"Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea--for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people."
Matthew 4:12-23 NRSV

I suppose that if there is one sport I personally love more than any other it would be fishing. I guess like most boys and girls I hooked every opportunity that came my way to go fishing. While most of my fishing has been done in rivers and creeks, I will never forget my one experience at deep sea fishing. My father had won a trip for selling the most New Holland hay bailers. The trip was to Florida and included a deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico. The trip was memorable for all of us.

My father and sister turned green and had to go below to lie down while mother and I continued to fish. All at once my pole began to bend. I cranked and cranked and cranked as hard as my 13 years old hands would allow me too. When the hook finally surfaced I was scared to death. I looked at my mother and said: "Mom? What ya reckon it is?" My Mother was as clueless as I was but one thing we both agreed on was that it was the ugliest looking thing we had ever seen come out of water and secondly we weren’t about to cook it for supper. I took out my pocketknife and started to cut the line when a gentleman beside me yelled: "WAIT!" "If you don’t want that squid - I do!" I looked at the man and said "Mister? If you can eat something that looks as ugly as this thing you must be a mighty hungry man!"

I love to fish! I often have made the comment that I am going to purchase a bass boat and call it "visitation." That way when people call my home and ask for me Stephanie can tell them "He’s not here he’s out on ‘visitation’." In fact I was blessed with this hand-held fishing game at Christmas and I have been playing it ever since!

Our text tells us that after John’s arrest Jesus moved to Capernium and began to preach "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is come near!"

As he walked along the beach that day he saw two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen and in the process of casting out their nets. "Hey! Do you wanna go fishing? Follow me and I will make you fishers of men!" Then the text tells us he went on down the beach and saw two more fishermen - James and John, the sons of Zebedee. To them he issued the same invitation - "Hey! Do you wanna go fishing? Follow me and I will make you fishers of men!"

We all know that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. It’s a metaphor for increasing church membership, wining souls for Christ, inviting folks to be part of the family.

If you ever listen to fisherman talk you soon learn that much of their conversation is what bait they use under what conditions. Just a little below my Father’s farm was the New River. The creek which ran under our lane dumped into it. Over the River just a few houses down was a low water bridge and unwanted travelers were kept out by a fence a chain and a lock. I had permission to fish their because it was family. This one day I pulled the truck up to the fence, got my pole, my bait, and my chair and as I was on my way to my usual sitting spot - someone was already sitting there.

An elderly gentleman quite possibly in his 80’s was sitting on the bridge with his pole, his bait, and his chair. I spoke to the man as I walked by to the other side of the bridge but he never spoke a word. He just sat there singing. After watching me fish for about 30 minutes and catching nothing he says "You gotta sing to ‘em. And ya gotta get shed of that corn and get you some worms!" "Sir?" "That’s right boy ifin you wanna catch fish you gotta sing to ‘em." Well all I had was a can of corn but sing I could! So I began to sing: "Gloom dispair and agony on me - deep dark depression excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all - Gloom, dispair and agony on me." Well it didn’t work for me but all of a sudden while I was finishing my song that man’s pole just about bent in two. He was so excited! "LOOK! I really gotta big one!" I sat there and watched in a moment of jealousy and envy and then he landed that thing. A WATER DOG! Now I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a water dog in the river but it’s an ugly looking thing which has four legs, a tail, and loves to eat fish. That man got so mad! He slung his chair over, took out his pocket knife, and began to cut that water dog into little pieces. He commented to me: "I’m leaving! Where there’s a Water Dog there ain’t no fish!!" Sitting there amazed by the man’s reaction just as I heard his car door shut BOOM! My line bent and I landed a 23 inch rainbow trout! I don’t know about the singing but I believe I had the perfect bait!

Zeke P. Moore, in his message "The Marks of a True Fisherman," lists five marks of a true fisherman. I only want to share with you the first of those five and then a fishing parable he shared within the text of that message.

A true fisherman casts the net. How can we ever expect to catch any fish if we never throw out the net?

Other Christians busy themselves with other tasks—arguing over which style of net is best. Arguing over whether or not a fish that’s caught can ever be "uncaught"— and likewise never get around to the business of casting the net.

Again there are times when yes we indeed cast the nets but like the gentleman who shared a bridge with me, we allow setbacks to become obstacles and we get so discouraged we simply give up.

Jesus that day issued an invitation to Simon, Andrew, James, and John that they had never received before - an invitation to become fishers of men. As a church, the body of Christ, you and I share in that invitation. We live in a dark, dark world. I truly believe that people’s lives become more complex and more burdened each year. We, the Church ought to be actively fishing for people to show them that there is a light at the end of that long dark tunnel and that Light is Christ!

Notice how those four men responded to the invitation. Our response ought to mirror that of these four men. The Bible says that they "immediately" left their boats, their nets, and their Father and followed Him. Now there are many ways to be fishers of people.

The living testimony of our lives. Does my life lead someone to see the Light for perhaps the very first time or does my life cause that Light to be hidden?

Through our devotional/ prayer life with Jesus. Do I spend time asking Jesus to allow others to see Him in me?

We have the greatest invitation given! I want to show you a neat little something I received for Christmas. Actually it’s a very addicting something. It came with a note that said: "We know you don’t always get to go fishing like you may want but get in the boat (couch) and have a good time." This thing is called a Lunker Fishing Game. A game in which one fishes for BIG Bass! You actually chose a lure, I’ve found number 14 catches most of the "lunker bass." You can actually cast this thing and feel bites on your line. Every once and a while your lure becomes hung up and then you have to pop it a bit to get your lure lose.

I can do several things with this neat toy. I can leave it in the box it came in and never enjoy it. I can take it out of the box and never put batteries in it. I can but batteries in it and make it ready to go fishing and leave it lying on the table. Or I can do what I normally do - pick it up and have a blast!

As a minister of Jesus Christ, one of my greatest pleasures occur when I have occasions when I have the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. There’s one thing I know about this game - if I never turn it on, if I never cast it out, I will never catch any fish. So that which Jesus asked those men that day I in turn ask you - Do You Want To Go Fishin?

Amen.