"And He Brought Him To Jesus…”

He did not say, “I will try to make you fishers of men”, He said, “I will make you fishers of men.” Our job is to follow His leading, and He will make us into fishers of men. Even though this is a clear command from God, it is seldom obeyed by the majority.

Illus: For example, it has been suggested that …

• 20% of all Christians never pray

• 20% of all Christians hardly ever attend church

• 20% of all Christians hardly ever give

• 20% of all Christians hardly ever attend prayer meeting

• 20% of all Christians never have a family worship

• And 99.5% never win a soul to Christ

John Bisagno

All those statistics are appalling, but think about this, 99.5% never win a soul to Christ. NEVER! They must be willing for their family, friends and neighbors to go to a Christ-less eternity, because they never tell them how they can be saved.

Illus: This is like knowing a bridge is washed out, and seeing a family member, friend or neighbor come down the road and never warning them of the danger!

Every Christian that has been saved from a Christ-less eternity should have a burning desire to see their family members, friends and coworkers come to know Christ also.

Illus: The Institute for American Church Growth asked 10,000 people about their decision to join a particular church. What led them to church? The answers were:

• Special need - 2 percent

• Walk in - 3 percent

• Pastor, - 6 percent

• Visitation - 1 percent

• Sunday School - 5 percent;

• Evangelistic crusade - 5 percent

• Program - 3 percent;

•(Listen to this) FRIEND/RELATIVE, 79 PERCENT

(Wayne Zunkel, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 3)

Let’s take a look at Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He was constantly bringing people to the Lord. He is believed by many to be the best example of a soul winner. Almost every time we see him in the Gospel accounts, he is bringing someone to Jesus.

Andrew could not preach or lead like Peter, but he could bring folks to the Lord. This speaks volumes about this man, for example:

• There are folks who can invite their family members to come to church and they will not come.

• There are folks who can invite their coworkers to come to church and they will not come.

• There are folks who can invite their neighbors to come to church and they will not come.

Why? Because these folks can not see anything in a positive way that has happened in their life, so why should they waste their time to go to church when it has not done anything for them.

The people that are most successful in life in bringing people to church and to Christ, are people who can show their friends, family and coworkers that the Lord has done a work in their heart for the better.

This is why Andrew was able to bring men and women to Christ. In the life of Andrew, we see what it means to be a Fisher of Men.

John 12:20 22, “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.”

He was MOLDED BY THE MASTER and had a talent for bringing men to Jesus.

BEING A FISHER OF MEN REQUIRES TWO THINGS: We must be -

I. SEEKING

John 1:41a “He first FINDETH his own brother Simon…”

Listen, I would like to win everyone to Christ, but especially I would like to win my family and friends to Christ. If I truly believe that Hell is REAL and Hell is HOT, I certainly want to win them to the Lord.

And evidently this is how Andrew must have felt. The Bible tells us the first thing he did after he came to know the Lord, “He first findeth his own brother Simon…”

If we are going to be fishers of men, we have to SEEK the lost to win them, the same way a fisherman seeks to catch fish. Listen, most fishermen are absolutely fanatics about fishing.

Illus: A man that had two buckets of fish was leaving a lake well known for its fishing, when he was stopped by a game warden

The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish." "Pet fish?!" the warden replied. "Yes, sir. Every night I take these fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take them home."