Tony Evans Sermons - Thank God August 4 2021

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] far too many of us have a relationship with god that is more like a flicker of a candle than the brilliance of a noonday sun we have church we have christianese when what we really need is a fresh encounter and the experience with the most high god one of the most famous encounters in scripture is the encounter with god by moses at a burning bush some back story will help us to appreciate qualifying for an encounter moses is pastoring a flock of his father-in-law's sheep in a wilderness this is the same moses who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth he was picked up out of the nile river by pharaoh's daughter brought in to pharaoh's house raised as pharaoh's son and was an heir to pharaoh's throne but at 40 years old he had a a misstep at 40 years old even though he had made a commitment to god he blew it he decided to go independently of god to take matters into his own hands and to depend on his own expertise and self-sufficiency to accomplish the program of god of delivering his people and out of that miscalculation he committed murder a sin that you really can't recover from because the person that the sin is against is gone his murderous act was discovered reported on and he had to run for his life when we find moses in chapter 3 he's 80 years old there is a 40-year gap between his misstep and his encounter there's 40 years between his failure and him running smack dab into god during these 40 years he's in a wilderness leading sheep i wonder whether there's anyone here today who are leading sheep and by that i simply mean life is not working out like you had hoped it would something happened years ago and you're still wandering with sheep now if you could go back and redo it rehash it correct it you would if you could but you can't and so you're just trying to make it you're just leading sheep you're just doing the best you can with what you got and you're trying to make it life and it's been going on a long time moses has gone on for 40 years from the time of his infraction to the time of his encounter so i want to start off by giving you some good news particularly if you're in a wilderness some sheep if you're in a dry place if life has become dull and dreary as you perform your routine day-to-day task the good news is that even though there's a 40-year gap god had not forgotten moses so if you're still here that means there's still hope for a fresh encounter with god and the reason we want to look at this encounter is because i wanted to inform your encounter that we're praying that god gives you and me and us first of all notice where moses is according to verse 1 he's on the west side of the wilderness and he came to horeb the mountain of god now the mountain of god or horeb is mount sinai mount sinai is the mountain where the ten commandments were given where god's presence would be manifested in a miraculous way a few chapters from now but it's called the mountain of god so before he ever experiences encounter he's in god's vicinity he's in the mountain of god see a lot of people want an experience with god who don't want to hang out with where he's located if you want an encounter with god you got to hang out where he is he has positioned himself for an encounter we're told that the angel of the lord appears to him now this goes on to tell us that the angel of the lord is in fact god because it says and god said to him so the angel of the lord is equated with god or to put it another way the angel of the lord when equated with god is jesus christ operating in the old testament he is the manifestation of the second person of the trinity who is the spokesperson for the father the angel of the lord appears to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush now moses is in a wilderness he's seen plenty of bushes on fire in the dry atmosphere of a wilderness brush fires happen all the time but this particular fire was unusual because the fire was burning and the bush was not being consumed let me say that again he saw a fire that is not what caught his attention what caught his attention was the fire wasn't doing what fires normally do which is consume that which is burning let me say this another way what he saw was a contradiction he saw something taking place outside of the norm one of the ways you know you're on the precipice of an encounter with god is when he presents you a contradictory situation moses said i must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight why the bush is not burned up he didn't skip it he investigated it further he said i've got to understand what's going on there because this doesn't make sense many of us have missed an encounter with god because we ignored the contradiction so he turns aside i love verse 4 when the lord saw that he turned aside to look god called him god did not call him until he responded to the contradiction impactful amazing intense thought-provoking that's how just a few students describe their experience since enrolling in the tony evans training center the best part is the training center is wherever you and your online connection are going beyond a sunday sermon these compelling bible study courses take a much deeper look at scripture the bible's writers social issues of today and so much more log on today to learn more at tonyevinstraining.org tonyevanstraining.org explore the kingdom anytime anywhere when god saw him turn aside it says he called him from the midst of the bush and then god speaks to him and says moses moses we call that a rhema word this is when god calls your name this is when you know he's talking to you perhaps you've been in service and the sermon was for everybody but you heard it for you it was though you were the only person there and you knew god was talking to you in your circumstance that's a rhema word it is an utterance with your name on it the question is do you hear it for you do you hear god calling your name in the situation you're in in the wilderness that has been an extended place for you because there is a contradiction that does not make sense he says moses moses if you are seeking a personal word for god this year in your personal wilderness in your personal circumstance then you must be in his presence you must respond to the things that don't make sense until you hear him call your name to be in his presence and prayer and the word positions you in the mountain of god moses says here i am you called me and i'm not running from you i'm running to you i'm here and now the lord gives him more information because he responds to his name being called do not come near here remove your sandals verse 5 from your feet for the place on which you stand is holy ground now if you'll read this too fast it'll be easy to miss something god is speaking from the bush moses is standing on the ground moses is told don't come to the bush take off your shoes where you are because you in my territory right now you're in my vicinity so the holy ground he was in the bush the holy ground was the place he was standing which wasn't the bush i'm not gonna let you get this close to the fire yes with your shoes on so let me make something inextricably clear you cannot have an encounter with god if you're unwilling to deal with sin if you're unwilling to acknowledge it repent of it if you're unwilling you can't get to the bush because before you ever get to the bush you got to be willing to take off your shoes the accumulated dirt because this is holy ground holy means to separate it's something that's sacredly separated i want to separate you from your sins so that i can give you an encounter with the holy one he spoke to moses in a contradictory situation using an ordinary object see the bush was already there it's an ordinary bush that's been invaded by a supernatural presence so i don't know how god is going to meet you but any old bush will do to create the most ingenious contradictions in order to manifest himself god identifies himself moses i am the god of your fathers i have seen the affliction verse 7 of my people i have come down to deliver them well remember this whole thing started 80 years ago moses knew he was supposed to be used of god to deliver the people he knew god had a hand on his life he just didn't do it god's way there may be those of us who knew way back somewhere god was going to do something with my life but nothing has happened not happening yet we've been wandering in the wilderness god says i did not forget what i planned for you i did not forget what i planned for my people but the problem back then is that you wanted to do it your way so i had to bring you down the earth you had too much egypt in you and often we have too much world in us so god can't do what he wants to do at the time we think it ought to be done because we are we've been too egyptianized now he doesn't tell him the program until moses has an encounter with the person see a lot of folk want to know the program who don't want the person it gives them a big job i want you to go to pharaoh and i want you to tell this monster man to let my people go that's a big job let me tell you a secret when you have an encounter with god if there's nothing in your life that only god can do you'll forever be tending sheep he didn't know but god was using this humbling of sheep to prepare him for the leading of people so moses has a question he has a question moses has a question he wants to know now you want me to go to pharaoh where they already have threatened my life and i've been hiding for 40 years not only do i have a pharaoh problem i got an israel problem because they're the ones who told on me in fact the bible says when he killed the egyptian who was beating up the israelites he looked in every direction to make sure nobody was seeing him he killed the egyptian it gets reported to pharaoh that one of his soldiers has been killed by his adopted son moses how did pharaoh get this information if there was nobody to be seen there's only two options one if there was somebody looking that moses didn't see it's one option but let's say moses was accurate that nobody saw him that means his own brother told him so i got a problem even with my peeps cause i'm gonna go back and tell them looking like a fool god told me to tell y'all that i'm supposed to lead y'all out of here you you actually want me to go tell him that i've been in absentia for 40 years and you want me to go back and tell do i have this correct god well they're going to ask a question and the question they're going to ask is what's his name they're going to want to know what's his name god says to him but moses said to god verse 11 who am i that i should go to pharaoh i'm nobody boy that's a change over 40 years because he was somebody 40 years ago he was the man then i should bring the people out he says i'm going to be with you moses said behold i'm going to the sons of israel i will say to them verse 13 the god of your fathers have sent me to you now they may say to me what is his name who i am then you will say verse 14 to the sons of israel i am have sent you what kind of name is that he says who shall i tell them sent me you tell them my name and my name is i am that i am not only am i i am i am that i am i define myself by me there's only one independent person in the universe and that is god because he exists because he exists and he does not need anything outside of himself to be himself because he's not dependent upon anything outside of himself you are all i am we are all dependent on him well why does he want moses to know this name because of this encounter he wants to know him to know that name because when he runs into this next problem that he's getting ready to run into named pharaoh see encounter with god doesn't mean you're not running into no new problems he's running into a he's running into another problem from an old foe and he says when you run into this problem pharaoh is the big man on campus he's james bond he's he's he's the number one man he's he's the man he's going to threaten you he's going he's going to challenge you he's going to scare you but i want you to know i am that i am and the reason you need to know this is when you face pharaoh big and bad pharaoh you're gonna have to know somebody who is so self-sufficient that he can be whatever you need when you run up against pharaoh so i am gonna be your power i am going to be your deliverer i am going to be your sustainer i am going to be your victory i am that i am so i won't need help to be me for you which goes back to a theme that we've gone over and over again and that is you only have one source you only have one source i am that i am so you ain't but he is because i am that i am i am the sufficient one but i am personal they are therefore relational many people want his provision who don't want his person they want elohim his power but not yahweh his i am-ness but if you desire an encounter with god this year i invite you to pursue the mountain of god to get in his presence i encourage you to not ignore the contradictory things that he allows you to see your experience and to move closer to him when they occur i invite you to listen to the sound of his voice calling your name and then the assignment that he attaches to the car [Applause] [Music] when things don't make sense when you find life contradicting itself look for god one of the primary times god reveals who he is and identifies something about his person that you've never seen before is when he puts you in a catch-22 when what you see happening to you or around you has totally confused you because it doesn't fit the order of life as you think it ought to be look for god god loves to reveal his person his uniqueness by something that you do not understand on your own because it is in that midst that he can get your full attention so in your personal life or even in the circumstances surrounding you even in the culture look for him to show you a new thing to identify himself in a new way to let you hear his name being spoken with a clarity you've never had before oh yes when life doesn't make sense he does and he loves to show you how much sense he does make when life seems out of control [Music] [Music] foreign like a person on an iv drip drip drip he's doing something dr tony evans says the thorns god sends our way make us uncomfortable but they also make us grow but if you keep pulling out the iv because you don't like the thorn you'll never see the medication at work celebrating 40 years of faithfulness this is the alternative with dr tony evans author speaker senior pastor of oak cliff bible fellowship in dallas texas and president of the urban alternative even if your life is coming up roses you'll get your share of thorns to go along with them but today dr evans explains that you get them for a reason and talks about specific ways we can deal with their discomfort let's join him as he begins today's message in second corinthians chapter 12. in verse 7 he introduces us to it the reality of a thorn he says because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan to buffet me that's not buffet me to trouble me to torment me to get on my last nerve the greek word for thorn referred to a splinter or a needle of some kind that pricked you we've all had a needle or a thorn or a splinter from wood to get in our finger or toe and irritate us it could be used of a hook that catches a fish piercing its its skin of which it can't shake itself from without tearing and making things worse a thorn is anything that nags or irritates your life on a continuous basis a thorn is anything that nags irritates exacerbates or frustrates your life ongoingly you can't shake it it hangs around paul says that was given to me a thorn in the flesh something to irritate me now you can read commentaries galore and you'll have a lot of guesswork as to what paul's thorn was for example paul talks about how when he was trying to write the churches he had trouble seeing in fact he had an emanuensis a a recorder who would write for him and so some will say well it was his eye problem but still others will say well he was always being followed by this group called the judaizers who were undermining his ministry and so they were an irritation to him maybe it was that god will do whatever it takes to rid us of our self-sufficiency i've got a thorn it hurts won't go away had it forever don't see any new revelation how do i work with this thing what's my response to the thorn to get the thorn to do what the thorn is designed to do what do i do let's go back to verse eight he says concerning this this thorn i entreated the lord three times that it might depart from me so the first thing he did was pray about the thorn if you have a thorn it's getting on your nerves nagging and irritating you you pray about it paul was praying about it and god said no so how do you make it in the meantime here's the verse verse 9. and god said to me the one who gave him the thorn said to me my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness one of the great verses of the bible let me translate that for you god didn't grant his request but god met his need moses prayed upon the mountain he said look lord let me see your face god said no no no man can see my face and live so any christian who tells you just pray and god's gonna answer it because you pray yeah he gonna answer it and it might be no god is not yes all the time or it might be no not yet or not today or like we tell our children wait but while you wait with this needle jabbing you you're going to learn a lesson about the greatest word in the christian vocabulary grace there is no greater word than this one grace grace is god giving you what you can't give yourself it is god's goodness overrunning you i am not or either i am not right now going to answer your request about getting rid of the thorn i'm not gonna kill your husband i'm not gonna get you that job give me that promotion get you out of debt give you that mate no but it hurts it's sticking me irritating me nagging me frustrating me okay i'm not gonna give you what your request but i'ma give you what you need you need grace you need me to come alongside of you and to give you watch this now a second wind you know what a second wind is when you're running you're running and you're just too tired you just you just you just can't go any further and and the transmission changes gears and all of a sudden you get strength you didn't have energy you didn't have and it was by grace which meant it had to be given because grace is a gift the bible says so grace is given how much grace he tells you in verse nine sufficient grace god doesn't just give grace he gives sufficient grace when does god give sufficient grace when you pray he says i prayed and i got an answer and the answer wasn't what i asked for but the answer was what i needed sufficient to what i was going through now let me tell you something there is no thorn you're enduring that god says no i'm not going to get rid of for which there is not sufficient grace to handle until your change comes that cannot happen now i'm not talking about thorns you sticking yourself with i'm telling my thorns given to you but we so much want a yes answer that we miss grace let me show you the greatest verse on grace in the bible the greatest verse on grace in the bible the same book turn back a few pages come back hold your finger there but chapter nine of second corinthians verse eight here it is memorize this one write it down put it in your bible think about it all day this will get you through anything verse 8 of chapter 9 and god is able to make all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything you have an abundance for every good deed now he left no stone uncovered in that verse he says god has got so much grace that it abounds it heaps up and it happens always in all sufficiency and it doesn't matter about the situation in everything so that not only do you get enough grace you get bonus grace and abundance for every good deed listen when you're trying to deal with a thorn and god hasn't taken away a thorn don't go trying to pull it out yourself you're going to rip something you go searching for grace and where did he get grace when he prayed three times the difference between the defeated christian and the victorious christian when they both have the same thorn is that one is experiencing grace and the other is not that's the difference one is being showered with grace and the other is not because the other is so irritated at the thorn they spend all their time dealing with the thorn so they never get around to the new revelation see the two ways to deal with a problem let me explain one way is to get rid of it which is all where we all want to get rid of the problem or another way is to have something so superior happens that you forget it let's say you have a thorn of depression or discouragement or not married to the best person in the world or whatever it is and you go home today or tomorrow from work you open up your mail and somebody gives you a check for a million dollars you'll be running through the house talking about telling that husband that you haven't loved for 15 years i love you i love you i ain't told you that forever but i love you today headache what a headache i don't have a headache what's a headache because something new happened something unexpected happened that was so awesome so great so devastatingly glorious that it made the thorn that hasn't disappeared become insignificant some of you have spent your life running from your thorn and you have missed your revelation you missed your illumination you've missed the new thing god wants to show you and the humbling he wants to give you by making you dependent on him grace dr evans will come back with one famous person's example of facing up to one of life's thorns when he continues this lesson from his series freedom through forgiveness it starts by helping you understand the pardon you receive from god and shows you how to pass on that kind of forgiveness to people who've hurt you and even how to forgive yourself and right now we'd like to send you a copy of freedom through forgiveness as our gift when you make a donation to help support the work of the urban alternative here on the air and around the world this special offer is only available for a limited time but if we hear from you right away we'll include a special bonus tony's companion booklet for this series 30 days to victory through forgiveness which explains why the person who benefits most from your forgiving heart is you visit us today at tonyevins.org for details or call our resource center at 1-800-800-332-2222 tony we'll come back with more of today's lesson after this even though we'd love for life to be pleasant and happy all the time that's just not how life works we will have difficult seasons of life winter seasons as crystal hearse and priscilla shire explore in the new lois evans legacy bible study seasons of a woman's life the winter season is also an opportunity for you to be driven into the safe place and for you to find that you can even in that difficult season take refuge in him get your copy of this powerful book workbook and dvd series now with your generous gift to the urban alternative billy graham was speeding true story billy graham was speeding he got pulled over and he had to pay the fine he went to court to pay to find just 10 miles over the speed limit he went in there and the judge says well how do you plead he says i'm i'm guilty i'm guilty the judge didn't recognize him at first then the judge caught when he heard the voice who he is talking to graham he said um you're pleading guilty he said yeah yeah i was guilty well he says dr graham this is going to cost you a hundred dollars he says i know i was guilty but this guy just couldn't get over he's sitting in front of billy graham the greatest evangelist in all of human history and he's gonna find him a hundred dollars for going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit the judge reached in his pocket pulled out a hundred dollar bill put it down and said fine paid and then he looked at dr graham and said can i take you out for steak dinner got his fine pain and got a steak dinner having broken the law how'd he get on that no judge never took me off for no steak dinner how did dr graham get that because of who he was you see you got to know who you are you ought to understand who you are your father loves you and yes there are times where he tickets you but only because he wants to show you grace when god lets you see grace what you don't deserve he says the thorns that are sticking you that you fussing about got an attitude about now begin to work for you we've all been to the doctor we've all been stuck by a needle that pricks irritates foster hate needles but inside the prick is medicine the same thing hurting you is helping you and if you say don't stick me because the needle hurts well you may be out of the pain but you're also out of the medication if god is sticking you and you prayed about it and that nothing is more irritating than having heard a sermon about trust god pray to god you pray to god and he does nothing you need to know that nothing had medicine in it that leaving the thorn was like a person on an iv with a needle stuck in drip drip drip he's doing something but if you keep pulling out the iv because you don't like the thorn you'll never see the medication at work he says and when you see grace my grace not people's grace my grace which came when he prayed my power is perfected in weakness thorns make you weak don't they god says i'm gonna give you grace and then in your weakness what i'm gonna do is i'm gonna show you my power why because god loves weak things so that when it becomes strong there is no question how it got there there is no question who the glory goes to who the credit goes to so the thorns begin to work for you that's why god used a little boy like david to kill a goliath that's why he told gideon to make his army smaller because it was through the weak things things that are broken stripped beared down god loves to use broken things he breaks the seed to get a plant he breaks a cloud to get rain and he breaks people to show them his power he makes the thorn reduce you to a level of absolute dependency on him okay so let's close what do you do i got a thorn it won't go away i've been trying to run from the thorn pull the thorn out myself it just keep coming back and so and i haven't seen any grace i don't have any power tell me what to do all right let's let paul tell you what to do verse 9 most gladly therefore i will rather boast about my weakness that the power of christ may dwell in me therefore i am well content with weaknesses and then he says at the end of verse 10. for when i am weak i am strong guess what he said i'm gonna do brag about my thorn did you say that boast about my weakness brag about my thorn paul said i got this thing sticking me boy isn't it great this thing is driving me crazy praise the lord women not women don't look at me isn't that what he said he said i'm gonna boast about my weakness i'ma thank god for that insensitive husband i'm a blessed god that he hasn't brought me a man or a woman for a mage yet i'ma brag that that i'm frustrated uh by these circumstances i'm gonna brag and i'm gonna praise him and the reason that i am going to praise him is because when i am weak when i can't see my way out when i don't know which way to go he's going to show up and i'ma see his strength you say well why haven't i seen it yet because you haven't been boasting yet you've been complaining grumbling fussing cussing you haven't been praising blessing bragging and boasting you haven't approached the thorn right yet all you keep saying is it's not fair why me why now i'm tired i don't believe that god answers prayer that's not how you handle a form he says you boast in it and chill with it i will be content with it you chill you stay right where you are and you chill with him there's this office building that didn't build enough elevators that didn't make enough elevators for the building and so people had to wait a long time to wait for the elevators you've been to buildings like that don't seem to have enough elevators for the size of the building so they had to decide what to do about this building what to do about this building because it was too expensive to put another shaft in and put another elevator in it would cost too much money but they couldn't have their people waiting like that being discontent they came up with a novel idea on every floor they put mirrors every single floor mirrors all around where the elevators were so folks spent time looking at themselves look go around look at and they discovered if they could focus on something else somebody not praying with me if they can focus on something else it'll make the wait for the elevator not seem as long some of you are tired of waiting but you focus it on the wrong thing god says boast about your weakness focus on me while you wait for god to bring the elevator to deliver you from the floor he got you stuck on you got to shift your focus while you wait for your change dr tony evans with advice on understanding the purpose behind the pain we sometimes experience part of his current series called freedom through forgiveness as i mentioned earlier it's yours with our thanks when you make a donation toward tony's ministry along with a copy of his companion booklet for this series 30 days to victory through forgiveness so visit us today at tonyevins.org to get all the details before time runs out you can make your contribution and your request online again that's tonyevins.org or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-332-2222 well tomorrow dr evans has some good news for believers being held hostage by their past as he talks about the important relationship between the pardon we need and the pardon we give right now though he's back with a special invitation for you if you're not absolutely sure that you have received salvation that you're on your way to heaven then let's get that straight right now god offers you salvation as a free gift because of the sacrifice of his son and if you will come to jesus christ acknowledging your need for a savior because you recognize you're a sinner recognizing you can't save yourself and appealing to jesus to apply his death into your life he will come and forgive your sins and give you eternal life right now simply say to the lord i know i'm a sinner i know i need a savior i'm believing in you alone to be my savior so i now accept your offer to give me eternal life and the forgiveness of sins and then thank him for the free salvation he just gave you the alternative with dr tony evans is brought to you by the urban alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you [Music] where you get the power to say no to sin and yes to right is by the instruction of grace dr tony evans says the secret of becoming godly is found in what jesus christ offers he is the master key that opens up the lock to godliness celebrating 40 years of faithfulness this is the alternative with dr tony evans author speaker senior pastor of oak cliff bible fellowship in dallas texas and president of the urban alternative there are some great foods out there that simply can't be made when the recipe omits a key ingredient likewise godliness will never be realized in our lives if we leave out the essential component today dr evans explores just what that special ingredient is as he unveils the mystery of godliness let's join him paul tells timothy the pastor of ephesus bible fellowship that i want you to teach the congregation how men are to conduct themselves how men ought to live their lives who are part of the household of god part of the family of god and i want you to do that but i want you to explain to them the mystery of godliness he says this mystery is by common confession meaning everybody ought to agree with it common confession means everybody's saying the same thing everybody understanding it the same way it's common to everybody so i want to explain to this fellowship the mystery whatever this mystery is it's a beast because he says great is the mystery he says there is a mystery about godliness that was unclear in the old testament that now has been made clear in the new testament hebrews chapter 8 we're coming right back here to first timothy but hebrews chapter 8 is one place that summarizes this in verse 6 of hebrews 8 it says but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry but as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises verse 10 for this is the covenant i will make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i will put my law into their minds i will write them on their hearts i will be their god they will be my people they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizens and everyone his brother saying know the lord for all will know me from the least of the two the greatest of them for i will be merciful to their iniquities i will remember their sins no more when he said a new covenant new testament he has made the first obsolete old testament but whatever is becoming obsolete is growing old is ready to disappear so god says i'm making a new arrangement covenant testament that will make obsolete the old testament covenant and the new testament covenant is better than the old testament covenant which means if you're living in the old testament you're missing the new testament if you're living in the old testament you're living under something that has been made obsolete now i'll explain what that means in a moment because of something better that has come along the mystery between the two covenants old testament new testament is a mystery related to how you become godly it's the mystery of godliness it's the mysterious understanding of how we consistently are to reflect the character of god in our lives in the old covenant testament you were told what you must do and you were told it negatively let's take the ten commandments which is a summary of the old covenant thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not so you were told in a negative way what you ought not do in the old covenant but in hebrews 8 the scripture we just read we went from you must and you shouldn't do i will he says in the new covenant i will i will i will i will i will i will i will in the old covenant you better not you better not you better not you better not you better not he says that the new covenant which is a mystery because it wasn't revealed fully in the old testament is better many years ago before the advancement of technology your grandparents or great-grandparents clean their clothes with a scrubbing board they got the scrubbing board out they got the pail of water and they would scrub and scrub and scrub to make dirty clothes clean and every week or how often they did it they would have to roll up their sleeves because they were trying to make something dirty clean for their children themselves or their mate to wear and the way they did it was by scrubbing the mess out then along came washing machines the goal of the washing machine was the very same goal of the scrubbing board but the power to pull off is different the scrubbing board that grandmother used to use depended on elbow grease and her ability to go up and down up and down wring it out twist it then can another piece go up and down up and down the power to get it clean depending on her but in the new covenant called the washing machine versus the old covenant called the scrubbing board while the purpose was the same the power was different because the power to get it clean was residing in the machine not in the elbow grease of grandma the old covenant is elbow grease it's i'm gonna make myself better i'm gonna stop doing this i'm gonna try to do better i promise i rededicate then i rededicate my rededication that i rededicated the last time i rededicated and so i'm scrubbing and i'm scrubbing and i'm trying and i'm trying and i'm getting tired because every week i gotta clean this thing up again that's the old covenant the new covenant is the washing machine which means that the power in the new covenant the washing machine is greater than the power in the old covenant my elbows because the washing machine new covenant was built in such a way that it has more power to clean things than my effort can ever do on my own i dare say once grandma got a washing machine she discarded her scrubbing board because to go back to the scrubbing board was now to go back to something obsolete it was to go back to something that would not produce what this new thing this new invention if cleanliness is used for godliness under the new covenant which is better than the old covenant it's what god will do not what you do one of the problems is christians who dance between covenants they used the washing machine this week and the board that week the washing machine this week and the board that week and they wonder why some weeks i'm really clean godly and other weeks i'm not so clean godly because you're shifting covenants he said once you have a washing machine you do not go back to the board you don't go back there because to go back there is to retreat to something inferior and that's why it's a mystery because it was not clear like this in the old testament let's go a little further he says under this mystery that's awesome he calls it great and it has to do with being godly that is lifestyles consistent with the manifestation character of god he says has to do with a person please notice he says in first timothy 3 verse 16 he was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among nations believed on in the world taking up the glory so he speaks about jesus christ he never wrote a song but there are more songs written about him than any other human being that's ever lived he never wrote a book yet his book has sold more than every other book and there have been more books written about him than any other person who has ever lived he is proclaimed worldwide believed on in the world and that's why on sunday in churches all around the world they are there to give recognition to jesus christ because of his uniqueness taking up the glory that is having raised from the dead ascended up to heaven seated on the right hand of the father in a position of exaltation this is the mysterious one the mystery of becoming godly is centered on the uniqueness of jesus christ he is if you will the master key that opens up the lock to godliness to being godly stick with me now godliness is not tied merely to your belief in god godliness is tied to the mysterious one or the uniqueness of jesus christ he is the centerpiece of understanding what it means to be godly and the enablement to use the washing machine and no longer the scrubbing board now everyone here who's a christian who's received jesus christ as their sin bearer should want to become godly the one thing god has put in you is the desire to be godly which means that you hate the point that you are not godly in other words if you love being ungodly then you need to raise a whole nother question and that is whether christ is living in you because the one thing that comes with salvation is a desire to be godly even if you are ungodly i may have the addiction but i hate that i have it and i want to get rid of it even if i fail to get rid of it thus far because there is this desire to be godly dr evans will come back in a moment to share the mystery ingredient in godliness don't go away even though we'd love for life to be pleasant and happy all the time that's just not how life works we will have difficult seasons of life winter seasons as crystal hearse and priscilla shire explore in the new lois evans legacy bible study seasons of a woman's life the winter season is also an opportunity for you to be driven into the safe place and for you to find that you can even in that difficult season take refuge in him get your copy of this powerful book workbook and dvd series now with your generous gift to the urban alternative find out more about seasons of a woman's life when you visit us at tonyevins.org and while you're there be sure to check out tony's popular book god himself it's a probing look at the many characteristics that make the lord who he is his nature his goodness his love and much more we serve an infinite god so there's always more to learn but tony says the deeper our understanding the richer our worship and since we're made in god's image knowing who he is defines who we are we'd like to send you a copy of this book as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help us keep tony's teaching on this station along with it we'll include all four full-length messages in tony's current teaching series in pursuit of godliness it's a deep dive into the meaning and mystery of godliness and will give you the motivation and means of living a more excellent life get all the details at tonyevins.org or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-332-2222 right now let's join dr evans for part two of today's lesson the mystery of godliness is tied now to the person of jesus christ now how is it tied titus chapter 2 verses 11 and following for the grace of god verse 11 has appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness there's our word and worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously and godly there's our word again in this present age he says the grace of god has appeared it appeared when jesus appeared in john 1 it says the law came by moses but grace and truth came by jesus christ so with the appearance of jesus came the appearance of grace it's not that grace didn't exist in the old testament it's that when the new testament opens up and jesus is introduced on the scene the grace of god has now appeared to all men and now it is universal in its expression many people don't know it but they go back to the old covenant every time they go back to self-help every time they go to i promise i'm not gonna do it anymore that's old covenant talk that's old covenant thought because it depends on you he says the grace of god has appeared romans 6 14 says you're no longer under the mosaic law you are now under grace and it has appeared in a person jesus christ he says where you get the power to say no to sin and yes to right is by the instruction of grace second corinthians 5 21 says he who knew no sin became sin for us bore our sins on the cross that we might become the righteousness of god in him let me say it another way on the cross jesus died on credit jesus never sinned he was a perfect being so what god did is he took all the sins of the world bundled them together and put them on jesus so jesus was credited with our sin that's what took him to the cross and that's what killed him he didn't die because of his sin he died because our sin was credited to his account so he had to pay the bill when he paid the bill his last word was testel esthai which means it is finished paid in full everybody watch this who accepts jesus the righteousness of christ was credited to his account well how much righteousness is that that's righteousness that fulfilled all the requirements of the old testament so the lord that condemns you and me has already been fulfilled in jesus but when you accepted jesus god credited the righteousness of christ onto your account so you not only go to heaven on credit but the righteousness that god expects you to live as a godly christian you also have credited to you in other words the righteousness you're looking for you already have most christians who are serious christians we're not failing because we don't know what's right we're failing with powerlessness to pull it off which means one thing watch this that christ in us has not been expanded okay wait watch this when a woman gets pregnant she has the life within her but in order for that life to be revealed that life must grow inside of her and you know when that life is growing because the belly is getting bigger the the life inside there was only a little teeny seed once it got fertilized now begins to expand and take over room inside of her belly you can accept jesus as savior but if there is no expansion of christ inside of us christ in us the scripture says which is the hope of glory if there is no expansion of the life that's why you will discover how to expand the life within so that you're living more godly without because just hearing more sermons on you shouldn't do this you shouldn't do that you shouldn't do that you shouldn't do that the old testament is what you got to do you got to do you got to do you got to do you got to do the new covenant was done done done done and done it's taking something already done and magnifying it not whipping yourself up that's why that's why when we hear a sermon you get all whipped up okay i'm ready to live for god now i'm ready to serve god now i'm ready to get rid of this addiction now i promise i'm not gonna do that anymore now and you get whipped up in the flesh you get whipped up because you get all excited and less than 24 hours later die down because you were influenced from the outside without any change on the inside if the baby's not growing inside it doesn't matter how whipped up you get on the outside and that's why you can go to church and not change jesus christ brought grace out of the shadows and into the public square for the purpose of transforming us the only thing i wanted you to understand now was the mystery the mystery is christ in you god revealed in the flesh inside of you and the job of the holy spirit is to make the indwelling christ expand within you so that you are naturally becoming more godly you're not scrubbing it you're putting it in the washing machine and getting cleansed by it god wants to reveal his mystery within each of us but there's a requirement on our part it begins with acknowledging and receiving it dr tony evans is here with a word about how to start if you've been listening to the broadcast and you have yet to accept jesus christ as your personal savior we can resolve that right now i'm going to say a little prayer i want you to pray it after me but you've got to mean it for yourself lord jesus i'm a sinner and i know i need a savior because i can't save myself so right now i trust you alone because you died for me and arose for me to be my sin bearer you are now my substitute and i am believing you to forgive my sin and to give me eternal life thank you for the free gift of salvation that you have given to me help me to live a life to please you in jesus name amen welcome to the family and we'll keep ministering to you for your spiritual growth through our broadcast god bless you if you prayed that prayer right now let me encourage you to visit tonyevins.org and follow the link that says jesus there you can download some free follow-up resources that'll help you get your brand new life started right well today's lesson was the second in tony's current series in pursuit of godliness don't forget all four full-length messages in this collection can be yours with our thanks if you'll help us keep bringing you tony's teaching each day with your generous contribution you'll receive the complete series on cd and downloadable mp3s and as a special bonus you'll also receive tony's popular book god himself a journey through his attributes to take advantage of this limited time offer be sure to call for details 1-800-800-332-2222 resource team members are on hand 24 7 to help you that's 1-800-800-3222 or make the arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at tonyevins.org again that's tonyevins.org having a lifestyle that's consistent with the character of god sounds like a great idea but it may be easier said than done on monday dr evans will tell us how we can turn godliness from an abstract theory into an absolute reality right now though he's back with this thought-provoking story there was a man one day a father who loved his son his son died the father had drawn up a will and so when the father died the lawyer came read the will that all of his expensive things are to be auctioned so he came and the auctioneer said the first piece that we're going to bring out is a picture of the man's son he says do i have a bed well nobody bit it because they didn't come for that they come for an old picture of the boy they came for some expensive art pieces and and all these artifacts and stuff so nobody was bidding out of the shadows from the back of the room became an old man and the old man said sir i was the servant of the of the man who died and if nobody will take the picture of the boy i want to know if i can have it the auctioneer said one more time is there anyone who will bid on the picture of the sun nobody bit it he said sir you may have the picture to the servant then he picked up the gavel hit the gavel down and said the auction is over everybody's looking around saying what you haven't brought out any of the expensive pieces that are supposed to be arching up how can the auction be over he said let me read the will the will said you are to auction off all of my expensive properties starting with a picture of my son and whoever gets the picture of my son gets everything else in my estate because i value my son so highly that he that half the son gets everything else we're going around looking for everything else we want this we want that we want this book we want this person we want this trick we want this trade give me this i'll pay for that let me watch this television show let me go to this place this will fix me that'll fix me this other thing will fix me and god is out here standing and saying i have come to give you life and to give it to you more abundantly because he that hath the son hath the life the godly life that i have prescribed for them the alternative with dr tony evans is brought to you by the urban alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] um [Music] today [Music] [Music] um [Music] i

Channel: ENJOYING EVERYDAY LIFE - 2021

Views: 201

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: Z15dYSRlS2s

Length: 79min 17sec (4757 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 04 2021