Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew 30 January 2022

Luke 5: 4-7 (Message BIBLE)- 4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.” Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.

• Let out your nets for a catch! Not for trial and error; not for disappointment. • This is a prophetic Word by the Lord for Peter. Jesus is saying with certainty, that if you cast your net, there is a big catch for you. Heaven will fill it.
• In the very experiences of failure in the past, if you would cast your net by faith, there is a catch for you.
• It is not just an advice. Not something that you will just try out and experiment. But receive this as a prophetic word and not just as feel-good word. Make this a personal prophecy. • It is not just something to clap your hands about but to take it as a prophecy to drive you into prosperity, joy, victory and abundance in your life this year!

This year, you will catch. Not catch a cold or COVID. But I came to tell you that this won’t be an empty year. The year will end with you saying, “I got a catch!”

Prophecy: Those who are single, you will get a catch. You will find a good wife and a good husband. You will catch a nice good contract. You will catch something this year. Someone is about to catch a good spouse. A good husband and good wife. A contract beyond your imagination is being released to a businessman. A business offer, a transaction. A huge business deal is about to be opened up for

somebody.

• In 2 Kings 4, the sons of the widow were to be bonded slaves. They were in debt. They had just little oil. The prophet told them to pick vessels. Not just a few but as many as they could. The prophet said go sell this oil. This meant that she did not have to worry about finding someone to buy it! The buyers will be sent by the Lord.
• Maybe it’s a land, car, house, God is helping somebody to sell these to be debt free! Ways are opening. God is sending a buyer, declare it! Prepare for the miracle!
• Don’t sell your soul or your spirit. Those are purchased by the Lord. But sell what you need to. The land, cars houses etc, go sell! Be debt free. Look at that property that you want to sell and say, “GOD IS SENDING THE BUYER”.

Isaiah 40:4-5- Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made [a]straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

• Prepare ye the way of the Lord. A prophecy regarding John the Baptist. • the glory of the Lord is revealed. God wants you to be prepared for the miracle. • Peter lost everything the previous night. But in one-night God gave Him back beyond what he has lost.

Not according to what you may have lost, Jesus is sending you a blessing more than what you or your family can imagine, over and above what you may have lost in the past. Overflowing. Prepare your net and life to receive this blessing.

• It is according to your faith. It was beyond capacity.
• If you take with you 5 boats then you would have got 5 boats full of catch. If you take 10 boats, He will fill 10 boats. God fills according to your faith
• Jesus told the two blind men “according to the measure of your faith, you will receive.” If it was just blindness to go, so be it. Beyond blindness, if you have faith for a good suit and boot singing to God then you shall have that too! Beyond blindness, if you have faith to build a house and serve Him, then you will have that. Beyond blindness, if you have the faith for living in good health and living long, then you will have that.

You have to increase the capacity of your faith.

GOD MORNING! The word morning means – More + innings- One more innings God is giving you. To turn my failure into victory, to turn my loss into gain, to celebrate His victory again. God is giving me one more inning!

• That is what Peter was experiencing. Since he let his net down at God’s Word, Jesus gave him a new inning.
• We can’t imagine this overflowing. We can’t imagine a national and Global vision. We are limited. Do you know that Jesus was not Christian? We are so stuck with our family, our church, our life, our pastor, our brethren, our neighbourhood.
• Joseph was used by the Lord to deliver a nation; Daniel was used to guide an entire nation; The Apostles were used to take the gospel all over Asia.

Abundance comes when you think big. Not just me, but my nation, my city, my land, my family, my neighbourhood should be blessed. If you think like that God has kept abundance for you.

God so loved the world, to the extent of the CROSS.

Genesis 1:20- Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living [a]creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the [b]firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God createdgreat sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

• Let (insert your name) bring forth abundantly!
• Peter had a good catch. Declare that ‘I will receive a good catch!’
• Verse 21 says the waters brought forth abundantly. We will bring forth abundantly. Look at your company and say, ‘my company will bring forth abundantly. The church of God in India will bring forth abundantly. ‘
• "After its own kind" - when you multiply, it is of the same kind. My friends and me had one motto in the past- ‘eat, drink and be merry’. We were of that kind! But now I realise that we do not what ‘that kind’ to multiply. But now I live and die for Jesus.
• Certain kinds do not need to manifest. In your family, there are certain kinds which may be sickness, failure, negative behaviours, bad attitudes, lack, sorrow, lack of growth...that is not what we should be reproducing.
• Take this as a prophetic word. And see its manifestation so that testimonies will flow from the church at the end of 2022!

Reproduce the kind that will give to others. Reproduce the kind that will overflow.

ABUNDANCE MEANS – 1) A LARGE QUANTITY OF SOMETHING; 2) AN AMPLE AMOUNT; 3) ALARGE COLLECTION OF THINGS.

In Mathew 26, we see Jesus looking at normal bread and thanked the father. Look at the predicament of Jesus. He, the Creator of heaven and earth is looking at normal bread and thanking the Father.

• Imagine we looking at the simple rice broth and rejoicing and thanking the Lord!! • That is what Jesus did. He took ordinary art bread and thanked the Lord. The first born of God, the resurrection and the life. The one who said I am the Bread of life, took that bread from that little boy and thanked the father.

Jesus recognized that this bread though it was natural had the capacity to increase. • So, if you will just thank the Lord for what you have and the you will see that it will start increasing. What you have has the potential to increase. The Lord multiplied this simple bread so much that there were 12 basketfuls left.

Thank the Lord for the ordinary things. The eyes that you see with, the ability to eat and digest and sleep well, the hands that you can lift up. These are usual things but give thanks to Lord for them. You realise their importance only if you did not have them!

ABUNDANCE MEANS TO FLOW OVER THE BRIM

• Some rivers overflow during the monsoons. River Meenachil in Pala and also the River Mississippi overflow abundantly during the rainy season. Even if it rains in some other place, the river will fill up and begin to flood up.

The net was overflowing fish. The boat was filled to the brim.

Hebrews 12:22- You have come to Zion the city of God, the place of immeasurable numbers of angels.

• It talks about the nature and the kingdom of God. Immeasurable, abundant.

The Milky Way Galaxy, which is our galaxy. The light rays travel at a speed of 196000 miles per second and at this speed, it would take 2 lakhs years from the light rays to travel from one end of Milky Way to another! And Milky Way is only one of the galaxies of the universe. Scientists say that stars are being created even now. You know why? When God said let there be light, He never indicated when it should stop! Creation is continuing and it will till God says stop! Just imagine the greatness of GOD!

• In Genesis 17:2, God told Abraham that you will become a great nation and your descendants shall be more numerous than the stars in the sky. He wasn’t blessed even with one child then! But Gpd had a plan. Within you there are princes, lands and nations. The Lord promised them this even before they saw something.
• You may be seeing nothing in your life but you need to declare that there are nations within me. Don’t despise me. God has a great plan!

You don’t know what's inside of you. It is more than two dosas you ate in the morning!

My brothers are so much better than me. They are gifted, talented etc. I had nothing in me. I saw nothing. But God told me, that I will place my promises within you. God said, if you would believe things will flow through you.

There is so much inside of me. Say it.

• My grandfather was a member of the parliament and he was a man of great stature, greatly loved and respected. Inside my grandfather, was my father and within my father was me! • Abraham had a nation within him. He did not complain that he still had not seen his own child but took God at His Word.
• Hold on to the Promises. Do you believe what the Lord has said to you? there are nations, kings and promises within you. There is too much inside of you.

The Holy Spirit is saying to someone who feels empty that in 2022 God will bring out great tings through you. The greatness inside of you will come out.

• In Luke 5, we see that one boat was not enough. Peter called out for partners.

Think outside your boat. Without partners, Peter would have sunk. You can’t live your Christian life alone. We all need partners. Don't reject help.

• Ask for help. Don’t be arrogant. Ask for help for your family life that is in ruins and for your business that's no doing so well. Ask for Help! You have the prophecy but you need co workers, partners and helpers if you want to see that prophecy fulfilled.

Never reject help. Never reject advice. Never reject warnings. Don't reject the voice of experience. Your organisation or ministry will not grow!

• You need to ask help. I need partners to do what God needs me to do. Only a humble person will be able to say that.
• Peter criedand shoutedfor help, the word says. Cry for help!! Hello!! Partner, come! That is humility. I do that. I have people inside and outside the church who help me. • There are people who are sinking because they don’t know how to build relationships. They are sinking in financial debt and in ministry but they won’t cry for help.
• Your partner is not your competitor. They might have bragging rights. That is OK! You need to have the humility to handle that. we want to prove to the world that we are self-made. Peter understood that it is better to ask for help than to be a dead hero.
• There are some teachers who have taught us in school. We give them so much respect. They feel good to see you speak so well and do well in future. When they see you do well, they will take some credit. That is ok!

Maturity means asking for help to see the prophecy over your life fulfilled!

• Write down people who have helped me. May be financially, may be a key advice, prayed for me, a word of correction or a word to humble me. I thank the Lord for them. Even now when I need help, I call.
• Most people can’t take help. Forget a partner, even between a husband and wife, they can’t humble themselves. They can’t even keep a relationship. Some people if angered will take a year and half to see them smile again!
• David was in Saul's palace. He learnt how not to be a bad king from Saul! Learn even from your enemies.

Luke 5:5 (TLV version)- 5 Simon replied, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at Your word I will try again.” AMP version- Master, we have toiled all night exhaustingly and caught nothing in our nets, but on the ground of your Word I will lower the nets again and their nets were at the pint of breaking.

• Try again and again. Reflect on Peter's attitude. He worked all night exhaustingly. He still listened to the Voice of advice despite the exhaustion.
• The circumference of Lake Galilee is about 53 kilometres. I am assuming that Peter would have gone to every corner of that lake. The deep end, the shallow waters. He went trying all night, tried hard, with not an ounce of energy left he ended. It is not like our all-night prayers where we are eating, fellowshipping and dancing to stay awake and little bit of praying and eating of buns! This was not like that, Peter went around the lake all night, toiled hard to catch fish.

Peter had courage. He knew who Jesus was. HE said Lord no matter how tired my mind and body is and no matter how and broken I am, I will once again cast my net and go to the deep. I will once again!

Some of you are tired. If you can survive all night, joy will come in the morning. Your victory and breakthrough are coming to you. promotion is coming to you. Your abundance and surplus are coming.

Peter’s CAPACITY!

It is better you have more than you need than needing more than you have! It's better to have what you don’t need than to need what you don’t have.

• That is preparation. That is capacity.
• Maybe you have registered a business. You got an export license. It is better to be prepared and have the capacity than not have anything at all. It is better to learn a trade or improve on a skill than to have nothing at all. No harm taking an extra degree. May be just brushing up your French and Spanish. Maybe you can be an interpreter at the UN! At least learn the mobile numbers of some of your family members.

God can give abundantly but will you increase your capacity?!

Learn to cook, you never know when you will need it did it not come handy during the lockdown? God created Adam after preparing the earth

God told Moses to prepare as per the dimensions He had shown for His presence to descend.

God told Noah to build the ark as per the exact instructions and measurements. If you build it as per your understanding it will not last the downpour of 40 days and nights.

Do as I tell you and if you prepare accordingly, even if there is a pandemic. You and your family will not be out to shame. Temporarily people may make fun of you. But in the end you will be blessed.

Psalm 23:5- though prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. • God has kept a PREPARED table for you.

Mathew 26:17- 17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

• The disciples ask, where should we PREPARE?
• The sound system, the Lord's table is prepared in advance even in our church. They don’t just come there and say oh ok! Things don’t just appear if you say praise The Lord.

Mathew 21:2-3- the triumphal entry- 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

• The Master has need to these. This was pre-planned. That family had a relationship with the Lord. They had tied up a female donkey and its colt. They were ready to send it for the use of the Master’s use.
• That donkey was pre planned for a triumphant entry. That family was ready! Imagine if they were not. Lord prepare me to be sanctuary
• My musical talents, my voice is kept for my Master. Jesus found a donkey ahead of time! Imagine if there was no donkey or colt, imagine if there would have been a triumphant entry! Imagine fi some people arrived there like some people come to church, REALLY LATE! Would it have been a triumphant entry? No, there were people and they were prepared with palm leaves and flags! It was a triumphant entry. Imagine if Jesus came in late. All the people waiting would have left for their respective homes!
• Prepare for married life. It's in your preparation that there is glory.

Sometimes God cannot trust you with his Glory because you are late! • How can your company trust you, how can your employer trust you if you are late and unprepared?

John 14:1-2- 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

• Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you. imagine if He has been preparing that place for you for 2000 years, how amazing that place would be!
• Zacchaeus was a short man but had a great desire to see Jesus. He took the pain to climb up. Somebody help me up this tree”. He needed to increase in capacity and height, to see Jesus. He climbed the Sycamore tree. He had a desire. My own stature must not stop me or hinder me from seeing my saviour.

You have increase in stature to see God.

Exodus 14:15- 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

• The Lord tells Moses, why are you crying out to me. I am not against you. I have helped you all along. I have delivered you from the Pharaoh’s hand, I did everything. Now I only need these people to just walk forward.
• Without preparation, you are only crying!

YOU NEED TO MOVE. God is committed to our abundance. God is committed to your catch. God always expects us to take the first step. He says, draw near to ME and I will draw near to you.

Luke 6:38 - 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

• If you, forgive, I will forgive you.
• Many of you want abundance and you are upset because you haven’t seen anything. You say, you have believed but look at the Peter who believed. He took that step. Many of you are not taking the step. No matter how tired you may be, take that step.