Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #227 The Harvest Has Come: Preparing for a Spiritual Awakening

Transcript

#227 The Harvest Has Come: Preparing for a Spiritual Awakening · The OneCry Podcast

0:04
Speaker1: And what is the Holy Spirit? It's like, hey, man, I'm just going to bring a harvest.
0:10
Speaker1: What I know is that God wants it, God desires it, but it won't happen unless we pray.
0:18
Speaker0: Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
0:23
Speaker0: The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
0:34
Speaker0: Well, welcome to the One Cry podcast. I'm Bill Eliff, and I am really excited
0:39
Speaker0: today to have one of my dear, dear buddies joining us.
0:45
Speaker0: This is Jonathan Bergen, and Jonathan is the pastor of the Summit Church.
0:52
Speaker0: We have multiple locations in Arkansas, and he's the pastor of the Summit Church in Conway.
0:59
Speaker0: And uh and just uh the lord is moving in an incredible way jonathan there and
1:08
Speaker0: i and conway has you know they have four or five college campuses is it five yeah.
1:16
Speaker1: We have we have three bill but uh you can count uacc yeah there's it could be four
1:21
Speaker0: But ministerially speaking it's Yeah, I thought I was 12.
1:29
Speaker0: Jonathan, how long have you been at Summit Conway?
1:34
Speaker1: It's been almost eight years.
1:36
Speaker0: That's crazy.
1:37
Speaker1: I know.
1:38
Speaker0: So some of you guys know Kyle Reno, of course, who co-hosts this with me.
1:43
Speaker0: And Kyle was our first pastor there and was there several years.
1:48
Speaker0: And then and then when he came to be take my place as a directional leader over
1:53
Speaker0: the whole deal, Jonathan became the pastor and has just done an incredible job.
2:02
Speaker0: And so I really appreciate you, Jonathan.
2:05
Speaker0: And I and about a week ago, Jonathan spoke to our all staff.
2:12
Speaker0: We had all of our locations together and a staff meeting. and Jonathan shared
2:19
Speaker0: something and I just about came out of my chair. In fact,
2:23
Speaker0: We were praying at the end, and I just got up and ran to him because I felt
2:31
Speaker0: like it was a real word from the Lord.
2:33
Speaker0: And it really identified something for me personally that I think is critical.
2:41
Speaker0: And that's why I said, Jonathan, would you do this on our podcast?
2:50
Speaker0: So I think there's going to be something that everybody really needs to hear today, Jonathan.
2:55
Speaker0: And so don't mess this up. I mean, yeah, yeah.
2:58
Speaker1: Yeah. Well, it's a it's an honor to be here.
3:03
Speaker1: And especially to the guys that have been so meaningful in my own spiritual
3:09
Speaker1: formation, formation of the pastor, Bill, you know, is and I know he's as humble as they come.
3:18
Speaker1: But a legend to me and just, uh, one of the biggest encouragers.
3:23
Speaker1: And then Kyle Reno is one of the best friends I got in the whole world and has,
3:28
Speaker1: um, I am not me without them.
3:32
Speaker1: And so just to even be able to be here, um, because if you had told me 10 years
3:37
Speaker1: ago, I'd be sitting in this chair, I would not have believed you.
3:41
Speaker1: My wife would not have believed you. And so, um, God writes the best stories.
3:46
Speaker1: He does. And just to be here is a real gift. And so I can jump in and hear really
3:53
Speaker1: what God had put on my heart.
3:55
Speaker0: I am from...
3:57
Speaker1: I'm from Jonesboro, Arkansas, northeast Arkansas. I am like Bill and that I'm an Arkansas boy.
4:04
Speaker1: And so everybody who's upset that we, you know, you may not have an Alabama boy on here today.
4:09
Speaker1: But I grew up in farm country and I just where Jonesboro is,
4:18
Speaker1: is really located on a on a ridge and all around this this ridge are just rice fields.
4:24
Speaker1: If you've ever been to eastern Arkansas or even Mississippi,
4:28
Speaker1: you just got rice fields galore.
4:31
Speaker1: And I, you know, we always said growing up, there really are three things that
4:35
Speaker1: love rice fields. And it's probably in about this order.
4:39
Speaker1: Mosquitoes, cottonmouths and ducks. And we used to grow up where we grew up
4:45
Speaker1: because there were so many rice fields and so many mosquitoes.
4:47
Speaker1: We had those bug trucks that would drive around and spray the spray that just
4:52
Speaker1: you're out playing, you know, baseball.
4:53
Speaker1: On you end up coughing and and i i don't
4:56
Speaker1: know that it there's no way it can be legal um but
5:00
Speaker1: uh that's that's where i grew up and and
5:03
Speaker1: um my favorite season growing up was duck
5:06
Speaker1: season you know not not spring winter fall
5:09
Speaker1: it was hey those 60 days that you get duck
5:13
Speaker1: season and uh and it was always for me
5:16
Speaker1: um just to be a little
5:19
Speaker1: vulnerable it was always um the
5:24
Speaker1: time of the year that i i got to spend most with
5:27
Speaker1: my dad you know uh i come from a broken family
5:31
Speaker1: and um duck season was that
5:34
Speaker1: and and still is to this day the time where me and my dad just really get together
5:38
Speaker1: and i've made so many memories with him in the woods and and just places um
5:44
Speaker1: chasing after this bird that's got a green head and um my my son this past year
5:50
Speaker1: started going with me so we're making those memories and
5:54
Speaker1: but what when growing up what always signified
5:57
Speaker1: That it was time to start duck hunting or, or that it was getting real close,
6:01
Speaker1: uh, was not necessarily the cooling of, you know, the weather or the changing
6:07
Speaker1: of the leaves or the shortening of the days.
6:09
Speaker1: Uh, what really was, um, the sig signifier that duck season was there was that
6:17
Speaker1: when they would cut the rice fields.
6:19
Speaker1: And, uh, to this day, I, I just start getting excited around Conway,
6:25
Speaker1: where I live now, we got rice fields.
6:27
Speaker1: And I start getting excited when I watch those rice fields get cut.
6:32
Speaker1: And growing up in Jonesboro, it's like if you go out just a little ways and
6:38
Speaker1: look out across the horizon, it's endless rice fields for as far as you can see.
6:42
Speaker1: And so anybody who's ever been around that know that we take a dirt patch and
6:48
Speaker1: level it out and the farmer comes in and plants seeds.
6:52
Speaker1: And then before long, this little bit of green starts sprouting up.
6:56
Speaker1: And then they fill it with water because, you know, rice loves water. And then the rice grows.
7:01
Speaker1: And before long, it turns into this beautiful golden amber.
7:06
Speaker1: And you just look out across. I, to this day, think the best sunsets on earth
7:11
Speaker1: are not over the ocean and not over the mountains, but let the sun set across
7:16
Speaker1: a rice field. and you just really don't get better than that.
7:20
Speaker1: And then one day you just drive by and you're looking out there and the combines are out there.
7:26
Speaker1: The tractors are pulling the trailers, combines are harvesting.
7:29
Speaker1: And it just was this core part of my childhood to watch this year in, year out.
7:37
Speaker1: And so what's so awesome about scripture and really how Jesus speaks to us about the kingdom
7:45
Speaker1: is he does it so often in these agricultural terms, you know,
7:49
Speaker1: that compares things to mustard seed or the farmer and all this stuff. And so when he does that,
7:56
Speaker1: Man, I just love to lean in. There's a chapter in Mark 4, and I'll read a little
8:01
Speaker1: bit of it in just a second.
8:03
Speaker1: But if you read Mark 4, I noticed this going through the Bible plan that I do.
8:10
Speaker1: And I was just in it not long ago. And reading through Mark 4,
8:13
Speaker1: I was like, man, every single thing in here just about is just these agricultural terms.
8:20
Speaker1: And there's this time in Mark 4, starting in verse 26, and I'll read it.
8:26
Speaker1: It says, Jesus also said,
8:30
Speaker1: the kingdom of God is like a farmer who scattered seeds on the ground night
8:37
Speaker1: and day while he's asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows,
8:41
Speaker1: but he does not understand how it happens.
8:43
Speaker1: The earth produces crops on its own. First, a leaf blade pushes through.
8:49
Speaker1: Then the heads of wheat are formed and finally the grain ripens.
8:53
Speaker1: And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle.
8:59
Speaker1: And then these next six words just struck me when I was reading it this year.
9:04
Speaker1: And it says, for the harvest time has come.
9:10
Speaker1: And so what Jesus is saying is, here's how a field grows. First you plant it,
9:14
Speaker1: then it grows, just like I was explaining about the rice fields,
9:17
Speaker1: little green sprouts through.
9:20
Speaker1: And then before you know it, it's harvest time, which is Jesus makes very complex
9:26
Speaker1: things because you start thinking about how does a seed actually become this plant?
9:31
Speaker1: Jesus takes these complex things and makes them very simple.
9:34
Speaker1: For him, they are simple.
9:35
Speaker1: There's a lot of work that goes into each stage. Work looks different during
9:39
Speaker1: each stage for the farmer.
9:42
Speaker1: What I was thinking about, though, when I read for the harvest time has come, though,
9:47
Speaker1: is specifically for our church and really where I'm at in my context in this
9:55
Speaker1: city. I've just watched this.
9:58
Speaker1: We're here today at Summit Church Conway because we had a group of guys with
10:06
Speaker1: some amazing ladies that had a God-initiated dream,
10:10
Speaker1: and we were planted because of that. They believed it. They prayed it. We were planted.
10:16
Speaker1: And over the past decade, we've watched what our church context is. We just watched it grow.
10:25
Speaker1: And it's been just a beautiful thing to watch.
10:31
Speaker1: And really where Bill is just to, you know, over two and a half decades,
10:37
Speaker1: just watching this thing grow. I'm watching this in churches around the city.
10:41
Speaker1: What I believe, though, that we're coming into is...
10:47
Speaker1: As a church, and I'm not just talking about Summit Church, Conway,
10:52
Speaker1: I think this is a season God's bringing us into.
10:57
Speaker1: We've gone through the planting and we've gone through the growing.
11:01
Speaker1: And I think what Jesus would love to do is to look at a bunch of pastors and
11:06
Speaker1: say, the harvest time has come.
11:10
Speaker1: The grain has turned golden and a time of harvest is here. And I think the cultural
11:17
Speaker1: moment we're in, God designs all that.
11:20
Speaker1: He knows where we're at, where we are in history.
11:23
Speaker1: I believe that many of our churches probably have had moments of harvest,
11:27
Speaker1: moments of breakthrough.
11:28
Speaker1: I know of many churches that have had these special outpourings of the Spirit
11:33
Speaker1: where many are saved. But I think we're actually coming into something even bigger than that.
11:42
Speaker1: And the way that I kind of picture it is whenever you harvest a field,
11:48
Speaker1: there is always some grain that matures before the field's really ready.
11:53
Speaker1: And I think we've watched some of those grains that have matured before the field was really ready.
11:58
Speaker1: Those have fallen and been harvested. But now, I just think in my spirit,
12:03
Speaker1: I believe we're entering a season of significant harvest.
12:09
Speaker1: And if you keep up with anything that's going on across the nation,
12:12
Speaker1: I hope that burns in your spirit, too.
12:14
Speaker1: But just personally, I'll tell you something that just because sometimes story helps us.
12:20
Speaker1: I get to the honor of discipling a couple college ministry leaders in our city.
12:25
Speaker1: And just this was probably three and a half, four weeks ago.
12:29
Speaker1: And now we were in my office or just sitting down talking and I was asking them,
12:34
Speaker1: you know, guys, what are some ministry wins and ministry losses and just things
12:38
Speaker1: that you get to do with these young guys?
12:39
Speaker1: God's raising up and using it in mighty ways on college campuses.
12:43
Speaker1: And and they both of them said and they're both running.
12:49
Speaker1: Uh numbers and and uh
12:52
Speaker1: seeing things that they've never seen before um
12:55
Speaker1: you know one of our the bcm here in conway i it has to be double or triple size
13:04
Speaker1: than it's ever been but but what they said struck me uh they said berg that's
13:11
Speaker1: what people call me bergen um berg we'll we'll sit down with
13:17
Speaker1: Guys in the cafeteria on campus. And these are frat guys, you know,
13:22
Speaker1: like living just the worldly life.
13:25
Speaker1: And we'll sit down with them and start talking to them about spiritual things.
13:30
Speaker1: And it's like their eyes just light up. And they're so hungry to talk about
13:35
Speaker1: weighty, eternal, soul-changing things.
13:39
Speaker1: And so these guys would say, man, we'll get into that and we'll share the gospel with them.
13:45
Speaker1: And he, and he, one of the guys named Blake, he was like, man,
13:48
Speaker1: I can't tell you how many of these guys are just like, yes, I want that right now.
13:54
Speaker1: And it's almost like taking them back where they're saying, wait,
13:58
Speaker1: do you, do you actually understand what you're saying?
14:02
Speaker1: Yes. And he said, and the guys will look at us and say, yes,
14:06
Speaker1: it's going to cost me my life. I want it right now. And I just think
14:11
Speaker1: Man, those stories are happening all over. And I think it's spreading.
14:17
Speaker1: And so what if God has your church and my church primed for a harvest?
14:23
Speaker1: If it's the harvest that we believe it's going to be, I don't think it's,
14:27
Speaker1: it's not just going to be for Conway, praise God, because God is way bigger than that.
14:32
Speaker1: I think it will spread everywhere.
14:36
Speaker1: But when you cut a field, you always start somewhere. And so what if your church,
14:40
Speaker1: what if my church is the one that like the combine of the Holy Spirit?
14:47
Speaker1: I don't know if you actually don't get too theological on that,
14:50
Speaker1: but the combine of the Holy Spirit as his laser leveled on your place next and he's coming.
14:56
Speaker1: And what if the Holy Spirit's like, hey, man, I'm just going to bring a harvest.
15:02
Speaker1: What I know is that God wants it. God desires it.
15:06
Speaker1: But it won't happen unless we pray.
15:10
Speaker1: I had this other thought. I was actually, Bill, I hadn't even shared this with you.
15:14
Speaker1: I was reading it this morning in Acts chapter 2.
15:19
Speaker1: And I had never seen this before.
15:22
Speaker1: I'm talking about the day of Tentecost. And it said this. I'm reading this out
15:28
Speaker1: of the NLT, that all the believers were meeting together in one place.
15:34
Speaker1: Suddenly there was a sound. We got to know where the sound was from.
15:37
Speaker1: You preachers preach this many more times than me.
15:40
Speaker1: But the sound came from heaven. It was like a roaring of a mighty windstorm.
15:44
Speaker1: It filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or
15:49
Speaker1: tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.
15:51
Speaker1: And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other
15:54
Speaker1: languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
15:57
Speaker1: At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.
16:02
Speaker1: And when they heard the loud noise, and where was the noise from?
16:07
Speaker1: It says, the sound came from heaven.
16:10
Speaker1: It says, when they heard the loud noise, I've never seen this before.
16:14
Speaker1: Everyone came running. And you just think about that.
16:18
Speaker1: What were they hearing? God on the move.
16:22
Speaker1: You know, God on the move. These are lost people. And they heard God on the move.
16:27
Speaker1: And what did they do? They came running. And then we see, well,
16:32
Speaker1: what happened that day? A massive harvest.
16:35
Speaker1: And I was just thinking, God is on the move.
16:39
Speaker1: People hear the sound spiritually. It's in our soul. We're hearing something.
16:42
Speaker1: I don't know. I can't explain it all. I don't know how it works.
16:47
Speaker1: But lost people right now are hearing something and they're running to see it.
16:52
Speaker1: And now what we got to do is pray it.
16:55
Speaker1: Pray, Lord, let them hear it. and then just offer them Jesus, you know, the gospel.
17:02
Speaker1: So, Bill, we've even talked about this. The things that you may think,
17:05
Speaker1: well, that didn't work in the past, give it to them again.
17:08
Speaker1: Because I think they're hearing the sound, the move of God, and running towards it. And it's a harvest.
17:17
Speaker1: We hear the harvest happening. And so I'd love for you
17:21
Speaker0: To do that. I tell you, Jonathan, this, what even hearing, I heard you share
17:27
Speaker0: this the other day, but hearing it again just is so exciting to me.
17:34
Speaker0: And one of the reasons is that I've studied a revival and a spiritual awakening,
17:42
Speaker0: which revival happens in the church.
17:45
Speaker0: God reviving his people and spiritual awakening happens among lost people.
17:50
Speaker0: But they just are awakened by God. They hear God and they hear the gospel through the church.
17:58
Speaker0: And they just God just starts saving people. Well, if you if you know your revival
18:04
Speaker0: history and your biblical history,
18:07
Speaker0: you know, they're just seasons when God just says, I'm going to open the windows
18:12
Speaker0: of heaven and rend the heavens and come down.
18:16
Speaker0: And and I can just quote these numbers because I've studied them so much.
18:22
Speaker0: In the First Great Awakening, 15% of the entire population came to Christ in a brief period of time.
18:30
Speaker0: In the 1857 revival, 10,000 people, you're not going to believe this,
18:37
Speaker0: but 10,000 people a week were coming to faith in Christ in New York,
18:43
Speaker0: which was a city of 800,000 people.
18:46
Speaker0: And that happened over two years, 10,000, 10,000, 10,000.
18:53
Speaker0: Now, see, you know, we've just never seen that, Jonathan.
18:57
Speaker0: And so our prayers are weak and our faith is small.
19:02
Speaker0: But when the harvest comes and God decides, I'm going to save people,
19:08
Speaker0: I'm just going to save people.
19:11
Speaker0: But, you know, there's another part of this, and that is you've got to have
19:15
Speaker0: somebody in the combine.
19:16
Speaker0: You've got to have guys who are working in the field. That's right.
19:22
Speaker0: And I watched during the Jesus movement where
19:25
Speaker0: the gospel was so – the atmosphere was so – people were so open to the gospel
19:35
Speaker0: that you would just – I would pick up a guitar and 200 students would show up
19:41
Speaker0: and 75 of them would get saved.
19:44
Speaker0: Wow. I mean, it was just, it was just, and you just thought that was the way
19:47
Speaker0: this is supposed to go, you know?
19:49
Speaker0: And, uh, and, uh, so it's, it's a there, but in the Jesus movement,
19:57
Speaker0: there were churches that didn't put in the sickle.
20:02
Speaker0: For whatever reason, they thought, well, we're not going to do that.
20:05
Speaker0: But we're not going to or they just weren't paying attention or they,
20:09
Speaker0: you know, the Proverbs says a
20:10
Speaker0: man who sleeps during the time of harvest is somebody who acts shamefully.
20:16
Speaker0: Right. You can just imagine in Jonesboro when the harvest came,
20:20
Speaker0: if if there were some farmers and their work hands just didn't show up, they're sound asleep.
20:26
Speaker0: And and here's the here's the the rice that's spoiling in the fields.
20:33
Speaker0: And so it's that time And Jonathan, you and I talked about this the other day,
20:40
Speaker0: You mentioned it here. I remember so many times in 50 plus years of pastoring,
20:46
Speaker0: I would feel moved to like train our people on evangelism.
20:50
Speaker0: They need to know how to share their faith, the pattern of sound words.
20:53
Speaker0: They need to know how to give a defense of the hope that's within them,
20:58
Speaker0: you know, and it be ready on their lips.
21:01
Speaker0: And so you do that and you'd equip your people and you'd see a little bit of harvest.
21:07
Speaker0: You know, you'd see some people sharing and maybe one story, two stories.
21:13
Speaker0: But the reality is, in a great awakening, you just see that massively, massively.
21:23
Speaker0: And so we're going to take the next two programs, and we're going to talk about
21:31
Speaker0: what do you do in a harvest time? You know, and we've thought of and prayed
21:36
Speaker0: through this a little bit.
21:37
Speaker0: And I'm just so excited to think about this.
21:42
Speaker0: And I really want to challenge our people who are listening to listen,
21:48
Speaker0: you know, give the podcast from today to their pastor or a leader or their friend
21:54
Speaker0: or a college group or whatever.
21:56
Speaker0: And then listen to the next two, listen to these three podcasts together,
22:00
Speaker0: uh, because I think it will wake us up to the reality of what's happening.
22:06
Speaker0: And, uh, boy, it couldn't be a more wonderful time. They said,
22:10
Speaker0: our times are the best time. Right.
22:13
Speaker0: And, uh, I'm sitting out here at a cabin. I'm in a accountability retreat with
22:19
Speaker0: guys that I've done for 32 years.
22:21
Speaker0: And while you were talking, my mic was muted. Okay.
22:25
Speaker0: But I'm right by a lake, and there were geese that were running all up and down
22:32
Speaker0: this lake while you were talking, and they were honking.
22:35
Speaker0: And I just thought, it's almost duck season. It's almost there. It's coming.
22:41
Speaker0: And I can't wait to see it. And we want to pray, Lord, don't pass us by.
22:48
Speaker0: Amen. Don't pass us by. So, Jonathan, we love to take time to pray with the
22:54
Speaker0: people that are listening on the podcast.
22:56
Speaker0: And we always ask them and would ask you today not to just listen as we pray,
23:03
Speaker0: but to really join in prayer with us.
23:06
Speaker0: And, Jonathan, if you would just lead our people in that and cry out for this
23:13
Speaker0: time and that we would be prepared and whatever the Lord lays on your heart.
23:17
Speaker0: So why don't you just lead us as we pray together? Yeah.
23:26
Speaker1: Father, we bless you that you are the Lord of the harvest.
23:35
Speaker1: And we think back to...
23:39
Speaker1: Um that mattered for us um for me and for bill and um you saw in your good plans
23:50
Speaker1: to seek us out in the holy spirit you were relentless over us and uh so we bless you that
23:58
Speaker1: we have been the beneficiary of you being lord of the harvest
24:03
Speaker1: and um and so lord what i believe is if you can save somebody like me
24:12
Speaker1: you can save just about anybody and so lord i i pray you'd increase our faith
24:18
Speaker1: i really want more faith if i could have a request in this season um it really
24:27
Speaker1: would be would you just pour out on me more faith?
24:30
Speaker1: And I pray that over every pastor and leader, worker, college minister,
24:37
Speaker1: any of those people listening right now, would you increase their faith in the Lord of the harvest?
24:43
Speaker1: And that we would give you no rest in our prayers for our cities and our colleges,
24:52
Speaker1: our nation, this world, that we would not stop at.
24:59
Speaker1: But we would just not limit you, God. I got prayer cards and prayer things and
25:05
Speaker1: hang tags that I'm praying.
25:07
Speaker1: And part of me just thinks that the prayers that I'm praying is way too small.
25:11
Speaker1: If this is a real harvest and the Holy Spirit is sweeping the field,
25:16
Speaker1: you tell us you don't want to be passed over.
25:21
Speaker1: You better pray. and so lord we want to pray because if if you move in our cities
25:29
Speaker1: our cities are different yeah it changes everything and if you move in our churches
25:38
Speaker1: Echoes to the ends of the earth you just have always been a global god and so
25:42
Speaker1: it would spread far and wide and and lord what i also know is you love to move through a pure church
25:51
Speaker1: and you love to use pure pastors and so
25:54
Speaker1: lord uh i pray that you
25:58
Speaker1: would purify us yes that we get
26:01
Speaker1: real low and stay
26:04
Speaker1: real low in all of this and that
26:07
Speaker1: we'd confess very quickly anything in us that
26:10
Speaker1: it's just not you not of you not honoring you not kind whatever Lord I pray
26:17
Speaker1: that that we would just find you would find in us a pure and desperate people
26:25
Speaker1: yes and so for my pastor friends
26:28
Speaker1: For those who may be weak and weary and like, hey, that sounds great.
26:34
Speaker1: For somewhere else, it just ain't happening here at court.
26:36
Speaker1: Would you increase their faith, increase their energy? I pray you'd give them
26:40
Speaker1: some winds that the wind of the Spirit, that the combine of the Spirit of God,
26:45
Speaker1: you know, that would just lay down some rice around them to increase their faith.
26:51
Speaker1: Lord, so for evangelism classes to pop up all over the nation,
26:58
Speaker1: Lord, there's so many good tools that we have just to get the gospel to people.
27:03
Speaker1: I pray for door knocking, Lord, that in some of the towns or the places,
27:10
Speaker1: door knocking would just sweep through a city.
27:14
Speaker1: And so for the things that we think, Lord, I pray you'd give us God-initiated
27:19
Speaker1: dreams and visions for how to reach our city,
27:22
Speaker1: how to reach our state, how to reach our nation, how to reach our world,
27:25
Speaker1: because you are harvesting and you long for this.
27:29
Speaker1: And so, Lord, I pray we would not be afraid to try anything.
27:34
Speaker1: That's right. And if we would just say, you know what?
27:37
Speaker1: Our God is too good and lost people are too important. And so,
27:42
Speaker1: Lord, just help us. Help me.
27:44
Speaker1: Lord, let us not be pastors that talk about it. Let us be pastors that,
27:48
Speaker1: even as Bill said, that we pick the sickle up.
27:52
Speaker1: And so, Lord, I pray it. And so I pray that over these next two podcasts that
28:00
Speaker1: are going to air, Lord, that you would birth some things in us.
28:06
Speaker1: It should call us to something. You call us to belief, call us to purity,
28:09
Speaker1: call us to prayer, call us to all the things that have to happen.
28:13
Speaker1: In order to cooperate with the harvest.
28:15
Speaker1: I pray we change our schedules because of the things that are going to happen. So Lord, you do all that.
28:20
Speaker1: And we just honor you for the seasons you brought us through already and for choosing us.
28:29
Speaker1: To get to walk through this season and so lord what we're asking is and what
28:34
Speaker1: we desire is to hasten the coming of the lord jesus and so lord we love you
28:40
Speaker1: we bless you your name and your renown that really is the desire of our souls
28:44
Speaker1: in christ's name we pray amen
28:47
Speaker0: Amen amen jonathan thank
28:51
Speaker0: you so much for uh sharing that
28:55
Speaker0: and praying that over us and i have
28:58
Speaker0: to i have to tell as we close here about uh samuel davies who was the president
29:06
Speaker0: of princeton during the first great awakening and they called him the apostle
29:10
Speaker0: of virginia and he said in the little book revival and revivalism he said that.
29:17
Speaker0: That he watched humble pastors for years faithfully preach the gospel with very little results.
29:24
Speaker0: And he said, and then the revival came and those same men preached the same messages.
29:31
Speaker0: And in a single day, they would see 200 people come to faith in Christ.
29:36
Speaker0: And he made this statement. He said, during the revival, the gospel became almighty
29:43
Speaker0: and carried everything before it. What a statement.
29:47
Speaker0: And so that's what we want to get ready for. And your prayer for faith.
29:54
Speaker0: I mean, you know, you almost think, you know, be it unto you according to your faith.
29:59
Speaker0: I mean, I honestly, because I watched during the Jesus movement,
30:03
Speaker0: people who didn't have the faith to believe that God was moving and they didn't even cooperate.
30:07
Speaker0: They didn't they didn't get the bins ready. They didn't get the combine cranked up.
30:13
Speaker0: And and the movement just passed them by. And so we don't want to sleep during a time of harvest.
30:20
Speaker0: And we pray that this has been a help and that in the next two weeks,
30:26
Speaker0: we're going to talk very practically about seven or eight things that we need
30:31
Speaker0: to do as leaders and as just believers.
30:35
Speaker0: It might be a great—these three programs might be a great thing to just sit
30:39
Speaker0: down with your staff or with a group and talk through them, really discuss them, and then pray them in.
30:47
Speaker0: So, Jonathan, thanks for sharing with us, man.
30:52
Speaker0: And thank you all for joining with us. And we pray that you'll join us the next
30:57
Speaker0: two weeks and on the rest of this series.
31:01
Speaker0: And God bless you.