 Tonight we're in chapter 5. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 11, so let's begin reading here in Luke chapter 5 at verse 1 I'll read verses 1 through 11 and we'll get into our study Here in Luke's gospel chapter 5 Luke writes now so it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God That he stood by the lake of Ganeser it and And saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets Then he got into one of the boats which was Simon's and asked him to put out a little from the land and He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat now when he had stopped speaking he said to Simon Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch, but Simon answered and said to him Master we have told all night and caught nothing Nevertheless at your word. I will let down the net and when they had done this They caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking So they signaled to their partners and the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both of the boats So that they began to sink When Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus's knees saying Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken and So also were James and John the sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon and Jesus said to Simon Do not be afraid from now on you will catch men So when they had brought their boats to land they first took all and followed him By now many people are following the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. They've come into contact with him They've heard of him and they're beginning to follow after him in in chapter 4 remember with me in verses 14 and 15 How it said there that Jesus returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee and news of him went out through all the surrounding Region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all So the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry is now catching fire many people are hearing of him And he has finally come now into his region here in Galilee and is settled down He's in a place called Capernaum the city of Capernaum is the city of Peter Andrew James as well as John and had become his Headquarters as he's now ministering in the northern portion of Israel that we would call the Galilee Now while he's there in this region He's how he's impressing people with this teaching as well as the power that he is manifesting He had delivered a demon possessed man and the Bible tells us that the people were amazed at what he had done They were amazed at his power and his authority remember verses 36 and 37 it said they were all amazed and spoke spoke among themselves saying What a word this is for with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out and the report about him went about went out into every place in every Surrounding region so Jesus's popularity is now growing and great crowds are gathering around him now the scene of this particular teaching found in chapter 5 is The sea of Galilee notice with me in verse 1 though it refers to the sea of Galilee is the lake of Geneserit You might find it interesting those of you who read through your New Testament already know this But the sea of Galilee actually has three names that you find used in the New Testament You have this particular Name the lake of Geneserit you have the sea of Galilee and You also have the lake type your lake of Tiberias those are three of three names for the same location it's actually the sea of Galilee and The sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth It's around 700 feet below sea level and its widest part part it measures about 13 miles from east to west it's about seven and a half miles and its circumference is 32 miles and the deepest point has been estimated as Anywhere from 140 to 200 feet and that's where the Lord Jesus Christ is ministering right now now notice with me that he's surrounded He's surrounded by a multitude and also notice as it says in verse 1 that this multitude is pressing about him Now the question has to be asked why are they attracted to the Lord Jesus Christ? There's a variety of things that you could say that we're attracting them one could be the miracles that he was that he was Performing to it may be his abeemence out You know there are a variety of things that would make Jesus attractive to people as a matter of fact We know that even today if you want to attract large crowds There's a variety of things you can do to attract them We know that if you want to have a large crowd perhaps you might want to just use music music Is always a great draw people like good bands and all and they'll show up to you hear a good band We know that speakers have great popularity and sometimes a great speaker will draw a tremendous amount of listeners We know that special events and conferences will draw crowds of people if you have a variety of things that That reach into your community. You'll see hordes of people show up You know when we have our hallelujah party, you know here on the campus our alternative to Halloween We'll have 7-8,000 or more people show up in an evening to come in and You know just make use of the things that we give them to do they'll come for that Conferences draw a lot of people when we have our men's conferences here on the grounds We'll see over 3,000 guys about 3,400 guys who show up for things like that when we have Christmas services There are always thousands of people show up for the services for the Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day service As you know this upcoming Easter will have four services on Easter and we'll see 10 11,000 adults and 1,500 children on campus and that's probably You know pretty conservative. That's what we usually see because we know that That you can have events and and things of that nature and and people will show up We know that sometimes if you want to have a crowd all you need to do is speak on a timely subject It wasn't that long ago when people were showing up in in in hordes to hear someone speak on y2k you remember y2k Anybody remember y2k y2k and mexican said he took care, but y2k y2k people were really interested in that you know and so they wanted to hear about that or If there's a you know something taking place like an invasion the invasion of iraq you're gonna have tons of people In church they want to they want to hear something on that timely subject They always are wanting to hear answers for the bigger question And that's true I mean I was thinking of giving a message on For those of you who watch american idol why senjaya But anyway, uh, I don't think there's an answer for that one Jesus is ministry Jesus is healing Jesus is delivering Jesus is preaching and he is teaching What ministry do you think would get the most interest today? preaching Healing deliverance. What do you think would get the most interest today? Normally, it's the more spectacular Normally, it's the thing that is going to draw people's curiosity Do you think that teaching is going to draw a lot of people? Well, the answer is obviously no Because quite a number of people think they're already well taught So they want something else yet. I find it interesting to note here that in verse one It says the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of god That's why they were crowding around the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what was interesting to them They wanted to hear what he was going to say You see you can believe in miracles And still be lost forever You can be delivered from the power of of a demon And still be lost forever But when you hear the word of god And receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and are born again, you're saved forever You can believe in miracles and you can leave in power You can believe in a variety of things But what you really need to do is believe in god and that comes through a relationship of god That you hear in the gospel of jesus christ And so jesus knew that he had come to preach this message remember in chapter four Verses 42 to 44 how it said When it was day he departed and went into a deserted place And the crowd saw him and came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them But he said to them i must preach the kingdom of god to the other cities also Because for this purpose i have been sent and he was preaching in the synagogues of galilee That's what jesus came to do is to set the captives free through the proclamation of the message of the gospel A deliverance that is not simply from demons temporarily But the deliverance that takes you from the kingdom of darkness and translates you into the kingdom of god's son That comes to the proclamation of the word of god and that's what jesus christ is doing So notice as this is taking place It says that he stood by the lake of ganesaret verse two and saw two boats standing by the lake But the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets And so as they're pressing to hear the word of god jesus is not about to disappoint them He looks around for some way to minister to these people and as he looks around He sees two boats, but the fishermen who own those boats are busy washing or cleaning their nets But what takes place though in verse three he got into one of the boats Which was simons and asked him to put out a little from the land And he sat down and he taught the multitudes from the boat Now it's interesting to me how the lord jesus christ would make almost anything a pulpit Jesus spoke in synagogues He spoke in houses He speaks in the temple He would speak in fields. He would speak in hilltops And he also would speak well on the seat within reason anything served as a pulpit Which is an amazing thing today when you consider that people say that you can preach the gospel and share about god But make sure you do it within the four walls of a church building Don't take your beliefs into the street Don't be bothering people with what you believe we hear that here in the united states quite often now unfortunately Jesus would not have agreed with that Because the lord jesus christ took his message to the street He took it to the people and he shared with them wherever it was And that's what he's doing now He sees a multitude of people that are gathering around and they're pressing him In other words they're pressing about him to the point where he has to get off the ground there and move on to the onto the lake And so he climbs into this into this boat and as he's in this boat there He begins to minister and notice how it says in verse three that he sat down and taught the multitude Remember with me that when a rabbi would sit down it's because he's declaring something of great importance And so jesus is there ministering the word of god to these people now the ship he enters into is owned by simon peter This isn't the first time that he and simon peter have met though He had first spoken to andrew And andrew was a brother of simon And it's andrew who actually introduced simon peter to jesus christ In john chapter one verse 42 the bible says when jesus met him That jesus said to him you are simon the son of jonah. You shall be called syphus, which is a stone So when jesus met him he said I know your name, but i'm going to change you I'm going to make you into a stone. I'm changing your name to rocky. That's what you're going to be now initially the event of peter's calling Was probably a year earlier Later on mark records in chapter one verses 16 and 18 That uh jesus walked by the sea of galilee and he saw simon and andrew his brother casting a net into the sea They were fishermen Jesus said to them follow me and i will make you become fishers have been and they immediately left their nets and followed him Now this had taken place prior to luke chapter five, but it would seem obvious That they had yet to go full time in service to the lord This is actually jesus's call of simon into full time service That's what your scene take place in luke chapter five And so notice again in verse three he asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught Now jesus had just performed a work on behalf of peter's mother-in-law and now he's about to ask peter to perform a work for him Jesus has need of his boat so that he can preach the kingdom of god Now verse four when he had stopped speaking he said to simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch Now this boat is a large boat We actually go on a replica of this particular kind of boat when we go to israel and and it's good It's good size boat and and and so it was large enough. It was large enough for jesus It was large enough for his disciples as well as the crew And and jesus now is ordering simon peter to do something notice he says let down your nets for a catch And in order for the nets to be dropped there needs to be a crew to do that Now what jesus is telling him to do at this point makes absolutely no sense. Why well fishing is done at night The worst time to cast the net is during the day You cast your net at night because the fish won't see the net But during the day even as it is daytime now to drop that net into the water is to basically say to the fish You know i'm here to catch you and there's no way that they're going to climb into this net And so these are expert fishermen now think of it for a moment because We were introduced to them in verse two as they were washing their nets They have spent an entire evening all night doing their job. They're exhausted They're they're experts at their field And they are basically already putting their nets away and beyond that they have been unsuccessful for the entire evening Jesus christ on the other hand Is a is a carpenter turned preacher And jesus is speaking to somebody simon peter who was an expert at what he does as a matter of fact He was a partner with james and john He his brother andrew were partners with james and john as well as zebedy james and john's father That means that they were successful So he's a successful finish Fisherman who's an expert at what he does who spent an entire evening doing what he does best He's exhausted. He's he's already got his his uh His stuff washed. He's ready to put it away so that he can rest the rest of the day to get up later on In order that he might fish again all night and here comes jesus christ A carpenter turned preacher Who says do you mind if i climb in your boat for something and simon peter says well I'm certainly said something like well, of course what is mine is yours and jesus sits down And jesus gives this message you can almost see simon peter there on the shore washing his his nets and everything Just listening to the master speak. He knows the master. He's already been called by him Just recently jesus had been in his house and had healed his mother-in-law and peter's still mad about that But as he's there watching him Do this Jesus speaks to him and tells him i want you to launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch That just doesn't make any sense Now i want you to see something here Jesus could have had that request refused by peter After all it's his crew. It's his ship and it's his time. Why should i do that? But instead of refusing him he obeys he does what he's asked to do and in doing so he's going to learn something by experience He's going to learn who jesus christ is The lord jesus christ Wants us to learn and this is one of the tough lessons He wants us to learn not only intellectually But also experientially We'll see this in a moment, but he wants us to learn not only intellectually meaning that we're able to quote scripture But he also wants us to understand through experience with god what that scripture means He doesn't want us in other words to simply know the actions of god He wants us to know the ways of god and as i've shared with you many times before There's a difference between knowing the acts of god and knowing the ways of god. There's a great difference between the two The bible tells us that that that moses knew the ways of god, but the people of israel knew the actions of god He showed his ways into moses, but his acts until the children of israel someone of three verse seven That's what he does The children of israel are able to say we have crossed the red sea They're able to say god has supplied manna from heaven They're able to say quail has been given to us in order that we might survive They're able to say that when we were thirsty that that moses struck a rock and and water came out that was capable Of giving us a water in the midst of a wilderness. We've seen all of these actions of god They're able to speak concerning the works of god. They saw the sea. They saw the quail. They saw the manna They saw the water they saw it all but moses knew why all of that took place And there's a great difference between knowing the actions and knowing the reasons behind those actions There's a difference between knowing somebody by reputation and knowing somebody through relationship. We know that You can have a relationship with somebody and you get to know them. You can know somebody's reputation and you only know things about them God wants us to know not only what he does but why he does that and at this point the apostle peter Who's already been called by the lord is going to learn something experientially He's going to learn something about jesus christ that he doesn't know He has seen the lord do tremendous works He's seen god already moved through jesus christ the works that jesus christ did and all he's already seen that But he's about to learn something Now notice verse six it says when they had done this They caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking So they signaled to their partners and the other boat to come and help them And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink Now jesus made the command And the apostle peter now uses his influence and the influence he uses i find interesting Is to cause those who work for him to obey Peter's leadership led these tired fishermen into a blessing He could have refused But if he would have refused they would have lost out on this incredible miracle So as a sidelight application What we need to do is use our influence for good I need to if i'm going to lead anybody I need to say god help me to use the influence you've given to me for good I can influence people to believe or I can influence people to disbelieve I I can help people to see god clearly or through my doubt and despair I can say I just don't think he's going to move in this particular occasion And I can cause people to be stumbled in their faith The apostle peter had an ability to refuse a command at that moment he could have said you know what? This is my time. This is my boat. This is my crew. I'm too tired. You know, you're a carpenter I'm a fisherman. I've got the experience. You're simply somebody who speaks about people's souls You really are not that practical. You really don't understand what the person really feels that I the way that I know they do And thus I'm not going to put my men through this There's no way that I'm going to encourage these guys to continue working and all But that's not what he did What he did is he encouraged the guys just do what Jesus Christ said and as a result of that He sees the lord move when he says in verse five He says we've toiled all night caught nothing. He goes on to say nevertheless at your word I will let down the net and that's why in verse six when they had done this They caught a great number of fish their net was breaking God moved in a tremendous way You see simple obedience can result in incredible blessing It didn't make sense to peter, but he obeyed and saw the fruit of obedience The application is very simple if the lord leads you Cast out your net And see what happens See what happens You know, I say this to you often enough for you to have heard this before But I wish I wish sometimes That I could take what the lord has shown me In in in my life with him as it relates to this ministry And show you I wish that I could I wish I could illustrate to you The beginnings of the work that God did here By transporting you back to 1973 a lot of you weren't born yet But to send you back to 1973 To sit in in a den in norwalk california With about six or seven people And then to travel with me from 1973 through that year Every monday night doing bible studies with a handful of people never more than five six seven people And to see that While i'm still going to school i'm still going to work and doing a variety of things and then in 1974 Coming out here to ontario And starting a study that with my brother Where it was my brother frank my sister madeline and me on monday nights And how that he for the first few weeks in september of 74 for the first few weeks Was just us Then how he started to ask friends from work to start coming to bible study with him And how that one day a young lady showed up by the name of marie lopez Who came into the room and i looked at her and she looked at me and neither was impressed with the other at all She sits down The phone rings It's for her she gets up answers the phone I hear her saying nothing just hanging around with some friends. I'm sure i'd love to Then she hangs up comes and sits down next to her roommate jone and And starts giggling about some guy who had just been talking around the phone I hunted him down a long time ago and uh And i didn't know her from eve But i thought I'm gonna make her giggle about me someday. It's just the oddest thing She wasn't even a christian we talk afterwards You know she reveals that she's not a believer I don't ask her out but two weeks three weeks later my sister madeline Leads her to christ We start dating Because she's from here and i'm from norwalk i'm driving out here constantly doing ministry We eventually marry Her mom and dad live out here in chino We start traveling out in this area so that she can see her mom every weekend We go to church and dad we go to church in the area get involved in a church in 1977 I get ordained into the ministry at this church in 79 81 The senior pastor tells me you're not called to be a pastor. You're a counselor. You don't have an annoying team I resigned my ministry and i said i think i think i'm called by god And we started a bible study july 26 1981 25 people 25 adults and 15 kids 40 in attendance I wish you could travel with me from sunday to sunday From wednesday to sunday to sunday wednesday sunday night And watch what god does slowly but surely over time cast out your nets Cast them out and see what god will do You know we didn't sit down and make plans for Hundreds into the thousands of people to show up. We didn't do that This church has never been the result of some demographic study You know some attempt to get people to come to church We didn't do any of that You know the thing that we've tried to do is we've tried to be faithful To what god's word says obedience is very practical Jesus made a statement launched out into the deep let down your nets for a catch That's all you need to do is obey him you know For the apostle peter and his crew all they needed to do is obey All they needed to do is take what they already had and use it They had a boat they had nets they had a crew How hard is that? How hard is that? That's not hard You've got a mind you've got a mouth you've got a heart Use it And watch what god will use you to do and it'll amaze you it will amaze you I promise you what god can do How god can reach through you and touch somebody And what a joy it is when you are used by god to speak to somebody's heart and to see that life Absolutely transformed because of the saving grace and knowledge of jesus christ But he still says this launch out into the deep let down your net for a catch and all we have to do Is do it ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 says our god is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think Exceedingly abundantly above beyond anything that you can imagine And if you could imagine what it was like for me on an Easter Sunday to look out here at all of the thousands of people who show up It amazes me it amazes me to see what god does I'm just as amazed as the next person Maybe even more so Because I say lord you are just too much all you have to do is drop the nets and watch the catch That's all you got to do and then you just pull it in You just pull it in the lord did all the work All these guys had to do is just join what he wanted them to do And there are so many fish that the nets begin to break in verse 7 They signal their partners and the other boat to come and help them and they began to be they they came and fill both the boats They began to sink and so these people I have to tell you must have been just blowing their minds There are two boat loads of fish At the command of jesus christ the psalmist says in psalm 8 verses 6 through 8 You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands You have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen even the beasts of the field the birds of the air And the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea There were so many fish at the command of the lord jesus christ. They climbed into the net. That's amazing to me anybody here is a fisherman You know is wouldn't you like to sit there and throw that little line out and say get on that line fish amazing And as the excitement and you can almost hear the noise of the men as they're beginning to raise their voices And the excitement and and you can hear the sound of them as they're pulling the nets up and all of that excitement that is going on around As the lord has made this happen You know, I was looking at this passage. Let me give you an aside a real quick application here There is no need for churches to compete when they're too many fish for one boat Even two boats were not big enough for the work that jesus planned on doing And so I really feel that churches should not brag about the number of fish that they have in the boat They should just be aware of the fact that there are many more that need to be caught That's why we pray as a fellowship for the churches You know all through the united states in our city all around, you know that god may fill them Every church that is teaching the word of god may it be filled to capacity and overflowing Because there are so many people who need the lord jesus christ And so I think that we need to work together and that's what's happening here The one boat wasn't large enough so they called the second and as all of this taken place notice verse eight Simon peter saw it and he fell down at jesus's knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful man Oh lord For he and all who are with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken In the midst of the action in the midst of the noise In the midst of the excitement Simon peter Is convicted And he's saying i'm an ungodly man And i'm in the midst of ungodly men And I am thoroughly unworthy And he falls at the feet of jesus and he recognizes his sinfulness And he has fear before the lord because he's recognizing that he's in the presence of the lord himself There's no casualness about this at all When you are worshiping the lord There's a sense of reverence and awe Not a casualness whatsoever it sometimes bothers me to see how casual Uh christians can be about worship and how casual they can be when they start sharing how the lord has spoken to their heart and all There's a sense of awe and fear that you see in the people of god whenever god arrives on the scene i'm thinking of when moses Received the 10 commandments you find in in exodus chapter 20 when moses received the 10 commandments And and the bible tells us in exodus chapter 20 verses 18 through 20 That all the people witnessed the thunderings the lightning flashes the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking And when the people saw it they trembled and stood afar off Then they said to moses you speak with us and we will hear but let not god speak with us lest we die And moses said to the people do not fear for god has come to test you And that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin They said listen you go and speak to him and you leave us out of this We see the awesome majesty of god and we don't want to be around that That fear causes you to realize what you are in comparison to what he is When you look at the book of job In the book of job you see job as a declared by god as a righteous man who hates evil This is a man who was so righteous that he would even offer sacrifice for his children For he said in his heart perhaps they have have sinned against god and they don't even realize it So i offer sacrifices on their behalf and when god spoke concerning Concerning job god said he's a righteous man god's declaration concerning job is that he's righteous and he hated even There was nobody on the face of the earth like him And the first two chapters of the book of job you see job as he's losing one thing after another Because satan had said to god listen all you need to do is touch his his wealth And all you need to do is touch his health and if you take those things from him. He will curse you to your face He even had a wife who said to him how long will you hold fast to your integrity curse god and die Get it over with job Look at what you've become You're there in a in a in a pile of ashes And you have a broken piece of pottery and your skin is erupting with open sores And i can't take it anymore as i want you go through this agony the sorrow in this pain Cursed god and die get it over with even his wife He says no God has been good to me in all the times that i've had and why should i now in the end when things start going well Why should i turn my back on him? And so we have some friends we know this story and the friends come to supposedly cheer him up And they sat next to him for a while and as long as they were quiet they did fine The minute they opened their mouth they became the proverbial job's comforters And started giving him explanations as to why god had turned his back on him Not a single one of them really knew what was going on But every one of them had some great advice to give to job and all along job is defending his integrity But as you read through the book of job all the way up to chapter 38 There are some things that he's saying That just aren't right So then in chapter 38 After all of his agony and all and he's been going through this pain for some time the lord breaks into the scene And god begins to speak to him And he says who is this man who is speaking what he really doesn't understand He says good yourself like a man and answer some questions. You've been saying you had questions to ask me Let me ask you a few questions And so in chapter 38 39 40 and 41 you see god speaking to joe Asking him question after a question Ultimately job finally says in job 42 verses 5 and 6 job finally says to the lord I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear But now my eyes see you Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust of it and ashes I heard of you But I did not have this kind of face-to-face confrontation I clung to what I had been taught and I clung faithfully to that To the point that god initially said he's a righteous man I have held fast to the message I have heard as faithfully as possible But now I see you I have heard of you with the hearing of my ear But now I see you with the scene of my eye and I repent So this is a guy who in the presence of god even though declared to be the most righteous man of his day Was still recognizing himself as being sinful There's anything wrong with humanity today It's an improper assessment of our own goodness I already used, you know, american idol as an example But everybody who tries out for american idol and they do this on purpose They'll show you the footage of the tryouts Every one of those people stood in line for hours For their chance to try and sing and become the next idol for america And you've heard the voices of many of them who have said well, I'll go out and I'll record an album and I'm going to be a big star self-deluded Sadly so sometimes even painfully so To the point where you laugh almost in an embarrassed way for them Poor self-deluded people Because they really think they're good Well, you know what america thinks it's good too Very often we think we're better than our neighbor We think we're better than the next person We get to the point sometimes where we may even go so far as to say I don't understand how they can do that Well, you want to know something I haven't forgotten where I came from And I do understand how you can do that because when you don't have the lord you can do anything When you don't have the lord it's possible that you can wake up some morning and say How did I get here because you can do some things that you never thought you'd ever find yourself doing And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about You wake up and you say how did I get here? How did this happen to me? What steps did I take so that I woke up in this condition? Because you can follow a path of destruction And it's never shown to you exactly what it's going to be at the beginning When the enemy told you you know what you'll look so sophisticated and cool when you have that cigarette in your Mouth he did not tell you that you'll ultimately going to die of lung cancer When he said you know drink that beer because it's cool and sophisticated He didn't say by the way to you by the way you'll end up an alcoholic Somewhere in skid row No, because that's not going to happen to you is it it's going to happen to somebody else the statistics Always are about other people. It's never us We're never part of that are we because we always think of ourselves as being beyond that The steps to salvation is simply understanding who you are And that's what peter did when the apostle peter said depart for me because i'm a wicked man He was simply saying in comparison to who I have seen you to be You see I knew of what you've done I was there in cana of galilee and I I remember your first miracle when you turned that water into wine I've been around and I've seen you cast the demons out and and just recently you healed my mother-in-law I've seen all of the works that you've done and I've heard much of your teaching But this is the first time i'm allowing it to actually hit my own heart How many times can we hear a message? That we think is for somebody else How many times can we sense a conviction? But we think it's for someone else how many times have I heard a message where I said man I wish marie could hear this one it would really help her I mean We can do that if my kids were only here right now And they heard this it would change their life But i've discovered that god wants to say something to me in those in those messages It's not for somebody else It's for me The lord wants to tell me something and when I sit down and I listen to people teach I'll tell you the truth when i'm sitting listening to somebody else my prayer as they're as they're beginning to preach Is i'm saying god if you have something for me i want to know what it is Let me learn today so that my life will change I want to know what it is that you want to speak to my heart. It's a very simple prayer But I want to hear it for me not for somebody else and that's what's taking place See peter is actually taking this and making it personal It's personal because it's it's now affecting him. It's affecting his life. It's affecting his occupation. It's affecting his experience We can become good at sharing about what god has done for someone else We can speak about what we have heard in terms of testimonies how we can say how god did this in that person's life And how god did this in that person's life, but what god wants to do is something in my life He wants to do something in me. He wants to transform me. He wants to make me a living witness the testimony of his goodness He wants to do that in me But I have met people who are able to tell me oh Have you heard this testimony about brothers so and so did you hear this about this sister over here? But what is god doing in you? What is god doing in you? Listen, I can read the books. I can read the devotionals. I I know many of the speakers that that they talk about But what's he doing in you See that you take the word of god and you can personalize it. What does he want to do? and so The apostle peter has an experience with the lord where he finally realizes That god wants to work in him too It says again in verse nine he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish Which they had taken and so Also were james and john the sons of zebedee who were partners with simon And jesus said to simon do not be afraid from now on you will catch men So when they had brought their boats to land they foresook all and followed him Now this isn't the first time that jesus called james and john He'd actually called them when he had called peter and andrew But they now are being called a full-time service to him and they're leaving behind a prosperous business They're leaving behind their father in order that they might follow jesus christ in matthew 19 verse 29 Jesus said everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands For my name's sake shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life Listen when I gave my heart to the lord I hope you don't mind me making this personal when I gave my heart to the lord I knew I knew That it could cost me I knew that my mom and dad might reject me. I knew that I knew that my friends wouldn't want to hang around with me anymore. I knew that I knew that my sisters could could possibly Think that i'd gone overboard And I also knew that my brother frank I my older brother. I knew that frankie could You know could reject me which which initially he did I knew that could happen. I knew that But something Spoke to my heart something that was so important It was I needed to get right with god no matter what no matter who rejected me I needed to And so I took the chance and I gave my heart to the lord and I shared with my family I was speaking to somebody one time and I said to him this I said Because their mother was a very is very devoted, but There was no assurance that she was saved. She was devoted to her religion, but no assurance that she was saved I said to him Are you willing to go to hell for your mother? Now the reason I said that to him is because he told me david. I know that what you believe is right I know what you believe is right But if I embrace that It'll break my mom's heart And so my response was are you willing to go to hell for your mother? And he said yes And I looked at him and I said I wasn't willing to go to hell for my mother But I wanted to bring my mother to heaven There's a difference There's a difference A lot of people are afraid to offend Their family or friends Co-workers Employees employer They're actually afraid to commit themselves to following the lord fully Because they're going to lose these people. Jesus said listen, you're not going to lose anything, but you're going to gain everything now By way of application I came from a family of six But now I have a family of hundreds of millions Because I'm part of the family of god And this church here this group of people here If you're born again like it or not you're my family We're related through jesus christ I'm your brother And you're my brother. You're my sister We're family That's what jesus is talking about Jesus is saying you don't lose anything, but you gain everything You can leave a house. You can leave a brother a sister a father a mother a wife children your land He said if you leave it for my name's sake you receive a hundred fold This family here Takes care of each other loves one another praise for each other supports each other We're family And not only do we have that present experience now But we have that experience into eternity Because the family of god lives on forever forever And so They were fishers So they would catch those fish And the fish would die But he says i'm changing your occupation You are going to catch men And those men are going to be caught and made alive So at one time you had an occupation that ended in death I'm giving you a new occupation and it ends in life Because when you throw the net out of the gospel And you bring it in and you draw people into the kingdom of god Those are people who are brought into a living experience You are fishing now for men And the net is the message of jesus christ