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focus on tonight is toward the beginning of the chapter, the passage about Peter being in the ship and the interaction with Jesus there. Now first of all, I want to point out this is actually a different event than what we see in Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus Christ first comes upon Peter and Andrew and James and John and he tells them they're going to be fishes of men. Turn to Matthew chapter 4 quickly and I want to show you a few differences quickly and I also want to show you why it's important to understand Matthew chapter 4 before we get into Luke chapter 5 because this whole scenario that plays out with Jesus Christ and the great multitude of fishes that's caught, it's a great illustration about soul winning and if we read Matthew chapter 4 that becomes apparent. Go to Matthew chapter 4 and we'll see this event in Matthew chapter 4. It says in verse number 13, it says, And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtaliim, those are two of the tribes of the children of Israel, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Zias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtaliim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, verse 18, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And here's the key, he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. Now go ahead and flip back over to Luke chapter 5 where we were. So in that passage we see Jesus is just walking along the seashore, he sees these men in the ships, you know they'd already been men that he had interacted with previously, if we read John chapter 1 that becomes apparent. But he says to these men, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. That shows that in the Bible God often uses fishing as a metaphor for going out and preaching the gospel of Christ and winning souls to Christ and bringing people to salvation and bringing them the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so that's what we're seeing pictured here in this story of Luke chapter 5 where Jesus commands and they bring in the multitude of fishes. Now the first thing I want to point out though before we get into the story in Luke chapter 5 is what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4. He said, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He didn't say, I might make you fishers of men if you follow me. Now that tells me that if someone's following Jesus, they're going to become a fisher of men. That's the destination. You see, Jesus Christ had 12 disciples and he didn't have some of his disciples that didn't do any soul winning. It wasn't that some of the disciples said, you know, that's not really my gift. That's not really why I'm following Jesus. I'm actually following Jesus for a different reason and I have other goals and I have other talents and gifts that I'm using. Like for example, you know, Judas Iscariot might have said, hey, I just want to handle the money. You know, because remember how he was the one who was in charge of the bag and he was the treasurer. But you know what? They were all 12 of them sent out to preach, all of them. Obviously we know that Judas was a devil and that Judas was not bringing forth any good fruit, but Judas was one of the 12. All the 12 were sent out and they were all given the same commandment and he said, if you follow me, I'll make you to become fishers of men. And let me tell you something, in 2013 it's no different. Those who are followers of Jesus Christ are fishers of men. Those who follow Jesus Christ are preaching the gospel, they're seeking and saving that which was lost. That's why Jesus came. He said, the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. What does it mean to seek? It means to go out and look for something. He said, Jesus Christ came to go out and find the lost and bring them salvation to seek and to save that which was lost. And then he said, as my Father hath sent me, so send I you. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He said, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, even at the end of the world. That is a command to every believer, it's a command to every disciple and follower of Christ to become a fisher of men. Okay, now in Luke chapter 5 it's a later event. You say, well, how do you know this is a different event in Luke 5? Well here's why. First of all, as we read the story you'll see the situation's different. But secondly, in Luke chapter 4 verse 38 we see the miracle of Jesus healing Peter's mother of a fever. Well that miracle where Jesus heals Peter's mother of a fever is found in Matthew chapter 8. And in fact, a lot of the events of Luke 4 and Luke 5 are all covered in Matthew chapter 8. So if all the events of Luke 4 and 5, the latter part of Luke 4 and chapter 5, are in Matthew chapter 8, well then it stands to reason that the story in Matthew chapter 4 comes before the story in Matthew chapter 8. Even though those were close together in time, these are slightly different events in time. So look at verse number 1 of Luke chapter 5. It says, And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. So Jesus, after he preaches this sermon, he gets in the boat, and he's pushed out a little bit from the land. That will allow his voice to carry over the water, because he's preaching to a large crowd with no microphone, but the water will actually cause your voice to project very well and reflect very well. So after Jesus finishes his sermon, he turns to Peter, the one who's handling the ship, and he says, I want you to go out into the deep, and he says, and let down your nets for a draft. And at the end of verse 4 there, is that plural or singular on nets there? Plural. He didn't say let down a single net, he said let down your nets. And look what Simon said. Simon Peter answering said unto him, Master, we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing. So he's raising an objection here, saying, you know what? We've already toiled all night and caught nothing. I think it's a waste of time, nevertheless, he's saying, but I'm going to do it anyway, nonetheless, at thy word I will let down the what? Plural or singular? Singular. So Jesus said, let down the nets. And he says, well, we've worked all night, I don't think it's any use, but he says, you know what? Because you're telling me to do it, and you're my master, he said, I will let down the net singular. And of course when they had this done, it says in verse 6, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. So of course the net's going to break because Jesus told you to let down multiple nets. You only let down one. You weren't even ready for the blessing he's going to give you. And look, they missed out on some of those fishes. A lot of those fishes got away because he did not obey all the way. Now we can tie this in with so many things that have to do with soul winning. For example, the attitude that says that soul winning doesn't work. Because basically Peter's saying, you know what, we tried this and it didn't work. We've toiled all night and we've caught nothing. I don't think soul winning works. Now go back if you would to Psalm 126. In the very middle of your Bible is the book of Psalms. And remember the Bible says, and let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. You know, that tells me that there are times that we work hard and we labor and we feel like we're not going to reap. We feel like we're not accomplishing anything. We're not seeing the results immediately. But the Bible says that if we continue, if we're steadfast, if we're unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord in due season. We shall reap if we faint not. And in Psalm 126 verse number 5 the Bible says, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. And of course this is another illustration about soul winning, the parable of the sower. And the Bible talks about the fact that the seed is the word of God. And the Bible says that if we go out weeping, meaning that we care, meaning that we have love and compassion in our heart for the lost, and we have the precious seed of the word of God, he said we will doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with him. He doesn't say we might, he said we'll doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. Now look, when we serve God or when we go out and preach the Gospel and try to get people saved, we're not always going to get instant results. For example I think of brother Donnie Romero here tonight. Someone reached him through soul winning. He knocked on his door, gave him the Gospel, got him saved, but here's the thing. There wasn't really a visible result right away necessarily because it was about four years later that he actually showed up at church and he got saved when the door was knocked four years previous, but he never really got baptized, he didn't grow, he didn't get in church, he wasn't reading his Bible until four years later he got in church and really started to thrive and grow and move forward in his Christian life. You know when we serve God we're not always going to see instant results. Sometimes we preach the Gospel to somebody and they don't get saved, they don't receive it right then and there, but we've planted a seed and that seed's going to germinate over time. Hopefully someone else will come along and water that seed or we might win somebody to the Lord, you know we might preach the Gospel to somebody and they believe it and they call upon the name of the Lord, but then maybe we don't see a change in their life right away. We don't see them get in church right away. You know what though, down the road you have no idea what God's going to do in that person's life because when someone gets saved the Holy Spirit is living inside of them and he's never going to depart. And so down the road that can come into play. You know I know a lot of people who got saved and they didn't grow for a long time, but the Holy Spirit's still there and down the road when they finally started hearing some Bible preaching, they finally got in church, man they started to thrive and grow and do great things for God. And you know we're going to have to wait until we get to heaven to really see the final result of the works that we're doing for God. And we can just go around the room, you know Brother Richard Miller has a great testimony of how a guy came and gave the Gospel to him, preached him the plan of salvation, and he wasn't ready to receive it at that time. He got saved what, about a year later? And he doesn't know who that guy is. He's never been able to go to that guy and say, hey, thank you for giving me the Gospel even though I blew you off at the time, a year later I got saved as a direct result of you preaching to me the Gospel that day. But in heaven he'll tell him that. And so we don't see the immediate results all the time. You know we're laboring, we're working, we're staying up all night, and you know working all night as a fisherman is a tough job. And we work and we strive and we labor. We don't always see the results, but we ought to have the faith to say, you know what, if this is what Jesus is telling us to do, we're going to do it and we just believe that in due season we're going to reap if we faint not. And really the full reaping is not going to take place until we get to heaven. And when we get to heaven we'll see the final result of what was accomplished. But until then we just have to believe it by faith that when we go out and preach the Gospel and when we give the Gospel and when we preach the Word of God, we must be accomplishing something. Whether or not we see people get saved right then and there and whether or not we see the church filled with people that we reach, we just believe that what we're doing is having an impact and having an effect. And not only that, but this attitude that says it doesn't work. First of all, I don't believe that. I believe it does work. Because if we do it, he said, we'll doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sieves with us. He said we will reap in due season if we faint not. It's not a maybe. So I do believe that it does work. How could it not work? Look at opening your Bible and showing somebody how to be saved, quote, not work. Does the Gospel not work? I thought it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Of course it works. The problem is when we won't do the work, but the method works. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Gospel has power. The Word of God has power. Those that are filled with the Spirit of God can say with Micah the prophet, I am filled with power by the Spirit of God. The power is there. It's just we have to do it by faith because we're not always going to see an immediate result. But look at this. He said, we've toiled all night and caught nothing. He said, nevertheless at thy word I'll let down the net. You know that tells me in verse 5 there of Luke 5 that even if we're not seeing results, it should be enough that God told us to do it, to just keep on doing it. Even if we're not seeing the results. Just to believe that well if Jesus wants us to do it, we're going to do it. Whatever the reason why, we're just going to keep doing it. He said, Simon answering said unto him, Master, we've toiled all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. Now that's a partial obedience, not a full obedience. He's told to let down nets, plural. He gives partial obedience by letting down a net singular. As a result, some of the fish get away because he says that they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. Well what happens when the net breaks when you've enclosed a multitude of fishes? That means some of the fishes are going away. You're losing fish. And it says they beckoned unto other partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them and they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. I mean that's a lot of fish. I mean they're overloading two ships with fish. And what we can learn here first of all is the idea that when we don't give our full obedience to God's command to be a fisher of men, when we don't go out in full obedience and let down all the nets, pull out all the stops, really give it our best, as a result fish are being lost. I am not a Calvinist. I do not believe that God has already predetermined which ones will be saved and which ones will not be saved. Now I do believe that God knows which ones will be saved and which ones will not because God knows everything. God knows the end from the beginning. God knows every hair on our head. He knows the future. He knows the past. But that does not mean that he determines the outcome because he very clearly said that whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely. Now again, I could preach a whole sermon showing you the damnable heresy of Calvinism because the Bible is real clear that Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man. It says he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Meaning he's even the savior of those who don't believe, but it's not going to do him any good unless it's mixed with faith in them that hear it. Look, Jesus Christ died on the cross for every single person. He's the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. He gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Jesus Christ wants everyone to be saved. He gave his life for every single person, but everybody's not going to heaven because there's one thing that we must do to be saved. The Bible says, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely. Salvation is free. It's paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's free to those who call upon him by faith. It is a free gift available to all. He died for all. The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, Romans 5.18. It's available to all, and let me tell you something, the more obedient we are to go fishing, the more fish we're going to catch. Now this is a very logical principle here. The more fishing we do, the more fish we're going to catch. Does everybody understand that? If we fish less, we're going to catch less fish. If we fish with two nets, we're going to catch more fish than if we fish with only one net. And here we see, because Peter is not fully obedient to the command to let down the nets, plural, fish are escaping the net as a result, and this pictures the fact that when we as a church are not fully obedient to the command. You know, let's say that the nets represent people going out and preaching the gospel. Let's say only half the church is going when the whole church should be going. When everybody in church should be involved. You know, but we're only going at half steam. We're only firing on half our pistons. We're only letting down one net versus two. Well you know, that tells me that there are fish that are getting away. There are fish that are getting through the net, you know, because the net's going to break. Because we have too much to do. And you know, I believe what's pictured here when he says, you know, they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. You know, this is us trying to encourage and get other people out soul winning with us. We need help. You know, it's us looking at the job before us. It's us looking at the task of getting the gospel out to every creature. And look, we can't reach the whole world, but we're trying to reach at least this area. At least we can get the gospel to everybody in Phoenix. And look, most people are going to reject the gospel, aren't they? As broad as the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. But you know what? We can at least make sure to get the gospel to everybody and give everybody a chance and give them a clear presentation of the gospel. We're not going to save the majority, but we want to save as many souls as we can by preaching the gospel to every creature. And let me tell you something, it's a big job. When you look at a city of almost four million people in the surrounding area, it's a huge job. And so we need to beckon unto our other partners, which are in the other ship, that they should come and help us. You know, I think the people that are in the other ship could represent people in the church that aren't involved in soul winning. You know, and that's part of what this sermon is. It's to beckon them. Hey, we need some help. You know, we had a great group out there knocking doors this afternoon, but you know what? We could use your help. We could use your help out there. Because look, and you say, well, I'm just a silent partner. But you know what? You've doubled the force. I mean, if we had ten people out soul winning and everybody's a talker, if we just get ten silent partners out there, we just doubled our soul winning, because we're going two by two. So you see how even the silent partner is a part of the team. And not only that, but the silent partner can be praying and can be helping and providing needed fellowship and encouragement to the one who's doing the talking. And they're also learning so that someday they'll be the one doing the talking. You know, everybody's a part of the team out there. Everybody has a role to play. And you know what? We need all nets in action. We need all the nets. We need all hands on deck. We need the nets and we need men to operate those nets and we need to beckon to people that are in the other ship and say, hey, we need some help. This is a big job. Let's join together and do this. You know, we can even beckon unto other churches and try to admonish them and say to them, you know, hey, you need to knock some doors. I mean, you know, we need to get this done. Let's all knock doors. Let's all preach the gospel. Let's all get this done. And so it's a big job and it's going to take a lot of people. Look, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he'll send forth laborers into harvest. That's equivalent to beckoning unto others in the other ship to get involved and help out with the job. Look what it says in verse 8. When Simon Peter saw it, when he saw this great multitude of fishes, you know, I think he felt guilty for his foolishness in doubting what Jesus was telling him and how he did not let down both nets like he was supposed to. And it says in verse 8, when Peter saw it, Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished in all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. See Jesus again is relating this back to what it's really about. Not about catching a fish, but catching men, winning souls to Jesus Christ. But let me tell you something, you know what this tells me? This tells me that there are people out there who don't want to follow Jesus and they don't want to be involved in the fishing expedition of being a fisher of men, and the reason why is because they feel that they're too sinful to be involved. And so they want to throw in the towel, like Peter says, you know what, Jesus, just depart from me. I'm not worthy, is what he's saying. He says, Depart from me, I'm a sinful man. I'm afraid to even be around you, because I know how sinful I am, I know I'm not worthy to be in your presence. And look, wouldn't you be a little nervous being around Jesus? I mean if Jesus were around you might be a little nervous, you don't want to be around him necessarily, because you're ashamed of yourself and you don't want to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, or you just don't feel like you're worthy. And you know, this is a great thing about Peter, because look, Peter made a lot of mistakes didn't he? In the Bible we see Peter make mistakes, but why was he one of the top disciples? Why was he mightily used by God? Because we see an attribute in Peter here that existed in every great man in the Bible, which is humility. Every great man in the Bible was a humble man, and Peter is no exception. Even though he did a lot of foolish things and made mistakes, he was very humble. He wasn't thinking of himself higher than he ought to think. In fact he had the opposite problem here. He's falling on his knees saying, depart from me Jesus, I'm a sinful man. And you know, there are people out there who feel like, you know what, God couldn't really use me greatly to get people saved, or God really couldn't use me, you know, and people will say this, well I don't want to go out soul winning because I don't want to be a hypocrite. Who's ever heard that before? Well I don't want to be a hypocrite. I always tell people, you know, I heard somebody say, well you know, I smoke, so I don't want to be a soul winner because I don't want to be a hypocrite. And I say to them, well are you telling people that they have to quit smoking to go to heaven? Because that's a lie if that's what you're telling them. Because the Bible doesn't say you have to quit smoking, you can smoke all the way to heaven my friend. You're going to get there faster. I mean that's a faster way to get to heaven. Just smoke, man, smoke all the way to heaven. I mean you'll die sooner, you know, to die is gain. And obviously I'm joking because obviously smoking is a very foolish habit because number one, five bucks a day is going up in smoke. So you're not being a good steward of your money. You're smoking away five bucks a day, or six bucks a day, or if you live in New York City it's like 12 bucks for a pack of cigarettes because of the taxation. I heard that on the news. And so people say, well, you don't understand, I have this particular sin. I just threw that out there about smoking. But just whatever the sin. You say, well I have this sin in my life. I have a problem with lying, I have a problem with stealing, I have a problem with watching the wrong things on TV, which is basically watching TV, okay. You know, I have a problem with sinfulness or worldliness, or I have a problem with covetousness, I have a problem with lust, and you say, you know, I don't want to be a hypocrite, so I want to get all my sins out of my life and be living a nice, clean, squeaky clean Christian type life. Then I'm going to be ready to go out soul winning. Look, the message of soul winning is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the message. Now if you believe on Jesus Christ, you're ready to go preach that message without being a hypocrite. Now if you don't believe that you're a sinner, if you don't believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, if you don't believe in the death, burial, and resurrection, if you don't believe in the eternal security of the believer and you're going out preaching it, then yeah, you're a hypocrite, you're Judas Iscariot, because that's what Judas Iscariot did. He went around preaching a message that he didn't even believe in, because the Bible said that he believed not. And you know, people try to say, oh, Judas lost his salvation. No, he believed not from the beginning, it says in John chapter 6. He did not believe on Christ. So yeah, going around telling people, Judas, to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and pointing them to Jesus saying, believe on Jesus when you don't do it yourself. You're a hypocrite. But let me tell you something. If you're saved, you're ready to go soul winning and you're not a hypocrite. I don't care what your smoking is like, I don't care what your DVD cabinet is like, I don't care what your music collection is like, I don't care what you're doing in your life, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you have confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you're ready to go preach that message. And you are not a hypocrite. In fact, soul winning and getting out of soul winning will do more to clean up your life than anything. Because the Bible says that every branch that is in Jesus that brings forth fruit, he'll purge it. He'll purge it so that it will bring forth more fruit. So if you go out there and start bringing forth fruit, he'll purge you so that you'll bring forth more fruit. And you see how people get this out of order though. I literally, you might think that it's silly, but I literally, there was a guy at our church and I invited him, I said, listen brother so and so, I said, can I just take you out soul winning one time? I mean, can I just show you the ropes? Can we just go once and just, you know, you've been coming to church for months, you know. And he said, you know what? He said, Pastor Anderson, I would love to do that. He said, I'd love to go out soul winning with you. And he said, it's just that I've just, you know, I've been a Baptist for a long time. He said, I've just never been asked to go because at the other church that I went to, he said, I was never allowed to go soul winning because I smoke. And he said, you know, I've tried to quit smoking. It's a difficult habit for me to quit. And this was a guy, here's the thing, this was a guy that used to be on drugs. So for him, smoking is like, you know, major progress, you know, just smoking tobacco. You know, because this guy had been on serious drugs in the past. And so this guy had gotten off the serious drugs, he's still struggling with smoking, you know. Hopefully he's quit smoking by now, I don't know. But this guy, he said, you know, I'm smoking and so I wasn't supposed to go soul winning at the other church. It was like they didn't want me to do it, you know, they didn't allow you to go soul winning unless you were up to a certain standard. And I said, man, that's not the way I feel about it. I said, I'll take you soul winning. And I, you know, I've gone soul winning with people that looked very worldly, you know, because they were worldly. I mean, they're new believers, they're babes in Christ. And you know, somebody said, are you embarrassed to go soul winning with that person representing your church? You know what, I'm not ashamed of you at all, no matter who you are. If you're in our church and if you believe in Christ and if you have a desire to do what's right and a desire to grow, you know what, I'm not ashamed of you. I'm not ashamed of having somebody with me that's a new believer. That just shows that we're reaching people. You know, if I got somebody with me that's clearly a new believer, you know, that's just a great testimony. That might help me get more people saved. Somebody that maybe they can relate to is right there with me, bringing the same message. And so what I see here with Simon Peter falling down and saying, I'm a sinful man, we don't see Jesus say, well, you know, come back to me when you're not. Is that what Jesus told Peter? Come back to me when you're not so sinful then. You're right. You're right, you're way too sinful to be preaching the gospel. He said, no, he said, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Now look, Jesus isn't giving a license to sin. He's not saying, that's okay, it's okay to be sinful. No, but he's saying, you know what, I want you to serve me anyway. I know you're sinful, but you know what, I want you to serve me anyway. And I guarantee you that in the course of following Jesus for three and a half years, don't you think that Simon Peter improved the sin in his life? I mean, whatever sin, and I don't know, he talks about being a sinful man, I don't know exactly what sins were prevalent in Peter's life. You know, the Bible doesn't go into great detail about the particular sins that were in his life, because I don't think it really matters, because everybody's got their sins. And Simon had some sins in his life, but I guarantee you that by being with Jesus for three and a half years, going soul winning for three and a half years, listening to the preaching straight out of the mouth of Jesus Christ for three and a half years, I guarantee you he came out a lot cleaner on the other end. I guarantee you he came out a lot less sinful and a lot more righteous on the other end of that. And so Jesus Christ is willing to take us as we are, as a lump of clay in his hand, you know, un-shaped and unfashioned, and he's willing to take us and be the potter, he's the potter, we're the clay, and to mold us and fashion us into what he wants us to be, and that is a fisher of men. He takes the clay and he forms it and fashions it into a fisher of men. He will conform us to his image, he will make us be what we need to be, but we need to show up for duty and start doing the work. And you know, if you're not willing to show up and start doing the work, first of all, are you following Jesus if you're not a fisher of men, or if you're not becoming a fisher of men? I don't believe so, because the Bible says if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. But when you show up, and when you're ready to do the work, and when you're ready to open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, you know what? You're showing up saying, hey, I'm ready to bring forth fruit, purge me, God, search me oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. So he says, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men, and when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. So remember, this is a different event than the first event, because the first event in Matthew chapter 4 that we looked at, Jesus is walking by the sea, he sees them in the ship, he just calls out to them and says, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. They drop everything and go follow him. But they hadn't really forsaken everything yet, because they're still back to fishing after that. Basically right now, they're not fully committed to what they're doing as his disciples. They're doing some soul winning, but they're also still doing their fishing livelihood. But at this point is where they really cut their ties with the past. And I mean, they really just forsake the equipment. And by the way, that's what our mural is about here. I think this is the first time I've ever preached on this since we've had this mural, but the artwork really fits in, you know. This is supposed to represent the ships and stuff they left behind, you know, those are more like little fishing boats. But the idea is that here is where they burned their bridges behind them. You know, before this, yeah, they're ready to go out solely, they're ready to be a fisher of men, but they weren't fully committed to it yet. I mean, Peter still at this point is kind of saying, you know, depart from me, Jesus. But at this point is where Jesus says, from henceforth, meaning from here forward, you're going to catch men. And it says that this is where they forsook all. And look at this, this is a key phrase. They forsook all and followed him at the end of verse 11. And remember, later they bring this up to Jesus. And they say, Lord, we've forsaken all and followed you. What shall our reward be? He said, I'll tell you what your reward is. In the resurrection, you're going to be sitting on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. That's a pretty major reward. Why? Why did they get such a big reward? Because they forsook all and followed him. This concept is there throughout the Bible of burning your bridges behind you. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back. It's a great song and it's a concept throughout the Bible. You know, I think of the story of Elisha. Remember when Elisha is there and he's plowing with the oxen. I love the fact that the men of the Bible are all real men. Have you noticed that? They're always real men. They were never these soft, sissified kind of guys that we see today in 2013 so prevalent. I mean this guy was tough. I mean this guy was yoked up with the oxen. I mean Elisha was yoked up and pulling a plow next to an ox. He was like a human ox. I mean this guy was a serious man. And Elisha is pulling the plow and you know this isn't in my notes but let's go back to that story. Who knows what chapter that story is in. Didn't you just preach on this brother Romero? Where was this? Second Kings? Or no, First Kings. First Kings. Alright, let's see here. Oh here we go, yeah it's such a great story. You know I'll tie this in. It wasn't in my notes but it's a great story so we'll tie it in. If you look at verse 19 of chapter 19, and again First Kings chapter 19 verse 19, this is where Elijah is calling Elisha to follow him. So just as Jesus Christ had 12 disciples that followed him, that he passed on his mantle unto, Elijah, who was the great prophet of that generation, is passing off the torch unto another younger man that he's training to take his place and that's Elisha. And it says in verse 19, so he departed thence, meaning Elijah departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him and he with the 12th. And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me I pray thee kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again for what have I done to thee? So he says hey I want to follow you but I want to say goodbye to my family first and Elijah says go ahead. Verse 21, and he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. Now look, the people, it says he gave the food to the people. Who are these people? I think it was just all the people and here's why. Because when you kill a yoke of oxen, that is a lot of meat. I mean Zuzia, let me ask my wife here, the food expert of our house, okay, what do we buy? Half a cow at a time when we buy meat? Okay, so she did, my wife, the food expert of our house, just said that one cow provides about 450 to 600 pounds of edible meat. He killed two, okay, so that's a pretty big meal, right? So we're talking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat. I mean this is a big meal. I mean I believe when it says he gave it unto the people, I think it's just the town. I mean everybody in town, I mean this was a barbecue. And what he says that he did, he takes all of his equipment, because look at verse 21. It says that he slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. So look, this is the tools of his trade. This is the equipment that he's using for his livelihood. He's plowing with the oxen, he's got the oxen, he's got the tools, he's got the yokes, he's got all this equipment, and when he decides to follow Elijah, he just destroys all of it. I mean he takes all the equipment and uses it to light the fire. He takes all the wood of the tools and the yoke and he uses them as firewood. He burns them and then he cooks all the meat, he boils all the meat, feeds everybody in the town, he destroys his oxen, he destroys his tools, he destroys everything, feeds everybody, just gives it all away, and throws a big party, he goes out with a bang, and then it says then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. You know, here's a guy who was burning his bridges behind him, because even if he wanted to go back to plowing with those oxen, he just burned all the equipment, he just killed the animals. He just fed it all to complete strangers. I mean they probably weren't strangers, probably a closed town, it was a closed block. But anyway, this concept is all throughout the Bible of not turning back. And Jesus Christ said that any man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is not fit for the Kingdom of God. And so God expects us to get on board, not to have an attitude that says I'm going to try soul winning, I'm going to give it a try, but an attitude that says you know what, I'm going to toil all night and even when I catch nothing, I'm still going to let down the net. I'm not going to quit. I'm going to be a fisher of men from here on out, I'm not going back to this anymore, I'm going to forsake my net, I'm going to forsake, look it says they forsook all. You know what that means? They just left it there. That's what forsake means. Forsook all means that they've got their boat, they've got their nets, they've got their equipment and they just left it there. And you know when you just leave stuff there, somebody's going to come get it. I mean it's not going to be there forever. Later on it's going to be gone. You know this is them making a break with their old past and saying you know what, I'm getting in this all the way gung ho, I'm not just sticking my toe in the water and testing it, I'm just going to jump in. You know I always teach my kids, whenever we go to the lake or the river or the pool, I always say to them, you know what, none of this easing in stuff. You know, oh I want to see how cold it is. I said if you put your foot in the water and see how cold it is, then you're just not going to want to jump in. It's better if you just don't know and you just pretend that it's warm and then you just jump in. You know? And then when you hit the water, you're going to be screaming. But the point is, this easing in or dipping your toe in the water, you know what, just jump in. Come on in, the water's fine. And you know what, if Jesus told us to do it, if we know it's right, if we know it's a command of God, we know that the Bible is the word of God, we know that salvation is real, we know Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, we know he's commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, let's just do it. I mean look, you think when I started this church I was just testing it? If I did, I would have quit many times in those early days. But the only reason I didn't quit is because I just had no, failure was just not an option for me. So I just kept going, even when it was at its darkest, even when I toiled all night and caught nothing. I just kept on going because of the fact that it was at his word that I was doing it. You know, I was following the word of God and I just kept on going. And so just decide right now that you're going to let down the net. Decide right now you're going to be that guy on the other ship that comes over and helps out with the great draft of fishes that needs to be brought in. The harvest is plenteous, the laborers are few, you need to be one of those laborers. You need to be the answer to Jesus' prayer and the answer to my prayer and the answer to all of our prayer by getting on board and getting out there into the highways and hedges, compelling them to come in that God's house might be filled. The Bible says, and daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. That is the Bible verse that is on that window right there for a reason. That Bible verse, maybe you've never even noticed it, right under the service times outside on the window, it says Faithful Word Baptist Church. That is the Bible verse, Acts 542. This Bible verse behind me is here for a reason. This is what our church is about, it needs to be what we continue to be about, not being just a social club where we look one upon another, but rather where we're going out and constantly reaching new people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, constantly having a hook in the water. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for giving us such an important job because it's a job that earns wages unto eternal life. It's a job that brings eternal rewards. It's a job that is truly helping. So many people like to get a job where they're helping people, well, you know, nothing is helping people more than preaching the Gospel and help us to all do our job and to be involved and to let down the net and to be a part of the team and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.