Greetings MOL Family!

Welcome back to our study on the experience and life lessons of Peter!

The Divine Recipe

Matthew 4, beginning with the 18th verse. This tells the story that we read in a previous lesson in Luke, but from a little different angle:

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. – Matthew 4:18-20

Now notice the divine recipe for success in learning the trade of soul winning:

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. – Matthew 4:19

We cannot make ourselves soul winners. That’s Jesus’ work. But what can we do? What did He tell Peter to do? “Follow Me.” If we’ll do the following, He’ll do the making. Our part is to choose to be with Him. His part is to accomplish in us those changes that will make us successful soul winners.

Oh, how important it is, then, to answer His invitation and choose to be with Him.

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. – Matthew 4:19

This is a divine guarantee. And if we’ll follow the instructions on the label, it’ll work, dear friends. This is the way Jesus trained Peter and his brethren. He took them with Him. Notice in the book Education:

To them, above all others, He gave the advantage of His own companionship. Through personal association He impressed Himself upon these chosen co-laborers. …

… They were with Him in the house, at the table, in the closet, in the field. They accompanied Him on His journeys, shared His trials and hardships, and, as much as in them was, entered into His work. – Education, pgs. 84-85

So, by being with Him for a period of time, they absorbed His life. They watched how He did things. They listened to His words. And then they shared His work. They helped arrange the people as they came for clinics and for studies.

They answered questions afterward. They were sent out later on little trips. They came back. They made reports. But more than just being with Jesus in His work, they were with Him in His life. This says, they were with Him at the table. They ate together. They were with Him in the closet. They prayed together. They were with Him hour-by-hour, day-by-day.

Jesus was more interested in the long view, for we see that He allowed those men to be with Him making mistakes. Again and again in the four gospels, we see evidence of the failures of this one and that one, and no one made more mistakes than Peter, at least as far as outward appearance is concerned. Of course, all the while Judas was carrying on his under-handed activities.

But as far as what people could look at is concerned, Peter probably made as many mistakes as anybody. But all the while Jesus was making him a fisher of men. Christ was looking forward to that Pentecostal sermon that Peter would preach. He was looking forward to that marvelous ingathering of souls, prefigured by this gathering of fish that we read about.

The Science of Soul Winning

Now, how can we make this very practical to us today? How can you and I enter into the experience that Peter entered into? Well, there are some very practical things that we can do. First, we are to seek a personal association with Jesus, individually. He says,

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. – Matthew 4:19

True, He’s unseen, but equally true, He is present. In fact, being unseen He can be with you just the same as He can with me. Though we may be hundreds and thousands of miles apart, the dear Lord Who trained Peter can be with you and with me. But we must follow Him.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths. – Proverbs 3:6

In the early morning our first thought is to be of Him:

He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. – Isaiah 50:4

What for?

That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. – Isaiah 50:4

Soul winning is something that we’re to learn something new about each day. One reason for that is that each soul presents a different problem, and each soul has new problems from day to day. So, as we work with men, we must have the moment by moment guidance of the great Teacher, the moment by moment direction of the great Soul Winner.

This experience of going to God in prayer and seeking for Him, His direction, must be a very living thing with us. It isn’t just some ritual that’s to be gone through, like going to mass or to confession, or something of that kind. Life with Jesus is to be just that – life with Jesus. My association with Christ must be a living, personal reality. Without this, I cannot be successful in soul winning.

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. – Matthew 4:19

Now, in carrying this out, the Saviour would have us focus our thoughts upon definite souls. Jesus Himself, in His work, did not attempt to reach the whole human family while He was here. It’s true that He reached thousands, but there were millions that He never met. He had accepted the limitations of humanity, and we certainly are bound with those limitations. Soul winning is essentially a one-by-one process, in most cases.

It’s true that Peter preached that sermon at Pentecost, along with the other apostles, and thousands came. But it’s also true that many of those were people that Jesus and the disciples had been working for and with, over a period of time. Jesus had sowed the seed, and under the showers of the Holy Spirit a great harvest sprang up.

Soul winning still remains, in most cases, a personal encounter, a man-to-man, woman-to-woman experience. And so, one of the first things we need to do in learning the trade of soul winning, is to ask the Lord to lay on our hearts a burden for definite individuals. As the Lord’s messenger writes to the young people:

Begin to pray for souls. – Messages to Young People, pg. 207

That’s the way to begin. Do you have a prayer list? And I don’t mean a hundred names. I mean at least one name. Souls are born into the kingdom of God. And in human life even twins are infrequent, very seldom triplets. Souls are usually born one at a time, but somebody must carry them. Somebody must have them on their heart.

Oh, my friend, are you carrying somebody? Is there a burden on your heart for some soul? You know we sing it:

Lord lay some soul upon my heart, And love that soul through me.

That’s the point. And in fellowship with Christ, in the secret place of prayer, we’re to have an experience in talking to God about that soul, and then letting God talk to us about that soul.

I remember an experience. One morning, I was praying over some souls that we were laboring for in an evangelistic effort. And the impression came definitely to my heart to take the young man who was leading singing for me in those meetings, and go down to this man’s house and sing for him. We did it that very day.

Before the week was over, I conducted that man’s funeral. The Lord had arranged, you see, that I should have that closing interview with him. But it was in the secret place of prayer that the leading came, “Go with your singer and visit that man, and sing for him and pray with him.” In these simple things, friends, we may have the guidance of Jesus. But we must listen. We must watch for His direction.

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. – Matthew 4:19

We MUST watch and pray!

Until next week – Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then…

-Continue on to the next study-

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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.