Caught Nothing
Key Passage: John 21
Date: June 7, 2024
John chapter 21 in God’s word, John chapter 21. And we’re going to start in verse number one of John 21.
Jesus’ resurrection after he had died and rose again, ascended, and then for 40 days, he spent 40 days just showing himself. Acts tells us that was his passion. He’s kind of like he wanted to come back and show, I did what I said I would do. And many infallible proofs, he says. He showed himself to them one time, over 500, one time. And he let everybody know, hey, I’m risen.
And this is one of those times he appears to a little over half of the apostles. It’s just an awesome passage, John 21. Let’s stand, if you would, please, if you’re able to, just to show the word of God respect, John 21.
In verse number one, the Bible says, “After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, Thomas called Didimus, and Nathaniel of Canaan of Galilee, and sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.”
Simon Peter saith unto them, “I go officiant.” They say unto him, “We also go with thee.”
They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have ye any meat?” They answered him, “No.” And he said unto them, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find.”
And they cast, therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. We won’t read it, but later on it tells us there was 153, and they weren’t little bit of bluegill. They were great fish, as the Bible says. And 153 fish that rolled in on that net. And just for a little bit, just the tide will be caught nothing. Caught nothing for the internet.
But would you pray with me that God would speak to your heart, my heart? Would you do that?
Father, Lord, we come to you. And Lord, I believe, Lord, that you would have us kind of focus on this passage. I think about just why I was reading. I don’t understand why. My Lord, I’m trying to learn just best to follow you. And so, Lord, all the reasons you know what they are. I preach it to accomplish every single one of them. And Lord, feed us from your word tonight. Lord, thank you for these people. They’re blessed people, Lord. Wonderful people. And Lord, would you give them what they need, Father, please, through your word and the preaching of it tonight. And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. And, Father, we ask for that. In the name of Jesus, we pray and believe.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
It is amazing what damage one person can do. It’s amazing.
Peter, he was a fisherman. That’s what he did as a living. And he was, I would think, good at it. If you’re going to make a living out of it, you’ve got to be pretty good. I would be—my family would starve to death if I was a fisherman, amen. I mean, we would go without; I’m not a good fisherman. Peter must have been pretty good because he did it for a living. And Jesus walks along and he says, Matthew 4 over there. He says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Jesus changed him and others’ occupation from fishing of fish to fishing of men. That’s a wonderful thing when he changes your occupation from whatever to living for the Lord, you know. It’s a permanent change he likes to make. It’s an obvious change.
You might still get the paycheck from the same middleman, but you change ownership, if you will. And Peter changed his ownership, and for three and a half years, he walked with Jesus. Wouldn’t it be awesome? He was there with Jesus all the time.
I mean, he watched Jesus as he ate, he watched Jesus as he slept, he watched Jesus as he preached, he watched Jesus as he healed the lame, made the blind to see and the lame to walk and the deaf and dumb to hear and speak. I mean, he saw all that. He was with Jesus, three and a half years, awesome. He saw how he dealt with people. He saw how his leadership skill and style was. He saw all that. He’s seen everything about Jesus, Peter.
By the time Jesus was training Peter and the other apostles, he knew one day he was going to die and three days later rise again and then ascend. He’d be sitting on the right hand of the Father. He knew that, and the men for the vast majority that would take that message and that mission on to spread it around the world were the apostles, and he was training them for that. Peter was part of that.
Peter was part of the—maybe the elite, if you will—he was part of the inner three: Peter, James, and John. They were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember that? When Jesus began to glisten and shine like the sun, and they saw all that. Peter was there for that. It’s amazing the training Peter had. Three and a half years, Peter was trained.
And yet, when it came down to the moment, Peter was proud. Jesus tried to warn him, “Peter, hey, Satan desires to sift you as wheat and chew you up and spit you up.” “I’m ready to die with you,” you know. That’s Peter. Jesus had a different plan. Peter had his own page. By the way, just throw your page out of the book. Follow Jesus’ page.
Don’t even say, “I want to be on your page.” Just get rid of your page. Get on his page. That’s always best. Peter had his page, and it didn’t turn out like he thought it would. Jesus said, “We’re not ready to fight. Put your sword up, Peter.” That kind of threw Peter. Peter never really was close to him for a while after that. And just stayed a distance from him. And eventually, you know the story that night. And here are one of those with Jesus. And Peter said, “Oh, no, no, I don’t know that man.”
Somebody else came along, “Oh, yeah, yeah, you’re with Jesus.” “No, no, no, no, I don’t know. No, not me. I’m not one of those crazy people.” Someone else, “Oh, you’re with him. Your speech bereath you.” And old Peter began to curse. What a shame. I have a preacher’s mouth cursing. The Bible said, “Blessing and curses come out of the same mouth.” I’ll not be like that.
And old Peter’s cursing him, and “No, no, and I don’t know him.” And then Jesus, he looked over at him. Man, can you imagine the eyes of Jesus? I mean, it’s not when your mom or your wife gives you the look. Come on, I mean, you know. But when Jesus, he looked at Peter, and Peter knew, boy, that old rooster began to crow.
The Bible says, Peter went out and wept bitterly. Such a sad thing. In the heat of the battle, Peter had fell. And here’s the thing, even after that, even after Peter fell and he scored zero, if you will, even after that, Jesus made special appearances just to Peter. Jesus reached out to Peter in such a wonderful, special way.
I mean, the Bible really lets us know of that. Let me read for you, 1 Corinthians 15:5: “And that he was seen of Cephas, that’s Peter. Then of the twelve.” Here he is appearing to apostles all the third time, but he had already appeared to Peter before. Luke 24:34, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon.”
It’s like Jesus went out of his way to get to Peter because he knew Peter was on the bottom and he was trying to get him restored back. And Jesus reached out to Peter in a wonderful way after he fell.
After all that, after all that, Peter—Peter—he says, “I’m going back to my old path, my old life. I’m tired of this fishing for men and stuff. I’m going back to fishing for fish.” Sure enough.
Not only that, but look how many of the apostles went with him. Would you look in verse number two right there, John 21, verse number two? Would you look at that, please? John 21, verse number two. Count it up with me. You’ve got more fingers than me. You’ll do better than me, all right? Let’s look at this thing. “They were together Simon Peter.” How many is that? My, y’all are a little bit slow tonight. Now, I mean, I was helping the kindergarteners, first graders the other day in school count. They did a little bit better than that, all right? Now, help me out here, okay.
“And they were together Simon Peter.” How many is that? One. Good, good. “And Thomas called Didimus.” How many is that? Two. All right. Now this is getting tough. I know. I know. Stay with me here. “And Nathaniel of Canaan of Galilee.” How many is that? Three. “And the sons, two sons of Zebedee.” How many is that? Good, good, class. You’re doing great. “And two other of his disciples.” How many is that made?
That’s over half of the apostles. Take Peter out of the equation, that’s half of them.
Peter not only left the path that Jesus had put him on, fishing for men, but he led half of the apostles back to the old path. Friend, it is amazing the damage one sinner can make. Ecclesiastes 9:18 says, “Wisdom is better than the weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good.”
That’s an amazing statement God makes. The damage, one sin of—you take a good young person. Well, let’s just go biblically; them won’t get it in our day any time. You take Amnon. Amnon loved his half-sister Tamar so much that the Bible says he could not think. He couldn’t even think about doing anything bad to her. That’s a pretty good fella. He couldn’t even let his mind go there. I mean, Amnon, he loved her and he could not even think about doing anything bad to her.
But here’s an amazing statement in the Bible. The Bible says this: But Amnon had a friend. The Bible still calls him a friend. All friends can be good and bad. And that friend was very subtle, very tricky. And that friend made Amnon. He led him to the point that Amnon took his half-sister before he could not think of doing anything bad to her. And yet he twisted his mind and led him so sly that Amnon, he forced his half-sister to be immoral with him.
And just a vile thing that Amnon did, and before that he could not even think of doing anything back there, and yet one friend, one person.
You take a young person who’s raised in a good home and a good church and a good school and all that, and yet it’s a sad thing sometimes when just one friend can destroy years and years of working and training and God instilling, and yet just one friend, and sometimes just a little statement or two can turn the head of that child. Sad thing.
Peter, he’s leading half of the trained apostles of Jesus astray. It’s amazing. Remember, that’s the truth of it. What a sad thing. By the way, Peter was saved. He was trained by the best teacher there ever was. He was the elite. He was in leadership.
And yet, yet he was leading and causing so much damage. You know how many good churches have been hindered and hurt by one mouth? Come on now. Just one, just unbridled tongue can cause so much damage. It’s a sad thing.
You just want—how many, you hear it so often—just one disloyal person just led so many, and you got a rift and they got a dysfunction and going two different directions and two people trying to take the leader, and just, it’s a sad thing. You hear of it so often.
Just one, Peter, just one led so many astray. This is amazing. I’ve seen this happen so many times over the years. Just one person, one person criticizing soul winning can hinder it, has turned so many preachers’ heads. Somebody criticizing just old-fashioned, just old-fashioned, cold turkey, grow up entirely, win somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ. You would think everybody in the world’s full of that, but how many just one critical tongue has hurt that? It’s amazing, shocking really when you see it.
But just Peter, just Peter, and he was seasoned in Christian leadership. What a sad thing. Now think about this. Look at the statement he makes there in verse number three. Would you look at that? Y’all still with me tonight? Don’t get quiet on me tonight, amen. Help me out. Help me out. I can always use the help.
When I do like this, I haven’t did it yet tonight. We’ll work at it. That doesn’t mean I’m scratching me. That means say amen there, you know. Come on now. I appreciate that. Look at verse number three right there. “Simon Peter saith unto them.”
Can it just time out for a second? Simon Peter, if you want to go back to the old path, I want you going over there, but he didn’t do that. He could have just, well, I’m going to go fishing, but he didn’t do that. Look at Simon Peter, said unto them, “I go fishing.” They say also unto him, they say unto him, “We also go with you.” Peter, if you want to backslide, leave everybody wrong. Why are you going to take everybody with you?
I mean, honestly, as a pastor over the years, I hate to see any sheep go straight. And I mean that, any person, I love them. And I mean that. But any more, sometimes the greatest concern for me is how many people are they affecting? How many people are they contaminating, if you will? How much are they bringing their church down?
As a shepherd, you see the whole thing. I’m so concerned about that sometimes. It’s one thing, and I’m on a backslide, but the collateral damage is sometimes just the most damaging part, and someone of lives get broken. And you ever think about this? You ever think about this? I wonder if our church could handle a weak or maybe Christian, or maybe just that critical tongue or this out of the other. God said, “I can’t allow many baby Christians to be there because they can’t handle all that.” So God said, “No, you can’t really be in a discipleship church because they’ve got too many unbridled tongues or whatever may be.” And one person can lead so many astray, especially a weaker baby Christian. Y’all with me tonight? For anyone, what a sad thing.
Now, the other apostles, they’re responsible for themselves. Those six other ones, they didn’t have to. If just one of those six others said, “No, Peter, no, the Lord changed our path. He said we’re going to be fishers of men, and I’m just going to stick to that.” One of them could have did that, couldn’t it? If Jesus was happy about the new path, maybe he’d let them call it fish, but they didn’t catch anything that night. You know, you know what I’m saying?
Oh, what a sad thing, but just one. But the difference one could make if they stand. Now let’s keep going. We’re just pulling some truths out of this passage tonight. So seven of the apostles are out there fishing. Jesus had changed their occupation. They went back to the old occupation. And Simon Peter, he’s, “Let’s go.” And they all said, “All right, let’s go.” And should do that.
And look at verse number three right there. Verse number three, “Simon Peter said to him, I go a fish,” and they said unto him, “We also go with thee.” They went forth and entered into a ship immediately. Nobody said, “Nah, he’s changed our occupation.” Immediately. And that night, they—what’s the next two words? Caught nothing. Not a thing.
All night, the morning, the next verse says, it’s morning time. Jesus says, “Hey, you got anything else?” Not a thing. All night long, and they caught nothing. Hey, friend, can I be honest with you? You can spend your life living for the world, and at the end of it, you caught nothing. Amen.
Let me go to the guy that spent his life living for pleasure and the alcohol, the bottle, and good times. Hey, how you doing on there? You’re on the deathbed. Christians will be on the deathbed of order. But you’re there. Let me ask you: Did you catch anything? Well, I caught liver problems. I caught disease from living loose. It didn’t really catch nothing.
Let me ask you, you spent your life living for the dollar and an extra buck, and maybe you got millions, maybe got billions. Let me ask you on your deathbed: Did you catch anything? No, caught nothing. Oprah Winfrey, she’s got two and a half, three and a half, scoring who you talk to, billion dollars, and she got all that money. But she said, “Oh, there’s many ways to heaven, many ways.” Let me ask you, when you try to get those prologates many ways, did you catch anything?
Caught nothing. Only one way to heaven, Jesus for him. Let me ask Bill Gates that got all that billions and billions of dollars, $76 billion. Let me ask. He said at one point, he said, “Well, I agree with people like Richard Balkans that mankind felt the need for creation myths.” Now, he’s changed over the years. One point he said, “In terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on Sunday morning.” All those things are done. Now, here recently, he’s been going to a Catholic church. And let me say, what about that? That teaches you’re good enough to go to heaven and getting involved in that works-based religion. Let me ask you, hey, and when you stand before the Lord, let me ask you, all those billions of dollars, did you catch anything?
No, not unless he gets saved, and I hope he does. Friend, the soul world, all it has to offer at the end of the day, you catch nothing. Not a thing. We’ve got plenty of people out here that testify, “I was out there and lived in it for years and I caught nothing. Not a thing.”
“Spent my life to music. I’ve given my life to music.” Oh, it lifted my moods here and there, but permanently I caught nothing. Not a thing. Oh, friend, man, I’ve seen them. I’ve seen them so many over the years that spent their life at least the last five, ten, twenty years to a life living for the Lord. I’ve been with them on their deathbed many a time, and I’ve heard them say it many a time, “Pastor, I’m ready to go.”
They caught something, amen. Amen, they got a big old fish on their side. They’re ready to go home. “I’m going home with the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s rewards laid up for me. I caught something I’m happy about how I spent my life.”
I failed a million times, but I’m so glad, and God’s just so good to be merciful. I messed up a million times, but he allowed me. I got out of high school and went off to Bible College and graduated Bible College and buried my sweet wife, was a youth director for a while, here, there, and yonner, came to start the church. Someone asked him, “How long have you been preaching?” It was, “Well, about 20.” Then, and it’s about 33 years been preaching, and I failed many times, but I’m saying this, but we get to the age, the point where we kind of look back a little bit, and we’re like, we don’t regret spending our life living for the Lord. Not a many of it. Wish I’d have did more of it. You catch something when you live for the Lord. And they’re out there worked all night long. Caught nothing.
Praise the Lord, I call it eternal life. Man, you get Jesus Christ, you catch it all. Man, I got joy, got a wonderful family. I mean, God’s given all that. I got a great church family. Got people, I got to see a little part of them going to heaven when they’re going to see them for all eternity. I’m saying, when you live for the Lord, you get Jesus, you got it all right there for it. It’s wonderful. It’s great living for the Lord. This old world has nothing to offer.
Caught nothing. Don’t fall for it. “Well, I’m just tired of church. There are so many problems in a church.” Friend, any time you get two people together, you get one person together, there are problems. That’s just part of it. Those things are—oh, I’m tired. They just forget the whole church thing. They don’t catch anything.
“Well, I’m tired of this, try to pass out gospel trash, tell somebody about Jesus.” I mean, they throw them up and put them in the trash can anyway. And you can buy into that, but friends, you don’t catch anything there. Oh, man, stay in there living for the Lord. You won’t regret it. You won’t regret it. It’s the best thing you can do.
I tell you what, why don’t you—talking to the world—why won’t you line up, just line them up, those that live for themselves and for the world and money and all that. Light them up at the end of their life and tell me how they’re doing. And I’ll line up a hundred of them that say, “I spent my life living for the world, and I’m thrilled that I did that.” That’s where you catch everything in.
I think about Brother Duane. Oh, Brother Duane. I didn’t mean to tell him, but Brother Duane, he was a youth director years ago. God changed his life. He was our head deacon for years. A wonderful man, became a great soul winner, and Brother Duane. And at the end, he had heart problems. He ended up getting cancer. He wasn’t old, 40 years old, had all these problems. And I remember he had a youth activity, and he was going down to the Bill Ash Ranch for a youth activity. And our teenagers just couldn’t go to it. He had one boy.
And after a youth activity, Brother Duane would hurt for a couple of days. And I went to Brother Duane, I said, “Brother Duane, you know, you only had one boy, and I know you love that boy and whatnot, but Brother Duane, man, your health and your family, maybe you just need to slack off on some of those things.” I know you’re hurt for days. By the way, Braden, you remember Brother Duane? Braden? He’s like thinking, I don’t know. Maybe it was Bryson. There was a lot of there. That was way back there. But anyway, he said, “Maybe you want to slack up on those things.” And Brother Duane said, “Pastor, if I only have a couple years left, this is the way I want to spend it.” Brother Mark, you know you’re getting in church together.
And it’s amazing. He got very aggressive cancer, even after the heart, went to Mayo Clinic, heart surgery, all of that. And he was pretty good for me. He got a major aggressive cancer, and he passed. But the day he passed, that day, and I think maybe the day before, he was telling me and family members, “I’m ready to go home.” And I didn’t get it. His mom called it. I thought he’s talking about he’s ready to go back home with his wife and kids. But his mom called it, and she said, “He’s talking about he wants to go home.” Wednesday night, I think about the time we got home from church. We got the call. We rushed up to Centino Hospital, I think it was. We got there even four family then. We walked in that room. He is in heaven at that point.
I’ve seen many a dead body, just part of being passed for all those years and all that, you know. But man, I’ve never seen a body literally right after he had passed where he just had such an obvious smile on his face. I’m talking about a smile. I thought, “Wow, I’ve never seen a dead body like that, just smiling.” Why? Because he came to the end of living for the Lord and said, “Hey, I caught something right there.”
Man, you leave the path that Jesus puts you on, you catch nothing. Not a thing. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going. Something else about this passage here. John 21, look in verse number four right there. They caught nothing, bottom of verse number three. Verse number four. You all there tonight, amen? Good deal. Help me out. Come on now. Y’all there on verse number four, amen? Amen. Good, good. We’re trying to keep you going tonight.
“But when the morning was now come, Jesus”—whoo—“stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.” Man, they had been with him for three and a half years.
But they didn’t see him. They didn’t recognize him. They did not know what was Jesus. And, friend, here’s the amazing thing. When I’m backsliding and my heart’s not in the right place, I’m not following God’s path for me, it’s a sad thing. Sometimes Jesus comes along, and I don’t even recognize him.
I wonder if I recognize every time he comes along and knocks at my heart’s door. I wonder if every time he comes along and says, “Hey, give him a gospel track,” do I recognize it? I wonder when he comes along and says, “Hey, Paul, won’t you go apologize to your soul and so, so you know,” do I recognize that? I mean, when he comes, I want you to give a little bit extra to that person? They need some help there. Do I recognize it? Do you recognize Jesus?
They were doing their own thing. They should have recognized him. Three and a half years they were with him. They didn’t even recognize him. They didn’t know what was Jesus. Oh, friend, what a sad thing when I’m to the point when the Lord shows up in my life and I don’t even recognize it. Sad thing.
Here’s a good thing about it. I want you to see this. This is wonderful. You’ll love it. I loved it when I saw this. Would you keep reading there in John 21? And would you look in verse number five? Verse number five, “Then Jesus saith unto them.” What’s the next word? Say it out loud, please.
They’re still his children. He didn’t say, “Get out of here. I don’t love you anymore. I don’t care about you anymore.” He still called them his children. You’re backslidden. You don’t even recognize me. You’re out there doing your own thing. You’re not following what I path I put you on. But I still call you my children. Praise the Lord. He loves us like that.
Man, I disappoint him a million times. I backslide. I know the Lord. He must be so mad at me. And he reaches out and he says, “Paul, you’re still my son. I still love you.” That’s amazing, friend. Man, I got a good God.
Still his child. I mean, he grafted me in and he says, “You’re mine now, you’re part of the tree.” He adopted me into the family. My sister and brother was adopted too. Friend, you can almost disown your own child easier than it is to disown an adopted child. You just can’t hardly do it legally. Adopted in the family of God, he gave me that. I’m his child. He said, you know, “Never, never perish. I’ll never catch you out.” Poor, praise the Lord. It still calls us children. Isn’t that good? Children. I like that, children.
Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any meat?” “Nah, we caught nothing.” I like it. It’s wonderful that Jesus, he still calls me his child. And he says, “I got a path for you from today on.”
Peter, you gave up, but I ain’t gave up. Peter, you quit ministering, but I ain’t quit on you. Peter, you got new plans, but you don’t know, I got new plans for you, Peter. Man, look at this. Look at this, verse number six, right there. He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” I’m so glad he’s a God of a millionth chance.
“They cast, therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of the fishes.” All of us leave the path Jesus put us on.
And yet he says, “Children, children.” They caught anything? “I really hadn’t caught a thing.” And yet Jesus says, “Hey, cast the net on the other side over there, the right side.” Man, they cast that net out. I mean, really, I think it was the grace of God, the net didn’t break. In fact, you kind of lose that later on.
Man, they had so many fishes, they couldn’t even get the fish in. Had to drag it in a little bit later on. When you’ve messed up and I messed up about a million times, Jesus still comes. He comes to us again. He says, “I still got a path for you. Still got a whole lot of fishes need to be caught. I’ll use you.”
Later on, we didn’t take time to read it. Later on, he adjusts Peter, if you will. He said, “Peter, you really love me? You love me more than these?” Remember, he said, “Love me more than these.” I’m not just making up this thing about going back to fish. Jesus says, “Do you love me more than these?” “Oh, Lord, you know I love you. Feed my lambs. Get back to the path I put you on.” “You love me, Peter?” “Oh, you know I love you. Feed my sheep. Get back to do what I called you to do.” “Peter, you love me?” Peter got upset. Three times to ask me if I love you. “You know I love you, Lord.” Get back doing what I called you to do. Feed my sheep.
Jesus always—as long as you’re breathing, he’s got a right side of the ship, as you know. Long as you’re breathing, he’s got a plan, a path, he still wants to use you. I’ve met many of them that says, “Preacher, I wish I would—I spent so many years out there in the world. I want to spend the rest of my life just living for the Lord now. I feel like I wasted too much. I want to get back in there for the Lord now.” He’s always got a path. And you catch something then.
I thought about my dad. I may talk about him too much. I don’t know. He’s in heaven. I try not say too much about living people. He never know, but those that are gone. Amen. But my dad, he got saved as a young man, had what the world called a good job. Financially, very set at that time, that stage of life ahead of most.
Dad got married a little bit later on in life. And they were, financially, had a great job, had all that kind of set, had a new car. And got saved and God just changed his life and growing the world, but he felt God calling to go to Bible college. He quit his job. Some people said, “Man, don’t do that. You try to get the—you’ve got this job and everything’s sad.” And they tried to tell my mom the same thing. “What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you letting him quit this job and just move away? You’ve never been to Tennessee.” They quit that job, and the house, they sold their house. And as a young couple, they’re getting close to paying them. I mean, just financially, they’re pretty set. And moved up to Tennessee real quick into it, got in a major wreck with that new car. New cars, though. And kind of went financially there to hear.
And, but just all those years, mom and dad, they weren’t always in the full-time Christian service, but lived for the Lord. And Dad, just a soul winner. He did everything from working as assistant pastor to selling insurance to selling Christian books. At the end, he had a pest control business just himself, and he didn’t want employees. But all that time, his major job was winning souls. I remember he went to work and had a pretty good insurance job. We’ve got pretty good money there. And the boss, they were on him, “Hey, quit telling everybody about Jesus everywhere you go.” And he said, “Man, I’m not there just to sell them life insurance. I’m there to give them eternal life insurance,” you know. They weren’t happy about it. I watched Dad just walk away from it. It took a lot lower paying job. And he just, that wasn’t what it was all about. It’s about winning souls. He really was faithful at that.
And, um, the last—before he passed, the last seven years of his life, he moved up from Florida. They moved over here in Smyrna, got him a little house. And it’s an average-sized house. Well, back of the day, average-sized house. They mean, you know, three-bedroom, two-bath. Not one of these huge ones like nowadays and all that. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m just saying, you know, I don’t want to exaggerate. But average-sized house, if you will, and towards the end, one of Dad’s things, he wanted to have a paid off. And praise the Lord, got his house paid off. And I lived just a little, little class neighborhood over here off of Drew Street, down on theville Road, out this way a little bit. And had his house paid off, spent his life, just really living for the Lord from the point he got saved on. He was really devoted, especially as far so old. And live there and kind of got his house paid off, whatnot. If he were passed, had cancer for years at the end there.
The neighbor right across the street from there, they had a wooden fence. I’m not talking about just a four-foot. I was trying to remember in my mind if it was six or eight feet tall. I’m talking about you could not see in the yard. For years, we would have to wonder who in the world lives over there. You could not—you could not see anybody. They never came out. Big old tall, you could not see in there. If you’re up in our and mom and dad’s house, you can kind of see their light for the porch, and it would be on and off sometimes. You’d never know about that light. That’s the only thing really we could see. The fence was so tall, so private.
And they had been there for a while, and nobody knew who or what was going on in that house. And then one time, you know, the whole neighborhood was in an uproar because someone had called the SWAT team out. I’m talking about the SWAT team. You could not get in mom and dad’s neighborhood. They had it closed off, and the SWAT team was there. And they were going to that house, and of course, the buzz of the neighborhood started going around after that night. What in the world? Why was a SWAT team called in there? And some of the teenagers of the neighborhood started saying, “Well, the fellow that lived over there is an ex-member of Kiss.” You remember the rock and roll group Kiss? And at first we were like, “Nah, no, couldn’t be,” you know. Sure enough.
It is an ex-member of Kiss. I met him one time. He was having a sex change, wearing a dress. I was over working on Mom and Dad’s car, and his dog had got out, and he was coming to get it. Well, maybe Mom and Dad’s dog who went over there. He was coming. And I just, you know, you’re working on a car, and you’re like, “Whoa,” you know. And you can still tell a little bit. It’s the funniest thing, I could still tell by his lips that’s a man, you know. You have all the makeup and everything else, but that’s a man, you know, dressing all that stuff on him. And come to find out, come to find out, he had beat up his wife. And so the SWAT team had to come out. And when the SWAT team came out, there’s a lot of dead, cut-up dogs in the trash cans in the yard there. Going through a sex change, he got arrested a little bit later on. His house got foreclosed on.
One thing I thought about all those years, Dad had been secretly putting gospel tracks in those little cracks of that wooden fence. Never know what God did with all that.
But I thought about it. I thought about it. This guy over here, nobody in the world will ever know about my dad. But at the end of his life, he caught something. I mean, he’s ready to go home to heaven. Man, he’s going home to heaven. He’s going to be with the Lord. He’s going to see so many people he led to the Lord. The end of his life, he had his house paid off. Remember, we had Brother Dad Day here at the church. Everybody just called him Brother Dad. Everybody loved Dad, you know. And we, Brother Dad Day, we gave him a plaque here at church and just trying to honor him a little bit. That’s the way he ended his life up. He was so happy.
He never—he’s one of those old-school guys, you know, they don’t tell you they’re proud of you, they don’t say they love you, you know, those old-school—somebody all know all that stuff, you know. That was the generation, that was them, you know. But I never, just right about it one time, I remember my dad, after service, he said, “I’m proud of you.” Man, he just meant something to him. That’s the way he ended his life. I mean, he caught something.
But this guy over here lived his life for good times and money and drugs and music and all the rest of that. You know the old Kiss group, you know what all the biting off the mice’s head it was, or bats’ heads, all that stuff. I mean, just living for all that. And he’s having a sex change and beating his wife and cutting up dogs. I’m talking about it messed up. He caught nothing.
Man, friends, I just stay on the path following Jesus. I just stay right on the path following. You won’t regret it.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes for you? You’re there tonight. You say, “Preacher, man, I don’t want to leave the path. He’s given me purpose. He’s given me a mission. He’s given me goals to live for him, to shine for him, to win the souls, to make a difference in this whole world. I don’t want to leave that path.” Man, I just want to stay right on the path. God spoke to my heart. I don’t want to leave the path. Man, you’re not, you slipped in that, preacher. I don’t live the path. Me too. I’m with you. I don’t want to leave the path. Oh, God bless you. I don’t want that path. Oh, God bless you. I don’t regret that, friend. You won’t regret that, very, very much. Thank you so very much.
You say, “I don’t want that one to hinder me. I don’t want that one to hinder me. And I don’t want to be the one.” God spoke to my heart. “I don’t want to be the one that hinders the work of God. And I don’t want to be the one that gets hindered by the one.” God spoke to my heart about that. Maybe that’s you tonight. You slip your hand up, that’s me. I don’t want to be hindered by the one. I don’t want to be the one. I don’t want to be the one. I’m there. Oh, I don’t want to be that.
I pray, Lord, am I hindering your work here? I don’t do that. Show me if I am.
Maybe here tonight and you say, “You know, I’m kind of like Peter. I went back to fishing for fish, and I want to get back in there. I want to get back to the old path, just to fishing for men, and just following the path Jesus has laid out for me. I want to get back to that. I want to kind of just reenlist.” I mean, just, just, not that I’m way out there. I’m in church on a Sunday night, but I want to just sign up again. Lord, here am I saying, “Me, I want to reenlist for the Lord tonight.” That’s just my burden of my heart tonight, preacher. I’d like to reenlist. Would you just let me hand to preach you? I want to just get back in, and I want to re-sign up tonight. Amen, amen, amen. That’s wonderful. Oh, yeah, amen. That’s a great, great thing. Amen.
He doesn’t use those with ability. He uses those that have availability for Him, presenting themselves to Him over and over again. “Here am I, Lord. Here am I. Here am I.” All he uses those folks.
Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Would you come spend some time with the Lord Jesus Christ? Just be obedient. Have Him lead you. Would you follow?
Thank you, Jesus. I messed up a million plus times. Thank you, Lord, time and again. You come to me and you said, “Have you caught anything?” and I said, “No.” And yet, Lord, thank you. You said, “Well, cast it over there,” and you give me a purpose. As you say, “Paul, you love me more than these,” and you get me back in there. Thank you for being such a good, gracious, merciful God to us all. Help us all just to come and reenlist tonight. Bless our people, Lord. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen. If God spoke to your heart, would you just be obedient to the Lord? Just follow what He does.
I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The cross before me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The cross before me. Really, just the place of the Lord. Everything. Man, it’s a privilege to serve Him. Don’t fall for this bad-mouth Christian. If you serve the Lord, you have a wonderful—it’s a great life for it. Wouldn’t trade it for the world. Just keep serving the Lord. It’s a wonderful, wonderful life. Amen, amen. Glad you’re in church tonight. Amen. Amen. It’s always just, just awesome. It’s a privilege. We gain. It’s our honor to serve Him. And glad you’re in church tonight. Good to see everybody else. And good to have guests back. Thank you, Braden, for coming. Thank you for our guests coming. We appreciate you coming tonight, being a part of our church. It’s an old-fashioned Baptist church. She says, “Man, I don’t know about that church right there.” We’re thrilled to have you. I’m teasing with you. Thank you for coming tonight. We’re honored to have you. Good to have Brother Frank and Miss Wanda back with us today. What a blessing. What a blessing.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Caught Nothing - Sunday PM 09112022