From Empty Hearts to Full Nets [Part 2]

Pastor, author and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Deep calls unto deep. Do not skim across the surface of life. I'm telling you the treasure's down deep and God wants to lead you there. Let me use your boat.

Go into the deep and let down for a catch. And one more one more command that's really, really important. And that is Jesus says, Don't be afraid. I'm going to make you a fisher of men. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Life of Peter as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. Go deeper as we send you this special offer available today. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. It's at the emptiest times of your life when you've been least successful and you're most needy that God comes and fills your life. Haven't you seen that? It must be because blessed are those that hunger and thirst for they will be filled. There's not one thing you can do to earn God's love. Not one thing.

He already loves you perfectly. To be loved perfectly means you can't add to God's love and you can't take away from it. Nothing that you do, nothing, whether for good or for bad, can add to or diminish the love of God for you and Jesus Christ.

Nothing. And we live in that and we drink that in and we breathe that in. So if nothing can change that and God is already utterly 100 percent for you at every point, the only real thing that changes is the way in which I hunger and I thirst for him. And these fishermen, had they been successful and had a boatload of fish, they might still have been at sea catching, they might still have been on the land busy with their fish, but instead, ironically, this boat was far more valuable empty than it ever could have been full, for the Lord of the universe had use of it. And Peter, devoid of productivity and tired and frustrated, let Jesus use his boat. And when Jesus asked to use the boat, or he didn't even so much ask, he just got in the boat and he gave a command.

Take me out a little bit from the shore. Peter doesn't realize what's going to happen, and there's no earth-shattering faith from Peter here. He just obeys.

He's not even expecting a miracle in return. He just says yes when Jesus says, I have need of your boat. And mark this well, because there is an aspect to obedience in the Christian life where there are many times Jesus just tells you to do something and you really have no real idea why he's telling you to do that. And yet, in love of God, there's obedience.

And in a revolutionary new way of understanding the exhortations and commands of God in the covenant of grace, what you realize is that if God's giving you a command, it's going to be for your good. So that's the first command. Just let me out here in the boat.

I'm going to teach. And then the second command is this. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. It's not put out into the deep and try to catch some fish. It's put out into the deep and catch a bunch of fish.

The command is go deep and catch a bunch. They tried all night long. And sometimes when you're reading a story like this, let your mind just stop.

And this part of the way I read scripture is just stop and see yourself there and let let your your mind's eye wander in a holy imagination to what the scene was really like. And don't just skip past the little statements like they had fished all night long. When's the last time that you pulled an all nighter working? I'm not talking about you had the night shift and you slept during the day. I'm talking about you just had to pull an all nighter.

I'll tell you what's happened to me is that as I have aged some, the all nighter is trouble for me. And I have been sick over the last couple of weeks. I actually first time in my life had a cough that turned into some walking pneumonia.

And I've never had it before. And I had to actually just hunker down and get well over the last couple of weeks. And I will tell you where it started. I blame it on the Clemson football team.

And here's why. I was pulling for Clemson to win the national championship in college football and why they had to play that game so late that night. And it happened that the next morning I had to get up at three something to go catch an airplane to go to a minister's meeting. And I shouldn't have watched that football game. That game didn't get over till twelve thirty. And then if Clemson had played better and I'd felt better going to bed, maybe I'd have slept at least a little bit. But instead, I don't sleep hardly at all.

Get up the next morning. And I basically had pulled an all nighter. And when I got to my minister's meeting, I sat down all crammed around this table and I sat down to a friend from Virginia who was there. And I realized once I squinched in there next to him, he was sick. And I should have just excused myself and moved to some other part of the room. But being the polite person I was, I just sat there and caught his cold because I'd been in an all nighter and my immune system was compromised. And that's how I got pneumonia.

It is all Clemson's fault. But I'm just saying, don't skip past this when you're reading scripture like that. It says they'd stayed up all night fishing. These men were professional fishermen. It's what they did. It's what they love to do. It's their passion. It's what it's like. If you ask Peter, what are you good at?

He said, well, I may not be educated. I may not have the book smarts, but I sure know how to fish. And they knew the best spots and they knew how to catch fish. And they tried all night long. You know how it is where you just keep going because you're like, OK, now it's three in the morning and we're still fishing. But we're in this deep.

We might as well go in deeper. And you just keep trying and you keep trying. You've had times like that. You're like, they are exhausted.

Don't gloss over that. This is a night that was not fun. This is a night in which it leaves Peter exhausted and frustrated.

And he is empty. And Jesus says, go back out, put in the deep, catch a lot of fish. It was into the context of that that you look at Peter's life and you can say, this kind of sums up Peter's life. He was one, the one thing you like about Peter is this man, he'd work hard for you. He'd try hard. He said, but we've been trying all night.

I don't understand this, but because you say so and he let down. Jesus doesn't use Peter's boat without redeeming Peter's boat. The boat was designed to catch fish. Jesus used it and the boat started catching fish. Jesus doesn't take the empty exhausted life and simply use it. He redeems it. He restores it. He's not a God who dangles a blessing in front of you and yanks it away.

He's a father, I tell you. That's the reason that a memory came back to me this week as I was thinking about the blessing of God and how he just blesses Peter's socks off here in a surprising way. We had an outreach event some years ago in an urban section of town. And as we've done in cooperation with Larry Revesz Ministries and other ministries in towns from year to year and time to time. But this particular outreach event, some of the organizers from our church had decided we were going to give away bicycles to children.

And it was one of the most fun things I ever saw. I wish, I can't remember how many, how many bikes we had, 20 bikes. We had 20 bikes. And looking back on it, and there were miracles about how we got those bikes. And I think Grace McCracken was involved in getting these bikes.

It was just a beautiful day. And looking back on it, I'm like, I'm sure glad the Lord worked that out. We had turned out there about 20 kids. We had about 20 bikes.

Otherwise we'd have had a riot on our hands down there, you know. And I think we'd given a little number out and all the kids, they came and watching kids get a bicycle for the first time. And it was one little boy that he got a little bike and it just fit him perfectly.

And he was cute as a button. And seeing that smile on his face that he was just kind of pedaling around a little bit on that bike right there in the parking lot. And I saw the boy and his mother. And then what looked to be, must have been, as I could surmise, the mother's boyfriend came. And he came over to the little boy and looked down at this little boy and said, why are you looking at me like that? And I watched a little countenance drop on this boy's face. And then the man said to him, I'll take that bike from you. I don't like the way you're looking at me. And you could see in a thousand different emotion in this child's heart what was going on was, I so love my new bike, but the fear of it being taken away almost makes it not worth being given the bike in the first place. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever feel like the pressure is always on?

Do you find it hard to say no, worried that you'll disappoint someone? The Bible tells us only one thing about Adam and Eve's relationship in paradise. They were naked and felt no shame. But as soon as it entered the world, they became anxious, plagued with a gnawing question. What must I do to be accepted? There is only one solution, the grace of God that lifts our shame. In a new six week video masterclass, Pastor Alan exposes the dynamics of shame and shows the path to freedom. Whether as an individual or in a small group, the video series is sure to bring healing and hope. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you the digital masterclass videos and study guides as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

In a world so quick to say shame on you, it's time to let God's grace take the shame off you. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. And so many people, this is the way their soul is. Living life as if God's going to do something good for you, but he might just take it away. We're superstitious. Something good happens.

Oh, you know, I'm healthy. And then somebody says, knock on wood. Where do we get this from? Knock on wood. The pagans used to believe that there were spirits in the trees, so they'd knock on the trees.

Really? You have a father and he loves you. What you see in this interaction of Jesus and Peter is the nature of God. Yes, he asks Peter for the most treasured thing that he has. He takes the emptiest thing that Peter has. But he redeems it.

Let down for a catch. It is an invitation of God to flourish. Jesus has a greater blessing in mind than what Peter could have imagined. Jesus is saying, I'm not here to reduce the value of your boat. I'm here to redeem the value of your boat. I did not come to condemn, but to save. I did not come to devalue your life, but to make your life what it was always meant to be.

Now go out into the deep and drop down for a catch. It is also an invitation, is it not, to the deeper life for dropping down in the deep a picture of the hidden revelations of God. And how it is that one sweet revelation from God changes everything in your life. Call to me, Jeremiah prophesies, and the Lord says, and I will show you hidden and unsearchable things. There are wondrous treasures that God has hidden around you and he wants to reveal them to you and show them. This is what encouragement is. It's not making you wealthy.

It's showing you the wealth that you already have. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Go into the depths. Deep calls unto deep. Do not skim across the surface of life. I'm telling you the treasure is down deep and God wants to lead you there. Let me use your boat.

Go into the deep and let down for a catch. And one more command that's really, really important. And that is, Jesus says, don't be afraid.

I'm going to make you a fisher of men. Because what happens is that Peter, when he realizes he's in the presence of the supernatural. And Peter is having this is where the beginnings of him coming to the point that one day you'll say, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. He's seeing these miracles up close. He's seeing that this is no ordinary man. He's seeing this is not just your ordinary rabbi. He's seeing that this is God. He's discovering that he is in the presence of the perfectly holy and powerful and sovereign one. And what happens is when Peter encounters this, he naturally says, woe is me like Isaiah the prophet said. He is saying, I'm sinful.

Depart from me. It is the natural human response to the glory of God. Think how you would respond if you were to encounter a dinosaur. Think how you respond when you see anything that is greater and bigger and more powerful than you. The natural response is to get away from it out of terror. God's a big God.

And Jesus says, here comes the gospel. Don't be afraid. In a natural sense, you ought to be afraid.

But what I'm saying is I'm here. So you don't need to be afraid. And he comforts him in a way that to me is kind of comical. He comforts him not by diminishing the scope and the call on Peter's life, but by magnifying it. Don't be afraid.

I'll make you a fisher of men. Jesus doesn't lift our fears by lowering our mission, but by raising it in his revelation and power. We tend to think that the way to be calmed down is to reduce our expectations, lower your dream and diminish your responsibility. But here you see Jesus doing just the opposite. Your fear in life is not a result of seeing too much of God, but too little of him. It's not a result of seeing too much of your destiny, but too little of it. Ironically, it was the impartation of the word of God to Peter about a vast destiny in the presence of a glorious God that actually would alleviate his fear. A friend and author of Gordon Dalby wrote once of a man he was counseling with who had a chronic nightmare that he was being chased by a lion. And as the lion would get nearer, the man would wake up in terror.

Night after night it would happen. And Gordon was counseling with him. And Gordon hears from God and they were praying together about what all of this might mean and how this night terror could be lifted. And the Lord began to show Gordon that it wasn't that he was supposed to escape from this lion. And so he began to talk to the man about his fears and about courage. And realized that his life was actually symbolized by running from his own courage and running from the lion that was his strength. And his fear was answered and his dreams were solved when instead of running he embraced his destiny, his manhood. This is something like this Jesus is saying to Peter, I'm going to make you into a fisher of men. Don't be afraid of me now.

You haven't seen anything yet. So three commands that are commands I think for Peter and I think for each one of us. Jesus says let me use whatever you treasure and whatever is empty in your life.

I'd like to use that. I'd like to take you to a deeper place and I want you to let down for a catch and don't be afraid. Flip over to John chapter 21. Here really is the bookend of this story because this story is so similar. And yet it's much later in his life after Jesus has been raised from the dead. And Peter, John 21 has another scene where he goes fishing. John chapter 21 verse 3, Simon Peter said that I'm going fishing. Just after all of the events, the fear, the denial of Jesus, the crucifixion, the hiding for fear of the Jews, the acknowledgement of the resurrection of Jesus. All of life is swirling and Peter does what so many of us do.

He just wants to go back to what's familiar. I'm going fishing. And so the others go with him. And just at verse 4, as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. And Jesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish?

And they answered him, No. And he said, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some. So they cast it and now they are not able to haul it in because of the quantity of the fish.

Sound familiar? And the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's how John was described, therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he stripped for work, and he threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they are not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. Peter realizes it's the Lord, it's the Lord, and so he dives into the water, starts swimming to Jesus. What's changed in Peter's life is he's begun to get the gospel. He is in the same situation, miraculous catch of fish, recognizes Jesus and who He is. But instead of saying, Depart from me, he swims with all of his heart and all of his might. It's Jesus.

I want to be near to Him. When God gives a command, it's not a curse, it's a blessing. He doesn't give a command to take something from you, He gives a command to give something to you. For in the new covenant, the promise of God is in the command. That's the gospel. Alan Reich.

And that really sets the Christian faith apart from any other faith, I believe. It's today's teaching from empty hearts to full nets in the life of Peter. Stay with us. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word. Ever feel like the pressure is always on?

Do you find it hard to say no, worried that you'll disappoint someone? The Bible tells us only one thing about Adam and Eve's relationship in paradise. They were naked and felt no shame. But as soon as sin entered the world, they became anxious, plagued with a gnawing question. What must I do to be accepted?

There is only one solution. The grace of God that lifts our shame. In a new six week video masterclass, Pastor Alan exposes the dynamics of shame and shows the path to freedom. Whether as an individual or in a small group, the video series is sure to bring healing and hope. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you the digital masterclass videos and study guides as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

In a world so quick to say shame on you, it's time to let God's grace take the shame off you. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. So Alan, as we hear the conclusion of this, would this go right along with Jesus' words that says, My yoke is easy, my burden is light? I mean, the commands of God really are a blessing. The commands of God are not burdensome.

And this is one of the biggest shifts from a legalistic mentality to a gospel mentality. When we live in the grace of Jesus, it doesn't mean that we sit around and do nothing. No, we live radical lives of obedience to him. But we're not living that obedience because we're afraid that he's going to reject us.

If we don't, we're not slaves that are fearing punishment of a master. We're sons and daughters. We're heirs. And so when our Father gives us a command, it's different. It means that there is a gift in it.

There is something of great value. And that's the transformation, really, Daniel, that we saw in Peter's life. There was a time earlier in his life where he would just say to Jesus, Well, depart from me. I see that you're holy.

You've done something miraculous. But once he really, really realizes the resurrected Lord Jesus and understands the gospel more, he's ready just to dive in, leave everything behind and swim to Jesus. Because in the end, it's not about us following these rules. It's about our fellowship with God. And he speaks to us. He leads us. He guides us. And when he gives an order, it is a gift because something good has come. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.