string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Jul 17, 2022

Church in Deep Water

Church in Deep Water

Passage: Luke 5:1-11

Speaker: Alan Folsom

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: pastor, church, worship, faith, jesus, sunday, god, sermon, christian, luke, gospel, hope, holy spirit, spirit, believe, disciples, jesus christ, holy, fishing, fishers of men, bible study, god is good, gospel of luke, live music, bible stories, livestream, burnt hickory baptist church, come follow me, burnt hickory worship, luke 5 1-11 sermon, luke chapter 5

Pastor Alan shares some characteristics of a church in deep water, not being in trouble, but following God’s commands to go deeper in following Him and fishing for men in a lost world. We see in scripture – Luke 5:1-11; that we need to have deep water experiences in our faith, and we need to have them more often. The greatest catch in the disciples’ careers ended in them abandoning everything and following Jesus. In the same manner, we need to abandon everything and follow Christ into deep waters. As always, if you’ve got questions, we’d love to connect with you to help you find answers and pray with you. Please reach out and take the next step in your faith journey – burnthickory.com/next.

Good morning, church. We're glad that you're here for this hour of worship. If you're online or in this room or in our classic venue, we're glad you've chosen this hour to encounter God in worship. Thank you, worship teams for leading us in worship this morning. Before we get to the message, I want to take a point of personal privilege. As adult pastor, one of my main responsibilities is our life group's adult LifeGroups. And so, I just want to have an opportunity to tell you about what's going on in LifeGroups and invite you to be involved or connected to a LifeGroup if you haven't already done so. But we've got adult LifeGroups that made it eight fifteen at nine thirty and eleven o'clock during this hour. Our preschoolers and children, our kid’s ministry, they have either worship or group opportunities at nine thirty and eleven. And our students, they have life groups at nine thirty and eleven as well. So, we encourage you and your family, if you're not connected to LifeGroups, to take an opportunity to do that.

A couple of exciting things are happening in our adult LifeGroups. First is we've got in August we've got two new groups that are starting. One, we're going to have our Jimmy Allen’s senior adult group that meets at nine thirty is going to send out a group to me that eleven and David Huggins so you saw baptize just a moment ago he and Susie are going to give leadership to that new senior adult group that's going to meet at eleven o'clock and so we're excited about this new senior adult group starting and then also at eleven o'clock beginning in August, David Meriwether and Jim Goldsmith are going to be sort of restarting a group at eleven o'clock for empty nesters and so we're excited about that as well. And so, we've also got a challenge with this hour here at church, especially downstairs venue as we anticipate this our being over capacity in August when school comes back. And so, we've asked a couple of groups to make some transition changes for their LifeGroup hour and their worship. Our one of those Jim Dodgen and Brandon Aldrich's group that meets at nine thirty a student family group. They've committed to move their life group to eleven o'clock and worship at the nine thirty hour and also, we've got a couple of other empty nester groups are not moving hours but they're encouraging their folks to go to a different worship venue besides eleven o'clock modern so eight fifteen modern worship or nine thirty or eleven o'clock classic worship and those two groups are Wayne Morris's empty nester group and the Robertson Watson empty nester group that meet at nine thirty. They're encouraging you to make space here for eleven. And so that's what we're wanting to do is make room in this hour for the newcomers, for guest and those that are un-churched, that are seeking God. And if you're new here, this morning, we're so glad that you're here. We're here for you, and we want you to get connected.

We want you to worship God. But we also are going to ask several of you if you want and maybe twelve families if you would consider pray about changing your worship hour. LifeGroup hour to worship at nine thirty and go to a LifeGroup at eleven. So, we just need about that many more folks to even up capacity here with our nine thirty and our eleven o'clock worship. So that's the main goal there and so we hope you'll consider that and pray about that because at nine thirty and eleven there's a LifeGroups, you know adult LifeGroups, there's the same for the students both hours and for preschool and children both hours. And also, I want to just recognize all of our adult LifeGroup teachers and leaders and so if you would stand, you're your LifeGroup teacher; preschool, children, youth, adult, if you would stand. If you're a leader or a teacher I want, you to stand and stay remain standing just for a moment. And so, if you are in the room and you haven't connected to a LifeGroup yet, whether you're a member or whether this is your first time, I encourage you to connect to a LifeGroup and you have to be there again. We've got eight fifteen, nine thirty eleven o'clock hours. If you haven't connected, see these teachers or leaders around you and after worship, ask them. Let them to say, hey, I need to I want to get connected to a life that can help you and I can take you through the welcome center as well to find your group. I want you to stay standing, and then I want to pray for you leaders as we start a new year on July 31, just pray for you. We appreciate you. You do so much for the kingdom through our church. You, you work and study and lead and minister 24-7 and especially on Sundays. And so, thank you for your teaching. Thank you for your ministry and thank you for the impact that you have on lives for the Kingdom through our LifeGroups. And let me pray for you.

Father, we're grateful for the opportunity of worship today. Father especially thank you for our LifeGroups and the ministry they have for your kingdom and for our families and for our church. I thank you for those that serve our adults, those that serve our children, and those that serve with students. And so far, we just thank you for their commitment to you. Father, for the teachers teaching your word, week in and week out and making it applicable to their lives as they make disciples of others through the teaching. We're thankful for the ministry that goes on day in and day out each week through these LifeGroups. And thank you for the outreach and evangelism that happens where they're inviting. They're inviting those that don't know you to come to relationship with you in relationship with church and get connected to a LifeGroup that they can continue to grow in their faith in you and grow in relationship with other Christians. So, I thank you for what they do and just pray that you bless them and encourage them. Father, we're thankful for the opportunity of worship, and pray that you'll open our hearts and our minds to the word that you would have us to receive this morning as we continue to worship, for its in Christ name we pray, Amen.

I want to share with you this morning some characteristics of a church in deep water. And you may think, well, you know, what's deep water got to do with anything? Well, the scripture has a lot about God being in deep water. Psalms is filled with verses about God being a deep-water God. Two of them I want to share with you Psalms 107:23-34 says, others went to sea and ships conducting trade on the vast water. They saw the Lord's works, his wondrous works in the deep. And then in Psalms 135:5-6 says the Lord is great and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in Heaven and in earth in the seas and in all the deep places. So, we're hearing just these two Psalms that God is a God of the deep-water God, and we can meet God and He does marvelous things in the deep water. And so, we need to be a church in deep water, have these deep-water experiences with God. But just the term deep water conjures up some negative response of what's it mean to be in deep water. And it's, you know, it can mean, you know, I'm in trouble, I've done something wrong or I'm in over my head and some of it may bring up the, you know, learning to swim in deep water for the first time, diving off in the deep end and being able to recover and get your head back above water and swim back to the side. A deep-water experience may have a negative connotation, but we're going to look at scripture, a deep-water experience for these first disciples in Luke 5:1-9. And so, I want to show you my first deep water experience. I call it my deep sea first deep-sea fishing experience was in the summer of nineteen sixty-nine. No, it's not the Brian Adams song. I didn't get a guitar. It's the summer of sixty-nine where I had my first fishing experience. My brother Merrill, older brother Merrill is on the left, that's me on the right with our King Mackerels that we called in Panama City Beach when I was seven years old. And that was my first deep water fishing experience.

And I remember it well as a seven-year-old. One, I got seasick. Two, how hard it was for me. I mean, the fish was as long as I was tall to get that thing in and I couldn't do it without my dad's help reeling it in. But that's just the first, you know, that first memory, first experience of deep-sea fishing. But that wasn't my first my second experience. Deep sea fishing was in the summer of twenty fourteen. So, forty-three something years later. So, you can tell I didn't get the fishing bug. Well, that first deep-sea fishing experience so I wouldn't consider myself a fisherman by any means. I know how to fish. I've gone fishing before, but I wouldn't consider I mean hey I've got a passion for fish and that's just not me. But more significant than that. That same summer I had that deep sea fishing experience was the summer that I gave my heart and life to Christ as a seven-year-old boy after a vacation Bible school, the First Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, where my dad was a pastor. So that was my first spiritual deep-water experience with God as a seven-year-old boy. After learning the, you know, the gospel and vacation Bible school and my parents born into me sharing Christ to me, and what it meant to me was what it meant to be a Christian surrendered my heart and life as a seven-year-old child. There in Jackson, Georgia. So that was my first deep water experience, spiritual experience with Christ. And the correlation here what I want to share with you is we are called to have deep water experiences with God, not just one, OK? We can't survive as a Christian if we just have that deep water experience or that deep spiritual experience with Christ, just like there was forty-three years between those two deep sea fishing experiences. I became a Christian when I was seven, but I didn't really learn what it meant to be a disciple, a follower of Christ until I was twenty-one years old in college after taking Master Life Discipleship course really understood what it meant to be a follower, a disciple of Christ fourteen years later. So, I was a college student, but still you know, I've been a Christian for 14 years, but I was still spiritually immature. I was still spiritually a child, even though I was an adult.

So, what I want us to look at is a deep-water experience here in Luke, five versus one through eleven, where Jesus calls these first fishermen, these fishermen here to be his disciples. And He calls them, and he gets our attention by telling them to go out in the deep water for a catch. So, if you go to Luke5:1-11 we'll read Gods and read and hear God's word together. One day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the Word of God, He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen and were washing their nets and one got in, got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore when he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out in the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't called anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So, they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw this, he felt Jesus knees and said Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man, for he and all his companions were astonished or amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid from now on you will catch men. So, they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. So here in Scripture, one of the one of the greatest fish stories in Scripture, but probably in history. And so, this is a great lesson to learn how to be a church in deep water by learning from this experience of Jesus, calling these fishermen Simon and James and John and the other fishermen to go out in the deep water for a catch.

And so, the context, the first I want to share with you, seven "Cs" of a church, get it, you know, seven seas, ocean deep water, you know, a seven "Cs" of a church in deep water. And the first one is circumstances are understood. The circumstances are understood, understanding the context of scripture and of the understanding the context of where we are as a church and in our community, the context or the setting here, the background. It says that they were on the lake of Gennesaret, and this body of water is called different things according to what region you are around. So, it's called it's called Lake of Gennesaret. It is the Sea of Galilee it's the Lake of Tiberius, the Sea of Tiberius, and also known as the Lake of Lake Chinnereth. And so here Luke, the gospel of Luke, you know, he's a physician. And so, he's very accurate with details. And he correctly to that region they were in, it was called like of Gennesaret or you may know it better as the Sea of Galilee. And so, this was early in Luke is early in the public ministry of Jesus just he was beginning his teaching ministry is preaching ministry is shortly after his wilderness temptation experience. And so, here's the that's the context here. The community that they were in is Capernaum, which was Simon Peter and Andrew's, you know they were brothers, it was their hometown. It's where Jesus had been teaching in the synagogues where he had he had started the healing. His first miracle was to cast out a demon there in Capernaum and so people in the synagogue and then after that worship, on this same day, you know, people learned that he was, he was doing miracles and that type of thing. And they had gathered they had gathered a large crowd and a large crowd had come to see this new this Jesus, this guy, this teaching this guy, this work in miracles and doing wonders. We want to see what this is all about. And also, and that was all in chapter four. You can see that context where Jesus preached in the synagogue in Capernaum, and he had done those miracles and cast out that demon. And after the synagogue service at home, that's when they had they gathered. He was teaching on the shore. And also, this is not the first experience that Simon Peter and the other fishermen had had with them. They had gathered, you know, in Luke four. You also see where Jesus was in the home of Simon Peter and healed his mother-in-law. And in the other gospels say, you know, other accounts of this where Jesus had met these potential disciples or future disciples, he had met them.

So, this context, they already knew this was not their first experience with Jesus. The crowd here says a large crowd had gathered and some commentators, you know, they anticipate or estimate it was thousands upon thousands possibly that had gathered to hear Jesus’ teaching. They were pressing on. He was running out of room. And it was it was the people, you know, in front of them, the water behind him. And so that's why he asked the fishermen to get in their boat. Says, you know, a large crowd. And yes, one thing, if you haven't seen the chosen series yet, the two seasons, you need to look at that. And that was one of them. This scene in the chosen of the great crowd was very disappointing to me because it didn't go that's good. There's about twenty-five or thirty people on the shore. And then Peter was in was in the boat and that just didn't fit my mental picture of what Scripture said that was thousands or there was a large a large crowd had gathered there, and it says they were listening. They were listening to the Word of God. They were listening to Jesus, the Son of God. The Messiah teach the Word of God. So, what He was saying was actually God's Word. And so, Jesus was with the people. His focus was on that crowd that had gathered to teach them. The characters in this were the fishermen, Simon and James and John. We don't know where Andrew was. He's not mentioned in this passage, but the characters were the fishermen and Jesus.

So, the fisherman again were Simon Peter, James, and John the sons of Zebedee, because they were they were partners in the fishing business. They did it together, the Zebedee Fishing Company or whatever it was. They were young professional fishermen. They were young men at this point. But they're living. They were you know, Peter was married, don't know about the others, but they were, you know, making a living as fishermen. And so again, in Matthew and Mark and John, Jesus had already met Peter, and Andrew, James, and John and other in other circumstances. And so, they knew him as a teacher and they had made a sort of a commitment to him to observe, to sort of follow to see what he was teaching and what he was all about. And then they encounter him in this experience right here. But it says basically the fishermen were minding their own business, literally. They were minding their fishing businesses, said they were washing their nets and Luke and in other passages, Matthew and Mark and John says they were mending. They were washing and mending their nets. And that's the key there that were repairing their nets for the next night's work. And so, they didn't repair or mend their nets and they didn't fix them, they would rot. And they wouldn't be any good for them, their tool for their fishing business. But that same word for mending is the word for equipping. What we do as a church, we equip disciples, we equip you to serve. We mend broken relationships are mended through Christ, that type of thing. So, we're repairing and mending relationships and those that are far from God can come close, who don't have a relationship. They can be reconciled to Christ. So that's an important word there is mending. And so, they these fishermen were basically, you know, Jesus interrupted their daily routine. You know, they fished at night, they fixed their nets and cleaned them in the morning. They probably go home and rest a little bit during the day, get some other things done for their next, before their next night of fishing. And so, this was their daily routine. And here Jesus the Messiah, the son of the living God interrupts, interrupts their daily routine.

And so, looking at these same aspects of the passage, what is our context, our community, the crowd, that type of thing? Our community, West Cobb, East Paulding area, you know, we're pretty much I lost county. It's a lost area. Eighty percent or so are unchurched. So don't believe in Jesus or aren't following Christ, even though about forty five percent of the population say they have some type of a religious adherence to a church, whether it's Christian or not but we're basically an unchurched area in our community. And it's our charge and that's our charge to reach them to go to the community not just expect the community to come to us even though those invitations are powerful. You know, like Andrew invited his brother Simon Peter to come and see Jesus. He had met him. He was a disciple of John the Baptist. And so, he met Jesus, became a disciple of Jesus and goes and finds his brother and said you got to come and see we found the Messiah. And so that was when Peter had met Jesus, you know, before this experience. But we live in an unchurched community and so, you know, and we've got to go. We're called to be fishers of men. The Scripture says we're to catch men. And the catching men and women and children, boys and girls are in our community. That's our Jerusalem that we're called to first.

Last week, Pastor Eli shared about the Alaskan mission trip, and they had the team to share in testimonies. But Eli made this point with talking about Peter, you know, in Acts, he said, you know, we don't have a right if we're not reaching if we're not going and doing this in our community, we can't go expect to go somewhere else and do it to Alaska or Guatemala. Where else if we're not doing it at home, if we're not doing it in our Jerusalem. We've got to do that first and foremost and faithful to be able to go and do it elsewhere. And so that's a call we need to be fishers of men. And so that's one thing I told you. I'm not a fisherman. I never caught the bug, but I do have I do have two Columbia fishing shirts, you know, the P whatever, and the Columbia pair of fishing pants that are very comfortable. And I guess they're stylish, but I've got I've got the fishing clothes and I've also got three Zebco rod and reels in my storage shed that I never use. So just because I've got a dress, I can dress like a fisherman, and I have a fishing pole. Does that make me a fisherman? No. And so what is our we're supposed to be fishers of men. What is the impression that we're giving to the lost community that we're planted in? And that's our, our fishing hole, so to speak, of where we're supposed to go. What kind of, do you act like a fisherman or look like a fisherman, but you're not a fisherman? Or you're actually going out and you're serving and sharing, and people are coming to know Christ.

You know, several years ago, Tom Rainer did a research book and called it the Unchurched Next Door. And that's when he said, you know, eighty percent of the unchurched in America. Eighty two percent of them said they would attend church if someone they knew invited them. But the sad part is that only two percent, only two percent of the unchurched said that anybody from a church ever shared Christ with them. So, the unchurched are willing to come if we invite them. But the thing is, we're not we're not casting seeds, we're not sowing seeds and we're not inviting people to come. And so, we need to be fishermen in our context. The crowd, they were being drawn to Jesus. How are they being drawn to Jesus? They were hearing the Word of God. They had seen him do miracles and wonders, and they were curious spectators, but it drew a crowd. And so, what about us? We've got a crowd gathered on Sunday mornings, but what's it mean that you've been here on Sunday morning as you go back home and go out into your community, you share your encounter with God and what you've learned. Do you share that in your home? Do you share that with your neighbors and your friends? So, the characters are us, the believers. And so how is God and how are you encountering God daily, not just on Sunday mornings? And so, if you were here last week and you didn't have another encounter with God until this morning, something's missing.

You need to have those encounters with God daily on an individual basis. And so, the second the second C of the Seven Cs the central figure is Jesus. In verse three, he says he got he got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. Here, Jesus is the center of attention. He's what it's all about. First of all, it says, Jesus got in the boat. You know, here the fishermen were there. Two boats were on shore. They were washing and mending their nets. Minding their own business. The crowd was pushing on Jesus. They were listening to him teach, and he just goes up to one of the. And so, it wasn't a stranger. He already knew Simon Peter, and James and John. And he said, Hey, can I get into your boat to go out a little from shore so I can continue to teach the folks. Basically, he used he used the boat as a pulpit and the water as an amplifier so the crowds could hear him.

And so, first of all, he got in the boat and Simon Peter let him in the boat. And so, the thing is, is Jesus is Jesus’ present? Is Jesus in your boat? Is he in the boat of our church? Is he in your personal lifeboat? If he asks hey, I want to come in, I'm at the door knocking. Are you going to let me in your life? Are you going to let me in your boat? MacArthur, here about Jesus’ teaching. He says. John MacArthur says you begin to get the picture, that when Jesus was teaching, he drew huge crowds because of his power and because of his clarity and the uniqueness in the power of his preaching. So basically, Jesus was present, or Jesus was in the house, Jesus was in the boat, and he was going to show off. You got Jesus as the central. He's the main thing. And Jesus himself said, If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me. And then in John, he says, You know, I'm the way the truth and the life. No, man, nobody comes to the father except through me. So, Jesus is essential. He's central and we've got to remember that. And so, in our worship, he's got to be the main thing. He's got to be the focus of our worship. And Charles Spurgeon the great preacher of England in 1868 he said this in his Christ, the glory of his people sermon. He said, a sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. However grand the language, it will be merely much ado about nothing if Christ be not there, and I mean by Christ, not merely His example and the ethical precepts of His teaching, but his atoning blood, his wondrous satisfaction made for human sin and the grand doctrine of believe and live. Believe in Christ have eternal life. Jesus is central to our faith as Christians. He is central to who we worship and who we are as the Body of Christ. The Church where the Body of Christ not a gathering of other people. We are gathered as the body of Christ. Ecclesia, the called-out ones. The called-out ones that are following Christ, we are the body of Christ. Henry Blackaby has said, He Jesus, has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you accepted Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help himself to your life any time He wants. Is the Lord central, is He a priority in your life and in our church? How do you need to make Jesus the center of your attention? How do we need to make Him the center of our attention, in our worship, in our LifeGroups, in our homes? What changes do you need to make to make Christ Central? The third, as they were challenged to grow and serve. These men, these fishermen had an encounter with God, and they were challenged to grow and serve. In verse four, it says. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out in the deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

And Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. It says, When Jesus finished teaching, I wish it had told us what Jesus taught, but it doesn't in Luke. It may be in other passages or encounters, but it says When Jesus finished speaking, or teaching, he turned to Peter and said, Now I want you to go out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. That was what he was, what he was doing, and he got Peter's attention. But here there's something about this this statement. There’re three things that you can learn about this, and this was Jesus model of teaching. You can remember CIA as a as a model here. The C in this instruction here is command. The command was put out in the deep water. Jesus told him, said, Simon, I want you to go out, put the boat and go out in the deep water. That's what he was telling him to do as a command. And then the I there is instruction. So, he gave them a command. Then he told him what to do. The instruction was let down the nets. And then the A is assurance. There was assurance there he said let down the nets for a catch. He said, if you do what I tell you to do, you're going to have a catch. And so that's Jesus model of teaching was he commanded you to do he tells you how to do it or what to do. And then it gives you assurance that if you obey what he says, this is what's going to happen. We'll be blessed because of our obedience. So here Jesus takes an initiative with Simon Peter and involved Him in this sovereign plan. And involved him with His call to be a disciple. So, this was the statement that Jesus makes to Simon Peter, you know, go out in the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. This this statement probably most assuredly got Peter or caught Peter off guard. One, It didn't make sense to him. He probably didn't understand it because here, you know, they fished at night, not in the middle of the day and they fished in the shallow water at night with nets and in not in deep water. And so here for and they and they had already fished all night and hadn't called anything.

And here Jesus is commanding them, telling them, saying, this is what I want you to do, go out in the deep water for a catch. And I'm sure it didn't make much sense to him, but he said, But because of your word, because you say so, because you're telling me to do it, I respect you as a master, as a teacher, and I respect that. And I'll do what you tell me to do. So, when we're told to put out in the deep water, what is our response? Do we say, Lord, I'm not going to do that? Lord, I don't understand, so I'm not going to do it? Or flat out say, No, I'm not going to do it. You're rebellious and you're going to disobey and say, No, I don't care what you're calling me to do. I'm not going to do it. That's rebellion, that's disobedience. And that's sin. So, what are you going to do if God calls you and leads you to say, I'm going, I need you to do something different? I need you to serve, I need you to teach, I need you to change worship hours so more people can come to worship. Are you going to put your personal preferences and your comfort and your satisfaction ahead of what God is calling you to do, whatever that may be? it may be just hey, go have a conversation with your neighbor to share Christ with them or at least develop a relationship with them, whatever he's calling you to do. Are you going to say, I don't understand it, I may not do so well, but because you said so, I'm going to obey? I'm going to do what you've led me, led us to do. And so here there's a there's a difference in deep water and shallow water in this instance. And so, this is just a few comparisons of deep water to shallow water that could be deep water calling a calling versus what is your comfort level, what you're comfortable with.

It's easy just to come and sit and be comfortable and just listen and have a good experience. But are you being called to do something else? Are you comfortable just sitting in worship or a LifeGroup? Is the difference between being challenged to do something for God or being complacent about it? The shallow water is complacency. Deep water of being charged, you're charge to do something from your lord and savior or you're just copacetic about it, you know, whatever. You know, I might or might not. You know, it doesn't really matter. There's a difference between you being commissioned to do something, set apart to do something, or as a we're going to do it If consensus is in our church, we're going to do it, we'll do it. Or whether you're being commissioned to set apart to do something. Are we as a church, deep water, or are we a battleship or a carrier or are we a comfortable cruise line? Where our needs are taken care of? We pay enough money for that. So, it's the difference between going for a catch in the deep as Jesus commands us to do, or is it just I'm going to be comfortable, I'm going to do what makes me and my family comfortable. You know, some of us, you know, about Jesus getting in the boat or being in the boat or going fishing and doing it. Some of you some of us, me included. I mean, we're not we're just, you know, we might be like Otis Redding. You know, we just sitting on the dock of the bay watching the world and the ships just passing by. We're just having a relaxing time, just observing what is going on. But Jesus calls us into deep water.

So, what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to get out in it, not just watch everybody else do it. We've got to get in where God calls us to be and to do. And so, the fourth one is the commands of Christ are obeyed. Verse six says Simon answered master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so I we'll let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. And so, I mean, he was just being honest. Simon Peter said Lord, we worked hard all night and hadn't called anything, but because you say so, we'll do it. And then they, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break, and they had to call the other boat over to help them get it in. And they began to sink because it was so many fish. So, for personal response, we've worked hard all night, haven't caught anything. We've worked hard all night on our own initiative without you being present. And we had no results. But because you say so, I'm going to be obedient and I'm going to do it. And there again, you know, his response was you know, probably not understanding what Jesus was talking about. And here Jesus was a teacher known as a teacher. He was raised as a carpenter. And here he was telling a professional fisherman how to fish.

Glenn Chappelear is a member of our church. He was in the last service. Glenn’s, you know, really a professional fisherman in some sense or a real good fisherman, bass and all that. And it's like me as a teacher, as a pastor that doesn't claim to be a fisherman trying to tell Glenn, who knows his business, knows how to find the fish, knows how to catch bass. He's got all the equipment, the boat, that type thing. It's like me telling him how to catch a bass when I've never caught a bass in my life. I've caught some little bream or crappie or whatever you call them, what part of the country you're from and some catfish. But that's like you know, that's what's here. But one of the commentators of Luke, James Edwards, he makes an analogy this way of a fisherman telling a non-fisherman telling the fishermen, especially professional fishermen, what to do. He says few fishermen endure a failure in the art admirably, and people who fish for a living rather than for sport may endure it even less admirably. We need to ask what goes through the mind of a professional fisherman in a foul mood when a non-fisherman order him to do again in bad conditions what he has already tried and failed to do in good conditions. So here you get the matter of the attitude that Simon Peter and these other fishermen may have had with that. But they didn't you know, they didn't argue, they didn't argue. They were obedient and so they obeyed the commands of Christ, and they were blessed because of their obedience. Henry Blackaby again, say if you know that God loves you, you should never question a directive from Him. If you know God loves you, you should never question a directive from Him. It will always be right and best. Whatever Christ is asking you to do will always be right and best. When He gives you a directive, you are not to him, you are just to observe, not just to observe it, discuss it, or debate it. You are to obey it. So, it's not our prerogative to question it or debate it and say, Is this what I'm supposed to do or not? If Christ gives us a directive, if He gives you a directive, are you being obedient to it? No matter what it costs you, no matter the circumstances, no matter what else happens, are you going to be faithful and obedient to do what Christ calls you to do?

Number five is cooperation of the body. The body of Christ cooperates together, and here the fishermen have to cooperate together to get all the fish in. And so, in verse seven says, so they signal their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. I mean, what a marvelous experience as a fisherman, you know, to catch so many. The greatest catch, you know, the nets were breaking. They got it in both boats, and it was heavy. And the boats were starting to go over. You know, the water was starting to come over the edges of the boat because of the weight. There's such a great catch of fish, they couldn't handle it. They had to call the other boats together. You know, and we as a church, if we're going to be in deep water, we need to be in it together. We need to help one another. And that's the thing about being the body of Christ. Each of you as a Christian, as a believer, has been gifted to serve in the ministry. You've been gifted, you've got spiritual gifts, and we're here to equip you to serve and minister, not just to come and see it and to soak. You know, the old farming thing with soaking peas, if you let them sit and just soak you know what happens to them? They sour. If you just go on to come and sit, and soak God, you know the word in, and have just a good, you know, pleasant worship experience. But you don't do anything about it. You don't let it change your heart and your life. You don't let it be an encounter with God that's going to change your life.

You've got to you know; you're just going to you're not going to do anything. You're just going to sour just if you're just sitting here, you know, listening and just going about your business like it didn't make a difference whether you were here or not. Alister Begg puts it this way. He says, As Christians, we are called not simply this come and sit and to learn, but we're to grow and go and to fish and feed. So not only are we called to come and worship and to sit under the teaching of Christ. But we're to go where to learn and grow and then where to go where the fish for men, and then we are to feed the sheep. Not just the fish. And so, we shouldn't have to in a church, everybody has a part to play we should never have to beg for folks to work in preschool and children's LifeGroups or ministry. We should never have to beg for folks to serve on the worship team, tech team, production team, whatever, to work with students to lead a LifeGroup. We should never have to beg for that. You're called to do something as the body of Christ. Are you doing that ministry? Are you being equipped to do that as our as our part?

Number six confession is common in the church. And so here it says in verse eight and nine. Simon made a confession. He said he fell on his knees and said, Go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. And all his companions were astonished at the great catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. And so here Jesus had really revealed himself as God with his healing, with his omnipotence, with his omniscience, as is, you know, all knowing, all powerful and all that was exhibited in this and one thing that got Peter's attention is he knew where the fish were, Jesus knew where the fish were, and he commanded those fish to get in the nets. And so, his power authority overnight that I mean, that got Peter's attention, Simon Peter's attention. And so, he was first time probably that he had ever been confronted with his sinfulness against that of Jesus Christ. He was confronted and he realized his sinfulness. He confessed three things here. One, he confessed his sin of disobedience and unbelief of being reluctant to obey. He said, Lord, go away from me. He said, I'm a sinful man. He acknowledged his sinfulness to the Christ. You know, after the experience with Christ, he acknowledged that he was a sinner, probably for the first time in his life. Second, he confessed Jesus to be the Lord. He said, go away from me, Lord. And before he said, Master, we've worked hard all night, master's like teacher or a rabbi or a follower. Here, he confesses Him as Lord, as a Messiah, as a Lord, who's to be listened to and obeyed. And then he confessed a fear, a reverence and awe for the Lord. And they said, he said they were astonished or amazed at the great catch of fish. When was the last time you were astonished or amazed at God's work in your life?

Was the last time you're astonished to amazed at God's work in this body of believers at burnt hickory? Hopefully it hadn't been that long. But has it brought you to that point where you're able to confess Jesus is Lord? That you're a sinner and that you want to follow him and be obedient to him? The seventh, the final one, the servant C is committed to follow Christ. We're committed to follow Christ. And it says in verse ten eleven then Jesus said to Simon don't be afraid from now on you will catch men. And so, they pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything, and followed Him. He said, Simon, from now on you're going to catch men alive. You're going to be you're going to fish for men and you're going to catch men alive. Not dead. And so, you're going to be called fishers of men. And so, they left the great catch. You know, Simon Pater confessed Jesus is Lord and such a great catch of fish. He said, What do they do with it? I mean, probably, you know, could pay their bills for years to come. So, what did they do? Left it. They left everything and followed Christ. They were committed to follow Christ. So, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his Cost of Discipleship, says Christianity without Christ. He says Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship. And Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. So that doesn't make sense. You're not a Christian if you're not a follower of Christ. Christianity has become a secular, just a general term.

People claim to be a Christian just like they say, well, I'm Jewish or I'm Catholic or whatever. And they're not they're not followers. They're not followers of Christ. Peter confessed his sin of disobedience and unbelief. And so, what's your confession this morning? Do you need to go out in deep water for a catch what God's calling you to do? Or do you need to surrender your heart and life to Christ this morning? As I want you to just bow your heads and pray and just consider these items of is Christ calling you to follow him today? First of all, you need to recognize that God created you for a love relationship that's real and personal. He wants you to love Him with all your being. We're called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Next, we need to recognize that you're a sinner and you cannot save yourself Peter said, Lord, go away from me. I'm a sinful person. Are you willing to confess your sin? Confront the sin in your life? Are you ready to believe that Jesus paid the death penalty on the cross as a payment for your sin? For our salvation. By his death on the cross and he rose from the dead in victory over death, he paid the death penalty for our sins. Are you willing to confess, that's agree with God about your sin? Confess those sins to God? And then after that, are you ready to repent of that sin? That means turn away from you, turn away from that sin, and you turn to God. Are you willing and ready to do that this morning? Just ask Jesus to save you by His grace, which is undeserved favor. We don't deserve it. But Christ gives it as a gift. It's a grace. It's undeserved favor. You might just need to say, I need to recommit. I need to turn my life over to Christ. Whatever your commitment is, you can look up and I just hope you prayed that to receive Christ. Or if you need to make other decisions, there's a next step, a card in the worship guide or it’s on the screen.

If you want to accept Christ, let us know about it. You know, check that part. If you want to be baptized, as we had experienced this morning. As you're a Christian, that's your first act of obedience is to be baptized by believers’ baptism. We want you to do that. If you want to connect to a LifeGroup or you want to discover more what it means to be a part of the body of Christ here at Burnt Hickory, we want to talk to you and pray with you about that. We'll take we'll have some counselors over on this side under the next step on this side to talk with you and pray for you if you need it. So as far as our as we're singing, an invitation time, just consider your calling to be a Christian in your service, to be a Christian and we'll have the counselors over here that we'll talk with you.

 

Follow Along with the Message

Church in Deep Water

July 17, 2022

Psalm 107:23–24
23 Others went to sea in ships, conducting trade on the vast water. 24 They saw the Lord’s works, his wondrous works in the deep.
Psalm 135:5–6
5 “the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.”
Luke 5:1–11
1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
7 C’s of a Church in Deep Water

1. are understood.

Luke 5:1–2
1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

2. figure is Jesus!

Luke 5:3
He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

“A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. However grand the language it will be merely much-ado-about-nothing if Christ be not there. And I mean by Christ not merely his example and the ethical precepts of his teaching, but his atoning blood, his wondrous satisfaction made for human sin, and the grand doctrine of ‘believe and live.’”
— Charles Spurgeon

3. to grow and serve.

Luke 5:4
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

: put out into deep water

: let down the nets

: for a catch, this is what I will do!

4. of Christ are obeyed.

Luke 5:5–6
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

“Few fishermen endure failure in the art admirably, and people who fish for a living rather than for sport may endure it even less admirably. We need not ask what goes through the mind of a professional fisherman in a foul mood when a nonfisherman orders him to do again in bad conditions what he has already tried and failed to do in good conditions.”
— James R. Edwards

5. of the body.

Luke 5:7
So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

“As Christian we are called not simply to sit and learn but to grow and go, to fish and feed.”
— Alistair Begg

6. is common!

Luke 5:8–10
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

7. to follow Christ.

Luke 5:10–11
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Additional Notes

 

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