"He Has Made Us Fishers" By Brother Parrish Lee October 25th,
2015
Giving honor to that God that we
sing to. Giving honor to Him. The One who we don’t know anybody who’s
anything like Him. Giving honor to our
Savior, our King, our Master. Giving
honor to the One who makes ways out of no way.
The One who we could never repay for what He has done for us. Giving honor to Him whose name alone, the Bible says that the
mountains will crumble, and the devils flee, and, I know, personally, sickness
cannot stand before Him. No battle can
stand before that precious name, for, to the righteous, He is a strong tower
that we can run to and be safe. Giving
honor to Him who allows no weapon that is formed against us to prosper. Giving honor to Almighty God, the Savior of
our souls, whom we come to worship this morning. Giving honor to Him. And, giving honor to the founder, and those
who have paved the way in this ministry.
Giving honor to all of those who paved the way for this pastor, from the
Apostles, all the way down, for they have made sure, God has made sure, that
they have been the faithful curators of His Word, that we might have it, and,
today, giving honor to all of those. For
this ministry, our founding pastor, he and his family, to our pastor, he and
his family, and all of those who have stood in the gap and made up the
hedge. If anybody ever said, “You take a
long time with those accolades,” I tell you what, I’ll tell you the truth: I am very thankful to be saved. I am thankful for every single thing that God
has done for me. I am not leaving
anything out, because he never left anything out for me. I’m thankful for everybody that was faithful
in the calling He called them to, because I didn’t get here by myself. I didn’t come to this Gospel because one day
I thought, “I think I will get saved today.”
I came because of faithful people, and one and only true and wise
God. And, giving thanks for all of you,
who present yourselves before the Almighty God, that He might enrich your life;
you truly come to give praise to Him, for the Bible says He seeketh such to worship
Him (John 4:23). Giving honor to all of
you, because you make it possible. The
Bible says where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be—a
guarantee—He will be there, in the midst.
Giving honor to all of you, here this morning. We have taken this month, and we
have taken it to be, “Lessons in Evangelism:
Working the Field of Souls.” And,
our Scripture theme for the month has been from the Book of Mark: Mark 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me,
and I will make you to become fishers of men. Our Scripture theme for today: 2 Timothy 4:5 But watch thou in
all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. So, this has been the month of
“Lessons in Evangelism: Working the
Field of Souls.” The first message this
month, we had gone on to talk about working the field of souls, the first
message talked about: Many times, one of
the tools the Lord may use in evangelism, many times, one of the tools, is to let
trouble come, to let trouble come. The
Lord doesn’t bring trouble, but he may it come to His people, because the
second point of that is, if he lets trouble come, usually, after that, He is putting
you on display, so that everybody around can see what’s coming in your life. And, then, while you’re on display, the word can
get out and the move of God can go forth, and that evangelism would reach more
people. And, then, week number two, Brother
Jesse, he talked about "What is our part, and what is God's part in this
lesson of evangelism?” And, he made two
specific pints that I want to highlight.
Just one of them is, to let our light shine takes preparation. To let our light shine—it’s not one of those
automatic things. To let our light shine
takes preparation. And, another point
that he brought up is that no one can share if they aren't willing to learn. No one can share if they aren't willing to
learn. ##7:01## And last week, of course, we had
our brother, Chris, as he preached, and he talked about: "Being sold out
for yourself, and then being sold out for others." Two of the points hat he made, out of the
many that he made, were, “Don't wait until the last minute,” but then he also
said, how, as he Lord said unto Peter, that we are going to places, in this
evangelism, that we wouldn't normally go on our own. We will go to places that we wouldn't
normally go on our own. Just a quick review, and our
prayer is that, as we review, and take it just one step further, we might
receive the blessing that God has for us today. Part 1: Evangelism: Taking
Away the Stigma Taking away the stigma of
evangelism. We have talked this month,
and Brother Jesse brought up one of the points of how when you say the word,
“Evangelist,” usually you think of people and, you know, they have a big crowd,
and they do a lot of talking, that sort of thing, but you normally get a
picture of them doing it in other churches—not their own church, other
churches. That isn’t really the way that
it happened in the Bible. If we were to
go back and define and really have a concept about this word, evangelism, you
can see that the first evangelists, the first evangelists, were actually the
angels. You can actually see it in the
word: evangelist. That means the first evangelists were the
angels, and their mission, or their creed, their purpose, was simply to bring
the Good News to men, to bring the Good News to men. The Good news, or the Glad news, they were to
bring it to men. In fact, the four Gospels that we know, Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John, they are also referred to, other than the Four Gospels, they are also
referred to as the Four Evangelists, the Four Evangelists. Taking the Good News. This is also what they are referred to. Now, it also means to be a messenger, which
is why, if we were to—many churches have their own definition of
evangelist. And, if you say that word,
you always get a certain picture in mind, but when you talk about it, you
really want to go back to what the Bible had started saying about it. You know, evangelists, they weren’t the big
rich people, and their names weren’t big because of prestige ad everything, it
was more about the sacrifice that they made, if you were to look in the Bible. And, when we say messenger, or one who was to
bring the Message, this would make the definition so much broader. In fact, it wouldn’t just be regulated to
those who traveled. And they weren’t,
you know, those, loud-mouthed Scripture machines that had a special connection
with God. When you look at it this way, to
announce bring the good news, who can’t do that? That makes the term, evangelism, so much more
palatable for the common man, or, for all the Saints. In fact, in the Book of Second
Timothy, and this is our Scripture theme for today: 2 Timothy 4:5 But watch thou in
all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. This is another thing about
evangelists. We mentioned a little bit
about how sometimes people think they are those loudmouthed Scripture machines,
but let’s look at another person who was called to be an evangelist: John 9:1-11 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which
was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did
sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that
sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I
am in the world, I am the light of the world. When He had thus spoken, He
spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of
the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go,
wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went
his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbours therefore, and
they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat
and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I
am he. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered
and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and
said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I
received sight. As Jesus passed by, he saw a man
who was blind from birth. Blind from
birth. Now, this had to be a real unfortunate
situation, but, people knew if you’re born blind, if you’re born that way,
there’s nothing that you are going to be able to do. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Master,
who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” Which is not a question that would be out of
the ordinary, you see, Israel was supposed to be God’s people, but, Israel had
committed so many sins, if you will, transgressions, if you will, things God
had told them not to do, they went on to do anyway, and things that God told
them to do, they left off. They had done
that so much that they were used to seeing a retribution. “IF I go up against God, I’m going to get a
bad reward. If I go with God, I’m going
to get a good reward.” So, they were
kind of used to, “If something bad is going on, it must be because we have done
bad.” They were used to this; they had
done that for centuries. In fact, it was
woven into their culture. It had gone on
since they went into the Promised Land, and had to die out for their transgressions
and disobedience. So, it was so woven
into the fabric of their culture, that they even knew that the reason the
Romans were over them now was because they were in captivity. And they were in captivity for hundreds and
hundreds of years because of their transgressions. So, in their minds, they would associate
something bad with having done something bad.
So, obviously, this man being blind, it’s because some sin caused
it. “So, who did sin? This man that we’re looking at? This blind man? Who sinned, Lord? Somebody had to sin, because he’s blind! Was it his parents? Did they do something, maybe when they were
coming up? Maybe it was his
grandparents; maybe there was a curse on his family. Or, maybe it was him; maybe he did it. Maybe he did it. He cause himself to be born blind. Maybe he did something in the womb!” Really.
But, this was something they were accustomed to. It’s not all that far-fetched. It’s not, because we truly receive a reward
for our labor, a reward for our labor. But, as you see in the scriptures,
the Lord answers them in verse number three, Jesus answers, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him.” In other words, that judgment, that
association, that assumption you just made does not give place for God wanting
to work some special stuff. Not
everything is because of sin, and not everything is because you are so good. Many times, God has it on display, just
holding there because God wants to do something special. Many times, it’s because it’s in wait for the
works of God to be made manifest. Oh, that had to be a concept! “What in the world was the Lord talking about
here, that the works of God could be made manifest?” So, they were looking forward to the rest of
this answer, that the works of God could be made manifest. Then, in verse number six, “When He had thus
spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” This chapter here is so rich, it
would be impossible to cover it in the thirty-five of forty minutes that I’m
allotted. But, we do have to make some
points here. This particular man wasn't deaf, this particular man wasn't lame, this
particular man didn't have an issue of blood, though the outcome would not have
been different. This particular man, by
design, was blind. And it had to be this
way to prove this point. This particular man had to be blind to prove this
point. And, truly, those who know me
know that this is like the greatest Godhead Scripture, I think, in
demonstration, in the whole Bible. This
Scripture right here. This Scripture,
right here, I believe it is the greatest demonstration of the Godhead, for it
says that, when they asked Him, when they asked him, they said, “How,” in verse
ten, “Therefore said they unto him, how were thine eyes opened? He answered and
said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes,” Now, look
at how the blind man, who now sees, describes this, he says, “A man that is
called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and told me to go wash, and now
I see.” Which is precisely what God did
for His people. You see, from the mouth
of God, from the mouth of the Lord, at that time, He made clay, He spat on the
ground, specifically. Not in the air,
not in a bush, not in the food, not on a table, not on a plate, but on the
ground to make clay of the whole spittle.
You would think that is pretty disgusting, yeah, and it’s important to
have that assessment, because this is what God did. From His mouth, the Lord made clay from the
dirt of the earth, but this clay that the Lord made, that the Lord, the Almighty
made, this clay, he was going to put His Spirit in it. This clay, that the Lord made, from His
mouth, was going to be able to walk and talk.
This clay, that the Lord was going to make, was going to have a
name. This clay was going to be a savior
of His people. Yes, it is, it is, it is
so beneath God to lower Himself to do that, and that is why this example had to
be blind—it had to be that he was blind.
Because then, this clay that He made, that walked and talked, Whom we
know, is named Jesus, this clay, would anoint eyes, and He would tell them to
go wash. He would anoint---he would
prick your heart and, all of the sudden, it would be like, “Oh, I think I
understand! I believe now! Now I can go wash, because I’ve followed His
Word.” And, if people would receive that
Word, as the blind man did, who could not see before his eyes were anointed,
neither could all of us, who have received His Word, see before He anointed our
eyes, our spiritual eyes, and go see that we could go wash, and that we could
come forth and see-see the revelation of the Spirit, the Truth of His Word, and
walking in tune with His comfort of love, and being with us. This clay was exactly what Jesus was doing
for ages and ages and ages. But, there’s
a specific point to all of this: This
man the Lord had sent to be an evangelist.
Now, he was blind. Of course,
back then, they didn’t have the printing press; they didn’t have Bibles in the
local bookstore that you could go over and, you know, there was plenty of
them. They were scrolls, and they would
be in the Temple. But, even if he had
had the chance to go into the Temple, he couldn’t read them, because he was
blind! Nevertheless, for anyone who ever
said, “Well, I don’t know that much about God, and the Word, and all of that,
so I can’t talk a lot about it,” this man would take that away because the Lord
asked him to give account, “Simply for what I have done for you. Share what I—I know you’re blind! I’m the One who healed you from being
blind! I’m the One who told you to go
wash. And, I’m the One who told you to
be in the company—“ if we were to read on, “—of all of those people who asked
you, ‘How were you seeing?’” And that’s
what we face now, especially new Christians.
“Wow! You have changed! What caused this change in your life? Last time I knew you, you was strung out, you
was chasing whores and whoremongers.
Last time I saw you, you was cussing like a sailor, you were drinking
like a—last time I saw you, you weren’t like this! How did you change?” “There’s this man called Jesus. I don’t know a lot about Him, I haven’t read
all that stuff about Him, but what I do know, whereas once I was blind, now I
see! That’s what you can’t take away
from me. That’s what he gave to me! That’s what he wants me to tell you. Once I was blind, and now I see.” And He called that man, that blind man, to
have that work manifested in his life so that he could be an evangelist. That he would have his own church? No! He called him to take the Word to all those
who had watched him for years, to take that Word to all of those who now see
what God has done for him. Taking away the stigma of
evangelism. Taking away the stigma—in
other words, if we think that we have to be one of those, a big loud-moth and
everything, no. You just have to tell,
wherever you are, whoever God opens the door to talk to, what he has done for
you, what He has done for you. So, yes,
it is about taking it and telling it, everywhere I go. Part 2: Option or Commission Is evangelism an option, or is it
a commission? Isaiah 43:7-10 Even every one that
is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him;
yea, I have made him. Bring forth the
blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and
let the people be assembled: who among
them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they
may be justified: or let them hear, and
say, It is truth. Ye are My witnesses,
saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and
understand that I am He: before Me there
was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Some years ago, I was helping out
with the youth group, and somebody had brought this young man to me, I think he
was nineteen or twenty. They brought him
to me, because they said, “You know Parrish, he deals with a lot of the youth
group.” I remember, we were on the
playground, I mean, we were where our church building used to be, and we were
there, and it was a Saturday, and there was all kind of things going on, kids
playing, and it wasn’t a youth group day, but they figured, “He’s a youth group
guy; he’ll be able to help.” So, I
talked to this man, blah, blah, blah, and he said, “I got to tell you, the
police are after me.” I said, “For
what?” He said, “You heard about this
big murder?” I said, “Yeah,” and he
said, “Their after me. They’re trying to
say that I did it.” I said, “Well, if
you didn’t do it, you know, you shouldn’t have to worry about it, I mean, you
know.” And I say to my shame that I
didn’t pray with that young man, because I just didn’t believe it would happen,
and, the next thing I know, a policeman came over and started questioning me. I was like, “Yeah.” Well, he wanted to know what did that young
man and I talk about. I started to tell
him; I didn’t think it was any big deal, up until the police said, “Well, what
part did you have in this situation?”
Whoa! And I told him, “I think I
need to get a lawyer.” He said, “No, no,
no, I don’t want get that serious with everything.” And I said, “Okay, I think this conversation
is over,” and I got out of his car and I went back. Then, maybe two years later, because, yes,
that young man did get convicted of that murder, he was in jail for many years,
but, on his appeal, I was, what they call, subpoenaed; they issued me a
subpoena. They said, “You have some sort
of witness to this young man, and we’re subpoenaing you to come and testify
what you saw.” It was a little scary; I never
had that happen before, but the consequence of not answering the call to tell
what I had seen would be jail for myself.
Imprisonment for myself for not following, or not owning up to the law
as it was, to testify of what I had seen. So, witnesses are required to testify of what
they see, what they know, what they’ve experienced. Well, that young man was in jail, I believe it
was seventeen years, and they were trying to try him again, and, that time,
there was a lot of prayer, I know, specifically, and it never went to
trial. That one never went to trial,
because the prosecutor decided not to press charges. I rejoice for him, and he said he’s not
holding a grudge or anything, and I just pray that God continues to touch his
life and to lead him, because, obviously, there is a purpose. God ain’t leading people here without a
purpose. That we’ve seen. But, back to the part of being a witness, as
we give account, the testimony of a witness is what they call concrete
evidence. Concrete evidence, something
that is not circumstantial, they didn’t make it up, they’re not trying to piece
things together; what you say is an actual account. So, we are required to testify of what we
have. Apostle Paul says here: 1 Corinthians 9:16-18 For though I
preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me;
yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing
willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the
gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach
the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my
power in the gospel. So, yes, Saints. It may be a question, but the answer is, yes,
I am required to preach the Gospel. The
point we wanted to make here is, everywhere we’re required to preach it. The devil will say, I don’t have to preach it
at home; that’s a lie. That’s a lie; we’ll
come right out and say it, that’s a lie.
Now, you don't have to put up a pulpit in your house, get your husband
or wife to sit down, “I’m going to preach to you!” Because you will live far more messages than
you will say. People will see it in your
life far more than they will hear it from your mouth, because, if they don’t
see it in your life, they’re not going to listen to what you say. This is why the Bible says to let your light
so shine before men (Matthew 5:16). Part 3: Lesson from the
Disobedient Angels Now, in the Bible, we’ve already
established that the first messengers, the first evangelists were the angels. And the angels, they had a certain attitude
when they brought the message. You’ll
very rarely even find them giving their names.
All the glory and credit went up to the One who sent them, to the Just
One, to the Ancient of Days, to the Lord of Hosts; all honor went to Him. For the message that the angels brought, that
is a great example. That is a great
example, all the way down until we get to one specific angel. Because, in the Bible, there is
one specific angel, who wanted to say, “I, I…”
Instead of talking about Him, “I’m going to be like Him. All that glory and honor and prestige He’s
getting? Right here, I’m going to get
some of that. I’m going to get me some
glory on the other angels. I’m going to get
me glory among men and women, among people all over the earth. You know what? I’m going to get some prestige, too. I am going to be like the Most High.” Was this angel anointed? absolutely. Was this
angel beautiful? absolutely; the bible says he was the most beautiful angel. Was this angel attractive? Did he attract those to follow after
him? The Bible says he made a light to
shine after him, and, in fact, people still follow him. They still find him very attractive. This particular angel was given a judgment
that he would be brought down to the fiery pit.
This angel we know as the devil himself.
The fallen angel; the disobedient one.
And this angel is still trying to get all that glory, that goes to God,
for himself. Through many avenues,
through lust, through pride, through false witness, through many things. Yes, this angel is still waning us to not
follow that example. The example is,
when God uses you, it feels natural, it feels awesome, it feels mighty, but,
when God uses you, all the glory goes to Him, the Just One. If we take it upon ourselves, then we are in
line, just like the devil was, to receive his same judgment. Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered
and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. As God uses you, as God uses
anybody, it always feels mighty, and you reflect back on that, and, “Wow! That was marvelous, and majestic,” and, really,
we always have to say, “God, I’m going to make sure You get the glory, because
it wasn’t about power, or might, it wasn’t because I was the most attractive,
not because I was the strongest, or the sweetest in talking, but it was because
God had sent me, and wanted to bless somebody. And our last one: Part 4: The World Is
Counting On Us Years ago, and I’m wrapping up
here, years ago, when I first got up here, I had to live with a few other
brothers until I could get on my feet financially, you know, I didn’t have money,
I didn’t have a job, that whole thing. I’m
very thankful to those who helped me get on my feet. But, what I had seen one day, I was looking
out the window, I was on the second floor, I was looking out the window, and I
saw Brother Jeff Lynch, he was coming over, and I was thinking, “Oh, we’re
going to get a visit form Brother Jeff Lynch.”
Well, he didn’t pull into our parking lot, he pulled into the parking
lot next to us. And I don’t know if he
turned the car off. I know he must have
put it in park, because the car stopped moving, but I do know that he never
shut the door. He jumped out of the car,
and ran to the apartment complex right next to us, and started banging on the
doors, and screaming at them. And I was
wondering what in the world was going on.
He was going door-to-door, and tapping on the windows; I mean, really
banging. I was wondering, “What could
possibly be the issue here?” And, as he
made his way along the side of the apartment complex, I saw that, in the front
of it, was a fire. Brother Jeff Lynch,
being a fireman, knew the matter of urgency, that those people needed to hear
what he had to say now, because a
fire was coming their way. I took a
strong lesson from that. I took a strong
lesson from that. Because, in so many
cases, as God has us be Christians, we’re all firemen. We need to warn people about the fire that is
coming to us now. Jude 1:22-23 And of some have compassion, making a
difference: And others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. On some, have compassion, as the
Lord wills, so that He can see them saved, and others with fear; sometimes we
have to be a little stern in the leading of the Lord, hating even the sin that
he’s trying to hold on to. This is our lesson for evangelism. Thank you.
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