WEBVTT

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Grace mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord

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and Savior Jesus Christ. The text for today comes from Matthew chapter

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9 starting at verse 35 and it reads like this. And Jesus went through

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out all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and

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proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and

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every affliction. When he saw the crowds he had compassion for them

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because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

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Then he said to his disciples.

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The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few therefore pray

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earnestly to the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his

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harvest.

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This is God's Word. You may be seated.

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Pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest.

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to send out laborers into his Harvest.

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3 years after a brand new Lutheran High School was dedicated.

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A real estate broker purchase the 65 acres of open land across the

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street from the high school and then immediately turned around and

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sold it to a casino developer.

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Who immediately started putting up a brand new casino across the street

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from the high school.

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Naturally the parents and administration of Lutheran High School were

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less than thrilled with the glitzy new building that was going up

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across the street.

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So they organized a series of all night prayer vigils.

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Asking God to intervene on their behalf.

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After months of ongoing prayer meetings

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lightning struck the half-finished casino

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burning it to the ground.

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The owner of the casino brought a lawsuit against the Lutherans

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claiming that they were responsible.

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The Lutherans hired an attorney claiming

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they weren't responsible whatsoever.

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The judge said no matter how this case comes out

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one thing is clear.

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The casino developer believes in prayer

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the Lutherans

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don't.

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I don't believe for one minute that we Lutheran's don't believe in the

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power of prayer.

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I do sometimes wonder however, why we don't pray more. After all it's

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it's it's not only a common practice that our Lord Jesus regularly

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engaged in it's also something that he came and it's also something

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that he taught his disciples how to do.

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We call it the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer and there's not a

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worship service or devotional service that goes by that

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we don't pray that prayer together.

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Because in its six petitions, it covers all the bases of how we are to

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relate to our God to this world around us and to our neighbors who live

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all around us.

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Jesus wants us to pray.

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He especially wants us to pray the Lord's Prayer.

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We get that.

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But there are a few other things he wants us to pray for as well and

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our text for today comprises one of them. Pray earnestly,

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Jesus commands in our text pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest

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to send out laborers into his Harvest.

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In other words for brothers and sisters.

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This is one of those times in scripture where our Lord really comes

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clean with us his followers where he tips his hand and where he makes

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it clear to all of us what his priorities are for himself

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and for his people.

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The Harvest is plentiful

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but the laborers are few.

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Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out

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laborers into his Harvest.

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See good people as much as we sometimes hate to admit it the church

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what we got going on in here.

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The church is not

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the Harvest field.

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Rather the church is kind of like the container

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for that which has already been harvested. In this sense

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our churches our congregations are kind of like barns

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or silos.

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I come from farming country and I just needed to share some things

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with you.

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You have these pictures on the inside of the back page of your

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bulletin and they're pictures for the most part of silos.

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If you didn't know it's silos

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come in all shapes and sizes. Picture

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number one

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should we have you have big silos and you have small silos. You have

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big congregations and small congregations. Picture number two you have older

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silos and you have newer silos.

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Like you have newer congregations in the older congregations. Picture

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number three you have you have

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congregations that do

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high Church worship

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right, smells and bells and professionals and of course if you have

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that then you have picture number four you have congregations that do low

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church worship.

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Kind of place where they're scrambling around on Sunday morning to

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find another socket to plug another amp into.

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And and then you always have not too many of them, but picture 5, what

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would that be?

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Mega churches, right?

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They all store the grain that is already been harvested.

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The point being that regardless of age or shape or volume.

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All silos have one thing in common.

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They store the grain that is already been harvested grain that the

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master has now freed.

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He's freed to use to consume to spend and to leverage in whatever way

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he sees fit. Why, because he is the Lord of the Harvest.

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We belong to him our times our seasons our very lives,

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are in his hands.

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Not let me please be clear with where I'm going with all of this.

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Barns and silos our congregations,

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they're good.

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They're important.

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They are essential.

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They keep the harvested grain safe.

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They keep the harvested grain dry.

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They keep the harvested grain from spoiling. They keep the harvested grain from losing its

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nutritional value, its flavor or its ability to bring health and

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vitality.

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But make no mistake.

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As important and as vital as is the grain that has already been

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harvested and is safely in the silo.

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It is the grain that is not yet harvested

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that is a focus of Jesus mission. Out there.,

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Jesus is saying in our in our text for today. Like in picture number 6.

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Out there

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is where the real action is. Out there is where the deepest needs are. Out there

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in the harvest field is where the future lies. Out

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there is where the excitement of risk and reward

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is to be found.

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The harvest-field is what Jesus is talking about in our text for today.

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He sees the tragedy of unharvested grain.

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He sees the tragedy of lost unharvested souls and that is what moves and

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motivates him to exclaim pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest

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that he send out laborers into his harvest. The salvation of souls

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Jesus is the Salvation of unharvested souls.

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Is what weighs heavy on his heart and on his mind.

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Now then

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the original Greek word that's used here.

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And please don't follow this example because usually when the

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preacher says now them the original Greek word that's used here.

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The people here this think that he's just preaching and pretentious.

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And we do that and it's like we're saying that we know something that

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they don't know.

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We want them to know it.

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But here it does really make a difference the Greek word that's used

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here.

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is eck bolek.

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Comprised of a Greek word eck meaning alek meaning to throw.

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Put the two words together and you get to throw out where to cast out

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or even to thrust out.

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It's more accurate yet wouldn't translation would read like this. Pray

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earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to throw out or the cast out or

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even to thrust out

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workers into his harvest field.

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You see that makes our Lord's motives for saying what he's saying more

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immediate and more pronounced and more urgent.

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Doesn't it?

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It's like he's saying for heaven's sake,

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we can't lose any of them.

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We dare not lose any of them on your knees people.

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We need harvest workers and we need them now pray to the Lord of the

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Harvest that he finds and thrust out laborers into his harvest as soon

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as possible.

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And to tell you the truth, I think he's saying it even more strong

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than this.

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Do you know about that eck bali a word is the same word used in the

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gospel of Mark where after Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist.

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It says the spirit drives him out into the wilderness.

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To be tempted by the devil.

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And when you any read it, that way our texts suddenly says pray

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earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest that he drives out workers into

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his Harvest field.

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Just think about that for a moment.

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Could it possibly be

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that covid-19

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is God's answer to our prayer that he drives out workers

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into his Harvest field?

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Could it be that the church is not a building but rather a people a

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called out and driven out people. Could it be that these hard days of

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pandemic, racial unrest, social distancing and economic downturn are God's way

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of driving his people out into our neighborhoods into our communities?

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The same communities and neighborhoods that he's been preparing to give to

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receive what we have to give? Could he be cooking up a revival in all

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of this.

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Could he be ripening up

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vast harvest fields?

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Could it possibly be that this is our unique time and opportunity to

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be the church.

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Is God at work and does he want us to join him in his work? Is God

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moving

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and does he want us to join him in that movement? Is God making it more

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possible at this time and during these days maybe more than any other

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time or days in our lifetimes.

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To get down to the real business of life.

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Is he daring us to go out?

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Is he driving us out into his harvest field?

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Because the church is God's means

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for accomplishing God's mission.

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And it'll say that again.

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The church is God's means

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for accomplishing God's mission.

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Which one you think about it?

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Makes the local church

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the hope of the world.

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Your local RFE church, your local vicarage congregation, your home

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Church along with all their pastors and a million other local churches

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and local pastors scattered across the globe.

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We are when you think about it, we are the hope of the world because

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we are the body of Christ in the world.

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Because we are the body of Christ in the world

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we are God's only workers.

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For bringing the good news about Jesus to the world.

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The Lord of the church is using his church, pastors and people together

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to seek and to save the lost to make disciples of all nations to bring

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you a huge harvest of souls into his barns.

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It says in the little bio

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that you have that

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you know that Lori and I we live in rural, Faribault, Minnesota.

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When there's not much population or action or activity going on. Yet

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because we live on the edge of the prairie where the Earth is dark and

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black and rich and fertile agriculture happen

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like we never ever seen it before. See as much as farmers are in a

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hurry to get there seeds in in the spring.

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They're absolutely fanatical

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about bringing the Harvest Inn in the fall.

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They run 24/7 until the job is done because there's only so much time.

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There's only so much opportunity circumstances can change in a

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heartbeat.

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The weather can turn the machinery can break down so you have to push, push and you have to go, go until the job is done.

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Until the Harvest is in and nothing not one fraction of one acre is

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left out ,left behind or lost.

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Brothers and sisters

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that's the kind of urgency

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Jesus has for people.

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That's the kind of urgency

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he has

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for you.

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I mean when he looked at out at those crowds and saw a plentiful harvest

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he wasn't just looking at the people in front of them.

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He was looking at you.

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He was seeing the millions yet-to-be-born the millions yet to come.

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So he made a way for all of us all of us

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to be saved.

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And to be brought into his church.

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What did he do?

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He did not count equality with God something to be grasped.

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But made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being

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made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.

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He humbled himself unto death,

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even death on a cross.

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And so as Saint John says he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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And not for ours only

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but also for the sins of the world.

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This is the Gospel.

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This is a good news that has been given to us for our salvation and

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that has been given to us

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to share.

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Pastors and people coming together and congregations in order to be

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fed and nourished by God's word and sacraments. Pastors and people

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coming together in congregations for fellowship and for the mutual

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conversation and consolation of the saints that leads to unity in

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doctrine and practice. Pastors and lay people coming together and

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congregations in order to be equipped for every good work. And

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Pastors and people being driven out from their Church buildings by the

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Lord of the Harvest and his harvest field in order to be his eyes,

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his ears, his hands his feet and especially his voice

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for the Salvation of all.

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God bless us all

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as we put become that intentionally engaged in his mission.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Please stand for the hymn.