“come Follow Me And I Will Make You Fishers Of Men” Series

“Come Follow Me and I Will Make You Fishers of Men”

Matthew 4:12-25, Mark 1:14-20, Luke 5:1-11

Pray

Turn to Matthew 4:12-22

Conclusion - most important vs in NT - for understanding our role.

As a test of my conclusion, I asked a brother in the Lord who was a very good student of the New Testament what he considered the central text of the New Testament. He quickly responded: Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, - the three year ministry of Jesus, the central theme of Jesus’ ministry was teaching men how to fish for men.

Lets read:

Now Jesus, hearing that John had been handed over, separated to Galilee. And having left Nazareth came and settled in Capernaum along the sea in the border of Zebulon and Naphtali in order that it should be fulfilled; having been said through Isaiah the prophet saying:

“In Zebulon and the land of Naphtali the way of the Sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles. The people sitting in darkness see a great light, and those sitting in the land and shadow of death to them a light dawns.”

From that time forward began Jesus to preach and to say: Repent (Change your mind) the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near.

Now walking along the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, being called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. For they were fishers. And he said to them; Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And at once, having left the nets, they followed him. And going on from there he saw another two brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee, their father, preparing their nets and he called them.

And at once, having left the boat and their father, followed him.

How many of you are fishermen? You all are!

• Some fish for fish

• Some fish for sales

• Some fish for dropped bolts somewhere under the hood

• Some fish for the fuel tank switch or the auto pilot

• Some fish for lost treasure

• Some fish for missing numbers in the spread sheet

• Some fish for knowledge

• Some don’t know what they are fishing for, they just love to fish.

We are all fishing for something! What are you fishing for?

The Fish & Game Warden and Pastor go fishing:

No one in this town could catch any fish in this one lake except this one Pastor. The game warden, thinking the Pastor's prayer life must have been exceptional, asked him how he did it.

The Pastor told the game warden that he would take him fishing the next day. Once they got to the middle of the lake the Pastor opened what looked like a bait bucket, took out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw it in the water.

The Warden through himself into the bottom of the boat. After the explosion fish started floating to the top of the water and the man took out a net and started picking up the fish.

The game warden, picking himself up out of the bottom of the boat, said Pastor, you should be ashamed! That is illegal. As he was talking the Pastor took out another stick of dynamite and lit it. The he tossed it to the game warden and said " are you going to fish or talk."

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Last Winter Chad and I went ice fishing up in Colorado. After arriving at the lake early in the morning, we cut two holes in the lake and drop our lines in the water. After fishing for a few hours, Chad had caught dozens of fish while I hadn't even gotten a bite.

I asks, "Chad, what's your secret?"

Chad answers, "Mmu motta meep da mmrms mmrm."

I asks, "What did you say?"

Chad answers, "Mmu motta meep da mmrms mmrm."

I again asks, "What?"

Chad spits something out of his mouth into his hand and says, "You gotta keep the worms warm!"

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One day, a rather inebriated layman, went Ice Fishing. He drilled a hole in the ice and peered into the hole and a loud voice said, "There are no fish down there."

He walked several yards away and drilled another hole and peered into the hole and again the voice said, :There's no fish down there."

He then walked about 50 yards away and drilled another hole and again the voice said, "There's no fish down there."

He looked up into the sky and asked, "God, is that you?"

"No, you idiot," the voice said, "I am the ice rink manager."

There was a day when Jesus appeared on the scene of our life. And with more authority than a US Marshall, he commanded: “Come! Follow Me! I will make you a fisher of men.”