Breakfast With Jesus: Leaving Your Nets Behind

By Jeremiah Sinsheimer

This book is like reading a devotional about Peter's life. Every question is the same question that every believer deals with. Answers to how to release your breakthrough are in this book. If you have a lack of faith, your faith will grow as you read. If you are full of shame, you will be redeemed as you read your own story in Peter's life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Mar 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887385303

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Breakfast with Jesus

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

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Copyright © 2023 by Jeremiah Sinsheimer

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM

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Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 979-8-88738-529-7

E-ISBN: 979-8-88738-530-3

Acknowledgments

I would like to dedicate this book to my wife, Svetlana Sinsheimer, and our beautiful children: David, Esther, Ruth, Isaiah, and Abigail. Without your support I would not have been able to write this book. You all are my inspiration.

I would also like to thank my parents and my Good News Christian Church family. You all are a blessing to me.

I would also like to thank my good friend Nick Gromiko for inspiring me to publish my books. It all started with Nick titling my first book. Nick, I am so grateful to you for taking the time to invest in my work as an author, both inspirationally and financially. Thank you.

Most importantly, I would like to dedicate this book to the true author of all that is written in it. I thank You, Jesus, for Your wonderful Word and the revelation that You give to me so that lives may be changed and hearts restored through Your Holy Spirit. I love You, Lord.

Introduction

Have you ever tried to serve God but felt like somehow you just failed at being a Christian? Have you ever thought that you messed up so much that it would be nearly impossible for God to use you for His purposes? Do you ever think that you cannot do what God has called you to do because you get in your own way? Well, if any of these things describe you, then this book is for you! In this book we are going to look at someone in the Bible that felt the same way, and yet God still chose him to do more than he could have imagined because he found out that God’s love is greater than our failures! I hope that this book will encourage you to also come to know that very same God!

Chapter 1:

A Tired Fisherman

From now on you will catch men

(Luke 5:10, ESV).

Have you ever thought about what life must have been like for Simon Peter? I mean, here is a man who spent his entire life fishing. Now, for most of us men and some women, fishing our whole lives seems like a great idea. Who wouldn’t want to spend their lives reeling in fish all day? Whenever we think of fishing, it sounds pleasant because, for the most part, we find it very relaxing.

However, it was very different during the apostle Peter’s time. For one, whenever you fished the sea of Galilee, you weren’t using hooks and a pole. You were using nets that were fairly heavy. Then you would load those nets onto the boat that you were using, and you would set out to the middle of the lake to fish. Inside that boat you would also have clothing for the weather, food to eat, something to drink, and tools for fishing.

You would then throw the nets overboard and wait for a school of fish to swim into your nets. Once you felt the nets pulling downward, you would call over the other fishermen to help pull up the now heavy and full nets onto the boat. After doing so, you would then sort out the fish that were big enough to keep and throw the smaller ones back into the lake. Once the boat was full, you would begin to row it back to shore. When you reached the shore, you would then take all of the fish that you caught and would then load them onto a cart or into a basket and take them to the market to sell.

This was the life of Simon Peter. He would do this day in and day out to make a living for his family. This was something that he more than likely learned from his father. You see, during Peter’s time a son almost always learned his father’s profession and continued the family business. However, Peter wasn’t alone in this family business. He had a brother named Andrew who helped him. They also were close friends of two other fishermen: James and John. They were the sons of a man named Zebedee. Due to the culture of the day as well as how Jewish families did business together, more than likely Zebedee was a business partner of another John, who was the father of Peter and Andrew. So this life of fishing was all that Peter ever knew. This was something that he was familiar with. It was something that he was used to doing with complete confidence.

However, Peter never had much of a choice as to who he would become or what he would do for a living. I can just imagine how many times he must have grown tired of the same old way of life day in and day out. More than likely his life’s schedule consisted of getting up early in the morning, eating breakfast, going fishing before the sun was even up, bringing his catch to shore, loading the fish in baskets or carts for the market, cleaning the nets and the boat, preparing the boat for another catch the next day, washing up, and going home to eat and then paying the Roman taxes of the day. On Saturdays he would go to the synagogue, and occasionally he would go to the temple.

Peter and his brother lived this way until God interrupted their plans. You see, unbeknownst to them there was a powerful miracle-working Savior who was about to enter into that very boat and radically change their lives.

And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land (Luke 5:2–3, ESV).

Here is when Jesus began to change the life of Simon Peter. Can you imagine his reaction when Jesus asked him to let Him into his boat and then push it out a little bit from shore? More than likely he was tired, a little frustrated over a bad fishing night, and maybe a little bit hungry too. Now here was this preacher ministering from the shoreline with a crowd of people gathered around, and He asked Peter if He could use his boat as a platform.

Jesus entered the boat, and then He asked Simon Peter to push the boat out a little from shore. I can just imagine the thoughts going through Peter’s head. Perhaps they were something like this, I just fished all night and came back empty. If God cares so much about me, then why am I struggling to make a living? Or maybe he thought this, All of this preacher’s talk about God’s goodness and love is annoying because I just am not feeling His love right now. All I see is a struggle to make ends meet. Where is God?

Whatever the case might be, Peter was more than likely tired after this fishing trip and probably just wanted to wash up, clean the nets and boat, and go home to eat and sleep. Yet, in the midst of his problems, the Savior had come to him. He just didn’t recognize him at first. Now something incredible happened. Jesus entered into Peter’s boat! He used his boat to minister to the crowd around Him, and Peter gave Him the okay to do so. You know, Simon Peter had the option to tell Jesus no. He could have said to Him, Go use someone else’s boat. I’m too tired and not in the mood to hear a sermon. I’m not going to push my boat out a little bit so that you can use it as a platform to teach. It was meant for fishing, not for preaching.

But Peter didn’t do that. Jesus asked him to push out a little way from shore, and Peter obeyed. His obedience to Christ led to something that he wasn’t prepared for. It led to a blessing and victory in his life that he wasn’t expecting. You see, Peter brought back nothing after fishing all night. He was just a tired fisherman who had tried in his own strength to catch fish, and he failed that night to bring in anything. Now he was about to get the surprise of his life.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.‘ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’ (Luke 5:4–5, NIV).

Here Jesus just finished preaching to the crowd. Now he focused on Simon Peter’s problem. You see, even though Peter was tired and disappointed with the results of the fishing trip, he still agreed to let Jesus use his boat. He even took the time to push the boat out a little way from shore. He then went back to cleaning his nets, all while listening to everything that Jesus was saying. Something must have happened to Peter at that moment.

Maybe he noticed that there was power and authority in the words that Jesus was preaching, and it moved his heart. Even through his disappointment, he still allowed the word of God to penetrate his heart. But now Jesus spoke directly to Peter. Now He told him to go back out and fish again. Can you imagine what he must have thought when Jesus told him to do that? It sounded ridiculous, right? Going fishing in the middle of the day when you caught nothing all night?

Peter tried to explain his situation to Jesus. He told Jesus that he was out on the lake all night long and caught nothing. In other words, I already tried this. It didn’t work. But how many of us actually understand that God loves to make the impossible possible? How many of us have been in the same situation as Peter? We look at our situations in life and say that it is hopeless or impossible to fix. Yet, Jesus loves to surprise us. He loves it when we think our situation is hopeless. That is when He begins to work. You want to know why? Because whenever we are at a place of hopelessness, we no longer trust in our own knowledge or strength or experiences. We come to a place where we understand that we are dependent upon God. When we come to this place in life, then God begins to do for us that which we couldn’t do for ourselves. This was the lesson that Peter was about to learn. Nevertheless, he did what Jesus asked him to do. He went back out to fish. This time the tired fisherman wasn’t alone. This time the tired fisherman invited Jesus into his boat, and now he was about to see what would happen when Christ entered his situation.

Chapter 2:

Broken Nets

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break, So, they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink

(Luke 5:6–7, NIV).

The nets began to break. This