God must be into farming.

..You might think this if you read through the Bible. The Word of God frequently talks about fields, crops, fruit, vineyards, herbs and spices. The parables of Jesus speak of barns, farmhands, shepherds, plows, wheat and weeds (tares). The Bible talks about the 2^nd coming of Jesus and likens it to a harvest.
It isn’t that God has a special interest in agriculture. He takes the natural and uses it to illustrate supernatural principle and promise.
God uses a latter and former rain to bring harvest to Israel. It is a promise he makes in Deuteronomy 11:14. It is a promise he still keeps. We look at the spiritual principles of the latter and former rain.
There is promise of a supernatural harvest that is to come. Amos 9:13 says that a harvest is coming that is greater than the natural. It is a harvest that can only be accomplished by God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. Do you want to receive this supernatural harvest? Will you work in God’s field and let Him do the supernatural in you?

Supernatural Harvest from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

Supernatural Harvest: Former & Latter Rain

Sermon Notes by Chris Fluitt

Redemption Church Plano Tx Nondenominational

**Bumper Video –

We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that God’s Spirit is alive and present.
Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit?
Whatever your experience with the Holy Spirit do you believe that there is a greater experience coming?
Whatever demonstration on the Holy Spirit you have witnessed, do you believe a greater demonstration is coming?
Whatever you have felt in God’s presence, do you believe greater is coming?
Whatever miracles you have seen, do you believe that greater is coming?
Do you believe a greater out pouring of the Holy Spirit is coming?

Christianity remembers the past… but we look forward. The best is always yet to come with Jesus Christ.
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, your Bible says that greater encounter with the Holy Spirit is coming.

Not everyone believes this. There are some in Christianity that believe the outpouring we read about in the book of Acts ended with the apostles. There are some that believe the good days ahead of us are heaven only.
There are good days for the Church of Jesus Christ RIGHT NOW. Not just in heaven! But right here. Redemption Church do you believe that?

We are going to be studying prophecy today. There is prophecy that declares a greater outpouring of the Spirit. BEFORE we look at that we need to understand what the Bible says about the Harvest.
Harvest
The Bible frequently uses farming language.
Jesus tells us that we reap what we sow. Sowing a reaping are farming terms.
Jesus speaks about “the parable of the Seed.” The seed is the Word of God looking for good soil so that the seed can grow up into Faith. There are more parables about workers in the field/vineyard…
Paul describes the ministry of the Gospel this way… 1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.(NIV)
Paul speaks to Christians about the Fruit of the Spirit. As saved people, as followers of Christ, as people with God’s Holy Spirit living inside, we should bear fruit.
The 2^nd coming of Jesus, the catching away of the Church, also known as the rapture is likened to collecting/reaping the harvest.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.(NIV)
Jesus uses the Harvesting of the wheat and tares to teach us about the rapture and coming judgement.
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'”(NIV)
The wheat and the tares will both be plucked up. The wheat will find their way to the Father’s storehouse and the tares will be burned up in a fire. We are either wheat or tares, but either way we will spend eternity somewhere – heaven or hell.

We are talking about harvest. We are talking about seed taking root in the soil and growing up into maturity and producing fruit. This symbolism mirrors the lives of Christians who receive the seed (the word of God) within their heart and grow up into spiritual maturity and show forth fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Now let’s look at prophecy about a coming Supernatural Harvest. A harvest that is greater that anything previously experienced.
Amos 9:13 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes.

Amos 9 is about the restoration of Israel. The context is bringing them back from destruction and exile. And while they have been brought back from a physical exile… their true full and complete restoration comes when they will allow Jesus Christ to be their King. Israel’s full restoration is no different than the restoration you have received in Christ.. Having repented, having been baptized, and having received His Holy Spirit – Exactly what Peter preached to the Jews in Acts 2.
Although we can interpret Amos 9 in a natural since, Israel comes back to their land and is blessed with success.. there is also a supernatural interpretation. And that is what we see in Amos 9:13. I declare that the prophecy in Amos 9:13 can only be fulfilled by a supernatural end time revival that is bigger than anything we have ever seen.
There is a coming a day where the reaper, the one who collects the harvest, will be overtaken by the plowman. This isn’t normal. It is supernatural. The reaper can’t collect the harvest quickly enough for the plowman. The plowman already needs to prepare the soil for the next harvest. It’s like they overlap – which does not happen in the natural.
Likewise the planter is overtaken by the treader. The treader is the one who takes the grapes and smashes them to create the wine. The planter can’t work quick enough. The treader already needs a fresh crop.
This is a supernatural harvest. Natural harvests work in seasons and in order. Natural harvests always work within a season and each season yields a harvest. BUT HERE.. in God’s supernatural harvest, that is prophesied to come, there is more harvest than a season can contain.
I believe there is an endtime revival coming that we cannot contain. Before Jesus returns there is going to be a supernatural harvest.

No single church can contain this supernatural harvest!

You can’t build a Mega Church large enough to contain what God is going to do!

God’s storehouse is bigger than any denomination.

Like the book of Acts it will spill over from the upper room into the streets and go to all nations!

Do you believe Greater is coming?

I want to briefly pause on Amos 9:13 to tell you about prophetic imagery of the Latter & Former Rain.
(Jeremiah 5:24; Daniel 11:29; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23; and Haggai 2:9)
God often uses the natural to display His supernatural plan. Every parable Jesus gave was natural. His parables contained natural characters, father and prodigal son, good Samaritan, a farmer.. His parables contained natural objects.. A lost coin, a lamp needing oil, seed.. But Jesus used these natural pictures to display Spiritual Truth and Promise.
Deuteronomy 11:14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.(NIV)
The Later & Former rain are natural events in the Middle East that still take place today. The farming calendar was marked by 2 very necessary rains. The Former rain was also called the early or autumn rain.. This rain would soften the soil and establish the planted seed causing it to germinate and sprout. The rain was necessary for a harvest. Times of famine were caused by a lack of rain.
God promised to come to us like the rain…
Hosea 6:3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”(NIV)
God promised to pour his Spirit out like rain…
Joel 2:28 `And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.(NIV)
Peter tells us that this is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
Acts 2:17 “`In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.(NIV)
The out pouring of the Holy Spirit that we read about in the book of Acts is the Former rain. It softened the hearts and allowed the seed of the Word to be established. The Holy Spirit outpouring established and empowered the Church.
So that is the former rain… what is the Latter Rain?
The latter rain is also called the Spring Rain and it occurs close to harvest. This rain causes the crops to be ready for the harvest. It causes the fruit to pop open. Weak crops became strong abundant crops after the latter rain fell. AND THIS IS IMPORTANT – The Latter Rain was twice the downpour as the former rain.
God uses this natural occurrence to display His Supernatural Harvest. There is a latter rain of the Holy Spirit that will get His Church ready for Harvest. It will cause the fruit of the Spirit to pop open in our lives. It will strengthen and enlarge His harvest. The Harvest is the return of Jesus Christ, but before He comes a Latter Rain will be poured out on the earth.
How big is the latter rain? It is twice as big as the former rain. God will do twice as much as we read about in the book of Acts. The manifestation of God’s power in this time will surpass Acts 2.
Get ready Church! Greater is coming!
You haven’t seen your best church service. You haven’t seen your biggest miracle. You have not felt the greatest presence of God yet. You haven’t seen anything yet! A supernatural Harvest is coming.

I will be coming to a close quickly – I have 2 more points to make.

First is this. Supernatural Harvests can come from unexpected places. Harvest from Unexpected Places
Amos 9:13 …New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.
Wine is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Wine is going to drip, pour flow from where? Mountains and hills?
Where do you build vinyards? Is it called Napa Mountain? Is it called Napa hill? No it is called Napa valley or Napa flats. Anyone would tell you that you would be crazy to attempt to build a vineyard on a mountain… BUT WHEN GOD GIVES A SUPERNATURAL HARVEST Wine will come from unexpected places.
You k now people that you would never expect to see at Church. You would never expect to see them with their hands lifted singing to God. You would never expect them to be baptized. It would be impossible for them to be sitting next to you and praying next to you in the altar.
Wine is going to pour from unexpected places! Supernatural Harvest.

And it will happen so fast that we can’t keep up. The reaper will be overtaken by the plowman… While is yet reaping the harvest another is already preparing the soil for the next harvest. And the planter is overtaken by the speed of the treader… The seed goes into the ground and SUPERNATURALLY it is a grape ready to tread.
This brings me to my final point. We will be opening these altars for a time of prayer. Please come to this altar today.

A supernatural harvest requires workers that are open to the supernatural.

Matthew 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.(NIV)
Matthew 9:38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”(NIV)
Matthew 10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.(NIV)
Look at the coming harvest! We need more workers!
The one prayer request Jesus had was to pray the Lord of the Harvest… for workers to be sent.
Then Jesus gives His followers the authority to do the supernatural…

We need reapers. We need plowman. We need planters. We need treaders.
We need workers that understand the season and are not afraid of the Holy Spirit. Workers that would embrace the things of the Spirit.