We are going to continue on in our series in the Gospel of Luke, and we are in Chapter 5. We are going to do something a little different this morning. Occasionally, from time to time, I grab the stool here and sit down. We just have a devotional time together, so thats what were going to do this morning-have a little devotional time from Luke 5. You are possibly looking at the worlds worst fisherman. I used to go fishing with my dad almost every weekend. I never caught a thing but snags and discarded boots, things like that. The only time I remember catching a fish was when we left our fishing poles in the water and went to go get firewood. I came back and had a fish on the line. Thats about it for me. Thats about all I have ever caught. I can remember feeling empty, thinking, Boy, that was just… I was too young to be philosophical and go, Well, I got to spend time with my dad. I always looked at it like, Boy, that was boring. I didnt catch anything. It was kind of a little feeling of vanity. Multiply that many times over. What must have Peter felt when he had spent all day working and had nothing to show for it? No fish. This was not Peter and James and John out for a good time together as buddies hanging out in the boat. This was their livelihood. They were professional fisherman. There were boats; there were nets; they would cast a net, and if they didnt have fish, they didnt have anything to sell. If they didnt have anything to sell, they didnt have any money; if they didnt have money, there was nothing to buy food with. This was a bad day for Peter. He was a pro. He knew the ins and outs of Lake Gennesaret, which is simply another name for the Sea of Galilee. Thats where he was, the Sea of Galilee-which is really a big lake, and he had nothing to show for it. Have you ever had days like that? You put in a day, you worked hard all day, and when you got to the end of the day, you say, What did I do? Why did I do it? What was that about? I remember spending long hours when I worked in a grocery store cleaning out the dumpster and sweeping out the alley. I would think in the end, Thats going to be messy before I go home from work today. Thats just vanity. Peter was just really feeling defeated. Then Jesus has the audacity, the nerve, to ask him to go around and put his nets back in. He is basically saying, Go back to work. Peter, clean the nets. That was a job, bringing in those big heavy nets, cleaning them and packing things away. Hes already switched gears. Hes thinking about what he was going to do after work. Hes thinking about the next day, How am I going to make it better? He is going to go home and get some sleep. Jesus says, Go back to work. Cast your nets again. How would you like that? Youve clocked out and youre tired, and your boss says, Hey, clock in again for me. I mean, youre done. Its like the painter who has painted all day. Its been a long, arduous day, and he cleans off his brushes and everything else. Hes ready to go home and shower and get his paint clothes off. The owner says, Hey, can you go back to work? That takes a lot of nerve, especially if it had been a bad day. If it had been a good day, and Peter caught a lot of fish, Yeah, maybe okay. Im on a roll anyway. But on a day when youve caught nothing, you are already discouraged. To go back to work… When you think about it, what Jesus asked him to do took a lot of nerve, but to Peters credit, he complied-not without complaining a little bit first, mind you. He did let Jesus know where he stood on the issue before he complied, but he did do what Jesus asked him to do. He was going to find that was the right thing to do. Do you know what? It also wasnt logical. Not only was it inconvenient, it wasnt logical. When you fish the Sea of Galilee, you did your best fishing at night. Theyd fished all night long and caught nothing. Jesus was asking to fish during the day. Thats the wrong time. They used drift nets that would skim the surface of the water. Jesus said, Put your nets deep. Thats not where the fish were. The fish were near the top, but He said, Put your nets deep. So He has the wrong technique, the wrong time of day, bad timing on a day when the fish just arent there. Everything, from Peters perspective, was wrong, wrong, wrong. It wasnt logical. This guys a carpenter, for goodness sake. Who does He think He is telling me how to do my job? Im not sure what all of your lines of work are, but I guarantee you, you know how to do your profession a whole lot better than I do. Imagine somebody who doesnt work in your line of work, has never worked in your line of work a day in his or her life, coming and telling you how to do things. You might take a little offense to that, right? You might think, Well who are you to tell me how to do my job? I wonder if Peter took a little offense from this carpenter, telling him how to be a fisherman. He was a pro, for goodness sake. Besides that, it just wasnt logical the way He was asking Peter to do it. Peter knew the result; it wasnt going to work. Has God ever asked you to do something that was either inconvenient or didnt make sense, wasnt logical? Has God ever asked you that? Nobody? Okay. Well, someday He will. Sometimes God asks us to do things we dont want to do. Its just a fact; but if youve been in the faith long enough, you know that when you follow the Lords leading, even when you dont want to and even when its not logical, if Gods in it, Hell fill the nets. Hell get it done. Pretty soon, you learn to trust, so you dont argue, complain and grumble as much when He asks you to do that. My biological father passed away when I was a little boy. Several years later, my mom remarried, and that man became my dad. Hes the guy that taught me to fish, play sports, ride my bike, and swim. My dad was a checker pro. We had trophies all around our house. He was the state champion of Illinois 16 or 17 times. He was a nationally-ranked player. He would study checkers for hours a day. He had newspaper clippings-I still have them-of him going to fairs where he would play somewhere around 10 tables at a time and never lose. He would go up and down making the moves. My dad would blindfold himself. Wed number the checkers, and he would play the game against me blindfolded. He would tell me where to move his checker, and I would tell him, I just went one to four, Dad, and he would say, Okay, now move me this to that. Then Id say, Okay, Im moving this to that. Wed play the whole game, and hed beat me. Dont laugh because he would have beaten you too. Then he would take his blindfold off and go back through the whole game by memory, move for move-every move you did and every move he did, all the way to the conclusion of the game. He was like a genius. When I was a little guy, wed play, and sometimes he would start giving me checkers. Id get all excited, thinking he didnt know what he was doing and I was going to win. Then, just like in the movies or in a cartoon, after hed give me about four checkers, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, King! Id be going, Huh? Why did that happen? As I got older, as soon as he started giving me checkers, Id go, Im done. I have no idea what hes going to do, but Im toast. Im just done. I never beat my dad. Two days before he passed away-he had leukemia, and he was in his bed all the time with a lot of pain-he wanted to play checkers. I wasnt trying to go easy on him because I had never won. I wanted to beat him. Here he is, two days away from going to Heaven, and he cleaned my clock for four games. I had to give up. My dad was so far ahead that sometimes three moves into a game, hed say, Oh, son, you were playing a good game up to this point, but Im going to beat you now. He would not only know the outcome of the game, hed know how he would beat me. He would know all the moves he would make. Before he passed away, he had a dream to play on the internet. Hed heard about that. Really good checker players get on the internet and play; so he came out to my house, and we went on Yahoo! We went to the masters division, the highest division there is. Hed tell me where to move, and Id move the mouse. We got up where there were some really good players, really good players, and he would do that thing where he would give away checkers. I could just see some guy on the other end in some other country or other state smiling and thinking, Whats this guy doing in the masters division? He doesnt know what hes doing. I would just smile and think if they only knew what was coming their way… I just wanted to see the look on their face when he started jumping all their checkers. He played like four games in the masters, and finally he got bored because there was no competition there for him. When my dad said, This was the right way to move, I had learned over experience that he knew what he was talking about. When he told me the game was over and how he was going to beat me, I knew he knew what he was talking about. He saw the game in a completely different way than I saw it. I could see it one, two moves at a time. He saw the whole game. He saw it in a completely different way, a whole different league than I. I learned if he said something about checkers, I could trust him, and that was the way it was going to be. You know, God doesnt just know the next move. God knows the whole game. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows your next move before you make it. He knows the outcome. When God asks you to do something, when God asks you to throw out your nets, you can be confident its the right decision. You can trust Him. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen when Peter cast those nets. Whats more, I think he had a little hand in the fact that Peter caught nothing before that. I do. Im not so sure Peter would have gone out a second time if his nets had been full the first time. I think there was a little mixed blessing in there that he didnt have a very good catch that first time in order that Jesus might bless his socks off that second time. I think sometimes God puts us in a situation where we are forced to trust. Were forced to cast again, but I love Peters attitude. I love the fact that though he was tired, though Jesus used all the wrong techniques, though it made no logical sense, Peter still did it. He says weve worked hard. Weve tolled all night, [in Paul 5:5, page 1019 of pew Bibles], …but, because You say so, I will let down the nets. For no other reason than because You said so. Friends, you know youre mature in your faith when you obey God for no other reason than because God asked you to do it. As far as Peter knew, there was nothing in it for him but more work and another redo on cleaning the nets. When our will and Gods will, our feelings and what God is telling us to do, collide and we make a decision to follow God, we know we are maturing as a believer. When God says to forgive but you still are angry, and you choose to forgive anyway, you know you are maturing. When God tells you to give, and you very much want to keep and it makes sense to keep, but you choose to give, you know you are maturing as a believer. That never-the-less attitude, that becauseYou say so attitude…and because You say so is reason enough, because Youre my Lord, Youre my master, and You know whats best for me; therefore, because You say so, Lord, I will do this thing that is inconvenient or I will do this thing that is hard. I will do this thing that is not logical. Those are the times you live out Proverbs 3:5-6 [page 627 of pew Bibles]: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. When I started this church, that was my theme verse everyday because it made no sense. I was a happy flatlander, and I didnt know any of you. It didnt make sense to come to work for a church that didnt exist when I had bills to pay and a happy family life in Illinois. But you trust and when God tells you to cast a net, He knows what Hes doing. Hes proven Himself faithful, so you cast the net and obey. Thats my prayer that this body of believers will be a mature body of believers who when Jesus says cast the net, we cast the net. We may grumble and complain a little bit; we may try to state our case, but when its all said and done, we obey; nevertheless, because You say so. Theres a song right now that tells a similar story by an artist named Martina McBride. Do you know her? Its a good song, so Im going to let her make this point-point number two-this morning as we listen to Do It Anyway. So Peter obeys in Verse 6 (page 1019, Luke 5:6), When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When you obey God, even when you complain or even when its not logical and God answers, God comes on the scene and does for you what you could not do for yourself. Who gets the glory for that? God does, doesnt He? God proves Himself sovereign. He proves Himself Lord. Ill share a couple of examples with you this morning. One is in our church: years ago we were looking at-back when we were in a hotel-buying some land, five acres on the interstate behind Menards-off Pontiac. Have you heard of that property? It was $32,500, and I think its a little bit more than that today probably. But in 1990, that was what it was worth. You might as well have said $32 million to that little congregation. We decided we were going to give the first money that came in for the building fund to our home church, the church that started us in Rockford, as a thank you. We were sewing some seed. You think, logically, you would have said, We need that. We need every penny we get for a down payment. Or you could say, Well, well tithe on that or once we get our down payment, well give something over and above that. But we decided we were going to give what came in, so that little group of people with a big vision, but not a lot of money, we gave the first $1,000 to Faith Center in Rockford. Within a week, I dont even know if they even had time to cash the check, a person in Janesville who does not attend our church, wrote us a check for $10,000, and that became the down payment we needed for our church property. It didnt make sense, but we cast the net because we felt like it was what God wanted us to do, and God filled it. Remember Hazel Kjell talking to our church almost three years ago when we launched our building campaign. She had inherited a business, a chemical business, Shell Corporation in Beloit. It made chemicals. She knew nothing about chemicals. She knew nothing about business. Her husband suddenly passed away, and this business is now hers. Of course, its not doing well, and she certainly knows nothing about business to turn it around. Everybody says, You need to sell it or just declare bankruptcy. One thing is for sure-you dont know how to run a company. She didnt know how to run a company, but she knew how to obey God, and she started to help missions. She had the bookkeeper write a check for $1,000 for missions. The bookkeeper said, Theres not $1,000 in the account, Mrs. Kjell. She said, Just write the check. Now, Im not telling you to go out and do that. Im telling you this is what the Lord told Hazel, so she did it. When the check was cashed, there was money there to pay for it. The next month, she had her write it out for a little bit more. The bookkeeper said it again, Hazel, theres no money in the account. She said, Just write the check. If it bounces, remember you work for me. I dont work for you. Ill be the one in trouble, not you; so she wrote the check, and it cleared. Hazel wrote it out for $5,000 the next month, same thing. Two months later she started writing out a check for $10,000 for missions. By this time, the bookkeeper no longer asked the question. She simply wrote the check. She watched that business transform from a fledgling operation about ready to go into bankruptcy to a multi-million dollar corporation. She knew nothing about business, nothing about chemicals, but a lot about faith. All she did differently-same product, same employees, same facility, same marketing plan-was she cast her net, and God filled it. Friends, the one who cast the net is nothing, but the One who fills it is everything. You and I, when we share our faith, we dont need to worry about results. Just share your faith. Cast the net. The one who shares his or her faith is nothing. Were seed planters. The One who causes the seed to grow is everything. What does Peter say when this miracle happens because he knows that lake, and he knows this isnt supposed to happen? He casts out the net, and two boats full of fish… Look what the Word says (Luke 5:8), When Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and said, Im an awesome fisherman! I cant believe it! Im magnificent! Look at what I did! Guys, James, John, see I knew we could fool those fish and come back a second time… and go in deeper…and went in the daytime…on the day when they werent out there before…I knew wed get them, but I mean, man, Im good. They need to name this the Sea of Simon or Peters Lake or something because can I fish or what, guys? Ha? The moment you start taking credit for what God has done is the moment your net breaks, right? Nebuchadnezzar* will tell you about that. You could tell me about that because youve probably done that. The moment you start taking credit for what God has done, watch the net break and the fish go swimming back into the water. When I think of our church and people say, Well, arent you proud of our church? I say, Im proud of God. Im proud of God. We did everything wrong. Youre supposed to get a small group, start a small group, then get a core, and eventually, a year or so later, go public. Thats how every church planning text book will tell you to do it. We opened our doors from day one. I didnt read those text books. I didnt know any better. We opened our door not knowing if a soul was going to come and say, Okay, were here. Were a church. That was the wrong way to do it [according to textbooks]. God birthed the church from it. God gets the glory. Peter knew he had nothing to do with that. All he did was faithfully obey it and cast the net. Some of you, when God tells you to cast the net, have nets you should have been casting a long time ago when they were still in your boat. You know who you are, and you know what Im talking about. Peter says, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man! If I do something in the flesh, and it works out, what does it lead to? Pride or even arrogance. But if I do something in the spirit, I do something in faith, and it works out, what does it lead to? Humility because I know its God and not me. There is probably nothing more unattractive than arrogance. There are few things more attractive than true humility. Dont you find that to be true in a person? I have a friend I want to tell you about this morning. His name is Derrick Jackson. I met him in the early 80s. We were coaching our respective churches high school basketball teams. We were at a tournament, and we started talking about hoops. I asked him, Did you play ball anywhere? He said, Yeah, I did. Did you? Yeah, yeah I played high school ball, played a little college ball, yeah…a little bit (with an arrogant tone). I was kind of dropping that in there. He didnt say anything back. What about you? Did you play college ball? Yup. I did. He starts talking about something else, and finally I said, Where did you play? Um, Georgetown. You played for Georgetown? Yeah, yeah. Now that was at a time, if you remember the early 80s, when Georgetown was a national power. It still is, but they had just really come on the scene out of nowhere. Ill tell you more about that in a little bit. There was a player named Patrick Ewing that played for them. In 1982 everybody turned to their TVs to watch Patrick Ewing and Georgetown win their championship. In the last second, an unknown player named Michael Jordan hit a shot to win the game and the title. Georgetown then lost to Villanova. They finally won it. Everybody knew Georgetown, so I was like, Wow! But thats all he said. So I said, Did you ever get in? To be a bench warmer is still cool if youre with Georgetown. He said, Yeah, I did. Oh. Did you start? Yeah. Oh, how many years? All four. Oh. Um…how many points did you get? He told me. Oh. Is that like a record or something? He said, Yeah, I hold the record for the all-time score for Georgetown, but theres a guy named Sleepy Floyd that might break my record. Oh, okay. I was dealing with a superstar here. We formed a friendship and over the years, getting things out of him were difficult. He was probably like the most humble guy Ive ever met. He was all-state basketball, all-state baseball, last guy cut from the 76 Olympic team because Coach Thompson didnt want to appear to be patronizing and bring his own player on the gold metal team, so he let him go. He was drafted by the NBA, but chose to not go into the NBA. He instead went with Athletes in Action so he could share the Gospel around the world and travel. He is an amazing guy. Hed come and play ball with me in Janesville, and hed always say, Dont tell the guys I played for Georgetown. He didnt want anybody to know. I remember one time we were losing 8 to 2. The first game we won; that was 2-11. The second game was to 9 points. I told the guy, Game point. He said, Game point? What do you mean game point? Dont we play to 11? I said, No we only played to 11 the first game. This game is to 9. He said, Oh! Then he went into some other zone, some other world. He was grabbing rebounds off the backboard. He was only 6 foot tall. We won the game 9-8. Who was that guy? everybody said. Hes just a friend of mine. I wanted to tell them so bad! I was thinking about Derrick as I prepared this message on humility-because Im thinking about this passage and the humble spirit of Peter. I thought, I need to call Derrick and find out what hes up to. I wanted to just make sure hes at the same church. I punched in his name, and I found out something new! There were all these articles that began popping up. In 1975, Georgetown was an unknown program until a freshman by the name of Derrick Jackson hit a shot with two seconds left to propel Georgetown into the NCAA tournament for the first time in decades. It said Derrick Jackson is the one who put Georgetown back on the map. I never knew that about him. I have known him since 1984. If you were to ask Derrick today, Derrick, why dont you talk about what you did? If that had been me, Derrick would have said, You play ball? I would say, Oh yeah. I started four years in Georgetown, all-time scorer…I was the last guy cut before the Olympic gold metal team. I was drafted… Not a peep because Derrick will tell you everything I have comes from God, the mental toughness, the physical ability, the tenacity, the competitive nature, the instincts, the ability to jump; whatever I can do, it all comes from God. All I do is cast the net. The net-caster is nothing. The One who fills the net is everything. If thats true, then there is nothing I need to be proud about, except for Him. Peter is not saying, Go around thinking youre scum. Thats not what that is about. God wants you to have a healthy esteem, but have your healthy self-esteem in Him-that youre created in the image of God and with a plan for your life by God. Theres no room for pride and arrogance in the body of Christ. Everything this church accomplishes, its because of God. We are only net-casters. If all you are is a net-caster, and you still have nets in your boat and want to know why, lets get them out of the boat, all right? Lets watch God fill them. Peter does that, and Jesus says, Dont be afraid. From now on, you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him. Theres nothing wrong with being a fisherman. Theres nothing wrong with your vocation, whatever it is, but it doesnt compare to building the Kingdom. Dont ever think that life is about what you do for a living or-if youre retired-what you did for a living. What you do for a living should be a tool, a means to pay the bills, but its not your life. Your life, whatever it is you do, should always be about the Kingdom of God. Catching the boat full of fish was fun, but Jesus says, Wait until you start catching men. Wait until you start changing lives, Peter. You wont believe how fun that is. See, God blessed him so he could be a blessing. It wasnt so Peter could say, Oh, Im rich! Oh man! Jesus, what time tomorrow? Can you come back? Lets do it again. If we can do this every week, Im going to have so many boats and so many guys that Im going to be rich and retire. No, no, no. God blessed Hazel so Hazel could be a blessing. God blesses our church so we can be a blessing. God fills your nets so you can be a blessing. God thank you for the lessons from the lake this morning that Jesus taught through His words and through His examples. You are still teaching. You are still encouraging us to cast our nets when its inconvenient, when it doesnt make sense. You are still filling nets, so, Lord, help us to be faithful to cast those nets and be careful to give You praise when the nets are filled. Were reminded that the one who casts is nothing, but the One who fills is everything. Our worth is from being in You. We thank You for that. In Jesus name, Amen.