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International award-winning speaker David Duffett leads our Harvest Festival at Chartridge Mission Church. With all proceeds going to missionary work in the Philippines, this is a joyous celebration of what God has given us to share with others. But David's message is also a challenging one. We are undeniably living in what The Bible describes as the End Times, and so it would be remiss not to address this fact. So, enjoy our celebrations and, as fervent Christians, look forward with us to a very bright future with Jesus!

David Duffett Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeLtfVhcCUFtiq9aekV3xebfuAa02NoeI

Chartridge Mission Church, a beacon of faith, was founded in 1844 and remains in the village of Chartridge, just outside Chesham, in the picturesque Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

We are a warm and welcoming fellowship and would be delighted to have you visit us in person. Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm, followed by refreshments.

Our Church is fully accessible, with wheelchair ramps and an accessible toilet, ensuring everyone can participate in our services.

Chartridge Mission Church, Chapel Lane, Chartridge, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, HP5 2TH

The village Church with an international audience.

Support our work at Chartridge Mission Church:

Donations via Stewardship.org.uk:

https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/20005300

Cheques can be made payable to Chartridge Mission Church and sent to the above address for the attention of Pastor Barry Kempson.

Recorded on Sunday, 5th October 2025.

Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm.

www.Chartridge.UK

The Friendliest Fellowship.
Transcript
00:00We thank you then, O Father, for all things bright and good.
00:09The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
00:18Accept the gifts we offer for all your love in parts.
00:27We come now, Lord, to give you our humble, thankful hearts.
00:37All good gifts surround us, as sent from heaven above.
00:46Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all his love.
00:56Amen.
00:57Lovely to see everybody here this evening.
01:00As you've noticed here, with all this produce, or as the Americans might say, produce, it is the Harvest Festival.
01:08And so we're celebrating the harvest here.
01:10What I'd like to do is take three readings and to just look briefly at that reading and maybe ask ourselves a few questions about it as well.
01:21And, of course, the thing that ties them all together is they're all concerned with the harvest or with planting or those kind of things.
01:29So the first one of those is Ruth.
01:31And I know that you've already had a series of Ruth.
01:34I was blessed to come along and to do, I think, Ruth chapter one.
01:38So just to reiterate, what we're going to do is we're going to look at three passages.
01:42We're going to have three sets of thoughts about these passages and at least three questions.
01:47There might be only one question on one passage, but there might be two questions on another passage.
01:53So we're looking at Ruth now.
01:55By the way, I should say that I do bring a greeting from the people of Quaintum where everybody sends their best.
02:01We're so pleased about the link that there is between Quaintum and Chartridge and we benefit from having people like Peter come along to bring the word at Quaintum from time to time as well.
02:11So here we are.
02:12Here's this reading.
02:13Ruth chapter one, verse 22 and on into chapter two.
02:16So Naomi returned and Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab.
02:26And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest.
02:33And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech.
02:39And his name was Boaz.
02:42And Ruth, the Moabitess, said unto Naomi,
02:45Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.
02:54And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
02:58And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers.
03:03And her hat was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
03:13And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you.
03:19And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.
03:21Then said Boaz unto the servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
03:28And the servants that were set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitess damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
03:39And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.
03:47So she came and hath continued even from the morning until now that she tarried a little in the house.
03:54Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Here is thou not, my daughter.
03:59Go not to glean in another field.
04:01Neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.
04:07Let thine eye be on the field that they do reap, and go after them.
04:12Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee?
04:16And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.
04:24May the Lord bless that first reading to us.
04:26And, of course, you'll be fresh from your study of Ruth a month or two ago, and you'll know what a beautiful story it is of love and of loyalty and of God's hand and God's sovereignty.
04:40What I wanted to look at here is, well, the very fact that they arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest, because that is not incidental.
04:48It's central to what happens next.
04:52The barley harvest was an important thing.
04:55And before we come on to look what happened, what do you think they planted in order to get some barley?
05:02You can shout out.
05:06Probably barley, isn't it?
05:09He had a thought, so.
05:10And just here, my wife likes to garden, and I've got a couple of things from the garden that she pulled out this afternoon.
05:17What do you think she planted in order to get one of these?
05:22It'd be a carrot seed, wouldn't it?
05:24And here's a yellow courgette.
05:27And I think the chances are very high that she probably planted a yellow courgette seed in order to get this.
05:33And so the first question that I wanted to ask us is, what are we planting?
05:39It's all very well being in chapel tonight.
05:42But when we go back into the world, if you like, tomorrow, what are we planting in the world?
05:46Because the world has all sorts of frustrations and difficulties to give us, doesn't it?
05:52Something might be wrong with your electricity bill, and you might have to ring up the electricity people and be on the end of that telephone for an hour and a half, waiting to get through.
06:01And when you do get through, what are you going to sow?
06:04Are you going to sow frustration?
06:07Are you going to sow a little bit of anger?
06:10Somebody once said to me, all of life is a test for the Christian.
06:15What are we sowing?
06:16What are we sowing amongst ourselves, brother and sister to brother and sister?
06:22What are we sowing to our husbands or wives or children?
06:26So that first question is, what are we sowing in life?
06:30I think that's an important question for us all, isn't it?
06:32To stand back a little bit and ask, what is it that we sow?
06:37Because as you know from elsewhere in the Bible, as you sow, so shall you reap.
06:42And you also know that part of that passage is that God is not mocked.
06:49So we can't play games with God.
06:51We can't come here on a Sunday and act the Christian, and then in the week perhaps not be acting quite so Christian when things trouble us or somebody cuts us up on the drive back or whatever it might be.
07:05You know the kind of things that I'm talking about.
07:08So what are we sowing?
07:10That's the first question.
07:11Then we go into chapter 2, and we notice that there's talk of this kinsman, which will, of course, come to be very important later on in this beautiful account.
07:22Such a lovely account of God's sovereignty here.
07:26And we read in verse 2 that Ruth, the Moabitess, says unto Naomi,
07:31Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.
07:39And she said unto her, so Naomi said unto Ruth, Go, my daughter, go.
07:45Now why was Ruth able to glean?
07:49Why was she able to actually go to the fields and pick up some of the stuff that had been left behind by the reapers?
07:56What gave her the right to do that?
07:58God did.
07:59God did, didn't he?
08:00He provided for it in Leviticus.
08:02Let's just turn back there and have a look.
08:04It's Leviticus chapter 19, verses 9 and 10.
08:08When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field.
08:17Neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest, and thou shalt not glean thy vineyard.
08:24Neither shalt thou gather every grape of the vineyard.
08:28Thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger.
08:31I am the Lord your God.
08:33So right there, God was making amazing provision for the people that were less fortunate.
08:40The people that had not got fields of their own, maybe they had not got property.
08:45And there is just another reinforcement of that, just a few chapters away, in 23, Leviticus 23, and then verse 22.
08:56And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reap it.
09:06Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest.
09:10Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and unto the stranger.
09:13I am the Lord your God.
09:15So God there was making provision for the poor and the stranger.
09:20Now, did you notice that in verse 3 of Ruth chapter 2, the Bible says here,
09:28And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and her hap was to light on the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
09:42Now, to Ruth, that might have seemed a coincidence, her hap, but we can see it, can't we, from where we're sitting.
09:49It looks like a God incidence, doesn't it, of God bringing these people together.
09:55So here was Ruth taking advantage of God's provision for the poor.
10:00And there was Boaz, who was being obedient to God's law and making that provision that had been told to in the Levitical laws.
10:10And I wonder, when you look at when Leviticus was written and Ruth was written, there's several hundred years between those two books.
10:20I wonder, reverently, when God was instructing Moses to write Leviticus, I wonder if God was smiling a little bit and thinking, well, this is the way that Ruth is going to meet Boaz.
10:31You know, I'm not subject to time, so I know this.
10:35Moses doesn't know it.
10:37Boaz doesn't know it.
10:38Ruth doesn't know it, but the way that they will come together is through following my directives.
10:45By Boaz being obedient in allowing provision for the poor, because he's been blessed with wealth, and in Ruth's obedience to that provision being made for her.
10:57And as you know, because you've studied the book of Ruth, I'm sure you knew it before you studied the book of Ruth here, that Ruth and Boaz came together as man and wife, and they were progenitors of our Lord Jesus Christ.
11:10Of course, we read about Jesse and David and all of that, but so fantastic.
11:15So the questions I have for us from this passage, not only what are we sowing in our lives, because as we sow, so shall we reap, but are we making provision for the poor?
11:28Now, to the extent that we've been blessed with God's good gifts to us, and I'm sure we all know that we've got many blessings to count, even though life seems tough and life seems like a struggle sometimes.
11:38Are we making provision for the poor and the stranger?
11:46Are we taking advantage of God's provision for our lives?
11:50Because he's made provision for our lives as well.
11:53And you've perhaps heard it said that a closed mouth cannot be fed.
11:59So if we want to take advantage of God's provision for our lives, then we need to be receiving, to be blessed like that.
12:07And blessings do come from obedience.
12:11So that's our first little passage to look at, that lovely passage in Ruth.
12:16And the questions for us are, what are we sowing in our lives?
12:20Are we making provision for the poor?
12:22Are we taking advantage of God's provision for our lives?
12:27And to remember that the blessing in our lives comes from obedience.
12:32The more obedient we are to the Lord's will, the more blessed we will find that we are in the things of the Lord.
12:40May God bless that first little portion to us.
12:43We're going to jump into another Bible passage now, and this time it's in John.
12:47So where that previous passage in Ruth, the link there was it was part of the barley harvest, or they arrived at the end of the barley harvest.
12:55We don't actually read the word harvest in this next passage.
13:00However, I feel very sure that you will make the connection.
13:04So John chapter 12 and then verse 20.
13:07So I'll read it out here.
13:09And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.
13:15The same, therefore, came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
13:26Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
13:32And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
13:41Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
13:53But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
13:57He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
14:05If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be.
14:15But if any man serve me, him will my father honour.
14:19Now is my soul troubled.
14:23And what shall I say?
14:24Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
14:30Father, glorify thy name.
14:33Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
14:42And again, may the Lord bless that short reading to us.
14:46I'm sure you saw the link there, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
14:54But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit, or a harvest.
14:59So there is the link for us.
15:02Now Jesus here is talking about the sacrifice of himself, isn't it?
15:07This is before the crucifixion, and so he's foretelling his own crucifixion, and he's saying that he will be in the ground.
15:16He will die and be in the ground.
15:17But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
15:21And as we follow Christ, we see the concept of death to self come up in numbers of scriptures, not just in one place, but in many places in scripture.
15:33Just to give you a couple of examples, we can turn to them quickly.
15:37Galatians 2, verse 20.
15:40I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
15:48And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
15:55So we read there, this is Paul speaking, I am crucified with Christ.
16:00If we turn back in the New Testament and find our way to Luke, Luke 9 and in verse 23.
16:06And he said to them all, this is Jesus speaking about the cost of discipleship.
16:13If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
16:21So there is a death to self.
16:23In fact, we could say that there's a death to self daily that is advocated and seen as part of the Christian faith here.
16:30Before we look at this passage, very, very briefly, did you notice that we see a sign of Jesus' humanity in John 12 and verse 27?
16:43Jesus explained before verse 27 about if any man served me, then follow me.
16:49But look what happens in verse 27.
16:51Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
16:54Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
16:59You'll be familiar with passages, howsoever Jesus spends time in prayer.
17:04He says, if it's possible, let this cup be taken from me.
17:08Yet not my will, but thy will be done.
17:12And you'll see the way he concludes here in verse 28.
17:16Father, glorify thy name.
17:18In other words, reading what we've read here, Jesus was looking for a harvest of souls.
17:24And he understood that he would have to go into the ground and die, or in his case, die and then go into the ground in order to bring that harvest forward.
17:36Now, on that subject of death to self, let's ask ourselves that question.
17:41Are we dead to self?
17:43Do we die to self daily?
17:47If, like me, occasionally find yourself thinking, who are they to talk to me like that?
17:53That's not really an indication of being dead to self.
17:56That's my self coming out, and it's a bad thing.
17:59But are we dead to ourselves?
18:02And if we are dead to ourselves, how would that manifest in our lives?
18:09How would people know that we're dead to self?
18:12Not that they would go around asking, I wonder if David is dead to self, or I wonder if Pastor Barry is dead to self.
18:18But there would be a Christ-like nature that came out there, wouldn't there, if we really were dead to self.
18:24We read elsewhere that we should be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us.
18:31And if we are dead to self, the chances are that there's less troubling us to make us look sad and dull.
18:38We're more likely to look happy, and therefore more likely to be asked to give an answer for the joy, for the hope that lies within us.
18:48So only a few very short thoughts there about that passage.
18:52There's so much in there, of course, so many more things that we could talk about.
18:56But Jesus himself says that he must die in order to bring forth that harvest.
19:01And we read that those two examples in Galatians 2.20 and Luke 9.23 are two of many.
19:08There's many other places in the Bible where we're exhorted to be dead to self.
19:13So are we dead to self?
19:15And if we are, how would that manifest in our lives?
19:19Those are the questions from that passage.
19:23OK, we're on to our last passage now.
19:26So we've had a look at Ruth, the fact that they showed up during the barley harvest, and that by obeying the Levitical laws that God had laid down, Ruth and Boaz met.
19:39They were blessed and part of the family lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ.
19:43We've also now looked at that passage in John about Jesus saying that except a seed fall to the ground and die, it abideth, well, if it doesn't, it abideth alone.
19:56But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
20:01And now we're going to look at our third passage, which is Matthew chapter 9, and a short-ish passage from verse 27 through to the end of the chapter 38.
20:13And I'll begin reading here.
20:16And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
20:26And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him.
20:30And Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this?
20:35They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
20:37Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you.
20:46And their eyes were opened.
20:48And Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
20:53But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
20:58And as they went out, behold, they brought him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
21:05And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake.
21:09And the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
21:15But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of devils.
21:21And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
21:32But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
21:44Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.
21:54Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
22:01May the Lord bless that third reading to us.
22:05So let's just go back over that in verse 27.
22:08And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
22:15And when he came to the house, the blind men came to him and he said, Do you believe that I'm able to do this?
22:19They said, Yes.
22:20And then he touched their eyes and said, According to your faith, be it unto you.
22:25And their eyes were opened.
22:27What a harvest.
22:29What a harvest.
22:31The sight of two men.
22:34What a wonderful thing that the Lord Jesus did.
22:38And then look what happens next.
22:40But when they were departed, they spread abroad his fame in all that country.
22:44By the way, did you notice I jumped over that in verse 30.
22:48And their eyes were opened and Jesus straightly charged and saying, See that no man know it.
22:52And I thought that's a really good thing to say to people whose sight has just been restored, hasn't it?
22:57See.
22:59See.
23:00That no man know it.
23:02But they didn't take any notice of him, which, you know, is a bit ungrateful really, isn't it?
23:06If you'd just been given your sight, you would have thought that you would do anything that the person who told you, who gave you your sight told you to do.
23:14But they didn't.
23:15Anyway, let's move on to the next part.
23:17And as they went out, behold, they brought him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
23:23And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake.
23:26And the multitudes marveled, saying it was never so seen in Israel.
23:32Again, what a harvest.
23:34The dumb spake.
23:36That's another harvest, isn't it?
23:39There's a harvest of a sight of two men restored.
23:42The harvest of a dumb man now speaking.
23:46And so Jesus had already created an amazing harvest in this passage.
23:54But really the focus of what I wanted to just speak about as we finish was that last section from verse 36 downwards.
24:05So when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
24:17Then, saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.
24:26Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
24:33And so you can imagine the question that arises here.
24:40The first question is, are we praying?
24:43Are we praying for labourers to help gather in the harvest, the Lord's harvest, especially in the times in which we live?
24:53You can't really look very far around the country or around the world without concluding that we're living in the end times.
25:02You know, all the signs seem to be there.
25:07Passages that were written thousands of years ago in the Bible where the writers had no idea how these prophecies will be fulfilled.
25:15And now in very, very sharp focus.
25:19You know, we're quite a long way from the 90s when Barry Smith thought that your barcode on your tin would be on you and things like that.
25:26And, you know, I believe his heart was in the right place.
25:29He was just trying to colour code things together.
25:31But we see things now that are so required for the Antichrist system.
25:39You know, the devil cannot be everywhere at once.
25:42He doesn't have omnipresence, does he, like our God does.
25:46But if there's a mobile phone network that's able to track you, maybe you can make use of that.
25:52The devil does not know everything.
25:54He's not omniscient, is he, like our God is.
25:57But with all of his artificial intelligence and large language models, he can probably make use of this stuff.
26:04What I'm trying to say is that the jigsaw pieces are fitting into place.
26:09And so are we praying for labourers to be found?
26:14Of course, the next question that comes along from that is are we prepared to be the labourers ourselves?
26:20It's one thing to pray for labourers.
26:23It's another thing to be a labourer in this.
26:27Now, I don't think that that necessarily means that you have to sell everything, liquidate your assets and go to the mission field.
26:34The mission field for all of us is just outside our front door, isn't it?
26:37There are people who need to be saved.
26:40There are people that are ignorant of these things.
26:43And what I have seen more recently, not in my own personal experience, I'm sorry to say,
26:50because in the past I've been out on the streets of Oxford with the people of Oxford Baptist Church giving out leaflets.
26:55And generally, one of the things you hear when you're giving out these leaflets is,
26:58I'm all right, and you think you're not all right.
27:01But what I have seen recently is more people giving some countenance to the things of the Lord,
27:08because as they look around and see how much evil there obviously is in the world,
27:13they come to the conclusion that there's that much evil, there must be good.
27:18And of course, our God is good.
27:20We know God is good.
27:22But the questions that arise for us here are, are we praying for labourers, as instructed in this passage,
27:31the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.
27:35Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
27:40So are we praying for the labourers?
27:42Are we supporting the labourers?
27:44There are people, very young couples, going out there, reopening churches that have been closed,
27:50opening new churches as well.
27:52In fact, when you were talking about the Philippines, my daughter Charmaine's married to a chap called Carl.
27:57They run a little church down in Croeburgh, in Sussex.
28:00But one of Carl's brothers has been a missionary to the Philippines,
28:04and one of his sisters is still out there in the Philippines working in an orphanage.
28:08You know, people are doing these things because they see the need for them.
28:12And as I finish here with those questions, I also finish with a statement, really.
28:20May we, individually in this room, may we bring in a harvest for Jesus.
28:27Amen.
28:27Amen.
28:42Amen.
28:43Amen.
28:44Amen.
29:12Amen.
29:14Amen.
29:14Amen.
29:15Amen.
29:16Amen.
29:42The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the Lord's effect.
29:51Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.
30:01All good gifts surround us, ascend from heaven above.
30:09Then thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all His love.
30:19We thank you then, oh Father, for all things bright and good.
30:28The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
30:38Accept the gifts we offer, for all your love imparts.
30:47We come now, Lord, to give you our humble, thankful hearts.
30:57All good gifts surround us, ascend from heaven above.
31:06Then thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all His love.
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