Father, we thank you that you speak to us through your word.
And Father, it's your word, not ours.
And you have all sorts of different things that you bring into our lives,
each of them different through your word.
And we invite and give you permission, Father,
to bring your word very deeply into our hearts,
the command center of our lives,
that your word would work its mighty power within us
so that we would know how to love you and serve you
in our day and in our age and in our context,
that we would know how to bring you glory
in our families, our friends, our neighborhoods,
in our jobs, in our retirement.
Father, to the very ends of the earth, including missionaries,
Father, bring your word deeply home to us
that we might know how to serve you
and to live in a way that brings you glory and lifts Jesus high.
And all this we ask in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So we begin a new sermon series today.
This is sort of the first Sunday of the summer.
In fact, it's so nice that I'm not here all by myself,
just me and Andrew.
This being a long weekend,
always one of the lowest attended services of the year,
so it's really good you're here
to open God's word on the Lord's Day.
And this 10-week sermon series,
it's going to be called Real Jesus, Real Miracles.
We're going to look at 10 different miracle stories in the Gospels.
We're not going to do any of the miracle stories from the Gospel of John
because those of you who, this is your church home,
you'll know that in the spring,
I finished a long series on John.
So we're not going to look at any of the John miracles,
but we're going to look at a variety of miracles.
And this first one that we're looking at,
I wish I had a flashy beginning.
All I can really do is just share from my heart.
I don't talk about this very much,
but it's a very, very common thing for ministers
that not maybe immediately after the service,
but shortly after the service,
a couple of hours after the service,
we often feel very, very tired and down.
And that feeling tired and feeling down
can last for at least 24 hours.
And scientists, doctors can tell you
that to get up like this,
standing in front of people and speaking
is one of the scariest things for North Americans to do.
And that's what I'm doing for you right now.
And so you produce adrenaline to do this.
And when the body produces adrenaline,
then later on, something comes to lower the adrenaline.
And that often makes you feel just blah, tired.
My poor, long-suffering wife has to put up with me
and not being very energetic or lively
for the rest of the day and into tomorrow.
But this week, I'm used to the fact
that often on Mondays, I don't feel very good.
And I just tell myself, well, tomorrow's Tuesday.
This will go away and tomorrow's Tuesday.
But this week on Tuesday,
I was still feeling pretty down, actually.
And I was walking down Bank Street in Centertown.
And I was walking from where our ministry space was
to a place where I was going to do some work.
And I was pretty down.
And I was just praying about it,
about how down I was.
And it was one of the things,
I don't want to make it sound like I'm more mystical than I am.
I'm not very mystical.
But it was as if the Lord said to me,
George, what is it you're preaching on on Sunday?
And then as I sort of thought about what I was preaching on on Sunday,
this text in Luke,
the Lord used the text in a very powerful way just to encourage me.
And I wish I could do that for you.
I don't know how many of you are discouraged.
I was just discouraged a little bit about how hard it is to be a Christian in today's world.
How we're the away team in today's world.
That's sort of what I was thinking of.
You know what the away team means?
Just think of those Raptor Golden State Warrior games.
And just think of the Golden State Warriors coming into Toronto.
Okay.
Well, we're the Golden State Warriors playing in Toronto.
That's just what it's like now to be a Christian.
The world cheers for the other side, not us.
Standing ovations for the other side, not for us.
And I was just really feeling despondent about it.
But this text, as I just thought about it,
it really lifted my spirits.
Between Somerset and Gladstone,
the Lord did a work on my heart as I thought about this text.
And I don't know what the Lord's going to do in your hearts today
as we look at this text, but let's look at the text.
So it's Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.
Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.
And this is a nature miracle.
Excuse me, a nature miracle.
And here's how it goes.
Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.
So just before I start reading this,
just a little bit for those of you who don't know some of these things.
The guy who's writing this never saw Jesus in the flesh.
And he's not Jewish.
He was a pagan who sometime after the death and resurrection of Jesus,
this pagan doctor, so he was well-educated,
he becomes a Christian.
We're never told how he goes from being a pagan to being a Christian,
but we know that he has gone from being a pagan to being a Christian.
And so one of the things that he does,
if you go back and you read the beginning of Luke
and the beginning of Acts, because he wrote both books as sort of a two-parter,
you'll see that what he said is he wanted to go
and look up all the eyewitness people.
And in a sense, he says, basically,
I went and studied and listened to the eyewitnesses.
And out of listening to the eyewitnesses
and maybe looking at some written documents as well,
I've put together a true story of things that really happened to Jesus.
And that's what Luke has done.
And that's who he is, and that's what he's done.
And he does it because he wants this man, Theophilus,
to know and understand who Jesus is.
So this is part of that process.
It's a book, and it's chapter 5.
There's a lot of chapters in the book,
but this is early on in the book, and it goes like this.
On one occasion, verse 1,
while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear the word of God,
Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
I can't pronounce that very well.
Just pause here for a second.
Just a couple of things which are really interesting about this.
The first one is this thing when he says, on one occasion.
In the original language, it's a bit of a...
What he's saying is, this is something that happened.
He's saying two things by using this phrase.
One of them is, this is something that really happened.
If Luke was here and was doing it for you,
he'd say, if there was ever an ability to have a time machine,
and you folks went in a time machine, and you could program it,
you could go back in your time machine,
and you could watch this actually happen.
So it's a phrase that talks about it actually.
It's history.
This really happened.
The second thing is, he's trying to tell us
that he's not giving us a chronological thing.
He's...
It would be a little bit if you went to a...
It's a little bit like...
Think about it as you go to a funeral,
a memorial service,
and somebody gets up to speak about their mom,
or whatever, who died.
And often, when people at a memorial service,
when they get up and talk about their mom,
they don't do a strict chronology.
They'll tell you this story,
then they'll tell you this story,
and then they'll tell you this story,
and some of them go on way too long.
But afterwards, they might not...
If you actually said,
sorry, did those stories all happen in that order?
They said, no, no, no, no.
They didn't happen in that order.
I just thought they were all interesting stories.
I told them in a certain order for your interest,
but I wasn't actually telling you the chronology.
And what Luke says,
when he says on one occasion,
he's telling you the same thing.
He's saying, I'm going to tell you a true story,
but it doesn't necessarily just immediately follow
after the last bit that I told you.
Luke does this all the way through his gospel.
And it drives 2019 Christians nuts,
because one of the things that we like,
that they didn't really care about,
was chronology.
We love chronologies.
We love it if there's a blog or a tweet or something
which can show a timeline.
You hear something happen in the news,
some shootings or something.
We love things like that, all the timeline.
Luke didn't care about that.
He's telling you about Jesus.
He's in a sense,
well, he's just telling you about Jesus.
And the stories are all true,
but they're not necessarily in a chronology.
Drives people like us nuts.
The other thing is,
just two other things about this story
to take a long thing.
It's very interesting.
Look again at what it says here.
They press in on him to hear the word of God.
There's a lot of important Bible doctrine,
which is just sort of,
it peaks its head up every once in a while.
And if you're not paying attention,
you don't notice that it's just peaked its head up
and then went underneath.
And if you add up all the times it peaks up,
you realize that it's a really important doctrine,
but it's just a doctrine that peaks up.
And what Luke is saying here is,
when you heard Jesus speak,
you were hearing God speak.
That's what Luke is saying.
If you had been there that day,
and what people understood is that
when they're listening to Jesus,
they're hearing God speak.
It's a huge claim,
but it just peaks itself up,
goes back underneath.
And this all happens,
the Gennesaret,
it's another name for Galilee.
So verse two,
that's just how it begins.
And now the story goes in.
Verse two,
and Jesus 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,
Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.
And then Jesus sat down
and taught the people from the boat.
And just sort of pause here for a second.
Simon is better known to most people as Peter.
Jesus changes Peter's name later on in the story,
but originally his name was Simon,
a common Jewish name.
And Simon is a commercial fisherman.
So he's not just a guy going out there,
casting a line,
hoping to catch some fish
so he can have some fish for breakfast.
He's a commercial fisherman.
In those days,
commercial fishermen worked all night
so that in the morning,
the fish would be fresh
that they could sell at the market to make a living.
So Simon's a commercial fisherman.
He would have been fishing with a net,
not a line and a lure.
And that's what he's been doing all night.
And they're washing their nets.
Their work day is over, so to speak.
They're preparing to go home.
And Jesus asked if they could just move out a little bit
so he has a bit of distance to speak.
Verse 4.
And when he had finished speaking,
that's Jesus,
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.
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.
Now just sort of pause here for a second.
It's not as obvious in English.
It's obvious if you think about it in a second
when you see what Peter's going to say in a moment,
what Simon's going to say in a moment.
But the image here is
as if the fish are swimming into the net.
It's as if, you know,
if you had Polaroid sunglasses
and you could be looking at the water,
it's as if you could see a fish coming from over there
to get into the net.
And another fish from over there
coming to get into the net.
And another fish from over there
coming to get into the net.
And these fishermen,
they put down their net,
they try to bring them back,
and the fish are still swimming into the net.
And they're swimming into the net
and swimming into the net
and they're jumping into the net
and they're trying to pull the net into the boat
and the fish are still coming
and they call for the other boat.
And the other boat comes
and starts to try to help them
and maybe they're also throwing in their net at first
because they don't really know what they're doing.
But the fish are going into that
and the fish are going into that
and that's the image which is going on.
It's shocking.
It's shocking to these fishermen.
And we see that in terms of how Peter reacts.
It's a very, very, very powerful graphic image.
So you have to, you know,
you just imagine they're bringing these nets
into this flat-bottom boat
and as they're bringing them in,
the fish are flopping around
and Jesus is in the boat
with the fish all flopping around
and the fish swimming to get into the net
to get into the boat.
And Simon is seeing this net.
It's just pulling the whole boat over
and there are fish flopping all over the place.
And what does Peter do?
Look at verse 8.
But when Peter, Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus' knees.
So if you're the type of person
who likes to picture things,
you picture Peter might even be kneeling
on a couple of fish.
They'd squish a way out of him,
but he just kneels right now
in the midst of all those fish
flopping around.
And he just goes on his knees.
He falls down
and he says to Jesus,
verse 8,
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,
son of Zebedee,
who were partners with Simon.
They're just completely
and utterly shocked.
We're going to talk in a moment
about Peter's puzzling reply.
Why?
Like, why is it that Peter says
something like,
Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man?
That's a very puzzling thing to say
if you think about it.
Like, it's not something
that we think a Canadian would say
if that same thing was happening to us.
Not the average Canadian.
At least we don't think
that's how a Canadian would respond.
And so what does Jesus say?
Does Jesus say,
Come on, Peter, get up.
Come on, get up.
Come on, I'm just a guy.
Get up, you know?
He doesn't say something like that.
What does Jesus say?
Says the last part of verse 10.
And Jesus said to Simon,
Do not be afraid.
From now on,
you will be catching men.
And when they had brought
their boats to land,
they left everything
and followed Jesus.
And just that little thing
that Jesus says,
Do not be afraid.
From now on,
you will be catching men.
In the original language,
that word catching
is a very rare word
in the New Testament.
It's only used two times.
And the significance
of the word is
it means catching alive.
Not catching to kill,
but catching alive.
And it only occurs
one other time
in the New Testament.
So he says,
Do not be afraid.
From now on,
you will be catching men.
And when they had brought
their boats to land,
they left everything
and followed him.
Now what to think about this.
You know,
when I was a kid,
I loved comic books.
And where we grew up,
I mean,
not only did I get my allowance,
but where we grew up,
they were building developments
all around.
And my friends and I
would go after the working day
was over.
And we'd go and find Coke bottles
because back then
when you wanted to drink pop,
it had to be in a bottle.
They didn't have cans.
That's how old I am.
I was a kid
when they invented cans,
actually.
That's how old I am.
The wheel was just a couple
of weeks before I was born.
Fire the day after I was born.
But they still had to drink Coke
and stuff like that
in bottles.
And so me and my friends,
we would go
and go around the work sites
looking for a bottle
so we could take them
to a store,
collect the deposit
because they were deposit,
two cents
to bring a bottle back.
And I won't bore you
about how much you could get
for two cents
in those days.
Ask me after the service.
But for six bottles,
I could buy a comic book.
And that's the main thing I did.
And Silver Surfer,
the X-Men,
believe it or not,
my top favorite comic book character
was the Black Panther.
But I also really liked Spider-Man,
the X-Men,
and the Silver Surfer.
And I loved comic books.
And when I went to university,
and actually when I was
in high school as well,
if we were to have,
if I was to have read a text
like this to my non-Christian friends,
we'd get into a big argument
about how a miracle
could possibly happen
because that used to be
a big thing for lots of people.
But I have a feeling
that if I read this
to my barista friends
who are non-Christians,
not a single one of them
would ask the question
about how a miracle
could happen
because we're used
to Harry Potter.
We're used to the fact
that Dr. X
can just freeze everybody.
He could freeze.
It wouldn't be beyond belief
that Dr. X
could just make fish
to go into a particular net.
Aquaman can control fish.
Wonder Woman can control animals.
In Star Wars,
Luke Skywalker
could probably get fish
to do things.
He can do that
to the bad guys.
And so when I was in university,
something like this miracle story
would be a problem,
but it's not a problem
often for people today.
They just look at it
and say,
well, that's a pretty cool thing.
But here's the thing
to try to make it
a little bit less cool,
to look at the story
because it's not just
an early Marvel comic book.
I know Aquaman
and Wonder Woman were DC.
It's not an early comic book.
It's something very different
that's going on here.
If you could put up
the first point, Andrew,
that would be very helpful.
This is a true story
about Jesus
and a real miracle.
This is a true story
about Jesus
and a real miracle.
Now, some of you might say,
like I'm sure
if I was to say this
to some of my barista friends
and others
that I've met in coffee shops,
that I can well picture
some of them
would just mock me openly
and say that
this is all just invented.
In fact, George,
your comic book analogy
is perfect.
It's just as real
as Dr. X is real
or Wolverine is real.
Wouldn't it be cool
if Wolverine was real?
But that's an aside.
He's my favorite guy.
Anyway,
amongst those superheroes.
That says something
about my personality
that he would be my favorite.
But, you know,
lots of people
would still just say,
George, a story like this,
it's not a true story
and it's not a real miracle.
And just because
it's in the Bible,
are you saying
that just because
it's in the Bible
that we should believe it?
And I'm saying
yes and no to that.
Yes and no.
For Christians, yes.
If it's in the Bible,
we believe it.
That's what Christians
are supposed to do.
Jesus believed the Bible
and we should believe him.
But for non-Christians,
no, I'm not obviously
saying that,
that just because
it's in the Bible
you have to believe it.
But, but, but,
at least let me
have a conversation with you
about what the Bible
is claiming.
Because beyond the fact
that it's a Bible,
this is something
that was probably written
before the year 70
by a pagan
who was a doctor
who became a Christian.
And he probably
became a Christian
because whether directly
through him talking
to eyewitnesses
or somebody who was
telling him what eyewitnesses
said,
he heard about Jesus
and Jesus' death
on the cross
and his resurrection.
And as a result
of hearing about Jesus,
he left being a pagan,
broke with his culture
to become a Christian,
and Luke is claiming
that this actually happened.
Now, you might say
that he's lying.
That's fine.
We can have a conversation
around that.
But let's at least
just grant him
what he's making the claim of.
And the claim is
that what I just read
to you
is a true story
about a man named Jesus
performing a real miracle.
It's not a myth.
It's not a comic book.
It's not a fantasy.
It's not a moral tale.
Luke is claiming
that it happened
in space and time.
And what he's claiming
is that Jesus
willed the fish
into the net.
He didn't pray to God
that God would hear
his prayer and act.
Jesus willed
the fish
into the net.
And the evidence
that Luke gives
is that it's not
a natural process.
It shocked
people who'd been
making their living
fishing
for years and years
and years
who grew up
by the Sea of Galilee.
It shocked them.
That it's not
a natural occurrence
that fish would come
swimming
into the net
to be caught.
It shocked them.
And that's what Luke
is claiming.
He's claiming
that it's
not a natural process,
that it's something
that natural processes
can't account for.
Now here there's
a bit of an aside.
You know,
it's really interesting
that superheroes
and Harry Potter
are so popular
in our day and age.
Like it really is.
I think it shows
something about
what we want
in our culture.
I have a,
I was talking
to a person
the other day
and I don't know
how it came up.
It came up about
human origins
and evolution.
And people
who aren't Christians,
they often like
to bring up
evolution with me
because they think
I'm going to become
very red in the face
and embarrassed
and start to go
like this
and try to
change the topic.
But amongst other things
what I said to her
was I said this.
I said,
how is it that you believe
she's really big
in social justice?
Really, really, really,
really big
in social justice?
I said,
how is it that you believe
that everything
that came to be
is a result
of the strong
eating the weak
but you think
that we should
love one another?
If that's in fact
the story
about how all things
came to be
that the strong
eat the weak
and the weak die
and the strong live,
if that's actually
how all things
came to be,
how on earth
could you believe
that it's important
that you love
one another?
That doesn't fit at all.
And I think
what we're seeing
in our culture
is this.
On one hand,
there's still
a very strong
belief in science
that everything
is a result
of cause and effect
and that evolution
is true.
It must be true
because our high school
science teachers
taught us
that it's true
and many of the
biology teachers
in university,
if you've taken
any biology,
and it's definitely
the case.
I think I told you
a couple of weeks ago
how,
this is about a year ago,
a CBC cameraman
stopped me
on a glorious summer day
when I was out
for a run along
the canal
and there'd been
some study
that middle-aged guys
like me who ran
were less likely
to have some type
of health problem
and he asked me
if I'd heard of the study
and I said I hadn't heard
and I paused and said
but that makes sense
because God probably
designed us
in such a way
that if you do
something like exercise
it's going to mean
other bad things
don't happen
and it was,
it was a deer
in a headlight moment
for him
because I think
the last thing
he'd ever met
was somebody
who talked about
God creating
human beings
in all other life
and he went
blah, blah, blah, blah
and then he tried
to get me
to backtrack
and I said no, no,
no, no, I'm not
just saying
it's a result
of evolution
I think God
designed us
in such a way
so that if we do
things that are healthy
it has other,
anyway, I'm sure
I didn't make
the clip on it
but in our culture
on one hand
we want to believe
that it's all
a result of just
of time and chance
and naturalistic laws
but on the other hand
there's something
within us
that rebels against it
because the fact
of the matter is
is that in comic books
Dr. X
is obviously
a fantasy
Wonder Woman
is a fantasy
Wolverine
is a fantasy
people who have
these supernatural
type powers
and these unbelievable
powers
there's a fantasy
yet on what
so we
I think our culture
there's this
double motion
that's going on
on one hand
we believe in evolution
and we believe in science
on the other hand
we believe in
we want to believe
in something like
a Harry Potter universe
and we want to believe
in something like
a Luke Skywalker world
where there's something
beyond just the physical
and the material
we want to believe
in something like
Dr. X
but these are
like two separate
realities
that don't connect
at all
but in the Bible
they do
in the Bible
they do
the Bible
they do
in a very
very powerful way
and
and only the Bible
communicates this
in a way
that actually
makes sense
because you see
at the end of the day
the Bible says
that all things
came to be
it's not
not because of a what
matter and energy
and laws of motion
and laws of nature
but a who
that our world
depends upon
something outside
of the world
for our world
to exist
our world
depends upon
something outside
of the world
for our world
to exist
and that's what
we see so
powerfully here
in the story
can you put up
the next point
Andrew
the creator
has invaded
his creation
to begin
to set things
right
and liberate
his fallen
image bearers
the creator
has invaded
his creation
to begin
to set
things right
and liberate
his fallen
image bearers
the reason
that science
developed
in a Christian
world view
it isn't that
before
Christianity
there wasn't
cleverness
and it wasn't
it's not that
outside of
like in Islam
and Buddhism
and Hinduism
and Confucianism
cultures
they didn't
invent
individual
things
but science
is something
more than
just being
able to be
clever
and invent
particular
things
at the
heart
of
the heart
of what
why it was
that Christianity
ended up
rooting
that which
we call
science
is because
that Christianity
believed in a
sense that a
designer
created all
things
and if a
designer
created all
things
then we
in a sense
could reverse
engineer what
he did
to figure out
how things
work
and it
really is
in the
context
of that
belief
you see
in animism
things can
just happen
in paganism
things can
just happen
you can't
trust that
there's any
type of
order in
reality
because a
god might
just decide
to do
this or
that
in animism
it might
be that
you angered
the plant
or you
angered
this or
you angered
that and
that's why
you get
sick
there's no
type of
order ultimately
it's chaotic
and in
Buddhism and
Hinduism in
a sense
all things
are one
to believe
that things
are different
is an
illusion
and so
why do
you try
to figure
out how
an illusion
works
that's
an illusion
it's
an illusion
to pursue
that
and even
in Islam
it's not
so much
that they
have a
doctrine
of creation
it's just
that god
does this
and god
does this
and god
does this
it's almost
like a
pagan god
but made
big with
no other
gods
but only
in
Christianity
is there
this
sense
that god
has created
all things
he designed
this world
to be
our home
for us
to fit
here
and he
designed
this world
not only
for us
to fit
here
but for
us to
tend
the garden
to care
for the
world
which
implies
that there's
ways for us
to care
for the
world
to figure
out how
the world
works
and god
is not
just a god
who made
things
and then
he sort
of forgot
about it
and it's
just sort
of running
and on
no no
that god
is
they look
at this
story
and how
Jesus
can
the same
god
who just
said
out of
nothing
let there
be light
and let
just there
to be
fish
to exist
let there
to be
birds
to exist
the same
god
the same
creator
who has
made all
things
and sustains
all things
he comes
and enters
this story
and the same
god who can
say let there
be fish
can say let
the fish
go to that
net
there's no
contradiction
to that
it's the
creator
he's entered
the story
and we
understand
at a very
very deep
level
that on
one hand
this world
really does
feel sometimes
like it
is our
home
when you
have a day
when the
temperature
is perfect
and you've
had a really
nice meal
and you're
with your
friends
and you're
just
you don't
feel healthy
because health
is natural
you don't
feel pain
you don't
feel unhealthy
and you
feel at one
and the
sunset is
beautiful
and the
city is
beautiful
and everything
is beautiful
and you
just
this feels
like home
the other
hand
when we
look in the
newspaper
or go
online
and we
see the
terrible
evil
things that
are done
in this
world
we realize
that on
one level
sometimes we
feel like
this is at
our home
on the other
hand
it feels
at times
as if the
world is
not right
and only
the Christian
faith makes
those two
experiences
comprehensible
and understandable
God made
this world
as our
home
and we
human beings
have rebelled
against it
and brought
evil and
destruction
and disorder
into this
world
and when
we see
this story
it isn't
just a few
things on
a creed
the
communication
that there
is a
creator
who entered
his creation
and reveals
that he is
the creator
by doing
this remarkable
thing that
only the
creator can
do
which is
just to
order the
fish around
merely by
his will
the creator
himself
has invaded
his creation
and we
fallen human
beings
often feel
threatened
by the
invasion of
the creator
because we
feel as if
this is
mine
and so it
is in our
culture
when God
draws close
we worry
about his
commands around
sexuality
and his
commands around
money
and his
commands
around forgiveness
and his
commands around
gentleness
and his
commands around
compassion
and his
commands around
mercy
and his
commands around
identity
and sometimes
we feel these
things as a
threat as if
this kingdom
is ours
but this
story reveals
that the
creator is
entering his
creation to
set things
right
we human
beings in
Canada
basically always
think that
I'm the
judge
I'm the
emperor
and God
whatever God
pretends to
be
he's on
trial
and the
fact of
the matter
is things
are looking
very bad
for God
it looks
as if
he's just
going to
be condemned
to being a
bad God
a bad idea
a bad thing
he's threatening
he threatens
my sense of
identity
he threatens
what I want
to do
with my
money
what I
want to
do
with my
time
what I
want to
do
with my
sexuality
my time
my money
my sexuality
and he
threatens that
but
this story
is saying
that what
we're seeing
here in
Luke is
more like
D-Day
and we
have fallen
prey to the
propaganda as
if Nazi
rule is
natural
and will be
forever
but the
king himself
the creator
himself has
come into
his creation
to begin to
set all
things right
all
things
right
there's
another
thing
which is
really
important
in terms
of
how
he
sets
all
things
right
when
you
come
to
read
the
end
of
the
story
if
later
on
maybe
as
part
of
your
project
for
the
summary
you
decide
you're
just
going
to
sit
down
and
every
day
read
a
couple
of
chapters
of
Luke
and
you're
going
to
read
it
all
right
from
chapter
one
and
you're
going to
read
it
all
the
way
and
you're
going
to
come
eventually
to
Luke
chapter
22
and
23
where
Jesus
is
caught
and
then
he
dies
on
the
cross
and
the
resurrection
one
of
the
things
we
need
to
do
is
we
have
to
realize
that
what
Luke
is
doing
is
he's
asking
you
to
remember
everything
in
the
story
when
it
comes
to
that
time
of
the
crucifixion
because
if
you
remember
you
have
to
ask
yourself
how
is
one
who
can
cause
the
fish
to
come
from
all
over
the
lake
to
jump
into
the
net
how
can
one
like
that
die
upon
the
cross
and
who
is
dying
upon
the
cross
and
what
on
earth
is
going
on
if
Jesus
is
dying
on
a
cross
and
Luke
is
setting
it
up
through
story
not
through
doctrine
that
the
creator
has
invaded
his
own
creation
to
begin
to
set
things
right
and
the
pinnacle
and
the
linchpin
and
the
foundation
of
him
setting
things
right
is
the
creator
dies
for
his
rebellious
creature
the
creator
dies
in
the
place
of
his
rebellious
creature
is
key
to
him
setting
things
right
the
one
who
controls
nature
dies
on
the
cross
Peter
says
depart
from
me
for
I'm
a
sinful
man
and
Jesus
doesn't
say
yes
you
disgust
me
you
are
sinful
I
hate
you
no
he
says
in
such a
way
that
Peter
knows
that
it's
proper
that
he
follows
him
he
says
he
says
you
are
going
to
be
catching
men
catching
men
in
such
a
way
that
they
live
that
they
are
delivered
and
live
Peter
knows
he
has
to
follow
him
just
two
final
things
very
briefly
enclosed
if you
could
put up
the
third
point
to
follow
Jesus
means
doing
what
he
tells
you
to
do
and
also
to
pardon
me
I
had
to
bring
in
something
from
the
old
book
of
common
prayer
do
your
meat
right
and
bound
in
duty
old
English
that's
what's
that's
one of
the
things
which
is
so
powerfully
but
by
the
way
you
know
the
thing
that
encouraged
me
this
week
is
this
I'm
the
away
team
and
I
wish
I
had
more
fruitfulness
in
my
evangelism
than
I
do
but
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
creator
has
invaded
his
creation
and
the
one
who
creates
and
sustains
all
that
is
around
me
has
asked
me
unworthy
as
I
am
to
follow
him
and
to
proclaim
who
he
is
to
his
glory
and
the
Lord
brings
the
fish
that's
what
encouraged
me
the
creator
of all
things
invaded
this
world
and
died
for
me
and
he
asks
me
to
follow
him
encourage
me
and
in
this
story
you
see
this
wonderful
thing
on
one
hand
you
see
this
element
of
discipleship
which
is
if
Jesus
tells
us
to
do
something
we
have
to
do
it
now
I'm
not
saying
that
we
do
it
I'm
not
saying
we
do
it
with
a
smile
because
a lot
of
times
really
you
mean
I
can't
I
have
to
do
this
I
can't
do
this
with
my
sexuality
I
have
to
do
this
really
this
is
wrong
everybody
around
me
says
it's
right
really
you
know
we
can
have
these
conversations
with
God
but
at the
end
of
the
day
a
person
who
follows
Jesus
means
that
you
follow
Jesus
and
that
involves
first
of
all
you
do
what
he
says
but
the
second
thing
is
Jesus
never
actually
says
in
this
story
follow
me
does
he
but
Peter
knowing
Jesus
realizes
that
it
is
his
meat
right
and
bound
and
duty
some
things
follow
naturally
from
knowing
Jesus
that's
what
meat
right
and
bound
and
duty
later
on
the
communion
I
think
we
don't
use
the
old
language
of
it's
meat
right
and
our
bound
and
duty
I
think
it's
right
and
fitting
and
our
true
duty
to
do
this
it's
language
that
describes
how
in
a
created
world
there
are
certain
things
that
just
are
natural
that
just
follow
and
so
the
natural
thing
that
follows
from
Jesus
and
from
this
miracle
that
Peter
just
understands
not
as a
result
of
a
command
it
fits
it's
right
it's
the
appropriate
thing
that
if
the
creator
of
all
things
has
entered
his
creation
to
begin
to
make
things
right
and
he's
come
on
your
boat
and
done
this
miracle
that
the
meat
right
and
bound
and
duty
thing
that
you
do
is
you
follow
him
meat
right
and
bound
and
duty
it's
fitting
it's
right
it's
a
good
duty
can
you
put
up
the
last
point
Andrew
I
talked
about
this
a
little
bit
in
my
blog
knowing
Jesus
leads
me
to
leave
every
idol
behind
and
follow
him
you
know
the
thing
about
literally
leaving
all
of
your
net
and
all
the
fish
sometimes
that
literally
means
what
it
will
be
to
be
a
Christian
if
you
when
next
time
we
have
Aaron
I
me
and
his
ministry
to
the
Jewish
people
give
your
life
to
Jesus
it
will
mean
you
are
disowned
and
you
don't
have
a
place
to
live
and
one
of
the
things
that
Christians
have
to
do
in
a
place
like
Israel
is
actually
come up
with
hospitality
and
houses
so
that
when
the
ultra
Orthodox
give
their
lives
to
Jesus
they
actually
have
a
place
to
live
in
Iran
if
a
person
becomes
a
Christian
it
becomes
known
in
parts
of
and
it
might
be
in
our
day
and
age
that
we
will
lose
promotions
or
some
other
types
of
things
when
people
discover
that
we've
given
our
lives
to
Jesus
and
that
he
is
our
Savior
and
Lord
and
we
have
to
be
prepared
for
that
but
more
important
the
overall
teaching
of the
thing
is
what
is
an
idol
an
idol
is
a
false
god
and
a
false
god
will
give
you
a
sense
of
purpose
a
sense
of
direction
a
sense
of
identity
a
set
of
rules
and
the
main
task
of
discipleship
is
that
the
one
who
gives
us
our
direction
the
one
that
gives
us
meaning
the
one
that
tells
us
how
to
live
the
one
that
gives
us
purpose
true
north
all
of
that
becomes
Jesus
and
if
it's
Jesus
it
means
all
the
other
idols
that
we
have
all
of
the
ways
whether
it's
power
or
being
a
Canadian
or
a
Canadian
understanding
of
this
or
that
or
whatever
that
gives
us
meaning
and
direction
and
sense
and
purpose
and
all
of
that
these
we
have
to
set
behind
us
and
die
to
it
when
we
follow
Jesus
because
there
is
only
one
God
and
only
one
Savior
and
Luke
is
communicating
that
the
creator
of
all
things
himself
is
the
one
who
dies
upon
the
cross
because
he
loves
you
and
to
be
gripped
with
who
Jesus
is
that
the
creator
has
invaded
his
creation
to
begin
to
set
all
things
right
and
we
know
that
one
day
he
will
return
and
when
he
returns
all
this
world
will
come
to
an
end
and
all
idols
will
be
unmasked
and
come
to
an
end
and
this
in
between
time
will
come
to
an
end
and
all
who
are
alive
will
be
judged
and
those
in
Christ
will
be
Christ's
with
resurrection
bodies
in a
resurrection
world
to
live
with
him
and
each
other
forever
please
stand
just
bow
our
heads
in
prayer
father we
thank you
for the
sound of
children
in the
other
room
we know
it's a
bit
distracting
but
it's
so
nice
to be
distracted
by
children
in
church
rather
than
being
in
a
dead
place
without
the
sound
of
children
so
father
we
thank you
for
every
child
who
is
here
we
ask
that
through
our
witness
and
our
prayers
and
the
ministry
of the
Sunday
school
and
youth
group
and
other
ministries
that
each
of
those
children
will
come
to
know
Jesus
as
their
Savior
and their
Lord
and
father
I
ask
for
myself
and
for
all
of
us
here
that
you
would
bring
the
word
of
Jesus
and
this
miraculous
catch
of
fish
deep
into
our
hearts
and
father
this
profound
good
news
that
out of
love
for us
you
the
creator
of
all
things
would
enter
your
creation
and
take
on
flesh
like
we
have
but
that
you
would
come
to
set
things
right
preeminently
by dying
on the
cross
for
us
you
our
creator
die
for
me
such
love
father
grip
us
with
these
truths
that
we
might
know
what
it
means
to
follow
Jesus
to
listen
to
his
commands
and
desire
to
obey
them
and
to
know
the
wonderful
freeing
joy
of
doing
that
which
is
our
meet
right
and
bound
in
duty
what
you've
made
us
for
father
all
these
things
we
ask
in
the
name
of
Jesus
and
all
God's
people
said
amen