Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.
Thus says the Lord as the new wine is
found in the cluster and one says ‘Do not
destroy it for there is benefit in it,’ so
I will act on behalf of my servants in
order not to destroy all of them or
bring forth offspring from Jacob and
then heir of my mountains from Judah
even my chosen one shall inherit it and
My servants will dwell there Sharon will
be a pasture land for flocks and the
valley of Achor
a resting place for herds for my people
who seek me but you who forsake the Lord
who forget my holy mountain who set a
table for fortune and who fill cups with
mixed wine for destiny I will destine
you for the sword and all of you will
bow down to the slaughter because I
called but you did not answer
I spoke but you did not hear and you did
evil in my sight and chose that in which
I did not find delight.” Now Lord, teach us
about the idol called luck and help us
to destroy it in Jesus name Amen.
The fictional story is told of the frog
that went to the fortune-teller the
frog went to the fortune teller
and he wanted to know his fortunate
He wanted to know his destiny. The frog
wanted to know what awaited him.
The fortune-teller did her little thing
and she looked at the frog and says “Well
there is a very beautiful woman who’s
dying to meet you.
She’s fascinated at the thought of
seeing you and when you get to meet her
she is going to want to know everything
about you.” The frog kind of got excited.
He said when will I meet this beautiful
woman? The fortune-teller told him
“Next semester in biology class.”
I’ll wait- He was thinking life was gonna
work out one way and he was actually
waiting to be cut up and examined by a
student. I thought I’d help some of y’all
out cause you- All of us are concerned
about our destiny. How things are gonna
wind up with our lives. Whether things
are gonna get better ever. Whether things
are going to change in my circumstance. What does my future hold? We’re concerned
about our destiny and there are many
things that offer to help us. Many things
that seek to operate as a god to help us
to kind of get a clue for understanding
what’s happening now and to give us an
anticipation of what may be coming down
the line. We want to know our destiny.
One of the chief false gods- idols in our
culture, an American Idol if you will
a designer idol is the idol of luck or its
siblings- chance, happenstance or fate.
That’s a whole family. The family of luck
is a belief system that says there is
operating in the world an impersonal
random force this impersonal random
force, I need working for me and if I can get
this impersonal random force that I’m looking to to help me get
through, get over, and guide me to a
good place then I can get the help
I need I just need me more luck the
concept of luck while I know many people
just use it as a throwaway word it is
more than that it is a competing god of
destiny impersonal it’s kind of random
but we wish for it, we hope for it, we ask
people to fight for it with us and luck
is a God that the Bible says must be
rejected. You’re getting ready to join me
now on a journey, because I want you
based on the Word of God that we give
today, to reject the idol of luck for
something much more substantial. He says the prophet Isaiah says in 65:11
“God says you forsook me for the
table of fortune and for the mixed wine
of destiny.” The Hebrew word for fortune
is the word gad, G A D. The Hebrew word for
the word destiny is meni, M E N I.
gad means luck, meni destiny means fate
You forsook me, the true God for luck and
fate. You notice both words are
capitalized in your Bible because they
are both
proper nouns. So he might just talk about
a concept he’s talking about a thing. The
personification of an impersonal force
that randomly determines how good or
how bad your life is going to go.
We have surrounded this word of luck
with many phrases. There is lucky dog,
There is wish me luck
there is plain luck, there is luck be a
lady tonight.
There is tough luck, there is good luck,
there is bad luck, there is blind luck
there is rotten luck
there is plain luck and then there’s pot
luck
As we eat our Lucky Charms. One man said
if it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no
luck at all. The word luck is used to
express my hope that this impersonal
random thing that floats out there will
work for me. We roll the dice looking for
luck. Casinos are driven by the search
for luck
Not only is luck tied to this impersonal
sense of randomness that I hope makes
things better for me, it’s also tied to
how we look at the world
Zephaniah 1:4-5 says that
people look at the heavenly host hoping
to get clarification on their destiny.
Anyone in here who looks at your
horoscope to get clarification of your
destiny what we need to know is you
just worshipped another God
because as Romans 1:18-25 says
you looked at the creation rather than
the createor to determine destiny.
A form that somehow the arrangement of the stars or if you believe that your sign
what sign are you? what sign
were you born under you have given power
to the creation as a determining factor
of your destiny another way that this
chance fortune-telling, destiny-looking
luck-obsessive culture looks at is what
Isaiah 2:6 calls sorcery or witchcraft
If you go to a palm
reader to have them look at the lines on
your hand to give you a destiny
if you throw tarot cards
You have them turn them over so that
somehow they will give you a clue about
tomorrow, he calls that witchcraft and
what you’ve done is worship another god
but more than worship another god
1 Corinthians 10:21-22 says you
sit at the table of demons
so when luck becomes this force that you
look to all the stars or your sign or
the palm readers what you have to
understand is you’ve invited demons into
your destiny because God says you cannot
sit at my table and the table of demons
and still expect me to do something so
if luck, chance, fate is your focus
another form of this witchcraft is
superstition folks would rabbit foot
hanging from their rearview mirror. Of
course the rabbit wasn’t lucky- it lost
its foot but hoping this is my lucky
rabbit’s foot or I don’t deal with the
number 13 because that’s an unlucky
number and if a cat crosses part my path
black cat?
then I’m be unlucky oh I can’t walk
underneath this ladder and of course I’m
crossing my fingers hoping that my luck
and not going would all of those are
indications that we don’t get it and
this view of luck chance happenstance
faith and the use of the creation and
superstition and witchcraft has
alienated us from the true God in the
name of idols because all those are
false gods. False gods that make us
afraid false gods that make us shrink
and fear and insecurity because we’re
believing in an idol so let me begin by
making it clear luck in this sense
should not be part of your dictionary.
Should not be part of your vocabulary
and I know people just use it casually
and just kind of throw it out there but
for many people even Christians it’s not
just the word it’s a philosophy
I need luck so if not luck what? What if
he says if he says I’m gonna destroy
your tables of luck, fortune cause you bow
down to them and your mixed wine of
destiny making concoctions. You’re making
concoctions to whip up something to
guide your life. If not that, what?
So now we’re gonna go swimming a little
deeper in the ocean. The most important
thing you need to know as a person is
the gospel of Jesus Christ you need to
know that Christ died on the cross for
your sins in your place and that you
need to trust him alone apart from works
as your personal sin-bearer for the
forgiveness of sins and the gift of
eternal life so that you are saved
converted justified and that you have a
home in heaven the most important thing
to know is the Gospel. But the second
most important thing to know is the
sovereign providential nature of God. The
second most important thing to know
after you have gotten converted is that
God is sovereign and providential in how
he runs the universe and your life and
when you have I’ll explain in a moment a
sovereign providential understanding of
God you don’t need luck in fact when you
have a sovereign providential
understanding of God you will understand
there is no such thing as luck. When you
grab this concept it will reshape how
you view everything that takes place in
your life about everything. One plus one
equals two. It always has equaled two it does equal two
it will always equal two and because
that is a fixed reality of basic math
all other mathematical equations bank on
it you can’t study algebra if 1 and 1
don’t equal 2. You can’t study geometry
if 1 and 1 doesn’t equal 2
you can’t study calculus if one and one doesn’t equal two
you can’t discuss trigonometry if one if
one doesn’t equal two. In other words if
you don’t get basic math right
complicated math will be meaningless to
you. We have complicated lives in a
complicated world but if you don’t get
the basic right the sovereign
providential nature of God then you
won’t be able to make sense of the
complicated equations of life
Sovereignty. The sovereignty of God means
that He is the ruler of all creation and
that absolutely nothing happens of which
he is unaware. He’s never caught by
surprise, He never goes oops and you
can’t throw Him a surprise party. He is
fully aware of all that is, was, will be
and what could have been so as Romans
11:36 says “from Him, to Him and through
Him are all things.” God is sovereign
which means he rules over all. All. There
is nothing that takes place under a
sovereign God by chance because then He
wouldn’t be in control because he was
lucky. But married to the word
sovereignty is another word-providence
This is the word you need to understand
Sovereignty- he rules over everything
Providence is the methodology He uses to
do His ruling. Sovereignty is the fact
that he rules over all
Providence is that aspect of sovereignty
that brings together diverse events
and circumstances in order for God to
accomplish His sovereign will
So the sovereign God accomplishes His
sovereign will through His providence
Here’s what you need to understand God’s
providence looks like luck. His
sovereignty is what he wants to happen
but His way of accomplishing it has a
lucky look to it so what you would call
luck or lack of luck is providence at work because
providence is God working in a hidden
way. He hides in providence in order to
accomplish his sovereignty. The Bible is
clear that God is hidden in what he does
Isaiah 45:15 tthat when He works it
out, He often works it out behind the
scenes and you just thought you were
lucky or unlucky no no no no no. Luck
does not exist. He rejects look the table
of fortune the mixture of destiny oh no
no let’s go a little deeper. God’s
sovereignty and His providential working
allows for and incorporates human
freedom so He gives you the opportunity
to choose. Football. In football there are
sovereign lines, sidelines, goal line
Hash lines that they got lines that
don’t move but the teams can call their
own plays. Their plays don’t move the
line the line does not move but their
play-calling affects where they
within the lines so if they call a good
play they’re making forward progress if
they call a bad play or the opposition
stops them they’re regressing in
progress
their forward movement or backward
movement doesn’t affect the lines but it
does affect how well off they are within
the lines God’s sovereignty has lines
and the lines are non-negotiable you
can’t move them. They are determined for
example it is appointed unto man once to
die that is a fixed line your death date
is fixed by appointment. You may have
been late for church but you won’t be
late for that
so he will be sovereign and within this
sovereign He will allow choices to take
place by us that can make us better off
make us worse off without moving the
line because He’s sovereign while he
works providentially that is works
behind the scenes so providence will
feel like luck, but I want you to get
luck out your mind because it can’t exist
and have a sovereign God. You can’t have
the two together. How specific is God’s
sovereign providence? Let me tell you how specific it is scripture says that not one hair of
your head comes out for which God is not
fully aware. That’s getting pretty picky
not one hair of your head that comes out
on your comb God says I didn’t miss that
scripture says not one sparrow falls
down to the ground anywhere in creation
of which he is not fully aware so God’s
sovereignty is not just some big general
thing it gets down to the nit and the
grit the idiosyncratic elements of every
aspect of your being not one-hair of the
few you have left
falls to the ground of which he is not
fully aware so when I talk about the
sovereign providence of God it gets
around to the minutiae of life the
little things that you didn’t think mattered
that’s how specific God is God leaves no
room for luck because he’s involved in
the details of what happens and where
you go and if I were to turn this way
and they can turn that way and if I met
this person and didn’t meet that person
and what boom boom boom boom all of that
God says I got that I got the all of it
now I’m gonna give you freedom you can
cooperate with me or you cannot
cooperate with me but it won’t change me
because God is sovereign
Providence is how God gets to happen
what he wants to happen
God’s sovereign providence is so fluid
that he can turn things on a dime.
Downtown Dallas is 11 miles from this
church and there is a direct route- 35
You get on 35 you going downtown Dallas
and that will be the fastest way to get
there however it’s not the only way to
get there
if you going down 35 and the highway is
blocked
you get off on Illinois you turn left
you go to Zang you turn right till you
get to Jefferson you turn right again
you cross the Jefferson Street bridge
you downtown. Or you can get off on
Illinois and turn turn turn right
instead of left it’ll take you down to
South Dallas through Fair Park does it
be right in the downtown in other words
if you get stuck on the direct route
you’re not stopped from getting to your
destination that is if you know your
options okay? Anybody have Waze? You got Waze app on your phone that way it’s
just trying to tell you I know stuff you
don’t know I can tell you what’s blocked
where it’s blocked how you can take
another way the long route around and
guess where waze is taking you- still
where you’re trying to go. God’s got Waze
God knows his destination but don’t
think you doing your fingers gonna block
him from getting away he trying to go he
got Waze he can do all that
because our freedom will not block His
arrival to His determined it just will
determine how we are in relationship to
arriving. It’s not luck not chance it’s
not fate.
So sovereign God who is providentially at
work to accomplish his sovereign will
through often operating in absentia it
seems like so that it feels like luck
looks like luck tastes like luck but
it’s God in control
I mean God can be like a quarterback of
the line of scrimmage when he calls an
audible you know quarterback sends the
lines of in a scrimmage and the defense
does something that wasn’t expected so
what he does is he audibilizes the
play quarterback will say Iowa Iowa Iowa
that means I’m not doing what I just
told you I was gonna do in the huddle
because I see these fools out here are
doing something that we didn’t plan on
them doing so what I’m gonna do is I’m
an audiblize and I’ma call another
play and I’m still gonna score a
touchdown because I can work even when
the enemy is trying to trick me. So see
that stuff that’s the God we’re talking
about and the more you get to understand
this God the less you’re gonna be
looking to be lucky. You’re gonna be
talking more about providence and his
sovereign will and work than luck. Let me
tell you how sovereign and providential
God is. Even the devil has got to get permission from him to be a good devil.
The devil has to ask God can I be
devilish you remember Job.
it says the devil went to God and say
can I touch Job? So Job only got touched
by the devil because God okayed it. Jesus
told Peter Satan has requested to sift
you as we do you me Satan has requested
to sift you as wheat and I’m not gonna
stop him. I’m gonna pray for you now I
know what you’re asking
why would God let the devil be devilish?
But one of the reasons is because we’re
not listening to Him so He gonna let the
devil help teach us. Or as Paul said, Paul
said a messenger of Satan was sent to
buffer me
I prayed three times. 2 Corinthians 12
That God would get the devil
off my back and God said no. I’m not
gonna get the devil off your back
because I got some pride in you I need
to deal with so I’m gonna let the devil
mess with you but most of us will say
boy devil mess with me I’m sure unlucky. That couldn’t have happened unless
God allowed it but if you don’t have
that view of God you’re just looking at
luck and not loved and chance and faith
and happenstances you know you didn’t
then all of a sudden you’re gonna be
confused and mad and upset and frustrated
because you have put God in this box so
you need this other god called luck to
help you out. So
God is sovereign everything that happens
He oversees under His sovereignty is His
providence. Him working behind the scenes to guide things toward His sovereignty
which includes allowing us freedom of
choice for our good or for our bad
depending on our choice but it won’t
control His sovereign result it will
control how we are doing in the midst of
Him accomplishing that goal. So the issue
is not to look for luck- the issue is to
cooperate with providence. The only lucky
you need to cooperate with our freedom
with providence
so that sovereignty is working for us
and not against us. This takes us to the
main point if you get in these next few
minutes what I’m getting ready to share
with you all of life will take different
shape because you won’t exclude God from
any of life since you won’t need luck
anymore
Romans 8:28-29
Paul the Apostle writes and we know that God causes all
things to work together for good to
those who love God and to those who are
called according to His purpose I need
to read that again for we know God
causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God to those who
are called according to his purpose walk
with me through this for we know we
don’t think we don’t hope we don’t
conjecture we don’t wish we know what
exactly do we know? just what I just
taught you God causes. We know God causes
we know no such thing as luck if we know
that God causes but what about the
things God doesn’t cause or you didn’t
read the verse we know God causes all
things so there’s nothing outside of
God’s causation everything that happens
happens because He made it happen or Ae
let it happen but He was never caught by
surprise that it happened. We know now
that you know God causes by direct
making it or by allowance all things so
there is no thing that is in your life
coming on your life attacking your life
good for your life bad for your life
there is nothing that sits outside of
the sovereign
providential hand of a causation God. All
things stay with me we know that all
things work together for good work
together for good don’t read that too
fast because many people missread it. What many people think the verse says is
that all things work together and are
good. No He doesn’t say all things are
good He says all things work together
for good. That’s different we all know a
lot of things are bad bad things happen
bad people bad us we know there’s a lot
of bad but God’s sovereignty is so
constructed to take all things good bad
and ugly good bad and bitter and can
work it in such a way that it comes out
being beneficial the Greek word good
means to be a benefit all things work
together through the causation of God
not to hoping for luck to be a lady
tonight to work together so that when He
finishes whatever He’s doing it will
come out beneficial stay with me if you
go and you see an orchestra warming up
before a concert there is discord
nothing makes sense the guitarist is
getting his guitar tuned up and the
percussionist is on the keys getting
things set everybody doing their own thing. That is until a conductor
comes out the conductor comes out with
the wand pop pop pop pop pop and all of
a sudden what was disconnected becomes
connected and now you got a sweet sound
all the instruments operating
independently and not working together
don’t make sense you won’t want to
listen long because it doesn’t sound
like it’s going anywhere but when the
conductor comes out and does this and he
takes over the individual parts that are
in discord you have a happy sound you
have a nice sound you have a beneficial
sound you have a melodious sound I know
this is happening over here that is
happening over there this is happening
over here and you some of you maybe
hear this more than you say I didn’t I
didn’t count on my life being like this
I didn’t count on me dealing what I have
to deal here but just let the conductor
come on
because when the conductor comes out and he goes tap tap tap all of a sudden that
which was chaotic I don’t understand it
doesn’t make sense it’s not fair
maybe I need to call Joseph to come
testify because if Joseph was in the
house today Joseph would say it wasn’t
fair my brother sold me into slavery for
no reason at all put me in a pit to die
left me without water it wasn’t right
and then I finally get a good job and
the boss’s wife accuses me a rape when
I didn’t rape her it ain’t fair and then
I got thrown in the jail for something I
didn’t do it ain’t fair and then they
forgot me in jail after I tried to help
some of the prisoners out kept me there
for an additional two years it’s not
fair it’s not fair and I went 13 years
up and down this rollercoaster of life
and I just want to
is not fair but then it comes to Genesis 50
and he comes to the
conclusion of the chapter and then he
says to his brothers y’all meant it for
evil y’all were working against me
it wasn’t fair. but let me tell you, you
meant it for evil but God
meant it for good to bring me to this
place he meant it for good to take me
from where we were into Egypt cause he getting ready birth a whole nation
so He used yo junk He used your abuse He
you messin over me to accomplish His
sovereign will so if you being messed
over tore up from the floor up you don’t
understand why it’s going on wait tell
the conductor shows up cause when the
conductor shows up you all understand it
was beneficial let me have Ruth come testify
Her husband died she goes to take care
of a mother-in-law her hope for future
she’s a Moabite is gone but all of a
sudden Boaz comes along one day and he
sees Ruth gleaning in the field he’s
attracted to her she couldn’t have a
baby from her first husband but Boaz was
old but he wasn’t cold all of a sudden
the Bible says Ruth got pregnant
ad when Ruth got pregnant she had a baby boy
named Obad. Obad was the father of
Jesse, Jesse was the father of David and
when you read Matthew 1 and the
line of Jesus, Ruth’s name is right in
there because God knows how to take a
bad situation and put them in the line
of the Queen let’s get Esther to testify
if Esther was in the house this morning
it is the only book in the Bible where
you don’t find God’s name God’s name is
nowhere but it’s fingerprints are
everywhere the whole book about
Mordecai her cousin said Esther you’ve been
called to the kingdom for such a time as
this
you just haven’t been blessed so you can
have a good job a big house and niceties
you were put in this place cause God has a
divine program the whole book the whole
book of Esther turns on insomnia the
king couldn’t go to sleep he up there
can’t go to sleep he goes we can go
sleep so he gets his servant and he says
this server and bring me something
boring to read so they bring him a
boring book so he can make make it make
him sleepy
they ran boy book of a whole lot of
names in the history of the Empire he it
says that the servant opened the book to
the page not to uh page to the page
well more the cards name was it says
water car saved the King’s life King
says who is this water car well our
years ago King he saved your life from
the folks who were trying to kill you
so it took years before God had insomnia
before the right page was opened in the
book for him to see Mordecai and he says
my what should I do for a man who saved
my life that I never recognized what he
said you should do something great for
him while he’s doing that Haman who try
who was planning on killing the Jews
walks in he says Here I am King. King
looks at Haman not knowing he’s planning
to kill the Jews say Haman what should I
do for somebody who saved my life
what should I do for somebody who protect
me guarded me guided me what should I do? Haman thought he was talking about him
so Haman thought of every great thing he
could think of Haman say you put him in
the Kings chariot
you put him on the King’s horse you give
him the King’s clothes you know you just
you make
him live you just make him walk you just
you guess you just you just ride him out
you just give him everything you give it
King said ok Haim and do that for
Mordecai
Cause even when God’s name is not front
and center even when you don’t see Him
His fingerprints are moving things it’s
very think eternity you don’t need luck
when you got a God who can keep you up
at night to save a whole nation you
don’t need luck when you got a sovereign
providential God okay sit down I’m
finish today okay
so watch this watch this watch this if
you want that God if you want to see him
working for you if you want to see it
not just know about it
notice what He says for we know that all
things there no exceptions so no luck
are working together for that which is
beneficial to those who love God
Oh amen wait a minute there’s a
qualification man cause folk who don’t
love God won’t see it folk who don’t
love God won’t see it they’d be still
looking to be lucky you said but I love
God or what but do we cause most of the
time when we talk about loving God we
talk about a feeling we talk about oh I’m in church I saw I heard
the song heard the sermon and I’m
feeling something so I must love God.
No that was pizza
Loving God does not start with your
emotions
it can include your emotions uh- let me
define loving God. Loving God boils down
to one thing
passionately pursuing His glory. Loving
God is passionately pursuing pleasing
Him if there is no fire for His glory
which means the advertisement of His
attributes it was me showing Him off
it would mean demonstrating Him if there
is no passion for that you may have good
feelings about God but you do not yet
love Him without the passion to pursue
His glory his name His advertisement
love has not yet taken root in your life
it may include an emotion but sometimes
you have to love God when you cry in
some God you gotta love God when you
don’t want what God is doing but you
make the decision to pursue His glory
and then you will see the conductor at
work at whatever timing He has in place
He says you must love God and watch this
as a second qualification and who are
called according to his purpose what is
his purpose verse 29 for those whom
He foreknew He predestined to become
conformed to the image of His son so
that He would be the firstborn of many
brethren
guess what God’s purpose is. God’s
purpose is for you to look more and more
like His Son
for me to look more like His Son you
have to understand you and I are caught
up into something much bigger
and what we’re caught up in is the
relationship of the Father to the Son.
You read the book of John and the
Son says “The Father does all
things for me and I do all things for
the Father we got this love thing going
on between us so He wants Jesus to be
the firstborn of many brothers or
sisters so you and I he wants him to
have to God the Father loves God the Son
so much that he wants him to have
look-alikes the image of his son and
images a mirror it’s a character God
woke wants to conform you to his son and
he will do whatever it takes to do it he
won’t make your life miserable
he will bring trials in your life he
will bring difficulties in you whatever
it takes and as long as it takes because
he wants our attitudes and actions
character and conduct to be increasingly
mimicking what Jesus would do if he was
in the same situation we’re in he’s
trying to conform us to the
characteristics of his son that is his
purpose so if you don’t want to be like
Jesus you won’t see all things working
together you won’t see it you won’t see
it because because that is God’s goal
that is God’s purpose and that should
be our passion that’s why this can’t be
just about us coming to church it’s got
to be us becoming disciples visible
verbal full-time followers of Jesus
Christ that’s why you can’t be ashamed
of Jesus that’s why you can’t ignore
Jesus because God’s goal is for you to
be like Jesus but the more you are
passionate to be like Jesus because you
love God you can now see the conductor
working stuff out I’m not supposed to be
in Dallas I’m in Dallas for one reason
I’m in Dallas because a professor came
by me and uttered one phrase have you
ever thought about Dallas that’s all he
said have you ever thought about it we
have plans to go somewhere else have you
ever thought about Dallas and that
phrase led into a series of events that
brought me to Dallas I’m in Dallas
because God is so specific
he can take a phrase
to change the direction to put me in a
city that I never planned to come to but
if you don’t love God and you don’t want
to be like Jesus you’ll never catch the
phrase but when you love him his glory
becomes your passion being conformed to
Christ becomes your purpose then you
will see the conductor wave the wand and
at the right time see the supernatural
benefit of the good the bad and the ugly
he told Peter Peter you getting ready to
mess up you’re gonna deny me three times
and Satan has offered to sift you as
wheat but I got some stuff I’m gonna do
with you but I got a humble you first so
I’m gonna let the devil
loose on you I’ma let him loose on you
before cock-a-doodle-doo before the crow
the crows, before the bird sings you’re gonna you’re gonna
you’re gonna deny me three times I don’t
know about you but if I heard that from
Jesus I’d have found me a hotel room Ida
Ida hidden somewhere but he said ain’t
what happened to me no cause I love you
more than the rest of these disciples he
said o you you you you think you got it
going on well I’m gonna let the devil
have you but then jesus said to him but
when you are converted i’ma predict your
failure but then i’ma predict your
repentance and when you are converted
now I can use you to strengthen my
brethren cause now you’re gonna know you
ain’t all that and a bag of chips you
gonna you gonna be humbled by the ugly
I’ll allow you to do in your life I’m
not gonna endorse it
you gonna have consequences from it but
if you get back right with me I’ll still
be able to use you you don’t need luck
you have a sovereign providential God
who covers all things and closing when
the kids were growing up one of the
favorite desserts Sister Evans would cook would be 7-up cake
7-up cake. She would line ingredients out
on the counter flour sugar butter nutmeg
and whatever else she lined it out on
the counter I never I don’t ever
remember taking a spoon put it in flour
and eating flour I don’t recall ever doing that
I never remember putting the spoon of
sugar eating a spoonful of sugar
remember that I remember cutting butter
and putting butter a slab of butter in
my mouth and swallowing that I don’t
remember doing that but this is what I
remember I remember Sister Evans getting
a bowl putting flour in the bowl that
sugar in the bowl the eggs in the bowl
the egg in the bowl pouring some 7-up
in there she and then she began to
stir it she began to blend it when she
blended it I couldn’t see the flour
anymore I couldn’t see the sugar anymore
I couldn’t see the egg anymore because
it had been blended together and she had
it working together
she had it working together she had it
she had now I got dough I’m looking at
dough now it was all these separate
things but now it’s all confluence it’s
all tied together in dough but then
something else happened something else
happened took it and put heat under it
put it in the oven let it burn for a
minute let it suffer for a little while
she put the dough that had been mixed
together in the suffering of heat and
all of a sudden with the heat suffering
and and the dough mix I saw something
rising
and I began to smell something and all
of a sudden he got pulled out the oven
and all I could say was good
you see when all the elements were
separate I wasn’t impressed when all the
elements were separate and it looked
like much was going on but when the
master cook and began to put it together
began to mix it and then put a little
heat under it
oh it was worth the wait to see what
happens when things all work together
for good for good now I know you got
stuff happening in your life over here
stuff over there stuff over there bad
things you’ve done bad things others
have done to you good opportunities that
have come your way and you got all this
random stuff but if you let the blender
come and loving him and his purpose
staring in the pot of his purpose and
then even put you in a little fire of
trials fire of circumstance and yeah
it’s gonna be hot up in here for a
little while but when God is finished
with you David said I shall come forth
pure as gold
so look give God His sovereignty His
providence let luck alone cause when He’s
finished cooking you baking you you and
shaking you, you gonna come out the oven
and you’re gonna be good let’s stand to
our feet