The Value of One [Full Message]

Our God is an individual God. He makes every preparation necessary to reach one lost sinner with the Gospel. 

Join us, as we meet Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 8 and discover how we too can be a Gospel witness to others around us. 

Transcript

How many of you've got the copy of the Word of God with you? Let me see it. Let me. See the Bible. Very good, very good. All right, I want you to turn to acts. Chapter 8 acts Chapter 8 tonight. I'm not going to keep. You very long. And Preacher paid me to say that, and I'm not going to keep you very long at all. I promise. And I am the sub of the sub. So you get what you paid for tonight and I'm sorry. Acts chapter 8. This is honestly a passage of scripture. That the Lord has so dealt with me about and those of you that are in our striving together young couples class. I'm sorry, but you don't tune me out tonight. But this is on repeat for you. There's some things that. That you won't, that you didn't get in class, but this is a repeat for you. Acts Chapter 8 is a very, very, you know, acts is a great book. It is a great book. I don't many of you, you know, much more about the book of acts than I do. I remember I had my father-in-law teach the book of acts to me while I was in high school, so if I don't know anything, blame him. And but acts is a book of action. There's a lot that goes on in the book of acts and this passage of scripture. I've always loved this story. I've always loved this story for several reasons. We'll get to it in a moment, but I've always loved this. Story of Philip. And the Ethiopian unit. And God, using a man who is in a very vibrant ministry in Samaria. And honestly, a moving of God, a great moving of God and God plucks a man out of that great move and brings him to one. You know that is our God, though, isn't it? He is a God that emphasizes 1. One soul. He focuses on the individual. Aren't you glad that when you cried out to the Lord and salvation he?

Heard your cry.

Aren't you glad that he focused in on you and he made preparations that someone would have the message of the gospel? Ready to give you. So that you may receive Christ as your Savior all throughout scripture, we see God's emphasis on one we see that, especially I love it in Luke Chapter 15, God Christ, he gives many parables there if you remember and the first parable he gives is a lost sheep. A loss sheet. There's 100 sheet and there are 99 that are found, but there are one. There is one that was lost. And what did the shepherd do? Did he say? Oh well, it was just one. What did the shepherd do? You tell me. He went and found him, right? Yeah. He left the 99 to find the one. And then you move on to the next story. Luke 15, where a woman. She. She has 10 coins and she loses just one. Did she say? Oh, well, I guess I'll just take my loss there. No. She looked for it. The Bible even says that she turned the house upside down. Her house probably looked a lot like my house. And with all this kids running around and she turned the house upside down, right to find. One. So we see God's emphasis even out of 10. He still emphasizes 1. And then you see. The story that we all know and familiar with of the prodigal son. And how the prodigal there are two brothers, but God's emphasis is still. On one right, the father was there. He was waiting for his son to come back. He he was. He was with everything within him, no doubt praying each day that his son would come back to him. And you know, as I told our high schoolers today in high school Chapel and our elementary Chapel as well, I want to tell you and encourage you tonight. That God sees you where you are. There's many of us that honestly would believe the lie of the devil. That in a room this size, God has no dealings with us. Let's be honest, a lot of times we put God in this little box and we think, well, how can God really have time for me? I mean, out of all the prayers that people are praying today. I mean, does God really hear my prayer? Does God really hear just me and I can encourage you tonight and say he does? The Bible says in Isaiah 43 he calls you by name. He formed you, he created you. He chose you to serve God has a purpose for you. And he wants to be involved in your life, not just in the person next to you. We see all throughout Scripture God's emphasis on one soul. That's we're going to talk about tonight of having a soul focus. A sole focus what kind of focus? A focus on other souls. Let's bow our head and pray before we get in, right? In our scripture and as I pray. Want you to pray and ask the Lord to help. And give you what he has. For you tonight. And to do. The work that he. Has for you, Lord, I pray God that you would. Pray, Lord, forgive me of any sin that would hinder your Holy Spirit God from working and God. I pray that tonight I know it's a winter night. We are tired and lured there. There's many things going on in our plate. Right now, but Lord, I pray that you would do something mighty and great in our life. Or as a preacher, my temptation is to say, well, it's just another Wednesday night. But to be honest with you, Lord, I'm expecting great and mighty things, whether it's just in me or it's in one person. And I pray for you to do great mighty things which we don't know through this passage. As we look at this thing of soul Focus, we'll praise you and thank you. And all gods people. Said Amen. Alright acts chapter 8. Hopefully I've given you enough time to get there. Acts chapter 8. I want you to look at verse 26. The verse 26 the Bible says and the Angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying arise and go toward the South, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. So get the story here. The Angel of the Lord comes to a man named Philip. We know Philip. I'm not going to introduce him much, but we know Philip. And the Lord comes to him and says, Philip, I have something I want you to do. I have a man I want you to reach. And by the way, at this time, Philip, as I said earlier, was in Samaria, and God was using him in a great way. Humanly speaking, it made no sense that God would call a man like Philip out of a ministry that's going on in Samaria. It made absolutely no sense why in the world and no doubt Phil thought in his mind. God, why are you taking me out of this? And you're leading me literally into. The desert. I want you to notice, number one, we're talking about this thing of being sole focused, giving, being able to focus on other souls and sharing our faith with others, giving others the gospel of Jesus Christ and focusing, even if even if it's just. One focusing in like God would on one soul and their eternity, and that's what we're talking now. When you look at #1, the place where he was called. The place where he was called, the Bible, says the Angel of Lord spake unto Philip, saying arise and go toward the South that way, that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza. And I've marked this phrase, which is a desert. As I said, it made no sense. Why would Lord, why would you take me from an amazing move of God to a? Desert. You know God is funny sometimes, or at least we perceive him that way. God does funny things. Here we are. We're doing exactly what we think. God wants us to do and God says. Alright, it's time for us to move. Maybe you've been there. Or maybe if it's not a physical move, it's a big decision. It impacts a lot of people. But you know, God is always working behind the scenes. And that's exactly what God was doing here. He's saying Philip, I want you to go witness to this one. Man. I want you to go out into the desert. Do you know God will put you in a place and we know in scripture that the desert is a place that is desolate. It is dry. It is there. There's not much life in the desert. And many times when it comes to sharing our faith. When it comes to giving other people the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being so focused many times, God will call us to a place that there is a great need. You realize that God's giving your given you your job, not just to make money. You realize there's someone at your job that God wants you to influence. There is someone in your community. Do you realize God's given you the house that he's giving you? Because maybe there's someone in your community he wants. You to reach. God has given you this church. That you love and are faithful to. Right for a. Specific purpose to influence someone for him. God will take you to a place and bring you to a place that there is great need. But not only that God will send you where there's a great need, but God will also send you when you are in great need. You know there's many times in life, especially in this thing, of giving the gospel. You know we're so we give every excuse in the book sometimes. Don't we? I've done it this week. I have gospel tracks in my pocket or I've got them in my car and God says hey. I want you to give them a gospel track. You're like. But I just don't have. Or, but I gotta. I gotta get moving, right. And we give all these excuses as to why we don't share our faith with others. You know, many times God will put us in a place when we are still in need. He will say he will put us in a place of need. And put us in a place like a desert, a desert place, a trial, a temptation, a trial of life, because there's someone in that place that God wants us to reach. There's someone there that God wants us to reach. No doubt, maybe some of you have you. You know, there has been physical ailments that have come your way and you've been in the hospital and but you would have never had the chance to witness to that nurse or that doctor unless you had that ailment, right? Some of you're shaking your head. You know what I'm talking about, right? God allowed that to happen. In your life and he to put you in front of somebody who had a need, who had a spiritual need. Sometimes God will put you, he will. He will put you in. A place that. There is a great need and he will send you when you are in great need and sometimes we say, but I'm the one. Who needs to be refreshed? Lord. But Samaria, look. What's going on? God, you want me to go to a desert? Hey, I'm the one who needs to be refreshed. But God wants us to influence someone. God has given you a place to fulfill a a place. Excuse me to fulfill a divine purpose and influence a specific person. And I ask you tonight, who's that person? Who is the person at your job that God continues to put on your mind? When you pray. Who is the person in your family? That God continues to put on your heart every time the preacher gets up and talks about sharing your faith every time he gets up and talks about giving the gospel to other people cuz you know what? If we're not careful, sometimes we get so focused on our own life and what's going on with us and we get so busy and go, we get so caught up in our schedules and that we're not conscious of the souls around. You realize every soul that you come in contact will either spend eternity in two places with or without God. Only two places, every single soul that you come in contact with. We'll spin eternity in two places. Get this over 100, and on average, 166,000 people worldwide die every single day. 166,000 people. If you're to do some simple math and to look at what people groups are unreached, that means they have less than 2% are saved. Our converts are believers. If you were to take up all of the people, the population of all the unreached people groups in the world and look at that number of 166,000 people that die. Every single day you could do some simple math equation and see that almost 66,000 people die every day without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Think about that. Almost two people every second die. One of them will never hear the name of Jesus. I don't think there's much more convincing that we need to do to understand that we need to do our job as believers, right? Amen. To giving the gospel to others because there is a dire need and Philip God, said Philip, there is a man that needs me. I've been working on his heart and I want you to go into the desert. David Brainard, famous missionary. He said this it is remarkable that God began this work among the Indians at a time when I had the least hope, and to my apprehension, the least rational prospect of success. That was no doubt Philip's mindset when he was heading to the desert away from Samaria. But God said there was a need there. Look at verse 27. You still got your place. There say Amen. And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of The Ethiopians, who had the charge of all the treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship. So not only do we see the place where he was called, but we see the person he was to reach. This was an. Ethiopia, the Ethiopian eunuch, or what we would say today as a court official. He was from the ancient tribe of Nubia. You say? What? What does that even mean? And why is that? Thicket. Well, because through this we see in the book of acts we see God doing something amazing among every single people group. Do you remember the three sons of Noah? Do you remember them? They were ham Shim. And you remember Japeth ham, Shem and Japeth then? All men remember God destroyed the world with the flood, and those three men, OK, gay had children and they had children. They had children, and all of us come from those three sons. Well, in acts Chapter 8 we see the Ethiopian eunuch who was of Ancient Nubia. He was a descendant of Ham. And not only that, we see in acts Chapter 9 we see saw that was later Paul. He was a Jew and he was a Jew and he was of the tribe of Shim or he was a descendant of Shim and then acts Chapter 10, we see some Gentiles coming to know Jesus as their savior. And we see Gentiles are descendants of the sun japeth we see God reaching into every single people group. Say God leaves nobody out. The world might leave somebody out, but God leaves nobody out and God said I want you to go to this Ethiopian unit, this court official, a very rich and wealthy man who had, by the way, just traveled over 200 miles to go to Jerusalem to worship. So think about it in your mind. He goes to Jerusalem, he sees all the sacrifices and wondering. You know the Jews and see the Jews praying there and offering up their sacrifices. He sees all that, no doubt he has a copy of the Scriptures which we'll see in a moment, and no doubt he got that from Jerusalem. He's watching all of this take place and God is working on his heart. We see the person he was to reach. Not only that, look at verse 28. The Bible says was returning this man, his Ethiopian unit he was returning and sitting in his chariot. Read Isaiah or Isaiah the prophet. Verse 29, then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. So not only we see the place, we see the person, but we also see the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And by the way, the Holy Spirit. He is your greatest guide in this thing of sharing your. Faith with other. And many of you know exactly what I'm talking about at the gas station pump, there's someone on the other. Side and the holy. Spirit's like, hey, I've got some for you to do. And you're like, ohh, stink. And you kind of turn your head. You've all been there. Come on. And you turned your head. You're like, well, I don't have anything to give them, you know, or I don't. I think the tracks are in the trunk and all this, we give all these excuses. Right. The Holy Spirit is your greatest guide to winning other people. To him, to focusing on souls and sharing your faith with. Others, the Bible says in verse 29 that then the spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself. So it wasn't just a matter for Philip to stay and observe. And oftentimes that is our attitude when it comes to sharing our faith. Many people today, they say, well, there's a phrase out there. Of lifestyle evangelism and many people say, well, I'm gonna live. Right, right. I'm a believer. I'm gonna live right in front of them. And hopefully they'll come to me and to ask, should we live right in front of a lost and dying world answer. Yes, absolutely we should. But you realize that lifestyle evangelism should never be a complete substitute for engaging someone with the gospel. We should never use lifestyle evangelism or hey, I'll just live right. And hopefully they'll come to me if we do that. Then we've eliminated a lot of preaching. We've taken out a lot of preaching if we're to say, well, we're going to live right and a lot of people say, well, I need to build trust with that person. Is that true? Absolutely. Yeah. You ought to build if you're in this environment, especially if you're in an environment where you're working with someone and this person maybe has been burned by a pastor at church in the past. Or maybe they're of a completely different faith and they're totally anti what you believe. There is a situation where, yeah, you've got to build trust. I mean, missionaries going to a complete different culture, a complete different language. There has to be some mutual trust there, right? So there are situations you've got to build some mutual trust and build a relationship with them, but if we did that, we would not go Saturday. Visitation would be no more. Right. Because we couldn't go up to the door and say, hey, you would have got to lunch and we'll come back next. Week and in a. Few months I'll tell you something good, right? So we can't always say in every situation, well, I've got to build trust or I'll just live right in front of them. We should never use those as excuses for engaging other people with the gospel, especially in that situation. If that is what? Sees us wants if that's what the Holy Spirit wants. And that's exactly what God wanted Philip to do right here, verse 29, he said. Go and join thyself with this chariot. Look at verse 30. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the Prophet Isaiah, and said unto him, or said understandeth thou what thou redest? I love his reply in verse 31. And he said, how can I accept? Some man should guide me and he desired. Phillip, that he would come and sit with. You know what that is the cry of. Our world, right? There, verse 31 is the cry of those around us. How can we know the way? Do you realize that there are people you work with? There are people in your community. There are. People in this world that are desperate for truth. In a world where lies are very prevalent, where lies are very much louder than truth, let's be honest. Lies are very much louder than truth. People are desperate for the truth. They want to know the truth. But they say how? How can I know unless some man should guide me and that I don't know about you? But that ought to burn something in your heart when you say that. That there's ought to be something in your heart that says. OK. Hey. Hey, I'll tell you how. There ought to be something in you that says that is why I'm here, right? That's why I'm here. You know, if there's if. If we don't have a purpose after salvation, why doesn't God just hit us over the head with a baseball bat and send this on to heaven when we get saved? Right. But no God's giving you breath today. He's giving you life today because there is someone. That needs what you have. You realize you have we we sang about it during Easter and we preached about it during Easter. We have resurrection power inside of us and you know what we. Often do though. We often like to store it away. It's almost like it's so precious to us that we want to lock it in the safe. What's supposed to be a symbol of what we stand for? Like this wedding ring? It's a symbol that I'm married. It's a symbol that I'm one with Catherine. She is mine, and I am hers. It's a symbol. And it's something that I wear proudly when I go outside. I feel I feel somewhat inadequate if I don't. If I walk out of the door without my wedding ring. Some of you know what I'm talking about, right? Because you want. Everybody to know, hey, I'm taken, I'm hers and she is mine. And I am proud of that fact. And many times this is what we do with the gospel. It's precious to us. And it's so precious, we'll hide it. It's so precious to us that we'll we'll put it on display, maybe in our home. Hey, that's it. We'll put it up and we'll look at it. We'll say, hey, praise God for salvation. Praise God for the gospel. Praise God that we're saved and we're on our way to heaven. Hey, kids. Look, look at and. You ought to. Do that? Absolutely. That is where evangelism. Starts is in the home. But we put it on the shelf and we say look at that, look what we have and yet God's saying no, no, no, no, no, you've missed it. You've missed it. I've given you something precious to say. Hey, look. Look here is hope, this is hope. This is what you've been starving for. This is what you've been looking for all your life. And when you walk out of your house, you proudly proclaim God. You proudly proclaim his word because you're not ashamed. And you've listened to that prompting of the Holy Spirit. He says go near and join, but how can I know less? Some man should guide me. Philip he steps in the gap and he says OK, I'll let him know. Verse 32. Look at it. You still. There you still with me. Good. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. This is an excerpt from Isaiah Chapter 53. And like a lamb dumb before his sheer so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the. Earth and the unique answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the Prophet, this of himself or some other man. So not only do we see, with the prompting of the Holy Spirit well, but we see the preparation of divine appointment. We talked about that how God was working in behind the scenes. He was working on this Ethiopian unique, literally reading the word of God for himself. And by the way, hey, when it comes to witnessing the word. Of God speaks for its. Cuz it's truth, right? God has not promised to bless Brother Tyler's words. He is not. My words are powerless in and of themselves. My words are not powerful. My words cannot change your life. My words cannot save you. But guess what? His word can right. That's why it's so powerful to give other people gospel tracks. Why? Because it preaches to them. When you're at home. Right. They read it and that is what changes them. You look at some great missionaries of faith and some great patriarchs of faith in latter years and early years of the of church history. And you see, many of them are saved come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ simply because they read the scriptures for themselves. They knew the truth to speak. It's the. The truth excuse. Me speaks for itself. So we see the preparation, but then we see the pivotal questions. Look what he asked. He says. How? How can I be saved? But then also he says in verse 34 I pray of whom speaketh. Speaketh thou? He's saying who is this man? Who is this man? That it is Speaking of, and that is the world's question, isn't it? Who is Jesus? Who is he? Is was he just a man? You know, all religions for the majority, for the most part, all religions. Hang on that one question. The answer to that one question. Who is Jesus? Some say that he is a man. He's a prophet. He's a great man. Some say that he's a man full of wisdom. He's a good man, but he wasn't God. Some people say he was the son of God, but others believed that he was not God the son. He was not God robed in flesh. He was not divine of a divine nature. The world has the question and wants to know the question. Who is Jesus? And Philip, I love this look at verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture. And what does it say? Next class and priest unto him? What is it? Jesus. And that was a little bit weak. Can you do a little bit better? Any priest? Wow, it was good. He preached unto him. Jesus. Hey, look at me. Look at me. Some of you. You. You're like I have questions. I don't know where to start. I knock on doors and. I'm like. I don't know where to go. I don't know how much is too much. Sometimes I just get talking because I'm nervous. I don't. I don't understand. I want to. Be a witness for Christ. But I I just don't know how. Look at me. Look at it. Do you realize that God gave you all the tools that you need to win other people to Christ? The moment you trusted him and. Savior he gave you literally everything that you need the moment you got saved. Why? Because he gave you Jesus. I love that Phillip, he says. He started from the same passage in Isaiah 53. He started from that same passage, and he preached unto him. Jesus, you're as Jesus. He's on every page of scripture. He's on every page, right. His name may not be there. The word God may not even be on the page of scripture, but Jesus is on every page. If you look hard enough. He is there. And Phillip, he starts in this in Isaiah 53, and he preaches unto him Jesus, he said, I don't know where to start. I don't know. Should I do ABC salvation admit, believe and call? Or should I do the Romans Rd. I I really don't know. Where to start? Hey, start with Jesus. Start with Jesus. You say? What does that mean? What is Jesus doing in your life right now? You realize that one of the greatest tools that you have in your tool bag of sharing your faith is not just a past testimony, but a present one. Many times if I was to say hey, stand up and tell me your testimony, many of you, you'd stand up and you'd give a testimony of how you got saved and when you were seven or when you were 13 or 20, some you got saved and you trusted Jesus and that's great. And that's your testimony. That's your story. But you realize a testimony, one of the greatest testimonies that you have, especially as far as witnessing. Is a present one, you say? What do you mean, brother Tyler? Somebody comes up to you and ask you. Hey. How are you doing today, you say? You know what I'm doing great. God has been so good. Let me tell you about it. Right there. Look at that. You just with a simple response you have just opened up an Ave. for the gospel. You have just opened up an Ave. of that person thinking about Jesus. Some of the greatest tools that you have is a present testimony. That's why I tell people all the time. We're the another great tool that you have in your tool. Tag as far as giving other people the gospel is a grateful heart because you know you go around, you go around at work, and most people at your work guess. What? Clocking clock out? Here we are again, hopefully Fridays coming, right? You may work with somebody like that. Hopefully you're you're not the one like that. I've been there, though. I have to be honest. I've totally been there. Absolutely. And you're at work, and there's some people there. They're not really happy to be there. They're they, man. They wish they were somewhere else and you come to work and the joy of the Lord is on your face. And people ever went around. People used to hate me at Chick-fil-A. They used to hate me when I worked in college. OK, I would get up at 3:30 in the morning, and I would work. Sometimes I would work and do truck in the morning. Our truck. Bless the Lord. It showed up at 4:30 in the morning, and we unloaded that thing. And that was that was a long day, usually, alright. And there'd be some days. OK? Not every day. Not every day. But there would be some days I'd come in. Alright. Here we go. You alive. Alert, awake, enthusiastic today. Come on, let's go. Let's unload this truck. And people hated me for it. They hated me for it, and probably rightfully so. I was a little bit annoying. I am a little bit annoying, but you know I and I was like alright, let's go and you know, I had someone ask me one day. I said someone asked me one. Day, they said. Why are you so happy? Why you just you're always smiling. You're always like your bad days are our good days. That's somebody tell me that. And I said, you know. I said I can't. Honestly, I can't honestly say I can't give credit to myself, I said. But I have joy because I know Jesus. He's everything. He's everything to me. And if I didn't have him, I'd be very sad. And you know what that is one of the. Greatest tools that you have. Is a grateful heart and a present testimony. Philip. And I'm almost almost done. The Ethiopian unit. He asks of. Whom? Who is this man that he's talking about? And Philip preaches to him. Jesus, we see there the plea of Jesus. If you don't know where to start. When in this thing of sharing your faith with other people. Talk about Jesus. How good has he been to you? Tell them how good God's been to you. Hey, you know what? Hey, I got something out of my devotions today. Let me tell you about it. And now you've just opened up the door for God to do a work in their lives. But then lastly, we see the pursuit of discipleship, you know, sharing our faith is a wonderful and a beautiful thing. It is completely a part of our purpose. But, you know, it's salvation and someone else's salvation. Witnessed them giving them the gospel. That's not just where it ends, it's where it starts. Because think about. It you are faithful in witnessing, you listen to the Holy Spirit and you give them the gospel and they get saved. Now what, right? Now what? We see the pursuit of discipleship. Philip. He in verse 36, the Bible says. And as they went on their way, they came into a certain water, and the eunuch said, see here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized. And Philip said, if thou believest with all that heart, thou mayest, and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ. Is the son of God. That's a powerful statement in it. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went both down into the water. Both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away. Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way. I love this. He went on his way rejoicing. We see the pursuit of discipleship. Philip didn't just stop there. This eunuch trusted Jesus. He believed that Jesus was the son of God. That conquer came to take away the sin of the world, and he did not stop there. He says. What does hinder me to be baptized? He said. All right, let's go. Let's baptize. And that's why I love it. The last several weeks we have been able, we've realized to be able to see Pastor baptized so many people. Why? That is the beginning, right? That's not the end. That's the beginning of every good thing that God has in store for their life. Right. Salvation starts the processed baptism. And we've said it in here before, but baptism is not a part of them getting saved. But it's saying, hey, this I've made a profession of faith and I am not ashamed of that. And this was a start. It's kind of saying, hey, here I am and I'm ready. To serve I'm. Ready to do what God wants me to do? We see his pursuit of discipleship, and you know, when you trust, when you witness to someone, and you give them the gospel and they trust Jesus Christ, you ought to continue to pursue them. Ought to you ought to continue. We have a wonderful and Nate and Ally do a wonderful job with it. Many of you with the discipleship program. How awesome was that? We gave away a couple of certificates week ago. Two weeks ago. That's so awesome. Discipleship is a part where we get to learn when someone gets to. They're a baby Christian, and they dive into the word of God. And they find out really why they're here and how they can serve the Lord. And that is the goal. It's not just to get other people say, but is to make other disciples. Because here's the thing. And here's the catch. If we continue, if we are faithful in giving the gospel, but we put no emphasis on discipleship, then who will fill? Our church in 50 years. If we get people saved, which is an amazing thing, if we get people saved, but we put absolutely no emphasis on discipleship, then who is the one that's going to be running the? Buses in 20 years. Who are who's? The one that's going to be singing. In the choir, right? We see his. Pursuit of discipleship. Discipleship is the gold disciples are the goal. And salvation is only the beginning. I love this statement and I'm done with this with by William Carey. He says this is not the Commission of our Lord, the Great Commission of giving the gospel is not the Commission. Of our Lord. Still binding us. Can we not do more than now? We are doing. Can we just do more? And I want to ask you tonight, who is the person that God has put in your life that he wants you to reach?