TEXT: John 21:1-19

Several of Jesus’ disciples were down by the Sea of Galilee.

“I’m going fishing,” Peter called.

“We’ll go with you,” said his friends. Peter, James, Thomas, Nathanael, John, and two others, got into a ship and pulled away from the shore. They fished all night.

As morning started to dawn, the disciples were quite discouraged because there was nothing in their nets, not even one fish! Suddenly they heard a voice calling to them from the shore. “Do you have any fish?”

They answered,. “No.” They did not know it was Jesus speaking to them.

He told them, “Put your net on the right side of the ship and you will catch some.”

They pulled their net to the right side of the ship and put it down into the water. At once the net was filled with fish—so many fish that they couldn’t even pull the net into the ship!

John said, “It is the Lord!” Now they knew it was Jesus who was on the shore!

Peter was so excited he pulled his coat around himself, jumped into the sea, and swam as fast as he could to shore. He wanted to see Jesus!

The other disciples followed behind him in the ship, dragging the net full of fish.

As soon as they reached the shore they saw that Jesus had built a fire. He had also prepared a breakfast of fish and bread for them.

Peter helped them pull the net of fish onto the shore. When they counted the fish they found 153 in the net!

Jesus had certainly blessed them, but He wanted them to do more than just catch fish all their lives. He asked Peter, “Do you love Me more than these?”

Of course Peter said He loved Jesus. Then Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked him two more times if he loved Him. Each time, Peter told Jesus that he loved Him. What more did Jesus want?

Peter said, “Jesus, You know everything. You know that I love You.”

Jesus said again as He had said before, “Feed my sheep.”

Then Peter understood that he should give up his regular job of fishing. He was to tell people about Jesus.

Peter would no longer catch fish in the sea. He would work for Jesus and be a fisher of men.

This lesson teaches your child that he can worship Jesus through service to Him. As your child learns how God called Peter to tell others the message of the Gospel, he will find that there are things he can do for God too.

To reinforce the thought that God calls us to work for Him, invite someone you know who is in full-time Christian service—pastor, missionary, or youth worker—to share dinner or dessert with your family and tell you how God called him or her into Christian service. Or you might wish to invite someone who does a great deal of service for the Lord while still working at a regular job.

Encourage your child to ask questions about how this person became involved in the Lord’s work. Plan some follow-up time together for family discussion in which you can talk about the points made.

FAMILY DEVOTIONS