======================================================================== LET THE HARVEST BEGIN by Carter Conlon ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon is a call to embrace the year 2022 as the year of harvest, emphasizing the need for repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit to be part of God's end-time army. The message highlights the signs of the last days as described in the Bible, the urgency of reaching out to the undecided, and the promise of God's power and abilities through the Holy Spirit for effective witness and transformation. It concludes with a prayer of commitment and an invitation for viewers to connect for further guidance in their spiritual journey. Duration: 24:29 Topics: "Harvest", "Empowerment through the Holy Spirit" Scripture References: Acts 2:17, Matthew 24:6, Acts 1:8, Isaiah 53:5, Joel 3:14, Romans 10:9, Acts 2:38, Acts 2:39 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon is a call to embrace the year 2022 as the year of harvest, emphasizing the need for repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit to be part of God's end-time army. The message highlights the signs of the last days as described in the Bible, the urgency of reaching out to the undecided, and the promise of God's power and abilities through the Holy Spirit for effective witness and transformation. It concludes with a prayer of commitment and an invitation for viewers to connect for further guidance in their spiritual journey. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Praise God. What a privilege it is to be in the service tonight, and I'm just so thankful we're finishing the year 2021 with such faith in our hearts and the incredible testimonies of God's love that has carried so many through and continues to do so in the future. The Lord put a word on my heart. I'm going to share it this evening, and after I share that, we're going to have communion together. Pastor Pavel Mafdy, the pastor of the TSC Summit Campus Church, is going to be leading us in communion, and then we're going to just believe God as we go into the year 2022 that it's going to be the year of harvest. And the message God's given me tonight is simply called 2022, let the harvest begin. So Father, I want to thank you, God, with all my heart for the word that you've given to me this evening. I thank you, Lord, that as we go into the year 2022, we go into it surrounded by your love, infused, God, with the confidence that only your presence in each of our lives can give us. We're not much in ourselves, but you in us is everything. So Lord, we ask God that you would use us for your glory in a new and a profound way in the days ahead. We ask you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you would raise up an army of soldiers for your kingdom's sake who don't even know yet that there's soldiers in your army. But God, you would break through every wall of unbelief and reach the center core of every heart and cause us, cause us to rise up and say, I'm going with God. Cause us to say, Lord, if you've given me your Holy Spirit, then that's my inheritance, and I lay claim to that. Lord Jesus Christ, before you come and return to this world, we ask that you would grant one great and glorious harvest on the face of the earth. God almighty, that you would bring an innumerable number of people into your kingdom. And God, you would do it through people tonight that you're going to use for your glory, that you're going to raise us up as the end time church. You're going to give us the strength that we need, the giftings of the Holy Spirit. And Father, we thank you. We thank you, Lord. It's not our might. It's not our power. It's not by our intellect, but it's by your Holy Spirit. God, this kingdom will be built by your Holy Spirit, animating us, empowering us, causing the promises of God to come to life as we choose to believe you. Jesus Christ, we ask you tonight that you would raise us out of all weakness and raise us into the strength that your cross has provided for us. My God, raise us out of voicelessness and give us a voice, Lord, to speak to this generation. Give us a song, as David the psalmist once said, where we were brought out, God, of the sinking places of this world and set upon a solid rock and put a song in our heart that many can see it and fear and will turn to you. God almighty, we believe that what we're about to read tonight is our inheritance, and we lay claim on it, and we thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Acts chapter 2, 20, 22. Let the harvest begin. Verse 14, Peter standing up at the eleven, raised his voice and said to the men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known unto you and heed my words, for these are not drunk as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out of my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, the apostle Peter identifies this moment that I just read to you from the scriptures as the beginning of the last days. And so the last days, according to the word of God, began actually on the day of Pentecost and have been unfolding over the last 2,000 plus years. And it is in my heart to tell you tonight that I believe that we are in the last of the last days now. We are approaching the return of Christ. The last days, of course, as described by Joel the prophet, he spoke about pestilences. If you go to the Old Testament and read from the book of Joel, there was a pestilence that had come over the land. And you think about this worldwide pestilence called COVID that's not going to go away. It's just going to continue mutating and actually could, in the long term, actually become more fearful than it is today. He spoke about famines coming upon the earth, the darkness coming on this earth as in the heavens. The sun shall be darkened. The moon shall be turned into blood. The stars of heaven will be affected. He spoke about nations being enraged against both God and against His people. And Jesus Himself in Matthew chapter 24 verses 6 to 14 actually concurs with Joel about the last days. Listen to what He said when He was asked by His disciples, He said, Tell us what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Verse 6 of Matthew 24, He says, You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. In other words, it will become extremely unpopular as this world launches into its final rebellion against the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It will be unpopular to be a follower of Christ. And then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. So we look at a calamitous time in the earth, a time of wars and rumors of wars, of famines, of pestilences, of betrayals, of people hating the followers of Jesus Christ. And in the midst of all of this, then suddenly Jesus says, but this gospel will be preached in all the world, and then the end shall come. And so we ask ourselves, how in the world is this gospel going to be preached? Well, the answer is easy. It's Acts chapter 2, verses 17 and 18. Let me read it again. It will come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my maidservants and on my maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. So the answer being that God himself will preach the gospel through a people that have abilities which he alone could have given them. It's really that simple. That's the way it started on the day of Pentecost, 120 ordinary people. I've shared it probably dozens and dozens of times from this and other pulpits, because my mind loves to go back into that room where they had gathered. It was a fearful time. It was a dark time. A murderous spirit had gotten a hold of this world. It had just crucified the Son of God, the Lord of glory. And in the midst of all of that, you'd wonder, how is this message of the cross going to be preached? He had told his disciples that, he said, as the Father has sent me, now I'm sending you. And it must have been in their heart. How in the world are we going to do this? How are we ever going to overcome the limitations of our own abilities, the limitations of our own mind, our own heart, our own sense of worth or worthlessness, whatever it was that they were dealing with? The answer is simple. God himself was going to inhabit a people through his Holy Spirit and give them abilities that he alone could give them to do what he'd called them to do. It's really that simple. These men and women came out of the upper room, and by the Spirit of God, they were given the ability to communicate with people of other nations, other languages, other cultures, with abilities given by God himself that the observer, the serious observer, knew that only God could be doing this. Who could be giving these people these abilities that they don't naturally have? Doing things they didn't naturally learn to do, going places they couldn't naturally go, given resources that they didn't have when they first went into that place of prayer that only God could have given them. You see, this is the great promise of our day. The harvest is already here. The fields are already white to harvest, and God now is looking for a people, just another group of ordinary people like you tonight, sir, in your home, like you, ma'am, like you, young person. He's not looking for supermen or superwomen. He's not looking for people with innumerable diplomas on their wall. He's not looking for you to argue his existence on the earth. He's looking for you to open your heart and let him be God and prove who he is through your life to every doubter that you'll ever encounter. You have to envision with me these people coming from the temple, and they had just been involved in a very meaningful religious exercise, and yet as they're passing by, this group of people that have just come out of an upper room with the glory of God literally in their soul and their mouths speaking things that they've never been taught to do. They're communicating in a way that they've never known how to communicate, and they're standing in public view with a boldness. As we heard Kate say tonight and others have prayed about, this perfect love of God that had just touched their hearts had cast the fear of man out of them. The fear of repercussion, the fear of the future, all these things were gone because the one who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son is now inside of them, and that love that casts out fear is now pouring through these ordinary men and women who've just decided. They made a decision. When they went into that upper room, they just said, I'm going where God is, and I'm going to do what God has called me to do, and I'm going to do for his glory. They didn't know how this was ever going to be performed, but suddenly the scripture says the room was filled with the sound of a rushing mighty wind, and cloven tongues of fire representing the presence of God's Holy Spirit sat upon not just select ones in the room, but everyone in the room was filled with the Spirit of Almighty God. The rich, the poor, the educated, the uneducated, the strong, the weak, everyone in that room was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they came out of that room into the marketplace, and they began to speak to people in languages that they had never learned, known languages, and they were speaking about the glorious things that God had done, is doing, and is preparing to do. That was their conversation. In the Greek New Testament, it says they were speaking the Megalias of God, which means that the anticipated outworkings of this new inward presence of God in their life. Remember, when the Spirit of God comes upon your sons and daughters and handmaids and men's servants, they will prophesy, which means they'll begin to move in unison with God about the things that God is about to do in and through them and in the lives of anyone who calls upon him in theirs or our generation. Joel also makes this incredible statement. You know, he says the harvest is great, and we're living in a season in the world right now where the harvest is ready. People's intentions have been gotten. They're not sure about the future. They're afraid of disease. This is the first generation in a long, long time that don't see a hope, they don't see a future, and they're suddenly being moved as a mature harvest would be, being more or less swayed by the wind. And Joel said there are multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. In this season of harvest, Joel's speaking about in the last day that multitudes are there as the threshing instruments are beginning to come and gather the harvest, and in their hearts, they don't know which way to move. They don't know what to do. They're being moved about by winds, and yet in the midst of it all, the voice of God is calling them, calling the undecided to make a decision. And that's what God is doing for you tonight. He's calling you to make a decision for him. Don't be undecided any longer. Don't sit on your couch and declare yourself to be unworthy or just a drug addict or just a depressed person or somebody whose family's a mess or hopeless. You are the end time army of God. You have to let that truth come into your heart, not by your might, not by your power, not by anything you bring to the table, other than just a heart that says, Lord, I am willing to go where you're calling me to go. In the book of Acts, Peter, the apostle, spoke some great truths about the salvation that God was offering the people. And the scripture says, when they heard it, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? When they heard it, their hearts were moved, and a question came to their lips, what shall we do? And that's the question I believe is coming to some of your hearts right now. Pastor, I hear you. I heard Kate tonight. I heard Pastor Teresa. I heard Brother Ross. I heard those that have been praying. I heard it in the songs. And I'm feeling moved upon, but what is it that you want me to do? If we're going to trust that God will give us his Holy Spirit, let's go back to the original instructions in the Bible. Peter said to them three things. Number one, he said, repent. In other words, put away your sin. Have a change of heart. You've walked your own way. You've made your own choices. You've done your own thing. It's probably why you're feeling so empty as you're listening to my words tonight. Well, stop going that way. That's what it means. Stop the journey that where you have prescribing the ways, the pathway for your own feet, you're living by your own thoughts. You're your own judge of what is good and what is evil. When there's a clear standard of that presented to you in the word of God. So the first thing Peter says to the people, stop where you are. Stop what you're doing and turn towards God. And let his word now become your truth. Be sorry for the way that you have been living. Part of repentance is a sorrow for sin. Be sorry. If you're living in a way you shouldn't be living, you're doing things you know instinctively it's wrong. You might not be a student of the Bible, but you instinctively know that theft is wrong. You instinctively know that cheating on your marriage partner is wrong. You instinctively know that sex outside of marriage is wrong. You instinctively know that drunkenness is not a good thing or addiction is not a good thing. You know that pornography is something that you should not be ingesting into your mind and into your spirit. You know it. So Peter said, the first thing to do is repent. Make a decision in your heart. I'm not going to live this way anymore. Make that decision. Come to God and say, Lord, I am truly sorry for the way I have lived my life. I have fallen so short of what you desire my life to be. That's why the prophet Isaiah says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one righteous, not even one. And then he says, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. You saw that on the announcements today, the water baptism that just happened at Times Square Church. Baptism is a symbol of two things. Number one, going down into the water, we're making a statement and saying, God, I'm not going to live in my own strength anymore. Just as in as much as the spirit of God raised you out of the grave, your word says that if I will turn to you, you will also quicken my natural, my mortal body. You will raise me up from the power of death and sin that has been operating in my life and you will give me a new life. The Bible says that you and I will become new creations in Christ. So going down into the water is simply identifying that I am dying to my own way of living. I'm dying to try to craft a path going forward in my own strength and my own wisdom. And I'm going to live according to your word, your strength, and your will for my life. It's also, water baptism is also a public declaration. It's coming out of all that is apart from God, going down. It's in a sense of public humiliation. It is in one way, because it's an awkward thing for many people until you fully are committed to Christ to go into the waters of baptism, basically making a declaration. That's why the Bible says, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you shall be saved. And this public confession that I am not afraid or ashamed to be identified with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And so Peter says, repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's the promise of God. Turn from your sin, put away trying to do things in your own strength. Trust that I will give you the strength to be the person I've called you to be, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 39 says, for the promise, now God can't break his promises. The promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And so tonight I say, 2022, let the harvest begin, because the promise tonight is to you. It's to you. This is what he says. If you'll turn from your sin, if you will identify with Christ in water baptism, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Truly amazing. This promise is to you, and we talk about the need for restoration in our families, to your children. The promise is to all who are far off. That means members of your family, perhaps, and others that just seem to be a thousand miles from Christ right now. But as they see your life being transformed before their eyes, they too will turn from their sin and identify with Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. And as many as the Lord our God will call, people that God will use your life to reach, people that you're not even aware that you're going to be speaking to. But once the Holy Spirit has control of your life, you'll be taken into places that only God can take you, and doing things that only God could do through you. As the father tonight, in Jesus' name, oh God almighty, God almighty, 3,000 people that day had the sense to hear the gospel that was preached from the lips of your servant, Peter. I pray tonight that people online, by the hundreds, perhaps the thousands, will have the sense to turn from their sin, to identify with you, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that we would yield our lives, everyone would yield their life to you, and not be afraid to confess you publicly through their voices and through their actions in baptism. And God, you promised the Holy Spirit. You promised giftings and abilities and power. You said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses of me in Jerusalem and Samaria, and to all the uttermost parts of the earth. This is who your church is, my God. This is who your church has always been. Now, I'm going to ask you online to pray a simple prayer with me, and make it your own tonight. Say these words after me. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying for my sin. Tonight, today, I open my heart to you, and I do repent of my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. Come into my life and be my Lord and be my Savior. I give you my heart. I give you my future. I give you the testimony of my lips. I give you the testimony of my life. I ask you tonight to fill me with your Holy Spirit, and give me abilities to declare you to this generation, and to my family, and my friends, in ways that only you could do it. Change my heart. Change my life. Change me from the inside out, and let my voice from this day forward be used for your glory. Oh, Jesus, thank you for loving me. I choose tonight to be part of this end-time harvest. Into your hands, Almighty God, I commit my spirit in Jesus' name. If you prayed that tonight and you meant that, I'm going to ask you to do one more thing. Just text the word CONNECT to 51,000. That's CONNECT to 51,000, and somebody from Times Square Church will be in touch with you. Let us help you get started in your new walk with God. We're going to be coming to communion in just a moment. Pastor Pavel is going to lead us in communion, and just before that, we're going to hear another song tonight. And so, so, so we're so thankful for those of you who have given your lives to Christ tonight. You will never regret this decision. God bless you. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/o_9sKRCdPIg.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/let-the-harvest-begin/ ========================================================================