Poor Disciples, Powerful Disciples | John 21:1-14 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | April 27, 2025

uh this morning I'm going to invite you

to uh take your outline out you have an

outline bulletin there and uh we have a

special message that's going to follow

up after Sunday if you didn't get an

outline there's some guys that are

coming forward to give one to you if

you're joining us online you can

download it and that will help you a

great deal before we jump into the

sermon I want you to notice this does

anybody have any idea what that

is have you ever seen this before i I

mean it's been a long time since we saw

this right

we've been in the midst of um a very

very dry season and this is just a

reminder you know pastors are called to

keep up with what is going to affect the

congregation right so when there's

cultural things and when there's

doctrinal things and theological things

and winds in society that blow around

pastors are called to warn of that well

pastors are also called in South Florida

to remind you what kind of Christian are

you um are you a fair weather Christian

or are you an all-weather Christristian

right so notice that um and quite

literally this morning we want to remind

you of something that's about to happen

do you know what this is this is

rainfall totals in uh the state of

Florida and uh what does it mean so

we've we where are we right now we're

we're right here right so it's been very

dry what's about to happen in the next

couple of

weeks it's about to start raining so

when you start seeing these people get

all excited and remind Let me remind you

let me remind you that the more

inflammatory they can be um they turn up

the red on the on the radar the more you

click in or the more you watch so sales

go up so that's called monetized weather

now let me just remind you that Satan

would love for you to be obsessed about

the weather on Saturday night and Sunday

morning just remind let me remind you

it's going to start raining and as it

starts raining let me remind you that we

have carts and we have buses and we have

everything else to help you get into

worship without getting your hair all

wet um or at least too wet and um I want

to remind you that there are Christians

all over the world that will walk miles

and will avoid police and avoid

terrorists and avoid all kinds of

opposition to come and worship somewhere

um in India and in North Africa and in

the Middle East and in places of Asia

there will be Christians worshiping in

the midst of all those so please don't

let a weatherman keep you away from

worship right and don't let any streams

so here's my theme no fear all right

come on and we will enjoy uh worship in

the coming months just make that up in

your mind um even right now well last

Sunday we did indeed enjoy Easter

sunrise um as we recognize the

resurrection of Christ and we looked at

the amazing resurrection but we looked

at more than just the resurrection last

Sunday we looked at the first Easter

Sunday and we didn't just look at what

happened in the resurrection but we we

saw how um Mary Magdalene and the other

Marys ran back and told the apostles and

then Peter and John came and ran uh to

see the the empty tomb and then what

happened in the afternoon of that first

Easter where did Jesus show up in that

afternoon

that's right on the road to Emmas on the

road to Emmas Jesus remember with me in

Luke 24 we saw that he walked with those

guys and he talked with those guys and

he shared with them um his the meaning

of his life from all of the Old

Testament and then he showed up where

that evening he showed up in an upper

room where the disciples had met and

were in fact meeting um the Bible tells

us they were very afraid they didn't

know what all had happened remember with

me you and I know and we we think about

Easter Sunday and it's all excitement

it's all joy if you grew up in church it

was put on your Sunday best it was liies

and flowers and you know somehow mixed

in with bunnies that lay eggs i don't

know and by the way did you ever

remember the disappointment that you had

when you bit into that chocolate Easter

bunny and it was

hollow i still am scandalized by that

so all that's you know whatever um but

we somehow do make it quite a bit of a

celebration and as Christians we should

rightly celebrate the

resurrection but as we go beyond that we

want to see that there was a lot going

on and that first Easter Sunday was not

filled with all joy the scripture tells

us that the disciples were trying to

figure out what had happened they were

trying to understand they were trying to

believe some did and some were

doubtful and all were pretty much afraid

in part because their leader and friend

the one who was closer than a brother

had just been murdered and was no longer

with them and so they were tr they were

in this transition time and trying to

figure all of that out and so this

morning the title of the message and

it's coming from John 21 is the poor

disciples and the powerful gospel and so

that's where we're going to be looking

and studying this morning but notice on

your outline here i want us to remind I

I want us to remember this wednesday

night by the way Wednesday nights we

have a great time of Bible study up

until the summer during the summer we

take a little bit of break but

throughout the year except for summer we

have a great time of Bible study on

Wednesday nights we have people that

come all the way up from South Miami uh

we have people that drive down from way

up in north um north part of Broward it

is worth it if I mean Sunday is not is

not really enough uh in many ways for us

to remain fueled we call it recharge but

last Wednesday night we looked at a

little bit of this so the Wednesday

night crowd has a good foundation on

this but very quickly I want you to see

what we covered last Wednesday night

because it really is a setup not only

for today but it's also a setup for next

Sunday um notice with me that the

background here is that the resurrection

and the ascension the time between the

resurrection and the ascension was a

very important time some of you are kind

talking about what in the world do you

mean well Jesus rose from the dead he

started making appearances to his

disciples not always with them and that

lasted for how many days for 40 days so

for 40 days Jesus is kind of popping in

and popping out jesus is continuing to

teach and to show in fact notice this

list on your left hand side the whole

chapter of Matthew 28 Mark 16 Luke 24

which we read last Sunday chapters 20

and 21 of John and the first 11 chapter

the left first 11 verses of the book of

Acts those are highlighting that now

over to the right hand side and it's

telling the narrative of that over to

the right hand side we see the impact of

the resurrection we see the impact

referenced in many of the letters and

there's many more than these these are

just some prominent mentions of the

resurrection in your New

Testament now let's also remember this

let's remember these appearances the

appearances of Christ between the

resurrection and the ascension and so

here's kind of a list first it was to

Mary Magdalene that's amazing to me

jesus is first speaking after he rises

from the dead to a woman a woman who had

followed a woman who had been there a

woman who had been delivered from much

much of her sin and much of her life a

woman who would have been an outcast

Jesus has befriended and not only her

but other women that were prominently

there um for those who think that

somehow God or Christianity or the

truths of the Bible do not esteem women

that's a very false narrative um the

risen Lord first deals with women and we

see that very often but then also to

Peter um Peter and John run to the tomb

what about this the two disciples on the

Emmas road we looked at that last Sunday

and he appears to 10 apostles without

Thomas and then we see he appears again

to 11 apostles with Thomas

and we see he shows up the disciples at

the Sea of Galilee and so we're going to

see that this morning and the apostles

plus 500 brethren also to James and then

when he ascends to heaven to the

apostles now that was over how many days

that was over a 40-day

period now I want you to see this and we

looked at this in depth Wednesday night

and it's it's a it's good enough and

it's important enough i want you to see

what is Jesus doing you know because so

often think about this in your

experience and in most churches we talk

a lot about the crucifixion we talk a

lot about the

resurrection and then in many many

churches we kind of ignore this time

afterwards

especially

unfortunately as it leads up to the next

massive event in the course of God's

people and what is the next massive

event to in the course of God's people

the coming of the Holy Spirit

no one would be saved if the Holy Spirit

was not at work in the world today no

one would believe in

God the spirit works in us to draw us to

God the spirit brings us to God and then

the spirit gives us the strength and the

faith to believe the spirit gives us the

power to repent

the spirit seals us for the day of

redemption and so the Holy Spirit is

massively important and good old Baptist

because they don't want to be like the

Pentecostals that seem to be running

around will sometimes ignore the

doctrines of the Holy Spirit and that's

that's a very wrong thing to do we as

bibleelving Christians should embrace

and enrichly rely upon the power of

God's presence through his spirit and so

that was a very very big deal so I want

you to notice a few things that Jesus is

doing as he's appearing between the

resurrection and the ascension and

eventually the coming of the Holy Spirit

fill these in what are the significance

first of all the significance is he is

confirming his resurrection to the

disciples so when we see Jesus keep

showing up when he's talking to

individuals or he's talking to groups he

is confirming his resurrection secondly

we also see that he is um he is

reconciling with his disciples you say

why is he reconciling with them what's

the

problem my friends what do you remember

they did

they deserted

him now it would be one thing if he was

angry with them and that he left them

aside but he wasn't angry with them but

how did they feel

i mean when you have really messed up

and you've really disappointed a family

member or a friend and you realize you

own it you realize that you it was dumb

what you did or you just missed it you

fell short um maybe you sinned against

them or maybe you forgot something or

maybe you didn't stand with them and

then you realize that you had done the

wrong

thing you know there's a there's a

tendency to kind of avoid them and run

away because of your

shame now multiply thou out quite a bit

you've just walked with Jesus for three

years you've seen him do amazing things

and then he is crucified and you abandon

him in Peter's case you deny him you

curse and deny him that you even knew

him and so this desertion it had to be

dealt with and we see that Jesus does

that he reconciles with his disciples

after the desertion what about the next

one he number three he is preparing his

disciples for their coming ministry so

he's he's affirming his resurrection

he's affirming his love for them he's

reconciling with them and he's getting

them ready for what's about to happen

because it's about to be full game

on just a few weeks away they're going

to be standing before thousands and

major things are going to happen and

that plays into as well what we see here

number four he commisss his disciples

for their work in the kingdom of God

it's the last thing how important are

someone's last words very important very

often and we see that these are his last

words before he returns to heaven he

sends us out now I want you to notice

this passage and I hear you turning it

over but look at the little box on the

side there are few passages of scripture

that are more grand and more glorious

than Isaiah 55 and Isaiah 55 shows us

God's grander plan this is a key verse

for your entire biblical worldview the

way you look at the whole world the way

you look at all the events of your life

and all of the events on the

planet the way God works this is

important god has a grander plan than

ours look at verse eight it says "For my

thoughts are not your thoughts neither

are your ways my ways declares who?" The

Lord for as high as the heavens are

higher than the earth so are my ways

higher than your ways and my thoughts

than your thoughts so friends when you

don't understand what God is doing when

you don't understand why God did

something either in the Bible or in your

life you need to run to Isaiah

55 it will help you to see that the

creator of the universe who has ultimate

power over everything which we're going

to see this morning he has a grand and

glorious plan that he is working out and

we need to come to trust him and rely

upon him notice as we come to our

passage this morning that there is a a

context that we want to see and what

you've been looking at and you may not

realize this yet but this picture that

is here that I'm using as the background

is the Sea of

Galilee this is the Sea of Galilee and

this is standing on the western shore

looking to the east much like we were on

the western shore of the Atlantic last

Sunday looking to the east and you can

see the sunrise i've seen the sun rise

on Galilee i didn't take this picture

i'm thankful for somebody who did but

notice that this is the context and I

and I part of what I want you to see

this is that as we've just been saying

after Christ's death and resurrection he

made occasional appearances to his

disciples but notice this

after the Passover festival was over of

which Jesus was crucified in the midst

remember that is Passover is the biggest

biggest day of the year and that whole

picture of this Christ is offered up as

the final sacrifice as the true Passover

um the Passover is over and the

disciples have returned home just like

people are going back to North Africa

people are traveling back to Ethiopia

people are traveling back to other areas

in the Roman world the Jews were leaving

Jerusalem well the disciples are leaving

but they're leaving with a profound

sense of

uncertainty about what is to happen what

is all this what is the last three years

just meant and the events of the last

three days just meant and so they're

they're headed home now I want you to

It's really good to have biblical

backgrounds to me I just remember I've

always been hungry to understand the

context of the Bible and if you will get

in your mind the layout of the Holy Land

and layout of where all of this unfolds

it'll help you understand the Bible more

and it's really really cool um I first

visited uh the Holy Land as a tourist

and then there were times when I lived

there and worked there um and so um I I

love these places that I'm going to

share but notice here here is Jerusalem

that's ground zero for everything

bethlehem just not far from it jericho

ancient Jericho where the walls came

down long before Christ um would have

lived but notice the Dead Sea that is

down here and all this is desert that

famous fortress Msada that Herod built

that is there that the Romans eventually

overtook there's the Jordan River in the

Jordan River comes down from what the

Sea of Galilee this is the area that

Jesus and much of his disciples were

from this is where they were can any

good thing come out of Nazareth i mean

we we would hear that stated um in that

whole area of Galilee but much of the

New Testament in the Gospels occurred

either around the lake of Galilee or

down in the area of Jerusalem we see

that we see them going to Jerusalem for

the festivals and for the other things

there here's yet another map i want you

to see it same idea there's Galilee and

um going on up now as we get into upper

Galilee and lower Galilee you see

Tiberius and Capernium is up here notice

this right here you ever heard of that

the Golan Heights that's a very

strategic place even today because it is

a high plane it's a high area um and

it's it's uh very strategic for the

protection of Israel um and a lot of

battles have occurred there um in order

to protect the whole area but here's

Jordan over on this side but there's the

Sea of Galilee i want you to see um a

satellite image of it this is kind of

cool um Sea of Galilee is a freshwater

lake it's 7 and 12 or 7 miles wide and

notice this it is 13 miles long or or

tall however you want to say that north

to south and then there's Tiberius as we

mentioned and um we also see uh

Capernaum up there much happened in the

gospels in Capernaum and then um even

Magdala this is would be Mary Magdalene

that's where she would have been from

and others so all around that area we

see that now check this out

i love it it's a beautiful place

agricultural land with even arid um

desert around the edges a lot of people

have visited there a lot of people have

taken photographs there it is a

beautiful place and it is where Jesus

was showing us the father the heart of

God it's where he was living it out in

modern day times I mean there's farms

and there's homes and there's apartment

buildings that are around that area in

fact there's a beautiful church the

Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy

Apostles this is at Capernium looking

off to the west uh the lake is clean um

you can swim in it you can drink it um

it's um it's been maintained quite well

it's a modern tourist destination

um in that day and time in fact there's

tourism boats that will come and they'll

go out there and they'll read the words

of Christ um and they'll take tourists

out on the boats i've been on these

boats numerous times it's a it's a

beautiful place but the boats that were

there didn't look like these boats the

boats that we read about in this passage

of scripture look something more akin to

this an artist's rendition of this and

what were they doing they were often

fishing they were often um uh in a it

was just a much smaller type craft but

they were fishing in the midst of what

they were doing well one such boat was

found down um petrified on the shore

right near the shore in shallow water um

some fishermen actually found it and

then they did sonar that would go

through the mud and they excavated it

and they brought it out and it is in a

museum sitting right there next to it

you see the metal structure underneath

it that's just to hold together a 2,000y

old fishing

boat so this is about the size of those

boats that would have looked something

like this

so now you have a better context of what

we're about to read early in the morning

Jesus is showing up we don't know

whether it was rough that morning or

whether it was super calm like this but

I want us to look and I want us to see

and read this passage and I want us to

gain all we can from it this morning for

those of you who are not used to what

our church does we really care about the

context of a passage but not only the

context but we care about the content

that is there you don't need to hear

what some pastor thinks you don't need

to hear a highly motivational message of

some sort what you need to hear is what

God has given to us through the Holy

Spirit and so we want to read this and

then we want to pull some things out of

it we want to expose what is there it's

called expository teaching we want to

see some things that are in this passage

so notice with me here after this Jesus

revealed himself again you see in verse

one after this Jesus revealed himself

again to the disciples by the Sea of

Tiberius now you say Tiberias why is it

called the Sea of Tiberius the the

uh Galilee lake the Sea of Galilee or

the Lake Knesset it's called numerous

things not only in the New Testament but

also in church or in human history so

here it is called the sea of Tiberias um

he revealed himself in this way so

remember with me Jesus isn't constantly

with them he's coming and going he's

revealing himself he's getting them

ready for him to be gone and for who to

come

the Holy Spirit to come so verse one

after this reveals himself and he

reveals himself in this way now we see

the list of who was there verse two

Simon Peter Thomas called the twin

Nathaniel of Canaa in Galilee you see of

Canaa in Galilee most of the disciples

are from this area either the 12 or

those who had been with him that were

outside the 12 but Nathaniel of Canaa in

Galilee the sons of Zebedee and two

others we don't those aren't named and

two others of his disciples were what

together they were together verse three

Simon Peter said to them "I'm going

fishing." They said to him "We will go

with you." They went out and got into

the boat but that night they caught

nothing so they returned to Galilee

they're not sure what all is happening

in their life they're not sure what the

future is they're trying to figure it

out days go by and they're going

"Well what do we do?" And we see them

they go back to what they knew because

they didn't really understand what was

next we

have

the the perspective of knowing what was

next based upon this they didn't have

that look at verse four

just as day was

breaking Jesus stood on the shore yet

the disciples did not know that it was

Jesus verse 5 Jesus said to them

"Children do you have any

fish?" They answered him "No." Now you

say "Children do you have any fish

that's awkward why would he call grown?"

It's like when an older person would

call out to someone and say "Hey young

man you got any fish?" That's not I'm

getting older so I know how that feels i

look at a bunch of young guys say "Hey

young," how do we say it today "hey

dudes did you catch anything?" If I go

out to Sawrass or Holiday Park or if I'm

down in Keargo and guys come in I'll go

"Dudes how did you do?" That's part of

the picture that's there so he's saying

to them he's he's referring to them he

says "Children do you have any

fish?" They answer him "What no." Verse

six he said to them "Cast the net on the

right side of the boat and you will find

some." So they cast it and now they were

not able to haul it in because of the

quantity of

fish that disciple whom Jesus loved now

that's a humble way despite what it

sounds that's the gospel that's the

gospel writer John who's writing this so

he's referring to himself in the third

person here so he's saying and everybody

kind of knew it everybody kind of knew

that John was like one of the favorites

but notice this that he said that

disciples whom Jesus loved therefore

said to Peter "It is the

Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it

was the Lord he put on his outer garment

so he had not been wearing it for he was

stripped for work and threw himself into

the sea and the other disciples came in

the boat dragging the net full of fish

for they were not far from land but

about 100 yards off so they're like

upwards of a football field off from

Jesus and Jesus says "Cast your net on

the other side of the boat." They do it

the net is so full they can't get it

simon Peter is so excited that it's the

Lord and we'll talk about that even more

next Sunday he jumps into the water and

he swims while they come in the

boat verse

9 when they got out on land they saw a

charcoal fire in place with fish laid

out on it and bread and Jesus said to

them "Bring some of the fish that you

have just caught." Verse 11 so Simon

Peter went aboard and hauled the net

ashore full of large

fish 153 of them and although And

although there were so many the net was

not torn so that's yet even another

miracle verse 12 Jesus said to them

"Come and have breakfast." Now none of

the disciples dared ask him "Who are

you?" They knew it was the Lord jesus

came and took the bread and gave it to

them and so with the

fish this was now the third time that

Jesus had revealed to the disciple jesus

was revealed to the disciples after he

was raised from the dead so this was the

third time that he re revealed himself

to a group of them we saw the other list

on the front side of the page so imagine

that they see they're in the boat

they're off the shore they see him at a

distance and it's early in the morning

they come and they see a fire on the

shore's edge and before very long the

boats or the boat is there next to the

shore and we see this beautiful picture

of this well I want you to notice a few

things from this text um there's some

observations in it and um I want you to

see a few things that are here number

one I want you to see the poverty of the

disciples i want you to see the poverty

of the disciples what kind of poverty

did they have first of all they had

economic poverty they did not have some

big fund that they could live on after

Jesus had been crucified and rose from

the dead what did they have to do they

had to go back to work i mean the

Apostle Peter says in verse three he

says to them "I'm going fishing." and

they said to him "We'll go with you."

And they went out in the boat and there

they go to go fish they're economically

poor so when we think of the disciples

we don't need to think that they were

some elevated class that Jesus dealt

with we see that Jesus deals and works

through very often some of the most

common people now Matthew was a tax

collector which means he had quite a bit

of status even though it wasn't a status

that you would necessarily

um that you would necessarily respect he

was seen as a rather nefarious person um

because he was a tax collector and they

were usually cheats but he would have

been from a higher level the fishermen

were not

so notice this not only that but we see

their political poverty where did they

go back to Galilee was Galilee a

powerful place politically no it the

nearest power center to them was Rome

and they didn't excuse me was Jerusalem

and then after that it was where rome i

mean that was what was ruling the empire

the disciples went back to their

nowhere so when we when we start to see

who does God use it's it's not that he

showed up in Rome it's not that he

showed up in Athens it's not that he

showed up in Istanbul he didn't show up

in Mecca he didn't show up in New York

or

Washington jesus shows up in a place

that is going to allow him to show his

glory not man's glory how about letter

C they were physically impoverished they

they they didn't have great power even

physically in fact look with me in verse

four well in verse three look what it

says in verse three and they said "We

will go with you." And they went out and

got in the boat and that night they did

what they caught

nothing so phys they're impover they're

not even good fishermen for crying out

loud just as day breaking Jesus stood at

the shore yet the disciples did not know

it was him and he said to them "Children

do you have any fish?" They answered

no so we we see that there's a a

physical weakness to them and

limitations upon

them letter D there was a moral and

spiritual poverty that they had they

realized that they had deserted the Lord

they didn't know what to do next now

they had all of this stuff that Jesus

had taught them

inside it was all there but they didn't

yet know how to use it they had come to

know Jesus they had come to hear his

teaching they knew what he stood for and

they were they were seeking to fully

understand and process that he really

was the Messiah and he just died for the

sins of the world but they're still in

the process of all of that coming into

their full processing and their full

understanding but despite all of that

they just go back to

fishing so we see that there's something

still greatly lacking in them they are

impoverished notice John 15 perhaps this

would have resonated in their minds a

couple of years earlier Jesus was

teaching and look what he says to them

and we we know that this is in their

minds because eventually John would

write it down look what it says in verse

four abide in me and I in you as the

branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine neither can

you unless you abide in me verse five

and I as we read verse 5 let me just say

to

you I remember as a young man after I

had finally started to realize man

everything I've been taught is

true god is is not only real but God is

I cannot deny that he's working in my

life and I was coming to realize that I

loved that but in the process of that I

remember I started really reading my

Bible and I'll never forget as an

18-year-old when I

read this verse this verse verse five it

struck me and hit me like a ton of

bricks look at verse 5 i am the vine you

are the branches whoever abides in me

and I in him he it is that bears much

fruit and then here's the line that got

me for apart from me you can do what

nothing nothing and I just remember

staring at that on the page i I remember

the moment and I remember just thinking

about that for the next few

weeks apart from me you can do

nothing i can't overcome my own sin i

can't change my personality

i can't do i mean there's little tweaks

and adjustments you can do but there is

nothing eternal jesus is speaking on in

a scale of eternity on the things that

truly matter and I started to realize

without Jesus I cannot change all of the

things that need to be changed well the

second thing so that's the first one the

poverty of the disciples i want you to

see the second one i want you to see the

diversity first of all we'll just look

at the diversity of the disciples and um

and even though we're just looking at

the fisherman we're not even talking

about Matthew here and we get this from

verse two look up there verse two so it

was Simon Peter it was Thomas called the

twin Nathaniel of Canaa and Galilee and

sons of Zebedee and two others of his

disciples were together and so sons of

Zebedee this is James and John so first

of all notice here the disciples are

incredibly diverse first of all there is

passionate impulsive

Peter i mean he is passionate this is a

man who in every time he opens his mouth

it is passion

and then I mean kind of just the

opposite of that is letter B

insightful deep artistic John the

youngest of the

disciples and so whereas Peter is going

off all the time John is

watching and John is noticing and John

is processing and while Peter is far

more basic in his pursuit and

understanding of things listen to this

john in fact is processing far more on a

philosophical

level how about

Thomas maybe we could say he was

pessimistic and he was doubting i mean

he was just bold enough to say what

everybody else was thinking when he said

"I won't believe it till I see

it." So there's Thomas he's doubting and

then talk about diversity we don't even

know about some of the others there's

little known about them but yet here

they all

are in fact if you look at it look what

it says in verse two do you see up there

in verse two it says "Simon Peter Thomas

called the twin Nathaniel um the sons of

Zebedee and two others of his

disciples." Underline that or circle

those last two words of that sentence

and they were

what and they were

together so even though they're so

diverse and they're so different they

were together

and so what I want you to see here is

not only the diversity of the disciples

but I want you to see the unity of the

disciples they are together they're

together in fact my goodness they're in

the same

boat they're not all different in

different boats they're in the same boat

though they are so diverse

now I want you to just look at that

slide and think about that in the

context of the body of Christ our

church we're so

diverse but the strength is not our

diversity the strength is in our unity

amen now I want to say to you in the

last 40 or 50 years in America we have

exalted diversity and nearly destroyed

our

society yes it's true it's fine that

we're all from different places it's

fine that we're different and it's fine

that that we have a very But friends you

don't emphasize diversity the devil

loves to divide what you should talk

about is

unity what you should talk about are not

the things that we have that are so

different what we should celebrate is

our unity the things that we have in our

hearts that are the same and this is

very very very true for the body of

Christ and we see it that God is a God

of

unity god is a God of reconciliation

he's a God of being together in fact

notice with me this last passage that is

right there on your outline 1

Corinthians 12 through13 is so critical

for us paul is writing and he writes in

verse 12 for just as the body is what

one and has many

members so if the human body has many

members has fingers has hands has elbows

has arms legs has ears so the body the

human body has many different

members and all the members of the body

though many are what one

body so it is with Christ can you put a

box around that phrase so it is with

Christ because that's that's the lynch

pin of

this in Christ verse 13 for in one

spirit we were all baptized into one

body now you could talk about physical

baptism but this is really a picture of

spiritual baptism what does baptism mean

to immerse we're all immersed in Christ

we're covered up in Christ there's no

more us sticking out above the surface

we we are completely covered in Christ

we're covered in his death and we're

covered in his resurrection

this is the beauty of

it and so notice this in verse 13 for in

one spirit we were all baptized into one

body Jews and Greeks slaves and free and

we were all made to drink of what one

spirit so this is the unifying

force is the Holy Spirit that's what

brings us to God and brings us to each

other

so look at this how many times is one in

this

passage just circle them as we go for

just as the body is one and has many

members all the members of the body

though many are one body so it is with

Christ for in one spirit we were all

baptized into one body Jews or Greek

slaves and free and are all made to

drink of what one spirit what do you

think the emphasis of these two verses

are unity that's the picture you see we

have one body and we have one Lord one

body one Lord and that is what brings us

to the unity that God has given us so

the emphasis is not on what our

differences are as Jews or Greeks or

free or slave or u Anglo or Hispanic or

African-American or Eastern European or

Asian or I don't want to leave anybody

out native American I mean you name it

we we come from all of these different

backgrounds that's not what we emphasize

what we

emphasize is the unity that we have as

redeemed children of God and so we see

that in this passage it's pretty

beautiful notice the next part here on

page three see not only the poverty of

the disciples and the diversity and

unity of them but number three we see

the power of the Lord

title of this message is the poor

disciples and the power of the gospel

you could also call it the power of the

Lord so notice this in verse 1 and four

i want you to see this and after Jesus

had revealed himself again so here it is

jesus is revealing himself again to the

disciples this is his

power you don't have the power to pop in

and out but Jesus does he has the power

to be anywhere all the time in the grand

sense of the trinity we know that the

trinity is omnipresent he's everywhere

all the time but when it comes to this

issue of humanity and him bringing

himself into humanity we see his power

to visibly show up in our

lives the power of the Lord in his word

and in his spirit and in this case in

his actual presence and we see that

letter A the power of his pursuit and

presence you see he's still pursuing the

disciples he came and got them the first

time and now he's coming and getting

them the second time this is beautiful

look at verse four just as day was

breaking Jesus stood on the shore yet

the disciples did not know that it was

him did you know that sometimes Jesus is

right there next to you and you don't

even realize it

there's times in your life where you're

thinking everything's bad this is all

messed up i have no friends or I'm a

dork or whatever it is or maybe you're

prideful and you think everybody else is

terrible and you're great or whatever it

is but eventually you come to realize in

your in your limited

view that God is right there with you

when you've seemed so

alone not only is he there in his

pursuit and his presence of us but look

at letter B we see the power of his

words look at verse 5 jesus said to them

"Children do you have any fish?" They

answered him "No." Now remember what I

said last Sunday jesus often asks

questions it's not that he doesn't know

the answer wednesday night we talked

about this again it's not that he

doesn't know the answer he's helping us

understand things

in fact there's a lot of times as

parents that your child comes up to you

and says "Mom I don't know how to open

it." Now mom can either take the thing

and go "Open it." Or mom can say "Okay

well let's think about this what do you

see on the right hand side?" Well I see

a little button oh well why would that

button maybe be there you see mom is not

that she doesn't know why the button

would be there what is she

doing she's leading the six-year-old to

think about why is the button on the top

of the box well the button is on maybe

on the top of the box so that if you

push it the top of the box will open

whatever it

is you see Jesus often does that with us

in fact you'll be driving along down I95

or somewhere and you'll be thinking

about something you better be thinking

about the traffic if you're on 95

you'll be going through some aspect of

your life and you'll be thinking about

something and then you're asking a

question and let me tell you that a wise

person asks

questions and God is not afraid of you

asking any

question god has given you a mind to use

and so you ask a question and then when

you begin to seek the answer hopefully

what you begin to realize the answers

are from is from the master over all

things look in verse four or in verse 5

jesus said children do you have any fish

they answered no he said to them cast

your net on the right side of the boat

and you will find some so he knew what

he was doing and I would love to know

and someday maybe we can ask him Lord

when you did that out in the Sea of

Galilee I mean how did you caused those

153 fish to come up next to the right

side of their

boat you

know you know the the

the school of fish go over to the right

side of the boat and there they are

waiting to be caught

that disciple whom Jesus loved therefore

said to Peter "It is the Lord." But that

only happens he recognized it after he

saw the power of what had happened cast

your net on the right side of the boat

so they cast it and now they h were not

able to haul it in because of the

quantity of fish and then they realize

he has this is the one who has power

over all things we've seen this

before so this is the power of the Lord

he has the power over all

things what about letter

C the power of his loving care i love

these verses in nine look at in verse 9

when they got to the land they saw a

charcoal fire in place with fish laid

out on it and bread and Jesus said

"Bring some of the fish that you have

caught." Verse 11 so Simon Peter went

aboard and hauled the net ashore full of

large fish 153 of them and although

there were so many the net wasn't torn

and Jesus said to them "Come have

breakfast." Can you put a big circle

around that come have

breakfast i want you to see

this the loving care of the Lord

come have breakfast come be with me you

see nothing's changed he was eating with

them before and now he comes to eat with

them again he's coming what what what do

you do who do you eat

with you don't usually eat with

strangers who do you eat with you eat

with people that you're close

to in some of the most intimate settings

that we can have in our life in this in

this day is having a meal

together and here we see that the Lord

is revealing to them his

reconciliation his heart and he's caring

for

them we see the loving heart of God he

prepares breakfast for them

this is beautiful not only do we see the

power of his loving care but letter D in

all of this we see the power of his

grace and his

forgiveness in verse one Jesus reveals

himself in verse 14 look at down in

verse 14 this was now the third time

that Jesus was revealed to the disciples

after he was raised from the dead you

see he had grace toward them and

forgiveness toward them

constantly and I want you to think about

this what this means for you and for me

so we have some implications and some

applications and I I I want you to think

about that this week i want you to think

about this passage maybe this afternoon

go home and read this passage again and

think about this talk about this with

your family talk about this with your

kids notice here with me the first of

all implication is without Christ we can

do nothing that is eternal we can do

nothing that is eternal john 15 tells us

that but here we see it in the disciples

we decide see a physical example of even

something that isn't necessarily eternal

and them catching fish that day but it's

a vivid description you know sometimes

God will remind you of things in your

physical life that represent a spiritual

reality i mean things that just kind of

happen i I have two or three things that

I've noticed recently um that that

happen and I'm like "There it is again

that's that's amazing."

How many of you have a box or a drawer

in your house with

cords

chargers USB

cables how many of you have some place

in your house where there's a bunch of

cords now when you go to get one of

those cords out what

happens they all come out

somehow Marcy has said this for the last

20 years over and over again she will go

to a bag or she'll go to a box or she'll

go over to a drawer and she'll pull

something out and here's this cord and

it's just this

big I don't know what to call it a a a

nest of cords and you're trying to get

out and every single time she does that

she holds it up and she said this is

sin this is what sin will do to your

life

it'll entangle everything it'll

complicate everything sin is visible

example right here this is

sin sin just messes us up and entangles

us

you think you're getting away with it

but you're just really making a bigger

mess

so in a small way the fish are this

physical example to these

guys that you fished all night and you

didn't catch anything and then Jesus

says "Throw it on the other side." And

they can't even haul it in it's the

biggest catch they've ever had it is

amazing

so we need to realize in our lives that

without Christ we can do nothing that

really matters number two God's people

are incredibly

diverse and this is all for his glory

and his

purposes you see it's it's our diversity

linked with our unity that reveals his

goodness that he can bring that which is

very different together he does that

with man and wife that which is very

very different he brings together and

it's a good thing when the when um a man

has found a wife he has found a good

thing this is a beautiful purpose of God

in that how about number three god's

people must learn to three things to

recognize

trust and obey

him that's what God's people must learn

to do now I've made

recognize bright lime

green because we've often heard you need

to trust and obey somebody came to me

the other day and they were new to the

life of our church maybe new to walking

with the Lord i'm I'm not exactly sure

but they said you know a few weeks ago

we sang a song and that song was one

that you said was an old hymn and it was

called Trust and Obey and he said I have

to tell you I've not been able to escape

that song i've been thinking about the

truth of that song that there's no other

way to be happy in Christ but to trust

and obey trust and obey there's no other

way to walk with the Lord

but part of trusting and

obeying is recognizing the Lord now the

disciples were on the boat they were 300

ft from the shore about 100 yards from

the shore and there's this guy in the

early morning light standing on the

shore and he calls out to them over the

water "Have you caught

anything?" And no they hadn't caught

anything no well throw the net on the

other

side they do the net we can't even pull

it in the boat and what does John do

it's the

Lord you see the power of what God is

doing around them reveals this is the

Lord i want to say to you that you need

to learn to

recogn himself is his word

if you will be in the word of God listen

to this you will recognize the Lord not

only in his word but you will recognize

the Lord in this life the more you know

of God and the way he works you'll start

to see this is the Lord he's at work

this is what he's calling me to do the

more you're in the word you will know

that you cannot know his will if you do

not know his word

don't wait for the feeling the spine

chill you know the strange design of the

clouds or something like that in order

to interpret the will of the Lord what

you need to know is what he says and how

he works and the more you study his word

the more you dive into his word and see

the riches of it and see his values in

his heart the more you know what he

wants

and so we must learn to recognize and

then trust and obey the the Lord now

when we do that notice what I put below

that when we do there will be miraculous

results and blessing in your life that's

what the disciples saw they trusted they

they didn't say

"No you don't know what you're talking

about we've been out here all night

there's no fish around the

boat that's not what they yelled back to

Jesus it doesn't say that they said

anything to Jesus but they were

desperate enough they thought "What do

we have to lose throw the net on the

other side." So they obey the Lord they

throw the net on the other side and

there's a catch that they can't take in

so this is this is really beautiful look

at number

four it is the it is only the power of

Christ and his gospel his tr truth his

words that can change the

world it's only him it's not you know

you're not going to do it on your own

the church isn't going to do it on its

own

what we see in this text is that the

word of God is what brings powerful

change now I know you're trying to pack

up but before you do that I want you to

think deeply about these four

things look at

them without Christ we can do nothing

god's people are incredibly diverse for

a

reason number three God's people learn

to recognize trust and obey and look at

this number four it's only the power of

Christ and his gospel that can change

the

world there was a pastor who understood

this very well and he impacted the world

his name was Pastor J.C riyle he

lived 125 years ago would have been his

death he's from England about 150 years

ago here's what he wrote and what he

preached god doesn't need all your

powerful talents

your learned education or your great

holiness what he needs is someone who

what loves him and obeys him with that

he will change the world let's stand

together for prayer