Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Today, on Abounding Grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Our expectations can be so skewed in doing good. People will fail us, people will misunderstand our hearts, people will get upset with us. They'll write nasty things, they'll say bad things, they'll gossip, they'll slander. But we must remember our motive is to please the Lord and serve Him by doing good to those around us and readjust our expectations so that we just trust the Lord with these relationships.

Ultimately, Paul wouldn't be effective if he didn't get over Demas. He just needs to move on. Don't lose heart because you've lost some friends, or don't lose heart because somebody you used to worship with doesn't love the Lord anymore. It does get weary. You feel like the longer you walk with the Lord, the fewer friends you seem to have. Part of that is very normal and it can weary you. You've just got to reorient yourself back to the Lord.

This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love, that You would take my place, that You would bear my cross. You laid down Your life, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that You’ve done for me.

Guest (Male): The enemy wants us to lose heart to the point we'll give up on what God has called us to do. It can even happen as we're doing good and helping others, as we'll see today on Abounding Grace. Today, Pastor Ed Taylor takes us to Galatians 6:9 and points out several things that can bring weariness. One of them is it can happen as we're waiting on the Lord.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You can become weary when you're waiting on God. Waiting. Waiting. You ask, "Ed, where do you get that?" Right here in verse 7: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

Think of it this way: sowing a seed doesn't have an immediate harvest. It takes time. So the time between sowing and reaping, in between, you can call that waiting. Waiting. Doing good. You did something good, but you don't see the immediate benefits of it, or you're waiting. As the Bible says, some people plant, some people water, but you're waiting for God to give the increase.

I think of the people you're praying for right now that might get saved. You've been praying for how many years now? You don't have to say it, but how many years have you been praying? Waiting. Not just on the bad things, not just on the trials. You might be waiting for a trial to end. Okay, that's a good thing, waiting. Not taking things into your own hands.

If you really want to grasp this in its totality, when I taught through the book of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, especially the second half of 1 Samuel and all of 2 Samuel, looking at the life of David going into King David, then going into Solomon in Kings, when you read those books, you'll see David waiting on the Lord, encouraging and receiving the benefits. Then you'll see him take things into his own hands and suffering the consequences. Waiting on the Lord is a good thing, but it could weary you.

I think of how many believers over the years have just given up waiting on the Lord, and they just lost heart, concluding that God is not faithful. But we see it's in due season. That's the key here. We don't control the season any more than we control the snow or the wind. It's God's due season. While you're waiting on the Lord, you can get tired.

This is such a lie from the enemy. This is a big lie, by the way. I want you to think of these in terms of how the enemy tempts you through lies because losing heart while you're waiting is the exact opposite of what God says waiting does in a person's life. It's the exact opposite. Now, I know you have your feelings, and I know you have your life experience, and I know that you are living with circumstances, but we have to cling to God's word no matter what we're feeling.

This is the exact opposite of what God says happens for the man and the woman that waits on God. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31 says, "Those who wait on the Lord shall quit, walk away, and never come back." No. You guys know your Bibles. That's not what it says. Here's the promise: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

That's the promise. The promise is then replaced with temptation, and then we come back to the New Covenant: let us not grow weary. Let us not grow weary. Waiting on God is the exact opposite of weary.

Number five: another thing that's so important is it's easy to become weary when you do good, but you're surrounded by so much bad. This is an obvious one, but it's a real one. It can become very tiring when you do good but you're surrounded by so many that do bad, especially if you have a high value for justice and equity and righteousness. As believers, that's always growing in our lives: valuing justice and equity and looking out for those that can't look out for themselves. You're doing good, but so many people seem to be getting away with doing bad, and it can weary you.

It can weary you if that's all you pay attention to. If all you pay attention to is everybody doing bad, well, David went through this in Psalm 22. In Psalm 22:12, he says, "Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion." He keeps writing about this over and over and over again in the Psalms. He basically says, "God, don't You see I'm doing good? Why do You let them get away with it? Don't You see I'm doing good? Why do You let them get away with it?"

It's just those seasons in life where you're so caught up in what you're doing and so caught up with what the world's doing, you forget God. You forget God. This is a big one. It's a classic example. I think all of them are, but this one's in particular where you need to get your eyes back on the Lord, like it says in Romans chapter 12: "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." If you haven't already, later on today you can go to Romans chapter 12. That word "looking," just circle it, and right next to it write "staring." You are obviously not seeing the Lord in your life circumstances, and it's wrecking you. You're doing good, but so many are doing bad, and it can discourage us. We just got to get our eyes back on the Lord.

Number six: as we wind down, we can become weary and even on the direction of losing heart when you rely on your flesh instead of the spirit. This is an accelerant. If you try to do God's work your way, you are going to be tired and weary, and you will lose heart. You're going to crash and burn. When we're in the flesh, nothing good comes from our flesh. Nothing good.

Back in Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, it says, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh," because there's a battle between the Spirit and the flesh. This reminds us that we can do the right things the wrong way. If you do the right things the wrong way, you're going to get weary. You're going to allow the circumstances of life to just bum you out. Then you look back and go, "I'm doing good." Yeah, but are we doing good the right way in the Spirit and not in our own strength and our own flesh?

Our strength is so limited. We're so weak, especially compared to God. What do we have compared to God? We say, "Well, I'll offer this and I'll give that." I think of you restoring the broken person. So you have a coffee with them, and you're going to sit down and have a meeting there, and they're sharing their heart with you. You're really not listening to them because you've already got the answer for them because you already know. You heard it and you say, "I already know what happened. I already know what happened." Now you really don't know what happened because you're not listening to them because you're only thinking about how you're going to answer them. That is you wanting to help them but being totally in the flesh.

If you're going to meet with someone for coffee, listen to them. Listen to them and then listen to the Holy Spirit. Listen to them and listen to the Holy Spirit. It's that verse that God gave me early on in my life and probably gave it to you as well: Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Your own understanding is your flesh. It's your humanity. It's because you already did this, because somehow you're the expert. You're the expert in this problem. Everybody comes to you because you're the expert.

Can I just say out loud for everyone here and anyone listening to me wherever you might be: you're not an expert. You're not an expert because you really don't know what you're dealing with yet. The only expert spiritually is our God. He knows everything. He knows the ups and the downs. Yeah, you might have a little bit more experience, and you might have done some things more than others. I grant you that, but you're not an expert. If you step into something as the expert, you may find yourself wearied and tired because you're not leaning on the Lord. It'll just make us more helpful as we remember to rely upon the Spirit and not the flesh.

Number seven: this is a big one. I mean, they're all kind of big ones. Maybe you've got a big one you want to share with me. Number seven: we can become weary when others disappoint us. Wow. Listen to this: 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 9. Paul writes to Timothy, "Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica." Disappointment is always connected to our expectations. When we have expectations of someone and they let us down, it can make us really tired. We get weary of it.

People don't keep their word or they don't do whatever it might be. For Paul, look at how he writes about Demas. He doesn't say Demas left the Lord. He doesn't say Demas walked away from the church. He doesn't say Demas didn't show up for an appointment that he made. He says, "Demas forsook me." That must have been hard to write. He loves the world more than he loves me.

He mentions Demas three times. The first time, they're serving strong together. The second time, kind of winding down. The third time, Demas is gone. He doesn't love me anymore. He'd rather love the world. That partnership. Really, toward the end of Paul's life, much like his Savior, almost everyone left him as he sat alone.

Our expectations can be so skewed in doing good. People will fail us, people will misunderstand our hearts, people will get upset with us. They'll write nasty things, they'll say bad things, they'll gossip, they'll slander. But we must remember our motive is to please the Lord and serve Him by doing good to those around us and readjust our expectations so that we just trust the Lord with these relationships.

Ultimately, Paul wouldn't be effective if he didn't get over Demas. He just needs to move on. Pray for Demas, hope he comes back, but Paul has to keep going, just like you. Don't lose heart because you've lost some friends, or don't lose heart because somebody you used to worship with doesn't love the Lord anymore. It does get weary. You think, "The longer I walk with the Lord, the fewer friends I seem to have." Part of that is very normal, and it can weary you. You've just got to reorient yourself back to the Lord.

Number eight: you can grow weary when you live counter-culturally. That's good to live against the culture. That's a good thing, but you can also get very tired. Remember what Jesus said in John 17:15: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." God's will for you is not to take you out of this world, but God's will for you is also that you don't live like the world. You're in this world, but you're not of this world.

Living not of this world can be very tiring. Going against the flow wearies us. That's why the world's temptations can be so attractive because you're going to choose that route of obeying the Lord, but there's an easier way: just go with the flow. Just jump on the bandwagon. Just go with the way the world's going and then you won't have to fight that anymore.

But then you have bigger problems, don't you? So going against the culture is very important for the believer, but it also is very tiring. Let me just add this: the church has its own little culture too, and the church sometimes you have to go against the Christian culture because Christians are always jumping on some bandwagon. I've been around long enough, and I have seen things come and go throughout the history of the church that believers jump on and then find out it wasn't that big a deal after all. They jump on it, they think it's the next new thing, but there actually is no new thing. The gospel is the new thing.

Every day, all day, the gospel is going to get you through. I've been around long enough where I've seen things come and go. I remember there was a time when every church was doing the same thing in town. I had people coming in and saying, "Ed, are we going to do that?" I'd say, "No, we're not going to do that." They'd say, "Why aren't we going to do it? Every church in town." I said, "That's why we're not going to do it. Every church in town is doing it. If you really want to do that, go to that church. But here, we're going to point you to the Lord and teach you the Bible. That's what we're going to do. That's how we're going to approach it."

We're going to approach whatever is going on and take the word of God, and that's what you're going to get. Every day, all day, that's what you're going to get here, even if there's something popular. There's always something popular. Some of you are probably caught up in some popular things right now. I'm telling you, going against the culture is going to weary you. Going against Christian culture's going to weary you, but it's the right thing to do.

God's not going to take you out of this world until it's time, but you can't be like the world. You can't live like the world. You're a believer. You live for a different kingdom. You're a citizen of heaven. So you get your marching orders first from God, not from the world, not from the culture.

This flow in the church world, you have to go against it because just because something's popular doesn't mean it's biblical. Just because they're on YouTube and they got five million views doesn't mean it's good for you. It just means five million other people got poisoned just like you're about to. I mean, if I put a glass of water in front of you and said, "Poison, you will die," nobody's drinking that. "Here, go ahead, I love you. It's so good. I did a little video. If you do this, you will die." Click.

But there's so much poison that believers are just taking in like it's no big deal. It's a big deal because it's diluting your effectiveness. You may not be dying physically, but spiritually you're dying one click at a time or one bad decision at a time. This is a big deal when you are living counter-culturally; it can weary you.

Number nine: you can grow weary when you love your neighbor. Isn't this what God tells us? Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. The doing good of loving the lost, the doing good of loving the marginalized, those that get labeled, those that the world loves to isolate and make fun of, those that sometimes even the church will create categories for them, and then all of a sudden you don't have to love them. You don't need to love them because they're this. No, the Bible says you're to love your neighbor.

I think of the Good Samaritan. Jesus taught us about the Good Samaritan. The hero of the story was the unexpected, and he, at great personal cost, helped that man that was wounded. He not only helped him in the moment, but he said, "Open up a tab and I want you to take care of him and I'll deal with him when I get back." He not only helped him, but he helped him not even knowing what it was going to cost him. That's the kind of love that he showed. As a church, if we don't learn how to love our neighbor through the weariness, we're going to lose heart, and then we'll just jump on whatever new bandwagon it is to deal with why we don't need to love them.

That's come out of people's mouths in Christianity. It's come from pulpits before where there'll be pastors up here using labels and making fun of people, teaching the church like they don't need to be loved. I'm not saying it's not challenging or wearying, but I'm telling you that if you don't learn to love your neighbor the right way, then you'll be completely off God's will for your life.

Of course, it's going to be challenging as you sit down. Of course, it's going to be challenging as you reach out. Of course, it's going to be challenging as you learn how to answer questions. Of course, it is. It's going to weary you. You might even want to lose heart, but it's worth it because somebody reached out to you, didn't they? Somebody talked to you about the issues in your life. Somebody answered your questions. Somebody taught you the Bible. Yes, and there's a whole world waiting to be reached. The Holy Spirit wants to do that work.

I'll give you a bonus one. We got time. Number ten: you and I doing good, we can grow weary when we forget the eternal. When we forget the eternal. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died." When we forget that all that you're doing for the Lord is not in vain, you get weary. You just feel like, "This isn't worth it. I don't see any fruit." You might be in the middle of sowing and reaping, right? You're not going to see any fruit during the time you're waiting for the harvest. That doesn't mean you're not being effective. It doesn't mean you're not being faithful. It just means you're being attacked.

It means you're doing good and you're becoming weary. Now you're getting more tired and more tired, and if you're not careful, you forget there's a due season. Some of the due seasons in our lives will be eternity. Some things that we're involved in right now we won't even know how God used them until we're in His presence.

It's worth it. It's worth it then, and it's also worth it now. When we use our money and our time and our energy and our talent and our gifts and our bodies and our minds and our spirits, investing them in the things of the kingdom of God, contributing to the work of the Lord, it's always worth it. Always. If you forget the eternal while you're doing good, you'll get weary. In light of the reality of eternity, it's God's desire for His church to be busy about the Father's business. That's the place. Doing good is being busy about the Father's business.

So much of what we do doesn't seem to be all that important, but we're told, I think it was in Zechariah where the question is asked, "For who has despised the day of small things?" I think we all have because sometimes we think things are not so significant. But in the kingdom of God, small or large, everything matters. Everything matters. Don't forget there's an eternal reward, not just a temporary one. Amen?

Guest (Male): We hope you found all this to be helpful. Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor showed us ten things that can bring weariness, with the hopes that it will raise our awareness and we'll be watchful. If you missed the first portion of the study, it would be good to listen to. You can at aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplace.com. You can also download the Calvary Church app as well.

Well, Pastor Ed, let's talk for a little bit about our pick of the month here in July: The Jesus Person Promise Book by David Wilkerson. What can you tell us about it?

Pastor Ed Taylor: This is a classic. They reprinted it, redid the cover, but it's a classic book of scriptures put into categories given to you as promises. So there are hundreds of scriptures in this little book that when you're having any kind of day, you could look it up and go, "Oh, here's a promise for hope. Here's a promise for strength."

It's just taking the word of God, putting it into the categories that will help you greatly. I don't know why we haven't made this a pick of the month earlier. It's better than looking scriptures up online, better than using AI, where you have just this little book of a collected series of scriptures that then become scriptures when you need them, and then you can hold on to them for the promises that they are. So pick it up. Whether you support our ministry or not, this is important. Everybody should have a promise book. Everybody should have this resource. It's small, it's compact, but it's full of truths that will saturate your soul. Unbelievable that we haven't picked this before, but we did now, so enjoy it.

Guest (Male): With well over a million copies in print, this book is a wonderful tool for everyday use. It brings the truth of God's word into virtually every spiritual and personal problem encountered today. You'll read over 800 promises from the Bible arranged topically, making it easy to use when you're in need of encouragement. We'll gladly send you a copy for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. Or order it online at calvaryco.store.

Please remember this ministry is made possible through the support of our listeners, and we're grateful for whatever the Lord leads you to do. It would be good to hear from you during these summer months. Call toll-free 877-30-GRACE. Donations can also be made online at aboundinggraceradio.com. Glad you've taken time out for our study in Galatians. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed, and we'll look for you tomorrow as we open the word together in search of God's abounding grace.

This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love, that You would take my place, that You would bear my cross. You laid down Your life, that 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.