While in a Biology class my freshman year of high school, our teacher took us over to a little marshy/swampy area near an irrigation canal behind our school. The things our class took to this small body of water were a couple of 5-gallon buckets to collect water and whatever animals we happened to catch. To help with the catch was a cast net. A cast net is a net made of material with small holes with weights on it and a rope to pull it back out of the water. When the rope was pulled from the water it would begin to close and whatever was caught in that net was now trapped. In it we gathered a few fish, tadpoles, and an assortment of other few things as this body of water wasn’t very large and wasn’t very deep (maybe knee to waste deep). And few classes captivated me while in high school as much as the times we went to that body of water. What was more telling was there were only a couple of students who even knew how to use the net effectively. I had tried and failed but I did try. Only two things I was able to do from those few times we went down to that water were me helping to carry the buckets of smelly water—because we knew that these animals thrived in their natural water and we wanted them to have as close to natural as possible—and the one time I woefully attempted to lift the bucket above my chest which unfortunately for me resulted in very little of that smelly and dirty water to go into the aquarium and more of it to fall on my front about my stomach down.
The reason why I was so poorly skilled to handle myself—besides that I was as skinny as a rail and should not had attempted to lift a bucket that high with a weight nearly a third of mine, but I had to show off how strong I was to the girls in class—was because I wasn’t taught thoroughly the matters of fishing. Just being there and doing something doesn’t make someone an expert, regardless of age or title. If one only goes out to just any body of water, drop a hook in the water, and sits all day all that the person may catch is a sunburn and maybe bug bites. There are particular days, places, times of day, lighting, weather, tools of a fisherman, bait, and patience to know how to handle yourself whether with a line, a rod, or a cast net. There are four men (excluding their fathers) in the Gospels who knew a thing or two about fishing. No doubt that their dads took them out fishing not too long after being born and one of their first lessons was probably to swim (dad would just toss them into the water) in case the boat overturned. So let us assume that James, John, Peter, and Andrew were about 25 (since they were still living with dad and they would had been free to be on their own at age 30), they have spent probably more time on water than they had been on dry land. When it came to catching fresh and saltwater fish, no one knew better than these men. To do anything different, why they would be like a fish out of water if you forgive the pun.
Yet Luke chapter 5 records a very unsuccessful fishing trip. Experts in their own rights and yet they hadn’t caught a thing. Sometimes that happens. But Jesus decided to take on this as a matter to connect physical with spiritual. He commands the men to push out from land, He taught them spiritual matters, and then told Peter go out even further dragging a net behind. The time to fish had passed. With the shadow of the boat in the water, no self-respecting fish would come near that boat. One of the other things that I was taught as a little boy is to be absolutely quiet while fishing and yet Jesus spent time speaking out loud so his audience could hear. Two strikes were already against them and now Jesus wanted these men who hadn’t finished mending and cleaning their nets to now cast them into deep water. The harvest was truly great—a miracle in its own right—but Luke didn’t waste a word in this event as he made sure to include in the end of verse 6 that the net was breaking. Spiritual and primarily this reveals that doing things man’s way, having a wrong attitude (or a lack of faith, or both), and/or not being prepared properly will cause our nets to break. In a church sense this happens when we toil/labor with whatever we do—preach a sermon, teach a bible study, do an outreach, have a concert, put on a healing crusade, whatever it may be—that despite us making ourselves believe that we did it all for the Lord and because we weren’t sinning by doing something for the Lord then God is obligated to bless it and we incorrectly believe that we are doing God’s will by just obeying/doing. The problem was that these men trusted in their skills and experience just like we trust in those as well as charisma, title, money, or whatever it is that makes us feel qualified to do what we want to do. But an important matter happened and that Jesus taught before they let down their nets. Did He teach them new techniques to catch fish? Hardly. But He most likely taught them to rely on God to provide, to be properly trained/prepared (Bible reading, experience, and prayer), and that there are seasons of blessing or windows of time/opportunity that are afforded and once they pass, they may never come back. And this is the other meaning: to be in the will of God and not just rely on doing what we’re supposed to do will be sufficient or will be honored/blessed by God.
A few years later these men—Jesus’ disciples minus one—are back on a boat and have failed to catch anything (John 21). A Man calls out to them to cast the net on the other side. I can just imagine for four fishermen in the group felt a bit insulted that a non-fisherman was giving advice to skilled fishermen and from the shore. Nevertheless, they obey and they, again, caught a huge harvest of fish yet this time their nets were not breaking. This signals that these men had all that they needed to handle whatever may come their way. And whatever they lacked—as we all always lack intentionally to be dependent—they knew they could depend on Jesus to provide, move, open, or whatever that they desired God’s involvement. Not too long after this event, the Holy Spirit fell on these people and Peter stood up to preach and thousands gave their lives to Christ. What failed under man’s ability (just because he has the tools and he’s available) became successful or fruitful because of God’s ability (God plus nothing equals everything). And where these men enjoyed their solitude on a boat, they now thrived ministering God’s Word daily to all sorts of people. Where a burden for money and survival was their initial motivation, now their motivation is for everyone to come to know and receive the blessed gift of salvation. These men indeed became fishers of men.
With trust in God to move, provide, deliver, heal, guide, etc. these men turned the world upside down for Jesus. And within a number of years later another significant man enters their fold who was key for the Gentiles to come to the loving Savior Jesus Christ. And despite threats, beatings, loss, etc. all of these people did it with a passion to give it all to God with all their hearts. Of all the men who endured persecution, trials, pain, and setbacks, Paul gives a pretty good list in 2 Corinthians 11. Why, especially when one of the core desires that is in most people is to avoid pain, suffering, and having to be patient through it all. Sometimes worse problems or worse compromisers and resistance and cheating happens in the Church, there remained something that motivated Paul. I will use the Message Translation to share verses 28-29, “And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.” For those of us who are Called to shepherd—whether we actively are as a pastor or whether we are in training—there is (or hopefully ought to be) something that is within that man to do something. There ought to be a fire that burns—not an angry or bitter fire; and certainly not one who abuses position/power to lay out rules and then coldly turn people off or away who sin, but a Holy Ghost passion—to rescue people from the very clutches and lies of Satan. Is there something that is inside of us men that keeps us up at night or makes us want to give all or sell all to go to that place, those people, that nation/city even if it is just for that one person?
The fire in me for being a missionary may have dimmed some, but there remains a heart for nations to come to know Jesus Christ—particularly India, China, and the DPRK (if you think I am nuts, type North Korea or DPRK on the previous page in the search box and you’ll read why). But an unquenchable fire has not left me…it is a fire that makes me sad, upset, frustrated, angry, and nearly sick with hurt: Missouri (specifically St. Joseph, etc.). And buried within that passion isn’t to raise of a work under my ministry or because of my name. I could care less about that. It is to be a launching pad for MANY more churches to touch other cities—cities I’ve lived in, visited family, traveled in, eaten in, prayed in/for—throughout Missouri and into Iowa (and I guess Kansas people can get saved, too; if you are familiar with Missouri and Kansas, you’ll know why there is a little bit of a sibling rivalry there). I truly with as much assurance as I know tomorrow will be Sunday and the sun will shine, I know that many churches (not religious buildings but disciple-making churches with a passion for the lost dissatisfied by money or anything else the world has to offer) will impact St. Joe, Kansas City (plenty of room there), Chillicothe, Cameron, Carrolton, Joplin, Joplin, Joplin (yes was intentional to repeat that), Springfield, Jefferson City, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, etc. (I have a list on my phone that can easily support a Fellowship church.). All my heart sees, feels, and burns with is to grab someone—ANYONE—show them the Word of God and let them experience the life-changing and eternal-changing power and love of Jesus Christ; may they experience in reality what I have and continue to experience myself. And then work with him/her so they can pass that fire to someone else.
Are there other places? Are there needs there? Are they closer? Yes. But there are—for me—two missing ingredients. One, there is a fire in my gut that convenience or lack of faith won’t be sufficient to make me settle for anywhere else. Two and most importantly, is that God CALLED me to Missouri (and to go overseas, even if to visit for a while). He could have Called me to anywhere else or to be open to anywhere else. But He Called me to a specific place. To be or do anything else or be anywhere else will be a direct violation and flatly out of God’s will.
Why a concern? Why to say this as I have said this before and why does it seem to be important now to say it? Man (all men and women) are endowed and destined by God—through His goodness and His will (or destiny)—to fulfill His desires. The hope and desire by God is for everyone to come to the saving knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ. But, as I have often said, God doesn’t save us for us but God saves us for others. What is more fulfilling: living to 100; having kids, grandkids, and great grandkids; have some money saved; married to our knockout OR living to 75, 50, or even 26 and be in the middle of God’s will doing what burns in our gut that nothing else satisfies? Robert Jermaine Thomas did that, CT Studd did that, William Carey did that, Adoriam Judson did that, Hudson Taylor did that, Eric Liddell did that, William Borden did that, Daniel Nelson did that, David Brainerd did that, Billy Graham did that, Wayman Mitchell and Glen Cluck both did that, Steve Rodriguez did that, Doris Consider did that, Josie Felan did that, Andrew Zamora did that, Carman Licciardello did that, and so have a host of others. None of them sought greatness. All they sought was for just ONE MORE person to come to know Jesus and then for that person to find God’s perfect will for their lives knowing that nothing else will do. To do anything else will be like a fish out of water. Will you cast your net?