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He reigns, he is the master of the sea, billows his will away. He, your Savior, wants to be the same today. Love lifted me, love lifted me. When nothing else will help, love lifted me, love lifted me, love lifted me. When nothing else will help, love lifted me. Shall we gather at the river, where rising will be a flood, with its crystal tide forever floating by the throne of God? Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gathered with the saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God. On the roads above the river, where the Savior came beyond, we shall be as one forever, be the glory of the throne. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gathered with the saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God. There we reach the shining river, lay we every word and noun. Grace our spirits will deliver, and provide a robin crown. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gathered with the saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God. Soon we'll reach the shining river, soon our filth will cease, soon our heavenly hearts will flitter in the melody of peace. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gathered with the saints at the river, that flows by the throne of God. This time we'll go through our announcements together. If you need a bulletin, slip up your hand, we'll get to you with one. Keep it up while they get it to you. On the inside we have our service times. Sunday nights at six. Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study. And normally we're going through Ezekiel, but Pastor Bruce Mejia is going to be preaching this Wednesday night. So even if you're typically one who only comes on Sunday morning, I'd encourage you to show up this Wednesday night to hear Pastor Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church in Los Angeles to come and preach this Wednesday night at seven. And then don't forget tonight is the different service time. Tonight at five o'clock we have the chili potluck. And so you don't need to bring anything. If you bring chili, great, but you don't have to bring anything. So just be sure and show up no matter who you are, assuming that you go to this church, okay. But anyway, qualify that real quick. But five o'clock tonight is the dinner, and then seven o'clock is our evening service. And then we've got the donuts before the service. That's next Sunday. The church picnic is coming up on November 20th. So make a note of that around lunchtime. And then today is the last opportunity to have your portrait taken for the annual yearbook. If you have not yet signed up, please see Brother Ramon Ventura immediately. Now when we say immediately, we mean right now, right? So Brother Ramon, will you stand? This is Ramon. If you have not been photographed yet for the yearbook, see him immediately. As the piano begins to play, would you come? All right? All right, so go see him immediately. Get signed up. Today's the last day because we're gonna be taking down the background and all that. So you gotta get it done. Okay, and then as I mentioned before about Wednesday night, then the music emphasis night is going to be this Thursday, okay? Now this little note at the bottom of the bulletin there, it's a little bit wrong and misleading, okay? So let me correct this. So basically the singing class is what is canceled today because that usually takes place at five. Well, guess what we're gonna be doing at five? We're gonna be eating chili, okay? So that's canceled. We're gonna resume next Sunday. Now the music emphasis night, on the other hand, is a different animal altogether and it takes place on Thursday each month, once a month, and that is happening this Thursday at seven o'clock. So anyway, that's what's going on with that. And then on the back, congratulations to the Kohler family on the birth of baby Silas, born Friday, October 29th, seven pounds, six ounces, 20 inches, beautiful picture, and so be sure to congratulate the Kohler family. And then below that, the zip line tour. If you missed that during the ladies retreat, talk to my wife because the repeat is coming up on Friday, November 19th. So if you have any interest in this, sign up. How are we doing on slots for that? Plenty of room. So now we're calling the poor, the blind, the maimed, the halt. So basically, you don't even have to be a lady anymore, okay, it's open to anybody now, am I right? It's just, whosoever will may come and take of the zip lining freely. But you must, no man cometh unto the zip lining but through her. So you have to talk to my wife in order to get in on this. You must sign up directly with her. The activity's free. Yes? The one catch is you can't weigh over 250 pounds. So, you know, what can you do, right? And you probably don't have time to cut the weight by November 19th unless you're just right on the borderline, all right? So, that's about it. Okay, other upcoming events are listed there below and I think that's it for announcements. So, let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, next song, we should have Psalm 96 on the yellow sheet. Please raise your hand if you can have one. Psalm 96. All right, next song, we should have Psalm 96 on the yellow sheet. Please raise your hand if you can have one. Psalm 96. Psalm 96. Psalm 96. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, let's do one more song. Here we go. Psalm 449. Psalm 449. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, next song. All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around. And while the plates are going around, before we read our scripture, just a couple more announcements that I need to make real quick. First of all, any of you young dudes, after the service ends, if you could go to Brother Segura over here, or over here, wherever he is, he'll probably be over there, and help him set up for tonight. Because after the morning service this morning, we want to get everything set up for the dinner at 5 o'clock, as far as the tables and power strips and everything, for the chili potluck. So if you're willing and able to help out with that, just meet up with Brother Segura right after the service. Also, I wanted to mention what I mentioned on Wednesday night, the missions trip that we've got coming up to the U.S. Virgin Islands. So Brother Raymond Cooper went out there and scouted everything out. Of course, he just led the trip to Sierra Leone. The difference with this trip and that trip is that the Sierra Leone trip is a little more difficult, because of the fact that the flights are pretty expensive, it's very far, you had to go through red tape like yellow fever vaccine and things like that. Whereas this one is going to be a lot easier, because it's technically the United States. It's the U.S. Virgin Islands. So technically you don't even need a passport to participate in this, but it's a very receptive place to go soul winning. And so this is going to be coming up. Let me give you the dates here. It's in January, and what in the world? Where's the date? I want to say it was around like the week of the 20th or something, but who knows? There we go, 16th through 22nd, thank you. I thought it was in this text exchange, but I can't find it. So the 16th to the 22nd, and it's just in the early stages, but I want to give everybody the heads up right away so that people can start making plans, maybe get the time off. And the good thing is this one's probably going to end up costing a lot less, because the flights look like they're around 400 bucks. There were even some deals that were even a little bit less than that, so probably around 400 bucks for the flights. And then as far as the lodging, we're going to be renting Airbnbs, and so you'll be able to split the cost with people, because if you get an Airbnb with three bedrooms, four bedrooms, if you're willing to share a room or at least share an Airbnb with other people, you could get the lodging for 30 bucks, 35 bucks a night, something like that. So really, realistically, you could easily, if you have 1,000 bucks, you could easily do this mission strip. And if you really wanted to do it on the cheap, you might even be able to do it for around 650, because we're going to be providing a lot of food in the Airbnbs as far as just basic sandwiches and just, you know, scrambled eggs and toast just to kind of get you rolling. And so you won't have to eat out and spend a bunch of money on eating out, so we will provide food at the lodgings. And so, you know, with the flights being cheap, the lodging being cheap, and with us helping you out with your sustenance, you could do this mission strip for a pretty low price. So if you want more details, Brother Raymond Cooper is not here. I think he's not feeling well. But Brother Daniel Reiter in the front row is probably one that you could also ask questions to and talk to. Because he's also going to be one of the ones spearheading this trip. So anyway, just wanted to throw that out there. U.S. Virgin Islands, January 16th through 22nd that week. And then also my wife finished this einkorn cookbook. So anybody who wants this can have it for free, but we don't want you just collecting it like beanie babies or something when you're not actually one who cooks with einkorn. So anyone, I should say this, anyone who wants this who actually plans to cook something with einkorn flour, go see my wife and you can have a free copy. And what is einkorn? It's actually a different kind of flour. It's not our modern wheat. It's a more archaic form of wheat that's less hybridized. And so it's an ancient grain. And this is what we cook with at our house. A lot of people use it. So the book kind of explains it. But only for people who are serious, please. But go see my wife if you want one of these einkorn cookbooks. And I believe that's it for announcements. So let's go ahead and read our scripture, John chapter 21. John chapter number 21, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. And Brother Dan, would you come and read John chapter 21? Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads John chapter 21, beginning in verse number 1. In John chapter 21 the Bible reads, After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto him, I go of fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bred. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three. And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dine, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jodas, Lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shalt gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, saith the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that the disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die. But if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to gather today this Sunday morning. Please bless the service, let it apply to our lives. Father, we love you, and Jesus is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. John chapter number 21, the Bible reads in verse number 1, after these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. Now, when the Bible talks about Jesus showing himself to his disciples, it's referring to the fact that he has died on the cross, he has been buried, and he has bodily risen again from the dead, and so this is the third time after he rose from the tomb that he is showing himself to his disciples. It says in verse number 2, there were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into his ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. So, this is setting the scene here that in verse number 2, we've got Simon Peter hanging around with a bunch of the other disciples, and he says, I'm going fishing. Now, why is this significant? The significance is that Jesus found a lot of these guys as fishermen, including Peter himself, and when he originally called them, that's what they did for a living. James, and John, and Peter, and Andrew were fishermen, and when Jesus called them, he specifically told them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And he even told Peter, from henceforth, meaning from here on out, thou shalt catch men. And part of following Jesus was that they forsook the nets. They forsook the ship. They left behind all of that stuff, and they followed Jesus. The Bible makes a big point about them leaving all that behind, forsaking their dad's business, and leaving the ship, leaving the nets, and instead of being a fisherman, being a fisher of men, and following the Lord Jesus Christ with their life. Now, Simon Peter is discouraged, probably partially, because of the fact that he denied Jesus Christ three times. So, when Jesus Christ is being taken in to stand before the high priest, and before Pontius Pilate, and when he's being judged and condemned to the cross, Peter is confronted three different times and pretends that he doesn't know Jesus. And then, of course, the cock crows, and he remembers that Jesus had predicted that he would do that. And when Jesus denied the Lord three times, or excuse me, when Peter denied the Lord three times, he afterward went out and wept bitterly. So, he's discouraged, he's down on himself because he sinned, because he denied Christ, and he feels bad about it, and so he's basically deciding to go back to the old way of life. You know, he's been called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, but yet he says, I'm going fishing. I'm going back to fishing. And what happens is, when he says that he's going fishing, they say unto him, in verse three, we also go with thee. So, the first thing I want to point out is that if you get back sledding, and fall away from serving God, and go back to the old way of life, you end up taking other people with you. The people around you are going to follow your lead, and you may not realize it, but almost everyone is a leader to someone. You might think to yourself, well, it's my life, and whatever I do only affects me, but no man lives unto himself, and no man dies unto himself. Every single thing that we do affects other people ultimately, and we need to realize that when we get back sledding or quit on God, it's not just ourselves that we're affecting, but we're also affecting other people, the people around us, when they see us getting out of church, or they see us stop soul winning, or they see us go back to the old way of life from before they were saved or whatever. You know, that could influence other people to do the same thing, because we as human beings, we tend to do what the people around us do, and we're very influenced by the people around us. You know, even just on a very visceral level, when you're standing in a group of people and one person yawns, everybody starts yawning. One person looks at their watch, everybody starts looking at their watch, right? Sometimes someone will laugh, and you'll start laughing, and you're like, what's so funny? And you don't even know why, but you're just joining in. Somebody's crying, and you just start crying, and you don't even, what are we even crying about? That's how human beings are, and so everyone in that sense is a leader. Everyone is influencing the people around them, and so think about the fact that when you go back and say, well, I'm going fishing, and I'm kind of throwing in the towel on the Christian life, you're being a bad example to the people around you, and you'll take other people out with you, and that's what Simon Peter does. And then the next thing we see is that when they go out and go fishing, they catch nothing. They don't catch any fish, and I think what God's trying to show us with that is the fact that when we go back to the old way of life, it's not going to be what it's cracked up to be, or it's not going to be the way you remember it. It really isn't there anymore, okay? You might think to yourself, hey, I was better off back when my worldly days and when I wasn't serving God, things were better in this and that area, or maybe you were less lonely or whatever. Whatever you tell yourself, you go back there and try to relive those glory days or whatever of your worldly, sinful life. It's not going to be there. It's not going to be the same. You see, when you get saved, sin is no longer as fun as it was before you were saved, okay, because now you're indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Now you're a new creature in Christ. Now you have the inward man that delights in the law of God. Now you've got the new nature. And so when you go back and try to do those things, you're not going to enjoy them the way that an unsaved person can just enjoy them and maybe not even think about it or not even care. You're not going to enjoy it the same way. You're going to feel guilty about it. And what we tend to do sometimes is tend to glorify things in the past and make them out to be cooler than they really were. You know what I'm saying? It's that mentality of the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence where we sometimes glorify what we don't have. And so if we're a little down on our life right now or the way things are going or the way we're feeling, we might think back to some glory days that really weren't that cool in the first place, number one, because you've just glorified them in your mind. And number two, even if they were super cool, when you try to go back and relive it, it's not going to be there because you're a different person now. Now you're saved. You know what it's like to serve God and live for God. You know, you've been dining on the filet mignon of God's Word and you've been feasting on the manna from heaven of walking with God and then you go back to the McDonald's of this world. It's not going to be a happy meal for you. You know what I mean? It's not going to be the same. And so these guys, they try to go back and say, hey, let's just go back to how things were. We're just going to go fishing. We're going to go to our normal fishing hole. We're going to go back and do it again. And they go back and they catch nothing. What's funny about this is that the last time they caught nothing was when Jesus was first calling them anyway because when Jesus first called Peter and he told him to forsake it all and he told him he's going to be a fisher of men, that was a time that also Peter was catching nothing. And I think God was showing him there that basically that life, there's a certain emptiness to that life and that he's going to show him something better. And I'm going to get back to that in a moment. But it says in verse 4, so they've been fishing all night and they didn't catch anything. Chapter 4, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. So this is just, as far as they know, this is just a guy yelling to them from the shore. Nobody knows it's Jesus. Just a guy yells to them from the shore, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find. They cast therefore and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. So they can't even bring it up into the ship because the net is so full of fish, they don't even have the strength to bring it up into the ship, okay? They're going to have to do something else in order to get these fish onto the land. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved, and we know of course that's John, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked and had cast himself into the sea. Now, why is Peter naked, okay? I think the picture here, obviously this literally happened, but also it symbolizes something, right? There's a reason why details like this are included because you could have told the story and just not mentioned the fact that he's naked. Every detail in the Bible that shows up in the story is there for a reason because in addition to being what actually happened, it also means something. And the picture of nakedness is shame. You know, throughout the Bible, the words naked and ashamed are connected from the very first mentions of the word naked. It's associated with shame or, you know, before Adam and Eve sinned, they're naked, the man and his wife, and they're not ashamed. And then later there's shame associated with nakedness and throughout Scripture. And so the idea here is that Peter has been caught with his pants down in a sense, you know, he's naked. But what does that really mean? It means it's embarrassing. It's an embarrassment that Jesus Christ has appeared unto him the third time, which is a great, awesome privilege to have the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrected, glorified state appearing unto you, special witnesses whom he has chosen, and you're fishing. You know, you're going back to your old livelihood, you've given up on the livelihood that God has chosen for you, and you're going back to the old way of life and your old way of making a living when God wanted him in the ministry full time, and yet he's fishing. And so he's caught naked, and so he's embarrassed, he's ashamed of the fact that he's out there. And so he girds his fisher coat on him, and he casts himself into the sea. I mean, he's excited. So he just, he wants to get straight to Jesus, so he just throws himself into the water. He's not gonna wait for the boat to get to land. He just swims it and just heads for Jesus. Verse eight, and the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were, 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes, right, because they couldn't draw it up into the ship. So now they're just kind of dragging it behind the boat because they've gotten this wonderful catch of all of these fishes. So they drag it, and it's only 200 cubits that they have to go, which 200 cubits is like 300 feet. So they're really close to the shore. They go the 300 feet, dragging the net with fishes. As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid there on and bred. Jesus saith unto them, bring of the fish which ye have now caught. So he wants them to add to what he's already doing as far as the meal. But you know what's interesting is that he's already got the fish, even before they even show up. He already has fish cooking, and he basically just says, add on to that which I've already provided here. So Jesus has already provided fish. He's already got bread. He's already got everything that he needs. But he says, bring of the fish that you've caught. Now, there's so much great symbolism in the story because, of course, like we said, fishing is a picture of fishing for men or winning souls to Christ or witnessing for Christ or getting people saved, evangelizing, right? That's what fishing is a picture of. Now, they're doing the wrong thing by actually doing the physical act when they're supposed to be out preaching the gospel and doing that kind of fishing, right? But fishing does picture that. And so in this story, you know, basically Jesus doesn't really need these particular people in order to have fish be caught in the sense that, like, let's say you and I don't go soul winning, right? Let's say you and I quit on God. Let's say you and I just go back to the old way of life and we're not witnessing to anyone. The gospel will still go forward, am I right? If every single person in this room quit on God, if every single person in this room stopped soul winning and stopped living for God and never witnessed to another person for the rest of their lives, you know what would still happen? There would still be people out there who were saved. There would still be Baptist churches out there and other evangelical Christian type churches that would still preach the gospel. The gospel would still go forward. People would still be saved and life would go on and Christianity would move forward without us in this room. But let me tell you something though. Let me tell you something. More people will get saved if we participate right here. You see, Jesus, he's already got something going on but basically what he's saying is, you know, if you will do the fishing that I tell you to do, if you obey me when I tell you where to throw the net and what fishing to do, you're going to add fish to what I've got here. You know, he's already got the meal but they're adding to that, okay? And don't ever let anybody tell you that your works for Christ don't make a difference because they do make a difference. They do make a difference. Yes, it's true. Christianity will go on without me and without you but let me tell you something. It's better with me and with you, isn't it? And so don't let anybody tell you that you're just expendable and it doesn't really matter and this Calvinist garbage that says, well, whoever's going to get saved is going to get saved anyway. No, let me tell you something. When we don't do soul winning, when we don't witness for Christ, when we don't tell someone about Jesus, if we spend our lives just following after carnal pursuits and worldly things and we don't get involved in actually evangelizing and witnessing, less people will get saved because we sat on our butts and did nothing. That is a fact. Don't listen to this garbage theology that was invented by people who don't want to do that kind of work. They'd rather stick their head in a book all day and have all of these really esoteric discussions about theology than to actually get out there and give Joe Sixpack the gospel, okay? They don't want to get out there and condescend to men of low estate and give the gospel to every creature and give the gospel to the common man so they dream up this theology that says, well, you know, whoever's going to get saved is going to get saved and there's nothing we can do about it. No, my Bible says pulling them out of the fire and if some have compassion making a difference, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The Bible says if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them that believe not. Hey, we need to get in there and shine the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, it's true that everybody in this world has a chance to be saved. Everybody in this world has a chance to be saved whether I open my mouth for Christ or don't open my mouth for Christ. Everyone in this world has the opportunity to get saved. You know, my brother gave me this illustration when I was a kid. He explained it to me this way. He's older than I am. He explained to me. He said it's sort of like a department store, right? He said the department store is, he used the parable of the department store. He said the department store is like this world and people walk from one end of the department store to the other. That's like living their life, okay? And basically salvation is to be had in this store, okay? And he said basically we're the sales associates and obviously you don't buy the gospel but the illustration works on a certain level. You know, basically we're the sales associate and basically people, you know, they walk through the store of life and they see what's available. They hear that the gospel is available. They hear something about Jesus. They hear something about Christ dying for them that, you know, they see it on the shelf as it were. They're exposed to it and as they go through life they might see it multiple times and again and again but you know what? If the sales associate comes to that person, hey, can I help you find something? Or might I suggest and basically, you know, show you something and put it in your hand and walk you to it and say this is what you need. This is what you're looking for. Are they more likely to walk out with something if I was actually helping them and going to them and approaching them versus just basically just sitting in the break room waiting for somebody to hit that little bell? Ding! All right, I'm ready to go here. Ding! Ding! Ding! You know, that's a little different than if somebody actually approached and look, that's a great illustration. So yes, yes, people still have the chance to get saved. Yes, they're going to hear it in other ways and from other places but you know what? If I get out there and I'm out there showing the gospel to people and preaching the gospel to people and instead of somebody hearing it three times, maybe they'll hear it four times because I told them myself and maybe this guy, he already heard the gospel once and now he's going to hear it twice and by the way, my wife's saved here this morning. She had to hear the gospel many times before getting saved. You know, not everybody's going to get saved the first time they hear the plan of salvation. The first time I met her, I went through the whole gospel with her. She didn't get saved. She had to hear it again. She had to hear it again and so you know, when we go out and witness for Christ, we are increasing the amount of fish of that dinner, my friend. Okay, yeah, Jesus, he's got his program and he's got his fish and he got fish from somewhere else but you know what? I want to bring some fish to that meal. I want to show up to the potluck of heaven and I brought some fish to the great fish fry in heaven and so don't let somebody tell you that you can't make a difference. You know, and by the way, the net, the net not breaking even though they got this incredible amount of fish to me shows me that the sky's the limit. You know, as long as we obey the Lord in our fishing, we can catch as many fish as we want. You know, I don't believe it's limited. I believe the sky's the limit as far as what we can accomplish for Christ in our lifetime. Now what's interesting if you compare this story to when Jesus first met Peter, when he first met Peter, the net broke. Why did the net break in Luke chapter 5? The reason it broke in Luke chapter 5 is because Jesus in that chapter specifically told him to let down nets, plural. And Peter was skeptical and so he said, well, we've already told him I've caught nothing but at thy word I will let down the net, singular, and then the net broke because you're trying to do with one net what Christ told you to do with two nets. That's why it broke. But the point is that if we obey and if we preach the gospel to every creature and we do it the way God told us to do it and we obey the Lord, you know, there's no limit to what God can do with our lives. There's no limit. Now that might seem pretty obvious to you that there's no limit to what we can accomplish. You know, we just need to get out there and witness and preach the gospel and do what we can to get as many people saved as we can. Right? That might seem obvious to you, but this teaching of Calvinism ends up throwing a wet blanket on soul winning and it ends up putting this idea in people's heads that what they do doesn't really quite matter. Okay? And this is one of the things that I hate about Calvinism is the fact that it puts this wet blanket on soul winning. When this doctrine enters into a church and churches start to believe and teach this, soul winning's not gonna increase. Evangelism's not gonna increase. They're not gonna get more effective at getting more people saved. No, no, it just throws a big wet blanket on the whole thing because if somebody tells you that what you do doesn't really matter or it's not really gonna change anything, well then I'm not gonna be as zealous to do it. And you say, well, you just do it because you love the Lord and just do it because it's the right thing to do. Okay, true, but you know what? I might just kind of phone it in. I might just kind of do the minimum because I don't really think that anybody's eternity is at stake anyway. You know, whereas if I actually feel like I can make a difference and what I do matters and that people's lives are in the balance, you know, I'm gonna work harder, put more effort into things and really give it all I've got. So I've got this book with me this morning that is, this is what the Calvinists are into. It's called The Baptist Confession of Faith and Baptist Catechism. Okay. Okay, so you often hear a lot of the Reform Baptists or Baptists that are Calvinists talk about the 1689 Baptist Confession and this is based on what the Presbyterians have which is called the Westminster Confession. Most of it's even word for word, copy and paste, not that that existed back then. But anyway, so you know, this book is basically their doctrinal statement. Now you think of a doctrinal statement, you know, just be like really key doctrines, really foundational things. So like chapter one, it talks about the Holy Scriptures and actually I agree with every word of chapter one on the scriptures, just you know, the Bible is God's word and you know, it's a great, it's actually really well written. And you get to chapter two and it's all about the Trinity, right on on the Trinity. Then you get to chapter three and they start laying this Calvinist garbage on you in chapter three and I wanna read for you a statement from this book, the Statement of Faith. So your Reform Baptist, your Calvinist, this is often their Statement of Faith, if they're what's called confessional, this will be their Statement of Faith. So this is from chapter three and it's called, this chapter is called God's Decree and it's basically claiming that everything that happens, period, is decreed by God. It's all decreed by God, it's all according to what he has designed. So listen to this, from paragraph three, it says, some men are predestined or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace, others being left to act in their sin, to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice. So the thing I wanna point out there is that it says, some men are predestined to eternal life through Jesus Christ. Certain people, some people are predestined to that or foreordained to that. Now listen to paragraph four from this book. These men, thus predestined and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed and their number so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. So he's saying like, this number is just unchangeably designed, like God just decided this is who's getting saved and that number is just unchangeable and it can't be added to, it can't be diminished, can't be increased. Now do you see how this junk could put a wet blanket on soul winning? If I just think, well, some men are determined to go to heaven and you know, you can't add to that number, you can't decrease that number. You know, it just, it is what it is. Now, here's what's funny. It gives Bible references under these points to back up what they've just said. Now that's a pretty outrageous claim. So I wanna know what Bible verses are backing this up. Okay, so let's turn to them both. Let's look at the backing for this because it gives two verses under paragraph four because what does paragraph four say? The number can't be changed, it can't be increased or diminished. So 2 Timothy 2.19 and John 13.18. If you only have time to turn to one, turn to John 13.18. Number one, because you're already in John. Number two, because it's a better example. Go to John 13.18 and then if you want to, you could also turn to 2 Timothy 2.19. Here's their backing for this claim that, oh, the number can't be changed, right? It's just, it's predetermined, it's unchangeably designed, the number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. Here's the proof from scripture. Now there's 31,000 verses in the Bible, right? Over 31,000 verses. 1189 chapters. The Bible's a long book, right? If this were really true, you'd be able to find a statement like that somewhere. Wouldn't God have said somewhere in 31,000 some verses, hey man, this number can't change it. It's set. These certain amount of people are going to get saved. It is what it is. Okay, but because they have no backing for this particular point, what do they do? This is what they do. John 13, 18. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. This is the stupidest interpretation of this verse you could possibly take. It makes no sense. Anybody who actually knows the context here is, knows the fact that Jesus is saying that he knows that one of them is going to betray him, Judas Iscariot. Okay? Now, notice what this verse does not say. It does not say, I know how many I have chosen. Is that what it says? By the way, I looked this up in my Greek New Testament this morning, and you're not going to believe this, it says the same thing it says in English. And not only that, but when he says, I know whom I have chosen, it does, if you look it up in Greek, there's no way to get some kind of a bogus interpretation, like, well, I know which ones, I know how many, I know. No, no, no. Here's what he's saying, the ones that I've chosen, here's what he's saying, the ones that I've chosen, I know them. And the reason I bring that up is because these Calvinists will often punt and say like, oh, well, the Greek. Folks, we don't need the Greek to understand the word of God. If you can't see it in English, it ain't there. Okay? But let me tell you something, I know how these, I know the naughtiness that their hearts are privy to, and so I looked it up, and I looked at it, and look, it is clearly saying, you guys that I've chosen here, you 12 disciples I've chosen, I know you guys, and I know that one of you is bad. That's what he's saying. I speak not of you all, because he said a bunch of nice things, and, you know, if you know these things, the happier you, if you do them, and, you know, all this stuff. I speak not of you all. I know whom I've chosen, and then he goes on to say that one of them is going to betray him, and he knows who the traitor is. What in the world does this verse have to do with, well, it's a set number. You can't add to the number. You can't decrease it. It's right there in John 13. I mean, there it is, right? Everybody see it? And that's why you gotta be careful with theologians and scholars and Christian books telling you what to believe, and then they put a verse as a reference, and you just assume, oh, there must be a verse that says that. Well, no, because when you look up the verse, what do you find out? There's nothing there. Jesus Christ knew that one of the disciples was going to betray him, and, by the way, Calvinists often screw up these verses about choosing when it comes to the disciples. Like, what about where Jesus says, have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? Clearly, the choosing there isn't about whether or not you're saved, is it? Because Judas wasn't saved. He was chosen to be a disciple. He's chosen to be one of the twelve disciples. Was he chosen to go to heaven? Of course not. And so, again, you gotta read the Bible in context, and, you know, I could do a whole other sermon about Calvinism. That's not what this sermon is, but I just want to show you here how this doctrine that, well, you can't add to it, you can't diminish from it, you can't change it. It's not found in Scripture. That's why they had to put this bogus example. Look at the other one. Look at 2 Timothy 2.19. Surely the other one is going to make this point, right? But you already probably know after seeing how bad that example was, you're probably not expecting much from this next example, are you? Well, if you're not expecting much, you're right, because there isn't much here. 2 Timothy 2.19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. So, who here belongs to Jesus Christ? Who here says, I belong to Jesus, now I belong to Jesus. Okay, well, guess what? He knows us. Who believes that God knows you? Right? He knows those that are his. He knows them that are his, and the people that are not his, what's he going to say to them someday? Depart from me, I never knew you. Because he knows them that are his. So, here's the thing about that. Okay, these verses have nothing to do with this bogus claim being made from this statement of faith. How dare they make up this bogus junk that's going to throw a big wet blanket on soul winning, and then put those two verses that are meaningless in this discussion. They have nothing to do with what they're claiming. Unbelievable, isn't it? And you know, they've had hundreds of years to fix this thing. It's not like this just came out and they made some typos. This thing's been out since 1689. Can you fix it? No, you can't, because you don't have any backing for that claim, because that claim is false. Now, here's the thing. Lies are always based on a kernel of truth, aren't they? But it's the truth twisted to where it's no longer true anymore. Here's the actual true story. The truth is that God knows the future so of course he knows exactly how many people are going to be saved and how many are not going to be saved. Am I right? If God's omniscient, which he is, he knows exactly which people are going to be saved and he knows which people are not going to be saved, but does that mean that nothing that we do can change how many people are going to get saved because it's all his design? Wrong, my friend. We have free will. Whosoever will may come, God so loved the world, that's not a small group, God so loved the world that's every person. It's the entire world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that the world might be saved. That's not what the Bible says. It says, for God so loved the world, everybody, right, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him, a smaller group, should not perish but have everlasting life. Does everybody see that? So he loved the whole world so that those who believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life. Okay. We have to believe on Christ in order to be saved. But the Bible says that whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. And so this idea that, you know, well, nothing that you do can change what God already did, he already picked, then it's just like, okay, whatever. That's a big, wet blanket on soil. Now let me give you kind of a, I'm gonna give you a really weird illustration, okay? I'm just warning you. This is kind of a sci-fi time travel organization, so you geeks out there, perk up, because this part of the sermon's for you. Okay. But I just want to illustrate to you the absurdity and circularity of this statement that they're making, just how circular and stupid and meaningless this statement is. You know, the number is so certain that you can't add to it or diminish from it. Which effectively, like, why did I need to know that? So I can just kind of sit back and let it all happen? What kind of stupid statement is that? It's circular, it's meaningless, and it's not what the Bible says. That's why they can't point us to a reference. It's what some theologian bozo dreamed up from his messed up mind. Too much bad medieval beer or something. Okay? But anyway, so let me give you this, let me give you my time travel illustration, right? So let's just, let's say we could travel back in time, but we can't change anything. Everybody following so far? You know, so that's the style of time travel we're talking about, right? Because there's a lot of different styles. So this is the style of time travel where we can go back, but we can't change anything because it all happened. I mean, it happened, it is what it is, it can't be changed, it is what it is, right? So let's say there's a little child playing in the street and a car's racing toward them and gonna hit that kid and a guy jumps in the street and shoves the kid out of the way and saves the kid's life. Everybody following? Dude saves the kid's life. Okay, so then I travel back in time to that morning and I go to that guy and I just tell that guy, hey, just so you know, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen, whoever dies, dies, you can't save anybody's life unless it were meant to be because whoever lives is gonna live, whoever dies is gonna die, it's all fate, it's all predetermined, I just want you to know that, right? Couple hours later, the guy sees the kid playing in the street, jumps in the street, shoves the kid out of the way and saves the kid's life, right? Guy comes back to me and says, well, it looks like you were wrong because I just saved this kid's life, I just shoved this kid out of the way, right? I mean, this kid was clearly gonna get hit by the car, I jumped in there and saved that kid's life, I made a difference in this kid's life, I saved that kid's life. Everybody following? And then I, the Calvinist time traveler, says to him, yeah, but you were always gonna do that, I mean, you were always gonna do that, so you didn't really change anything, you always did it that way. Isn't that kind of stupid and meaningless? Because the fact is, the guy saved the kid's life. Yeah, but he always did. So what? That's meaningless. Did that guy make a difference? Did that guy decide? In that split second, he decided, I'm gonna risk my life, I'm gonna jump into traffic, I'm gonna throw myself in front of this car, I'm gonna sacrifice something to save this child's life! Because I care! Because if I don't, he'll die. So I'm gonna get in there and do something. Yeah, but I already knew you were gonna do that. Stupid, meaningless, circular garbage is what that is. It means nothing. It's totally meaningless. It's dumb. You know what, if I were that guy, I'd be like, why did you tell me that, time traveling idiot? Like, why didn't you tell me something meaningful? Why didn't you tell me something I need? And you know, it's like, this is what, you're right, a statement of faith, this is the foundation of Christianity, this is what we believe, folks, and you just wanna have some weird, navel-gazing, vein-jangling, like, hey man, it's like, I mean, the number's like so certain, it's like you can't even change it, man. It's like you can't even add to it. No, here's what the Bible actually says. It says, don't add to God's word and don't diminish God's word! Show me the Bible where it says, don't try to add to how many people get saved. Don't change it, man. No, it says, don't add to the word of God. And why are you adding this doctrine that's not found in the word of God? The Bible doesn't have this idea of, well, you know, it's such a certain and definite number. Their number's so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. What, okay, what is that supposed to mean? Obviously, the kernel of truth in this stupidity that I just read for you, the kernel of truth is that, yeah, God knows the hairs of my head that they're numbered, right? So God also obviously knows the future. He knows exactly how many people are gonna get saved. But does that really mean that what I do in my life doesn't affect the eternity of other people? No, it doesn't. It's absurd, it does not follow logically from that. And again, I could go off on Calvinism for the whole rest of the morning. I could even take us all the way to the chili potluck, okay? But I'm not going to. But I just wanted to go off on that because here's what I'm trying to get across in the sermon from John 21 this morning is that when you quit on God, what do you do? You affect other people. Those guys were not gonna go fishing until Peter said that he's going fishing. Peter's a leader. Peter's got a charismatic personality. Peter's a guy who gets out there and does stuff, right? He's the kind of guy that goes out there. If he's fishing naked, he'll throw his coat on and jump in the water and swim across to the shore because he's just gonna get there. You know, I mean, the guy, he's often been called impetuous, you know, but he's a guy who does stuff. He's a guy who doesn't wait for other people to do it. He doesn't be like, so guys, what should we do? I mean, should we swim? He's just like, let me throw something on and let's go. And so when you got a guy who's like that, who's a leader and who's a go-getter and he does stuff, guess what, when he goes fishing, other people are gonna go fishing too, they weren't going until he said that. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? The point is, what we do affects other people. It affects our fellow believers, where if we quit on God, we could discourage them to the point where they maybe want to quit on God too. And when we obey Christ and we go out and we are a fisher of men and we do show up for soul winning and we do witness to people and we do give the gospel to a loved one or a friend or a coworker, you know what we're doing? We're making a difference in the lives of the unsaved. What we do in life matters. It affects other people. We don't just affect ourselves, we affect our brothers and sisters in Christ on the one hand and we affect the unsaved on the other hand. And so this fatalistic predetermination junk is meaningless. It's a vain jangling, it's absurd, and by the way, it's not even true anyway. It's false anyway. Even if it were true, it would be a stupid thing to talk about and explain. The Bible doesn't talk about it or explain it, but no, that's not even true anyway. It's not even true anyway because guess what? People have free will whether they get saved or not. Unlike what that book teaches. Okay, what this book teaches is that people have free will and whosoever will may come. And the problem with unsaved people is that they will not come to Christ, that they might have life. That's what the Bible says. And so what we do makes a difference. And so we need to think about the fact that if we stop serving God, we're going to discourage the people around us, and if we go out and serve God, we're going to rescue people and we're going to see people saved from the fires of hell. What we do actually matters. So they come to land with Christ. He says, come and dine, verse 12. None of the disciples durst ask him. None of the disciples dared to ask him, is how we would say that in our modern vernacular. None of the disciples durst ask him, who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord. They knew it was Jesus. How did they know it was Jesus? Because of the miracle. Because of the fact that they'd already, this brought them back in their mind to three and a half years ago where something similar had happened. And so Jesus is on the shore. When he calls out to them, they don't recognize him. But it's when he tells them to cast the net on the other side. They cast the net on the other side. They catch the fish. This is familiar. It's Jesus. This is obviously Jesus. They go to him, and it's funny how they're just kind of silent. You know, they show up. They're just kind of eating their, you know, they're just kind of sitting there eating their fish and just kind of like, you know, nobody knows what to say. Why? Because they've been caught in an embarrassing situation. Because they're not serving the Lord like they should. And so basically, you know, nobody wants to say anything. And the word durst there, you know, they didn't dare, meaning that they're nervous, they're afraid to ask him anything because they just don't know what to say. Jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples. After that, he was risen from the dead. So when they had died, and Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Now, what does he mean by that? Loveth thou me more than these? Do you love me more than these? Some people have suggested that he means, do you love me more than the other disciples? But the thing about that is, that would be kind of a strange question because, you know, it's really impossible for me to measure how much I love Chorale. I know I love him more than you do. I mean, what a question, right? I mean, John's there. He's a tough act to follow because he's got a lot of love for Christ. I think when he says, loveth thou me more than these, I think what he's talking about is basically, he's talking about the fish, he's talking about the implements of fishing, he's talking about these things. You know, this lifestyle, as it were. You know, do you love me more than you love these, the things of this world, specifically fishing or whatever? I don't think he's saying, so do you love me more than other people? Because the Bible tells us, we shouldn't compare ourselves amongst ourselves and measure ourselves by ourselves. And so I don't believe that Jesus would ask the question and mean that. And he says, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said, then feed my lambs. I'm just about done with the sermon, but here's what I love about this statement. I love Peter's response, where he says, thou knowest that I love thee. You know, that's a sincere answer, because you know what? You're talking to the Son of God, I mean, you're talking to somebody who can read people's thoughts, who, he knew who the traitor was, he knew what was in man, he didn't need anybody to testify unto him what the thoughts meant. The Bible says in other places, Jesus knowing their thoughts, said unto them, X, Y, and Z. And so, obviously, if you're gonna look Jesus right in the face and say, Lord, you know that I love you. Like, you're gonna mean that, because you're not gonna try to put one over on Jesus. You know, if there was any doubt in Peter's heart if he loved Christ, he probably would have said something along the lines of, like, I don't know, or I hope so, or you know. But he could look him right in the eye and just say, you know that I love you. And he says, you know, feed my sheep, and then he asks him again, do you love me, feed my lambs, and it grieves him that he's asked the third time, love is thou me, why? Because he denied Christ three times. So he's being asked this question three times. And so the third time hurts the most. And he says, you know everything. Lord, thou knowest all things, right? Thou, at the end of verse 17, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. So it's a painful rebuke that Jesus delivers just by asking questions, so do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Because he's denied knowing Christ three times. So what do we make of this? Okay, why did Peter quit on serving God? Did he quit on serving God because he didn't love God? Is it because he didn't love Jesus? I don't think so, because he's so confident, looking Christ right in the face three times in a row and saying, I love you and you know that I love you. You know everything, you know that I love you. Okay, so I don't doubt Peter's love for Christ. You know, I think that it's possible for us to love Christ in our heart and to feel that deeply and to mean that and be sincere about that, but not necessarily be loving Christ with our actions or with our life. Because what's he telling him? He's not saying, love me more, feel it more deeply. He's saying, well if you love me, do what? Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. You know, do the work that I've called you to do. Do the job of a minister of Jesus Christ, not just going back and just doing a worldly occupation. That's what he's telling him. Do the work. You love me, then do the work. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Now here's the thing, everybody who's saved loves God according to the inward man. You know, even a person who's living in sin as a Christian, you know the apostle Paul talked about committing sins that he didn't want to commit. And he said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But then I have, you know, the flesh, the other law of warring in my members. And so everybody who's actually saved deep down loves the Lord Jesus Christ and that's the new man talking. That's the inward man. If you search inside your heart and you don't love God at all, you don't love Jesus Christ at all, you're probably just not even saved. I mean, if that's how you feel, it's like, what's wrong with you? Because obviously, you know, there's the flesh and there's the old man that gets in the way. But according to the inward man, we all delight in the law of God. We all love God in that sense. We all love Christ. But you know what? We need to make sure that we're walking in love. You know, you feel deeply about Christ and the word of God, that's great and you should feel that way and I'm glad that you feel that way. But you know what you need to do? You need to live that though, right? If you really want to please God, you need to walk in the Spirit and do the work and get out there witnessing for Christ, fisher of men, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, right? Getting people saved, discipling the saved, being a good influence, being light and salt in this world. Because if we don't, if we don't, Christ's kingdom suffers. Sure, there's going to be fish and bread on the fire, but you know what? Not as much as if we would have brought something to the table. Not as much as if we would have gotten involved. And so I do believe that if we all were to stop serving God today, Christianity would march on and people would still do great things for God and many people would, but you know what? More people will be saved if everybody in this room, right, does the work. If I continue and you continue, we're going to get a lot more people saved than if we quit. Wow, that's a number. Please. Please. Don't come at me with that unbiblical nonsense, alright? Let's get out there in this world and let's make a difference. And you know what? Let's take the love that's in our heart and let's let that love shine forth in our lives, in our actions, in our works so that we can be a blessing to both saved and unsaved alike. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord. Lord, there could be people under the sound of my voice right now who feel kind of like Peter. Maybe they committed a bad sin. Maybe they just feel like kind of a loser or they just feel like they let God down or something like that. Lord, help all of those people to realize that you have a place for them and that you have work for them to do, Lord. And just as you restored Peter to your service, Lord, I pray that anybody who's feeling down and discouraged right now would realize that you're ready to reinstate them and put them back into your service at any time. Lord, thank you so much that we could never lose our salvation. Thank you that our salvation is eternally secure and sealed. And Lord, thank you that as saved Christians, any time we get backslidden, we can always come back and get back on the horse, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Let's turn our song books to song number 315. Take My Life and Let It Be. Song 315. 315. Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love At the impulse of Thy love Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for me Take my voice and let me sing Always only for my King Always only for my King Take my silver and my gold God of mine would I withhold Take my moments and my days Let them flow in ceaseless praise Let them flow in ceaseless praise Take my will and make it thine It shall be no longer mine Take my heart, it is thine own It shall be Thy royal throne It shall be Thy royal throne It shall be Thy royal throne It shall be Thy royal throne