Our dog, Barbie, has been enjoying the fresh dirt piles from our backyard landscape project-truly, the queen of the mountain. In this passage, Jesus called two sets of brothers (all outdoor working men, aka fishermen) to be His disciples: Simon Peter and Andrew along with James and John. The surprising part of this record is that they all left immediately what they were doing to do the Savior’s bidding. Jesus was an excellent judge of character. As the crowds grew, Jesus’ disciples grew in their faith as well. What started with pure brawn and a strong presence for crowd control turned into true spiritual grit to display Christ’s love to the world- no easy task. – Teresa

Matthew 4: 18-25 (ESV)

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.”[b] 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.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.