Go Fish!

Go Fish!

Mark 1:14-18 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Intro: There’s an old joke about two fishermen out in a boat. The day was calm and the lake was isolated enough that they were the only fishermen there. The first man baited his hook, threw it into the water and watched the bobber bob on the waves. Suddenly there was a terrific explosion just a couple feet off the portside of the boat. In a few moments dead fish were floating to the surface and his companion was frantically scooping them in with a net.

He was about to ask his friend what had happened, when he saw his friend light a piece of dynamite and throw it into the water… followed by another terrible explosion.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted.

“Fishing” the guy replied.

“But you can’t do that… that’s illegal.”

At this point, his friend lit another stick of dynamite threw into his lap and said: Hey, you gonna talk, or you gonna fish?” (Jeff Strite, Sermoncentral.com)

-Well, Jesus saw something in some fishermen that nobody else saw. He singled a few of them out as the kind of people He wanted to hang out with. And then He asked them to follow Him and He would really teach them how to fish. But instead of going after fish, they would be going after people. There are a number of parallels and comparisons between fishing for fish and fishing for people, and we hope to look at a few of them today. Jesus will take you where you are and start with what you know and He will make you into who He wants you to be!

1. Come to Jesus

-V.17 is where we will get all our main thoughts from today. The first thing we see is an invitation from Jesus: Come…. This isn’t the only time we see this invitation to come to Jesus. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

-If we are ever to be or do anything for God, it begins by coming to Him through Jesus. Jesus is the only One who can fix us and help us develop into who He wants us to be. When we come to Jesus, we do find rest. We find rest from the weariness of this world. We find rest from doing our own thing. We find rest from all the expectations and demands others have put on us. We find rest from our own personal failures and sins and mistakes from the past.

-When we come to Jesus we find life. John 5:39-40 39 “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” If we want to find what we really really long for, deep down inside, we must come to Jesus. And Jesus said He would never turn away the person who would come to Him. He said, “Whosoever will may come.”

-Coming to Jesus involves laying aside our own pursuits and anything else we might be tempted to hide behind. Jesus accepts you just as you are, but He wants the real you! He wants the part of you that cries out for something more. Jesus wants the part of you that is seeking meaning and purpose. He wants the part of you that really wants to live. He wants the part of you that cries out for connection with the only true God! And when you come to Him, you will not be let down! You will not be disappointed! You will find love, acceptance, forgiveness! You will find meaning and purpose! You will find life!

-After we begin a relationship with God and come to Him through faith in Jesus, we need to keep coming to Him. That is what it means to pray. We come to God with our heart and spirit open to Him and we communicate with Him on a spiritual level. We also come to Him through the Bible as we get to know who He has revealed Himself to be throughout history. So, come to Jesus and keep on coming!

-Many people are in the process of coming to Jesus right now. They recognize that there is something about God that they need. That is a great start, but don’t stop now. When we come to Jesus, the next natural step is to follow Him.