A Labor Shortage

and Jesus went about all the cities and Villages says in verse 35 teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people but when he saw the multitudes the Bible says you know this scripture he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and they were scattered abroad as sheep having no Shepherd then said he unto his disciples watch this the Harvest is truly plenteous but the laborers are few pray ye therefore that the lord of the Harvest that he will send forth laborers into his Harvest for a few moments tonight I'd like to minister on this topic a labor shortage a labor shortage I believe God wants to speak to us if your heart is open would you just pray with me right now Jesus we love you and we thank you for your word we thank you for the presence of God that is so so obviously in this house tonight I pray that God you'd anoint my mind and my lips God to speak what you would have me to speak and no more God I know that tonight this is just the beginning of what is going to be an amazing amazing week for this church but God right now you want to do something come on if you believe that would you lift your voice and just say Lord use me God open up my heart to whatever you want to do because God tonight you can send a laborer God if we've been stagnated wake us up because God there is a mission before us God the Harvest is here but the laborers are few so I pray God send forth laborers from this local church in the name of Jesus Amen and amen you may be seated this evening four years ago my wife and I and a team of just incredible people started a church that we called as where the Drury already said but let me try that again Brother jury already said he's not dreary he's I mean messed that up a little bit we call it stello now I realized tonight that that is a different name and that's probably what you were thinking and probably by now you realize I'm a different kind of guy some of you laughed a little too hard on that but here's what stello means stello is a Greek word and it means to be sent with purpose and uh it is the root of the word apostello where we get Apostle or Apostolic and so what we tell people the first time they walk into the doors of our church is this welcome to stello church where we believe everybody is sent with purpose that word comes from the root apostella where we get Apostolic because we believe here at stello church that God still has a book of Acts Church in the 21st century that sees miracles signs and wonders and you can be a part of that you see it was our desire that Apostolic identity would be obvious from the very first time someone visited but we also wanted to be able to Market and we believe that God placed that that name in our hearts and so God has been good to us but I will tell you that the peculiarity of the name has been met with uh some I won't say opposition but it has confused a couple of people I remember one time I met a man at a conference I told myself I wasn't going to tell this story and he didn't realize I was the pastor of stello Church but apparently he had heard about us because I asked him if he knew a man who attended our church and this is what he said to me he said yeah I know him he goes to that stello church I'll tell you when you add the word that to that sentence it changes the whole ball game so I tried not to be offended and I walked away but my favorite is when someone called us stiletto Church yeah we're modern and we try to be pretty cool but we're not that cool amen somebody and so the peculiarity of the name I will tell you has only been met by the peculiarity of the events that have taken place at our church because I will just tell you this evening that there's no doubt about it a church plant is the breeding ground for peculiar when you start a church people come out of the woodwork and there's God and not the rich people the fun the fun people they come out of the the woodwork and so we've seen some things but a lot of our peculiarity has actually been based around the fact that we are a a portable church and so we set up and we tear down each week and and if you promise me you can do two things at one time which I know that you can I'll have them go ahead and play that little time lapse video if you want to and I'll keep on preaching but this is what it looks like on the screen you'll see whenever we set up and tear down uh most weeks and being a portable Church what I have found is that uh it's it's no no rare thing for something to go wrong in fact this location that you're seeing here was our very first location uh that is the second floor a banquet room in one of the best meeting places in our community it was called the factory since then we've moved because they changed the business and and different things took place but God blessed us to be able to go into this place called The Factory which is a place that was full of of extracurricular activities all all different types of things and right there on a Sunday evening when we first started we would we would be there in the middle of our community and it was just one of the coolest things but what we found is that it definitely came with its challenges whenever we first had all of our equipment delivered which you could see a moment ago those crates off to the side in fact they're about as tall as I am in about two or three times as wide as I am all of that came in a trailer unit and when they delivered it we went into our first location the factory the very first time and we pushed that and and as we were pushing the crate to the elevator someone said oh God there's my beautiful wife right there I asked you you do two things at one time and apparently not because all you can see is her and that's fine so we pushed this crate to the elevator and as we were getting there we said oh God I don't think this is going to fit in the elevator now I want to tell you that pulling all of that equipment up to a second floor would have been an issue and so the man that was on the other side of it pulled it into the elevator and it stuck out by about that far in that elevator and we begin to pray and God gave us a revelation and you know what that Revelation was why don't you get out of the elevator and just push it in so he got out of the elevator and pushed it in hit the the level two button walked away and somebody was at the top God performed a miracle right then and there for stello church it was just a few weeks ago that uh somebody or a couple months ago that somebody was moving a a drum symbol and as they were moving a drum symbol there's a about 150 foot cable that connects all of our stage equipment back to our sound board and they dropped that symbol and would you believe that I don't know if it was the devil or what happened but it just happened to cut right through that cable and you would not believe the amount of work that went into in the last 20 minutes of setup still managing to have service they were pushing things around they were making it happen of course we're a few years in now we're a little better than we used to be at these different things and uh they're actually if you want to show some of the pictures of our first location you can do that but we found that being portable is uh is an amazing amazing thing it's difficult at times and you certainly have challenges that you face but can I just tell you tonight there was no Challenge and I think I'm going to get an amen from somebody in this room there was no challenge like a covid challenge being being a portable Church especially so we were displaced in 18 months we went without covid as a church in our existence and then for 18 months we jumped around from coffee shops to home groups to basements and attics of coffee shops and would you believe that in the midst of all that we still had people receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost we still had people being baptized because God here here's what I know in order to do any of these things there had to be labor there had to be work there had to be somebody who was willing to to push the crate to open up their home to to give of their finances there had to be somebody who was a part of the Revival that God had for our church it takes a laborer to see a Revival in fact the Bible talks about a good laborer and and here's what it says in Luke 9 and 62 no one having put his hand to the plow that's somebody who's working and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God because in order to be a good laborer if you're going to work in this Kingdom here's what I get out of that scripture you've got to keep looking forward and not get obsessed with what's behind you and can I just tell you I know that covet had some challenges I realized that there were some issues and I realized that what we're doing here tonight is very hard work and a church like this is proof that God honors hard work and investment but here's what I know I'm looking forward to the things that God has because there's still a greater future as great as yesteryear was I'm looking forward as a laborer in this believing that the Harvest before me is greater than the Harvest behind me I still believe that God has great things set before us tonight and so in order to be a good laborer we have to continue to look forward but I want to show you one picture in particular if you would during covid we were challenged but there's a young lady that we baptized in a home group uh and and if you would you can throw that picture up there of that baptism in that Home Group this is Olivia uh when Olivia came to us she was she was the first question she had centered around uh her own gender identity and she was coming in with issues and challenges that are very much a 21st century individual who's looking for God and so we opened up our hearts and we opened up not our church but the attic of a coffee shop and would you believe that after coming to church during covid whether that was in a home group or whether that was in the Attic of a coffee shop God began to work on her heart and we baptized her right there uh in that bathtub and on the way down amen on the way down the only problem was it looks it it looks like a big bathtub but as you can tell it's not a big bathtub and in order to make sure because we believe in in a burial in baptism amen somebody full immersion but in order to do that she left that bathtub I'm pretty sure concussed I did have to she literally not only did God forget her sins she did too along with everything else and I do want to apologize for my hair it was difficult to get a haircut during covet in fact today I was needing a haircut I thought about getting one before I came here and I began to think about reaching out to one of the men on the Pastoral staff and then I realized that I should probably just Google it but if you got it you might as well flaunt it amen somebody and but God was faithful through it all amen God was good to us we were baptizing people we saw people receive the Holy Ghost in in in basements of coffee shops and it was it was a great moment and and I think everything comes with a price and a privilege and oftentimes when we think of Labor we think of the price of that labor we think of the blood and the sweat and the tears but can I tell you there's also a privilege to laboring in this and I believe that John 2 and 9 2 and 9 really sums up the privilege of being a laborer in this Kingdom because the Bible says that it was a wedding at Cana and you know what happened but Jesus turned water into wine and In This Moment The Master of Ceremonies and the the individuals that were just partaking in the wedding they tasted the wine and they said you have saved the best for last but something happens in verse 9 that is so amazing the Bible says when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water was made wine and knew not once it was watch this but the servants the laborers which drew the water they knew because they got to witness the miracle and can I tell you the privilege of being in this thing and not just on the sidelines and not just watching from a distance is you and I get to watch the water turn into wine we get to see the observable Miracle we get to see the life change that happens in somebody I know there's a price to working hard I understand that there's a price but can I remind somebody there's a privilege to being a labor in this and there's no greater privilege than watching somebody's life change there's no greater privilege than watching somebody receive the gift of the Holy Ghost I'm just telling you it's addictive there's something about being in the Harvest there's something about working in this and so that's why even when it's difficult and you're displaced and you don't know where you're going to meet you just keep pressing forward because there's an Olivia who's waiting to be baptized along with many others and we look at all of the beautiful Miracles and yet there is still a labor shortage as beautiful and as hungry as our world might be as great as it is to witness the great miracle and as as white as the Harvest might be Jesus looks and he says you need to pray that God would get a hold of somebody's heart and that they would get their hands in the Harvest that they would be willing to labor not just watch from the side not just observe the destitute society and culture but they would be agents of change and labor in this and so I ask myself if this is such a rewarding thing why is it that there's a kingdom labor shortage and I had identified a few things that I will bring to your attention tonight the first of which is this hard work is intimidating this is hard work planting churches working with new people new converts teaching Bible studies how many knows that's hard work discipleship is messy being a church with new people is messy being a church that's full of 21st century issues and problems is not always cut and dry no it is hard work and hard work is intimidating and but hear me right now anything worth having is built over time not overnight and there will always be a temptation to skip the process and to find shortcuts we all want God to do anybody prayed for this a quick work Lord I want you to do a a quick work why do we want God to do a quick work well I think we understand why we want God to do a quick work because a quick work implies that I don't have to do any work and he does all the work I want God to do a quick work in my finances I want God to do a quick work in a lot of things I want God it's of course we want God to do a quick work because we understand that most things in life worth having are things that we have to work for and so sometimes when we ask God to do a quick work what we're actually asking him to do is allow us to bypass a necessary process I want God to give stello church Revival I want to be the fastest growing church that you've ever seen I mean that's my heart but the fact of the matter is God doesn't want stello Church to be a wide church that's shallow God did not call us to have a spiritual Nursery God did not call us to be a church that knows how to reach people but that doesn't know how to teach people discipleship being a laborer in the Harvest is a difficult difficult thing it's a it's a hard thing to do I read something that stuck with me it says this people who don't want to wait four decades for a Norway maple to grow in their front yard can buy a 30-foot specimen of a tree from a New York nursery for forty two thousand dollars a 50-foot European Beech Tree is a bargain I put that in quotes in my notes I just want you to know that for only twenty thousand dollars in spite of the prices the country's leading nurseries report soaring cells of mature trees as one customer put it I can't wait for a banana to ripen I only buy them bright yellow you see there's no patience for watching a tree grow but if we're going to have anything is going to take patience and it's going to take hard work and I think one of the reasons we have a labor shortage is that we lack the patience and endurance to continue to work hard at times second Timothy 2 and 6 says this the hard-working somebody say hard working the hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops when you look at that word in the Greek it is a present tense word a right now word that says you're going to have to work and continually work I know that this is my wife's grandfather used to say this all the time God bless his soul there's no retirement in the kingdom of God he used to say none of the Apostles are disciples in the Bible ever retired to which I would reply they were martyred but the principle still stands amen somebody that you can retire from your job you can take a moment away from whatever physical labor you might be working in but somebody needs to hear me right now there is no retirement in the kingdom of God you've got a work to do you've got a reason for living you've got a purpose in your life tonight it may not look like what it was 10 years ago but there's still a position to fulfill there's still something that God has called you and anointed you to do in this church tonight so I'm here to preach to somebody who would have a willing heart maybe you are in a changing season maybe there is something different as far as the faculty and function of the call of God on your life in this season but would there be somebody who is willing to stretch their arms open to God and surrender and say God whatever you have for me one thing I refuse to do is I refuse to stop working I refuse to throw in the towel I want to be profitable in your kingdom I want to continue to work where you've called me to work God has something for you and I just want to challenge somebody on this first night you may have been disappointed people may have walked away maybe it was that you labored with some like Paul would talk about Demas he said Demas have forsaken me loving this present world and you can almost hear the disappointment in his heart as one who had discipled and worked with one who had walked away I'm here to tell you don't get discouraged with one Demas because there is a Timothy that God is going to send into your life keep discipling keep loving keep working with people be patient they are worth it if you believe it would you put your hands together can I just remind you the reason that people are worth it is it's the they're the only thing that you can take to heaven with you there's nothing of Eternal value outside of the soul of those individuals that you take with you and it takes years and years to see the fruition of Kingdom work in fact Paul he talked about this in First Corinthians chapter three he said this I planted the seed and this is really really why Kingdom work is intimidating and difficult he said I planted the seed Apollos watered the seed but God has been making it grow so neither the one who plants nor the one who Waters is anything but only God who makes the thing grow the one who plants and the one who Waters have one purpose they will each be rewarded according to their labor you don't hear a lot of pastors exhaust this scripture you don't hear a lot of preachers exhaust this scripture here's why because ultimately what this scripture is saying is we are nothing and God is everything that we don't deserve the credit because there has been here's what I read I read this that some soil can take a thousand years to become fruitful a thousand years of natural process before it will yield anything and I started thinking about that and I started thinking about the fact that I'm in Raleigh now there is a a man on the south side of the city that planted a church and you have probably never heard of him his name is Bishop Wayne Huntley somebody said oh yeah okay easy Bishop Huntley is a prince of a man an incredible superintendent and an ally to our church and here's what I've found in the last four years of planting that decades before we ever planted our church there was a man in his family and another church who was sowing seed and working ground and I cannot tell you how many times we've had people walk through the doors of our church who are either backsliders or connected to family members or have had some sort of impact because of that church on the south side of town among others who have worked so hard here's what I've learned is that nobody is an island unto themselves that if you're going to be in this you're going to be interconnected with the body of Christ and somebody is going to water and it might be that you get the increase but it could also be that you water and you work hard and somebody else gets the credit but to God be the glory I'm thankful that there were people who were working the ground before I was ever even a thought in anybody's mind I'm thankful that I get to reap the benefits of great Apostolic Ministry and hard work I don't want to I don't want to belabor this point too long but can I tell you we are a daughter work and I give honor because the healthiest churches that I have seen are daughter work churches because somebody else is willing to take their hard work and sow a seed into somebody else's Ministry we're going to give you finances we're going to give you people we're going to send you with a team the reason why we get to avoid burnout at a higher rate is because we've got a safety net that has been created by people who have worked hard can I just remind you that it is because of somebody else's sacrifice that we are standing here today A few months ago when I was here she's probably here at least family members sister Harper is that the right name amen sister Harper was there in the middle of one of our sessions and sister Harper was cleaning the church I believe along with her other family members brother Johns you brought her up and you told the story about how I believe this church started in her basement isn't that correct started in a basement sister Harper and others thank you for your hard work we are now seeing the benefits we are still reaping a harvest because of somebody else's sacrifice and willingness but I'm asking you could that be you that God is calling now to make a difference would there be somebody that would lift up their heart and say God if you could do it in a former generation can you do it right now for me come on could there be a young couple in this room that God is calling to sacrifice could there be an individual that would say yes come on would you lift your voice with me and would you just pray right in the middle of this sermon God I ask you to put a burden on somebody's heart right now I pray that you would enter into this room God we are not just going to stand on the sacrifice of a former generation no we're going to sow as well we're not going to be intimidated by hard work God we're going to give until it hurts we're going to open up our hearts to your will ID I feel the Holy Ghost in this room speaking to somebody right now in the name of Jesus I speak it over a teenager I speak it over a young couple let there be a mantle of sacrifice that is placed on the shoulders of someone who is up to this point been too comfortable I pray God that we would not be intimidated by hard work for God it is that that hard-working laborer is going to see an increase they're going to have an eternal reward in the name of Jesus thank you Jesus you can be seated the second thing is this the reason why there's a labor shortage is that God's kingdom is out of our control and I'll just speak for myself and probably you I can be a control freak sometimes Farmers don't believe in bad weather there's just weather let that sink in Farmers can't afford to believe in bad weather because if a farmer believes in bad weather how many knows that farmer is going to believe the cosmos is against him there's no such thing as bad weather there's just weather amen somebody but because the weather or the environment is oftentimes out of our control what we tend to do is we avoid things where the variables are randomized or it seems they're randomized or out of our control we like sure bets amen somebody we like we like to know that that what we're betting on is going to yield a reward undoubtedly I would say like the UGA football team but I don't want to start a riot in here right now somebody said preach Jesus had something to say on the topic about this in Matthew 5 and 45 he said this as a principle that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he makes the son to rise on the evil and on the good and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust he says you can't control the weather now he's talking about his grace in this moment but the grace of God which is like rain the grace of God it Reigns on the just and the unjust we are all partakers of the environment that God has created but see the problem is sometimes the kingdom is so unpredictable and if you've been in this thing long enough you start to notice that there's certain things that you just can't control like the temperature of your culture like the politicians in office and so when you start thinking about you know can I just be honest with you right now the church is losing its influence in our society in many ways people are making a mass Exodus from churches we're watching the numbers Trend down in those that would call themselves Christian and we're moving to a secularist mindset and guess what I started one of those things they're walking away from four years ago that's not a good business plan if I found out that people they don't like burgers anymore they're running from burgers burgers are the worst thing ever burgers are gross we're not eating burgers anymore your boy's not going to come in and go you know what I really feel like a Five Guys franchise is where my mind is at right now but that's kind of what's happening if you're a church planter or if you're in the business of the Kingdom because if we were to look at it from an environmental perspective we would say it's not the right environment to grow a church it's not the right environment to be a laborer in something that is trending in the wrong direction but what we understand is there's something greater than the environment there is the sovereignty of God and if it takes a world that is turning away from a false Christianity to see a light that is shining bright a light of Truth in this house tonight then I say God I can't dictate the weather I can't change the environment but one thing that I'm not going to do is remove myself from the Harvest I'm going to keep pressing forward I'm going to keep laboring because God there is something that you want to do [Applause] you know what's funny a 2013 article found this and I'm not trying to be controversial tonight which is always Pastor John's favorite thing to hear from a preacher it baffled many people because in 2013 an article found that when researchers pulled Farmers about their opinions on climate change Farmers overwhelmingly denied its validity why would farmers be people that deny the validity of climate change and I don't know where you stand on it I don't I don't really care to be honest with you but men somebody get that man I'm afraid I think he's the same one that said preach many attribute this to the pragmatism and general toughness that it takes to be a farmer because you can't afford to have a mindset that says things are wired against me you can't afford to have a mindset that says no matter what I do I'm not going to win anyway and a lot of times spiritually speaking that is why people won't get into the Harvest they leave the hard work to the church Planters leave the hard work we were singing that song a moment ago God send me I'll go to the ends of the Earth but I'm here to ask you and I don't want to be cliche but listen to me would you go to your neighbor even though you know they don't believe what you believe because what happens is oftentimes we won't witness or talk to somebody because we believe that it's already wired against us they're going to say no the the world we live in is just everything is difficult what if I offend somebody these are all decisions made by looking at the environment and not at the word of God because what you can't see is what's inside and if you will listen to the voice of God he will Quicken you and you will feel an unction to go and talk to somebody and what you don't realize is you will meet them at the perfect intersection of their life where they are more hungry than they've ever been or they are more in need than they have ever been but there has to be a willing laborer that will push past the intimidation of the environment and the climate and say God I just want to be used by you I had a had a couple in our church forget my notes I had a couple in our church they're new a year ago I was sitting with them giving them Bible studies and if you'd have seen them and and the way that they came into our church and you were looking at the environment I even had people tell me you just need to be careful they don't seem like a good investment I know there's times where God will say well tell me to to to to just maybe take a little less time with people because they're not yielding and you got to be good stewards of your time and I know that's a whole different topic but listen to me something in me told me to keep working with this couple something in my spirit said don't give up on them and I begin to work with them and a year later I wish you could see them God has done a work in their life they've become leaders God has just absolutely transformed them but can I just tell you these people are sensitive to the Holy Ghost and Shanae came to me a couple of weeks ago and she had she had a young lady with her who who God had had caused her about six months to a year ago to reach in a homeless Ministry and she said pastor you wouldn't believe it she said God kept telling me to go down to the farmer's market and eat in the restaurant one Saturday morning and she said I was like this is weird I don't want to do this it's not it's not on my way it's not convenient she said she said but I went and she said I went and got a table and a cup of coffee and I sat down and she said as I was sitting there I didn't sit there five minutes she said would you believe Alicia walked through the front doors of that farmers market of that restaurant a girl I hadn't seen in three months wasn't able to get a hold of and she said she walked in and I knew right then and there this is why I'm here God has sent me here do you know that you can be that sensitive to the will of God and it doesn't always look just like that sometimes it's as simple as paying for somebody's coffee sometimes it's as simple as being sensitive enough to look at somebody right in the eyes and say I just feel like I need to tell you Jesus loves you and he sees you right now that can transform somebody's life and I just wonder if there's somebody in this room that feels what I'm preaching right now that would say God I want to be sensitive once again to your will and to your way I want it to be that God when you say go I will go even if it is to the neighbor's yard to a friend's home even if it is God to the gas pump next to me I want to be sensitive in fact would you just pray that prayer with me right now all over this room God we've got a labor shortage in the Kingdom Lord there's some people right here at Atlanta West that are saying God use me I got to get back into the kingdom I got to be Kingdom Minded again I've got to get in the field and reach come on that's it I feel the holy ghost moving into this room there's about to be a sensitivity and an openness that God can use and work in young people you're not in that high school for no reason you're not in there without a purpose God God has placed you there for a reason and for a purpose in the name of Jesus God's will for our church is that our greatest Revival would take place in the darkest times I realize that the world is getting darker but we are primed for our greatest Revival I realize that the world is getting darker but we have never been more set up for the greatest Revival than we are right now my generation is going to see a Revival that Joel and the Apostle Peter spoke of in the last days says God I will pour out my spirit upon All Flesh It also says that the last days will be perilous times so as bad as it may get what I believe prevailing in my spirit I can't let go of it is that there is a Revival no matter what the numbers say no matter what the research says I believe that if I labor there's a harvest I believe that if I'll keep pushing God will do the rest I believe that if I'll sow the seed I may sow it another May water but we're going to see an increase Atlanta West your greatest days are ahead of you there are great people that you have not yet met it may be that your next worship leader right now he's drunk it may be that the next kids team leader right now is high on drugs but we got to go get them we got to get into the Harvest and we gotta find them why because I don't want God to just raise a generation within the house I want God to raise up a generation that is not yet in this place they're outside of these walls they're in the Harvest stand with me if you believe it [Applause]