Transformation Not Teleportation (2)

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!

Scripture Reference: Luke 5:1-11

Context

Last week, we looked at the beginning of Jesus’s preaching ministry. He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum and vs. 14 said He did so to fulfill Prophecy. That was the first point we looked at last week was the prophecy.

Matthew 4:14 NKJV

14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

Prophecy

While He was there, He began to preach. Up until now, Jesus had taught a few personal lessons, like that with Nicodemus in John 3, but now He begins to preach to the masses. And what was His message?

Matthew 4:17 NKJV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

So the second point we looked at last week, was The Proclamation.

Proclamation

As I said last week, this is a two part message. The last and final point, the one we are going to be looking at today, is the Proof.

The Proof

As Jesus begins to preach the Gospel, people begin to multiply. It does not tell us how many people are there listening to Jesus, but we know there is a crowd.

Luke 5:1 NKJV

1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,

So there are multitudes that have gathered to hear what Jesus has to say. Now notice it says, “The Lake of Gennesaret.” This is the same body of water that we know as the Sea of Galilee. Galilee is the larger region that encompasses many cities, Gennesaret is only one of them. Those within Gennesaret called it that because their city was right on the Lake. Later on in the Gospels, we are going to see another group call it the Lake of Tiberius. This was another city that sit right on the bank of the Lake, but they are all referring to the same body of water.

Not only do we see Jesus teaching the crowd, we also see Him calling some of His disciples. While teaching the people, He comes across Peter and his brother Andrew, as well James & John, the sons of Zebedee.

This account of Jesus calling these four young men to follow Him is found in Matthew, Mark, & Luke. Luke is the most detailed account of the three, so that is where we are going to be hanging out today.

Jesus, the light that shines in darkness, has come preaching the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a marvelous message, but does it work? That is the question, right? That is the question we constantly ask ourselves, every time we hear of some new product, “Does it work?” Or if it is a message, we say “Is it valid.” What is the proof? In this text, I think Jesus shows us that there is good reason to listen to what He has to say.

****Keshia went to Sam’s and came back with Expensive Cleaner****

***Prayer over the service***

Content

It Contacts You

Luke 5:1–3 NKJV

1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

Jesus is walking along the shore. It says that the multitudes “pressed about Him”. In other words, they were all up in His face. He is trying to speak to a large crowd, but He has no space to work. They are all up in His business, as we would say.

Jesus, seeing the issue at hand, begins to look around to see what He might be able to do. He notices that there are two boats sitting on the shore. It just so happens that Peter and Andrew, as well as James, John, and Zebedee had just finished their fishing ventures and are cleaning up their nets not far away.

Notice that Jesus approaches Peter, not the other way around. Peter surely noticed the large crowd gathered around Jesus. He must have also noticed that Jesus was being heavily pressed by them. He could have easily come over and offered to help Him out, but he didn’t. None of them did.

Instead, Jesus makes contact with Peter. Jesus says to Peter, “would you be so kind as to help me out here. If I get in your boat, would you push out a little from land so that I could speak to these people?”

God is always the one to make first contact. He is the one that reaches out to us. I have heard a lot of testimonies over the years, but they all have one thing in common, God spoke to me first. In our natural sinful state, we do not go about seeking God. Matter of fact, the Bible teaches us that we can’t make the first move towards God. He has to be the one to move first.

John 6:44 NKJV

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Within the Gospel that Jesus preached, and in which we still preach today, there is a built-in mechanism that makes contact with your spirit. It speaks to you. It is personal. It meets you where you are. Peter went fishing that day, like he always did. He wasn’t expecting Jesus to show up; He wasn’t looking for Jesus on the shore. It just happened. Though he wasn’t looking for Jesus, Jesus was looking for him. It was a personal call. He could have asked Andrew, James, John, or Zebedee, but He didn’t. He called out Peter from the bunch.

I grew up in a Christian home. Before i can remember, I was in church. I heard the messages, I attended faithfully (though I didn’t really have a choice), but it hadn’t become real to me. At the age of 12, Jesus made contact with me. I was sitting on the second pew. When the service started, I was actually laying down in the pew. I was the only one in the pew, my parents were sitting behind me in the third pew. But I was laying down. I had every intention of taking me a nap during the service. But then the preacher started preaching. I don’t know what it was that day grabbed my attention, but within just a few minutes of him starting to preach, I say up. I was captivated. I am not sure that I even blinked during the whole service. I hung onto every word he spoke that day. At the end of the service, I knew I needed Jesus. I asked mom to go pray with me and I got saved. God made contact with me that day.

Maybe you came here this morning with ulterior motives. Maybe you came to make someone happy, or maybe you came, like me those many years ago, because you didn’t have a choice. Regardless, I want you to know that there is a good chance that God may make contact with you this morning. If He does, I encourage you to listen. I encourage you to lean in, hear what He has to say, make an honest evaluation of yourself after the fact, and see if you too need Jesus in your life.

Notice also that this contact had purpose. He didn’t just say, “Hey Peter, could we go for a ride? I need a break from the chaos. Let’s me and you and Andrew get out on the lake and soak up some sunshine.” No, He didn’t say that. Rather, He said, “Peter, could you do me a favor, which will help me preach to these other people?” It was a call to help Jesus spread the Gospel.

When God calls your name, it is not just personal.....it is purposeful. He calls your name because there is something in you that can be used to benefit the kingdom of God. Every one of you have something that can benefit the Kingdom of God. You have talents, skills, knowledge and understanding of certain things, etc. God can use those things for the furtherance of the Kingdom, but only if you choose to help Him out.

Now let me be clear. It’s not that God can’t make it without us. Please don’t be confused on this. It is not a cry for help from God. It is not as if God can’t perform tasks, or make it through certain circumstances without us. He most definitely can. He is God. If He so chose to do so, He could speak from the heavens His message without ever calling me to preach. He could call on the rocks to give Him glory, if I decided that I wasn’t going to.

So this is not a call for help in the sense that He can’t do it without us. Within this call, it is a statement of what the call is for. In other words, God is telling us within the call, this is what I am calling you to do. First, before you can do anything else, you must believe that I am the Son of God who came, lived a perfect life, died an undeserving death, and as a result rose again three days later. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. I am that which is, that which was, and that which is to come. We must start there.

But understand what the calling the salvation is. It is a call to become part of Christ’s mission. It is not just personal, it is purposeful. If I truly believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; If I truly believe that Jesus is the only door into the Kingdom of Heaven; If I truly believe that Jesus is the only answer to sin.....it means two things.

It means that I need Him in my life. I need Him so that I can be freed from the bondage of sin. I need Him in order to be forgiven of my transgression against God. I need Him to be who God created me to be. I need Him to be useful, in an eternal sense (not a worldly sense), I need Him to even understand truth. I need Him in my life. So naturally speaking, I will give my life to Him, I will surrender my will to Him, and I will seek to go as deep as I possibly can in that relationship with Him.

It also means that everyone else on this earth needs Him in their life as well. They cannot be saved without Him. They cannot experience true peace without Him. They cannot experience true fulfillment without Him. They cannot be freed from a bondage that they don’t even realize that they are in if someone doesn’t tell them about Jesus. So to believe in Jesus and to be saved is also a call to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to share with others what someone has shared with me so that we might all come to know Christ and Him crucified. It is a call to action.

Jesus enters Peter’s boat. He not only makes contact with Peter’s person, He makes contact with Peter’s profession.

Peter fishes for a living. This is what he does to provide for his family. Jesus steps right on in. Peter had never used his boat for something such as this. His boat had always been used to provide a living. It might have even been used as means of transportation. I am sure throughout the years, that Peter had used his boat to get across the lake to the other side, so that he didn’t have to walk all the way around. He might have even used his boat as a means to take his wife on a few dates. He might have even used his boat to just get away. Noone can bother you when you are right out in the middle of the water and they are all back on shore. Regardless, Peter had used this boat for many reasons, but never for the purpose of preaching.

When Jesus comes into your life, He meets you where you are. Becoming a Christian does not mean you have to change your profession. It may come to that somewhere along the way based on what God is calling you to do at certain seasons of your life, but most people are able to continue pursuing the same profession they had before Christ made contact with them. Matter of fact, now, you will have the blessings of God upon that career as you move forward.

It may mean that you do things a little differently. IT may mean that you treat the people you work with better than you used too. It may mean that you treat the people under your supervision differently than you used to. If you are doing immoral things in your job, it may mean that you have to move and operate differently than you used to. And yes, if the job you are doing is immoral in and of itself, it may mean that you have to change jobs, but if you do this in obedience to Christ, please understand that He will be with you in this process and bless you as a result of your obedience.

If Peter were not a fisherman, than more than likely he wouldn’t have had a boat. It was because of the fact that the was a fisherman, that Jesus was able to use him in this situation. You may think that the job you perform or the things you have in your life have no real significance to God or to the Kingdom of God, but Jesus can use anyone, from anywhere, from any circumstance. Who you are matters in the Kingdom of God. What you know matters. What you have to offer matters. Many of you can connect with people and reach people that I could never connect with.

It Challenges You

Luke 5:4–7 NKJV

4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So 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.

Jesus spends some time, we don’t know how much time, but He spends some time talking to the crowd that was gathered on the shore. We don’t know what he talked about for it does not tell us. But I have to imagine in my mind it had something to do with proclaiming the Gospel and then trusting God.

After He was finished speaking all that He needed to say, He then turned to Peter and asked him to launch out into the deep and go fishing.

The second lesson. Originally Jesus got into Peter’s boat so that He could more effectively teach the massive crowd that was following Him. But after He is finished teaching them, He now turns to Peter and Andrew. He wants to teach them also. His lesson for them will be more personal. It will be conveyed in a one-on-one format so to speak. As they are launched out into the deep, no one else will be able to hear what is going on. No one else will be able to know for sure exactly what transpires. It is a personal lesson.

As a child of God, there are times when God asks you to give of your talents, your skills, your assets so that it can be a benefit to others. You may spend time teaching classes, Bible studies, singing in the choir, etc. Whatever it is, we are all called to be a blessing to others in whatever way we can.

But then there are times when God wants to spend some one-on-one time with us. Notice that in this instant, Jesus spends time with Peter while he is at work. That’s right, Peter is fishing, doing what he does every other day, and Jesus is right there in the boat with him. Did you know that Christianity is not a light switch. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t. You don’t flip the switch on on Sunday morning and say, “Ok. It’s time for church. Let me put on my best, act my best, perform my best” just so that come Monday evening you can then turn the switch back off and say, “Ok. Whew......I’m glad that’s over. Now I can just be me. Now I can talk the way I want, act the way I want, spend my time how I want.”

When we go to work, Jesus goes with us. When we go to the store, Jesus goes with us. When we go to a friend’s house, Jesus goes with us. As a Christian, I cannot be separated from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is not something I put on like a jacket, just for convenience. He is a person who dwells inside my heart. He is constantly with me because He is a part of me. When I was reborn in the grace of God, Something changed in me. It wasn’t just a desire to do good that God put there, even though that’s part of it. It wasn’t just a knowledge of good and evil that God put in me, even though that’s part of it. It was a complete transformation of not what I do, but who I am. I don’t quit certain things as a Christian simply because they are wrong, I quit them because as new creature in Christ Jesus I don’t want to do them anymore. I don’t talk differently as a Christian, just because I don’t want certain people to find out, I quit saying those words because I don’t want to say those words anymore. It is not just a change in what I do, it is a change in who I am.

The power of His presence.

Remember that when we started this chapter, Peter had just come off of the lake fishing. He had been fishing all night. Jesus is now asking him to go fishing once again.

Peter is a fisherman. He knows how to fish. He provides for his family by fishing.

Peter just got done fishing. He had nothing to show for it. He has already cleaned the nets.

That’s the challenge right. Jesus asks us to do something and we say, “But Jesus, I have already tried that. Look, I know you are trying to help, but I know what I am doing here. If there is one thing I know how to do, it is fish.”

But there’s something about His asking that causes us to think. “But wait a minute. I did fish....all night long, and I came up empty. How well of a fisherman am I?”

Part of us begins to say, “I don’t need Jesus’s help. I am a good person. I am a good husband. I am a good employee. I am a good _______”.

How well is your marriage going? How well is your job going? How well is you home life?

It’s a challenge. If Jesus can save your soul, don’t you think He can save your marriage, your job, your finances, or whatever else you are struggling with? Sure He can, but you have to be willing to let down the nets.

But this time Jesus is in the boat. Everything we do works out better when we invite Jesus along for the ride. I don’t care what it is. Having the presence of God in your boat makes the biggest difference in the world.

The presence of God is the most dynamic thing a Christian could ever have. It is greater than knowledge. It is greater that discernment. It is greater than any gift or talent. It is greater than any miracle-working power. It is greater than money or resources. It is the most dynamic thing you could ever have. Having Jesus in your boat changes everything.

As I probably would have myself, Peter reluctantly throws out the net. When he does, he catches so many fish that he can’t get them unto the boat. Furthermore, it says that the nets begin to break. It is so many fish, that he has to motion to James and John in the other boat to come help. Even with their help, it says that there were so many fish, that both of the boats began to sink. Wow!!! What a catch.

Peter had been fishing all of his life, all of these boys had, but this was unlike anything he had ever seen. He had had some good days before, but nothing ever like this.

It Changes You

Luke 5:8–11 NKJV

8 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 which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Let us make something clear. Catching a fish in and of itself is no miracle. Many of us, if not most everyone in the room, has been fishing at some point or another and caught a fish. We did not ascribe miraculous thing to that event.

But this was different. The events on this day between Jesus and Peter was so miraculous that it says they all were astonished at the catch of fish. This was not normal. It was so “not normal” that it gave Peter a whole new perspective of who Jesus was.

Repentance

When you come to see Christ for who He is, your natural reaction is to fall on your face before Him and admit your worthlessness. That’s right. Your natural action is to be open and honest about who are in comparison to who He is. When you see how big God is, you cannot help but to also see how small you are. This is not to say that you are insignificant, or that you do not matter. It is simply saying that God is that big, that awesome, that good, that Holy. God is perfect. We are not used to being in the presence of perfection. It is foreign to us. When we do come into contact with it, it brings about emotions in us that are not normal. A harden hearted man will cry like a baby. Pride goes out the window. Things of great value seem to matter little in the moment. It is the most humbling of moments. It is the moment when you realize God’s love for you, as well as how undeserving you are of that love. It is overwhelming. It is life changing.

When Peter saw Christ in this light, he fell before Him and admitted that he was not even worthy to be in His presence. “Depart from me, O Lord, for i am a sinful man!” What beautiful honesty. What humbleness. What example of truth.

Relinquish

Vs. 11 tells us that when they got back to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Jesus does not ask Peter to abandon all that he has ever known. He asks him to continue doing what he knows how to do best.

Fishing was their trade. It was how they provided for themselves and their families. We know from Scripture that some of Jesus’ disciples were married.

Matthew 8:14 NKJV

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.

If Jesus would have asked these men to abandon their families and never provide for them again, He would have going against what the Bible teaches.

1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV

8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

During their journeys with Christ, we see that they often times have fish with them for food. At the feeding of the 4,000 Jesus asked them what they had with them to feed the multitudes. It says they had a few loaves of bread, but then it says:

Mark 8:7 NKJV

7 They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.

Where did these fish come from. More than likely they got them while they were fishing.

When it says they forsook all, it does mean that they gave it all away.

Zebedee was still there. I am sure he made sure everything was taken care of.

How many times throughout the Gospels do we see Jesus and the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee? A lot. During those times, whose boat do you think they used? It was Peter’s, or at least that’s what i think. I am sure Jesus could have said, “Let there be boat!” and there would have been one, but I really believe they used Peter’s boat to get to where they were going.

To relinquish yourself to God means that you come to a place to where you decide, “Jesus knows more about what’s best for me than I do. I give myself to Him.” It is when you say, “Nothing else, ever again, will come in between me and Christ. He is number one.” It is when you say, “From this day forward, I will do everything in power to bring glory to His name, for without Him, I would be lost and undone. He saved my life.”

Commitment

The proof of the Gospel, is that it contacts you (it speaks to you), it challenges you, and it changes you. Nothing else in this life can have as much of an impact on you than deciding to follow Jesus.

I leave you with this question: Who are you in this story?

Some of you here today are still standing on the shore. Jesus is asking if he can get in your boat, but you are still pondering whether or not to let Him in. I can promise you that if you say yes, you will begin on a journey that will forever change your life for the better. You have no idea what you are missing out on.

Some of you have already said yes. Jesus is already in the boat. But now He is asking for you to push out into the deep. You have been in the shallows for long enough and Jesus is saying, “Come on. Let’s go out there where it’s a little bit deeper. I got something I want to show you.”

Some of you are already there. You are already in the deep waters. You are resting fully in the blessings of God. You have seen His miracles in your life and you are loving every minute of it. Now you’re challenge is to do as Peter did, It’s time for you to reach out to some friends, some family, some coworkers, someone, and say, “Come see what Jesus did. Come look at what He has done. He has blessed me so much that I cannot contain it all by myself. James and John got to experience the miracle of Christ, not because He was dealing directly with them, but because Peter invited them into the overflow. Let your faith and the blessings of God overflow onto those around you, so that they might see the mighty hand of God in your life.