Harvest And Laborers

INTRODUCTION

JOKE OF TEXAS A & M

A young man graduates from Texas A&M,

with his degree in agriculture,

and sets out to start his own chicken farm.

First week he bought 1000 chicks, plowed 100 acres of land,

planted the chicks feet first and watered them daily.

To his surprise they died.

Realizing his mistake he went out again and bought 1000 chicks,

planted them head first this time,

and watered them with Miracle Grow.

Once again they died.

He was very upset, and sent an angry letter to his alma matter,

explaining all his work, and how his 2000 chicks had died.

He wanted them to explain this failure.

Finally he go his reply, and opened the letter. It said

Dear alumnus,

We are amazed that one of our graduates

could make such a glaring and stupid mistake.

We cannot possibly help you

until you first send us a soil sample.

We may think this is a funny joke.

We would never be that backward about sowing and harvesting.

But there is a harvest we know very little about.

Watching our work some may wonder about us.

Jesus said THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL

In a news report on the drought in the west

one farmer said his grandfather worked hard

and was proud when he could harvest 100 acres.

Now he and his brother are each able to harvest

over 25,000 acres.

One of the elders at the Benton Christian Church in Benton Pennsylvania is a dairy farmer.

He says that when his grandfather was a young man

there were over 30 dairy farms in the area.

Today there are only 3,

yet they produce the same quantity of milk

they did 50 years ago.

Yet modern technology doesn’t come close

to the image Jesus is trying to give to us.

Jesus is creating an image

of a harvest so great that it boggles our mind.

The harvest is all around us,

bountiful, overflowing, ripe and ready to

pick.

Imagine someone planting a garden without paths

just scattering seeds over every inch

and everything grew, every plant bore fruit.

You couldn’t reach the fruits and vegetables

in the center of the garden

without stepping on and crushing others to get to it.

More than you could imagine harvesting.

But everything doesn’t come up at once,

there’s always something coming up,

some ready to pick,

some just setting,

but there’s always something to harvest.

This is the image Jesus is trying to express when he says

The Harvest is Plentiful

But we must ask “ What is the Harvest”?

That it is abundant we understand,

but what is it?

When Jesus called a fisherman named Peter from his nets

he said

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?”

The harvest is the harvest of human souls.

Peter spoke of this work in his second letter where he said

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as

some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not

wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to

repentance.”

As Paul puts it

“In Christ, God was reconciling the world to

himself, not counting their trespasses against them. and

entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are

ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through

us.”

The harvest is out there,

it is right in front of our eyes.

All we have to do is look around to see lost souls looking for

hope reassurance comfort peace

They are so desperate they will seek it anyplace they can

work money power prestige

even alcohol and drugs addiction and prostitution

But it never satisfies them

No matter where they seek to plant themselves

its barren land.

Yet they

keep trying, keep looking,

keep striving to answer that longing.

It is these Jesus said are ripe for the kingdom.

Example Cuba

Communism was touted as paradise for the masses,

that the new state would meet their needs,

and religion would be seen for what it is “the opium of the

masses”

But when Pope John Paul II visited a few years ago

people came out in thousands

to hear what he had to say

to seek what he had to bestow

to receive what he had to offer

The thousands repented of their sin

and received Jesus Christ in to their lives.

Baptisms were done by the 100s during the week.

From that time they began to return to the churches,

and to fill the pews

not just of the Catholic church,

but also of the Baptists

and the Methodists,

and the Pentecostals... All the churches of Cuba.

In the one short week of his visit,

the Pope had more impact on that island nation

than Castro had all his life as its dictator.

Why? Because people were hungry, and they were fed