I love to fish. Sometimes, my all day fishing adventures often fail to yield fish. If hungry, food searching fish are in abundance, why is my net empty? I have the wrong approach and bait which makes what I offer unappealing.
Rescuing lost souls is like fishing, but instead of fishing for fish, we fish for the lost wandering in darkness in the harvest fields of life around us. Two thousand years ago Jesus told us “GO, into all the world and preach the good news to everyone, everywhere.” (Mark 16:15) In John 4:35- 38 Jesus tells us the harvest field of lost people is plentiful, ripe for the harvest and we will harvest where we didn’t plant because others before us sowed Gospel seed into human hearts.
Are you fishing for the lost in your everyday world? Sadly, many who claim to be evangelicals aren’t. Respected research groups Barna Research and Lifeway asked the question, “How many times have you personally invited an unchurched person to attend a church service or other church program? 48 percent responded, “zero.” In the last 10 years, they asked over 50,000 people why they came to church. Between 75 and 90 percent responded, “I began attending because someone invited me.” The Billy Graham Association once stated most people come to Christ after being exposed to the Gospel 5-7 times. That tells us most unbelievers get introduced to Christ and church over a period of time, because a friend or someone they knew spoke to them and invited them.
