Hope in Heartbreak: Tony Evans' Message After Losing His Wife

when you live long enough you discover that this world is booby-trapped its booby-trapped with disappointments Hertz the unexpected sometimes you look up at life and like a kid on Christmas you opened the box and you ask is this all there is then when you think you found a solution to the thing you were struggling about it's like the referee blowing a whistle calling back and saying you've been penalized you didn't score sometimes it's like the fourth of July when the sky lights up only quickly to become dark again when you live long enough and you run into life the reality is sometimes it hurts but if you haven't been there just keep living life has a way of tracking you down as you plan to cross over here shortly into a new year I want to give you the admonition that James gave when he says in chapter 4 verse 13 come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit yet you do not even know what your life will be like tomorrow you are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live and do this or that but as it is your boasting in your arrogance and such boasting is sin therefore the one who knows to do right and does not do it to him it is sin I hope you develop a plan for your year the of 2020 the Bible and carriage is planning all through the Bible you will see God being a planning kind of God you will see him outlining things in history and you will see the scripture telling us over and over again to plan but what this scripture says is don't plan like a fool don't plan like a fool leave room for the will of God because your plan and God's will may not always match I had a plan we had a plan threating 70 years old in September and my wife turning 70 years old December 1st we talked about last year this time how we wanted to kind of dull down the rat race I've been going 100 miles an hour since we met at 18 and the plan was you know got a staff got a church everything is you know so let's can we find some time to dial it back I made some promises to her that some trips we wanted to take some places we hadn't seen and to adjust the schedule in February I've never taken off in February I've always only taken off in August but never in February in February sad she said I really would like to see Australia I said well this February we'll do that we made that plan last February only to find out in March that cancer had come back with a vengeance so we had a plan but it got interrupted by life and if you don't make room for divine interruptions you will stay angry mad frustrated irritated and exacerbated because life just doesn't always go like you planned he does not condemn them for planning he condemns them for planning that left God out he says what you ought to say is this is my plan if the Lord wills because what that does is give God the right to call inaudible in your life to change the play I play got changed graphically and as far as history is concerned it's been changed forever in time but the one thing that we had going for us was Jesus and being able to worship him and praise Him in the uncertainty through the tears and in the loss as I lay there today on my bed I didn't get out of the bed basically till it was time to come to church from last night all the way through today I just stayed in a bed and kept the room dark try to remember some things but the one thing that hit me was Jesus I'm sure glad I got you but where would I be in a situation like this if I didn't have you I don't understand the will of God always and I certainly don't like this one but he's God and I'm not and he didn't ask my opinion I do know that he makes no mistakes the hardest three words I heard a couple of weeks ago it hurts to be reminded of these three words hardest three words my wife said let me go she said it's time God hasn't seen fit to heal me and let me go I told her I told like I can't let you go and she told me you cannot be so selfish to keep me here if God wants me because Jesus was in the room in the darkest hour of my life there was hope in the midst of hopelessness we had a friend to come over the house last night her friend she always wanted scriptures to be read and songs to be sung and so we would play those hymns and songs the friend was just sharing with us as she sang she would just raise their hand in worship she couldn't talk but she just raised her hand and worship and just hold it in worship the friend wanted to make sure that that's what it was and she said if you could if you can hear me and you understand me and you with me blink and she would blink couldn't speak but she would blink she said I'm with you so as you approach 20/20 plan planned good plan hard plan for favor but leave room for God so that if something doesn't happen like you wanted you not out there by yourself because you've left room for God the story in Chapter 12 of Luke about a rich man he made a plan it was a retirement plan he says I'm a retire I got enough money now I'm gonna eat drink and be merry and I'm just gonna enjoy life and it says that God came in and said you fool tonight your soul is required of you so I want to challenge you me and us we've got plans I've got plans now that I've got to redo them all and rethink them all we got plans for our church plan and lay those plans before the Lord and say Lord this is what I would like to see you do in 2020 if it's your will and I give you the right to adjust the plans to your will I'm gonna pray over them I might ask you a favor over them but I'm gonna give you the right of editing my plans to your will and when we do that and God is able to superintend our plans with His purposes whether we understand them or not then we can feel his peace and his presence in the midst of our problems I wish I could promise you that 2020 will be a painless year I wish I could promise you that 2020 it's just going to be a problem this year but that would be infringing on the divine because it's not all good all the time I can tell you this that if you live according to his will and you're willing to say yes to him even when he says no to you twenty twenty year twenty twenty may not be a problem this year but it will be a God filled yeah so let's stand to our feet want to thank our worship ministry for all the creative things they did today I'm gonna pray God's blessing on you and then you're gonna wish five people around you Happy New Year and then rush to your car and leave so that the ten o'clock worship folks can get in remember G Moore's CD is in the back father thank you for the privilege of worshiping you with tears worshiping with you in spite of pain worshiping you in the midst of loss worshiping you because you are worthy of our worship and we will give you our worship because you deserve it we're gonna plan we're gonna show you our dreams our desires but we're gonna also say if it's the Lord's will we do not want to be so arrogant as to plan independently of you do that for everyone here and be with us in 2020 you

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 498,792

Keywords: Tony Evans, Lois Evans, hope, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, heartbreak, how to have hope, hope during heartbreak, have hope, christianity, hope for the future, how to remain hopeful, when life gets hard, losing a spouse, hopeless, God is with you, you are not alone, lois evans funeral, lois evans cancer, jesus is with you, christian encouragement, christian inspiration, christian motivation, tony evans sermons, dr tony evans, tony evans marriage, DTE83, D8T3E, TE83, 83TE, T8E3, jesus

Id: 87ynuyV415U

Length: 13min 35sec (815 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020