Luke 5:1-11 with Aaron Searles

Transcript

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So when I was uh seven years old, I was staring at my bedroom door, and I have told this story uh before. Um, so if you've been here a while, you get to hear it again. Um, and I remember I can I could close my eyes and go back to this moment in my life. And I was staring at my bedroom door, and I just remember the feeling, the peace, becoming aware of God's presence for the first time in that moment. And, you know, I've described this uh for our children as what you would call, quote, a boring testimony. And I put it in quotes for a reason, because I do not think it's actually a boring testimony. Sometimes if we come to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in a Christian family, being raised in a Christian home, we can we can we can tell ourselves that that's a boring testimony. Well, it's not a boring testimony, you know, it's the testimony I want for my kids and for my grandkids and for the generations to have these testimonies that aren't filled with pain and suffering and walking away from the Lord. I I I I want that for um my kids and my my again grandkids for the generations for your kids. And so we also recognize that not every testimony is like that, and praise God for his work in that. But again, in that moment, I again I can close my eyes and I can see my bedroom door, and I can I can do it right now. And I just again remember having this moment, uh, you know, describing like waking up from a dream I didn't know I was in. But just the the the presence of God, again, the peace of God, like again, indescribable. Indescribable. I don't remember praying with my dad or mom later, receiving Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I don't remember inviting Jesus into my heart and professing my faith in him. I don't remember doing that. I was raised in a Christian home, I'm a pastor's kid. And so that's just my story. I do remember getting baptized in a highly chlorinated pool. Very chlorinated pool. So I do remember that. But uh I share all this to share say that we're talking about uh a testimony. We're talking about Simon Peter's testimony today. What I think he would tell people when if he were to be asked, what's your testimony? What's your um what's your story? What's how did you what's your Jesus story? How did you come to faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? So we're gonna be doing that today. So we're gonna be in Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, and this is um what's called the calling of the disciples. It's a different kind of miracle. We've seen some unfolding, some unscrolling of these miracles as Luke tells these stories. Um, before jumping into that, I have a picture slideshow to just share with you a little bit. Found some pictures. So um you might have seen uh a picture like this. You can see the anchor. This is like from the first century, and this is what Christians in the first century would draw. There, a lot of anchors uh symbols were uh in the catacombs of Priscilla, I believe. And so they reminded themselves in Hebrews 6, but a lot of a lot of uh fish drawings in the first century, again, attached to what we're gonna be talking about today. You know, I think uh the the Christian culture kind of commercialized that Christian symbol. You've probably seen it on cars and whatnot, maybe it's on your car right now. But this is a symbol. Uh again, the anchor and the fish, and then you've seen the ichthys. Uh, this is an aerial view of Capernaum. Uh I like this view, so this is kind of interesting. You can see all the history, the the archaeology that's gone on. I even noticed to the left over here, it's kind of like that's kind of the forgotten archaeology over there. Uh there's like a wall, and it's like really clean, but like what's going on over there? Anyway, this is a picture of what uh of a Catholic church that was built over what they believe was Peter's church or Peter's house. And there's like a glass floor in there. You could go in and look down and see the the place. So this is a historical site where what we're talking about today, uh, or around what happened in Capernaum. And then I just want to show you some kind of other pictures, again, get you visualizing where we're at in this in this passage of scripture today. Um, I want to go there. I I want to go right there. I want to sit on that bench someday. Um, but this is a view of uh Capernaum uh from the Sea of Galilee, this the Sea of Guinness Aret. Um so that's that's the view. Uh you can kind of see that again. Obviously, this is uh thousands of years in history or present of what we're gonna be focusing on today, but I want to give you some mental visuals to think about and have in your mind as we talk about this today. So, again, these miracles have been unfolding. We're having a different kind of miracle that we're gonna be focusing in on today, but we've had you know um astonishing teaching. We've had uh healing. All of Capernaum is healed, essentially, is our understanding. Everybody. Many demons have been delivered from people. So we've seen these different kinds of miracles. And again, thinking about this, I thought back to the first uh kind of a couple verses that we were reading about uh in the Gospel of Luke. And Luke tells Theophilus, I'm writing this down as an orderly account. And you can see the sequence of miracles as Luke again unscrolls and unfolds this for the intended audience. You can see the dynamics and the in the thoughtfulness of him writing this letter to him. So I want to uh read to you, I'm gonna read the whole 11 verses, and then we'll go verse by verse or a verse or two at a time. But before I do that, I'm gonna start this way and I'm gonna end this way. Maybe you've seen a bookend. You've seen like in a in a library, you've seen uh like a rock or a statue or something that holds a bunch of books together. And you have a bookend, okay? You've seen one of those things. So I want to just say this passage of scripture that we're spending a majority of our time in today is kind of the front cover, and I want to talk, I want to end today with the end cover. So let's read this together. Keep that in mind as we read this. So this is again Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he had said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking, and they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' 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 that 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 be afraid, for now on you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Okay, so remember this story. Zoom out, we'll zoom out later to another bookend. So let's go back to verse one. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake Gennesareth. So pressing in, they're crowding around him to hear the word of God. So this isn't, you know, I can't we can't read the minds. We don't know the intentions, the attitudes of the crowd pressing in around Jesus. But what Jesus was giving them, what he was doing, was preaching. He was teaching them. So we called this other, you know, crowds in the past healing traffic. I don't think this is necessarily healing traffic. Now, this is gospel traffic. This is what Jesus wants to do. This is what Jesus is prioritizing in his ministry is to preach, to teach. And so they're at Lake Enesareth. So that's another name for the Sea of Galilee. And it kind of refers to the fruitful plains north of the Sea of Galilee, which we had a picture of earlier. So Luke is in his history and his being a doctor, I guess, is giving a little more specific information, helping us understand the surroundings of what's going on. But I a little bit want to show you a picture of the Sea of Galilee. It's my understanding, I've not been there. Want to go there again, but uh it's seven miles wide. So you can, again, on a clear day, is my understanding is you can see across it. So it's not Pacific, Atlantic, it's not Lake Michigan. So it's it's it's a sea, it's big, but it's it's you know more of understanding of a lake than you know an ocean, just to help us understand, kind of again, putting ourselves in this moment, seeing what's kind of happening, what Peter and James and John were doing, what the setting was. Verse 2. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. So fishermen, they're living their lives, they're cleaning their nets after fishing all night. So this is how Jesus encounters them. They're busy. They work the night shift, they're tired, they're exhausted. This is how Jesus encounters them. And so I ask you for a reflection. How did Jesus encounter you? Personally. They had a sleepless night, maybe, a disappointing night. But I'd invite you to reflect on what was your circumstances, your situation when Jesus encountered you in your life. Again, Jesus enters into these fishermen's everyday lives. Now, what we know going into the situation, into this encounter, we already know previously that Jesus healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law of high fever. That Jesus was in his house and he healed everyone. So we know that Jesus healed everyone else in town and he delivered people from demons. I mean, you would know, I think it's logical to understand that Peter knew that this happened. And here he is fishing all night, cleaning his nets, encountering Jesus in this moment. So it can be a mystery of what Jesus, again, is you know is doing here. And they again had to be wondering like what is going on? Like, is Jesus a prophet? Is he a great teacher? Again, some mystery for them, probably some wondering, some befuddlement in their perspective. But here they are cleaning their nets after fishing all night. You know, they got to feed their families, they got to take care of their lives. Verse 3. And getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. So I once saw a video of this and how you can stand on the shore and do a teaching, and it becomes a natural amphitheater. It becomes physically more possible for more people to hear you. And so, even setting offshore, it kind of creates a natural boundary from the people pressing in and kind of absorbing all the sound waves from Jesus' teaching. So, this is what's kind of happening in this moment. Again, they're pressing in on him. But we know that Jesus taught with authority, and his teaching was astonishing the crowds. They're pressing in on him, they want to get closer. So Simon gets pulled now into the situation by his boat being commandeered. You ever see one of those movies where the cop is chasing a bad guy and he shows his badge and he takes over his car or he takes over the bus or the boat? You know, that's what Jesus is kind of doing in this moment. He's like, I need your boat. We've got a greater mission going on here, we've got a greater purpose going on. I know you've been, you can't, you didn't sleep all night, and you're tired, you're exhausted, and you're trying to wrap up your day to go take your your day sleep, but I'm gonna I'm gonna need I need your boat, Simon, to teach and to preach. So can you imagine yourselves working all night? I I've worked like a handful of night shifts in my life. That was it. That's all I could do. I was a security guard at Trinity Christian College. I was trying to earn some money to go on dates with Christie. Um and uh I was not a good security guard. I fell asleep. So not good. All right, anyway, so Jesus, you know, again, exhausted, comes to these guys and he borrows their boat. And one commentary called this a floating pulpit. I like that. Jesus is using a floating pulpit. And again, it's interesting to me that Jesus chose his ministry base camp to be this small fishing sea town. You know, that he chose these fishermen Peter, James, John, and Andrew from this area. Again, uh a town of insignificance, a town kind of like uh Nazareth, town that he kind of grew up from. He he understood them uh at on the human level in that sense. And but Jesus chose these guys as we'll see. Verse 4 and 5. And we had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down the nets. So my understanding, again, looking into this, the type of fishing was called drag net. So the big net, they they put it down and they'd pull back breaking work all night, pulling. Okay, exhausted. And so what Jesus is doing again, too, is like earlier it says they just clean their nets, they're drying their nets, they're trying to wrap up their day, probably to go get a good solid nap in. And Jesus saying, redo it. Can you imagine me like, I want to go to bed, I want to go to sleep. You already borrowed my boat. I want to go to the nets, they are dry. We're done. I'm going home. But Peter doesn't do that. And I think, you know, Peter, again, his mother-in-law was healed of high fever. Everybody in town's healed. So he knew something was up. He calls him master. I want you to notice what he he calls Jesus later, but he calls him master. So there is some respect here. But here's a point one. I've got three points for you today. Here's point one. And I think this is a good takeaway for all of us. Obedience does not mean understanding. Obedience does not mean understanding. God instructs and obeys uh and tells us to obey does not mean we're gonna understand everything. Sometimes in our brain we can think, oh, I don't understand yet, so I'm not gonna obey. You know, parents, you hear the question, why? But just do it. Just do what I tell you. So I think as humans, it's natural, it's normal, but in the Christian faith, we need to understand, again, not from Aaron, but from God's word, what is obedience in your life? What does it mean to obey God? What is God's word telling you? Again, you may not understand it, you may not see into the future. But God's calling you to obey, God's commanding you to obey in the details of your life. Again, we can struggle to live out our faith. It'd be nice to know ahead what's going to happen, what the actions, what the circumstances are gonna change, but that's not what being obedient means. We obey and sometimes we don't understand. We just simply trust in God. Again, Simon was probably very disappointed that his sleepless night was fruitless. I can only imagine how tired he was, and now Jesus is borrowing his boat and telling him to do something that didn't make sense. But again, Simon responds with obedience. You know, again, a commentary said something to the effect of, if you say so, Jesus. If you say so, I'll just do it. So I would ask you, what step of faith, what step of obedience is Jesus calling you to make in your life? This is a lifelong practice and lifestyle reality that we as followers of Christ need to keep asking. What is Jesus, what's a step of obedience? What's a step of faith? Ask the Holy Spirit, search the Word of God. What's a step of obedience that you need to take? Again, in the strength of the Lord, not in your capacity, in the strength of the Lord. That's the faith, that's the trust to take that step of faith, to take that step of obedience in your life. Which is it? In your life, what's the step of faith that you need to take? So, Peter, if you say so, Jesus, you know, you know, blindly obeys and drops his nets. They're all dry, he's ready to go to bed, but he drops his nets. What happens? Verse 6 and 7. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. This is what we call the miracle of the miraculous catch of fish. So we have Jesus' power fully on display. We know that from previous chapters that there's the healing of everyone in Capernaum. He's delivering those from demonic oppression. The crowd is now pressing in on him for teaching. So we know that he is in his authority. We talked about authority. Jesus is the king, he is an authority. He is authority over diseases, he has authority over spirits, he has authoritative teaching. Now he has authority over creation. He has authority over living things. It's a different kind of miracle. It's interesting to think about Jesus, God, and thinking, connecting this to the book of Genesis, creating all the living things in the world. He is operating in his nature and who God is. And Jesus' miracle in this moment doesn't leave any doubt from unable to catch anything to catching so many fish that all the nets are on the brink of breaking and the boats are now sinking. It's a 0% to a hundred percent miracle. This miracle of Jesus is neat because it's the absolute maximum amount of fish that they could catch. Not just a lot, but it leaves, again, no question, it's a hundred percent capacity. And you kind of see the nets are breaking a little bit, the boats are about to sink. It's Jesus is dangerous. You know, he knows the edge, he knows the max. He let him bring him to the cliff, and then he walked through the crowds. Jesus is dangerous. Again, I'm I'm remembering that C.S. Lewis, you know, he's not safe. Aslan's not safe, but he's good. Again, this story, and it was neat because I had thought this and then saw this in the commentary, too, that this story reminds me of Isaiah's vision of Jesus. You know, we sang about, you know, from Daniel, the ancient of days. You know, in that story, it talks about the vision, it talks about the train of his robe fills the temple. And I and I remember we talked about this in our glory series. It talked about, you know, wherever God is, he fills it. He's to the max. This miracle is to the max. And it's also interesting, just again, a commentary highlighting, connect this miracle also to the miracles of the plagues. You know, God has control. You know, for a Jew living in the first century, it would have all been about the law and understanding the law. And now Jesus is operating in miracles connecting to the power of God that we see in the miracle of the ten of miracle of Egypt, miracle of the ten plagues. So I would ask you, again, in reflection, have you ever in a good way, in a good way, been overwhelmed by the goodness of God? Just can't contain it. Usually your your your uh tear ducts are activated, at least mine are. Had a moment that you can think about in your life. Maybe was that your personal testimony? Maybe you've had a moment recently where you've just been overwhelmed by the goodness of God in your life. Through circumstance, through relationship, through God's revelation, a moment in God's word where God just overflowed in your life. And I believe there's a word for it. That moment, that feeling, that thought. I think it's called joy. C. S. Lewis uh said this: an unsatisfied desire, which is itself more desirable than any other, satisfaction. I call it joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from happiness and from pleasure. You know, I would describe joy in the sense of like it's like it's like a taste, it's like a touch, it's like a hint, but it's the reality, the truth that you have found the source, that you have found the creator, that you are in relationship with God, and that overwhelms, that overflows your life. If you haven't been overwhelmed or overfilled with joy, with the the the joy of God, my charge to you is to ask for it. To ask for it. I would argue that Paul did, Romans 15, 13. This was a memory verse that we had in this church. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. And the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Again, you cannot manufacture it, you can't muster it, you can't, in your own effort and strength, get joy. You have to receive joy. So I encourage you and charge you to ask for it in your own lives. Verse 8. But when Simon Peter saw it, so again, Simon Peter is in this moment. The boats are sinking that he owns, that Jesus was just preaching from. So, but when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. This is visual worship. This is recognizing who you're with for Peter. And it's a desperation. Again, it's just like Isaiah: woe is me. I shouldn't be here right now. I'm in the presence of God. So Peter gets it. We see that. He gets it. He realizes who he is in the presence of in this moment, and he calls Jesus Lord. Goes from master to now Lord. And so just to kind of rewind a little bit on Peter's story, his mother-in-law didn't convince him, so she was healed of a high fever. The demonic deliverance, the many of demons that were delivered didn't convince him. Everyone in town getting healed at his house didn't convince him. You might even say hearing about Jesus via John the Baptist didn't convince him. So all these things didn't convince Peter to cross the line. Master to Lord. Again, he had respect. He knew that, you know, he let Jesus borrow his boat. He did what, he obeyed Jesus in that moment, but we see him, in a sense, have faith, the catalyst to believe in Jesus in this moment, to profess that Jesus is Lord. Jesus personally reveals himself to Peter in a way that he can get it, the way that he can understand it. And again, what Peter does in this moment, I think, is good for us all to take away. And I hope you get this yourselves. Again, Isaiah has this, Peter has this. I shouldn't be here. When you realize you're in the holiness and the power and the majesty of the creator of the universe, you realize who you are. And this is a very normal thought. I'm not worthy to be in his presence. I'm not righteous. I'm not holy. I'm a sinner. And this is our perspective. And again, I would say it's normal, it's accurate. But here's the key. We don't stay there. Again, I think that's a good thing to notice that when you're in the whole, when you think about the holiness and the goodness of God. But we don't stay there, and we don't stay there not because of what we think, but because of what God says to us. Because of what God has done for us. While we were sinners, while we were enemies of God, God died for you. He was sent here for you, to be in relationship with you. Yes, it's normal to be in awe and to recognize your state before him, but also to know the truth of why he was sent and is to rescue you. Again, in this moment, Jesus personally reveals himself to Peter. That's my second point. Personal revelation. And again, this is why I shared my testimony. This is my story. My story of looking at my bedroom door. This is how God, in that moment, I had my moment and how God revealed himself to me. And I would say I understand the context, the relational context of that, of being raised in a Christian home, of loving parents who love Jesus, who weren't fake Christians, but there were real Christians. Not perfect. But I had my personal moment. This is Peter's personal moment. This is his personal relationship with Jesus. And I would say it says this in the book of Acts, he's closer than you think. He's closer than you think. Verse 9 and 10. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that 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 be afraid. From now on you will be catching men. You know, we again see this throughout Scripture, this fear. And we see God saying, and angels saying, Do not be afraid. But again, this is an astonishing miracle experience. And again, we kind of see it through, you know, the bullseye of Jesus, but the first impact is on Peter. But we also see James and John. This is John the beloved. This is the inner circle of Jesus. Peter, James, and John. They got to witness the transfiguration of Jesus. They got to be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They got to see Jairus' daughter raised from the dead and told, don't tell anyone. This was the inner circle. Fishermen who were cleaning their nets a little while ago are now in the inner circle of Jesus. This is the goodness of God. And this miracle, and again, I just love God's word because there's just all these amazing storytelling layers going on. This miracle is the mission for the disciples, and it's our mission today. I got to go back to that picture. This is why the first century Christians were drawing fishes all over the place. This is our mission now. This is who we are about, and the anchor is a comfort. Jesus is our anchor. It's all captured in this imagery of what Jesus did in this moment for Peter, James, and John and Andrew. And so this miracle is the mission for the disciples, and it's our mission today. Catch people for Jesus. If you don't know why you're on planet Earth, this is why you're on planet earth. First and foremost, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love God, love Jesus, adore him, cherish him, be like Peter. Fall down on your knees before him and worship him. That's why we do this together. We gather in his name to worship him because we love him. We adore him. And we love people. We talked about compassion and God's love for people, and that we need to, in the flow of God's love, love people who are hurting, who are suffering to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And our mission is to catch people, to make disciples, to share the gospel, to tell people about our personal story, our personal testimony, why we believe in Jesus. When was that moment we came to faith? When was that moment we bended the knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? When was that moment for you? You gave your life to Jesus. Tell that story. Even if it's, quote, a boring testimony. If I tell my story more, I'll st I won't be able to talk. Because of the love of God in my life. Loving parents who love Jesus. And so I challenge you. If you love Jesus, step one. Love Him as Lord. Confess it, profess it, believe it in your heart. Share the good news of Jesus in your life. And you might say, how? And again, you might get that noise in your head, that lie in your head that you're not qualified, that you're not able, that you're filling the blank. And I would just say that's the lie of the devil. Because that's the opposite of what Jesus is telling you to do. Catch people. So how do you do that? We pray. We see our resources as God's resources. We see our time as God's time. We ask, because we can't be kind and loving without Him, to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, to love people, to have intentional conversations with people, to be praying about who God has put in your life to share the good news with, to catch people. This is our mission. Verse 11. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him. They left everything and followed Him. This is the definition of a disciple. We might simply define discipleship as following Jesus. We do talk about that. Yes, we follow Jesus. Very conveniently, consumer Christians leaving out the part about leaving everything and following Jesus. I say that to me. Last week we talked about the authority of Jesus. He's the king. There is nothing in this life that will satisfy you but God. Everything is temporary. Everything's gonna burn up. Everything is gonna be gone. Everything's gonna be dust but God. He's the only thing that can satisfy you. He is joy in your life. Everything else this world has to offer is just dust. It's nothing compared to being in relationship with God and having the purpose and the meaning, being on mission for Jesus. So is there anything you haven't dropped? Again, they other gospel uh stories of this say they drop their nets and follow Jesus. They dropped two boats full of fish, packed to the brim. Imagine that resource. Feeding your family or whatever, you know what that would have meant. Selling that in the market. They left it because they know who they are with. They knew who they were around. They knew what Jesus was calling them to. They dropped everything to follow Jesus. So I'm not saying quit your jobs. I'm not saying necessarily sell everything. I'm not saying leave your families. Okay. But I am saying is Christ in charge of everything? Is everything that you have belong to Christ? Is everything in your life submitted and surrendered to the King? And how is God using it? Have you asked God, how can you use this for your kingdom? How can you use this for your purposes and your reign and your rule in my life? How can I see everything as temporary for eternal purposes? Ask the Holy Spirit the details of your life. God cares about the details of your life. Again, one decision at a time, one day at a time. Surrender and submitted to Jesus. Again, the third point is drop your nets and follow Jesus. Drop your nets and follow Jesus. Catch people. So again, we have an invaluable resource of time. Use it for the Lord. God has wired you and made you unique. You know, I heard this guy recently, the National Anthem guy, identifying notes. I'm like, I'm not that guy because I have no musical talent. I see these guys, you know, guys playing music. I can't even do Matt, your job. Like, I can't do that. You know, how are you using what God has given you? There's a uniqueness, there's a design, there's a wiring. There's God knit you together in your mother's womb. He made you for a reason, he made you for a purpose, he gave you talents. What talent can you use for the kingdom? Use it for the Lord. And treasures, again, the disciples left everything to follow Jesus. God has given you resources. God has given you, how can you use it for the kingdom? For his purposes, his mission in your life, through your life. It's going to be worth it. I promise you. Every sacrifice that you make with your time, talent, and treasures is going to be worth it. Stored up in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. So again, in conclusion, obedience despite understanding. What step of faith do you need to take today? Not tomorrow. Not think about it. Like, do it. Take a step of faith. You're not going to understand, you're not going to know where it's all going. That's step one. Take a step of faith. Where is the Holy Spirit calling you to take a step? And if you can't hear God, listen. Take some time in the silence, waiting on the Lord, seeking his face, to hear what steps of faith. I believe Jesus said the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of men. Listen to God. Two, you know, we see in this story the personal revelation of God to Peter. This was his story. This was his personal testimony. I'd ask you, what's your personal testimony? What's your story? And if you don't have one, I would love to pray for you, to be with you and to pray for you for you to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. To profess that he is God, that he is Lord, that he died on the cross for your sins, and that he conquered death on the third day, giving us hope, giving us joy, no matter what. And finally, drop your nets, catch people, prioritize the gospel in your life. Again, it's of first importance. Again, first in you. Relationship with Jesus in your heart, in your life, in your time with God, compassionate loving others, and sharing your faith, making disciples. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. So, in conclusion, the end book end. I want to end today by reading this story. 19 verses. And then we'll pray and end. This is from John chapter 21, 1 through 19. After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias. And he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin Nathanael of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, We will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Jesus' day was breaking, Jesus stood. Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish? They answered him, No. He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. So they cast it, I'm sorry. So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish. That disciple, whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them. And although there were so many, the net was Was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished the breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to them, Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This is said to show by what kind of death he was going to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, Follow me. Let's pray. God, we uh we recognize that you are King, you are Lord, and we surrender and submit to you, God. We give our lives to you, Jesus. God, we confess our sin, we confess we make mistakes, we confess that we don't prioritize you, God. I confess that. I confess my busyness, my distraction, my sin. And I just say, thank you, God. Thank you for your grace and your mercy. Thank you for your forgiveness. God, I ask for your strength. I ask for all for your strength for all of us, God, that you would help us to live for you, God, to give our lives to you, God, to trust you, to obey, to have faith in you, sometimes, maybe most times, without understanding. God, I pray for anybody in here that hasn't had a personal moment to give their lives to you, God, I pray that they would do that. I pray that you would give them the strength, the courage to believe and confess and profess that you are Lord, that you died for their sins, that you conquered death on the third day. And God, I just pray that you again that you give us courage to catch people, God, to make disciples. God, give us ears to hear, give us the time. Help us to prioritize you, help us to listen to you, to your instructions day by day. To love you. All for your glory. In your name we pray. Amen.