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Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.  Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’?  Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.  Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  -- John 4:31-36

In John 4 we have the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus went out of His way to talk to a woman from Samaria, a social taboo which He was unconcerned about breaking.  He did it because the people there needed Him, and then chided His disciples for not seeing how important reaching the lost is.  After the woman discovered that Jesus was the Messiah who could give her living water, she ran off immediately to tell her neighbors (without the water jar she’d come to get water with).  As sometimes happens still today, the disciples were busying themselves with the food they had just procured and trying to get Jesus to share it with them.  Jesus was too busy doing the work God sent Him to do to bother about food just then.  He had a message to share and at that moment only the Samaritan woman was sharing it, while the disciples were more worried about their personal comfort.

Some things don’t change all that much over time.  As a disciple of Jesus, I am often more concerned about the food I eat than the food God has given me of harvesting souls.  Jesus made it clear that His purpose was not to simply live and eat, but to gather precious people in to God’s granary.  There was so much to be done and so little time.  The fields were white with the harvest to be brought in and the disciples were busy with the wrong things.

As white as the fields were for harvest in Jesus’ day, they are more so now.  Our world is filled with souls who are ripe to hear the gospel message.  The vast majority of people around our Church are unsaved.  In order to save them, Jesus had to work until He was tired, go hungry and thirsty, and in the end, literally give Himself away.  He calls us to do the same.  What we need is a sense of urgency and sacrifice.  People are dying around us every day, most of them without Christ.

We are embarking on a major new mission initiative to begin the harvest of souls around us.  These hurting people need to be brought in to the Church and taught the Truth that will set them free.  The amazing thing I’ve seen is that once you bring a person to Christ, just like the Samaritan woman, they immediately think of others they can share this good news with.  Think of the ripple effect we can have if we can bring our closest neighbors to Christ.

We are the closest Church to the Kingsford High School.  Students walk by this building every day.  Students who need Jesus.  Others drive by our building routinely without a clue how they might get in, even if they wanted to.  We need to reach them.  To do so, we are going to have to sacrifice.  I’m talking about a level of giving that we have not challenged ourselves with ever before.  I am praying for God to open all of our hearts so that we will be willing to offer ourselves to his work, and reap the harvest that is eternal.  Begin now to pray for God’s will in your life.  Open yourself to the Spirit’s leading.  The time is now.  Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

I'll see you in Church.