Growin' Up Gregory

We've looked at three steps to success found in the story in Luke 5:1-7, but now let's see what that success is, and better define a win.  The story is below again if you'd like to read back through it. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in around Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.  There Jesus saw two boats but the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.  And then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.  Simon replied, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets."  And Simon had done this, they caught a large number of fish, so many that their nets were breaking.  They signaled to their partners in the othe...

We've already looked at two steps to success, being in the right place for the right purpose, and obedience, that are found in this fishing story in Luke 5:1-7.  And there is one more step to success we can see here.  The story if below if you'd like to read it again, or hop on down to the points. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in around Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.  There Jesus saw two boats but the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.  And then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.  Simon replied, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets."  And Simon had done this, they caught a large ...

My last post was about step 1 to success found in this story, being the right place for the right purpose.  So let's take a look at the next step.  The story from Luke 5:1-7 is below if you would like to read it again as well. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in around Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.  There Jesus saw two boats but the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.  And then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.  Simon replied, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets."  And Simon had done this, they caught a large number of fish, so many that their nets were breaking.  They signaled ...

I enjoy fishing, and want to be successful.  So let's see what this story found in Luke 5:1-7 can teach us.  As you read through the story, think about the goal of those in the story, our goals as individuals, and our goals as the church. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in around Jesus to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.  There Jesus saw two boats but the fisherman had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, Jesus asked him to put out a little from the land.  And then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.  Simon replied, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets."  And Simon had done this, they caught a large number of fish, so many that their nets were breaking.  Th...

Jonah has had a rough time of it lately.  He's run from God, been tossed into the sea, swallowed by a fish, but finally prayed to God and has now been thrown up out of the fish onto dry ground.  So let's look at where he goes from here. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you."  So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.  Nineveh was a very great city, three days journey around.  Jonah went into the city a day's journey and called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"  And the people of Nineveh believed God.  They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.  The word reached the king of Nineveh and he removed his robe, covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.  He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh, "By decree of the king and his nobles:  Let n...

Prior to the start of this story, Jonah has been ordered by God to go to Nineveh and tell them the word of the Lord.  However, Jonah disobeyed and wound up facing a storm and eventually being swallowed by a great fish where he has been for three days and three nights. Now we pick up in the next part of the story. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, "I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice.  For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.  Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.'  The waters closed in over me to take my life, the deep surrounded me, weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.  I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet you brought up my l...

This is a political post. If you don't want to read it don't. It's less about the candidates and more about the media so now you know and can decide if you want to read on or not. I'm becoming less convinced that the President actually runs this country and has the power to change things. It seems that the media (social, TV, etc.) has all the power. The American people elected a black president twice (2008 and 2012) which tells me that race is not a major issue (yes ther ... e are pockets of racism but that's another and lengthier post) and that different skin colors are being viewed with more equality across the country. Good job America. But now, 8 years later, the media says we have a race problem so guess what, people start believing we have a race problem. Personally, I wish our next president was black, I believe that Dr. Ben Carson would have been an amazing president. He is clearly very intelligent and appears, from what I've seen and re...

So far in the story, Jonah has fled in disobedience from God, and is now caught in a devastating storm on a ship at sea with sailors and a sea captain who are calling out to gods who have no power over this storm of the Lord.  The sailors have already hurled the cargo into the sea and now continue on trying to figure out how to stop this storm. And the sailors said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us."  So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.  Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.  What is your occupation?  And where do you come from?  What is your country?  And of what people are you?"  And Jonah replied to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land."  Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done!"  For they knew that Jonah was run...

As Christians, how can we be so blind at times to people's behavior?  How do we just look past people doing bad, even evil things, in their past and just believe that they are "okay" people going forward?  It seems like we just ignore past behavior and forget all about it.  Do we, and if so, what does it mean for us and our beliefs?  Let's look at a few men from the Bible and see what we may learn. Moses fled from a murder charge in Egypt, and even went against the king (Pharaoh).  Yet we see that he spoke intimately with God throughout Exodus, and even freed a group of people from slavery!  He also appeared with Jesus during the transfiguration.  So did Moses have mistakes in his past?  Yes, but he overcame them through the Lord's forgiveness to achieve great success. David committed adultery and even had a man killed, basically putting a hit out on him.  Yet David wrote much of Psalms and is called a man after God's own heart....

Now many people I'm sure are familiar with what is most often called the story of "Jonah and the Whale" but I'd like to take a deeper look at that story and some biblical principles we can take from it and apply to our lives.  Jonah was a prophet to the 10 northern tribes of Israel, though that is not what he's most remembered for.  The city of Nineveh is also mentioned in this story.  This city, possibly the largest in the ancient world, is the capital of Assyria and known for its cruelty to people.  Nineveh was also a constant enemy and nemesis to Israel. Now for Part 1 of the story. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me."  But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.  He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.  So Jonah paid the fare and went into the ship to go with them to Tars...