The Lord of the Harvest
The Lord of the Harvest
Matthew 9:35: Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
· Jesus went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
· The King of heaven, the King of glory, God Himself-- came down to rescue us. This is the good news of the gospel.
· The fallen condition of mankind is a more serious sickness than any disease, because it has eternal consequences!
· The gospel is the only answer. It is the only cure to our condition.
· It is truly good news.
Matthew 9:36-38: But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
· The ways of a sinner are hard.
· Our region is filled with people that have lost their hope in life.
· In Wenatchee… we’ve often been losing one person a week due to drug overdoses of fentanyl.
· Suicide is also an issue in our Valley and up here on the plateau, too.
· These are usually young people. We are losing a generation to despair.
· The answer isn’t more treatment centers, or more psychologists and psychiatrists—with their prescription drugs-- the answer is Jesus!
· Jesus has compassion on us in our condition.
· Multitudes and multitudes are facing a crises eternity.
· He knows our how lost we are.
· Jesus calls us to pray that the Lord of the harvest sends workers into OUR fields for a harvest.
· Are we the laborers to go into our fields?
· The answer is yes—because we know our fields, right?
· No one knows our fields better than we do.
· Jesus shows us how to be a laborer in our fields.
John 4:6-8: Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
· This woman comes to the well for water at midday—the heat of the day and Jesus was waiting for her. He was prompted by the Spirit to go to her.
· He came all this way to have a divine encounter with her. He always does.
· And we need to “go and see” the people we know that need Jesus.
· We’ll never have divine appointments if we don’t get out of our comfort zone.
· She was thirsty, she was weary—life was hard.
· And now there’s a man sitting there. Not just any man, but a Jew.
· Perhaps she was thinking, “As if this day wasn’t already hard enough, now I got to deal with this guy!”
· It’s hot, she’s tired—and this guy wants her to get Him some water!
John 4:9-10: Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
· She’s running over with attitude.
· She was probably once pretty, but life and hardship had taken its toll on her.
· Perhaps once she once had hopes and dreams different than this—but life had ground her down to reality. Life does that, right?
· Her soul is dry and her heart is as hard as a rock—she’s living without purpose or meaning—she has lost her joy. She has a deep need.
· Jesus knows exactly what she needs—living water—new life, a chance to start over…she needs Him.
· This region is desperate for living water—our people are drinking from the Dead Sea because that is what the world is!
John 4:11-12: The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
· She’s skeptical—bitterness has set in. This is often the case with a hardened heart. It’s a symptom of hopelessness.
· Our lost people, no matter how desperate for truth—will divert conversations from the truth; change the subject…anything but taking a look at themselves.
John 4:13-15: Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
· Jesus does not engage her question in the way she wants…
· He stays on track and answers her with truth.
· Truth has a way of cutting through any diversions--any distractions.
· We need to engage our lost people the way Jesus does—He stays on truth—He refuses to be side-tracked.
John 4:16-18: Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
· Jesus calls her out in her sin, because every one of us needs to come face to face with our sin or there can be no repentance.
· Jesus does not rub her face in it, but He also does not offer her the living water to drink without confronting her sin. There is no living water without repentance.
· We can be salt and light to those around us—but we must not avoid the truth of repentance of sin or we have lost our flavor and are useless to the kingdom of heaven.
John 4:19-20: The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
· Jesus has exposed her sin and it makes her uncomfortable, and she tries to hide behind religion. Religion is the reason why so many young people don’t want any part of Jesus, because they can see right through it.
· “Churchianity” does not appeal to the masses—it speaks of hypocrisy.
· Our region is filled with churches, but it seems we are not changing our culture. In fact most churches are not growing but just “hanging on.”
· Religion is nothing but man’s traditions, rules, and regulations. All these things are a substitute for the “real thing.”
· Religion keeps us from the “living water.” It allows us to cover our hopelessness with a veneer of respectability.
· Religion never confronts the real issues; it is just a hiding place where we can pretend that everything is okay.
· Everything is not okay. It is time to pull back the veil, people are dying and facing a Christ-less eternity!
John 4:21-24: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
· Jesus is not going to let her hide behind her religion.
· He says we need the Spirit to even worship the Father…in truth.
· No more pretenses—just simplicity—just loving God.
· The Spirit is the Living Water. The lost people of our days are not interested in religion because they can see through it.
· Religion is nothing but a substitute for the anointing of the Holy Spirit
John 7:37-39: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
· It’s only through the Spirit that we can drink
· Salvation only comes from the Spirit.
· It’s only through the Spirit that we can know truth because He is the Spirit of Truth, therefore we cannot truly worship the Father without the empowerment of the Spirit.
· Religious traditions, rules, and regulations, cannot get you there. Those are man-made things—they are not of the Spirit!
John 4:25-26: The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
· She reveals that the Messiah is her hope—now she is ready for truth.
· Now it is time for her to drink.
· She has dropped her pretenses—she is ready to change her life.
· What is the result of her drinking deeply from the Living Water?
John 4:28-29: The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
· She didn’t need her waterpot anymore, she had a new source of water—Living Water!
· The waterpot was a symbol of her trying to gather her own water, using her own resources…. that could never satisfy her.
· It actually was keeping her from the hope she was really looking for.
· This is the true result of drinking the water—bringing others to Jesus.
· If you are not telling others about Jesus—you are not drinking! Maybe you drank—but are you continually drinking?
· We can never set other people free until we are free ourselves.
· We can never lead people to the Living water until we drink deeply ourselves.
· There are some things that we may need to leave behind if we want to follow Jesus; there may be some people we need to break from, and there may be some places we need to break away from.
· Every one of us has a deep need, and until we drink deeply of the living water of the Spirit--we will try to satisfy our need by looking in “all the wrong places.”
· We can hide behind our jobs, our hobbies, our vacations, our bank accounts, etc. We can even hide in our churches!
· The truth is our churches are not growing because we are not going!
· But--none of those things can ever really satisfy us.
John 4:35-38: 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! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
· The will of the Lord for us is to join in the harvest of souls.
· All of us know people who are struggling.
· All of us know people who are thirsting and hungering for something more than this world has to offer.
· We know people who are trying to satisfy that thirst with man-made things. It’s not the Pastor’s job—it’s everybody’s!
· Others are trying to satisfy their thirst with sin.
· The wheat harvest is in and the time of planting in our region is finished!
· Maybe the wheat harvest this year wasn’t profitable, but Jesus promises us we will rejoice in the wages that we will receive for the harvest of souls.
· For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
· We have an opportunity to give a cup “living water” when we tell other people about Jesus.
· The fields are ripe for the harvest of people who are desperate for something more—and Jesus is the only thing that can ever satisfy us.