His Call, Our Time, His Glory2
08/24/2008
HIS CALL, OUR TIME, HIS GLORY
JOHN 4:27-38
**The theme for our Global Impact Mission Conference September 10-14 is also the title to our message today. I believe the Lord is going to emphasize His Call to individuals. I believe that many individuals will hear and acknowledge God’s Call for their lives and will choose to adjust their lives and answer God’s Call to them. I also believe that God will also extend His Call to our Church and we will choose to adjust our lives to join Him in His kingdom activities.
**I also believe that there are individuals and our Church as a whole will understand that it is now Our Time and we make the necessary adjustments to join Him in His kingdom activities!
**We will do all of this for HIS GLORY and I believe that we will be positioned to be able to observe a manifestation of His Glory that will leave all of us in AWE of His holiness!
**Today I want you to notice three things from our text and we will see if the Spirit of the Lord can and will make a fresh application of these truths to our hearts! First of all notice that as part of:
HIS CALL:
I. THE INSTRUCTIONS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED
There is:
A. SOMETHING we need to LIFT
4:35 Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes
**The eyes are the window into the soul!
B. SOMEWHERE we need to LOOK
4:35 …and look on the fields
**What are our fields? As an individual we simply need to draw a circle around the place where we live and that is the beginning of our field. Then draw another circle around that circle that includes the place we go to school or the place where we work and that is also part of our field. Then draw another circle around the place where we go to Church and that is a part of our field!
**As a part of God’s Call our Instructions have been Received and there is Something we need to Lift and there is Somewhere we need to Look!
**God’s call is going out to His Children and as part of our response to God’s Call it involves:
OUR TIME:
II. THE INSIGHTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED
**There are two specific insights that we should be able to SEE when we lift up our eyes and look on our fields. The first insight that we should be able to see is that:
A. The TIME for the harvest is APPARENT
4:35 Look at the fields, that they are white for harvest
**What do you SEE when you look at your fields? Let me tell you what the statistics tell us we should be able to see. Statistics tell us that there are about 4 million people who live in the Metro Atlanta area. Do you realize that 70% of the 4 million people who live in the Metro Atlanta area do not attend anybody’s Church on any Sunday?
**There are 900,000 teenagers in the state Georgia and did you realize that 600,000 of them do not attend anybody’s Church on any given Sunday!
**Did you realize that for every 100 teenagers in the state of Georgia only 12 attend anybody’s Church! It gets worse! Of the 12 teenagers who are in Church, only 2 teenagers will remain in Church after they leave high school!
**What are we going to do? Are we going to sit back on our blessed assurance and let an entire generation get recruited by the gangs, pimps, prostitutes and drug lords?
**Beloved Jesus says that if we truly lift up our eyes that the TIME for the harvest will become APPARENT! Our teenagers are worth it!
**Not only is the TIME for the harvest APPARENT but when we lift up our eyes and look on the fields we will notice that:
B. The TRAGEDY of the harvest is APPALLING
Mt 9:37 The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
**The harvest of souls is plentiful but the WORKERS are FEW!!! Jesus completed the statement in Mt 9:37 by saying “therefore BESEECH the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into HIS harvest”!
**One of the things that I am the proudest of as a pastor for over 25 years is the large number of people that God has called into full time vocational ministry!
**One of the things that I am the most grieved about is the small number of people that regularly work in the field of souls close to their home, work, school and Church!
**How do we get people actively engaged in God’s Harvest? We must intentionally BESSEECH the LORD of the HARVEST to send out workers into HIS harvest AND we must also make sure that everything that we do we do for the Glory of God!
**We have observed the INSTRUCTIONS that have been RECEIVED through HIS CALL and we have observed the INSIGHTS that have been REVEALED during OUR TIME but now I want you to notice: The INVOLVEMENT that is REQUIRED for HIS GLORY!
HIS GLORY:
II. THE INVOLVEMENT THAT IS REQUIRED
**Whenever we are passionate about the Glory of God then we will understand that:
- The COMMANDMENT is UNIVERSAL
4:38 I sent you…
**Notice the three words that are found in your outline and on the power point screen: I SENT YOU!
**This commandment is universal and notice two great principles that we need to keep in mind as we are obeying this commandment. First of all:
1. SOWING/REAPING will be REWARDED
4:36 And he who reaps receives wages
*The TREASURES are ETERNAL
*The TESTIMONIES are EXCITING
2. SINGING/REJOICING will be REPEATED
4:36 he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together
- The COMMITMENT must be UNIFIED
4:37 …the saying is true, one sows and another reaps
One SOWS:
Another REAPS:
**What kind of response does the Lord want us to make today?
1) If you have never answered God’s Call to Salvation then today is the day of salvation . . .
2) If you are burdened over the condition of our FIELD of SOULS then come to the altar and CRY OUT to the LORD of the HARVEST!
3) If you are a member of this Church but you are not using your TIME for His Glory then today make the adjustments and get plugged into our SOWING and REAPING ministries!
4) If you are not a member of our Church but you would like to be then come and meet me at the altar and simply tell me that you are ready to become a covenant member of our Church!
5) If you have a teenager who is being recruited by gangs, seduced by pimps/prostitutes, being over powered by drugs and drug lords then you need to come and cry out to the Lord to break the pull of the world, flesh and the devil in your teenagers life.
6) If you are passionate about teenagers and or children’s ministry and you would like to serve in our Church in those ministries then you need to come and let me know of your desire and willingness.
7) If you are ready to immerse yourself into the Lord’s Harvest and you want to receive some of those Treasures that are Eternal and be part of those Testimonies that are Exciting then join me at the altar! **What do you SEE when you look at your fields? Let me tell you what the statistics tell us we should be able to see. Statistics tell us that there are about 4 million people who live in the Metro Atlanta area. Do you realize that 70% of the 4 million people who live in the Metro Atlanta area do not attend anybody’s Church on any Sunday!