Lend your boat to the Lord
Dr. Roberto Miranda(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY:
In Luke 5, Jesus borrows Simon Peter's boat to preach to a crowd of people who are pressing in on him. After he finishes speaking, Jesus tells Peter to launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch. Despite Peter's initial reluctance, he catches a large number of fish and is amazed by the miracle. Jesus then tells Peter that he will be a fisher of men and Peter and his companions leave everything to follow Jesus. The sermon discusses the importance of meeting the needs of the people in evangelism and how our lives are like Peter's boat, which we can lend to the Lord for his work. People need community, a sense of personal fulfillment, and practical teaching about human relationships, and the church can provide these needs.
The story of Peter and Jesus using his boat as a platform for preaching to the crowd has a symbolic meaning for our lives. Our lives are like Peter's boat, and God needs us to proclaim his word to the world. God prefers to work in partnership with man, and he has chosen us to be part of the miracle of evangelization. Our lives have different levels of approach to the Lord, and we need to go deeper to experience the joy of the Lord. We should give our interiority to the Lord and allow him to transform all areas of our lives. The third position of the boat, where it is completely separated from the shore, is the most important and powerful position in the Christian life.
The third level of spiritual growth is when we go out into the deep with God, where we have encounters with Him and He reveals His true identity to us. When we give our lives to God and serve Him first, He takes care of all our other needs. We must cast our net on the word of God and obey Him in everything, seeking His power and consecrating ourselves to Him. Let us all search deeper for God's purpose in our lives and become true fishers of men.Chapter 5 of Luke says: “It came to pass that while Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret, the crowd pressed against him to hear the word of God. And the Lord saw two boats that were near the shore of the lake and the fishermen having descended from them were washing their nets. And getting into one of those boats, which belonged to Simon, he begged him to put it away from land a little and sitting down, he taught the crowd from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Responding Simon said to him, "Master, we have been working all night and we have caught nothing, but at your word I will cast the net." And having done so, they caught a large number of fish and their net broke. So 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.