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We must learn to see ourselves as laborers in His harvest every day, everywhere, all the time. We engage by sowing, watering or reaping. Reaping the harvest is a work of partnership. We all co-labor with each other. Most importantly, we are co-workers with God as laborers in His harvest
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This morning we are going to look at 3 specific Scripture passages, as we learn about being laborers in His harvest.

Matthew 9:35-38
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Jesus was going about ministering to people, preaching the Gospel, healing and delivering people. He saw the great crowds of people, was moved with compassion and then spoke about the harvest.

What is the harvest? : It is people - people who need to be reached with the Gospel and ministered to with the power of God.

The harvest is plentiful : There is plenty of room for more harvesters and plenty of harvesting work to be done.

There is a need for more laborers

We are to pray for more laborers : We are to pray for more laborers in His harvest.

This is His harvest : God's field. God's harvest.

We are laborers.

Do you see yourself as a laborer in His harvest?
We see ourselves as many things: doctor, engineer, husband, father, etc. etc...

We must also learn to see ourselves as a laborer in His harvest.
Everywhere, every day, all the time we are laborers in His harvest. In your apartment complex, in your community, in your school, college or place of work, in the shopping mall, in the grocery store, when you are out in a restaurant - everywhere, every day, all the time - you are a laborer in His harvest. The people around you are "the harvest".

Lets look at two other New Testament passages that provide us further insight in God's harvest and our work as laborers in His harvest:

John 4:35-38
35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'
38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

1 Corinthians 3:5-9
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.

John 4:35 presents spiritual harvesting as different from natural harvesting in this sense - in the natural we would say there are still 4 months for the harvest. In spiritual harvest, Jesus said, the fields are already ready for harvest! So our approach should not be "tomorrow I will engage in the harvest fields", but rather "now is the time to engage and reap the harvest".

Reaping the harvest is a work of partnership. We all co-labor with each other.
In God's harvest, God uses one to sow, someone else to water and some else to reap.

John 4:37 one sows, another reaps.
1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered.

We engage in different roles: Sowing, watering, reaping
There are times God will use you to sow. There are times God will use you to water what someone else has sown. There are times God will use you to reap what has been sown and watered by others.

All of us can sow, water and reap in God's harvest fields.

SOWING
Sow the seed of God's Word (truth).
There are so many ways we can sow the seed of God's truth into people's lives.

First and perhaps the most powerful, is the life we live before people. They need to see God's Word (truth) embodied in us. As they see us walk holy, walk in love, in mercy, in kindness - they see Christ (the truth) embodied in us.

Communicate Biblical Principles : sometimes we share Biblical principles relating to a particular life situation. This can be a precursor, to them hearing the Gospel later on.

Pray with them/for them for specific needs.

Communicate the Gospel.

WATERING
Water the seed of God's Word (truth)

All of the actions we have mentioned above under sowing, can also help water and nurture seeds that have already been sown in a person's life.

REAPING
Reap the harvest.

This is where we lead people to make a personal decision to believe and follow Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Sowing and watering will be of no use, if we do not reap.

When we reap the harvest, we do not leave it out in the field, but bring it into the barn. This is where we need to guide people into a place of fellowship and relationship into a community of believers (a good local church) where they can be discipled.

Example:
We received this email from Shanthi & Chris Aiman, who worship at APC-Central on Friday April 17, 2015:

Dear Pastor,

Wanted to share some testimony

The lady who helps us at home her mom had a stroke and literally one side of her mouth moved away to the right hand side...When her mother was sick we used to pray for her and one day handed over a bottle of water and a little oil and told her to give her mother in faith to drink and apply the oil. As she was doing this her mother's mouth was restored and now she is so normal and now as a family they go to a Tamil church and they have thrown out all the photo's into ulsoor lake . They keep testifying about this miracle that they have experienced and they are so happy to grow in the Lord. I know it is their faith yet we are so happy we could do this and bring them to Christ slowly. Probably God works in mysterious ways.

The other incident i wanted to share we have some construction going on next door, some of the construction guys are from Raichur :)  keep bumping into them to talk to them , one day we saw a small kid as big as 3 year old , looks very small for the age she is , what hurt me was that this kid was not walking but dragging herself on the ground by sitting, i asked the parents what happened they said we don't know we took her to all the docs possible , they say she will walk don't worry. We told them right now she is small and you have accepted that she cannot walk , what about when she grows older if a big gal is dragging herself by sitting and not walking , how painful it can be , that night we prayed with them and told them we are going to give you some   oil which is prayed over and i want them to apply on the child's leg and told them even before you leave this site we want to see your kid walk and run . Pastor you won't believe they applied this oil for a month now the child is walking and running , we could not  believe what we saw they showed us and they cannot believe it too and they were saying your God is very powerful , i told them you can accept this God too and trying to share the same . Before i could give i sowed the seed of the above incident and in faith God will heal their kid . Awesome God we serve ! We were jumping in joy to see that little kid walk and run now.
 
I Keep telling chris and nash if we are at APC for 10 years now,  we need to grow up and bless others and share the word with signs/wonders and miracles. So amazing pastor !

Now lets continue drawing insights from these two passages:

We are all one. No one is better than the other.
1 Corinthians 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one,

We are not in competition with each other or with believers from other churches or other denominations.

We are on the same team!
We are all serving the same Lord and working in His harvest field.

We enter into each other's labors.
John 4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.
This is important to understand.

God sends people to enter into our labors. Maybe you have sown and watered and God may use someone else to reap where you have sown. Rejoice in this. Our common objective is seeing the harvest reaped and this has been accomplished.

Similarly, God may send you to reap of what others have sown and watered. Do this humbly. Remember to honor those who have labored before you. Do not pretend that things happened because of you. If others had not sown or watered before you, you would not be able to reap what you are reaping.

God gives the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6,7
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Ultimately, it is not about us, but about God who helps us reap the harvest!
So we do not glory in the one who has sown, watered or reaped...but we glory in and glorify God who empowers us to reap the harvest.

We rejoice together.
John 4: 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

Let's learn to rejoice when we see the harvest, regardless of the role we had to play.
Ultimately, people are being gathered in to eternal life.

We are doing this together with God
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers;

This perhaps is the most important understanding we must maintain as we work as laborers in His harvest.
We are coworkers with God.
We are not working for Him, but working with Him.
God is working with us as we labor in His harvest field. So we depend on the empowering and anointing of God to sow, water and reap.

Conclusion
You are laborer in God's harvest, everyday, everywhere and all the time.
Do your part - sow, water, reap - to help gather the harvest.
Learn how to labor in God's harvest with others.
Most important of all, we are co-workers with God.

All Peoples Church in Bangalore is a Spirit-filled, Word-based, Bible-believing Christian fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ desiring more of His presence and supernatural power bringing transformation, healing, miracles, and deliverance. We preach the full Gospel, equip believers to live out our new life in Christ, welcome the Charismatic and Pentecostal expressions in the assembly of God and serve in strengthening unity across all Christian churches. All free resources, sermons, daily devotionals, and free Christian books are provided for the strengthening of all believers in the Body of Christ. For further equipping, please visit APC Bible College.

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