Luke 10:2 KJV— Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
We must understand that a massive harvest is ahead of us. One of the things the Lord has emphasised to us this season is that we are being prepared for what is coming. This led us to looking at equipping for the harvest because we are running with the vision that God has given us.
A harvest is a gathering of results. It means a labour has gone ahead, and as a result of that labour that somebody has sown, then he/she is now gathering the result/ fruit of his labour. Labour is critical to harvest; if there is no labour, there is no harvest. The scripture says the labourers are few and the harvest truly is great and scripture says we should pray to the Lord of the harvest to send in labourers into his harvest.
So pastor describes the harvest as a season of abundance and the manifestation of God’s work in the midst of His people.
Revelation 14:15-18 KJV And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
Each of these angels had something in their hand called a sickle. A sickle is an agricultural tool used for harvest. For those who did not grow up in a village, imagine a sharp, hooked blade attached to a handle or a long stick. It is used to bring down fruit—cocoa, oranges, or coconuts. If you are skilled, it takes very little force; the fruit is simply ripped and harvested because the tool is sharp.
There are three basic sickles that can be deployed for this harvest: the sickle of the gospel, the sickle of intercession, and the sickle of finance. Today, we are looking at the sickle of the gospel.
The harvest of the earth is ripe and as the scripture says in John 4:35-38KJV “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.”
The harvest is now. God is sending men into this harvest holding sickles in their hands. Things you should know about the sickle of the gospel:
It is sharp and ready.
Hebrews 4:12 KJV For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is the gospel that is preached and the gospel is the word of God. It is alive, active, and powerful. Just as the angels held sharp sickles to reap the harvest, we must understand the potency of the gospel. We need to understand that the Father has wired into the gospel the power to bring in the salvation of men.
Romans 1:16 KJV For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
As Harversters, One of the things we must go out with is to be armed and equipped with the gospel. The gospel has the potency on its own to bring in the harvest. The gospel has the capacity to save, to open the eyes of men, and to cause the scales to fall off. It is not your responsibility to save the soul; your responsibility is to go out with the sickle of the gospel, because the gospel has inherent power. The power of God is resident in the gospel.
This gospel can pierce the heart of the toughest men, that is men who look bold, fierce, and emotionless. At the communication of the gospel, the power of God is released, and such men are broken down and melted. It has the capacity to break barriers not only in the heart but also across nations. In missions, we speak of “closed nations” where the gospel is not yet rampant or where carrying a Bible is a crime. Even in those dark nations, heaven depends upon the preaching of the gospel to break the barriers. It is not only the heart of men that is pierced, nations can also be pierced. What will open the heart of an individual is what will open the heart of a nation.
The gospel is what God has for the salvation of men. If you are skilled and the sickle is well-sharpened, you do not need an immense amount of effort or energy to bring in the harvest.
The same way the sickle is long, sharp and can bring down whatsoever you want to harvest, the word of God has no limitation, there is no limitation around the word of God, there is no limitation around the power of the gospel, as it is been dispensed souls of men are open, men heart is open, broken and melted.
Isaiah 55:10-11 KJV For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
What this scripture is saying is that every word that comes out of the mouth of God is on a mission and it does not return without fruit/results. As harvesters armed with the sickle of the gospel, we should expect a harvest. Expecting a Harvest also connotes that we also depend on the power that is inherent in the gospel. Our confidence is not in the person’s face or how they look, our confidence is in what God can do with the gospel.
The gospel is not your suggestion. It is not your opinion. You should not be apologetic about it. Sometimes we try to present it “nicely” because we are mindful of offending people. But the gospel is offensive, it is not defensive. It is what the Father has done.
The reason we often do not see results is that we are not preaching the gospel. We are giving church rules, men’s doctrines, or personal preferences. If you tell a person they are going to hell because of their hair or their clothes, you are not preaching the gospel. That is your agenda. If it is the power of God you are dishing out, then the souls of men will be opened, and salvation will come to their house.
We must understand what exactly the gospel is and Paul gives us the curriculum:
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 KJV Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.
The gospel is a body of knowledge. Whether you are eloquent or not, it does not reduce the gospel. The sharpness of your sickle is the understanding of what the gospel is. If your understanding of the gospel is not correct then your sickle is blunt and if your sickle is not sharp, you can’t bring in the harvest. You cannot be a great harvest if you have not received the gospel. The gospel is captured in 1Cor 15:3-4. If you do not highlight that Christ died for our sins, you have not started preaching the gospel. It is not about your church, your commission, or your pastor. It is about what God has done in Christ.
The gospel is not emotional, it is built around the fact of what the Father has done in Christ.
The first thing you establish is that while they are a sinner, Christ has died for their sins. People often do not put their hope in the gospel because we push condemnation instead. “Fire will consume you” is not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus came to die for the sins of humanity.
Nobody goes to hell because of sin, they go to hell because they refuse to accept the free gift of Christ’s death for their sin. That is the simplicity of the gospel. When we meet a sinner, we shouldn’t be speaking about bloodlines or the powers in their father’s house. That is not the gospel. We must highlight what God who has the power to save has done through His Son.
The gospel includes the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ.
Romans 4:25 KJV Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Justification means that although you were condemned, somebody died in your place. Now that He is raised, you are discharged. The penalty of your sin is no longer charged against you. God is committed to releasing power when the gospel is correctly and accurately communicated.
When you meet a sinner, you tell them, “God loves you.” You ask them, “Are you aware that if you die today and find yourself in hell, it was not your sin that carried you there?” That will set someone thinking. It is because they refused the gift of eternal life. And eternal life is not just “long life”; it is a quality of life.
We must stop promising people that God will “fix their lives in six months” just to get them to say yes. We bring in greedy people when we promise jobs and career settlements instead of the salvation of their souls. The ultimate reason Christ died was for the remission and forgiveness of sins.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 KJV Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God is not fighting the world. The word of reconciliation is that God is not imputing, He is not counting their trespasses against them. Many people try to do the “ministry of reconciliation” with a “word of condemnation.” If you will do the ministry of reconciliation, you must understand the word of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation is THE GOSPEL (The sickle for the harvest).
Righteousness is not first an act, it is primarily a gift. Before any act of holiness, we were made the righteousness of God in Him. This is why the gospel looks confused to the people you are preaching to, you are using too much complexity and Greek and Hebrew when they just need the gift. They must receive the gift of righteousness before their acts can begin to flow.
Inner renewal and transformation should be from the inside out. If we force rules on people, we only create a double life. We want people to find God for themselves, not just follow regulations.
The preaching of the gospel is the secret that will save men and bring in the harvest. We are the light of the world now. That person in the brothel is not going to see thunder and lightning, they are going to see you walking in as the light.
Say with me: “I am armed. I am equipped with the gospel. I have the sickle of the gospel for the harvest in my hand. As I move into cities, nations, and communities, lives are opening up. There is no hard ground. As I release the gospel, the lives of men are transformed.”