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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Coming to Terms with You... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: My longtime friend and ministry mentor, the late Howard Hendricks,
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  Speaker 1: summed up the story in this passage. We will consider
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  Speaker 1: today with these searching words, when we minister to others,
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  Speaker 1: we must do so out of the overflow of our
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  Speaker 1: devotion to Christ. Doctor Hendrix's point was plain and clear.
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  Speaker 1: We cannot pour grace and truth into the lives of
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  Speaker 1: God's people if our own spiritual reserves have run dry.
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  Speaker 1: Our priority must be to nurture a deep and abiding
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  Speaker 1: relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. John, the writer of
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  Speaker 1: this great Gospel, takes us into one of the most
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  Speaker 1: tender moving scenes in all the New Testament, as Jesus
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  Speaker 1: himself proposes this very notion to asking him do you
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  Speaker 1: love me? In our time together today, we will discover
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  Speaker 1: just how significant Peter's encounter with Jesus would become. Turn
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  Speaker 1: with me in your Bibles as I read from the
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  Speaker 1: New Living Translation John twenty one, Beginning at verse one,
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  Speaker 1: I'll read the first seventeen verses of this twenty first chapter.
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  Speaker 1: Please follow along with me and listen prayerfully and carefully
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  Speaker 1: as I read these important words. Now John twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: verse one to verse seventeen. Later, Jesus appeared again to
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  Speaker 1: the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how
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  Speaker 1: it happened. Several of the disciples were there, Simon Peter
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  Speaker 1: Thomas nicknamed the twin from Cana in Galilee, the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going fishing, will come too, They all said. So they
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  Speaker 1: went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.
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  Speaker 1: At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the
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  Speaker 1: disciples couldn't see who he was. He called out, fellows,
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  Speaker 1: have you caught any fish?
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  Speaker 2: No?
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  Speaker 1: They replied that. He said, throw out your net on
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  Speaker 1: the right hand side of the boat and you'll get some.
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  Speaker 1: So they did, and they couldn't haul in the net
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  Speaker 1: because there were so many fish in it. Then the
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  Speaker 1: disciple Jesus Loved said to Peter, it's the Lord. When
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  Speaker 1: Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put
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  Speaker 1: on his tunic, for he had stripped for work, jumped
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  Speaker 1: into the water and headed to shore. The others stayed
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  Speaker 1: with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore,
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  Speaker 1: for there were only about one hundred yards from shore.
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  Speaker 1: When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them,
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  Speaker 1: fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. Bring
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  Speaker 1: some of the fish you've just caught, Jesus said, So
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  Speaker 1: Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore.
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  Speaker 1: There were one hundred and fifty three large fish, and
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  Speaker 1: yet the net hadn't torn. Now, come and have some breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him,
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  Speaker 1: who are you for they knew it was the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This
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  Speaker 1: was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples
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  Speaker 1: since he had been raised from the dead. After breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you
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  Speaker 1: love me more than these?
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  Speaker 2: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Lord Peter replied, you know I love you. Then feed
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  Speaker 1: my lambs, Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question, Simon,
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  Speaker 1: son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord Peter said,
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  Speaker 1: you know I love you. Then take care of my sheep,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said. A third time, he asked him, Simon, son
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  Speaker 1: of John.
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  Speaker 2: Do you love me? Peter was hurt that you.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: you know everything You know that I love you, Jesus said,
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  Speaker 1: then feed my sheep.
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  Speaker 2: Often when an author will write a book, he will
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  Speaker 2: begin the book by dedicating it to a particular individual
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  Speaker 2: or to a certain kind of reader. I'm engaged in
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  Speaker 2: writing a booklet at this present time entitled why do
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  Speaker 2: We Suffer? Hopefully it can be used in hospitals and
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  Speaker 2: in lives around the world days to come. I'm dedicating
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  Speaker 2: the booklet to those in pain this morning. I have
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  Speaker 2: a message that I would like to dedicate to a
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  Speaker 2: particular group represented in this congregation today, those who may
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  Speaker 2: hear this message in the months ahead. It is especially
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  Speaker 2: dedicated to you who work for a living. And I
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  Speaker 2: do not have preachers in mind when I say that,
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  Speaker 2: and I do not mean that to sound humorous. I
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  Speaker 2: have a reason for dedicating it to people who are
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  Speaker 2: not quote officially in the ministry unquote. You see, I
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  Speaker 2: believe that those who work for a living wrestle with
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  Speaker 2: a dilemma, and it is not easily solved. The dilemma
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  Speaker 2: has to do with a wedding of your work, which
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  Speaker 2: we will call your vocation and your calling, which we
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  Speaker 2: will call your ministry. You see, my work and my
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  Speaker 2: calling are always wedded. When I am doing my job,
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  Speaker 2: I am engaged in ministry. That's true for all in
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  Speaker 2: vocational Christian service, but that's not necessarily true of all
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  Speaker 2: who work for a living. John Mitchell, in his fine
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  Speaker 2: book The Christian in Business asks the question that needs
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  Speaker 2: to be answered, will Christianity and business mix? Is God
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  Speaker 2: interested in the way we do our work? Is He
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  Speaker 2: interested in a lathe operator and in the quantity and
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  Speaker 2: quality of his output? Is He interested in a watchman
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  Speaker 2: as he makes his rounds through the warehouse in the
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  Speaker 2: darkness and silence of the night. Is He interested in
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  Speaker 2: a stenographer in the way she types her letters? Is
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  Speaker 2: He interested in a salesman and what he says to
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  Speaker 2: a prospect? Is God concerned about a businessman's business? Is
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  Speaker 2: God there when he makes out his income tax return
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  Speaker 2: or his expense account? Does he take an interest in
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  Speaker 2: the company's advertising campaign and the claims made for the
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  Speaker 2: company's products? Is He present at personal interviews, at conferences,
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  Speaker 2: directors meetings, labor union negotiations, trade conventions, business luncheons, and
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  Speaker 2: black tie banquets. When a businessman succeeds or fails, is
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  Speaker 2: God interested to say no to these questions is to
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  Speaker 2: relegate God to a place of no importance in the
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  Speaker 2: very area of a person's life where he spends most
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  Speaker 2: of his waking hours. On the other hand, he who
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  Speaker 2: answers yes to these questions, whether he be a Supreme
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  Speaker 2: Court justice or a garbage collector, transforms his career into
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  Speaker 2: a thing of dignity, high purpose, satisfaction, and excitement. Businessmen
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  Speaker 2: and business women, career men and women, this morning, I
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  Speaker 2: address you with this message in a very special way,
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  Speaker 2: because the thrust of the message is to ask you
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  Speaker 2: to come to terms with your calling. I am of
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  Speaker 2: the absolute conviction that when Jesus Christ is in proper
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  Speaker 2: place and priority, you will be an outstanding business person
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  Speaker 2: or professional, or whatever would be your calling. Let's begin
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  Speaker 2: by looking at Mark chapter one, and then turning to
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  Speaker 2: John chapter twenty one from the Gospel of Mark, which
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  Speaker 2: is the second book of the New Testament. Turn to
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  Speaker 2: chapter one. Put your finger on verse sixteen. The verse
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  Speaker 2: talks about Jesus after he had been baptized, and in
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  Speaker 2: the wilderness, he began his ministry, and he's getting together
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  Speaker 2: his band of disciples. As he was going along by
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  Speaker 2: the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew brother,
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  Speaker 2: the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea.
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  Speaker 2: Now mark this, for they were fishermen. That was their vocation.
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  Speaker 2: What sales is to you, salesman, What a product is
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  Speaker 2: to you factory worker. What a series of letters is
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  Speaker 2: to you secretary? Fish happened to be to Simon and
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  Speaker 2: his brother Andrew. They were in the fishing business, apparently
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  Speaker 2: self employed. They made their living by the sea. In
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  Speaker 2: the Product of Fish verse seventeen, Jesus introduces their calling.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make
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  Speaker 2: you become fishers of men. It's a new dimension. That's
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  Speaker 2: their calling. The fishing for fish was the way they
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  Speaker 2: made a living. The fishing for men was their treasures
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  Speaker 2: stored up in heaven. It was the eternal dimension of
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  Speaker 2: life in which they needed training. Some believe they were
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  Speaker 2: saved here. Some believe their salvation didn't occur until later.
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  Speaker 2: We do not know exactly when each disciple was born again,
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  Speaker 2: but we know this that when Jesus talked about their
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  Speaker 2: fishing for men, he had in mind giving part of
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  Speaker 2: their time to their ministry. Now they did not go
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  Speaker 2: to seminary, but verse twenty, verse nineteen eighteen tells us
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  Speaker 2: they left their nets and followed him. So for a
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  Speaker 2: three year period they were under intense training, being discipled
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  Speaker 2: at the feet of the Savior, learning how to fish
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  Speaker 2: for men. Now, wait, he wasn't attacking the fishing trade.
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  Speaker 2: He was helping them know how to make the fishing
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  Speaker 2: trade have an eternal dimension. Whether or not they returned
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  Speaker 2: to fishing seemed to be of little importance to Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: What was important was that they learned how to fish
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  Speaker 2: for men. Now, let's look at another example verse nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son
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  Speaker 2: of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in
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  Speaker 2: the boat mending the nets. Now here's another company. Zebedee
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  Speaker 2: and sons. They're in the fishing business. They're not self employed.
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  Speaker 2: They worked with for their father, and they are in
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  Speaker 2: some corporate firm with hired servants who work as employees
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  Speaker 2: in this company verse twenty. Immediately he called them. Now,
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  Speaker 2: notice that they had their vocation, which was the way
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  Speaker 2: they made money to live, and he introduced a calling
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  Speaker 2: a ministry. And it says they left their father in
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  Speaker 2: the boat with the hired servants and went away to
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  Speaker 2: follow him. In Luke's Gospel, he tells us that Jesus
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  Speaker 2: visited the office of the tax gatherer owned and operated
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  Speaker 2: by Levi, which is another name for Matthew, and he
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  Speaker 2: told Matthew, follow me, teach you how to catch men.
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  Speaker 2: And it says he left his office and he followed Jesus. Now,
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  Speaker 2: some people believe that that's God's will for their lives,
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  Speaker 2: and it is. It happened in my life. I was
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  Speaker 2: moving in direction of a particular vocation, and God stopped me,
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  Speaker 2: sent me back to school in another direction, and sent
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  Speaker 2: me into the ministry. It happens to Jerry lucas professional
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  Speaker 2: basket player who has now a ministry in helping people
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  Speaker 2: learn how to memorize God's word. Happened to Howard but
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  Speaker 2: a professional grocer who has pretty well left the business
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  Speaker 2: as it were, and engaged himself as a lay preacher
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  Speaker 2: in Central Texas, in fact, around the world. But it's
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  Speaker 2: not that way with everybody. God is not calling every
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  Speaker 2: man and every woman in this place officially into the ministry.
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  Speaker 2: And unfortunately, some people think that is the only place
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  Speaker 2: they can really serve Christ. That's not true. Now these
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  Speaker 2: men serve Jesus Christ and learn how to fish for individuals.
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  Speaker 2: Now listen carefully. They did that for three years. Then suddenly,
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  Speaker 2: in a matter of a brief period of hours, Jesus
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  Speaker 2: was arrested, put on trial, rushed to judgment, put on
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  Speaker 2: a cross, died, was put in a barrowed grave through
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  Speaker 2: the pity of a friend, a stone was rolled in
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  Speaker 2: front of it, and all their hopes were gone, almost
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  Speaker 2: like that, and back to back bang bang bang fashion,
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  Speaker 2: all hope left them. In fact, I am convinced they
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  Speaker 2: were more disillusioned than we've ever thought them to be.
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  Speaker 2: I think some of them must have thought, we have
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  Speaker 2: believed in a phantom. It's gone. And in the backwash,
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  Speaker 2: in the wake of that kind of letdown, they went
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  Speaker 2: back to fishing. Makes sense, doesn't it. They went back
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  Speaker 2: to what was familiar. That's why John twenty one begins
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  Speaker 2: like it does. He went right back to the thing
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  Speaker 2: that was most familiar. Nothing wrong with it, necessarily, But
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  Speaker 2: it was dangerous because they went back to this vocation,
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  Speaker 2: not having Christ supremely fixed in their minds. Little historical
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  Speaker 2: reflection in the first verse. After these things, what things,
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  Speaker 2: all the things I have mentioned, after they're being called,
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  Speaker 2: after their training, after the arrest, trial, burial, resurrection of Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: even after he had given them the Holy Spirit, according
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  Speaker 2: to chapter twenty after he had appeared to them twice.
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  Speaker 2: I get the feeling as I read over this and
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  Speaker 2: enter into the experience of chapter twenty one, that there
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  Speaker 2: is a there is a great let down, an anti
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  Speaker 2: climax after the whole scene. That's why we read in
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  Speaker 2: verse two of their personal decision. They were together Simon
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  Speaker 2: and Thomas and Nathaniel and the sons of Zebedee, one
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  Speaker 2: of whom was the writer John himself. There are fishermen, friends,
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  Speaker 2: and two other disciples. Simon said to them, I'm going fishing.
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  Speaker 2: You ever felt like that, Well, sure you had, so
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  Speaker 2: have I. I hope that doesn't shock anybody. There are
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  Speaker 2: some sundays that I just would rather be fishing. Sorry
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  Speaker 2: about that, but that's the truth. There are some sundays
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  Speaker 2: you'd rather be fishing. There are some sundays you are fishing,
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  Speaker 2: no matter. That's a difference in you and me can
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  Speaker 2: do it and I can't. Sometimes you'd like to hang
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  Speaker 2: a sign on the door that says gone fishing. Part
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  Speaker 2: of the reason is you sort of let down, and
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  Speaker 2: there's kind of a therapy in it. Maybe you've been burned,
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  Speaker 2: ever been burned as a Christian? Ever have a friend
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  Speaker 2: let you down? Well, sure you have. You want to
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  Speaker 2: get away. You don't have it in focus, and so
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  Speaker 2: you say, I want to get my head together. That's
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  Speaker 2: the thing these days, everything's getting your head together. So
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  Speaker 2: you want to get your head together, you want to
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  Speaker 2: go off somewhere. And the Lord really isn't supreme necessarily,
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  Speaker 2: you're just kind of in a period of limbo, and
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  Speaker 2: you're just in a fish. That's the way some of
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  Speaker 2: your jobs are. You just gone fishing. That's a whole
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  Speaker 2: thrust of this passage. In fact, Peter had a group
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  Speaker 2: of guys that said, that's a good idea, because it
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  Speaker 2: says in the next verse, it says in verse three,
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  Speaker 2: we will also come with you. So what do they do. Well,
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  Speaker 2: they swept off the dust off the old boat, and
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  Speaker 2: they shook out the sails, and they got the nets
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  Speaker 2: together and mended them a little, and they put out
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  Speaker 2: the sea. Back in those days when they used to
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  Speaker 2: face you know, they used gave themselves to this this
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  Speaker 2: old trade. Once again, you can just see them as
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  Speaker 2: they the wind catches the sail and they're off on
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  Speaker 2: their way. Nightfalls says in verse three, went out, got
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  Speaker 2: in the boat, and that night they caught nothing. I
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  Speaker 2: also identify with that. That's the kind of fishing I do,
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  Speaker 2: not the kind of like to do. But that's what
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  Speaker 2: usually happens. They didn't catch a thing. Now, when day
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  Speaker 2: was now breaking, notice Jesus with his disciples. Now they
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  Speaker 2: caught nothing. There's been futility, there's been frustration. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: that's all always true when you're just fishing and you
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  Speaker 2: don't have men on your heart and women on your heart, gals,
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  Speaker 2: it's always true. When you're just making a living, it's crummy,
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  Speaker 2: it's futile, it's frustrating. There's no dimension. It's just watching
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  Speaker 2: the wind catch the sails to go nowhere. You can't
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  Speaker 2: even catch a fish. You can't even find satisfaction in
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  Speaker 2: the mountains or by the sea. There's a futility in it.
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  Speaker 2: And so verse four comes, when the day was breaking,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus stood on the beach. The disciples did not know
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  Speaker 2: that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to them, by
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  Speaker 2: the way, they're about one hundred yards away from him.
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  Speaker 2: Verse eight tells us, and so think of the length
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  Speaker 2: of a football field between the shore and the little boat.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus said to them, you don't have any fish,
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  Speaker 2: do you now? When you have fished all night long
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  Speaker 2: and you haven't caught any fish, And somebody asked you that,
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  Speaker 2: your answer is no, And that's exactly what they said.
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  Speaker 2: In verse five they answered him no. What's more, he
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  Speaker 2: called them children. The Greek word is pideon. We get
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  Speaker 2: the word pediatrics from this particular word, and it's the
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  Speaker 2: word for a little boys. Right, that's exactly the way
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  Speaker 2: they thought. No. One of they said no, who's this
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  Speaker 2: cover here saying? You didn't catch any fish? Did you? Boys?
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  Speaker 2: They said no? And then verse six tells us he
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  Speaker 2: told him what to do. This is just beautiful. Cast
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  Speaker 2: the net on the right side of the boat and
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  Speaker 2: you will find a catch. By the way, When you're
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  Speaker 2: a teacher and you're not walking with Christ, teaching is
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  Speaker 2: a dry When you're a secretary and you're not walking
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  Speaker 2: with Jesus Christ, your work is an irksome burden. You
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  Speaker 2: hate to get up, you hate to go, you hate
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  Speaker 2: to face a boss. When Christ isn't in the center
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  Speaker 2: of your life, you can be a counselor, and the
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  Speaker 2: heavens are brass, and you have no insight. You're just
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  Speaker 2: meeting with patience. You can't even practice medicine with delight,
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  Speaker 2: though you are a servant of the public, because Christ
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  Speaker 2: isn't down there drilling and riveting those dimensions in your life.
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  Speaker 2: It's empty. You can't catch a thing. Then he comes
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  Speaker 2: along in a beautiful fashion, and he says, men or boys,
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  Speaker 2: put your net on the other side of the boat.
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  Speaker 2: You'll catch something. They were so desperate verse six. This
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  Speaker 2: stranger on the shore told them what to do. They
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  Speaker 2: just drag in the net and they put it on
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  Speaker 2: the other side, And it says in that verse they
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  Speaker 2: were not able to haul it in because of the
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  Speaker 2: great number of fish. Wow, that must have been great.
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  Speaker 2: If you were a fished and caught a great number
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  Speaker 2: of fish. Oh, you haven't lived if you haven't done that.
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  Speaker 2: I remember, as a little fella, we went out in
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  Speaker 2: a boat early one morning, right after the break of dawn,
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  Speaker 2: just bright enough to see the water, with my granddad
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  Speaker 2: and my mom and dad. I was along and I
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  Speaker 2: had a little cane pole, and we got to an
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  Speaker 2: area where we began to fish, and we caught sixty
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  Speaker 2: seven golf trout. Now that's the truth. Well, really, there
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  Speaker 2: were sixty seven of those things, and we caught so
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  Speaker 2: many of them in about eleven to fifteen minute period.
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  Speaker 2: We just dumped them in the bottom of the boat.
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  Speaker 2: Waiting around in those fish in the bottom of the boat. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I thought the rapture had come. It was fantastic, not
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  Speaker 2: really that I didn't know about the rapture. I thought
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  Speaker 2: heaven had come. So boy was great. And I can't
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  Speaker 2: imagine catching one hundred and fifty three fish verse eleven,
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  Speaker 2: and all of them large. That's probably a thousand pounds
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  Speaker 2: of fish in that net. Just in a moment of time.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus' presence and his words added a dimension that was
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  Speaker 2: just almost more than they could handle. They couldn't even
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  Speaker 2: get the net on the boat. And so John said
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: to Peter verse seven, heiny, Peter, that's the lord over
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: there on the shore. Can't you see that? That's not
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: normal individual that can do that. Now you read some
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: commentators and they've got all the big answers. Jesus saw
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: a school of fish and had, I wonder, how can
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: you one hundred yards away? You know, really know, there's
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: a and furthermore, who told him? Who told the commentator
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: that Jesus saw at school of fish? It doesn't say
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: that he saw a school of fish. It says that
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: he said, cast the net over there. Some guys would
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: do anything to take the joy out of the scriptures, wouldn't.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: They got it all rationalized out. Jesus made the fish.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: So he told them to put their net over there
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: where he would put the fish. And they got them.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: They got so many they couldn't get it on the boat.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: And so when John said to Peter, it's the Lord.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Look at Peter verse seven. You get a kick out
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: of this. When Peter heard that it was the Lord,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: he put his outer garment on, for he was stripped
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: for work. That means he had on a T shirt
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: and something underneath, probably something like Bermuda's or whatever. And
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: he put on this outer garment. And it says he
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: threw himself into the sea. That's just like Peter. He
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: just went on in the sea. Man. Now Peter didn't
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: go the other way, swimming away, was swimming toward the Lord.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: And you've got to appreciate that Jesus created an incredible
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: atmosphere of acceptance. Who had just denied the Lord a
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: few days earlier. Peter, that's the man who said I
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: don't know him. Oh, yes, you're one. I don't know him.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Oh you were one of them. You speak like a galliant.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: And he swore I don't know him. That's the guy.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: And when Jesus comes to the shore a few days later,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Peter swimming toward him. Boy, Christ really had loyalty built
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: into those men, didn't he. They were his men, and
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: wherever he came, they wanted to be. Peter started swim
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: towards the shore. They brought that boat up to the shore,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: and Jesus had a beautiful arrangement all set up. Look
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: at it verse nine. When they got out upon the land,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: on it. It doesn't say that Jesus had been fishing.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: It says that he had a fire made and he
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: had fish already set up on this fire. How did
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: they get the fish on the fire, I don't know.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Somehow he got those fish out of the sea and
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: on that fire. It's a neat trick, but it's no trick.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: If you're God, you just call a few by name
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: and get on that fire there they are all righty
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: on the fire, all clean right there. Well, what that
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: would have been like to have been by that fire,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: by that sea that day. There's something extremely exciting about
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: little pot and luck breakfast down on the shore. Didn't here,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: when's the last time you did that? Well, that's been
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: too long. We need to get away, just get a
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: little time by the sea. The sea has a language
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: all its own, doesn't it. It's almost as though the
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: fingers of God are rolling in those great great waves
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: and some mysterious tide between the moon and the tide,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: and in the swamping awesomeness of that walk on the beach. You, uh,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: somehow you come back together with God. Somehow there's a
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: place where the child of God's heart is just washed,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: made fresh. We spend too long in the sidewalk jungles
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: of our habitat. Thank God He's preserved some places for
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: us to be by him. And so it was there
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: that Jesus had a breakfast all set up, and he
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: invited him in verse twelve, come and have breakfast. So
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: they did. Now none of them ask who are you?
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Knowing that it was the Lord? Obviously they were sitting
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: with the Risen Christ, and I just pictured them smoke
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: curling up the quiet morning, little late lapping up on
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: the shore, the smell of fish in the air, fresh
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: bread from the Savior's hand. Boy, That's that's neat, isn't it.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Can't you just feel it? I wonder what they talked
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: about that morning. There are some places where I would
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: just love to have the text open up, but it doesn't.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: So your imagination is just as good as mine. That's
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: those times that God provides for you, such as a
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Sunday morning time like this, when you've been fishing and
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: you haven't caught a thing. Your work has become kind
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: of a drag. Your marriage is sort of lost a zip.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: You've had some problems or two or three with your kiddos,
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: or maybe you're single and you your romance has fallen.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: You cannot seem to put it together. And the Lord says, look,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: let's have breakfast. Let me show you a meal I've
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: got for you. So he lays it out and in
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: an dodible fashion, he just sort of penetrates where you are,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: and you just lean over on your elbow and think,
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: the Lord is here, I'm sitting at his feet. I
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: feel like that. I feel like the Lord is present
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: and he's saying, look, you need to come to terms
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: with your calling. So he does it in the person
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: of Peter Verses fifteen to seventy. I plead with you
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: now to put yourself in the garments of Peter for
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: a moment, because they fit. I come and you come
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: from a pilgrimage that has some scars you failed. I
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: have two, and we come broken and bruised, with a
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: bad track record. Frankly, we don't have a whole lot
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: that we can offer this group. But we're here. We've
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: come for breakfast, and the Lord is laying out before
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: us some insights from this meal. And then, for some
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: strange reason, he points that finger at your face and
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: at mine, and he calls us by our real name,
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: And he doesn't call us by the name we're going
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: to be. He calls us by a name that describes
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: our lives. Simon. Jesus could have called him Peter verse fifteen,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: but he called him Simon, son of John as though aimless, wandering, shifting, vacillating,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: doesn't call him Rock. He calls him Simon. You that's
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: been drifting, vacillating, shifting, that fits some of you here today.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: You come with that sense of guilt, not having put
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: it together, not having inculcated that vocation and that calling.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: You've just been cranking out a job. And he says
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: to you, hey, lazy, inconsistent, lustful, thief, whatever fits, whatever
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: has characterized your life at your office, in your practice, irritable, impatient, worrier.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: He calls you by name, and in Simon's skin, he says,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: do you love me more than these? Oh? We don't
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: know what the these refers to? Could refer to his peers.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: You love me more than these around you. It could
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: refer to the things with which he was familiar, fishing things.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: He loved me more than your job. People seem to
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: run into two extremes, those that worship their job and
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: those that hate their jobs. So he says to job worshippers,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: do you love me more than this? The word he
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: uses for love, as John records, it is the word agapa. Oh,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: we get the word agape from it. Obviously, it's the
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: word for highest love. They spoke Aramaic, but John conveyed
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: in the Greek text the inflection of Jesus' voice and
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: of Simon's answer in turn three times, the only time
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: in all the Bible that Jesus ever asked anyone the
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: same question three times, the only time, Remember he denied
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: him three times, sort of brought him back into into fellowship. Simon,
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: do you love me more than these? You have the
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: highest form of love. Let's talk about priorities, Simon. Where
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: do I fit in the top five priorities of your life?
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Where is the Lord? Look at Simon's answer, Lord, Yes,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: you know that I love you. Ah. Different word here,
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: This is philet oh. This is a word that means
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: to be fond of someone, they have a friendship. This
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: word is what you feel as a as a single
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: young man, when you're around an attractive and winsome gal
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: and you say, I'm fond of her, I'd I'd like
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: to know her better, I'm attracted to her. There's nothing
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: wrong with the word. It's a word, however, of human affection,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: which isn't the highest kind of love. It's a word
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: that requires something in return, or it dies not. I
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: got paoh, I got Pao doesn't need any kind of return.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: God so loved the world that he gave his only
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: begotten son. That's the word I got pa Oh, whether
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: or not you respond, he loved you. He loves you now.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: He loved Peter just as much when Peter denied him
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: as he loved Peter when he called him, There's no
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: fickleness in God's love. That's what he asked him. Do
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: you have that kind of love? And Simon said, yes, Lord,
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: h I'm fond of you. Maybe not with that flipping
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: an attitude, because I think he was searching his heart,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: but he had to admit. Honestly, see, Peter's the guy
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: that always overstepped himself. He's the guy who said a
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: few hours before, if everybody else denies you, I won't.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: Peter learned a lesson. I wasn't gonna do that anymore.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: So he said, Lord, in all honesty, I'm fond of you.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: So what does Jesus say, tend my lambs? That gracious?
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: If Jesus had been a mere man, he would have said, up,
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: just like I thought, you're out of the group. Take off, defector,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: you haven't shaped up, get out. But Jesus said, Simon,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: tend my lands. Wonder what Simon thought. What was he saying?
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: He was saying, Simon, you got a vocation, but don't
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: leave me out of your work. I've got some lambs
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: that need to be taken care of. Get at both
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: of them. I want to use you. Come to terms
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: with your calling, Simon. And so he said the second time, Simon,
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: son of John, do you love me? Now? What's left
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: out this time? Huh yeah, more than these that's not
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: in the second question. It's just let's take off the
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: peer pressure. Let me remove you from the thread of
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: what other people might think, and let me just ask you,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: do you have the highest form of love for me? Tonight?
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: I want to talk further about this problem of peer pressure.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: It is an assaulting problem. It is, in the words
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: of one writer tyrannical, how to operate in a world
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: of peer pressure, tested by the majority? How do you
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: stand alone? And so he took it off of Peter
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: here and he said, just let's say it's just you
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: and me, Simon. Do you love me? You have that
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: highest form of love for me? Now look at the answer. Yes, Lord,
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: it's a positive response. He said, you know that I
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: am fond of you, exactly the same answer on Peter's lips,
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: and Jesus repet was predictable. Shepherd, my sheep, I'll go
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: with that. If that's the depth I can still use you, Simon.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: And now the third time, now listen very carefully. I
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: don't want you to miss this seventeen He said to
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: him the third time, Simon, son of John, are you
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: just fond of me? He uses Peter's word, are you
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: fond of me? That's it, Simon said, Lord, you know
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: all things. That's the best I can say. I'm fond
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: of you before I go further. There's an actual case
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: that occurred some time ago in Colorado Springs in a
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: particular Bible class held on the Air Force Academy campus.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: They met regularly once a week. This group did. There
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: was a Bible teacher who was working with the navigators.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: But the turning point on the group was a cadet
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: who was the top man in the student body, sharp
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: as attack. He was sort of the catalyst. He was
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: the reason the group kept meeting. He provided the place
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: of meeting, He fixed the coffee, or saw that it
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: was fixed. He had it all going so that all
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: that the Bible teacher had to do would come on
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: to the campus and sit down, and they were all
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: together ready to go. One morning, one ominous day of
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: infamy for this cadet. The Bible teacher looked at this
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: young man and said to him, say, I think we'll
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: start a little differently. Tell us about your time with
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: the Lord. And the young man held his head down
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: and blinked, and his face flushed, and he said, Sir,
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: I don't have any time with the Lord. He said,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: I am a phony. I am a fake. It's been
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: a trip and I'm ashamed of it. And God did
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: real business in that young man's heart that day. But
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: as I heard that true story from the lips of
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: the one who taught that class, my stock went up
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: in my mind. On that fella. Wow, under the pressure,
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: under the gun of all of his peers, he said,
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I don't have any time with God. I am a fake.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: That Bible teacher put his arm around that guy and said, hey,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: let's go on, as if to say with Jesus tended
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: my sheep. You see. Simon said to him, and answer, Lord,
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: you know all things. That word no means to know intuitively,
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: to know your omniscient Lord, you know everything. And the
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: next time he says no know, you know that I
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: am fond of you. That's the word for it, to know.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: By experience you've experienced that time in recent days, when
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: I was just fond of you, you didn't have supreme
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: place in my life. And I think Simon because it
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: says in this verse seventeenth verse, he was grieved having
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: said it. The Greek word loupe means to be pained.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: It's the word that accompanies mourning at death. He mourned
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: within himself when he said, Ah, it's the truth. Though
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: I'm fond of you, it's all I can say. And
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: I am convinced in my heart that Simon expected Jesus
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: to say, there's the door. Jesus came back and he said,
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: tend my sheep. You see, one of the devil ace
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: trumps in winning the victory over our vocation and our calling,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: is to lead us to the assumption that we have
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: to be perfect to be used. Because some of you
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: have had a failure or two, and some of those
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: failures have been gross, maybe even scandalous. You're sitting there
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: this morning thinking, as a child of God, God can
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: never use me. If anybody ever found that out, was
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: it worse than what Peter did publicly denying Jesus Christ.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: What could be worse? And the Savior said to Peter,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: get at it man, Get with it boy. Talk about
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: motivation for those of us who believe in discipling, talk
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: about picking up those that are weakening and struggling. As
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: I wrap it all together in kind of a package
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: for application, I want to complete the sentence we've been
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: using all the way through coming to terms with your
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: calling three things. Number one is this starts with a
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: realistic admission regarding your work. Before you can come to
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: terms with your calling, inculcating the Lord Jesus in your work,
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: You've got to come to a realistic admission regarding your work.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: Admit the fact you're not catching any fish. Just like
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: verse five. You don't have any fish, do you? No,
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: I don't. There is strictly a human dimension. I was
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: having a supper in the Bay Area late last January
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: with a doctor and he was late getting there because
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: he'd gotten snagged in the traffic, and he said, on
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: the freeway he just turned on his radio and inadvertently
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: was at a station that had carried out an extensive
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: poll in the Bay Area for people regarding their work.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: They had asked, I don't know how many thousands of
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: people in that area Are you happy in your work?
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: That was the question, and he said, to his amazement,
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: over eighty one percent answered no. Some of them use
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: the word despise, some use the word hate. Now, if
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: that's true in the Bay Area, I have a feeling
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: that it's a conservative estimate to say fifty percent of
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: you are unhappy in your work. Take an honest, admitted
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: look at your work and face the fact you're not
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: catching any fish. I'm not talking about doing business. I'm
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: talking about being satisfied, being fulfilled. There's more to a
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: fisherman than just putting fish in a boat. There's a
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: thrill that accompanies it. You said, I've lost the thrill,
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: all right, Now we're doing business. Second, coming to terms
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: with your calling includes an honest evaluation of your priorities.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: You start the day off thinking what ah, another day?
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: Or does it start off by saying, Wow, Lord Jesus,
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: I'm yours today. This is your desk, this is your office,
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: These are your hands, this is your mouth, this is
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: your pulpit. Now help me be the very best kind
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: of workman I can possibly be. And in the process
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: of time, let's catch some fish. Let's catch some men
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: in your list of priorities and as an adult Christian,
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: where is Jesus Christ? Where is he? First third off
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: the page. He's vitally interested. That's what Mitchell's book is.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: It's all about. He's vitally interested in your business. Starts
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: with a realistic admission regarding your work. It includes an
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: honest evaluation of your priorities. Finally coming to terms with
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: your calling. Doesn't require absolute perfection in your life. I'll
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: tell you for sure, if God required perfection in any career,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: there'd be no candidates. Don't believe the lie that because
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: you're not perfect, you're therefore useless. It's my opinion that
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: the Evangelistic Center in the Greater Metropolitan Boston area is
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: not found in any church. It's an a filling station
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: on Arlington Avenue. It was owned and operated by a
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: man named Bob, who caught the vision early in his
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: life that his vocation and his calling were to be
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: wetted together. As time passed over a number of years
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: of faithful service, it became known publicly as the place
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: you would go if you needed tires, if you needed service,
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: if you really wanted your car taken care of, and
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: you wanted to see it done efficiently. That was the
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: place I have literally seen a half a dozen cars
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: lined up, bumper to bumper in front of two pumps,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: in front of that little station, just waiting to be
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: served by that man. He had no banners out, no
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: Jesus says flags, no signs, no exenthuses, nothing plastered all
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: over the car or the windows, nothing that's said to
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: bring your car to Bob and take your soul to Jesus.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: None of that stuff. He simply did his job. And
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: it was remarkable the eternal business that was carried on
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: between the driver's seat and that windshield as that guy
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: was doing business for Jesus Christ. I don't know how
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: many people were funneled into our church from that filling station,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: the evangelistic center of that Boston area. I got worried
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: from him sometime ago that he had retired. I thought, ah,
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: fat chance, he'd never retire. And he actually moved sold
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: his business and moved to Florida, paid cash for a home,
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: made a trip out here to see us a number
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: of people, and he swung back to Florida and hated it,
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: sold his house. Who right back up the Boston area,
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: And I got a letter from him there, Chuck, I
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: hated Florida more than that. I hated retirement, says my
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: ministry cannot retire, And so he told me about a
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: whole new business. He's in the tire selling business, and
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: he is making Christ know he'll do it till he dies. Now,
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: let me tell you something men, women, when Jesus Christ
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: really fits in the center of a life, Oh man,
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: your work suddenly becomes as exciting to you as this
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: pulpit is to me. The most exciting experience of my life.
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: You've witnessed and getting ready for it and all that
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: follows it is a thrill because I personally believe my
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: vocation in my ministry can help be separated. Now, you
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: may not be able to give the kind of time
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: to it you would like, or as much time to
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: it as I can give to mind, because our vocations differ.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: But when priorities are right, there's an honest admission regarding
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: your work, and you don't have to be perfect to
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: do it. About what Christ can do absolutely remarkable. That's
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: about this morning showing the only acceptable reason for you
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: not coming to terms with your calling is that you've
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: never had it. You've never met Jesus Christ as your savior.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: He's not in first place because he's not in your life.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: That makes sense, but it doesn't make for peace. You're
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: a homemaker and you're struggling with your role as a mother.
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: You're a student in school and you've lost the zest
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: for studies. Motivation is gone. Your sales have dropped. Man,
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: your business is falling off. There's a lack of complete
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: fulfillment it. Take a look at why. How's your time
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: with God? Christian? Is there an Air Force Cadet representative
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: here today who says in his heart, I'm a funny.
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: I can't remember the last time I had time with God.
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: It's not hard to understand why you're not happy any work.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: It's a direct link between my time with God and
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: the effectiveness in his book. The same applies to your work.
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: I have no corner of God. Now, let me say
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: to you. If you're a loss this morning and never
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: come to know Christ, I plead with you right now. Hey,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: don't put that off another day. They say, Lord, I'm miserable,
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: I'm empty, I'm lacking fulfillment. I've become greedy, selfish. The
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: ugly signs of my life are sticking out all over
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: and you're not a sinner. And I want to say
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: today I take you personal as we say thank you
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: for coming into my life. Just do that right now,
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: right there where you're sitting. And Christians now do some study,
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: some personal evaluation of ways in which your work and
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: your calling can be wedded together. Make this time a
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: time of a wedding ceremony, if you please, as you
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: and your calling, your vocation and your calling are made
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: one father, I thank you even before all decisions are
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: made at this