Life Change
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever had an event that changed your life?
Look at the screen. This is Dasharth Manjhi (I am going to call him Dash) But he lived in a very remote area in India
And in 1960 his wife was involved in an accedent where she fell and broke multiple bones in her body.
The issue was the village they lived in was 40 mile from the closest hospital and had mountains around it which made the trip extreamly difficult
And unfortunatly because of the distance and terrain she was unable to make the trip and ended up passing on her way to the hospital.
And as you can imagine this event completely changed Dash’s life. However instead of being bitter what ended up happening is he had this idea to cut through the mountains to create a road that would make the trip safer and significantly shorter.
The issue was everyone in the village said that his idea was crazy because they did not have the time or money for this.
So Dash decided if no one else would do it, he would and for 22 years he chipped away at this mountain so that a road could be made.
And he did this full time until in 1982 he finally completed his project.
And now instead of it being a 40 mile trip, there village is just over half a mile from the hospital.
But its because Dash had this event that changed His life.
You know I think each one of us can think of an event that we look back and that event changed our life.
I think about going to a conference in middle school and that conference completely changed my life.
I think about getting married and that completely changed my life
I think about having kids and that completely changed my life
Moving to Buchanan changed my life.
And we have all of these different areas and today what I want to do is look at an enounter that changed 3 mens lives named, James, John, and Simon,
And these three men have an encounter that completely changes their life.
And so we are going to be in Luke 5:1-11 and we will be starting in verses 1-3. It says this:
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
So look at the setting here because there are so many people following Jesus and Jesus decides he needs a better place to teach .
And so Jesus comes to the fisherman
And they are out washing their nets when Jesus comes to them.
And whats interesting while a lot of scholars believe they had a couple of interactions with Jesus before this, they are not following Him yet.
And we see this here because they are working while everyone else is crowding around Jesus.
And so Jesus has them push the boat out from the shore so he can be far back enough to teach to this massive group of people,
And we are not told what He taught about but as Jesus finishes teaching look whaat happens in verses 4-9 because it says this:
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
So you can picture something sparking in them as Jesus was teaching and what ends up happening is He finishes up and you can picture Jesus looking at the fisherman and saying lets go fishing.
And normally they would be up for it but they are sitting here going Jesus we have just fished all night and you want to know what we caught? Nothing.
We want to take a nap not sit out on the uncomfortable boat for a few more hours
I mean is anyone here really big into fishing? If you went fishing all day and caught nothing and someone else tells you lets go back out, you are going to say no way right?
Because you are wasting your time.
But in verse 5 Simon (one of these fisherman says something interesting). He says Master we have worked hard all night, and have caught absolutely nothing, but at your word we will do it!”
You know there is a big shift here, because I don’t think Simon is super concerned about catching fish at this point,
But what he is concerned about is being faithful,
And I think there is a really good point for us, because in ministry and in life we like to measure how we are doing with metrics, and if things are going well, we are being faithful,
When in reality thats not true, because sometimes being faithful is not going wow look what God is doing, now I want to be a part of this,
But sometimes I think the biggest leap of faith is saying you know I have no idea where God is moving here.
In fact I have no idea why I keep doing this other than the fact that God is calling me too.
And do not get me wrong, I am beyond thankful for when we see God move in an amazing way.
I am so thankful that our church has been growing, and great things are happening.
But I think a lot of times God calls us to be faithful even when we might not see the fruit.
whether it is loving on that person and it is just hard, and you don’t see God moving and your wondering “why are you wanting me to pour into this person?
Or if its just going I know I need to get connected in this ministry, but I dont know why?
Maybe its even saying Its really hard to feel God right now in my life, but saying I am trusting you even in those moments when I am not on a spiritual high
You are at a place like these three fisherman where you are saying I don’t know why your calling me here, but I will trust you.
And whats neat is when they trust Jesus did you see what happens because they cast out the net and it says they catch so many fish that the nets are breaking and their boats begin to sink because they have so many fish
And I think this is something important for us to catch, because sometimes in God calling us somewhere we might wonder why is He doing it, but God knows why.
I mean think about in foot ball, because when the receivers run to catch the ball they might run to where they should be 10 times and the ball does not get thrown to them.
But the one time they could run it in and get a touchdown right?
But if your a reciever and you go I never get the ball thrown to me anyway… Why am I doing this, Your going to miss a big oppritunity to score.
I mean what does it look like to be faithful, (and this does not mean pursuing areas where God is not calling us), but when God is leading you somewhere being able to faithfully pursue that call whether you see the fruit of it or not.
And probably the part of the passage that catches my attention more than anything else in this passage is Simon Peters response when this happens.
Because the boat is overflowing and He does not go we are rich! We need to take Jesus out fishing all the time, because this is amazing!
But his reaction is He falls down on His knees and says depart from me for I am a sinner.
And there are two things going on. Because the first is even when this maricle happens the focus is not on the maricle, but its on Jesus.
The maricles cool, but it points to Jesus.
But then Simon seems to feel unworthy of being part of it.
Because He was not following Jesus, but Jesus came to Him.
And in our walk with God, its not what we do, but its what God does for us that makes it so we can be a part of His story.
And then lets look at the last part of this passage verses 10-11. because this tells us what happens when we enter into this relationship. It says:
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
So there are two parts I want to catch here because this miracle happens, and in this passage they begin to follow Jesus and there are two shifts that occur.
The first is Jesus tells them do not be afraid, and not just that but He changes the purpose of their life, because he tells them you will no longer be fisherman but fishers of men.
You know the purpose of our life is often to be sucsesful, it might be to make a lot of money, It could be to live the Amarican dream of having 2.5 kids a two car garage and a white pick-it fence.
But our purpose moves from these different things to allowing us to be in a relationship with God, and allowing that relationship with God to overflow to our family, kids, our job, our work space.
And we might still have these other goals, but they become so secondary compared to having our lives aligned to where God is calling us.
And I want to finish because I think sometimes we end there and we go this is a beautiful story, and skip the very last verse which is for them there was a sacrafice that took place.
Because for these three men they realized that God was calling them to do something that required a lot of commitment.
Because God was calling them to leave all they had, their job, their assets, their boats, their homes, any sense of comfort of regularity, and to follow Jesus wherever He went.
And you might be here thinking well I don’t want to leave everything. And Here is the good news, God probably is not calling you to leave everything, because God has given you the ability to make an impact here.
But God does want us to be in a place where we are fully surrendered to Him,
Hes not calling you to leave everything, but He IS calling you to give everything, where you say here is every part of me, (because it was never mine to begin with).
Its almost if you have ever gotten a book at the librairy, when I check this out I can do whatever I want with this.
Obviously I can read it over and over again but then I might go well you know what else I can use it for
I can use it as a frisbee, I can scrape stuff off the carpet, I can use it as a coaster, or maybe use the case as a folder.
But the truth is at somepoint I will probably realize that this is not my book and the library is going to want it back.
And the ways I am using it are probably not the way the library is hoping I would use it.
And heres a little bit of truth in our lives because we have been given something way more valuable then a book and so often we use it do do all these things that are damaging, and even when God says you know I want this area, we hold on to it
And we act like its ours, rather than saying you gave me this gift, how could I hoard it.
And to often we almost act offended where we go God you want this? This is mine.
You want me to do what with my job? Thats not why I got into this
You want me to do what with my Friday nights?
You want me to do what with my money?
And this morning I believe that we are a people that like to take our lives and say this is mine.
And so often God is saying but I have something else for you, and it is something where you would say wow, why didn’t I leave everything else years ago.
And so as we close we will be finishing up on a song called I will rise
And maybe there is a place we have not been able to surrender, I believe God is calling us to say this is not my life but it is yours.
Will you pray with me?