Mark 1:16

 Mark 1:16 says, Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  As Jesus began His ministry, He began calling disciples.  The first were two brothers, Simon, later to be called Peter, and John, who were fishermen. This was not a recreational thing for them but was the way they made their living.  They were not rich men, nor highly educated.  They were simple hardworking men.  God calls us today from wherever we are to be His disciples, those who put their faith in Him and follow Him by faith.  Our worldly status has nothing to do with being His disciple.  Verse seventeen adds, And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.  Jesus told Simon and Andrew to follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men.  This required them to give up their way of making a living and follow Him with nothing said about how they would now be able to make a living.  When Jesus calls us, we need to have that same type of faith, where we are willing to walk away from everything in order to follow Him.  Verse eighteen continues, And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. They immediately left their nets, their source of income, and followed Him.  They did not make excuses for why they couldn't do what Jesus asked of them, and neither should we. Verse nineteen says, And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.  A little further along, Jesus saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were also fishermen, and He called them to follow Him.  Verse twenty adds, And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.  They didn't hesitate either, leaving their father and his servants in the boat and following Jesus.  When Jesus calls us to follow Him, we cannot allow even our family to come between Him and us.   Verse twenty-one continues, And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.  Even as Jesus was calling His disciples, He went to the synagogue, a place of worship, on the sabbath day.  We should not allow our busy lives to keep us from gathering together to worship God.  While in the synagogue, Jesus continued to teach.  When Jesus is teaching us today, and as Christians we should always be learning as God works in our lives, we need to ensure that we do not get too busy to listen.  Verse twenty-two concludes, And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.  The people in the synagogue were amazed because Jesus taught as One that had authority.  Jesus still teaches us with that same authority today, and always will.  Jesus did not teach as the scribes did, because they did not have the authority of Jesus.  They were well versed in the scripture, but they were not as qualified to teach as Jesus was and were amazed at how He taught.  We today may be well versed in the Bible, but we still need to rely on God to guide us as we proclaim His gospel to the world.  God not only calls us to proclaim the gospel, but He empowers us to do so, and we must make sure that what we proclaim is God's word and not our own.  In order to do so, we must first accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.