Abounding Grace

Host: Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor explains why we need to rely on God.

Pastor Ed Taylor: We go out in our own strength and our own wisdom only to be defeated and wiped out because I don't have the power, and neither do you, to resist the temptations of the flesh in my own strength. I don't have the power. I can't take it on. I can't stand in the years that I've been a believer and use that as a place of strength in my life.

No, I need the strength of God and his help. I need to be in a place of humility, not pride. I need to be relying upon God if I'm going to experience victory. Abiding in Jesus according to John 15. When there's that acknowledgment of God and the work of God, it will always lead you to the worship of God.

Host: We may feel sorry about the way things have turned out, but only on an emotional level. True repentance begins in the mind, moves to the heart, and then gets to our hands and feet. It's admitting what God says is true, agreeing with it, and with his help, we do it.

More on that in a moment, but first let me welcome you to Abounding Grace. Today Pastor Ed Taylor returns to 1st Samuel Chapter 7, where the people of Israel got rid of their idolatry, repented, and now we're humbly relying on God. We'll see how this led to great victory in their lives, and the same can happen to you.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Notice with me in verse nine. Samuel's here, and it says Samuel took a suckling lamb, offered as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord, and then God's response is He answered. And then God fights for Israel as the Philistines drew near to battle. We're reminded of the relentless pursuit of the enemy. Spiritual warfare is very real.

And yet God stands in the gap. Do you know you have a threefold enemy? The world, this world system. It's not the physical world, it's not the dirt and the grass or anything. That's not your enemy. Although with the kind of weeds that we got this year, the weeds are my enemy. They're popping up and we got these aspens in the shoots. Nobody told me that I was going to have a thousand shoots in my yard. But that's not what I'm talking about. They're there to frustrate you.

But the world system—have you noticed the world system really doesn't like God? It doesn't really care about God, doesn't really promote God. It seems to promote everything opposite of God. It tries to make sin look attractive. I don't know if you've ever noticed, if you're watching a sports event, the alcohol commercials make it look so pretty, like it's just the best thing in the world.

They always have these nice-looking people playing on the beach with drinking beer. That's not how it works. They should show them in the morning when they wake up in their own vomit. That's what they should show. When they don't know what happened and who violated them. When they find themselves in a place of great distress. Why? Because stuff in the world will bring you under bondage.

But it's not the world that is our greatest enemy. You also have the devil. The devil gets blamed for a lot of stuff. And the devil does have a way of tempting and using the world system. But too many times you'll hear—and I don't know what comedian it was years ago—the devil made me do it. The devil didn't make you do anything because you have a threefold enemy: the world, the devil, and the flesh.

The flesh is you and me, our old sinful habits. The things we picked up in this world that we were tempted by the devil and we got really good at. And most of the problem is not outside of you, most of the problem is inside of you. That's why you must be born again.

If you attack things on the outside—like maybe you have a just a dirty, dirty rotten mouth. You work in an industry where that's just the language of the day and you've picked it up and now you love Jesus, but you're finding yourself—the words are still coming out. You would probably never come up here and share them from the stage, but that's where you work. You're just not walking through the building here cussing up a storm because you're like, there's something about following God that you don't use those kind of words. I don't see them in the Bible. I haven't found the f-word in the Bible anywhere.

And yet on the workplace, it's just there. So you get convicted. You're just like, I think that I should stop talking this way. And so you make a decision, "I will stop talking this way." It doesn't work, does it? You can't. It's an inside problem.

Not only that, you might be able to stop—let's say you drop fifty f-bombs and tomorrow, because you made such a great commitment, you've only dropped thirty f-bombs. So you missed, you skipped twenty of them. You really didn't skip twenty, did you? Because they're in your head. You're dropping f-bombs in your head. Yeah, you didn't say them. That's a great beginning, but what you really want to be is delivered from even responding that way, both outwardly and inwardly.

Only God can do that work in you. Now, don't misunderstand me. It's a good thing to decide not to drop the f-bomb anymore, so go ahead and make that decision. Go ahead, that's a good decision. I think I'm going to stop using that kind of language. It's not consistent with my relationship with God. That is a good decision to make.

But as you make that decision, understand it's only the power and the spirit of God that lives in you that will enable you to follow through. It's an inside job. So yeah, the world system just constantly tempting us and taunting us and feeding us the lie. The lie that God is not God. Just like it was in the garden, you shall be like God. The world feeds us a lie in a lot of different attractive ways.

Temptation wouldn't be temptation if it wasn't temptation, if it wasn't attractive. What will you be tempted with? Brussels sprouts? Who the heck is tempted by Brussels sprouts? I don't—even if you like them. If I put candy out and Brussels sprouts, most likely, choose the candy. That's the temptation. Brussels sprouts are just nasty. Just leave them alone.

For those of you that are on a diet—Brussels sprouts—come on. Whatever your favorite food is, that's going to be the temptation. Not some like dirt. Not if I put dirt on the table. "Here's dinner, dirt, or whatever you're trying to stop eating, twinkies or whatever." "I really want the dirt, I really want the dirt, but I think I'll settle for the twinkie." It doesn't work that way.

And that's how the world is. That's why you'll see—and you got to be real careful not to judge people because when you find a brother or sister that falls into sin and your first response is "That would never, I would never do that"—you probably would. That's why it didn't tempt you. Something else will get you.

The Bible says be careful, you think too highly of yourself, take heed lest you fall. Be careful because yeah, that brother's tempted by that situation, but it's not a problem for you. Believe me, the problem for you, a temptation will make its way.

So you got to be careful not to judge another brother. Go, "Well, I would never do that." First of all, don't use the word never. Be careful with the word never. But even then, be careful not to judge a brother. I think the best thing to do when you see a brother fall—listen, let me just read it to you. The best thing to do is right here where we've been given this instruction in Galatians Chapter 6 and verse 1. It says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."

The world, the flesh, and the devil—that's the relentless Philistine enemy in our lives. I haven't met a Philistine lately. No Philistines have come to attack us. But the world, the flesh, and the devil—they're always there.

In 1st Samuel and verse 12, then Samuel took a stone, set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel.

And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistine all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel recovered its territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

That's what God can do. He can restore to you what has been stolen from you, what's been ripped off from you, what's been taken from you, and also bring peace with your enemies. It says Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and judged Israel in all those places.

But he always returned to Ramah for his home was there. There he judged Israel and there he built an altar to the Lord. The enemy pursues, but victory belongs to the Lord. Going back a couple chapters, we see that it was at Ebenezer twenty years earlier that the Philistines won. Thirty thousand people were killed in Ebenezer.

And yet now in the same place of great defeat, they have great victory. What's the difference? What's the difference between then and now? When they went out twenty years earlier and were defeated, you'll notice a careful study will say they went out without praying. They went out without seeking the guidance and the help of God. They went out in their own strength and in their own power and the result: they were completely defeated and humiliated.

Now they go out relying upon God. Were they fearful? Sure. But they were also repentant and humble. And they also listened to their judge, Samuel, that said, "Get rid of the idolatry." And yeah, because they knew their position, they knew that they were weak. They knew in their humanity that they needed God in their life. It put them in a great place of strength.

They're trusting in God. They went out with prayer. They went out with sacrifice and now God delivers the enemy into their hands. It's true. How many times as we are struggling against the flesh and the enemy do we seek to go out in our own strength? I'm not going to ask for hands.

But it's so common. We only go out in our own strength and our own wisdom only to be defeated and wiped out. Because I don't have the power, and neither do you, to resist the temptations of the flesh in my own strength. I don't have the power.

I can't take it on. I can't stand in the years that I've been a believer and use that as a place of strength in my life. No, I need the strength of God and his help. I need to be in a place of humility, not pride. I need to be relying upon God if I'm going to experience victory. Abiding in Jesus according to John 15.

When there's that acknowledgment of God and the work of God, it will always lead you to the worship of God. So God has brought such great victory that they've raised the stone up in verse 12. The Ebenezer stone. They called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us."

They set up a stone between Mizpah and Shen in this very area. And this is—they're saying this is a monument to what God has done. It's acknowledging that God's hand is in the victory. "Thus far the Lord has helped us." And so from time to time, people ask us why these ugly yellow chairs are up on the stage.

Do you see these? Probably you asked that. Do you guys ever wonder what these chairs are up here for? You see them all around the building. As a matter of fact, with our servant appreciation, we had everybody sit on them. These are Ebenezer stones for us.

Some of you know about them, some of you remember them, some of you actually felt their backbreaking pain in your body when I used to teach over an hour in the school. And you would be sitting there wondering when is he going to be done? There's no padding. You guys are all spoiled now.

We got that big cushion. I don't remember how many inches we got, four or five or six. But they told me I could teach for an hour of every inch of foam that we put in those chairs. So you don't have to sit on these. And these are all around the building. I have one in my office and I would like for one to be in my office forever.

Because we want to be able to remember where we came from. It's an Ebenezer stone. That there came a point in time when we moved into this building—which by the way, I don't know if you know this—but when we built this building, just about right here under the stage in this area of the pulpit, we buried a Bible in the ground.

And we put it in there and we prayed over it. Not only that, but we were looking through old pictures and all in this building and all under the carpet are all kinds of scriptures that were written. Because we had a big event here when we moved from the school that you could come in and write graffiti—it was graffiti time—as long as it was a scripture.

So all these walls are saturated with scriptures that people were giving. The Bible is buried under because the foundation of the church is the very word of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. And these chairs remind us, at least for those that were here and for those of you that weren't here, they'd stand as a testimony that when we brought them here, we have this: "Thus far the Lord has helped us."

And everywhere along the way, we want to set up places so that we see thus far the Lord has helped us. God is with us to this point. Right now, thus far the Lord is with us. And when we first moved in, when we put the chairs out in the sanctuary, we also put these out to see if anybody would sit in them. And you know what? People sat in them.

They wanted to—this is, I sat in the sanctuary because this is everything that's here and everything that God even has for us in the future is all by faith. It's hard to conceive that this was just a plot of dirt when the Lord gave it to us or when we purchased it.

It was just dirt and we were just like, "Oh man, something's going to be on it one day, something's going to be on it one day, I hope something's going to be on it one day, we're going to use this." And we would come and we'd mow the lawn and cut the trees. And then we'd go back on Sundays and sit in these chairs.

And then when we came over here, we went to the principal and said, "You know what? We want to buy one chair of every color," because there's many different colors, not just yellow. If your favorite color's yellow, then this is for you. But there's blue, orange, red, they're all over the place around the building.

But when you see them, I want you to remember, thus far the Lord has helped us. Thus far. Well, what about the Ebenezer stones in your life? Thus far the Lord has helped us. We can raise the Ebenezer stones in our lives.

And as we look at where we're at today, we can say right now in this moment, thus far the Lord has helped us. Thus far, this is how we're here. Thus far by the—the Lord has helped us. This is how we've made it.

The encouraging thing is that God has not brought us this far, that God has not brought you this far, just to drop you and turn his back upon you and just forsake you. He's brought you so far and then now I'm done.

No, the Bible says according to Philippians Chapter 1 verse 6, that we're confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Like he's continuing to keep us from step, step of faith after step of faith after step of faith.

Who would have wondered that one day—we didn't want these chairs—but then one day God said, put a desire in our heart: you only want them because they're going to be a testimony of my faithfulness. Don't ever forget where you came from because thus far God has helped us. I mean, what do you have in your life thus far God has helped you?

Thus far, what have you marked? And this is the stone—maybe you need to get a stone, just a specific stone and write on where God—hey, I've been out of work and now God—this is my stone. God, by faith, this is my stone. And you just get a rock and write on it.

And your whole house is filled with stones and somebody comes and goes, "What is the deal, are you a rock collector?" "No, I'm not a rock collector. These are testimonies of the faithfulness of my God. You want to read some of them? This is the story of my life. This is my Ebenezer stone."

Thus far, God has helped us. Thus far. In Psalm 138 verse 8 it says, "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me." He didn't bring you to this point just to dump you. Just to go, "Up, and I brought you halfway, you're on your own."

No, no, no. Although sometimes we feel that way. Sometimes we're just like, "Wondered, God, have you—what happened? Where are you?" That's why you gotta look back on an Ebenezer stone: thus far the Lord has helped me. Thus far. Thus far he's with me.

The Bible says now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of glory with exceedingly joy. God is doing that. I've raised my Ebenezer stone. So I guess in order to fulfill this scripture, I got to raise the Ebenezer stone.

This is faithfulness of God right here, this yellow chair that hundreds of kids have sat in and we had to clean all the food off of it. And they're around the building because this—this speaks to the life of your church even if you've never sat in it.

It's your Ebenezer stone. Why? Because this is your church and thus far the Lord has helped us. Thus far. Hey, you run backwards. You know, when you start setting up Ebenezer stones, it's very hard to run backwards because you have to trip over all the stones.

You're like, no, God's brought you this far, so you can't go backwards. Keep going forwards. If the Lord has brought me this far, then he's going to take me all the way. All the way into the presence of his glory.

The glorious work of God that has been begun in our lives, he's going to continue as we yield ourselves to him. As we remain surrendered to him, he's going to take us all the way. Even when we are faithless, the Bible says he remains faithful. Why? Because he can't deny himself.

The Ebenezer stone. Let's raise our stone and say, "Yes, look what God has done. Look how far God has brought me. Look at the stone." Every time you're discouraged. Whenever the enemy begins to overwhelm you, you look back at your Ebenezer stones.

Because right after that—so the Philistines—here's the result in verse 13. The Philistines were subdued. They did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. The Ebenezer stone. Look at what God has done.

God's brought you this far, he's going to take you all the way. What confidence when we realize the work that God has done past, present, and future. Turn over to 2nd Corinthians as we close. I'm going to ask you this week to look for—and even those of you listening on the radio—an area in your life where you can say with absolute confidence, "Look how far God has brought us."

And memorialize it with a stone or a chair or something so that you'll have—you'll have an Ebenezer stone in your life. It'll be between Mizpah and Shen. It'll be at a place—in an area of defeat perhaps, and God brings you back to that place and shows you victory.

Notice 2nd Corinthians Chapter 1 verse 8. It says, "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us."

Did you hear that? Listen, read that again, notice: "who delivered us," that's past, "who does deliver us," that's present, "and whom we trust will still deliver us," that's future. That's the work of God. He's not just the God of the past. He's not just the God of the present.

He's the God of the future. He is with us all along. The Lord has helped me in the past, the Lord is helping me right now, and should he give me tomorrow or on the way home, you know what? God is going to help me in the future.

The Lord will perfect that which concerns you. That means completed. God is going to complete his work in your life. And many times in my life, that's all I need, just to be reminded of the faithfulness of God. It's not in my strength.

I'm so—a defeated man when I take things into my own hands. I'm at a weak position. But you know, if God said he's going to perfect that which concerns me, then I hold onto that promise. But Ed, I don't see it. But it's a promise, that's why faith is required.

Because faith sees what the human eye, the spiritual—spiritually sees what the human eye can't. Faith has a substance, things hoped for, things not seen. And so if God said he's going to complete his work in me, then I believe him.

It's God's help and strength that he'll see me through. And so Chapter 7 really ends with confidence and encouragement, assurance, victory. And Samuel will get back to—we'll kind of pick up in our next time. We'll cover the last part of seven tied in with eight.

Samuel's on a circuit preaching and teaching and judging Israel as a leader. He's on a circuit between these different cities as you see. And I believe that that—he comes back to Ramah, that's where he builds an altar, that's his place of worship.

And I believe if you read ahead, you'll see that it could be that the circuit that he's on caused quite a bit of family problems for him. And we'll see what happens with the children of Israel in Samuel's life. But for now, we leave with the yellow chair.

The yellow chair, the Ebenezer stone. There's a lot of Ebenezer stones for our church in our personal life, in the life of our church. And there's a lot of things where you want to retreat and you can't go backwards. I mean, you can, but you can't because God is taking you forward.

He's taking you to the place where, okay, we're here. We need to memorialize what God has done. We need to give him the victory. We need to give him the credit for the victory. And we need to have a reminder because we're so prone to forget, especially when the enemy attacks.

And we need those Ebenezer stones to say, "Okay, Lord, all right, all right, I see we're in a tough spot right now." But when you come back to the stone, you see it. You come back to the stone and you see, "Hey, hey look, God subdued the Philistines and also gave them peace all around."

Host: Well, thanks for studying the word with us here at Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Are you interested in hearing the study from 1st Samuel again? If so, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplace.com.

And another way to listen to Pastor Ed's teachings is through the Calvary Church app. You know, there's a tragic and growing crisis facing the church concerning the ministry of counseling. An increasing number of churches and church leaders are forsaking God's way of counseling and turning to man's ways.

How to Counsel God's Way by Bob Hoekstra calls God's people to return to Jesus as our wonderful counselor. Whether you're in a position to give counsel or wanting to receive it, this book can be very helpful and a valuable addition to your library.

When you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, you're invited to request a copy of How to Counsel God's Way. Give us a call, 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-304-7223. 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.

Glad you've taken time out for our study in 1st Samuel. Join Pastor Ed each day as we continue to learn how to live by God's abounding grace.

Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.