Summer of Fishing Part 1

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word, providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. How's everybody doing this morning? Happy summer to you. We are in part three of our part three, I think, of our series, Summer of Salt.

And what's interesting about this series is that we are just freestyling it like old school, right? Just sharing some things in our hearts to give us the best summer ever. And I want to just take a moment for a second and kind of set the series for a side to honor someone today. Monica, who has been our resident custodian person, she's been right here with us. She's like a member of our church.

This is her last Sunday. And we're very, very sad to be losing her. We tried to keep her. We begged to keep her. We prayed to keep her.

But we're not letting her go, because I told her if we go anywhere else or whatever, we're going to try to get her with us. So, Monica, if you'd come up here for just a second. I want us to honor her just for a minute. We got a little something for her. Yeah, celebrate her.

Y'all were kind of quiet this morning. Here she comes. We love you. I'm sorry we have so many out today. I mean, I wanted them to see you, you know, one last time.

But she'll be back. She'll be here. She'll be here. She's like a member of our family. We love her so much.

And she, I'm telling you guys, when we were at the other school, it was really, it was a trial to try to work with the employees there. We were always doing something wrong. We couldn't move things, you know, things like that. It was always hard to really try to do church, you know, especially if we had a creative idea. Monica was never like that.

She's always like, what do you need? What do you need? Let's get it done. If that ain't working, it's getting fixed. You know, if that ain't working, you know, we're talking to so-and-so.

We're going to figure out how to do this. And she was just so good to us. And we just really appreciate you, Monica. We do not want you to leave. And we love you so much.

So y'all just celebrate her one more time. And we've got you a little gift here and some lovely flowers on behalf of the church family. And we thank you so much. All right. Y'all just don't know how hard it is to meet in temporary facilities and have to, you know, manage things.

And it's just been so easy here. It's been absolutely easy here. And we just appreciate Monica for that. So we are in this series, Summer of Salt. And I like the summer because it's a little more laid back.

We've got acoustic music going, you know, on stage. And we're coming in with flip-flops. And just some of you are wet. And some of the surfers are out surfing right now because the waves are good today. And, you know, it's just really laid back.

You know, it's really, really, really nice. And when we began this series, Summer of Salt, the idea was let's just let the Holy Spirit talk to us through this series. And things that we can take with us to give us a great summer. And so week one, we talked a bit about fellowship, the summer of fellowship and the importance of fellowship. And last week we had some really good information about, you know, how to make our summer work.

But this week I want to talk about, and I think this is significantly important, it's fishing. I'm going to talk about fishing today. Where are all of our fishermen? Are we in here? Yeah, there you go.

We've got a lot of fishermen in here. And I love fishing. And whenever I think of summer, I think of fishing, especially different types of fishing. I've done all kinds of fishing. I've done pond fishing, lake fishing, boat fishing, deep sea fishing, surf fishing, pier fishing, you name it.

I've fished just about in every kind of scope there is out there. And there's something kind of exciting about fishing and sometimes frustrating about fishing, especially when you're out there and you're fishing forever. And then you finally catch that one fish. And then you're like, yes, finally, I got one fish. And it's a little, you know, it's about that big.

It's like, yes, I did it. You know, you're just excited about it. My first fish, I think I was five years old. I asked my mom last night if she had a picture of it. She couldn't find it right off hand.

And so I told her she has to have it for next week because I have so much information about fishing. It's going to be a two part. So next week is going to be really cool because we're going to dig in more about how to fish. But but my first fish was when I was about five or six years old. And I don't know if any of you use those cane poles.

And some of you probably still do use those cane poles. I had one of those big, long brown cane poles with the little orange, you know, float, yeah, bob on it. And I had that out in the pond. And and I'll never forget, man. I caught a catfish about the size of my arm and we broke the pole and reeled it in.

And I was super excited. That was the very first fish I caught. And my dad was catching little brims all day. And he looked at that and he's like, wow, you know. And they took a picture of it and I'll have it next week.

Hopefully y'all can see me when I was six years old holding that big thing. It was like the size of my body. You know, it was so big. It was like Jonah's whale or something like that. It's going to look like it could have swallowed me.

But fishing is something special. And Jesus talked a lot about fishing. I like the idea that Jesus actually called out people who fished, fish to follow him and be a part of his inner circle and his group. And he used fish to communicate, fishing to communicate some theology and some understanding of what we as as Christians should be. So I'm going to start with Matthew for 18 and 19.

If you'll if you have a Bible, turn there. If you don't, you can read the screen. If you have your phone, open that up to your Bible app and you can you can pop that right open right there. There's all different ways to take note of that. Also, you have a note card there so you can fill in your note card.

So you have everything you need. No excuses. Right. Take notes. Right.

Get ready for your small groups this week. All right. So you can get together and talk about these things. So in Matthew for 18, 19, Jesus, here's Jesus. And he's calling out the first of his disciples.

It says, and Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter and Andrew, his brother. Simon, Peter and Andrew, they were part of that inner circle we hear often about about in the Bible. And he says they were casting a net into the sea. And Matthew so detailed, he had to explain for they were fishermen. Right.

They were fishing. They were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And what he's what he was saying to his disciples yesterday, what he was calling them yesterday, he is calling them today.

He's calling us to do today. He's calling us fishers because followers, if you're a follower of Jesus, you are a fisher, fisherman, fisherwoman, fisherperson, whatever we want. I want to be neutral. I don't want to be neutral in my gender here, okay? But ideally, that's what it is.

We are fishers are following, and our vision statement for our church is that we reach people with the life-giving. I love that word, life-giving, because what did Jesus say? Life to the full. The life-giving message of Jesus so that they may become fully devoted followers of Christ. We don't want them just to know about God.

We want them to know God at a deep level, to be fully devoted, committed followers of Christ. And what are those people? Those are fishermen. We're all called to be fishers. And what does that mean, though?

What does that mean to fish for men? Well, it means to share the gospel with others. That's kind of the scope of it. And evangelism is kind of the theme here. And that word evangelism, preaching the gospel, sharing the gospel, showing others, it kind of stirs people up a little bit.

It makes us nervous and step back. Well, I don't know if I want to. Emotions immediately rise up, and people say, I'm not really, really called to that, or I'm not, you know, I don't know about that. Maybe I'll turn people off, or I'll scare people away. And then we make these excuses about it.

Because I don't know why it is. We enjoy doing anything else in the church. But when it comes to sharing the gospel, I don't know about that part of it. And that's the one thing that Christ talks about probably more than anything. And that's His great commission, right?

And we step back, and we make excuses. I don't know. Maybe they're not prepared. Maybe they're not ready. Maybe I don't want to be one of those.

And here's some reasons that we do that. The first reason I wrote down, and there's lots of reasons why we don't, but one of them is, I didn't know I was supposed to. You know, there's a lot of people that don't even know they're supposed to share the gospel. They don't know that if you're a believer, that you are actually supposed to. In fact, there's whole groups of churches and networks and movements that actually forbid it.

They don't think you're supposed to go that direction. And they've kind of sat back and took a back seat on it. And let's just worship and gather together. But the gospel part will just leave up to God. And although God is a big part of us sharing the gospel, that's not the whole truth.

In fact, Charles Spurgeon, the famous evangelist or famous pastor, English pastor, great theologian in history, wrote this. He said, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. A missionary or an imposter. What does that mean, missionary? You're saying, I'm a missionary.

You're just talking about evangelism. Well, that's what we are. Evangelists are missionaries. When we fish, we are missionaries to our culture. We're called to our culture.

We're called to a specific people, our community, our neighborhood, our city, our state. We are called. And he says, you cannot be a Christian and not be an evangelist. You cannot be a Christian and live on mission as a missionary. You cannot be that.

The two go hand in hand. But a lot of us just don't know that we're supposed to do it. It's not my calling. It's not my gift. It could be further from the truth.

We are called to be missionaries. We are called to be evangelists. The second thing that we say is, I don't know how. I don't know how. And that's a legitimate question.

You know, how do I do this, pastor? I don't even know how. Well, that's why I've got a part two next week, because I've got so much information here today. I want to be more adamant about sharing how we are fishers of men. How do we go out and we fish for people?

How do we do that? So I'll share a little bit with you today, but I want to really dig into that next week. And the third point I want to make is, and I think this is the biggest thing, I think for you, maybe even for me on occasions, even though I'm kind of an evangelist by heart and nature and stuff, is that we are afraid. We are afraid to share. I don't want to be that person, right?

And I don't want to be that guy, you know, because we associate that guy with white suits and boxes on corners, preaching, and you're going to hell. You know, if you don't get right, you better turn so you won't burn. You know, you look at those type of people and you're thinking, wow, I can't be. But that's not what evangelism is. That's a stereotype.

Now, there are successful, you know, ministries. I don't want to dog all ministries that are out there sharing the gospel publicly and doing it in that way, shape, or form. But just because you hear the word evangelism doesn't mean we're getting ready to pass out the brochures and you're going to go from door to door telling people they need to know the Lord or we're going to die. Which, you know, there's some truth in that, but we're not going to. But that's not, that's a stereotype.

And we want to prepare you to understand what it really means to be an evangelist. Because, you know, we're in the summer and things are kind of cool and trim and laid back and people are on vacation and you're in and out yourself. But when the fall comes, this is going to be an excellent opportunity to share with us because people are going to come. I don't know what it is, but we fill up every seat in this house in the fall time and everybody's coming through the doors and we don't have any room a lot of times. And I don't know why it is, but around fall, around when kids are coming back to school, we just see a lot of people.

And we see a lot of lost people. We see a lot of people that don't go to church or rarely are in church. Or maybe they've walked away from church, but they're coming back to church. So I want you to be prepared because this is a time where you can, even now, I want you to start today to think of yourselves as evangelists. I want you to think of yourselves as being on mission for Jesus, as fishers of men.

You're casting the line out there, and we're going to talk about that today. So let me give you just a few points here for the rest of this. The first thing I want to share with you, because so many of you have the stereotype that evangelists are those scary guys in suits that yell at you, that fishing actually can be fun. Because a lot of times we think of evangelists, and we don't think they're very fun, do we? We think of the slick back hair, you know, and they're so, you know, like they are.

And I think an excellent example of a great evangelist that I could chill with was Billy Graham. Probably the most well-known evangelist there is. And he could, you know, preach to thousands and just make an altar call, and people would come up, just a simple gospel message of Christ. But at the same time, you could hang with them over fried chicken and talk to them about the weather, you know. And great examples.

But, you know, God doesn't call us necessarily to be a Billy Graham. But he does call us to be evangelists. And it can be very fun, and it can be very enjoyable. And sometimes it's a challenge. Just thinking about fishing, you know, it is a challenge at times, you know.

You're casting the line out there in the ocean, right, or in the pond, or in the lake, or off your boat, and you're just fishing forever, and it just doesn't seem like there are any results. Why am I doing this? Why am I out here, you know? And it can be a challenge. In fact, there's kind of an art and science to some of you professional fishermen in here.

You probably know how to catch them, right, because you get just the right lure and the right water temperature and the right debt, and you know exactly where to go. You know where the fish are going to be. If you look at this spot, it's kind of covered a little bit, so you're going to find more fish here and things like that. So there is something of a sport to it. But ultimately, there can be those times.

We don't really know, right? We're casting the line out there, and fishing for people in the same way can be tiring. It can be scary, and there's nothing more exciting, though. There's nothing more exciting when you're out there for casting the net, when you're fishing, and just... Go back to fishing in that boat, and that fish comes in.

And you're like, oh my goodness, here it comes. And you pull that up on the boat, and whether it's small, or whether it's big, whether it's a minnow, if you caught nothing that day and it's a minnow, you're excited about it, right? Because you're like, yes, I accomplished something today. And there's nothing more exciting than catching that fish. And I would say that about catching people.

There's nothing more exciting than catching, watching somebody's life change. Watch them go from being far from God to knowing God, and seeing the joy that comes in their hearts and their lives, and the help that comes to their family, the help that comes to everything that happens around them, because God changes things. He doesn't just make it a little better. He changes the whole construct of everything. He changes things.

That's who God is. And there's nothing more exciting than that. In Luke 15, 10 it says, there will be rejoicing in the presence of angels and God over one sinner who repents. There's a party in heaven. If one person comes to know the Lord, did you know that?

There's actually parties in heaven. That's a good thing. We don't think of church as parties, right? We don't think God has a partier, but he parties, right? He's dancing in heaven.

When somebody comes home, that's Jesus's heart. When somebody comes to him, when somebody comes home, like the prodigal son, you know, let's kill a calf. Let's bring him home. My son has come home. He's excited about that.

Let's have a party. It's like finding the cure to cancer. Somebody has cancer. Somebody has a disease, but we have an eternal cure. We have the eternal cure, and why would we not want to share it?

Because we find the cure to death. We can't find the cure to misery. We find the cure to hopelessness, to life separated from the goodness of God. We have a cure for that. Why would we not be more excited and more overjoyed about sharing the gospel with others without sharing Jesus, for sharing Jesus with others?

2 Corinthians 5, 18 and 20 says this, all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ. What does that word reconcile mean? What does that mean? It means to bring the account to zero. When you reconcile your bank account, right?

Some of you in here reconcile all the time. You know, you want to make sure that that point is zero, right? Well, Christ did that for us because here's the thing. When you talk, in fact, I was watching an evangelism video just the other day, one I'd pulled open. I think I shared it last week, and this kid was talking about when he had come to Christ.

It was like he always had this guilt. He always had this shame, and he couldn't quite pinpoint it. Like he had this hurt, like he was missing something, and when he came to Christ, when he got to know Christ, when he gave his life and he surrendered himself to Christ, it was like all of that was taken away. It was like a completely new world. Like that shame was gone.

That hurt was gone. That separation from something that I long for is gone now because that's what reconciliation is. It's hope. Jesus Christ brought that hope, so we no longer have to live with guilt. If that's you today and you can't pinpoint that guilt and shame, that's called sin that we were born into, and we can't get rid of it.

There's no way to get rid of it outside of Jesus Christ, and the whole point of the cross and Jesus Christ and the shedding of the blood is so that that guilt can be taken away. That is good news. That is the cure to a disease that cannot be fixed. It is Jesus Christ, and we have that cure, and all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So not only did he reconcile us, he gave us that ministry, meaning he gave us that story.

He gave us that thing to carry out to others, to share with others the reconciliation that we can bring to others, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. That's good news. That's good news. That's the good news. That's the gospel.

Gospel good news that he does not count those sins against you anymore, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. He's given that to us so that we can share with others. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. I love that we're ambassador because an ambassador as we know it today, a U.S.

ambassador that goes to another country, speaks on behalf of the nation, the president, correct? When they go to that country, they're speaking on their behalf. They're representing. We are Christ's ambassadors. Every one of us are Christ's ambassadors.

We are called to represent him, the good news that he has for this world, and he's given us that message of reconciliation as though God were making his appeal through us. He makes his appeal through us. Did you know that when I get up here and speak and preach, and when you go out and you share with others and you're out there in the community talking about the goodness of God and goodness of Christ, Christ is making that appeal through you? Because they're connecting to God through you. That ambassador, you're an ambassador to God.

So Paul says this, we implore you on Christ's behalf. We implore you. I love that word implore because it's almost like a sense of begging you on Christ's behalf. On Christ's behalf. On Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Be reconciled to God. If you are not reconciled with God today, it is available to you through us, the church. The one organization that Christ founded. There was no plan B. It was plan A, the church.

Be reconciled to him. Another point about fishing. I mean, the good news, obviously, is reconciliation, and that's a joy. But another point about fishing is that God does the catching. We just simply do the fishing.

God does the catching. We just simply toss the line out there. We're tossing it, you know? Tossing it, tossing it. But he does the catching.

I love the story in Luke, beginning with chapter 5, verse 4. He was with his disciples, and he was teaching, and he says, when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, which is later Peter, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Interesting enough, Peter had been fishing for a good while that day, and was not catching anything. And he said, he answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. Haven't caught anything.

This is a lot of hard work, Lord, and we haven't caught anything. And now you're telling me to put this boat out and cast a net out. But because you say so, I will let down my nets. I'll let down the nets. How many of you could say, because Christ said so, you would let down the nets?

But God, you don't understand the oceanfront. You don't understand Virginia Beach. You don't understand how far people are from God. You don't understand how hostile they are for church. He says, I cast out the nets.

But you know, these friends that I've had for years are so hostile towards the church and everything, he says, cast out the nets. He says, but I've been doing this for, I know these people better than you. And that's what we ultimately tell God, don't we? That I know better. And he says, cast out the nets.

Take your rod and reel out. Doug, I do wish you brought your rod and reel. I would have used it as a demonstration today. Get your rod and reel out on Facebook. He's like, do I need to bring my rod and reel today?

When I posted on Facebook, I was talking about fishing. And you need to just start throwing that out. Throwing that out. And he said, I'll put down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish.

That their nets begin to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boats. So all the fishermen were coming together to help them. And they came and filled both boats so full of fish, it began to sink. See, that's what God wants to do.

But God's got to get you to understand that you need to cast out the nets. You need to cast them out in places that he's telling you to cast out that you think you know better about, right? Cast out the nets. And the boat began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw it, all this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, go away from me, Lord.

I'm a sinful man. I can't even follow you. Look what you've done. And he and all of his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John and the son of Zebedee, Simon's partner.

And Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore and left everything and followed Him. Left everything and followed Him. Are you casting the nets?

Are you willing to be able to experience, to allow yourself to have the opportunity to experience something extraordinary God wants to do inside of you and through you? As catching people. As catching fish. I can't, you know, it's impossible. Look at this.

Nothing is impossible through God. Nothing is impossible. We are fishermen. Number two, fishing is necessary. Following your notes, put that in.

Fishing is necessary. It's a necessary part of what we're doing as a Great Commission church. It's a necessary part of the church as a whole. It's necessary. Because here's the deal.

I'm going to get real for a second, okay? I think it's fair to do this in the summer. I don't have a lot of guests here. You know, a lot of our regulars aren't here either. So they need to come next week and hear it again.

Right? I tell people, we have, some people ask me, we have two service? I said, yeah, we have one. We have one group on one Sunday and one group on another Sunday. Just got to pick on you guys a little bit.

But let me say this. Heaven and hell are real. Eternity is real. And there's a lot of bad teaching out there. Listen to me.

There's a lot of bad teaching out there about hell and whether it exists. But the truth is, there is eternity waiting for people who do not know the Lord. Hell and heaven are real. There is eternity waiting out there for you who are followers of Jesus, who've given your life to Jesus, but there is something else waiting out there. Eternal separation from our Lord.

It's a very scary thing to know that people are dying every day without knowing Jesus Christ. Christ. And Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And we are the church. Again, there was no plan B.

There was a plan A. And that was it. It was Jesus. And when you devoted your life to Jesus, when you made Jesus your Lord and your Savior, He calls the shots. Right?

He's the one that makes the plans and makes the decisions. And when He says, go and fish, we do it. Right? It is a necessary part of the church. We, as Christians, should be fishing.

Because Jesus tells us that we should fish. It isn't an option. It's the plan. It's the game plan. Romans 10, 13 and 15 says, Everyone who calls, and this is Paul speaking, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What does that mean? There's a hell waiting for people that need to be saved from. And people need to know that there is a hell. People need to know that there is something that's out there that they will spend the rest of eternity and life and then eternity. I mean, life and then eternity.

They're going to spend it somewhere else. And we need to have a heart to save those people. Jesus has the heart. He says, anybody, there's a solution. There's a cure.

Anybody who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Peter preached it. I preached it. Jesus preached it. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Now then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? No, they can't. If they don't believe in them, they can't be saved, right? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? If they haven't heard them, how can they know them?

Right? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Someone sharing with them? Someone showing them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

So who's sent? We are sent. We are fishermen. We are all called to it. Not just Leon up here on stage, everybody, every follower is called to preach the gospel, to share the gospel.

Preach is a strong word for our culture, but it simply means to share, to tell people about Jesus. We've got to show people the way, and we've got to be passionate about it. Because as he quotes from the Old Testament, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, because it is good news. That's why we're so passionate about it. Second Peter 3, 9 says, the Lord is not slow to his promise, as some understand slowness.

Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. You know why God holds back his return? As long as he possibly can, because if there's one person that can be saved, if there's one person that can know him, know the goodness that they can have in him, that can be saved, he is willing to be slow, so keeping his promise of his return. In that context, the people that day were going through tremendous difficulty, persecution, and hardship, and he tells them, it's because he has a heart for those who haven't found him yet. They were ready to go home to be with the Lord.

They were ready for him to return. They were ready for him to restore his kingdom. But there's just more people that need to be saved. Come on, church. Come on, church.

Let's do it. There's more people that need to repent. There's more people that need to know the life-giving goodness, the message of Jesus. And then thirdly, Jesus asked us to go fishing. He said to go fishing.

He didn't beat around the bush. He said, go fishing. He said, I'm going to make you fishers of men. He gave us this thing called the Great Commission. Those of you who are church people, who've been in church for a long time, know the Great Commission, but some of you may have never heard of the Great Commission, and we pull it from Matthew 28, 19, and 20.

However, it is not just in Matthew. I think Matthew is the most extensive one, but every Gospel account, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and even the beginning of Acts tells us this very thing. In fact, let me show you so I can just prove it to you. Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

One of the last statements Jesus made to his followers. Go and make disciples. What does that mean? Followers of Christ. Make followers of Christ.

Christian wasn't even a term during that time. Christian came later when all these people were being converted and became followers of Christ. In fact, they were calling it the way. It sounds like a cult, doesn't it? The way.

What is this thing called? The way. Because they say it's the only way. The way. You know?

And it was spreading like wildfire, and in Antioch, Acts talks about in the Antioch, the Christians were first called Christians. The people that were followers of Jesus were first called Christians. They gave them the name Christian. So this idea and terminology Christian had nothing to do. That came later.

That these are disciples. We are disciples. We are followers of Christ. And he says, go and make disciples. Mark 16, 15 says this, and he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, preach the good news to all creation.

He wasn't just talking to his disciples. He was talking about to everybody that was gathered around there before he ascended into heaven. He said, go out and do this. Go fish. Go fish.

Go. Luke 24, 47. I love how the NLT says this, the New Living Translation. It says, with my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations. Sins, beginning in Jerusalem, there is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me, that passion for people.

I want them to know the goodness they can have in me, the life-giving message that Jesus gives us. John 20, 21, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Other words, I'm going away, but I'm leaving you as my ambassador to share the truth with people who believe. And John 20, 21, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And Acts 1, 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

That was the very last statement he made to them, last action statement he made to them. You start in Virginia Beach, you begin to evangelize Jerusalem and Virginia Beach, and then you go out to Judea, start hitting surrounding cities, Samaria, states, state, states, and to the end of the earth. That's what we do as a church. We start in Virginia Beach, and we're working our way out. First, we're starting in Virginia Beach, beyond mission, followers, fish.

Now some of you may be kind of, okay, I got a lot to talk about next week, and I want to so go into more examples of fishing, but I want to give you just one example today, and some of you have heard this story, because there are times we go out there and we just ask God, you know, what do you have for me? I want to fish, Lord. I want to win people to Christ. I want them to know the goodness I have, that I found, and I want to share it with them. But often, it is a difficult task, right?

I mean, just trying to learn people. But I tell you what, if you wake up every morning, and you begin to pray, God, connect me with people today that I can minister to. I promise you, He will put people in your path. Let me rewind back to when we started Salt Church. We did it, some of you, a lot of you know this story, but I'm going to say it again, so, and you're probably going to hear it 50,000 more times.

But when we started Salt Church, and Nick can testify to that, because he was here, Kevin can testify to that, he was here, we were just people in a little box behind gringos. And the whole band was the church, the band and the kids ministry was the church. So, when kids didn't show up, everybody would come in, the band would sit down, I'd have people. I'd have people to preach to. You know, that was it.

But we didn't, you know, we'd come in, sit up, and break down, and have a good old time together, and that was it. That was it. And there were days where I would wake up. I used to live right there on Norfolk Avenue at Land's End, condominiums. I love that place.

I wish we could, man, it was like a vacation all the time, you know. People in flip-flops all the time, riding around, you know, and stuff. It was just an awesome place to live. But I would wake up, and I would walk around that place, and I would walk around that place, and I'm like, God, who are you going to connect me with today? God, I don't see a lot of, I mean, I've got a cool team, you know, and they're excited about starting a church.

They're excited about this whole thing. But who are you connecting? Who are you going to connect me with today? I want to see, I want a non-book. I want somebody who doesn't know the Lord.

I want somebody who, you know, do that for me, Lord Jesus. And I would just pray, pray. Every day I went out, and I'd get on my bike, and I'd scoot down to the beach, and I'm like, Lord, do it, do it, Lord, do it. Let's go fish, right? And it wasn't spooky.

It wasn't weird. I wasn't walking around, you know, with my mind, like, hey, come here, come here. I want to talk to you, you know, about, you know, it wasn't anything like that. I didn't have, like, a little box, hey, in the name of Jesus, you know, it was nothing like that. I was just being Leon, the surfer dude guy, you know, just riding around the beach, you know?

And I walked into a surf shop called Waveworks. I used to pop in there every once in a while, and there was this guy, and most of you know him, and I knew him in the community and talked to him often, but I didn't really know him that well. His name was Dwayne Duvall, and I remember me being in there, and I grabbed that, my little fix-it kit for my surfboard, and we started talking, and we connected instantly. I mean, we were like best friends in five minutes. It was just, just, just, just amazing, you know, how well our chemistry was and how well we connected, and we were just, like, throwing back and forth.

Remember this way, did you go here, you know, we're just talking, and he said, what do you do for a living? And I'm like, oh gosh, I got to tell him I'm a pastor now, and he's like, he's going to run away. Well, I'm a pastor. He says, really? Wow, and he pulls out, he's got a little cross around his neck, he kind of pulls it out, and he says, you know, he gives a peace sign or something like that.

I don't think he really had much of a clue what it meant, but he didn't, he wasn't in church, he wasn't, he wasn't really, he was far from God, let's just say that, but we had a connection, and we were talking, I said, yeah, I started a church over behind gringos, we're just a small group meeting together, having a good time, loving the Lord, loving each other, all that good stuff, and he's like, I'm coming to your church. I didn't believe he was going to come. I said, yeah, man, I'll, uh, very next week he comes in with this little, little bro, you know, our little, our connection card and all that, it's all rolled up, he's sitting on the front row, just like this, and we didn't even have these seats yet, we had camping We all sat in camping chairs, and he's sitting on the edge of his seat, and he's just taking in every word, taking in every word. And over a period of just a few months, Dwayne went from, you know, I sort of know about God, or I kind of want to believe in God, or I want to do this, to Jesus is the only one that I'll ever want and I'll ever need. And he was so excited about our church, Salt Church, Salt Church, all the way.

You know, he's running around the community. Everybody knew him. You know, George, you knew him really well. All of you guys knew him. All your surfers know him really well.

I mean, he's been in the community for years. He's like, Salt Church, he's telling everybody about Salt Church, dragging people to church. All these 50-something-year-old single guys are walking into church now, you know, with Dwayne, and they're all sitting in there, you know. And when we moved over to the brewery, and he's in there. And I watched Dwayne grow so much, and I mean, just this guy who just didn't really even want, was debating on even, I mean, in some of our talks, it was definitely, I mean, he was far from God.

He was just far from, he didn't know, but he knew God then. And I watched him come in. Here he is on the front row, kind of wobbling back and forth. Back then, we had really loud room and a loud band and all that. We got a lot more space now.

Then it was like, and he would just do this. I watched him do this, to do this, to do this, to do this. And he was just, I mean, there were weeks he was, oh, God, you know. Just, just, just, I watched him grow from just a guy who knew about God to a guy who's a fully devoted follower of Christ, as our mission statement says. And man, all I did is just pray that God would connect me with somebody.

It wasn't like I was, I had a, I had a game plan. Let me give you my, let me give me, let me give you this, this bead means, you know, remember you're little and you had the bead necklaces and stuff. Some of you that have been in church for a long time, they teach you how to share the gospel. It was none of that. It was just relationship, man.

It was just relationships and connections. Well, Dwayne, Dwayne's girlfriend called me one evening and said Dwayne had a hammer, had a seizure out while he was cutting his grass. I rushed over to the hospital. They took him in the hospital and he was there for a few days and they found a glioplastoma on his brain and Dwayne was gone within three months. But what I know about Dwayne is that he never stopped loving Jesus, even in the midst of his pain, man.

He had scriptures all over his wall. He could not understand why people didn't want to know the Lord. He had so much passion, so much heart. He wanted everybody to know Jesus. He would get frustrated sometimes when we were sitting in the coffee shop.

Why don't they know Jesus? Why don't they come to church? I'm like, chill, Dwayne, you know, you don't understand. It's a disease. It needs a cure and Jesus is the cure.

Just continue fellowship with people and love people and pray that God would put people in your life. But when he passed away, man, the whole community was shaken because Dwayne was just such a centerpiece in this community. And we had a memorial service service at First Street and there were a couple of hundred surfers out there and I was able to share the gospel with a couple of hundred beach people all in the community, all walks of life. And Dwayne was still doing his thing. And really what it comes down to, it started with me, but my story started with somebody else.

Why do we do what we do? And my last statement is this, because we were all fish once. Dwayne would not have known the Lord if it wasn't for me connecting with him, but I would have not known the Lord if there weren't people in my life because I was in a place when I, I came out of college and I was living for myself. I had no desire for church or I grew up in church. My dad was a pastor and all that, but that meant, that didn't mean a whole lot.

Had a great family, but that didn't mean a whole lot because it wasn't about having a great family. It wasn't about having a dad who loved me and my mother who prayed for me every day. Part of it was my mother prayed for me every day because she knew what was up and I was doing my own thing, living my own life, doing everything that I want to do. I wasn't a bad person. I just didn't have much of a relationship with God.

I knew God, but I didn't know him because I wasn't truly a follower of his. But I had certain people in my life. One of them was a roommate from college that always contacted me, always prayed with me and always tried to steer me towards God and church. And there was another young lady in my life who had a joy and excitement for Jesus Christ that I wanted. And then there was a boss of mine when I was working in Raleigh, North Carolina that always was casting seeds in my heart and my life.

And one day when I surrendered, when I fell down, I said, I have nowhere else to go. That hopelessness, that guilt, that shame was there. I had nowhere to go. I was lonely and I was miserable and I was depressed. On the outside, it looked like everything was going great for me.

Absolutely everything. I had a job. I had a career. I had a great education. I had a brand new car, you know, and I thought I was cool, you know.

I haven't had it since marriage. We haven't had one, so all that's gone away. Ministry, all that goes away, you know. You ride around in old cars and stuff in ministry. It's all gone.

But you thought everything was heading that direction. But I was lost and I was miserable. And there was no joy in life because I was basing my joy on other stuff. Surrendered and I surrendered on my own in a room for the Lord in my bedroom because I had nowhere else to go but to Him. And nobody prayed the sinner's prayer with me or anything like that.

But they did because they were casting the net. Casting the net. They didn't see the results until later. They weren't there to experience the life change right there at that moment. But when I gave my life to Christ, I gave my life to Christ.

I became a fully devoted follower of Christ. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Give me the world, Satan, not my relationship with Christ. You're not having that. Because that joy, that joy that I have in Him, you can't beat it.

Greatest trip in the world. Greatest adventure in the world. All the money in the world. Biggest wave in the world. Best wave in the world.

Most tropical paradise there is. Greatest mountain planet. I don't care. You can take me there. But I'll never experience what I experience by having a relationship with Jesus.

With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I just want to make this offer today. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, make that decision today. I promise you it will be the best decision you ever made. Maybe you're here. You walked away from God a long time ago.

Maybe you're not even a bad person in general. It's not about that, guys. I mean, it's about a relationship with Jesus. Jesus, He has the solution. He has the cure.

And if that's you today, if you would just put up your hand and say, Lord, Pastor, I'm ready to make that decision. Amen. I'm ready to make that decision. And look, when you make this decision, this is it. This is it.

This is the solution. This is it. Everything. Future is gone. You just, you just make that, you make that declaration.

You make that declaration. Anyone else, come on, let's follow Jesus. Let's become fishers of men together. We have the good news. Pray this with me.

Everyone that raised their hand, everyone that didn't raise their hand, I just, just pray this with me. If you didn't raise your hand and you still want to make that decision, just pray this with me. Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God and that you died on the cross for my sin. Come into my life. Come into my heart.

Make me a new person. I am your fully devoted follower. I am your fisherman, fisherwoman. I'm yours. Change me from the inside out.

Make me new. In Jesus name. Amen.