"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; Then He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
" - Matthew 4:18,19 I was reading over a devotional written by David Roper in which he spoke about a friend that he would fish with.
This friend would sit on the tailgate of the truck for 15 minutes looking for rising fish in the water.
"No use fishing where they ain't," his friend would say.
Roper writes that this got him thinking if maybe he was "fishing for souls where they ain't.
" When Jesus sat in the house of Matthew the tax collector He was joined by other tax collectors and sinners.
The Pharisees question what He was doing and the motive behind His actions, Jesus response to them was "Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.
" Jesus knew that He had to be among those who were sinners in order for them to hear his teaching and come to know and love Him.
Christians today are so much like the Pharisees they want to stay in their comfort zone among people like themselves, they only want to be with what we call here in the south "church folk.
" It is important to be around others who can help encourage you and help you maintain your faith, but if you only stay around church folk then you are "fishing where they aint.
" Jesus told the disciples that He would make them "fishers of men" and the same holds true for us as Christian today.
We are to be fishers of men and cast out our nets into water that has fish and not sit on the shore being scared of entering the boat.
Fishermen today will equip their boats with high tech fish finders so they will know were to drop the net so it will come in with a large catch.
When you are a fisher of men you don't have any high tech fish finder but we know were to look in order to make a catch we only have to do as Jesus did and sit among sinners and not just among church folk.
In the book "Unchained" by Max Gober he writes about his life as an outlaw biker, a drug addict and an all out "hell raiser.
" If you are not aware of Max Gober he is the founder of Canaan land located in Birmingham Alabama.
When Max gave his life to Christ he went in all out, he would go out each night and tell others about Jesus Christ, after witnessing to them he would take them to his pastors house in the middle of the night knock on his door and say "I got one" the pastor would then lead them through a sinners prayer.
Max Gober knew that if he was going to catch fish he had to cast out his net in waters where the fish were.
Max didn't sit in side of a church with that church folk attitude believing "If we build it they will come" instead Max did as Jesus did and sat among sinners.
He went into the bars and into all the places were he once hung out, Max is not a white glove Christian, he is not scared to go out into the water in order to fish for souls.
Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus speaks a parable concerning the lost sheep, He explained that if a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray that he will leave the ninety-nine in search of the lost and how he will rejoice when it is found.
That parable speaks of the lost that we as Christian are not searching for, with every soul that we turn to Christ the angels in heaven rejoice.
Jesus left the comfort of heaven and came to earth as a man and suffered so you and I could have eternal life, He left His comfort zone sat with sinners and was ridiculed by church folk.
I see so many Christian that refuse to socialize with anyone who is not of the Christian faith.
I have even heard someone ask another church member "what are they doing here?" speaking of a person who they thought was not worthy to enter the house of the Lord.
A lot of Christians act as if some ones sin is going to jump off onto them if they get to close, we have become to concerned with our image and not enough with witnessing to a nonbeliever.
As a young boy we would ride our bikes to the river close to our home so we could fish, the place that was the best fishing area required going through a large brier patch.
We would always fight our way through the prickly vines because we knew the reward that waited for us and we didn't want to fish where they weren't any fish biting.
After a day of fishing and coming out with our prize it seem the pain of all the scratches and thorns was well worth it.
When we are fishing for souls we have to go through some brier patches in order to get into the best fishing hole.
Our brier patch of life might be those who curse, drink alcohol and many other things, but we have to make our way through so we can make the catch.
If you only have friends that are Christian and you only go were other Christian might be, than you may be "fishing where there isn't any.
" Being with nonbelievers is the first step in "fishing.
" Then comes love, a heart of kindness that sees beneath the surface of their off hand remarks and listens for the deeper cry of the soul.
If you listen with your heart you will hear that sinner, that friend asking, "Can you tell me more about Jesus, more about what you believe.
" Just think if every member of your church would cast out their nets into waters that they knew would catch souls.
If they would just step out of that comfort zone and into the places were a physician are needed and the fish are swimming.
As Christian we are to be unlike the world in our behavior, but we must be in it as Jesus was.
"let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" James 5:20 (NKJV).
" - Matthew 4:18,19 I was reading over a devotional written by David Roper in which he spoke about a friend that he would fish with.
This friend would sit on the tailgate of the truck for 15 minutes looking for rising fish in the water.
"No use fishing where they ain't," his friend would say.
Roper writes that this got him thinking if maybe he was "fishing for souls where they ain't.
" When Jesus sat in the house of Matthew the tax collector He was joined by other tax collectors and sinners.
The Pharisees question what He was doing and the motive behind His actions, Jesus response to them was "Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.
" Jesus knew that He had to be among those who were sinners in order for them to hear his teaching and come to know and love Him.
Christians today are so much like the Pharisees they want to stay in their comfort zone among people like themselves, they only want to be with what we call here in the south "church folk.
" It is important to be around others who can help encourage you and help you maintain your faith, but if you only stay around church folk then you are "fishing where they aint.
" Jesus told the disciples that He would make them "fishers of men" and the same holds true for us as Christian today.
We are to be fishers of men and cast out our nets into water that has fish and not sit on the shore being scared of entering the boat.
Fishermen today will equip their boats with high tech fish finders so they will know were to drop the net so it will come in with a large catch.
When you are a fisher of men you don't have any high tech fish finder but we know were to look in order to make a catch we only have to do as Jesus did and sit among sinners and not just among church folk.
In the book "Unchained" by Max Gober he writes about his life as an outlaw biker, a drug addict and an all out "hell raiser.
" If you are not aware of Max Gober he is the founder of Canaan land located in Birmingham Alabama.
When Max gave his life to Christ he went in all out, he would go out each night and tell others about Jesus Christ, after witnessing to them he would take them to his pastors house in the middle of the night knock on his door and say "I got one" the pastor would then lead them through a sinners prayer.
Max Gober knew that if he was going to catch fish he had to cast out his net in waters where the fish were.
Max didn't sit in side of a church with that church folk attitude believing "If we build it they will come" instead Max did as Jesus did and sat among sinners.
He went into the bars and into all the places were he once hung out, Max is not a white glove Christian, he is not scared to go out into the water in order to fish for souls.
Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus speaks a parable concerning the lost sheep, He explained that if a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray that he will leave the ninety-nine in search of the lost and how he will rejoice when it is found.
That parable speaks of the lost that we as Christian are not searching for, with every soul that we turn to Christ the angels in heaven rejoice.
Jesus left the comfort of heaven and came to earth as a man and suffered so you and I could have eternal life, He left His comfort zone sat with sinners and was ridiculed by church folk.
I see so many Christian that refuse to socialize with anyone who is not of the Christian faith.
I have even heard someone ask another church member "what are they doing here?" speaking of a person who they thought was not worthy to enter the house of the Lord.
A lot of Christians act as if some ones sin is going to jump off onto them if they get to close, we have become to concerned with our image and not enough with witnessing to a nonbeliever.
As a young boy we would ride our bikes to the river close to our home so we could fish, the place that was the best fishing area required going through a large brier patch.
We would always fight our way through the prickly vines because we knew the reward that waited for us and we didn't want to fish where they weren't any fish biting.
After a day of fishing and coming out with our prize it seem the pain of all the scratches and thorns was well worth it.
When we are fishing for souls we have to go through some brier patches in order to get into the best fishing hole.
Our brier patch of life might be those who curse, drink alcohol and many other things, but we have to make our way through so we can make the catch.
If you only have friends that are Christian and you only go were other Christian might be, than you may be "fishing where there isn't any.
" Being with nonbelievers is the first step in "fishing.
" Then comes love, a heart of kindness that sees beneath the surface of their off hand remarks and listens for the deeper cry of the soul.
If you listen with your heart you will hear that sinner, that friend asking, "Can you tell me more about Jesus, more about what you believe.
" Just think if every member of your church would cast out their nets into waters that they knew would catch souls.
If they would just step out of that comfort zone and into the places were a physician are needed and the fish are swimming.
As Christian we are to be unlike the world in our behavior, but we must be in it as Jesus was.
"let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" James 5:20 (NKJV).
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