Don't Sleep Thru The Harvest!

It's harvest time, here in Northeast Arkansas. Normally this is the time of year that all of the farmers are in high gear getting their crops out of the fields. However, this year we've had an excess of rain with another 4"-6" in the forecast. Many fields have standing water in them and their crops are simply inaccessible to the harvesters. The abundance of rain around here is quickly becoming a tragedy.

Around here, there’s only a narrow window of opportunity during which the crops can be harvested. However, that’s not true everywhere. Many parts of the world enjoy a continuous harvest season. One can visit southern Florida, portions of the Rio Grande Valley, Southern California, or other tropical areas and discover a continuous process of sowing and reaping. Those regions represent the spiritual realities that we, as Christians enjoy. We have a continuous harvest season in the spiritual realm. There is never a time when one can say that due to bad weather or to the season of the year it is impossible to labor in the spiritual harvest fields. There is always, every day of your life, the opportunity to work in the harvest field.

With that in mind I want to share some rambling thoughts about the harvest. First of all, it is a law of nature that before there can be a harvest there must be a time of sowing and cultivation. You can't reap where you don't sow. However, every farmer knows that his responsibility doesn't end when he puts the seed into the ground. There are months of cultivation between the sowing and the reaping. Farmers will plow up the soil. Then they will plant the seed. After that, proper care will be given to the cultivation of the crops in order to reap an abundant harvest in the fall.

The church should, likewise, be in a continuous process of sowing the seed. The harvest is in our hands. It exists in the form of seeds that have not yet been sown. It is our continual responsibility, as sowers of the seed, to be busy, everyday, sowing the seeds of the gospel. Careful and continuous efforts need to be put forth to cultivate the confidence and the friendship that enables you to reach someone for the kingdom of God. If we are faithful in sowing, in due time we will be successful in harvesting.

The passage of time from spring to fall is long and slow, but the process is necessary in order to produce a harvest. Likewise, winning a soul can be a lengthy, time consuming process, but if we grow not weary in well doing eventually our labor will pay off. One important thing to remember is that harvesting is not a thing that can be rushed. You can’t harvest corn while it is still green and you can’t pick cotton before the bolls open up. This is also true with a soul. It takes time for people to become “ready” for harvest. That amount of time is different for every man. Sometimes we have great difficulty discerning the seasons of a life and if we aren’t careful we grow frustrated. The simple truth about the harvest is that, if we will remain faithful, when the time is right, God will open the door.

While it is true that the church should be continually involved in sowing seed, it is also true that the church should be in a continual harvest season. Where there is a time to sow, there is also a time to reap. To neglect the harvest in the time of reaping is to waste all of the previous effort put forth. It is a law of nature that the harvest must be gathered when it is ready. Cotton will lose its weight and color and quality if it is not picked at the proper time. Corn will fall over and rot if it is not harvested before the winter winds and rain come. The golden yellow wheat fields will turn white and will soon rot if not harvested. The same principle holds true in the spiritual realm. When men and women are ready to be reached with the gospel, there exists an ever shrinking window of opportunity in which we can reach them.

Because farmers recognize this principle, harvest season is a critical season. There’s never enough hours in the day. When a farmer gets a break in the weather and a chance to get into the fields he may run his tractors long into the night or even into the wee hours of the morning because the harvest simply must be gathered while it is ready. So it is with the souls of men. When they are ready to be reached, there may be but a short window of opportunity in which to reach them. The church we must realize that the harvest is urgent! There is an inherent urgency to the hour. We must redeem the time, doing everything we can as urgently as we can to reach those who are ready with this gospel truth!

Right now, in homes across our community farmers are fretting and worrying about the crops that are still in the fields. The quality and value of cotton is degraded every time it gets rained upon after the bolls are open and ready for harvest. However, even more tragic is the fact that it is entirely possible that some of these fields won’t be accessible until the cotton has already been ruined! As the church we should be gripped by that same knowledge. An opportunity is passing from us, even right now. Some soul that is ready to be reached is going to slip into eternity before we reach them if we don’t launch ourselves into the harvest with all that we have. I promise you that, if we can catch a dry spell, the farmers will labor 24-7 to get those precious crops out of the field. How much more urgent should our efforts be? Harvest time is right now!

In Proverbs 10:5 we are confronted with the uncomfortable truth that there are those that choose to sleep during harvest time. "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” During this urgent moment when the opportunity is there and souls are ready, there some who would rather be idle and careless as an open door slips away from us. The tragic truth is that, while we sleep, the harvest is going to waste in the fields. Won’t it be a tremendous catastrophe if all those beautiful white cotton fields can’t be harvested this year because of the rainfall. What a wasteful shame it will be to watch those fields go to ruin when it is readily evident that they are ready for harvest.

Unfortunately, the farmers can’t help it, but the church has no excuse. There is no spiritual obstacle stopping us from getting into the harvest. The only thing that impedes us is our own casual laziness. It would be a shame if, after years of cultivating the harvest field, we failed to seize the opportunities that are before us and allowed the harvest to go to waste in the field. The pressing truth is that we don’t have the time to be casual and indifferent about the harvest. We can’t afford to sleep through the harvest. This is our hour and if we do anything less than give it our very best then, according to the proverb, we are a son that causeth shame!

I want to admonish you this morning not to sleep through the harvest! It's high time that we stirred ourselves to wakefulness and realized the opportunity that is before us. A harvest stands ready around us, the only thing missing are the reapers. When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion toward them and said to his disciples (in Matt. 9:37 – 38), “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

It doesn’t take long, as you drive down the roads, to recognize that it is harvest time. As a matter of fact, it is with no small degree of disappointment that we see that the tractors are not yet in the fields. However, as the church, we need to take another look at our world and recognize the same truth. The fields are white already to harvest. How it must disappoint our heavenly father when he looks and sees no laborers working the harvest. Today, I want to encourage you to stir yourself, awaken yourself, and make a fresh commitment to the harvest.

It is harvest time. The harvest is ready. Who will go reap it?

Mercy and Judgment (Part 3)

In Psalm 101:1 David declared that he would sing of mercy and judgment. In that declaration, this was the thing that David discovered: Judgment mingled with mercy produces the sweet sound of praise. I’m no musician, but I know that Harmony is created in music when treble mingles with bass. When high mixes with low, it produces the sweet sound of harmony.
 David, in this moment of reflection, looked back upon his life and recognized the sweet harmony produced by the intermingled threads of mercy and judgment.
 David had learned that no praise is so sweet as the praise of the one that has encountered both judgment and mercy in his life. The sweetest praise is the praise of one that can sing of judgment and mercy together.


No doubt, We are all familiar with the story of Esther, perhaps one of the greatest love stories of all time.
 However, one, often overlooked detail of that story is the process of preparation that Esther endured before her night with the King.
 Twelve months were required in preperation before she was ready for her date with the king. There were six full months of bitter, where she was soaked in and saturated by the pungent bitterness of the oil of myrrh.
 However, during the second six months of her preparation, Esther soaked with sweet odors. She was lavished with exotic perfumes composed of the sweet odors of cinnamon, aloes, cassia and calamus.

The incredible thing about this lengthy process is that the Persians had discovered that the bitter blended with the sweet produced the loveliest of aromas.
 However, while it may have been a breakthrough discovery for the Persians, it was part of the prescribed formula, given by God for the oil of anointing.
 In the oil of anointing, Myrrh was blended with Cinnamon and Cassia, along with other ingredients, to produce the substance that was the vehicle of God’s anointing.
 God has long recognized the irresistible attraction of the mingled aroma of bitter and sweet.
 Even in the Jewish Passover celebration the Bitter herbs that cause them to remember the years of bondage and pain are dipped in the sweet mixture of fruits and nuts that reminds them of the goodness of God.


Bitter and sweet blended together is a theme that echoes through the scriptures.
 Revealed within it is the tremendous truth that Judgment and Mercy mingled together give birth to the sweetest praise.
 This is the wonder of a life lived for God! The hard times mix with the easy times.
 Dark nights give way to bright days.
 Terrible storms of chaos and confusion yield the stage to beautiful sunsets of peace and contentment.
 It is the blending of it all together that produces the song of praise.
 I will sing, David said, I will sing of Mercy and Judgment.


It’s the mingling of judgment and mercy that gives birth to the most pleasant of all praise.
 It’s in the night, when the darkness comes crashing in that your heart truly learns to sing.
 Its in the turmoil and trouble of this life, that you really learn that you can trust in God.
 And it’s the thankfulness for mercy that born in the darkness of judgment that gives rise to the song that moves the heart of God.
 Don’t let the storm steal your song!
 Don’t let the trial rob you of your praise!
 The sweetest sound that heaven will ever hear is the voice of hope that rises from the darkness of the night and declares its faith in the mercies of God.


It’s mercy and judgment mingled together that produces genuine praise.
 This is why the misguided notion of praising a God of mercy but dismissing the idea of judgment will never produce a genuine relationship with God. You can’t know God’s mercy, and truly appreciate his provision, if you never recognize his judgment.

 And the beauty of it all is the wonderful fact that mercy and judgment, working together, produce the wonderful aroma of praise.
 It was the lingering scent of the burnt offering combined with the blood applied to the mercy seat that produced the cleansing fire of atonement in the old tabernacle.
 It was the blending of suffering and mercy that produced our own precious salvation on the cross of Calvary.
 Today, no matter where you are in your life, it is the mingling of mercy and judgment that will produce the sweetest praise in your life.


Mercy and Judgment (Part 2)

God has long used Mercy with Judgment to compliment each other. The people of God experienced the bountiful mercy of God but that didn’t exempt them from the heavy hand of his judgment. Often, the blessings of God caused them to become overconfident in their own abilities and they would abandon the ways of God. Each time judgment came into their lives to lead them back to the mercy and grace of God.

Through the pages of the scripture the co-mingling of Mercy and Judgment was often present. The Ark of the Covenant contained within it the bowl of Manna that had been provided by the grace of God. That wonderful token of blessing was a consistent reminder that God had shown them his mercy. However, in the same ark, under the same mercy seat, right beside the manna lay Aaron’s budded rod, a consistent reminder of the authority and judgment of God.

David said it, in the ever-popular Shepherd’s Psalm, “Thy rod (judgment) and thy staff (mercy) comfort me…” The shepherd’s staff was to sustain and console the sheep. It was the symbol of loving kindness and mercy. But the rod was to discipline the sheep. It was the symbol of correction and judgment. And David said, together, they comfort me!

Even in the Old Testament Tabernacle, we find judgment and mercy mingled together. The Bronze Altar provided the only means of approach to God. It was there that the blood was shed, in judgment. And it was the blood, from the altar, that would be poured out upon the Mercy Seat, obtaining the grace and forgiveness of God. However, the neat thing is that on that brazen altar there was a bronze grate that rested on a recessed ledge inside the altar. The grate, where the sacrifice was placed, was the same height from the ground as the mercy seat. The place where judgment and wrath were poured out and the place where mercy and grace were granted, existed on the same level in the tabernacle of God.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ fulfilled all the ordinances of the law. He became both our sacrifice and our saviour. Even in his life, mercy and judgment were intertwined. He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. God poured out all the fury and wrath of judgment upon himself at the old rugged cross. However, the story doesn’t end there, by his stripes, Isaiah declares, we are healed. The blood that was shed has set us set free. He offered one sacrifice, one time, facing judgment for every man and loosing mercy for whosoever will.

The only place where there will be no judgment is heaven and the only place that there will be no mercy is Hell. Everything suspended in between contains a mixture of judgment and mercy. Some will be constrained by judgment and discover everlasting mercy. Others will reject God’s mercy and afflict themselves with unending judgment. But, in any case, judgment and mercy will always be comingled in this life. The one doesn’t exist without the other. It is the two working together that produces the song of the redeemed.

“I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.” Psalm 101:1

Mercy and Judgment (Part 1)

On the occasion of assuming the throne of Israel, David wrote the 101st Psalm, which is regarded as the Psalm of the Magistrates. It is said that rulers, after David, read this Psalm on the day of their inauguration. It would certainly be a great beginning point for any administration. Contained within it, is the wisdom of a king and great guidelines by which to rule a kingdom. However, at the outset, as David takes his harp and begins to sing, he reflects upon his life and pronounces a mixed blessing. “I will sing,” David says, “of Mercy and Judgment.”

What a wonderfully strange mixture! When David looks across the landscape of his life and the events that have brought him to this place he is compelled to sing of both Mercy and Judgment. Hidden within the history of his life is a beautifully tapestry composed of both extremes of God’s love. One is the antithesis of the other. One exists on the opposite end of the spectrum from the other. But in the course of his life, David sees the two of them woven together in such a glorious harmony that it produces singing in his heart.

Mercy, taken alone is the obvious instigator of praise. It is the result of God’s blessing and his provision. Everything about mercy is wonderful and good. And one can easily see how David would sing, as he often does in the Psalms, of the wondrous mercies of God. Mercy is a magnificent thing and there is no doubt that this shepherd boy elevated to the throne had ample opportunity to rejoice in the glorious mercy of God.

But David doesn’t just sing of Mercy, he sings also of Judgment. This is much harder to understand. Judgment speaks of the wrath and chastisement of God. No doubt, as David looked back upon the course of his life he saw, mingled among the shining diamonds of Mercy, the dark lumps of Judgment. He remembers the times that God has chastised him. He sees dark moments when, because of his own pride or self-will, he defied the will of God and did things his own way. And he remembers, in vivid detail, the stinging rebuke and the painful punishment of judgment in his life. He remembers what it is to face the judgment of God.

In this critical moment of reflection, David recognizes that any life that knows Mercy will, inevitably, also know judgment. He recognizes that, even in the pain of judgment, there is the understanding that this is the price of Mercy. Had there been no judgment there would have been no mercy! Had God not loved him enough to hold him accountable for his wrongs, God would never have cared enough to deliver Mercy in his darkest hours.

Mercy and Judgment are on opposite ends of the spectrum of God’s love. But they work together in every life. Judgment, chastisement, and the impending threat of them provide boundaries in the life of a believer even as mercy and grace sustain and provide for us. If you took the time this evening to reflect upon your life, you would find the same comingling of Mercy and Judgment that inspired David to sing.

Across the fabric of your past you will see a bright and glorious thread of mercy, that reflects each time God has blessed you and delivered you. That wondrously golden thread of blessing and provision. But braided through the same life is the equally dark and bold thread of judgment. It doesn’t take us long to remember the hard times and difficult places that we got into by our own hand. When we were stubborn and stiff-necked and refused to heed the gentle call of God. We can all remember those times when Judgment compelled us to seek Mercy. When trouble and trial pushed us to our knees and compelled us to seek the face of God. Thank God for that dark thread of judgment in our lives, for it is the judgment of God that keeps us humble and watchful. It is the judgment of God that has taught us to depend on him. We’ve learned, over time, through the venue of our missteps that we can’t place our faith in our own abilities or resource. But we’ve discovered, by the same avenue, that the mercies of God are tender and lovely. And we can place our trust in him.

Judgment keeps us honest, it keeps us submitted to God. While Mercy, precious mercy, keeps us hopeful and confident in the grace of God. We live in a world and a generation that would like to strip God of his judgment. They want to serve and worship a God of mercy but deny that he is also a God of judgment. David understood what this generation has failed to grasp, without judgment there is no mercy. And where there is mercy, there will always exist, right along side of it Judgment. In David’s song, we find them bound together in praise. When they are mingled together in the life of a child of God they produce a reason for worship.

Thank God for Mercy AND Judgment.

Playing Hide & Seek With God

When my boys were younger one of their favorite things to do was to play "Hide and Seek" with me. My youngest son, particularly, delighted in the game. He was really good at finding a great place to hide, but he wasn't so good at staying hidden. As I would begin to search for him he would get tickled at how great his hiding place was. The closer I would get in my unfruitful search, the more he would giggle, until he simply couldn't contain himself. Inevitably his laughter and sheer delight with the game would betray his carefully chosen hiding place.

In my study and sermon preparation this weekend I read a familiar scripture from a translation that I don't use very often. The imagery provided by this different translation brought the memories of playing hide and seek with my young son to my mind. Jeremiah 29:11 begins like this, "I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. When you look for me, you will find me." However, the last portion of verse 13 and the first part of verse 14 are what jumped out at me. The Lord declares, "When you wholeheartedly seek me, I will let you find me..." (Jeremiah 29:11-14 GWT)

The wonderful news enclosed in that verse is that we serve a God that wants to be found! To my young son the joy of the game was in being found by his loving father. He wasn't near as interested in evading me as he was in being found by me. That's why it never bothered him that he gave himself away. I want you to know, today, that God wants you to find him. As a matter of fact, He's gone out of his way to make it easy for you. He said, "If you will seek me with your whole heart, I will let you find me."

So many times we convince ourselves that God is hard to find. We often feel like a blind man stumbling in the dark looking for the light switch. When the real truth of the matter is that God is easy to find. The only prerequisite is that we seek him with our whole heart. I wonder, today, what you would discover in God if you would only take him at his word and seek him with your whole heart. I am persuaded that he longs to reveal himself to you, that he has a strong desire to draw you closer to him.

So, what are you waiting on? Perhaps its time that you found a place of prayer and said, "Ready or not, here I come..."