Get Sofishticated

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

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

People were gathered around to hear Jesus speak, so he does: Jesus preaches a sermon

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.”

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.”

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Then, Jesus talks to Peter who had been out fishing all night: Go back out and fish

Peter has all sorts of excuses: “we did that. This is fished out right now. Not a good time. We are tired. We kind of do this for a living so we know what we are talking about.”

BUT instead of those excuses immobilizing him, Peter says “But, if you say so I will let down the nets”

6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

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.”

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Peter pulls in a massive amount of fish: breaking nets, almost sinking two boats

What happens next? you would think that they could market this, sell it, “Follow Jesus, get fish”- they are gonna be rich!

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

But Peter does something different: Hearing the Word of God, seeing who Jesus really is, goes over to Jesus and says “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”

Peter knows that he doesn’t deserve Jesus, he knows he has messed up

Could Jesus really love him? Does Jesus really know about all the secret things that Peter has done? All the wrong things that Peter said with his friends? All the terrible things that Peter has thought?

When we come to hear the Word of God, how perfect God is, how messed up we are, how we deserve to be punished— falling down makes a lot of sense

But Jesus doesn’t leave His followers on the ground: Jesus said to Peter “do not be afraid...”

Jesus said to Peter “do not be afraid...”

You don’t have to be scared

The punishment you deserve isn’t your responsibility anymore when you follow me

But, you also aren’t going to keep doing what you have been doing your whole life

“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.” 11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Life just got a whole lot better and a whole lot harder

No more fear (death, people, sins)

Purpose- I’m going to live a life with God now, live eternally with God, tell others about God

Jesus’ example

You will need to use the Word of God as your hook, just like me.

You will need to tell the truth to people, just like me.

You will need to live the way I tell you to, just like my word

And you will have no idea the amazing things I will accomplish

Me

Here I am tonight: being sofishticated

I don’t want to kill and eat you. I want to save you and give you this truth so you will grow strong.

I believe that Jesus died and came back to life, taking my punishment so that I can be with Him in heaven forever.

And I want you to be there with us!

I don’t want to catch fish tonight- not really. I want to catch souls. I want God to work a miracle tonight where someone says: I want to follow Jesus. I want to give up anything and everything I have to, to follow Jesus.

Gospel Close

Tonight, right now. Don’t be afraid. Go to Jesus and admit that you don’t deserve to be saved. You deserve to be punished because you’ve done wrong things. But, you don’t want to live that way anymore. If you believe that Jesus died and came back to life and you trust in Him to save you! Ask Him to save you, not because you earned it: but because he loves you enough to sacrifice his life to save yours.