Jonathan Evans Preaching on Spiritual Journeys and Legacies

forty-two years means that we have a testimony 42 years means that you have hindsight vision on what God has done in your life 42 years means some clarity has come your way that you can look back and you can tell a story now you have a testimony of God's provision you have a testimony of his sovereignty you have a testimony of his Providence you have a testimony of His grace and of His mercy and of his love and of his kindness 42 years simply means that you have a testimony and a story that you can tell this church has a testimony but guess what you also have a testimony each person in this room can look back and tell a story of how they've gotten to where they currently are today I want to talk to you about one verse one verse that really caught my attention as I was talking and thinking through what I would talk about this morning and it's what I call a testimony for the ages because this verse spells out how that thing works it spells out how a testimony works how this church has gotten to where it is how you've gotten to where you are how I'm even able to stand on this stage right now and be where God has called me to be at this very moment it's a testimony it's found in Genesis 50 and verse 20 now you're gonna know it well after you I read this verse and say it out loud you may make the church face because you know this is your verse but Genesis 50:20 simply says this Joseph was looking at his brothers and he said you meant it for evil but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many lives that right there is a testimony he's looking back on his life and he's recounting his story to get him to the place where he currently is now at about a hundred years old he died at a hundred and ten and he's looking back and letting the and his presence no his brothers that there was something bad that happened but God was able to turn around and make it good it was to bring me to the place where I'm currently standing and the goal is always to preserve somebody's life that's this church's testimony everything wasn't always good at the beginning there were some hard things that we had to work through in order to get to the present place where we currently stand but even though we had some hard things God took those hard things and made them good things so that we can get to a pinnacle or present result where he has us and the goal is always to preserve somebody's life that's how the testimony works that's how your testimony works that's how Joseph's testimony worked and he's letting us know he's giving us some of his 20/20 vision and some of his hindsight so that some of us that may be in the hard part or the pit part or the dark part the empty part the part that's hard give you a little bit of some of his vision so that you don't give up because there's going to be somebody in the future that's going to be counting on your testimony the reason why you're sitting in this room is because early on when things are tough the church didn't give up and now there are many people who are benefiting on the church's testimony the fact that we can stand here for 42 years but Joseph lets you know that this testimony it's an investment that God makes in your life in other words it starts in the red and moves its way to the black most people meet God and they wanted to start in the black you know when God makes an investment in your life because he has a place where he's trying to take you he's gonna make that investment and you'll find yourself starting in the red but it's for the goal of that investment to take root so that you can move to the black that's why you can't make the mistake and look at where somebody is currently and think that you know their story you can't come to this church and sit down and and see how big it is and all the land and all of the buildings and think that you know how we got here a lot of people make a sum when they look at other people and what they have or what the where they live and what they drive and they start assuming things about them but really the reality is you don't know them you don't know what God took them through to get them to the place where they currently are because there were things that each person in this room has gone through to make it where you are or are going through in order to get to the place where God wants you to be it's called the testimony and Joseph spells out how this thing works he said you meant it for evil it started bad but God meant that thing for good in order to bring about this present result in order to preserve somebody's life he starts out by telling his brothers you meant it for evil you know what he was talking about you know the story I just want to survey it for a second he's talking about Genesis 37 you see Joseph was the man who had favor from his father his father loved him and gave him a robe or a tunic a very color tunic that represented Dominion and authority that represented his calling that represented the fact that he had been handed the rights firstborn right even though he wasn't the firstborn so he had that external evidence of the father's favor that he was wearing but not only did he have that Joseph had a dream he was a visionary he had a dream of things that he was thinking about how high up he would go and that his brothers would actually be bowing down to the to him and so somebody didn't give his brothers the memo that favor ain't fair somebody didn't let his brothers know that it everybody doesn't get Parshin out the same it doesn't work like that Matthew 25 wasn't written then so they didn't know about the talents and the five and the two and the one they didn't understand all of that so they didn't get the memo that favor isn't fair so when they saw that tunic and when they heard those dreams they were jealous and they did not want Joseph to experi against the calling on his life so it says in Genesis 37 23 and 24 that his brothers stripped him of his tunic his very colored tunic and then they threw him into the pit and the pit was empty without any water in it so here Joseph is going from having the father's favor to being stripped of the external evidence of the father's favor then being thrown into a pit and then being in a pit where he's not even getting the simplest of provisions water and feeling that it's empty here he is in the pit of his testimony he's thinking and recounting Genesis 37 while he's at Genesis 50 32 a hundred years old and he's letting you know that this thing started bad you know what my brother's tried to do they tried to strip me of the father's favor that there are people was you know it's bad when the people that you think you can tell your dream - are jealous of the very dream that you have and people that you think will push you towards your dreams are the ones who want to strip you from your dreams it's the sad reality when the people closest to you don't want to see your well-being because they didn't get the memo their favor is just not fair and so they stripped him of the external evidence of the father's favor on his life but why did they do that because they couldn't strip him of his dream that's internal so because they couldn't reach into his brain and strip him of his dream that's what they wanted they destruct they decided to strip him of the evidence of his dream so that his external body would never make it to his dream see this is a tactic of the enemy John 10:10 the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy he's trying to take your testimony from you and the way that he does that is to strip you of the external evidence of the father's favor in your life so that you will feel like you have lost the father's favor in your life and if I can make you feel like you have lost the father's favor then I can make you operate as if you do not have the father's favor so what the brothers were doing is they were stripping him externally but it was so that they can get an internal result get him into a pit where he can't move if I can make you depress if I can make you think that your life is worthless if I can make you think that God is not doing anything with you that that's where you're going to stay that's who you're going to be that's the identity that you're going to have then I can kill you even when keeping you alive because you won't have a testimony you won't have a Genesis 50 experience because me stripping you externally has stripped you internally that's what the enemy did with Jobe you've read the story he took his house he took his family he put boils on his skin he did all of these external meth methods but it was for an internal result you need to deny God my purpose is to try to get you to denounce God it's not about all of these external things I'm just using that as a vehicle he did it with Adam and Eve you see this fruit you see that tree he got him to think about the external but the purpose was for internal sin to mess up the world he did it with Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 he showed him the rock turn it into bread he showed them the kingdoms of this earth I'll give him to you but I need you to bow down and worship me he's always trying to do something in our external world to strip us of what God is trying to do in the spiritual providential world that's what Joseph is talking about when he recounts this story and that happened to us as a church most people don't know that there was a time when we had nowhere to go as a church we were at a Dale Turner which is my elementary school right around the corner here on Polk Street and we had nowhere to go because the school had decided even though we were meeting there and God's favor was there and we were clothed with the place to meet in a church house they decided they cannot host us anymore they decided that we have to move you along and so my parents and the elders and deacons at that time were rock and a hard place because I thought we had the father's favor but now we're stripped of the external evidence that we used to have and so this church has experienced what it is to feel and see the father working in your life but then to also see the enemy try to strip it from you but just because the enemy strips it doesn't mean that God doesn't still have it just because you lose because the enemy does this just because you lose the external evidence of the father's favor doesn't mean you don't still have the internal Providence of what God is doing we have to have clarity of vision and Genesis 50 gives us clarity of vision based on this testimony that God has a testimony for your life he has a purpose for your life it is not random you are not here just to sit soaked and sour in a random mundane way of living he can't create the universe and create a self-sustaining world based on the water from Antarctica when it melts and goes down so that we can have vegetation so that we can still breathe and have all of these things that are working in unison like your body but then create you for a random purpose it doesn't work like that God has a purpose for your life if he doesn't if he didn't you wouldn't be sitting in here but what the enemy wants you to do is think otherwise when he put you in that pit oh I like I'm not gonna make it I'm not really sure that I'm not gonna get there I don't really know if God has my back I feel forgotten this isn't for me I see what everybody else is doing but I'm my vision is fuzzy because I don't see what God is doing in my life that is the tactic of the enemy to ruin your Genesis 50 experience that God is trying to do something and Joseph is letting us know how this thing works my mom can tell you of how she worked in the sweat factory for years at the beginning we call it that because it was our garage and in the garage no air conditioned up in there is hot but she was trying to help Tony Evans get to where he was trying to go and so she would call my sisters into the sweat factory so that they could put tapes in the envelopes tapes and I see these Matt mp3's tapes in the envelope to mail all over the country national and international they used to do that from their garage she can tell you the story so don't think just because this house looks like this now that it didn't start with some pit experiences this palace is just a result of the pit experiences this palace is just a result of the testimony of going through Genesis 37 to get to Genesis 50 that's what he did he threw them into a pit that was empty and those waterless and if the truth be told there are people in the room that are feeling empty you're feeling like you're not even getting simple provisions but as the testimony goes and moves along it says that you meant it for evil but God meant it for good you notice when God shows up you have to add a contrast conjunction see when God shows up there is always a but however conversely something changes when God shows up matthew mark 10:18 says who was good other than God alone and when he shows up he shows up with his nature and you get to experience it people often ask well if God is so good then why do I experience this much bad well because when you experience the bad that's what illuminates that he's so good if everything was always good you'd be confused on where the good is coming from and he wants to make sure you're not confused when you get to your Genesis 50 testimony he wants to make sure you know where this thing is coming from I don't know if you've ever been to a superhero movie and the movie didn't have no villain or no problem oh that's a dumb movie nobody want to watch no superhero movie where he just flying around just because he got power he needs to be able to fix something in order to throw on a super to his hero and the reason why we know we serve a superhero because we stand in at 42 years it's because there was some problems that he redirected it said that you meant it for evil but God meant it for good in other words we're talking about the same Genesis 37 experience but God changed the meaning of the same experience because we're talking about the same thing but God is a meaning changer he comes into the problem and he changes your testimony from a problem to appraised you're talking about the same thing in your testimony this is what happened but let me tell you how God turned that thing around because what God does is he steps into those scenarios that you thought you would have never gotten out of and he pulls you out him out of them because of who he is not because of who you are but it's because of who he is so that when you give your testimony in your Genesis 50 experience he is not excluded let me show you how he did that for Joseph Joseph was stripped in chapter 37 but in chapter 41 you see 41 verses 42 starting there you see that pharaoh takes off his signet ring and gives it to joseph puts it on his hand then Pharaoh clothes Joseph with a royal robe then Pharaoh puts a necklace around his neck now the necklace the Royal rope in the ring mean that you share the authority of Pharaoh it says that when you come through everybody's gonna battle their knee because Joseph had dreams that got stripped but he also had dreams that got him equipped don't you know that God will allow you to endure a stripping but it's only because he's trying to position you in the for a future equipping understand that when you are down to nothing it's only because God is up to something you you realize nobody can really strip you of what God has for you but God will allow you to be stripped so that he can have you before he gives you what he has we've got to understand that what you're going through is for testimony somebody's life is going to be preserved by your stories so you can't give up because we're being preserved by this testimony if my parents were to stop because they were stripped of elder a Dale Turner we wouldn't be in here right now preserving people's lives the testimony has to start in the read but it's only so God can move you to the black and you can say it wasn't me he did it as I recount that story in my dad's story and LDL Turner because I didn't finish it we got stripped and I remember him telling me that he went in to talk to a former linebacker of the Dallas Cowboys named Bob runic Bob runic was in there and I don't know what my dad was doing but I could probably guess don't have anywhere to go Bob Bernick plays for the Cowboys maybe it was to get a check because he'll talk about some given now make sure we've got lights and so he was in there talking to Bob brunette they're great friends are probably just explaining to him that I had God's favor and now we're stripped of a place to go and so the church was homeless for a little while and so he was explaining that to Bob runic in his office but then some random guy walked past the room and he walked past the room and then he backed up and stood in the doorway so Nomad is talking to Bob but he's looking back over his shoulder like who is this cat okay so he's trying to figure out who this dude is being nosy about our conversation so he's starting to feel you know when somebody's in your stuff you start to kind of feel some kind of way about why are you standing there keep on moving and then the guy who's standing there gets comfortable on the doorway and crosses his leg so now he's giving him a hint that I ain't going nowhere I'm gonna stay here and watch and listen to what's going on then that dude comes and sits down next to my dad so now Tony Evans got smoke coming out of his ears and fire coming out of his nose because he's trying to explain to Bob runic what's going on with the church then the dudes start asking questions and so now my dad is giving him short answers yes No why are you here in his mind he just yes you know okay we're trying to do this so the guy is as it's probing him for answers and giving him questions and he tells him well you know there's this this little chapel that we have right down the street and we're looking at it we've been talking to the people about it but we just don't have the money for it so we're trying to figure out what we're going to do and that's when the guy asked a question he said well how much does it cost and my dad said in his brain what's it to you why are you here my dad told him he said well you know it's just $200,000 then that man pulls out his checkbook and he opens it up now the countenance on my father's face just changes all of a sudden now he he's popping his suit and he's answering questions well you know my overall vision is to have all of the land and he started doing his sermon kicks you know he started he started stepping around because he trying to figure out what's about to happen up in here but that man he wrote a check for $200,000 and handed it to my father then got up out of that seat that used to be a nuisance and went back to that hallway and just walked right off this church has a testimony God will allow you to be stripped but it's only so that he can show up and do some equipping up in here so that you can talk about the goodness of God so that you can see how you got to from point A to your point B don't forget you didn't get here because of yo two feet you got here because of his mercy and His grace you got here because of where he's taking you then he has a testimony he's telling his brothers you meant it for evil but don't worry it's okay because God meant this thing for good and the last time I checked when he cast that check it went through because when God comes through his stuff don't bounce [Applause] so I want to use our church our testimony to encourage somebody in their testimony you can't quit in the pit you can't stop you can't give up you got to understand that this good God wants to use that bad scenario to bring you to the pinnacle point that he created you for and it may not be me it may not be Tony Evans it may not be Carolyn it may not be but it's yours and what's yours is yours he's telling him you meant it for evil but God meant this thing for good so God really was stripped you got that but I want to show you how else God took that same scenario to turn it and make it good it says that the pit Genesis 37 it says verse 24 it says that the pit was empty without any water in it now I was thinking to myself now why in the world sometimes you have to read the Bible and then step back and think a little bit why in the world would the author go into so much trouble to tell you the nature of the pit it's good enough that he got stripped and he in there why are you telling me that it's empty and it has no water in it so I prayed about that for about three days what is the correlation between Joseph's having to experience not just a stripping not just a pit but also a pit that's also empty and doesn't have the provision of water in it then the Spirit threw it up into my mind and said this is how it works God will always prepare you for how he's about to use you if you see in chapter 41 he's giving Pharaoh answers to his dreams that there is a famine coming Pharaoh puts him in charge over a famine a famine means you have people who are experiencing emptiness no food and who are experiencing no water so what God will allow you to do is experience the purpose of what he's going to do when he puts you in the palace because he doesn't just want you to have the information when you preserve somebody's life you need to be able to sympathize with their weaknesses so he has Joseph in a pit that's empty and waterless because I need you to be able to sympathize with some people who are about to be empty and waterless when I reclose you I need you to know what to do you can't if somebody's experiencing sexual abuse well that's nice that you can talk to me from a book but I want to know that you feel my pain if somebody's experiencing a falling out of the family or a divorce where it's nice that you maybe even the pastor but let me talk to somebody that's experienced what I'm going through there's the way that God wants to use you and you can always get the identifiers by how he's going to use you by keeping your eyes open in the pit God will always give you evidence in your struggle see most people are thinking about the struggle but they don't have their eyes open to the evidence if you have your eyes open to the evidence then even though you're in the pit you know what God is gonna do later you know that he's gonna use it that's why people are passionate about things they previously experienced have you ever noticed that your passion to help somebody comes from the very thing you used to struggle with God uses that and turns it upside down so that you can have a testimony to preserve somebody's life realize this is not just about you okay we like to to correlate scriptures you know from the New Testament I can correlate scriptures you know you got Romans 8:28 God will work all things out for good for those who love God and are called according to his see we jump over pews and we swinging from the rafters on the first part but he works it out for good because of his purposes he's thinking about whose life he needs you to preserve he's thinking about the outworking of his kingdom a lot of people sit in the pit for an extended amount of time because they want God to change things for their own Christian narcissism they want God to bring a cloud down to sit on them for for their throne for their omniscience for their omnipresence for what they want to do in their life you ain't the King boo boo Jesus is trying to do this for his kingdom for his glory that's why you're going through what you're going through so you can't quit you can't give up we're sitting in these pews because not because we haven't been stripped but because we kept walking and God equipped he put us in this place Joseph's got to a point it's 41 51 he named his son Genesis 41 51 he named the fruit Manasseh he named him Manasseh because it means the Lord has made me forget about all my troubles hold on you forgot so you don't remember what you went through no he remembers cuz in Genesis 50 he said you meant it for evil so it's not that he forgot it's not that his cognitive capacity has failed it's just that where he is is so plush where God has taken him from is so good that where he's been no longer controls him where he is so even the fruit that comes from me has to get named based on where I am I didn't name him pain I named him Manasseh which means I don't even remember that stuff my mom could tell you I told you about the sweat factory but you know when I asked her about the sweat factor you know she would always call my sisters in there to help and you know they'd be like oh here we go as hot you know you get frustrated when it's hot you know so they're in there trying to help my mom out in the sweat factory and when I asked her about those days I said man I know that was rough because I wasn't there I uh I got the best position in the house baby at a family all of that rough stuff is over it's just party sleep have fun bring me something to drink um having fun but they had it hard but when I asked her about it she says yeah that was tough but now we got a ministry that just pumps that stuff out but now we're on a thousand stations in over 130 countries but now I'm not in the sweat factory anymore I'm in this air-conditioned building that we purchase that pumps out the Ministry of Tony Evans but now I've been the executive director for a national and international ministry for 30 years but now because when God shows up he makes you forget a little bit you got a little bit of amnesia when it comes to what's going on in your life not because you forgotten but because he's just that good um my wife our first child for all of you pregnant ladies in the room right now this won't be your story but our first child sweet Kelsie if she is down there I'm not looking at me now I know why God used me and why my dad used me illustrations all the time easy pickins but it wasn't her fault we got induced with Kelsie probably a week before she was scheduled to be born because they said she was gonna be a big baby and sure enough she came out at 8 8 so if we would have waited a week she might have hit that 9 ok our two sons were 9 5 and 91 so so we ain't playing no games but we went in and they laid down and they gave her medication we know now that she doesn't need medication to have babies because her Labor's are quick our last child from the start of her labor to the delivery was an hour and a half I mean she she like a bullet but this one we didn't knows our first time and so we we had some medication we got induced that medication had a negative effect on my wife she had contractions with no breaks so she would have exactly all the ladies that had babies left that's whack so so her contractions are going up because I'm looking at it on the monitor and then it's falling down and I see her breathing soon and that thing goes right back up and she would say Oh Lord here it comes again and I'm like Lord Jesus and I'm thinking you know I'm saying out loud I wish I could take it from you I wish I can in my mind I'm like man forget about that thing I can say that now I kept it in then that's not right they know heroes around here we go then we went through 16 hours of labor okay this is not gonna be your experience though and then finally the baby came and it was just yay you know what I was so I had already shut down in my mind that because of this experience we just had we done well who we want and out of there I'm pretty sure that my wife is not gonna want to do this again after going through that type of experience we can't so after about ten months past she came to me and she said I'm ready for number two I said hmm I said but don't you remember what happened with number one don't you remember she said I remember but look at this baby so what she was looking at overrode what she remembered about the pain of the birth so I said are you sure you want to do this and she said I'm sure I want to do this now start getting excited because while she was telling me she wants another child I'd kind of know what that means for me so while she was talking I was just like this I'm ready whenever you ready I was just doing the stanky leg I'm like you take just give me a word Cornelius just give me a word I didn't know we were gonna do it but if you're gonna do it just say something it was that funny yeah it was the baby see when God delivers what he's gonna deliver in your life you'll look at that baby and say oh it was worth it let's do this thing again there is a testimony and he said it was so good that I can't even remember my troubles in my father's household that God is trying to do something in your life he's trying to birth something and produce something and bring fruit about but you can't quit you can't throw in the towel in the middle of your testimony or the stripping from the enemy would have won that he's taking you down and you never lost the father's favor just because you lost a little bit of physical evidence physical evidence those doesn't override God's spiritual providence so never get it twisted as you're walking through this life that I got to keep doing because somebody's life is going to be preserved based on my testimony let me tell you a story about my testimony just for a second and most people know I was a sports guy was the thing is over now but I was a sports guy football player played at Duncanville high school won the state championship then one debate went to Baylor got educated we don't win no games but my parents thought I was a winner cuz I got a full scholarship that means you won I care less how many games you win so I've got a full scholarship full ride to go to Baylor University and I had a dream everybody knows my dream was to to play in the NFL I wanted to play in the NFL and I told God just allow me to run out the tunnel I just want to run out the tunnel I just want to feel the fire and see the planes and and hear the crowd I just wanted that opportunity to play a few games in the NFL and I got a chance I was picked up in the 2005 draft class by the Dallas Cowboys some of you cowboy fans know that's the draft class of Marion Barber and DeMarcus Ware and J Ratliff and all of those guys you don't know me because they were better but I was there they still write checks to everybody I was in there so I was there but three weeks into being equipped I was stripped I walked up to the door and the guy that we called the Grim Reaper he stepped out and put his hands on my chest then he reached out and he took the playbook he didn't say a word he just pointed that way because you know what that means he's just going back now only had 20 minutes to mope because I'm playing for the Cowboys I'll be home in 20 minutes so it's not like I got a flight to cry about it know I've got to go home and try to reassemble and then I got a call from the San Diego Chargers I said okay God let's make this thing happen let's make this dream come to life and then they said but we're going to allocate you to NFL Europe so that you can develop I was like develop I don't need to develop so I go to this NFL Europe league and things keep going downhill we're in training camp and you have a two hour practice then they let you take off your helmet and eat a banana and an apple put it back on and go do another two-hour practice I said this ain't for me I don't want to do this we're out there in Tampa it's hot we finally fly to Germany it's white walls white sheets no english-speaking channels for several months I wanted to quit I called my dad and I told him I said I'm gonna quit football I'm out I'm done this is not for me so I said book a flight cuz I don't have no money me and my brother always talking about we ain't got no money and he needed him to co-sign I don't need him to co-sign I need you to sign by himself I need you to book this ticket so I can get home because this is not for me I can't handle this stripping that I'm going through my favor it seems like it's been lost or gone I need to go home so he he said are you sure son I said I'm really sure booked the ticket he booked the ticket I go sit in the coach's office and tell him I'm going home he said well we really don't want you to go home cuz you're a good player I said literally I don't care what you want it's Jonathan Evans talk I care less what you want because I was frustrated and I'm 22 years old 23 years old I'm going home right now and he said well you can't go home right now because you haven't done your exit physicals you can do your exit physical tomorrow night because that's a liability you let a player go home before he does his exit physicals they can come back and say I was hurt on the job and try to get paid that way so I called my dad and said I can't go home till tomorrow night my dad said don't you think it's interesting I said our Lord here goes this philosopher that you couldn't leave when you wanted to leave he said so I want you to do something for me I want you to go out to one more practice and I want you to ask God if he wants you there and spider whether you think you want to be there so I went back out to that practice and I kid you not in the practice I was crying you know when you're really crying because you can't control your neck I'm crying my neck is cocking back I can't do nothing about it because I don't want to be there this is a pit for me it's a pit experience but I asked God if you want me to be here then you're gonna have to give me a peace that surpasses all understanding and I kid you not the next time I put my hand in the dirt that's exactly what I felt made the next play and turned around and looked at my coach and I said I'm staying and he said okay great I don't know where this came from but then I realized by the end of the season my teammates had given me a new nickname they call me Reyes seven players accepted Jesus Christ so now I know the business transaction that has to take place to get on the field in the NFL so I like I do is pray for people and lead people to Jesus now you gonna let me run out the tunnel right so I'm young so I'm trying to manipulate God for him to put me in the palace where I see myself so I go to the Titans I'd do it what God has called me to do but I still get cut I go to the Washington Redskins I do it but I still get cut but finally in 2011 I'm standing in the tunnel I circled back around to the Dallas Cowboys and I called my dad and I said dad we did it we here I'm about to run out the tunnel for the first time and my dad said Amen son Amen now what you should be wondering is why in the world you got your cell phone in the tunnel because the first time I ran out of the tunnel for my first NFL game I wasn't the player I was the chaplain [Applause] because God has a plan for your testimony now it may not be your plan but it's a good plan and it's to give you a future and to give you a hope you have a testimony in the room what I came here to say this morning is the church has a testimony but it's to preserve somebody's life you have a testimony but it's to preserve somebody's life don't think it's about you unless you end up like a fruit that's eating itself rotten you've been placed here to preserve somebody's life by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony Jesus Christ has a testimony the reason why we have a testimony is because he has a testimony he was rejected by the people who he came to save but he lived a perfect life he experienced death and then he rose to be with the Father and the only reason why you can be grateful in your testimony is because of his testimony the only reason why we can celebrate a Jackie Robinson anniversary of 42 years is like you remember Jackie Robinson he would go into the stadiums where he was rejected but he would still hit homeruns Jesus stepped up to the plate over 2,000 years ago the enemy tried to throw him a curveball but he had a perfect swing with his life and he knocked that thing over the centerfield wall he ran around first base of his humanity second base of death and rejection third base of resurrection but then he came home to be seated at the far by the right hand of the Father and we can celebrate our testimony because of the home run that he hit we can get excited about our testimony because he gave us a good at-bat we can be excited about who we are because of who he is and I'm excited about our testimony as a church because Jesus knocked that thing over the centerfield wall and the crowd goes wild because Jesus made that thing happen because he has a testimony we have a testimony and you have a testimony tell your story live your story because it will preserve somebody's life somebody ought to praise them because that's why we have a testimony in the room [Applause]

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Keywords: Jonathan Evans, spiritual journey, spiritual journeys, spiritual legacy, spiritual legacies, sermons, Christian sermons, Christian sermon videos, OCBF, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Jonathan Evans sermons, Tony Evans, Dr. Tony Evans, Tony Evans son, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: w_mJ40ew_vM

Length: 43min 56sec (2636 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 13 2018