To go fishing you need to do the following three things.

The first thing you need to get the proper equipment. For example, a shovel isn’t a very good fishing tool (unless you plan to bang them over the head). Neither is a cell phone. You need to use the proper equipment—fishing equipment—if you plan to fish.

Sometimes the type of fish you fish for will help determine the type of equipment you use. For example, who would use 5 pound test when you’re out fishing for 20 plus pound salmon? Who would use a fish net from your home aquarium to go deep sea fishing? The type of fish you’re fishing for will help determine the bait you use.

I’ve decided to go fishing. I need your help for the specific pieces of equipment I need to take. I need your help to make sure I take all the pieces of equipment I need. I need your help to make sure I have everything I need to do the task and do it right.

What do you need to fish? Bait. A hook. A reel. A phone. You also need a place to put your catch.

The second thing you need is the proper training. If you go to the store and buy all the stuff, are you a fisherman or woman? No! You need to know how to use the tools of the sport. You need to know how you use all the tools.

Has anyone ever done any fly-fishing? You just don’t do it; it’s most helpful to have someone show you how to do it. Otherwise you’ll catch yourself or catch the trees but not catch any fish since your fly won’t look like real since you don’t know what you’re doing.

Training can help you become a good fisherman or woman. You can take a class at a sporting goods store. You can find an experienced fisherman or woman and ask them if they’d help you. You could read a book or watch a video. But somehow you need the training if you expect to be a successful fisherman/woman.

The third thing you need is the proper attitude. It starts with a willingness to go. You can’t catch fish from your easy chair at home! If you do it on a computer, I wouldn’t try to eat the fish!

Cindy and Melissa used to play a game called “Bigmouth Bass” on the computer. It may have been fun to play and they learned more about fishing but it didn’t bring any fish home to eat.

You need to go where the fish are. That may mean you go to some uncomfortable places or even do things you’re never done before. But to catch fish you need to go. That’s where it starts: with a willingness to go!

It includes a willingness to trust. You hear the latest news at the bait shop: “The fish are biting at…” You may not see them, but you’ve been told that’s where the fish are by people who know. So you trust the people you know to let you know where to go.

It requires a willingness to wait. You don’t cast out one time and reel in a fish. While that can happen from time to time, it’s pretty unusual. If that’s how fishing is for you, I know a lot of people who will want to go with you! Let me know & I’ll write your name down.

Fishing requires patience, a willingness to wait. “Sitting on the dock of the bay watching the time roll away,” like the song said. Slow, summer days… sitting and watching the river flow by. Patient waiting, watching.

We have a task: to help people find their place in God’s story
The first thing you need is the proper equipment. God provides us with all we need to do His work.

It starts with God’s Word, the Bible. Here God reveals Himself to us. Here we learn of the plan of salvation.

It continues with Holy Baptism. Here we believe God claims the baptized as His own. Here we believe the Holy Spirit works to create faith in us.
It continues with Holy Communion. Here we receive Jesus’ very body and blood in bread and wine. Here we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation.

God provides us with all the “people power” we need to do His work. He provides us with all the other resources—gifts, skills, abilities, funding—that we need to do His work here and out in the world.

The second thing you need is the proper training.

The wrong way is to take a Bible and pound it over people’s heads! God’s Word can be misapplied to people’s lives. Romans 8:28 (“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose”) is a wonderful passage which can help the hurting. Yet it must be applied at the “right time” in the “right way”

For example, I wouldn’t use it right after someone has found out they have cancer. Its use would probably come later, after they’d come to grips with their disease and begin to see God working through it.

This training comes as we “Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” God’s Word. That means a continual study of and immersion in God’s Word. As we come to better know it we’ll better be able to apply it (rightly) to peoples’ lives.

How do you tell people about Jesus? It could mean evangelism training. It could include learning witnessing skills. It could include changing how you live life so others will want what you have.

Training takes practice. For example, you don’t run a Marathon the first day you start a running program. You start small and continue to train—getting better all the time.

It’s the same with telling people about Jesus. You start small… maybe by teaching/telling the small children who are so eager and willing to hear about Jesus. You continue to “practice”—maybe even with Christian friends. And as you continue to grow in your faith and expression of that faith, you’ll be able to tell more people in different settings.

The third thing you need is the proper attitude. It starts with a willingness to go. You can’t catch people (usually!) from your easy chair at home! You need to go where the people are. That may mean you some uncomfortable places. That may mean you do things you’re never done before. But to catch people you need to go.

It includes a willingness to trust. Trust God and His promise to be with you—always—even when you’re telling people about Him. Trusting in God to give you the words to speak or the actions to do so that others might be drawn to Him. Trusting in other brothers and sisters in Christ to help us learn more and then go with them to tell people about Jesus.

It also requires a willingness to wait. It starts with the willingness to wait for God’s direction. That means to wait for the “right moment” to speak or do. Yet waiting not eternally… but “going” when God’s time presents itself.

That’s how you go fishing. That’s how you catch people for Christ.

So, will you go fishing? Will you join us to help people find their place in God’s story? The world needs Jesus now more than ever before.

Join us… following Him… helping to bring others to that same faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Amen.