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.

many of us are familiar with

disclaimer clauses and insurance

policies

that say act of god the insurance

company does not want to be held

liable for something that is totally

outside of their control

and so they defer to it as an act of god

so that you don’t blame them

well there’s something to this

because what you and i have been

experiencing

in our individual lives in our families

and in our culture

yeah it’s an act of god

to not see the divine connection

to what we’ve been going through one

pandemic after another

a virus we’re still fighting

divisiveness

among races and among politicians

the economics of so many families

then this winter storm that has

paralyzed

a lot of people not only in my state but

of texas but beyond

please do not miss god in this

now i know that may sound a little weird

but not according to scripture

let me talk a little bit about the most

recent scenario

that i’m facing and that the whole

nation knows about and that’s this

winter storm did you know that

paralyzing weather is not

an impersonal act by some

foreign entity called mother nature

but that it is a determinative act

allowed by father god

i go to the book of job a book that

emphasizes the sovereignty of god over

every aspect of life

god’s rule of all of his creation

and i’m captured by the first 13 verses

i’m going to take a moment

to read these verses to you because i

want you to catch

how god involved with the weather

because that’s kind of what’s got

among other things everybody’s so

concerned today

but i’m not sure that we are making the

connection to god

in a winter storm listen to what job

37 says the first 13 verses

at this also my heart trembles and leaps

from its place

listen closely to the thunder of his

voice

and the rumbling that goes out of his

mouth

under the whole heavens he lets it loose

and his lightning to the ends of the

earth

after it a voice roars he thunders with

his majestic voice

and he does not restrain the lightnings

when his voice is heard god

thunders with his voice wondrously

doing great things which we cannot

comprehend

for to the snow he says

fall on the earth and to the downpour

and the rain be strong

he seals the hand of every man

that all men may know his work

then the beast goes into its liar

and remains in its den

out of the south comes the storm and out

of the north

the cold from the breath of god

ice is made and the expanse of the

waters

is frozen and with moisture he loads

the thick clouds he dispenses the cloud

of his lightning it changes direction

turning around by his guidance that it

may do whatever

he commands it on the face

of the inhabited earth did you hear that

god says i’m responsible for the

lightning the thunder

the rain the snow the ice

i’m responsible for it freezing

one minute we see snow come down and we

say oh it’s beautiful let’s take the

kids out to play

oh the next minute pipes are bursting

and

and uh power is off and we’re we’re

trying to figure out you know what i’m

saying what’s going on

well just from that passage many more

in scripture weather

is not an impersonal force it is

directly related to what god either

causes

or god allows so in this

winter storm and any other storms and

pandemics we face

if we miss god we’re going to settle for

the storm

if we miss god we’re going to just

settle for the

impersonal activity we think is

happening around

us apart from a personal god

that’s why i want to read one other

verse in this passage

verse 13. he says

whether for correction

or for his world or for a loving

kindness

he causes it to happen ah

let me read that again whether for

correction he’s trying to fix something

for his world he’s trying to benefit

something

or for loving kindness he wants to

demonstrate his mercy

he causes it to happen so what do we

learn right there

there is a purpose in the storm

yep there is a purpose in

the storm as i’ve gone through my

personal storm of health

as i’ve gone through my personal storms

of life

as we go through our personal storms of

pandemic

as we go through the snow and the ice

and the inconveniences

he says he causes it to happen

so that his purpose can be

made manifest so what’s the question we

should ask

yes we should ask uh how long is going

to last i know we want to get it over

with i do too

i want to feel better i want to do

better i want to you know i want it over

i want it to end yeah i want you know we

had a

pipes break in all my kids houses yeah

we want to get those fixed

yes we want to make sure there’s enough

water and enough food

all of those are real life realities

but what i don’t want us to miss

is why he caused it to happen

because if we miss that

then we’re inviting another storm

because

god does this to bring attention to

himself to correct us

to help us or to show mercy to us

job 37 verse 13 says

so there is a reason how much time are

you and i spending

looking for the spiritual reason

to our meteorological

challenges troubles disasters

and inconveniences now i know i talk

about just throwing up a prayer

uh to to get it over with i’m talking

about

pursuing a person so that he can guide

us

into how he wants us to respond to him

in the midst of the challenges that we

are facing

which are many whenever you have

pandemic stack on top of each other

like they are right now this is not luck

chance happenstance or fate

no this is sovereign purpose

and until we begin asking the

sovereignty question

what is god doing what is he telling me

personally

what changes must i make spiritually in

my life

what changes must the church take on to

be the kind of church he wants it to be

and not merely a weekly religious

gathering what impact does he want to

make in the culture

that has abandoned him we learn in

jeremiah chapter 10

verses 1 through 10 one of the reasons

he sends bad weather is to wake us

up to our idolatry yep jeremiah 10 1-10

he said you’ve been worshiping idols

and these idols you’re worshiping you’ve

used to replace me

so let me send some bad weather to show

you your idols don’t control the weather

so god is attacking our idolatry our

idolatry of success our idolatry of

materialism

our idolatry of independence idolatry of

religion whatever you use to replace the

one true god of the bible

is an idol and sometimes he has to bring

a little weather up in here

to say no i know god is in control here

and i want your undivided attention so

just as we battle with our

with with uh health issues and are drawn

to god

in a new way in a deeper way as i read

the scriptures every day to

uh three chapters i’m reading and then i

meditate

on these three chapters in a deeper way

not tied to the sermon

because of how i’ve been battling uh my

my health challenge uh it draws you to

god more

so the question is are we going to

respond

and draw near to him and let him draw

near to us

because he’s using weather and

all the other stuff to call our

attention to heaven

don’t miss heaven because of what’s

happening on earth

allow what’s happening on earth to draw

you more tightly to heaven

to draw you to god’s presence god’s word

god’s priorities and when you’re drawn

there then that means we’re learning the

lessons

and he can turn chaos into comfort

he can take a mess and oh he can turn it

into a miracle in fact he loves to do it

that’s why job 37 13 says

he’ll do it for correction but then

he’ll show loving kindness

because he he wants the correction but

he wants the correction to lead

to seeing what his mercy is when he

melts

the snow and the ice and when he brings

calm and comfort to us

because we have responded to him

you know i’ve talked about this passage

quite a bit

but it seems fit to talk about it now

particularly in light of this new

pandemic we’re facing

and that is hebrews chapter 12.

it says in verse 25 see to it that you

do not refuse him who is speaking

for if those did not escape when they

refused him who was warning them on

earth

much more will we escape who turn from

him

who warns us 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

and this expression yet once more

denotes the removing of things which can

be shaken

as of created things so that those

things which cannot be shaken

may remain

you know when my i was at my

grandmother’s house growing up

as a boy in baltimore and i’d go over to

her home on the weekends

and i’d be watching mighty mouse or

popeye to sail a man

and then it would start thunderstorming

in the middle of the program

and it would cut off uh uh the tv or

disturb the sound or or just make a lot

of ruckus

my grandmother would tell me boy turn

the tv off

i said but grandma i’m watching my show

she said boy

did you hear me turn the tv off i would

question her

i’d say why grandma grandmother said

because god is talking

some of you had grandmothers like that

what grandma was saying is because

things are being disturbed up there

god wants me to hear something down here

because the atmosphere was being shaken

god wanted me to pay attention to

something grandma was

on target because that’s exactly what

hebrews 12

verses 25 to 27 is saying

when god disturbs the natural order of

things he calls it

being shaken when he disturbs

how the normalcy of things this is not

normal folks

it’s not normal to have this pandemic on

top of another pandemic

and before one pandemic ends you get

variances of that pandemic

and then you get new pandemics they come

on top that’s not

normal and when it’s not normal

there is a shaking when there is a

shaking god says

do not ignore what he is saying

so god is speaking he speaks to his word

but then he

reiterates it through circumstances and

the circumstances are

disturbing the natural order of things

now what is he saying that’s the

question isn’t it

what is he doing well he tells you

because he says

in verse 27 yet once more

denotes the removing of those things

which can be

shaken as of created things

so that the things which cannot be

shaken

may remain you know what god is doing

right now

he’s trying to tell you and me the

spiritual is more important than the

physical

he’s shaking our physical world to draw

attention to a greater

spiritual reality he’s trying to get us

to prioritize

the spiritual over the physical

if you’ve heard me say it once you’ve

heard me say it a million times

everything visible and physical is

always preceded by that which is

invisible and spiritual

so that if you want to properly address

the visible physical

you must identify and properly address

the spiritual

and invisible that is the cause or to

put it another way if all you see

is what you see you do not see all there

is to be seen god is calling spiritual

attention

by shaking the stuff we hold on to

we hold on to our heat we hold on to our

food we hold on

to our water those are physical things

in the physical world

we hold on to that is until power lines

get frozen

until windmills can’t turn until pipes

start to break

oh god is saying wait a minute the stuff

you hold on to

you you can’t you can’t cast your total

light in that

because a little a little breathing from

my nostrils

can shut it down i am not getting enough

spiritual attention

i am not getting enough spiritual

priority

i am not getting enough spiritual focus

so i’m going to remove the things

which can be shaken that is of created

things

stuff that men can deal with so that i

reveal the things that cannot be shaken

that is

the spiritual things which are the are

to be the

priority things i want you to recognize

your idols and get rid of them

i want you to recognize your

independence i want you to recognize

your

your uh departure from me

i love the way isaiah 45 7 says

from god comes well-being and calamity

he’ll use whatever he has to use to get

things straight

lamentation chapter 3 verse 31-32

yeah he causes grief but he will give

compassion

so yeah god will there’s a misnomer that

god doesn’t allow negative things no

paul says in second corinthians chapter

1 verse 11 verses

god let me go through some stuff and i

didn’t know whether i was going to make

it

but he did it so that i could get a

bigger view of him

so yes god did allow

this freezing situation god did allow

covid god did because it couldn’t happen

if god didn’t allow it

because then god wouldn’t be sovereign

but he allowed it

for a spiritual purpose he didn’t just

allow it to make to be mean

he needs to force our attention to

something

deeper about life and about meaning and

about priorities

and about purpose so he shakes the

things that can be shaken

so that he can bring attention to the

things that cannot be shaken that is

the spiritual things and that’s why the

key verse here

is verse 28. he says therefore in light

of god shaking up the system

he’s shaking up stuff from the outhouse

to the white house

he’s shaking up stuff from my house to

the church house

he’s shaking up stuff from your house to

your neighbor’s house

and guess what he’s shaking it up on a

worldwide level

it’s something some pandemic has hit the

whole world

so god is making the point that the no

nobody in the world is is is exempt from

him

nobody nowhere no how maybe to different

degrees

but nobody can escape god serving notice

that he wants uh our undivided attention

and so verse 28 says therefore in light

of the shaking

since we have received a kingdom which

cannot be shaken

let us show gratitude by which we offer

to god an

acceptable service with reverence and

awe for our god

is a consuming

fire you know

in texas at least the weather folks

are getting a lot of attention you know

i mean folks are tuning in to the

weather channel

they’re tuning into weather news cast

the weather

folks not missing the weather reports

because we’ve been affected by the

weather

we’ve been affected by events

outside of our control called acts of

god

well it’s time to turn tune into the

weather channel from heaven

god is saying tune in to my channel

since you have received an

unshakeable kingdom

oh here it is you know i’m all about the

kingdom

the kingdom is the rule of god the

kingdom is

god ruling in history and he says

if you belong to me if you are a

christian

you belong to an unshakable kingdom

what do we mean by that a kingdom that

is not limited

to the physical created world in which

your five senses exist did you just hear

me

up in here up in here up in here

that this world that’s breaking down all

around us

need not have the last say-so in your

life and in your circumstance

it doesn’t change the facts that a pipe

broke it doesn’t change the fact that

you’ve

got a diagnosis it doesn’t change the

fact that the heat is off

okay it doesn’t change the fact that

that you got some challenges to overcome

but it does change how you approach it

because you’re not dependent upon that

alone

the physical world system as your hope

and help

because you belong to an unshakeable

kingdom in other words

what has disturbed us down here has not

disturbed heaven up there

and if you will give more attention to

heaven than you give to history

you’ll see how unshakable heaven is even

though you’re all messed up right man

history

my world has been rocked your world has

been rocked but heaven not moving

so you better be i better be we better

be more heavenly minded

so we can be of some earthly good

because if you’re only earthly

minded you’re going to be messed up like

everybody on earth is

so what he’s done is he’s created a

separation you know

when a woman is in labor that’s because

of separation is in process

that baby is trying to say up out of

here up out of here right now

i want up out of here but that

separation is a painful situation

that separation is going to lead to some

difficulty because that separation

says in order for me to get the blessing

i have to endure

the separation well in order for you

to get to the unshakable kingdom you’re

going to have to endure the separation

that god is making from the physical to

the spiritual and if you still want to

hold on to that baby that’s trying to

get out of you

then you’re going to just live with pain

because you’re not allowing the

separation

that god created to take place if you’re

not running to god more

talking to god more in his word more in

worship more in spiritual ministry more

then that means you don’t get the

message so we can just wait for the next

storm

but if you will allow this to draw you

nearer to him

because you know that weather and

circumstances

are not impersonal forces but they are

heaven’s mechanism for having a

conversation with earth

he says since we have received

christians an

unshakable kingdom what’s happening down

here is not the last word

so you better spend more time checking

about what’s going on up there

since we have an unshakeable kingdom he

says let us show gratitude

so you know right now what you ought to

be doing getting your praise on

oh yeah you should lord i’m not praising

you for my circumstances

i’m praising you that these

circumstances don’t have my last word

i’m not praising you for my

inconvenience i’m praising you that my

inconvenience don’t have the last word

i’m not praising you for covert i’m

praising you that copper doesn’t have

the last word

lord i’m not praising you for cold i’m

praising you for cure

i’m praising you that you have the last

word because i belong to a kingdom

that’s not connected or limited

to the kingdom that i find myself living

in with my senses

and then you know what he says he says

let’s show gratitude

and let’s do service who have you served

if you have heat have you helped

somebody else be warm

if you have water have you helped

somebody else to get a drink

if you have a need met have you met that

need for someone else in your family

or particularly in the family of faith

the family of god

have you reached out to a neighbor

members of

oak cliff have you used your act of

kindness cards to show kindness because

god has not let you go through

what others have gone through he says

since you have an unshakable kingdom you

got a message

you got good news you can you can do

some evangelism right now you can share

the good news of jesus christ to

somebody because some folk ready to be

saved right now

because uh you know they they they’ve

been they’ve been awakened

to god’s move in history and they they

want to hear from god they want to hear

from

heaven which means they need to hear

from you it says let him see your

service

in verse 21 and he says and do it

with reverence in our with worship so

that’s why we’re still broadcasting it

from my house yep

from my den because i i decided whatever

strength i have

god to still deserve the worship god

deserve whatever strength i could muster

up

to give him the praise i can do why

because i want the unshakable kingdom

i don’t want to be shook up and toe up

from the flow up

now i want to be wise i want to be safe

i want to be

responsible but i don’t want to back

away from the unshakeable kingdom

because i need that kingdom i want that

kingdom i’m passionate about that

kingdom

i live for that kingdom and i want our

church and your church

and the kingdom of god to live for that

kingdom

so don’t give up don’t throw in the

towel

because our god is a consuming fire i

love that phrase

that’s where they put the animal on the

altar

it consumed the animal the altar was

full of fire

the altar was full of fire and it burned

the animal up that was bad news for the

animal because the animal got consumed

it was a

animal pandemic that pad that fire

burned up that animal

oh but the after the bad news came the

good news

because after animal was burned up sins

were forgiven

it was god’s way of bringing spiritual

healing to the people

by consuming the animal so god is

consuming our comfort

he’s consuming our inconvenience he’s

consuming our security he’s consuming

our safety

he’s consuming our dependency he’s

consuming our idolatry

but not because he’s trying to be mean

he’s just trying to burn up

all the stuff that will get in the way

of us pursuing a relationship with him

so let it burn let it burn let it burn

all the stuff

that god is trying to separate out of

our lives

let it go on and roast up and toast up

but right now you let that as it’s

consumed

draw you near to god so that he can

bring you the blessing of forgiveness

the blessing of mercy the blessing of

empowerment

the blessing of loving kindness and the

blessing of grace why

because god wants to demonstrate to you

that he will allow

negative circumstances including a

winter storm

and multiple pandemics because he loves

us enough to get our attention

because he wants to show us what it’s

like when we’re functioning

in his unshakeable kingdom