Burn the Ships

A new day. Well, welcome to Fellowship in the Parks. Welcome to this new series, burn the Ships. Now, you may have heard that phrase before. Let me tell you where it sort of originated. So in 1519, uh, Hernan Cortez, he launched ships from Cuba, 11 with over 600 men, and he was seeking to conquer the Aztec Empire. Well, he, he landed and his men were apprehensive. They were outnumbered. And so he wanted to sort of change the, the question instead of them being able to see the ships and the question in their mind being, will either fight or retreat. He thought, I'm gonna change the equation to fight or die. There's more motivation. So he gave out the order for the ships to be burned. So they, they had no choice. Now, there's some real wisdom in that, and if you really want to change something about your life, and here in the the new Year, we, you know, there's things that we, we want to do, we wanna see maybe done differently. Uh, we want to do things differently. How can we keep from going back so easily to those things that, that keep us from being really all that, that God intends for us to become? Well, the concept is burn the ships. In other words, if you have a, a, a substance issue, something you're trying to break away from, then make it as hard as possible for you to almost, you have to rebuild the ship, right, in order to accomplish that. So, you know, you want to get all the junk outta your house. I, if somebody just told me, you know, man, trying to do away with sugar, then try to get all the sugar out of your house again. Make it hard as possible. Get away from those situations where you're easily tempted. So you have to make a conscious decision to cross over these certain barriers in order to fail. Burning the ships is about ensuring success. If you have a problem with pornography, then, you know, how do you burn the ship? Well, you get accountability. You put software, you, you stay away from certain things. Maybe you get off social media. Um, it could be a relationship that, you know, is destructive, not healthy for you. It's, you know, how do you really cut that off and get away from it? But here's where we wanna start, alright? Um, because the answer is not just something that we refer to as, as sin management. You know, it's interesting. On New Year's morning, um, my wife and I woke up and she asked me, she said, okay, let's talk. What are your New Year's resolutions? And so I just sort of smiled and facetiously, facetiously said, you know, in 2025, my goal is just to keep being me. She rolled her eyes at that. I said, so tell me about yours. And so she started talking about these things. You know, the little, you know, why change this, why change that? And I'm not, I don't have permission to share those. Uh, she doesn't want me to air those out, but it, it just sort of falls into that, that camp of, of what I call sort of sin management. Well, you gotta start with something bigger. You gotta start with, and here's what I would say. Look, I want to become the best version of myself that God has created me to be. That is, is something that's positive, that is a motivator. It's called to something more in your life. That has got to be the motivator. And that gives you the ability to say, Hey, these are the things that just throw me off course. So I, I have motivation to burn the ships. We come to a story, and I love this in Luke chapter five, where Jesus calls his disciples. And in this story, you have literally an essence sort of a, a burning, or at least a leaving of the boats to follow Jesus because he called them to something so much better, so much greater. And Luke chapter five, beginning in verse one says, this one day is Jesus was standing by the lake of ette, which is the Sea of Galilee. The people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water's edge, two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon. Now, that's Simon Peter, and asked him to put out a little from the shore that he sat down and he taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Peter, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peters saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and he said, go away from me hoard. I am a sinful man for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore, they left everything, and they followed him. Look, this story is about transformation in your life. And this story is not one about which, you know, Peter was, was doing something horrendous in his life. He was at rock bottom and it needed to change. Uh, Peter, God wants us to change. He calls us. He created us in his image. He wants us to become the best version of ourselves that we can become. So wherever you are, he wants to change you. He wants to transform you in a positive way. Well, in this story, we find Peter was just sort of living this comfortable life, but real transformation happens when you leave behind what's comfortable and what's easy, alright? They're those things that you know, that are not good, that's unhealthy, that are destructive, that are sinful, that really just sort of tears apart everything. And by the way, that's why God doesn't want us to sin. It's because it, it hurts us. It hurts us long term. But you know, for, for, for me fishing now, I enjoy it. I enjoy it as a hobby, but I'm in no way a professional. Peter was a professional fisherman. He absolutely knew what he was doing. In this story, you have Peter that is really, you know, he's, he's questions, look, uh, Jesus, you know, the religion side, the spirituality and all that. But I know fishing, we've been fishing out here, you know, the fish aren't biting. Um, Jesus' used Peter's boat. He, he drifts out a little bit and teaches. So Jesus wanted to do something nice for it. Peter is, is comfortable with fish. He's, he's earning a living doing it. He knows fishing again, in contrast to me. I've got one quick fishing story for you. My dad, uh, would take me and my brother down to this, this pier. And man, we, you know, we're we're young kids, but pure fishing, it's either you put a, a night crawler on or a min, and basically you just drop it over, drop it straight down, you know, wait for something to bite. That is the best way to do it, especially for kids because it's safe. But me being me, I thought, no, I want to catch the big fish. And so I saw in my dad's tackle box, um, all lures, and I thought, man, if I can just get one of those all lure and cast it out. And so my brother, um, if you don't fishing, we fish with swivels. You know, so you could change things out. And um, of course my dad would tie all that stuff. My dad's head is in the tackle box. He's trying to figure out my brother and get his line untangled. I found the biggest lure I could possibly find in his tackle box. Snuck that thing out. It had two big treble hooks on it. And I get that thing on my line, and I sidearm cast that. The problem is, is I let it go too soon. And there is this poor older woman sitting in a lawn chair fishing out on the pier. And that big double treble hook caught right in the tender part of her arm. You know what I'm talking about? That wouldn't be the firmest part maybe on most people. And I'm telling you what, she let out this blood curdling scream. My dad hears this. Wow. He looks up at her, he's shocked. And then he looks at me. I see a face of concern switching to anger, like as quick as Jesus will come back one day. I mean, I, I mean it's, I knew this was bad. Again, I, for me, if someone said, you know what, you should never fish again. Okay, not a problem. But this is what Peter did for a living. He knew his stuff. But Jesus called him to something greater. He called him outta something that was comfortable. And he knew. And he basically said, look, follow me. What can we learn from this? First of all, answer the call. It is God's will that none should perish, but that all should come to everlasting life. That's why God said his son, he wants us to respond to this incredible message of love. He calls us into a relationship with him. And here's, here's what's in incredible part of this call, is a call to obedience, alright? Following Jesus. It's, it's a call to, to trust him, but to obey him. And I want you to see this in verse five. So again, Simon, uh, he's the fisherman. Jesus wants to do something nice for him. He is used his fishing boat. They've come up empty catching fish before. So he says, look, put out of the deep, and, and we're gonna let down the nets for the catch. But Simon answered him. He said, master, master, we've worked hard all night, haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets. Now that word master, um, also can be translated commander. It is a strong term. It isn't a non facetious way. It means boss, it's yes sir, he is responding even though he doubts, even though he knows his fishing business, because it is Jesus. And because Jesus is asking out of respect, he says that he'll do it. Why? Because he says so. God wants us to trust him. He wants us to trust him. Even when doesn't feel so good, maybe doesn't make sense in our minds. You know, we've worked things out. We have plans. But the Bible says that it's God who guides our steps. We've got to respond and say, yes, when God calls us, he calls us to obey. But he also calls us to significance. God wants again you to help you become the best version of yourself that he created you to be. And he wants to ensure your success. And that's him calling but us responding, us recognizing that God does love us, that he does have a plan. And when he says in verse 10, even though he's a fisherman, Jesus says that, he said, look, don't be afraid because from now on, you're going to fish for people. You're not gonna be just fishing to vocationally to put food on the table. You're not gonna fish just for fish so that you can sell. I'm going to take your life and I'm going to give it meaning and significance beyond what you can imagine. So Peter, I'm gonna make you an influencer. I'm gonna make you a leader. And that's exactly what he did. But Peter had to respond, and he did because he wanted more for his life. I think that most of us, we want to do more than just survive, right? Do more than just exist. We want our lives to have significance. When we obey and we understand that God loves us, and we believe that he has a greater plan for us, and he calls it to us, we should respond. But it's also a call to priority. It, it means that Jesus has to come first. And I, you know, I, I love this sort of process that you see in the scripture with the disciples. There's, they don't understand everything, alright? They, they're not connecting all the dots initially. But Jesus said too, we need to count the cost. You know, before we follow him. He tells this, this analogy or metaphor. He said, look, nobody, uh, goes to war without first, you know, surmising, how many troops do you have? How many does the enemy have? Do we have the resources, you know, to complete it? Do we think we can win? Count the cost? He said, no one goes to build, you know, they don't build a home without understanding what it's gonna take so that they can complete it and get it done. So Jesus told us, we need to count the cost. It's not just an emotional decision. In a moment, he uses hyperbole or exaggeration. And he said that we must hate our mother and father and y you know, in order to follow him. And what he was just saying or, or stressing. That's not to be taken. Literally. It is that we have to be willing to trust and make Jesus first in our life. Yeah, I'm inspired, encouraged by the disciples because you see the process shaking out. You see them, you know, they, they begin this journey. They're, they're leaving their boats. They begin to follow Jesus. And then as they go, as they trust, then the dots are connected and they, their lives become more significant. Um, I know that I was raised in church and so I understood some basic things. Um, and I took maybe steps of faith when I was younger and did what I thought I was supposed to do. But, you know, it really, I didn't own my faith. Um, I really came under conviction when I was a teenager and, and realized that Jesus was the way, the truth and the life. And I agreed, you know, to follow him. And as sincerely as I knew how I, I prayed, I made a commitment to follow him and struggled a lot along the way. But it wasn't until, until later where I went, sometimes what we refer to, um, sometimes professional Christians, this sort of call to ministry at which it's like, okay, I was at the University of Tennessee. I was just comfortable gonna do what my, my dad did. I'd worked with him some in the summers. And so I just, I didn't know what to do. I was just gonna do that. Well, when I really understood what it meant and, and when God called me to ministry, I, I didn't fully understand it. I, I was fearful. I, I thought, how in the world could God use me? Why would he want me? And it took me some time. I counseled, I I talked to people. I I counted the cost. And I remember, you know, where I was, exactly where I sort of released it in my, in my heart, in my life. And I, and I said, yes. Well, I, I only changed majors. I changed schools. I, I, I changed everything for the most part. But that is a scary process. And there's naturally going to be some doubts. And even in this short story, um, let me just encourage you, trust through your doubts. Trust through your doubts. I mean, Peter doubted Jesus again, I I I love this. Um, he, he, first of all doubted Jesus about the fish. Well, I'm gonna do what you say because I respect you and because you said so. But he really didn't believe, as a matter of fact, you see this, this, uh, extraordinary sort of act of repentance. 'cause Peter, Peter didn't, you know, believe it. But here's what you gotta know that through it, recognize, recognize his love for you. The, the just real human side of this is Jesus. Now, he had a bigger plan in mind, but he wanted to do something for Peter. Jesus chose Peter's boat, and he got in it, had him push it out. He used it to teach the people. And so then he wanted to do something for Peter. He wanted to bless him. So that's why he said, look, I want you to go out. Let's, let's go out and drop the nets again. And Jesus would fill them and bless him with that. It may not feel like it in the moment, even though we doubt you gotta know and believe that he loves you, that there's something bigger at play than what you are interpreting maybe or feeling in the, uh, immediate circumstances. And yeah, what what did Jesus do? He, he filled the net so much so that it, it, it filled two boats. So it's you, you gotta, you gotta recognize his love. But also, you know, the way you get through the doubts is repent of your pride. Repent of your pride. Peter knew fishing, um, but he obviously was wrong. And, and here's the, the biggest hangup. A lot of times we have in following Jesus as we think we know, uh, that our ways best we question him. And a lot of times that keeps us from being able to release. But here, Jesus does this incredible miracle for Peter and these other fishermen, and he does the right thing. I mean, he just, he he repents of his pride. I I know I'm not in control. I I don't know what you're going through right now. Sometimes, you know, as a follower of Jesus, circumstances seem so insurmountable. It's like, do you really care? Do you see what's going on, Jesus, what you're doing? I don't get it. Hang on. You know, press through. Recognize that he loves you. You know, even when you, you just repent of that pride and then release control because you really can't control a lot of things anyway. Now, we think we can and we try to, but ultimately, you know, God is sovereign. If you have a relationship with Jesus, he wants the best. He's completing something in you. He's going to bring you to a place of wholeness in completion. And you have to hang on and believe that to the point where you will just let it go. And so what did they do? Well, they, they made the commitment, I wanna encourage you, commit, commit fully, and don't turn back, commit fully. In verse 11, um, it says they pulled up their boats up on shore and they left everything and followed him. They left everything and followed him. Again, it's natural to be fearful when you don't understand what's going on. But what, what Jesus said to Simon Peter is, don't be afraid. Jesus understands our fear. But this really is translated. It should be stop being fearful. You don't have to be fearful. Uh, you're, you're, you're tempted to do that. And I get it. But if you'll just trust me, if you'll commit fully, if you'll just jump out of the boat and trust me that I am going to take care of it. And that's exactly what we see. Now, it is not a commitment, um, that says, look, Jesus, I'm following you as long as everything's good, you know, no, it doesn't work like that. Jesus promises us an abundant life, a full life. He promises us eternal life. He doesn't promise us a life that's necessarily comfortable or necessarily something that we understand in the moment. Everything that's going on, what we need to do. And the only way you can really come to Jesus as sincerely, as much as you can, as you gotta burn the ship, you, you gotta look to for God's provision. But here's, here's the beauty. How does God provide for us? How does he encourage us to not turn back? Well, there's the promise of his presence. You know, the disciples right there, they had and got to spend the next three years with Jesus, doing life with him. Well, what's he promised us? He's promised us that when we accept Jesus, then we get to receive his spirit. His spirit lives within us, who will comfort us, who will give us a peace, even though the circumstances are chaotic and, and we recognize things are beyond our control, but we're motivated as we draw close to him, that we can trust him. He gives us also provision through, through partners, through each other. And this is where I just wanna affirm to you, I believe this is why church is so important. Look, look at this. When Jesus, Jesus could have done this miracle for Peter, he, he could have done it, I guess privately. He could have called him privately, but he did it publicly. And it tells us that what happened was is that they called so many fish, even, you know, they hadn't called anything, but when they let down their boats or their nets, and they, so many fish were in them, they began to break. And then verse seven, they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Uh, God gives us partners. He gives us each other. We are called to love him with all of our being. But we're also called to love each other. And the way we are supposed to function in loving one another is encouraging one another to become the best version of ourselves that we can be. One of the best ways to ensure success is to do it not in isolation, but with others. And then notice this too, that in verse 10, there's, there's a record of who was there. Uh, Peter was not just called in isolation, but he was called in a group of others to be partners. And the promise was that transformation will happen with all of you in community. You have the presence of, uh, today, the Holy Spirit within us. We have the encouragement as we do life with each other. No, we're not perfect. Sometimes life is messy. But do you realize God's called you to something greater and he wants you to experience the significance of his calling on your life? You just gotta trust him. You gotta say yes, and you gotta believe it so much. You're willing to, to dismantle, to burn the ships, so to speak, to help further ensure your success so you don't go back to those things, which so easily can get us off course and brings us into misery. That, that, that robs us of the peace that passes understanding the series. We're gonna talk about real transformation. The next step for you is what ship do you need to burn? Just begin to think about, identify one thing. What ship do you need to burn in your life to help ensure your success? And again, I wanna inspire you. Again, we want to encourage each other. One thing I love about Fellowship of the Parks is we share change stories. We share stories of transformation. There's one printed in the, in the program. It's, it's the story of, of Doug Hare. And what he said, basically, what what's helped him ensure success is by partnering, by serving, by being a part, for example, of, of our security team and developing those relationships. You're gonna hear another story on video here in just a moment. Look, God wants to do something in your life. It may not be perfect, but you gotta respond, believe, get outta the boat and follow him and see what he does. If you would bow your head with me, let's pray together. And I pray that you will make the commitment just, maybe it's to come back, come back and, and commit to being a part of this series. Maybe it's that one particular thing that you know, God, this is a ship I need to burn and I need wisdom, guidance, courage. God, I pray that whatever it is, whatever you hope on our hearts, God, that we would understand and that we would respond, and that we would not make excuses. And God, for some of us, it may be that we wanna figure out what it means to follow you. And we need to count the cost, as you said. God, I pray that you would give us the courage to keep asking questions. But God, we thank you and we love you. God, we wanna be truly the best version of ourselves that you created us to be. And we trust you in Jesus' name. Amen. How did we get here? We're cast away on a lonely, I can see in your eyes, dear. It's hard to take for a moment more, we've got to burn the ships, cut the tide and the flare into the night. Say a prayer. Turn the tide, dry your tears and wave. Step into a new Day. The match, leave the path the and don't you look bad. Don't will. And if you need refuge, I'll be right. The cut the night, say a prayer. Turn the tide, your, and So Long to shame. Walk through the sorrow outta the fire into tomorrow. So flush the P, face the fear. Feel the wave disappear. We coming clean, we're born again. Our oh, we can breathe again. Step into a New day. Match the the ships and step Day We can upon don't you look back. Don't you look back.