Abounding Grace

Larry: Today on Abounding Grace: the wide variety of ways God speaks to us.

Pastor Ed Taylor: God will use visions and dreams. He'll use a friend, He'll use a text message, He'll use a Bible study. He could use skywriting to speak to you. He could use a donkey. We have evidence in the scriptures of a donkey being used of God to mercifully attempt to prevent a man from making a serious mistake. Jesus spoke out of rocks, would cry out if God willed it. Jesus spoke of angels being sent if God wanted to use them as a messenger. The Bible says that the creation speaks of God. God speaks today. The question is: are we tuned in?

Larry: Well, we've got a great message lined up for you today on Abounding Grace. You might find your place in 1st Samuel chapter 3, where we'll join Pastor Ed Taylor in just a moment. These are difficult days; there's no doubt about it. Evil is on the rise, and those that stand for the truth are often ridiculed. But in the midst of the mess, God has an important mission and a calling for us. Today, you'll be encouraged to embrace it with open arms, just like Samuel. Here's Pastor Ed starting us off in verse 2.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Verse 2: "It came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see..." That was a kind way of saying he's old. "...before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was, while Samuel was lying down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel." And he answered, "Here I am." And so he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And he said, "I didn't call; lie down again." And he went and lay down.

Eli was a professional priest who was both dying physically and wearing away spiritually as his old age made him an ineffective leader. He couldn't see, and he had lost his physical sensitivities. In contrast to Eli, Samuel, this young boy, this eager boy, just learning to follow God—the first noise that he heard: "What? What? What?" He does what's natural; he runs into Eli. "What do you want?" Eli says, "I didn't call you."

Just so you know, as we make the contrast between young and old, this isn't really a young and old issue. It's not really, "Well, Eli's older, his body's going down, his hearing is lost, and he can't see." That's not what's being portrayed here in the physical realm. That is not the point. Eli was older, but that wasn't his problem. Samuel was younger, and that wasn't his advantage.

The issue is one of spiritual sensitivity, one of responding when you hear. Let's face it: the more you walk with the Lord, the more you need to guard yourself against spiritual insensitivity. The more that you and I need to be careful that we don't think we just know it and we've got the quick answer, and we don't need to seek the Lord anymore, and we're insensitive to His leading.

When you're young in the faith, you are desperate to hear God. You're desperate. "What do You have to say? You saved my soul. You rescued me. What do You have to say, God? What are You doing in the world today? Look at what's going on over here and look at what's going on over here." You see something on the news and your first response is, "Oh God, what is going on?"

You get a little older and you see something on the news and it just becomes, "Well, our country is going downhill." "Yeah, and we need the Lord." And this situation is happening in Washington. "Yeah, man, and we need the Lord. We need to be people of the Lord. We need to have the spiritual sensitivity: God, with this backdrop in which we live, the harvest is plentiful."

What would really happen, church, in your own heart? What would really happen if when you prayed, "God, send laborers into the harvest," you really meant that? And you heard almost immediately, "You are a laborer. It's time to go into the harvest." What would really happen? I think something great and grand would happen. It's not an old-young situation. It's really a picture. Samuel wants to learn, and Eli has lost it.

Verse 6: "So the Lord called yet again, 'Samuel!'" So Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And he answered, "I didn't call, my son; lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. Not for long. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And then he arose and went to Eli.

By the way, just for a second, verse 7 is a little bit of insight on Samuel, but I want to give a little insight for you. God is ready to speak to you in your current condition, just like who you are right now. Samuel's just a kid. We don't know how old he is. Some estimate eight or nine years old. We don't know exactly, but he's young. Eight or nine years old—that beautiful age. Even if he was younger.

And God is just letting you know that the relationship that Samuel has with God is not yet developed, not even yet started. He's just so eager to do what he's supposed to do. It's a great thing to consider. How do you think Samuel felt being dropped off at the temple? I think that his mom built some faith in him: "Look, boy, you are a miracle kid. God is going to use you greatly." She would come and give him gifts and encourage him: "Yes!" But here he is: "What? What?"

He goes into Eli. "Go back to bed. Go back to bed." It's almost as if, "I wasn't calling you, just go back." Why didn't Eli just say in one of these first two times, "Maybe the Lord's speaking to you"? You are in the temple, and you are a miracle kid, and God's going to use you in a great way. Maybe God's speaking to you because I'm not. Who else is it going to come from? One of the greatest things Eli did was to send him back to wait on the Lord.

Verse 7 is an encouragement to me because I know that God's going to use me in my present condition. I don't yet know some things. Personally, I've been walking with Jesus for 20-plus years. I don't yet know things. We use that phrase today that you're on a need-to-know basis. You'll know when you need to know.

Many things in our walk of faith are very similar with God. We just don't know yet. We don't know what's up ahead. We don't know how the puzzle piece fits. We don't know yet. We're not sure. While this is speaking to a youthfulness in Samuel, I can see the application in my life where there's things I don't know yet. The word on that situation hasn't been revealed to me.

But verse 8 says the Lord's going to call Samuel and he's going to get a word. And He does. He calls him again this third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, verse 9, "Go lie down. It shall be if He calls you that you must say, 'Speak Lord, for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

It happens a couple times before Eli finally suggests, "Oh, maybe it's the Lord." You are in the temple and you are a miracle kid and God's going to use you in a great way. Maybe God's speaking to you because I'm not. Who else is it going to come from? And Eli sends him... one of the greatest things Eli did was this: to send him back to wait on the Lord. Now we know that God does speak today. The question is how?

Let me be clear that God, as He leads us, gives us an impression, puts a scripture on our heart or in our mind, makes one come alive in the scriptures, sends a message through a friend or a text message or a tweet or through a Bible study or any other way. When God speaks, I want to be crystal clear that what I don't mean by that phrase is that God is writing new scripture today. The Bible is complete. It is once for all delivered to the saints.

Often when you and I use vocabulary like, "Well, the Lord spoke to me," many people will attack that phrase as if we think that God is speaking like writing new scripture—like there's another chapter at the end of the Bible. There's Jude, Revelation, and the Gospel of George. That's not what we're saying. That's not what the Bible teaches. And yet God does speak.

I'm certain that you have received an impression. Maybe you didn't know what it was, but God gave you just this scripture that popped into your mind. And right after the scripture popped into your mind, you weren't even in that book. You had the impression, "I really think I should give this to someone." And you have a name. What do you think, the devil told you that? "Take the word of God and encourage someone." The devil didn't tell you that.

And you were just in a place where you were sensitive, and because of your sensitivity, God was ready. He was ready to use you and you connected. You heard. You were tuned in. So when we say that God is speaking today, we are certainly not in any way saying that God is writing new scripture. He's not. But He does lead and guide.

By the way, that phrase "the faith once and for all delivered to the saints" is in Jude. Jude is only one chapter, but it's Jude verse 3. The Bible is complete. It's been given to us once for all. So then, how does God speak? The primary place that God speaks to us is through the Word, your Bible. God has spoken, and because the Bible is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, we can then say not only has God spoken, but we can also say that God is speaking. And we can even say, if God would give us the future, that God will speak.

And the primary way that He speaks is through His Word. Through His Word, God has revealed Himself. He's shown us who He is and what's required and the power source. He causes His Word to come alive and afresh in our lives and our hearts. We read it and we pray through it, and the Holy Spirit, the Bible says, illuminates it. It's a dark book to those of you that don't have a relationship with God. You don't get it. It's a frustrating thing, isn't it?

I remember days as an unbeliever where I would read the Bible so eagerly and I didn't get it. Even the simplest of things I didn't understand. Why? I didn't have a relationship with the Author. Of course I didn't get it. When I was born again, things started to make sense. Not everything; I needed to learn. We need to grow and add to our faith knowledge, and we continue to study the scriptures and we're perpetually growing, but things started to make sense.

I began to see my life in light of God's perfection, God's requirement, God's promises. And He opens the Word of God to us. You know, the Bible says God will use visions and dreams to speak to you. Let me show you just so you know; I want you to see this. Turn over to Acts. There's a promise for the last days, a promise from the book of Joel, a promise that Peter quotes as he explains the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to the church after the death and the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus.

Where the Spirit of God came down upon them, they began to speak in other tongues. There was interpretation and understanding, and God will use visions and dreams. It says in verse 16 of Acts chapter 2: "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Now we've studied prophecy, to speak forth the Word of God. We've looked at that in Romans chapter 12. It's an existing spiritual gift for today, speaking forth the Word of God.

He says, "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy." Now here's the difference, who's going to get visions and dreams? Are you ready? "Your young men shall see visions, and those of you that have been getting dreams, it says your old men shall dream dreams." I wish I had more visions, but my life has been filled with quite a few dreams, quite frankly, lately. God will use visions and dreams. He'll use a friend, He'll use a text message, He'll use a Bible study. He could use skywriting to speak to you.

He could use a donkey. We have evidence in the scriptures of a donkey being used of God to mercifully attempt to prevent a man from making a serious mistake. Jesus spoke out of rocks, would cry out if God willed it. Jesus spoke of angels being sent if God wanted to use them as a messenger. The Bible says that the creation speaks of God. God speaks today. He speaks in wonderful ways, very specific, very general. God speaks. The question is, are we tuned in?

Yet I have to say, when we sort through this topic, that hearing from the Lord is not as concrete as one might think, or it's not as easy as we might think. I find that at times people have come with what they've perceived as a word from God or a direction from God and you talk to them about it, and then they'll say, "But I have a peace about it. I have a peace about it." Well, you can have a peace. You can have an inward man-made comfort and still be wrong.

There is a peace of God that surpasses all understanding, but there's a lot of false pseudo-peace that men and women use to convince themselves of a bad decision is right and then blame God for the bad decision. "Well, I have a peace about it." Doesn't mean it's from the Lord. "I'm broke and we need to pay some bills and I don't want to be bankrupt, so I've got a peace that robbing the First Bank... I got a peace about it." Yeah, but the Bible says don't steal. "Yeah, but that doesn't apply to today. Especially doesn't apply." I mean, just silly things, and some not so silly.

So you don't want to just rely on a peace. So what do we rely on? Well, let me give you a few things when you're sorting through the tuning and you want to really tune into the dial that God has a voice to speak to you. Let me give you a few things you can keep in mind. Number one: the Bible is the final test for what you say is from God. The Bible is the final test for what you and I say is from God.

Let me put it a different way: something that you and I say is from God will not contradict what God has already said. Does that make sense? Are you guys with me? Use the Bible. You need to know the Word of God because God has spoken. So if we say something is from God and it contradicts the scriptures... think of in Acts chapter 17, we're introduced to these believers in the city of Berea. In the city of Berea, we know these believers now as the Bereans.

It's a phrase that is used within Christianity to refer to people that really, even when Paul the apostle came to teach them—this is Paul the apostle—the Bible says that they were fair-minded. They were more fair-minded than the Thessalonians because when Paul came and taught, they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. They used the Word of God to test the apostle. And of course you know that that which God gave Paul did not contradict the scriptures. They searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. The Bible is the final test.

Number two: as we believe we receive a vision from the Lord or a dream... you know, not every dream is from the Lord. Did you know that? Sometimes the dreams you receive before you go to bed have everything to do with the last thing you watched. Some movie that probably would have been better not to watch at all or definitely not before you go to bed. And you got this dream now and you wake up and you go, "Oh no, God is after me." No, no, no. God's not after you. Stop watching that stuff before you go to bed.

Sometimes the dreams come or the visions come just because you're exhausted. And you have to take that vision, that dream... you get that dream, you're up in the middle of the night and you're going, "Well, maybe the Lord's speaking." Maybe He is, maybe He's not. Maybe it is what you ate a little bit too late and what you ate was just nasty and now you're paying for it. You're like, "Well, I just got a feeling in my bosom." Yeah, stop eating that stuff and the feeling will go away.

Sometimes it is from the Lord, but how do we know? Well, we test it by God's Word. There are people that say today that they're writing books on how to interpret dreams. You can call them up and they're the dream interpreter. But man, I see Daniel, and when I hear from Daniel, when he comes to interpret dreams, he says, "I don't interpret dreams, but I know a God that does." God's the interpreter. You don't want to submit yourself to these "Well, I know what your dream... usually that in a dream means and that in a dream means..." The more Word of God you know, the more peace you'll have of what God's wanting to say to you.

So secondly, we really have to remain open and flexible to be wrong. Because a lot of times you'll tie your reputation to this word from the Lord, and when you find out it wasn't from the Lord at all, you're not willing to give it up because your reputation's on the line. Just be open. Maybe it's from God, maybe it isn't from God. You can really never fully trust our ability to hear from the Lord with 100% accuracy. We're imperfect human beings. So we really need to be open for a confirmation.

And so instead of speaking like... whenever I teach a Bible study, the only time I'm completely accurate is when I'm reading the scriptures. And even then it's a translation, so if I knew the Hebrew or the Greek and I was reading exactly of the autographs—which we don't have, but from the manuscript—that would be the most accurate that I would be speaking for the Lord. And I believe we can trust our English translations, so when I'm reading it, that's the closest I am to being 100% accurate speaking for the Lord. Everything else in interpretation and observation is subject to humanity.

We really need the Holy Spirit to enliven a gift of teaching to make sure that I and you handle the Word of God correctly. And you don't want to become prideful and have your reputation lean upon your 100% accuracy because you'll never be 100% accurate because you've already made a mistake. So you'll never be able to recover from that. I've already made many mistakes and I'll never be able to recover from that, but I can say I humbly submit myself to You, God.

As I'm putting a Bible study together, I humbly submit, and I can see what other godly men have seen in the text to make sure that I didn't come up with something weird or I didn't come up with something that's just way out there. I can see that there are men that have looked at the text and studied the original languages much wiser than me and I go, "Okay, okay, I see it. I see, God, You did reveal that to me."

So I need to remain flexible and open. Just like James would say in another time, where James said, "Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there and buy and sell, make a profit, whereas you don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It's a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills.'"

So as you believe you received the word from the Lord, compare it with the scriptures and then just be open for God to confirm it and make it clear if the Lord wills. Here he's talking about not being so confident I know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I think the same principle applies of, "Hey, I think I heard from the Lord, but God, You really need to make it clear to me."

Larry: This is Abounding Grace. You're listening to a message in 1st Samuel from pastor and Bible teacher Ed Taylor. Catch a replay when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts, and at oneplace.com.

Here in the month of August, we've picked out an excellent book written by Bob Hoekstra called *How to Counsel God's Way*. This book is a call for God's people to return to Jesus as our wonderful counselor so that we avoid the pitfalls of following after man's wisdom and trust the Lord Jesus for His reliable riches that are already ours in Christ. We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Please remember, it is through your financial support that we're able to come to you day by day on this station and others like it. Your gift, whatever the size, would be greatly appreciated and put to good use. Request your book today by calling us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. Again, 877-30-GRACE. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store.

Pastor Ed, with an eye on the weekend ahead of us, what are you teaching from the pulpit these days at Calvary Church in Aurora, and how can folks join us in person or online?

Pastor Ed Taylor: That's a great question, Larry. We're in the book of Ephesians on our weekend services. By the way, we have four weekend services here at Calvary: Saturday night at 6:00, and then Sunday morning at 8:00 AM, 9:45, and 11:45. But you can go to our website, calvaryco.church. We'd love to have you here, tune in live.

But we're in the book of Ephesians. The emphasis is the grace of God. We're looking at the application in the second part of Ephesians because you guys know by now that we're a church that teaches verse-by-verse through the entirety of the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, with great personal application. And so we're in the application part of Ephesians. I love it, it's the grace of God.

In our midweek study, we just finished up 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, and we're going to be working our way through 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and Titus. But it was great how they went together because you've got the grace of God on the weekends and the love of God midweek. So that's been the atmosphere of our church. It's so encouraging to me. I just love the Word, I love teaching it.

But you know what's really cool? What's really cool is so many times when I'm in the worship service—and I get to be in all four of them on the weekend and I'm in all of them really throughout the week—but as I'm worshipping and singing songs and I go up to teach, so many times as I'm teaching, the Lord is speaking to my heart. There's times, not that often, but there are times, it just happened a few weeks ago, where as I'm teaching, the Lord is so heavily speaking to me, I've got to make a conscious decision: do I stop and listen? Like just stop, which I can't because I'm talking at the same time, but it's so heavy that I'm receiving it, receiving it, I'm giving it, giving it, and then I get to chew on it all week. And both grace and love has been really speaking to my heart and it's great.

I hope you're enjoying what your pastor's teaching you and that you're just growing in grace in the context of your local church because the local church is the hope of the world, really. Jesus has deposited His message in us, and every community's better because of your church. So stay strong and faithful to the Lord.

Larry: If you missed any of that, drop by calvaryco.church. We hope to see you soon. Don't miss our next study in 1st Samuel with Pastor Ed next time on Abounding Grace, and may God richly bless you with His abounding grace.