following, I'll do the making.

Did you hear that?

He didn't say, sit down.

He said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.

Let me tighten the laces a little bit.

When we're following Jesus, truly following, walking with Jesus,

you're gonna have opportunities And Jesus said, I'll

take care of that part.

I'll make you a fisher of men if you'll stay close to me and follow

me.

Remember the prodigal son story?

I never get tired of that story.

The prodigal son said to his father, give me.

But when he came home, he said, make me.

Make me as one of thy hired servants.

You don't have to give me a dime.

Just let me serve.

Big change in his life.

There was a big change in the life of these disciples who had been

fishing and fishing and fishing.

And Jesus said, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.

The primary purpose of the Christian life as we know is to glorify

God.

Not only in this building, but outside this building, in the world.

Be in the world, but not of the world.

Let your light so shine.

We don't need to shine it in here.

Nothing wrong with it.

But most everybody lets their light shine at church.

And then when they go out, they flip the switch and turn the

light out till next service.

Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth.

Well, if we don't go out there and spread the salt around, what's

going to happen?

The nation's going to rot and die.

That's what salt does.

It preserves.

Among many other things.

It does.

But most churches that I've been in, they keep all the salt stacked

up in the church.

They don't do a lot of spreading of the salt.

And then we wonder why our world is in the shape it's in.

We like to blame the liberals and the devil and everybody else.

Well, I haven't heard too many say, well, it's our fault.

We haven't put out enough salt.

We've hidden our light.

We've become secret Christians.

We're to be in the world, to be convincing, compelling, consistent

representatives of Jesus Christ.

And as we do that, they see in us Christ less of us and more of

him.

Amen.

I think we have a hard time winning people to Christ because

they're just seeing too much of us and not of Christ.

You say, well, I'm trying.

I want to be like Jesus.

Well, it was Tozer that said, nearness is likeness.

Same thing.

The nearer you are to Christ, the more like him you will be and

the more like him you are.

People out there in the world will see more of Christ instead of

us.

You agree?

More of Jesus.

Most people just see too much of us.

John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must decrease.

What in your life is most like Jesus?

We don't imitate Jesus.

That's religion trying to imitate follow Jesus, but to be with

Jesus and let Jesus live in us and through us.

That's the key.

Let Jesus live through you.

I'm crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

Little Johnny got saved in children's church.

He ran home, had lunch, and he went outside to meet his neighbor,

his friend, a little girl named Susie.

And she was a little bit of a smarty.

And little Johnny said to Susie, guess what?

She goes, what?

He said, I got saved today.

She goes, what?

He said, yeah, Jesus is living in me.

The little girl put her hands on her hip and says, oh, yeah?

Show me.

How can you show?

Jesus is inside of you.

People can't see inside of you.

They can only see outside of you.

Christ in us and coming out of us and speaking out of our mouth

and looking out of our eyes and listening out of our ears.

Sounds a little fanatical, doesn't it?

In fact, so many Christians today, if you find one that really

living the way I'm talking about, that we all shouldn't have,

myself included.

We often think somebody like that's a nut.

Talks about Jesus right out in public, in the middle of God and

everybody.

Most people today have heard about Jesus, at least in our country,

but very few people have seen Jesus.

You see what a net is to a fisherman?

That's what our testimony is to a Christian.

Listen, get this.

If you don't get anything else.

Reputation is what people think of you.

Am I right?

That's what people think.

You have a reputation.

Oh, yeah, I've heard about you.

I've watched you.

You don't know me, but I know you.

I've seen you.

Reputation.

And we got to be balanced.

We got to be careful that we say, I don't care what people think

about me.

God knows me.

Well, we ought to think a little bit about it because we're

to represent Christ and we want to have a good reputation.

Reputation is what people think about you, but testimony is

what other people think about Jesus because of you.

I'm gonna say that one more time.

It's very important.

And you could turn me off after this if you don't want to listen

anymore.

Okay, your reputation is what people think about you, but your

testimony is what people think about Jesus because.

Because of you, you're a Christian, a little Christ.

That's what Christian meant, Reputation.

And your testimony, just as a fish would get tangled up and caught

in a net, unsaved People ought to get tangled up in our love for

them and the love of Christ going through us.

People ought to meet us and say that person told me something

and I can't get out of my mind about Jesus died for me.

And they get tangled up.

They don't understand it.

They haven't been explained yet, all the gospel.

Maybe they're not ready yet, but they've gotten tangled up in

your net.

But what if the net has a hole in it and they get tangled up for

a little while but then phew, they escape through the hole in the

net.

What is the net?

I told you a while ago, it's your and mine testimony.

Our testimony.

Our representing Christ, Christ in us.

And we throw out the net of our life as a Christian.

But if there's a hole in it, we cast the net in vain.

In one verse they're mending, in another they're washing.

But it takes both too many holes in our testimony.

God can't use a net that's got holes in it.

He can't use a dirty net that's got all kinds of the world

and junk and debris and trash.

Washing their nets actually meant more of separating the trash

and debris from them.

That is what caused the holes so they could clean them and mend

them and then lay them out in the sun.

S O n I know they laid them out in the sun to dry, but when our

nets are laid out in the sunlight of Jesus Christ, it makes

the nets dry and bleaches them white and they're attractive.

But then they cast them.

Get that in your head in mind.

Clean them, mend them, lay them out and then cast them again.

Every Christian, if he's truly born again, cares about the lost.

We don't always do much about it, but it'd be hard pressed for

me somebody to say, you know, I know I'm a born again believer.

I was there when it happened and I love Jesus.

I love him.

But I don't care about everybody else.

They can go to hell.

Something wrong with that person's salvation to not care.

It's one thing to not go and not say anything, that's another

sermon.

But I think every truly born again.

You know, when I wasn't saved hardly 3 or 4 minutes as a 14 year

old boy that I ran home as fast as I could to tell my parents

because I wanted them to get saved too.

They were home.

That was on a Saturday night.

I went Sunday and then Monday I went to high school and led my

best friend to Christ sitting on the Gym floor.

I didn't know anything about leading people to Christ.

I just said, I'm going to tell you what happened to me.

His name was Rick, Rick Johnson.

I said, rick, you got a minute?

I want to tell you something.

Yeah, go ahead.

And I told him he came to church the next week and got saved,

got baptized.

Him and I would sing together in church as teenagers.

But every Christian, if he's truly saved, I wish he didn't have

to use that term.

I wish it didn't exist.

Some people profess to be saved, but they're not.

I wish that wasn't true.

But Jesus said, not everyone that calls me Lord, Lord shall intervene.

I wouldn't try to make you doubt your salvation.

But it might not be a bad thing to do.

If somebody can talk you in that you're not saved, maybe you're

not saved.

I don't know.

Am I making sense when I say that I don't know who's saved and

who isn't?

That's not my job.

I don't think that.

I don't want that job.

I don't want to do that.

But if somebody's truly saved, truly born again, old things have

passed away.

Behold all things new.

Repentance means a change of mind.

I've changed my mind about God and about heaven and hell and about

people.

It was me.

Oh Lord, I was a sinner.

I rebelled, I was selfish, I was self righteous.

God have mercy and save me.

That's.

Repentance means change of mind.

Before I was saved, I didn't ever think one time about somebody's

eternal destiny, their soul, where they were gonna go.

And it never even crossed my mind.

But after I got saved, I'd go different places I'd go, I wonder

if they're saved, all these people, man, can you imagine if all

these people could hear the gospel?

Didn't you have some thoughts like that?

Our nets.

Life is wasted if it doesn't touch others.

For Christ in Philippians chapter number two, if you'll turn

there with me.

And just past Philippians, we'll come back to Philippians.

But Colossians, interesting.

In Colossians chapter four, verse five and six.

Are you there?

I try to get practice following the passages.

I like the screens and the scripture and the music and I don't

have a problem with that.

But I am seeing less and less people bring their bible to church,

say, why do I need my Bible for?

They put the verses up there.

Well, what about the verses?

That's not up there.

In Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

It says, Walk in wisdom toward them that are what without, outside

the family of God.

Outside.

They're on the outside looking in.

We're on the inside looking out.

Walk in wisdom toward, not away, toward them that are without

redeeming the time.

And notice, it says in verse six, and let your speech be always

with grace seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to

answer every man walking toward those without.

I'm just reading straight out of the Bible.

Let your light so shine.

You know something, Brother Cox?

You may have already known this, but I didn't realize this.

I did a little study on the Olympics back when Paul was talking

about the Olympics and the Games and stuff.

He was living at that time, and that was a very big deal.

And we heard about those runners that would hold the torch

up.

The Olympics do that as a symbol of the old Olympics.

But actually, in those days, the runners would be in a race.

And it wasn't just one guy.

It was.

Everyone had their own torch.

But here's what I didn't realize.

If they got there first and won but the torch was blown out because

they were running through a windstorm or a rain, they were disqualified.

You had to be first with your torch still burning.

How about that?

Jesus said, let your light so shine with a run, with a hurry.

I wonder what difference it would make if we hurried more about

winning the lost.

We hurried to the hospital.

We hurried to the grocery store.

We hurry to get the tire fixed.

How many of us hurry to share the Gospel?

It seemed like we kind of go in slow motion when it goes to that.

We're running with the light.

But if we're not careful, we can run and run and run and run and

run and look down and realize our light's gone out.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

But then later he said, now you're the light of the world.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.

If we're not winning souls, we're losing souls.

We need to inspect our nets.

What makes our nets useless?

What damages them?

What tears them?

What makes holes in our nets that souls can possibly slip through

into hell?

Well, I can give you a few.

I'm sure you could probably add some that I hadn't even thought

about.

But I think sometimes a negative spirit can cause a tear

in our net.

How we approach people.

And if we are negative, why aren't you saved?

What's the matter with you?

Don't you know you're on Your way to hell.

I know none of you would approach somebody like that, but

I've been out door knocking with preachers that that was their

approach.

It's almost like they were ready to attack.

I've seen men look through the window and see the preacher coming

and run out the back door as fast as they could.

And I could hear the door slam.

I beseech verse chapter four, or excuse me, chapter two of Philippians,

if you're there.

Verse number two.

Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded having the same love,

being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness

of mind that each esteem other better than themselves.

Can you imagine Jesus with a negative critical spirit?

Ah, I can't stand this hot weather.

Ah, so dirty out here.

Here I am, I gotta go to this house and that house.

I can't picture Jesus that way.

I wonder if we as Christians would stop complaining so much to

lost people if it would matter if people might say, how come you're

not upset like everybody else?

It's not easy to not be upset like everybody else.

It takes faith.

The Bible says end everything, give thanks.

That is not easy to do in it, not for it, but in it.

In the middle of tragedy and disappointment.

Discouragement to be thankful and to let people see a different

side of things.

A real Christian in high school, my son Jason, he, he was

senior and he had a good testimony.

His teacher called him in one day, said, jason, you got a minute?

Yes, ma'.

Am.

She said, you're a Christian, aren't you Jason?

Jason said, yes I am.

She said, no you don't.

I don't think you get it.

I mean, you're a real Christian.

Why would somebody say you're a real Christian?

Could it be that sometimes people think we're not real?

We're one way one day, but we're different another day and then

the day after that we're different again.

Joy is one of the evidences of a spirit filled Christian love is

evident.

Luke, chapter, I mean First Corinthians, chapter 13.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

He mentions these having a negative spirit in verse 5.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, verse 7.

Made Himself no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant.

Listen, I'm preaching to myself tonight and you're listening

maybe on the side, but if we daily walk with God in his word,

that's the only way you can do it.

Somebody can't say, I don't have time for the Bible, but I'm

walking with Jesus every day.

No, you're not walking with Jesus every day because Jesus doesn't

speak in audible voices.

He speaks through this book.

He speaks through the Bible.

You read the Bible and say that's God's word, that's Jesus speaking.

But if you and I are daily walking in his word, you will not

have to make yourself witness.

It'll show they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

Out of your lips, your expressions, your actions, your reactions.

And then what about selfishness?

You think sometimes that can rip a hole in our net?

Yeah, because it costs to share.

It costs time and effort and uncomfortable situations to talk

about Christ and to witness for Christ.

And a lot of times we say, I just, I'd just rather go, I got to

do something else.

Selfishness.

We're selfish by nature, but we have a new nature now.

We always want to be right.

We always don't want to admit we're selfish.

Conversation between a six year old and a five year old.

Oh, are you in Linda's room at school?

He said, no, she's in my room.

Everybody else is wrong, right?

A cold wind was howling and a chilling rain was beating down when

the telephone rang in the home of a doctor.

The caller said that his wife needed urgent medical attention.

Emergency.

The doctor was understanding.

He said, I'll be glad to come, but my car is broken down.

Could you come and get me?

After a pause, there was indignation at the other end of the

phone with an angry voice.

What, in this weather?

He was thinking about inconvenience of himself.

I want you to come and take care of my wife.

But you don't expect me to come get you, do you?

Sometimes that's kind of the way we are.

Because we are Christians.

The world need not cater to us.

We are to be the caterers.

How we are treated is not fun, but that's not important how we're

treated.

And by the way, next time somebody mistreats you.

I didn't say if, I said when.

When somebody else.

Because you're going to get it.

If you live for Christ.

When that happens, remember you'll never be mistreated as much

as Jesus was never.

Paul talked about dying to self.

If a grain of wheat fall into a ground, in a hole in the ground,

it abideth alone.

But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

If we could die to self, we might be more fruitful in our sharing

the gospel with other people.

And we can't save anybody, can we?

And Jesus didn't say, go out in the world and save everybody.

He said, go out in the world and tell everybody.

God's not gonna hold you accountable for people that didn't

get saved.

He's gonna hold us accountable for those that we tried or we didn't

try, that we kept the gospel to ourself.

There's been times that I failed miserably.

I'd get in the car and think about it and start driving and say,

man, I had a perfect opportunity to speak to that person

about Christ, and I didn't do it.

And it hurt.

The Holy Spirit's in us and he convicts us.

He'll tell us.

Not in an audible voice, louder than that.

He'll say, you could have told him a little bit more.

He could have left a track.

He could have invited them.

The little boy returned home after his first Sunday school class.

He'd never been there before.

His mother asked him, who was your teacher?

The little boy said, I don't remember her name, but she might

have been Jesus Grandmother, because that's all she talked about,

was Jesus.

There was a little girl in our church in Victory.

She's grown, married, has kids now.

But as a little girl, her parents would, every Sunday would

say, well, what'd you learn today?

What did teacher teach about?

And she was the cutest little girl.

She'd say, jesus again.

Jesus again and again and again.

Would you ever be accused of talking too much about Jesus?

And then there's the inconsistent Christian life.

You know, we want to let our light shine, but sometimes it flashes

on and off, on and off, on and off, blinking.

And never has integrity been more scrutinized than today.

And we need.

I like.

Do you like the word?

We don't use it much, but I like the word authenticity.

Authentic.

Real people need to meet real Christians.

Authentic.

Not pretenders, not people that's been trained how to say it

and when to say it and do this and do that.

There's nothing wrong with learning how to be a better witness,

but we need to be authentic.

I remember talking to people about Christ when I was a new Christian.

And I tell them right up front, I said, I'm just now learning

the Bible and tell you the truth, I don't know a lot, but I

can tell you what happened to me.

I'm a little nervous right now.

I'd actually tell people I'm a little nervous.

But I'd like to tell you something, if you don't mind.

And people are at ease.

He's like me.

It's not easy, but he's real.

People respond to authenticity.

They appreciate it.

But sometimes we intimidate and we drive people away from Christ

because we act like we got all the answers and you don't have anything

holding forth the word of life.

That doesn't mean carry your Bible and hold it up in the air everywhere

you go.

It means living out what you believe.

Read the Bible, believe it, and then live it.

We're talking about nets.

Nets.

And sometimes we need to just get them out, our testimony and our

life, and get it cleaned up, get some of the junk and trash out

and then wash them good and then mend them first.

1 John 1:9

John 1:9.

If we confess our sin.

I'll close with this, but one day a woman was crossing a street

in London station years ago.

An old man stopped her and said, excuse me, ma', am, but I want

to thank you.

Just out of nowhere just came up.

Excuse me, ma', am, just wanted to thank you.

She looked up and exclaimed, exclaimed, thank me?

He replied, yes, ma'.

Am.

Older man.

He said, yeah, I used to be a ticket collector.

And whenever you went by every day, you always gave me a cheerful

smile and a good morning.

And I knew that smile must come from inside somewhere.

And then he said, one morning I noticed a little Bible in your

hand.

So I went down to the store and bought me one.

And he said, I've come to know Christ as my Savior.

You say, that's so what?

Big deal.

Sometimes a smile, sometimes a kindness, sometimes the littlest

thing can at least make people open up and wonder about you and

what makes you different.

That's witnessing too.

That's part of witnessing the way you approach, the way you leave

a person leaving the door open, maybe to talk to them some

more down the road instead of putting an X on them.

That little lady's net was mended.

She didn't have a hole in her net.

Souls are at stake.

Everyone you meet is a potential child of God.

Or maybe just a few steps away from hell.

Isn't that something to think about?

It's not pleasant to think about.

But you may have passed someone today at the store or checked

out and that person could be in hell by midnight tonight.

Say, well, it wasn't my fault.

Well, maybe not.

That's what I'm just trying to say.

We need to be more soul conscious and get real and take some

salt and light outside this building and take it out there tomorrow.

Many are slipping away through holes in the net.

People come into this church a lot.

We had some first time visitors last Sunday, right In this

auditorium, maybe sitting in the chair you're sitting now, or

maybe in the row down, I don't know.

Sit down and listening and may walk back out and never return.

What happened to them?

Who cares?

I don't know.

Maybe they got the impression from one person.

Now.

This isn't for me, this place.

I don't know.

I'm just asking you to think about it.

I think about things like that.

An Alaskan Airlines pilot was involved in investigation of a crash

years ago, Alaska Flight 261.

And he listened to the cockpit voice recorder from the downed plane,

the black box that they found.

And he reported that for the last nine minutes of that flight,

the wife of a pastor from Monroe, Washington, you could hear

her voice sharing the gospel with with passengers over the plane

intercom system just before the final dive into the Pacific Ocean.

She could actually be heard on that black box leading people in

the center's prayer.

Lord, I'm a sinner and can't save myself.

Save me.

I want to trust Christ.

The pilot also reported that the flight data recorder from the

plane indicate that there's no explanation for how the plane was

able to stay in the air for nine minutes.

It stayed in the air until that pastor's wife had a chance to

share the gospel with the very attentive passengers.

And who knows if some of them may have trusted Christ nine minutes

before they went out into eternity.

Most of us probably won't have that kind of opportunity.

I hope we don't get a plane that's getting ready to crash.

But what made that woman do that?

In the midst of this tragedy, There were only 90.

It was a small plane, only 90 passengers on board.

But they had a chance to get right with their Maker.

Let's stand with our heads bowed and eyes closed just for another

moment or two.

I know I covered a lot of ground tonight, but just think about

you as a net, debris and trash that needs to get cleaned out nobody

else even knows about.

Could be a place, it could be a sin, it could be an attitude, it

could be one of the thousands of things maybe your net needs mended.

You've got it cleaned up, but there's some holes you need to get

mended.

Maybe God just touched your heart.

I know I can do a little more.

Maybe you've never won a soul to Christ.

You want to.

You've thought about it, you've come close, but you've never

experienced that.