Fishers of Men

Introduction

Have you met people that are consumed with things?Politics, working out, their kids, themselves, their pets...What is the one thing that they do that lets you know that they are consumed with those things... they talk about it all the time. According to they had met prior to this pointJohn 1:35-42According to Jesus performed a miracle their prior to the calling the brothers... Retell the story in my own words...

Jesus Doesn’t Choose the World’s Best, He Chooses the Willing v18

Notice that these men are fishermen... they are working. We know that they are younger, not old men like we think to picture themBecause of , some believe that all of the disciples but Peter were under the age of 20They were not selected by another RabbiWe do not know how much schooling each of them hadWe know a couple of them followed John the Baptist, so they were interested in spiritual thingsThis is not the endorsement that we would be looking forJesus is about to start a movement... one like the world had never seen, this is not the group of people that we would tell him to start withHow many of the Presidential candidates do you hear name a specific dock worker has endorsed them?No, it is always other politicians, celebrities and people with money. If that is the type of movement Jesus is trying to start, he is going about it wrong. This should give us hope... If we are honest, we are not the people that the elites will call for an endorsementBut we are the people that Jesus has called to fulfill his missionJesus has left us with a command to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything that Jesus has taught us. So the question is not can he use you, does he want to use you or can he use you. The question is, are you willing?Are you willing to be in a position that might be out of yo comfort zone to further the kingdom of God.Jesus Chose Us, Not We Him

Jesus Chose Us, Not We Him v19

Revisit how to become a disciple... you went to sit at the feet of the one you wanted to follow. They did not come after you. I believe there are a lot of Christians walking around that really think that they have been let in on the grace of God but a technicality.God is sitting there thinking as you approach... did we put that whole grace thing in writing? Is it too late to take it back? So, them, we have to offer if it up to them?But God chose you... Imagine being a high school athlete... let’s say Bill Self came to talk to you after a basketball game.A basketball player here in small town western KS would be a little unsure of themselves I would thinkBut if you get Bill Self to come to a game and say, “I want you.” They only buy the best players!That would give the young person some confidence I would think. How much more confidence we should have... the creator of the universe, the God that is all places at all times, the God who knows everything about your past present and future chose you.To save you and use you to further his kingdomLuke 15:4John 15:6

Our Primary Calling is to be With Jesus v19

We do not like vaguenessWe want to know the details of things before we commit When we start talking about having Bible Studies, the first question is always, “How many weeks is this going to be running?We want to know how much a time commitment this is going to beI understand, I’m a lot like that myselfI have told you in the past, I am a planner. I like to plan out sermon series, events that I think we should be doing ext... I try to plan out things during times that I know are less busy with school events or vacations ext... But before kids, before work, before anything else, our primary calling is to be with Jesus.He did not tell these guys how long, where they would end up, or how it was going to work out.I imagine that if he would have told Peter, “Drop the net, follow me, you’re going to be crucified upside down,” things might have turned out a little different. Peter would have looked behind him, giving him the old, “Who are you talking to?”He would have kept fishing... I have told you in the past, if this is what God told me I would be doing in service to Him, I would have told him no. God has grown me... as a husband, a father, a pastor, but more importantly as a believerThat is a process that can only take place by spending a lot of time with him.You do not get that way by hearing a sermon once a week.Read your Bible... join my family this year in reading through the NT. The plan is on our website and we will publish the reading in the bulletin every week. Start a small group... it doesn’t have to be a group of 8-10Start with another couple, another person, then just invite people to join you. Or really, it will become so important to you that you will want to talk about it often

To Follow Jesus, We Have to Leave All - v20

People now identify as things now...I am told old to understand fully how that works. But I like the meme, after this Christmas Season, I am identifying as skinny!What I have come to see is that people, want to be known or identified in certain ways...I understand that it has a bad connotation Jordan does not identify as a millennial...But, if I asked the question differently, you would tell us how you identifyIn a smaller group, asking us to tell each other about ourselves,You would probably tell us about your family, your work and maybe some hobbiesYou might mention being a Christian, though, if it is a group that you thought it might cause confrontation you might hold that outThat is how you identify... it is how you want others to see youIt is funny to me, that the way I which most be identify themselves, their career and family, are the two things that these boys have to leave to follow JesusOver and over in scripture, Jesus makes it clear, that your love and devotion to him, must be above everything else. Following Jesus...He may cause you to change careers... some of you may look at the markets, looking at cattle or grain and think that might not be a bad thing. But are you really ready... would you be willing to sell everything, move to the other side of the world.I pray every week, the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few, that God would raise out of our body missionaries to go and share the gospelI pray that all the kids we have, one would one day take my place as PastorI want to retire one day, it would be best for both of usBut there are plenty of believing young ones here, I pray that God would raise one of them up to lead us a PastorAre you willing to lose some of the relationships you have, to jeopardize relationships with family because Jesus is more important, Be seen as odd in the community because you value Jesus and time with other believers over wasting time with things that have no eternal value

Jesus Commands us to Spiritually Produce v19

Jesus commands us to spiritually reproduceHearing the term “great commission” makes so many in the church just kind of turn their ears offYeah we have heard this many times, another sermon on sharing our faith, you might even be thinking, great a whole series on the topic, maybe we will be busy for the next few weeks. We have been created to serve the LordJohn 15:8Not just are we to do this, but it glorifies God be doing soWe hear the great commission and we can see the magnitude of itMatthew 28:19-20There is no way that we can do this...But we will do this the same way that you eat an elephant... one bite at a timeGod is not calling on you to change the community, the nation or the worldTake out the book mark from your bulletin... I am asking you to commit to one name, one person that you will pray for by name, that you will have a conversation with.Who is your one... all of the sermons and events and prayer meetings, while good, is not how God has planned out that we will impact the world. But for some reason our evangelism is simply an invite to church... maybe, if we don’t think that it will offend them. Are you obedient to the call of Christ... start nowPick a person, go to our Facebook page and you can download a prayer guide so for the next 30 days, you can learn how to pray for that lost person in your lifeDo not have Facebook, we have a link on our website

Conclusion

You cannot share what you do not have yourselfYou cannot tell somebody about somebody that you do not know