Apostolic Friends Forum - Are you still learning to fish?

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Are you still learning to fish?

Please check out this video starting at minute 35:21.

http://www.calvaryabq.tv/live/?ServiceID=705

Re: Are you still learning to fish?

Quote:

The Fishing Parable Part 1

Now it came to pass, that a group existed who called themselves, Fishermen.

And, Lo, there were many fish in the waters all around.

In fact the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish and the fish were hungry.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year, those who called themselves, Fishermen, met in meetings, talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.

The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish.

One thing they did not do, they did not fish.

Are we all called to be fishermen? Can we truly be called fishermen if we don't fish? Can we teach someone to fish if we haven't fished ourselves?

Re: Are you still learning to fish?

The Fishing Parable Part 1

Now it came to pass, that a group existed who called themselves, Fishermen.

And, Lo, there were many fish in the waters all around.

In fact the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled fish and the fish were hungry.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year, those who called themselves, Fishermen, met in meetings, talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.

The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. Can we teach someone to fish if we haven't fished ourselves?

One thing they did not do, they did not fish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mizpeh (Post 763115)

Are we all called to be fishermen? Can we truly be called fishermen if we don't fish?

Poignant analogy.

Re: Are you still learning to fish?

Quote:

Part 2

In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish.

The board hired staffs, and appointed committees, and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about.

But the staff and committee members did not fish.

Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose original, primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish.

They only taught fishing.

Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and were given fishing licenses.

They were sent to do full time fishing.

Some were sent to distant waters which were filled with fish.

But like the fishermen back home, they never fished.

Like the fishermen back home they engaged in all kinds of other occupations.

Are we too preoccupied with other things to fish?

Re: Are you still learning to fish?

Part 3

After one stirring reading on the necessity for fishing, one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing.

The next day he reported that he had caught two outstanding fish!

He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it.

So he stopped his fishing in order to have time to tell about his experience to the other fishermen.

Now it is true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties.

Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day.

They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen, yet, never fished.

They wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing.

Afterall were they not following the Master who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?".

Imagine how hurt some were when one day, a person suggested that those who did not catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be.

Yet it did sound correct.

Is a person a fisherman if he never catches a fish?

Is one following if he is not fishing?