Last week we look at a similar verse in John 4 which said 'the fields are ripe for the harvest', and we said that harvest time was the END of the growing season for crops, and at harvest the fruits just need to be picked and collected.
No more watering, no more weeding, no more whatever else you need to do to grow crops, it's just time to gather in!
And while Jesus was saying to His disciples then 'Look, the fields are ripe for the harvest', meaning of course that the people were ready for salvation, we asked the question 'Is Anjung ripe for the harvest NOW?' Are the people here ready to enter the Kingdom of God?
And we didn't answer that question last week but rather I asked you to answer it by asking 3 people 'Do you want to know about Jesus' and based on their responses we could gage where Anjung stands ? Are we in the harvest? Or is there still work to be done?
So, first of all, did anybody ask 3 people over this week do they want to know about Jesus? How many said 'Yes' and how many said 'No'?
If more than 2 out of 3 said 'Yes' then the harvest is here! Pray for labourers to help with the gathering and just go out there and tell people about Jesus! They are ready! Their hearts have been prepared! The Holy Spirit has gone before us and the work has been done and the harvest is ready!!!
If not, if less than 2 out of 3 said no then the harvest isn't quite ready yet! The season isn't quite upon us!
BUT
'The harvest is plentiful'!
It may not be the picking time yet, the fields may not yet be white, but the crops are plentiful! And plentiful harvest is different to a ripe harvest!
What do I mean? I mean this. We have an apple tree back home in our garden, and each year, at the start of spring, when the leaves start to grow and the apples begin to form you can see what kind of harvest you're going to get from that tree.
Sometimes there would only be 1 or 2 apples, and you know, unless you go out, buy some apples and stick them on the tree with glue, at harvest time you're not getting much! Just 2!
But other times, there will be 20 or 30 apples beginning to form and you know right then, if your diligent, the harvest from that tree is going to be plentiful!
And that's what Jesus is saying to us today! Maybe no one said 'Yes' when we asked 'do they want to know about Jesus?' All that means is that we're not in the harvest period yet! But, the harvest is plentiful! There is a great crop growing!
As long as we are diligent and look after the crop, the harvest WILL be plentiful! But there is work to be done!
'...but the labourers are few' labouring is HARD work! It's tiring work! When I left school I began an apprenticeship with a builder, and I began as what is called the labourer. This is the very bottom! This is the guy who carries all the heavy stuff, mixed all the cement and plaster, cleans the tools, scrubs the cement mixer and all the other stuff.
I remember one time when building a house I had to carry 18 ton of sand from the front to the back using just 2 buckets, and it took all day! It was hard work!
And so too is farming, to carry on Jesus' analogy. Imagine one day you just decide to move down south, buy some land and become a farmer. What are the steps you would take from that first day until harvest?
Well, first you have to find a piece of land. Then you have to cut and clear whatever is growing on top, then plough it to make it ready and then plant the seed. And that's just the start!
Then you've got to fertilize the land, water it, check for weeds and all that. You've got to protect the seeds and the crop as it begins to grow from the birds and other insects that will come and try to eat them. And some times, and if you've ever driven past the pear farm down the road, you'll see that eat individual pear on the trees had been individually wrapped to protect it!
It's hard work! And you've got to keep doing that right up until harvest!
And it's the same in God's field! There will be weeds, there will be birds, there will be rocky ground and if these things aren't taken care of the crops will die and there will be NO harvest! Remember the Parable of the Sower?
Now, Anjung is the piece of land we have been given. This is our piece of farm land. But we don't have to dig it, we don't have to plough it or prepare it. No, that's already been done! There are churches here! There are ministries here! The seeds of the Word of God has already been sown!
What we've got to do is look after those seeds. Keep an eye out for the weeds and the birds! We've got to nurture and cultivate the crop until it's time for the harvest! Until the Holy Spirit visits us! Until He brings that plentiful harvest, until He brings revival!
Now, do you believe that? Do you have the same vision as Christ has? Do you believe that the harvest here in Anjung is plentiful? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit can bring revival here and that it's only a matter of time?
If you do you need to know that in between now and then there is work to be done! And that work is to begin in prayer! Pray to the Lord of the harvest we are told! What does Paul say 'one guy plants the seed, another waters it but it is God who brings growth!'
Do you believe God will bring growth here in Anjung? Do you believe it is God who calls, God who convicts and God who saves sinners? Do you believe that it is He who brings grow and we just need to tend to the crop. Just plant the seed and tend to it?
A farmer plants his seed with 50% knowledge and 50% faith. The knowledge is that, once planted and looked after the seed will grow and produce a harvest. The faith is that that harvest will be plentiful!
We have 100% knowledge! We are told the harvest WILL be plentiful! No, no! the harvest IS plentiful! We need just look after the crop until harvest time comes around!
