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It's active now through December 31st. To give a special year-end gift, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.
Jesus was the one responsible for creating the fish. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. It's essential for every Christian to discover God's unique calling for your life.
And while it does sound like a daunting task, you shouldn't have to look much farther than your very own natural gifts and talents. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shows us how Jesus used Simon Peter's natural abilities to advance the kingdom of God. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Gratefully, our Christian salvation is not dependent on our feelings.
In fact, our eternal destiny has nothing to do with our performance or emotions whatsoever. But there are times when we lose our passion for walking with Jesus, and we can't seem to reignite the flame that once burned brightly. Well, when you're looking for a way to rekindle the excitement you once felt about your Christian walk, all you need to do is take an up-close and personal look at the life and ministry of Jesus. And that's the purpose of our current teaching series called Reigniting Your Passion for Christ. And it's also why I wrote the daily devotional for 2025. While there's still time, I want you to get in touch with us to request your copy.
This devotional is intentionally written to guide you methodically through every season in 2025. And this brand new edition includes a larger print size, making it easy to read. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure you receive this beautiful leather-bound volume. In addition, your gift, no matter the size, will have twice the impact because of the Light the Darkness matching challenge that's active right now. Your generous gift of, say, $100 becomes $200. A $500 gift is matched and becomes $1,000.
A $5,000 gift would be matched and become $10,000. Each gift will empower Pathway to Victory to shine the bright light of Jesus here in America and around the world. I'll say more about the daily devotional and our special matching challenge later in today's program. But right now, it's time to resume our study in Luke's Gospel.
We're in the fifth chapter, and I titled today's message, A Fish Tale. At the top of the list of Christian leaders I've admired most through the years, it would have to be the late Charles Colson at the very top of that list. You remember Charles Colson? He was the hatchet man for Richard Nixon. He was the guy who said, I would run over my own grandmother to get Richard Nixon reelected as president.
And yet, if a zenith of his political career counseled in the White House, he had an emptiness on the inside. And a Christian friend of his handed Colson a copy of C.S. Lewis's book, Mere Christianity. And one night, in a moment of despair, as he sat alone in the car, raining outside, he called out on Jesus to be his savior. He went on to be convicted for his role in the Watergate cover-up. He went to prison. And he said in his book, Born Again, that going to prison signaled the end of my career, but it was the beginning of my calling. It was in prison that he began leading Bible studies for those who were Christians and leading non-Christians to know Christ as savior. And that ministry in prison became the nucleus of the foundation of his organization, Prison Fellowships, which today, even though Colson is in heaven, that Prison Fellowship ministry ministers to hundreds of thousands of prisoners around the world.
Colson said this, The real legacy of my life was my biggest failure, that I was an ex-convict. My great humiliation, being sent to prison, was the beginning of God's greatest use of my life. He chose the one experience in which I could not glory for his glory. God has the way of using not our successes, but our failures for his eternal plan. That's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, It's not in my strength, it's in my weakness that God is best glorified. We're going to see that same principle today illustrated in the life of four followers of Jesus. Four followers of Christ who experienced a temporary failure that marked maybe the end of their career, but the beginning of their true calling in life. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 5. We are in this study of the life of Christ as recorded by Luke. And we're in the public phase of Jesus' ministry. The crowds were growing. People were excited by his miracles. We saw last time in Luke 4 his authority over demons and sickness, the great authority that he had in his teaching. Now, later on, when the crowd figured out that Jesus wasn't going to do everything they thought he should do, namely lead them from Roman oppression, the crowds quickly turned on him. They dissipated. They turned and crucified him.
But right now, we're in the phase where people were excited. There is a buzz among the people about Jesus, and that helps us understand verse 1 of chapter 5. Now, it came about that while the multitude were pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. The Lake of Gennesaret we know as the Sea of Tiberius, or more commonly known as the Sea of Galilee. But as you look around the Sea of Galilee, you'll notice there are hills that seem to almost roll into the lake itself.
The beaches are very, very narrow around the lake. And that helps you understand that when Jesus started attracting this big crowd along the beach, they started to press in among him. And when he wanted to turn and speak to them while he was so pressed in with the crowd, he couldn't address them. They couldn't hear him.
And so what did he do to solve that problem? Look at verse 2, and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. It was in the morning. The fishermen had spent all night fishing. Apparently, these fishermen had not been successful because there was no mention of the fish here. Instead, all they were doing was finishing up their job of washing the nets, which you would do after a night of fishing, laying them out to dry on the beach so that they wouldn't rot.
And then as soon as they finished that, they would go home and sleep during the day so that they could fish all night. And so Jesus saw these empty boats and said, I've got an idea. Verse 3, he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out of a little way from the land, and he sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. Now, this boat belonged to Simon.
We know who Simon was. It was Simon Peter. This is not the first time Jesus met Simon Peter. In fact, he had just been with him in the chapter before, remember? Jesus had just healed Peter's mother-in-law, miraculously. Peter was still trying to forgive him for doing that. But anyway, he was getting over a little bitterness there.
No, we won't go there. So he knew Jesus already. And in fact, if we're going to harmonize this with the rest of the gospels, he had known Peter for about a year. The original call of the disciples is not recorded in Luke. It happened in John 1.
In fact, John 1 through 4 records the earliest part of Jesus' ministry. So apparently what had happened was Jesus called Simon and Andrew and the other apostles early, but Jesus wasn't ready to begin the public phase of his ministry, so they probably went back to fishing for a while after their call. So they knew one another, and Jesus said, Simon, I'm going to use your boat as a floating pulpit. Now, that's an interesting way to preach, but that's what he wanted to do. Get in the boat so he could go out into the lake and turn and address the large crowd on the beach, and they would be able to hear him.
That was the plan. But can't you just see Peter? We know Peter.
We know what he's like. Can't you see Peter, the pride he must have felt, as the crowds looked out in the boat and saw him seating next to the man? The guy, Jesus. You can just feel the pride Simon felt at that moment.
And not only was he proud that he was sitting next to Jesus, not only that, he probably looked out on the crowd and said, boy, I'm so glad all these pagans came to hear Jesus. I'm so glad Susie's here and Bill's here. And there's Tom. Oh, he really needs to hear the message today. And that's what he was thinking. Little did he and Andrew and James and John, their fishing partners, know that the real audience for the message that day was them. And we see that in the next verse.
Look at verses four and five. And when Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing.
But at your bidding, I will let down the nets. And Jesus said, I'm finished teaching. It's time to go out and do a little fishing. And Simon thought, oh, fishing, we've been up all night.
We haven't had any success at all. We're ready to go home and go to sleep. And Peter must have protested and thought, Lord, I mean, you can be forgiven for not knowing about fishing. I mean, after all, you grew up in Nazareth. There's no water around there. But Jesus, I mean, you don't even realize, you don't fish in the daytime. You fish at night. And you don't fish in the deep waters. You fish in the shallow waters. Jesus, you just don't know what you're talking about. And I think that's exactly, exactly how Peter must have felt. Lord, you stick to preaching. We'll do the fishing around here.
You don't know what you're talking about. But he did have respect for Jesus, as evidenced by calling him master. So he decided to humor Jesus a little bit and go ahead and put the nets in the water. Look at what happened in verses six and seven. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish. And their nets began to break. And they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.
Can you get the picture here? Here they put the nets into the water. Peter's probably thinking to himself, okay, how long do we have to leave these nets in here to be polite? But then they look at the ropes and they see those ropes begin to tighten. And they realize the boat is starting to list toward the left. And realizing that those nets are filling up, they begin to pull them up and strain and they're filled with fish. And they emptied them in the boat and they said, let's try this again. And they tried it again, emptied it in the boat and fish upon fish upon fish. And finally, they cry out to their partners in the other boat, that famous line from Jaws, help us, I think we're going to need a bigger boat.
And so they come over with the boat and they start filling up that boat until they both begin to sink. And here's Jesus standing over the corner laughing himself silly watching this. But Peter wasn't laughing, not at the pandemonium.
In fact, notice what his reaction to this was. Look at verses eight and nine. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. For amazement had seized him and all of his companions because of the catch of fish, which they had taken. What is it that made Peter suddenly become amazed and seized with fear and to fall down and worship Jesus? Peter had had one of those aha moments. Peter suddenly realized who Jesus was. Peter realized the reason Jesus was so good at catching fish is that Jesus was the one responsible for creating the fish. And whenever you come into a real experience of the presence of God, you realize that great chasm, that gulf between God and you. That was Peter's experience.
And how did the Lord respond? Look at verse 10. And Jesus said to Simon, do not fear, from now on you will be catching men. That phrase from now on in the King James Version says, whenceforth, Peter, no matter what you were doing, you have a new beginning. You were catching fish, but now you're going to catch men. That Greek verb literally means to catch people alive.
It's the verb zogreo. The only time this word catch alive is used, other than here in Luke, is referring to Satan who catches people alive. Do you realize that when we are born into this world, we are born not as moral free agents. We all think we're free.
We're not. When we're born into this world, we are born as prisoners of Satan. We are held captive by sin and by him. Remember this, Satan hates you and has a terrible plan for your life.
And when you are born into this world, you are in his domain whether you realize it or not. It's only the gospel of Jesus Christ that sets us free from the domain of Satan and delivers us into the kingdom of God. And what Jesus was saying to Peter said, I am going to invite you to join me on this search and rescue mission to help catch people alive, to deliver them from the grip of Satan that he has on their lives and to deliver them into the presence of God. By the way, that is exactly the same mission that God has given you and me, to join him on this search and rescue mission. Come and join me in catching people alive with the gospel.
What was their response? Verse 11, and when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and they followed him. And today I wanna share with you four practical principles from this message that I think will be a great encouragement to you in discovering your true calling in life.
Principle number one, write this down. God invites us to partner with him in ministry. God invites us to partner with him in ministry.
Let me ask you a question. Did Jesus need Peter's boat in order to be able to preach to the crowd? Did he need Peter to row him out there so he could address the throngs on the beach?
Of course not. I mean, if Jesus wanted to, he could have walked from the beach out on the water, stood there on the water and addressed the crowd. Talk about a miracle. He would have had a big invitation that day had he done that right then and there. He didn't need Peter, did he, to do that? Did Jesus need Peter and Andrew, James and John and the apostles in order to catch people alive and to save them and introduce them to God? For that matter, does he need you or me to help him in that process?
Well, it's ridiculous to even suggest that he does. God can save anybody he wants instantaneously without any help from you or me. No, God doesn't need us, but in his grace, he allows us to partner with him in this great kingdom enterprise. You know, that's always been God's pattern. From the very beginning pages of Genesis, the Bible says God created the world without any help from any of us. He created a perfect garden, but remember what he said to Adam?
Now, I've created it, but I want you to cultivate it and keep it. God has created us to be a part of his eternal plan of rescuing people and seeing them come into the kingdom of God, and that's his grace, to fulfill a need we have of being part of something bigger than ourselves. God invites us to partner with him in ministry.
Principle number two, and boy, I love this. I got so excited about this this week. God uses our natural gifts for supernatural purposes. God uses our natural gifts for supernatural purposes. Now, God said to Peter and to Andrew, to James and John, I want you to be fishers of men. Did you know no place else in the New Testament does he call you and me to be fishers of men?
Did you know that? You and I have not been called to be fishers of men. Now, don't misunderstand. He's called us to help rescue people by introducing them to the gospel, but he doesn't use that term with us, fishers of men, because he used that phrase for people who were fishermen, and so God used the natural gifts and abilities he had given these men for the supernatural purpose for which he had created them, and the same thing is true for you and me. God will use our natural gifts and interest for his supernatural purpose. Your interest in leadership or speaking or medicine or the arts or working with children, those interests and gifts are not a hindrance to God's calling for your life. They are a part of God's unique calling for you.
God uses our natural gifts and interest for his supernatural purposes. Number three, genuine faith precedes abundant blessing. Genuine faith precedes abundant blessing.
Now, here's a simple truth of this story. Without faith, there would have been no fish, right? Without faith, if they had not put those nets into the water, there would have been no miracle of the fish. Unless the Israelites had marched around Jericho that seventh time on the seventh day, the walls would have never collapsed.
Unless Naaman had had the faith, the captain of the Syrian army, to dip himself that seventh time into the muddy Jordan River, he never would have experienced healing. Genuine faith always precedes abundant blessings, and yet most of us, that goes against our inclination. We want to play it safe. We want to let God make the first move, and then we want to respond in faith instead of stepping out in the deep.
We engage in what Susan Jeffers, no relation to me, calls the win-then-game. When I feel more confident, then I'll try using my gift. When my boss is more supportive, then I'll grow. When my spouse is more cooperative, then I'll work on being a better mate. When I have X amount of dollars in the bank, then I'll give to God's work.
But interestingly, the win never comes, does it? Let me ask you this morning, what is God calling you to do right now? Maybe change your vocation? Maybe begin a new ministry? Did you start investing more of your time and your financial resources in his kingdom's work? Let's face it, launching out into the deep waters of uncertainty can be very challenging.
They can be scary at times. It'd be much easier if God would show us first the results of our obedience before we obey, but it doesn't work that way. Genuine faith always precedes abundant blessing, and that leads to the final principle from this passage, and that is God's call is total, not partial.
His call is total, not partial. When Jesus called these men to become fishers, catchers of men, they didn't say, no, wait a minute, Lord, we need to take care of the boats first and trust them to somebody in case this disciple-making thing doesn't work out. They didn't say, wait a minute, Lord, let's prepare these fish and put them into a cooler and save them in case we come up needy at some point. No, verse 11 says they left everything in order to follow Jesus. I really don't know for whom this message is designed today, but I have a feeling there are some of you here today or some of you watching this broadcast, you're thinking, how did Pastor Jeffress know my situation?
That's exactly where I am right now. You know exactly what it is that God is calling you to do. You know what that next step of obedience is. Frankly, you wanna play it safe.
It'd be a lot easier if you could keep one foot on the dry ground before launching out into the deep. It doesn't work that way. James 1-8 says the double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. As long as you're trying to play it safe but be obedient, it doesn't work. God commands us to total, not partial, obedience.
We don't wanna be like those Teddy Roosevelt described as those poor, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. God's call on your life is total, not partial, obedience so that you can experience his blessing he has for you that is beyond your imagination. At Pathway to Victory, there's nothing we want more than see you take your next steps of obedience. You'll never regret reaching for God's hand and walking with him.
Let me give you a practical way to get started. To help you, I've written a daily devotional for 2025. I guarantee when you invest a couple of minutes every day with God's word and with this devotional, it will reignite your passion for Jesus. All that's required is that you give a generous year-end gift toward our Light the Darkness Matching Challenge. When we receive your gift, I'll be pleased to send you the leather-bound daily devotional along with my thanks. Now, because of the matching challenge, every dollar you give between now and December 31st will automatically be matched and therefore doubled in size, having twice the impact. Because of this amazing matching challenge, we have the opportunity to expand the influence of Pathway to Victory in the coming year.
Can you imagine what we could accomplish when we reach the goal of $1.5 million? Together next year, we will deliver bold biblical truth at a time when it's urgently needed. No matter who is at the helm of our nation, God remains at the helm of your life and mine, and His gospel must be proclaimed by shining His light into the dark corners of our world. Time is running out to take advantage of this pivotal moment, so let me hear from you right away. Now, here's David with all the details.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous year-end gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand-new 2025 Pathway to Victory Daily Devotional. Call 866-999-2965 or visit our website, ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you our current series called Reigniting Your Passion for Christ.
You'll get that on both DVD video and MP3 format audio discs. Remember, your donation to Pathway to Victory today will have twice the impact because of the impact Light the Darkness Matching Challenge. So contact us right away with your special year-end gift. You can give by calling 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. If you'd like to send your donation by mail, write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O.
Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress considers whether God can still heal today like he did during the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. That's Wednesday here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Light the Darkness Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
