Sermon Notes
Matthew 9:35–38 NIV
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Leviticus 19:9–10 NIV
9 “ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
Mark 4:26–29 NIV
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain — first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
John 4:35–38 NIV
35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Discussion Igniters
1. Read John 4:25–38. What is the food that Jesus has, and the harvest that He is talking about in this passage?
2. Read Matthew 9:35–38. What is the harvest Jesus is talking about in this passage?
3. What do these two passages tell us about the nature of the Harvest and its relationship to the Kingdom of God?
4. If the Harvest of God means more than just gathering people to Jesus, what does it look to us to work the harvest?
5. How can we invest the harvest, which has been prepared by God and those before us, back into the Kingdom of God?
Series Resources
Check out the additional learning resources for this sermon series from our teaching team.