Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.
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connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.
So glad that you're here with us.
Tom change Sunday. You are at the 11:00, not the
10:00, but just so glad being able to worship with you.
Hey, before we jump in, before we get started, I do want to
just kind of acknowledge something that we're probably
all very aware of is the tragedy that's that took place in our
community over the weekend. And just really wanting to spend
some time together as a as a church, as a body, as a
community, just pray for for everyone involved in that.
So. If you would.
If you just pray with me, God, you know exactly what's going on
in every heart, every mind, God, not just in this room, the God
in this community, God, the lives that that are so broken
and and hurting and grieving. God, we pray for the family of,
of Jason Hughes, God for, for Laura, for their boys, Owen and
Luke. God for their families.
God, for the families that these young people that that were that
were involved. God for the broken and the, and
the hurting in our community. God, whether they be colleagues
or friends or or neighbors, students.
God, I pray that your Holy Spirit will continue to do what
only he can do. God, we know that there are
deep, deep hurts and deep, deep pains.
So, God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would go to those deep
places and every heart and every mind and every life in our
community to do His deep work to bring about your deep healing.
God, in some way will we pray that Lord, that hearts and lives
will be drawn towards you. Got to pray that you would draw
us closer together as a community.
Got to pray that you would draw us closer to you and God that
you would just continue to pour your Holy Spirit out on this
community. Got our prayer is nothing short
of revival. So God, I pray that you would,
Lord, that you would bond up the wounded.
Got to pray that you would heal the broken.
Got to pray that you would comfort the grieving.
God, I want to thank you so much for placing Riverbend Church in
this community. God, where as a where as a body
together Lord, we can look to you as our only hope and God
that we can lead others to you. It was their only hope.
And it's in Jesus name that we pray.
Amen. One of the things I would tell
you, and I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor and I
should, man, I love the local church.
I just love the local church. I love.
I love what other organizations do in the name of Jesus.
There's nothing like the local church.
There's nothing like the local body of believers.
I happen to believe, and I know that that you do as well, that
the local church is the instrument that God uses to
bring the hope of the gospel to the world.
And in times like this, we're just really reminded and it's
not it's not about Riverbend, It's not about anyone particular
congregation. It's about all Bible believing a
Jesus following churches in our area coming together and
pointing people back to Jesus. I really do believe that Jesus
is our only hope. And as a matter of fact,
tragedies like like the the passing of this teacher and this
coach and this husband and friend and neighbor this past
weekend, it just really reminds me and just continues to impress
upon me. I literally have no idea how
people make it in the world without Jesus.
I really don't and I'm not. I'm not just saying that on.
You know, as a, as a pastor or a preacher on a Sunday morning,
I'm saying that like legitimately just like walking
with people and talking with people and praying with people
how someone makes it without Jesus.
And I, I just don't, I don't get it.
But I, I see it often. I see like a sense of
hopelessness and, and I see, I see people that are, that are
chained and defined by, by struggles or, or their grief.
And you know, they're just living trapped.
They're, they're, they're living so constrained.
And, and then I, I come back to, to understanding why, why Jesus
instituted the church and calls the church the bride of Christ
to, for, for us to come and not just to for us to gather on a
Sunday morning to hear information from his word, but
for us to gather together and to be encouraged together and for
us to experience his Holy Spirit together and for us to be
launched out together. To take the good news of Jesus
to a broken world. And then what an incredible
honor that is, but also what an incredible weight that is as
well. And, and there's nothing like
like within the local church. There's nothing like being able
to. Celebrate how God can take
someone who is. Who is lost in their sins and
who is, who is broken and who's defined by their grief or their,
their, their, their struggles or their addictions?
And, and he can make them born again and give them new life.
And there's nothing like being able to celebrate that.
And, you know, like next week we get to celebrate that through
baptism. We're going to be able to share
some stories together and be able to celebrate how the Holy
Spirit of God changed not just lives a life, but change
trajectories of entire families and, and, and, and potentially
generational trajectory change. And we get to be a part of that.
What, what an incredible honor and privilege it is to, to be a,
part of something like that as a local body while still
ministering in the context of a, of a local community that God
has strategically placed us in. And you know, one of the things
I love is we, we're not called to be spectators.
We're called to be participants and that, and that's one of the
things that we're going to get to over the next several weeks
in the series called Borrowed is understanding that you know
Jesus humbly Jesus doesn't need any of.
US. Jesus doesn't need Riverbend
Church. He doesn't need me.
He doesn't need you. He doesn't need us, but he
chooses to use us if we're available and willing for him
to, to use us. So I think a lot of it is coming
at a time and season to where our eyes are open and our ears
are open to the needs around us. And there's strategic, strategic
opportunities for us to really just dive in and to move from
the sidelines onto the playing field from from spectator to to
participant. And you know, as excited as I am
about next week and, and being able to celebrate baptism.
And by the way, if that's a step that you know that you need to
take in your relationship with Jesus, I would highly encourage
you check, look at that connect card that you received on your
way in. Oh, by the way, if you're new to
Riverbend, my name's Ben get to serve as the pastor.
But you can take a look at that connect card that you received
on your way in. And there's a box like I want
more information on on being baptized and one of our pastors
and ministry leaders, They'll, they'll get in touch with you
and make sure that you're kind of good to go.
And so we can participate and celebrate.
You can participate. We can celebrate that as well.
But as excited I as I am about next week, I'm also excited
about, you know, several weeks from now because we have a very
strategic open door to where people are so very open and
receptive to being invited to sit with them at church, like a
neighbor, a Co worker, a classmate.
It is so easy during the Easter time to say, Hey, I don't know
if you have any. I don't know if you go to a
church or there's a church that you usually go to.
But if not, I would love for you to come with me.
And hey, you can sit with me. And, you know, let's get there a
little bit early to make sure that, you know, we can, we can
get some coffee and we can get some Donuts.
And if they're, if they're a young parent, make sure that we
can get some coffee and then some more coffee and then some
more coffee. But people are really open to,
to the things of God and open to, to coming to church around
Easter. And what that means is that's,
that's not just a strategic opportunity and an opening for
us. It means that there's also a
great need and an invitation for, like I said, for us to get
off the sidelines from being spectators and get on the field
and being participants and, and helping us serve and, and
volunteering. And, and, and one of the things
I would just point you to is you can look at the, what was handed
to you, the the note sheet and there are two connect cards and
one's kind of the normal connect card and the other's the, the
Easter Connect card. And, and one of the things that
I would encourage you to do is is to look at that Easter
Connect card and look at the different serving opportunities
that there are for you just to try something out maybe just for
that day for Easter to be able to serve like a lot of the
guests that are going to be coming onto our campus.
And I know that the thought is, listen, if I served during on
Easter Sunday, I'm not going to be able to sit in the service.
And we've already thought about that.
So for the first time on Saturday evening, April 4th at
5:30 in this room, we're doing an Easter service.
And it's going to be the exact same service that we do on
Sunday morning. We're doing it for volunteers.
So if you're serving on Sunday, we'd invite you to come on
Saturday to be able to worship together.
And we that gives us, our staff an opportunity to serve you, our
volunteers, but we really need your help in all the different
areas there. So I would highly, highly
encourage you and really invite you to move off the sidelines
from spectator to participant. And there's no better time to do
that than Easter. And I just really think that as
a church, as a body, you know, you'll be so incredibly blessed
by serving, by serving one another and by serving our
guests. This morning, though, we're
going to be starting a series that I've really been looking
forward to for a long time. And it's the series borrowed.
And, you know, with a bumper video, you'd already laid it out
for us. But we're able to read in the
Bible about Jesus's earthly ministry.
So we know that Jesus earthly ministry lasted about three
years. Was was was was crucified on a
cross, died physically, died physically, rose again three
days after his death and ascended back to heaven.
And that was in 33 years. So Jesus, his time span here
with us on earth was just 33 years.
But you know, when he starts his earthly ministry, we're told
that Jesus in the Bible is just recorded, that Jesus borrowed.
Five things in his ministry. He borrowed a boat, he borrowed
some bread, he borrowed a donkey, borrowed a room, and he
borrowed a tomb. And what we're going to dive
into this morning is we're going to look.
At that first thing that Jesus borrowed, that we're told that
Jesus borrowed, and as Jesus borrowed a boat, borrowed a
boat. And really what we're going to
look at is we're going to peel back some layers and really just
look at this question. So what I mean, it's a really
open and honest and really important question for us to
answer. Like Jesus borrowed a boat.
So what? What does it matter to us?
How does it change anything about today?
And how does the fact that Jesus borrowed a boat 2000 years ago,
how does it change the way in which I approach this coming
week? To dive into that this morning,
I want to invite you, if you have a Bible with you, to find
Luke chapter 5, Luke chapter 5. And if you don't have a Bible
with you, then no worries. The passage is on the screen
behind me and it's also printed on the note sheet at the top of
the note sheet that you were handed on the way in.
So here's what I want to do. I want to go ahead and dive in.
Luke chapter 5, verse one says on one occasion while the crowd
was pressing in on him talking about Jesus to hear the word of
God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Genezra and he saw two
boats by the lake, but the fishermen had already gone out
of them and were washing their Nets.
Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's.
He asked him put out a little from the land and he sat down
and taught the people from the boat.
And when he'd finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into
the deep and let down your Nets for a catch.
Verse 5 And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night.
We worked really hard all night and we took nothing but at your.
Word, I let down the Nets and when they had done this, they
enclosed a large number of fish and their Nets were breaking.
So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to
come and help them. And they came and filled both
the boats so that they began to sink.
That's how many fish they caught.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees saying,
depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.
For he and all who are with him were astonished at the catch of
fish they had taken that they had taken.
And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were
partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not
be afraid. From now on you'll be catching
men. Many translations.
You may have learned that you'll be fishers of men.
And when they brought their boats to land, they left
everything. And followed him.
So here's the question for us that we've really got to grapple
with of all the things that happened in Jesus's life.
Why was it so important that this was recorded that that we
have this this account given to us?
Like what's the big deal about this passage that we just read
that God saw it so fit to make sure that Luke wrote it down
that the that the that the Holy Spirit of God inspired Luke to
write down this passage with with these details.
I think in order for us to answer that question, we've got
to look a little bit at the background of Luke 5 and a
little bit of explanation of Luke 5 S.
For example, by the time we get to Luke 5, Jesus had already
left his home to where for the 1st 30 years he followed in the
footsteps of his earthly father figure, Joseph, and he became a
Carpenter. So he left the carpentry
business and he left his mother Mary at home, and he started
that three-year trek for his earthly ministry.
And by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus has already
gone to his hometown synagogue. And he, he, he's opened the
scroll and he, he, he, he, he, he read a passage out of Isaiah
about the coming Messiah and basically said, hey, Isaiah, who
he's talking about? That's me.
And there was a complete uproar in Jesus hometown to where his
own hometown, they rejected him, they called him a lunatic, they
called him a heretic, they called him everything under the
sun to where Jesus then left his hometown, traveled to a
neighboring town called Capernaum.
While teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus actually cast a
demon out of a man in that church service.
Can you imagine how wild that must have been?
Like being in a church service and, and Jesus calls a demon out
of a man And, and so after that church service ends, then Jesus
goes to Simon's house and this guy Simon, by the way, he is
going to be later on referred to as Simon Peter and many times
just as Peter, the apostle Peter.
So by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus and Simon,
they'd already met each other because Jesus had gone to
Simon's house to where Simon's mother-in-law was.
And she was really sick. And Jesus, Jesus healed Simon's
mother-in-law. And you know, if you're with us
and, you know, wives, you might look at your husband and you go,
oh, that's so sweet. Like, honey, would you get Jesus
to come over to our house to heal my mom and husbands?
You're like, absolutely. Listen, don't lie in church.
But Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law.
And then the Bible tells us he did many other miracles outside
of Simon's house and in that area.
So by the time we get to Luke chapter 5, Jesus popularity,
it's it's sky high. It's at an all time high.
So let me get you to kind of mentally put yourself in that
setting that we just read in Luke chapter 5.
You got these massive crowds coming from from every which way
just to hear Jesus teach. There's just something about the
way that Jesus teaches. There's an authority about him
that they've never heard before. There's a there's a magnetism
about them, about him that they've never experienced
before, that there's something within their hearts that that is
drawn to him like they've never been drawn to another teacher
before. So these huge crowds are coming
from all over and they keep gathering and gathering, which
means that they keep pressing further and further in and Jesus
teaching by the by the by the lake.
And you can just imagine as the as the crowds keep pushing
further and further in because everybody wants to hear Jesus
and to hang on every word of Jesus, they keep kind of
jostling forward. And you can imagine Jesus just
kind of slowly, like backing up a little bit to the point to
where the back of his sandals start to fill the water because
the lake water starting to lap. Up against his ankles.
And then Jesus looks around and he sees 2 boats and he gets into
one of the boats and he asks its operator Simon, who will later
be Peter. Hey, we put out a little further
out into the water because Jesus made this request, because Jesus
knew three things. Number one is if Jesus moved a
little bit further and he was able to teach from a boat in the
water, then that gave him some more space to teach.
It also gave more space #2 it gave more space for the crowds,
for more people to gather in. And #3 Jesus knew something
about acoustics that maybe many people didn't understand over
2000 years ago, that that that that volume actually carries
sound, carries faster and further across the surface of
water. Then it does through just air.
So it amplified Jesus's voice to where he could teach to more
people, more people could could hear him.
And then after he finished teaching, then then he asked
Simon Peter, hey, put out a little bit further, you know,
like where you typically catch fish.
And after a brief discussion, Peter finally gives in and goes,
OK. And they let down their Nets and
they have the, the the hall of a lifetime.
I mean like a fisherman's dream to where you can imagine that of
these fishermen and their partners, there's probably one
guy that he's, he's kind of calculating all the profits
there and they, they've never seen anything like it.
They've never heard of anything like it.
So much so that that two boats are going out there and, and
both of them are starting to sink.
There's so many fish and it freaks Peter out.
And then Jesus looks at Peter and, and gives Peter the line
that, that, that the men's conferences and Christian
bookstores and Christian T-shirt companies will, will make a
boatload of money off of 2000 years later.
You'll be a Fisher of men. And then when they get back to
shore, Peter, James and John, they they leave their boats,
they leave their Nets, and they follow Jesus full time.
So we return to the question, why is what we just read?
Why is it so important that God gave it to us in Scripture?
I think it's very easy to forget three key things #1 Jesus didn't
need a boat, He proved later on he could walk on water #2 Jesus
didn't need the water to amplify his voice.
He's the one that spoke the entire universe into existence
and #3 Jesus didn't need Peter. Yet we see Jesus inviting Peter
into his ministry to be used for Peter's good and for Jesus's
glory. Can I tell you something really
quick? Whatever gifts or talents or
abilities that that God has given you and entrusted to you
and to me, God doesn't need those things.
And, and, and humbly, this may be a shock to, to our egos.
God doesn't need you and God certainly doesn't need me to do
his thing. Yet we see the invitation of
Jesus. We see the invitation of Jesus
playing out in Peter and it echoes over to us.
Let me kind of explain what I mean by that.
Let me get you to find Luke chapter 5, verse 3 at the top of
your note sheet. At the top of your note sheet is
going to begin with the phrase getting out of one of the boats,
which was Simon's. He asked him to put out a little
from the land. You you found it on your note
sheet and you get you to do something to circle that word
asked. Circle.
The word asked. We know that the New Testament
was written in the Greek language, right?
So did you know in the Greek language, there are two words
for asked? Here's the first one, a Teo.
A Teo often implies a more urgent demand.
If someone a teos you, it's a desperate plea.
It's almost like somebody rushing up to you.
Quick, quick, quick. Can I borrow your phone?
I need to use your phone. I've got to make a phone call.
That's a Teo, the second word for Greek.
Word for asked is orateo. Orateo often implies an inquiry
or request made on familiar terms.
That's asking Adam for permission.
The first Hey, quick, quick, quick.
I need to use your phone. That's an urgent request.
The second one, Orateo, is hey, can I show you something on your
phone real quick? Do you see the difference there?
Guess what? Guess which one was?
Used from Jesus to to Simon Peter.
There's the second one. There was no urgency in Jesus
voice. Hey, quick, quick, quick, quick.
I'm panicking. I don't know what to do.
These crowds are getting out of control man.
And you know, I'm not quite ready to walk on water yet.
I need you to put out in the put out into the into the water.
It wasn't an urgent request. It was a hey salmon, do you mind
like putting out into the water? Hey salmon, I want to I want to
show you something later on. Just put out into the water a
little. Bit you may say, Ben, what is
the big deal? Here's the big deal is did you
know? Did you know that Jesus, and
this is in your notes that Jesus, he doesn't take, he
invites. Jesus doesn't take, he invites.
He could have seized Peter's boat, but he didn't.
He asked Peter. He invited him.
Now what did? What did Jesus exactly?
What exactly did Jesus invite Peter into?
It was. Hey, Peter, I want to take what
you're already. Doing and I want to make it
matter forever. And the same thing is true.
What was true of Peter then and there is true of us here now.
The invitation of Jesus is this. Is He wants to meet you where
you are and to make it matter forever.
In other words, whatever Jesus has entrusted to you, the gifts
that he has gifted you with, He wants to use those giftings and
make those giftings matter forever.
The roles in which he has you in right now.
It could be as a husband or a wife, a friend, a neighbor, an
employee, an employer, A classmate, a teammate, a cast
mate, whatever it may be. He wants to use those and make
those matter forever to have an eternal impact.
Hey, hey, Simon Peter, listen, you can catch a lot of fish, but
you're always going to be like just catching one more fish to
feed one more mouth on one more day or, or.
I can if you hand over to me your giftedness as a fisherman.
I can make it matter forever to where I can use you to impact
generations. I can use you to introduce them
to my Heavenly Father. I can use you so that people can
be set free from pain and shame and guilt in their lives.
They can be forgiven of their sins, that they can have a hope
that when they die they will spend eternity with, with, with,
with me and my Father in heaven. I can use that.
And make it matter forever. The same invitation is for you
and I. As a matter of fact, I want to
kind of introduce you to a main truth that's actually serving as
the big idea throughout this series.
It's this. It's what Jesus borrows, he
blesses to use for our good and for his glory.
A lot of times people. Think people wrongly assume that
if you're going to really follow Jesus, all Jesus wants to do is
to take and to take and to take from you and basically just to
leave you on empty. And I've heard so many
testimonies of well-intentioned men and women that they share
their testimony and they spend so much time on like their pre
Jesus life and so little time on their post Jesus life that it
makes it really sound like they were having a lot more fun pre
Jesus. And I think that they that
they've completely misunderstood Jesus.
Jesus doesn't want to take from us to leave us on empty.
Jesus wants to remove the things in our lives that are harmful to
us and also so that we can make room and space for us to develop
into the men and the women that He actually created us to be.
You see what Jesus borrows, and we're going to see this playing
out over the next 4 weeks. We're going to see this playing
out all the way up through Easter.
What Jesus borrows, He uses to bless.
He blesses to use for our good and for His glory.
However, there's a very, very critical decision that Peter had
to make in Luke chapter 5 that we find ourselves having to
make. If we really want Jesus to use
what we give over to Him to bless for our good and for His
glory, we've also got to make the same critical decision.
Luke chapter 5. Let me kind of unpack the
critical decision that Simon Peter had to make.
And I think you'll see the semblance of the decision that
you and I have to make as well. When Jesus asked Peter, hey
Peter, after Jesus taught, hey Peter, put out into the deep.
Put down your Nets. Peter, a professional fisherman.
By the way, he's not a. Noob.
He he, he's not a novice, he's a professional fisherman.
This is what he does. And by the way, he's good at it.
Hey, Peter, put put out into the deep, put your Nets down.
Peter, very easily, as a professional fisherman, could
have politely told Jesus. Hey, Jesus, with, with all due
respect, gosh, I don't know how to say this.
I think you just need to stay in your lane.
You see, jeez, I'm, I'm really good with this arrangement and I
think everybody understands this arrangement.
But let me kind of unpack. It for you.
You teach and I fish. I'm not going to teach and you
don't tell me how to fish. That was a route that Peter
could have taken, or Peter, a professional fisherman, could
have humbly considered the possibility that Jesus actually
knew more about fishing than he did.
And by that response, look at how Peter responded back to
Jesus. Master, we toiled all night,
took nothing, but at your word I'll let down the Nets.
What? What is that?
That's Peter humbly considering. Maybe Jesus knows more about
fishing than I do. Have you ever thought about
that? That.
Whatever. You do or whatever you're good
at or whatever you're getting good at that Jesus, Jesus
actually knows more about that than you do.
As a pastor, I'll go ahead and tell you when it comes to
teaching or preaching or leading or counselling, Jesus knows more
about all those things than I do.
He made people. If you're If you're in the
construction business, Jesus knows more about construction
than you do. He created the universe.
If you're in the medical profession, Jesus knows more
about medicine and healing than you do.
He's a great physician. If you're a stay at home parent
and those kids are driving you nuts, Jesus a knows exactly how
much you want to introduce those kids personally to Him on those
days. But listen, Jesus knows more
about your kids than you do. He's the one that that uniquely
knit them together in the womb and he's the one that has great
plans for for them. I just want you to get us to
think for just a moment. Whatever you do, whatever you're
about, if you're a student, Jesus knows more.
About being a student than you do.
If you're an athlete, Jesus knows more about being an
athlete. Listen, if you're single, Jesus
knows more about being single. And always Jesus knows more
about what we're doing than we do.
I think intellectually we're all like, yeah, of course Jesus is
God. Of course, Jesus knows more than
I do He's God. Yet practically, I think the
vast majority of people live as if like, hey Jesus,
respectfully, and I think you just need.
To stay in your religious lane, just I, I, I'm good with you
having a voice and having a say and having authority on a Sunday
morning or, or Wednesday night or, you know, when, when we meet
together for, for our, for our life group or God, our small
group, God, I'm, I'm fine with that.
But when it comes to like my job and my career and my finances
and, and, and the way that I parent my kids, like honestly,
respectfully, I think you just need to stay.
In your religious lane. So here's the question, if we
intellectually know that Jesus knows more about what we are
about and what we do than we do, yet practically we struggle to
live under that authority or live under that reality, then
how exactly do we do we pivot? How exactly do do do we make
sure that the two are compatible, that we're living in
alignment with God? I think first of all, I think it
starts with an overall humble acknowledgement, Hey, whatever
I'm doing and whatever I'm about.
Like wherever I'm gifted or talented or whatever roles have
been entrusted to me, Jesus knows more about all of that
than I do. But it's not just an
acknowledgement, but that humble acknowledgement also is going to
always be evidenced by action. And here, here's what I mean.
Look back with me, Luke chapter 5 in verse 5.
Master, we toiled all night and we took nothing, but at your
word I'll let down the Nets. Jesus already taught, he's
already told Peter, hey, go out, put out into the deep, let down
your Nets. I want you to circle something.
Circle that first word master right there.
Circle that word master. That's how, that's how Peter,
something Peter referred to Jesus when Jesus first said,
hey, put out into the deep waters and let down your Nets,
Master, master. Greek word for master is
epistata. Epistata sounds like something
that you'd order at a Mexican restaurant, right?
As a matter of fact, if you go eat Mexican this afternoon, ask
your waitress if you if they have epistatas.
They'll probably confuse them anyway.
Epistata. Epistata is the Greek word that
indicates someone and acknowledges someone who's in
charge. This was Peter basically going,
Hey Jesus, I respect you. Epistata Epistata is a respect
for Jesus. So because Peter respected
Jesus, he he put out into the deep, he let down his Nets and
then Jesus blew his mind, blew Peter's mind and all the minds
of the fishermen around him by bringing in this like catch of
an absolute lifetime that would become absolutely legendary in
the fishing community. And that's saying a lot, right?
And then look in verse 8 how Peter responds.
But when Simon Peter saw it, the massive haul, he fell down at
Jesus knees saying depart from me for I'm a sinful man.
Oh what? Oh Lord, it's not epistata, the
Greek word. There is a word called Kyrie.
Kyrie, check this out. Kyrie indicates a supreme
authority and acknowledges Jesus's divinity.
This is Peter moving from Hey Jesus, I respect you to that's
epistata to Jesus. You are God and I am not even
worthy to be in your presence. Man, if I were to describe to
someone what it is like doing ministry in the context of the
Bible Belt, the US S that somebody had that somebody had
no knowledge of our regional culture, I would start with
explaining the difference between epistata and Kyrie.
Here's what I mean by that. We live in a culture and I think
that on Sunday mornings we have churches filled with people that
greatly respect Jesus, yet don't haven't surrendered their lives
to Jesus. There's a huge difference.
Did you know that you can respect Jesus and still not be
forgiven of your sins? Did you know that you can
respect Jesus, the the teachings of Jesus, the historical person
of Jesus, and still not have the Holy Spirit of God living in
you? Did you know that you can
respect Jesus and still not have the assurance that when you die
that you'll spend eternity with with with him and heaven?
It's only when we move from Epistata to Kyrie, it's only
when we come to a point where we say, I acknowledge you Jesus as
Lord, as Savior and Lord, you are God.
You are my only way to be forgiven.
This the the weight of the shame and guilt that's on me.
You're the only one that can remove that.
You are the only one that can cleanse my heart and cleanse my
soul from the inside out. So Jesus, I acknowledge that you
are God. I ask that you come into my
life. You take control of my life and
I I commit to following you because you are not just God,
You're my supreme authority. There is a massive difference
between tipping your cap at God and actually living up
underneath his divine authority. That is United States Southeast,
United States Bible Belt one O 1A respect for Jesus, yet not
living up underneath the surrendered Lordship.
Of Jesus let me ask you a question have you made that
distinction for your life I have no doubt I have no doubt that
very few if anyone is with us this morning has been with us
this morning whether in the room or online that does not at least
epistata Jesus. I have very little doubt that
there's anybody in here that that doesn't have just a just an
overall overarching respect for Jesus.
And I would say, all right, it's a pretty good starting place,
but a respect for Jesus is not going to transform your life,
Surrendering your life to Jesus, That's where the transformation
begins. That's when the transformation
takes place. Remember how I said that?
To pivot from this intellectual agreement that of course, Jesus
knows more about what I'm doing than I do?
And then, you know, actually applying that practically, it
starts with a humble acknowledgement, but then that
humble acknowledgement is moved over to action here.
Here's another part of that action.
Check out what Jesus responded to Peter.
Jesus said to Peter, do not be afraid.
Why do you say don't be afraid? Because again, put yourself in
that scene. It freaked Peter out.
Let me ask you a question. Is to the church people you
ever. Been in an.
Environment to where you saw the Holy Spirit of God move in such
a way that you were freaked out you'd never get over that will
you you ever you ever you ever walked out of a service to where
you're sitting there going I don't I don't I don't have a
compartment for what I just experienced that's kind of
outside the box that was normal to to where God just like
basically bust out the sides of our of the box that we.
Put them in and it kind of freaks us out.
This is what happened with Simon Peter.
He freaked out and Jesus said, hey Peter, don't, don't be
afraid. From now on, I'm going to make
you a medical professional. It's not what he said.
From now on, Peter, I'm going to send you to seminary to get your
PhD. It's not what he said.
From now on, I'm going to make you the.
Greatest speaker that this world has ever seen.
It's not what he said. He did not even say Peter.
After this point, I'm going to use your life as as probably the
most recognizable of my 12 closest friends, the, the, the
disciples, the apostles. We'll get to that later on.
I'm going to make you the most notable face and the.
Leader of the church. He didn't even say that.
What did Jesus say? From now on you will be catching
men. Why did Jesus?
I tell Peter from now on you'll be catching men.
Do not miss this because Peter was a fisherman.
Listen, there's so many books, there's so many conferences, so
many talks and sermons given on what it means to be a Fisher of
men. If Peter was a farmer, Jesus
would have used a different analogy.
If Jesus was a banker, he would have used a different analogy.
If Jesus was a teacher, If Peter was a teacher or a professor, he
would have used a different analogy.
The power of what Jesus just said here is, hey Peter, I want
to take however, all the ways that I've already naturally
gifted you, and I want to make those matter forever.
I want to make you a Fisher of Mim.
Check this out. When they brought their boats to
land, they left everything and followed him.
Check this out. When Jesus borrows a boat, he
teaches a crowd. When Jesus borrows A fisherman,
he reaches the world. I make no mistake about it.
What we give to Jesus, Jesus never diminishes.
He always multiplies. Coming back to our big idea, the
main truth that we're going to see running throughout this
series is what Jesus borrows again, He doesn't take, he
invites. What Jesus borrows, he blesses
to use for our good and for his glory.
So this is where we're going to land the plane this morning.
Got a couple questions for you and I wanted wanted to give a
little bit of space and margin on the on the back, on the
backside of our time together this morning.
Here's the first question that I got for you, probably the most
important question I could possibly ask you this morning.
Do you merely or simply respect Jesus or have you surrendered
your life to him? And if you're confused on the
difference, if I know what it's like to to wonder like do I just
have a big respect for Jesus or if I really surrendered my life
to him. Here's the good news.
You can leave here this morning with the assurance that you
surrendered your life to them. And that assurance means that
you can leave here with your sins forgiven and with a peace
that surpasses all human understanding and with a with an
overarching hope that whatever may come, that when you die,
you'll spend eternity with God in heaven.
And if that's you, then in just a moment, we're going to have
some pastors down front and we would love to, to pray with you
about how that can become your reality and clear up any doubt,
any confusion, any question there.
But if you know that you've surrendered your life to Jesus,
I want you to take a look at the bottom of, of, of your note
sheet. There's a section that has like
several blank lines at the bottom.
Here's what I want to get you to do.
I want you to take just a few moments and I want you to just
jot down the different roles that define your day-to-day
life. It could be a husband, a wife, a
friend, a neighbor, a teacher, a concrete pour, a banker, a
student, a lawyer, a doctor, stay at home parent, retired, be
anything like what God has entrusted to you in this season.
And once you have that down, here's what I want us to do.
Here's here's here's the invitation to us.
I want to encourage us to end our time together this morning,
taking what has been entrusted to us, what we just wrote down
and dedicating those over to Jesus.
Maybe maybe it's a rededicating those to Jesus like Jesus you
have entrusted to me in this season of my life.
Jesus I am AI am a husband and I know that you know more about
being a husband than than I ever will.
So Jesus would would you would you use me?
Would you guide me and Jesus my role as a husband.
Would you use that to point my family to you and to other
people to you, Jesus, my role as a as a pastor, you know more
about that than I ever will, but you use that and it's a
personalized prayer for you. Wherever you are, whatever roles
that define your day-to-day, reality is taking what God has
already placed in your hands. And this is going to be a common
refrain that we come back to and I would encourage us to to
actually pray this. God, would you use?
What's in my hands and make it holy?
Would you use what's in my hands and make it holy?
Listen, being used from God or you being used by God, it always
start from a place of surrender. What's He placed in your hands
and how can you give that back to Him?
So just a moment, we're going to pray.
If you want to come down and pray here at the front, I think
there's great power in that. You do that.
If you want to come down and pray with a pastor or pray with
one of our ministry leaders, then you come down and do that.
If you feel that you just need to grab somebody's hand or grab
somebody's arm and go, hey, can we go outside and can we talk?
Can we go outside the room and can we talk for a little bit,
then you do that. Maybe the greatest act of
worship is in just a moment when we stand and you know, as other
people are coming to pray, maybe our greatest act of worship is
just standing and sing praises to God.
My hope and my prayer is this is that the Holy Spirit of God
would move in freedom and power. But then that freedom and power
that we would start to fear God more and think more about what
God thinks about us rather than what we think other people
around us may think about it about us.
So let's pray. God, we thank you for this time.
God, we thank you for the fact that we do not pray to you.
We do not sing to you. We do not talk to you as if you
were distant and far off, but God, we acknowledge that you are
here with us. So God, I pray that you would
help us to experience your presence.
God, I pray that whatever you've laid on our hearts in terms of
our response. To you God that we'll be
obedient. To that God that we would care
more about what you think than what other people.
Around us may think. God, if there's anyone that is
struggling with with with an assurance.
That they've surrendered their lives to you, God.
I pray that Lord, that they would take that step out and
they would talk to a pastor and pray with a pastor and God, that
they would leave here forever changed.
God, we thank you for the assurance that you've given
those that have surrendered their lives to you.
God, I pray that you would open our eyes and open our ears to
the fact that you know infinitely more about what we do
and what we're about than we do. And God, you want to use where
we are, You want to meet us exactly where we are and make it
matter forever. God, but that starts with a
place of surrender. God, you never take, You only
invite. And this morning, you're
inviting us to hand it over to you.
God, we pray that you would move in freedom and in power, and
it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.
Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.
To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,
connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.