Paul faced a challenge in trying to lead believers in Corinth. He told the Truth and the ministry of Christ did a great work. The authority brought a way of hope and forgiveness; an authority built on service and laid down lives. (2 Corinthians 2:1-4, 14-16; 2 Corinthians 7:3-9)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller, Barry Quirk
Sermon 12384
7:00 PM on 10/5/2022

Okay. Good evening. Great to be here tonight. Praise the Lord! P. Barry and I came back from Hungary. I wanted to put the map up on the screen here of Hungary. I don’t know how that works exactly. There it is. Okay.
Hungary is about the size of the state of Indiana. A little bit smaller than Ohio. A little bit smaller
than Pennsylvania. It’s about 10 million people live there.
In 1990, a team went here to Budapest, and we started to do the mission work and preaching
and teaching. We started a Bible college and God raised up disciples and pastors and men that
wanted to follow Christ and do the work of the ministry.

Twenty years have passed or more. Thirty two years! Thank you for the math. Thirty two years
and then three years because of covid and other things – primarily covid – we haven’t been
there. So, we went for one week and asked the Body to pray. I got to give the report back that
we felt it. We had a fantastic time. I’m asking P. Barry to come up and say a few words.
Before I continue, we want to say too we have a pastor’s retreat Thursday, Friday, Saturday and
I went through the list of names. I think there’s 150 names there of men that are coming and
we’re going to spend time in prayer and talk about preaching and pastoring. I’m very excited
about that. We have P. Chris Moore on the stage over here in the lower position. We got P. Ken
Feyers over here from Florida. Anybody else here from out of town that’s coming for the
pastor’s retreat? Just stand up. We want to – P. Adam Speedy. Awesome. Anybody else? Great.
So, I’m very encouraged especially after our time in Hungary, coming back and feeling the
authority, spiritual blessing that happens with us in the Body of Christ.

We met pastors here in Budapest, Greater Grace pastors of course. We went down here to [?].
Somewhere down here. Where is that? It’s not on the map. Wow. That was, that was fun. P.
Yanush. His wife is amazing. They have a house there in the countryside. Then they built on the
back end like a cafeteria for the church. They have the church leaders come over and eat
together. Brick oven. We sang songs and just had a beautiful time and grilled food and sang and
shared and they testified and spoke about what Christ has done by his grace. It was awesome.
Then we went down here to [?] and met a group there for lunch and two hours and then we
went down to Szeged that same day and had a group there. Just shared. I got to say, the
encouragement the encouragement that comes from God, the Spirit of God in the work is such
a blessing. So, there’s other places in the country…we have a church here in (he’s naming the
places). Around the country in different places there’s people.

I have a theme. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians just to point it out to you. Look at chapter 2.
I’ll give you the lesson. The message will be later in the evening here. Let’s go to a sketch. How
do I get the – which one is it? Is it this one? What do I write on? Good. That was easy. Wow. Oh
my! Here is Paul. Here’s the Apostle Paul and he sends Titus, right? Yeah, Titus with a letter

over to Corinth. The Corinthians are there. Titus comes with the letter. This is in 2 Corinthians 2. He
sends a letter. It’s kind of tough. It’s kind of harsh. It’s kind of strong. Then Paul isn’t hearing
anything back. He starts to get worried about it. It says he has no rest in his spirit. He is troubled
by it. He has not heard back from them. This is a good principle.

Look at 2 Corinthians 2:4. This is how a pastor feels sometimes and how you may feel sometimes in
your relationship with people. I wrote to you or I reached out and I had trouble in my heart.
Look at vs. 1. He did come to them. He had a visit there but it was a little bit troublesome. Vs. 2.
Later he wrote a letter. This is a beautiful writing about relationships that are important to us.
Why do I say this? Because Hungary is a country where many of us spent many years with these
amazing people and we care about them.

There’s Zsonbur there. One of the, a son of P. Bendeguz and Esther. This is beautiful. We care.
We care about each other. We care about the churches in Greater Grace affiliations, graduates
from our schools, people that come to conventions. We are praying for you in India. We are
praying for you in Africa. We are visiting you in conferences. We are caring about you. This is a
beautiful principle.

But I want to say something about Paul’s anxiety. He had no rest in his spirit and his worry and
his troubled sense of what is going on over there. I want to bring that out tonight in our
message.

Go to chapter 2:3. Wow. I might have sorrow from you. Now let’s bring it home to you. Have
you ever been – something happened. You bring your child to the hospital. They’re in the
emergency room and you’re outside in the waiting room wanting to know how is it with my
child. Are they okay? What is happening. Or somebody travels abroad and you don’t hear from
them. There’s some worry that you have in your heart. That happens to us. So, I have to be
honest, I was concerned about Hungary for these years because we simply didn’t have that
opportunity. We didn’t have it.

Let’s go to the text here. Vs. 12. If I had a map – I don’t have the map here – Paul went first to
Troas. It was like on the way to Macedonia. First he came here and he was very troubled
because he hadn’t met Titus coming back from Corinth. Furthermore, Titus was carrying money
to the Corinthians. It could be that Titus was robbed on the way or even on the way back.
Bandits.

Read vs. 13. He went further to Macedonia. This is this part in Greece called Macedonia. So, he
went there. That’s where he met him. Vs. 14. So that’s what we want to share tonight. I want to
kind of bring that out a little bit and what this means. Now, what it means to me is when we
went there, I understood two things. One is how we are as people and how easily we lack or
miss a ministry that is very much needed. We need a ministry. I saw that. These brothers were

amazing. We had such a good time. We had many good personal, intimate talks with people.
Very encouraging. I can’t emphasize it enough. Very important. Very meaningful. Very good.
Our relationships are very important to us. The fragrance of Christ. The fragrance.

I always think in our language we have two words about smelling. The good smell we say is
fragrance and the bad word for some smelling is stinking. In English, it’s very good because this
is really what this brings out. That we could either be fragrance to people or some bad odor of
something rotten or stinking. But the same person can emit the same thing. And the way they
perceive us doesn’t have to do with us as much as it depends on their nose. It depends on
them. If they are unsaved, then we stink. If they are saved, then we have a fragrance.

Let’s read it. Chapter 2:15. That’s fragrance. That means in the Old Testament when you burned
lamb, it had a certain smell, a fragrance that is really pleasant to us. And also, in the Roman
processions when a Roman general returned they would burn incense. I remember reading
about the Romans importing like 10,000 pounds of frankincense from the Middle East and they
would burn this – what is that called? The spice or incense. They would burn it at funerals and
burn it as they worshipped their gods. You can just imagine they did these parades, these
marches.

Paul has it in mind of a Roman procession. That’s in vs. 15, isn’t it? No, it’s vs. 14-16. That
means the stinking is to one and to the other we are a fragrance of life unto life. He says who is
sufficient for these things? How could anybody – and this is what I feel in my heart and my
spirit. That you and I – and by the way, this past week I heard you guys had an awesome week.
We had a great Women’s Seminar and then all the preaching, all the ministry, the love, the
faith, the attitude of the Body of Christ.

I was in Budapest in my hotel room and I was watching a service and I just thought wow! I can
imagine being on the mission field and watching a service from Baltimore and just seeing the
liberty. See the joy. Listen to the music. Watch the service and say, wow! I’m a part of this
church. That’s amazing. I’m a part of this.

So, it’s like that and then we go and we are sensing not something that stinks. We are sensing
the fragrance in every place. Who is sufficient for these things? How can that be done
humanly? That is not humanly possible. But the life of Christ that is in you, the words of Christ,
the faith of Christ, the joy of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the relationships that are so
important.

When Titus came to Paul, Titus basically said this. They are for you, Paul. The Corinthians are for
you. Yes, there are false apostles. Yes, there are false teachers. That just kind of goes its own
way. But this is God and the Corinthians. God and the Corinthians and what God has done in
the hearts. When he writes this epistle, he is telling them how I felt. How I was concerned. And then when Titus came and what he said to me. I’m so encouraged and then he gives his
warnings about false apostles. He writes about people that cheat and that lie and do their
things. He did it in the Galatians. He did it in 2 Corinthians and he did it in 2 Timothy chapters 3
and 4. He did it in 1 Timothy also to Timothy saying meditate. Meditate.

I’m just kind of stirred up in my heart. I’m so happy for what the Spirit does with people who
are humble, who walk before God and have a ministry of life. I just want to give a good report
about that back to you. So, thank you for that. Welcome, P. Barry.

P. Barry Quirk –

What can we say to those things? We can’t really add except that I got to
witness a few things on this trip. First of all, our pastor’s heart is amazing. When you’re faced
with situations that are a little bit unclear, you go in there and I was relating it in my mind to
Abraham going up the mountain with his son, the son that was promised to him that he had to
wait until he was nearly 100 to have. God saying take your son and I want you to offer him on
the altar. The son is saying, dad, I see the wood. Dad, I see the fire. Where’s the offering? And
Abraham says the Lord will provide for himself a lamb. And it was like no question. The Lord will
provide. Yet in his heart you can imagine. I would feel fear. I would feel trembling. I would feel
nervousness. He said he was persuaded that if God took him he was able to raise him again. It
wasn’t even a question, right? I got to witness that kind of faith this week.

And the beautiful part about that whole episode is that when God does provide the ram in the
thicket, he names the place “Yahweh Jireh,” right? My provider. He doesn’t name it the place
where I was scared to death but I came through cause I trusted God and I was really on the ball
and I was with it and man was it hard and I was suffering. He just says God provides. God
provides. And that’s the way this trip went.

We go there with the prayers of the Body. When P. Schaller said I felt the prayers of the Body,
so many people sent me messages and said we’re praying for your trip. We’re thinking about
this. God, please do a mighty work. I can tell you whole heartedly it was unequivocally the
prayers were answered. We would pray in the morning for meetings and circumstances and
then we’d watch God come in in an amazing way. Time will tell how much that has happened.
But I really believe. I came away from there and you saw the map. We came from the airport
and we met 50 people waiting for us and fellowship and sandwiches and the Word and to the
hotel. Then the next morning and the next afternoon and then the next evening. It was so
awesome. It was so awesome.

Just finally, P. Schaller preached about the woman in 2 Kings 4 about the woman who saw the
prophet and sensed he was a man of God and built the little chamber in her home for the man
of God. And why is that? Because of the message. She needed to know the message from the
man of God. There was such an awesome experience. One of the places we went, the pastor
said when I was thinking early on about joining the ministry and I asked you P. Schaller, how does that happen? Does it happen through a formal affiliation? He said, no. It happens with a
handshake and trust in the heart and the Lord and faithfulness to God. He was repeating this.
And it’s been decades and he was repeating that. I remember you said it’s the trust in the heart
and that’s why we have this relationship.

And the message. There’s no lack. When there’s no lack of the Word of God, then there’s
people with grace lives because they hear the Word of God and they realize who they are in
Christ. You can see when someone is feasting on the Word of God, you can tell because their
lives are just exhibiting that feast. I really got to sense that this week.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for keeping us lifted up. We’re really going to see the
fruit of this trip well on into the future. So many people said please send our love. Let the
church know we are so thankful for them and we are praying. So, amen and thank you for that.

P. Schaller –

Thank you so much. Before we give the message – short, but good message. I said
that and then I would check my watch and wow that was a long message! Okay, so we love it.
Could you turn to your neighbor and say, are you going to go to Hungary in March for Eurocon?
We’re going to Hungary in March. Are you going to learn Hungarian? Are you going to save your
money? Are you going to go to Hungary for Eurocon? Okay. Second question: let’s pray for the
pastor’s retreat. Pray that God will really impart his life and wisdom and love. So would you
turn to your neighbor and say let’s have a pray for that right now. So, let’s do that. Pastor’s
retreat. Yes, Lord. Pastor’s retreat. (Prayer).

Turn to 2 Corinthians 7. This will be 10 or 15 minutes I think of a message. I want to point it out to you.
We can read the text. 2 Corinthians 7. I told you a little bit from 2 Corinthians 2 what his concern was. This is
an autobiography, this letter, 2 Corinthians. If you really want to get into Paul’s heart and we do
cause he’s our hero by the way. He’s the one that knows church planting. He’s the one that
knows about pastoring. He’s the one that knows about fear, anxiety, worry, discouragement.
He know what is to be pushed down and pressed down. And I did feel that one night when I
was in Hungary in my hotel room. As we had finished an amazing day, I feel that God allowed
me to feel something and understand like depression, loneliness and fear. Think about losing
everything that is valuable to you. Who lost everything that was valuable to him but Jesus
Christ.

But even when Christ was sweating drops of blood, when he was under an amazing amount of
pressure and he was all alone and the Father was going to leave him, he said those amazing
words, Father, take this cup away. This is why he came. But he said with you it’s possible. If it is
possible, take the cup away from me. What a prayer. I came for this but I don’t know if I can do
it. If it is possible because you are God, could you take this cup away? Nevertheless, I came to
do your will. Wow. I mean could you imagine being just the way we are as people and like being brought to that empty place that is so good for us. When our relationships are on the rocks,
when your best friend has forsaken you, or you’re troubled and losing everything, what an
amazing place it is.

Here Paul says in chapter 7, and we could read a lot but I want you to see verse – he kind of
defends himself. Vs. 3. That’s like an amazing heart right there. I am with you. I am with you.
What a heart that is. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”
My heart is with you. That’s a great thought, isn’t it? vs. 4. This is another good word. This is the
Holy Spirit saying these amazing words of encouragement to these people. vs. 5. I explained
that to you a little bit. We had no rest because Titus, we couldn’t meet him. We didn’t find him.
We were troubled. Where was Titus? Maybe he was robbed by bandits or beaten up or
something happened.

Vs. 6. You’re cast down because of your marriage. You’re cast down because of your family.
You’re cast down because you lost a friend. You’re cast down because the churches have left
you. In 2 Tim. 4, Paul said my first answer before Caesar no man stood with me. Everybody
forsook me but the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me. I want you to see something.
You have the life that many people live which is under oppression and then you have Christ that
has you live above it. When you have nothing or you are deeply troubled or you are very much
troubled on every side, vs. 5-6.

Titus came. Titus showed up. We had a talk. He encouraged me. Vs. 7. The news that he
brought. Imagine. I thought you were angry with me but I find out that actually we have this
oneness in mind and this love that you have for me, he said. This is the Apostle Paul. Vs. 8.
What does that mean? I wrote a letter to you. After I wrote it and I sent it with Titus, I thought
maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Maybe that wasn’t – I shouldn’t have done that. That’s too
strong. I wrote a letter that’s too strong. So, he said I wrote a letter. One part of me is I told you
the truth. The other part of me I’m sorry I sent it because I’m afraid you can’t handle it. I’m
afraid you are not able to receive it. I’m afraid it’s going to break our relationship.
I think every father has that with his adult children. What do I say to my adult children? What I
say, will it drive them away or will it draw them near? I think every pastor has that challenge.
Should I say this? Can I minister to them in such a way that they will receive it, that they will
benefit from it?

There are some people that will say nothing because they want to preserve their relationships.
But there’s Paul. I didn’t repent for saying it but then I did cause I’m in between in that whole
world. Truth is important and I have to say it. No, I can’t say it. I might drive them away. No, I
have to say it because they will benefit from it. No, if I say it maybe I will lose them. That’s what
he was feeling that he lost them. When Titus came, Titus said, no. You didn’t lose them. They
are for you. There is a group that believes you are a false apostle and therefore he wrote this epistle. I am not a false apostle but there are false apostles among you. I am telling you the
truth. And by the way, you know I’m telling you the truth because what happened in your life
was not from the flesh. It happened by the ministry of Christ. You were born again. You were
edified. You have the Holy Spirit in your life.

You were anointed of God. You have the liberty of
God. You became worshippers of God not pagans worshipping gods, but you became a
worshipper of the Almighty God and the Holy Spirit made it clear to you who God is. That’s the
context. Vs. 7. We already read that. Vs. 8. There’s another thing about that. His transparency. We are
human beings. Have you ever said to somebody, forgive me. I made a mistake. Forgive me. I
didn’t treat you the right way. Have you ever done that? Turn to your neighbor. Why don’t you
practice it for a minute and just say to your neighbor forgive me. I apologize. Give it a practice
run. Forgive me. I apologize. Come on. If your wife is next to you, make sure you say it to her
two times!

Vs. 8. There are seasons you go through by the way in life. You might go through a hard time, a
season in the desert. It might be a hard time searching your heart. I love it. it says in Judges 5 I
think it was the tribe of Rueben had great searchings of heart because of what was going on.
That’s a good thing for us when the Holy Spirit is leading us in such a way that people get
convicted by our lives. They get convicted not only by our words but by how we live. I forgave
or I apologized or I’m sorry. We actually do this. We actually apologize for things. We are open
and transparent. We say I wrote you a letter. I didn’t repent but actually I did because I was
worried about it that it’s going to make you sorry. But then I find out you sorrow after a godly
manner. It worked something good in you. That’s written here also.

So, I’m being open and I want to encourage the Hungarians tonight and the Spirit of God
speaking to us and the Polish and the Russians. Imagine the churches in Russia and their
challenges. They are human beings in an interesting time. The Ukrainians, a war going on in
Europe. And the suffering and the pain and the trouble. Imagine just being a human being. Who
are we but we are ministers of Christ. We are able to take people that are in suffering and in
trouble and we are able to minister with the authority of Christ. This is amazing. I want to finish
with that.

Some people when they hear authority, they don’t like the word but we love it. I love the word.
I want the authority of God cause he gave it to man when he made man. He said to reproduce,
fill the earth. You have authority on the earth. I gave the earth to you, not to angels, Hebrews 2. I
gave it to man and man is to keep the garden. He’s to rule in the Garden of Eden. He’s to give
names to the animals. Whatever name that a man would give to an animal would be the name
that God would give to the animal. If the man said “elephant,” God would say that is an
elephant cause man gave the elephant that name. That means that God has respect for us, that
God made us in his image.

That means we work together with God. We have the authority of God. This is not an authority
to abuse people or an authority to oppress or an authority to have advantage. This is an
authority to lay down our lives and serve where nobody else can. To show up and do something
where nobody else can. That means the Spirit of God, Christ is on the cross. Nobody else could
do it. Christ did it. The same Spirit that says by the way, Hebrews 9:14, he was crucified by the Holy
Spirit. Who kept him on the cross? Not the nails. The nails didn’t keep Jesus on the cross. The
Holy Spirit kept him on the cross.

How do you serve? How do you lay down your life? By the Holy Spirit. How do you look at life?
A bountiful eye will be blessed it says in Proverbs. How do you see life? Many see it as being a
victim of life but through Christ, you see it by being victorious in life. How you talk, how you
think, what you believe, what you say, how you minister, how you reach out, how you lay down
your life, how we live in the Spirit of God. Are we human? Absolutely. Paul was troubled. He
said he had no rest. He had no rest.

I got to find out. I know that word is this one in the Greek and it reminds me, it’s ANESIN. It
means he didn’t have any rest in his spirit. He was worried and troubled, but then he was
comforted by the good news from a far country, by Titus coming, and by having the fellowship
and recognizing that his investment was not in vain. His investment had value. It was written in
the heart. That’s why I am so excited about it.

I’m just sharing it with you and I got to finish. I just met people that we met more than – well,
32 years ago. And it means a lot. Cause it’s written in our hearts. Who is sufficient for these
things? Nobody. But God has made us able ministers of the New Testament and every one of us
around the world. God has made us able ministers of the New Testament and we are a
fragrance, a bouquet, a perfume. A bouquet. Chantelle #5 or whatever it is. A perfume. A
fragrance. Sometimes I’m somewhere and I go, who’s got the perfume on? I can smell the
perfume. Who is wearing the perfume? It’s like us in life. You have a fragrance. You and I are
ordained of God to be ministers of life. We’re not complaining and cursing and swearing and
gossiping and nasty people. We are praising God.

Barry Quirk gave a great message on worship. It blessed me. Worship. Worshipping God. The
Spirit of God. Kendell, his daughter, Veronica’s daughter and Barry’s daughter! Kendell,
halleluiah! In Hungary as a worshipper. My granddaughter Mika. She spoke at the women’s
seminar in Finland and it was so encouraging to hear. And Kendell went up there and they had a
beautiful time in Finland with the women’s seminar. And I heard a good report about it.
Who is sufficient for these things? None of us but Jesus Christ did it. And as we walk with him,
we can see the work of the Spirit in the Body of Christ and it’s real. I would say that it is so
durable and resilient that it can go through anything if we live in the Spirit. But we’re only a little, little, little bit away from it being destroyed. I believe that so much happens through the
Body of Christ in the Spirit of God and then I know where it can go when everybody gets in the
flesh. When everybody gets underneath the things of life.

Everything that is happening. How fragile it seems to be. How living in the flesh how we can tear up a marriage, a church, a friendship, a relationship, something precious to us. I understand how that can go.
I am rejoicing tonight if we live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, rejoice in the Spirit, become
worshippers of God. How good it is when brethren dwell together in unity. How good it is when
we have authority over the life that we are living wherever it might be. How good it is when we
can raise our voice and say God is alive and so are we. What an amazing thing it is when Titus
comes back and he goes hey, Paul. No. You got it all wrong. They loved your letter. They
received it. They’re right with God. They’re behind you. They love you. They’re praying with
you. Everything is possible. We go, wow! Lord Jesus, you are awesome. You did that. Okay.
Amen. Would you pray with me, please.

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.