A Father's Greatest Gift

Luke chapter 5, but if you don't everyone has your North Way notes, and we're going to read the scripture together When make some adjustments up here in the platform I'm going to read Luke chapter 5 And I'm going to lead you, but we're all going to read together Let's read out loud shall we I'm going to when we speak the word of God out loud It's living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword All right Let's read it one day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret Can't hear you with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets He got into one of the boats the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat When he finished speaking he said to Simon put out into deep water and let down the nets for a cash Simon answered master. We've worked hard all night and haven't got anything but because you say so I will let down the nets When they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats So full that they began to sing When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus knees and said go away from me Lord. I'm a sinful man For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish They had taken and so were James and John the sons of Zebedee Simon's partners And then Jesus said to Simon don't be afraid from now on you will catch men So they pulled their boats up on shore left everything and followed him Well, we thought today being Father's Day. We'd have a little extra Sensory addition to our message How many know what this is first of all It is a True fishing boat replete with dead worms Leaves and all the rest It reminds me of boat. I just spent several hours in with our elders fishing trip We have an annual if you're new to North Way an annual weekend fishing excursion where we go up to a little island The southernmost tip of Canada and spend a couple of days Together just men bonding in the wild It looked a lot like this fact This could be one of the boats and to see that kind of boat on Lake Erie can't be a scary sight This year's fishing trip was great except for one thing The fish are hot, too They were not biting. I mean the right kind of fish the kind of fish that really count the walleye They were diving deep. We didn't catch any walleye, but we had a great time. We spent time together in fellowship We had some adventure some sort of activities I Find a new way to help people get their prayer language Have you ever had a difficulty wondering why the Holy Spirit didn't fill you with your prayer language and you wonder? well, all you have to do is be like one of our elders and Be getting out into one of these little tiny four-seater planes. We know with the wing over Full of gear and there's three of us and you're looking at how's it? Plane everybody off the ground with three guys and all this gear and you turn around and this 350 pound man's walking out and he's the fourth passenger And I watch this elder at North Way Get into the plane He introduced himself nervously and then began and I don't know that he ever had a prayer language before And as the plane revved up and how many know when it's hot it's there's less lift in the wings and This little plane. I mean the engine how long did he tried for four minutes to get the engine started and every time I did it It did it in the other was no. Thank you. Jesus and the guy next to like chill out, you know, chill out But God heard our prayers and the plane lifted off and We made a safe journey and that elders here in this service and I have to admit to him I was praying also just not as loud. That's all We had a great time it was a wonderful trip But we caught no fish and I said, you know what? It's a perfect backdrop for this story because this miracle that took place took place at a time When Fishermen worked all night and caught nothing And how many of you know when you're a fisherman you catch nothing. It's sort of a bad day I mean your livelihoods at stake. I want to recreate the story just a bit because when you read it Sometimes you miss some of the nuances, but what we have here is a time when Jesus Unexpectedly shows up after a long night's work. And by the way, let me just pause here as Term in terms of a backdrop. Do you know that some of the greatest miracles in your life happen? Right after what you think is some of your greatest failures Many times when things don't go the way we want or wish they would or hope they could That's when Jesus shows up to do something really special. So be encouraged I think it's a word for someone if you've been quote fishing all night and haven't caught anything Maybe the Lord's about to show up and do a great miracle in your life Now on that particular morning Peter James and John were cleaning their nets and it's a big job I mean these nets are full of crud and you know encrusted You know Help and all that stuff and they're working hard and Jesus walks up and says it's time for me to preach Now it doesn't say this in here, but I believe that Peter probably looked at us and said, wait a minute Jesus I'm not sure. This is really what you want to do But Jesus said yeah, I do want to do it. In fact Peter. I want to use your boat I mean always no accident Jesus picked Peter's boat He couldn't begin he picked Peter's boat. So they push out a little bit. Jesus gives the sermon a little question for you What was the sermon about? It's kind of like what you say after a lot of Sunday morning, isn't it? What what was the sermon about? It doesn't say right we don't know maybe it bombed you think We don't know I doubt it. But anyhow Jesus Preaches and they don't nothing is said about what he preached about But then he says Simon I want you to push your boat out a little farther now and drop the nets down for a catch Now it doesn't say this exactly but this is the nuance of the words Simon Peter looks at Jesus and he says in essence. Trust me Jesus, you know preaching but I know fishing and We fished all night and on this lake you don't catch anything in the heat of the day forget it There ain't gonna be no fish Jesus said push out and folks in that moment Peter went through what you and I all go through How many know when Jesus says for you to do something you can try to talk him out of it But in you there's a there's a battle between faith and reason You see Peter's reason said it won't ever work but his faith Prevailed and he said master at your word They pushed out a little deeper drop the nets down We don't know what the spoken word of the day was the message of the day But we know that when Jesus spoke the word in the natural realm of those fish We don't know the number but it had to be hundreds maybe thousands of fish I had never seen the fact or maybe they said never impacted me that both boats In other words James and John brought their boat out too, and they piled fish into there. Can you imagine the scene? Here's this whole crowd on the side and they're watching these fish Literally teeming thousands of fish piling into these boats until they start to sink The word that's used they're describing their reaction was the crowd was astonished the word in the Greek Thumbel means dumbfounded without speech the people literally there was a hush over the crowd as they watched this holy miracle taking place I wish I could have been there Jesus and Peter exchanged some words which we'll talk about in a minute and then Jesus looks right in Peter and says now Your whole life's gonna change Come and follow me and everything did Peter had what I want to call a defining moment right there And I want to believe something this morning men. Listen, I'm talking primarily to men today. I Believe God would have some of you have a defining moment today Because there's a question that every man needs to answer and ladies you can get in on this but I want to direct it to the men Men who is the captain of your boat? I'm not asking you. Do you have Jesus in your heart now? I'm asking you who's the captain of your boat? I'm not talking about you know Have you come to Christ for forgiveness of sins and do you know that you'll be with the Lord for eternity? I'm not asking that question. The question I'm asking is who's really directing your life and the core activities Of what your life is about As a man as a person in the marketplace as A dad who's the captain of your boat who's calling the shots and giving the direction? You See what will happen to you when you make the decision to put Jesus at the helm of your boat At the core activities of your life Is that God will break some things loose and I want to demonstrate them to you number one the Bible says That God will make you a success. You're gonna catch some serious fish Now I asked some people in the first service what kind of fish this was someone said a rainbow trout Well, I told Susie just get a big fish this is what you got but it represents success number one on your outline success Jesus says if you'll trust me men with the core activity of your life. I'll bring you success I will bring you fulfillment according to the design that I've crafted you to be Once you determine to abandon all for the sake of the call to trust God implicitly in your life in the details of your vocation Your relationships your fathering responsibilities You set in motion the eternal power of God's Word to fulfill your destiny Once you say Jesus, I surrender to your lordship at the core of my life Now men listen carefully because many of you really think you know what I'm talking about, but you haven't done this yet Once you say beyond Jesus, I trust you to forgive my sins once you say Jesus Christ at your word I'll do whatever you say with my life At the core of my being as a man as a workman and as a father All the resources of heaven start to flow toward you you begin to be able to say as Paul But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me You begin to be able to say with Paul in Philippians 419. My God shall supply all of your needs all of your needs According to his glorious resources in Christ Jesus and on and on and on you see the promises of God are Released on the trigger of faith that's pulled When you say yes to the lordship of Christ in every area of your life, and can I say men of North way? There's a fair number of us that have yet to make that decision to trust Jesus at the core Of who we are You see once you do that Immediately God begins to address the fear that's hidden down inside of you But somehow you'll never be what you were supposed to be and ladies Let me let me let you in on something as a man You know despite some of our attempts to put a good covering on the outside of law most men that you know are afraid We're afraid that we won't be what God wants us to be we're afraid that we won't be what you want us to be or need us to be We're afraid we won't match up to the standards that are being set. You know last year I am Set aside the time magazine that had fatherhood as its cover story And it says something. I think is very very accurate about what a lot of men feel these days More children will go to sleep tonight in a fatherless home than ever in the nation's history Talk to the experts in crime drug abuse depression School failure and and they can point to some study Somewhere blaming those problems on the disappearance of fathers from the American family But talk to the fathers who do stay with their families That's most of you and the story grows more complicated What they are hearing from their bosses from their institutions from the culture around them even from their own wives Very often comes down to a devastating message We don't really trust men to be parents We can't really trust them to be what we need them to be and it is a devastating message But Jesus says men trust me at the core Give me the core activities of your life and I'll empower you to be all that you need to be for your spouse For your children for your place of employment and for every other man that crosses your path But you got to begin by trusting me At the core of your being you see the problem. I see so many men today is they're trying to be godly fathers They're trying to be godly husbands and they're trying to be godly men in the marketplace, but they're trying to do it on their own strength They're trying to do it sort of they've got God in a compartment of their life But they haven't been able to say Oh Lord take control at the core be the captain of my life But men can I say once you make that decision it can be a painful one It can be hard because you're not sure what's gonna happen, but once you make it God makes you free To begin to be able to love your kids With a power that's beyond what you have God makes you free to be able to unconditionally give to them Express love that many times you find hard to give how many men here today don't put you in but you find it hard to Express love You find it hard to say, you know, Jason. I really love you. I'm so happy Sally that you're my daughter Jennifer I just couldn't be more proud to be your dad I love you if I lined up all the little girls in the world and a big long line I'd find you out and pick you out because You're the one I love the most. I Just wonder today how many of you who are adults never heard your dad tell you that And you're hurting inside today because you're longing to hear dad say to you I love you You know what, you know what happens to kids who don't hear their dad say that They start looking for it in other places And so 14 and 15 year old little girls will go out and try to find a man that will say I love you or a boy and They'll do whatever they have to do to get that boy to say And young men will go out and hang out with other men and do whatever the other men do just to hear men say hey You're cool You're one of us Yearning to have someone say I really love you Because they're trying to hear it from their dad Dad's that's why it's so important that you hear God say I Receive you I love you as you are And I want you to know that I give you my blessing and when God puts his blessing on your life And you realize that you didn't earn it that you didn't work hard to deserve it. God just gave it to you It frees you In an unbelievable way to give that same love and that same generous heart to your kids Once you receive the problem with most men is they haven't received it yet So they're trying to give out of a shallow tank Instead of an overflowing one Once you realize that the success you haven't meant how many of you know That the success you think you have because you earned it can fly away in a minute What has the greatest lesson of OJ Simpson been this week? You can have it all and lose it in a minute And the whole world at least the whole country has to look with shock and dismay And one who had it all and lost it all in a minute apparently What a lesson You see you don't have anything really unless God gives it to you You don't ever really have success men unless you have success in God's eyes and you don't have success in God's eyes until you say Lord take over the core of my life and Then you can have true success, you know people say to me Jay How do you as the pastor in North Way? And and you know folks have been saying to me the whole community is kind of buzzing about our new church And what's it all about and and people have asked me they said literally How does it feel you know to be you know? So close to finishing this project and and and being part of such a wonderful church and and being such a position of Significance right now as a church and so on you know what I say to him I quote Chuck Swindoll I say this and and and I think this is accurate when you see a turtle on a fence post Got that image in your mind You know for sure that someone placed it there He Didn't climb up there himself That's how I feel about North Way. I Didn't climb up the fence post God placed us here It's been his work and therefore I can rejoice in it. I can trust him to it and folks you can have that same confidence men in your families in your workplace In your key relationships think of the impact dads we could have if we faithfully communicated to our kids that we love them Then all that we have belongs to them because God's given it to us first Dads it's time for us to tell our kids that we do Give them all that we have because God's given it to us that we love number two the second thing that we'll get When we give all to the Lord is we'll get Security Security That's a real anchor God says once you give your life to me at the core of your being I'll put your feet on a rock and you're not going to get blown by the storms of life You see what happened with Peter was he discovered who he was and that became his identity And one of the most powerful verses and all the scripture at least to me is when Peter hears He sees this miracle of the fish He realizes he's in the presence of a holy God and the Bible says that he bows at Jesus knees and he says Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man What's he saying right there? He's saying Jesus you got the wrong man I I Don't deserve to be part of this operation. I can't be what you need me to be. You see Peter was a profane loudmouth Boisterous probably obnoxious fishermen and he realized in a moment when he saw what Jesus could do when he saw the miracle He said Jesus. I'm a sinful man, man Can I tell you the beginning point of real security in your life is knowing who you really are in the presence of God. I Hardly ever hear a man confess to me What he really is Because it's so difficult to acknowledge it in today's culture and yet I agree with a W Tozer The founder of the Christian missionary alliance movement He said that until we believe that we are as bad as God says we are We can never believe that he will do for us what he says he will do Right here is where popular religion breaks down Until we believe that we're as bad as God says we are sinners We can never believe that he will do for us what he says he will do men Listen, the beginning point of security is the identity that you gain when you come to the feet of Jesus and say Lord I'm a sinful man and the Lord looks at you and says I know and I love you anyhow And I want to declare with great joy today men. It doesn't matter What you've been what you've done where you've been All that matters is if you come to Jesus and acknowledge who you are He says I love you and accept you don't you think Peter at that moment was expecting Jesus say, you know, you're right Get out of my life out of my life, you know you You miserable scumbag get away He didn't say that. What's he say? Jesus Jesus looks Peter says Peter. I've got a plan for you And you know men the reason why it's hard for us many times to affirm our kids is we feel Somehow in the midst of that That they need to be something that they're not I Don't know what it is about us But I pick it up from time to time that there's some dads out there who who really want their kids to turn out some way that they didn't and I I even think some men are trying to live their lives over again through their kids And as I just want to say let's be courageous enough to give our kids the security of knowing that whatever their life We love them If they're not as big and athletic as we wish we love them if they're more tender and sensitive than than we were we love them if they're more interested in books and learning and That we love them and they're valuable just the way they are One of the tragedies that I've encountered from time to time where dads who are unable to say, you know I just I accept you the way you are And that is such a basis of security for every kid Dads do need to be encouraged today just to tell you a little one. Hey, it's okay to be the way you are You don't need to be the way I was It'll be so freeing for our kids when they know they're secure And their identity just who they are Otherwise, they'll keep trying to be something They're not and there's few things that are more sad than a little girl little guy trying to be something They're not just to make daddy happy Dads It's important Affirm your kids for who they are Some are hot-wired, you know, they're 220 current. They'll just you know, plug them in They just go to nine to just non-stop from 6 in the morning on 930 at night And you might be sort of a laid-back dad and quiet. You say what's with this kid? Chill out. Come on. Yeah On the other hand there might be some whose kids are or sort of tentative and cautious and you're a dad That's out there, you know, you know make another call or something, you know get them Get busy. No, well dads. We need to affirm our kids for who they are Number three the third thing that God will give If you trust him at the core of your being He'll provide not just success and security, but it also provide for you significance And I mean by that something far greater than success in the world's eyes You see the final thing that Jesus does he turns to Peter and says from now on I'm gonna make you a fisher of men Your life Peter's right now turning a corner. I have a different plan than the one you've been walking on I am opening for you a whole new door And I'm still gonna direct your life efforts that eternal things are gonna come out of you that you never dreamed possible And church, can I tell you man? Listen, you don't know when God's gonna do something really really marvelous with your life You Know these men who were up here were part of the promise keepers group and you look at this and you say well What is that all about? Well coach Bill McCartney who was the head football coach at Colorado University Tells you a story in this magazine called new man just came out Coach McCartney many of you've seen him on television if you're a football fan the Colorado Buffaloes won the national championship a few years ago 1988 just six years ago Coach McCartney was at the bottom of his life. His 19 year old daughter came home and announced that she was pregnant To the quarterback of the his football team Talk about a dilemma But the family pulled together and decided that his daughter would keep the baby and When coach McCartney publicly said that he was opposed to abortion He began began to be the object of a lot of Scorn and vilification in Colorado from a lot of pro-choice people and then the homosexual Lobby type people got involved and they've got really nasty and tragically two months after the announcement of the pregnancy the football Quarterback contracted stomach cancer and began to die And so in the midst of a very public thing where you know headlines were Week after week sort of just mocking this coach who professed Christ in the one hand But was who was in this Terrifically difficult mess in the other hand just kept coming and he slipped down Farther and farther until he cried out and said God you've got to pull me through this and the Lord did now listen The child was born the football player died They adopted the little daughter and they took her into her home their home But 18 months after that lowest moment coach McCartney's driving to Colorado University Stadium and God gives him a vision of a stadium full of men praising Jesus openly Here he is in the public eye a failure I Mean the object of scorn and ridicule and God gives him a vision of men praising Jesus And do you know that it started out with just coach McCartney and a handful of people And then he gave it 70 intercessors and just four years later 300,000 men are meeting around the United States under the banner of promise keepers And the coach says in here the most difficult thing about leading this movement is that I'm a sinner And I say coach you're right And so am I and men so are you but that doesn't keep God From using your life to his glory It doesn't keep you from having a significant impact in life, but maybe you never will lead a movement, maybe you won't start a ministry Perhaps the most significant thing you will do Would be to catch some men That are very close to you, and I just want to end this message by saying this The most important men I want to catch are the ones in my own family, and I want to ask him to come Are you here guys? You see after all when it's all said and done men if we catch the whole world and lose our own What have we really caught? And I want to say dads When you trust Jesus at the core of your life's activities He gives you a couple other fishermen sometimes to join your boat, so I'm going to gear these guys up There you go, there's your pole There's yours And my number one mission is to train These guys to be fishers and men and I have a daughter too, and she came up in the first service, but She begged forgiveness to be let go and forgiven for the second Just want to say men We got some work to do on the gear there, don't we? I Told you I'm working on this all right. This is unrehearsed Well, man All right guys, it's inside out, huh Pull that through let's we can't end this thing on a There we go all right now On all the men to stand please all the men Dads Dads to be All the men Spiritual dads I Want you to pray with me? Ladies just extend your hand toward the man that's near you or a couple of men if there's a couple on either side of you Father we pray that as men we'd have courage today Courage to make the decision to put you at the core of our life At the at the helm of our boat Lord that we would become men who trust you with the most important things to us Our manhood Our families our vocation What it is difficult to trust you at your word, but we say today as men of God At your word We'll put down the nets and what I pray for a great outpouring of success and security and Significance over this assembly of men in this service today Lord. I pray that every man here would reach his dream Put into his heart by your Holy Spirit That every man here Oh God would be lifted and encouraged in their fathering that they would face the failures and their struggles in the trials Lord with grace Knowing that they've been received by grace and they can give grace to their their little ones and to their young ones and to their even grown sons and Daughters My father I thank you That we can give it all to you and trust you at the very core of our lives Hallelujah, and let's all stand now and sing that together. I give all my family to you. Let's sing it again Family to you I give all my family to you I'm out of the car Join a hand I want to sing that again. I give all my family I give all my family My family I give all my future I give all my future to you I give all my future to you No matter the cost Or what others do I give all my future No matter the cost or what others do no matter the cost Or what others do I give all my future to you.