Harvest
Notes
Transcript
WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
We did not find the world desolate when we entered it; our fathers planted for us before we were born; so, do we plant for those who will come after us.
Hymn 130: We Plough the fields, and scatter
PRAYERS
As we celebrate our plenty and give thanks for our food,
Lord, we praise you for the harvest of talents in this church,
For this well-maintained building, for flower arrangements and music,
For responsible stewardship, for charities supported.
We give thanks. We praise you for the harvest of fellowship here at Trinity Methodist for friends made and support given. For people with whom to laugh and with whom to weep. We give thanks
Confession
When we are unkind to people and forget they are God’s children,
When we are careless with the animals and forget they are God’s creation,
When we ill-treat the land and forget it is the splendour of God,
Forgive us,
Oh God of love, reconcile us to yourself,
To one another and to the creation.
Teach us, that the earth and all its fullness is yours.
Remind us that your Son too enjoyed the fruits of harvest in Galilee and join us now as we celebrate your good gifts together.
As we celebrate your goodness, so we confront our own sin, Our greed and insensitivity,
Our failure to appreciate what we have and the opportunities you have given,
Our readiness to complain, our unwillingness to praise.
Father, forgive and renew us. Food taken for granted,
Work unappreciated and poorly rewarded,
Self-centred blindness to other’s needs.
Deliberate deafness to the cries of the hungry,
Coldness of heart to those deprived of affection,
Father, forgive and renew us.
May our sins be forgiven, Our blindness,
deafness and coldness of heart be healed. May your renewing spirit rest on us
And fill our nation with your love and hope. In Jesus’ name.
Amen
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Hymn 51: Great is thy faithfulness
READING
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.
O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.
When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Hymn: 689: Summoned by the God who made us.
SERMON
John 4:35–42 (ESV)
In this chapter Jesus tells his disciples how to harvest. It is like a beginner's course in Spiritual Harvesting 1on1. I would like to pull five things from this passage.
1. See When It's Time to Harvest.
John 4:35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
The whole village is coming out to see Jesus, but His disciples want Him to come away and eat.
That is what is happening when Jesus says this.
They just don't see the harvest. It is right there in front of their eyes, but they don't see it. They don't know when to harvest.
Knowing when to harvest is the crucial part of farming. You may not guess it, but I am no farmer, not even a gardener, so I don't know how they do it. I don't know what a farmer looks for, but I know that when harvest time is near, the farmer often goes to the field to see if it is ready. because he needs to harvest at the right time.
We live in a semi-rural area, but we don’t really see wheat fields, but across the border in Yorkshire you will find them.
When it comes to spiritual things, it is just as important to know when it is time to harvest. We need to open our eyes.
2. Harvest when It's Time,
John 4:36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the Sower and the reaper may be glad together.
What does a farmer do when he sees that it is time to harvest? Does he go inside, turn the TV on, put a movie in, and settle down for a lazy afternoon? No. He goes to the barn and gets the combine out. He calls up all his family, and his workers, and they start harvesting. They will harvest all night if they need to.
So, you see what it says here. The one who reaps, the harvests, is rewarded because the crop has been collected.
Not only that but if it is not harvested The Sower is not happy. The Sower wasted his time if there is no harvest. But if there is a harvest, the reaper and the Sower can be glad together.
The crop must be harvested.
How many crops have been ruined because when it was time for them to be harvested, no one did anything?
What if Jesus hadn't talked to the woman at the well? What if He had taken a food break when His disciples wanted Him to? How many Samaritans would have just gone back home? How many souls would have been lost?
We need to harvest when it is time to harvest. I can’t overemphasize just how important this is. Harvest when it’s time. Don't think that someone else will do the work. Don't think that no one needs to harvest. Don't think that you can put the harvesting off. Harvest when it is time.
3. Make Sure Someone Plants
John 4:37 Thus the saying ‘One sows, and another reaps’ is true.
There is the old tale of a man who plants a tree so that future generations can shade under it.
One sows and another reaps. Some Bible scholars say that Jesus both sowed and reaped in this story.
That is not what Jesus said. He said that one sows, and another reaps. He said that others have done the hard work.
We don't know who sowed the seed to the Samaritans, but someone did. These people knew who the Messiah was. They had a worship structure in place, and they were looking for the Messiah. Someone taught them these things and got them to believe them. That was the Sower.
It goes without saying, if no one plants, there will be no harvest. As Jesus said here, the planting is hard work.
We haven't even touched our community. What is our I Church’s community is it this building or should it extend into the local area as This is where our church should be concentrating our sowing.
There is good soil in this area. It needs seeds. This should be a big part of what we do.
If we don't plant, there will be no harvest. We must make sure that we are planting. This is important.
As you are planting, the time will come for us to harvest. What do we do then? How do we harvest? Two methods are given in this passage. The first is using your testimony.
4. Use Your Testimony to Harvest
John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
The woman told people about what had happened to her. She had met this man. He is the Messiah. “He told me everything I ever did,” she said. From this alone many trusted in Jesus.
Each of us have a testimony. Each of us have met Jesus and our lives have been changed. Isn't this true? Wasn't it a good thing? Wasn't it a great thing? We should be telling others about it.
A testimony is easy to tell. You already know the about it. You are just telling what happened to you. That is easy to do. It can consist of three parts: your life before Jesus, how you turned to Jesus, and your life after Jesus. It’s that simple.
You should have your testimony ready to use at any time. You never know when an opportunity will present itself. When it does. Give your testimony.
That is the first method of harvesting. The second is to tell what Jesus said.
5. Use Jesus' Words to Harvest
John 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
John 4:41 And because of his words many more became believers.
John 4:42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.
First the people who believed because of what the woman said. Then people went to see Jesus and talk with Him. They liked what He said. They urged Him to stay. He stayed for two days. Because of Jesus' words many more became believers. Some of the ones who had trusted because of what the woman had said, when they heard what Jesus said, their trust was strengthened.
So, in place of giving your testimony, tell what Jesus said. You don't have to read a bunch of verses. Just share a verse or two and explain it to them. Here are some verses.
John 1:11 and 12.
John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Harvesting is as simple as reading and explaining these verses.
Trust in Jesus begins your Christian life, but it also should be all through your Christian life. When you have a problem, don't try to solve it yourself, don't look to others to solve it, don't just give up. Trust Jesus. he will take care of it. we need to go to Him for guidance. If anyone builds this church, it will be God. Upon this rock I stand. Upon this rock we all should stand. Trust Jesus. Trust the Father. That is one of the core teachings of the Bible.
How is it that we don’t do it? So often relying on our own strength.
Conclusion
Spiritual Harvesting 101. Here are the points that we have made. 1) See when it's time to harvest. 2) Harvest when it's time. 3) Make sure someone plants. 4) Use your testimony to harvest. And 5) use Jesus' words to harvest.
Hymn 777: O breath of life come sweeping through us
Offering
PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION
We pray for those whose lives are caught up with your creation,
and who work with you in tending and nurturing it
those who even now suffer because of the crisis in our countryside
those afraid for their future, those struggling to survive
all whose livelihood and existence are under threat.
May they know your presence and be conscious of the help that you bring.
Through both may they find hope for their future.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for the hungry and the homeless, the broken and bereaved.
For all for whom this day brings sadness and little joy.
For the lonely and the helpless, for those whose hope has been shattered
And their faith destroyed.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
For the struggling and the oppressed.
for those without power to negotiate or bargain
for all whose work goes unrewarded,
whose produce is undervalued.
For all who feel unwanted,
believing their skills are no longer needed.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
For all who struggle to change the system,
striving for justice and fair trade,
trying to overcome political blindness and public insensitivity.
For all who influence our thinking,
our buying and consuming
for all who formulate policy
and manage the market
for fairness and compassion
in all walks of life.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
For responsible stewardship in our using of your world
for sustainable consumption as well as production
for care for creation and compassion for each other.
Lord, may your Kingdom come,
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for charities for the communities in which they work and the people to whom they minister
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Hymn 487: Be, Thou my Vision
BLESSING
Bless to us, O God
The sun that shines above us
The rain that falls upon us
The earth that sustains us
The air that surrounds us
The love that binds us.
Amen
May God who has made us, who loves us and who gives us life
bless and keep us, now and always.
Amen