1 Corinthians 3:5–9: “What is Apollos really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work. We are co‑workers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

So we have different kinds of people here. We have God, who is the owner of the building. You have the building itself. You have the builders. And when it comes to the picture of the field, you have the worker in the field. Somebody is planting something; another person is watering. God has an aim, right? God is the owner, and He has Paul doing certain work, and He has Apollos doing some other work. And the aim is fruit‑bearing. The aim is to bear fruit. The aim is for growth to occur.

And there are plantings taking place and waterings taking place in this field all the time. When you look at the picture we have of the word of God, we have “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). We have water as the word of God in Ephesians 5, where Paul wrote that Christ is working to have for Himself a church without spot or wrinkle, and that He cleanses her “by the washing of water with the word” (Ephesians 5:26–27).

So it does not matter what you are doing; you are doing it through the instrument of the truth. You are using the instrument of the truth to do it—happening in different ways, through different avenues. But be clear, be sure about one thing: the sowing of the word is happening, and the watering is happening at the same time.

But we have a caution here—the possibility of the wrong kind of seed being sown. Jesus Christ warned, “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15). He warned His disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,” which is their teaching (Matthew 16:6, 12). He said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). That is a word of comfort. But Jesus Christ does not have any word of comfort for people who are exposed to the wrong teaching; He only has warning.

When you look at Paul, the last time he addressed the leaders of the church in Ephesus (Acts 20), he said that after he departed, “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock,” and “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30). And what did Jesus Christ say? “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). What are you afraid of in a wolf? You are afraid of the mouth—its words.

So you cannot say, “I am just going to pick and choose whatever I want from what that person is saying.” No. It has impact. Remember, Jesus Christ said that “the enemy… sowed tares among the wheat” (Matthew 13:25, 38–39). We are not just supposed to be concerned about having the right heart. After you have the right heart, is the right seed sown? That is the question. Otherwise, there will be consequences. There will be a harvest of that evil fruit in our lives, and it is not going to be palatable. It is not going to be pleasant at all.

So you need to watch out. That is why there are strong, sharp words against hearing the wrong message, against false teachers. My concern is the people who are exposing themselves on an ongoing basis—those of us who have been exposed on an ongoing basis—to the wrong kind of words.

If you are hearing the wrong kind of words, there will be the wrong kind of harvest.

God bless you. See you later.