Harvest 2019

Excite

On Sunday morning we will look at three short passages that all mention harvest. As you read through them notice the challenges that Jesus is giving to us as a church, and pray through your response to these words of Jesus. Also note the progression from reading 1 to reading 3, can you guess why Stephen arranged them in this order.

1. John 4:27-38
2. Matthew 9:35-38
3. Matthew 13:24-30

Engage

John 4:27-38

• Food – “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
• I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest 

• Let’s be like Jesus 
  • Open our eyes to the world around us
  • Feast on spiritual food
    • Do the will God 
    • Finish the work of God  
  • God sent Jesus and sends us

Matthew 9:35-38

• Compassion because they are
  • Harassed
  • Helpless
  • Sheep without shepherd
• Jesus Challenges us
  • But the workers are few
  • Therefore pray to God to send out workers

• Let’s be like Jesus 
  • Be compassionate
  • Jesus preached the good news and healed 

Matthew 13:24-30

• The reality 
  • Heaven and Hell

Extend

Jesus spoke about how doing the will of God and finishing His work was like spiritual food to him. Think about our own spiritual diets, are we malnourished or feasting on the food Jesus was referring to? What would it look like in your life to feast on spiritual food?

In the passages we looked at on Sunday Jesus was concerned with the harvest, sharing the good news of the gospel and people responding to it. Think about the compassion of Jesus for the world, how do you think it is:

• Harassed
• Helpless
• Sheep without a shepherd

Think about how as we introduce the world to Jesus how he can help in each of these.

Stephen spoke about the church being like a ‘field hospital’, where on a Sunday we are patched up, enriched, enthused and then sent back out to share the love of Jesus. What do you think about that analogy? He also spoke about some seeing the church as a ‘cruise ship’ (where everything is about our likes and desires) think about the dangers of seeing the church like this.

How we view church will effect how we see our role in the harvest. The reality of the challenge of Matthew 13:24-30 is massive, do we really live like we believe it?

Pray that God will move us as individuals and a church to be the workers that are so desperately needed.