Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

faith must always precede sight

once you put sight in front of faith

you’ve negated faith

faith is based on what you do not see

if you’ve got to see it first you won’t

see it

the euphemism of walking in the bible

means to live according to because

you’re moving with the mind of christ

you’re not just doing that on sunday

morning when it’s church time because he

wants to know that you want him

so if you’re in distress don’t let that

drive you away draw you near

closer

so that you like jacob and say i’m not

gonna let you go

until you answer me so welcome to the

fire

[Music]

when you get close and want to live for

him want to please him want to honor him

want to exalt him want to draw near to

him then heaven opens up and he lets you

find him

he let you find it

welcome to the fire

when you’ve lived long enough it becomes

pretty clear

that life is not a playground but a

battleground

[Applause]

when you’ve lived long enough

you’ve come to realize that

life is not always easy

and while we cherish those times of

fun and frivolity and play

and excitement

we dread those times of pain

and anguish

and struggle

someone has said that life can be

described as being bittersweet

it has those sweet moments that we

cherish and embrace

and those bitter moments that bring us

to tears hurt

and pain

paul is writing

and he concludes his treaties to the

church at ephesus

to talk to them about the battleground

of life

we call it spiritual warfare

but he’s not just talking about any kind

of battle

he describes this one specifically

by calling it the evil day

the evil day

the evil day is when all hell breaks

loose on you

the evil day is when you are overwhelmed

yes

life has its normal ups and downs but

that’s not what he’s talking about here

he’s talking about

when you are under major attack

when your world is being shattered

your dreams are being destroyed

your hopes

are being dimmed

and where you look out and all you see

is the light of an oncoming train

he calls that the evil day

the day when hell

is after you

and your name has come up

he says when that day comes when that

period of time

when you’re under major assault comes

he says i want you to understand how to

how to approach this

because he says on that day

you’re going to need the strength of the

lord verse 10.

normal stuff is not going to work

and playing church show enough won’t

work

he says on that day you’re going to need

the supernatural and so he goes into

these verses

leading up to the subject of prayer to

tell us

how to approach this time in your life

in my life now i want to make sure

that i’m not wasting my time on this

sermon

so is anybody here know what i’m talking

about when i talk about an evil day

an evil day

when you’re under

massive

spiritual assault

well let me remind you

that everything visible and physical

is preceded by that which is invisible

and spiritual everything

visible and physical

is preceded by that which is invisible

and spiritual

so paul wants you to know if you want to

address in the time of your attack

the visible and physical

you need to do it from the perspective

of the invisible and spiritual

he gives you the term that he uses

throughout the book of ephesians of

heavenly places

heavenly places means the spiritual

realm

and what he’s saying is that when you

are under assault

when your life is being shattered

you’re trying to be in the will of god

you’re trying to walk with god

but you’re being attacked your

well-being is being attacked

your dreams are being attacked your

health is being attacked your stability

is being attacked your resources are

being attacked your future is being

attacked you are just under assault he

says during those times you have to view

things from the location of heavenly

places

or the spiritual realm if you’re going

to be strong

to walk through work through the times

of those attacks

and he wants to set

the plan in place

for how you’re going to make it through

the evil day

for those of you who’ve not yet been to

the evil day

keep living it’s coming

when you’re under assault

and your stability your world

is being

shaken

he says during those times

three times he says i want you to stand

firm

stand firm

stand firm

don’t quit

don’t quit

don’t quit

because the temptation is

easily to throw in the towel

when your world is collapsing right in

front of your eyes

he says the first thing i want you to

understand

is that you wrestle not against flesh

and blood

in other words people aren’t the source

of your problem

they may be the conduit for your problem

but they’re not the source of your

problem

for we christians wrestle not against

flesh and blood but principalities and

powers and world forces that are located

in heavenly places or the spiritual

realm

so if you address the resource without

addressing the source

all you’ve done is created a delay for

it to come back up again

because you’ve not gotten to the root

of the problem we’re just addressing the

fruit

of the problem

and so what he is saying is the source

is spiritual

he first of all wants to set the stage

by saying

on the evil day

when you’re in this season of attack

i want you to stand firm which means to

hold your ground in the lord he says be

strong in the lord to hold your

spiritual ground

it is easy to be swayed and moved off of

center when you’re suffering

it is easy to be swayed and move off of

the source

of your hope when you’re going through

it and you see no exit sign

it is easy to be moved but he says

during those times

when you are under assault

and your world is being stripped

from right underneath you he calls it

the evil day

he says during that time i want you to

grab more tightly your faith don’t

loosen it up

stand firm when you’re under the fire of

the evil one when you’re under fire of

demonic attack when you’re under the

fire of suffering

you do not run away from god when you

are in the evil day

you have to run to god when you’re in

the midst of the evil day

because you’re now engaged in spiritual

warfare

he says stand firm

hold on to your faith he then

tells you how to dress for spiritual

success

he gives you the armor of god

he tells you i want you to get dressed

for the battle

now when you’re in a war and when you’re

in a parade

a military parade they show the weapons

when you’re in a war you use the weapons

because in the evil day this is not show

time at the apollo

this is time when you’ve got to get

dressed

he says you’ve got to put on truth

put on righteousness put on peace he

goes on he says you got to put on faith

he says you got to put on the helmet of

salvation

then he says you’ve got to use the sword

of the spirit which is the word of god

he gives these six pieces of spiritual

arsenal

or spiritual armor

that the believer is to utilize

when it comes to

taking a stand in the evil day

or when you’re under spiritual attack

and spiritual oppression that’s

affecting your physical financial

circumstantial

emotional

family well-being take your stand harder

than you’ve ever taken it before but put

on this armor

but now you may not remember all the

pieces of the armor so let’s make it

easy

because romans chapter 13 verse 14 says

put on christ

if you can’t remember all the pieces

remember this one

put on christ why

because he says i want you to be

put on truth

jesus says i am the way the truth and

the life

he says i want you to put on

righteousness

scripture says christ is our

righteousness he says put on peace

jesus said in this world you will have

tribulation but i give you my peace he

says put on the helmet of salvation

scripture is clear jesus is the author

and finisher of our salvation and then

he says put on the word of god use the

sword of the spirit

john 1 1 says in the beginning was the

word the word was with god the word was

god verse 14 and the word became flesh

and dwelt among us jesus says he is the

word so if you don’t remember truth

remember jesus if you don’t remember

righteousness remember jesus if you

don’t remember peace remember jesus you

put on christ you become centered in him

this is not belief in god this is

centered in god’s son who is the

revelation of god the manifestation of

god who is the power of god to manifest

himself particularly

in the evil day now you want to do it

all the time but you better do it in the

evil day

when the doctors don’t have answers when

the bikers don’t have answers when your

friends don’t have answers and show

enough when you don’t have answers you

need to be centered

on the person of jesus christ

and all the tools

that he offered you but he says you got

to put him on

the question is

how do you put him on

that’s where verse 18 comes in

let me read it again

he says in verse 18

with all prayer and petition

pray at all times in the spirit

and with this of you be on the alert

with all perseverance and petition

for all the saints

the way you put on christ that is

practically utilize him

to equip you

to move through the battle you face

is with prayer

now prayer is relational communication

with god

a lot of people want to pray

when they’re in spiritual warfare who

have not prayed until they got the

spiritual warfare

in other words they don’t know how to

stand strong in the lord because they

haven’t been standing with the lord

but now that they’re in an emergency

they need the lord

he’s talking about staying in touch with

him all day

that’s why first thessalonians 5 17 says

pray without ceasing

in other words stay in touch with me

now let me explain why this is so

important

the evil day is principalities powers

and moral forces

this means you are under attack

this means that this attack is coming

from

the devil and demons

it is unfortunate that far too many

christians have lost sight of demons

demons are angels that went rogue demons

are the spiritual mafia that attacks us

in the spiritual that brings about our

pain in the physical

and the bible has an answer to demons

the answer to demons are angels

so here’s how this works

the bible declares every christian has

been assigned an angel

and the job of the angel is to look

after the well-being of the believer so

every christian has an angel

that is assigned to you by god

one of the jobs of your angel

is to throw wart the demonic attack that

is coming against you because angels

know how to fight angels

and so when the demonic angel

comes to bring pain and anguish and

defeat in your world and in your life

you have an angel

the bible says when we pray

we engage god

the holy spirit i’ll talk about him in a

moment who is who activates the angel

assigned to you

to deal with the demonic oppression that

is coming against you

so he says with all perseverance

but he tells you something else and it’s

the key

he says pray in the spirit

verse 18.

don’t just pray

meaning

don’t just have conversation

but he says i want you to pray in the

spirit

uh questions what does that mean

the bible

talks about the role of the spirit

is to deliver the mind of god

first corinthians chapter 2

verse 9 and 10.

but just as it is written things which i

have not seen

and earth not heard

and which has not been entered into the

heart of man

all that god has prepared for those who

love him

for to us god revealed them he’s not to

my heavenlies from our earth to us god

revealed them through the spirit

for the spirit searches all things

even the depths of god

see when you’re in the evil day that

means folk can’t help you

when you’re in the evil day they have

limitations that they can do for you

and you need something that i have not

seen

ear hath not heard and the imagination

is not conceived of

you need the supernatural to enter into

the natural now being in the spirit

is opposed in scripture to being in the

flesh

to be in the spirit let me start with

the participle in he wants you to be

in the spirit so he does not want you

visiting and exiting

he wants you operating

in the realm of the spirit

what is the realm of the spirit

the realm of the spirit is a spiritual

mindset

in romans chapter 8 verses 1 to 13 he

gives this extended discussion about the

spirit and he says when you have the

spirit you have the mind of the spirit

so this has to do with how you’re

thinking

the mind is your thought he wants you to

think spiritually not secularly

he wants you to think biblically not

worldly he wants you to think the mind

of christ not the mind of man galatians

5 16 but i say walk by the spirit

and you will not carry out the desire of

the flesh

for the flesh sets its desire against

the spirit

and the spirit against the flesh for

these are in opposition to one another

so that you may not do the things that

you please

he says there is a battle

and it’s a battle between the spirit and

the flesh

let me define the flesh

the flesh

is the desire to please self

independently of god

the flesh is the desire

to please yourself

as opposed to pleasing god we all battle

with the flesh

walk in the spirit and you will not

fulfill the desire please don’t misread

that he didn’t say you won’t have the

desire

because the flesh wants what it wants

so you will have the desire but the

spirit will override it don’t read the

verse in reverse

don’t read to get rid of the desire of

the flesh walk in the spirit that’s

backwards walk in the spirit and it will

overrule the desire of the flesh

it will overrule it the capacity to do

what you need to do or what god wants

done will be activated in your

experience as you walk in the spirit now

many times people will say i’m praying

but nothing is happening what let me

explain

many christians pray they doing the

right thing

but they’re doing it in the flesh

they’re doing it in the wrong

environment and if you’re doing the

right thing

in the wrong environment the right thing

won’t work so just cause you say your

prayers in the morning say grace at

dinner and say your bedtime prayer

that’s the right thing but the question

is have you been walking in the right

environment

because if you’re not walking in the

right environment doing the right thing

won’t work and in fact it can help kill

you quicker so he says all all all all i

want you to be consumed with being in my

presence

walking in the flesh he says we’ll put

you in a spiritual graveyard but walking

by the spirit will put you

and here’s how you know because

you’re no longer having to force things

when you’re in the spirit

but the bible calls the spirit a wind

a wind it blows the bible says the holy

spirit guides us he pulls us now you can

walk you should walk but you’re walking

on some power you’re walking on some

undergirding you’re walking on some

strength because you’re walking with the

mind of the spirit consistent with the

revelation and word of god so that he

can override

and so you begin to flow in it

even though you still have to walk

and even though you may have a ways to

go

he says pray always in the spirit

spiritually

and so

he’s my only out

and so we cry out to god and

trust god

but you have your evil day

well you will

and if we make prayer a lifestyle

walking in the spirit a lifestyle and

not a visit

don’t treat the spirit like you treat

church don’t just come for a visit

no he says you roll with me

and you stay in contact with me all day

every day

short long fast slow

when we contact god if the timing is

wrong

he’ll say slow

if the request is wrong he’ll say no

if we are wrong he’ll say grow

but if the request is right the time is

right and we are right

sooner or later he’ll say go

so i want this to be known as a house of

prayer

praise god for great music praise god

for preaching all of that’s critical to

worship but if we don’t make contact

with heaven all we did was come to an

event

a religious event

but if we as a church

will cry out to god

and when god meets you in your evil day

however that happens

sometimes he takes you through it

sometimes he delivers you out of it and

sometimes he just gives you the strength

to deal with it

he does it in all kinds of ways but but

however he decides to do it you’ll know

he’s right there in the midst

he changes your perspective

in the midst of your evil day

and you know you can go a long way with

a change of perspective

there’s a battle taking place in the

invisible realm

that affects us in the realm in which we

exist

it’s called spiritual warfare

we’ve got a dress right for this battle

it’s called the armor of god

we have to dress for success you’ve

heard that phrase

how do you put on the armor you know

there’s six pieces of armor that are

given to us that we’re supposed to be

wearing and utilizing

to defeat the enemy on what’s called the

evil day that means the day when you’re

you’re under major attack you’re under

major assault that is an offensive

against you and you know what that feels

like when all hell breaks loose

and things are bam bam bam bam hitting

you from every direction

as soon as you think you are out of one

crisis you wind up into another crisis

and another conflict

well you gotta keep your attire on

and the way you do that is through

prayer that’s why we’re told to pray

without ceasing that doesn’t mean you’re

on your knees that means you’re staying

in contact with god you know we all have

cell phones

we all live on our cell phones because

we stand in contact with somebody okay

well guess what god wants to be he wants

to be on your cell phone of life

where you stay in contact with him so

that you catch things early you deal

with things early you forward things

early why because you’re in contact with

god as a way of life and not as a

you know sunday morning worship service

or even

morning devotion but as a regular

bringing them into decision bring them

into your thoughts bring them into your

relationship bring them in to your

decision making because he’s part of

every aspect of your life

now you’re doing spiritual warfare you

know when you when you when you’re in a

war you have to stay alert you have to

stay awake you have to know that the

enemy can come at you at any time

particularly times of weakness in the

enemy like he studies our game film he

knows our tendencies our weaknesses

where we’re at to respond and he comes

after those areas where he can see

he has an opportunity to enter in and

bring about destruction

but if we stay in contact with god

through the spirit by means of prayer

then we will be alerted you know a

signal you know we have alerts on our

phone right stuff just pops up that’s

what god’s spirit does you like to bang

bang bang you let stuff pop up

so that you become aware and sensitive

to what’s happening around you so you

can respond to it based on god’s truth

i wish i could take you out the war but

the war is going to find you

but we can’t have victory in the war

because

of our prayer and dependency on the

spirit of god

to keep us one step ahead of the devil

[Music]

when you’re in the spirit

but the bible calls the spirit a wind

a wind it blows

my opinion nobody’s opinion when it

conflicts with god

is to be considered as truth the bible

says let god be true and every man a

liar

mother nature doesn’t work without daddy

god

that’s cause truth

doesn’t just

because if it comes from god it’s truth

because god has absolute standard by

which reality is measured

i’m standing here in alaska one of the

most glorious places in god’s great

creation and i want to invite you to

join me in our urban alternative family

for the alaskan cruise we’re going to

have a magnificent time

in god’s word and in god’s creation

we’re going to enjoy great fellowship

great fun great food and i’m looking

forward to meeting and greeting you on

our tua alaskan cruise

register to be there can’t wait to be

with you

[Music]

[Music]

you