Invest in Souls
Remember when Jesus called the disciples, being fishermen,
they left their father, they left their nets, they left their boat, and those
disciples knew that if Jesus was truly the Messiah, then people would forsake
everything that they had and they would leave it behind to follow Him. They knew that Jesus was worth deserting the
world for. What a better day than today
to surrender everything that we have to Jesus Christ. What can we possibly give in exchange for our
soul, in the end we are doing to die and if we haven’t lived a life worthy of
the calling that our Father in heaven has called us to, we won’t be able to
bring anything into everlasting life we will just being what we have to the
grave. People wonder where to invest
their money, what to do with their life, what to do with their money. Jesus called those fishermen to fish for
men. He didn’t say; “Go continue to
fish, become great merchants, build bigger barns to house all your stuff,
become a big company and supply the needs for your family for future generations…” Jesus said; “Seek FIRST the Kingdom of GOD
and His righteousness, and everything else will be added unto you…” He calls us
to be disciples who will be fishers of men, who will invest in human
souls. What a better thing to invest in. There is no greater thing then investing in
human lives, to seek FIRST the Kingdom of GOD.
Jesus does not care about our stuff, He cares about US, He cares about
our hearts. IF we seek first His
kingdom, we will love the Lord our God with all of our heat, soul, mind and
strength, and we will love our neighbor as ourself. So, what does that look like? What does that practically look like to
invest in humans, to fish for men? Well,
it first starts of with being free of the leaven of the Pharisees, which these
days is being separate from the leaven of the culture of “church”. A lot of Christians think ministry happens in
church and so the first thing they do when they want to get their life right
with God is they get into a church, they get plugged in, but the problem is,
because the churches are NOT seeking first the Kingdom of God in righteousness,
but living in sin themselves, they then cause others to fall to hypocrisy and
to sin. So, where do we go? The true church is led by the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world! That
is Jesus Christ. We go to Him in spirit
and in truth and we say LORD, purify us from all unrighteousness, lead me out
of sin, lead me out of idolatry, lead me out of the world…. And then when He
starts to purify you and dross you and make you a new person, a new heart and a
new soul, THEN what spills out of your life is righteousness! And you go out with your new tongue, singing
the song of the Redeemed and people all around you see that you are a changed
man or a changed woman. THAT is the
moment that you start to fish for men and you start to make disciples. NOT because you started a Christian church or
a Christian ministry or because you thought up some ministry, but because the
HOLY SPIRIT is now residing IN YOU. No
longer is it YOUR ministry, YOUR personality, YOUR agenda, BUT the HOLY SPIRIT
is filling you, and the over-poring, or the out-spilling of the Holy Spirit
from your life is what encourages other to repent and to seek the LORD! THIS is where we have to be if we want to be
affective, affectively bearing GOOD FRUIT.
Those who bear good fruit the vinedresser prunes, God prunes us so we
can bear more fruit, and those who are not bearing ANY good fruit, who are a
bad tree, THEY ARE CUT DOWN, those branches are cut off, they are chopped up
and they are thrown into the FIRE. What
is the fire? The fire is HELL. Many people are not bearing good fruit, they
reject the Holy Spirit, they reject God for living their own life or for a bit
of religion. We need to make sure that
we are living free from hypocrisy. That
is the FIRST STEP. Are you free from
hypocrisy? Are you living HOLY? Because without righteousness and holiness
you are not going to see God, you are not going to bear good fruit and you are
not going to be part of His Kingdom.
Make sure that you are living without hypocrisy, without the hypocrisy
of the Christian culture. THEN you can
start to invest in human souls, you can encourage others in the way of the
TRUTH. Remember that Jesus says;
“Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Many of us have not forsaken all to follow
Jesus. We are living for ourselves, are
we living for a retirement plan, we are living to make life better for our family,
which seems good, BUT Jesus did not call us to just seek after all the things
of the world, but to seek FIRST His Kingdom!
So, we need to get real with ourselves and ask ourselves, are we really
denying ourselves, are we taking up our cross daily, are we bearing our cross? Have we left everything like those disciples
did on that day that Jesus called them because we know that Jesus is worth
it? Remember that those disciples
forsook ALL to follow Jesus knowing that He was the Good Teacher and they did
that without turning back. Every single
day they were fishing for MEN. They were
not just fishing for money, they weren’t fishing for women, they weren’t
fishing to look good in the economy or in the world, they were fishing for
SOULS that people could be saved, that they may put their faith in JESUS and be
the sons and daughters of the Kingdom of GOD!
Check your own life and see if you are really bearing good fruit. Is Jesus pleased with you? Does He know you as His son or as His
daughter and are you doing His work, bearing GOOD FRUIT for the Kingdom of
GOD? Are you investing in the lives of
your fellow brothers and sisters? May
the grace of Jesus be with you.
