Never give up!!

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on Him to listen to the word of God.

He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So He sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish."

INTRODUCTION

Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And at that moment He disappeared!

And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me—I'm too much of a sinner to be around You."

For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.

His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!"

They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"

And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

INTRODUCTION

Good Evening Southpointe!!

Tonight I want to share with you some stuff that I believe will help us thru this troubling time.

I want to share with you a story of Sir Winston Churchill. When he was a child, he attended a preparatory school name Harrell. And he didn’t do well, and it was thought by many that he would accomplish very little in life.

After graduation, he attended the university. Later he served in the British military in India and Africa. At the age 65, he as elected to serve as Prime Minister.

Sir Winston Churchill said: I am an old man. I have lived a long time. I have never seen days like these. I am tired of it all. I see no hope for the future.

He serve in a time of horrible day for Great Britain and it would seem that they were going to be defeated but his vision, his leadership, and his determination held the country together to win.

I want you to see what Jesus said about these last days;

At the close years of his life, the headmaster of that school that he attended as a child invited him to speak at the gradation ceremony.

People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

He accepted the invitation and when he went to stand before these that were gradating, this is what he said, Young gentlemen, never give up! Never give up! Never, never, never, never!

And he went and sat down.

Never, never, never,never, give up!!!!

I would think this should be motto for our life and our walk with Christ. Never, never,never, never give up!!

Never, never,never, never give up!!

I want to look at out text tonight: We know that time after time the multitudes would press upon Jesus to hear what He had to say.

And here in our text, Jesus stood by the lake, at the edge of the water near the boats.

Jesus saw two boats. Let’s read it

He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

What I want you to notice tonight is the word use to describe the boat. Empty:

Web. definition Empty: Having nothing to carry; unburdened.

Those boats function is to carry, and be burdened down.

I have often wondered why the Word brings the notice to the fact that Jesus noticed two empty boats.

Could the writer not just said that Jesus saw two boats, the emphasis is on the boats being empty. Having nothing to carry, they were unburdened down.

Those boats were not fulfilling the job that they were designed to do.

Without a doubt, we are designed to carry the load, we are designed to be burdened down.

But we are not designed to do it on our own.

Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So He sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish."

We are designed to be vessel that can be used of God, but Jesus must be in the boat for us to be able to carry the load.

Let’s think about this first before we go any deeper, I was a forklift driver for Baldor years and years ago. And I remember the boss telling me you don’t get off that forklift because you are no good to me unless you are on that forklift, that why you a called a forklift driver.

I said that to say this: a fisherman is not a fisherman in those times without a boat. So the fisherman and the boat are one.

Now you can imagine that Simon and his crews was not very excited about go back into the boat and get on the water. But they did that so Jesus could teach His lesson.

But Jesus after the lesson push their obedience a little far down the road.

Look their in — go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish.

I need you to go deeper.

Jesus want them to get everything together and to get in the right place at the right time to be able to receive the right blessings.

We must be obedience to the voice of God to receive His blessings.

Often times we don’t understand and we wonder how could this be the place to receive but God knows.

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing.

This is the action of men, we know and we have done and who are you Jesus to tell us that we should be doing.

We have the experience and we have the boat. So in other words, Jesus, we have all the stuff to fill the boats, but it just not suppose to happen.

"Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if You say so, I'll let the nets down again."

This is what I want you to see here: It is one thing to just go on a boat ride and to go out into the deep.

Like for us to get a title in a church, to come a deacon, a minister, sunday school teacher, M-pact girl leader, Royal ranger leader, children’s worker, a greeter etc.

But it is a whole another thing to start doing.

They were out in the deep and Jesus said let the nets down, Simon quit with the excuses and became obedience to The word of Jesus.

You see, Simon and his buddies changes from being we know, to He knows.

And it was not we will go on a boat ride with you, but we will be obedient to Your Word.

Let’s look at what happened:

And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

Remember Jesus noticed the two empty boats.

Those empty boats were not doing what they designed to do, but now Jesus had step into the boat and they were overflowing.

And look what happened to Simon:

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me—I'm too much of a sinner to be around You."

For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.

His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!"

Simon Peter recognized who Christ was, and also recognized who he was.

Now the Simon and the whole crew were put on the front line.

Know this, God has put us on the front line, in a time such as this, and we have everything we need to still reach out and meet needs of our communities, and to win the lost.

We are not going to quit, our boats were not designed to sat empty and we will launch out in the deep and lower our nets and see our boats overflowing.

In the words of Winton Churchill, we will never, never, never, never quit.