February 25-26, 2006, 2 Kings 6:24 – 7:16

GO FISH!
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!

*** Mark 1:16-18 "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him." [New International Version]

THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE IN BEING QUIET ABOUT JESUS!

*** Acts 4:12, 20 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." [NIV]

*** Acts 4:29 "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." [NIV]

*** Matthew 16:16-18 "Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." [NIV]

God Loved, God Gave, We Believe, We Receive!

*** John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." [NIV]

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR US TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN?

*** 2 Kings 7:3-4 "Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? If we say, 'We'll go into the city'--the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die." [NIV]

*** 2 Kings 7:5-7 "At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives." [NIV]

*** 2 Kings 7:8 "The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also."

*** 2 Kings 7:9 "Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." [NIV]
*** 2 Kings 7:10-16 "So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there--not a sound of anyone--only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were." [11] The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace. [12] The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, 'They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.' " [13] One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here--yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened." [14] So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has happened." [15] They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. [16] Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said." [NIV]

GO BACK AND TELL EVERYONE THE GOOD NEWS!

*** 2 Kings 7:9 "Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." [NIV]

WITH THEIR GREAT DISCOVERY CAME A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!

ARE YOU KEEPING THE GOOD NEWS TO YOURSELF?

IF YOU WERE TO SERIOUSLY TAKE THIS TRUTH: "WITH THIS GREAT DISCOVERY COMES A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY"

HOW WOULD YOU DO LIFE DIFFERENTLY?

- Who would you make time to take to lunch?
- How would you use your financial resources?
- Who would you invite to dinner?
- Who would you invite to Church?
- How would you spend your vacation?
- Who would your workout or golf partners be?
- Who would you pray for passionately?

*** Phil. 2:5-8 "In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus. Christ himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit. He gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant. And when he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death - death on a cross." [New Century Version]

FOLLOWERS OF JESUS BECOME FISHERS OF MEN!

SO...GO FISH!

Thanks to Andy Stanley and North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, GA for the concept of Go Fish!