John Hagee - The Miracle of Provision
Christianity begins with a fish story. The disciples had finished all night on the Sea of Galilee, had fished all night, and caught nothing. They had dragged their nets through the cold, murky waters. And each time, they pulled them up full of expectation only to find nothing. The sign of Christianity is a fish. Saint Peter is called "The big fisherman". I saw a sign the other day that said, "Born to fish: forced to work". Everyone has a fish story, so here's mine.
When I was 12 years of age in the fall of 1952, my father was an evangelist, and we were in corpus Christi holding a revival. And a professional fisherman asked my father if he could take me fishing on south padre island on Saturday afternoon. Dad said to the fisherman, "Have my son, John, home before midnight, because no son of mine is going to be fishing on Sunday". Dad was ever strict with the rules. Fishing on Sunday, with dad was almost as bad as being caught in a liquor store. And those who were caught there were going straight to hell, according to him. On the way to padre island, the fisherman told me: he said, "John, this island has lots of wild coyotes, most of which are rabid, so be very careful. Also there's an angler's tournament going on, ages 12 through 16. And if you catch the biggest fish, you get to win a schwinn bicycle".
Let me tell you a schwinn bicycle to me was like a Mercedes. I wanted it. So we went out. We were wade fishing. I'd never wade fished before. I fished furiously, and like the disciples, I caught nothing. About 11 o'clock, I went to the shore and went to the truck. Then I saw a coyote creep out of the darkness between the sand dunes. My 12-year-old brain went into high gear. Coyote, fishing tournament, winner gets a schwinn bicycle. Who said what you catch has to come out of the water? I mean that's a minor detail: right? It's an assumption but it's not in the contract. So I baited the hook with a Weiner. Took it out 50 yards, started fishing, and I caught the coyote. We took it to the corpus Christi caller times newspaper. And they decided that my fish had a little too much fur to qualify.
But the next day, my picture was on the front page of the sport section of the corpus Christi caller times. And it read beneath the picture, "John hagee, son of reverend b. Hagee, catches coyote while fishing Sunday morning on padre island". Wow. Let's read this fish story and see what the Lord has to say to us. Luke 5:1 through 7 and 11: and so it was, as the multitude pressed about him to hear the Word of God, that he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, this is the Sea of Galilee, and saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon Peter's boat, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught the multitudes from the boat.
When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon Peter, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch". But Simon answered and said unto him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing: nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net". And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So that they signaled their partners in the other boats to come and to help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. Verse 11, read this with me: so when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him.
Father, bless this word. Bless this message. And let us, today, understand the miracle of God's prosperity is something God wishes to happen for each of us. In the authority of your name, we pray and ask it. And all of God's children said, amen.
You may be seated. This success story begins with failure. There are two boats on the beach. They are empty. The nets had been washed. The frustrated fishermen, who tried their very, very best, were angry, and they spit out the words, "We have toiled all night long and taken nothing". These words not only have been on the lips of unsuccessful fishermen, but on the lips of businessmen, pastors, salesmen, housewives, schoolteachers, who toiled for weeks and months and often feel like they've accomplished nothing. Are you frustrated about your limited success, financially, professionally, academically, Romantically?
In this auditorium and those watching by television, there are only three kinds of people. Those who are married, those who want to be married, and those who are sorry they're married. Are you frustrated with your lack of success? Have you tried your best and produced nothing? Listen. Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker. Make failure your teacher and not your undertaker. Every miracle of Jesus had a message. And the message of this miracle is try again. Persistence overcomes resistance. Jesus got into Simon Peter's boat and gave him a command, "Launch out into the deep". Do something new. Do something different. Jesus was saying, I know you've tried your best. I know you're frustrated. I know you've completely failed. But I want you to try again. Be persistent. By persistence, the snail reached the ark.
I believe I'd have gone out and got the board he was on and pulled him in. Persistence is the willingness to give another try rather than to look for an alibi. Persistence finds a way while others are looking for an excuse. You're not finished until you think you are. If you think you're beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you won't. If you want to win but don't think you can win, you won't win. If you think you're out classed, you are. If you think like a champion, you can be a champion. But you will not be a champion until you think like a champion.
This miracle story is the story of being a servant. After fishing all night, the disciples beached their boats. They washed their nets. They mended the rips and the tears the rocks had made on their nets. And suddenly there's an excitement in the village. The streets are packed, following a young rabbi, this Jesus of Nazareth. The crowd's pushed down to the very edge of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus got into Simon's boat and commanded him, "Push out from the land". The point is, he taught them to be servants before he allowed them to be disciples. What is your attitude toward being a servant of the Kingdom of God? Mention the word "Servant" in the average church, and there's a stampede for the back door.
Many people are willing to serve God, but only as a consultant, of course. The mental image we have of a servant is that of a pathetic creature, virtually without will or purpose in life. We see a servant as someone bent over, crushed in spirit, lacking in self-esteem, dirty, wrinkled, weary, and exploited. The attitude of our generation toward being a servant is expressed in the beatitudes of j.B. Philips. They are as follows: blessed are the pushers: for they get their way. Blessed are the hard boiled: for they never get hurt. Blessed are those who complain, because they get all of the attention. Blessed are the blase': for they never have to worry about their sins. Blessed are the slave drivers: for they get results. Blessed are the greedy, because they always get what they want.
The attitude of the average Christian in America is I'll serve if I can be seen, recognized, and appreciated, paid a union scale with retirement benefits. I'll sing if it's a solo with the choir on national television. I'll give if you'll honor me with some laudable, fashionable something. Listen to this: it's a poem by Ruth calkin. It's called "I wonder". And the words of the poem are very pressing. Listen.
"You know, Lord, how I serve you with great emotional fervor in the limelight. You know how eagerly I speak for you at the women's club. You know how I radiate when I promote our fellowship group. You know my enthusiasm for a Bible study when I'm the keynote speaker. But how would I react, I wonder, if you pointed to a basin of water, and you asked me to a wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman, day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw and nobody ever knew. I wonder. I wonder".
Think about that. Matthew 23:11: he that is the greatest among you is the servant of all. Galatians 5:13: for you were called to freedom, brethren, listen, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity of the flesh. But through love, serve one another. Hear that phrase, "Through love, serve one another"? I want you to hear this. America needs to hear this message right now. "Through love, serve one another". Insecure and petty people cannot serve. People addicted to the God of self cannot serve. The arrogant, the high minded, the haughty cannot serve. Spiritual pharisees cannot serve. Slaves of sin cannot serve.
Jesus said to Peter, "Push off from the land". I need you. I need your boat. But if you can't serve, you can't be a disciples. "Why call you me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I ask you"? Christianity is a doing faith. Some day we will stand before the Lord and he's going to ask us at the Judgment Seat of Christ, "What did you do"? Jesus said, "He that is the greatest among you is the servant of all". Let us remember, as we live our lives, that God in heaven has empowered us to do the impossible. You have that authority. What are you doing with it? Because until that, you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to Peter, "Launch out into the deep". There were five good, sane, sensible reasons why this was a nonsense command! Jesus said, "Launch out into the deep". It was the wrong place. Every professional fisherman in the time of Simon Peter knew that you caught fish in the shallow water at the edges of the lake with nets. A net in the middle of the Sea of Galilee that had a drag factor of about three feet in 175 feet of water: what nonsense was that?
Secondly, he could have rebelled because it was in the daylight. It was the wrong time. Night was the only time to fish with nets. The fish would trap the minnows against the bank, and you could see them swimming in schools. The fishermen could see the schools of fish in water by the torchlight that was on the front of their boats. They would leap out into three feet of water with their nets and scoop up those fish at night, not day. You didn't jump out of your boat in 175 feet of water.
Peter could have rebelled because of the frustration factor. He had toiled all night. He was tired. He was cold. He was disappointed. The frustration of catching nothing surged through Peter's mind. Launch out into the deep? What madness is that? It was the same sea. It was the same nets. It was the same boats. It was the same fishermen. But this time, they caught a bonanza of fish in their nets until they started to break. Why? Because Jesus was in their boat. Because Jesus was in their boat. Are you failing? Get Jesus in your boat. Are you frustrated? Get Jesus in your boat. Is your marriage a war zone? Get Jesus in your boat. Have you lost your joy? Get Jesus in your boat. Are you worried about your future? Get Jesus in your boat. Christ is the answer!
Public opinion is another reason why Peter might have disobeyed. There were many fishermen on that bank. They were listening to this carpenter tell a career fisherman to do things they had never done in their life, watching to see if he would obey Jesus. They laughed. Fishing in deep water with nets in the daytime, what a joke. It's like fishing for moby dick with a cane pole. Listen. Public opinion must never interfere with your obedience to God's word. Church, do not allow public opinion to control your speech. It's called, political correctness. Public opinion has called pornography "Art". It's not art: it's trash. Public opinion has called profanity "Freedom of speech". Public opinion has called adultery "Free love". It's not free and it's not love. Public opinion has called abortion "Freedom of choice". Freedom of choice does not give you the right to murder the unborn child in your womb.
The fifth reason Peter might have disobeyed the command to launch into the deep, was absolutely contrary to what Peter understood with fishing. I repeat, in Peter's generation, they fished at night in the shallow water, not in the deep or in the day. The point is, when God speaks to you, if you obey only what you understand, you will never obey God. If you obey when you understand, that's agreement. If you obey when you don't understand, that's faith. And without faith, it is impossible to please God. If you're waiting to understand, you're going to wait a long time. God does not explain himself until you take action. Moses would have died on the backside of that desert if he hadn't gone back into Egypt.
I may not understand "Launch out into the deep" in the daylight. But I can obey and catch fish, or disobey and remain frustrated on the beach, broke and beaten. Listen to this. When John tells this fish story, the same one, in chapter 21:11, he adds one curious detail, the fish number 153. Nothing in the Bible is pointless. Why were there 153 fish? Here's why: Jerome states that according to Greek historians, there were 153 different kinds of fish in the sea. In the Bible, the sea represents the earth. Jesus called us to be fishers of men. Fish, representing people in this story. There are 153 fish representing people from every kindred, tribe, and nation on the face of the earth.
Jesus was teaching that until you have carried the gospel message to every person on earth, your mission is not accomplished. For 42 years, Cornerstone Church has fulfilled the great commission by preaching the Word of God over television six days of the week. I want to thank those of you who are in this audience and those of you who are watching across America, who have supported us and made it possible, for 42 years, for us to preach the unmitigated gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations of the world. This is one of the most mentally-challenging verses in the scripture for me: "And they forsook all and followed him".
They forsook their boats, their nets, their families, their future plans, and they followed Jesus. Forsaking all is illustrated in the parable of the Pearl of great price. The story goes like this. I man walked into a Jewelry store. And he saw this beautiful Pearl. And he loved it very much. And he asked the owner of the store, "How much is it"? And the seller said, "Well, this is the Pearl of great price. It's very expensive". The buyer said, "How much"? The seller said, "A very large amount". "Well do you think I can buy it"? The seller said, "Of course. Everyone can buy it". The buyer said, "Didn't you say it was very expensive"? The seller said, "Yes, it's very expensive. The cost is everything you have, everything you have".
The buyer said, "Alright: I'll buy it". The seller said, "What do you have? Let's take a paper and a pen, and write it down". The buyer said, "I have $10,000 in the bank". The seller said, "That's good. That money is mine. What else do you have"? The buyer said, "Nothing: that's all, just what I have in my wallet, 10, 20, 50 dollars". "I'll take the wallet and the money. Don't count it: just give it. It's mine, all. What else do you have"? "Well nothing: that's all". "That's all? Where do you live"? "I live in my house". "You have a house? That's mine too". "You mean you want me to live in my motor home"? "You have a motor home"? "That belongs to me too. That's wonderful. It's mine".
The buyer said, "I'll have to sleep in my car". "You have a car"? "I have two cars". "Wonderful: they're mine"! "What do you want: my wife and kids"? And the seller said, "Yes, your wife and children are mine. Treat them nicely or God's judgment will come to you". The buyer said, "I have nothing left. That's absolutely all I have on this earth"! And the seller said, "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You have much more, much more. I want your heart. I want your soul. I want your mind. I want your body. I want your time. I want your talent. The very breath you have in your lungs belongs to me".
Think about that. Do you want to inherit the Kingdom of God? Then it will cost you all you have, all, all. We sing a song, "I surrender all". It's just verbiage to most people. But brother, you're saying more than your brain can compute when you say that to Jesus. Let me tell you, it cost more than 90 minutes on Sunday morning to say that you have given your all for Christ. Christ is looking for a church totally committed to him, Christians, who will surrender their all.
Can we stand to our feet in the presence of the Lord? The disciples forsook all to be used of God. They forsook all to be used of God. Most of us here haven't even gotten close to giving all to Jesus Christ. Pray this prayer with me. Those of you watching by television, extend your hand toward the screen as a point of contact. Pray with me.
Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, give me the courage and the strength to try again. Bring to me the spirit of a servant. Lord Jesus Christ, do not allow public opinion to control my speech or my life. From this day forward, the motto of my soul will be, "Nevertheless, at thy word". Lord Jesus Christ, the Pearl of great price, today, I will forsake all to follow you, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Amen.