"And He said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men'".  Matthew 4:19

FISHING. Jesus called His first disciples, Simon and Andrew, with the familiar words, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." They were fishermen by occupation. They could identify with His analogy of fishing for men. Two important principles appear in His statement. First, to follow Him as a disciple means that you will be fishing for men. Disciples fish ... non-fishers are non-disciples. A non-fishing believer is not a disciple. The second principle is that fishing for men is based on following Him. As you follow Him ... He teaches you to fish for men. Jesus said, "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples" John 15:8. The word translated as prove in this verse means be made to be or become. Therefore, bearing the fruit of new believers is part of the process of becoming His disciple.

FRUIT AND FERTILIZER. Jesus declared in John 15 that His disciples are to bear fruit ... to bear much fruit ... to bear fruit that remains. Jesus said that abiding in Him was the key to bearing fruit. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing" John 15:4-5. Abiding results in fruit. If you are not bearing fruit there is something wrong. A spiritually barren, fruitless disciple is a contradiction. Maybe you need some food, some nutrients, some fertilizer around your roots ... that was the point of the parable Jesus told about the barren fig tree, Luke 13:6-9. God may use this course to dig around your roots ... to add the fertilizer you need to bear the fruit that you should. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls" Proverbs 11:30. Are you righteous? Are you wise? Are you winning souls?

THIS COURSE. This course can help you at any stage in your spiritual development. If you are a new believer, you can get started in the right way with this course. If you have been a fruitless believer, it can get you on track to becoming a witnessing disciple. If you are already an effective witness, it can help you become even more effective. "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit" John 15:2. The object of this course is not that you become a more informed branch ... it is that you bear more fruit.

OUR PRAYER. Our prayer as we proceed in the disciples' life of fishing for men should be, "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations" Psalm 67:1-2.

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Disciplemaking 2, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org.