. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Luke 5:10b

Recurrent Thought

All those God transforms, he sends them to tell to others about Christ’s Lordship and the benefits of their transformation.

Jesus came to earth to die in place of human beings and reconcile them to Yahweh God. However, before his death, he did two major things. First, he taught about the Kingdom of God and everything it represented. Second, he raised a community of followers who believed in his teachings of the Kingdom of God and were willing to be propagators of its benefits. In this text we see him persuading some of the persons who later turned essential workers to the growth of His movement.

Background

• This passage, is seen by scholars as referring to the same incident found in Mathew 4:18-22 or Mark 1:16-20 where Jesus called the four Disciples. The Difference is that Luke emphasis the Miracle of the Fish while the others the Call of the Disciples which is implied in Luke 5: 10
• Peter and Andrew (and likely James and John) toiled all night without catching any fish
• In the Morning Jesus is preaching and borrows their boat as a space to preach from
• After finishing, he turns to Peter and asks him to drive the boat to the deep, and instructs him to cast the net.
• Peter told Jesus that this was going to be futile, but on his command he would do what he requested. They caught amazing catch of fish. They called their partners to come and haul the fish together
• Peter kneels down and recognizes the power and presence of Jesus, knowing that what they had seen was a miracle.
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 Here are four lessons when Catching People Alive

1. Effective Soul Winners understands the Importance of Winning Souls
   • Winning Souls is also Catching People Alive
   • In the text, when they are impacted by the miracle of Fishes, Jesus then tells them that they will now be catching men
   • Jesus reveals one major reason of being his devoted Follower is to Win Others to his Kingdom
   • Jesus likened catching fish to Catching people. However, it is clear that Jesus is showing that catching people is extremely important as catching fish.
   • We should note that the phrase Jesus used, “From now on you will catch men” (verse 10) is also translated “from now on You will take men alive” Therefore, Winning Souls is Catching People Alive. Every Soul Winner is involved in rescuing people.
   • The Statement You will take men alive occurs only two places in New Testament, the other being 2 Timothy 2:26.
   • Everyone is caught by someone. You are either caught by Christ or by Satan.
   • Winning Souls to the Lord is catching people while they are alive.
2. Effective Soul Winners are Ordinary Followers who Obey the Master.
   • The Essential Attribute for an Effective Soul Winner is Obedience
   • Peter toiled the whole night and caught nothing; yet at the directive of Jesus to cast the net again, he obeyed and caught many fishes
   • It is possible that in the past we have failed to catch men, but today at his bidding obey him!
   • Obedience is an extremely important virtue in following the Master. We only enjoy his loving guidance and benefits when we obey the Master.
   • Our Life activities are changed at the command of the Lord. People don’t fight with results. In  John 2:5  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.
   • The deciding factor that creates effectiveness in any Kingdom Work, especially in winning souls is obedience.
   • God is ready to use anyone, their status in society notwithstanding. Any person can be used by the Lord as they are blood washed and obedient followers of Christ.
   • Obedience turns ordinary followers into effective soul winners.
   • We are all candidates towards Catching  People Alive. God uses ordinary people to shame the wise. But the ordinary people become effective through obedience as 1 Cor.1: 26-29
3. Effective Soul Winners know that God uses their Total Being to Win Others
   • God uses everything about you and your history as a means to win others.
   • God uses all of our Giftings to win others to himself. All our gifts, both spiritual (discovered after a spiritual encounter) and natural abilities are means to for effective soul winning.  Don’t despise Your gifts and abilities, God will use them.
   • The transformation that God brings is one of the heart and mind, and does not wipe our upbringing and life history. Therefore, those abilities in you that are natural, are also useful to the Kingdom of God
   • If you are a Fisherman, he wants us to transfer the same ability in catching people alive. Use your natural ability, your professional ability to catch people alive.
   • God wants to use Your background, Your historical circumstances and your life-story as resources for the kingdom.
   • Lots of people are idle in the kingdom of God because they believe their talents, professional know-how and the abilities they had before salvation are unusable in the Kingdom of God. This is totally wrong.
4. Effective Soul Winners Recognize the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit
   • Know it is impossible to win souls without the Presence of the Holy Spirit. The circumstances of Peter remained the same, until Jesus entered the arena.
   • Peter confessed that they had worked the whole night and caught nothing (Verse 5).
   • It is impossible to have people turn to Christ without the convicting power and presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God
   • Brilliant sermons or clever arguments will not win souls; it must be the word spoken by one who is in touch with the Lord Himself.

Altar Time

• Trust & Obey