This past Sunday was filled with food, fun, fellowship and more! We were all invited to our very own Meadowlake Coffeehouse prior to Worship, which offered our family a chance to get a cup of coffee and enjoy conversation together. The invitation for food and fellowship was also extended after worship, with even more tasty treats at the ELEVATE Market!
Between all this food we were given a life-changing invitation through our message …
“Invitations to Blessings – Catch”
Luke 5:1-11
“What are you currently fishing for in this life?” – Often times we struggle daily to “catch” things in this life that just don’t matter.
1) Learned Patience – With fishing, you throw the net out and you wait. You can’t take over the situation, talk the fish into doing things your way. You either catch fish or don’t. It just takes patience!
We all have found and will find ourselves in situations where we have to be patient to receive the answer to our prayers, instead of doing things our way. God can and will work beautiful miracles both through the season of wait and after.
He is answering prayers on His time, not ours.
When we are truly “fishing” after Him daily, even during our seasons of wait, we can see Him at work. And then when we make it through the valley, we can turn around, and through hindsight see just where He was carrying us.
2) Our second lesson is to say yes when Jesus calls us to action. Jesus asks Simon to cast down the nets, after Simon had just finished a long night of trying with no success.
God often calls us to do things we have tried before to do and failed. He calls us to carve out time for Him in our busy lives by being in the word, committing to small groups, and many other ways. He calls us to let go of resentment, forgive and love others, He calls us to change habits and let go of the sin we are clinging to. He calls us to reach out and be His light out in the world, sharing the good news with others.
Like Simon, we’re guilty of fighting back when the urge to do those things rises up within us. “I tried, Lord, but I failed … I just can’t!”
But, when we say yes, even if reluctantly, God can bless our lives in ways we never could have imagined. Verse 6 explains that after Simon agreed and let down his nets, that they caught such a large number of fish the nets began to break and the boats began to sink!
When we say “yes,” the happiness and fullness of our lives is greater than we could have ever imagined!
3) Sometimes it’s easier to just keep a surface relationship with God because then we don’t have to face those ugly parts of our lives. We can just keep them buried down deep.
But then Jesus utters those amazing words that should bring so much peace to our lives. “Don’t be afraid.”
We don’t have to be afraid or ashamed of those dark places in our lives. Jesus came to pay the price for those, so that we could enjoy the abundant life He has for us.
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