We have been, if you've been here for any a while, you will
know we were in the Cool series and we've been looking at
together what is the call upon us as a people, what is the call
of God? What does that look like?
And we've been looking at the story when Jesus called his
first disciples in Luke chapter 5, and we've been unpacking that
story. I don't know how many weeks this
is. Week four maybe, and maybe five.
I think it's week 5 and we looked first of all that the
first call of God is to be with Jesus.
And I said I'm going to say every week before we called to
something we called to someone well done.
Before we called to do something we called to be someone we
called to be with Jesus. And often times in our modern
world we get that mixed up. And the first question is what
have you called me to do. And and we're so busy Jesus
saying, well, I just want you to be with me first.
But then we looked at in this story, which we're going to look
at in the moment, which is in Luke chapter 51 to 11, We looked
at the call of holiness, which is as we see in the story, when
Jesus and Simon are in the boat. And then what happens?
There is a separation that happens between the multitude
and they depart from the land. And that is a typography of
holiness to be set apart and consecrated to Jesus.
And over 2 weeks we looked at what it means to walk in
holiness. And then we looked at the second
part of that was the fear of the Lord, a healthy holy fear of
God. And we looked at what that means
for us. And then we are on this segment,
which is the 10 hallmarks of the call of God.
Those hallmarks, those stamps of authenticity that the the God is
calling you to the doing part i.e. to fulfill the Great
Commission, The Great Commission that we read to make disciples
every nation. And baptizing them is not a call
just for the quote professionals, the the holy men
and women of God. That is the Great Commission for
every single one of us, every single one of us.
We've been signed up to fulfill the Great Commission.
And so we've been looking at the, the 10 hallmarks, as I said
to you on week one of this, I thought I'd get through them in
a few weeks, but we were only to the third one this week.
So we're just going to keep going quite frankly.
And as I said to you last week, at least I know what we're
speaking on in November now. Wonderful.
But you know, as I've been looking at these hallmarks and I
said last week that they really do form a beautiful tapestry,
that they are all interrelated. It's like these threads that
come together to paint a beautiful picture of who God is.
So you could quite easily not call this the 10 hallmarks of
the call. You could call this the 10
hallmarks of how God interacts with us.
Or more specifically, the character of God.
Because everything we're learning here, and I'm learning
with you, you know, God gave me these 10 hallmarks when it comes
from this story. And each week I've been diving
into the word and studying and finding out more.
And the more I've gone into it, the more I've gone.
Wow, you're really showing me and us who you are, Lord your
heart for us and your character and your nature.
And I've absolutely loved personally where we've been
going with this. So thank you, Lord.
All credit and glory to him. And so last two weeks ago, we
looked at the first hallmark, which is God calls us at the
point where we often feel weak and tired.
Do I get an Amen in the house? Yeah, that's true.
Right, #2. It will require us to go deeper
than we did before. And that the truth.
And we looked at why that is the case.
And we looked at six things last week.
And if you've missed this, you can catch up of course.
And this week we are at #3. Pause for dramatic effect.
Plus, I am thirsty too. And you're ready.
It doesn't always seem to make sense to us.
You saw this one coming at some point, right?
What do we read in the story Luke fired?
Let's look at this together. Verse 4.
And when he that Jesus had finished speaking, he said to
Simon, put out into the deep and let down your Nets for a catch.
What does Simon say, Master, We toiled all night and took
nothing. But at your word I will let down
the Nets. Now we need to understand this.
You see in Galilee in that time they would fish at night.
I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago.
Why did they fish at night? I'm glad you asked me that
question. It's important because in those
days, those days they made their Nets and I did a bit of research
of flax or linen, they made them out of flax or linen.
And so the problem was, is that during the day the fish would
see the Nets and they would swim around it.
That's why they didn't have nylon back then.
Just to clarify, which is what our modern fishermen use now,
and you can't, the fish can't see the nylon, but they could
see the Nets and that's why they would go out at night and they
would fish then. And so Jesus, saying to Simon to
put out his Nets as akin to saying, right, this is where
you're going to catch the fish and they're not going to see the
net. And Simon's like, Lord, we told
all night we didn't catch anything, but now you want me to
do it during the day? Are you nuts?
I mean, I'm clearly adding stuff here, but I just want to give
you a sense of the of the surprise that Simon would have
felt. He's like, Lord, you're not a
professional fisherman, you're a great speaker, great teacher,
but I'm the professional. How many times we said that to
God, Thank you, Lord, but I'm the professional here.
I need that. And So what happens in this
story is that Jesus is asking Simon to do something that
doesn't make any sense. That goes against the the
conventional wisdom of the day. And isn't that the same with us?
You see, when God calls us to do something, oftentimes we're like
Lord, That does not make any sense.
So why? Why doesn't what God always asks
us to do makes sense? I've got three reasons I've
decided to revert to the three-point sermon model.
You'll be pleased to know it's only three points.
Here's the first point. God's ways are not our ways.
I'm sure you all know I saw 55-8 to 9.
It says this for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways. My ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
That's a fairly comprehensive explanation, I think.
See, to us, God just does not make sense.
His way of doing things doesn't make sense to us.
I mean, let's imagine the Israelites, they've just come
out of of Egypt, a type of world.
We looked at that in terms of holiness a few weeks ago.
And they get to the Red Sea. And so far so good.
I mean, they've come out with spoils.
This is amazing. And all of a sudden Pharaoh's
changed his mind and that he's coming with the army.
And they get to the Red Sea. They're like, what?
OK, Moses, have you got a plan, Moses?
Like, I've got a plan. They're like, fantastic.
Are we going to build some bridges?
Are we going to build a tanker ship?
And Moses is like, I've got a plan.
I'm going to put my staff up. Excuse me.
So you're going to put your staff up?
He's really gone bonkers now. No.
God has told me to raise my staff.
What? That does not make sense.
I mean, what about Gideon? We looked at Gideon, didn't we?
When we looked at the fact that God often calls us when we're
feeling we're weak and tired. And he speaks to Gideon and says
this one And Gideon's the the smallest and the smallest clan,
etcetera, etcetera. And Gideon eventually must as an
army of 32,000 men. Right.
We might have some hope. And and God says right.
Too many people. Excuse me.
Yeah, yeah. Too many people say to if
anybody's scared you can leave 20,000 pop off.
I'm left with 10,000. Oh wow, 10,000 might be able to
get away with it because no, no, no, too much.
I think there's some number of tests you can read about it.
And guess how many men Gideon ends up with?
300 Well done, 300 from 32,000 odd to 300 men.
That, to me and to Gideon, probably did not make sense.
Are there times in your life when God has asked you to do
something that doesn't seem to make any sense?
I know they persecuted you. I know they spoke badly about
you. But I want you to pray for them.
What? That's not worldly sense.
No, my ways are higher than your ways.
I remember many years ago, I would say this was about 2000
and nine, 2010 At the time. Stephan, I live in Australia and
I was on a bus going to work. I just started.
I just left the company I was working with and I was starting
a new company. And I was reading a book by
Andrew Murray, a 19th century theologian and pastor, South
African pastor, and it was called A Biden in the Vine, a
true classic if you want to read that.
It's a fantastic book. And I remember praying a very
dangerous prayer on the back of this bus.
And I don't advise you to pray this unless this is what your
heart, the Lord's, leading you to.
It was this. Oh Lord, would you break me, you
dangerous, right, Lord. I'm convicted of my pride.
I'm convicted of the fact that I don't put you first.
I'm convicted of the fat Lord God that I don't abide in you.
So would you break me for you? And then as I said at that time,
I I prayed it. And as I said, I had went to
start a company that the Lord lead us to.
And my purpose was to build a company and sell it.
His purpose was to answer my prayer during the next how many
years, 1213 years or whatever it was.
My way was to try and stay with my company and do it on the
side, this new thing. And when I proved it out, then
leave that company. Jesus's way was no, you're going
to leave it and you're going to trust in me.
But God, that doesn't make sense.
My ways are higher than your ways.
His way was for me to leave a secure job when our eldest was
only one, to put all of our savings into this business and
to trust him. And it didn't make any sense.
But Steph and I had a piece. This was from the Lord.
Sometimes when God calls you to do something, it will go against
conventional wisdom. It will not make sense to you,
and it will be akin to saying go fish during the day when the
fish can see the Nets and you're like, it doesn't make sense.
And God says do what I say. By the way, subsequently by the
blessing of the Lord, we did sell the company, but that
wasn't the point. That was a blessing.
But what he was focused on was breaking me and conforming me to
the lightness of his son. And I'm grateful to God for
that. Number two, His ways are not our
ways. What else?
You're going to like this one. His wisdom is not our wisdom.
No surprises there. One Corinthians won.
So the Apostle Paul is right into the church in Corinth, and
he says the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing. In other words, it's bonkers.
What? That's that doesn't make sense.
Jesus the man dying on the cross?
No, that's ridiculous. But to us who are being saved,
it is a power of God, for it is written.
I would destroy the wisdom of the wise quotes, wisdom of the
Wis and the discernment of the discerning.
I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise?
Go, show me. Where is the scribe?
Where are the teachers? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? You see, godly wisdom looks very
different from worldly wisdom. And God's wisdom often will
require us to do something opposite to our natural
inclinations. What do I mean by that?
Let's look at the difference between worldly wisdom and God's
wisdom. Worldly wisdom is a wisdom by
learning, OK? It's by interacting with the
world around us as we explore it.
And this is how we gain wisdom. We become, quote wise.
Ah, I discovered this. I therefore know what to do in
that situation, right? I was.
I know I'm getting older because I really like BBC Radio 4.
Anyone. Anyone.
Yeah, I hope I haven't offended anyone.
By the way, I love BBC Radio Four and I love having this.
The BBC sounds out. I listen to podcast and I've
been recently listening to In Our Time.
Everyone spoke with Melvin Bragg and 1000 episodes and you will
get experts in a particular field and they will spend an
hour discussing that particular topic.
I love it. It's fascinating.
And I was listening to one on Thursday about electrons, as one
does, and it was fascinating. But what struck me, and they had
these eminent scientists and professors, what struck me was
not how much they knew. It was how much they didn't
know, by their own admission. So Melvin Bragg would say, so if
an electron has a current, what is the electron made of?
Yeah, we're not exactly sure at this point.
And someone else said we think there's some quantum wave
fields. Really.
Yes. We think that maybe there's
something within that that's linking everything together, but
we don't really know. Now I'm not trying to take the
Mickey. I think science is a great way
to prove God's word as it is doing.
But this is a good example of worldly wisdom.
But this is very different to God's wisdom.
You see, God does not need to acquire wisdom.
Let me say that again. God does not need to acquire
wisdom. He is wisdom.
Are we hearing this? You see, the wisdom of God is
the definition of who he is. It's not like he becomes more
wise over time. He's wise.
He is an immutable God and otherwise he doesn't change.
If he does, he couldn't be perfect.
Think about that one. God knows all things.
He does not need to calculate outcomes or deduce things by
observing. Steph and I have been watching
the game Sherlock Holmes, you know, the BBC Sherlock with
Benedict Cumberbatch. We thought we'll watch him
again, you know. Fascinating.
I, I, you know, Sherlock, Benedict would would look, say,
and just your hair's like that because of this and your shoes.
That means you must have walked in a particular way and you know
you've got a scratch on your ring there, which means you must
be right-handed. And he deduces things by
observing. God doesn't need to do that.
He knows. He knows.
And here's the crux of it. It's not like when we compare
God's wisdom, we think, well, God probably knows a little bit
more than me, so it's probably true what he thinks.
I mean, I know quite a lot. Law.
I know 80%. You may know 95%.
There's a sobering verse in Hebrews chapter 413.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's side.
There are no secret places. FYI, everything is uncovered and
laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give a count.
I mean, God sees all things, knows all things.
That is the wisdom of God. And we can walk in the wisdom of
God by the way we can. There's nothing wrong with
acquiring knowledge. I'm not saying that we should
not deduce and be smart and clever and think things through.
I'm not saying that. But we need to understand
there's a whole other wisdom here that God promises that we
can walk in. Ephesians 117 to 18 says this
that the Lord God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give you what? The spirit of wisdom and
revelation? How many of you pray and ask for
God's wisdom in your life? Bless you.
Can I suggest that you do that daily?
I mean, it says in the scriptures, there's a promise.
If you ask for wisdom, he will give liberally.
I will pray daily. And in our meetings as a staff
team, we often pray. Lord, would you just give us
wisdom right now? Would you give?
Would you give us your wisdom? Would you give us the spirit of
discernment? That godly wisdom by His spirit
in us is available to us. It's a free gift.
It's available. And yet we oftentimes don't seek
the wisdom of God in our lives. Let's move on.
His ways are not our ways. His wisdom is not our wisdom,
and this is the last one. His reality is not our reality.
What do I mean by that?
I mean this. We see with our eyes and we
conclude that that is all of reality, that this must be all
there is, that there cannot exist anything else.
We know that the fish will swim around the Nets because we can
see that that would be the case. Turns out in the story they
didn't. They had so many fish that had
to call their friends over to help them.
What was going on there? Another reality you see at its
heart here when God calls you to fulfill the Great Commission,
He's cause calling you to walk in the supernatural, he said.
I want you to see with eyes not of what you see, but eyes of
faith. I want you to see not what you
can see here, but see what I see.
I mean what happens when we pray for healing?
That is seeing with eyes of faith, isn't it?
I had the privilege of praying with someone a few weeks ago who
had his elbow strapped up and I said what would you like prayer
for? He said my elbow.
I said of course I shouldn't have asked, I know that, but no
five step prayer model. You want to be asked what you
want to pray for? And he said, yeah, my elbow, I
damaged it and I say right, OK, I'm going to pray for you.
Is it right if I put my hand on his elbow?
You always ask. I said right in the name of
Jesus, I just speak to this elbow and I say, behold, in
Jesus name I just come against any damage.
And I pray Holy Spirit, that you would come and just bring
healing and restoration to all the ligaments and every part of
his elbow. And then what you do, you see
the Holy Spirit on it? I said, how do you feel?
Oh, my arm's tingling a bit. That's always a good sign, isn't
it? And I said, great, let's carry
on praying, I said, right, Holy Spirit, thank you for what
you're doing in this man's life. I pray complete healing right
now. Come Holy Spirit, and bring
restoration to this elbow. Would you come, Lord Jesus, and
do that which only you can do, right?
How are you feeling? And he looks at me with this
really surprised look. And he said, wow, feels like it
might be good. I said, if ten was really
painful and zero is here, where are you at 0?
Amazing, he said. Can I take the strap off now?
And I said, I don't know, can you put it back on again?
He says. I'm not sure.
I said, well, your decision, maybe that was lack of faith on
my part, but what was that? What was that?
His reality is not our reality. You see, the call on us to
fulfill the Great Commission is a call to walk in the
supernatural. By the empowerment of His Holy
Spirit. We have been given gifts.
That is our toolbox. Gifts of word, of knowledge,
words of knowledge. So that we can say, you know
what, God is saying this right now.
And God wants to minister to you in that area, Gifts of healing,
gifts of prophecy. This is a call to walk in his
reality, not just the reality that we see.
And I love listening to this science stuff because recently
they they're trying to the science, they're trying to get
their head around what's called quantum physics.
And they can't understand how if there is a particle that you
observe, it changes its state and another particle that's
linked to it would change its state at the same time.
But there seemingly is no communication between the two.
And they've even tried to see whether or not this
communication is done at the speed of light.
And they've done some tests and it's faster than the speed of
light. And the conclusion is there
seems to be some kind of, and I use this word advisably, some
kind of matrix that connects all things.
And that they're coming to the conclusion now with string
theory that there is at least 10 different dimensions.
Funny that. I mean, you should read the
Bible. I mean, Paul talks about some of
this stuff. I love it when science catches
up with the Bible, don't you listen, what we see with our
eyes is not the only reality. And we are cool to be
supernatural, naturally supernatural, to walk in that
because what happened with that fish was something supernatural.
Somehow those fish couldn't see the Nets and they wound up in
the Nets. And so when God calls you to do
something for him, maybe pray for your neighbor, maybe to go
and speak about Jesus to somebody, maybe to show a gift
of hospitality, maybe to drop everything and go to another
country and be a missionary. And you say that doesn't make
sense. I haven't got the finances.
I don't know the people. And you say, well, you know
what, Lord, your ways are not my ways.
Your wisdom is not my wisdom, and your reality is not my
reality. Anybody want to live that kind
of life? I'm glad you said yes.
Why don't we stand as I invite the band up and let's pray.
Thank you, Jesus.