Stand by Camera three, start a slow zoom to a medium close-up - New birth experience coming in five, four, three, two, one…

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

Untold billions of dollars are coerced out of the pockets and purses of God fearing Christians every year, all designed to go to the heathen lands in salvation programs, mission fields, and ventures to keep man from an everlasting hell.  Judging from the expensive jewelry of those making the appeals, the luxurious television studios and gargantuan houses of worship, air strips and media centers, not all of those billions are reaching their foreign destinations.

Their goal starts noble enough, ‘saving the lost soul from eternal damnation,’ but languishes quickly to ignorance.  These “do err, not knowing the scriptures…”  Mat 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 

Their goal is to populate heaven.  They seek to take the honor of the Savior by offering His salvation to anyone who will listen.  Convinced in their imagination that the Creator can keep the universe spinning but not find the lost soul in India, they desire to become “fishers of men.”  By encompassing land and sea, they wish to proselyte the entire world.  And they are all on a tight, tight schedule. This must be done before the Lord returns.  How strongly they must pray the Lord returns during a ratings period...

“Every moment you wait, every dollar you continue to treat as you own…”

 But what kind of men will these fishermen catch?

Roll videotape, bring music under – coming out of this we’ll need a tight shot – someone make sure that the impromptu prayer is loaded on the teleprompter and give me a cutaway shot of the phones on Camera one.  Stand by Announcer - Offer 355 and superimpose phone number…

I know about as little about fishing as any person on the planet, but I do know this:  If I cast a line into a lake I won’t catch a rabbit. Or a pony.  Or a deer.  I’m going to eventually catch a fish.  It might one of thousands of different varieties of fish, depending on where I am, the bait and other conditions, but it will be a fish.

Whenever the Lord instructed his disciples to let down their net, they always a) let it down in water (the environment of fish) b) expected to catch fish, and c) succeeded.

Today’s Christian world is steeped in ignorance and obsessed with fishing.  And while they’re off fishing, the sheep are starving.  I like to think God gave preachers one of two jobs: fishers of men, or feeders of sheep. Here’s a little practical wisdom:  A preacher that keeps his sheep well fed and nourished will catch some men…

Now if I were skilled enough to fish, I’d go out and try to catch one.  I wouldn’t go out and try to make one.  Plenty of fish already out there.  The missionary is going out to make fish – that is, he’s trying to make children of God.  Truly, that’s his goal, no matter how he might try to scripture-coat it.  And we know by truth and understanding, a person is either a child of God or he is not.  In this story, you are either a fish, or you are not.

So the missionary is going to cast his net and catch a believer.  After all, who but a believer, who but a child of God is going to believe the things the missionary tells him?  Now you know for sure what preaching to the choir means.

Even though he is aiming for those he believes are bound for hell, his net is weaved in such a way as only those bound for heaven can be caught in it.  Oh sure, occasionally he’ll catch a non-believer who gets trapped and swept up with the crowd, but he’ll be thrown back before too long.  The fisherman’s bait is such that only those already bound for heaven seek to bite it.  What a tremendous waste of effort, energy and money to try and do a job God has already done. 

Brother, you too can become a fish. Even though you’re not a fish now, just repeat after me…

“Father, make me your child.”  Now, who can tell me what’s wrong with that sentence?

Kill the studio mics, bring music full; Camera two go wide for the close, bring the house lights down and roll credits…