VERSES: Luke 5:1-11
MEMORY VERSE: Luke 5:4 "Launch out into the deep..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Review Matthew through Colossians.
PRAYER: Pray that we have obedient hearts and always do what Jesus says.
SPECIAL SONG: Jesus Taught By Parables And Miracles (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #4 on this blog. Click on orange circle to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: Large Activity (see below), a Bible map showing Lake Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee
LESSON POINTS:
- Jesus was busy "about His Father's business" just as He had told Joseph and Mary He would be in the temple (Luke 2:49). Jesus had been healing people and preaching and teaching to the people in synagogues in Galilee (Luke 4:44) and the people were astonished at His teaching (Luke 4:32). They were surprised at the words that Jesus spoke and that He preached with such authority. He knew what He was talking about and preached with confidence. Today, we may not be surprised at Jesus' teaching because we know who He was--the Son of God! But, in the early days of His ministry or preaching, people did not know who He was. They only knew that Jesus preached with power or authority and that He could heal people.
- When Jesus went around from town to town and healed people from the bad things that they were suffering from, they did not want Jesus to leave them (Luke 4:42), but Jesus needed to preach about the kingdom of God to other cities (Luke 4:43), so He would travel to the next city. When everyone heard that a man was healing people, making lame men walk and blind men see, they wanted to hear what this man had to say about God and His kingdom. Soon, there were more and more people listening to Jesus.
- This was exactly the way it was when Jesus was standing by the Sea of Gennesaret. So many people were standing around listening to Jesus that they were pressing against Him, trying to get closer to Him. Jesus looked up and saw two ships close to the shore, but no one was on the ships because the fishermen were washing their nets. Jesus went ahead and went into Simon Peter's ship. He asked if Peter would thrust the ship out a bit from the shore and he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
- When Jesus had finished teaching, He told Peter to "launch out into the deep" and let down his nets. Peter told Jesus that they had worked all night long and had not caught any fish at all, but, Peter said, because Jesus had told him to, he would let down his nets.
- You will never guess what happened! When Peter let down his nets, there were so many fish that got caught in his nets that his nets began to break!! He called to his partners in the other boat to come and help them. When his partners came to help, they caught so many fish that they filled up both boats and the boats began to sink!
- Did Jesus know what He was talking about? Yes, He did! When Peter saw what had happened, he realized that Jesus was the Son of God. He fell down at Jesus' knees and said that he was a sinful man. All the fishermen were amazed at what had happened and how many fish that they had caught! Even James and John, Peter's partners were amazed.
- Jesus told the fishermen to come and follow him and He would make them fishers of men. When they brought the ships to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus, and they did. We will find out in future lessons some of the wonderful things that Jesus did and where He went.
- The Sea of Gennesaret and the Sea of Galilee are both names for the same body of water.
ACTIVITY: A Whole Bunch of Fish!
Materials needed: orange, red, yellow, brown scraps of construction paper, 4" of yarn or string or a bread tie, hair net (purchased at a variety store or pharmacy like CVS, Walgreens, or WalMart--I paid $4.59 for 10 dark hair nets, unfortunately not on sale--or you can make your own by cutting many small squares out of fabric before class. Buying hairnets sure is convenient), 3" x 3" any color paper, marker, crayons, hole punch.
- Hand out paper scraps.
- Draw and cut out many, many fish. There about 20 or in so in the picture above.
- Hand out 3" x 3" any color paper.
- Write "A Whole Bunch of Fish!" and "Luke 5:1-11" on the paper.
- Using hole punch, make one hole in the corner of the paper.
- Thread yarn, string, or bread tie through the paper and a hair net.
- Secure.
- Place fish in hair net.
- Gather top of hair net carefully and send student, fish, and net out into the world.
