“Fields Ripe For Harvest” Part One

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 924 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Patrick Dyer: You know, when we’re born in this world and as we grow, young people…I think every one of us can relate to this tonight. Do you have rest? Do you have peace? There’s a definite difference between not having Christ and walking in your own will and your way…it’s like running in mud. You don’t get anywhere. It’s hard…you continually fall.

And you know, the thing is, we come to Christ…sometimes we still get in the mud and we still run in our own way. But there’s a difference. There’s peace, ‘cause when you fall in the mud and you know Christ, He helps you to get back up and continue walking. When you’re doing it in your own way, you fall in the mud and you wallow in that. And then you try to get up and you keep on slipping. Praise God for that.

But do you have rest in your heart tonight. I…I have to believe, folks, that you know whether you have rest or not. Don’t fool yourself and try to just convince yourself that everything’s all right in your life. If you don’t have salvation rest, you don’t have anything tonight. And I believe without a shadow of a doubt that you can know it and have that blessed assurance. Are you fearful? I don’t want to go and get in some car wreck on the way home tonight. I don’t wish that on anyone and I don’t want it to happen to myself. But I tell you what, I have a peace that if it happens, I know what I’m gonna see. The moment my breath leaves me, I have a rest in my heart about where I’m going.

( congregational amens ).

I spent some time with Granny Socks. She’s…I don’t know, the Lord keeps her hanging around. She’s something else y’all.

( laughter ).

She’s 103 years old. You know what her word is to you? I asked her…I said, what would you say if you could talk to our young people…you know, you’re concerned about our young people? She said, love the Lord with all your heart and all your mind. Folks, there’s nothing else.

( congregational amens ).

And there’s nothing else that’ll give you peace and rest. I gonna read this here. Jeremiah was a prophet. He came and he spoke to a people that the Lord had especially spoken to…for years had dealt with them. Sounds like us, doesn’t it? Had dealt with them and spoken to them in love…He said--Jesus said it. How oft I would have gathered you as a hen does her chicks. He would have brought us in, but we would not--we would not. It isn’t, oh He just didn’t let us…we would not.

Listen to this. “Thus says the LORD, Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it.” (NASB). And this is where Jesus was quoting from. “And you will find rest for your souls. But they said…we said...We will not walk in it. And I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet!” Listen to the sound that goes forth that says, come to me.

That sound has gone forth…it went forth last night, and you know something folks, it’s gone forth to some of us all our life. We’re a privileged--privileged, blessed people to be born under--born under the sound of the Gospel. How many…we’ve got some here, praise the Lord for you…you came out of, you didn’t come out of any kind of religious system…you’re probably better off.

It says, “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people.” You know folks, there’s destruction coming for this world. The world will tell you different. The world will tell you that’s just myth. You’ve got plenty of time, the Devil will tell you. Folks, we don’t have any promise for tomorrow at all. You find a place in this Word where it says that you have a promise for tomorrow on this earth. You don’t. The promise we have is eternal life in Christ--that’s the promise we have. But you have to have Him--you have to come to Him.

Listen to the next part. It says, “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans….” Disaster on the fruit of their plans. What’s your plans tonight? Is it…I ain’t got nothing against college or getting you a job and supporting your family. We need to those things, men. We need to take care of our families…or young ladies or whatever the Lord’s will is for your life. But if you’ve just got a plan that that’s what you’re gonna do, you’ve set it forth for yourself and you’re going to walk…? I’ll tell you something, you’re heading for disappointment if the Lord’s gonna take a hold of your life. Why don’t you give your life to Christ, and if He wants you to go to college, He’ll send you. And it’ll be a whole lot easier and you’ll be protected.

( congregational amens ).

Or you just want to go and do your own thing and then…I’m gonna tell you what’s gonna happen. You’ll get spoiled and you’ll have to live the rest of your life reaping. Some of you know this. Some of us know this. You don’t have…I don’t believe it has to be that way. I believe you can humble yourself tonight. I believe you can give your life to Christ and let Him take you…just wait and see what He’s got for you. He’s got more that you could ever…can ever imagine.

( congregational amens ).

But the thing is, is maybe He just wants you to go dig ditches, but you’ll have peace. You might be poor and live in a shack somewhere, but you’ll have peace!

( congregational amens ).

You go to college and get the four year degree…you can’t find a job nowadays anyhow, so what good is it? Seriously.

( laughter ).

Four year degree don’t get you a job. God got me my job. He takes care of me. Thank Him for it. He takes care of my family. I don’t have everything. I’ve got just what I need…I got more junk, folks.

( laughter ).

We all…we got a lot of junk. We need just the Lord. That’s all we need.

( congregational amens ).

But, if you have peace, if you have Him, you’ve got everything. You won’t miss it. The enemy’s the one that tells you, oh, you’ll miss this…he tried it on Jesus, didn’t he? If you’ll bow to me…he took Him up on a high place and showed Him…what did it say, he showed Him all the world. He had the power--Satan had the power…God had given it to him, to give all this stuff to Jesus if He’d have bowed down and worshiped Him. I can’t remember exactly what Jesus said to Him…I’m sorry.

( congregation inaudible ).

I will worship the Lord thy God.

-- Congregation: And Him only.

-- Brother Patrick Dyer: And Him only. Thank you.

( laughter ).

Praise the Lord. Let’s look at this again…the fruit of their plans. Listen to what this says. “… Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.” Folks, it’s a serious thing when His Word comes forth, His commandment…I believe His commandment this meeting has been for you to bow down and submit to Him. That is a commandment, that ain’t legalism--that is a commandment for you to bow your knee to Jesus Christ. Now! Don’t wait another minute. Bow your knee to Him.

You reject that, you’re asking for strife in your life. It’s much easier just to bow your knee…it’s not easy. It’s a death, but it’s a peaceful death. You don’t got to go struggling. You just lay your life down--yield. You know Brother Thomas said, when that man took him in that room…Brother Thomas was mad that the guy kind of tricked him in there. And he said, Brother Thomas…or Mr. Thomas, do you want the Lord? Brother Thomas said, well yeah, someday, or something like that. He said, no do you want Him now? And Brother Thomas…boy, that broke him. He bowed the knee.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! “…Because they have not listened to My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it also. For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba and the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”

Now of course we don’t burn animals no more. But I’m gonna tell you something, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, you can lift your hands up in the air and say praise the Lord all you want to and it don’t mean anything to Him. It says in here, in Psalms, I think, it says, the praise of the wicked is an abomination. It stinks in His ears. He wants to come and fill you and then your praise to Him will be…kids, everybody, you can’t come in this church and just say, just because you’re part of this assembly, this building…you come in here and it somehow means something to God. He doesn’t care where you move. He wants your heart. That’s all He’s interested in…your life! He wants to move you and take you and do what He wants to do with it. That’s the only restful place you’re gonna find.

( congregational amens ).

Otherwise…are you doing this here? Are you fighting? You know it! Are you struggling? Yield to Him. I’ll finish this. “Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people and they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.” There’s a scripture and I don’t know where it is, but I know it says that Christ is a stumbling block. And if you’ll go and you’ll fall on Him, then you’ll be helped. But if you wait and it falls on you, it says it’ll grind you to powder. I’m probably misquoting it, I’m sorry, but the point is you need to bow your knee to Christ tonight and have peace and not wait for that final day of judgment to come. And it’s coming…it’s soon.

I thought when I was sitting there and the fellows were talking…Midnight Cry Ministries. It’s not the hour before midnight cry. It’s midnight. There’s a trumpet has sounded and it’s time to come in. You see, there’s a big difference between 11 o’clock and midnight. The time has been…I believe the sound of the trumpet, the sound of the Gospel is going out. Folks, can the Gospel go to too many more places in this world? It’s almost, I believe, gone out over this whole earth. There isn’t too many more places. You’ve got that 10/40 window over there in Asia where it’s real difficult, but it’s getting there. He says when that Gospel gets to the ends of the earth, He’ll come. It’s soon, folks. It’s soon, young people. Give your life to Christ. Praise the Lord!

-- Brother Jim Easterly: You know, I don’t know. I guess there are people that say, well here we go…another one of those services for salvation. You know why that we’re having another service like that? Because this is the most critical issue that you’ll ever face in your life. And it’s no accident that you personally are here tonight. We all want to reach out to people.

There may not be anybody here for the first time. There’s people in this building that were here in the late 50’s with Brother Thomas and there’s people, varying degrees since then. But this is the issue that was God’s heart for tonight. Too many people have gotten up and given vent to the Spirit of God here, and I believe that’s what it is. I believe the Lord wants to help some people tonight.

Right there where Patrick was, I want to back up just a few verses there, starting in verse 14, right there in Jeremiah 6. It says, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace.” (NIV). I just want to…that’s all I wanted to read right there. Wouldn’t it be great just to come in here and everybody just pat each other on the back and tell each other, isn’t it great, we’re all going to heaven, and just sing all night. I’m gonna tell you something, some of us need God’s Word to convict our hearts. We’re back to a heart issue, aren’t we--back to a heart issue?

Today in the men’s meeting…I just wish everybody could have been there, but we got right back to our hearts and when we got finished there, I had this image in my mind’s eye, individually and collectively, I saw our hearts and I saw them, if you can get this image. I don’t know how many times you’ve driven across Georgia, but our hearts individually and collectively before the Lord are like the Georgia highway system, they’re always under construction.

( laughter ).

They’re always under construction. It said, speaking of Jesus in the Old Testament, He said, of his government…”Of the increase of his government…there shall be no end.” (KJV). His governing of our hearts is an ever-increasing thing, beloved. And it’s our hearts. It’s not where we go and what we do.

You know, Patrick used the word ‘burn’. We don’t burn animals anymore. I tell you what though, we burn up the road going up and down the road to meetings. We go to sings, we go to this, we go to that. That in and of itself does not please God. What pleases God is a broken and a contrite heart that does what? It trembles at His Word. You know, we want you to know Jesus. That’s what’s the heart of the shepherd is for the sheep to know Jesus.

You know, I thought about this this afternoon…I said it to somebody, but my wife, I probably know her better humanly speaking better than anybody in this building. And you know, I could have studied about her. They’ve got one side of her family, the Simmons’ history…I could have read that and gotten an idea of all the different ancestors and what she might have been like if she was like a little bit of each one of them. And then I could have gotten the Kelly side of the family and read up on all that. And I’ve been to Pretty Prairie Church up on the Michigan border there where a lot of the Kelly’s are buried. And I’ve been out there to a cemetery in Colorado where there’s a lot of Simmons. But you know what, I still wouldn’t know her if I’d never met her. I could know all about her.

Did you know you could have been coming here 50 years, know all about Jesus and not know Him? See, my wife…this building could be on fire and there could be chaos and people screaming, but I’d hear her voice ‘cause I know her. Oh God, can we hear Jesus’ voice? Do we know Him? This isn’t something to leave you hopeless. This is to draw us out of a place of self-delusion, where we come from knowing about Him to knowing Him, and that’s available tonight.

I just want to read a little bit over here in 1st Corinthians. Paul’s letter to a Christian church, a church that he referred to this way…he said, you come behind in no gift. I don’t think we come behind in any gift right here. God’s been really good to this people--been really good to us. God was good to Israel! Just read just the first few verses of 1st Corinthians chapter 10. This was a burden of Paul’s heart.

1st Corinthians chapter 10. “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (NIV). This is the critical part right here. “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ--that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”

Wait a minute. That can’t be the same people that he just mentioned, because they drank of that same spiritual rock, and that rock was Christ. We have eaten and drunk in His presence in this place…not just this week, many, many times. I want us to…if we can do this, I want every human being in this building tonight to put your mom and your dad out of your mind. Put your brother and your sister out of your mind. Put your job out of your mind and I want you to see if you can focus on that relationship individually between you and Jesus. I don’t mean, do you know about Him. I mean, do you know Him? Can you hear His voice? Beloved, that’s what we’re talking about tonight.

You know, Paul, when he wrote…I’m through now, just about…when Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, there was a place there…he was actually addressing a lot of things that were misunderstood concerning Jesus coming back. But in the course of that, he referred to people that were actually perishing and that’s what we’re trying to do tonight, we’re trying to, by the foolishness of preaching, see God save those that believe. He talked about people who were perishing.

Now listen, if your mom or dad…and you really knew they were perishing, is there any length you wouldn’t go to to help them…or your son or daughter or your wife or husband? But what about you! And he said they’re perishing because…wouldn’t you want to know why if you really saw this? He said because they received not a love of the truth. There’s no shortage of truth. There’s a shortage of the love of the truth. Listen, we have ideas--we have ideas…I did, all kinds of things in our mind and just like those people that were following Moses out, everybody wanted out of Egypt, but nobody wanted the desert and they started grumbling and complaining.

The other night Jerry…or the other day Jerry used the word ‘content.’ Paul said, I have learned to be content in whatsoever state I’m in. There isn’t anything to complain about when you know Him. Nothing! There’s nothing else that matters. Not your job or a lack of one, not a bank account or a lack of one, not a house or a lack of one…there’s no reason to complain, no reason to grumble.

Do you have that kind of rest? What is your own personal relationship to Jesus Christ tonight? Not, what have you been involved in and how long have you been here, and what part…do you get up here like I am right now? Listen, I could preach to you and not know Him. I could sing and not know Him. I could sit in here all my life and not know Him. Do you know Him tonight?

Oh God, listen. He’s…I’m not gonna try to get into the ins and outs of who’s predestined and who’s elect. Listen to me, if you’re in this place tonight, you’re here by God’s design. If you can humble yourself, if you can bow your knee…and I know we use that term and I know kids hear all these code words we use. All that means is, saying Jesus, Jesus, help me.

( congregational amens ).

Jesus, help me! “In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” Paul said he didn’t want to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God’s wrath for sin poured out on His Son. What’s your relationship with Him tonight?

-- Brother Ben Johnson: Praise God! I appreciate this. I appreciate the Lord reaching out to people. You know there’s a reason why…you know we couldn’t just have a service like we…well, why can’t we just have a service like we did last night and all of this be taken care of? Why wasn’t that enough? Why is there still a burden? I’ll tell you why, because there’s a battle that’s going on for people’s hearts. This all does not happen in some vacuum--some spiritual vacuum. There’s opposition to what’s going on. There are…you know people get in a condition where they are prisoners. Jesus said, the anointing is upon me and one of the things was to set the captives free.

( congregational amens ).

There comes a point where people are captive to their lusts. They’re captive to sin. That’s what He came for. In that passage that was referred to where he talked about the harvest being plentiful but the workers few. Before that it said that He saw them and he healed their diseases. But it says there in that passage that he had compassion on them. Why? Because they were scattered, they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. That was his heart. He saw where people were at and there is opposition to what the Lord is trying to do and that’s why it is a fight to break through that hold and to see people set free.

You know that video that we watched Wednesday night where they acted out that little scene there, you know there was one point where the character…you know the girl that they were fighting for, whose soul they were fighting for there, she started to try to go over toward the figure in the white. Boy, did all those devils jump on her, grab her and start pulling her away. And it was all of them. I mean they were working together. They were like, we are not gonna let you get there.

Well, I’ll tell you what, the Lord is trying to set people free. He is…we need to realize that we’re in a spiritual fight here. That’s why this needs to be seasoned with prayer. It needs to be seasoned with prayer beforehand. It needs to be seasoned with prayer afterwards. We need to be praying because there’s a fight. You know when that angel was sent to Daniel to give him that revelation from God, he had to fight through opposing spirits to get there and it was Daniel’s continued prayer that enabled him to get through to deliver that message. Yeah, God heard it from the beginning. He sent him to meet the need, but there was a fight to get that through. And I believe that’s what we’re experiencing here tonight.

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