God gives us things to be used for His glory. Good and faithful ones bring much results just doing little things. Dry bones come to life as new creations.
Matthew 26:16-25

Speaker: Thomas Schaller, Gary Groenewold
Date: 2026-10-21
Time: Wed 7:00 pm
Sermon #13226

P. Gary Groenewold –

(Testimonies from trips), I want to read this verse. I spoke a lot about the Body of Jesus Christ in Baku. And we’re talking about one Spirit and one Body, so we talked about the Holy Spirit a lot. But it’s really a privilege, the Body of Jesus Christ, which was born out of the side of Jesus Christ. Okay. And he is the Head. He is the Head and we are individual members connected to him.

 

This is where we belong. This is where you could say, this is the covering that we have in our life. This is our refuge. This is the place here, this is place where we sense our victory. This is the place where Satan is our footstool. It really is. We are not meant to be alone. God told – it’s not good for you to be alone. 

 

He gave, he gave Adam a wife and God, we are the Bride of Jesus Christ and we belong to God. This is such a mystery. Paul speaks about this mystery in Ephesians 3. It’s like something that man did not conceive of, but we have this revelation and we know about the Body of Jesus Christ. It’s something very special.

 

I was thinking Wednesday night is a secret in our life. I was thinking about it as we were standing over there. Has anyone ever gone to bed and not slept? Has anyone ever? It’s a little bit frustrating. Like you didn’t get done what you’re supposed to get done. You’re supposed to get done. 

 

You know, when we go to church and we don’t concentrate, it’s like going to bed and not sleeping. You don’t get done what you’re supposed to get done. When you go to church, you concentrate. This has been on my thinking and corporate faith. The way that we actually think and the way we filter out distractions. Because it’s like the way we participate in service is the way that we actually live in life. We’re actually training to think with God when we go out these doors.

 

But this is what it says in Ephesians 4. It speaks about the moral condition of the Gentiles. Paul is sandwiching this in between. He’s talking about every joint supplying. He’s talking about the Body of Christ being one. Okay. One Lord, one Spirit. he’s talking about leaders like edifying the church. That’s what the church is for. 

 

We’re to edify each other. Build each other up. Encourage each other. Not look at faults. Live in love. This is what he’s saying. I want you guys to understand the depth of God’s love. It’s like the deepest part of God’s love he wants us to understand that. And that’s in the Body of Jesus Christ, in the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. 

 

This is that mystical, that mystical, mystical thing that we actually perceive and we participate with our full life inside of. Does anybody see the Body of Christ? We do. We have eyes that have been open to actually see that. This is, this is, this is discerning the Body of Jesus Christ. And if we don’t discern the Body of Jesus Christ properly, there’s a sickness that comes into our soul. That’s what happens.

 

But when we have a revelation of the Body of Jesus Christ, a life comes into our bones like Ezekiel chapter 37. Can these dry bones live? Can they live? It’s like, you know, he’s asking the prophet. Inconceivable naturally. Inconceivable naturally. Can this man be spiritual? Inconceivable. I don’t even know what that means.

 

Wait. Can this person be inside of the Body of Jesus Christ. I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know what it means. He said, but, prophesy, speak to the word and that’s the way we’re living. We’re living by faith. Faith comes by hearing and what happens? We start to prophesy. We let God speak on these bones and they actually live.

 

Look at these Gentiles. This I say of vs. 17 of chapter 4. Vs. 17. Imagine, imagine the world, imagine living in this world and my mind being neutralized by demonic forces. Can that happen? Absolutely. Absolutely. Demonic forces can neutralize my mind, so I don’t live by faith. I don’t see the things of God. Okay. I don’t see the things. I don’t see the mysteries of God. It neutralizes my mind. That’s what Satan wants to do. 

 

He doesn’t want me to, he doesn’t want my mind to be spoken to through the Word of God and actually live. That’s what he’s saying. That’s how we used to live. And Paul is saying I don’t want you to live like that. I want you to live inside of the Body of Jesus Christ where you could say you’re energized. You have this anointing or you have this spiritual life. You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Teaching you all things. The Spirit of truth setting you free. That’s the desire of God. 

 

He doesn’t want us to live like this. Look. Having your understanding darkened. That means you have no ability to actually apply the victory that God wants you to have in your life. Your understanding, your understanding doesn’t have an ability to have apply the wisdom that you actually know. It’s darkened. 

 

Vs. 18. It says being alienated. Not functioning inside of – what does it say here? Vs. 18. What a description of man. Alienated from God. A blind heart. And their mind, in their mind they’re distracted. The demons are distracting them from things of God. 

 

We’ve escaped that corruption that’s in the world. We’ve been born again. We’re children of God. That’s what Paul is saying. And I placed you inside of that Body. And when you live inside of that Body, you know what? All of these curses, these effects of the world, we’ve escaped them, and we’re living inside of the Body of Jesus Christ. Okay.

 

Then he says this, vs. 23. That’s why we’re here. I want some dead bones to live in my life. Ezekiel 37, it’s not just personal. Because what does he do? He raises up an army. He raises up an army. It’s not just individual living. It’s a picture of the Body of Jesus Christ. We get raised up and we’re inside the Body of Jesus Christ. 

 

Our minds are renewed, that’s what he’s talking about here. You put on this new man, and we love talking about the new man. The new man. This is the resurrected, this is the person who has been baptized into Jesus Christ’s death and he’s raised to life. He’s raised to life.

 

Picture that in our minds. Separated from the old. Vs. 24b. We learned that on Sunday morning, where there’s righteousness and then peace. There’s, there’s the wrath of God but we’re separated from it. It’s like God has to do things justly. We’re the people where justice has acted upon us properly. We’re justified by faith. What happens? We have peace with God. That’s what he’s saying here. 

 

And now, we’ve been justified. We’re righteous. And what do we have? We’re holy. We’re holy people. We’re pure. This is, this is God’s beautiful purpose for our lives, and Paul in his prayer in chapter 3, it’s a corporate prayer. He’s on his knees and he’s praying for people that they would see this corporate vision in their life.

 

This is, this is discerning the Body of Jesus Christ and when we’re functioning like this, we really make like we saw today, tonight, we saw we make an impact in the world. Love edifies. We live in a church that is edifying itself in love. We are edifying ourselves in love. We’re edifying ourselves in love. This is the way we actually live. 

 

There’s no other way to live on this earth. There’s no other way. I could give you all the negatives, but we’re not going to talk about those. But we edify ourselves in love. We edify ourselves in love. We edify. What are you doing? No, no, no. I’m going to edify, I’m going to edify ourselves in love. I’m going to edify ourselves in love. 

 

It’s just like, it’s the only thing we know how to do.  And what do we do? We grow up in him and we’re this incredible Body of Jesus Christ that speaks the finished work of Jesus Christ like P. Wright talked about. Amen. Okay. 

*****

Schaller – Okay. Just for a few minutes I want to share a word. Thank you, P. Gary. Wow. Good word, huh? Wow. Excellent. Turn to Matthew 25:14-15, so this parable, you have people that are different from each other. They have different abilities, and the leader, the head of the household, called them and he gave one five, another two and to another one. And then he said, vs. 16. What did he say? Occupy till I come is in Luke 19. Here he, vs. 17-23.

 

Do you believe that in this lifetime I have some accountability or responsibility to God

for what God has given me. Do you believe that God has given you so much in this life by way of your physical ability, maybe by way of your heart, passion, your desires. By way of love. By way of the Holy Spirit being in my life and that the Spirit of God in my life is moving me and using my talents. 

 

I think you do. I think that what we are living in today in our world is a result of a lot of other people that have used their talents. Five talents gained five more. They are rewarded in heaven but we are also blessed on the earth. 

 

And we could say this ministry had its beginning with people that had one talent or two. Maybe five. And then an increase that came from God and then we follow in the pattern. And we have no other foundation to build upon except Christ and no other way of thinking other than what the Holy Spirit shows us in the Bible. And that we learn to talk to people by faith. We learn to pray prayers. 

 

When I first came into the ministry years ago, P. Stevens had an early morning prayer meeting at five in the morning, and that was really early for me. But they did it. And they did it for years. And that he always said later that what God had given to us in the ministry was the result of just being faithful in little things. 

 

Cuz many times in your life you’re going to be at a place in your life and you don’t know how many talents you have, what exactly it means, how to invest in them, where is this going, what will it mean? I will only know in heaven maybe. I will only know in heaven. And of course, we are rejoicing in all of our brothers and sisters in this church that are stepping into heaven to receive these words, Well done thy good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over, – you’ve been faithful with a little. Now, you receive much. Wow. 

 

You have a little. Time is a gift. How much time do we have? I don’t know but we can use the time. Redeem the time. Be wise with our time. And I see the activity in the church like that. 

 

The guys that meet for breakfast. The ladies that meet for Bible studies. The teachers at the Bible college. The leaders of the departments. These are amazing group of people. But they started with two talents, maybe one. And it’s doubled. And they use the two and they live for some years using the two and then suddenly they realize they are motivated for something more and now they have four. And they have four talents and their life is getting bigger. 

 

Their feeling of joy and peace and their sense of purpose. Their life is getting bigger. But they started very small, very, very small. Even overlooked. Maybe even not recognized. A wall flower on the wall. But keep your eye if God’s hand is on that person. If God is rewarding them with more talents. If God is giving them long life. If God is giving them wisdom and care in their hearts for people. God has blessed them with peace, blessed them with love in their heart and we see a lot of that. 

 

In a healthy church, we are saying in our hearts I don’t have much but what I have I can use it. And as I use it, I come back with joy. We find ourselves and the motivation that happens in life, this is a big mystery with the world and the psychologists and everybody that wants to know how to motivate people. 

 

How can you get the unemployed to get a job? How can you get the people that are hurt in life to be healed and motivated? How can you change somebody’s life from being life, it just seems like they are losing all the time. They’re losing their strength. They’re losing their desire. They’re losing their love. They’re losing their peace. They’re losing happiness. It seems like they get older and they’re just losing all the time. How can you reverse that? 

 

This is amazing. You take what you have and you say, Lord, thank you for the two talents or the one talent. Thank you. Then he’s going to come back and say what did you do with it? And you’re going to say I invested it. I was an investor. I gave it away. I gave it to the bank because they had four percent interest. I gave it to my neighbor because I didn’t know where it would end up but my neighbor became my friend. 

 

Or I came to the church and there I just sat and I was in a shower, a spiritual shower of spiritual blessing and in my heart, I had one talent and that was to sit in the back row. And in my heart, I gave my heart, that one talent, I gave it to God, and then God gave me another one. Now I have two. 

 

And I’m beginning to learn that if I live by faith in God, if God has given me two talents and I live by faith in God and I just look to God and I’m beginning to listen to God, receive from God, trust God, and bring God into my everyday life. And I can lift up my eyes and I can see somebody who’s without a friend. And I can learn their name. I can go and sit next to them. And I can listen to them.

 

I always remember in Finland this woman came late to the meeting for years and she left early. And I said to our team what is up with that woman? Why is she doing that? They said, She’s not social. She doesn’t want to see anybody or talk to anybody. Then why does she come? And the answer was because she wants to hear the message. 

 

And then after some years, she starts to move up front and sit there and talk to people and listen to people. I would like people to find our church. I would like them to find Christ, of course. But they may not find Christ but they come to our church and they may find Christ because Christ is manifested in the church. Because we have talents that are being invested in our world of faith. 

 

And I think that you can say to somebody – I did actually at a Walmart. I was kind of radical. I said, I said, hey! Are you looking for a church? And the guy looks at me twice. Yes, I am. I told him to come here. I don’t know if he did but – yes, I am. I’m looking for a church. Okay.

 

Bring them, Lord. Because we are dying. We are going to get our rewards. We are passing on. The next generation, the next leaders, the next group of preachers, the next young people. But young people also need to hear this message. You take your talents and you invest them for God and God will take care of you.

 

You take your talents and you invest them for God. You don’t need to go out there and find a boyfriend. You take your talents and use them and invest them and God will take care of you. You will get talents and no boyfriend. Maybe you get a boyfriend. Maybe you don’t. I don’t know. I’m not promising you that. But I am promising you talents. I am telling you that he will double them. That God will take care of you. You’ll end up being somebody that you wouldn’t be cuz you buried your talent and that’s in the parable. 

 

The man that had one talent was afraid of losing it, so he buried it in the back yard behind the dog house. There’s a talent buried there. So, he comes back. What did you do with it? I didn’t do anything – I buried it in the ground. Not good. You are a wicked and slothful person. Where is that in the Scripture. Vs. 26-27. 

 

I mean minimally you should have just put it in the bank and got 1% interest. You should have done something. One percent interest or something but you didn’t. So, let’s put that aside for a minute and finish here.

 

I love – I’ve been thinking about it for young people. I so much, I so much love the young people that are listening and learning. Our prayers are that on the Holy Spirit with young people will discover it’s the greatest thing to find Christ. To find Christ in the church. 

 

Your best friend may not want it but you do. Somebody in the crowd may not care about it but you do. You keep your focus on the fact that God has given you something and he wants you to use it. And you can use it in your life. And you can use your time to draw near and you can use your mouth to share and say I love you. And learn how to encourage. 

 

One man said to me, P. Schaller, what was the word he used? He goes, You are awesome! I don’t know. He said something like that. I should remember the word. That’s the point of the illustration. You are incredible. You are awesome. I’m like shocked. I needed it. I liked it. Say it again. I needed it. I enjoy it. 

 

What are we saying? You have the power to bless. You have the power to edify. You have talents. You have a life to live. You don’t know where your life will end up, but I believe many of us, many of you, many of us as a group, we could say, wow! I don’t know where all of this is coming from but I am deeply encouraged. I feel like if Goliath was in the neighborhood, he’d be afraid of me. He’d be afraid of us. 

 

I feel we got a sling shot and we got God and God has taught us to trust him. God has taught us in warfare. God has taught us to go by faith and also he has taught us to lead. He has taught us to lead others. Help others find. Help others get on with it. Get moving in faith. God uses you and your talents, whatever they are. 

 

Now, listen to this. The guy that got five, he has five and he has five more. How many does he have? Ten. The guy that buried the one behind the dog house, what did the master do? Go get that talent and I’m going to give it to the guy that’s now got 10. How many does he got now? Ten plus one is what? Eleven. He’s got eleven.

 

That’s not fair. That’s just straight up not fair. No, with God that’s how it is. To him that has, more shall be given. And to him that hears more, he will hear. To him that hears, more is given, Mark 4. And if you could exercise yourself in this clarity.

 

Now I’ve spent – I wasn’t to finish up here but – I have spent – have you ever had dog days going on in your life? Nothing going on. Dog days. Have you ever had a dull period? Nothing happening. Like just shut down? Close down. Shut the door to your house. Shut down.  I don’t want to see anybody, talk to anybody. I want to be by myself. I want a good old-fashioned depression. That’s what I want.

 

One brother said that one time in the Bible college. P. Phil told me. What do you miss about – being saved, I just can’t have a good old-fashioned depression anymore. I miss that. I’d like to have a good old-fashioned depression. You can’t cuz you got talents to invest. You got something to do. You got something to give. You got somebody to invest in. 

 

You got a prayer to pray. You got a world to reach. You got the Christ to follow. You got a message that resonates in your heart. You have grace to give out. You have a party to have, a joy to have, tears to shed. You have a life to live. You have talents and it might be, I don’t want to go too far into the parable, but it might be that that man with eleven talents now might end up with 22. It doesn’t say that but I’m just saying. 

 

I don’t know what your life will be and what my life will be. But I am suggesting by way of encouragement, if we take the little that I have and I learn how to live by life with what God has given me and take that to the bank, the spiritual bank of God, and say here it is. I am here. I am available. Do your work.

 

God is saying follow me. I want you to honor me. I want you to be submitted to me. I want you to be Spirit filled. I want you to be thankful. I want you to not grieve the Spirit. I want you to rejoice always. I want you to be simple hearted but wise. I want you to learn the Bible. 

 

I want you to love your brother and sister. I want you to learn about forgiveness. And I want you to rejoice all the time and I’m going to take care of you. And you’re going to have bad times. You’re going to fall and fail and withdraw and depart and live there like pouting like Jonah just pouting for a while. 

 

God said, how’s it going being angry and Jonah’s like, leave me alone.  You’ll have that but then you’ll go the church or you’ll have a brother or a sister or you’ll read a Scripture and you’ll begin to learn what it is to live by faith. Okay. Yeah. Think about it. it’s good. It is. It’s good. Yeah. All right. Pray with me. (Prayer).

*****

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