Go And Profit From Harvest You Did Not Labor For by Pastor Jerry Eze: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Go and Profit from Harvest You Did Not Labor For

We read John 4:35-38, from the encounter Jesus had with the woman of Samaria: "Say not ye, 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 already 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 labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." In The Passion Translation it reads, "I have sent you out to harvest a field that you haven't planted, where many others have laboured long and hard before you, and now you are privileged to profit from their labours and reap."

Three Kinds of Harvest

There were three major harvests in Israel — the feast of Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles, and the feast of Passover. Every mention of harvest in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, falls into one of three categories:

• Responsibility — the harvest of souls. When Jesus said the harvest is plenteous but the labourers are few, He was not talking about cars or clothes or financial breakthrough. He was talking about souls.
• Becoming — Galatians 6:8, he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
• Manifestation — the material harvest that follows from Isaac's sowing in the land.

If all God does is give you the harvest you want and you never fulfil kingdom responsibility, your time on earth is wasted.

Say Not — Guard Your Tongue

Jesus cautioned His disciples, "Say not, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest." The Gregorian calendar and the prophetic calendar do not always share a meeting point. James 3:5 says the tongue is a little member yet boasts great things, and how great a matter a little fire kindles. Your tongue pretends to be a small thing, but it can determine the outcome of your destiny.

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Pastor Jerry Eze
Streams of Joy International, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
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• Do not destroy with your tongue what you have already prayed about.
• What you hear does not have the capacity to destroy you until you say it.
• Because it is written that God calls those things which be not as though they were, we do not say what we see — we say what we want to see.

Careless words spoken even in jest can outlive the moment they were spoken in. Every word you have carelessly said over yourself, over your health, or over your family works against you until it is renounced.

Lift Up Your Eyes

Jesus told His disciples not to look at what was closest to them but to lift up their eyes and look on the fields, already white for harvest. What limits what God is about to do is not the report you were given but where your vision is fixed. Lift your eyes above the depression, above the report, above how you feel — because the harvest is coming. A kingdom man expecting a harvest must be careful of two things: what he says and what he sees. The devil works to line up your mouth and your eyes to agree on the same discouraging report.

Five Things to Know About Your Harvest

1. Not everything that grows becomes a harvest. Some seed germinates but never bears fruit, hindered by disease, drought, birds, or a non-vigorous seed. Do not assume every open door will yield.
2. There is a former rain and a latter rain. The former rain is for planting; the latter rain is for harvest. If you sense a harvest coming, pray for the latter rain — the rain that brings what you have sown to full maturity.
3. Take note of the weeds. Things you did not plant will rise up beside what you did plant and can choke it. Recognise them and refuse to let them take root.
4. Not every seed sown will yield, but the one that does will cover what was lost. A single seed of corn can multiply into hundreds of cups. You do not need everyone in your life to come through for you — you need the one door God opens, the one help God sends.
5. Get your instrument of harvest ready. Trust in your sickle and begin to reap, for the harvest is ripe. Do not expect a harvest while carrying no tool to gather it.

Do Not Touch the Tares Too Soon

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, servants asked the householder whether they should go and uproot the weeds sown by the enemy among the good seed. He told them not to, so that in pulling up the tares they would not also uproot the wheat, but to let both grow together until the harvest, when the reapers — the professional harvesters — would separate them. If you are expecting a harvest, anchor yourself to someone who knows how to harvest what you have sown. Some of you know what you sowed, but you do not yet know how to bring it in. The most critical season of your life is not when you sow — it is when you harvest.