God Is With Us

Peter Went Fishing

Leader

Have you guys been fishing? Yes? Okay. Can one of you tell me a little bit about what happens when you go fishing? Can you do that?

Male Child

You have to have a fishing pole.

Leader

So that fishing pole, at the end of the fishing pole, there’s a what?

Male Child

A hook.

Leader

A hook, and on the hook you have to put a?

Male Child

Worm.

Leader

If you catch a fish, and I’m saying, if, how many fish can you catch at one time on that fishing pole?

Male Child

One.

Leader

Okay. That’s if you catch a fish because when you go fishing, sometimes you just have to wait, and wait, and wait, and if you catch some, you might go home with five or six. Am I correct? Okay, so it’s kind of hard. Fishing is kind of hard, but I want to tell you about a time when someone in the Bible went fishing and his name was Peter.

Peter had been in his boat all night. Now when Peter went fishing, he didn’t take a fishing pole. What he did, he had some big nets, and he would take these nets and throw them over the side of the boat, and then when he pulled those nets up, he didn’t have to just worry about one little fish on a fishing pole. Maybe he would catch a whole big net full of fish.

That’s the way it usually happened, but this night Peter had put his net over again and again and again, and every time he pulled it up, it looked just like that. There were no fish, so Peter just gave up, and he started rowing to the shore. Now he saw somebody…He saw a big commotion on the shore. He saw this guy look like he was teaching the people, and the people were listening. Who do you think that guy was? Who do you think? Say it.

Children

Jesus.

Leader

Yeah. Jesus. He didn’t know Jesus though at this time, so he rowed up towards where this man was teaching, and he noticed that the people were kind of crowded up. Let’s pretend like this is Jesus, and all the people were just crowded up on him. Jesus didn’t like that, so he needed a little bit of room. As Peter was coming towards the shore in his boat, Jesus said, “Hey, mister. Can I get in your boat, and you push off a little bit and let me get in the water, and I’ll kind of get away from the people, and then maybe they can hear me a little better.”

So Peter said, “Okay. Sure. Come on.” Peter started listening to what this man was saying. He starts thinking, “Wow. He’s really talking about some good stuff,” so he started thinking, “Man. I just really believe what this man is saying.” After Jesus got done preaching, then he said, “Peter, how was your day fishing?” What would Peter have said?

Child

Terrible?

Leader

Terrible. He didn’t catch anything. Jesus said, “Well, let me tell you something. Take your net and put it over the side of the boat one more time.” Peter said, “But, but, but, but…” Jesus said, “Just do it.” There was something about the way that Jesus talked and the way that Jesus preached, that Peter had faith, and he believed in what this man was saying. He put the net over the side of the boat, and guess what? He couldn’t even pull up the net. There were so many fish in there. He tried and tried. He had to get some help from other people to pull up the net. There were so many fish.

By the time he pulled up to shore, guess what? His boat was even sinking. There were so many fish. After this, Peter looked at Jesus and said, “I don’t care about this life of fishing anymore. I just want to follow you.” You know what Jesus said? He said, “Well, if you follow me ...(Have some children stand up and throw a net over them). He said, “If you follow me, not only will…You won’t catch fish anymore, here’s what you’re going to catch. You are going to catch…” It won’t reach to you. That’s okay though. “You’re going to catch men.”

What Jesus meant by that was that Peter was going to catch men for God. “You won’t be fishing for fish anymore; you’re going to be fishing for men.”

Well, let’s have a word of prayer. Dear Jesus, (children echo) please let us be fishers of men. Amen. Thank you.