[0:00] Did you know that Jesus had a certain look about him? That he would just look at a person, and that person would be like caught in a trance, and be captivated, and be willing to, at a moment's notice, almost at random, just drop everything and follow him.
[0:35] If you weren't careful, that's how some of the stories go around Jesus, and some of the movie telling around Jesus as well.
[0:47] So when you tell a story like the one that we're looking at today, you do have to look at the back story. You have to look at how it's set up in all four of the Gospels in order to fully understand what's happening in the story.
[1:06] It's almost as if you have sometimes Sunday school teachers, preachers, storytellers, movie makers, that will make it seem like this scene that Jesus is just happening by the seashore.
[1:27] And as he is, oh, by the way, there is a guy in a boat over there. Hey, why don't you come follow me? And he does, leaves everything behind, and it's like, what in the world am I watching?
[1:41] Or what in the world am I seeing? And sometimes we have that issue come up because of the way that, in particular, Matthew and Mark portray this story.
[1:56] Actually, Matthew and Mark really don't tell the story as much as they just inform us that there was a day when Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee or the Lake of Gennesaret, and they're recruited or called in to be his disciples, one of his 12 apostles, Peter and James and Andrew and John.
[2:23] And there's a bit more to the story than that, but that's where we're going to start today, is in Mark chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. Now, to kind of get us caught up where we're at in the story, after John was arrested, this is John the Baptist, and so here we are in Mark chapter 1, and we're already about a third of the way into Jesus' earthly ministry.
[2:49] John the Baptist is arrested at this point, and Jesus goes up into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, and that gospel of God is this message.
[3:00] The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. I know this is the gospel of Mark, but it's true of the three synoptic gospels, this message that is called the gospel of the kingdom.
[3:14] Jesus is going to be proclaiming this gospel throughout his earthly ministry. Repent and believe in the gospel.
[3:26] The gospel is the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is right in front of you, if you would accept it. So with that in mind, it seems, and I'm not skipping any verses or jumping or anything like that, he goes from John the Baptist is in jail, and he's going up into Galilee and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and passing alongside the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, or Peter and Andrew, and the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
[4:04] It's a good thing they weren't mechanics. Dropping a net into the sea. Mechanics. Oh. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
[4:22] See, I don't have that look. I don't have that look about me that makes me stand out among men, and that when I tell people follow me, that they just drop everything and follow me.
[4:35] And verse 18, and immediately they left their nets and followed him. Again, I'm not skipping anything. This is all the information that Mark gives us. Mark is not interested in telling us the story at this point.
[4:47] Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he's just telling us what happened. And so we have to rely on Luke and John to kind of help us fill in the blanks, as it were.
[5:00] But because Matthew and Mark only give us this information, you have those storytellers and teachers and movie makers that portray the story as if it happened that way.
[5:14] And I'm going to show you an instance of that. This is from the classic Jesus of Nazareth. And I want you to notice the look.
[5:27] Watch. You have no money out of me to put some fish in a lake. Simon, this is the man I told you about. The man John spoke of.
[5:38] John the Baptist. What? Another holy man? Are you another of those that tell us to be patient and promise us better times will be ahead?
[5:49] What about now? What about our children? Who will fill their billies? A lot of talk these days while we all starve.
[6:02] Find a holy man who can put an end to that. Then maybe I'll listen. Go out again. I shall come with you.
[6:14] We've just pulled in. Get the neck off the boat. Please, Simon, do as he says. Why do you always listen to these people? Who does the leap in the night? Please.
[6:25] Oh, thanks.
[6:55] What are you staring at? How?
[7:15] You can preach to the fish. Cast off. I'm going out here. Take off me. I need to. Oh, thanks. Oh, thanks. Oh jump!
[7:26] Oh jump! Come on.
[8:05] For what would be storytelling around Jesus. And it's like, you don't know if Peter's going to go talk to him or stab him in the gut.
[8:16] He's mad. Where did that come from? Where did, what? This? Let's fill in some blanks, shall we?
[8:27] Actually, before we do that, I want to show you a verse that what they did here with the casting and all of this stuff was just nonsense.
[8:41] It's Isaiah 53, verse 2, the second part of the verse. This is talking about the Messiah who was to come. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.
[8:54] Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. In other words, Jesus did not stand out from the crowd. Jesus would have looked like a normal Israelite person from that era.
[9:10] And you would have been hard-pressed to find somebody with fair complexion and blue eyes in that culture. It just didn't happen.
[9:21] And so, I guess I understand the attempt to make Jesus look different than everyone else so that you could tell it was him.
[9:33] But then, the stares into space and the... What? The stuff they come up with, I don't know.
[9:46] But, you know, I mean, how many centuries did we go with them walking around with little circles around over the top of their head? I mean, that's kind of the same idea of where it's coming from.
[9:58] You go all the way back to John chapter 1, and this is after Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist. And this is where we see Peter for the very first time, or Simon, Simon Peter, meeting Jesus.
[10:14] So, this is not even in Galilee. This is in the south, not far away from where Jerusalem would be. So, one of the two who heard John, as in John the Baptist, speak, and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
[10:35] He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah. Messiah. So, even right from jump, right from the first time, he hasn't even met Jesus yet.
[10:50] And he's already got the suggestion in his head that, all right, this is the Messiah. This is potentially... We don't know if Andrew's crazy or what, or if this Jesus guy is crazy or what.
[11:04] But, we found the Messiah, his brother says to him. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at Peter, Simon, and said, You are Simon, the son of John or Jonah.
[11:19] You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter, which means rock in our English language. And so, all the way back in John chapter 1, we have John, the gospel writer, business partner of Andrew and Simon.
[11:39] James and his brother John are business partners. But they're now in or around Jerusalem for the festival time. And they've gone to hear John the Baptist preach.
[11:54] Jesus was there being baptized. The day after he was baptized was the day in which Jesus or Simon met Jesus. That Andrew introduced him to Jesus.
[12:07] So, with that in mind, then, we're brought up now into Luke chapter 4. From there, Jesus travels into Galilee, where the Sea of Galilee would be, or the Lake of Gennesaret, depending on whether you're from Israeli heritage, you'd call it the Sea of Galilee, or if you're Gentile.
[12:29] Remember, Luke is writing to Gentiles. So, Luke refers to it as the Lake of Gennesaret. And he arose and he left the synagogue. Remember, this is the synagogue that was in Capernaum.
[12:39] We just looked at this last week. Last Sunday, we saw how Jesus was in the service, in the synagogue, in Capernaum, which is a seaside town, which was the home base of Jesus during his ministry in the area of Galilee, in the north.
[12:56] And it's where Peter and Andrew and James and John were stationed, right there on the shore, where they would carry out their fishing business. And it would stand to reason, then, that Peter, or that Simon, I'm going to use his name interchangeably, so whenever I say Peter, you say Simon, whenever I say Simon, you say Peter.
[13:16] Okay? So I don't have to correct myself the whole time. So when he was in the synagogue that day, and that demon-possessed or demonized man does his thing, and Jesus heals him of that demon possession, Peter would have witnessed that.
[13:39] And then after they're done at the synagogue, he arose and left the synagogue, and where did he go? He went to Simon's house, a.k.a. Peter's house, there in Capernaum.
[14:00] Imagine that. Okay? Now, some of you are like, well, that's what the text says, Rich. Well, and that's my point. You're making my point for me when you say that.
[14:12] Because these other people that are wanting to go based off of Mark or Matthew's account are like, no, no, no, no, no, no. The first time that Jesus and Peter meet is by the seaside.
[14:23] No. That's not how it works. Matter of fact, when Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, they appealed to Jesus on her behalf.
[14:37] I imagine that Simon Peter was one of the ones who was doing the appealing. It's like my mother-in-law is sick, and Jesus was like, are you sure you want me to heal your mother-in-law?
[14:52] I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so bear with my bad jokes. They appealed to him on her behalf. So this is Peter. He saw what just happened in the synagogue.
[15:04] He knows that Jesus has performed miracles. He's seen it. He's heard the reputation already all around town. He's in his house.
[15:17] His mother-in-law is sick. Jesus, can you do something? Of course. She is healed. And then later on that evening, when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him.
[15:33] And where was he when this was going on? At Simon Peter's house. All of this is information for Peter.
[15:49] He's picking all of this information up. This is not just happenstance there by the Sea of Galilee. Okay? And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
[16:04] Now, we don't know if Peter would have been a witness to all, every one of those healings. But certainly he knew this was going on. Certainly he knew about his mother-in-law. He was there for it.
[16:15] Certainly he would have seen Jesus in action. He would have heard Jesus teaching. All of this was going on. But too often, you have this on your notes now, too often, the way the Gospels are taught, people sometimes forget to teach the complete story.
[16:34] And this is the reason why. We have some of this folklore that's out there that makes Jesus want to be like this blonde-haired, blue-eyed kind of a guy or completely different Dan or somehow make him look different Dan, everyone else.
[16:50] And that's just not the case. That's not biblical. The idea that Peter would have met Jesus there at the seashore, again, is not.
[17:05] Just all of a sudden, Jesus walks up and gives him the look. And he's antagonistic? Where is that coming from?
[17:16] And that's just not the story. And so good for us to examine all the Gospels there to see the complete story.
[17:27] At the beginning of Luke chapter 5, which we're just now getting ready to start to read, Simon Peter hadn't yet been officially called to follow Jesus. At least not that we have heard of, not that we know of.
[17:42] Okay? And perhaps, just thinking out loud here, there's nothing to indicate this one way or the other, but perhaps Simon still hadn't connected all the dots yet?
[17:53] Is this really the one? I mean, Andrew says so. I mean, my eyes, my experience looks like, but I haven't been confronted with it yet, Peter could say.
[18:05] Peter hadn't been thrust onto him in that moment yet. And so we have Luke's account, which is the more complete version of this story.
[18:21] On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee. And you want to read this to say that Jesus was right at the shore, and they were pressing in on him, and if he had taken one or two more steps backward, his feet would be wet.
[18:43] Okay? Because the crowd was trying to get closer and closer, and we can imagine, perhaps because they were straining to hear. They didn't have microphones back then, speaker systems, none of that.
[18:55] And so this is the scene. They're there at the seashore, and Jesus is teaching, and he saw two boats, Jesus did, by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
[19:14] The washing their nets was signifying what? What's that? They were done. They had been done fishing.
[19:24] And these were professional, had their own business, fishermen. And in that culture, and on that lake, the professional way to fish was not with a rod and reel.
[19:42] They weren't ice fishing. I don't think they had that as an opportunity back there, back then, in that culture or that climate. But they fished at night with large nets.
[19:57] Okay? So this is now the morning, and they're done fishing for the night, and they're washing their nets to put them away.
[20:08] It's just responsible care that you take when you're back in from fishing. So I would imagine, I'm going to call on Corey.
[20:19] I imagine when you come back from a time out fishing, you kind of take care of your stuff at the end of the event, right? So that's just what they were doing. That's what fishermen back then, that's what they did.
[20:33] So getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. It's almost like, did he ask Simon to use his boat, or did he just get in the boat?
[20:48] My guess is that Simon was intently paying attention to this. This wasn't some guy who was antagonistic to Jesus.
[20:58] This is someone who had seen quite a bit Jesus in action and Jesus teaching. And so now it would have been odd if he was disregarding him, not paying attention.
[21:12] That would have been the odd thing at this point. And he asked him, Jesus asked Peter then, to put out a little from the land. And this is interesting.
[21:25] And he sat down in the boat, and he taught people from the boat. What is, if people are pressing in to hear him, why in the world is he pushing out into the lake or to the sea and then sitting down and teaching in that setting?
[21:48] What's that about? Some of you know a little bit about some of the little inland lakes that we have in this area. Mason County's got a bunch of little inland lakes.
[22:03] Have you ever been sitting on one side of the lake, and you can hear a conversation from across the lake? You know how that works?
[22:14] So in theory, this is what they're thinking, is that when Jesus pushed a little ways away, it gave opportunity for his spoken voice then to bounce off of the water and be more broadcast, if you will, to the crowd, so that more people could hear what he was teaching.
[22:37] And this is fascinating, because Jesus, the creator of all that we see around us, knows how audio sound waves work.
[22:48] Imagine that. The creator of all would know that. And so he's there teaching, and we don't know if he's at the end of, toward the end of what he's teaching, or if he is going to go on for a while.
[23:04] But when he's finished speaking, verse 4, he says to Simon, put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.
[23:16] Now, you've got, Jesus, a professional what? Carpenter. Hence the title of the sermon. is now telling a professional fisherman how to build a table.
[23:36] No. He's going to tell him that the worst time of day to let down your nets for a catch is the time of day that he's going to catch anything.
[23:49] And, ooh, how do you think that would go over? Peter. Peter, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not offended by this.
[24:02] Because by now, he knows something of Jesus. And so he's going to, he's going to push back a little bit. Watch this. Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.
[24:18] We've been there, done that. Jesus, there's nothing out there. Okay? But notice what, what Peter says next.
[24:33] But at your word, or because you say so, I will let down the nets.
[24:46] What's the difference? I imagine if just any average Joe were to walk by and say, hey, Peter, go back out a little bit and throw your nets in, see what you get, I think he'd probably be laughing at them.
[25:02] Or, short with them. But because it was Jesus, and because Jesus said so, and literally, at your word, there's something significant about the word of God.
[25:20] And that's what Jesus' words are. They're the very words of God. And Peter is starting to put this together. At your word, Jesus.
[25:34] I mean, this is not a huge imposition, is it? I mean, he might get to bed a little bit later in the morning than maybe he would have liked. but, it's not a big deal.
[25:49] So, okay, Jesus, because it was you, because I've seen, I've heard, I'm intrigued. I'm going to go ahead and do this.
[26:03] When they had done this, they enclosed. Now, I want to, how many of you are fishermen or fisherwomen or you like to fish?
[26:19] How many of you, anytime you caught a fish, you said, oh, we enclosed some fish. It's clumsy to say it that way.
[26:29] It's not good. I wouldn't call this good English. But, it does kind of portray how the nets work. So, this is why I think they chose the word enclosed.
[26:41] Because the fish would go into the net, the net, because of the weight of the fish, would enclose on them and trap them in. And, their nets were breaking.
[26:51] There were so many fish. They don't catch fish like this. And, they signaled to their partners in the other boat, that would be James and John, to come and help them.
[27:10] And, they came and they filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. They don't catch fish like this ever. There's so many of them.
[27:23] they're so many. Now, think for a moment. How would you respond if this were you? Peter is slowly being introduced to who Jesus is.
[27:39] He meets him down south by the Jordan River where John is baptizing. Hey, this is the Messiah. We found him. Ooh, that's big news.
[27:52] I mean, that's like life-changing, earth-shattering. You won't, you don't, you don't even hear this once in a lifetime. This is once in, in, in multiple generations kind of news.
[28:05] You go back home to Galilee, to Capernaum, hometown. You go to synagogue on Saturday and look, Jesus is there. So is a demon-possessed guy.
[28:18] And look at what Jesus does. And listen to Jesus teach. And Jesus, come on over to our house. We're having meatloaf.
[28:28] I don't know. Fish. Probably. Probably. My mother-in-law's sick.
[28:40] Can you do anything? Yes. Mother-in-law's jump up and she's serving and guests are in the house. Sunset's coming.
[28:52] What's that line of people? They're coming here. All night long people are coming and Jesus is healing every one of them no matter what the sickness, disease, or demon, or whatever it is.
[29:05] Doesn't matter. He heals every one of them. And then Jesus in the quiet says, I gotta go.
[29:17] Quiet of the morning. The crowd finds him. You gotta stay. No, I can't. I gotta keep preaching. Next day, down by the seashore, Jesus comes.
[29:33] And it's back to work for Peter and Andrew. Right? They've been away. They've been down south with festival time in Jerusalem and seeing John the Baptist and we gotta make some money now.
[29:51] And Jesus is there. And Peter, hey, let's go back out. Oh, come on. We've been out all night. When Simon Peter saw it, at a very unique and very individual response, fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me.
[30:24] For I am a sinful man, oh Lord. This is the moment that it hits home for Peter.
[30:36] This really is. The Messiah. And he understands in that moment that when you're face to face with the Messiah, that when you're face to face with God himself, really the only appropriate response is to fall at your knees and say, woe is me.
[31:04] For I am a sinful man. And so that's what he does. I am a sinful man.
[31:17] Depart from me. I mean, the cry of your heart, I would think, is Lord, save me.
[31:29] For I am a sinful man. But Peter understands he doesn't deserve that. Which is the best place for him to be.
[31:42] Best place for any one of us to be. Recognize, I don't deserve this. I haven't done anything to deserve this. I haven't been good enough. I haven't done enough good things. I could never be good enough.
[31:53] I'm in trouble before a righteous and holy God. Oh, and there he is. Right in front of me. So I'm going to do the only logical thing to do at this point for Peter is to fall on his knees at the feet of Jesus.
[32:16] I'm a sinful man. Depart. You can't come into contact with someone like me, Jesus. You can't do it.
[32:30] For Peter and all who were with him were, here's Luke's famous line, were amazed, were astonished. I bet. I bet. I bet they were.
[32:41] At the catch of fish that they had taken. This whole, every, the crowd, everyone there that day, it was a fishing town. They would have known what a big catch would have looked like.
[32:55] This is it. This is bigger than a big catch. This is a miraculous catch of fish. They were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.
[33:05] And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. When I, when I, when I see the sons of Zebedee, by the way, this kind of shows you where my middle school mind goes.
[33:22] Zippity doo da, Zebedee yay. You have a weird pastor. They were partners with Simon.
[33:36] Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. from now on, you will be, I can't say it this way.
[33:47] Right? If you're like me, you can't say it this way. Because this doesn't do it justice to the old, old ways. You will be what? Fishers of men. Why, why do they have to change what is already so ingrained in our heads and perfect?
[34:04] And now on, you will be fishers of men. I don't think it changes the meaning at all. What, what's the point? Do not be afraid, Peter. From now on, you will be fishers of men.
[34:16] And when they had brought their boats to land, aha! It is then that they left everything and followed him.
[34:32] No special looks. Right? No blue eyes. None of that. No stare downs.
[34:44] None of that's going on here. And no craziness. This isn't so crazy. When, when, when, when you hear it taught and expressed the way that some do where they don't consider the back story when it's just Jesus showing up at the shoreline and hey, Peter, come and follow me.
[35:07] And it's like, okay. You're thinking, okay, Peter and Andrew, they're kind of nuts. Because that's what it would take to meet some guy just because he's got blue eyes.
[35:18] You're going to follow him? Walk away from everything you've got? No. But when you know the back story and you know that everything that Peter has seen and heard is building up until this point.
[35:39] By the time Jesus says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That what Peter decides to do in that moment makes perfect sense.
[35:57] And maybe you and I would make the same decision. that yes, it makes perfect sense because he has clearly demonstrated himself to be what Andrew first said about him way back in John chapter 1 or way back at the Jordan River.
[36:24] Absolutely. Absolutely. So with that story in mind, I want to talk to you and you have this on your notes how to recognize God's call in your life and to take some lessons from what happened with Simon Peter, the full story of what happened with Simon Peter and then see what we can glean, what we can learn from this story.
[36:54] So, how to recognize God's call in your life. Number one, first thing, expect it to be clear. And by clear, I don't mean foggy.
[37:06] I don't mean mystical. God's will for my life is out there somewhere. No. And actually, the terminology that we use, the phrasing that we use to describe discovering God's will or however you want to say that, it perhaps could be tightened up a bit.
[37:31] It's not about finding God's will. Even though that's how we frame it. So often, finding God's will.
[37:43] We've got to discover, we've got to find, like it's out there. It's as if God's will was somehow lost or hidden and we've got to find it. No.
[37:57] That's not correct Bible thinking when it comes to understanding or recognizing God's will for my life or God's will for your life.
[38:09] That's not what it's about. And it does go back to that little phrase that Peter said in verse 5.
[38:22] At your word, at your word, God's word is God's will. Okay?
[38:34] So, Psalm 119, 105 is a passage some of you have memorized. You know this verse. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
[38:47] Right? So, in that culture, in that time frame, what kind of lamp would they be carrying? It was, yeah, it was an oil lamp.
[39:00] Who said that? I think a few of you did. Oil lamp. Right. It wasn't one of these like super charged, like 5,000 lumens, you know, super bright, you know, with a five pound battery in it, and all these LED lights, and like can shine.
[39:19] If I had one of those, I could shine it, and it would shine for like five miles ahead of me, and you know how they come on commercials like that, and they want to sell you those flashlights? That's not what the hell, they didn't have that technology back then.
[39:33] I don't know if you knew that or not, but they didn't have that. They had little oil lamps, and if you've ever had just a little oil lamp, how many of you have ever went camping or out in the woods and you just had an oil lamp?
[39:49] Don't want to admit your age right now, but some of you are, no. But you have one of those lamps, how far ahead do you see? No, not very far at all.
[40:02] That's why it says, there's a lamp to my what? Because it's just right out in front of you. So you're not tripping over that branch that's ingrown into the path, right?
[40:16] That's what God's will is like. It's just a light, a lamp for your feet, a light for your path, so you're not tripping over stuff.
[40:27] Even if you hold it up, you're still going to only see so far ahead, and it's not going to be very clear. But right in front of you, oh yeah, I can see that. God's will is kind of like that.
[40:41] It's just what's right out in front of you, and it's clear. So that's what God demonstrates for us. It goes on from there, expect it to be ongoing.
[40:55] Oh, wait a minute. I forgot to circle the word, your word, as a lamp, because that's what it is. It's God's word that is the lamp. Okay, move on. Expect it to be ongoing.
[41:07] I was going to put, expect it to be progressive here, but I can't use that word in 2025 because that means something different than if you look it up in your online dictionary, it means one thing, and then it means the secondary thing, which is the secondary thing, which is the one thing that I would mean, but we're so stuck on the political view of what a progressive is that we can't, anyway, it's ongoing, it builds on each other, right?
[41:36] It's consequences of our peculiar workings. Expect it to be ongoing. In other words, as you respond to the light that you have today, God will give you a little bit more light tomorrow.
[41:51] tomorrow. If you're not faithful to respond to the light that you have today, you're not going to get more light tomorrow.
[42:03] Okay? That's a pretty consistent theme. Proverbs 4 verses 18 and 19, but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
[42:17] Now some of you get up in the morning, right? And you get up before dawn or long before dawn, you see how the light begins to shine even before the sun comes over the horizon, right?
[42:33] Right? You've been there? You've seen that? And that's what it's like until you have the sun full on in the sky. It just gets a little bit lighter and a little bit lighter and a little bit lighter.
[42:50] What do they call that? What is it? Sunrise or or or or I can't even think of it myself.
[43:05] Daybreak. I'm looking for a specific word and I can't think of it so I'm out of luck. Dust. Twilight. Twilight. Twilight is that light that you have before dawn.
[43:21] Okay? That's what that is. And then after dawn it's more and more sun. The more sun you see the brighter it gets until it's full sun and you can see ahead of you.
[43:31] In the evening it's called dusk, right? After the sun sets you can't see the fried egg on the horizon anymore, right? And then it gets a little bit darker and a little bit darker.
[43:44] But for the God says for the person who is righteous that's what it's like. The path is like the light of dawn which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
[43:56] Now guess what for the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not even know over what they stumble. Okay? So it's ongoing.
[44:09] Expect it to be doable. people. Now this, I need a little explanation, maybe even a little picture to help explain this.
[44:26] And another way of saying this is it makes sense, but even that I'm not happy with. God is not going to lead you in a direction that seems totally against your heart.
[44:47] In other words, as you begin to understand the direction that God is leading you, he's not going to have to drag you kicking and screaming. It's not going to be something that you're opposed to.
[45:02] But here's part of the problem that sometimes we have in Christian circles. is someone, like for instance a missionary, will get up and speak at a church and they will say something to the lungs of, when I was growing up, man, the last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a missionary in Africa.
[45:20] And I just, Lord, you're not going to send me to Africa, no way, I'm never going to, I'm never going to, and they're speaking at your church as a missionary from Africa. Africa. And so you almost get the impression that if you become a Christian and start following the Lord, he's going to call you into something that you hate.
[45:41] And it doesn't work that way. It doesn't, that's not how it works. It will be something that you would desire. Now, this is not about, this is not speaking into the times in your life, the seasons in your life, where God directs you into a time of suffering.
[46:01] Or a time of hardship, or a time of trial. Because God will do that as well. I'm talking about the direction, the call of your life in terms of what it is that he wants you to do with your life.
[46:16] And the way that I can explain this is from what I have said before, what I've told you before about my own life. That when I was graduating from high school, I went from being a guy who loved nuclear physics, that was, I had a, I just loved studying nuclear physics, and was going to go into nuclear engineering, and then a year later, here I am going to Bible college to go into the ministry.
[46:47] And it's like, ew, how did that happen? Well, it's not a mystery. Over that year's period of time, I began to lose interest in nuclear physics, and engineering, and physics in general, and math, and all of that.
[47:07] I just, I have to admit, part of what made it a little bit easier was that my physics teacher, my senior year of high school, was about as boring a teacher and monotone of a teacher as you could get.
[47:20] But it really wasn't even that. It was me. It was my heart was changing. God was changing me. And I was getting involved in things at my church and in my youth group that I didn't know anything about.
[47:37] I had only known the church that I grew up in, and this was all new to me, and I was just jumping in with both feet, and I was asked to do things that, because I was just willing.
[47:50] And all the other kids were like, too smart. No, no, no, no, no. It's kind of like when you're at the dinner table, right? And what's the game people play so they don't have to pray before the meal?
[48:07] If you touch your nose, you don't have to pray? Any of you familiar with that? Some of you I know are. Come on. Really? I know I'm not the only weird one.
[48:23] Or maybe it's time to pray, and dad's going to call on someone to pray for the meal, and you're like, looking away. Oh, hi, dad.
[48:40] In more sophisticated circles, you touch your nose. Don't you know? The last person to touch their nose doesn't have to pray.
[48:53] Or, no, the last person does have to pray. It's got it all backward. Anyway, you get what I mean. So over a year's time, by the time I got to freshman orientation at the university, it was like, I don't want to be here.
[49:09] It wasn't just, I know this is not where God wants me to be. I didn't want to be there. I wanted, I didn't even know what that meant. I wasn't even sure that there were things called a Bible college, or what is that?
[49:25] Only weird people go there? What is that all about? I just didn't have a clue what that meant. But that's what I did. Some passages that kind of speak into this.
[49:41] Jesus, at the end of Matthew 11, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you an even bigger burden. Sometimes how people present following God's will, that it's going to weigh on you even heavier.
[49:59] No. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[50:11] the yoke here is on two animals that are pulling something that's burrowing a line in the ground.
[50:26] I know I'm plow. Yeah. Yeah.
[50:38] Another way of saying this is that for his yoke is easy as it fits like a glove. That's what it's portraying.
[50:50] And when I think of this, I think like a golf glove, not a loose fitting winter glove, but a glove that fits snugly, but fits perfectly. You don't have to struggle to put it on.
[51:02] You don't even know if it's there. It's just, it fits you perfectly. That's what it's describing here. And then another one, Psalm 37 verse 4, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
[51:19] It's not that he will give you what your heart desires, it's that he will give you new desires. But I want you to notice the key phrase here. The key phrase is highlighted in yellow. Delight yourself in the Lord.
[51:31] That's the starting point. You delight yourself in the Lord and that changes everything. When you delight in him. Number four, expect God to guide you.
[51:47] Alright, that seems kind of odd to say that, but let me fill in the rest of the blank here and it's not so odd. Remember, it is God who's providing his will. Remember who he is.
[51:58] Remember who God is that's giving you his will. Whenever God's will is clear, but for some reason still makes no sense to you, remember who you're arguing with.
[52:11] It's God. Clear, but it doesn't make any sense. That's kind of where I was at because I didn't have a clue what it meant for me to say I'm not going to the University of Cincinnati anymore.
[52:26] I just, I didn't know. That was a whole wide open, I don't know what that is. It was clear to start with.
[52:40] Don't go to this school. I was sitting there on the football field, all the lights were on for all the incoming freshmen, and I was sitting there and like, I don't belong here.
[52:51] It was clear as day to me. I just met my roommate. I'm not going here. Where are you going? I don't know. What are you going to study?
[53:02] I don't know. I don't know. I don't even know what, I don't know what that meant. But it was clear. Again, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
[53:13] If in that moment I leaned on my own understanding, I would have plotted on. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
[53:25] Make straight your paths. Let's talk like Yoda. Number five.
[53:41] Expect to obey what you already know. God is under no obligation to reveal anything more.
[53:56] Right? Well, Lord, please lead me to the woman, lead me to the man who will be my wife, who will be my husband. Well, when it comes to dating, yeah, I'm not going to do it your way.
[54:11] Well, God says, well, I have some clear instructions on how to do dating the way God intends. Well, I want God's will for my life.
[54:25] No, you don't, because you're not doing with what you know. Okay? What career choice? Well, what are you doing with the job that you currently have?
[54:36] Are you being faithful there? Are you honoring? Are you stealing under the table? Are you, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If you haven't let your nets down, don't leave your boats behind.
[54:52] Does that make sense? That for Peter, that's, that was the first ask that Jesus had for Peter.
[55:04] Go let your nets down in the deep for a catch. okay, Lord, at your word, I will let down the nets. And he did.
[55:14] He obeyed. And because he obeyed, he was free to leave everything. Leave the boats and go follow Jesus.
[55:28] One comes before the other. Finally, under the heading, fishing lessons from a carpenter. these aren't really fishing lessons, but I had to keep with the theme.
[55:43] So here we go when it comes to God's will. Catching nothing all night was as much a part of God's will for Peter as was catching a boatload the next day.
[55:58] We sometimes forget that. Peter had to go through the night catching nothing. God will have to go through the next day catching a boatload.
[56:16] Sometimes God will allow us or lead us into failure before he will reveal his will. God will often take us to places where we feel confident in order to remind us just how much we are truly dependent on him.
[56:36] Do you think Peter in a fishing boat was a safe place, confident place for him? Do you think Peter felt pretty confident in a fishing boat?
[56:48] Yeah, I think so. He grew up on the lake, knew that from childhood. That was his place. And that's where Jesus took him to teach him a lesson.
[56:59] how much he truly needed God. And finally, God's call for us to be disciples may not change your occupation, but it will absolutely change your priority in life.
[57:22] You may not be called to change your job, to change your profession, to change your career goals, but you will be called to change your priority in life.
[57:36] And purposefully, it's not plural. It's not priorities. It's one thing.
[57:51] Curly. Anybody know what I mean when I say curly? Anybody? What is it?
[58:04] It's not three stooges. Curly. The one thing. There's a little cow. City's lickers. There you go. The one thing.
[58:18] And the one thing is our relationship with the Lord. And if we get that right, all the other sub priorities fall into place. So we get the one priority correct, and that is our relationship with him.
[58:34] And that takes care of that takes care of the rest. All right, band, come on up. We're going to sing a song. And another good one.
[58:47] This is a song called The Things We Leave Behind. God. And it speaks of Peter leaving behind the boats, the nets.
[59:01] It speaks of Matthew leaving behind his tables, tax tables. and the blessing that comes when we choose to make that decision to leave behind.
[59:15] Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for these lessons.
[59:28] And I pray, Lord, that we would be students of the word, to not fall into the easy trap of not getting the full back story or not understanding what's really happening because either we're lazy or we just don't know.
[59:51] But Lord, help us to know that there are references in our Bibles for a reason and that we should follow those and see the story behind the story.
[60:04] Help us to want to be that kind of student of your word. And Lord, I pray that we would learn the lesson of Peter, of what it means to know your will and then to follow your will, to be faithful to what we already know and we know then Lord that you will be faithful to continue to lead and guide us all along the way.
[60:39] Help us to recognize that your word is full of your will and your wisdom. Help us to apply it, to obey it, and then Lord, we'll reap the benefit from following you.
[61:01] So Lord, again, we love you, we praise you, and we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.