Your Mission

So the business of bringing people into a relationship with Jesus Christ apparently has some things in common with fishing. For example, you don't try to attract the fish with what you're interested in, but what they're interested in. Now look, I like pizza. I don't like worms. But if I put pizza on my hook, I'm going home with an empty bucket buddy. I've got to offer what will be interesting to the fish that I'm trying to attract. And so it is with reaching people for Jesus Christ.

 

If all we offer is religious bait, coming to a religious meeting to hear a religious speaker talk on a religious subject in a religious place, we probably won't attract many of the lost people who need Christ so desperately. But if we're talking about needs they care about in a place where they feel comfortable, in words they can understand, we have a far better chance of getting them within hearing distance of the Gospel, don't we.

 

 

But there's another very important fishing principle we need to keep in mind as we present Jesus to the people around us. It's a principle it seems many believers have never thought about. You don't clean fish until you catch them! See, too many times, lost people feel judged by us rather than loved by us, because we're attacking the things they do. And they do those because they're lost, and instead we should be leading them to the One who will take them from lost to found!  You catch them, then you clean them! Actually, God catches them and cleans them, through you.

 

 

Zacchaeus got clean, but he got caught first! The problem with the lost people you know is not their profanity or their dishonesty or their immorality - they're lost and they're living like it! Their real problem is they need a Savior! Yes, they must repent, but that's part of being rescued by Jesus from their sin! Don't make their lifestyle the issue. Make Jesus the issue, and say with the great spiritual fisherman, Paul, "When I came to you...I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). If you want to help people be in heaven with you, stick to Jesus. And stick to His cross!

 

[Ron Hutchcraft]

 

 

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Mark 1:17 ... And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

 

 

Matthew 4:19 ... And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

 

 

Luke 5:10 ... And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.❤

The Day

The day that you come to Jesus Christ ... is your last day alone.

[Ron Hutchcraft]

Joshua 1:5 ... There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6 ... Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
 

Matthew 28:20 ... Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Hebrews 13:5 ... Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.


John 14:6 ... And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ❤

"Courage In"

I love that word "encourage" – when you do it, you literally put  "courage in" to that person. Someone who may be more battered than you  know, closer to going down or giving up than you could imagine. You never know when your encouragement might literally be the difference in  that person's life. When you're bruised and hurting, it's that person in your corner who can get you back in the ring for another round. 

[Ron Hutchcraft]

1 Thessalonians 5:10-11 ... Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ... Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

Ephesians 4:29 ... Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Romans 14:19 … Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. ❤

The Only I.D.

You can't get into heaven with your sin, and our sin can only be forgiven by the One who paid the sin penalty that we deserve. No religion can die for your sins; no spirituality can die for your sins. Only God's sinless Son could do that. So He's the only "I.D." that will get us into God's heaven.

[Ron Hutchcraft]

John 14:6 ... Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

1 Timothy 2:5 ... For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Acts 4:12 ... Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. ❤

Rush It - Ruin It

Make it a goal to not find your fingerprints on your future. Only one set of prints -God's. See, your involvement could well become interference. Would you let God finish His masterpiece in His time? Impatience can, as young cooks often learn, ruin the final result. Oh, you'll love what God is cooking up. Just don't try to rush it.

[Ron Hutchcraft]

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ... He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. ♥