Rejoice Together

My Bible reading yesterday included John chapter 4.  After Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman, he told his disciples:

35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

I have read this passage many times, but verse 36 really stood out to me yesterday.  Sowing and reaping are both part of harvest.  There is no reaping without sowing.

I have been involved in outreach of some form or another since I was a child.  My first attempt was with a Sunday school teacher.  He took our class and off we went.  It took me (the shyest in the group) several blocks before I actually spoke to someone, but I did.  I have been involved in bus ministry, taught Sunday school, participated in contests and Friend Days and dramas.  I think it would be safe to say I have knocked hundreds of doors and passed out just as many flyers.  Sowing, sowing, sowing.

30 years ago this summer I went to the Philippines with Western District Youth Corp.  Over the course of about 10 days we saw over 700 people receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  A lot of reaping took place and it had very little to do with the young people who arrived from California.  Sowing was going on before we boarded an airplane.  But we rejoiced together.

I don't understand how it all works.  Forty years of sowing and one day an abundant harvest.  But here's what I know:

The Fields are Ready to Harvest - Jesus said in Luke chapter 10 that the "harvest truly is great."  The population of the world when Jesus spoke these words was approximately three hundred million.  Our current world population is over seven Billion.  The fields are ready and bursting at the seams!

It Takes a Lot of Sowing - The parable of the sower is recorded in Mark chapter 4 and Luke chapter 8.  Three fourths of the seed that was sown did not produce.  That's a lot of sowing without a harvest.  But the remaining seed brought forth great increase.

There Will Be Times of Reaping - We are still seeing an explosion of Sunday school children and young people from our contest in March. Our altars are full on Sunday mornings.  God is doing a great work.  They aren't coming from an area where we have labored for years - this is a new location, but God is giving the increase.

Rejoice Together - The devil would like to mess with us and make us think that past labors have been in vain.  Often new converts are the spark that fans the flames of revival.   Every seed that has been sown in the past has brought us to this place.  Rejoice together!

The Long Spiritual Migration

Pastor White preached a very thought provoking message Sunday night.  His text was from Acts 28:1-11.  The setting is when Paul is shipwrecked on the island of Melita.  The barbarous people first thought Paul was a murderer when a viper came out of the fire, then they assumed he was a god because he wasn't killed.  He was on the island for three months, there were miracles of healing, but as far as we know there were no converts.  In the life of the great Apostle Paul, that seems quite unusual, but spiritual migration must take place in the heart and soul of individuals.

We can't take anyone farther then they are willing to travel.  We must not practice "railroading" people into the kingdom - let God do the work.  A competition to see how many we can baptize is not encouraging when all those who were baptized never show up again.

On the Day of Pentecostal, in Acts chapter 2, there was a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  Three thousand souls!  But those people were already on their spiritual journey.  They were Jews who believed in one God.  They were ready for the next step.  We see this often in the first half of the book of Acts.

The second half of the book of Acts is where we are living.  We are reaching out to people who don't know God, just as Paul was called to the Gentiles.  The time frame that Paul spent in one place, working with people, teaching them daily, having lengthy conversations, was from three months to two years!  We can't expect to win someone to God when we only visit them once every six months.  We need to be patient and consistent as they make the long spiritual migration.

In Acts chapter 18, Paul is in Corinth.  The Lord told him, "I have much people in this city."  But a Holy Ghost revival didn't break out the next day.  Paul spent one year and six months teaching the word of God among them.  

In Acts chapter 19, Paul is in Ephesus.  The first seven verses tell of 12 instant converts.  These 12 were disciples of John the Baptist who were ready for the next step.  In verses 8 and 9, Paul spends three months with zero results.  But he continued for two years and the estimate is 40-60,000 believers!

Pastor White told the true story of the American Whooping Crane.  This bird is found primarily in the southeastern United States.  Remains have been found as far north as Wisconsin, but the birds stopped migrating about a thousand years ago.  The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership has been working to teach the birds how to migrate.  It has been a long process:

• First, the members had to bond with the cranes.  They spent time with them in the fields, in casual settings.
• Second, they slowly earned their trust.  Birds are wary of hunters.  The members shared with the birds from their picnic baskets.
• Third, they had to get the birds to follow their scent.
• When the cranes would follow the scent, the members then started bringing ultra lite airplanes connected with their scent, teaching the birds to follow the airplanes.  Over the course of about six weeks, the birds follow the airplanes, migrating from Florida to Wisconsin.  They don't try to lead the birds non-stop.  They take their time, making plenty of stops.

Our job is more important than teaching birds to migrate!  We've got to take them back 2,000 years.  But don't be weary.  Don't get discouraged when your contact doesn't become a convert overnight.  Keep leading them, step by step.  Let them get to know you, trust you, and follow you on the path to righteousness.