Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed reminds us God is the one we're praying to. And I just want you to know, as you gather together and you're learning as a church how to pray together, one of the things that most disturbs believers is to pray publicly and say things out loud because you're just so concerned and wondering if you're going to do it right, wondering what people are going to think. Don't worry about it because your prayers go to God. They go upward.

They don't go to the person in the circle with you or in the chair in front of you. We get to share with you, we get to agree with you, we get to go with you, but your prayers always go upward, not outward. And you can use the language that you have and you can express yourself as you are. God hears your prayer.

Guest (Male): Here in the year 2026, communication with each other has never been quicker. We can send a text message and get an answer back in seconds, or pick up the phone and talk with someone on the other side of the world. And while that is amazing, think of this: we can communicate with the God of the universe 24/7. No cell phone plan needed. Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor will shed some light on how the altar of incense represents prayer and the great privilege that it is. And if we're wise, we'll allow this to spur us on toward prayer. We'll be in Exodus 30.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Take your Bibles, open them to Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30. I've titled our Bible study "Anointed and Spiritually Cleansed Lives." As we study through this section of the Bible and this section of Exodus in particular, I don't want us to forget the mind and the desire of God. It hasn't changed. He hasn't changed. He wants a heart relationship with his people, not just rituals. I mean, go back to the very beginning of God dealing with man in the Garden of Eden.

You'll remember in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 8. It says, "And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden." Adam and Eve chose not to join God that day. Why? Because of sin. Sin separated them. As their sin had separated them from deep closeness and deep intimacy, they chose to move away from God.

And God pursued them. "Where are you?" He asked the question. That wasn't a question of knowledge, like He didn't know. It was a question of revelation. They didn't know. They were learning the damage of their disobedience. And yet God is still calling today, "Where are you? Where are you?" You say, "Well, I'm sitting in church." Yeah, but that's physically. How about spiritually? Where are you? Where's your heart? Your lips, the Bible would say, they praise me outwardly, but your heart is far from me.

And what a dangerous place to be. Some today are hiding behind their good works and their religious effort, their rituals, the home, the religion they were born into. Some are hiding from that voice of the Lord, running and running and running. Now, when it comes to Exodus chapter 30, we have God and a nation pressing in. We have a nation pressing into the things of God.

And they are being given definitions of relationship. They are being laid before them how to relate to God. They don't know. They're just days away from being slaves. They had in their mind this thought and this desire and this hope, but it wasn't formalized for them. It was just in their imagination. And really, most of their life was to cry out to God for deliverance. And now that they have it, here they are walking forward and God is defining for them what it means to relate to him.

And these rituals they've been given—these worship services, these celebrations, the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the lid, the mercy seat—would only be tools to draw them closer to the Lord. They were never intended to replace the heart connection. They actually, we are learning, all of these things they're learning now are pointing to the coming of Messiah, to keep their eyes on deliverance. Every material, every measurement, every corner points to the one who became flesh and dwelt among us.

But see, that's the danger we all face. The danger we all face is we miss the one, and we replace the one with great rituals and religious activity. We develop rules and regulations and hypocrisies and become Pharisees ourselves as we see in the New Testament. And later on, the children of Israel will do this. They would take these definitions of ritual and religion and relationship with God and they would go through the motions.

We see that today. Certainly some of you could give a testimony to a season in your life where you went through the motions but your heart was far from him, where you gave the outward expression so that you could minimize the questions and minimize the probing, but in reality your heart was far from him. Just lip service. I jotted down in Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 11, the Bible says, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?" says the Lord.

Imagine that. You come here to worship today, you come here with hands lifted up, singing the songs, and then the answer to God is, "What are you doing that for? Why are you worshipping me? Why are you going through that outward, why are you singing the songs? Why do you have your Bible?" And here he says, "Hey, why are you giving me all these sacrifices? I've had enough," God says in Isaiah 1, "of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats."

"When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, the calling of the assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting." I mean, that's heavy in and of itself. All the outward activity, but really when it comes down, you're doing it with sinful hands, sinful hearts. Outward, not inward.

God wanted them to bring the sacrifices, but with a heart of worship. He wants us—I mean today, what would that look like? Why are you in church? Why are you studying the Bible? Enough of the iniquity. It's like I know no one else knows what's happening, but I know what's happening. I know what your life is like and enough of it. I want your heart. I want your sacrifice. But I don't want, and as he says, "I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting." They don't go together.

Well, pick up with me now as we see this unfold. Verse 1, chapter 30: the altar of incense. "You shall make an altar to burn incense on and you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width. It shall be square and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, its horns with pure gold and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around.

Two gold rings you shall make for it under the molding on both sides. You shall place them on its sides and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold. And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you." Aaron, verse 7, shall burn on it sweet incense every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.

And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer strange incense on it or a burnt offering or a meal offering, nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.

So this altar, 18 inches squared, 36 inches high, where the burning of the incense would take place just inside the holy place before the holy of holies. The incense speaks to us of the prayers of the saints and it would have an aroma there. It would remind us of the upward—the prayers of the saints go upward, not outward. That's why you never need to worry about it.

And I just want you to know, as you gather together and you're learning as a church how to pray together, one of the things that most disturbs believers is to pray publicly and say things out loud because you're just so concerned and wondering if you're going to do it right, wondering what people are going to think. Don't worry about it because your prayers go to God. They go upward.

They don't go to the person in the circle with you or in the chair in front of you. We get to share with you, we get to agree with you, we get to go with you, but your prayers always go upward, not outward. And you can use the language that you have and you can express yourself as you are. God hears your prayer. And on this altar, notice it was very precise. It was for incense. Not, verse 9, strange incense, it says.

Don't offer strange incense or a burnt offering or a meal offering or don't pour a drink offering on it. It's very unique. And we've already learned a couple studies before that two of Aaron's sons offered profane fire on the altar or strange fire and they were wrong. They offered something loathsome and strange. The Hebrew word describes like friends parting ways. And we looked at that. We don't know exactly what it was, but it was enough to lose their lives over.

We know that they did it wrongly. And there's always a price to pay when something is done wrong. There's always a consequence. We hope that it would be minimized, we hope we don't have to feel the full weight of it, and that while God has forgiven us of our sins, he doesn't remove the consequences. There are natural consequences to sin that are often confused with the judgment of God when in reality they are the natural outcome of your rebellion against God when he has warned us and told us and commanded us, "Don't do it."

And we do it anyway. I remember with the children, you know, you're trying to teach your kids as they're growing up and it's just something very simple. It's actually not that big a deal. It makes a lot of sense. Don't touch the stove. I mean, it's simple. Like, "Well, why not?" I don't need to explain that to you. I don't need to explain anything to you, but trust me. Let's sit down, let me just tell you: it's very hot. If you touch it, it'll burn your hand. You'll get hurt really bad, we might have to take you to the hospital. Just don't touch it.

And what do kids do? I got to find out for myself. I got to touch it. Now, I saw recently something that reminded me of being a kid myself, of things when I was growing up and I was warned not to do, and kids today don't know this. Some of you don't even know this because you're too young. But in cars years ago, there was a cigarette lighter. Do you guys remember?

A cigarette lighter that you pushed in and it heated the coils, and my parents, they chain smoked. One after another and they used that thing a lot. And I don't know why—and I don't know why—do not do this. But I don't know why but so many kids were tempted to feel with your thumb what that was like. And you would get this big burn mark. Like, it hurt. You could hear your skin singe because that thing was red glowing hot.

And you'd be warned, you'd be warned, you'd be warned. And in life, that's like as a pastor, as a leader, as parents, we're warning, we're warning, we're warning, we're pleading, we're asking, we're pointing. And yet something in us has to find out for ourselves. We don't want to learn by example. We want to learn by practice. But learn nonetheless. And Aaron's sons, they offered this strange fire—disobedient.

Possibly, if you want to tie it together, we could get a little hint that perhaps the strange fire that was offered by Nadab and Abihu was a disobedience to verse 9. They did something wrong with this altar here. And the question again is often asked why? We don't know why. But haven't you found that to be the truth in your life? Some dumb decision, some bad decision and then somebody asks you inevitably why and your answer is like, "I don't know." I'm dumb. Like, I know better. I was warned.

I know better and I was in the flesh, or made a mistake, whatever it may be. There was preciseness of how to use this altar. And there's a preciseness in how to worship God. It's just not something you can make up along the way. He's prescribed it for us. The reality of knowing what God wants, that's really true in any relationship, isn't it? The more time you spend with someone, the more you go through trials, you learn together what the other person likes and dislikes.

You learn together what that other person enjoys and doesn't enjoy. And in real friendships and real relationships, you find you get closer because you begin to do the things you both enjoy and you begin to avoid the things that upset one another. That's just what friendships are. And you learn that the hard way sometimes. You might say something, you might do something—it's like, "Oh, that didn't hit or that didn't work well." And you learn, you apologize and you keep going forward, you keep going forward.

You learn from God what he desires. You go, "You know what? That just makes for a peaceful life." I think of how many are among us today listening live on the radio, online. I think of how many are together. And just because, and I know we take it for granted sometimes or don't even pay attention to it, but just because we have set our life toward seeking God through Bible study, there is a natural benefit to that.

Now, in a culture that just demands everything right away—"Right away I got to see the benefits right away"—you know as well as I do we don't always see the benefits right away. It takes time. Seeds are being planted. They're being watered. A lot of the work that God's doing in your heart is unseen and unknown until it's time. And when it's time, you'll see it and you'll know it. You'll be ministering to someone tomorrow on Friday, 3 o'clock on Friday.

Somebody comes into your life, you begin to speak with them. And what happens? The Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance, "You know, there's a right way to do that." You may not go all the way Bible study on them, but you might step back and go, "You know, there's a right way and a wrong way. And right now, it sounds like you just made a bad decision. How can I pray for you?" And already you're like, "Wait a minute, where did that come from?" Well, in the beginning of Exodus 30, what did we learn?

There's a right way and a wrong way. And there's always the pathway of blessing for obedience and consequences for disobedience. Another thing I've learned as it comes to those decisions of obedience and disobedience is that I would much rather have the consequences of obedience than the consequences of disobedience. And I certainly would much rather have the blessings of obedience than the fake blessings of disobedience.

That's what they are, right? It's just pleasure for a season. It's like the enemy of our souls, our culture has talked us into destroying ourselves and enjoying it at the same time. That's what sin is. Just destroy your life, but enjoy it at the same time until you don't. And it's just fake. And here the altar of incense reminding us of the incense that will be going up every morning, every evening. The smell, the joy.

And worship is defined by God. Listen, even though there are different expressions, I know I don't have time to develop this—we've done this in other Bible studies—but a lot of times we only refer to worship as song. I kind of even used that when we think of worship. We think of somebody singing up here and leading us, and that's an element of worship, but our whole life is worship. You know that. Everything we do, it's a worship unto the Lord.

But stepping back and saying okay, in our worship of God, there are different expressions. And it does make sense and bring great character if we just apply that to music for a moment. Many expressions of worship in song. I mean, some of you go way back, you like the old hymns. Some of you like some of the more modern stuff, everything in between. Some of you write songs and you like the songs that you write.

Some of you make up songs in the shower. You think you're singing it, but you're actually not. That's your own deal. But you're enjoying the Lord. You're just worshipping the Lord. There are different expressions as we worship God, but don't forget this. Because again, we live in a culture that emphasizes self-expression and self-autonomy, and you can do anything that you want whenever you want and you don't need to worry about it as long as you're not hurting anyone, on and on those lines we've been given in culture.

But listen, this when you worship God, you're not the center of worship. God is. We are worshipping in all of our lives to an audience of one. So whether that applies to prayer and you don't need to worry about your prayers—they're going up to God. Don't worry about it. Even if you walk away from a prayer meeting and somebody criticizes you, don't listen to it. Don't receive it.

Somebody criticizing you for your prayer? Don't even receive it. Just pray for that person. It's like, "Hey bro, I know you didn't like my prayer, but I'm going to offer another prayer you don't like to pray for you, man. You got a bad heart. Like, I'm just praying to the Lord. I don't know what to say." And then somebody, "Well, you know, really the way you need to pray is 'Thou art God' from the King James." Like, I don't even own a King James. I just want to talk to God.

I just want to pour my heart out. We have somebody up on the stage telling us some direction, that's what I want to do. I want to learn how to pray. And I want to be myself. Or in singing, you know, you may have an expression, you may have something that hits you better than others or hits you closer or is attached to a moment or nostalgia. But there are all sorts of expressions that are acceptable to God. And he still defines it.

And that is in any expression what matters is that we worship God heart to heart. Or as he said, Jesus taught us, in spirit and in truth. He wants your heart. He's not super concerned about the tone of your voice or whether you can keep a tune or melody or whatever those things are, or even if you have the right words. He just wants you. I had a brother recently reach out to me, he wanted some tips on fasting.

And he had some questions to answer and I thought, "Oh, that was an interesting question. I needed to think about it a little bit before I answered him." But ultimately my summary of my answer to the brother was, "Hey, prayer and fasting, God just wants you." And whether you get the answers to your prayers or not, whether he answers in the days prescribed, it's okay. It's okay if you walk away from your time of prayer and fasting still wanting answers to your questions. You know why? Because you got more of the Lord.

And you find that the questions in life fade in the background to a heart that's connected to God. "What's the future hold for me?" I don't know so much about the future, but today I get to worship God. Today I get to open his word. Today I get to reach out to someone, I get to answer, I get to serve, I get to pray, I get to plan. I get to serve God with my heart. This incense is that picture of prayer going up to the Lord.

And you might ask, "Well, Ed, where did you get that?" Here's a couple places. Psalm 141 in verse 2: "Let my prayer be set before you as incense." Revelation chapter 8 verse 3: "Then another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." And we have that wonderful open door of offering our prayers. And every time you'd walk by the tabernacle, the tabernacle would remind you of the presence of God and the incense would remind you that that's a God who wants to hear your prayers every time.

Guest (Male): Isn't that encouraging? God not only wants to hear from us but answer our prayers too. And this altar of incense reminds us of that. You're listening to Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace, part of our study in Exodus. You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com, 1place.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Pastor Ed, with all of this talk about prayer, I think it's fitting to close our time in prayer. Would you lead us and pray that today's lesson would encourage our listeners to seek the Lord in prayer?

Pastor Ed Taylor: So Father, I do agree that we can all grow in our prayer lives and that's our desire. And I pray for those that are listening, that heard the Bible study and now stuck around this long, that you would bless and encourage and strengthen them, that you would develop in them a deeper prayer life, that their hearts would be yielded and surrendered especially in these last days.

So Lord, I'm thankful for these men and women, these boys and girls that connect with us through Abounding Grace. Strengthen them. Again, I just get that word, I keep thinking about it, that there's weakness that needs to be strengthened. And so I pray that into their lives today in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Thanks again, Pastor Ed. Thank you for remembering Abounding Grace in your giving to the Lord. Every gift that comes in goes right to ministry. It plays an important role in helping us bring the truths of God's word to the radio every day. And when you support the ministry today with a gift of $25 or more, you're invited to request a copy of Real Worship by Warren Wiersbe.

Real Worship has served to help many see what true worship is and isn't. To order it today, call 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. You can also go online to calvaryco.store. If you'd just like to make a donation to the ministry and not interested in the book, you can donate safely and securely at aboundinggraceradio.com.

And we'd love to have you join us for a service here at Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado. To see when and where we meet or to watch our live stream, visit calvaryco.church. Glad to have you with us for today's broadcast. We look forward to continuing the journey through Exodus next time on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. In the meantime, let's be drawing on God's abounding grace for daily living.