Look at first Corinthians chapter three, the last place I want to turn tonight.
First Corinthians chapter number three.
First Corinthians three, I want this to really hit home tonight because I want
to back up what I said a moment ago when I said, if we don't do it, no one will.
That's what I want to back up right now.
I have plenty of people doing it.
I'm going to back that up right now that if we don't do it, no one will in a couple
different ways.
But look at first Corinthians three, four, it says, for while one sayeth I am of Paul
and another I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?
Who then is Paul?
And who is Apollos?
And this is the key.
But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.
So then, verse six, I planted Apollos water, but God gave the increase.
So then neither he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth
the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor.
Hey, look at me tonight.
I'm not much, you know, who's Steven Anderson tonight?
Who's Roger Ximenez?
Who are we?
We're nobody.
But you know what?
We're ministers by whom others can believe.
He said it doesn't matter whether it's him or me or whoever, you know, we can be used
by God.
What I think he's trying to say there when he says who is Paul, who is Paul?
I think he's just saying, you know, I'm not any different than you are.
You know, you think I'm just some special, you know, he's some special person.
You know, hey, we were doing this when we were teenagers.
I was taking him out soul winning.
You know, when he was 16 years old, I showed him the ropes.
I was taking him out soul winning.
We were out doing this and you know, nobody looked at us in those days and I don't think
anybody even looks at us now, you know, and thinks that we're anybody special
or anybody.
Oh wow, you know, wow, you know, brother Jimenez has left the building.
You know, the bottom line is, hey, it's just, we're just people who are laborers, just
work.
You know, we just want to get people saved.
And look at this.
It says ministers by whom he believed him as the Lord gave their man.
I'm not going to turn there, but in second Corinthians five, it talks about how, you
know, God has committed on us the ministry of reconciliation.
We beg people to be reconciled to God, to believe on Jesus Christ, to be justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
But the Bible says here, ministers by whom he believed him as God gave every man.
Now stop and think about that.
Did God give every man a minister by whom they might believe according to that verse?
Is that what it says?
Slow down tonight and let's just stop and look at this verse.
Who then is Paul, verse five, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man?
Am I reading that wrong?
Or did God give every man ministers by whom they might believe?
Amen.
That's right.
Yeah, sure.
You know, somebody preached me the gospel, you know.
I remember, and I'm sure I heard the gospel many times because I grew up in an
independent fundamental Baptist church.
I remember just right at the time that I got saved, though, as a six-year-old boy,
you know, my mother was the one who opened the Bible unto me and showed me John 5.24.
Verily, verily I say to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death
unto life.
And she showed me a lot of other scriptures and I, you know, right there called upon
the name of the Lord, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, received Christ as my
Savior.
You know, I can look to my mom and say, you know what, that was a minister by whom
I believed.
A minister just means a servant, you know, somebody's serving God, somebody's
preaching to God.
You know, you could stand up tonight and say, you know, hey, this is who gave me
the gospel, you know, and somebody knocked on my door, you know, or somebody, you
know, took me aside at church or whatever, you know, and gave me the gospel and
wanted me to Christ.
And basically, everybody who got saved, you know, somebody had to give them the
gospel, you know, how shall they hear without a preacher, you know.
And the Ethiopian eunuch, man, he was reading the Bible over and over again.
He didn't get it and he said, you know, how can I accept some man should
guide me?
And he needed Philip to be that minister by whom he might believe.
But let me ask you something.
I know God gave every man a minister by whom they might believe, but does every
person in this world hear a clear presentation of the gospel?
No.
Has every person in Sacramento, California heard a clear presentation of the gospel?
No.
So that tells me that God's got a plan for you to go talk to somebody and
you're not doing it.
You're that minister by whom so and so might believe, but you're not there.
You're not doing it.
You have failed to reach those who see the Bible says, for by grace are you
saved through faith and not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast for we are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them.
He has works ordained that we might walk in those works and do those works, but you
know what?
We should walk in them, but do we always walk in them?
No.
And they lose when the gospel is hid under their law.
And if we don't do it, nobody will.