Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): When faced with a problem or difficulty, that's a good time to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I mean, you're going to walk into something tomorrow at work, ask the Lord to fill you with his spirit. You got a hard family conversation coming up, ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. You You have fear and anxiety in your life. You You have difficulties like Like you are like the psalmist today. And you're drenching your couch with tears. Ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit. It's better to be faced in the spirit than in the flesh. Cuz the flesh is going to lead nowhere. It's going to lead to destruction.

You want to walk forward in the boldness that God has given to you. And that will come through the power of his Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): Evangelism rarely comes easy, and at times the environment can be hostile and intimidating. Such was the case for Peter and John in Acts chapter 4. And yet, in the power of the Holy Spirit, they said what needed to be said with boldness. Today on Abounding Grace, we'll receive great encouragement from those times when we're called to share the gospel. Here's pastor Ed Taylor in Acts chapter 4.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You You and I must receive teaching so that we might grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. We might become fully mature. Now, sometimes teaching comes through the gift of pastor teacher like you're receiving it right now. But that's not the exclusive way of teaching. There are other godly men and women in the body of Christ that teach in various ways, various groups. But do you know, you don't even need a teacher because when you open up your Bible, you have you, the word of God, and the Holy Spirit is your teacher. The Holy Spirit will confirm to you as you yield yourself to him what the word of God says so that when you do your devotions and you may not, you know, get up in the morning 7:00 okay, God, sit down, you have an empty chair there, be my teacher, here I have my Bible, go ahead.

I know you just get up in the morning, you're really quick, but you want to do your devos, you open up your Bible. Let me tell you Let me show you. Turn over to 2 Timothy chapter 3, would you? 2 Timothy chapter 3 because when you open up the word, every single time you open up the Bible, this happens. Part of it happens, all of it happens, but every single time you open the word, this happens. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, which makes sense why the mission of the church is to preach and teach.

It makes sense when you see the work of the Holy Spirit with his word. Verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Let's pause there. Four things. Four things you can expect when you open the word. Number one, doctrine or we would say right teaching. But another way of thinking of this is whenever you open up the Bible, the Bible will tell you what's right. That's why a lot of people don't open the Bible cuz they don't want to know what's right.

But the Bible is will teach you what's right. Secondly, it will also be for reproof. Now, reproof means to be corrected or to be strongly told what's wrong. And that's another reason why people don't read their Bible because they don't want to be told they're wrong. But the Bible will teach you and me where we're wrong. So number one, it'll teach us what's right. Number two, it will teach us what's wrong. And then notice thirdly, it will be for correction. Now, that's the grace and mercy of our father who will not only tell us what's right or wrong, but if there is anything wrong, he'll tell us how to make it right.

That's what correction is. Correction is learning how to make wrong things right. Of course, the difficulty is it's usually very personal. It's in our lives and nobody wants to be told they're wrong. Nobody wants to be told. But man, we need it and then we need to be told how to make it right. And then finally notice for instruction in righteousness. And that is how to stay right. Instruction in righteousness is how to continue to live rightly. So anytime you open the Bible, even now, anyone listening to this is receiving one, two, three, or all of these through this text.

Why? Verse 17, what's the end game? That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's the significance of teaching. And this is what they're in trouble for. And this is what religion doesn't like. Religion doesn't like the word. For so many years, the Bible was actually kept from people. The Bible was kept from people and and they were told just go to the priest. He'll tell you what it means. But when the priest is corrupt and they don't have the Bible, then what's going to happen? The whole thing is going to be corrupt.

And for many years, we know them as the dark ages. The church languished without the word. And even out of the dark day ages, we still have we still have that mentality today. Religion says you don't need to go to God, come to me. I just want you to reject that anytime someone tells you to do that. You don't follow man. You don't follow some prophet. You don't follow someone who says I have all the answers. They don't. They're not telling you the truth. You need to follow Jesus and collectively we'll serve him together. So here notice in verse 8, this is an answer to that question.

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he's been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him, this man stands before you today. If you like to write in your Bibles, just write next to that boldness. His life is on the line. He's got an option here.

He He could really try to wiggle out of this because after all, if he if he wiggles out of this, he could preach the gospel more. No, he's just going to tell the truth and commit his life to the Lord. He's going to tell the truth and he says it's by the name of Jesus. That's it. Not only that, verse 11, he takes an Old Testament scripture and applies it to them. And what was that scripture? The stone which was rejected by you builders. Don't miss that word. You guys rejected Messiah. You rejected Jesus. The one that you rejected, he's still healing.

He's still alive. He's become the chief cornerstone. And then he summarizes, nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Why was Peter so bold? Because in verse 8 it says he was filled with the Holy Spirit. So important, church, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, I know you received the Holy Spirit when you were born again. Many of you have asked for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as we were studying through the book of Acts, but this isn't an ongoing filling.

And I think we make a mistake sometimes when we think of the filling of the Holy Spirit like a glass of water. Even though that can be another illustration at another time, but we think of it like a glass of water. You know, if the water if my glass is already filled, why do I need more filling? Well, I mean, I can answer that. You would want more filling overflowing so it's just constant in your life. But instead of thinking of a glass, I want you to think of under the influence. I want you to think of being filled with the spirit is under the control or under the influence.

You say, Ed, where would you get that illustration? In the book of Ephesians. Remember what the Bible says? It says don't be drunk with wine, which is in excess, but what? Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. So the comparison of being filled with the spirit there is in comparison to being drunk with wine. And when a person is drunk with wine or any drug or any narcotic, they are then what? Under the influence. They're under the influence. He says there's a better influence to be under. There There is a a better choice than than hiding behind alcohol or drugs or You know, we use that phrase drunk with a lot of a lot of things, you know.

People can be drunk with with celebrity. They can be drunk with wealth. They can be under the influence of a lot of things. But if you want to stand like Peter and we want to stand in difficult times, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I mean, you're going to walk into something tomorrow at work, ask the Lord to fill you with his spirit. You got a hard family conversation coming up, ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. You You have fear and anxiety in your life. You You have difficulties like like you are like the psalmist today.

And you're drenching your couch with tears. Ask the Lord to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Be off the control. Whatever you're going to face, it's better to be faced in the spirit than in the flesh cuz the flesh is going to lead nowhere. It's going to lead to destruction. You want to walk forward in the boldness that God has given to you. And that will come through the power of his Holy Spirit. It's encouraging because you know, God will have us step out in faith, give us an impression, you give us a desire, and then we're not sure what we should do.

I'm sure that Peter was thinking just like he did with the with the man that was lame. You know, he's got these thoughts going in his mind and he's like, I don't know if this is from the Lord or not. I'm not sure. And And that's that will hinder us from just taking a step of faith. Like Like for example, if if you're here today and you you would say, you know, Ed, I think I have You come up after service and you say, you know, Ed, I think I have a a desire to go help the homeless.

But But you're not really sure what to do or how to do it. And then you're probably you're also not sure whether it's from the Lord or not. So you come up and you're going to ask me the question, pastor, I don't know if it's from the Lord. Can you tell me? Well, I'm going to tell you right now so you don't have to come up. You ready? I want you to turn the question around and just ask this. And this could be applicable to anything on your heart right now. You can just ask this.

Do you think the desire to help the homeless came from the devil or from God? So just answer it. Where do you think that would come from? From God. So now there's your answer. Go do it. And if you would just simplify and say hey, the Bible says when you delight yourself in the Lord, what he will give you the desires of your heart. And to help the homeless, yeah, that's from the Lord. How to do it, what God wants to do exactly, we don't know. But you won't know until you take a step of faith.

Step out and do it. Step out and begin to pray as you see, begin to pray when you watch the news, begin to pray and God will begin to well up in you desires and directions to help. You can apply that question all around. Says this is from the devil because doesn't have the marks of the devil? Does it want to kill, steal, and destroy people's lives? Well, I don't want to be a part of that. That's not from the Lord. But But does does it want to restore? Does it want to reconcile? Does it want to help?

Does it want to serve? I want to be a part of that. I think that's from the Lord. And so then I want to step out by faith discovering what God has for me. And here he is filled with the Holy Spirit and he just tells them. He turns another. It's so much in this text. But he turns this whole situation into an opportunity for the gospel. Don't forget, he's arrested. He's in custody. His life is on the line. He's got all these religious leaders looking down on him, 70 plus 1, much bigger than our Supreme Court.

Like that all these guys that have the power of life and death. And what does he do? They ask him the question and he turns the question into an opportunity for the gospel. Whose name did you do this? What power? Oh, you want to know? Jesus. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Oh, the one that you crucified. The one that you rejected, it's him. And by the way, there's no other name given under heaven that a person must be saved than the name Christ Jesus. That's who healed this man. And he laid before them the narrow path of salvation.

And you know, the path to salvation is very narrow. We would do a great disservice to God if we diminished the narrow path to salvation in any way that God himself has laid down for us. You may if You may hear it in a more uh terms of slaying. We should never water down the gospel. But I prefer to use I don't want to diminish the requirements that God has placed for a person to be saved. And that upsets folks. That upsets quite a few people to hear Jesus say that he's the only way, the only truth, and the only life.

No one comes to the father except through him. That That disturbs people. And rightly so, I believe Jesus came to disturb the status quo. But we would be in great error if we try to water down the requirements for a person to be saved. There is a very narrow way to salvation and it's only through Jesus which I can hear people saying, wait a minute, pastor, what about all those other people that are following different religions? What about them? Doesn't everybody get in? Doesn't everybody get to God? And you'll hear that phrase, right? All roads lead to God.

Have you guys heard that phrase? You might be a little surprised by my response, but I actually agree with it. I agree that all roads lead to God. Any life choice a person makes will find its end in the presence of God. But let me clarify before anybody runs out and go, what's happened to this guy? Let me clarify. While all roads lead to God, not all roads lead to salvation. Not all roads lead to the forgiveness of sin. You see the roads apart from Jesus leading to God will lead to eternal judgment. Yes, there is a real heaven and there is a real hell.

And I know that there'd be these objections and just I can't believe it, Ed. I can't I can't believe a God that would send so many people to hell. Just adjust your thinking a little bit. Just a little bit here. Please hear me out. This could be you. I could be talking directly to you. Just hear me out. People are not sent to hell. It's a choice that they make. It's a choice. Even today, as you've heard about the love of Jesus Christ, if you resist that love, it's your choice. There are consequences to choice.

There There is eternity to be gained in the presence of God by repenting of your sins, turning your life away from sin, and receiving the forgiveness of Jesus. There's a There's a consequence to that. That's eternity with God. But there's also a consequence to rejecting God. For those that want to advocate for everyone in a different religion or people that don't want to go to heaven, I just understand they there are the the the folks that will be in hell don't want to go to heaven. You talk to them right now. They don't want it.

And if that's the condition they die in, they're going to receive what they want. You You share the gospel. I don't believe in God. They don't want heaven. You share the gospel. I don't believe in your Bible. They don't want heaven. You You can't tell me how to live. You can't preach at me, pastor. And on and on the list goes. The The majority of people, they don't want to go to heaven. But wait, Ed, what about these other religions? They follow them sincerely. Well, in life, I think you've found by now that you can be sincerely wrong.

You can have all the the emotions and all of the thoughts of I'm doing this and I'm sincere in it, but you can be sincerely wrong. Buddhism will not get you eternity with creator God. Islam will not get you eternity with creator God. And you can go list after list after list after list. There's only one name. Salvation is not in any other for there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved which reminds me of the power of choice. It's a powerful thing to have free will choice because when you make your choices, your choices make you.

When you make your choices, your choices will make you. There's something about free will that's both exhilarating and dangerous at the same time. We can choose to follow God and tune in with him or we can choose to disobey and suffer the consequences. And in every action of life, we're confronted with a choice. We can never evade that. It's an either or proposition. There's not a third option. It's not a fourth option. You want to choose the narrow road. That's what Jesus said. Let's end there. Would you turn over to Matthew chapter 7? Early on in his ministry, Jesus made this abundantly clear in what we know is the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew chapter 7. When you get there, go to verse 13, would you? Matthew 7 verse 13. Jesus teaches us, enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. And I just think of the popularity of the wide gate. The Bible says a man a man plans his way and way There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.

And you want to go through that narrow gate, church. Jesus says choose the narrow gate. It'll be difficult and it'll be tough. It won't be very popular. It'll feel like you're alone. But it's through the narrow gate that life is found. But if you choose the narrow gate, then at the same time, you also must consciously and willingly and freely choose to reject the wide gate. It does come naturally, but there will be temptations along the way and you've got to choose to reject. You got to reject what everybody's doing. You got to reject what the world's into, what the popularity of the culture is.

Even the popularity of Christian culture and different things here and following these guys there and just don't follow man. Stay simple. Stay in your word. Stay in prayer. We don't need to apologize for simplicity. And we don't need to apologize for the resurrection of Jesus. We just need to share it. Tell people about God's hope for them. Encouragement, even for you today. And then when it happens and there's all kinds of pushback and warfare and difficulty, just know that you were told ahead of time it would come. Right? Jesus said in John 16:33, let me read it to you from the New Living Translation.

He says, I have told you this so that you have peace in me. Here on Earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. 2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Yes, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution and evil people and imposters will flourish. And they'll deceive others and they themselves will be deceived. So choose that narrow path to follow Jesus. And we'll get the rest of this in our future studies.

Guest (Male): Thanks for hanging out with us today here on Abounding Grace with pastor Ed Taylor. Are you interested in hearing this again? If so, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com. Another way to listen to pastor Ed's teachings is through the Calvary Church app. We're also on oneplace.com. What happens when God's spirit invades the heart of his people? Author Jim Simbala sets out to answer that very question in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. With over a million copies sold, this book will show you what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. When you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, you're invited to request a copy of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.

Give us a call at 877-30 Grace. That's 877-30 Grace. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store. You can also make a donation to the ministry online at aboundinggraceradio.com. And thank you in advance for helping us reach people with the love and truth of Jesus Christ here on the radio and online. So pastor Ed is back with us now. And Ed, it's possible that someone listening right now, like Peter, has an opportunity to share the gospel in a rather hostile environment and that requires some boldness. Or maybe someone is realizing right about now they need to be filled with the spirit as they head out to work in the morning or are dealing with the kiddos on a day-to-day basis.

Would you pray for them as we close?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Father, I pray for those that truly are heading out into the day and just knowing that they have a lot to face today, uh a lot to deal with. Uh Lord, I know that there is that need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in their lives, the strength of the spirit, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the help of the Holy Spirit. Some listening to me, God, need to be led into all truth through the spirit. I pray that over their lives. Some listening they they need to uh have the teaching that they've received be brought back to their remembrance.

Some need that comfort, some need encouragement, some need boldness and courage. Whatever it may be, Lord, I pray for those listening that you prepare them for every good work. Fill them afresh with your Holy Spirit. And in the name of Jesus, the powerful, mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Thanks, pastor Ed. And may God richly bless you with his abounding grace.

Guest (Male): This is a message of grace. This is a failing love. That you would take my place. Then you would bear my cross. You laid down your life. Then I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.

Guest (Male): Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.