Live with Urgency, 2009 AAEO Emphasis

 TEXT:  John 9:4

TOPIC: Live with Urgency:  Sowing Together for Harvest

Pastor Bobby Earls, FBC, Center Point, March 1, 2009

Adapted from Geoff Hammond’s AAEO Message for 2009

As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. 

Night is coming, when no one can work. 

John 9:4, (NIV)

The North American Mission Board is the mission arm of the SBC that focuses on sharing the good news of Jesus Christ throughout America and Canada.  One of the questions NAMB constantly asks is “how do we assist Southern Baptists in their task of fulfilling the Great

Commission?”  In response the NAMB has set three objectives to help them help us; sharing Christ, sending missionaries and starting churches.

            One of the most recent messages coming from NAMB is that America and North America is now a mission field.

I.  North America is an Increasingly Lost Mission Field.

A. It is a Growing Mission Field

And we are a growing mission field. We are one of the few industrialized nations in the world that is growing. Both Canada and the United States have a growing population, legally and illegally. Canada admits 250 thousand legal immigrants every year. The United States has a population of 303 million. In the next 35 years, it will be 400 million and over 100 million will be Hispanic. It’s a growing population.

B. It is a Changing Mission Field

It’s a changing population. The ethnic diversity, you can hardly keep up with the numbers. In greater Atlanta I’m told there are somewhere between 50 to 100 thousand Ethiopians.

We have 80 thousand Nigerians in Houston and 166 thousand Armenians in Los Angeles. Now,

here’s something interesting, in Toronto, you can call 911 in 150 languages!  Here in the state of Alabama 92 different languages are spoken and that does not include red neck.  Right in the middle of “the Bible Belt” just in our state alone are 20 Mosques, 3 Hindu Temples, 14 Buddhists Temples, 1 Confucius Institute, 16 Jewish Synagogues, 1 Sikh Temple, and 49 Wicca/Pagan groups.

It’s growing, it’s changing and it’s becoming increasingly challenging.

C. It is a Challenging Mission Field

Most of realize that the America we have today is not the America most of us grew up in. I wish it were. But this North America is becoming very challenging. It’s becoming more pluralistic. Many believe there are many ways to God; that Jesus Christ is not the only way to Heaven. It’s becoming more secular.  We are no longer a Christian nation.

It has often been said that Southern Baptists have been very successful at reaching those who are like them, but the problem today is that the number of people who are “like us” is shrinking.  What are we going to do to reach those who are not like us?

May I say that not only must Southern Baptists look upon the fields in North America as mission fields but so must we.  We, as members at FBCP, must begin to look at our fields as mission fields all around us.  We must begin to plan our ministries and promote our programming in such a way to reach the lost mission fields about us that are ever growing, ever changing and increasingly becoming more and more challenging every day.

That’s also why we must understand the task of the church.  And the task of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission.

II. The Task of the Church is to Fulfill the Great Commission.

The church is the greatest and the highest institution on earth, and today, the church is the greatest hope we have for a lost and dying world.  We can understand the importance of the church when we understand just how much the church means to our Lord Jesus Christ.

A. Jesus Died for the Church, Loves the Church, and is Concerned for the Church.

As members of the church we are all called to the task of fulfilling the Great Commission.

B. Every Christian is Called to the Task of Fulfilling the Great Commission.

We must do the work of Him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.

III. In the Calling there is a Sending.

A. We Hear the Call and then Respond to Being Sent.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." Isaiah 6:8 (NKJV)

B. We are Sent by the Father.

C. We are Sent to do the Father’s Work.

D. We are Sent to do the Father’s Will.

Notice the urgency with which Jesus lived.

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

John 4:34 (NKJV)

E. We are Sent for the Urgent Task (John 4:35).

35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! John 4:35 (NKJV)

IV. We Must Urgently Sow Together for Harvest.

A. We Must Sow to Reap.

For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' John 4:37 (NKJV)

B. We Reap Where Others have Sown.

C. We Will Reap What We Sow.

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Gal 6:7-9 (NKJV)

D. Those that Sow in Tears Will Reap in Joy.

He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him. Psalms 126:6 (NKJV)

E. We Must Sow Together for Harvest.

I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." John 4:38 (NKJV)

V. Challenge

a. Do you see the Lostness in North America?

b. Do you see the Lostness around you?

c. Will you commit to sow together for harvest?