that moves through life and have opportunities to touch people's hearts and touch people's lives in ways that we can never fully imagine. Some of you know that I've had a series of funerals here lately and I was at one yesterday out in West Lou by no villain Heidi were out there about it's just interesting to listen to the stories of ways that one person's life becomes a blessing to so many others and it's rather fascinating that's what Jesus has enabled us to begin to experience as we journey through life. Each and every one of us have different roles or responsibilities in life, we have different jobs, we have different neighbors, we have this unique network of the fact that we look to Christ to allow Him to use us in a process, a minestream in so many different ways. The problem we often get into is we would like to be the one that closes the deal.
We want to be the one that's there when they come to faith so that we can get our point I guess or something like that or at least to that experience of that blessing, all of that. But God's purpose and plan is that we will all be used together to accomplish His purpose and ultimately His glory. But it's through the element of surprise that we need to consider as we look back in verse 35. John chapter 4 and verse 35 is that element of surprise that keeps the journey of life fresh and unique.
It's the journey of life that element of surprise that gives you opportunities that may not typically take place in other settings. It's the element of surprise that God is the one moving the pieces together, He's pulling people together, He creates or utilizes experiences and circumstances so that you and I always have opportunities to be of influence to other people. Verse 35, do not say form months more and then the harvest. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.
They are ripe for harvest. We have a tendency to think of terms if we take that and ponder that for a moment. You would think that because it takes a certain amount of time for a crop to grow, you would think that harvest, well that's what happens in the fall. And that's perfectly normal for us to process that and we tend to think, you know, when this person gets their act together and starts living a normal life, then they could be saved.
None of us ever thought that before. If a person could get to a certain place where they're teachable and reachable and we have this mindset that somehow the right harvest is when you invite them to acknowledge Jesus and they say, I do and yet the harvest has a lot more to do than closing the deal. It has to do with the influence we have in the four months of the growing stages. Quite often we don't think of angelism as those experiences that happen long before a person comes to face.
And yet if you make someone a pie who's never had a pie before, you've got to listen here. I was just told yesterday to somebody that reminded me something I really did that impacted their life in a powerful way. And I said, what was that? He says, my dad left me years ago.
He said, I remember a time when I was sharing some with you and all you did was give me a hug. And I thought, well, certainly I don't remember giving the guy a hug. But to him, that was a life-changing moment. And I thought, how powerful can something like that be?
We have no idea on the unique ways that we have touched people's lives, equivalent to giving them a hug or being given them a listening ear or whatever it is in life that these are the harvest that comes before the official harvest. That's what we think in terms of the ministry that Jesus was preparing his disciples for is to understand that we may not see or it may not seem like the harvest is there. He said, you don't have to wait for four months. He said, it's right there in front of us.
And so we want to look at that. It's interesting when we drop down now to the end of the chapter there that others have done the hard work is the concept that we want to try to consider because the hard work really is most likely Jesus. I mean, think about it, if we're going to help anybody get to heaven, it's kind of hard to get them there. If you don't have Jesus dying for their sins.
The hard work is the work that is behind the scenes quite often. You know, we think of even on meal this afternoon, the hard work is not me on the clean up detail. That is sampling all the food. The hard work is somebody for a lot of time in the kitchen in preparing for that and setting it up.
And those kind of things, the hard work quite often in a church setting isn't necessarily preaching. It's all the things that you go through just to show up. When you take in the hard work, there's a lot of preparation. There's a lot of ingredients that go into the mix of the hard work behind life.
We take it in terms of praying for each other's children. The hard work was for 18 years. You did a lot of things that were called hard work and the pastor gets to say one message and they come to faith. But you planted the seeds.
The hard work, you invested their whole lives. The hard work is often the part that we don't necessarily think is part of the process. We sometimes down play the hard work of being an example and being consistent and being available and being supportive. We like to think it's all about the moment when they believe.
Ultimately, that's our goal, our purpose, our intent. But the hard work is the Sunday school teachers who are down there training them at two years old long before they get to be adults and begin to respond to it. The hard work is the long, tedious work that goes on and on and on for years. Investing in people's lives.
Four months, the harvest comes around. Maybe it's 40 years that the harvest comes around. The hard work is somebody, faithful, doing things day in and day out. Week after week, month after month, year after year, there's the hard work.
But we think in terms of the hard work, we realize that we could take a time and kind of journey through the scriptures and identify several different contributing factors that play into the hard work of what Jesus Christ has done for us. But we'll simply skip over those because we're going to be here for quite a while today. The hard work. But what I want to say about the hard work that Jesus has done and maybe John the Baptist would be classified as the one who did the hard work and then we reap the fruits of that.
The hard work is all the preparation that prepared for Jesus to come and the message of the cross and the life he gave and so that the work could be done. The easy work in sense in contrast to that is you and I are given a message and it's actually called good news for a good reason. It's good news because the hard work is done and the good news is simply inviting people to come to the banquet feast and enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. You and I are sent with a message that is intended to give people joy and peace and blessing in their life.
The hard work has been done by Jesus Christ. Now when we think in terms of hard work though, no doubt that if you ever talk to people and share a little bit about what you do and you listen to what other people do or maybe you just kind of meander through life and watch people work particularly maybe at a restaurant and they're making a huge killing about two bucks an hour and they count on your tips and everything else and you see the people come and carrying the dishes in and out and you realize that's a tough job. The other day I went into a blood sample and I think the hard work of somebody taking blood and I was just conversing and my wife says I got a big mouth. I can hear everything I say.
She's over there in the other room and I'm talking about this kind of a job and everything else. I said here's the hard challenge I want to give you. Don't tell me what you're going to do and don't let me see those needles. Nurse is a hard job.
I was in there visiting somebody else. He's a friend of mine pastor Roland Kadel if those are you then they're Roland Kadel and he's in the hospital for whatever he's doing. You can imagine being his nurse. Roland and I are two peas in a pod and we take it in terms of the care that is given when we're not.
We don't handle pain well and we you know those kind of things. It's hard work. You know a lot of jobs dealing with people those of you in social work know that's hard work, ministry to people. But it's interesting when you converse to people about the idea of hard work everybody has a different kind of idea about what is real hard work and everything else that plays into that.
So it's kind of a term that is difficult to really grasp the hard work. We do mention that what Jesus Christ did that's certainly hard work but the hard work is something that sometimes if we feel Jesus did all the work and all you and I do is share good news. Welcome to reality. It's hard work even sharing the good news and it wasn't that Jesus is saying it's going to be an easy task.
He's just reminding us that a lot of the work is a little bit more than asking somebody if they want Jesus and assuming they're all going to take it. Anyone of us that has tried to not only minister to own family members let alone somebody that works with us in the workplace or a neighbor or a friend or even you know people that you really want to share the good news with you realize it is a lot of work in presenting the message of life in a way that ultimately has a way of making this great impact upon their lives. Let's look at verse 35 again. Do not say four months more and then the harvest.
I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields they are right for harvest. I can't remember this was quite a number of years ago when somebody referred to the scripture and said that isn't true. The fields aren't right. His conclusion was I don't know if anybody wants to hear the gospel and maybe you've been there.
You've been through those times in your life where you wonder what happens to the harvest. Why is it seemingly difficult to find people that will listen to you all about the gospel. And I don't know exactly what I told the individual at that particular time but I have concluded as of now that my faith in Jesus and cherishing his finished work and living my life with the attitude Lord you can use me you can send me that I've discovered that I have seen a lot more of hope about the harvest than any other time in my life. And I've realized that a lot of that has to do with some things I briefly mentioned is we simply look at the harvest as bringing someone to the point of faith so that we can begin doing something with them.
That's entirely different than to see an opportunity right there in front of you. That's all part of the harvest because one man sows and another man waters and so we realize that in the planting sowing process that the harvest is more than simply bringing somebody to a final decision. A lot of the work that happens is in the process of preparation. And those are some of the things I want to consider when we think about the task is because we might get the idea that someone else always does the hard work our job is easy.
I've had many people that over the years that have wanted to help out in ministry in the church and I remember particularly a couple of them I took them over to peer made and they said what that's not for me I want to work with people that already saved. I said well there's hard work and there's other work. I mean everybody not everybody but someone would love to come up and preach in a church that's already there you know the idea of going out there and reaching people for Christ and then bringing them that's entirely different category. I'm a little upside down and we're I appreciate you coming Sunday after Sunday but sometimes I feel like well what can I say next because there's people here and oh God you're commitment to Christ and your journey to Christ you probably know more than I do about what to preach but my passion I guess because of my background I find great joy in seeing one or two or a couple people begin it just lights up in their mind.
Do you mean to tell me that Jesus could change my life? I mean you got me that as soon as I hear somebody begin to consider that concept I said Lord that's why I went to Bible college right there that moment just give me the grace to to continue to press on so that they might come to this one moment in life where I can say yes he can but anyway the hard work and there's nothing more powerful or you don't get more points when you get to heaven because you quote unquote did the hard work versus the easy work as a matter of fact the joy of being able to share your faith and see someone come to faith that is its own unique of golden opportunity in your life as much as it is to give them a warm blanket is to give them a pie is to give them a hug whatever it is those are powerful moments in a person's life because it's all part of the hard work it's the task of ministering to people. Some of the things that Jesus shows a little bit by example administering to the woman the well which might seem to be hard work I'll simply mention the first thing that stands out is in chapter four and verse four he goes through Samaria. Now that doesn't seem like hard work as a matter of fact if you were to get out your map or your GPS or your phone and you wanted to go from southern Israel to north it would point you through Samaria unless it was rigged by the cultural understanding that is you always go all the way around that place it was the fact that the Samaritans they were considered to be not pure Jews they were considered to be a mixed people groups it was a kind of that you know you just don't hang with those kind of people it's hard work sometimes to know but who you hang with somebody's gonna whisper it's hard to it's hard work to accept the fact that sometimes God wants to use you in ways and among people that not other people feel comfortable ministry too and we could talk about the ways of illustrating it a lot of different ways there are places that are more applaudable than others and there's people that are more applaudable and on and on and on the list you go it's hard work to know somebody is going to say something about what you do and where you go but if you're going to reach out and be led by the Lord and be available to him you're gonna have to go to places that somebody doesn't think you should go or doesn't think it's worth going I catch that at the pyramid thing I can't say all the pastor friends I have or so saintly but sometimes I have been kind of alluded to you know isn't that a waste of time and right away they want to know the numbers how many of you reach I have no idea I said if I think about that I could get discouraged and that could be overwhelmed I just pray by God's grace that I don't see categories that one person's life isn't necessarily worth as much as another one to be available you got to go through some areas sometimes you got to go to the places that God lays before you as an opportunity to do that look at the verse six of chapter four now Jacob's well was there and Jesus tired as he was from the journey he sat down by the well and it was about the six hour down verses 17 and 18 I have no husband the woman replied Jesus said to her you're right when you say that you have no husband the fact is that you have had five husbands and the man you are now now have is not your husband what you have just said is quite true not only are we going to be going to places but we're going to be dealing with situations that don't nicely fit in the church setting there's circumstances and there's situations that people have found themselves in that probably feel as if I can't go to church because they're not going to accept me and I can't even go out to get water in daylight because my culture has even shunned me here's a woman that has to come in the heat of the day when normally my understanding is most people go in the morning they get their water but she has to kind of do it secretly privately the point is that you and I if we want to reach a minister of people sometimes we got to do it on their schedule and not ours I'll tell you that is hard for me because I am always on the move and always going here and I like to ultimately decide when I'm going to do this and what I'm going to do that but I'll tell you what there's times I can clearly tell you I'm in a hurry I'm up at Home Depot and I want to get in and out I know which lines are the fastest registers I know which I got it all planned out and there comes somebody I haven't seen in a while and they asked me the question how you doing and they start telling me about their life and I'm like Jesus why can't you just let me share my life let me come to church and I'm telling about Jesus you know rather than share their life just a little story the other day was over there because this one guy that I see him all the time I know his first name he knows my first name and I simply said how you doing he said I had my daughter Pittsburgh children last night and I'm thinking I'm in a hurry Lord but it's okay and he told me went on I'm thinking wow but this what happens all the time in each and every one of our lives is people begin to just share a little bit of their lives that they carry in the burdens and you know we're in a time schedule of our own and so to reach out people is sometimes hard because when they want to talk they want to talk and when when they're ready they're gonna be ready and we've got the the evangelism planned down to a little booklet you know we've got it all and we've sang all the right verses and do all the right things and getting the pray the right prayer and Jesus is saying forget about the four months right now the harvest is in front of you and even though you didn't close the deal today you have just set that person up for someone else who might come along and get the credit is that okay with you Terry yes it is the hard work many times is to be involved in the process and not worry about whether you get to close the deal would you set up someone show them about Jesus point them in the direction and then somebody else says you never believe it I said one little word to this person and they came to faith and you're like I just spent five years with the harvest the harvest it's a beautiful thing that Jesus has put together and web together and if anything it's an encouragement I trust to realize it's not the big things that we ultimately do it's not the big plans we have and we as a church have attempted to try to connect to the city and minister to the city in many creative ways and those are good things and when somebody walks by and somebody stops in and somebody goes in your yard or your work it all is part of the hard work faithfully patiently ministering encouraging asking people how they're doing connected with them we trust one day the ultimate harvest will be settled it's so true that the experiences of people go through they do all a conclusion ultimately either there's a god who loves and they've seen him in work in your life in mind or there is no god of love because they have no evidence we trust will be part of that marvelous plan a one more thought I want to mention we'll look into verse 12 of John 4 are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well drank from it himself as did all his sons and his flocks and hers that's a little humorous they're talking to Jesus and of course we know who he is but they're going on about how great the well is and they get down to his sheep drink there and I'm thinking does that make the well a greater the point I have as we look at scriptures there and a couple other things you mentioned is that many times we in sharing our face you ever get one of those little debates you know I want to fix people I don't know about you but I sometimes have a problem I want to debate about some of their ideas their spiritual beliefs their whatever and I realize that I can damage more than I can help by questioning whether or not they think that well as any special waters or whatever does that any secret powers the beauty is that if you and I can tolerate where people are at and simply build upon it rather than trying to break a doll if they believe that there's something beautiful about this or something beautiful about that then I simply just trust God take me from there and and move me on one of those early experiences when I was first a Christian or first pastoring in allentown is there were plenty of people knocking on your door and they're going to convert you and I found it interesting that I think they knew I was a pastor you know it's connected to the church and everything else and yet they're they still want to convert me they want to convert everybody else they come to the door and right away I'm getting this debate and it didn't take long for me to realize that I'm not helping anybody here and they're they're not helping themselves but when I began to simply just share my life story about how God has begun to change my life I got a lot further and I asked them how God's changed in their life because sometimes people are caught within the web of belief systems that they're not even sure what those really mean but this woman is holding to those beliefs she's been taught these things she's been introduced she makes an interesting statement later on when the Messiah comes or when the Christ comes he'll explain everything Jesus says I'm healed.
Her idea ultimately was that everything that she has been taught ultimately will get figured out in the end Jesus says today's the harvest working with people where they're at listening to them whether their spiritual beliefs or whether they're just the web of a mess of their lives being there at the moment not necessarily trying to feel as if the only thing that matters is a yes to Jesus ultimately it's a yes to who you are probably before there's a yes to who he is the harvest is now we have many opportunities to reach out white or out in very small ways and simple ways they may not seem to close the deal but they certainly have set the tone for the next person and the next person and the next person Father we humbled humbly come before you because we must confess that we may have minimized the value of the little conversation the little bit of time we took we may have lost sight of the beauty that we didn't say a thing but we cared bring us back to the place where we love you and trust you enough that you'll do what you're able to do we pray that we'd be faithful and prayer we'd be diligent and familiarizing ourselves with the truths that we might have a listening ear to be led but help us to not be so convinced we always need to go somewhere else to do the job let us be faithful right we're at in Jesus name God bless you have a great day