This is a three-part series on Jesus’ call to be His disciple. The call to be Jesus’ disciple is a grace-filled call, a demanding call, and an equipping call.

Mark 1:16–20 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

In Mark’s Gospel, this pivotal moment in the lives of Simon, Andrew, James, and John has been stripped down to its simplest terms: Jesus called; they followed.

Let me make it clear that as Christians we are ALL called to be Jesus’ disciples. In this three-part series, I’m going to attempt to show some practical lessons from Jesus’ call to discipleship.

JESUS’ CALL IS AN EQUIPPING CALL

God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called. Jesus doesn’t leave us to our own devices, He doesn’t call us and leave us to figure it all out. No, He calls us and gives us everything we need to do what He’s called us to do!

“I will make you fishers of men”. Notice it is Jesus who does the “making”. Jesus is the one who is going to transform us and change us and make us who He wants us to be.

“Follow Me. I will make you __.” You see, our responsibility is to trust and follow Jesus. Jesus’ responsibility is to take care of everything else. In other words, this call to follow is an exchange of trust. The Lord is saying, “If I can trust you to follow Me, you can trust Me to equip you.”

The more we follow Jesus, the more we will become like Him, & the more fruitful we will be in leading others to Him. Perhaps the reason we lack fruit in our lives is because we are following Jesus at a distance.

He promises to equip & He promises to transform us but at the end of the day we still have to fish. We still have to cast the net of Gospel where we live, work & play.

Make no mistake, every Christian is called by Christ to invest his or her life in discipleship. Discipleship means following Jesus and following Jesus means fishing for men.

Yes, saying yes to His call will cost you EVERYTHING. But Jesus promises to transform you and equip you to do what is lasting, eternal, & God-glorifying with your life. And I can guarantee you it is well worth it!