Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to The Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I'm really excited to bring you today's message, Bringing in the Big Fish.
Now this was an illustrated sermon which included a short video clip from a tuna fishing trip that my husband Benny went on with some Christian brothers. While you obviously cannot see the video, I believe that you can still receive a blessing from the hearing of the word and from the thrust of the message on how you can win those hardcore unsaved cases to the Lord in bringing in the big fish. One of my favorite things is to say yes to the Lord. It always feels good when you say yes. Hallelujah.
Let me tell you something. Your soul loves to say yes. Your spirit loves to say yes to God. Every time you say yes to the Lord, something on the inside breaks. Fetters and bondages break loose.
Just by the simple act of saying yes. You can be so frustrated that you could pull your hair out. You could be so angry that you just feel that you're filled with rage. You could be so broken that you feel like your heart is on the floor. And you sit there and you feel defeated by all of these negative things.
But all you have to do is open your mouth. You may not feel like it, but just say, Yes, Lord. And we're going to learn tonight, or we already know about them, but we're going to revisit and find out.
Some of those who said yes to Jesus. Those initial ones that receive the opportunity to say yes.
Now, I want to set this up a little bit and talk to you. I'll be really ministering out of the book of Luke tonight. And I'll start off by paraphrasing to save some time. Amen, and set this up for you. First of all, when Jesus began his ministry after he was anointed.
And filled with the Holy Spirit, having come out of the wilderness, having been baptized of John, now he's actually ready to go out and begin his ministry.
So, where does he go? He goes home. He goes to his hometown where he grew up as a boy, where everyone knew him as the carpenter's son. And it wasn't anything like you see on TV today when sports idols and rock stars go home to their town and they're waiting at the airport with banners and they have parties and they have confetti. It wasn't like that.
Jesus went to his hometown to preach the gospel. And They rejected him. Right off the bat, they rejected Jesus.
So much so that he barely made it out of their lives. Because after he preached to them, in the synagogue. The Bible says that they tried to throw him off the brow of the hill. But he disappeared out of their sight.
So that was the great homecoming. that Jesus had. But you see, he began at his hometown, and that is going to be the same way for you and me. Whatever ministry we have. Because we all have a ministry.
Jesus told all of us that He's called us to be His witnesses. Did he say that? You shall receive power, and then you'll be my witnesses. And that was carte blanche to everyone. And just like Jesus began in his hometown, We should begin in our family.
In our neighborhood, In our areas of going to work and school and such, that's where we begin, just like Jesus did. But when they rejected him, Jesus didn't say, well, that's it, I quit. Went back home, and the very people that I thought would receive me and love me rejected me and tried to throw me out. I'm done. No.
He just. Picked himself up, dusted off his shoes, and went to another town.
Now, Nazareth, where Jesus was raised, was on the Sea of Galilee. And the Sea of Galilee is in the northern part of Israel. And Jerusalem, which was the capital and the holy city where the temple and all, are further down in the middle of the country, further south. And south and west.
So Jesus now, having left Nazareth, there's all kinds of little towns and cities dotted all around the Sea of Galilee. How many know people like to live on the water? Don't they? Yeah, people that with today to live on the water, you gotta have some money. It can be a fallen down cottage from 1902.
But if it's on the water It's going to cost you a lot of money. Amen. And so Jesus had plenty of places that he could go.
So he went to the city of Capernaum. After he left Nazareth, he went there. And you know it, he got the opposite effect. When he went there, the people were amazed. The scripture says they were astonished at his words.
And they were amazed at the authority that he spoke with. They had never heard anyone speak. All the teachers, the rabbis, the priests, nobody ever spoke with the authority that Jesus did. And it amazed them. The first time he went into the synagogue, the demons began to cry out, We know who you are.
You see, the devil will do your advertising for you. Amen. They'll say, you know that one that sits on the worker over there on that machine or over there on that desk or over there in that cubicle? Yeah, they're one of those holy rollers. The devil will set it all up for you.
Amen. And the demons cried out: We know who you are, you are the Holy One of God. And so Jesus Kind of just saw that he really had open hearts here. And whenever there's an open heart, the Holy Spirit is going to come in and sup and dine. Jesus said, if you open your heart's door, my father will come in, I'll come in, we'll just dine with you.
And so the people of Capernaum had their hearts' doors open.
So Jesus, he hung around there a little while.
Now Capernaum was a fishing village, which we can understand. because the Sea of Galilee was loaded with fish. And a lot of the men then, their livelihoods was made on the water as fishermen. And one of those fishermen that had a business there in Capernaum was named Simon Peter. Simon the son of Jonah.
He had a thriving fishing business, and he was in partnership. with two others named James and John, the sons of Zebedee. And their father had a fishing business and that they worked together. And so the thing about the Eastern people, even to this day, are extremely hospitable. And I mean, we don't understand.
Western understanding does not really understand how hospitable Eastern people are. You could be a complete stranger. You don't have to be family. You don't even have to be neighbors. A complete stranger comes to town and they open their home up and come in and they will give you the best food they have.
They'll give you their bed and they'll go sleep on the sofa. That's the type of hospitality that they have there. And so Peter. heard about Jesus, and he invited him to come home. with him for dinner.
And Jesus came home with him. But when they got to the house, There was Peter's mother-in-law lying on a bed, extremely ill. With a very serious fever. It wasn't your run-of-the-mill fever. We know this because the scripture says Jesus rebuked the fever.
Amen. You don't generally rebuke things unless there's some sort of power of darkness behind it. Amen?
So when Jesus got there, he saw her how sick she was. He rebuked the fever and he raised her up. She got up and she fixed them dinner and they probably had fish. Amen?
Now when the news of her healing began to spread about, Guess what happened? Everybody started flocking to Peter's house. He's got a crowd outside now. Everybody wants to come and have Jesus lay hands on them.
So his house, sort of like this, became headquarters. Healing headquarters for Jesus. And I want you to understand that at this time, Simon Peter had a very casual acquaintance with the Lord. He was still a full-time fisherman. And now, all these people are coming to the house every day, and Jesus.
He healed them all. Because when you come to Jesus, he doesn't say no.
Some people say sometimes he says no. No, that's not what he says. He says, I am the Lord that healeth thee. And so Jesus healed them all.
So now during this time, Jesus is becoming more acquainted with the people of the town, including Simon Peter. And they're becoming more accustomed to Jesus. And I'm sure that they were grateful for all their friends and family people that were getting healed. But as I said, keep in mind. Peter still a fisherman?
James and John are still fishermen. They're ordinary guys with an ordinary job fishing for a living. Amen?
They did not have a clue at this time that they were going to be quitting their very profitable. Enjoyable jobs and leaving their comfortable homes to go traipsing all over Israel. All over Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, following this itinerant preacher. They didn't have a clue this was about to happen. But meanwhile, Jesus was content to come there and continue to preach.
Now, one day, he's out there preaching, and the crowd is growing. And soon he had a multitude until they were pressing so close to him that the people that were further back could not hear. They couldn't see or hear Jesus. And so Jesus, being very resourceful, looked around, and where he was on flat ground at the edge of the shore of the Sea of Galilee, there was nowhere else to back up to. And the people are pressing him, trying to get near to see and to hear.
And he looks out there, and he saw two empty fishing boats. Because the fishermen had gone out of them, they were up on the shore washing their nets. And this had been in the morning time. And Jesus seeing the two empty boats. He What have Realized, here's an opportunity.
Now, let's read it in Luke the fifth chapter. We'll read the verses so we can see exactly what took place. Luke the fifth chapter. And we'll read verses 1 through 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 Gennessaret.
That is another name. for the Sea of Galilee, and I'll talk about that in a minute. And he saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were going out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, And he prayed him, and the word pray there doesn't mean this kind of prayer, it means he was asking him or sort of questioning him or petitioning him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and And he taught the people out of the boat.
Now when he had left speaking he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep. And let down your nets for a draught. Or for a haul of fish. And Simon answering said unto him, Master We have toiled all the night and have taken Nothing.
Somebody say nothing. Nothing means zero. We have taken nothing. Nevertheless, At thy word. I will let down the net.
And when he had done this, they enclosed 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 they filled both the ships.
So that they began to sink.
Now when Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. for he was astonished and all that were with him. We're astonished. 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, said From henceforth thou shalt catch men.
and when they had brought their ships to land, I want you to see the immediacy of this. And when they had brought their ships to land, They forsook all. and followed him.
So Jesus now is preaching And he needs to have a better pulpit than he had. He's there on the Sea of Galilee.
Now, as I said, it's got the Lake Genesaret here, but we know it as the Sea of Galilee.
Now, technically, it's not a sea. It is a lake. It's a freshwater lake. And it's 13 miles long. At its widest point, it is It's seven and a half miles wide, at its deepest point, 150 feet deep.
Fishing was a big business. A very big business because for one reason fish was their main protein. for their daily diet. There were about 22 varieties of fish. In the Sea of Galilee.
And one of them is tilapia. And today they call it, if you go there on a Holy Land tour, And you will go there. This is one of the stops you go to, it's a restaurant on the Sea of Galilee, and you eat what they call St. Peter's fish. It's tilapia.
And believe you me, it is delicious. freshly caught. And the way they fix it, it's just delicious. Even if you're not a fish person, you will like this fish. St.
Peter's fish. They also had sardines. They were very popular. And that is more than likely. What was in the lunch of the little boy that Jesus multiplied the two fish?
Because you think in your head, I'm thinking, fish, who's gonna take two fish? I'm thinking, you know, rather. Bigger size fish, but it was sardines were very popular, and that's what Jesus would have multiplied when he fed the 5,000.
So here Jesus is, and he's surrounded. Also, they had, from what I understand, history says that at that time, there was probably about 230. Fishing boats. That were active in the fishing business on the Sea of Galilee at that time.
So Simon, Peter, and James, and John were just two out of several hundred.
So Jesus happens to see two that are empty, and one happens to be Simon's, and he gets in the boat and he calls to Simon. He says, Come and push the ship out a little way. And there Jesus had A pulpit to preach so that everyone could see him. And apparently, it must have created a natural PA system. that somehow it allowed his voice to echo.
and to go out and so that those people could hear him. Think about it. He's out on a boat in the water, and they're along the seashore, and all, and yet they could hear him clearly because somehow it was like a PA system.
So He preaches to the people. We're not given the sermon here. More than likely, it's probably one of the other sermons in the Gospels. And when he's finished and the crowd is dispersing, he says to Simon. He says, Simon, I want you to launch out into deeper waters.
so that we can take a draw to fish.
Now You know, Simon was wanting to be very, very polite. Because remember, at this point, he's not. Jesus disciple yet. And so he says in a polite way, Master, We have toiled all night. And we did not catch a thing.
Nothing.
Now I want you to understand that they would have used what is called a trammel net. And they would have put the nets out. And they used the nets because there was a special kind of net, because the bottom of the sea in that area was very rocky. And they would have fished at night. Notice he said, We have toiled all night.
And they fished at night because they were using these nets and they didn't want the fish to see the nets. And that's why they fished at night.
So they had fished all night. And the word here toiled, I want you to know that word toiled is very intense in the Greek. It means extreme exhaustion. It means you have labored until you are absolutely without strength. I want to read to you what the Amplified Bible says.
We have toiled to exhaustion and caught nothing in our nets. Here's what I want you to pay attention to. But on the ground of your word. I like it a little better than the King James. It says, nevertheless, that thy word.
It says, no, on the ground. of your word, we will let them down again. You see, even at this point, Peter was beginning to recognize the authority in Jesus' word. All he had seen and heard The miracles that Jesus had performed. He saw that when Jesus marched in his house that first day and his mother-in-law was languishing on a bed of sickness, Jesus didn't mess around.
He walked over there and rebuked the fever and said, I command you to go. She rose up. as if she had never been sick. and went to cooking in the kitchen. And Peter recognized that there was something astonishing.
Amazing. Authoritative about the word of this new rabbi. This Jesus. And so, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he was thinking, I am so tired I can hardly hold my head up. And I do not feel like lugging these heavy nets and throwing them out there again.
And we've done fished all night when the fish can't see the nets. And doesn't he get it? Maybe he doesn't know about he's a carpenter. What does he know about fishing? You can't fish with nets in the daylight.
And all of these ifs and buts. were in the back of Peter's mind. But he said on the ground of your word. Because when you speak, Something supernatural happens.
So on the ground of your word, I'm I'm gonna let the net down again. Amen. And when they had done this. He got so many fish in the net that the net Broke. And he had to summon, he had to call out, hey John, hey James, hurry, hurry, hurry.
And they got their boat over there. And they began to take some of the fish out of the net and put it in their boat. and both of their boats were so filled that they began to sink. Can you imagine this?
Now I read according to the information that I have. that that would have been about three quarters of a ton. A fish. Do you know how much that is? You know a ton is 2,000 pounds.
So this was three quarters of a ton. That's how, and do you normally it would have taken them going out every night and having a good night every night? It would have taken them at least two weeks. to bring that much fish in. And they had so many fish that the net was beginning to break.
Now Peter says does something very Unusual. He falls down at Jesus. Jess's knees.
So I don't know if he's grabbing hold of his knees or what he's doing, but he said, depart from me. Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man, Lord.
Now, Jesus has been to his house. I don't know how many times he sat there and had dinner with him so many times. I mean, Jesus was just beginning to be like just part of the family. And all of a sudden, he's saying, get away from me, Lord, get away from me. I'm a sinful man.
What was going on here? Because when Peter became aware and witnessed the extraordinary, miraculous, creative demonstration that Jesus just said, just let down your net, and they took in that kind of fish, he realized that this was something that was so supernatural, so spectacular. He was thinking, what kind of man is this? And let me tell you something. When he said Lord, he wasn't using it in the polite sense.
Because I've told you before that there is a sometimes in the scripture the word Lord is equivalent to sir. It's like Lord and Lady. It's a polite title. He wasn't using it in that way. He was saying Lord, like in capital L-O-R-D.
He was saying, oh, this is the awesome God. This is the Jehovah God. This is the Creator God. This is the Supreme Lord. And you see, the closer that you get to God's holiness.
The closer that you get to the divine power of God. The more Umble. You become. And the more you look at yourself, You know, you can think, well, I've been saved so long, and I've got this ministry, and I do this, and that, and the other. But let me tell you something: when you have those seasons that you press into God and you get close to the Lord, all of a sudden you'll begin to feel there's filth and uncleanness in you.
You'll begin to cry out, search me, O Lord, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, and see if there's any wicked way in me. And that's what Peter was experiencing. because he realized that he was in the presence of divinity. He was in the presence of God and he was astonished.
Amen. Amen. What an exciting message bringing in the big fish. Jesus began his ministry on the shores of Galilee, a large freshwater lake, where fishing was big business because fish was the people's main source of protein. He actually preached a sermon from a boat as the multitudes were gathered along the shore on Galilee.
Afterward, he told Simon Peter to launch out into deeper waters and let down his nets for a haul of fish, at which Peter protested and informed him, We fished all night and did not catch a thing. but on the ground of your word we will let them down again. And when they did, to their surprise, they caught so many fish he had to call for back up of his partners James and John to bring them in. Jesus said, From now on you will catch men. and when they came to land they forsook all and followed him.
Now they fished with nets, and this meant they caught all kinds of fish, and some had to be thrown back. To me this is analogous to the great tent and auditorium and T V crusades to day, when thousands answer an altar call to be saved, and sadly some will go back. But what about those one on one hard cases of trying to win someone to Christ? For these you need a rod, a hook, and bait.
Sort of like tuna fishing. These fish are huge, heavy, and they fight hard. Getting them on the hook is easy. Reeling them in is the hard part. You have to be belted into a fighting chair, and it can take a long time until the fish exhausts itself.
And that's how it is when the Holy Ghost has someone on the hook of conviction. That's when you have to hold on to the rod. Don't let go. Stay in the prayer chair and keep cranking it until that person is tired of running from God. Bringing in the big fish can be ordered on CD for a love gift to the Radio Ministry of $10 or more.
Request SK154. That's SK154. Mail to PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. or order online at archiehardy.org where you can also get it on mp3 where you can also browse our other resources and email us but to order by mail send a minimum love gift of ten dollars to po box1744 Baltimore, Maryland. 21203 request SK154.
Until next time, this is Sharon Not saying. Maranatha.
