Luke 5:1-11, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing [their] nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto [their] partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw [it], he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so [was] also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him."
Are you sitting waiting for someone to step up, then you'll get up and follow?
What is it that you're cheating God out of, for your pride and selfishness?
That's what the Lord spoke to me about when I read this passage.
Back in verse 3, Jesus spoke to a discouraged, frustrated man. He had a family (a wife and mother in law, we don't know about children) to provide for. He possibly had to pay to have his boat "parked" where it was and he had to pay his men.
On this particular day, they caught no fish. Do you think maybe God had something to do with that? Hummmmmm.... So picture if you will, here is a discouraged man with no hope, who is approached by a stranger, who He, is being followed by a large group of people (vs.1). This stranger asks Simon to bring his boat out a bit, then He sits down. Peter must of thought it was so weird and he was probably curious, therefore decided to do as he was asked.
He listened to Jesus teach and preach. He was obviously moved and amazed by Jesus' commonness and down to earth presence yet, such a scholar who knew not only the bible but wanted to teach others God's word. He must of been impressed by Jesus' compassion because when Jesus was done, He asked Simon (Peter) to go further into the deep waters. Peter hesitated while he explained of their failure the previous night, but he obeyed through faith in this man, Jesus.
Look at the impact he had. His men where with him, they heard Jesus teaching and preaching. (These are our fellow church people.) They didn't step up to the plate to encourage Simon, they followed him once he obeyed.
Verse 7 says that when the work was too much for them, they, Peter and his men, called out to their partners for help. They came, and were part of the miracle of God's provision.
At the end, they ALL surrendered to Jesus' call to "fish" for men.
What an influence Peter was on all those men!
Now who will be the Peter in my church and in yours?
Will we be the one that follows and is just a part of God's miracles of healing, restoring and saving grace or will we be the one who gets up and leads in service to influence others for Christ's sake?
Will we be the one, the Peter, whom God knows He can count on to obey and get the job done? Who will God be able to use?
I don't know about you but I want to be used by God, to draw people to Him. It might take a lot more faith but I want to be a part of His work.
Keep UP... the work, His work.
No comments:
Post a Comment