Fishers of Men-Part I Stink-Bait

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Mark 1:16-17 (NKJV)

Jesus told two common fishermen that if they would simply follow Him, then He would make them fishers of men. The same offer exists today if we would follow Jesus.  But I want to talk about another Master fisher of men and that is Satan.  I call him the "Bass Master." 

Besides God, Satan probably knows us better than anyone.  And he makes it his personal mission statement to fish for men.  And although we don't have to worry about our salvation once we have repented asked forgiveness and have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior-We need to know that Satan knows that he has lost the war for our soul (John 10:28, 29), but he wants to take as many casualties as he can along with him to hell.  This may be the people in our life who might not want to know Jesus because of how we have lived our lives as Christians.

Another thing that Satan wants to do, is to steal the joy of being saved from our life.  He wants us to live in fear, anger, doubt, anxiety, and confusion, but we are told not to be anxious for nothing (Phil 4:6, 7), and to fear not (Isa. 41:10; 13), and that God is not the author of confusion (1Cor 14:33).  So we can clearly see that the enemy is attempting to deceive and tempt us into believing his lie, because he knows that this is where his power is.

Simply put, if we don't believe his lie, then he has lost his power over our lives.

The next thing we need to know is that the enemy will study us, and watch our ways.  Next to God, he knows us best, and therefore he knows where our weaknesses are, and how he can use this in a form of temptation.  

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

As I told you, Satan is the master fishermanhe knows fishing better than any of us.  And since were the fish, lets take a look at how we bite on his bait.  You see, at any given time of our walk, we as Christian men or women, will in fact eat Satan's temptations just like certain fish in the lake.  Let me give you an example of 3-types of fish, and how they feed, and we will be able to see a parallel to ourselves at various points during our walk as Christian men and women.

Example #1 Catfish

Take a Catfish for instance.  A Catfish is a bottom feeder and it will probably eat just about anything, but they especially like the smelly stuff.

I remember back when I was in my early twenties, my wife Carol and I had gone to Lake Havasu in Arizona.  We had gone out with a couple of friends Owen and Phil and their families.   I remember that they had taken fishing poles and when we would be done fishing during the afternoon, they would load up the hooks one more time for over night.  They pulled out this jar that they had dug up on a beach.  As it turns out, they had buried it the last year they were there.  Inside the jar was this stuff called "Bookers."  When they opened up the jar I though I was going to puke!  I had never smelled anything so vile in my life, and I hope that I never will again.  

They looked at me and begin to laugh; the pay day for waiting patiently for an innocent victim to share there jar of joy with.  Phil uttered two words with a grin, "Stink bait!"    He said, "Scott, I'm telling you, this stuff is full-proof.  When we come back in the morning, there will be a catfish on the end of this pole-as long as the pole is still here."

Well, next morning we came back and sure enough, there was a huge catfish on the end of the pole-the next morning the same thing.  Those catfish just couldn't resist the temptation of the stink bait.  So a catfish likes the smelly stuff the best and will bite upon just about anything.

The devil has his fallen angels sitting on the shore banks of every Christians pond or lake, and they are casting out "Stink Bait." 
These are the shore fishermen, and they don't really have all that great of gear---maybe just a cane-pole, some fishing line-and a hook-but that is all they need.  Nor do they work all that hard but they are really effective in getting us to bike still.

We are like Catfish at times as Christians when it comes to biting on the temptation to sin.  We bite on the stink bait!  We can have that same temptation hit is that hit us yesterday, last week, last month, or last year, and again...we will respond the same way.

Maybe something that tempts us such as gossip, slander, a drink of alcohol, or pornography, or maybe that argument that you seem to be having with your spouse, co-worker, or family member.

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a mans inmost parts. Proverbs 18:8 (NKJV)

The point is this; when we fall for the same old redundant temptations, we can know for sure that we, just like the catfish, are biting on the "stink-bait" of the enemy.  

I want to encourage you to make a list of everything that you tend to find yourself stumbling in.  This will be a list of "Stink-Bait," that the enemy is using to lure you to bite on his hook of sin.  We will continue to look at some different kinds of bait, and then a solution for helping us to stop biting.

STUDY QUESTION:  Why are we being told to be restrained and attentive in 1 Peter 5:8?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Can you relate to the Catfish eating stink bait?

APPLICATION: Make a list today of those things that you are constantly fighting-things that are not in the will of God.