CAPITAL BIBLE CHURCH September 20, Reaching People Matthew 9:36-38 Understanding our Mission Pt. 2

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1 CAPITAL BIBLE CHURCH September 20, 2009 SERMON NOTES PASTOR BILL HAKEN Reaching People Matthew 9:36-38 Understanding our Mission Pt. 2 Last week we looked at what it means to glorify God. Why? Our mission is: To Glorify God by reaching and teaching and unleashing people for Jesus Christ. Today we want to talk about what it means to reach people. * A real farm can only go on so long without a harvest. Otherwise, it can become a "hobby farm." A hobby Farm does not need a harvest to exist. Afraid many of our churches have become... "hobby churches". The same group of people gets together every week and says we re not real big, but we re really spiritual. Guess what? That s S.B. sanctified baloney! Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Now, the last time I checked, gates were for defense, not offense; so if the gates of hell won t prevail against the Lord s church, that must mean the church is to be on the attack against the gates of Hell! How? By snatching people out of the fires of hell Jude 23! You see everything depends upon the harvest at harvest time!! - Other things become secondary. The harvest waits for no man. Matthew 9: & Luke 10:2 talks about the harvest! Harvest time was the happiest time of the year in Palestine (Ps.126:5-6) It was marked by many religious festivals & feasts. SHOW ME A CHURCH WITHOUT ANY HARVEST AND I LL SHOW YOU A CHURCH WITHOUT JOY! 5 Things that make Jesus Unhappy 1. Fishing without catching (Luke 5:4-11) - Ever fish like that?... boring!!.. Rest?.. You can rest in heaven! 2. An empty banquet table (Luke 14:21-23) - go into the highways & by ways.. compel: "Grab & pull them in"

2 3. Growing without reproducing (Matt.13:23) 4. Fig tree with no fruit (Luke 13: 6, 7) - green leaves & shade were not good enough. 5. A rotting harvest (Matt. 9: 36-38) Principles of Reaching People (the Harvest) We Have a Tendency To Postpone The Harvest. John 4:35 - You say in four months!! Jesus says: OPEN YOUR EYES!! LOOK AND SEE!! NOW!!! "Lift up your eyes"... WHY?... They are on yourself! - Nothing will distract you more from the harvest than your eyes on yourself!! Not later!!!... NOW!! "ALREADY TO HARVEST!!" "Lift up your eyes"... YOU HAVE A PURPOSE!!! First principle ABOUT REACHING PEOPLE: IT IS TIME NOW... WE JUST HAVE TO SEE IT. * Eyes off ourselves... eyes off the ground... Look to the fields! SEE FOR YOURSELF! 1. The Harvest Is People - Plentiful (Matt. 9:36,37) Joel 3: 13, 14 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 236 times in the Bible we find the word multitude(s) The shortage is not found in the harvest! Open your eyes... lift up your eyes... look on the fields... white... Wherever there is darkness... there is harvest!! Try and count the kernels of Corn or the grains of Wheat!

3 The "hobby church" doesn t see nor need the Harvest!! 2. The Harvest Is Valuable People s souls. - Not likened to sand, pebbles... grass.. BUT FIELDS. - Importance, significance, worth. - Again the existence of the farm depends upon the harvest! Not just numbers... people!!! Not just multitudes of numbers... multitudes of people!! 3. The Harvest Is Ready - The people of this world are more ready to receive the Good News than the church is ready to give it. - If we don t believe that we will not share the Gospel. *** Attitude: Nobody wants to hear it. Gallop Poll : Over 6 million people were asked "What would it take to get you to attend church?" #1 Answer: Someone to ask me to attend. 4. The Problem with the Harvest - Lies in the last few principles : Readiness... Value... Plenty... - Reap now or never. WHY? Time of harvest will end... what s missed is lost!! You cannot harvest when YOU have the time. - You don t say in July... I m not going to wait for Sept/Oct... I have time Now! Lack of Time Lack of Workers (Matt. 9: 37) - Jesus believed that results are proportionate to means used. You can use a combine on the corn. It s people that harvest people. How did you come to know the Lord?.0001%...TV or Crusade 1-2%... Cold turkey evangelism 2-4%... Church program 3-6%... Sunday School

4 4-6%... "Walk-in" 6-8%... Minister 74%... Friends and relatives Many spread the "Seed"!!... How many ask for decisions? - Labourers... Those who don t mind getting their clothes dirty or wrinkled. - Got enough Foreman... bosses... counters... etc.! - Those who will go INTO the field! * You must get close to the harvest * Go with your sickle! (Word is sharp) * Picture the man with the sickle... is the bearer of death!! * The bearer of Gods sickle is the bearer of Life!!! God never sent the person who never troubles a mans conscience. HOW DO WE GET THESE WORKERS? Ask/Pray for the Lord to Send Workers (Matt.9:38) "Therefore"... Because of this great harvest with one problem - Motivated by the harvest "Pray to the Lord... OF THE HARVEST" - It s His. - He knows it. - He cares more than us about it. "To send out workers" - Thrust them out - Gk: Forcefully push them out * Same term used when Jesus "Cast out the demons". Divine Compulsion Not our doing... Gods doing "Into His harvest" - Again... "His" * The harvest God sent His Son for. * The harvest Jesus died for.

5 Go When You Are Sent Matthew 10: How many times have you been sent when you are praying. LIFT UP YOUR EYES... FIELDS ARE READY... PRAY.. A SHORTAGE One of the lies the enemy has sold to us in this church is to believe that people aren t interested anymore. We believe the harvest is past. The harvest is not ripe. We believe that people do not care anymore about God. We believe that no one is interested in becoming a Christian anymore. When we believe that lie, we are in fact saying that God is failing to do His job. You see, it is God s heart to seek and to save that which is lost. The Holy Spirit is constantly calling out to people. He is tugging at their hearts. He is using circumstances and events in their lives to create a hunger and a thirst for something they can t provide for themselves. God has and is preparing the harvest. The problem is not with the harvest. The problem is the lack of laborers. Harvesting is hard work. It is intense. It requires a total commitment. Harvesting is done outside, not inside a building. You have to go where the crop is, out into the field. Harvesting requires a team effort. There are those who use the sickle to cut down the crop. There are those who gather the crop in bundles and baskets to bring to the storehouse. But everyone works together to make sure that the crop doesn t rot on the fields. You don t want to lose anything. John 4:35-38 Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, One person plants and someone else harvests. And it s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn t plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest." There is so much joy in working together to bring in a harvest. Much of our American Fall culture center around those kinds of celebrations; square dances, and harvest festivals and thanksgiving dinners all celebrate the harvest work being accomplished. It is a time of tremendous hard work followed by a fullness of joy. When is the last time you felt an incredible surge of joy? When is the last time your heart overflowed with thanksgiving? Could it be that we don t have much joy or thankfulness in our hearts, because we sit in our easy chairs while the harvest rots in the fields? Let s get busy. Let s get to work. Let s pray for laborers to join us in the field, and watch the level of our joy and enthusiasm explode.

6 Jesus doesn t tell us to pray for the crop. He doesn t want us to pray for the field. He wants us to pray for laborers. Are you committed to praying for workers? Have you prayed for workers in this church? Are you praying for people who will reach kids for Christ? Are you praying for men and women who have a burdened to help teens find Jesus? Are you praying for your fellow church members to have opportunities to share the gospel? Are you praying and asking what job God has for you to do in the harvest? Pray for your part in the work. As Jesus spoke these words, I am sure the disciples started to ask: What can we do? How can we help? Maybe we are part of that answer of prayer of Jesus? I can t do everything, but I can certainly help. If this harvest is ready now, this isn t the time for me to sit back and wait for an invitation. I need to jump in with both feet and roll up my sleeves and break a sweat and get busy with helping in this harvest. In His book, Every believer, a minister Dr. Rex Edwards graphically paints the painful picture of far too many Christians today. He writes: We sing the words of the hymn, Onward Christian Soldier, and sit back waiting for someone to draft us into service. We loudly sing, O for a thousand tongues, but we never use the one tongue we already have. We join the congregation in singing that old hymn, Serve the Lord with Gladness, yet we complain when the church doesn t have enough workers to meet our own needs. We need to change. We need to move from a state of survival to a state of revival! How will you apply this message? Will you leave our church for a bigger church that has more programs to meet your needs? Will you sit back in your chair and wait for someone to beg you to participate? Will you turn your face away from the masses of people in this community who are dying without Jesus? Will you throw your hands in the air and say, the work is too much and I am just one person? Or will you get on your knees and join Jesus in praying for the laborers needed for today s Harvest? Remember the Spirit was sent not for our ENJOYMENT but for our EMPLOYMENT! If you become a harvester in Gods fields you will never lack for purpose or something to do.