"18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."
Matthew 4:18-22
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and privilege to have you
here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have
been sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with all of your family and friends.
Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others
continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to
God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will
continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face
of adversity in the coming days! As you may have noticed, it's becoming
more and more challenging in the day in which we live.
I
want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so
thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is
such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And
through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith
in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this
ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. Let's give God some praise for all He has done!
I believe that most Christians know what we are supposed to be doing, we all know that the Great Commission. Yet sadly, many of us, whether due to fear, ignorance, busyness, or a host of other excuses, fail to do it. In fact, some of you may have already tuned me out. This message is not intended to heap on the guilt, rather to enable, equip, and encourage you, to become fishers of men. The same call that Jesus extended to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, He extends to all of us here today. We are part of a grandiose plan contrived in the heart and mind of God the Father. The greatest thing we can do for another is to introduce them to Jesus Christ.
Many Christians are not fishers of men, rather they have become merely keepers of the aquarium. Evangelism occurs when Christians, whose lives have been transformed, are so ignited by their contact with Christ that they in turn create a fire within others. In fact, I believe a Christian without evangelism is a contradiction in terms. If Christ is indeed in you, He also should be coming from within you. We should therefore, be involved in the things of God.
In Luke chapter 2, Jesus said "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?"
It is our desire to be with Christ that determines our influence and impact for the Kingdom of God. God is known for taking ordinary people and using them in an extraordinary way. The key is obedience and submission to God’s will, rather than our own.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word, for the calling that we have received to do Your work. Thank You for making us fishers of men. May we have a greater desire than ever before for the matchless work of Jesus Christ, Who is our example. May we be that same great light, that came to us in our darkness, so that others might know Christ and the Kingdom. Place a burden for evangelism deep into our hearts and reveal to us those whose hearts You have prepared to receive the truth. May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake.
In His name we pray
Amen
Fans are fickle, one moment they are cheering you on, then, they're booing you the next. This is what happened to Jesus, as He entered Jerusalem, then, five days later they shouted, "Crucify Him!" Many Christians approach God in worship with a flippant attitude, deliberately living in sin, expecting God to just forgive them.
Jesus is looking for whole-hearted followers, participating in God’s Kingdom all week long not just fans, who are Sunday spectators. During Jesus' earthly ministry, He attracted large crowds, but when the going got tough, the crowds disappeared and there were only a few followers who were left. Are you a casual fan or have you moved beyond that to a faithful follower?
Christ’s concern for winning the lost, is the Spirit of evangelism. After we have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who comes upon the church and we are made witnesses for Christ. The work of rescuing the lost from hell, is the greatest work the church will ever do. I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for the lost. Like the Apostle Paul, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In fact, the Greek term "evangelize," is found some 53 times in the New Testament. Endeavoring to win people to Him, has always been a great concern to Christ. It was certainly the apostles’ greatest concern. It is also the greatest concern of the Holy Spirit. It should therefore, be a great concern to us.
In Mathew 28, Jesus said "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" Evangelism is the anguished cry of our Lord Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ, we must be about this task. It is by losing ourselves in the task, that we will win others to Christ. Evangelism then, is the sacrifice of the greater for the lessor. The Great Commission hasn’t changed, it has to start somewhere, it needs to start with us.
In Matthew 16, Jesus said "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
Just imagine, if two people, each led one person to Christ and this process was repeated for six months, how many people would be converted to Christ. It is not an impossibility. Evangelism is the realization of God's eternal redemptive purpose.
Open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4. The challenge is to become influential for the Kingdom of God, to live and speak the truth of Jesus to others, to challenge the worldview of our families, friends and acquaintances. Unless we who are saved, the redeemed of Christ, return to the Great Commission, the world around us will perish. When we consider all that He had done in our lives, how can we not of our wonderful Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ! Jesus begins His ministry in verses twelve to twenty-five. He started with saying "You've got to repent and be converted." In other words, a sick soul need more than a lecture on medicine, he needs a prescription. They need Jesus.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our
minds, as we prepare our hearts for the Spirit of God is saying to each
of us. Matthew 4:18-22. Listen for the voice of our Lord.
"Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."
Let's begin with verses 18-20, "Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him."
It is interesting to note, that Luke, who was a world traveler, never called it a sea. He always called it a lake. At its longest point,it’s 13 and a half miles, and seven and a half miles at its widest point. It is wider at the top than it is at the bottom. About 618 feet below sea level. In Jesus' time, it was one of the most productive areas in the world. In fact, Josephus writes of one fishing fleet that numbered 240 boats. That's a lot of boats in such a small area. It was there that Jesus found two brothers, Simon, who Jesus named Peter, and his brother, Andrew.
So, Jesus picked out His crew and He personally called them to Himself. We only know the circumstances surrounding seven of them, the other five, we don't know the specifics. We only know that Jesus called them Himself. God always chooses His partners carefully to be part of this magnificent opportunity of fishing for men.
Clear back to the Old Testament, God carefully chose His partners who were to be His mouthpiece in evangelizing the world. Every believer, who is in Christ, has been given that commission, to become a vital part of Christ's life-saving crew. To preach repentance and the remission of sin. Jesus said in Luke 24, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." It started with the twelve, and was extended to all of us. All who follow Jesus, are to be fishers of men. I believe that the church today, really needs to emphasize this. We've lost our way, we've become complacent. We have become so self absorbed with the riches of our salvation, we've forgotten about the lost.
I recently read that over ninety-five percent of all Christians have
never led anybody to Jesus Christ. If these statistics are true, I find
them deeply disturbing. We cannot hold on to things we love about the
church, we have to reach outside the church and share.
We are all called to be a part of what the Spirit of God is doing. Jesus called each one of them, taking each one of them to a different level. I believe its the same with us, first, we were called to salvation, then, we are called to a higher level of commitment, to serve Jesus Christ in a specific way. For some of us its preaching, for others, perhaps its the ministry of music. Some, may be blessed with the financial resources to help others. God directs us to specific areas of service. It was the same in the case of the disciples, it all began with an initial call to salvation. Then, there was a second call, to be fishers of men. They were called to follow Him. They were called to fish for men.
Then, there’s a third call. Luke records it in chapter 5. There are some similarities with Matthew's account, But there are some distinct differences. In Luke's account, they’re still fishing, they haven't left their profession permanently yet, they're still in phase two. Luke's is a completely different account. Let's look at it.
"When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so
they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and
help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they
began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him." Jesus is saying "You won’t get anything without Me. From now on you shall catch men." This is a whole other level of commitment. They forsook all.
In Mark 3, there was yet another call. They're not just going to catch men, they're going to be apostles. "And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons."
They went from a general call of salvation, to a call of total commitment, to the miraculous power and to heal diseases. In Matthew 10, "He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, to heal all manner of sickness and diseases." There's a progression taking place. At some point, when we meet Jesus Christ, we accept Him as Lord and Savior. After a little coaxing from the Spirit of God, we begin to fish for men. In time, you forsake all and dedicate your life to Christ. When that time comes, you really sense the power of God in your life. When Jesus thought about evangelism, He had a lot of people in mind. He called Simon and Andrew, He called James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
They all had their own problems, they were hot headed, they lacked humility and spiritual perception. They weren’t even very forgiving, as we saw with Peter. Matthew 18 tells us, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus *said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." For the first few months of His ministry, He'd speak to them, and they’d scratch their heads. The parables of Matthew 13 , just went right over their heads. That should tell you what the Lord can do with you and me. Jesus saw something in them others didn't see, looking beyond their faults, He saw their potential.
Verse 19, "And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." What a great statement. I believe they knew exactly what He was talking about. Notice that fishermen have certain qualities, that many people don't have. They are very patient, they wait and wait for the fish to bite. They also have perseverance. Though they may not catch anything, they do it again and again. The third strength fishermen have is courage. They are willing to take a small boat on a large body of water.
The same is true for fishers of men, there’s really only one way to teach somebody to win people to Christ, you take them and do it. You can't just say ok folks, go be fishers of men. You have to teach them. Jesus trained these men in three years. They'd come and say "this happened or that happened." And He'd send them back out again. Until finally, they were trained. First, they watched Him. One thing I've learned about Jesus' ministry, He was always where the sinners were. He didn't hang out with the religious elitists, or the rich and famous. He was always where He needed to be to reach those who needed to hear His message most. He was available. He didn't say, "I’ve got so much time for ministry." He made time for people. In Mark 5, Jairus told Him a long story about his daughter. In the midst of the mass of people, He took the time to listen to him. He recognized a sensitive heart. He was sensitive to the Spirit. I believe if you’re walking in the Spirit, the Spirit will lead you to the person whose heart has been prepared.
Another thing I noticed about Jesus, remember the woman’s issue of blood? She was healed, but that wasn't enough, He called that woman out of that crowd. He made her call out her confession. He didn't just let her get away. He drew the confession of faith out of her. I believe that to be effective, you need to cause them to publicly confess Jesus as Lord.
Verses 20-21, "Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them." The word "immediately," should not be overlooked. This was not the first time these men have been called, but it is the first time they have been called to follow Jesus permanently. And, they responded immediately. Not only did He teach with authority, He called with authority. It was a major turning point in their lives. He called men who would be willing to learn what He had to teach. He chose those who were willing to leave it all behind to proclaim the message of the Gospel.
That brings us to verse 22, the end result was, "Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him." Both sets of brothers left their nets, their families and their lives behind, to follow Jesus. For three years, Jesus trained His men how to be available, how to be sensitive to the Spirit, how to use love and tenderness, how to secure a public confession, and how to apply everything they ever knew as fishermen. Evangelism is not taught, it's caught. It all begins with obedience. Obedience is the spark that ignites the flames of passion for ministry. Show me the depths of a man's passion and I'll show the measure of his usefulness for the Kingdom of God. Being a believer is being available, being concerned for the lost. It all starts with obedience.
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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