It's been heavy on me recently. We'll see if the Lord provides
for it to begin a radio message and start putting that out. And
I don't know how the Lord will use that and how it'll play out,
but that's been heavy on me. And I fear anyone that speaks
on the behalf of the Lord ought to fear. And I do. And it ain't something
fun. to fear that it's not my doing in anything. It's not my will or me wanting
to do something. It's not my position and my desire
to do things that it's His. That's what I prayed for. I never
had a desire to do that. I thought I'll never be on the
radio. TV evangelist. I'll never be on the radio. And
I'll give you a little tongue twister like my pastor used to
give us growing up, kind of get you awake a little bit and get
you engaged. I read this thing that said for parents, as soon
as they say, my children will never, it says they start nevering
like they've never nevered before. As soon as I say I'll never,
you better look out. When the Lord uses one of His
own, It's going to be in a way that's contrary to our natural
desires and abilities. It's going to go clean against
the grain. Well, I'm set up good for this and I'm comfortable
with that and that just must be how the Lord's going to use
me. Nope. I've been down this road quite a ways. It ain't going
to happen that way. Those that are timid, they're
too timid to speak of our Lord. Those that are so timid and meek
to say, come church with me, is impossible for them to do.
The Lord just may use that one to preach. Those that have a
strong desire to tell everybody, everything they know and what
the Lord has done for them, they may be made to serve by sitting
and listening. by showing up to church, praying
for the pastor, singing with the brethren and comforting them. Those that have a great ability
to write, it just comes so natural. That wasn't me. I squeaked through
English class and I said I'll never write another paper in
my life. I write about 30 pages a week or more. Those that have
a great ability to write, they may be called to listen to be
an ear for brethren to cry to and lean on. Those are the real
good listeners. Boy, they can just take the troubles.
They can bear the burdens. They may be used aright. Someone asked Brother Spurgeon
one time, come up to him and said, you know, the Holy Ghost
has come upon me and I'm supposed to preach here Wednesday night
on your midweek service. Brother Spurgeon said, that's
weird. He didn't tell me. So many times someone's so eager
to preach their first time they've never done it and they're so
eager to tell what they know, that's a good sign they aren't meant
to do it. Moses did that, didn't he? Boy,
I'll lead your people. He killed somebody. That wouldn't
do. God sent him out to the wilderness
for a long time. They didn't get good nor old.
And he said, Moses, I'm going to use you. He said, I've developed
a stutter. I can't talk. Don't use me. He said, no, you're
right for the picking now. Now I'm going to use you. Paul
hated Gentiles with a passion. And he said, look at the grace
of the Lord to me. I get to preach to the Gentiles.
Peter at Redneck. He's a hillbilly. God sent him
to go talk to the hoity-toities. Isn't that right? Ain't nothing
changing in our day. I can list you ten things that's
happened right now. Around this country. Those that
say, I would never. I'll never move there. I won't
leave here. I'll never live in this place
that way. I'll never do that. I'll never stop doing this. Be
careful. If the Lord uses you, not man. Man's convenient. Well, they
got an opening in the Bahamas, in a big old fancy house. I bet.
Better look out. If the Lord uses you, you may
start nevering. I'll never do that. If the Lord
uses you, you're going to get ready to. And He's going to use
you. I thought of an old Bill Withers
song. He's going to use you until you're used up. It's a tool that's
got to be sharpened over and over again. And that's whether
they're singing, praying, sitting, faithfully attending the worship,
whatever it is, speaking, writing, whatever the Lord chooses to
do, you're going to get used. It's going to be inconvenient.
It's going to go against the grain. Here in our text tonight
in John 4, we've got a story within a story. We've been looking
at that woman at the well, and we've looked down through verse
30, verse 1 through 30. Looked at that twice, and then
we skipped. We went down to verses 39 through 42 and saw the results
of that. But our Lord teaches His disciples
something while this woman ran into town. He spoke to her in
power, revealed himself in her, and she went to go tell people.
This one that was hiding out at noon so nobody would see her,
she ran right in the middle of town. She went against the grain. Everything that was normal in
her instincts, she did the opposite. She went to go tell them. While
she's gone, the Lord teaches His disciples something. Teaches
those apostles something. Look here at verse 31. That's
the paragraph that begins at verse 31 and it ends at verse
38. That'll be our text. And the meanwhile, His disciples
prayed to Him saying, Master, eat. He'd send them to go get
meat. But He said unto them, I have
meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus
saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me, and to finish his work. Say not ye that there are yet
four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you,
lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white,
all ready to harvest. and he that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein
is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored,
and ye are entered into their labors. The Lord is teaching
them something. He does it very efficiently. It might take me a long time
to pass on some understanding and knowledge to somebody if
I was teaching them a skill. Our Lord is very efficient. He teaches
them something, equips them, and then He gives them command
to execute His will. They needed to be taught. They
needed to be equipped. They were not equipped to serve
Him as He saw fit in that time. He equips them, He teaches them,
and then He uses them. They're the means that the Lord
was pleased to use in this town, in Samaria. What was the cause
of this obstruction? Why did they need to be taught?
What was the Lord going to teach them on? Look up in verse 27.
It says, And upon this, He had spoke to that woman. They heard
Him say, I am. And she took off running. She
dropped her water pot. Go tell everybody. And upon this
came His disciples, and marveled that He talked with the woman.
Yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with
her? They're starting to learn something.
They're learning to keep their mouths shut. That's what they're
learning. And I told you last time we saw that, I said, They're
going to learn some more, and I hope the Lord chose us too. Here's
what they're going to learn more. They were saying, you see this
woman? That's a Samaritan. That's a
half-breed. That's half-Jew, half-Gentile.
That's a Gentile dog. We're enemies with them. There's
roads that go around this town. So we don't have to be in contact
with them. There's laws. That's what I grew up with. There's
laws of man. Jews can't have no dealings with
them. They can't have no dealings with us. They were competitors.
They built a temple there in Samaria. Copycats. Don't want to do with them. Leave
them alone. Mark them. Avoid them. And then this woman,
there's some outward characteristics I'm certain of that they're like,
yeah, it's noon. He ought not be talking with
her. Why is he talking with her? That's a sinner right there. First thing that's taught, let's
turn from this world. Turn from this world, turn from
what you know, from what you think, all your understanding,
all the stuff that's been built up over time and you're so well-equipped
to do something, leave it alone. Let it go. That's what He's going
to teach us. Look here in verse 31. John 4, 31. In the meanwhile, His disciples
prayed Him, saying, Master, eat. He sent them to get meat, didn't
He? And they're asking Him, Lord, eat. Our Lord's a man. He's the
God-man. He was tempted, just as we are,
in all points like us, yet without sin. He got hungry, just like
you get hungry. He was sitting on this well because
He was tired, just like I get tired. He was thirsty. He said,
give me a drink. He needed to drink water, worldly
water, just like us. And he responds to them in verse
32. And he says, But he said unto them, I have meat to eat
that ye know not of. He just spoke to this woman at
the well about drinking, about water. He just sent them to go
get meat. And he didn't have either one
of them. It's never recorded that he drank that water. It's
not recorded that he ate that meat that they brought back.
And they pleaded with him. Master, eat. We've got the meat
here. Eat this. They were starving. So they thought. I always say, I'm starving. I
ain't starving. I think I am. They were hungry. And they assumed that the Lord
was just as hungry as they were. He ain't eaten since the last
time we ate. He's got to be hungry. I'm famished. You eat first.
Lord, eat. Master, eat. They were generally
concerned about his physical well-being. You know that? They
earnestly, they cared for his physical well-being. And all
the while, well that's good, isn't that good? Put a couple
extra O's in there. All the while, he was concerned
about their spiritual well-being. They were concerned about their
bodies. And he said, you're too concerned about your bodies.
He's about to equip them to be used. And he's about to teach
them some things and put them to work. Turn to Matthew chapter
6. Here in Matthew 6, this is about
the same time as this woman at the well. John didn't record
it, but this is close to the same time. Matthew 6, 25. He
says, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life,
what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your
body, what ye shall put on. I'm about to record what you're
going to wear. Is not the life more than meat, and the body
more than raiment? Look down at verse 31. Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we
drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after these things
do the Gentiles..." He's saying the heathens. He's speaking in
a way they can understand. "...after these the heathens seek. For
your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you." That's why He can say that in a sentence to
them. He can say that in a word to them, put that in their heart.
What was Christ come to do? What was His meat? What was His
drink? What was our Lord's drink? He
came to seek and to save His lost sheep. He came to be their
substitute. He came to glorify and honor
His Father and His holy law and to reconcile that stiff-necked,
gangstand people. Sinners to the Father. make reconciliation
for His people. He came to seek His kingdom. This really hit me this morning.
How would my day go if every time my stomach gurgled, I had
a little hunger pain, if I sought the Lord's kingdom first? Every
time I got a little bit hungry, I thought, you know what, I'm
going to go to the fridge and see what's in there. Let me seek the Lord's kingdom first.
I bet my pants probably fit a little bit better. If every time that I got thirsty,
my lips got dry, and I needed a drink of water, I sought His
kingdom. Every time that my tennis shoes were starting to wear out,
and I thought, well, I need to get me another pair of tennis shoes. Before
I did anything, if I sought the Lord's kingdom, if I sought His
glory first, how would the rest of my day go? Would I get fed? Would I get watered? And would
I be clothed? You bet. You bet I would be.
And if I didn't physically get fed, watered, and clothed, I'd
be reminded that Christ fed me with His body. He watered me
because He's the living waters, and He clothed me in His righteousness.
I'll be reminded of that one more time. My toe's poking out
of my shoe. I don't care now. My lips are
chapped. Get some chapstick. It's okay,
you'll get water tomorrow. You make three days, you'll be
fine. He says there in verse 34, Matthew
6, 34. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. Turn over to Isaiah
55. Here's also what the Lord's speaking
to those men. And this may be what they remembered
He brought to stir up in their minds. It's our Lord speaking
in Isaiah 55, but Christ our Lord. It's Him speaking too. Here's him speaking through his
prophet, Isaiah 55 verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. What waters? A whale? Waters
of this world? No, Christ the living waters.
Come to him. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without honey and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? That's what we can read there
in Ecclesiastes 1. Everything's vain. I can go have the best
steak in this town, and it can be delicious, and by tomorrow
morning I'm going to need some eggs and bacon. I'm going to
be hungry. It's vanity. Why do I set my
affections, and my time, and my labor, and all my worry, and
all my money, and everything I can put my back into, to the
things of this world? He says, hearken diligently unto
me and eat ye that which is good. There's none good but God. And let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Let your soul delight in those
fat things and wine on the lees, well refined. Let your soul delight
in this. Let this be your happiness. This
world's vanity. Now we still need to work. We
still need to eat. We still need to sleep. We still
need to drink water. But our soul, our mind, the whole of
me, are to seek things above. Seek His kingdom. Christ's glory.
The furtherance of the gospel. Loving my brethren. Bearing the
burden. Giving them comfort. That's why
we eat physical food. That's why we drink physical
water. That's why we have a physical
job. So we can tend to our brethren. Tend to the gospel. Tend to the
furtherance of that. Tend to honoring our Lord. That's
why we do those things. Back in our text there. John
4, look at verse 33. This is what our Lord is saying to
them. His meat is something they don't know of. And they didn't
get it. People think they're so bright.
They're just so understanding, well learned, well read. And
these are the apostles, and they didn't get it. That ought to
be humbling to us, isn't it? Look here in verse 33. Therefore
said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought him ought
to eat? They're still looking carnally.
They're still looking earthly. They're still looking physically.
Did you bring him something? Did somebody bring him some beef
jerky? Did he have something in his pocket? Maybe one of the
fellows over there. Did you all get him anything?
He has something to eat we don't know about. I don't see a knapsack. They're looking to this earth.
They're looking carnally. And our Lord's so tender. He's so
gracious. He's so long-suffering to His
people. He didn't bop them and say, how
long you been with me? Don't you get it yet? Y'all know
this. Y'all know. If words come out
of my mouth, y'all know what I'm speaking about. Y'all know
the context. You may not understand it, but y'all have the gist of
it. He'd belittle them. No, look what he says here. Jesus
saith unto them, verse 34, My meat is to do the will of him
that sent me, and to finish his work. He didn't scold them. He didn't rebuke them. They should
have knew this, but our Lord was tender to them. Oh, that I'd have the mind of
Christ. Let this mind be in you, to give all of me. to His service,
to enter the ministry. I hope someday I can enter the
ministry. That was a saying. I always, I got it. Like they
ought to have got it. I got it. I understood it some.
Boy, I understand it now. I hope someday I can serve the
Lord. I hope someday I can give myself
to His gospel. To be meek. I hope someday I
can be patient and long-suffering. To have wisdom. His wisdom. Not
man's wisdom. His wisdom, to be concerned of
heavenly things always. Oh, wouldn't that be nice? We
know He wasn't speaking about carnal things. He wasn't telling
them, sending them to go get meat for Himself. He told us
in Psalm 50, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you, cattle on
a thousand hills are mine. He sent them to get meat for
them. He knew they were needy. They tried giving him food. Lord,
eat. And later on, he's going to say,
take, eat. This is my body that's broken
for you. They was worried about him. Lord, eat or you're going
to die. He said, you eat my body or you're going to die. They
were worried about his physical. He was worried about their spiritual
well-being. He asked those fishermen one day, he said, you got any
meat? And they said, no, nothing. Come short. They already had
some ready for him. He was asked of meat of those after his work
was finished. After he'd come out of the tomb
before his ascension. And they gave him some meat.
But that wasn't because he had needed it. He was in his glorified
body. He didn't need to eat that. He
was giving them proof of life. I'm a man and I'm alive. After
a surgery or something like that, somebody says, eat something,
drink something. They try to get you to eat something. It
means you're alive, everything's working right. And he says, you
got any meat? Here, watch this. I'll eat it
for your sakes, for your sake." He sent the ravens to Elijah
to give him food. He fed Elijah. I think of that
often. It was not the other way around. That sound like a bold statement
to you? It's pretty bold nowadays. If I walk down the street, I
might get my head chopped off for saying something like that. That's a false gospel
of a God that wants man to do something. A God that needs something
from man. The Lord doesn't need you. He
doesn't want anything from you. He comes to His people and He
gives Himself to them. That's salvation. Not the other
way around. Well, I went to God. He's just
sad and sitting over at the corner moping. And I gave myself to
Him. Hogwash. That's a lie. And you'll
go to hell believing a damnable heresy like that. He comes to
His people. in kindness and tender mercy,
abundant in grace, and reveals Himself to them. When He reveals Himself, when
He gives Himself in power to His child, gives them new life,
they give all of themselves to Him. That will happen. Well, there was a need for the
Lord to teach some things and He begins to teach and He equips
His disciples by giving them an example. A good leader always
does that. They never ask someone to do
something they wouldn't do themselves. For me to forsake myself in any
way does not match what He forsook for me. He did without so we could be
full. He didn't eat so we could eat.
He didn't drink so we could drink. He died so we could live. He
reminds the disciples, we're to be about our father's business.
He's been about his father's business from the womb. Like we're ought to be, but he
reminds them. Our meat's from heaven. How often
we need reminded. How often I need reminded, I
need to be about my father's business. He says in verse 34, Jesus saith
unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me to finish
his work. That was his meat, his substance.
That's what filled him up. Doing the will of the father
and finishing the work that he sent him to do. That sustained
him, that filled him up. Meat fills, fills. Vegetables are wonderful. Human
body requires fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to function.
in a certain ratio, but meets what satisfies. It stays with
you. Now they see Christ. They're
reminded of His person, His work. Reminded that He shall save His
people from their sins. That's His name. And for you
and I, that's pretty good for them. For you and I, it is finished. He came to finish the Father's
work. It's finished. What better news is there than
that? He did it. He completed that work. Now they
got their pure minds stirred up, as Peter says. Now they're
put back on task. They got turned from this world
and turned to our Lord. Turned from serving man to serving
the God-man. Now they're equipped to be used,
and He's going to give them something to do. He's going to give them
something to serve Him. Now watch this, verse 35. Say
ye not that there are yet four months, and then harvest come,
We just walked through all these fields. You saw them planted.
That corn ain't gonna pop up. I'll be knee high by the 4th
of July where I grew up. You got four months till the
harvest comes in, right? Those plowed fields. I say unto
you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white,
all ready to harvest. Lift up your eyes. Look up. Look
up. Look over there. You see them
fields? They're white. are ready to harvest. Peak rottenness. What does that mean? Now we remember
this is the story of the woman at the well. This isn't a sub-story
that happens to be inserted. This is all the story of the
woman at the well. She went to go tell her friends.
Now coming running over that hill, right as our Lord said
this, here's a town full of men. Had a woman married five times
that went and talked to him and said, you've got to come see
this man. This is the Christ. Come to him. He ain't never been
here before. He's there right now, and he
may be leaving. Get up. Let's go. And they believed
her. That's what we looked at last
week. They heard her. They believed her. She ain't
never acted like this before. She's got some sense about her.
She's motivated. She ain't hiding. Something's
going on. Maybe we ought to go see what she's talking about.
And here they come running. She's like, don't come on. Let's
go. He may leave. And they come running. And right
as they pick that hill, I'm a whole mess of them. I don't know how
many there was, a bunch. She knew a lot of men. Might have
knew every one of them. They come running over that hill.
And the Lord said, right there's comes a harvest. You think a
harvest is coming in four months? Right there, they're right for
the picking. I'm gonna put you to work. I just stirred up your
pure minds. It'll be about our Father's business.
I've come here to seek and to save the lost. Here they come,
get ready. Our Lord sent out those 70, and
He said, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of
the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. That's His harvest. Here they
come running. He's done a work in them already
in His providence and His grace before time began. Here they
come. Remember the reason for this teaching. Remember the reason
He taught His people. They murmured about the enemy.
They murmured about the Samaritan that the Lord was talking to.
The town and all His people walked around. The sinners. Ladies of
the night. And they said, He's talking to
her? It would have been convenient to go preach to Galileans, wouldn't
it? And the Lord said, I'm about to use you. Here's the very thing
you despise. You're going to preach to them.
You're going to comfort them. You're going to mourn with them.
You're going to laugh with them. You're going to eat with them.
People say, I want to be used of God. Think of the absolute
worst thing you can think of that you despise more than anything
in this world. And, Lord tell you, that's what
I'm going to use you. Go tell them what Christ did
for you. You quit hating all men, don't you? If the Lord works,
you need to do that. The very city they despised, now they're
going to preach to them, comfort them, love on them, rejoice with
them, because they've got new brothers and sisters. Here they
come over the hill now. Verse 36. He that reapeth receiveth
wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal. that both he that
soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." The Lord is
plowing those fields, His earthen vessel. He plows the heart. He
breaks up the ground. You say, well, I kind of understand.
The Lord does something to you, buddy. There's a plow going through
the ground. Rocks are flying. Dirt's flying. And He plants
through His vessels. He uses the preaching of the
gospel to plant seeds. And He waters through the preaching
of His word. And He gives the increase as He sees fit, in the
measure that it pleases Him to do so. The sun comes down on
those tender plants, and they grow as He sees fit. I like that
old analogy, two angels the Lord sent to earth. If He sent two
angels to this earth, and one to rule it, to rule everything,
be on TV every day, and the other one to pump septic tanks, it
would make no difference to them which one did what. They'd be
thankful that they got to serve their Lord, and they'd both have
the same amount of motivation, and happiness, and rejoicing,
and just giving it all they got. What did you do today? I was
on TV. What did you do? I dug up a septic tank. Wonderful! The Lord gave back for us to
do. Think how kind He is. They rejoiced together, those
that harvest. If John Reeves came down here and preached for
you all, and you'd listened to the Gospel for decades, And the
Lord used that man for you to hear the gospel for the first
time. And you said, Kevin, I want to be baptized. The Lord has
done a work in me. I died when he died. I was buried
with him. I rose with him. He commanded
me to do so and I'm going to obey him because I love him.
And I'm going to go in the waters of baptism. And you said, but
John was used to do it. The Lord used that vessel, that
mouthpiece to speak to me. I want him to baptize me. Do
you think I said, now hold on. I'm the pastor. Great! Let me get him on the phone.
Good! I was going to check. I saw him on the phone with John
today. I was going to check with him. I said, John, somebody up there asked
me to baptize him. Would you be offended? I know the answer.
He wouldn't care. He'd come down here and I'd hug
him. We'd rejoice. You all be happy. You'd get to
see him. If I went up there, it'd be the
same thing. Don't make a difference. He says in verse 37, and herein
is that saying true? Our Lord is going to quote a
phrase in common usage from that day because He's preaching to
His people and He's speaking to them in words they can understand.
Herein is that saying true, this common saying that you say, one
soweth and another reapeth. Boy, He took something bad. and
turned it good in their hearts. I'm going to tell you what this
means. It was a blessing to me. This was a common phrase at the
time. One sows and the other one reaps. That was throwing
darts at somebody that was just lazy. Somebody that didn't work
for a living. They didn't go out and sweat
and toil and they didn't get their bread from busting up the
ground from the sweat of their brow like Adam is supposed to.
But they had some kind of way of eating. And they'd go by and
say, well, one sows, one reaps. And that's a derogatory statement,
isn't it? I can tell you stories all evening.
People I know, people I'm related to, and I'd say, well, they don't
sow nothing. And boy, they sure reap. I'm out here sweating and
working hard and keeping up all this. Turn the news on. You'll
get mad. providing for all that. You know
how the Lord says, now this saying that you always used, you meant
for evil, now it's true and you're going to agree with it. You're
going to reap where you never did sow and you will be thankful.
This parable of the talents we looked at recently, that man
said, you reap where you don't sow. You know what that was referring
to? He's telling Christ, the Lord, that he's nothing more
than a man. Who say you that I am? Well,
some say prophet. That's what that woman at the
well said, wasn't it? You're just a prophet. You're reaping
where you don't sow. And he said, I'll judge you out
of the side of your mouth. Words come out of your mouth, he said,
I'll judge you. You want to say I'm a man? Watch this. Took everything
from him, didn't he? He said, verse 38, I sent you
to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor. Other men labored,
and ye are entered into their reward. You're entering into
their wages. It don't say that, does it? What's
it say? You're entered into their labors. Ain't no different. Somebody come here and the Lord
used them to plow this ground years ago. Somebody came here
and they seeded a long time. Brother Don come here and seeded.
John Chapman's come and seeded. Angus has come and seeded. Others
come and watered. Sometimes they watered and seeded.
I show up. Brother Paul Mahan's done a lot
of seeding water in this place. And I reap. These men did the
groundwork, and I join in with their labors. And there ain't
no jealousy, there ain't no envy. Tickle me to death. I'm thankful
to. You're going to harvest, reap
what someone else did on the groundwork, but then you're going
to go cast seed. You're going to harvest that.
You're going to plant some more. You're going to harvest that.
You're going to water. You're going to plant some more. It's going
to keep happening. And there's no difference in
the Kingdom of Heaven. If the Lord used one of my friends,
one of my fellow laborers, to preach to a loved one, a family
member, and save them, they're going to be upset about that.
I don't care. I'm just Kevin. I'm just a husband. I'm just
a dad. I'm just a brother. Boy, what if they used them?
That tickled me to death. I don't care who they're coming
from. I don't care who the Lord uses. What's important is that
seed went into them. That's His. This happened to
Paul. He wrote to the church at Corinth. He said, Who then is Paul and
who is Apollos? Some say, I'm Apollos. But ministers
by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I
have planted. Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything. Neither he that watereth. Ain't
nothing either. But God that giveth the increase.
Turn over to Acts 8 and I'll let you go. Acts chapter 8. These apostles, they hugged them
brethren. They preached to them. That was the talent that the
Lord gave them to do, and they did it. And they served those
of Samaria, and they planted, and they harvested and watered,
and whatever the Lord had for them to do, whatever stage that
crop was, that's exactly what they did. They didn't know what
they was doing, but the Lord did through them. He used them moderately. And it says here in Acts 8 verse
4, Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
the word. Then Philip, came down to the
city of Samaria. Here comes Philip into that town
that nobody wanted to go through, and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which
Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles that he did. For
unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many
that were possessed with them, and many taken with the palsies
that were lame. They were healed. And there was
a great joy in that city. Philip went in and he harvested
all that those apostles had planted. All that those other ones had
worked on. And that city rejoiced. They were thankful because Christ
was preached to them. What does a sowing? Preaching
Christ. What does a plowing? Preaching Christ. What waters?
Preaching Christ. What harvests? Preaching Christ. That's what he did. Philip just
showed up in the town. All the work's done. I always
say people used to call me blister. I showed up after the work was
done. He showed up, all the work's done. He just preached Christ
to them. And boy, what a reaping. Boy, what rejoicing there was.
And he just stayed there and glowed in it. The Lord used him.
He said, you've harvested. Now you get to planting. What
happened down in verse 26? He spoke to him and he said,
you get out. He said, there's one of mine out there on the
road. There's an Ethiopian eunuch. Go, Philip. Philip went out and
heard this man reading. He said, what are you reading?
Do you understand what's coming out of your mouth? He said, how
can I, except a man teach me. He said, move over, I'll tell
you. He preached Christ to him. So he harvested preaching Christ
and he planted seed in that Ethiopian preaching Christ. That all happened
in one day for him. He said, what does keep me from
being baptized? He said, right there is water. Philip said,
let's go. I pray the Lord would teach us,
He would correct us, He would enable us to do the work He has
pleased to put in our hand to do, whatever that is, no matter
the position, and that we would plant some, that we was able
to water some, we was able to harvest some, and what a pleasure
it would be, what rejoicing there'd be if we get to watch it happen.
Lord, let me watch that happen. Wouldn't that be something? I
pray it would be.