The Parable of the Net
Matthew 13:47-52
47 Jesus also said, ‘I can tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like. Some men had nets to catch fish in. They threw their nets into the lake and they caught many different kinds of fish. 48 When the net was full of fish, the men pulled it up onto the shore. Then they sat down. Some of the fish were good to eat, and they put these fish into baskets. Some of the fish were not good to eat, and they threw these fish away. 49 This is what will happen when the world's time comes to an end. God will send his angels. They will put wicked people in one place. And they will put God's righteouspeople in a separate place. 50 The angels will throw the wicked people into the great fire. There those people will weep and they will bite their teeth together.’
51 Then Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Have you understood all these things?’ They replied, ‘Yes, we have.’
52 Jesus said to them, ‘Some teachers of God's Law have now learned about the kingdom of heaven. These men are like the master of a house who takes things out of the room where he keeps them. Some of the valuable things he brings out are new and some of them are old.’
The call of the first Disciples
Matthew 4:18-22
18 One day, Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. He saw two men who were brothers. One man was called Simon, and he was also called Peter. His brother's name was Andrew. Their job was to catch fish. They were throwing their nets into the lake to catch fish. 19 Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me and be my disciples. Then I will teach you how to catch people, instead of fish.’
20 Simon and Andrew immediately put their nets down and they went with Jesus.
21 They continued to walk along the shore. Soon Jesus saw two more men who were brothers. They were called James and John. They were in their boat with their father, Zebedee. They were mending their nets. Jesus said to James and John, ‘Come with me.’ 22 The brothers immediately left the boat and their father behind. They went with Jesus to be his disciples
John the Baptist
Matthew 3:1-7
1 While Jesus still lived in Nazareth, a man called John the Baptist was speaking a message from God. He was doing this in the wilderness in Judea. 2 He told people, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’
3 God's prophet Isaiah spoke about this man John long ago. He said:
‘Somebody's voice is shouting in the wilderness,
“The Lord will come soon, so prepare a way for him to follow.
Make the paths straight for him.” ’
4 John wore clothes made from the hair of a camel. He also wore a belt made from leather. His usual food was locusts and honey from the wilderness.
5 Many people went to listen to John. They lived in Jerusalem and all over the country called Judea and many other places near the Jordan River. 6 The people told God about all the wrong things that they had done. Then John baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to John. They wanted John to baptize them. He said to them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes. God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punishpeople like you.
Knowledge of the Kingdom
Luke 8:10
Jesus explains why he tells stories
9 Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant. 10 Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’
The call of Simon Peter
Luke 5:1-11
1 One day, Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. A crowd was pushing to get near to him. They were listening to him. He was speaking God's message to them.
2 Jesus saw two fishing boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left the boats there and they were now washing their nets.
3 One of the boats belonged to Simon. Jesus climbed into it. He asked Simon to push it away from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and he started to teach the people.
4 When Jesus had finished teaching, he said to Simon, ‘Now take the boat out into deep water. Then put the netsinto the water to catch some fish.’
5 Simon replied, ‘Teacher, we worked all last night and we did not catch anything. But because you say it, I will put the nets into the water again.’ 6 So they went in their boats and they put the nets down into the water. When they did that, they caught many fish. There were so many fish that the nets began to break. 7 So they made signs to the fishermen in the other boat. They told the other fishermen to come and help. So the other men came in their boat. They filled both boats with the fish. There were so many fish that the boats began to go down under the water. 8 When Simon saw all the fish, he went down on his knees in front of Jesus. ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘I am a bad man. So please go away from me.’
9 Simon and his friends were very surprised. They were all surprised because they had caught so many fish. 10 Zebedee's sons, James and John, were fishermen who worked with Simon. They were also surprised. Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. You have been catching fish. From now on you will catch people!’
11 After that, they went and they pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything behind and they went with Jesus.
John the Baptist's Testimony
of Jesus
John 1:29-34
29 The next day, John saw Jesus, who was coming towards him. John said, ‘Look! Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of people in the world. 30 This is the man that I told you about. I told you, “He comes after me, but he is greater than I am. He was already there before I was born.” 31 I did not know him. But I had to show Israel's people who he was. That is why I am baptizing people with water.’
32 Then John told them, ‘I saw God's Spirit come down from heaven. He came down like a dove and he stayed on Jesus. 33 I would not have known who Jesus was. But God had sent me to baptize people with water. And God told me, “You will see the Spirit come down. He will stay on someone. That is the person who will baptize people with my Holy Spirit.” 34 Now I have seen this. So I can tell you that this is God's Son.’
Mark 10:14
People were bringing little children to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. The disciples told the people that they should not do that. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was angry. He said to them, ‘Do not stop the children. Let them come to me. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of God is like.
Matthew 18:3-5
He said, ‘I tell you this: You must change and become like little children. If not, you will never come into the kingdom of heaven. 4 This little child does not think that he is very important. You must also think as he does. Whoever does this will be the most important person in the kingdom of heaven. 5 If anyone accepts a child like this because of me, that person also accepts me.’
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 Listen, Israelites! The Lord alone is our God. There is no other true God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your strength. Love him with all that you are.
Matthew 6:9-15
9 So this is how you should pray:
“God, our Father who is in heaven,
we want people to give honour to you.
10 We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon.
We want everyone to obey you on earth, like everyone in heaven obeys you.
11 Please give us the food that we need today.
12 We have forgiven people who have done wrong things to us.
In the same way, please forgive us for the wrong things that we have done.
13 Do not let us agree to do wrong things.
Keep us safe from Satan.” ’
14 Then Jesus said, ‘When other people do wrong things against you, you must forgive them. Then God, your Father in heaven, will also forgive you for the wrong things that you have done. 15 But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive you.’
Isaiah 61:1-2
1 The Spirit of the AlmightyLord is on me,
because he has chosen me to serve him.
He has sent me to tell good news to poor people.
He has sent me to comfortpeople who are very upset.
He has sent me to tell prisonersthat they are now free.
They can go out of their prisons!
2 He has sent me to say,
‘This is the year when the Lord will be kind to his people.’
It is the time when our God will punish our enemies.
He has sent me to comfort people who are weeping
because they are sad.
Luke 4:18-19
18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is on me.
He has chosen me to tell good news to poor people.
He has sent me to tell people who are in prison, “You can go free!”
I must say to people that cannot see, “See again!”
I must cause people that are like slaves to become free.
19 I must tell everyone, “This is the year when God will be kind to his people.” ’
John 12:28
<>
28 So I will say, “Father, show how great and how good you are.” ’
Then a voice spoke from heavenand said, ‘I have shown how great and how good I am. And I will do it again.’
John 17:1
1 After Jesus said this, he looked up to heaven. He said, ‘Father, the time has now arrived. Show everyone how great your Son is. So then I, the Son, can show how great you are.
Questions
for
Group Discussion
Background Info for Episode 4
Reflection Questions
* How would you describe your first "follow Me' moment with Jesus?
* What incident in your life incited radical inward
transformation?
* Would you regard it as a miracle?
* Repentance fosters humility and surrender, so what can you repent of?
Next Week
season 1, Episode 5
The Wedding Gift
Going Deeper
