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