Sermon
A Fishing Story
April 10-11, 1999
Pastor Ralph Huddleston

It doesn't get much better than it was last weekend, does it? You start off with Good Friday and then you work your way into Easter Sunday morning and the celebration and the joy and the crowds and somehow through that we're able just to pretend like the rest of the world doesn't even exist. A wonderful celebration, wasn't it? You were here. Sure you were. It was a feeling of remembrance, a feeling of joy, a feeling of total victory, and that's exactly what God wanted for us. 

I'd like to share with you thoughts that went through my mind this week after that. I thought, you know, Lord this is so wonderful, but I know that on Monday morning these folks and myself are all going to wake up and it's Monday, then it's Tuesday, and all of that stuff starts crowding back into our lives. And during this week, we've probably all in some way of another experienced some failure. We go from victory to failure, and you wonder, well, you know, maybe I didn't fail any this week. Well maybe your marriage isn't exactly the way you planned. Maybe you have other relationships that aren't exactly the way that you know God wants them. Maybe your not married at all and you're wondering, why? Maybe you've taken it upon yourself because maybe you've done something wrong. You failed in some way. Maybe you failed at some area of parenting, or you failed as a daughter or as a son, or as a pastor, or a teacher, or a counselor. 

Maybe I failed. As an employee maybe you've failed. As a businessperson, as a servant of the Lord maybe you've suffered failures this week. As a believer you may be suffering from failure. What a contrast. My question has been, Lord, how do we rebound from that failure? Because I got a taste of heaven on Sunday and I believe that that's what You want for me, all of the time. It is a reality of living life and growing and maturing, but also Jesus Christ didn't die that I would spend the other six days a week in failure, in guilt, did He? Or did He? No! 

Turn with me to Luke 5:1-11. We've been high on the mountain, and maybe for some of us, we've gone way down the valley this week in different areas of our lives. I'm going to share with you, it's a guy thing, a fishing story. It is not to mean that you girls, ladies, don't like to fish. My wife loves to fish. In the fifth chapter here it says, so it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret (Galilee), and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 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. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 

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." And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 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. When Simon Peter saw it, he fall down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 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." So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. 

What a story. A failure can become a steppingstone to success. Here's an incident in Peter's life that illustrates a wonderful truth. Peter and his friends had been out fishing all night long. They catch nothing; zero, zip. This is their livelihood. Their economic lives were at stake here. You can't go too many nights and not catch fish and continue to even be in the fishing business or to feed your family. This was unusual. He was a professional fisherman. He probably had the best nets, the best boat, and knew exactly where to catch the most fish. He works all night because his income depends on a good catch, but still Peter came up short. Now the next day the disciples were washing their nets on the seashore feeling, I'm sure, tired and discouraged. At that moment, Jesus comes along and says, Peter, I'd like to use your boat as a platform to speak from. 

I wonder what his first response was. Not his first words, we know what those are; they're recorded. Here I've been out all night long fishing and didn't catch anything, I'm cleaning nets and He wants to use my boat as a platform. But Peter lets Jesus into his boat and he launches it out a little way, and there Jesus spoke from the boat to the crowd standing on the shore. There must have been a lot of people there. After finishing His message, Jesus said to the disciples, now let's go fishing. Can you imagine that? We just got the nets rolled up and cleaned and ready for tonight. He says let's go fishing. Launch out into the deep water, He said, and let down the nets for a catch. And Peter replies, Master, we have worked hard all night and haven't caught a thing. Yet, if You say so, I'll let down the net. And when they obeyed, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 

Now what does this story tell us about failure? I'm sure each of you would have a story to tell me back, but first of all we know that Jesus never did a miracle without a purpose. He always used His miracles to illustrate principles, and this incident teaches us what to do when our best is not good enough. Maybe it's been one of those weeks for you. Sometimes you give it your best shot, but you still come up ten feet short. Hey, pay day. In my house payday we call it, now you see it, now you don't. And as much as you try, you're that much short. Maybe it's because of bad budgeting, or no budgeting, or overspending. That's a failure isn't it? And you start thinking, well, if I just worked a few more hours, or if I just worked a little bit better, or if I had a second job and less time to the family, I could do this. That's a failure, isn't it?

You study your brains out for a test and you get a 'C'. You submit applications to the colleges all over the state, and the ones that you want say no. That's rejection. That's failure. You work hard at your marriage, but still you don't see any progress. Life can be tough and it is tempting to give up. I'm sure that's how the disciples felt. The interesting part of this story is the comparison between the two catches. Here the disciples had worked all night and caught nothing, but later they were in the water for ten minutes or so and they catch the biggest catch of their lives. It was the same lake, same boat, same nets, same people fishing. What was the difference?

There were actually three differences between the two fishing expeditions if you will. And these differences give us principles to follow when our best attempts, and our best attempts will always be there, but when our best attempts fail us. I believe any person who applies these principles will be a genuine success in life. Now let me say this before we go any further. I am not saying you're going to win the lottery. Okay, when I get finished you don't go down and say Pastor Ralph said. This has nothing to do with prosperity in that way. We're talking about success from God's perspective. 

God intended these principles to be easy to understand and easy to apply to our lives so that everyone could get in on the benefit. But first, you have to realize that God is interested in your success. My daughter comes to mind when I thing about success. And if she were to come to me, she's 32 now, and say Dad, everything I touch just it rots, it fails, I have insurmountable problems, my life is a mess, I am a total and complete failure. What would my response be? Well I know what it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be, I'm so glad you told me that my heart just swells with pride. That isn't what I want for her. I want the very best, and I will use all of my personal resources to see that isn't. If you think that that's great, can you imagine the resources of God Himself? 

The fact that He is on your side and wants you to be successful in every area of your life. He didn't create you to be unsuccessful, to be a failure. His Son didn't die for you that you might be a failure. The first principle of success is found in the third verse there in the fifth chapter. Go with me. Jesus was in the boat with the disciples. Christ's presence made the difference. This time the disciples weren't fishing by themselves, Christ was with them. The first principle; make sure that you invite Jesus Christ into your boat before you even start in the morning. Now we believers, most of us right here, have already invited Jesus Christ into our hearts, and He is our savior, but the dividing line is, is He Lord? Is He in our boat from the very first thing in the morning? Do we invite Him into there? 

Think about this. You get up in the morning, out of bed, you're into the bathroom. That would be where we should invite Him into our lives. You say what; and watch me brush my teeth, and to shave, and wash my hair, and get ready for work. He's already there. Why not invite Him into the life? That conversation, that communication would already be going on. You finish breakfast, into the garage, you invite Him into the front seat of the car. You're going on a commute and you need Him in the front seat of the car. Make sure, first principle, that you invite Jesus Christ into your boat. That made all the difference here. Nothing has greater influence in your personal success than Jesus Christ in your boat. 

You know when you are a fisherman that boat would be your business, and that represented Peter's livelihood, if you will. It's significant that Peter made his boat available for Jesus to use. Christ used Peter's business as a platform for the ministry. Now let me ask you, does God have access to your job? Is your business available to Him to use at any time? At any place? Is He able to minister to people through your job? Most of the time we try to separate the secular from the spiritual, don't we? Yeah. That's where I do business and this is where I do God. We've partitioned off our spiritual life from our career, but this prevents God from blessing your business or your job. Things that He wants to do. That's how He's built.

Of course He was never created, but that's how God is built. That's His whole posture, is to bless you. A friend of mine is a president of a corporation and we talk often. We used to work together and he says he still invites God to every board meeting, even has a chair there for Him, and all the board members are now not lovers of Jesus Christ, but that doesn't stop him. And he continues to report to me that as a result they make fewer mistakes and they have more peace of mind about difficult decisions. Why? Because Jesus Christ is in his boat where it counts. There's something about having Jesus in your boat that kind of eliminates the fear of failure and reduces even your worries about the results. Who cares about the results? You know they are going to be good if they're coming from Him. So it's a pretty easy process when we have it on paper. To live it, that's something else isn't?

First Peter uses his boat for Christ's purposes. Jesus took the boat and preached from it to reach people, and then after Christ used the boat for His own purposes He took care of Peter's needs. He knew that he had gotten zero on the nets the night before. He didn't have to have Peter tell Him that. Matthew 6:33 says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things and others shall be added to who? To you! To me! Simply put that's what Peter did. The second principle is found in the fourth verse there. The second time the disciples went fishing they fished under the direction of Christ following His instructions. 

We not only need to invite Him into our boat, but we have to cooperate with Him as He leads us, as He guides us. How many times have we asked the Lord for direction, and He tells us, and our response, for lack of a better word is; yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because maybe it sounds absurd. Maybe it sounds out of the question. What did it sound like when He says to Peter, Peter let's go fishing. And Peter's response was much different than ours is most of the time. His reaction is beautiful. Look here. First, he didn't argue. He didn't say wait a minute, Jesus, who are you to tell me how and where to fish? I am the premier fisherman. I have the record for the biggest bass on this lake. Who are you to tell me where and when to fish? He didn't say that. He didn't ask, Lord, are You sure? He didn't even hesitate. He didn't ask any questions. 

He might have been thinking a lot of things. Thinking that, man, it's hot now and the sun is up and the fish are deeper that even our nets could go. He didn't even listen to his feelings, and you know what might have been going through his mind. Oh man, the failure, the worry, the anxiety, tiredness. He didn't say, what's the use? Why should I keep going? Peter's attitude was perfect. He was eager to cooperate with God's plan. Now why do you think Jesus said to Peter, launch out into the deep? Isn't that where the biggest fish are? It would be customary that they would catch mid sized fish, a lot of them, but out there just a little bit deeper, that's where we call the lunkers are. Yeah, big ones. 

Don't you think that He was going to reward his obedience He would do it, you know, like Italians say, abondanza. Not just fish, the biggest fish. And even if all of this seemed ridiculous to him, Peter obeyed. I think often times we in our spiritual lives spend too much time in the shallow waters. It's kind of safe there. It's cozy. It's where the minnows are. Nothing can harm us. There's more fear related to going out to deeper waters, isn't there? You know, if I get in over my head or if they rock my boat, or God forbid, they might sink it. I'll just stay right here where it's comfortable, just kind of piddle around here with the ankle deep. There's not much more there than mud though is there?

When God works in your life it always involves risks and Peter was taking a risk. When He asks you to do something without evidence of how it will turn out, that's a risk isn't it? And were not used to that. What are we used to? Controlling our lives. We have rights. I have a right to know what's around the corner and Peter was giving up all of that. He says let Me get into your boat. Let My presence be with you wherever you go, in your business, in your family, in your marriage, in every area let Me direct you and all I ask then is that you cooperate with My plan. Is that asking much? Peter got it, and we know that later on when you see some of the records of how Peter acted, he didn't seen too bright. Stubborn maybe, bullheaded maybe, but Peter was getting this without hesitation. 

The third principle is found in verse 5, because You say so. To rebound from failure I believe that we have to anticipate promises, God's promises, in our lives. In the second fishing attempt, the disciples were acting on the bases of God's promise to them. They went fishing again because they believed that God would provide the fish. Now Jesus didn't say specifically to Peter, Peter, if you go fishing with Me I promise you a large catch. He didn't say that. He didn't need to say that because Peter realized that when Christ told him to go fishing and then He also got into the boat, He also gave him where to go and when to drop the nets, he knew very well that he was going to catch fish. That's the kind of confidence that Jesus Christ would put onto somebody. Who in their right or wrong mind would say something like that to catch fish? Set themselves up for embarrassment or ridicule. Peter knew. If I do these things I'm going to catch fish. It seemed to be automatic to him. Peter expected God to act. He expected God would keep His promise. He wasn't now merely depending on his own fishing ability, which we know that from the night before what that got him; zero. He anticipated the promises of God. 

When you get Christ's presence in your boat, and when you get Christ's plan in your head, and when you get His promises in your heart, you cannot fail. And I think it's high time we began expecting wonderful results. Rather than, often times we pray with a kind of what of what if, if You've got time, how bout if, and then when the pray is all over you walk away and go, hope that was good enough. When do we start, I'm not saying about claiming everything, I'm just saying when do we start believing that God wants to do great things in our lives. And maybe you're saying that sounds great, but you don't know my circumstances. And I don't.

I know my own and they probably mirror yours in some way. Right now maybe you're defeated by the problems that you're experiencing. You're having some hard times. And if you are being defeated by your circumstances, let me suggest an antidote for you. First one, right out of the starting block, begin reading your Bible to find specific promises from God to you. That's the only way you're going to find out what they are. Start expecting God to act and you will find that God's promise can, will inject new hope into what might be, from your perspective, a hopeless, hopeless situation. Real success begins at the point of failure. I know a couple, actually several couples, married couples who had a severely damaged relationship. From an observer's standpoint it would be irreparable. Don't waste your time. But they sensed that God was saying to them I want you to stay together. Don't give up. 

Without any evidence they took the attitude of Peter. What was that attitude? Lord, we've worked on this marriage a long time without improvement, but because You say so, we'll keep at it. Today, they have a fulfilling marriage and they are active in some way in the ministry. That is what God wants to do. Take the impossibilities, the irreparable, the darkest of failures, or the lightest of failures and make them right. 

Look at the results...verse 6. The disciples caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. God blessed them with more than they could handle. Have you ever been in that position where the blessings seem to pile up and you just wonder where are they coming from? Have you ever been tempted to say, Lord, just stop for one day so I can count them? You can start the next day, but let me just take inventory of them. Let me enjoy them. They just come so quickly sometimes. That's always the case when you ask Jesus Christ into your boat, when you cooperate with His plan, and when you expect Him to do great things. You'll be blessed more than you can handle. 

In fact, in verse 7 there it points out that the disciples had to share the results with those in another boat in order to save their lives, to keep from sinking. What a great way to live. That you would be blessed so much that you would have no way to go accept to share those with those folks around you. Do you think on any given fishing day that they would share half of their catch with the other boat? I don't think so. But here they are so blessed that they freely. Yikes, come over here and help us. The point is this, God not only wants to bless your life, He wants to bless you so much that you have to share your blessings with others. He not only wants to bless you, but He wants to bless other people through you. He could do it all by Himself, couldn't He? He is able. He could do it all without us. We could just be bystanders, but He employs us, if you will, to be part of that blessing. That we might step away from it and just glorify God because of His efforts, not ours. 

This miracle so astounded Peter that he cried out, Lord, I don't deserve this. I am a sinner. This is too good for me. Give it to somebody else. I can't handle this emotionally. I'm broken. And I think this incident was a turning point, not only in Peter's life, but in the lives of all of the disciples. Verse 10, Jesus says to Peter, don't be afraid. From now on you will catch men. So the disciples beached their boats and left everything to follow Jesus. They left it all. So whatever they had caught, they left it; boats and all, to follow Jesus. 

Now think about that. When the fishing party got to land they left the greatest catch of their lives sitting right there on the shore and went after Jesus. They realized that if Jesus could perform a miracle like that, He could do anything He wanted to. I don't care how large a failure that you are living under right now. There is nothing so bad that Jesus can't do anything that He wants to do. He has no limitations. Be it fish or blessings of any kind, or rescue of any kind, He has no limitations. Get that through your head and into your heart. 

When we find ourselves two or three days away from the Lord's Day and all that is piling on top of you, Jesus can still do anything He wants, and He wants to bless you. They wanted now a personal relationship with Him. They didn't want to settle for a one time miracle. That's the wonderful thing about this story, and then Christ invites them to be part of the greatest task in all the world. Here this year Church of the Highlands has put its focus, every ministry will be focused towards evangelism. This is the same call the disciples are getting right now. He says I'm going to make you fishers of men. You're going to share My good news with other people. They must have been stunned. Whatever it was that caused them to drop everything and follow Him. 

How does that story relate to your life? Well, maybe you feel like the disciples before Christ came along. Maybe you've worked all night and came up with an empty net. Does that describe your attitude towards your marriage or your job? Or towards some of the other personal problems you might have suffered under this week? Maybe you feel like you haven't made any progress so you've said to yourself, what's the use, why keep trying? I think we've all uttered those words, maybe not out loud, but we've thought them to ourselves. And maybe you even, though it's not like you to, become cynical a little bit. Peter didn't get cynical. He didn't say, Lord, I've worked ten hours and didn't catch anything. That must mean there are no fish to be caught. No. He knew that the fish were there. He just knew he hadn't caught them yet. Just because you haven't solved your problem doesn't mean there isn't a solution. How often we think that. I haven't found it, therefore there mustn't be one. Please! 

God's message is simply this, to you and to me, simply this, don't give up. Try it again, but this time do it with Jesus Christ in your boat. Do it with Him as the captain. You ask for direction, He gives it, you do it. Obedience to God. One of Charles Stanley's famous sayings, obedience to God no matter what. Don't ask questions. Just do it. Nothing could have seemed so absurd, so fruitless as to go fishing in the middle of the day after having caught nothing in the prime time of the night. Obedience to God no matter what. So invite Him into your boat. Make Him the captain if you will. Take His direction and then, what? Expect Him to do great things. Isn't that easy? 

Would you say that with me. Expect Him to do great things. Say it. Expect Him to do great things. Don't just wait out and survive this six days during the week to get to the Lord's Day so we can be back here and feel all fuzzy. Let's feel fuzzy all week. Success in our lives, our spiritual lives, is what God wants from us. That's all. And it starts with not just bringing Him into our heart, but inviting Him into our boat and taking His direction, and taking Him at His word and expecting that He will do great things in our lives. Amen? Stand with me and let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I guess we thank you for what Peter went through. We thank you for his story that shows such a simple solution to what could have been a monumental failure in his life. Oh, Father Your word is simple. It is easy for us to read and to grasp those truths. What is hard, Father, is to apply them to our lives. As we stand here in Your presence would You, in a very significant way to each one of us, show us the solutions to our failures. Show us that You want so badly to be in our boat, to give us direction, and You want for us to expect that You as a loving Father will do great things. Give us that confidence that we might feel like Easter every day of the week. Grant us this Lord we pray in Jesus' precious name. And everybody said, amen. Amen. God bless you all. Have a wonderful afternoon. God bless.