“And as (Jesus) walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17. Then Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fisher’s of men. 18. They immediately left their nets and followed Him.”
We know from the first chapter of John that these two men had already had an encounter with Jesus. In this text he gives them a call to do a different kind of fishing. They were now to fish for men. Three things occurred to me about this text that pertains to all who encounter Jesus and hear His call. First, Jesus saw them. You might be thinking, well, duh, of course He did. But hang on a minute; I have a point here for you: Jesus sees you too. We need to remember that we are never out of the sight of Jesus. He sees what we are doing in our daily tasks, just as He saw Simon and Andrew, and then a little farther on Jesus saw James and John. Jesus has his eye on you, and He wants you as He wanted these men. Second, Jesus gave them work to do. They would still be fishing, but now they would be fishing for people. Jesus called them from that profession to fish for people, but He does not call everyone to leave their profession. In fact, Jesus calls us to fish for people in our daily lives. The Christian life is not just about church, revival meetings, etc. It is about “casting our nets” for Him as we encounter people on a daily basis. The first thing that He calls us to do is to live Christian lives before people in order for them to see His light shining from us. When we speak to them about Jesus, they can see Him in our countenance. Third, it is important to note these men immediately followed Jesus. I think that after their encounter with Jesus in John, Jesus gave them time to think about what He wanted with them. Then, Jesus called them to be witnesses for Him, and they did not hesitate. We should not hesitate to be witnesses for Jesus. All of us can tell about what Jesus has done in our lives. But I can’t tell you how Jesus has called you to ‘’fish” for people. Just obey His command, and do as He leads you to “fish.” I want you to take this away from this article: Jesus is aware of you. He has work for you to do, and it is up to you to “immediately” follow Him. Bro. Joe .
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3. To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep name, and leads them out.
27. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28. And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I found this saying the “Quotable Quotes” section of the Reader’s Digest: “Nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.” (Kate Dicamello) I do not know Ms Dicamello’s philosophy of life, nor do I know her theology, but she spoke the truth in this sentence. When I read it, my mind went to John and the two verses quoted above. In verse 3, the good shepherd “calls his own sheep by name.” In the passage Jesus refers to Himself as the “Good Shepherd.” Jesus loves you and He knows your name. This should cause us to rejoice. In verse 27a, Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice…” We need listening ears and willing hearts to hear the voice of Jesus when He calls our names. I can’t explain how we can know His voice, but we can distinguish His voice. If you haven’t heard His voice, it is because you have not been listening. In fact, the sounds of the world might have muted His voice. In verse 27b, Jesus said: “I know them…” Jesus knows our hearts. I think that He hears is our “heart cries.” Jesus also knows whether or not we are listening for His “still small voice” in our hearts and minds. It should give us great pause that Jesus is aware of us and that He is aware of whether or not we are paying attention Him. It is important for us to give a faith response to Him, for this is how He knows us in a saving relationship. In verse 27c, Jesus said: “…and they follow me…” When Jesus’ earliest disciples heard His call, they immediately followed Him. I know that they had talked with Jesus earlier, but His call at their workplace at the Sea of Galilee, was the call to surrender their lives to Him. Jesus calls us to follow Him in every aspect of our lives, not just in church on Sunday. Are you truly following the One who knows your name? In verse 28, Jesus said: “And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” The “man” here in the KJV text is italicized, which means that it is understood, but not translated. It can mean “anyone.” This is a promise that we should take closely to our hearts. It is a great promise of the One Who knows our names, and wants to give us His Name. Bro. Joe “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not yourself in any wise to do evil.”
The word for “rest” can also be translated as “be still.” My interpretation is that the word basically calls upon God’s people to relax and wait patiently for the Lord to do His work. The reminder here, as was given in verses 1-2, is not to worry about those who prosper through evil means. The meaning is that God wants us to relax and not worry about the people who seem to be winning by devious deeds. Instead we are to trust in the lord, delight in Him and commit ourselves to Him and relax and trust Him. My thoughts on this: We might as well relax because the world is always going to act like the world. This does not mean that we should not take steps to make things better in the world. It does mean that we live in a fallen world and after we have done all that we can do it is still a fallen world. History tells us that this is true. Biblical history tells us that this is true. Our task is to witness to people by living the Christian life and by telling them what Christ has done in our lives and leave the results to God. This is not a call to resignation and to throw up our hands and say “it’s no use.” It is a call to supremely trust in the Lord to act in His own time. Then David reminds us that we are to wait patiently for God to act. This can also be translated to “wait expectantly” for the Lord. This reminds us that God is taking care of things, and is going to take care of things in the future. The evil people of the world think that they are winning, but the reality is that the world is heading for a day reckoning. We have to wait patiently and expectantly because these things are in God’s hands, not ours. We can wait expectantly because we have a promise in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” The world is in bigger hands than ours, and our lives are in greater hands than our own. This is not a call to resignation, but a call to greater faith in the Lord.. We are to work for righteousness, being sure that we are in God’s will and that the victory is already won by our faith in Christ. Then David reminds us that we are not to be overcome with anger and end up trying to defeat evil by our own devices. Notice the wording: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.” We are bound to get angry about some things, but we need to bring it under control and don’t say or do too much. Sometimes we would do better if we would shut up and let God be God. We need God’s wisdom to know when to speak and when to shut up, and when to act and when not to act. Relax. You are in God’s great hands!!!! Believe it! Bro. Joe “Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. 6. And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday.”
All of us have commitments.. Having a job is a commitment. Marriage is a commitment. Buying a house is a commitment. We make commitments all of the time. David advised us to be committed to the Lord in which we delight. The most important commitment that we can make is our commitment to the Lord. “Commit your way” means to commit your life. When Jesus called His first disciples, He commanded commitment from them. Their commitment was so complete that eleven of the original twelve (minus Judas) gave up their livelihoods and followed Him. (Something to ponder: What are we willing to give up to follow Jesus?) “Commit your way” refers to our lifestyle, that is, Jesus changes the way we live. Of course, we have to grow into the Christian lifestyle. I know that I have gone through some rough edges in my growth process. But I will say that my life is much better than it would have been if I had not committed myself to Jesus. Notice that I referred to my commitment to Jesus. That is our first commitment. Because of this, I committed myself to Chrian ministry. That is my story. He might have called you to be the best house painter that you can be. We are to live the Christian life before others in whatever occupation to which we have been called.. What does it mean that when we “trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” This can also be translated that “He will act.” When we commit ourselves to a trusting relationship with Jesus, He will save us and use us in His service. To me, being saved and serving Jesus is the bottom line. That is what He asks of us in our commitment to Him. Verse 6 makes a promise that will come with our commitment to the Lord. First, it says that “He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light.” My mind went immediately to Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men (and women) that they will see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Second, the implication of the next statement, “and our judgment (justice) as the noonday,” is that our fairness will be as bright as the noonday sun. My interpretation of this is when we treat people right and fairly, that will make our lights shine. Frankly, if I missed the point in this interpretation, what I wrote is still true. Well, that leads me to ask you an important question: What and to whom are you committed? Is your commitment to Jesus greater than your commitment to your favorite football team? (“Uh oh, I done gone to meddling.”) If you are committed to Jesus, all of your other commitments will be better. “Commit your way unto the Lord” is not a suggestion. (Ask Christians in Iran or China!!!! Just something to think about....) Bro. Joe “Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
We go from not fretting, refraining from envy, to trusting the Lord. Now the psalm takes an unexpected turn. David tells us that we are to delight in the Lord. I chased the word “delight” down to its Hebrew root and discovered that it means the same thing in Hebrew that it does in English, it means to enjoy and to take pleasure in something or someone. (duh?) I had to ask myself if I really enjoy God. Have you ever really thought about enjoying God? As I thought about it, I remembered all of the times that I go to Him in prayer. I get up in the morning thinking of Him and talking to Him. When I am about to go to sleep at night, I talk to Him. Yes, I enjoy God. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk to Him whenever I want. I take pleasure in His presence in my life. I will admit that there are times when I don’t enjoy Him, and that is when I disappoint Him in some way. It is like when I knew that I had done something that would disappoint my mother. I knew that she would not stop loving me, but I sure did dread the idea is that what I did might have broken her heart, and the discipline that I knew would follow. But even the discipline of God reminds us that He loves us. Be honest: Do you really enjoy the Lord? I also had to ask myself if I really take pleasure in God? The answer is a resounding YES. I take pleasure in the Lord, because He is my constant companion and friend. Jesus promised to never leave us. He has given us His Spirit to be with us all of the time. I take pleasure in the fellowship that I have with God on a daily basis. I take pleasure in worshiping Him and thanking Him for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do as long as I live. After that, because of faith in Jesus Christ I enjoy His presence for all eternity. Yes I take pleasure in God. He has done the same thing for you that He has done for me. Take pleasure in the fellowship that you can have with Him on a daily basis. You do not take pleasure in God if you think of Him only on Sunday. You certainly do not take pleasure in Him if you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Based on all that I have written can you say that you delight in God? The promise is that when we delight ourselves in God, He will give us the desires of our heart. This does not mean that He will give us all we want. What it does mean is that when He is our delight the desires of our heart have to do with our relationship with Him. If that disappoints and bores you, you are not delighting in the Lord. Think about it. Bro. Joe “Trust in the Lord, and do good, so that you may dwell in the land, and verily you will be fed.”
Before I deal with the personal aspect of this verse, let me make clear what “so that you may dwell in the land, and verily you will be fed” means. This is a covenant promise to Israel that if they trusted God and did good, they would dwell securely in the Promised Land. This applies to us in our personal lives as well. We can dwell securely in the Lord when we trust in Him and “do good.” Now let’s go back to the first of the verse and see what is there to encourage us. David wrote that we should “trust in the Lord.” In the first two verses, he admonished them not to fret and envy. The best way to do this is to trust in the Lord. Let me share my thoughts with you about trusting in the Lord: (1) We can trust the omnipotence of God. This means that He is all-powerful. In Christ, we are offered this power for our lives. He has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live in His power. Trust that the power of the Lord can be operative in your life. (2) We can trust the omniscience of God. This means that He is all-knowing. There is nothing about us that God does not know. The very hairs of our heads are numbered. Whatever is happening in our lives now, God knows all about it, and is working through the Holy Spirit to lead us to rejoice, or to overcome. It is by trusting God that we are victors. (3) We can trust in the all-presence of God. Believe me, God does not forsake us. It seems like it sometimes, but He is with us. He is with us in the good and the bad. Trust in the presence of God through His Holy Spirit. That is a promise to believers. If you haven’t trusted your life to the Lord, pause now and invite Jesus into your life. David wrote that we should “trust in the Lord, and do good.” This is a principle that has a thread throughout the Bible. Let me share with you what Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 2:8-10 to illustrate what I mean: “For by grace are you saved through faith (trust); and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. 9. Not of works lest any man should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” Trust in the Lord comes first, then come the good works that are “before ordained by God.” We have to give credit for our salvation through trusting in the Lord. Being saved is not a self-help project. We have to give credit for the good things that we do to the Lord. We should not brag about “doing good.” It is by God’s grace that we can be saved, and by His grace that we can serve Him. Are you trusting in the Lord? Do you really believe that you can, indeed, trust your entire life to Him? It is like diving off of a diving board and trusting the water to catch you. It is like a little child jumping into his or her father’s arms. They know that dad will catch them. Another word for this is “surrender.” Just surrender your life to Him, knowing that He is waiting for you with open arms. He is in the forgiving business, and we can rely on the fact of His forgiveness when we sincerely come to Him in repentance. “Trust in the Lord, and do good…” What more need I write? Bro. Joe “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity. 2. For they shall soon be shut down like the grass and wither as the green herb.”
Psalm 37 is one of my favorite psalms. If you are a regular CouchPotatoRedux reader, you know that I write a lot of my blogs from the Psalms. A few just stand out to me, and this is one of those. For the next few days I will be sharing with you from the first few verses of this psalm. I hope that you will gain some spiritual insight from them as I have over the years. Verses 1-2 remind us that we are not to fret ourselves because of wicked people, we are not to be envious of the “workers of iniquity." We are also reminded that they will be cut down like grass. I wondered where I would go with this, because our lives are not consumed with those people as much as we are consumed with the needs of our own lives. I want to pick up three themes from these two verses and share my thoughts on them with you. The first thing that David reminds us of is not to fret. Today, we are more likely to say worry instead of fret. We should not let the “evildoers,” like Isis, be causes of worry for us. Worry won’t change those evil-acting people. Instead of worrying about them, we should pray for them. Pray for God to give them dreams, or some encounter with Christians who will witness to them. Maybe instead of those Christians losing their heads, the “evildoers” will lose their hearts to Jesus. In any case, we just need to stop worrying and fretting about anything. If I was a betting man (relax I’m not lol) I would bet that you worry more about children, grandchildren, illness, etc. more than you worry about Isis. In Matthew 6:33-34, Jesus said “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for these things (food, clothing, etc.) for the morrow shall take thought for things of itself. Sufficient unto today is the evil thereof.” The second thing that David reminds us of is not “to be envious of the workers of iniquity.” Those workers of iniquity will have to answer to God for their greed. Why should we envy people who get rich off of the drug trade? Why should we envy their big cars and big houses? (Just saying) Here again, I imagine that our worry with envy is in our daily lives, where we envy our neighbors who have more than we do, whether they be “workers of iniquity” or not. We should not be envious ---- period. The last commandment of the Ten Commandments, tells us not to covet anything that belongs to our neighbor. There is not a hair’s breadth between coveting and envying. James warns us in his epistle of envy: “But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” The third thing that David reminds us is that all of the evil works of the world, and all of the world’s riches are all temporary: “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” First Peter 1:24-25 is a stark reminder of this: “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof fades away. 25. But the word of Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.” What have we learned from these two verses: (1) Do not fret and worry. (2) Do not envy. (3) Nothing in this world lasts forever; therefore, fret, worry and envy are just a waste of the precious little time that we have on this earth. Let’s give ourselves to higher things. Bro. Joe “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 17. For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.” Beauchamp translation: “He can’t take it with him…”
Echoing the above text, Job said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, praise the name of the Lord.” The great figure of the Reformation, Martin Luther, wrote: “Many things I have tried to grasp and have lost. That which I have placed in God’s hands I still have.” The point here is that there is nothing that you can amass in this world that you can take to the grave or to your eternal destiny with you. One of my favorite sayings is that: “You never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.” I want you to stop and think about this with me: When we die, it will not matter to us what kind of clothes they bury us in. It will not matter to us what kind of house we lived in, whether a mansion or a hovel. It will not matter whether we were considered winners or losers. It will not matter to us whether we were rich or poor. The only thing that will matter to us then is whether or not Jesus Christ was our Savior. The stuff that we accumulate here will lose its significance to us if we will just stop and think of how temporary it is. I read about a preacher who had been in the ministry for over fifty years. He had all of the paraphernalia of those years in the ministry stored in his basement. This would include Bibles, sermon notes, records of marriages and funerals, awards that he had received, etc. One day a water pipe burst in his basement and everything stored there was totally destroyed. He wrote that he sat on the basement stairs and looked at the mess and cried. As he did this he began to think about what had really counted in all of these years of ministering to people. He decided that all that he had lost in the basement was just “stuff.”It was stuff that he had accumulated, but the fact that it was destroyed by water proved that it was not eternal. What really counted was all of the people who had become Christians during his ministry. What really counted was all the lives that God had used him to touch through personal ministry, e.g. preaching, teaching, weddings, funerals, etc. He was then able to drain the water from the basement and clean up the mess without a great deal of regret. He just realized that if he could hold it in his hands and call it “his,” it was not eternal and would not go with him to heaven. Thinking of this, I remembered that no one has ever come up to me years after I left their church and said, “Bro. Joe I will always remember the second point of that gem of a sermon that you preached thirty years ago.” What they do remember, and were blessed by, was that I was there when their father died, or when they were having problems in their family and I came and prayed with them, or when I witnessed to their children and they accepted Jesus as their Savior. These are the things that are “written up” in eternity. What is the “stuff” that you hold so dear to your heart? They might be precious family heirlooms, or expensive baubles, but you cannot take them with you when you go. One fellow who had a very wealthy friend who died, was asked by another friend, “how much did Sam leave?” His answer was “all of it.” Exactly!!!! Think about it. Bro. Joe “And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind (Jesus), and touched the hem of His garment. 21. For she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole. 22. But Jesus turned about, and when He saw her, He said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”
Jesus was on the way to the house of a :synagogue ruler, named Jairus in Mark and Luke’s account, to raise his daughter from death, when He was interrupted by a woman who had suffered from an issue of blood (losing blood) for twelve years.(Wow what a long sentence. lol) In Luke’s account we are told that she “had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any.” (Luke 8:43) Her situation was desperate, and she came to the right person at the right time. I want to share with you what I saw in this miracle that can bless us. First, Jesus was her best and last hope. She had been losing blood for twelve years, and there was no cure for her. She just knew that if she could just touch Jesus’ garment, she could be healed. In the press of the crowd I think that she actually fell and touched the “hem of His garment.” This touch saved her life. Perhaps you have some things in your life that need healing. Reach out in prayer and touch Jesus. Second, Jesus reacted to her faith, for He said to her: “Your faith has made you well.” Notice that she possibly did not know that it was a touch of faith. She just knew that Jesus could help her. Here is what we need to see: Jesus always reacts to faith. I don’t know how we would measure faith, but I know that it does not take a whole lot of faith to encounter the power of Jesus. We are saved by faith. We are sustained by Faith. We are enabled to serve Jesus by faith. And we can find help for our lives through faith. Like the woman, we just need to reach out and touch Him in prayer. Third, Jesus gave her His time. She actually interrupted Jesus as he was going to the house of one of the “rulers of the synagogue.” Jairus was an important man, but Jesus took the time to stop and deal with the stricken woman. Jesus did not say to her, “I’m on my way to the ruler of the synagogue’s house. I don’t need an interruption.” Jesus welcomes interruptions. He always has time for us. He is always concerned about our lives. There is so much more that could be written about this incident. I did not even touch “the hem of the garment” of this incident. (Pun intended!) What I have shared should be an encouragement to you to reach out and touch Jesus by faith today. Bro. Joe (By the way, Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus from death.) |
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