I thank you for praying for the special gathering to which I gave speeches a few times. It was a very blessed occasion, with nearly ten people confessing their faith in the Lord.

The church I was called to minister to was over 40 years old. One of the youth there told me that he represented the fifth generation of Christians in his family. His ancestors' faith has been passed down to him through five generations!

I again want to thank you for supporting all such gatherings with your prayers. Without your prayers, such gatherings would not have been so blessed, or atleast, I couldn't have experienced His work in the way that I did there. [Our prayers on behalf of Christian work is so important, desu ne! Actually, our prayers are important for another reason too, as I hope you will see.]

Now let's review some scripture before I explain today's reading.

Mt.26:31-32. In this part, Jesus told the disciples that he would meet them again in Galilee. He promised it. And, He did meet them there. Of course, He never breaks His promises.

Mt.4:14-17. The place of Galilee was where the Bible tells us Jesus started His public ministry. See verses 23-25. So, please remember that the main place He worked was Galilee. And, of course, the people who followed Him were mostly Galileans.

Galilee is a mountainous place, deep in the country. Its size is approximately 96 km by 50 km. It is most famous for its lake; Lake Galilee, which is much lower that the actual sea level. Because of this, Lake Galilee often has big waves and strong winds. It is changeable and full of storms. [There is a good analogy here.] That is why people compare this lake to people's lives.

Mt.28:10. This happened after His resurrection. Taking Mary's messages to heart, the disciples went back to their homes in Galilee. May this is true, but if you'd permit, I think that they went back to their homes naturally, because they were so discouraged by Jesus' death. They were badly disappointed and depressed. Now, they must have felt that they had no hope at all --

There is a certain book entitled "When we feel disappointed in God" which is selling very well these days and challenging us in our life attitudes. In this book, the author is saying that there are three reasons for our feelings of disappointment in God. One of these is that we feel that God has been unfair to us in our lives. The second is that God appears to keep silent after our heart-felt prayers to Him. [Do you ever feel like this?] And, the third is that God appears to be hiding away from us. In these three situations, we strongly feel disappointed in Him.

-- Probably, His disciples were feeling this way. [They were human, too, after all.] They were probably feeling totally down.. then Jesus turned up! Though they couldn't recognise Him, Jesus stood on the shore calling to them. He told them to put their nets down on the right sides of their boat. (Some people say that from the shores of Lake Galilee, it is fairly easy to observe where the fish are in the water [however, this does not detract from the size of the catch they were to experience]. Anyways, following His instructions, they were able to catch lots of fish [and big ones too]. John, who was more spiritually open, could tell from this that it was Jesus, who was instructing them.

There are many kinds of Christians in this present world; some of them are spiritually blinded [to the great truths around them], while others are sensitive and spiritually aware. John was one of these sensitive ones [perhaps this is why it is said that Jesus loved him so]. Later, John was to receive special visions on a certain island, which were to be added to the Bible as what we commonly call 'Revelations'.

We may have seen Jesus too, many times in the past, only we cannot personally admit this. Some of us may have been too dull to have recognised Him sitting beside us. We just can't tell, but Jesus is certainly with us at times. Well, in their home town, which was their usually place of meeting with Jesus, Jesus' disciples met Jesus again. [Now here is the point..] That's where we can see Him. We can only see Jesus in Galilee. And, this Galilee is the place of our prayers. In prayers, we can see Jesus! It might be in your own room, early in the morning, or in the kitchen after sending out your family to their various appointments, or even in your special room at night. In these places, we can see Jesus. [Think about it].

I Pe.5:7. I am sure that these words are what Jesus said to His disciples at Lake Galilee. Jesus always cares for us, and thinks about us. So, we are OK. So long as we go back to Galilee (to the place where we share our thoughts and concerns with Him) we are OK.

Sermon translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
For another sermon see: Oita Evangelical Christ Church
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