#255: A Higher Calling

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Today we're going to talk about a higher calling, and CJ is going to share a little bit on this topic and just encourage you today in your creative journey and your writing and the process that God has you in.

Yeah, well, why don't we just go ahead and open in a word of prayer. Just allow the Lord to do whatever he wants during this time together. So, Father, I just thank you so much for each and every person.

That'S live or watching the replay right now. I just thank you.

For who you are. I thank you that you're still on the throne even in the midst of what seems like some chaos at times. We thank you that none of this is a surprise to you, that you're sovereign, you're good, and that for those who love you, you are working all things together for the good of those who love you. And I just. I pray that each of us would be encouraged. I pray you strengthen each and every person in the CBA.

Christian Book Academy. I ask, Lord, that you would pour your spirit into us, give us the strength that we need, help us to persevere, help us to accomplish the goals that we believe you've put on our hearts, Lord. And I ask that each and every person would leave here, even today.

More encouraged and with a deeper faith and longing for you, Jesus, and that you would be glorified through everything that we do. And we thank you for this time together. I pray that it'd be a sweet time for each of us. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

So if you have a Bible or access to the scriptures, I'm going to actually read.

Luke chapter 5:1 through 11. And it's a story that we're all familiar with in terms of the big catch of fish that that happened. But let's read the details there, starting in. In Luke 5, verse 1.

So it says, one day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water.

So he sat in the boat and taught the Crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish.

Master Simon replied, we worked hard all last night and we didn't catch a thing, but if you say so, I'll let down the nets again.

And this time their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear. A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, o Lord, please leave me. I am such a sinful man. For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, don't be afraid. From now on, you'll be fishing for people.

And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Well, we see an interesting story here.

How would you and I have reacted, you know, when Jesus approached us and said, hey, you know, I'd like you to move out into the deeper water so that you can let down. Then that's for a catch. And you can just imagine, Peter, you can almost just hear it in his voice. You know, like, I just need to at least let you know, Jesus, that we've been out there all night.

Just in case you didn't know.

I don't have to say that sentence, but just, you know, I need to let you know that we've been out there all night. We've been frustrated.

Tired.

We've had little success, no success.

Basically, the catch had just been absolutely terrible when it comes to fishing. And I want to ask all of you, how many of you have ever felt frustrated or disappointed by what you perceived was a lack of success?

Maybe you've been up all night.

Promoting your book. Maybe it's been all week, maybe all month. Maybe you've been working on something for a year. Just, you know, your. Your fingers are practically bleeding. You've been working so hard.

And at the end of the day, you see little success for your efforts. You're frustrated. There's been little in terms of maybe what the world would consider.

Success.

You haven't sold too many books. That book promotion just didn't go very well. It felt like you were Peter here, out all night, nothing to show for it. You're tired. And now here this religious teacher says, hey, let's go fishing, guys. Put out to deeper water. How would you and I respond in such a situation.

And here's the thing. If the. How many know some of you know a little bit about fishing. If the fish weren't running at nighttime.

They probably weren't going to be running during the hot of the day when they're usually just scampering. Usually it's at nighttime when the. The fish are kind of coming after the bugs. You know, they're near the surface. Much better for those nets that are going to be dragged along beside the boat or behind the boat to grab the fish.

So it's no wonder, though, that Jesus did. Jesus must have known a little something about this because he says, put out to deeper water. Now, we don't know if it was basically beeline at Peter to the middle of the lake. I'm. We're not sure there. It could have just meant, you know, go from the. The two feet of water right here where the boat's sitting to 10ft of water. I mean, we don't know for sure. But he is essentially saying, let's go back out there. So how many of you can relate, though, to maybe some of the feelings that Peter might be having?

Jesus essentially asks us sometimes to try something that may be out of the ordinary. How many know that Jesus is going to say some things to us that we may have to do a double take and say.

Come again, Lord, was that you? Did I hear correctly? Was that my stomach rumbling?

You know.

There are going to be times when Jesus may call us to something out of the ordinary.

And so.

How would you respond if you had such a catch of fish?

I don't know about you, but I might actually say Jesus tomorrow. I'd like to like, like us to meet back here at the same time, same place. We're going to sign a contract.

I'd like you here every day. You're good for business, my man.

We're going to do a contract. And the contract will basically say.

Really? And this is, we've had such a good catch that we don't even need to show up every day. Let's just do this once a month, same time, same place.

Rest of the month. I'm gonna, you know, head out to, you know, the nearest resort.

I'm gonna enjoy life and we'll work hard one day a week. But with you along, Jesus, we see our prospects really improving. How would you and I have responded if we're honest? We would. We'd be talking like that. Let's sign a contract. Let's redo this. Let's duplicate this every month. This could Be a lucrative business. And we'll even cut you in on a share, Jesus. I mean, yes, yes, you're the one that actually allowed us to catch all these fish, but surely you'll give us, you know, the. The majority ownership, you know, since it's our boat.

Yeah. Nancy says, won't you come and be my partner?

But here's what I want to ask you. It doesn't have to be fish, does it?

Right?

For us, it could be books. I want to ask you this. What if Jesus says, let's try this again, this book launch that you did, but I want you to do it this way.

And the next day, without warning, you woke up and you noticed that on Amazon, just Amazon alone, you had sold a million copies. Huh? Just overnight.

Oh, my gosh, I would faint.

How would you respond to that? I mean, seriously, Go ahead and write in the comments. How would you respond overnight? You are now a New York Times bestseller. You're nearing the top of the list. And for your specific Christian genre or niche, you're blowing away the competition with just the overnight sales.

Now let's look at Peter's response again. This is chapter five, verse eight. Listen to what he says here.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, oh, Lord.

Please leave me. I'm such a sinful man.

Just think about that.

Now. I believe that you and I would probably react similar.

If we knew we'd been given an idea from Jesus.

And all of a sudden a million copies sold just like that.

How many know.

That at that point.

The book sales would no longer matter?

It wouldn't matter anymore. At that point, you're like, Jesus.

I'm a sinful man.

I can't even be in your presence, the presence of holiness.

You don't even know the depth of me, Jesus.

I'm a sinful man.

At that point, the New York Times best seller list would go out the window.

I want to say that at that point, Peter was ruined.

He was ruined in the same way that Isaiah was ruined in Isaiah, chapter six.

Woe is me, for I've seen the Lord, I'm undone. I'm done. I've seen the Lord, and I now see my sinfulness.

And yet Isaiah wasn't struck dead. Instead, there was a hand that said, get up.

The Lord wants to speak to you. And in the same way, Peter was absolutely ruined.

As he saw his own filthiness next to holiness, next to this Jesus who stood before him. And I want to submit that at that moment, Fish were No longer the main thing in Peter's life.

Instead, Jesus was the main thing.

I want us to notice that Jesus did not lecture or rebuke Peter in that moment.

I could just see him putting his hand on Peter in that moment and saying, don't be afraid, Peter. Don't be afraid. I'm not going to strike you down, Peter.

I'm not going to strike you down. Yes, you are in the presence of holiness.

But I have another calling for you.

All Jesus did was show Peter how to catch fish.

And yet Jesus says, don't be afraid.

Your fishing, Peter, is going to take on greater meaning.

And at the end of that chapter or at the end of the story, as soon as they landed, as soon as they landed.

It says they left everything and followed Jesus. Now I don't know if the fish just rotted there.

Yeah, what happened to the fish?

I don't know if the nets just finally, by the time they got to the shores, they had all leaked out of the torch torn nets.

We don't read the rest of the story. We just know that Peter and the. And the gang would have been set, all their debts would have been paid off with that one catch.

They no longer needed to fish, so to speak. It was such a catch that they would have been set and their families would have been set for quite some time.

But that really wasn't the point. The point was who was in that boat with them.

And I just want to, as far as my part, I'm going to turn it over to Shelley to share some things as well. But for my part, I want to ask us a question that I really want to linger beyond this video.

And that question is, are we willing to leave behind the world's idea.

Of success.

In order to pursue something even greater?

Now, Jesus in this instance, it says Peter and his, you know, the other guys, James, John, they, they left everything and they just started following Jesus. They were undone men on that, on that beach that they, they were, they were, they couldn't fish in the same way that they used to. They saw enough and they said, we want to follow you, Rabbi. Wherever you go, we'll follow you. Now, Jesus may not be calling us to lay down our books, but what I want to submit is that perhaps we lay down the idea of the world's success in terms of these great catches that set us up for life, you know, financially. Instead, could we see a glimpse of Jesus if he blessed us in such a way? Could we see a glimpse of Jesus that said, I don't even care about these books anymore, about the New York Times bestseller list. It's been my goal. Could it have been that Peter dreamed about a catch like that? He only dreamed about it. Just like kids dream about being professional baseball players or professional Olympians or whatever it might be. Could it be that Peter sometimes dreamt of a catch like this only to wake up and say, oh, it was only a dream? How many of you have had dreams of maybe being a New York Times best selling author? Have had dreams of our books getting into the hands of millions of people around the world? And it might have been an honorable dream, like, man, wouldn't that be something? And not just to have our bank accounts full, but we wanted to impact people. But could it be that as we see these glimpses of Jesus, we realize, if I'm following this Jesus, he'll take care of me no matter what. He'll take care of the finances, he'll take care of the number of books sold. He'll. He'll take care of my writing craft and my ability to write words and string together words, even in a season of a pandemic.

He will lead me. And I just want to leave us with that. Would you and I at least be willing to leave behind the world's idea of success in order to be ruined by this Jesus in a good way, where we just want to follow him no matter what it, no matter what it is, no matter what it costs, we're willing to follow Him. And if he has those moments where he blesses us in ways that blow our minds, we fall to our knees and we say, oh, Lord, why would you bless me in such a way like this? I'm not worthy. How could you bless me? Even all that you know about me and my core and my being.

The times I sin, the times I fall, the times that I'm irritable, the times that I'm grumpy, the times that I don't react like I'm trusting in the God of the universe through a pandemic. How could you bless me like this, Lord? And I just want to leave us with that because I just believe that each of us, we're going to be taken care of as we look to the Lord. The Father's not going to let his children go hungry. He's not going to let his children.

Not be taken care of in one way, shape or form. And I'm not just talking financially. I'm talking about the core of our being.

Moving away, depression, healing us in different ways, emotionally, physically, what it might be The Father's with us, even if.

We'Re down to our last breath on this planet, and we get glory of being in his presence forevermore.

Yeah, that's so good. I mean, I. I don't need to add anything.

But I was just reading this passage the other day, going chronologically through the Bible, but really slow, just really taking it in. I'm taking a little bit from the Old Testament, a little bit from the new, kind of alternating. And this was just happened to be a passage that I studied the other day. And it just hit me in a little different way than it has before. And, you know, it says, simon replied, we worked hard. And those. Those words stuck out to me. Worked hard, hard. Because have you ever felt that way? Like, I worked so hard, and for what? Like that. There was just. There was nothing to show for it. And as a redeemed workaholic, I have worked hard a lot of my life.

For many times. What seems so little, right? It's just like, oh, man, I've just worked so hard. And yet.

He had worked hard without catching anything. But going to the exact same place, doing the exact same thing that didn't work before, even though he worked hard with Jesus, made all the difference. And so sometimes, you know, we get those moments of disillusionment, like CJ said, or a book launch doesn't go well, or this certain thing doesn't happen, or we reach out to a strategic partner and they never reply. And then it's like, oh, this doesn't work, and I don't want to go back to that same place. But when we do it out of our own strength and our own striving, you know, we can get some results. I mean, but a lot of times it can be minimal. But when we go back, even to that exact same place, that exact same thing with Jesus, when he initiates it, so you notice it wasn't even Peter's idea. You know, Jesus initiated it, and he. It was his idea. So, you know, I was just commenting. I can strive in my own strength with no results, but when Jesus initiates the same thing, miracles can happen.

So don't close your mind to what is possible with God. And just because something hasn't worked in the past, if Jesus is initiating it, if he's asking you to do something, you know, he can do miracles. And so, cj, why don't you just pray for us all on this topic, and then we'll go into some Q and A for those of you that are here.

Live.

Father, again, we just are Humbled when we read this story.

We're humbled by.

Not only this spectacular catch of fish.

We might even replace that with a spectacular selling of books.

If it were us in Peter's shoes.

But we're just. We're humbled that you reach out to us. That you put your hand on our shoulder and say, don't be afraid.

That you have a higher calling for each of us.

Sort of. If you think this was good, Peter, I've got much higher plans for you than just catching fish and selling them at market.

I pray that each of us would.

Get on board with the plans you have for our lives.

That we would be more fruitful and useful in our time on this planet.

That you would give us those God ideas, those things that could only originate because you initiated them.

And I pray that whether we sell little or much, that it would not even change our perspectives of just wanting to fall at our knees and worship you.

Yes.

That even if we sell one book, that we'll still follow our knees and worship you.

Yes, Lord.

Because you are the God of the universe that has us in your hands.

We do pray, Lord, for each and every member here. I do pray that you would provide for them. I pray that you would allow them to accomplish things that they never dreamed possible.

Yeah.

But that the key ingredient is you.

Yes.

And that. That each of us would always be careful to give you the glory and the honor to almost feel unworthy for such a catch and yet to revel and say, thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for every breath of life that you give me on this planet. Help us to live out of that gratefulness and that being in awe of a holy God who reaches down and still touches us. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

All right. Pray that God just continues to bless you abundantly and we will see you soon.

Love you guys.

Love you. Bye bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.