Well, I was going to be a bit aggressive and try to preach through Matthew 10 today,
but we're going to stick to Matthew 9, verses 35-38.
And so if you would open up your Bibles to Matthew 9, verses 35-38,
I would just delight in reading them to you.
And as we're reading, take note of Jesus' heart.
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages,
teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom
and healing every disease and every affliction.
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples,
the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into His, His, His harvest.
Let's go for a drive together.
Let's say you meet me down at K9 Corner.
Do you know where that is?
Down on 22nd Avenue on the south side,
right next to Anderson Pool.
Let's say we're going to meet there.
We're going to meet in my pickup truck.
I'm going to take you on a tour of sorts of Kenosha,
and we're just going to make a kind of a beeline north on 22nd Avenue.
And so we get into my pickup truck,
and as we're pulling out,
I start telling you about the different demographics
that we see going north.
Oh, this neighborhood over here,
oh, those are ranches built in the 50s and 60s.
Mixed neighborhoods, mixed income.
We have owner occupiers.
We have renters there.
Oh, this neighborhood over here,
those apartment complexes,
primarily people with lower incomes,
ethnically very diverse.
And as we're driving,
we hear this,
from the back seat.
My pickup truck's got this back bench
you can squeeze people in on,
and it's Jesus.
And Jesus says something to the extent of this.
Those things, Mike, you may be saying are true,
but every person in that neighborhood
is a sheep without a shepherd.
I see that neighborhood as a harvest.
I look to you,
and I look in the rearview mirror,
and we keep on going.
I bring you to the next neighborhood.
I give you kind of a demographic stats.
Oh, the crime rate is rising here
past this certain road.
Jesus says, well, that may be true,
but everyone in that crime-ridden neighborhood
is a sheep without a shepherd.
They need me.
It's a harvest.
Needing laborers.
I look at you.
I look at Jesus.
We keep on going.
Next neighborhood, we come to uptown.
I try to describe it as best I can.
Then, Jesus says, this is my harvest.
These are sheep without a shepherd.
They're harassed and helpless.
I look at you.
I look at Jesus.
We keep on going.
We get up to about Washington Road,
and I start saying,
well, that, you know,
Muni Golf Course,
the velodrome,
the park,
it's a berry of sorts.
There's a different kind of demographic
on each side of it,
and I look up in the rearview mirror,
and I see Jesus.
We meet eyes,
and I say,
but they're all sheep without a shepherd.
And then you say,
and it's all a harvest field.
And then I say,
and they need laborers.
Laborers.
And then Jesus says,
so pray to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers.
This morning, we're going to see
Jesus' heart for the lost.
And His heart for the lost
will compel you.
It will compel you
to have a heart for the lost.
When you see people
the way that Jesus sees people,
when you feel about people
the way that Jesus feels about people,
your priorities change.
You will want to live
for what matters most
according to Jesus.
Not the American dream.
You're going to want to join Him
in His mission
to reconcile sinners
to God in this harvest field.
So here's how we're going to proceed.
We're going to walk through the text.
And I'm going to show you,
I'm going to make five observations.
And then those five observations
move to a point.
I'll make that point.
And then we'll seek to apply it
to our lives.
We're going to read about something
that happened maybe 2,000 years ago.
And we're going to bring it
to our lives to bear today
in 2017.
2017.
So what we're going to see here
is God's heart for the lost
and it's designed to compel us.
So, let's turn back to Matthew 9, verse 35.
In observation number one,
the thing I want you to notice is
where Jesus is at.
Look at verse 35.
And Jesus went throughout
all the cities and villages.
Jesus is on the move.
But what you need to see
is that Jesus is on the move
throughout all the cities
and villages of Galilee.
Estimates range from there being
upwards of 200 plus cities and villages
in the greater Galilean metroplex.
But as we talk about that,
I just want to remember,
remind you who Jesus is.
Because you can read
that Jesus is cruising around Galilee
and forget that He's God in the flesh.
Do you remember John 1?
The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us.
Remember Matthew chapter 1?
Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel.
And so, do you see what's going on here?
We are seeing God in the flesh
walking around Galilee.
God's there.
He's walking.
It's exactly where He intends to be.
It's no accident.
He's not there against His will.
He is in and among the people.
He is on a mission.
A mission of mercy
to reconcile sinners to God.
It's in His name.
Jesus.
It means God saves.
That's why He's there.
Now, some of you remember
back in 2005,
Hurricane Katrina.
Do you remember that?
It did over $100 billion of damage
in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
You may not remember this,
but when Katrina made landfall,
President Bush was on vacation
in Crawford, Texas.
And he stayed on vacation
in Crawford, Texas.
And he eventually flew out of Texas
on August 31st.
August 29th is when Katrina hit.
And as he's flying back to Washington, D.C.,
he tells the Air Force One pilots
to kind of veer over the devastated area.
And there is this photograph taken
of President Bush
looking out a window of Air Force One
and looking down upon the devastation
wrought by Katrina.
And to this day,
he would say,
that was one of his biggest regrets.
Because in that photograph,
it depicts him as being distant
and uncaring.
Some say that his presidency
started to fade at that point.
Our southern citizens,
they were harassed and helpless.
And they needed a leader.
And he flew right over them.
Not so with Jesus.
Galatians 4.4 says that
just the right time,
Jesus' feet hit the ground.
He didn't stay away.
He didn't fly over.
He came.
Some people have a very big challenge
with the problem of evil.
And it's not the easiest thing
to talk about,
but I can say this.
Our God,
in light of the evil
that has been wrought by sin,
He didn't stay away.
He didn't write white papers.
What He did was this.
He came and dwelt among us.
He came and joined us in the mix
to do something.
To give His life as a ransom for many.
To completely reverse
the multi-layered effects of sin.
That's why He came.
He addresses the problem of evil.
Square on.
Jesus came.
And when He walked around
these cities and villages of Galilee,
and as He sees these crowds,
it had a deep effect on Him.
So the first thing I want you to notice
is where Jesus is at.
He's in and among the people.
Just where He intended to be.
That's our Savior.
That's our God.
The second thing I want you to notice
is what Jesus is doing
while He's traveling
through the cities and villages of Galilee.
We read that in verse 35,
that He's teaching
and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and He's healing all sorts
of different diseases and sicknesses.
He was actively working
while He was in town.
He's not cruising through
taking snapshots.
He's not in some kind of bus
unable to be seen by anybody else.
He's walking through,
engaged, doing the work of the Kingdom.
That's what the teaching
and the proclaiming
and the healing was all about.
It was pointing to Him coming
and establishing the Kingdom of Heaven.
The saving reign of God.
We spent quite a bit of time
in the Sermon on the Mount.
It's an unbelievable sample
of His teaching.
Jesus gets a ton done.
It's the inaugural address
of the King who has come.
And what He does in it,
He says,
this is what's to be true
of My citizens,
the Beatitudes.
And they start with being poor in spirit.
The hallmark of My people
is humility,
is what He says.
And then He goes on to teach
in the Sermon on the Mount
how His citizens live
in full light of the law
and live fully in obedience to it
for the glory of God.
And at the end of chapter 7,
the crowds were amazed
at His teaching
because of His authority.
It was authoritative.
It was a signal
that the Kingdom of Heaven
had come.
Not only does He teach,
He proclaims,
He preaches,
He announces.
And what we learn here
is that He proclaimed
the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The good news
that the Kingdom had arrived.
And notice,
the Kingdom arrived
when Jesus arrived.
He's the King
of God's Kingdom.
He brings the saving rain
when He came.
If you look back
at Matthew 4, verse 23,
this was His M.O.
He would go around
teaching, proclaiming,
and healing.
We read in Matthew 4, 23,
and He went throughout
all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues
and proclaiming
the Gospel of the Kingdom
and healing every disease
and every affliction
among the people.
So His fame spread.
He taught,
He preached,
and He healed.
He proclaimed the Kingdom.
It was good news.
Here's what happens
with the Kingdom.
Here's where the Kingdom is.
The Kingdom is where
Jesus is being proclaimed.
Sinners are responding
in repentance and faith
and becoming Christians.
And they're being discipled
to obey Him
and all that He commanded.
And His name is being glorified.
That's where the Kingdom
of Heaven is.
That's where the saving reign
of God is.
And Jesus brought that
with Him when He came.
And He announced it.
He announced it
through His teaching.
He announced it
through His proclamation.
And He also made it clear
through His healing.
If you look back
at Matthew 8 and 9,
it is one healing
after another.
It starts with
Jesus healing a leper.
And He does what
nobody else would do.
He touches the leper.
And instead of being
made unclean,
Jesus cleans the unclean
with His touch.
It's amazing.
And remember the centurion?
Jesus heals the servant
of the centurion
from a distance.
It doesn't end there.
The demons and the Gadarenes,
Jesus casts them out.
But, we go on
and we read about
Jesus healing Jairus' daughter.
We read about Jesus
healing a woman
with a 12-year hemorrhage
of blood
that made her unclean
and isolate.
Jesus healed her
and then put her forward
to everybody and said,
she's back in the mix, gang.
Doesn't stop there.
Jesus goes on
to heal two blind men.
Then He heals
a demonized dumb man.
Do you remember all that?
Again and again and again.
He's healing.
And then,
there's the whole healing
of the paralytic.
Do you remember
what happened there?
Jesus heals this paralyzed man.
And it's clear why He does.
He heals his physical paralysis
in order to demonstrate
His authority
to heal the disease of sin.
So that you may know
that the Son of Man
has authority on earth
to forgive sins.
He turns to the paralytic
and says, rise,
get your mat,
and go home.
And He does.
There, Jesus is bringing
in His authority
both over the spiritual
and physical maladies
we all have to endure.
At the end of chapter 9,
we are just amazed
amazed that this man
is unlike any other.
And after all of His healing,
the crowds were amazed
that God had given authority
to man.
His teaching,
His proclaiming,
His healing,
we all point
to this is the one
that has brought
the kingdom of heaven.
So the second thing
I want you to notice
is what He's doing
when He's cruising around
the Galilean Metroplex.
The third thing
I want you to notice,
we see in verse 36,
when He saw the crowds,
He's making His way
through these villages
and cities,
and when He saw the crowds,
He had compassion for them
because they were harassed
and helpless.
The third thing
I want you to see,
I want you to notice,
is how Jesus sees.
Not just that He sees,
but how He sees.
He saw the crowds.
He had compassion for them
because they were harassed
and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.
Those two words,
harassed and helpless,
they're worth spending
a little time talking about.
Have you ever been bullied?
Have you ever been harassed?
I was harassed by a man
not too long ago
who threatened me,
threatened my family.
It was a very uncomfortable time.
Harassed is a word
that means to trouble,
to annoy.
We tend to think about
in terms of being bullied.
maybe you've been threatened before.
It's not fun.
And it's not just the threat.
It's the experience.
It's the experience of being beat up,
whether that's physically or emotionally.
Now, this word harassed,
the sense of being bullied and beat up
is linked to this word helpless,
harassed and helpless.
That, in the original language,
it literally means to be cast down,
to be made prostrate.
And the idea there is
you're vulnerable.
Being exposed to harm
without any kind of recourse.
Someone taking advantage of you,
you don't have anything to do,
any ability to protect yourself.
I don't know about you,
but there are a few things
more psychologically diminishing
than when you are being threatened
and you don't feel like
you can do anything about it.
You feel completely vulnerable
and exposed and helpless.
Harassed and helpless.
And so, what we see here
is that Jesus is making His way
through Galilee.
He's going from city to village to town.
He's teaching.
He's preaching.
He's healing.
And He's taking note
of this people.
This people He's in the midst of.
They're harassed and helpless.
Like sheep without a shepherd.
This is a different group of people
than the Pharisees and the scribes.
These are people that
are just feeling the impact
of their lousy leadership.
The harassed and helpless
are those who are being brutalized
by the fallout of sin.
Whether it's disease,
or whether it's demons,
or death,
or natural disaster,
or just the dysfunctional leadership
of the Pharisees and the scribes
of the time.
So what we see happening here
is Jesus sees the crowds,
and He sees that they are harassed
and helpless,
and it moves Him.
He's affected by it.
But just to be honest,
the harassed and helpless,
that's symptomatic of the real problem.
And Matthew points us right to it.
Harassed and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.
The biggest problem
that these harassed and helpless sheep
were experiencing
was not so much
the experience of harassment,
it's the symptom of them
not having a shepherd for them.
They were shepherdless.
That was the problem.
Jesus is the good shepherd.
Jesus is the shepherd king
from the line of David
who had come
in order to lead His people.
If you want to look at Matthew 2.16,
look what happens.
Look what is announced of Jesus.
Jesus.
And you, O Bethlehem,
in the land of Judah,
are by no means least
among the rulers of Judah.
For from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd My people Israel.
If you flip back all the way
to Ezekiel 34,
don't go there.
Look at it this afternoon.
Look at it sometime this week.
God's people,
the shepherds,
the men He's put in place,
has failed His people.
And so God Himself says,
I will shepherd My people.
I will become their shepherd.
And so what we see happening here
is the shepherd has come.
And He's walking around Galilee
and He's seeing all the effects
of a people who lack a shepherd.
And so His heart of compassion
springs from this void of leadership.
Their King has come.
Now just a word about sheep.
Sheep are known to be dumb animals.
A sheep would graze in the same place
until there was nothing left but dirt.
If it weren't for a shepherd
to move that sheep along
to greener pastures.
They are not the smartest animals.
They need the provision of guidance.
But they also are easily harassed.
They really don't have
any stellar defense mechanisms.
I don't know about you,
but I've never seen quills
on a sheep before.
I'm unaware of any poison glands
on a sheep.
I don't think they have
switchblades in their pockets.
They need protection.
In short,
sheep are helpless.
They're easily harassed
and they need a lot of help.
And what Jesus says
throughout the Gospels
is that people are like sheep.
We need help.
Because of the deceitfulness
of sin in our own hearts,
here's what we do.
We become enslaved
to the very pleasures
that we think
are going to satisfy us.
And so we eat
and eat
from the same place
until it's just dirt
and we think all is well.
We like to think
we can protect ourselves.
But our defense mechanisms
never fully work,
do they?
Have you met people
who are so guarded
about being hurt
they essentially isolate themselves
from everybody else?
We all need help.
We're more like sheep
than we care to admit.
We're all in need
of a shepherd.
2,000 years ago,
Jesus walked around
the Galilean metroplex
and He identified the need.
You need a shepherd.
We need a shepherd today.
The harassed and helpless
just didn't live then.
You drive around this city
and you will see
plenty of harassed
and helpless.
Jesus saw the crowds
as they truly were.
and Jesus sees us
as we truly are.
He sees through
our empty attempts
of satisfying ourselves.
He sees through
our weak attempts
to protect ourselves.
And you know how He responds?
He doesn't bring the heavy.
He brings a compassionate heart.
You need a shepherd.
That's what you need.
So, the third thing
I want to notice here
is how He sees
these crowds
and how He sees
many of us
like sheep
without a shepherd.
Jesus identifies
our greatest need.
He
is
our shepherd.
shepherd.
The fourth thing
I want you to notice
is in verse 36 too.
When He saw the crowds,
He had compassion for them
because they were harassed
and helpless
like sheep
without a shepherd.
He's affected
by what He sees.
He's moved
deeply
by the shepherdless crowds.
He moves
towards them.
There were great crowds
of people following Jesus.
We read that in Matthew 4.23.
That also comes up
in Matthew 8.1.
And as He's making His way
throughout Galilee,
He's seeing these crowds.
And Matthew tells us
not only how He sees them,
but how He feels about them.
What we see here
is the heart of God
for the lost.
His heart for sinners.
His heart for the harassed
and for the helpless.
It's just like God's heart
for His people
back in Ezekiel 34.
He wants good for His people.
He wants Himself
for His people.
When Jesus saw the crowds,
He didn't see
a potential fan base.
He didn't see
the grassroots
of a new political movement.
He didn't see
a demographic market
to make a quick denarius.
Matthew tells us
that when Jesus saw the crowds,
He had compassion for them
because He saw them
as sheep without a shepherd.
And that's why He came.
That word compassion
is used in your New Testament
only of Jesus.
Only of Him.
It's used only of Him
and only by Him.
And what seems to be
going on there
is that this compassion
is more than human pity.
It's more than just
a human emotion
to seeing people
in tough situations.
What we see happening here
is the heart
of the Messiah.
The Good Shepherd.
His heart is on display
for the harassed
and helpless sheep.
Jesus is deeply moved
at seeing these people
and their need for Him.
It's why He came.
He's deeply, deeply moved by it.
What Matthew seems to be saying
is this deep emotion
he's experiencing
is unique to the office
he holds.
He's the Messiah King.
The Shepherd who has come
in the line of David.
And he sees His people.
A people needing Him.
So, what I want you to notice
is how He feels.
How He feels about
the harassed and helpless.
How He feels about those
without a shepherd.
The fifth thing I want you to notice
is how Jesus responds.
What Jesus does first.
He sees these crowds.
He is moved to the depths
of His being over it.
And what He does first
is really instructive for us.
Really informative.
We see that in verses 37 and 38.
He's moved to compassion.
He sees these people
like sheep without a shepherd.
And then He says to His disciples,
the harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray.
Pray.
Pray earnestly to the Lord
of the harvest
to send out laborers
into the harvest field.
Pray.
Did you notice there's a shift
from language?
A language that moves
from sheep and shepherds
to harvest and laborers
and the Lord of the harvest.
So there's a shift in metaphor here.
The harvest that Jesus speaks of,
of course, it's not a harvest of wheat.
It's not a harvest of corn or soybeans.
It's a harvest of the harassed and helpless.
The harvest is a harvest of people.
People are incredibly important to God.
Do you know why?
We're made in His image.
We're designed to worship Him.
His worship,
the worship of His name,
He treasures.
And when His name is not treasured,
it grieves Him deeply.
People are very important
to the living God.
And so He starts talking harvest.
And in verse 7,
He seems to identify a problem.
According to Jesus,
there's too much harvest
and not enough laborers.
Up until this point,
Matthew, Jesus has been doing
the work of ministry Himself.
And next week,
when we look at Matthew 10,
we're going to see Him
send out 12
to join Him
in the work
of the harvest field.
But right here,
what we're seeing is
Jesus is aware
of a harvest boon
and a serious labor shortage.
And how does He respond?
What does He do?
He calls a prayer meeting.
That's what He does.
He sees the problem
and He says,
let's go to the Lord
of the harvest.
Let's ask Him
to send out laborers
into His harvest field.
Did you notice that?
Whose harvest this is?
The Lord of the harvest.
His harvest.
He's speaking of God.
God's in control.
God looks at the city
of Kenosha
and He's thinking,
this is my harvest.
But what I want you
to notice is
the first impulse
of Jesus
is not to equip people
on how to share their faith.
There's a place for that.
It's to call people
to pray
for the Lord of the harvest
to raise up laborers.
So five things
I wanted you to notice.
Where Jesus is.
What Jesus is doing there.
How Jesus sees people.
How He feels about them.
And what's the first thing He does?
He calls a prayer meeting.
He calls us to pray.
And so the point
of it all is this.
God is showing us
the compassionate heart
of Jesus
to reconcile sinners to God.
It's all about reconciliation.
Reconciling sheep
to their shepherd.
Harvesting a people
to the Lord of the harvest.
It's all about
reconciliation.
It's the mission of Jesus.
And that's what He's calling us
to be a part of.
If you see the heart of Jesus,
if you see His heart,
how He sees people,
and how He feels about people,
it's going to change your priorities.
You're going to want to join Him
in the work He's doing.
And so in light of that,
let's apply this
in four ways.
First is this.
Delight.
Joy.
Rejoice.
Why?
Here's why.
Delight yourself
in that the compassion of Jesus
was towards you.
He had compassion on you.
He was moved at your situation.
And He did something about it.
If you're a Christian,
remember you were once harassed
and helpless like a sheep
without a shepherd.
But if you put your faith in Jesus,
no more.
Your shepherd is for you now.
You belong to His flock.
He wanted you to be His own.
So much so,
He laid down His life for you.
He's your shepherd.
He has claimed you as His own.
And He will never let you go.
Now let's say you're here this morning
and you're not a Christian yet.
I'd like you to ask yourself a question.
Is it possible
that the risen Jesus
has a heart full of compassion towards you?
And His heart is full of compassion towards you
because you are a sheep without a shepherd.
His heart moves towards you
because He wants to be your shepherd.
He wants you to respond to Him in faith.
He wants to reconcile you to Himself.
And so if you find yourself in a situation
where you came in here and said,
I'm not Christian.
I don't want to follow Jesus.
And now you're thinking,
well, maybe I want to be a Christian.
Maybe I want to follow...
He sounds awesome.
He's paid for my sin.
Well, let me tell you.
Here's what you need to do.
You need to start being honest with yourself
and honest with Him.
You need to tell Him
that you've made a mess of your life
trying to be your own shepherd.
Trying to lead yourself everywhere.
And you've made a mess of things.
And then you tell Him something like this.
You say,
I believe you laid down your life for me.
Lord, would you take me as your own?
He says yes every time.
He'll bring you into His fold.
Make you one of His sheep.
But it doesn't end there.
Tell Him you will follow Him
wherever He leads
and obey Him at whatever the cost.
Tell Him it.
I'll go wherever you lead.
I'll obey whatever you say.
Now let me just say something right there.
When you see Jesus for who He is,
these kinds of words of response,
I'll follow you wherever.
I'll obey you no matter what.
Those kinds of words of response,
they don't spring from duty.
Yes, Jesus, I will do whatever you say.
Yes, sir.
They spring from delight.
They spring from joy.
Here's why.
Because when you realize
you were lost
and your shepherd
came and found you
and laid down His life for you
so that you could be part of His flock,
do you know what happens?
Delight.
I will follow my shepherd
wherever He leads me.
I will go wherever He wants.
I will obey every word
as I am able.
Where are you at?
Today, God is talking to you.
Respond to Him.
He wants to be your shepherd.
Delight first.
The second thing is see.
See people as Jesus sees people.
So see sheep,
see harvest.
People everywhere
need a shepherd.
We've got that in common.
So when you run into someone
with a different skin color than you,
that person needs a shepherd
just like you.
Whenever you bump into someone
who has a different sexual orientation
than you do,
I'm not saying that's okay.
I'm just saying
that's where we live.
When that happens,
realize that person needs a shepherd.
When you bump into people
of different income levels,
who cares if they're poor?
Who cares if they're rich?
They all need a shepherd.
Educational backgrounds.
You bump into someone
who didn't get out of elementary school.
And then you meet someone
with three PhDs.
You know what they have in common?
They need a shepherd.
Criminal backgrounds.
Someone has clean as a bill.
Other ones has racked up
years in jail.
They all need a shepherd.
Maybe you're here legally
as a citizen of the United States.
And maybe you know someone
who's here illegally.
We all need a shepherd.
We're all like sheep
without a shepherd.
Every person living in this city
is somehow harassed and helpless.
It changes the way
that you see them.
And it's not just limited
to our city.
This is a global phenomena.
All seven whatever billion people
on the face of the earth
in need of a shepherd.
One shepherd.
The shepherd.
The good shepherd
who laid down his life
for his sheep.
Let me just kind of dial this in
a little bit more.
Husbands.
Your wife needs Jesus,
the good shepherd,
more than she needs you.
Wives.
Your husbands need Jesus,
the good shepherd,
more than they need you.
Parents.
See your children
as sheep needing
the good shepherd.
It changes the way
you parent.
If you're a friend,
see your friends
as people in need
of the shepherd.
You got an overbearing boss?
He needs the shepherd.
And so do you
as you deal with him.
You got an annoying sibling?
You both need a shepherd.
You've got a nosy neighbor?
They need a shepherd.
We need to see people as sheep
and we need to see our city
and the neighborhoods in it
as a harvest field.
If you drove along 22nd Avenue,
how would you interpret
what you see normally?
What would you see?
Would you see different crime rates
of the different neighborhoods?
Would you see different home values
based on locations?
Would you think of different qualities
of school based on the neighborhoods?
different business opportunities?
Police activity?
How do you interpret it?
How do you make sense of it?
When you see it,
how do you see it?
See it like Jesus sees it.
Harvest.
If Jesus was in the back seat
when you're driving,
you know what He would say to you
as you're driving through Allendale?
Well, it's my harvest.
It needs laborers.
Harbor Park?
It's a harvest.
It needs laborers.
Wilson neighborhood?
It's a harvest.
It needs laborers.
Lincoln Park?
All the way through
as you get out
from downtown Kenosha
and as you work your way
west, north, and south.
It all is a harvest field
needing Jesus.
Needing laborers.
See the city
as Jesus sees the city.
It's a harvest.
You need to want
what Jesus wants.
So delight, see, want.
Let me just ask it this way.
When you see your neighbor
next door to you,
does it occur to you
that they need a shepherd?
Have you started asking yourself
the question,
with those people living around you,
what does Jesus want to do here?
Have you begun asking yourself
that question?
Start asking yourself that question.
You begin to want what Jesus wants.
How does Jesus feel about your neighbors?
is it possible that he wants to be their shepherd too?
And finally, pray.
Pray along the lines
that Jesus compels us to pray.
Pray for laborers.
We had a leadership team meeting
this past Wednesday
and we all heard this
very interesting statistic.
92% of church growth in the United States
is by transfer growth.
It's Christians going from church to church to church.
And then there's a place for that.
We're not saying that's bad necessarily.
So far as Christians are leaving one church
and going to the next
for God-pleasing reasons
and God-pleasing ways,
welcome.
But I'll tell you what,
we want to be a church here in the city
that is growing more and more
by conversions.
Men and women hearing Jesus
and realizing I am harassed and helpless
and I don't have a shepherd
and you're the shepherd.
And you lay down your life for me.
That's why we're here.
And that's what we're going to pray for
this Friday night, 7 o'clock.
Here, we're going to pray for revival
and we're going to pray for the raising up
of laborers to go to our city.
We're going to do that on Friday night.
Do you know what we're doing on Saturday?
We're sending Chelsea Zeman to Nicaragua.
Is that pretty cool?
May there be more Chelsea Zemans
that go to our city,
in our state,
in our nation,
in this world.
Would you start praying personally
for laborers?
Pray when you're driving.
Pray with your family around the dinner table.
Pray in your life groups
and join us this Friday as we pray here.
Let's go for a drive.
Say we may meet down at Canine Corner.
This time Jesus is driving.
And as we're making our way north,
person after person,
He points to and says,
you see Him?
Harassed and helpless.
A sheep without a shepherd.
He needs me.
She needs me.
They need me.
I'm the shepherd.
He goes on to say,
all these neighborhoods,
these are all different areas
of this harvest
that I want to harvest souls from.
The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few.
Let's pray to the Lord of the harvest.
And let's pray that He sends us.
Lord Jesus,
we are so thankful
that You are the good shepherd.
Thank You that for many of us in this room,
You have come for us.
You laid Your life down for us.
And now we know Your voice
and we follow You with great joy
even when things get tough.
Lord,
we want to live our lives for You
and we want to be on Your mission.
God,
would You raise up laborers
to go to the city of Kenosha
to speak the Gospel,
to swing the sickle of the Gospel
and to harvest for You men and women,
boys and girls,
from all stripes of life
to live for the glory of Your name.
It's Your name we pray.
Amen.