Here's a sorta brief re-cap :)
In Brad's words,"Jesus divinely & intentionally calls these 4 fishermen to follow Him & partner with Him in His Kingdom's causes to become Fishers of Men. This simple yet profound event becomes the model of the believer's obedient response to Discipleship as they abandon everything in order to follow Him. So what must be true of a person in order for them to respond to Jesus in such a radical way? And likewise, what must be true of us if we are to respond to Jesus' specific calling for our lives as college students?"
To answer these questions, a true follower must...
1.Trust in His provision
- They were Fishermen by trade; it was their source of income. According to v20, it was a successful family enterprise, & according to Luke 5, the 4 men were business partners. These men must have really trusted Jesus in order to drop EVERYTHING and follow Him.
- We too must trust that Jesus will provide for us when He calls us in a direction that may seem to contradict the outwardly logical, comfortable, & economical.
2.Be committed to His gospel
- There was no misunderstanding, Jesus' call was about ONE thing...dropping nets to save souls by the power of the gospel, & as believers, we often forget this crucial calling to spread the gospel. This calling can even become overshadowed by Christian events & activities!
- Though God may have a specific plan for our lives involving school, career, & ministry, it's never more important than the calling to spread the gospel withing those specific plans.
3.Submit to His sovereign empowering
- These men were fishermen...NOT scholars, yet Jesus specifically chose them for His Kingdom. The key to this calling is found in the phrase "I WILL MAKE YOU BECOME fishers of men." These men would turn the world upside down for the Lord because of one reason...they were powered by the Holy Spirit.
- We too need to humbly come as we are before the Lord & allow Him & His power to use us in mighty ways.
4. Love Him more than anythings & anyone
- It counts for nothing in eternity to follow Him out of religious zealousness, as Jesus states in Luke 14:26, following Jesus must come from a deep-seated cherishing of the person of Jesus Christ.
- Loving Jesus is the only way we can truly honor Him as we abandon everything to follow Him.
some questions to think about...
- What are some things that are keeping me/have kept me from dropping everything & truly following Jesus.
- What are some things that God has been calling me to do?
"My prayer for the students of EPIC is that they would be sensitive to God's specific calling for their lives and that they would whole-heartedly run after it with reckless abandon." ~Brad
God Bless, have a wonderful week & ...and check out the message responses :D 
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Goal for the day/week/month/year: that I would KNOW Christ enough to "IMMEDIATELY" leave the things that I hold onto, to follow Him without reserve.
ReplyDeleteThanks Aub and Brad.
One question. In reading the blog post, I kinda felt that there was a distinction made between a general calling to spread the gospel and a specific calling that we as believers receive from God. To "become fishers of men," was that a specific calling by Christ for the disciples ("fishing" means something more???), or is that calling addressed to any and all followers? Or both? I guess my real question is, by God's power, am I to be a "fisher of men?" In the same way Christians are missionaries, believers, followers, servants, are we also fishermen?
Actually, now that I think about it, the "pre-disciples" didn't even know Christ "well," but they still immediately left what they had and followed Him. That's pretty crazy.
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