“Doing my part of the Miracle”

By Pastor Roy DeLaGarza

Intro:

Last week I almost finished the message. There were two points left. I review this morning about the woman who had every reason to totally fall apart because of her stressful and ugly situation yet she kept it together and saw a great miracle of God. She did the right things in her situation.  Let’s review 1. She took responsibility, 2. She gave the problem her full attention, 3. She committed it to the Lord, 4. She closed the door (didn’t talk too much about it), 5. She hurried 6. She confessed, “It is Well”. (If you want more details on this get last week’s tape) She did the right things. God worked a miracle and her son was raised back to life. She did her part of the miracle.  Every thing God does always requires an action on our part. Every  one of His promises has with it a requirement. Let’s look at and read Luke 5:1-11. Now this miracle is not a catastrophe like last week’s but this is the kind of miracle most of us need regularly. God’s blessings! A miracle catch! How many want a miracle catch? … In your family, home, business, studies, sidelines, or any other area of your life? I do, for the church, my family etc, and us. The other day as I prayed that God would bless a certain family in the church, the Lord told me, “I have been trying to do that but I can’t because they are doing all the wrong things. They are doing things that hold back blessings instead of accelerate them. That’s why this message is called, “Doing my part of the miracle”. The following are principals that you can put to practice that will help you do the right thing to make the miracle come to pass. You do your part and God will do His. You do what’s possible, God does the impossible. You do what you can and God will do what you can’t.

1. Don’t make a Mistake

It is possible to make a mistake! Mistakes can be expensive: From the book, “Goofs and Blunders part two”: Members of a Virginia Volunteer Fire Department were so proud of their expensive new Hurst tool (known as the “Jaws of Life”) that they held a special demonstration last October to show how it could cut into an automobile and rescue people trapped inside. As an appreciative crowd looked on, two firefighters quickly ripped a door from a 1966 Buick. They pulled its steering wheel through the windshield and knocked out all the windows. At that point, a voice cried out, “Hey, what have you done to my car?” The man was very angry reported an onlooker. He had good reason to be upset. The firefighters, in the enthusiasm had cut up the wrong car. Their president promised that the department would pay the owner for the loss of his car.  “It was just a mistake,” the chief kept saying, “just a mistake.”

Sometimes a simple mistake can affect a lot of people: A drum major in Ventura, California tossed his baton and hit two 4000-volt power lines, blacking out a ten block area and putting a radio station off the air. The baton melted.

Sometimes mistakes are embarrassing: That great orator, President John F. Kennedy gave an unforgettable historic speech in 1963 in West Berlin in a place that is now known as the

Kennedy Platz. During the climax of that impassioned address the president paused and then cried, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” The crowd that day was swept up in the emotion and ignored the meaning of those words until later. Kennedy had wanted to say, “Ich bin Berliner!” which means I am a Berliner, but what he actually said was, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” which means I am a jelly doughnut! – Kathleen Flood of the Reader’s Digest wrote that.

            I would like to help us not to make mistakes that are embarrassing, far reaching, or expensive, so let’s see what the disciples did as they did their part, Jesus did the rest, and they received a great miracle. When you need God to move on your behalf and give you a miracle catch, these following things are what you should do. This is your part of the miracle from God that you expect.

1. Accept the Limitations of Your Human efforts and plans:

·        They did all they knew how to do and still came up empty. These men were professional fishermen. They knew their profession yet it wasn’t enough that day. Has that ever happened to you? You are doing everything within your power yet there is no catch? (success) Accept the fact that your abilities are not enough.

·        God gave us a brain but that is not enough for spiritual success! Rely on Him. “It’s not by power or by might but by my Spirit”, says the Lord.

·        Don’t fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons. Remember a Biblical principal, that God’s strength is perfected in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9.

·        Sometimes God will let us fuss with a problem like the disciples did so we can stop being so self-reliant and self-sufficient and learn to lean and trust in Him. Remember how God had to take Gideon down to practically nothing so that he could work a miracle, “Otherwise”, the Lord said, “They’ll think they did it on their own”.

2. Trust the Lord’s Word:

·        Even if it doesn’t make sense. These men were fishermen and Jesus was not. Yet he advised them to do something that didn’t make sense. “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught”. (A great catch) They had done that very thing all night long. They had already given up. It didn’t make sense to do it in the daytime.

·        He didn’t ask them to do something immoral or illegal. It just didn’t make sense! But when the Lord speaks, it has great authority. God’s word has principals that can be applied to any work, job, profession, and trade. – “A bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who is not falling apart” _ Charles H. Spurgeon

·        A great example of trusting in God’s word (walking in the authority of God’s Word) is found in Matthew 14:28. Apply God’s word to your walk (life) the right way. Some believe in God’s word but apply it wrong. So did Ethiopian emperor Menelik II. When he was ill he’d eat a few pages from the Bible. He believed it would restore his health. He died in 1913 after eating the entire book of 2 Kings. We should instead hide his word in our hearts to not sin against God.

3. Put God’s Kingdom first:

            What made the difference in casting the nets out after Jesus said to do it and all the times that the disciples had been doing it? What was different? It was the same job, workers, water and boat. Why did Peter get a miraculous catch now and hadn’t gotten one before? Peter himself was different. He went from someone who was working for himself to make a profit first, (bottom line) to someone who sought God’s Kingdom first.

·        Jesus asked to borrow his boat so that he could preach to the multitude. When Peter did this he was putting the needs of the Kingdom first. When you and I do this we are different. We become people standing in the place of great blessing! Matthew 6:31-33. That applies to everyone. Young people, moms, dads, everyone!

·        God’s work always has needs. There are a few coming up soon. The pew chairs, and the preschool, daycare center. Some shy away and say. “Please don’t ask me to make a pledge commitment. Here’s something from the book “Church Management”:  “Every church has those timid souls who insist that they will give but cannot make a pledge. Some even intimate that there is something religious in relying upon unpledged contributions. Our contention is that the direct contrary is true. A pledge is more than a gift. It is an expression of confidence in the program, which is planned. Through it the individual says that he is willing to share in the work that is being planned. He is identifying himself with the project and giving a “clear ahead” signal for the year. A pledge is much more an act of Christian faith than giving as the spirit may more. The emotional giver contributes as he finds the money available. The individual who makes a pledge agrees to so organize his life that there will be money available to meet the obligations when due. Givers may help the church treasury; pledgers definitely increase the morale”.

·        Putting God’s Kingdom first is not a “one time” decision but a continual series of choices that we continually make based on the needs of the work of the Lord first. It brings the promise of great blessing as it did here to Peter. [“God, I lost your nickel”]

4. Be Willing to take risks:

·        Jesus asked them to go out into, “deep waters”. This great blessing came with a price tag. They had to take a risk. They could not stay close to the shore for safety in case they failed. Every great enterprise has an element of risk. Remember the principals of making a dream come true. I caught it; I sought it; I bought it; I got it. Most people quit and give up at the “I bought it stage”.  It will cost something.

·        Some people are afraid if they aim to high they’ll miss their goal. There is a worse thing that could happen. You may aim to low and hit your goal!

·        A calm sea does not produce a skilled sailor. From the book, “Leading the Way” by Paul Borthwick, Navpress, 1989 page 153 I read a portion: “Hudson Taylor, the great man of faith who founded the China Inland Mission, integrated faith and risk. He said, “unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”  But leaders take risks. No one ever stubs his or her toe while standing still. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly. But above all, try something!” Failing to try because of a desire to be secure results in inaction and failure to lead. It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows through the cultivation of an insignificant life. Indeed, if a man’s ambition is to avoid the troubles of life the recipe is simple: shed your ambitions in every direction, cut the wings of every soaring purpose, and seek a life with the fewest contacts and relations. If you want to get through the world with the smallest trouble, you must reduce yourself to the smallest compass. Tiny souls can dodge through life; bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as a man begins to enlarge his life, his resistances are multiplied. Let a man remove his petty selfish purposes and enthrone Christ, and his sufferings will be increased on every side. “Leading the Way” by Paul Borthwick, Navpress page 86.

·        “There was a very cautious man who never laughed or played; he never risked, he never tried, he never san or prayed.  And when one day he passed away His insurance was denied; for since he never really lived, They claimed he never died!

·        Be willing to go out on a limb that’s where the fruit is!

5. Persevere! Even through disappointment and Fatigue:

·        The fishermen were tired, having worked all-night and caught nothing. Even so, they pushed the boat out. That was not easy. Don’t give up! Here’s a little helpful tip about being persistent. “Persistence is like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you get tired, you quit when the gorilla gets tired!”

·        The great American poet Carl Sandburg flunked English. The great inventor Thomas Edison did not do well in school either. His teachers thought he was stupid. Einstein could not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven. Beethoven’s music teacher said, “As a composer he’s hopeless.” F.W. Woolworth couldn’t get a job. Merchants said he didn’t have enough sense to wait on customers. A newspaper editor who said Disney didn’t have any good ideas fired Walt Disney. Caruso was told by a voice coach, “You can’t sing. You have no voice at all.”  Of course they were all wrong!

·        Science center experiment: A great piece of solid iron tube hanging was hit constantly by a small less than one ounce hanging ball. Back and forth continually until it moved the iron!