Intimacy with God brings virtue from Him. If we have God, we have everything. Moses met God. The woman with issue of blood reached and got to God to become whole. Things are said to us that we do not like. Still, He is with us, trust Him. (Matthew 9:20-22; Exodus 3:11, 13; 4:1. 10-16)

Speaker: Thomas Schaller
Date: 2023-05-03
Time: Wed 7:00pm

P. Schaller –

What is going on? Is that on purpose? Well, praise the Lord! Amen. Matthew – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Calibrations are
important. Praise the Lord. Now, we’re getting it. Thank you, Lord. What a beautiful worship.
Great to be back home. Great to be here. Yes, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. (Prayer). We
decided that we’re going to have – does the sound disturb you? Guys, is it okay? The sound is
okay? I don’t want it to distract us. It’s a little different for me.

Thanks for your prayers. We were at our grandson’s wedding, and we did that wedding in
Hawaii. And what a blessing. We visited. Also, we did family. We had a big family event in our
family. The Odahara family joined with Hannah’s family and we met a lot of people. Then, we
were of course swimming at the beach and that kind of thing. We had morning meetings. We did
a little hiking around. A few of us went to Youth with a Mission on that island. We had a talk with
a receptionist, and just always such a joy to meet Christians wherever you go. We have the
same spirit. That work, Youth with a Mission, is a blessing. And actually, Loren Cunningham who
is the founder of that organization, I was with him in Chile. We both were speakers. He was the
main speaker, and I got to be with him in the pulpit. I did the beginning of it with Phil Strauss
arranged that many years ago, if you remember that back in the 80’s.

Anyway, Hawaii is a Christian place with hundreds of years of Christianity where the native
people previously were war-like people between the islands, warring with each other. Also,
practicing idolatry and cannibalism as well. But the missionaries did a great job there a couple
hundred years ago. It’s a great story on missions. And today, just about every Hawaiian native
has a grandparent this is a Christian. And they had a queen, a tribal queen, who is the queen of
the whole group of Hawaiian people, the natives. She was a dedicated, born again Christian
who was – a great story that we heard about when we were there. I just love to hear about
these works of grace and what God does in the hearts of people around the world. Wherever
you go, there is a work of God that has happened.

And then I heard about the University of Oklahoma, I think, that there’s revival going on here in
the states in Oklahoma at a university with 60,000 people. Something like that. Coming together
and God moving in our country. Come on! Isn’t that good to hear? It’s amazing to think about it.
So, I want to speak tonight for a short time – maybe it’s short – on the word “intimacy.” Our
Convention this year here in June, “Discovering God.” This is our theme for our Convention,
“Discovering God.” Isn’t it good? Intimacy. I have two short, simple words on it.

Turn to Matthew 9, please. Dr. Stevens in one of his booklets writes, “the woman in Matthew 9:20-22 was
desperate. Ostracized from the community because of her disease. She had never met Jesus.
Yet she believed that if she could just get to him, he would heal her. “ Isn’t that beautiful? If I
could just get to Jesus, he could heal me.

Here’s our diagram. I think we’ll go to it right away here as we read this. Here is an object that
you can touch. I’ll just say like this. You can touch the object. This is how many people think
about their faith. They touch their faith. They touch the doctrine. They touch the teaching. They
have teaching about their Christianity and their belief. They have belief but are they touching.
Are they really touching as this woman in the story goes. This would be more this way into the
center. This is what intimacy is about. Just a simple picture.

I touch you. Hello. How are you? Nice to see you. Good bye. God bless you. And that’s part of
life. That’s good. That’s being friendly. That’s normal. That’s social. That’s socially acceptable.
That’s a good thing. But I can also read my Bible in a similar way.

So, let me read this. “With just a touch of his garment in the midst of the crowd, healing virtue
went out of him. Jesus turned, looked at her and said “daughter, take comfort. Your faith has
made you whole.”

“Few believers really understand healing. They pray. They are sincere. But so much more is
involved. Consider it. If that woman had not touched the hem of his garment, would she have
been healed? If Peter had not honored Jesus Christ when he bid him to come on the water,
would he have walked on the water in Matthew 14? I believe God wants to move and work and show
us how deeply he loves us. He is responsible for his children. You are his daughter. You are his
son. He loves you dearly, and he wants his grace to bless you freely. I believe that as we place
our faith in that kind of God, virtue will go out of him as it did toward that woman with the issue
of blood. A blessing will come into our souls as we touch him with our trust in absolute faith.”
Okay. Go to Matthew 9:20-22 as an introduction here. We’ll leave it at that.

That’s the story. So, this is our subject tonight. In the story, I would like to say to us in our worship tonight that is the virtue that comes to Jesus only for this woman or is it for us today? Does virtue come from God to us
today? Is the Holy Spirit filling us or Holy Spirit touching our inner man? If it doesn’t happen, if
the Spirit of God, the nature of God doesn’t touch us and I think we become more like this top
line here. I’ll just put here this word “silly dove” from Hosea 7. I believe it’s vs. 7. Because God
said to the Jews that you are like a silly dove. And that just metaphor kind of resonates with me
in my heart of how a bird like a dove can be caught. You can catch a dove.

Actually, my granddaughter, Mika, caught a pigeon in Finland in the park on purpose to give as
a birthday present to her boyfriend who later became her husband. Cause he said I got to marry
the woman that could catch a bird and give it to me as a birthday present. And she did that. Like
when they were first dating. Can you catch a dove? Can you catch it and destroy it? Is a dove
moving from one low elevation – a garage – to a telephone wire and then on the ground. Is the
dove know what it’s doing? It’s kind of like, you know, we flit around. I don’t know the verb but
not focused. Not serious. Not a predator but a prey. Not powerful but weak. A silly dove.

My people are like a silly dove. I see it in my heart, in my life. I saw homeless people in Hawaii
who went there for the paradise, but it’s not a paradise. You bring with you everything that you
are. And what I am is the result of only touching the Christian faith. Only touching it. Not finding
it. Not processing it. Not embracing it. Not worshipping God. Not seeking it. Not discovering it.
And so, I’m vulnerable. I’m vulnerable in mistakes I make and things I do.

Here’s another point. We’ll finish with this. Watch. This circle is God and this circle is the
world…this is what happens. I touch God and then I dive into the world. I can’t escape the world.
It catches me. How do I escape gambling? How do I escape loneliness? How do I escape
prostitution or adultery? How do I escape thievery or jealousy or covetousness? Or cursing or
swearing or judging or being self-righteous? How do I escape it? I can’t.

Cause if I am only believing in the Bible somehow or believing in the Christian life some way, but
there’s no intimacy. There’s no intimacy in my heart, in my life with God. I know we all know this
and we desire it. Everybody would like to be like that woman who was bleeding with the issue of
blood and finding Jesus and the thing is over. Virtue came from God to her and it’s over.
Everybody wants that.

And so, in the message I want to speak about it and how that can happen in your life. Cause if it
doesn’t happen, I’m concerned for you and me. I’m concerned. If you don’t have intimacy in your
fellowship with God in some reality that touches your spirit and your heart, then you and I can
easily become idolatrous. This is the whole thing. In other words, if I don’t have God, I become
an idolater. Look at this. If I have God, I avoid the idolatry. If I have God, you cannot satisfy me.
There’s nothing on this earth that will satisfy me. If I have God, I have what satisfies and I can
walk past the temptations. I’m not a perfect man or woman. We are not. I’m not saying that, but
we have some sense of freedom. Freedom. Because Christ gives you freedom. The world does
not give you freedom.

Listen. Are there any people here that are men-pleasers? You’re a men-pleaser. Let me help
you. I am. Okay. That’s my temperment. That’s my weakness. I please people. Isn’t that funny.
I’m a pastor. It kind of like to help people or serve people or please people. It’s kind of like my

tempermant. It’s idolatry. It’s idolatry to be a men-pleaser. How can I escape pleasing men? To
find God. When I find God, I don’t care about what men or women think of me. That’s the idea,
the principle. I’m sorry. It’s sounding like myself. I am talking about it, but I’m not caring about,
I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about you and me. But this is
about you and me.

You might say I’m a good Christian and I’m pleasing people and I’m accepted in the community.
And boy, that means a lot to me. I’m accepted in the community, and I got a circle of people
around me that love me and care about me. And everything is going great.
Careful cause God’s not like that. In one sense he is, but just to be simple. Careful. We have a
sin nature, and you could be in the world in a good way but you’re not pleasing God. God is
different from the world, and he’s not a men pleaser. He is a prophet. He is a Savior. He is the
messenger. He is the living God. He is a holy God. The only answer to any of us in any of this is
a relationship with God that is intimate. Okay. Do you follow that with me? That’s it. I’m done for
the first part. The second part is two hours long!

Okay. Would you think about it with me. I think I hit a nerve. I think we’re good in what we’re
saying. I think you got what I mean. Should I repeat it? Listen. When that woman found really
touched Christ – Jesus said in another gospel, when Jesus turned and said, who touched me?
He said to the disciples and Peter. I believe Peter answered him, many people are touching you.
Many people are touching you.

He ignored that statement, because he’s saying somebody, somebody. I love it! Isn’t that good.
Hold it! Somebody! Somebody on the earth. Somebody touched me. I mean heaven came
down. I mean heaven was released. Whoever touched me, they were healed. And he said to the
woman, you are blessed. Didn’t he? What was it? “Daughter, be of good comfort. Your faith has
made you whole.” Okay. So, if this is a dramatic illustration of what I’m trying to say and we’ll
look at it in a few minutes, but I think the key is when Jesus Christ is real in your life, you will not
be an idolater and go into the world and be worshipping something in your heart that’s taking
your time, your energy, your concentration, your love for your own life, your desire for
acceptance, your manipulation.

You lose your freedom. You lose your freedom. You are not free.
But if Christ sets you free, you are really free. And things are not manipulating you or controlling
you. You’re absolutely free as a person. Isn’t that amazing.
Okay. So, you got one minute to lean over and talk to your neighbor about it. And then we’ll
move on. Okay. Feel free to explain it to each other. Okay. Would you stand with me for a
moment? Refresh yourself by turning to a brother or sister and building them up and talking faith
into the air and faith into the heart of your sister or brother and encourage them. Okay. You may
be seated. You may be seated.

Turn to Exodus 3. We have Moses, the story of Moses. And Moses was just a – he was a
fugitive of justice. He had murdered a man, escaped the country, and lived 40 years as a
fugitive. We could understand that he was just a regular guy. He was privileged in education.
Privileged in Egypt. The son of Pharaoh’s daughter. In the family, Pharaoh’s family. That’s
another subject, but to say that we could just say that Moses was easily a guy that could have
lived just a natural life. He could have lived a different life. We would never have heard of him.
Maybe he would have been buried in a pyramid. Maybe a mummified state. Maybe he would
have been royalty and he could have been. But now he’s a fugitive, and he could just die in
Midian in the desert somewhere as virtually a different person from what we know. But he met
God at the burning bush.

This is what we are talking about tonight. Meeting God. He met God. Have you met God? Many
of you have. Many of you want to. Please continue in your faith. You will meet God. He wants to
make himself known to you like in this story.

One of the things about God is there are things he has said to us that we don’t like. There are
commandments and teachings in the Bible that we don’t like. There are things that we prefer to
not think about or talk about. We have our own life, private life. There are things that God says
that searches our heart and we don’t like them. We just ignore them. Or I don’t go to church,
because I don’t want to hear about it.

I met a man – I’ve told the story before – but it’s not just once, but on a plane saying to the guy
next to me as we talk a little bit; let me ask you a question. If God was on the other side of that
curtain, and he called for you, would you go and meet him. There’s been people that say no. I
don’t want to meet him. And then others, of course. Of course, I would.

So, human beings, all of us, have a great capacity to live a natural life, make our own decisions,
do our own things. Christians, of course. All of us. We want to learn about this. I want to know.
Do you want to know? Do you want to know what God says? Then, if you want to know and he’s
talking to you and you’re just putting it away or excusing yourself, then you can. But you won’t
be intimate with God. Not until you realize – and in that story it’s kind of another part of it is that
the woman was so needy and desperate. I think that’s the key in that story. But we are not
always desperate, but we are people that are wondering is God real and if he is, what does he
say to me? What does he say to me? This is a good word. What does he say to me?

He’s going to say things that you don’t like. Let’s get that in our heart and understand this. There
will be things that I don’t like in the Bible. And of course in the world and in the world of unbelief
they make a lot of that. They say you read the Bible, you’ll be a religious bigot. You’ll be right
winged, radical, conservative. You’ll be a danger to yourself and to the human race. Cause they
don’t know the Word. They don’t understand the heart. They don’t know the nature of God. They
can use the Bible as a hammer.

But for Moses and God when they are talking, this is where the intimacy happens and it’s
growing. And it’s growing and it starts in a place – and I got five verses I want you to see. This
will not be long, because the principle is simple.

Exodus 3:11, cause God said return to Egypt. I’m not going to Egypt. That’s the last place I’m going.
I’m not going to Egypt. I remember when we were in Hungary and God was speaking to people
in the church and we were growing in faith. We were preaching about missions and Hungarians
doing mission work. I said we’re going to go east. And that’s like Russia, out to Central Asia. And
they are like saying, no. We don’t want to go east. We want to go west. We want to go to
Germany and England and the U.S.A. We don’t want to go east. We want to go west.

In a similar way, when God is speaking to Moses, he’s telling him where he doesn’t want to go.
You’re going back to Egypt. And Moses is saying here in vs. 11. Here’s the first one. Who am I?
I think I’m not going to write a lot here. I just want to make a point here. That’s what you will say,
too. Who am I? Who am I that I would become a saint of God? Who am I that I could have fire in
my belly? Who am I that I could love God? Who am I that I could live a righteous life? Who am I
that I would know the living God?

#2. Exodus 3:13, God, what is your name? Of course, the word “name” is a big word in the Hebrew
language. It’s the name, the nature of the thing. Who are you? What is your name? You know,
when you’re saying I want to know you, I want to know your name, I want to know your nature, I
want to know you. This is like maybe a man and a woman getting to know each other. This is
what we call intimacy, right? This is when we open our hearts to each other. This is when we
really start to touch the life and the character of the other person. It’s the key to falling in love.
Like falling in love if you want to think of it that way, but of course this is not romantic in that
sense. This is very important because this is what you are made for. This is the problem with us
as people.

It’s not where I was born, what my economics are, my education. It’s not my personality, my
tempermant. It’s more this one. Do we have intimacy with God? Is God real in us? Is the Holy Spirit touching me? Do I have relationship with God and I know his name? That’s an incredible
thing. It actually says in Jeremiah 15:16, “your word was found, I did eat it. It was the joy and rejoicing
of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God.” Okay.
Third one is Exodus 4:1. You can see the trouble Moses is having with God. The kind of resistance.
The kind of natural fear that we have with God. Like stay away from God. Stay away from
people that talk about God. Stay away from the Bible. Stay away from this or that. Moses is like
this. Look at chapter 4:1. God is saying you’re going to go to Egypt. You’re going to deliver the
Jews. And Moses is saying, but they won’t listen to me. They won’t hear me.

If we look up at our screen here, we have a natural man who’s kind of struggling with God and
saying I can’t do this. I can’t do this. And God is saying, I’m with you. Trust me. It’s not easy but
trust me. You’re going to know me. I’m going to show up. I’m going to show up in your mouth.
I’m going to show up in your heart. In New Testament terms, you’re going to walk on water. Like
you’re going to know me. I’m going to be with you. I’m going to be with you in your life.

Let’s slow down here for a second. How long does this take? Is it seconds or minutes or days or
months or years? What is this? None of us have a handle on it. I don’t know. I can’t tell you but I
know it’s real. I don’t know how it works. I just know this is a good picture of it. It’s when
something I don’t like is being challenged by God and God is saying trust me. I got your back. I
am God. Trust me. You’re going to know me. You’re going to know me like – it’s not like just
talking religion. This is where the reality of God comes into your life, and you have an intimacy
with God. And Jesus said in the story, who touched me? They said a lot of people are touching
you. But Jesus is saying, no. I feel it.

Think about that for a minute. Somebody touched me. What do you mean Jesus? Virtue left me.
I felt it. I felt it. Could we say that when you touch God, he knows? Of course. He feels it. When
your prayers touch his heart, when your life and you say I’m trusting God in my heart. I don’t like
it. But I’m going to believe God. Isn’t that good? I don’t know. That’s what happened to us. Many
of us. We know. We’re not, nothing to boast in. Just something to communicate to other people.
We want everybody. We would love it that people would find Jesus in a personal way. They
would find Jesus in a personal way. Cause we become very religious very easily. We learn the
language. We have the behaviors. We learn it all.

And we may go to church on a regular basis. I’m not saying that like discouraging anybody. I’m
only saying it to myself and all of us, it is so beautiful when it’s fresh again. When Jesus
refreshes us again. Again. And you love Jesus with all your heart. And you’re free. You’re free.
You don’t care. The world is like nothing to me. This is when you are Spirit filled and we are
living with Jesus, and God is helping us.

Moses, how about Egypt? Moses is there on the other side of the Red Sea, Egypt means
nothing to me. The Egyptians are floating in the Red Sea. Their chariots are buried in the water.
The king of the greatest empire up until that time, he’s history. It’s over. And Moses, who are
you? I am the one that believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he delivered a
couple million of us out of Egypt and the powerfulness of it. How did it happen? I don’t know.
God did it.

Okay. Go to the fourth one and this is vs. 10 of chapter 4. What’s the meaning of that word? I
can’t talk very articulately. I am not good in my speech. I am not a good communicator. Maybe
we could say I hesitate. When I’m talking, it takes me a long time to get it out. I know this about
me. I’m not a good – it’s not flowing. I’m haltingly talking. I have struggle with my speech. I’m
going to Pharaoh and I just can’t do this.

Another thing that I don’t like is that you are telling me to go there and talk to him. vs. 10-11. If
you have a disabled child, we sympathize and pray and love all the families that have that
particular challenge in their lives. But we also have to say in vs. 11, who has done this? The Lord is saying I have. I made the mouth. I made the ears and the eyes. I made the human body.
And Moses, I made you.

#5. vs. 13. It’s another way of saying, O Lord, send somebody else. Haven’t we all said that?
And haven’t we checked out? God, it’s your work. You send somebody else. I’m good. I’m good.
I love you very much. You’re awesome, but believe me I’m done. You know. That kind of thing.
So, that’s all. The Lord was angry with Moses in vs. 14. After this dialogue exchange that went
on, the Lord just said I’m done with Moses. vs. 14. that’s like us Christians. When we see each
other, we are glad. vs. 15-16.

We’re going to finish with that. Aaron will be your mouth, but Moses you will be God to him. You
will be God to him. How could a man be God to somebody. Because I’m going to be in Moses,
working through Moses. I’m going to be speaking through Moses. Moses is not going to quit.
When there’s heat in the kitchen, Moses stays in the kitchen, cause he has a relationship with
God. That intimacy is important in your life. You’re going to have trouble in the future. All of us.
And learn how to get on your knees and be quiet and trust him and obey him and follow him.
There are many believers through history who just said I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it. I’m living
my life. And they can. And they do. But there are some like in this story that are saying I don’t
know what it means. It’s almost like steps. But there’s God and I obey him and there’s God. And
I’m obeying him and there’s God. And I don’t like it. But I’m finding God. I find holiness. I find
purity. I find wisdom. I find fellowship. And I find my sisters and brothers.

Look at that verse. Moses, you will have sisters and brothers and Aaron will be your mouth. And
you will be in the Body of Christ, and you will find God. And Aaron will say that Moses is here
and this is amazing. What is it about Moses? Nothing about Moses is Moses. I mean it’s not
Moses. It’s God. God is with Moses. And that’s your life. I don’t mean like leaders, and it’s all
about a leader, of course. Moses. But I mean you and me. You and me finding him and knowing
him. What a blessing that is. That’s all. Would you pray with me. (Prayer)

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.