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That All May Know (Fishers Of Men) | Joy Teh

Acts Subang Jaya 10AM

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from axt church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your day.

  3. Today.

  4. I'm gonna share about death, about following Jesus and how

  5. Jesus makes us fishes of man. Hallelujah. So we're going

  6. to take from Luke chapter five. Now I shall dive

  7. straight into it. Luke chapter five.

  8. The first eleven verses of Luke chapter five.

  9. Okay, So I encourage all of us to bring our

  10. Bible to church, and if you have a Bibles with you,

  11. let us turn to Luke chapter five. Okay, now, but

  12. XTIB will help us with the new King James version

  13. on the screen. So let me read from verse one.

  14. So it was as the multitude press about him to

  15. hear the word of God, that he stood by the

  16. lake of Genessurred and saw two boats standing by the lake,

  17. but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing

  18. their nets. Then he got into one of the boats,

  19. which was Simon's, and ask you to put out a

  20. little from the land. And he sat down and taught

  21. the multitudes from the boat. Okay, Simon's boat, this is

  22. Simon Peter right now.

  23. Verse four.

  24. When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launched

  25. out into the deep, and let down your nets for

  26. a catch. But Simon answered and said to him, Master,

  27. we have toyed all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at

  28. your word, I will let the net. I will let

  29. down the net. And when they had done this, they

  30. caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

  31. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat

  32. to come and help them, and they came and filled

  33. both the boats, so that they began to sing with

  34. a lord of fish. When Simon Peter saw it, he

  35. fell down at Jesus' niece, saying, depart from me, for

  36. I am a sinful man, o Lord. For he and

  37. all who were with him were astonished at the catch

  38. of fish which they had taken, and so also were

  39. James and John, the sons and Sabidy, who were partners

  40. with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid.

  41. From now on you will catch men. And when they

  42. had brought their boats to land, they forsook all all

  43. the fish and followed he Imen.

  44. Amen.

  45. So if you read here that them that they is

  46. Simon Peter, because and Andrew. Because usually it's two fishermen

  47. in the boat and the partners, partners in crime, right

  48. is the James and John. So they were four of them, okay, okay,

  49. So four of them, and that's where Jesus was talking.

  50. To them, okay.

  51. So now, uh before look chapter five. So this is

  52. Luke chapter five, and of course before look chapter five,

  53. loochapter one to four, right, okay, okay, So just to

  54. again we have on what happened in the first four

  55. chapters of Luke before we arrived at this little story here,

  56. all right. So, of course, if you read from Luke

  57. chapter one, the Lich chapter four, it talks about the

  58. birth of Jesus, it talks about the genealogy of Jesus,

  59. and it talks about how Jesus was tempted and how

  60. he began his ministry, as you can see in Luke

  61. chapter four as well. But in the other Gospels you

  62. will have read also how Jesus first called his disciples, hey,

  63. Simon and his brother Andrew, and then we have James

  64. and John, so two sets of brothers, right, okay. Now,

  65. so when we arrived in Luke chapter five, by then

  66. it wasn't the first time that Jesus is meeting Peter

  67. and the other three disciples. Okay, so it's not the

  68. first time, so they have been with Jesus for about

  69. a year. So the Book of Luke skipped the first

  70. year of kind of the first year of jesus ministry,

  71. and went straight into his second and his third year

  72. of ministry, all right, Unlike the Book of John that

  73. is a bit more evangelistic, So the Book of Luke

  74. pretty much skips that part, and he went straight to

  75. when Jesus was already trying to disciple his disciples. Okay, okay,

  76. So it's not so much written for non or pre believers,

  77. but again writturn to people who are already Christians to

  78. how and to teach them how to become committed and

  79. faithful followers of Jesus. So Christ spent his first year

  80. of ministry going around the synagogues and preaching and getting

  81. as many people to believe in him, all right.

  82. Then, and in his second.

  83. Year again he pecked disciples, and there were twelve of them,

  84. of course we know in the end, and he trained

  85. them to be apostles, and later on he also sent

  86. them out right, So that was doing his three years

  87. of his ministry. Okay, So the book of Lil again

  88. didn't really tell us much about the first year of ministry,

  89. but again written to us believers to become committed followers

  90. of Jesus. So it's not an evangelistic book, but the

  91. Book of John. In state, if you read the Book

  92. of John, the Gospel of John, it talks a lot

  93. and it mentions a lot about God giving eternal life

  94. to anyone who believes in Jesus.

  95. All right, So that is the Gospel of John for us. Okay.

  96. So when we arrive here at chapter five in the

  97. Book of Luke, these disciples were already caught by Jesus,

  98. already following Jesus. But then you'll be wondering, why are

  99. they then washing their nets and fishing land?

  100. Okay, okay, So let's look at this scripture. Now.

  101. I'll give you the summary first of what I'm going

  102. to so, teacher, right now, I cannot run away from it, like, okay,

  103. I just can't, Okay, So just a summary first. So

  104. I've drawn out a few points from verse one to

  105. verse eleven of what makes a fisher of men? Okay,

  106. So when Jesus called them, and at the end in

  107. verse eleven, Jesus is saying that in verse eleven exactly

  108. the words of Jesus is No, that's not verse eleven.

  109. So it's verse ten.

  110. Jesus said, do not be afraid. From now on you

  111. will catch men. All right, you will catch men or

  112. your fishers of men in some other versions, and I

  113. believe it's not the first time Jesus is telling them.

  114. By Jesus is renewing the commitment again with.

  115. His disciples, all right, okay, So the four points that

  116. I can draw out from here would be features of

  117. men love to hear the word of God taught.

  118. Okay, now as we can see it later in the verse.

  119. Of course, it didn't seem very obvious that they love

  120. the world.

  121. Okay, now, mind, we'll get to that.

  122. But I would say that they still love the word

  123. of God, all right, and love to hear the word

  124. of God. The next one features of men obey Jesus

  125. even when it doesn't make sense. There's a slight that

  126. shows all four at one in one's like okay, Daniel,

  127. thank you all right, So obey Jesus even when it

  128. doesn't make sense. And this is found in verses four

  129. to seven, where Peter was saying Jesus it doesn't make sense.

  130. I've already tried fishing all night. I didn't catch any fish,

  131. and now you're asking me to fish again. Okay, So

  132. there you go. Obey Jesus, even when it doesn't make sense.

  133. Features of men or disciples or Jesus are aware of

  134. their sinfulness or their own sinful nature. And that's why

  135. Peter was again repenting at Jesus's niece and asking him

  136. to depart from him. And features of men are willing

  137. to forsake all and to follow Christ.

  138. Imen. That's from verse eleven. Okay, So let's go back

  139. again to verse one.

  140. Okay, So again, now as we know, now this is

  141. not the first time that Jesus and Simon. Well here

  142. I zoom in mainly on Peter or Simon slash Peter. Okay, okay,

  143. so yeah, but now he's still called Simon. I right, Okay,

  144. So first time, it's not the first time Jesus and

  145. Simon had met. Okay, near the very beginning of christ ministry,

  146. as I mentioned, a year of a year ago, Jesus

  147. has been walking along the shore. He has already seen

  148. Peter and Andrew fishing, James and John fishing, and he

  149. has already caught them to follow him, all right, okay,

  150. So the four of them followed him, and for about

  151. a year they witnessed his miracles. They listened to his teachings.

  152. They heard him teach over and over again that God

  153. gives eternal.

  154. Life to everyone who believes in Jesus.

  155. And I believe by this time they believe, they believe,

  156. and it's like they have given their hearts to Jesus,

  157. all right, Okay, So however, now in this context, in

  158. look chapter five, we notice that they have gone back

  159. to fishing now. And then one day Jesus was preaching

  160. at the beach or at the shore, all right, or

  161. of the sea, okay, And Jesus showed up there. So

  162. I'm sure they all this world they enjoyed listening to

  163. him teaching about the Bible again and again in those

  164. days when Jesus was teaching, I believe he teaches from

  165. the Scripture. They go line by line and he explains

  166. the scripture to the people who are listening.

  167. All right, okay, so definitely I can imagine them.

  168. They're cleaning their nets, and as they're cleaning their nets,

  169. they say, okay, not a problem they have been with Jesus.

  170. Although now they're back to fishing. I think they're like, oh, yeah,

  171. we miss hearing. Okay, so it's good to be listening

  172. to the message to be the God's word, right, okay,

  173. But they did not stop cleaning their nets. And after all,

  174. listening to them listening alone to the message and not

  175. doing their work doesn't put money off, doesn't bring in

  176. money to put food on the table. So probably I'm

  177. guessing that they went back fishing due to they have

  178. to earn a living, they have to support their family.

  179. And we know didn't really talk about Peter's wife in

  180. the Bible, but we know that he has a mother

  181. in lawd who was healed earlier in Luke, and hence

  182. definitely do have a wife, you know, then you do

  183. have mother in Laura, right, okay, so wife, mother lad

  184. and maybe they have children. Okay, I don't know, all right,

  185. So okay, so needed to put food on the table.

  186. But it seems that this fishermen are having quite a

  187. hard time because they fish all night, they didn't catch

  188. a fish. So, just like all of us, sometime when

  189. in our profession, when we do business, some days we

  190. are having good days, good days.

  191. Some days not so good days, right, yeah, okay.

  192. So as they clean their nets, Jesus continues to teach

  193. and the crowd is beginning to press in on him.

  194. It's so much pressing in on Jesus that Jesus is

  195. trying to have a bit of space, I believe from

  196. the people, so that he can teach Popley without being

  197. And if he looks behind him, he's.

  198. Going nearer and nearer to the city.

  199. Okay, okay, So he asked Simon for his boat, right,

  200. can I borrow the boat?

  201. Can you?

  202. Can you take the boat out so that I can

  203. be in the boat out into the sea a little bit,

  204. so that I can push from that.

  205. Now, Simon had just finished cleaning his nets.

  206. Hey, normally fishermen at that point, after they've done the

  207. whole night of fishing, after they clean their nets, they

  208. what do you think they will do?

  209. See? Okay, what will you do? You work a whole night?

  210. Those all you got night shifts on or you're ode,

  211. you know, I know some of yeah, okay, yeah, you're old.

  212. And then the.

  213. Next day you have to some more, carry on work

  214. some more. By the time you reach what do you

  215. hope to do?

  216. Slave?

  217. That's right, okay, So I can only imagine. Okay, okay,

  218. so do some imagination here. So Peter and his friends

  219. are probably like, Jesus, I'm almost going to sleep a ready, okay,

  220. but okay, jesus sermon is good but interesting.

  221. I want to learn. So maybe good to hear the sermon.

  222. Maybe yeah, okay, Jesus come let me take you into

  223. the board. And he rolled it out a little from

  224. the shore, so that just can't come, do you dish?

  225. So I believe Simon was grateful so to hear the

  226. word of God, and maybe at that time it's like, oh, yeah,

  227. this was why I couldn't understand the scripture. And now okay,

  228. I understand after I hear Jesus pitch. Oh that's the

  229. word for me today, you know. Yes, hearing the word

  230. from Jesus that was what I really needed to say.

  231. Okay.

  232. I'm just saying what is going on in Simon's mind,

  233. And he's probably like, ah, I'm thankful that I I'm

  234. listening to God's word here in the boat rather than sleeping, right, Okay,

  235. It's better than anything else that I could have done.

  236. So if really Simon was already a follower of Jesus,

  237. a disciple of Jesus.

  238. Any hunger and thirst for the Word of.

  239. God, he probably is thinking that, yeah, I'm thankful I'm

  240. in the boat with Jesus. I could have been sleeping, yes,

  241. but it's okay. It's a well word sacrifice that I mean.

  242. Okay.

  243. So now I don't know about you, but were there

  244. times in our lives that we know we're supposed to

  245. go to church, or we know or we plan that Okay,

  246. I want to go to prayer service, or I want

  247. to read my Bible, I want to pray under my devotion,

  248. or I sign up for Bible classes and then when

  249. the day comes on the Bible class, Ah, I did

  250. sign up, okay, because I'm okay, But it could be

  251. due to many reasons. H Like for Peter, it was valid.

  252. He's tired, he needs rest, you know, and just like

  253. all of us is life right, it could be we

  254. are just tired, we're just or we're just too busy.

  255. All we feel that at that moment we got other

  256. more funner things to do. Luck, Okay, like funner things.

  257. Okay, whatever your finner things, okay, Okay, So I believe

  258. in all of us, Okay, No, me, not you meybe

  259. me me. I have experienced that before, okay, and there

  260. were times that we allowed ourselves that excuse okay, the

  261. never my life today, I don't go today, I don't

  262. meet my Bible to they, I don't I go and

  263. sleep in state, or today I just don't. I just

  264. skip church today because of something else whatever, okay, right, okay,

  265. And it was fun. We maybe did a fun thing

  266. that we did and yeah, fun, or we managed to

  267. sleep in and yeah, good sleep. Okay, fine, but maybe

  268. that happens to me too, that in the past we

  269. have made a choice, like I know I'm tired, but

  270. I'm just gonna go anyway.

  271. Okay. I sign up for the class, but I.

  272. Don't feel it now, but I know why I sign up,

  273. and I really want to learn about the Book of

  274. X for example. Okay, okay, okay, whatever U prayer service,

  275. I promise my leader or my home leader will be

  276. there or not worth still you're serving, okay, your roster

  277. to serve and oh you that day I got tummy

  278. A no, no, no, it's okay, Okay, I'm not saying anyway,

  279. I don't know anywhere and not today, but okay, rosters, sir.

  280. But you're just feeling tired and all. But you chose

  281. to go anyway. Had it ever happened to you that

  282. when you make that standard, that choice to go, and

  283. that's the day that the Lord speaks to you. I don't,

  284. hey happened before? And that's the day when the Lord

  285. and the word for you. That day, you just know

  286. that that's the day that God.

  287. Is speaking to you.

  288. And probably a word was revealed and you know that

  289. there was a word for you, or it could be

  290. the message the picture is speaking and you feel that

  291. the picture is speaking right to you like that. I'm

  292. not not okay, yeah, yeah, ah, God is just speaking

  293. to every word from el the being whole. Oh that's

  294. for me, that's for me, all right, okay, yeah. But

  295. some of us we have gone through this before, even

  296. I myself, and we have found that when we are

  297. most busy, when we think that we most cannot fit

  298. in our schedule a devotion with God, that is when

  299. the Lord wants to speak to us.

  300. Imen. And that is because and the enemy knows it.

  301. You know, the enemy knows what you what you are

  302. going to receive, and he doesn't want us to receive

  303. from God, so even more so, just encouragement to all

  304. of us. Just like Peter, he probably didn't feel like it.

  305. He was. He genuinely tired.

  306. They have every valid reason to not be listening to

  307. Jesus preaching and all, but he did that. And I'm

  308. certain that after that long night of fishing, Okay, okay,

  309. after that, after the long night of fishing, being tired

  310. and all, but yet listening to Jesus, it was a

  311. refreshing time for Peter a man, and I believe it

  312. will be a refreshing time for every and any one

  313. of you.

  314. So if you're here today this morning.

  315. And that's you, hallelujah, thank you Jesus that you are here. Amen,

  316. say thank you God, by your grace that I'm here,

  317. Not because we are worthy or whatever, but God.

  318. Thank you for your grace that we can be here. Amen. Amen.

  319. And because of Simon's decision to forsake himself and to

  320. listen to Jesus, Jesus, as we can see now in

  321. the coming verses, Jesus is not going to bless Simon

  322. with not just a physical blessing of the fish, but

  323. we're going to see that Jesus is going to bless

  324. him even more, and he can even imagine imen the

  325. spiritual blessing of following Jesus and being a fisher of men. Okay,

  326. so when we obey Jesus, blessings always follow.

  327. Hallelujah. But ah, now it is the butt. Sometimes obedience

  328. is not easy. You know that, right, Okay?

  329. If the obedience is so numb, so nam is so

  330. incidentally according to your liking and your understanding and your agreement,

  331. and okay, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way.

  332. Like what is happening now?

  333. Jesus asks Peter to do something quite strange to him? Okay,

  334. because now we read like nothing, but imagine a fisherman. Okay,

  335. So now let's read on. What is the next one?

  336. The next point will besure some men obey Jesus when

  337. it doesn't make sense. So let's pause for a moment

  338. and let's try to understand what Jesus is asking Simon

  339. to do here.

  340. First of all, who is a fisherman, Jesus or bitter Peter?

  341. Who's the carpenter? Okay? Who should know more about fishing?

  342. Okay? One hundred months okay, So Peter of course should

  343. know more about fishing. And Peter should be the one

  344. instructing Jesus, Oh you know what time you should be fishing,

  345. where you should be fishing, bla blah blah blah, not

  346. the other way around. Okay, firste was there. He should

  347. be the one who knows better, Jesus, God, I know better. No, okay,

  348. sometimes we say that God. Right second day, Peter had

  349. already been fishing all night. Have you ever catch yourself? Saying,

  350. but God, I tried, he tried, he tried. Okay, but

  351. sometimes we stop there, try my stop more. No, you

  352. didn't care whether you join or that, just say yes,

  353. come follow me.

  354. Okay.

  355. So Salmon had already fished all night and he didn't

  356. catch anything, so he's like Jesus, I tried.

  357. Okay.

  358. Besides that, he's already saying that now Jesus is in

  359. the middle of the day. It's hot, and this is

  360. the worst time to fish. All the fish will go

  361. and hide because it's hot. Okay, okay, So generally that's

  362. the worst time to fish. The fish will retreat.

  363. Under the rocks and the locks and all.

  364. They will go to the cooler paths of the water,

  365. and they will hide because it's bright.

  366. Mind, So that the predators cannot see them.

  367. So the chances are if you didn't catch anything in

  368. the night, you won't catch anything now. So it's like

  369. Jesus the okay finally, and I think to me, this

  370. is probably the thing that will nail it for me.

  371. Now, okay for me.

  372. Why I would say, no, Jesus, I'm not going to

  373. go fish. It's because he just finished cleaning the nets.

  374. Wish who here, we'll go and do it all over again. Okay,

  375. he just finished cleaning the nets and you are asking

  376. him to go and fish again, and he can imagine

  377. I've got to come up with an empty net and I.

  378. Got to clean and all over again.

  379. That's me Haha, I'm okay joking, but yes, So that's

  380. the most frustrating I believe for Simon. And Simon got

  381. so many reasons in his head not to do it.

  382. But what did Simon say in verse five? Okay, that's

  383. an awesome verse. I will say, he says, Master, But

  384. Simon I has always been very straightforward. Okay, so he's

  385. also told Jesus, Jesus, we have toyed all night and

  386. caught nothing. Nevertheless, hah, at your word, I will let

  387. down the net.

  388. Amen, there is an awesome statement of faith.

  389. Can you and I say that Jesus I know better

  390. than you, but at your word our obay, hallelujah, Okay,

  391. whatever you're going to say, Okay, Jesus, I don't feel

  392. like doing this. I don't want to do this. I

  393. know I tried it before. But can we still say?

  394. But can can I?

  395. Okay?

  396. So in our obedience to Jesus, sometimes there needs to

  397. be that nevertheless, yes, we have all our reasons, but nevertheless, Lord,

  398. at your word, I will let the net down. So

  399. sometimes what God asks us to do may not make

  400. sense to us or the people around us. But when

  401. God says so, to whose word, let us all obey?

  402. And thank God Simon did so. Obedience to Christ's commands

  403. will always result in a divine blessing. So now what

  404. is the blessing? In this context? It was a whole

  405. board load of fish, so many that their next was

  406. about to break. I can't imagine how many, though I'm

  407. not fishing man, Okay, okay, So to the point that

  408. he has to call his other gondola okay, James and

  409. John to come and help.

  410. And even that they.

  411. Filled tour boats and even too boats was too much

  412. for the two boats, and the too boats are going

  413. to sing. So the only way is to te bat

  414. the fish into the scene. You know, the boys is

  415. going to sing, right, Okay, So.

  416. That is the blessing when God bless us.

  417. So when we work in that obedience, the never the

  418. less obedience, you think God doesn't know the nevertheless, you

  419. think that that doesn't know that it's.

  420. Not the right time of fish. He thought all night.

  421. You think God doesn't know, You think God doesn't know

  422. what we are thinking about.

  423. Yes, he knows.

  424. But yet when we choose to step out in their obedience,

  425. God were blessed immen, and the blessing is overflowing on hallelujah.

  426. So in the Bible, okay, not only in this story,

  427. we can see we have seen quite radical obedience.

  428. Even in the Bible.

  429. Noah, when Noah was asked by God to build an

  430. up because a flood was coming. Okay, at that time,

  431. people did even hear of rain. That's why they laugh

  432. at him. So when they laugh at him, it's because

  433. they're like, this is the most absurd thing.

  434. They've ever heard, you know what I mean?

  435. And they forby think that they have a real rallied

  436. reason and we would be laughing at Noah.

  437. Also, okay, okay, because.

  438. No one has ever heard of rain at the time Abraham,

  439. when Abraham was asked by God to leave his country,

  440. and he packed up all his possessions and he started walking.

  441. When he started walking and leaving, he didn't even know

  442. where he was going.

  443. That is the kind of obedience.

  444. When the people of Angeel ariisad is my favorite much

  445. around Jericho. Do you think that it was funny that

  446. they march around Jericho in the time of war and

  447. they are they were completely silent.

  448. I thought that was the funniest. So not only they

  449. are supposed to.

  450. Much, they are supposed to Okay, so the old the

  451. people in Jericho are laughing that hey.

  452. Are and not only one time, no seven times?

  453. Yeah, and then they're supposed to shout and then the

  454. worlds are going to come down. So let's say you

  455. are just sure and God give you all these instructions.

  456. Will you respond? I don't know what will be your response.

  457. I'll be like, God, are you crazy?

  458. Right? Right? Can you try to imagine? Okay?

  459. So these were the radical obedience that our people or

  460. the people in the past and the Bible that we

  461. have seen. So the people of issue much around Jericho

  462. seven days if they wanted the walls to fall down,

  463. and they did it despite what they understood about going

  464. into battle, okay, because that was not the normal way

  465. that people go into battle.

  466. That's not the normal way.

  467. So God wants to work through you. God wants to

  468. works to me. God wants to bless you. God wants

  469. to bless me. And just like Simon, it may not

  470. make sense at the time whatever the Lord is asking us,

  471. but nevertheless, at his word, we will do it in men.

  472. So fishers of men obey even when it doesn't make sense.

  473. Now let's look at the third one.

  474. Fishers of men are aware of their own sinfulness. So

  475. the response that Peter gave to Jesus when he first

  476. saw the fish, sorry, when they were pulling up the nets,

  477. and the amount of fish that they caught. So when

  478. he saw it, he fell down at Jesus' names, saying,

  479. depart from me, for I'm a sinful man. Hold on

  480. that moment forward. Do you think that was a normal response.

  481. Would you respond that way if you see a big

  482. catch of fish.

  483. Imagine with me.

  484. Now, Laha you just got your the best contract ever.

  485. Okay.

  486. So I think the amount of fish what I read

  487. about is that it's so much that they can sell

  488. it and only to work for one year.

  489. So imagine one year's worth of bonus, okay.

  490. Or a deal is so big that you can ah,

  491. I can shake click for the rest of my life, right, okay, yeah.

  492. Big deal? Call it that? What you call it? A

  493. big contract? Okay? Imagine what would be your respond yes?

  494. Not right? Not okay? Like you say, you know, thank

  495. you Jesus, please the Lord God is good. But Simon's

  496. response is strange. Okay.

  497. His response is crying, I don't know, like oh, like

  498. Jesus needs bowing down and asking, like forgiveness and asking

  499. and repenting repentance.

  500. All right, so it's not the usual response.

  501. But let us see why, you know, why would Simon

  502. or Peter you know respond Why did he respond this way?

  503. Okay?

  504. Okay, So as we know, a year before this, like

  505. Jesus already called Simon to follow him, and Peter already

  506. accepted the call and committed to follow Jesus. But again,

  507. he probably left that part of following God following Jesus

  508. for a while and then went to back to fishing again.

  509. I'm guessing it's because he needs to earn a living,

  510. he needs to put food on the table, he needs

  511. to provide for his family. All right, doesn't sound anything

  512. bad and that all these are good and what all?

  513. We all do that as well. But so Simon seems

  514. to be stopped following Jesus. Okay, he seems to be,

  515. you know, he put a stop to that, and he

  516. goes back to fishing. But even in his going back

  517. to his fishing, he seems to be having some trouble

  518. right catching any fish. So then Jesus turned up. So

  519. at this point, when Jesus turned up, Jesus asked him

  520. to put the boat out and say, okay, Jesus. And

  521. he's listening to the word of God. And I guess

  522. during that time and he's listening to the world whatever

  523. Jesus is preaching about. His heart has been stirred as

  524. well again afresh, right then by him taking that step

  525. of obedience to obey and put the net in, and

  526. when he realized the catch.

  527. I think that moment is a moment of realization.

  528. Again that God is telling Peter, Peter, I can provide

  529. for you don't ever think that by following me you

  530. are going to be in any lack meaning the blessing

  531. that I bless you when you follow me will surpass

  532. or any other blessing anything else that you can try

  533. to earn on your owner.

  534. Okay.

  535. So that is that realization of his own proud and

  536. arrogant self sufficiency because of him not trusting God enough

  537. to take care of him and his family. All right, Okay,

  538. So again he has probably okay, put maybe fishing in

  539. terms of his work, his and the providing for his

  540. family a birth following Jesus. Nothing wrong to provide for

  541. our family, to work and all we are all called

  542. to do that, okay. So it's definitely important and vital.

  543. But again it must it must come after the supreme

  544. priority of becoming a disciple of Jesus. So the priority

  545. needs to be right. So why Peter responded that way

  546. was because he knew in his heart that his priority

  547. was not right, understand. So it was a moment of revelation,

  548. a moment of repentance for Peter a man. So okay,

  549. are we all good? So that is the third one, now,

  550. the last one, so the fishers of men. So after

  551. that he realizes his own sinfulness and he comes to

  552. the needs of Jesus and said that it's almost in Jesus. Noah,

  553. I'm not worthy. Okay, you have I'm not worthy to

  554. follow you. That's what he's trying to say to Jesus. Okay,

  555. I'm your I'm supposed to be your follower, but I'm

  556. not worthy.

  557. Okay.

  558. So the last one fisiers of men are willing to

  559. forsake all and follow Christ. So this is from verse eleven,

  560. when they brought their boats to land, they forsook.

  561. All and they follow him.

  562. So again, Peter had just had his greatest day of fishing.

  563. He has his the day that he he.

  564. Caught the most and is so much that he can

  565. provide for the rest of the year or you know,

  566. or his extended family and all, and you and I

  567. in our normal way, a normal mode, we will be thinking, oh,

  568. I can renovate my house now, we can buy a

  569. new car, we can go for holiday normal. So yeah,

  570. but he realized that it is again putting Jesus first.

  571. Prioritying Jesus and following Jesus first, not about providing for

  572. his family. Okay, so let me move on, Move on,

  573. so becoming a Christian is absolutely free.

  574. There's no cost whatsoever. Jesus paid it all to his death.

  575. He paid the penalty for our sin, and we received

  576. the free give of eternal life simply by believing in Jesus.

  577. But becoming a disciple.

  578. So we are talking about now what it means for

  579. when Peter forsook all and followed Christ is completely different.

  580. There is a cost involved in becoming a disciple. It

  581. may cost everything that you have, everything that you are,

  582. and everything that you own, but the results are well worthed.

  583. Imen.

  584. The reward far outweighs the cause. So this is what

  585. Peter and his friends realize. Okay, so that's why the

  586. moment when he comes to that realization, that woman or repentance,

  587. he repented to the Lord. Now the awesome thing is

  588. what was Jesus' response to Peter in verse ten? Did

  589. Jesus say when Peter say that, depart from me, for

  590. I am a man of sin?

  591. Right? Something like that? Right, say me, for I am

  592. a sinful man? O Lord? Okay, what did Jesus say

  593. to him? In verse ten? Jesus said, did do you say? Yeah?

  594. Sinfle men, surf you write sineple man, because no trauma.

  595. He was following Jesus, and then he stopped following Jesus,

  596. and now he's repenting before Jesus. But the amazing thing

  597. is that, and you and I sometimes we come to

  598. that as well, isn't it? We sometimes we wander away

  599. and then we come back again, and that we know

  600. in our hearts that God forgive me, depart from me

  601. because I'm a sinful man.

  602. Right, okay.

  603. But Jesus was so gracious and restoring to Peter and

  604. said instead of saying, yes, you sinful men, No, he

  605. didn't say that. He said, do not be afraid, amen, hallelujah.

  606. And some of us might feel that way. And maybe

  607. God is speaking to some of us this morning. All right,

  608. and again you know that your heart needs to come

  609. back to the Lord. And when you come back, the

  610. Lord is telling you to not be afraid. But he

  611. didn't stop there. In verse ten, What did Jesus say,

  612. do not be afraid? From now on you your catchment.

  613. So Jesus is not just interested, Okay, come back, okay,

  614. do not be afraid, happy, be happy all the time. No,

  615. Jesus had amended and a calling upon Peter's life, and

  616. he sing to Peter and reminding him.

  617. Of the calling that you are called to be official men. Amen, okay.

  618. And that is where after being affirmed, Peter and his

  619. companions forsook all and follow Jesus. So as I mentioned

  620. just now, now again the amount of fish that they

  621. also so they're not only for sok the fish. They

  622. for sook their boats, they for sook their nets. Basically,

  623. I think this round they have made again a choice

  624. to forsake all and to follow Jesus in man hallelujah.

  625. So questions that we want I.

  626. Want to just bring it up to all of us

  627. for us to think about today. Are we willing to

  628. give up our schedule and our priorities and make listening

  629. to God's word a priority? So because a fisher of

  630. men wants to listen to God's words, are we willing

  631. to give up what we think we know about life

  632. and success and just to obey Jesus no matter what

  633. radical obedience? Are we willing to give up our priorities

  634. and make following Jesus our top priority? Are we willing

  635. to give up our plans for our lives and let

  636. God use us to bring people into his kingdom to

  637. be fishes of men. Are we will to give up

  638. all our possessions and woring wealth and forsake or for

  639. the sake of following Jesus. No, not as you to

  640. go and sell our possession now like okay, don't worry,

  641. thank you Jesus. It got blessed with a lord. Hallelujah,

  642. use it for his kingdom. Amen, Amen, hallelujah. But Simon Peter,

  643. did he forsake all? Meaning he make sure God's at

  644. the top light okay. And it not only changed his life,

  645. it changed eternity. Quick chop here for a moment. Two

  646. years later, after Jesus died on the cross, he was resurrected.

  647. What happened after that? The disciples? Did they continue on?

  648. No? They will discouraged for a moment, and they went

  649. back to fishing again.

  650. And what did Jesus do again?

  651. Jesus appeared to them at the shore again and asked them,

  652. did you catch anything or not?

  653. And they said no, just some seaweeds and whatever.

  654. And Jesus said, chow your nets on the other side

  655. of the boat and you're going to catch fish.

  656. And that moment they didn't know it is Jesus.

  657. Yet no, I can imagine Peter and all of them,

  658. they probably look at each other like, again, who's just

  659. telling us.

  660. What to do? Again?

  661. Care they toy all night fishing again, But again they

  662. just did it.

  663. Anyway. I don't know why made them do it, that

  664. said Simon. I don't know, but they.

  665. Didn't know it was Jesus, but they did it. And

  666. the moment they hauled the fish into the boat, Simon

  667. Peter knew it was Jesus.

  668. And what happened.

  669. He left the boat and he ran jump into the

  670. water and ran to Jesus. And that's the story. Okay,

  671. so we can read that in the gospels. So we

  672. read that because again he was restored again and remembering

  673. he remembered his commitment.

  674. To Jesus two years ago.

  675. All right, Hey, so Simon Peter did go back to fishing,

  676. but he found nothing in the entire world being able

  677. to be compared to being with Jesus. And that's why

  678. even though at that time people I don't think adults

  679. do that. They jump up on a boat and then

  680. they go into the water and run to the shoreler. Okay,

  681. so it may look silly at that time, but all

  682. he wanted was to be with Jesus right, And Jesus said,

  683. what come, follow me, and Peter responded, yes, I will.

  684. So that is like an exchange.

  685. Jesus is calling him to come, and Peter was responding

  686. to Jesus, Amen, I'm drawing to a close nowaday hallelujah. Okay,

  687. So just a few more scripture for us before we

  688. close here now Proverbs eleven thirty. I feel like I

  689. thought faster than the first service because I feel iri

  690. chung haired, so I thought its now okay Proverbs eleven,

  691. verse thirty, hallelujah. What does it say is here? The

  692. fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and

  693. he who wins souls is wise. So the value of

  694. a single human is greater than a boatload of fish?

  695. Do you know that? Turn to your neighbor and said

  696. you are valuable to God.

  697. Turn to the other neighbor more than Fishelujah Jesus.

  698. Okay, okay.

  699. So if even the disciples, even if they can catch,

  700. I use the word catch line. They are fisher menity

  701. so can and I believe Jesus use that analogy because

  702. they are fishermen. Maybe they catch that one single person

  703. out of the clutches of the enemy and helping to

  704. bring that person into the arms of God. That itself

  705. is of eternal value. So I think what Jesus is

  706. trying to teach the disciples then, is that, yes, you

  707. can catch a lot of fish, but whatever you catch,

  708. even the greatest catch, is earthly. You know, it's earthly,

  709. it's just momentary. But the souls that you win for

  710. the Lord is eternal. And that's what Jesus is telling.

  711. Them, all right.

  712. So Jesus was inviting his disciples. Now again, it wasn't

  713. the mass crowd. He was talking about those who have

  714. committed the follow Jesus, and I think the worship team

  715. can come. So Jesus is inviting the disciples again for

  716. a catch that will last for eternality, and he has

  717. given them a choice. Do you know that Peter and

  718. Andrew and James and John, they could have decided to

  719. remain a fisherman and not follow Jesus. They can just continue. No,

  720. it's okay, Jesus, I'm happy to just be a fisherman.

  721. Okay, okay.

  722. Yeah, they could have continued and they could just go

  723. out every day trying to catch those few fish. Right,

  724. some days got fish, some days no fish. And Jesus

  725. is making the same invitation to you to me today

  726. right now, our worldly profession and some of us what

  727. do we do. Some of us are lawyers, some of

  728. us are engineers, some of us are teachers, some of

  729. us are designers. What else architects, chef, we own a business,

  730. owners Okay, all these are our profession, yes, and we

  731. need it to put food on our table, definitely. But

  732. you and I who are followers of Jesus, you're real

  733. fashion is a fisher of men.

  734. Tell your neighbor right now.

  735. You are a fisher of men, hallelujah, Thank you Jesus.

  736. And our main job is to go out every day catch,

  737. to catch human lives that will last for eternity a man, hallelujah.

  738. So but then you maybe it's telling me, but I

  739. don't know how. I'm afraid, I'm shy, I don't know

  740. what to say, and if people ask me questions, I

  741. don't know how to answer.

  742. Don't worry.

  743. All of us here have the same fear normal Okay,

  744. even you think of the ping oh no fear no

  745. not true?

  746. You think I a no fear No not true?

  747. Que no okay, yes, but we can get training, we

  748. can get help, we can help one another. Right, but

  749. all of us are in the same shoes. So before

  750. I end here, I would like us to look at

  751. tool scripture, because here Jesus shows us how we can

  752. overcome our natural fears of witnessing. In Matthew chapter four

  753. and in Mark chapter one. In Metal four eighteen and nineteen,

  754. what did Jesus say? So Jesus walking by the sea

  755. of Galilee. So two brothers okay, Simon called Peter and

  756. Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea. And

  757. they were fishermen. And then he said to them, what

  758. did Jesus say? What the two words Jesus said before

  759. he said, I will make you fishes of men?

  760. Follow me, okay, and who will make you? Jesus will

  761. make you Mark one seventeen.

  762. Say Jesus said, follow me, and I will make you

  763. become fishies of men. So question, very easy answer. How

  764. do we become fishers of men? Follow Jesus one hundred marks? Yes,

  765. So by following Jesus they become a fisher of men.

  766. Nobody becomes a fisher of men naturally with your natural self.

  767. All right, nobody becomes a fisher of men just by

  768. being told one thousand times that you are supposed to

  769. be official men.

  770. No, it's bye.

  771. When we commit to follow Jesus, God makes us official men.

  772. Amen, hallelujah, Thank you Lord.

  773. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

  774. information on our church, please visit x church Org. We

  775. are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

  776. this week is going to be a good week. I

  777. hit for you. God bless