Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT)
37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."
Now I ask you when was that last time you prayed to the Father about the harvest? Just take a look around and you will see the great multitude of people in this world that need Jesus and the peace and joy only He can give. To truly understand what Jesus was trying to get across to his disciples, we must look at what was happening here. To get an idea of what Jesus was trying to get across to you and I we must look at the preceding verses. Matthew 9:35-38 (KJV). 35And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Jesus had compassion on the crowd and then turns to his disciples and issues the above command. To understand the depth of this scene we must look at a couple of the terms in the original Greek. It is written that Jesus had compassion on the crowds for two reasons. The first was because they "fainted". This has both a spiritual and a physical meaning here. The word here is dêëýù ekluo ek-loo'-o which is made up of two words in the Greek. When put together they are used for weakness or giving up. We see this same word used when Paul tells us Galatians 6:9 (KJV) 9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. The new living translation here says "Don't get discouraged and give up. " In the preceding verse above Jesus had been "healing every sickness and disease." Then looked around at crowds and saw "they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Jesus knew that in the short time He would walk the earth that He could not reach all who needed His healing touch. He knew that the 12 that followed Him could not.
Let's look at the second reason that Jesus had compassion on the crowds. They were scattered abroad; this is one word in the Greek ¼ßðôù rhipto hrip'-to . This word means to deliberately fling something, to throw it so hard as to scatter it. Like one would do when sowing seed in a field by hand you fling it hard to get it scattered across the field. Jesus saw what the devil was doing to mankind. Jesus knew that the devil was making them sick with diseases of the body and heart and was scattering them spiritually. We must remember that when Jesus looked upon the crowd, he looked beyond the physical that you and I can see into the spiritual that we can only see with the Holy Spirit's help. Jesus saw the great war going on between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell for the souls of mankind on this earth. Do not kid yourselves the Bible tells us that the old devil is 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT) 4Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don't understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. Jesus knew that the dark sides' forces increased daily and ours should too. Think, my friend when was the last time you prayed for workers for the kingdom? But we must see that it goes beyond that. When Jesus sent out the workers the first time what happened? Mark 6:7-13 (NLT) 7And he called his twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two, with authority to cast out evil spirits. 8He told them to take nothing with them except a walking stick-no food, no traveler's bag, no money. 9He told them to wear sandals but not to take even an extra coat. 10"When you enter each village, be a guest in only one home," he said. "And if a village won't welcome you or listen to you, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate." 12So the disciples went out, telling all they met to turn from their sins.13And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. What image do we see here with the first group Jesus sends out? Do we see a wimpy group of men that set up their religions and build giant monuments to themselves and preach the gospel ever Sunday unless of course their speaking tours interfere. Do we see men of God that charge $100 a seat to listen to their great words? NOPE!! we see a rag tag band of men that had nothing material and went and told everyone they met "REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!!!" Then they healed the sick and cast out the demons. Can you see any difference between the very first workers for the kingdom of God and the workers of today? If you cannot I would suggest you get your head out of the sand and get a reality check. Most of the "church" today is dead spiritually. Instead of telling the sinner to "turn from their sins" the church is opening their arms and embracing them and saying "God loves everyone just as they are"! As I always say prove it to me by the word of God! It is not in the Bible! That doctrine is straight from the pits of Hell! Not to mention that is sends everyone who believes it straight to HELL! Someone is rewriting the word and I know it is not God!
When Jesus told us to pray for workers because the harvest was ripe, He meant Gospel preaching , hell and damnation breathing, sickness and disease healing, demon casting, touching heaven praying men and women of God. Not the wimpy your best life now crowd, not the we love you as you are crowd. But men and women of God with enough backbone to preach the truth no matter who liked it. Men and women who fear God more than what man thinks of them. Men and women of God who have a passion for saving souls and would never coddle a sinner straight into hell because they might offend them.
Where are you today in your spiritual walk. Jesus told us to pray for workers. If you my friend do not have the spiritual oomph to be an on fire worker for Jesus, in the trenches preaching the truth then at least do as Jesus said. Pray for workers who will. If you cannot get out there and witness to a sick and dying world that it needs Jesus then at least follow Jesus' command and pray for people who will. Let me give you a few figures. In the United States 2.4 million people die each year, approximately 6,500 people die each day. Worldwide 57 million people die each year, 156,000 people die each day, 6500 people die each hour and 108 people die each minute. The latest figures show that out of the approximately 6.5 billion people in the world there are 2.1 billion Christians. What the means is approximately 38% of the worlds population are Christian and 62% of the world are heathens. Now my friends, let's put these numbers to the reality check. What it means is that each day 96,700 people, each hour 4030 people, each minute 67 people enter into Hell for eternity either because they never heard of Jesus, they were taught that God loved them without repenting of their sin or they rejected God's gift of salvation.
Do these numbers make you weep? If not you had better re-exam where you heart stands. This is why Jesus told us to "So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields." If you cannot get out there in the trenches then pray my friends pray.
I will leave you with this quote from Oswald Chambers "There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person's work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God's perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ."
Think about it
God Bless
Pastor A. J.
