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S1-E112 | Everyday Eurasia | Jeremy Height | Easter to Pentecost · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  This week we have a special edition of the Everyday Eurasia
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  podcast. Voices from across the region
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  take us on our journey from Easter to Pentecost.
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  Today we join Jeremy Heights, faculty member of EU and C and
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  pastor of Grace Point International in Sacre, Croatia.
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  I am not good at fishing. In fact, I could count probably
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  on just one hand at the number of times that I've gone fishing
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  in my life. But I remember one of the first
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  times that I did as a kid. We were going for fun with some
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  adults from our church. And what I figured out early on
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  was that if I sat next to the person who was really good at
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  fishing, since he was just throwing them back into the
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  pond, if I sat next to him and put my line into the water as he
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  threw the fish in, I could catch fish.
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  I caught a ton of fish that day. All of them had just been on my
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  friend's hook. Maybe you could consider that
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  cheating. But I was able to take some
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  photos holding a fish on my fishing line.
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  Now, while I'm not good at fishing, the followers of Jesus,
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  the ones who were fishermen, were good at fishing.
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  They had made a career of it. And that's why we find it so
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  surprising that in John 21, after Jesus has been crucified,
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  after the resurrection, and the disciples are still not sure
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  what's going on, we find several of them out fishing, doing what
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  they do best, and yet they don't catch anything.
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  We're told that they stayed up all night and we're not able to
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  catch any fish until, as dawn broke and the sun broke over the
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  skyline and the light of day entered on to the lake, that
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  from the beach someone tells them to throw their Nets to the
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  other side, which doesn't make sense.
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  It's not that far away. If there was fish on that side
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  of the boat, some of them would have ended up on this side.
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  It's like me with my friend all those years ago.
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  If you're fishing right next to where there's fish, you're going
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  to catch fish. And yet somehow fish arrive.
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  They almost break the Nets. And when that happens, the
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  disciples realized, oh, that's Jesus.
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  They've seen miracles like this before.
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  They've seen Jesus take just a few fish and a few loaves and
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  feed thousands of people. They they rush to the shore.
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  And then Jesus does one of the most Jesus E things that I think
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  he does. He says, come, let's have
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  breakfast. Because time and time again
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  throughout the Gospels, we find Jesus eating with friends, with
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  people who aren't supposed to be his friends with those who are
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  the the outcasts, the margins of those far from the centers of
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  society, those who you might call the Nazarenes.
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  And then Jesus has this wonderful meal on the beach with
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  his disciples. What I want to encourage you
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  with today is these two things, wherever you find yourself in
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  the world, very likely God has called you to be a part of being
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  what the Gospels call fishers of men and women to take the good
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  news of Jesus Christ where it is not yet.
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  But when we go to those places, when we engage in evangelism and
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  church planting and discipleship and compassionate ministries and
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  and children and youth ministry, it can feel like we're fishing
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  all night and nothing is happening.
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  Keep putting in the work, friends, because we are just in
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  charge of being faithful to what God has called us to.
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  And like those disciples in John 21, when Jesus moves and Jesus
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  will move, the harvest, the the fish that will be caught will be
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  like nothing that we could expect.
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  So even if you feel like you're fishing in a lake, empty a fish.
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  Keep fishing, friends. And my second encouragement for
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  you is this. One of the most Christ like
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  things that you can do this week is to gather around a table, a
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  coffee table at a local coffee shop, around the dinner table in
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  your home, around a kids table in your church building and to
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  share a snack, share a coffee, share a meal with someone.
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  What better way to share the good news, the resurrection,
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  good news of our Lord Jesus Christ?
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  Blessings my friends. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia Podcast. To find more of our Easter to
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  Pentecost resources for individuals and small groups,
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  please visit our website eurasiaregion.org.