Fishers of Men with Empty Nets
One morning Pastor Duma was walking along the streets of Durban and a man walked towards him, and as they passed each other, their eyes locked. And the man turned around to Duma and said, "“Please tell me, what society do you represent?” And Duma said to him, “I'm a servant of Jesus Christ, serving him as a minister in my church.”
And the man looked down at William Duma and quietly said, “Pastor, when I saw you coming and passing me by, I saw Jesus. That is why I've come back.” He said to him, “Please come to my surgery as soon as possible.” Duma said “Come with me now!” and grabbed his arm and they went off to the side of the road and prayed together. And this man's life changed as he gave his life over to Jesus.
Cast Your Net
Now the amazing thing about this, friends, is that that morning Pastor Duma was sitting in prayer by himself, and this is what he said in his prayer: “Oh God, you called me to be a fisher of men. I hold up my empty net to thee, so long empty that my heart is nearly broken. Please, today, somewhere, somehow let my net be cast where someone may be caught for thee.” And then off he went and met this man and led him to Christ there on the street.
Now this convicted me strongly as I read it, and I wondered if I should be holding up my empty net to God and saying “Lord, please today let my net be cast where someone may be led to you.”
Friends, remember that we are called to be fishers of people. That's what Jesus said to Peter: I will make you a fisher of people. Your life will be about drawing people into the saving love of Christ. Yet we forget this so often. We're so focused on our own spirituality that we forget the great call to bring others to Christ.
Fill Your Net
Would you join me today in lifting up our empty nets to the Saviour and saying, “Lord, today fill this net”? And maybe every day we should be lifting up our net and saying, “Lord, fill this net, bring somebody to my path who I can lead to Christ.”
There's nothing more thrilling than leading a person to Christ. You can do all sorts of great things for people, but the most powerful, eternal impact you can have on someone's life is to lead them to Christ.
May our nets all be filled today as we go fishing for people to draw into Christ.
