The Harvest Is Past: Our Responsibility to a World Not Yet Saved

In the Sunday evening service, following congregational singing, the children’s choir, and a season of testimonies, Pastor Chris Parker preached from Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Connecting the message to the morning’s study in Galatians 5, he reminded the church that the works of the flesh are manufactured, but the fruit of the Spirit comes from within – one fruit in many flavors that is manifested only when we walk in the Spirit and let Him have His way. We do not do things to get saved; because we are saved, we do things. Marveling at how the inspired writers of Scripture paint great truths with few words – the creation account, the Ten Commandments, phrases like “the Lamb of God” – he pressed the haunting word picture of Jeremiah’s lament over a harvest forever lost. The Great Commission calls us to win, wet (baptize), and work new disciples, and from John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 he declared that no one comes to the Father but by Christ, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” That truth lays a responsibility on every believer toward family, neighbors, and coworkers in a world of over eight billion souls. The pastor rejoiced that a young lady from Hong Kong had trusted Christ that very afternoon, and Brother Danny shared the story of Kimmy – a sincere, prayerful, churchgoing young lady who, like Cornelius, was good but lost until she found the church that morning. He recalled a woman from Tucson who had never once heard the gospel, and Bishop Taylor’s account of an African village pleading for a missionary. The gospel is only good news if people hear it. The message closed with a challenge to answer God’s call to the harvest before the summer ends.