Followers of Christ - Fishers of Men
Thank you to Dr. Elias Medeiros for providing our message today!
Rev. Dr. Elias Medeiros has been an ordained minister of the Gospel with the Presbyterian Church of Brazil since January 12, 1975. Before joining Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in 1993, where he served as a full-time Professor of Missions for over 27 years, he worked as a missionary in the Amazon jungle and later as an urban church planter in Recife, Brazil.
He taught at the Presbyterian Seminary in Northeast Brazil as a Professor of Missions and Evangelism and also served as the Academic Dean at the Evangelical Missions Center in South Brazil. Currently, he holds the title of Professor of Missions Emeritus at RTS.
Rev. Dr. Medeiros has been married for 49 years to his lovely Dutch wife, Fokjelina. They have three married children, eleven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Matthew 4:18-22
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Luke 5:1-11
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
5 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.
