extraORDINARY
Message 1 – Call of the Disciples

June 26, 2022

J.C. Thompson

A. Introduction (Luke 21:15; Acts 4:13)

1. Today we are beginning a new series entitled, extraORDINARY.
2. In order to kick off this story, I wanted you to see the end of the story first as a backdrop to this entire series.
3. Jesus came to earth and lived for 30 years, began His official ministry by inviting 12 men and many others to leave their current way of life and live as God would have them live.
4. He led them over the next 3 years and they observed Him doing incredible things, love the unlovable, and dealt not only with their physical issues, but declared them clean in the sight of God and men.
5. He did this by the authority given to Him by God as His one and only Son.
6. Then Jesus gave Himself over to be crucified, to pay the penalty for the sins of every human being, after being betrayed by one of His 12 friends He invited initially to live His way of life.
7. Then after His death on the cross, as the men retreated in fear and worry, He came back from the dead paving the way for the Spirit of God to live inside of human beings and He ascended back into heaven.
8. Then these men and women got changed. Here is a summary statement of some of the changes taking place in them.
9. Acts 4:13 (CSB) When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.
10. The word boldness or courage here is the word that Luke used regularly to express the freedom of those speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit.
11. This courage would normally be enough to express the power of the Holy Spirit, but in this case it was especially important because of these men’s ordinary nature, which we will come back to in a bit.
12. These men, specifically Peter and John are being described here in this way because of Peter’s preaching and a man had just been healed who sat at the gate everyday begging.
13. The Jewish religious leaders made two observations, they had not received the same training in the Scriptures that they had and these men had been the friends that Jesus invited to follow Him.
14. This was a picture of them fulfilling a prophecy that Jesus spoke.
15. Luke 21:15 (CSB) - “for I will give you such words and a wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”
16. This is what our series is about, these men and their interactions with Christ Himself.
17. My prayer is that we will see Jesus how they saw Him. That we will be encouraged to loo fresh unto Him and we will participate in the extraORDINARY that Jesus called His disciples to.
18. So let’s dive in…

B. God’s plan for the world involves...
1. ORDINARY people. (Luke 5:1-5; Acts 4:13. C/R: Job 42:5-6; Isaiah 6:5)

1. Luke 5:1–3 (CSB) - As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, He was standing by Lake Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
2. This is not Jesus’ arrival onto the scene per say as the crowd recognized Jesus as a powerful teacher of God’s Word.
3. The crowd was so large that Jesus needed a way to preach in a way that everyone could hear Him so He borrowed a boat.
4. In fact, it seems that Jesus and Peter are friends here and not mere acquaintances. There are 2 reasons why I think this.
5. First, those of you in the room that know Peter, do you think he would let a stranger borrow his boat.
6. Second, he calls Him Master, not exactly a greeting to a stranger.
7. I think for those of us trying to share Christ with someone, this is important to note. Jesus started with relationship first. Then as we will see throughout this series, He called those He was in relationship with to something more.
8. Some of you need to see that you should be friendlier. And some of you need to actually share the truth of the Gospel with others. Share your life and share the story of Jesus through sharing your story.
9. Ill – Smile more.
10. After Jesus borrowed the boat and taught God’s Word, He asks something more from Peter than just his boat.
11. This and many of the other instances in Scripture that we will look at over this series is the definition of the word disciple or discipleship.
12. Jesus gives ordinary men and women the pathway to grow and more fully experience life with God.
13. By choosing to believe the training of Jesus rather than their own training they become disciples. That is what we call faith.
14. Luke 5:4-5 (CSB) - When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if You say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
15. If you are not careful, you will miss how intriguing and challenging a question this is.
16. It is intriguing because of these two men, Peter and Jesus, who is the fisherman?
17. He is not merely a sport fisherman either, he fishes to make a living. Catching fish is how he provides for his family.
18. It is also intriguing because Peter is done fishing for the day, they were already cleaning their nets. Their boat was not fish ready it was actually preaching ready.
19. That is why it is intriguing. But that is also why it is challenging. Jesus gets up in Peter’s stuff.
20. He is done fishing, at least disappointed, but possibly embarrassed at catching nothing and then a preaching son of a carpenter asks him to try again.
21. Y’all ever felt this way? Some of you might feel this way today. You know that Jesus is eeking into your summer vacation! He isn’t comfortable just being someone who preaches to you. He wants more.
22. This is how Jesus operates on the regular with His followers. He constantly is asking questions, doing things that make you feel just a bit uneasy and asking you to jump in with Him.
23. Peter responds with Master, which is less of a spiritual term even though it may sound that way. It actually is translated a bit more literally as, “whatever you say boss”. Which I love by the way and you will love even more a little bit later in the story.
24. We see Peter’s tension of professional fisherman vs. disciple of Jesus here. His own training in contrast to trusting Jesus.
25. Would you have responded the same as Peter? When Jesus gets in your stuff, do you have an “If you say so” attitude or a “No way” attitude?

2. EXTRA ordinary Savior. (Luke 5:6-11. C/R: Isaiah 55:9; Jeremiah 16:16; 31:31-34; Daniel 10:16)

1. Check out what happens.
2. Luke 5:6-7 (CSB) When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So, they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
3. I want you to see the ask of Jesus, questioning something that we know to be true. If you would have asked Peter before this moment, he would say that there are no fish in that sea today. The fish are not biting.
4. Ever been there, maybe said something like, “this is not possible”, “it just is not gonna work out for me” “God just wants to grow me through this difficulty”
5. Jesus takes what we know to be true and turns our understanding of what is true upside down.
6. Isaiah 55:9 (NLT) - For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
7. Here’s a question… were the fish not there? Were they not biting until this very moment because of Jesus’ command to wait for the perfect time?
8. What do you think?
9. What went from a “whatever you say boss”, quickly turned into a OMG, What in the world, Sportscenter highlight moment.
10. Jesus showed Peter in a way that could not be denied that Jesus had some kind of influence or at the very least some insider knowledge.
11. And I’m sure his face looked something like this.
12. I don’t know about you, but I want more moments like this in my life!
13. When our partner in India was here a few years ago, I asked him about his evangelism strategy, you know what he said? Build relationship, look for an area in a person’s life that they cannot solve and pray for them. Then when God does something, be there to explain.
14. We need to make time to get involved in people’s lives in this way. Some of us in this room might be too busy to experience what God wants to do.
15. Luke 5:8–11 (CSB) - When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
    “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.” Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Him.
16. After this amazing miracle, Peter refers to Jesus not as Master, but Lord. This is a spiritual term. It is not just a term of authority, it is a divine term.
17. Jesus is now recognized by Peter as divine, not just a man worthy of listening to.
18. Jesus is more than just a man.
19. One thing, did Peter sin in this story? He did not disobey Christ’s command to put down the nets again, so why did he say that he was a sinful man and ask Jesus to get away from him?
20. I think that Peter experienced what Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all experienced when face to face with the holiness, otherness of God. Pure understanding of humanity in comparison with divinity. Not worthy.
21. Have you experienced your utter unworthiness in the hands of a holy God?
22. Older folks, I’m asking you to share these stories. Many of you have incredible testimonies of God’s goodness in your life and as younger folks we need to hear as much divine activity in the lives of believers as possible.
23. Don’t wait for us to ask. Share generously what Christ has done for you.
24. Younger folks. Here are two ways to get you started on this path: 1) Tell me a story of something God has done in your life. 2) What is God teaching you right now?
25. Notice that it started with Peter’s look at Christ, his understanding and picture of who Jesus was. Peter’s understanding did not start with him.
26. How did Jesus respond to Peter? He told him not to be afraid.
27. Jesus did not say that Peter was not unworthy or say no you are ok, you are not really a sinner. He says don’t be afraid. What Peter just was shown was true. And Jesus says Don’t be afraid.
28. Notice that Jesus was asked to get away, but instead He drew closer to Peter. He was not embarrassed by Peter’s lack of understanding, but instead called him to even more responsibility.
29. Peter’s deeper understanding of his own unworthiness is actually what made him fit to follow Christ.
30. Notice also that Jesus drew Peter in closer in the area that Peter thought he was an expert.
31. You might be a doctor, business owner, manager, engineer, lawyer or more and can I tell you something, Jesus knows your area of expertise more than you do.
32. Church is not most of your primary means of ministry, but it is your job that is.
33. Ill – Doctor sent a man to Brookwood.
34. Jesus is not just a guy, He is something way more. His plan involves His extraordinary story, but it also involves ordinary men and women like you and me.
35. Are you willing to follow Christ in this way?
36. How many of you want to experience something extraORDINARY that can only be explained by God? Then let’s pray for God to do what is just plain ordinary for Him.
37. Pray.