Harvest Time!

The Harvest

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. John 4:35

As we drove through Louisiana on the way home from an event last fall, we drove past many cotton fields. The cotton was truly white and ready for harvest. Some of the fields were being harvested as we passed them.

We saw miles and miles of white fields. It reminded me of John 4:35.

There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. The majority have not heard the good news of the Gospel. And if they have it was misrepresented to them as dead religion or was not relative to their lives. It's our job to take the good news to the world. They will not evangelize themselves.

If the world could only here the good news of the gospel that God is not mad at the them. He is not holding their sins against them because of what Jesus did on the cross. All they need to do is receive the gift of salvation and be born again. It's a free gift. That's the Good news.

2 Cor 5:18-21 Says very clearly what the message is and who is to take it to the world.

2 Cor 5:18-21 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Most unsaved people will not come to church.

That's why we must take it to where they are!

We are Gods ambassadors!

We represent him to the people of the planet earth!

Rom 10:13-15
13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Below are a few statistics to think about.

• Of the 6.7 billion people on the earth today, 34% are under the age of 14.
  
• 40 million children in the United States have never been to church.
  
• 2 out of 3 children in the United States do not know JESUS.
  
• 86% of all people who receive Jesus make that decision before age 15.
  
• The probability of someone being born again in America is:
  35% between ages 5 – 12.
  4% between 13 – 18
  and 6% for those 19 and older.
  
• Only 10% of all the money put into the gospel is directed to the ministry of children.
  
• Seven years old is the age a person is most receptive to the Gospel.
  
• After a person turns 13 they are less likely to make a decision for Christ.

After seeing this why do 99 percent of evangelists go after adults or teens.

I can count on 2 hands the children's evangelist out there that is making an impact on this generation.

Alot of children's ministries have gone to entertainment based instead of ministry based.
That's why we try and establish relationships with other children's evangelists that are making a difference.

There are too many children not born again and not enough children's evangelist to be in any kind of competition.

We have a whole generation of children that have never been to church. And if they have, they thought it was dead religion and didn't want anything to do with it.

Below are the percentages of people in America during different era's that believed the basic bible truths and were born again.

• 65% WW II generation


• 35% baby boomers


• 16% Gen XIf nothing changes in America when this generation of children become adults only 4% will be born again bible believing Christians.

Church its time to wake up and take back this generation!

The fields are truly white and ready for harvest!

Matt 9:37-38The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Will you go?

Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang
http://www.jubileegang.com/

Childrens Ministry or Entertainment?

Over the years we have seen new ideas incorporated into children's ministry such as; games, multi media, and technology at the expense of watering down the gospel message.

We use most of these methods during our Jubilee Gang events. However, the purpose of our events are not to just entertain and wow the children, but to lay a firm foundation from the word of God that they can build upon to strengthen their faith in Jesus.

Our Goal as the Jubilee Gang is to see as many men, woman, boys, and girls make a legitimate decision to be born again. To many time we have seen people herded to the altar to be saved without fully understanding what is happening to them.

True faith comes from the word of God, The Bible. Without teaching the bible in a way that people can understand they will not have faith to receive what is being offered to them.

If we play games for an hour, wow our audiences with multiple special effects and shout a few scriptures, then how do we expect them to be able to make a legitimate decision to follow Jesus?

We encourage people to use all these methods to teach, but the message cannot get lost in the methods. The word of God needs to always come first in everything we do and all these methods are used to reinforce the message.

By all means use all the new methods the world has to offer to make your lessons the more exciting. Make your Children's Church the most exciting, spectacular, experience possible for children but, don't replace sound biblical teaching and anointing with all fun and games. Ask yourself, do I want to have a service or a circus?

We must stay relevant to reach this generation. The message never changes, but the method must change. Games, multi media, lighting effects, and video are all very effective ways to get the message across. But if they replace sound biblical teaching and anointing we will produce a generation of fluffy Christians with no spiritual backbone.

Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang
www.jubileegang.com