Evangelism and Missions

Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:19-20; Romans 10:14-18; Mark 1:17

What is the Greek word for “preacher” in Romans 10?

• Preacher - kērussō, to herald, especially divine truth: - preach, proclaim, talk.

Fisher of men verse Mark 1:16-18 - “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Do you know where Jesus did NOT go to find His disciples? The church!

He went where they were. We are to go where they are and share the gospel.

4 Things Jesus Meant When He Said to Become a “Fisher of Men”

1. Cast Our Nets
   • Follow Me
     • Matthew 4:18-22 - “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
     • Matthew 28:19-20 - “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
     • Acts 1:8 - “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
     • Romans 10:14-18 - “…how will they know unless someone tells them…”
   • We also need to be able to defend our faith as is says in 1 Peter 3:15, “always be ready to give an answer (an apologia) to everyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you.”
     • Can you confidently answer their honest questions if they ask?

• • • Don’t share your story, share His!

Don’t go in with “when I was … I …!”

Instead we need to be sharing:

“In the beginning God created…, Adam fell, sin came through Adam, but God had a plan, He gave us a sin offering to cover our sin, then Jesus came and lived a perfect life, He suffered and died as our perfect sin offering, He was buried then rose again on the third day, He lived among us for 40 days and over 500 people witnessed Him alive, then He ascended to heaven, and is now in heaven preparing a place for us and will come again to claim His bride when He is ready.”

Do NOT ask:

“Are you a Christian?”

“Do you know Jesus?”

Ask open ended questions!

We need to be asking:

“If you were to die today…?”

“If you were to stand before God and He were to ask…?”

“What will you do with this Jesus?”

“What do you think of the Bible?”

“What do you think of Jesus?”

“Who is Jesus to you?”

If you did it it’s a farce, if He did it it’s real!

The Psalmists wrote and Paul reiterated it in Roman’s:

“There is none righteous, no not one.

There is none who seek after God.

There is no one who even desires to do good.”

It’s not your story! Don’t make His story about you!

Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

2. Rotten Fish - Don’t worry about rotten fish
   • Matthew 13:47-50 - “…threw the bad away…”
3. Repair the Net
   • Matthew 4:21 - “…He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets…”
   • Matthew 10:14-15 - “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
   • Mark 6:11
4. Cast Again
   • “To be a fisherman did not require a specific degree, intellect, or personality type. But it did require hard work, patience, and the ability to not give up even when the catch was empty.”

••This is what it means to be a fisher of men.