Tom, Sister Judy, appreciate that. Take your Bibles if you would. Turn to the book of Acts, please. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. I want to begin reading in verse number 10. Acts 9, verse number 10. This basically carries on right after the apostle Paul, at this time known as Saul, had trusted Jesus as his Savior. The Bible says in Acts 9.10, And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. The Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth. In the scene of the vision, a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house. And putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. And then was Saul certain days with the disciples, which were at Damascus. Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which call on this name in Jerusalem? And came hither for that intent that he might bring them to bound under the chief priest. But Saul increased them more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him, but their laying weight was known of Saul. They watched the gates day and night to kill him. The disciples took him by night, led him down by the wall in a basket. When Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him. brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Father, we come before you today. And we pray for your richest blessing upon our time now. May it be that you'd open the scriptures to us, that we would understand, and that we would grab hold of the need for discipleship in the lives of young believers and those that are growing in the things of God. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. We are going through, we began last week with introducing the need for discipleship and there is a curriculum that I have developed and I'm implementing here at Calvary Baptist Church for our new believers. It's imperative that we are always aggressively pursuing people with the gospel, and once they get saved, to lead them to baptism and then to grow in the things of God, how important that is. Not just the pastor should be involved in overseeing this, but all of us should be aggressively pursuing these efforts. And last week what we did is we talked about the philosophy of discipleship. Why is it that we should get involved in discipleship? What premium does the Bible place on discipleship? And so we looked at that. Tonight what we want to talk about is the persons involved in discipleship. And I shared this text with you because in this text, I see two different groups of people. One person being the same who is discipled. Now, we rarely think of Paul the Apostle, who at this time was known as Saul, as a man who is discipled, but there were two men that took him under their wings and they actually helped disciple this man. The first was Ananias. I love the story. I love reading this because Ananias is told by the Lord to go to Saul. Saul is told by the Lord that Ananias is coming. But when the message comes to Ananias about going to Saul, what does Ananias first say? Lord, I've heard about this man. He's killed people. In fact, you know, am I being set up here? Is my life going to be taken? Is there going to be a problem? But Ananias followed the Lord, and he actually went down to the house of Saul, and Ananias was used in a very special way to help disciple this young Christian. But later on in the story, there's another man that we have seen in a couple of other discipleship manners, and it is the man Barnabas. Barnabas' name is a great name because it literally means son of encouragement. Wouldn't you love to have some Barnabas's in this church? There are some Barnabas's, but maybe you can be a Barnabas. You can encourage other. And Barnabas was used in a great way at a time when Saul still was not being accepted by the church. In fact, the core leaders, the various cliques in the Jerusalem church were still a little dubious about this man. Oh, they sure, they heard about him preaching and they knew that he'd been saved and some things had taken place, but they still weren't ready to accept him in their group. I love Barnabas. Barnabas blows through all of that. Barnabas says, I don't care what the apostles think, I don't care what anybody says, I'm taking this man Saul, and he brings him to the apostles and says, you gotta accept this man, this man is gonna be used by the Lord. That's what is needed in a local church. You know, many times we get caught up in our little cliques, don't we? I hate cliques. Can I say that again? I hate clicks. When you come in to Sunday school, you want not to be sitting in and just spending the time with that person that you spent 10 years talking to the same things every week. How about coming into church and saying, who's new that I can encourage? Who is new, a new face that I can challenge to be part of Calvary Baptist Church? Break out of the cliques. Or if you got a little clique, how about bringing people in your clique and making them a part of it. But that's what Barnabas did. Barnabas got Saul, brought him in, introduced him to the people at the church. And tonight as we talk about discipleship, I wanna talk about two people, there's really Outside of what God does in the matter of discipleship, there are two critical people that we're gonna talk about tonight. We're gonna talk first of all about the disciple, the one being challenged, the one being given the material and being taught the things of God, and then we're gonna talk about the mentor. Now, as a church, It is my desire to help lead this church and I hope you've caught in the heartbeat that is we desire to be an evangelistic church. We desire to get the gospel out there. We want to knock on doors. We want to follow up people that have moved into the area. We want to follow up on people that have visited the church. We want every avenue to get the glorious gospel to a lost and dying world. And so the only way that we're gonna have any type of discipleship program is if we're out there beating the doors down, if I can use that term, and sharing the gospel, and seeing people get saved, and giving the gospel in our services, and seeing people walk forward and get saved, and then we can begin discipling. You know what, too many churches have lost their way. Too many churches are just there as a social club. They're just there for the next activity. They're there because it's just a custom. We come in, we plop on the pew, we listen to the preacher, and then we go home and watch reruns on TV. And that's all we do. And it's just from one activity to the next. But I want to tell you something. A great church, a powerful church, a church that God is using is aggressive in reaching people with the gospel. They're looking for souls. And all of those souls that they're looking for who then get saved are worthy candidates to be discipled with the word of God. And I say to you tonight that you have a part in reaching out with the gospel. You have a part in sharing the good news, but you also have a part in being able to disciple folks. And so I wanna encourage you about this one who is known, first of all, as the disciple. What would we say about the disciple? A few things that I would expect to see when someone comes into church who needs to be saved. Now, I'm thrilled over the last number of weeks as we've seen people get saved. We've had a dear man, 82 years old, who prayed to receive Christ in one of our services about two months ago. he got baptized his name is Ed and he and his wife have been up north for a month they should be back at the end of the month but he's already started our discipleship material and he's got somebody who's working with him and he's growing in the things of God that's what we're looking for but when I look for people who need to be discipled what are some things that I'm going to expect to see in a disciple? Well, first of all, there's a necessity for leadership. That is, they need someone to lead them to the next level. You know, I recall when I was at Bible College, there was a guest pastor that made a statement concerning the assimilation process of guests into a church. Now, I was very new with church leadership and how churches went, and I was very inexperienced when it came to ministry, but when this gentleman made this statement in our preacher's class, it rung true with me, and here's the statement. He said, I wish all new people came with glue on them. You know what I mean by that? That is, when someone comes in, you wish that they would come in and stick, but they don't. As a church, we're creatively trying to figure out how can we get first-time guests assimilated in the ministry? How can we get them connected with people in the church? How can we get them to connect with Calvary class? How can we get them to join? We're looking for all different ways And it's the same way with new believers. How is it that new believers can go from the moment that they got saved to being baptized and discipled? You know what? It takes leaders. I'm looking at a group of leaders. It takes people to challenge them. It takes folks to go ahead and sit down with them and teach them to the word of God. But then there's a need for proper training. You know, Discipleship, taking someone who has received Jesus Christ as Savior, it is so necessary to actually sit down with them and go through the basics of the Christian life. It is only a given that a new believer is going to wrestle with assurance and salvation. In fact, I've known people that have been saved for many years who sometimes still wrestle with assurance of salvation, but let alone a new believer. A new believer that comes in has a lot of hangups with things. You know, maybe they've been part of a church group that taught certain things about baptism. Maybe reading the Bible, they've just never been accustomed to reading the Bible. They've never prayed before. You know what the beauty of taking a disciple is? They need you and I as a leader to help guide them in these areas. That's what a disciple, he's got a necessary need for leadership, a need of proper training. But then when I think of a disciple, I think of newborn problems. You know, one of the characteristics of a new believer is simply that. He's a new believer and young in the things of God. Let me give you a biblical phrase that you'll understand. The apostle Paul in the first Corinthians chapter three used this phrase in talking about the believers at Corinth. He said that their behavior proved that they were babes in Christ. What did Paul mean? Did he mean that when he came to church he saw all these adults in diapers and with a pacifier in their mouth? No, he wasn't talking literally. He was using figurative language in the sense that they were just like babies, spiritually speaking. Now from time to time in dealing with babies in Christ, it's easy to get frustrated. I'm not talking about people that haven't grown in certain things and should know certain things, but I'm talking about real babies. I believe that God has given a patience to a certain degree to accept a lot of the little hangups and little things that new believers go through. You know, I don't expect them to know all the Christian terminology. I don't expect them to go ahead and all of a sudden just jump right into everything. I expect them to just not know anything. And it is a beautiful thing to take that one who has all of these newborn problems. Do you know what I mean by newborn problems? I mean, I think about a mother with a baby. A mother who has a little infant doesn't expect that baby to do grown-up things. I mean, I've heard interesting things from mothers. I hear them as they change their diapers that is full of stuff. And I hear this mother as she's changing the diaper and she goes, oh, look at those little stinkies in there. And I think to myself, what in the world is going on? Why are we tolerating something like this? But what is a mother doing? They expect that that little baby is gonna go ahead and do that. And you and I, as believers who've been saved for a while, should we not expect that as babies come in, that there's gonna be little things that are gonna go on? They're not gonna understand all the things you and I understand. They're not gonna know all the jargon. They're not gonna know everything, but what a beauty to help them grow in the things of God. So that's the disciple, but now, secondly, I wanna take you and talk about the mentor, the mentor. the persons of discipleship, so here we are talking about the mentor. Now, very easy to discern who the disciple is, but it is very important to know who's going to be leading in discipleship. What would be the characteristics of a mentor? Now, this involves all of us. I'm teaching right now the First Steps Discipleship course, but there is a second phase where many of you can be involved in it. What would it take for you to be involved as a mentor over somebody? Here's four things that I would expect to see. Number one, a mentor must have a cultivating spirit. That is, he needs to be highly interested in the success of the new convert. He needs to be somebody who, like a mother of a new baby, has that wonderful power to desire to nurture that baby. A mother that's all in with that little infant really just does everything for that little one. That's what a mentor has to have. They've got a desire to cultivate that relationship. They've got to spend time. They've got to put up with some of the stuff that goes on, some of the misses of church and some of the problems that are going on and maybe the late nights that they might call and they're going through problems with their girlfriend or boyfriend or problems here and there, and they're able to cultivate that relationship. That's what it takes of a mentor, that they're willing to, they have a cultivating spirit. You know, relationships are often the key to success, and a good working relationship with a new convert will help greatly in fostering the growth. You can't get away from time and investment into people. Number two, a mentor must be consistent. That is, it is important that a mentor is faithful to the local church, that a mentor is steadily walking with the Lord, that a mentor is established in the faith. You see, nobody can lead anyone else where they've not been. Does not the Bible use this phrase, it's like the blind leading the blind? Well, it's important that the mentor, not perfect, not maybe fully matured like some others, but at least has grown enough and is faithful to the local church, is established in their faith. Number three, a mentor ought to have a cooperative spirit. That is, the cooperation ought to be with the pastor, the cooperation ought to be with the church body. A mentor is not going to act independently of the church. A mentor is not going to say, well, you know, the pastor wants me to teach all this, but I'd rather go through these things. No, a mentor is going to work within conjunction of the ministry of the church. A mentor will not act independently of the pastor. He'll not teach his or her own pet peeves, but he will see his ministry as an extension of the preaching ministry. But then lastly, a mentor will have a caring spirit. That is, he'll be focused on the one being discipled with love, tenderness, genuine compassion. Again, I can't get away from the analogy of a mother and her infant. A good mother will not be rough with her child. She'll not neglect her child. And in the same vein, neither will a mentor. A mentor who has a caring spirit will listen patiently to the questions. Be patient with the inconsistencies. gently encourage that baby Christian through the struggles. You know, you've heard it before, it's often been said, people don't care how much you know. They actually wanna know how much you care. And I think in discussing with the Thessalonian believers, I just challenge you to take your Bibles for just a moment, turn to the book of 1 Thessalonians. Book of 1 Thessalonians chapter number two, In verse number seven, Paul is writing to the Thessalonians telling them about his care for their ministry and their lives. And he likens it to the idea of a nursing mother. He says here in verse number seven, 1 Thessalonians 2, but we were gentle among you. even as a nurse cherisheth her children." You know what he considered these people? His children. He cared for their spiritual well-being. That's what a mentor does. A mentor is cooperative, caring, cultivating, doing all that he can in helping develop that next generation. All of you here have the potential to be a mentor, to take someone like someone took you. I'll bet you if I took a poll right through this auditorium, I guarantee many of you had someone who invested in you. They discipled you. They nurtured you. You remember when you first got saved, all the problems you had? And yet your mentor was patient, listened, kind of walked along with you. That's what we need. One of the things I most appreciated about this church when I came, there was a lot of things, but there were two things that struck out at me is the fact that the church at that moment in time was very concerned about getting young people into the church. That's a good thing. Without young people, we're gonna die. But I also grabbed a hold of this fact that there was a desire to help reach people with the gospel and help disciple them. That struck a chord in my heart because really my heartbeat is for evangelism, for discipleship, to see these things carried on. And together as a church, we can move forward and disciple people. And I wanna challenge you tonight as I close to seek out and pray for those that are involved in the discipleship process. Secondly, with this idea of prayer, I want you to pray for these things. I want you to pray for our class that we do on Sunday mornings. I want you to pray for new believers Pray that we would stay faithful at getting the gospel up, that people would get saved, so that way they can continue coming in the class. You know what would be a joy for me? Is to never have to stop our discipleship during the Sunday school hour, that we could continue week after week and keep it up, and new people continually coming in, growing into things of God. People getting saved, people getting baptized and being discipled and starting the process all over again. What a beautiful thing. But thirdly, I want you to pray for this, that God would use you in being able to mentor people. You say, preacher, nobody will listen to me. Sure they will. When God's on your side and you've got the word of God in your hand, what great things you have to share with people. And what a wonderful opportunity that lies before you. Lord willing, in the weeks and months to come, we'll have people that will need to be mentored. I'm gonna talk more next week about the phases of discipleship, but right now, we do it in a class setting, but once the first phase is done, we like to get people paired off with someone one-on-one. It might be a couple. And therefore, if we have a couple who gets saved, we want to pair a couple with them. If it's a lady who gets saved that doesn't have a husband coming or is single, then we want to get them paired with a lady in the church. Or if it's a man with a man. What are we looking to do? We're looking to go ahead and get people working together. And I'll tell you, as I mentioned this morning, Brother Scott reiterated, do you realize through the doing of the ministry, as you begin to invest your life in others, you know what it'll do for you? It'll cause you to grow. It'll help you in a great way. And so I want you to consider tonight. What's your part? Maybe you're here tonight, and you haven't been saved for all that long, or you've been saved for a long time, but you've never been through any formal discipleship. You might say tonight, and get ahold of me by talking to me tonight, or sending me an email, or texting me, or calling me and saying, preacher, I really would like to start through with this discipleship, and I need to grow in some of these basic things. Then let's do that. Or maybe tonight you'd like to get involved in mentoring somebody. We need mentors. We need people that are willing to take of their time to help invest in the next spiritual generation. For our invitation time tonight, I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and consider praying before the Lord and having Him use you. I close with this story tonight that I read some time ago about one of the wealthiest men in America years and years ago by the name of Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie had come to America from his native Scotland when he was a small boy, and he did a variety of odd jobs, but eventually ended up as the largest steel manufacturer in the United States. At one time it was reported that Andrew Carnegie had 43 millionaires working for him. In those days, a millionaire was a rare person Conservatively speaking, they say at that time a million dollars in his day was equivalent to 20 million dollars in our day. But a reporter asked Carnegie how he had hired 43 millionaires. And here's what Carnegie said, that those men had been millionaires when they, they had not been millionaires when they started working for him, but had become such as a result. Well, the reporter's next question was, how did you develop these men to become so valuable to you that you paid them this much money? And Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But one doesn't go into the mine looking for dirt. One goes in looking for gold. Do you realize that's exactly what we're doing when it comes to people. Don't look at all the flaws the warts and the blemishes look for the gold. Not for the dirt. Look for the good, not the bad. Look for the positive aspects of life. And like everything else, the more good qualities we look for in the people, the more good qualities we're going to find and see people grow in this local church. So tonight, would you commit to start digging for gold? I'm not talking—now you say, where are we going to go? I'm talking about people, OK? I hope you get the analogy. But let's tonight commit to that. May we pray together.