Fishing For People

Today’s"Life Journal" Daily Bible Reading can be found on Line. Click Here!

Genesis 12; Genesis 13; Genesis 14; Luke 5

Fishing For People

Scripture

Luke 5

The First Disciples

 ¹ One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. ² He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³ Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

 ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

 ⁵ “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” ⁶ And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! ⁷ A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

 ⁸ When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” ⁹ For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. ¹⁰ His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

   Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” ¹¹ And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Observation

Peter, James and John were professional fisherman. They had evidently fished all night and had not caught anything. Jesus gets Simon Peter to take Him out in his boat a little ways off shore so he could speak to the crowd of people from the boat. After He had finished talking to the crowd He said to Simon Peter, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

Of course, Simon being the professional fisherman protested and said, ⁵ “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” He could have reminded Jesus that fisherman fish with nets at night and not in the daytime and if they didn’t catch anything at night when you are supposed to catch fish then you sure aren’t going to catch fish in the daytime. But Simon Peter replied, “But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.

There was a huge lesson that Jesus was teaching His disciples and there is a huge lesson that He is teaching us through this story today. What lesson was He teaching them? What lesson does He want to teach us? 

Here it is:

On our own we can do nothing, but with Christ we can do everything. Fishing for people on our own will yield “0” results, but fishing for people with Christ directing us will yield huge results.

We could say that “fishing for people” on our own is just “fishing” but fishing for people with Christ directing is “catching people for Christ”.

I love to go “fishing”, but Kathy says that I am like Jonah. I go fishing but I hardly ever catch fish. But I still love to go fishing. I remind her of what someone once told me, “That is why they call it fishing” and not “catching”!

All of us are to be “fishers of men”, but we are also expected to be more than “fishers”, as Christ followers we should be  “catchers of men”.

So how can you and I be successful at “catching”? The answer is easy. We must stay close to Jesus and depend on Him. We must obey His commands. When He speaks we need to listen and we need to act. He can make us successful fishers of men.  

Application

I will stay close to Jesus so I can be a “catcher of men”.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, Jesus said, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. Help me to follow Jesus closely because it is my desire to be a fisher of men. I want to help bring people to salvation this year. I want to help them know Jesus in a personal way. Give me the ability to communicate the Gospel clearly. Give me opportunities to share Jesus with lots of people this year. On my own I know that I will have “o” results so help me to depend on You. You are the Mighty God. Nothing is too hard for You.

Today’s"Life Journal" Daily Bible Reading can be found on Line. Click Here!