From Nets to New Adventure

0:43 The greatest of all adventures is a life surrendered to the will of God. I want to repeat that. The greatest of all adventures is a life surrendered to the will of God. Not many people believe that. And that's obvious because not many people do that. I think it was Dwight L. Moody, at least it's credited to him often, that he heard somebody say, the world has yet to see what God can do through one person totally devoted to him. And he thought when he heard that, by the grace of God, I will be that man.

1:32 Why is it such a great adventure to surrender to him? Because you never know where it's going to lead you. You're only assured that all things work together for those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. It might lead you to the mission field. Some of you are going, no, please, no. Others, it will lead you to the perfect mate to do life with. For others, it will lead you to an organization that is changing the world through its initiatives. It is the greatest of all, adventures. And I want that word to settle in, adventure. Edward Eddy, an American educator and college president, said, the greatest contribution we can make to our youngsters in order to prepare them for the inevitable is to imbue in them a genuine sense of adventure. Without that sense, one may easily despair, and we need rather desperately the patience and courage of men and women who refuse to despair.

2:45 The story that we have in front of us in Mark chapter 1 is the story of four men who decided to surrender their lives and go on the adventure of a lifetime in following Christ. Now here's the thing about new adventures. They begin normal. They begin with normal life. A normal life, normal day, normal activities. Then something happens in that day. A person comes into your life. A report comes to your ears. Some event happens. And you are faced with a crisis moment. A watershed moment. A decision. and if you make the right decision, it leads you to that adventure of a lifetime. You are never the same. I have a few examples in my own life. I had been in a radiology program studying x-rays and nuclear medicine. It was a UCLA program and my mentor was an interventional radiologist who was very well known in the Los Angeles area. I worked closely with him. He was one of the top docs in Los Angeles. And he came to me one day and he goes, Skip, I believe you're wasting your life in what you're doing. I think you need to finish medical school and become a doctor. And if you are willing to, my credentials could get you into about any medical school in this area. If you're willing to put in the work, I'll stand by you, but you got to be willing to do it. I thought about it and I said, I want to do that. I'd love to do that. I love the medical field. I love the smell of hospitals, as weird as that sounds. So I said, I'll do it. I went home and I told my roommate, who was also a doctor, he was a doctor, emergency room doc, Dennis. I told him about my decision and I'll never forget his response. It was not positive. He just kind of looked at me and went, hmm, yeah, I don't know about that. I go, what do you mean you don't know about that? I'm basically

4:54 saying, I want to be like you. And he goes, yeah, I don't think that's what God has for you. I think God has given you a gift in ministry. That's what I think you need to pursue. That was a moment for me that caused a pivot and sent me on an adventure.

5:14 Another moment in my life is a phone call that I received from a man named Dr. Farley, who was the father of Lenya Farley. And he said, I know this is an unusual phone call, but you may not be aware that my daughter still has feelings for you, and I'd appreciate it if you would do something about that. Give her a yes or a no, but don't let her prolong this. It was that phone call that changed my trajectory.

5:50 Another incident for me was a friend named Kent, Kent Bagdazar. We were friends in California, and he came to me one day, and he said, I'm moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I said, why? You're here. Why? He goes, well, I'm going to take over the management of a radio station. And then he said, would you like to come with me? I know you've always wanted to start a church. That might be a place for you to put your roots down. Those three conversations were the moment that caused me to go on the adventure of a lifetime. Now, we have four men here, as I mentioned, two sets of brothers. They are four of the twelve disciples. We're going to get a fuller listing of all twelve of them in the coming chapters. But look with me at Mark chapter 1, verse 16.

6:46 and as he, capital H, that's Jesus, and as Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. they immediately left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther from there, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after him.

7:45 It's a very short account. This account is in Mark's gospel, and Mark likes to shorten the stories, but we have basically three movements here. We have a list of who these men were that are involved. Four of their names are given. We then have a description of the encounter that they have with Jesus, and then a decision that they make based on that encounter. So I have in your bulletin, your worship folder, an outline with plenty of space for you to take notes. Those three movements are their character, their calling, and their commitment. We begin with their character. What I'd like to do is give you a little character sketch of each of these men that are called Simon, Andrew, James, and John. But let me first tell you that this story is included probably because of the prominent role that these four disciples, there are 12 of them as you know, but these four play a prominent role in the life and ministry of Jesus. They are really the inner circle. Usually the inner circle is Peter, James, and John. You read about them a lot, but often you read about the fourth, Peter, James, John and Andrew. They are featured prominently. Here's what you need to know. They already knew Jesus. They had already met him, I'm guessing, about six months prior to this event. They had met him down at the Jordan River when Jesus was baptized. In fact, we are told in John chapter 1 that Andrew was with John the Baptist on the day Jesus showed up, and John pointed to Jesus and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

9:39 So it was John the Baptist that introduced Andrew to Jesus. Andrew then spends the day with Jesus, and after that, he goes and gets his brother Peter and introduces Peter to Jesus. So they had met, they had known each other by this time. Now they are back in Galilee, these four fishermen. They're back doing what they knew how to do. The Sea of Galilee. I know it says Sea of Galilee, but if you ever go to Israel, you're going to look at it and go, why is it called the sea? It's too generous of a word for what it is, but that's a sort of a Semitic saying. Yam Kinetit is the Hebrew, and it would literally be translated harp lake. Harp lake. Harp because it's shaped like a harp. And Yam Kinetit, harp lake.

10:33 The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. It is the place where they have a business. and it is what they do for a living. They are not day laborers. They are partners. According to Luke chapter 5, these four men had a partnership together, the same business, and they were doing pretty well, I take it, because in verse 20 of our text, they have hired servants. It's not just those four brothers, but they have hired hands that are working with them. It is their occupation as fishermen that Jesus uses to play off and call them to become fishers of men. So let's go through a character sketch of these four. First of all, we have Simon, also known as Peter, Simon Peter. Simon is his given name. Peter is the name Jesus gives him later on. He was Shimon Bar Yonah. That's his Hebrew name. Shimon Bar Yonah, Simon, son of Jonas. The word Simon means one who hears. I'm smiling because Peter didn't seem to hear very well. He liked to talk. He wasn't great at listening, but his name was one who hears.

11:55 Jesus comes along and renames him Rocky. he's a chip off the old rock. His name Petra, Petros is his name, Petros, which means a small stone. Now, let me make a distinction here. Some people say, well, you know, Peter is the apostle that Jesus built his church upon. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. That's because they're not understanding the nuance of the language. He was making a distinction between Peter and something Peter said. He said, you are Peter, Petros, a small pebble. And upon this Petra, this large mass of stone, not you, but what you just said about me, that I am the Christ, the son of the living God, I'll build my church on that confession.

12:55 You're a small stone, and upon this confession that I am the Christ, the Son of God, I will build my church. Most people would have fired Peter in the first week. Let me explain. Peter was impulsive. He was strong-willed. in Matthew 16 when Jesus announced that he is going to go to Jerusalem and be killed and then rise again, Peter steps in and goes, far be it from you, Lord. We're not going to let this happen to you. Now, Peter, Jesus just said he was going to do that, and now you're saying, no, you're not. So he's impulsive. He's strong-willed. He was also self-confident. in John 13, he said, I will lay myself down, my life down for you, though all others may be made to stumble, yet not I. Yeah, these guys are flakes, but I, the rock, will not stumble because of you, and you know what happened. He actually did, but he was pretty self-confident. He was also prideful.

14:10 in Mark chapter 10 he pointed out to Jesus look we have left everything to follow you we've given it all up and then he liked to talk without really thinking it through you remember when Jesus is transformed with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration and Peter says it is good that we are here. You know, he just has to say something. I don't know why, but it wasn't really profound, was it? It is good that we are here. Yeah. Let's build three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. So he's impulsive, self-confident, prideful, and he talks without thinking. That's why we relate to Peter so well. He sounds like so many of us, right? something else you should know about this Peter guy Jesus speaks to Peter more than he does to any other disciple on the team I think he needs it the most so in short Peter was a pebble who put his faith in a boulder Christ and he taught others how to build on a solid foundation before we leave Peter there's one other fact you need to know you're going to get to it in chapter two Peter is married because we meet his mother-in-law in the next chapter why is that important well if you think Peter is the first pope his mother-in-law and his wife would like to weigh in on that Thank you.

15:46 So we have Simon, Simon Peter. Next on the list is Andrew. Andrew is a great name. It means manliness. He was a disciple of John the Baptist. As I mentioned, it was John the Baptist that introduced Andrew to Jesus six months prior. And Andrew was among the very first ones to believe in Christ. It was Andrew and another disciple. We don't know whom. I'm guessing John. But they first followed him and first believed in him. but Andrew has a personality that we get to in the gospels. So on the day when Jesus is teaching in Galilee and crowds of people are gathering and they're listening to him and the day is wearing on and people are getting hungry and people are getting tired and they know they have a problem on their hands. Jesus turns to his men and he asked them a question, really like a trick question because he knows what he's going to do. He said, where are we going to buy bread to feed all these people? And I love the conversation because Philip starts, he's a calculator. He's like a little math whiz. So he starts calculating, tabulating, goes, 200 denarii worth of bread. It'll take about a year's wage. And that really wouldn't come up with enough to feed this crowd.

17:18 then Andrew steps in and he introduces a little boy to Jesus with five loaves and two fish but he's also reluctant to trust Jesus he says here's a little boy with a few loaves and a few fish but what are they among so many well if he knew Jesus better he would have said this is all you need in fact you don't even need that you can just snap your fingers and it'll happen but he's a little bit reluctant to trust. And then there's another little example of this man. In John chapter 12, there's a group of Greeks that want to meet Jesus at the Passover feast in Jerusalem. The Greeks go to Philip and they go, we'd like to meet Jesus. Philip introduces them to Andrew. Andrew brings them to Jesus. So you're getting a picture of who Andrew was.

18:20 Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Andrew brought a little boy to Jesus. Andrew brought the Greeks to Jesus. We need more Andrews who will bring more people to Jesus. So we have Simon and we have Andrew. I won't spend much time on the next two. You're going to be spending a lot of time with them, as will I, in the Gospel of Mark. But we have James and John. They are also brothers. James is the oldest in this family. John is the youngest. The older is always mentioned first. They are in business with their father by the name of Zebedee. Zebedee. James is going to become the first of the 12 apostles who will be martyred. In Acts chapter 12, Herod will take a sword and behead him. He lives a short life, but a very impactful life. John will go on and live a longer life. John seems to have a very intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe he is the disciple who leaned his head on the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper, as if wanting to hear every word and hear his heartbeat. John is called the disciple whom Jesus loved. What's fun about that is that the only time that shows up is in the gospel of John.

19:45 So it's like John's writing that about himself. Yeah, I'm his favorite. You guys are all right, but I'm the one he loved. I like that. I get tickled. John was the only disciple to show up at the cross and be counted and stood with Mary and Jesus said take her take care of her behold your son behold your mother then when Jesus rose from the dead the first two disciples, do you remember who they were that ran to the tomb? Peter and John. Peter and John. And the first one to believe in the resurrection was John. He looked and he believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. So John goes on to write the gospel of John, first, second, and third John, and the book of Revelation. But I don't want you to picture James and John as having these big halos and being perfect individuals because you may remember Jesus renamed James and John as well. Sons of Thunder. Now here they're called Sons of Zebedee. He gives them a new name. Sons of Thunder. Why? Because they had a lot of zeal.

21:07 They just had no tact. And when they came into a village of Samaritans who weren't so keen on Jesus being there, James and John said to Jesus, what a request this is. Lord, would you like us to nuke them? It's a good idea. I'm just was thinking about how do we handle this? And how about if we call fire down from heaven and destroy them? I mean, I don't know how you picture James and John, but I'm picturing these guys like in black leather robes, brass knuckles. You know, It's like, they're thugs. They're in the gang calling fire down from heaven. Jesus, of course, rebukes them for their intolerance. Then later on, it was James and John that start a feud among the disciples as to who would be the greatest among them in the kingdom. And they even got their mom to go to Jesus and say, I would like my sons, one to sit at your right hand and one to sit at your left hand.

22:03 That didn't sit well with the others, by the way. All of that to say this. You got Simon, you got Andrew, you got James, and you got John. Rough, imperfect, ordinary, blue-collar people. God chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things through. That's who he uses. What other choice does he have? Right? us. That's all he's got. He has no other choice. He's not dispatching angels. He chooses us. God has chosen the foolish things of this world. So that's their character. We now come to the heart of the story. That is their calling. As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers or become fishers of men.

23:06 Then immediately they left their nets and followed him. Now, again, they had met Jesus before. They had come to believe that he was the Messiah. Many months had passed since that event at the Jordan River. Now they're back home in Galilee fishing at their business. Until one day Jesus shows up in their town. Back in verse 14, can I remind you of what we already read? Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom, saying the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. So for six months after the Jordan River, after meeting Jesus and believing he's the Messiah, now they're back home. And what are they doing? They're fishing. And they're in the boat fishing, they're talking, they're fishing more, and they're talking more, and they're fishing more, and they're talking more. And they're probably saying things like, wasn't that whole thing at the Jordan River awesome? Remember when the heavens opened, the dove came down on him, and we heard that booming voice from heaven, and that was amazing. Where do you think he is now?

24:24 And if he's the Messiah, when is he going to set up his kingdom, and will we ever see him again? Then he shows up in town and he starts preaching in town. And then on another day, they're out working in their boats just off the shore of the Lake of Galilee. And Jesus comes walking on the shore and calls to them in a voice that they could hear, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. Now, just a note about their nets, because these kind of things, I geek out on these kind of things. The fishing they did in the Sea of Galilee was with these little nets that were circular. They're about 10 to 20 feet in diameter. They drape over the arm, but then they unfold when they're thrown in the air. So the fishermen in a circular motion will throw the net out. The net has little weights at the perimeter. And when it is thrown out, it unfolds, lands on the water, and begins to sink because of the weights. The fisherman then gets into the lake, pulls the bottom cord, and drags it to shore or to the boat. It's a dragnet. And I've watched Galilean fishermen do that to this day. I've seen fishermen in Cambodia use the same technique.

25:46 The fish are trapped and they're dragged to the shore. So you got two men in the boat casting nets. You got two other men in the boats fixing or mending their nets. And then Jesus comes up and commands them. I say command. When he says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, that's a command. It is not a request. It is not a suggestion. It is not a recommendation. It's not like, hey guys, think about this. It's a command. It is a very strong, sharp command or imperative is the word, a Greek imperative. It could be translated this way, after me. A very, very sharp pointed command. Now, this is a rabbinic model that is turned on its ear. The rabbinic model typically was that the rabbi shows up and the disciple decides if he wants to follow the rabbi or not.

26:48 They select their rabbis. In this case, you have the rabbi selecting his disciples. There's no record of that in Jewish history ever happening. Till now. The rabbi shows up, sees two men here, sees two men there, and commands them to be on the team. Now, of course, they have a choice, but their choice is not to accept an invitation. Their choice is to obey or disobey a command. and he's going to echo this command in Mark chapter 8 when he explains what it is to be a disciple, a follower.

27:32 Whoever desires to come after me, I could just stop right there, and I won't embarrass you by saying, how many of you desire to come after him? Because then I'd read the next part and say, how many of you still want to come after him? but whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. In other words, if you want to follow me, your life ends now. Everything that you are searching for ends, and you submit to me now. so he is commanding them to follow him. Now, I hope you know by now that being a follower of Christ is not like being an Instagram follower, where you sign up to click a screen when Jesus posts something cool. That's not that kind of a follower. This is basically saying, surrender to my kingship. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel he had just said. Now he's saying surrender to my kingship over you. This is a summons for them to lay down what they're doing and literally follow him for the next three years wherever he goes.

28:55 So Jesus is not saying, I would like to be a spoke in the wheel of your life. he is not saying I'd like to be an option in the smorgasbord of the things you choose to do and believe in he is not saying I want to be an addition to all the other interests you have in life he's saying I will be your king your master your lord or you'll have none of me follow me this way after me but then he promises something he promises them that he would make them fishers of men. You've been fishing for fish. I want you to fish for people. I want you to bake the hook with what you say to people, pique their interest, and draw them in to the kingdom. And by this statement, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men, we have Jesus' own description of how the kingdom of God advances on the earth. The kingdom of God advances on the earth by God's people fishing for men, speaking to people, evangelizing, engaging people, one conversation at a time, one soul at a time. Here it is basically.

30:17 in a nutshell. He turns caught fish, fishes that he catch, caught fish into fishermen. He catches fish, turns them into fishermen. He turns saved sinners into soul winners. It's not like, great, you're saved. Now go home and put a smile and live a happy life. Do your thing. Now it's your turn. Now it's your turn to fish for men. Now I am not a great fisherman. I'm really, you couldn't even call me a fisherman. My dad was a great fisherman. I watched what he did. When I learned to fish, I learned to fish in a stocked pond. It wasn't even a lake. It was a pond in our local area called Jess Ranch, and they put fishing and you could just, you could grab them almost. It was that easy. But my dad was like a true fisherman. He had all the gear and he would go fishing. So I observed a few things that I think soul winning evangelism, fishing for people and actual fishing are similar. Let me put them up for you. Number one, it takes active pursuit. It takes active pursuit. If you're a fisherman, you go to places. You go to a lake. You go to an ocean. You go to a river. And living here, you have to go pretty far. So fish don't come to you. You go to them. And you can see the similarity, can you not? Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Active pursuit.

31:52 the second quality is you got to spend time on the water you got to spend time on the water fishermen spend a lot of time on the water they observe patterns of fish their habits their patterns they know the different species they know what lures they like at different seasons and don't like we likewise spend time on the water we should not just talk to people but listen to them. Observe them. Understand who we're dealing with. Active pursuit. Spend time on the water. Number three, research and preparation. I notice a really good fisherman will study weather patterns, seasonal movements. They'll get on the internet and find all that stuff out. So that when they are there, through their research, they are now prepared.

32:47 and I think the best way to engage unbelievers is to go prepared always ready to give a defense Peter said when you are asked a reason for the hope that lies in you why do you believe what you believe well let me tell you why and the more prepared you are the more engaged you will become so active pursuit spend time on the water research and preparation fourth characteristic Patience and persistence.

33:20 You got to be patient. Fishing is slow work. You'll be there for hours. Sometimes longer. Don't give up. Stay at it. Keep talking to people. Keep throwing the net out. And then fifth, I'll put this on the list, catch and release.

33:43 That's our policy. catch and release. And that is a policy in some fishing areas. You have to catch a fish, but you also have to release it. Some let you take it home, some don't. Our policy is catch and release. We are bringing people from the sea of darkness and releasing them into the ocean of God's grace. We're setting them free. Catch and release. now just a quick note god's calling on your life may correspond to your occupation like it did to them they were fishers so he's making them fishers of men you may be a doctor or a nurse or a health care worker and god wants you to focus on healing people's souls you may be a business owner god may say, use your business for my business, for the kingdom business. So whatever is your vocation, let this be your avocation, your passion, the thing that drives you. Whatever your vocation, your avocation should be that of the gospel. So that's their character and their calling.

34:56 What's even more amazing to me is the last or the third little movement here, their commitment. so in verse 17, Jesus says, follow me, and I'll make you become fishers of men, look at verse 18, then, what's the next word, immediately, immediately, immediately, they left their nets, and followed him, you know, you don't have Peter and Andrew going, well, yeah, well, you know, give me a few days. Just, I'm there. Again, they knew him. They believed in him. I'm guessing they're waiting for this invitation, this command to be given immediately. This is the most famous act of obedience in history. They're out of the boat. They put the nets down.

35:49 They're following him. Go down to verse 19. He'd gone a little further from there. He saw James and the son of Zebedee and John, his brother. They were mending their nets. And immediately he called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants. I'm guessing dad's going, what? Yeah, dad, we're leaving and not coming back. See ya. That quick. immediately, immediately. Again, they knew him. They believed in him. But now, now, now, the adventure begins. They're entering into surrender and abandonment, the greatest adventure of their lives. And so they followed him. They went after him. Where'd they go? What will they do? where will their following Christ lead them to? This is the best part. This is the best part.

36:55 The best part of following Jesus is this. When you follow Jesus, your life greatly expands. It enlarges. You become more than you could ever dream of becoming. Can I explain? Up to this point, their whole world, listen, their whole world was seven by 13. It's their whole world. Seven miles by 13 miles. That's their entire world. A lakeshore. Seven miles wide, 13 miles long. That's all. They spent their whole life there. Oh, they went down to Jerusalem a couple times for a feast. Everybody had to do that. But their world was seven by 13 until Jesus came. And when Jesus came, their whole world changed and they went on a crazy adventure. What happened to Peter? Well, Peter is going to end up in Jerusalem and cast his net on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 fish will come in that day alone. Peter will also go to Rome and do ministry in Rome, far from Galilee.

38:06 He will write two letters, 1 and 2 Peter, and he will deposit all the information into a young man by the name of Mark who gives us this gospel. As I already told you, this is Peter's gospel written by Mark. So he starts as a Galilean fisherman, 7 by 13, that's his whole world. Now he's impacting the world through his writings and through his evangelism. What happened to John?

38:37 John will cast his net in Ephesus. He'll become the pastor of that church eventually. He'll teach people the gospel there. He'll write the gospel. He'll write 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. He'll get a vision of the second coming and the tribulation called the book of Revelation, and he'll write that. James, though he lives a very short life, it will be a very impactful life. Andrew will travel as far as Russia, southern Russia, history tells us, and cast his net there. So these fishermen become theologians, preachers, evangelists, evangelism strategists, pastors. Here's the point. Following Christ, surrendering to Christ's call, following Christ expands our lives and our world takes us on a new adventure. The world is yet to see what God can do through one person totally surrendered to him. Why not be the person who says this morning, by the grace of God, I will be that person. Now, let me close with a little story, one of my favorite little parables that I like to go back to.

39:59 Now, it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry. Week after week, month after month, and year after year, these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings, talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing. The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. But one thing they did not do, they did not fish.

40:46 In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. the board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many meetings to define fishing to defend fishing and to decide what new streams should be thought about but the staff and the committee members did not fish large elaborate and expensive training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and they were given fishing licenses.

41:36 They were sent to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters, which were filled with fish. But like the fishermen back home, they never fished. Like the fishermen back home, they engaged in all kinds of other occupations. After one stirring meeting on the necessity of fishing, one young fellow left the meeting and actually went fishing. The next day he reported that he caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all of the big meetings to tell people how he did it. So he stopped his fishing in order to have time to tell his experience to the other fishermen. Now it's true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day.

42:34 They heard the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the master who said, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men?

42:58 Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who did not catch fish were really not fishermen. No matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct. is a person a fisherman if he never catches a fish is one following if he is not fishing you ever seen those bumper stickers I'd rather be fishing that's that's what we had to put on our cars I'd rather be fishing for people whatever your vocation your avocation is fishing fishing for men for the kingdom of God one soul, one conversation at a time. Lord, thank you for the privilege it is to bear the name of Jesus Christ, the name that is scorned worldwide, loved by some, scorned by most, but the only name given among men by which we must be saved.

44:22 So Father, will you show us how to fish, how to be prepared and think how we're going to cast our bait in this conversation or in those words or with this opportunity when we get a chance. To not be ashamed of the gospel, the greatest message ever. Help us to be fishers of men and go on the greatest adventure of a lifetime, not knowing where it's going to lead us, but knowing that all things work together for good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. In Jesus' name.