Jesus Taught from a Boat

Matthew 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11

Our story comes from the Bible. It is found in the book, or part, of the Bible called Matthew. Matthew was one of the special helpers of Jesus. Parts of our story also comes from another book of the Bible, called Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wrote about Him so that others could know Jesus and love Jesus, too.

The Bible tells us about Jesus. People liked to listen to Jesus tell about God.

One day when Jesus was standing near a lake, many people came to listen to Him. Jesus saw that they needed more room.

Jesus had an idea. Some fishermen, named Peter and Andrew, were nearby washing their nets. They had two boats. Jesus got into Peter's boat. Jesus asked Peter to take the boat out into the lake a little way from the shore.

Now everyone could see and hear Jesus tell about God.

When He was finished teaching, Jesus told Peter to take the boat farther out into the deep water of the lake. Jesus said, "Put your nets in the water. You will catch lots of fish."

Peter didn't understand what Jesus meant. He and the other fishermen were tired from fishing all night. They hadn't caught a single fish. But Peter said, "I will do what You say." They threw the nets over the edge of the boat with a big splash!

When Peter and Andrew brought up the nets, they had caught a large number of fish. The nets were breaking because they were so full!

Peter and Andrew even had to call their friends from another boat to help them. Jesus had said they would catch lots of fish. And they did!

Peter was so amazed that he knelt in front of Jesus.

Jesus said to Peter. "Come, be My helper. Let Me show you how to catch people instead of fish."

That's what Peter and the other fishermen did. They pulled their boats up on shore. They became Jesus' helpers, telling people about God.

Bible Paraphrase: [Jesus] went around doing good. (...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. Acts 10:38 NIV)

Text Truth: Jesus wants us to be helpers.

Family Devotional

(Jesus) When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” – Luke 5:4-5

As a follower of Jesus, He may call you to do difficult things you may not understand. Jesus told the disciples to go fishing at a time when the fish would have gone deep into the waters. Catching them would be difficult if not impossible. But once they obeyed, they realized Jesus gave them an abundant catch.

What difficult task is Jesus calling you to? What makes it difficult? Is there an area in your task that has you tired? What is that area?

Jesus knows you have been working hard for Him. He understands you get tired. But He also sees into the future lives of the ones you impact. He knows the abundant rewards that await. For now, trust in Him to work the impossible.

Activities You Can Do at Home

Bible Phrase Song

Sing the Bible phrase to the tune “10 Little Indians.” To help your child learn the words, teach the 

 actions at the same time.

Jesus grew and became strong.

(Crouch down, stand up, then make muscle arms.)

Jesus grew and became strong.

(Crouch down, stand up, then make muscle arms.)

Jesus grew and became strong.

(Crouch down, stand up, then make muscle arms.)

From Luke 2 verse 40.

(Hold hands open like a book.)

Bible Rhyme

This Bible rhyme is another way to practice the Bible phrase. The Bible phrase is the last line of the rhyme. Teach the words and actions a line at a time. Have your child repeat each line back to you.

Jesus was born a baby,

(Rock arms back and forth.)

The angels said loud and long.

(Cup hands around mouth.)

Then as He got older,

(Raise up on tiptoes.)

Jesus grew and became strong.

(Flex arm muscles.)

Act Out Helping

As a family, act out ways you can be helpers. Let everyone else in your family guess what you are acting out. Let everyone have a turn to act.

Boats at Bath Time

Play with toy boats and fish, or make boats from clean foam trays for bath time. Using a net to scoop up toys will help your child understand how fishermen used nets to catch fish.

Fishermen, Fishermen

Sing this action rhyme to the tune "Are You Sleeping?"

Fishermen, Fishermen

(Motion for people to come)

Pick up your nets, pick up your nets.

(Pretend to pick up heavy nets.)

Throw them in the sea.

(Pretend to toss it into the sea.)

Pull in all the fish.

(Pretend to pull the net back in.)

Come, follow Me! Come, follow Me!

(Motion for people to come.)

Fish with Your Family

Lay a piece of blue fabric on the floor for water. Add paper fish. Use coarse netting or a paper bag for a net. As a family, pretend to be fishermen and throw your nets into the water. Have one person be Jesus. The fishermen can leave their nets and follow Jesus.

Pray to be Helpers

On paper fish, draw or glue pictures of how your family can be helpers. Pray you would be good helpers for God.

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The above images are made possible by a joint venture of Good News Productions, International and College Press Publishing Co. Artist. Paula Nash Giltner (http://www.theglobalgospel.org). Free Bibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) have been granted permission to make these images freely available for personal, teaching and ministry use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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