Category: Fishing for People

Part 10: How graciously do we engage people?

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus said that his followers would be known by their love. Why is it that many times Christians are associated with judgment instead? Maybe it is because we have foolishly forgotten how desperately we need mercy and forgiveness ourselves. When most of us first became followers of Christ, we clearly understood how far we were from living up to God’s holy and righteous standards. We jumped at the gospel’s amazingly gracious offer of complete forgiveness and reconciliation to God. But over time, we often lose sight of our own need for mercy and begin to think more highly of ourselves than we should (Romans 12:3). How does this happen?

One possibility is that when we place our faith and loyalty in Christ, he sends the Holy Spirit to live inside us and change us from the inside out. When we experience this grace, we start thinking, speaking, and acting in a more God-like manner, tempting us to look down on those who have not yet experienced such grace. We start thinking of ourselves in a self-righteous way, instead of humbly appreciating God’s work in us and wishing the same for others. Instead of graciously sharing the good news of forgiveness, reconciliation, and life with those who need it, we stand off to the side and judge them. This goes against God’s heart, undermines our own grace standing with God (Romans 5:1-2), and misrepresents the gospel.

Judgmental people do not make good fishers of men because we lose our ability to make a heart connection.

People intuitively know whether we love them, merely tolerate them, or actively judge them. They will be drawn to love but repelled by self-righteous religious smugness. Those who want to be good fishers of men must extend the same love and mercy toward those who are humbly seeking God that God has extended to us.

When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well in John Chapter 4, he was able to discuss their doctrinal differences, which were major, but he first established that he cared about her and was interested in talking to her. Jesus accomplished this by breaking through a wall that self-righteous Jews refused to cross. He engaged in conversation with a Samaritan, and a woman to boot, quite probably one who was despised even by her own community! His loving engagement opened the door for her to safely ask her doctrinal questions. There is something crucial for us to learn here. Jesus could have despised and rejected her because of her erroneous beliefs and immoral lifestyle, but instead he drew her to himself and transformed her into the evangelist who brought an entire village to faith!

I have watched Christian friends of mine exhibit the exact opposite, and I am sure I have as well. Once we were engaging some men in conversation about God and the gospel, when one of them said plainly that he did not believe the gospel or even accept that the Bible is trustworthy. Instead of patiently engaging this person as a concerned friend, they showed righteous indignation. Why do we do this? Do we imagine that we are superior to the person who honesty confessed unbelief? Do we think it’s our job to defend God’s honor? Are we the doctrine police? Do we not remember when we were just like them? Maybe not, if we were saved during childhood, but those of us who came to Christ as adults should be able to recall. A wise person who witnessed what happened later commented that we Christians need to learn how to argue better. We owe it to ourselves, the Lord, the people we are trying to reach, and to the gospel to learn how to engage dissenters without putting up walls, showing irritation, or saying unkind things.

A large part of our problem is that we have limited our conversations to church people who think as we do. We tend to “hole up” in our “fortress” churches instead of getting out into our communities where dissenters live.

This is very unlike how Jesus did things. How can we turn the tables on this sad state of affairs? Here are some suggestions.

  • Make our first priority to connect with people outside of our church “comfort zone.” 
  • Secondly, determine to love people and get to know them personally. This requires us to actually be interested in people.
  • Thirdly, look for opportunities to inject something spiritual into the conversation. Asking to pray for any obvious needs that come up during conversation is a great way to overcome barriers. Listen to the Holy Spirit and go with whatever he tells you. Sometimes we can only start to get to know a person on a first encounter. Other times we may actually have an opportunity to share the gospel with them. Each person and situation is different.

The only rule is to love people and listen to the Spirit.

  • Fourthly, we should try to continue to love and engage those who disagree with us or initially reject our message. Who knows? They might change their minds.
  • Know when enough is enough. Sometimes we may have to walk away from a relationship that is bearing no fruit. That’s a hard call.
Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6  Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. Colossians 4:5-6 (NLT)

That’s how Jesus fished for people. We can, too.

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Part 9: Surprised…again!

 

 

 

 

 

If you were tasked with planting a new church, which of these groups of people would you target – the affluent or the poor? The well-connected or the marginalized? “Beautiful people” or the ones Jesus called the “least of these?”

Surprisingly, Jesus instructed his disciples to go after the least likely people.

He called them “the least of these my brothers.” It is not that those who are “better off” regarding worldly affluence are unimportant. Rather, their affluence often works against them, making them feel important, self-satisfied, in control, and without appetite for God and his blessings. It is the hungry who search for and find God.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.Matthew 5:6 (NASB) 

And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24  "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:23-24 (NASB)

The “least of these,” as Jesus called them, are those on the margins of society who do not inwardly feel that they have earned the right to be blessed. Jesus called them the “poor in spirit,” which means they are spiritual beggars who are well aware of their need for God. (Matthew 5:3) They include the hungry, (who are usually poor), the stranger (which may include newcomers, aliens, the homeless, the lonely, the abandoned, and anyone who does not really “fit in”), those lacking proper clothing, sick people, and prisoners. They may have gotten to their state by choice or by happenstance. Regardless, they are the prime “ground” in which the gospel seed can grow.

Usually these people are overlooked because they do not seem to promise any return on the investment we may make in them, but this is where we get it all wrong.

Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14  Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” Luke 14:12-14 (NLT)

The key to understanding why it is vital to invest in the least likely is because Jesus promised eternal reward to those who do.

If all we are looking for is what kind of immediate return on investment we can get here on earth, it makes no sense to spend time and resources on the “least of these;” but, if we care about eternal reward (and we should), it makes perfect sense. This is completely contrary to how most people in the world and many in the church think. The kingdom of God is often akin to looking at a photo “negative,” in which dark areas are light and light areas, dark.

The kingdom of God is many times a complete reverse of what the world thinks and values.

And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. Luke 16:15 (NASB)

The “poor in spirit” are people who have humility, who are open to being taught, who have sorrow for their sins and a purity of heart, and who respond to the gospel and choose to follow Jesus. Quite often these people come from the edges of society, but sometimes wealthy, well-connected people are among the poor in spirit, too. Take for example, Nicodemus, a wealthy and well-connected Pharisee who became a disciple of our Lord.

No matter where we find them, God is building his kingdom with humble people who are hungry for him. Every time such a person emerges, it is a surprising work of the Spirit. Such people are not “normal” as the world goes.

Finding the “Poor in Spirit” and the “Least of These”

Once we settle on the kind of people Jesus wants to use to build his church, we must depend on the Spirit to guide us to them.

Jesus surprised the religious world when he chose rugged fishermen to become his disciples instead of gathering people from the religious elite. He surprised his own disciples when he chose a hated tax collector to join his band. He surprised them again when he included women, especially a despised Samaritan woman, who became his chief evangelist to bring an entire village to faith. I suppose many were surprised when he chose each of us, too. Would you consider yourself to be a likely or an unlikely candidate?

Would it surprise you to discover that every person who comes to Christ is unlikely? It is only by God’s grace that any of us make it.

How surprised were his disciples when the Lord commanded them to lower their nets into the deep, resulting in a tremendous catch? Do we depend on God to show us where to fish?

It is possible that the Holy Spirit may send us to what we might consider an unlikely fishing hole.

The elderly are not usually prime targets for evangelism, but I have discovered that the Spirit is working in the lives of older people, too. God has not given up on them, and neither should we. It’s never too late as long as we are breathing. My ninety-three year old father in law put his faith in Christ a week before he died! What a surprising gift of grace!

Assisted living centers are filled with neglected people who are often on the very edge of eternity. Would the Spirit of God send us to such as those? Perhaps God would lead us to work with the poor, those with felonies, actual prisoners, sick people, or children without a functional family support structure. The list of possibilities is enormous.

The important thing for us to realize is that God will guide us to the people in whom he is working and drawing toward Christ, if we ask him. Seek and you will find…

Once we find them, we can simply start loving them and see how God leads us from there. The pay for such labor is not much, but the benefits are heavenly.

The question is are we willing to be led by the Spirit to find those he has set his heart upon, or are we going to settle for using the world’s methods of marketing and promotion?

Are we willing to be surprised again and again by the Holy Spirit?

Prayer

Dear Lord, I want to be surprised every day as you lead me by your Spirit to seek out those you are calling to yourself, no matter where I may find them. Holy Spirit, lead me to those you want me to love and serve on your behalf. I trust you to develop compassion and faith in me to make a difference in their lives. Help me to be bold to share the gospel with them. Surprise me, Lord, again and again. Amen.

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Part 8: Surprise!

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t you say, ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest! John 4:35 (NET1)

The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in Chapter Four of John’s Gospel teaches us to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open, because God is working in unexpected ways in what may seem to be unlikely people. Everything in this account shouts, “Surprise!”

Jesus led his disciples on a less traveled road (by Jews, anyway) right through Samaria, instead of taking the usual longer route that skirted where “those people” lived. The Jews despised Samaritans and tried to avoid contact with them. Jesus amazed his followers by leading them into Samaria and engaging the inhabitants.

Our Lord also shocked the Samaritan woman who came to fill her jar at the town well. Having sent his disciples on an errand to purchase food, he was tired from the journey and sitting alone at the well when she arrived to fill her jar. Amazingly he asked her to give him a drink. “Good” Jews would never talk to a Samaritan woman or drink from her “unclean” jar. Unexpectedly this is how Jesus began his interaction with this intriguingly important woman. The surprise element immediately got her full attention, as you might imagine.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” John 4:9 (NLT)

Her curiosity set the stage for what came next – a strangely cryptic answer.

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” John 4:10 (NLT)

Have you ever conversed with someone you knew held religious convictions that were completely opposite your own? How did that go? Did you walk on egg shells? Did you feel the tension? Did you skirt the subject altogether, or did you get right into an argument? Jesus, instead of answering her question, made a surprising statement about himself, which absorbed her attention. Of course, in our cases, we would not make such a statement about ourselves, but about the Lord. If we were there as present day followers of Christ, we might say something like the following.

“If you only knew the gift God has for you and the Jesus I know, you would ask him to give you living water.”

She quite naturally asked him where he would get this water. She was thinking on the physical level, not realizing that he was leading her into spiritual realities.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14  But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” 15  “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” John 4:13-15 (NLT)

To me it is unclear from the text whether she was being genuinely interested or a little sarcastic. You had to be there to know for sure. Regardless, what came next changed the dynamic of the conversation. Jesus shattered her guarded religiosity by providing her with a bit of personal information via the Holy Spirit, which some people call a “word of knowledge.” This is something a prophetic insight into a person can do.

“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17  “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18  for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” John 4:16-18 (NLT)

Now it was Jesus’ turn to be a little sarcastic, but I am sure it was in a loving way. The surprise element contained in this prophetic insight, coupled with Jesus’ loving demeanor, opened her heart completely. From then on, she was “all ears.” Astonishingly, before the conversation ended, he also informed her that he was the Messiah, the one for whom she and her people were waiting. That was the very first time he told anyone so forthrightly. What an unexpected honor he extended to this Samaritan woman who was living with a man to whom she was not married! We must learn to see people through God’s eyes. If we can do that, we will be part of any number of God surprises!

Next God allowed this nameless woman, who was perhaps one of the village’s most despised inhabitants, to bring the entire village to faith in Christ. What a shock that God would do that! His disciples wondered that Jesus would even talk with a woman because that is something Jewish rabbis did not do. What a total shock that an entire Samaritan village would acknowledge Jesus’ messianic claims, something no Jewish village had ever done!

As we go through our day, are we looking for unexpected God opportunities to speak to people?

Do we see ourselves as God’s representatives, who are capable of ministering God’s life to others with the Spirit’s help? Are we seeking to be loving, intriguing, and surprisingly compelling to those around us? Are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and willing for his gifts to flow through us? Are we ready to share the gospel when we get the opportunity?

John 4:35 promises us that there are people all around us who are ready to respond to the gospel, thanks to the unseen work of the Holy Spirit going on in the background. The harvest is ready because God is always at work. The question is whether he can find co-laborers to join him.

If not us, then who? Let’s ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the harvest and give us divine appointments with those whose hearts are open to God. Who knows what may happen? We may experience our own version of “Surprise!”

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Part 7: Come and See

 

 

 

 

 

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:46 (ESV)

A common misconception is that discipleship is only for people who already believe, acknowledge, and follow Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Jesus called people to embark on a discipleship journey before they were true believers, much less committed followers. The call to follow Jesus is a call to discipleship. In the verse above Philip invited an unbeliever to explore the possibility that Jesus is the Messiah. It was an invitation to meet and personally experience Jesus’ ministry and words.

“Come and See” is an invitation to come alongside those who already believe to see if Jesus is the real deal, in an environment where it is okay to ask questions and wrestle with doubts.

Philip’s plan was to bring Nathanael into a personal encounter with Jesus, trusting that our Lord could and would handle it from there. Is there a way that we can do the same thing today?

This is how Jesus brought me into his band of disciples. My girlfriend at the time, now my wife of forty-eight years, boldly told me that she had come to know Jesus in a personal way and become his follower. After recovering from the initial shock and after spending time with her and some other followers of Christ, I decided that I wanted to know for myself if this Jesus were indeed still alive and who the Bible says he is, the resurrected Lord. I did what seemed reasonable to me to do. I asked this Jesus, if he were real, to come into my life and somehow reveal himself to me. I cannot remember if anyone suggested that I do this, or if it was my own idea. Regardless, it was the first big step I took in coming to believe.

After spending time my girlfriend Jesus follower, I was convinced that something significant had happened to her that I could not explain. I invited Jesus to show me that he is who the Bible says.

When I prayed for our Lord to reveal himself to me, I was serious. I did not believe yet that he really rose from the dead; so, I could not fake faith. I would not pretend to be a believer. I suppose that some people do, but at least I had that much integrity. If I were to become a believer, something had to happen to move me from unbelief to faith. I had no idea if or how that could happen. I just prayed the prayer and left it at that.

Almost immediately I changed on the inside. I did not connect the dots at first, but I remember realizing that I was different – happier and more considerate and willing to serve others. To be honest, I thought it was because I was meditating better. I was exploring Zen Buddhism at the time in my search for truth. A couple of weeks later, after spending more time with my beloved Jesus follower, my mind was engaged in thinking about Jesus again. While meditating on these things late at night while all alone, I suddenly remembered the prayer I made earlier. Yes, I had forgotten. I really was not trying hard to become a believer. I was not struggling over these things, but at that moment I was engaged. When I recollected the prayer, the little room where I stood all alone seemed to fill up with God’s presence. Don’t ask me how I knew it was God. I just knew.

Suddenly deep inside I was convinced that Jesus is real and who the Bible says he is. I have no explanation for how I became a fully convinced believer in a flash, except that Jesus came to me by his Spirit and opened up the eyes of my heart.

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17  Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Matthew 16:15-17 (NLT)

This all started by my spending time with other believers, one in particular, which resulted in my making the decision to invite Jesus to reveal himself to me. I came and saw, and have never been the same since that Jesus encounter!

“Come and See” is not primarily an invitation to come hear a preacher or visit a church service. Instead, it is an invitation to spend time with people who already believe who can lead us to a personal encounter with Christ.

This requires us believers to live in such a way that will be inspiring and welcoming. This means our devotion and faith should be evident and easily rub off on others. It means that how we live should draw people to Christ, not because we are perfect, but because we are in love with God. God wants us to present ourselves as humble followers of Jesus who still have much to learn, rather than as know-it-alls, whose arrogant smugness repels people. Philip was committed to Jesus. His zeal inspired Nathanael to give it a shot, and Jesus took it from there.

The opposite is also true unfortunately. Some churchgoers live in such a way that detracts from the gospel and repels potential seekers, who see the obvious hypocrisy.

We are either magnets who draw people toward Christ or we are pushing them away.

If we are passionless churchgoers, that in itself is an advertisement against Christ. This is something we followers of Christ need to take very seriously.

Coming to faith in Jesus is sometimes more of a journey than a momentary burst of revelation. It was for most of his first disciples. They did not have a clue about the Lord’s real identity at first, but something drew them to Jesus. It was only after his resurrection that things became clearer. When exactly did Peter know that Jesus was the Messiah? We don’t know, but somehow he came to believe. Many people cannot point to an exact moment, as I can, when they became a believer, but they definitely believe in Christ and follow him.

Inviting people to walk with us as we follow Jesus is one way to fish for people.

God wants us to invest in the lives of those around us to give them the opportunity to behold Christ’s life in us and hear his words from us. He wants us to spend time with people, so they can ask questions and we can offer answers. He wants us to fall in love with people so that we truly care for them and want the very best for them. Let’s not be in a hurry and rush the discipleship journey. Let’s invite people to “Come and See.”

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Part 6: A Great Diagnostic Question

 

 

 

 

 

The gospel presents Jesus as the Lamb of God (Savior), the Son of God (the Messianic King of Israel), the Baptizer in the Spirit (the Lord of the harvest), and the divine Son of Man, who will come in the clouds with great glory at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and rule forever over God’s new creation.

Looking back on my own journey to faith in Christ, I did not initially know that he is the Baptizer in the Spirit. I was not aware there was even such a thing! My conception of Jesus was incomplete, but it was enough for me to be saved. I realized by revelation that Jesus is the Truth and really risen from the dead just as the Bible says. I believed in my heart, in a basic way, that he died for my sins so that I could be forgiven (the Lamb of God) and that, because he rose again, he deserved my lifelong devotion and service (the Lord). According to Paul, it is an inner belief in his resurrection that makes us right with God and a public acknowledgement of Christ’s lordship that saves us.

...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)

Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, which was the equivalent as confessing that he is Lord.

We must have our eyes opened to the reality of Jesus’ being the Lamb of God and the Lord in order to be saved, and we must confess this publicly.

Water baptism is the formal means to make such a declaration of allegiance to the risen Lord.

Since everything depends on the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to who Jesus really is; when we share the gospel, we would be wise to follow Jesus’ example by asking our hearers some form of the question Jesus posed to his disciples. Let me read it to you.

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17  Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Matthew 16:15-17 (NLT)

We might reword it a bit to fit our context, such as follows.

  • Who do you say that Jesus was or is?
  • What are your thoughts as to who Jesus really was or is?
  • Do you think Jesus was more than a mere man?
  • Do you think there was anything special about Jesus?
  • Do you agree with what the Bible says about Jesus?

 

Regardless of how we ask the question, the answer will open a window into the heart of the responder. It will help us understand whether the Spirit has revealed Jesus to them yet. It will help us assess where they are on their faith journey and how we might be able to help them to go farther down the path.

Don’t be afraid to use this great diagnostic question. It will help you fish for people the Jesus way.

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Part 5: Behold the Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (ESV)

John the Baptist was given the privilege and responsibility of introducing Jesus the Messiah to the world. Followers of Christ today are commissioned to follow in John’s footsteps. It is our honor and duty to announce to people that Jesus is God’s Lamb, who was sent to take our sin upon himself and die in our place to satisfy God the Father’s just wrath against sin, opening the door for us to be forgiven in order that we can be reconciled to God and receive all the associated blessings.

The idea of a human sacrifice to appease God’s wrath is shocking and offensive to many of us today because we refuse to acknowledge the enormity of our sin or our desperate need for a Savior.

Even though the Jews accepted the need for the sacrificial atonement for sins, they likely would have been offended at the idea that a man, this man, Jesus, could be such a sacrifice. The proclamation that Jesus was and is God’s Lamb is beyond the limits of our power to logically comprehend. Without a revelation from God’s Spirit, we cannot see or accept who Jesus really is – God’s Lamb.

Our sin induced separation from God was unsolvable without God’s assistance. 

Sin alienated us from our heavenly Father and made us his enemies. (Romans 5:10) Adam and Eve committed treason in the garden, and we have been following in their footsteps ever since. By nature, we are proud, self-sufficient beings, who insist on trying to live independently from God. Our sin and rebellion cut us off from God’s life and blessings. However, God loved us so much that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of his own Son to restore us to himself. It was the only way back for us. The just punishment for our sins had to be paid, and we needed a new source of life. This would have to be something radically new and different. God sent his Son to provide forgiveness and life. By his Spirit, Jesus lives in and through all who believe and receive his gracious offer.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus earned for us a right relationship with God and gave us his life to boot. All we have to do is acknowledge that he is Lord and Savior and declare allegiance to him, and receive his free gift of forgiveness, justification, redemption, reconciliation, and sonship.

The Gospel message is so simple that even a little child can believe. However, adults who have learned to doubt and question everything often have a much more difficult time.

The announcement of Jesus’ identity will fall on deaf ears unless the Holy Spirit opens the listeners’ hearts and minds. Otherwise the Gospel sounds like nonsense. In that day, many heard and believed John, but many others scoffed and rejected his message. The simpler and hungrier the hearer, the more likely he or she is to understand and believe. The more educated, nuanced, and cynical the hearer, such as the Pharisees, the greater is the barrier to faith. This is because faith resides in the heart, not in the educated mind.

When our human reasoning ability becomes the litmus test for all things spiritual, the heart is left out in the cold. Only the Holy Spirit can break through the fortress of arguments against God that reside in a hardened heart.

He did it for the Apostle Paul, and he can do it again today for anyone who is open at all.

When we crack open the door to our heart, God is ready to rush to our aid.

John the Baptist issued an inviting command to his hearers: “Behold the Lamb of God!”

He knew that it always takes revelation for anyone to recognize who Jesus is.

God even had to open John’s eyes for him to know his cousin in this supernatural way. (John 1:30-34)

Paul, perhaps the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, also understood this. He fearlessly announced the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah, because he was convinced that it contains the power to save people when coupled with the Spirit’s ability and activity to open the human heart. He wrote the following.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (ESV)

To be able to recognize that Jesus is the Lamb of God requires that God’s Spirit open our eyes today, just as in John’s and Paul’s day. Nothing has changed. While John was uniquely the Messiah’s forerunner and Paul was a ground breaking evangelist and apostle, their experience of “beholding” Jesus is what might be considered “normal” for every believer to experience.

One cannot become a follower of Christ without some measure of revelation from God.

I am not suggesting that each follower of Christ must begin with a vision of God’s Spirit descending upon Jesus as a dove or be knocked off a horse while in route to persecute believers, but the Spirit must open our spiritual eyes and hearts for us to know Christ. How He does this is as unique for each person.

When John commanded his hearers (and so the Spirit commands Bible readers throughout the ages) to behold the Lamb, he understood what every fisher of men must know today.

God’s Spirit must be actively engaged in the evangelism process for there to be any fruit at all.

What is also true is that God asks his followers to point others to Jesus, the Lamb. We are to invite them to be reconciled to God through his Son.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (ESV)

When we proclaim the Gospel and ask people to believe in Jesus, we depend upon the power of the Gospel and the activity of God’s Spirit.

God usually uses these three things – a person proclaiming the Gospel, the latent power of the Gospel itself, and the activity of the Spirit – to create an explosion of faith and revelation in the heart of the hearer that results in conversion and the new birth!

Those who are open and hungry and in whom the Spirit is working will supernaturally experience what it means to behold the Lamb! It takes faith for us to trust in the power of the gospel and the hidden working of the Spirit. We must refrain from trying to do the Spirit’s work for him by merely trying to reason a person to faith. Reasoning is important, but it can never replace the inner work of God’s Spirit to open our spiritual eyes.

Every fisher of men must be willing to proclaim a gospel that depends from beginning to end on the power and activity of God.

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Part 4: God’s Tackle Box

 

 

 

 

 

Good fishermen usually have well-stocked tackle boxes full of their favorite lures that have given them success in the past. As someone once said, if all we have is hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. If we only have one bait and one-size of hooks in our tackle boxes, we are going to be limited in what we can catch.

If we look at how Jesus fished for people, we quickly realize that he custom tailored his words and approach to the individuals he encountered.

If we are going to fish for people the Jesus way, we will need to do the same. Below I have listed some key things we need to have in our own spiritual tackle boxes.

A Commitment to God’s Mission

Fishing takes commitment. Commitment comes when we are convinced that something is so important that it deserves our heart, time, finances, and effort – for as long as it takes. Unless we are truly committed, we may agree that being on mission is worthwhile, but other things will preempt it. Committed people are different. Nothing stops a committed person from putting his or her convictions into action.

Many Christians are committed to God, to church, to family, to their jobs, and to pursuing a happy life. Relatively few are committed to the Great Commission, which is a huge priority on God’s heart.

I recently talked with an avid fisherman. This man has an important job, two of them, in fact – his main job and his “side hustle.” Despite having to invest huge amounts of time in his work, he still finds time to fish almost on a daily basis. Living on a lake doesn’t hurt. Nevertheless, why does he do it? Is it because somewhere back in the past he made a commitment which he now honors, or is it that he is committed because he loves to fish? I think you know the answer. How do we move from being dutiful fishers of men to those who love to fish?

We have to start somewhere. Most of us will probably begin sharing with others because we are excited to know Jesus and want others to experience this amazing grace, too. But after we encounter enough “push back,” we may back off. Some have never shared the gospel out of that excitement, for whatever reason. If we have backed off or never even started to fish for people, we likely will need to overcome resistance to start fishing. We will have to commit ourselves to do it out of duty; however, as with my friend, fishing grows on people. We may find that fishing for people is something we want to do. Then we become committed to what brings us joy. That will be a lasting commitment.

If we are the best fisherman in the world but are never available to go fishing, even the least talented fisherman will catch more fish than we.

What we do reveals what we believe and what is important to us. Unless we make ourselves available for God’s missionary work, we are only deceiving ourselves into thinking we are serving his priority of mission.

An Interest in People

I have known people, and most likely so have you, who were committed to telling others about Christ, but who apparently had little love for people. Their words about God’s love were offset by their unloving attitude, sending a confusing mixed message. Jesus, on the other hand, combined an unswerving love of truth with a deep love for people. This made him intriguing and magnetic for anyone whose heart longed for God, and repulsive to those who were playing religious games. If we do not have God’s love for people, we will likely attract religious hypocrites and repel the ones to whom we are sent. People are tired of being approached by those who only want to present a sales pitch to them without having any sort of relationship. Unless we are genuinely interested in people, we will never really be good at “catching” them.

People are not evangelism “targets.” They are valuable individuals who are worth knowing, loving, and relating to, whether or not they ever choose to follow Jesus.

People instinctively know whether or not we are interested in them. May God increase our love for and interest in the people with whom we relate.

A Servant’s Heart

Jesus came to serve and ultimately give his life away. Service is an earmark of a true disciple. In today’s consumer culture, people think more in terms of what’s in it for them. They assume those who share the gospel have the same mindset, which makes them suspicious of our motives. If we have Christ’s servant heart, we will look for ways to demonstrate God’s love in practical ways, not as a project, but because we love. This can include spending time in conversation to get to know someone, setting aside time to visit at people’s homes, having people over to our residences, praying for them privately and one-on-one in person, helping with a project, or just being there for them during a crisis. Loving and serving people is worthwhile in its own right. It also may open the door for us to be able to share why Jesus is so important to us.

Jesus wants his followers to serve our way into the hearts and lives of those around us.

Loving service gives credibility to the gospel message.

Knowledge of the Bible and the Gospel

Bible literacy is very low, even among churchgoers. As a culture we have grown lazy and unmotivated to pursue  the knowledge of the Scriptures and Bible truth. The Word of God is our life. It is our bread. We should habitually “eat” it by reading, meditating, and applying its truth. We should expect the Holy Spirit to reveal wonderful things about God to us, but many of us do not even crack open our Bibles. Many churchgoers show up on Sundays with their mouths open, expecting the pastor to give them enough pre-digested food to last them for a week. True disciples make a commitment to grow in their knowledge, understanding, and application of the Bible through personal study and application. (John 8:31-32)

We will never be effective fishers of men unless we understand the gospel well enough to share it easily and naturally.

A Dependence on the Holy Spirit

When Jesus launched his three-year itinerant preaching ministry, he quoted Isaiah 61:1 to help us understand his identity and mission.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:17-21 (ESV)

Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit to equip and empower him for the ministry he carried out over the rest of his earthly life. Although he was and is God in the flesh, he depended on the Spirit, just as we must. Jesus was filled with the Spirit at the River Jordan and operated in the power and gifts of the Spirit throughout his ministry. We will be looking at how he did this in great detail in the articles which will follow.

One of Jesus’ titles is Baptizer in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16).

Jesus commanded his followers to receive this empowering from on high so we too can be as effective as the Spirit can make us.

We simply cannot rely on human intelligence and ability, if we want to be expert fishers of people.

(If you are interested in learning more about the baptism and gifts of the Spirit, you can read my book on the subject, entitled Promise of the Father.)

Boldness

The Holy Spirit gives Jesus’ followers boldness to share the Gospel. This is the main function of the baptism in the Spirit. (See Acts 1:8.)

We may know what the Gospel says, be committed to the Great Commission, and love people, but eventually we will face those crucial times when courage is required.

We will run the risk of being misunderstood, rejected, ignored, or even persecuted as a result of sharing the Good News about Jesus. Jesus said that if we confess him before men, he will confess us before his Father in heaven and the angels; but if we are ashamed of him and the Gospel before men, he will not give us this heavenly approbation. (Matthew 10:32-33) These are sobering words. The Apostle Peter denied Jesus during a time of great fear and pressure; so, we should not be surprised when we are tempted to keep our mouths shut when we should be standing up boldly for truth. I am not suggesting that we be obnoxious representatives of Christ. There are appropriate times and ways to share God’s truth and other times to be silent. Knowing which is which requires us to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. However, when it is clearly the right time to be bold, that is what needs to be in our “tackle box.”

Patience and Determination

Fisherman must be patient and determined. Sometimes the fish are biting and other times they are not. We must believe that God’s Word will not come back void, but will accomplish his intention. (Isaiah 55:11) Paul exhorted his disciples to never become weary in well doing because “in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) Working with people requires patience and determination.

We may fail in our attempts over and over, but quitting makes failure permanent.

We cannot always know what is going on beneath the surface in a person’s life. On the exterior he or she may appear to be uninterested, when deep inside they may be wrestling with God. The Apostle Paul is a great example of God’s ability to get through to even the most hostile foes of the Gospel. Ask the Lord to encourage your heart to keep sowing into the lives of those around you. It will not go unrewarded.

As we look at our own tackle boxes, perhaps you, like me, are missing some gear. Don’t worry. God’s grace will make up for what we lack. The important thing is to start fishing. Add as much gear as you can as you go.

If we wait to begin until after we think we are completely ready, we may never catch a fish.

Every person we can lead to faith in Jesus is a person added to God’s family and rescued from Satanic oppression. Every person we help to become a fisherman will multiply our efforts.

Now, get fishing!

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Part 3: The Heart of a Sent One

Ever since the tower of Babel, an overriding principle at work in fallen humanity has been to gather, enlarge, and increase our power, control, and influence, in order to make a name for ourselves without any acknowledgement of God. This principle is at work in governments, business, and religion, even the church. The Great Commission is also gathering people into a consolidated kingdom under Christ, but it works contrary to Babel. Christ commands his followers to leave the comfort and security of the known and go out into the unknown, where those who don’t know us live. He asks us to risk losing what we have in order to add new people into his family.

The Great Commission commands us to “go” make disciples, not stay put as safe and secure churchgoers.

The story of how God’s Spirit led the early disciples in fulfilling the Great Commission is found in the Book of Acts. God scattered the quickly centralizing church in Jerusalem through persecution, which caused the gospel to impact hitherto unreached areas. The church at Antioch, under the direction of God’s Spirit, chose to send out the best and brightest of its men to do apostolic (“sent out” missionary) work.

Antioch is our best model of how to do church.

God is still in the business of sending out his disciples to engage and impact those who do not yet know him.

Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John 20:21 (NLT)

As we obey the call of the Spirit and go out into our neighborhoods, cities, work places, schools, and other places where people gather, God is developing in us the same compassion that compelled Jesus to give away his life for others.

Being a “sent one” requires us to give away our lives. This means that, first of all, we must believe that God is worth the sacrifice and, secondly, that people are worth serving with our time, resources, and everything else.

This kind of compassion only comes via God’s Spirit. Where it is lacking, people will not serve as “sent ones.” They will take the easy way out and simply gather with other believers.

God wants us to do both – to go and to regularly gather with other sent ones in order to mutually encourage, equip, and strengthen one another for the 24/7 mission of working in God’s harvest field.

The Importance of Listening

If we have Jesus’ compassion, we will realize that every person has a story worth hearing and is a life worth saving.

Many who devote themselves to being God’s ambassadors here on earth are not good listeners. We imagine that others should listen to us since we have the message of life. We often try to skip relationship building in order to quickly inject them with the gospel.

Jesus, however, was a good listener who tailored his life giving words to fit the unique human being who had his attention.

Meditate on that thought for a moment. Many times we try to “can” the gospel message into something we can routinely share. That is not how Jesus operated. He was always listening to people and most importantly to his heavenly Father. If people discern that we are not interested in them or their stories, why should they be interested in us or our message? They most likely will not be too keen on what we may have to say either. Compassionate sent ones care about every person’s story. If we expect to become expert fishers of people, we must become excellent listeners… quick to hear and slow to speak.

Targeting People’s God-Fashioned Felt Needs

Every person has needs that only God can fulfill. Because we live so isolated from one another, we may imagine that other people’s lives are just fine, not realizing that behind every door in our neighborhood some sort of drama is playing out that is preparing hearts to receive the Lord.

Some have desperately asked God to show them a sign that he cares. Could it be that you are supposed to be the answer to their prayer? Others have given up, thinking that God does not love them after all. Some people are embittered at what life has brought their way. Others are despondent, listless, and hopeless. While it is true that wealthy people generally have less felt needs than the poor, it is not true that their lives are altogether rosy. Anyone with wealth knows that money is not the answer to life’s deepest questions nor does it satisfy our deepest needs. Many affluent homes are wracked by relational dysfunction and are reaping the whirlwind that comes as a result of putting other things ahead of God.

When we meet and relate to people, God wants to open our eyes to see them as he does – harassed and helpless sheep about whom he cares deeply. Unless we discern what those needs are, how can we fashion a presentation of the gospel that addresses their heart longings? God is personal. He told the adulterous woman that she was not condemned. He told the Samaritan woman that she was important by engaging her and revealing that he knew all about her sins but did not reject her. He called Zacchaeus out of the tree and offered to dine with him.

In each case, the way Jesus engaged these individuals gave them hope that God knew who they were and cared about them. He accurately represented Father God’s heart toward them. This allowed Jesus to minister at the deepest level with amazing results.

Jesus wants us to partner with him in the adventure of being his personal representatives to lost and hurting people.

We need the Spirit’s help to pull this off. It does not come naturally to us. We cannot do it by ourselves. Only God can reveal to us what lies beneath the cleverly erected exterior that people use as a self-defense. Only God knows the deep heart cries lurking beneath people’s often crusty facades. If we listen, he will tell us all we need to know. He will assist us to fashion gospel truth into a “smart bomb” that goes right to the heart.

Hope for the Hopeless

Every person has a hope, which only Jesus can fulfill. Many of the people who live around us have descended into some form of hopelessness, but deep inside every individual, no matter how dim it flickers, is the hope that God knows and cares about us personally.

People long for a Savior, whether or not they will admit it, since we instinctively know that we cannot save ourselves. We hope for a Shepherd to guide us because none of us knows where we are going at the deepest level of existence. Our eternal destinies are hidden from us when we do not know Jesus. As Thoreau once wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” We bluff our way through life, hoping for the best, but, deep down, we would like to know for sure.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only pathway to knowing the Father. He is the Good Shepherd, the Great Provider, our Protector, and the God of all hope. We can be sure that, unless a person is resolutely hardened against God, there is something in him or her that will resonate with the Good News that Jesus gave his life away to make us children of God. They will be attracted to the knowledge that Jesus will lead them safely on life’s journey, if only they will surrender to his benevolent Lordship.

Fishing for people the Jesus way requires us to learn to see, love, and engage people as Jesus’ representatives. We have been given the privilege to care, listen, love, and speak in his stead in order to lead them to the Great Shepherd. Nothing could be more exciting or rewarding!

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Part 2: Becoming Part of the Solution

How do we see the people who live, work, and play around us? Or do we even see them at all? Many of us have learned to live in isolation, thanks to air conditioning, television, refrigerators, and “social media.” We keep up with events and people from afar, missing out on life and opportunities all around us.

Until we see people as Jesus does and make a decision to offer to get involved in their lives, it is not likely that we will share his heart for them or influence them toward God.

Matthew’s Gospel records a time when Jesus spoke to his closest followers about the crowd that surrounded him. It gives us a glimpse into his heart for people.

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV)

Compassion motivated Jesus’ earthly ministry. He saw people as harassed and helpless sheep who desperately needed someone to protect, feed, and lead them. He pointed out that there is a great harvest field, which is ready and waiting for caring people to go to work. What is stopping us? We all battle with fear, reluctance, laziness, disobedience, and a general lack of love for the those who do not know Jesus. Have we forgotten what it is like to live without knowing the Lord? What can help us to change?

Prayer

Prayer is the first part of Jesus’ solution to adding people to his harvest team.

Only God can change us on the inside and make us willing to invest our lives in his harvest field.

Jesus said to pray “earnestly.” This is because Satan fiercely resists any effort to share the gospel and make disciples. In addition, the part of us the Bible calls the “flesh” resolutely opposes God’s harvest work. It is the spirit inside us, the part of us in union with God’s Spirit, that wants to serve God in the harvest. The spirit and the flesh are in continual warfare until Jesus comes back again to raise us from the dead and deliver us finally and completely from this struggle. Until then we must make a determined stand against the inner pull of the flesh against God’s mission.

Without constant effort and determination, we followers of Christ tend to be lazy, self-centered people who put our own comfort, ease, and security ahead of helping lost, helpless, and harassed sheep who have not yet found the Shepherd.

Earnest prayer is needed to pry followers of Christ out of the comfort of their own homes and into the places where people who need Jesus can be effectively engaged.

Only God can transform us into people who are consumed with his passion for the lost and dying, but we have a part to play, and it begins with prayer. We must make the choice to join God in this noble task.

But prayer does not save people: the Gospel does. Prayer is a means to an end and can never substitute for the kingdom work of actually conveying the Good News to those who desperately need to hear it.

As powerful and necessary as prayer is, it can never serve as an excuse for not obeying the Great Commission.

Getting into the Harvest Field

Going and making disciples (the Great Commission) is the second part of Jesus’ solution. Bringing people into the family of God through sharing the gospel message, whereby Jesus releases them from slavery to sin, disease, death, demons, and every other bondage, and converts them into fishers of men, requires us to get into the harvest field ourselves. This will not happen without our overcoming the inertia of doing nothing and making the choice to go outside of our homes, our “comfort zones,” and engage people on a regular basis.

No great fisherman only occasionally dabbles in the sport. No effective fisher of men only randomly dips his line in the water.

Once we break loose from what held us back and make the choice to get involved in people’s lives, we find that God has already been at work. He wasn’t idly waiting for us to show up. We should not have the attitude of expecting the Spirit to join us as we plow ahead with own ideas and attempts to do God’s work. Instead we should look for what the Spirit is doing and join him as humble observant servants.

The harvest field is where we discover how to partner with God’s Holy Spirit.

Joining in God’s work is the most fulfilling and rewarding thing anyone can do.

Generally speaking, harassed and helpless sheep are not lining up at our church doors on Sunday mornings. In fact, many of them have been turned off by the church; although, many are still attracted to Jesus. Often they are a “mess” – people with a blend of rebellion, resentment, and hunger for God all rolled up in one.

Where and how can we successfully engage people who need and secretly desire Jesus, but who want nothing to do with what they understand about “church”? I am sure the same was true in Jesus’ day. Countless people in Israel found nothing to attract them to the austere legalism and hypocrisy practiced by the Pharisees, who were considered to be the best model what it meant to be a devout Jew. Their form of Judaism was to be found in the Temple and synagogues, an unlikely habitat for the average “sinner”.

Jesus frequented these religious centers, but also he went elsewhere in search of those who were most open to his life transforming message.

Jesus engaged people in homes, market places, trees, wells, and along the road. He did not set up a central meeting place and expect people to flock to him. In addition to teaching in synagogues wherever he went, he visited people’s homes and met them in market places, wherever life happened. And Jesus is our model.

Until we become the answer to our own prayers by making the choice to get involved in the lives of those who live around us, we are not yet a part of God’s answer to the heartrending and often silent cries of harassed and helpless people in need of God who live all around us.

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Part 1: Introduction to Fishing for People the Jesus Way

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him. Matthew 4:19-20 (NLT)

Just as he did at the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus still invites people to follow him and learn how to “fish” for people. The simple invitation quoted above sums up what it means to be a disciple. Our Lord did not say, “Come, follow me, and I will make you a moral person, a churchgoer, a Bible scholar, or any of the other things we prioritize ahead of fishing for people.

The purpose of this series of articles on “Fishing for People the Jesus Way” is to help us realize that “fishing” for people is interesting, challenging, fulfilling, adventure-filled, and enjoyable.

I hope I can help to remove any negative sense of fear, drudgery, duty, or religiosity from the equation, so that we can be set free to join the Holy Spirit, who is already at work in our communities. He is waiting for more people to join him in the work of the “harvest”. (Matthew 9:35-37)

The Gospels are filled with examples of how Jesus engaged people in such a way that they either chose to follow or persecute him. Just as today, some were indifferent, but many responded to him and his message. The Gospel generally should make people mad or glad, depending on the condition of their hearts. Those with hard hearts will become angry, but those who are “poor in spirit” (spiritual beggars who are hungry for God) will happily hear and follow.

Disciples are willing to follow Jesus wherever he may lead on a joyful adventure called fishing for people. This series will help to prepare and equip you.

I have been a Christian for fifty years and have tried all sorts of ways of presenting the gospel. These articles will address the one-on-one opportunities we get in life, not large crowd evangelism. When it comes to sharing with individuals, if we are motivated by a sense of religious duty, we may come across as being uninterested in the people we approach. If we rush or skip the process of relationship development in order to quickly notch another conversion, we may make our listeners feel cheap or part of a project and thereby sabotage God’s work. Jesus engaged people in a way that made them understand that he cared about them. Sometimes we may get “one shot” at sharing with a person. We must make the most of it, as led by the Spirit. In other situations, we may be able to share with them on numerous occasions. We dare not rush things at the beginning in those cases. To those whose hearts were tender and open, Jesus was willing to engage them on an individual basis and take as much time as necessary to help them grasp his message and identity.

Jesus poured out his blood to provide us with the Good News that the way back into God’s family, favor, and blessings is wide open. The Lord of Lords paid the price for us to be forgiven for our brazen rebellion against God’s kingship. He opened the door to our being reconciled to his heavenly Father by dying in our place and rising again. Our message is indeed Good News. Jesus wants us to engage the people who live around us with Holy Spirit compassion and zeal. Our Lord wants us to become excited about fishing for people as he did, in a quest to help them become part of God’s family of reconciled former rebels.

In the Gospels Jesus shows us how to properly engage people in order to communicate God’s love and care for them and to winsomely invite or even command them to become his followers. As we learn to demonstrate God’s love to those around us, it is amazing how much we can learn from them and how God will open doors into our hearts and theirs. The Holy Spirit will help us just as he worked through Jesus.

In the articles which follow, I will share examples from the Gospels of how Jesus fished for people. As we observe and learn from how he did it and begin to imitate his example, while relying upon the guidance, power, gifts, and boldness of God’s Spirit, we can be part of winning and making more followers of Jesus who also fish for people.

I hope you will travel with me down the dusty roads of Israel with Jesus, learning from the Master Fisherman.

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