Harvest of Souls
“And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.’"—Luke 5:4-5
All of our work is fruitless without the power of God at work in the world and in our lives. It is only at the command and presence of Jesus that Peter was able to let down his nets and capture a harvest and it is only by believing in His Word and taking great steps of faith that we can have a harvest of souls. Without Jesus we are fruitless. As Jesus said,
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing”—John 15:4-5.
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. Think about it. It was only when Jesus blessed the water that it turned to wine (John 2:1-10). It was only when Jesus blessed the five loaves and two fish that it multiplied feeding five thousand men (plus women and children with some estimating the total number to be close to 20,000) (Matthew 14:13-21). It was only when Jesus blessed the seven loaves and small fish that four thousand men (excluding women and children) were fed (Matthew 15:32-39).
When Jesus is in our work, it multiplies. Many are transformed and there is a rich harvest of souls. Jesus had already taught that there were many out there ready to respond to the good news of the Gospel (John 4:35), but it’s up to us to go get them. It’s up to us to let down our nets, to take courageous steps of faith by telling others about Him. We don’t need to convince or cajole, but simply lay out the truth of who Jesus is and then let God do the rest. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”—1 Corinthians 3:6. It is God who gives growth. Without Jesus, we have nothing. But with Jesus—we have everything. It is God who blesses the work we do. But He desires that we take steps of faith first. He won’t bless our work until we step out in faith for Him. And when we do, there will be such a rich harvest that we won’t know what to do with it. Amen.
All of our work is fruitless without the power of God at work in the world and in our lives. It is only at the command and presence of Jesus that Peter was able to let down his nets and capture a harvest and it is only by believing in His Word and taking great steps of faith that we can have a harvest of souls. Without Jesus we are fruitless. As Jesus said,
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing”—John 15:4-5.
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. Think about it. It was only when Jesus blessed the water that it turned to wine (John 2:1-10). It was only when Jesus blessed the five loaves and two fish that it multiplied feeding five thousand men (plus women and children with some estimating the total number to be close to 20,000) (Matthew 14:13-21). It was only when Jesus blessed the seven loaves and small fish that four thousand men (excluding women and children) were fed (Matthew 15:32-39).
When Jesus is in our work, it multiplies. Many are transformed and there is a rich harvest of souls. Jesus had already taught that there were many out there ready to respond to the good news of the Gospel (John 4:35), but it’s up to us to go get them. It’s up to us to let down our nets, to take courageous steps of faith by telling others about Him. We don’t need to convince or cajole, but simply lay out the truth of who Jesus is and then let God do the rest. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”—1 Corinthians 3:6. It is God who gives growth. Without Jesus, we have nothing. But with Jesus—we have everything. It is God who blesses the work we do. But He desires that we take steps of faith first. He won’t bless our work until we step out in faith for Him. And when we do, there will be such a rich harvest that we won’t know what to do with it. Amen.
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