"I'm Going Fishing"

Intro:

Good morning!

I want to ask you something this morning — Have you ever had a bad day?

I’ve had bad days, occasionally. We all do.

It wasn’t too long ago, to be honest with you, I was having what preachers refer to as a “Blue Monday.”

You ever heard that term?

Preachers are notorious about talking about Blue Mondays sometimes.

I’ve had my fair share of them, and I’ve had Blue Mondays after bad Sundays, and I’ve had Blue Mondays after GREAT Sundays!

It’s odd, but you just never know.

Maybe you have similar days with your occupation.

Maybe Monday is your most difficult day …

Or maybe you had a “Blue Tuesday” this past week. (Certain things transpired on that day, right …)

Or maybe Wednesday — “Hump Day” — is your most difficult day, typically.

Anyways, regardless of what actual day it is, you may have a bad day from time to time.

Christians are not immune to bad days, but I want to give you some encouragement for the bad days.

And we’re going to take a look at three different accounts in the New Testament that can help us with those bad days.

I’m taking the sermon title today, by the way, from the first one we’re going to look at.

This is the one that I can relate to for sure, because you know what I did when I had my “Blue Monday?”

I went on over the the Blue River, and I went a fishing.

Well, if you remember from the end of the book of John, Peter at one point did the same thing!

So, the sermon title this morning — “I’m Going Fishing.”

Let’s look at the first one …

Peter - “I’m Going Fishing.”

If you remember the life of the apostle Peter during and around the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, it was an absolute ROLLER COASTER, right?!

During and around the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter …

Cut off a man’s ear! (John 18:10-15)

Fell asleep at the watch in the Garden! (Matt. 26:40)

(And Jesus called him out on it!)

V. 40 says — “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?!”

Denied Jesus three times! (Luke 22:54-62)

VS. 61-62 says - “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

Had to cope with the fact that the people released a thief and a murderer (Barabbas) instead of Jesus (John 18:39-40)

Had to watch His leader and Savior be tortured and ultimately crucified (John 19)

And then we find in John chapter 20 that Jesus is resurrected and shows Himself to the Apostles!

As you can imagine, trying to process all of this must have been a tremendous emotional roller coaster indeed!

So when we come to John chapter 21, what do we find Peter doing?

Going back to his old hobby (actually, his old JOB) and he says, “I … am going fishing!”

Sometimes, brothers and sisters, it’s okay to take a step back and just try to process everything, and get those batteries recharged!

And that appears to be the case here with Peter and the rest of the Apostles!

(Read John 21:1-25 and comment).

Moral of the story? Peter needed to get out and go fishing, perhaps needed to clear his mind a little bit, and what do ya know, He found Jesus in the process!

For you, it might not be, “I’m going fishing.”

For me it was, the last time I had a Blue Monday! (Like the apostles, I caught nothing, by the way!”) :)

But maybe for you it’s, “I’m going hunting.”

Or “I’m going camping.”

Or “I’m going to the ball game.”

Or, what have you.

But sometimes, we need to get out and do SOMETHING and clear our minds and then make sure Jesus is at the forefront of our minds again!

Paul & Silas - “Let’s sing.”

I’m sure you can probably remember where we’re going here!

Acts chapter 16!

So, there is a very interesting reason for why Paul and Silas end up in prison!

There was this girl who was a slave, and she was possessed with an unclean spirit, and she kept following Paul and Silas around proclaiming, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation!”

Well, v. 18 says that she did this for many days, to the point that Paul actually became GREATLY ANNOYED by it, the text says! :D

So Paul commanded the spirit to come out of here, but her masters didn’t like that, because they had been profiting off of the girl!

So they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

So we’re going to pick up there, and read from v. 20 onward. (Read Acts 16:20-24).

Pretty tough situation, huh? A pretty bad day!

How would you react?

Here’s how Paul and Silas reacted — They SANG and they PRAYED!

(Read Acts 16:25-30)

(And we know the rest of the story — The Philippian jailer ends up believing and obeying the Gospel!)

But the question becomes — What if Paul and Silas had not been singing and praying and being a good influence on those in jail?!

What if they had griped … and complained … and bemoaned the fact that they were in there?!

Does it not stand to reason that the Jailer might have been influenced a completely different way?

So when you have a bad day, try prayer of course, and also try singing!

The Lord knew what He was doing when He created prayer, and when He created singing!

James 5:13 says - “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.”

(And you can look up the scientific studies that prove that these things positively impact us!)

But finally this morning, let’s talk about Jesus Himself …

Jesus - “Come Aside By Yourselves to a Deserted Place”

So for this last one, Jesus is actually dealing with a time when they are about to feed the five thousand.

So you might be thinking — Is this sermon today just for bad days?

Well, feeding the 5000 — you tell me, does that sound like a bad day?

Doesn’t sound like a bad day to me!

Sounds like a GREAT DAY!

… … … Still exhausting though!

So this kind of goes back to what I said earlier in my own experience — I’ve had “Blue Mondays” after BAD Sundays, and I’ve had “Blue Mondays” after GREAT Sundays — so you never know!

And the same is likely the case with you, too!

(Regardless of what day of the week it might be).

So let’s read this account, and notice that Jesus attacks this situation PREEMPTIVELY, really!

(Read Mark 6:30-31)

That sounds pretty stressful, doesn’t it?!

Here the apostles are coming to Jesus and they are basically pouring their hearts out to Him, telling Him what they had been doing and what they had been teaching.

And I’m sure they were probably going through various problems that had come up.

So this is very good.

But … Jesus realizes that they needed to take some time to recharge their batteries!

So He says, “Come aside BY YOURSELVES to a DESERTED PLACE and REST a while.”

They needed to take a break!

The old saying is true: “You can’t fill someone else’s cup if yours is just about empty.”

“You can’t keep running on fumes, forever.”

And what they tell you on the airplane: “If you need an oxygen mask, PUT YOURS ON FIRST before trying to help the person beside you!”

Jesus knew this principle, and He tells the apostles to go away by themselves and rest for a while.

Well, this is GREAT … … … BUT …

The people had other plans!

They FOLLOW them!

(Read Mark 6:32-44 with just a few comments!)

So what can we take away from this:

Jesus acknowledges that sometimes we need time for ourselves — to recharge our batteries — “self-care” is the buzz word on this these days you may have heard.

By the way, Jesus didn’t just tell the APOSTLES to do this — He did it Himself from time to time, too!

Mark 1:35 - “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

Luke 5:16 - “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

But also, that said, Jesus still had COMPASSION on the people, and He went ahead and took care of their needs!

We can’t get caught up in the idea of “self-care” TOO MUCH, to the point that we become self-ISH …

Where we don’t care about the needs of other people!

So they’res a proper balance that is needed here!

Conclusion:

I hope that this has been an encouraging sermon for you today!

I hope that by looking at these accounts in the Bible, we can see the importance of taking care of ourselves, of realizing that life really IS a roller coaster of UPS and DOWNS …

That we can realize the power God has given us to call upon His name in PRAYER, and to give praises to His name in SONG …

And to remember that Jesus approves of the fact that sometimes we need to get away for a moment and recharge our batteries, physically and spiritually speaking.

But we must never forget our primary goal as the church of being there for one another, and being there for those we come into contact with as well, to try to help bring them to Christ!