Sermon notes from Sunday 11 May 2014
Matthew 9 verses 26 – 38
Consider
for a moment the role of a labourer. We
started out meeting at a very specific palace. The Lord had been brought to the
home of Jairus. He had a girl with a
sickness that brought her to the point of death so much so that they took it
for granted that she was dead. Jesus
came into her home, took her by the hand and she stood alive on her feet as a
result of that act. Great fear spread because
of what had been done. He is speaking
here in terms of the harvest as he looks on the multitudes gathered all around
him. Speaking here of a spiritual
harvest. Upon his heart he has a great
compassion for the souls all around him.
He was opening the hearts and minds of his disciples to the great need
and the fact there were no labourers. Every farmer needs a harvest.
There is great planning that goes into it. The farmer goes out and plants his seed. He prays for the right temperature so that
seed will produce. The farmer knows at
the end of the year there is a great urgency to get that crop in. He will hire labourers to bring that harvest
in. The labourers are required today to
reach others with the gospel of saving grace.
What are the qualifications of a labourer today?
The
labourers are appealed for. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest
that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” The Lord is asking for specific prayers. The Lord knows there are a multitude of
people who need to hear of their need of salvation. Sadly they have been blinded by the God of
this world. We have the responsibility
to pray that God might send forth more labourers. We have lost the interest of taking that need
to the God of heaven. Acts 2 as they
ministered in that group, meeting together, studying the word of God and
praying the Holy Ghost said “separate unto me Silas and Barnabas.” It only happened when they fasted and prayed
that God really began to work. In Acts
16 Paul and the team were waiting on a door to open for them. Paul has a dream of a man beckoning to him
“come over into Macedonia and help us”.
That man was appealing to God to send someone to preach the gospel to
them. That is what God is asking
for. Are you a labourer?
The
labourers are appointed. The farmer is not going to come to me and say
“I need you to do this work for me.” He
knows I wouldn’t have the ability to do it.
The labourer is appointed. Jesus
said you are to pray that God would send forth labourers. It is not you that does the appointing but
the Lord himself. Jesus sent out 70
labourers in Luke 10. He selected and
sent them out himself. It is to those
who are labouring that he asks them to pray for more labourers. We never should pray for others to do a work
we are not prepared to do ourselves. The
instruction is for us to pray that the Lord would send forth labourers. The man in Macedonia wasn’t
disappointed. He asked for help and Paul
was sent by God to do the work. After he
had seen the vision “immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” The Holy Spirit was active in that whole
account. The God of heaven is waiting
for you to pray. When the Lord looked on
the multitude his heart was full of compassion.
They were lost and going out into a lost eternity. The labourers are appointed in answer to
God’s prayer.
The
labourer has an accountability. Acts 3 God reached down and called Paul and
Barnabas from the very midst of the church.
If God calls people to come forth make sure they are ready to be part of
his work. Are we prepared to be
labourers today? Are we prepared to pray
for labourers today? Will you leave
yourself open to God to even be that labourer?
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