(from last time)
The camel was getting closer and was getting ready to spit again, only this time Shane and Shelly were in the way! Just then the Professor shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly Bethlehem disappeared and….
There was water all around them! It was like they were on the bottom of a lake or something! Shane thought to himself, “Not water again! We were in water before!” Shelly thought the same thing! The Professor tried to say, “Ooops!”, but he got water up his nose instead! They were almost out of air and had to breathe! They left the bicycle/time machine on the bottom and wildly tried to swim to the surface before they drowned! But there was no room for swimming! There were fish all around them and they could not use their arms or kick with their feet without hitting fish! Just when they thought they could not hold their breath one second longer, it happened! Suddenly it felt like they were being pulled to the surface very quickly! The Professor, Shane, and Shelly popped up to the surface of the water. They gasped for breath, and the Professor said, “Ooops!” Suddenly something began to squirm around inside the Professor’s shirt! The Professor screamed with laughter, “There is a big fish inside my shirt, and it tickles!” It was not a fish, suddenly Shelly’s kitten popped out of the Professor’s shirt! Shelly was overjoyed! She said, “Welcome back kitten! I thought that we had lost you, but you were hiding in the Professor’s shirt!”
There were still fish all around them! One of the biggest fish used its tail and smacked it across the Professor’s face! The Professor said, “Ooops!” The fish thought this was funny, so it smacked the Professor again, and again, and again, and again! The Professor kept saying, “Ooops!” The fish, Shane and Shelly were laughing at the Professor! Suddenly the all the fish, the Professor, Shane, and Shelly all started moving through the water together! Shane looked ahead and saw that there were 2 boats ahead of them. He yelled to Shelly, “I think those boats are fishing boats! We must be caught in their net!” It was true! They were caught in the fishing net with a huge bunch of fish! The men in the boats were throwing fish into the boats as fast as they could, the boats were so full that they almost were sinking. There were so many fish that they could not all fit into the boats. The boats pulled the net to shore, and 5 men got out of the boats.
Four of the men bowed down to the fifth man, and one of the men said to him, “Master, we had fished all night and not caught anything, but when you said to put the net down in the water, we caught all these fish all at once! Now I know that you are Lord, but I am a sinful man! I shouldn’t even be here with you!” Shelly whispered to the Professor and Shane, “That’s Peter talking to Jesus! The other three men are Andrew, James, and John!”
Jesus answered Peter and said, “Don’t be afraid! From now on, you will fish for men! Come and follow Me!”
Peter, Andrew, James, and John pulled the net of fish, the Professor, Shane, and Shelley onto the beach. Then they pulled their boats out of the water too. Then they turned around and walked away following Jesus! They did not care about their nets, boats, or the fish anymore! The fish were all flopping around on the beach! Most of them were tangled in the net and could not get back in the water! The big fish used his tail and smacked the Professor on the head 12 times! The Professor said, “Ooops!” twelve times! Then Shelly and Shane heard shouting from the village on the shore! People were yelling to their friends about free fish on the beach! People came running from every direction! The big fish jumped up as high as he could, smacked the Professor on the head one more time, and fell back into the Sea of Galilee! The people came and snatched up all the rest of the fish except for one small one! In no time at all, the Professor, Shane, Shelly, the kitten, and the small fish were sitting in that net all by themselves! The kitten decided that it was hungry, and the small fish looked really good… so the kitten ate the small fish!
Shane asked Shelly, “What did Jesus mean when He told Peter, Andrew, James and John that they would fish for men? Did Jesus mean that they would go around and pull people like us out of the Sea of Galilee with a net?” Shelly answered, “No, Jesus meant that they would spend the rest of their lives telling people all about Jesus, so that people would learn to love Jesus, and could know how to get their sins forgiven and get to heaven.”
The Professor suddenly said, “Look, what’s that caught in the bottom of the net?” It was the bicycle/time machine! The handle had got caught in the net and the flopping of the fish had turned the handle as far as it would go! As they got the bicycle/time machine out of the net, Shane said, “We’ve got to be careful when we ride the bicycle/time machine, the handle has been turned all the way, and if it gets shifted into high gear, we will leave this place.” Shelly said, “I definitely don’t want to leave this place! I want to catch up to Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, and John and see what they do next!” So, they dried off the bicycle/time machine and began carefully riding along the edge of the Sea of Galilee going in the direction that Jesus went. As they were riding along there was one place where they were very close to the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Then it happened…. Suddenly the big fish jumped up out of the water and smacked the Professor on the head, with his tail! The Professor said, “Ooops!” As the big fish was falling back into the water, his tail hit the gear shifter on the bicycle/time machine! The fish shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the big fish and the Sea of Galilee disappeared and….
Application:
Today’s true story found in the Bible in the book of Luke chapter 5 verses 1-11
Jesus told Peter, Andrew, James, and John that they were to follow Him and become ‘fishers of men’. Shelley explained that this means that:
- They would spend the rest of their lives ‘catching’ people for Jesus
- They would tell people how God loves them so much that He sent His only son (Jesus) to die on the cross to pay for their sins
- They would tell people everywhere that if they believe in Jesus and pray and ask for forgiveness, they will have eternal life and be on their way to heaven when this life is over
Jesus wants all Christians to be ‘Fishers of Men’. We can do this by:
- Pray for your friends
- Tell your friends about Jesus
- Invite your friends to Church
- Live your life the way Jesus wants you to live, so your friends will see something different about you