Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I wonder what Jesus meant by “seek?” What did that look like as He lived His life, and how does it apply to us as we follow Him as His disciples?” It is my humble opinion as I have observed people as a pastor for almost 50 years that most Christians’s pursuit of lost people is a step below casual.

In Alaska, I was obsessed with catching sockeye salmon. I fished a lot sometimes only sleeping a couple of hours between trips to the river, and when it was going to be just a couple of hours I would sleep in a chair with my waders on so as not to waste good fishing time putting and taking off cloths.

One of my fishing principles is when I haven’t caught a fish in 15 minutes of fishing I change something. Sometimes it is the size of my hook or corkie, or color or number of corkies, or the size of my weight. Most often it is the speed that I retrieve or where I start my drift. If someone around me is catching fish regularly I watch them and try and figure out what they are doing because I know it isn’t dumb fisherman’s luck.

It is interesting to note some simple things that create interest and opportunities to talk to people. I was fishing in Alaska on a metal walk way that was built out over the river to keep people from tearing up the banks of the river. There were quite a few people fishing on it, probably someone about every six feet. I started singing, “Jesus loves me more than George!” George is a friend who was fishing nearby. Another fisherman looked at me and said, “that doesn’t sound right.” I said, “what is it that you don’t agree with?” He said, “I thought God loved everybody the same.” I said, “does God love you?” There was a very long pause and he responded, “I hope so!” I quoted Romans 5:8-10 slowly, repeating several phrases.

Romans 5:8-10
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

No decisions were made, but we had a very nice conversation and I am sure some seeds were planted.

So, I have added a new fishing technique to my collection, sing a silly song about Jesus, and see what happens.

Principle # 1 – Those who fish the most will generally catch the most fish. Those who actively spend time with people interacting, talking, making friends with, hanging out with, fishing with, will influence many people to seek the Lord.

Principle # 2 – If you want to catch a lot of salmon look for someone who is catching lots of salmon, and ask him how he does it. Be humble, pay attention, ask questions, and then practice. Practice until you have the skill of catching fish.

Principle # 3 – Watch the fish.

The first farm that we bought when Dad first retired from the Navy was a long skinny piece of property that was bordered on one side by the road and on the other side by a creek that was called North Myrtle Creek. Our house was on one end of our property. When I came home from school I would get off of the bus and with the fishing rod that I had stashed in the brush I would fish the mile of creek to our house. I would usually catch about half dozen six to ten inch trout and I would proudly present them to my Mom as my contribution to our families welfare. Occasionally Dad would fish the same stretch of water after I did and he would always have a dozen fish that were 12 to 14 inches long. My Dad always out fished me, but he always out fished everybody.

We were fishing together one Saturday on a creek that neither of us had ever fished before. He was catching big trout and I was catching small trout. He kept saying to me, “watch the fish and put your bait in front of them, look for the big fish and target them.” But I couldn’t see the fish and he would say, “don’t look at the top of the water, look through the water and see the bottom of the creek.” I eventually learned to do that, it was just a matter of focus, focus on the top and that is what you see, focus on the bottom and then that is what you will see along with the fish that were lying on the bottom.

In John 4 Jesus says, “lift up your eyes and look at the fields that are ripe and ready to harvest.” Focus on the people all around you in your life and really see them. See them as lost people headed for hell for all eternity. Really look at them and study them, how are you going to reach them? Target them, pray for them, become obsessed with “catching them.”

Most of us live in the midst of lost people and we tend to be critical of their lifestyle, their words, their political views, and we seldom think about their lost condition.

It is just a matter of focus.

John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

John 17:18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 Christ gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Principle number 1 seems rather obvious but many Christian’s have totally missed it. If you want to catch fish you have to fish, have your line in the water, paying attention, working at it, and learn the skill of fishing by learning from others.

Principle number 2. Fish don’t want to get caught. They like it in the river swimming up to their spawning grounds. They are wary, spooky, and anything out of the ordinary and normal pushes them away from what we are offering them. I use leader that is the same color as the water, small corkies and hooks, I try and make my drift the same speed as the water. I always wash my hands using sand or silt from the river as soap. And if I spook one, I don’t get upset at the fish, I get upset at myself.

Lost people don’t really realize that they are headed for an eternal place of torment and agony. They have no concept of being lost, and most often they reject our offer to share the gospel with them. In fishing for salmon presentation is very important, in our attempts at reaching lost people with the gospel, presentation is very important as well. Some Christians naively say, “just share the Word and let God do the rest.” Farmers who don’t learn and practice good principles and techniques of farming go broke, and Christians who don’t learn how to make the gospel clear and compelling will lead very few lost people to eternity in heaven.

I have read many books on how to effectively share the gospel. I have watched hours of You Tube and videos on live presentations that have gone poorly and successfully. I have written and memorized dozens of two minute stories that act as an attractant, getting people’s attention so that I can transition into the story of my faith in Jesus. When I think I have gotten their interest and that they are open to hearing the gospel I always ask permission, “Could I share with you why I am positive that I am going to live forever in heaven when I die?” Even with my most persuasive introduction, stories, and presentations most say “no.”

So, I work on the skill of being an ambassador for Jesus even more. I want to be a very successful fisher of people for Jesus.

Mark 1:16-17 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

In Alaska these past three weeks I was fishing for sockeye salmon, and so were a lot of other people. People come from all over the world to fish the Kenai river. One of the the obvious observations is that some people catch a lot more salmon than others do. Why? Is it fisherman’s luck? Is it the sovereignty of God? Or could it be that some people have acquired the skill required to catch sockeye salmon? Those who want to catch fish can learn the principles, the guidelines, and the secrets from those who catch lots of fish, but then they must practice using what they have learned and perfect it until they have acquired the skill. What is true in fishing for fish is also true in fishing for people. Some Christians have learned the principles, the techniques, and the guidelines for effectively persuading people to follow Jesus Christ as their savior and lord, and they have acquired the skill and wisdom from practice.

Let’s look at a dozen principles for catching lots of fish and make application of those principles to catching people.

Principal #1 – People who catch a lot of fish, fish a lot. They not only are on the river, the lake or the ocean a lot, but while they are there they fish. I went fishing with a guy and while we were out on the lake in a boat my line was in the water at least twice as much as his was. He spent a crazy amount of time going through his tackle box finding the best lure and then changing it a few minutes later. I caught a lot more fish then he did because I fished a lot more than he did. Those who really want to catch fish work hard at it, they are motivated, and they fish. Most Christians are not very motivated to convince people that the gospel is true. In the back of their mind they don’t think anybody will believe the gospel, so they don’t learn how to effectively share the truth of God’s Word in a persuasive way.

Hell or the Lake of fire is a very real place where very real people are going to spend eternity if they are not convinced that the gospel is true.

Luke 16:24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.

Revelation 20:10 & 15 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. . . And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Most Christians have become comfortable with the knowledge that many people around us are “lost” and headed for eternal torment. We spend a lot of time doing everything under the sun except fishing. The apostle Paul was a fisher of men and he was motivated to speak to as many people as possible because he knew their eternal destiny was at stake.

Acts 18:4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Acts 26:28 Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.”

Acts 28:23-24 When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.

I got home tonight from three weeks fishing in Alaska with different people from JBC and other friends. There was a different group of people each week that came up to fish, and they all had an awesome time. It varies day to day on how good the fishing is. The run itself increases every day until the peak and then begins to decline every day after that. Another factor is the commercial fisherman. When they have their nets out the number of fish making it up the river is reduced significantly. The state of Alaska monitors the number of fish that make it up the river and regulate the commercial boys accordingly. We had some huge numbers for about a week this year with the peak being 189,000 fish in one day. Anybody can catch fish when there are that many fish swimming by them. Alaska Fish and Game increased the daily limit that we could catch from three to six after that day. They use a sonar device to count the fish and I hear that it is very accurate. I came home with three 50-pound boxes of salmon fillets this year, that is a lot of salmon that I am going to be forced to eat!

Now that I am home I am going to switch over to my real job in life, fishing for people. Jesus used that term to describe what He was going to teach His disciples to do with their life as a follower of Him, to communicate the gospel in such a way that people believed it and became followers of Jesus headed for heaven instead of hell. The next couple of days I am going to write about how to become a great fisher of people using catching sockeye salmon as an illustration.

I haven’t done a blog in a week for two reasons, first I am to busy fishing, and second, there is no wifi at the fish camp I am staying at and barely enough cell service to send a text message, so I have to remember to take my Ipad with me when we go into Soldotna and send it there. So far I have been to mentally distracted trying to catch a salmon to remember, but I remembered tonight. There are seven of us at “fish camp” in Soldotna, Alaska this week fishing for sockeye salmon, commonly called “reds.” We fish for 8 to 12 hours a day depending on the number of fish that are in. The daily limit is 3 salmon per person and the first five days we barely did half of that, but the run has started and we have caught our limit the last two days. The camp owned by Tim Groome who attends JBC, is very comfortable and the food prepared by George Coulter also of JBC, is amazing, I will gain weight for sure! We fish at night often because there are no other people and there are more fish. It doesn’t get dark until midnight and then it is still light enough to fish. We use a headlamp for netting fish and tying on hooks.

The big challenge for me is keeping my basic Christian disciplines first instead of fishing. It is a major challenge but so far I am doing good. I hope you all are as well.

Life moves, it moves at a pace, and sometimes the pace or speed of life is agonizingly slow. It is exactly 11:00 pm, everything is packed and ready to go fishing in Alaska. I could go to bed but I can’t sleep. Patty is taking me to the church parking lot at 3:15 am, so what do I do for the next four hours? Whatever I do I will check the time every two minutes and the clock seems to have slowed down! OK I am going to go to bed and see I can go to sleep.

Of all the activities that I do, I think fishing for salmon in Alaska is my all-time favorite. I think that this is my 23rd year in a row of going up to Alaska for at least a week to fish. My first trip was when my good friend, Jay Goold moved from Jefferson to Anchorage, Alaska and invited me up to fish with him. We had an amazing time and fished in about eight different rivers and places including the Kenai river, I have been back every year since, though every year is different. I am leaving Monday morning at 3:00 am for this year’s trip, and expect it to be the best ever.

I am 73 years old, pastored Jefferson Baptist Church for 46 years, been married for 53 years, along with Patty, raised eight amazing kids, and in the process have had lots of adventures, trials, challenges, and disappointments, just like everyone does. On the journey I have never gotten down, depressed, or unmotivated for long periods of time, though in the early days of Pastoring Mondays were often bummer days. I have gotten depressed, discouraged, weary, and have often lost my dreams, but never for very long before I was back running the race of life with passion and fire.

There are several reasons why I have consistently lived life with joy and energy. The first is my relationship with the Lord. I spend time with Him every day reading His Word and talking, unloading, and receiving strength from Him through my time with Him in prayer. The second is my relationship with Patty for 53 years. She is amazing in her intuitive ability to keep me focused and enthused about life and it’s challenges. The third is fishing. It sounds a bit strange, and it is hard to explain how renewing fishing is for me. Other activities in my life are also refreshing and re-energizing, such as bicycling, working on old cars, and building things, but no other activity lifts me like fishing does.

So, I am off on an awesome fishing trip on Monday. I will write my blogs about my adventures and put in pictures of the fish I catch.

The first of August I will start preaching on Sunday’s at our first daughter church in Albany, Agape Family Fellowship for awhile, I will be preaching at our Wednesday night service at JBC, I will be getting ready to teach six different Leadership classes each week, and doing a number of other ministry activities. I will also be slipping in a fishing trip regularly as well.

In the Old Testament someof the laws God gave to Israel through Moses, are strange, and hard to understand why they were given to the people. One of them is in the book of Leviticus and is repeated in Deuteronomy.

Leviticus 19:19. ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.

I believe the intent of the law was to be a physical picture or illustration to the nation of Israel that God desires that He is most important in our life, that we seek Him only, that we worship Him only, that we love Him only, and that we serve Him only. God does not like mixtures in His people in their love for Him. In the history of Israel as soon as they were not loving God only they would soon fall away from Him, and once the slide away from God started it ended in disaster. As people we are not capable of a divided heart, we will go one way or the other.

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Our heart is easily enticed by the things around us in the world, and most of us are very careless in guarding our heart and it’s affections, and like the nation of Israel, once the slide away from God begins it gains momentum and soon we are far away from the Lord.

Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

The beginning of the drift away from God is subtle and we usually don’t even notice. When we do become aware of the disease of worldliness that has infected our heart we no longer care and have no motivation to do anything about it, until we crash and a crisis of some sort happens.

Revelation 2:4-5 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalms 21:2 You have given him his heart’s desire,

We all have many desires, but which of the desires in our heart is number one, which is the strongest. Not many people have even thought about that question so most have no clue. If we do identify what it is, then pray that we would get it, purposely pursue it, and then work diligently to acquire it, the strongest of desires will become even stronger and we will soon become consumed with reaching it.

So what is the strongest desire of your heart? For some it might be the salvation of a family member, for others it might be the reconciliation of their marriage, and for others it might be good health.

The strongest desire of my heart is that I would become holy and righteous, that I would be like Jesus in character, perfect before God, that I would stop sinning.

Colossians 1:22 to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

Ephesians 1:4 that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Jesus said that if I truly wanted to become righteous it would happen, so I am turning up the heat until that desire is white-hot in me, consuming my life

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

There are five blessings that will come into the life of any person who becomes passionate about becoming a holy and righteous person before God.

(1) We will become increasingly sensitized to the things that we do, say, and think that are sin. Small sins that we in the past haven’t noticed or we have easily skipped over will become glaringly obvious.

(2) We will be quick to confess all known sin to God in order to experience His forgiveness.

(3) We will become wiser in knowing what things we can do to help us move towards holiness.

(4) We will become much less critical and judgmental of others.

(5) As the desire grows to become holy and righteous God will give us the power to accomplish that desire.