A very warm welcome to each one of you here this morning. It is such a wonderful privilege to be here together as the family of the Lord, worshipping together.

Our prayer for one another is always that somewhere the Holy Spirit will touch our hearts - through a word or through a line in a song - and that you will have the experience that when you walk out of here, you will be able to say: there was a reason why I had to be here this morning. May the Holy Spirit truly work in each one of us in that way.

The Lord comes to us with His invitation: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened.” If I were to ask you: how was your week? Many of us would say: it was rough. There were too few days in the week. There are things in my life pressing in that make it quite tough.

Therefore, this morning His invitation is for you and for me: “Come to Me.” This is the Lord’s invitation - all who are weary and burdened. “I will give you rest.” That is the promise of the Lord. Let us take that for ourselves this morning - that we receive His rest.

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” That is the promise. It is not a maybe. The Lord promises it: you will find rest. “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

This morning we read from Luke 5.

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around Him and listening to the Word of God - everyone wanted to hear what He was saying. He saw two boats at the water’s edge. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. They did not fish with rods; they cast out nets and then pulled them in.

Jesus got into one of the boats - the one belonging to Simon - and asked him to put out a little from shore. After He had sat down, He taught the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

What does Simon say? He says, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have not caught anything.” You fishermen know how that feels - you try and try and have nothing to show for it. “But,” he says, “because You say so, I will let down the nets.”

What happened then?

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Almost submarines! That is how full they were.

Can you imagine - the whole night trying and getting nothing, and now so many fish that two boats almost sink!

What happened then?

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. James and John, the sons of Zebedee - two other disciples who were partners with Simon - were just as amazed.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch people.”

So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed Him.

So, friends, I want us for a while to pause together and reflect on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We follow Jesus in this season - it is Lent. With Ash Wednesday behind us, we have begun the journey, and now we are on the road with Jesus, discovering what it means to be His follower.

It is a joy for me to share from this passage with you this morning. May the Lord make it simple enough for us to understand - but not only to understand, also to apply it in our lives.

The meaning of “follow” - what does it mean to follow Jesus?

What do you think is the first step in following Jesus? If I say, “I am a follower of Jesus,” what would be the first step a person takes?

The first step in following Jesus Christ is always the step that He takes towards me.

It is never I who come first from my side. It is always the Lord who takes the first step towards me.

In all those “Follow Me” stories you read in the Gospels, it is Jesus who comes to the disciples and says, “Follow Me.” It is Jesus who comes to Matthew the tax collector and says, “Follow Me.” It is Jesus who stops under Zacchaeus’ tree and says, “Today I must stay at your house.”

Always the first step.

The story of the prodigal son - which I will repeat again and again - is the story of the father who runs towards his child. The Lord always takes the first step.

Also in these circumstances it is the Lord who takes the first step towards Peter and his friends.

Listen to what 1 John 4 says: What is true love? This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. First step.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

If you are convinced this morning of your identity as God’s child and you know: I am a child of the Lord - then you must also know this: you are that entirely on the basis of His grace, because He took the first step.

Our second step is, of course: I surrender. I am so overwhelmed by His love that I give myself to Him.

That is important, because that is our anchor. I can never boast about my conversion. I can never boast that I am a child of the Lord. It is absolutely grace.

Each time it is He who comes to fetch me. The first step is always God coming towards me to remind me that He loves me.

There is more than “here”.

The next important aspect of discipleship is that the Lord says: there is more than here - more than what you see right now.

He is very aware that Peter and the others had worked hard all night and had not caught even one fish.

And it is precisely in these difficult circumstances that the Lord comes and says: I am more than just this. I am more than your failed fishing attempt. I want to teach you that you can trust Me. I am more than your discouraging circumstances.

How we need to be reminded that it is the Lord who comes to us and says: remember, I am more than here. Here in these circumstances where I feel discouraged. Here where I do not know how I am going to make it through. Where I have no answers.

That the Lord comes to us - because He knows - and says: just remember, I am more than this. I want to invite you to discover that you can trust Me.

And of course, dear friends, you and I know: it would have been easy if our only problem was that we were not catching fish. But we face bigger problems. We face sorrow. We worry about our children. We face health challenges. We face death. We face the brokenness of the world.

And you and I also know: these things do not simply change when I hear the Lord’s voice. Where you are this morning is not the end point. Your circumstances are not the end point. Cast the nets into deeper water.

Following is about more than “YOU”.

Peter says, “Go away from me… I am a sinner.” We do not follow because we are good enough. Sometimes in my following I come to the realisation that it is God who keeps running after me. I cannot escape Him - I cannot shake Him off. Every side road I know… and each time You have come to fetch me somewhere along the way. His love and care are stronger than my sinfulness. He loved first; therefore we love. My sin does not have the final say. My past does not determine my identity - You determine my identity.

Lastly: following leads me to true life.

Life in abundance means saying: Lord, my difficult circumstances do not have the final say over my life. Life in abundance means saying: it is about the people around me - and especially about the people with whom I am not always so comfortable. To them too I must give the abundance of God’s love.

Following leads me to true LIFE. He says in John 10: “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” The Lord wants you and me to live in abundance - not abundance in what is in your bank account, not abundance in what is in your cupboard, but abundance in His love and His grace.

And the world needs this. What is the world used to? The world is used to judgement. “I am not good enough.” “I do not fit in.” “The Lord does not see me.”

And you and I must come with the fresh grace of God and say: He has come so that you and I may have life - and have it in abundance.

And the Lord wants us to experience life in abundance - that you can walk out, set free, and say: Lord, thank You for life. Thank You that I know I am on my way to Life with a capital L - with You, one day. Thank You for that.

This morning the Lord comes to us and says:

Remember, your past is not the end point. It is about more than just you.

You follow Me - but you may discover that many times I am actually running after you rather than walking in front of you saying, “Follow Me.”

Live in abundance - live light and free!

So, friends, we now move into worship.

A candle gives light, but a candle is fragile. When we do intercession this morning, we in fact confess our fragility - that life is fragile and breakable.

As we look at each of the names, we confess our fragility.

Behind each name there is a family standing around him or her.

We confess our fragility.

The last two names: Louise Les Marais, who passed away over the weekend - on Friday evening - after a long illness. Those of you who were close to them already know.

And Louis and Magda - with their tiny baby, only a few weeks old - who did not make it.

These are the things that make us toil through the night. That make us feel: why am I still pulling in the nets? There are no fish. My prayer feels empty.

These are the things that dry up our words. That make us say: Lord, I do not even know how to pray. Romans 8 says we groan - but thank You that the Holy Spirit groans with us.

Intercession for our local government. Intercession for our farmers.

Intercession for our long-term ill.

Also for everyone who is struggling - who is exhausted, discouraged, who feels their strength is fading.

Lord, You know every name. You know every family. You know every sorrow.

And therefore we come this morning - fragile, dependent - and we bring them to You.

But Lord, at Your command we will let down the nets again. We will not stop drawing near to You.

Therefore I want to invite you now - one way in which we do this is by confessing our faith in the Lord in whom we believe. I invite you to stand, in the middle of the storm, in the middle of our fragility, and say: I believe.

I will read the words for us, and the congregation responds together.

We stand here this morning before the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and we confess our faith.

Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
I believe.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord?
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
I believe in a holy, catholic, Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Lord, here we stand. We confess this faith - not in our own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You that we can hold on to this - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thank You that we can hold on to You, but also hold on to one another as a community of believers - that we can carry one another, even in fragile times.

In Your Name we pray this. Amen.

Let us stand and receive the blessing of the Lord - the Lord who at the beginning of the service said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened,” is also the Lord who sends us out with His blessing.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of you and remain with you.

Amen.