We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat!

WE’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BOAT!

Luke 5:4-7

INTRODUCTION

A. OPENER: THE SIZE OF GOD

1. A boy asked his father, “Dad, what is the size of God?” His father looked up at the sky and saw a plane and asked his son, “What is the size of that plane?” The boy replied, “It is very small. I can hardly see it.”

2. Then the father took the boy to an airport, and as they approached a plane, the dad asked his son, “Now, son, how big is this plane?” The boy replied, “Wow, Dad, it’s huge!”

3. Then the father told him, “God’s size depends on how close you are to Him. The closer you are to Him, the bigger and greater He will be in your life!”

4. My message this morning is “We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat!” Originally, this was a quote from the movie JAWS when a guy was deep sea fishing and got a huge shark on his line. We’re going to tie it to the scriptures this morning.

B. TEXT

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

C. THESIS

1. Peter, Andrew, James, & John had been out fishing all night. They were professional fishermen, as were their fathers before them, yet with all their experience & knowledge, they had not been able to catch anything – ZERO! They had fished the whole 12 hours of darkness. Over & over they had cast their nets, rowed their boats to enclose fish, and then drawn their nets up, only to find nothing in their nets.

2. When Jesus asked them to go back out in the daytime and fish, it didn’t make any sense to do what hadn’t worked before. But then – they hadn’t had Jesus in their boat before!

3. THE HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENED. A "great" multitude of fishes were caught, so huge that the nets were breaking. They "signaled" their partners. The catch was so great that BOTH SHIPS began to sink. ¼ full, 1/2, 3/4, to the brim. 5-6 tons of fish apiece!

4. Peter's mind screamed, "Impossible!" Such a catch had never been seen on that Lake. "THIS IS GOD!" As he gazed into Jesus’ eyes, he gazed into the eyes of the Holy One of Israel! Suddenly Peter felt unworthy: a sinful man before a holy God. JESUS said "Fear not, from now on You will catch men." Peter's response? "They pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” When you understand Jesus’ surpassing worth and beauty, all else seems unimportant.

5. “WE’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BOAT,” meaning a bigger FAITH, a bigger GRACE, a bigger VISION, and a bigger OBEDIENCE to accomplish the will of God.

I. WE NEED A BIGGER FAITH to bring in a larger harvest

A. HOW CAN WE GET GREATER FAITH?

1. The disciples asked Jesus, “Increase our faith” Lk. 17:5. Jesus IS the Author & Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:12). We want to increase the Potency/strength of our Faith; “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” Mt. 17:20.

2. God’s power is activated according to the proportion of our faith (Mt. 9:29, 21:21). All things are possible with God; nothing is too hard for the Lord. “Therefore I tell you, WHATEVER you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it (past tense), and it will be (future tense) yours” Mk. 11:24. “Faith perceiving as real fact, what is not yet revealed to the senses,” Heb. 11:1, AMP.

3. Great faith has great results, Mt. 8:10; little faith has little results, Mt. 6:30. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” Rom. 10:17. Peter caught more fish than he’d ever caught in his whole life. Why? Because he had Jesus with him in the boat. When you start working with Jesus, you’re going to need a bigger boat!

B. ILLUSTRATION

1. A cartoon once showed two Eskimos fishing through holes in the ice. One of the Eskimos made a hole about like you’d expect – about the size of a manhole cover.

2. The other had dropped his line in an immense hole that seemed about fifty yards long and was in the shape of a whale! We need to be expecting greater things from God!