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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 Word, timely Bible messages presented by pastors Chris Buttery and Mike Thompson.

Amazing Revelations await you in God's holy word, the Bible.

We've been reading the last few weeks, and this is the close of our series, The Great Harvest here this morning.

We've been reading about 70 individuals in Luke chapter 10, and turn there with me this 1 last time, Luke chapter 10, and the instruction that Jesus gave to these 70 followers of Jesus.

And Jesus had gathered them together And he told them to go out and proclaim the good news.

And he told them that the laborers were few, so they were to do what?

Pray that the Lord of Harvest would send out laborers.

Or we are called to earnestly plead that the Lord of Harvest will cast out, throw out laborers into His vineyard.

And so they were to pray as they were to work that God would send more workers.

Apparently, their mission to visit and to minister to people was successful.

After Jesus has sent them out, they came back.

And they were encouraged because God had used them and God had blessed them.

Notice in Luke chapter 10 in verse 17, and we'll have it on the screen as well, then the 70 returned with what?

The 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

Now the word joy is not a word that we often use in everyday vernacular.

The word joy used here carries with it a sense of calm, delight, or a type of holy happiness as exposed to an exuberant jumping up and down as is often suggested.

Jesus used this word in 3 stories or 3 parables in Luke chapter 15, stressing the need for the rescued to go out and to rescue those still in need of rescuing.

He painted the picture of heaven rejoicing, their atmosphere in heaven.

He says, I say to you that likewise there shall be joy in heaven over 1 sinner who repents rather than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

There is what type of activity going on in heaven when someone repents?

Now Paul, writing to the Thessalonian believers in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 19 and 21, he asked this rhetorical question.

He said, For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing?

And he continues by answering, Is it not you, or is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?

Paul was in effect saying that the conversion of sinners and their readiness for the coming of Christ brought him joy, this type of joy, this type of calm delight, this type of cheerfulness you see and this idea gets even more interesting when we find out what took Jesus to the cross there on Golgotha's hill, writing to the Jewish Christians.

Paul writes in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, he says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame.

What was it that encouraged Jesus to go all the way to Calvary's cross?

But what was that joy that was set before for Him?

It was you and it was me saved at last in His kingdom, you see.

Jesus looking down, down through the ages, recognized that His sacrifice on Calvary was going to produce a harvest of men and women, boys and girls, ready and ripe for the picking, ready for heaven.

And so that's what drove him to the cross.

You and me saved into the kingdom of heaven at last.

Christ experienced joy, calm delight, by putting himself out there to work in the harvest.

And here we discover what makes God smile.

When someone living a reckless life turns their hearts heavenward, God smiles.

When a child prays, dear Lord, come into my heart, God smiles.

When a youth realizes that he or she doesn't have all the answers and recognizes their need of Christ, God smiles.

When someone chooses to place God above their own way, God smiles.

When Jesus saw all those who would unreservedly serve him because of his tremendous sacrifice, he smiled.

It says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and He despised the shame.

And you know that we know that Christ wouldn't have or didn't accomplish what He did had not the Spirit of God rested upon Him.

It was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into ministry after his baptism.

It was the Spirit of God that anointed Jesus to preach the gospel and to heal the sick and to set the captives free.

And this was the experience as well of the early believers.

If you have your Bibles there, just turn with me to Acts chapter 13.

Notice, before Jesus went back to heaven, he told the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father.

And that promise would come upon them and they would be endued or endued with power from on high.

Now Luke, he made his point a little bit clearer when he wrote in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8 he said, and you shall receive, go back to Jerusalem, and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is descended or has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses." So the disciples, along with others then present, were to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and this would grant them the ability to become effective witnesses for Christ and his cause, not just once on a given day, but to be their constant companion.

Jesus was to be their constant companion through the Holy Spirit and their source of strength always.

Now notice in Acts chapter 13 and verse 52, Luke records the experience of the disciples when they went out as Christ's witnesses.

It says, and the disciples were filled with what?

They were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Now Paul and Barnabas, they went out to preach the gospel and the Bible suggests that great power attended their work in so much that the Scriptures record that many believed, this is verses 48 and 49, that many believed and that the Word of God was being spread throughout all the region.

Now, if you read the story, Paul and Barnabas didn't have a cushy ride.

They had some real challenges that they had to overcome and they learned dependence upon the Lord through those challenges and through those struggles, you see.

But the Bible says that they were filled, it was under these conditions that the Bible says that they were filled with joy and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, they were experiencing true joy out there in the Lord's harvest.

Notice how joy and the Holy Spirit were linked together there, they were filled with what?

It's of no small significance that when writing about the fruit of the Spirit, the Apostle Paul includes joy as a part of the entire Christian experience.

In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 20 he says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Cheerfulness, calm delight, deep satisfaction.

And Paul is writing that true joy is experienced when we are filled with the Lord of the harvest spirit when we are put out into the harvest, you see.

In other words, the spirit of God's desire, the spirit of God's desire is the same desire as the Lord of the harvests.

When a believer is filled with the Spirit, he or she is going to want to do the same things that the Lord of the harvest wants to do, you see.

As the Spirit placed Jesus into the harvest, so too he will place us, if we are willing, out there into the harvest, as we pray, Lord, send out laborers and I give you permission to begin with me your experience my experience is 1 of joy as well and what makes God smile will make you and I smile as well I do wonder though whether the lack of soul winning in God's Church today may be a result of the fact that some have not truly experienced the joy of salvation and fully understand what happens in the believer's life when the Spirit of God enters that person.

I wonder, could it be that some of us don't bring people to Jesus because we are unsure of our own salvation?

Could it be that some of us don't bring people to the truths of God's Word because we ourselves are lacking true conviction?

Could it be that some of us don't bring people to church because we waver in our own commitment to Jesus and His church?

They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, joy, true joy is connected when we labor in God's harvest, whether that be in our homes, whether it be in the workplace, wherever it be, we experience true joy.

Look at this, Luke chapter 10 and verse 17 and 18.

Notice, now the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

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Series

The Great Harvest

I Saw Satan Fall

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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Practical Truth for Perilous Times

2. The Adventist Atheist

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Leading Souls into the Truth

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Seedtime and Harvest

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John 17- Part 1

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The Great Harvest

Available, Or Not

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Finding and Maintaining Meaning and Purpose

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From Pews to Priesthood

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Come. Buy. Eat. Share!

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