Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Pastor Ed Taylor makes the connection between greater faith and time in the Word.

Pastor Ed Taylor: It's important that you read your Bible every day. Let me say it again. It's important that you read your Bible every day because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You want greater faith, you'll need to spend greater time in God's Word.

Guest (Male): It is time once again for Abounding Grace, online at AboundingGraceRadio.com. Pastor Ed Taylor is in the middle of a four-part series called Greater. And today we'll be encouraged towards greater faith here in 2026. If we're going to get there, it will necessitate a greater amount of time in the Bible each day.

Here's Pastor Ed in Hebrews chapter 11.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. We are just beginning a four-week series I've entitled Greater. I wanted to look forward to a new year and ask the question, what awaits us in the new year? And one of the ways that we can answer that is greater faith. That's the title of our Bible study today, greater faith.

Greater faith. It's comforting to know that God knows what he's doing with your life. He knows the why, the how, the what, and the when. That seems to be the underlying theme of our series as well. That we enter into a new year just knowing God knows what he's doing with our lives. He knows exactly where he's leading us, how he's handling it, what he's allowing.

And heading into the, heading forward into a new year, we're praying for greater. Greater. And today I want to talk about greater faith. Now, I looked up the word greater in a dictionary. I do not remember which dictionary it was in particular, but I found that the definition was quite comical actually. The word greater means more great. That's what it said. More great. And it's like, okay, that's good.

It's used almost a thousand times in the Bible, the word great or greater, a variation. Greater itself in the New King James is used 82 times, greater, in a variety of different ways. The Greek word behind the word greater actually is a very familiar word to you. The Greek word is megas, where we get our word mega from.

We want mega faith going into the new year. This word often describes greater size, greater number, greater amount, greater price, a greater cost, greater importance. It's really a great word, no pun intended, to remember and to hold on to moving forward, praying for a new year.

Because again, you entering into a new year, you can look back on what happened previously, and then you have a whole clean slate moving forward. And you can look to say, okay, Lord, I see some things I want to repeat from this year, some things I do not want to repeat, but I also have some goals and some desires. I want to see you work in different ways in my life.

I sense for our church that this word greater, I felt like God gave that to us so that we can move forward. I was thinking of this verse in Ephesians chapter 3 in verse 20. It says, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

I have been meditating on this verse for quite some time because in March I will be teaching at a leadership conference, and they asked us what do we want to teach on, like they asked us our top three picks. This was number one, number two and number three for me, and they ended up giving me all my picks. So this is what I get to pick and what I get to teach on. So I have just been really thinking about this abundantly, how God wants to do more exceedingly abundantly what we asked. So ask big.

And ask God and knock and seek for big things because God is able to do even more than that. But we started this series little by little, did we? That's important to understand that God has his own timing with us. He knows what he's doing, and sometimes it seems to be going very, very quickly.

But most of the time, God is doing things little by little. We learned from the children of Israel that he said, I am going to take you into the land, I am going to give it to you, but you are not going to get it all at once. It's going to happen little by little. One of the reasons why is that you cannot handle it. You will not be able to handle the whole thing all at once.

So the process little by little is for training and preparation. We learned, did not we, that God is preparing us today for what he has prepared for us, that nothing is wasted. He is using everything in training and preparing us for what's up ahead so we get to enjoy today, but we're also prepared for tomorrow. It's his will, his way, his power, and his timing. Why? For his good pleasure.

I found a few scriptures if you want to jot them down. We will get to Hebrews, but before that, you can hold your places there. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 46. I want to show you a few things. I want you to see it in your own Bible. In Isaiah chapter 46, a reminder, this is a theme throughout the Bible in how God knows what he's doing in our lives.

In Isaiah 46 in verse 9, Isaiah 46:9 it says, remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. And we say, amen. Yes, God, we know you are unique, you are our creator, our Savior, all in all. And then he says in verse 10, as God there's no other, he says, I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done.

Saying my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Now, we often will refer to this passage about God's prophetic word, where he says something in advance because he knows what's going to happen. But also you can look at this for your own life. God knows what he wants to do with your life.

And what's required in you and me is to surrender by faith, trusting him. Let me show you another one, John chapter 6. What a great episode in the life of Jesus. I love this verse. It has become very important to me over the years. John chapter 6, when you get there, notice with me in verse 6, it's a very simple statement, but very profound at the same time.

It says in John 6:6, but this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Here with the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was testing Philip. He already knew what he was going to do. But he was drawing out what? Faith from Philip. Trust me. You can hear that over and over and over from God. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.

Let me show you another one, Ephesians chapter 1. We will get there soon enough, but notice with me Ephesians chapter 1. Another great insight of God's knowledge of your life. How in the new year God is looking for more belief and more steps forward, more trust, more reliance. And he says in verse 11 of chapter 1, he says, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. This theme is over and over again. Now, you know, when you get to Ephesians chapter 1, there's all this debate and argument about the elect and predestination, and you lose the simple part of the verse. There is a complicated part of the verse, but there's also a very simple part, and that is according to God's good pleasure and his perfect will, he knows what he's doing with your life.

And you can trust him. And God is looking for greater faith this year, which brings us to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews is a book written to a group of Jewish believers who were struggling so much that they were ready to walk away from Christ. They were ready to turn their backs on Jesus and go back to Judaism.

And Paul, I believe the author to Hebrews, wrote a letter to them encouraging them to look to Jesus, his sufficiency, all that we need for life and faith, the one that inspires faith, the one that is worthy of our faith. Or, again, jot this down, Second Peter chapter 1, Peter put it this way. And I love the Bible because it gives you all these different angles on the same exact topic.

And this is how Peter put it, listen. He said, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. All things have been given to us in Christ. Every single need that you have. In two ways, like you are completely covered for life and godliness.

Godliness would be your vertical relationship with God. Everything that you need in a relationship with God has been given to you in Christ, godliness. And then our horizontal relationships with each other, that's life. And everything that you need and I need in relation to one another has been given to me by Christ. The way to know peace is to know Jesus.

The way to know the progress and going forward, whether to go or to stop, whether to turn left or turn right, everything has been given to me in Christ, his divine power. This is more than just a Bible study, or more than just understanding a Greek word. When you have a Bible study, you know a Greek word, it's God's power.

And we learned, did not we, God's power. It works in us both to will and to do for his good pleasure. When you think of a new year, and you look forward to what God has in this clean slate of a year, you have to think, God, I need greater faith. I want to trust you.

Notice what the Bible says here in Hebrews chapter 11, now faith, this is verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. For by it, and if you like to write in your Bibles, you might as well just write it now if you have not already, it is a reference to faith. You can just write faith there. For by faith the elders obtained a good testimony.

Many of you already know this, but chapter 11 of Hebrews is known as the Hall of Faith. True story after true story after true story of men and women just like you and me live their lives by faith and are remembered for their faith. They are remembered by their commitment to Jesus. They learned long before you and I learned that it's Jesus that will lead you.

Like today, let's put it into today's conversation, like let's make it relevant for today. You do not need Jesus and some self-help book to get victory in your life. You do not need Jesus and drugs anymore. You do not need Jesus and alcohol. You do not need Jesus and some escape. You do not need Jesus and some coping mechanism. You have all that you need to live a full life by faith in Jesus Christ.

If you really believe that, then it will come very naturally to say, well, I want more faith. I want to trust God more. I want to cling to him. I want to set aside, I want to set aside the things I have been leaning on and I want to learn to lean on the Lord. All the world's methods, all the world's advancements, have definitely brought confusion to believers today.

We are kind of looking at the world, we're seeing what's happening, and everything that's happening, whether it's technology or AI or anything, you're watching it happen right before your eyes. It's happening so rapid, you may not even notice it. But the message being sent is, you do not really need God's Word. You really do not need God's Word because I have a lot of these other tools that will tell you about God's Word.

And it's just not true. You do not need any tools. You do not need to look to any resource. God's Word is enough. God's Word is sufficient. God's Word will be illuminated by the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you. Now, when you're reading through the Bible, it can be a very daunting challenge because there are, there is some understanding to grasp how it's put together, who the authors were.

There's a lot of underlying information that will help you understand the Bible. But without all that information, if you just read the Bible, God will speak to you. If you just open up the Bible, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, and you're right there, it says, in the beginning, it's not your name, is it? In the beginning, God begins to give a whole frame of reference for the entirety of your life.

And Genesis just explodes with a God who loves and creates and cares for his creation. And you're reading through the Bible, reading through the Bible, eventually you will get to different passages that are challenging for sure. And this is where many make the mistake of just putting the Bible down. Like, I am sure for the New Year, a lot of you, I hope all of you, make some kind of commitment to read through the Bible.

Again, on the YouVersion app, we have different Bible reading plans up there that you can use. We have the church one up there, where you can go through the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once in one year. And it's all there, it tells you what to read, it opens up on your app, and you can read through the Bible right on your phone or your tablet. But you know how it is, Genesis, pretty easy.

Exodus, pretty easy. Leviticus, forget about it. He is like, what is this? The whole Bible just turned and took a left turn. But you know, Leviticus has some very significant lessons. I mean, Leviticus is a very bloody book. I mean, it's, it's very daunting, it's very different than Genesis and Exodus, although blood is involved in Genesis and Exodus as well.

But when you get to Leviticus, you do not want to just set it aside because it's hard to understand. You just keep taking it in because the book of Exodus really is pointing singularly to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There's a lot of reason why God gave Leviticus to the children of Israel, for sure, and you can learn that over time.

But what you're looking for when you're reading the Bible is where is Jesus? Remember Jesus said, in the volume of the book, it is written of me. He is everywhere in the scriptures. Old Testament and New Testament. As a matter of fact, jot this down if you're already taking notes. I want to recommend a resource to you that will help you so that you do not just put your Bible down when it gets tough.

And this is an overview of every book of the Bible that will help you understand who the author is, when it was written, what the theme is, what are the key verses, and what struck in my mind last night when I was teaching this, to recommend this book, is that there is always in every chapter of this book, as it goes through all 66 books, where is Jesus in this book? And it's called Talk Through the Bible by Bruce Wilkinson. Talk Through the Bible by Bruce Wilkinson.

I was introduced to that book because in my study Bible that's 30 plus years old, at the beginning of every chapter is the chapter in that book, and they just put it in a separate book. For those of you that do not have study Bibles, in this particular one, so every time I open up, I can see and be reminded if I need it, who the author is, what year was this written, where does it fit in the whole scheme of the Bible, what's the significance of Leviticus, why is, where is Jesus, how is it pointing to the cross? And it will help you so that you do not put the Bible down. Why?

It's important that you read your Bible every day. Let me say it again. It's important that you read your Bible every day because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You want greater faith, you will need to spend greater time in God's Word. You, it just goes hand in hand where you're opening up the scriptures and you can read through it in order if you like.

Or if you just spend time reading the Gospels, and reading, again, here's another way to read the Bible. You ready? Just jot it down. Number one, you should read a chapter of the Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters, and so like today is the 14th, so Proverbs 14. And just allow, and what are you getting when you read the Proverbs? Wisdom. Wisdom. You're getting the wisdom of God.

These little nuggets of wisdom. And it does not read like straight through, although some of the chapters do, but rather it just gives, hey, think about this, think about this, think about this, and one of them is going to, one of them is going to hit your heart or two each day. Every day you can read a chapter of Proverbs. It will take you 60-90 seconds, even for those of you that are slow readers.

And if you have a learning disability, or you have a difficulty reading, or you have dyslexia, you can take the YouVersion app and it will read to you. It will read, there's no excuse not to receive the Word of God, none anymore. We have all this technology that's available, that you can just take it in. Number one, read the Proverbs, chapter a day. Number two, spend some time in the Psalms.

The Psalms. So you got the Psalms and the Proverbs are together in the Bible, and if you read a couple chapters, as much as you want, because some are small, some are large. What will you do as you're reading the Psalms every day? You are going to be learning to worship God. So you're taking in the wisdom of God, but then you're also learning to worship God, and you're reading like Psalm 7 today.

I mean, you're reading David's heart and he's like, man, David, you, you're really, really being attacked, aren't you? And he is like coming to God, he goes, you know, if it's true, take me out, Lord. But I know it's not true. I am sure many of you, I have felt that way before. You know, if it's true, Lord, then take me out.

But I know it's not true. And so I come to you, Lord, with all my cares and all my difficulties. I mean, you're reading the Psalms, you're like, you might, might sound like you're reading your diary. It's like, this is my life. Yeah, because then you're turning to the Lord and you're worshiping. And then if you have some more time, I mean, we're talking 15 minutes, 20 minutes in the morning. That's not much at all.

I mean, you can spend that much time scrolling through social media. Just set that aside. 15, 20 minutes in the Word. From the Psalms and the Proverbs, then you go to the Gospels. You go to the Gospels, that's Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Any of the Gospels. And you're just going to follow Jesus. Most of the Gospels are describing the life of Jesus, and what will you, what will you be receiving daily when you're going through the Gospel? You will learn how to walk with Jesus.

Wisdom, worship, and walk. If you did that for a year, I guarantee you, you will be a different woman and a different man. Guarantee you. So he says, well, you know, every year I just stop at Leviticus. Okay, let's try a new thing. New thing. Proverbs, Psalms, Gospels.

I cannot say personally that I do that every day, but I do it a lot. I used to do it every day, but I do it a lot. And there will be days where I will just camp in the Proverbs because I need wisdom. And there will be days where I will just camp in the Psalms because my heart needs to learn to worship. And then I spend a lot of time in the Gospels because I really want to learn what it means to follow Jesus.

Because he is the one that said, come and follow me. A church did not tell you that. Ed is not telling you that. Calvary is not telling you that. Jesus is saying, you come follow me. I am going to lead you and guide you because I know what I am doing with your life.

Guest (Male): Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace, urging us to take time out each day to study the Word. The Proverbs, Psalms, and Gospels are a good place to camp out in.

If you joined us late or would just like to hear this message from Exodus again, turn to AboundingGraceRadio.com, or you can listen through our app as well. Search for Ed Taylor in the App Store or Google Play. Well, Pastor Ed, is there a particular version of the Bible that you'd recommend to our listeners that's easy to understand?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Yeah, you know, there is a lot of talk, Larry, about different versions. I use a more literal version because my pastor used the Old King James. And as a new believer, there were so many words in the Old King James that I did not understand. They had just come out with the New King James when I was a new believer. I have been using the same version now for 30 plus years.

But in the last few years, they came out with a different, more modern version called the NLT, the New Living Translation. If you're looking for a helpful new version to read this year, or a different angle, I love the NLT. I use it for my devotional reading. I use it when I need a different angle. Of course, you know, when I am studying for a Bible study, I have got multiple versions available that I can look at different angles, different words.

Sometimes I will just quote the NLT. But the NLT is reliable, it is helpful, and I know it will be a great addition if you're looking for it. And if you just want to try it for free on the YouVersion Bible app, that free Bible app, the NLT is there, and you can test it right on your phone or on your tablet to see if the Lord might want you to add it to your list of Bible versions to use. The NLT, I use the New King James. I know both of them will get you where you want to go.

Guest (Male): Good suggestion there. Thanks again, Ed.

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You know, the New Year is a great time to kick-start or breathe new life into your devotional life, and we've got a book that can help. It's titled Jesus Every Day from Jim Samala. Each day brings its own set of challenges and events that can at times leave us dazed and confused, but in Christ we can find the grace, strength, and peace to face those days with hope. Living by God's unshakeable promises will challenge you to consider what your life might look like with Jesus every day.

We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call 877-30 GRACE or visit our e-store at CalvaryCO.store. We'll hear more about greater faith next time on Abounding Grace with Ed Taylor. See you tomorrow.