| The Harvest - Vision |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Rev.Ian Thomas |
| Sunday, 25 September 2011 17:37 |
|
Listen to the sermon on Luke 9.57-10.3 on the Harvest is Ready: Download Embed Embed this video on your site P.S. The Tuesday meeting is the Church Members Meeting
Luke 9: 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
In this consumerist world where we can have nearly anything we want we are rarely satisfied – there is always more that we want, the latest mobile, camera, game, house, etc – however we need to learn to be content in our lives, with what we have and with what happens. This comes home to me all the more when I am presently living in a caravan in Clive’s garden! God is in control – nothing can shake that no matter what the circumstances – Jesus said that foxes have holes and the birds of the air, nests, but he, himself, was homeless – how we cope with different circumstances shows what we have already learned. What does it mean to follow Jesus?
The thing is that we all too satisified about our walk with the Lord and where we are as a Church, the same desires for natural things does not translate to the spiritual – we like the status quo when it comes to Church and change is seen as a threat - but the fact is that we should never be content with our spirituality but we, personally and as a Church, should be constantly transformed as God’s Word permeates us.
We say: I will follow you! What does it mean? That there are sacrifices to be made along the way. Not my will but yours. This world calls out to follow it – and the choice is stark and daily – the way of the world or the way of Christ? Knowing, therefore, how much he cares for us then the choice is made easier.
We pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers – and by the very act of praying we are saying we also want to be part of the labour force – the harvest is ready but we are not. So, on Tuesday I will be proposing how we, together, can be ready and where everyone’s gifts, whatever they are, hidden or known can be used for the glory of God. It might be that some here aspire to leadership – this is not strange – every single one of the disciples wanted to be a leader – but all leadership, in a Church context, is about servanthood – it is not about personalities or how dominant someone is but about ministering to others and laying down one’s life for others. If this is what we aspire to then our hearts are right – but if we want to be a leader because we think we can do it better or to make a name for oneself or to be popular then church is the wrong place to be a leader. In my opinion everyone here can be a leader if we have humility. My job is to ensure that everyone is moulded into ministers. There is a particular calling from God for certain responsibilities but everyone has the potential to be ministers.
I have a proposal to make that happen. But you have to be here on Tuesday find out what it is! So, it is imperative that everyone makes the meeting, especially the members and those who are committed to the fellowship, including the teens who are away today.
If I was to ask you what is your passion as far as the Church is concerned what would you say?
• Would you say Evangelism, • would you say paperwork, • would you say discipleship, • would you say worship, • would you say intercession, • or would you say your passion is youth • or creativity • or old people, • or is your passion Websites, • visitation, • giving, • finance, • hospitality, • perhaps it’s preaching? What is your passion? Bear this in mind when you come on Tuesday – what do you think your gifting is, thinking in more spiritual terms rather than natural ones. I think that there are exciting times ahead – and it can be exciting all the time because I think that the decisions we make as a church can lead to church growth on a scale that Ely Baptist and other churches have rarely seen. We know, of course, that God builds his church…and He has given us the tools to make it happen…he has given us intellect, he has given wisdom (because we asked for it)…we know that only God can save…but we need to be obedient to the vision…we need to be participants working together for the glory of God…and I believe this will lead to blessing as well as many difficulties and opposition…and we will have to hold onto God throughout it all. So many times the Scripture says to be bold and of good courage because He is with us. Our confidence is in the Lord not in ourselves. Our responsibility is to be faithful…God does not guarantee success…but we are to be workers in the harvest field because the harvest is ready…so success is something that God wants because the harvest is ready – this is not something impersonal – the harvest is something that our Lord died for. Let me share something that was said in the service I was in last Thursday…I prayed, Lord speak to me…though I was expecting the whole service to be in Macedonian and I have difficulty following because of the speed of what is being said. But at the end of the worship an American was invited to preach. He started off by saying that we should be praying for Macedonia. Pray for Macedonia! Then, oddly, he spoke about a woman who went to a particular church…this church was where Evan Roberts was based for the Welsh revival of 1904…and whilst this woman was in the church she had a vision. This vision was of an angel. And that angel was sleeping. So she prayed and asked why the angel was sleeping. And the answer was that this angel is the angel of revival and it was sleeping because no one was praying for revival anymore. His whole sermon was about praying for Macedonia – and he was talking about Wales! And here I am, a Pastor in a church in Wales but in Macedonia and he is talking about Wales – the coincidences could not have been more obvious. Our vision is too small – I pray for 1000 members here – but we should not only be praying for Ely and Caerau but Wales too. Remember a couple of months ago I was speaking about praying bigger prayers and dreaming bigger dreams – this is what set me off on praying for 1000 people – I think that we should be praying for 10,000+ and that here alone. God is able…but we as a Church need to be ready, to be prepared to allow this to happen. My proposal on Tuesday is something that grow with the church and as long as we are putting God first, evangelising and discipling then the church will grow and we will be ready for it. I hope that what I have said is tantalising enough to make you desire to be at the Tuesday meeting because, for me, it is exciting, and the deacons also agree when I shared it with them on Thursday. We are to make sure that we are caring for each other and serving one another. Jesus came to serve…not just as an example to us of service…but to actually serve…and because of his service and laying down his life in service for us we respond by serving each other in the way that Christ has also served them. What were you born to do? Jesus was born to die: his whole purpose was this. What is your purpose? Take up our cross and follow him…lay down our lives for Jesus…we have been bought at a price - the price of blood – the price of the blood of Jesus. He is 100% committed to us – surely we can lay down our lives in service to him? What are you born to do? The harvest is great…but the workers are at home watching TV, the drug with a plug…the harvest is great but the workers are content and lazy and are not satisfied with what they have been already given…the harvest is great but the workers do not care that their neighbours, collegues, friends, family and others are going to hell…the harvest is great but the workers are…not to be seen? Workers have to have a plan to produce work that is pleasing to our master – not that the work that has been produced has been rubbish because that is not the case: some amazing things have happened over the last few months with the holiday club, the fun day, with the worship, with the kids club, foodbank and now with the tots and toys as well as other things that are a pleasing aroma to God. Now we want to continue this good work with even greater works – and yes, it is possible and I hope that I can enlargen our vision to heights we have not even considered before. Pray bigger prayers and dream bigger dreams! The vision is for 1000 members – we should pray to this end Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is To present the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that turns non-Christians into believers, believers into disciples, and disciples into mature, fruitful leaders who will in turn go into the world and reach others for Christ Without faith it is impossible to please God. Who hopes for things that you already have? Therefore we trust God to build his Church. And we will follow Him however and wherever he leads us. See you on Tuesday!
|
| Last Updated on Sunday, 25 September 2011 18:06 |