[0:00] John's gospel this time John 21 the last chapter in the gospel of John John chapter 21 and again we're on the beach and we're having dinner I shouldn't really say dinner it was breakfast but still we're eating with Jesus okay just like we were before we're eating on the beach lovely day by the sea of Galilee on the beach with Jesus John 21 after this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias or same sea of Galilee and he revealed himself in this way Simon Peter Thomas called the twin Nathaniel 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'll go with you they went out and got into the boat but that night they caught nothing just as day was breaking Jesus stood on the shore yet the disciples did not know that it was
[1:01] 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 and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish that disciple who Jesus loved therefore said to Peter it's the Lord when Simon Peter heard it was the Lord he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and he 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 imagine this now a char a bonfire made of charcoal it's a kind of a coal except it's not so black charcoal fire and fish with fish laid out on it and bread same as before fish and bread Jesus said to them bring some of the fish that you've just caught so Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish 153 of them and although there were so many the net wasn't torn
[2:10] Jesus said to them come and have breakfast now none of the disciples dared ask him Lord who are you they knew it was the Lord Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and so were the fish this was now the third time that Jesus revealed to the disciples that he was raised from the dead now this time we're fast forwarding the story of Joseph of Jesus remember what happened to him after some years Jesus was crucified on a cross he was arrested and the and cruel men they nailed him to a cross and he died on the cross and they took his body from the from the cross and they put it into a grave it wasn't a grave like we have but it was a cave and they rolled a great stone over the cave so nobody would be able to get to his body but when they got there on this on the sunday morning they discovered that the cave was empty Jesus body wasn't there anymore and you know why and I know why the disciples couldn't find his body because he was alive again he really had died but now he was alive again and the friends of Jesus just could not believe that he was now alive some of them they were really really sad because he had died as you would have been and some of them said well we're going fishing let's go back to fishing this is what we were all doing before before we met Jesus let's go back and do some fishing so off they went to the Sea of Galilee and they went out in the boat and they threw the net it wasn't I don't know how you fish I'm sure some of you fish with a rod but they didn't fish with rods they fished with a net because they were they had to catch lots of fish because that was their job but even having having spent hour after hour on the water they caught nothing they must have been really disappointed they must have been really hungry as well because they didn't have any food with them and when they were just coming back to the shore they saw this man standing by the lake by the loch side all right the seaside and they didn't recognize them too far away from from from to recognize them but the man shouted at them he said have you caught any fish they said no we haven't caught anything all right he said throw the net out on the right side of the boat but they'd already been they'd already spent hours and hours and hours trying to catch fish and they hadn't caught anything but okay we'll try it one more time so they threw the net out on the right side of the boat and this time they tried to pull the net in and the net wouldn't come in nothing happened it was so heavy and they were trying they were saying look you have to help me peter said look you have to help me pull it in so they've tried all of them it's like a game of tug of war they were just pulling the net in they were trying to pull it in and they couldn't you know why because it was so full of massive fish huge fish they couldn't believe it because they had spent ages trying to catch fish they caught nothing and yet this man because this man who is this man he told us what to do and we did it and all of a sudden we're catching a mountain load of fish all of a sudden just like that they realized this is jesus it's got to be it's got to be the very first time they'd met him way back at the very beginning that's exactly what he had done he told them where to fish and they had put the net out and they caught loads and loads of fish here he was again doing exactly the same thing how does he know where the fish are how does he know is it just a guess
[6:16] of course not he knows because he is god and god knows everything that's how jesus was able to know so much bible says that god knows everything about us he knows what your name is he knows what you look like he knows where you live he knows what you like to eat for breakfast and for dinner he knows what your favorite color is he knows what you do he even knows what you think imagine that the same goes for all of us today god knows everything about us everything everything about us and he knew where the disciples were and jesus went to where they were and he told them to throw the net and that was and that was when they caught such a load of fish and they brought it eventually into the shore the the boat and there they found that jesus already built a fire because he wanted to give them some food he knew that they would be hungry and so they started eating and they were all satisfied and you know what you do when you have dinner you talk don't you dinner's a very important time for people to get together families and friends to get together and they don't just eat but they talk must be amazing to be to have dinner with jesus what would you say to jesus eh wonder what you would say to jesus jesus is so important he's the most important have you ever had dinner with someone really really really really really really important really important not just your mom and dad but somebody really important i'm going to tell you the most important person i ever had dinner with all right i'll tell you this the queen now that's impressive i'm not trying to show off 10 years ago i got a very very very special invitation a man phoned me and he said would you like to spend the weekend in balmore castle with the queen and if you preach on sunday then that the invitation's yours first thing i thought was this is kenny i trying to wind me up and i said to him i said this is a joke this is a wind-up and he said no it's not a wind-up this is a mr brown i'll never forget it and he was being serious he was really giving me an invitation to come and to stay in balmore castle with the queen do you know how i felt you want to know how i felt i was terrified absolutely it was the scariest moment in my whole life i think scary you've you've no idea i mean what do you say to the queen how do you make conversation with the queen what do you ask her you don't ask how are you because she's not going to tell you how you how she feels because she's too important she's the most important person in the whole of our country but you know what i didn't have to worry because she's such a nice lady she's just the most lovely lovely lady and she knew how nervous i was she knew i was so terrified that she did all the talking and she asked all the questions she knew all about me because she had found out who i was and where i lived in stornoway and the church here and she would ask me all the right questions so all i had to do was answer the questions and it was such a lovely lovely conversation
[10:18] with dinner do you know what she asked me do you know what she asked me we shouldn't say this she said do you have young people in your church in stornoway that's serious i'm being serious do you have young people in your church in stornoway and i said yes we do she said good you know when the disciples were with jesus he asked one of them a question and he asked him the most important question that anyone that god could ever ask us you know the question was he asked simon peter and you know the question that jesus the most important person in the universe jesus is the most important person not just in the country but in the universe right and here he is and he asks peter this question do you know what the question was do you love me do you love me do you know what that's the question that he asks all of us today do you love me doesn't get more important than that you could be the richest person in the world you could be a mega rock star you could be a celebrity you could be an actor you could be a hollywood star if you don't have jesus you've got nothing absolutely nothing if you don't love jesus you don't have anything but i want you to think about that question this morning you don't have to give me an answer but god is asking you that question jesus asks you even although you're a young person do you love me and i hope with all my heart that the answer is yes and i hope that you go on to obey him and to live for him and to give your life to him because there is nothing greater in all the world than serving jesus and in living for him let's bow our heads in prayer our father we thank you for sending jesus into the world and we thank you for him for for what he did for us and dying on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven we pray that you will place a love in the hearts of our young people here a love that will be obedient to him a love in which they will hear his voice and want to hear more and more and more and a love that will change them and wash them from all their sin and create within them a new heart in jesus name amen psalm 36 to close with psalm 36 and and that's on page 44 that's the singh psalms version of psalm 36 page 44 and it's verse 5 your steadfast love is great oh lord it reaches heaven high your faithfulness is wonderful extending to the sky psalm 36 verse 5 to verse 9 these four stanzas we're going to stand in closing your steadfast love is great oh lord it reaches heaven high it reaches heaven high your faithfulness is wonderful extending to the sky extending to the sky extending to the sky extending to the sky
[14:27] your righteousness is very great like mountains high and steep like mountains high and steep like mountains high and steep you're just as if like ocean danser little there these the does What confidence it brings, what confidence it brings, both high and low find shelter in the shadow of your wings.
[15:44] The shadow of your wings, the shadow of your wings, the shadow of your wings.
[15:57] They feast within your house and drink from streams of your delight, from streams of your delight.
[16:16] For with you is the source of light. In your light we see light. In your light we see light. In your light we see light.
[16:41] Amen. Bless to us Lord the gifts that you've given to us now in the hall afterwards. We thank you for a time of informal fellowship where we can meet together. We pray that you'll bless these to us.
[16:53] We pray that your grace and your mercy and your peace from Father, Son and Spirit will be ours in him. Amen.