"LAUNCHING OUT INTO THE DEEP"
Pastors Jeremiah & Faimatta Menyongai, Jr.
Luke 5:4-6 Now when (Jesus) Had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the Deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: And their net brake.
Launching Into The Deep". Look, at some point God will bring each of us to a place where nothing is working like it used to, everything seems to come up empty. This is exactly where God wants us - He is showing us that we truly are helpless and powerless without Him.
God is wanting to get our faith out of our boats, (churches, ministries, religion, organizations) and out of our nets, (tools, our mechanics, methods, programs) and out of our ability to preach or teach or witness and bring us back to the place where we won't walk and talk without Jesus. The problem is some people have become so used to doing things in their own strength, and wisdom, and ability, that they cannot totally surrender to God. To launch out into the deep, we must do a number of things:
First: If We Are Going To Launch Out Into The Deep And Experience The Power Of God, We Must Get Jesus Back In The Boat.
Second: To Launch Out Into The Deep We Must Not Only Have Jesus In The Boat Of Our Lives, We Must Hear What He Is Saying.
Third: If We Are To Launch Out Into The Deep, Then We Must Obey Him - His Word. Whatsoever He Saith Unto You Do It. When You Do You Will Hit The Miraculous.
Listen to the battle between flesh and spirit. We've toiled all night long. We're fisherman and we know how to catch fish. Then Jesus says: Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.
We must realize that self efforts, self wisdom and self ability, and all of our religious traditions and experiences, as spiritual as they seem to be, can never bring us to our destiny. God has ordained it that way for spiritual things.
If you take miracles out of Christianity it is just another religion Jesus birth was a miracle, his resurrection was a miracle, our salvation is a miracle: 1 Co 4:20 The Kingdom of God is not in word but in Power.
When they had gotten Jesus in the boat, Heard his word, Obeyed his word, then the nets were filled to breaking. This is still what is needed to fill the nets today - the mighty miracle power of God. When we demonstrate to the world that we serve a Jesus who is alive, who can save, heal, deliver, there will be a flood of fish (souls) coming into the kingdom. Your church (boat) with its nets, won't be able to contain them all. We'll have to call for our partners in the kingdom to get them all in.
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