July 3
Red Letters: Following Jesus
Friday, July 3, 2009 @ 9:45 am by Josh Burcham
I find this set of verse mind boggling. The amount of faith that is present, I wish I had a small piece of that type of faith. Red letters today is looking at Mark 1:16-20, Matthew 4:18-22 and Luke 5:1-11. The story of Jesus calling four fisherman to ministry.
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-20
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:18-22
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:1-11
These men’s lives would never be the same. They took a small leap of faith, something that seemed irrational and irresponsible and God took them to place they never thought they would go and grew them into people He called them to be. These men were fisherman and fishing was their livelihood and their families livelihood. They had responsibilities and duties that people were counting on them to complete and they left them all behind when Jesus called. “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” They didn’t weigh the pros and cons, they didn’t pray about it for months; they knew what Jesus had called them to do with all the unknowns and followed. That is faith that I want to have!
But Josh, they had Jesus talking to them. Their situation was different. Was it? Some man they hadn’t heard approached them and said follow me and they did. He told them to throw their nets to the other side and they did. Jesus spoke to them and Jesus speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. We need to stop limiting God because of our responsibilities, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure and fear (Wild Goose Chase
Father God, I asking for this faith. Father God, I ask for the courage to fulfill your dreams for me. Father God, I ask for strength to complete the work you have set aside for me.
