KJV Sermon Outlines

Fishers of Men

Luke 5:1-11
Jesus, as He was calling out His disciples, said He was going to make them "fishermen of men." He then set out to train & teach them the process of being successful at their calling.
We, who have been called of God in like manner, must be taught and trained to function properly in our calling. I trust this may give us food for thought or "How to be successful Fishers of men."

I. PREPARING THE NETS:
Washing Their Nets: Luke 5:2
a)Our live must be clean.{Isa.52:11, Be ye clean that bear the vessel of the Lord.}
b)Can't be effective soulwinners with unclean nets.{2 Cor.7:1,...Let us cleans ourself from all filthyness of the flesh.}
Mending Their Nets: Mark 1:19
a)Tears, holes and rips represent a spirit of division. Our net must be mended before we can be effective fishers of men.{Jo.17:21, Acts 2:1}
b)Division is carnality, {1 Cor.3:1-7; Rom.8:6-8}
c)People are turning their back on Christ because of divisions among God's people. We must mend our nets.
Casting Their Nets:Mark 1:16
a)Casting represents soulwinning.{Prov.11:30; James 5:20}Fishermen plied their trade daily. It was their living. Are we truly fishers of men on a daily basis???
b)Casting on the right side,{John 21:6}That means doing it His way, not ours.
 

II. HAVING THE MASTER ON BOARD:
Christ must have control
a)The captain of a ship is in control of, not only the vessel but, everyone on board. So must Christ be captain of our vessel. {Jo.15:5} Without Christ leading, we can do nothing as we ought to.
Christ must lead
a)If we let Christ lead us; 1.He knows how to fish, where to fish, and where the hungry ones are.
 

III. THRUST OUR FROM SHORE:
In order to catch big fish they had to get away from shore. We ,too, must thrust out to where the people are.
Today we tend to cloister ourselves in a building expecting the unbelievers to come to us, to our way of doing things. These fishermen did it their way all night and were unable to catch fish. It is so much easier to just invite people to our services than to sit down one-on-one and share Christ with them. We need to thrust out.
Many have a fear of water and trust the security of the shore. Likewise, many have a fear of stepping out on faith to witness one-on-one. We must thrust out.
 

IV. NOT BEING DISCOURAGED BY FAILURE
{Luke 5:5} They caught nothing. How frustrating it must be to labor all night and see no fruit of their labor. Jesus gave them the formula for success and they caught more than they could hold. It was apparrent, they were not doing it the Master's way.
Not only in the world around us, but more so in the church, there is a sense of discouragement. We labor on and on and for the most part, see no results. That discouragement lends to many saying what's the use and want to give up.
Maybe we are trying to hard to do it our way and our way isn't working. Maybe we put to much on others who are not prepared for the task. It may be that we need to examine ourselves and re-think our methods. The Lord said our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways. Maybe we need to depend on His ways which are successful.
 

V. OBEYING THE MASTER:
In Luke 5:5 Peter said, "At thy word we will.." In spite of their frustration by taking heed to the Master they were successful.
The Father, through His word, has commanded us and we must ,as Peter, obey His word if we are to be successful in fulfilling our calling.
 

VI. LAUNCHING OUT INTO THE DEEP:
Jesus said to launch out into deeper waters. He knew what needed to be done. This launching out means to me that we must go beyond our former efforts. {John 9:4; Gal.6:9}Sometimes we must go beyond our former way of thinking. My father use to say to me, " If it is broke, don't fix it. If it is broke, it wont fix itself."
Our system or way of doing things is "broke", but we want to stay with it, thinking it will fix itself. It wont. Our thinking needs to change and that involves the Master to fix it. Let us go beyond and "launch out a little deeper."
 

CONCLUSION
Results:Verses 6-10 show that doing it God's way there is success. They caught fish. That implies if we also fish for men according to the Master,s way we, too, will be successful. I'm not talking about making just church members, but truly leading others to experience new life in Christ.
Purpose of Miracle:Verse 11 gives us the purpose of this miracle. It was to follow the Master. They forsook all and followed Him. Isn't that what He is wanting from us today. To follow Him. Think about that. Our Christianity seems to revolve around our daily lives rather than our daily lives revolving around our Christianity.
We must put Christ first in every area of life if we are to truly forsake all and follow Him.
 

Sermon Outline Index

Please sign our Guest Book!