November 30 & December 1 The Foundation

¹As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. ²He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat  ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” ⁶When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” ⁹For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
Luke 5:1-11 (CSB)

1.  Be willing to do the small things.

¹The high priest Eliashib and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it. ²The men of Jericho built next to Eliashib, and next to them Zaccur son of Imri built. ³The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They built it with beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars.
Nehemiah 3:1-3 (CSB)

¹As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. ²He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
Luke 5:1-3 (CSB)

2.  Be willing to let down your nets.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Luke 5:4 (CSB)

¹⁰For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:10 (CSB) 

3.  Be willing to obey.

⁵Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
Luke 5:5 (CSB)

4.  Be willing to give God glory.

⁶When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
Luke 5:6-7 (CSB)

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord.
Luke 5:8 (CSB)

¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Matthew 11:19 (CSB)

²⁶For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Hebrews 7:26 (CSB)

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. ²⁹Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:27-32 (CSB)

5.  Be willing to follow Him.

¹¹Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
Luke 5:11 (CSB)

¹⁹“Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.”
Matthew 4:19 (CSB)