Go!
Notes
Transcript
Today we are 1 week in to our concentration on prayer and participation in the half-Million Mobilization joining in with Nazarenes from around the USA & Canada. We are praying for the Lord’s protection, direction, and revelation for your life and for the life of the church - local, district wide, and across the USA & Canada. I have included here the QR codes that will take you to the digital editions of the Prayer Journal and the Holiness Today - Then there is this QR Code that will take you to the app. We also have the physical Prayer Journal and Holiness Today if you would like to have those and haven’t yet picked yours up.
The title of this morning’s message is simple - GO! Yes, there is an exclamation point, but I don’t want you to leave just yet, and there is more to the going that just leaving - there is a purpose behind our going!
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Nearly everywhere we go these days there is 1 message that we see. It is stated differently in different locations, but the meaning is the same. Whether it says Help Wanted, or Now Hiring, or a more memorable message like the one I saw last year as I was driving through Pittsburgh that said Now Hiring, just like everybody else. Then there was this one that I saw on the door of Subway in downtown Coraopolis - it kind of sums it up doesn’t it?
Well, I want you to know that we are also being recruited into the work of the kingdom of heaven. God has called every believer to go. Notice in our passage this morning, that it wasn’t the 12 that Jesus sent out this time, it was 72 - or perhaps your version says it was 70. There is a little confusion as to what the Greek says here, but either way it was far more than the 12 chosen disciples. He didn’t send them out alone, though - He sent them out in two’s. There is comfort in having someone go with us, but we have all been called.
The Harvest is plentiful.
I have never worked on a farm, but I know that it is hard, physical labor. It requires early mornings and late evenings during the time of the harvest, especially when the harvest is plentiful. It is the desire of every farmer when the seeds are planted that the harvest would be large.
When we look around us, do we see a harvest at all, let alone one that is plentiful? I see a great deal of grim prognostications out there today about the state of the church and the future of the church. If we aren’t careful, we can start to see the church like any other business or community group. We look at church growth as if it is all about us. It is my belief that when we get too dependent on ourselves and too independent of God, we begin to lose sight of the harvest that is all around us.
There are people we come into contact with every day that need to see the love of God flowing from our lives as we interact with them day to day. Make no mistake, the harvest is still plentiful, but I fear that sometimes we Christ-followers have spoiled the harvest by our lack of love for those who need the very message we have to offer.
The workers are few.
If there is a large harvest, there is a need for a large group of workers to bring in the harvest.
Here is the thing - God is still calling men and women today to a life of ministry. This church has a great history of people who have been called into that life. Here on the Pittsburgh District alone, there are at least 5 pastors other than me that have been highly influenced by their time right here in this church. We also have at least 1 that was called and is now serving in another denomination. God has used this church as a harvest for those called into what we often call full time or “professional” ministry. That is an incredible track record, and I am probably missing some others as well. I praise the Lord for that kind of history. God is still calling women and men to that kind of life in ministry.
That calling to ministry is the calling that I received on my life as a young child of 8 when I thought God was calling me to the life of a medical missionary, which He later confirmed, and clarified as a call to preach when I was a college student. I have often seen these words of Jesus as a reminder that God still calls people into that kind of ministry, and I still believe that to be true. But I have recently come to believe that there is much more to these words of Jesus than I had thought.
Jesus sent out 70 - or 72 depending on which translation you’re reading, and yet he only called 12 to be his disciples. What I believe Jesus is saying is that there are so many out there in the harvest, that all of His followers are called to be involved in the harvest.
Ask!
In this season of prayer, we are being called - all of us, to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field. Does God still call people to a lifetime of Christian service in ministry? Does He still call people to preach? Absolutely he does! As District Secretary and as part of the district Board of Ministry and the Pittsburgh District Learning Center, I get to hear about the calling that God has placed on women and men of all ages to go forth as ministers of the Gospel. It’s humbling to know that God has placed a call on your life to be one that leads the church as a pastor.
So, I encourage you to ask the Lord of the harvest to continue to call women and men into that kind of life. I encourage you to pray that women and men will not only receive that calling, but that they would have the courage to step up and answer that calling and provide leadership for the church. I am told by my District Superintendent friends that there is a shortage of pastors in the USA and Canada. So let’s pray that the Lord of the harvest will continue to call pastors across the USA & Canada, and let us also pray that He will provide for our pastors across the US and Canada.
As I said earlier, though, there is much more to these words of Jesus. He is not just speaking of what we would call “Professional” ministry. God is looking for workers of all types to go out into the harvest and help to bring in those who would be part of the kingdom. The harvest is plentiful, so I want to commission you this morning to
Go!
Ultimately, this is the message of Jesus for us this morning. We all can, and we all need to go! Go into the harvest fields to help prepare the crop. Go into all the world around us as examples of what it means to live a Christ like life. Go to your families and your friends, go to your co-workers and those with whom you come into contact. Show them the love of Jesus in ways that help prepare the harvest to bring in a banner crop.
God has called every single one of us to be His ambassadors - to take His message into the world around us. What harvest field is available to you? How will you take the message of the harvest to your field?
God has called us all to GO!
