Sermon

Produce A Harvest

CityLight Church, a Place for You

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  1. This afternoon we're going to conclude the series New Beginnings. Everyone say

  2. oh. It's over already? I feel like we just got started but we know that God's

  3. going to speak to us today. Genesis chapter 8 and verse 22. Genesis 8 verse 22

    Genesis 8 chapter mention Genesis 8:22

  4. reading from the New Living Translation. Word of the Lord says this, as long as the

  5. earth remains there will be planting and harvest. Everyone say harvest. Cold and

  6. heat, summer and winter, day and night. Now the next chapter, chapter 9 and verse

  7. 20, it reads, after the flood Noah began to cultivate the ground and he planted a

  8. vineyard. With the help of the Holy Ghost my topic today is produce a harvest

  9. and I would like to invite all of you to pray with me one more time. I know we

  10. worship and we've been lifting our hands and our voices but we're going to pray

  11. one more time and just ask God to speak to us. Father we come before you today.

  12. We thank you Lord for pouring out your spirit today. Your blessings we feel

  13. your presence so strongly tangibly in this place God and we ask God that that

  14. same spirit continue Lord as we prepare ourselves to hear your word. Right now in

  15. the name of Jesus Lord I take authority over every contrary spirit to the

  16. Spirit of God that would oppose the word from getting into the places it needs to

  17. go in all of our hearts. God I come against that right now and I

  18. bind it in Jesus name and I loose God faith in this place right now for your

  19. word to be received with gladness. Let it fall on good ground. We ask this right

  20. now God in Jesus name and also God anoint my lips to preach today's word to give

  21. you glory and honor in Jesus name. Everyone say amen. You may be seated in

  22. God's presence. You know up to this point in Noah's story he has spent most of his

  23. natural life in survival mode. 120 years preparing for the flood to survive the

  24. flood and then another full year of living through it. So it's safe to say

  25. that up until this moment his whole life revolved around a singular goal of

  26. surviving one of the world's most cataclysmic events. A historic event and

  27. he was both literally and spiritually just trying to keep his head above water.

  28. It was for most of his life sink or swim and while that frame of mind was

  29. necessary for survival it also put Noah's life and his family's life on hold.

  30. Plans were paused, goals were postponed. The only thing that mattered was living

  31. to see another day but if Noah was going to live a life of promise a life of new

  32. beginnings his mode of living would need to adapt from surviving to thriving.

  33. From escaping peril to establishing a new home. And this was an important

  34. transition in Noah's life. A necessary one. One that I think that us Christians

  35. Bible readers perhaps don't stop to consider when we are reading through his

  36. narrative that very literal and spiritual shift that had to occur in his

  37. life in order to produce at the level that he was called to. You see when

  38. you're in survival mode you're just trying to keep your head above water.

  39. You're just trying to get through each day without sinking. I don't know if

  40. you've ever been there before. Somebody say man huh. You're just trying to get

  41. through a day. Have you ever had a season in your life where if I could just make

  42. it another 24 hours it would be a success. Without sinking into fear, caving to

  43. your worries, losing your grip on things or just backtracking into old issues. If

  44. I could just get to a 24 hours without snapping at somebody. You all don't know

  45. what I'm talking about today. 24 hours without the old Jacob showing up you

  46. know. And you go through moments where you're just in survival mode.

  47. If I could just get through this week and have all my bills be paid and not

  48. have to worry. You know there might be bills down the road but if I could just

  49. get through this week. That next week worry about itself. You're just you know

  50. trying to stay ahead and keep your head above waters. And there are moments like

  51. that and for many years and Noah's life that's what it was. Daily survival. But

  52. when God brings you out of your trial, out of your flood, you have to switch

  53. gears and start taking back your future. Taking back your promises. No longer

  54. living from day to day just to make it. No longer living from paycheck to

  55. paycheck. No longer living just to not sink. But now you get to a point where

  56. God has brought you out of that season and it's up to you to implement and

  57. practice the principles of faith so that you can launch forward into greater

  58. things. How many of you want to see greater things from God? Amen? Greater

  59. things where you can start building again, growing again, thriving again. And you

  60. need to as Noah did plant your vineyard because let me tell you this. Nothing in

  61. life grows unless it's planted. Amen. Nothing in life grows unless it's planted.

  62. And I want to build on that point today. This is a universal law. The law of the

  63. harvest. We read in Galatians 6 and verse 7, whatever a man sows, that will he also

  64. reap. That's the law of the harvest. Nothing grows unless it's planted. What

  65. often happens is that after people survive something that is stressful,

  66. unusual, something difficult, what happens is that they stay in survival mode

  67. without realizing it. And the telltale sign of this survival syndrome, if I can

  68. call it that, is that nothing new is being planted. You know you're in survival

  69. mode where nothing new is being planted and therefore nothing new is growing. After

  70. Noah landed on dry ground, the first thing he did was build an altar. Praise

  71. God and I preached on that last Sunday. Then the Lord told him to be fruitful and

  72. multiply. He said to fill the earth. Genesis 1 9. And upon hearing these words,

  73. it was like a shift took place. It was a signal to Noah that now it's time to get

  74. out of survival mode and to get into thriving mode. And he heard something in

  75. that moment that switched everything for him. Now he realizes I've got to produce

  76. a harvest. I can't live the way that I was living anymore because how are you

  77. going to support a growing world without cultivating the land? God told him I want

  78. you to be fruitful and multiply. I want you to fill the earth. We populate the

  79. earth. And the very real question is if we do that, how are we going to feed all

  80. of these mouths? We better plant a vineyard. We better start cultivating the

  81. ground if we're going to sustain the growth that God is calling us to have.

  82. It's important to note that Noah was fruitful in a variety of areas and a

  83. variety of realms, different realms in life. In the spiritual realm, he was

  84. fruitful because he built his altar. In the relational realm, when he grew his

  85. family. In the financial realm with the planting of his vineyard. And in Noah we

  86. get a picture of what balance looks like, healthy balance in the life of a

  87. believer. Fruitfulness in all aspects of our life. I want you to understand that a

  88. church that God wants us to be fruitful in all aspects of our lives. Amen.

  89. And this is what fruitfulness looks like. You see people tend to gravitate towards

  90. one realm or the other. Their spiritual fruit might be very plump and very, you

  91. know, prosperous, but their relational fruit is not there. They don't have a

  92. relational harvest. Or they're producing high-yielding financial or relational

  93. fruit, but not spiritual fruit. But I believe that God wants us to thrive in

  94. every dimension, in every sphere, every realm of life. Fruitfulness is the will of

  95. God for every believer. If you believe that, say amen today. Come on, let's give

  96. God a hand. Praise, amen. He wants you to be fruitful in all aspects. He doesn't

  97. want this imbalancing occurring in our life where we're really spiritual and

  98. fruitful over here, but yet we're not fruitful in our financers, our

  99. fruitful in our relationship. God wants to see balance and even grow throughout

  100. our lives. And when we look at Noah's life, we see for the most part balance and

  101. even grow throughout his life and journey with God. So if you want to be

  102. fruitful today, let me give you a few things to consider. The first thing that

  103. you need to do is protect the seeds. Protect the seeds. Scripture tells us that

  104. Noah planted a vineyard. But then that made me wonder, where did he get the seeds?

  105. We just read these things like he just went to Home Depot and picked up a, or to

  106. the local nursery. Where did he get the seeds to plant that? They didn't just fall

  107. from the sky. There were only two options, I think. Perhaps first option is that he

  108. found a vine somewhere and took seeds from it. As we read the story, we'll see

  109. that vegetation existed on the earth when Noah arrived. We know that because

  110. when the dove went out, he brought back a ripe olive branch in its mouth, which

  111. told us that vegetation had existed. So it's a likely scenario that Noah

  112. could have went out and come across some vines somewhere growing in the

  113. wild and took those vines. And I can draw a spiritual application right there

  114. and tell you that no matter where you land in God's will, he's already started

  115. a harvest. Amen. He's already deposited a portion of what you need to thrive

  116. wherever you it is that you land. It's helpful for me in my faith. I don't know

  117. if this does anything for you, but it's helpful for me to know that every place

  118. I go, God's already been there. Oh man, I don't know how this, oh man, I don't know

  119. if this is jiving with you, but it does something to my faith to know that there's

  120. not a place in this world I can go that the Spirit of God has not already gone

  121. before me. And so when I arrive, wherever that place is, whether it's a financial

  122. arrival, the spiritual arrival or relational, no matter where I arrive, it's

  123. helpful for me to know that God has already in some measure prepared some

  124. things for me. That when I get there, it's not like I'm starting with nothing.

  125. Even if I got a little something, a little something with God is better than a

  126. lot of something without him. I'd rather come on now. I'd rather have a little bit.

  127. Amen. Just a grain of a mustard seed can move mountains. That's all God needs.

  128. I'm gonna say that's all he needs. And so we see that Noah, he might have, he might

  129. have. I'm just using conjecture here. Let's use our imagination. He might have

  130. done that. It's conceivable to think that Noah went out there and found these

  131. seeds. Noah's world was new, but it was not barren. God will never lead us to

  132. barrenness. Rather, in the words of David, he makes me to lie down in green

  133. pastures. He leads me beside still waters. Amen. And when you're following God,

  134. he'll never lead you to a barren place. If Noah didn't find the seeds, that's one

  135. option. I think that's conceivable that he would have found them. But let's say

  136. that that's not what happened. Then the only other option would be that he took

  137. his seeds with him. He took his seeds onto the ark and he stored them for this

  138. moment. And I can preach on both options today. Because what it tells me about Noah,

  139. if this is what he did, which is also conceivable, is that he took the seeds

  140. that existed pre-flood and stored them. Because the Bible says that he brought

  141. all the food onto the ark, right? Well, perhaps after they ate those seeds, after

  142. they ate those fruits or those vegetables that they can, they took the seeds from

  143. those things. And they said, let's make a seed supply here. Knowing that when they

  144. stepped into the new world, they were going to have to replant what it is. Are

  145. you replanting the blessings that God has placed in your life? He brought these

  146. seeds with them, perhaps. And again, another spirit of the knowledge comes to

  147. the surface here. And I can tell you this, that every word from God is a seed.

  148. A seed of faith that you can carry. If this is what Noah did when he entered the

  149. ark and he took the seeds with him from the old world, from the prior blessings

  150. of God, then it tells us that every word that God speaks into our life, even if we

  151. don't need it in this moment, even if we don't need it right now, you better hold

  152. on to the seed that God gives you. Because even if you don't need it today, you

  153. might need it tomorrow. And at least you've got some seed in your life, amen.

  154. Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of the Lord. Can

  155. I tell you, you need preaching in your life. I know we live in a world that says

  156. I don't, you know, I don't know if I, people say I don't know if I need a

  157. preacher. I don't know if I need to hear a preacher. I don't know if I need to go to

  158. church. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need preaching. And you need to silence

  159. every voice that comes against that. You need preaching. How shall they hear, the

  160. Bible says, unless a preacher. We need preaching. And if without preaching, how

  161. are we ever going to grow? Because with the preaching of the Word, what we are

  162. doing, let me tell you something about this, what we are doing right now on

  163. Sundays, we're not just having church. This is a seed dispensary. We're having

  164. our seeds today. And these seeds, whether you need them now or whether you need

  165. them tomorrow, you need to collect all those seeds that you can. Oh my God,

  166. somebody say, man. And he took all those seeds, perhaps. And then when he stepped

  167. into this new world, he had the seeds that he needed. Now, we can't say for sure

  168. how Noah came across these seed grapes. So I'm not going to turn any of these

  169. points into a doctrine because we don't know for sure. But we know that what he

  170. had, he did not waste. What he had, he did not lose them. He protected them. He

  171. said, these seeds are precious. These seeds are valuable. These seeds are worth

  172. something to me. I need to protect these seeds and guard them like Fort Knox, you

  173. know, and not let anything to rob me of these seeds. I need to have my eye on the

  174. seeds. I need to make sure that the seeds don't slip through the cracks somewhere.

  175. I need to make sure that I've got seed. And I want to ask somebody today before I

  176. move on to my next point. What does your seed supply look like? Is it full or is it

  177. empty? Because if there's one thing the devil wants to do, he wants to rob you of

  178. that seed. He does not. You can never plant unless you have a seed. And we've

  179. got people that are trying to plant without seed. And those that try to plant

  180. without seeds, you're not going to produce a harvest. You're just going to produce

  181. nothing but smoke and mirrors. You're just going to produce, you know, vain

  182. imaginations and hopeful thinking and wishful thinking. No, God didn't bring us

  183. into the kingdom just to be wishful thinkers. God brought us into the kingdom

  184. that we might possess and we might occupy. That which belongs to us. Amen.

  185. Somebody. And if the enemy wants to do anything, he wants to rob us of those seeds.

  186. I remind you of the parable of the sower and how the birds which represent the

  187. enemy came in to rob the seed from the ground. And if you're not careful, if you

  188. don't protect the seed and guard the seed and look after the seed, the birds of

  189. this world, the enemies of our life will come and pluck those seeds out of our

  190. life. So when the word of God goes forward, you got to protect that word and

  191. cherish that word and hide that word in your heart and say, I'm going to hold, how

  192. many of you today are holding on to a word from God? Oh, come on. I said, how

  193. many of you today are holding on to a word? How many of you got a word from God

  194. that you're holding on to? Come on, somebody say amen today. That's right.

  195. And you got to have faith when you look at the seed because the seed doesn't

  196. look like much when you're looking at it. You have to have vision. Someone say

  197. vision. You've got to have vision. You have to see the vineyard in the seed. You

  198. have to see the vineyard. You got to see the potential. And so don't curse your

  199. tomorrow based on the status of your seed today. Don't throw away tomorrow

  200. because your seed looks, my God, I feel like talking to somebody. Don't throw

  201. away tomorrow. Don't throw away, Godly living. Don't throw away faith. Don't throw

  202. away obedience. Don't throw away, come on. Don't throw away promises. Don't throw

  203. away these things because your current seed looks small and minuscule and

  204. insignificant. No, the devil is a liar. He wants to rob you of that seed because

  205. in that seed is a harvest. In that seed is potential. In that seed is revival.

  206. Oh, I feel something in the Holy Ghost. I got a seed from God and I'm believing

  207. that when I plant that seed something is going to happen. Am I preaching all

  208. right today? Amen. Is somebody hearing what I'm saying today? So don't judge

  209. my seed because you don't know that in the seed is a harvest. And the second

  210. thing that after you protect the seed, you need to plant the seed. Don't just

  211. hold because we got people that just hold on to their seed and then they never

  212. plant them. I don't know what the earth looked like after the flood, but I have

  213. visited places. I have visited places after floods. I went myself after

  214. Hurricane Harvey in Houston. I went to visit friends of mine who's lost

  215. everything in the rain and in the flood over there. I walked through their houses.

  216. I saw the damage that the flood did not just to the inside of the house, but of

  217. course all of the the environment around them. And I could tell you that things

  218. are messy after a flood. I said things are messy sometimes. They're messy after a

  219. flood. You know what floods do? Floods change the landscape. They change the

  220. land. When I was driving down the streets of Houston, I saw trees where they

  221. shouldn't have been. I saw couches where they shouldn't have been. I saw tires and

  222. things. Everything was kind of out of order. The landscape looked different. The

  223. flood was over, but even after the flood, even after our trials, even after

  224. God brings us to, there's still some cleanup that has to be done. Ah, amen

  225. somebody. You know why? Because things get moved around. Stuff isn't where it's

  226. supposed to be, where it used to be. And thus when Noah, when he stepped off of

  227. the ark, what he saw was a new world, but it was uncultivated. It was unrefined.

  228. It wasn't ready yet for this harvest. And so what he had to do, like the verse I

  229. read is he had to cultivate. Someone say cultivate. Come on, say it again. Say

  230. cultivate. You better learn how to cultivate. And in cultivation, we see

  231. this is where people tend to kind of drop out of the picture. This is where,

  232. this is where it's going to require work to get done. God may have brought us out

  233. of miraculously through the flood, but then when we come to a place of new

  234. beginnings, we have to learn how to cultivate. Someone say cultivate. Yeah, I

  235. really need to talk about cultivation, lest we think that the way to the promise

  236. is just, you know, just a quick overnight process. It's not. It's not. The way to a

  237. healthy family, the way to a healthy marriage, the way to a healthy home, and

  238. a healthy future, and a blessed career, and a blessed ministry. All the good

  239. things that God wants to do through you, through your life, and in your life, and

  240. bring to you through a harvest. They're not just going to happen at the snap of a

  241. finger. Come on now, somebody. They're not just going to happen just because you

  242. got to learn how to cultivate, because when you come out of a flood, the

  243. landscape has changed, and half of your frustration is caused by how you're

  244. looking at things. You came through the trial and you thought everything's what

  245. was going to be made for you. Oh man, it's going to get quiet now. Hallelujah. You

  246. thought it was all going to be set up. You thought it was just going to be

  247. waiting for you, and just, you know, the table's already set, praise God. I mean,

  248. we like when that happens, right? The table's already set. Everything's already

  249. in order. It's nice showing up when things have already been prepared. Huh?

  250. That's right. Isn't that nice? You show up somewhere. Hey man, everything's already

  251. done. All you got to do is partake, and then you can head out, right? That's nice.

  252. But for the things that God is doing in our lives, you know, we got to learn how

  253. to cultivate. And sometimes your frustration is not over the fact that

  254. God hasn't moved because God has moved. It's that you don't recognize the form

  255. that God has moved. You're waiting for God to do your job. Oh my Lord. I'm gonna go

  256. back and watch this sermon all by myself. I like it that much. Huh? How many of us

  257. are praying and asking God to do things that we have the power to do ourselves?

  258. Asking God to fix things, resolve things, get his hands dirty. You know, God said,

  259. I've already done the heavy lifting. I already brought you out of the flood, and

  260. I brought you out of the flood so that you can learn how to work your faith in a

  261. different realm, how to get your hands in the soil, and get back to doing what I

  262. called you to do. God, I just need you to fix that person over there and just deal

  263. with them. I say, no, that's why I gave you the Holy Ghost so that you can be a

  264. peacemaker and talk to that person, ask for forgiveness, figure out what's going

  265. on, and make it right. Now we're getting somewhere. And I just, I just want that

  266. job, Lord, just just just give it to me. Huh? That's wonderful. All right. But what

  267. are you doing to prepare for that job? Why should God give you something you

  268. can't sustain?

  269. God, I want more. Everyone wants more. What have you done with less? You couldn't

  270. tie on the, oh, we have it, every careful. And you want God to bless you with more?

  271. God's just must be scratching his head sometimes.

  272. No, he, he had to change his mentality because all up to this point, he, he was

  273. just a survivor. He was living to keep his head above water. He was living to

  274. just stay, stay afloat. And you see, in order for Noah to plant, he had to stop

  275. thinking like a sailor and start thinking like a farmer. On the boat, you know

  276. what he did? He floated for a living. You know, the, you know, the cool thing

  277. about being on a boat like Noah, you just go wherever the wind takes you. You go

  278. wherever the doors open. I'm gonna get into some things right now. You know that

  279. Noah's boat didn't even have a sail on it. He didn't even have a rudder on it. It

  280. literally went wherever the current took it. And there are times in life I get it

  281. where we just go wherever the current is gonna take us. But you can't live your

  282. whole life like that. Oh my God. You can't just go, well, wherever door opens, that

  283. must be it. Are you sure? My God. You got to get to a point now, like Noah did. He

  284. realized I can't think like a boat dweller anymore. I can't think like a

  285. sailor. I got to start thinking like a farmer now. And sometimes that means

  286. creating something that wasn't there before. He had to change his mentality.

  287. While he was in the boat, it was, can I tell you something? It's the will of God

  288. until it's not. It was the will of God to get him through and then to stop being

  289. the will of God because he told Noah, get out of the boat.

  290. Plant, cultivate. It's time to move on the greater things. It's time to see that

  291. harvest and produce this in your life. And so he had to change his mentality and

  292. pivot so that he can thrive. And I just want to just offer this for whatever it's

  293. worth to somebody today. It could be that half the frustration could end today. I'm

  294. talking about in this service, half of your frustration could end if you would

  295. simply pivot from the mindset of a floater to the mindset of a farmer. Oh

  296. my God, I'm gonna help somebody to, half your frustration could be solved if you

  297. just change the way you're looking at your life and the things that how they

  298. are happening and what's going on and say, maybe God's trying to teach me a new

  299. trick, huh? Maybe God's trying to develop me in a new way. Maybe God's trying to

  300. stretch my fate and move me in a area that I may not be comfortable with, but

  301. I'm gonna learn how to do this. I'm gonna grow where I'm planted. Come on,

  302. somebody give the Lord some praise today. Hallelujah. You got to learn how to adapt.

  303. Someone say adapt. You know what happens if you don't want to adapt, you end up dying.

  304. You got to learn to adapt. There's a big difference between adapting and

  305. compromising. We're not talking about compromising, but there's nothing wrong

  306. with adapting to where God has you right now. What sustained you in the last

  307. season, I'll be just a few more moments, amen. I'm almost done with my introduction

  308. here. Getting you all nervous, but I have plans at four. I know, we're gonna help

  309. you out right now. Listen, what sustained you in the last season may not work in

  310. this season. I wrote this down and it really just spoke to me. Don't get caught

  311. trying to sail through something you're supposed to plow. The flood is over.

  312. Somebody say the flood is over. Now it's time to plow. Now it's time to plant. Get

  313. your hands dirty. Some of you in your spiritual lives have never got dirt

  314. under your fingernails. It's messy there. It's dirty there. Some people got no

  315. blisters on their spiritual hands. You know, me and my brother, we used to have

  316. this saying that we would call certain Christians in the church. We'll call them

  317. blister Christians. You know what a blister Christian is? How many of you know

  318. what a blister is when you're working? It shows up after the work's already been

  319. done. I'm gonna let you think about that one for a moment. Blister Christians show

  320. up when the work is done. You need to earn your own blister. You need to get your

  321. own blisters. You know, don't try to piggyback off of someone else's work. Get

  322. your own blisters. Get your own hands involved in the work of God. Get your

  323. own hands involved in the ministries that are happening in this church. Oh my

  324. Lord, open up your own life. Open up your own home. Open up your own world, your

  325. own family, your own works. Open yourself up. Get your own hands involved in

  326. what God is trying to do so that you can experience how many of you want the

  327. harvest that God has for you? How many of you want to see a greater

  328. manifestation of God in your life? Hallelujah! Someone say, Hallelujah today!

  329. Before I move on to my final point and wrap this thing up, I want you to

  330. understand that the the season you plant are so important. So what I would

  331. encourage you to do is plant like in accordance to what you're believing

  332. God's gonna do in your life. Plant like you're believing for a great harvest.

  333. This is what the Word says, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but

  334. He who so help me out, He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

  335. God said, I will bless you in proportion to how you sow. So if you want to

  336. experience more, if you want to experience a bountiful harvest, then sow

  337. bountifully. And if you sow bountifully, I will show you that I will give you more

  338. than just a little patch. Look, I don't know about you, but I want more than just

  339. a little courtyard garden. I want more than just a backyard garden. I want a

  340. whole field. I want a whole, my God, I want it. Not for me, for my own selfish

  341. purpose. I want it for the glory of God. I want it for my children. Come on. I want

  342. it for those souls that are out there. And I invite the piano player to come on.

  343. Let me give you the final thing is that is we have to wait for harvest. I want to

  344. say wait for harvest. The hardest part about everything I have preached today

  345. is not simply the carrying of the seeds. It's not just the protecting of the

  346. seeds and the planting of the seeds, but it's waiting for harvest. Noah had to be

  347. patient in order to see the fruits of his labor. He had to wait for his vineyard to

  348. produce. We don't know how long he had to wait, but I would imagine that he had to

  349. wait the same amount of time that every vine dresser, every husband, man, every

  350. farmer, harvester had to wait because God promised there's going to be, while the

  351. earth remains, see time and harvest. Planting and harvest, cold and heat. So

  352. God said, look, I'm not going to fast-track you. You're going to be subject to the

  353. season. Someone say seasons. So you need to plant in this season what you hope to

  354. eat in that season. Oh, man, I got to say that again. You need to plant in this

  355. season what you hope to eat in that season. But between here and then, there's a

  356. period of time that we have to wait on God. Can I tell you nothing good grows

  357. overnight? I'm skeptical of things that grow overnight. How about you? I'm

  358. skeptical of things that just from one day to the next is like, it's all, you know,

  359. grown. Because typically that which grows quick doesn't grow long. That which

  360. usually grows too quick, too fast. Typically does it last. And if I remember,

  361. Jesus calls us to bear fruit and fruit that remains. God is bringing someone

  362. today into that place. You're in a new beginning. You're in a new start. You're

  363. in a new world. Maybe your whole life or maybe just one aspect of your life. But

  364. this is what God wants me to encourage somebody with. You need to hold on until

  365. you see your harvest. You got to hold on until you see the fulfillment. Hold on,

  366. Noah. You're doing it the first time, Noah. You're the first farmer in the new

  367. world. God's calling some of you to do some things that maybe have never been

  368. done before. Some things that you've never even seen modeled before. You're

  369. venturing into places that you've never been before. Trusting God for things

  370. you've never seen before. Come on now, somebody. And the Lord wants you to know

  371. that when you plant those seeds, you got to hold on and wait for the fulfillment

  372. to come. It's not going to come overnight. It's not going to come right away. But

  373. if you keep on trusting in him and you keep on believing in him, oh, hallelujah,

  374. and you keep on waiting on him, I know this Paul said, and let us not grow

  375. weary while doing good for induced season. We shall reap. Everyone say reap. Oh,

  376. come on. Say it again. Say reap. We shall reap if we do not lose heart. Would you

  377. stand with me this afternoon today? Oh, my Lord, waiting is the hardest part and

  378. all that you've got to do is wait and not lose heart. Wait and I'm talking to

  379. somebody today that might be losing heart. Somebody that might be losing

  380. patience. You're not, you're losing patience. You're losing heart. You're

  381. wondering God when are you going to do it? When is it going to happen? Can I tell

  382. you that God's not moving on your timetable. He's moving on his. There is an

  383. appointed time. I'd like you to close your eyes for a moment. I just feel

  384. off. We're at a very sacred and holy moment right now in the service. Not

  385. because it's me standing behind this whole bit. Not because the music is just

  386. right, but because the word has gone forth from the mouth of God and God, God is

  387. trying to get you to see what has always been there. Some of you as a minister

  388. right now, if you can keep your eyes closer a moment as a minister, some of

  389. you have given up silently, privately given up on things. Some of you have been

  390. struggling and wrestling with the delay of your harvest. And you think at times

  391. that God has forgotten about you. You think at times that it's possibly never

  392. going to come. You think at times that maybe his blessings passed you by. But

  393. the Lord sent me here today to remind you that he did not bring you through

  394. everything he did. He did not bring you through the flood. Write your name in the

  395. book of life. Wash your sins away. Feel you with his spirit. Sanctify you and give

  396. you a name. He didn't do all of those things just so that you can stay where

  397. you are. He didn't do all of those things so that you would be fruitless and

  398. barren. Oh no God brought you through those things. Kept you.

  399. Sustained you, healed you, saved you so that you would produce a harvest in due

  400. season. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I know I'm talking to

  401. somebody right now. You just got to begin to respond to what the

  402. spirit of the Lord is speaking into your spirit right now. Oh, you're

  403. shunned. God said I didn't bring you all this way. Oh my God, my God, my God. To

  404. leave you high and dry. Oh my love. But I brought you to show you that you would

  405. see the goodness. Oh my Lord. David said I would have given up. He said I would

  406. have given up unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in

  407. the land of the living. I've come to tell you that God's got a living land for you.

  408. God's got a harvest for you.