Fishing For Sheep


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This Thanksgiving we don’t want to just say Thanks to God for His many blessings. We want to share in God’s nature by being a blessing and a help to others . In Acts 20:35, Paul quotes Jesus as saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In Mark 10:45 we remember that Jesus also said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Christians, are Christ-imitators, we follow our Lord’s example in everything, and His example teaches us to seek our joy in the joy of others. So this Thanksgiving we don’t want to just say “Thanks” to God, we want to BE the God-appointed cause of someone else’s “thanks” to God.

When I say that our goal this Thanksgiving week is to be the God-appointed cause of someone else’s “thanks,” I am saying that the goal of all our good works is not to make people think well of us, but to point them to God. In the sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, Jesus said something similar, He said, ”Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works (Light=Good Works) and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” The end result of letting your light shine is that they see the source of the light—God in you, and they give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The object is not that we would be glorified but that our Lord would be glorified in us as we seek to be a blessing and a help to others.

In this message at State Road AC Church we conclude our sermon series through the eight miraculous signs of the book of John by taking a look at the miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-19). This is a rich passage that is full of meaningful application for us today.