So having Mark this morning, Psalm chapter 55, and now turning over to Luke chapter five, I wanna ask you something today, is what are you carrying? Now, the question is pretty broad question, but the answer's gonna be different for all of us. What are we carrying? This morning, our thought would simply be to cast them on God. Whatever it is that you're casting, cast it on God. We're gonna read about fishermen and a net. Now nets can get big, they can get cumbersome, they can get heavy. Now, I hope that I can come across in a way that I've really pondered the last several days, but an empty net is a burden. It's heavy, but it's a burden. But I find it interesting that you can take an empty net that's burdensome, You can cast it where God and give it to God. You can fill it full of fish and all of a sudden it's not a burden anymore. You find joy in it. Now the net, obviously the net does not get lighter, but what it does is that it demonstrates God's power. So let's read if we can Luke chapter five and I'll begin reading if I can in verse one. Luke five and verse one. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. He entered into the ship, which was Simon's. This is going to get personal here. And he prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out in the deep and let down your nets, plural, for it all. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have told all the night. And by the way, how many of you can relate, for the longer you deal with something, the more aggravating it gets. He said, we have told all the night He said, not only we fought all night long with these nets, he said, and have taken nothing. I want you to understand the emptiness of what we're reading about here is, and we brought nothing. There was nothing there. But confirmation said, nevertheless at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, They enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break. Now the net was heavy, but obviously it got a lot heavier, but they're probably wasn't a problem anymore, was it? Why? Because they had cast it to God, and they gave it to God. And they beckoned their partners with the other ship, and they should have helped him. And they came and filled both the ships. And the ships were so full, it said, that so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. And we'll come back to these verses in just a moment, but I want to go back into the Old Testament, if you mark that for just a minute. And let me read to you, if I can, the book of Psalm, the 55th chapter in the 22nd verse. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. Now, we're gonna talk about this in a minute. But he said, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. This morning, what do you need to cast to God? I'm not here to answer that question for you. I'm just telling you, if you have something that you need to cast to God, why do you hold on to it? For lost people, they need to cast their burdens and their nature to God, but for some reason they cling to their nature. But now let me ask you this, when the net gets heavier, the net gets frustrating or the net gets kind of hard to deal with, what do you do? And that's where we're reading about here that he begins to teach us in Psalm, he said, cast, that means to throw it or to hurl it or to let go of it. You know, sometimes we just kind of want to hang on it and let it dangle. But if you really read the word cast, it means to let go of it. Maybe this morning I should ask you this question more importantly, what do you need to let go of? I'm not here to answer that. That's not my place. That's not my business. That's between you and God. But the whole idea and the whole intent is to cast means to let go. Now, if you think about fishermen, and let's talk about that because we read about that a little bit, there's a difference in casting a net and what we would be able to see is trusting in God, but also realizing that what God's going to do is greater than what we've done ourself. But you know, how many things in our life do we want to cling to or hold on to? Listen to what the psalmist is teaching. He said, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. Sustain means that he's going to maintain or that he's going to support you in what you have and in what you do. So let's go back and let's think for just a little bit about the account that we're reading about with Peter in Luke chapter five for just a minute. And I wanna ask you something today, if you worry, or that net is empty, or we're carrying around something that is empty, or maybe that there's no productivity from it, the question I often wonder to myself is, why are we in the shape that we're in? Because they were doing it without the Lord. But here's what I love about their desires and their instincts where is that, when they were unproductive and Christ began to come unto them, And he begins to speak unto them, and he begins, if we read with me for just a minute in that third verse, he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon. You know what, folks? If we want to have things in our life begin to change, and we want that emptiness to be gone in our life, we've got to let Christ in. Now, I know people today, it's well documented, all the places that God is kicked out of, or Christ is kicked out of. But I want to tell you, there is not a legal system, there is not a jurisdiction that can keep you from letting God reign in your heart and in your life. So if these things happen, then the struggle is, it's not because of what anybody else around you has done, but the question would be, what have we done? Do we allow him to reign? For he said, and he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon. Today I want you to notice that Christ wanted to be on board, but I believe that you're going to see that they wanted him on board too. Folks, it's both ways. When we talk about casting our burdens and getting rid of them, not only does God want us to get rid of them, let's ask it from this perspective. Not only does God want us to get rid of them, but the question is, do you want to let go of them? It gets a little tougher then, doesn't it? You know, the Bible says, well, God wants us to let go of this, and we want to remove from this, and all these things, but the difference is, what are we clinging to, folks? It becomes both ways. What do we know that God wants us to let go of, and what are we letting go of? So he said, he entered into the ship that was Simon, and he gave Simon an option. He prayed to him that he would thrust out a little from the land. Our service or our blessings that we're gonna receive from God, it is a result of the choices that we make in life. You know, people wonder how do they get in the shape they're in or why do they get in the position they're in? But the truth is today is that we find ourselves in many things in our life and it's not because we created the environment, but we lose the peace in that environment because We don't want to listen to him or what he don't want us to do. So he gave him a very simple instruction. He said, pray to him that he would thrust out a little from the land. I believe that not only is the Lord gonna speak, but I believe that we have to obey and to do these things. Folks, you're not gonna get saved until you seek after him as he draws you. We don't enjoy the blessings of a net that's full until we listen to God. Can I go ahead and inject this in? Aren't you thankful today that God speaks? But I'm even more grateful today that God hears us. He speaks to us. We speak to God. And here's what happened. He said, Simon, he said, he told him, he said, I want you to pray that he would thrust out a little from the land. He was asking to do very much. Can I ask you a, this is, I know a personal question. But to what extent and what all has God asked you to cast onto him? It's only natural that fishermen are gonna have nets. It's only natural that a fisherman are not afraid of the water. But why is it today that they had all the night long, they had told, they had not caught anything, they had to be frustrated, they had to be aggravated. Can I ask you this? How many times have we gotten aggravated because of the situation in our life? I'll confess to you, there's one that you're looking at right now. Sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes I get aggravated because things are not the way I want. And more importantly, in this hurry up and go society, it don't happen when I want it to happen. But you know what? Everything always happens on God's timing, doesn't it? But he said, I'm not asking you to do something you've never heard of. I'm not asking you to do something that seems absolutely just strange. He said, I prayed that he would just thrust out a little from the land. Now you and I might probably say, well, that's foolish. We just spent the whole night out here in this situation. You're wanting to speak to us and to bless us. And you're asking us to thrust. And he said, by the way, he said, the big fish are not right here on the shore. He said, I want to get out where the deep stuff is. That's where the fishermen want to go. But you see, he told him, he said, before you can enjoy the fullness of the net, he said, you have to have a beginning of obedience in your life. There's a beginning. Do you know when the beginning of our obedience and listening to God is? I'll go ahead and answer that question. The day or the night you got saved, that was the very first time that you were obedient to that still, small voice. Submissive, obedient. You get to that point and you said, okay, he said, if you want me to cast away from the shore a little bit, he said, that's exactly what I'll do. He said, I will cast out a little, he said, and thrust out a little from the land. All he had to do was just kind of paddle out a little bit. But here's the thing, he said, Christ must be a part of your thrusting out. You know what? I love the song that we sing sometimes that says, little as much as God is in it. You know, it may not seem like a whole lot just to thrust out, but you know what? There's a difference in thrusting out into the sea with Christ and thrusting out of the sea without Christ. The equipment's the same. They had the same boat. They had the same nets. They had the same skill set. Everything was the same. The difference was, what are you doing with Christ versus without Christ? This morning when I say, cast your cares to God, that means you give it to God because things are much greater when we surrender to God than when we try to do things on our own or away from God. So he said, I want you to thrust out a little bit. Look what he said in the fourth verse. Now when he had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out of the deep and let down your nets for a draw. So he said, I want you to cast out and to go. And now when he had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon. God gave him a command, Christ gave him a command and he had to listen. He said, I want you to launch out of the deep and let down your nets for a draught. In the Sea of Galilee, it's not like that there was a shortage of fish. If you remember, the Sea of Galilee had fishing villages all the way around it. If you enjoy the water and you get out on a lake that doesn't have fish, you probably don't care because your idea is not to catch fish. But if you're a fisherman and you need food and you need a source for your food, are you gonna go to a lake or a river that doesn't have fish? You wanna go somewhere where there's fish. The Sea of Galilee, where we're talking about, is known for fish. So why is it that these people had told all the night in a place full of fish, you think all you gotta do is just throw your net out there, and then all of a sudden that you would pull them up, but they had told all the night, they couldn't catch anything on the Sea of Galilee, but Christ said, here, I want you to do this one more time. He said, now that you've launched out just a little bit, do you notice the progression here? He said, you've launched out a little bit. He said, now I want you to launch out into the deep. He said, and let down your nets. for it all. He said, launch out into the deep. How many of you today are probably in a place where we're just right there on the shore and we're saying, God, I've gotten into the boat, you've told me to get here, but you spoke to me again and you told me something else to do, but I think I'm just gonna stop right here. Folks, the blessings of God, and I hope you'll agree with me when I say this, but the blessings of God do not come from partial obedience. The blessings of God is when you become completely obedient. You don't get just saved because you go to church, which it's a good thing to do, but you get saved when we do whatever it is that God might bid a lost person to do. You're gonna enjoy the blessings of the fish when you do what God bids you to do. We see that he told him, he said, I want you to take your nets, launch out in the deep and let your nets down for a draught. Look what he says in the fifth verse. Master, we have told all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Do you remember what we read in the book of Proverbs chapter three? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. Did you hear what Solomon said? He tells us, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. My understanding would have been this. I'm a fisherman. I know what I'm doing. I've got a net. I just spent all night out on here. I'm not gonna do what you bid me to do. He said, that makes no sense. But trust means to have confidence in something. Let me ask you this. How many of you have confidence in God and his abilities? Now, if you've got a mechanical engine failure on your vehicle right now, don't you have a lot of confidence in me and me taking care of it? But I'll tell you this, God today is capable and I am confident in what God can do for you. So when I ask you today about your nets, I am confident today that God can fill your life with what seems to be empty, but God can fill it. And that's what God wants to do. And that's where we see, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. But I love the word nevertheless. This morning as I was reading these scriptures and in the last few days when I've been looking through these verses here in Luke, in the Luke's Gospel chapter 5, I begin to pray, Lord, may we be a people that are nevertheless people. Maybe this morning, that's what you need to really ponder. Are you a nevertheless person? What is a nevertheless kind of person? What are these people? These are people that don't add up and don't make sense, but God, if you tell me to do it, I'm gonna do it. Or he said, master, we have told all the night and taken nothing, nevertheless, nevertheless. What they believed in is that the Word of God was of a more importance and a greater priority than anything that was rationed or anything that made sense. Aren't you glad today that God's Word can even go beyond what science can explain? Aren't you glad today that God's Word, when nothing else makes sense, that it will happen? Let me tell you this, folks. Those fish were still in the Sea of Galilee, of Gennesaret that we're talking about. Those fish were still there. The difference was they couldn't catch them on their own. We're all walking around with an empty net in our life, or empty nets in our life, plural. Maybe it was something you've had this week or last week or the month before or the year before, but you got an empty net. But the question is today, are you giving it to God? Sometimes we just want to say these nets are empty, these nets are burdensome, these nets are cumbersome. I just want to get rid of them. And matter of fact, how many of us have just said, Lord, I want to take up a new hobby and a new trade. But you know what, God said, no. He said, you can't trade it in. He said, you got to do what I bid you to do. So nevertheless, they were going to be it, do exactly what he said. Nevertheless, and I love what he said, at thy word. Do you believe today that God is gonna allow you to be able to enjoy the blessings that he wants you to submit and do? But I love it. We've already read these scriptures a little bit, but notice what happened. It said when they cast the net out, that they begin to pick it up so much, they called for another ship. Another ship came and the ships begin to go under. Why? Because they have been filled with the goodness of God in their life. How many of you today can say with a great deal of conviction that your life is filled full of goodness of God? It all becomes from being obedient, doesn't it? We read in the book of Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter three and I was reading this verse and I thought, Lord, how true this is. That not only do you bless us with just a little thing, but you fill our nets to where they're full. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with somebody casting a net over and picking it up and there's only one fish in it. Great, you've caught a fish. That's not what the account says. The account actually says that it was filled. Malachi chapter three and verse 10 said, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. Improve me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven. He said, when you say the windows of heaven, that means there's access to heaven. Let me keep reading this. And pour you out a blessing. He said, if for the windows of heaven open, and I pour out something, and by the way, it's a heavily pouring, he said that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Let's sum that up a little bit. and hope that you will agree with me. Folks, God's blessings overflow our lives when we become obedient. We've got to listen and do what he bids us to do, and we have to take up our nets. We have to follow after him and do what he bids us to do, because that's what his desire is for all of us that are here today, that we would follow after him. So you see, when they had toiled all the night, and the Lord began to speak unto them, He began to tell them, He said, I want you to come. He said, I want you to take your nets, and He said, I want you to throw them back into the sea again. And they said, you know, nevertheless, He said, nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Remember what we read to you there in the book of Psalm. It said, cast thy burdens upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved, but cast your burdens on the Lord. I don't think there's anybody here this morning that wants to walk around with an empty net. Because the empty net is a symbol of things that are emptiness in life. An empty net is not going to feed you, is it? Your soul is not going to get filled full of an empty net. But you need an empty net and obedience to God to be filled full of the good things of God. People wonder why they believe in the fish, but they don't believe in the nets. How weak it may seem that a person would believe in one but not the other. Folks, the fish are meant to supply our needs. And if we have needs in our life, do you believe that there's power in casting a net at the very command of Christ? Absolutely there is. For I'm gonna read to you and I'm gonna close in the book of Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, I wanna turn and read for just a moment. Philippians chapter three and verse 13 said this. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. We have told all the night long, haven't we? I've got an empty net, he said. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. The same ship, the same net, the same waters. One great addition is Christ was on board. But listen to what he said. Paul said, in order for me to let go of those things that are behind, reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Folks, if there's one thing I can tell you to do and encourage you to do this morning is keep pressing on and keep casting your nets on Him. If you will cast them on God, I believe that God will fill them up. But you've got to realize today that God can do that. I said I was finished, but did you think about the woman at the well? She goes to a well and we realize that she had nothing to draw with. And Christ begins to tell her, He said, you've got emptiness. It's not in your hands. He said, it's in your heart. Today, if you've got something empty inside of you, and you've got that still small voice speaking, I hope you'll listen to him and cast your cares on him because he wants you to cast them to him. God bless you this morning. I want us to get a song.