#9. Fisher of men

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.


Group Questions

1. How does Jesus get in Peter's boat?

2. Why does Jesus get in Peter’s boat?

3. What does it look like for you to get into other people’s “boat?”

4. What is Jesus teaching you in this passage?

5. Why does Peter react the way he does?

6. What is Jesus saying he is going to do with Peter?

Family Questions

Elementary (what?)

• What happened?
• What did you learn about Jesus?

Middle School (why?)

• Why is Jesus teaching this?
• Why does this matter?

High School (how?)

• How does this apply to me?
• How would this look in my life?