Book of Common Prayer

The true God

¹³ I am writing these things to you so that you may know that you, who believe in the name of the son of God, do indeed have the life of the age to come. ¹⁴ This is the bold confidence we have before him: if we ask for something according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess the requests we have asked from him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees a brother or sister committing a sin which is not deadly, they should ask, and God will give life to the people who are sinning in a way which is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not say that one should pray about that. ¹⁷ All sin is unrighteousness, and there is a sin which is not deadly.

¹⁸ We know that everyone fathered by God does not go on sinning. The one who was fathered by God keeps them, and the evil one does not touch them. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. ²⁰ We know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we should know the truth. And we are in the truth, in his son Jesus the Messiah.

This is the true God; this is the life of the age to come. ²¹ Children, guard yourselves against idols.

The miraculous catch of fish

5 One day, as the crowds were pressing close to him to hear the word of God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. ² He saw two boats moored by the land; the fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats—it was Simon’s—and asked him to put out a little way from the land. Then he sat down in the boat and began to teach the crowd.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deeper part, and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵ “Master,” replied Simon, “we were working hard all night and caught nothing at all. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

⁶ When they did so, they caught such a huge number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. So they came, and filled both the boats, and they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees.

“Leave me alone, Lord!” he said. “I’m a sinner!” ⁹ He and all his companions were gripped with amazement at the catch of fish they had taken. ¹⁰ This included James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus to Simon. “From now on you’ll be catching people.”

¹¹ They brought the boats in to land. Then they abandoned everything and followed him.