Luke 5

The Calling of the First Disciples 1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down[b] the nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
The Man With Leprosy 12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[c] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic 17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
The Calling of Levi 27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Jesus Questioned About Fasting 33They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "



I don't know if i am the only one that thinks it's cool that Jesus went out on a boat to teach people on land. I just think that Jesus must of had a pretty loud voice for everyone on land to hear him. Just saying (that's not really relavant, i just thought it was cool)

i love how Jesus desides to take every thing that he does and channel it into a way to glorify God. He went from telling Simon to go and cast out in deep water, to telling him he will be a fisherman of men. That just totaly blows my mind, just think of all the things that God could be telling you to do, and how it will change you forever.

Just to let you know, one of the things that i do that tick me off the most, is how i just pass over when jesus heals people. I just think, it talks about that every chapter, it gets pretty redundent. But in actuallity, we can see how Jesus has purified us just as he purified the man with leprosy. We need to do what Jesus tells us to do and go show the world how we've been changed.

Jesus heals a paralyzed Man, WOW. This is my favorite "stick it to the man" man story. Because when the pharasees are hating on Jesus, and doubting him, Jesus slams it in their face. I can just picture him standing over this paralized man and telling him to pick up his mat and walk home. He just showed the pharisees whats up.
And the same way that Jesus showed the pharisees whats up, we need to show the world. We need to reflect what Jesus does to us, to the world. We don't need to keep held in and tuck our tails between out legs. We need to be radical!!!

I love it when Jesus eats with scum. All of the tax collectors were looked on like the scum of the Earth and Jesus loves them soooooo much. It shows me that when i was going through the low part of my life, that Jesus was sitting with me and showing me more love than i can understand. And it blows my mind how he says that he came for me, not for the people who think their perfect.


I never looked at the parable about the wineskins like i just did. I just thought that it was a like a awquard space filler, but it really has a good meaning for Christians. So many people look down on people who are radical for God. It reminds me of when this older women was talking to me at lunch about how the contempory churches are disrespectful to God. And i was just talking about how i loved it, and how it loves Jesus, and how i love Jesus so it worked for me. But i wish what i knew then what i know now. Because the old wineskins would get crusty, and they couldn't hold any wine. And the new wineskins are flexible and can hold better wine, and more of it. And when we allow our selves to get stone hard in traditions we can't get everything that God wants to pour into us, to revolutionize our soul.

So i just pray that we will be renewed in Jesus every day, and we will alow him to flow through us, without any hold ups. i pray that we would remain humble, so that Jesus can be with us at an intament level. I pray that we would stop being stagnant, and that we would show the world who Jesus is, and share his radical message. I pray that we would become pure, and stay that way. Just that we would remain blameless in the eyes of the Lord, my God. And i pray that we will open up to hear what Jesus is telling us to do, and be fishermen of men. I just pray that we would build your army and strengthen each other.


In Christ,
Stewart Ryall