## Look Again…

## John 4:35-38

God called me to preach, and I am thankful for that. But along the way He allowed me to gain invaluable experience by teaching in school. I love to teach. I love to see the lights come on when the student finally gets it. It gives me a great sense of joy and accomplishment. (Riley & crosswords)

The same is true when I preach. I love seeing folks respond to the message of God … I love to see them get it! Sometimes they don't get it, and that is often my fault for not doing a better job communicating the Truth. Other times they don't get it, because they aren't prepared to get it. They aren't in a teachable mode…they are here, but they aren't here. You know what I mean?

I think that is what the Lord had to deal with a lot with His disciples. I see a lot of frustration and disappointment expressed in the pages of Scripture.

MT 16:11 HOW IS IT THAT YE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT I SPAKE IT NOT TO YOU CONCERNING BREAD, THAT YE SHOULD BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES AND OF THE SADDUCEES?

JOH 14:9 JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, HAVE I BEEN SO LONG TIME WITH YOU, AND YET HAST THOU NOT KNOWN ME, PHILIP? HE THAT HATH SEEN ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER; AND HOW SAYEST THOU THEN, SHEW US THE FATHER?

MR 9:19 HE ANSWERETH HIM, AND SAITH, O FAITHLESS GENERATION, HOW LONG SHALL I BE WITH YOU? HOW LONG SHALL I SUFFER YOU? BRING HIM UNTO ME.

Do you hear the frustration in those verses? I wonder how often He is frustrated with me when it seems that I just don't get it? When teaching I would often tell my students to 'Look at the question again.' Now it wasn't because I didn't think they had looked at it before, but I wanted them to look again…to study it…to make sure they understood what it said. In our passage tonight Jesus tells His disciples to "Look again…" and I believe that He would have us look again as well. When we look again we can benefit in three ways:

I. Proper Vision

A. Can't see the forest for the trees.

1. We have heard that all our lives…

2. It means we need to look again.

3. It means that we see, but we really don't see.

4. The disciples had just returned from the city of Sychar, in Samaria.

5. They had been there…they had seen it….

6. But the Lord told them to look again!

JOH 4:35 SAY NOT YE, THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS, AND THEN COMETH HARVEST? BEHOLD, I SAY UNTO YOU, LIFT UP YOUR EYES, AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS; FOR THEY ARE WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST.

B. What do we see?

1. The word that the Lord uses here means to look upon intently, or to study.

2. Look for the harvest…it is already here!

3. That is what the Lord wants us to understand.

4. The harvest isn't for another day…another week…another month…it is right now!

5. As we look around our city, what do we see?

6. Do we see people who will perish if we sit idly by and do nothing?

7. Jesus said that was the reality!

II. Proper Attitude

JOH 9:4B "…THE NIGHT COMETH, WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK."

LU 10:2 THEREFORE SAID HE UNTO THEM, THE HARVEST TRULY IS GREAT, BUT THE LABOURERS ARE FEW: PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WOULD SEND FORTH LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST.

A. An attitude of urgency.

1. We must reach our generation.

2. We are only one generation from apostasy.

3. We cannot take the attitude of let someone else do it.

4. We must look again and see the urgency.

5. We don't have time to complain about the failures of others…we must work while it is day!

B. An attitude of expectancy.

1. In many cases, we see what we want to see. Ex. Desert hummingbird vs. vulture

2. Note these optical illusions. 1 2 3

3. Sometimes what we see is determined by the influence of others. (now that I've told you, you see each of these pictures differently don't you?)

4. The Lord wants us to be influenced by His heart and compassion so that we might see people as He sees them.

MT 9:36 "BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES, HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY FAINTED, AND WERE SCATTERED ABROAD, AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD."

5. Jesus wanted His disciples to see the people of the city of Sychar, and the world, as He saw them…people who desperately needed to know Him.

III. Proper Motivation

A. What motivates us to serve the Lord?

1. If we are motivated by how we feel our service to Him will be sporadic at best.

2. If we are motivated by personal gain, or recognition by others we will become discouraged and quit.

3. But if we are motivated by our love…we will do whatever we can…whenever the opportunity avails itself.

LA 3:51 MINE EYE AFFECTETH MINE HEART BECAUSE OF ALL THE DAUGHTERS OF MY CITY.

B. An example of proper motivation.

1. A man was looking out his window in the midst of a downpour.

2. He saw a young girl being helplessly carried along in a swollen stream.

3. Without stopping to consider the consequences he ran to help her.

4. He jumped into the turbulent waters just in time to catch her, and then struggled to reach the shore.

5. There he held on to the girl with one hand and clung to a rock with the other until someone came to rescue them.

6. The amazing thing about the story is that later it was discovered that the man couldn't swim.

7. But he saw the need, and was moved with compassion to do what he could to save this little girl.

C. Proper motivation is necessary or we will quit!

1. I have a little item here that I received as a gift a few years ago.

2. It plays a tune…Somewhere beyond the sea…if I wind up the lighthouse.

3. But like most things, it eventually runs out of power.

4. It will stop on its own…but to keep it going, I must keep winding it up!

5. We are much the same…we need to be kept going…we need to be wound up, if you will.

6. That is why we are here tonight.

7. That is why we come together for Bible study, and Sunday school class.

8. To get wound up…so we can keep going for the Lord.

9. We need to be reminded of why the Lord left us here.

Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields." In other words, He said, "Look again…" Look closely, look carefully, and then act upon what we see!