luke 5

SUMMARY: In Luke 5, Jesus uses Peter's boat to preach to the crowd and then tells Peter to cast his net to catch fish, even though Peter had caught nothing all night. This teaches Peter that when he gives to the Lord, the Lord will bless him and provide more than he could achieve on his own. The message encourages the congregation to be generous and not to be afraid to give beyond their comfort zone, trusting in God's provision. The need for generous giving is particularly important in the current administration where the church is needed to preach the Gospel to a world in need. The Lord asks for our resources to use for his purposes, just as he used Peter's boat.

The story of Peter and the miraculous catch of fish shows us that sometimes we need to act in obedience to the Lord, even if it goes against our own reasoning or experiences. When we give sacrificially to the Lord, we are not only blessed materially, but we also grow in faith and intimacy with God. This can elevate us to a new spiritual level and lead us to see the glory of God. If we believe that God is calling us to a new area of faith, we should not be shy to respond and trust in His provision.

Let's go to Luke Chapter 5, the famous passage of miraculous fishing: "It happened that while Jesus was next to the lake of Gennesaret, the crowd pressed around him to hear the word of God and he saw two boats that were near the shore of the lake, and the fishermen, having descended from them, washed their nets. And getting into one of those boats, which belonged to Simon, he begged him to put it out a little from land, and sitting down he taught the crowd from the boat. When he finished speaking, he said to Simon: "Put out into the deep and cast your nets to catch a fish."

Responding, Simon said to him: “Master, we have been working all night and we have caught nothing. But at your word, at your word I will cast the net." And having done so, they caught a large number of fish and their net broke. Then they signaled to their companions who were in the other boat to come help them and they came and filled both boats so that they were sinking. Seeing this, Simon Peter fell on his knees before Jesus saying: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man," because fear had seized him and all those who were with him because of the fishing they had done. And also of James and John, sons of Zebedee who were Simon's companions, but Jesus said to Simon: Fear not, from now on you will be a fisher of men. And when they brought the boats to land, leaving everything behind, they followed him. May the Lord bless his holy word.