Mark 1:16-17 – Fishing Time!

¹⁶ Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

¹⁷ And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

 

As the story of Jesus continues, Jesus is Baptized by John and then he goes off into the wilderness for Satan to tempt. After Jesus proves that he is not going to sin, John gets arrested for his preaching and Jesus picks up preaching in Galilee. Here is where we want to focus. Jesus is preaching a simple message, He is telling people to turn form their sins. The, Jesus sees the first two of his disciples, Simon and Andrew. Here He gives them the famous command, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” Jesus told His disciples that he would make them a different kind of fishermen, the kind that caught people (as in witnessing, not literally).

For us Christians, the lessons is, in the words of Andy Stanley, “to follow is to fish.” Just like Jesus told His disciples that he would make them into “fishers of men”, Jesus can and wants to do the same with you! Jesus wants you to be the kind of person who is out looking for people who need Christ and also the kind of people who are inviting other people to church all of the time. Jesus told His disciples that he would make them “fishers of men”. The question is, are you fishing? When school starts, are you fishing? At work, are you fishing? At home, are you fishing? Get out there and look for people to witness to and people who you can invite to church. Remember, “to follow is to fish.”

 Life Step: Think about it…

What does it mean to be “fishers of men”?

What does it mean “to follow is to fish”?

What kinds of things stop us from being “fishers of men”?