Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
Luke 5:1-11 primary text read aloud; Peter's call and the miraculous catch of fish
1 Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
2 He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
3 He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.”
6 When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking.
7 They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”
9 For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught;
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Luke 18 (parable of the Pharisee and tax collector)
read aloud to illustrate trusting in God's righteousness rather than one's own
1 He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
2 saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
3 A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
4 He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.
7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
15 They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
17 Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
18 A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”
21 He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”
22 When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.
24 Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we have left everything, and followed you.”
29 He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”
31 He took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.
32 For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.
33 They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
34 They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.
35 As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.
36 Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.
37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Revelation 3:20
quoted to show God stands at the door and knocks, inviting relationship rather than forcing it
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Colossians 2 (walk in him, rooted and built up)
read as a closing benediction about walking in Christ as you received him
1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
4 Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
7 rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
18 Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23 Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Carl preached from Luke 5:1-11, the account of Jesus calling Peter at the Sea of Galilee. The single theme he came back to again and again was trust, the kind that grows through relationship and draws a person closer to Jesus one act of obedience at a time.
What was said
People respond to Jesus in all kinds of ways. Looking back through Luke, Pastor Carl pointed to the crowd in Jesus' hometown that was ready to throw him off a cliff, the people in Capernaum who were amazed at his authority, and Peter's mother-in-law who got up from her sickbed and immediately served him a meal. Every response is different, and the question he put to the congregation was not just how other people responded, but how we respond when God is reaching out to us through his Son.
What struck him as he prepared was that Peter's response in Luke 5 was simply trust. Not indifference, not argument, just a willingness to do what Jesus asked. Pastor Carl said he is convinced that happened because Jesus earned it. He healed Peter's mother-in-law. He came to Peter's workplace. Each act built on the last, and that accumulated relationship is what made it possible for Peter to leave everything and follow.
He walked through the passage in order to show how trust built in steps. Letting Jesus use the boat was a small thing, but it was still trust. Going back out to fish in the middle of the day, tired, in front of a crowd, when they had caught nothing all night, was harder. Peter said "if you say so," and that phrase is where Pastor Carl kept landing. Each time Jesus asked and Peter obeyed, the relationship deepened and the trust grew.
When the nets came up full and Peter fell to his knees saying "Lord, please leave me, I am such a sinful man," Pastor Carl read that not only as humility but as trust in Jesus' righteousness rather than his own. He connected it to the parable Jesus told in Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector, noting that Peter, like the tax collector, was not leaning on anything he had done. That posture, he said, is the one that draws a person closer to God.
The reason the disciples' decision to leave everything and follow Jesus looks abrupt, Pastor Carl said, is that we forget everything that came before it. It was not a sudden leap. It was the natural result of a relationship that had been building, one act of trust at a time. People do not leave everything for someone they do not trust, and they do not invite others to follow Jesus if they have not first decided to follow him themselves.
He closed by pointing to Revelation 3:20, where Jesus says he stands at the door and knocks. That image, he said, is not forceful. It is an invitation, and it captures how Jesus works, winning his way into a person's life rather than demanding entry. His encouragement to the congregation was to keep building on that relationship in the small things and the big ones, because each act of trust, he said, draws us closer to the life God is offering.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Carl said that what we have with Jesus is far better than what we have without him. Do you agree with that in your own life right now, and what has helped you get to that place, or what is making it hard?
- Peter's trust in Jesus was built up through a series of small acts over time, not all at once. Can you think of a moment, big or small, where trusting Jesus with something drew you closer to him?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 3,465 words
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
