“Fishermen Need To Fish”
Luke 5:10
1. My bro and my sis I must be honest with you when I tell you that I love to fish. I love to fish. And even when the fish aren’t biting, I still just love to fish. I haven’t always loved to fish but as I grew older and came to understand the importance of relaxation in this over-stressed world, I learned how to love to fish. Now my bro and my sis when I didn’t love to fish, I still used to go fishing with those who did. Now because I didn’t like fishing, I didn’t always fish. But I was out there with the fishermen. Are you with me so far?
a. And what I discovered is that when the day was done and fishing was over, because they fished, they went home with fish and because I didn’t, I either had to beg for some of their fish or I came home empty-handed. And my bro and sis, that experience taught me a valuable lesson. And that is whenever I go fishing, the one thing I needed to do is fish. Because when fishermen don’t fish, they don’t catch anything.
b. And the reason why this world, our homes and our churches are in the shape that they’re in today is because God has called us to be fisher’s of men and yet no one is doing any fishing.
c. We’ve gotten comfortable locked up in our homes. Comfortable just staying to ourselves on our jobs and comfortable sitting in my seat on my pew in my church and not sharing the gospel and the result is like my cooler, empty. Empty churches with empty people.
d. Not only did I learn that when I didn’t fish, I came home empty handed. I also learned that when I didn’t fish, I found other things to do, like complain (elab).
i. And what happens when we don’t share with others what God has given to us. When we the fishermen, don’t fish, we began to fight. Hello somebody.
ii. When we come to church, God energizes us to go out and impact the world. But when the energy that’s supposed to be used outside of the church is used on the inside of the church, an explosion occurs (elab). Fishermen need to fish.
iii. When fishermen don’t fish, instead of casting nets, we cast stones at one another. Fishermen need to fish.
iv. When fishermen don’t fish, instead of holding out a helping hand, we point accusing fingers. Fishermen need to fish.
v. When fishermen don’t fish for the lost, we become critics of the saved (elab). Fishermen need to fish.
vi. When fishermen don’t fish, the result is church scrooges that an earthquake couldn’t move to praise and bah humbug worshippers who say it don’t all of that and beady-eyed wart searchers who point their crooked fingers at other’s weaknesses. Baby if you were fishing, you wouldn’t have time for pointing. Fishermen need to fish. And when fishermen fish, they flourished. In other words, when fishermen fish they are blessed. Has anybody been fishing?
2. Well I hear some of you saying, “Pastor, I’ve been trying, but I just can’t catch any fish.” I do what I can and I tell who I can, but the fish just aren’t biting. And I need to know what am I doing wrong. Well the answer maybe, that you’re fishing but not catching because you’re not baiting the hook properly. Come on talk to me in here. Every good fisherman knows that you must use the proper bait to catch the fish that you’re after. Am I right about it?
a. And what we must understand is that the same bait that worked with the older generation, may not work with this generation. This generation that we are dealing with now has the entire world thrown at them by the adversary, the devil.
i. And he’s updating his methods daily to keep them occupied (elab). And while he’s catching them, we, the church, we’re sitting back saying, “I’ve been doing it this way all my life. And this is the way we’ve always done it and if it worked for grandma, it will work for me (elab). We need to bait the hook with something that will catch them and keep them.
3. Jesus shows us in the text how to properly bait the hook to fish for men and come out a winner. Can I show you what Jesus does?
a. First he says that they must be interest in the bait that you’re using. (Look at vs. 3-4)
i. Jesus, who was not a fisherman by trade, got them interested in his plans which was fishing for men by showing interest in their plans which was fishing for fish.
ii. Now let me drop this right here church, if we want people outside to come in and be interested at what’s going on inside, we’re going to have to show interest in them by meeting them right where they are. When you want to catch fish, you don’t ask fish to come to you, you go to where the fish are.
1. If you want your schools to be saved, then fishermen you got to fish at school.
2. If we want where you work to be a saved environment, then fishermen you’ve got fish on your job.
3. If you want the people in your home saved, then fishermen you’ve got to fish at home.
4. If you want the gang in the hood to be saved, then fishermen you’ve got to hit the streets in the hood. Luke 14:23 says, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” If you want God’s house to be filled, then start fishing.
iii. The fish are not just gonna jump in the boat my dears, we who are in the boat need to hook em and pull em (elab). Fishermen need to fish. Touch your neighbor and tell them hook em and pull em.
4. Oh my bro and my sis, not only does he get them interested in the bait, but the bait that he uses also meets their needs. He does not give them junk, he gives them just what they need. Look at the text, verse 6. They were in the fishing business to catch fish and Jesus didn’t give them fruit, he gave them fish. He met their needs.
a. And what this tells us is that when we draw people to God, we ought not give them something to make them feel good (elab), we need to have ministries in place that will make them live right.
i. And if there ever was a time when this world needed to know how to live right, the time is right now. Am I right about it?
b. Now if we skip verse 5, Jesus makes fishing look easy. But when we go back and look at verse 5, it tells us that sometimes we have to convince the fish to take the bait in order to meet their needs.
i. Some of you have tried once to invite someone to church and they said no, so you didn’t ask anymore. But sometimes you’ve got to keep at it until you convince them that they need the Lord.
c. The text says that after Jesus tells them to launch out and let down their nets, that Simon says, but master we have toiled all night. We’ve worked hard all night already.
i. And I don’t mean any harm, but that’s still one of the most common excuses used by men and women today who don’t give their time and talents back to God.
ii. I worked hard all week and Sunday is my day to rest. I worked hard all day and Wednesday night is family night. I’ve worked hard all week and didn’t have time to do any work around the house and I need to stay home today so I can take care of some personal business.
iii. Baby what we must get this world to understand is that your spiritual needs can’t be met at home while you’re handling personal business. But when you take care of God’s business, he will take care of your business. That’s why the book says to seek ye first the kingdom of God. Your business may be at home but your blessing is in the house of the Lord.
1. You’ve lost your joy. You’ve lost your peace of mind. It seems like the world has crumbled around you. It seems like everything is going wrong in your life all because you’ve tried to handle business at home when you should have brought your business to the Lord.
2. God knows where you are, what you’re going through and how to fix it. That’s why the bible says that he’s Jehovah-Jireh for he’s able to supply not some of your needs but all of your needs according to his riches in glory, but you must come to the place where that your soul can by fed and your spirit renewed.
a. Don’t let no one stop you from receiving your blessing. Receiving your miracle. Receiving your anointing. Paul says I’ll let nothing and noooooo one separate me from the love of God.
b. When I come to church, I’ve got some needs that nobody but Jesus can meet (elab). Can’t nobody do me like Jesus. Can’t nobody do me like the Lord. Am I right about it?
(CLOSE)
5. Finally my bro and my sis, not only does Jesus get them interested in the bait and not only does he meet their needs. But he takes them where their needs can be met in a mighty way. Good God Almighty. He tells them in vs 4 to launch out into the deep. And every fisherman knows that the deeper the water, the bigger the fish. Am I right about it? And um, I’ve learned that the reason why we can’t catch the big fish, it’s because we’re too afraid to leave shallow waters. We want the church to grow beyond measure, but we’re afraid to leave the shallow waters. Oh Lord. We want an exciting worship service, but we’re afraid to leave the shallow waters. We want to build a new sanctuary, but we’re afraid to leave shallow waters. If you want to be blessed and I mean really blessed, you need to leave the shallow waters and launch out into the deep.
a. Listen my bro and my sis, emotion and physical commotion, shouting and dancing, all that’s alright but that’s still shallow waters. But when we enter into real worship and true praise. Lifting our hands and saying hallelujah. Men and women crying out about the goodness of God. Children not ashamed to let the world know that they know Jesus, that, my bro and sis is deep waters.
b. When we learn his word and live in his will, that’s deep waters.
c. When we love one another as Christ loves us, oh Lord, that’s deep waters.
d. When we meet the needs of the community, that’s deep waters.
e. When we make an impact on this sin sick and sin filled world, that’s deep waters.
f. When we show others how to be blessed by being obedient to the word of God, that’s deep waters.
g. The spiritual growth of our church depends on the spiritual depth of our fishermen in the church. Are you deep enough in the word?
h. If we want the church to stop being a catch and release program, and start keeping what we catch, we’re gonna have to launch out into the deep.
i. Deeper in the word.
ii. Deeper in our walk.
iii. Deeper in our understanding.
iv. Deeper in our love for God.
v. Deeper in our love for one another.
vi. Deeper in our forgiveness of one another.
vii. Deeper in our ministry to one another.
viii. Deeper in our communities. And God will open up the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing.
ix. It’s time for fishermen to fish.
