Day
2
Fishers
of Men
He
[Jesus]
got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out
a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”\Simon
answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But
because You say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they
caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they
signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came
and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw
this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful
man! For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they
had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then
Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid;
from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on the
shore, left everything and followed Him. Luke 5:3-11 NIV®
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Memory
Verse: He said to them, “Go into all the
world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV®
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Discussion
Example:
Say,
“Can you imagine how surprised you would have been if you were Simon Peter and
the other fishermen and Jesus came on board your fishing boat? Well, His
presence on the boat wasn’t the only surprising thing. In that the fishers had fished all night and hadn't caught anything, they doubted they
would catch anything when Jesus asked them to go into the deeper water and drop
down their fishing nets. Even though they doubted, they did as Jesus asked and
caught so many large fish that their nets began to break. They called their
fishing friends over from a nearby boat to help pull up all those fish. There were so many fish that both boats began to sink.
“They
knew immediately that this miracle was because of Jesus and they didn’t feel
worthy of all He had done for them. Well, sometimes Jesus asks us, today, to do
things that we think might not work out. Sometimes, we get that gnawing feeling
in our heart that we should do something nice for someone or ask someone to
come to church with us, but we think that they might act rudely to us. When we
listen to that calling when Jesus leads us, things will turn out even better
than we expected. Sometimes, we just have to take a risk to do what Jesus
wants. Some call it a Leap of Faith.
“Jesus
told the fishers not to be afraid and that from now on, they would be catching men
instead of fish. Of course, I don’t mean they went after men with nets to catch
them. I mean that they were going to tell people about Jesus Christ being our
Savior, so have faith in Him. Jesus wants us to be fishers of
men, as well. So, when you get that feeling you should share your faith in
Christ, just pray about it and take the Leap of Faith and share what’s in your
heart.”
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Arts
and Crafts Example:
Each
child will need scissors, a piece of a Styrofoam sheets or tray or sponge,
paper, crayons, and marker, and a cup of water and paper towels for cleaning
up, plus protective clothing like an old T-shirt or big garbage bag cut up the
back with head and arm holes.
Say,
“First we are going to color two boats on the water to represent the boats that
Simon Peter and the other fishers were using when Jesus joined them. When we
finish we are going to take the (Styrofoam or the sponge) and cut it to look
like a fish. Don’t worry about adding too much detail. Even if you cut it in
the shape of an oval, it will work out.
“After
you cut the fish shape, you are going to ink the back of it with the marker and
then you are going to press it on the paper on the sides of the boats and in
the boats. You are going to stamp lots and lots of fish, because there were so
many fish that it made both boats start to sink. When you finish stamping all
the loads of fish, you will take a dark crayon to draw nets around groups of
them. Usually a net has a checker board pattern, lots of lines going up and
down and lots of lines going across. The nets are made like this, so that the
fish don’t get away from the fishermen.
“If
you have enough time, try to add the fishermen trying to pull up these heavy
nets that weighed so much that the nets broke. What an amazing miracle Jesus
did. It was so amazing, in fact, that the fishermen left their boats, their families, and
everything they owned, so that they could help tell others about our Savior, Jesus
Christ.”
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Science
Example:
Each
student or group is going to need a small piece of paper, scissors, a Styrofoam
plate, a pitcher of water so you to pour a little into each of the Styrofoam plates,
container of black pepper, a dropper of liquid dish washing soap. They actually
only need one or two drops for this experiment per plate, so you could go
around putting the drop/s on each plate from a larger container.
Say,
“I am going to pour some water in each of the plates while you are going to cut
out the shape of two fishing boats to set on the water.” After that’s done, ask
them to shake pepper on top of
the boats and all over the water, which represents all the fish the fishers caught.”
Now
ask, “What is your Hypothesis about what will happen to these boats and fish on
the water when one or two drops of liquid soap are dropped in the middle?”
Listen to all their Hypotheses. Then, remind them to hold their heads up high
when they add the pepper. (You may want each person to put on one shake of
pepper, so everyone in the group gets to participate.).
Explain,
“The fish and the boats go to the side because when the soap dissolves in the
water, it breaks down the surface tension of the water.”
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Game
Example:
Say,
“We are going to play: Fishers of Men,” (it’s similar to Red Rover). Count off
all the kids: one, two, one, and two. Have the ones line up side by side and
hold hands and the twos, on the other side, facing the ones. Explain that their hands are going to
represent the nets of the fishermen. Tell them that they are going to call each
and every person once to swim over and see if they can break the net of the
other ship. They will say, “Fishers of Men, send Sam to swim over.” Whether
they break the net or not, they are to join hands with that fishing team.
Eventually, everyone will end up on the opposite fishing team to where they
started. (You want to make sure everyone is called once and no one is left out,
before seeing if there is enough time to call people a second time. Kids really
get their feelings hurt if they aren’t called.)
Remind
them, “We were catching fish in our game, but the real challenge is that Jesus
wants us to share our faith with others and catch men by helping them learn
about Jesus.”
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