Fishing For People

Come here all the time.

You know there are about 60 million of us in the United States that like fishing.

We like it enough that collectively we spend about oh, $115 billion a year on fishing.

I just love being out in the woods here hearing those birds, the brook, it's great, you know.

Speaking of fishing and fish, my friend Alex had a really rotten day fishing last week.

He was out on the lake all day long in the balding sun with his balding head and he got sunburned but he didn't get fish.

He was pretty upset and on the way home he stopped at a fish place.

He said all right, I want you to give me four big trout the biggest trout you got and I want you to throw them at me one at a time.

The shop manager says why do you want me to throw these fish at you so I can tell my wife that I caught them?

The guy says I could do that, but actually I recommend salmon.

He says why salmon?

I want trout.

Well, your wife called the shop here earlier today.

She said that if you stopped by she would much prefer the salmon.

Well, we love to fish, even if we're not good at it and I'm not good at it.

I'm just a beginner, but I do know this.

There's no comparison to watching something on YouTube or watching some TV fishing program and actually holding that pole and feeling that fish tug.

How many of you have ever had that experience?

Raise your hand, come on.

Wow, the majority of you have.

It's pretty cool.

There's a powerful fishing story in the Bible I'd like us to kind of revisit this morning, and since it's just you and me out here by my favorite fishing spot, I'd like to share it with you Now.

I got my little pocket Bible here in this fishing tackle.

I've had this tackle box no kidding since I was a kid.

Of course it doesn't look that old.

Anyway, I like this handy, pocket-sized Bible.

We're going to Luke 5, if you've got your own Bible, luke 5, and you could just sit as I share this passage for us.

Luke 5, verses 1 through 11.

Luke 5:1–11

It says this one day, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret that's the Sea of Galilee, by the way, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God he sought the water's edge, two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets, and he got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from the shore.

And then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Simon answered Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

And they came and filled both boats so full they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said Go away from me, lord, I'm a sinful man.

For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, simon's partners.

And then Jesus said to Simon don't be afraid, from now on you will fish for people.

So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

You know two huge takeaways from this text all there on the Lake of Gennesaret.

By the way, the Sea of Galilee is the largest freshwater lake in Israel.

It's amazing.

It covers 53 square miles, it's home to over 27 different species of fish and if you go there today, it just feels so much like a resort town.

It really really does.

It's quite restful.

It's probably my favorite spot, and there are lots of people fishing, even today on the shores out in the boats.

You see them every day.

But I think there are two huge takeaways from this text that I've just shared with you.

Two huge takeaways.

Takeaway number one is just this Fishing for souls was Jesus' highest agenda.

Fishing for souls was Jesus' highest agenda.

Jesus was all about think about this, redeeming lives.

He was all about saving souls.

That's what he means by fishing for souls, for people.

How do we know this?

Well, first, it was in his name.

In Matthew 1.21 it says of Jesus she will give birth to a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Second, he said so himself in Luke 19.10.

The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10.

Third, he said it again when he spoke with Nicodemus.

You know the scene John 3.17.

He says God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be.

What's the word class?

Save, you get an.

A Wow, fishing for souls was Jesus' highest agenda.

No doubt about it.

There's a second takeaway Fishing for souls must be our highest agenda.

Well, how do we know that?

Well, it's in our name.

For one thing, we call ourselves Christians.

It means like Christ.

It's in our name In Luke 6, 40, jesus said a student is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Secondly, it's in the will of God.

Romans 8, 29 says for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son.

Third, it's in our mission statement.

In Matthew 28, 19, and 20, jesus said go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations right, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you, and behold, I'm with you always, to the end of the age.

See, it wasn't just for those disciples hanging out with Jesus at that moment, it's for us today too.

I like this quote from JC Ryle.

Let us never forget this solemn injunction is still the duty of every disciple of Christ to make others acquainted with Jesus Boy.

I like that phrase to make others acquainted with Jesus Boy.

I like that phrase to make others acquainted with Jesus.

That's it.

That's fishing for souls.

Jesus called us to be fishers of souls.

My question who are you fishing for?

Who are you fishing for?

See, this is his agenda, his highest desire, and if you don't really love the agenda of Jesus, can you say that you actually love Jesus?

When Diane and I were first married, I discovered that she really liked Mexican food.

I couldn't stand it.

To me a trip to Taco Bell was torture, as if that's Mexican food.

But I decided if that was important to her, I should probably try.

She spent over a year of her life in Mexico, not just a passing fancy, she has an investment in those people.

So I started branching out and I still don't love everything, but I love Mexican food, and if she says, where do you want to go tonight, I'm always going to suggest Mexican.

It's at the point now where I ask her every week would you please pick me up a fresh jalapeno?

I chopped one up in my omelet last night.

That's her agenda, but if I love her, it's got to be mine too.

When we were first married I had absolutely no interest in country music at all.

She loved it.

If I love her, I've got to learn to love what she loves.

Do you know I really like country music now.

We've been to some concerts.

I later learned Diana very wisely understood that we really needed to enlarge our cracker box, I mean our house.

I mean I'd be comfortable in a shack, I really would.

And to this day Diana wonders if I really wasn't raised by wolves.

The answer is I was.

But if I loved Diana, I needed to care about that vision and it needed to become my vision.

So we've now added on, not once but twice, and live to tell about it.

And the same thing is true coming from her.

She would be real happy to never set foot in another airplane the rest of her life.

She doesn't like flying.

I have dragged her to more than 30 countries, many of them third world.

She's informed me.

I've gone to enough third world countries with her.

She's made my agenda her agenda.

And the same is true with Christ.

We can't say we love Jesus if we don't love his agenda.

We might have a warm, fuzzy feeling, but that's not real love.

You know what Love costs you something?

Jesus calls us to be fishers of souls.

Who are you fishing for?

Today's text offers us four fishing facts that I think could change our lives.

I really do.

Now.

I've caught some fish here, happened to bring them in my handy-dandy firehouse subs bucket and uh, you're the water there, and I think each of these fish might allow us to introduce one of these facts.

Fishing fact number one Let me go for the big guy here.

There we go, there he goes.

Fishing fact number one there's an ant crawling across my nose.

If we're going to be like Jesus, we have to hear from Jesus.

If we're going to be like Jesus, we've got to hear from Jesus.

I'm going to let him back into his place there.

Look at verse one.

It says the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.

How often do we press in on him?

Jesus, the living word.

How often are we that eager to hear the word of God?

I have my devotions here.

Good for me.

Are we ever eager?

Are we pressing in?

If fishing for souls is what God wants us to do, don't you think He'd be happy to push us toward people that need Christ?

Listen to Him.

How do we listen to Jesus?

Well, we listen by pondering not just reading, pondering or meditating on His Word.

Let it sink in.

And we listen to Jesus by speaking to Him in prayer and pausing once in a while.

Let the grocery list you got there aside, just pause.

I find this is the honest truth that when I spend time with Jesus, trying to listen to Jesus, he sometimes not always shows me specific people that I need to talk to who need Jesus.

Or he orchestrates circumstances that put me right in the path of somebody who needs Jesus.

I kid you not, it's absolutely crazy.

Or he orchestrates circumstances that put me right in the path of somebody who needs Jesus.

I kid you not, it's absolutely crazy.

Tim is a guy who didn't feel like very much was going on in his life with regard to fishing for souls, but he prayed about it and he was pretty serious about it.

He said, lord, would you just bring somebody along here?

So a few days later, he's out in the front yard watering some new grass seed.

A neighbor drives by down the street, honks at him, waves at him.

It's interesting, they don't have much of a connection point, but that was kind of a neat little thing.

A few minutes later a second neighbor comes over, talks to him while he's watering that grass Nice conversation.

Tim finishes watering that grass Nice conversation.

Tim finishes watering the lawn, goes inside, the doorbell rings it's a third neighbor.

This neighbor helps himself into the house, sits down in a chair, stays for an hour.

Never had had a conversation like that before.

Wow, if we're going to be like Jesus, we have to hear from Jesus, and that means we've got to pray about this and ask for his leading.

Jesus calls us to be fishers of souls.

Who are you fishing for?

Fishing fact number two let's reach into this bucket here, check this one out.

Yeah, fishing fact number two when jesus implies something is about to happen, it's going to happen.

However, staggering the claim.

It's already written in the history books of the future.

You're taking notes?

There it is.

It's already written in the history books of the future.

If you're taking notes, there it is.

It's already written in the history books of the future.

Jesus could see into the future and verse 6 tells us what he saw before it happened, even though his request might have felt outrageous to those disciples.

It says they caught a great quantity of fish and their nets began to tear.

Now just process this with me.

They had nets that were not toy nets, they were fishing nets, designed for not just a few fish, but a lot of fish, heavy fish, big fish, and those industrial strength real deal nets were that strong, but they yet began to tear.

That's how many fish there were.

See, jesus sees your future too.

Those impossible friends, those impossible souls, people you're just sure would never get saved.

He's already at work in their lives, already at work, and he wants to use you and he wants to use you, wants to use you.

Lynn met Annie, a young mom with children about Lynn's age, and Lynn could quickly see, as they got to become better friends, that Annie's life was a mess.

This was a lady who there was a lot of dysfunction, there was childhood abuse, there were all kinds of things going on, and she was far, far from Jesus.

And Lynn began praying for Annie and her family, fishing for souls.

One Christmas, lynn and her husband invited Annie and her husband to come to an outreach service at church, just like we have here at West Sub, not real difficult.

Well, annie had never, ever, ever been in a church Not one, not ever, was very hesitant, but she and her husband finally decided to come as long as Lynn and her husband would sit with them.

They came.

They came that night.

They came.

They came that night, they came the next week, they came the next week, they came the week after.

Months went by and finally Annie's husband came to Christ Months after that.

Annie herself came Months later, the first child and then the second and the third, and the whole family has been revolutionized.

It is not the same family.

We've seen them, we've known them.

We've known their before life.

We know their after Jesus' life.

It's radically different.

But Jesus saw all of this ahead of time and he invited Lynn and her family to be part of his plan for an amazing haul of fish, if you will.

When Jesus implies something amazing, outrageous is going to happen.

However staggering that claim, it's already written in the history books of the future.

Well, there's a third fishing fact we should explore.

Whoa this is.

Oh, those spikes are sharp on this.

They really are.

When Christ asks you to do something, all that matters is your obedience.

When Christ asks you to do something, all that matters is your obedience.

Down you go boy.

Verses four and five tell us now.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon put out your net into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.

Simon responded and said, master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say and let down the nets.

Listen, christ may well ask you to do something that appears illogical or destined to fail.

I mean, just as a side note.

What is it that your neighbor needs?

Where are they hurting?

And I'm not talking about necessarily literal, physical next-door neighbors.

It's the friend at work, it's the lost relative, it's the somebody from your childhood.

Who is that neighbor?

What do they need?

Where are they hurting?

What statement about Jesus could your gesture make to them when Jesus asked for something?

Even if it seems outrageous, all that matters is your obedience.

I got a friend named Dan, and Dan is very much committed to fishing for souls.

He happens to live next door to a family.

There's no dad present, but the mom has a boy who's about 20 years old, and this kid is really, really into MMA fighting.

Now, if you don't follow MMA fighting, it's nasty boxing, okay and he was all pumped because he was going to be part of a great big fight in a great big ring, thousands of people in attendance, and he was pumped and Dan felt the Holy Spirit kind of tug it on him and he said, hey, would you like it?

Could I come to this?

Could I watch this fight?

He goes, I'd love it.

And so he went.

Not only this, dan videotaped the fight and after that Dan went to a friend, a Christian friend, who knew how to edit the video for him and they added some effects and handed it to the kid on a thumb drive.

What a neat tool.

This same Dan has also given that family a DVD with an evangelistic message, complete plan of salvation, but in some ways it was absolutely outrageous.

I mean, but in some ways it was absolutely outrageous.

I mean, the whole thing is outrageous.

Dan is 60.

This kid is 20.

I mean, they're different ages, different races, different backgrounds in life, but Dan was more interested in fishing for souls than in being comfortable.

And it was uncomfortable.

Picture yourself in this big auditorium reeking of marijuana, girls dressed like you never want your daughter to be dressed, inappropriate language.

The whole thing was a stretch for Dan, but he was there.

He was more interested in fishing for souls than being comfortable, so he obeyed when Jesus asked for something, even if it seems outrageous.

All that matters is your obedience.

Jesus calls us to be fishers of souls.

Who are you fishing for?

There's a fourth fishing fact we should look at.

Let's see if this guy will come out Easy on those spikies.

To fish for souls means we must leave lesser things behind.

To fish for souls means we're going to have to leave lesser things behind.

Here you go buddy, luke, 5, 11.

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

Well, does that mean you got to sell the house?

Probably not, but it does mean pursuing lost people must capture our hearts.

It means we're going to have to make some tough choices.

Sometimes means we must leave lesser things behind.

What does that look like practically?

Well, we're going to leave behind our comfort, we're going to leave behind our schedule, leave behind our prejudices, leave behind our excuses.

Oh, I'm not really good at this.

I'm too shy.

It's not my spiritual gift.

You know, peter and friends I want you to think about this had just experienced the catch of a lifetime, literally.

They would almost certainly never experience anything like this again.

It was a miracle.

And today's marketing coaches?

Now they would say hey, hey, hey, don't quit boys.

Now's the time to expand, branch out into new markets, get a whole new fleet of boats that don't quit boys.

Now's the time to expand, branch out into new markets, get a whole new fleet of boats that don't leak.

Maybe even some franchise opportunities around.

To see a gal here the make a wish fish guys.

Yeah, but they didn't.

They left everything to follow Jesus.

Why?

Because they were more interested in fishing for souls, are we?

I probably shared the story of our neighbors Bob and Betty, but it bears repeating.

Diane and I had been in one of the trips.

I dragged her on Romania for 10 days.

Just gotten home and many of you have traveled internationally.

You know what it's like.

You've been on a couple of different planes.

It's long hours.

You just want to get home to your own house, your own bed, take a shower, and so we were looking forward to doing just that.

But we pull into the driveway and before the taxi leaves, we can see our neighbor standing in our driveway.

Here's Bob.

I get the car door barely open.

He says John, where were you?

What do you mean?

I had a heart attack while you were gone.

I could have died.

I said wow, bob, that's really John.

What happened?

So he's going.

I said we've got to talk about this.

Bob, could we take you and Betty to dinner?

Yes, yes, right now.

We unlocked the door, shoved our suitcases inside and reluctantly closed the door and went to dinner the last thing we wanted to do.

But we're sitting there and you've got to know something about Betty in particular.

Bob is foul-mouthed to the point where there's nothing anyone could say.

That would be more shocking than what he would say routinely, and we're used to that.

His favorite pet name involved profanity.

It's the kind of guy he was, betty, downright hostile toward anything spiritual.

She would slam you, shut you down so fast.

But I said, could I pray a prayer for the meal?

Sure, so I prayed a quick prayer and I thanked God for sparing Bob's life and for bringing him back to health.

And I got done and there was a loud amen from Betty.

See, it was not a convenient meal.

We had to leave behind our own comfort.

But after that a slight softening took place in Betty's heart.

She has never been quite that hostile again.

We've talked about other spiritual things.

When their daughter had a serious health problem, we were over there and they let us pray with them.

The other day I was flipping through an encouraging little book, the Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases, you probably already have, you know.

I just brought it with me because some of the hours out there when I'm fishing get long and this is sort of amazing and amusing.

Let me share from the back cover.

Do you suffer from insomnia?

Not good Soon, your whole body might attack your brain.

Are you bothered by a persistent fever and swelling?

Beware, maggots are likely crawling beneath your skin.

Have you noticed skin tenderness and discoloration?

Yikes, a small horn is probably going to sprout from your head.

Well, the sad truth is, when it comes to speaking with, engaging with, loving lost people, most of us do have a disease.

We really do.

Maybe for you it's the disease of disinterest.

Maybe it's the disease of distracted living I'm so busy or, worse, the disease of devaluing another life.

They'd never come to faith.

That's sick.

That's sick.

You know, we just celebrated Easter and we took our time pondering Christ's suffering, didn't we?

The beatings that he took, the whipping, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails in his hands and feet, it was horrible.

And yet, when that same risen Jesus asked us to fish for souls, we say I'm too busy, I'm too shy.

It's not my gift, it's not me, I just can't do it.

Could I just get in your face and say that's sick, that's sick.

I do the same thing, by the way.

That's sick, but there's a cure.

There's a cure for all of us.

Let Jesus teach you what it means to fish for souls.

Ask him and he'll show you, you know.

Let me level with you.

I have gone out on four half-day fishing charters in my life.

I've loved every one of them.

But could I be perfectly honest with you?

I don't really know squat about fishing.

I mean, look at this pole of mine.

It collapses down.

It looks like a little kid's pole.

You know what?

The biggest fish that I've caught with that pole is about?

That long, that's it.

I know almost nothing.

But there's something I've noticed when I go out on those charters the captain.

He always knows the right place to fish, the right time, the right bait, the right techniques.

All I do is stay in there and do what they say and crank in the fish.

Could I be perfectly honest with you?

You're out there on a morning charter and you had to get up at 4 am and then you took Dramamine.

So you don't get an upset stomach and that makes you triple sleepy.

And there you are fishing in an exciting moment, and you're like this and the captain has had to say to me wake up, there's a fish on your line, start cranking, boy.

The thing of it is it isn't me doing the work, is it?

It's the captain.

He baited the hook, he drove the boat, he saw the depth finder, he put the line where it belonged.

He even told me when to crank.

He just lets me in on part of the adventure.

And that's a great picture of what God has in mind for you and me.

We can't save a single soul, but he knows the right place, the right bait, the right technique, the right time.

Better yet, he longs for us to join him in his mission of fishing for souls.

And here's the really cool thing you don't have to be great at it, you don't, but you do have to get at it.

You do have to get at it.

Jesus called us to be fishers of souls.

Who are you fishing for?

You know, in fishing circles they love to swap stories.

There's always the story about what, the fish that got away right, the big one.

And I'm just wondering, as we're talking here this morning about fishing for souls, is it possible that you're the one that got away.

So far you've avoided Jesus.

You've lived life your own way, but now maybe you sense that you're not really what you need to be before God.

There's something missing.

You need Jesus.

You need him to forgive you of your wrongdoing and be your savior, and that can happen for you today.

The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and our team is happy to talk with you after the service.

Pray with you, meet down front.

The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and our team is happy to talk with you after the service.

Pray with you, meet down front, let's pray together.

Come see us.

Jack will never forget the call from his daughter, her brother-in-law.

Eddie had been battling cancer, been going on for some months, and they were very concerned that Eddie was probably not saved.

He just really was not born again and his cancer grew worse.

And finally says I'll never forget the call.

Jack says I was vacuuming the house at the time, my wife was dusting and at the other end of the line was his daughter who lived out of state, too far away to get involved.

She said Dad.

She says to Jack Eddie doesn't have long to live now and the family is asking if you would go pray with him.

Jack says he ripped the cord out of the wall.

His wife and him jumped into their car, raced over to that house.

They found Eddie unconscious but there, still breathing heavily under the influence of morphine.

But finally he woke up and Jack gathered everybody around Eddie's hospital bed there in the living room and Jack said Eddie, I'm going to pray a prayer right now that you can pray to receive Jesus as Savior.

Now, I know, eddie, you can't talk, but squeeze my hand.

Would you do that if you want to believe in Jesus?

So they prayed this prayer and Jack was very, very clear about it and he said now, eddie, again, you can't talk, but squeeze my hand if you just prayed that prayer.

The squeeze back was unmistakable.

Well, jack then took the whole family.

They gathered around Eddie and they did a nice snapshot of the whole family together.

They got that to the family.

He and his wife left and three hours later Eddie was dead.

Wow, but a rescue had happened.

Jesus calls us to be fishers of souls.

Sometimes it's an emergency, always it's important and forever it's an adventure.

Don't you want to be part of that adventure.

It's an adventure.

Let's pray, shall we?

Lord God, thank you for calling us into your adventure of seeking and saving that which is lost.

We want to be good and faithful fishers of souls.

Would you show us who we should be fishing for?

Would you move in our hearts?

Would you take away the hardness should be fishing for?

Would you move in our hearts?

Would you take away the hardness, replace it with softness?

Open doors, give us ideas, give us courage, give us the words, give us the love that we lack.

We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.