each out beyond, where nobody had yet gone with
the story of Jesus' dying and living again.

Paul was obeying Jesus. Jesus said to those fishermen on Galilee's waters,
"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Paul
said, "I have steadily made it the one thing I drove hard at in service,
to get out beyond all other lines and nets to where nobody has yet gone."

Use What You Have.

The third step in this service-call is this: _practicality in service_:
"Let down your nets." I can imagine Peter saying, "Master, if we had known
your plans for this morning, I would have sent up to Tyre for the newest
patented nets, or down to Cairo. These nets of ours have been patched and
patched. They are so old." The Master says, "Let down _your_ nets."

There is a very common delusion that holds us back from doing something
because we are not skilled in doing it. "Let the pastor speak to that
young man; I can't do it very well." "I can't teach very well; let some
one else take that class." The Master says, "Use what you have." Do your
best. Your best may not be _the_ best, but if it be your best, it will be
God-blest, and always bring a harvest.

Use what you have. Do not despise the stuff God put into you. Train and
discipline it the best you can, and use it. And in using it you will be
training it. The best training is in _use_. Brains and pains and prayer
are an irresistible trinity. When the gray matter and the finger tips and
the knees get into a combination great results always come.

The old Hebrew farmer Shamgar had only a long ox-goad with which to prod
his beasts in the field. The traditional enemy, the Philistine, comes up
over the hill. Shamgar's neighbors have taken to their heels. But Shamgar
is made of different stuff. He asks a man hurrying by, "How many do you
think there are?" And the man calls out, "About six hundred, I should
say."

Shamgar sets his jaws together hard, gets a fresh grip on his ox-goad,
digs his heels into the ground for a good hold, and mutters to himself, "I
guess they are about four hundred short." And he smites, left and right,
up and down, hip and thigh, with his strange weapon. And a great victory
comes to the nation under its new leader.

David had only a leather sling, home-made likely, and a few smooth stones
out of the running brook. He had skill in slinging stones, a keen trained
eye, a steady nerve, a practiced arm, and well-knit muscles. But what were