Let’s Prepare for a Summer Harvest
Matthew 9:37-38
What are your plans for this summer? Are you planning on spending extra time with your family and relatives? Are you planning a vacation to have fun in the sun? This summer I want us to think about preparing for a summer harvest.
I have mentioned before that I spent three summers working as a custom combine driver harvesting wheat.. The summer of my freshman year of college I made contact with a custom cutter from Inman, KS. He hired two college age guys to drive the trucks and combines. To get the job all I had to do was pass the test for a chauffeurs’ license. I had not driven a large truck or a combine.
When we loaded up the combines on the trucks and I got behind the wheel of the truck I had trouble working the two speed axle. I prayed hard and learned as I drove by stripping several gears in the process.
We started cutting wheat in Texas, then Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and Montana. We occasionally cut barley and oats but our main job was harvesting wheat.
Farmers have one purpose in planting wheat – planning for a harvest. It takes hard work to have a bountiful harvest. You cultivate the ground, plant the seed, pray for rain, and then when the harvest is ripe you cut and harvest the wheat and it is sent to market to be used in our economy.
Jesus and the Apostle Paul give us instruction concerning the harvest. Scripture equates preparing for harvest with prayer.
Matthew 9:37-38 NLT – “He/Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest: ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” I like the way Eugene Peterson in “The Message” translates Matthew 9:36-38 “When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. ‘What a huge harvest!’ he said to his disciples. How few workers.’ On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”
It was during my second summer driving a combine harvesting wheat that I sensed God’s call on my life for full time Christian service. The theme of Matthew 9:38 kept ringing in my ears: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, won’t you become a laborer in My harvest fields.” My third year in College I changed my major to Philosophy and Religion and my manor to Greek.
Jesus is talking about a spiritual harvest with men, women, young people and boys and girls accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Our harvest fields are located where we live, in our neighborhoods, where we work, our family and our friends.
I. Jesus Linked a Fruitful Harvest with Prayer
Jesus said, look out and see the people in your community. They are confused and aimless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus tells us to drop to our knees and pray. Thousands of people in the Bay area have substituted doing God will with living according to their own will. There is only one hope for people who are confused and lacking purpose in life. That is to know Jesus who alone can meet the deepest needs of a person’s life.
There is power in prayer. Someone has said, “When we work we work, when we pray, God works.” We are committed to pray because we want God to work through our lives and the ministries of the Willow Vale Church.
The scriptures are clear. God is not satisfied with puny harvests or no harvests. God wants His church to grow.
“The Lord … is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 Jesus came to earth on a mission of seeking to save the lost. There is not one person on earth that God does not love. He is not willing that anyone spends an eternity apart from God. If a person misses spending eternity with Jesus it will be because the person chooses to miss heaven by rejecting God’s love.
Our task as a church is to continue the work started by Jesus. Jesus tells us to “GO.” We are to reach out in love to the community around us. “Go out into the country…and urge anyone you find to come in, so that My house will be full.” Luke 14:23 TLB
Do you believe God wants the Willow Vale Church to grow? Yes He does. He is not willing that anyone perish. He wants His house to be full. It is God’s will for the church to grow. Colossians 2:19, “Under Christ’s control, the whole body is nourished…and grows as God wants it to grow.”
As a church we are committed to use all means to see people come to Jesus. The first strategy for growth is prayer. Jesus linked the harvest to prayer. Remember – “When we work we work, when we pray, God works.”
In Exodus 17:8-13 Moses prepared to send Joshua into battle against the Amalekites backed by prayer. “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill and Moses lifted his hands toward heaven in prayer. As long as his hands were raised toward heaven the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands the Amalekites were winning.
When Moses’ hands grew tired Aaron and Hur stood on each side and helped him hold up his hands. Moses trusted God in prayer and God gave the victory.
We have the choice of keeping our hands in our pockets and living in our own strengths or make the commitment to pray and see what God can do.
Do you have a hard time praying? I encourage you to pray scripture. You can take any of the 150 Psalms and turn verses into personal prayers. Look at Psalm 1. You might pray, “Lord I thank you for the joy you give me for not yielding to sinful desires and scoffing at your truth. I delight in doing your will. You make me strong like a mighty walnut tree bearing walnuts every year. Thanks you Lord for guiding my steps on the path of life.”
You can’t go wrong praying scripture.
Using the acronym ACTS is another help in prayer.
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication – praying for specific needs
I recommend using a prayer journal. I challenge all of us to pray for a great time of harvest this summer in the Willow Vale Church Family.
II. Jesus asks us to Prayer for more Workers
Jesus said, “Look at the huge harvest. Look how few workers there are. On your knees and pray for harvest hands.”
John 4:35 Jesus had just finished witnessing to a Samaritan woman and he said to his disciples… “As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time.”
Farmers know that before there is a harvest there must be a time of sowing seed. As a local church we can’t expect to have a harvest if we are not sowing seeds of God’s love and truth. We need to widely scatter God’s Word. If we are faithful in sowing some seed will eventually find good soil and good soil produces 30, 60 and 100 fold.
Jesus asks us to pray because Jesus knows sowing the Gospel seed and reaping the harvest challenge us to get out of our comfort zones. Satan will do all he can do to keep us from praying and keep us from becoming harvesters. Therefore we need to “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:10-12
If we are too busy to pray then we are too busy. Jesus is our model in prayer. Jesus was never too busy to spend plenty of time in prayer. Jesus prayed before every difficult task or crisis in his ministry.
When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane he was praying.
To become a workers/harvester requires prayer and putting feet to our prayers. There is a battle going on in the hearts and souls of men and women, young people and boys and girls in our neighborhoods.
We are living in a tough battle zone here in the Silicon Valley. In our valley God as creator of heaven and earth is forgotten and ignored. God is looking for men and women to stand in the gap and void caused by unbelief and sin.
Ezekiel in chapter 22 takes about the sins of Jerusalem. People have turned to idolatry and immorality. The people had ignored the laws of the Lord. Ezekiel 22:30 The Sovereign Lord says, “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.”
Jesus asks us to pray for workers to stand in the gap of prayerlessness. Jesus asks us to stand in the gap of unrighteousness. People are seeking truth. People are seeking meaning in life. People are searching for God’s love and understanding. Jesus asks us to stand in the gap and help people know who they can become in Christ.
Jesus calls His workers to take action, take initiative and go on the offense. For too long we have been on the defense. We huddle in our boxes and fail to get out into the playing field of life. Jesus promises that His Church is triumphant – Matthew 16:18, “Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”
Jesus asked His disciples a question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is.” They answered, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and other say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Jesus then turned to the disciples and asked, “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded with the statement in Matthew 16:18. Jesus would build His Church on the foundation of faithful men and women just like Peter. The church would be triumphant. The church would be on the march. Satan might try to stand in the way, but the church of Jesus Christ would be unstoppable.
II Corinthians 10:4-5 gives the promise of power we have in prayer: “We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans and methods. We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ.”
When we pray we are punching holes in the spiritual darkness that hangs over the Silicon Valley. When we pray we knock down Satan’s strongholds. Jesus can turn the darkest corner into light.
As a Christ follower you have the assurance that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. Jesus said that after He ascended into heaven He would send the Holy Spirit to comfort you, guide you, and teach you spiritual truths.
# Years ago a student was killed in a fraternity hazing accident at a southern university. John, the star football player at the school, was returning to his dorm the next morning after the tragedy when he saw three fellow athletes mercilessly confront one of the dead boy’s friends. That friend later wrote:
“I wanted to make my classes that day and I was about to break down crying from the taunts of my fellow classmen. I felt like a ten-year-old kid surrounded by high school bullies. I don’t think these guys realized what they were doing, but they had me boxed in and weren’t going to let me pass until I broke. My friend was dead, and these guys wanted to put the blame of his death on me.
Suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder. It was John. He stood there while I told the story of what had happened, and faced their critical and derisive response. John squeezed my shoulder and gently pushed me on past them.
He walked clear across the campus with me to class. Though we had no classes together, he quietly checked on me during the rest of the day. John was there when everyone else seemed against me.”
As we pray Jesus puts His strong hand on our shoulder and guides us through various obstacles and challenges we face in life. Jesus promise to never leave us or forsake us. There’s power in prayer.
When we pray for someone who has a need we can be assured that God does hear and answer prayer. The answer may be immediate, or wait or no. But God does answer.
# A missionary and his family were forced to camp outside on a hill. They had money with them and were fearful of an attack by roving thieves. After praying, they went to sleep. Months later an injured man was brought into the mission hospital. He asked the missionary if he had soldiers guarding him on that special night. “We intended to rob you,” he said, “but we were afraid of the twenty-seven soldiers.”
When the missionary returned to his homeland, he related this strange story, and a member of his church said, “We had a prayer meeting that night, and I took the roll. There were just twenty-seven of us present.” Your prayer does count for specific answers to prayer.
Because we believe God does hear and answer prayer we are planning on a Summer Harvest through the prayer ministries of the Willow Vale Church. You all can have a part in the prayer for harvest.
On three Saturdays, June 23, 30 and August 13th we will have a community prayer initiative called “Prayer on the Porch.” We will go out in teams at 10 AM and knock on doors and give a free gift bag with an attractive Jesus brochure and Bible study. We will also have a Willow Vale Church brochure and a flyer inviting those who are interested in calling the church to have a free Jesus Film DVD sent to them. All who we have prayer with on the porch we’ll return several weeks later to see how God is answering our prayer.
Here’s how you can participate. Prayer teams will go with you around your block where you live – say to 10 or 20 homes. If you are willing to become a partner on one of the teams we will travel to any community within 30 minutes from the church. Mark your welcome card – Come to my Neighborhood for “Prayer on the Porch.”
We will knock on doors and make a simple presentation: “Hi, I’m Ray Ellis from the Willow Vale Community Church. We are doing a “Prayer on the Porch” in your neighborhood. How can we pray for you?” Have prayer on the porch and the give them a free gift bag and mention the free Jesus movie DVD they can call the church office and get a free Jesus movie.
Will you be one to stand in the gap? Will you stand in the prayer less gap? We don’t want any of our neighbors to say that no one cared for their soul.
Closing Prayer
