Page 129 - Back to Bethlehem 2-5-19

God. Stay out of the Godhead! Don’t try to be God! Don’t try
to do what only God can do! Be yourself, with your gifts, your
vocation, your calling, and your interests.

When you go fishing it might be sales or it might be teaching or
it might be farming or it might be inventing or it might be a
machinist or a doctor or a lawyer or a housewife. Just be who
you are and wait for Jesus to show up. It doesn’t matter if you
are selling pencils or shining shoes or going to school or if you
are retired. Until Jesus shows up, just live. If you are going to
understand the Great Commission, it begins there. Just live and
wait for Jesus.

When he went fishing God began to lay down principles of the
Great Commission. Let me show you at least three things that
Peter learned. The first thing he learned in the Great
Commission is what I’ve already mentioned; that is that I’m not
a fisherman. I’m not a soul winner. I’m not a missionary. I’m
not an evangelist. For Peter, this was a refresher course. Three
years before, he had a similar experience. On the level of earth,
he fished all night. He fished in the shallows. He was an expert
with the nets. He wasn’t lazy. He fished all night. Some
fisherman have a bad day. He had more than a bad day. When
you have a bad day you catch a few fish. He worked all night
and he caught nothing.

The first thing God teaches us in the Great Commission is that
we don’t know how to fish. John 21:5, “Jesus therefore said to
them, ‘Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” they
answered Him, ‘No.’” “Have you caught any fish,” and they
had to say, “No.” If you want to fulfill the Great Commission
you’ve got to see that you can’t do it. You can’t do it, God can
do it but He won’t. He says, “I won’t do it by myself and you
can’t do it but I will do it in union with you.

Peter learned, “I can’t do it. I’m not sufficient.” Here is the
second lesson, John 21:6, “And he said to them, ‘Cast the net
on the right-hand side of the boat, and you will find a catch.’