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.

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[Music]

today

i want to call your attention

in light of all that’s happening around

us

to

first peter chapter four

i’m calling this judgment in god’s house

first peter chapter four

and let me read the last three verses

verses 17 to 19.

for it is time for judgment to begin

with the household of god

and if it begins with us

first

what will be the outcome for those who

do not obey the gospel of god

and if it is with difficulty that the

righteous is saved

what will become of the godless man and

the sinner

therefore those who also suffer

according to the will of god

shall entrust their souls to a faithful

creator

in doing what is right

the embassy in afghanistan

has been abandoned

kabul

we have retreated from

that location

the embassy in afghanistan

was the presence of the united states on

foreign soil

it represented our interest

in a foreign

land it sought to serve our purposes

in a place

that was not in our best interest

but as things changed and as the taliban

advanced

it was determined that we would

no longer maintain

a presence there

there has been great

celebration

in afghanistan about the fact that we

are

no longer present

our influence over these many years are

no longer retarding the

aggressive movement of

the enemy

and it is caught caused great

consternation even here

about the methodology philosophy

strategy

that is being implemented depended upon

which

side of the divide you happen to be on

but my focus today is on the fact

that the embassy is empty

and that means that influence and

leverage

has been limited or lost

god has an embassy in history called the

church

the church is god’s embassy it is his

authorized location

in a foreign land

the bible makes it clear that this is

not our home

but we have been temporarily situated

here

to represent heaven’s interest

in earth’s

chaos

that heaven has decided that it would

have

representative locations

that would serve the interest of

eternity

in the location of time

that the church is not merely a place

where

people gather to worship as important as

that is

it is also a place

that people can get

some information about

heaven

and how they should function on earth

the presence of an

embassy

bringing the thinking of the homeland

into a foreign

culture

is designed to leverage influence

to let that particular community of

people know that

if you cooperate with us there are

benefits that accrue to you

because of what we the united states

have to offer in terms of freedom in

terms of resources in terms of safety

the purpose of heaven’s

embassy in history

is to let the broader society to know

that if you follow

these precepts

life will be better families will be

stronger there will be a more ordered

society

but what happens when the embassy shuts

down

what happens when the embassy no longer

feels

that its presence

is strategic and critical

not merely for itself but for the

environment in which it finds itself

the author

of

first peter the apostle peter

he makes this statement and he says

in verse 17

for it is

time

for judgment to begin

with the household

of god

the greek word time

is not cronus but

kairos

kronas is clock time it’s tick tick tick

tick tick tick

it’s the chronology of time moving

forward

but his word kairos the word used here

means opportune time it means

time with a purpose it means a special

season

it means

not time in general

but time in specific

that something is happening

at this moment’s notice

to call your attention

it’s cairo’s time

it’s time you need to pay

special attention to

it’s covert time

it’s time that you can’t ignore because

things are out of sync and out of order

when he says to the people he’s writing

in the first century

it is now

time

you need to know why he said that

in 64 a.d

there was a fire in rome

the evil emperor nero

had set fire

to a merchant’s shop

that fire began to spread

very quickly

and it wrought destruction in rome in 64

a.d

it got out of hand

things got so bad with the fire that

nero said

that he had to blame somebody for the

destruction

so what nero did was he blamed the

christians

for having started the fire

and he turned

the roman empire against christians

now

he set the fire but he didn’t want the

blame

so he had to shift the blame

to christians

as being the ones who are bringing havoc

into

the society

[Music]

you can look it up in your

wikipedia you can look it up

and it will talk to you about this fire

set by nero that got blamed on

christians

when it got blamed on christians there

was an assault against christianity

and christians found themselves

suffering

unjustly unfairly

but suffering because the culture had

turned against them based on a lie

it is shortly after the fire

that peter writes first peter

because the christians found themselves

in an untenable

situation of persecution people wouldn’t

believe them

and whatever comfortability they used to

know

had now been turned upside down

by the culture

and faced with this

ignominious

attack

peter had the right to tell them

don’t throw in the towel just because

the culture has gotten left on you

don’t throw in the towel just because

things have gotten hot and heavy even

though it’s not based on truth but it’s

based on a falsehood

it is that kairos time that moment

of spiritual

attack that moment

of cultural

deluge against the faith

even though based on a lie

that leads peter to write first peter

and to cause him to say

it’s now time

when you’re going through rough times

when you’re going through tough times

when your faith is being rejected when

you are being persecuted that kairos

time

is not just cultural

circumstances he says it’s time for

judgment to start in the house of god

first

now stick with me

there is cultural attack

he says while you’re going through this

kairos moment of cultural attack

simultaneous to that time

is the judgment of god taking place in

the church

first

he says i know you’re reading the

newspaper

i know you’re listening to national and

local news

but i don’t want you so fixated

on what is happening around you

that you miss what god is trying to do

with you

it’s now

time

a kairos moment

for judgment to start in the house of

god

first

you and i today are living in a kairos

moment

you are living now in a moment

as we shared in our series on truth

in a

post-christian culture

you and i are now living

at a time when

the clearer you are about your faith

the more

abuse you’re going to be receiving

you are living in a time

where if you decide to be a full-time

christian and not a part-time scene

if you decide that you’re going to be a

visible verbal follower of christ

the crowd is not going to agree with you

you are living in a time

when you reject the moral standards of

the culture

when you reject

efforts to pull people apart

when you reject

evolution

when you reject a non-christian

worldview

when you reject

what the culture has deemed to be

legitimate and accepted when you reject

abortion when you reject what the bible

clearly said when you reject

when that is a kairos moment

because the town is burning

and what

peter wants you to know

if you’re going to take your stand

with jesus christ

while the circumstances of the culture

are working against you

god is bringing judgment

in the church

what is the purpose of the judgment of

god

if the problem is i’m being unjustly

treated

because of what’s happening around me

with the neuronic

appetite of secularism encroaching on

the kingdom of god

because the judgment of god

in the midst of a kairos moment

is designed to show

who’s for real and who’s fake news

because you can be in church and be fake

you can carry your bible and be faith

you can sing the hymns and be faith

so when god allows the culture to come

against you it is designed to reveal

who the real saints are

and not who the churchified folk are

he says it’s now time

for the judgment of god

to be revealed so while satan nero

is bringing pressure against the church

god will use that as an opportunity to

reveal his true church

so my question is are we going to be the

real deal

or are we going to be a fake

congregation

are you going to take your stand

for jesus christ

or are you just going to carry the title

[Applause]

there are a lot of folk who wear wedding

bands who aren’t even married

and there are a lot of christians who

call themselves christians who aren’t

even saved

so it is now time

it’s a kairos moment

we live in a day of cancer culture we

live in a day when the christian voice

is attempting to be muted we live in a

day in this kairos moment where the

secularism of society is trying to deny

the embassy for staying intact but i’m

here to declare to you

that it is now not time to abandon the

premises

it is now not time to abandon the faith

it is now not time to abandon the word

it is now not time to abandon our savior

in love with kindness there must be

crystal clear clarity

that’s why paul says

in first timothy chapter 3 verse 15 he

says i’m writing to you

and to the household of faith because

you ought to be the ground and pillar of

the truth when everything else is

shaking there ought to be one solid

foundation

when folk don’t know which way to go

there ought to be one place they can

look to say those folk don’t move they

don’t move because they’re moving over

here and they’re moving over there no we

are brown and pillar we are ground zero

cause when stuff get bad enough out

there they’re gonna be looking for an

embassy to run into and that means that

we have still got to be on the premises

so when god allows

the kairos moment in the culture it

becomes a judgment moment in the church

to call us to account

to call us to a new level

of commitment and to reveal where we are

falling short so that we can shore it up

this is not a time to run

this is not a time for spiritual punks

this is not a time for spiritual chumps

this is a time

for bibliocentric

clarity

in the midst of cultural

confusion

he tells them that

when god was getting ready to judge

in the book of ezekiel

chapter nine verse five and six

he says i want you to judge the city but

i first want you to start with the

sanctuary

he says because if i can’t get them

right

where will the unrighteous stand

[Applause]

when there is a

kairos moment

it typically precedes

a divine intervention

when god allows stuff to go crazy

it is because something is on the

horizon

regarding him doing something bigger

than the church so he’s got to make sure

he has a church who’s going to

hold down the fort

in the midst of cultural confusion and

crisis

now he speaks throughout this book

about the struggles that they were going

through

for example

he says in

chapter one

verse six

of first peter and seven

in this you greatly rejoice

even though for now for a little while

if necessary you have been distressed by

various trials

that the proof of your faith

are you just talking

are you just saying amen hallelujah

because you’re supposed to

that the proof of your faith

being more precious than gold which is

perishable

even though tested by fire

may be found

to result in the praise and glory and

honor at the revelation of jesus christ

in other words when jesus shows up will

you still be on your post

when jesus shows up will your faith have

been

genuine

then he goes on and he says in chapter 2

verse 11 beloved

i urge you as aliens and strangers

to abstain from fleshly lust which war

against the soul

keep your behavior excellent among the

gentiles

so that in the thing in which they

slander you as evildoers set in the fire

that they

they may because of your good deeds

as they observe them

glorify

god in the day of visitation

he says while everybody out there is

being bad you need to be good

he says while everybody out there is

cheating you ought to be honest while

everybody out there is going crazy you

ought to be orderly he says by what you

show

in the midst of a bad world that’s gone

left

folk ought to know you’re not part of

the crowd

you and i should be walking

out of step with the culture cause we’re

listening to a different drumbeat

we’re listening to a different sound

and so we’re walking at a different pace

and so he is calling on christians he

says in spite of their slander in spite

of them coming against you he says you

hold your fort and you declare i love

what he says in philippians chapter 1

when he talks to them

and he says in verse 28

he says

in no way

be alarmed by your opponents

which is a sign of destruction for them

but of salvation for you

and that too from god

for to you it has been granted for

christ’s sake

not only to believe in him

but also to suffer for his sake

experiencing the same conflict which you

saw in me

and now here to be in me

now i know we want to hear messages

about blessing

i know we want to hear messages about

favor

i know we want to hear messages about

god is good all the time and all the

time god is good

i want no we want to hear messages about

how he healed me

how he blessed me

how he provided for me how he delivered

me and there are plenty of those

messages throughout the scripture

but the message we don’t want to hear

the message we don’t prefer

but that is replete throughout the

scripture

is that the more public you become as a

christian

in a secular environment the more

adversity you’re going to face

now

some of us are not going to face

adversity because nobody’s going to know

we’re a christian

some of us are not going to be rejected

because folk won’t know we belong to the

savior

some of us are not going to be

criticized because there’ll be nothing

to criticize because we’re so much like

the culture

but in a kairos time

when the world is canceling you when

they are rejecting you

not because you are being that way just

because they don’t like you and they

don’t want you

now is the time to be identified as a

christian and to say i’m not only

praising god for my blessing but i’m

also going to give him glory in my

suffering if it’s coming because of my

commitment to him

this is a kairos moment

that we are facing in our culture all

this political divide and racial divide

and health issues you people think

people think the delta virus is just a

new strain

of virus coming from the covert 19

reality

well that’s that’s just a medical

explanation

but from a theological spiritual

biblical explanation

god is keeping the flip the script

he’s keeping to change things

cause he’s gonna see are you still gonna

worship me are you still gonna glorify

me are you still gonna praise me when

stuff keeps flipping in a kairos moment

you’ve got to understand

[Applause]

what we’re going through spiritually and

theologically not just medically

culturally racially politically

and societally

and so

he says it is time

it is time

that you take your stand

proverbs 11 31 it is with difficulty the

righteousness is saved if that’s true

what will become of the sinner

if god is going to send us

through a rough time and we believe in

him

what you think will happen to folk who

reject him

our god is a consuming fire

and you need to know about that side so

when you run into hard times you don’t

throw in the towel

and i’m not talking about he says

in first peter chapter four

these words he says

verse 15 make sure that none of you

suffers as a murderer

or a thief

or an evil doer

or a troublesome meddler

now he’s speaking governmentally because

if you murder somebody you know the

government put you in jail or sentence

you if you be caught as the thief or an

evil doer he makes an interesting word

here a troublesome medal i think this is

the only time this this greek word is

used in the whole new testament that

means

a political agitator

a troublesome meddler is a because he’s

speaking governmentally it’s a it’s a

folk who stares stuff up to make stuff

worse okay

they bring conflict in the culture

they don’t bring reconciliation and

healing they bring chaos and conflict

and they get on the microphone to keep

stuff stirred up

not to make it better but to make it

worse he says don’t be named among those

who not trying to help but just trying

to keep things messed up and toe up from

the flow up

he says no no no that’s not how one i

want you to be named

he says and i love verse 16

but if anyone suffers as a christian

he is not to be ashamed

but is to glorify god

in this name

okay in what name

in the name of being a christian

okay let me tell you something you may

not know

the name christian is not a name

christians gave to themselves

christians didn’t call themselves

christians that’s not how we got the

name christian

christian was first used in acts chapter

11

verse 26 it says

and when the disciples

gathered

they were called christians at antioch

they didn’t call themselves christians

the folk in antioch called them

christians

and they called them christians he says

because they were disciples

so it was their discipleship

that made folk identify them as

christians

a disciple

is not merely a person who’s accepted

christ

for the forgiveness of their sins and

the free gift of eternal life

a disciple is somebody who’s gone public

with their faith

and their identification not with belief

in god but association with jesus christ

if they’re so because they were so

visibly associated with jesus christ

they were called christians

so you only got to be called christians

because you look like a disciple

see some folk want to be called

christians because they go to church

some folks are called christians because

they call themselves christians

but the question in the book of acts is

are you so much a follower of christ

that other folk call you christians then

you ain’t said a word

because how you are functioning how you

are rolling how you are acting how you

are walking how you are talking is so

much like jesus they gots to call you

christian

the word christian

is also used in acts chapter 26 verse 28

because agrippa said to paul

you you got this jesus thing so strong

if you keep this up you’re gonna make me

become a christian

and he uses the word chris that wasn’t

paul saying i’m a christian that was a

pagan king a pagan ruler saying you got

this jesus thing so

thick on you you so wrapped up tied up

and bundled up in jesus if you keep this

up you’re going to turn me out

you’re going to make me become a

follower of christ

so he says it’s time

in this kairos moment this moment of

confusion

this moment of chaos

what do you want me to

what

if they if they start talking about me

on my job

not because i’m creating havoc but

because i’m such a good worker

because i don’t steal time or substance

from the boss

because i am faithful in what i do

because i i keep my my responsibility if

they if they reject me if they whatever

it is he said he says here’s what i want

you to do he says it in verse 13 he says

uh

but to the degree that you share the

sufferings of christ

keep on rejoicing

[Applause]

he says

if you take your stand for jesus

lovingly responsibly kindly but clearly

if you take your stand for jesus

i want you to rejoice

i want you to get your praise on wait

amen people talking about me they’re

insulting me they’re rejecting me

they’re firing me

folk don’t want to marry me whatever it

is but you know i i keep i keep

i keep my stand for jesus

he says

i want you to get your joy on

i want you

to rejoice

priscilla was telling me the other day

that

she heard i don’t know what the

mechanism was but

she heard from a a pastoral leader in

afghanistan

and the leader said

we probably only have

two weeks to live

me and my congregation

we only have a couple of weeks to live

when the taliban finds us

it is most likely they’re going to kill

us

but we are going to stand firm with

christ

we are not afraid

and we’re looking forward to seeing

jesus

in two weeks

and you complaining about somebody

talking about you you complaining about

somebody may not like you you

complaining that nobody you you’re not

getting favor from somebody and these

folk are praising

knowing that there’s the great

possibility they’re going to be slain in

two weeks now you know why god gets

ticked off when he is folk complaining

who ought to be giving thanks

he says i want you to rejoice

because you were viewed so much like

jesus

that folk were against you that’s good

news when folk are against you because

you are for christ

he says rejoice

hold your ground keep your stand

in fact matthew chapter 5 verses 11 and

12 he says there’s a double blessing

he says when you’re persecuted for your

faith

not because you look for persecution not

because you’re searching for persecution

but because you’re looking so much like

jesus and you are not ashamed

in fact he says here in 1st peter

chapter

chapter 4

he lets you know that

there is blessing that comes

with serving christ in fact chapter 3 he

says

not returning verse nine evil for evil

or insult for insult okay i know they

did what they did to you is wrong and

you know you the man and all that you

want you gonna give them a pco christian

mind

all that he says not returning evil for

evil

or returning insult for insult that

doesn’t mean that you don’t tell the

truth that you don’t give a legitimate

defense but he’s talking about

retribution but giving but giving a

blessing instead

that’s convicting isn’t it

well he cussed me out i ain’t let nobody

cuss me out like that i i know a few

words myself

he says i know uh-uh uh-uh cause the

goal is to be like jesus so giving a

blessing instead

for you were called for this very

purpose that you might inherit a

blessing oh wait a minute wait a minute

he says

when you’re in this kairos moment of

conflict and god’s trying to show who’s

real and who’s not real

he says when they come against you

i don’t want you

to do retribution

no i want you to give a blessing

why would i bless somebody who’s

insulting me

why would i bless somebody who’s against

me i’m not even going to ignore the

truth i’m not going to just say i’m

wrong if i’m not wrong but how

do i

bless a racist who’s being a racist

toward me

how do i bless when they come again why

am i going to do that he says because

when you do that you will inherit a

blessing

in other words he says when you get

favor when you give favor you get favor

see god can’t help a lot of us because

we just like the sinners that are

against us so why is he gonna bless us

so we can be more like them than more

like him he says i want you to be a

blessing verse 14 of chapter 3 but even

if you should suffer for the sake of

righteousness you are blessed

and do not fear their intimidation and

do not be troubled but sanctify christ

as lord in your hearts always being

ready to give a defense to everyone who

asks you to give an account for the hope

that is in you with gentleness and

reverence he says when they come against

you i want you to tell them why you’re

acting the way you are why you’re

talking the way you talk why you’re

loving the way you love why you’re

caring the way you care why you’re not

doing to them what they did to you he

said sanctify christ in your heart and

do it with the right spirit so that you

can experience god’s favor coming on

your life

and so

have you ever seen anybody driving in

two lanes

yeah they’re driving down the middle of

the street they’re right yeah

you don’t know whether they want to go

right or left

because they

they sway him back and forth

we got too many two lane christians

see they they want to drive in the

middle of the road see they they want

they want they want when it’s convenient

they want jesus

when it’s inconvenient they want the

world

but now they want jesus

and sometimes they want jesus in the

world they just they just be driving

there

god is looking for some folk who’s gonna

stay on the right side

and take that stand with jesus

now we’re not perfect we have our flaws

we have our failures

but when you find out you’re on the

wrong side of the road you don’t stay

there you get back on where you belong

you get back on the straight and narrow

so as we are enduring our kairos moment

i want you and me and us to be known in

the marketplace of our lives home

community work

civic engagement

racial connectivity i want us to be

known as disciples so other folk can

call us christians

so other folks can say y’all are

different over there so other folk can

say y’all not ordinary y’all function in

a whole different so that they begin he

says in chapter three to ask some

questions when they ask questions why

you talk like that why you act like that

why why why why are you not doing what

we do why you’re not going where we go

why are you not cussing like because how

come you are like us

and then he says then then you sanctify

the lord christ in your heart

you get ready when they ask the question

you say okay lord give me the words

because

because it’s you and me right now

it’s you and me right now

and you make your declaration clear

that i take my stand with jesus christ

the world’s going to throw dirt on you

because we are in a cairo’s moment

we’re in a post-christian era

this is not your mama’s country

when it comes to faith

i don’t know about you but when i was

growing up

my teachers had faith

in the public school

so they communicated even if they

weren’t necessarily formal christians

they shared a judeo-christian framework

for life and family and decency

well that’s gone

that’s that’s gone it’s gone

governmentally it’s gone in media it’s

gone in education it’s gone

now by god’s grace we pray for it to

come back but right now it’s that

cairo’s moment

and the city is burning

so the question is

you your family

a church

where you going to stand

are you going to be

not a churchgoer

but a

visible verbal follower of christ

especially when they throw in dirt

when they throw in dirt

a dog one day fell in a well

the dog one day fell in the well it was

a deep well

and the owner the farmer was so

sad he lost

his dog in the well

but it was so deep he couldn’t go get

him so he

he said

i’ll just bury him in the well

so they started taking dirt and throwing

it everywhere

he started taking dirt

and throwing it in the well

started taking dirt because he wanted to

bury him

throw him in the dirt

but the dog wasn’t dead

but the farmer didn’t know it because it

was so deep

yeah

so every time

farmer threw dirt

the dog stepped on the dirt

the farmer kept throwing dirt the dog

stepped on the dirt

the farmer

kept throwing dirt

dog kept stepping on the dirt

tell when the farmer filled the well up

with dirt the dog walked out

the culture

at this cairo’s moment

wants to bury you

but if you name the name of jesus christ

when they throw dirt you step up

and you declare who you are

you and i are more than conquerors in

jesus christ you stay faithful to him

you walk with him you declare him you

follow him you fight for him with love

and kindness but with clarity so that at

this church and in your life we are

known as disciples of jesus christ not

because we say it but because they see

it

that’s what we’ve been called to do

in this cairo’s movement

you