Bringing in the Harvest

By Larry Rosenbaum

This past week, Scott Crawford visited us from Colby, Kansas. Scott, one of the founders of SOS Ministries, came here to work on a series of video teachings on evangelism. Scott has participated in many evangelism outreaches around the country for 30 years and helped start the largest of these outreaches — the one to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Scott attended last summer’s SOS outreach for the first time in 10 years. He said that two of the street meetings he attended during SOS week were some of the best meetings he had ever experienced.

When he said that, I realized how much I take for granted. To me, these were wonderful outreaches, but we have so many wonderful outreaches. Each month, I face the task of trying to describe to you what is happening on the streets. This is really impossible. You have to be there to really see what God is doing. At every outreach, God ministers in amazing ways to hundreds and often thousands of people.

While we have planted and watered millions of gospel seeds during the past 25 years, we have not seen a large harvest of souls. In Luke 13, Jesus told a parable of a man who planted a fig tree that did not bear fruit for three years. He told the caretaker to give it one more year — dig around it and fertilize it. If it still did not bear fruit, he was told to cut it down. Jesus was speaking of Israel. He ministered to Israel for 3 1/2 years, but most of the nation did not repent. Even His disciples were only able to bring a remnant of the Jewish people to faith in Jesus.

We can sow gospel seeds and water them. We can harvest fruit once it is ripe. But we cannot cause the fruit to grow and ripen. This involves the supernatural work of God. It also involves man’s free will. Fig trees do not choose to bear fruit, but people must choose to trust in Jesus.

Why don’t we see more salvation on the streets of San Francisco? Satan is called “the prince of this world.” To a large extent, he controls the educational system, the political system, the news media, and the entertainment media. In a city like San Francisco, most non-Christians have many friends and acquaintances who are seeking to influence them against Christianity. Most have no friends who are seeking to influence them towards Jesus.

What will it take to see a great harvest in San Francisco — or any other city? We must sow bountifully. We must be patient. We must be faithful. It takes time to produce a harvest. “Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). We must pray fervently. Pray first that God would send more laborers into the harvest field. Pray that God would work in the hearts of those who have heard the gospel, so that many would be saved. Pray that God would strengthen the churches and raise up Christians to disciple those who are saved, so that they can bring others to Christ.

William Carey did not see a single Indian convert for seven years. Other missionaries have labored even longer without seeing any visible fruit from their labors. Many Christians expect instant results. “I’ll spend one afternoon witnessing on the streets. If nobody gets saved, I’ll never witness on the streets again.” Over the past 25 years, thousands of Christians have participated in SOS outreaches. Many of them joined us one time, didn’t see anyone get saved, and never came back. If half of these Christians had persisted in witnessing to and praying for the people of San Francisco, we might already have seen a great harvest in this city.

I realize that God has not called every Christian to witness on the streets with us. However, He has called every Christian to share the gospel with others. As we enter a new year, I urge you to rededicate yourself to bringing the gospel to people — your unsaved friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, as well as people on the streets, in prisons, nursing homes, college campuses, and those in other nations. I also urge you to rededicate yourself to praying for evangelism ministries, including SOS Ministries, and giving to those who are seeking to reach others for Christ in this nation and around the world.

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