Helps for Daily Life 11

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BIBLE STUDY 2: HELPS FOR DAILY LIFE

 

A SERIES:    THERE IS HOPE

LESSON 11: Matthew 4:12-25 HEY! DO YOU WANT TO GO FISHING?

 

 

These verses summarize our Lord's ministry in the area of Galilee. Jesus has already been baptized. He has been anointed by the Holy Spirit for His ministry. He has been tempted of the devil and has proven sufficient unto the test. Now he begins his great work in the land of Galilee.

 

There are several movements in these verses which are very interesting to follow. We see the places where He went, we see the people that He encountered, and we see the power which He displayed.

 

VERSES 12 THROUGH 17 TELL US ABOUT THE LORD'S MOVE.


Matthew 4:12-17(KJV) “12Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 

Jesus moves from his home town in Nazareth to the city of Capernaum, which is right on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. He fulfills Scripture in doing so in verse 14. In verses 15 and 16, Matthew quotes from Isaiah 9:1-2. It was a very sensible move on the part of Jesus, because when he went down to Capernaum he went where the people were. There was a large population there.

 

It was more in the center of the activities of the land. Therefore, Jesus, the light of the world, went there because that is where the people were. It was a land of darkness and a land of death. As Isaiah had predicted the light would come where the darkness and death was the greatest. That's the way Jesus always worked. He went where the need was the greatest. He went where the people needed to see the light. When the light comes on, life comes in. In John 1:4, John said about the Lord Jesus, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” When Christ comes into a place, the light always comes on and spiritual light begins to occur, Jesus was winning people to himself, people were being saved and their lives were being changed.

 

In verse 17 it says that Jesus began- to preach and to say, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This is the same message that John the Baptist used. The Gospel doesn't change; it's always the same message. I am preaching the same message today that John the Baptist preached, that Jesus preached, that the apostles preached and that all of the early Christian preachers preached. Repentance is the “faith” word of the Gospel. Repentance means to change your mind about sin. It is an about face, where you turn away from your sin and by faith receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior. The Bible says that if you will repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus you will be saved. In Acts 20:21 the Bible says, “...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to tell people that there is a better life than the one they're living? They do not have to live in their sins anymore. They can be forgiven of those sins and become a brand new person in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 12-17 set before us the Lord's move.

 

VERSES 18 THROUGH 22 TALK ABOUT THE LORD'S MEN.

We will come back to these verses.

 

VERSES 23 THROUGH 25 SHOW US THE LORD'S MINISTRY.


Matthew 4:23-25 (KJV) “23And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.”

 

The Lord's ministry was a three-fold ministry. In my Bible I circled three words in verse 23 because that is the three-fold ministry of Jesus:

           “And Jesus went about all Galilee,

  1. Teaching in their synagogues,

  2. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom,

  3. Healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

When He came with this three-fold ministry people came from everywhere. The word got around that there was somebody on the scene who could help people with their needs. When the people found this out they were immediately drawn to Him. Jesus went ministering to the needs of the people and word got out that he was there. That's why in verse 24 it says, “And his fame went throughout all Syria... and people came from everywhere who had all kinds of needs.” Some people had spiritual needs, they were possessed by demons. Other people had emotional needs, they were lunatics. Some had physical needs, they had palsy. They came to Jesus and "he healed them." Jesus Christ is the great physician. He is never too busy to take up our case no matter how unimportant we may feel we are. The "great physician" has always got time for us. Jesus comes teaching, preaching and healing and the people flock to see Him.

 

Now let's look at verses 18-22.

VERSES 18 THROUGH 22 TALK ABOUT THE LORD'S MEN.

 

Matthew 4:18-22(KJV) “18And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”

 

These are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. I believe that they speak about something many of us are very interested in. It talks about going fishing. Jesus is enlisting men around him who will to assist him in his work. He is recruiting his followers, putting together his team. Very soon, a new President will be inaugurated as president. We will be seeing the different cabinet members and people who are going to be on his team. A leader has got to have a team to assist him in his goals and achieving the purposes for his work.

 

IN ORDER TO CATCH FISH YOU MUST ANSWER THE CALL.

 

Look at verse 18, “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee...” That's the equivalent of the shopping mall of Galilee because that was the center of activity. If you had gone around the Sea of Galilee on a typical day, you would have found it to be a beehive of activity. People were everywhere. There were hundreds, possibly thousands, of boats in the Sea of Galilee and they were fishing. There were people along the shore who were displaying their wares. There were people coming down from the mountains and the villages, in and out of the shops. It was a business center.

 

Jesus sees two brothers: Simon called Peter and Andrew... In verse 21 it says “...he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother...” Jesus is going to call these four men to be some of his first disciples. As we study the gospel records in the New Testament we see that this is not the first time these men have met Jesus or Jesus met them. The first time they had met is recorded in the Gospel of John at the baptism of Jesus. When Jesus came to be baptized, John the Baptist said in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." That got people interested in the Lord Jesus. Therefore, two of these men started following the Lord Jesus and Jesus turned around and he said in John 1:38, "What seek ye?" They said in verse 39, "Master, where dwellest thou?"

 

HERE IS A CALL TO SALVATION.

 

Then Jesus said one the most interesting things. He said, "Come and see." That is the great call to salvation. That is the first call that Jesus Christ makes to the soul. "Come and see." That is the invitation that every Christian is suppose to extend. We should be extending this invitation ever since the moment we have been saved ourselves. We have an invitation from the Lord Jesus to every unsaved person in this world to “come and see.” We are not inviting them to some building. We can find many fine buildings in many places and call it a worship center or a church building. We are not inviting them to listen to our musicians or singers, as wonderful as they are, but there are singers everywhere. We are not even inviting them to come and see the preacher as wonderful as our preacher is, but the seems to be some kind of preacher under every rock these days, whether they are legitimate or not. We are inviting them to “come and you will see Jesus.” “Come and you will find out how Jesus can change your life and make you a brand new creature.” They followed Jesus in salvation. Andrew came back and found his brother, Simon Peter and said in verse 8 “We have found the Messiah...” In John 1:41 it says, “And Andrew brought his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus.” That's one of the greatest things that's ever been done by a man named Andrew when he brought his own brother to the Lord Jesus. Therefore, they had already met the Lord Jesus in salvation.

 

HERE IS A CALL TO SERVICE.

 

This call is a further step because it is a call to serve the Lord. After you have accepted His call to salvation, you have been saved and you have accepted His call to salvation. You have accepted the "whosoever will let him come" invitation. This is a call on your life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

It says in verse 18, he saw two brothers “... Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.” I know that these two were weak men because I have read about them in other places. You can't help but like Simon Peter but he was a rascal. The Lord really had a job to do when he got hold of Simon Peter. He was impetuous or hotheaded. He was a loud mouth. He bragged all the time. Every time he opened up his mouth he put his foot in it. Even after he got saved, if you put him under pressure he would cuss a little bit. The night before the Lord was crucified a maiden put a little pressure on him and he cursed. Some of us have the idea that God could never use us, well I have news for you Peter was one of the most unlikely people you would expect to be a follower of Jesus. Andrew never was a preacher as far as we know. He never wrote a book and there is no record that Andrew was ever a great speaker. He was just an ordinary guy who lived in the shadow of his more prominent and outspoken brother.

 

James and John, in verse 21, were a couple of hot heads. When they began to follow the Lord Jesus they went into a village where He was rejected and they wanted to call down fire and burn them all up. Now that is a sweet Christian spirit isn't it? “Lord either turn them or burn them!” They weren't exactly model citizens either. That's the wonderful thing about the call to follow the Lord Jesus. Jesus doesn't call us to follow him because of how wonderful and smart and wise we are. Jesus takes weak people like us and uses us. He changes us to make us more what we ought to be. We are not called on the basis of our goodness and perfections. We're called on the basis of His grace. We're not called on the basis of our skill and competence. We're called on the basis of His power to use us and make something out of our lives that would not be possible otherwise.

 

I was reading this week something I have read many times before but I really needed to read it again this time because it it is about the kind of people that the Lord calls and it was a real encouragement to me. 1st  Corinthians 1:26-29 says, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.” Isn't that a wonderful truth? That causes me to think back about my own calling to preach as a 30 year old business man many years ago in a world that was about as far from preaching as one could get. If you had known me you would have known that preaching was the last thing on my mind. One of the Deacons in my home church once told me that he never thought God would ever call me to preach! The man who was my pastor for 28 years told me after I went for him for guidance after announcing my call to preach told me to just subscribe for a home Bible Study course and that would probably be sufficient. There was no question of the doubt that was in his mind. He had known me all of his life. He led me to the Lord, baptized me, watched me grow up along with his daughter whom I had dated a couple of times, ordained me as a Deacon, and knew me very well. None of my friends and some of my family never said very much when I announced that God had called me to preach but I could feel their doubt and suspicion. I was the first man in our home church in over 100 years to be called to preach followed by my brother-in-law a few years later who became a foreign Missionary. I had no idea what I was doing or getting into. All I knew was I was following what I believed to be God’s will for my life and I was following Him in total faith. God had His work cut out for Himself when working in and with me, but nothing is impossible with God. I know that if God ever uses me, even after all of these years, He has to get all the glory because I know where I came from and I was an unlikely prospect to be used of the Lord. That is the wonderful thing about following the Lord Jesus. I know one thing from experience. If you give Jesus yourself as you are, just like a ball of clay in the potters hands he'll give you back you as He can make you.

 

In verse 19 he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” It is amazing what Jesus can make out of weak people. If you will give Jesus your crab apples and He will give you back a golden delicious pie. If you will give Jesus a little acorn and He will give you back a mighty oak tree. If you will give Jesus a Simon Peter, shifting like the sand, He will give you back a Simon Peter that is a mighty rock for the Lord. If you will give Jesus a Jacob, a schemer, He will give you back an Israel, a prince with God and a prince with men. If you will give yourself to Jesus as you are He will give you back only that which He can make you by His grace. These men were working men. Verse 18 says they were casting their net into the sea. Verse 21says, they were mending their nets. These men were busy men. To follow the Lord- Jesus Christ is an invitation that is always extended to people who are busy because the Lord's work is no place for lazy people. It takes a lot of hard work to get God's business done. It takes people who are willing to take the time and put out the effort that's necessary. He calls people who are willing to follow him. It's a great honor to be called to follow and serve Jesus.

 

IN ORDER TO CATCH FISH YOU MUST ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE.

 

He says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." We know that they were already fishers of fish. They were fishermen. Jesus is challenging them to move up to a higher level of occupation. He's giving them a more noble vocation. I don't know how old these men were. Most people believe that they were rather young. Older men get to a stage in their lives where a sort of boredom sets into their work. They can't put their finger on it exactly. They may enjoy their work yet there is a fatigue and a weariness that comes from it. I don't know if these disciples had that kind of experience or not but I do know that it must have been a very exciting thing for Jesus to say to them, "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men." See how that lifts the level of their activity. I'll make you a fisher of men. Jesus knows how to communicate to you in a language that you can understand. Why did Jesus say to these men, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men"?

 

That really gets hold of me because I have always loved to fish but I have never really been a fisherman. There has always seemed to be a conspiracy among the fish when I went fishing. Most of the time when I went fishing they would shut their mouths and refuse to bite any bait I put on a hook and into the water. Therefore, I love to fish but I'm not what you would call a fisherman. You may not be a fisherman either. You may be a teacher. Therefore, when Jesus calls you to follow Him He challenge you, "Follow Me and I will make you a teacher of men for Me." You may be a soldier and the Lord would say to you, "Follow Me, and I will make you a warrior of men for Me." You may be a builder and the Lord would say to you “Follow Me, and I will make you a builder of men for Me.” You know, reaching people and growing the work of the Lord can be described as building a building. You do it one brick at a time. That illustrates what I'm talking about. When a builder thinks in terms of building a building a building that is the terms in which he thinks of it – one brick at a time. When we think of following the Lord and growing a church or winning the world to Jesus that is the terms in which we need to think of it – one brick at a time or one soul at a time. Whatever our language is in our everyday life, Jesus wants us to take what we are doing as an opportunity to win people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Could that increase our excitement when we go to work in the morning? Could that give us a little extra push when we go out the door in the morning to know that we are not just going out there to work in a business that is not going to amount to a whole lot when we die, but to know that on that job we are on business for the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

That got Simon Peter and Andrew interested! They had been fishing for fish. That was their business. Jesus said, "You come after me and I'll make you fishers of men." That got their attention. There are many figures of speech used in the Bible for winning people to the Lord. Sometimes, it's the shepherd seeking after the sheep. Other times, it's the harvester going to harvest the grain. This is a beautiful speech about winning people to the Lord, "fishers of men." This is at the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus and He lays out the priority of those who would be His followers to be fishers of men. To put this in our terminology today, that is our number one business above everything else we do – to win people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's first! That comes right at the very beginning. There are a lot of other thing we do, but everything should be geared to leading people to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

 

Simon Peter had another experience with Jesus in the fifth chapter of the book of Luke. They had been fishing all night but hadn't caught anything. They were trying to fish without Jesus. We never catch anything when we try to fish without Jesus. He told them where to catch the fish. They put down the nets where Jesus told them to and they had so many fish they couldn't get them all in the net. Simon Peter stood there in the presence of a carpenter who knew more about fishing than he did. He was aware that he was in the presence of God Himself. Simon Peter fell down before the Lord and said, "Depart from me I'm a sinful man, 0 Lord." In addition, Jesus said, "Don't be afraid Simon from henceforth you'll catch men." That's the number one business of a saved person – to catch men for Jesus Christ. Let's go fishing! Let's catch some people for Jesus.

 

It's real easy for a child of God to get off track on secondary matters. If we are not careful, churches can just get interested in swapping goldfish with other fish. Fish just lettering in and lettering out. Some churches would like to just get people to move their letters to their church instead of going out and catching some fresh fish for the Lord! Some churches are only interested in being keepers of the aquarium, taking care of the fish they already have. I heard about an old boy who went fishing and came back. He was asked, "Did you catch any?" He said, "No, but I influenced several." It's amazing to me the different ideas people have about witnessing to people. Some people take the term "witnessing" and misuse it. They feel that what we are is our witness and that is all there is to it. We have got to do more than just live our life to be a witness for Jesus. A witness is a person who tells what he knows personally about Jesus to be true. We have got to open our mouth and say something. We don't just influence the fish with impressive bait, we have to catch them! A church is in the fishing business to catch fish for Jesus.

 

IN ORDER TO CATCH FISH YOU MUST AROUSE THE COMMITMENT.

 

There are several things everyone needs to know about fishing – it takes patience and persistence. A good friend of mine is a fisherman and he catches fish all of the time. I does not matter if the sun is shining or if it is raining or if it is about to snow, he will go fishing at least three to four times each week. He has slowed down a little now that he is in his late seventies and his health has failed a little. However, as long as he has the strength and health he is going to go fishing. He even keeps a journal of where he goes and the dates, the temperature, and conditions, the temperature of the water, and the fish he caught. At one time he would ask me to go with him and we would be on the water before the sun came up around 5:30 a.m. and usually we would leave when it began to get real hot. If it was nice we would fish until almost dark. Believe me, it takes commitment to get up at 4:30 a.m. and get ready for a day of fishing. Now I am not too keen about fishing in the rain and there have been times when I would tell my friend that I was going to skip that fishing trip. Nevertheless he would go without me and he would have a great day on the lake and catch fish all day. Do you know why I didn't catch fish and my friend did? If I am going to catch fish I have got to go fishing! I have got to fish if I am going to catch fish.

 

In that analysis, if we want to win somebody to the Lord, we have got to stay at it. In fact, there are a lot of fish who are not too interested in the bait the first time you throw a hook out. However, if we will just keep throwing the hook in, keep the bait out there, keep talking to people and witnessing about the Lord, we will reel one in once in a while. If we want to catch fish we have got to go fishing. There was a young man who worked for me before I was called to preach and after I moved away from home following the Lord that I still had him on my heart. I was 250 miles away from him so I wrote him a letter one evening and witnessed to him in the letter, not knowing if I would ever hear from him again. The next week I received a letter from him and he told me that the evening after receiving the letter he and his wife and daughter sat on his bed in the bedroom and he read the letter and all three of them gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus and were saved. I threw out the baited line, the Holy Spirit hooked him, and Jesus reeled him in. It takes patience and persistence.

 

If we want to catch fish we have got to go where the fish are. Sinners are usually as anxious to get saved as fish are anxious to get in a net. We have got to go where the fish are. We have got to use every means possible to catch them. The more nets we use, the more fish we catch. The more lines and bait we throw in the water the more likely we are to catch a fish. In addition, if we want to catch fish we have got to stay out of sight. If that fish sees us normally he'll take off and we will never catch him. If we want to win people to Jesus we have got to stay out of sight and let Jesus do it. We have to decrease and Jesus has to increase. That is the thrill and an excitement attached to catching fish. What little fishing I've done, I know the fun part is when you get that nibble and can set the hook, and they come out of the water. I want to encourage everyone to go fishing. If we will go fishing and keep on fishing, we will catch fish!

 

Before you can go fishing for the Lord you have to know the Lord yourself. A fish cannot catch a fish. Therefore you must come under the mighty loving and forgiving grace of God and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. God loves you and no matter who you are, what you have done, or where you came from you are God special creation and He only wants His very best for your life. It is yours if you will only ask Him. You can do that through prayer right now confessing that you are a lost sinner and that you want to be saved and by faith you believe and receive Him as your Savior.

 

DO YOU NEED SOME HELP?

To find more help in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Savior please go to the Bible Study Title Page “ETERNAL LIFE.” Please send me an email and let me know about any decision for Christ you make so that I may pray for you. Feel free to send me any questions, comments, or responses you may have as well. For those who are already Christians I invite you to also please let me know of any decisions you make in your Christian life for Jesus. Please send me your questions, comments, or responses and let me know if the Bible Studies are helping you.

<rfdenning1951@gmail.com>

 

ALWAYS REMEMBER!

The support of your local Church ministry and the ministry of your Pastor should be the first priority of your Christian life and your service to the Lord. Be faithful to prayerfully prepare and attend Sunday School and Worship Service this Sunday and participate in worship as your Pastor preaches the Word. Do not forget to give the Lord at least your TITHE through your local church from your gross income – that is your first fruits. Any other other giving is an offering to a ministry unto the Lord. Honor the Lord in all you do and with all that you have. Always remember that everything you have and all you are belongs to the Lord. It is on loan to you – so manage it well! There will be an audit one day! Make sure the Books Balance!

 

All Bible Studies Are Prepared by Pastor Frank Denning And May Be Be Used By Permission.