Koinonia And Evangelism

Praise God, good to see you here tonight as we worship the Lord. I want you to turn to Luke chapter 5, and as you find there, just to thank you for your prayers over the past couple of weeks, just being away in Germany and ministering the Word of God. We just had a very powerful time, very dynamic time, very important time.

We'll maybe share a bit about that and the different contacts and things that are happening on Sunday afternoon, but it does tie in with what I want to preach here tonight or teach for a time, and that's the wonderful fellowship that we have right across the world in different nations of individual churches, of preachers, of leaders, of Christians. It's not always the large or those of a reputation. It's those that we love, that we have a real relationship and identity with, that God has led us to stand with, that we have a relationship with over years or even new relationships with, but God has put us together with people.

We are not a denomination. We are not joined in some sort of association. We are united to the body of Christ wherever you find it, under whatever title it may be called.

Those that line up with the Word of God, that love Jesus Christ, that walk in the light of his truth, it is those that we identify with and join with and fellowship and labor with. But here tonight, just continuing our series on Koinonia, and there's two significant messages I want to do, but I didn't want to rush it. We were only in home just before midnight last night, and I really did not want to rush this.

I've been trying for weeks just to get the time to spend on these couple of messages, and I need time to think, need time to pray, just time to meditate on the Scripture. So, I certainly didn't want to rush into that tonight, but I've got a message here I just want to insert before we finish this series, and these next two are very weighty, very important, and are vital to the whole issue of Koinonia. But here tonight, in keeping with our series on Sunday, and very much in tune with Koinonia, my title here tonight, part nine, Koinonia and Evangelism, reading from Luke chapter nine, from verse one.

And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him, Jesus, to hear the Word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and he taught the people out of the ship.

Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answering, and said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.

And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they would come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished on all that were with him, at the draft of the fishes, which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shall catch men. And when they had brought the ships to land, they forsook all, and they followed him. And I hope as well God will, unless things change direction.

I'm going to come back to this portion of scripture, expound it, preach from it more on Sunday morning. But I want to apply it here tonight very specifically to Koinonia. On Sunday morning, we'll be dealing specifically with our series on evangelism and soul winning.

But tonight, we're going to deal with Koinonia and evangelism. Let's pray together. Father, we love you.

We worship you. Father, I thank you for this church that you've put together, the individuals with different giftings and abilities, with different characteristics. Lord God, you've made us to be a boat of believers.

You've joined us together, Lord God, in partnership, in union, in a task, O God. You've called us to be soul winners. Lord God, I cannot do that as an individual.

No one of us in this church can do that. No group of individuals, Lord God, as a body of believers, as a church, we're asking that you bring us into this Koinonia, this union, this fellowship, this sharing, this partnership. Lord God, this task of being unified with one heart and mind and spirit.

Lord God, that we might reach souls for you. Father, we're asking, O God, that you make us a soul winning church. And Father, that even our fellowship and friendships together and our unity together would be used of you.

Lord God, to reach members of our family. Lord God, people in our workplaces, those around us, those that we love. Lord God, I pray, O God, that you'd so unite us, that you'd command your blessing, even life forevermore.

And Lord God, we long, O God, Lord God, that a day is gonna come where you'd shock us and surprise us with what you do in this city of Limerick. Lord God, like Peter of old, that we'd find ourselves falling at your knees and repenting, O God, because of our unbelief and our casualness. Lord God, astounded and shocked, O God, at how you would bring in a great harvest of souls.

Lord God, we are asking of you, remember us, O God, in our weakness and our smallness. Lord God, in our frailty, O God, you know man, O God, you know us, O God. And Lord God, you know every weakness and frailty and battle that we go through, but you're a great God and a merciful God and a kind God.

And we ask that you demonstrate your power in reaching many souls for Christ. Use a weak vessel like this church, O God. Use a wooden boat like this church in Jesus' mighty name, and use fishermen such as us that are rough and ready, nor, God, that don't have all our T's crossed and our I's dotted, but we love you with all of our heart in Jesus' mighty name.

Bless us tonight for your sake and glory and honor in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.

My message from Luke chapter 5 is koinonia and evangelism. And you may wonder where I get this word here tonight, but if you read again Luke chapter 5 and verse 10, and so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not from henceforth, thou shalt catch men.

The word in this verse, partners, is koinonoas. It is connected to koinonia. It's in the same family of words that carries the same meaning.

And so, here what you have is the word koinonia or koinonoas actually used in the context of not a spiritual meaning, not concerning our relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or with our brothers in Christ. This word koinonia is actually used in a secular sense amongst fishermen. In fact, for a number.

It's talking about Simon, Peter, and his brother Andrew, along with James and John. And both of them had a boat each. Both of them had a business each.

Both of them used to sail on the Sea of Galilee. They lived in Capernaum, and both of them had boats, but they had entered into a partnership or a koinonia. And so, from this, if you begin to understand what their relationship was like, you're going to begin to understand something of what it means in the Bible when men and women are brought together in fellowship together to reach souls for Jesus Christ.

This is a picture. It is a type. It is a story, a true story, a real story.

But do you know what? Nothing is missing by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses particular words in a particular way to help us understand things. And so, it says here in verse 10 concerning this.

And do you know what? I'm not being wrong, taking this as a spiritual picture. It's a real story, real boat, real fishermen, and applying it spiritually. I'm not wrong in doing that because that's what happens in the verse.

Look what Jesus says right at the end of this verse. He says, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. See, until this point, they were catching fish.

And now Jesus takes what is practical, social, secular, a real business, what their work was, and he actually transfers it over spiritually and says, you're not going to catch fish anymore. You're going to catch men. And we know in other scriptures that he calls them to be fishers of men.

In other words, Peter remained a fisherman, but he was no longer a businessman, a fisher of fish, but he becomes a fisher of men or a fisher of souls. And so, we see in this verse, it is applied, this partnership, this union of men, two families, two sets of brothers entering into a business, joining their two boats together to help each other, to sail on the waters, to catch fish. All of this is actually a spiritual picture.

All four men are called by Jesus Christ to be fishers of men, to follow him, to leave their nets, to leave their boats, to leave the waters, and to embark on ministry with him. They had actually sat already under the ministry of Jesus for a year and a half. And so, this is a year and a half after they get born again, after they become regenerate.

This was not at the beginning. This was right in the middle of three and a half years of being under the influence or being around Jesus Christ in the flesh, in his ministry. He had been preaching for a year and a half.

They continued to be fishermen. They got born again under his ministry. They heard the gospel from him.

They believed in him. They were sitting in his great campaigns when thousands were being touched. But after a year and a half of fishing and visiting his meetings and being called to ministry or being called to salvation, now here they are distinctly called to ministry.

This is their call to ministry. They're saved a year and a half. They've listened to the master for a year and a half.

They believe the gospel for a year and a half. They continued fishing for a year and a half. As real followers of Jesus Christ.

But now the call comes. Now, clearly the call of God comes to leave their nets, leave their business, leave their secular employment, and to be with Jesus Christ. To travel with him, to preach with him, and to be sent out to preach the gospel.

To cast out the spiritual fisher net and bring in a great harvest of fish. My message tonight is koinonia and evangelism. And I believe this scripture shows us very clearly that koinonia is vital to fishing.

Spiritual evangelism. What they had in the natural, these four brothers, they had a koinonia of fellowship. They actually had a union.

They had a sharing together. They helped each other. They helped one another.

They received help. They worked together. They were there counseling with one another and encouraging one another and forwarding each other's work.

You know what? That was going to get carried in the spiritual ministry. And you know what? Can I tell all of you something? Nothing in the natural fear is lost in the church of God. Nothing whatsoever.

I was a soldier for five years. I can assure you that flows over into the body of Christ. God has things he taught me there.

There's things that I apply into the body of Christ. There's things I understand. And so with all of our lives, God uses natural things.

He uses the practical jobs of life. He uses secular employment and he brings it right over. And so when we deal with koinonia and evangelism, what they had in the natural, they were going to have in the spiritual.

Koinonia is vital when you're out there fishing on the rough seas of Galilee. When you're going to labor all night, when it's a hard task to bring in the fish, when you fish all night long and you don't have one fish to show for it, and you're laboring for your food on the table, you need four men working together who are going to help one another and be reliable and trustworthy and committed and be able to carry the burden of this task. It was a real task to go forth and to fish on the sea of Galilee.

Well, that come over into the church. And I want to tell you the same principles of koinonias or koinonia flew over into the body of Christ. Listen to what it says in Galatians chapter two, verse nine.

And when James and Cephas, and that's James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the half-brother, James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, that is in the church in Jerusalem, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, koinonia, that we should go unto the Gentiles, or unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Now, look what's happening here. You're going to find this all through the New Testament, that in the work of ministry, of evangelism, and preaching the gospel of reaching the lost world, there's got to be koinonias or koinonia.

There's got to be this partnership, this union of men and women standing together in one task. You can't, saints, listen me here tonight, you can not all be doing your own thing of trying to reach individuals. There's got to be a unity of heart and unity of spirit, and that's why God gives churches, bodies of believers.

That's why he creates relationships. That's why preachers, one in England, one in Ireland, one in Germany, one in America, these relationships are forged. It's not that we live unto ourself or do our own thing.

We're after souls. This is the greatest task of the body of Christ. Three great tasks for this church.

First, the most important, the glorification of Jesus Christ, to glorify Jesus. That's the greatest of all. The second thing, to edify the body of Christ, edify one another, that's the second thing.

The third one is the evangelization of the lost. See, if you kept these three things before you, to glorify Christ, to edify the body, to reach the lost, so simple, and yet it's here in scripture, this is what we are called to. And you know what? You're in this church, I cannot evangelize alone, and you cannot evangelize alone.

And we've been given a ship or a boat for a period of time, and we've been put together as partners to join together. Not everyone will do the same task, not everyone has the same gifting or the same ability. But I want to tell you, if you understand like these four fishermen, that if we unite together, what we've done in the natural, preparing our nets together, washing our nets together, throwing the net together, rowing together, if you understand what these men understood, they carried that right over into the body of Christ.

The same principles, we've got to work together, we've got to work at the same time, we've got to labor in the same direction, we've got to unify our force, we mustn't be divided, we mustn't work against one another. It's not enough that we all say we're all individuals, all of us doing our own thing. Do you know in the New Testament, time and time again, Paul talks about having the same mind.

That's not in some individual opinion. That's talking about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And hear me as I embark in giving you these points here tonight.

Even the Old Testament did not understand this. Remember when the serpent came to Eve, she's in paradise. The Lord comes down and walks with them in the cool of the day.

And what did the serpent do in coming to Eve? He came to her and said, look at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He says, do you know why God doesn't want you to eat of that tree? It's because you will be like God. You will know what God knows.

In other words, all of this knowledge will be given to you, Eve. You will become independent. You will become knowledgeable.

You will understand all things. You won't need to go to God or depend on God or be weak or lean heavily upon Him every moment. You won't be looking daily saying, I'm so weak.

I need to know. You're the source of all things. You'll actually stand with a knowledge going, I know.

I know how to do this. I can act by myself. I don't need to be constantly going back and drawing and asking and depending.

You know what? I can stand independent. I'm a source unto my own self. I'm no longer needy.

I possess all knowledge. I have inner light. I'm no longer accountable.

You know how dangerous that was in Eve? In having this body of truth, this revelation, this understanding. And the devil said, I'll give you it. I'll give you a body of understanding.

And it's the same knowledge that God has, but you'll have it deposited to you. It won't be a relationship anymore. It won't be a daily walk with Jesus Christ or the Lord anymore.

You know what? I'm going to give you a body of knowledge, information, understanding, and you can go and live this life. You can be like God. Do you know what I believe that happens in the church of our generation? We have the very same thing happening that all across the church.

You have people wanting to be islands, independent, separate, doing their own thing, going their own way. And you know what? It's very dangerous. I am not an island.

I can't minister alone. I love the body of Christ. I love to be in fellowship and communion and association with preachers from all over this world.

And this church is in communion with churches all over this world and preachers all over this world and Christians all over this world. In a way, the past five years, we have had the most dynamic koinonia that you can possibly imagine. I mean, there's a whole body of Christ right across the world that we have enjoyed fellowship with, and yet we've never met them physically or saw them physically.

We can't name all their names, but in part, we have experienced something of that through prayer and the word of God and just standing for the truth of God. It is remarkable. So, I want to warn you tonight that we, the believers in Christ, we are called to partnership.

There's only one man I know of in the New Testament, in ministry, in ministry, and in the church that I can find that operated by himself as an individual and never had a call to be by himself. Only one. And it's in Acts chapter 8, and it's Philip.

He's not called the evangelist until much later, many years later. In fact, I'll tell you when he's called an evangelist, when he's got daughters who are virgins, prophesying, when he's settled in a town, in a local church, when he's married, when years have gone by, that's when he's called an evangelist, when he's ministering to the church. Because, of course, you know, evangelist is a gift to the body of Christ, not the world.

To merely evangelize doesn't make you an evangelist. To be out there by yourself doesn't make you an evangelist. To be an evangelist, you've got to be in the body of Christ, ministering to the church.

It's for the edifying of the body of Christ, not reaching those sinners. So, you need to understand these things. But you know what, Philip is the only man I can find in the New Testament, goes down to Samaria by himself, preaches the gospel.

He evangelizes an entire city, but it's brief, it's supernatural, it's dynamic, it's earth-shaking, and it's temporary. Do you know what, very shortly, Peter and John arrive on the scene. They get sent down and they begin to minister, and then he gets caught up, gets caught away, gets taken out of the picture, removed from that situation.

The Spirit of God speaks to him, sends him out to evangelize one soul, one individual. Here tonight, I'm going to deal with Koinonia and evangelism. I'm going to go to Luke 5, but also to Philippians chapter 1. But first of all, Luke chapter 5, verse 7. Just look at this verse again, because in verse 7, we have the word partners, and in verse 10, we have the word partners, but they're two different words.

First of all, in verse 7, and they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ship, so that they began to sink. Now, this word partners, they beckoned to their partners.

This is a remarkable story, and I want to deal with it more, but not tonight. We've read the text, and I'll briefly deal with it, but there's much here we need to see about evangelism. But tonight, I want you to understand Koinonia and evangelism.

Here is Christ beginning to work mightily. They've worked all night. They're using all of their skills of fishing, or should I say evangelism.

They are laboring. They're hard workers. They're grafters.

They do everything they know. They know the sea. They know the fish.

They know the waters. They know their trade. They know all the skills on catching fish, but you know what? They've labored all night long, and they haven't caught anything.

Their nets are empty. Their labor has been in vain. Their energy has been exerted, but here comes the boat back in, and you know when Jesus comes along, the boat is in the shore, and you know what they're doing.

Look carefully what they're doing, because see every time Jesus calls someone, what they're doing is very important. Paul was making tents. That's very important for his calling.

Peter was fishing. John, and I'm talking about in other scriptures, John elsewhere is mending nets. That's very important, but see here in these verses in this chapter, I want you to see what they're doing.

They're actually washing their nets. They're not mending them. They're not throwing them.

They're actually there washing the nets, and this partnership, and this is my first point, partnership in evangelism. I want you to see these men. They're in partnership in evangelism.

This is a picture of partnership in evangelism. You know what? Our labor in reaching souls can be tiring. It can be long.

It can be wearying. You can know all the skills to reach someone. You can pray for souls.

You can speak to souls, and yet at the end of the day, you've poured yourself out. You've labored. You've said everything you know to say, and the morning breaks, and you go, there's nothing for your labors.

Where are the souls? That doesn't always mean you're out of the will of Christ. Sometimes God is working in this to bring you to a place where you realize you cannot save souls. You cannot change the hearts of men, and you know what? It throws you utterly upon the Lord, because I tell you, see when souls come in, you're not going to get the glory for it.

You're not going to be the great soul winner. I can assure you, even Peter, the great soul winner, he's going to have experiences where he bows the knee to Jesus Christ and realizes, depart from me. I'm a sinful man.

You know what? Before God makes you a soul winner, he's got to deal with you, because the worst thing that can happen to you is souls get saved, and you become proud, and you think you have done it, and it's your ability, and it's your skill. Well, I know the ABC of evangelism. I use the right comfort strategy to reach souls.

I've watched YouTube videos, or I've read some book, and I know how to do this. You know what? That's a very dangerous thing like with Eve, where you get deposited a download of truth. You've done your seminar.

You've done your Bible school. You've done your YouTube videos. You're listening all this, and now you think you're an expert, or you know something better than anyone else.

That's a very dangerous thing, and you know what? The lives that God is dealing with, he never allows them to go that way, because that would destroy you. You could become a soul winner, and see people saved, and see things happen, but your heart be proud, and you draw it onto yourself, and you draw men onto yourself. It's a very dangerous thing, and so when Christ finds them here, they are washing their nets.

You know what they're doing? They're cleaning them. There's all the effect on their nets. The nets is the means to reach souls, or to evangelize, or to catch fish, but you know what they're doing? They're cleaning them, because they're going to go out again.

You might be tired. You might be weary, but I haven't given up since. I'm going to labor.

I'm going to labor. I'm going to labor. I'm going to clean the nets, so no one got saved last Saturday.

You know what? I'm going out this Saturday again. I'm going to go fishing, because this is what is in me. See, Peter was a fisherman.

James, John, Andrew, they're fishermen. They love this. It's within them.

It's their trade. It's what they live for. It's what they do every single day, but here they are, and you know what? When you're washing your nets, when you're cleaning the nets, you're preparing to go back out again.

You're recovering. You're putting everything in its place, and I want to tell you that's what we need as the church of Christ again. Notice they toiled all night, because there's different times of the day mentioned in these verses.

There's their toiling all night. Then there's the morning. There's the day.

There's a new day, so there's different times in this. There's times of darkness and labor. Do you know what? Sometimes fishing at night is the best time.

It's clear. It's distinct. You go after souls when it's dark.

Some of the greatest harvest of souls have been at the most unlikely times. Every good fisher who regularly fishes knows there's certain times, certain places you stand, certain ways you do this. You go evangelizing, and look at these men.

They're not working alone as individuals. They're not just off fishing themselves. You need help in this business of fishing.

If you're going to function as a boat, if you're going to be in a boat and bringing a harvest of fish, if you just want two or three fish and you don't know what to do with them, or you're just eating it yourself, then carry on. Take your rod and go out and stand by the river. If it's just for you, just about you, then go and do that.

But if you've got a bigger vision, something bigger than yourself, then you're thinking concerning a boat and other men and labor, and you're thinking of nets, not a fishing rod. It's not about you. You're not just thinking about individual fish to feed yourself, but you're actually thinking of an entire harvest of fish that need to come in and need to be brought in.

Look at the resources that they share. See, when we have Koinonia, our partnership in evangelism, it's not just one boat. It's now two boats.

And believe me, one man could not handle a boat like they used by himself. One man in a boat fishing by himself, that's a task. You're talking about something that you don't do that.

Do you know what you find? You find they fish in twos here. That was the normal thing to do in the Sea of Galilee. Not one man by himself.

You go by twos. Christ always set them out two by two. Remember when Christ chose the twelve? He sent them out by two by two.

When he took the seventy and sent them out, how did he send them out? Not in groups of three or five or ten. Sent them out in twos. Remember in Ecclesiastes how it says, and we always use this in the context of maybe marriage or something like that.

It's not good to be alone if you fall. We have an entire teach in Ecclesiastes why it's important to have two. But it's not talking about marriage.

It's far bigger than that. It's talking about the body of Christ. See in the church the body of Christ.

The principle is always don't labor alone. Don't minister alone. In churches you have an eldership of elders.

Not just one man ministering. You want others that are preachers, leaders that you can sit in council with. This goes all through scripture.

We see the Jesus principle. He didn't labor alone. He called twelve men to be with him.

He poured himself into twelve men for a period of three and a half years. Pouring out, pouring out intensely for a year and a half. Then over to Paul the apostle we see him working in teams.

He didn't just go out. You're talking about one of the greatest Bible teachers maybe in church history. A dynamic man who operated in miracles that was used in signs and wonders.

And yet when he has the ability he always goes out with teams. Listen to scripture for a moment concerning Paul the apostle. Second Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12.

Says furthermore, when I came to Troas. He was coming back to Troas. Not his first time there.

Remember when he was there? When he preached all through the night and a man fell out the window. This is a different time. He says, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and a door was opened unto me of the Lord.

Now notice this carefully. He comes there to preach. He arrives in the town to preach by himself.

Paul the apostle, he comes with the desire, I'm going to Troas and I'm going to preach. You must be born again. There's a whole town needs Christ.

And when he gets there, listen, a door was opened unto me of the Lord. Who opened the door? The Lord. As soon as he arrives there, it's very obvious that God has opened this great door for preaching the gospel and reaching Troas.

So what's Paul going to do? Listen carefully. Verse 13. I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from Thames unto Macedonia.

Now these are the scriptures that so many believers miss, but I find very fascinating. Paul arrives here, the doors open to the Lord. In other words, God's mighty hand is upon us.

I mean, it's supernatural. The grace of God is there. God has opened a door for him to go through and preach the gospel, but he doesn't do it.

And he gives the reason. Titus isn't there. His brother, look how he talks about this.

His brother isn't there. Spiritual brother, fellowship, partnership, communion. Do you know what? You almost never see Paul preach alone.

From Acts 13 when he's sent out as an apostle, you never see him ministering alone. That's an apostle with maturity and wide experience. And can I warn you, when you see these individuals on our high street who aren't connected with the church and they're preaching alone, it's a bad testimony.

And they have a bad testimony. They don't live the life. And I want to warn you about it.

It's not biblical. It's not right. And Paul the apostle didn't do it.

And I'm not saying you can't preach alone. And I'm not saying there's not a certain time that would be right. But you know what? In all of these years I've preached in the street, I never, ever preached alone all through the years.

I could have. I had the ability to. I had the opportunity to.

But I always liked someone there. Do you know it's a protection when Jesus sent them out in twos. Go out in twos from town to town.

Go preach in twos. Go to houses in twos. You know what that does? That protects you.

That guards you. That means if there's anyone there who makes an accusation, you've got someone to protect you or is a witness. Remember all through the Bible, it says that a witness, a strong, confirmed witness should be in the mouth of two or three witnesses.

Don't be alone. It's a good thing to be together. And I know many of us are single, not married, not engaged.

I understand that. But God has given us a body, a church. We're not meant to be alone.

I don't want to be alone. I don't want to evangelize alone. I don't want to preach alone.

I don't want to pray alone. All those things I can do by myself and I evangelize in my own time. But you know what? God has created things, put us together, that we stand together.

On the day of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit came down. Listen to what it says in Acts chapter 2, 14. There's revival, the power of God.

Wind, fire, tongues. It's remarkable. The sound of a mighty wind.

But listen what happens. People, as they hear the tongues and see this, they began to mock. They began to become astonished.

They're shocked by it. They're surprised by it. And others are laughing at it.

No one's convicted. But listen what happens in verse 14. But Peter standing up with the 11.

Oh, Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. That's not completely true. He stood up with the 11.

See what you do on the high street on a Saturday when you go evangelizing and preaching. It's a very biblical thing. Peter didn't just stand up in the high street and preach.

He didn't just lead the way and begin to prophesy. He stood with the 11. It was very noticeable.

The 11 are by his shoulder and all 12 are standing together, unified. You know what this is? This koinonia. This koinonia.

I think Andrew, his brother's standing there going, amen. Preach it, brother. Preach it, brother.

I believe that encouragement, that strength, that sharing, praying. Can you imagine the prayers as Peter prayed? Oh, have you only imagined Peter standing preaching in 3000 getting saved? Oh no. Oh no.

They're in a fishing boat. They're fishing together. This is koinonia in evangelism.

Peter isn't there evangelizing. You're mistaken if you think that. He's the preacher.

Of course, if the old preacher would be confusion. He's standing preaching, but you've got 11 standing there with them praying, Lord save. Let the wind blow.

Lord touch hearts. Lord send a revival. Lord bring a harvest in.

Lord move on this city again. And you know what? More than that, you've got 120 people who are there at the same time. The 11 stood with Peter, but the 120 are there.

Right there in that square as the man of God is preaching. See, this is partnership in evangelism. And we need this.

When you see these four men fishing together on the sea of Galilee, I want this picture to be written on your minds, to be written on your hearts. They're boats joined together. Not two businesses apart.

Not two churches apart. See, I love unity in the body of Christ. We've got friends in England and in Germany.

We've just come back from Germany. And I'm so encouraged the churches I've been with there. Seeing the work of God and new souls added and people coming in and the, and the believers getting encouraged.

I'm so encouraged saints of God because we prayed for them. We've labored with them. They prayed for us in our hard times and it's beautiful to behold.

There's other churches in America, new churches starting up. There's churches in South Africa and Australia and all manners of countries. There's people we know about.

New works are springing up everywhere across this world. I mean, there's thousands of new churches beginning right across this world. Nobody notices them, but imagine if they work together with one heart and one spirit, labor with the gospel of Jesus.

Why? Partnership for evangelism. Oh, that God would pour out his spirit again. Do you see these four men laboring? They labored.

They told, toiled all night. They had nothing to show for it the next day. Jesus comes along and he says, let me get in your boat.

First of all, the boats at the shore when they're washing their nets. Then he says, just push it out a little bit. So first of all, I was standing at the lakeside at the shore.

Then he says, thrust out a little from the land. Then he goes a bit further and he tells Peter, launch out into the deep. Now these are three places for our evangelism.

When we're in shore, it's time to refresh, time to recover, time to prepare. We're not always out there. No one can always be witnessing evangelizing.

You need to prepare yourself. You need to be refreshed. You need to do that together.

Then you go out a little bit. Let Christ teach you in the shallows, in the shoreline. But here Christ takes Peter right out into the deep.

See a good fisherman doesn't go into the deeps, into the depths to fish. A good fisherman doesn't do that. It's near the shoreline.

He's in there fishing. There's a particular place and a time and I, when it's dark, during the night, not too far from shore, Christ says, I'm going to take you further. So you've known evangelism.

You've known what it is to toil all night. You know what it is to reach souls for Jesus, to reach an individual. But your boats are empty.

You've done your best. You've done all of the skills of evangelism. Says Peter, thrust out into the depths.

Throw your nets over. Oh master, we've told all night, but at your word, I'll obey you rather reluctantly. But thank God he listened to Christ.

Believe me, see in evangelism, you don't know how to fish and I don't know how to fish. You see what Christ does? He contradicts every fishing skill. Every bit of knowledge that Peter has.

He's a carpenter. Now what fisherman's going to listen to a carpenter tell him how to catch a fish? You don't do that. But when it's Jesus Christ, you do.

And here's Jesus says, thrust out into the deep. That's not good fishing. It's morning time.

Not good fishing. Throw the nets out. Okay, at your word.

And you know what? When he went to pull the net in, it began to break and he had to. What does it say? He beckoned unto their partners. You know what? You're going to be very glad in a move of God.

When God suddenly moves that you've got partners around you, that it isn't you with your fishing rod throwing out your rod. Do you know when the spirit of God begins to move, we need people in England and America and Germany and Australia and Scotland right across the globe. We need friends in other nations.

We need preachers. We need teachers. We need children's workers.

We need all these skills and all these believers. We need to work together and say to God in a move of God, you and I are going to be very glad that we're not isolated. There was a partnership and evangelism, but you have the partnership when all is dark.

When all of our labor seemed to produce nothing. You have the functioning of this ministry because you know what? When Christ supernaturally works and our nets begin to break and we can't even bring in the harvest, you can't go build new partnerships. Whatever partnerships you are in at that point, they're going to come into play at that point.

And you know what? In these days of darkness and apostasy and coldness and lifelessness, I'm building partnerships. I'm building koinonia with other churches and other preachers and other Christians. You know why? We're going to need them all.

And I tell you, there may be nobodies, but they're going to be right in the midst of a move of God. That's my first point on this text, Luke 5. Partnership and evangelism. Second, prayer and evangelism.

Not just partnership and evangelism. We need prayer and evangelism. Listen, unless you're there, Philippians chapter 1 verse 3. This little church of Philippi was a dynamic little assembly.

Remember Paul went there and evangelized them. He walked in, preached. Lydia and her household came to the Lord.

Then the jailer and his household came to the Lord. And that little lady out in the streets that was demon possessed, she got set free and no doubt she was in the church as well. Just families, believers making up this early church.

Listen to what it says, Philippians chapter 1 and 3. And this is Paul writing to them a beautiful letter. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all.

Make a request with joy for your fellowship, your koinonia in the gospel from the first day until now. So there's not only partnership and evangelism. There's prayer for evangelism.

Partnership for evangelism. Prayer for evangelism. Paul writing here and he's joined with this church.

Listen to what he says. Always in every prayer of mine for you. Always make a request with joy for your fellowship.

What's Paul praying about? Their koinonia. Paul saying, you at Philippi, you there in Europe, you outside of the Roman Empire. He says, I pray for you upon every remembrance with joy.

My heart wells up with joy. Every time I remember you and think about you and pray about you, it's always in the context of this fellowship. I am praying for this koinonia, this partnership, this union, this laboring together, this working together.

Look what Paul's praying for Philippi. You as a small church, I am praying for you concerning your koinonia with me. Do you realize this church was in relationship with Paul? Paul, the great miracle working soul winner needed Philippi.

Remember when he got there to Philippi, he's the one that reaches them. They're demon possessed. The jailer was going to kill himself because that earthquake.

Lydia is just there in that lady's prayer meeting beside the river. Doesn't know Christ. And it's Paul, the great preacher walks in and evangelizes them.

But you know what now? It's not just Paul giving them. Paul needs this body of believers. He needs that church.

That church actually become one of the greatest churches in the New Testament to support Paul's evangelism in the future. It was a dynamic and a remarkable church. And it actually says within scripture, and we'll come to it in a second, just how much they impacted him.

But look at this, the issue of prayer. Paul is praying for a church. See they're joined in evangelism.

Paul says for your fellowship in the gospel, you're preaching the gospel as a church. I'm preaching the gospel. I'm out there in the mission field preaching.

You're here in Philippi, in your home place, you're preaching, you're evangelizing. You know what Paul's doing? He's praying for their koinonia in the gospel. He is praying that their relationship, their partnership becomes effectual to reach souls.

That you and I as a church join together. We become a mighty force for God. I believe Paul's saying, Lord, join our hearts.

Set us on fire. Use us to reach many souls. Use Philippi to encourage me.

I want to strengthen them. They're helping me. We're going to work together to evangelize many souls.

Jesus Christ said in Luke chapter 10 and 2, he said the harvest truly is great. He's looking out at the souls unreached that need Christ, and he said it's truly great. Christ said this.

He didn't look at him and said, oh that's nothing for me. He said the harvest is great. It truly is massive beyond imagination.

And then listen, but the labors are few. The harvest is great. The labors are few.

Christ said this. So what are you going to do? What's he going to tell the church or his disciples? The harvest is massive in this hour. See, Limerick, the harvest is massive.

What are you going to actually say? The labors are very few. Those who labor like those four fishermen on the water all night long. How many people do you know that will labor all night evangelizing? How many souls do you know that wander the streets at night? Because I knew them growing up.

I knew old men like this. I grew up as a child in a church when the old white-haired men used to go out. There was one of them a deacon in the church I was dedicated in, and he went out with his wife on a Saturday night and walked the streets looking for sinners, looking for souls.

He was an elderly man, but he was out searching for souls. See, that's really laboring in this gospel, but the labors are very few. And he says, therefore, pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labors into the harvest.

Saints, this is the second thing we need. We need prayer for evangelism. This is Koinonian evangelism.

Partnership. We also need prayer. We need dynamic prayer in this church if we're going to become effectual.

Don't think our evangelism on a Saturday simply happened or was simply decided upon. Prayer went up. Prayer incessant for years.

Lord, send forth the labors. Raise up people who are going to desire to be in these streets, week in, week out, who are going to desire to preach the gospel on the high street. That didn't just happen.

It was prayed for. It was believed for. It was labored for.

And here you have Jesus saying, pray. Pray for the harvest. You need churches that pray.

You need preachers that pray. You need Christians that pray. It's my great heartbreak.

I've watched literally tens and tens and tens of older ladies that lived their lives in prayer. Women of prayer. I don't mean women who prayed.

I mean women of prayer that were saturated with prayer, filled with prayer. Their lives were given over to prayer and I watched them die one after another. I'm actually scared for the church of our generation because prayer is an occasional thing.

It's a perchance thing. It's a thing that depends on feelings and moods and circumstances and situations. Where are the saints of God, men and women, that literally live a life of prayer and give themselves to prayer? And so Jesus says, if you're going to evangelize, reach this harvest, you know what? We need to be in koinonian prayer.

We need to be united in prayer. We need to be working in the same direction. We need to be praying for the same harvest.

I am tired and I've been tired for a long time of seeing the divisions in the body of Christ pulling in different directions. People that if they could have unified could have reached the harvest, but instead they fought and they bickered and they splintered and they've done all of this rather than reaching a harvest on its way to hell. They followed their own opinions and their own ideas and their own ambitions.

And I've watched, I've watched it time after time. I've watched this thousands of times. I've watched it in hundreds of groups of Christians.

I've watched it with thousands of preachers. Since I've watched a lot of things for a long time, from a little boy, I've watched very carefully. There's got to be a people in koinonia who pray and say, we need a harvest of souls.

I'd rather have a harvest of souls than be right on some point of doctrine, I want to tell you. Third of all, churches involved in evangelism. Look at Philippians chapter 1 verse 3. This is Paul speaking again and he's praying for them.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Churches involved in evangelism. You know what Paul's praying for? He's praying for this church, for their koinonia in the gospel.

In other words, he's praying for Philippi, this small church, but a dynamic church, an on fire church. I mean, this soul's filled with people who really got born again, real testimonies, a real consciousness. And you know what he's saying? I'm praying it for you constantly.

Notice he doesn't try to rebuke them about their prayer life. He's just saying, I'm praying for you incessantly all the time. Then listen to what it says in chapter 2 verse 15 concerning this church.

It says that you may be blameless. This was his heart for this church, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. See the nation around them, the darkness, it was crooked and it was perverse.

The society, the schools, the politics, the education, the religion, it was all perverse. And listen to what he says. Among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Isn't that beautiful? Paul's saying about this church, I'm talking about churches involved in evangelism. Paul's praying for this church that they would have a koinonia. The church of Philippi would have a koinonia.

The members of the church would be in koinonia for the sake of the gospel. So he's praying that they'd have a partnership for evangelism. He's praying for their evangelism.

Now thirdly, churches involved in evangelism. Here he's saying, he's not saying, I hope you become this. He said, this is what you are.

Everything's crooked, perverse, and it's dark around you, but you know what you're doing? You're shining as a light. You as a local church, the smallest church of all, you know what? You're shining as a light. How does a church shine as a light in the midst of a crooked society and community and nation? How do you shine as a light? And look what it says.

He says they shine. Doesn't mean that they merely have a light. He's saying, you're shining.

You're a small church, but you're shining. Your light is literally shining. How do you do that? Verse 16, holding forth the word of life.

And so Paul says, this is how you shine as a bright light in the world. You hold forth the word of God. He's talking about evangelism.

You know, once I was driving through England and I was coming up and there was a road sign and it said Bedford and I went Bedford, Bedford. I was tired just trying to keep myself going. I'd been driving for hours and I got to Bedford in England.

I said, no, why do I know Bedford? Who came from Bedford? And suddenly it clicked with me. It was John Bunyan, the Tinker from Bedford who wrote Pilgrim's Progress. So my heart was elated and I went, praise God, this is the Tinker's town, Bedford.

And I started driving in. And as you drive through Bedford, you swing it around. And as I came around the corner there, I wasn't expecting it.

There is a massive statue of John Bunyan. And you know what he was doing? He was standing right in the middle of the roadway, elevated, exalted in the town. And he's holding forth the Bible, the word of God in the midst of that community.

My heart was glad. I was rejoicing. You know, I thought, I don't know if there's any good church in this town nowadays.

I don't know what's happening in that community. But see that man, John Bunyan is still holding forth the word of God in Bedford. Can you imagine some sinner, atheist, ignorant person going, who is this man? And what's the book in his hand? And going and investigating.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that a statue dead and cold is still pointing men to the word of God, holding forth the word of God? Even a statue can be a light shining in a dark place. As I drove through that town, I thought, there's still a witness. You know why? Because men like that prayed.

And men in that community have prayed that the word of God would always be held forth. And it is in that community. It is dynamic.

It is powerful. And it's still going forward. It says in Philippians chapter four and 10.

And this is Paul speaking about this church. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care for me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. And this whole section in chapter four, it's actually talking about how this church finances Paul when no other church did.

And in the early church, there's many big churches. But only this church was financially helping Paul. Then listen to the verse 15.

Now, the Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only. So look at this church. It's involved in evangelism.

It's a small church, a dynamic church, an evangelizing church in its own city, community. It's holding forth the word of God. It's alive.

It's real. But you know as well, it's financially helping Paul. They didn't have much.

They didn't have much to send, but they're sending it to Paul and going, we believe in what he's doing. We're praying for him. We want other areas to be reached with the gospel of Christ.

Do you how you can be a dynamic church in this hour? And then fourth and lastly, let me finish. Problems of partnership and evangelism. See, when you go to this book, I don't worry.

We're human. We're flesh. The body of Christ is.

There's many problems in the body of Christ. None of you, as far as I know, when I last checked, were in a state of finished, utter perfection. I haven't found the man in this church, maybe find one woman, but not a man.

We're not in that condition. But can I tell you there's problems where you get the preaching of the gospel and there'll always be problems when it's flesh and blood and other people. But I tell you, we can unite.

We can unify. We can pray. We can be in partnership with imperfect people.

Because you know what? Those four men in Galilee, I want to tell you, Peter wasn't the finished product for a year and a half after they meet Christ. They're still working on that sea of Galilee, bringing in fish. Can you imagine working with Peter and John and James? What are they called in the Bible? Sons of Thunder.

You remember them? Sons of Thunder. You've got Peter, the man that speaks rashly, cuts off a man's ear. And then you've got his brother Andrew.

He must have kept it all together, I'm sure. All four are together, laboring, hard work, pulling it. Don't let it go.

Can you imagine? But in the body of Christ, these same men, imperfect personality traits, but a work of God in their hearts, and they unify. They stay together saints. I'm tired of people being reigned as thunder.

I'm tired of it. It bores me. I'm glad I've got brothers like Paul and Suf and Rory and others.

We're here to the end. We're going to labor to the end. These brothers aren't in a state of perfection, neither am I. But I'll tell you what, we're going to stand our ground and labor and see a church go forward.

And that's what I want us to do as a church. We're going to be evangelizing and praying and laboring. And maybe we'll work all night and there's nothing to show for it.

Maybe we'll be tired and weary and our boots empty and our nets are empty, and maybe the nets are ripped. But you know what? We're going to clean them again. We're going to go out again.

We're going to serve again. We're going to preach again. There's problems in evangelism.

Can I remind you of just some of the problems, James and John? They go into Samaria and they get a bad reaction to their evangelism. The Samaritans reject the preaching of Christ. Remember what James and John do? Master, what we call far down from heaven to consume them.

Imagine having that in your evangelism. These were not perfect preachers. These were not perfect soul winners.

You know what? Christ labored with them. He did rebuke them. You don't know what spirit you're of.

Stop it. We don't need that. We're trying to reach them and evangelize them.

You're one to call far down. A little bit later, remember Jesus sits with the woman of Samaria and she goes away changed and brings the whole city with her. Imagine if they'd got their way.

You see, Christ is using men who are imperfect. You remember when he was reaching Samaria, where were they? They're away getting bread. They're having a McDonald's.

They're feeding their belly. Where's Christ? He's sitting on a well at the wrong time of the day, in the wrong place, waiting for a woman, evangelizing her. Where's the others? When all this takes place, they come with their bread.

What just happened here? The whole community's in uproar. We were away looking bread. See, they weren't perfect, were they? And see Peter, when Jesus is dealing with them, throw out your net.

And he throws out the net casually. And then it begins to break. Remember he falls down.

Oh God have mercy. See if a revival comes here church. I think we're going to be like that.

Not going to be proud and arrogant. We're going to be repentant and saying, how? How could the Lord bless us? People like you and I. How could he bless us? Oh depart from me Lord. I'm a sinful man.

Peter said this. Do you know why he was shocked? He was astounded. And it said the others were.

This great harvest of fish. Master why would you do this for us? It wasn't our faith. It wasn't our laboring.

It wasn't what we done. It wasn't our prayers. It was the power of Jesus Christ.

It's remarkable. And I'm telling you, Christ works with imperfect men and women in evangelizing the lost. Peter, God uses a man like that.

Remember when he denied Christ. There's the preacher. Remember he denied Christ three times.

I'd die for you. No you denied me. You denied me.

But do you know what? When you search yourself out, feed the sheep. Do you know what he does after denying him? And Christ looks at him and he's cut to the heart. Do you know what he says to others? Come on, let's go fishing.

He took all the three back to their nets. A leader when he gets despondent has a bad influence when you're like Peter. Peter's either touching heaven or pulling everyone down to earth.

But Christ met with him again. Brought him back. Remember Paul and Barnabas out there laboring and they split.

Great men and they split. Remember young Demas, a great preacher. Paul trained him, sent him out.

Leaves Paul for the world. So don't get discouraged what you see in the body of Christ or what happens or the things that come up. And you go, look at the mess of the body of Christ.

No it's not a mess. These things have always happened in the church. They happen with the apostles.

They happen in early churches. It's the frailty of humanity. And you've got to remember this or you'll wipe the whole thing off and say there's nothing of God in this.

Then you would have done the same with Peter and James and John and Andrew. Well no, you wouldn't have done it with Andrew. You would have done it with the other three.

But you know what? This imperfect vessel, this soul winning vessel with all of its imperfections needs a dealing with Jesus Christ. But even in the midst of that, Christ can bring in such a harvest of souls the like of which you cannot imagine. You know what I'm talking about tonight is koinonia in the gospel.

Koinonia in evangelism. Koinonia to reach souls for men for Christ. And I believe that's what this church has.

And I'm going to labor to strengthen it. We're going to have a koinonia here. Not little holy clubs.

Not a little social club in the church. We're united. We're in partnership.

We're praying. We're laboring. We're standing.

I'm preaching here. You know why? That we're going to have a ship that will set sail. That's going to reach men.

You're only here for a time. You're only here for a short time. Souls are perishing and going to hell.

Your families, your friends, your neighbors, your workmates, they're going to hell. We're only here for a time. We need to see God move.

And you know what? While we're laboring and doing all we need to do with all the skills that we have of fishing, of evangelizing, of reaching souls, and where they're going, there's so little fruit. Just maybe in the midst of that, this great Christ will step into the midst of our boat and shock us all and surprise us all and bring in a harvest the like of which you and I could never have imagined. I want to tell you, you won't do it alone.

And I won't do it alone. And a few people won't do it alone. We're united together.

And you know, maybe we'll call over to Germany, come and help us. Or over to America, come and help us. Or over to England, come and help us.

We're not in this alone. And we're not separatist. You know what? We're those laboring with the body of Christ and we've built relationships.

And it's going to be for the work of God ahead. Since something is coming, something is going to happen, there's a great work to do in the days ahead. And we're uniting with men, with preachers, with Christians, with churches.

We're doing this for the sake of the gospel that Jesus Christ might be known. Let's pray together. Father, we love you.

We thank you for the gospel, the power of your Word. Lord God, we ask of you, make us, O God, a church that evangelizes. Father, we pray for a koinonia in this church, that it won't be selfish, it won't be pointless, it won't be hopeless, it won't be empty, it won't be without a goal.

But Father, that we are going to have a burden for souls, for this city of Limerick. My God, while we faithfully labor and reach out and cast out the net, Lord God, in season and out of season, we're waiting upon you, we're believing you for a miraculous draft of fish that you're going to move in Limerick City, O God, that you do what none of us can do together. Us united, we can only touch the ones, the twos, the tens, but O God, by your mighty power, you can evangelize the multitudes of this city.

And Father, we pray that you'd build such a partnership, Lord God, such a unity, such a focus, a concentration, Lord God, a oneness of heart, that it would be blessed of you to reach many souls for your name's sake, in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.