And he didn't run out after after Wednesday night.
So I guess we consider that a win.
But anyways, glad good to have him here tonight.
And he's he's a preacher. And that's that's that's who we
like to have in is, is people who like to preach God's word.
And I know how to expound God's word, not just tell a bunch of
stories and everything else. But we're glad he's here.
And so, Pastor Zoom and you come up and preach for us.
Amen. Thank you for having me.
It's a blessing to be here with you.
And I'm enjoying the fellowship with your pastor and with you as
well. And it's great to have this
emphasis over the weekend on missions.
Missions is the heartbeat of God, isn't it?
And so it's never a waste of time to give time to this
wonderful and very important theme.
It's right at the heart and soul of what we need to be involved
with as a local church. Turn with me, please tonight to
Matthew Chapter 9. Matthew Chapter 9, and we're
going to read verse 35 to verse 38, Matthew Chapter 9, and verse
35 to verse 38. The Bible reads, and Jesus went
about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep,
having no shepherd then save he under his disciples.
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth labourers into his harvest.
The title of the message tonight is Helpers for the Harvest
Field. Helpers for the harvest field.
Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help now as we look into
this message. Lord, we just pray that you'll
be with us tonight. Lord, thank you for those who've
made the effort to come out. Lord, on a Friday night after a
busy week. We pray now that you would
undertake for us, Lord, that you administer to us.
We pray for that strengthening by your spirit in the inner man,
Lord, that we might have hearts that are receptive.
Lord, receptive to hear from you.
We pray that you'd stir our hearts afresh for this great
theme of world missions. Lord, give us a heart.
We pray for souls. I love the souls and we pray
that You would just be with us now.
Pray for myself, Lord, that you just empty me of self.
Fill me with Your Spirit and speak through me.
Now to the blessing and edification of the hearers here
tonight. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
There are three times recorded in the Gospels where the Lord
Jesus Christ speaks about the need of the harvest field.
The 1st is the one we just read here to the 12 disciples before
He sends them out two by two on their first official
evangelistic tour. Then the Lord Jesus spoke about
the harvest field when He sent out the 70 disciples there to
preach the gospel in Luke chapter 10 and verse one and
two. And then the Lord Jesus again
spoke of the harvest field in John chapter 4 and verse 35
after he had led the woman of Samaria to saving faith in
himself. And so we could, we can see as
we look at these examples that the harvest was on the heart of
the Son of God. And you know, if we're going to
truly be like the Lord Jesus Christ, then we need to have his
heart for the harvest field. And we talk a lot today or
there's a lot of talk today about being like the Lord Jesus
Christ. But if we don't have a heart for
the harvest field, then we are not much like him.
Because if you're going to get close to the heart of the Lord
Jesus Christ, you will find that He has a heart for the harvest
field. Was it not his final instruction
to the church before he ascended back into heaven to go into all
nations, to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you
and along with you alway even to the end of the world.
There. That was Christ's final really
set of instructions that he left the church as he then ascended
back into heaven and until he comes.
That is to be the primary work of the church.
We are not to get distracted with with with with all the
different causes out there and many of those causes may even be
good. But we must remember that the
primary mission, the primary purpose of the church is to win
the world for the Lord Jesus. And as you look at the life and
ministry of the Lord Jesus, he taught much about the subject of
prayer, didn't he? But it's interesting to me that
really this is the only specific prayer request that Jesus Christ
made to his disciples. He taught on prayer, and there
were commands about prayer, but but as far as a request of the
Son of God, this is about the only one we find.
And again, it highlights how close this is to the heart of
God. And so tonight we need to adopt
3 heart attitudes in relation to the harvest field.
And we can see them here in our text.
Number one, we need what I would call a compassion for the
harvest. A compassion for the harvest.
Look back at verse 35 and verse 36.
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in
their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep,
having no shepherd. And so our Lord Jesus Christ is
our perfect example in this matter of compassion.
What love we see in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, love that
is indescribable. Love that the human language
cannot fully express. And Christ had such love in his
heart for the lost, and we need that same love and compassion.
So Christ's compassion was demonstrated by a number of
things. We see it demonstrated in in in
two areas. Firstly, his laborers among the
lost, his laborers among the lost.
In verse 35, there we see Christ's compassion there in
action in his laborers among the lost.
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in
their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
And so Christ went to the lost. And here's our example.
You say that's very basic, yes, but we actually need to go.
And there are, there's a school of thought out there in many
Christian circles that says, well, when I get an opportunity
to witness, I'm willing to witness.
And I just witnessed by my life. Listen, we need to be careful,
don't we, not to pit one truth against another.
You do need to be witnessed by your life, but you also need to
be a witness by your lips. And evangelism needs to be not
just a passive reactive thing. We actually need to be
intentional in our evangelism and actually go and seek to make
contact with sinners for the cause of the gospel.
Jesus said follow me and I'll make you fishes of men.
And any fisherman knows that that fish don't generally just
jump into the boat of their own accord.
You have to go and find them. And so the Lord Jesus went both
to the cities and the villages with the gospel and it shows
that his heart was to seek to reach every Sinner in that area
with the gospel. He went to the large population
centres, He went to the smaller population centres.
And that's a good model by the way, for us to follow.
And you see that even in the book of Acts with the apostles,
they tended to maybe plant churches in the major population
centres. But then from there the gospel
can ripple out into the community and out into the into
every locality there. And so we see our Lord's heart
to reach every soul regardless of their locality.
Christ went to the lost and we need to go to Matthew 2819,
verse 2019 and 20. Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing him in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, et cetera.
There, Mark 1615. He said to them, Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
John 1516 You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and
ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that
your fruit should remain. And so we need to go with the
gospel. That is our mandate, that is our
mission. And we see that example in the
Lord Jesus. So Christ went to the lost, then
he preached to the lost, lost. Verse 35, He went about all the
cities and villages. Notice this next word, teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
Kingdom. So our Lord Jesus Christ was
preeminently a preacher of the gospel and that is God's primary
method that He has chosen to reach the lost, not movies, not
programs, not para church organizations, but the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we see in Christ ministry the centrality of the preaching
of the gospel. And what I find interesting is
you look at the order of the verse he preached, then he
healed and that's the correct order because, you know, a lot
of missions today is humanitarian, deals with the
needs of the body, but does not address the needs of the soul.
Now, folks, I'm not against having compassion for people's
physical needs, and we support men in countries where you know
they can't shut up the bowels of compassion towards people who
are in need. If you've got someone who's
literally starving, you can't as a believer just ignore that.
But the point is, we see in the ministry of Christ that
preaching was always the priority.
Then as the needs arose, He fed the hungry and he healed the
sick. And that is the correct order
because most of missions, I forget the percentage now, we
studied it in missions class that Bible college, something
like 70% or 80%, whatever. The majority of missions today
is humanitarian and leaves the gospel out.
Now folks, what is the point of helping people's bodies only for
them to die and go to hell for eternity?
We need to make sure that we make the sole the priority.
People need to be saved and that's the priority in missions.
And then yes, as we have ability and as the needs arise, we can
minister in other areas. That's the correct order.
Christ preached the lost, but He also transformed the lost.
Look back at verse 35, he went about teaching in their
synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people under
score the word every there cross was not like the modern faith
healers who probably heal no one and perhaps some I don't know
but anyway, the Lord Jesus Christ he healed every sickness
and every disease among the people.
We could say this, the Lord Jesus was the answer to these
people's needs. And we know that the greatest
sin, the greatest sickness that people have today is as they did
back then was is the sin sickness.
And the Lord Jesus is still the answer to sin, sick souls.
And notice that every single disease and every sickness was,
was, was healed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it doesn't matter what sin you are bound up in, the Lord
Jesus is the answer. Doesn't matter if you're bound
in drugs, Doesn't matter what your particular besetting sin
is. And we need to remember that,
that the Lord Jesus is the solution.
Jesus Christ is the answer for every Sinner out there, no
matter what sin holds them captive.
We live in a world full of broken people, people with
broken hearts, broken homes, broken marriages, broken moral
morals. You say, who can heal all that
brokenness from sin? The Lord Jesus Christ.
So can you see Christ's compassion for the lost?
We see it in his laborers among the lost.
If you have a love for the lost, you will labor to see them
saved. But His compassion is
demonstrated secondly in his love for the lost.
And here we look at that compassion more specifically
here it's demonstrated in his laborers among the lost, but
it's also demonstrated in his love for the lost.
We see Christ's heart was moved verse 36.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was what moved with
compassion on them. So our Lord Jesus was his heart
was moved for people. I don't know about you, but
that's is something that I find a challenge because it's just so
easy for any of us to just go, to grow cold towards people.
And we know it shouldn't be that way, but it's just in our own
humanity, our love is very limited.
Human love only takes you so far.
Human emotion only takes you so far.
But if you're saved, you have the Lord Jesus living inside
you, and he can give you his heart for the lost.
And we need to learn to pray that, Lord, would you give me
your heart for lost people? So Christ was moved, we could
say, by the sight of the people, but when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion. That word saw is an interesting
word. It means to perceive or discern
with the eyes. In fact, this Greek word is
often translated by a King James translators as no.
In the New Testament 282 times it's translated as no.
And so it refers not to a casual glance, but it refers to a
knowing look. To look with knowing to look
with discerning. It was a loving look.
You know, we need to remember in this busy world in which we live
to someone's pause and really see people because you know,
America feels like Australia here, everyone's, you know,
people to see places to go, running here, running there,
busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy.
And I understand we do have things we need to do.
But it wouldn't hurt at at times for us to pause and really think
about the fact that the masses of humanity just floating around
us are largely headed to a Christ less hell.
Now what's interesting to me here is that this scene of the
multitudes was in the context of Christ being actively involved
in seeking to reach the multitudes.
We've seen that in verse 35, the Lord Jesus is out being active
in seeking to contact people and give them the gospel.
And as he was out amongst the people and as he saw them, his
heart was moved. And that is the right order.
You know, some Christians have this idea.
Well, when I get a burden, then I'll go.
No, you need to go and then you'll get a burden.
So don't, don't wait because I understand and I understand we
can pray for a burden. But if you will go and actually
involve yourself in seeking to reach people, what you will find
is your heart will get involved. That's the correct order.
So don't wait till you get a burden, then go, go and get a
burden. I find that, you know, most
Saturdays, I'll be honest with you, I don't feel like going
soul winning in my flesh. So, pastor, what's wrong with
you? Well, I'm glad you're more
spiritual than I am, but I'm just saying, humanly speaking, I
don't really feel like it. Now the spirit in the spiritual
realm, sure, but I'm just saying we're we're very weak to get up
on a Saturday morning, give some of my time, right and go out.
All right, The flesh doesn't like to do that.
But here's what I found. If I will just ignore my flesh,
make the decision to go. I always come back glad I went,
and my heart gets stirred, because what you do is you obey
the Lord, and you step out and you go.
And guess what? The Spirit of God will do the
work in your heart when you're obedient.
The Lord Jesus exhorted the disciples, Lift up your eyes and
look on the fields, for they are white or ready to harvest.
John 435. We really need to open our eyes
and look means you may have to put your smartphone down
occasionally so you can look at someone else and something else.
And people need the law, don't they?
Went for a walk around one of your outdoor shopping malls not
far from here and just to get a feel for, you know, America and
Virginia or whatever. And, you know, just I like to
observe people. That's part of a shepherd's job
is to watch sheep. So I like to observe people.
And I'm just looking at people's faces and watching people.
And, you know, people here look very similar to people back
home. They don't really look very
happy. And it's interesting, isn't it,
Because we're surrounded in our countries by tremendous
materialism. Anything pretty, all your heart
could wish for. People are miserable, not happy.
Why? Because stuff can't replace the
Savior. Stuff can't really fill your
heart with joy. You need to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. I even tried to say hello to a
few people sitting there eating my cold rock ice cream, which
wasn't much chopped, but said hello.
And people looked at me strange. I think they were trying to
figure out where I was from. But the point is you need to
stop sometimes and look and think about where people are
headed. Now the phrase here moved with
compassion, means to feel pity or sympathy.
It's actually a very strong word.
As you studied the word, the root word actually referred to
the internal organs. This word is translated bowels
in other places. So the reference is to the
heart, to the inner man. It speaks of the seat of
affection. So this was this was the Lord
Jesus. He felt a pity and he felt a
sorrow for the multitudes in his heart.
This was a strong, very strong and powerful feeling of
compassion. You can read multiple verses.
In fact, I found 9 references in the gospels to Christ's
compassion for sinners and what a heart he had for the lost.
Aren't you thankful for it for the Lord Jesus compassion.
Second Peter 3 verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness, but
his long-suffering to to us would not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That's the heart of Christ. And let's just, let's just state
this why? Why we're on that verse.
The Lord Jesus loves every Sinner, not just some sinners.
We totally reject the Calvinistic idea of limited
atonement. Jesus Christ came to die for the
sins of the entire world, not just a select group of people.
And if you believe in Calvinism, you're basically saying that he
only really loves some and not others.
That's not the Jesus that I find in the Bible.
So his heart was moved by the sight of the people.
Then we could say His heart was moved #2 by the plight of the
people. Look back at verse 36 again.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on
them. Why?
Because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep,
having no shepherd. It was the spiritual misery of
the people that so powerfully moved our Lord's heart with
compassion. As He looked at those people, He
saw where they were really at. We could say they were weak
because they fainted. They were weak.
They fainted. You know, sin has that effect,
doesn't it? It weakens, it doesn't
strengthen people. People think if I just, if I
can, just, if I can just indulge this last and that last, I'll be
living my best life. No, it sin ruins people's lives.
Sin, sin. Sin brings wreckage and
breakage. And Christ saw that they
fainted. They were weak, we could say.
They were wounded and we're scattered abroad.
The Greek word here means to cast down, to throw down to the
ground. And so we could say sin brings
sorrow and scarring and senselessness to the life.
Can you see that? They were just scattered abroad?
Isn't that a picture of our world?
People just wandering about and people just just just lost
without hope and without purpose in life.
They were wandering as sheep, having no shepherd, no
direction, and no protection. That's the reality, isn't it?
The bulk of humanity go through life not really knowing the
answer to questions like why am I here, where am I going or what
is the purpose of life? That's the case, isn't it?
And you're thankful that when the Lord Jesus saved you, He
gave you real purpose. You have a reason to live, but
think about the average person out there.
What are they really living for? What does life mean without the
Lord Jesus? It's meaningless, isn't it
really? And that's the reality.
People are lost and people are wandering and ruined by sin.
You say what's the answer? The Lord Jesus Christ?
And where are they going to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and
where are they going to hear about the gospel except a gospel
preaching spirit empowered local churches and Christians obeying
the Lord and going. You know, there's an old song
that I heard growing up and it said in the course I think it
was let me see this world, dear Lord, as though I were looking
through your eyes. For if once I could see this
world the way you see, I just know I'd serve you more
faithfully over us like the Lord Jesus to truly see the world
with love as he sees. So we need a compassion for the
harvest. Pray for it, but follow cross
example. Go in obedience.
Go out and involve yourself in seeking to reach people with the
gospel and the Lord will give you a burden.
Go and get a burden. Don't wait for a burden.
Sometimes that can become an excuse.
Well, I'm just, I'm just waiting, pastor.
I'm just waiting, pastor, until I get a burden.
No, no, no, don't, don't, don't use that as an excuse.
You need to go. So then the second, the second
thing we need, not only do we need a compassion for the
harvest #2 we need a vision of the harvest, a vision of the
harvest. Look at verse 37 there, read it
with me on the count of two, will you 1-2 then say, if he and
his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few. Verse 38 as well, pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
laborers into his harvest. So we need a vision for the
harvest. The harvest truly is plenteous.
In John 435, Jesus exhorted the disciples to lift up their eyes
and look. And so we need a compassion for
the harvest, but we also need to get a vision for the harvest.
We need the vision for the vastness of the harvest field.
It's a vast harvest. Jesus said that the harvest
truly is. The harvest truly is plenteous.
That's a vast harvest, isn't it? And it is.
It's described in the Bible as plenteous.
Matthew 937. We just read that.
It's described by our Lord Jesus as great.
Luke 10, verse 2, it's described as the world.
Jesus said that the field is the world.
That's a big harvest. And that's our mission, to reach
the World with the precious message of the Gospel of Christ.
Lift up your eyes and look not on the field singular, but on
the fields plural. Not a vision for just one part
of the harvest field, but a vision for the great harvest
fields of the world. That's so important, isn't it?
And it's great to invest time and energy in a particular
mission field. But let's remember to look upon
the fields plural and seek to have a heart for the fields
plural and look out and see what the Lord Jesus would have for
us. And so we need to get a vision
for the local field where God has placed us.
That's where it starts really, doesn't it?
We could say this missions begins at home.
I'll challenge you. I'd say you have no right
jumping on a plane to go to another country to sew in there.
If you're not willing to sew in here, something wrong with that.
And I've seen Christians that were literally willing to jump
on a plane and go on a missions trip and go and knock doors or
speak for the gospel in another country, but you couldn't count
on them to show up to the outreach service of the church.
Something wrong with that model because missions begins at home.
You say, how do you know? Because when the Lord Jesus gave
the Great Commission in Luke 4024, verse 47, he said these
words beginning at Jerusalem. So he told the apostles you to
go and, and, and reach all nations essentially there.
But he said that it was to begin at Jerusalem.
In fact, just look at that verse, Luke chapter 24, verse
47, Luke chapter 24 and verse 47, and that repentance and
remission of sin should be preached in His name among how
many nations, right? That's the global vision there.
But notice this phrase beginning at Jesus said you start right
here where you are all nations. That's the vision, that's the
mission. But you need to begin at
Jerusalem. That means for you, you need to
begin here in Richmond. This is your, this is where God
has placed you. This is the corner of the
harvest field that God has you in.
And you need to have a heart for the local field as well as the
global field. Do people not need the gospel in
this area? I think they do.
Virginia needs the gospel. Richmond needs the gospel.
The USA needs the gospel, doesn't it?
Absolutely. Australia needs the gospel.
The answer to this nation's needs, ultimately is the gospel.
Not politics, not the Republican Party, definitely not the
Democrat Party, whatever party. That's not the point.
The point is, the answer for this nation, as well as every
other nation, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we need to get a vision for the local field where God has
placed our church, your church. We need to get a vision for the
mission fields of the world and pray and give and go as God
calls. What a vast harvest we have.
We need a vision for it. China, 1.3 billion people,
India, 1.2 billion people, African continent, 1.2 billion
people, North America, 579 million people, South America
422 million people, Middle East 411 million.
And it just goes on and on and on.
Even in your own state here, almost 9 million people in this
state and the whole population of the world is over 8 billion.
And we have been commanded to preach the gospel to every
creature that that's enough work to keep us all busy till the
Lord Jesus comes. We don't have time to get
distracted on this para church ministry and that para church
ministry and this charity and that charity and they may do
some good. And I've had to think about this
as a pastor because your heart feels, you think, boy, that's a
good cause. You know, that's a great 'cause
that they're doing there yet. But we have to come back to what
is the primary work of the church.
That's right. And, you know, as I read the
book of Acts, I just don't see political activism as being the
primary focus of the church. Now, should we care about our
nation? Yes.
Should we pray for our nation? Yes.
Should we have some involvement in the political process as salt
and light? Certainly, but I'm just saying,
read the book of Acts, which is the mission manual of the New
Testament, and you will not find the apostles on the whole
really, really going around preaching politics.
Now, I love your president, but he's not the Savior and some
almost talk like he is. He's not that female pastor he's
got. She's a doozy and needs to sack
her. But anyway, on her third
marriage, she shouldn't be a pastor because she's a woman.
She definitely shouldn't be because she's had three
marriages. That's disgusting.
Anyway, All right, But you understand what I'm saying.
What did the apostles do? What did the early church do?
They shook the world with the gospel.
They turned the world upside down for the gospel.
And guess what? Do you really want to help your
nation? Do you know the best thing you
can do is win souls? Because guess what happens when
people get saved? They change their values.
We have people in our church who used to be left wing voters and
now they vote more conservative or more in line with biblical
principles. Why?
Because when they got saved, they got a new set of values.
It's very hard to get pagans to accept Christian values.
And you've got these groups out there.
We have them in Australia too, that spend millions and millions
of dollars trying to get pagans to accept biblical values.
But pagans don't accept biblical values but save people do.
So even from that perspective, if you really want to help your
nation, the best thing you can do is get out there with the
gospel. That'll in the long run have a
much bigger impact than all this lobbying.
You know, the world we're living in is just passing on into
eternity. What a vast harvest field.
There are 56 approximately 56,000,000 deaths per year, 4.6
million deaths per month. Over 153,000 deaths per day,
over 6000 deaths per hour, about 106 deaths per minute, and
almost 2 deaths per second. It's pretty sobering.
Every second that passes, about two people are passing into
eternity. Can you see why?
The Lord Jesus said the harvest is plenteous, but the labor is a
few. So we need a vision for the
vastness of the harvest field. We need a vision, secondly, for
the ripeness of the harvest field.
In John chapter 4, the Lord Jesus said that the harvest
fields were white or ready to harvest.
John 435. Do you know there are souls that
are ready to be harvested right now?
There are. I know many are hard to the
gospel and many don't want to be saved.
But there are people who are right now in our world, even in
this city, no doubt willing or ready to be saved.
They just need someone to tell them.
That's important because sometimes I understand it's a
challenge. We're living in difficult times.
We're getting close to the return of Christ, perilous
times. And a lot of hearts are hard.
But sometimes we can make it sound like, well, no one's
really getting saved anymore. And we're just so close to the
rapture. And I think we are.
And therefore we just, you know, we make it sound like the
problems in the harvest field, but actually the problem has to
do with the laborers. That's the issue even in
Australia. In Australia, look, honestly,
it's hard yakka, trying to, you know, witness to people because
most Australians are secular. We have a Christian heritage in
our nation. But most people, their attitude
is she'll be right, mate, don't bother me.
You can have your religion. In fact the Australian mindset
is you can believe whatever you want, just don't bother me,
bother me with it. Don't tell me I'm wrong.
And so, but you know, even in Australia we find we go outdoor
knocking and almost every time we have opportunities, there are
people out there who are still willing to hear the gospel if we
will go. So we need a vision for the
vastness of the harvest field, the ripeness of the harvest
field. We also need to catch a vision
for the scarceness in the harvest field or understand the
scarceness in the harvest field. Look back at verse 37.
Then say if he under his disciples, the harvest truly is
plenteous, but the what labor is a few.
So the issue is not a harvest. So the problem is not a harvest
problem. We have a labor problem.
We have a labor shortage when it comes to laborers for the
harvest field, the old commentator Matthew Henry said.
We have loiterers many, but laborers few.
We need laborers. This local church needs
laborers. The mission fields of the world
need laborers. Belize needs laborers.
Every country needs laborers. That's, that's, that's the
crying need of the hour. I don't, I have not met one
faithful pastor who says I'm all good now, I've got enough
laborers. It just doesn't.
It's just, it's just the needs just go on and on and on and on.
And laborers are needed in this most important work of reaching
people for Christ. It's just comes down to simple,
simple mathematics. If 10 people go out so many on
Sunday morning and even speak to two people each, that's 20
people contacted for the gospel. If 20 people go out and even
just speak to two people each, that's 40 people who have been
touched by the gospel. We trust If 50 people goes out,
go out and even just speak to two people each, that's 100.
Do you see the issue? Do you see what I'm saying?
We just need laborers. And the more laborers, the more
people can be contacted for the gospel, the more people can be
impacted with the gospel. Romans 10/14 How shall they call
on him and whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
The answer is they won't hear. So as we think of the harvest
field, we need a compassion for the harvest.
We need to get a vision of the harvest.
And then thirdly and lastly, we need then a supplication for the
harvest and look for the therefore in verse 38.
In fact, read it with me the verse on on on the count of 212.
Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he will send
forth laborers into his harvest. So we need a compassion for the
harvest. We need to get a vision for the
harvest and then that will lead us, we trust to this
supplication for the harvest. Therefore, on the basis of what
I've just said, that's what the word therefore means.
When you see the word, therefore stop and see what it is there
for and it connects us to what is just being said.
The Lord Jesus has just spoken about the fact that the harvest
is plenteous, but the laborers are few, and then he gives us
the solution. Prayer is the solution to this
labor shortage and the and the the shortage of laborers should
drive us to our knees, should drive us to the Lord Jesus to
seek his working to meet the need a supplication for the
harvest. And so we note there the problem
motivating the prayer. It's the it's the labor
shortage, the problem of the lack of laborers that drives us
to prayer. This word prayer is an
interesting word. It means to beg or to make
petition. You study the grammar of the
word. It's in the Eris tense, which
gives the command a sense of urgency.
And so we have this sense of urgency laid upon us to pray for
the needs of the harvest field. We could say our prayers for the
harvest field need to be earnest and passionate.
That's the kind of prayer God wants to hear.
And we'd have to work something up in our emotions and sort of
manufactured sense. But we just need to have a heart
to pray. And there needs to be
earnestness in prayer and fervency in prayer.
And no doubt the lack of laborers for the harvest field
is due in part to the prayerlessness in churches.
What's Christ's answer to the labour shortage here?
The harvest is plenteous. We need labourers.
Christ's pray, pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send
forth labourers into the harvest field.
Well, if we have prayerless churches, we are not going to
see labourers raised up and sent forth.
The kind of churches that are going to see labourers raised
up, trying and sent forth are churches that are praying
centres, prayerful churches, churches that are serious about
prayer. And sadly many churches today,
and I include independent Baptists in that many churches
today have many programs and not enough prayer.
And prayerless churches are powerless churches.
Little prayer, little power, much prayer, much power.
We need to get back to the place of prayer, serious prayer as a
church, if we're going to see the needs of the harvest field
addressed. You know, when men work, men
work, but when men pray, God works.
When men work, men work, but when men pray, God works not
against programs, not against the church being well organized.
We try to do that on our in our church as well and to have a
schedule and all those things. Those things aren't sinful.
It's we to do things decently and in order.
And there are various facets to the church ministry, but let's
not forget to, let's make sure that prayer doesn't get buried
beneath the programs and prayer gets pushed to the side.
Now it needs to be very much a central part of the life of the
Church. I'm not surprised that many
independent Baptist churches aren't sending out missionaries
anymore. Half of them are closing their
prayer meetings. They don't even have a prayer
meeting anymore. That's the trend today.
By the way, I was someone wrote me recently, someone who
obviously listens to my sermons online from America, actually, I
forget which part. And this brother, I believe he's
probably a brother in cross, was just broken hearted about what's
happening in his church. New pastor came in and basically
got got rid of the prayer meeting and turned it into like
a little program thing, 2 minute devotion, this modern thing and
just, well, it's just powerless, isn't it?
God's methods haven't changed. And, and you look at the early
church and they they prayed and they preached and they prayed
and they preached and they prayed and they preached.
That's kind of the heart of it, isn't it?
Really? What is the church supposed to
do? Well, pray and preach is right
up there on the list. Pray much and preach much and
God will still bless. I mean, look at the early church
in the book of Acts and look at the power in that church and say
why? Because they prayed, they
prayed. They were a praying church.
So that's the trend today. Shut down the prayer meetings,
shut down the Sunday night service.
Let's have less church and less church.
Let's have programs. Well, all you're left with then
is a substitute fake power. Most churches out there today,
if you turn the band off, there would be no more sense of power.
And if your power comes from the band, that's not a genuine power
because the true power of God is not dependent on a band.
The problem that motivates the prey, it's the problem we have
of a lack of laborers that should motivate us to go and beg
God for laborers. Consider then the person to whom
we pray, the person to whom we pray.
Pray ye therefore, who? The Lord of the harvest, Well,
he's the only one who can solve the problem, isn't he?
He's the one who has the power. The Lord Jesus is the one who
has the resources that we need. So what do we do?
So few good churches today, so few preachers that are faithful
to the gospel, so few laborers. What shall we do?
Pray to the Lord Jesus about it. He has the power and the
resources to meet the need. He's the Lord of the harvest.
Let's just remember that the Lord Jesus is the director of
world missions. It's his harvest field.
We have the privilege of serving in it, but it's his.
He's the director. He's the one building his
church, and we have the privilege of laboring for him
and with him. So we need to go to the Lord
Jesus about this labor shortage and make it a serious point for
prayer in our churches. Person to whom we pray.
The point of the prayer. The point of the prayer, verse
38. Pray you therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his
harvest. That word send forth is a very
strong word. It's the word Ek balo.
It means to cast out or to thrust forth.
And that's what we're praying for.
We're praying that God will raise up faithful men and thrust
them forth into the harvest fields of the world, cast them
forth into the harvest fields of the world.
That's a wonderful thing. When God will do that in a
church and we see people raised up and trained and then sent
forth to take the gospel. And God will call some to go
out, as it were. God calls some to stay and keep
home base running. And I'm very conscious as a
pastor. I pray for, I really pray for
two things. I pray for laborers to be raised
up and sent forth. I also pray for laborers to
strengthen the home base because if you want to, if you want to
do much for missions out there, you need a strong base here.
And maybe that's your role. It may not be that God's called
you to be a full time pastor or a missionary, but you can be a
laborer in the local field and support in prayer and support in
giving and get behind what God is doing through the mission
efforts of the church. And that's a very, very
important role. We need that.
So while I'm not called to be a full time pastor or missionary
or evangelist, you know every Christian can do something for
the harvest field and every Christian needs to do something
for the harvest field. We need a we need churches where
everybody takes to heart this need for laborers and we can all
do something for the cause of the harvest field.
We need believers who will reach out to their home mission field.
We've talked about that. We need believers who will give
generously to the work of missions.
We need believers who will join the local church team and
strengthen the home base so that more can be done for missions.
Every gospel preacher needs a strong team of workers to help
keep him at his post. Your pastor needs help.
So how do you know? Because every pastor needs help
and it's all part of being a laborer and doing something for
the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The point of the prayer, send forth laborers, then think about
the performance following the prayer.
And I'll just say this, if so many admissions is made a top
priority in our prayers, then we will be more likely to make it a
top priority in our schedules. If you really get a heart for
the harvest field and you really start to pray as Jesus has
commanded us here, He's asked us to pray about this.
It's an interesting thought, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus is asking us to pray about this.
Could you do it for the Lord Jesus?
If He's asking you to pray for it, then you better pray for it.
It's obviously very important to him.
And here's the thing, if the Lord Jesus asks us to pray for
this, I believe if we actually do pray for it, we can expect an
answer. He's going to do it.
We've been praying for the last 10 over the last 10 years since
started pastoring Northside for laborers and God has answered.
We've sent out one man to Africa, trained him, send him
out. We recently sent out a man to
the other side of the country to take over a small work that
needs a pastor. We have several young men going
through our Bible college ministry at the moment and we're
looking forward to seeing what God is going to do with them.
One at least has a definite calling on his life and and and
and others, you know, open to what God would would do.
And and you say, well, isn't it? That's wonderful, but it's
because of prayer. We've been praying God's raised
up laborers use us as a church. We want to send forth laborers,
Lord, and we want to be a part of what you're doing.
So if you will pray for souls, you will probably be more
willing to go out and try to reach souls.
We need to put legs to our prayers, don't we?
We need to go. We commanded both to pray ye and
go ye, pray ye and go ye. So never underestimate the
place, the part that you can play in reaching souls for the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so helpers for the harvest
field. We need helpers for the harvest
field. And we need the Lord's heart for
the harvest field. Do you have a heart for the
harvest field? I trust you do.
Let's have every head bad and every eye closed.
Do we have a heart for the harvest field?
Would you surrender and say, Lord, here am I, send me.
Maybe you need to be willing say, OK, Lord, I'll take that
step of faith, even though I'm I'm afraid I'll take that step
of faith and join the solemn efforts of the church.
Lord, I'll be a part of of this church's missions giving Lord,
I'm willing to do something on the local church team.
I'm willing to pray and to give and to go.
Do you have that heart, the heart of the Lord Jesus for the
harvest field. Now you're willing to play your
part and to be used of God as we seek to reach the World.
For Cross pastor, you come and finish us as you feel it.
Amen. Let's send our seats with our
heads bowed and our eyes closed. I know that as a church, we do a
lot and we we do a lot in this area.
But can you do more? Do you pray the way that you
should? That's, that's something that
we've been emphasizing a lot more recently.
Do you pray the way that you should be praying for, for
souls? And do you see them or like you
mentioned, you're just busy running around trying to do the
things that have to be done. That's one of the reasons why we
have the card contest. It makes you think about it.
And hopefully you didn't stop this the second the card contest
got over. Hopefully you're still giving
out those cards. Hopefully it's a habit and it's
something that you you need to consciously think about.
It's something that you need to consciously do because we are
busy and we do have a lot of things going on.
But are you, are you doing everything you can the cause of
Christ here abroad and everywhere in between?
Father, we thank you so much for the message.
I pray that you would just continue to allow her to speak
to our hearts. And I pray that you'd help us to
respond to the message in a way that's pleasing to you.
Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
As the piano plays, If God spoke to your heart, tonight you come.