READ: JOHN 4:31-38
“Say not you, There are yet four months, and
then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the
fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).
In receiving a harvest, time is of great essence. This is because there is a limit to which a ripe harvest can endure. Ask the farmers. When the harvest is ripe and you do not take it in quickly, some could become over ripe and spoilt and in that process become lost forever. Some unbelievers have become over ripe and therefore unharvestible because we failed to harvest them at the right time. Each time you procrastinate or defer the day to evangelize to a soul moves the fellow closer to the staet of being overripe.
For example, some unbelievers have made conscious efforts to enter God’s kingdom. They have tried good works, alms giving, and self righteousness. Some have suffered so much hardshi and met with several disappointments while trying to solve a particular problem. For others, certain believers have continued to sow good deeds, kindness, prayers and a good example of the Christian life into them. That has weakened the resistance of such people to the Gospel. They are very near the kingdom of God. All you may need to do is go and tell them of the love of Jesus and they will come into the kingdom. But if you fail to harvest these, Satan can send in his helmsmen to introduce them to some deceptions of Eastern cults and fake gospel. And in the long run they would be deceived and either totally lost or it will really take God’s grace through persistent intercession to bring them out of the claws of darkness.
I was invited to preach in Ethiopia sometime ago. The time was slated for 6 pm but the pastor there asked us to go at 6.30 pm because he was not sure people would have come by 6 pm. But on arrival at 6 pm, there was already 1000 people hungry for the Word. This was the first time in a long while I preached and wept. After the programme, a pastor accused us of selfishness. He said, “How can you spend only two days when Nigeria has kept you to themselves all these years?” Go out to where you are needed. Your services are required in buses, train stations, villages, your communities, work places and neighbourhoods. Each time you delay, you are moving a ripe harvest towards a spoil, a gain towards a loss.
In receiving a harvest, time is of great essence. This is because there is a limit to which a ripe harvest can endure. Ask the farmers. When the harvest is ripe and you do not take it in quickly, some could become over ripe and spoilt and in that process become lost forever. Some unbelievers have become over ripe and therefore unharvestible because we failed to harvest them at the right time. Each time you procrastinate or defer the day to evangelize to a soul moves the fellow closer to the staet of being overripe.
For example, some unbelievers have made conscious efforts to enter God’s kingdom. They have tried good works, alms giving, and self righteousness. Some have suffered so much hardshi and met with several disappointments while trying to solve a particular problem. For others, certain believers have continued to sow good deeds, kindness, prayers and a good example of the Christian life into them. That has weakened the resistance of such people to the Gospel. They are very near the kingdom of God. All you may need to do is go and tell them of the love of Jesus and they will come into the kingdom. But if you fail to harvest these, Satan can send in his helmsmen to introduce them to some deceptions of Eastern cults and fake gospel. And in the long run they would be deceived and either totally lost or it will really take God’s grace through persistent intercession to bring them out of the claws of darkness.
I was invited to preach in Ethiopia sometime ago. The time was slated for 6 pm but the pastor there asked us to go at 6.30 pm because he was not sure people would have come by 6 pm. But on arrival at 6 pm, there was already 1000 people hungry for the Word. This was the first time in a long while I preached and wept. After the programme, a pastor accused us of selfishness. He said, “How can you spend only two days when Nigeria has kept you to themselves all these years?” Go out to where you are needed. Your services are required in buses, train stations, villages, your communities, work places and neighbourhoods. Each time you delay, you are moving a ripe harvest towards a spoil, a gain towards a loss.
MEMORIZE:
EPHESIANS 5:16 –Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
