{"id":11129,"date":"2020-08-27T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T03:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_4_38-44-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-08-23T18:00:10","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T01:00:10","slug":"luke_5_1-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_5_1-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith is Spelled R-I-S-K"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 5:1-11\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 5:1-11.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 5:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 I like this observation by Pastor Jon Courson: he notes that back in Jesus\u2019 day fishermen would regularly wash their nets and stretch them at the end of each work day.\u00a0 That way the net would not stink or rot and would remain useful for the long-term.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0if we want to be effective nets that God can use to bring people to Him, we need to be regularly washed with the water of God\u2019s Word and stretched by His Holy Spirit often.\u00a0<\/strong>Luke 5:3-11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He 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.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So 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 sink.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-11:\u00a0 Notice that on this day\u00a0Simon went from being a spectator in the crowd standing on the shore listening to Jesus speak, to being a first time helper of Jesus floating in shallow waters (\u201cSure, I\u2019ll lend you my boat to sit in and speak\u201d), to taking a bigger risk and going into deep water with Jesus (\u201c”Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets\u201d), to finally becoming a life long follower of Jesus (\u201cSo they pulled their boats on shore, left everything and follow him\u201d.)<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first time Simon had met Jesus.\u00a0 In Luke 4 Jesus had gone to Simon\u2019s home and healed his mother-in-law. Even so, here we see that each time Simon risked something to be with Jesus, Simon experienced Jesus\u2019 power.\u00a0 In fact, the bigger the risk Simon took, the more Simon experienced Jesus\u2019 power at work in his life.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jesus wants us to move, gradually and step by step, from spectators who just show up to hear Jesus speak to disciples who follow Him. \u00a0You weren\u2019t made to stay a spectator forever. God made you to know Him personally and more and more to be used by Him to impact this world.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. When Simon realized that sitting in his boat was the Son of God, Simon cried out, \u201cGo away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!\u201d (v8)\u00a0 That is because when God begins to work in our lives, often that comes with a conviction of our sin and the realization that we are not worthy to be with God.\u00a0 Amazingly, it\u2019s when we realize that our sins make us unworthy to be with God that we can experience Jesus forgiving us and calling us to a life and a relationship with Him that we could never earn on on our own.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. If you want to experience Jesus\u2019 power working in your life, be willing to take a risk with Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 Naturally I tend to be a risk-averse person.\u00a0 I\u2019m all about planning carefully and avoiding unnecessary risks as much as possible.\u00a0 That said, over and over in my lifetime I\u2019ve seen that God rewards faith, and that faith is spelled R-I-S-K.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that the more I risk on Jesus (i.e. the more I bet on Jesus, the more I trust in Jesus and the more room I give Him to work in my life), the more I experience His power.\u00a0 It\u2019s because God responds when we move in faith and you can\u2019t move in faith without taking a risk.\u00a0\u00a0Risk much for God and you\u2019re likely to experience much of God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Risk nothing and you\u2019ll probably experience very little of God.<\/strong>Likewise,\u00a0what is the next risk, or step of faith, that Jesus is nudging you to take?<\/strong>\u00a0 For example, maybe your next step is to:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n