Untitled Sermon

Scripture Reading

Intro

The fruit of worship of enjoying God for all that He’s worth, is evangelism. We reframed worship. Now reframe evangelism.

I. Jesus Came to Save Sinners and Sow His Life for the Harvest of Eternal Life.

II. Jesus is the Promised Messiah Whose Death Brings the Harvest of Eternal Life

The Harvest of Eternal Life is At Hand

Its now. Its ripe for the reaping.

III. Harvest Time Looks Like Bearing Witness that Jesus is the Savior of the World

The harvest is ready (1st proverb) - Salvation is here (rejoice together)

The harvest is one of sowing and reaping (2nd proverb) - One sows another reaps

Calvinism - you can never fail John 3:6

Conclusion

Let’s Pray

Wine is a symbol of God’s blessing and salvation.

We already saw that in John 2 when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

But here’s where this get’s interesting.

James quotes the rest of Amos 9 in Acts 15, to say that God has included the Gentiles in this salvation! (Acts 15:14-19).

Amos had said the Messiah would come to bring Salvation and blessing to all of God’s people and James quoted Amos to say that the Gentiles, all the nations would be a part of that.

They would all inherit eternal life

And so when Jesus comes and talks about that harvest He was saying the Day has dawned!

God’s salvation is at hand.

I am the Messiah, the promised blessing of all nations, and I have come to make all things new and save God’s people from their sins

That God promised in Amos 9 to rebuild the tent of David, the tabernacle and temple of the Lord so that all the people of God, the Jews and the Gentiles called by God’s Name could draw near and worship.

And that’s when Amos says Behold the days are coming, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seeds, when the mountains shall drip sweet wine.

The idea the Messiah would bring God’s blessing and salvation to all nations in such a way that the fruitfulness of the harvest would be a new Eden.

All things new.

You wouldn’t be able to plant it and reap it fast enough.

And Jesus was telling His disciples, that harvest was here.

It had begun with Him.

The Day of God’s salvation had dawned.

He was the Messiah who had to carry out His Father’s will to bless all the nations with salvation and eternal life, just like God had promised to Abraham.

The wine and joy of God’s salvation was beginning to flow and Christ would make all things new.

That’s why the Sower and Reaper rejoice together.

By James quoting Amos 9 in Acts and applying it to the salvation of the Gentiles, Amos 9 was not talking about physical fruit.

It was talking about spiritual fruit

And in these verses our witness consists of two things:

Our testimony and Christ’s Word.

First, Our Testimony...

Your testimony is a powerful thing.

Its a testament of God’s grace and power to save.

Never dismiss the power of saying look what Jesus has done for me.

The woman said He told me all that I ever did.

He knew all my sin. All that I’d done and He gave me the water of eternal life.

Too often we think of evangelism as theological arguments or that we need to intellectually beat people into submission with the truth.

And reasoning with people has its place.

But a simple testimony of let me tell you what Christ has done for me can be a powerful witness.

Let me tell you how He’s saved me from my slavery to sin and all its devastating effects.

How He delivers me from my fear.

How all the guilt and shame of my past is washed away.

How He’s healed my marriage, provided for me, or helped me to forgive when I never thought I could.

Let me tell you about how Christ turned my life around, and gave me peace and joy when I never found in the empty things of this world.

Let me tell you how good Christ has been to me, and how good He was for you.

Your testimony can be a powerful thing.

And all it is is bearing witness to Christ and His power to save first hand.

And then Christ’s Word.

Christ’s Word

And many more believed because of his word.

Paul says faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

The world needs the gospel.

No one can be saved without it.

If you are going to share the good news of the gospel, you need to know what the gospel is in the first place.

You need to be able to tell someone else how they are able to be saved.

So let me give you a simple formula.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again three days later.

That’s your witness.

We all have sin. We were all under the wrath and the judgment of God.

And Christ died for us.

He lived a sinless and perfect life. He died in our place.

And He rose again victorious over sin and death so that when we believe in Him, God saves us and forgives us and gives us eternal life.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again three days later.

That’s the gospel.

That’s what we preach.

Whether its your testimony or Christ’s word, all evangelism is is bearing witness, testifying, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.

That’s sowing and watering, and when someone believes that’s reaping.

And look what happened. Look what happened through the woman’s testimony.

God brought a Revival.

These people were Samaritans.

They were far from God. Unclean.

Doesn’t that give us hope for today.

Who won’t God save?

And then look who God used to save them.

You have had five husbands and the man you live with now is not your husband.

If God could use her, why could He not use you?

Why could He not use us? Why could He not use our church?

The power of salvation is not in ourselves.

Its not in our eloquence or arguments.

Its in the gospel we proclaim.

Jesus is the Savior of the World. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again three days later.

The Lord told us The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (Matthew 9:37-38).

Yes. We should pray for God to raise up pastors and missionaries. Leaders in our own church to further the work of the gospel.

But in praying for the Lord to send out laborers into the Harvest, we need to remember that God sent us into the harvest.

So pray.

Pray for opportunities. Pray for the gospel to take root and bear fruit in your life, in your family, and in our church and that God would use you like He used the Samaritan woman.

Jesus’ food was to do the will of Him who sent Him.

Is that our food too?

God has sent us on a mission? Are we hungry to fulfill it?