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Getting into one of the boats which was Simons.

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He asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and

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taught the people from the boat.

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This is our text. Dear friends in Christ

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Jesus.

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Long ago

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in a galaxy far, far away

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I was a vicar.

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And one of the jobs of the vicar was twice a year to go out and round

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up prospects for the upcoming pastors adult information class.

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I say round up because there were a lot of prospects and it was a big

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job.

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It meant making dozens and dozens of house calls on people who have

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had some sort of contact with the congregation over the last several

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years.

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None of whom the current vicar had ever met.

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And inviting them to come to the upcoming pastors adult information

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class. In short, to come to catechesis.

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Well, a couple of vicars before me had invited a fellow by the name

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of Joe Holton.

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Now, Joe had not been raised as a Christian and so consequently, when

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he became an adult, he had no use for Jesus or for the church.

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In fact, even after he'd married, his wife, who was a member of the

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congregation Joe studiously avoided going to church with her on Sunday

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morning.

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But then they started having children and for one reason or another he

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eventually went and checked out the church where his wife had grown

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up.

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And that's where the vicar came in and the catechesis that followed.

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In the pastor's class there Joe learned who Jesus was.

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And what he had done for him at Calvary and the empty tomb.

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And Joe started reading his Bible every day.

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He came to church and to the Divine service.

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He came to Bible study and eventually he was baptized into Christ.

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But then I was also in his early 30s, that Joe learned that he had

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cancer.

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That was the year that I was the vicar.

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The cancer quickly, spread to his spine.

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His family was devastated because by now they had three small

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children.

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And none of his family

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his brothers,

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his sister's, his friends,

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his relatives could believe that all of this was happening to Joe.

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And yet they're in the midst of his suffering chose faith.

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Just grew brighter stronger.

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He had his Bible.

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He had the visitation of his pastor.

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And he pointed his friends and relatives who came to visit to Jesus

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and the cross and the empty tomb and what he had done for them,

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also.

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And on the day that he died, he gave his Pastor a small Bible.

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And inside the front cover, he wrote.

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To the man who showed me Jesus.

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Thank you.

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Catechesis is catching.

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Like the Nets in our text for this morning, the gospel caught Joe.

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It caught you and me, and that calls us to abandon everything and

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leave it behind to abandon ourselves and our ways of doing things.

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To follow Jesus.

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Even unto death.

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The problem is, however, when it comes to following or to fishing, as

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you may know, every fisherman has his own ways of doing it, his own

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methods.

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And like Peter and the men of Zebedee Incorporated, we too may

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figure that we know how to get the job done.

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And so, we go about fishing all night long, according to our own

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methods.

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Perhaps we are young.

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Fresh out of college here

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the Seminary.

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We are the brightest and the best that our church and our generation

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has to offer.

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We rely on that brightness, and that bestest.

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That winning personality, that youthful smile.

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And we know that, when they finally let us out of this place.

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We are going to knock them dead.

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Or maybe we're part of that older more mature, second career crowd.

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The guys have been around the block a few times.

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Way ahead of those younger guys

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in people skills.

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And we know what real people really need.

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Ya.

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We know that when they let us out of this place.

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We are definitely going to knock them dead.

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Or maybe we've been in the ministry for some time.

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We consider ourselves to be seasoned pastors.

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We've had our wings clipped more than once.

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And we know that life in these gray and latter days

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it can be at times

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rather frustrating.

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The congregation is often a mess.

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And we may have observed

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that the gospel just doesn't seem to do what it says

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it's going to do in our congregation.

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And so we may result to other methods.

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Perhaps guilting our congregation into action, some sort.

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Or manipulating them in some way to give money or to come to church

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more often or to be a part of whatever program it is, that we happen

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to have on our mind at the time.

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Yeah, although we may not have knocked them dead yet.

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It isn't because we haven't tried.

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Friends, the problem we have is a problem with the third commandment,

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with unbelief.

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We despise preaching and His word.

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Especially the word that comes out of our own mouths.

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We refuse to believe that the gospel will do and deliver what it

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promises.

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So instead we seek to get things done, according to our own methods

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toiling, all night long and coming up empty-handed.

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Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch says Jesus.

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Master,

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we toiled all night long, and got nothing.

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But at your word, I will let down the nets.

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At your word.

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That precious gospel word, that faith receives, and so believes.

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And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and

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their nets were breaking.

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When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees.

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Saying depart from me for I am a sinful man,

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O

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Lord.

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Jesus said to him.

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Do not be afraid.

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From now on you will be catching men.

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Do not be afraid.

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Jesus speaks these words to you today.

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Do not be afraid.

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For all the times that you have tried to do it your own way

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Jesus has washed the clean with his blood.

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He has washed you in the waters of his baptism and in that font wash

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you and his blood forever.

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And here this morning as we heard in the Old Testament reading and

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like the coal that touched Isaiah's lips.

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So also he will touch you with his body and blood behold

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this has touched your lips.

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Your guilt is taken away your sin

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atoned for.

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The most amazing thing in Luke's, fishing story is not the miraculous

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catch of fish.

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But rather that Jesus would still have use for the likes of Peter and

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the men of Zebedee Incorporated.

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And that he would still have likes have used for the likes of you and

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me today.

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But he would call men of every age

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to cast the nets of gospel preaching into deep waters

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even when all evidence of fish catching potential,

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appear to be quite the contrary.

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And from the darkest portions of our world,

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and from our lives, he would bring forth a miraculous catch, a catch

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beyond any lowly fisherman's wildest expectations.

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Shortly after Joe died during my vicarage year

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I was sent out again to round up the next batch of prospects.

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And I don't remember anything about all of those calls.

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But I do remember, one thing, in particular about that adult

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information class.

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And that was that the Lord had certainly filled the nets.

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Because there in that class

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there were no less than a dozen new faces

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who were all connected to one family in particular.

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Joe's friends.

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Relatives.

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Yeah, there

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in the boat.

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Here

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in the Nave.

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Safe in Christchurch.

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In Jesus name. Amen.

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Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.

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Keep your hearts and Minds in Christ Jesus.

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Amen.