The Rewards of Working with Jesus for an Eternal Harvest (John 4)

As Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman the disciples were off getting supplies. When the disciples arrived, Jesus shared that his food was to do the Fathers will and in John 4:36 we read that Jesus stated, “The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!” This section of Scripture encourages us to tell others about Jesus to experience the joy of working with the Lord, fulfill your God given purpose, and to see eternally significant results.Listen and be encouraged to prepare for a rewarding spiritual harvest.

Rockwell Church     April 28th, 2024     Pastor Chris Teien
The Rewards of Working with Jesus for an Eternal Harvest 
John 4:34-38

#1 Rewarded by EXPERIENCING the joy of working with God (John 4:34-38; Revelation 7:9-10)

#2 Rewarded by FULFILLING your purpose (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Luke 10:1-3)

#3 Rewarded by God GIVING you more resources (Matthew 6:33; 2 Cor. 9:9-13)

#4 Rewarded by SEEING results (Mark 4:26-29; Jude 1:20-23; Philippians 1:12-14)


An additional resource for this message series is the small book “Tell Someone – You Can Share the Good News” by Greg Laurie.  Also available as an e-book or audio book. 

Helping you apply God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church  Find episode transcripts at Well.faith 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Where to begin? This journey you face. The future rushes in. So relentless it space. Decisions overwhelm with each path. The unknown. Questions surround. As you wander far from home, your mind is resolved. Your will is set. But your truest longings you haven't found yet. Your steps, uncertain. Your way. Unknown. This heavy burden. Carry it alone. For too long, you've believed the lies. You don't have what it takes. But a mountain is calling. Your purpose awaits. This is your moment, your testing ground. Here to be forged, your purpose to be found. The fears you now face, you are not the first to bear. Others have come and gone. And their story you share. It is not your own strength, not secure by your own hand. Here lies a foundation, no longer built on the sand. There is one who knows the way, who died to set you free. And though you will face trouble, he has promised to never leave. He has set your path, your life, he sustained. Take heart. Press on. Your struggle is not in vain. His goodness and mercy will follow you all of your days. And when you grow weary in your relentless pursuit, drink from the streams of life, reviving your soul and his truth. The path is never easy as you tread through ice and stone. But don't abandon your way. You will never go alone. His word is your light. It will light your way. Through darkness and doubt, within your heart, it remains. If we would learn to think that every mountain is a chance to follow faithfully. In every statement, through done or through storms, his faithfulness, unchanged, his plans for your good in store. So where to begin? New adventures abound. A mountainous calling. Your purpose.

Chris T 3:41

Found that's a pretty good poem, pretty good video, pretty encouraging, pretty challenging. I don't know what you think your mountain is. That's calling. But I believe it's to live the Christian life and to make disciples and to lead lost people to Christ. One of the most scary things that you might do. One of the most scary things as you reach out and share your faith with others. We're in a series right now called Tell Someone, and I'm not preaching through the book, Tell Someone by Greg Laurie, but there are some copies of it on the table. I think they're usually like $13, $14, but I was able to find some like new ones for $5 each on the table, and it's pretty worthwhile as far as an encouragement to share your faith. So sometimes I refer to the book. I might even refer to it today. But we're actually in John chapter 4, and we looked last week at the Samaritan woman and Jesus going out of his way to talk to this woman who did not have a stellar reputation. So she had had many husbands, and the person she was living with was not her husband. She was at the water well at a suspicious time by herself, as if maybe she was a social outcast. And Jesus went out of his way. He basically skipped lunch. He went ahead of the disciples who were out getting supplies and had a conversation with this woman. And I mentioned last time that she didn't, or that Jesus didn't actually have to go through Samaria, though it was the most direct route. He could have, like many um Jews that didn't like the Samaritans, go around. So it would have been a little longer to go around, but it could have been easily done. It was very common to totally skip Samaria. But Jesus did not want to miss out on sharing the good news with what the Jews considered half-breeds, half Gentiles, half-Jews that were kind of messed up as far as their theology. And Jesus saw a wounded woman who needed to hear about faith. So he's in this conversation, and then the disciples show up. So the disciples are shocked. They didn't like talk to Jesus about his behavior, but they were like, hmm, this is weird because Jews don't talk to Samaritans and men don't talk to women, but it is Jesus, and so um, because they're having this conversation at the well. And Jesus said, give me a drink, which was another strange thing to the Samaritan woman, because she's like, um, that's this isn't this isn't a social norm. So this isn't the way it's usually done. By the way, if you're watching online, um, we didn't update the I didn't update the page like I usually do. So if you just hit refresh, then you'll have the right outline and you'll have the right title on the live stream page if you're watching. So anyway, um I want to talk to you today about being rewarded or how to prepare for a rewarding harvest. Because so Jesus is in this conversation with a Samaritan woman, then the disciples finally show up, and then the this the Samaritan woman leaves. She like leaves her um water jar or bucket or whatever she's got. She leaves it there and she disappears. So um, but I'm gonna talk more about that, not next week, because I'm gonna focus on Joshua chapter one for the graduation graduates. So um part of Sunday is graduate Sunday, but the other part of it is church worship, and you will totally get something challenging and encouraging out of a message on Joshua chapter one, even if you don't know a graduate, if you're not a graduate. On the other hand, we are honoring the four high school graduates, and so I will mention them. You will see a little slideshow about them, and there'll be cake served afterwards for them. But don't say, oh well, I don't know any graduates, I'm not coming that Sunday, because that doesn't make sense. So it's an add-on. We're honored, graduates in the church are awesome and exciting. We want to celebrate that. But anyway, um, this church, uh, people I try to explain at the memorial services and funerals when people come here, the people that used to go here a long time ago, or the people that have been in the community for a long time, like why in the world did you change the name of the why, as a congregation, did you did they change the name of the church to Rockwell Church instead of Emmanuel Baptist? And it is, as you know, to connect people of all ages to Christ the rock. So I'm literally, from what I understand, standing on a rock. So I guess that it was too expensive to blow the rock out of here. So they encased it with concrete, and that's why the platform is where it is. So standing on the rock. Anyway, um, so that together we can live well lives of worshiping, encouraging, learning, and loving. Do you know what the best form of encouragement is? Evangelism. Now we couldn't put that in there. We can't say worshiping, evangelizing, because the people we're trying to reach, they think it would be strange to be evangelized. The picture of someone with a big megaphone yelling at them, you need Jesus! And that's not what we do at all. But we encourage people, we encourage people to follow Jesus to get saved. So evangelism is huge. And so one time in my life I had the opportunity to show up in a town where there was no church, no evangelical church, and start one. And it was totally a God thing. We were on a scavenger hunt to find people that would be part of that church, and everybody we found to be part of our future church plant was excited to tell someone about Jesus. And I wonder, as a church, what would happen to this congregation if we got really excited about telling people about Jesus? So, would these chairs fill up with recently saved people that need to be taught how to live a Christian life and how to experience the joy of the Lord? What would happen if we got serious about telling someone? And then just going through John chapter 4, Jesus pulls out this very odd thing he says to the disciples, because the disciples, Jesus' disciples are like, oh, Jesus, we got lunch. We're here for lunch. And Jesus is like, I have food that you know not of that that you don't know of. And they're like, Did somebody feed him lunch while we were gone? Did he did the lady feed him lunch? What's happening here? And so he talks about this whole harvest thing, and that's what I wanted to talk about. And that is, number one, rewarded by experiencing the joy of working with God. So again, this the Samaritan woman, she left her jar or bottle behind. She's running off to tell everybody in town about this Jesus who did, who basically told her all the stuff about her. Could he be the Messiah? And so then those people from the town are gonna come see Jesus. And so I'm gonna talk more about you know sharing your faith story and what is the message that you're supposed to share in a couple weeks. So that's coming up. So I kind of skipped ahead. But I just wanted to focus on this one thing as far as uh you know, harvest. Um got to live in Iowa and then part of the southern Minnesota River Valley area where there was a lot of farming. So for as far as the eye could see, sometimes you would see either cornfields or soybean fields. So my favorite part of the year was, I think, around August or so. The um on a good year with a lot of rain, the soybeans would be like real high and green, and the underleaf was more of a light color kind of color. Uh the top was more darker color before they get dried out and they they shrivel up. Uh corn gets real ugly too as the corn uh fruit or the as a as the corn um uh starts to you know produce. But anyway, there's a time when the wind blows across the soybeans and it looks like ocean waves, and it's so cool to watch. I've tried to capture it on my my phone before, but my phone never seems to be able to capture what my eye can capture with my phone camera. But so Jesus um interrupts their conversation, and in verse 34, in John verse chapter 4, verse 34, you could follow along in your Bible, John chapter 4. My food, Jesus says, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. So Jesus says that that is what he is about. That when you think about food, what does food do for you? So food uh energizes you, it helps you to have strength to move on, uh, it recharges you. Um just about everybody I know likes food, especially if they've been working hard or walking a long distance. And so Jesus, the passage mentioned that he was he was thirsty, he was tired, he was hungry. Um, but yeah, he was excited about telling this woman about faith and about eternity and about um eternal water. I'm gonna talk about that in the future too, but does that excite us? Do we get excited when we get to tell people about Jesus? There's a spiritual battle that goes on. Satan wants to do everything he can to get you to be quiet, to get you to be distracted, to get you to stay away, to get you to not um be in random places looking for opportunities to share your faith. And they are there if you are motivated to do them. So when somebody tells you that today we're going out and we're going to share our faith as a group, and that's all you're about, then you are engaged. You are in evangelism sharing mode. You're ready to talk to anybody that will give you an opportunity to talk to them about faith in Christ. You maybe you open it up with um, you know, something of interest, uh start a conversation, or maybe um you get to the point where you ask an open-ended question, like have you ever come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you still somewhere along the way? But Jesus is telling his disciples that my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and that it was more important than the food they were bringing. So this isn't a message that says that we should all stop eating, though I know that I could probably eat less and be fitter, because people like fit pastors, I hear. And uh, so I'll work on that. But this message is about our priorities and our passions. Jesus said, Don't you have a saying, it's still four months until harvest. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields, they are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. So it's possible that the Samaritan woman told everybody from the village, and all the Samaritans were on their way. One Bible commentary said there could have been thousands of Samaritans walking towards Jesus, all in their white robes. Uh, that's how they dress back then. And Jesus could have said to his disciples, as all these people in white were coming towards them, look at the fields, they are ripe for harvest. They're white unto harvest. And then he talks about um how there's different people in the process. Uh, some are those who uh sow the seed, and then there's others who uh will reap. And it's they say they say it takes like five to eight conversations or uh not confrontations, but opportunities for people to hear about Christ before they usually say yes, before they say yes, I want to give my life to Jesus, and usually uh one person starts, and so it's usually not the same person with you know eight different conversations, you know, every time you see them. Hey, what have you done with Jesus? Let's talk about that again. But it's introducing them to other Christians, it's introducing them. It's God actually uh working through the power of the Holy Spirit to give them opportunities to hear the message and to respond. And maybe, maybe just on a perfect day, we might have the opportunity to have someone say, Yes, I want to follow Jesus. Maybe we'll have the opportunity. This doesn't didn't happen to me very often, but occasionally people would come up and say, What must I do to be saved? And then they got saved. They received Christ as their Lord and Savior, and as far as I can tell, it was a true conversion, and they're still following the Lord. That is one of the most exciting things to celebrate. And then the one who plants the seed, the seed is the word of God, the seed is um the um teaching them about their condition of sin and their need of forgiveness and how they can be made right. And so planting the seed when they choose to turn from their sin and to follow Jesus, to give their life to Jesus, uh that brings um a new day where they are uh reaped or uh brought into the kingdom, and that even angels celebrate that when that happens, and that is an awesome thing. And I hope every one of you could share a faith story about how you were lost and the process of how you re uh realized your need to follow Jesus and then how you got saved. And maybe even beyond that, you were baptized as a believer to uh show that you wanted to follow Jesus that like happened last Sunday. That would be great and exciting. Jesus continued, thus the saying, one sows and another reaps is true. And Jesus says, I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor. And we are all workers in the process. So I have a picture poster on my wall that says that the foundation of the church is to win lost people to Christ, to build believers in their faith, to um help the mature uh begin in ministry or to start ministry or serve in ministries, and then to expand different ministries. So win, build, equip, multiply. Um, we have this great opportunity, and we all can do those different things at different times. So, with one person, maybe we're trying to plant a seed and help them to get uh excited about the Christian life, and we give them a how to find God's New Testament, and we share our faith story with them, and we show them how Jesus can answer our prayers and get us through hard times and how we're different people than we were before. And then as they ask questions, we answer, maybe we do Bible studies with them, um, we encourage them, maybe we share our right now media video service with them and point them to some good videos that answer some of their felt needs, and then eventually they come into a relationship with Christ and we help them to start growing in their faith. We discipled them, and that is an exciting thing. So Jesus said there's this process, and Jesus was excited about what was going on with the Samaritan woman, and he was telling his disciples that this is important and this is important for us too. So think about the end results. So think about the seed that you're planting and what you hope to harvest. So as we plant the seed of God's word and the gospel of Jesus Christ, it should lead to worshipers around the throne, glorifying the Lord. Revelation 7, verse 9. Uh, after this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count. So John sees this in the future, from every nation and tribe and people and language standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, and they were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands, and they were shouting with a great roar, Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb. So the result of what we're planting should lead to people receiving Christ, and on the other side of this life for all eternity, being able to be around the throne and to praise the Lord and to enjoy eternity, which it would be an exciting place to be fulfilling your purpose in that way. God created people because one somebody said he created people because he loves stories, but he also created people to be worshipers. And that's what Jesus had told the Samaritan woman is that the Father is seeking worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. So are you worshiping in spirit and in truth? So you can worship in song, you can worship by coming here, you can worship by what you choose to do with your resources and the sacrifices that you make to put God first in your life, and you also worship by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. And that brings us to number two that we are rewarded by fulfilling our purpose, rewarded by fulfilling our purpose. So many people ask the question, why am I here? So the Christian life, the gospel answers the question of where we came from, um, why we're here, and where we're headed after we die. And it is an exciting thing to put Christ first. It is an exciting thing to be used by God to help people to find Jesus and to grow in their faith. There are so many other things that you can do that are a bridge. I mean, you can you can at work in your profession, the things that you know, the things that you do can be a bridge to talking and to sharing your life in Christ with others. It puts you in a marketplace arena, it puts you in a neighborhood, it puts you in a social club, it puts you in a place that other people can't go. You don't have to go to the mountains of India or the heart of Africa or the islands of Indonesia to tell people about Christ. You can be a missionary to the Iron Range, you can be a missionary to the curling club, you can be a missionary to the railway or wherever it is that you spend your time, God may have you there for a specific purpose, and that is to fulfill the good works He's created for you. So we are Ephesians 2 10, we are God's handiwork created. In Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. So He created us and He gave us opportunity and He is wired us to want to do these good works for Him. So when we're truly in Christ, according to James, our faith will be shown true by the works that we do. So we don't do works to be made right with God. We do works because we are right with God. We get excited about fulfilling his plan and his purpose. We get excited about opportunities. Sometimes, like when you think about going up a mountain, sometimes you uh are afraid and you don't know exactly how you'll do it or what you'll do when have when you have the opportunity. And you just have to keep moving forward and uh even in fear, praying, Lord help me, I don't know what I'm doing, Lord help me, I don't know what I'll say, Lord help me, I don't know how this is gonna work out, but uh help me, I want to do it for your glory and they're good. And then just see what happens. So many times the Holy Spirit kicks in, not when you're on the couch thinking if you should like go talk to your neighbor about Jesus, but when you actually are on your neighbor's lawn and you know, about to, you know, sit down and have whatever, pop lemonade, whatever. Um, and you want to share Christ with them, then the Holy Spirit kicks in, and then all of a sudden you have motivation and you have things that are on that you want to say and um just just show up. Be faithful to pray and confess any known sin that you have. Be faithful to commit your time to the Lord, be faithful to just show up and see what happens. See what happens, because God has created you to do good works, to do works through him, for him. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Again, so Jesus was telling his disciples that you are created, your purpose is to plant and harvest, your purpose is to lead these people to me. Okay, so 1 Corinthians 2, Paul says, When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I did not use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness, timid, and trembling, and my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom, but in the power of God. Paul was trained up as a religious leader, uh a Pharisee of the Pharisees. If you wanted to know about Judaism, if you wanted to uh have someone expound on Old Testament truths and Old Testament ways and uh just be amazed at the depth of knowledge and historical wisdom, Paul was your man. Paul was the guy that could have done a great job to expound on all of these things, probably wow you with um his eloquence and the words and the things that he shared, and there'd be lots of aha moments, and uh you would be very impressed, and it might even want you lead you to want to follow Paul. Say, I that man is so wise, I just want to follow him. Or um sometimes, I think this happens with me, probably because I talk fast. People are like, I don't know what he said, but he sure was excited about it. I like that. So but he knew that it wasn't him that brought people to Christ. He did not persuade them like a car salesman, he did not um guilt them, he just shared his faith, his faith story, what Jesus did on the cross, how the blood of Christ uh brings about forgiveness of sin, and how we can be in that, how we can have part of that. And he left it on the Holy Spirit so he was just simple in his presentation, and he just trusted the Lord. You know, he had a he had a pretty life-changing experience though, because he was persecuting Christians, and then Jesus shows up and strikes them blind and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And uh it was a wake-up call and a turnaround for the apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, but God used him greatly and in humility, and that's what we need to do. I don't, you are probably you know a greater speaker than me. So uh I watch like Toastmasters and uh TED Talks and stuff, and I'm like, wow, they are such perfect speakers. And then I tell my wife, I'm like, if all I had to do was preach a sermon and I didn't do all the other things that I do, maybe I'd like rehearse it more and I'd be better at it, and I'd I'd be a better speaker maybe, or or maybe not, but it's like every week is a new a new message, a new uh coming up with 3,500 to 4,500 words, and then uh you do all that work and then you you move on to the next one, and it just keeps coming, and you got Bible studies and other things. This week I have um this message, and then tomorrow morning I have my mother-in-law's memorial service in Cambridge, Minnesota at another church, and so I've been preparing for that, and so it's like wow, when does it end? It's just so busy, but busyness is not an excuse. Uh we just need to keep showing up and serving to the best of our ability with the best of the um best of what we have to give at the time, and God can bless that and God can use that. So again in Luke chapter 10, verse 1. So here we saw that Jesus was, before we saw that Jesus was telling the disciples that it was important for them to be thinking about planting and harvesting. And then we see, I just mentioned, that Paul says, you know, I'm not perfect at this. And matter of fact, uh I just came to you with simple humility, and I was kind of afraid because I didn't want to mess it up. I was kind of afraid because I know it's a God thing, and it's a big deal. And so, and then Jesus had more disciples than just the twelve. So here we talk about, he talks about seventy-two, so thirty-six pairs of people going out. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. I think about this and I think, you know, um it would be great if we went out two by two, but I'm not sure how well it would be received. So long time ago, our grandparents, or maybe even our parents, would go out and knock on doors and talk to people about Christ. And um, sometimes that's not as well received today as it was in the past. So one of my uh church planting friends, uh, they did go door to door, but uh they offered each door they went to, they said, Hey, we're from such and such church, and we're just excited to uh get to meet you. And so I know that uh you probably didn't want to be bothered, you know, by this knocking on your door, but since we interrupted you, um we wanted to know if one, there's anything we can pray about for you if you had any questions about spiritual things. And two, I want to give you a two-liter bottle of Coke or Diet Coke if you want it in these sealed bottles, just as our gift to you. So they're just going around handing out pop and uh talking to people about Jesus. And I don't know, maybe that would work. Don't know. I do know that uh um each time we would go and hang doors with uh invites and things, planting a church back then, we'd usually get a family or two to show up. But nonetheless, Jesus sent these 72 out two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go, and that was a really good idea. But then he said something else about it. He said, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest, and we should do that. That is a big thing. We should answer that prayer too and say, Uh here I am, send me. But then Jesus said, Go your way. Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. So you may not be well accepted, but that's okay. Because it's the act of worship when you show up and you're faithful to serve the Lord the way he's called you on that day, that that is reward-worthy, that that is a good thing, that that is worship. I am showing Jesus how much I value him by putting myself out there for ridicule, for persecution, for misunderstanding, and maybe for somebody to respond and get saved. So many times, if you are finding somebody that's reacting negatively, just kindly thank them and move on to the next person. And I guarantee you, eventually you will find somebody who has been looking for an opportunity to hear about Jesus. So, number three, rewarded by giving you more resources. This is a real interesting thing because you are putting Christ first and you are uh committed to the cause of evangelism and sharing your faith and uh building the kingdom and helping the word of God spread and hoping, helping the local church to thrive, to survive and thrive, and so rewarded by God giving you more resources. And Matthew 6 33, one of my favorite verses says, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So it talked about needing, don't be afraid when you need clothes and food and the things that you worry about. Um, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So it comes down to finances, it comes down to what you do with your resources and what you do with your time, how do you spend it, how do you use it. You know, some churches uh, you know, when we talk about tithes and offerings, some people are like, well, tithing is old testament, but that doesn't mean that you're not supposed to give. It means that uh you're not obligated to just give 10%. So God loves a cheerful giver, and in this passage, and that's what it says right before this 2 Corinthians 9 9. So um you just figure out, okay, God has blessed me with this much, so how much of it do I need for my daily needs? And sometimes you make sacrifices based on you know what you choose to have for daily needs, and then what can I use to invest in the kingdom of God? What can I use uh to purchase seed, to plant seed? And so it talks about giving in this passage, but verse nine says, as the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor, their good deeds will be remembered forever. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. The same way, in the same way, he will provide and increase your resources, and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way, so that you can always be generous, and when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. And so two good things will result from the ministry of giving. The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God for your generosity to them, and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ. So when we are giving, God sees, and God can reward us and help us to have more. So He can reward us with eternal rewards, He can bless us in other ways. It's not a it's not a give to get. It's not like, oh, if I, you know, God's gonna uh triple my money if I if I give ten doll today, uh, you know, he's gonna make it a hundred dollars tomorrow or whatever. Um, but it is uh I honor and love the Lord so much that I'm gonna put him first with my finances, and it's probably gonna be a sacrifice and it's gonna make a difference. So um just me personally, uh my truck died the other day, and so I was praying about it, and I'm like, God, I've been faithful to give, and I have been faithful to put you first. And your word says that when I am faithful to do those things, I will have all that I need. And in Psalm 23, verse 1, uh in the New Living Translation, it says, The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. And in James, it says that you have not, because you ask not. So I was praying about it, and I was saying, Lord, I do not have transportation. So um, what should we do about that? And so as I've been praying about it, I feel that uh the first thing I should do is try to fix what I have. So I have not ripped apart the cylinders to uh replace the hydraulic lifters on a Chevy truck before, but I watched a couple YouTube videos and I hope it works out okay. I might stay at a holiday end too, I'm not sure. But um, so I'm gonna attempt that. And I'm praying about it because I don't want to run ahead again, run ahead of God. There's a certain part of my finances that are earmarked to give to the kingdom of God, and that is untouchable. No matter how much I am in need, that is untouchable. I'm putting that first, and I'm gonna trust God to provide, and I hope to come back with a testimony of that God was faithful. Number four, rewarded by seeing results. Rewarded by seeing results. When we do these things, we we invest our lives in the kingdom of God. When we put them first, when we spend time um praying for others and memorizing scripture and being equipped and ready to go out and tell people, when we see results, it is very exciting when we get to see the harvest brought in. So, Mark 4, 26, Jesus said, This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. That's what we're doing. We're spreading seed, and God is the one who makes it grow. We trust in his hand. Sometimes we don't see results, but God sees it. Verse 28, all by itself the soil produces grain. First the stock, then the head, then the full kernel in the head, and soon the grain is ripe. He puts the sickle to it because the harvest is come. And that is an exciting thing to be part of that. Uh, but we're just being faithful. So we're being faithful and trusting God for the results. We're being faithful as we go from day to day, living for the Lord and proclaiming the gospel, trying to reach lost people for Christ, trusting that God will work. So Jude 20 says, Dear friends, you must build each other up in your most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. So prayer is so important. And wait, await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God's love, and you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment, show mercy still to others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. And so this is the attitude that we have broken, lost people in need of rescue. So God has us maybe in a situation where we are ready to help snatch people from the flames. And one more, one more passage, and then then I'll be done here. But one more passage. Just want to point out that there's so many people that say, I would, but I can't. So I would, but my life situation hasn't turned out like I thought. Or I would, but you know, uh things things kind of fell apart for me, and I probably don't have much worth saying. Um, but God can use that. So in Philippians 1, Paul is in jail. And so I think he had great aspirations of doing all this stuff, teaching and proclaiming Christ and going on all these missionary journeys and stuff. And so people are like, wow, you're kind of disqualified there. I don't know what you did wrong, but you're like stuck in the in the slammer there. So Paul says, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. It as a as a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. Sometimes God can use your hardship, God can use the difficulties, God can use your pain to reach other people. Second Corinthians 1 talks about how the God of comfort comforts us in all our troubles so we can comfort others. You may have committed a crime and gone to jail or had an abortion or done terrible things, and Jesus saved you. Jesus might be the one to help you reach out to someone else whose life was just as messed up as yours was before that all happened. Um they come to Christ because somebody like you was able to relate to them. And they thought to themselves, well, if somebody, if Jesus can save somebody that was as messed up as they are, they were, He could, he could help me too. And so we pray about that. So in the Tell Someone book, um, there's lots of encouragements for uh sharing the faith. But um here it says, There have been many times that I have felt drained and exhausted, both physically and mentally. I have even felt like my spiritual gas tank was close to empty. But then I started to when I started to share the gospel with someone or stopped thinking about myself and focused on another's needs and shared some truth from God's word, I was replenished in every way. I started on empty and ended on full. Proverbs 1125 tells us that those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. So let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be excited and motivated to step out in faith and tell other people about Jesus that we would have a rescuer mentality, that we would have a planting seed mentality, that we would be looking for opportunities to harvest by leading people to Christ, by um helping them to realize that they are sinners in need of a savior, and uh placing their trust and hope in Jesus. And maybe even a way to do that to help them cross the line is praying, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, please forgive me of my sin and come into my life and save me, make me the person you created me to be. I want to follow and live for you and be part of what you're doing. And we ask and ask us in Jesus' name, Amen.