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Feb. 18, 2022
Key verse 35: “Didn't you yourself say: 'In four months the harvest will begin?' Open your eyes and look around! The fields can (already) be harvested.”
We need to eat three times or at least twice a day. Even Jesus was no exception.
But he teaches us that if we really want to live a happy life, we need some spiritual food in addition to ordinary food.
May God help you to recognize the spiritual food and to take it.
Jesus was traveling with his disciples from Galilee to Judea.
The shortcut was to come from Galilee through Samaria directly to Judea. But the Jews at that time preferred to take a detour, first going east, then south along the Jordan River, and finally west again toward Judea. They wanted to avoid passing through the territory of Samaria because they considered the Samaritans to be heathen.
But John tells us in verse 4 that Jesus had to travel through Samaria.
With Jesus there is no barrier with the Samaritans. He loves all people. So Jesus came to a city of Samaria called Sychar and sat down by Jacob's well, for he was very tired.
Meanwhile his disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.
It was around noon. Then a woman came to the well to draw water.
Jesus asked this Samaritan woman for a cup of water. The woman marveled that Jesus, a Jew, was addressing a Samaritan woman.
Through this conversation, Jesus led the woman to believe in him as the Messiah.
The woman learned that Jesus is the Messiah and has forgiven her all her mistakes and sins. She got great joy about Jesus and his forgiveness.
Out of joy she returned to her town and told others that Jesus is the Messiah and that who can forgive all their sins. Crowds came to Jesus.
I came to Germany in 1978. You-Kang Hur was working in a hospital in Essen at the time. Here's what she told me: “In 1976, our missionaries in Germany were disappointed because of the falsehood of the church leadership in Korea. We were all powerless. Around the end of 1976, Peter Chang came from Chicago and taught the missionaries Romans. Romans teaches us repentance, faith in the gospel, and spreading the gospel. When we re-accepted the gospel through studying Romans, great joy again came to us. So we started inviting other people to study the Bible again.”
And this Samaritan woman also became very happy because she repented and accepted Jesus as Christ. She told everyone in her village about Jesus.
But let's look at the rest of the story in chapter 4, beginning with verse 31: While Jesus was still talking to the woman, the disciples came back from the village. They were amazed that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman. But they didn't ask him about it.
They simply said to him: "Lord, eat something!" They meant to say to him: "You must be very hungry!"
Then Jesus answered them: "I have food that you do not know" and "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish his work."
What strikes us in this story is that Jesus and his disciples had very different perceptions of reality. His disciples mainly saw external facts. They had seen that Jesus was initially tired and hungry. That's why they went looking for food for Jesus. However, when they returned from the village, they saw that Jesus had become radiant and dynamic. So they thought that Jesus had already eaten something. They also saw a woman that Jesus was talking to. But they only saw this woman as an unrespected woman because they viewed this woman from the perspective of the past.
But Jesus looked at the woman from God's future perspective and saw that she was a heavenly princess. The disciples viewed the people of Samaria as problematic people. But Jesus saw them as a great harvest of eternal life!
What we see, we reap! So we will receive what we recognize. Then how can we have a great harvest? By looking at people from Jesus' point of view.
Can we have a great harvest for the Lord in Bochum?
Yes! We should recognize that everyone in Bochum and the Ruhr area is longingly waiting for the harvest workers. Each of us will definitely have the opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ to others. We shall then seize the opportunity offered.
If we are to seize the opportunity God offers us, we need to recognize two things. These two realizations are shown by the Lord and can lead us to great harvest.
First of all we are to recognize the source of divine power to have great harvest of souls!
The woman was changed by the power of Jesus. But the disciples of Jesus did not know the source of this transformative power.
When Jesus said to his disciples, "I have food that you do not know about," they did not understand his word and asked among themselves, "Did anyone bring him food?"
"Did David or Timothy bring Jesus anything to eat?"
Let's hear Jesus' answer. He said, "My meat is to do the will that sent me and to accomplish its work!"
The source of Jesus' power is God, and his power was directly related to his task. God gave His Son all authority to do His will and accomplish His work. We will never reap properly until we see clearly the truth that the source of our strength is God, for the Bible tells us, "Our help is from the Lord" (Psalm 121:2).
We must take this truth to heart: We often try something different in hopes of getting good results. Sometimes we place our hopes in our ability and then experience failure. Often we rely on a great program and believe that program will lead many people to faith. And sometimes we idolize someone who has achieved something amazing. Others build on the outward appearance, believing that if they had a large church building they would attract many people to worship.
Of course God can use such things and lead people to faith. But we should be careful that such things can blind us from seeing the fundamental truth.
We are to listen to the word of the Lord in Zechariah 4:6: "It shall not be by army or strength, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
Can we have a great harvest? Can we know the day of our king?
Of course we can, but only if we recognize Jesus as the source of divine power!
Second, we need to recognize the urgency of the times in order to have a great harvest of souls.
Let's look at verse 35.
Then Jesus says: "Didn't you say yourself: 'In four months the harvest will begin?' Open your eyes and look around! The fields are ready for harvest. And the harvesters are already there for the harvest.”
Can you see the difference between Jesus and his disciples here regarding the harvest time?
The disciples meant that one could harvest "in the future."
But Jesus said they can reap "now."
The disciples looked too big at people's problems.
But Jesus believed that God with his omnipotence can solve all problems and already work powerfully.
Apostle Paul recognized the present work of God and said, "Behold, now is the time of grace; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
A famous philosopher said, "One of our erroneous opinions is that the present time is not a crucial hour."
The philosopher is right. We hear many excuses why we can't complete the mission order now. We say that we have to wait another four months to be able to harvest.
But Jesus says to us: “Open your eyes and look around! The fields can (already) be harvested.”
We are also to hear the words of Paul: "Behold, now is the time of grace; behold, now is the day of salvation!"
We believe that now is not the time for revival. We believe that our invitation to the people and students has not worked. Therefore, we do not anticipate any revival and do not invite people to worship or Bible study. We no longer pray for people to come to faith, Bible study, or worship.
But it's high time we stopped making excuses. Instead of "later" we are to use the word "now" and lead people to Jesus Christ.
I have already said: what we see becomes our reality. God is to help us see the urgency of this hour. The harvest fields are already ripe. If we don't harvest this crop now, they will fall to the ground and die.
We need a vision of great harvest. We are to believe that God's Word in Acts. 2:47 becomes a reality: "The Lord added daily to the church that were saved." We pray that the Lord will lead someone through us to faith and church today.
We are now to ponder three questions,
first, why the salvation of souls is needed at this time.
Second, what needs to change in my life so that I can participate in saving people today?
Third, what needs to change in our church so that our church saves actively people?
I would like to ask you to think about these three questions and give your answer to these three questions.
God wants us to bring Him the fruits of eternal life! God wants us to recognize the source of his power and the urgency of this hour. God will then open wide the door of a great harvest for us.
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