Mat.9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Matt.9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Jesus taught a lot of times with parables and He Always used something that the people of that time knew something about, something they could relate to. He talked a lot about Seedtime and harvest, about plowing, about tilling the ground. In Matt he talked about planting the seed, and the world being the field. I want to talk a little today about, and get some thoughts from what Jesus was thinking about when He taught on these same verses. Jesus: When He was born in Bethlehem He knew exactly why He had come into this world, Paul talked about it in 1Ti 1:15 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Jesus came to this world for one purpose and one purpose only and that was to save sinners, nothing else. Everything God gives you after Salvation, is icing on the cake. Every breath you breath, the abundant life, eternal life, are all a gift from God. The Great commission in Matt 28:18 and other places in the Bible are commands from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When He ascended into Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit Back to live in the believer, He sent him for one purpose only, to help you as a Christian win others to him. As I have often said before , "The fruit of a Christian is another Christian." The fruit of an apple tree is apples. The fruit of a marriage is children, and on we could go But you get the idea, and any thing short of being a witness for Christ is a cop-out Being a witness for Christ brings forth fruit to the Christian. And Jesus gave us some instruction in the word of God how to do that. Jer 4:3¶ For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Lazy people will not win souls for Christ: Pr 20:4¶ The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. Some will go to their judgment without anything, have you ever though about what it would be like to stand before Jesus in the Judgment without a thing to offer him. Dan 12:3 speaks about soul-winning crown. James talks about converting the sinner. The word of God is all about Jesus and winning souls to Himself. now lets get to the heart of the matter;
The bible says in Ge 8:22 "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Seedtime and harvest will never cease. Because God said it would not, You can have a hard cold winter, or a hot, hot summer but seed time comes anyway, and after that the harvest, and the harvest is directly related to the way you till your ground and take care of the planting of the seed. The same idea true in soulwinning, you may go out into the highways for weeks and just plant some seed. But one day you will harvest. Now that upsets a lot of people, They say God gives the increase. and Right He does. But he does not do the harvesting, He sent forth labours into the harvest to do that. Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. The only place in the Bible where God does any harvesting is in the book of Revelations where he Then sends the Angels to harvest the earth. Sure God gives the increase: 1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Preachers will inevitably read this verse of scripture and stop, and not say anything else about the harvest, because it lets them off the hook, they set and wait for God to give the increase, and never harvest any souls that God has already germinated with the seed of the gospel, People are ripe and dying on the vine because most Christians do not know how or do not want to lead a soul to Christ. Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die: Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The seed must be planted and then it must die, and when it dies then God gives the increase, you plant one grain of corn, and you harvest an ear of corn with thousands of grains on it, that is the increase that God gives. And if you do not harvest it and save some for seed you will not prosper and the Kingdom of God will not prosper either. You are that one grain of Corn, and if you go to Christ and die to sin and give yourself to Christ you will be the ear of corn that God inceases to a thousand. through your labour, many will be saved. God send forth labors into the harvest to Harvest the souls he has already convicted (increased). Jas 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Mt 10:16¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. To be delivered up to the governors for preaching Jesus in the streets is what Jesus meant. If you are put in jail for some wrong you have done, you deserve to be there, But if you are put in jail for preaching, then count it all Joy for this is pleasing to God. It brings glory to the Father. He tells us in these verses that when we give up all and follow Him He will make us fishers of Men. Take no though of the circumstances around you, take no thought of the government, or what people may say about you, get a few doors slammed in your face, so what, keep on preaching anyway. There is nothing more important in this world than the preaching of the cross. Nothing more important than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world is worth losing your souls for. I could go on and on about soul-winning, it is the one most important part of this book and it is all about JESUS, and HIS death on the cross. Sure this book tell one how to live the abundant life, (after he is saved) sure this book has the answer for every walk of life. It is comfort in the time of trouble, it is food for the soul, it will keep you warm in the cold, it will keep you cool when you are hot. It is everything a man needs in his life, But most of all it is about Jesus and Him dying on the cross to save an old sinner like me. I love Him today, What about you, Have you came to Him yet and asked Him to forgive you of your sin and to come into your heart and save you soul. It is the one most greatest thing you can every do with your life. is to give it to Jesus, he will know what to do with it. The Potters Claysermon of the week3.htm Jim Haga