We as Baptists will use these verses to show that this is when Christ was starting to call His church out and rightly so! This is the calling out of the apostles. He hath set some in the church first apostles. But let's not ever forge why he called them out! He called them out so that they could become fishers of men. When Christ left earth to be at the right hand of the Father in Matt.28 he left the right to go into all the world to His Church. Point is if we're going to talk about how the Baptist church has the authority to go then let's go and quit talking about it! We need to realize that if we don't go then were not doing the work of the church. For Christ promised the Holy Spirit to the church so that we would be witnesses of Him (Acts 1:8). I believe, without a doubt that Christ's church is a missionary minded church. There is so much that can be drawn from verse 19 in Matt.4 but let's only notice 3 things we do in order to follow Christ.

1) To follow Christ means to leave certain things or people behind. For the Apostles were called into a full-time ministry and they had to leave jobs and family. I do not believe that everyone must literally leave their jobs and family, but without a doubt your job and family are not to hinder you from following Christ, and if they do then yes we must leave them.

In Matt.8:21-22 it says this: "And another of his disciples said unto him. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead." Is Christ teaching us that its wrong to go to funerals? Of course not, but He's showing us the extreme. If burying your father keeps you from following Christ and where He would have you to go then you had better choose to follow Christ. These apostles had to leave their jobs and their families in order to follow Christ. There have been many ministers that have had to leave jobs and family to follow Christ and be where He would have them to be.

God may not be calling you into the ministry and calling you to literally leave jobs and family. But our main purpose of this message is "can't fish without following." For Christ said "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." My point in all of this is we cannot effectually fish for the souls of those in our family or on the job unless they see that even they can't keep us from following Christ! -When family sees that even they can't keep us from going to church. -When our jobs see that they can't pay us enough money to forsake God's house. If we want to be used of the Lord to win their souls then we must put Christ first leaving everything else behind. We are not going to win the souls of family and friends by showing them that we love them so much that we would rather be with them or making money than worshiping God. Christ says that if you want to fish for the souls of men then you must follow Him.
2) To follow Christ means to abide with Christ. You can't follow Him without spending time with Him. They were to learn of Him. They walked with Him, watched Him work, listened to His word, talked with Him. For we cannot be employed in the business of winning souls to Christ without first getting to know the one we are trying to bring them to. If you were to tell someone "Oh how you need to come to Christ!" And they were to reply back "Why?" Surely you could tell them the joy of knowing Jesus, surely you could tell them the peace He has to offer, surely you could tell them that after their saved that life will be so much more fulfilling. The person that can best sell a product and convince the consumer of its value is one who knows the product well. Try to sell a car without ever driving it, knowing what kind of an engine it has, or knowing the gas mileage. How could we be used to win souls for Jesus and be effectual fishers of men without daily getting to know Him better. We get to know Him better by listening to Him in His word, talking back to Him in prayer. We must do our best by God's grace and through the power of God's Spirit to convince people that they need Jesus more than anything else is this life. That they need His death, burial, and resurrection.

In John 15:7 Christ says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Are we asking God to give us souls for our labor? Then we had better be abiding in His Word and His word be abiding in us. Because if we don't have the word then how can we give the word? Are you daily taking time to get to know your Jesus? If not then how do you expect to be used of God to be a fisher of the souls of men? For Jesus said "Follow me AND I will make you fishers of men." (emphasis mine)

3) To follow Christ means to obey Christ. Could the apostles followed Christ without obeying Him? Could they have said, "We're going to follow you but we're not going to leave our jobs or our families like you told us to?" Or how about "We want to be fishers of men but we don't want to follow you." You see in showing obedience to Christ we show our love to Him. For Jesus said, "If you love keep my commandments." Back to the seller....not only does he need to know his product but he must show a love for his product. If you want to be a soul winner for Jesus then you must be obedient to His word. Hold the commandments high and live them out in your life. Strive to be all that God has told you to be in His word. Men.. do you want to be a fisher of men? Then put God first in your life, spend time with Him, be the husband that God has told you to be. And likewise to wives for you are to be submissive to your husbands. You may be asking what that has to do with it. It's very simple. Being a good husband or a good wife is part of obeying God and obeying God is a result from wanting to follow God because you love Him. I believe that God as the great healer of the souls of men wishes to use clean instruments. For example: How many people was Lot able to win? None. "But he seemed as one that mocked." (Gen.19:14) And it's the same in our life as well. If we're not being obedient to Christ and living a separated life like we are taught to do then when we preach the gospel to others we too will be one to be mocked. And then because of our life style we will probably do more damage for the gospel than good. One thing we need to preach the gospel is to live out the gospel in following Christ with our lives.

Conclusion: Have you not been able to fish for the souls of men because you know you haven't been following Christ" Then I pray that you will repent and get right with God. With all of this that has been said I want it to be known that I realize that God does all the saving through the work of His Spirit and His Word but without a doubt I believe God also uses people who are filled with His Spirit and His Word. So therefore we must follow Christ if we wish to be fishers of men. Jesus said "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Not "make" as in force us to be. But "make" as in mold us to become all we need to be to become effectual fishers of men.