TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - September 26, 2025 - Luke 5:5-11 - From Empty Nets to Abundant Calling

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

In today’s Morning Manna, we study Luke 5:5–11, where Peter obeys Jesus’ unlikely command to launch into the deep and let down the nets. The miraculous catch of fish reveals the power of Christ���s word and exposes Peter’s own unworthiness before the Lord. Yet Jesus responds not with rejection but with commissioning, transforming a fisherman into a fisher of men. This passage reminds us that obedience unlocks abundance, humility opens the way to grace, and Christ calls us from ordinary labor into extraordinary purpose.Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc BurkhartYou can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today!www.megafire.worldGet high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!www.AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!www.Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!www.books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. It's Friday. That means it's Faith Friday. And on Faith Fridays, we devote the entire Bible lesson to the subject of faith. And we also go to the Lord's table for Holy Communion. So later in today's Bible study, please have bread and either red wine or grape juice, whichever is your preference. Our only requirement, for your participation in communion are two things, that you're born again and you're baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you meet those two qualifications, we would like you to join with all the other brothers and sisters

from around the world who are gathered here today in this morning Man of Bible study. So we are going to continue our lesson we've been in boat faith for i don't know how many weeks six weeks or so and i believe doc i've got one more boat faith lesson in me today and next week i think next week will be will be the last one for boat faith unless the lord shows me something i haven't seen so we're going to finish up today which is uh boat faith uh faith for the miraculous catch. And we're in Luke chapter 5. And Doc, I'm going to have you read all 11 verses again,

Luke 5, 1 through 11. We only made it to, I think, verse 4 last week. So we'll pick up at verse 5, but we'll read 1 through 11. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Almighty God, thank you thank you for this awesome beautiful day father we have we come here father to be taught your word we would sit humbly to allow the holy spirit to enlighten us and give us revelation of your word father we need to be closer to jesus we need to be closer to jesus and that's why we're here and so we ask for your blessing upon this lesson in jesus name amen amen everyone we're so privileged to have you here from all over the world god bless you students hundreds of students from across the u.s and canada and various corners of the earth god bless you we are in luke

chapter five today luke chapter five and we'll be reading the first 11 verses together so if you've got your bibles follow along with me please let's get right into it shall we and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of god he stood by the lake of ganeserate and saw two ships standing by the lake but the fishermen were drawn out of them and were washing their nets and he entered into one of the ships which was simons and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land and he sat down and talked to people out of the ship now when he had left speaking said unto simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets or dropped. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and we have taken

nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned under their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. Simon, people saw it. Peter saw it. He fell down at Jesus knees saying, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes, which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shilt catch men. and when they had brought their ships to land they forsook all and followed him so we're continuing our study from the last faith Friday on this passage of scripture and that was quite the lesson last Friday going to be hard to top it let's see what else we can extract from this yes oh there's there's more so let's recap verses one through four that we studied last week just so we remember what we learned so far the crowds were out there by the lake they have followed Jesus they were there to hear him that's the reason they were there they pressed in to hear Jesus and the message to you and me is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God that's our message

the next principle we learned is Jesus requested Peter's fishing boat now this wasn't some little dingy this was a professional fishing ship Peter was a successful fisherman and Jesus requested to use Peter's

vessel as a platform. And so faith becomes personal when Jesus steps into our lives and begins to use those things that belong to us. And that's when we have to say, Lord, they're yours. nothing is mine everything is yours faith offers jesus christ our ships our cars our trucks our houses our businesses we we offer to him what he's already given to us and then we turn back and we give it to him for his purposes and his purposes is to bring people to Christ and to bring glory to him. We learned that faith begins with small steps of obedience. Peter, at that time, was Simon, responded to Jesus' request. It was a small request, may I use your ship?

Very small request. But there was, this was Simon's very first step of faith with Christ. We learned that ordinary things, boats, fishing nets, tools, houses, cars, whatever it is, ordinary things. become sacred and holy when Jesus Christ sits in them. Right. Does Jesus Christ sit in your home? Does Jesus Christ sit in your car? Does Jesus Christ sit in your business?

Does he sit at your workplace? Is he seated there? his presence makes it holy we also learned that faith faith learns that before we reach the deep waters of miracles first comes the shallow waters

of obedience and we also learned that they thrust out a little obedience begins with thrust out a little. Jesus didn't say to Peter, to Simon, go out two miles, two kilometers into the sea. He said, thrust out a little.

This was a step of faith. Obedience begins small. Faith grows through steps, little steps, before it becomes great faith and now we get we get to um we get to our verses today beginning at verse five um peter uh had told the lord uh we we've we've fished all night we we taken nothing but at at your word at your word nevertheless at your word so let's pick up here verse five and simon answering said under him master he called him master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at

thy word, I will let down the net. Peter acknowledged his failure. He acknowledged the reality of that morning. We came back, empty-handed, empty nets, empty hands, empty baskets. We got nothing. And we're professional fishermen, and we flopped. We didn't catch. anything despite his skills his experiences labor all the work no results came have you ever had times like

that in your life you're putting everything into it you've got the background you've got the skills the experience you're working hard and nothing's happening when we have times like that do we ever stop and think, Lord, are you teaching me something? What are you trying to show me? We typically get depressed over such things instead of saying, hmm, I wonder if God has a miracle for me. Is my failure setting me up for a miracle? That's a different way to think about it.

Is my failure setting me up for a God-inspired miracle? Praise God. All human effort apart from Jesus Christ is fruitless. So faith begins with honesty, admitting your weakness, admitting your weariness, admitting your limitations. And that's what Simon Peter did. Master, we've worked all night. We've got nothing. So that nighttime represents darkness and futility without Christ, we labor in darkness.

And we have taken nothing. Do you know how hard that was? for proud simon to say those words i mean this this guy was a professional he wasn't used to coming back with nothing right he didn't have a sunny fish he had nothing he didn't even have a little bony in nothing. Just stinky nets. That's all they had was stinky nets. That's it. That's it. So he made a very blunt confession to Jesus Christ. I failed out there. I worked all night. I'm weary. I'm so tired. I can barely stand up and I failed. Nothing happened. I produced zero. is that sometimes God

permits failure to prepare us for greater faith. It brings glory to him. When you hit these places of failure, don't be depressed and

self-condem yourself. Instead, stop and say, I have completely failed that this is a great opportunity for jesus christ to succeed changes your outlook satan satan wants to pour on condemnation guilt shame you failed you failed look at you you can't succeed you're a loser you've lost if you starts thinking that way that'll get inside of you and there'll be plenty of job's friends around you saying

Yep, you lost, you're a loser. Give it up. Quit. You should have retired a long time ago. Should have quit in your prime. You're not in your prime anymore. Satan always has a course. There's always a choir.

Satan always has a choir. It's easy for him to get a choir. And they'll sing that song of condemnation to you. But that's the opportunity to stop and say, wow, I failed. That means Jesus will succeed. I'm looking to my Savior. Lord, this is a great opportunity for you to show off in my life. This is a great opportunity, Father.

Everybody's looking at me, looking at my failure. This is a great time for you to show up and do what only you can do. and he does have the right attitude have faith our failure humbles our pride and it increases our dependence on Jesus that's because empty nets empty nets have plenty of room for Christ to fill them

our empty nets are the vessel for miracles so don't despise these empty net seasons in your life you're being set up by God for something big it's not the end it's the beginning you've got to come to the end of yourself to get to the beginning of Christ that was worth getting out of bed for you have to come to the end of yourself to arrive at the beginning of Christ

yeah he has come to a place where all you have is an empty net that's all you have and faith to believe in the instruction of the word of God take your empty net to Christ and say I believe in you fill it please nevertheless at thy word lord my net is empty nevertheless at thy word that's right that phrase is the essence of faith it is obedience despite evidence the evidence was the

empty net. But Simon looked beyond the empty net and said, the word, the word is full of fish. See, at that moment, Simon was looking at empty net. He's looking at his net and he said, hey, it's empty. There are no fish in it. But there's something inside of Simon that said, but in his word, there are a lot of fish. His word is full of fish. what do you need today what are you desperate for today the word of god is full of it your net is

empty his word is full what is it that you need today what is it that you desperately need his word is full of what you need you're not going to find it in your net it's in his word so simon trusted the command more than his experience he trusted what he heard more than what he saw so that phrase that word nevertheless that was the bridge that closed the gap between his human reasoning and his faith nevertheless

I will let down the net faith proves itself by action Peter obeyed he didn't just agree with Jesus he obeyed right faith is always active it's never passive if you're what maybe if you're saying well i have faith but nothing's happening well maybe nothing's happening maybe nothing's happening on your end

faith is always active you can't sit in a you can't sit in a chair and say i have faith right have you got to your nevertheless yet you well where we're at now is i will let down the net yeah this is this is where you hey you can say nevertheless while sitting in the chair but you got to get out of the chair to say i would let down the net faith has feet faith doesn't sit it walks it moves it's active it's not passive it

moves when Christ gives an instruction. Peter's obedience, even though it was very simple, but it opened a door to overwhelming blessings. He had no idea what was about to happen. Look, at that point, if Peter had caught a bushel basket full of fish, he'd been delighted. Why? Because he was so, he was so, he was so despondent

from total failure a bushel basket of fish would have made him happy he had no idea the size of a miracle that was coming but our greatest miracles often hinge on the smallest steps of obedience

we miss miracles because we never took the step we didn't take the first steps of obedience I see what the commentator said. Charles Bridges, born 1794, faith never argues against the word. Experience may contradict,

but the believer answers at thy word, I will. Albert Barnes, born 1798, Peter trusted not in probability, but in Christ's authority. This is faith to obey when all appearances are against it. Alexander McLaren,

here is faith's noblest word, nevertheless. Reason, experience, and sight say one thing, but Christ says another. Faith obeys Christ. William are not, at thy word, this is the hinge of obedience and the secret of

success. The Word of Christ is more than all men's skills. Robert Horton, faith's glory is to act against sight. The Word of Christ outweighs empty nets, weary arms, and hopeless reason. Verse six, and when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And when they had done this. the miracle followed action not intention the miracle followed action not mental intention there has to be physical action for your faith to be released to produce the miracle these old videos from the 40s and 50s and 60s of these healing evangelists, they would always say to the, say, a crippled person who couldn't move his or her legs.

Do you believe that Christ has healed you? Yes. Move your leg. Right. Do something. Do something. If the person couldn't lift their arm, the evangelist would say, lift your arm. show me show me you believe lifted okay so faith must obey

the instructions of Christ to see results the blessing came not when Peter thought about letting down the net

but when he actually did it see Peter said nevertheless at thy word I'll do it the miracle didn't happen then it didn't happen until he actually did what he said he was going to do how many times have we promised God I'm going to do this by faith I'm going to

do it and we never do it and then we go what happened you never did it that's what happened God did his part. God did his part. He's still waiting, waiting on you to do it. Follow through when the Lord gives you an instruction or challenge and it requires faith and you say, yes, I will. Make sure you do the I will. Follow through. Simple obedience unlocks. divine abundance why because christ honors those who rely on his word

they enclosed a great multitude of fishes christ's command produced a harvest beyond human expectation Once again, Jesus displayed his authority over creation. He ordered the fish to get into the net, and the fish obeyed. That's the creator speaking to the creation. Each of us needs the creator to speak to the creation. our behalf how many times have we walked over top deposits of riches in the ground and

didn't know it how many times did we look at a piece of property and think i have i kind of have this thought to buy that property and we never did it and who knows what was in the ground or what was going to be built on it later I can tell you this happened to me. That has happened to me where I felt impressed you should buy that piece of property. And I didn't take the steps and do it.

And then years later, the property explodes in value. And I go, oh, the Lord was trying to make me rich. I missed the opportunity. why usually because I listen to negative people tell me that's too big you're you're taking on more than you can handle and I believed it and you know you got to know part of Peter's crew was saying the same thing listen Peter let's we've been working all night we're tired we're hungry haven't had breakfast yet

that we haven't had breakfast because you don't have any fish so uh we're we're all tired can we just stay here no he he listened to him no i'm listening to this guy i heard him i heard what he was saying i'm i'm responding to this man we're going to do it but peter no buts about it we're doing it the word of god never returns empty And your faith in the Word of God never returns empty. Amen. Your faith in the Word of God will yield overflowing fruit for your life. Now, for Simon and the rest of the disciples,

that multitude of fish symbolized. the future multitudes of human souls that they would gather into the gospel net. That gospel net is still floating in the sea of mankind. And their net break. So that shows us the overwhelming magnitude of the blessing. These weren't cheap, worn out phrase. nets no this was their livelihood yeah Peter wasn't going out there working every day with threads I mean if you've ever seen the size of rope

on a professional fishing ships you know the net the size of the rope and it broke It was too much. The weight of the fish was too much. It is the desire of God to give you more than you can contain. And yet there are people in the church of God that just get furious and angry at saying those words. Right. Unless it happens to them. It's okay.

it happens to them but not to you so it took all the men to bring in the net and the net was splitting there's they're fish falling back into the water there's so many fish in that net matthew henry said when they had done this their obedience was crowned with success christ's word brings abundance where men's toil had brought nothing. Charles Bridges faith's obedience brings reward not scanty but overflowing. The breaking net shows that his bounty exceeds

our capacity to receive. Glory. That's what I need and I desire my life and for you. Albert Barnes, this was done to show Peter that success depends not on skill but on

Christ's command. The multitude of fish represented the multitude of souls to be gathered. Alexander McLaren, the abundance came not by chance but by Christ's will. The net breaking is the symbol of the vastness of Christ's gifts and the

inadequacy of man to contain them. So Doctor, there's two human weaknesses is here in display. the first weakness was the inability of simon and the other men to produce a harvest they caught nothing now because of the miracle of christ they are incapable of containing the vastness of the miracle

yeah fact you could probably hear hey the nets broke what are we going to do now we probably shouldn't have come out here. But Jesus wants to give you, in your failure, when you come home empty-handed, Jesus desires to give you more than you can contain. In both cases, he displays your weakness and his greatness. not only does he give you a harvest he gives you a harvest bigger than you can handle we are not the breaking net is a parable christ's blessing pressed beyond our measure faith draws more than vessels can hold glory verse seven and they beckoned unto their

partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them and they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink this is a a double boat sinking harvest two ships and they're sinking they're sinking not because they've got holes in them but because they're loaded it was blessing and the first ship they didn't even come out the first time right they had to be called out there hey we got so much blessing out here we can't contain it send another boat yes suddenly suddenly these guys in the other ship had faith hot dog let's get out there but doctor the blessing was so big it was sinking both ships Wow. I mean, this is boat-sinking faith, boat-sinking miracles.

So the abundance was too great for one boat to handle. Partners were needed. Okay. What does that tell us? God's going to give you a blessing that's going to require you to have friends to help you reap a harvest which means that it will be more than you can do a loan

more than you can use alone and others will join in the blessing Peter is like Simon was like hey come one out here get yourself some I got more fish than I can handle. So there was a signal of beckoning. Come, come out here, help us. And that's all it took.

There was an urgent appeal from Simon. And the reality of the miracle was obvious. The guys back on shore is going, hey, Peter's waving his arms. He's shouting. He's saying, get out here. something's going on out there and this way our lives should be we ought to be weaving our arms

hey I need help the Lord's blessing me come on out and get some that they should come and help him so faith not only receives but seeks assistance faith seeks assistance

faith shares with others faith says to others come and help me gather the harvest even though they weren't invited by Jesus no but Jesus was letting Simon do what he had to do right the miracle was underway

I mean at this point I mean if Jesus had to say to Peter hey Peter you need to get some help the Lord was quiet he knew that Peter was Simon was going to shout come and help me so the blessings that come from Christ should be

more than one person can handle the body of Christ when we when we share the blessing when we share the miracle and they came and filled both ships what do we learn here the miracle abundance extended to both boats

Doc, I think more fish got in the net. When the second boat came, I think more fish jumped into the nets. I think so too. Because Jesus blesses all who share in his work. I never thought about this, Doc, until right now. at the time when Peter was struggling to get the nets up into his boat perhaps there were enough fish to fill his boat and he just needed help this is too much it's too big I can't do it by myself I need help

help with that one net, that boat. Right. He cries to his brothers for help. They responded. And on their way out, the Lord said, I'm putting more fish in. I'm going to bless them too. I'm going to fill their boat up. He enlarged the, I think he enlarged the harvest.

the miracle fish to bless the ones who were coming to help simon so when when somebody who's serving christ says i need help run and help you're going to get part of the blessing the lord will enlarge the blessing yes see the the gifts from Jesus are not diminished by sharing. Instead, they overflow. They multiply. They multiply. That's what I'm trying to get people to see.

When the other men went out there, it wasn't they had to split up and share what Peter was catching at that moment. No, the Lord multiplied it. And they all had more than they can handle. And they had a story. And you know, fishermen love to tell stories. Yeah, and this is the biggest fishing story that's ever been told. He said, you are not going to believe what happened that Tuesday morning. They began to sink.

Can you imagine, Doc, in town old fishermen sitting around going, you guys, I've heard a lot of stories in my life. You're telling me that you fished all night, caught nothing, and then this rabbi tells you to go out there and fish again, and you caught so many fish that it was sinking two ships. I don't know if I believe such a great. That's exactly what happened. I'm telling you. Yeah.

It may sound like a big old fish tail, but it's true. It's what happened. That's right. I saw it with my own eyes. And they're glorifying God. They're glorifying the son of. God. So the fullness of the boats was beyond capacity to contain. And what that says to me is that the weight of divine provision humbles us. It reminds us that we're just empty vessels that Christ desires to use us to demonstrate.

to demonstrate his greatness, his ability to provide super abundance. Yes. God always gives more than is enough. Press down, shaking together, running over. Luke 6, verse 38. I'm friends, you, this is, these faith lessons,

that you're participating in, I believe I believe the Lord is preparing you for the hard times that are coming to the world. We're on the verge of great war. We're on the verge of financial collapse. We're on the verge of global revolution.

Global revolution. Doctor, there's never, in history been a global revolution that's right we're on the verge of it we're in extremely dangerous unstable times

the Lord is using morning manna and faith Friday to teach us dependence on him that when others are distraught that there's no way to provide our faith will provide and not only our faith provide for us but the Lord will give us a harvest so great that we can share with

others amen I got to just stop for a moment and tell you something doc I was going to send this to you last night but it was so late I didn't want I didn't know if it was after 8.30 it was late It was, it was bed pretty early. Yeah, it was after 8.30 when I saw it. The front page of the Wall Street Journal. I think most of you know who Peter Thiel is, billionaire. He's a gay man, very close to President Trump,

co-founder of PayPal. right doc the wall street journal wrote this extensive article yesterday that peter teal is holding private meetings in silicon valley with other billionaires and technology leaders and he is telling them that we have entered the age of antichrist oh yeah that's that's a happening thing out in silicon valley right now well it's not happening in the churches. I know. You've got a gay,

you've got a gay billionaire telling Silicon Valley tech leaders the anti-crice is coming. Yeah, if that was in the journal yesterday, I remember an article from about a month ago where they're, you know, they're out there having meetings and talking about

the antichrist. Yes. I was like, what? And then, but this, this just adds another layer of that cake. Wow. So where can, where can you go to get away from talk about the antichrist go to church oh wow rick where do you want to go where can you go to hear about the antichrist go to a meeting led by a gay man what is going on in the world

christ is using all kinds of vessels because his self-confessing disciples are asleep we're so close to the return of the Lord it's at the door he's at the door Matthew Henry those that had shared in the labor are now called to share in the game the blessing of Christ was enough for all

and too much for one i like that doc charles bridges the supply was too much for one vessel it was a lesson that the gospel net would need many laborers and the blessing would be more than sufficient amen Alexander McLaren peter's obedience blessed not only himself but his partners christ's gift overflows into the lives of others through the faith of one William are not The miracle teaches that when Christ blesses

His abundance must be shared One net One boat is not enough Partners are needed Right there That's all you got to say About the call to support a ministry Partners are needed

When you get involved with a soul winning word teaching ministry there is boat sinking miracles or miracles of harvest

and blessing coming to you upon that ministry but shared with all the people who responded to the call because it's the minister who's crying out to the people and sure, hey it's too much

get out here and help me i appreciate everybody that supports this ministry and i am telling you with confidence that blessing from heaven is coming upon you amen i can tell you with complete confidence that the blessings of heaven shall come upon you when you respond to the call i need help come and help me. Boy, is that not the best appeal in the world, Rick? Yes. Come on, help us, folks. The nets are breaking.

There's an overflowing harvest. Praise God. The time of Christ's arrival is soon. Peter Thiel is preaching. Antichrist is coming. what a time to be alive verse eight when simon peter saw it he fell down in jesus's knees saying depart from me for i am a sinful man o lord he saw not only the fish but he saw the divinity of christ his eyes were open to the glory of christ He had a limited

a limited vision of the divine glory of Christ I'm not saying at that point he knew that he was the son of God I don't believe he was there yet but he saw that God's glory was on this man so the miracle of fish was a revelation

God used fish to give Peter a revelation of Christ. Look at that. He used a financial, it was a financial blessing. Yes. It was a financial blessing. It wasn't cash in his hands, wouldn't gold coin, but it was going to be converted into cash. Right.

God used a financial blessing to reveal himself to a man. don't tell me God doesn't bless people see at that moment Simon saw beyond the blessing he saw who the blesser was

and he recognized this is no ordinary rabbi I'm not sure who this man is but he ain't no ordinary rabbi what just happened that was amazing he fell down at Jesus' knees

he recognized man I'm I'm a foul talking dirty old fisherman man I'm in front of a holy man and he's like depart from me

all right I'm not fit to be in your presence he was overwhelmed by this moment where he's recognizing the holiness of this man standing there Jesus and his unworthiness to be in his presence he's like Isaiah he was undone in the presence of God's majesty

So faith begins with conviction of sin, not self-confidence and pride. The more you recognize your sinfulness, the more likely God's going to use you for his glory. That contradicts all kinds of religious teaching. The more you recognize your sinfulness, the greater the opportunity is that God is going to use you. The greater the likelihood is he's going to use you. He doesn't particularly use people that are puffed up with religious pride. He uses people who humble themselves and says, I'm a sinner. I'm not worthy to be in the presence of Christ.

those are the people he uses Peter felt unworthy to host this holy man in his boat yet that is exactly where Jesus desired to dwell Peter said for I am a sinful man

the Lord Simon was confessing stuff he's like so i was like just i did this i did that i you know he's he he's he's confessing i'm a sinful man i'm a sinful man no excuses he took ownership of it he didn't hide he said this is who i am this is what i am i'm a sinful man was overwhelmed with the sense of Christ's majesty and of his own vileness the nearer a man is to God the more he sees of his sinfulness Charles Bridges the miracle was designed not only to fill

the net but to humble the heart faith bows in lowliness crying depart for I am sinful Alexander McLaren the sense of Christ's majesty smoked Peter with the consciousness of his sin. The miracle revealed not only power, but holiness. William are not. The fish were nothing. The Lord was everything. Faith fell at his knees, confessing sin and adoring his majesty.

See, at that point, Simon wasn't even thinking about the fish. That was he was like, I'm looking at a holy man. Robert Horton, the cry, depart from me, was not rejection, but reverence. Faith trembles at holiness, yet clings to it. Verse nine, for he was astonished and all that were with him at the draw to the fishers which they had taken.

Astonished. That's the natural human response when divine power makes itself known. and reveals itself. Peter was astonished, not at the size of the catch, but the power of the Word of God. That's what astonished him. He was not astonished by two ships full of fish. He was astonished that that man, standing right there,

could speak it and make it happen. That's what astonished him. so Jesus will reveal himself to you in ways beyond your expectation and all that were with him for he was astonished and all that were with him this miracle affected not only Peter but everybody there all the other fishermen

faith is contagious so remember this the miracles that Christ will do for you are not just for you they are to impact influence and bless those around you

they were astonished at the draught of the fishes which they had taken the abundance of fish was the visible sign but faith saw the invisible authority of Christ to command the fish to get in the net let's see what the

Charles Bridges, the astonishment was designed to deepen conviction. It was not the fish, but the power of the word that broke their hearts with wonder. Albert Barnes' astonishment was the natural result of the miracle, yet it was more than surprise.

It was conviction that one greater than man was among them. McLaren, the draw to fishes was but the scaffolding. The real temple built in their hearts was the awe of Christ. William are not the miracle startled them into reverence faith often begins in astonishment

an opened mouth before it opens the hand or heart your jaw drops before your heart opens amen verse 10 and so was also James and John

and the sons of Zebedee which were partners with Simon and Jesus said unto Simon fear not for henceforth thou shalt catch men so faith's call is communal we brought in his partners they all witnessed the abundance they all shared in the

astonishment fear not faith requires a calming words of Jesus fear not what was the why would he say

to Peter fear not what was it to be afraid of that's fish going to jump out of the net and bite him no Simon's fear of unworthiness Simon's fear of his inadequacy

Simon's fear of the unknown Simon's fear of being in the presence of divinity. That's what he said, fear not. He says, you'll become, you're going to, from henceforth, you will catch men. So this is, this is the first, the first glimpse of Simon's future and those are the other fishermen. Now, Jesus is giving them a new identity. He's changing their self-image. Right.

He's issuing a call here. But he's painting a picture in their mind. You fishermen, after today, you're going to be catching men, meaning male and female. You're going to be catching souls. You just saw a miracle. of fish but wait until you see the miracles that are coming you're going to catch the souls of men and women he's defining them he's redefining them he's redefining them a new image of themselves you're no longer

going to be a fisher of fish you're going to be a fisher of men and women adam clark said the same wisdom patience and skill needed to catch fish would now be consecrated to winning souls. Faith obeys the new call. Albert Barnes to catch men is the work of the ministry. The figure is striking as fish are caught from the waters so men are rescued from the world into the kingdom. Alexander McLaren the abundance of fish was prophecy of the abundance of men to be gathered.

Christ silences fear and sets them to work. We are not. Faith's astonishment must turn into faith's labor. Amen. And verse 11. And when they brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. They didn't abandon their ships. They took the ships ashore. They didn't abandon the responsibility. They completed the task. They took the boats. sin there's not disorder when christ calls you he doesn't expect disorder i mean they didn't jump off the ships and goes all right we're swimming we're not we're not going to fish anymore let's just swim in we'll just leave the boats out here see sometimes when when god calls people their response is disorderly but he expects order right

take the boats in tie them up okay i've got work with we've got future uses of these ships they just didn't abandon the ships but they did forsake their their work their work of being fishermen faith often requires leaving good things not just bad things for the sake of Christ's work. Yes. So they left all, meaning everything that was of their substance or being, their identity. Both ships, mind you, not just Peters, but both ships.

But their careers. Yes. Their history, everything that they were, they left it. And they followed him. They cleave to him. They went wherever he went. And that means obedience, discipleship, lifelong learning. They followed Christ.

Adam Clark, they abandoned their secular calling to become his disciples. They left gain and trade because Christ called them to a higher service. Albert Barnes, this shows the power of the Savior's presence and word. They left what was dear and profitable to become his followers. William are not forsaking all is the essence of discipleship. The call of Christ outweighed to catch a fish. Faith left all behind to follow him. All right, that's our conclusion of this boat faith lesson.

one more lesson next week then we'll move on to another topic all right well uh we appreciate the lesson today rick another great job of course and so i hope that your faith is encouraged today that you are going to obey let the boat out a little throw the net over bring in the net and then call out to others to help with the harvest there's a blessing enough for everyone so we want to encourage you to walk in that faith today speaking of faith on every faith friday we participate in the lord's table and we're going to do that right now so if you have bread and either red wine or grape juice we're going to pray a blessing over that here in just a moment who may participate in the lord's table if you're a confessing believer of jesus christ and you've been baptized in water according

to scriptures in the name of the father son the holy spirit we invite you to participate in the Lord's table. In fact, we encourage you to participate in the Lord's table. This is one of the identifying markers of believers around the world. What we share together, we share the bread and the wine, and we recognize the body and blood of Jesus Christ, not just something that we need once in a while, but that we need on a regular basis in our lives that it brings us back to the idea of what we call first principles of faith this is it this is what our faith is all about it's about christ dying for us dying for us as sinners as peter cried out he said lord it's part for me i'm a sinful man we need to recognize that

recognize that shortcoming in our own life that we need a savior we absolutely must have a savior. But rather than say depart from us, we say, Lord, come, come, come, come, come, come, Lord Jesus. And we participate in the Lord's table until he comes again. Praise God. And what we normally do before we participate in the Lord's table is we ask the Lord to search our hearts to cleanse our hearts and cleanse our hands, cleanse our minds before we enter into the Lord's table in case there's anything that stands between us and him in participating in the Lord's table with a clear conscience.

And so, Rick, would you pray for us today that the Lord would forgive us for our sins of omission and co-mission over these past week and that the Lord would give us a clean heart as we enter into the Lord's table. Would you pray for us, please? Amen. Heavenly Father, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, God. Christ, your son, and our Savior. Father, like Peter, we confess we are sinful men and women. And Father, we're being humble and brokenhearted before you. But we know that you are quick to

forgive. You are quick to forgive. And you do not condemn. You do not push us away. You do not say get out of my presence instead you forgive our sins and you draw near to us you are a loving father and so father i ask that you forgive all of our sins wash us in the blood of your savior jesus christ and prepare us to receive his body and blood in jesus name amen Amen. And I was just reminded just now, Rick, that after Peter humbled himself and recognized his shortcomings, what did Jesus do next? He called him to ministry. Yes. Peter said, go away. Get away from me. I'm going to clean up your act. No, he didn't say. And Jesus said, come follow me. Praise God. He's doing the same thing today, folks.

folks. Some of you need to hear that call. He's placed on your life. Listen for that call. He's placed. All right. Well, we're going to pray a blessing over the elements of the Lord's table here. And so if you've got the bread and the cup, I'm going to pray, and then we're going to participate together. Would you pray with me, please? Almighty God, and your tender mercy you gave your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. He offered himself and made once for all time a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. And he instituted this remembrance of his passion and death, which he commanded us to continue until he comes again. So, Father, we ask you to bless and sanctify with your Word and Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine that we may partake of its most blessed body and blood.

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed once for all. the cross. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Hallelujah. On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread. And when he'd given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. This is the bread of heaven. Take and eat in remembrance that Christ died for you. After supper, Jesus took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave us to them, saying, drink this all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the

forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink the cup of salvation and remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for you and be thankful. Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world, and blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the land. This sacrament is the gift of God for the people of God. feed on him by faith with Thanksgiving that Christ died for you. Praise God.

Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. You know, Rick, I can't think of another ministry out there. I might be wrong, and there might be many of them, but I've been around for a while, a day or two. I can't think of a single ministry out there that broadcast on a weekly basis, the Lord's table. can you no i don't know i mean that really sets us apart from other ministries and i hope our audience really comprehends that and appreciates that that we're one of the very as far as i know the only outlet but there's probably others

that regularly commemorate the lord's table and invite people to participate in it live live, globally. And I'm not trying to be critical or anything. I'm just saying that we're unique in that. We put a priority on that. And for those of you,

it's participated in the Lord's table on a weekly basis, I hope you appreciate that too. So I hope it's an encouragement to you. You're part of a very unique ministry. You've been helping us haul nets for quite a while. Some of you have been helping us haul nets for decades. And we deeply appreciate that in a big, big way.

And I would be remiss if I didn't remind everyone, Megafire, Rick's latest book, Mega Fire, America's Next Fourth Turning Crisis, you need to get your copy. And I had someone comment earlier today before we began the Morning Manna session here that they were on Chapter 6 in the book. The lady said, my husband was on chapter six of the book, and he started crying. It was having such an emotional impact on his life. What is chapter six?

I'm turning to it right now here. So chapter six, the biblical cycle of divine judgment and population displacement. And so it talks about basically the migraine. patterns in the Bible and the ones that are happening in the world right now, divine displacement. God has a displacement cycle too. He said the land would vomit you out. That's interesting that that chapter would bring somebody to tears. That's interesting. That's interesting. That the revelation, that had a revelation that God removes entire populations yes folks you need to really ponder what I just

said history is full of events where God removed entire populations on a continent or in a country yes we are in an extremely dangerous we are in an extremely dangerous time right now. Secretary Hegesh, the new Secretary of War, okay? We don't have Secretary of Defense anymore. Now Secretary of War. He has called a meeting next week of 800 generals and admirals. This is unprecedented in the history of America.

Right. What could what could be happening that would justify an emergency meeting of 800 generals and admirals. I can only think of several things, and at the top of the list is World War. Right. Mr. Zelensky, Doc said that at the UN meeting,

where he met with Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the UN, that President Trump gave him permission to use U.S. missiles to hit deep inside Russia. Including Moscow. Yes. Okay, folks, we're going to war. Do you understand we're going to war? This is a big shift, folks.

Something's happened. Mr. Trump is making a huge blunder. A massive blunder. The warmongers have gotten into his head. This is not good. This is not good. the Russians are not going to back down. I'm telling you that right now.

The Russians will not back down. They've already said in the past. Nothing to lose. They've said in the past, if there's no Russia, there's no need for a world. In other words, we'll blow the whole thing up on the way out. So that's where we're at right now. So these morning man lessons are to draw you close to Christ.

Amen. Okay. Yes, Lori. Come, Jesus come. Yes. And yet we're called to this day. Fear not. For I will make you fishers of men.

So we need to fish while it's still light. That's right. Just ask God for a glimpse of how imminent is the return of Christ. We need to get busy. Amen. I am driven with a zeal to proclaim the crisis coming. All right. Everybody, enjoy your weekend.

Spend time with the Lord. Don't waste your time on nonsense. Get serious about life. Things are going to change very soon. And a lot of things that people are doing right now, which is just a waste of time and resources, they're not going to be able to do it in the near future. Life is going to change.

Something monumental is coming. You do not call 800. generals and admirals to a meeting of the world's biggest military power if you don't have a plan for war so okay we got to go god bless you we love you we'll see you monday morning we'll pick back up in proverbs chapter 13 and uh we're going forward to doc bob is asking are the 800 generals No, these are active duty generals and admirals. Yeah. We're going to have 800 U.S. military leaders, the highest leaders of the U.S. military

in one building next week. If Putin wanted to stop the war, he would take out Quantico Marine base next week. What are they thinking? You put all your military commanders in one building? If I were over in a Kremlin, I'd be thinking, hey, you know, they're planning to attack us. Maybe we need to take out all their generals right now. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it's extremely dangerous, folks. Folks, my, and I'm not saying the Lord told me this, but I think, this is my own guesstimit.

I think Zelensky is going to hit some targets inside Russia, and Putin is going to respond by nuking Kiev. It's going to shock NATO, and Putin's going to say, if you want some more of it, come and get it. And what's going to happen, then, is that Mr. Trump and the NATO leaders are going to realize Putin's ready to fight with nukes. We better retreat and get ready to attack. And that might be several years. My concern, my concern is Megafire is too optimistic. That is my concern since publishing the book.

I'm too optimistic. I didn't see this happening for several years. Doc, I didn't think we would be at this place until 28, 29. And here we are in 25. But I think there's going to be a – I think they're going to attack Russia, Zelensky is, with U.S. missiles. Putin is not going to – I don't think he's going to attack the United States and Europe. I think he's going to nuke Kiev and then tell the West, you do one more thing, and we take out all NATO nations. and I think they will back up but they're not going to come to their

census the war fever is going to heat up and they're going to make bigger plans right and in my mind it's inevitable yes because the cycles tell us it's going to happen because the nature of men is such right now we're ready for war we're ready for a global war we're also ready for an economic collapse too i like what glinda said they proclaimed jesus at charlie kirk's funeral then turn around and blow up the world all devils jesus isn't leading them to nuclear war satan is well anyhow i'm starting to do a true news program got to go bye Love you.

God bless you. We love you. We'll see you Monday. We start Proverbs chapter 13 on Morning Manor. God bless you.