I Said YesSample

Some Fishermen Meet Jesus

In Jesus’ day, people who committed themselves to following a teacher were called “disciples.” It’s a word we don’t use much in today’s language, but a word that is important to understand.

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus invited some fishermen to leave their old lives behind and become His disciples. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will teach you how to fish for people.” In other words, these first followers of Jesus knew how to catch fish and bring them into their boat, but Jesus was going to teach them how to catch people and bring them into a restored relationship with God.

A disciple is someone who is committed to following Jesus, being changed by Jesus and living on mission for Jesus. Let’s break it down one at a time to understand what this word "disciple" really means:

Following Jesus means imitating Jesus in what we think, say and do. In order to do that, we need to learn about Him and be with Him! We follow by reading the Bible. By praying. By walking alongside someone else who is a follower of Jesus. By serving others with the same love that Jesus would.

Being changed by Jesus means letting Him transform your life from the inside out. For some people, it seems like they say, “Yes!” to Jesus and everything changes right away. For others, it’s more of a gradual process. We are all on a journey of growing spiritually. As God shapes and changes your heart, you’ll see yourself become more like Christ. After all, that’s the whole goal of the Christian life. As C.S. Lewis put it in his book Mere Christianity, “Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

Living on Mission with Jesus means committing to live on purpose for Jesus Christ.  When Jesus invited His disciples on a brand new mission, He put it in language fishermen would understand. Instead of trying to catch fish, He invited them to fish for people! Their new purpose would be to invest their lives into others who wanted to follow, be changed by and live on mission for Jesus too. That mission was then commissioned to His disciples to bring to the whole world. (You’ll read about it today in Matthew 28.) Did you know you’re now part of the Great Commission from Jesus to find more people who will say, “Yes!” to Him?

God took some ordinary fishermen and used them to change the course of history. It all started when they said, “Yes!” to Jesus, but it certainly didn’t stop there! In fact, their journey continued as they kept going, and kept growing - just read about it in the book of Acts sometime. You'll see that disciples of Jesus continue saying “Yes!” on this journey with Jesus throughout their life.

Just think, if God could change the world through 12 ordinary fishermen, can you imagine what He can do through you?

Keep saying “Yes!” The best is yet to come.

When you say “Yes!” to Jesus, you’re committing to following, being changed by, and living on mission for Jesus.

If you prayed to say “Yes!” to Jesus, all of heaven is celebrating over your new and restored life! And we would love to celebrate with you too. Please let us know you’ve decided to say “Yes!” by visiting www.wooddale.org/yes.

Reflection Questions

1. Which of the three parts of being a disciple is most exciting for you? Most challenging?

2. In what ways have you seen yourself become more like Jesus recently?

3. What are some of the ways you’ll continue to say “Yes!” to Jesus this next week? Month? Year?