An Atmosphere For The Harvest
The Harvest • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro;
Intro;
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.”
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Matthew 25:14-30 gives us the account of the wealthy land owner that gave to three of his servants talents, to one he gave five, to another he gave two, and to yet another he gave one. In this passage it is clear that we are responsible not for what we do not have or what we have not been given, we are responsible for that portion for which we have been given. As we were reminded last week, we must work while it is day because the night is coming when no man can work. Christ is returning for His Church, a church that is without spot or blemish, and we must be busy about the Father’s business until that time. With that being said, we do hold a certain level of responsibility in multiplying the Kingdom of God! While we cannot save anyone, we can set the atmosphere to make it possible for people to connect with Christ and as a result, multiply the Kingdom!
So, from a practical standpoint - are we willing to try things that we may not necessarily like in order to set the atmosphere for someone far from Christ to come to know Him? Chairs, Carpet, Paint, a new building, etc. is a small price to pay and a small level of discomfort to endure if it means even one soul comes to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. Prayer meeting, fasting, change, etc. is any of it really too high of a price to pay if your lost loved one gets saved?
Beyond these things, there are four ways that we as a Church set the atmosphere for the lost to be found, for the bound to be set free, for the addict to be delivered, for marriages to be restored, for broken families to be put back together, and for a revival like we have never seen before!
1. Temperature
2. Light
3. Wind & Rain
4. Fire
• Soil – Us
• Matthew 13:3-8 tells us the parable of the sower and illustrates to us;
3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
• Not every person is the same, they will require something different
◦ Some will be like the rocky ground – They need the Lord to come in and break up the fallow ground, to break up the hardness of their hearts before the Word can be planted in their hearts and be effective!
◦ Some will be like the ground taken over by the weeds – They receive the Word of God but as they walk out the doors of the church they allow themselves to become so wrapped up with the cares of this life that they don't allow the Word of God to become rooted in their lives and as a result;
▪ They find themselves wondering why their children are not in church
• Don't push your kids in sports, treat the church & the things of God with indifference and as though they are not important and wonder why your kids don't want anything to with the church!
• What are your actions/decisions communicating to them?
▪ Why their marriage is a wreck
▪ Why there's no peace in their minds
▪ No joy in their heart
▪ No satisfaction
◦ Some are victimized by the fowls of the air(False Religions) that will come along and pluck the Word of God right out of your hearts and plant some false idea instead of a god that they have created!
◦ Others still are good soil, ready for the Word of God to be planted in their hearts and soon will become a harvest ready to be reaped!
▪ What they need is someone that will plant the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their minds and hearts, will it be you?!?!?
▪ Not only does the soil of the hearts of the unbelievers need to be prepared(we do this by praying and fasting for them!) but the heart of the believer MUST be ready to receive the Word and in return cast the Word before the sinner!
▪ Prepare your heart!
1. Temperature – If the temperature aint right, it can have a detrimental effect on the crop!
• You've heard people say;
◦ He gave them the cold shoulder
◦ Boy, she got hot when they had that conversation
• The church has a warm/cold environment & I aint talking about the temperature of the sanctuary neither!
◦ What kind of an environment are you creating for visitors?
▪ Are you friendly only to those that you like?
• Temperature has a great effect on the harvest, here are some things that are effected by it;
◦ Respiration – Ever been somewhere and the environment was so toxic, so tense, that you couldn't breathe?
▪ Or worse yet, the environment was so toxic that the breath of the Holy Ghost couldn't felt in the building?
◦ Organic Matter Decomposition – Is the process where something that is dead undergoes a physical and biological breakdown into something that is alive
▪ I oughta walk different
▪ I oughta talk different – I shouldn't have a negative thing to say about everyone that comes up in a conversation
• David said - Let the words of my mouth. And the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
◦ Hormonal Balance – Some of y'all have such huge emotional swings and in some part its due to the environment you're in...in other cases it's because of the environment you've created!
◦ Maturation – If the environment aint right, the rate at which believers mature will be greatly hampered!
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
• Paul went on to tell them that they was division and strife amongst them and they were fighting over things that didn't even matter!
▪ No believer, new or seasoned can mature in an environment where bitterness, strife, and division are allowed to remain!
◦ Root Development – It hinders the ability of the seed to properly develop roots!
▪ You can't bloom and become fruitful if you don't remain planted and stay faithful!
• Many don't stay planted because the environment is not welcoming, it's cold!
◦ Water & Nutrient Absorption
▪ It's hard to receive nourishment from God if the atmosphere is not welcoming and you don't feel at home!
▪ It's hard for people to allow the Word of God to penetrate their hearts when Sis. Papoofney and Bro. Whatchamacallit are creating a judgmental, hate filled environment!
◦ Pests & Disease Occurence
▪ When the environment is welcoming, when the temperature is right it will ward off a lot of the pests and disease that would otherwise attack;
• Anger
• Bitterness
• Jealousy
• Grudges
• Offenses
3. Light (The Word)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
◦ In other words, when we don't expose ourselves to the right amount of the Word, we become;
▪ Spindly – weak, insubstantial in construction, rickety, flimsy, wobbly, shaky
• Driven with every wind of doctrine
◦ Poor Pollination;
▪ Unable to reproduce
▪ Ineffective in reproducing the faith that is within us to the next generation
▪ When questions arise, we view it as rebellion when we should view it as an opportunity to more effectively communicate the Word of God to our young people
◦ Poor fruit quality
▪ When not exposed to the right amount of light, when the Word of God is not in us, the fruits of the Spirit are not in us, when harvest time comes, what we reproduce is entirely different because you reproduce what you are!
4. Water & Wind
• Wind – Though we may not see the wind, we can very evidently see the effects of the wind!
◦ Wind allows those around us to see the effect of the Holy Ghost in our lives
◦ The Wind is one of the catalysts for the reproduction process
• Wind blows away the pests and the disease
◦ In a church/believer where division, strife, jealousy, anger, bitterness, grudges, offenses, etc. remain is a believer/church that has gone too long without the wind of the Holy Ghost blowing in their midst!
◦ Water
▪ Plants are made up of up to 80% water
▪ The human body consists of up to 60% of water – Brain & Heart – 73%, Lungs are 83% water
• It's no coincidence that the organ that we use to breathe is comprised of 83% water – God is trying to communicate a very important lesson to us – Just as your lungs need water for there to be life in the body, your spirit man needs to be immersed in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost in order for you to experience the life that God intends for you to have!
Water
Holy Ghost
Major factor of crop quality & productivity
Acts 2 – 3,000 added after the day of Pentecost
Required in large quantities for plant growth
Acts 2 – 3,000 added day 1, added daily after
Essential to establish transplanted seedlings
Essential to establishing us in our daily walk – John 15:26, 1 John 5:6, 1 Peter 3:21, Titus 3:5, 2 Thess 2:13-14, Romans 8:5
Essential for fast establishment of the crop
Book of Acts
Provides protection in cold temp
Provides protection during spiritual winter & desert
5. Fire
• A study has shown that after a forest has been burnt down or cut down, what grows in its place my not resemble what was lost.
◦ Don't discount the moving of the Holy Ghost cause it doesn't look like it did 50 years ago
• Through a process called succession, scientists say that after about 200 years, the forest will return to its former fruitfulness