Looking After the Reapers

Ruth 2:9

Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

Ruth happened to glean in the field of Boaz, and when he found her gleaning in his field, he came to her to tell her not to go to another field. Boaz made a statement to Ruth that every believer ought to learn from. He said, Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them…. He was telling her the best field to look to if she wanted to glean was the field where the reapers reaped.

I believe this little line is what should be followed by every believer and pastor. Too many are looking to the fields of people who don't reap to learn how to reap instead of looking to the fields of the reapers and find out how they produce such a great harvest. I am amazed how the non-reapers have become so followed in our day. I am amazed how the most popular preachers are hired guns who never go soul winning. Oh, they can preach great sermons, but their sermons are simply polished speeches that make everyone feel good after they leave. We should put our eyes on the fields of the reapers and go after them. Let me share a few thoughts about this critical truth.

First, go to the fields of the past reapers and go after them. In other words, I would study the men from the past whom God used greatly and copy their methods so that God could give me the same harvest. Too many are looking to modern-day compromisers to learn how to reap a harvest when we have a history of reapers that reaped a great harvest. We would be wise to learn from the reapers of the past. We would be wise to look to the reaping fields of Dallas Billington, Jack Hyles, Curtis Hutson, and Lee Roberson to see how they produced a great harvest, and go after them and do the same thing. You will learn more from these reapers than you ever will from sheep stealers, who don't fill their church with people they have won to Christ, but they fill their church with people they stold from another church.

Second, the field you seek to find the reapers is as important as the reaper. Stop looking to the fields of people who don't believe in the King James Bible, but instead criticize it and those who believe that God has preserved every word in It. Stop looking to the field of the Calvinist and compromiser, whose church looks more like a bar scene or a rock concert. Stop looking to the field of the non-soul winner to get ideas on how to reap a great harvest. The field you look to is critical because, in the wrong field, you will learn how to compromise to reap a harvest. If you look to the right field, you will find reapers who reaped a great harvest without compromise.

Third, go to the field of the present day reapers and go after them. At some point, we must stop bringing pulpiteers to our pulpits who never go soul winning or say it is not their gift. Jesus said in John 4:38,  I sent you to reap…. How can we learn to reap from a preacher who never goes soul winning? Most conferences are filled with preachers who are mere entertainers rather than soul winners, and the only thing you will learn from those conferences is how to entertain to get a crowd. Look to the fields of the soul winning preachers and go to where they preach; you just may learn how to be a passionate soul winner for Christ and learn how to reap a great harvest in your own life and ministry.