Anyway

Thesis: Despite our own doubt, inadequacy, and sin, Jesus calls us to follow Him to see and do amazing things.

Objective: Explain that, as bad as we may be, Jesus still wants to hang out with us, change our lives, and use us to do awesome things.

1. We obey, reluctantly (4-5).
   1. Jesus asks the simple (4; Just as Jesus asked these fishermen to simply lower their nets one more time, the first things that He commands of us are generally small and fairly simple. Things that we should be able to take care of without too much trouble.).
   2. Jesus asks the weary (“We've worked hard all night” (5); Often, Jesus gives these simple commands after we've tried for so long on our own that we're tired and just ready to give up, and His command is to give it one more try His way.).
   3. Jesus asks the ridiculous (“haven't caught anything” (5); Often, the simple commands that Jesus gives seem out of season, strange, and downright silly.).
   4. We obey, reluctantly (“But because you say so...” (5); Often, when Jesus calls us to do something, we think He's off his His rocker and so hesitate, but we obey because someone told us He's the Messiah, we've seen Him do interesting things already, and our way hasn't worked.).
   5. We obey, partially (“I will let down the nets” (5); Often, when Jesus calls us to do something, we are initially reserved, choosing to stick our big toe in rather than jump all in.).
2. Jesus faithfulness highlights our unfaithfulness (6-10a).
   1. Jesus does amazing things (6-7; More often than not, when we decide to test the waters of faith, Jesus responds in such amazing form that our old way of life is demonstrated to be more than inadequate.).
   2. We become suddenly mindful (8; When Jesus does something amazing, we are abruptly reminded of our own inadequacy, doubt, and sin.).
   3. Jesus astonishes us (9-10; Jesus' faithfulness and power surprises and impresses us greatly so that we are pretty sure that He could never need or want us. We simply can't imagine that He should/would/could use us, or even want to be in our presence.).
3. Jesus calls us anyway (10b-11).
   1. He bids us not to fear (“Don't be afraid” (10); Often, our inadequacy before Jesus causes us to fear Him, but that's the last thing He wants.).
   2. He promises more and better things (“from now on you will catch men” (10); Jesus' promise is that, “If you were impressed by that, I'm just getting started.” He's not anywhere near done with the amazing things. His promise to Nathaniel in John 1:50 was, “You will see greater things.” And His promise in John 14:12 was that, even more than that, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”).
   3. He calls us to leave the old (“So they... left everything” (11); In order to see the greater things that Jesus promises, we must first resolve to abandon all the stuff of the old life that will hold us back and distract or derail us.).
   4. He calls us to follow Him (“and followed him” (11); So far from not wanting us around, Jesus actually bid these imperfect, inadequate men to follow Him, meaning that they would spend their time in His presence and pattern their lives after His. Despite our inadequacy, doubt, and sin, Jesus calls us anyway.).