that the main religions are Catholicism and Protestantism. is the charismatic movement, more than anything. The vast majority of the churches that are in Santa Marta, apart from Catholicism, is what they call the evangelicals. So, that's going to be one of the biggest, I guess, challenges. People have asked that question before, what's going to be your biggest challenge getting to Columbia? Well, I'd say it's going to be convincing people that they're actually lost. because that charismatic movement has such a hold on people. And because of an experience or because they got miraculously healed or something like that, it's their guarantee that they're going to heaven. And we've got to show them what the Bible says and show them the truth. So please be in prayer for us as we get ready to go to Columbia. Lord willing, we would love to be the whole family to be able to be there in July. So it's just a couple months away and it's a big goal. We're getting close to the end of our deputation as far as support. We're, I'd say, in the 90s somewhere right now. And we've got a few churches that we've been to, just haven't had any confirmation from. So we're just kind of waiting to see what the Lord does there. And we have that plan and that hope that we'll be there. in July. So thank you for your prayers. Thank you for having us out tonight. We're going to go into the message this evening. We're going to take our Bibles and go to Mark chapter number 4. Now hearing you all having a car show on June 7th, that kind of makes me want to stick around for a little bit. but unfortunately won't be able to. Mark chapter number four. And we may be visiting a few different passages of scripture tonight. So on a couple of occasions, I might just go ahead and read it before you get there, depending on how our time is going. And that's if I find it before you do. So, you know, that all depends. But Mark chapter number 4, and we're going to start with verse number 26 this evening. The Bible says, And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." And we're going to touch on tonight, this title would be The Harvest. So let's go ahead and pray and ask the Lord's blessing tonight. Father, we thank you for what you've done in our hearts and lives. We thank you, Father, for teaching us this morning from your Word. And we pray, dear Lord, that tonight you would give the power of your Holy Spirit, an understanding of your word, that the things that are said tonight would be clear, and only what is your will, Father, for your people, that you'd take me out of the way, Lord, and just be able to use your message tonight to speak to your people in your way. We thank you, Father, for all that you have done and all that you will do. Be glorified this evening, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Here in this passage of scripture, we see the idea of somebody going, sowing the seed, and not knowing how, but the seed comes up. I mean, we can control a lot of things whenever we have a crop. We can control the time of planting. We can control how much water. We can control several different aspects of everything. We can make sure that there's no weeds getting in the way of the plant to grow. We can put down fertilizer. I mean, there's all sorts of things that we can control. But you know what we cannot control? Is how that plant, or that seed, that plant starts to sprout and come up. And from that, push through the dirt, and then grow to its full potential and produce the fruit. We can't control that part, but we can control the harvest. We can control the planting. We can control the watering. That's what we can see through this passage is we have a harvest coming up and if we want to get to that harvest, there's gotta be somebody planting, planting seeds. There's gotta be somebody watering that seed. There's gotta be somebody that's pulling the weeds from around that seed. There's gotta be somebody that's out there ready to stick the sickle in and harvest the fruit. Until it's all done, we can't control everything. You know something? We can't control the lives of the people that we try to reach to. Have you ever knocked on a door of somebody's house and you start talking to them and it's almost as though they were expecting you to be there? And within just a couple of minutes of presenting the gospel, they're ready to get saved at that moment? And you're like, wow, that was easy. No, they were just at the point of the harvest. They had been planted and watered before. You don't know what the Lord's already done in the life of that person before you knocked on their door. You have no idea how God has already done something through them or to them and they are ready to get saved. But then you might go to somebody and you might knock on their door and you might tell them about Jesus Christ and it looks like they weren't paying a single bit of attention to you the whole time. And then it may not be until years later. that they come to Christ and they say, yes, I remember that one person that came by years and years ago and they told me about Christ. I wasn't interested then, but after all these years the Lord finally got a hold of my heart and He showed me that what He said all those years ago was 100% truth and I needed Christ. and they got saved later. You don't have any idea what everybody's been through before you knock on that door, or you talk to that person on the street, or wherever it is that you meet them, if it's at work. You know, sometimes you think you know the workers that you work with every day. You have no idea some of the private things that may be going on in their life, and they might be ready to come to Christ. You don't know until you start telling them about Jesus. You give them that gospel. You talk to them about Christ. And they could be ready at that instant to come to the Lord and accept Christ as their Savior. Or it could be that you work on it. There was a lady in our church down in Mexico that she would work and talk to her husband and try to win her husband. And she spent years praying for her husband to get saved. And it wasn't until one night whenever he hit rock bottom, me and another pastor went over to his house and he was in kind of some trouble even with the cartels and stuff. And he had hit as low as he could go before he finally realized that he needed Christ as his Savior. We talked with him and he was ready at that time. And this was after years of people praying for him. The Lord works in people's hearts. We do not understand how that seed grows. But what is our responsibility? It's to sow that seed. We've got to get the seed out there. We've got to do our part. And if it's not planting the seed, it's watering. It's reminding them, telling them, maybe pulling a few weeds. Hold on a second. Remember what I told you about Jesus Christ? This right here is not going to help you any at all. That pack of cigarettes is not gonna do great for your life. As a matter of fact, it might bring you to death earlier. I mean, think about what could happen if you were to die because of lung cancer tonight from smoking that thing. Where would you be? You know, pull a couple of weeds out from around that. See, let it get to people's hearts. And you don't know what kind of an influence you might be, but you are influential in the harvest of that person's life. And that brings me to tonight's goal. We're looking at the harvest and there's three things I wanna look at tonight in relation to the harvest. Number one, let's go to Matthew chapter nine and we're gonna look at the problem of the harvest. Matthew chapter number nine and we're gonna look in verse number 37 and 38. The Bible says, Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Then if you go over to Luke chapter number 10, And you'll find that same thing repeated over here in Luke chapter 10 verse 2. And this is right before he sends out the disciples two by two to go and preach the gospel. So we have here this idea or this understanding that there is a problem in the harvest. And that problem is there's not enough laborers. And it's becoming more and more obvious in our day and age as you look around how many of us have seen on Facebook somebody posting such and such Baptist church is looking for a pastor. And it could be anywhere from California to Maine. There are churches looking for pastors all across the United States right now. Many of them have closed their doors because they cannot find a pastor. Because the people have been coming fewer and fewer inside the church until it just disappears. I mean, we're seeing that kind of thing all over the United States today. And we haven't even got onto the foreign field yet. I mean, we're talking about a lack of people interested in serving God. And you know something? It takes something to serve God for the right reasons. You know what a lot of pastors have told me whenever they mention how they look for like an assistant pastor or these other churches that are looking for pastors. What's one of the main things? Well, the church can't give you much money. So what happens? All of these young guys coming out of college, they think that they're somebody. They've got a college degree and they know something about the Bible. Of course, they've never pastored a day in their life. That's a whole different ballgame than just knowing something about the Bible. And they get out there and they're like, oh yeah, well, what's the first question they ask the church? How much are you gonna pay me? To me, right there, they've just completely and totally thrown out the window whatever years of college that they've ever had. Because they've done forgot the basis of what serving God is. And it has nothing to do with money. And everything to do with the souls of the people that you're trying to reach. You know something? Money is not the most important thing. You know, I get upset whenever I hear about people who want to do ministry, but they're like, well, how much is my budget to be able to spend on the, it's like, how much do you have? That's my first thought, of course. I don't say that because I could get myself in trouble, you know, open mouth, insert foot. But, you know, a lot of that, it's like, well, how much are you willing to give to God? And I'm not talking about the offering plate, I'm talking about of yourself. I want to serve the Lord, but I mean, you know, what am I going to get out of it? Well, you're on the wrong foot already. You know, what are you going to give to God and He'll take care of the rest of it. Are you willing to give your life, your time, your energies into serving God? And this ministry is what I am going to do for the Lord. I'll bring in kids so that they can come to Sunday school. I'll do this, I'll do that. You know something? That's what the Lord needs, is laborers who are willing to do something out in the field. And it doesn't matter that the field is right here or in a foreign country. the Lord needs laborers in the field. Let's kind of go over a couple of statistics here just because I can. We have fewer missionaries on the field than ever before and the average age of the missionaries on the field, missionaries on the field right now, the average age is 65 years old. Now if you think about that, And how many years is it going to take before the vast majority of those missionaries are no longer in their places on the foreign field? And who's coming up behind to take up the reins? I mean, we've got to get that number a little bit lower, don't you think? And how are we going to do that? We've got to flood young people ready to serve the Lord on a foreign country. You know something? A lot of people are not as interested as they used to. In 1950, the world population was around 2.5 billion people. And there were over 100,000 missionaries being sent out of all religions. That's not Baptist, that's all religions in the United States, 100,000 missionaries being sent out. Of those 100,000, 30,000 were independent Baptists. That's in 1950. In 2021, the world population was 8 billion. And there are now 30,000 missionaries being sent out by all religions and denominations. And of those, only 10,000 are independent Baptists. So the world's population has tripled while the amount of missionaries that we're sending out has been reduced by two thirds. So tell me, is there abundance of workers in the harvest? That's just the foreign field. Now here's something I wanna tell you, and praise the Lord for, because I don't like leaving us without much of a hope. Mexico is sending out missionaries now. I can tell you of many Mexican people that I know, I know of at least one in Turkey, one that's preparing his family to go to Sudan, another that's, three or four in Colombia, from Mexico and others who are ready to go to Colombia from Mexico as well as other parts of the world. Mexico is now sending out missionaries. The Philippines, one of the places that we've been, the United States has been very adamant about working in the Philippines and reaching the Philippine people with the gospel. You know what? Now the Philippines is sending out missionaries. Sometimes they're sending them to the United States because we are now a country that needs to be evangelized. Hey, it's the truth. But that's what's going on. That's where there's a problem with the harvest. Whenever we look at the Bible, the Bible is saying that we need laborers. In Matthew chapter 20, there's a story here and I kind of take it out of its literal interpretation just because there's an implication here that is just as true. but it's not the purpose of this story. Matthew 20, verses 1 through 9, the Bible says, For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They said unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. Okay, so when even was come, the purpose of the story is to talk about how some people complained whether or not they got paid the right amount and all that kind of stuff. Here's what I'm looking at. Why in the world is that guy going out every so often and asking for more people to go into the field? He's got a labor problem. And he needs people to get that harvest in. Because here's the thing. There is a problem with the harvest and that is a lack of laborers. But there's also an urgency of the harvest. Let's take a look at that for a minute. Because, I mean, this guy, he's just going out and hiring right and left. He's like, bring them in. I mean, I need you guys over here. Hey, you guys don't have anything to do? Hey, get out in my field. I'll pay you a good sum at the end of the day. Just go and work. Hey, you guys, oh, you don't have anything to do? Why have you been here all day long and not doing anything? Well, nobody hired. Well, hey, I'll hire you. Get out there in my field. Why is he doing that? Well, John chapter number four. John chapter number four and verse number 35. Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Here's the urgency of the harvest. You know, whenever you think about this passage of scripture, you know, you need some people to kind of know a little bit about agriculture. And you may know a lot more than I do because I get it on the fly. But here's the thing. If you're going to go out and you're going to harvest your field, the time you don't want to do it is whenever the fields are white. Why? Because you're too late. If the fields get white, the harvest isn't today, my friend. The harvest was yesterday. You almost, as we say in the South, you almost done did wait too long. Yes, I'm sorry, that was a on purpose English failure. We're almost waiting too late to reach the harvest. You know, you can leave things on the vine and they'll rot on the vine. You can sit there and wait too long and people are gonna be dying and going to hell without the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, you can say, oh yeah, I'll tell my coworker next week and they have a heart attack the next day. You don't know. You could pass up the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus Christ. The harvest isn't today. The harvest was yesterday. We're waiting too long to get out there and get into the harvest. Why is this guy trying to get all these laborers out into his field? He has to get that harvest in in a certain amount of time or else he's lost it in the field. We have a certain amount of time before Jesus Christ comes back or we've lost whatever harvest we're going to bring in. We only have a certain set amount of time And you know something, we're not even guaranteed a full life. Anybody in here guaranteed tomorrow? Because if you are, I'd like to know how. Because I can't even, my dad, sorry about this, this one might hurt me a little bit more than it's gonna hurt you. My dad just passed away in February, 61 years old, had a heart attack. That morning he was talking to my mom, And just after that he went into the bathroom to get ready for his day and he just fell over on the floor dead. I hate using that as an example. But you know something? It's a proof of how we don't have any guarantee that we even have today to finish out. We don't know. The urgency of the harvest is we've got to get it in because the time is running out. The harvest is almost over. And where there's fewer laborers, a lot more harvest, and we're sitting here worried about who's going to be the next missionary to go out on the field. Well, volunteer, brother. Get out there and do it. because the harvest was yesterday. We're already trying, you know, they didn't have tractors back then that you can get out there, program in, you know, how many rows they want done, and then let the thing ride by itself while they go get another one and do it over here. They didn't have the technology, they didn't have all of the work to the ability to do things as fast as we do today. But you know something? Even today, if you wait too long, you can have all the technology in your tractor that you can find, and you're still going to be pulling in a harvest that is overripe and not fit to be used if you wait too long. You have to do it at the right time. And that's what we need to understand as Christians. Our time is now. We've got to work with people now. We don't have tomorrow. We don't have next week. We don't have next month. We've got now. And now is whenever we need to be the best laborer that we can be in the field working towards that harvest. Joel chapter number one. I'm going to go over here and read just a small passage here that it may not be the literal interpretation of this passage. And I know I say that in a way that sounds like I'm kind of just going through my Bible, throwing things out here. But this right here, it just kind of got a hold of my heart a little bit, just made me think. Joel chapter number 1 and we see it from verse number 9. The Bible says, the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord. The priest, the Lord's minister is mourned. Joel is talking about destruction coming to Israel for their wickedness. For the wicked things that they've done and part of their punishment is these things here. The field is wasted. The land mourneth, for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen, howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. You know, that'll just get you to think about it a little bit. It may be that that was a punishment for Israel for some of the sins and stuff that they've done. But if we look around today, what do you think would be one of the greatest punishments that we could have as Christians? And that could be that the people that we love, that we're trying to reach with the gospel and we wait too long and they die and they go to hell because we didn't tell them about Christ. That could be one of the biggest punishments that we'll face in eternity because they won't be there. and we had a chance to tell them and we didn't. If we think about that, that's very sobering. The vine is dried up and the fig tree languishes, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also. and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered, because joy is withered away from you, sons of men. Gird yourselves and lament, you priests, ministers, those who should be in the field. Howl, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a feast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord." Look to God. I mean, if we're waiting too long, we're going to see people dying that need salvation. Just one person that dies and goes to hell should be enough of a kick in the pants for us to help us to say, hey, I don't want to ever see that happen again. Let me tell somebody else about Jesus. Let me do something about that. Lord, forgive me for that person that is lost and let me go out and tell others about Christ. Maybe that's what we need to get us to go. I don't know. I hope not. But that's the urgency of the harvest. Look around you for people who are from other countries. Win them with the gospel and send them back to their country to be a missionary. That's a possibility. I mean, you can't do that every time, but because the Lord has to be the one leading them. However, there's nothing wrong with winning someone to Christ, teaching them about, discipling them, and then them going back to their country and telling others in their country about Jesus. Sometimes they may be the only ones that could win some of those in other countries, especially the closed ones. So work, let's work, because we have the problem of the harvest, the urgency of the harvest, but then we have number three. And this one isn't quite so bad. We see the increase of the harvest. You know something? You plant one seed, you don't just get one back. You get an abundance back. Plant that seed. and the fruit, the Bible says, some tenfold, some thirty, some a hundred. We want to see the increase of the harvest. First Corinthians chapter number three, of course, this is one that everybody here has probably heard many times over. First Corinthians chapter number three in verses six and seven, the Bible says, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. You know something? This brings us to another point about ministry that you can really think about. You've got somebody that just wants to be in the limelight the whole time and say, look what I've done. That person is not truly in the ministry. Because anybody that is worth their salt knows, I may have done something, but he also did something. And then the Lord is the one that gives the increase, not us. We're nobody. We're nothing. We just did our job as his servants. And whatever the Lord gives as increase, that is forever. If you think about it, one day we're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we're going to have either wood, hay and stubble or gold, silver and precious stones. And they're both going through the fire. And you know what's going to be the thing that comes out on the other side are all the faces of all the people that we've touched by what we've done for the harvest. Think of all of the people that you've had. And you know something? You can probably think of a few, but there are many, many, many more that could have been reached because you reached just one. Remember the Sunday school teacher, the one Dwight L. Moody? Think of all the people that's to his account because of what Brother Moody did later. For everything that you give, do. For every dollar sent, soul won, missionary aided. That is treasure to your account. Philippians chapter number 4. And with this, this will be the last verse that we're going to look at tonight. Philippians chapter number 4, verse number 17. The Bible says, not because I desire a gift, and you can look through the whole chapter of Philippians. Sometimes we kind of forget the purpose of what Paul was writing here. But it says, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. I want you to do something for Christ, not because it makes me look good. The pastors of the church here, they want to see you going out there and doing something for Christ. Not because it makes them look good, but because it's fruit that abounds to your account. Every person, every life you touch is something that goes into your account for eternity. Whatever you give to help a missionary get out there on the field, whatever person you tell the gospel to, every track you hand out, every person that you encourage, you never know you could encourage somebody. And that person that was just about to be completely into depression, because of your encouragement, turns around and wins somebody to Christ. You know something, a little bit of that fruit is yours. You never know who you can touch, who you can help by praying for them, by listening to them, by encouraging them. Minister to other people in whatever way that the Lord has given you to be able to do so. And you can think of all of the increase that abounds to your account because of one or two little things that you may do and God gives the increase. The harvest is plenteous. The laborers are few. Are we a laborer? Are we one of those going out in our own area, our own little world? The Lord could be calling you. Is there anybody that would say, here am I, send me. And maybe it's just send me to the person that I work with. Maybe it's send me to my neighborhood. Send me to another country. Send me to Lancaster. I don't know. Wherever the Lord wants you to work. Wherever the Lord is looking for you to minister. Are you ministering? Are you going to see the increase of the harvest? Every head bowed and every eye closed. Let the Lord have His way in your heart and in your life tonight. May He be glorified. But what are we doing to make sure that that harvest is coming in? As the pastor comes up to finish this invitation, we're going to go ahead and pray. Let the Lord work in hearts as He sees fit. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day. Thank You for Your blessings. Lord, be glorified tonight in the lives of Your people and in their hearts. We thank You, Lord, because You are a wonderful God and we leave everything in Your hands tonight in Jesus' name. The Lord has to work in the hearts of Christians to go, and then he works in the heart of the lost that they might receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But it really starts with us, our yielding, our being willing to help in the spread of the gospel, casting out of the seed that the Lord might use it for his honor and his glory. I was thinking as he was preaching, I thought, man, it's how many baseball players they send home because they just aren't good enough. How many football players, how many other athletes are sent home year after year wanting to play. But for the Lord, the labors are few. There's probably very few, relatively, that are volunteering. but may each of us volunteer, may we each be willing. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I'm gonna have Karen play a song of invitation, allowing each one of us to surrender ourselves, saying, Lord, what would you have for me to do this week? As Karen begins to play. Lord, will you send somebody into my path that I might be able to share the gospel with them this week? Is there someone in my school? Is there someone in my workplace? or somewhere in a place of business that I might run into this week. Father, can you use me to share the gospel with someone even this week? Man, just start this week. Just ask the Lord to give you someone. I volunteer to go out into the harvest field this week. Would you allow me to connect with someone that I can share the gospel with? Play one through one more verse.