The purpose of this website is to provide free sermon manuscripts and sermon videos to pastors and missionaries throughout the world, especially the Third World, where there are few if any theological seminaries or Bible schools.

These sermon manuscripts and videos now go out to about 1,500,000 computers in over 221 countries every year at www.sermonsfortheworld.com. Hundreds of others watch the videos on YouTube, but they soon leave YouTube and come to our website. YouTube feeds people to our website. The sermon manuscripts are given in 46 languages to about 120,000 computers each month. The sermon manuscripts are not copyrighted, so preachers can use them without our permission. Please click here to learn how you can make a monthly donation to help us in this great work of preaching the Gospel to the whole world.

Whenever you write to Dr. Hymers always tell him what country you live in, or he cannot answer you. Dr. Hymers’ e-mail is rlhymersjr@sbcglobal.net.

All glory to God for advancing Christ’s kingdom on the earth, and in our church! Because it’s through His power and His blessing alone that any good is done. He has done great things in our church. He is doing great things in our church. And we have many, many reasons to praise and thank God!

And we read in the words of the Apostle Paul the usual method that God brings His blessing to the church,

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (I Corinthians 3:6).

God works in the church by using people. He used Paul and Apollos. And in our church He uses you and me. What a great privilege and blessing to be used by God!

Like the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul pictures the conversion of the lost through farming. Christ’s parable of the sower spoke of the conversion of an individual. Paul applies it to winning souls and discipling them in the local church. Paul planted and Apollos watered. But any growth at all requires God to give the increase in His blessing. Paul planted a church by conversions through preaching the Gospel. And Apollos watered the church by building up the Christians. That’s teamwork! Both are important and essential. Yet any results from their work depended entirely on God. The same is true of our work in the local church. Any fruit, any good from it depends completely on God’s blessing.

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (I Corinthians 3:6).

We are not great like Paul or Apollos. We are ordinary Christians living in the days of the great apostasy. But that doesn’t stop God from using us. Paul wrote,

“Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (I Corinthians 3:7).

The truth is no one including Paul and Apollos are really anything. It is God that gives the increase Who is everything! It is He who makes what we do fruitful and productive. And without Him we can do nothing! We can labor faithfully and very hard, but if God doesn’t bless it, no good will come of it. But that doesn’t mean our work is unimportant. No, it is very important. Because if Paul didn’t plant, and Apollos didn’t water, then God would not have given the increase. There would have been no work for God to bless. And the church would not have grown. Then Paul wrote,

“We are labourers together with God” (I Corinthians 3:9).

By ourselves we are not anything. We are nothing. But if we labor together with God we can do anything! We can build our church! It is God’s purpose to use us to wins souls and disciple them. By ourselves we are useless. But when we partner with God, we can do great things for Him in building our church!

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

The Apostle Paul had the job of planting. Apollos had the job of watering. Each had their job, and they did it faithfully. And it is because they did their job that God gave the increase of His blessing.

Our pastor, Dr. Hymers, has planted this church. And we thank God for using him and blessing his labors. We would not be here if our pastor was not faithful in doing his job. And our pastor continues to be faithful in doing his job. But our pastor is just one person. He cannot do everything in our church. He is depending upon us. And he is especially depending upon you young people! All of us can’t preach the Gospel and plant a church. But what about Apollos’ job of watering the church? Who can do that?

Apollos came to the church at Ephesus. And the Bible said,

“When he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace” (Acts 18: 27).

Apollos had a great effect on the Christians at Ephesus. He had “helped them much.” He was a great helper to the new people there. This is how he watered the church, by helping them, by discipling them. And this is something all of us can do. We can’t do the work of Paul in planting, but we can all be a help to the new people. Like Apollos we can disciple them. We do this by getting to know them, by being their friend. We take the new people to evangelism and teach them how to talk to people and get their name and number. We introduce them to a brand new life in Christ. We share with them how great it is to be a Christian and receive blessings from God. We pray that God would help them through all their struggles in life. We pray for their conversion. We pray that they would develop into good disciples and good soldiers for Jesus Christ.

All of us can do the work of Apollos in helping and discipling the new people. This requires teamwork. And it is especially important for you converted young people to do this. You are in the same generation as our new people. And they are much more likely to model after you. You can have a great effect upon them in bringing them into our church.

But Apollos was also a preacher. The Bible said that he was “an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures…being fervent [hot] in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord” (Acts 18:24, 25). Who will preach after our pastor is gone? May one of the young men be on fire for Christ! And like Apollos stand up with great courage and preach the Gospel! And may God train up another young man to be a deacon candidate to stand alongside the preacher to lead our young people! Do it! Do it! Be a leader of our team!

And what about the other members of the church at Ephesus? Was there no work for them to do other than planting and watering? Of course, there was. There was the work of evangelism. Someone had to bring people into the church so that Paul could preach to them and Apollos could disciple them. And our main work is evangelism by making disciples of all nations. Let’s all do it with great zeal! Let us have great teamwork in our evangelism. This is not something that just a few people should do. Evangelism is something all of us can and need to do! During our fall harvest we need everyone to go out and do evangelism. Christ said,

“The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2).

The harvest of young people is great. There are many, many students and college-age guys and girls out there in the college campuses, malls, and streets. But our laborers are relatively few to harvest them, to bring them in. More of you can go out to evangelism to get more names. Christ told us to pray for more laborers to be sent forth into his harvest. We are praying for some of you to become a laborer. Go out and join our team in soul winning! If you’re already doing evangelism, become a better and more zealous laborer. Go out to evangelism and bring in names and numbers. Do it! Do it! Let’s all do it! It takes teamwork to build our church. Make sure you’re part of the team!

The fall harvest is coming soon. But don’t wait until then. Go out now! Let us be faithful in evangelism! Let us be faithful in discipling and taking care and loving the new people. If you’re here tonight, you are not a new person. Be part of our team in doing evangelism, bringing in names and numbers. Let us have teamwork in the work as we look to God to add the increase of His blessings.

And then Paul wrote,

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

We have different jobs in the church. Our Pastor preaches and leads our church. The Deacons assist our pastor. Some of the men work in the inquiry room. The phoners phone, and the drivers drive. Many of us have different jobs. But all of us have just one purpose. And that is to build up our church through conversions and making disciples. We all work as a team for this one common goal. In the world people act as individuals seeking their own profit. But true Christians have just one main goal in life. And that is to please Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote,

“For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's” (Philippians 2:21).

The world’s attitude is for them to seek their own glory. And lost men never give God the glory for any of their achievements. Let that never be true of us. If secular success is achieved through the blessings of God, how much more is our spiritual success! Let this thought both humble us and encourage us to be faithful in our service. Let us give glory to God for great things He has done! Let us thank God for giving us the strength to do what little we have done.

We as a church work as a team to please Christ. We all work as a team to bring the lost into our church. We all work as a team to love and disciple them. We can do things as a team that we can’t do alone. The Bible said,

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

Christ gave us the example of teamwork by sending out His disciples “two and two” (Mark 6:7). And teamwork is clearly seen in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. He never minstered or traveled alone. We read that that he was with either Barnabus, Luke, Silas, or Timothy all the time. And just like Paul with his brethren, our church is a team. The great evangelist John Wesley said, “There is nothing more unchristian than a solitary christian.” Let us all work as team for the one purpose of building our church to the glory of God!

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

I have found it a great joy in serving Christ alongside my brothers and sisters in the church. Because we have great fellowship as we work together in a team. The Psalmist wrote,

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

In our fellowship and in our work we dwell or stay together in unity, as one. It is a joy to do so. And working in a team will also strengthen you. The Bible said,

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17).

The Thirty-nine became solid gold through the furnace of afflictions during the church split. But we also became strong as iron by encouraging and strengthening each another. We were “iron [that] sharpened iron.” As we worked together as a team, we became strong. That’s how our church could produce Christians like Mrs. Salazar, Mrs. Hymers, Dr. Cagan, and Mr. Griffith. And, young people, if you stick together as a team in working for Christ, you will become strong, too.

When I feel weak and discouraged, I look at our young people who are active in the work. This encourages and strengthens me. I look at the young people, and I am excited about the future of our church. We were young people once. But we aren’t young people anymore. God has added the increase of His blessings upon our labor so we were able to save our church building. And God will add the increase to your labors so that you can save our church. Only be faithful, zealous, and work as a team, and God will bless.

We are behind you young people! We are cheering you on! Because you are the future of our church. Our hopes and dreams for our church continue to live through you. We are your mentors. We are your guides. But you must bring the young people in. You must preach to them. You must disciple them. With God’s blessing upon your labors you will build our church. The work will not be easy. But working together as a team makes it a whole lot easier. And God will not forget what you have done for Him. He will reward you. He will reward all of us as we work together. Amen!

(END OF SERMON)
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