Jesus Christ and the Fishers of Men Sunday School Lesson

It's important for you to know as a Sunday school teacher that this bible story happened near the beginning of Jesus' ministry. He was only now calling the first of his 12 disciples. This true story happened not long after he was baptized by John the Baptist.

Simon Peter cast out his fishing net just as Jesus said.
Photo: Oxfordian Kissuth, Wikimedia Commons

Fishers of Men Sunday School Lesson

At the beginning of this Sunday school lesson, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John were on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They had been fishing all night long and their large fishing nets needed to be washed.

You see, these four men were fisherman. It's not like when we go fishing to catch fish. It's not like when mommies or daddies go fishing for the weekend. This was Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John's job. Fishing is how they made money.

Each night, they would go out onto the sea, drop their huge nets into the water and pull the fish back in. The next day, they would take the fish they caught into town to sell them.

On the night when this bible story happened, the four fishermen had worked all night long to catch fish and hadn't caught even one.

As they were working to wash out their fishing nets, Jesus came walking along the shore. He wasn't alone though. Many, many people were following him hoping to hear him teach and to preach.

When Jesus came near Simon Peter's boat, he walked right up to it and stepped inside.


Get the Fishers of Men
Song with Lyrics

He told Peter to push his boat out a little ways into the water and Simon Peter obeyed.

That's when Jesus began to teach. He taught all those people sitting in Simon Peter's boat on the Sea of Galilee. After Jesus was finished, he told Simon Peter to take his boat out into the deep water of the sea and let down his net again.

Remember, these men had fished all night long without catching a single fish. They were probably tired and disappointed. They probably didn't want to try again, but because Jesus told him too, Simon Peter obeyed.

When Simon Peter let down his net into the water, the bible tells us that they caught a great multitude of fishes. It was so many their nets began to break. They called the other men on the shore and told them to come and help. When the men arrived in their boats to help, the bible says there was so many fish that both boats were so filled they began to sink.

Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John was so astonished, they realized right then they were standing in the presence of the Messiah.

Jesus told them to not be afraid. He also told them they were to not catch fish anymore.

They were to be fishers of men.

This meant instead of working day in and day out to catch real fish, they were to go out into the world to tell people about Jesus Christ so they might be saved and go to heaven one day.

 

Get the Fishers of Men Game

What We Can Learn from this Sunday School Lesson

 

We learn that just like Simon Peter, we need to obey God in whatever he says to do. Simon Peter could have told Jesus there was no fish in the sea and went about his business. Instead, he obeyed Jesus and caught more fish than ever before.

Sometimes, we may not understand what God needs us to do or why, but we don't have too. We only need to obey because God knows best.

Second, we learn that we are to be fishers of men just like the men in the story.

We should tell everyone about Jesus and how he died on the cross for us. We should let them know they can be saved and go to heaven one day if only they accept Jesus into their hearts.

When we tell others about Jesus, we are being fishers of men.


 

Continue

Miracles of Jesus - Jesus' First Miracle

In this Sunday school lesson, we are going to be talking about Jesus' first miracle - Jesus turns the water into wine. After Jesus was baptized by John and tempted in the wilderness by Satan, he began calling his disciples.

During this time, he along with his mother was invited to a wedding. Our Sunday school lesson begins here.

Miracles of  Jesus
Sunday School Lessons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Miracles of Jesus - Water Into Wine

Ask the children, "How many of you have ever been to a wedding?"

Wait for answers.

Weddings today normally last a few hours or, in some cases, the better part of a day. In bible times, weddings would last several days even a week. Those getting married would be in charge of food and drinks for all the guests for all the days the wedding lasted. It must have been a lot of hard work.

At one particular wedding, Jesus was invited. He along with his disciples and his mother attended the wedding.

There must have been quite a few people there because all of the wine the guests were drinking at the wedding had been drank long before the wedding feast was over.

A feast is sort of like a huge party with lots of food and drinks. Today, we would call it the reception.

Mary, Jesus' mother, overheard the servants talking about the wine being gone.

She immediately went to Jesus to tell him so that he could fix the problem. When Mary told him the wine was gone he said, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." (John 2:4 KJV)



Print
Jesus' First Miracle Maze

 

When Jesus called his mother 'woman', he was doing it out of respect.

Then, Jesus' mother went to the servants. She told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. (John 2:5 KJV)

Nearby, six very large stone water pots sat. In those days, it was custom to wash your guest's feet. These water pots had held the water the servants had washed the guest's feet with, but now they were empty.



Download Short Bible Stories
for Sunday school
or at home.

Jesus told the servants to take the water pots and fill them with water again. The servants did as Jesus
said. They took the pots and filled them up to the brim with water.

Then, a miracle happened. It was Jesus' first miracle that we are told about in the bible. Here is what happened...

Jesus told the servants to dip from the pot and take it to the governor of the feast to drink. The servants did as they were told. When the ruler tasted the water, it wasn't water at all! Jesus had turned it into delicious wine.

The servants, Jesus' mother, and his disciples knew that he had performed a miracle.

This was the first miracle of Jesus, but not the last. While Jesus was here on earth, he perform many, many miracles.






 

Continue

First Miracle of Jesus Maze - FREE Sunday School Activities

Jesus performed many miracles while here on earth. Some included healing the sick and the lame while others involved raising people from the dead and casting evil spirits out of others. All amazing in their own way.

We, as Sunday school teachers, can not only learn a lot from these miracles, but we have the opportunity to teach kids about them too.

Below is a FREE Sunday school activity to use with Jesus' First Miracle Sunday school lesson or you can use it as a time filler for any Sunday school lesson you choose.

Sunday School Activity

(double-click to print)

 

Continue