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