God could release and show His power with even one word. Authority takes over and it is settled. Jesus would talk just a little and He was gone. He could do so much in us if we can hear a word from Him. (Matthew 8; Revelation 4:1)

Speaker(s): Matti Sirvio
Sermon 12463
7:00 PM on 2/22/2023

P. Schaller –

Can we put up Psalm 115 on the screen? Tonight, we have a special night. This is missions week. We have been
praying through the week in the daytime and also in the evenings. We have a guest, P. Mati
Sirvio from Finland who has lived in, I don’t know, five or six or seven countries and has done
mission work. How about the “stans”? Pakistan, Afghanistan. Do you know Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan? Let’s see. What else? Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Turn to your neighbor and say,
how many “stans” do you know by heart? Go ahead. Well, one of the evidences of being in
Greater Grace is these words are part of our vocabulary by God’s grace. And that’s because
God is a speaking God. He is a speaking God. Look at Psalm 115.

By the way, we have Zane Turk and the Kentucky revival testimony. Halleluiah! Hey, give the
Lord a hand for that. God is visiting us and God is a speaking God. So, Zane and there’ll be a
little testimony in the beginning. We’ll do the offering and then P. Mati will share a word. Then,
we’ll have a rap afterwards. High schoolers did a great job of singing, didn’t they? I want to join
that group. I want to join that group but they say, no. Nobody over 19 years of age!Okay.
So, look at Psalm 115:3. Our God is in the heavens. Say it out loud with me. Let’s have a little fun
tonight, amen! Hey, when P. Mati is preaching in a timely way, are you going to say “amen”?
Yes, you are. You are going to say “amen.” Say it to your neighbor. Amen! Glory to God!

Halleluiah! Yes, we are a lively group here. But no untimely amens. Huh? Eh, what is that?
Better be quiet I guess. vs. 3. No, you can shout all you want. I’m joking. God’s in control. Amen.
vs. 3. And he has brought a revival to that school in Kentucky. We’ll hear about it tonight. vs. 4-
5. Does your god have a mouth but doesn’t speak? Does he have ears but doesn’t hear? Hands
but doesn’t work? vs. 6-7. Listen. If God’s got hands and he uses them and feet and he walks
and a mouth and he speaks, then you will be like God. You will also walk and speak and hear
and smell cause God made us so that we would be alive. Our God is not a dead stone but to be
honest, some people live like dead stones. Turn to your neighbor and tell them. Don’t do that.
Go ahead. You dead stone you! Wake up! Wait a minute. Right now, Zane is going to come up.
Come on. Here we go. (Testimonies about the Kentucky revival).

P. Matti – Good evening. This is actually very easy. It’s actually very clear. It’s actually wonderful
to be here. Do you know why? Most probably you know why. Because God is here. Great idea.
Surprise. I believe if God wasn’t here, this would get very complicated. There would be a lot of
talking here and trying to fix everything and everybody. But because God is here, this is
amazing. This is really amazing, and when we don’t know what to say, we can pray and ask
God to speak to us. Has God ever spoken to you? Have you ever been in a situation where you
didn’t know what to say or what to do and you prayed and God answered you. Sometimes right
away like bang! And there was nothing complicated about it.

It’s not like a man says to a woman I love you and the woman says, what do you mean you love
me? Is it like AGAPE love or PHILEO or STORGE or EROS or don’t you know it’s going to go a
long time or what’s going to happen next week. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! The man says, just
forget about it. Forget what I ever said to you. If it’s there, it’s there. Right? And God speaks to
us clearly.

I’m really confident in that. In Mark 13:11, Jesus said that when you get arrested – have you
ever been arrested? It can be fun with God! Jesus said if you get arrested, don’t worry what to
say. Don’t worry about it, because the Holy Spirit will give you what to say. Like be restfully
arrested. Don’t worry about it. God will take care of speaking. I love that. I love that simplicity of
it.

When in Colossians 1:16, when it speaks about Jesus being the Creator, it says that all things were
created by him for him. He kind of created everything by himself for himself. I love that wording
there. Everything was really created with love. The universe was created with love. Before
anything was created, love was there. I don’t think that it’s like a lot of talking this Creation.

It’s not like a type of instructions. Put that there and this there. Move that there and make that tree a
little bit taller. And that star, a little bit to the right.

It was not that kind of Creation. John says there was life and the life was the light of people.
That’s the Creation of the universe. Not complicated at all. Powerful. And this is the kind of God
whom we worship here, and this is the God who has brought us together in this church. And
God speaks and it’s amazing how he speaks very clearly.

How many of you have been in a place where God spoke to you very clearly? And maybe it was
not long explanation. Maybe it was not long talking. It was just confirmation. Maybe one word. I
just want to recall three passages in the Scriptures where God spoke one word. He just said
one word.

And the first one is when Jesus is walking on the water and it’s a very unusual thing. It’s a
miracle. It’s a supernatural thing. And Peter gets excited and Peter is saying let me come. Let
me come. Jesus says, come. Come. He didn’t say this might lead to a disappointment. You
might fail. You have to do all the techniques. And it might not work and then you might lose your
faith. I don’t think it might not be a good idea for you to come. Blah, blah, blah. But he said,
come. And Peter went and we know the story. We know what happened. That’s secondary in
this issue. But he said, come.

Come and go are powerful words. Missions. Go. Then we start talking and we talk for 3 years,
15 years, 30 years. We’re still talking. And the Lord said, go. I know. I know. I mean sometimes
– I was saying to P. Schaller, I don’t want to sound like I’m arrogant. I made it to the mission
field. I’m not arrogant. I’m humbled by that. That simplicity has taken me there and has kept me
there. And it’s very simple. Nothing complicated about it. Very simple.

And the next word that I want to share, and it’s very dear to me. This moment and it’s in John
20. This is when the women go to the tomb and then Mary is there. And she is worried. She’s
disappointed. She’s wondering. She’s about to lose her future and her faith and so on. And she
is there and then she hears one word from God, from Jesus. And what is the word? Yeah. Can
you picture yourself in that place where God just calls your name? He says, Mary. How many
Mary’s do we have here? Confess. It’s okay! Yeah. He could also say, Nancy. He could say,
Tom. He could say, Matti. He probably wouldn’t say, Pastor Matti!

But what does it mean for us to hear our name? And how would, like when he said Mary, that
was full of love. That way how he said it to her was full of love and faith and hope and comfort.
And the whole thing, the same thing had power to create and put the stars into place, that power
was in that one word, Mary.

We have many incidences like that in the Bible when God spoke to people by their name. And
God said, Saul, Saul. Or Martha, Martha. I like that idea when God said, Martha, Martha. And I
don’t think it was like Martha, Martha. It was more like, Martha, Martha! Like you know, it was
like so much again authority there. There was God’s authority with a simple word.
The centurion who was not a Jewish man and who was not a believer. He came to Jesus
because his servant was sick. You remember that. And then he said to Jesus, I am not worthy of
you to come to my house. But just say a word. This is in Matthew 8. I’m not worthy to speak the word
and my servant will be healed.

He knew about this authority of the Word that had put stars into their place. He knew about the
power of that Word. And we have tasted that. What does it take for us to be satisfied? It takes a
word from God. God calls me by my name.
You remember that song we often sang in healing meetings here with P. Stevens and, “He is
here. Halleluiah. He is here. Amen. He is here. Holy, holy. I will [bless] his name again.

He is here. Listen closely. Hear him calling out your name. He is here. You can touch him. You will
never be the same.”
Let’s do it once again. He is here. Halleluiah. (Singing). He is here. Holy, holy. I will bless his
name again. He is here. Listen closely. Hear him calling out your name. He is here. You can
touch him. You will never be the same. You can hear him call out your name.

That’s what the song says. This is what we are talking
about. We were talking with Brian today on our way here. How it’s kind of ridiculous even what
the world is trying to offer us. Like what can the world offer. Sometimes I meet rich people in the
art business and I look at their lives and they can eat the best food in the world. But how much
can you eat? I mean, it’s a different color of the food every day and how amazing is that.
Then you have a house that has 100 rooms. Wow, that’s one of the best things that the world
can offer. And it doesn’t satisfy. Why to give money for that that doesn’t satisfy?

But one word from Jesus, my own name, and I’m so satisfied. I’m just so happy. Jesus called my name! I
know there are thousands and ten thousands of Matti’s in Finland. My generation, every second
a guy is called Matti. We have like seven P. Matti’s in our church in Finland! So, it’s not so special,
but when God calls my name and is personal with me in situations, it satisfies. Totally satisfies.
I’m just there happy.

The last passage I want to look at together is in the book of Revelation. It’s also just an amazing
moment. The whole chapter 4 in the book of Revelation is describing throne room in heaven. I
mean it’s a great read. Just to think about that it’s like almost like there is not enough vocabulary
to describe it because it’s so amazing. All the details that are there. It starts with this invitation
when John is told, come up here in Revelation 4:1. That alone is like amazing. A door. Can you picture
yourself in that place? And you see a door open in heaven. And then a voice comes and says,
“come up here.” Come up here. And then he goes and it’s incredible, incredible reality that is
shown to him. And it brings so much satisfaction. So much satisfaction.

You know that song, “It is Well with My Soul.” It is well with my soul. That speaks about the
spiritual satisfaction. The house might burn down. The car has broken down five months ago.
There has been no money around for six months already or something, and there’s sickness
and there’s failure and there is earthquakes and disasters and it is well with my soul. What is
that? That’s amazing. It’s because of the Word that is forever settled in heaven. You know that
verse from Psalm 119:89. That it has authority. And God continues to speak. He maybe just says
one word and it’s not because I am Finland and we don’t like talking. But it is just the authority of
God is like that. It’s that word takes me through this life and through trials and trouble and
satisfies. It’s my daily bread. It’s my daily bread. And maybe when we ask God to speak, God
uses some other words. He could say, wait. Maybe that’s all he says.

I don’t think Jesus was a talker, like talking and explaining a lot of things. The other way around, he would say something and just leave.
I picture him that way and it’s obvious in the Bible that he said that that’s it. And yeah, people
could say what does that mean? But let’s say you pray and you ask God to speak, and because
there’s so much the Word of God invested in you, the Holy Spirit really is a rich giver and
speaker and says, wait. Or the Holy Spirit says, go. Or the Holy Spirit says one word in your life
that you need to hear. Forgive. Or let go. Don’t continue talking about it. Don’t continue digging
into it. Let go.

We have experienced this so many times when we have been caught up in a situation in our
lives when we just drown in our trouble and one word and we are set free. We long for that.
When we come to the church, we are looking for that. Aren’t we? Cause the truth sets us free.
And the same way as that one word can create the universe, it can save the soul and the world
is full of people who have never heard that word.

It doesn’t take a lot of good techniques to reach the world. You know, when the… – whatever
was his name – the [indistinct] they call it, when he was going around or she. Whatever it was.
The first I heard the news, it’s so interesting. The first thing that came to my mind and I think it
was the Holy Spirit. I said, see, this is a clear sign that the world can be reached in one day. The
whole world can be reached in one day. And this is what we are part of and its the word of God
that has done that in our lives. Amen.

P. Schaller –

would you pray with me? We’ll do an altar call. Wow, was that good. That really
spoke to us. Thank you, pastor. That was so good. One word. Come. Come. Then there was,
go. Then Mary. Right? Mary. Wow. Alright, let’s pray right now. (Prayer)

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