He says, "You are our glory and joy.
You're our crown of rejoicing."
Why?
Because when we get to heaven, when we see the Lord Jesus Christ one day, there's going
to be great rejoicing with the people that God used us to reach with the gospel.
Think about that.
That's an important thought.
I mean, imagine getting to heaven and being in the presence of Jesus Christ and then being
surrounded by people who would say, "You know what?
I'm here because you preach the gospel.
Thank you."
I mean, Jesus gets all the praise and all the glory, but you know what?
It's going to be great to rejoice with the people who got us saved, right, and the people
that we got saved.
I mean, it's rejoicing.
And then the Bible also talks about, in John chapter 4, the fact that one person obviously
sows and another person waters, God gives the increase.
That's dealt with in other scriptures.
But in John 4, he says, "Other men have labored.
Other people have gone and planted seeds.
You've entered into their labors."
And the Bible teaches that one day, he that sowed the seed and he that watered the seed
are going to rejoice together.
So one day, when we get to heaven, there are going to be people that we gave the gospel
to that didn't get saved, but we planted that seed.
And that seed germinated within them.
And then later, somebody else came and watered that seed.
And then that person got saved eventually.
Obviously, God gave the increase.
But let's say, for example, you know, I gave somebody the gospel and then later Brother
Dominique went by and gave that same person the gospel.
We're going to get to heaven and be like, bam, we did it, you know, because it was a
team effort.
We both accomplished something as a team.
And then think about how exciting it's going to be just to see the people in heaven that
were one to Christ through our efforts.
I mean, that's going to be great.
That's going to be huge.
But you know what?
There's going to be some people that get there and it's like, because they did no soul winning.
OK, did I say there's going to be some people like that?
OK, the vast majority of Christians could not say what Paul's saying right here.
I mean the vast majority of Christians have never won anybody to Christ.
So they're not even planting the seed, they're not even watering the seed.
So they would get there and miss out on that great joy.
Miss out on that crown of rejoicing.
Miss out on that great reunion where you get together with all your co-laborers in the
gospel, all the people that you worked with in soul winning and see the successes.
Because you know, it's sad when you give the gospel to somebody and they don't get saved.
It's sad, right?
But it's going to be great to get to heaven and find out that some of those people got
saved later.
People that you thought didn't get saved and then it turns out that later they did get
saved.
You're like, "Yes, thank you Lord."
It's going to be so exciting for those who are part of the team.