Message summary: Stay faithful to Christ's call to be fishers of men.

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This week I visited with Miguel at his workplace. He shared with me about his evangelism and discipleship ministry in Lebanon, PA called the Disciple Squad. The graphic on his shirt is based on Christ's word to Peter "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" in the Bible text. Miguel is a serious man seeking to fulfill his commission in life.

"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men". This is Christ's earliest command on evangelism. He sought to transition these fishermen from one type of "fishing" to another. Today His followers heed this call to both fish (evangelism) and then seek to make disciples of the "fish".

Christ's call to the first disciples as He walked along the seaside indicated early in His ministry His desire to connect by illustrative means of communication. You see, Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen. When Christ called them and said, "I will make you fishers of men" He had their attention. Several years later Peter cast a wide Gospel net on the day of Pentecost and brought in a huge catch.

Have you ever worked hard in some form of Christian service and not “caught” anything?  Of course the answer for each of us is “yes”. We’ve all been involved in some form of ministry for Christ that, at least for a season, seems to be going nowhere. We’re not catching anything. There’s very little receptivity and no measurable growth. That’s a discouraging time for those who labor in the harvest, for those who fish for the souls of men and women, boys and girls. But we must stay faithful, listen to the voice of our Master and learn from the disciples’ fishing trip.

Due to a visit we had from long time friends yesterday I am prompted to share a story that goes back many years ago. Jack Mansfield and I had gone down on a mission trip to a small city in Colombia South America to assist a church in a building project. At that time Jack was manager of a large lumber processing plant in Kane, PA so he had a drive for efficiency. Several days into the building project we could see that efficiency, as we know it, was quite absent. Specifically we recall helping the nationals dig by hand huge footers that were needed to sustain earthquakes,  that which a back hoe could have done in a short time took the digging crews hours and hours.

I could sense Jack was frustrated and discouraged and so was I, but as I recall we both had an epiphany that we weren't there primarily for the physical labor, but for the relationships. We worked alongside the nationals demonstrating our interest and teamwork.

In one of those remarkable post-resurrection stories Peter and his buddies went fishing all night but caught nothing.  I believe the NASV captures the essence of how Christ asked them early the next morning, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” Of course the resurrected Lord knew they hadn’t caught anything!

Jesus had some specific fishing advice: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”  Peter didn’t hesitate but immediately followed the advice Jesus gave and it resulted in a great catch of 153 large fish. It’s interesting to me that they counted them and this was included in the Scripture account.  (Disclosing the exact amount of fish indicates that this fish story circulated over the years!)

We need to trust and obey. There will be discouraging times and mysterious delays in our walk with the Lord and in our service for Him. This was true for the disciples and other early followers of our Lord.

But Jesus had said to Peter and his brother Andrew when they first met, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Peter indeed became a great fisher of men, along with his brother Andrew, and in some ways we are all his spiritual descendants “caught” by the compelling power of the Holy Spirit. Stay faithful to Christ's call to be fishers of men.

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber