Text: Ezekiel 47:9-10
(9) And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
(10) And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
Matthew 4:18-20
(18) And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
(19) And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(20) And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
“Ray Blankenship looked out of his window one morning to see a little girl being swept along in a rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his home. He knew that further downstream the ditch disappeared underneath the road and emptied into the main culvert. Nobody could survive that! He raced along the side of the ditch trying to get ahead of the child. Finally, he hurled himself into the water. When he surfaced he was able to grab her. The two tumbled head-over-heels, and then, within three feet of the culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protruding from the bank – a tree limb! He clung to it desperately while the force of the water kept trying to tear him and the child away. Amazingly by the time the fire department arrived, Ray had pulled her to safety. As both were being treated for shock it was discovered just how much of a hero Ray was: Ray Blankenship couldn’t swim!”[1]
This world is full of lost souls swept along a drainage ditch of sin heading to their eternal demise in the lake of fire.
The church needs people who are willing to hurl themselves selflessly into the raging waters, grab hold of the drowning and bring them safely to shore.
Ray Blankenship didn’t know how to swim and while he was courageous for what he did, it could have very well ended in tragedy for the little girl and himself.
There could have been a double funeral.
I want to talk to you tonight about the Church and our responsibility to Jesus and People.
We need to be soulwinners and soulkeepers.
To make converts and to then make them disciples.
Often, when we speak of soulwinning, discipleship or outreach to today’s Apostolic Church their response is one of panic, fear, timidity.
It’s as if we are asking them to jump into a raging river without and swimming lessons.
As a movement, we are now entering our 3rd, 4th, 5th and sometimes even 6th or 7th generation of the Renewed Apostolic Church.
And while we are reaping in this era of blessing, as we share in the sure mercies of David, we find that this generation of Apostolics are exactly what we have made them.
They are not people of the world.[2]
They have become products of our pulpits.
They are people who have been trained for three or four generations to stay away from the world.
AND, they were faithful and obedient to the teaching of their pastor.
For the most part, neither they, their parents or grandparents have issues with alcohol, illegal drugs, illicit lifestyles, immoral behavior, or immodesty.
They have been trained to have little or no tolerance for sin — and that has often resulted into an intolerance of sinners.
Then we tell them, “Wade out into the middle of a world that practices all these things and somehow find a way to reach them for Jesus.”
People we’ve been unintentionally training you to avoid.
How can they possibly relate to the world, when we have not taught them to love the world as God loves them?
John 3:16-17, “(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
- The inhabitants of the world:
1 John 2:15-16 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
- The world system: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
Parable of the Fishless Fishermen
By: John M. Drescher
Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.
Year after year these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.
Continually they searched for new and better definitions of fishing. They sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing.
These fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called “Fishing Headquarters.” The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. One thing they didn’t do, however; they didn’t fish.
They organized a board to send out fishermen to where there were many fish. The board was formed by those who had the great vision and courage to speak about fishing, to define fishing, and to promote the idea of fishing in far-away streams and lakes where many other fish of different colors lived.
Also the board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the staff and committee members did not fish.
Expensive training centers were built to teach fishermen how to fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology, but the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, graduates were sent to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters filled with fish.
Further, the fishermen built large printing houses to publish fishing guides. A speaker’s bureau was also provided to schedule special speakers on the subject of fishing.
Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded, and were sent to fish. But like the fishermen back home, they never fished.
Some also said they wanted to be part of the fishing party, but they felt called to furnish fishing equipment. Others felt their job was to relate to the fish in a good way so the fish would know the difference between good and bad fishermen.
After one stirring meeting on “The Necessity for Fishing,” a young fellow left the meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported he had caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it.
So he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen’s General Board as a person having considerable experience.
Now it’s true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen’s clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished.
They wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master who said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?”
Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who didn’t catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish?
Drescher went on to write:
- Insulation has turned into isolation.
- Separation has become segregation.
- Outreach looks more like inreach.
- Preaching the word sounds like preaching to the choir.
- Sharing the gospel consists of joining hands with the person across the aisle to give them a word of cheer or encouragement instead of reaching the lost with truth.
- Our beacon of light has been confined to sanctuary chandeliers rather than placed in lighthouses along the shore. Our worship seeks for applause from the church when it should be looking for its affect on the unchurched.[3]
Fishing trip to Missouri with Dad & Ben.
God, in His love and wisdom has given The Church the same thing He has always given to those who sincerely want to serve and please Him:
- Mercy = time to repent
- Grace = space to grow
There is a heaviness in the world today, but there is also an answer to that burden
The burden of the lost.
When was the last time you lost sleep over the lost: the lost in your family, on your job, in the market, or at the park?
To cast off that feeling of heaviness we must learn to do and pursue what it is that brings joy to the Lord:
- Luke 15:6, “And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
- Luke 15:10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
- Luke 15:21-24, “(21) And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. (22) But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: (23) And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: (24) For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
When the Church is actively pursuing, as a body, lost sheep, sinners and wayward children, then it will find its fulfillment in the joy of the Lord.
Sometimes joy is observed in the favor of God. The grace of God. But grace isn’t always what you expect it to be.
Sometimes the fisherman has a long day with no fish caught, hooks in fingers, lines get crossed, lures lost, rain pours, and there’s always “the one that got away.” Not every fishing trip is a success.
If grace is simply unmerited favor then explain the experiences that are not favorable (sickness, death, poverty, persecution).
Paul wrote that Grace has with it the element of instruction:
Titus 2:11-14, “(11) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
The trial of your faith, rejection of those you love, and betrayal of those you trust are working in you God’s Grace and His Divine Love in those weary moments of fishing.
Romans 5:3-5, “(3) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope: (5) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
- Grace and Love work together
2 Peter 1:1-11, Peter spoke of taking on the Divine Nature and it ends in Divine Love (agape):
(1) Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: (2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, (3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
When God’s Grace and His Divine Love are active in your life then you experience The Fisherman’s Delight.
It won’t matter how many years you’ve been in the Church, or how many generations of apostolics you have in your family tree.
When you have His Grace and His Divine Love you will not forget where the Lord found you, and that will make you a skilled fisherman.
The Fisherman’s Delight occurs when the Church is actively catching hungry souls and seeing their lives change.
It is a powerful reminder of how lost we really were when Jesus saved us, and that brings joy to our heart.
[1] Story Source: Paul Harvey. (1989). Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
[2] All italicized lettering written by John M. Drescher. https://www.missionmindedfamilies.org/blog/Drescher, or Mark Jordan
[3] End italicized lettering written by John M. Drescher, or Mark Jordan.
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 