Fields White for Harvest

Come, See a Man

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The woman at the well told her town, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did” (John 4:29). She was not the only one. All through the Bible, people who met Jesus could not keep the news to themselves.

A witness. The Bible says the woman “testified” (John 4:39). To testify means to tell what you have seen and know is true. A witness does not need every answer. A witness tells what happened.

Andrew brings his brother. Andrew spent a day with Jesus. Then the first thing he did was find his brother Simon. He told Simon they had found the Messiah, and he brought him to Jesus (John 1:41-42).

Come and see. When Nathanael doubted that anything good could come from Nazareth, Philip did not argue. He simply asked him to come and see (John 1:46).

One thing I know. Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. Angry leaders asked him question after question. He could not answer them all, but he knew one thing: he had been blind, and now he could see (John 9:25).

What God has done. “Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). A testimony is telling what God has done for you.

Go home and tell. Once Jesus set a man free and told him to go home to his friends. He was to tell them what great things the Lord had done for him. The man told people in ten towns, and everyone was amazed (Mark 5:19-20).

We cannot stay quiet. When leaders told Peter and John to stop talking about Jesus, they said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Always ready. “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). Meekness means gentleness.

Let it shine. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The way you live tells about Jesus too.

What we learn. You do not need to know every answer to tell someone about Jesus. Like the woman, Andrew and the man born blind, you can tell what He has done for you and invite others to come and see.

What to do. Think of one way Jesus has helped you. Practice telling it in three or four sentences, and ask God for a chance to share it this week.

A Samaritan woman with a painful past brought a whole town out to meet Jesus (John 4:29-30). God has spread the news about His Son this way ever since: one person telling another.

Martyreō (4:39). The word testified is martyreō (say: mar-too-REH-oh), to bear witness. A witness in court tells what he has seen and heard. The English word martyr comes from it, because many early believers kept telling the truth about Jesus even when it cost them their lives.

John 1:40-42. Andrew's first act after meeting Jesus was to find his own brother and tell him they had found the Messiah. Andrew never preached a famous sermon that we know of, but the brother he brought, Simon Peter, preached at Pentecost. Small acts of witness can bear fruit only God can see.

John 1:46. When Nathanael scoffed that nothing good could come from Nazareth, Philip answered with an invitation to come and see. An invitation can open a door that an argument would close.

John 9:25. The man born blind faced hostile questions from the Pharisees, and he could not answer them all. He stood on what he knew: once he was blind, and now he could see. A true story of what Jesus has done is hard to argue with.

Psalm 66:16. “Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul.” A testimony is personal. It is not a debate about ideas but a report of what God has done.

Mark 5:19-20. Jesus sent a man He had set free back home to tell his friends what great things the Lord had done for him. The man told it all through the Decapolis, the region of ten cities, and everyone marveled. Our first mission field is often our own family and town.

Acts 4:20. Peter and John told the council, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Witness grows out of real time spent with Jesus.

1 Peter 3:15. Peter adds two things: be ready, and answer “with meekness and fear,” gentle toward people and reverent toward God. A testimony told with pride or anger pushes people away.

Pointing away from ourselves. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). A good witness wants people to look at Jesus, not at the one telling the story.

God uses the unlikely. A Samaritan woman with a broken past, a quiet fisherman and a beggar who had been blind all became messengers for Jesus. No one is too ordinary or too broken for God to use.

Application. Write down your own short testimony: what your life was like, how you came to trust Jesus, and what He has done since. Then pray for one person to share it with.

The Harvest Is Ready

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At Jacob's well Jesus told His disciples, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35). That harvest did not stop in Sychar. It is still going on today.

What a harvest is. A harvest is the time when farmers gather the crops they have grown. Jesus used it as a picture of people coming to believe in Him.

Seed in different soil. Jesus told a story about a farmer who scattered seed. Some fell on the hard path, some on rocks, some among thorns, and some on good soil that gave a big crop. The seed is God's word, and the soil is how people's hearts receive it (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23).

Many workers. Some people plant seeds by teaching about God. Others water the seeds by praying and being kind. God is the One who makes the seed grow (1 Corinthians 3:6). Everyone shares the joy.

Jesus cares. When Jesus saw the crowds, “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Pray for workers. He said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). Laborers means workers.

A great harvest. After Jesus rose and went back to heaven, Peter preached to a crowd in Jerusalem. “That day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). The fields really were ready!

Into all the world. Jesus sent His followers out: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). He also promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Do not give up. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9). Some seeds take a long time to grow.

What we learn. People all around us are ready to hear about Jesus. God invites us to help with His harvest, and He gives the growth.

What to do. Pray every day this week for one friend who does not know Jesus. Ask God to send someone, maybe you, to tell that friend about Him.

At Jacob's well Jesus told His disciples the fields were “already white for harvest!” (John 4:35). That harvest went on long after Jesus left Sychar, and it has not ended.

Wages and joy (4:36). The reaper “receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life.” The reward is people who will live with God forever, and both sower and reaper “rejoice together.”

One sows, another reaps (4:37-38). “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” Many Christians see the prophets and John the Baptist as the ones who sowed. Every believer today reaps where others have prayed and taught before.

The sower (Matthew 13:3-23). Jesus explained that the seed is the word of the kingdom. The same seed fell on four kinds of ground, and only the good ground bore fruit. Our part is to scatter the seed faithfully and to pray for hearts that receive it.

1 Corinthians 3:6. Paul wrote that he planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase. The workers are partners, and the growth belongs to God.

Matthew 9:36-38. Jesus “was moved with compassion” for the weary crowds, and He told His disciples to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” The harvest belongs to God, and prayer comes before going.

Pentecost (Acts 2:41). Weeks after the resurrection, Peter preached to the crowds in Jerusalem, and “that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” The disciples Jesus taught at the well were now reaping a great harvest.

The Great Commission. After He rose, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” with the promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Galatians 6:9. Harvest work takes patience: “for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Some seeds you plant may not sprout for years.

Application. Lift up your eyes. Make a list of three people you see often who do not know Jesus. Pray for them by name, look for ways to love them, and be ready to invite them to come and see.

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