Glean and Gather After the Reapers

Ruth 2:7

And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

When Boaz had come home from an out-of-town trip, he  noticed a younger lady gleaning from his fields. Boaz asked the field supervisor who this lady was, and he found out that it was Ruth. When Ruth was approached about gleaning from the field, she said, let me glean and gather after the reapers.

A critical truth is taught to every believer, and especially every pastor, that we ought to glean and gather from reapers instead of gathering from people who never reach the harvest. Why would I gather from non-soul winners? God says in Proverbs 11:3, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. Wisdom can only be gleaned from those who win souls.

One of the secrets why God is using me at Maranatha Baptist Church is because I learned as a young man to glean and gather from the reapers. I have made it a habit to glean and gather any bit of truth from those who are successful in reaping. I have gleaned and gathered from men like Jack Hyles, Lee Roberson, Louis Entzminger, and J. Frank Norris. I glean and gather from them how to be a soul winner and church builder, and then I apply what they did in their lives and churches to my life and church. I have learned that if I want a great harvest, I must glean and gather from those who had a great harvest and not from those who are letting the harvest rot. Let me share a few principles about gleaning and gathering from the reapers.

First, I read the books from those who gleaned and gathered a great harvest. I have learned that their principles still work today. Harvest principles don't become outdated; they just need to be applied to work. I don't need to recreate a wheel on reaching a great harvest because what they have done still works today. Too many are trying to find another way to reap a great harvest, and the only thing they are doing is letting the harvest die. I have gleaned from those who reaped a great harvest that soul winning and Sunday school worked in the past to gather a great harvest, and it will still gather a great harvest today if we do them.

Second, I don't glean and gather from those who are not gathering the harvest. Why would I want to learn from someone whose church is dying? The only thing you will glean from preachers who don't win souls is how not to reach the lost and how to criticize those who are reaping a harvest. The only thing you will learn from those who publicly attack the fallen is how to let the harvest die while you destroy a person who could be restored so they can get back in the harvest to reach it. The only thing you will glean and gather from non-soul winners is a cold and indifferent heart toward reaching the lost.

Third, I apply what I have gleaned and gathered from those who have reached a great harvest so that God can use me to reach a great harvest. My desire is not to let my harvest die but to reach as many as I can in my harvest. Jesus said that the harvest is plenteous; therefore, I have a great harvest to reach, but I must apply what I gleaned and gathered from those whom I studied so that I can reap a great harvest myself. Don't waste what you gleaned and gathered, but apply it, and you will find you can reach a great harvest if you are gleaning and gathering from reapers.