So, I'm going to keep something in Mark 2, but if you would, go over to Isaiah chapter
13.
The title of the sermon this morning is Noising Abroad in the Hill Country, Noising Abroad
in the Hill Country.
I'm going to tie this in with the fact that, you know, we're starting our small town soul
winning program.
If you notice there in Mark 2, you're going over to Isaiah 13, but it said that in verse
1, and he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the
house.
And, you know, when we think of that word noise today, we think about bothering people.
You know, you think about, you know, the dictionary definition, you know, being loud, disruptive.
You know, you think of an unpleasant sound.
You know, we've probably all had at some point, or maybe even have been, you know, if we're
being honest, noisy neighbors, right?
Whenever you think of someone being noisy or something being noised, you think about
the fact that it is something that is negative, okay?
But you know, we'll see here in the scripture that that's not what the connotation of scripture,
that to noise something abroad is actually a good thing.
And I'm kind of bringing this up because of the fact that I think sometimes when we go
into places that maybe are a little more less receptive, you know, we feel like maybe we're
bothering those people, you know, because of what they're, the way they're behaving,
the way they're, you know, responding to us at the door.
You could say, man, I feel like I'm just bothering this person.
And that's something that I think people do struggle with, but we should never have this
idea that when we go out noising abroad the gospel that we're bothering people.
We're actually doing something very important regardless of however people take it.
So this word noise or to noise something about, you know, is not a negative word.
In fact, the Bible would use a different word for that.
You know, if someone was being noisy in a negative way, it would use a word like toment
or being tumultuous, right?
Bible says in Psalms chapter 65, which still at the noise of the sea, the noise of their
waves and the tumult of the people.
If you look at Isaiah chapter 13 verse four, the noise of a multitude in the mountains,
like as of a great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms gathered together.
So you know, the word noisy in the Bible would be more the way we use it would be more, would
be used, you would use the word tumultuous, you know, a tumultuous noise of people.
Just when you get a large group of people together that are just kind of milling about,
there's a noise there.
It's tumultuous.
It's noisy.
Go over to Isaiah chapter 33.
He said, forget not the voice of thine enemies, the toment of those that rise up against thee
increasingly.
Like in Isaiah chapter 33 verse three, at the noise of the tumult, the people fled at
the lifting up of thyself, the nations were scattered.
And we always think about the fact, the story, you know, when they brought Jesus to be crucified
by Pilate in Matthew chapter 27, you can go back over, go over to Acts chapter 19.
When Pilate's going back and forth with them, it says that the governor said, why, what
evil hath he done?
You know, he's trying to get Jesus off the hook because he knew he hasn't done anything
wrong.
And it says that the people cried out the more, you know, saying, let him be crucified.
And when Pilate saw he could prevail nothing, but rather that a tumult was made, he took
water and washed his hands, right?
So you know, when people are making a lot of noise, they're being obnoxious, they're
just being noisy, they're, you know, it's unpleasant, it's loud and disruptive.
That's not noising something abroad.
You know, people weren't going around in Mark chapter two bugging people about the fact
that Jesus could come to town.
You know, another word that the Bible would use in a negative way to describe, you know,
a disruptive people would be uproar.
I mean, think about Acts 19, where Paul, you know, he sends Timotheus and Erastus into
Macedonia and we'll look there in verse 32, it says, some therefore cried one thing.
So they're crying out, they're lifting up their voice and the assembly was confused.
You know, they're all saying one thing, another, you know, it's just a lot of noise.
It's a tomo, it's, you know, an uproar.
Look at verse 34, but when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the
space of two hours cried out.
So there they are, there's this big throng of people making all this noise, but that's
not the word the Bible would use, it uses a different word.
It says in verse 36, see then that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be
quiet.
He's saying, hey, quiet down, right?
He's toning these people down.
Verse 40, for we are in danger and called to be called a question for this day's uproar.
So when the Bible is trying to describe a people that are being noisy, that are being
disruptive, that are causing, you know, just being unpleasant and loud, it's not using
the word noisy.
It's not using, you know, noising abroad is not a bad thing.
We should never feel that, you know, that's what we're doing when we go out and noise
abroad the gospel, that we're just bugging people.
We're not out there just, you know, making a bunch of noise and just bugging people with
it.
The biblical definition of noise is actually more neutral and it's often positive.
If you want to go back to Mark chapter 2, you can think about examples like Joshua.
You know, Joshua, you know, it says after he defeated Jericho, his fame was noise throughout
all the country.
That's a positive thing that people were talking about.
It just means that they're sharing the news.
That's what the word noise means.
They're just sharing the fact that something's going on.
Like it is in Mark chapter 2, he said, and again, he entered into Capernaum after some
days and it was noise that he was in the house.
It's not that they were, you know, going around with a megaphone and bugging everybody in
the middle of the night.
You know, they weren't turning up the speakers and just announcing Jesus' arrival.
They were talking, they were sharing the news that he was there.
So noising in the Bible is a positive thing.
And you know, we need to keep that in mind because we don't want to get discouraged when
we go to places where people are less receptive, they feel like you're bothering them.
And I'm just being honest here, a lot of these towns that we're going to go to are probably
coming up.
We really haven't been to Safford, I don't know how receptive it's going to be, but when
people are living in these flower-flowing places, there's kind of a reason for it.
A lot of them want to be left alone, but you know, we're going to go there anyway.
And if they feel like they're being bothered by it, that we're being noisy, well, that's
on them.
We've got a mission.
And here's the thing, people are going to get saved either way, and we'll talk more
about that here in a minute.
But notice when, you know, it's noised about that Jesus was coming to the house, notice
the positive things that happened, the positive result.
It says in verse 2, and straight away, many were gathered.
You know, it doesn't say immediately, you know, they called the police and put in a
complaint and told them, you know, they'll shut these people up.
He said that they were gathered together insomuch that there was no room to receive them, so
they all come to where he is.
That's what happens when people go out and tell others about Jesus.
They show up, and they get to know the Lord.
So when we go out into the hill country, you know, as we start up this mission to the small
towns of Arizona, that's not a bad thing, to go and noise abroad in the hill country.
That's something we're supposed to do.
And the people of the hill country of Arizona, you know, are probably going to react differently
to us coming to them.
I don't know what's going to be like what happened with Jesus, you know, when the noise
got out into the hill country that he was there, you know, everybody showed up.
You get into the hill country of Arizona, and some people aren't going to be that glad
to see you.
It's just, you know, I want everyone to come and participate in this program, but I'm not
going to sugarcoat it either.
It's not always going to be the easiest thing, and it's not always going to be in the most
receptive places that we go, and I know that for a fact because I've gone on some of these.
We went to Morenci, you know, about a year ago with a small, just like a four-man crew,
and I mean we were going out into some tough places to get to, and one particular individual
who I have dubbed the redneck of Morenci, you know, and I can use that term because
I myself am a recovering redneck, okay, so we recognize our own, folks.
He was not happy to see us, and I'm saying he was out there.
Like it was two tracks, and we had just bought that SUV.
I didn't know if we were going to make it, you know, going over rocks, and then it's
just this long driveway, like probably a quarter mile, nowhere to turn around, it's just sheer
drop off on either side, and we get down there, and the guy, you know, it's not every day
someone comes down that driveway.
He probably recognizes who it is, you know, he would know if he knew you or not.
So before we even get to the door, he's approaching the vehicle, I haven't even probably gotten,
you know, near the house yet, and he's stopping us, he's kind of checking us out, and some
things transpired kind of suddenly, and he reacted very poorly to it, and he's saying,
you know, people around here, we shoot first and ask questions later.
I'm not even kidding, like he's kind of like threatening us, like we're not trying anything,
we're just like, I'm like, we're from a church, giving him an invite, you know, this is where
we're from, this is what we're doing, and he kind of cooled off, and I, you know, diffused
the situation, and then he's like, all right, well, you know, basically we came to, it came
time to say adios to our good friend, and I said, well, can I go around, can I go up
there and turn around, and he hesitated, and the only other option was like to back out,
you know, and he said it was only a quarter mile, but yeah, but it's like this, you know,
it's hard.
So he's like, all right, and then I turn around, I get out, and I'm trying to look at my rear
view, he's like recording, taking pictures of the license plate, you know.
Now, that wasn't the, you know, we didn't, I didn't exactly feel like we had a warm welcome
there, you know, but we went, we checked it off the map, and hey, the next door, the guys
got to preach to that guy for several minutes, you know, I think 10 or 15 minutes, something
got saved, but he got the gospel, but you know, that guy didn't exactly welcome us,
and I'm just saying, you know, when we're going to go to some of these places, not everyone's
going to appreciate the fact that we're out there noising abroad in the hill country,
and he was certainly one of them.
And here's the thing, when you get a reception like that, and you can apply this to any time
that you go soul winning, you know, don't let that affect your resolve.
And I'm preaching this because, you know, a lot of people have already probably grown
beyond this, but a lot of people who are newer to soul winning, you know, or maybe are going
through a low time or something or so, like this can really affect people, and it's something
that I think we have to grow beyond and be reminded of, is that, you know, we shouldn't
carry this discouraged spirit to the next door, and not let, you know, a negative reception
affect you, because it can.
And I'm just trying to kind of preach this sermon tonight, or this morning, to, you know,
encourage people to participate in this small town soul winning.
And you know, we're going to be, like I said, announcements, we're going to have those bi-weekly
trips to Globe, we're planning bi-weekly trips to Safford, which are going to be overnight,
and we're going to be going out there.
And the reason we're going to do that, and if you would, stay in Mark, actually, go to
Mark 16, keep something in Mark, you know, we are to, it's because of the fact that we
are two noise abroad, the gospel, you know, we are to go out and preach the gospel to
every Christian.
There's no new scripture here.
We all know this verse in chapter 16, verse 15.
He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, even
the redneck of Morenci.
Go find that guy.
He didn't say, you know, go to the most receptive area, only go to the poor, only go to the,
you know, where you know people are going to get saved in throngs, he's saying go into
all the world, you know, and all means all, right?
The places that are easy to get to and the ones that aren't, you know, and Globe, quite
frankly, is, if you want to talk about Hill Country, it's Hill Country.
Anyone who's been driven through Globe, Miami, you know, those areas know that a lot of those
houses are kind of up, out of the way, you know, it's difficult travel, it's hard to
kind of get up to those driveways sometimes.
They're hard to get there.
Does that mean we shouldn't go?
Just get to heaven.
Well, we would have gone there, but I mean, do you see the incline on that driveway?
You see how far down that rocky road it is?
Do you see how difficult it is to get to these places?
No, we need to go to all the world, the places that are easy to get to and the ones that
aren't as well.
And like I said, you know, the guy in Morenci was way, way, way, way out of the way.
And we've gone on other trips where we've gone way out of the way to get people the
gospel and it hasn't always been easy.
You know, I think about the trips I was able to take, the four-man trips out on the Navajo
reservation.
And you want to talk about people that are living out of the way, there's people on
the reservation that are just miles from anybody and, you know, Google Maps is like, there's
a road here.
And it's like, what it really means is a horse walked through here once, you know?
And now that's a road and you got to get down there.
So I mean, we're, you know, it was fun.
We got to rent the Jeep Rubicon and go out there and tear it up.
I'll say it was fun for me when I was driving.
It's always fun for the driver when you go two-track, you ever notice that?
Because you got something to hold on to, you kind of know when you're going to jerk the
wheel.
You know, and I remember, I was like, this is fun, and then I got in the passenger seat.
I was like, this is not as fun.
And not just because I'm not the one driving, it's because you're just like, bam, bam, you
don't know.
You're tossed to and fro with every winding road that the driver takes, right?
Especially the guys in the back, they get it the worst, so.
But it was, you know, we did that anyway because it was way out of the way.
We had to go reach those people because the Bible says, all the world, and that means
everybody.
You know, we say, why are you going to Morenci?
Why are you going to go all, you know, why are you going to go three hours to Safford?
Why are you going to go four hours to Morenci?
Why are you going to, you know, go all the way out in the middle of nowhere on the Navajo
reservation and reach people?
Because that's the command.
That is the great commission.
It's not just, you know, the same neighborhoods over and over, it's, we have to go to all
the world.
And you know, he says, all the world, like, we got to preach the gospel to all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature, every creature, not just the ones that, you know,
we think are going to get saved.
The receptive and the unreceptive, everybody.
So in order to fill the great commission, right, and the last thing Jesus said here,
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.
I mean, 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 son goes out to gather.
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 want to have nothing
or very little.
Or how about 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 wood, hay, and stubble is going to burn up.
You know, some people are going to get there, all they're going to have is wood, hay,
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, if somebody sneezes, they'll go everywhere.
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 of
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.
And here's the thing about soul winning, like, soul winning, I don't, at least it's
this way for me, probably other soul winners could, you know, would agree with this, is
that it's always hard work.
I mean, I don't care how ideal the circumstances is.
I mean, sometimes, when you go to the, when you go to the receptive place where you're
just preaching and preaching and preaching, that's hard, to me, that's harder than
getting rejected.
I mean, how hard is it to get rejected?
I wouldn't know.
No, I'm just kidding.
Some of you could probably write a book about it, right?
It's not that hard.
We're from a Baptist church, you want to know, okay.
You know, unless you're a snowflake, ooh, hurt my feelings.
You know, here's the thing, they didn't reject you, they rejected the message you're
bringing.
And I've always joked about doing this, and maybe it would just be good to do to
prove a point.
If we showed up at a door with a big check that said a million dollars on it and balloons
and a camcorder, people would be like, ah, they'd come running out, you know.
They wouldn't even care about the mask.
They wouldn't care.
Why?
Because it's the message you're bringing, you know.
You know, if we were, you know, publishing houses, what was that one, the sweepstakes?
I don't know.
You had to grow up in the 80s or something like that, came in those big envelopes, you
know.
Ed McMahon, that was the guy, right?
He always showed up with the check and hey, we were like that, they'd just come running
to see us.
But they reject the message, not us.
So don't be a snowflake about it, you know.
And once you get over that, what you find out is being rejected is actually easier.
Then receptive places really, when you think about it, are easier to go soul-winding.
It's when you go to the White Mountain Apache, it's like, I've knocked four doors and preached
a gospel four times in like two hours.
And yeah, it's great and we love to do it.
But it can wear a person out, you know, having to preach and preach and turn your Bible.
And I'm not lamenting the fact, that's great, I mean, that's what I would prefer.
But if the reason why we're not gonna go soul-winding in a less receptive place is because we think
it's harder, you're wrong.
It's the complete opposite.
I mean, it might be harder physically, some more so than others, right?
I'm kind of getting a little worried about this globe trip now that I'm thinking about
it.
I walk up this step here and it's like, time to preach.
You know what, you can apply the fact, you know, this to whatever soul-winding time,
but don't be discouraged by being rejected.
Like Jesus said, to shake the dust off your feet.
Don't carry the dust of discouragement, you know, if I can alliterate a little bit, to
the next door.
Ooh, more, more.
The dust of discouragement to the next door.
Don't do it.
I'm on a roll, right?
You don't wanna bring that attitude of, oh, I got rejected at this door, probably gonna
get rejected at this door.
Because people can read that.
I mean, they just see it a mile away.
And here's the thing I always tell people.
And again, people get discouraged.
I've been there, you know, like, oh, this is unreceptive, no one's getting saved.
Especially when you first start out and, you know, maybe it's all you've seen.
You know, it's natural reaction to be discouraged, but you gotta kind of grow beyond it.
And what I've always tried to tell people on these trips and things where people kind
of, you know, vent their frustration a little bit is this, is that, you know, the command
is to go.
Did Jesus say, go win everybody to Christ?
Don't stop till everybody's saved?
I mean, that's ideal, right?
But it's not reality.
That's why the command is just to go.
So if we've gone, no matter what happens on the trip, if people receive us or not, here's
the thing.
We are already a success.
God looks down and says, well, they obeyed the command to go.
And we have obeyed regardless of the results.
And if you're struggling with this, you know, here's what I always recommend people do is
to focus on other positive aspects.
You know, the great thing about these trips is not just that we're going out and fulfilling
the great commission, but it's that we're going out into one of the most beautiful states
in the country.
I mean, you're going out into these valleys, you know, you're going out into the canyons,
you're going out into the pine tops sometimes, I mean, we're going to all these cool places.
I mean, just the drive out to globe is cool.
Who's ever gone up that route?
I can't think of the road right off the top of my head.
But you know, you go through Claypool, then you go up that big hill, go through that cool
tunnel.
The kids are getting excited, right, tunnels.
And then you go through, there's that huge gorge.
It's beautiful.
So, you know, maybe the place we're going to won't be the most, it's not going to be
just, you know, the stellar receptive soul-witting, but hey, the trip there can be fun.
We can take in some sights we may not otherwise get to see.
Think about all the fellowship.
You know, you get to talk to one another in the van, you get to know people, you're going
out door to door.
You get to, you know, you get to share stories with people.
You know, I've got one.
I've got a few, right.
Going out on these soul-witting trips maybe was the most receptive, but it was the most
fun I've ever had out soul-witting and, you know, risking life and limb even at times.
See me after the service about that one.
But you get to have fellowship with people.
You get to make stories.
You get to, you know, create memories with folks.
You know, that's a great thing.
Think about the recreation.
You know, we always try to work in a time of recreation.
We go see something or, you know, whatever.
There's all kinds of different things that we try to work in.
So, I'm just saying all this because of the fact that we need to understand that if we're
going to participate in this program, we're going to noise abroad the gospel in the hill
country that here it's going to be a mix.
Some places are going to be more receptive than others, and some places are going to
be difficult to get to physically.
And then other places are just going to be plain unreceptive.
And here's the thing.
When you think of a place that's unreceptive, it's really only unreceptive when you compare
it to other places, right.
We go on one of these missions trips somewhere that's super receptive where just hundreds
of people get saved, and then it's like, well, it's always going to be like that.
No.
The only reason we think that the other place is unreceptive is because we're comparing
it to some spiritual high we had on some super receptive soul winning trip.
I was thinking about a good way to kind of illustrate this is if we compare, like let's
compare the soul winning time Wednesday nights at five o'clock where we go to southeast Tempe,
you know, right off the 101 in that area.
Not receptive.
That would fall into the category of not receptive.
And we take usually probably around six teams, right, and we go out for one hour.
So if you want to call a team a man hour, I know it's two people, but let's just call
it, you know, it's one unit, right.
So if you've got six teams going out for about an hour, that means you have about six man
hours.
And in reality it's 12 because you have whatever.
But just call that unit a man, right.
One person.
Usually just one person talking.
And we usually average with six man hours on a Wednesday, one salvation a week.
Now we hit kind of a honey hole these last couple weeks where we got up to two, all right.
But usually it's just one salvation a week.
And I mean, some of the weeks, we're going out with more, eight teams.
People are following the van out there and it's one salvation a week.
There's probably been a few times where you didn't get any.
So you average about one, you probably figured that.
And that's with six hours.
Now, I'm kind of, let me cite this recent trip, this first one we just took yesterday
to Globe, where we had five teams that went out for four hours.
So again, figure about 20 man hours, right.
So about, and they had four salvations.
So that's kind of comparable when you break down the math, it's pretty similar to what
we're doing in Tempe.
And you got 20, you had fewer people, you had more salvations, but you went longer,
right.
So that works out to, it's about the same average as Tempe when you kind of break it
all out.
But here's the thing we accomplished in Globe in one day, it would take us a month of soul
winning in Tempe.
It would take us, you know, going out there Wednesday after Wednesday after Wednesday
after Wednesday to get those four salvations where we went out just one day and knocked
it all out, covered a bunch of math.
And in the process, we handed out like 500 DVDs, 500 New World Order Bible versions.
Now how many people in the room this morning got saved by watching, you know, a video online
from Pastor Anderson Framing the World?
Yeah, lots of people.
You don't think that can't happen up there?
They know somebody's not home, we leave something, we leave a DVD in their door, they come home
and watch it and get saved?
Sure.
We got the proof right here.
So I'm just trying to encourage people and remind them that we need to go to the unreceptive
places, the difficult out of the way places, and not get discouraged.
I mean, think about the fact that that's exactly what Jesus did.
He went to the unreceptive places.
When he went into the country of the Gadarenes, right, and he, you know, he healed the demoniac
and he cast the demons into the swine and they went, you know, cascading off the cliff.
They came out of the country and said, oh, we're so glad you're here.
No, it says that they besought him to depart from them.
And here's the thing, Jesus knew that was going to happen.
Like we go to these small towns, we don't know exactly how we're going to be received
initially, but Jesus went there anyway and knew he was going to get rejected, but he
still went out of his way, had to get in a ship, sail across, sail back afterwards, it
was out of the way, it was unreceptive, but he went there.
Think about the fact, even in his own town where he grew up, you know, he spent his whole
life, you know, in an unreceptive place.
And the Bible says he did not many works there, why?
Because of their unbelief.
So we need to be, understand that the, you know, noising abroad in the hill country is
going to be a mixture of receptive and unreceptive places and it's going to be difficult travel.
It's worth mentioning because of the fact that, you know, some people aren't going to
go, not because they don't want to go, but because they just can't go.
Because you know, maybe it's so hilly and steep, you know, as we get older, it's more
and more difficult to do those things, so I've been told, you know, I guess, I don't
know, right?
But some people aren't going to be able to get up there as easily.
And that, you know, and that's understandable, you know, that's totally understandable.
What about, you know, people who have a lot of small children, you know, and if people
with small children want to come, great, if you just understand, you know, it's steep
in some of these places.
But what does that mean?
That means the people that don't have a legitimate excuse, the people that aren't going just
because, you know, it's not to the right place.
I would go, but it's just not that receptive.
You know, that just makes you all the more important to make it up for the people that
can't go.
So if we're able to go, we should try to make a point of going, at least for the sake of,
you know, of others that would like to go and can't.
Now, are you still in Mark 2, in Mark chapter 2?
Bible says in Mark chapter 2 and verse 1, and again, he entered into Capernaum after
some days, and it was noise that he was in the house, and straightway many were gathered
together in so much that there was no room to receive them.
So does this sound like it's a real easy place to get to?
No, it's difficult.
You can't even get through the door.
No, not so much as about the door, and he would preach unto them.
So this is a difficult place to get to, right?
Getting to Jesus in this circumstance was hard.
It's less than ideal circumstances.
And it says in verse 3, and they bring unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy.
So this guy's sick of the palsy, meaning this guy has a need.
This guy, you know, we read the story, he's bedridden.
He can't get himself there.
And look, we might go into these hill countries and these small towns, these places that are
out of the way, and see people that are, you know, perfectly physically fit.
There's nothing wrong with them.
But you know, if we learn to look at them spiritually, what we would see is people who
have a spiritual disease.
You know, something I shared in Tucson was, you know, recently was, you know, trying to
see things, the things which are eternal.
And I made this application that, you know, if we did that soul winning, what would that
look like?
If you could look at a person when they come to the door and see them, not in the temporal,
you know, where they are right now, their physical appearance, but see them in the eyes
of eternity, like where they're going to end up.
What if you could see them that way?
That would probably motivate a lot of people to maybe be bolder, to be better at their
gospel presentation, to not worry so much about how they received at the last door.
I mean, we know the destination of how people are going to end up if they don't get saved.
They're going to go to a place of eternal fire and torment.
I mean, you ever seen those guys, like the stunt guys who light themselves on fire and
run around, just engulfed in flames?
I mean, the next time some unreceptive guy or just, receptive or not, just some unsafe
person comes to the door, maybe we should learn to look at them like that.
Just imagine them engulfed in flames.
It's not a pleasant picture, but that's the spiritual reality of their situation.
That's the palsy that they have.
That's their spiritual sickness.
You know, they're going to burn forever.
And if we don't go and reach them, you know, that's what's going to happen.
So this guy has a need, and it says that he was once sick of the palsy and he was born
of the four.
Meaning this, that he needs others to help him to get to Jesus.
You know, we need to go and bring the gospel to these people.
He's not going to get cured.
He's not going to get over disease until somebody gets him to Jesus.
You know, we're not going to put that spiritual fire out on those people unless we get them
to the Lord and get them saved.
He needs to get there.
And you know what?
We know how the story goes, verse four.
And they could not come nigh unto him for the press.
They get there.
They got their buddy, you know, on the bed.
There's four of them.
They're moving this guy over there.
They get there, and there's this huge press.
It's hard to get there.
So they turned around and said, sorry, you know, we had good intentions.
We wanted to, but it was just too difficult.
You know, you've had the palsy for a while.
You know, you're used to it.
It's not that big a deal.
Sorry to get your hopes up.
Maybe another time.
It's just too difficult to do it.
And here's the thing.
You know, we could, I was, I was writing, I was thinking about the fact that, you know,
no matter how difficult any of these trips, any soul winning you do, no matter how difficult
it is, at least I'm not going to.
I guess I can't speak for everybody, but I'm not going to ask you to carry an invalid on
your back up on top of a roof.
Right?
And that's what these guys were willing to do.
And, you know, they're willing to climb up a roof and pull this dead weight up a roof
and tear the roof apart and then lower him down.
That's, I mean, that's physically demanding.
Just the physical aspect of doing it is very difficult.
So we say, oh, you know, brother Cormier drags us out here.
There's this driveway.
It's 30 feet long and it's uphill.
Well, how about I jump on your back?
And when we get there, we'll set up a ladder and you can climb up the ladder with me on
your back, you know, and, and we'll see, we'll see how bad that driveway is after that.
It says they, and we know the story.
They uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up, they let down the bread,
the bled, the bed where in the sick of the palsy lay.
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to them, the sick of the palsy son, thy sins
be forgiven thee.
I mean that those four guys, they, that was worth it.
They got that done.
They said, worth it.
All that hard work, all that effort, all that difficulty trying to, you know, climbing,
all of that was worth it because their friend got healed that day.
And look, we go out to a place like globe, like we did yesterday.
And you know, we say, well, only four people got saved.
Look what they did for one guy, just one guy, you know, and how difficult is it to get in
a van, you know, get fed all the Panera, right.
Get taken out there.
How was nerd burger?
I'm getting mixed reactions on that.
You know, I'm getting thumbs up.
All right.
I could trust some of you, but it looked good to me.
You know, you got the good meal there, you know, he got some fellowship, you got to go
out there and, and Hey, four people got saved.
Praise God.
That was four, four people that were on their way to hell.
And you know what?
You didn't have to carry anyone on your back.
You didn't have to drag someone up a roof and just imagine if his friends hadn't tried
because they said, well, it's just too hard.
And again, you know, if we can't make it to these trips, cause we got work, we got other
duties, you know, it, we have, we're physically, it's just too much.
I understand, you know, we've got other duties, so on and so forth.
I get that.
But if the only reason we're not going to go is just cause, yeah, you know, I just don't
feel like it's just not, you know, it's just seems too hard.
Well, what if these guys friends had said that, you know, what if this guy had the palsy,
what if, what if his friends said that, sorry, it's just too hard.
So I guess the point I'm trying to make this morning is this, is that, you know, getting
people to Jesus isn't always easy.
It's not always going to be easy to get people to Jesus.
You know, in one way, shape or form, it's not going to be easy.
Even if it's, you know, flat streets of Tempe, you know, nice level driveways, broad walkways,
no obstacles.
It's this time of year, perfect weather out.
Just go out.
It's not too hot.
It's cold.
And we go out, it's still going to be unreceptive, you know.
It's not always going to yield high numbers, but, you know, it's not always going to be
easy.
It's not always going to yield high numbers, but I'll tell you one thing, it will always
be to go out into the highways and byways, into the hedges, to go out and noise the gospel
abroad in the hill country, no matter how difficult, I'll tell you one thing, it will
always be.
It's worth it every time.
Let's go ahead and pray.