The Field of Dreams

by Rev. Harold Mauldin

St. John 4: 31-42 In the meantime His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat. But He said unto them, "I have meat that ye know not of." Therefore his disciples said one to another, "Hath any man brought him ought to eat?" Jesus saith unto them, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say ye not, 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. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labours. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all I ever did." So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days.

The fields are ripe to harvest! God has commissioned the church to go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned (Mark 16:16) This is a precious message, a message of salvation, a message of hope and a message of peace in a dismal world. We need to go to the field of dreams. They are ready to hear the truth and be set free. Our passage here deals with a city called Sychar in Samaria. The Samaritans had no dealings with the Jews. However, Jesus did not have time to worry about who dealt with who. He deals with all men. He is no respecter of persons. God's design is to save us and He will do whatever it takes to do it. Jesus went out of His way to visit a woman there and read her mail. He had told her everything she had done. She had left her waterpots at the well and ran back into town to tell everyone about the Master. Jesus won the city by her witnessing to them. He got as far as the well. When you get the master to the well, He will give you fresh water and anoint you to run and tell others. It is time for us to drop our waterpots and do what we are commissioned to do. As long as we have our waterpots, we always have something to fall back on. God wants us to lose our independence and become dependent on Him.

To the eye of the common man, Samaria was not a field of dream. It was more like a nightmare of leftovers. The Samaritans were not in good standing with the Jews. They were considered lower in standing with God than the Jews. So it was really odd for a Jew to go out of His way to reach anyone from Samaria. The only thing Samaria had going for it was Jacob's well. Jerusalem had the temples. Jesus addressed that when he told the woman at the well that God is a spirit and you must worship Him in spirit and in truth. When we learn to worship, God will take our nightmare life and turn it into a field of dream.

Samaria is a lot like many people that we deal with today. In fact, many of us had that "Samaria syndrome" before we met the Master. We were outcast, we were left with nothing but a memory of past performance. All we had was a well full of empty promises. But we kept coming back hoping that it would be satisfied. Our worldly pleasures will never be satisfying when we are really thirsty for something to drink. The well God provides will never run dry. And just one drink will quench any thirst you may have. Not only that, once you get a drink from the well of living water, you will want everyone around you to go to the well and experience what you have experienced. There is nothing like a fresh drink in the field of dream.

In II Kings 6-7, the city of Samaria was under siege. People that live in sin are under siege. They are surrounded by sin and there appears to be no way out. Sin will take away your well. It will destroy your praise. It will steal your testimony. It will take your song and contaminate your life. In Samaria, they sold dove's dung and donkey's head. What a meal! It is not the will of God for us to live beneath our blessing. God wants his people blessed. Thank God for men of god. Elisha prophesied and said tomorrow at this time a measure of flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. We should never be afraid to speak a word from the Lord no matter what the field of dream looks like. Things may get bad at times but they will get better. If God has given you a promise, hold on to it with all you have. God never lies. If He has promised you anything, He will do it. Heaven, hell, a nightmare or a dream cannot stop the power of the Promised One.

Don't be surprised if some people do not believe your dream when you speak. The Bible says in Hosea 6:3 that without a vision the people perish. The people of Samaria would have died had it not been for a man named Elisha who spoke something from nothing. Our mouth when mixed with faith can yield awesome results. Elisha looked beyond the stuff surrounding him and spoke what God told him to. Don't let critical people shut you down and destroy the victory God has for you. The King's right hand man did not believe Elisha. It did not change Elisha's mind nor did it impress God. Lack of Faith won't inhibit the promise. However, we may not get to participate in the full victory. There are a lot of people who are sitting outside of church today missing the benefits of the message because they doubted that it would ever come to pass. Stop looking at your surroundings. Look to the future. God can turn a desert into a garden of Eden with a word of Faith from the man of God. Your field of desert will become a field of dream when you believe in the promise and act upon it.

If you will look closely at this story, you will find four leprous men sitting at the gate. Lepers were allowed to go no further, but the lepers got desperate and dreamed. They said, "If we sit here, we die. If we enter a city full of famine, we die there." We must all face death. Location is the only question. We need to keep our field of dream alive and not let it become a cemetery of death. The lepers got food, clothing, wine and fresh vision because they dared to go beyond the gate. Beyond the gate is the blessing. Beyond the gate is the anointing. Beyond the gate is the promise. Beyond the gate is the presence of God. Beyond the gate is the field of dream. See it. Do it. Go ye therefore and preach to every creature. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet Ezekiel was taken to a valley full of dry bones. The prophet observed that they were very many and very dry. God asked a direct question when he said, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel answered and said, "Thou knowest." The next thing Ezekiel is told to do is what we are told to do today. God said to him, "Prophesy." The word prophesy means "tell forth." Here is the pattern for life 1) tell forth 2) hear the word of the Lord 3) breathe. By simply speaking the word of God, the bones of life can come together making a body and completely restoring what was lost.

When the bones received a body, it needed breath. God told the prophet to speak to the wind. The wind is a type of the spirit. God is trying to say to us that He will give life to our field of dreams when: 1) we preach the word 2) people hear the word 3) the spirit will fill. There is a field of dreams out there. Go witness. Go testify. Tell and yell. Scream and shout. Live out loud. Never be afraid to dream of big things for God.

God wants to open our graves and give us life and restore to us everything we lost. He wants His spirit actively moving in us and he wants to heal our land making it a field ripe for harvest. The field is waiting.... Now go and make disciples ...