DISCERNING THE TIMES #3

 

THE TIME OF HARVEST

 

1Chr. 12 ³² From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. NLT

 

We have learned that we are in a time of the fullness of the Gentiles and coming judgment upon the earth. Today we must know that we are in a time of harvest.

 

1.   It is a Plentiful Harvest

 

Mark 9 ^36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. NIV

 

³⁷ Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; ³⁸ Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourerq into his hArvest. KJV

 

A.    When you see the harvest you are looking throtgh the eyes of Jesus.

 

Mark 9:36…Jesus saw them as harassed
 helpless and looking for a shepherd.

 

This is the condition of a lost world; Hopeless afd beaten up.

We must see the lostness of man. It is not the drink, drugs, sex and etc. What matters is that they don’t know Jesus.

 

B.   Jesus saw a world-wide harvest.

John 4 ^35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. NIV

 

Jesus did not see a field but fields.

 

How can they call on one of whom they have not heard? The Great Commission is about harvesting the world.

 

2. It is a Perishing Harvest

 

John 4 ^35 …. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. NIV

 

35….Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. KJV

 

A.    White indicates it is in the last stages before it rots.

    It was not gold but white.

 

B.   Many are dying without the gospel witness.

 

There are 38,000 Christian ministries and denominations

There are 6,900 languages; There are 6,239 languages that do not have the bible in its language.

 

107 humans per minute die around the world

1.78 per second
107 per minute
6390 per hour
153 thousand per day
56.0 million per year
3.9 billion per average lifetime (70 years)

 

The United States is a non-Christian nation that was founded on Christian principles. We are now the 3^rd most unsaved or lost population on the planet.

 

Nigeria has sent 21 missionaries to the United States.

 

America needs revisited with an awakening of God’s convicting power.

 

3.    It is to be a Prompt Harvest.

 

A.   For some time the church has been patiently waiting for the harvest.

 

James 5:7… Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. KJV

 

B.   We are about the see the promise of our seed becoming a harvest.

 

Psa. 126 ⁶  They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest. NLT

 

C.   We are to pray for more laborers

 

The harvest is great. If we beat the storm it requires more workers.

 

Luke 10 ² These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. NLT

 

D.   The harvest must be gathered quickly.

 

Mark 4 ²⁶ And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; ²⁷ And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. ²⁸ For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. ²⁹ But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. KJV

 

E.    The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is all  

     about harvest.

 

It was 50 days after the Passover or crucifixion of Jesus that the Holy Spirit came in fire to the upper room.  Why were they told to “wait” in Jerusalem? They would receive power to become witnesses.

 

We must see the harvest and have the power of God to gather in the harvest.

 

The end cannot come until the harvest is complete.

 

Matt. 24 ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. KJV

 

The A/G is building a church in the world every 20 minutes.

 

Every 30 sec. someone is being saved in an A/G church some where in the world.

 

• However, it is now impossible to say with any certainty, as, while practicing Christians have been in decline in some Western countries, there has been a recent surge in 'membership' in parts of the West, and in the East the numbers who are becoming new Christians daily is astronomical. There are estimated now nearly 100 million Christians in China (compared with just 5,000 in the 1960s) and in South Korea, churches regularly have tens of thousands of members each. In one church, the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, there are over 800,000 members who meet each Sunday in several sittings in a vast hall. So, whilst it is difficult to give a definite answer to the actual number of Christians in the world (estimates range from 2 - 3 billion), Christianity remains the most dominant of the world, and is still growing at an astonishing rate.

 

Let’s get it done.