Sarah Jakes Roberts - Work Your Win (01/17/2026)
- Watch
- Donate
- Contact Us
In this message, Sarah Jakes Roberts emphasizes that we have entered a season of harvest where God is bringing forth the fruit from seeds we’ve scattered throughout our lives—even the ones that seemed wasted or random. Drawing from Mark 4:26–29, she illustrates how seeds grow mysteriously while the farmer rests, and the earth provides what they need, but when the grain ripens, it’s time to actively work with the sickle to reap the harvest. The key takeaway is that harvest time requires effort, discernment, and faith to gather what’s ripe before it rots, turning our «wins» into reality through diligent work rather than passive waiting.
Introduction: Entering a Season of Harvest
We are going to be up here for a minute just seeing what the Lord says. My subject for today is «Work Your Win.» When Pastor was talking about us being in a season of winning, I knew that this word was right in line with what God wants you all to hear tonight. As I was praying and preparing for this message, I kept hearing God say that this is Harvest Time and that we’ve come into a season of harvest.
To be honest, I had to take a minute to fully understand that because the last few days of my life haven’t necessarily felt like harvest. It’s felt like stress, confusion, and a bit like I don’t really understand how things are working together. But then God says it’s Harvest Time. I had to ask Him, how can it be Harvest Time when I feel stressed? How can it be Harvest Time when I don’t even know who I am in this season? He told me that I needed to recognize that the very life I live now was once something that I was praying for. If we are not careful, we will see our miracles as a burden, and we’ll miss that it’s harvest.
What Harvest Time Really Looks Like
I wanted to show you guys this video of what Harvest Time looks like. Thanks to YouTube University, I was able to Google some things, and I believe the media team has it for me. It’s very short, not very long, but I want to show you what it looks like to be in harvest. It’s harvest time, but it looks like work. It’s harvest time, but it looks like it took more work to bring in the harvest than it did to actually sprinkle the seeds. You see, this is what Harvest Time looks like—it looks like sweat down your back, confusion, and like no one understands what’s fully going on. No one sees what’s harvest and what’s tare; no one sees the weeds; no one can tell what’s going on. But these women understand that what they planted in these fields has come back up, and now it’s time for them to do the work to receive the harvest.
In church, everyone gets so excited about harvest time, but they don’t tell you how much work goes into harvest. They don’t tell you that reaping actually takes work. So, we’ll be looking at other people rejoicing and wondering when we are going to get this chance to finally relax and put our life on cruise control. Then God tells us that harvest time doesn’t look like rest, which is like a total bummer because aren’t we all working to get to this place called comfortable? This place where we’re no longer worried about how ends are going to be met or how we’re going to be perceived in the world, or whether the deal is going to come through, or whether we’re going to get the promotion? We’re all waiting for this place called comfort, but God says that you’re going to have to start living in a state of being uncomfortable. That in order to reap the harvest He has for your life, you’re going to have to risk sweating.
The Scripture: Mark 4:26–29
I want to take you to Mark 4:26, and I want to talk about «Working Your Win.» This is Jesus talking. He says, «The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.» Verses 26-27 go, «And should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow; he himself does not know how.» As I was reading this text, I wondered how it is that scattered seeds still grow. It seems like planting seeds is a tedious job where you have to plow the land, but this farmer just scattered seeds and then fell asleep. I thought to myself about the times in my life when I scattered seeds, where I was so desperate for reciprocity that I didn’t care where my seeds landed. I just scattered them.
Scattered Seeds Still Grow
Scattered seeds still grow. You know how you’ve been wondering how you spent all your time in one situation and you’re not really sure what God is going to do? When you come to church and they say all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose, you think about your scattered seeds. The seeds that you gave away to ground that didn’t fully understand your worth, the seeds that you just gave away to anyone who indulged your insecurities or made you feel better in the moment, or opportunities that you knew were less than you, yet you poured your all into it anyway, and things didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to. How is it that these scattered seeds on the ground are still growing?
Verse 27 says that our farmer went to sleep by night and rose by day, and the seed should sprout and grow; he himself doesn’t know how. God wanted me to tell you that the seeds you’ve been scattering, and that you’ve been wondering whether or not you would ever reap a harvest on, are going to come back to you. It’s going to come back in a way you least expected. It’s going to come back while you’re asleep. It’s going to come back when you’re so focused on one thing that blessings start hitting you in the back of the head. It’s going to wake you up out of your sleep when the harvest comes. These scattered seeds of lost time and lost opportunities and lost experiences weren’t really lost at all; they were seeds that found their way down to the soil and shot up when you least expected it.
Scattered seeds still grow. Someone needs to know that they’ve lost nothing, that they’re right on schedule, that it doesn’t matter who got there first. All that matters is that God is going to get you there. You’ve got to stay in your lane. Scattered seeds still grow. It may have looked random to you and random to everyone else. Other people may have been wondering, «What are they doing? I thought so much better for them; I thought that things would go differently.» They didn’t realize that scattered seeds still grow. The farmer falls asleep by night and rises by day.
The Importance of Rest
You know, I love that he fell asleep. It spoke something to me. I enjoy resting; it’s one of my favorite things to do. Your pastor, on the other hand, does not sleep. The Lord speaks to him at 3 and 4 a.m., and then he likes to share what the Lord said. I like to sleep; I don’t know if I mentioned that. So when the Lord starts speaking to him, you know, sometimes you and God just have an A&B conversation; there’s no need for me to be involved. But every now and then, like every night, he wakes me up, and I really try to play dead in sleep. I leave my mouth open, so it looks like I’m really, really asleep, and he says, «You up?» I’m like, sleep is important because when you sleep, your body heals. Your blood vessels start flowing better, and things that broke you during the day, when you sleep, they recover and are restored. I’m not lying—Google it, guys.
When you sleep, God restores things that you lost during the day. I see my farmer sleeping, and then he wakes up to a harvest. I realize that some of us thought we moved on from those scattered seeds, but in reality, we were sleeping and the seeds were growing. God had to put us to sleep so we wouldn’t overwater or overwork or pull up the seeds we placed in the ground. He had to make us think we lost it, that it wasn’t available to us anymore. He had to put us to sleep and close our eyes so we could start walking by faith and not by sight. He couldn’t do it while you were awake when you had to have your plans and your dreams. He had to do it when you were asleep, down to nothing, surrendered and willing to sacrifice.
So, the farmer goes to sleep, and the seeds sprout and grow, and he himself does not know how. He doesn’t even know how he ended up where he is. God said you’re going to blink and arrive. You’re going to look up and think it was scattered seeds, but you’re going to wake up to a harvest. You’re going to look back on your life and see what feels like it was taking so long right now happens so quickly and so instantly that you’re not even going to know how it happened. God said it was working on the inside while you thought you were sleeping. You thought everyone else was making moves and hustling, while you were asleep. God was doing something on the inside of you that looked like sleep on the outside but was actually healing down on the inside.
He said don’t be afraid to rest in this season because while you’re resting, He’s working. While you’re sleeping, He’s wide awake, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, going back and grabbing the seeds from your childhood, and the seeds from the divorce, and the seeds from the repossession, and the seeds from the molestation. He’s grabbing all of these seeds while you’re sleeping. Those seeds of innocence, those seeds of hope, those seeds of promise—those seeds of your dreams are still alive. He wants you to know that scattered seeds still grow.
I just keep hearing that over and over again because somebody looks back over their life and sees all of these missed opportunities and all of these detours. But God said they weren’t detours at all! Hallelujah! It was all a part of My plan. You’re right on time! You’re not behind! You’ve got to stop looking at what’s going on in the lanes beside you, and the Instagram in front of you, and the Twitter in front of you. You’ve got to stop looking at all of that and go to sleep for a minute. You’ve got to go to sleep for a minute long enough to stop comparing yourself, long enough to stop picking yourself apart, long enough to stop letting insecurities, doubt, and negativity tell you how to live your life. You’ve got to go to sleep for a minute, yeah?
He himself does not know how. Verse 28 continues and says, «For the earth yields crops by itself.» So, while he was sleeping, the earth was working. They didn’t need him to water it or check on it; the earth was already designed to give the seeds what they need.
What Seeds Need to Grow
They say that seeds need three main things to grow. They say seeds need water. How do seeds get water? Seeds get water because once they’re placed in the dirt, the seed starts to suck up the water that’s in the dirt. The seed is placed down into the ground; it soaks up the water, and then it starts to produce roots. As it produces roots and there’s not enough water in the soil where the roots are formed, it starts to expand even further to fresh soil where there’s new water because growth must occur.
So, could it be that we needed the dirt to water the seeds? Could it be that we needed the hurt to water the seeds? Could it be that we needed the pain, rejection, and abandonment to water the seeds? Could it be that the things in our lives that we resent the most were actually the dirt that God was using to water the seeds? We spent so long upset with the dirt that we don’t see the roots formed as a result of it. Your roots are growing. The earth gave the seeds soil first, and then the earth gave the plant food.
I had to get back on Google because I didn’t understand, like, are they eating? How are seeds getting food? I’ve never seen a plant with a mouth! As I researched, I realized that the food for the plant exists in the leaves. I thought that was strange because how could you feed off of something inside you and still grow? I thought back over my own life and realized that there was something inside of me that I was feeding off of, even while I was down in the soil, helping me grow. There was a determination inside of me, a strength inside of me, a purpose down inside of you that helped you survive things that would have taken other people out. For some reason, there was something down in your leaves that you could feed off of. When you should have given up, when you should have been depressed— and, not to say you didn’t get close—but right when you got close, God sent food from down inside you that said, «I can’t give up yet! I may have to cry these tears, but when I’m finished, I’m going to wipe them up, and I’m going to go back into life because there’s something inside me that says I’m a winner. There’s something inside of me that says I’m victorious. There’s something inside of me that says this environment is not where I’m supposed to be, and I’m going to climb my way out of it. I’m going to scratch my way out of it. I’m going to pray my way out of it.»
There was something down in the leaves that helped it grow. The third thing the plant needs to grow is light. It needs something from the outside to shine down into something that cannot even be seen so that the blade will come out, then the head, then the full grain in the head. I recognized that the seed didn’t know that the light was on the outside because has life ever buried you so deep down in the dirt that you could not believe there was light at the end of the tunnel? The seed didn’t know during its darkest days, during the teen pregnancy, during the divorce, during the job loss, or when it was going from job to job, that there was light shining somewhere that it couldn’t see.
Because light gives the plant energy to do what it needs to do. All this time, I thought that I had this energy because I was just so strong, not recognizing that the light was really the energy fueling me to go forward. Have you ever had to stop and recognize you didn’t get here by yourself—that there was a light shining somewhere you couldn’t see? That there was a praying grandmother? That there was a YouTube channel? That there was a scripture that came right when you needed it, shining through while your seed was down in the darkness, and you didn’t know who you were going to become? You didn’t know how you were going to get there, but there was this light shining somewhere.
I didn’t even see it, but that light was fueling me. I kept hearing God call me; I thought it was my own confidence. I thought it was my own dreams, but I kept listening to this small voice that led to the thing that led to the thing that led to the thing that led to destiny. Now I’m wondering, was it me, or was it the light shining down on me? For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
Putting in the Sickle: Time to Work
And verse 29 continues and says, «But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.»
When the grain was ready, our farmer—who was once asleep—now gets to work. I thought, shouldn’t he take a minute to rejoice and get a praise break like we do when it’s harvest time? He’s got all of these seeds that he didn’t even plant, seeds that he didn’t have to water, all have come to harvest. The moment they’re ready and ripe, he starts going to work. A sickle is the tool you saw in the video. He puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.
I realize that the sickle is a sign of what’s going on in this season: many of us are no longer choosing to sit back and marvel at what God has done; we’re daring to hack at the harvest. You see, if we don’t gather the harvest, the harvest is going to die. If we don’t make the best of this moment, then the opportunity is going to pass. We can’t afford to be too stressed out that we don’t go to work or too excited that we forget to be diligent because the harvest is here, and it’s time to put the axe to the harvest.
How much harvest you glean determines how much seed you’ll get next time. If you don’t clear the field of the current harvest, there will be no room for another harvest. That means we’re in a season where we don’t have time to just sit back and be wonderful. Some of us have to roll up our sleeves and get at it. Some of us can’t afford to be scrolling on Instagram all day or wondering what you’re doing and how you’re getting it because some of us have decided it’s time for us to go and get it. It’s time for us to manifest our potential. It’s time for us to let these seeds that have been scattered throughout our lives manifest like never before.
Some of us have decided that it’s go time. Because it’s go time, harvest doesn’t scare us. Hard work? Got it. Sweat? No problem. Faith? I’ve got that. God, if you point me in the direction of the field you have for me; if you point me in the direction of the territory you have for me; if you point me in the direction of the people who need to hear my voice; if you point me in the direction of the interview, the audience, the weapons that you have for me. If you point me in the direction, I won’t stand there and take a picture. I won’t stand there and wait for permission. I’ll get my sickle, and I’ll get my towel, and I’ll go to work.
If it’s just me in that field, that’s fine. I don’t need an audience for what you have for me because I know what you have for me has my name on it. I don’t mind doing the work required with my harvest. God, please remove anything from me that would keep me from reaping my harvest. God, please strip me down of anything that would keep me from recognizing that my arms were made to cut things down. God, please remove anything from me that would dare rob me of my potential because it’s harvest time! I don’t know about you, but I plan to eat! I don’t know about you, but I plan to go for it! I don’t know about you, but I plan to leave a legacy on this earth! I don’t know about you, but I’m pushing back darkness every time I walk into a room. Darkness ought to be afraid because I’m armed with my sickle, baby! I’m armed with my gifts and my talents and my resources. I’m armed with scattered seeds that didn’t make sense to anybody else but God.
I’m armed with weapons you don’t even understand—weapons like disappointment, weapons like failure, weapons like I’m not scared of success because I failed so many times. Success is the only thing that matters. Weapons like I’m not afraid to create because there’s a sound in the earth that has my name on it. Weapons like no weapon formed against me shall prosper. The kind of weapons that say my faith has made a way for me. The kind of weapons that say God went ahead of me and made the crooked path straight. He saw the harvest and took out the sickle.
God says some of you need to start going into your toolbox because the very thing you’re stressed about is the harvest He gave you that’s going to take you to the next level. If you stop thinking about everything that’s wrong in your situation, you’ll learn how to cut that thing down at the root and make room for another situation. God says some of you are praying for blessings, but your blessings are going to be disguised as problems. You have to have discernment in this season. These things are teaching you something, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll chase away the blessing He gave you.
The scattered seeds were growing, so it made it look like for a moment that blessings would come easy, that you wouldn’t have to work very hard to get the harvest. But God said I only did half of the work; your faith without works is dead. So, I turned the seeds into something, but it was only because when harvest came, I wanted to see what you could do with it.
God said the spotlight is on you, baby. All of Heaven is gathered to watch you in this moment. There are things within your control that you can handle that you have failed to do because you thought God would do it for you. He said to get your sickle and cut down anything that stands in the way of you and the promise He has for your life. Get your sickle and move anything out of the way that would dare keep you from receiving another harvest. God said that you are the only thing standing in your way. You are your only competition. You are the only one in your lane.
Stop being so consumed with what you think you lost and how far ahead you think they are that you miss your opportunity. You see, because the grain was only ripe during a certain period, there is a thin line between ripe and rotten. While you’re sitting here trying to motivate yourself to become who you know you’re supposed to be, your harvest is turning from ripe to rotten.
Closing with Galatians 6
Stand with me as I prepare to close. We’re going to have a moment at the altar for people who need help identifying where their sickle is and how to handle their harvest. If you don’t have to leave, please don’t go. I want to go to Galatians 4 very quickly, and I promise I’m finished. I’m finished like PT is finished on Sunday, and then just a few more points. Thus sayeth the Lord.
Verse 4 of Galatians 6 says, «But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.» This says to take inventory of what you’re doing in your life. Compare it with what God told you you were supposed to be doing. If you can say the thing that you’re currently doing is exactly what God told you to do, then you can rejoice in yourself, and you don’t have to rejoice in what anyone else is doing. You don’t have to compare yourself with what anyone else is doing. You can have enough confidence in who you are and where you are if you know without a doubt that you’re where God placed you.
You see, the problem is that we examine our life by other people’s success. When we do that, we can’t rejoice within ourselves; all we can do is pick ourselves apart. But this scripture says that we can rejoice. Verse 5 continues and says, «For each one shall bear his own load.» You’re going to have to answer to God about what you did with the seeds He gave you. Verse 6 goes, «Let him who was taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.» What I love is that the power of the messages you receive at One Church loses their value if you don’t take them out of here and apply them to your life.
What PT said earlier about you going to slay something is so in tune with this message because Galatians 6 basically says to not just let this word be something that you stood and clapped for. Let it be one of your five smooth stones. Be prepared to walk into the Sanctuary with Goliath’s head in your hands to slay some giants because of the word you received in this place. God says it’s time for you to recognize the power that exists down on the inside of you. Your harvest is going to look like giants slain, trails blazed, lives saved, and work created that inspires and transforms people.
God says, «Let him who is taught the word share this thing in all good things with him who teaches.» Verse 7 continues, «Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, he will also reap.» He’s not crazy; He knows what He put down on the inside of you. You’re not crazy. The dreams He gave you weren’t to torment you; they were supposed to inspire you to leap. God sent a word that was supposed to make something leap down inside of you, and when you begin to sow into that, you’re going to reap.
I love that it says reap. It doesn’t say that there’s going to be a harvest; it says that there’s going to be reaping. The difference between there being a harvest and a reaping is when you cut down the harvest. You can sow it; you can receive a harvest on it, but if you go the extra step and begin to reap that harvest, gather it up, learn from it, and allow it to marinate in your life, God gets the glory. Verse 8 continues, «For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.»
You’ve got to check your motives. What are you sowing for? Are you sowing for riches and fame and the illusion of Hollywood and the illusion of love and the illusion of success? Or are you sowing because God told you that if you go to this field and scatter seeds in this field, that a harvest is coming because that’s where your everlasting life is, where your everlasting peace is, where the joy that nothing can strip away is? You’ve got to be willing to sow in the Spirit.
Verse 9 is my favorite: «And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.» That means that God is going to equip you to reap all that you’ve sown, but your heart’s got to be right. Don’t let this world rob you of your heart. Don’t let this world rob you of those moments of rest, like when we saw the farmer sleeping, so that his heart could be protected.
Don’t lose heart in this journey. Don’t let disappointments and closed doors make you believe you’re not going to reap. It is a sign that God has something better for you. If this message has been speaking to you but you found yourself like a scattered seed down in the dirt, wondering if light was shining down on you, we want to pray with you tonight. You can come right now; you don’t have to wait for this formal moment. Because I believe as I continue to speak that God is going to start transforming the hearts of people. Even as I begin to speak, things are going to begin sprouting up. Where there was dirt and soil, and seeds, leaves are going to begin sprouting up, destinies are going to be stirred up, and gifts are going to be moved.
Some of you have been in darkness about how things are going to come to pass, and God sent a light. He sent a light that would serve as the energy required for you to do the work to suck up the water that’s in this soil. There’s something in this darkness for you, and that plan is to prosper you and not to harm you. There’s something down in this soil that was meant to make your roots grow. God is not trying to cut your life short; He’s not trying to make you give up; He’s not trying to make you settle for safe. God is trying to make your roots grow so that when you shoot up, you won’t fall over. In order to do that, He has to take you to what seems like a dark place so that when you get there, your foundation will be strong enough to withstand the trials and triumphs that come with who He’s called you to be.
What I love so much about this sickle hacking down the harvest is that it made more room for another harvest. That means when you get finished with this work, you won’t have to hang on to this blessing like you’re never going to receive another one. You don’t have to be afraid to cut what was a blessing to lay hold of the next blessing. Sometimes the enemy is trying to keep someone from recognizing that there’s a blessing they’ve been holding on to for too long and what should have been a ripe harvest has now become rotten because you’re afraid to let go, to cut down with the sickle, and lay hold of something else.
But I’ve come here to serve notice on every negative thought that the enemy has placed in your mind. On every negative thing that the enemy has ever said to you, the harvest is still alive! Not only is the harvest still alive, but God is giving us renewed strength to go after it—renewed strength and purpose and destiny to lay hold of what He has for us. The enemy almost convinced you to give up, but He sent a word on a Wednesday night on March 1st to remind you that the harvest has your name on it, that the field is ready for you.
As you step into this moment, it’s important that we be like the farmer and recognize that we have tools in our hands. You don’t need a connection. You don’t need a hookup. You don’t need another degree. You don’t need another resource. God has given you everything you need to lay hold of what He has for you. Everything you need is within reach. Everything you need is already down on the inside of you. When you begin to feed on that and allow that truth to take root in your life, you can expect supernatural overflow! Hallelujah!
The word says that He will do exceedingly abundantly above all that you may ask or think. So when PT said earlier that some of you are in environments that are too small, He means you need to start thinking bigger! This harvest will one day be a seed. This harvest will one day be a seed that you must be willing to place back in the ground to reap an even richer harvest, because we are not connected to the harvest we receive but rather to the light that causes the harvest to spring up. Because we are connected to that light, we don’t have to be afraid of losing anything in the process. What God has for us is for us.