Heard and sung the gospel ready today. Good. Just dismissed. Could we? Now, not gonna happen. If you ever pay attention to these celebrity auctions or celebrities, auction off an opportunity to have some sort of an encounter with them for having much money to give that money to charity. On the more pedestrian level, it's not the charity you can have. Lunch or dinner with a Disney character anywhere from 19 to $29 being on who, what you want to do. It's on top of the already exorbitant price to get. What does Disney cost now? You have to sell a vital organ to go there. It's like $75 or something there. On top of that, you can go up the coaster a little bit and have lunch with an astronaut. $40 in change. I guess it's a guy thing that feels to me more than having friends with a snow wipe. That's just maybe just me. You can have a private driving to a central park with Candace Burton. Private drives to a central park for two. Candace Burton followed by lunch and a blow of central park boat house for a mere $1600. Again, that goes to charity. You have an evening of dinner and theater with Sigourney Weaver and her husband at their New York City Theatre. I guess they have one of their own. $2100. Proceeds go to charity. How about? How about a lunch with clothing designer Vera Wang and a tour of her boutique for a mere $10,000. I should mention that they give you a $10,000 gift certificate for her boutique while they're at it. So now you want to go right now. Now, now it's worth going. How about, and I believe this sets the curve. Every year, the auction off lunch with Warren Buffett. You can have lunch with Warren Buffett. So far, the record $2.11 million dollars for lunch with Warren Buffett. Any takers? Anybody? Now, let me ask you this. What would you pay to have a meal of Jesus in Nazareth? How much would you pay to have lunch or breakfast or dinner with Jesus? Look at me at John's, Chapter 21, beginning, Verse 1. We're almost at the end of the gospel of John's. Taking us a couple of years. We're almost there. John, Chapter 21, Verse 1, afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Tiberius. We happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called Didamus, Nathaniel from Canaan Galilee, the sons of Zevedi and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish. Simon Peter told them and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat. That night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord. He wrapped his outer garment around him before he'd taken it off and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire burning coals there with fish on it, some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you've just caught. Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore full of large fish, 153. But he was so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came to the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for your word, the eternal abiding in errant, infallible, inspired word of God. It speaks to a still 2,000 years after the last words were penned and sealed up in this book. The thinking that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword penetrates down to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judges of the thought, the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from your sight. Everything is uncovered in laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it does serve you in our hearts or not the harm but to repair and to restore. I pray now to use this word and apply it to our hearts and take it from the pages of your book, write it on the tablets of our heart and use this word to mold us and conform us more and more back into your image. Or use this word to heal our wounds, use this word to shake us up and rattle our cages in need be that use this word to get our attention and help us to focus our thoughts and our attitudes and our eyes and our ears on the living word Jesus. Whose name I pray. Amen. When I was researching that lunch or dinner encounter thing with the celebrity, I came up with a lot of paid after paid and some of that I have to say it was kind of embarrassing because there are some I guess you call them C and D and E lists the levities that didn't cost you much like a hundred dollars to have an encounter with them. I don't know bits. I mean they tell you they tell you the highest bit and how many people a bit are no bit. I'm not a name neither. No bits for some of these people might be time for them to realize that their 15 minutes is over 2000 years later. What would you give for a meal with Jesus in Nazareth? This passage shows some more insights into how Jesus ministered in the post-resurrection time now, post-resurrection ministry of Jesus with his disciples. Look the first thing I want you to see. He comes to where they are. Jesus comes where they are. The three-year public ministry, I can't recall a single time. When you see Jesus the disciples are gathered around doing something. Jesus just shows up to where they are and teaches the ministers and then just disappears. Then he comes on the side and says come follow me. But I don't want to call anywhere the three-year public ministry what we call the public ministry. He shows up where they've already got something going on and just disappears again. He comes now, post-resurrection. The scripture says he appeared. I mean manifest himself. I don't know where ever in how he sees fit in this book. The first one we'll make is afterwards we don't know how long. It's been an year, it's been a week. He's appeared again to his disciples. So the sea of Tiberius, that's the sea of Galilee. It's sometimes called lake and estero. It's sometimes called the sea of Tiberius, one of the Roman embers, but most of the gospel is called the sea of Galilee. It happened to Sweden and here names you know Simon Peter, Thomas, Adidimus, and to the last week that means twin. Nathaniel from Cain and Galilee. We haven't seen him since chapter 1. We've seen him before. And then John says the sons of Zebede. He hasn't used that term yet in all of his gospel. That's John and his brother James. He's talking about himself and his brother James when he says the sons of Zebede. And then there are two other disciples. John doesn't name him for some reason. We're not quite sure why. Commentary suggests that given that it's Galilee, it's probably Philip and Andrew. We don't really know him for whatever his reasons John didn't name him. And then verse 3, I'm going out to fish Simon Peter told him. They say, we'll go with you. Now that raises the question. Why? Why are they going to? These are apostles. Shouldn't they be out preaching and teaching and healing and puzzling? I mean, in that what they're supposed to do now, they've seen the resurrected Jesus and the answer is yes. And that is what they're going to do. If you read on in the book of Acts, that's what they're going to do for the rest of their lives. But they still got to eat. They still got to eat. So they're going fishing. You gotta remember, they're real people. They're real people with real hopes, real fears, real joy, real sorrows, real problems, real pains, real friends. And yes, they've seen the resurrected Jesus, but their lives have been really turned upside down in the last couple of weeks. Again, I'm knowing exactly how long it is now after the crucifixion resurrection, but it's at least a week, maybe 10 days, maybe a couple of weeks. Their lives have been turned upside down inside out. And so they go back to something they know. They get a member of Peter, James and John, something else. They were fishermen. They had fished this lake, this sea of Galilee. They had fished it. For all their adult lives, this is what they know. And it's comforting to them to go back to something that's familiar. Those of you who fish, I'm sure you understand the comforting and the calming nature of getting out on the water. You like to catch something, but even if you don't, it's just something I'm not much of a fisherman. I never was, but I always enjoyed it. It's just something very calming and soothing about being out on the body of water, even just standing on the shore and throwing a line out into the water. Long time ago, a lot of years ago, some of you know I am a recovering youth pastor, but I used to travel around a good bit and go speak at retreats and conferences and so forth. And I know, I know this was over 25 years ago. It was back in my youth for Christ's days. I was speaking to a retreat up near Gainesville. I don't remember the name of the camp, but it's in the Gainesville area. And you know, the lakes all over the place up there everywhere you go. There's a lake this or like that. This retreat was right on the lake. That'll be important to you in just a minute when I do what happened. It's a good bunch of kids are from somewhere up in Northern Alabama. They're really close, really tight. There's one young man in the group. I'm a calling mark. A young man had been through something just unspeakable. He had a year or so before the retreat. He had witnessed his father murder his mother. He was in the room the night that his dad took the gun and killed his mother. He watched the whole thing and that church had rallied around Mark. They put their arms around him as a church ought to do and they loved him and shabbarded him through that unspeakable tragedy. They'd helped him pull it back together and they'd been there for him. And so they told me about it that night as we came together and of course I didn't make a public mention, but they'd let me know that he'd been through this. So we did the opening meeting and went to bed and you know and retreats like that. You don't get a lot of sleep anyway. Somewhere around 132 o'clock in the morning, Mark just absolutely freaked out. Something triggered it and it all came rushing back to me. Just came up heart, came unglued. So they came and got me and the other adults and myself just sat with Mark and ministered the gospel to him as best we could for probably about an hour or so. After around 2.30, of course everybody's up, everybody's up. Probably around 2.30 we told everybody to go back to bed and go to sleep. And I remember one of the counselors, big strapping guy and just your picture of a good old boy's name is Clay. I remember as we're all going back to bed and we're telling the kids it's going to be all right you go back to it. Clay goes walking by me with the fishing rod and tackle box. It's like 2.30 in the morning. I said what are you doing? And he said to me in a tone that did not invite further questioning. He said I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. That's what he did. That's what he did when his world was upside down and when things were coming apart, he took his rod and reel and he went fishing. That's where he got his thoughts together. Where he got calm. That's where he centered in. That's where he needed to do. That's what Peter did when he was going fishing. Now they'd seen the good news already. It's seen the resin Christ. But they did not know when they seen it yet. But they didn't know. Yeah, if Jesus hadn't said no boys, I'll be back. And now they're up in Galilee. They're 60, 70 miles away from Jerusalem. That's why I think it had been a few days. And so not knowing exactly what's coming down next, Peter says I'm going to go fishing. And they said we'll go with you. We'll go with you. So they went out on. We're not gone to the boat that night. They caught nothing. Now you want to see a picture of the injection. These guys are gone out and fished all night long and caught absolutely zero. I mean it's that and that haven't been out all night. And then caught nothing. It's early in the morning. Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked the question they said, how could they not know? How could they not know who that was? Well, I'm going to remember that John writes early in the morning. The word he used here means first light. First light. So it's dawn. And could be. I don't know. It could be that the sun's coming up behind Jesus. The light's now. I don't know what it's like. It had a sunrise. The light's just going to be nice. So the sun's going to be missed on the lake. They can't tell who it is. They just hear the voice saying, what's catching me? The way it's worded, he expects it. It's you can say you didn't catch me. I don't get any insult to you. You didn't catch me. They weren't expecting all the way up there. They didn't know who it was. So he comes to them where they are doing what they're doing. He comes us in surprising ways, folks. He meets us where we are and he comes us in the most unconventional and unexpected ways. Getting back to my youth past the day, I had a young man in my youth group, and I remember Jimmy and his dad's name was Jim. And I ministered to Jimmy and got to know him a bit. And so his dad appreciated that. And we got to know each other as well. And I remember Jim telling me his story. Driven business man, he had made a great success for himself in business. And an absolute shambles out of his own life. He'd pretty much killed one marriage and his personal life was a train wreck, hard drinking, hard driven man. And if he'd achieved a lot of business success, he's in a high tech industry. And there's a man in his company. It was a Christian who wasn't a nice guy who had been a long road to much Christian. My friend, Jim, was about three or four security levels of love. This Christian guy didn't know that. Because of my position and I was able to keep him away. Jim told me after noon that Christian guy got a Jim couldn't stand. Not on the door. I said, the man there he was, I said, please, I miss Christian man's death in Jim's office. I said, the Lord and Savior, Jesus told me what you're going to do to him. He sent me here to tell you he doesn't want you to do anything. It's exactly what happened. Jim just broke down sob and crying. And Christian man, he couldn't stand. He meant for the gospel grace to him. Save his life. Save his soul. Jesus comes to us the most. Unexpectedly. Come where we are to Didn't say you got to come to me and dress it up. You got to come to church. You got it in the respective ways. Come where we are. And the conventional way to give us an unconventional man's. He gives us these unexpected, dare I say unorthodox, unconventional things to do. Verse 5, he called out to them friends. I don't do any fish. No, they answered. And then he says, throw out your net on the right side of the boat. You will find something. Now you remember they still don't know who he is. There's some guy in the early morning myths on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. These men have fished these waters all their lives. They know this lake. What would you have said? Hey, you can catch anything, throw the net on the right side. The new English Bible, like the way the place says, shoot your net to the starboard. What would you have said if you get a lifelong fish, or you knew these waters? Well, the parts that you could repeat? I think you'd say, yeah, thanks friend. But we have enjoyed about all the fun fishing that we can stand for one night. We'll just we'll just take it on and try again tomorrow. There's something about him. There's something about him. So they throw their nets on the other side and look what happens when they obey him. Look what happens when they obey. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. He gives unconventional commands. They also bestows uncommon blessings when we obey. It may seem to make no sense, but when we obey what he tells us to do in the scripture, he gives us uncommon blessings. Let me ask you, what is that thing the scripture is telling you to do? Do you really think this makes no sense? I can't do this. It's crazy. What is the thing the scripture is telling you to do? That in your way of thinking is told an orthodox, unconventional makes absolutely no sense at all. The person you need to forgive, the act of obedience you need to do, but you just can't bring yourself to do it. That person in your life, which you just really can't stand, because telling you to extend grace to that person, to get faithful to him financially, to begin to tide, you can't do that. You barely make it in as it is. I understand that. What is that thing the scripture is telling you to do? That person is telling you to minister to that you think makes absolutely no sense. He's telling you to do it. Unconventional, an orthodox, and help us though, I'm common blessings upon you when you do. You may have heard that expression that the will of God will not take you or the grace of God cannot keep you. Yeah, I haven't heard that. Let me say it to you again. The will of God will not take you for the grace of God cannot keep you. Whatever it is he's telling you to do, just try it. So we've got to do it for you. Then the disciples will need you as well as the last supper. The disciples need you as well. This is John. Just like that Easter morning at the tomb, the John was the first to believe before Peter. John sees the grave clothes lying there. Mary doesn't know what to think about it. Peter just goes back to the upper room where they're waiting. John, John sees and he believes, well, John's the first one here to acknowledge, understand, that's the Lord. It's Jesus, the John. Lord said, that is the Lord. Oh, they're in Galilee. But look what Peter does. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it's the Lord. He wrapped his outer garment around him for taking it off, jumping in the water. Now, when I read these texts, I try to put myself there and I'm saying, wait a minute, you're in the boat. You've gotten them fishing, not fishing, whatever you call it all night. You understand as Jesus on the shore, you put your outer clothes back on and jump in the water. That's not what I would do. Then I see a little counterintuitive view. Why would he do that? Well, we weren't there, we don't know, but this is Sunday morning. So I want to be circumspecting my language. But apparently, Peter had been fishing pretty much down to his boxers. That's in the Greek there. It's boxeros in the Greek lane. Peter had been, and I guess it was not that uncommon for the guys around the boat by themselves. They take their outer clothes off so they don't get wet. But when he comes in and don't say, it's the Lord, the Peter wants to, he got blessed Peter, jumps in the water to go sea. But he doesn't want to show up just in his underwear. So if those are the outer cloak around, and I guess Peter must have been a pretty good swimmer. I guess you wouldn't fish on the sea of Galilee if you weren't a good swimmer. I don't think he has water wings on it. It's like that, he jumps in the water. A little more appropriately dressed to go and see Jesus. Peter was impulsive. He was in patch of his loud mouth. He really loved Jesus. He really did. He really wanted to be with him so much. He didn't wait on the boat. He figured I can swim there faster. He wants to go and be with Jesus. That's what really matters in the final analysis, folks. It really matters. He stands before the Lord. He won't ask you a church or a part of you. He won't ask you whether he died. He won't ask you whether you baptized. He won't ask you for your Calvinist. We think he should, but he won't. He's going to want, he's going to ask you to do you love Jesus. Some of you will remember the lower three years ago right now standing pretty much right where I am seated. My dear old friend Doug Culver preached the last sermon of his life, January 25th, 2007, standing just about where I'm seated. Dr. Culver, PhD in Semitic Studies, one of the brightest men I've ever known. They concluded a marvelous sermon on Jesus walking on the water and he simply asked the question and closing. But do you love Jesus? But do you love Jesus? He said, Amen. We sang a closing song. And I got the call the next morning at 1030 that Doug was going to be in Florida in heaven. That's the question, folks. Do you love Jesus like Peter does? Do you love him? Now, at verse 11, some of you are climbed away. They've come in the shore and they've caught all these fish. Some of you are climbed aboard, dragged the net ashore. It must have been a strong guy. It's been a very strong man. The net was full of large fish, 153. Even with so many, the net was not torn. The commentaries do all kinds of verbal gymnastics or what? What's the significance of every 153? It's kind of odd in it. But in John's Gospel, he says that all kinds of things I couldn't include, but I tell you the number of the fish. And some of the commentaries say, well, that's because there were 153 known nations in the world at that time. Those fish represent the nations of the world. And I say, nah, I don't think so. Was the number represent? 153 big fish. It's a good catch. John's telling you, we had to get all that, my folks. 153 big, all of the fish. Now, there is a correlation between the fishing and evangelism. There is, you may remember back in Luke chapter 5, after another night where they'd gone out fishing and caught anything and Jesus said, though, the net's in, where I tell you, and they brought him in this time, the net's ripped. And they almost swamped the boats. When they came in, Jesus said to them, John, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 5 verse 10, then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. Now on, you can catch him now. Some of your older translations say, no, you can fish yourself now. So there is a correlation between the fishing and the enormous hall and evangelism. Mom before, most of you heard a rip war in the purpose driven life, your old book called the purpose driven church. I got 1993. And instead, this isn't enough, I was pretty interesting. It says the average fisherman never adventures farther than one half mile from the paved road. Then he asks the question, are we willing to go any length? You can be made uncomfortable in order to win people to Christ. Fish don't automatically jump into my boat for me. If we're serious about reaching the lost, we must be willing to put up with people who have a lot of problems. Fishing is often messy and smelly. Many churches want the fish they cast to be already scaled, gutted, clean, and cooked. That's why they never went to heaven. Have a bad impression of this, as opposed to right now, most of them don't have enough rest like us. They start going on places to their bodies. I mean, not dressed the way we dress or know our language. So come where we are, because unconventional commands are real unconventional lessons. I'm going to salsa me and invite some to me. He's a set to them, first 12, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dare to ask him, who are you? They knew it was little. This is in the sense of, oh, way up here. Remember, he looked a little different. He was recognizable. He looked different. He was different. At post-resurrection body. He said, really you? You look at their reactions. Peter jumps over board and swims in. The rest of them kind of coast in and pull up chairs and they join him for breakfast. I imagine it must have tasted and felt really good after a long night of fishing with no results. Can I just hear my confession for this morning? I wish this was the time Jesus would have said, do this and remember it from me, because I really like fish. I wish instead of unleavened bread, grape juice. We could come in and make some grilled salmon, little mahi mahi maybe. I don't know, some chile and sea bass. I'm lusting right from here in front of me. I'm sorry. I'll pull it back. Would that be nice? We might increase attendance at communion too. But he didn't do that. He told us in the upper, do this remember it from me, and that was unleavened bread and grape juice. You know, think about this too, guys. If you've done it with the fish, think we don't have a great excuse to go fishing on Saturday. We start out at the house in the morning, the wife would say, where are you going with your fishing line? Honey, I have to go. It's communion tomorrow. Pastor's counting on me. I'm going to catch some fish for communion. He didn't do that, so we got unleavened bread and we got grape juice and that's okay. Jesus comes to what we are. He gives us unconventional commands. He gives us uncommon blessing. He invites us to a meal. Now, I started off this morning asking you a question. What you'd pay to have at least celebrity encounters, what would you pay to have a meal with Jesus in marriage? Well, the bad news is you don't have enough. You don't have enough if you had to buy it. Good news is it's already paid for, and his body is blood. So that we could have communion with him so that we could come and have this meal, this covenant meal. God's covenant people with our covenant lore. He invites you, if you know him, to come and commune with him. We invite you, if you don't know him, to take this time to do business with God and to see the pain he made on the crossway for your sins. I'm going to ask you to take a few moments down just to be silent. Go before the Lord and let's pray together. Almighty God unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known from whom no secrets are hidden.
Lord, we again lay before you the thoughts of our hearts and have mercy on us with God according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blood out our transgressions, our sins and sinfulness seem ever before us. We do not do the things you command, but even more, we're not the people of character that you rightly demand. And our father, son and Holy Spirit, in this time, minister, grace to our hearts. We might have come before you in this covenant meal. Amen. Let's stand together and sing our song of preparation. Please be seated. Thank you for being here with us again today. I'm going to ask you now to receive the Lord's benediction. I made the God of peace through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. Equip you with everything good for doing his will. May you work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.