If you have any prayer requests or ministry needs, we also would love to hear about that. Also if you are new, we have a welcome bag which will be available in the foyer after the service is over. Today we have an evangelism class. Dean Wells is teaching in room 102. And I’m told that if you want treats or you want goodies, you have to go down to cafe and then come back up to room 102.

But that will be a great time together just learning about how to te how to talk to Jes how to talk to people about Jesus and tell them the good news of salvation. And lastly we have our photo directory which the second shoot will be next Sunday. So if you haven’t yet gotten your picture taken we would love to have that done. If you would like to use a previous photo, we still would want to hear from you so we can make sure your contact information is updated and and correct. And Amy Frier will be there in room 102.

That’s next week. And, we we’re asking that no personal photos for this directory. Just to keep everything consistent. So, join us in worshiping the Lord together. Oh, worship the King all glorious above and gratefully sing his power and his love.

Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilion in splendor and girded with praise. Oh, tell of his might. Oh, sing of his grace. Whose robe is the light? Whose can a peace face his chariots of wrath?

The deep thunder clouds form and dark is his path. On the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite. It breathes in the air. It shines in the light.

It streams from the hills. It descends to the plain and sweet distills the dew and the rain. >> Frail children of dust and feeble as frail. In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end.

Our maker, defender, redeemer and friend. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s Blood died he for me. Who caused his pain for me who him to death pursued amazing love. How can it be that thou my God should stop for me? Amazing love.

How can it be that thou my God should die for me? He left his father’s throne up above. So free, so infinite. His grace emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race. His mercy all him and set free for oh my God it found out me.

Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God should die for me? No condemnation now I dread Jesus and all in him is mine alive in him by living and clothed in righteousness. Behold, I approach the eternal throne and claim the Christ through Christ my own. Amazing love.

How can it be that thou my God should die for me? So, I have a book that’s called Then Sings My Soul, and it gives the background to a lot of the famous hymns that we love to sing. And I just love hearing the stories behind some of them. And we’re going to do My Faith Looks Up to Thee next. And I found the story about how this song came to be.

And it always gives me a little more insight and it has has a lot more meaning when I sing the words. So, I’m just going to share a little bit. This was written by two gentlemen long time ago back in the 1800s and in the 1830s Lel Mason was putting together his own little hymn book and he was looking for some new songs and he met this gentleman named Ray Palmer. That was it. Ray Palmer and he was actually very good at writing poetry and he asked this gentleman, “Hey, could you write some songs for my new hymn book?”

And Palmer at the time was kind of burned out basically. He was doing too much, burning the candles at both ends, and had just come off of being really, really sick. And for had a real two-year struggle with just battling thing after thing. So, Palmer told him, “I’m too tired to produce anything new right now.” But he hesitatingly opened up a leatherbound journal that he had and showed this poem to Mr.

Mason. And it was a personal prayer for renewed zeal and courage that he had written in 1830. He later explained that he had wept that winter’s evening upon finishing the words to this poem. And this is a quote from him. These words for these stanzas were actually born out of my own soul with very little effort.

I recall that I wrote these verses with very tender emotion for my God. There was not the slightest thought of writing it for another person, least of all writing it for a hymbook. Mason, after hearing it, ran inside the nearest store to grab a piece of scrap paper and write these words down. And he went home that night and composed the tune. And he went back later and told Palmer, he said, ‘You know what?

You’re going to go down in infamy for writing the words to an amazing hymn. And it’s going to be not only in my hymn book, but it’ll go down in the ages. So, I love that story. Let’s sing this together. My faith looks up to thee, thou lamb of Calary, Savior divine.

Now hear me while I pray. Take all my guilt away. Oh, let me from this day be holy thine. May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart. My zeal inspire as thou hast died for me.

Oh, may my love to thee, pure, warm, and changeless be a living fire. When life’s dark maze I tread and griefs around me spread. Be thou my guide. Bid darkness turn today. Wipe sorrows, tears away, nor let me ever stray from the side.

I come to the garden alone. While the two is still on the rose and the voice I hear falling on my ear. The son of God discloses and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tear re there none other has ever known. He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet.

The birds hush their singing. And the me that he gave to me within my heart is ringing. And he walks with me. And he talks with me. And he tells me I am his own.

And the joy we share as we tear there. None mother has ever known. I’d stay in the garden with him. Though the night around me be falling, but he b me go through the voice of wo. His voice to me is calling.

And he walks with me. And he talks with me. And he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tear there. None other has ever nor Gracious Father, once more we come before you seeking that sweet fellowship we were just singing about.

We’re so thankful that you sought us and sent your son to purchase us. We ask that you would work in our hearts this morning and that we would not just be hearers of the word, but by your spirit be doers of the word. Change us, Lord. Make us more like Jesus by your Holy Spirit. We pray in his mighty name.

Amen. Welcome. You may be seated. Wonderful job. Thank you to our worship team for leading us in worshiping our King.

Kids, you’re welcome to take off for kids church at this time. Bye. And for the rest of us, we’re going to be in the Gospel of Luke. So, if you do have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to the Gospel of Luke. In the New Testament, it goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 5.

We’re beginning this section now where Jesus is calling his first disciples. He’s been going around preaching. He’s been telling people the good news of the kingdom. He’s been healing people and now we get to see him calling people. It’s going to be 12 men in total that are going to be his close associates.

They’re going to be with him all the time and for a number of years they’re going to be traveling all over together. And this is the beginning point. As a reminder, disciple means both follower and student. And this was a common term in this time where they would they would use that mathe term that means that if you’re going to come under a rabbi and sit under his teaching and follow him, you were that person’s disciple. And each of us today, we’re called to be disciples.

Well, look at this. Luke began his gospel. You might remember this back in November. We saw that Luke at the very beginning, he says, “This is my agenda for writing this gospel. I want you reader to know the truth.”

He says,”I want you to be so convinced that this is the truth about Jesus.” He wants us to know the truth because it’s not just about our having our that intellectual knowledge about Jesus and knowing facts about him. Luke is pressing us to make a decision about Jesus to commit to following him and becoming his disciple. See, everybody gets to decide who they’re going to follow in life and what they will give their life to. Not everybody makes the right choice, but everybody gets to choose.

And the one you follow and and the things that you give your life to set the trajectory for your life. They determine the outcome of your life. And as we look at this story of Simon Peter, Simon in this story, but he’ll later be called Peter, which means rock, we’ll see that Jesus told him that the essence of disciplehip is about coming under his lordship, leaving everything to follow him. And there’s many times in both the gospel of Luke and elsewhere where we see people in a sense saying, “I will I will follow you. I will be your disciple but let me first take care of some things.

People want to have this delayed disciplehip. And Jesus always deals with those people the same way. He says you have to lay everything to the side. Everything must come second to what I am wanting to do in your life. You have to first commit to following me.

That has to take precedence over everything. And we see this lived out by Simon. Jesus doesn’t want half-hearted devotion. He doesn’t offer discount disciplehip, you know, like follow me Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, but the rest you can have to yourself. No, Jesus says,”I want all of you, every single part of you, give it all to me so that I can then lead and bless you in every way.”

The trade-off is better than we could imagine. There is a cost to following Jesus. This is something that Luke does not shy away from telling us. There’s a cost to following Jesus, but there’s a far greater cost to not following Jesus. And what it comes down to is there’s a world of joy available.

Joy unending for those who are willing to leave everything for the sake of following Jesus. So this is the big idea this morning. Disciplehip to Jesus is fullness of joy today. Not just in some distant afterlife. It is available today.

Right now. So, Luke chapter 5, out of reverence for God’s word, if you would stand for the reading, as we together as a church come under the authority of God and his word, I’ll read from Luke chapter 5. Luke says, “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Guanesseret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 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.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men.”

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Thank you. You may be seated. So again, at this point, Jesus is becoming known far and wide in Galilee. Either people have actually heard him teach.

They’ve heard his wisdom, been astounded by that, or they have seen his miracle working power, him heal droves of people in Capernaum and elsewhere, and people have spread the news. They’ve talked about Jesus. They’ve said, “Listen, this guy, he is like no one else. You have to come listen to him.” And so, crowds are now pressing in on him.

And it’s an interesting image because it’s always fascinated me to think of crowds just surrounding Jesus all the time in his three-year ministry. If Jesus was to come today, you know, and he visited Portland, he would have filled the Moda Center easily. Like crowds were always streaming to him. People wanted to get close and hear him speak. And yet then at the end of his life when when he’s going to the cross, he’s utterly abandoned.

Even his closest friends, they’ve scattered. They’re nowhere to be seen. But at this point, everybody is pressing in. They love Jesus. They want more of Jesus.

And it reminds me that people are fickle. People are very fickle because on the one hand, people wanted to be with Jesus. They wanted to press in close and hear him. On the other hand, when it came to understanding what exactly is Jesus demanding of me, what is Jesus calling me to be? Suddenly the crowds started to fade away.

People when the danger came, people just vanished at the end. And so that’s a reminder that people today even can be intrigued by Jesus. People can be fascinated even with Jesus and love some of the things he says. But the question is, are you willing to be his disciple? He He’s not just wanting to give you information.

He is wanting to transform your life. That’s why Jesus came. At this point, people are pressing in. It’s at the lake of Guanness, which is another term for the Sea of Galilee. This is the freshwater lake in the northern end of Israel.

And it’s so crowded. Jesus, you just picture him on the shore. People are pressing in. He turns to Simon, this fisherman there, and he says, “Hey, how about I use your boat as a podium.” And so he climbs on, and this leads us to our first point in the notes this morning, the tools of disciplehip.

Jesus calls me to use my gifts and experience right where I am. He calls me to use my gifts and experience right where I am. See, the fact that Jesus is even on this lake shore preaching to this crowd and and that he’s climbing into a fisherman’s boat, this tells us that Jesus is going to the people. Jesus was a people magnet because people were streaming to him. But first, Jesus went to the people.

He was drawn to people. It began with him first coming all the way from heaven to earth and and then he he’s here on earth and he’s going to where the people are. He’s going to where the crowds can find him. He’s making himself available. And he uses people right where they are.

Today, Jesus is not on earth physically. He’s in heaven, but he’s present by his holy spirit and he equips us. So, first he saves us, then he equips us and sends us out into the world to be his ambassadors. And he typically calls people to be ambassadors right where they are. If you are a student or teacher, he calls you to be an ambassador to students and teachers.

If you’re a parent, he’s calling you to reach parents. A grandparent, he’s calling you to reach grandparents. If you’re an engineer, can you guess who your your mission field is? Engineers. This is how it works.

God will send people back out into the the world and and where they are interacting with, the people they’re knowing. That’s who your mission field is. That’s who you’re to reach. God does send some people overseas and he sends missionaries out. But for the majority of us, we’re called to be ambassadors right where God has us in our neighborhood, school, and workplace.

And here we see Jesus asking Simon to serve him by what he’s got available. It’s interesting. Water carries sound four times better than air. And so what Jesus is doing here is actually quite genius. He’s getting on this boat and he’s having Simon go out a little bit from the shore and he’s using the acoustics of the lake itself so that people can hear him far and wide because this crowd is massive.

He’s using Simon’s boat as his pulpit in the Sea of Galilee as his sound system. And I love how Jesus comes to Simon with this approach. Hey, can you help me out? See, this is how Jesus has a relationship with us. It’s not just about what he does for us.

He also comes and says to us as if we’re his partner and his friend. He says, “Hey, I have something that you can do. Can you serve me in this way?” And he’s asking Peter or Simon to use what’s at his disposal. He has a fishing boat.

Simon, I can use that. And he really does need Peter’s help because if you’re in a large rowing boat on the bumpy Sea of Galilee, you need an experienced fisherman to keep that boat still and not drift away. This is a bit like when Jesus asked the Samaritan woman who had that picture for a drink from the well. Remember, Jews and Samaritans did not associate. And yet, he’s not above, he’s thirsty as a man, and he’s not above asking this outsider, “Can you give me a drink?

I need a drink. Can you help me out? That’s how Jesus will often interact with people. And by doing that, he’s validating her dignity, by asking her to serve him. So Jesus asks Simon to put out a little from the shore.

Then he sits down to teach. He’s teaching possibly for hours. We don’t know. We know that happens sometimes because people would eventually get hungry and and start to faint on the way if they were, you know, gone for so long listening to Jesus. But verse four says, ‘When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

The audience is expecting Jesus to ask Peter to row Jesus back to shore, but instead he says, “Peter, take me out farther.” We know the Sea of Galilee drops off into deep water, not too far from the shore. Now, many of you are fishermen, and so you can really appreciate these fishing stories. I like fishing. I’m not great at it, but I do enjoy eating fish, so I I like trying to catch one.

But I definitely wouldn’t call myself an expert. Simon did this for a living. This was his line of work. He knew about fishing. He had been raised to fish.

And I will say though, I don’t know how great at fishing Simon was because every time the Bible talks about him fishing, he seems to be coming up empty. But fishing was his trade. And so for Jesus to make this suggestion would have sounded borderline ridiculous. Here here’s an inland rabbi/carpenter coming to an experienced fisherman and saying, “This is how you need to fish.” Just imagine if I had the gumption to tell someone like Shaden Sharp of the Trailblazers, you know, hey, I’ve got some pointers for you, pal.

You know, I I know I can’t dunk, but if you listen to me, I can really improve your game. That’s a little bit how this might have s sounded to Simon. First off, Simon and his team are exhausted. They have been fishing all night unsuccessfully. So, they’re discouraged.

They’re they’re downcast. And fishing with nets was very tiring work. They weren’t just like flicking out a line into a lake. They were out there in the water, diving down, taking care of the nets, pulling them up, and they just gotten done cleaning them, folding them up. They’re tired.

They’re sweaty. Simon is ready to go home, take a nap, relax, not go back out into the water. Fishermen using nets would fish at night because that’s when the fish were feeding. And when it was daylight, the the fish can see the nets better. And so, they’re going to avoid the nets.

And also they tend to go under the rocks at the Sea of Galilee during the daytime. And if you’re a fisherman, you know how generally fish like to hang out near the streams at the water’s edge because that’s where the feeding is good. But Jesus is saying, “Take us out into the deep, out into that deep water.” So Simon’s probably thinking, “Look, Jesus, you know, I I know that you have got this handle of scripture. I know you know way more than me about the Torah.

You understand the Sabbath laws. That’s kind of confusing to me. But here’s something I do know. I know fishing. Fishing is my thing.

Like, this is what I do every day. And now you’re telling me how to do my job. Jesus has some fishing advice for Simon. But don’t forget, Simon would have still wanted to listen to Jesus. Not only has he heard him teaching because he’s been there for many times, but also he saw Jesus heal his mother-in-law.

We saw that last week. And so he’s seen Jesus’s miracles in action. He knows there is something special about Jesus. And so he kind of reluctantly agrees even though he’s inside thinking this is not going to work. And he calls him master, which is not like calling him lord, but it is a term of respect.

So here we see in your notes the barriers to disciplehip. This is what gets in the way. Me thinking I’m smarter than Jesus and that joy is found outside of him. Simon’s maybe thinking, “Jesus, you stick with Bible stuff. Let me do the fishing thing.”

The text doesn’t say, “But maybe Simon was a bit annoyed. Maybe he felt like Jesus was meddling with his business, getting up in his personal space. So, why did Jesus do this? Was this just about helping Simon pay the bills? Or was there something more going on?

Was was Jesus coming to Simon simply about fishing, giving him some fishing advice, or was he saying, “Simon, your whole life you have thought that your life belongs to you. You’ve run the schedule. You’ve called the shots. And now I’m telling you something else. That your life belongs to me.

I’ve come for you, Simon.” There will be times where Simon will still think that he’s got a better idea than Jesus. He he will continue to go back to the old Simon when he’s Peter. He’ll still think like Simon at times, but Jesus patiently, graciously, lovingly reminds him over and over, “I have this figured out. I have a better way.

Your way is going to lead into a dead end. It’s going to end up leading into a train wreck. Follow my way. My way leads to joy.” Contrary to popular opinion, happiness is not found by looking within ourselves.

This is what the culture will often say. You know, you got to got to be true to yourself. You got to live your truth. You have to consider yourself before others. But Jesus says something totally different.

He says, “You need to deny yourself. You need to say no to your old self. Lay that aside and find new life in me. Dietrich Bonhaofer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him, come and die.” In other words, if you want to find life in Christ, you first have to make the decision that you will die to yourself.

Die to your own ambitions. Die to your own selfish desires. Die to everything that is outside of what God has purposed for you. You have to give up ownership of your life. It’s like handing over the keys to your soul and you say to Jesus, “You drive.

You take control. You do whatever is needed because I know I can’t do this on my own.” As long as we keep ourselves at the center of our little universe, we’re lost. And yet, everything from the world, everything from the devil, and everything from our own flesh tells us, you know best. You can take care of yourself.

You’ve got this. And Jesus says to Simon, “You don’t got this. You need me.” So often, what gets in the way of us becoming more like Jesus is ourselves. We become our own worst enemy.

See, only God can give us the life we’ve always wanted. But so often we convince ourselves that we know better than God. Now, we wouldn’t admit that publicly, but in our most honest moments, we realize, you know, when I have made a train wreck, when I’ve blown it, done things foolishly, it’s because I thought I knew better than God, which is literally insane to think that I would know better than the infinite creator of the universe. But that’s the insanity of sin. Sin is me getting in the way of all that God wants to do in and through me.

The only remedy is for me to admit my brokenness, throw myself on his mercy, and tell him, “It’s all yours. Everything I am, everything I have, it all belongs to you. You take charge.” Many years ago, a group of missionaries were on a boat going to Africa, wanting to bring the gospel to an unreached people group over there. And on the boat, before they got off, the captain said, and he was laughing, he said, “You guys are all going to die.

You know that, right?” And one of the missionaries responded, “Captain, we died before we started.” Jesus said, ‘If anyone wants to come after me, you must first deny yourself. Take up your cross daily. Taking up your cross, well, that that’s how you die.

If you take up your cross in the first century, that means you’re on your way to die. That’s what he was saying. Take up your cross daily, die to yourself, and follow me. And think about how countercultural that is. Well, not just in our culture, in every culture to say deny yourself.

Say no to yourself. But that’s what disciplehip is. It’s putting Jesus first. And see, the paradox that Jesus talked about is it’s when you let go of yourself that you finally find true life in Christ. Jesus said it’s it’s those who try to hold on to their life.

Just hold on to it and and do whatever they can for themselves. It’s those people that lose their life. It slips through their fingers. But those who give up their life for his sake find true life indeed. Disciplehip to Jesus is an all or nothing game.

It’s all or nothing because there is no, as I said, there’s no discount disciplehip. There’s no negotiating with Jesus because your soul is too valuable a thing to negotiate over. And the best part is that life with Jesus is not dull or lifeless. You think about Simon at this point in his life. He had no clue what Jesus would call him to do.

He had no idea that there would be statues of him in places like Rome and all over the place. He had no idea that we would be here 2,000 years later talking about this man. And Jesus begins by asking him to make one small sacrifice. Simon, just in this moment, lay aside your earthly wisdom, your knowhow, your your pride. Lay that aside and do something that I’m calling you to do.

Take that small step of faith. Later, Jesus would call Simon to make much bigger sacrifices. But at this time, when you think about it, this was a very small sacrifice he’s asking him to make. And look at the result. They let down their nets and catch so many fish.

The nets start breaking under the weight. Just imagine how many fish you have to have if if the nets are now breaking. They have to call their buddies John and James to come over and then they get so many fish the boat starts sinking into the water. They’re now possibly going to drown because their catch is so good. This was the catch of a lifetime.

Simon would be talking about this fishing story for the rest of his life. These men were overwhelmed. That’s how it always is with Jesus. His grace is more than sufficient. His love is overwhelming.

It’s more than we could have dreamed. We We think Jesus, you know, he loves me because he has to and and you know, he does the things that he does because, you know, I’m his creation. We don’t imagine how great his love really is until we experience it in person. All he asked is the smallest step of faith like he did with Simon. And in return, he gives us new life, total forgiveness, endless joy.

And there’s nothing on earth that compares with knowing Jesus. Just think about this. What could possibly be better than the most powerful being in existence knowing everything about you and loving you completely, forgiving you of everything you’ve done wrong, and promising that because you’re his child, all the bad things in your life will work together for good, for your good and his glory. Can you even imagine a better scenario? And this is the promise of the gospel.

This is what Jesus came to do. He came to turn our lives upside down in the best possible way. People search this world for happiness, but no matter what, they always come up empty because they’re looking in the wrong place. They think it’s found within or they think it’s found in material things, in wealth. But Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a man who comes across a buried treasure in a field.

A and he’s so thrilled with what he finds that he’s willing to give up everything just to have this treasure. He says in his joy he he’s not depressed like oh I got to sell everything just cuz I got to get this done. In his joy he is ecstatic. I want to give up everything because I want that treasure more than anything. That’s what it means to encounter the real Jesus.

He becomes your supreme treasure. And you realize this is why I’m here. This is what my life is all about. It’s not about becoming rich. It’s not about being comfortable for 80, 90, however many years on earth.

It’s about Jesus. It’s about knowing his love. And then once you’ve encountered his love, it’s your joy to forsake everything else so that you can follow him. Anything that gets in the way of that relationship, you’re willing to throw it to the side, be rid of it forever because I want to know Jesus more. Simon would start to understand this and it was slowly dawning on him that he was in the presence of no ordinary rabbi.

This this man there is something about Jesus that I missed before and now I’m starting to see it. It says that he throws himself down at his knees. You know, there’s something interesting about how in the Bible when you look at how many people go down on their knees in front of Jesus, there’s this there’s this picture of heartbreak but also this joy. People are delighted to be with Jesus and they’re also broken by their sin. And it’s the same way when you give your life to Jesus, there always has to be that that heartbreak, the good kind of heartbreak, recognizing, I can’t believe what I have done to offend Jesus.

But then in the same moment, you realize how gracious and loving God is to restore you. It always starts with that first step of faith. In your notes, the immediacy of disciplehip. The immediiacy is though I live with eternity in view. I can only follow Jesus today.

Today. I don’t know about you, but I need to daily be reminded of the big picture. I need to to look into scripture and be able to get this eternal lens back on. I need to take a step back and see that my life is part of something much bigger than myself. Because if I’m not reminded by scripture and and other believers and the Holy Spirit, then I will tend to inflate my own self-importance.

I’ll tend to think more highly of myself until I get back to what the kingdom is all about. The eternal perspective that scripture offers us grounds us and it keeps us from being overwhelmed by all the things that are going wrong in the world. If we just sit down and and focus on what has gone wrong, we watch the news and and that becomes our lens for understanding reality, we will be depressed. We will be anxious. We’ll be worried.

We’ll be fretting. Nothing will turn out good from that. But if we put on the lens of scripture and we see things through that kingdom lens of eternity, we start to see how all of this God is working for good. All of it. Jonathan Edwards is well known as a great thinker.

Some have even said he was the greatest American theologian in history. And what I find amazing is that Edwards 19-year-old guy very first sermon is titled Christian happiness. He had a three-point sermon of course for why Christians should be the happiest people on earth. He said Christians will be happy when they remember three things. First, our bad things will turn out for good.

Second, our good things can never be taken away from us. And third, the best things are yet to come. Our bad things will turn out for good. Our good things can never be taken away from us. And the best things are yet to come.

I love that. So simple and so true. But the fact is, we can only follow Jesus today. We look back at what Jesus accomplished for us on Calvary. We look back to his sacrifice and we look forward to heaven in the future.

But disciplehip is something that can only happen in the present following Jesus today. Many people think of disciplehip as something they will get to someday. They they’ll have a closer relationship with Jesus someday. They’ll enjoy spending time just sitting in God’s presence someday. But God wants to meet with us here and now.

Disciplehip can only happen today. That’s why Jesus said to daily take up your cross and follow me. If we don’t make disciplehip about living joyfully under the authority of our king today, then it will always be this nice idea in the theoretical realm. But Jesus calls us to follow him today. The Jesus we worship is alive right now.

Today. And though we preach the cross, he’s no longer on the cross. He’s not in the empty tomb. He’s alive and well. And he is at work in this world by his Holy Spirit seeking and saving lost people.

And so that Jesus alive today is the one we have to follow today. Now just imagine being in Simon’s place. You suddenly realize that you are in the presence of absolute holiness, God in human flesh, and he’s overwhelmed. The only thing Simon can think is, “I’m too sinful to be here.” This is part of becoming a disciple of Jesus.

Again, we have to see ourselves as we really are in our sin before we can see God in all his grace. And often this will happen to people when they first start reading the Bible seriously and they get to a book like Romans and and it’s like looking into a mirror for the first time and they are broken over their sin and they recognize Jesus sees right to the bottom of me. All of me. They see he sees everything about me. But the amazing thing is that despite knowing everything about me, he loves me completely.

The more we see Jesus as he really is, the more we can see the truth about ourselves and we can be honest with him. We can confess our sins. We can tell him about our shortcomings and let him know, “I need help with this.” He already knows it. When the prophet Isaiah encountered God and all his holiness, he said this, “Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Isaiah was changed forever from that moment. He had to go through that process of being completely astounded by the presence of God before he would be used as a prophet of God. And this is the moment where Simon was completely changed. He encountered the living God and knew he was encountering God in the flesh.

And throughout his gospel, Luke is going to continually contrast the humble with the self-righteous. That’s why he tells the the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It’s the tax collector that says, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner, and it says he’s the one who goes home justified.” Or think of the sinful woman barging into that dinner party, running right to Jesus, weeping before Jesus, and Jesus tells her that she’s forgiven. He says, “Your faith has saved you.”

And the point is the same all through the gospel. Those who confess the depth of their sinfulness get to experience the heights of God’s grace. Peter’s own response is, “Get away from me, for I’m a sinful man, oh Lord.” Now, this is classic Peter. He always he tends to get things half right, but then he jumps to the wrong conclusion.

He’s right. He is a sinful man. Bingo. But he’s wrong to think that Jesus doesn’t want to be near him. There used to, you might remember the Southwest Airlines commercials where somebody does something completely foolish like breaking his friend’s TV or something like that and the question is always, “Want to get away?”

That’s Peter right now. He’s thinking, “I need to get away from here. I am in the wrong place. I feel so exposed in my sin. I’m wicked.

You’re holy, Jesus. I can’t be here. But Peter doesn’t yet see that Jesus isn’t repelled by sinners. He loves sinners. He is lowly and gentle in heart, and he draws near to those who most need him.

Maybe you can relate to Peter. There might be times where you have felt like you’ve totally blown it. You’re disgusted with yourself and you assume God wants nothing to do with you. But remember that Jesus came for that very sin. That’s why he was here.

He came for that sin because he loves you. And through his sacrifice and through faith in that sacrifice, he takes away all our sin. Every bit of it. There’s nothing left that’s still attached to your name in the throne room of heaven. You are completely righteous, spotless, pure, holy in the sight of God through faith in Jesus.

That is how he sees you. And sometimes we can assume we’re too sinful to be useful in God’s kingdom. We assume we’ve blown it. We we’ve already missed our chances. God can’t use somebody like me.

And yet we forget that the Bible is basically one long story of God continually using very flawed, very failing people over and over again to accomplish great things. He is a God of grace. And so Jesus says to Peter, “Do not be afraid.” Maybe that’s what Jesus is telling you this morning. Don’t be afraid.

You’re concerned that your failure has ruined all chance of serving him, being used by him, being effective for the kingdom. Don’t be afraid. I have come for people like you and I want to use you beginning today. That’s why Jesus says, “From now on, you will be catching men.” Verse 10, “From now on.”

In other words, Simon, from this day forward, you belong to me, and I’ve got a job for you. You are going to be busy catching men. Peter had been catching fish that end up dead. Now he’s going to be catching men so they can be made alive. This was fulfilled in the book of Acts.

You remember on the day of Pentecost, Jesus is being preached. Peter gets up there and proclaims the gospel boldly and 3,000 people repent and believe in the gospel, get baptized. That was the greatest catch of Peter’s life. Not not this time in Luke 5. That pales in comparison to what Peter had coming.

In verse 11 says, “And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” That is disciplehip. Luke is wanting to emphasize this. These commercial fishermen with all their their stock piled into these boats and these nets and their business, they left everything just so they could follow Jesus. This is the reward of disciplehip.

In your notes, I must forsake all for Jesus, but my reward is fullness of joy. Because really, when we talk about disciplehip to Jesus, that’s what we’re talking about. Fullness of joy. That’s what it is. People want to have joy.

Here’s where it’s found. Living under the authority of Jesus, following his leadership, knowing his word, hearing his voice, being with Jesus, that is fullness of joy. And he tells him, “Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.” This is not just for Peter and the gang he’s with. This is for all of us.

All of us are called to tell others about Jesus. This is not something where sometimes we hear the word evangelism and we assume you know that is for those professional paid evangelists. Evangelism is very simply telling people about the most important person in your life. That that’s really what it is. If you are going to be a disciple automatically you are an evangelist.

You belong to Jesus and you’ll want to tell others about him. And fishing is a lot like evangelism. You don’t always know how it’s going to go. You put in the line or you put in the nets, God takes care of the rest. But the point is, you can’t catch anything if you don’t put in the nets.

And so, you have to cast a wide net for the gospel. That’s why we invite our friends to Bible study. It’s why we bring our neighbors to church. It’s why we tell our family members what Jesus is doing in our life. It’s why when we’re going through something awful, we point others to the goodness and sovereignty of God.

It’s why we support missionaries and share the gospel any way we can because nothing matters more than getting this message to people who are lost. Jesus calls us to be fishers of men and women. Now, as I mentioned, there’s barriers to disciplehip. And so the question I want to leave you with is what is it that gets in the way of you following Jesus? What is it that is that barrier that Jesus is saying that right there, leave that behind because it’s getting in the way of this intimate relationship I want to have with you.

And if you want to be my disciple, you’ve got to leave that behind. You’ve got to forsake everything. So, what are the obstacles in life that prevent you from following Jesus in total surrender? Let’s pray together. Gracious God, we thank you that you have called us to be fishers of men and women, to be those who cast in the nets seeking your will for other people’s lives.

Help us to be not just visible Christians, Lord, but audible to speak the name of Jesus, to follow you faithfully. Lord, give us opportunities as you see fit. Help us to enjoy this life of disciplehip because this is where true joy is found and we believe that in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. Would you stand as we close?

To God be the glory. Great things he has done. So loved he the world that he gave us his son. Who yielded his life and atonement for sin and open the life gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.

Oh, come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory. Great things he has done. Oh perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer. The promise of God, the violender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.

Oh, come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory. Great things he has done. >> Great things he has taught us. Great things he has done. And great our rejoicing through Jesus the son.

But pureer and higher and greater will be our wonder our transport when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory. Great things he has done. Praise the Lord.

Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory.

Great things he has done. >> Amen. What a wonderful morning of singing. Just a couple things as you go. Don’t forget the evangelism class is happening in room 102.

So, go grab your coffee and dash back up here so you don’t miss it. And then the other thing is we want you to go next door and hug and love on everybody you see. So we’ll see you there.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 8,129 words.