Tuesday, March 29, 2022

            Jesus spent a good deal of time around the Sea of Galilee or what is also called the Lake of Gennesaret.  In Luke 5, He was teaching the people the Word and Ways of God when He decided to step into a boat owned by Peter the fisherman who would become a disciple.  Our Lord asked Peter to push the boat out a bit from shore and He taught the listening crowd from the boat.  Imagine being either a face in the crowd or even Peter on a day like that when you have the amazing honor of listening to the Master teach you the words of life.
            When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Peter, “Put out into the deeper water and let down the nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4).  Go deeper, Jesus said.  Well practically speaking, Jesus was telling Peter where he would have a better chance of catching fish.  But there is more to that command than a fishing lesson.  Our Lord calls us to go deeper.  Indeed, it is a command.  Go deeper!  He calls us to walk with Him in deeper ways and longer ways.  We do not want to be content or satisfied with a faith that simply skims along the surface.  Or as Hebrews put it, we want to be nourished by solid foods and not milk alone (Hebrews 5:12).  A six-day old baby can do just fine with milk.  A six-year-old child or a sixty-year-old adult needs solid food to survive.  Spiritually, we need to go deeper with the Lord.  We always want to be pushing out into deeper waters to discover more about God’s Word and His Ways. 
            Maturity is the standard for all Christians.  We are saved and given the blessing of a new birth.  Because of this new birth, we grow in Christ and grow up in the faith we claim to possess.  A newborn baby that never, ever grows is in a critical, life-threatening state.  A Christian that shows no signs of spiritual growth or spiritual maturity is in a critical place as well.  Salvation is much, much more than fire insurance.  We are saved so we can grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.  God is at work in us to produce Christlikeness in our lives each day.  How well are you growing?  Do you seek the deeper waters of faith?  Do you find yourself today simply lingering in the shallow water or even hugging the coast line?
            A plane that never takes off will not carry passengers any further than the runway.  A ship that never sets sail will leave passengers stuck in port.  A faith that is not growing is a tragic thing.  We were not remade or redeemed to play it safe and live in worldly comforts and contentment.  We are chosen, forgiven and redeemed by Christ to be “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (I Peter 2:9). We can only become what we were saved to be if we are willing to make a move into the deeper waters and go further and longer with the Lord.  Get into Scripture, pray, worship, tithe, invite your friends to worship with you, serve the Lord with your life and blessings.  Be sure to show up in your faith!  Don’t be missing in action!  If the Lord looked at the last year of your life, would He find you in the deeper waters of faith or along the shallow coast line?  Would you be in the water at all? 
            There are times in life when we all need a wake-up call.  A Christian who is doing little more than piddling around in a puddle is a shameful and disgraceful thing. That simply cannot be.  We cannot live that way.  We have a Lord to serve! We have a gospel to live out.  We have deeper waters to dive in and deeper ways we can live and serve.  Shallow Christianity is a shameful, regrettable thing.  We owe the more Lord than the bare minimum we can so easily give Him.  Do we want to stand before the Lord one day and admit we did the least we could?  Just imagine what we would see if those who read this message decide to push into the deeper waters of faith.  Trust the Lord at His Word and go into the deeper waters with Him.  You will be pleased with what you find.  Have a great Tuesday!  Remember you can always share our worship at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.