Audio recording  Sermon manuscript: Everyone has something that he or she wants. Everybody’s calling has its own challenges and disappointments. We take it as a given that not everything is going to go right all the time. It would be quite a surprise if all of a sudden all those things that we want were suddenly to fall into our lap. This is what happened to Peter. He was a fisherman together with at least three of the other apostles—his brother Andrew, and James and John. Being a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee was probably not the most lucrative of jobs. The Sea of Galilee is a fairly small body of water. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for expansion. So it might have been a kind of hand to mouth sort of existence. On the night before Jesus asked to come into his boat in order to preach to the people who were on the shore Peter had been out trying to catch fish. He had had little success. So they had called it a day and were washing up their nets. He wasn’t overly excited about going fishing again with Jesus. But, who knows? Might as well give it a shot. Peter, like all people, would have had some mental picture of success. There was some number of fish that he knew would pay the expenses. He knew what would turn a profit. If he got a whole bunch there would have been things that he would like to buy. That picture was completely exceeded, however, by what Jesus brought into his nets and into his boat. The nets were straining under the load. His boat, as well has his partners’ boat, were so weighed down that they started to sink. Peter could have responded to all of this by saying something like, “Gee whiz, mister, thanks a lot! I’ll put you on my speed-dial.” Then he could take his haul, sort it, count it, and laugh all the way to the bank. Flush with cash he could buy those things that he had been wanting to buy for so long. Jesus gave him exactly what he had been hoping for. But, as you know, this is not what Peter did. The only way his actions can be explained is that he was lifted out of the normal course that he otherwise would have taken by none other than the Holy Spirit. We often think that unbelievers are nasty, dark individuals. I suppose they can be, but those are the outliers. Most unbelievers are trying to make a living for themselves, raise their kids, and make memories. Being an unbeliever is what is normal. Being a believer is what is unusual. Peter’s actions are unusual. He loses interest in the fish and suddenly becomes very interested in Jesus. Behind his humble words of “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord,” is a heart that is hoping for the opposite. He doesn’t feel worthy to be with Jesus, but there is nothing he would like more than to be with Jesus. And Jesus does not disappoint him. He tells him, “Do not be afraid.” Then he adds, “From now on you will be catching people.” Peter used to catch fish. Now he will be catching people. Finally Luke says that when they reached the shore with their boats, Peter and those who were with him left everything and followed Jesus. This means that they left behind all that wealth that they had had in their mind’s eye as the very picture of success. It’s as though Peter could have been singing one of our hymns: “What is the world to me With all its vaunted pleasures? When You and You alone, Lord Jesus are my treasure? You only dearest Lord, my soul’s delight shall be. You are my peace, my rest. What is the world to me?” Although Peter’s actions are unusual, in one sense, at least, his actions, worked by the Holy Spirit, are eminently practical and reasonable. What is the world with all its vaunted pleasures? What would it benefit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul? We are so attracted and crave the things that have been created. But behind all that is the Creator. If the creature or the created thing is good, doesn’t the Creator have to be that much better? And, of course, he is. Let us not forget what God is like. Those instances i