Your Time Is Now - Tony Evans Sermon

it is unfortunate that many people and Christians will have spent a large part of their lives climbing the ladder of success only to discover at the end that it was leaning against the wrong wall in an effort to meet the standards of our world system and what it calls success many will have missed the purposes of God they will have perhaps been very great in their careers and in their education and with their resources but will stand before God never having finished the work that God had called them to do what we call purpose or destiny your divinely designed reason for being once you become a Christian the reason why we were not raptured at the moment of conversion was that God left us here for the achievement and the accomplishment of a kingdom purpose unfortunately today it is easy to get caught up in the wrong purpose the purposes of people possessions paychecks power popularity and maybe we sprinkle little piety in to make us feel a little better it is easy to live the life that we live without the right in game in mind like the man who said I was dying to finish high school so that I could go to college I was dying to finish college so that I could start my career I was dying to get married so that I could start a family I was dying for those kids to become 18 so that they could leave I was dying to retire only to discover now I'm just dying and the sense of purpose is gone that leads us to our two chapters today chapters 3 & 4 the book investor because it is in these chapters that the greatest statement and the most famous statement in the book is located in chapter 4 verse 14 when Mordecai asked her the question have you not attained royalty for such a time as this or as the King James says have you not been called to the kingdom for such a time as this so I want to explain to you using the providential hand of God in the life of Vesta how you know when it's your time you hear people talk about it's my time it's my season and that's easy to say in quote but how do you know when God has prepared you for the moment that time that he has worked with you for through the good the bad and the ugly to bring you to a space of usefulness for his kingdom purposes well chapter 4 opens up with a problem because we're told in chef's give me chapter 3 opens up with a problem because we're told in chapter 3 verse 1 after these events King Ahasuerus promotes Haman the son of harmony alpha the aggregate and advanced him and established his authority over the princesses who were with him and all the king's servants who were at the Kings gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman but Mordecai neither bowed nor did he pay homage houston we have a problem a hasshu heiress the king has decided to elevate a man named Haman Haman has made the second most powerful person in the medo-persian Empire and the King has said I want there to be public recognition of the promotion that I've given to Haman so I want everybody in the kingdom to bow and so as everybody began to bow then they came to one of the employees of the King named Mordecai and they dead Mordecai it's time to bow mister minutes coming down mr. Heyman is passing through Mordecai says excuse me but I can't do that I can't bow and pay homage I cannot worship Him I can respect him I can you know affirm him but what you're asking me to do is bow down and pay homage you're calling for an act of worship and I can't do that so what a car refuses houston we have a problem they want to know verse three how are you transgressing the king's command he put it in everyday language how you not doing what the government told you to do because this is the King talking this is governmental affairs and they say look this is the government we expect you to obey the government well bad the government is one thing worshipping and bowing to it that's a whole nother ballgame and Mordecai says I can't do that they spoke to him daily according to verse 4 they told Haman that's his new name Mordecai and he's not gonna bow but let me tell you why he's not gonna bow he's a Jew and then people over there they've been taught by you know their worldview that you do not bow that is in worship to men or to systems of men government's when they conflict with their belief system and so this water guy is not gonna bow hmm Haman verse 5 was full of rage ticked off he said well not only am I going to kill verse 6 verse 6 now only am I gonna kill Mordecai I'm gonna kill all of his people I'm gonna do genocide against the Jews because I know all them people think like he think so we not gonna had that not under my rule King has words is giving me clout and I'm not fighting anybody around here not recognizing my authority so he's gone and everybody like him is gone we're gonna get rid of the juice he brings the idea to the King house you eros and he tells the house you where is mr. house you eres King you got some people here who don't go with you there there's a certain people scattered and they don't abide by your rules they don't abide by your laws first aim and so he says so King we got to do something buddies food so if it pleases the King verse 9 what I want to do is I want to get rid of her I want to exterminate them because they're gonna be a headache for you in fact I want to get rid of these people so bad verse 9 that I will pay you to help get rid of them ten thousand talents of silver I'm gonna give you a boatload of money just to get rid of these people because these people are nothing but trouble because they're not going to bow they're not going to submit to the government they're not gonna submit to the authority so the king put a signet ring down sign the law of Haman the aggragate let me pause we're told a couple of times in this passage Haman's background he then agregate now that may not mean much to you but God doesn't waste words in his word this has a history to it you see the aggregates came from a gag a gag is found in first time you'll chapter 15 verses 1 to 23 a gag is head of the applicants and the Amalekites were trying to destroy the Jews many years ago when saul was king in 1st Samuel 15 God told Saul I want you to go and I want you to to destroy the Amalekites and I want to destroy the King Agag cuz these folks are trying to kill you but so thought he was too smart for God and he decided I'm not gonna kill the King I'm gonna kill some of the stuff but I'm not gonna kill all of the stuff cuz cuz we can use some of the stuff so he disobeyed God a gag was allowed to live longer so his legacy was allowed to continue so now we an ester with the fruit of a root of the same problem that wasn't dealt with early so some of us know what it is to have something we should have dealt with which we were too dealt with and if we would have dealt with it we wouldn't be dealing with this today but because we did deal with it when we should have dealt with it we wind up with the fruit of it continuing in our life and circumstance so when it says that Haman wasn't a gate he's telling you he's part of a legacy of unaddressed sin of unaddressed fully due dealing with something God told you to deal with long ago that you're now having to deal with the repercussions up and so now not only is Mordechai in trouble the whole race of Jews is about to be exterminated okay here's lesson number one you know it's your time you know it's your time when God connects spiritual preparation with spiritual warfare you see Haman was an agent of the devil whose goal it is to thwart the purposes of God in the Old Testament it had to do with destroying the Jews in the New Testament it has to do with muting the effectiveness of the church the people representative people of God and so in order to pull that off Satan uses people and uses systems in order to destroy the program and promises and purposes of God God had said I'm going to build this people protect this people they are going to be my people because the Messiah is going to come through the Jews and so all along the way there's a theology of genocide and destruction trying to hinder the purposes of God whenever God is getting ready to use someone they will have a battle to overcome they will have spiritual warfare that will seek to destroy God's program and purpose in your life and in the life of others because as you'll see is not just about you he's going to get rid of Mordecai and all of the Jews before David could be recognized to be the future king of Israel he had to go through a battle first he had to face Goliath it wasn't until he defeated Goliath spiritual warfare since it was a battle between gods that he began to emerge as preparation for kingship but before God elevated him to ultimate purpose he had to use him in spiritual battle so spiritual battle is always a prerequisite to spiritual purpose if you're not willing to demonstrate that you're willing to deal with the spiritual issues that Satan brings in your life to support your purpose and how God wants to use you for the benefit of others then you're not ready to be realized and set free for your ultimate spiritual purpose see what God wants to know before he gives you spiritual responsibility is that he can trust you to use the spiritual when the going gets tough he wants to know that the spiritual won't be thrown aside when the natural shows up because it's real easy when the natural that shows up to get natural it's easy when the natural shows up to go secular but when the spiritual shows up because there is a spiritual issue of the warding the program of God the question is do you have insight enough to see what's happening spiritually so that you have foretaste enough to address it spiritually so when God is going to give you your time that is the time to be released to your ultimate purpose there will be a spiritual battle that you will have to not only fight but that you will have to make your declaration known and so now the Jews are about to be destroyed the scribes in verse 12 send the word out they eat it goes out about the destruction of the Jews letters assent in verse thirteen by carriers to all the provinces to destroy to kill and annihilate all the Jews young old women children but we're told that this happened was going to happen in a 12-month cycle you see that in verse seven you see that in verse 13 it says the 12th month let me just throw this in if you look at verse seven it says / P you are a that is the lot the lot the lot is dice okay y'all know days right come on don't act like y'all little know days so Haman is shaking the dice to determine when he's going to destroy them they came up six and six 12th month so the day's got rolled it didn't come up with two zeros it didn't come up with one and one it came up with six and six because it's 12 months you see even when Satan rolls the dice God loads them because God is so sovereign and providential he controls the dice so there is a 12-month window between the time of the declaration and the time of the execution whenever God creates a gap when evil is about to occur the gap is good news in a bad situation remember he told Nineveh threw Jonah and forty days Nineveh will be destroyed why not just destroy them because there's a window there's a window between judgment declared and judgment implemented whenever God creates a window you better praise it cuz a window is an opportunity it's called a grace window it's a window where God's mercy and grace is still being allowed before destruction is implemented so there is a 12-month window because God loaded the dice gave them a magical amount of months within a year to address the problem of satanic influence to bring about a destruction in God's people and on behalf of God's program and so the saga continues of the providential hand of God the edict is given and when the edict is given chapter 4 verse 1 with Mordecai learned that all of all that had been done he tore his clothes put on sackcloth and ashes the garments of sorrow and went out into the midst of the city and walk loudly and wailed loudly and bitterly you could hear that man crying all over the place because when Satan is trying to do a number on you he can bring you to tears many of us know what it is to have our spiritual warfare against us and we're weeping and well and because the pain is so deep and so great he was out there loudly declaring a hopelessness because of how bad things look he went as far as the Kings gate that's the interest of the king's palace and no one was to enter the Kings Kings gate clothed in sackcloth but there he was morning with great morning because we're told in verse 15 there was great confusion you can think you're a Jewish father sitting there with your family you hear come across the evening news all Jews are to be exterminated that's panic in the city of Susan and now everybody is wailing because it looks like a hopeless situation let me tell you something never count Donna no matter how bad things look well Esther finds out that our cousin is out there in sackcloth and ashes she doesn't really know what's going on and so she sends him clothes out there to get him dress he rejects the clothes and so it now gets real interested she sends her servant half back out and verse six to Mordecai and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the Kings Treasury for the destruction of the Jews who sends word back to estimate gave a copy of the Edith and this is what he says to her in verse eight that he might show Esther and inform her and to order her to go to the king and employ his favor and to plead with him for her people water Keitel's says to Esther service take to eat it to Mordecai to take it in Esther and tell Esther now to go to the king and tell him who you are remember I told you don't tell him when you first when he first brought you in don't tell him because there's an anti-semitic atmosphere in this city so you don't tell it but girlfriend honey bun cuz it's now time to come out the closet it's now time to go public it's now time to let it be known who you are and who you people happen to be it's time you know it's time for God to move you to your ultimate purpose when he has given you a position that leverages influence for the Advancement of his kingdom he says go you're not just here cuz you're pretty you're pretty but that's not why you here you're here because when you were pretty and didn't know what was going on God knew this day was gonna come he don't use the name God but it will be clear in a moment that's his frame of reference God knew that this day was going to come it's time you've been set up for a situation when God has positioned you to leverage influence for his kingdom purposes let me put it another way when your position in life allows you to leverage influence for the Advancement of God's program and God's people to put it another way when he has blessed you to be a blessing see we got a problem today we got a misunderstanding a blessing we got people running around here I'm looking for my blessing okay that is a flawed approach the blessing because it's incomplete whenever you tell god I want my blessing period you have prostituted the term because blessing is only blessing in the Bible when it can flow through you and not just to you God told Abraham I'm going to bless you and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed so whenever you go to God for a blessing let him know that if he blesses to you how it's going to flow through you so it can be a blessing to somebody else God just doesn't move you out of South Dallas to North Dallas he just doesn't get you out of a bicycle and move you to a Benz he just doesn't keep you out of the Salvation Army thrift shop just so now that you can go to the most fabulous malls just so you can live large he always wants to know how you going to use the gifts talent skills and resources he's given you to advance his kingdom program and if there is little or no concern for his kingdom you just cut off your blessing in fact you will watch your blessing become a curse because you're not using it for Kingdom purposes as well as personal benefit so he tells her it's time it's time for you to use your position your influence your resources and you are now to leverage that in light of the spiritual issue the problem is if you don't see the spiritual you don't see the opportunity so if all you're looking at is the physical then you don't see what's happening behind the scenes in the spiritual so so you you you all shook up about what's happening in the physical because you don't know that there is a spiritual activity occurring behind the scenes so she hears as she's supposed to go before the King so she sends word back to Mort Mort verse 11 all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned he has but one law that he be put to death unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live and I have not been summoned to come to the King for these thirty days Mort let me explain something I need you to understand cuz it's sort of like this me and the King have not been talking for 30 days 30 days we not you know we only outs with each other he hasn't wanted me in his bedchamber he's not talking to me cuz between chapter 2 and chapter 3 is five years because you know after five years the marriage can go south so his five-year marriage and he not all that impressed with our beauty anymore maybe should have picked up a few wrinkles in five years I don't know but whatever it was for 30 days he's not talking to sister not talking to his wife he's not talking to her and he says there's rule in this house if you go in the king uninvited and he does not hold out that royal sceptre it's over it's over you are put to death so what you're asking Mort is for me to risk my career life economic stability my crib I'm living in the palace you you're asking me to put that on the line for y'all see you no longer us say she is you too but she ain't like them Jews back there she like them Jews still caught in a bad situation she's not like those Jews who still live in in shabby houses she's not like them Jews who still have to eke out a life with minimum income she's not like those Jews who still have to catch the bus she's not like those Jews who don't have multiple changes of clothes she's not like those Jews who still living in inferior housing with inferior education with inferior opportunity she's not like those Jews I used to be one of y'all but I'm a peon now I'm a Jew but I'm a different Jew I'm upper-class Jew I'm a knitted you I'm a successful Jew I'm a Jew with a bank account I'm a Jew with a CD I'm I'm gonna do what I don't mean that now I'm a Jew with stocks and bonds I am a successful Jew now I know what it's like cuz I lose to live with child but but but my situation is different now so I pray for you I hope it works out I'm at a different socio-economic political scenario and if I go into my husband's room and he has not invited me and he does not hold out the scepter I'm not willing to do that for y'all cuz I used to be a Jew namju plus what she did is what we do we miss diagnose Kingdom opportunity because we don't see it all we see is this could have a negative effect on me say she forgot something if it wasn't for the goodness of God she wouldn't be there she she she missed that she met along the way she misunderstood if it wasn't for the goodness guy girl you did not get here on your own you got here the same way a turtle gets to the top of a fence somebody put it there so she forgot all that in having forgotten all that she she said look this is about me now not about y'all it's about me y'all get it like I got it cuz right now it's about me and I can't put myself in that position forgotten it's easy to forget how you got where you are it's easy to forget once you start living in a certain neighborhood and driving a certain vehicle wearing certain clothes and getting a BA and an MBA and a doctorate and it's easy to forget that if it were not for the grace of God you would not be in the position you are now it's easy to forget that and when you forget that you're not so concerned about how other folk don't make it you wind up saying like her in essence I made it why y'all not making it you become we become self-absorbed see I'm clearly understand I am not supposed to be here I am not supposed to be on the street in this pulpit doing this when I was raised and my father was not a believer in those early years and the home was in total disarray I'm not supposed to be here but because God invaded my home and led my father to Christ changing his life bringing God into our families taking me to a Bible teaching Church allowing me to have unique opportunity see I clearly understand the only reason I'm standing here today is the goodness and grace of God so the moment I lose sight of that the moment I knew sight that what Paul said I am what I am only by the grace of God that's the only reason that I am with the moment I lose sight of that my role has now been illegitimate because God did not allow me the experiences and opportunities that he's allowed me to make it all and only about me and anybody who does that must be held to account that it is not just about me or you or even us it's about the kingdom of God and when we lose sight of that then we've missed God's plan and program in history Deuteronomy 8:18 Moses said God has given you the power to make wealth to fulfill his covenant it's about a kingdom purpose it's okay to benefit from a kingdom purpose as long as you don't lose the kingdom purpose in the process of benefiting because when you do that you lose your destiny you see your destiny will always involve a test whether you want to be a blessing or whether you only want to be blessed because once you hit that test God now examines your heart are you here for him are you here for how he can use you for others or is this just about you me is this just about selfishness and so she says I can't help y'all Tony Dungy the Fame coach for the Indianapolis Colts during the year that he won the Super Bowl we talked on the phone when he got to the playoffs so we'd get on the phone and coach what you want to pray about today he says I'm not prayers simple that win or lose that I might make his name great before this national audience we finally get to the Super Bowl when Indianapolis Colts are gonna play the Chicago Bears coach what's your prayer he says the world is watching when it lose I want to make it inextricably clear blowing - Jesus Christ I do not want to miss this moment for an opportunity for my witness what's my point he had a Kingdom connection to football because that was his time your value to the kingdom of God is your usefulness sand on a beach is free you're gonna beat you wanna be sin is free that same sand if you want to put it in a playground it's gonna cost you you got to go to store and buy bags of sand and that same free stuff you got it now pay for it to put it on the playground because it's used differently if you won't sand paper all that is the same glue on paper but you got to go to Lowe's or Home Depot or someplace and you got to go by self it seems we see with a little bit of glue and some paper now costing you and don't go to Silicon Valley cuz they make computer chips with sand that's the most expensive saying you ever saw in your life not because it's different it's used differently see one of the reasons why God can't do much with money one with these people is he can't use them so they're just sand they're just out there cuz he can't do it he can't find enough Silicon Valley Saints Saints whose value is tied to their usefulness what good is a refrigerator that doesn't work a stove that won't light up a can opener that won't come on and a toaster that won't pop up bread no matter how expensive it was no matter how good it looks if it does not do what it was created to do it's useless appliance God says about his people in Luke 14 he says some of his salt some of his believers are useless because it's useless because we have no Kingdom orientation and we wind up saying I don't know what my purpose is and you'll never find it if you're not Kingdom oriented you'll never find your time because it's only about you not through you only to you so your time comes when you discover how God can use you to be a blessing you know department stores department stores big department stores have display windows and their noses play windows are dummies dummies ok let's let's get sophisticated mannequins but basically dummies in the real expensive stores they put up living large dummies they do the dummies I've seen dummies with tucks the women wearing gowns Rolex watches in New York one time I saw a window what a dummy sitting in a Ferrari in the window why do the owners of the department stores put dummies in the window because they know we're dummies like us walking up the street so you know what they do they put them on display the reason they put the mannequins or the dummies on display it's so that when the other dummies are walking up the street they will be impressed by what's on display and having been impressed by what's on display it will draw them into the store so that they can get some stuff for themselves in other words the dummy isn't put on display to show off the dummy dummy the dummy is put on display to be an attraction to a bigger Kingdom to draw people off the street into the Kingdom where there's floor at the floor at the floor of the floor of so much more when God blesses you he's putting you on display he allows you to be successfully logged you get an education it allows you to have resources so that allows you some popularity and some notoriety he is now putting you on display so that as a representative of his kingdom other people will see what a dummy looks like who's been touched by the grace of God but don't forget on your best day you still because on our best day with sinners saved by grace the Titanic was a was a terrible terrible incident in nineteen 1912 sinking 1500 people lost their lives 1500 people lost their lives in the maiden voyage of the sinking of the Titanic did you know 1500 people didn't have to die 15 other people shouldn't have died did you know that most of the lifeboats coming off of the Titanic were half filled only half filled but for people who were saved and delivered didn't want to risk turning back because if they turn back the people drowning might bum-rush the boat and if everybody but um rushed the boat it might flip the boat over so since they had been saved and delivered they didn't want to risk going back to save and deliver others because it might interfere with their being saved and delivered so 1500 people died because other people who were already saved didn't want to save others if you've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ God has not just left you here because you're making it to glory he's left you here cuz they're folk drowning all around you drowning spiritually drowning relationally drowning morally drowning they're just drowning and here we are in this ocbs lifeboat your personal life boat it can't only be about you or me or even us in our church we do not exist only for ourselves we exist to make a difference in impact you know bolas are known for the impact okay how good-looking bola you are you know cuz there's a bonus you know today you know you both fancy today when I was going up one fancy bowling to dance fancy bowling they got bowling pants bowling shirt you know bowling socks you know they got booked and it didn't fancy bowling bags and fancier bowling balls and then there's the bowling style put your three fingers in koktebel no matter how good you look as a bowler if the pins are still standing you have failed because Ebola is measured by his impact no matter how christiany you look how church' fide you act if there is no impact for the kingdom of God for your life you are a failed representative I am a failed representative of the kingdom of God and until God sees that he can use you to knock down some pens why would he share his purpose with you for you to dismiss it no you blessed to be a blessing and when he sees that so Mordecai gets this information from her and Mordecai writes her back because you know by two or three witnesses he says no we got to have a second conversation then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther cuz did not imagine verse 13 that you and the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish and who knows whether you have been attained royalty called to the kingdom for such a time as this he says Oh coz let me help you out here because you know your little confused do you imagine and one of my favorite temptation songs is just my imagination running away with me girl your imagination is running away with you do you imagine do you think do you have the mistaken idea that this thing revolves real you hello cuz I want to be confusing here cuz come on I wanna make sure we want to say back do you think cuz right now your imagination is running away with you do you think that by not doing this you gonna save you and all of us are gonna be like that so let me shape your theology if you don't do it God has a solution elsewhere I don't know what it is I don't know where it is but without using the name God let me give you some theology cuz nobody is indispensable let's get this straight let's get this straight I don't care how good you are how rich you are how powerful you are how skilled you up god never limits himself to one person God always has something up his sleeve he doesn't reveal it until he needs to but God always has hidden options see if you're going downtown Dallas you're going down 35 and there's an accident on the highway in case you don't know it I know most of you know it if you're stuck on the highway there are other options okay 35 is not your only option it's just your direct option because you can get off on Illinois's turn left go over design turn right the Jefferson turn right again go across the Jefferson C bridge and you're gonna be downtown or you can turn right on Illinois sand go through South dollars via Fair Park and make it into downtown you can get to downtown without the direct route so while God would like to use you Esther while God prefers to use you Esther while God would rather you you Esther let me splain something if he can't use you then he will find somebody else we don't even know they are because God never allows men to box him in okay so why he wants to use you you you you and me I see I'm I'm of no delusion that God can get rid of me and bring somebody better than me here no clear Bible fellowship and so if I feel that about me you know how I feel about you that God always keeps his options open and that nobody is indispensable when it comes to his kingdom purpose not a reason he said that it's because God had made a promise I will preserve the Jews see he had enough of God's Word God's Word does not mention God as not mentioned but but he knows enough to know that if you don't do it God's sovereignty will make sure it's done because God is true to his word and his word can be banked on and depended upon he would rather use you but he doesn't have to so stop smelling yourself cuz you you ain't all that now I mean you've you been positioned if God wants to use you but come on girl come on girl you you got a look at this thing differently in fact not only will he bring somebody else cuz he can't use you he gonna mess you up because you were disobedient to your kingdom calling he put he gave you this job he gave you this position he gave you this resource he gave you this education he gave me this opportunity and you have missed the kingdom purpose you know none of that's being used for the kingdom which involves God's promise for the preservation of its people the great tragedy today is if our church exists and still doesn't accomplish kingdom purpose because just as your church doesn't mean you're accomplished and Kingdom purpose that's a name church if we're not winning people to Christ to save them in the faith and improving their lives in history so that they can be greater impact vessels for God for eternity if we're not doing that demonstrating the kingdom of heaven visiting the kingdom of Earth through Kingdom disciples who are heavens representatives on earth if we're not doing that we have a weekly party in the name of Jesus you may call to the kingdom for such summon and the kingdom is bigger than the church the church is facilitating the kingdom well he hit him with this then Esther told him verse 15 and through 17 go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast for me do not eat or drink for three days night or day I am my maidens also or fast in the same way and thus I will go into the king which is not according to the law this is risky and if I perish I perish so Mordecai went and did just as Esther had commanded him let me tell you how you'll know it's your time there'll be a spiritual conflict that God wants you to intervene on you will see how he has prepared you to be a blessing not just be blessed but then he will ask you to take watch this a risk of faith let me explain something Saints faith is risky business because you're dealing with something you can't see you see the opposite of faith is sight if you see it it's not faith because you see it physically see faith is acting on what you do not see because you believe God wants you to do it based on his word see this is based on God keeping a promise so based on this word faith is taking a step without being guaranteed the outcome okay watch that now see we don't mind taking a step when we can guarantee the outcome but risky faith okay watch this I want to throw this at you the greater the uncertainty the greater the purpose the greater the uncertainty the more fearful the step she says if I perish I do not know this is gonna work out and sometimes God calls us as us when it's our time to take a step and we don't see where that foots gonna land I don't know if he's gonna put out a scepter I don't know if he's gonna keep down this scepter I do not know how this is gonna work out but because I know this is a kingdom Mordecai said you've been called to the kingdom you've been given a royal opportunity for such a time as this and because this is now and you have to take a step and every time all through the Bible people have had to take risky steps of faith whenever God was ready to do something big it's a spiritual entrepreneurial ISM entrepreneurialism is where you take risk but spiritually it's where you're acting on God's Word based on God's revelation but without having the income without having the results already predetermined and it could go left I could perish but it's clear what I want God to do so I need spiritual preparation to take this risk have y'all fast everybody you know fast tell your cousin's the fast your people are fast your aunties your uncles tell everybody the fast cuz I'm really I'm going out here on or on the line and I'm gonna risk my very well-being for this and if I perish I perish see the three Hebrew boys had to take a risk they told Nebuchadnezzar we now call about Nebuchadnezzar said then you going into the fiery furnace they didn't know that there was gonna be a fourth person in there to meet him they had to take a risky faith because they wouldn't bow and contradiction to the Word of God Daniel had to take a risk he had to take a risk that when he he refused to stop praying when the king's edict said you can no longer pray in school you can no longer pray in court you can no longer he took a risk of faith and he got thrown into the Lions and he didn't know that the Lions would have been fed from manna from above before he got thrown in there and they would lose their appetite for human flesh Peter had to take a risky step when he stepped out on the water the only reason he stepped out on the water cuz Jesus told him he could step out on the water he steps out on the water and can walk on water but he didn't know whether he was gonna drown before he stepped out the jezreelite crossing the Red Sea they got Pharaoh on one end the Red Sea on the other hand they don't know whether that water's gonna crash him once they get out into the middle of the ocean but when you've been called for a purpose there's gonna be a risky step of faith and that risky step of faith has to take in both options this could work or it might not that's God's problem that's God's but I have to trust God if I'm convinced that this is how he's positioned me to use me I have to trust God and it will always involve benefitting more than you the Bible says don't just look at yourself but look at the things of others how will be beneficial to others in the process of me benefiting it will benefit you don't want to be like the pilot the four engines in the plane went out all four engines in the plane without the pilot went and grabbed the one parachute that was on this small plane he went to the door unlocked the door just before he jumped he said don't worry I'm just going to get some help it was just about him so the challenge today I'm challenging you to open your eyes to such a time as this you know a turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out not to tell it sticks its neck out is to go move God wants to use you God wants to bless you God wants to empower you because he wants you to make a difference even if it means gambling with faith that is the risk you don't know I'm challenging you and me and us to another level a kingdom level to say okay God with the uncertainty with me not knowing where all this is going Here I am Here I am use me in whatever way you choose use us even with the uncertainty I'll take the risk I just want you to show me this is the risk you want me to take without any promises I will take the risk of faith cuz I want my time I don't want to end this time and not have had my time his name is Thomas Anderson aka Neil his movies are the matrix the Matrix Reloaded and matrix revolution Thomas Anderson is a computer program a part-time computer hacker but Thomas Anderson gets whisked away to a computer-generated reality known as the matrix when he gets relocated in this world behind the world that he knows he discovers behind his world is another world behind this other world he's told that back here in this other world there are powers that he is unaware of there is a love that he never dreamt of name Trinity and there are a whole group of people under attack in Zion by the machines when he's whisk away he comes to Morpheus Morpheus looks at him and says neo we've been waiting for you you are the one there's a mass of confusion back here and we've been waiting to be sent the one the one who would be used to bring victory and harmony now kneel you need to know back here as this dude named mr. Smith and mr. Smith wants to destroy you mr. Smith like a man wants to do you in and he wants to destroy Zion and he's going to give everything he can to keep you for fulfilling your purpose as the one but if you will take the risk and come back here believing that this is your purpose then while I cannot promise you peace and prosperity and all that cause mr. Smith is gonna reduplicate himself over and over and over again and he's gonna come at you every which way but loose but if you will accept this a saint then you can be positioned to save a world in trouble behind the world that you think is the real world and so kneel in this hand I have a blue pill in this hand I have a red pill neo you take the blue pill and you'll wake up tomorrow morning in your bed and you'll think you were just in a dream none of this will be real and you'll go on with your plain ordinary computer programming life Neal if you take the red pill then you will be given powers that you never dreamt of you will given experiences that you never thought of because you will be in the real world the world behind the world you thought was the real world so take the blue pill neo and go back home take the red pill and let's see how far this rabbit hole goes neo looks at both pills he reaches over to the red pill and he swallows them neo Morpheus says welcome to the real world so my brothers and sisters I offer you today two pills the blue pill and you go back home today back to your plain old ordinary life ya work raise family make a little money pillow bills you go back and you just live your plain old ordinary life and this will just be another Sunday at church I offer you the red pill the pill that reflects the precious blood of Jesus Christ I'll offer you that word pick with that red pill you leave here and say I don't work an ordinary life anymore I don't want to just go through the motions anymore I do not just want to go to church anymore I want my time and I want to see all that God has for me and all that God wants for me and all they got wants to use me and all that God wants to do through me give me the red pill don't get me wrong I'm not promising you if you take the red pill this all a little sailing because it's a risky pill to take I am saying if you take the red pill we'll get the see how far this rabbit hole

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 947,194

Rating: 4.7593613 out of 5

Keywords: Tony Evans sermon, Tony Evans, sermons, Christian sermons, powerful sermons, Tony Evans sermons, sermons on esther, sermons on timing, sermons on destiny, sermons on purpose, sermon, dr tony evans, inspirational sermons, motivational sermons

Id: 2dQZj99IGm4

Length: 58min 19sec (3499 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 17 2019