The last thing you need to know about the harvest is the Thresher. The harvest is all about the Lord and in this time He uses the Holy Spirit to bring about the fruit.
Ezek 2:3-10
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. KJV
I am not a five point Calvinist, by any means, but we know that in the foreknowledge of God He knows who will hear and who will not be it unsaved or saved people. Your job is to be the prophet. You are to do the speaking and not the winning. They need to know that a prophet was among them and you cannot do that unless you know your place and duty and His. If you turn them around or mix them you will be frustrated and lose more than you will gain. Just do what He asks in faith and faithfulness and leave the rest to Him.
Matt 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. KJV
He already knows that even in the Church there are going to be wheat and tares. Too many preachers want to tear up the tares and in the end often tear up the church and their ministry. Let them grow together. Preach the whole Word and the wheat will grow and the tares may leave your field and go to another willingly or they will expose themselves and will leave anyway though they are not as willing, but the shame will drive them out. If a few stay, consider them a means for your growth and no worse than Paul's thorn that made him rely upon God and not his own skill sets or gifts.
Rom 10: 1-21
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
You may want a person or group of persons saved as much as Paul did his fellow Israelites, but you cannot force it. When you were first saved you went to all your friends and relatives joyfully sharing and confident they would be saved. Some may have and many others may have rejected. That is not your fault and you have to turn it over to God or you will despair. You trust that the God of all the earth shall do right. Pray and witness when you can, but don't try and shove it down their throats. They will just spew it out and turn and rend you like the pearls being cast before swine. You go, you preach, you pray and then commit the rest to God. It may take years to see some saved and some may not be saved until you go to glory or they may never be saved. You trust that to the owner of the vineyard and the one who will thresh he field.
Isa 6:1-13
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
Even in faithless, rebellious Israel, there would be a tenth that would be the Lord's. If we look at the world's population of seven billion and look at a tenth we only get seven hundred million of those living if we were Raptured this minute. Yet, I don't don't think we will get that many. Jesus asked if there would be any faith on the earth when He returned making it sound like a very small remnant and yet a remnant. Seven hundred million scattered around the world would make some very small remnants per country. We have a little over three hundred million in the US. I doubt we have half the remnant in our borders. Think of the size of your church and how many would go if only a tenth went. Mega-churches would be mini-churches when you look at the remnant.
I once interviewed with a church that had a split. They were looking for a man with experience in a three hundred and fifty member church though they were only at one hundred and seventy five after the split. The fellow said the great thing was that there was no change in the offering after the split. I told him there is no organization that loses half their membership and has no financial decrease. I said what you had was a church of one hundred and seventy five members and the same amount of visitors. He did not like that and that was the end of my trail in relation to pastoring that church, but I told him the truth. That is all you have to do whether you are preaching or witnessing. Just tell the truth of the Word. The Thresher will handle the rest.
The world and the Church are listening. They are hungry and will listen and will eat what is given them. If you know the Message, the Entreater, the Audience and the Thresher you will give them meat. The Holy Spirit will cook it, season it, serve it and nourish the ones who He knows wants it and He knows which ones will spit it out. Faith come by hearing and if you will speak it in power they will hear. Maranatha!
