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thence, He saw Jam es the son of Zebe- dee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending th eir nets. (20) And straightw ay He called them : and they left th eir fath e r Zebedee in the ship w ith th e hired servants, and w ent after Him. John had already become disciples of th e Messiah, leaving John the Baptist. They had no t en tirely abandoned th eir occupation, b u t had spent some time w ith Jesu s in Judea. Now He calls them to a definite service. When th e Lord sought those who were to be H is in tim ates during the th ree years of His m inistry, He found them among th e humble toilers. They were not men of rank , b u t men of char acter. The history of the church is full of illustrious examples of th is char acter: Bunyan, th e tin k e r; Zingli, the shepherd; Melancthon, th e sm ith ; Lu th er, th e m iner’s son. They were not idlers. God never calls an idle man. They were faith fu l, following th e ir vo cation. Men are chosen for service who are working well in th e ir own sphere. Men who dream of doing g rea t things and who have never done well th e least things, w ill be left to th e ir own dreams. Moses was tending sheep. Jo shu a was a soldier doing service under Moses. Gideon was th resh ing wheat. God w ants men who know how to do things and then do them . Saul of T ar sus, as a persecutor, was hot w ith hatred for Christians and gave his best effort to pu t them in prison. When he su r rendered and became a preacher he was fu ll of fire for the spread of th e Gospel and went about as a flaming evangel telling th e sto ry of redeem ing love. Christ found these fishermen busy w ith their, nets, and from th e ir humble, homely service called them to the high est honors in th e kingdom . He is still iooking for men— rea l men— and real men are h ard to find. The need of the church is for men who know th e voice and follow th is Leader.
brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. (17) And Jesup said unto them , Come ye a fte r me, and I will m ake you to become fishers of men. (18) And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him. (19) And when H e had gone a little farth er Matthew, Mark and Luke are called th e “ Synoptical Gospels,” and in them th e m inistry of Christ LESSON begins w ith th e “ Great EXPOSITION Galilean M i n i s t r y . ” T. C. H orton The first year of our Lord’s m inistry is re corded by John and was mainly in Judea. It was n a tu ra l and logical th a t our Lord should begin in th e homeland of th e Jew ish people, w ith its center a t the a lta r in th e temple. The period is a year following the baptism of Christ. A t th is tim e the disciples come into a n earer relation w ith th e Master. The scene of our lesson is a t the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee) probably a t Capernaum . Mark -tells us th a t He was w alking by th e sea and saw them casting th e ir nets. Luke tells us of the boats on th e shore and the fishermen w ashing th e ir nets, and th a t Jesu s took one of th e boats and pushed ou t a little from th e shore, sat down and ta u g h t th e people. The district was very populous w ith from one-half to two m illions of people, and the peo ple pressed upon Him. A fter H is sermon He paid th e fish erm en for the use of the boat by giv ing them a big d raugh t -of fishes. Outline: (1 ) FINDING THE FISHERMEN, v. 16. (2 ) FORSAKING AND FOLLOWING, vs. 17-20. (3 ) FISHING FOR MEN. (1) F ind ing th e Fisherm en. “ For they were fishers.” Read the account in th e synoptical Gospels... Simon, Andrew, Jam es and
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