Friday, August 6, 2004
"I want to give you a boat." That's what Carl announced to me. Actually it was to the ministry that I was involved with at that time. And I was grateful, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with a boat! Now Carl had this little fishing boat, and it was run down and he couldn't use it because he had had a heart attack, and now he gave it to us to sell. We were really in a tight time financially, so I accepted the boat gratefully. I asked a boating friend of mine how much it was worth, and he said, "Oh, I think about $1,000," and that's exactly what Carl said he could have sold it for. Well, we needed the money, so I recruited this work crew of 20 people and we went down to the Jersey Shore and we scraped off the barnacles off the bottom. We got new bottom paint on it. We scrubbed, we disinfected, we put up new curtains. We serviced the engine, we did a total makeover on that boat. Let me tell you what God did. We sold it for $4,200. Man, did the value of that vessel change when it changed hands.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Changing Hands - Changing Value."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 5. I'll begin reading at verse 1. We're reading an incident from the life of Simon Peter. "One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesarat, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the Word of God, He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down, and taught the people from the boat." Later we're told that as Simon went out under Jesus orders he caught the greatest catch of fish he'd ever seen in his life. It was the miracle day in his boat. Now, Simon didn't know this, but this was a crossroads day in his life. Later he'll know it. In fact, it would re-chart the course of the rest of his life. He woke up a fisherman that day and he went to bed a disciple. It all started when his boat changed hands.
His vessel was officially out of service that day. Not doing much, he'd been out all night, he hadn't caught anything. He's mending his nets, he's washing his nets, he's ready to go to bed. It's just another fishing boat as long as it's under Peter's command. And then Jesus came. What was just a fishing boat becomes a pulpit for the Son of God. An ordinary vessel becomes a vehicle for God to do His work - to carry His message.
You may or may not have a boat, but you probably have something that Jesus can put to work for him. I remember when my wife said, "I'm going to offer my camera to the Lord. I don't know what you can do with this, Lord, but you know I'm pretty good with a camera." She ended up taking that camera on two missions trips, and doing some wonderful media presentations for missions. She did many media presentations for us showing what it meant to be a lost young person and recruiting many people to help with that. She just said one day, "It's not my camera, Lord. I don't know what you can do with it, but do what you want." And, boy, did the Lord do something with it! Just like that boat we were given, that camera really became more valuable when it changed hands; when it was taken out of my wife's hands and put into the hands of Jesus.
What do you have like that? You've got a car, maybe a computer, maybe a skill that you could teach people, maybe a house you could surrender to the Lord, an apartment, maybe recreation equipment. I don't know what it is. Maybe you can't see how the Lord could ever use it. I'm sure that Peter could never dream how the Lord could use a fishing boat, but the Son of God did wonderful things with that fishing boat, and even more with the fisherman's life.
Look around. What could you surrender to Jesus for His use? He wants to make something in your life a vehicle for his work. Turn it over to Him, put it in better hands than yours, and you'll be amazed at how much it can be worth in the miracle-working hands of Jesus Christ.