Teach A Man To Fish.....

When I was growing up, my father taught me how to fish. We would spend long amounts of time on the banks of creeks, rivers and ponds with him showing me what bait was best, based upon all of the conditions.

If it was spring, summer, winter or fall, if it was sunny, or cloudy, clear or murky water, etc., which lures would best serve the purpose.

He taught me how to tie the only true knot that stuck with me, a fisherman’s knot.

Which pound test line I would need and which action rod and reel we should use, for the most fun and efficiency.

He bought us an inexpensive v-hulled boat and we would spend days at a time on the lake fishing.

It was on those days, sitting on those lakes, or standing beside those streams with my father, that I learned a lot more about life, than just fishing.

I could ask my father about anything and he would talk to me about it and explain it, to the best of his ability.

I used to love it when my father would come home from work on the railroad in the afternoons and say to me, “We’ve still got some daylight left, you wanna go wet a line for a little while?”

Those times with my father were far more to me than just fishing to me. They were therapy sessions for my heart and soul, as I was being trained on the practical aspects of life as a man!

And with that being said, let me make a very basic and simple plea to everyone that is of an adult age and withing earshot of this message, before I go on in any further with this message.

Listen to this exert from the Apostle Paul to his disciple Titus, in the book of and also verse 15.

“As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.  Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.  In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us. You must teach these things and encourage the believers to do them. You have the authority to correct them when necessary, so don’t let anyone disregard what you say.”

3 Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. 4 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.

Do you see what Paul is telling Titus? He’s telling him to make sure that older generation is trained and taught godly teachings, so that they will, in turn, teach the younger generation and thus raise them to see and know what a godly life looks like!

6 In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. 7 And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. 8 Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.

That is, Godly men and women spending time with the younger generation, so as to raise up a Godly and spirit filled generation and snatch back those whom the enemy is trying to capture and destroy!

Back to fishing, though. I learned quickly, as do most people who love to fish, that something happens in our minds eye, when we lose a fish (it gets away) and we then recant the story to others who were not there at the time.

Back to fishing, though. I learned quickly, as do most people who love to fish, that something happens in our minds eye, when we lose a fish (it gets away) and we then recant the story to others who were not there at the time.

It is old story of “the one that got away!” You’ve all heard those stories before, right?

stress Godly men and women spending time with the younger generation, so as to raise up a Godly and spirit filled generation and snatch back those whom the enemy is trying to capture and destroy!

MAKE A FUNNY PARODY OF SOMEONE TELLING OF HOW THE HUGE FISH GOT AWAY!

That reminds me of a certain fishing story: A man was stopped by a game warden as he was carrying two buckets of fish leaving a lake well known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish." "Pet fish?" the warden replied. "Yes, sir. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take em home." "That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!" The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said, "Here, I'll show you. It really works." "O.K. I've GOT to see this!" The game warden was curious now. The man poured the fish in to the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said: "Well?" "Well, What?" the man responded. "When are you going to call them back?" the game warden prompted. "Call who back?" the man asked. "The FISH." "What fish?" the man asked.

There is an old saying that says, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.”

There are many wives that like the version of that statement, that reads, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.”

But, the point being, once you are fully equipped and empowered to do something, then it benefits you for life!

There are a couple of stories in the Bible that I want to mention to you this morning, that have to do with some fisherman, some fish that got away and then those fish that were all caught and accounted for.

If you will turn with me in your Bibles to the gospel of , we will read of the first story and then go from there.

Luke 5:1–11 NLT

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. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 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. 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.” “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.” And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 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. When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 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!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Luke 5:1–11 NLT

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 such a sinful man.” 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.

I think that this is a fairly familiar story to many of us, especially if you were ever raised up in a church setting, or in a home where the word of God was taught.

This is Luke, the physician’s gospel account of Jesus issuing the call to part of His 12 disciples: Andrew and his brother, Simon (Peter) and the brothers, James and John.

The other gospel accounts, show Jesus, at other intervals, possibly having asked these same men to follow Him before, with which they did and then gravitated back to their previous occupations.

For instance, if you look in , shows Andrew, (who had become a follower of John the Baptist and his teaching), seeing and hearing Jesus for the first time and pursuing Jesus and then going and bringing his brother, Simon, to Jesus. It is here that Jesus to Simon, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).

This account shows us that Andrew and Peter had possibly, followed Jesus for a brief period at the onset of His earthly ministry and then gravitated back to what they knew before; which was their livelihood, fishing!

The Bible tells us that these men were all fisherman, by trade, which is were and what Jesus found them doing on that day, in Luke’s account, by the Sea of Galilee, or, as it was also known as, the Sea of Gennesaret, or the Sea of Tiberius.

So, if we take the whole picture, as the gospels are possibly showing it, then we are now seeing Jesus, approaching Andrew and Simon Peter, again, with the offer to follow Him!

And it’s this understanding, of the repeated call to His followers, that makes my message today all the more compelling for each of us.

So, what is happening in this account where Jesus is coming in contact with these two sets of brothers; these fishermen? And two of them (Simon and Andrew), probably being a repeated meeting of theirs with Jesus.

Well, for Jesus, this occurrence happens as He is busy teaching a large crowd of people, who were pressing in on Him, crowding all up in His space and giving Jesus no recourse, but to find a better means of addressing them all.

So, as God directs and orchestrates things to His glory, Jesus looks out at the water and there are two empty boats and He proceeds to climb into one of them, which just happens to belong to Andrew and Simon Peter and Jesus looks at Simon Peter and asks him to take the boat out a little bit from the land.

It also makes more sense that Jesus possible knew Peter before, in that He climbed into Peter’s boat and spoke to him as though they already knew one another.

Otherwise, you have to assume one of two possible scenarios took place: 1) Peter was also running a site seeing/tourist boat attraction on the side and Jesus was merely asking for Peter’s service (you know, like cheap ‘Galilee Sea tours’) 2)Jesus stepped into the boat and hypnotized Peter and said “take Me out away from the land!”

It really makes more sense that the two had already met before, as John’s message would allude to.

Then, once away from the shore, Jesus sits down in the boat and begins to teach the crowd at the shoreline. (Which would have made a lot sense for teaching a large crowd, because of the acoustics that occur across the water.) When He is done teaching, Jesus says to Peter, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

You see, up to this point, we have the possible understanding that Peter and Andrew were teetering on their faith and decision to follow Jesus.

So, God being God and Jesus, being His faithful Son, used a miraculous and supernatural occurrence to get Peter and Andrew, as well as their fishing partners, James and John’s attention and that helped to forever change the course of their lives and in the process of their lives being changed, subsequently, the lives of countless millions, upon millions, upon millions of lives thereafter!

Jesus, tells Peter to go out into the deep water and put their nets out, so as to catch some fish. Well, you need to see how this whole thing is adding up to a miracle, from the get go.

Andrew, Peter, James and John, are professional fishermen. That was their trade and they knew what they were doing. In the Sea of Galilee, which they would have fished all of the time, the fish from the deeper waters, (that they would have been after), would come more to the surface at night for feeding.

It would have been uncommon, then to have fished “ALL NIGHT” and caught nothing, as this was the normal cycle for the fish and the fishermen.

And, we know of what kind of net they were using, by virtue of the fact that Jesus instructs them to go out to the deep waters and cast into it.

They would have been using what is called a “trammel net”, which is a type of net that is let down in layers, so as to form a wall, which was done at night, so the fish would not see the net and fishermen.

Then, the fishermen would splash the water with their oars, to scare and drive the fish in the direction of the nets and the fish would become tangled in the nets and then hoisted up into the boat.

These guys had been out all night and caught nothing! This was unheard of to them, as the fish would regularly feed at night, so something would usually always be caught!

Remember, God was building a “supernatural” situation here to make a point to them!

So, here you have these “professional” fishermen, who have already had a bizarre and very long and frustrating night out on the lake, being told by a carpenter, how to do their job!

You guys all know how it is, when you know how to do something and someone else, who knows nothing about what you’re doing, coming in and trying to tell you how to do your business!

However, Peter, probably due to His already knowing Jesus, agrees and so, out they go into the deeper waters and down go the nets!

Now, understand this, that on a decent night, after lowering and raising these nets up to a dozen times (and these nets could be up to 100’ long and in a series covering a distance of a hundred or more yards), they could pull in a result of a hundred to two hundred pounds of fish and even more during the peak of the musht season.

Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels Luke 5:1–11

The wiggling fish are extracted individually from the narrow mesh of the net. But with a large catch, the trammel net is hauled into the boat like a bundle with the fish tangled inside. This was the case described by Luke here. In fact, the catch was so large that two boats were required and even then, the boats began to sink under the weight of the nets and the catch.

So, here’s the situation, they go against, the normal, natural occurrence of their occupation, (that is, what they know and understand and are comfortable with) and end up catching a supernatural load of fish, so great, so amassed, that their industrial designed nets, that they use and repair on a regular basis, begin to rip in trying to hold all of the fish!

And, so great is the load, that they have to call over James and John in their boat, (who were probably looking at them from a distance and thinking, “what in this world are those morons doing back out there in the daytime, lowering their nets again?”)

And even with the extra boat to haul the fish into, both boats begin to sink with the weight of the fish!!

Now, to Peter, the one who Jesus gave the instructions to and the one who was normally the more vocal and quick to speak his mind to others, this whole things was probably sensory overload!

I am sure that Peter was either saying or thinking, “Jesus, you do not know anything about fishing; this is not the way that we operate! This is going to fail and we are going to look ridiculous in front of the other guys out here doing this!”

Peter would, in fact, later begin to realize during his years in following Jesus, that Jesus would change everything that Peter knew to be natural, about catching fish as well as the world in general!

Peter would witness the feeding of the thousands with a couple of fish, (on more than one occasion) and Peter would also be sent out to retrieve a coin for tax payment, from a fish’s mouth, that he was to catch with a hook and line and it would again, be Peter, in a boat with a miraculous catch that would forever change his life.

Peter, would become very acquainted with the the miraculous involving fish.

In fact, it was the early church, that the FISH would become a prominent symbol for the new Christians!

Do you guys know this symbol? (SHOW SLIDES OF FISH SYMBOL)

Do you know why we use it as Christians today?

Because the Greek word for “fish” is “ichthys” and it is spelled (SHOW SLIDE OF ichthys FISH)

The fish became a symbol in the early Christian church, because the Greek letters for ichthys provided the initial letters of the words in an early Christian creed.

Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels Fishing the Sea of Galilee (Matt 13:47–50; Luke 5:1–11; John 21:6)

The first letter, iota, is the initial letter in the Greek word for “Jesus” (Iēsous, Ἰησοῦς). The second letter, chi, is the first letter in the word for “Christ” (Christos, Χριστός). The third letter, theta, is the first letter in the Greek word for “God” (Theos, θεός). The fourth letter, upsilon, represents the Greek word for “Son” (huios, υἱός). And the last letter, sigma, is the first letter in the Greek word for “Savior” (sōtēr, σωτήρ). Taken together the letters in the Greek word for “fish” symbolize the message “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” As it does today, the early symbol of the fish could be used to identify a believer in Jesus without the need for verbal communication.

As the church began being persecuted and Christians were being killed for their faith, the Christian believers developed a way to tell who was a trusted brother or sister. One person would draw in the dirt half of the ichthys symbol. If the other person knew to draw the other half, then each one they knew that the other was in fact a true follower of Jesus!

As soon as Peter witnessed the truth, of the person whom he was standing in front of, he instantly fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.”

Now note, when Jesus first asked him to go to the deep waters and put out the nets again, Peter addressed Jesus as, “Master” (a person who is over others, commander, teacher).

However, as soon as Peter witnessed this miracle, he instantly drops to his knees and calls Jesus, “kyrios”, which is, LORD!

How quickly the recognition and understanding of who He is, can change the atmosphere and circumstances that surround us!

Peter acknowledged Him as Lord and then instantly admitted, what any person who “truly” understands who Jesus is would say about their fallen condition, “I AM A SINNER!”

Peter didn’t say, “forgive me for being a mediocre fisherman”, or, “forgive me for not having snacks on the boat for you”, or, “turn away from me Lord, because I am dirty from fishing all night”, or anything else, other the plain and obvious true assessment of who and what he was, A SINNER!

And because of Peter being honest and telling the true state of his condition, Jesus can now use him. (it is when we try to hide the obvious and avoid our need for Him as our savior that we FAIL MISERABLY! Just like the rich young ruler who did not want to come to terms with Jesus being Lord, even over his wealth and status and thus, became of no use to the kingdom!)

Jesus tells Peter to stop being afraid and then He instantly assign Peter his career for the kingdom that was being established, “From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

Jesus searches you and I out, right where we are in our lives and He walks in and tells us who we are to and in Him and then plugs us in to serving in the Kingdom.

You might say, “Well, I am gifted in the prophetic, or as a preacher, or an apostle, or an evangelist” and so that is where I must go. I must stand behind a pulpit, or travel to different churches preaches and evangelizing. I have to start doing conferences and speaking at public venues, etc.

Understand this, until He calls you and places you somewhere, specifically, He will take who you are and where you and use you right there, if He chooses. He knows the gifts that you have, because He gave them to you.

To Peter, a fisherman in the natural, Jesus called him to be a kingdom fisherman right then and there, to Matthew, a tax collector, he became a collector of souls for the kingdom. Luke, the physician, he used as healer for spiritually sick and so on and so on!

You don’t come to Him and tell Him who you are and what you’re going to be doing for Him, He calls and places us where He wants us and for how long He wants us serving there.

Now here is the really important point for this whole message. In John chapter 21, we read of another fishing story, with a similar and yet different twist to it, than this one in .

In this other fishing story, we have, once again, Peter, along with the brothers, James and John, and Thomas (the skeptic), Nathaniel and two other unnamed disciples. And now, we find them in a waiting period; they are awaiting for Jesus to tell them what they are to do now that He is alive and what this all means.

And so Peter, being impatient as he is known for, says, “I’m going fishing” and the others say, “OK, we’ll come also.”

And this fishing trip occurs after the crucifixion and after the resurrection of Jesus.

The details are almost identical to the first trip, they are at the Sea of Galilee, they go out fishing the whole night in their boat and ONCE AGAIN, they CATCH NOTHING in their nets!

And so the morning dawns and they are confused about their lives, frustrated about the whole night without any fish being caught!

And then, once again, Jesus shows up on the shore and changes everything!

TELL OF WHY PETER WAS SO BROKEN IN THIS STORY.

Peter had stated adamantly that even if everyone else failed Jesus, he would not fall away and that he would even die for Jesus, but he said to Jesus, “I will NOT deny you!”

Read ,

John 21:15–17 NLT

15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. 16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. 17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

New Living Translation Chapter 21

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.

16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (Remember that Peter had before stated out of his stubborn/impulsive nature that even if all of the rest ell away, he would not!)

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” (Peter is broken and does not even try to state above the true condition of his heart now! Peter is done bragging and can answer Jesus, “Lord, I have only a strong affection for you!”)

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. (Feed the lambs; the young followers will need feeding)

16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” (Again, Peter, does not go above the truth of his heart. He is hurting by Jesus asking him again!)

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. (The older followers will need shepherding; that is they will need guidance and discipline. Just as Paul told Titus to ensure that the older ones do not get out of line!)

17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” (Peter, now hearing Jesus come down to his level, is crushed, as if Jesus were saying to him, “Peter, do you even have true affection for me?” And Peter answers with all sincerity, “Yes Lord, I definitely have affection for you!”)

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. (The older ones, besides being guided and disciplined, will need to be continually fed on the word as well.)

In this final miracle of the Lord, the nets held, all of the fish were accounted for Peter was finally ready to become a fisher of men!

In fact that is exactly what happens! At Pentecost, with his first sermon, Peter saw 3,000 souls being brought into the gospel net of the kingdom!

It was as Jesus had prayed and was foretelling of all those who would be brought to Him, “ “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”

The gospel nets are strong and secure and ready for all that will be brought to Him!

Jesus just needs those fishermen who are ready to lay aside all of their false pretenses and bragging rights and humble themselves before Him and then He can use them!

“TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND YOU WILL FEED HIM FOR AN ETERNITY!”