Apostolic Mentoring

From Empty Nets to Overflow: Why Risking the Deep Changes Everything ... English

Subscriber Episode • • Rev. Charles G. Robinette

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We trace the call from the shores of Gennesaret to the deep waters where nets break, boats sink, and ordinary work becomes a doorway to revelation. We challenge comfort, reject approval-driven methods, and move from solo effort to shared nets and team harvest.

• the miracle of the great catch and Peter’s call 
• why scientific discovery points to deeper spiritual pursuit 
• Paul’s hunger to know Christ as a model for lifelong depth 
• stepping away from shorelines of comfort and control 
• moving from rod-and-line individualism to team nets 
• refusing approval addiction and risking misunderstanding 
• practical ways to wash, mend, and redeploy the net at home 
• the shift from hobby faith to vocational responsibility 
• a corporate launch into undiscovered depths

Launch into the deep. Take what you already have and say yes today.


We love to hear from our listeners! Thank you!

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SPEAKER_00:

Book of Luke. Book of Luke, chapter five, and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth. And he saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a drought. Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net breaks. They beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. He was astonished at all that were with him, and the draught of the fishes which they had taken, and so was also James, John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all. It was a call to deep waters. And I want to talk to you for a few moments about those depths undiscovered. Those depths undiscovered, the deep waters that God has been calling each and every one of us into, beyond what we're accustomed to, beyond our normal, beyond just the ordinary, beyond our day-to-day, but to go further in, to go into the depths undiscovered here today, in the name of the Lord Jesus. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. According to geography, the study of maps and the earth and everything within. There's a count for planets, from Mercury to Pluto. There's a count for hemispheres. There's a scientific study of different continents. We thought there were nine planets. We thought there were seven continents. We thought there were four oceans. But in the last few years, there have been some discoveries among scientists. Just as Daniel said, science and the intelligence of things are going to advance. They're going to be augmented as the latter days come upon us. And we are living in those days. We are living in the end times where science is evolutionizing. Everything is just advancing time and time again. Well, right now, we no longer count nine planets. Matter of fact, there's over 2,000 planets, miniature planets that are out there that have not even been discovered yet. There's uh more than just four uh seven continents, but off the coast of Antarctica, there's Zealandia a couple years ago. It was discovered under the waters that there is another continent beyond what science had already established in their studies. And just this last year, the discovery was of a sixth ocean that is in the core of planet Earth. There is a sixth ocean that has been discovered by scientists, those that thought that they had known everything, that they had found everything, that they had discovered everything. Scientists have discovered, an article says, a sixth ocean, three times larger than all surface oceans combined, and approximately 700 kilometers beneath the earth's surface. Scientists are saying that the pool of water that's been found trapped within and underneath the earth, this discovery supports the theory that oceans, that oceans of this world cannot just be found on surfaces, but underneath currents of waters, water reservoirs that are not traditionally sought or looked at or found or discovered like others, but deep beneath the earth, deep beneath the waters, they have come across a sixth ocean, something that is much more greater than anything that's been discovered before. As science advances, and billions are put into discovering the depths of this earth, and billions are put into discovering the heights of the space every year? Humanity is wanting to know more about creation, they're wanting to understand more about the place that we live in, but as believers that we are, my question to all of us is how many of us are investing our time to find the depths of the God that created the earth, the God that created the space. How much are we willing to invest of ourselves to find the secrets of the spirit, the depths undiscovered by humanity? Even the Bible, brothers and sisters, explains to us the depths of our God. Romans 11:33, oh the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, who had been his counselor, who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again, for of him and through him, and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. The depths of the things of God, the depths of the spiritual things of God. The psalmist said, I speak of secrets and mysteries of times of old. Not only that, but the apostle Paul, the man that we consider to be so successful in everything he did, in his ministry, in his life. And even till this day, we hold in our hands more than half of our New Testament written by the same man in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8. At the end of his career, at the end of his missionary calling, at the end of his ministry from a prison cell, he says, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. He said, I have suffered the loss of all things and do not count them but tongue, that I may win Christ. Verse 10, he said, That I may know him. You would think that this man that's been through it all, you would think that this man that had finished his career, that had kept his faith, that had ran the great race, you would have thought he would have wrote about all his discoveries, but he said, even in the end of everything I've accomplished, I still don't even know him. Would you lift your hands for just a moment and digest that word right now and come to an understanding? There is still more. God is saying there's still more. You don't even have a clue, you don't even know there's still more. Those that are willing to go another mile, he said unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. The mysteries, the secrets, the depths undiscovered. It is given unto you, brothers and sisters. This was Jesus picking out his disciples, picking out his followers in Luke chapter 5. And the first thing he did was uh as everyone wanted to hear the word of God, he said, I'm gonna use what they're already using, but I'm gonna use it to take it a step further. I'm gonna use the boats, I'm gonna use what they already have, I'm gonna use their business. It was a well-organized business, a fruitful business, it was a well-put-together business, it was such a good business that when Simon Peter walked away, other servants were already in line, successors for the business to take over and keep running. And he said, I'm gonna use what they already know and what they already have to uh multiply and amplify everything that they're already working with and take it just a step further. He said, Those two ships that you use to fish, those two ships that you use on a daily basis, those two ships that you have that all night you've been using and has not rendered you anything, hasn't given you the rate of return, hasn't given you what you've been looking for. I'm gonna use that. I want to pause right there and remind somebody you don't need anything else because God is gonna use what you have, God is gonna use what you think didn't work all night. What you think hasn't been working, that you need more, and you've been asking God for something else. Hear the word of the Lord right now. You need not know anything else. I'm not gonna give you anything else because what you have is enough. What you have is enough. All you got to do is launch out onto the deep. Take your ship, take your nets, take your ship, take what you have, take your business, and launch out into the deep. He entered into one of those, and he said uh unto Simon Peter, he said, Thrust me out just a little, a little bit from the land, because it starts with one step, it starts with making one move, it starts with uh taking a step of faith, taking a step of faith in what you've been operating and what you've been serving back home, and what you've been doing, and what God has you taken care of and doing for the kingdom. He's now saying, just a little bit away from land, just push me a little bit out. I'm telling you right now, you need to make that step, you need to take that step. God has given me this word since before I came to Ethiopia. He said, I want to challenge that group, I want to challenge that team that has made an effort and a sacrifice to be here. I want to challenge them to just move a little bit away from shoreline. What is shoreline? It's security, it's comfortable. Comfortability is it's being in your nest comfortable, it's being in a secure place, it's knowing where the income is gonna come from, it's having uh a return rate automatically coming in every month. It's having a very secure plan, financial plan, stability, where you know everything that goes on in the land that you you can decide what to do and what not to do, you can decide how far to go and how not how far not to go. And God is saying, push away from that just a little bit. And he said, You've done that by coming here to Ethiopia. You're already pushed away from what you know, what you're comfortable with, what you what you understand. And now that you're just a little bit away from the normal things, God is calling you to the next level. Because guess what, Ezekiel? Just going out the house is not enough. You gotta get into the waters, and when you feel the waters to your ankles, you gotta go in a little deeper to your knees. And when it gets to your knees and you figured out how to pray, how to seek God, how to raise your Bible, how to have a relationship with God, God is saying it's a little further when it goes to your loins and your sides and your ribcage, and all your loved ones need to know about what you know, and you need to win your family to Christ and share with them what you know and what you've experienced. And just when you think that you've accomplished everything, the angel says, Come just a little bit further into the waters, just come a little deeper into the waters to the point where the Bible says that it was waters that he could not pass over, it was waters to swim in, waters to swim. He's saying, just come out just a little bit more, just come out just a little bit further. There's things you've never experienced before, there's things you've never been exposed to before, and the risk that we were talking about last night, that R-I-S-K, you come in here to Ethiopia, and you come in here making an effort and a sacrifice is only the first step. You haven't made it yet, you haven't accomplished anything yet. Matter of fact, success is not a destination. Success is ongoing, and I would add to that ongoing revelation because there's more that's gonna be unfolding, there's more that's gonna be revealed, there's more that you're gonna be exposed to, there's more that you're gonna experience when you launch into the deep waters. All throughout Jesus' ministry, from the beginning to the end, he would use fishing and that uh analogy, fishing, and that customary, uh traditional thing around the Sea of Galilee, fishing as something to relate to in his ministry and to the kingdom of God, but he would never ever use fishing with a pole or a rod to explain kingdom revelations and kingdom advancements. God is not in the business of fishing with a fishing pole, he's not in the business of fishing with a fishing rod, he's not in the business of single individual, isolated people that want to do it on their own, that want to do it their way. This is not the kingdom of Burger King. You can't have it your way. This is God's way, this is God's kingdom, and God said it's time for you to let go of your fishing rod, it's time for you to let go of that fishing pole, it's time for you to let go of how you think and what you want, and launch into a place where you have no say, where you have no say, where you have no say, it's time to launch into depths undiscovered where you have no say, where you can't uh you can't decide what to do, but you're being led by the move of the spirit, you're being led by the currents of the spirit, and God is saying, It's time to quit fishing with a fishing pole. A six of Americans are anglers or fishermen, they fish normally for recreational purposes and sporting with a fishing pole. That's the normal way of fishing. There are about more than 50 million anglers nationwide in our country back home. The average American angler or fisherman spends more than a thousand dollars annually on fishing gear just to support their recreational habits, just to support their their sporting uh their sporting wanting and desires. It's been published in 2023 that recreational fishing uh contributes 148 billion dollars to the U.S. economy every year. But get this never in Jesus' ministry does he ever talk about fishing with a fishing pole except once. Matthew chapter 17, verse 27. I'm gonna read NIV because I like it a little bit better for this particular reading of the word. It says, But so that we may not cause offense. This is when Jesus and Simon were going to the temple. There's a temple tax that had been imposed for many years that had needed to be paid by every everyone that wanted to gain access to the temple. And so he asked Peter a question. Peter says, uh, it seems like we shouldn't even be paying this tax. He asked Peter and he explains to him that he is from a different kingdom and that we are the sons of that kingdom, and that kingdom tramples any earthly kingdom. And Peter comes to the conclusion and saying, Then that just means that we shouldn't even be paying this earthly tax because we are not of this kingdom. He said, That's right, we are sons of the kingdom, we shouldn't be paying this tax. But on verse 27, this is what he said he said, but so that we would not cause offense to them, so that we could look good in their eyes, so that we don't make them feel bad, so that we don't ruffle their feathers, go to the lake, because when you fish with a fishing pole, you can't go out into deep waters, it just doesn't work. You gotta fish in a lake. Some of us in our ministry have been fishing in a lake, and God is saying, get rid of the fishing pole. I'm taking you to deep waters, depths undiscovered. And this is what he said throw out your line, throw out that fishing pole, take the first fish you catch, open his mouth, you'll find four drops of coin. Take it and give it to them for the tax and yours. When you fish with a fishing pole, you do it so that you're not in in bad terms with the others. You do it because uh you're doing it to not offend the others, you do it with other people in mind. What are they gonna think? What are they gonna say? What are they gonna post about me? What are they gonna criticize me on? How are they gonna like it or how are they not gonna like it? You do it, you fish with a fishing pole when you don't want to offend anybody, and that's what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples. The only time you fish with a fishing pole is when you don't want to offend anybody on earth. But this is not about an earthly kingdom, this is not about an earthly rain, this is about the kingdom of God, this is about winning shows for the kingdom of God. This is about fishing, but fishing with nets, fishing, not in a lake, but in an ocean, in oceans undiscovered. There were four, then there were five, now there's six. God is saying there are oceans beneath the waters that you are already customed to. He said, The first thing you gotta do is let go of the fishing pool. Stop thinking about what other people are gonna say, stop thinking about what other people's opinions are, stop worrying about the man that trained me in everything I know about the move of the spirit said if there's a chance you're gonna be misunderstood, you most likely will be. Don't worry about being politically correct all the time. You gotta speak what thus saith the Lord, the way that the Lord says, Don't worry about being misunderstood because if there's a chance of it, you most likely will be. People are not gonna understand when you throw away the fishing pole and you bring out the net and you say, rather than you watch me fish, how about you take a hold of this net and let's go out into the deep? That's what we have issues with right now. We have a net that we're drawing out, and what we're doing is having trouble finding people that are willing to leave the shorelines, that are willing to leave the shallow water. I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you as your net is expanding in this week. I want you to take that same net. I want you to wash it when you get back home like they did and rip it out on Sunday morning, and you begin to operate in the things that you've been exposed to, in the things that you've been walking in, the things that you've experienced, and when you bring out that net, you don't discriminate. When you bring out that net, you don't profile. When you bring out that net, you don't categorize, you don't decide who gets a touch and be a part of that net. You give that net and you put it make it available to everybody. Whoever wants to go to the deep, come on, let's go. Whoever wants to work together, come on, let's go. Don't be afraid of bringing out your net, don't be afraid of letting down your net. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid of allowing others to work side by side with you. Because if we're gonna go to deep waters, we can't do it alone. You can't fish in deep waters by yourself. That's why you can't fish in deep waters with a fishing pole. But I would just add this that the market for fishermen, people whose occupation is fishing, those that do it because of a job, because of an occupation, because they have a responsibility. The industry, the fishing industry of those that do it as an occupation contributes seven times more the amount of money to the global economy, not just the U.S. economy. Did you hear those facts? These are facts about you can find online. 148 billion go to the economy, the U.S. economy, from fishermen who do it recreationally and for sporting purposes. But seven times more, what fishermen that do it for recreational purposes, seven times more of that uh of what they make is added to the global economy from those fishermen that do it as an occupation, and those that do it as an occupation and feel the burden and the responsibility and the calling. I'm not here to have fun, I'm here because God called me to be. If you want depths undiscovered, you gotta be willing to let go of your rod and hold on to a net and not be the man, but be a part of something that's greater than you, something that's bigger than you. That's why I'm a part of Global Harvest. Because I want to be a part of something that is bigger than me, something that is greater than my ministry. Would you stand to your feet right now? Lift your hands. Lift your hands and lift your voice. Reach for the net. Reach for the net. Reach for the net. Reach for the net. Reach. Reach right now. I feel it. Come on, raise your hands. By the authority of the word of God, by the power that's in the name Jesus. I speak. I speak multiplication into your ministry. I speak acceleration into your calling. I speak. I speak deaths undiscovered in your church. I impart to you the desire, the passion to go deep, to launch out into the deep. I prophesy to somebody right now. You need to launch. You need to launch. I don't care what's in the looking like. You must launch. You must activate. You must make a move. Launch. Launch into the deep.

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Charles G. Robinette

Host
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Ariel Lopez

Guest