Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Would this describe you today? You might be in a desert today. A dry time, a lonely time. Feeling deserted by God. You may even be feeling deserted by others. These times of being alone get people really upset. You're in a posture right now and you could be not even here but watching online or on the radio today and this is you. This is how you're thinking. I can't believe it, nobody cares about me. I'm all alone here. Nobody calls me anymore. My friends at church, what kind of church is that? They don't even call me anymore. And you can almost hear heaven say, "Oh, slow down. I told them not to call you."

Nobody's going to call you. And nobody's going to show up, God says. Because this is time I've reserved for you and me. And your help isn't going to come from man. And your help isn't going to come from the church. Right now, I've got some deep work that I'm going to do in your life. And as soon as that deep work is complete, your phone's going to start to ring again.

Guest (Male): Obsessed with persecuting the church and in a situation where if he would become a Christian, he would have to give up everything he had, Saul of Tarsus would probably not be one you'd expect to come to Christ. But he did. And that's the beauty of God's grace. He can turn even the worst of sinners and no matter what the circumstances are around them, turn that person into a child of God.

We'll hear a testimony of grace today on Abounding Grace. Welcome to the program. Pastor Ed Taylor is in the beginning stages of a study in Galatians. In chapter one, we read the Apostle Paul's personal testimony.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Your testimony's powerful. We looked at this in depth in our study in Acts, you can look those studies up. But listen, your testimony is God's work in your life. The reason he's sharing portions of his testimony throughout this letter is because he's showing them what grace looks like. This is grace. I don't understand, and I'm listening to them and circumcision—no, no, no, just remember my life. That's grace.

It is ironic, is it not? This is one of the ironic places in the Bible where Saul of Tarsus is on his way to Damascus to destroy the church and come against the Gentile believers. But as we'll see in a moment, it was those very Gentile believers that God was preparing Paul to reach. He had one motive, but God had a completely different motive. Notice verse 15 now: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace."

He met grace face to face, but grace was with him all along. From the moment he was conceived in his mother, from the moment of conception when life begins in the womb. Talk to me, church. It's a baby in the womb, a baby, a baby. And if you allow it to develop long enough, a baby will come out of the womb. And we'll even get the privilege of praying over it, a baby in my arms that was in the womb not too long ago.

It is a baby in the womb and God has a plan for that baby. That's what he says here. When it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb. The calling of God was upon Paul, Saul, before he ever even knew it. What was his call? Verse 16: "To reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles." What do you mean, Paul? The Gentiles you were trying to kill? Drag out of the house? Yes. That was God's plan all along. I was so completely against his plan, but God didn't give up on me.

He says, "I didn't immediately confer with flesh and blood." That means he didn't look for the approval of man. He just did what God called him to do. Notice what happens. "Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. After three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him for a couple of weeks, but I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now, concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie."

Afterward, he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and he was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. They were just hearing, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God in him. No matter what your past is, no matter what you've been in, God's plan will be accomplished and men and women, boys and girls, family, friends, coworkers, bosses will glorify God in you. They will see God's glory.

What a great and marvelous change that happened in Saul. How important it is for you and me to seek the promotion of God and not ourselves and give all glory to him because he shares his glory with no man. Paul says, "I was a Jew's Jew until I met grace face to face." But really the truth is grace was there all along. From the moment he was conceived, the God's grace was upon him. He knew exactly what he was going to do with his life, separated from his mother's womb.

He can look back on his life now as many of us can. We can look back on our life and go, "Oh, that's what God was doing. Oh, that's why God had me there. That's why I didn't get that job. That's why that person stepped out of..." All of these things start to make sense the farther along you are in the will of God. They don't make much sense in the moment. They're very frustrating and very hard, but now we see this is the work of God in us as we have been separated from our mother's womb.

He looks back as far as he can and he can see God's hand on his life. The calling of God was upon him before he was even a Christian murderer, creating havoc, even though he was sidetracked and distracted for a season. We even see this in the life of Jeremiah, remember? In Jeremiah 1:5, it says the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations." God's hand.

It's important that we remember that with our kids. That God's hand is upon our kids' lives, even if today some of them are sidetracked and distracted. Some of them are not walking with the Lord, not living for the Lord. We need to be praying for them. We need to be reaching out. We need to be bringing them into the throne room of grace to find help in time of need. Those prodigal kids—and prodigal kids have all kinds of ages. They can be 16, they can be 60. Prodigal is prodigal.

And we need to be praying for them. We need to have hope in their lives. We need not to be so caught off by their behavior, but rather taking their behavior to the Lord and going, "God, you have a plan for this. You spoke a word into my life. I gave my son a word at his baptism. God, you know you're working in his life. Bring him home, bring her home." It's a very exciting thing to know that even in the midst of—see, we have to stop talking to our kids all about their sin and start talking about God's calling in their life.

I'm not advocating you approve of sin. But some of these prodigal relationships, they're all just fighting and fighting about a person that doesn't want to listen to you and is just set to sin. So go let them sin and speak to the person that God's hand is upon. Speak to that little girl that you brought home from the hospital. Speak to that little boy you gave a word when you were praying for him. Speak to the kids to draw out faith for them and remind them that God has a plan for them even before they were in the womb.

You can fight it and you can live a miserable life, but that's not what we want for you. We want you to come back. Can I get an amen on that? You need to change your mind, otherwise you'll be frustrated and angry, and the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. To me, this is a very exciting and motivating thing. Parents, as you look at your kids, your young kids, and when they're playing, you can think, "While they're playing, God's hand is upon that kid's life."

You can look at your kids when they're doing their homework, God's hand is upon them. God has plans for that son. God has plans for that daughter. When they are playing ball, when they're out on the soccer field, when they are in gymnastics, whatever your kids are into—playing Roblox, Minecraft, whatever—when they're there, you have to remember God's hand is upon their life. God has a purpose for your kids. God has a calling upon their lives. He is already working in your kids' lives.

He is already working, preparing, fashioning, nurturing them in the direction that he's ordained. And he has promised to work all things together for the good for those that are love God and are called according to his purpose. Having raised my kids into adulthood and having to think about all the mistakes I made—and I made plenty. Together Marie and I made plenty of mistakes. I want to tell you something that's super important. As parents, you get easily caught up in the culture and you waste your energy and time not speaking to your kids in the calling of God upon their lives.

Parents, you have a singular purpose. You have one purpose with being entrusted with that child. One. And it's not what school and college they go to. It's not what career they have. It's not where they buy a house or who they marry or any of those things that are all important and have a place. That's not your singular purpose. Your singular purpose is not to make sure that they're at all the games and they do everything all the kids are doing and you're running yourself ragged.

Your singular purpose is to get that kid to Jesus. That's the purpose. Get that kid to the cross. Bring that person to a place where they understand God's love. I did a baby dedication last night as well. The whole stage filled with family. It's wonderful. Two little girls this weekend and I've got these girls in my arms and I'm thinking about their future and I'm praying about their future. And I was praying, "When she comes to the place where she understands, let her believe, Lord."

That's where she's headed. She may have a wonderful career. She may be a sports superstar. She may be in a variety of different places in this world. But those are all secondary as a parent to getting that kid to Jesus. But the exact opposite happens. I watch it all the time. Many times our offices are filled with parents who have chased after something else and forsaken their own kids. Caught up in the rat race of life and "gotta get ahead" and "gotta make sure" and "gotta push." And rather, the Lord wants you to lead them to the cross.

He wants you to tell them about his love and his grace and his mercy. One of the things that we chose as parents with all of our kids, because Marie and I didn't start out in Christ. We were completely away from Jesus, even when our first child was born as teenage parents. And after we got saved, one of the things that I made the choice to do with Marie is that we would tell our kids our story at age-appropriate levels. They need to know where they came from. They need to know their house.

They need to know what a miracle Marie and I being married really is. It's unbelievable. All the things that Paul says, I'm going through the study, I'm like—it's a miracle. My kids need to know they live in a miracle house. They need to know that this family is a miracle. My son and daughter need to know that if it wasn't for God, they probably wouldn't even be here. Because we wouldn't be together. It would have never happened.

But God had a plan. He had a plan that our family would be—he had a plan that even when you're at the Red Sea and you don't know how you're going to make it, God can make a way where there is no way. He can do that work in your life. And it is the grace of God so that other people can glorify God through your life. I don't care what the story says today. If you turn to him today, he'll begin to work in your life right away.

And you want to be honest with those in your life because your kids, they have their own calling. You need to cultivate it, draw it out, nurture it, pray over it, discern their gifts, learn where they're strong and their weaknesses, love them, care for them. It's not transactional, it's relational. God has entrusted us with these kids and we need to get them to the Lord. If you don't get them to the Lord, who's going to do it? You've been entrusted. And that goes to grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles. God uses us all.

Instead of going for the approval of man, God takes Paul to the desert. Arabia. Years of obscurity. Scholars and commentators disagree; six, seven, 10 years. It was a long time after Paul was saved before he started ministry. And God took him to a place of obscurity, to the desert, the Arabian Desert. And in the Bible, the desert or the wilderness is often a picture, a place that God speaks of where there's isolation and loneliness and difficulty. It makes sense. It's arid and dry, you're all alone.

But also in the Bible, the desert and the wilderness has been a place where God has used to give great instruction to the men that he's going to use. We think of Moses. Moses spent a third of his life, literally in the desert, to prepare him for the final stage of his life. I think of someone like John the Baptist, with such a strong announcement of Messiah, he had his years in the desert, eating locusts and honey and being alone. Jesus himself had his moments in the desert.

The 40 days of prayer and fasting and then at the end there, the enemy himself, the devil, said, "This is my shot." And he took his shot at Jesus and lost. Because Jesus taught us, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." You might be in a desert today. A dry time, a lonely time. Feeling deserted by God. You may even be feeling deserted by others. These times of being alone get people really upset.

You're in a posture right now where you could be watching online or on the radio today and this is you. This is how you're thinking: "I can't believe it, nobody cares about me. I'm all alone here. Nobody calls me anymore. My friends at church, what kind of church is that? They don't even call me anymore." And you can almost hear heaven say, "Oh, slow down. I told them not to call you. Nobody's going to call you. And nobody's going to show up," God says.

"Because this is time I've reserved for you and me." And your help isn't going to come from man. And your help isn't going to come from the church. Right now, I've got some deep work that I'm going to do in your life. And as soon as that deep work is complete, your phone's going to start to ring again. But what happens is you destroy yourself. You destroy your credibility. You get mad at people. You start burning bridges and scorched earth and the people that do want to help you, they had an impression to call you but then the Lord said, "Don't do it."

They literally got that. "Don't call, wait." "I don't want to wait." No, you wait. I'll give you permission until the work is done in you. How about this? You're in a desert dry season today and you've been out of shape in some way that you haven't been getting the calls or you think people have deserted you and abandoned you, which they probably haven't, but God has never abandoned you. How about this? In that time, who are you calling? "Well wait a minute, I'm the one that needs the calls." No, who are you calling?

You're sitting there all upset like "nobody's calling me." Who have you called? Last time I looked, those fancy phones you carry, they work both ways. You can receive calls, but you can also make calls. Why aren't you calling? I think I know. You're just caught up in yourself. You're very self-centered, nursing wounds and hurts and you're in the desert but you think you're alone and you're not. Paul was not alone, he was being prepared for future ministry.

Because there would be a lot of other alone times in his life. He would be alone a lot even though he was surrounded by people. He also in the wilderness or at least going back home, I believe he spent many years in Syria and Cilicia in that region, he just went back to work as a tentmaker. And he was faithfully working as a tentmaker and I wonder even in that season where he was doubting, "What's God doing? What's happening?"

Many today doubt the calling of God on their life because you work a secular job. You don't work for the church. There is that aspiration: "I know that I'm going to be doing the Lord's work when I work for a church." No, very few people work for churches. Very few people work for this church. We have a very small team because collaboratively, we all do ministry together. And so the highest thing to attain is not to work for a church. The highest place to attain is to be faithful where you are.

No matter where your check comes from, whether your check is signed by United Airlines or Uber, whether you work for Amazon or the US Army, you are in the full-time ministry right there. You just got a new job and they put you in that big room that we used to call the cube farm. Cubicle farm where it's just cubicles as far as the eye can see and "here I am just sitting here in this cubicle, nobody knows me, what am I doing here?" You're there to reach the people that God brings to you.

You are a minister of the gospel. So peek over sometime and go, "Hey, bro, what's up over there?" bring in donuts and buy coffee for people and be the church. You don't need to work for the church to be the church, you already are. Don't doubt God's call upon your life. Paul didn't need anybody to affirm it. He didn't need man. He didn't go for man to approve everything. He came to the place where he goes, "I know God's called me and I'm going to move forward."

Now, this is the last thing that we have to say in this chapter and that's there are men who believe they can call themselves pastors and leaders without the approval of men. That's not what Paul's doing here. We don't have permission to determine our calling. We discover our calling, we don't determine it. You would think that a person would say, "Okay, if I'm going to be called to the ministry," then like somebody came to me and said, "Pastor, I think I'm called to the ministry." Okay, the very first thing we're going to do is we're going to treat that brother or that sister like a tree and we're going to look for fruit.

What's been fruitful in their lives? "I think I'm the next pastor here in this church." You haven't even picked up trash around here. What do you mean you think you can be the next pastor? You haven't even served the people. You haven't even loved the people. You don't even know the people and you kind of roll in and think you're going to plant the church. Well, you haven't even done a little Bible study here at your own church. So there is the need for the elders and the leaders of the church that you're in, that you live in submission to, to see God's gifting in your life and lay hands.

You can't take it upon yourself. You can't say, "Well, I'm a pastor and I don't care, God calls me." Yeah, but nobody sees that in your life, brother. Just you. And you're going to hurt a lot of people that way. Don't do that. Work within the framework of your ministry, of the church, and if there's fruit in your life, you'll see it. Pastor Jeff used to tell us, "If you have a gift of teaching, then who are you teaching?" No, who are you teaching? Who's following you? Who are you leading?

Then open up your home, have people—if people come back, you probably have the gift of teaching. And that was one of the methodologies that God was showing me that he was developing that gift of teaching in my life. Paul did get the affirmation of the elders. You remember when it happened? Acts chapter 15. That's when it all happened. They dealt with this issue already: Gentiles, Jews, circumcision. Acts 15. That's when he got the right hand of fellowship and the authority that says, "Yes, his ministry is valid." He was sent out in Acts 13 by the Holy Spirit and prayed over by the elders, but he was affirmed in Acts 15 when his message of grace was the message that was agreed upon in that church council.

Guest (Male): You can bring glory to God. That's the title we've given this message from Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com, oneplace.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another way to take in a steady dose of God's word is through the app. It's free. We're also on oneplace.com. Abounding Grace is made possible through the support of our listeners.

And when you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, we'll send you a copy of *When the Storm Hits* by Chuck Smith. Maybe you're in a storm even as we speak. Know this: the Lord stands by you, his purpose sustains you, and God's word will encourage and guide you. So if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the waves, see how to get anchored on Jesus the rock as you read *When the Storm Hits*. Call 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. You can also get the book online at calvaryco.store.

And for those of you that are in the area or will be visiting soon, we hope you'll stop by for a worship service. Here at Calvary Church in Aurora, there are three services on the weekend. The first is Saturday, 6:00 PM. There are three options on Sunday mornings at 8:00, 9:45, and 11:45. You can also join us Wednesday evenings at 7:00 as well. Gather more information and live stream at calvaryco.church. Next time on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed opens Galatians chapter two where Paul begins a defense of the gospel of grace he was preaching.