How we doing? We good? Holiday weekend dragging a little bit. Okay. All right, grab your bibles. Open up to the book of Luke. We're starting a new series in the fall. We'll start our next book study that's going to be in two corinthians. So starting in September, we'll be in two corinthians through May. We're going to spend a good bit of time in there. So if you want to read ahead, do that. But this summer we're going to be working through the gospel of Luke and kind of some big, just kind of chunks looking at different encounters that people had with Jesus. Hence the title encounters with Jesus. We're going to look at twelve different encounters with Jesus and our hope is to better know our savior through some interactions he had with different types of people. So that's where we're going to go. We're going to be in Luke chapter five this morning and I'm just going to get right into it. Series that we just did in Creed. We looked at a lot of different texts for every service just because we wanted us to see how a particular theology is taught throughout the Bible. We're going to just kind of anchor into one text today. So Luke chapter five, we're going to be looking at Jesus is called to his first disciples, specifically Peter, the blue collar scholar. So this is like the working man and the encounter with Jesus here for the fishermen. So Luke chapter 5111. Good. All right, let's do this. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, it's sea galley, and he saw two boats by the lake. But the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets, getting into one of the boats, which was Simon. Simon's. He asked him to put out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, master, we toiled all night and took nothing but at your word, I will let down the nets. And when they had done that, turn the page. When they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled 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. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. So here's a couple questions I want to ask in this text, specifically, taking the angle of trying to understand Jesus through his encounters with different types of people, and in this one with some fishermen, particularly Peter, I want to know, how did Peter become a disciple of Jesus? Like, how did Peter, this fisherman, get on Team Jesus, who is. And you see a contrast even in this text. The popularity of Jesus is so large, he has to get into a boat to get off the shore because the crowd is just pressing in on him. This is a miracle maker. This is a popular guy, and Peter is just kind of off to the side, cleaning his net. So how did Peter get on Team Jesus? I want to know that. But not just how did Peter become a disciple, but how could a guy like Peter become a disciple? How could a guy like that get on Team Jesus? And this is particularly to us because we're asking the same questions for ourselves, like, how do you become a disciple of Jesus? And how could someone like you get on Team Jesus? Like, how does that work? How does that happen? And this particular encounter with Jesus is really helpful in directing our own encounters with Jesus, because maybe you felt this angst in yourself, like you've wanted to become a better person, not necessarily a different person, but you've wanted to become a better person. Like, I want to get. I want to be a better dad, or I want to be a better spouse, or I want to be a better worker, or I want to just have better character. I want to be more patient, or I wish I was more joyful, or I wish I was more forgiving. You look, and you kind of have aspirations for your own improvement. Can anybody work with me there on that one? Like, you feel that? Yep. Those of you that didn't raise your hand, like, I'm good. This is as good as it gets. No, I get it. You don't want to raise your hand in church, that's fine. But all of us would feel that way. All of us have this kind of desire and angst to be better, to grow. Well, this is like the beginning of that for Peter. This is the beginning of Peter's story. And when we get introduced to Peter, he's just a fisherman, but yet he goes on and writes books of the Bible. He leads this revolution of proclaiming the gospel. He has the keys to heaven. He's the first to bring the gentiles the good news to the gentiles. Like, you see, Peter kind of make a transformation in who he is. So I think we see the first steps of Peter here in his transformation, and it's helpful in directing our first steps for transformation as well. So let's start with, how did this fisherman Peter become a disciple of Jesus? And you could just say, it's like, because he asked him. But there's more to it than that. Like, we get this account, the details of this story, for a reason, and there's something in this for us to see. And there seems like there's a bit of a job interview happening. So let's read our text today, because like I said, we're not going to go to a lot of different places. Let's just kind of anchor down here and let's read this text again and see if you can see a little bit of a job interview happening. So on one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake. But the fisherman had gone out them and were washing their nets, getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little fur from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, master, we toiled all night and took nothing but at your word, I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, o lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed. Now, I know, especially if you've grown up in church, you're very familiar the story. You're familiar with the disciples of Jesus. And the idea that Jesus had fishermen that were his disciples maybe gets lost. It's just like, oh, yeah, we know that. And we miss the shock of it in the story. Like that Jesus would shop for his disciples in that crowd, that fishermen would become disciples. In fact, in acts four, when Peter's preaching, they make this observation that they're a little taken back, that these are uneducated, common men. Like, they wouldn't expect that from these people. And you wouldn't expect Jesus, this kind of rising fame, Rabbi, to get his followers or his disciples from essentially rabbi school dropouts who went a different career path, and he's going to them to be followers. We have to kind of recapture the shock of the fact that Jesus is extending this invitation to fishermen. Now, I'm not going to say that the point of this message is, see, anybody can do it. Anybody can be a disciple of Jesus. Cause I don't want to cheapen that call. Because when Jesus calls people to follow him, there's some stakes to it. There's some, leave everything and follow me. Take up your cross and follow me. This is the narrow road kind of thing. Like, not everybody can do it because everybody didn't do it. There were people that didn't answer this call. The rich young ruler got the same invitation, and he walked away. But Peter takes this invitation. So I'm not going to say that just anybody can become a disciple of Jesus, but a disciple of Jesus can come from anywhere. You guys ever see the movie ratatouille? Yeah. See, I think it should have been an Oscar nominated. Really missed out on that one. Great movie. Mixing fine italian cooking with rats. Like, just plot gold right there. There's a line at the end of the movie where they make this observation that not just anybody can become a great chef, but a great chef can come from anywhere. You guys remember that? You're like, no, I don't remember lines from Ratatouille. That's completely normal. Trust me. They say that, okay? That's what you see with Jesus here. It's not like, hey, just anybody can become a disciple of Jesus. But disciples of Jesus come from all different places, all different types of people kind of have this ragtag group of people that become his followers. So what is it that's in somebody that becomes a follower of Jesus? Like, what is it that they're looking for? And we get a little bit more of Peter's job interview into discipleship. That tells us something. I think that it's wanting to show us something in Peter and more importantly in Jesus to teach us something here. And I think what it's pointing out to us is that we see in Peter particularly, is humble, progressive obedience. Now, don't get scared by the word progressive. I just mean, like building. It's a building obedience. So let's notice the progressive obedience. Look at verse two and three. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets, getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's. He asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and he talked to people from the boat. So the first kind of request Jesus makes to Simon was not, leave everything and follow me. It was, can I borrow your boat? Are you willing, like, I'm teaching here, are you willing to take something that's yours and loan it to me to help me do what I'm doing? Like, do you have a generosity to kind of help me out in this situation? Can I borrow your boat? That's the first request that Peter. And Peter does what? He lets him use his boat. Like, first kind of test he passes here. Now it gets harder. Look at verse four. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. So the first request was, can I borrow your boat? The second request is, you want to go fishing? Let's go out a little deeper and let's go fishing. Now, here's Peter's response. And Simon answered, master, we toiled all night and took nothing. In other words, it's like, I already did that. In fact, we went fishing when you're supposed to go fishing at night. And I know you're a great teacher. See the crowds gathered, but stay in your lane, right? I'm the fisherman. I know when to fish. And we already tried it, and we didn't catch anything. Not only did I already try it, we've been up all night, we've been toiling, and we're tired. But yet he says, but at your word, I will let down the nets. So does your request to go fishing make sense to a fisherman? No. Am I tired and don't want to go fish anymore? Yes, but at your word. So you see an obedience again, and then you get to the end, which you've already seen. Verse ten, and James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon and Jesus, said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed him. So what started out as, can I borrow your boat? Progressed to, I'm going to leave everything and follow you. But he was faithful in some small things and faithful in some challenging things, then faithful in some big things. Did you see that kind of progression? I can borrow your boat? Yeah, you can borrow my boat. Right. You want to go fishing? Ah, it doesn't really make sense and I'm tired. But yeah, we'll do that because you said so. So you see a willingness to help. You see a willingness to trust even at the maybe opposition of your expert opinion and even at the opposition of your exhaustion. Sure. And you see small obedience leads to big obedience, where he's eventually leaving everything to follow Christ. Now, you could say small obedience gets rewarded because at his small obedience he sees and gets to experience the power of God. Because where's this story go if right away when Jesus says, hey, do you mind if I use your boat? And Peter says, yeah, I do mind, we're cleaning up here, short story. Or what about when he's done teaching? He's like, hey, Peter, you want to go fishing? Let's go out a little bit deeper. And he says, no, we fished all night. Not going to do that. Story ends here. But you see his trust and his obedience to Jesus, and through that, he experiences the power of Jesus. Small obedience leads to big obedience. In fact, Luke reinforces this later on. This is in Luke, chapter 16. He says, the one who is faithful and very little is also faithful in much. And the one who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest and much. You want to be faithful in big things, be faithful in little things. The little things matter. In fact, it goes on in that text to say, like, how can I trust you with big things if I can't trust you with little things? And you see, Jesus starts off in this kind of discipleship. Job interview is like, hey, are you willing? Will you trust me? Okay, now I'm going to show you who I am and I'm going to invite you into it. But small obedience led to big obedience. So are you faithful in the little things? Cause there can be this aspiration of, like, I'm gonna do big things for Jesus. We're gonna move across to another country and we're gonna share the gospel. That's awesome. Do you share the gospel with your neighbor? Or it's like you have this idea of, like, I'm gonna do big things for Jesus. Do you do little things for Jesus? Do you do the simple, everyday little things for Jesus, because Peter becomes this leader in this Jesus movement. But that's because he was such a good follower. In fact, we have a saying around here, sometimes internally, that we get our leaders from our followers. If you want to be a leader here, show us that you're a follower. Somebody comes in like, I want to lead a connection group. Great. Get in a connection group. Be a great connection group member. That's how you become a connection group leader. We get our leaders from our followers and Peter becomes this leader. But it shows that he's this great follower. He's just willing to obey. He's willing to trust. So how did Peter become a disciple of Jesus? Progressive obedience. He just kept saying yes to Jesus. Can I borrow your boat? Yep. You want to go fishing? Yep. You want to follow me and become a fisherman? I'm in. And it built to that. But he just kept saying yes to Jesus. And this fisherman became a disciple. This fisherman became a leader of a movement. And this story tells us something about Jesus, that Jesus is extending this invitation to a fisherman. So you gotta wonder for Jesus, like, what are you looking for? Cause you're not shopping the halls of all the religious leaders. What is it that you're looking for? And Jesus didn't look at what he did. He looked at what he was willing to do. Yeah, I get that. He didn't look at what he did. He looked at what he's willing to do. He didn't look at Peter and say, oh, you're just a fisherman. He looked at Peter like, oh, you're willing to trust. You're willing to obey. You're willing to obey even when you don't quite understand. You're willing to obey even when you're tired and exhausted. I'm going to let you in. Like, he didn't look at Peter and just see what he did. He looked at him and saw what he was willing to do. What are you willing to do? And how much do you want to discover the power of Jesus? Are you willing to share the gospel with others? Are you willing to get up early to pray? Are you willing to read your bible? Are you willing to turn the channel when something inappropriate comes on? Are you willing to have hard conversations? Are you willing to confess sin? Are you willing to repent? Are you willing to obey even though it might not make sense to you? Are you willing to obey even when after a long day, exhausted and tired? And might the connection of your willingness to say yes to Jesus be connected to the depth of experience of Jesus you have? It takes some humility takes some humility. This progressive obedience is coming from a posture of humility. In Peter, you just think about the request to go fishing. I mean, Peter's like, well, I'm the fisherman, and this isn't when you normally fish. So for me to yield and listen to this rabbi carpenter about fishing takes some humility. And not only do you see humility in following the request to fish, Peter also gets humbled in the fishing trip because he said, fishing is done, fishing is bad. And guess what? They caught fish. Like, you worked at this all night, professional fishermen, and you're bad. But you go fishing with Jesus at a time you're not supposed to catch fish, and you catch some fish, you got humbled. He got humbled good. And what's Peter's response to this? Look at verse eight. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, depart from me. I am a sinful man, o Lord. You know, today we're always being told, you can do whatever you want. You can become whoever you want to become, and you can accomplish anything you put your mind to, anything that you dream, you can do it. That's not Peter's story. In fact, that's not really anybody's story in the Bible that God uses to do amazing things. And I know that kind of attitude kind of gets pushed at. It's everywhere. Whatever you want to do, you can do it. You know, believe in yourself. You can accomplish it. But listen to me, church life with God doesn't begin with confidence in yourself. Life with God does not begin with confidence in yourself. It begins with an honest view of yourself and an accurate view of Jesus. And that's what happens to Peter. In fact, that's what happens to a lot of Bible characters that get used by God in amazing ways. Here's what you need to first realize you're a sinner. And guess what? Magnify that to you. Jesus performing a miracle right before you. And in light of that, you realize, like, oh, we don't fit. Depart from me. I'm just a sinner. Obviously you're not. We don't fit together. You see it in Isaiah, chapter six, when the glory of God is shown to Isaiah. And what does Isaiah say in that moment? Woe is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. I don't fit here. And where does that lead to Isaiah being on mission for God. Where does this lead? Peter being on mission for God? Moses does amazing things for God, but he had to first learn. When you talk to me, you take your sandals off. Right? There's an understanding. Like, if you want to be used by God, it doesn't begin with confidence in yourself. It begins with an honest view of yourself before a holy God and an accurate view of Jesus. It's not believe in yourself. It's believe in Jesus. Listen to me. You can't do anything you want to, but Jesus can do anything he wants to with you. You tracking at that. You can't do anything you want to, but Jesus can do anything he wants to with you. This is the story about Jesus. And we can tend to think, oh, it's a story about Peter. And that's partially true. I mean, it's the account of Peter becoming a disciple. We see some actions from Peter that are admirable. We see Peter trust Jesus. We see Peter obey Jesus. We see Peter leave everything for Jesus. Like, you get this account. But ultimately, this is a story about Jesus. Jesus has shown to be a dynamic teacher. In fact, the crowds are so big, he's got to get into a boat to continue his teaching. Jesus is shown to be a miracle worker. Again, just catch fish, right? I mean, he shows out a little bit on this, this fishing thing. It's not just, oh, let me show you where the fish are. It's like, no, no, no, let me show you who I am. Like, your nets are breaking and your boats are sinking at the amount of fish that I'm giving you. So he's shown to be this great teacher. He's shown to be this miracle worker, and Jesus is shown to be somebody worth leaving everything to follow. Peter is just the guy in the story that gets that. But this is about Jesus. It's Jesus who pursues Peter. He initiates this dynamic by saying, hey, can I borrow your boat? It's Jesus who reveals himself to Peter. Hey, let's go out in deeper water. I got something to show you. Is Jesus who invites Peter to a new life. This is about Peter or, excuse me. This is about Jesus and church. That's the point. That's the point. It doesn't matter that Peter is just a fisherman. It doesn't matter who Peter is. It doesn't matter that Matthew is a tax collector or Simon's a zealot or Nicodemus is a pharisee, whoever. It doesn't matter. It's about Jesus. And Jesus can do whatever he wants to do with whomever he wants to do it. This is about Jesus. Listen, with Christ. It's not about who you are. It's about who he is and what he can do with you and what he can do with you. And Jesus both humbles Peter and empowers him at the same moment. It's a humbling thing when you have this fisherman who spends all night not catching anything, and this rabbi goes out and just completely humiliates him with like, I'll show you where the fish are. But at the same time, he's like, and I want you on my team. I'm not out to embarrass you. I'm out to show you who I am. I'm not out here to. Just to show you that I know where the fish are. The ridiculous catch is to show you who I am. I'm not. I'm not a rabbi who's just a really good fisherman on the side. I'm a miracle worker. I'll sink your boats with fish at the wrong time. This is about Christ and his power and what he can do. And listen, sometimes guys, being self deprecating is just an attack on Jesus. Like, it's one thing to have an honest view of yourself, but when you start to think, like, I can't do that. I could never do this. Who am I to then? God would never work through me. You're starting to think that you limit God's power, but God can do anything he wants to do through anybody he wants to do it. But the solution is not for you to start having a bigger view of yourself. It's to start having a bigger view of Jesus. It's not about who you are. It's about who he is and what he can do with you. In the account in the story in this, the account of this situation, this story in Matthew, jesus says, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. I love that. I love that. There's this. There's this promise, like, if you follow me, hey, you keep saying yes to me, Peter, I'm gonna do something with you. This idea of, like, I'm gonna make something of you if you follow me. There's a promise of development. There's a promise of growth from the hand of Jesus. He said, I'm gonna make something of you. I'm going to transform you. I'm going to develop you. Peter's like, what do I got to do? Keep saying yes. Keep following. Like, you follow me, and I will make you. I will make you a fisherman. Now, whoever you are, hear these words, okay? I don't know what your background is, what your struggle is, what you've been through what you do for a living, how much money you make, where you live, I don't care. Okay? Hear these words. Jesus says, follow me, and I will make you like you start saying yes to Jesus. You commit your life to Jesus, and he will develop you. Beautiful promise. Now, here in this story, in Luke, the way he says it is, from now on, you'll be catching men. And it said with such certainty, hey, from now on, this is what's going to happen. And he's already shown his credibility. Like, I know where the fish are. I know how to catch fish, and I know how to catch men. Right one. There's so many around me, I got to get on a boat to fish. But there's a credibility seen in Jesus. I'll show you that I can be trusted. Let's go fishing. You don't think I know where the fish are? Let's go fishing, and I know where the men are. There's a credibility. Not only can you put out your boat in deeper water, you can also leave that boat and follow me. He shows him the credibility. He can be trusted. So listen, this is what I want you to know. Be developed by Christ through being obedient to Christ. Be developed by Christ through being obedient to Christ. Sometimes there's conversations with christians who feel like, I'm just not growing and I want to press in. Are you being obedient to the little things, the everyday things? Because there is a promise. Follow me, and I will make you. I will develop you. Listen. Be developed by Christ through being obedient to Christ. And it doesn't matter if you're top of your class or you have a corner office or what skills you have or don't have. It's not about who you are. It's about who he is. And he is somebody who can do anything through anybody. If we don't get that, you're either going to get lost in pride thinking that you don't need Jesus and you can do this on your own, or you're going to get lost in despair just feeling like nobody could ever do anything with you. And Christianity offers this kind of. This beautiful twist or solution because what the world tells you is you can do anything that you want. But church, that's not true. You can't do anything that you want. You have limits. But the response to that reality is not despair. Christianity comes along and says, no, you can't do anything that you want. You are a sinner. You are a finite human being with limits. And I want you, and I love you and I'll do something with you. It's beautiful because, listen, this isn't about you. This isn't about what you can and can't do. This isn't about what you are or aren't capable of. This is about Jesus and what he's capable of. And he is capable of taking a fisherman and making him a leader of a revolution, and he's capable of taking anybody and developing them into who he wants them to be. This is about the power of Jesus. Now, if the question is just how did Peter become a disciple of Jesus? You see it in humble, progressive obedience. He just kept saying yes to Jesus. And if I just could maybe sidetrack here and give a challenge to you, just keep saying yes to Jesus. Whatever it is. Put your yes on the table. Whatever Jesus is calling you to do, even if it's a situation like you see in the story, it's like, I don't know if this makes sense to me, and I think I know what I'm talking about. Say yes to Jesus. Even if I am tired and exhausted and I've been working, say yes to Jesus. What is it that you want? You want me to confess sin? You want me to repent? You want me to evangelize it? You want me to pray? You want me to read my Bible? You just keep saying yes to Jesus. Now, you could get more detailed in this text. There's important components to becoming a Christian or a disciple. In this account, you could say that Peter trusted and obeyed Jesus. That he did. You could say that Peter acknowledged his own unworthiness. He did that I'm a sinner. You'd say that he changed his way of life to share in the work of ministry. He did that. Like, all of those are important components to becoming a disciple. And if you just want to look at the mechanics of it, like, what did Peter do to become a follower of Jesus? That's it. That's what he did. But if we got beyond that and not just say, how did he become a disciple, but how could he become a disciple? Like, what makes it possible for someone like Peter, someone like you, someone like me to become a follower of Jesus? Look back at verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it referring to this massive catch. He fell down at Jesus knees saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, o Lord. Now that's a very understandable response. This expression of a man of God would surely not want anything to do with me. We don't mix. You don't know who I am. I'm just this working man. I'm just this fisherman. You're obviously somebody special. And he's saying, depart from me. I'm just a sinner. And it's interesting that Jesus calls Peter to follow him after he gives him his best day of business ever. Because you would think a more opportune time is when he's over washing his nets after toiling all night and not catching anything. That's when he's rethinking his life's decisions, right? That would have been the opportunity to be like, hey, ever thought of a career change? Right? But he doesn't do that. He says, let's go fishing. He takes them out, and he gives them a ridiculous catch. Not ridiculous. A miraculous catch of fish. Not just like, hey, let me show you that I know something about fishing. Because like I said, jesus is not showing Peter that he knows where the fish are. Jesus is trying to show Peter who he is. So he makes this catch that's ready to sink their boats. And at that, at that prophet sitting in their boats, then he says, you want a career change? And it's scary, because if Jesus is this guy who can do these miracles, then there's no limit to what he can rightly ask me to do. And this is what Jesus response to Peter when he says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, Jesus simply says, do not be afraid. And that's really comforting. But not afraid of what exactly? And not afraid of how come? Well, like, why don't you need to be afraid? And I want to connect this call that Jesus gives Peter not to be afraid to two phrases in our story, depart from me and left everything. Because depart from me is a comment coming from fear. Like, we don't fit. Like, you're holy, I'm a sinner, depart from me. And Jesus says, don't be afraid. But left everything is an expression of courage. So how does this command to not be afraid? How is that connected to depart from me? And how is that connected to left everything? Do you remember a few weeks back, we talked about, there's a saying when you read the gospels, that everybody should read the gospels backwards. It doesn't literally mean read the gospels backwards. It means when you read the gospels, you got to read it with the end in mind. You should read everything in the shadow of the cross. You should read everything knowing what Jesus accomplished. And when you do, like, if you were just reading the gospels and you didn't know how it ended and you got to the end and you saw it would be like, oh, so much more. Makes sense. But if you know how it ends and you know what Jesus accomplished on the cross, that cast a shadow or a light on everything that happens in the gospels, that gives it new life. So when you look at this account in the shadow of the cross and he's saying, depart from me. I'm a sinner. And Jesus says, oh, no, don't be afraid. What's he saying? I mean, Peter, this self professed sinner should not be afraid of this miracle worker in his boat because he's not there to condemn sinners but to save them. And this thing of, like, depart from me, Jesus is like, oh, no, no, no. That doesn't have to take place anymore. This separation from a sinning person and a holy God. I got the solution for that. So set that to the side, Peter, like, that's a poor excuse. You can totally follow me. We can totally be in relationship. I know that you're a sinner, and I know that I'm holy, but I got that covered. It's grace. It's the cross. His grace is sufficient for you. He paid the penalty for your sin. It takes that kind of fear away. You don't have to fear a holy God when you've been reconciled to a holy God through the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, I know it's Memorial Day, but that's, like, good news, okay? Like, he's like, no, don't be afraid. But also, you get this. Peter left everything, and don't be afraid. It's also connected to don't be afraid to trust me with your whole life. Don't be afraid to leave everything for my sake. Don't cling to the things of this world. You can trust me. Don't fear for your security. Don't fear for your provision. Don't fear for your worth and value. Trust me. This is that saying of Jesus of lose your life for my sake, and you'll find it. That's Peter. That's this story. He's modeling that I lost my life as a fisherman for Jesus sake. And I found it. I found a better life in Jesus Christ. It's grace. It's grace. It's modeled in the cross by Jesus himself. Jesus willingly goes to a cross and lays down his life out of love for the glory of God. And what happens? God raises him from the dead, seats him on the throne. He's like, there's resurrection life. You can lose your life for my sake. You can trust Christ with your life. He knows how to take care of you like his credibility is seen in this story. I know where the fish are. Let me show you that before me. I know where the men are. Like, you can trust me. I have credibility that you can follow me. So listen, guys, it's not about who you are. It's not. It's not a valid excuse. Whatever your shortcomings are, whatever your successes are, whatever your personality is, whatever you do or don't do for a living, whatever you think you're capable of or not capable, it's not about who you are. It's about who he is. And he is somebody who can do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. He can be trusted. He's somebody. Listen to me. He's somebody who can forgive you. He's somebody who can redeem you. He's somebody who can change you. He's somebody who can transform you, is Jesus. And as we remember the sacrifice of Christ, he was hung on a cross. His blood was shed on our behalf. You need to know that his grace is sufficient for you. You don't have to fear his presence. You don't have to depart from him because he's reconciled you back to himself. His grace is sufficient to pardon you from your sin, but it's also sufficient to transform you in your lifestyle. Don't be afraid to trust this self sacrificing savior with all of your life, to trust and obey him in all the little things in life and the big things in life. And trust him in the promise that if you follow me, I'll make you, I'll develop you, I'll change you. Church, if we can be people who trust Christ like that, we will experience the power of Christ. We'll get a front row seat to his glory. Don't be the guy who won't let Jesus use your boat. Don't be the guy that thinks he knows more than Jesus and says no to a fishing trip. Because if you say yes to those little things, you'll see the power of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you wake us up from our own ignorance and pride, that we would say yes to you and all the little things of life, that we would follow you knowing that you know more than we do and that you have a life for us. I pray that you would help us see the cross through these elements of communion that remind us of your sacrifice and that we would be reminded of your trustworthiness. That your grace is sufficient to pardon all our sin and that your sacrificial love reinforces that you are somebody worth following. We trust you with everything. We pray this in your name. Amen.