Harvest in the Great Southland

Speaker: Pastor Darin Browne

I said last week that I believe we are on the cusp of the greatest move of God in the history of this nation, and I also believe it is going to start right here, in Nambour.

A few weeks ago, we looked at Jesus sharing the good news with the Samaritan woman at the well. She was an outcast from her people, who were outcasts from the Jews. The disciples asked Jesus if He was hungry, and this was His slightly off topic reply…

John 4:34-38
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”

Jesus said, the harvest is white, that is it is ready for the harvest. When we harvest, we will reap what others have sown. We are on the cusp right now, and this weekend is the start of a harvest we have prayed years for.

THE CROP HAS BEEN PLANTED

This crop has been planted long ago. This town has a spiritual heritage, a DNA that shapes its destiny. When I first moved here, everybody used to joke that we all had two heads in the Hinterland. But one day they will envy us, because the Spirit of God will be here in power in our community.

THE HISTORY OF NAMBOUR

Nambour’s history has also been preparing the way for us. Originally in the mid 1800s, Woombye and Yandina were first settled, because they were Cobb and Co stagecoach rest stops. The valley in between them, called Naamba in Aboriginal, started to develop when the rail link from Brisbane to Gympie was built in 1891. The Moreton Sugar Mill opened in 1894.

Here’s where it gets exciting for us. A group of nonconformist protestants from England’s east, mainly Wesleyans, Methodists, Presbyterian and Quakers, we’re called the Burghers, settled here. Yes, long before McDonald’s, Nambour had Burghers.

They had suffered religious persecution and dispersed to several places around the world to find a place they could be free to worship as they chose. They were Bible centred and believed in living holy, pious lives. Some went to Canada, some to Massachusetts, and some came to Australia, specifically Nambour.

Families like Whalleys, the Burys, the Lowe’s formed a Wesleyan church in 1884 in a local house. They were later joined by families like the Perrens and the Lanhams. These families became the backbone of Nambour’s spiritual, business and social life.

Did you get that? The history of Nambour is that it was settled by pilgrims escaping persecution. They wanted a safe haven to worship God in purity and love. This town was first established by Christians, for Jesus and for Christian freedom. It was built on Biblical principles, so it is no coincidence that we are gathered here today. God’s prophetic promises for this city still stand.

GOD’S PROMISE

Back in 1606, when Portuguese sailor Cpt Pedro Fernandez de Quiros stumbled over Australia, he prophetically called our country “Terra Australis Del Spiritu Santo”, the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit. He spoke prophetic words and God’s promise still stands over this nation.

Isaiah 55:11 (ESV)
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s Word is never revoked, regardless of the circumstances we see around us, or time. Sure, Australia has not yet realised this prophetic word as a nation, but God’s not done with us yet! And in Ignite’s case, the town of Nambour was birthed into a God given destiny by those early families, and His destiny for us remains unchanged. We are a prophetic voice to a prophetic city in a prophetic nation holding onto a prophetic promise from God. We were destined to be a stronghold for the people of God. So, why can’t revival break out in this beachhead for Jesus?

SUCH A TIME AS THIS

The crop has long been planted and, although sometimes neglected, growth has happened. The harvest is at hand, let me quote Mordecai in the book of Esther…

Esther 4:14 (ESV)
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

If you are in this room or online, I ask, has God led you here, for such a time as this? I believe it’s time for us to make a stand for holiness and godliness in our town, and in our despairing nation. God has brought you here for such a time as this!

THE HARVEST IS RIPE

As I said last week, I believe Aussies are more ready than ever to hear the gospel. They are sick of the ridiculous woke agenda that they see around them. Sick of the compromise, tired of giving in to a small majority demanding that everyone meets their needs. They are appalled at legislation that condones the murder of babies in the womb.

The Jews had a saying, “only four more months until the harvest.” It was like saying, we will get around to it eventually. Jesus replied, “No, now is the time!”

For too long we have looked at our Hinterland and thought, one day we will see true revival. We’ve prayed for it, dreamt of it and even worked for it occasionally. But I speak prophetically when I say, it’s time to pull the trigger on this!

2 Corinthians 6:2
Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

If you try and harvest an unripe crop, it is hard to gather the fruit. But when it is ready, the grain practically falls into your hands. And I believe the harvest is ripe now!

THE LABOURERS ARE FEW

Do you remember that, during the dark days of COVID, because all the foreign workers had returned home, farmers could not get enough workers to harvest things like apples and other fruits. Thousands of dollars of crops were left to rot and fall off trees because no one would come and pick them. This is the challenge with evangelism today.

Jesus looked at people and was moved. When we look at our people, should we not also be moved with compassion because they are without hope in this dark, twisted world?

Matthew 9:36-38
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”

We have to pray, yes, but if it is in our power, surely, we must be the ones to grab a sickle! I remember being in Northeast India and watching common folk gathering the harvest. Every other activity went by the by, because gathering the harvest was paramount.

THE HARVEST TAKES WORK

And these common folk did this back breaking work with a smile on their face and they sang to one another. Songs of joy! You know why? Because harvest meant food and money for the entire community, it also meant prosperity and happiness. But it took work…

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

The Greek for abound is PERISSEUÔ, which means not just prospering but super abounding. This is the word amplified (HYPERPERESEUÔ) to mean exceedingly abundantly in

Ephesians 3:20 (AV)
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

Can you catch this. Our joy, our privilege, is to partner with the Holy Spirit to win our people to God. We can see this in our lifetime, in fact, we can see it starting right now!

THE CHALLENGE IS ENORMOUS

Mark 16:15-16
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

This is the challenge to go out into all the world and preach the gospel. I want to see our church winning people to Jesus, baptising them, setting them free from sin, and getting them to bring others to hear the message. We are talking about a revolution, starting right here, on the streets of our city. The challenge is enormous, but our God is exceedingly abundantly greater. So don’t fear what the enemy might do…

1 John 4:4
you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Roman historian Tacitus said, “The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.” Maybe it’s time you took a chance and trusted God, even if it seems perilous or risky or even crazy!

THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE ENDLESS

Today I want you to catch a glimpse of what can be, right here, and right now. We could start a revolution for the gospel. We could see not only this church filled, which it kind of is already, but hundreds of small groups, thousands of people being discipled, people not just making a decision for Christ in their head, but each of us being able to walk the road with them through to maturity in Christ. There is a part every one of us can play in this great revival! Some are saying, I’m afraid to challenge people about their beliefs, but that passage in John 4 said the sower and reaper work and then rejoice together. We need people to proclaim the gospel, but also to disciple people.

Ephesians 5:16
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

THE TIME IS NOW

As Joshua stood on the edge of the Promised Land and looked across at Jericho, and beyond, God spoke to him. The task ahead was enormous, his mentor Moses was dead. Joshua was leading alone, and God said to him (let me paraphrase this for our situation)…

Joshua 1:5-9 (ESV)
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life (we should not be afraid to talk kindly and share the gospel with anyone). Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them (I will cause this church, to inherit the land, to win the entire population to Jesus). Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you (DO the Bible reading plan). Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it (Don’t just read the Bible, live it). For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

THE GREAT SOUTHLAND

Winning this nation for Jesus is our greatest calling, and our God given destiny. For the first time it is within our reach, if we choose to be obedient and faithful. Let me finish with the exact words spoken in our nation in 1606…

“Let the heavens, the earth, the waters with all their creatures and all those here present witness that I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, in the name of Jesus Christ, hoist this emblem of the Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ’s person was crucified and whereon He gave His life for the ransom and remedy of the human race, on this day of Pentecost, 14 May 1606, I take possession of all this part of the South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus, which from now on shall be called the Southern land of the Holy Spirit and this always and forever to the end that to all natives, in all the said lands, the holy, sacred Evangel may be preached zealously and openly.”

This is our nation; this is our land!