Dear God, thank you so much for bringing us through this week.
Thank you just for this opportunity to gather together.
And Lord, we know that you have something in store for us.
You have something in store for us as a church, something in store for us as individuals.
You lead us and guide us in the direction you would have us to go.
In your name we pray, amen.
I imagine many of you have been to an aquarium before.
Maybe the aquarium in Chattanooga or down in Atlanta.
Or if not though, you know, maybe Ripley's Aquarium up in Gatlinburg.
Or perhaps you've been to the Bass Pro Shop.
You know, they've got the big aquarium there.
Earlier this year my wife and I went over to Memphis, Tennessee for a few days.
And if you've been to Memphis or driven through, there's a big structure next to the river.
Anybody know what it is?
A pyramid.
It used to be a basketball arena.
And now it's the biggest Bass Pro Shop in the world.
And if you go in there, there are huge aquariums and fish and all kinds of aquatic creatures.
Now what you may or may not realize is that sometimes at a place like a Bass Pro Shop
or somewhere else where they have large aquariums, sometimes they will have a demonstration.
And in this demonstration they will throw in a fishing lure.
And so then they'll reel the fishing lure back and you can see through the aquarium,
through the glass, you can see the action that this lure has.
Does it swim like a fish?
Does it go up and down?
And if you stop reeling, does it float?
Does it sink?
And not only can you see what the lure does, but you can see what the fish do when they
see this lure.
Are they attracted to it?
Do they swim the other direction?
Do they go away?
And so that kind of fascinates me a little bit because they have the fish in the aquarium
and they are in essence trying to catch fish that have already been caught.
They're in the aquarium.
We've already got these fish.
And so these demonstrations, you are catching something that you've already got.
You're catching something that has already been placed there.
But I think as Christians we are called to catch new fish, to catch something new.
There's a really, really famous saying of Jesus that says, follow me and I will make
you fishers of men.
We've heard that.
That's in Matthew and Mark is where those gospels, follow me and I will make you fishers
of men.
And in fact, not only do we know that saying, but we probably have sung a song something
like that before.
Maybe from the time we were in Craterill or the smallest Sabbath school that we have because
there's a couple songs.
There's one that says, you can sing along.
I will make you fishers of men.
Fishers of men.
I will make you fishers of men if you follow me.
Keep it going.
If you follow me.
I will make you fishers of men if you follow me.
And then there's another one too.
It goes something like this.
Make me a fisher of men.
Keep me seeking.
Make me a fisher of men.
I pray.
Hallelujah.
Make me a fisher of men.
Keep me seeking.
Seeking souls till Jesus comes again.
You want to take it away?
Sing, Hosanna.
Sing, Hosanna to the King of Kings.
Sing, Hosanna.
Sing, Hosanna to the King.
And that song has a lot more verses than you could do like that.
Did anybody used to think that was make me a fisher of men, keep me seeking?
I know some people have thought that.
But it's seeking.
Seeking souls.
Seeking Jesus.
We know those songs.
We know the saying.
We can sing it.
We just demonstrated that.
We know the words.
But what about the message?
It's the message sung in into our heart and into our life.
We're going to look today at Luke chapter 5.
And the phrase is worded just a little bit differently here.
But we're going to explore and see if as a church, if as Christians, we can learn a message for us today.
So Luke chapter 5.
We'll pick up the story in verse 1.
Luke 5 and verse 1.
It says, So it was, as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of the Lord, that he, Jesus, stood by the lake of Genniserat, or the Sea of Galilee.
We often refer to that as.
And so maybe you can picture it.
Jesus is there.
He's preaching.
He's preaching the word of God.
And how many people are there?
It says a multitude.
That's a lot of people.
There's a huge crowd of people that is pressing around.
They want to hear what Jesus has to say.
And it seems as if perhaps they're getting a little too close to him.
You know, if you've been in a crowded situation, maybe, you know, the mall at Christmas time or a, you know, basketball game or something after the games over.
It's just a lot of people around.
And these people are pressing close to Jesus.
And Jesus looks over at verse two and it says, And saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.
So these fishermen, and we see a little bit later, had spent the night fishing.
And now they're putting their nets away.
They're putting everything up.
They're washing.
They're getting the seaweed out.
Maybe repairing some lines that have broken there.
They're just getting ready to store the stuff for the day because they have been working all night.
They weren't necessarily listening at this moment, listening to the words of Jesus.
They were engaged in their work, engaged in their activity.
But then Jesus changed that just a little bit because this crowd was pressing in.
It says in verse three, Then Jesus got into one of the boats, which was Simon's.
We also refer to him as Peter.
And Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.
And he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
So this crowd is getting so close that Jesus can't project.
They're just too close.
And so he gets into the boat, sets off just a little bit.
And so he can teach.
They say that they found between the town of Bethesda and Tagba, another town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee,
that there's perhaps a little cove that the hill set just right to be a little amphitheater.
And so it'd be easy to picture Jesus in this boat just a little ways out, teaching to a multitude, a vast multitude of people.
And they were there.
They wanted to hear what Jesus was saying.
So Jesus is talking to this group.
But then as Jesus often does, Jesus makes it personal.
Notice verse four.
It says, When he stopped speaking to the crowd, he said to Simon.
So we've been talking to this big group of people, but now Jesus makes it personal.
And that's what Jesus does for us.
It's not enough to just, this is a great start to come and join our church family, to sit here, to worship together, to fellowship together in the crowd, in the multitude.
But Jesus wants it to be personal.
Jesus wants us to have a connection with him.
And that's what Jesus, he stopped speaking to the crowd and he said to Simon, gave him an assignment here.
Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a catch.
You're not going to catch any fish on the shore.
Go out into the deep water because that's where the fish are.
Simon, if you want to catch fish, you've got to go to where the fish are.
There was an experience I had, I think I was a teenager and our family had gone down to Florida for a little while.
And one day we went deep sea fishing.
We went deep sea fishing.
Now this isn't like you might imagine, you know, where you're catching a marlin out behind the boat and it's jumping out of the, this was not that, this was a big boat.
There was probably about this many people on the boat.
And we would go out to a certain place and we would just drop our line straight down.
And the captain said when the line stops going down, that means it's hit the bottom and reel it up like two or three feet.
So drop your bait down and then reel it up.
And as we were doing this deep sea fishing, there was a prize that could be won.
So each one of the people on the boat had the opportunity to win the prize.
And the prize was everybody donated one dollar into the prize.
And whoever caught the biggest fish that day would win the prize.
That was, that was what was happening.
And so we all put in a dollar.
We got our lines down.
We weren't really where the fish were that day because nobody was catching very much.
And so we went to a different place, dropped the lines down, reeled it up just a little bit.
And one guy caught something and the rod was bent over and he was reeling this thing in.
But as it got up close to the boat, the captain and the mates looked down and they said, that's a shark.
We're not going to put that onto the boat because that's not safe.
It wasn't a huge shark, but it was.
So when they got it close, they cut the line so the shark could swim away.
So that didn't count because they didn't catch it.
They didn't bring it into the boat.
And that guy was a little upset because that would have been the biggest fish of the day.
But it was against the rules of the boat.
And so he did not win the prize.
Someone else won the prize for the biggest fish.
Me.
I caught the biggest fish.
And that fish was about two pounds.
It wasn't a big fish at all.
It was two pounds.
But I won the prize because I caught the biggest small fish of the day.
We had not quite gone to where the fish were.
We caught a few, but there were many more fish that could have been caught that day.
And it seems to me like too often as Christians, as a church, too often maybe we hang out too long at the aquarium
where the fish have already been caught, where everything is clean,
and the lights look so good and there's no algae in there,
but the fish are so pretty as you watch them swimming by.
But maybe we need to go somewhere else to look for fish to be caught.
So let me read some statistics here.
I had a cool graphic for this, but I'll just have to read them.
So Ringgold Church, we are in what county?
Catoosa County.
Does anyone know how many people live in Catoosa County?
As of 2022, there were 68,800 in some.
So almost 69,000 people live in Catoosa County.
So, you know, a decent sized county.
This is a statistic that surprised me just a little bit,
but I saw in several different areas that of those 69,000 people,
30.9, 31% claim to be religious.
That's not very much.
And let me tell you why, because the average in Georgia is about 51 or 52% claim to be religious.
The average in the greater Chattanooga area is actually about 54%.
So Catoosa County, it surprised me a little bit, is below that average,
but as I looked at it, there were a couple different denominations that didn't have very many.
And as I've driven around, it's like, well, I haven't seen a lot of those churches.
So maybe that's accurate.
And of those 68,000, of those 30% that are religious, the most,
anybody have a guess what denomination?
The Baptists.
The Baptists are about 21% of the county.
So let's look at the Summit of the Adventist Church in Catoosa County.
There are two churches in Catoosa County, the Ringgold Church and the?
The Battlefield Church.
And between those two churches, there are about 230 members.
230 members in Catoosa County.
Now we know, we all know some Summit of the Adventists who live in Catoosa County,
but maybe go to church, you know, north of the border up there where Little Demiland is, you know, up that direction.
But we know that some people here today do not live in Catoosa County.
So it balances out just a little bit.
But using those numbers, I'm not great at math,
but I think that that means in Catoosa County, 0.3% are Summit of the Adventists.
0.3% are Summit of the Adventists.
That means that over 99% of the people that we meet here are not Summit of the Adventists.
And if we take that number of religious,
that means that there are 70% of the people in the county that desperately need a saving relationship with Jesus.
That means seven out of the ten people that you come in contact with
at your office, at your school, at Ingalls, at Taco Bell, wherever you work, wherever you shop, wherever you go out to eat,
seven out of ten are not religious.
That means there's a lot of fish, if we can use that term, that can be caught.
Jesus told Peter, go out into the deep, go to where the fish are.
And so we look at verse five and we see Peter's response,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
But verse five, Simon answered and said to him, Simon has some questions here.
Simon's not sure about this assignment.
Simon says, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.
We've tried this, Jesus, we've been working all night.
My nets are clean. I put them away.
We have tried this and we have not caught anything.
We've tried it before, but we don't have any success.
You ever heard that phrase? We've tried that before.
We've tried something, but there's no success.
But notice what Simon said.
We've toiled all night and caught nothing.
But Jesus said, I will let down the net.
Nevertheless, nevertheless, at your word, because of what you tell me, Jesus,
I will let down the net.
Peter's like, I don't want to do it. I don't think it's going to work.
But Jesus, because you have told me this, I'm going to let down the net.
Verse six, and when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and so they signaled to their partners in the other boat, come and help.
And they came and filled both boats so that they begun to sink.
So the nets are in and suddenly there's this huge mass of aquatic life.
You know, fish flip-flopping around, you know, all over the place.
They're trying to pull them in. They're breaking the nets. Come help us.
The other boat comes over and there's so many fish that now two boats are overloaded.
Two boats are brought down. An astounding catch of fish.
And so there's, you know, flopping. They're messy. They're slimy.
They're a huge group of fish. They're messy.
You know, sometimes fishing can be messy.
You guys ever heard of something called noodling?
Now this is not something for Asian lunch. It's something totally different.
Now noodling is a way to fish. It does not involve a net.
It does not involve a hook and a line.
But it involves an individual getting in the water, getting in the river or the creek,
going to the muddy bank of the river, finding a hole,
and sticking their hand, sticking their arm into the hole.
He's hoping there's not a big snapping turtle in there.
And so the purpose, the goal is to stick your hand into the mouth of the catfish
and then wrestle, pull this catfish out.
And they may pull out a 20 pound catfish or a 50 pound catfish.
And it's messy. They're muddy.
Sometimes they're bloody because those fish are gnawing on their wrists a little bit.
Sometimes fishing can be messy.
In fact, let's turn over to Matthew chapter 13.
There's a loop. But in Matthew 13, Jesus tells another parable,
Matthew chapter 13.
We're going to pick it up in verse 40.
Excuse, Matthew, I'm in Mark. No one.
Matthew 13 and verse 47.
Matthew 13 did not have 47 verses.
Matthew 13 and verse 47. Jesus tells a parable.
And he says, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet
that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
which when it was full, they drew to shore and they sat down.
So they've got this net full of aquatic life
and they gathered the good into vessels and they threw the bad away.
So in this fish, there's all kinds of stuff.
There's bass, there's trout, there's tilapia, there's catfish,
there's clean, there's unclean, there's carp,
there's ones that are good to eat and others.
And it says they're dividing them up.
The good they're keeping, the bad they're throwing away.
And then notice verse 49.
It says, So it will be at the end of the age.
Then it says, who's going to do the separating here?
The angels will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just.
But who's separating? The angels.
That means it's not necessarily our job to separate.
It's not our job to choose to say who's good and who's bad.
That's the angels' job. That's God's job.
Sometimes we want to try to do that separating ourselves.
Sometimes if new fish come into the aquarium,
I think they're a little different.
They've got some different ideas.
Maybe they sit in our seat at Mercy.
Maybe they don't feel welcomed as they should.
Sometimes people talk about a church as being unfriendly.
Now I haven't heard that about this church.
But sometimes people will say that.
And a church may look around and say,
We're friendly. There's my friend there.
And I'm friends with that person.
And a church can be friendly with each other.
We can be friendly with each other,
but bring a new fish into the aquarium.
And sometimes people aren't so sure.
And so a church is a group of believers,
a place of community,
a place where people can feel welcome.
And so everyone who comes in can experience friendliness,
can experience love,
can experience acceptance.
So if you see a new face,
if you see somebody you don't recognize,
say hello. Welcome them.
Ask their name.
Tell them that you're glad that we are here.
That they are here, that we are here with them.
Everybody deserves that friendliness.
Everyone deserves that love,
because they are a child of God.
And so we can look ahead.
We talked already about a meeting coming up,
a prophecy seminar.
So let's look ahead like three weeks.
And by God's grace,
hopefully we'll have some people in the community
that are wanting to learn more about Jesus,
that are wanting to learn more about the Savior
who died for their sins,
wanting to learn more about the God who created them,
who is promising to come soon and take them to heaven.
Let's make sure that we're welcoming,
that we're loving,
that we're being friendly to everybody that we meet,
everybody that we come in contact with.
Let's look back at Luke here,
because this story is not over.
They caught this big, messy catch of fish.
The boats were sinking.
And then notice the response, verse 8.
It says, When Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus' knees or Jesus' feet,
saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
So it's almost like two different things,
an oxymoron of what's happening.
Because it says he falls down at Jesus' feet.
That's the action.
But his words are like, Get away from me, Jesus.
You are holy.
Because of this miracle, I see that holiness,
that I am a sinful man.
So he falls down to worship him at his feet,
to cling to his feet.
And I don't even deserve to be in your presence.
I am not worthy to be here with you.
It's almost like the story in Isaiah, chapter 6,
where Isaiah is there, and he sees God high and lifted up.
He sees the holiness of God, and Isaiah can only respond.
Remember what he says?
He said, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.
He saw the glory of God, and he was reminded of his own sinfulness.
And so here we see this miracle has taken place,
and Peter is astonished by it.
In verse 9 it says, For he and all who were with him
were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken.
So in this teaching moment, Jesus tells these disciples,
and he tells Peter to go to where the fish are,
and then Jesus works the miracle.
Notice verse 10, it says, And so also they were astonished.
So also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid.
From now on you will catch men, people.
You're going to catch people for the kingdom of God.
You caught fish.
You didn't catch any last night, but with a miracle,
you caught a big group.
But from now on, don't be afraid.
From now on you're going to catch this group of people for the kingdom.
You're going to catch people for Jesus.
And then verse 11 says, So when they had brought their boats to land,
they forsook all and followed him.
They had seen this miracle.
They were amazed, and so they had to follow him.
Jesus said, Don't be afraid.
You will catch men.
In the other gospels it says, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
This is not an option.
He doesn't say maybe you'll catch somebody.
He says, If you're following me, you're going to be catching men.
If you're following, then you're going to be fishing.
Let me say that one more time.
If you're following, you're going to be fishing.
Let's flip that just a little bit.
If you're not fishing, let me say it the other way one more time.
If you are following, then you are going to be fishing.
So if you aren't fishing, then maybe you're not following.
Have mercy.
That could be where we are because it's a miracle that's going to take place.
It's a miracle that Jesus is going to do for us.
Jesus is our only source of hope, of salvation.
And by fishing, by going where the fish are,
we can help others to find the grace, to find the salvation that has changed your life.
And so whatever it takes to bring the hope of Jesus to a world that is in turmoil,
you turn on the news and you see turmoil, you see wars, you see elections have mercy,
you see hurricanes, you see all of these things taking place.
But what are we doing?
What can we do, whatever it takes, to bring hope to this world?
We can use a storm as an example.
Destruction, devastation, unspoken loss of life and so many other things.
We have relatives from Asheville who don't have power and water.
They came to be with us so they could have water and power.
But even in the midst of this turmoil, you see people making a difference.
I had some really cool pictures to show you of our church members, Darren's kids,
down at Learning Tree, who collected a bunch of items to send to places in need.
A truck full, a car full of items.
Or up in Collegedale and Eastridge, those two communities combined.
I think I read it was like 250,000 pounds of things had been donated
to Northeast Tennessee to take to North Carolina.
And throughout the week, planes, they've been loading planes full of supplies
and flying them from Collegedale and many other places to land in Asheville
and other places that you're not able to get to.
So they're using children, they're using vehicles, they're using planes.
You probably saw the story of a group of people who loaded up a bunch of pack mules
and led them through the mountains and through the places where the cars couldn't get to
to take food and to take water and to take medicine to those in need.
I even saw one story of someone who was on the other side of the river.
The bridge was washed out and that person needed some more insulin for their diabetes.
And so the person got a drone, you know, a little drone
and hooked the insulin on the bottom side of it
and flew the insulin over the river to the person that needed the medicine
to be healthy, to be safe, to be alive.
They're doing whatever it takes to get to those in need.
One of our church family, Mike Gray, is here sometimes.
Going today with a group of students from Southern to join in
and helping meet needs there, whatever it takes.
And so we as Christians, we as a church, we can do whatever it takes.
And so this week, this Thursday, it is an opportunity, it is an option
that we can continue to pray for those who are getting flyers or seeing things online
and hopefully you'll plan to join us, you'll plan to attend.
And hopefully as you come, you'll tell somebody else,
come sit by me, let me pick you up, let me bring you
because we can do whatever it takes to point someone to a saving relationship with Jesus.
That's what we have experienced and that's what we want to share with somebody else.
What's about our heads?
Dear God, thank you for each one of us here.
And Lord, if there's somebody here who has not experienced that saving relationship with you,
Lord, open up their heart right now and let them just say,
Lord, I love you, Lord, I want to serve you, Lord, I want to follow you.
And Lord, as we look ahead to this week, we just want to pray for our Forecasting Hope series
that we'll meet some new people of these seven out of ten people who aren't religious
and I will be able to interact with them and invite them to know their Savior,
to know their Creator, to know their coming King
and just guide us and bless us in all that we do.
In your name we pray, Amen.