Connect with Jesus and Change the World

4 September 2025  Luke 5:1-11

“They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking.”  

Luke 5:7

Peter, James and John hit the lottery that morning on the Sea of Galilee.

A catch of fish as big as they had – enough to fill two fishing boats to the point where they were foundering and on the point of sinking – is estimated to have weighed about 62,696 pounds. Using a wage and commodity price law of A.D. 301, that amount of fish would have paid a general laborer’s salary for over thirty years. It would have paid a skilled laborer’s salary for over 18 years. It would be like a skilled commercial fisherman today suddenly receiving $1.3 million dollars. It was a life-changing economic event.

So, what did Peter, James, and John do with all that money?

The Bible doesn’t say. We do know what they didn’t do with it. They didn’t plow it back into their fishing business. In fact, they abandoned their fishing business and followed Jesus (Luke 5:11). Maybe they gave all the money away. Maybe they used it to finance the ministry of Jesus. What is certain is that they connected this life-changing event to Jesus, and it changed the world.

That can happen with any life-changing event. Connect it to Jesus, and it can change the world.

And it really doesn’t matter what the event is. It can be a positive and uplifting event like a marriage, a birth, or a graduation. It can also be a defeating and disappointing event – like a divorce, a death, or an illness. Connect it to the person and work of Jesus, and it can change the world.

Saul of Tarsus had a brilliant career path in front of him. He was phenomenally well-educated, a student of the famous scholar Gamaliel, and he had advanced in intellect and influence further than anyone his own age (Galatians 1:14). He had decided to use his intellect and influence to stamp out the despised sect of the Nazarenes, and set out for Syria to do that. Then he had a life-changing event (see Acts 9:1-19). He had a vision of Jesus on the Damascus Road which unhorsed and blinded him. He had to be led by the hand into Syria, and there he prayed and fasted for three days and nights. At the very least, his career path had taken quite a blow. He was blind – he could neither read, nor write, and in all likelihood would spend the remainder of his life as an impoverished invalid.

Or, he could inquire what the despised Jesus, whom he had seen on the road, had in mind. It was at that moment that Ananias of Damascus knocked on the door and said, “Jesus sent me to restore your sight” (Acts 9:17). That was all it took for Saul of Tarsus. He was baptized on the spot, and began preaching the next day (Acts 9:20). He had a target on his back for the rest of his life after that, but that didn’t stop him from becoming Paul the Apostle, and one of the two or three most influential people in the history of the world.

It doesn’t matter what the life-changing event is. Connect it to Jesus, and it can change the world.

Paul never knew that he was one of the most important people in world history. He didn’t live long enough to see that. In his last days, he could only sum up his life, saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7). Peter didn’t live long enough to see the impact of his decision either. At the end of his life his advice was just, “Always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you” (I Peter 3:15). The trajectory of our decisions exceeds our grasp and our sight. The only thing truly in our hands is our decision.

Connect it to Jesus. He will change the world with it.