I. Jesus was born to fish
Luke 19:10 (NKJV) for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
1. Jesus is an ichthyologist
Pictures of different fish (colors, sizes, shapes)
Then pictures of different people (colors, sizes shapes)
1) He created humanity
2) He spent over 30 years as a human
2. Jesus is passionate about fishing
II. Jesus tuned in to the latest fishing report
1. Prayed for 40 days in the wilderness
Matthew 4:1-2 (NKJV) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
2. Prayed all night before naming His inner circle
Luke 6:12-13 (NKJV) Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
III. Jesus had a strategic process
1. Identifies the fishing holes
John 1:29 (NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:35-36 (NKJV) Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!
2. Initiates contact
3. Invites people into conversation
John 1:37-38 (NKJV) The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek? They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”
1) By asking good questions
2) By being an active listener
John 1:39 (NKJV) He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).
4. Invites people into a relationship
1) He invites an exploration
2) He demonstrates radical hospitality
Leviticus 19:34 (NKJV) The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
John 1:40-42 (NKJV) One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
5. Inspires reaction
6. Invites people into a lifetime journey
Matthew 4:19-20 (NKJV) Then He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
7. Invests in His team
When you think about suffering, what comes to mind? Do you envision bedraggled children with distended stomachs, a hospital patient hooked up to life-sustaining medical equipment, or a courageous veteran dealing with the aftermath of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Adversity seems to be a common denominator to human existence, but what does the Bible have to say about suffering?
Jesus spoke to His disciples about suffering. One of the most well-known verses reads, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). The Greek word for cross in this verse is staurós. It refers to the crossbeam which the lowest criminals carried as they trudged toward their execution. The cross symbolized degradation and indescribable pain as well as sacrifice.
While the invitation to eternal life is free, it comes at a price–.
Christ commanded us to love one another even as . For us to know how to love each other we must understand the character of the rich deep love that Jesus Christ that Paul describes in Ephesians 3 as surpassing knowledge.
I. His love is unmerited
A. 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the .
B. Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
C. What escapes definition is that even when we reject Him, we disobey Him, we sin against Him, . We call it ‘’, unmerited love from God to His rebellious creation.
D. God’s unmerited love is given to us, people who don’t deserve His love to transform and change us into new creations.
E. We are such undeserving beneficiaries of God’s . He reached down to us in our absolute total depravity and lifted us to Himself pouring out His grace to us.
II. His love is unlimited
A. He, who loved us forgave us, doing so without limit.
1. Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
2. Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots.
B. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son…
III. His love is unselfish
A.
1. 1 Corinthians 13:5-6 Love “Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
2. Jesus is the perfect example of selflessness. Matthew 20:28 says, ‘Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.’
B.
• 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
• John 10:10 ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it] more abundantly.
When you think about suffering, what comes to mind? Do you envision bedraggled children with distended stomachs, a hospital patient hooked up to life-sustaining medical equipment, or a courageous veteran dealing with the aftermath of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Adversity seems to be a common denominator to human existence, but what does the Bible have to say about suffering?
Jesus spoke to His disciples about suffering. One of the most well-known verses reads, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). The Greek word for cross in this verse is staurós. It refers to the crossbeam which the lowest criminals carried as they trudged toward their execution. The cross symbolized degradation and indescribable pain as well as sacrifice.
While the invitation to eternal life is free, it comes at a price–.
Review
This series is an of our study on parenting and discipleship.
Spiritual parenting and discipleship are a to a focus on the original decree: be fruitful and .
In sum, God wants, lots of them.
One of the things that distinguishes other creatures is how much baby humans require compared to other .
While most baby mammals become in a relatively short period of time, it takes to
This accentuates the need of .
God designed humans in such a way that sustained care from theirmothers and fathers is.
This is no less true about parenting.
Natural parenting is spiritual parenting. A natural parent’s spiritual children just happen to be biologically assigned to them.
In the end, spiritual parenting is really what matters because the bond between a natural child and parent is only . The relationship between a spiritual parent and child is . (John 8:43-44)
Satan children. This is why we must be born again (John 3:3).
This is also why people without children are still responsible for parenting and why the natural and spiritual unit, as prescribed by Scripture, is vital.
The essential necessary to thrive in life natural and spiritually are given to us by our natural and spiritual parents.
This is why we’ve been emphatically addressing patterns of human behavior that exceed the scope of God’s boundaries for activity.
God created these holy to preserve human flourishing and to extend his to his offspring.
Jesus’ account of marriage in Matthew rules out , marriage, adultery and as things that God originally from the beginning.
There were three individuals whose hope was not only deferred,
- Mary Magdalene was desperate, 20:1,2. (page 89 in pew Bible) and she helped prepare the body for burial, but they weren’t finished and had to wait until Sabbath was over. So she comes at dawn on that first day to finish the job but His body is gone! Here’s a woman whom Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her. She has come to show her last act of love and
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- Thomas, Jesus’ disciple doubted- Haven’t there been times when you have doubted? You have doubted yourself. Doubted what others believed. Jesus appeared to the disciples that evening but Thomas wasn’t there. Thomas is like the Eeyore of the disciples. When Jesus wanted to go into Jerusalem when they were threatening to kill him, Thomas said, (Slide) “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.” John 11:12. Now when they told him that Jesus was alive, he doubts them, John 20:25.
- But it’s Peter the disciple who publicly and repeatedly denied the Lord. Let me ask you a question, “Have you ever lied?” Of course you have! We’ve all told lies- to our family, to our friends, to others, to ourselves. We kid ourselves to think that our lies will never catch up with us, but they do. God hears us in our lies. Peter denied the Lord and it was killing him. (Slide) “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” Luke 22:61.