Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. A man named John Wesley attended Charterhouse and Oxford University, lived in England, and he was a professor of logic and Greek. His father was a pastor, so he also helped in the church, and he was ordained by the church. He was very zealous while he was in college at Oxford University. He was a member of the Holy Club, as they were called. That was the nickname given them by other students. It was a group of students who were very serious about their faith. And John Wesley accepted an invitation from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to move from England to go to America, to the state of Georgia, to work with Native Americans and teach them the gospel. Interestingly though, from a human perspective, that mission failed. It did not work. And Wesley was discouraged And Wesley went back home to England and he said, I came here to convert the Indians. Who's going to convert me? And his travels in America, he had met some Moravians and he was really impressed by them. So when he got back to England, He looked up a Moravian leader to talk to him about it, and he began talking to him about faith. And it was really, really interesting what he discovered there. He said he was clearly convinced of his own unbelief, of the lack of the faith by which we are saved. And on May 24th, 1738, John Wesley wrote these words in his journal. In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the epistle of the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation. And an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. Now this strange warming of the heart that Wesley talked about was the Holy Spirit of God drawing him to faith in Jesus Christ and that was the point apparently at which he was saved. Isn't it interesting that here was a man who knew a lot of theology, a lot about the Bible. He was serious about it. He was passionate enough. He was committed and zealous enough to move from his home to go across the ocean to help try to see other people converted. And he wasn't even completely converted to Christ yet himself. That's. interesting and challenging. And it certainly causes all of us to say, let me examine myself. Am I, am I just knowing about these things or is Christ really real to me? It also encourages us and challenges us that there are people who are very interested in Christ. who aren't yet truly Christians. And our task as Christians is to help them develop. And then we're going to meet a couple of these cases today in our passage as we keep going through Acts. We come to Acts chapter 18, verse 23. We're going to meet some people that resembled John Wesley in many ways. Beginning in verse 23, after spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. And while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked, then what baptism did you receive? John's baptism, they replied. John said, or Paul said, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about 12 men in all. This is the Word of God. Let me set the stage here, let me set the context for you of Acts chapter 18. Having completed two effective but very challenging missionary journeys. In Acts 18.23, Paul left Antioch to spend several years in what we know as the third missionary journey. So the Apostle Paul, as you read the record through the book of Acts, there were three different missionary journeys. This is the last one. Now, it's interesting to call it a journey. It's known as but it would really took several years So it was it was not like a six-week tour or a month-long trip or something like that Let me let me put this up here this map and remind you of what these journeys look like from a big scale The red circled city is Antioch. That was the home base and And the first missionary journey basically covered the green area. There were a few, you know, there was getting there and back and so forth. But that was the first missionary journey. The second missionary journey, again, they started in Antioch. They went back through some of those original cities. But that's when they went over into Europe. And the man of Macedonia said, hey, come help us. They saw this vision. They wanted to go into Asia. but God wouldn't let them at that time. And so they went over into Europe and there they went to cities like Philippi and Thessalonica and Athens and Corinth. A lot of letters in our New Testament come from that part. Now Paul is back in Antioch. When we come to Acts 18, 23, and he engages in this third journey, and really it kind of encompasses all of that. They went back through the same territories once again. That gives you an idea of what happened. And as we look at this passage, I want to structure it this way. What do we learn about disciple-making? What do we learn about making disciples for Jesus? Now let me give you a very simple definition. What is disciple-making? When I use that term, making a disciple or disciple-making is helping someone else follow Jesus. It's a pretty simple definition. helping someone else follow Jesus more fully in their life. That's what disciple making is. And in this passage, There it's kind of three little movements and there are three different things that we're going to learn about disciple making. We're going to learn from Paul's travels. We're going to learn from Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila, and we're going to learn from the so-called disciples of John. Let's start with the first one. What do we learn from Paul's travels there? We learn intentionality and sacrifice. And all of this is found in verse 23. Let's read that verse again. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. That's an interesting word there, the word strengthening. It only appears four times in the New Testament, and all four of those times it is here in Acts. This is one of them. And there are two other times that show how, how Paul and his team would go back and build into the lives of, of brand new Christians. So for instance, in acts 14, they're in Derby and it speaks of Paul and Barnabas. And it says they, they preach the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. In Acts 15, after Paul and Barnabas split and Silas joined Paul, it says in verse 41, he, Paul, went through Caesarea, or through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. So you take the word strengthening, you take also in that passage from place to place, and you take the word disciples and here's what you get. You mix all that up together and here's what you get. Paul was not just interested in evangelism. Paul certainly wanted people to be saved. He wanted people to come to Christ. He wanted people to experience life in Jesus Christ. And after they did that, what did he want to do? He wanted to strengthen them. And so he went from place to place to place. All that we saw on that map, Paul went back from place to place. We need to find out how they're doing. We need to help them. And so, So I put that map up again, that's kind of the area of Galatia and Phrygia, that's where they started and they started going back into that area. And there's a letter in the New Testament called Galatians. One of the verses in Galatians helps you see how strong and powerful The passion and desire of Paul was for believers to be strengthened. It is Galatians 4.19. He's writing to these Galatians who are endangered by some false teaching. And he says to them, my dear children for whom I am in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. That's what discipleship is. Christ being formed in someone. And Paul is so passionate about it and so desirous for it. It's like he compares it to the pain of childbirth. Now, I don't know how he knows those pains, but I'm sure he heard that was tough. There was another church, not in that green shaded region, but later In this third journey, he is going to get over into Europe, and one of those cities is the city of Thessalonica. He writes to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20, what is our hope or joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. You know, this idea of getting crowns and rewards. I believe when John and Bonnie stand before the Lord in heaven, the great joy is maybe they're going to see somebody from Papua New Guinea who never had the Bible in their translator, in their language. And then the Bible got translated their language and they read. Bible verse that spoke to their heart and they got saved and that will be their joy, right? This will be any of our joys. It will be people whom God saves This is what Paul is doing. He's passionate about it He's intentional about it. And eventually he starts there. Eventually. He's going to get to Ephesus now if you go from Antioch to Ephesus It's 800 miles approximately If you're walking as Paul did, he didn't take a ship this time. He could have taken a ship and, you know, slept in the bottom of the boat or something. But he decided to go back through that rough territory. He decided to go back through some of those cities where he had been beaten and stoned to death, potentially. Why? Because Paul was intentional. I don't know how long it takes to walk 800 miles, I think. nine or ten weeks if you're walking six days a week at least. It's a long journey. It's a dangerous journey. But why was Paul doing it? Because he wanted them to be strengthened. He said, I'm going to be intentional about making disciples. That's the first thing we learned today. So from Paul's travels, we learn if we're going to make disciples, It's going to take some sacrifice and it's going to take intentionality. Secondly, in the experience of Apollos, we learn about personal interaction with leaders, personal interactions with leaders. Let me read those verses again. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. that we knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Now, scholars are divided over whether Apollos was a true believer in Jesus before he ran into Priscilla and Aquila. There are pros and cons. The pros are that verse 25 says he accurately taught the way of the Lord, and then it says he had fervor. It literally reads, fervent in the spirit. It seems to be a reference to the Holy Spirit. So it seems to me that Luke is Portraying Apollos as a true believer in Jesus Christ. He knew about Jesus. He taught accurately about Jesus. He just didn't understand About Christian baptism. He knew about the baptism of John John the Baptist came before Jesus he was baptizing people in an act of repentance and it was looking forward to the Messiah and Well, somehow Apollos knew about Jesus and taught accurately about him He just didn't understand that once a person is saved and puts their faith in Jesus Then they're baptized in the name of Jesus. And so he didn't he didn't understand that baptism yet So here's Apollos going around preaching and teaching in powerful ways and Priscilla and Aquila notice it and they're mature Christians and And notice what they do. I think he really was already a Christian who needed some fuller understanding, and they probably taught him about Christian baptism. Matthew chapter 28, 19, they pointed back to that in Christian baptism, the triune God places his name on people. Baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and then in Romans 6 3 & 4 and and Galatians 3 27 Baptism illustrates believers union with Christ Those are the kind of things it seems that Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos but notice what they did and How they did it Look at what they did in verse 28. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue when Priscilla and Aquila heard him. They invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. Now think with me for a minute. Here they see this man preaching and he's powerful and he's accurate, but he's not got everything together doctrinally. He's right on Christ, which is the most important thing, but he doesn't fully understand about baptism yet. And what do they do? They invite him into their home. and they explain the way of God more adequately. Take about 30 to 60 seconds and turn to somebody beside you and think together, what would have been some wrong ways that Aquila and Priscilla could have reacted? Here they are, they're mature believers, they see Apollos, and what would have been some of the wrong things, wrong approaches they could have taken? Take a minute to talk to somebody beside you about that. Okay. Yeah. We're going to get some of the responses here. John, John said they could have just flamed him on social media and that they could have, and that, that wouldn't have been the best way to help him. Right. What, what have been some other wrong approaches? Raise your hand and, and, and speak up. So, uh, I'll, I'll, the people on live stream won't be able to hear it, but I'll repeat it. Okay. Over here. Yeah. That's right. They could have ignored it. Right. It's like, okay, he's doing that. You know, we don't, you know, we don't want to get in his way or anything. And they could just ignore it. And that wouldn't have been the right approach for sure. What else could they have done? Maybe. Yeah, that's right. We don't agree that the answer was separated from him. It's like, Hey, look, if he, if he doesn't believe everything a hundred percent, the way we believe it, then he's just going to have to go over there and do it. We're going to be totally separate from him. That would have not been the best thing here. Yes. That could have been a public attack. Yeah, they could have gone out in the streets. Their social media might not have been working at that particular moment, but they could have attacked him publicly, and that would not have been. It could have been any other ways. They could have criticized him. They could have become bitter against him. They could have done all of these things, but look what they did. They didn't do that. They said, here's a brother with potential. Here's a brother that's being used by God. He just needs to develop a little bit, so let's invite him into our home, give him a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pot. Well, I extrapolated on that part. But they brought him in. Figuratively or literally, they put their arm around him and said, hey, let's explain to you the way of God. I love that. That's what discipleship is. It's, it's relational and it's helping others. It's not criticizing or attacking them, but it's, it's doing it in love and humility. And they, they do it here. And after this happened, Apollo's effectiveness went through the roof. Look at verse 27. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, which that's the region that many cities are that you know about from the New Testament, one of which is Corinth, we'll come to in a minute. When he wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. Do you see what's happening here? Here is Priscilla and Aquila, and they didn't lead Apollos to Christ, I don't think. I think he was already a Christian, but they saw this lack and they came along beside him and they helped disciple him up, right? And then what did Apollos do? Apollos goes over to Corinth and he is a great help to the people there. And verse 28 helps us understand why, for he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. So Apollos had a ministry to believers and to unbelievers. And this is what happened. I don't know if they knew the exact words. Well, they wouldn't have used it. Live, grow, go. But here The grow, which is our strategy, first help people live, come to faith in Christ, then help them grow, that's what Priscilla and Aquila did for Apollos. And then he went, there's the go, he went and made other disciples. I mentioned Corinth. Apollos is mentioned many times in Corinthians, including Paul, when he wrote to help the Corinthians know who was ultimately responsible for the fruit of the ministry. He wrote in first Corinthians three, six, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. Well, Let me, let me throw in a couple of freebies here. There's no extra charge for this little piece right here. Okay. These aren't the primary point of the text, but they, they are free. I don't know for sure. In fact, nobody knows who wrote the new Testament epistle to the Hebrews, but for years I've had a sneaky sufficient suspicion that it may have been Apollos. If you look at what is written about him here, Acts how he was strong in the Old Testament scriptures and how he had the ability to Point to Jesus and teach the way of Jesus accurately to Jews. I think it's very if you read the book of Hebrews That's what Hebrews is all about It's possible. It's not not a hill that I'm gonna die on and I can't say that I know it for sure But I that's a reasonable guess. I think second free one is this Priscilla and Aquila were a married couple right? and they're engaging in discipleship with someone. And we don't see a lot of that in the American church. We tend to see men with men and women with women, and that's biblical, and we certainly see that a lot in the Bible, and that's pretty much what we do at Harvest mostly, men discipling men and women discipling women. But it's just interesting to note. And so if you are married and you are a husband and wife team, God might want to use you in the area of discipleship. Just something to think about, something to pray about. Well, let's go to the third one. We've seen two things we can learn. These cases, we're looking at three different cases. First, Paul's travels teach us about intentionality. and sacrifice, and then Apollos' interaction with Priscilla and Aquila teach us about just having personal interactions with leaders. Now, the disciples of John teach us that an important part of disciple-making is just teaching basic doctrine. 19-1, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, population about 200,000. It had a theater that would seat 24,000. It had this temple, the dominant cult there was the worship of Artemis Ephesia. It was connected with female and male initiation, which turned girls into women and with childbirth. And this marble temple, this huge temple of Artemis was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens. It was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus was an amazing city. And Paul spent between two and three years there. And out of that ministry, of course, comes a favorite letter of the New Testament, the book to the Ephesians. So Paul arrives there in Ephesus and verse one continues, then he found some disciples and he asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? These are new. Paul has dealt with Jewish people in other places. Gentiles have come to faith. Samaritans have come to faith. Now here's some Jews in a region far away from Jerusalem, far away from Judea, and he's asked them this question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked, then, what baptism did you receive? John's baptism, they replied. So their answer revealed that they didn't know about the Holy Spirit, and therefore they have misunderstood John's message, right? They didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit. So apparently, they don't even know about Jesus. Now this is different than Apollos. Apollos still needed some completion in his theology, But again, I think he was already a Christian and he was already preaching. They were followers at one level and interested at one level, but I don't think they were saved yet. I don't think they understood about the Holy Spirit. I don't think they understood fully about Jesus. And Paul is going to start explaining to them that what the place of baptism is. Now, in our culture, we often separate baptism from conversion. A lot of it's practical. You know, somebody gets saved, we wait till a few people are believers and then we might baptize several or whatever. And that day, in the day of the New Testament, someone put their faith in Jesus and typically they were baptized right away. And it was all part of one initiation process. They were saved by faith and faith only, but they gave evidence of that by being baptized in the name of Jesus. and the Holy Spirit came on them. All of that kind of happened together. Again, we separate those sometimes in our culture, but maybe this helps us understand Paul's line of questioning. So, verse four, Paul's gonna tell them, here's what's what. Paul said, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. So they had received John's baptism, but that was supposed to be pointing people to Jesus. And when Paul explained that to them, verse five, on hearing this, what happens? They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. This is neat. This is their conversion. It's not just their baptism that happened a long time after the other baptism. Paul would not have baptized someone who didn't have faith in Jesus. I mean that because baptism was the public expression of faith. And so that is what's happening here. And then the Holy Spirit comes on them. They speak in tongues and they prophesy. And there were about 12 men in all. So what is a true Christian? It's not someone with just head knowledge, not someone who just knows doctrine, but someone who has personal faith in Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit is evident in their lives. Now in this passage, it's prophetic manifestations, but other places in the Bible, it talks about Christ-like behavior. So there's a similarity between these 12 and Apollos in that neither one of them were fully complete yet. And they needed people to come along and help them reach spiritual maturity. So some people might read this and they go, well, does this mean that when somebody is filled with the Holy Spirit, They're gonna speak in tongues and there are groups, unfortunately, who've made that interpretation. They've read something that's like this and they say, oh, well see, yeah, there it is. This is what happened to these people and therefore it must happen to everybody. Remember in the book of Acts, we always need to be careful about what is described and what is prescribed. There are many things that we're told about, they're described for us. They happened a certain way. How do we know if those things that happened in those times are supposed to happen in all times? Here's how we know. We look at the rest of Scripture. And if in the rest of Scripture there is a command, a clear principle, a clear teaching that such and such should happen, Then it happens. So let me give you an example It way back in near the beginning of this series in Acts chapter 1, you know, there were 12 Original followers right of Jesus 12 original disciples and one of them betrayed Jesus Judas and they needed to replace him and what did they do in Acts chapter 1 they prayed but they cast lots and That was a Jewish custom and a way they were coming out of their Jewish faith from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And, you know, we just hired Corey Mode as our associate and student pastor, and we got an interview team together, and we did the same thing. We just took the top four or five, and we just cast a lot, and that's the way it came out. And Corey's name just came out on the lot. And, you know, he wasn't very good, but he came out. And we are kidding. In other words, something that's described, like you could take it and you could say, ah, see, that's what happened. They're replacing a leader, they're choosing a new leader, and that's how, no, it's described. It's not necessarily, there's nowhere else in the New Testament says that when you're looking for a new leader, go cast lots. And you know what else? The Bible is really clear about the Holy Spirit and the fact that When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of them. And now, there's not a two-stage, now that we are past the cross, now that we are here. So, there are four instances in acts in which the Holy Spirit comes upon people and they speak in tongues, most often languages. The tongues in Corinth and Acts are different, it seems. And here are the four. It happened four times to four different groups of people. And they were groups of people that were receiving Christ as their Savior for the first time. So Acts chapter 2, it was Jewish believers in Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 8, it was not Jews, but Samaritans through Philip. In Acts chapter 10, it was the Gentiles through Peter's ministry. And now you've got more Jews, but they're dispersed. They're living not in Judea. They're living over in Asia. You see what's happening? It's just like these are described and these are giving evidence that yes, all of these groups have come to faith in Jesus Christ and that's evidence and proof. But that is not a command that it happens that way every time. So for instance, in 1 Corinthians 12, this same Paul will write, just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we, we believers, were all baptized by one spirit, so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free. And we were all given the one spirit to drink. So here's the truth. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you. And there are many other passages like Romans eight, where Paul says, if anyone doesn't have the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So you don't need to pray and say, God, I want the Holy Spirit to come in me. The Holy Spirit is in you. Here's what you need to do. And I need to do. We need to yield to that Holy Spirit. We need to allow him to control our lives. That's what Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesians five. Do not be drunk on wine wherein is debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Allow the Spirit that lives in you already to control you. Here's the main point. I wanted to cover that doctrine because just to make sure that as we read that we understand how it fits. But the point as far as the message is, here's Paul coming to these disciples who don't have a full understanding yet. They don't understand baptism. They don't understand Jesus. And what does Paul do? His discipleship is driven by the word. He teaches them the truths of the Bible. He teaches them sound doctrine. And that's a big part of discipleship. It's just teaching people the Bible. It's teaching them to study the Bible and understand the Bible and to learn and build their thinking on scripture. So here we go. Three groups. You've got Paul's travels, we learn about intentionality and sacrifice. You have a policy and we learn about a personal interaction with leaders. And now you've got these disciples of John. teaching basic doctrine. What is God's word for us this morning? God's building his church, right? We see him in Acts building his church. And when God builds his church, mature leaders, disciple, new believers and growing Christians. When God builds his church, mature leaders, disciple, new believers growing Christians I mentioned the live grow go our vision is to make disciples who make disciples How do we do it live grow go we help people come to life in Christ? Then we help them grow then we send them out. Well, we see in this passage we see Paul and Priscilla and Aquila helping people grow and And then we also see the third one. We also see them going and making disciples themselves. So what do we need to do? Let's apply this. Let me wrap it up. I just want to give you three words to take home with you for if you're not yet a follower of Jesus Christ. I hope that today you've heard about Jesus and you'll say, yes, I want to be one of those followers. And you can do that, and I invite you to open your heart to Him. But if you are already a follower, these three words can help you as you help others follow Jesus. The first one is relational. Discipleship is relational. Discipleship is not a program. It's not a list. It's not like you go through a certain material. Now, there's material that helps, but Just the fact that somebody goes through material and studies it and can answer and talk about it doesn't mean that they're following Jesus. Discipleship is relational at its core. At our last monthly staff meeting, I asked the staff, we were just trying to think about how we can be more effective in making disciples. And I just asked them, I said, how about everybody just individually telling us Who's helped you grow the most in Christ? In your own personal spiritual journey, how did you get discipled? Who helped you? And it was really interesting. Not one of them mentioned a set discipleship material, but they all mentioned a person. They all mentioned somebody who didn't necessarily even formally say, now I want to sit down and disciple you. but just somebody that invested in them and spent time with them and loved on them and helped them spiritually. Discipleship is relational. Secondly, discipleship is intentional. Disciple-making is intentional. It doesn't happen accidentally. Paul was very intentional. He's like, I'm gonna make this long, dangerous trip. I'm going to invest in these new believers. So who does God want you to invest with? And that's my challenge for you. It might be one of your children or all of your children. It might be a neighbor. It might be somebody in your community group, somebody in your neighborhood, somebody you work with. But I encourage you just to ask God today, Lord, who can I be intentional with in the area of helping them grow? And then thirdly, third word is biblical. Discipleship is, and disciple making is biblical. It's, it's helping people understand the scripture. Helping people understand the scripture. And again, John and Bonnie, thank you for giving your life to help people be able first to even read the scripture in their language. And all of us can be involved in helping people understand the scripture. 1960, there was a little band that formed in Liverpool, England, just a little small group of guys getting together, starting to play music. You might've heard, I mean, it's been so long ago, you probably hadn't heard of them. The Beatles, you ever hear them? generally regarded maybe as the most influential band of all time. I saw a couple of interesting notes this week. When Paul McCartney was a boy, he auditioned for a place in the Liverpool Cathedral Choir, but it was turned down because the choir master didn't think he had much of a voice. John Lennon was raised by his aunt Mimi. And he spent most of his spare time in his bedroom playing his guitar. And Mimi looked at him one day and said, John, it's all very well playing your guitar, but you'll never make a living out of it. When Lennon made his first million, he gave her a silver plaque with those words inscribed on it. Two people that changed our culture. Nobody saw their potential. I want to challenge those of us who are believers in Jesus to look out for potential. Who's out there? Who's nearby? Who's sitting across the room from me? Who's sitting in the coffee shop with me? Because when God's Word is coupled with intentionality and relationship, great things happen. When God builds his church, mature leaders, disciple new believers. And going growing Christians harvest. Let's do it. Let's do it. You can do it. This isn't something for pastors and missionaries. This is something for all believers. And I would say, if you're wanting to learn and grow in this area and you don't really know what the next step is, please come to a pastor, come to a staff member or an elder or community group leader and say, Will you help me? Will you guide me? Will you point me in the right direction? Because I want to be involved in that. Let's bow our heads together for prayer, please. Thanks again for joining us today from Harvest Community Church. This podcast is also available on our website HarvestCharlotte.com. Please go there if you want to send a question or comment, learn more about our ministries, or find out how you can donate to support the podcast.