Covenant Theology Conference Prayer Part 5- Praying to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers. See part 1 and part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 here. This is a ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Norman.
Consider that God shared the covenant of grace with one old man known as Abraham in Genesis. God told Abraham to look up and if he could number the stars, that would be the number of his descendants. They would be uncountable. Consider that hundreds of years later, by the end of Genesis, Abraham’s family numbered 70 people as they left the promised land for Egypt. Hundreds of years later, they had grown to a nation with 600,000 fighting men between the ages of 20-50 years old. They inhabited the promised land. They were then taken captive and exiled and restored several times over the last millennium before Christ. A remnant of the descendants of Abraham remained which would be centered in twelve apostles who were called by Jesus. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Apostle Peter would preach in Jerusalem at the Pentecost event, roughly 30 AD, and the church would grow to 3000 believers and their households in a day. The church would face intense persecution for centuries but now we can clearly see that the descendants of Abraham are not those descended from him by blood, but those who believe.
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Galatians 3:26-29
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
God has kept his word to Abraham. He is continuing to fulfill this sacred promise, by which he visibly portrays his fidelity to the promise through the covenant-cutting ceremony in Genesis 15. God told us in Genesis 15 that the descendants of Abraham according to the Covenant of Grace would be uncountable. Well, researchers affiliated with Gordon Conwell have attempted to count the uncountable! They reported that in the year 2023, there will be 2.6 billion Christians worldwide. This is stunning.
Jesus told his disciples that the fields were ready for the harvest. The obstacle to the mission of God is not the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the Covenant of Grace. The obstacle to the mission of God is not the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Jesus told his disciples that the greatest obstacle to the mission would be a shortage of workers. But when Jesus disclosed the greatest obstacle to his disciples, he also disclosed the solution.
2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Luke 10:2
The problem we face today is not quantities of believers. The church fills every continent. We need shepherds for this great flock of believers. We need some to be called to do the work of shepherding these masses of converts all over the world. The Covenant of Grace creates a covenant people who will need to not only be baptized but be taught to obey everything Jesus has commanded (Matthew 20:18-19).
We must pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out shepherds/workers to care for this great harvest. The world needs covenant theology in order to make sense of the scriptures. The church needs men called and trained in covenant theology in order to understand law and gospel and how the two relate. We pray that the Covenant Theology Conference hosted by Trinity Presbyterian Church of Norman will be one more instrument whereby the Lord will call workers for the harvest. Let us ask the Lord of the Harvest to call and send them out!
As we recognize that the spread and nurture of the mission of God is effected through praying for workers, as is every single detail of our conference. Will join us in praying for the Lord to meet every need and care for every detail? He who promised is faithful!
Schedule:
Saturday:
5:15-5:30 pm- Registration.
5:30-7:00 pm Lecture and Q&A on Saturday at the Memorial Union, 2nd Floor, 900 Asp.
Park in the garage just North of the building or on the street to the east of the building. There are elevators and stairs inside the building to take you to the meeting space. Following the lecture, all are invited to walk over with us to Pepe Del Gado’s on campus corner for informal conference activity.
Sunday:
Sunday School with Dr. McDowell, 9:30-10:15 428 W. Lindsey.
Worship with Dr Mark McDowell preaching, 10:30-Noon.
Lunch at 428 W Lindsey, following the service.