Friday: The Harvest

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." (Get your bread and juice for communion at the end of the message.)

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus. Today is Friday and the day we pray for all those who are working in the fields of Harvest for our Lord Jesus, and I pray that you are indeed working for Him. Today, I want to start with a prayer asking for forgiveness of our sins and for help repenting. I cannot pray this one for you. This is between you and the Lord Jesus.

Dear Father in Heaven, I confess that I am a sinner, and I am indeed in need of the saving Grace that only You can give to me. Pour out Your blood for me, Lord, and forgive me of my sins please. And Lord, help me repent of those sins, help me repent and walk and talk for You each day. In the name of Jesus, I pray. AMEN.

The Harvest: Our seed is all grown up, and it is harvest time. On Monday, we prepared the earth, on Tuesday, we took seeds or plants and put them in the earth, on Wednesday, we put fertilizer and water on the seeds and plants. Yesterday, we talked about pulling those weeds. Today, well today we get to harvest our crop.

Now, I want to talk to you just a tad about this harvest. If we wanted to have tomatoes, then we should have planted tomato seeds or plants. If we wanted corn, we should have planted corn seed ... potatoes, we should have planted potato eyes ... and so it goes. If you went to your garden and planted green beans, please don't expect to have those yellow beans come up (I love those yellow beans). If we planted red tomatoes, don't expect yellow ones to grow (I like those yellow tomatoes also). What I am getting at is what we sow is what we are going to have at harvest time.

Now, let me relate that to family ... If from day one with our children we sowed good things for them, and as they grew we would keep sowing good thoughts and good things, and yes, sow Jesus, then as they advanced in age if we took care of the feeding, weeding and all of those things, our children should be ready for harvest for our Lord Jesus. But wait, someone is going to say I did all that and my child or children walked away from God. But wait, if you raised them up in the Lord and they walk away, they will come back. Yes, read the story of the lost son ... so keep your faith ...

But on the other hand, if you were one who set bad examples, one who never went to work, lived off of the system, drank a lot, smoked a lot, and your children were raised to see all of this -- guess who will make the harvest on this? And if there is one statement I always hated it was this one ... "Don't do as I do, do as I say." Sorry, that one does not cut it for me. It did not cut it for me at work either. I can say without a doubt that I never asked an employee to do something that I would not do, nor did I do things and then expect them not to do it. When we had service stations, I had my employees clean front and rear windows and even wipe the side mirrors. I did it, and I expect them to do it also. To just repeat this, we will reap what we sow ...

All week, I have been comparing our garden with our planting and working toward the harvest for our Lord Jesus. Please remember this -- we can do all of this, but we cannot save a person. That is between Jesus and the, well, the seed, the person or persons we were working with. I have heard so many times how at some special service hundreds of people were saved. Folks, we have no idea how many were truly saved or how many might have come forth out of emotion of the moment, and yes, that happens. Some places have been known to have plants, people who will come forth on the call to the altar just to start others walking. While there is nothing wrong with that, or a saved person walking someone to the altar ... again, Salvation is between them and Jesus. Our job does not end at Harvest, for as we know, once we pull the harvest we still need to work it up. So we need to keep working on the people, the seeds, and then of course we get to start another crop.

The Harvest: Happy Harvest day folks, happy harvest day, whether you are the one working to bring in the harvest or the one being harvested ... happy harvest day.

Here is the commandment to get your started on your harvest --

Mark 16: 15 He said to them (us) "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (NIV)

Now listen to the power Jesus gives to His workers --

Mark 16: 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." (NIV) I want to remind you about snakes and drinking deadly poison, please remember we are not to test the Lord except in giving. What it means is if we believe and we run across those snakes, we will have the power to handle it. Or if someone tried to poison us we would be protected. And I will confess that I have been praying and praying for healing, be it direct, or through the hands of doctors, and also through all those who pray for people to be healed, when done in faith. And, yes, I have prayed for that power. All honor and glory should always go to God, keeping none for ourselves.

One last thing today ... we are going to have communion for all who want to join in. This is always special to me.

Luke 22: 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying: This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." (NIV) Take now your bread and eat.
Luke 22: 20 In the same way after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." (NIV) Take now and drink the juice, and remember this is the blood of Jesus and it is given for all of us.

Dear Lord, thanks for going to the cross for us, thanks for setting examples for us. Thanks for walking with us daily. Help us to repent from sins and walk daily with You, and help us to keep working the fields of harvest for you. I love you Jesus, and I pray in Your wonderful name. Amen, amen, and amen.

Go forth now, working for Jesus, planting good seeds, and working toward the harvest, remembering you reap what you sow, and no more. Oh, and please share those blessings.
Sunday, we will have communion at The Bridges 10:00 AM and you are welcome ... love ya, dan.