Don't Sleep Through Harvest Time!

Early this morning before I even got out of bed, I was reading my Proverbs reading plan on my YouVersion Bible android app. I ran across this passage:

A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace. Proverbs 10:5 NLT

When I read that I immediately remembered reading about Jesus ministering to the crowds, and then telling His disciples,

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Matthew 9:37-38 NLT

Are we sleeping through the harvest? If you don’t believe the harvest is great, wake up! Look around you! I currently have a small group Bible study where 8-12 non-churched friends attend every week. When I got back from vacation last week they were just as excited to be back into God’s Word as I was. A church member put me in contact with her co-worker who has never attended church. We started Bible studies and now the co-worker’s daughter-in-law, who never attended church, has asked to join our Bible study. The list goes on of similar stories. At the church school where I help out, students who are not taken to church by family are asking questions and looking forward to learning about Jesus every day.

The Harvest is great! If you need to, ask Jesus to wake you up and send you into the harvest, so we each can reach one (or two or three or four …) in 2015!

Don’t get caught sleeping through the harvest. Solomon says that would be a disgrace!

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Don’t Sleep Through Harvest Time! — 12 Comments

Natz [Surname?] on January 13, 2015 at 12:11 pm said:

Love it!!!! Well said!

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William Tallon on January 14, 2015 at 10:46 pm said:

Yes ,I just happen to stumble upon this above,or no I should say I was directed to this ,Don't sleep through the harvest,Amen,Amen.I really need you Jesus to give me that extra push ,to find a way to reach out to my coworkers and people wherever I go.Thank you

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- Janet George on January 15, 2015 at 8:21 pm said:
  
  Amen.
  
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Franklyn Tembo on January 14, 2015 at 11:00 pm said:

All the signs of the advent are fulfilled hence, this is not the time to sleep but rather to proclam the greatness of God's kingdom and win souls

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Jane Sirignano on January 15, 2015 at 4:45 am said:

Good thing I woke up early today!

Thanks for reminding us to get up and spend time in the Word.

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Tyler Cluthe on January 15, 2015 at 7:31 am said:

William, I have to agree with you but I would add that there are many ways one can work. I am not a harvester, if anything I am a planter and most of the time I fail even at that (1 Cor 3:6). Besides, who really does the convicting, the nurturing and the harvesting - man? I thought Jesus is, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2 NKJV) yet we certainly have a part to play don't we. To me we are only one of thousands of ways God uses to reach the lost to the extent "that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out" (Lk. 19:40 NKJV).

In my way of thinking being a part of God's work is a privilege and training in righteousness. It is also being with God rather than against Him (Mat 12:30). I also think we need to be aware that sometimes we can do more harm than good as Jesus testified concerning the Pharisees, "For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves" (Matt. 23:15 NKJV) which is something the Christian church has done at times in the past, including our own denomination.

Working in God's vineyard is indeed a privilege but it also carries great responsibility. It needs to be done right. In my view the fact that those people are coming to your study may very well be a sign that God is blessing but let's not get too complacent there because the world draws the majority in a multitude of ways so numbers generally don't mean too much. To me it is the quality that testifies to the source not the quantity (Mat 7:16-20) as I think Noah and Lot could easily testify to.

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William Earnhardt on January 15, 2015 at 8:27 am said:

You are right Tyler. The harvest is a process and Jesus has given us all different gifts to help in that process. We all need to be awake and aware of the needs we can fill. Look at how Andrew worked, just introducing people to Jesus. I have had many successful Bible studies that turned into baptisms, when someone just introduced me to someone who was interested in studies. Andrew may not have been as vocal and visible as his brother Peter, but he was awake and did not sleep through opportunities.

You make another good point that workers should be trained. in Matthew 10, after Jesus says to pray for workers in Matthew 9, he instructs them before sending them. Again that does not mean you have to be able to make perfect presentations and perfect speeches before you can do any good. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that more important than excellent speech is love. What makes me cringe is not when someone I am training gives slight misinformation, but when they say something hurtful.

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- Tyler Cluthe on January 15, 2015 at 10:37 pm said:
  
  "What makes me cringe is not when someone I am training gives slight misinformation, but when they say something hurtful." I absolutely agree but I think we can forgive the occasional blunder and usually it can be patched up and reconciliation done to a reasonable extent. Besides, we all make mistakes, at least I know I do and I hate myself afterward. Even seasoned evangelists occasionally do a whopper.
  
  When I mentioned doing damage I wasn't thinking about the minor issues but more along the line of the problems the Jewish insistence of doing law in order to be saved creates that Paul wrestled with so much. The problem also showed up in the debates between Catholics and Protestants during the reformation and again at the 1888 Minneapolis convention and it continues to be a problem to this day. We also have gone through the thing about jewelry where a simple wedding band was forbidden while men could wear fancy cuff links and tie claps not to say anything about the fancy watches so that we ended up swallowing a camel while straining a nat. Besides those things, at times we seem to be stuck on diet before preaching Christ or harping on the negatives before we say anything about the positives which to me is a basic problem in its own right. These are some of the things that I think do a lot of damage and once instilled in the mind becomes a really nasty thing to get out.
  
  This is why I tend to lean so heavily on doctrinal issues. They color everything we think of and do - and sometimes that ends up hurting people, not to say anything about what it does to the church as a whole.
  
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Eudora Stephens on January 16, 2015 at 4:41 pm said:

Dear William, thank you so much for the insightful article. I too need to do more. But my experience with "harvesting" has been among my unsaved relatives. God always leads them to my home where some have spent days, months, and even years. They all come to see the difference that God can make in the lives of a Christian family.. Most of them end up asking for Bible studies and several have been baptized and are still growing on the Vine. I must say that I love that you are always looking for opportunities to give Bible studies and from the tone of many of your posts which I eagerly read, it sounds like you are leading these dear ones to Christ and not to the denomination (a mistake several harvesters make). May God continue to bless you in your harvesting.

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- Inge Anderson on January 16, 2015 at 5:18 pm said:
  
  Dear Eudora, it seems you are truly living up to the meaning of your name, "good gift." 🙂 You are a good gift - God's good gift to your family.
  
  Unfortunately too many people find their own relatives the most difficult field, but that's where I believe God wants us to start. It challenges us to draw close to Jesus so that our lives demonstrate the difference He makes.
  
  May God continue to bless you in your harvest field!
  
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  - William Earnhardt on January 16, 2015 at 6:06 pm said:
    
    Yes Eudora, I agree with Inge and Denise, you are a wonderful gift! Thank you all for this encouraging discussion and happy Sabbath!
    
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- Denise Johnson on January 16, 2015 at 5:22 pm said:
  
  You are so right Eudora. The greatest harvesting tool is living a life of love to others - be them family, co-workers or even strangers. While we may not be trained Bible instructors, pastors or teachers - we all can share what God has done in our lives and through that allow the Spirit to reap a harvest through us.
  
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Don’t Sleep Through Harvest Time!

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