THE JOY OF THE HARVEST
OPENING QUOTE: “This year marks Ken Foster’s 40th harvest as a farmer, and it’s turning out to be the worst. "This year is miserable," the 63-year-old said yesterday from his family farm near Arborg, Man. a small rural community about 110 kilometres north of Winnipeg. With the help of his two sons, Mr. Foster is racing against time and the weather to take off 1,902 hectares of wheat, oats and canola before the snow begins to fall on the Prairies. So far, they have harvested only 283 hectares.” (Globe and Mail, Friday, Sept. 12).
OPENING TEXT:
“Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. He felt great compassion for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” (Matt. 9:37-38).
• Jesus was moved with compassion for the crowds of people that were lost and hurting.
• The harvest Jesus is talking about is not a harvest of wheat, but of lost souls.
• What happens when there is more work to be done than workers? The harvest goes bad.
• God wants us to be those workers who will go and reach out to the lost with His love!
KEY TEXT:
“You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest.” (Isaiah 9:3).
THE BIG IDEA: Jesus said the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, we must get busy working in the harvest fields for the Lord. God also promises us the reward of increased joy when we begin reaching out in love to the lost.
ILLUSTRATION: One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that He could hold the world in His hand. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that’s true, honey." "But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Is that true, too?" Again, the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?"
ILLUSTRATION: Discuss the personal joy in my life of coming to know Christ personally.
BIBLE STORY: John 4:4-38
“4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
• Why did Jesus have to go there? He knew there was someone there with a need!
• We need to have the same heart to “find a need and fill it” – in our community!
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ’Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
• Notice that Jesus stirred up a desire within her for the good news He was bringing…
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
• When we come to know Jesus as Saviour, He satisfies the deep longings of our souls!
15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, ’I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
• Note that this woman sounded very religious – she wanted to talk about worship.
• Jesus said, “Let’s talk about the hurts in your heart and how you can be made whole.”
• When we go out to minister to people, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s gifts!
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
• Here is an example of fruitful evangelism. First, her needs were met (‘left her waterpot’).
• After encountering Jesus, she wanted to share her life-changing experience with others!
• People try all kinds of things to find satisfaction – sex, popularity, drugs, alcohol
• Only Jesus is the living water who quenches our thirsts for happiness and fulfillment!
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
• Notice the disciples were so focused on and concerned with dinner, they missed their destiny! Jesus said, “My strength, joy, and satisfaction is to do the Father’s work!”
35 Do you not say, ’There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:4-38).
• What is Jesus saying here? The harvest is RIPE! It’s time to get busy bringing it in.
• He said, “Lift up your eyes. Open your eyes to the needs of the people around you!”
• Sometimes we think people don’t want to listen or hear about Jesus. Many are ready.
APPLICATION:
“He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” (Prov. 10:5).
• It is harvest time! Do you want to be a wise son, or one who causes shame?
“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” (Psalm 126:5-6).
• Harvesting is hard work! But when we invest in prayers & tears, there is the fruit of joy!
PRAYER: Let’s lift up our eyes and see the harvest, and reach out to empty vessels!
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
