Welcome to this week's posting of the sermon. I hope that everyone is having a good start to 2019. As always, I am thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to post this sermon.
This week has been going fairly well. I had to get my car repaired, but it wasn't expensive, so I thank the Lord for that. I am still working at my job, and I am writing. There has been a lot of writing work over the holiday season.
As you pray this week, please remember those in Indonesia who are recovering from the effects of the tsunami. Also, pray for those in the Philippines who were affected by the mudslides.
Please pray for those in the Congo who are dealing with the Ebola outbreak. Pray that those who are sick will recover, and pray for those who are working to help those with the disease.
Continue to pray for peace in the world. There is still fighting in Syria, and that country needs our prayers for peace. Remember to pray for peace in Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya as well.
For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for those in Suriname and Myanmar. Pray that many will come to know the love of Jesus.
I would ask that you pray for me about a matter. I have started to develop arthritis in my hands. Please pray that I can get relief from the pain that I am experiencing. Thank you.
This week, we are going to begin with a series of messages about Jesus. Over the course of the last few years here on the blog, we've studied the miracles of Jesus, the parables of Jesus and the "I Am" sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. We have also gone through the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' teachings on prayer.
There is so much more in the Gospels that Jesus did and said. For the next few weeks, I want to post some messages about the ministry of Jesus and see what we can learn from the life and ministry of Jesus.
Today, I would like us to focus our attention on Luke 5:1-11. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus is just beginning His public ministry. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus focused His teaching and ministry in the towns that surrounded the Sea of Galilee. The people were amazed at Jesus' teachings and His miracles. Jesus was beginning to attract large crowds that wanted to hear what He had to say.
One day, Jesus was preaching along the shore. There were many people crowding around Him, so Jesus asked a man named Simon if he could get in his boat and go a little off shore to preach to the crowd. Simon let Jesus come into his boat, and Jesus sat down and taught the people.
When Jesus had finished His teaching, He told Simon to go out into the deep water and let down his nets. Simon told Jesus that he and his partners had toiled all night and caught nothing. However, Simon said that he would do it because Jesus had asked him to.
When Simon let down the nets, he caught so many fish that he couldn't get them all in the boat. He had to call for his fishing partners James and John to come and help him. Together, the three fisherman and Jesus brought the fish to shore.
Upon reaching the shore, Simon Peter fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Go away from me, Lord; for I am a sinful man."
Jesus said, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people."
Simon Peter, James and John then left their nets, and they followed Jesus.
What can we learn from this story? What does it have to teach us?
There are three things that I want to point out from this passage of Scripture. First of all, I want us to see the obedience of Simon. He was an experienced fisherman. He had fished all night, and I'm sure that he was convinced that the fish just weren't going to be caught that day. However, because Jesus asked him to go out and let down his nets, Simon did it.
There may be times in life when we feel like the Lord Jesus is directing us to do something that we don't necessarily feel like doing. We may feel like Jesus is calling us to be a witness to someone who has rejected the message of Jesus many times over. We don't want to go and share about Jesus and be rejected again.
At times like this, we need to take Simon as our example. He followed what Jesus said in spite of his own feelings. He was ready to do it just because Jesus said so.
When we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, that means that we are saying to Him that we are willing to do whatever it is that He asks of us. It may not be what we would do on our own, but we must be willing to do what the Lord asks because we want to be faithful to Him.
The second point that I want us to see from this passage is that Simon, James and John were so committed to following Jesus that they were willing to leave everything behind in order to follow Him.
Often, being committed to Jesus will lead us to have to leave behind things that are in our past. We have to be willing to do this in order to please the Lord. An example of this is my Dad. Before He became a Christian, he used to drink heavily. When he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus, my Dad decided to give up drinking and going to bars and nightclubs. He had two good friends who kept tempting him to drink and go out on the town. My Dad finally had to make the decision to not associate with his two friends as long as they were going to try to tempt him into going back to his old lifestyle. He didn't want to do that, but more than anything else, he was committed to honoring Jesus in his life. He believed that he was a new creation in Christ, and my Dad wanted to follow the Lord.
The most important thing in our life should be to follow and honor Jesus. We must be willing to leave all the sin that so easily besets us for the sake of following Him and honoring Him.
The final thing that I would like to point out in this passage is that Jesus told Simon that he would be fishing for people. Later, the Lord Jesus would give the Great Commission to all of us telling us to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
We have the duty to fish for people. This means that we are to tell people about the love and grace of Jesus. We are to tell others that Jesus has come. They can have new life in Jesus Christ.
I hope that in this new year, each of us can take up the challenge to share the love of Jesus with those that we know. Let us tell others about how Jesus has changed our lives.
Next week, I will post another message about the Lord Jesus. On Monday, I will post the verses. I will have a review of a dog book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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