Simon had always known how to fish. After he was sifted by Satan, he denied Jesus three times. Simon decided to head back out on the Sea of Galilee to fish. Then he saw the Lord, along with the other disciples. Jesus enabled them to catch a great number of fish, then he fed them on the beach. Spending time with Simon, Jesus continued the process of strengthening him to become the one who would preach at Pentecost. Again and again, we see Jesus feeding people and eating with his disciples. Today we begin to restore the awesome power of intentionally and regularly eating with the people we love. Message based on John 21:1-14.
Quotes:
N. T. Wright: Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.
Dave Stone: What if you don’t die tonight? Where will the spiritual path you are on right now take you?
N. T. Wright: When Jesus himself wanted to explain to his disciples what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t give them a theory, he gave them a meal.
Eugene Peterson: Jesus is the host. He takes what we bring, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it back to us.
Duane Brooks: Apart from Jesus we can still do nothing. But with Jesus, all things are possible. Live your life with Jesus. Jesus finds us, feeds us and fulfills his purpose in us.
Eugene Peterson: Eating a meal involves us in a complex, sacrificial world of giving and receiving. Life feeds life. We are not self-sufficient. We live by life, and life is given to us. The prominence of these meals keeps us in intimate touch with our families and our traditions in which we are reared, personally available to friends and guests, morally related to the hungry, and, perhaps most of all, participants in the context and conditions in which Jesus lived his life, using the language he used. But the centrality of the meal in our lives today is greatly diminished. We still eat, of course, but the world of the meal has disintegrated. The exponential rise of fast-food restaurants means there is little leisure time for conversation. The vast explosion of restaurants means there is far less food preparation that takes place in the home. The invasion of the television set to a place at the head of the table at family meals virtually eliminates personal relationships and conversations.
Derek Thompson wrote in Atlantic monthly: Americans have no close friends . . In person socializing has declined by 25% ; men 30% ; young people 50%.
Bonhoeffer: God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again.
Jesus: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
Wayne Watson: Would I know you now . . . if you walked into the room.
James Bryan Smith: By shifting the focus away from myself and onto Christ and his love for me, I have noticed that everything comes into view. When Martin Luther was suffering under the weight of guilt, his spiritual director, Johannes Staupitz, said, “Martin, quit looking at your sin and start looking at Jesus.”
Sociologist Cody C. Delistraty explored the most recent scientific literature for Atlantic Monthly and discovered that the single most important element in raising kids who are drug-free, healthy, intelligent, kind human beings is frequent family dinners. The most important predictor of success for elementary-aged children is frequent family dinners. The primary factor in shaping vocabulary for younger children is frequent family dinners. The key variable most associated with a lower incidence of depressive and su
To discover more messages of hope go to tallowood.org/sermons/.
Follow us on Instagram, X, and YouTube @tallowoodbc.
Follow us on FaceBook @tallowoodbaptist
