Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, pastored by Dr. Tony Evans, holds an annual New Year’s Eve service for their members. This year was no exception and Pastor Evans led the congregation with a heartfelt, authentic, and hope-filled message delivered only a day after losing his wife of 49 years to cancer. We want to share this message with as many people as possible in order to bring encouragement where it is needed most. Look to the Lord in the midst of life’s losses. He is there. You are not alone.
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when you live long enough you discover
that this world is booby-trapped its
booby-trapped with disappointments Hertz
the unexpected sometimes you look up at
life and like a kid on Christmas you
opened the box and you ask is this all
there is then when you think you found a
solution to the thing you were
struggling about it’s like the referee
blowing a whistle calling back and
saying you’ve been penalized you didn’t
score sometimes it’s like the fourth of
July when the sky lights up only quickly
to become dark again when you live long
enough and you run into life the reality
is sometimes it hurts but if you haven’t
been there just keep living life has a
way of tracking you down as you plan to
cross over here shortly into a new year
I want to give you the admonition that
James gave when he says in chapter 4
verse 13 come now you who say today or
tomorrow we will go to such and such a
city spend a year there and engage in
business and make a profit yet you do
not even know what your life will be
like tomorrow you are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then
vanishes away instead you ought to say
if the Lord wills we will live and do
this or that but as it is your boasting
in your arrogance
and such boasting is sin therefore the
one who knows to do right and does not
do it to him it is sin I hope you
develop a plan for your year the of 2020
the Bible and carriage is planning all
through the Bible you will see God being
a planning kind of God you will see him
outlining things in history and you will
see the scripture telling us over and
over again to plan but what this
scripture says is don’t plan like a fool
don’t plan like a fool leave room for
the will of God because your plan and
God’s will may not always match I had a
plan we had a plan threating 70 years
old in September and my wife turning 70
years old December 1st we talked about
last year this time how we wanted to
kind of dull down the rat race I’ve been
going 100 miles an hour since we met at
18 and the plan was you know got a staff
got a church everything is you know so
let’s can we find some time to dial it
back
I made some promises to her that some
trips we wanted to take some places we
hadn’t seen and to adjust the schedule
in February
I’ve never taken off in February I’ve
always only taken off in August but
never in February in February sad she
said I really would like to see
Australia I said well this February
we’ll do that
we made that plan last February only to
find out in March that cancer had come
back with a vengeance so we had a plan
but it got interrupted by life and if
you don’t make room for divine
interruptions
you will stay angry mad frustrated
irritated and exacerbated because life
just doesn’t always go like you planned
he does not condemn them for planning he
condemns them for planning that left God
out he says what you ought to say is
this is my plan if the Lord wills
because what that does is give God the
right to call inaudible in your life to
change the play I play got changed
graphically and as far as history is
concerned it’s been changed forever
in time but the one thing that we had
going for us was Jesus
and being able to worship him and praise
Him in the uncertainty through the tears
and in the loss as I lay there today on
my bed I didn’t get out of the bed
basically till it was time to come to
church from last night all the way
through today I just stayed in a bed and
kept the room dark try to remember some
things but the one thing that hit me was
Jesus I’m sure glad I got you but where
would I be in a situation like this if I
didn’t have you I don’t understand the
will of God always and I certainly don’t
like this one
but he’s God and I’m not and he didn’t
ask my opinion I do know that he makes
no mistakes the hardest three words I
heard a couple of weeks ago it hurts to
be reminded of these three words hardest
three words
my wife said let me go
she said it’s time God hasn’t seen fit
to heal me and let me go I told her I
told like I can’t let you go and she
told me you cannot be so selfish to keep
me here if God wants me because Jesus
was in the room in the darkest hour of
my life there was hope in the midst of
hopelessness we had a friend to come
over the house last night her friend she
always wanted scriptures to be read and
songs to be sung and so we would play
those hymns and songs the friend was
just sharing with us as she sang she
would just raise their hand in worship
she couldn’t talk but she just raised
her hand and worship and just hold it in
worship the friend wanted to make sure
that that’s what it was and she said if
you could if you can hear me and you
understand me and you with me blink and
she would blink couldn’t speak but she
would blink she said I’m with you so as
you approach 20/20 plan planned good
plan hard plan for favor but leave room
for God so that if something doesn’t
happen like you wanted you not out there
by yourself
because you’ve left room for God the
story in Chapter 12 of Luke about a rich
man he made a plan it was a retirement
plan
he says I’m a retire I got enough money
now I’m gonna eat drink and be merry and
I’m just gonna enjoy life and it says
that God came in and said you fool
tonight your soul is required of you so
I want to challenge you me and us we’ve
got plans I’ve got plans now that I’ve
got to redo them all and rethink them
all we got plans for our church plan and
lay those plans before the Lord and say
Lord this is what I would like to see
you do in 2020 if it’s your will and I
give you the right to adjust the plans
to your will I’m gonna pray over them I
might ask you a favor
over them but I’m gonna give you the
right of editing my plans to your will
and when we do that and God is able to
superintend our plans with His purposes
whether we understand them or not then
we can feel his peace and his presence
in the midst of our problems I wish I
could promise you that 2020 will be a
painless year I wish I could promise you
that 2020 it’s just going to be a
problem this year but that would be
infringing on the divine because it’s
not all good all the time I can tell you
this
that if you live according to his will
and you’re willing to say yes to him
even when he says no to you twenty
twenty year twenty twenty may not be a
problem this year but it will be a God
filled yeah
so let’s stand to our feet want to thank
our worship ministry for all the
creative things they did today
I’m gonna pray God’s blessing on you and
then you’re gonna wish five people
around you Happy New Year and then rush
to your car and leave so that the ten
o’clock worship folks can get in
remember G Moore’s CD is in the back
father thank you for the privilege of
worshiping you with tears worshiping
with you in spite of pain worshiping you
in the midst of loss worshiping you
because you are worthy of our worship
and we will give you our worship because
you deserve it
we’re gonna plan we’re gonna show you
our dreams our desires but we’re gonna
also say if it’s the Lord’s will we do
not want to be so arrogant as to plan
independently of you do that for
everyone here and be with us in 2020
you
amen <3