Authority and Power Part 2 - Luke 5:1-11

Sunday May 24,2026  NASB

5 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the [a]people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but [b]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ [c]feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were [d]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

While they're transitioning, I'll ask if you'd stand with me, please, in honor of reading God's Word. If you've got a copy of the scripture with you, I encourage you to turn with me to Luke chapter 5. We're going to be reading the first eleven verses. Luke chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, we'll be reading through 11 verses. This is the word of the Lord. It says, Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gisenerat, and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land, and he sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say, and let down the nets. When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them, and they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. So and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon, and Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men. When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Would you pray with me, please? Thy will be done. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. It's been an honor and privilege to be able to go through the gospel of Luke, and I'm excited that we're getting to a point now where it's not just information, it's not just talking about who Jesus was, his identity, his fulfillment, how the scriptures have all come to fruition and culmination in who Jesus is as a human being, as well as fully God. But now it's going to get it's going to get in our business. Now it's going to get real if it hasn't already. Because this morning, what he is going to do is he's going to show through his word that you cannot be a professor, a uh claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and then not impact you. You can't say, as a believer in Jesus Christ, according to the scripture, that you can just believe, head knowledge, and say some things are true about the identity of God, about who he is and who we are, made in his image, created by him. You can't admit all of that, confess all of that, and according to the scripture, be the exactly the same you were before you came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And what he's going to do as he transitions, Jesus is fulfilling all of the scripture. He has got to the point. He did it in the synagogue in Nazareth just a few days earlier. And now, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now he is going to give a number of vignettes. Dr. Luke is going to go through and he's going to say, I'm going to show you some classic examples of what it means for Jesus Christ to be your Savior and your Lord. And what he's going to do is he's going through this. He's going to reiterate and focus on those two words that we've already brought up last week: authority and power, power and authority. And as he's looking at this and as we're engaging this, I want to just bring to your memory some of the scriptures that talk about this. It's amazing to me how I lose sight of this. I may be in the only one in this club, but there seems to be a spiritual amnesia when it comes to following Jesus. It seems that we so quickly, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, we we so quickly forget who he is. We so quickly have a sort of not understanding his faithfulness, of not trusting his sovereignty, of not believing in his wisdom, of not accepting his love. We tend to do our own thing, our own way, and sometimes sometimes we bring him to the front, but oftentimes he is left as a as a adjacent or as an afterthought. We say, well, that's that's not a big deal. Luke chapter 5 is going to get us eyeball to eyeball with what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And Dr. Luke is going to begin with this episode, this vignette, this story of how Simon, he's going to be a primary player in the days to come. Simon is introduced. We've already seen the healing of his mother-in-law, but now he's going to be introduced, and we're going to see the authority of God. There's a scripture, and you don't have to turn there, I'm going to show it on the overhead. The scripture that we've been talking about from the beginning of this year, with Carrie of the Commission, Matthew chapter 28, says the the eleven disciples gathered to proceed to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated when they saw him. They worshiped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority, there it is, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always to the end of the age. Now, what usually happens is we focus on the Great Commission, and we've been trying to do it from the beginning of this year of carrying the commission. We've tried to talk about what that means, but I just want to show you verse 18. It says, and I see the overhead, I've got the wrong chapter, but it's 28, it's not 18. In verse 18, Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And we we tend to kind of kind of gloss over that or keep that superficial. We've gotten the cart before the horse. Our command to tell other people about Jesus is not just an option that we get to do if we feel like it, because we don't start with, I gotta do something to tell people about Jesus. We don't start with guilt or shame or manipulation. We start with who is it that has all authority? Who is it that has commissioned us? Who is it that is sending us? So when we talk about the gospel and evangelism and discipleship and abiding and following and living and walk, living up to our calling, all the things that the scripture encapsulates, when we talk about this, we aren't talking about just doing religion. We're talking about how we live under his authority. Let me just give you a few. I didn't put them on the overhead, but they're they're worth considering. Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. It all belongs to him. Romans 11, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Colossians 1. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. You and I aren't creating a census and thinking to ourselves, can we make Jesus God? We are acknowledging the fact that He is God, that He has all authority and power. And when we have that humility, that penance, when we have that sense of coming to Him poor in spirit, then there's this overwhelming freedom that we aren't living in our authority, we're living in His. We're not living for our agenda, we're living for His. One more Ephesians chapter 1. He is a beautiful imagery of how He provides for us and His power gives us all that we need. He says, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet. Everything. Abraham Kuyper was a theologian uh over a hundred years ago. He's also a politician, a Dutch politician, and he said this. He says there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry. Might. Think about that. So here's what happens. And folks, I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not sharing this with you so I can tell you how bad you are and how great we are and all that sort of stuff. I want to tell you this is our condition. This is what we do, and we are very, very good at it. Imagine for a moment that your life is a chest of drawers. Uh let's go ahead and pull up the picture. And let's say, let's say, just for imagination's sake, I don't know if you can read the words, you could fill in the blank. There are so many drawers, so many things that you've got to you've got to you've got to pull out the drawer and you've got to deal with it. You've got to get up in the morning and you've got to pull out the drawer of getting ready for for work. Or you've got to, okay, somebody got it ready for retirement. I'd love to know what that feels like. You gotta you've got to get up for ready for work. You've got to you've got to get the house in order, you've got to make the breakfast. So you pull out the family drawer. You fill out, you fill out the you pull out the I gotta get dressed, I gotta get cleaned up, hygiene, all that sort of thing. You pull out that drawer, you're good to go. Then you then you realize that you've got to get in a vehicle, which which the bank owns, hopefully no longer, but you've got to begin in a vehicle which you got to go to a job and pay for the car, which you're driving to the job. And so you pull out the family drawer, you pull the, push that one, push that one back in, and then you pull out the work drawer and you head to work. Or you could be a student and you've got to go to the classroom. By the way, congratulations, just a few more days, you're almost there. But you're a student and you're thinking to yourself, I've got to, I've got to put my my hat on, my head on, in terms of getting through this day. I didn't get any sleep because I played games all night, but that does that's beside the point. And I'm I've got to get to I've got to get to class, I've got to pay attention, I've got to take notes, I've got to pass these, I've got to do all of that. So you pull out that drawer, and then and then you start to hang out with your friends. And you think to yourself, you know what, I'm gonna push that academic drawer, I'm gonna push that right back in, and I'm gonna pull out that drawer of social life. And I'm gonna have some fun, we're gonna go hang out, we're gonna have a party, we're gonna do our own thing thing. And as you go around, you you pull out that drawer and you get to you get to enjoy the time with your friends and your family, and you have some fellowship time, that's the biblical way of saying hanging out, and we get to do all of that stuff, we get to do that together, and then we think to ourselves, okay, it's been it's been a good day, but now I got to get home and I gotta do chores. So you push that drawer in and you pull out this drawer, and then you have a few minutes later you realize that you've got some downtime, you finished your your projects, your your chores, the things you've got to do around the house, and you think yourself, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna pull out that drawer me time, and I'm gonna I'm gonna scroll that that phone or I'm gonna uh turn on the boot tube or whatever you do, and I'm gonna do that. Then then you pull out one of your, and I've I've testified to this, I've talked to many of you, you've pull out one of your favorite drawers, I'm gonna go take a nap, and you're gonna go sleep. You know, you're gonna pull out your sleep drawer. And you like your sleep drawer, it's one of your favorites, and it's it's it's probably at the top. But anyway, you got all these drawers, and you pull one out here and you push it back in, pull one out of here, push it back in. Here's the problem. If your God drawer is a God drawer, God doesn't deserve just a drawer. You see, he owns the whole thing. Let's put the picture back up, please. He owns the whole chest of drawers. He owns every drawer. His authority gets to dictate how you push out, pull out that family drawer. His authority gets to dictate how you you work, how you play, how you think, how you live. His authority gets to be there when you're traveling on business and you're in that hotel room. His authority gets to be there when no one else is looking. His authority gets to tell us, give us direction and supervision and wisdom and love and how we're supposed to live day by day by day. And where you and I, and we're Simon, we're about to look at this, where you and I get in trouble is when we actually think we can compartmentalize our faith. Where we think it doesn't matter because God doesn't understand what it takes to close a deal. And I've got to say those things, whether they're true or not. When we compartmentalize our faith, it says, Well, God knows how he made me, and I I can't control those yearnings. I can't control those passions, those lusts, and I've got to I've got to be satisfied. I've got to do what I want to do. Because surely God wouldn't make me this way if he didn't want me to be fulfilled the way I I I think I need to be fulfilled. And we pull that drawer out and we ignore all the rest. You see where we're going with this? It's very possible that as a follower of Jesus Christ, that we lose sight that his sovereignty, King of Kings, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, gets everything. I want to bring back the Kuiper quote. There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. It's his. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore. Everything we do is based upon the foundation, the grounding, the impetus, the engine of his authority. Now, with that in mind, let's look at Luke chapter 5. You got your Bibles with you. I hope you're reading along with me. If not, I hope that you're close enough to a friend or family member. You can read along in their copy or use the Bible on the pew back in front of it. But here we go. Luke chapter 5, verse 1. It says, now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him, so he had the popularity, he had the prestige. People wanted to come, they wanted to hear. While the crowd was pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was sharing the gospel, he was sharing the good news. He was standing by the lake against Cynorat. That's Luke loves to call it the lake. Um it's it's the Sea of Galilee, it's that region around Capernaum. Uh the other three gospels say, Sea of Galilee, same place, different name. Here we go, verse two. He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen who had gotten out of them, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets, and he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. So he's he's there. You've got all of these people crowding in on him, and the crowding, the pushing, the shoving, those things are hindering Jesus. I want this. They're hindering Jesus from proclaiming the word so that more, the as many as possible can hear it. Listen to what he's doing. He's saying, I'm going to, I want, I don't want the popularity and prestige for the sake of popularity and prestige. I don't want the crowds just to come and press in. I don't want to do this just to do this. I want the word of God to be demonstrated, to be proclaimed, broadcast all over everyone. And the people were keeping the word from being broadcast. And so Jesus, being the great fixer of all fixers, he realizes what needs to happen next. He sees the boats docked. The fishermen have already gotten out of the boats, they were cleaning their nets. They had spent all night in the it close to the shore in the shallow areas. They had tried, they had failed, they had had a rough night. Now they were cleaning their nets, they were just going to stretch them out, they were going to let them dry in the noonday sun. Hopefully they would try again tonight, and everything would be better than it was because it couldn't get any worse. And as they're doing that, Jesus sees the opportunity to get into the boat and tell Simon to let him use his boat as a pulpit. Watch the fishing boat become a pulpit. Watch how Jesus, under his authority, Jesus' authority, gets to take things that we wouldn't normally think would be appropriate or even the right thing. And he makes it work for his glory. And as he's coming out there, if you've ever been on water, I'm talking to people who live in nature coasts. Those of you who, all of you who've been on water, uh you understand the acoustics, you understand that you can you can speak better and people can hear better uh from a little bit from the shore. Because don't ever try to whisper in a boat, whole nother conversation. Here we go. As as Jesus does this, we're still in verse three. He he asked him, he told him. Uh he got into one of the boats, verse three, which was Simon's, asked him to put out a little way from the land, and he sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. He sat down, began teaching the people from the boat. So now, the public proclamation, now the word of God being distributed, now this fishing boat is a part of the economy, of the kingdom, of the plans, of the process, all under the authority of Jesus. It's amazing what Jesus can use. You know, it's amazing how what we would dismiss or disregard, he says, No, I I made that, and I've got purposes for that. It's amazing how you and I can be the judge and the jury, and we can condemn things that he made for his purposes, and we can be the one who says no or yes for God instead of allowing him to be the one who says, go, stay, stop, wait, whatever he says. It's amazing how we try to take the place of God when it's his authority that we're following. So when when Jesus says, get in the boat, get in the boat. When Jesus says, I'm going to speak, let him speak. His authority, his will, his direction. But see, we're not done. We watch, just hide and watch. Watch the fishing boat become his pulpit. But now, watch the fisherman, Simon, become his servant. So you go, you go from Jesus spreading, and now he's going to talk privately. The the the biblical counseling, the using the word just to Simon, individual application. You pick it up in verse 4. He says, when he had finished speaking, teaching the crowd, they they were pressing in, now they were all able to hear, they would now they knew the word of God. He said to Simon, Simon had been there just a few verses earlier. We read it last week about when Jesus healed his mother-in-law, and we know we know that he knows the authority and the power of Jesus. When he had finished speaking, verse 5 or verse 4, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. There's been so much written, spoken about, talked about with this verse. It's a beautiful verse. Let's just keep it in context and let me show you what he's talking about. Put out into the deep water. He had been in the shallows. Now he's going into the deep. Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Now let's just, let's just pause. Jesus is a carpenter. What's he doing telling a fisherman how to fish? Don't you need to just stay in your own lane? Don't you need just do your own thing? Don't you just need mind your own beeswax. I I'm using all sorts of silly. Anyway. Just what are you doing? See, it's one thing to let let Jesus use my fishing boat. I I wasn't using it anyway. We were done for the day. It's another thing to it's another thing to let Jesus tell you how to live your life. It's another thing to submit your your job to Jesus. Your drawer. It's another thing to say failure, success, win, lose, close the deal, lose it all. Jesus, I want to follow you. Look at what Peter said. His response, and I I so appreciate this. Simon answered who is going to be called Peter later, but we'll call him Simon now. Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. So there's the truth. Speaking the truth. But I will do as you say and let down the gnat. See, Jesus, you don't you don't seem to understand that we don't fish during the daytime because that's not when you catch fish. We've been fishing all our life. We understand the rules, we understand the game of fishing. As soon as I moved to Florida, one of the first first things that people would ask me says, Do you fish? That's a very complicated question. Do I do I take a pole and and and some worms and whatnot? And do I attempt, yeah, yeah, but I don't fish. Not not like many of you fish. I I don't know what I'm doing. And and I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm strong enough now in my pilgrimage to be able to admit that fully. I have no clue what I'm doing. But Peter, Simon, he knew what he was doing. Peter, we don't fish during the time. I mean, Jesus, we don't, we don't fish during the daytime. We don't definitely don't. What are you doing going into deep water? Jesus, no, no, we don't do that. Fish aren't there. We tried all night. This isn't going to work. But master. See, this is where we get the servant mentality. This is where you and I get to understand that we don't tell God how to be God, but He does tell us how to be us. We don't have the privilege or the authority to be able to dictate to God, but by the grace of God and His overwhelming love for us, He tells us how to do our job. The only issue this morning is whether or not you're listening. That's the only question. It isn't whether or not He's speaking. He's speaking. The question is whether or not you're listening. And when we're tempted with cutting corners, with laziness, with apathy, with unloving behavior, whatever, fill in the blank. No. Okay, Jesus. Here we go. Master verse 5. We worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say. There it is. This is the truth. This is an exercise of futility, but I will do as you say. And let down the nets. It's you. You see, that's you think about it, that's that's faith, right? It's not, it's not you and I dotting all our I's and crossing all our T's and figuring everything out. Which, by the way, I could be the captain of that band of wanting to make sure that we've got all mapped out. When you travel, do you need to know the roads that you're going to go on to get where you're going? Some of you love to just kind of get in the car and go. The rest of us would really like to know the roads we're going to take to get to where we are going. And many times we come to Jesus in faith and we say, Lord, thy will be done. Lead. Let me be the servant. You be the master. Let me let me understand what you want. And then he says, I want you. And it could be a myriad of things. And looking around at you, dear ones, I know your stories, many of them, and I know that you've had to make some sacrifices. You've had to make some choices. And it could be that he is asking you to stop doing one thing and start doing another thing. And you could have the same response that Simon had to Jesus. You don't understand. There are bills to pay. Lord, Lord, you're really good at the carpenter and the preaching and the healing. You're really good at that. But could you let me take care of business? Could you let me take care of insurance? Oh, don't get started on insurance. Could you let me be the one who understands how to play the people and organize the system and do the programming and to run a church and to be a participant and etc. etc. etc. Be very very careful, leery, of trying to tell Jesus how to do his job. But I love the way that Simon does this. He says, I maybe it's passive aggressive. I haven't studied it that much, but he's saying, okay, but I will do as you say and let down the nets. And verse six. When they had done this, they enclosed a great great quantity of fish. A multitude of fish were caught. And their nets began to break. I love that. So much. So many. Verse 7. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. Not just one, but two boats, overwhelming catch, all the fish began to sink. The fisherman, servant of God, saying, This is this is what I've done, I've obeyed that. Here we go. Let's keep going, but I'm going to refer to this in just a moment, but I want to I want to finish this, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Now I'm going to assume that many of you here this morning have read these verses before. And if not, we just did, so now you can't say you haven't unless you really aren't paying attention at all. But maybe you never read this story. And maybe you're this is the first time. This isn't a judgment call, it's a chronology, it's a time call. See, if you if you haven't got to that point, that means you're out to that point. It's not better or worse, it's just you aren't there yet. So if you have not yet read this story, the the idea or the truth of this may seem a little odd. Simon is a fisherman. Simon is a failing fisherman. Simon has just spent all night trying to catch just one fish. And in the midst of all that frustration and embarrassment, he does it in front of a big crowd of people that Jesus is preaching to. And then to add on to that, just Jesus, let me go home. I just want to go home. But Jesus says, no, I want you to stay a little longer, and I want to use your boat and I want to preach. And so Jesus goes out and he tells the word of God as he's in the boat and he goes out and he's preaching to the people. And Simon says, okay, this might be worth losing some sleep. This might be worth interfering with my job. This might be worth spending a few minutes with. It has been a rough night anyway. It's been a rough time anyway. So why not, why not let him do his thing? But then when you get to the deep water, when you actually have to start the using the nets in a way that I hadn't planned on using them, and then we have this fish, these fish, what's the plural fish? Fishes? Fish? Fishy? Fish eye? Okay. We have a whole bunch of fish and all overwhelming catch. Peter, Simon, did everything wrong. He got the best catch of his life, and he didn't do anything according to point. He did nothing according to how he should have fished, when he fished, how he fished. He did nothing the way he was taught and trained and had a living by doing the way God, the way that he thought that God wanted him to work through his job. And then here comes Jesus. And Jesus says, I know that's contrary to your your your thinking. I know that's counterintuitive, but I want you to do it my way. And look at what Simon got a multitude of fish caught without any credit of his own. Just a few months, years later, Peter will be preaching at Pentecost, and thousands will be caught.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

And it will have nothing to do with the expertise of Peter.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

It will have everything to do with listening to the Master. It may be, and I I'm not I don't know who I'm talking to. Okay, that seems like I'm out of my mind, but I I don't know where you're at in this moment. But it could be that you are experiencing deep frustration over what's happening in your life. And it might be, just possibly, just hypothetically, it might be that you have torn yourself up, wrapped around the axle, because you don't know if you're following Jesus, because there seems to be no fruit, no evidence, no anything with what you thought how your life was going to be today. And it could be, it could be, hypothetically, it could be that you have spent so much time navel gazing, you have forgotten that Jesus doesn't primarily care about your tools of instruments or instruments. He doesn't primarily care about your boat and your net. He cares about your obedience. He doesn't primarily care about whether or not you've got it all figured out. He cares about whether or not you're submitting to him under his authority and his power. And hang on, watch him work. It could be that you're trying all these methods and methodology and trying to figure out how to how to share the gospel and how to be faithful and how to live out your faith and all these things. And you're frustrated because you keep trying to do the right thing the right way. And what he's telling you this morning is instead of going down the wrong road of programmatic living, how about start with, listen to me? How about just follow? How about, and I'm not, I'm not minimizing or excusing all the need to prepare and to study to show yourself approved and to be filled with the Spirit and to be led by Him and used by Him. All of that is valid and very important. But folks, we get so top-heavy, we get so ahead of ourselves that we forget it doesn't start with the programming, it starts with the person. It doesn't start with figuring out what we're going to do. It starts with speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Are you doing that? That might help a lot. Okay, let me let me rephrase that. That will help a lot. Watch the fisherman respond to the holy guy. See, we wouldn't expect Luke chapter chapter 5, verse 8. We wouldn't expect Peter to respond that way. Now he's Simon Peter. When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Go away from me, for I am a sinful man. For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear. From now on, you will be catching men. You see, we might think, if we hadn't read the passage before, that Peter would have been overwhelmed with this catch. And I know, I know how the humor goes. I know I know what the fishing stories. You ask a fisherman how big the fish was they caught. It's funny how they'll spend a lot more time talking about the size of the fish they caught and not about the size of the fish they didn't catch, meaning they don't catch. Anyway, so you you've got these. Peter didn't go down that road. He doesn't spend time thinking about his his wealth, his catch. He doesn't think about all the things that God just provided for him, blessed him with. He doesn't think about how he gets to he gets to have the the the the the I don't know if they did this, but you know, at the at the boating club, you gotta you gotta have the best fisherman of the day. I mean, come on. I mean, he'd he'd be hit. He realizes this man who's been preaching the gospel, the word in his boat, this man is more than just a man. He saw him with the diseases and the sickness. He saw that, and that's incredible. And he saw him with the demons and the authority over demons, and that was a little intimidating. He saw he saw him when he he would he would go through and he would heal and and exercise and all the things that he would do. But now he actually gets to tell the fish where to go and he gets to be God. So instead of worrying about a temporary catch, he realizes this is a holy God. This is him, this is he. This is our Lord. Simon didn't he didn't gather gather all his friends and take a selfie. He didn't he didn't start a preaching tour or a teaching tour and get on Christian television. He did, he didn't, he didn't make sure that everybody knew about how successful he was as the primary fisher man. What he did is what you and I have to do on a daily, moment-by-moment basis, is come before a holy God and say, Have mercy on me, a sinner. And realize that our success, quote unquote, is not about how well we do it, but how well we obey. Our faithfulness leads to our fruitfulness. Understanding that it's because of him and who he is that we get the privilege, the joy, the responsibility to be able to listen and to obey. See, I I I heard a preacher say this. He said, inside of Peter, 100% fisherman. This isn't right. I don't want to do that. But 100% faith, I need to obey. Are you in a crisis of belief today? Have you got to a point where you're not sure where to step next? What a beautiful opportunity to come before a holy God and say, Not my will, but thy will be done. All right, there's there's there's one last part, verse 10. He says to Simon, Jesus says to Simon, because Jesus, because Peter's is frightened, get away from me, I'm fearful. Jesus says, Do not fear. From now on, from now on. Once again, scripture is fulfilled. Luke chapter 4. Today in your hearing, the scripture has been fulfilled. The beginning of the chapter, now it happened. And then there's going to be these, while he was in one of the cities, there's going to be this continuing thread of these are the things that are happening today, because today is the day of salvation. And he's saying, Peter, you have a past. Yes, I'm not disagreeing that you are a sinner. Yes, and amen. But I'm going to tell you that when God shows up, Emmanuel, God with us, when he walks into the building and he makes hiself known, when his theophany and his overwhelming glory and his majesty is here in this place, you have to understand that he wants you. And when he says, I want you, because I'm going to give you the gospel new beginnings. I'm going to let you start right here and right now. I'm amazed by the grace of God. I was saved when I was when I was younger, I was a teenager. Which sounds a dumb thing to say. Of course I was saved when I was younger because everything's younger than today. But anyway, I was saved when I was a teenager. And when I was saved, I was convicted of my sin. I have lived a few years since my salvation. And if you were to ask me, compared to what I know now, compared to what I know then, I had no idea how deep my sin is. I had no idea. And if if I've got to guess, I'm going to keep understanding that the closer I walk with Jesus. Simon, you're right. You're a sinner. You have no idea how bad a sinner you are. You see, this isn't based upon your unlimited knowledge. This is based upon God's unlimited faithfulness. This isn't based upon how we can figure everything out. This is based upon what Jesus will do right here and right now. So, Simon, from now on, you will be catching men. From now on. Watch the fisherman become a fisher of men. From now on. You know, the thing about it, I I used to appreciate this, and this just shows my maturity, but I used to appreciate this, the fisherman, and now you'll be a fisher of men. I said, Oh, that's cute. And I got to thinking about this. What does it mean to be a fisher of men? Because if you if you push the the metaphor, if you push the imagery too far, when Simon would get into the boat and he would cast the net, and it wasn't like a rod reel fishing like today, they would cast a net. And when they cast the net, the fish would come up, and the fish, and I'm gonna so insult your intelligence, and I am so sorry. The fish were alive when they got caught. Okay. But you know what happens to catch fish? They die. I mean, you kill the fish. And so I'm like, well, Lord God, you want me to kill people? I mean, what what realize what he's doing? He's he's totally switching the conversation. He's he's he's turning the paradigm totally inside out. And he's saying, you know, when you caught fish, you would do it, you would do it for a living. You would do it so you could survive, you would do it so that you could eat, so you could provide for your family. And as the fish came into the net and they got into the boat, then you would take care of those fish. You would clean them, you would you would prepare them, you would let them be sold so that you could pay your debts. You did all of that, and the fish went from life to death so that they provided the resources that God made for them to be able to provide for. Don't ever finish the sentence with a preposition, doesn't matter, I already did it. But now I want to show you what happens next. When Jesus comes to Simon and he says, I want you to be a fisher of men, I want you to go out into that lake of dead, spiritually dead.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

And I want to show you how to catch them so they become alive.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

See, you can't do it in your own understanding. You can't do it in your own thinking, you can't do it in your own volition, you can't do it in your own wills or programming or techniques. You can't manipulate someone to Jesus. You can't you can't figure out what they need and what they don't need, and you can't you can't force them. It's not, you're not selling them something, you're not trying to get them to come over to your side. You are walking in the authority of Jesus Christ. You are carrying the commission. And just as Jesus, by his word, says this is how you will be saved, you and I have the exact same responsibility. Not for us to try to argue or convince or or or browbeat or manipulate or shame, but basically love our Jesus so much that we want more than anyone, anything else for those around us, whether we meet them for the first time or have known them for years and years, we want them to know the truth of the word of God. Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the message, by the word of God, by the message of Christ. This morning, you might be you might be struggling with this. Because you you might be in that category of, I know I'm supposed to evangelize, but I don't know what I'm doing. That's a really good place to start. As a matter of fact, it's almost like Peter saying, Jesus, what what's this about fishing? What without any credit of his own. You don't start with you, you start with him. You don't start with Eurijid, you start with his timing, his direction, his heart. And then I want to show you this, and this is this is where we'll finish, Luke chapter 5, verse 11. When they brought their boats to the land, Peter sold his catch and lived in comfort for the rest of his life. I so hope you're reading along with me and realize I missed that out. All we gotta do, Lord, just give me enough to make it through the day. Just give me enough for the bank, give me enough for my health, give me enough just to survive. Peter had more wealth right there in those two boats than he'd ever had. I'm this is a guess, but I think a pretty solid one, than he'd ever had in his entire life. And he left everything and followed him. Everything. He didn't follow Jesus because he was looking for more signs, more wonders. He didn't follow Jesus because he wanted more fish. He left it all. Because he realized, just like you and I have to, that this was not just a human being standing in his boat speaking a few nice words. This was God. This is God. And because he is God, we as his creation are accountable under his authority. Now we'll see his power, we'll see it demonstrated, the heavens declare, but we also understand that whether we see it or not, understand it or not, or even want to acknowledge it or not, doesn't diminish the authenticity, the reality of who God is. So here's what I'd like to do. I want to show you the chest of drawers one more time. If you'd leave that up for just a second, I want to show you how Jesus helps us as a follower of him. You get up in the morning, you're getting ready to get go to work or get dressed or go to the golf course. I gotta talk to you retired people more. But anyway, you're doing all that you're doing, you pull out that drawer, and you're not just getting ready. You're getting ready as you follow Jesus. Then you get in the car, the car which under God's authority He's privileged you with as a steward, not as an owner, as a steward. And you want to follow Jesus. You go to work, you've got to make those decisions. You've got to do it in a way that honors God because you are a follower of Jesus. You go home and you have those choices, you have those decisions of whether or not you turn that on or turn that off. You have the decisions whether you spend time with those or don't spend time with them, and in the midst of all that, you're doing it as you follow Jesus. You lean over that crib and you've got that little precious one, and you've got to be that mother that perhaps you're exhausted and you don't know what to do next. You're doing that as you follow Jesus. You have you have this need to work, you work as you follow Jesus. You have a hunger to be in the academy, to understand education, to get your education, to be a teacher, a professor, whatever. You do it as you follow Jesus. See, there's not one drawer that doesn't belong to Jesus. Not one part of your life that He doesn't claim with absolute authority this is mine. The only question this morning is whether or not you. You and I are going to let him speak and we obey. That's it. It could be that this morning you came in thinking, let's just get this Sunday thing over with so I can get on with my life. This is your life. He is your life. Now, what I'd like to do for the next few moments, this won't take but a minute, but I do want to give an opportunity, is I'm gonna I want to ask, if you were here this morning, this is so weird, you're gonna have to forgive me or forget, but anyway, if you're here this morning and you're convicted that you've been compartmentalizing, it's such a hard word. You have been compartmentalizing your faith. He is not Lord of all. You have been ignoring his principles, his precepts, you have been defying his authority, you have been living selfishly, you have not been seeking him. If that's you this morning, and you want to do something about it, would you raise your hand? Can I pray for you? Can I pray for us? Would you pray with me, please? Thank you. You don't leave us abandoned or forsaken. You're with us always. Thank you. At this morning, you gave us Luke chapter five, you gave us a fisherman and a boat and a surrender. And Lord, where we are not following you wholeheartedly, would you please let us just give you every drawer, give you every part. May we love you with our heart, soul, and mind. May we obey you, seek you, may we trust you. And Lord, those of us who raise raise our hand, I I pray especially right now that in the midst of the repentance and the conviction that your grace would overwhelm and your faithfulness would shine through.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

And even now, by your grace, show us the next steps to take to surrender all.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I was gonna ask Pastor Adam if he would come forward to prepare to dismiss us in in prayer this morning, but before he prays, Pastor John and Miss Carolyn, I was gonna make a brief announcement.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

I have I I don't speak that loud, Jerry. You need to have this mic up. Thank you. I have some notes. It that sounded a little bit ominous, but it's not, and in the least, in the slightest. Um Carolyn and I have been talking about this. I've been talking about it more than she has, because she has said over the past few years that you can never retire. And so I took that to heart. I thought what I would die with my boots on here. God has made it clear to us in the past week and a half that it's time. So I'm going to announce my retirement as of January 27th. So we have plenty of time to talk about it, we have plenty of time to rejoice, we have plenty of time for God to work, to bring someone new in, both to administration and to worship, and see how God is going to lift this place up, lift up his name, lift up his glory for our good. We're going to be a part of that. We're not going anywhere. We're going to love, invest, and serve together with you, just in a different capacity. Couple of reasons why. And I was actually last weekend. I went to our my not ours, my 50th high school reunion last week. My very first thought was, where did all these old people come from? Let that sink in. In in talking with and conversing with and talking about how things have happened, how God has worked in our lives throughout the years, it dawned on me. I are one of them. I'll be 68 this year. And the next reason is going to be up on the screen. As we saw this little darling, if you can pull it up. She's up in the fan handle, and we see growth of her that is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

No, no, no, okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

But to be free to go at a moment's notice and impact her life for God is what we're there for. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 49:38

Father, we thank you so much for your love and for your grace and your care. Lord, you are sovereign over all. You hold the whole world in your hands, the whole universe is in the palm of your hands. Lord, every inch of our lives belongs rightly to you. Help us not to hold on to little sections of our lives and say, This is just for me. I'll just give it to you. When we think of our lives as believers, as members of your body, help us to recognize your workings and your ways and your guiding hand and your directing hand. Lord, we thank you for all the ways that you lead us and care for us. For your glory and our good. And keep our eyes fixed on you. We thank you for all you do, and we thank you for your love and care for each of us individually. In your name I pray. Amen.