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Coming-to-Terms-with-Your-Calling · 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 this 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 believed 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. How mus 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 learned 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 atter of a brief period of hours, Jesus was arrested,
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  Speaker 2: put on trial, rushed to judgment, put on a cross, died,
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  Speaker 2: was put in a barreed grave. Through the pity of
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  Speaker 2: a friend, a stone was rolled in front of it,
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  Speaker 2: and all their hopes were gone, almost like that, and
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  Speaker 2: back to back bang bang bang fashion, all hope left them.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, I am convinced they were more disillusioned than
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  Speaker 2: we've ever thought them to be. I think some of
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  Speaker 2: them must have thought, we have believed in a phantom.
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  Speaker 2: It's gone. And in the backwash, in the wake of
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  Speaker 2: that kind of letdown, they went back to fishing. Makes sense,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't it. They went back to what was familiar. That's
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  Speaker 2: why John twenty one begins like it does. Went right
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  Speaker 2: back to the thing that was most familiar. Nothing wrong
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  Speaker 2: with it, necessarily, But it was dangerous because they went
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  Speaker 2: back to this vocation, not having Christ supremely fixed in
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  Speaker 2: their minds. Little historical reflection in the first verse. After
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  Speaker 2: these things, what things, all the things I have mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: after they're being called, after their training, after the arrest, trial, burial,
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  Speaker 2: resurrection of Jesus, even after he had given them the
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  Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, according to chapter twenty after he had appeared
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  Speaker 2: to them twice. I get the feeling as I read
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  Speaker 2: over this and enter into the experience of chapter twenty one,
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  Speaker 2: that there is a there is a great let down,
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  Speaker 2: an anti climax after the whole scene. That's why we
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  Speaker 2: read in verse two of their personal decision. They were
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  Speaker 2: together Simon and Thomas and Nathaniel and the sons of Zebedee,
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  Speaker 2: one of whom was the writer John himself. There are fishermen,
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  Speaker 2: friends and two other disciples. Simon said to them, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going fishing. You ever felt like that? Well, sure you had,
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  Speaker 2: so have I. I hope that doesn't shock anybody. There
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  Speaker 2: are some sundays that I just would rather be fishing.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry about that, but that's the truth. There are some
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  Speaker 2: sundays you'd rather be fishing. There are some studies you
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  Speaker 2: are fishing, no matter. That's a difference in you and
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  Speaker 2: me can do it and I can't. Sometimes you'd like
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  Speaker 2: to hang a sign on the door that says gone fishing.
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  Speaker 2: Part of the reason is you sort of let down,
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  Speaker 2: and there's kind of a therapy in it. Maybe you've
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  Speaker 2: been burned, ever been burned as a Christian? Never have
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  Speaker 2: a friend let you down? Well, sure you have. You
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  Speaker 2: want to get away. You don't have it in focus,
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  Speaker 2: and so you say, I want to get my head together.
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  Speaker 2: That's the thing these days, everything's getting your head together.
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  Speaker 2: So you want to get your head together, you want
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  Speaker 2: to 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. They went out,
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  Speaker 2: got in the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
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  Speaker 2: I also identify with that. That's the kind of fishing
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  Speaker 2: I do, not the kind of like to do, but
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  Speaker 2: that's what usually happens. They didn't catch a thing. Now,
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  Speaker 2: when day was now breaking, notice Jesus with his disciples.
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  Speaker 2: Now they caught nothing. There's been futility, there's been frustration.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, that's all always true when you're just
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  Speaker 2: fishing and you don't have men on your heart and
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  Speaker 2: women on your heart, gals, it's always true. When you're
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  Speaker 2: just making a living, it's crummy, it's futile, it's frustrating.
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  Speaker 2: There's no dimension. It's just watching the wind catch the
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  Speaker 2: sails to go nowhere. You can't even catch a fish.
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  Speaker 2: You can't even find satisfaction in the mountains or by
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  Speaker 2: the sea. There's a futility in it. And so verse
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  Speaker 2: four comes, when the day was breaking, Jesus stood on
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  Speaker 2: the beach. The disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus said to them, by the way, they're about
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  Speaker 2: one hundred yards away from him. Verse eight tells us,
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  Speaker 2: and so think of the length of a football field
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  Speaker 2: between the shore and the little boat. And Jesus said
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  Speaker 2: to them, you don't have any fish, do you now?
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  Speaker 2: When you have fished all night long and you haven't
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  Speaker 2: caught any fish, And somebody asked you that, your answer
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  Speaker 2: is no, And that's exactly what they said. In verse five,
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  Speaker 2: they answered him no. What's more, he called them children.
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  Speaker 2: The Greek word is pideon. We get the word pediatrics
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  Speaker 2: from this particular word, and it's the word for a
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  Speaker 2: little boys. Right, that's exactly the way they thought.
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 2: One of they said no. Who's this cab over here saying?
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  Speaker 2: You didn't catch any fish? Did you? Boys? They said no?
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  Speaker 2: And then verse six tells us he told him what
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  Speaker 2: to do. This is just beautiful. Cast the net on
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  Speaker 2: the right side of the boat and you will find
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  Speaker 2: a catch. By the way, When you're a teacher and
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  Speaker 2: you're not walking with Christ, teaching is a dry When
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  Speaker 2: you're a secretary and you're not walking with Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: your work is an irksome burden. You hate to get up,
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  Speaker 2: you hate to go, you hate to face a boss.
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  Speaker 2: When Christ isn't in the center of your life, you
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  Speaker 2: can be a counselor, and the heavens are brass, and
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  Speaker 2: you have no insight. You're just meeting with patience. You
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  Speaker 2: can't even practice medicine with delight, though you are a
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  Speaker 2: servant of the public, because Christ isn't down there drilling
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  Speaker 2: and riveting those dimensions in your life. It's empty. You
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  Speaker 2: can't catch a thing. Then he comes along in a
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  Speaker 2: beautiful fashion, and he says, men or boys, put your
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  Speaker 2: net on the other side of the boat. You'll catch something.
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  Speaker 2: They were so desperate. Verse six. This stranger on the
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  Speaker 2: shore old them what to do. They just drag in
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  Speaker 2: the net and they put it on the other side,
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  Speaker 2: and it says in that verse they were not able
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  Speaker 2: to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Wow,
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  Speaker 2: that must have been great. If you were a fished
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  Speaker 2: and caught a great number of fish. Oh, you haven't
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  Speaker 2: lived if you haven't done that. I remember, as a
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  Speaker 2: little fella, we went out in a boat early one morning,
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  Speaker 2: right after the break of dawn, just bright enough to
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  Speaker 2: see the water, with my granddad and my mom and dad.
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  Speaker 2: I was along and I had a little cane pole,
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  Speaker 2: and we got to an area where we began to fish,
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  Speaker 2: and we caught sixty seven golf trout. That's the truth. Well, really,
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  Speaker 2: there were sixty seven of those things, and we caught
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  Speaker 2: so 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: and are waiting around in those fish in the bottom
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  Speaker 2: of the boat. Well, I thought the rapture had come.
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  Speaker 2: It was fantastic, Not really that I didn't know about
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  Speaker 2: the rapture. I thought heaven had come. So the boy
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  Speaker 2: was great. And I can't imagine catching one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifty three fish verse eleven, and all of them large.
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  Speaker 2: That's probably a thousand pounds of fish in that net.
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  Speaker 2: Just in a moment of time. Jesus' presence and his
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  Speaker 2: words added a dimension that was just almost more than
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  Speaker 2: they could handle. They couldn't even get the net on
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: the boat. And so John said to Peter verse seven,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: ain't Peter, that's the lord over there on the shore.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Can't you see that? That's not normal individual that can
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: do that. Now you read some commentators and they've got
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: all the big answers. Jesus saw a school of fish
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: and had I wonder, how can you one hundred yards away,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: you know, really know there's a and furthermore, who told him?
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Who told the commentator that Jesus saw at school of fish?
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: It doesn't say that he saw a school of fish.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: It says that he said, cast the net over there.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Some guys would do anything to take the joy out
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: of the scriptures, wouldn't. They got it all rationalized out.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Jesus made the fish. So he told them to put
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: their net over there where he would put the fish.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: And they got them. They got so many they couldn't
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: get it on the boat. And so when John said
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: to Peter, it's the Lord. Look at Peter verse seven.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: You get a kick out of this. When Peter heard
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: for he was stripped for work. That means he had
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: on a T shirt and something underneath, probably something like
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Bermuda's or whatever. And he put on this outer garment.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: And it says he threw himself into the sea. That's
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: just like Peter. He just went on in the sea. Man.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Now Peter didn't go the other way, swimming away, was
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: swimming toward the Lord. And you've got to appreciate that
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Jesus created an incredible atmosphere of acceptance, who had just
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: denied the lord a few days earlier. Peter, that's the
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: man who said I don't know him. Oh, yes, you're one.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know him. Oh you were one of them.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: You speak like a galliant. And he swore I don't
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: know him. That's the guy. And when Jesus comes to
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: the shore a few days later, Peter swimming toward him. Boy,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: christ really had loyalty built into those men, didn't he.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: They were his men, and wherever he came, they wanted
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: to be. Peter started swim towards the shore. They brought
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: that boat up to the shore, and Jesus had a
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: beautiful arrangement all set up. Look at it verse nine.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: When they got out upon the land, they saw a
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it. It
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: doesn't say that Jesus had been fishing. It says that
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: he had a fire made and he had fish already
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: set up on this fire. How did they get the
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: fish on the fire, I don't know. Somehow he got
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: those fish out of the sea and on that fire.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: It's a neat trick, but it's no trick. If you're God,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: you just call a few by name. And get on
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: that fire there they are all righty on the fire,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: all clean right there. Well, what that would have been
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: like to have been by that fire, by that sea
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: that day. There's something extremely exciting about little pot luck
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: breakfast down on the shore, isn't here? When's the last
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: time you did that? Well, that's been too long. We
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: need to get away, just get a little time by
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: the sea. The sea has a language all its own,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: doesn't it. It's almost as though the fingers of God
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: are rolling in those great great waves and some mysterious
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: tide between the moon and the tide, and in the
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: swamping awesomeness of that walk on the beach, you somehow
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: you come back together with God. Somehow there's a place
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: where the child of God's heart is just washed, made fresh.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: We spend too long in the sidewalk jungles of our habitat.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Thank God He's preserved some places for us to be
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: by him. And so it was there that Jesus had
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: a breakfast all set up, and he invited him in
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: verse twelve, come and have breakfast. So they did. Now
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: none of them ask who are you? Knowing that it
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: was the Lord? Obviously they were sitting with the risen Christ,
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: and I just pictured them smoke curling up the quiet morning,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: little late lapping up on the shore, the smell of
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: fish in the air, fresh bread from the Savior's hand. Boy,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: that's neat, isn't it. Can't you just feel it? I
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: wonder what they talked about that morning. There are some
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: places where I would just love to have the text
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: open up, but it doesn't. So your imagination is just
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: as good as mine. That's those times that God provides
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: for you, such as a Sunday morning time like this,
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: when you've been fishing and you haven't caught a thing.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Your work has become kind of a drag. Your marriage
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: is sort of lost a zip. You've had some problems
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: or two or three with your kiddos, or maybe you're
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: single and your romance has fallen. You cannot seem to
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: put it together. And the Lord says, look, let's have breakfast.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Let me show you a meal I've got for you.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: So he lays it out and in an doddible fashion,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: he just sort of penetrates where you are and you
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: just lean over on your elbow and think, the Lord
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: is here, I'm sitting at his feet. I feel like
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: that I feel like the Lord is present and he's saying, look,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: you need to come to terms with your calling. So
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: he does it in the person of Peter Verses fifteen
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: to seventeen. I plead with you now to put yourself
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: in the garments of Peter for a moment, because they fit.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I come, and you come from a pilgrimage that has
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: some scars. You failed, I have to, And we come
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: broken and bruised, with a bad track record. Frankly, we
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: don't have a whole lot that we can offer this group.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: But we're here. We've come for breakfast, and the Lord
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: is laying out before us some insights from this meal.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: And then, for some strange reason, he points that finger
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: at your face and at mine, and he calls us
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: by our real name, And he doesn't call us by
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: the name we're going to be. He calls us by
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: a name that describes our lives. Simon. Jesus could have
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: called him Peter verse fifteen, but he called him Simon,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: son of John as though aimless, wandering, shifting, vacillating, doesn't
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: call him Rock. He calls him Simon. You that's been drifting, vacillating, shifting.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: That fits some of you here today. You come with
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: that sense of guilt, not having put it together, not
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: having inculcated that vocation and that calling. You've just been
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: cranking out a job. And he says to you, hey, lazy, inconsistent, lustful, thief,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: whatever fits, whatever has characterized your life at your office,
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: in your practice, irritable, impatient, worrier. He calls you by name,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: and in Simon's skin, he says, do you love me
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: more than these? Oh? We don't know what the these
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: refers to. Could refer to his peers. You love me
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: more than these around you. It could refer to the
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: things with which he was familiar, fishing things. He loved
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: me more than your job. People seem to run into
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: two extremes, those that worship their job and those that
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: hate their jobs. So he says to job worshippers, do
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: you love me more than this? The word he uses
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: 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,
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: I'm fond of you. Maybe not with that flipping an attitude,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: because I think he was searching his heart, but he
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: had to admit. Honestly, see, Peter's the guy that always
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: overstepped himself. He's the guy who said a few hours before,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: if everybody else denies you, I won't. Peter learned a lesson.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna do that anymore. So he said, Lord,
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: in all honesty, I'm fond of you. So what does
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Jesus say, tend my lambs? That gracious? If Jesus had
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: been a mere man, he would have said up, just
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: 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 once was predictable. Shepherd, my sheep, I'll
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: go with that. If that's the depth, I can still
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: use you, Simon. And now the third time, now listen
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: very carefully, and I want you to miss this seventeen.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John,
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: are you just fond of me? He uses Peter's word,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: are you fond of me? That's it, Simon said, Lord,
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: you know all things. That's the best I can say.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: I'm fond of you. Before I go further. There's an
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: actual case that occurred some time ago in Colorado Springs
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: in a particular Bible class held on the Air Force
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Academy campus. They met regularly once a week. This group did.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: There was a Bible teacher who was working with the navigators.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: But the turning point on the group was the 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. Said, I
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: am a phony. I am a fake. It's been a trip,
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: and I'm ashamed of it. And God did real business
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: in that young man's heart that day. But as I
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: heard that true story from the lips of the one
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: who taught that class, my stock went up in my mind.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: On that fella. Wow, under the pressure, under the gun
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: of all of his peers, he said, I don't have
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: any time with God. I am a fake. That Bible
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: teacher put his arm around that guy and said, hey,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: let's go on, as if to say with Jesus tenned
• 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, kN ow you know that
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: I am fond of you. That's the word for it,
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: to know by experience, you've experienced that time in recent
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: days when I was just fond of you, you didn't
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: have supreme place in my life. And I think Simon
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: because it says in this verse seventeenth verse, he was
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: grieved having said it. The Greek word loupe means to
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: be pained. It's the word that accompanies mourning at death.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: He mourned within himself when he said, Ah, it's the truth.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Though I'm fond of you, it's all I can say.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: And I am convinced in my heart that Simon expected
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Jesus to say, there's the door. Jesus came back and
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: he said, tend my sheep. You see, one of the
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: devil ace trumps in winning the victory over our vocation
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: and our calling is to lead us to the assumption
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: that we have to be perfect to be used. Because
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: some of you have had a failure or two, and
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: some of those failures have been gross, maybe even scandalous.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: You're sitting there this morning thinking, as a child of God,
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: God can never use me. If anybody ever found that out,
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: was 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 place.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: I have literally seen a half a dozen cars lined up,
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: bumper to bumper in front of two pumps, in front
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: of that little station, just waiting to be served by
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: that man. He had no banners out, no Jesus says flags,
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: no signs, no exenthuses, nothing plastered all over the car
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: or the windows, nothing that's said to bring your car
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: to Bob and take your soul to Jesus. None of
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: that stuff. He simply did his job. And it was
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: remarkable the eternal business that was carried on between the
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: driver's seat and that windshield as that guy was doing
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: business for Jesus Christ. I don't know how many people
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: were funneled into our church from that filling station, the
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: evangelistic center of that Boston area. I got worried from
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: him sometime ago that he had retired. I thought, uh,
• 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,
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: your work suddenly becomes as exciting to you as this
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: pulpen 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 a Air Force Cadet representative
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: here today who says in his heart, I'm a funny.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: I can't remember the last time I had time with God.
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: It's not hard to understand why you're not happy with work.
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: It's a direct link between my time with God and
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: effectiveness in his book. The same applies to your work.
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: I have no corner on God. Now, let me say
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: to you, if you're a loss this morning, you never
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: come to know christ.
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: I plead with you right now. Hey, don't put that
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: off another day. They say, Lord, I'm miserable, I'm empty,
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: I'm lacking fulfillment. I've become greedy, selfish. The ugly signs
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: of my life are sticking out all over and you're
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: not a sinner. And I want to say today I
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: take care personal as what I say. Thank you for
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: coming into my life. Just do that right now, right
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: there where you're sitting. And Christians now do some study
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: personal evaluation of ways in which your work and your
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: calling can be wedded together. Make this time a time
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: of a wedding ceremony, if you please. As you and
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: your calling, your vocation and your calling are made one father,
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: I thank you even before all decisions are made at
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: this