When God Talks | Sermon by Tony Evans

as I listened to the news all last month that seemed like the world was collapsing weather with Charlottesville or Korea or the transgender issue in the military or the hurricane and we could add numbers of other realities to that in the words of a of an old school song since I'm an old school guy it was a ball of confusion that's what the world is today hey hey it was seemingly chaos out of control and then I would hear the pundits I would hear the news media news men news women whether it was CNN or MSNBC or Fox News or CMD C all give their perspective on the ball of confusion the chaos that was taking place and what caught my attention was how many people were using the phrase I think volumes of human opinion trying to make sense of a culture in chaos but perhaps we don't even have to go to the national media to raise the question how can I make sense you may have your own chaos that you're trying to make sense out of well I'm going to take a risk with you this morning I'm gonna take a risk of trying to make sense of what you see now the reason why it's a risk is because unfortunately far too many Christians have more confidence in the media than they do in the Word of God far too many Christians have more confidence in politics than the power of Scripture so I'm going risky territory because some will not buy what I'm getting ready to share and I risk alienating you a risk I'm willing to take others it's risky because you'll buy it you just won't like it but the first goal is not to win friends and influence people in the cultural sense it is to give you God's perspective let's start with the premise a key premise the premise is cited for us in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 which says we do not look on the things that are seen we look on the things that are unseen so if you can see it touch it taste it feel it and hear it it's not where you supposed to start not because it's not real it's just not the starting blocks if you start with the reality of your face senses and miss the invisible to make sense of the visible see when you start in the wrong place don't be shocked if you wind up lost or to put it in a way that I regularly say it if all you see is what you see you do not see all there is to be seen Paul says we don't start with what we see it's real it's there we see it but he says that's not where we start referring to Christians he says we start with the unseen so that is going to be my starting point it's going to be my starting point about Harvey the hurricane is going to be about my starting point about Charlottesville and racism because when I start with the unseen I don't have to start with I think I don't have to start with I feel I prefer because I have a sure word so just bear with me I won't finish this today it will take me till next week to finish this some of y'all might not come back but judging my statements by the Word of God not by your personal ideas thoughts and perspectives and most certainly not by your television or your smart devices the foundation where I want to start is Hebrews 12 because in Hebrews 12 the author of Hebrews sets it right out front the premise of our time together beginning in verse 25 see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if those that not escaped when they refused him who warned them on earth much less when we escaped who turn away from him who warns from heaven and his voice shook the earth then but now he has promised saying yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of creative things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain when the hurricane made it's devastating presence out of the Gulf of Mexico the most important person at that moment leading up to that moment and during that time was the weather man or the weather woman they took over primacy over everything else because we wanted to know inside information on what they saw what they prophesied what their perspective was what they were predicting and people listened to it not only in the areas directly affected but all across the nation our eyes were glued to the meteorological reports for somebody to answer somebody to answer Marvin Gaye's questioning what's going on because we knew that they had more information about that sphere of knowledge about karent's and about winds and about inches of rain than we do and they could see what was coming and so we zeroed in on the weatherman or the weather I would like to suggest that when you look at what's happening in this world you need to zero in on somebody who knows what they talking about because you and I are merely observers to what's happening around us the first thing I want you to know is it says God speaks and verse 25 it says see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking God speaks in a number of ways his foundational way of speaking is his word his written recorded word he says in times past I spoke on earth that is through the prophets he gave it to men but he says now I speak from heaven referring to him coming to earth from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ so God starts with his recorded word and that is always where he starts but we as parents know you can talk and kids still not listen you can speak the word and they still not pay attention you can tell them what you want them to know and they very well may ignore you therefore God has another way of speaking and he goes into these three verses and tells you the second way God speaks and the second way God speaks is by shaking things up so the Texas he disturbs things so when God sees that his word is not good enough for the culture or for the community or even for the Saints it says he shakes things disturbs things he interrupts things confuses things a few weeks ago we dealt with sovereignty but let me let me explain this now nothing happens absolutely nothing happens that is not either caused by God or allowed by God in other words nothing just occurs nothing just happens even he made it happen or he okayed it happening because if anything could happen that he didn't cause or didn't okay he would not be in control of all things and again that's why there is no luck there is no chance there is no happenstance there is no fate non-christian words cuz we're sovereign God God speaks in shaking disturbing the words shaking shook the earth in verse 26 yes was well shake the earth verse 27 things which can be shaken it means there is a major interruption that disturbs the natural order of things we define shaking again it means an interruption and how things are supposed to go he says when things are interrupted and you can't do anything about the interruption because it's outside of you look then when you when you are signing the insurance policy when they used to have insurance when you sign your insurance policy they have a clause in there called acts of God that clause means if this happens don't blame us and don't come looking for money boss cuz this was outside of our control this was an act of God that we should not bear responsibility for when the text says god shakes things up he's referring to accident and you know God is shaking it cuz you can't fix it and you don't know anybody else who can because it has been orchestrated by God himself therefore when things get shaken disturbed you get messed up over something that wasn't supposed to happen first question Democrats Republicans and independents it's not first a social question it's not first class question something else is going on over here when something gets shaken that's not supposed to happen in our world and in your life when God shakes disturbs interrupts is cuz he's talking he says do not refuse him who speaks through shaking I am growing up as a boy in Baltimore regularly on Friday night I went over to my grandmother's house grandfather's house to eat crabs if you are from Baltimore you eat crabs this comes with the territory of living in the vicinity of the Chesapeake Bay crabs are a social gathering point when I went home to visit my father a few days ago we set the plan to go get the crabs because that comes with the territory so I would go over my grandmother and grandfather's house to get my crabs and sometimes I'd spend the night now if I went over all Friday and spent the night that means Saturday morning I'm getting up to watch cartoons and my favorite cartoon was Mighty Mouse all somebody remembers Mighty Mouse here he comes to save the day that made that Mighty Mouse is on the way there was something about that mouse that caught my undivided attention he was a hero Rhoda Mighty Mouse but don't let it start storming with thunder and lightning when Mighty Mouse or one of the other cartoons are planned cuz then my grandmother would tell me I got to turn off to tell somebody had a grandmother like that my grandmama would tell me you got the you better turn off that television I'll save my grandma why I got to turn off television Mighty Mouse get rare hurts somebody watch I got to turn off the television now and her hands would always beat us because God is talking she says God is talking because he's interrupted your regular programming when God interferes with the regular programming of life called being shaken it's cuz he's talking he says in verse 25 do not refuse him who is speaking well that assumes number-one you know he's talking because if you just assume it's a storm you just assume it's a weird election you just assume the racial situation is as it you're just looking at what you see you haven't started with what God might be saying so unfortunately far too many people and unfortunately far too many Christians are starting in the wrong place it's not in a Republican place or a democratic place or or meteorological place that's not where you start you start with what is he saying and he says not only much you understand that he is talking you must understand what he is saying when he speaks that's why we ask people do you understand me because they might hear you but not understand you and then when you understand what he's saying he says in verse 25 and don't refuse me watch this when I warn you from heaven he connects his speaking to a warning when it involves shaking God speaks when he interrupts the normal processes of things that you can't fix because heaven has something to say to earth that God wants you to pay complete attention to and his purpose in his speech is always the same he's separating he speaks to separate isn't that where verse 27 says this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as I've created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain okay when God shakes your world when he rocks your world with something that interrupts your world or the world it is because he is in the process of creating a correction thus the phrase warning what is he trying to correct any in his speech first by his word and then by his shaking he is trying to correct the fact that the physical has trumped the spiritual it's always that that's always going to be the message in some form or fashion so he's trying to get things back in its right location so he shakes the things that can be shaken that is as of created things the things that are in the physical world he shakes them so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain he's putting things back in his rightful place he's after a correction so I'm gonna take a risk here and make a make a a prophetic statement that the reason you have Harvey is because you had Charlottesville folk out there fighting racism rising his head reaction crashes people taking sides folk are divided which is against God i'ma talk more about that next week well which is against God so God said oh I know how to get them together [Applause] dan gonna fight no more when I come up in here so all of a sudden he calls on a man named Harvey and he says Harvey I want you to come in there and I want you to teach him can't we all get along because we're gonna make this thing so bad that will be asking about color or class or culture cuz when you're drowning you don't clear that it's a black man saving a white man or a white woman saving a white girl [Applause] I learned anything about klu klux klan I heard anything about white supremacists I haven't heard anything about all right cuz you see when you in a war you don't care about the color class or culture of the man fighting next to you as long as he's shooting in the same direction so what God has done is he blows through a great but if you don't know that all you see is a story or you see its water rising and and dams being let loose and all you see is a homeless situation but what you don't see is God is reacting to something out of water and the big tragedy is that Christians and churches don't see it either so we we allow politics to illegitimately divide us we let Democrats and Republicans divide us and so God sits on the backs of donkeys or elephants no he's the king of kings and Lord of lords and he's out for a whole nother agenda God is saying when I shake things up because I got something to say when Jesus was with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee in mark 4 it says there was a storm there was a storm they panicked because this was something they couldn't control Jesus got up and said oh he of little faith why because you didn't get the reason for the storm the reason before the storm had a spiritual purpose to it so let me let you in on a secret for your personal life your family life our church and most certainly for the world watching here's the secret when God creates a disruption in your world when he rocks your world and it's outside of or control he is speaking and he's only saying one overriding thing something is out of sync and I want you to get that thing right so that the spiritual Trump's the physical so that the the things that aren't created Trump's the things that are created so that eternal Trump's time heaven Trump's earth noise you're not ignoring it you're not you're not pretending it's not real it's just not when you start you always start with the question when God shakes off God what are you doing what are you trying to tell me what are you trying to teach me what are you trying to clarify to me you know when you when you go through when you go to a funeral all of a sudden spiritual things comes real important anything about your job you know think about your people you're not thinking about you know you think about that could be me because funerals have a way of disturbing your natural existence because it shows you something eternal as it worked God allows things to happen or causes things to happen depending upon the scenario in order to wake us up to his reality but if you are looking for it you're gonna refuse him who's speaking because you don't even know he's talking you just think oh poor me this is what happened to me you're not looking at it starting with the work of God so he has to tell even these Christians he's writing to he says do not refuse him who's speaking just because God has shaken your world he's shaking your world because he's trying to accomplish something when a woman is in labor when a woman is in labor she's in pain she's hurting but the only reason she's hurting is because the seperation is about to occur it's painful because the separation is in movement but the only reason of separation is is coming is because new life is seeking to a marriage God wants to do something new he wants to do something different he wants to bring about a correction and sometimes that involves labor pains hurricane pains political pains social pains economic pains to bring about a correction but without this perspective then you ignore the shaking and all you see is what you see and therefore the eternal doesn't get a hearing it doesn't get a voice and that only means if you don't hear the word and you're not listening to the shaking then he has to take it to the next level because you apparently even not listening or you don't want to hear and that always starts with the household of faith see we will never get it together out there until we get it together in here me what why in the world that we think God is gonna fix the White House when he can't even get a hearing in the church house got this backwards cuz cuz God's people do not want to place the spiritual above the physical now let me be more specific since we are wrestling with the current realities of Houston that's on the table today and in the consciousness of the culture I've alluded to it but I want to be more specific there is no such thing as impersonal forces of a mother called nature okay let's get this straight I'm glad to give hurricane named Harvey Katrina you know a guy and a girl what you know what they're doing they're establishing personhood to the store and giving it a human name okay well that is personally to the store but in a hobby and it ain't Katrina there are no impersonal forces of nature now I know you heard that and biology and you you heard all that okay so if you if you took this sermon if you took this sermon so far and you went out and you said no they don't know what God's behind all this and somebody asks you to prove it from the Word of God cuz you'd approve it or would you you just be said well my pastor said itself okay so let's go to Scripture so the one you know that I'm not making this up and to that you can defend what is being said let's look first at job chapter 37 that comes before solos job chapter 37 verse 3 says under the whole heaven he lets it loose and his lightning to the ends of the earth after it avoids Wars he thunders and his majestic voice and he does not restrain the lightning when his voice is heard God thunders with his voice wondrously during great things which we cannot comprehend for the snow he says fall on the earth and to the downpour and the rain he says be strong he feels the hand of every man that all men may know his work then the beasts go into the lair lair and remain in its den out of the south comes the storm and out of the north the cold from the breath of God Isis made and the expanse of the waters is frozen also with moisture he loads the thick cloud he dispenses the cloud of his lightning it changes direction turning around by his guidance that it may do whatever he commands on the face of the inhabited earth so so far there's no such thing as impersonal weather whether it's caused by a personal God but why verse 13 weather for correction or for his world or for loving-kindness he causes it to happen so mr. Harvey or miss Katrina was simply obeying father God because he causes it to happen so 147th verse 18 says the same thing that God is behind the weather lamentations chapter 3 right after Jeremiah verse 31 for the Lord will not reject forever for if he causes grief then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving-kindness for he does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men so he causes it but not because he's trying to be mean he's trying to fix them and then I love Amos I love Amos coz Amos chapter 4 verses 6 to 8 says this for I give you also cleanness of teeth and all your cities and the lack of bread and all your places you have not returned to me to cleanse the Lord furthermore I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest then I would send rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain one part would be rained on well the part not rained on would dry up so two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water but would not be satisfied yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord I didn't let it rain and you wouldn't return to me I let it rain too much you wouldn't let it return to me you stuck in long gas lines because you wouldn't return to me you just you just inconvenience but you don't get the message it's not about the water it's not about the gases by me I have never heard so much talk about prayer every time I television on the pagans praying atheist praying the white house praying everybody praying everybody talk about prayer God is all over the place let's talk to God God all of a sudden you are getting all this attention because I told Mr Harvey to show up all of a sudden he's not being pushed to the side so you can praise him voluntarily or you can praise him mandatorily but God is gonna get the glory one way but if you're not looking at what happens through those eyes then you all only deal with what you see then you will be limited by that one Lord Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 13 hope you see it's not impersonal it's personal when he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens and he causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth and make lightning for the rain and he brings out the winds from his toils now you got lightning you got wind you got rain sound like a hurricane to me and it says he causes so you must personify not because God is being mean I know you've got those boys I said Oh God must be jel you just can't automatically saying that but God is using what he allows to bring attention back to him because he's always seeking to make the spiritual more important in the physical in one act he addressed racism in one act he adult so he addressed a separatism in one act he made people who were enemies become brothers for a little while in one act he made people care in one act he showed you when God moves it doesn't take long doesn't take two hundred and forty years it doesn't take seminars and workshops it just takes people seeing a need responding to what God did to overcome what men are unable to resolve when you start looking at your life that way and your circumstances and ask the god question first responding to his word into the circumstance now you're hearing from most of you in here at some point in your life have vomited regurgitated oh let's get down to it you throw up the reason you throw up is because something is wrong food poisoning or a virus or bacteria something that write something I write and all of a sudden there's discomfort in the belly discomfort in the belly and you things are not look next time you want to throw up don't fight it don't fight it cuz what your belly is trying to tell you is the separation needs to occur so you you try to hold it in you keep in transformation from a carry and so yeah I know it hurts and I know it's uncomfortable but but it wants to escape it wants to get out now I will concede it is messy vomiting regurgitating yeah that's messy doesn't smell right it doesn't feel right it's messy but all it feels so good after you get it out when God wants society to vomit when he wants culture to throw up when he wants a separation to occur he he brings about discomfort not because he's just being mean but what he is saying is you got me in the wrong place you got me in the wrong place you too you didn't you didn't put me on to the side somewhere so I'm gonna let you know I'm not a sideline kind of deity I'm not a sideline kind of God so he will make a culture throw up so that things can be made right now I'm not unaware that this might not last long but God's got some other names out there he but it starts with us being the people of God responding to his correction in our own lives so that he can use us to affect a world that is in chaos now if Jesus is getting ready to come back that's the vomit if Jesus is getting ready to come back that all this chaos is supposed to be happening to set the stage but if Jesus is not yet ready to come up he's allowing this chaos to bring about correction but if you refuse him who is speaking then the ante gets [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 462,570

Rating: 4.7945166 out of 5

Keywords: When God Talks, Hearing from God, Voice of God, Dr. Tony Evans, Tony Evans, Christian Sermons, full length sermons, sermon video, God, crisis, Tony Evans sermons, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: DIRTk92Meng

Length: 41min 14sec (2474 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 06 2017