Give To God What You Have

Offer what you have to God and you can see God’s blessings.

• Simon offered what he has to Jesus; Jesus in return gave him what He can give.

• He offered a fishing boat to preach on. Jesus gave him boats filled with fishes.

• Jesus rewards him, and bless him with what he really wants – fishes!

Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee) and He saw two boats by the lake.

• One of them belonged to Simon Peter.

• Jesus borrowed Simon’s boat so that He could teach the crowd who had come to hear the Word of God.

After Jesus finished preaching, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4)

• By offering his boat, the Lord was able to bless many who had come to hear the Word. Now Jesus wants to bless Simon.

• This is the principle we see in the Scriptures: God does not short-change us. When we offer what we have to Him – our wealth, our possession, our talents - God will bless us in return.

Jesus asked him to launch out into the deep, and let down the nets (in plural).

• He wants to bless Simon with what he longs for – fishermen want fishes.

• Notice Simon’s answer: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:5)

• Peter let down only ONE net.

Why did Jesus tell Simon to let down more than one net?

• The answer is found in verses 6–7: “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.”

• Jesus was ready to bless Simon with more than he could ever think of, but Simon limited the catch by only letting down one net.

• Eph 3:20 says He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…”

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What does that tell you about God?

• It tells us that He does not operate the human way - by the law of supply and demand.

• God works by the principle of His inexhaustible supply.

• How much does God have? That’s how much He can bless us with.

It takes faith to trust Jesus’ advice.

• Simon was a seasoned fisherman. He knows his trade, unlike Jesus, who is a carpenter by trade.

• It was known that in the Sea of Galilee, you catch fish at night in the shallow water.

• When you fish with fishing nets, you don’t normally go to deep waters. And you don’t do it in the day time.

Despite all the good human reasoning, Jesus asked Simon to let down the nets. Even though they had caught nothing the whole night.

• How then did it attract all the fish and become a “fish magnet”?

• Why was there this sudden change?

The answer is very simple: It was because Jesus stepped into that boat.

• All Simon did was to lend Jesus his boat so that He could preach to the crowd that was hungry for the Word.

• Simon gave Jesus what was natural — a fishing boat that had not caught a single fish all night — and Jesus blessed him in a supernatural way!

This is an important principle for us to learn – when we offer God what we have, God will bless us abundantly, more than we ask or think.

There was another occasion when the crowd had a need – they needed food (Luke 9:12-16).

• It was late in the afternoon and they were at a remote place, the disciples asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging.

• And Jesus reply was - "You give them something to eat." (9:13)

They had similar problem like Simon (all night, no fish).

• Theirs was: “Too many people, no food.”

• And then a boy gave to Jesus 5 loaves and 2 fishes – that which was natural.

• And Jesus made it supernatural – >5000 were fed, with 12 baskets of leftover.

• When God blesses us, it is often "more-than-enough".

2 Cor 9:6 “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

The Lord’s presence makes all the difference in your life.

J. L. Kraft, head of the Kraft Cheese Corporation, who had given approximately 25% of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years, said, "The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord." (W.A. Criswell, A Guidebook for Pastors, p. 154.)