Extraordinary Lives Knit Souls Together

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Extraordinary Lives Knit Souls Together by Pastor Thomas Schaller June 3, 2009 Unedited

I Sam. 16:7 - Lord said to Samuel, look not on his countenance...I have refused him. The Lord sees not as man sees. Say this...say it again. Just for fun, turn to your neighbor and say, the Lord sees not as man sees. Ok! Can I get you back now? Finish the verse: The Lord looks on the heart. vs 12 - he brought him in...he was ruddy...and goodly to look to. The Lord said, arise and anoint him. David was good looking afterall. The Lord said, don't look on the outward, but he looks great. Good looking kid. I Sam. 17. One thought to speak about Dr. Stevens and how I remember him and his life. He was born in 1929, the time of depression, in a small town, with N and S street. There was a few houses and they come back together. There was no more than 8 bldg's in that town. His brothers went to war. He stayed home with his widowed mom. He was taking care of a horse, as a little boy, 10 or 11 yrs old. THe horse had a heart attack and died on his post. In the 8th grade, he worked in the tannery. Poverty was a word to describe his home life. What I think, briefly, his life gives us all hope. From his life we see that regardless of who you are, very little education, very few connections, that are meaniingful and imp, very little support, and encouragement, but if our heart, God looks on the heart, not on the outward. If God puts his hand on you, it doesn't matter. Those elements that are highly esteemed in the world are not with God. When God puts his hand on you, and He is with you, then He is with you. He became for me, a common person, who showed me an extraordinary life. I never considered him common, but in the sense of being a human being, like we have found in so many parts of the world. People don't need to hear about great people...successful people. Tell me a story about David. Tell me that one who is a nobody, if their heart, and faith, and if they desire, and move in faith, God can put his hand on you.

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The story of David is that one. In this chap. 17:32 - David said to SAul, let no mans heart fail bec. of him. Thy servant will go and fight this Philistine. I killed a lion and bear. No one was watching me. I'm not talking about it. When Jesus Christ visits you in the night, comes to you, sometime at a burning bush, at a picnic table, in the woods, in a field in Harford, on the street in Baltiomore, standing next to a mud puddle, looking up and asking God, are you real, are you there. Can you answer me? Are you God? God delights in those people. These are the people we are. There is no diff. between David and this man of God, or that one or that child of God, or those that stood from Wiscasset Maine...S. Berwick...Lenox...its all the same. WE become champions for common people. We are msngrs for common people. We become ministers of Christ who lost and common people who are saved and want more. After Goliath was killed...David could say, what do I do now? In the calling of God, your next step will be revealed at that point, not preplanned before, but at that point. This is another thing about God being with you. You don't know what you will do now. When we were in Maine, did we know what we would be doing later? Did we know...in our victories there are steps and processes. What we do now, will be revealed to us then. This happened in pastor's life. We don't know what we'll do in a year, but it will be revealed to us then. WE don't know what we'll do in another year, but it will be revealed then. If God is with you, you have a process of victories. Someone says, What will you do later? I don't know. I don't have it all planned out. I feel this way, being the pastor here now, but also, I know Pastor was surprised at times, wow, that really worked. What do I do now? What's the next step. Watch this: Chap. 18:1 - after this happened...the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. That's what happened to us. After this und'g occured to us, this was more than flesh and blood, than the state of Maine, or a man. It was more than just people. We read about it in Church history. When you encounter it, you say in your heart, I don't know what's going on, but my soul is knit. I want to show up. I don't know what's happening. How many times travelling with Pastor in the car to Framingham...that ministry of faith, how much we learned, about thoughts of the diligent, tend to plentiousness. We learned that practically. The thoughts of the diligent, little packets of time can be filled with Divine thought. We

archived service at ggwo.org/gml und. how to think...and God is with us in what we are doing. The atmosphere of our fellowship, the sanctity of the word, the brokeness. Do you remember sometimes the holy laughter in rap sessions, the quiet holiness...our souls were and are knit with these relationships that P. Scibelli mentioned from 2 Tim 2. Read this with me. vs 1 - teh soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. He loved him as his own soul. It should not be unusual for us to love...God knows, even though we have our own family, this is happening in churches around the world. There is another man of God born somewhere around the world and he becomes a champion for the common person...and your soul is knit with him. You say, I know he loves me, and loves God, I know he is honest, his motive is genuine. I know this is the work of God. That's how our ministry began. Lastly, in the beginning, we were in Maine on Rt. 1. It was a Baptist church up there. One night, after a service, he was hanging around, and I was listening to him talk about his msg. He said, lets go down stairs, and he was talking more about his message. That ended, and we followed him. Then, he got in his car, and we went to Brunswick Maine to a donut shop. We went in there...laughing...after riding in the car. I'm brand new...we go in there, and he's just pastor. He said, we're going to start a Bible college. He took a napkin...got a pen from someone, and wrote a few little notes on the napkin. When I left the donut shop that night, I never met a pastor like this one. I didn't know exactly what was going on. By nature, I was suspicious. On the other hand, the HS was all over the place ministering to us. He said, we're starting a Bible collge. In that summer, 1972, I decided, OK! I went home to tell my family. They disagreed. They took me to the college where I was enrolled...it didn't work for me. I hitch hiked to Maine from NY. When I got there, there was spiritual fire there. When Pastor was preaching, I sat there, in little kindergarden desks...I thought, here we are. This is Bible college. What's going on? There was 33 people. That's how we started. What he said...worked for...how he lived, and meditated, what he believed was genuine. God's hand was on him. Don't look at the outward. God saw in that man, maybe that poverty, the brokenness, the emptiness that we all have in adam, and his hunger and desire and search for truth...and he was a diligent thinker in his study of the Bible. The result, that word went into that heart, and son on , and has impacted parts of the world. Even if it affected only one, one soul is worth the entire world. We have an accountability bec. we have seen it and share it and we

archived service at ggwo.org/gml rejoice in it. Would you pray with me? I remember being in Maine...and pastor would preach...he said, you can do it anywhere....lift up the name of Jesus. Years ago, some of us were in those places. We raised our hands to Christ. WE prayed by faith. Would you do it tonight. As an unbeliever, become a believer. Say, in your heart to God, Yes Lord! Jesus...I trust in you. forgive me of all my sin and give me eternal life. Save me by your grace. I accept it, my salvation by faith. If you prayed that prayer, raise your hand...on the internet, plsease say the prayer. Father, thank you tonight for this meeting.... Use these words...and thank you for this great life that was lived before us...magnifying Christ in word and deed. Thank you for our heritage...and the continuation of it. WE feel it, know it and beleive it. This is your headship Christ...no other man can lay, the foundation is Christ.