Fishers of Men, Maker of Toffee Bars.

Mar 1:16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Don't you love how Jesus used the situation at hand to make His point?

When Jesus talked about cities on a hill which cannot be hid, He spoke from the hillside overlooking Galilee. Across the water, in the distant hills were towns with their white houses gleaming in the sun.

Jesus had His disciples observe the people giving their offerings to the Temple collection box to teach of the eternal investment the little widow was making with her two puny coins, all she had.

We see this over and over in the Gospels. Now, at the onset of His ministry, Jesus is calling fishermen from their nets to become fishers of men. He was using language and culture they knew and to which they could easily relate.

To bring this thought to where you live…

If you are a teacher and He were calling you to discipleship, He might have said, "Come with me and I will teach you to teach the gospel to the students I will give into your care."

To a mechanic, "Be my follower and you will overhaul and tune lives for my service."

To a mail carrier, "Ye shall soon deliver the message of salvation door to door."

To the farmer, "Come, plant the seed of my Word."

What is your proficiency and passion? Is there some way you can relate those skills to the ministry of the gospel?

That, by the way, is exactly how the Lord called me to ministry. I was a candy maker at Russell Stover's. I made butter almond toffee, among other confections. (think Skor or Heath Bars)

One day the Lord asked me, "How many of those do you make a day?

I said, "Ten thousand bars a day, plus several thousand toffee chips."

He asked, "And how much will the company make from your work?"

I said "about $10,000 per day."

"And what good does that do for the people?"

"They will enjoy them, but it will contribute to their poor health."

And here is what the Lord said to me, "Follow me and I will have you to make a profit for me that will be eternal and much healthier for the people."

I put down my confectioner's tools and went to Bible college.

That was 32 years and 6 months ago. And though I still have dreams at night of working in the candy factory, I have never looked back, never considered anything but investing in the eternities of others. I have preached and taught somewhere around 7500 sermons and lessons. I don’t know how many have been saved, how many have been encouraged or enlightened, I leave that up to the recording angel. But I know more lives have been touched than had I still been mixing and cooking sugar, water, almond dust, almond extract, palm kernel oil, lecithin and salt.

Listen for the voice of the Savior, perhaps He is calling you to something greater and more eternal today.

If not, know that that to which He has called you should also be ministry with eternal implications.