Time For Harvest

David Taylor finishes out the revival week with a message about the Harvest for the Kingdom of God. God is on the move, it is time we get on board and move with Him!

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Well good morning. Now I just have to say this. I doubt anyone in here is a true WKU football fan, but since WKU would be the closest large school I just want to put out that my school, Liberty University, played WKU in Bowling Green yesterday and won 30-24 so go Flames!

Brother Paul has been after me ever since we started meeting back in person about choosing a week to get back in the pulpit and preach a sermon and I kept putting it off. Well, a few weeks ago, he asked me again to pick a date and I told him, hey how about you go ahead and pick a date and I will preach then. He said okay, how about September 20th at the end of revival week and so here we are.

What a great week we had! If you had a great week here during revival let me hear you say amen!

I was really blessed by the messages we heard last week, especially the last two nights talking about trials and keeping our heads up by brother Jacob. What a blessing.

And how much more exciting it is to know that there are two more members of the family of God this Sunday as Rachel and Kinleigh both got saved this week! There is nothing more exciting than seeing someone come to Christ.

I mean come on, if you are not fired up by what has happened in this church this week by the hand of God you need a soul checkup! It is amazing what God has done here this week.

Now, Courtney and I don’t know Rachel very well, though I know she wants us to do a song by a group called Skillet. Yes, I know that is a weird name for a group but it is a Christian group with some great music I promise you. So we don’t know Rachel very well, but we sure know little Kinleigh and we could not have been more excited to receive that news late Wednesday night about her asking Christ into her life.

I told Nick later Wednesday evening that it is obvious to me that God is on the move here at Bethlehem Church! We need to be confident and take great encouragement in that fact church, God is on the move!

Amen? I mean I almost feel like I don’t even need to preach let’s just talk about the great things God did this week!

I only say that half kidding. We should be continually giving thanks for the great things He has done.

You know, I had been working on a sermon for today for a couple of weeks but after everything that happened this week here in this sanctuary I scrapped it. God has something else for me to say. You see, I don’t believe that just because revival is over that it means God is done working here for the year. No, I believe He is just warming up.

I don’t know what exactly He has planned but one thing I do know is that He is telling us that it is time for a harvest. It is time for a harvest.

Would you turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew’s Gospel chapter 9 and we will start in verse 35 it will also be on the screen this morning. If you will please stand for the reading of God’s Word. And the Word of God says this:

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.”

Let us pray this morning.

Thank you, you may be seated.

Matthew 9:37 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

You know if there is something people here in Monroe County understand it is a harvest. We are in farm country and harvest time is quickly approaching. But today we are not talking about harvesting crops, we are talking about harvesting something much more precious. We are talking about the fields of souls and the harvesting of souls for the Kingdom of God.

And Jesus here he is using the idea of a harvest because that is what is going to make sense to the disciples. It is what they would understand in that culture. It was an agricultural culture in Israel. They were farmers and shepherds. That is what they did. Their whole calendar was centered around planing, cultivating, growing, harvesting.

In fact, you can see the chart on the screen. From March through September they would have been harvesting one crop or another. That is seven months out of the year they were harvesting. For those keeping score that is over half the year they were harvesting the fields.

This is a subject that they would be intimately familiar with. In fact, Jesus knew that they were so in tune with the life of farmers and shepherds that over 200 times in the Gospels Jesus uses the illustration of something related to agriculture. He was constantly using pictures of seeds, planting, growing, fields, harvesting, reaping, shepherding, sheep, goats and more. He spoke to them on their level.

And in this passage today we see Jesus meeting the people, not just His disciples, but the people on their level. Look again at verses 35 and 36.

Matthew 9:35–36 ESV

The Authority of Jesus

The first thing we see here in these verses is the authority of Jesus. The Authority of Jesus. Jesus went throughout all of the cities and villages in the region. Here He was in the region of Galilee, his hometown of Nazareth was in Galilee. And here we see a wheat field in Galilee and a whole view of the hillsides. It is absolutely beautiful there.

And He was teaching in the synagogues. Now, they did not just let anyone teach in the synagogues. You had to know what you were talking about. They recognized His ability and His authority and let Him teach. And what does verse 35 say He was doing? He was proclaiming the Gospel. He was preaching a salvation message. Gospel is just a word for good news. He was giving them good news!

He was telling them, guess what? You have sin in your life. You are condemned! But you don’t have to be. A savior has been sent to you.

Now, for most of His ministry Jesus did not reveal Himself as the Messiah. He let the story play out, but He made no secret about what it took to be saved and that simply being a rule follower (or at least someone who claimed to be) was not enough. He preached with authority because Jesus was and is and will always be God.

John 1:1 says:

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He has the authority of God because He is God. Jesus was not just a good man, not just a good teacher, not just an exciting preacher, no, Jesus is the God of the universe who created you, who created me, and that God, THE God, loves you and me enough to suffer and die on a cross to save us from our sin. Hallelujah!

Jesus continues to show his authority at the end of verse 35: healing every disease and every affliction.

Jesus had power over everything. We see in the Gospels His power over creation, His power over sickness, His power and authority over demons, His power and authority over death. There is nothing that is not under His rule or under His authority.

We see Jesus proclaim this authority later in Matthew’s Gospel as well. Look at Matthew 28:18.

Matthew 28:18 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It says ALL authority. Not some authority, not just Heaven’s authority, not just Earth’s authority, it says all authority. There is nothing that is not under His rule.

So Jesus is teaching and preaching throughout Galilee with absolute authority. The authority of Jesus.

And second, we see the affection of Jesus.

The Affection of Jesus

The affection of Jesus, look in verse 36.

Matthew 9:36 ESV

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

He had compassion for them. You know that word compassion means to have great love for them, to have affection for them. It means to be deeply moved for them.

Think about this for a minute, these are people who sinned. These are people that He has come to be tortured for, to suffer for, to die for. And He has a great compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless.

What a Savior, what a God we have!

Jesus does not care about your status in society. He does not care about anything except you. His affection and love for us is great because that is the God that He is.

Now this word harassed is a little confusing today because of the way we use it in our society. Now they were an oppressed people in the First Century, do not mistake that. But what is happening here is that they are distressed, they are weary, they are torn down, they are tired. And it says they are helpless.

The Jews lived under two types of oppression. They lived under Roman oppression but they also lived under the oppression of the Jewish spiritual leaders. And I use the terms spiritual and leaders very lightly here.

They did not care about the people. And they definitely did not care about their souls. All the Pharisees cared about was power. They wanted to be in charge. They liked their status so they imposed all of these rules on the Jews that the Jews could not possibly follow. It was impossible and they would wear them down because of it.

And Jesus saw this and He had compassion on them. We know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep and He will not let them wander without Him. But this is something that God had in mind for the Jews for centuries. Look in Numbers 27:17 let’s actually start in verse 16. It says,

Numbers 27:16–17 ESV

16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation 17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

God always wants the best for His people. Sheep without a shepherd are in trouble. They need to be guided. So Jesus was hurting for the Jews, God’s chosen people, because they were without true spiritual guidance. Their leaders had become corrupt.

Church that should give us great comfort this morning. To know that Jesus does not want us to be as sheep without a shepherd. He has sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, and He is our great shepherd. John’s Gospel actually makes this quite clear in chapter 10 starting in verse seven.

John 10:7–18 ESV

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

A shepherd does everything he can to protect his sheep. Without sheep, a shepherd on earth in the first century would literally have nothing. There would be no life because he would not be able to sustain himself. With that same mindset, Jesus protects His sheep.

The affection of Jesus for those whom He has come to save is great and it should give us great comfort and joy to know that there is no end to His love for us.

The third thing we see in this passage and what I want to spend the rest of our time this morning on is the assignment that Jesus now gives to His disciples.

The Assignment from Jesus

The assignment from Jesus. Let’s look in verses 37-38.

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

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.”

The harvest is plentiful. Think about this. There are seven and a half billion people on this earth. If only one percent of those were part of the harvest that is 80 Million people! And I cannot imagine that only 1 percent of the earth’s current population will be part of the Kingdom of God. The harvest is out there. I mean think about it this way, in just the past year alone in this church, and, let’s be honest, we aren’t exactly a big church, we have had three people saved. Two young ladies this last week and one young man last year. If our own congregation has a harvest that plentiful, think how ripe the fields must be outside of the walls of this church!

But Jesus says that there is a problem. He says yes, the harvest is plentiful. There are plenty of souls that are primed and ready for the Gospel. They may be itching just to hear the Gospel and not even realize that is what they are craving. But the problem is that the laborers are few.

Church Jesus is calling on His disciples to do something. He tells them in verse 38 to pray earnestly that the Lord of the Harvest will send out laborers into His harvest. Not just pray, pray earnestly! To plead with God, to beg him, ask with the highest urgency that He would send out the laborers into the field!

But I want you to notice something very interesting in Matthew 10 just a few verses after our passage here this morning.

Matthew 10:1 ESV

1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

Matthew 10:5–6 ESV

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

So in chapter nine, Jesus is telling the disciples to pray earnestly that God would send someone into the fields and then He turns right around in chapter ten and says by the way, you are the ones I am sending out!

You see Jesus has a mission for all of His disciples, and if you are a Christian, that is exactly what you are called to be, a disciple of Christ. He has a mission, an assignment for each of us. He spells it out for us in Matthew 28.

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.”

Go. That’s what Jesus says. He says GO. Make more disciples. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded to you.

In other words, it’s not enough to come to church once a week. We are not called to just come to church, sing a few songs, hear a 30 minute sermon, check off the box, go home, act like nothing ever happened, say a prayer before each meal and before we go to bed and act like that is all we have to do and we are following Christ!

Unfortunately, I believe that is what a lot of Christians do here in the United States and often I am guilty of that as well. We don’t make Christianity our lifestyle, it is a label we wear when it is convenient. Well church, I’m here to tell you it is not going to be convenient forever. Brother Jacob and Brother Glenn both talked about that this last week we are headed for some trying times here in this country for Christ’s church but we need to be ready to meet that challenge and to fulfill this assignment that Christ is giving us here in the Gospel of Matthew.

Listen to what Christ said about the trials His disciples would face, and by extension, the trials we will face. It is in Matthew 10. He has just told the twelve that He will be sending them out and in verse 16 He begins to describe what will happen.

Matthew 10:16–23 ESV

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Skip down to verse 26:

Matthew 10:26–28 ESV

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Do not fear those who will persecute you! Church we should not fear our government, we should not fear those who hate Christians, we should fear God and God alone. God has commanded us to follow Him and to go out into His fields for the harvest that He has prepared and nothing should stop us from that mission.

A time is coming when it will no longer be safe to be a Christian in the United States of America, I truly believe that. But what does he say in verses 32-33?

Matthew 10:32–33 ESV

32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Those are sobering words.

I don’t say this to try and scare you. It is the reality of where we are. It is time to harvest church.

I want to leave you with a story before we close this morning. I want to tell it to you because it illustrates the urgency that we must have to share the Gospel and go out and tell the good news at every opportunity that we have.

Most of you will remember the dark dark day of April 20th, 1999. On that day, two young high school students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, would murder 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School shooting guns and setting off bombs. 21 others were injured by gunshots and 3 others were injured trying to escape the massacre.

I remember being a young 13-year-old seventh grader at Trinity Christian School in Rock Hill, South Carolina when that happened. And while it was scary, our little school thought that nothing like that would ever happen there.

Two weeks later, I am sitting at the lunch table in our gym. I was at the corner of the table, in front of me was a girl named Sierra and at the end of the table was a boy named Allen.

Allen was an odd kid. Nobody really liked him. He was a loaner. He didn’t really fit in. He was a class clown, he was also a bully. And I didn’t know it at the time, but as an adult I now realize he was crying out for help.

But that day at the lunch table Allen made an announcement. He said that he was going to shoot the school up soon and he would start with me and Sierra.

Two hours later, I found myself in the Principal’s office talking to a police detective about what Allen had said.

Allen never came back to school after that. I remember that somehow word got out that he had picked a day and time to carry out his threat. And I remember our teacher started telling us what we would need to do if Allen did show up that day. Allen never did show up.

Fast forward two years. I see Allen. It was the first time I had seen him since that day at lunch. And he asks me if I was still into all of that church stuff. I told him I was. He proceeded to inform me that he was not and said that he would be going to Hell soon and he was ready for the party. I got away from him as quickly as I could. I was afraid of him.

A few weeks later, I was at basketball practice and one of our teachers came in the gym and pulled me and a classmate aside. He asked if we remembered Allen. We told him we did. He then told us that Allen had committed suicide. He shot himself.

I am almost certain that Allen is suffering eternity in Hell today. And I cannot help but wonder if anything that I could have done or said in Allen’s life would have made any difference at all. It is something that haunts me in the back of my mind.

We never know how much time someone has church. We never know who is part of the harvest. We should not be afraid. We must be bold in our faith. We must proclaim the Gospel. We can’t just sit this one out.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Church we need to go out with the Authority of Jesus Christ. We need to have the Affection of Jesus Christ. And we need to fulfill the Assignment from Jesus Christ.

If everyone would just bow their head and close their eyes for a moment. I want to just ask a few questions. There’s nobody looking around.

If you would say today, David, I’m not part of God’s Kingdom. I have not accepted Christ as my Savior and I want to do that today. Would you just slip up your hand right now.

Wait to see if there are any hands that go up.

Ok, now, for those here that profess that they are saved, I have a question for you today. If you would say David, I admit I have not been out gathering the harvest for Christ. Maybe you have been scared, maybe you feel like you aren’t able, maybe it is something else, but if you want to say today I want to make a commitment to go out into the field and proclaim the Gospel of Christ, would you raise your hand right now?

Wait to see if there are any hands that go up.

Ok, I am going to pray, then we are going to have a closing song. We have places open at the alter, or you can pray there at your seat. But church, God is on the move here at Bethlehem and it is time we get on board and move with Him.