Extraordinary Pastor, Ordinary Follower of Jesus – Part 8

by | Feb 20, 2023 | Uncategorized

This post is part of a 9-part series called Extraordinary Pastor, Ordinary Follower of Jesus. You can watch the introduction video here.

Part 8 – Jesus Expects You To Be All In

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. – Luke 5:10b-11 After seeing Peter’s obedience, after watching him respond to his demonstration of power with humility and confession, Jesus knew he had the right guy. The next step was to invite Peter to push all his chips in. He invited him to become a disciple. He may be inviting you to do the same. Jesus made two declarations.

  • Don’t be afraid. This wording was used in other theophanies (when God showed up), and it carries with it a sense of forgiveness. This picture goes against the modern picture of Jesus as an impish man with product in his flowing hair. Peter found out that to come face to face with God will bring a healthy fear.
  • You will catch men. Just like this huge haul of fish in these nets, the number of people who will be impacted by your ministry is countless. Eternities will be changed because of your ministry. This was both a prophecy and a command. There was an expectation of multiplication

The only response to Jesus is to go all in 

  1. They left “everything.” Notice the disciples walked away from everything that tied them down. They left their business, they left their family, all their possessions. I’ve often wondered what happened with all those fish? Someone made a lot of cash that day.
  2. They left together. Peter, James, John, Andrew, they all followed Jesus together. God used this pre-existing business partner relationship to form the core of his discipleship team. When Jesus met them, they were running a business together. They obviously knew how to get things done, and they would go on to become a very effective ministry team.

Are there things you need to leave behind in order to follow Jesus with your whole life? And how might God want to leverage your current relationships to form great ministry teams. Is God calling you to something greater together?

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