Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Facing a problem today and not sure what to do? Pastor Ed says, that's a good time to pray.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You can use this phrase. It can be a real quick check in your spirit when you find yourself feeling this, saying this, acting like this, where you're up on a problem and your first response is, "We need to figure this out." Well, maybe you do. You probably don't.

When we come up on a difficulty, it's not, "We need to figure this out." It's, "We need to pray. I need the wisdom of God on this. I don't know. I'm not sure. God has a solution. He has an answer for you that requires us to come to him open-handed."

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We all face decisions or situations big and small every day, but do you try to figure it out on your own? A much better way to go is to look to the Lord in prayer and wait upon God.

Today we'll join Pastor Ed in Acts Chapter 1, where a case could be made that Peter is getting ahead of the Lord. Instead of waiting, like God instructed him to do, he's acting and putting limitations on God. Let's see how this applies to our lives.

Pastor Ed Taylor: So here I think Peter gets ahead of the Lord because this is where we are in the book of Acts. They have been given one command. They've been told to what, church? This is a pop quiz. The command they were given was: wait.

That's what they were told to do. They weren't told to choose another apostle. They weren't told to head off to Judea, Samaria, and come back some other day. They were told to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Father, which they weren't even quite sure what that was going to be, but remember they would know it when it happened. They were told to wait. That's all they needed to do, just wait.

But instead, Peter gets up and he quotes some scripture, and he has the interpretation correctly, but now instead of waiting, he's acting. There's this time period where God said wait, and so they come together. They're worshipping together. They're praying together. Peter begins to share the scriptures together, and then notice in verse 21, here's his conclusion.

When he shares the scriptures, he says, "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us..." So Peter views a group of people. This is more than just two. He sees of all these men, there's 120 people there, let's just say half of them are men, and then minus the other 10 that are apostles. So there's a group of men there, more than two.

He says that beginning with the baptism, verse 22, of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, you know the hearts of all. Show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place."

And then it says they cast lots. They cast lots. Casting lots is the best way to describe it in our modern-day vernacular as they threw the dice. They said, "If we roll an even number, it's this guy. If we roll an odd number, it's this guy."

Now, it wasn't a gambling thing with dice for the casting lots. This was an Old Covenant way of discerning the will of God. This was an Old Covenant way. The priest, the high priest, would have in his breastplate a little pocket behind it, and behind the pocket there is the Urim and the Thummim. You might read of that in the Old Testament.

There's a lot of debate of what that is, but many people conclude that the Urim and the Thummim were simply a black stone and a white stone. And you would discern and seek the will of God by coming to the high priest and asking the question in a yes or no fashion. Then the high priest would pray, he would take out the stone, and he would say, "Okay, white, the answer's yes. Black, the answer's no." And that's the will of God.

And that's what they did here. They prayed and then they cast lots, and then the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. And this is what happened. This is what's recorded. This is how it went down, exactly how it went down.

And this is where I believe we begin to see man's plan come together. They began in the word and they even went into prayer, but then they finished with a man's decision. We're told in the scriptures to be very careful not to begin in the spirit and then be perfected by the flesh, where we start well but we don't end well.

And here we have a New Covenant decision. That's the first thing I want you to notice. They are no longer in the Old Covenant. This is the New Covenant time, the new relationship with God that now they have by his death, resurrection, shed blood, his ascension into heaven. They're in the New Covenant now.

In the New Covenant, the Urim and the Thummim or even the high priest no longer applies. Why? Because we have a greater high priest, we learn in Hebrews. Jesus has come. And here they are moving forward using old ways. They don't go to the temple. They don't go to another high priest. They're here just 120 people and they go, "Man, we've got to find a replacement for Judas. Let's do what we always do. Let's do what we've always done," except that they now are doing it themselves.

Not only that, but I want you to notice their New Covenant using an Old Covenant methodology, but also of all the people, they proposed just two. They give God two choices. "Here's your choices, God. These are the ones you need to choose from."

I wonder how often you've done that. "God, this is how I'd like it to go down. You can do it this way or this way. Here you go, Lord. Please, please, I pray that you would make a decision and you are limited to these two choices."

And how often God wants to work outside of our expectations. There is a way of God that we know not many times. And we come to him instead of being open-handed, we kind of come close-fisted and say, "God, this is the only way you can work." And they limit him to two choices, choices that would fit the criteria for sure. Joseph Barsabas or Matthias, you choose one, Lord.

With their choices, they pray, they cast lots, and Matthias won. You never really hear another word about this man anywhere in scripture, anything that he ever did. It is an argument from silence, I understand that, but an argument nonetheless. The book of Acts and the rest of the entirety of the Bible is silent on anything he ever did.

He is numbered with the 11, but I suggest to you that there is another option out there that he is currently alive at the time of this. When they're making this decision and when they have the right interpretation, I suggest to you there is another man out there that never in a million years would they have considered to take the place of Judas. Never.

Why? Well, at the present time in Acts Chapter 1, he is not a believer in Jesus Christ. He's an unbeliever. Not only that, he is so furious and angry at the church, it's fuming up inside of him that just in a few chapters, he's going to go on a personal crusade to destroy the church.

When his name comes up, all you're going to pray is like what we prayed with David: protect us, protect us, protect us. Deal with him. I don't know how many people were praying for this man. You know him as Paul the Apostle, at that's his Greek name. Here he's still Saul, still known as Saul. He's going to be wreaking havoc in the church.

Later on in 1 Corinthians, I think it's in Chapter 15, Paul declares himself an apostle born out of due time. It wasn't what you expected. God choosing the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. While we don't ever hear again of God ever using Matthias—I'm sure he did, no doubt—we do hear a lot about this man named Saul, known as Paul, who ends up not only planting churches and moving forward, but even writing a large section of the New Testament.

So here they are bringing God two choices, but the third if there was a third choice, he's not even saved yet. I believe that's very encouraging to us because God wants you to know that he has a solution for you outside of what you can think, that he is bigger than your limitations, that he has answers to prayers that you can't figure out.

And isn't that a difficulty for us? You can use this phrase. It can be a real quick check in your spirit when you find yourself feeling this, saying this, acting like this, where you're up on a problem and your first response is, "We need to figure this out." Well, maybe you do. You probably don't.

When we come up on a difficulty, it's not, "We need to figure this out." It's, "We need to pray. I need the wisdom of God on this. I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't want to figure it out, so I finally come, 'Okay, I've sorted it all out, God. I have all these options, but I've settled on these two.'" What if there's a third you don't know about? What if there's a fourth or a fifth?

God has a solution. He has an answer for you that requires us to come to him open-handed. You can have the right interpretation of a text and still misapply it. You can take a principle from God's word, but instead of waiting for God to work it out, you jump in. It's like Abraham. God gives the promise, and what does Abraham say? "No, no, no, take my Ishmael." And God says, "No. No, that's wrong, Abraham. I don't want that. I don't want to receive that because I have a promise for you."

Turn over to Numbers Chapter 11. Numbers Chapter 11. Because here we have an episode in the nation of Israel where God has a solution that Moses doesn't know about. The people here are complaining at this time in Numbers Chapter 11. They're complaining about the manna. Remember on the wilderness wandering, God, as they're leaving Egypt and they're wandering, God provides for them. Their clothing never wears out, their sandals never wear out, and he provides the right food for them.

Even though it's the same food every day, they were to collect this manna, this supernatural food that had all the nourishing qualities that everyone needed. And they would get it every day and they could collect it for six days. On the sixth day, they collect double so on the Sabbath they could enjoy their manna.

But repetition can easily create in us an unappreciation, and they're upset. "We're tired of the manna." They're like, "We're tired of God's provision. We want something else." And so they come to Moses and complain to him, and then Moses goes to the Lord. He's like, "I can't believe it. Listen to these people. They're not happy anymore."

And he says, notice in verse 21, Numbers 11, it says Moses said, "The people whom I'm among are 600,000 men on foot, yet you have said, 'I will give them meat.'" So in response to the complaint, God says, "I'll take care of it, Moses. I'll take care of it."

Moses' response was, "How in the world can you do that?" He starts doing the math. He starts counting up the people. He starts thinking. "That's humanly impossible, God. How can you do that?" And then he gives him options in verse 22. He says, "Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them?"

So flocks, herds, different animals. "If we killed everything that we had, it wouldn't feed these people for a month, God." And then he says in verse 23, if you don't have this marked already, you need to in your Bible. Highlight it, underline it for your life. It says, "Has the Lord's arm been shortened? Do you really think I can't do what I said I was going to do?"

When I tell you, Moses, when I tell you I'm going to take care of it, I'm going to take care of it. Do you now somehow think my arm is short, that I can't fulfill what I said I would fulfill? And then notice what he does down in verse 31. There's an option that Moses doesn't know about. It's so far from him he doesn't see it.

It says in verse 31, "Now a wind went out from the Lord and it brought quail." Did Moses ever mention quail, yes or no? No, he doesn't. He doesn't know anything about quail. He can't even see quail. They're all the way by the sea. And God rearranges the wind patterns so that they start flying over toward the children of Israel.

And he left them, it says, fluttering near the camp about a day's journey on this side, a day's journey on that side, all around the camp. They were two cubits above the surface of the ground. The people stayed up all that day and night. Next day they gathered the quail, spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

So in their complaining, God provides an option Moses knows nothing about. But it says in verse 33, "While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused before the people and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague."

Their complaining showed that they were not satisfied with God. And Moses wants to feed them. God wants to feed them, but God wants them to understand his provision is best for them. And so in this case, he has a solution Moses doesn't know anything about because he's going to use their complaint and their concern to teach them a lesson.

This is one of those places where I'm grateful for the grace of God that even if I get my prayer wrong, the Bible says Jesus steps in and intercedes for us and rearranges our prayers for us when necessary. And even as we find ourselves praying, when we pray in Jesus' name, what we're saying is, "God, I am happy with your answer."

When we pray as we were instructed—remember we were instructed to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done"—and it puts us in the position of receiving from the Lord his desire. We don't want to limit God. We don't want to limit God in any way. We don't want to limit God to just two choices.

It's almost like God is saying, like he does to Moses here, "Don't limit me. I have an answer, Moses. I said I'll provide it. Trust me. I'll take care of it." Because you just never know what God is going to do. You just don't know how he's going to answer the prayer of your life.

So Peter back in Acts Chapter 1, he leads this group to congregationally choose a replacement for Judas by the casting of these lots, even though this is not the New Covenant method of choosing. For homework, we're not going to go into depth, but eventually we'll be there in a couple years when we get to Acts Chapter 13. We'll be there eventually.

I want you to notice, read carefully the beginning of Acts 13 because when Paul and Barnabas were chosen by God to be the first world missionaries, it didn't happen like this. It happened very supernaturally through the manifestation of giftings of the people that were in the group. They didn't cast lots. They didn't say, "Okay, here are your choices." They were all gathered together. They were ministering unto the Lord. Boom, the Lord spoke and he led by his spirit.

You'll see in a moment in our next Bible study together in Acts Chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes upon Peter and he becomes a different man, a man fully dependent upon the Lord. It's a very dangerous thing, as we wind down today, for us to seek to do the work of the Holy Spirit in our own strength, in our own wisdom. "I'll figure it out. I'll take care of it. I'll make sure that we..." instead of waiting upon the Lord.

This has been a problem from the first century. It's a problem with us today. It's probably worse now than ever before because there's more ways today to lean on our own understanding. There's more technology, more opportunities. I mean, the church, especially the Western church, is riddled with programs, it's riddled with processes, it's riddled with organization. They've so many churches today have organized the Holy Spirit completely out of the church.

And many in the church, you get a little impatient waiting on the Holy Spirit. You get a little frustrated where you might have a great concern, you might have, and so you do what is natural. You come to a pastor, you come to an elder and you go, "Fix my marriage. What's the problem in my marriage?" And then when a pastor says, "I don't know. I have no idea how to fix your marriage."

You walk away saying, "Man, what kind of guy is that? I can't follow a guy that doesn't know how to fix my marriage. I don't know how to fix my marriage. He doesn't know how to fix my marriage." Right. You want to follow a man, you want to follow a woman that's going to get your eyes on the Lord because only God can fix your marriage by fixing you, by working on the inside of you.

"No, no, no, Ed, the marriage, I'm fine. It's my wife that's the problem. I'm fine. My husband's the problem." No, I don't know. I just gave that answer very, very recently. As a whole situation was laid out, "What am I supposed to do, Ed?" I have no idea. Why? Because we have to seek the Lord.

That's the best. You need to seek the Lord in intercession, waiting on him for the answer. Together we will discover what God has to say about that. We will discover what his will is for you. We will hear and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as the spirit of God leads us in making serious decisions. Just being open and being obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Just recently this week, I had the opportunity in two different occasions to participate in ministry very far away. On Tuesday night, late into Tuesday night, I had the privilege of dialing in to a men's group at a church that I recently taught at in Hawaii, and they had used one of the books here as a discipleship. And on the last night of using the book, I got to call in and answer questions and talk and pray with them. And it was great calling in super late here, and it was about six o'clock there. It was a great opportunity.

Then Wednesday night after service, after our baptism and everything, which the baptism was amazing. We had at least 60 people get baptized on Wednesday night. It was amazing. No rain, no lightning. It was great. It was wonderful, beautiful time. After that, I went back into my office and at about 9:30 at night, I dialed in Zoom to teach a pastor's conference in India.

Unbelievable, live. So they put me up on the screen and I'm there looking into the computer, teaching through an interpreter, being a part of their worship time, being a part of their Q&A from the previous teacher, and then I taught. And I was given an assignment in Acts Chapter 23, which is a simple chapter. Paul's arrested, heading toward Rome, and it's a simple chapter.

And so as I'm teaching that, in the middle of it—and it's a different type of teaching because I have to speak in very short sentences, wait for the interpreter, very short sentences—and I don't have the advantage that I have right now. Many, many times—I wish I did it every time because sometimes I forget, but hopefully the Lord just knows my heart—but many, many times I will pray that the Holy Spirit will make me sensitive to the people in front of me in the moment.

That's why I scan the whole room all the time, front to back, looking you guys in the eye, trying to get a sense of what the Holy Spirit's doing in the room as I'm teaching. By Zoom, very difficult, especially the way the camera was and the language barrier. But the spirit of God, he bridges that gap. So he's bridging that gap, and about in the middle of this study, I just felt impressed of God to stop and take us in a different direction just for a moment.

I really felt like we were talking about God using us, and we were talking about God being with us, and talking about God strengthening us. And then I was just like, "You know, I feel like this is a word from God for someone in the group." I really felt, and I was sharing with them in Philippians Chapter 4, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And I began to give a little bit of a development on that, and then I got back into my notes.

And then before we ended on that call, I said, "Look, I know God gave us a word, so whoever that word was for, I want you to tell me. Email me, text me, go through your pastor." And so I woke up yesterday morning to this text. This text from Tennessee, from my friend who the pastor in India connected, and this is the guy that invited me to be a part of it.

This was the text I woke up to from the pastor in India, quote: "Ed Taylor was asking for testimony that for the word in Philippians 4:13 that he got as a prophetic word for the pastors. It was for Pastor V. He was going through a very tough time and he was encouraged by that word. God is good all the time." End quote.

The reason I share that with you is the spirit of God is always ready to speak, to lead, to help, if we will just be ready to receive. We won't come to just two options and say, "Okay," in a way that that could have been on Zoom could have been something like this, "Okay, I've got these two verses. I'm just going to lay them out there, and if one of them is for you, then go ahead and choose that one."

No, God gave me a specific word and a specific scripture, and I needed to step out in faith and go, "I don't know you guys, but I love you. I don't even understand your language, but we've got a friend." But here's what the Bible says. I'm going to read it in English. The guy read it in the local dialect and boom, thousands of miles over some kind of internet line, the Holy Spirit spoke to Pastor V and gave him encouragement in that little moment of time.

You can trust the spirit of God with your life. Let me just say this: with every aspect of your life. You don't need to figure it out. You don't need to take things into your own hands.

Guest (Male): A good word there for us not to place limitations on God, but to go to him for wisdom on how to best handle the situations and decisions we encounter through life. You're listening to Abounding Grace and part of a message from Pastor Ed Taylor called "Don't Limit God."

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