The Harvest - Pastor Eric Skelton

At The Neighborhood Church, we believe faith is lived out in everyday rhythms of love, grace, and purpose. Learn more and connect with us at https://theneighborhoodchurch.com/

Transcript

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Okay. Well, uh, everybody awake? Everybody good? I want to right off the bat, very first thing, just uh give you a massive, heartfelt thank you for your love and your kindness and your support for my family, for my daughter, um, friends, family, church, you showed up and just it blew me away. It blew me away. Um, I sent our our our staff, we're in a text group, and I I sent our staff a quick text and just I said, in my 20 plus years of ministry, I've never been a part of a team that was so selfless and giving and loving as this group. And so, church, you you are amazing. Thank you, thank you for all that you've done and poured out and poured into us. It was a good day, and I'm not sure what was harder giving her away yesterday or her picking up the dog and taking it this morning. So um, I I'm still crying. Like I'm like, my Bentley is gone. No. But it's okay. It's okay. We have Randy and Karis's Bentley that we'll love on that. So but it was it was good. If you need coffee to stay awake, go ahead and get that. That's fine. That's do that. Um I've had three. Uh, but it was an incredible day, and thank you, thank you so much. Uh, it was really a beautiful display of what we've been calling in this sermon series common grace. It was a beautiful display of that. There's gifts of love and family and food and friendship and community, and and well, depending on who you watched on the dance floors, some very uncommon dance moves that were interesting. Yeah. So, but let's be honest. I'm gonna be honest with you, if that's okay. Um, I'm gonna need a little extra grace today. Can you extend a little extra grace to your pastor today? Yeah? So if I stumble over words or forget where I'm at, even though I have my notes, uh, just give me a little extra grace. Is that okay? Can I ask for that? Great, great, thank you. We're wrapping up a series. Today's the last day of this series, Common Grace, Uncommon Power. We believe that God gives all common grace. Yes? That's who he is. He is the giver of grace, and we're all receivers of that grace. He also gives, through the power of his Holy Spirit, this uncommon power that is available to all, but sometimes we don't activate it. Sometimes we decide to leave it in the tool shed, or we leave it locked up in the closet, or we don't even realize that it's available to us. God gives common grace to all, and and this this uncommon power is available to all if it's activated. And so as we wrap up this series, I want you to realize something. We don't have to spend months building and tuning up this beautiful machine to leave it idling in a garage. Um the week before last, this past week, it was all wedding, right? We were, I was a slave to my wife, and it was all wedding, and she was excellent at giving orders, and and it was very organized and good, and so she did the best. Um and but the week before, I wasn't gonna do a thing. No, I'm teasing. I did. Uh I I I sat down a couple of nights and I put together this Legos set. Do you guys like to do Legos? anybody? If you're like Legos are for kids, no, they're for adults because they're that expensive, they're for adults. Um so I put together a Shelby Mustang Lego car, and it was very it was like 1200 pieces. It was like very intricate and little bitty and this, and you put the engine together and the drivetrain and all this, and like you turn the steering wheel and the wheels turn. Like it was really cool. But all that effort and time that you put into building something like that, or or maybe you're a woodworker, maybe you're maybe you're a craftsman of this or that, uh, whatever. You put so much time. We don't just then finish it and be like, okay, I'm done. I'm gonna throw it in the closet or I'm gonna put it in the garage, I'm never gonna look at it again. No, like you want to enjoy it, right? I think the same way, when God designed you and he put you together and he knit you together in the womb and he gave all of us this common grace, but also made this uncommon power available to all. He doesn't want us to stay in the garage. He doesn't want us just to come to church for an hour and a half, one time a week, and then that's it with the gifts that he's blessed his people with. He wants us to be the church 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Yes? That's what this is about. This engine that he has built called the church, it's not for the garage, it's for the road. It's to get out and go. It's the church that's built to reap a harvest. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. We've looked at all different things, but today we're gonna talk about how we reap a harvest. You know, I don't think it's an accident that Jesus' very first public miracle was at, what was it at? It was at a wedding, right? It was at a wedding in Cana. And it's a beautiful scene when the party ran out of resources. We didn't have those resources yesterday. But when the party ran out of resources, when it ran out of wine, Jesus stepped into this normal, everyday human moment and he turned it into this uncommon, beautiful thing, right? He supercharged that wedding celebration by his very presence. Because that's what Jesus does. This is exactly how the kingdom of God works. In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus looks out to the world with all of its brokenness. We have brokenness in our world today, he looks at it all the anxiety. Are people anxious today? He looks at it all the chaos. Folks, we live in a broken, anxious, chaotic world. And he doesn't tell his disciples to be like, uh, there's no use. Just take what I've given you and go hide. He doesn't do that. Instead, what he does is he says this he says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Notice that Jesus looks at a herding neighborhood and doesn't see a lost cause. He sees a plentiful harvest. Now, I I have some family and some friends here today from out of town, and and uh most of you know my parents. They're they've been in and out a few times, and and uh and most of you know I've told stories on them and also about my I grew up on a farm, right? We've talked about the hogs. Remember we were talking about hogs and pigs? We also had uh around uh 400-ish tillable acres of land, which meant fields, corn, soybean, wheat, things like that. Uh there's this lovely, lovely job when you have things like that called walking the beans. Has anybody ever heard of walking the beans? Brian, you ever have to walk the beans? You get to walk down long rows of fields with sticks with little sharp hooks on the end. And as you're walking down, the beams are about so high, and and you're examining, you're looking, and you're picking out the weeds. Two rows this way and two rows this way, and you just walk for hours and hours. I wish they had pedometers back then. We would have set world records. Um, but it's this idea we look out at the bean field and we're like, oh man, there's weeds all over the place. It's gonna ruin the harvest. It's gonna, it's gonna make a mess of it. So we get to work. We get to work, and and you walk and you pick, you send out into the harvest. This is the picture of what I have in my mind when I see this. He doesn't see a lost cause, he doesn't see a field ruined by weeds and and excuse me, and and and cocklebirds and all kinds of stuff like that. Instead, what he sees is this beautiful picture of a harvest, and he said, Let's get to work. Man, we see our our world's a mess. It's it's upside down, it's inside out. It's ugh. But folks, God sees something beautiful. And so what if we transition to our eyesight to see the way God does? I think this verse might come more alive. See, to reap a harvest requires this spiritual chemistry. It requires two things. Two things. It requires this deep surrender, deep surrender, and high receptivity. Deep surrender and high receptivity. See, we have to surrender our common grace that God has given us. That means this taking our natural talents, we have natural talents, right? We have, well, some of us. Dancing's not one. We take our natural talents, our jobs. God can use your job. Did you know that? You're there on purpose for a reason. He can take your unique personalities. And like I said, we have some friends and family and guests here. There's a few of you that have some unique personalities. Am I right, Adam? We have some, there's some unique personality, and that's the beauty of what God does, right? He takes regular, normal, everyday stuff, natural talents, our jobs, our unique personalities, all of these things, our family, our all of this stuff, our celebrations, our milestones. And it says this, Lord, this is the seed. This is the seed. It's just common grace, but let's go plant our gifts, things like that, what he's blessed us with, and let's just plant it in his field, and then we're gonna see what happens. That means we receive his uncommon grace or his uncommon power. We let the Holy Spirit supercharge it. Right? You have gifts, you have talents. Last week we introduced this this uh this spiritual gifts test that um as of last night, 14 of you finished.

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Come on.

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Come on, it takes 20 minutes-ish. But he takes those beautiful gifts and talents that he's blessed all of us with in one way or another, and he supercharges it through his Holy Spirit. And what that does is he takes our ordinary, regular lives, and then does a beautiful thing for the world. Realize that those things aren't for you, it's for others. In our Nazarene heritage, we've got this beautiful saying. Do I need to say that again? We are debtors to every soul. You know the word every. If you translate that from the original Greek into English, you know what it means? Every, yeah. Yeah, every, all. We are debtors to every soul. We are in debt to everyone we come in contact with to do this. To give them the gospel. The good news, the hopeful news, in the exact same measure that we have received it. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess most of you all are following Jesus. That's kind of this day of age, that's really who comes to church. We don't see a lot of just folks walking in off the street, sometimes. But a lot of times, the Sunday morning gatherings like this, you're I'm preaching to the choir. But did you realize that we all have a job to do? You're all kind of on staff. It's not just the preacher's job, it's not just the executive next gen pastor's job, it's not just the family life director's job. It's all of our jobs. We are all in debt to those who don't yet know Jesus. We don't receive the gift of the Holy Spirit just to keep them inside these walls to make us feel good and warm and goosebumps. We receive them to be spent. That's currency to be spent on our neighborhoods, on our workplaces. See, when we walk out of this place in a few minutes, not yet, in a few minutes, when we walk out with that uncommon power, the power of the Holy Spirit that is available to all, you don't need to launch some big, massive, expensive corporate program to change the world. You don't need to do that. Oftentimes people think, I can't, I can't evangelize, I can't do that, I don't have the I don't have the resources, I don't have the yes, you do. Has God given you grace in your life? Then yes, you do. You have the ability. We just need to get out of the garage and do some fine tuning. We receive the Holy Spirit to be spent and shared outside. Coming to church doesn't make you a Christian. Coming to church doesn't fulfill the Great Commission. We're called to go. We're called to go. You don't have to launch something big, crazy out there. You just have to start small with one person in one small situation at a time. That's this idea of the kingdom snowball effect. We talked about it last week. Start small. It starts when you when you choose to use your unique spiritual gift that God has blessed you with. When you start to choose to use that, maybe it's mercy. Maybe it's mercy, maybe it's hospitality or encouragement. Maybe you then choose to use those gifts and you step into maybe a messy situation at work. You notice somebody who is alienated. You notice somebody who just is down all the time. And you use that spiritual gift of hospitality or encouragement to begin to pour into that person through small, gentle conversations. That one act of love, really it's a holy love. That one act of holy love begins to soak in because it's supernatural. We're not doing it on our own. We're functioning through the power of the Holy Spirit, right? And that act of holy love begins to transform just that one person in that one small situation. That's it. And then that person who is beginning to be transformed and changed, maybe suddenly through that one person a relationship becomes healed. Because people notice when things are different, wouldn't you agree? And then pretty soon we might see a marriage become healed because of a small act of generosity and kindness and love. And then pretty soon children start to notice something happening in with mom and dad. They're different. Things don't look the same. And pretty soon a family is restored. And then guess what? The blinds are open for the first time in decades. And the neighborhood begins to notice something. There's less yelling coming from that house. There's like the people, like they're looking like a like a family. Like things begin to transform and change, and and pretty soon neighbors begin to notice, and the snowball effect gets bigger and bigger and bigger because of one small act that you stepped out and you began to use that spiritual gift in a small way. Small way. Oh, Pastor Eric, I just I don't have, I can't do this, I don't have that. Yes, you do. God has blessed you and equipped you with all that you need. All that you need. Before you know it, there's an entire ecosystem of a street that begins to change. And it begins to leak into the workplace and into the schools. And pretty soon people are praying for each other and sickness is wouldn't it be crazy? Wouldn't it be crazy? If people started getting healed because you were kind and generous to somebody three years ago. This effect that keeps going. The kingdom multiplication effect is incredible. It's amazing. So what if you began to just step out small, simple situations? There's this natural, inevitable outflow of the church that not even the gates of hell can stop. Folks, God has blessed you with a power that you cannot even imagine. Jesus even told his disciples, hey folks, you're gonna do more than I ever did on this earth. Just let that sink in. What did Jesus do? Oh, he he healed people. He made the blind see, he made the lame walk, he made the lepers clean, he made the deaf hear. He brought people back from the dead. And he says, You're gonna do more than I did. Folks, this is where the church needs to wake up. We've left the engine idling for far too long. We've parked these beautiful machines in our sacred sanctuaries and spaces, and we think that's good enough to be on display for an hour and a half once a week. And we've stopped being folks, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Now, to bring the harvest in, I think we have to know exactly how we're wired. Which is why we've talked about this whole spiritual gifts test thing. It's not just to make you feel good, be like, oh, that's what it is. No, no, no. It's it's to learn, to grow, and to start something. So if you haven't taken it yet, or the 14, 15 of you that finished it, well done, good job. The others, come on. If you're a regular part of the church family, get after it. Go ahead and put the QR code up for me. Is it up there? There's a QR code. You can scan that. Um, you can also, it's uh guess what? It's at the blue dot. You can do that too. If you're a guest with us and you want to do it, take the test. It's fine. You can do it as a guest. That's great. Maybe it'll help you begin to learn more and grow that way. There's there's a spiritual gifts and a personality test, and it kind of morphs it all together, and we get to see all these results. But here's the thing: here's here's why this is important, I think. Next Sunday, next Sunday, I'm gonna stand up here and we're gonna take all the data of all the stuff, all the results, right? Hopefully there's more than 14. But we're gonna take all the data of all the junk and things that come together, and and we're gonna look at it and we're gonna analyze it, and we're not just gonna put pretty charts on the screens. We're not just gonna do that. It's not just to look nice and to, oh, that's what it is. No, no, no. It it's it's it's more than that. We're gathering this information, we're understanding more about who we are because your unique designs, your spiritual gifts, your grace that God has given you is going to help shape the future ministries of this church. Because let me be honest with you, I cannot do it all. I don't have all the ideas. Pastor Thad doesn't have all the ideas. Miss Trish probably does have all the ideas, but she hasn't shared them with me yet. See, when we all come together, I don't think it should be shaped and led by one or two people. The ministries of this church, where we're going, God has placed all the gifts that we need right here. Do you believe that? You are the engine. It's not about, it's not about me, it's not about the pastor. It's about the body collectively, together as one. And so we're gonna look at all this data, and your unique designs are gonna help shape the future ministries of this church. So, like if the data shows that that we have a massive wave of of uh maybe maybe, what is it, showing mercy, guess what? We're gonna launch new outreach teams that that take people into the most vulnerable areas of the of Papano, of Broward County, and we're gonna serve and we're gonna love and we're gonna be merciful. You know that mercy's attractive. Did you know that? Mercy is attractive. People like to be shown mercy. You like to be shown mercy? I do. That's a good thing. Maybe we see a high concentration of hospitality. I saw a beautiful concentration of hospitality last night. You guys were amazing to us. It was amazing. Maybe we see that that's gonna change how we engage our neighborhood streets. Maybe we have a big group of those who are equipped to teach. We're gonna offer opportunities to help lead and teach and equip others for ministry. See, what we're doing is we're using this data to map out these different gears of how we're gonna engage and bring in the harvest efficiently. On the farm, we had these big machines. Uh, they were called combines. You ever heard of a combine? As a little kid, I used to call it the bonkine. Um, but these combines are these big massive machines that go into the fields, and they're the things that actually cut down the plants and bring in the harvest and that shells whatever, whether it's beans, it shells the beans of its corn, it takes off the cob, all this good stuff. And that's what brings in the harvest. But you know, there are different levels of efficiency. We we uh our equipment wasn't the newest. I think that's a fair statement. And there'd be moments where coming out of the back of the machine, it should be just like the waste, just the chaff, like the empty corn cobs or the empty stalks. But every once in a while, more than every once in a while, we could walk out in the field and find that that should have been brought up in the machine. We'd we'd find leftovers. Well, what we're doing here is we don't want to miss the leftovers. We want to gather data and put these things together so the church can efficiently run. We don't want to waste the resources that God has placed in our hands, right? And folks, God has placed resources in your hands. I'm not talking about money. Maybe for some it's giving, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the spiritual gifts that He's placed right here. He's given us everything that we need to reach our community right now. But we just have to realize it. We just have to be able to see it. We have to be able to put it together. And so we're gonna map out this plan and these gears based on you. Because you're the future of our church. Our students, our our our kids, they're the future of our church. They're the future of the ministries. It doesn't need to come from some office on a Tuesday when we gather at 10 in the morning. It needs to come from you. And so we need to know where you are. So take that spiritual gifts test. Do that for me. Get it done. 20 minutes and done. And then next Sunday, tomorrow, or next Sunday, I'm gonna give you a report from that, and we're gonna begin to plan and dream and look at what God is going to do through his people. Amen. Folks, uh, the uh the wedding reception ended last night, and this sermon series is ending today. But folks, the deployment and the fun is just beginning. Because God has great things in store for his church if we actually go and be the church. Yes? Paul writes this in Galatians chapter 6, verse 9. I'm gonna invite you to stand as we get ready to worship and we're gonna finish our service today. But I want you to hear this. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 9, Paul says this let us not become weary in doing good. Anybody tired today? I'm tired. Anybody's feet hurt today? My feet hurt. But listen, let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Do you believe that, church? Do you believe that he has that in store for us? Folks, don't give up on your families, don't give up on your friends, don't give up on your workplaces, don't give up on those broken spaces on your block and in your neighborhood. The engine is tuned. It's ready. The power supply is there, it's available to all. Get in, turn the key, and let's get going. Let's get going. Let's be the church. Let's take the joy and the love and the hope and the common grace of this week, this this series that we've been talking about, and let's supercharge it with the uncommon power of the Holy Spirit. Can we do that? Let's go and change the world. Let's go and be the church. I've got, remember, there's two, I give two rules in church, right? Remember what they are? It's okay to be on your phones. That's why I want you to scan, tap, do whatever, do this. It's okay to be on your phones. Look up the Bible. Don't go to Instagram, not yet. That's later. It's okay to be on your phone, and it's okay to talk. That means it's okay to voice when the Holy Spirit moves. So we're gonna worship in just a moment. Use your voice. And then let's dig in and let's be there.