Someone has said, “We are ready to forget 10,000 mercies in the face of a single difficulty!” I have certainly found that to be true. We want God to deliver us, to come though and we want it right now! One of my biggest challenges is patience, waiting on God to answer. When we are in need will He come through? We believe in His love and we believe in His power…as long as it’s about someone else’s problems or needs. But what about our needs? Does He care? Can He act? I love the short account in Luke 5:1-9. Let’s read it. “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 fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simons, 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 this they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boats to come and help them. And they came and filled both of 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 the fish that they had taken.”

The first thing to notice is that we are never God’s debtor. Jesus used Peter’s boat. It may have been during a time that Peter would have been fishing from it and that is how he made his living. Was Jesus going to borrow the boat without re-paying him? Oh, He pays him all right! By far the largest catch that Peter and his partners had ever seen! To the point that the filled all of their boats and the boats started sinking! Jesus is Lord of all creation! Brothers and sisters! We can never out give God! It may not be with wealth down here but we are “laying up treasure in heaven” and when Jesus greets us He will say with those wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”! He promises and His promises always come true! He notices each thing you do for Him, every little sacrifice. Are you sacrificing material gain now in order to serve the Lord? He sees, He is keeping a record. He also sacrificed heaven to come down and suffer for you. When you see Him face to face it will all be worthwhile. So my word to you today is , “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”.

In my next message we will look at how our natural abilities and reasonable expectations get in the way of trusting God.

Pastor Terry