I’ve done two types of fishing
in my life. I loved one and I
think of the other with some
contempt.
When I was 10 years old I went deep sea fishing with a
family friend. We chartered a boat and went thirteen miles
out into international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. While
going out to our destination we had a great time as the
boat seemingly flew over and through the waves of the
Gulf. Up until the point that we stopped at our three destinations
I had a great time.
It was when we stopped that I quickly discovered deep
sea fishing was not for me. While we were sailing towards
our destination I had no problem because I really had no
reference for how high and how low the waves were out
in the open waters. When we stopped next to two postpanamex
ships and one oil platform my stomach just could
not handle the up and down of the waves. This, with the
fact that I didn’t catch anything, made me come to the conclusion—
deep sea fishing was not for me nor my stomach!
When I was 14, I had the incredible blessing of going fly
fishing in Montana. This experience was one of the best
outdoor excursions of my life so far! The scenery was incredible,
the rivers were majestic and the experience of fly
fishing was a challenging joy. It was so much fun catching
rainbow trout. And best of all I didn’t get sea sick.
As I look back at my fishing experiences I can’t help but
think of Jesus’ words when He called his disciples and told
them that they would become fishers of men. Jesus called
them to be disciples. They accepted that their new line of
work was to find and bring men and women out of the
depths of despair. Many of us have accepted Jesus’ call to
follow Him, but if we are honest, we haven’t done too
much successful fishing on His behalf.
Maybe that is because we fear the nausea that comes
with being out in the open waters. Maybe it’s because,
unlike Jesus’ disciples, we haven’t been trained and
mentored for this work of bringing people to Christ.
Maybe it’s because we have been made to feel that we can
only fish a certain type of way.
We, as a Lubbock Seventh-day Adventist Church, in
the months to come, will be undertaking intentional steps
towards helping us all become better “fishers of men”.
Here’s the first step of our plan. In this week’s sermon we
will be studying the discipleship process of how Jesus
prepared the twelve that He called to follow Him. We will
see the cultural relevance and we will look at the real
world application for today.
As we start this process, ask yourself—
Am I willing to follow Jesus wherever He will lead, and
am I willing to become a fisher of men and women?
My prayer is that you will have the courage to say,
“Yes” and that these preparations will prepare
us to become better disciples of our Savior.
START WITH WHY
-Pastor Geraldo
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