Fishers of Men (Matthew 19:4)
By Apostle Joshua Selman

2 Corinthians

A father is beyond a man with a wife, or who can create children.

The Hebrew word for father is Abba, and Greek pater, and they mean: source, sustainer, protector and defender.

Four major assignment of fathers:

1. The ability to provide, first for your household(top most priority) and then as many who are under your care
2. The ability to protect
3. The ability to mentor and create growth
4. To create structures for continuity and succession - You may want to listen to the message "Redefining inheritance"

If you have fallen short of the above definition of fatherhood, the good news is that there's still time to change.

It takes transformation through discipleship and that through the word to grow and give the believer an orientation that makes that believer a mature believer. But it takes empowerment of the spirit to transform that believer to a witness.

Luke 19:9 - 10

Matthew 4:18-19

The bible tells us that God desires that every sinner be saved and the ones saved will come into the knowledge of the truth.

The concept of soul winning is not just one reserved for evangelists or serious christians, but is mandate upon every believer.

And without soul winning many aspect of God’s program will not happen as intended, because based on the sequence of God’s program, the first is soul winning.

It is only the one who is saved that can become a believer, then the one who is a believer that can become transformed and matured, then the one who is matured becomes empowered, and then the one who is empowered becomes a witness.

Revival is as powerful as the vessels who can be found and are ready to be used.

Matthew 4:18-19

Things to observed:

1. Jesus told the men in advance what they will become. He still retained the word fishers - When God calls you, most times is the mission that would change, but those disciplines you have built would be useful even in that mission

   You do not have to wait to understand your assignment to invest in skill, discipline….

2. Jesus said come, follow me - He did not immediately make them fishers of men. There are consequences, if you skip this step(training). No matter how professional/successful you are, when God calls you, you start afresh. The first assignment is to follow and learn

   The first requirement to becoming an effective fisher of men is your training not the fishing itself(in our case evangelism)

What does it take to become a fisherman - fishing principles

What makes a fisherman an effective fisherman

1. You need to understand the sea - you don’t find fish in the air, or on the ground. - Until you are trained to understand the dynamics of navigating the sea, you will never be able to catch fishes.

   The sea for the believer is talking about the entire globe.

   The skill deployed when the sea is calm is different from that which is employed when the sea is boisterous.

   This world you see is the world of men and like the sea, it is very complicated.

   The world that we live in is not a world of fairness, there are spirits cohabiting with men.

   The world that you are going to evangelize and win souls is under the influence of this spirit called satan.

   If a believer does not understand the cosmos, your witness becomes ineffective.

   The sea for the soul winner represents anywhere men can be found.

2. You need to know the various kinds of fish they are at sea - All fish are not the same, so that tells you that your strategy will not be the same.

   According to national geographic, there are 32000 living species, aside the ones extinct on earth.

Various kind of fishes

1. There are people Jesus said are already close to the kingdom, they are over ripe for a harvest - Morally right, nice very thoughtful, responsible, it is easy for these ones to receive the gospel
2. There are fishes you have go deep to get them.
3. There are fishes that bite and kill, they even eat other fishes - The way you win a naive innocent person is different from how you will win a cultist who is almost always with weapons

3. There are various techniques for catching fishes - like said earlier, because there are different types of fishes.

   There is the bait and the hook

   There is the casting the net

   Not everybody will be saved on a crusade ground, not everyone will be saved by a preacher, but everyone should be saved.

   Every God ordained ministry in the body is sent by God to a particular group of men.

   The hook must never downplay the net and the net must never downplay the hook.

   There ministries tailored for businessmen.

   There ministries tailored for children.

   Every armed robber, prostitute… was once a child.

   The hook and the net must respect themselves, because they are made to catch a different kind of fish.

   There are many people who have mastered the art of using a hook who are about to throw away their hook looking for nets. Unfortunately your mandate does not require a net, you may not have the strength to use the net.

   There are many who have nets but don’t swing it because of the controversy of using the net and so rather go for the hook, catching a single fish instead of plenty.

   Don’t judge people no matter what, just because you don’t understand the tool or the strategy.

   There are tools that are not tools, for instance if we see holding a knife at sea… When you see a fishing tool you know, because you can see the assignment and the result of using that tool.

4. You must have a functional boat to gather the fishes you have caught Luke 5:4 - 6

   The boat was going down because of the size of their fish.

   There are many people who God will not give the anointing and the mantle bring a certain kind of harvest, because there are boats, their ministerial capacity cannot manage the kind of gathering they would have.

   Anytime you have fishes more than the boat can take, both you and your boat will be lost

   Make sure your boat is efficient. -

   There must be structures on ground:

   A strong follow up system

   An establishment system for the harvest we desire.

   Your harvest will always be wasted when your boat is too small, or you have no boat at all.

   No evangelist should go and preach without a collaboration with local assemblies for the follow up and the establishment of believers.

   So it is either you the man of God already have a structure or you work with those who have structures, so that way even after a year, you will find them.

5. You cannot effectively fish in isolation - Respect and engage with other fishermen Luke 5 : 6&7

   Soul winning can sink your boat.

   Even Jesus needed help. He fell on the way and he needed someone to help him.

   No matter how anointed you are, this ministry of soul winning is not for one person.

   Even if you are a professional fisherman and you have too many fish in your boat, you will still sink.

   Matthew 9:37

   An effective fisherman is still a fisherman, they only need more training.

   Pray:

   Lord we need more laborers!

6. Just because you are a fisherman and you are already fishing does not mean you will not continue training

   Matthew 4:21-22 - James, John and their father Zebedee were mending their net - both the father and sons sat down to mend their net.

   Your net could be your character, something wrong, an approach.

   You called but mend your net.

   • Mend your net by mending character
   • Mend your net by taking away hatred
   • Mend your net by going for further ministerial trainings and learning the other aspect of ministry that makes for efficiency
   • Mend your net by adding financial principle to how you are doing ministry
   • Mend your net by learning administrative principles to your ministry
   • Mend your net by adding prayer

   If you find your net tearing, even if you are a father, mend your net.

   Even if you are old, mend your net… Nets can tear because of use.

   Pray:

   Pray for the body of Christ - ministries, pastors, apostles… for the grace to mend our net

   The mending can be

   • restoring prayer to your prayerlessness

   • It may be cutting out of some association

7. Fishing requires great patience, persistence and discipline. And like fishing, soul winning requires great patience persistence and discipline wrapped up with genuine compassion

   Our impatience with the world of the unsaved is one of the reasons they run away.

   God never called us to hate people who are not spiritual.

   The level of anger and aggression that we communicate towards the unbelieving world, in my opinion, is too harsh.

   Ephesians 2:1-6

   Anytime you begin to communicate a sense of self righteousness, you lose that ability to reach sinners

   If you have been guilty of an area of sin before, be careful how you speak about it now that you are saved. There’s a way a once victim cannot speak.

   -sometimes we forget how God saved us and we speak in self righteousness.

   Give others a chance!

   Luke 15:18 & 22

   If you want ministry especially to the nations, you are going to have to come with a compassionate heart. There are things that Koinonia believes and stands for, but in dealing with a global audience you would have to create a lot of flexibility for several things, not compromises but several things, you have to keep your reservation but obtain the grace to stretch a bit to accommodate a large collection of fish.

   Not everyone would dress, talk or behave the way you want.

   Nets can be mended and even changed and God the real fisher of men can give you a new net.

   Mercy and compassion must precede power

   Luke 19:3-9

8. You must be mindful of your safety as a fisherman while you fish - There are safety practices that must be taught to every fisherman, if he must survive the business of fishing to return back home safe even with fish.

   There are life vest/safety mechanism you must put in place:

   • You must know how to manage the cold that is at sea
   • There are times that you need to understand the jurisdiction of fishing

   Safety net that every fisherman must put:

   • The intercessory prayer ministry - Don’t go to catch fish without the strong backing of intercessors
   • Practice periodic retreat - Don’t get too indulged with soul winning that you forget your relationship with God

     Isaiah 40:31

   There are many reasons why people die in a mission field

   Some die because of:

   • Ignorance
   • Demonic attack
   • They dappled into deep waters without training
   • They were alone, they died of exhaustion

9. You must know how to learn from those who have been fishing for a long time

Your love for Jesus alongside your desire to please him must be greater than your desire for ministry, fame, power, money and even evangelism.

Matthew 7:22-23

1 Corinthians 9:27

Matthew 4:19

Pray:

1. I obtain Grace to be a fisher of men
2. Lord help me to more efficient in the ministry of soul winning
3. Mention someone you know in and around your life who is unsaved - pray that they will not go to hell, intercede for them.