“Fields Ripe For Harvest” Conclusion

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 925 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- 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. You know, this adversary, he’s there to do anything he can do to keep you from coming and from bowing your knee to what’s been said here tonight.

I thought about that Scripture that Jim read. You know, “Of the increase of his government…there will be no end.”(NIV). You know, sometimes, I guess it’s something they do in psychology, sometimes. They call it word association. You know you say a word and you say what’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear that word? I guess it’s something that they use to kind of gauge how you think or where your mind’s at or whatever.

But I’m just curious, I wonder what comes to your mind when you hear it say, His government is gonna increase and there’ll be no end. Does something in your heart go, man, that sounds like bondage? That sounds like restriction. That sounds like just squashing it down. I mean, God, what a burden. What a killjoy to live under His…somebody else is gonna rule me and it’s gonna get more and more. Is that what comes to your heart?

Or do you think, my God, that’s the way it should be. Praise God! He’s the only one that has the right to rule. First of all, He created me. He’s got the right just because He created me, but beyond that, He’s the only one that has the moral ground to rule. But my God, He has the right to rule because His rule…we had a service on this one time. Phil ministered on this and I remember he said His rule tends to the highest good of every person who will submit themselves to that rule. That’s the character of the rule of Christ. Do you want to have more and more and more peace? Well I’ll tell you what, you need more and more and more of His government.

( congregational amens ).

Because this is what the battle comes down to. You know the enemy…nothing is really changed, in one sense, since the garden. I mean since man fell, human nature is the same. But you look at what happened there. This is exactly what he did. He went to Eve and said, here you are, you have given control of your life over to God and for all you know, he’s holding out on you. I mean, look at what you can have. He hasn’t even let you have this fruit. If you only took it, you’d been able to know good and evil. You could figure some things out for yourself. You wouldn’t be some dumb puppet. You’d be able to make your own decisions, have the intellect and the understanding you need to chart your own course and here you are. God’s just subjugating you and you love it. What is wrong with you?

Boy, I’ll tell you what, that pitch hasn’t changed…to mankind, it’s the same pitch. What an idiotic thing to come and give control of your life up to somebody else. And I’ll tell you what, what came into the heart of man there in the garden, what Satan was able to plant in the heart of man was that distrust for God and His motives. Well, maybe I really can’t trust Him. Maybe if I turn over my life to Him, maybe I am gonna miss out. Maybe there’s something great out there for me and He’s just not telling me about it. And I’m gonna have to strike out on my own to find it.

I tell you what, he’s still dangles that carrot in front of people today. He still tempts God’s people with the same idea. You know this is wrong. You know that what God in His Word has said about this and yet, maybe there’s something good about that. Maybe there’s some appeal there. Maybe I can avoid the mistakes of others and just get the good out of it. God help us. Open up our eyes--open up our eyes.

( congregational amens ).

We need His government. The work of salvation…when you really think about it, the work of salvation is all about going back and undoing what happened there in the garden. It’s taking that in reverse and when we come to that place where we give control and the government of our lives back to Him like it was in the beginning. You know, you worry about the government of God. What’s it gonna be like if I give my life up to Him? Well look what it was like for Adam and Eve before they fell. That’s a picture of God’s government. Was there pain? Was there any suffering? Was there any fear? Was there any need that wasn’t met? Was there anything that they lacked? That’s what it’s like when God’s in control. That’s a picture of His government.

My God, What else is there to live for? I mean, you know James talks about when we’re in these wars and quarrels that come up upon us when we are dragged away of our lust and enticed. One of the things that he says there is you kill and you desire to have and you struggle and you strive and you can’t obtain. That’s a picture of self-government. I mean, what a contrast! And yet somehow the devil is able to turn that around and drop that picture in your mind that submitting to Christ, boy, that’s the wrong way to go. But I’ll tell you what, He said, “…My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I pray that God will help us. I pray He’ll open eyes to realize that this is what the issue is. I mean, because the devil is real good. It’s just like as has been said, it’s like as has been touched on even tonight. He’s real good at substituting something. Oh, that means that I need to start coming to church more or that means I need to start tithing or go to prayer meeting more, all of the other things he’ll give you as a substitute for really laying your life down. You can sort of offer that as a buffer and say, okay, I’ve satisfied my conscience. I did something, but it’s short of surrender.

You know he’ll offer those things to us. But my God, help us realize that the real issue is this very issue. It is not my life any more. You know, I thought about those ten lepers that He healed and He told them to go show themselves unto the priest. And as they went they were cleansed. Well, you know nine of those 10 people were real happy to get their problem fixed so they could go on back to their life. Praise God, I got my problems fixed. God fixed my problems, now I can go back and live my life and get back to what I wanted to be doing.

But I’ll tell you what, one of them, it wasn’t his life anymore, because he had met the Lord. He didn’t just get what he wanted so he could go on his way. He had a face to face encounter with God in the person of Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden, it’s not my life anymore. He went back and fell at His feet and worshiped. He was…he said, something’s different now. I can’t just go on. I can’t just take this grace and go on. I can’t just take the good and then go on and do what I want to do with it. Lord, You’re worthy. I owe You everything.

I praise God for that! I praise God that He’s able to bring people to that, because He’s the only one that can do it. We can’t do it for ourselves. Human nature won’t bow the knee except when God is present and His hand is reaching out. That’s the time and the only time that you can reach back and take His hand, because if He is not reaching out to you there’s no hope. He’s reaching out again tonight. He did it last night.

But I’ll tell you what, there was a battle going on in people’s heart. There was somebody here, more than one somebody, that wasn’t able to break through that hold of the enemy. Well, I don’t know what God has for us tonight, but I know I’m gonna pray and keep praying the Lord will give us whatever Word is needed to break that hold. Pour the anointing out up here. Put the authority of Christ on the words of these unworthy vessels, incapable, but put the authority of Christ on the words of these vessels to break those holds, because he’s not preaching in vain, He said He was gonna send His Word out and it was gonna accomplish what He sent it to do. He’s sending this Word to do something tonight in people’s hearts and I want to see it done.

Surrender to His government. It is the only reasonable thing you can do. You will spend your whole life trying to get somewhere you can’t get. You submit to His government and all the stuff won’t matter anymore. You’ll be in His hands. Even our Lord Jesus, to the point when He was on that cross…it talks about it in 1st Peter. He was able…how was He able to bear that? How was He able to go through that? Even though He had done nothing--done nothing wrong, going through what He was going through. It says “…He entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” There was a peace in His heart. Father, I’m committed to you. You do with me whatever you will. It’s gonna be right. You’ll make it right. You’ll bless. You’ll work. And He was able to let that go and put His life totally in the Father’s hands.

You want that kind of peace? You can have it. But it’s got to come at the cost of your own life. May God help us. His government is the only right thing. Please accept His hand of mercy tonight. Praise God!

-- Brother Thomas Burns: Lord, help me. I’ve had something on my heart for a while. I’ve shared it with a few. We’ve been doing the little meetings on Saturday nights now about “Love Dare”…about the love that we all ought to have. One night after church, we got home and my seven year old…he wanted to watch the “Passion.” The Lord had just put it in his heart that he wanted to watch that movie. And I’m not saying watch the movie, watch the movie, or trying to whatever. But we watched that movie and…I grew up in this church. I’ve sat under the Word of God my whole life. I know what He did, but I didn’t know--I didn’t really understand how much He loved me.

( weeping ).

You know, I gave my life to God a few years back…it should have been a whole lot more years back, but it wasn’t. When the soldiers were beating Christ, they didn’t just beat Him up, they beat Him. You know, most of us would have already been dead from what they put Him through. He did that for you--he did that for you and me.

And you know what? He loved those soldiers that were doing it. He wasn’t mad at them. He said forgive them, Father, they don’t know what they’re doing. But He took that for all of us. There ain’t nothing in this world worth anything that comes close to Jesus. And I’ve probably done more than most in here. I’m a [unintelligible]. Ain’t nothing worth not bowing your knee to God--nothing.

I’m a little bit younger than some of these that have gotten up. I’m closer to a lot of y’all’s age. I come to church. I was in service every service. My heart was not God’s. You can fool your mama and daddy. You can fool these men, most of the time. You’re not fooling God. Nothing in this world worth not bowing your knee to Him.

There’s a young man in the community a few weeks ago, a senior in high school, shot himself. That was his way out. That was his way of dealing with stuff. God loves us. He loves you. He loves me. Don’t be too proud. Don’t think that, well, I ain’t worried about it--I’m alright. You’re not alright unless He’s in your heart, unless you’ve given your life to Him. Praise God! He loves us. He loves us more than anybody has ever loved anything. He loves us. All you have to do is say Jesus, I need you. And you know what, you ain’t even got to take a step toward Him, just lift your hands… just look to Him, lift your heart to Him and He’s gonna come to you.

( congregational amens ).

 It’s all we’ve got to do. Praise God! I love y’all.

-- Brother Josh Bryant: Praise God! I’ve been convicted tonight. And I know that the Lord’s tugging on my heart and I know that He’s tugging on hearts out here too. I was a young kid, whenever I grew up in the church, I use to think about coming down to the altar. And I thought that was the turning point in life as if you knelt before this altar and all of a sudden you had what you needed like that.

( snapping fingers ).

 And you know I tried it several times and it just didn’t give me a peace. Whenever we’d have altar calls I’d pray, I’d wonder, you know, Lord, are You gonna wrap this thing up? Is the earth gonna end soon? Are you coming back? And I was scared, you know. But it wasn’t the fear of God that finally got my heart, it was when He showed me His love–His love for me. Praise God! And it’s nothing that I have done, it’s by His grace.

( congregational amens ).

And I had this mental image of somebody who had just won the lottery. What are the odds that one man out of millions would win the lottery? Well, the odds are even greater that God would look down upon me and He would see me and He would call me. He would call me out of my sin for His purpose. Whatever is hindering me from serving You, God, I lay it at Your feet.

( congregational amens ).

You’re Lord of my life.

( congregational praise ).

Praise your name! So I urge you…I think of this song…it’s running through my mind that Tim and Sherell Stepp sings. “I’ve had visions, I’ve had dreams. I’ve even held them in my hands. But I never knew those dreams could slip right through like they were only grains of sand.” Whatever you’re holding on to, it’s pointless. It’ll end someday. I urge you to give your life to Christ. He’s the only thing worth living for. Praise God! Amen!

( congregational amens ).

-- Brother Steve Sharpe: Praise the Lord! Turn with me to Mark chapter 10. The Lord gave me this scripture at the beginning of the service and, I believe now is the appropriate time to share it. There’s two things that has to happen here tonight. And I’m gonna ask you a question. Do you believe that Jesus is here tonight?

( congregational response ).

Do you sense His presence? Have you sensed His presence? Do you believe He’s passing by tonight? Well, then, you’re a candidate. And do you see yourself as blind and poor and empty? You’ve got to see your need of God. If you’re in those two places there’s hope for you. I’m gonna read this depiction and then I’m gonna try to make a comment or two.

This is after Jesus’ disciples had asked Him about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom and there in verse 45, it’s…he answered and said, “…The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” He’s given His life a ransom for many.

And then it went on and it says on the heels of this, “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out…” And he had opposition. When he began to cry out this is what happened. He said, “…Son of David, have mercy on me…” And it says, “…and many charged him that he should hold his peace.” There may be voices saying to you right now, don’t cry out to God. But you need to be like blind Bartimaeus.

( congregational amens ).

And this is what he did. “…He cried the more a great deal…” it said with a loud voice! He said, God have mercy on me. I need you, Lord. “And Jesus stood still….” He heard. He heard the cry. He’ll hear the cry of your heart if you want Him more than you want anything else.

Then it goes on to say “And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.” And this is what he did. It says, “And he, casting away his garment, rose…” My Bible gives the definition…it says he jumped up, and he became naked. He cast his garment. He said here I am, Lord. “And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.” He was physically blind. You may not see Jesus the way you want to see Jesus. I recently had a young man in our church…I could sense in him, he said I want to know Him--I want to know Him. If you want to know Him you can know Him.

( congregational amens ).

He will take the scales off of your eyes and He’ll reveal Himself to you. He said, “Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” And this is what happened, “And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” If you’ll cry out to Him, He will show you Himself, then follow Him in the way. And you’ll have…oh, I’m just telling you, words cannot describe. I can’t sit here and describe the wonderful mercy of my God in my own life. What He’s done for me in spite of my unworthy self,

( congregational praise ).

He’s loved me, continues to love me and show His patience and kindness to me. Yeah, there’s hard times, but oh, that’s when He shows His love to me in a greater way. In the rain is when He shows Himself to me.

( congregational amens ).

I praise Him and I just implore you, I urge you to cry out to God and to receive. He’s here tonight. The Lord Jesus is here to give you what you need. Hallelujah.

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: I believe we’ve heard the Word of God and I believe the Lord is working in hearts right now. Let me say this to you, you know there’s an awkwardness about what should we do. Should we play music? Should we have an altar call? What should we do?

It’s not complicated. Listen, if God is tugging at your heart tonight, if God is pulling in your heart tonight, you do what you want to do. You can fall on your knees right here, you can cry out to God right there, whatever you want to do. But I want us all to stand up and whatever, whatever you choose to do, I want you to cry out to God like was exhorted, right now.

And I’ll tell you, the Bible says, because they received not the love, that’s God’s love, of the truth, God turned them--gave them strong delusion that they might believe a lie and be damned. Let me tell you something. If we reject the love of God, that’s it. Dear God, you ought to run and fall on your knees to this precious Savior.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, God, work in these hearts, Lord. Oh Jesus, work, oh God. Lord, those that You’re dealing with, I pray that they would move out, Lord, or bow the knee or do something, God. Have Your way, Lord. Move, oh Lord, upon every heart here tonight. God, have Your way, my Lord. Jesus, have Your lovely way.

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