Coming Soon: Harvest Time. (Revelation 14:14-20)
Intro / Review:
Harvest Time: The Violent End of Unbelievers. (Revelation 14)
The GRAINHarvest: Ripe for R EAPING. (Rev 14:14-16)
The G RAPEHarvest: Ripe for C RUSHING. (Rev 14:17-20)
John 4:35-36 – Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
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Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Pastor Jeff:
00:32-00:36
Open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation chapter 14.
Pastor Jeff:
00:36-00:42
This is our last message in Revelation for a while, and the last message for me for a while.
Pastor Jeff:
00:42-00:52
But we have a couple of tremendous guest speakers the next couple of weeks, and then we'll be getting into Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday, and celebrating...
Pastor Jeff:
00:52-01:00
That's our Super Bowl, right? We're celebrating what this church is all about, and that is the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
01:00-01:02
So that's the next few weeks.
Pastor Jeff:
01:02-01:15
So today, Revelation chapter 14, while you're turning there, just to get us all caught up where we are, Revelation chapter 12, we saw a flashback, which was Satan waging war on Israel and on the Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
01:16-01:28
And we saw sometime in the future, there's going to be a war breakout in heaven that results in Satan being cast down to the earth, furious he's going to wage war on God's people, specifically Israel, like never before.
Pastor Jeff:
01:29-01:34
Chapter 13, we saw two men that Satan is going to use to lead his assault on the earth.
Pastor Jeff:
01:34-01:38
Two beasts, the Antichrist and the false prophet.
Pastor Jeff:
01:38-01:43
The false prophet is going to force the world to worship the Antichrist.
Pastor Jeff:
01:43-01:48
He's going to do that by false signs and they're going to do that by controlling the economy.
Pastor Jeff:
01:48-02:01
Chapter 14, last week we saw the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion and three angels sent by God proclaiming three messages and one more effort by God to reach the lost.
Pastor Jeff:
02:01-02:05
So chapters 12 through 14, it's one vision.
Pastor Jeff:
02:05-02:14
It's a sort of a panorama that took us from Satan's assault on Israel and on Christ all the way to the very end of the age.
Pastor Jeff:
02:14-02:27
And since this is the last message in this parenthetical section, the passage we're looking at today describes the final reaping, the final harvesting of the earth as Jesus Christ brings judgment.
Pastor Jeff:
02:28-02:41
If you're familiar with the Bible, some of these images are going to sound very familiar to you because all through the Old Testament there's imagery of the end days using harvesting and grapes in a wine press terminology.
Pastor Jeff:
02:41-02:51
Isaiah 63 for example, Joel chapter 3 and Jesus himself used harvest terminology when When he talked about the end of the age, you can read about that in Matthew chapter 13.
Pastor Jeff:
02:52-02:56
What we're looking at in the passage today is God's wrath with two pictures.
Pastor Jeff:
02:56-02:59
There's the grain harvest and there's the grape harvest.
Pastor Jeff:
02:59-03:00
Why two pictures?
Pastor Jeff:
03:00-03:01
Why didn't he just give one?
Pastor Jeff:
03:02-03:06
Well, the reason there are two pictures is there are really two aspects of the judgment that are coming.
Pastor Jeff:
03:06-03:13
In the first one, the grain judgment, the grain harvest rather, is the bowl judgments.
Pastor Jeff:
03:13-03:23
Remember in Revelation we've seen seven seal trumpets and seven trumpet judgments, but we have seven bowl judgments that are coming, and they're represented by the grain harvest.
Pastor Jeff:
03:23-03:33
We'll read about those in chapter 16, chapter 17 and 18, with the defeat of Babylon, and then the grape judgment, the wine press, that's the battle of Armageddon, and we're going to talk about that briefly today.
Pastor Jeff:
03:33-03:37
That's where Jesus comes to destroy his enemies, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
03:37-03:55
So if you have this idea in your mind that Jesus is just sort of a Mr. Rogers type who would never do anything in the name of judgment or punishment or stay tuned because you're about to see something from God's Word that is pretty graphic.
Pastor Jeff:
03:56-03:58
Harvest time, I want you to write some things down here.
Pastor Jeff:
03:58-04:02
Harvest time, I couldn't think of anything better to call this passage than just what it is.
Pastor Jeff:
04:02-04:04
This is the violent end of unbelievers.
Pastor Jeff:
04:04-04:06
The violent end of unbelievers.
Pastor Jeff:
04:06-04:09
So first of all, let's talk about the grain harvest.
Pastor Jeff:
04:09-04:11
Ripe for reaping.
Pastor Jeff:
04:11-04:12
Ripe for reaping.
Pastor Jeff:
04:12-04:14
Let's look at chapter 14, verse 14.
Pastor Jeff:
04:15-04:25
John says, "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Pastor Jeff:
04:26-04:37
And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him, who sat on the cloud, 'Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come.' the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.
Pastor Jeff:
04:38-04:44
So he who sat on the cloud, swing his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped.
Pastor Jeff:
04:44-04:46
So again, this symbolizes the seven bold judgments.
Pastor Jeff:
04:47-04:56
They are prepared in chapter 15, they are executed in chapter 16 and the fallout you could say is described in chapter 17 and 18.
Pastor Jeff:
04:56-05:01
And once again, we see angels assisting Jesus in the judgment.
Pastor Jeff:
05:01-05:45
Angels have been seen throughout the book of Revelation in Christ with judgment. They've called out the horsemen, they've blasted their trumpets, they've fought Satan and his demons. Earlier in chapter 14 we had three angels warning of judgment and in this passage we're looking at here we're going to see three angels coming to implement judgment. But I want you to see in this passage Jesus Christ himself is back on the scene. And I want you to see what's on his head and what's in his hand. First what a sickle was, it's a long curved blade on the end of a handle that would be used to swing and cut down wheat for harvesting.
Pastor Jeff:
05:45-05:50
So the sickle tells us that he has come here to judge and on his head is a crown.
Pastor Jeff:
05:51-05:58
You know, it's interesting when you think of the first time Jesus came and what happened and how the Bible describes the second time he's coming.
Pastor Jeff:
05:58-06:02
You know, the first time Jesus came, the Bible says he wore a crown then too.
Pastor Jeff:
06:02-06:05
He wore a crown of thorns and he was a servant.
Pastor Jeff:
06:06-06:14
Revelation tells us the second time that Jesus comes, he's going to wear a golden victor's crown and he's going to be the king.
Pastor Jeff:
06:14-06:17
The first time that Jesus came, he came to sow, right?
Pastor Jeff:
06:18-06:24
He came to sow the word of God and he gave the word of God to his people who sow the word of God.
Pastor Jeff:
06:25-06:31
The first time Jesus came was all about sowing and the second time Jesus comes, we see here it's going to be about reaping.
Pastor Jeff:
06:31-06:35
going to be reaping. The first time Jesus Christ came to the earth it was to defeat sin.
Pastor Jeff:
06:36-06:40
That's what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. He came, we're going to talk all about this here in a few weeks.
Pastor Jeff:
06:40-06:42
The first time Jesus came it was to defeat sin.
Pastor Jeff:
06:43-06:46
And here we see the second time Jesus comes it's to defeat sinners.
Pastor Jeff:
06:47-06:51
I love this expression here. You want to underline this in your Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
06:51-06:59
It says, verse fourteen, "Seated on the cloud one, like a son of man," underline that, son of man.
Pastor Jeff:
06:59-07:03
That's very interesting because this is the last place in the Bible that phrase is used.
Pastor Jeff:
07:03-07:04
And here's why that's so interesting.
Pastor Jeff:
07:04-07:09
You know the first time that phrase was used was actually in Matthew 8, verse 20.
Pastor Jeff:
07:09-07:15
If you look at that passage, Jesus said, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Think about that.
Pastor Jeff:
07:15-07:24
The creator of everything comes to the earth and he doesn't have a home, he doesn't have an apartment, he doesn't have a tent, he has nothing.
Pastor Jeff:
07:24-07:33
Jesus said, "I don't even have any place to lay my head, the Son of Man." The second time he comes, it's going to be to reclaim the entire earth.
Pastor Jeff:
07:33-07:37
The last time the Son of Man is used is to take back everything.
Pastor Jeff:
07:38-07:40
You can receive Jesus Christ today.
Pastor Jeff:
07:40-07:44
You can find forgiveness and you can find mercy and you can find grace.
Pastor Jeff:
07:44-07:49
Or you can wait and you can meet him when he has his sickle in his hand.
Pastor Jeff:
07:50-07:54
You know, sort of like when some of you were kids, some of you are going to totally relate to this.
Pastor Jeff:
07:54-07:57
It's like when you heard Dad coming with the belt.
Pastor Jeff:
07:57-08:00
Now, how many people can relate to this? When you heard Dad coming with the belt, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
08:01-08:09
I remember, and Darren, you can testify to this, but there was a very distinct succession of sounds that you would hear.
Pastor Jeff:
08:09-08:17
You would hear their closet door open, and then you would hear the jingle of the belt buckle, and then you heard footsteps.
Pastor Jeff:
08:17-08:22
And when you heard that footsteps, the thought that went through your mind, at least the thought that went through my mind, was this.
Pastor Jeff:
08:23-08:25
the time for negotiation is over.
Pastor Jeff:
08:25-08:29
There is no talking myself out of what is about to come.
Pastor Jeff:
08:29-08:31
Can anybody relate to what I'm talking about here?
Pastor Jeff:
08:31-08:33
Okay, some of you heartily raised your hands.
Pastor Jeff:
08:34-08:36
Alright, well that's sort of the point in this passage.
Pastor Jeff:
08:36-08:41
When Jesus comes with his sickle in his hand, the time for negotiation is over.
Pastor Jeff:
08:41-08:44
The time for, "You know what? I was gonna repent.
Pastor Jeff:
08:44-08:50
I was gonna start going to church and I was gonna start getting serious about you." No, that's like that coming with the belt.
Pastor Jeff:
08:50-08:51
Like, it is too late.
Pastor Jeff:
08:51-08:54
That window of opportunity has shut, pal.
Pastor Jeff:
08:54-08:56
And now is the time to reap.
Pastor Jeff:
08:56-08:56
Time to reap.
Pastor Jeff:
08:57-09:05
Notice it says, "The harvest of the earth," verse 15, "is fully ripe." Interestingly, that word for ripe, the Greek word for ripe there means rotten.
Pastor Jeff:
09:05-09:09
Sometimes we think ripe, we think like an apple that's ready to eat.
Pastor Jeff:
09:09-09:12
But literally this Greek word here is rotten, unusable.
Pastor Jeff:
09:13-09:17
And that gives you a picture of what the earth looks like to the Lord at this point.
Pastor Jeff:
09:17-09:19
It's past the point of usefulness.
Pastor Jeff:
09:19-09:22
You know, it's like that banana that's more black than yellow at this point.
Pastor Jeff:
09:23-09:24
You know what I'm talking about?
Pastor Jeff:
09:24-09:25
Like, I am so not eating that.
Pastor Jeff:
09:26-09:27
That's the word for ripe.
Pastor Jeff:
09:27-09:30
At this point, Christ says the whole earth has become rotten, unusable.
Pastor Jeff:
09:31-09:35
And this angel, this fourth angel in chapter 14 gives the message from God to Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
09:36-09:36
Say it's time.
Pastor Jeff:
09:37-09:39
God's anger has reached his limit, and there's no turning back.
Pastor Jeff:
09:40-09:41
It's time to reap.
Pastor Jeff:
09:41-09:44
We're going to talk about the bowl judgments in just a few weeks.
Pastor Jeff:
09:44-09:46
But I will say this about the bowl judgments.
Pastor Jeff:
09:46-10:20
If you thought if you thought the seal trumpets were bad and if you thought the trumpet judgments were bad Those were firecrackers compared to the nuclear bomb that's coming. All right, so that's the grain harvest right for reaping secondly It's like about the grape harvest right for crushing right for crushing looking for 17 It says then another angel came out of the temple in heaven and he too had a sharpsicle And another angel, keep track of all these angels, like number five, number six, and another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire.
Pastor Jeff:
10:20-10:21
What is that all about?
Pastor Jeff:
10:21-10:22
We'll talk about that in a second.
Pastor Jeff:
10:22-10:40
And he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it in the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Pastor Jeff:
10:40-10:49
And the winepress was trodden outside the city and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 1600 stadia.
Pastor Jeff:
10:50-10:52
That's about 184 miles.
Pastor Jeff:
10:52-10:54
Talk about what that means here in a second.
Pastor Jeff:
10:54-10:56
But the grape harvest, ripe for crushing.
Pastor Jeff:
10:56-10:59
This vision very clearly describes the battle of Armageddon.
Pastor Jeff:
11:00-11:04
The details for that are in Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 21.
Pastor Jeff:
11:04-11:26
again lord william we're going to get there so this fifth angel is told from the sixth angel in this passage that the time has come. The sixth angel is said to come from the altar. What's the altar? Verse eighteen. It says well this is the heavenly altar of incense and it says the angel who has authority over the fire. What in the world is that all about?
Pastor Jeff:
11:27-11:40
Well in the old testament, priests would twice a day take coals from the sacrificial altar, the altar where you would offer the sacrifice, they would take coals from that altar and they would put them in the incense altar.
Pastor Jeff:
11:41-11:44
And that rising fragrance would symbolize prayers.
Pastor Jeff:
11:45-11:49
Actually the Bible says that God's people would be praying while this took place.
Pastor Jeff:
11:49-11:55
So this angel apparently is in some sort of a priestly role in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
11:55-12:01
We already saw this heavenly altar of incense in chapter 6 verses 9-11, chapter 8 verses 3-5.
Pastor Jeff:
12:02-12:23
But remember when we saw the altar in chapter 6 we had the martyred saints praying, crying out to God under the altar saying, "How long before you avenge us and judge those who murdered us?" And God said, "Just wait a little long." And you see John's vision here that we are reading now, this vision here is the preview for what actually happens when the wait is over.
Pastor Jeff:
12:24-12:27
Once again it said that the harvest is ripe, verse 15, fully ripe.
Pastor Jeff:
12:28-12:29
It's actually a different word in the Greek.
Pastor Jeff:
12:30-12:33
This word refers to something in its prime, something that's ready.
Pastor Jeff:
12:33-12:36
Verses 19 and 20 talk about the winepress of the wrath of God.
Pastor Jeff:
12:36-12:37
What is a winepress?
Pastor Jeff:
12:38-12:44
Well, a winepress was, there'd be two stone basins, but they were connected by a trough, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
12:44-12:50
And you would put the grapes in one of the basins and stomp on them.
Pastor Jeff:
12:50-12:51
Anybody ever do that?
Pastor Jeff:
12:51-12:52
Stomp on grapes to make wine?
Pastor Jeff:
12:52-12:53
Anybody ever do that?
Pastor Jeff:
12:54-13:21
here okay but has anybody seen it on TV? Okay all right so you know what I'm talking about you put the okay put the grapes in the bowl and you stomp it and then the the the wine goes from one basin to the other through this trough and that's a graphic picture of what's going to happen in this battle in Revelation chapter 19. It's a picture of the enemies of Christ with their blood splattering everywhere.
Pastor Jeff:
13:22-13:30
And when you think about what is being pictured here and when we get to chapter 19 and you see what actually happens, it's a pretty gruesome picture.
Pastor Jeff:
13:30-13:35
That when Christ returns for this battle, it's going to literally be a bloodbath.
Pastor Jeff:
13:35-13:40
The first time that Jesus came, the blood of the lamb was shed by his enemies.
Pastor Jeff:
13:40-13:42
And now, the lamb is going to shed their blood.
Pastor Jeff:
13:42-14:19
It says, "outside the city." "Outside the city," verse 20, it says, "the winepress was trodden outside the city." Why? Well, the Lord is going to protect Jerusalem, that's going to be Christ's kingdom, during the capital of his, it's going to be the capital, excuse me, of the kingdom during Christ's millennial reign on the earth. The battle of Armageddon is likely going to take place 60 miles north of Jerusalem in a plain called Esdraelon, which is near Mount Megiddo, which is where it gets its name Armageddon. So millions are going to gather for this battle. We're going to talk about why this gathering takes place. We actually see it in Revelation chapter 16.
Pastor Jeff:
14:20-14:40
The millions and millions and millions of people are going to gather to fight against Jesus Christ. One conservative estimate I read this week says this army could be 200 million people gathering to fight against Christ and their bloodshed is going to be incredible. It's described in this passage as being as high as a horse's bridle.
Pastor Jeff:
14:40-14:43
How high is a horse's bridle? About four feet. Think about that.
Pastor Jeff:
14:44-14:55
The bloodshed is going to be so horrific, it's described as being four feet deep, or 1,600 stadiums, or 184, 200-ish miles.
Pastor Jeff:
14:55-14:57
This is a literal bloodbath.
Pastor Jeff:
14:57-15:08
So the point is, in this last battle, millions assembled to make the mightiest army that has ever been assembled on the earth, and they're going to be nothing more than grapes in God's wine press.
Pastor Jeff:
15:08-15:13
The angel cuts the grapes down, and Christ crushes out their lives.
Pastor Jeff:
15:13-15:25
Hebrews 10.31 says, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That's it. That's the passage. It's a preview for what's coming, and we're going to get into more detail as we talk about it.
Pastor Jeff:
15:25-15:34
That's what's described. And, you know, as I was working on that this week, permission to speak freely? Thank you. I was like, another passage about God's judgment.
Pastor Jeff:
15:34-15:38
That makes what? Like the 117th this month, it seems like. Seems like.
Pastor Jeff:
15:39-15:41
Then you get to thinking, how am I going to roll this out?
Pastor Jeff:
15:41-15:48
What aspect of God's judgment am I going to roll out this time that we haven't already covered through our Revelation?
Pastor Jeff:
15:48-15:51
Because let's be honest, it's been pretty exhaustive as far as...
Pastor Jeff:
15:51-15:58
not exhausting, it's been pretty exhaustive as far as all of the concept being covered, right?
Pastor Jeff:
15:58-16:01
We've seen God's compassion in pursuing the lost.
Pastor Jeff:
16:01-16:06
We've seen the, you know, the urgency in making sure you make that decision today.
Pastor Jeff:
16:06-16:11
And we've seen how horrific hell is going to be and it being eternal.
Pastor Jeff:
16:11-16:13
And we've seen hard-heartedness.
Pastor Jeff:
16:13-16:16
And we kind of talked about all of it, didn't we?
Pastor Jeff:
16:16-16:21
And this week I'm thinking, I'm going to stand up and maybe they'll give me some grace since this is my last message from Guam for a while.
Pastor Jeff:
16:22-16:27
So maybe I'm thinking, OK, maybe if the sermon really stinks, they'll forget about it by the time I come back.
Pastor Jeff:
16:28-16:31
And it's like, no, Jeff, you're the one with the memory problem, not them.
Pastor Jeff:
16:31-16:33
But I've been thinking about it a lot.
Pastor Jeff:
16:33-16:35
Just not just this message.
Pastor Jeff:
16:35-17:33
As I'm thinking about judgment and all of the sermons that we've had going through Revelation about judgment, this whole series, you know what I got to thinking about this week? I got to thinking about what about that person or persons that's been sitting here through this entire series in Revelation and heard all of these messages, heard all of these messages about these aspects, these facets of God's judgment, and they still haven't received Christ. I was thinking about that. And you're like, Jeff, do you really think there's people at this church that don't know the Lord. Yeah, there's people in every church that don't know the Lord. They're self-deceived. I thought about that person that's been sitting here listening to all of this and walking through all of this verse by verse through Revelation, but they still haven't received Christ to this point. I thought, I wonder what's going on in that person's mind. I mean, what's going on in that person's heart? They can hear all this and be like, "Where do you want to go for lunch?" and then it's by the time you get home this message is ancient history.
Pastor Jeff:
17:34-18:21
Like what's going on with that guy? You know I used to think that hell and judgment and talking about those things, I used to think that was such a motivator because in my mind I guess it just sort of makes sense because life is short you don't know how long you're gonna have. You might have one more day on the earth, you might have 70 more years, but you're gonna die someday. I mean that's a fact. And eternity, I mean, we can barely fathom the concept of eternity. I mean, think about that. You can be in eternity for 10,000 years, and at that point, it's nothing more than hitting the first note in a song that is forever on loop. And I thought back to, you know, not just thinking about the people hearing these messages that are happy to ignore them.
Pastor Jeff:
18:21-18:58
I was thinking back to when I was a kid growing up in the Methodist church when you're 12 you go to these confirmation classes and you learn the books of the Bible and the Apostles Creed and different things you go to these classes but part of these classes was the pastor would take you into the auditorium just you and him and this was the conversation we had I remember it like it was yesterday but the pastor sat me down and he said and I'm 12 years old he says Jeff you don't want Or just like a youth group field trip that I didn't know was being planned like where are you going with this?
Pastor Jeff:
18:58-19:22
He's like you don't want to go to hell there yet. I'm like no, I don't want to go to hell He's like then you want to you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, right? And I said Okay, sure. And every time I saw that pastor after that he would say Oh Jeff I remember the day you gave your life to the Lord. I remember the day you received Jesus and I was like, yeah Yeah, that was a great day, wasn't it?
Pastor Jeff:
19:22-19:22
Mmm.
Pastor Jeff:
19:23-19:24
Now look, here's the thing.
Pastor Jeff:
19:25-19:36
I know his intentions were good, but as I think back to that whole exchange, and I think about these messages in Revelation, I have to wonder, why wasn't that effective on me then?
Pastor Jeff:
19:36-19:42
I didn't receive Christ until almost eight years after that, when I was 20.
Pastor Jeff:
19:42-19:43
I guess it boils down to this.
Pastor Jeff:
19:44-19:50
someone in the face of judgment, thinking about hell, all of these things, why they wouldn't come to Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
19:50-19:53
Either people don't know, they don't know, they're ignorant.
Pastor Jeff:
19:53-19:58
But gosh, I would think that would be really hard for somebody that's been coming here and hearing all these messages.
Pastor Jeff:
19:58-20:03
That would be really hard to miss everything that I've said over the past several months.
Pastor Jeff:
20:03-20:08
I mean, that'd be like Olympic level, like distracted in church.
Pastor Jeff:
20:09-20:17
You're not just drawing on your sermon outline page, you're like painting the Mona Lisa every single week.
Pastor Jeff:
20:17-20:20
I mean, that would be epic, ignoring me for that long.
Pastor Jeff:
20:21-20:23
So I kind of find that hard to believe.
Pastor Jeff:
20:23-20:29
People don't know, or people, maybe people don't believe anyone's actually going to face judgment.
Pastor Jeff:
20:29-20:33
Like, "Oh, there's Pastor Jeff up there talking about boogeyman stuff again," or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
20:34-22:01
It's just hard to imagine someone would still be sitting here through all these messages believe that these words in the Bible are true. Or the third option, third option is probably the worst, is people just don't care. They get distracted. I got too much going on in my life right now to get serious about this gospel business, being involved in a church, and it sounds like this church, you know, being a member here, they're going to ask me to be involved actively. Yes, we are. And I just really don't have that time right now. And maybe they just choose not to think about death. That's why they don't care. People are ignorant or they don't believe it or they just don't care. I was thinking about that guy this week, that guy that's been sitting through all this and hasn't received Christ. And then I got to thinking, not just about that guy, I got to thinking about me. And the question I've had to ask myself this week is this, what motivates me to keep sharing the gospel with that guy, right? Even I've been telling you about the end of the world for months and you still don't care? Like what motivates me? What motivates you to share the gospel? You know throughout Revelation we've seen God constantly warning and pursuing people even as these events are going down. We saw the 144,000 Jews, we saw the two witnesses in chapter 11, we saw the three angels. So I guess when I thought about what motivates me to share the gospel passionately and persistently and to keep going after it.
Pastor Jeff:
22:01-23:07
I had to ask myself, well, what motivates God? What motivates God to keep pursuing people that persistently reject him? What motivates God to go after people who didn't give a rip about God the first 10,000 times he's gone after them? What motivates God to keep rolling out the gospel steadily and faithfully. And I think if I find what motivates God, then I find what should motivate me. And if I find what can motivate me, I can stand up here today and tell you what should motivate you. Does that make sense? Because I can start all over. All right, open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 14. Okay, maybe people don't know. Maybe they have been that Olympic-level distracted this whole time and they don't know, but today, today they forgot their paints and they are unable to paint their masterpiece on their bulletin today. Maybe today is the day that they're listening. Maybe they don't know what we've been talking about this whole time, but I do. Maybe, maybe people don't believe, but I do. And maybe people don't care, but I do.
Pastor Jeff:
23:07-23:15
So maybe the tireless passion to share the message has less to do with the audience and more to do with the messenger.
Pastor Jeff:
23:15-23:28
Maybe the tireless passion to share the message has less to do with people's responsiveness to the message and more to do with the messenger's love for the gospel and the messenger's concern for the lost.
Pastor Jeff:
23:29-23:40
So maybe our motivation, maybe our motivation shouldn't be as focused on the person we're trying to reach as much as it is our own heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
23:40-23:50
Speaking of harvest, in John chapter 4, verse 35 and 36, Jesus said, "Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest?
Pastor Jeff:
23:51-23:56
Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.
Pastor Jeff:
23:57-24:25
Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together." See, this work of sharing the gospel, whether you want to call it evangelism, whether you want to call it mission work, whether you want to call it fulfilling the great commission, this work of getting the gospel out should be a matter of rejoicing for a church.
Pastor Jeff:
24:25-25:13
When we talk about outreach and missions, it shouldn't be like, "Oh gosh, I didn't know I that excites us. It should be something that fires us up. But every time it's something that if we're not going after it, it's just real easy to let the passion wait. So again I was thinking about this message. I was thinking about standing in front of you today and I was thinking about, "All right, what can I say that's going to fire people up to share the gospel like just like they did the day after they received Christ?" And it didn't take me long to realize that I the ability to do that because that sort of urgency, that sort of rejoicing, that sort of passion can only come from Jesus Christ and only come from God's Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
25:13-25:17
And I thought, you know, maybe the most appropriate thing that we can do is pray.
Pastor Jeff:
25:18-25:21
And I'd like us to close our sermon time here with prayer.
Pastor Jeff:
25:22-25:26
And I want us to pray for the mission work that God has called us to.
Pastor Jeff:
25:26-25:28
Russ Houser, he'd come up here.
Pastor Jeff:
25:28-25:29
I asked Russ if he'd give us an update.
Pastor Jeff:
25:30-25:31
He's come back from India.
Pastor Jeff:
25:31-26:33
But here's what I want us to pray for and I have a little list here just five things on your outline That I want you to keep handy stick this in your Bible and make this a matter of prayer this week for passion to pray Continuing to pray passion to give and support those who are going and passion to go But these are the mission opportunities we have before us this September We're planning a trip to Thailand and I talked to our missionary over there last week actually on where you talk about being distracted for us all morning my phone has been buzzing it's our missionary friend in Thailand sending me pictures and you're like why isn't he in church pastor Jeff well because it's like 11 at night over there okay like why isn't he in bed pastor Jeff he's sending me pictures but we have an opportunity to do mission work in Thailand and you don't want an incredible opportunity this is we're going to be able to go over they want us to hold a Bible seminar for their evangelists and Hill Tribe preachers, they don't get formalized education.
Pastor Jeff:
26:33-26:36
They don't come to Christ and then go off to Bible college.
Pastor Jeff:
26:36-26:42
They come to Christ and they're excited about the gospel, but they have very little in the way of equipping.
Pastor Jeff:
26:42-26:44
We're going to get to hold a Bible seminar for those people.
Pastor Jeff:
26:44-26:46
We have a list of topics.
Pastor Jeff:
26:46-27:18
But think of the impact that we're going to be able to have as those dozens and dozens and dozens of pastors and evangelists go back out carrying what they've learned back to their respective churches. What an impact, what an opportunity we have. Matt and Lexi Cole are going to the Dominican Republic again and they need prayer and they need support and I talked to Matt the other day we want to get them up here to let everyone know what's going on with this trip and how we can be involved. Our youth group is going to Houston and I know after talking about Thailand and the Dominican Republic.
Pastor Jeff:
27:18-27:22
You're like, also the exotic third world location of Houston.
Pastor Jeff:
27:23-27:26
But the need is just as great there as it is in other places.
Pastor Jeff:
27:27-27:29
This is a huge trip and they need your prayer support.
Pastor Jeff:
27:30-27:32
Also on the list is our small group outreach.
Pastor Jeff:
27:32-27:42
We encourage every small group to be involved in some aspect of local outreach, getting out into our own communities, sharing the love and the word of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
27:43-27:45
But very recently, and I asked Russ to give us an update.
Pastor Jeff:
27:45-27:47
Russ, you went to India.
Pastor Jeff:
27:47-27:49
Can you give us an update on what that was all about?
Russ:
27:49-27:50
Sure.
Russ:
27:50-28:01
And yeah, just thankful for, I mean, like you said, our church is living out what we've been called to do, to do missions work from Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth.
Russ:
28:01-28:07
And that's what we're doing here with our small groups, you know, our regional outreach to Houston and then to the ends of the earth.
Russ:
28:07-28:09
So that's what we're trying to do.
Russ:
28:10-28:11
That's how we're doing it.
Russ:
28:11-28:14
We're trying to activate all of you involved in missions work.
Russ:
28:14-28:18
And it's not just about some of us, it's about all of us acting together with missions.
Russ:
28:18-28:20
Because that's what we're living out.
Russ:
28:20-28:21
It's one of the three pillars that we say.
Russ:
28:21-28:24
We walk with Christ, work with Christ, worship with Christ.
Russ:
28:24-28:24
Right?
Russ:
28:25-28:25
Did I do it?
Pastor Jeff:
28:26-28:26
Not bad.
Pastor Jeff:
28:27-28:27
Not bad.
Pastor Jeff:
28:28-28:28
We'll work on that later.
Pastor Jeff:
28:29-28:29
Yeah.
Pastor Jeff:
28:29-28:30
Anyways, it wasn't bad.
Pastor Jeff:
28:30-28:30
Wasn't a bad run at it.
Russ:
28:31-28:31
India.
Russ:
28:31-28:34
So, you know, I'll try to be brief.
Russ:
28:34-28:36
But, you know, it was great.
Russ:
28:36-28:37
You know, God is at work in India.
Russ:
28:38-28:38
It's amazing there.
Russ:
28:39-29:39
Satan's at work too because he's trying to prevent us from going there. Day one we're trying to go there I don't even get on a plane and India and Pakistan are at war basically so you know delay and they're shooting down airplanes and blowing each other up that kind of thing so it's like okay here we go but God's in control so a little delay little reroute around Pakistani airspace and we're in India so 18 hours later you know what else would you do with a day of your life besides sitting on a plane right? But we get there you know getting okay the worst part is getting there and coming back so forget that part it's miserable yeah just think about miserable it's it's horrible but you're there it's amazing so we're there we had a two-pronged you know two-point mission we're directed at two things one is building the pastor training facility last year I went there we helped to build the first story of that this year coming back they've completed that first story with all the finishings in it and And we went to construct a second story, which is going to be mostly used for dormitories for those pasture training facilities.
Russ:
29:39-29:44
So we're only there for a short week worth of time for what we're actually doing there.
Russ:
29:45-29:49
So we're building brick and mortar walls, and we're just working hard.
Russ:
29:49-29:51
So it's fantastic work.
Russ:
29:51-29:52
You're dying.
Russ:
29:52-29:55
I was mixing mud on the ground, mud which is mortar.
Russ:
29:55-29:59
So half the time I'm like this, shoveling on the ground all the time.
Russ:
29:59-30:03
So your back is killing you, but it's a blessing to do that.
Russ:
30:04-30:11
So with that first part of the building the track, Pasker Training Facility, I don't know how you do it every week.
Russ:
30:12-30:18
Anyway, building that, building, we got to do the dedication this past year.
Russ:
30:18-30:21
So we came back, they had the finishing touches on it.
Russ:
30:21-30:26
So they still have a little bit of like, they're like 5% left to finish up with outlets and stuff like that.
Russ:
30:26-30:29
But what a joy to be a part of that dedication ceremony.
Russ:
30:29-30:38
We had a sermon associated with it, just encouraging that prayer and dedication of that facility for God's glory.
Russ:
30:38-30:46
And it was surrounded by his community and his network of pastors that he supports and is part of.
Russ:
30:46-30:51
So just having all those people, just kind of like this church, we are supported to what we're doing here.
Russ:
30:52-30:57
And in the same sense of that pastor training facility, they are all supporting what's going on there.
Russ:
30:57-31:03
So, you know, the blessings out of that, you know, they already have 30 applicants that are signed up for the fall coming up.
Russ:
31:04-31:07
One of those things is they're going to translate the Bible into a tribal language.
Russ:
31:07-31:16
So it's Hindi and Bengali are the two common languages that are in that area, but there's a lot of tribes that don't quite, you know, you get most of it.
Russ:
31:16-31:18
Maybe it's kind of like talking Yinzer to somebody.
Russ:
31:18-31:50
They understand half of what you say, but the other half are like, "Well, I don't really what that means. But you just kind of roll with it. So being able to have someone come there, they want to have someone come in there and translate the Bible into their native tongue. So what a blessing it is to have that facility in place that can translate the Word of God to open up their hearts to the message of God, the Gospel. So pretty awesome for that first aspect of it. So just emotional for me to be part of that, all the hard work that we put towards that, and then to be able to see it to be used for God's glory.
Russ:
31:52-32:00
I'm to see bridges go up, you know, driving it, like, "Oh, yeah, that's cool." But, you know, seeing a building completed, it's going to be used for God's glory. It's, you know, it's but, you know.
Pastor Jeff:
32:01-32:02
That is fantastic.
Pastor Jeff:
32:02-32:03
It's fantastic.
Russ:
32:03-32:13
Second part of our part was to encourage the believers. So you work all day and then you go clean up before you eat dinner and then we go out, we go preach to the churches. So pretty awesome.
Pastor Jeff:
32:13-32:14
And you got to preach, right?
Russ:
32:15-32:22
I did. So, yeah, one thing that we got to do was be part of baptism. So I didn't get in the river, but some of our team was in the water.
Russ:
32:22-32:25
We had 19 new converts to Christianity.
Russ:
32:25-32:28
So that is amazing.
Russ:
32:28-32:30
Praise God for what He's doing there.
Russ:
32:32-32:36
And just to celebrate that part of it, how we have baptisms up here, Jeff, it's powerful.
Russ:
32:37-32:43
We didn't hear the testimonies and stuff like that, but just here it's one thing to give your life to Christ, but there you can be ostracized.
Russ:
32:44-32:54
So if you're family, if you're a son, Mike if you're a son, I don't know if you have son or not, but if you have a son and he goes to become a Christian and you're not, you can kick him out of your house and say, "You're on your own.
Russ:
32:54-32:59
I don't agree with your choice to be a Christian, so go." That's how it is across the world.
Russ:
32:59-33:03
In America we are so blessed to have the freedom to worship Christ how we are.
Russ:
33:04-33:13
Just the boldness that those Christians have over there, that's how we can be praying for them as well if you're thinking about missions work and stuff like that, but the boldness that they have to dedicate their lives to Christ.
Russ:
33:14-33:19
But anyways, God's Providence, praise God, I got to preach in the same church.
Russ:
33:19-33:29
It was just randomly, like, "Hey, whenever you want me to preach pastor, I'll preach." And he's like, "Tonight." So same church I got to do last year, and connecting with those people, God's got a purpose for that.
Russ:
33:29-33:31
So it was good to connect with them.
Russ:
33:31-33:36
And every night there was a sermon going on, one different member of the church was preaching.
Russ:
33:36-33:40
So it was just great to fellowship with the believers, singing, dancing.
Russ:
33:41-34:05
know, worship's a little different over there, so, but it's great. So what a blessing and, you know, kind of tying that what that experience to India was into what we're doing as a church here at a Thailand, you know, I can't wait. You know, like you said, we're developing the scope of what we're actually going to do in Thailand, you know, schedule, we've got that kind of laid out, and then budget, you know, we're going working towards that. So can't wait to pull that all together to share with you all here in the upcoming months as we finish the next five here.
Pastor Jeff:
34:06-34:08
Absolutely. Thank you so much Russ for the update.
Pastor Jeff:
34:08-34:09
Thank you for that.
Pastor Jeff:
34:09-34:11
And I wanna close our time.
Pastor Jeff:
34:11-34:12
Will you stay up here with me, Russ?
Pastor Jeff:
34:12-34:17
I wanna close our time and I wanna pray and lead us in prayer for missions.
Pastor Jeff:
34:17-34:19
Like I said, you have this list.
Pastor Jeff:
34:19-34:24
I would encourage you to make this part of your ongoing prayer.
Pastor Jeff:
34:24-34:32
For these things individually, and I would also say for our church collectively, that we would be a church that is always focused on the mission.
Pastor Jeff:
34:33-34:38
Sometimes it's easy, isn't it, Russ, that you get involved in building projects and these kinds of things.
Pastor Jeff:
34:38-34:44
It's easy to sort of get in our holy huddle and just think about taking care of business at home, but that's not why we exist.
Pastor Jeff:
34:45-34:50
We exist to get out and spread the gospel and advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
34:50-34:52
So let's bow our heads.
Pastor Jeff:
34:52-34:53
Go ahead and pray.
Pastor Jeff:
34:53-34:58
Father, you have given us a very difficult task on one hand.
Pastor Jeff:
34:59-35:02
You've told us to go proclaim the gospel to people that don't want to hear it.
Pastor Jeff:
35:02-35:03
Your word is so clear on that.
Pastor Jeff:
35:04-35:09
told Ezekiel that he was going to hard-headed people, and you were going to make his head even harder.
Pastor Jeff:
35:10-35:21
Jesus told us that we're going to be his witnesses, and we're going to be delivered over, and imprisoned, and beaten, and killed, and people are going to reject us and hate us just because of our alignment with Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
35:21-35:26
Who would sign up for something like that, but someone that Jesus Christ has transformed?
Pastor Jeff:
35:26-35:31
So Father, we are calling out to you for a Holy Spirit Gospel motivation.
Pastor Jeff:
35:32-35:39
Father, with all these mission opportunities before us, Father, you would reignite in all of us a passion for your mission.
Pastor Jeff:
35:39-35:50
Every single one of us can be praying about missions, and every single one of us can give towards missions, and some of us are even able to go on mission trips.
Pastor Jeff:
35:50-35:53
Father, let us not grow weary in doing good.
Pastor Jeff:
35:53-36:03
Let us not be discouraged, maybe, if we didn't see results that we were looking for in previous mission endeavors, because we know, Father, the results are up to You.
Pastor Jeff:
36:03-36:07
But for our few short days here on the earth, let them be spent for Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
36:08-36:11
It's in His glorious name that we pray, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 14:14-20
GROUP
What stood out to you in this passage / message? What was your big “take-away”?
Do you think unbelievers are really worried about the coming wrath of God? Why or why
not? If you believe they are worried, why aren’t they serious about these matters? If
you believe they aren’t worried, what reasons do you think unbelievers give for not being concerned about it?
What are some ways you can lovingly and effectively communicate the truth of God’s coming judgment to people that you know who need to hear it? Be specific!
BREAKOUT
Pray specifically for the mission work of HBC:
Thailand (HBC)
Dominican Republic (Kolls)
Houston (Youth Group)
India (Russ Howells w/ Think MIssions)
Small Groups involved in local missions / outreach.
