Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: If you're driving a truck and you want the anointing of God to be the best truck driver that will draw people's attention, you want the anointing and the presence and the power of God. You want to be doing things in the Lord's strength, not in your own strength. You want to be doing things knowing that God has you there.

When doubts come up, you say, "The Lord has put me here." You could use the phrase, "I have the anointing of God for this position. This is where God wants me. This is where he led me. This is where he empowered me. This is why I went to school. This is what I wanted to be when I was a little kid." Little did David know that he would be taking care of the children of Israel as he took care of the flock. He took care of the flock because he wanted to take care of the flock. He was a good shepherd boy. The characteristics and the qualities of that good shepherd boy led him to be a good king, not without failure, but isn't that true for all of our lives?

Guest (Male): There is only one way to bring peace to the heart, joy to the mind, and beauty to a life. It is to accept and live in the will of God. Welcome to Abounding Grace. Pastor Ed Taylor is currently developing his study of the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, where we're drawing rich application for our lives. Today, we'll return to a story probably familiar to most of you. When God was looking for the second king of Israel, a 16-year-old shepherd boy caught his eye. Most back then probably thought this was a poor choice, but God saw a young man who was after his own heart. Here is Pastor Ed relating it to God's anointing on our own lives and ministry.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Your example's important. We're not to judge people by the outward appearance, and yet at the same time, we don't dismiss outward appearance either. Your credibility will be shot if all you do is tell people, "But you don't know my heart." I don't need to know your heart because you're so mean to me, I just know who you are. You're just a mean person. If that's what Christians are all all about, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm sure your heart's mean too.

This verse can also become a cop-out to bad behavior. This is not an excuse to have a bad example in our lives. Just remember that even if you're not in leadership or pastoral ministry, the outward is very important. It can be an invitation to come closer or it can be something that repels people.

That's why for us, we always put this word out. If we have help, great. If we don't have help, the pastoral team will take care of it to just make sure things are clean. Just something that simple, making sure the trash is picked up, the sidewalks are shoveled, the bathrooms are clean. It's not just one man that does that, although he does quite a bit of work here. It's a team of people.

What's the big deal about a clean toilet? Everything. What's the big deal there's trash all over? We're always going out to pick up the trash here. How is that a service unto the Lord? It's one of the first things people see when they drive up to the parking lot here is whether there's trash. Hampton here has those trash trucks that are going all to the dump every day, all day, and that stuff flies all over, and it seems to be a magnet on our property.

If somebody shows up and they say, "Well, they don't even take care of the parking lot, how will they possibly take care of my family?" The little things are important. Clean windows mean a lot. We have to clean them for the kids to come and put their hands on them when they walk up. That's just one of the things that they do.

Every time you're cleaning a window and picking up a piece of trash, when people come, we want to take away things that will cause them to struggle. They're going to do two things. They're going to see with their eyes and they're going to hear with their ears when they step on this property. That's why if you've noticed, some of you have noticed, that we have speakers outside that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there's worship music playing on this property.

Even if people are cutting across or they're hanging out doing something they shouldn't be doing in our parking lot, they're going to have to do it listening to Jesus and listening to somebody singing about Jesus. I hope they're so convicted they just break down in the car and say, "I can't do it anymore." I don't know how it all works here, but when you're on the property, it's really designed. It's designed and we need help. We just put it out because it's very important.

If we as the pastors go out and do it, fantastic. There's no problem with that. What can I do? One of the things we can do is to take care of what God has been given to us so that that's one less thing for someone to say, "What a trashy place. They just throw their trash here." They start making conclusions that aren't true. We could cop an attitude, "I know we didn't pick up the trash, but you don't know my heart." Just pick up the trash. That's it. Just go pick up the trash. Nobody cares about your heart. Just pick up the trash. That way, we'll clean it and everything's ready.

A lot of things we have the privilege of coming and going and not really thinking of those things because there's faithful servants taking good care of you. We don't have to worry about things like that. It speaks, and let's say it only speaks to one person. How many people are valuable to you to bring into the kingdom of God? If picking up trash every day for the rest of my life would draw a person to Jesus Christ, it would be worth it. It would be worth it in our lives and never to think we're so high that we don't need to do that anymore. Never think that we're so high that we don't think people see.

Back to 1 Samuel chapter 16. Samuel saw and he was wrong. God corrected him. Verse eight, "So Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, 'Neither has the Lord chosen this one.' Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, 'Neither has the Lord chosen this one.' Then Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, 'The Lord has not chosen these.' And Samuel said," verse 11, "to Jesse, 'Are all the young men here?' And he said, 'There remains yet the youngest and there he is, keeping the sheep.' And Samuel said to Jesse, 'Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.' So he sent and brought him in. And now he was ruddy with bright eyes and good-looking. And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him. For this is the one.'"

What a day that would be. Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. It even appears that his dad was caught up in seeing only because David wasn't invited. Jesse said, "I got another one, but he's a kid and he's out with the sheep." But that was the one. We just have to be so careful to be led by the Spirit of God and not by our own decisions and not by our own understanding.

God isolates the one who will be king of Israel, and Samuel anoints him, and the spirit of God came upon him. That little David, that little ruddy, good-looking kid, was a faithful son, a shepherd, and a loving caretaker of the flocks. He had it in him to be the man that he would grow up to lead. David had all the qualities that were perfectly suited for caring for the flock of God, even as a kid. It's so beautiful and wonderful to watch the parents in our congregation have their kids serving and getting involved. It's amazing just a knowing and letting the kids at every age level be involved in the ministry because you don't want to write your kids off.

It doesn't matter how old they are. We want to provide environments for them to be faithful so that God can raise them up and anoint them into the ministry that God has called them to. David is anointed king, but remember, Saul is still on the throne. This will lead to a time of patient, trying times for David, times of deep testing like no other time.

It's important to notice even in David's life that David was anointed three times. He was anointed here, he's anointed again in 2 Samuel chapter 2, and he was also anointed again in 2 Samuel chapter 5. He wasn't anointed again because the first anointings didn't take. It wasn't something like that, but this repetition of anointing speaks of the ongoing work and the confirmation of the Lord. Anyone that has served God for any length of time knows those seasons where doubt creeps in. We really need to examine ourselves as to whether we're in the faith. We need to, as one author put it in the scriptures, make our calling and election sure.

There's an ongoing work of the Lord, an unfolding of God's plan for a man's life, for a woman's life, that the ministry often unfolds piece by piece and section by section. At one point, we might see, "I could see my whole life doing this." Yet through the Lord, he says, "No, I'm with you, but there's a new direction for you." Or, "I'm with you and I want you to stay on this direction." That unfolding of the will of God. Anointing is recognized by others in stages as well.

You look at your own life and see how you've matured over the years. You see how God has matured you and gave you more responsibility. In one stage of my life, I was anointed to serve in the Sunday school and that was a beautiful, wonderful time. It was very difficult for me when I had to go to Pastor Rudy and say, "Because of the work of the Lord in my life, I can't serve in the Sunday school anymore because I'm going to begin doing this over here."

Then there was another time in my life where there was an anointing on my life to open up a community group in our little apartment. Then the anointing again when that community group overflowed our little apartment. People were outside on the stairs on the outside looking in the windows, and we went to another home. Then another anointing of the Lord, the confirmation of the Lord to say, "No, we need to even get a bigger home."

Then another confirmation of the Lord when with that little home Bible study, we had to divide it into two. Then the Lord moved me on into another area of ministry. It's the same with you. As it comes with David, when you come to fight battles and you gain victory and you see the Lord growing you and maturing you, you start very much like a little ruddy kid taking care of somebody else's sheep. When you show yourself faithful with that, what does the Bible say? God will make you ruler of many.

Often the opposite happens. It's unfortunate, but many people will approach the ministry in a different way and just say, "No, I'm anointed of the Lord and I want it all right now." Just like the children of Israel when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, God told them that he wasn't going to drive out the enemy all at once. He was going to drive them out little by little because you couldn't take it if the Lord just wiped out the enemy. There would be no battle, there would be no growth, there would be no defeat, there would be no learning how to get up again. There would be no learning trusting in the Lord in all the circumstances in your life as that unfolding work of the Holy Spirit in your life showing you, guiding you, leading you into stronger, more fruitful parts of life.

Even a failure, even falling on your face, is used by the Lord. David becomes an incredible man, this little kid. An incredible man for God, forgotten by his dad, ignored by his dad. We'll see later the internal rivalry that siblings have. His brothers didn't like him, and that rivalry was happening. He becomes not only an incredible man, but the Bible says he becomes a man after God's own heart unlike anyone the world has ever seen, save Jesus. God used him in such an incredible way that even in David's life, what does he become but a type and a picture of Jesus himself in so many ways.

Don't write yourself off of the Lord taking you and ask for that fresh. When we think of anointing even now, we're not going to take a horn of oil or a big thing of Crisco oil and pour it over your head and say, "Here's the anointing," as they did even in the Old Testament. Anointing becomes even symbolic of the presence of God and his hand upon your life where you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then God anoints you for ministry and service.

This isn't just for pastors, and it's not just for teachers, and it's not just for leaders. If you're a lawyer here today, you want the anointing of God in your law practice. You want to be an anointed lawyer with the presence of God. If you're a nurse here and you're walking into a patient's room, you want the anointing of God to be the nurse that not only represents the medical community but represents the Lord in that room. Not only if you're driving a truck and you want the anointing of God to be the best truck driver that will draw people's attention, you want the anointing and the presence and the power of God.

You want to be doing things in the Lord's strength, not in your own strength. You want to be doing things knowing that God has you there. When doubts come up, you say, "The Lord has put me here." You could use the phrase, "I have the anointing of God for this position. This is where God wants me. This is where he led me. This is where he empowered me. This is why I went to school. This is what I wanted to be when I was a little kid." Little did David know that he would be taking care of the children of Israel as he took care of the flock. He took care of the flock because he wanted to take care of the flock, and he was a good shepherd boy. The characteristics and the qualities of that good shepherd boy led him to be a good king, not without failure, but isn't that true for all of our lives? You can be a man or a woman after God's heart and still blow it. Whenever I think of that, I say, "Lord, protect us. Protect us."

Saul was an impatient man. He's going to go after David. He's still on the throne. David, on the other hand, patiently waited and so must we. Verse 14, "But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said to him, 'Surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you and you shall be well.' So Saul said to his servants, 'Provide me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.' Then one of the servants answered and said, 'Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, one who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person, and the Lord is with him.'"

He's already recognizable that the hand of the Lord is with him. Therefore, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat and sent them by his son David to Saul. So David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse saying, "Please let David stand before me for he has found favor in my sight." And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

An even more dramatic change hits King Saul as the spirit of the Lord departed from him. That's the bigger part of this verse, verse 14. The relationship of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is different than the relationship that you and I have with the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you, seal you, and is permanently in you. In the Old Testament, you'll find many times where the Spirit of God would come upon a man and leave a man, come upon a man and leave a man. This is an example.

Again, the critic will come to this or maybe you've had a question, seeing how it is possible that God would send a distressing spirit. What is that? If asking that question, which is a great question, I'll answer it in a moment, don't miss the more important part of this section. The more important part of this section is God is done with Saul. He's done. How do we know that? The Spirit of the Lord departed him. Remember another occasion in the Old Testament that takes place? In the book of Judges, remember in Samson's life? He was so far from the Lord that he didn't even recognize that the Spirit of the Lord departed from him. That's how hard he was.

So there's distressing spirit came and in this distressing spirit, this is one of those difficult Bible questions. What is it? What is this distressing spirit? Well, here are some options. Number one, you could say that in our lives, God puts a wall of protection around his people like we read of in the book of Job. This is really just an example of God removing his protective hand from Saul and demonic activity increased as a result. That's a possibility. Or secondly, God is in control of all, even the demonic realm. That is that even the demons are submissive and subservient to him when needed. That's also a biblical possibility. You can also put both of them together as a possibility to answer what's happening here. Evil spirits and Satan himself can't do anything without the Lord's permission, and as such, demons serve the purpose of God.

Either way, Saul's in bad shape and he's in the worst shape of his life due to his rebellious sin because he had it. He was right where he needed to be. The hand of the Lord upon him, supporting and strengthening him. The Spirit of God upon him. Now this distressing spirit comes, which is, by the way, when we pray for people that are in sin, we pray that the Lord would change their hearts. A lot of times when somebody walks away from the Lord and they're just out living in the world a prodigal life, part of my prayer, and we do, we pray that the Lord would bring them to the end of themselves. We pray that God would get their attention. We pray that they'd remember what they learned in Sunday school.

There's a lot of things that we pray. One of the things I pray is they would not be happy. They would be distressed in their current sin. I pray that the consequences and the difficulty of life will cause them to turn back to the Lord. Yes, we pray that the love of God leads a man to repentance. Of course, for sure. But in the story of the prodigal son, we see it was the overarching love of God, but it was the misery of his circumstances that got his attention. So a lot of times when husbands will leave their wives or wives will leave their husband, we just pray, "Lord, make it miserable for them. Remind them of your love and remind them of your mercy and remind them of your grace and don't let them be happy in their current condition, Lord."

We don't know how God's going to answer that, but we do know this: when you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption. That's just the way it is. It may not happen right away. It may not happen immediately, and sometimes that fools people into thinking they're getting away with something. It's not true. Saul was miserable. The love of God didn't turn him, the misery doesn't turn him, and in the distress, he looks to what I think a solid response in the playing of music calmed his spirit. When the music was played by David, they find David, David has a great reputation, he's skillful in playing, he's a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, handsome person, the Lord is with him.

In this time in his life, we see that because of the music, the skillful player, the distressing spirit's left. It's not surprising because I think that there's a power in praise. Test it. Put on some political station on AM and drive to work and see how miserable you are by the time you get there. It's just not edifying. It's frustrating. It's difficult. You woke up so encouraged and then because you were listening to some political thing, you're like, "Arrgh!" Are you all right? I'll just listen to the radio.

Then on your way home, put on K-LOVE for some music or WayFM. If you want some Bible study, put on GraceFM and see if it doesn't have a spiritual effect on you immediately. It does. I would say this: worship speaks right to the heart. When I'm discouraged or when I'm down, when I'm feeling attacked by the enemy, whenever I even feel the attacks of the demonic realm in the spiritual warfare, I found that one of the best things that I can do is just put a couple of things in my ear and find something on my phone that will just speak to my soul. Praise does wonders. Music moves you. The music that glorifies God moves you more into the presence of the Lord.

I would suggest that that be a normal, regular part of your life, that worship and praise and music that glorifies God. David's known in 2 Samuel 23 as the sweet psalmist of Israel. That you would turn your attention letting the music minister to your heart. I've found that one of the keys in my life personally is to listen to the music that God used in those formative years as a new believer. It's way out of date now, but it takes me back to a time where I remember from where I've fallen, I repent, and I start to repeat the first works. Even our worship leader, Dan, that we had all the time that we were at Calvary in Downey, has gone home to be with the Lord.

So even now when I listen to that music, it takes me back to a time and it also takes me into heaven because I know that's where Dan is. Knowing that the Lord is just probably he's just got his he got his harp right at the gate. He got his harp, he's a worship leader, "Here's your harp and just start playing, man." It's such a beautiful thing. For some of you, you got saved here and some of the music Pastor Ian has led. We go back a few years and you're just like, "Okay, Lord. Yes. Yes. It's good. It's worth my investment putting music into my heart." That's what happened. Even in verse 23, it says Saul would become refreshed and well because of the music that was played for him. We'll stop right there for just a moment, but stick around. Pastor Ed Taylor will be right back as Abounding Grace continues.

Guest (Male): You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com, 1place.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here in the month of September, we have picked out an excellent book from our friend in the ministry, Ron Rhodes. It's The End Times in Chronological Order. You'll learn when the important end times events will happen in relation to each other, who the major players in the end times will be, and how to interpret the signs of the times. We'll send it to you when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more today. Reach us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE or go online to calvaryco.store. Here is Pastor Ed with one final point of application from 1 Samuel chapter 16.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Just something to look at as you look forward. We're not going to develop it because we're out of time, but in verse 18, it says, "One of the servants answered and said, 'Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who's skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, handsome person, and the Lord is with him.'" This is the key to his success. Not all the outward descriptions, but the key to his success is in contrast to verse 14 when the Lord departed. Now, David, his success is the Lord is with him. Just like the mighty men before him, Joseph in Genesis chapter 39, Joshua in Joshua chapter 6, Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 3. All of us have the Lord with us as believers, and we see success because of God's faithfulness in our lives.

It's his work in our lives. It's his grace. It's his sanctifying grace that moves us forward. What did that do in David? What should it do in you and me that know that the Lord is with us? It builds our confidence, it builds our faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing comes by the word of God. It builds our courage. David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. He was also a man of love and commitment and loyalty. It's so encouraging that God replaces Samuel's mourning with a deep love for David so quickly. The faithfulness of God. Next time on Abounding Grace, we'll take our first look at the story of David and Goliath. While it is familiar to many of us, there are some noteworthy lessons that flow from it and we don't want you to miss them.