Guys, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 24, 36 for 49. Jianna asked me today, what are you going to do when you finish the Gospel of Luke? Well, there's still a few more verses in the good of Luke. I'll finish it next week. And I said, then I'm going to move on to the second Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts. And we're going to study the book of Acts together. You might go ahead and start reading in there. Your mind's going to be blown away as you read in the book of Acts. Today I've entitled my sermon, Another Remarkable Fish Story. When I read through Luke 24, 36-49, I think you guys will see why I called it a remarkable fish story. I'm going to be pointing out some themes to you today. And then in the last theme, I'm even going to talk about some points of dismissal to you today in this sermon. And, you know, a remarkable fish story.
Let me tell you one of the fish stories that I like about the most.
My wife hates fish. and that's an understatement she quotes to me from Nemo when the sharks were having a meeting and I think the statement was fish are friends not food You know, if I ever get to go eat fish, it has to be with one of y'all asking me out and my wife not included.
That's the bottom line. Yeah. So we were in Israel.
And there's two staples in Israel, bread and fish. everywhere you go there's bread and fish when we'd get up in the motel that we stayed in and you know we're with there's large groups of people touring Israel and so we're in line for breakfast and there literally there are stacked plates full of all kinds of different fish raw fish, broiled fish, I thought of Bubba Gump, boiled fish, fried fish, there's all kinds of fish. And then you finally get down to the cheeses and the breads. And that's what you have for breakfast.
Then when we had to eat lunch, there was fish again. Fish and fish and fish. In our evening meals, there was fish and fish and fish. and Kim said I'm going to starve they would sell bread out on the open streets and somebody had tipped us off about this so she carried a big jar of peanut butter that somehow we got through the Israel and so she lived on peanut butter and bread while we were in Israel we went to this was the funniest of all. We went to a place and this was supposed to be the greatest lunch that we're going to be served on this trip. And we went to this restaurant and we all got St Peter fish Now I think that a they just drop it down into oil and fry it and pull it out and put it on I do think they gutted it. I think it was gutted. I'm not sure about that. You know, I just remember them putting the platter in front of me, and I looked down there, and even the eyeball was looking at me.
They didn't cut the head off. they didn't cut the tail off nothing was off you just had to pick around and eat on it you know I looked at Kim and she's green I mean green and I said you going to eat anything she's out the door she was done you know that's one of my big fish stories well in our reading today in the last of Luke here there's another resurrection account and I just call it another remarkable fish story. Verse 24 starting with verse 36. And while they were telling these things he himself stood in their midst. Now this is Jesus standing in their midst.
He just appeared. his body was like that. He could appear, he could go through walls, but you're going to see also that his body was very physical. But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit, or your Bible may say a ghost.
They were paranoid.
And he said to them, why are you troubled? and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Jesus was quite frank, wasn't he? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. And touch me and see. For a spirit, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. so here's a spiritual man and a physical man he's fleshly he's bony the scars are in his hands in his feet and when he had said this he showed them his hands in his feet and while they still could not believe it for joy and marveling They were overcome with joy and awe, but still believe? Is this really happening? And he said to them, Have you anything here to eat?
And they gave him a piece of broiled fish. What a remarkable fish story, huh? And he took it, and he ate it before them. Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. That's an amazing miracle in itself, isn't it? And he said to them Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day They'd heard that before in a prediction, hadn't they? And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth, hallelujah, the promise of my Father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. wow another remarkable fish story let's bow together in prayer or give us understanding just like Jesus did to the disciples there about the resurrection and what it meant and how he dismissed their doubts and their fears,
their paranoia. God, give us vision to see that. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.
Another remarkable fish story. You know, there's some themes that run through this resurrection narrative. and I want to point a few of those out to you and then make some points with you about the last theme especially.
Here's the first thing that I think is obviously here. Jesus took the ordinary and turned it into extraordinary.
In verses 41 through 43, And while they still could not believe it for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and he ate it before them.
He took it and he ate it. you know when I think about that I think about numerous fish stories in the Bible in the Old Testament if I tested you today and I said to you what big fish story do you think of in the Old Testament what would you say Jonah and the big fish.
You know, I put number one here, the sign of Jonah. The biggest fish story references in the New Testament. In Matthew 12, 38 through 45. In Matthew 16, 4. In Luke 11, 29 through 32. Matthew 12, 40 says, For just as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the sea monster That what my Bible said The sea monster the big fish Listen to this So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Guys, now, this is the foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus. Jonah is a man running from God who becomes a prophet of God after spending three days and nights in the belly of the great fish.
Jonah goes from ordinary to extraordinary.
An entire nation, literally an entire nation who hated God. They hated the Jews. At the preaching of Jonah, after Jonah's own conversion, after he got burped up on the shore of Nineveh, he preached. They repented and bowed to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
National revival. Unbelievable. That's ordinary to extraordinary.
Another thing that I think of is the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000. Now, what were the staples in that miracle? What were they? Bread?
My wife and steak. That's what she wanted to say. Bread and fish.
And what did he do? he took ordinary elements and he turned them into extraordinary amounts of fish. You see the miracle?
You know, it said, and one of those renditions, it talks about 12 baskets full of bread and fish. 12 basketfuls which represent most people say the 12 tribes of Israel. Thirdly, the last recorded meal of the resurrected Christ in John chapter 21. Some of the disciples led by Peter are going fishing and they're not having any luck and guess who shows up on the shore? Jesus showed up and he says casting nets on the other side of the boat and they throw them out on the other side of the boat and what happens?
Like it always happens.
Now I'm not going to go into this. There's a reason this number is here but 153 fish were caught. Now that's a lot of fish. Their nets were probably almost breaking but they didn't and when they come ashore guess who's busy cooking breakfast I have a sermon called the master cook I'm sure he probably even ate with them doesn't say that but he cooked it I would assume he probably ate with them once again here's an ordinary event a breakfast event turned into an extraordinary miracle.
You know, that made me think of the calling of the fishermen.
Mark 1.
Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew first. And then the sons of Zebedee.
Zebedee, James, and John. These are all guys that made a living fishing. And he said, come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And the Bible says they immediately dropped their nets and went and followed him. Once again we see Jesus turning ordinary people. These people are just like you and me. They're making a living fishing.
Ordinary people into extraordinary preachers.
That's a thing that runs through here, isn't it?
When Jesus enters your life, it's hard for us to imagine but he turned ordinary into extraordinary yesterday in Lorenzo my hometown there was a great gospel singer Johnny Ray Watson Johnny Ray stood about 6'8 was class ahead of me took our basketball team to the state tournament went and played a year or so basketball at McMurry University and surrendered to gospel singing and preaching and Johnny Ray preached all over the world one of the most renowned gospel singers to ever sing the gospel but I want to tell you I knew Johnny Ray in high school he's just an ordinary guy when Jesus got a hold of him he became extraordinary and the supernatural ministry of God was all over his ministry it was unbelievable I did lots of revivals with Johnny Ray he came and sang in Sudan lots of revivals and the spirit of God would move wouldn't it ordinary to extraordinary another theme I think is amazement you know last week I talked about the Greek word [exhistēmi] meaning struck with astonishment or filled with awe and wonder literally it meant to put out of place or to put outside the natural order of things and thinking. There was no framework for this kind of resurrection.
You know, the Pharisees believed in a resurrection, but it was like an end time resurrection. Just, you know, you just, everybody be resurrected that was faithful, they'd be resurrected, but not in the sense of the resurrection of Jesus. It was unique. It was different.
Listen again to verse 36.
He himself stood in the midst of them, right in the middle of them.
And the Bible says they were startled. They were frightened.
I added my own words. They thought they'd seen a ghost. They were paranoid.
He said, why are you troubled? They were troubled. They were doubtful. They were unbelieving His bodily resurrection was completely outside the framework of their understanding
And that's the reality of this story.
Even though Jesus was turning the ordinary to extraordinary,
I wrote down they still could not fully see it.
Understand it. or fully embrace it.
More confirmation was needed.
And here's another thing where this confirmation is. And I call it the great dismissal.
The great dismissal. Here's the points of dismissal. The first one, supernatural manifestation. Look at verses 39 to 43 again. See my hands and my feet that it is I myself touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when he had said this, he showed them. You see the manifestation here? He showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still could not believe,
they need a little dismissal.
It for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat? if this is not enough let me show you something else and they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and he ate it before them now folks there's a mouth chewing fish and there's an esophagus swallowing fish into a digestive system Jesus supernaturally manifested himself.
Now I cannot define this body with my finite mind. I can't even imagine it. But I'm going to go to my grave preaching a physical resurrected body that was also supernatural in origin. You hear what I'm saying? I can remember sitting in Oregon with the chaplain who had a PhD in theology, philosophy at McMurry. And I was the head of the student council on campus ministry. And he wanted to visit with me once a week and for the first month talk about the resurrection. And he did not believe in a physical resurrection. His education had educated it out of his experience when he was a young man. And I finally told him, I said, hey, Bert, this conversation ends here. If you can prove to me there's no resurrection, then I'm going to hang out at the nearest bar down on the corner down here. That's where I'm headed.
But I'm not headed back to that bar because I believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Now I can't define that body to you completely, but I believe in it.
Acts 13 36 the Apostle Paul sermon in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch he cited Psalm 1610 Remember how it just said here? The law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. It didn't say that in the one we looked last week. Psalms was left out. Psalm 1610, he preached, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among the fathers and underwent decay. But, here's one of the biggest buts in scripture, but he whom God raised did not undergo decay. You hear that? his body did not decay was that not the very same thing Peter preached in the first sermon to the church on Pentecost day that God would not abandon Jesus soul to Hades nor allow his body to decay Peter concluded his sermon by stating this Jesus God raised up again to which we are witnesses.
We are witnesses. We've eyewitnessed the resurrected Son of God. We've touched him. We've felt him. We saw him eat a fish. What a big old fish story.
Secondly, another dismissal that he gave them was scriptural explanation. Verses 44 through 48. Look at it. Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. This is before I died and was resurrected. That all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, thus it is written, that's important, underline that, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. I want to tell you, if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, you're not forgiven of your sins. You're not justified by faith.
You are witnesses to these things. You are witnesses to these things.
You know, last week I gave you some summary statements how Jesus was seen in the law of Moses and the prophets. And Bill came up to me after church and he said, did you ever hear the sermon by Oral Roberts where he stated one liners where Jesus could be seen from Genesis to Revelation if you haven't ever heard that sermon google it up you'll be standing and shouting by the end of that sermon without ever looking at anything totally by his memory he named every book and where Jesus was seen in every book and I had seen it. I had. And I can remember when he got to Revelation he shouted and he is the king of kings and lord of lords And I want to tell you thousands got on their feet and they went just unbelievably into a worship of praise Thousands. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Now why? Because he is resurrected. Because he's resurrected.
One of the things I read this week said that Christ's betrayal and death is prophetically mentioned 32 times in Psalms.
Christ's resurrection and exaltation are prophetically mentioned 12 times. The Bible team commentary concluded, the book of Psalms indeed predicted both the betrayal and resurrection of Jesus. Passages such as Psalm 41, Psalm 109, Psalm 22, and Psalm 16 contain remarkable prophetic insights that were fulfilled in the life of the resurrected Christ.
Just read the Word of God. it will dismiss your doubts and your fears and your struggles. Thirdly and lastly, boy, this is a big one.
Boy, this won't dismiss things that have been holding you back. Verse 49, look at it. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. Now if you go back and read further back in the New Testament, you see that the promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit.
That when he leaves, he will send the Comforter, the Paracletos, that will indwell us and fill us and cover us and baptize us.
What John said, I baptize with water, but he will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
What else can you say about that?
Some of the best sermons I heard back early on in my early days of being a Christian. after I transferred from Tech, got converted up here, spent a couple of years living in the bars and rodeoing, and then got saved. Went on down to McMurry and met a bunch of young Christians who'd been baptized in the Holy Ghost. And before you know it, man, I was down on my knees getting baptized in the Holy Ghost too.
And power came into my life like I'd never experienced before. and some of the best sermons I ever heard were when they said stay in Jerusalem stay until you are covered filled with the Holy Spirit so I thought how do you conclude this sermon Have you heard any big fish stories lately?
I encounter people every day that know Jesus and have met the risen Christ. And the stories they tell me are remarkable. drug addicts prostitutes lonely depressed paranoid empty lost that stayed in Jerusalem until they were covered with the power of the Holy Spirit people said to me before people I worked with in churches Kerry how come you how come you just don't give up on them well I usually tell them because I got them in Jerusalem and they're waiting their day coming when they will be set free and delivered and cleansed and forgiven and empowered
I don't ever give up.
So I ask, here's some questions I ask.
Do you know the power of the resurrection?
have you surrendered your amazement to worship some of us are just marveling and in awe of the resurrection but we still can't believe it all have you surrendered that and just worshipped him just moved from amazement to worship that's a whole other experience with God when we were in Sudan there was a little study off the kitchen and I'd turn on Ken Medema and he'd sing Moses Moses and he'd talk about throwing the rod down pick it up and the rod that was a snake became the rod of God and Ken would hear me back there or look back there I be flat on my face before God shouting Oh God Oh, God!
Oh, God. Do it in this church in Sudan. Do it here.
Do it in prodigal church.
Have you come to the place where you pray? Lord help my unbelief help my unbelief you know some of the most pessimistic people I've ever met on earth sometimes are in church and I think have they not read those big fish stories?
I serve a risen Savior.
He's in the world today. I know that He is living.
He is risen may we be a church of resurrection and Holy Spirit filled
Let's bow together in prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
I thank you for those great dismissals that dismiss our troubled hearts and our doubting hearts and our unbelieving hearts that dismiss our struggles and our paranoia.
The word of God shall not return to me void.
And so Lord, we plant that word in our hearts today. believing that those folks struggling in this room today will have their own Jerusalem where they are filled with the power from on high, the very Spirit of God.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
