We are talking about stewardship, and today we talk about stewarding the harvest.
The scripture we take is Matthew 9, 35-38.
Matthew 9, 35-38.
Here it goes.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, preaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers a few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest feed.
One more time.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers a few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest feed.
So guys, sometimes one of the names that God is called is the Lord of the harvest.
And so the actual sense of the word, if you were to read it in the original language and
hear what it means, it would be Master of the Yield.
Master of the Yield, Y-I-E-L-D.
Master of the Yield, as in what's produced?
What's the product?
What is the yield?
He's the Master of the Yield.
He decides what will come forth when you plant something.
And so when we call Him Lord of the harvest and Master of the Yield, what does it mean?
It means that He is the one who controls.
He's the one who controls the times and the seasons of the harvest.
He's the one who controls the times and seasons of the harvest.
He's the person who determines when a crop should come up, when a crop should not, how
much of it should come.
He controls it, and He controls it all over the earth.
So if you go to Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 24, again, there's a scripture that backs that
up.
There's more than that, but I'm just giving you one.
Jeremiah 5, 24.
It says there, they do not say in their hearts, it's a negative comment, but it still brings
out the truth.
They do not say in their hearts, let us fear the Lord our God who gives the rain in the
season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the
harvest.
The intent being, listen, I'm the one who determines when things happen.
I'm the one who decides the kind of yield that should happen.
I'm the Master of that.
I'm absolute Lord over what will come forth as a harvest.
So there are four different harvests mentioned in the Bible.
Four different harvests mentioned in the Bible.
The first one is the harvest of souls of men and women into heaven, for the lack of a better
word for now, or I would rather say into an eternity with God.
That would be my preferred way of saying it.
The harvest of souls into heaven.
The second one, and this you find in John chapter 4, 21 to 24 and thereabouts, you find
the harvest of souls into heaven.
The second one is the harvest of wrath, where those that oppose the gospel from reaching
the poor in spirit, will be at one point, will be in a situation where they will face
God and it talks about that in Revelation 14 where it says, and now God says to an angel,
take the sickle and harvest.
Once you harvest, throw what you have gathered into the winepress, where it will be trodden
by foot and this is the wrath of God, not so much against sinners, but those that prevent
the gospel from being heard by people.
They actively work against the gospel being preached.
Defiant, but not as defiant, preventing.
And we'll see scriptural evidence for that.
The third harvest is the harvest of plenty, the harvest of plenty, as in God has the ability
to begin to cause anything you touch to yield so tremendously that then God had to begin
to say to people, listen, when your orchards begin to grow, when your trees begin to bear
fruit, don't go and take every last fruit.
It's a principle called gleaning, where the intent is, don't pluck every fruit of the
tree, leave some, leave some for who?
Leave some for the immigrant, the alien, the stranger, the guy who's walking by and is
hungry to pluck and eat.
Leave and once that's done, don't go shake the tree again, leave some for the birds.
And so how does gleaning work in our lives?
Go check your cupboard, go check your grandmother's cupboard that you have inherited.
Give stuff away, you're never going to use that china.
And those jackets, I assure you, never fit, I've given all my clothes to Don.
So glean it away, gleaning is this principle where you take what is good and you give it away.
This sentimental attachment to stuff, they won't even bury you with it because it's expensive
nowadays, the plot I mean.
So gleaning is an Old Testament principle that must be used even today.
And the fourth one is the harvest of first fruits, harvest of first fruits, where whenever
something was, whenever the ground yielded something or whenever one prospered, one took
the first portion of it and gave it to God and this is in Leviticus 23.
And so these are the different harvests that the Bible talks about, the harvest of first
fruits and each of them ties in with what God wants to do on the earth.
And we'll talk about that.
How does it apply to people, the harvest of first fruits?
If I were to take 12 to 20 year olds, then I would call Jasmine a harvester of first
fruits.
Here is someone who's 15 or 16 who now wants to live a life that others can imitate and
follow so she becomes a first fruit.
Or if I were to look at the guys who are here who came in long ago, then guys like Derek,
guys like Gillian, guys like May, these are guys who came, Don, these are guys who came
long ago that are now first fruits, they lead.
First fruits is when something that you produce is now beginning to produce.
That's the idea of first fruits.
And the first always belongs to God.
So even when you receive an increase at work, take a portion of it and send it to somebody
that you think will be blessed or declare before God, Father, these are my first fruits.
What are first fruits?
Basically you're saying to God that this is the first portion.
It makes sense to keep this because I don't know if the locust will strike tomorrow.
I don't know if it'll rain tomorrow.
I don't know whether blight will strike my field tomorrow.
But here's what God, I trust you.
So I take this first portion.
Logic would dictate that keep it because you don't know what may happen tomorrow.
But trust dictates that I give it.
And in giving it, God's response, and these are all scriptures that I'm quoting, God's
response is you trusted me with the first, now I will bless the rest.
This is not tights.
And God would do this for Israel again and again and again.
It's such a brilliant financial principle that if you practice it, blessed are you.
The first belongs to God anyways, that's what he said.
And then he makes another statement saying if the first is holy, then the rest is holy.
Beautifully.
So these are the four different types of harvests.
So what are we to ask God for?
What are we asking God for?
What did Jesus say we should ask God for?
What are we asking God for?
Here's what we are asking God for at this stage in our lives.
We are saying, oh God, could you raise and send compassionate shepherds
who can proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.
And if it is the gospel of the kingdom, then if it is the good news of the kingdom, then
it must also be accompanied by healing the sick, the afflicted, the harassed, and the helpless.
So very often we say, oh, just ask the Lord to send laborers into the fields.
It's not laborers.
Look at the context of Mark 9, 35 to 38.
What's the context?
Jesus saw the people.
He realized that they were helpless.
He realized they were harassed.
He realized they were sick.
He realized they were afflicted.
And he looked at them and he felt like they were sheep without a shepherd.
And then he says to his disciples, I want you to pray this.
I want you to pray that laborers be sent into the fields.
For what?
To do what is very obvious.
There are tons of people, but there are not enough laborers.
What kind of laborers should we be?
We should be laborers who have the heart of a shepherd, a compassionate shepherd who can
proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, heal the sick, the afflicted, the harassed, and the
helpless.
How do we do that?
By going out.
These are the kind of laborers we want.
Laborers are not evangelists.
Laborers are not missionary workers.
Laborers are not someone who goes and proclaims the gospel.
Laborers are compassionate shepherds who can proclaim the gospel of the kingdom with
healing the sick, with taking care of the afflicted, with setting the harassed and
the helpless free.
It so ties in with Acts chapter 10, verse 38, where it says, God anointed the deacons
of Nazareth with the spirit and with power so that he could go around doing good and
setting those that were harassed by the devil free.
Same principle.
So when we talk about laborers, we're not talking about, oh, let's go and give someone
a tract or let's go evangelize.
That still needs guts, but this is a whole different way of functioning.
Any questions on that before we go on?
Who are these guys?
All of us.
There is no distinct group called shepherds in this church.
A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep.
A shepherd is someone who brings strays home.
A shepherd is someone who brings the lost home.
A shepherd is someone who feeds.
A shepherd is one who goes looking.
Guys, there's a difference between strays and the lost.
There are strays that can get lost and then there are lost sheep.
And then there are ones that just love straying.
Don't waste your time after that.
They'll keep straying.
It's like little Bo Peep has lost a sheep and doesn't know where to find them.
They keep going.
You've got to keep singing the song every day.
It's not worth it.
Let there be a distinction between the strays who get lost and the lost.
Go after both of them.
But if it is strays who just want to stray every day, then unless it's Saskatchewan,
don't even bother because at least there you can see them for three days.
At least that's what Evan told me.
He used to live in Saskatchewan, right?
Yeah.
Any questions?
Okay.
So what are we asking God for?
We are asking that he send laborers.
What kind of laborers?
These laborers will have to be compassionate shepherds who can proclaim the gospel of the
kingdom.
And the moment you say gospel of the kingdom, it cannot be just words.
It has to be deeds.
And it is healing the sick, the afflicted, taking care of the harassed and the helpless.
How do we do that?
I'm not qualified for that.
You can never be qualified for this because the only one who's qualified for it is the
Christ in you.
So you can only try it out.
You keep trying it out.
And you see it working.
Every time it works, you get thrilled.
I remember going to the sprinting franchise once and there was a man called Andy there
and he had a headache.
And it was a severe headache.
And so he asks me, hey, Jacob, do you have any aspirin?
I just happened to read Acts chapter three that day, just before I went to pick up some
printing stuff.
And he asked me for aspirin and I go into New King James Old English and I say to him,
Andy, aspirin and anacin I have none.
I'm thinking why are you talking so funny?
And then I go into, but what I have I give you.
I can pray for you in the name of Jesus Christ for your headache.
And he says, okay.
So I go around the counter, I put my hand on him and I pray.
And then I walk back and think I've done my job.
And the guy is shaking his head saying, it's gone.
It's gone.
And I'm saying, no.
I couldn't believe that something could go that quickly.
So I'm shaking my head saying, nah, nah.
He's saying, Jacob, it's gone.
I'm thinking to myself, why would he, I mean, why would he flatter me?
I'm not like his biggest businessman.
And then I realized it's actually gone.
The point being sometimes guys, the second part of it, who can, healing the sick, the
afflicted, the harassed and the helpless only comes by trying it.
There's no other way around it.
So try it.
Trying it is so difficult because you feel scared.
What if you fail?
If you fail, you get egg on your face.
Wipe it, try it again.
Any questions?
There's no other way around it guys.
So this week, quick question, raising of hands only.
This week, how many tried praying for someone who was sick, afflicted, harassed or helpless?
Crazy.
Vivek is saying, Vidisha, why are you raising your hand?
She did pray for someone.
Let it be.
That's pretty good, man.
You saw the hands around you, right?
So this isn't abnormal.
This is good.
Cool.
So here's the thing that I want to say now.
While I was praying for Acts 29, I heard God saying, can you read Psalm 107, 35 to
38?
Because I want to release it on the church.
And I felt him saying that it is the outline of our story in Richmond.
He'll flesh it out.
We'll work with him to flesh it out.
But Psalm 107, 35 to 38, I'll read it from the NIV first and then from the New Living
Translation.
Psalm 107, 35 to 38.
He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs.
There he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.
They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest.
He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds
diminish.
Reading from the NLT, Psalm 107, 35 to 38.
He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water, and there he lets
the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in.
They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.
By his blessing, they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.
May God bring to pass this word in our midst.
Where he's saying, hey, I asked you to move into a city.
I'll turn the city from a desert into a fresh pool, a fresh spring.
People that are hungry will come.
They'll come, and you will build the city with the hungry.
You will feed them.
Along with that, whatever you sow, you'll find a huge harvest coming in, a bumper crop.
That's how some versions, if you read, I think, I don't know if it's a message, but it says
a bumper crop will come in, and then it says, I'll increase you, I'll multiply you.
So when I was sensing that this is what God wants to do with us, I wrote this down, and
I thought I'd better read it to you, because we've been faithful, guys.
We've been obedient and faithful, and there are rewards for obedience and faithfulness.
We've been.
This is the only turn that keeps increasing when we move.
Something is wrong with you.
But we've been faithful and we've been obedient, and God is now going to bless.
It's only so long that he waits till faithfulness is complete, and then it just breaks forth.
Psalm 107, 35-38 becomes kind of the outline that he's going to flesh out.
That's just the outline.
And there's an urgency to what God is doing.
There's an urgency to what God is doing.
It's not a sweet buy and buy three years from now.
There's an urgency to what God is doing.
Go to Mark, Chapter 4, Verse 26-29.
Mark, Chapter 4, 26-29.
This is Jesus speaking, and he says,
This is what the kingdom of God looks like.
A man scatters seed on the ground.
We've done that, man.
Night and day, whether he sleeps or get up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
All by itself, the soil produces grain.
First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
Verse 29.
As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come.
Our entry into Richmond is not to plow and plant, but to harvest.
Hear me again.
Hear me very clearly, eh?
Because these are words that are not coming for us just to write down as notes,
but to hear the voice of God saying,
Our entry into Richmond was not to plow, not to seed, not to plant.
It is to harvest.
For years, people have been working in this city quietly, loudly.
For years, the Spirit of God has been moving upon this city.
For years, God has gathered people from different nations of the world and brought them to this city.
For years, He's built a city that is small enough for this church to take.
And now He's saying,
There's an urgency of harvest.
Yes, while you're harvesting, I'll send out sowers again to sow,
but I sent you here to harvest.
It's a different mindset.
Go expecting easy work.
It's not the plowing, it's the weeding.
It's not the plowing, it's not the weeding, it's the gathering.
And while we're doing that, we still sow.
Amos 9.13 puts it this way,
A time will come when the harvester will be overtaken by the sower,
and the sower will be overtaken by the harvester,
because the thing will just stretch one into the other.
Any questions?
If you go to John 4.35,
famous scripture, John 4.35,
he's just spoken to the woman at the well,
and his disciples come by and they see he's sitting there
and talking to this woman,
but the woman's already gone back.
She's gone back and she's told people in the village,
and now the disciples come and they're wondering
what he's eaten and drunk.
They don't know that he just spoke to this woman.
The woman's gone back.
Verse 30, she's talking to the people in the village,
and then as they're saying,
So Jesus, what did you eat?
He says, My food is to do the will of the Father.
And then he makes this amazing statement.
He says, Lift up your eyes and look.
Why? Because in the distance,
he can already see the woman bringing the people of the village to him.
The sowing has already been done.
He's saying to his disciples, Guys, I've done the sowing already,
but they're coming.
Can you see it?
And so my question to you is this,
can you see it?
Can you see them coming?
One of the things we have to begin to see
before we even know it physically,
you have to begin to see in your spirit,
the ones that are coming.
When I was reading this, I was weeping because I could see,
I could see people coming.
I could see Buddhists coming.
I could see Hindus coming.
I could see Catholics coming.
I could see atheists coming.
I could see people from different religions who believe
and do not believe coming, and they're coming.
All it takes is one woman, one man.
That's all it takes, guys.
An entire island called Paphos was changed
because a man called Publius, don't name your children that,
God healed.
One man.
It's always one miracle away from an entire nation
or an entire city breaking into a different space.
But God has to use people who are not very interested
in the jazziness of the miracle, but the showiness of Christ.
And that we are slowly becoming.
There's an urgency of the harvest.
The hour has come and is now.
So lift up your eyes.
Can you see them coming?
John 4.30, Jesus saw at a distance the woman had gone
and gathered the people and they were coming.
The disciples didn't know it.
And so he says, hey, guys, just turn around.
Look, can you see them coming?
The harvest is already coming.
Go to Isaiah 60, verse four and five.
Isaiah 60, verse four and five.
There's another beautiful verse.
Isaiah 60, verse four and five.
Learn the scripture.
Every time this happens, rejoice in these scriptures.
Rejoice in the faithfulness of God.
Starting today.
Because if you're writing the hour has come and is now,
it means like now.
Isaiah 60, verse four and five.
Lift up your eyes and look about you.
All assemble and come to you, your sons from afar,
your daughters are carried on the arm.
Then you will look and be radiant.
Your heart will throb and swell with joy.
The wealth on the seas will be brought to you.
The riches of the nations will come.
Let me read that again.
Lift up your eyes and look about you.
Can you close your eyes and lift up your eyes and look?
Can you close your eyes and lift up your eyes and look as I read?
Lift up your eyes and look about you.
They all assemble and they're coming to you.
Sons come from afar, daughters being carried on the arm.
Then you will look and be radiant.
Your heart will throb and swell with joy.
The wealth on the seas will be brought to you.
The riches of the nations will come.
What is the wealth of the seas and the riches of nations
except the souls of men and women?
Everything else is secondary.
So can you see it?
You see pictures of war zones, right?
Be it Gaza, be it Ukraine.
You see pictures of war zones, people with carts, mules, donkeys,
putting their stuff, carrying them,
children being dragged along, some being carried.
That's the picture, guys.
What's he looking for?
He's looking for prayer.
What kind of prayer?
Ernest's prayer.
What's the concept of prayer?
What kind of prayer?
Ernest's prayer.
What's the content?
Can you ask me to raise and send from amongst you,
all of you, compassionate shepherds,
that I will make bold to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom
in this city so that you can heal the sick, the afflicted,
the harassed and the helpless.
I'll enable you.
Each time one of these come,
it's like me recovering one of my children.
Because if we talk about revival, guys,
then if revival is the experience of the church,
evangelism must be the expression.
If revival is the experience of the church,
then evangelism must be the expression.
We talk about Hebrides 2.0,
as in what happened in Hebrides in 1949 and 50
will happen again amongst the young.
Well then, here's the story.
In Hebrides 1.0, as in the first time it happened in the 49 and the 50s,
30% of the island got saved.
The presence of God was felt by all.
30% of the island got saved.
Doesn't matter.
The percentage is not what I'm trying to highlight here.
I'm trying to say that if revival is real,
evangelism must be real and the results must be real.
Because the presence of God must lead to people
either responding or rejecting,
but not staying neutral.
The curse of our times is the neutrality of our lives.
And the presence of God shifts that.
It leaves you no option.
You can reject or you can receive.
You cannot stay neutral.
And that must be something you carry, eh?
I won't allow my son, my daughter,
I won't allow myself to be neutral about anything.
Neutrality, there's another word for neutrality.
It's called lukewarmness.
And you know what happens to lukewarmness.
And here's the other thing.
You can be passionate in your individual life about Christ,
but who are you spiritual with?
You cannot be spiritual unless it's with people.
The fruit of the spirit and our spirituality
is only tested out in conflict and context.
Anybody who says,
I'm having a passionate relationship with God,
I'm spiritual,
if the rest of us don't see it,
worked out in real life,
one should question it.
Here are some things Jesus now has put into this mix,
which we cannot avoid.
Jesus has willed,
Jesus has willed
that his miraculous work,
his miraculous work of harvesting
that he's appointing us to,
of harvesting,
must be preceded
by earnest prayer.
He has willed it,
as in he has decided it,
and there ain't nothing you can do about it.
When you read the scriptures from Luke chapter 10,
same scriptures,
Luke chapter 10,
verse one and two,
Luke 10,
verse one and two.
After this, the Lord appointed 72 others
and sent them out two by two ahead of him
to every town and place where he was about to go.
He told them,
the harvest is plentiful,
but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.
In the NIV, the word earnest is missing.
In most other versions,
like ESV and all you'll find,
earnestly pray,
earnestly pray.
And so there's,
God has decided,
Jesus has decided
that his miraculous work of harvesting
must be preceded by earnest prayer.
And so,
the sign
that God is going to,
the sign that God is going to bring
in the harvest
at Acts 29
will be
a movement of prayer
among us
as a people.
So, there's a direct correlation here.
If this doesn't happen,
if this needs to happen,
this needs to happen.
You can't do one without the other.
Therefore,
before God will do this work,
before God does this work,
he'll pour out.
He will pour out.
This is a crazy thing.
He will pour out.
He'll pour out what?
A spirit of
compassion
and supplication,
as in earnest crying, pleading
upon us
so we can
earnestly plead.
Any questions?
Any
any struggle understanding?
Say it out loud.
Thank you.
And so,
here's what
I ask of you.
First,
I urge you,
urge everyone here
to fast
for one meal a week.
Just one meal a week.
Let's stop there.
One meal a week.
Not one meal a day.
One meal a week.
And
pray
for
30 minutes.
About what?
About
your own heart.
What are the terms?
Terms are compassion,
seeing the need
in the city,
seeing the need of people,
seeing the harassed, the afflicted,
seeking boldness
so you can speak,
you can proclaim,
you can lay hands,
you can heal,
and giving you a passion
that does not wane
from Sunday to Monday.
This is the first thing.
Everyone here
and guys who are
not here
to fast one meal a week.
Pick a meal that you don't usually skip.
Yeah?
It's very difficult, guys.
I can skip breakfast and lunch without any problem.
Ask me to skip dinner
and I'll start coming up with excuses.
So, first,
everyone here
to fast for one meal a week
and pray for 30 minutes
about your heart,
about your heart.
That's what we're asking for now.
And what are we seeking from my heart?
Oh God, please give me compassion.
He wants compassionate shepherds.
Otherwise, this won't work.
Oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem,
oh Richmond, oh Richmond.
Next one, seeing the need.
My eyes are usually blind
unless sometimes I'm preaching like this
or coming across scriptures
where you see people
coming with children on their waists.
Coming.
Can you see that the field is already ripe?
Remember, we are harvesters.
The sowing is something we'll continue doing,
but the immediate urgent demand
placed on this church
by the Father in heaven
is come harvest.
Many have done the work for years on end.
It doesn't matter where you live.
What you do in Richmond
will affect White Rock and Surrey
and Burnaby and every other place you live.
When the Gadites and the Danites
go up to Moses and say,
listen, we would like to stay in this area
and not cross over to the promised land,
they'd have screwed up their own destiny.
Moses had to rebuke them, saying,
fools, haven't you learned from your ancestors?
You partake in what is the demand
placed by God on a people in a place,
and when you do that,
wherever you are also begins to prosper.
Boldness.
So difficult sometimes.
For some of us, it's a little easier.
For some of us, difficult.
And passion.
That it does not change from week to week.
Can you commit to this?
Guys, don't be like
1 Kings 18.38, eh?
Elijah went and said,
will you choose this or will you not?
And everybody was silent.
Today, I cannot allow that.
So I'm asking you,
are you able to commit to this?
Yeah.
We need to speak what we are committing to
so that the Lord hears it.
And it's absolutely worth it, right?
So that's the first one.
The second one.
The second one is that
in your churches, in quest,
in pursuit,
in revival, in all the churches,
can you take a solid 15 minutes
and not skimp around it,
a solid 15 minutes to pray for Richmond again?
And when you pray,
the leaders will have to figure out,
okay, today what do we pray for Richmond?
I come.
I put your heart to it.
Why?
Why am I asking this?
Because your Savior and Lord
and the head of this church,
Christ said,
can you earnestly pray
that the Lord of the harvest,
the master of the yield,
send harvesters?
Who?
Us?
What do we need?
A lot.
In here.
I've never seen a third this excited about fasting.
It's overwhelming.
Third.
We'll find time today.
And we'll pick a Thursday later this month.
And we'll have a holy,
Old Testament word convocation
where we earnestly pray,
oh God, what you have promised,
we're ready for.
You know,
there was a guy called Jeremiah Lanphier.
He was a businessman in New York in 1857.
He felt the same thing that we need to pray in.
So he sent around notices all around New York,
between 12 and 1.
It doesn't matter whether you take 5 minutes,
10 minutes, 15 minutes,
come and join for prayer.
First day,
no one turned up till the 40th minute
and then there were six people.
In a few weeks, there were 40 people.
By the end of the year,
there were 10,000 businessmen in New York.
This was during the Great Depression,
the panic that had come around.
There were 10,000 businessmen every day,
every lunch hour that would gather.
And they say about a million souls
were converted in two years
and joined the kingdom of God.
These are businessmen in the busiest city in the world.
I was quite surprised that even today,
there's a Fulton Street Mission in New York
that is a result of that.
I love this next scripture.
It's from Psalm 126.
I pray God that it will be your experience.
When you were listening to Jasmine telling a story,
did it move you?
She thought she was moved.
She didn't know that we were the ones that were moved
by what God has done.
I didn't even remember that
words were said to her in prayer.
We do not know what a person is going through.
But when you read Psalm 126,
I pray God that every person sitting here experiences it.
It says in Psalm 127,
Hey, when you go out, go with weeping.
But as you go weeping, carry seed.
Weep for those that you meet.
Weep as in lament for,
Oh, I so wish you could experience what I just talked about.
Go out weeping.
But here's what will happen if you go out weeping,
carrying seed.
You will come back with armloads of sheaves,
dancing and rejoicing.
May you experience that.
May you bring people and they'll stand here and they'll say,
and then, and then, instead of, but.
Psalm 124, sorry, Psalm 126, verse 5 and 6.
Let's go out weeping, carrying seeds to sow
and return with joyful laughter,
carrying sheaves of souls.
It's a divine guarantee.
Here's what caught me about the scripture.
When you read it, God is saying,
You go out with weeping, carrying seed,
and here's what I'll do for you.
I'll guarantee a joyful return with sheaves.
It's a divine guarantee.
It's not perhaps if you go out, perhaps you'll come back.
No, it's guaranteed.
That is nuts, man.
Same thing with Luke 17.
Now you know what was happening in Luke 17.
In Luke 17, the disciples come back.
They had been sent out two by two.
And now they're coming back and they say,
Jesus, we cast out demons.
Jesus, we heal the sick and Jesus rejoices.
And then after rejoicing he says,
it's been misinterpreted,
but what Jesus is actually saying is,
I'm so glad you cast out demons.
I'm so glad you healed people.
But I also want you to know that the thing
that you should rejoice over even more
is the fact that many you preach to
have their names written in the book of life.
He's not saying downplay the sickness that was healed.
He's saying, listen, you healed them.
Yes, you set them free,
but here's what you did, Dilna.
When you spoke, he got saved,
and his name is written in the book of life.
Therefore, Dilna, rejoice.
It is very natural for this.
He's the Lord of the harvest.
We are the Lord of the harvest.
We are laborers who are going with him
and picking what he wants us to pick.
And the time is now.
Why? Because the fields are white with harvest.
Every time someone gets saved,
we can enter into the courts of heaven,
because every time the Gospel of the Kingdom
brings a harvest of one soul,
you should read what Luke 15,
verse 7 and 10 say.
Let me read it from the passion translation.
Luke 15, verse 7 and 10.
Reading from the passion translation.
Jesus continued, in the same way,
this is Jesus speaking,
not a preacher's story.
Jesus continued, in the same way,
there will be a glorious celebration in heaven
over the rescue of one lost sinner who repents,
comes back home and returns to the fold,
more so than all the righteous people
who never strayed away.
Verse 10. That's the way God responds.
Every time one lost sinner repents and turns to him,
he says to all his angels,
let's have a joyous celebration
for that one who was lost.
And I have found.
It's an actual happening.
When I got saved,
that's what happened.
God the Father turned around to the angels,
Jesus turned around to the angels,
and he said, finally.
And then there was joyous celebration.
This happens again and again and again and again.
And when you are involved in it,
there's a personal stake of thoughts,
and you can celebrate in the courts of heaven with God.
Angels aid harvests.
In Matthew 13.39,
the angels are the reapers of the harvest,
but their reaping is preceded by human messengers,
like you and I.
Angels participate in the reaping of the harvest.
And when a church begins to harvest,
angels are the ones who reap the harvest.
Angels participate in the reaping of the harvest.
And when a church begins to harvest,
you will find that the church is protected
and the church is delivered.
Hebrews 1.14 says that,
on these angels, ministers of fire
are appointed to those that will inherit salvation.
In Acts chapter 12,
you find that Peter, who was preaching,
was put in prison.
And what happened?
In verse 11, it says, an angel came.
I don't know whether the angel kicked him
or struck him or I don't know how,
but Peter woke up from a deep sleep in prison.
And in Acts chapter 12, verse 11,
the angel takes him through different doors
that were barred,
till he ends up in the house of a group of believers praying.
You will find, and I will find,
that as we begin to enter into this today,
that there will be angelic protection and deliverance
for this church, for your life, for your families,
for your children, for your situations,
for different things in your life
that you may or may not ever see,
but it will begin to happen for you
because angels assist in the reaping of the harvest.
And is it normal for God to say,
okay, harvest this city, harvest this place?
Yes.
Harvest are often specific to places.
In Amos chapter 4, verse 7,
God says, I will send rain on this city.
I might choose not to send rain on this city.
I might want something to happen in this city,
not in this city.
When it came to Paul, he said, I know you're a Hebrew,
I know you're a scholar, but I'm sending you to the Gentiles.
And this happens to be the place appointed for us.
We started praying for this city in May.
And then, see that man sitting there?
Chris, Christopher.
Some of you haven't met him.
He's the chaplain of Trinity Western.
And now he gave us an in-in-to Trinity Western too.
Everybody from Trinity Western suddenly sat up straight.
You should come more often.
Harvest requires the use of your gifts,
your dreams, your time.
God will use it.
It says so in 1 Peter 4, 7 to 11.
Listen, look at the times.
Use your time well.
Use every opportunity well.
If you speak, speak well.
If you give, give well.
If you serve, serve well.
God will use it.
You know this church, PMC, Peace Mennonite Church?
It has only maybe 50 people,
and many of them are much older.
But here's the crazy thing.
Betty and a few others came here on Tuesday night last week.
And they found 140 people from the neighborhood
gathering in that room to eat dinner.
140 of them.
This church is taking what it can do best
with a limited number of people.
And sometimes churches like this will be found
more faithful than us.
What has been appointed to them is what they must do.
And what has been appointed to us is what we must do.
And that's how your faithfulness will be measured.
140 people.
And Betty was saying how people were serving.
And one of the ways we can help them is to sit and talk,
because you guys talk, except when I'm preaching.
You guys talk.
I love messages like this,
because they are the proceeding word.
There are blessings in the harvest, guys.
There are blessings in the harvest.
John 4, verse 36.
Thank God it's God who's in charge of this.
And no man can bless you. He can.
John 4, 36. Very strange.
Let's start at 34.
My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him
who sent me and to finish his work.
Do not say, four months more, and then the harvest.
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.
They are ripe for harvest.
And look at verse 36.
Even now the reaper draws his wages.
Even now he harvests the crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper may be glad together.
You, when you commit to something like this,
you get paid before you work.
Verse 36 is basically saying that those who harvest
receive payment, but receiving payment
proceeds gathering a crop,
which could imply that the harvester is paid in advance.
Present before God your deep needs,
not your surface needs, your deep needs,
because God blesses reapers before they even
put their hand to the sickle.
And what's one of the blessings that comes with harvesting?
Another soul that is reaped.
I mean, the reward is in the person that comes to Christ.
Leave alone everything else.
And there are other things.
But I want you to know, and God wants you to know,
that this business is a business of rewards.
He is a profitable God who rewards you and blesses you.
The crop itself is a reward,
but the Lord blesses a church that becomes
fissures of men with seven baskets full,
which is provision for more good works.
God blesses a church that becomes fissures of men
with seven baskets full of fish and bread
that you take home,
and you can use it for whatever you want.
May some of you be able to believe it
and whisper a small amen deep in the bowels of your stomach.
2 Corinthians 9, 10, another reward.
God will supply you the seed to sow and the bread to eat,
and it will increase your harvest of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 9, verse 10.
God will supply you more seed, more people, more seed to sow.
God will supply you with bread
so that there is bread to eat and seed to sow,
and he will increase your righteousness,
as in your right living, your right relationship,
the very nature of God.
Given to who?
Given to those that begin to engage in this.
This is not what motivates you,
but I just want you to know there is a byproduct.
If this was motivation, I would have put it right in the beginning.
Will the nets hold, guys?
That's the question.
Will the nets hold?
As we now enter this phase today,
will the nets hold?
You have two stories in the Bible.
One is in Luke 5, verse 6.
Peter had been fishing all day,
and Jesus comes and says,
throw it on the other side,
and he says, but I've fished all day.
And Jesus says, just do it,
and he does it, and he gets a whole lot of fish,
where the boat begins to almost sink,
and they try to haul it, but the nets tear.
And then there's another story in John 21.
In John 21, verse 1 to 11, you find a similar story.
Now, Jesus is on the beach,
and he looks, and he says, hey, boys, do you have any fish?
And they say, we've fished all night.
And he says, cast your net on the other side,
and he does, and they catch 153 fish.
People have been trying to figure out what the 153 is
for the last 253 years, but it hasn't worked.
That's not the point.
The point is the 153 fish have been caught,
but this time the nets don't tear.
In one case, the nets tear.
In the other case, the nets don't tear.
The question is not why the nets didn't tear or tore.
It's beyond us to speculate.
But here's the thing.
If the net tears, you lose fish.
And so my question is, will our nets hold?
Will our nets hold?
Three weeks ago, I was sitting here.
We were worshipping, and I suddenly opened my eyes,
and I looked around, and the church that day was very full.
There were flags.
There were people shouting, dancing.
It looked very full, and it scared me.
And I looked at it, and I quickly looked away,
and there were two reasons I was scared.
The first reason was I thought, how are we going to handle it
if another 15 people come?
Not in terms of space.
How are we going to handle raising 15 more?
We do not have the ability.
It requires time.
How are we going to do it?
And the second reason I turned away is,
when I saw the increase, I got scared that we'll take pride,
or I'll take pride, in the sudden growth.
Those were the two reasons I turned away.
Let me go to the first reason.
Will the nets hold?
If 153 fish come, do we have the ability to?
Not accommodate them, not engage them in worship.
Do we have the ability to raise them,
like many of you have been raised?
I think yes, if all of us step up.
And I think no, if we don't step up.
That scares me a little.
I don't want to dilute what Acts 29 has become
when more people come in.
People always said to me, five years ago, 15 years ago,
they would say to me, this works now.
But let us, once you get to 20, once you get to 40,
once you get to 60, once you get to 80,
you won't be able to scale this.
I was always told that.
Thus far, we've been able to scale it.
But if another 20 came, would we be able to still pay attention?
There was a dream that someone in this church had on November 6.
I want to read it out to you.
I was told that the church had a church in the north
on November 6.
I want to read it out to you.
Jacob was putting on a roast goose dinner for Acts 29.
Roast goose is usually served for either Michael Mass,
which is when a church is on the angelic host,
or for Christmas, that's when a roast goose is laid on the table.
So Jacob was putting on a roast goose dinner for Acts 29.
It's a feast with an entire roast goose for every table.
I go in and Kirtiana is sitting there and some others.
Gillian comes in, she looks dismayed that the room is still mostly empty.
But it's past the event time.
I walk around and see many empty tables.
I'm trying to set up chairs.
I notice people are missing, leaders are missing.
I sense, and this person is interpreting the dream,
I sense that maybe Jacob is Jesus in this dream.
The second interpretation, or the second point was,
people are caught up with different things and are delayed or missing the dinner.
Third, people didn't realize this was such an important event.
It's worth considering, right?
So I want to say, maybe consider our ways, yeah?
And commit to something that God is placing,
and what kind of demand on this dream was sent to me three days ago,
and the person had no idea what I was preaching about.
So it was a soulful experience.
So it was a sobering thought.
Let us disprove this dream.
Dreams are sometimes sent as a warning so that we can correct course.
Yeah? Disprove it, guys.
History is made up of moments like this.
To the leaders, I'll read from 1 Corinthians 3, 4 to 10.
1 Corinthians 3, 4 to 10.
Let me read that to you.
1 Corinthians 3, 4 to 10.
Something that we should avoid at all costs.
1 Corinthians 3, 4 to 10, I'm addressing the leaders here.
When you divide yourselves up in groups,
a Paul group, an Apollo's group,
you're acting like people without the Spirit's influence.
Who is Apollo's really? Who is Paul?
Aren't we both just servants to whom you believed our message?
Aren't each of us doing the ministry the Lord has assigned to us?
I was the one who planted the church.
Apollo's came and cared for it, but it was God who caused it to grow.
This means that the one who plants is not anybody special,
nor the one who waters,
for God is the one who brings supernatural growth.
Now, the one who plants and the one who waters are equally important
and on the same team, but each will be rewarded for his own work.
We are co-workers with God, and you are God's cultivated garden,
the house he is building.
God has given me a unique gift as a skilled master builder
who lays a good foundation.
Afterwards, another craftsman comes and builds on it.
So builders beware.
Let every builder do his work carefully according to God's standard.
Beautiful.
That's how the leaders in this church must be.
One of the things I want to do,
and I've asked Revive because they come to Richmond every Sunday afternoon,
one of the things I want us to do as a church is
can we get a plot and start gardening in Richmond?
I'm not sure where it's going,
but the reason I'm saying it to you is so that when we see where it will go,
we'll be quite surprised at what God did.
Here's the second thing.
Can we get a van?
Paint it, have tears hand-print on it,
have other stuff on it.
Can we get a van and in that van,
have it parked in certain places in Richmond where people get used to you,
where you give away some of the finest leather jackets you have to anyone who wants it,
where Isaiah 58 begins to happen.
What does Isaiah 58 say, 6 to 8 or thereabouts?
That, listen, I'll make you repairers of the breach.
A harvest is incomplete if the breach is not repaired.
We'll end up being in the same situation Jericho was
when they went up to Elisha and they said to Elisha,
the city is pleasant and it's well situated,
but the water is poisonous and the land is barren.
To be able to restore the streets that we dwell in,
to be repairers of the breach,
why a van? Don't know.
But they'll know that, oh, these are those guys.
Oh, these are the guys that you can stop by at this spot every Thursday
and you will have clothes or you will have soap or you will have hot chocolate or whatever.
Or you will have Colorado jerseys being given away for free.
The point being, and so I asked Revive to start thinking about it
and so they met today to pray for it,
but I just wanted to be out there because I'm saying to you
that this is going to lead somewhere.
This thing is real, guys.
Oh my God. At least don't corrupt the kids.
A garden. Yeah.
Don't ask me.
Hey, Joey. Joey. Joey.
Hey, Joey. How are you? You're good?
Joey, this is not a good jersey, yeah?
I'll give you a really good jersey. Yeah?
There we go. That's an understanding.
Joey, coconuts go!
We'll talk about the harvest of the wicked another time,
but this does bring opposition.
It brought opposition in Acts chapter 13
where there was a man who went and tried to cause Sergius Paulus,
the governor of an island, to turn against the gospel.
He was removed.
There was Herod who killed James and John.
He was sitting on a throne and speaking big,
and he died on the spot eaten by worms.
There was Alexander the corpus smith.
There was Demetrius in Ephesus.
We'll talk about that next time.
But don't get weary, huh?
Don't get weary. Don't withdraw.
But more than that, don't stay on the sidelines.
I beg you.
Don't get weary. Don't withdraw.
But more than that, please don't stay on the sidelines.
I'm so scared of you staying on the sidelines.
You stay on the sidelines for these reasons.
Laziness, disgruntled, not happy with what you've been given to do,
or just plain spiritual dullness.
These are the four reasons for staying on the sidelines.
Let me repeat it again.
Laziness, disgruntled.
There's not one I want to do.
Trust me, I've done all three.
I've been lazy. I've been disgruntled.
And I've been spiritually sluggish where I don't grasp it.
And I began to serve in 1993 a teen challenge.
The director realized that here is a guy who thinks he's entitled to preach.
So you know what he did?
For six months, he had me cleaning the toilets and serving soup.
At the end of the six months, in the first two months, were terrible.
It was like Tuni.
I was a great international conference speaker who was returning home.
And he was not allowing me to preach.
I came out of a drug background.
Surely my experience will help people on the street.
No, you will help people on the street by cleaning the toilet and by serving soup.
After six months, when he finally came and said to me,
Jacob, would you want to preach?
It was like, really? Me? Oh my God.
It was like a privilege, man. It was like, I was scared to preach.
These are the three reasons people sit on the sideline.
They do not get it because they're spiritually dull.
They are disgruntled because they aren't being given what is most convenient
and what they really like doing because they think they're good at it.
I thought I was.
Third, they are lazy.
Laziness is sometimes excused as, I don't have time.
Or what if I gave you a million dollars?
Don't get weary. Don't withdraw. Don't stay on the sidelines.
Let's stop there and pray.
How are we going to do this, guys? We're going to pray that...
We've got to figure out what we're going to pray.
Sheldon, if you have to go, go. And may the Canucks win.
Every time they score a goal, look at Aaron.
We'll start today what you'll be praying for.
We'll start today what you'll be praying during the week.
It's 6.17 now. We'll stop at 6.27.
It's open. And when I say pray, you may start quietly,
but I hope you pray loudly as you are moved to pray loudly.
Yeah.
Let's go, guys.
Jesus, I was saying that you would give us this if we asked you honestly in prayer.
So that's what we are doing here. You said, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.
Ask him earnestly to send out laborers because the harvest is ready.
The fields are white. We need to collect it in Richmond.
So you're asking us to ask you in prayer earnestly. That's what we're trying to do.
And if we do that, you will make us compassionate shepherds
who have the ability to go out and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and demonstrate the works of the kingdom.
You'll help us to become people that weep and carry seed, but come back joyfully.
Mourning turns to dancing. So could you please help us, Lord?
That's what I asked for. Can you teach us how to pray?
We're pretty bad at this, Lord.
I'm sorry that we are still bad at it.
Thank you.
Father, could you give me an encounter between today and leaving for Indonesia tomorrow where I'll be given an opportunity to weep and carry seed to soul and heart?
Even if I chicken out, I want an opportunity.
Oh God, be my part of heart. Be the part of heart.
My opportunity has produced more than I could have.
But I want to know how to expect this everything.
How about we make a strong nest?
You make a nest and really know us, Lord Father, when people at St. Luke's Castle, Jesus, and the soft-settled Lord Father, may find us together in love.
That when we move our hands, Lord Father, we will be a strong nest that will not be torn.
They shall know us by how we walk in the world and how we talk.
Keep going, just be not done.
You want me to call your name up?
Okay, let's start with that.
Father, write me a scene and pray that love will be back.
I do, Lord.
Yes.
Have love in your hand.
Lord, I want to ask that you bring a path for us and wait for us on you.
Father, Lord, I rise up and ask that you make a way for everyone of us.
Create a path that shows that you are God in our lives.
I know Pastor Jacob has spoken about harvest, right?
I'm not going to lie, I'm literally right in front of you and do not even know where to begin from.
And I know some people are there too.
So Lord, I just want to ask you to lead.
Lead us.
We're going to follow your direction.
In Jesus' number prayer. Amen.
Anyone else?
Father, I just want to thank you for the harvest.
I want to thank you for the harvest.
There's plenty of harvest, Father.
Make us a people that are all workers.
Every single one here today or away, make us all your workers, Father.
Strengthen our hands but soften our hearts, Father.
So we carry you everywhere we go and we reap.
We reap where we're told to reap.
We reap when we don't see it but we swing that sickle, Father.
Because one hand we swing, the other hand we scatter seed.
Father, we want to do the work that you've always done and you're inviting us to do it.
I don't do it by my strength because I have no strength.
I don't do it by my might because I have no might.
So I do it by the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in me, in all of us.
All of us as a people, all of us as your body.
So as a body, Father, we want to go out.
We want to go out and harvest your people.
We want to go save the lost, Father.
We want to save your children.
We want to save your children all from the nations that you sent to us.
You prepared for us, Father.
The nations that you sent and you prepared for us to bring them into your kingdom.
Father, we've got people coming in, 140 of them.
They come to that kitchen right there.
How many feet, Father, to this home, to your family?
They're so close, Father.
They're so close.
We want to welcome your children back to their home, to your family,
because they're the children of your family that you've ordained and you've predestined to be your children.
Let us come welcome them back, Father.
I want to speak out over our church, Father, that we may be your hands and feet.
We may be the beautiful feet that walk out and bring your message of hope, Father.
The people want more, Father, and we want to give them more from your mouth, from your heaven down to earth.
And that's why we're here.
That's why I give up.
Every Sunday I come here.
Every Sunday, not so I could feed myself, but to feed the people out there,
to feed the people of Richmond, Father, not just food, because they need food.
They need resources.
They need friendship.
They need family, but they need you, Jesus Christ.
Let us feed them with good food, food from heaven.
And let that come to pass quick because of the urgency, because you've loved,
because you've done it since the beginning of time.
Let us walk with you, Jesus.
Let us walk with you.
Father, let him who has ears hear what the Spirit of our Lord is doing.
Let him who has eyes see what the Spirit of our Lord is doing.
So, Father, like Phineas had the zeal to stop the plague,
we call out a boldness into people here tonight.
The zeal of our Lord made consumers, oh God, for the city.
Made consumers for the city, Abba.
And the second thing is, Father, I pray for the young, Abba.
I pray for the lost, those that are depressed,
those that don't even know their left hand from their right hand.
We see them, oh God.
We see them because you see them, Abba.
You see them, Abba.
You see them in the schools, Abba.
You see them in the droves, Abba.
We call them forefathers because the harvest is now.
The harvest is now, Father.
So let that word ring in our hearts.
Let it ring in our hearts that we won't be comfortable, Father.
We will have to do something about it.
We will have to respond, Abba.
Why?
Because the harvest is now.
Let the Spirit of the Lord, Father, cry out, Abba.
We cry out, Abba.
If we have never cried before, we'll cry out tonight.
Because you love the city, Abba.
Because the God of his heaven said he so loved the world that he came.
He came, Father.
He just to give.
He just to give, Abba.
He just to give our time.
He just to give our resources.
He just to give up our dreams.
He just to give, Abba.
Because you are God who gives.
Thank you, Father, for what's happening right now in our midst.
Thank you for what's happening right now in our midst.
I thank you, Holy Spirit.
I thank you for this very moment right now across this room, Lord, in hearts.
I thank you for what's happening in our midst.
I thank you for the urgency, for the compassion, for the passion, for the understanding that is spreading across this room.
I thank you, Holy Spirit.
I honor you, Holy Spirit.
You keep saying the word supernatural harvest, supernatural harvest, more than we expected, more than we thought.
It's that kind of a harvest, oh God.
We raise our hands, arm us with the sickle that we need to hold, oh God, to bring in the sheaves with joy.
If we thought worship was good now, we will come with sheaves of joy.
We will celebrate before you, give you our first fruits and say, oh God, you've been faithful.
We bless you, Father.
We're not done, guys.
Feel free to take it up.
Take it up and pray.