Baptists Committed to World Evangelism

Mark 1:17 “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” Jesus tells Simon Peter and Andrew to come after Him, and He will make them to become fishers of men.  There are two application I would like to make: 1. The natural result of following Jesus will be to become a fisher of men.   As they followed Jesus, they would learn to fish for men.  As we draw close to Jesus and seek Him with our whole heart, we naturally begin to fish for men.  A indication that a person is following close to Jesus is how concerned they are for souls and how often they actually witness to people.  A person who is not fishing for men is not following Jesus, because Jesus is always seeking those who are lost.  Are you following after Jesus?  Are you becoming a fisher of men? 2.

Source People are not perfect, and to makes matters worse, saved people are not perfect. Jesus said in Luke 17:1, “ Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come. ” He says emphatically that offences will come—note the word impossible. He is not condoning offences, nor justifying them. He is just stating fact.

Ezekiel 34:4 “The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” God is speaking to the spiritual shepherds of Israel in this passage.  These were individuals in the nation who should have been the spiritual leaders, guides, and shepherds of other people.  This passage could be applied to anyone who should be a spiritual leader whether they be parents, pastors, missionaries, teachers, believers who have been saved for a while, and anyone who has the opportunity to influence others for the Lord. Notice how they had failed to be the spiritual shepherds God wanted them to be: Fed only themselves not the flock (34:2)