Chapter 1 A Consecrated Life - Far Eastern Bible College

partners had sailed back to shore empty handed, probably feeling very
tired and disappointed as they washed their nets.
It was early morning and Jesus was standing on the beach when
they came in. But the morning also brought crowds of people who
wanted to hear Jesus preaching the Word of God to them. As the crowd
grew and grew bigger, it became difficult for our Lord to be heard and
many could not see Him. He was lost in the crowd, He was crowded
and in danger of being crowded into the water. Some new physical
arrangement was definitely needed to facilitate His preaching. But since
this was at the seashore, there were no pews and not pulpit from Him to
preach from. As our Lord looked around he saw the two fishing boats
which belonged to the fishermen disciples. He therefore used the boat
which belonged to Simon Peter as a pulpit for His preaching.
Here we can see the very first of three persuasive reasons that will
lead us to the turning point of forsaking all and following the Lord.
I. God Will Use Whatever We Yield to Him
for His Glory
People are sometimes not willing to forsake or surrender the things
they have because they think that they are the only means they have in
this world to get gain, to get profit, to get all the things that are
important and valuable to them in life. But very often, they find
themselves disappointed because the things they cling to so tightly and
refuse to give up, do not give them what they expect from them. This
was the situation with Simon Peter.
Peter’s fishing boat had not brought him the earthly profit he
expected from one whole night’s hard work of fishing on the sea of
Galilee. But now we see what great dividends it was able to reap for
God’s Kingdom when the Lord used that boat for preaching His lifegiving
Word to the whole crowd of people. From this, we learn an
important lesson: it is best for us not to withhold from the Lord, the
things we have. We should rather make everything we have available
for the Lord’s use, and then these things would find great eternal value
in having been used by God to bring glory to Himself.
Forsake All and Follow Christ
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