From Pastor Todd

October is upon us and as we think of the seasons moving from summer to fall, the evenings are getting cooler (which many are glad for), and the days are getting shorter.

I am also reminded of this time of year brings about the fall "Harvest".

We are seeing farmers getting busy to bring in their crops from the fields. Fields where they had planted seed back in the spring and now it's time for the "Harvest".

Jesus we know had a similar experience, in John 4, He met with a Samaritan women and addressed her need of "Living Water" and He makes the bold confession to her that "He is the Messiah".

The woman leaves her waterpot and goes in the city and tells the people "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

The plot thickens for the reader in v. 31 when the disciples urged HIm, "Rabbi eat." Jesus in turn tells them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

The disciples are puzzled and question, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"

v. 34-35)
Jesus says to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

There is a contrast here that Jesus uses much in His teaching and preaching.

The natural and the spiritual:

Natural food , something that the body needs to survive and he met the lady at the well where water is, and Jesus knows our natural (physical needs quite well as He created the human body.)

Yet the spiritual need is the need for the right way of thinking, searching correctly which can only be trusted to Jesus for truth... as Jesus is truth! (John 14:6)

The spiritual need is the place where the disciples had to learn the most, could we not say that is our great need of this day? The disciples had gone into town to get food while Jesus rested by the well and Jesus does the unthinkable to any Jewish man when He starts a conversation with this woman and she is a person in the depths of despair in her spiritual life, and at the end of the conversation she leaves the vessel for water she had brought and goes to tell people about this Jesus! Is this not amazing to us?

Something the disciples had to learn and what we must see is the way the Lord sees people, as the people were coming out of the fields, Jesus makes the statement the "fields are ripe or already white for harvesting"! The people may have been wearing white harvesting robes, which they used to work in the harvest, so Jesus looked at them coming towards Him and made the statement as an object lesson for the disciples.

One thought is that what made the field ready for harvest? The answer is the woman at the well went and told what Jesus had shared with her about her need of salvation, and this is what we must do is share the "Good News" of Jesus to those around us.

Have you placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Can you say at this time of harvest that your spiritual life is guided by the Lord Jesus?

To receive Jesus as your Savior, all you must do is turn to Him in repentant faith—trusting His finished work on the cross and His resurrection as your only hope of salvation.

Once you have done that I would encourage you to be baptized and join a local church that teaches the Bible.

If you need help with any of this please contact us at First Baptist Church and we would be happy to help you with this great decision to follow Jesus.

Happy October and Happy Harvest.

Pastor Todd