So, in order to fill the Great Commission, right, the last thing Jesus said here, that
He commanded His disciples in Mark 16, in order to do that, we have to go to the unreceptive
and difficult places.
And I'm just kind of preaching this to remind us that, you know, the hill country in Arizona
is going to be a mixture of both.
Look, I'm sure we're going to find receptive areas out there.
You know, I think about, you know, the White Mountain Apache.
That was hill country.
Those were people living out in the middle of nowhere.
And that was, you know, that was the most receptive soul-winning I've ever done.
I mean, people are just, you know, dozens of people are getting saved on these trips
when we go there.
You know, and it would be great to just keep going there, but here's the thing, we already
knocked all that.
We already did all that.
We already passed out a bunch of material there.
We need to go find the other people.
And I'm just saying, it's going to be a mixture of both.
And you've got to take the good with the bad.
We've already visited the most receptive areas in Arizona.
You know, maybe you should think about that.
When you go out on these trips and you think, well, man, this is so unreceptive, I don't
know if I want to do this.
Well, think about the fact the only reason that we're there is because we've already
done all the receptive stuff.
You see what I'm saying?
Like, hey, you could say, well, if we're here, it must mean that we have accomplished, you
know, the first part of going to the poor, going to the receptive.
We think about that on the midweek services where we go out to the, you know, Southeast
Tempe where it's been very unreceptive, you know, where people aren't just glad to see
you, you know.
But think about the fact that the only reason we're there is because we've done everything
else.
We've already accomplished so much, is what I'm trying to say.
That should encourage you.
You know, we've already visited the most receptive areas.
And here's the thing, we don't want to be these fair weather soul winners.
Don't be a fair weather soul winner.
You know, I'm only going to go on the trip if it's going to be to the place that I like,
you know, or I'm only going to go to that soul winning time when I find out they're
going to my preferred area.
Don't be a fair weather soul winner.
You know, get in the work wherever you can.
The Bible says in Proverbs 10, he that gathereth in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth
in harvest is a son that caught his shame.
Now, why does he say he gathereth in summer?
You know, he points out the specific season in which the sun goes out together because,
you know, being Phoenicians, we all know summer is hot, right?
And going out and working under the hot sun, that's difficult to do.
And we don't want to be one of these people that's only going to go out into the harvest
in God's field and win souls when it's easy.
You know, we don't want to be a fair weather soul winner.
We don't want to be Goldilocks where I'm only going to go soul winning when it's just right.
You know, when it's just the right distance away to the right neighborhood, you know,
and it's somebody else leading it besides Brother Corbin.
You know, get my preferred soul winning group leader, you know, or whatever, you know, have
all these caveats.
Well, I'll go soul winning if, you know, I'll gather, you know, if it's below 74 degrees
or whatever, you know, good luck.
And you're going to miss out on a lot.
You know, the Bible says the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, not because
he can't go, because he's hindered in some way, because he's, you know, got some other
reasonable excuse, hey, I can't make it, but because he can't, he won't go because it's
difficult, because it's cold outside.
I know we don't know anything about that here, but therefore he shall beg and harvest and
have nothing.
You know, apply that spiritually.
The person is just going to look at the difficult circumstances and then say, well, I'm not
going to go.
I'm not going to fulfill the great commission.
Well, you're going to get to heaven and give a report and you might have nothing or very
little.
You're going to call out just this, less than you could have had.
I mean, some people are going to get there and have nothing, you know, whenever I preach
about this topic of soul winning and being rewarded for your efforts, I always think
about this illustration and maybe I've shared it, I don't know, but it stuck with me, you
know, this illustration that I heard is that there's going to be some people that are going
to go to heaven and have their works tried by fire, right, 1 Corinthians.
And the gold, silver, and precious stone is going to remain.
The woodhay and stubble is going to burn up, you know, some people are going to get there.
All they're going to have is woodhay and stubble.
That's it.
And all they're going to have for all of eternity is just a pile of ashes and that always stuck
with me, just like thinking about, well, this is what I have, just these ashes.
I mean, and then, I mean, ever try to like move ashes around, you know, somebody sneezes
or go everywhere?
I better hope there's like Ziploc bags in heaven or something like that, right?
But that's, that's the thing.
If we're going to just look at the cold, look at the heat, look at the less ideal the circumstances,
or maybe it's a little less receptive than we want and just back out and say, well, you
know, let me know when you start going back to the White Mountain Apache, you know, well,
we're going to get to heaven and we're not going to have, we're going to have at least
less than we could have and some people will have nothing if they never go.