In this episode, Sharon Knotts dives deep into the metaphor of fishing to explore spiritual persistence and conviction. Drawing on a personal story of a tuna fishing trip, she crafts a vivid analogy of the challenges faced while reeling in souls to Christ. The powerful imagery of experienced anglers battling massive fish serves as a testament to the strength needed in prayer and faith. Sharon encourages listeners to stay steadfast and trust in God’s word, even when the journey seems arduous and without end.
Greetings friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I’m really excited to bring you today’s message, Bringing in the Big Fish. Now this was an illustrated sermon which included a short video clip from a tuna fishing trip that my husband Benny went on with some Christian brothers. While you obviously cannot see the video, I believe that you can still receive a blessing from the hearing of the word and from the thrust of the message on how you can win those hardcore unsaved cases to the Lord in bringing in the big fish. All right, now, if the brother will put the lights out, please. I now want to introduce you to… This is video from a tuna trip that Benny, Brother Mike, Brother Frank, his two sons, Frankie and Danny, and Brother Lonnie went on back in 2008 off of Wachapree, Virginia. And I’m only going to show you one clip, and this clip is Dan the Tuna Man. Now, that’s Lonnie holding the chair, and that’s Dan in the seat. I wish that you could see, but you can’t. His feet pushing on the front of the boat. He’s happened to use his legs and the strength of his legs to push against the boat to hold himself in the chair. He’s belted in the chair. The rod is in a rod holder between his legs, holding the rod. That’s not a tuna. That’s something else. That’s a mahi-mahi. Now, what I want you to see, that guy there is the mate. So don’t ask me who he is. I’m telling you now, he’s the mate. You’re not going to see the other guys because they’re in the back. But you’ll notice that throughout the whole time that Lonnie is there to support him in that chair. Now, in the beginning, the fish is out there. It’s got a lot of line. And so the fish is swimming pretty easily. It’s not that hard to crank. But as he begins to pull the fishing closer, the fish begins to fight harder and tug more against that hook. So it gets harder to crank. And if he relaxes his arm, the reel will spin and the fish will take off again. And if he don’t hold on for dear life with the other hand, the rod will go. Remember, we’re talking about bringing in the big one. You’ve got to be willing to hang in there. If you relax, the fish can feel that relaxation on the line and take off. See, that means so much line had gone out. It’s getting to the end of it. So that means, you know what? He’s got to reel all that back in again. All that work, he’s got to repeat it all over again. See how they’re holding on to the chair? I wish Frank had gone around and got a picture of his face. You see how he shook his left hand? It’s cramping. He starts shaking it because he can’t stand to hold it. See, now he’s going to hold him. He’s trying to help him out there. Because no matter how tired you get, remember you what? Don’t let go of the rod. You notice Danny’s not doing a lot of talking. Sometimes when you’re in a press for a soul, you’re in that press for that soul. He’s got to reel that line in more. You don’t feel like doing a whole lot of talking because you’re in a fight to bring that big fish in. So, I mean, this period of waiting for the fish to come in, I mean, it can be long and laborious. And all this time, think now, think in the spirit. This is in the prayer closet, saints. This is fighting to bring the big fish in. That soul that seems like it’s never going to get saved, that one that seems hard and you can’t never get through to him, the devil says that one’s never going to get saved. That wayward child’s never going to come home. The devil is a liar if you don’t let go of the rod. If you keep cranking. But you see, he’s tenacious. He won’t give up. At some point, his father tells him, all your friends is going to see this video. So he won’t give up. And I’m guessing he was probably about 17 here. See him shaking his hand? See all these guys, they done brought big ones in over. They know what it’s like. This is Danny’s first one. So, you know, you have to have people around you. You got to have mature saints to encourage you. Come on, hang in there. You can bring them in. You can bring them in. Don’t give up. Don’t let go. I’ve been in that fighting chair before. I’ve been in that prayer chair before. Just don’t let, don’t give up. Hang on. Hold on. Keep cranking. And I could tell Benny to speed it up, but I’m not going to because I want you to get the message. I wanted to make an impression on you that sometimes it seems like it’s forever. Sometimes it seems like years are going by. And that wayward one is not coming in. But you’ve got to fight for the big fish. You’ve got to remain steadfast. You’ve got to hold on to the rod. And you know what the rod is? The rod is the word of God. You’ve got to hold on to God’s word and stay in the prayer chair. And you know, later on that day, the rod holder in the chair broke. And that meant they couldn’t sit in the chair anymore. And that meant you had to stand and that’s really hard because you’re standing and that fish is trying to pull you overboard. And so Benny had to bring a fish in because the chair had broken. He had to stand and he’s standing there with all his strength and he’s got a lot of upper body strength. But you know, they took two men to put a special belt around him. And here he’s holding on to that rod for dear life. And they put that special belt around his waist to make his back strong so that he could stand there until he brought that fish in. And so whether you’re in the chair or you’ve got the belt on, and the belt is the girdle of truth. Amen. God’s word is true. If you don’t faint and you don’t give up. Amen. Amen. And hang in there. I want you to see the one time you will get to see Danny’s face. And I want you to see the fish. I mean, you can imagine how tired he is. I walked around Walmart the other night and I didn’t have the store the other day. I didn’t have a basket because Benny took off with the basket. I’m steadily putting things in my arm. By the time I found him, I literally could hardly bend my wrist. Now that’s just carrying a few little bottles of shampoo around. Can you imagine what it would be like to be there? Holding on to that rod and you can’t let go and you’ve got to keep cranking. The minute you stop cranking… That fish is gone. You can see that right there. You saw a little bit how red his face was. Come on, Dan. We’re cheering for you. Come on, Dan. You can do it. Amen. Keep cranking the reel. And the reel is prayer and supplication. You heard of the prayer wheel? This is the prayer reel. You’ve got to keep on praying. Keep on cranking. Amen. Sometimes you’re weary. You feel like, I’m praying for this same prayer year after year, and I don’t see any sign of them getting any closer to coming to the Lord. But you’re going to find out the closer the fish gets, the harder they fight. Once the fish sees the boat, he really starts fighting. Oh, they got him. You are the man, Dan the tuna man. He’s got him. But he still can’t let go. He could still this close, this close, he could let go. And that fish would take off in a heartbeat. See how they’re holding the chair? I mean, Lonnie’s really gripping it. You need support when you’re praying for that hard one to come in. You need prayer support. Look, he’s really cranking now. And he’s got someone helping him to hold the rod. Because right before that last little bit, it’s the hardest of all. And you need help. You need somebody to come alongside of you. You got the Holy Ghost. He’ll come alongside. And he’ll help you. Look, he’s got to stand now. We’re getting close. Yeah, getting his second win, Shirley said. Uh-oh. Now they think, they think they’ve lost him. They think they lost him. But I saw the end. I saw the end of the story. I saw the end of the story. The devil said you lost them. Right before they get saved, they get worse. They get harder. They get meaner. But don’t give up. They’re so close. You see them? You see how close he is? All right, here he is now. And now the mate’s going to reach down with the hook. The Holy Ghost has got the hook. He’s going to reel him in. but he’s still holding on. See that rod’s bending? The weight of that fish, but Dan can’t let go yet. Here he comes. Holy Ghost has got the hook. Come on. That fish don’t want it. Here he comes. Yeah. And now they’re unstrapping Dan. He can finally get out of the chair. Yes. Yes. Hallelujah. You got to, what do you got to do? Don’t what? Whatever you do, don’t let go of the rod. Hold on to the word of God. Amen. Amen. Keep on standing on the promises of God. Hallelujah. No matter how much your big fish fights you, hold on. No matter how mean and hateful and nasty your husband gets, your wife gets, your son, your daughter, that neighbor, that person on your job that rides your back. that one that’s been on drugs for so many years, that one that’s been bound by alcohol. In fact, there may be some you don’t even know where that person is. You could not get in touch with them tonight if you needed to because you don’t even know where they are. They’re lost somewhere out. the streets lost somewhere out in the dregs of sin and it doesn’t look like they’re ever going to come in but don’t let go don’t let go of the rod hold on to the rod of god Keep on cranking. No matter how much your arms are burning, keep on cranking the prayer reel of prayer and supplication. Hallelujah. Hold on because God said he’s not going to let it be too hard. The Holy Ghost is the one that’s going to come alongside of you and support you. And when you feel weary and overwhelmed by the situation, you’ve got brothers and sisters in Christ. You’ve got mature saints of God. They know what it’s like to go the distance and bring in the big fish. And they’ll be there to support you and to encourage you. I’m looking at sister Shirley sitting right here. I remember when she used to ask me to pray for her son, Steven. I remember when she would be so discouraged that it looked like he was not going to come back to the Lord. And today he’s a preacher of the gospel and pastor in a church. That’s a big fish. That’s a big fish. Amen? And I want you to know the thing that inspired me to even come up with this message is because, you know, when Benny showed this to me, which was like three years ago, I politely watched it and, you know, oh yeah, great. But not long after that, I was reading some material and And I want to tell you about the big fish that inspired me to do this message this way. His name is Jonathan Lash. His parents host a television show called The Jewish Jewels. His father is a Jew. His mother is a Gentile. But they are messianic believers. They believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And they are really a beautiful picture of the church of Jew and Gentile coming together. And so together, you know, he has all the Jewish background with all the knowledge. I love to watch the show because, as you know, I really enjoy understanding the history and the Jewish roots of our gospel. And so they’re a beautiful team. And this television show is very successful. Of course, they are trying to reach the Jews primarily. And they’re trying to do it kind of in a non-offending way to get their attention. Now, they have two sons, two beautiful boys. And of course, these boys were raised in a Messianic congregation. And a Messianic congregation is a church made up of mostly Jewish people. Some Gentiles like to go to it, though, because they like the music. And it’s mostly Jewish people. And they still honor some of the Jewish things. They like to dance and wear the prayer shawls and they do the Jewish dances. And they like to get the scroll out of the cabinet and open up and read from the Torah. But, of course, they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because they know that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Now, their boys were raised in this atmosphere. The mother is very musical. She plays the piano and sings. So the boys are musical too. And they’re into playing guitar and singing. Like, you know, like Frankie and Danny. Actually, Frankie and Danny remind me a lot of these two brothers, Jonathan and Jesse. Whenever I see them, I think of one, I think of the others and vice versa. So these boys were raised in this kind of atmosphere and even were on, from time to time, were on the show and sang and played the guitar and everything. Whenever they would have something special that was a family thing, the boys were always on there. I watched them literally grow up from just little, I think the one was like four or five, clear on up into their teen years. Now the oldest one, Jonathan, when he became a young adult… Like so many young people that are raised in the church all their life, he backslid, and he went out into the world, and it devastated his parents. It broke their hearts. And, I mean, they went to fighting for this young man, and they prayed, and they stood on the word of God, and they fasted, and they hung in there. They did everything, and it seemed like death. Jonathan, his heart was hard. It seemed like that how could he possibly, after being raised in the church and the experiences that he had, go out where he went off to college. And a lot of times when they go to college, they get in another atmosphere. It’s very anti-Christ, anti-God, anti-the Bible. And they get in a party atmosphere. And you know what happens? They get in with the wrong crowd. Amen? And so this is what happened to him. His parents were brokenhearted and they, you know, they tried to stand for him to be saved. But she said, it seemed like the more that we prayed and the more that we stood on God’s word and the more that we trusted for him to be saved, it seemed like nothing was happening. And then one day God gave her a word. And she literally hand wrote this because they put out a printed newsletter. But she hand wrote this at the end of the newsletter, what God had said. And when I read it, I thought of this video and it just struck me. This is what the Lord told her. He said to the mother, Jonathan is a big fish and a big fighter, but he’s on the hook. So give him line. Give him line. Don’t try to jerk him quickly and reel him in. Allow me to deal with him. He will eventually exhaust himself and he will come home. Let me tell you about Jonathan Lash today. He’s a young man in his, I think like his middle 20s. Today, he is serving the Lord with all of his heart. He’s a Christian artist. He has recorded a CD. And listen to this, a young man that young, he founded a missionary outreach to help the Dalits of India. And if you’re wondering what the Dalits are, they are the lowest of all the caste. They are what are called the untouchables. How many have ever heard the Untouchables? I don’t want to take the time to explain it. It’s heartbreaking. It’s heart-wrenching. They treat animals in India better than they treat these people. And let me tell you something. Part of the reason of this, and this is really curious to me, You know, Indian people are dark-skinned people, but there’s variations of color. The Dalits are the darkest of all. And the rest of the Indian people are in the higher classes, and they put the darkest ones, they are the Dalits. They are not allowed to have education. They are not allowed to have decent jobs. They have to do slave and subservient jobs for the upper classes. They have no hope. The women are treated like nothing. And God gave him a burden for these people. And he founded an outreach where he sells these little… I meant to bring mine and I forgot. It’s just a little leather cord with little beads on it, a little bracelet that the Dalits make. They have them make them. And then he sells them to people, Christians like you and I, for $7.00. But the money goes specifically to help these Dalits, and especially a lot of the women, because they’re treated like dogs, that they can get an education, that they can go to school. And pressure is being put on the Indian government now, a lot of pressure, just to do away with this caste system that treats these people like this. That’s all I’m going to say about that. But what I wanted you to see is this young man was a big fish. And God knew he was going to do great things. And the devil made his play for him. And it looked like the devil had him. And those parents didn’t think he was ever going to get back to God. After all they had sown in his life, they had done everything right as godly Christian parents. And it still went all wrong. But God said he’s a big fish. And big fish fight harder. And big fish fight longer. But he said, give them some line. And sometimes you just got to let them go and exhaust themselves. Stop saving them every time they have a big problem. Stop coming to their rescue all the time. I mean, if you bail them out of jail once or twice, let them sit. Next time, let them stay there. Amen. If you’ve gone back for them and you have shelled out money after money to get them out of this problem and that problem and the other problem and this rehab and that rehab and they just use up all your money and break your heart, give them some line. Don’t stop praying. Don’t let go of the rod. Don’t stop cranking. Amen. Keep on praying and supplicating. And don’t give up. Amen. Until they have run and exhausted themselves because sooner or later that fish gets tired of fighting. And if you don’t give up. He’ll get tired. And you can reel him in. Amen? And I went to their website just to see if there was any news, recent news on Jonathan. And I got so tickled when I went. I found out that just a few weeks ago, he married a beautiful, godly Christian woman. And they are… going to serve God in ministry together. Now, as we close here tonight, I want to know if there are any here that you, in particular, this message has hit home with you. I know it appeals to everyone, but because you have a particular loved one that you have felt like, I don’t even know why I’m praying for this person anymore. It don’t look like they’re ever going to get saved. If you have someone like that, I want you to come up here because we’re going to agree in Jesus’ name. If there’s somebody that you, and I mean, this person may be years now. And you just don’t, you know, they have told you, you know, when my mother was not saved and my dad was saved and he was trying to get her to come into the Lord and she would get so angry with him. And, you know, he would turn the radio on and put it on a Christian station with preaching. And she had enough fear of God on her, she was afraid to turn the radio off. I guess she thought maybe God would strike her dead or something. So she wouldn’t turn it off, but she would get so mad because he would go off and leave that radio on and she didn’t have the nerve to turn it on. And she would tell him, one time she got in his face. She said, don’t you understand? I don’t want to get saved. I don’t ever want to get saved. I’m not going to ever get saved. Don’t you get it? Big fish. Fight hard. And it took my father six years. Six years of cranking and reeling and cranking and reeling to bring her in. And there were many times that the devil told him she ain’t never going to get saved. But he said, devil, you’re a liar. And God not only saved my mother, but he saved her in my father’s revival. Amen. When he was preaching in a little country hillbilly church and she hated hillbilly music. She hated banjo music. And there was a guy sitting there with a big belly and a banjo on there just cranking away. But when she saw his face, she had never seen so much joy and happiness. And she thought, here I’m looking down my nose at him and he’s got something I don’t have. And she got saved that night in my father’s own revival. You know, he lost his voice. He had no voice. And he said, I’m going to go there and preach if I got to preach with chalkboard. Because God said he was going to save my wife at the end of the summer. And it was now October. And he said, it’s time. It’s time. I am not going to miss this opportunity. I mean, stretching it all the way to October. It looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Amen. That’s what it looked like. But God brought her in. So I want you to get that loved one on your heart. It may be more than one. It may be more than one. It may be a husband or a wife. It may be a child or a grandchild. It may be a loved one. It just may be someone you went to school with. And you’ve got a burden on your heart for them. And especially when you see them get bound out there in the world. And you see the devil come and bind them with drugs and alcohol and homosexuality and promiscuousness and all of these things. It doesn’t look like they’re going to get set free. But the devil is a liar. Yes, he’s a liar. Amen, what an exciting message, bringing in the big fish. Jesus began his ministry on the shores of Galilee, a large freshwater lake where fishing was big business because fish was the people’s main source of protein. He actually preached a sermon from a boat as the multitudes were gathered along the shore on Galilee. afterward he told simon peter to launch out into deeper waters and let down his nets for a haul of fish at which peter protested and informed him we fished all night and did not catch a thing but on the ground of your word we will let them down again And when they did, to their surprise, they caught so many fish he had to call for backup of his partners James and John to bring them in. Jesus said, From now on you will catch men. And when they came to land, they forsook all and followed him. Now they fished with nets, and this meant they caught all kinds of fish, and some had to be thrown back. To me, this is analogous to the great tent and auditorium and TV crusades today, when thousands answer an altar call to be saved, and sadly, some will go back. But what about those one-on-one hard cases of trying to win someone to Christ? For these, you need a rod, a hook, and bait. Sort of like tuna fishing, these fish are huge, heavy, and they fight hard. Getting them on the hook is easy. reeling them in is the hard part you have to be belted into a fighting chair and it can take a long time until the fish exhaust itself and that’s how it is when the holy ghost has someone on the hook of conviction that’s when you have to hold on to the rod don’t let go stay in the prayer chair and keep cranking it until that person is tired of running from god Bringing in the big fish can be ordered on CD for a love gift to the radio ministry of $10 or more. Request SK154. That’s SK154. Mail to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland. 21203 or order online at archiehardy.org where you can also get it on mp3 where you can also browse our other resources and email us but to order by mail send a minimum love gift of ten dollars to p.o box 1744 baltimore maryland 21203 request sk154 until next time this is sharon not saying maranatha
In this episode, Sharon Knotts dives deep into the metaphor of fishing to explore spiritual persistence and conviction. Drawing on a personal story of a tuna fishing trip, she crafts a vivid analogy of the challenges faced while reeling in souls to Christ. The powerful imagery of experienced anglers battling massive fish serves as a testament to the strength needed in prayer and faith. Sharon encourages listeners to stay steadfast and trust in God’s word, even when the journey seems arduous and without end.
