Fresh Bread: It’s Harvest Time Now!
Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work. Do you not say, “It is still four months until harvest time comes”? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for HARVESTING. Already the reaper is getting his wages [he who does the cutting now has his reward], for he is gathering fruit (crop) unto life eternal, so that he who does the planting and he who does the reaping may rejoice together. For in this the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap a crop for which you have not toiled. Other men have labored and you have stepped in to reap the results of their work. (John 4:34-38; Amplified Bible)
Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of HARVEST has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested. (Revelation 14:14-16; NLT)
On last evening, Reverend Virginia Ward spoke using the previous Scriptures. The title of her sermon was: “Call for the Harvest”. What I found interesting was that on January 25th and February 8th, the Lord had used those very same Scriptures to tell us to go out and get the Harvest of Jesus from seeds we did not sow (John 4:38; NLT). Reverend Virginia even quoted from Matthew 6:33, repeating what the Lord told us that very morning: Take care of God’s House (Kingdom) and God will take care of our houses (things). Thus on Palm Sunday evening, God reminded us, yet again, that NOW is the time to go get His harvest.
Even during today’s morning prayer, I received a report of yet another person within our congregation receiving incredulous favor that has left the mouth of the person who received God’s favor and the mouths of others open in amazement. Yet, I want to remind us that although this is the season for us to get a whole lot of “stuff”, God’s main priority is for us to go get a whole lot of SOULS. We must aggressively reach out to the broken on our jobs, in our schools, in our communities (both home and church), and even in our travels (train, bus, carpool, mall, supermarkets, etc.)
So how do you get yourself ready? Reverend Virginia suggested four things:
• Get your house (lives, home, church) in order. What’s cluttering your life?
• Become a person of prayer.
• Stop being so selfish (Matthew 6:33; NLT).
• These are the End Times, so don’t be shocked by what you see on the news!
It’s Harvest Time now! Once again, you have received the message and it is marked “URGENT”.

sending...

I tend not to like the translations that make the harvesting of souls seem like some sort of party. Some translations say, “other men laboured, and you are entered into their labours.” I like the International Standard Version which says, “I have sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have adopted their work as your own.” I have friends who have harvested tobacco in Italy during the summer. It’s backbreaking, brutal work under the scorching, hot sun. Very few Italians will harvest tobacco. It’s all immigrants, really. If we are thinking of people as crops, I wonder who is called to harvest the really tough crops like tobacco? It seems as though those harvesters are going to need a double portion of the Holy Spirit (in addition to the very good suggestions listed above) in order to be successful .