Father in Heaven, we come to you this evening, come seeking to worship you in all that we do. In our singing, we seek to lift you up. We come in the name of Christ, and as we look at your Word this evening, send your Spirit, we pray. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive your Word to us this night. And by your Spirit, knit it into our hearts. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. As we continue in our studies of the Book of Acts, we begin tonight with Paul's third missionary journey. And as we come to this text, as I was coming to this text this week, I was reminded of a professor friend of mine. Now, this professor is well educated. He's a good scholar, a good biblical scholar. He's a very smart man and an able teacher. But English is not his first language. And so, sometimes he mixes his metaphors all together, gets them mixed up and he'll find himself and we would listen in class as he would use things like, not by the hair of your teeth. Say sometimes, Mr. James, be careful in sort of a judge, not less GB judge kind of way. What goes around stops. And then other times. As he was teaching, he would say, listen, listen, class, it is it is glass clear. It is glass clear. You can see this through all the scripture. It is glass clear. And my favorite one. When the cats are gone, the mice will dance. A very learned and able man, but but he was missing something in all of those. He was missing, he couldn't quite see fully. how to use those metaphors. He couldn't quite see just yet how to master the English language in such a way to use those metaphors. Since you see something in the Book of Acts, you see people as they don't quite get things right. They don't quite see things correctly. Tonight we have Paul He comes to Ephesus later on, and he meets with these disciples as he sees them to be disciples. Before he gets there, we have the story of Apollos. It was a well-educated man who was teaching, but who didn't quite get it right. And those disciples that Paul came to in the first part of chapter 19, because they were taught by Apollos as well, didn't quite get it right. This passage tonight teaches us several things. It teaches us the way of Jesus. That's the overarching thing that happens at the end of chapter 18, the beginning of chapter 19. Paul is revealing to us the way of Jesus. Priscilla and Aquila teach the way of Jesus, that way of Jesus is understood and acts to mean really the church. But it really has echoes back in the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse three in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God, the way of Jesus, the way of the Lord, not so much God finding his way to us or we finding our way to him, but the way that he has prepared for us, the way much like the Israelites followed the Lord. But Jesus has prepared a way for us, he has led us, his disciples as his disciples, what do we learn from this passage? We can see six things this evening, six things, short things. Don't get worried. Six things, but short things. They are these. The disciple being called to the way has to be able to be taught himself or herself, able to be taught. They also must be apt or quick to see Jesus. They must understand that they'll be applied to kingdom work and have to be and make themselves available to invest in others. Acquainted with trials is the fifth and the sixth thing active in the gospel itself. The first thing able to be taught themselves as Christ's disciples, we have to understand that we are all the time being taught by Jesus himself, all the time being taught and led by his word. You see what takes place here at the end of Chapter 18. Consider a Paulist in the midst of this. Consider how this being able to be taught reaches a Paulist. You know who a Paulist is. It tells us there in the passage, a Paulist was an eloquent, competent in the scriptures. That is, in the Old Testament, had been instructed in the way of the Lord, at least things about Jesus, fervent in spirit, possibly meaning his own spirit. He spoke and talked accurately the things concerning Jesus. That is the Old Testament prophecy of a Messiah. Apollos was from Alexandria. Alexandria was a great place of learning. He was a Jew from Alexandria. He would have been brought up in the Old Testament scriptures. He would have been a man who was well educated, highly educated. He would have been well born and highly cultured. So you might think to yourself, what would a man like this do when when he receives instruction? Like we see so often in our culture, a man like this would say, how dare you teach me? How dare you come to me and tell me I don't quite have it right? How dare you approach? Do you know how learned I am? Do you know how well educated I am? But even as well educated this man was, Apollos knew the Old Testament scriptures. He knew things about Jesus. But he didn't know Jesus himself. And as the book of Acts rolls on, as as people are coming into contact with Jesus himself, eyes are being opened, people are coming to understand. Paulus is no different. He was well educated in the Old Testament scriptures and the prophecy of the Old Testament. And yet, how does he react? He doesn't say Priscilla and Aquila, who are you? Get away from me, leave me alone, don't bother. But you see what takes place there. Apollos is actually teaching. He's in verse twenty six. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But here's Priscilla and Aquila as they come, as they've been taught by Paul himself. They hear Apollos speaking in the synagogues and what do they do? They stand up and stop the teaching, don't they? No. They take Apollos to the side, to their home. And they begin to instruct him about more accurately the way of God. Now, Apollos could have said, again, hold on, what do you do? Who are you? But you see, Apollos has humbled himself. He humbles himself. And allows himself to be taught by the scriptures. It comes to him through and by Priscilla and Aquila, this couple. And yes, in his humility, he receives The teaching. So often, I think we find ourselves sitting in a pew and we say, hey, this is this is a this is a great sermon that I'm here. You know who would really benefit from hearing this? Billy or Joe or Bob or Sarah or Mary, they really need to. What did he say? We find ourselves thinking so often, well, this sermon is great for somebody else. Yeah, I really wish I really wish they were here, they'd be squirming in the pews. What we really need to do is humble ourselves and realize that we have much to learn from not only the scriptures, but from other people who are who are taking the scriptures and teaching us who are revealing to us more accurately the way of God. And that's difficult in a in a culture that says, hey, hey, listen. You're in control of of your bag of philosophy and your bag of morals and your bag of religiosity. Listen, hey, you decide what goes in there. You're the ultimate decider of the truth that you put in your back. Friends, that is that is a lie. That the scriptures stand over us. And as disciples of Christ, we have to place ourselves under the word of God. We have to humble ourselves under his guidance. And his word. we have to be able to be taught. Not only consider a Paulist, consider the disciples of Ephesus. They found themselves as Paul comes to them in the first part of chapter 19. Paul is there and he's teaching them. Now, these disciples that that Paul, from his perspective, as he first gets there, seems like these are these are true Christian disciples. I think the best way to understand Apollos at first is that he's an unregenerate follower of John the Baptist, an unregenerate disciple of John the Baptist. And since Apollos has been teaching in Ephesus for a while, the disciples, quote unquote, that you find at the beginning of chapter 19 or his disciples in that way. They find themselves to being taught by Paul, you see the interchange that that happens there at the beginning of chapter 19. And Paul, as he begins to probe, realizes that these men have no idea. They understand things about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus. They understand things about the Old Testament, even things about John the Baptist, but they they do not see Jesus. They're looking at the wrong things. They're they're waiting for the Messiah. The Messiah has come. They've taken the Old Testament, they know the Old Testament backwards and forwards. They know his prophecy, Apollos does. And yet they they fail to see Jesus. I have a I have a dog, his name is Bigby, I've had him for about three years now, a big beast, not the smartest dog in the world. The first night I had him, I got him from Pet Sink, which is a place that saves dogs. I went and I adopted this dog, brought him home. I had the front door open with the storm door closed on the outside. He runs around the corner, runs straight into the storm door, staggers back, looks at his reflection in the storm door and starts barking. This isn't the smartest dog in the world, but what's true for Bigby is true for all other dogs as well. When I tell Bigby to go somewhere and I point, he doesn't look where I'm pointing. He looks at the end of my finger. He can't get beyond just seeing the physical, the end of my finger, my body. He doesn't understand what's taking place and what's going on. He doesn't understand where I'm pointing to and what for what purpose. Apollos and these disciples in Ephesus are the same thing, they see the Old Testament, they know the Old Testament, they know the prophecy, they're waiting for a Messiah, but they cannot and do not yet see him. What takes place is as Priscilla and Aquila seek to teach this man, Apollos, he humbles himself before them and ultimately before God's word. We have to be able to be taught, open to God's word, open to correction, open to rebuke, open to being refined in our view of Jesus himself. Must be able to be taught. But we also must be apt or quick to see Jesus, allow Jesus to refine our view of him. This takes place with the Apostle Paul himself, doesn't it? We meet the Apostle Paul in that Damascus Road incident in chapter nine of Acts. If you want to turn there, you can, if not just hear what happens. The first two verses, Paul, but Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that he found any belonging to the way men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Saul was seeking to persecute those who he could find in the way, those who were following Christ so that he could persecute them. As Jesus takes Paul, who used to be Saul, And he shows them the way. He lights up his eyes. He enables him to see. That's what's taking place so often in the scriptures, that Jesus is lighting, giving us light and opening up our eyes, that he's refining our view of him. He won't allow us to simply view him the way we want to. We have to understand who Jesus is from the scriptures. We have to come to know him through the scriptures, through his word. And yet he's all the time refining even our understanding of him. He does it in a dramatic way with Saul as he becomes Paul after his conversion in Acts chapter nine. But he continues to do it with his disciples. He continues to work in the hearts and lives of those who follow him. He won't allow you to simply think you've got Jesus figured out in that way. But he's all the time refining our view of him. To where at times we say, I never knew that about you, Jesus. I never knew that about you. Sometimes we say, no, please, Jesus, no. He finds his way into the midst of our lives as he shines the light into the darkness of our souls. He's continuing to refine our view of him. So we have to be apt or quick to see Jesus. You see it with Priscilla and Aquila here. You see it with Apollos. You see it with the twelve in Ephesus at the beginning of chapter 19. Their view of Jesus is being refined. They think they have it figured out. Apollos is teaching. He's boldly teaching. He's fervently teaching. But he hasn't yet seen till Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and teach him more accurately in the way. of God, you see Jesus doing this as he interacts with the disciples, as you see in Mark, Chapter eight is as the blind man at Bethsaida. And he comes and he he touches the man and the man can't yet see fully. He touches him again. You probably know the quote there. The man says, I see I see men like trees. His view of Jesus is is in development. His view of Jesus is being refined and Jesus is telling the disciples, listen, your view of me is being refined all the time. And what he says to us as Christians is, I will not allow you to simply view me the way you want to view me. That I will continually reveal things about myself through my word, through the church, through fellowship with other Christians. I'm continually refining your view of me. continually revealing myself to you. Not only are we able to be taught, we should be apt to see Jesus quickly. We also have to recognize that we've been called into something. We've been called into being applied to kingdom work, but as disciples, we aren't simply called out of the kingdom of darkness, free to do whatever we would like to do. But we have been called into kingdom work. You see, this is Paul explains more fully in First Corinthians, chapter three, verses five through eleven. Here are these words. What then is a polis? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted a polis water, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else's building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ himself. As Apollo's view of Jesus has been refined by Priscilla and Aquila as they teach him in their home. Apollos is then set out to see at the end of chapter eighteen for us. And when he wished to cross, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who, through grace, had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Apollos, this One who at the beginning couldn't see clearly has now become a fellow worker in the kingdom of God alongside Paul, so much so that by the time Paul writes first Corinthians, he's talking about a pause of a fellow worker, someone who now is working in the kingdom, who now is a voice for the kingdom of God, who now has rolled up his sleeves now that his understanding of Jesus is being refined more and more as his heart has been regenerated. He's now put to work. He's applied to kingdom work. You see, Paul doing this in the midst of our passage, you see this this preacher in Ephesus, Paul, as he as he's there, you see how long in verse eight, three months in the synagogue. And then. He reasoned in the hall of Tyrannus daily for two years. Now, here's Paul, who who now in the midst of his ministry has had to resort to tent making to to make ends meet. And and some historians believe that that Paul would be teaching in the hall of Tyrannus during what was most likely like an Asian siesta from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. that Paul would be teaching probably means he worked as a tent maker early in the morning until 11 a.m., then went in to teach, then went back to work. Paul is tirelessly working for the kingdom, and he does this for for over two years. He's working in the midst of the kingdom, not only is Paul working, but if he's teaching those in in Ephesus, it's not just work to teach, it's work to listen as well. And so these men who were there hearing Paul and learning from Paul as his as their as pupils of Paul. That they were coming as themselves, probably working in the morning and working in the evening and studying from eleven to four. But that takes work as well. Look what takes place in verse 10. These ones who have been taught and being taught, these ones who didn't quite get it, who now get it. Verse 10, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. How did those people in that region hear the word of the Lord? How would they have been taught the word of the Lord? Because the ones that Paul is teaching are now finding their ways into the midst of the region, they're finding themselves applied to kingdom work, finding themselves out preaching and teaching and living the word of God. And for decades, Ephesus becomes the evangelistic center of Western Asia Minor. His successor was Timothy. Paul's successor there was Timothy. And in later years, the Apostle John served the church at Ephesus. Paul's investment there, his being applied to kingdom work in the midst of Ephesus, has its fingers reaching out. But as he's bringing others up, as he's a mature believer, as he's taking younger believers and maturing them in the word of God, in the faith, he doesn't say now sit here in the cool, take your shoes off, kick back. He sends them out. And they go out into the region. And those who were once clueless, who were once unregenerate, are now finding themselves applied to kingdom work. being sent out. You see what takes place there. Something that gives us pause in verse six of chapter 19, speaking in tongues and prophesying, we don't have time to go into the study of speaking in tongues here that's found right here. Just to say the experience is parallel with that of the Jews in chapter two and the Samaritans in chapter eight and God fearing Gentiles in chapter ten. It's an extension of the Pentecost experience being extended to yet another group of God's people. What takes place here? Not only the speaking in tongues. A sign of what's taking place in the midst of their hearts. But also prophesying conveys glorifying the name of God and witnessing. These men who didn't quite get it now who get it, the spirit falls on them, they're they're regenerated. They find themselves witnessing to God, speaking about him, talking about him and being applied to the work of the kingdom. Well, not only are we to be applied to the work of the kingdom, allowing ourselves to be used, some cases tirelessly, like Paul. In some cases, going elsewhere and some cases speaking and witnessing to God himself. We're also called to be available to invest in others available to invest in others. You see that taking place with Priscilla and Aquila here. They invest their time with Paul and with Apollos. They invest their money as they give to the ministry. They invest their home is as they're seeking to bring a policy along. It's it's a word to us as Christians, isn't it? That we're to invest ourselves in others, that we all are to take part in this kingdom work. What takes place with Apollos after he's regenerated is he powerfully and competently and publicly speaks for Christ, convinces the Jews, reasons it out, talks to others. And you have Paul diagnostic questions in verses one through four of chapter nineteen, as he as he comes to Ephesus and he he sees what he thinks to be disciples. Look what takes place there. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And Luke, I think simply means that they seem like they seem like disciples from Paul's point of view. There he found some disciples and he said to them as he questions and further. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said into what then were you baptized? They said into John's baptism. And Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is Jesus. And on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. We must be concerned and involved in helping others understand the gospel to help others be able to see the gospel clearly. As Christians, we we have to find ourselves not only understanding the gospel ourselves, but being able to articulate it to others as well. Paul sees something in their understanding of the gospel that's not quite right. And he continues and he invests time with them again over two years, he spends with them, teaching them and bringing them along. And you might say to yourself or you might object to me and say, well, I'm not a teacher. I can't publicly teach in that way. I'm not saying you are called to publicly teach in that way. But you are called as a Christian. You're called to understand the gospel and you're called to invest and other people, and if you see a younger believer who doesn't quite get it right. It's an obligation that we have as mature Christians to bring them along, to teach them, to walk with them so that they can see and understand the gospel clearly. Well, it begs two questions, really. How is it that we do this and what is it that we teach? Paul speaks about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 5. Hear what he has to say there to us about how it is and what it is we are to say. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. And I, Paul, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling in my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. What is it that we are called to do as Christians? What is it that we are called to proclaim? It is Christ and him crucified. It is to have people understand that your faith is not based on your good works. It's not based on your own moral character. It's not based on your quote unquote righteousness. The scriptures tell us that all we have is unrighteousness. But the Christ and him crucified being raised from the dead, defeating death itself, ascending into heaven. That we preach Christ and him crucified, it's his righteousness for our unrighteousness, and we base our faith on nothing other than that. But you and I and our sinfulness are in desperate need of a savior that God has provided through Christ himself, that Christ has paid the penalty for our sin by being crucified upon the cross. That's what we preach. That's what Paul preaches. It's amazing to hear Paul say he didn't do it with great wisdom. He didn't do it with great words. He simply preached Christ and him crucified. It's an amazing thing to know that it's not based on our words. It's not based on how eloquent we are. It's not based on our reasoning skills. It's based on the work of Christ by his spirit through us that changes the hearts and lives of men and women. That gives us great comfort and great freedom to to go into the world, to speak about his grace and his mercy, knowing that it's not placed upon our shoulders, that that if someone doesn't enter into the kingdom of heaven, it's it's not based upon our words, that we didn't form them correctly. We recognize that God is sovereign, that he draws to himself whom he will. But the calling in the Christian life. And it is a calling, it is not a gift. It's a calling that we proclaim Christ and Him crucified. It's the calling that we are made available to invest in others, that we help others see the gospel clearly for what it is, that we as a church strive to make the gospel nothing other than Christ and Him crucified. And as Sinclair has already said about the gospel of John, it's it's a gospel that is shallow enough for I forget what he says, a lamb to wait in and an elephant to swim. But the gospel is that way, it's simple, it's Christ and him crucified, but the implications and the ramifications reach into all aspects of life, all areas of life. So we're not to be simple minded. But simply clear about what the gospel is all about would help others see it clearly as well. My favorite museums happens to be in the city I spent six years in for seminary in St. Louis, there's the Free Art Museum has Rembrandt's and Monet's and Manet's and many other great paintings. But it has a hall that is the hall for modern art. Sometimes I would venture in there and look around and think to myself, well, I could do that. The point is, I didn't do that. Point is, I didn't come up with it. But as I walked through there, I had a hard time of understanding what those paintings are really about. I look at them and they seem like blobs of this and blobs of that and points of this and points of that and strings here and strings there. Metal here, metal there, sculptors here, sculptors there. But I have a friend who knows art. Who is an artist themselves? And it's a it's a completely different thing to be led through that modern art exhibit with someone who knows what they're looking at, who can say, well, look at it this way. And don't you see how the how the artist was trying to convey this? And don't you see what's what's taking place here? Your eyes are open. You can see things you never saw before. Because someone who has been there, who understands it, who knows it is investing time with you is showing you who is teaching you, who is walking with you. And as Christians, as some people come to the scriptures, they they understand bits and pieces that they understand parts of the Old Testament or parts of the New Testament, and they think to themselves, what is all of this about? I don't get it. I don't understand. As Christians, we have to be those ones who can say to those who are looking at the scripture saying, I don't understand what it's all about. We have to be those who can clearly and simply walk people through the scriptures. It means that we have to be able to be taught ourselves in the midst of it. It teaches us that we have to be students of the word, that that we need to really, really invest time not only in people, but in the word of God. That we understand that we can tell what God is all about, what he's done for us and what he proclaims in the midst of his scriptures. We must be available to invest in others. The last two points just quickly acquainted with trials in the midst of this. Paul is facing all sorts of trials as he begins his third missionary journey. He's he's coming back to those churches. He's revisiting. And now what a way to begin. You come back to Ephesus and you find out these people don't even understand they've been looking at the at the baptism of John and John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, calling people to turn and turn to God. It was really pointing to something greater. It was pointing to Christ himself. All what John was doing is is a herald for Christ to come. And what Paul finds out in the midst of Ephesus is here's a bunch of people that just missed it all together. Now, there's some discouragement, isn't it? Here's Paul's beginning his third missionary journey, he's already invested so much time, he's already invested so much energy. Others have invested time and energy with him. He finds himself in the midst of all sorts of things as he moves forward, he finds intense opposition and attack, poor results. He finds loneliness and financial strain. What he finds himself doing in the midst of that, I'm sure, is is realizing that when Jesus said. You must take up your cross and follow me. He's really learning what it means to die to self. Paul is spending time working his hands to the bone as a tent maker. Teaching for five hours a day. Finding himself up against opposition in the synagogues. People wanting to kill him in the midst of his ministry. Running out of money. Being lonely. And if he's looking at the results, he comes to Ephesus and he thinks to himself, well, what am I here for? We have to remind ourselves that we have a ministry. a ministry where we are going to face trials and opposition. Jesus says, because they hate me, they will hate you because they persecute me, they will persecute you. And Jesus over and over and over again tells the disciples, listen to come and follow me in my way means to die to self. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that minister during Nazi Germany, had it right, who was in the end in his own life convicted of A conspiracy to kill Hitler himself and hanged in the waning days of World War Two. But in a book he wrote, The Cost of Discipleship, he says this, When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It's the Christians call. But as we come to Christ, we lay down our entire lives. for the work of the kingdom, for the expansion of the gospel. We will face all type of opposition and accusations and trials as we go forward in the midst of ministry. There's other things that Paul learns, too, and we as the disciples of Christ must learn as well. That not only are we to be able to be taught and apt or quick to see Jesus, Quick to be applied to kingdom work available to invest in others acquainted with trials, we must be active in the gospel itself. In the midst of what's taking place here, there's nothing less than people who whose lives and hearts are being changed, who are being turned towards God, who are becoming Christians, whose lives are being regenerated. And Paul tells them something along with us as well, if we are disciples of Christ, if we are following in the way of Jesus, he tells us in second Corinthians, chapter four, verses one through six, what this ministry is all about. He says this, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus's sake. For God, who said let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What a ministry we have in the midst of our hands. That is every Christian everywhere for all time has been given this ministry of mercy that God has first shown you grace and mercy through his son, Jesus Christ. And he is called all disciples. To follow him, to humble yourselves and able to be taught by him, to walk with others as you seek to guide them and lead them and direct them as you seek to proclaim Christ in the midst of this world, which is the kingdom work that that God has set us to. We do not lose heart. As opposition and trials come our way in the midst of living life in the way of Jesus. That he sustains us and carries us. That he speaks through us. We do not lose heart. But we work for the sake of the kingdom. May we work together to that end. Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us, we pray. Work within our own hearts where we are failing to see Jesus clearly. Where we have failed to understand him failed to see him for who he truly is. Help us, too, as we seek to lead others, as even Priscilla and Aquila did in the midst of the Acts chapter 18, leading quietly and in private. Or whether we're called like Apollos to to teach others and reason publicly. Or called like Paul to make our entire life available to the work of the kingdom, to be sent wherever you would send us. Help us, Lord, we pray. Help us in the midst of the ministry of the gospel, give us strength, give us eyes to see those. To whom we need to minister. Help us in our own lives, sustain us in the midst of the work. Father, help us, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.