Intro to Days 16-25

These next two phases in Jesus’ life are what we have called Ministry Training and Expanded outreach. We do this because we see Jesus doing two things here at the same time. As the movement of multiplication grows, Jesus issues His next call:

“‘Come, follow me’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’” (Mark 1:17)

This is the third call. It is made to those He has already called: “come and see” and “follow me”. This Third call is to move closer to Jesus, to draw near enough so He can now teach you how to be a part of the process of making disciples. He invites these first followers to join him in the ministry, to become apprentices in the school of disciple-making and share in the movement of multiplication.

In this phase of Jesus’ ministry you will notice that Jesus is now not just modeling things for His followers, but training them to make disciples. He is asking them to come closer and observe more carefully what he has been doing for the last year and a half of the ministry. Jesus will begin to train His new Ministry team- At the same time we see that Jesus’ strategy is to train them with on-the-job training. It is not a classroom training but training as they walk through their day to day lives! It’s hands on! It's active! It's now! Isn't that somewhat foreign to us? In the church today, we have somehow come to understand that we must “learn”, “grow”, “mature” in our faith first and then, after considerable “growth” we will have what it takes to participate in sharing the good news with the world around us. Yet, that is not the model we see Jesus use…

Imagine the impact of the church today if we were to be actively participating in sharing the good news… even if we don’t have everything right!

Because of Jesus’ love for those who do not yet know Him, He begins doing outreach events, or better said, He begins “fishing trips” in which His new disciples will have an opportunity to participate. Fishing trips are what we’re going to call these outreach events. And pay careful attention to how Jesus involves the disciples. After all,  it is impossible to train someone to fish for men without taking them out fishing. This phase of the movement of multiplication is the training of the ministry team. At the same time, Jesus is having Expanded outreach. You cannot do the first without doing the second. In order to train His team, He must provide them with opportunities to practice what he is modeling.

This phase of Jesus’ ministry will last about nine months. It will include on the job training in disciple making through the first six “fishing trips'' of Jesus. Jesus will continue to do these fishing trips as a way of continuing His training with His team. As the movement grows, so do the sizes of the fishing trips. But you will notice that the fishing trips begin small and gradually gain size and speed. It is an exciting time in the movement as Jesus’ fame is mounting and His disciples begin to experience the thrill of calling people to “come and see” and to “follow me”. They are beginning to see what “true life” looks like- developing a lifestyle of reaching out and calling people to Jesus.

Join us tomorrow as we take a look at how Jesus taught His first team how to fish for men.

You're challenge during this section is to fish for men! Pray now for God to open a door to a conversation with someone who needs to know him.

Pray now, "Lord, I am willing to listen and obey"

Pray now, "Lord, train me to fish for men"