Thanks for watching! there is no substitute for the preaching and teaching of God's Word. Each weekday on Enjoying the Journey, Scott Pawley leads us in a brief study of Scripture. Today, on The Weekend Pulpit, we are happy to share a full-length Bible message given through Scott's pulpit ministry. These messages were recorded live in a local church or gospel event in recent days. It is our prayer that the message will be a help to you today. Well, let's open the Word of God together, shall we? I want you to find Mark chapter 1 in your Bible. And while you're finding your place, let me ask the folks who are here on the Lord's Day, how many of you have read Mark chapter 1 now? That's very, very good. How many of you think there's a lot of good stuff in there? I'm telling you, it's amazing, the Word of God. As a matter of fact, let's just review for a moment before I show you the emphasis for tonight. It began in the Bible study hour, the first two words of Mark chapter 1, verse number 1, the beginning. We always start where God starts. And the divine order here, I love this, is He begins with the gospel. And maybe you think it's a good place to start when you start with Jesus. So He begins with the living Word and with the written Word. And this is where we always must begin and come back to again and again. Then in the morning meeting, we studied this message of repentance. Whatever happened to repentance anyhow? Even today, there's so much confusion and debate over the word. And I think to myself, how is it possible that a Bible word could become so misconstrued and misunderstood? But if we're sinners, any other sinners here? If we're sinners, then we need to understand what repentance is. And it was the message of John, but it was the message of Jesus and a message we all need. Then last night, I brought you to this phrase found four times. In verse 3 and verse 4, John is in the wilderness. And in verse 12 and verse 13, Jesus is driven into the wilderness. And we talked about the wilderness moments in life. We all have them. If you think it's always going to be a garden, you're going to be a very disappointed person. If you think everything's going to go perfect all the time, you'll be disillusioned. There'll be wilderness moments. And I'm glad to report to you that God is the same in the wilderness as He is at the baptismal waters of the Jordan. And as a matter of fact, in verse number 12, that little word, driveth, the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness, has the idea of being cast into something. How many of you ever felt like you got thrown into something that you would not have chosen for yourself? But when that happens, know this, the Lord has you there for a purpose, you're there for a time, you're not going to be there forever, but if you'll be faithful there, you'll come out on the other side knowing God in a greater way. Tonight, I bring you to a handful of verses found right in the middle of the chapter. Read with me, would you please, beginning in Mark chapter 1 and verse number 16. The Bible says, now as he, that's Jesus, as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, And Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. And when he'd gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him." You know, it's so easy to read verses like that, but imagine living them. I want you to use a little sanctified imagination for a minute. Would you stand where Peter and his brother are? Would you stand where James and his brother are? These are tough fishermen. These are men's men. By the way, anybody that tells you that Jesus was some kind of effeminate wannabe has never read the Bible. Never. Can you imagine they're mending their nets, they're going about their fishing trade, they're doing their business, and a man comes by and says, hey, you follow me. And they drop what they're doing, leave their trade behind, and suddenly follow that man. How many of you think that sounds a little out of the ordinary? Imagine somebody coming by your work and have the power to say you just leave what you're doing i got some better for you and you pack up and leave this was this is not normal this was the supernatural work of god this is a picture of the transforming work that jesus does in a man's life so kind of work they can take a cousin fishermen and making the man who stands on the day of pentacles and preaches jesus three thousand people get say It's the kind of transforming work that can take a man who three times would deny that he even knew Jesus and let him be the one that under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes the books that bears his name called 1 and 2 Peter. And by the way, you know what his favorite word in 1 and 2 Peter was? Precious. The precious Jesus and the precious blood of Christ. And I laugh every time I read that, not because I don't love the word precious, because Jesus is precious, and the blood of Christ is precious, and the promises are precious, but I laugh because God took a man who only knew how to curse, swear, and lie, and put the word precious in his mouth. Let me tell you, only Jesus can do that. And here's a little demonstration of how the Lord changes a man's life. Because look at what He does. He takes these men from work that was centered on themselves and gives them work now that's all about others. He takes them from work that was all about the material, making enough money to pay their bills and live, to giving them work that was centered on the spiritual. He takes them from work that was temporal in nature. Look, fish don't last forever in case you didn't know that, but souls do. And he gives them suddenly an eternal work. Let me ask you a question. What are you doing with your life? What are you doing with your life? I'm not asking you what you do for a living. It's funny how people find their identity in the basest things. You ask a man, tell me about yourself. He almost never says, I'm a husband, I'm a father. He says, I'm a plumber. No, that's not what you are, that's what you do. What you do for a living and what you do with a life are two totally different things. And many a man has his fishing business, his nets mended, his boats tended, and money in the bank, and bills paid, and storing up for a rainy day, and hoping for retirement, who's never learned that there's something more important on this planet than just checking off days and getting through life, and that is investing in the only thing that's going to last forever, and that's the never-dying souls of men. And I ask you again, what are you going to give your life to? See, 50 years from now, nobody's going to give a rip what kind of car you drove. A hundred years from now, nobody's going to remember what kind of house you lived in. And I'll tell you this, at the judgment seat of Christ, everything that we've lived for and labored for that wasn't in some way connected to what God would have done in this world through our lives is going to count for nothing. And the only thing that's really going to matter is this, the people that God let cross our paths who are going to spend eternity forever somewhere. So tonight I bring you to a phrase. Would you mark it in your Bible? Because this is the whole thing. In verse number 17, he says, I'm going to make you fishers of men. How many fishermen are here tonight and fisherwomen? Would you raise your hand if you like to fish? Raise your hand big on how you like to fish. How many of you are good at fishing? Raise your hand. You're good at fishing. I've got a friend who really is into it, and matter of fact, to a point where he could get sponsors, and that's another level of fishing, you know. We grew up in the hills of West Virginia, and Grandpa had a pond, and he would feed those catfish. Then he'd starve them for a few days. That's my kind of fishing right there, let me tell you. And all you got to do is go stand on the banks and throw something in, and they're jumping on your line. I like that kind of fishing. I'm not the most patient person, so I'm not into sitting there all day long. But you may or may not be a fisherman, but let me tell you, all of us, all of God's children, or to become what Jesus said he wanted the first disciples to be. We're all to become fishers of men. I want you to underline two words in your Bible, just a little foundation here, because really the whole Christian life is summed up in two words found in verse 17. I'll read. When I stop, you say the next word. Everybody ready? Get your pen ready. Look at verse 17. And Jesus said unto them, what's that word? Come. That's the first word. Mark that in your Bible. Come. Come ye after me. Stop. Lift your head and look at me just a minute. Did you know that Jesus and Peter had already had one encounter? When this happened, they'd already met each other. John chapter number one had already taken place before Mark chapter number one, which means they had already been introduced. Do you remember? Do you remember that John the Baptist had pointed the disciples to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world? And one of them went and got his brother, and guess who that was? That was Simon Peter. So he's already had his first encounter with God. Oh, I love this thought. Do you know where it all begins? It all begins when you come to know Jesus as your Savior. Look, I recommend to you that the Christian life is not just coming to Jesus to get saved. The Christian life is continually coming after the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, that phrase, come after me, literally means get in line behind me. Did you know everybody stands in one of two lines? You follow everybody's line to the head of the line, and at the head of the line, there's either a man named Adam, or there's the God-man named the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody on earth tonight is in one of two lines. You're either in the fallen line of the first man who sinned against God, or by the grace of God, through repentance and faith, you have come into the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're a follower of the Lord Jesus. Come after me. Get in line behind me. Don't miss the second part. He says, come ye after me and I will make you to, here's the second word, become. I will make you to become fishers of men. He doesn't say you'll make yourself. He doesn't say the preacher will make you. People come sit in church, you know. They think if they sit in a building like this long enough, then boom, you know, some lightning bolt from heaven hits them and they become what they ought to be. It doesn't happen that way. And no man can do for you what only Jesus can do for you. But here's what Jesus is saying to them. If you fellows look, if you'll get close to me and stay close to me and learn from me and obey what I tell you to do, I will make you to become everything I have created you for. See, God can do more with your life than you can. And Jesus is saying to these men, I made you and now I want to make you over so that you'll fulfill the purpose that God gave you breath for. Ask again. Why are you alive tonight? What are you giving your life to? You know one of the things I love about this phrase, I'll make you to become, it implies that there's a process involved. I gotta tell you, that's encouraging to me. Because 43 years after I first came to Jesus, I gotta tell you, I feel like I'm still a long ways from where I ought to be. Any of you with me on that? But here's the good news. We used to sing as children, He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. Aren't you glad God doesn't give up on us? And if you'll come to Christ and just keep on coming and just keep on coming and just keep on coming, guess what Jesus will do? He'll just keep on making and keep on making and keep on making. And when the Lord makes you into what He wants you to be, mark the phrase again, here's what you become. You become a fisher of men. In fact, I was meditating on this passage the other day, thinking about this phrase, and it dawned on me that everybody in the chapter has gone fishing. Back up just a moment, would you please? Look at the opening verses. It begins with John the Baptist, and John the Baptist begins preaching repentance and telling people they've got to get right with God, and somebody's coming after him that is mightier than him, who's going to give them the Holy Spirit and change their life. Somebody said, well, he was preaching. Let me tell you what John was doing. He was fishing. At that moment, look please, he was trolling for souls. That's what he was doing. At that moment, he was casting out just enough of the bait so that people would say, you know, we like that, we need a little more of that, and they would get hungry for God. In the opening verses of Mark chapter 1, John the Baptist was fishing. Then, look please at verse number 14. After John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel, the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Guess what Jesus is doing? He's fishing for souls. He's doing the exact same thing. As a matter of fact, I love verse number 38. He says to them later in the chapter, let's go to the next towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. Look, all of God's children ought to be thinking, how can we get to the next towns? How can we get to the next neighborhood? How can we get to the next souls? How can we get to the next place where God could use us to bring people to Jesus Christ? This is the heart of Jesus, you see. So John's fishing and Jesus is fishing, and then when you come to our text, the disciples. Start fishing. And they're not fishing for fish, they're fishing for men. By the way, there's a world of difference between those two things. When you fish for fish, watch this carefully, you're trying to trick them. You know why you're trying to trick them? Because you want to consume them. And when you fish for fish, you use things to catch them and you kill them. Isn't that right? I hate to be so graphic, but that's exactly what you do. I still remember my grandpa as a boy teaching me how to nail that catfish to a tree and skin him. And I thought, man, this is the grossest thing I've ever seen. After a while, you just get used to it, you know. You put them to death. But don't miss this. The gospel doesn't trick anybody. No, no. Look, the devil will trick a man. Jesus will trail a man, but he'll never trap a man. The gospel is wide open. It's free for whosoever will may come. And I love this. When you get caught with the gospel, it doesn't lead to death. It only leads to life. Jesus talks about fishing for men. He's just using language they would understand to help them understand a truth they did not yet understand, and that is this, that the greatest work in all the world is the work that gets the gospel out and brings people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all understand we don't save anybody. Jesus does the saving. The Holy Ghost convicts men of sin and draws men to repentance. Salvation is of the Lord, but God made it so that those who know would tell those that do not know. And if those of us who know we've been saved won't share it with anybody else, we're keeping the good news to ourselves and letting men go to hell. And that's why the Bible says that we are to, would you look at it, become fishers of men. Looks to me like in this chapter, everybody's engaged in it. Everywhere they go, and don't miss this, and everybody only has a certain time to do it. John the Baptist had a ministry. It looked like it was going to last forever. I mean, it looked like it was going to last forever. They're coming to him out of the cities. They're thronging the man. He's the most popular preacher in the world, until he got thrown in prison. And suddenly, his time was done. Jesus steps onto the stage and picks the message up and begins to preach repentance. And man, the whole world's gone after him. Well, not exactly, because three and a half years later, they're going to cry out, crucify him. And his time is done. And then the disciples are left behind. And Jesus says, now, boys, you go do what I've done. Seek the lost. Tell them the truth. Point them to the way of salvation. And those 12 men would scatter. And they would have their time. And now their time is done. Would you look me in the eye and hear me with your heart? This is our time. And we must not miss it. How many of you are glad somebody told you about Jesus? So who have you told about Jesus? How many of you are thrilled? I mean, really, you're thrilled you're never going to hell and you're going to heaven when you die. How many of you are glad about that? Well, let me ask you a question. When you go, who are you taking with you? When you get to the judgment seat, who's going to point at you and say, that man led me to Jesus? That woman gave me a gospel tract. That family prayed for our family to be saved. Those people brought us to church where we heard the gospel for the first time. Look, you can't do everything, but you can do something. You can't win everybody, but you can go after somebody. This is God's way. It has always been God's way. It has not changed. And this is our moment that must not be missed. We must give ourselves to the thing that matters most, and that's the never-dying souls of men. You understand one million years from this moment, we're all going to be somewhere, either in heaven with Almighty God or separated from God in the fires of hell. The only thing that matters, look, there's no political answer to a spiritual problem. I don't care who the president is. This nation needs the gospel of Jesus more than it ever has. And that doesn't start at the White House. That starts at the church house and my house and your house. God's people are to be fishers of men. Three words tonight. They all come from Scripture. They'll be easy to remember. They all start with the same letter. Hang the thoughts on these three words. Look at verse 18. I love their response. And straightway, by the way, obedience is not saying, I'll do it someday. It's doing it now. I hadn't thought about this in a long, long time, but I was preaching one night in Kentucky. It's been years ago. And right in the middle of the meeting, I don't remember what I was even preaching on, right in the middle of the meeting, a woman about three rows back on the right-hand side started weeping. I can see her. I know her. And the longer I preached, the more broken she was. And I got to be honest with you, as a preacher, I was trying to get to the end of the message and get to the place to make the appeal. And before I could get finished, she jumped up out of her seat. She's sobbing. Crawled over three or four people, got to the aisle. And when she got to the aisle, she didn't come this way. I thought she was coming to pray. She didn't come this way. She went that way. And she ran straight for the back door, hit it a full out run. Never came back into the building. I knew the woman, knew her family. I didn't know what was troubling her. A week or so went by, and I got a letter one day in the mail. She said, I want to apologize for interrupting the service the other night. She said, but I want to explain. She said, in the middle of a message, she said, I can't explain it to you. She said, it really wasn't anything you said. She said, it was just while you were preaching, suddenly, it was like the Lord pulled back the curtain and made me realize eternity. And she said, all I could see was my father. She said, my dad is not a Christian. He's never heard the gospel, never been willing to listen to the gospel. And she said, I was sitting there thinking, if my daddy dies or Jesus comes while I'm sitting in this church service tonight, he's going to go to hell forever. And she said, Preacher, honestly, I just couldn't take it anymore. She said, I left that building that night, went to a telephone, called my father. And she said, he didn't get saved. She said, not yet. She said, I believe he's going to be saved soon. She said, but for the first time in my lifetime, through my tears, he listened to me give him the gospel. He let me give him the gospel. You know what I think? I think she went fishing that night. That's what I think. And I think maybe the work she was doing was even more important than the word I was giving, because the work of winning souls doesn't happen on Sunday, and it doesn't happen inside a church building, and it doesn't happen by professional Christians. It happens when all of the Lord's followers say, we want to be fishers of men. So how's that happen? Well, here we go. Ready? Look at verse 18. And straightway, they forsook their nets. Here's the first word. Would you circle the little word forsook? First, there's the forsaking. And with each one of these words, I want to ask you a simple, very pointed, direct question. Here's the question. You ready? What is it you need to leave behind? What is it you need to leave behind? Sometimes people need to leave bad things behind. Sins. Sins that they've cared and lived with and loved. And they need to say, that's enough. I'm giving that to Jesus. By the way, you can't give your sin up, but you can give it to Jesus. And if you give it to Jesus, Jesus will take it. Sometimes it's not sins. Hebrews says it's sins and weights. Sometimes it's not even bad things. Sometimes it's good things that keep us so distracted and busy. I got to be honest with you. I think sometimes even church people are so consumed doing churchy things that we've forgotten why this whole thing started in the first place. You know why I got in the ministry as a boy preacher? I didn't get in the ministry just to travel and give sermons. I got in the ministry because I wanted people to know Jesus. And I'm going to tell you, if we ever lose the heart of that, we've lost the heart of Jesus. And I don't care how much money you got in a church bank account, how many missionaries you support, and you got programs for every age group, none of that matters if we aren't getting people to Jesus. And that means if anything is keeping us from being true followers of Christ and pointing other people to Christ, that needs to be laid on the altar and we need to say, Jesus means more to us than that, and I'm laying that down tonight. And I didn't come with an alphabetized list to tell you. That's not my business. I'm asking you, is there anything the Holy Spirit of God is saying that needs to be laid aside so that you can give yourself to Christ and give yourself to that which matters most? My father was a businessman, a successful businessman. I was just a boy when God started really working in my dad's heart. I'm not suggesting that everybody needs to leave business. In fact, many people are not going to leave their trade. God's going to use them right where they are. But some people are called to give their entire life to ministry. And I remember my dad being a bivocational pastor for many years. And then I remember that seminal moment when he walked away from his business. That was a big deal. I remember that year. I remember the changes in our family and the changes in the finances and lots of things. And now I'm telling that for a reason. I'm standing here on the other side of it because my father then pastored a church for 33 years and has recently retired. And can I tell you, I've never seen my parents any happier because they gave their life to something that mattered more than money. And I ask again, what are you giving your life to? Let me just show you something. Don't lose your spot. Keep Mark 1. Turn back to Matthew chapter 4 just a moment. Let's compare Scripture with Scripture. See, Mark gives one record. Matthew gives yet another. Same story. Look at Matthew chapter 4. Verse number 18, And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting it into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. I just want to pause right now and say, Lord, make us what we ought to be. Watch this. The Lord's never going to violate your conscience. See, some of you are waiting on God like a Christian commando to come down from heaven, kick the door of your heart open, barge in, and take over. I'm going to tell you, that's never going to happen because the Lord made you with a conscience and a free will and He's never going to violate that. God will do His part, but you've got to be willing to do yours. And that's why the command was an invitation, and their response was the right one, verse 20. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And 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, men in their nets. And he called them, and they immediately left the ship. Now here's what I want you to see. And their father, and followed him. Please don't miss this. Sometimes it's not things you have to walk away from. Sometimes it's people. Sometimes it's people you love. Sometimes it's people that don't understand the work God is doing in your heart. But you got to make up your mind that you belong to Jesus. And the only thing that matters is not what somebody else says about you now, but what God is going to say about you when you meet him face to face someday. Go back to Mark chapter one. Let me give you the second word. Not only is there the forsaking, but then secondly, there's the following. Look at verse number 18, and straightway they forsook their nets and, don't miss the and, followed him. Here's the second question. You ready? First question was, is there anything that I need to leave behind? Second question is this, how can I walk more closely to Jesus? Do you know what the Christian life is? The Christian life is not a list of do's and don'ts. It's not a list of rules and regulations. That's what people think. That is incorrect. The Christian life is one thing. Let's keep it as simple as possible. You ready? It's following Jesus. Paul said, I fear, I fear that like the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Let's stop making it so everlasting complicated and remember how simple it really is. It's following Jesus every day. So may I meddle just a moment? How do we expect to point other people to Christ if we are not following closely to him ourselves? That's crazy. Let me ask you a question. Why should we think lost people would come to love Jesus if we don't passionately love Jesus? And how on earth do we think they're going to trust Christ if we're not even living the life of faith? Do you understand that our obedience reproduces in the lives of those that watch it and see it and leads them into a life of faith and obedience? Let's take a vote. How many of you would like to see more followers of Jesus around this place? Raise your hand, please. All right. Then be a better follower of Jesus yourself. It's easy to sit in church and cross our arms and talk about all the wicked people out there, and I can't believe those people. But I'm going to tell you what we need. We need some of God's people to get filled with the Holy Spirit, full of the love of God again, completely consecrated to holiness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe this with all my heart. When God's people start living like true followers of Jesus, there'll be a whole world of people out yonder that will say, we want to know your Christ as well. So how do you need to follow more closely to Christ? How's your walk with Jesus every day? Your time in the Word and prayer? Your love for Christ? Do you remember when you first got saved? Do you remember how much you loved him and you wanted to talk about him? And then we become professional Christians, don't we? And I'm looking at a bunch of people. I know I'm preaching to on a Monday night. People have been in church a long time. And we tick all the boxes, and we learned all the mechanics, but we lost something of the heart of being true followers of Jesus. And I'm telling you, you don't start with fishing, you start with forsaking and following. And here's the third one, back up to verse 17, mark the word fishers. When the forsaking is done and the following is right, don't miss this, the fishing will automatically come. You know how I know that? Because once you fall in love with Jesus, you can't help but talk about him. And nobody's got to pump you up, prime you up, beg and plead. No preacher's got to say, would you please take some gospel tracts and tell just one person, tell just one person about Jesus. That's a bunch of nonsense. The Bible says those early disciples, they couldn't help but speak the things they'd seen and heard. Let me tell you, when Moses came off the mountain with the glow of the glory of God on his countenance, nobody had to work it up. It just radiated off of his life. And I'm convinced that when God's people catch fire, they'll burn. John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light, and maybe we're not shining because we're not burning, but when you get close to Jesus and His heart becomes your heart, guess what? You're going to want other people to know Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, have you no desire for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. It's pretty strong language, isn't it? But here's one thing I know. When you really are where you ought to be with God, you want other people to be right with God as well. There's a divine order in this. Matter of fact, turn one page in your Bible. Look at Mark chapter 3 and verse number 14. Here's the divine order. Now he's got all the disciples, the original 12 together. Look at verse 14. He ordained 12 that they should be with him, mark that in your Bible, and that he might send them forth to preach. You know what you got there? You got them first as disciples and then as apostles, first as followers and then as sent ones. I think we're trying, Pastor, to get a lot of people to go out and tell people about Jesus who have not learned first to be with Him. But when we get with Him, we want to go for Him. And so look at Mark chapter 1 again. Immediately, what does he do? He says, you follow me. They get up, they forsake, they follow. And what does he do? Immediately, he takes them right to the front lines. Verse number 23, right to a demon-possessed man. What do you think about that? How many of you think their first day on the job their eyes were pretty big and they were thinking, this is not exactly what we signed up for? May I tell you in the chapters that follow all the people that they had the privilege to point to Jesus? And the very fact we're sitting here tonight is proof that when God's followers become fishers of men, it always multiplies and goes way beyond what you could ever imagine. Did you know it's always fishing season for souls? Every day is a good day to fish for souls. My grandpa used to say to me, it's raining today. He said, it's a good day to go fishing. He'd say to me, it's a certain time the sun's down. It's a good time to go fishing. But you know what I've learned about gospel fishing? You can do it anytime, all the time, anywhere, everywhere, and you never give the gospel to the wrong person. We were in Israel. We went out on one of those fishing boats on the Sea of Galilee. That was quite an experience in itself. And while we were out there, they wanted to give us a demonstration of the fishing that was done in Jesus' day. You know, we had this idea in mind. You got out there and you got a fishing pole and you're trying to get it. No, not at all. And they bring this massive net out, this enormous net, and they show how this net would have been mended and how it was made. And then there was a certain way that they slung it, that they would literally cast the net. And when they did, it went out in a huge, sweeping fashion and sunk down into the water. And then there was a certain way that they would draw the net up. Watch, please. Don't miss this. They were casting and they were drawing. Would you say it with me? They were what? They were casting and they were drawing. Once again, they were what? They were casting and they were drawing. Don't miss this, please. Here's what it means to be a fisher of men. Don't miss this. It means that each day you're looking to see how many places you can cast the gospel. Where can I speak a word for Jesus today? Where can I give a testimony for Christ? Where can I give a piece of gospel literature? Where can I demonstrate the love of God? And perhaps it would open a door for a greater conversation about the things of God. But you're looking to cast the gospel net wide. I love this. A line goes one place, a net goes everywhere. I'm thinking now of that Old Testament verse that says, cast thy bread upon the waters and thou shalt find it after many days. The idea is it's a great investment. The gospel investment is a great investment. Do all you can to get it out. And then watch this carefully. Once you cast it, your job is to draw it, which means what? That you not only are giving the gospel out, but then you're inviting people to come to the Lord Jesus. Here's what's really interesting about that. Did you know that when they would draw that net, sometimes they would not only get fish, but sometimes they would get other debris, and sometimes they'd get live fish, and sometimes they'd get dead fish, and sometimes they'd get the fish they wanted, and sometimes they'd get fish that they didn't want? Please don't miss this. Our job is not to sort the fish. The Lord will do that. Somebody said, well, that guy mean it or not? I don't know. That's between him and God, not him and me. My job is to cast the gospel out and then call men to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and leave that between them and God. But here's what I know. When God's fishermen start fishing for men, somebody's going to come in that net to come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And it doesn't mean everybody is going to be saved, but it means somebody is going to be saved. And here's what I have come to realize. that all these centuries later, Christ is still seeking followers and Christ is still making fishers of men. A few months ago, I got really burdened about a man who lives on our road. His name is Mr. Hicks. I've talked to him several times about the Lord, and his family knew the Lord. He did not. Very open about it. A kind man, a good man, a moral man. I even asked people in different places, would you pray for Mr. Hicks? I was preaching in another state here not long ago, and a woman came up to me and she said, has Mr. Hicks gotten saved yet? Surprised me a little bit, and I said, not yet. She said, well, I heard you say something about him a long time ago. She said, I've been praying for him every day. I made a prayer to God, and I said to the Lord, it was probably November. I said to the Lord, Lord, I'd like to see Mr. Hicks saved this year. Before the end of the year, somehow, someway, I'd like you to orchestrate a conversation that I could have with that man again about the Lord. Just a few days ago, right before Christmas in fact, I was home. We had a pretty day. It wasn't like now where it's 18 degrees and 7 inches of snow on the ground at home. It was beautiful and I told Tammy, I said, I'm going to take the dog, take a little run out on the country lane where we live. I'm just kind of at this stage in aging life, it's not really a run, it's more of a jog for Jesus, you know what I mean? But I was moving, I was moving in a forward direction. The dog was with me and I heard something behind me and I turned to look and here came an old rickety truck up the road and I recognized it. It was Mr. Hicks. He pulled up next to me and rolled the window down and we gave our greetings, our niceties and I said, how you been doing? And he said, I just got out of the hospital. I said, really? Tell me about it. And he told me about his condition and what had happened. He'd just gotten out the day before. I said, well, have you been thinking about what we talked about last time? Have you been thinking about spiritual things? He said, funny you should say that. He said, I've got a grandson. I knew the grandson. His name is Logan. Logan has been after his grandfather for the Lord. I mean, Logan's probably nine. He'd been calling his grandpa at night before he went to bed to tell him goodnight. And he'd call his grandfather and say, Papa, if I die while I'm sleeping tonight, I'm going to heaven. But if you die tonight, I'm not sure about that. Been under conviction. Logan went to visit his grandfather there in the hospital. And they're sitting in a hospital room together. And this is Mr. Hicks saying this to me. He said, do you know who Franklin Graham is? And I said, yes, I know who Franklin Graham is. He said, well, Franklin Graham came on television while Logan and I were sitting in the hospital room together. And he said, he started talking about Jesus and about heaven and about hell. And he said, right in the middle of it, Logan looked over at me and said, are you listening to this? Lord was working on it. I said to him, I said, well, were you listening to it? He said, I was. He pulled his truck off into a driveway to get out of the road so that others could come by, and we stood there. I didn't have my Bible with me, but I had my phone with me, and that's one of the good things about devices. Now I pulled the Bible up on my phone and took him to a portion of Scripture, and we just walked through a bunch of verses together and talked about the grace of God and what it really means to be saved and how to know that you have eternal life. And do you know that on the side of that road there in the hills of West Virginia, old Mr. Hicks bowed his head and asked the Lord Jesus to come into his heart and be his Savior? And I realized something. I got to get in on the drawing, but little Logan and a man on television, probably a praying wife, and a lot of other folks had gotten in on the casting. I'm an evangelist. I'm giving my life to try to see people saved. The Bible says it's not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He'll have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's what the Bible says. That's not my message, that's God's message. And I'm going to meet God with whether I give that message. But you're going to meet God with what you do with that message. And if we keep that to ourselves, Then we might be men, we might even be fishermen, but we are not fishers of men. Not until we begin to be what God wants us to be and do what God wants us to do. And I'm asking you tonight if you'll do two things. Number one, if you'll make sure you've come. And if maybe it's been a little while since you've come close to Jesus, if you'll come close to Him tonight. And number two, if you'll pray tonight that the Lord will make you to become. Wouldn't it be great to become what God wants you to be before you meet Him? I know, I know some of you are saying, well, I tell you, preacher, most of my life probably is behind me now. Well, that could be true, but you never know at what stage in life God's going to use you in your greatest way. Do you know that Mark was a very young man, the man who wrote this book? And that Simon Peter was arguably the oldest of the disciples? You might be the young man or you might be the old man. That's not the issue. The issue is, are you obeying what Jesus has given you to do with your life? And I tell you tonight on the authority of the Word of God, if you'll just come close to Jesus and keep following Him, lay aside anything that would keep you from that, and persist after Christ, the Lord's going to do something with your life beyond anything you ever imagined, and it won't just be you going to heaven. God will use you to bring somebody else to the saving knowledge of Christ as well. And that's what it means to be a fisher of men. If this Bible message has been used of God in your life, or we can pray for you in some definite way, please contact us at enjoyingthejourney.org. We hope you will share the message with others who may also be encouraged by it. For additional full-length Bible messages, please visit Dr. Scott Pauly's YouTube channel. Tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and we want to encourage you to be faithful to attend a Bible-preaching church in your area this Sunday. Thank you for listening to The Weekend Pulpit, and don't miss Enjoying the Journey daily devotional podcast each Monday through Friday.