Being a Witness to Satan — Zac Poonen

Being a Witness to Satan — Zac Poonen

There is an aspect of our witness for Christ which many Christians don't often think about. And I want to read in Ephesians in chapter 3 to look at that particular aspect. I've come to see through many, many years that most Christians do not read the Bible very carefully or exactly.

And so, they can miss out on what God wants to speak to them. So, I want you as you listen to consider whether you have noticed these verses. It speaks here about a mystery in verse 9. Paul says that he was given grace in verse 8 to preach and to bring to light, verse 9, Ephesians 3, 9, a mystery which is hidden in God for many ages.

Now, the word mystery, by the way, is never found in the Old Testament. There were no mysteries in the Old Testament. Everything was plain and simple for people to understand the law. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery and many, many laws that God gave.

If you had a good mind and intelligence, you could understand it. And there were clever scribes among the Jews who could explain those scriptures to people. But when it comes to the New Testament, you find this word mystery.

Mystery means a secret. And it says here, it was hidden in God for many ages. But it has now been revealed through the Holy Spirit. So, the only way to understand something hidden in God is in our spirit.

Now, man has got, man was made in the image of God. And like God is a trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5 .23 says, man is also a trinity of, not trinity in three persons like God, but trinity in three parts.

Body, soul and spirit. And our mind is a part of our soul. And the great tragedy is that most people try to understand God with their mind. But the mind is good for earthly things, to understand earthly things.

But if you want to understand the things of God, you can only understand it in the spirit. And many people do not know how to know God in the spirit. And the reason for so much of defeat and hypocrisy in Christians is because they do not know God in the spirit.

They know God in their mind. And to know God in the mind, you do not need the Holy Spirit, by the way. If you want to understand the Bible, you don't need the Holy Spirit. You go to a college, you can get a degree in chemistry or science or the Bible.

You just need a good mind. If you don't have a good mind, you won't get a degree in chemistry or physics or in the Bible. Because people try to understand the Bible with their mind, they can't understand the mysteries of God.

The mystery of God is revealed in our spirit and you need the Holy Spirit to show that to you. So before I proceed further there, I want to show you a verse in Matthew chapter 11. You know, verses that you'll never find in the Old Testament.

You could understand the Old Testament in the mind. You did not need the spirit to understand the Old Testament. No person in the Old Testament had the Holy Spirit dwelling inside him. Not Moses, not David, not John the Baptist.

They had the Holy Spirit upon them, but not inside them. And that is the significance of the veil that was in the tabernacle and later on in the temple between the holy place and the most holy place. If you read about the tabernacle, the tabernacle that Moses constructed was also a trinity.

Three parts. And it was a picture of man, body, soul and spirit. The outer court of the tabernacle is a picture of man's body which everybody could see. And there were two hidden parts of the tabernacle covered by a tent.

Just like there are two hidden parts in man, soul and spirit. And between these two was this thick curtain. And nobody could go in there. And God dwelt there. God did not dwell in the outer court, not in the body.

God did not dwell in the holy place symbolizing the soul. God dwelt in the deepest part, the spirit. That's where the fire of God, the glory of God was. There's meaning in all the symbolism. Teaching us that God cannot dwell in our body or in our mind.

It's in our spirit that he dwells. And he could not dwell in man as long as there was this veil. And when Jesus died, that veil was rent into two. Then God could dwell in man's spirit. And then man could understand things which he could never understand with his mind.

Humility as the Way to Receive Revelation

So in Matthew 11 verse 25, you read these words. Matthew 11 and verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the clever and the intelligent and revealed them to babes.

Have you ever thought, is there any book in the world which babes can understand but clever and intelligent people cannot understand? Think of it. Any type of book on any subject, mathematics, history, any science.

A book which only babes can understand but clever and intelligent people can't understand. Have you ever thought of this verse? Is it possible to have such a writing that only babes can understand and clever people can't understand?

But Jesus said that, The Father has hidden some truths from clever, intelligent people and revealed them to babes. Father, because it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. Now you never read this in the Old Testament.

Because the Old Testament was understood by clever, intelligent people. The Jewish scribes were very clever and very intelligent. And you could understand it clearly. What do babes have which clever, intelligent people usually don't have?

Jesus himself explained that. He took a baby once in his arms and said, If you humble yourself like this child, you can enter into the kingdom of heaven. All that the Israelites had was the kingdom of earth.

He said, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, the greatest person in heaven is not a clever person or an intelligent person or a rich person. It's one who's like a baby. So, babies have something which clever, intelligent people usually don't have and that is humility.

It's very difficult to find a clever, intelligent person who is extremely humble. I mean, they have a superficial humility because it's rude to act proud, so they act humble. I'm not talking about that type of hypocrisy, hypocritical humility.

I'm talking about that genuine humility which you see in a child. It's very rare. If a clever, intelligent person has it, it must be because Christ has done a work in him. Otherwise, it's impossible. That's also the reason why Jesus said, It's very difficult for a rich man to enter into God's kingdom.

Because most rich people are proud. It's true. They look down on people who are not so smart and clever as they are or not as wealthy as they are. And that attitude itself hinders them from getting into the kingdom of God.

Those are the words of Jesus. So, if you want to understand the Old Testament, you did not need humility. All you needed to be was clever and intelligence. But if you want to understand the mysteries written in the New Testament, you require something else, which is a quality of the spirit, not of the soul.

Something that comes inside the veil. That's humility. Anyone who dwells in the most holy place, in God's presence, will automatically be humble. It's impossible to dwell in God's presence and be proud.

Absolutely impossible. I mean, can you imagine living in the presence of almighty God and becoming proud? It's completely out of the question. Every man who is proud of anything, whether his intelligence or his wealth or his Bible knowledge or his spiritual gifts or how much he has accomplished for God, all such people are not dwelling in God's presence.

They are dwelling in the outer court mostly. You cannot dwell inside the veil in God's presence and not be humble. The secret of humility is to live in God's presence. Because God is so almighty, you feel yourself like a small worm or a speck of dust.

How can you ever be proud in God's presence? It is impossible. And that's why he said these things are revealed to babes. You see a word used there, which is also a unique New Testament word. Reveal. In the Old Testament, you don't read about revelation.

You read about understanding. You read about knowledge. You read words like knowledge, understanding. Those are words you can use to study chemistry or mathematics. Knowledge, understanding. But when you talk about mathematics or chemistry, you don't talk about revelation.

No, in colleges, they don't teach revelation. They give you understanding and knowledge. So, in the Old Testament, you have words like understanding and knowledge. And that is for clever, intelligent people.

When you come to the New Testament, it's for babes. It's by revelation. God revealing something in a man's spirit that goes beyond his mind. That's why when, I mean, here is an example of it. When Jesus came to earth, there were great scholars who had studied the Bible.

The Bible those days was 39 books from Genesis to Malachi. Studied it, studied it. They read it every Sabbath day. They didn't have Bibles like this. But in the synagogue, they had the scroll. And they would read it.

And all the 39 books spoke about the coming Messiah. Right from Genesis, it spoke about the seed of the woman and the Passover lamb in Exodus. The sin offering in Leviticus. The bronze serpent in Numbers.

And in every book, right on to Malachi, where he's called the son of righteousness. Every book spoke about the coming Messiah. But people who had studied that book for all their life, you know, these old 60-year-old Pharisees who were the leaders in the synagogue.

When the Messiah actually walked into their synagogue, they called him Beelzebub, prince of devils. I mean, if they called him a prophet, that also would have been an insult to call Almighty God a prophet.

But they went below that. They called him the prince of devils. And these are people who were scholars. It's not a Roman soldier who had never studied the Bible said, hey, this is the son of God, when he looked at the cross.

How did a Roman soldier who had never studied the Bible say that was the son of God? And the people who studied the Bible said he's the prince of devils. That is how blind you can be, even after studying the Bible.

That's a message for Christians. That Christians can be ignorant of the true worth and the person of Jesus Christ. Theoretically, they may know, yeah, he's the son of God, he became man, etc. Turn with me to Acts chapter 13.

Acts chapter 13 and verse 27. Those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers. When it talks about rulers, remember, it's referring to religious leaders. Those are the rulers. Recognizing neither him, they did not recognize Christ, nor the utterances of the prophets which they read every Sabbath.

That means they could not recognize what the prophets were saying in those 39 books, which they read week after week after week after week. And they fulfilled those prophecies by condemning the Messiah who came into their midst.

And when you read that, if you sit back and say, well, I'd never make that mistake, don't be so sure. We may not reject Jesus Christ's death on the cross, but what the Holy Spirit today, you see, today, when in the days of, written here in those days, the person of the Godhead that was on earth was the second person.

Jesus, the son of God. He was the one who was on earth and they couldn't recognize him. Today, the person of the Godhead on earth is not Jesus, he's in heaven. He's the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Godhead is the one who's on earth now.

And we may say, yeah, we know about Jesus, but we may not recognize. I hope you all woke up now. Yeah. But we may not recognize what the Holy Spirit is seeking to say to us. If we are humble, we will hear.

I want to recommend that to you. When you study the scriptures, this is how I seek to study the scriptures, I say, Lord, I'm pretty intelligent when it comes to worldly things. But when it comes to your word, I can be blind as a bat to what you're trying to reveal to me, as blind as those clever Pharisees who thought Jesus was a deceiver.

It's not only them. The Jewish people even today say that Jesus was a deceiver. It hasn't changed 2 ,000 years. And Jewish people are some very, very clever people, but they can't see that Jesus was the Messiah.

And there was one person like Peter who was not a learned scholar or anything. He said, you're the son of God. And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

Again, he uses that word, reveal, Matthew 16, verse 16. It's not flesh. That means it is not your human cleverness that showed you that I am the son of God, but my Father in heaven gave you revelation.

Dear brothers and sisters, value revelation on scripture, not understanding. You can understand scripture and have no revelation. That's the main reason why many Christians live defeated lives, defeated in their home, defeated in their thought life, unable to control their tongue and their passions.

They've got understanding. They've got enough understanding to get up and preach. What they lack is revelation. They have intelligence, but not humility. They may do a lot of activity. You know, Jesus said the Pharisees were missionaries.

Revelation Versus Religious Activity

He said in Matthew 23, they crossed land and sea to make converts. Imagine a Pharisee giving up his job and people asking, where are you going? He said, I'm going as a missionary. Sacrifice. But they were blind as a bat.

They fasted twice a week. They prayed three times every day. They typed, far more than what many Christians do. But they were blind as a bat. What they lacked was revelation. And I've seen many, many, many Christians who have understanding of scripture, thoroughly defeated by sin in their private lives, in their thought lives, in their home life.

And I know the answer is, they haven't got revelation. The veil has not been rent in their life, in between their soul and spirit. They're trying to understand God in the soul. If I were to use an illustration, it's only an illustration.

To try and understand God with your soul is to try and see with your ear. Try that. You may have very good hearing, but you can't see with your ear. You may have a brilliant mind, but you cannot know God with your mind.

You need good eyesight. You need revelation in your spirit to know God. The spirit and mind are as different as eye and ear. You can have first class hearing and be totally blind. And you can have a brilliant mind and not know God in your spirit.

And vice versa. You can have wonderful eyesight and very poor hearing. So a man may be very dull in his mind, maybe he couldn't even finish school, poor in mathematics, but he may know God in a very deep way because he's got revelation in his spirit.

In Christendom generally, we tend to exalt those who have got a good mind. You know, clever preachers, good musicians, who've got a sense of music. These are the things we appreciate. When you don't know God, you appreciate good musicians.

You appreciate clever people. When you're really spiritually minded, you look for men who know God in their spirit. Who have the aroma of Christ in their lives. It's not a question of how clever they are or how musical they are.

They may not be musical at all. I don't know how musical Peter was. But I'd rather go and sit at his feet than under some musical Christian who doesn't know God. So that's very important for us to understand.

Turn back with me to Ephesians in chapter 3 now. It says there about this mystery that was not revealed in olden times. The mystery that was not revealed in olden times to people but which is now revealed.

What is this mystery? Listen carefully. Something hidden in God that's now been revealed. And I hope I can help you to seek God to get revelation on this. And here it says in verse 10. This is part of that mystery that the many-sided wisdom of God, the wisdom of God is many-sided like the rainbow with many colors, might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities referring to the evil spirits in the heavenly places.

The Church as a Witness Before Satan

Have you ever thought of that? The witness of the church to Satan. We usually hear about the witness of the church to unbelievers. Be a good witness to your non-Christian neighbors, to your non-Christian office workers, to your non-Christian relatives.

The witness of Christ, you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the outermost parts of the earth. That's a very important part of the witness of the Christian. But here it is speaking of a mystery of God which is hidden from the ages.

That means God had a great plan that when the church is formed, it should be a witness to Satan. Now, it's much easier to be a witness to people than it is to be a witness to Satan. Do you know that? Much easier.

Because people, human beings, see less than 5 of your life. Even those who sit in the same church. Think of somebody who is in the same church as you, whom you have known for 25 years. I tell you, you know only 5 of his life.

Do you know how he speaks to his wife at home? Not when you are there, when you are not there. Do you know how she speaks to her husband at home when nobody is around? They act very holy in the church.

But how are they in private? Do you know whether they are faithful with their finances? Now, you don't have taxes in Dubai, but wherever you do have to pay taxes, do you know whether they pay their taxes properly?

Do you know whether they are faithful in clearing their debts? Do you know whether they are faithful in not owing anybody anything and not cheating anyone, being upright in their business activities? We don't know.

Do you know how, and more difficult, do you know how faithful they are in their thoughts? You can be married 50 years and your wife may not be knowing that you have dirty thoughts in your mind. It's very easy to be a witness to people.

You just have to be very careful in your external behavior whenever you are around people. And then, when you are at home, you just give up all that and say, now I can live as I like. This is how most Christians live.

They haven't any clue about this, what God has eagerly longing, that there will be a church, that we are witness to Satan who is watching them all the time. See, for example, a young man, or a young man, or even an older man, watching internet pornography on his computer, because he will watch it when nobody is around.

But he thinks nobody is around. There are demons watching over his shoulder, looking at this so-called child of God, watching pornography on the computer, thinking nobody is watching him. And there are demons watching him.

And the devil is called the accuser of the brethren and saying to God, God, you see that child of yours? You see how he sings in the church, but see what he is doing right now. This guy is supposed to be a preacher.

But see what he is watching right now. God, is that supposed to be your child? But nobody in the church knows. Nobody in the church knows what you are doing. So your witness in the church, and just to take one example, your witness in the church is completely unaffected.

You can live like that for 25 years and not lose your testimony before men, but you are no witness to Satan. Not at all. Not at all. You haven't understood what God's desire is for the church. The wisdom of God can be manifest to Satan that God can point out individuals and say, see that man, he has the same flesh that all other human beings have.

The Old Man, the Flesh, and Temptation

Do you know when we are born again, we don't get rid of our flesh. We get rid of the old man. Romans 6. The old man is the mind that wanted to sin. That's gone. But the flesh, a lot of people, by the way, don't understand the difference between the old man and the flesh because they don't read the Bible carefully.

They don't have revelation. Let me illustrate that to you. The old man is like an unfaithful servant who lived inside our heart. The old man referred to in Romans 6. The lust of the flesh are like the gang of robbers who come to enter this heart in order to steal valuable things.

They don't come to steal your money because Satan has no value for money. They come to steal your joy. They come to steal your purity. They come to steal your humility. They come to steal your love for people.

Those are the things Satan knows have real value in eternity. It's foolish men who think that money and property are the valuable things. That's only here on earth. It will all perish soon. So they don't come to steal your property.

The devil is not interested in your property or your money. You can have as much as you like. He takes away the real valuable things. Like when a thief comes into your house, he doesn't steal old newspapers.

He steals what is really valuable. The devil comes into your heart to steal your love, your joy, your peace, etc. And so, when these lusts of the flesh, the robbers come and knock at the door, the old man says, Come right in.

Take whatever you want. Take away my purity. Take away my love. And that's how Christians sin. That's how people sin. But when a person is really born again, a lot of people today think they are born again because they signed a decision card or said some words.

But real born again requires repentance, first of all. If you have not repented in your life, you are not really born again. Repentance means a turning around from sin. Not a giving up sin. That takes time.

But a turning around. That means I hate it. I want to give it up in my life. And when a person is turned around and Christ comes in through his Holy Spirit, the old man, this old servant is killed. Romans 6 .6, your old man was crucified with Christ.

And now that old servant is dead. And God places in place of that a new servant inside our heart or spirit. And this servant is against the lusts in the flesh. The gang of robbers are still alive. They were not killed.

The lusts in the flesh, you know, as soon as you, in water baptism, you testify that your old man is dead. But as soon as you come out of the waters of baptism, the lusts of the flesh are pretty active.

Tempting you immediately. Showing that the gang of robbers is still alive. They are still there to come and knock at your door. Let me come in. Christians are tempted. But now there is a new man inside, a new person who says, I am not going to open the door.

I am not going to let you in. And then, in that case, how do Christians sin? A Christian sins because he hasn't fed the new man. The new man has not been strengthened with food and exercise. And so it's weak.

So when the new man tries to keep the door shut, a gang of robbers just push their way right in and they steal. Even though the new man didn't want them to come in. That's how a Christian falls into sin.

Those of you who are believers, you know what I am saying is true. The times when you did not want to sin, you could honestly say, I didn't want to sin, but I sinned. I didn't want to lose my temper, but I lost it.

Really, I hated internet pornography, but I watched it. See, that's a new man. The new man is not being strengthened with the word of God or the Holy Spirit. And therefore, as far as God's testimony to Satan is concerned, this so-called believer is just as bad as the unbeliever.

Both of them are into the same old sin. And in fact, this so-called believer is worse because the devil doesn't point the unbeliever to God. He says, he's one of mine. He behaves that way. He points the believer to God and says, look at how this guy is behaving.

That's why when a believer sins, it's far worse than when an unbeliever sins because the testimony of God is spoiled and the devil gets an opportunity to mock God. Whenever a believer sins, he cannot do that when an unbeliever sins.

It says in Revelation 12 in verse 11, the accuser of our brethren, sorry, verse 10, the accuser of our brethren, the last part of it, accuses God's children before God day and night, 24 -7. You know what the devil's doing?

Tempting us through his demons. But also, anytime a believer falls, brethren, he's not the accuser of unbelievers. He's never called the accuser of unbelievers. Why should he accuse his own children? He accuses God's children.

He's the deceiver of the whole world. That's another title in verse 9. That's another thing. He deceives everybody in the world. But when it comes to accusation, he's the accuser of God's children alone.

And he accuses God's children 24 -7. An example of that is the book of Job. You know, the book of Job, if you've heard me before, you've heard me mention this, that it's the first book in the Bible. It was written at least 500 years before Moses wrote Genesis.

Moses wrote the first five books of what's called our Bible, Genesis, Exodus and so on. But Moses lived around 1500 AD and Job lived about 2000 AD. I don't have time to prove that. There are many instances in the book of Job which indicate that.

He probably lived around Abraham's time or before Abraham. But in any case, out of all the 66 books in the Bible, there's only one book that has no connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Every other book has got some connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Except Job. Job was written long before any of the other books of the Bible. It's the first book of the Bible. And that makes us realize something very important. That when God wanted to write a book for man, He did not start with how the heavens and earth were created or even how man was created.

That, God said, can wait 500 years. I'll wait 500 years. When Moses comes along, I'll write that. But much before that, I want to write another book about a man of God who was a testimony to Satan. Isn't that interesting?

That when God wanted to write a book for the human race, the very first book He wrote was about a man who was a testimony for God before Satan. That challenges me. That shows what is uppermost in God's heart.

Job as a Model of Faithful Righteousness

He wanted a man on earth who would be a testimony for Him before Satan. So when Satan comes before Him in Job chapter 1 and God says, where are you coming from? And Satan says, I've been walking around and roaming around on the earth.

You know that Satan, he lives in the heavenlies, in the second heavens. He roams around on the earth. What's he looking for? He's looking for people whom he can accuse through his demons. The spirits of God, the spirits of evil are millions and they're roaming around the earth looking, looking, looking, whom can I accuse?

And many, many people in those days who were religious, Satan could accuse to God saying, that guy claims to know you but he's a hypocrite. Look at the way he lives in private. It's in the midst of this type of accusation that God turns to Satan and says, but have you considered, verse 8, my servant Job.

Job 1 .8. Okay, Satan, all that you say is true. That guy's a hypocrite. That guy's a hypocrite. That guy's a crook. And that guy's a cheat. And that guy's a adulterer. But, have you considered my servant Job?

He's not like all these others. And he doesn't mention Job's wealth. Job is a wealthy man. God has no time to talk about his wealth. Though Job was a very famous man, he doesn't talk about his fame. He only says, there is a man.

There's no one like him. He's blameless. He's upright. You tried to bend him. You tried to bend him. But he has not bent. He's upright. What a wonderful testimony. If God can say about you that Satan tried to bend you, make you compromise, but you would not compromise.

Fearing God and hating evil. That's a tremendous testimony. I remember years ago when I read that as a young man, when I started reading the Bible, and a challenge came to my heart. Can God point you out to Satan like that?

That's a challenge that came to my heart as a young man. And with all my heart I said, Lord, I want to be like that. I want to be one whom you can point out to Satan. I don't care what men think about me.

It's worth nothing because they know 5 of my life. They don't know anything about my private life. So their testimony is fit for the trash can. I mean, if you are one of those who is very happy that people think highly about you, I want to say, you're pretty foolish.

What do they know about your life? You should be more concerned that God can point you out to Satan who observes you all the time, who knows how you write your financial accounts, who knows what you watch on the computer, who knows what you're reading, who knows how you talk to people in your office, at home and everywhere, who knows every detail about your life.

It's far more important. I tell you, the testimony of Satan about your life is a million times more important than the testimony of any other human being. Please remember that. Job, God says, if God can say this about you, that there is, dare, can you consider this, this servant of mine, this man, this woman, that there's no one like him in Dubai or Sharjah.

No one like him. Not that he earns the most money, that other people do. Not that he's the smartest or the cleverest, but he's blameless, he's upright. How many times you've tried to bend him, Satan, but you've never succeeded.

You've tried to bend him for 20 years and he's never bent. He's been upright, straight. He doesn't care for the approval of men. He only fears me. He only wants to please me. He turns his eyes away from whenever there's evil.

You know that, Satan. You've been watching him. You've been watching him 24 -7. And you know he turns his eyes away from evil. Whether it's from a magazine or a billboard or a computer or anywhere, or from the streets.

He turns his eyes away from evil. He fears me. He respects me. You're a true Christian, my brothers and sisters. This is what you should long for more than anything else. Many of you came to Dubai to earn more money.

That's okay. But if that is your goal in life, you've got an idol. Get rid of that idol and make sure that your aim in life is to be a testimony for God wherever you live. The mystery. God, from ages past, He wanted people on earth who will show His wisdom to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

And Job, Satan says, Well, Job serves you because you blessed him. He won't serve you if you stop blessing him. Does Satan have to say that about any of you? Well, he's serving you because he's got a good job here and he earns a lot of money.

He drives a car around and in the olden days he just rode a bicycle but now he's riding a car and you blessed him so naturally he's happy. And God says, Take it away. You can take it away. Satan, he'll still be just the same.

I want to ask you a straight question about how many of you can God challenge Satan and say, Take away those blessings which he got by coming to Dubai, material blessings and make him poor and send him back home to India.

He will be just as faithful. He will never have a word of complaint. He will live in a little hut there and praise me just as much riding a bicycle there as he's praising me now when he's driving a car and living in a big apartment.

Can? You know the answer. If any of these things that God has given you means something to you then God can't say that about you. God gives us many things but we don't realize in all those things he's testing us.

A lot of people in the world say when God gives me more money he's blessing me. He's testing you. Not blessing you but testing you to see what you're going to do with that extra money. Lavish it on yourself or live for God's kingdom.

Live the same way, the same simple way you lived so that you can have more to bless God's people and his kingdom or say, Ah! Now I can live a little better. Have this. Visit restaurants more frequently.

In the olden days I couldn't. Of course. It's all for me, for me. The mark of the children of Adam. I'll show you in one sentence. In Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Now I want to say that this is what Satan seeks to keep Christians like.

Seeking the Interests of Christ Above Our Own

We need to understand the schemes of Satan. Philippians 2. Paul said about his co-workers. Philippians 2 verse 19. He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you. Paul wanted to send somebody from his team of co-workers to encourage the believers in Philippi.

And he says, I think I'll send Timothy so that I can be encouraged when I learn of your condition. Because among my co-workers, verse 20, I don't have anybody else with the same spirit. Because, here's the description of the human race.