Fishers of Men

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And I’m not a fisherman. … I’ve only caught one fish in my entire life. I was about 8 years old … and my sister and I were fishing in the pond on our grandpa’s farm. … We caught a fish we named “Buddy.” … Then I had to take Buddy off the hook. He jumped around for a long time … and then he stopped moving so fast. … Why? {Wait for answer}

Eventually we threw Buddy back in the pond and he was really happy.

When you catch a fish … you are bringing the fish from one reality into another. … In our case … Buddy didn’t like his new reality very much. … But it’s possible that we could have had a nice tank for him … with food. … [PAUSE] … Does that make sense?

When the disciples caught fish … they were taking them out of the sea … and bringing them into the boat.

To understand this … you have to understand that symbolism was incredibly important to ancient people. … Much more so than it is for us today.

In the Bible the “sea” was always a symbol of death … cold … and darkness. … I really learned this during our series on Revelation. Revelation talks about the beast rising up out of the sea … and then Revelation also describes the new heaven and the new earth as a place where there will be no more sea.

The image of bringing a fish “out of the sea” … fits perfectly with the image of Christ followers being “fishers of men.”

Our “fishing project” … involved taking people out of one realm … and putting them into another. … Out of the sea (of death and darkness) … and into God’s community. … As Paul says … {PP} (Colossians 1:13) “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness … and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” {PP} (blank)

Weren’t some of you in the “sea”? … The deep … dark … cold. … You were lost. … Apart from Christ … and apart from hope in this world.

Aren’t there thousands of people all around us who still live in that “sea”? … He has called us to be fishers of men. … Let’s throw our nets.

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