Part 4-Church Attributes...Prepare Your Fields for Harvest

Prepare Your Fields for Harvest

Today’s message may come across as a little controversial because it is going to ask some questions of each of that we may not be expecting to answer.

And what we are discussing today is not an attack on anyone here or anything that has been going on or being done.

Today’s message is a call to evaluate ourselves, our expectations, our thoughts, our actions...it is a call for the youngest to the oldest here.

Our focus passages today will be found in Proverbs 24 and I have entitled this message, “Preparing Your Fields for Harvest.”

Who here wants to see true revival break out in this town? In the county? In this state? In this nation?

Who wants to see an explosion and all out invasion of children and youth and families in this church?

Who wants to see the water bill for the church to double...triple...quadruple because we have so many baptisms?

There’s a mentality or a thought out there popularized by a 1989 movie called “Field of Dreams” that says, “If you build it, they will come!”

And while the sentiment is a genuine feel good one, Biblically speaking it is contradictory to God’s Word.

And you may think that if we have right pastor or the right staff or the right programs or the right music or music leader or the right youth minister or program, etc.,..that everything is just going to grow exponentially.

But that is not how God grows things and changes things.

Proverbs 24:10–12 ESV

10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. 11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

Proverbs 24:27–34 ESV

27 Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house. 28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.” 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, 31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Our calling as Believers is to the harvest field.

We are obviously not speaking of a literal field, but a spiritual one.

1. The spiritual harvest field has a calling attached.

Proverbs 24:11 ESV

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Our call to the harvest is just what the Great Commission says, it is where we make disciples, connect them to the Christ and His bride the Church through baptism and teach them to obey everything He ahs commanded us..

We go to the field because that is where God has called us and that is where is the call is carried out.

And there is plenty of work for us to do there!

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

There are two things that I see in this Scripture: 1) We must open our eyes and see the harvest and 2) There is immediacy to the call because the harvest is now!

2. And the call to the harvest is for all Believers now.

Proverbs 24:12 ESV

12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

There waiting period or that we will get around to it later...the call is now!

We cannot escape our responsibility either...God will hold us accountable.