PRAYER:: THE HARVEST IS RIPE 10-06-18

• Just completed a week of prayer

To develop an effective prayer life is simple.

A few pointers to this are:
1. Know God intimately (John 17:3)
2. Believe God i.e. Have faith in God or have the God kind of faith (Mark 11:22-24)
3. Forgive others (Mark 11:25-26)
4. Know God’s Will through His Word

 The bottom line is an effective prayer life flows out of our relationship with our Heavenly Father
 The best resource that I know of is “How to pray correctly” by Apostle Theo Wolmarans, Christian Growth Seminar

Scripture Points Notes
Mark 9:35-38 (NKJV)
:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
:37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
:38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
• Harvest is plentiful
• There are people waiting for us
• People that God has assigned to our lives
• People are is desperate circumstances
• Drowning in life
• Needing a Saviour
• Especially here where we are
• We have the answer
John 4:1-4 (NKJV)
:1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
:2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
:3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
:4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
• This is the wonderful story of the Samaritan woman ant the well
• There are many truths and principles we can learn from this story
• Let’s look at on aspect of this story
• Tradition dictated that when the Jews travelled from Judea to Galilee
• They would take a detour to avoid Samaria
• Notice, Jesus had to go through Samaria
• He had an appointment, someone was about to have their encounter with Jesus
• There are people waiting for us as we carry the Good News of Jesus Christ
John 4:35-36 (NKJV)
:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
:36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
• The Harvest is ripe – don’t delay
• The Harvest is ripe – delayed harvest will result in the harvest perishing
• This is more than produce
• This is about people perishing
• Eternal death
• People whom God so loved
• People whom Christ died for
• Notice: Gathering the harvest for Christ is gathering “fruit for eternal life”.
Mark 9:37-38 (NKJV)
:37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
:38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
• Instruction from Jesus
• Pray to the Lord
• To send out labourers
• To pray for the labourers in the harvest field
• His harvest i.e. the Lord’s Harvest
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)
:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. :19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV)
:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
:18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
• A further instruction
• Continue to pray for labourers in God’s harvest filed
• Now we are told to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”
• In addition to praying – GO!
• We are told how to make disciples in these scriptures
• “’Go into all the world”’
Acts 1:4-5, 8 (NKJV)
:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
:5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
• This is the Link
• Pentecost
• Outpouring of Holy Spirit
• Holy Spirit empowering
• Holy Spirit power
• Holy Spirit fire
Mark 16:20 (NKJV)
:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
• This is the result going
• Hallelujah!
• God is no respecter of persons, what He did with His first disciples He will also do with us
• Why?
Romans 8:11 (NLT)
:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Ephesians 1:16-20 (NLT)
:16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,
:17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.
:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
19: I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. (according to the working of His mighty power – NKJV) This is the same mighty power
:20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
• “The Spirit of God”
• “who raised Jesus from the dead”
• Lives in us
• Understand Who lives in us
• God’s Power in us, empowers us
• Empowers us for life
• Empowers us to “Go”
• When we “Go”, God goes with us and He works with us
• Pray, Yes
• And now Go, the Greater One lives in you
Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
• This is how the first disciples felt in Mark 16:20
• This is also what God says to us as we Pray and Go!