The reality of Christ in His humanity and the reality of His Body, the Church, are marvelous mysteries. The devil cannot understand these things. Hell tries to seduce and distract people knowing the truth of Jesus and from preaching the Gospel and from living in the Spirit. The reality is that Jesus is sitting glorified above all that is going on about us. 1 Timothy 3:15-16; 4:1-2

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller, Steven Scibelli
Sermon 11986
11:00 AM on 11/8/2020

P. Schaller –

Yesterday I was in Florida preaching and the Lord gave us a great message. A very good message. This was
in Tampa. Then Friday night, we had a meeting there too and about 20 people came up from
Miami. Brandon and lmon and the new baby. People from Clearwater. We gathered. Some
people I haven’t seen for ten years or more. Kim Hicks was one of them. We had a rich time. I
was encouraged. We had a lot of joy, a lot of good time being together. We did a pastor’s
meeting, door knocking, had a few very good conversations with people. It was such a good
time, so I’m anticipating the message this morning I want to share with you. A couple things. P.
Don Barnes and Ryan came out from Indiana. They drove. They said, the churches are closed
down, but I know where there is one that is not closed down! Where is it? It’s in Baltimore.
Well, 12 hour drive isn’t too far to go for that. Let us go! So they jumped in the car and drove 12
hours, 14 hours and they are with us all day. It’s good to have them.

Great testimony Ryan’s life. Just shortly, two years ago the marriage was falling apart. His life was falling apart, heroin addiction and he turned to God. Put your hand up in the air like this. Who did it? Oh yeah, God.
Wow! Isn’t that good? That’s good. Thank you, Lord. Lord do more of that. Yes. It’s a good
word. God. God is moving. We thank you P. Barnes for your ministry out there where the corn
grows tall and the pigs are big, the size of a bus! And the people are awesome but lost and must
be born again. Amen! But lost and must be born again. Two other things. 1 Timothy 2, many of you
know we were being very involved with the election, the voting for the President. We were
involved and, but we’ve also understood Psalm 115:3. This was our theme Wed. night. Anyone
remember it? It was a memory verse. Did anyone do your homework? Okay, there we go. Carl.
Yeah! God is in heaven and he has done whatsoever he pleases.

We are believers with our eyes on the kingdom and we live here. How do we live here? 1 Timothy 2:1, what kind of men? All men. Even the kings? Vs. 2. Presidents, prime ministers, senators, governor, mayors. What do we do
for them? We pray for them. Pray for them. Will they make good decisions? Sometimes. Okay
they make a good decision. Praise the Lord for that. They make a bad decision, what do we do?
We pray for them. Made a bad decision. We pray for them. They are only men, and this is the
way that we are as Spirit filled believers. Because God is in heaven and he does whatsoever he
pleases. He turns the heart of the king. Right? He can change things, do things. This world is not
understood by us very much. Very limited. And we are very proud generally, very proud people
and we know so little. With our little knowledge we walk around grumpy, angry, bitter. Where
is your joy? Where is your joy? Where is your joy? Where is your thanksgiving? Where is your
worship? Where is God?

At the right hand of God is joy forevermore, Psalm 16;11 fullness of joy. Jesus said these words I have spoken unto you in the world you will have tribulation. But be of what? Be of good – hah hah hah hah! Be of good what? Cheer. Why? I have overcome the world. Hallelujah. I overcame. I am greater than Pontius Pilate, greater than Herod and Caesar. I’m God. I’m seated at the throne and you are my church. You are the Body of Christ. You have
a ministry. One of our brothers passed away this morning. Amazing man and servant of God in
France, Sebastian’s dad, P. Luigi. He had a heart attack and he’s gone. Where did he go?
Heaven. Heaven. He went to heaven. He went to heaven to be with God. Did he go before you?
Yeah. He did. He’s gone. But we will see him, so what an interesting time we are living in. P. Scibelli worked with P. Luigi for years in Africa. He knew him very well. Worked with him and
loved him and Isabella and the children and grandchildren.

I’m going to ask Pastor to come up and share something.

P. Scibelli –

I was thinking about P. Luigi this morning. These verses came to my mind about his
life. It was great heaviness this morning and speaking to as many pastors I could this morning in
West Africa: P. Konan, P. Paul in Togo , P. Bamouni. Speaking with Isabel and Sebastian. Great
joy that he went to heaven, great heaviness for the family and the fellowship. This verse really
struck me in Philippians. 2:25. I was thinking of P. Luigi in these five aspects. 1) He’s my brother. We
worked together. He’s your brother but he was my brother. When I first met him in France I
told him Africa was going to be a place that he would go to and spend many years, and he just
looked at me and laughed. We reiterated the same thing in the Hotel California in Lomé, Togo. I
said this is a great place for you to visit but to live here is going to be amazing. He spent at least
30 years there in Africa.

When you think there are 20 churches in Togo, 18 in Burkina Faso, 42 in the Ivory Coast, 3 win Benin, a church in Gabon and the Congo. You see how that one life was taken by God and made an impartation in Togo and it spread. All these churches, maybe, I don’t know how many we are talking about 150 churches in French West Africa. Maybe a little less. I’m not so sure. You can imagine what one man’s life can do and what P. Luigi and the Palmieri
family did. Then he’s my companion in labor. He was our companion in labor. We worked
together. We ate some of the strangest things together. We moved together. We traveled
together. In airplanes together. In vans together. Up and down Africa. Up and down Togo. Up
and down all these different countries together. So he was a companion in labor. 3) He was a
fellow soldier. I love that. He was a soldier. He was never fearful of danger and the things that
would take place in Africa. I remember one time they knocked on my door and they had come
to Ghana because the army was fighting in the streets of Lomé, Togo. All of a sudden, the whole
family appeared at my house.

They were soldiers. He was a fellow soldier. 4) He was your messenger. That’s for us and especially the Africans. “Apostolos” is the word. He was their messenger, their ambassador. 5) Then he that ministered to my wants. He was a servant of God. He was a servant of God. Those five things really exemplify his life. As we think about the
ministry in France and certainly made a great impact in Nimes and Montpelier, France. We
think about his children and grandchildren and all the family of God throughout West Africa.
Keep them in prayer.

P. Schaller –

We love that man. He was awesome. It’s amazing you get to a certain age and
some of your friends – we had P. Carl pass, P. Yurma, who was very precious to us. When you
know somebody for 40 years or more and then they pass, it’s like a milestone. A person means
a lot to you. That’s happening this year. P. Morrison and now P. Luigi. It’s amazing. Whose faith
we follow. Whose faith we follow. Right, pastor? Then one of the things about the brotherhood
or the fellowship is the joy and the tears. There’s tears. There’s the heart. There’s the joy and
we had that in Florida together. We hadn’t seen each other for some times in some cases but
the connection is like day one. I haven’t seen you for ten years but immediately we are right there together in the Lord. That’s so special. There are things about Body life that are not
understood by the natural man.

The natural man has society. He has baseball team, class at the
school, club, a group at work. You have society. But what is the difference between that and
the Body of Christ? What is the Body of Christ? What is that? I know that many of you know
that. You can feel it, see it, believe it. You’ve been living in it and walking in it, but could you
also withdraw from people? Can I withdraw from – I can withdraw from a club or group or
families. Families break up and some don’t talk to each other for years, but they are blood,
flesh and blood, but they have a problem with each other. That happens. But can it happen in
the Body of Christ and why and what is it? So this will be our subject today, the Body of Christ.
We’ll have a good time at that in a few minutes. Let’s have a little bit of fellowship for a minute.
Would you all stand for a moment? Whatever you are comfortable with love each other, say a
word of encouragement. Walk around for a minute.

Nice to see you. Good to have you here. Okay. You may be seated. I realize something in the Scripture and P. Scibelli pointed it out to me on Thursday or Friday. I thought that’s very good. Thank you for sharing that. I love this that we get to receive from each other and so many portions in the Body. Also I love to have a good
time with Body members. How about it? Have you had a good time? I mean hanging out with
the guys and having a good belly laugh. I love it. A merry heart does good like medicine. I need
a good belly laugh sometimes just to go nuts! What if we were laughing all the time and also
crying the other times and nothing in the middle. Just crying and laughing. Wow! Paul said as
sorrowful but always rejoicing. A year and a half we had Convention here and the theme was
Rejoicing in the Lord how often? Always. And again I say rejoice. He knew we wouldn’t believe
him when he said it once. Rejoice in the Lord always.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again I say! I’m serious about it. Rejoice. Have you ever met a Christian that looks like they were baptized in vinegar and put in the refrigerator for a couple of years?!! I mean it’s like unbelievable. It’s so
unattractive. It’s so unattractive to be with legalistic, guilty, introspective, fearful people. It’s so
much fun. Paul is in jail and he starts singing with Silas, Acts 16. They start singing. That’s the
high water mark for how we should act when we are in trouble or we have a lot of pressure.
Cheer up you saints of God. There’s nothing to worry about. Nothing to make you feel afraid
and nothing to make you doubt. What’s the next part? Remember that Jesus never fails so why
not trust him and shout! Yeah, shout! And what? You’ll be sorry you worried at all tomorrow
morning. Is that an Irish song or something? Rene knows the Irish version. So, this is a good
lesson for us and behind it is this great content that we are going to speak about this morning
from 1 Timothy 3 and if you look at vs. 15-16 and chapter 4 vs. 1-2, particularly 4:1.

I think we could just stop there. Let’s put it up on the screen. 1 Timothy 3:15. This is Paul writing to Timothy. But if I
tarry long – meaning I’m coming, but it might take me a while to get there. I want to read the
text and then point something out to you, and we’ll go back and cover it. He’s saying the house
of God. He’s saying the house of God and he’s stopping and it’s like, the house of God. The
house of God. This is a mystery. This is huge. The house of God. How you should live in the
house of God, what the house of God is. Vs. 15. The word “church” means an assembly, the
ecclesia. By the way, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Does anyone remember that text in Acts
19? Anybody? Raise your hand. Great is Diana of the Ephesians and it says there was a great assembly and the word is ECCLESIA, the same word for “church.” But this church in that temple
that was crying out “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” wasn’t a church of God.

It was the assembly of the pagans. But we are an assembly. Vs. 15. There’s a whole teaching on that “the
pillar and ground of the truth.” Anybody know London a little bit? Trafalgar Square. Who’s the
statue, the high pillar? Lord Nelson, yes. There’s a big column, very high, very high column or
pillar. This is the pillar. Up on the top is Lord Nelson, the statue of the admiral that beat the
Spanish. Wasn’t it the Spanish? It was. The man is up there but the pillar, the pillar is so high
and then up there is the man. You have the church is the pillar of the truth. When you see the
truth, there is something that the church is holding up. The church is representing, the church is
presenting to the world. This church, the church is something extraordinary. It’s extraordinary.
It’s incredible that’s the message here. Vs. 15. We could say the truth is here like the statue
with the man by analogy.

The church when you see the church you see the truth. You see the
truth is there. Why? Vs. 16. Without debate, without controversy, beyond discussion. It’s
incontrovertible. It cannot be contested. It is without a doubt. It is a reality. “Without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.” I’ll put here “the mystery of godliness.” It’s
incredible what it is. He says six things about it. Now, you came to church to learn the Bible,
hallelujah! You came to church to open your Bible and learn the Bible. You have a Bible teacher.
You have a pastor. You came to church because you got the Holy Spirit. You came to church to
understand your Bible better. Why? Look at the next part here. We’ll go back to vs. 16 but I
want to say here’s the pillar. The big, tall, and the statue over here. Guess what the devil is
doing? What’s over here? Chapter 4:1. What does this mean? The Holy Spirit is saying
something to the Apostle Paul that is very clear.

He’s speaking expressly, profoundly. The Spirit is talking. The Spirit is showing the Apostle Paul something. What’s another way to say that? I know some of you your minds are wandering right now. Ask your neighbor. What does it mean the Spirit speaks expressly? Go ahead. Don’t sit there by yourself either. What does it mean?
The Spirit speaks how? Precisely, very clearly, very specifically. Has that ever said something to
you where the Spirit said something very clearly to you. Has that ever happen to you? Raise
your hand. Is that right? Has that happened? Praise God. Isn’t that amazing. I have a couple
Bible verses I know where I was. I know what the Spirit said to me in the Bible. I know where I
was. One time my world kind of collapsed. It was funny. Kyle was a little baby. I was in Hungary.
I was coming home. I was home.

I was going through some challenging times in different ways in my heart and life. I took the baby in my arms and jumped on the bed, apparently too hard or something. Anyway, the bed broke and I go down and my feet go up and the mattress goes up and I’m down on the corner on the floor. I said this is appropriate for how I am feeling right
now. My whole world is collapsing. I know the Bible verse at that time in my life where the
Spirit spoke to me. I got it for the rest of my life. My point is there are times when God will
speak to you. This is bigger because this is the Apostle writing the Bible. He’s saying I see
something way into the future. I see something in the latter times. The devil will be against this
statue, the pillar and ground of truth, the mystery of godliness. The devil will be doing this
work. 1 Timothy 4:1, when? In the latter times. We generally think that is what we are in today. We
say last days, or this text says latter times. Maybe it is the times we are living in now.

Why not believe that? These are the latter times. We have many Bible prophecies that indicate that and
what we are looking at. This is what we believe that Christ will be returning in the Rapture.
Actually, didn’t I have a prophecy that didn’t come true? I said the election would be November
3 rd and the Rapture would be on the 4 th . Look at where we are this morning. Rene believes so
strongly. He thought P. Schaller’s not wrong! We missed it! It happened! So I’m going to
prophesy again. Strike three and I’m out! No, I do not know. Paul said this will be happening
and it’s seducing spirits. 4:1, why Paul? Because of covid. That’s what it says in the Greek! Some
will depart from the faith because of covid. Seriously, I wonder if there is a falling away. From
what? The church. The mystery of godliness. Is the mystery of godliness happening in your life?
There are six things that describe that. We’ll look at it in a minute.

Is the mystery of godliness in your life? Is this a mystery, how we are thinking, what we are believing, what we are
embracing, what we are worshiping, what we are doing on the earth. It’s the mystery of
godliness. I don’t want to leave it. I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to depart from my faith. I
don’t want to depart from the Body. I don’t want to depart from the Spirit. I don’t want to
depart from what the Bible is saying. I don’t want to depart in the end times from the faith.
“Giving heed.” What does this mean? I think P. Scibelli knows what it means. What is it? Thank
you. You’re awesome. Do you see that? He’s my Bible reference over there! I don’t even have
to study anymore! Just ask him! Give heed to, pay attention. How about be fascinated, drawn
to. Vs. 1. Seducing spirits. Now, usually we think of that word with regard to sexual seduction
like Joseph in Egypt with Potiphar’s wife.

How she wanted to sleep with him, and she was
wanting that. It says many times she was drawing him. Because we all have some hook. We
have something that seducing spirit, the person, the seducing spirit in a person drawing us. It
happened to Jesus in the wilderness. He was hungry and the devil was suggesting and drawing
him wanting him to be disobedient to his Father. We see this happening in every day life with
people. What are these seducing spirits saying to people in the church. You don’t need that.
There is something here that is better for you. I have something for you. This is better. It’s just
like paralleling the woman where she has this attractive element and she could say you have
me. You have me. This is enough for you. I have what you need. So we are drawn to not the
mystery of godliness, but we are drawn to the natural things of life.

Food, money, power, influence, society, a group that would accept me but not the mystery of godliness. It’s not God
but it’s a society, a group. It’s what you need. We will give you want you need. We are here for
you. We will help you. Isn’t this the message generally by our governments where you have we
will take care of you. We are the answer for your life from the cradle to the grave. We are what
you need. We will give you your education. We will give you your paychecks, your life, your
career, your future, also take care of you and your family. How seductive it is. How good it is.
How good it is but listen to this. But what if I’m able to say to that attractive woman, you don’t
have enough for me. You don’t have it. You don’t have what I’m looking for. You don’t have
enough for me. She’s offended by it. It says that in the book of Genesis. This woman said this
Hebrew, when he finally refused she was offended, and she said this Hebrew is mocking me. He
is mocking me. Do you know what? She was right. I’m mocking you. Your seduction is not
enough for me. I’m made for something better.

I got something going on in my life. What do you have? I have the mystery of godliness. That’s the thing the devil is against. Just be normal people. Don’t have the mystery of godliness. Just be, you know, live your life and be normal
people like everyone else does. I don’t want to be like everybody else. I want to follow God. I
don’t know about everybody else. I’m interested in God. God is interesting to me. God is
enough for me. God is what I need. I’ve found God. I want God in my life. No, you don’t need
God in you life. I got everything you need. Everything you want. I’ve already been there. It’s
empty. Remember David Duval. He was a pro golfer. Young guy. He was in the tournaments and
everything. He made it. I think it was the masters and I’m not a golfer. My son is so he was
telling me the story. This guy when he finally got there, he made it. He won the masters and
that was it. He was done. He bought a skateboard.

He moved to Colorado. He disappeared. He was empty. He got there. He took it and he was done. He was done. How many people sleep with a woman and there is nothing there. How many people buy the carrot and it leads them
off the cliff. How many people have taken the heroin. The guy selling it says listen the first one
is free. The second one is free. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of you. Whatever you need.
I’m here for you. I’m here for you. Really? Really. Yeah. Now go to the text of chapter 3:16. You
get the picture. This is so good. We’ll hit the six things and I want you to say with me what the
devil will say when you read this. What does that mean? It’s a mind blower when you find God.
Great is the mystery. It’s the most amazing thing. Ask Ryan down here in the front row. And we
are learning. We are not perfect. I want Christ. I want to live by faith. I want to be able to say to
that woman, you don’t have enough for me.

You are an empty person. You don’t have enough for me. Goodbye. She goes, you are mocking me. Yes, I am. You got that right. I am mocking you. You are not what I need. I got God, the mystery of godliness. 1) God was manifest in the flesh. That can’t happen. Yes, that happened. Where did that happen? Bethlehem. He was
manifest in the flesh. God was in the flesh? No. No. Yes, God was in the flesh. What does the
devil say? No, can’t happen. No, anything but that. Look at all my wares over here. I got
everything for you. Come on. No, God was manifest in the flesh. No, that can’t happen. Yes, it
does happen. It did happen. It happened. It blows you away, doesn’t it devil? Devil, you are just
I don’t even have the words for it. Goodbye. I am done with you. I don’t have anything to do
with you. You’re done. You’re finished. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! You’re done. You’re history.
You’re toast. I could care less about you because God was manifest in the flesh. Do you realize
that means God came into our world of humanity so we could have God.

That’s the thing he doesn’t like. That’s why he’s sending seducing spirits over here. He’s trying to take us away
from this mystery. Come on. Don’t pay any attention to them. Come with me. Come with me. I
have my own doctrines. It’s about marriage. And it’s about food. I was thinking how crazy that
is. The devil talks to people about marriage. Isn’t it funny how heterosexuals don’t care about
getting married and the homosexuals do? The homosexuals are saying, I want to get married. I
want to get married. And the heterosexuals are saying, no-ooo. I don’t want to get married. Is
this world crazy? How about food? Have you ever seen so many people occupied with food in
your life? What’s the food thing all about? I just throw down the oatmeal and get going. Live
your day. Live your life. I don’t care about the connoisseurs and the cuisines of the different
kitchens and so forth and the whole thing. I’m just trying to say something.

The world is caring about food and not about the mystery of godliness. The world is all occupied with sexuality and
marriage and forbidding to marry and all of these various messages that are sent in the world.
They are all silly. They’re silly. Not all of them. The scientific things I respect that but that’s not
what I’m talking about. It says there in the text in vs. 2. I don’t know about you, but I have
eaten the lousiest food you could ever eat in the whole world. I’ve eaten food in different
places in the world that was absolutely nauseating. But I said my prayer, blessed it and ate it. If
it stayed down, it nourished me. It didn’t always stay down! I have a friend who was a little boy
here in Baltimore. His father made him eat an oyster. He said I don’t want to eat the oyster. The
father said you eat it. The little boy eats the oyster. It goes down and it comes back up. His
father said eat it. It goes back down, and he said eight times! I wonder what the oyster was like
after the 8 th time! Hey!

P. Schaller stick to the text! Okay! Vs. 16. He was operating in the Spirit. He was approved by the Spirit. He was anointed by the Spirit. No, no! not the Spirit. Anything but the Spirit. Preach, but not in the Spirit. No, don’t live in the Spirit. Go ahead and live the Christian life but don’t live in the Spirit. Anything but not the Spirit. Keep your laws and rules and be good Christians. That’s fine with me, but not the Spirit. No, not the Holy Spirit. Don’t
pray in the Spirit. Say your prayers. Don’t pray in the Spirit. The devil says, no. No. Come with
me. I’ll teach you other things. I’ll get you distracted. I’ll get you in your natural world and those
people are disappointed and empty and guilty and everything else. They don’t have God. They
are not in fellowship with God. They are afraid of covid and afraid of the car accident. They are
afraid of a shark in the water. They are afraid of the disaster on Wall Street. They are afraid of
losing their house. They are afraid of disease. They are afraid of cancer. They are living and
there is no mystery of God. There is no mystery of God.

There is no fellowship of God. The devil has taken the church. He’s afraid of the church. He’s afraid the church will reveal the mystery of godliness. He’s afraid the Spirit will anoint the church. He’s afraid the church will have joy. He’s
afraid the church will tell the truth. He’s afraid the church will do more than that. Go to the
next part. “Seen of angels.” Angels love to look at the mystery of godliness. I can imagine an
angel in heaven flying over to a friend angel and saying, come with me. I got to show you
something. It’s Moravia Park Drive. The other angel says what’s the number? 6025. What do
you see? Angels see. We are seen of angels. They know about humanity. They know about
jealousy and envy and bitterness. They know about adultery and lying and cheating and
deceitfulness. They know about pride and arrogance. They know that. But when they look at
the church and the mystery of godliness, they are saying, we see it! This is just a human way of
trying to say what I’m saying. We see it.

God is manifest in the flesh. He is in them. And he is seen by angels. You will see angels coming and going on the Son of man in John 1:51. Angels will come to our meetings, 1 Peter 1:10-12. They will stoop in. It says they will bend down. That little thing Kenneth Wuest brings out. When Peter and John ran to the tomb of Jesus, and John
is young, and he sprints, and Peter is kind of coming with a lame foot! Peter comes. That’s not
in the Bible! Peter comes and John is waiting. It says Peter stooped down and looked inside. It’s
the same for angels stopping down and looking at us in 1 Peter 1. Why do they want to look at
us? They want to see God in the flesh. Why do they want to look at us? They want to hear God
and see God and the heart of God and the mind of God. They don’t want to see baptized in vinegar, legalistic, unhappy, sad, critical, bitter. People sitting around or not even going
anywhere or not going to any church.

They go to a bowling club. They go to ESPN to watch a football game or something. They go to a bar room. That’s not the mystery of God. They get in trouble. They go to places where there is no God. They make friends with the world. They don’t have anything going on, something cooking inside. They don’t have the Spirit moving in them.
They don’t have edification and building up happening. Let’s finish it up. “Preached unto the
Gentiles.” I was doing a Zoom meeting with the Nepalese the other day. These Nepalese kids. I
love these people. Wow! These kids, 16, 18, 20, 30 year old kids learning the Bible. One time I
flew over Nepal and I looked down on the mountains, the Himalaya mountains, and on the
edges of the mountains there are little villages. They walk there and there is no electricity and
they are very poor and very tough people, very tough people, very amazing people. I said to the
guys on the Zoom meeting, go to the villages and preach Christ.

Go to the villages and tell them about Jesus. Go to the villages and tell them that God loves them. Go to the villages and tell them about Jesus. They are there receiving. P. Jon and Diane Post have lived there now a
number of years. How many? Six years. Those are the heroes right there. They are the heroes.
This is incredible. They go. They do it. Christ casts out demons. Christ tells them I forgive you.
God is real. God visits those places. The angels come. The devil says, no, don’t preach to the
Gentiles. Yes, we are preaching to the Gentiles. Yes, we are. We are preaching in the highways
and byways. I know a lot of you have respect for this particular ministry that started to get
moving 50 years ago with a Bible school and sending out missionaries and doing this work. We
are in many countries and hundreds of churches that are affiliated with us and our doctrine and
our teaching and our understanding and our Bible schools.

This is God’s work. Great is the mystery of it. It’s a mystery. You can’t buy it with money. You can’t produce it by a university education. You can’t go down to Walmart and try to buy it. You cannot get on a Zoom meeting
and produce it. You cannot do it. It’s something that’s mystical. It’s God. It’s God in the flesh.
It’s God showing up in our life. It’s God saying, say goodbye to that woman. Go away from her
and mock her. That happened to Augustine by the way. I want to finish up. Augustine is a saint
of God in church history in the 4 th century. As a young man, he was with a lot of different
women. His mother was in his life too. He didn’t have a father I think. He was a womanizer. He
was a carnal, unsaved womanizer with a lot of different women. He was empty. He got saved by
grace. God saved him. He wrote more than a million words in theology.

More than a million words were written by this great thinker, this great man of faith. One time in the street a
woman met him. She goes you know me, and I know you. She was from his past. He said you
don’t know me. You don’t know me. He knew. Yes you know me, but you don’t know me. You
don’t know me. You have no power over me. You don’t know who I am. These are my words. I
am in the mystery of godliness and this is the thing the devil hates. No, that can’t happen. No
angels, no preaching, no God in the flesh. I don’t want any of that happening. I want society to
operate without God. We say, no, we are preaching to the Gentiles. The devil says, no you’re
not. We’re saying, yes we are. Yes, we are. We resist the devil and he flees from us. We follow
God and we find God. Believed on in the world. There are some that believe us, and some do
not believe us. Some believe us and some do not, and it breaks our heart.

They don’t believe it. Could we walk with you? Could we help you believe? Could we walk with you? Could you come and visit us? Could you be with us? Could we walk with us? Could you become a believer?
Come and see. Come and be with us. Some believed. And that mystery happens. Then the last
thing that happened to Jesus – all of these happened to Jesus – he ascended up into heaven. Vs.
16. He was received up into glory. No, Jesus, you cannot go up there. Yes, I’m going. You know
how Kenneth Wuest said in the Book of Colossians that the Spirit tried to keep Jesus on the
earth. But he went through the heavens and sat at the right hand. No, you cannot go. Yes, you
have no authority over this. This is God. This is his plan. This is his reality. The sooner the
believer will get in step with God’s reality, the more satisfied we will be in our heart. We’ll be
satisfied in our Spirit. We’ll be in fellowship with the mystery of Christ. “God is faithful who has
called us into the fellowship of his dear Son (1 Corinthians 1:9).” We’ll find ourselves satisfied with
each other in the Lord.

When I was in Florida, we were just there. We loved being together.
Haven’t seen each other. Fellowship was there. It was just there. We have a future in Florida.
We have a message in Florida. We have a mission in Florida. Let’s reach people in Florida. Let’s
see God do his work in Florida. And wherever we go, this is the way we think. We were in
Hungary. God’s work is in Hungary. This is his will. And the devil says, no. Go back home. Get
out of here. Disappear. We have nothing to do with you. We have our own product, our own
stuff. We say your stuff is garbage. You are the way to hell. You are the destroyer of men’s
souls. You are a thief. You are a liar. You have nothing for me. I’m not satisfied with a sandwich.
I want God, and God will give me a sandwich. I’m not satisfied with the natural life. I want God
and God will take care of my life.

That’s it. 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.