What We Believe – Rooted Harvest

We believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, who as a man humbled himself and died on a cross for our sins, putting sin to death and rose again on the third day conquering death (Philippians 2:8). He was tempted in every way, but with out sin (Hebrews 4:15). He was the ultimate sacrifice. And it is through Christ alone, our relationship with Him, that we can have everlasting life. The wages of our sin is death. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. It is only through His blood that we receive forgiveness of our sins and receive grace and mercy. When we receive Christ in our heart through faith with grace and mercy, we turn from our sin and live lives as a new creation in Him.

Understanding our salvation, we want to live changed lives, serving the Lord and having an impact to grow His Kingdom. We believe that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). In order to have a Harvest for Chris we first need to be rooted in Christ to become His laborers to bring in the harvest.

Colossians 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Everything we do starts with our relationship with Jesus

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

How do we become rooted in Christ?

Through reading His Word daily

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Through praying and spending time with Him daily

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commands, But a prating (or chattering) fool will fall.

Through obeying Him – becoming doers of His Word

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Through walking in the Spirit and putting sin to death

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

What is the outcome?

We mature – Our strength and our trust in Him grows

Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Our sin nature is severed

Colossians 2: 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

We become equipped

The Lord will give us understanding and Godly wisdom – James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

We will learn what we are called to do

We each do certain things well. Romans 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

What better way to find out what you are good at than being rooted in the one who created you and knows you better than you know yourself.

We will produce good fruit and become Christ like

Matthew 7:17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

We need to examine our lives and remove the bad roots in our life that are resulting in bad outcomes, and be rooted to Jesus. When we are rooted in Christ the outcome will be good. It will be the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

We become joyful and thankful

When we spend time in His Word and Presence, His words move from our mind to our heart

Philippians 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Our sin cost so much. He had to suffer to free us from sin. We owe Him our life and should forever be thankful.

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

And we know leading up to His death in Matthew 26 in the Garden of Gethsemane He sweat blood while praying and asked three times that the Lord would take this cup from Him, but not my will but Your will be done.

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened (after His resurrection)

Luke 24:28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Notice in verse 32 how their hearts burned within them while in the presence of Jesus. The more time we spend in His presence the more our hearts get on fire. The more we are changed into His image. He strengthens us, corrects us, teaches us, builds us up, and comforts us. He gives us His peace, His joy, and we can rest in Him.

The Harvest

Now that we have covered what it is to be rooted in Christ. To have a Rooted Harvest we need to look at what Christ said about the Harvest.

John 4: 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Matthew 9: 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

How do we become the laborers to bring in the Harvest?

By being rooted in Christ (as covered in detail above)
By having compassion for the lost and being motivated to take action

Jesus said “lift up your eyes and look at the fields”. We need to be moved when we see the lost and have a heart for the lost as Jesus did.

1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

By praying for the Harvest

Praying is so important. As stated in the scripture earlier, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”. We must pray that the Lord would equip and use us as laborers as well as others in the body. We must pray for our nation, our leaders, and the lost. Pray for repentance. When we spend time in prayer we hear from God and align our spirit with His.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The church must leave the building

The lost are out there, not inside a church building. When you look at Jesus’s ministry, How much of it was spent inside the temples? He modeled for us how to be a perfect Christian. He did not just preach to people who met him at a synagogue. He brought the Gospel to them in the streets, the parks, and wherever they were.

God doesn’t need a tele-Evangelist to bring in the Harvest, He needs ordinary Christians that abide in Him and have been refined and refined and refined into His Image. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He goes with us, empowers us, leads us to understanding and truth, brings to remembrance the words for that moment or person, and gives us utterance (John 14:26 and 16:13). Jesus is saying quit walking in your weakness and walk in My strength. When you’re going through trials and you might be thinking I can’t keep going like this. The Lord is says back into the fire a little more. You don’t know what I have I store for you…If you could just see the Harvest that’s coming

Our circumstances are not our problem, the real need is from within. You can have all the money, the best job, the best toys, and it all means nothing if you are not right on the inside. That’s where the battle is between the Spirit and flesh. That’s where we will find the Living Water that we will never thirst again. That we will be satisfied, no longer looking to the things of this world to satisfy when the things of this world are so fleeting. We need to bring the Living Water to those who are lost and searching to be satisfied.