If you will please turn with me to Luke chapter 10. The gospel of Luke chapter 10. I'll be reading only verse 2. I hope we are all there. Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great. but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Let us pray. Father, we are so grateful to come together before the throne of grace to hear you talk to us this morning. We thank you for the message given to us earlier on. How does sometimes we forget that included in the harvest are the blind and those we don't think about at all. We pray that Father you give us an understanding of what you want us to do this morning. So we may be doers and not just hearers. Doing your will for our lives. It is my prayer that Lord Jesus, you select some here to go out there and learn to lead the blind unto you. We thank you for what you are about to do. And we believe and trust all of us will be given a work to do in the vineyard. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Beloved, the harvest in this particular verse is not cash crops or any other crops in the vineyard or farms or plantations. But the harvest talking about here are souls. Souls of men and women, souls of people who are languishing in sin Christ saw the multitude and how they lack the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore said to his disciples, truly the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few. And if you follow that trend then I will say this morning That in our day and time, the harvest is more than what Christ was talking about in that day. The situation in our world today is different at the time Christ spoke. And this is the reason why we have much to do this time than when Christ spoke to the disciples. We have to have the desire to invest our time, our efforts in sharing with people the power of God and His forgiveness and His grace. that we need to make time. If not, we will not be able to do anything for the Lord. This morning I was so touched by the fact that people have invested their time and money in this aspect of ministry so that the blind can also come to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many a times when you hear people saying, I'm going to the mission field, they go and talk to the hearing, those who can see. But you never hear anybody saying, I'm going to this place to witness to the blind. But I believe today we have been made aware of the fact that they are part of the world that Christ said He loved. Beloved, when people are touched by Christ, when people are encouraged with the good news of Jesus Christ, they will be changed. In our bid to follow the command of Christ in this verse, we need to dedicate our lives to Christ, else we may not be able to keep His command. Our mission is to see people become fruitful. Our mission is to see people become what God wants them to be. That is why I encourage my people to serve and not to cede. Beloved, most of the time, Christians feel so comfortable in the abuse. And they forget that there are people there who need the Word of God. We think when we talk about missions, then we are talking about another country. Another country in which we live or reside. But every field is a mission field. Your environment is your mission field. When Christ was talking to the disciples, he said, when you shall receive the power, then you will start proclaiming the word, in where? In Jerusalem, in your own compound. Before you go to Judea, and then to the other most parts of the world. And therefore, if we are not able to witness to our own environment, our own people, how can we then witness to others? So there's nothing called a foreign mission. Everywhere is a mission field. That's why I want us to encourage ourselves this morning to love and care for our neighbors. Because when people see us actually living what we believe, then they will be encouraged and know that we really mean business and we are not just pockets. If I say go and I don't go, how can you go? So we have to live what we say so that those within our environment will know that we mean business for Jesus Christ. So this morning, I want us first of all to consider the bountifulness of the harvest. The bountifulness of the harvest. They said when Christ saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion. Like the speaker said from the beginning, when we see people who are living in sin, we block them from our view. But they are the people who need our help. They are the people who need Christ. And we need to open our arms to them and tell them about the wonderful news of Jesus Christ. If Paul and Thelos and the rest said because you are Gentiles who never come to you, how can we here today hear the word of God? But he obeyed the Lord and he came to us. There were many and today we have more to contend with than during the time of Christ. We don't see the joy of being part of the harvest. Why? Because many believers today are no longer interested in soul winning visitation. Many churches today are interested in what we call entertainment instead of serving the Lord. And so people go to church today, most young people go to church today not because they want to hear the word of God, not because they want to live for the Lord, but because they want to be entertained. But I believe those of us gathered here this morning, we are here because we want the Lord to talk to us to help us change our way of life. In Luke 9.23, the Bible says, If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. If we truly want to be obedient to the call of the Lord this morning to go out there and to tell the good news of Jesus Christ first of all we need to deny ourselves of the affairs of this world and allow the things of God to dominate our lives. Today it is unfortunate that people are swimming in sin, governments are allowing people to swim in sin, governments are allowing people to do whatever they like in the name of your own right, human right. This is the time we need to wake up to the call of Christ that the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few. But if we will move in, how few we are, we'll be able to reach some for the sake of Jesus Christ. We need to take up our cross daily. We need to suffer a little for Jesus Christ. We want always to be in our comfort zone. But if we would take up our cross, if we would take up what Christ has said, that would be our lot and go through it faithfully, I believe and trust many will come. You know, Christ is not looking at millions of people to save the world. He's looking at some few faithful men You see Christ is looking for people who are desirous to work for Him. Because He will not force anybody to go on the field. Christ uses people who are available. Are you available this morning for Christ to use you? The truth is that we cannot follow the world and at the same time follow Christ. As a church, the command is for us. We are to prepare people to meet Jesus. But the question is, how can we do that? We have to take a step of faith, not just faith. Jude said, we should contend for the faith once delivered unto us. I wonder how many people do understand what Jude was saying to believers. You see, time had come for us to dedicate ourselves to even fight with our strength, our blood for the cause of Jesus Christ. That is what he talks, that is what he is talking about contending. We need to stand in the gap. so that those who are lost in sin can come to Jesus Christ. By this act, we shall be willing to be obedient to the Lord. Secondly, the urgent want of liberals. The urgent want of liberals If there's any urgency in the call of Christ, it is in our generation. Jesus told the 70 plus workers who were going out into the surroundings, communities, that there was a huge harvest for God, waiting by the workers' feet. And we are the workers. When Christ saw Peter and his brothers, he said, follow me. What answer did they give him? They said nothing. They just followed. Today, Christ is saying we should follow him into the street corners and get people saved. Beloved, our work is to talk to people about Christ. Saving them belongs to the Holy Spirit. It is not our work. Ours is just to tell them what we know and the Holy Spirit will use that to bring them onto the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord needs more workers on the field. Why? Because the harvest was used. The harvest wouldn't be brought in until God's people got involved. Beloved, we need to thank God for the opportunity. Why? God could have used the angels to win souls for himself. God could have done the work himself. He could have just commanded, let everybody be saved and all will be saved. But thanks be to God that he is using us, his safe ones, to bring others unto him. That is why we need to move in there and to do what God wants us to do. We read from Romans chapter 10 verses 14 and 15, How then can they call on the one they have not believed on? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? But I don't think anybody can force any of us here to go and preach the word. We have to give ourselves to the preaching of the word. And I thank God that this church is prepared to send people, is prepared to give to people to be able to go. Beloved, not all of us can go to India or to Africa, but all of us can witness in our surroundings. And that is why the Lord save us, so that we can be witnesses in our Jerusalem. Beloved, many churches have lost sight of the harvest of the people that are all around them. Why? Because they no longer shed tears for the lost. In Psalm 126, verses 5 and 6, the Bible says, Those who sow in tears shall reap with shout of joy. He who goeth out weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Today we don't see tears in the eyes of people weeping for the lost. But when we start sharing tears, the Lord will open the doors for us to be able to do his will for our lives. It means we have lost sight of our objective. which is to get the good news of Jesus Christ out. It means we have lost sight of our mission. And when you don't have a mission, it means you do not have a purpose. The harvest is still out there. People are still out there searching and looking for something to fill the void in their lives. Yet we continue to sing. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. Whip over the eerie one, lift up the falling. Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. And yet we sit. There are many churches today, they don't go on. So we There are many today who believe that those God has chosen for himself will come by themselves. So even in their churches there is no altar call. If you believe in that, that is not a good theology. We need to go there because we don't know those who have been called. Until the person is saved, we don't know whether he has been called or not. They say the chosen ones. Yes, anybody who is saved, then we can say is chosen. Since we don't know, we need to go there and tell them. When they hear the word, they will believe. It took me 17 years to know Christ as my personal savior because somebody took the time. invited me to the nearest Baptist Church and there for the first time I heard a gospel and gave my life to Jesus. I was in the Presbyterian Church for 17 years and I never had one time that you need to accept Christ as your personal Savior until I went there that day, went to the Baptist Church. And there are people there who are waiting for you to come and invite them to come to church and hear the gospel so they can also be saved. So when we sing that song, rescue the perishing, care for the dying, we need to go there and rescue them because they are by the byways and highways waiting for us to come and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. the way our churches are behaving today, I don't think our religious groups are going to wake up and see the harvest before them. I don't think so. Beloved, if this community is going to be transformed, if our neighbors are going to be imparted by Christ, then you are going to have to begin looking at them with the eye of Jesus Christ and realize they are not going to be reached unless you reach them. This is how I see it. Thirdly, the giver of liberals. The giver of liberals. He said, pray ye therefore. It's a command. And when God commands us, we need to take sincere, pay sincere attention to that call. It's not going to give us the impossible. No. When God asks us to do something, He wants us to do what we can, not what we cannot. Our prayer ought to be Lord send me. Is it most of the time we pray, Lord send missionaries to the various fields. You have to start with yourself. Lord send me. Maybe he is going to send you to your next door neighbor that is sent. It's part of the sending. We need not go anywhere before we know that God has called us. It doesn't mean everyone is going to respond to us when we go out there. Not everyone responded to Christ either. Beloved, let us tell somebody today. Let us encourage somebody today. It doesn't matter who he or she may be. Like the preacher said from the beginning, he saw a woman with tattoos. I would have done the same thing. Because if I see somebody with tattoos all over the hand and I fear them. But they are part of the love of Christ. And we need not shun them. We need to tell them about Jesus. They are waiting for somebody. And who is that somebody? You or me to tell them about Jesus. Most of us don't do a lot of this because we are afraid. We feel inadequate. We don't want to be rejected by others. If you feel that way, that is normal. Many years ago, I was at the shore of New Jersey, distributing trash. Some you give it to them, and they just look at you like an Egyptian mummy, and then they move away. I was not perturbed at all. I went on. When I was in Bob Jones University, one Saturday, we were going on what we call a stretchy. Went to Greenville. I went to somebody's house. I knock on the door. He came out. He opened the door. He saw me, a black man here, a white man. He said, get away and go to your collar. When I moved back, I said, thanks be to God that I'm humiliated for Jesus' sake. Beloved, we will be humiliated. They will say all sorts of things about us. But have confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ because He has sent you and not you yourself. He said I'm with you all the way even unto the end of the age. So I don't fear any foe because I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which He has committed unto Him against that day. If we are obedient to Jesus' command to share him with others, God will provide us with what to say. Jesus is simply looking for you to be obedient to his leadership. That is all he needs. Beloved, he is going to take faithfulness to our mission to reach people for Jesus. I believe one of my jobs is to help us never lose sight of what our purpose is. We have a mission and it's to see people come to Christ. That's our number one objective. because people can't grow in relationship with Jesus unless they first know him and how can they know him if we don't tell them and God promises us that as we are obedient to his call to be his workers that we will see a harvest As you are willing to see souls saved, then go to the highways and byways and invite them in, and the Holy Spirit will do His mighty works in their lives. Beloved, when we talk about miracles in our day and time, what are we talking about? Do you know that when a soul is saved, a miracle has been wrought by Jesus Christ? Yes. You don't need to see the dead rise or the blind see or the dumb hear before you know there is a miracle. No. Anybody saved is a miracle from God. Because I can't save anybody but Jesus can save anybody. That is the miracle If you want to see miracles, then go out there and tell the lost that Jesus loved them. And when they come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, you take yourself the happiness that you gain. But beloved, let me conclude this way. In Revelation 22, 12, the Bible says, behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be. What is he talking about? Beloved those of us who go in for the harvest we have a reward awaiting us Professor, he that witness so is what? Is wise. When we gain our crowns before Christ, there will be stars in our crown because we led people to the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe the Lord needs you to work with the grill. Maybe the Lord wants you to be with the blind so that you can tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ, the deaf, the dumb. Thanks be to God that today we have all these people in line so that the gospel can be preached to them. Our mission is doing well to help the deaf and dumb. And here we are. We've heard this morning how they are working so that the blind can also know the word. Now we have to go there because the living, they can see us, they can hear us, so they can also believe on the Lord. Remember every day in your life, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. You will do your part. I will do my part. We'll be able to accomplish the will of God for the church. We have great mission as a church. Let's embrace it and move forward with it. God has given us great motivation to stay true to our mission. The bountifulness of the harvest, the urgent want for laborers, and the giver of laborers, and the ability to win people. I want you to take this time to commit yourself to the mission that God has given to you. I don't know your mission, but you know my mission. Whatever your mission is, ask the Lord. to help you achieve it. So that at the end, he will say to you, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the kingdom of your Lord. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, we are thy servants. You save us for a purpose. And there are people there who need to be saved. And they will be saved for a purpose. So help us to go out there and be our best for you. We thank you that you didn't give us the business of saving souls, but just leading souls. And help us to be conscious of that. So when people reject us, would not be afraid that will continue until the day they come to you. Grant us that enablement and cause us to be mindful in Jesus name. Amen.