In this sermon recorded at Bethel Church, Pastor Bill unpacks Matthew 9: 37 and Jesus’ call to laborers for the harvest. Jesus is looking to see His glory manifest on the earth with a harvest that is worthy of Him.
will you guys please
welcome the most wonderful
father of our house bill johnson with me
oh my thank you thanks
thank you oh sorry
yeah i don’t transition
quickly with anything in life so
just excuse me while i figure out why
i’m up here
let me get rid of my gum that’s probably
step number one
if you guys just didn’t have so many
babies we could do this quicker
you know um
part two of our discipleship series
starts
next sunday and it’s gonna kick
off of the subject of prayer and my wife
is going to be doing
four out of the five morning services
she’ll be doing that here and i’m i’m
glad for a lot of reasons
i’m glad because of the word she’ll
bring it’s gonna be sealed good
and i’m glad that she’s gonna preach
four times next sunday
and not me and that way she’ll feel
sorry for me next time i have to
and the pity level of my household will
just skyrocket just
that’s just joking just joking um
yeah that’s gonna be so wonderful we’re
uh this discipleship series we’ve been
having
such good feedback and and uh
i’m i’m just quite thankful
i have some things that should be read
if you ever hear me order decaf coffee
i’ve been kidnapped and i’m trying to
signal you
i just saw a guy today at starbucks he
had no smartphone tablet or laptop
he just sat there drinking coffee like a
psychopath
i saw what it was it was an old lady she
says i want my final words to be
i hid a million dollars in the
i think that’s funny i just saw
it says i just saw some idiot leave a
water bottle
in the pringles holder on the treadmill
at the gym
[Laughter]
instead of three wise men if it would
have been three wise women
they would have asked for directions
arrived on time help deliver the baby
clean the stable made a casserole
and there would be peace on earth i
don’t know if that’s true
that’s probably enough but i have more
believe me
if the message doesn’t go bad i’ve
always got something to to go to here
or one more i will do one more it’s an
old one though
you guys have heard it before but we
have new people with us so this is good
it’s good it’s here right here so there
it is
pastor had dinner at a home of a couple
in his church
after he left the wife said to the
husband i think he stole our spoon
this bothered her for a whole year a
year later the couple had the passover
for dinner again
unable to resist the wife asked did you
steal our spoon last year
the pastor replied no i put it inside
your bible
[Applause]
wow i love that one that’s maybe my
favorite of all time
if i can’t get people to read the word
out of their hunger
i’ll scare them into it i don’t care
just tease it all right open your bibles
matthew chapter
9 gospel of matthew chapter 9. take me a
few minutes to get there
[Music]
we had such an amazing week this week
um with our uh
kingdom culture conference and i think
in some ways
it may have been the best one we’ve ever
had at least at least it felt that way
for me
i i was just so appreciative of our team
we have so many
gifted people that served so well and
minister
the word and healing and all the stuff
so good i was just
i just had here a week the meeting after
meeting just
beyond pleased with what was happening
and of course we’re so thrilled to have
guests with us as a result
i don’t remember the year it was
somewhere back in the 70s my
parents my mom is here wave your hand
well
my my parents pastored here at bethel
1968 till i think 1982
and um during that time i was on staff
for five of those years 73-78
and i think it was somewhere around 1974
somewhere in that area my dad began to
teach
out of the book of ezekiel and he talked
about
all believers being priests under the
lord
and uh of course many of us when we
think of priests we think of
you know the the white little caller and
it’s not that kind of a priest it’s a
priest priesthood of the believer
that has three basic areas of ministry
and this is this is christianity 101 for
us this goes way back
into our roots but it’ll set the stage
for what i want to do today
he began to talk to us about the three
areas of ministry that every believer
has we have first of all our ministry to
the lord himself
he is not an egotist in need of our
encouragement
no he’s not an egotist in need of our
flattery he’s the almighty god and we
become
transformed as we worship we always
become like the one we worship
and so this ministry to the lord is
first and
most important and second to that is our
love
for the people of god for the church not
organizations but for people
and third is our ministry to the world
it’s a right and true list of priorities
but if we’re not careful it would cause
us
to misdiagnose or
miss the conviction of the lord
regarding our third ministry it’s not
that it’s least and important
in fact let’s look at it this way in
worship i will worship god throughout
eternity
i will be with you for all eternity and
i will love you well throughout eternity
but the only thing that is urgent in
pressing in time is evangelism because
that’s only now
and so while the other two are are
superior in the sense of their order of
priority
they actually enhance and set the stage
for us to be more effective
in our heart for evangelism it can be
said that evangelism in its purest form
is an overflow of worship there are
those who have this notion that if they
really get locked into worship they’ll
not want to do anything else and that’s
not
that’s not what the scripture teaches in
isaiah 6 you see isaiah before the lord
and he says
i see the lord and here’s this stunning
moment where he sees and he is before
almighty god
and then he hears father son holy spirit
converse together
and they say there’s this particular
assignment they said who shall we send
and isaiah says send me so in other
words
anyone who truly worships to her they
see the heart of the father
they don’t want to stay there they want
to take their
out to the people they want to take that
moment
to many others it’s it’s it’s causing
people to
taste and see the goodness of the lord
and that’s the great privilege
so worship is this great privilege and
so my dad would
teach on this out of uh ezekiel i think
47 if i remember right and
talked about the ministry of the inner
court that’s in with the actual presence
of god and the outer court that’s where
you’re with people
and i remember after i i think it was
the first
meeting there was a syria it was a
series but i remember
uh the old bethel church was over on
pacelli lane and
there was the sanctuary was long this
way and there were two sections like
this
and then there was a balcony up way in
the back and i remember i was sitting
over here
probably three four five rows back right
on the outside edge
and i remember when he was through with
uh with that message it wasn’t
it wasn’t a response time there was no
altar call there was
there was nothing of that nature but i i
just remember when we came to the end of
the message
i remember sitting right over here i
remember just bowing my head and i
prayed this prayer
i said god i give you the rest of my
life to teach me this one thing
i knew i had just heard the word
that was to define the rest of my life
since that day
the lord has has been
instilling in us his heart for worship
again he actually doesn’t even look for
worship he looks for worshippers because
worshipers are transformed people and
that’s
that’s what he longs to draw us into
this the scripture says he looks for
worship with those those who were
worshiping
spirit and truth so since that day
uh that has become a standard for this
church family and today
things are very normal for us that in
that day
were fought for worked after very very
hard to teach line upon line and
to restructure the priority system of
the church
but if we’re not careful there is a
misunderstanding
on this sense of urgency for evangelism
and uh and and get this list all messed
up if you will
in uh in isaiah of 60 for example it
says
it says your walls will be called
salvation your gates pray so it’s
describing the church it’s describing
the people of god
as a city as a community so that’s the
metaphor that’s the illustration
and he basically says the salvation of
god is what protects you it’s the walls
around the city that’s what keeps you
safe
and then he says your gates are praised
and so he’s actually describing
this place through which god enters to
engage and to mingle with his people and
it’s called praise
and so we know biblically that we enter
his
his gates with thanksgiving in our heart
we enter his courts with praise so
there’s this
progression into the presence into the
glory and it should be the
the ambition of every believer we have
service after service they
typically are called worship services in
the bulletins all
over the nations and and very seldom
does worship actually
happen because worship is this very
tender intimate
place of interaction with god i don’t
say that for the purpose of shame i’m
just saying it’s
it’s uh it’s it’s so deep and so
long into this thing called divine
encounter
so here’s this picture i’m trying to
draw for he says um
he says your walls are salvation and
your
gates the place for which there’s this
entrance in the presence
is praise and it’s something like 15
verses later he says
it’s now in isaiah 62. he says
go through go through the gates
clear the way for the people are in the
context what are gates
praise so now he’s exhorting go through
go through the gates
clear the way for the people you’ve got
to catch a picture of this something
happens
when the people of god become a
worshiping people
there’s something that happens with an
atmospheric
shift over cities over regions of the of
the nation
because there are worship worshiping
people in that environment
you just becoming a worshiper one who
just stands before the lord to worship
in your home i
i don’t know how to explain it i don’t i
don’t understand it
but i know this is a reality you stand
on a regular basis just to exalt the
name of the lord jesus
you have neighbors around you that
facing a problem
a year ago never would have considered
god as a possible solution
but because you’re a worshiper something
has changed in what they get to draw on
because of the influence of your life in
that environment
worship worshiping god is is
central to who we are so i like to break
it down this way i don’t care for
formulas in the presence but it helps me
to
to kind of put a handle on things
there’s thanksgiving there’s praise and
there’s worship
thanksgiving is our response to the acts
of god
i don’t know if he shared testimony this
morning i know chris
chris gore shared with us the other
night about this great miracle of
healing candace shared
a great great story uh earlier of
somebody with four stage
cancers being completely healed we hear
these stories and
and we just celebrate the goodness the
kindness of god and uh and there’s this
thankfulness and we express
it we we cheer we raise our voices we
we become we become amazed at this
father who is so kind and so good to us
but thanksgiving is our response to what
he’s done
whereas praise is our response to who he
is
and there’s this it’s almost like an
indictment on the nation of israel
in the days of moses it says and israel
was acquainted with the acts of god but
moses was acquainted with his ways
in other words they took the action and
they followed it until they discovered
his nature
they followed this that he had done they
weren’t just satisfied with water out of
a rock so to speak
they weren’t just satisfied with
provision or or protection or
deliverance they wanted to find this one
who
authored that very action that very uh
deliverance or protection provision
whatever it might have been
so we’ve got thanksgiving is our
response to the acts of god praise our
response to his ways
worship i i always think in terms of
worship is my response to his presence
it doesn’t mean just emotionally
discerned because sometimes worship
comes
at a very very low point so it’s not
it’s not this overwhelming sense always
of
of a presence
but it’s it’s worship by nature the word
worship actually means one of the words
for worship actually means
it’s the word to kiss that by
implication it’s this tenderness it’s
this
it’s this uh it’s this profound
interaction between you and the one you
worship
something powerful happens to a group of
people that
that live in that kind of atmosphere
their authority
their awareness of the heart of god
increases so dramatically that when they
get into
an evangelistic environment or into an
environment to serve and help people
they’re much more clear much more
precise
much much greater confidence in the
heart of god for a given situation
so here’s what i want to do i want you
to read with we’re going to read out of
matthew chapter 9 we’re going to read
several verses there and uh and then
we’ll
we’ll talk for a little bit all right
matthew chapter 9
verse 35.
then jesus went about all the cities and
villages teaching in their synagogues
preaching the gospel of the kingdom
healing every sickness
every disease among the people but when
he saw the multitudes he was moved with
compassion for them
because they were weary and scattered
like sheep having no shepherd
then he said to his disciples
the harvest truly is plentiful but the
laborers
are few therefore pray the lord of the
harvest
to send out laborers into his harvest
verse 37 the harvest truly is plentiful
but the laborers are
few therefore pray the lord of his
harvest
of the harvest to send out laborers into
his harvest
i i’ve i’ve always been fascinated by
this
this verse for this reason he didn’t say
pray for the harvest
i think there are other scriptures that
that would lend itself to that and so i
think it’s a legitimate thing to do i
know
just driving out of my driveway this
morning certain people that i’ve become
friends with through
the last number of years who don’t yet
know the lord i i just i bring them up
before the lord just on a
on a regular basis and just pray god let
them know the goodness of god let them
taste of the kindness of god and and i
think praying for people to come to
crisis
is is a no-brainer that’s obviously
legitimate
but when jesus wanted to give
instruction that was about to affect the
course of history
he didn’t say pray for the harvest he
said pray for harvesters
pray for the harvesters so i have to
ask the question is it possible that the
size of the harvest is actually
determined
by the amount of laborers
in other words the harvest is there but
there has to be harvesters
there are people and it’s
it’s a deeper theological conversation
that we can have in this environment but
there are a lot of people that uh say
over and over again that uh you know god
god is in control and whatever he wants
is going to happen well he’s god
anything he wants to pull off he can
pull off period there’s
find no argument from me but there’s a
number of things that he has put in
front of us that without response
without embracing responsibility there’s
actually unfulfilled potential this
unfulfilled promise
in other words it requires our
involvement
the nation of israel is a great example
they were they were spoken to about this
promised land and god says it is yours i
give it to you now
it’s all yours and uh and he gives them
this incredible promise of the promised
land but that generation didn’t enter
into it
god promised them but they didn’t enter
into it but it wasn’t god’s fault it was
they
they failed to co-labor with him his way
to bring about his purposes and so now
we have
we have commandments like this we have
directions in prayer
that are supposed to be taken seriously
because it actually has
an effect on the outcome of things
how many understand jesus doesn’t give
us spiritual assignments to keep us busy
you know he he doesn’t say here dig this
hole as soon as you get it done he says
now fill it back in
he’s not trying to keep us active in
christian
you know christian busyness quite the
opposite he’s trying to lead us into
fruitfulness
into effectiveness and so he gives this
assignment and he gives the assignment
because
there’s something in his heart that has
to be touched by somebody made in his
image
that will bring that case or that need
before him there’s something he longs to
do but he’s actually looking for
agreement
before it can be done because it will
not be forced on the will of humanity
it must come out of the will of humanity
so he says here’s my heart the harvest
field
is rich with harvest but you’ve got to
ask
the lord of the harvest to send out
laborers now that word to send out
laborers here in what was in verse 38 to
send out
is a word that actually means to
forcefully thrust
it’s the word used in the very next
chapter when jesus talks about
casting out demons he casts his demons
there’s this demon in this afflicted
individual and jesus comes and he
thrusts he throws that thing out
that’s what he that’s the same word to
throw out
harvesters in other words it’s a
military term almost of like
of like forcefully throwing us into the
middle of this incredible rich harvest
field where we’re in over our heads
and we can’t help but do anything but
bring the harvest in for the king
bring the harvest into the king the
moravians had this statement i don’t i
don’t have it dom perfect but it’s
basically
to win for the lamb the reward of his
suffering to win for the lamb the reward
of his suffering
there was this there was this thing that
they would pray and
and quote and they may have even sung it
but it was this it was this this whole
thing we’ve got to win for the lamb
the reward of his suffering and so we’ve
got this
passage look at verse 37 again says the
harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few therefore pray
the lord of the harvest to send out
laborers
into his harvest what was he doing when
he came
into this moment of burden
he he if if you can imagine uh jesus
standing on the edge of his promised
land and that’s this massive harvest
and he catches a glimpse of something
what was he doing when he saw that
he was healing the sick he was casting
out devils
he was preaching declaring the gospel of
the kingdom so he he was
in that context when he was moved with
compassion
and he then turned to the twelve and he
said listen you’ve gotta pray you’ve
gotta
you’ve gotta pray and contend for the
father to throw out harvards
to cast forth harvesters into his
harvest field
but look at verse 1 because there’s no
chapter breaks in the original
manuscript of scripture verse 1 of
chapter 10 and when he called his twelve
disciples to him
he gave them power over unclean spirits
to cast them out to heal
all kinds of sickness all kinds of
disease verse seven
as you go preach saying the kingdom of
heaven is at hand
heal the sick cleanse lepers raise the
dead cast out demons freely you receive
freely give
this entire 10th chapter is to equip
these
12 disciples if you will to become the
very harvesters
jesus told them to pray into
i have a pastor friend of mine years ago
he he put
flags of the nations all around the
sanctuary
and then would be the name of the
missionaries the people that
that they that were part of their church
that were in these various countries
and then if they didn’t have a
missionary in that country
where they would normally have names
they would put a mirror
and they would say go pray go pray for
laborers
and he would stand before that flag of
that nation with a mirror
with a question am i the one am i the
one to be the harvest am i the one to go
forth
in jesus name
i was reading this passage today
earlier today out of the passion
translation
says jesus walked throughout the region
with a joyful message of god’s kingdom
realm
he taught in their meeting houses and
wherever he went he demonstrated god’s
power
by healing every kind of disease and
illness
when he saw the vast crowds of people
jesus’s heart was deeply moved with
compassion
because they seemed weary and helpless
like wandering sheep without a shepherd
he turned to his disciples and he said
the harvest is
huge and ripe but there are not enough
harvesters to bring it all in
as you go plead with the owner of the
harvest to thrust
out many more reapers and to harvest his
grain
plea pray with the lord of the harvest
to send out that’s
that’s you and that’s me
so we have this we have this mandate to
minister to god is the most important
thing
but there’s something that happens in
that environment as
worshipers where actually it sets the
stage
for evangelism this is 62 passes forgive
me for just making reference to it and
hit and run but uh but i need to do that
today you can look at it on your own it
says this
go through the gates clear the way for
the people
remove the stones remove the dusty
rubble what is it describing
it’s describing worshipers who in their
worship caught up in the presence the
glory of god
completely infatuated with him
expressing their love devotion to him
not realizing that what they are doing
is they’re removing all
the obstacles that have been raised up
in culture and society
removing the obstacles spiritual
bulldozers that just create fact then it
says to throw up a highway before god
what is a highway it’s a place of quick
easy access
it’s the removing the obstacles what how
much of the
devil are we focused on in those moments
zero we’re focused on god
but we’re ministering to him but it has
this effect
i’ve watched this for years it has an
effect
on the evangelistic anointing of a group
of people
the second part of that story or
this assignment is to minister to
believers
and and mistakenly there are there are
many who are
caught up to just care for people around
them but never take it outside of that
group and i’d like to
i’d like to say this jesus said in john
13
35 he says they’ll know you’re my
disciples because of your love for one
another
in other words they will see how you
compassionately walk through conflict
they will watch you as you respond to
the person who’s in crisis
need they will watch you care for them
they will see how you practice community
how you learn together
to reign in life it’s not competition
with each other
but it’s a true communal community uh
pursuit of glorifying god by reigning in
life together
they will see that and they will come to
the conclusion you are my disciples let
me put it in this language
they will see your love for each other
and they will be convinced that jesus is
raised from the dead
he is present in the midst of his people
evangelism
i uh quite a few years ago there was a
one one of the
one of you uh families in the church uh
picked up a homeless man and brought him
to church on a particular sunday
sitting right back in there and um
and there wasn’t very many people in the
sanctuary at the time and
i was walking around just talking with
people welcoming them
and i i saw them so i i made a beeline
for him and
and i saw he had a cast on his arm and
uh and he was obviously
in pain and discomfort and really
protecting
protecting that arm and uh so i went
back and
and just was talking to him and talking
to the family that brought him and
see how they’re doing you know just just
being social
and wanting them to feel welcome and um
and so i i asked the guy with a broken
arm the homeless guy said
so what happened and he said oh he says
i fell off a bridge i think it was like
35 feet or something crazy
fell onto fell onto this wrist and and
completely shattered
that uh in the injury and it had just
been done so he was
very tender very uh very very much uh
watching over and caring for this broken
arm
and so i asked him i said is you mind if
we if i pray for that
and he and he looked at the the people
that brought him you know this
is like is this normal for you guys
and uh and they were good with it so i i
just
tenderly just prayed for him and prayed
for the lord to to heal his arm
and he began to he began to move it and
it was i wish i had a video of this
because his eyes
went like this his jaw dropped and he
looked at the people who brought him
because now he has absolutely
no pain and he’s got full movement in
the use of this arm well it’s a
wonderful wonderful thing
to see happen we’ve we’ve seen that
happen just countless numbers of times
through the years
soon after that prayer i came up and the
people began to come in we started the
service we
worship the lord as we love to do we
pray for each other we do the stuff we
like to do we open the word
when i was through i invited people to
come to know jesus
guess who was first
the guy who had just tasted of the
kindness of the lord
see we want people to buy into a whole
meal but we don’t give them samples
[Applause]
it says taste and see that the lord is
good
the bible says it’s the kindness of the
lord to lead to repentance
it is in conflict with the goodness of
god
to think we can come to god without
repentance
there is this notion that well jesus is
the door to the father but
anyone who is sincere
no no heaven is real hell is real
eternity is a long time it’s a long time
and it helps nobody for us to dilute
and in ruin this
simple gospel message that out of the
kindness of the father
he laid down his own son as an offering
to
pay for to atone to cover the one
issue that was destroying all of
humanity and that sin only one possible
solution
there are not many roads to god
if that were true then he was unusually
cruel to his son jesus to require that
death
it was done because it was the only
possible solution
that is the message but because of that
extravagance of a father
to love people it means that broken arm
is in his target zone and he would love
to restore that
it means the cancer that we heard about
this morning fourth stage people dying
setting up ready to die are prayed for
and god completely heals and delivers
them
i spent some time yesterday with a
friend who’s actually in a coma
but uh
things haven’t been going real good for
for him
life hasn’t
not not not doing real good
and organs shutting down heart
liver and uh
had a wonderful chance to go in to
be with him with his wife and hold his
hand and just talk to him
as though he were sitting up in bed i
remember ray larson who pastored here
before i
did wonderful man of god wonderful
friend
he had such an unusual gift in
evangelism i
i brought him back after i pastored here
i told him to preach on a sunday and he
did and
i said man make sure you give an altar
call man he had so many people get saved
that they just
you know how many remember the jesus
people movement you could you could just
about sneeze
and people would get snakes saved you
know it was it’s just one of those
moments in history where people just
where the fish were jumping into the
boat you know
and uh so i i was i was there next to
his bed and talking to him
ray larson story i was going to mention
to he
there was a young lady that was in a car
automobile accident here in reading
and he went down to the hospital to pray
that she was in a coma
near death and he just talked with her
as though she were awake because the
spirit man was awake
i remember that when you go into a
hospital room
and he shared the gospel with her and
then he prayed with her to receive
christ
and when he was through he looked up
there was a tear coming down the side of
her face
and then a short time later she died
see i i want to make it hard
to get to hell from reading
i oh we make it hard
we we’ve done this in times past where
we’ve we’ve prayed especially for
the emergency room workers for the the
people who are with the dying hospitals
with the convalescent care
places the ambulance drivers the
policemen the firemen all these
different folks who are more likely to
be with somebody when they’re dying
i want them to be people that are
mindful of god
that are not timid in that moment
because i i
i stood on the edge on the edge of
eternity with my friend
on the edge of eternity begin to remind
him of his purpose in life
i believe the lord is going to raise him
up but but
but apart from that on the edge of
eternity reminding him why he’s alive
what he was bought for what his
assignment is
affirming that that place in christ
that he is to give all for
his wife was there
she told me that she knows he heard
because while i was praying for him he
opened his eyes and looked at me
the whole point is is eternity is a long
time
and it’s not a parent position that’s
paranoid it’s not
fear-based it’s it’s my goodness
we we love people we love people
we love people it’s it’s it’s the it’s
the lepers that
that went into the enemy’s camp if you
remember the store in the old testament
and the enemy god had driven the enemy
away and there’s all these riches
there’s all this food and they’ve been
starving to death and
the people the city they were from is
literally starving to death and they’re
eating all this food and they said
wait a minute this isn’t right we can’t
enjoy this all for ourselves
we have to go back and let the city know
what we found
and so they run back as old testament
evangelists
and they tell them that there is a meal
waiting for them
and they can go and have as much as they
want and that’s the gospel that’s what
we do
we take this this incredibly good news
this joyful news of a
king and a kingdom where there’s true
forgiveness of sin
fresh start in empowerment to live
entirely for him
this living offering where we get the
privilege of
worshiping god and loving people and and
and making a difference
and and increasing the size of the
harvest
it’s not about membership at bethel it’s
it’s not even about
you and me being able to put another
notch on the back of our bible it has
nothing to do with that it has to do
with
he is worthy of a sizable harvest
that moravian phrase to win for the lamb
the reward
of his suffering this is why we’re alive
if it wasn’t for that one thing
jesus easily could have just caused us
to breathe our last
the moment we received christ take us to
heaven for our eternal reward
he is looking to see the glory his own
glory
manifest on the earth with a harvest
that is
appropriate to him one last uh
illustration
how many of you remember where you were
when you heard the iron curtain fell
in the in the soviet union
i was actually now i was actually in
redding but i was pastoring weaverville
we were down here
with a group of men we were doing a
men’s retreat staying at one of the
local hotels
and i remember going into into my my
bedroom
at the hotel and seeing on tv these
people pouring by the thousands
pouring through this place in the iron
curtain in the
the that wall but that divided east and
west germany
there’s a section of the wall that was
taken down and they were pouring through
by the hundreds and
and actually by thousands uh threw that
through that gap in the wall
and they were they were singing
they were all singing this song
this is the day that the lord has made
let us rejoice and be glad in it
they begin to sing this song these
hundreds of people are pouring through
this gate and they’re singing
they’re singing this incredible song
this is the day that the lord has made
let us rejoice and be glad i come to
find out sometime later that
at that very place where that section of
the wall was removed
the the symbol of division between us
east and west germany when that
that was removed the night before
there had actually been a very
significant and powerful prayer meeting
at that place that actual place in the
wall
there was a gathering of believers the
night before and that’s when it broke
loose
man you never know when your next prayer
is going to be the prayer that brings
breakthrough
that’s so these people who had probably
gathered for who knows
how many years but they prayed again
and it was it was liberty came
during that that period of time i
remember myself i i ministered a bit in
in europe but i remember
going through different parts of europe
and i even remember making the
announcement i believe the iron curtain
is going to fall
you know no ism can stand against christ
and
whether it’s communism or socialism or
any ism that
people come up with nothing can stand
against the power of the gospel
and you know it’s the kind of thing you
say that’s absolutely true
and it gets a lot of amends but it
doesn’t always give preparation
here’s what happened this
iron curtain fell and right previously a
couple years before
this removal of the iron curtain
prophets prophetic communities had been
announcing
that the iron curtain is going to fall
and that’s the kind of thing everybody
would say a man to
but nobody was preparing for
there was not money set aside there were
not laborers ready to go in
the moment the iron curtain fell it was
none of that stuff it was
it was all in concept yes we agree amen
but but no one was ready to go
as a result when it fell all the
missions organizations began to
put their reserves together their
finances together started training
people
and of course flooded as much of the
country as they could meet quickly
with with the ministers of the gospel
and it was wonderful it’s beautiful
but the problem was they had been
reduced
from prophetic timing
be alert and ready to natural timing
when the iron current fell so what’s the
result
they prepared themselves and got ready
so did the mafia
so did various cults they all got
reduced to
natural timing and not till the
prophetic time
do you understand what i mean what i’m
saying by that that they weren’t ready
to go in the moment it fell
they got ready the moment it fell which
means
so did every other lie every other cult
every other group and the lord gave the
advantage the insight
to the to the church to be ready
for this invasion of the gospel
we have heard for 20 years
20 years ago it was first brought to us
that there would be a 1 billion soul
harvest
and it’s the kind of thing we say amen
to it’s kind of thing we’re excited for
us
the kind of thing we go boy that’s right
that’s what’s going to happen
but the point i want to make is i don’t
want to make the same mistake
as was made all those years ago for the
soviet union
when the word of the lord comes forth it
means
i must position myself
for what god just said i must
be about the father’s business i must
be in the harvest and pray for the
harvesters
what’s happening right now in various
places around the world i’ve never seen
anything like
it’s it’s been common in christian
circles especially
the or organizations that i work with
around the world various
ministries of streams of churches and
missions organizations europe has has
all but been given up by many of them is
the dark continent now
and yet something is exploding there
that is so
amazing they said it couldn’t happen
and it’s happening just a couple of
weeks ago ben fitzgerald one of our own
and
and but we’re in austria and thousands
of believers are on the streets
sharing the gospel people are getting
saved people run
in this large to run from the back all
the way to the front just to meet this
jesus and to come to christ there
there is this thing they said it
couldn’t happen not in places like that
in germany a few years ago nuremberg
they they they chose that place because
that’s
the place where hitler announced his his
thing
and they wanted to go right back to the
root of that movement and
and see a redemptive turnaround where a
generation be raised up
not to promote nazism but the the gospel
of jesus and
if something has happened in germany
since that event
something’s happened and it’s rippled
through various parts of europe and it’s
what’s happening right now is absolutely
stunning it’s the beginning
of the billion soldiers
charlie it’s already started but let me
tell you there’s not enough room
in all the churches in the nation to
contain
what god wants to do we’ve got to we’ve
got to think different
we’ve got to position ourselves better
it’s not just sending them to a
discipleship class as much as i believe
in those
it’s you the believer caring for
the new believer discipling teaching
them everything you’ve learned
this is the privilege of the gospel
and the billion soul harvest has started
and i don’t want to stand in heaven
looking at what could have been possible
so many years ago wrote a song it was
actually i think a part of a
chapter in a book or a poem or something
then somebody else put a song to it
but it basically came down to this said
some people want to live within the
sound of chapel bells
but i want to run a mission a yard from
the gate of hell
yep right on the edge
time eternity right there
right there it’s worth it
pray this with me father god
let’s pray this together father god
i receive the privilege
i receive the opportunity
i receive the assignment to be a
harvester
and to pray for harvesters give me your
heart
your eyes your touch to redemptively see
the most broken situations in life
turned around for the glory of god
we say yes to the billion soul harvest
increase our capacity to be in the
middle of what you’re doing
that the lamb of god would receive the
reward of his suffering
amen amen amen
before i we i dismiss you
i know just by sure odds the number of
people in the room there’s a good chance
that there
are people here that don’t have a
personal relationship with jesus i’ve
actually been talking
about you as as one who could come to
know what it is to be forgiven
to know what it is to to live as a
follower a disciple of jesus to
know what it is to be born again that’s
changed from the inside
and if there’s anybody in this room that
is in that position you say bill i don’t
want to leave until i know i’m right
with god
then i want you just to put a hand up
where you are we’re just going to make
just a a moment of celebration to honor
your wonderful anybody else
anyone else in just a moment anybody
else put your hand up on
i i don’t want to miss way in the back
over here
is that why your hands are all right yep
anyone else anybody else
okay all right i’m gonna ask you to
stand
stand with me if you will and i want to
ask
our ministry team to come to the front
and the two
that raised their hand that i saw plus
anyone else who would just say i’ve
walked with the lord but i’ve been going
east he’s been going west
and i want to get things restored anyone
in that place i want you to come right
now at the same time
right up here to my friends up here at
this banner on my left
come to them they will talk they will
pray with you let’s have minister team
come quickly
and help us by getting ready to pray for
yet again
more miracles leslie help us out
thank you father for your heart amen
well if you need prayer in any way if
you wanna
healing in your body i’m sorry i’m just
so rocked by that message how many here
you feel
let’s just take a minute and just oh
thank you god we say yes
just put your hands up right now i say
yes god yes god
yes god we say yes god
we say yes to what you’re doing on the
earth
we will be a part of your harvest god we
say yes
thank you god thank you god amen amen
all right god bless you church if you
need healing in your body if you need a
miracle today we would love to pray for
you so come on
and join us up front god bless you
church as you go
into the harvest amen bless you
[Music]