THEREFORE, IDE ... - "FISHERS OF MEN"

 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I am with you always, until the end of time "- (Matthew 28:19-20).

 INTRODUCTION

It is always good to remember that Christianity was and still is an unprecedented event in history. More than 2000 years of its inception, Christianity continues to live the Word of God continues to be preached and still lives transformed by the power of God and the Holy Spirit's action.

But just as in the past, today also there are many difficulties to preach the Gospel of Salvation. Scientific advances and worldviews of modernity and postmodernity have distanced man from his Creator.

And here we see the cunning of the evil in doing this same man can believe everything that is self-sufficient and that everything will be subordinate to human reason. The enemy of God and of our souls, Satan has succeeded in bringing the man to believe in himself he closes a kind of deity that needs to be awakened, by the way, this is one of the basic premises of the New Age

Despite all this, we praise God! - Because in spite of the difficulties and oppositions, Christianity has always been and remains a victorious movement!

When Jesus Christ moments before returning to heaven, left his disciples the Great Commission - to the gospel of salvation was preached to every creature - Jesus also assured the state that would be with them in every day, until the end of time.

My brothers, it really is wonderful when we look at the advancement of Christ's Church, from its beginning in the distant Pentescostes until the present day, and we see the fulfillment of this promise. - In two transparencies will illustrate this growth. - (Transparency 01 and 02).

And today, the invitation is for us to go preach the gospel of salvation! - We, all of us who already are part of the Church of Jesus Christ ... Church composed of men and women around the world! People already achieved by the Mercy and Love of God, forgiven people and regenerated ... We are part of the Army of God to be followers of this marvelous work ... All of us!

01) - BUT ... HOW IT ALL BEGAN ...

The biblical account tells us in Matthew 4:18-22: - "Walking by the sea of ​​Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother. They were casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. - Going forward, he saw other brothers, James son of Zebedee, and John his brother. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets ... Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat his father, and followed him. "

It is interesting how Jesus, even in the choice of his apostles taught eternal truths for the benefit of the expansion of the Kingdom of God ... Jesus will get some of his closest aides at sea, on beaches, in boats ... Jesus invites fishermen to follow him. Men, that to be successful in their profession of fisherman certainly needed:

- First ... Mastering the art of fishing. Meet the fishing trade.

- Then, to survive in this profession, the fishermen need to learn to deal with all kinds of climatic and environmental changes.

- The fisherman must know the sea and fish. Know where they are more often, know their habits ...

- Also know which bait can be more efficient for each type of fish, and master the art of preparing this bait.

02) - BUT ... HOW TO BE GOOD FISHERMEN ...

We can apply it perfectly: "... the sea is the world, and the fish are men. "

- Likewise there are seas, rivers, lakes and reservoirs different. - There are also countries, different cultures and peoples.

- Just as there are fish with and without scales, large and small fish, fish fresh and salt water, - there are also people from different social conditions, of different races and ethnicities, cultures and habits.

- In the same way that you can fish with rod, with nets, cast nets and hook with. - There are also projects of evangelism, mission boards, and many ways to participate in communities of faith through worship, the EBD's, the home Bible studies, through churches and their ministries and through community service.

Consequently, for every creature, for every people, every culture ... Is there a more appropriate way to present the Gospel of Salvation.

Brothers, no matter what waters are fish, no matter what the characteristics of these fish ... Always good fisherman finds a way to catch the fish ... Always good fisherman goes to where the fish and the fishing is ... When the fisherman finds a way to accomplish the task for which it was proposed. - And this is why those who preach the Gospel, those who do missions and those who cooperate with missions, need to carefully observe the principles and strategies that God provides. Let's see something about this:

a) - MUST CHOOSE THE PLACE AND STRATEGIC USE RIGHT STRATEGY

There are people who are less experienced in fishing ... People looking out only the surface or just the mirror of water, see only the shallow ... These people think that the river is equal in its entire length, not realizing that here or there can "give" fish and there or a little further, certainly not "give anything".

But there are people who are experienced in matters of fishing ... For these people, other factors, such as movement, temperature and depth of water ... Bank vegetation and the river bottom, and other things may indicate whether giving fish in these waters and what kind of fish you can find there.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16.8-9: - "... remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, because it opened for me a door wide and promising ... "

The Apostle Paul found in Ephesus and promising a great fishing for men, and stayed there longer than expected to achieve exactly this fishery wonderful souls for Jesus!

b) - MUST CHOOSE THE RIGHT BAIT

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians (6:19) says: - "Pray also for me, that when I speak, is the message given to me so that will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel."

What feeds a salmon? And a mandi, one gold, one pacu, tetra, anchovies, jaú tambaqui? What is the taste of a betrayed or a trout, croaker, needle, tilapia or piau? It certainly does not serve the same food for all fish species.

So are fish and so are the men. For each type of person we approach, we find the right word and release it at the right time and the right way.

There are people suspicious, distrustful, some disappointed with God, the church and spiritual leaders. There are people bitter, resentful, indifferent to the preachers ... There are ignorant people, and others sold everything that refers to faith ... Read anything about it, do not attend anything but say "have nothing against". There are those people educated in their dogmas: bigots, stubborn, full of prejudices, fanatical and airtight. There are people balanced, sensible, "good people", "open-minded", ready to learn ... But there are also boring, grumpy, attached to details worthless contentious sick ... Also have those simple people, broken; fervent, God-fearing ... Others are full of themselves, self-sufficient, proud, finally ... There are people of all kinds.

We need to understand that even though the Word of God eternal and unchanging, your approach will be tailored to the situation and the type of person that God puts before us.

Take, for example, as Jesus approached some people:

- With the Samaritan woman who was at the fountain of Sychar - Jesus begins his dialogue asking her water to drink. Then, it presents itself as the source of living water. - The request for water was the bait, the revelation of who He was, was hooked.

- To the disciples, and other participants present for the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus reveals himself as the living bread which came down from heaven, saying, "... what is eating me, live for me. "

- In the episode of the healing of a man born blind, Jesus reveals Himself as "The Light of the World";

- To the Jews went astray, as "the good shepherd";

- At the death of Lazarus, as "the resurrection and the life."

We need to understand that the bait or lure is the access door to the person who intends to present the Gospel. Can be a subject, a situation created, a fact or any matter of interest. You need to just be giving some attention to people and love people as Jesus loved us all ...

But we can not kid ourselves. None of that will result if we are not in the right places at the right time and with the right strategies! We need to go to the water to fish ... Achieve nothing if we stay on the beach or in the margins saying - "Come fish ... Fish will ... Fish come ... "

c) - NEED TO LEARN CONSTANTLY

Another strategy is to get God to His people to carry out the task of evangelising the world, is what we might call the constant updating, or rather continuous recycling. But how does this happen? - Now, just God sends people to train and challenge the churches. God also blesses missionaries organizations to hold events and events of defending the faith. The Holy Spirit empowers the church through those who actually have to work, allowing and encouraging the learning that will make them, true "fishers of men". - And within this favorable atmosphere, it is noticeable the presence of Christ in the church life and in the lives of believers ...

This strategy consistently teach the workers was conducted personally by Jesus when he was here! He even trained his closest aides, the twelve apostles ... And even today, the Lord Jesus continues to empower lives changed through the ministry of the Word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit!

All ... Leaders and ... Shepherds and sheep ... Churches and denominations must seek to learn, always! For the changes are taking place continuously and in many cases, the speed surprising that occur. What worked yesterday, today is not as efficient.

The lack of recycling, including for the spiritual life, is undoubtedly one of the reasons why many preachers speak, teach, tire ... and no "fish" ... Nobody becomes. Worse, lost sheep to other folds ... And unfortunately, some of these new folds, are led by true ravening wolves, dresses pastors and leaders.

This same lack of recycling, including spirituality, is the cause of many churches are seeing year after year, few or none being added to the list of members ... Churches like "toll", where many enter through a door while many also leave for another.

This lack of interest in upgrading to bring the Word of God to man of the XXI century is also the reason many ministries fruitless ... And leaders uninformed, outdated and answering questions that no one is formulating. All this prevents the action of God through the Church of Christ in the task of saving the lost sinner.

 You need to review the concepts and values ​​present in this generation, confronting them with the eternal truth of the Gospel. - We have big surprises in doing so, because some values ​​and customs can not be biblical truths, and on some occasions, we may be putting words into the "mouth of God", by stating what is not divine revelation.

 The evangelical thought today, one that determines the behavior and lifestyle of his followers, is nothing more than what their representatives present as the inerrant and infallible interpretation of the Gospel in all its implications both of doctrine as practice.

It is likely, beloved brethren, that in some ways the Church might need to review the "bait" to return to "fisher of men".

The world today is fast, practical, dynamic ... There can be fundamentalists or Judaizing blind in matters of recycling and contextualization. We need to discern and live our time. We need to discern and live our generation, with their expressions and languages ​​... Without, however, departing from Eternal Truths, established by God in the Holy Scriptures.

The organization MCP - Youth for Christ, has the following 'slogan': - "In the compass of the times, anchored on the Rock" - Its leaders say: "Do not walk arredamos Gospel values, but we live lucidly as in broad daylight, taking advantage of every opportunity offered to us in order that the Gospel preached two thousand years, to a people different from us, which is the same Gospel today, is understood in the same way for this generation and automated scatterbrained ".

We should not, however, under the pretext of modernity or postmodernity, using the same weapons as the wicked of this dark world use, as their roots are rotten and deadly. We must never forget that it is God who will give us the strategy! To evangelize the world as a city, neighborhood, village, condominium, neighbors, friends, relatives ...

Therefore, you need to open your eyes, measuring steps, expand the mind and evaluate our performance as representatives of King Jesus in a world increasingly spiritually poor. We, fishers of men, we need to review the baits. And recycling is essential for this! All were commissioned for this fishery of souls ... So we all need to review the bait, each "examine himself and seek all dignity" necessary to fulfill our destiny to be salt and light in a world bitter, rotten, miserable and plunged into darkness ...

CONCLUSION: - We read the text in Luke 5.4-7. (A wonderful fishing: The first disciples).

 "Having finished speaking, he said to Peter: -" Go to where the water is deeper. " - And everyone said, "Cast your nets for a catch." Peter said, "Master, we strive all night and took nothing. But, because it is you who are saying this, I will cast the nets. " - When they did, they took such a quantity of fish that the nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats, to the point they start to sink. "

The Church of Jesus Christ is also in this boat. This Church, because it is part of God's people, have a responsibility in this task. Believe me, my brothers, this boat will also be full of souls caught by you! I really believe that!

This city and this state need to hear of God's Love ... Everyone needs to see the testimony of the Church of Jesus ... People who live here have to know peace, love and joy of being part of God's people. We need to show it all with love and dedication.

Not only the work that God has entrusted to us, but mostly for the love that we have the God of this Work! Go and preach the Word of God and Make Disciples, is to demonstrate the love of God's Word!