Sunday, 24th May 2020
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
In 2020, God has given us a lot of visions, including to arise and shine, to let the gold and silver come back to the house of God, to open our home for cell groups and to lead a Satellite Network Church. With more and more visions and directions from God, we should start asking ourselves, “What life does God want us to have?”
So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was 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. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. (Luke 5:1-11)
Jesus called His disciples to a life to be fishers of men. Today Jesus is also calling us to follow the same calling. Rev Daniel talked about Apostle Peter’s journey of becoming the fisher of men.
1 STEPPING OUT IN FAITH
We tend to come to God after we have tried everything and still cannot solve our problems. We are so used to solving our own issues by ourselves, and doing things our own way, instead of seeking God first. When Jesus was in the wilderness, the devil tempted Him with all the physical materials and authorities of this world.
Devil will tempt us in the same way, and if we only want God’s presence in order to get what we want then we are in a very dangerous situation. For Peter, he was a fisherman and he knew very well how to fish, he’s experienced and skilled, yet he caught nothing that night. At the same time, Peter also knew that Jesus was not a fisherman, he knew Jesus’ instructions of letting down the net in the daytime was not what a fisherman would do, yet he still chose to follow Jesus’ instructions.
Peter said to Jesus, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
Rev Daniel shared that we shouldn’t just hear the Word of God and then stop there. The Word of God is Logos, but we should make it into Rhema, which is the Spiritual food we can eat. We need to have Rhema in our lives so our lives can be changed to how God has created us to be. By faith, Peter activated the Logos into Rhema and his life changed from then.
2 CONNECTING WITH JESUS
Once we take the step of faith, then we need to understand Jesus. Jesus is unlimited and we should have a good connection with Jesus so we can defeat the devil and reject the devil’s lies.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.(Philippians 3:12)
Paul knew Jesus was full of richness and Job also knew God is unlimited. Despite that he lost everything he had faith in God and in the end God gave him even more than he had!
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
We are easily distracted and put our focus away from Jesus and therefore we need to find people with the same vision to walk on the path of faith together and to support and encourage each other to stay connected with Jesus. When we have the connection with Jesus then we can have the access to everything.
3 KNOWING GOD’S HEART
God’ heart is for all of us to come to Him and no one can go to the Father except through Jesus. Our mission is to let God’s kingdom to dwell on earth as it is in heaven. God gave us eternal life and by faith, Peter recognized Jesus, so he was willing to leave his boat and to follow Jesus.
Are we just listen to the Logos and not doing anything? Or are we willing to activate it into Rhema and let it become part of our lives?