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Sacramento Central SDA Church

The Great Harvest

Chris Buttery

2015, The End of the World, and You

Available, Or Not

Christ’s Method Alone

Our Hardest Lesson

I Saw Satan Fall

For millennia, people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds have found direction and encouragement in the inspired pages of the Bible.

In his day, Jesus directed listeners to search the prophecies of Scripture to find Him, the only way of salvation.

2, 000 years later, as we stand on the break of eternity, we know less need the purpose and hope God's Word provides.

Sacramento Central Church brings you Receiving The Revelations await you in God's holy word, the Bible.

The title to the message this morning is Christ's Method Alone.

1 of my favorite stories has to do with 1 Sir Ernest Shackleton.

How many of you have heard of Sir Ernest Shackleton?

He was already a celebrated polar explorer, but Sir Ernest Shackleton coordinated the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with the goal of accomplishing the first crossing of the Antarctic continent, a feat he considered to be the last great polar journey of the heroic age of exploration.

In December 1914, Shackleton set sail with 27 man crew, many of whom he is said responded to the following recruitment notice.

Just tell me whether you would respond to this announcement.

Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.

You'd be signing up right away, wouldn't you?

This, the last of Shackleton's adventures would prove to be the most challenging and would test the stamina and the backbone of every man who responded to this unlikely recruitment notice.

All men did make it back safely but none would ever say they were confident that it would ever become a reality.

It's a powerful story, you should take time to read it sometime.

Now these days few would respond to such a call.

However, the Bible reveals a group of men and women, brave individuals, willing to walk through brave the challenging conditions the world has ever seen.

The Bible talks about a time of trouble such as never was.

And like Shackleton's men, they too will consider whether they will make it to the end.

But they are up to the test And the reason for that is because they know in whom they believe.

Now Jesus speaks of these individuals in Matthew chapter 24.

We've looked at these characteristics before, the last few weeks.

Jesus mentions them in Matthew 24, He says these are the individuals, and we'll put them on the screen for you, these are individuals that will endure till the end, that's verse 13 of Matthew chapter 24.

They'll also be, according to verse 14, witnesses to the power of the gospel, and then in verse 45, they will be faithful and wise servants who know how to give bread in due season to those that are hungry.

Now these individuals that live in the last days and are braving the storms and the tumults of the latter days, they realize that there's not going to be a more favorable time than the present to win people to Jesus' side.

They sympathize with Jesus when He told His disciples at 1 time that the harvest is already white, the fields are already white for harvest and then in Luke chapter 10 and verse 2 He tells us that the harvest is what?

He wasn't referring to the end of the world harvest where the angels come and gather and separate the good and the bad, no no no, this is the harvest of the lost or at least those who were lost and accepted Jesus as Savior.

He's saying the harvest is great, that there are today many men and women, boys and girls, waiting to be gathered in to the kingdom of heaven, into God's last day church.

And Jesus wanted his disciples really, basically, to see the world around them through new eyes.

He wanted them to have a new perspective on the way they viewed the world.

You think it's telling, look around you, are there people really waiting to be gathered in?

According to Jesus' words, the harvest is what?

But when we studied Luke chapter 10 and verse 2, the last time we were together, we identified a problem.

Jesus said the harvest is great, but there's a problem.

We could say the laboring laborers are few because all those who've given their lives over to Jesus are called laborers.

So why are there few laboring laborers to help in the great harvest, to gather in the harvest?

Some laboring laborers are distracted, some are a little indifferent to the cause, and others just simply are discouraged.

And so the question we ask here this morning is, where do we go from here?

The harvest is great, The labourers are few, where do we go from here?

What can we do about this huge, huge problem?

Have you ever prayed a daring prayer, an audacious prayer, not the run of the mill, blessing at the table, mill table, thank you Lord for the food today, bless it, good we pray, we thank you for your loving care with others, may we always share.

No, not a prayer like that, although commendable and beautiful and nice, no, a daring prayer, not, Lord, may I have a good day and please just bless me, not that type of prayer, a daring prayer, an audacious prayer, a fearless prayer, an intrepid prayer.

You remember a couple of instances in the Bible where men dared to pray a daring, audacious, intrepid prayer.

We think of Moses who stood in the gap after Israel broke out the golden calf and worshipped it and he prayed, and this is recorded in Exodus 32, he said, oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made for themselves a God of gold.

Yet now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written.'" Was that a daring prayer?

That was a bold prayer, that was an audacious prayer.

Elijah, some years later, Elijah came on the scene and he stretched himself out 3 times over the lifeless body of the son of the widow of Zarephath.

And he prayed, and it's recorded in 1 Kings chapter 17, he said, O Lord my God, I pray let this child's life come back to him.

Man, Talk about an audacious prayer, a fearless prayer.

Now, Jesus challenges us to pray a daring prayer.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 10, we're going to look at these words.

Jesus encourages us here today, in these last days, to pray a bold prayer, an audacious prayer, a challenging prayer.

Luke chapter 10 and verse 2, let's read it together.

Jesus said to them, the harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few.

Now watch, therefore pray the Lord of harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.'" That's a prayer.

Now, it may not appear to be pretty daring on the surface, but a careful study of the words revealed in this text that Jesus shares with us finds that this request is simply incredible.

The Greek verb here for the word pray is dalmai, Dalmai.

It means to beseech, it means to plead earnestly, it means to beg, it means to implore.

So the word is actually much stronger than just to simply pray or ask for or make a request.

The verb or the word used here, pray, in Luke chapter 10, is also in the imperative.

It's also in the imperative, therefore pray the Lord of harvest.

And similarly, Jesus is assuming that we will respond.

Pray the Lord of harvest, it's not a polite suggestion, it's an imperative, it's a command, he's expecting an active response but there's more we can learn from the words of Jesus.

When we look at Luke chapter 10 and verse 2 in Jesus' appeal for us to pray, Jesus is asking us to pray earnestly, to plead, to beg the Lord of harvest by using an aorist imperative.

He is saying to us, start praying earnestly.

You're not praying as you ought to be praying, instead you need to start pleading with the Lord of the harvest to do something.

That's what Jesus is saying here, it's an aorist imperative.

You're not praying, so I want you to start praying.

You need to start praying to the Lord of harvest for this particular thing.

Now, perhaps at this point you might be thinking, wait a minute, I don't understand.

Why do I need to be begging the Lord of the harvest?

Why do I need to be begging Him to send out labourers?

Why do I need to start pleading with Him as I've never pleaded with or prayed with Him before?

Series

The Great Harvest

Christ’s Method Alone

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

The Great Harvest

2015, The End of the World, and You

28m

GYC SE 2012 Seminar: Leadership

Ministry of Attendance

43m

Plenary

Why is Jesus Always Talking About Plants

1h

ASI 2011 Seminar: Spiritual Growth

Effective Personal Evangelism

1h 22m

Unraveling the Gay Spin

3. Sharing the Cross Connection

58m

IMPACT Scandinavia 2012: Plenary Sessions

Immune to the Gospel

1h 10m

IMPACT: Greater Than What Jesus Did?

1h

GYC SE 2013 Plenary Sessions

Sin is a Four Letter Word

55m

Unlock Revelation

Lifting Up Jesus

37m

All the World Wondered- Part 2

28m

The Secret Advantage of Quarantine

53m

ASI 2012 Seminar: Evangelism

Bible Studies Made Easy

1h 22m

Sound Doctrine