Touching Heaven to Change Earth – Tony Evans Sermon
Many people find themselves attempting to mop up messes in their lives only to find that the source is an endless drain of trials that won’t stop. But instead of trying to clean up the problems in vain, Tony Evans says you first need to deal with the root. Once you discover the spiritual side of how the world works, you’ll find how your approach to challenges will start to change. Touching Heaven to Change Earth – Sermon by Tony Evans #sermon #TonyEvans
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’re like jacob and say i’m
not gonna let you go
until you answer me so welcome to the
file
[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 lets you find it
welcome to the fire
[Music]
i want to begin our time by
going over today how the world works
because
many christians do not understand
how the world works
because we do not understand how the
world works we approach issues
in an illegitimate way
because we’re operating on a faulty
frame of reference
it is an understanding how the world
works
that allows us to be able to
approach
the struggles stresses needs
in an appropriate way
many of us are trying to mop up messes
in our lives
and every time we try to mop it
there’s more mess to mop up
because we haven’t gotten to the root of
the problem
if you will understand the theology i am
going to attempt to communicate to you
today of how the world works
then it will shift how you approach
living and especially shift how you
approach challenges
in living
in second chronicles 15
we’re told in verse
three for many days israel was without
the true god
without a teaching priest and without
law
verse 5 says in those times
there was no peace to him who went out
or to him who came in for many
disturbances afflicted all the
inhabitants of the lands
nation was crushed by nation and city by
city
for god troubled them with every kind of
distress
it says there was no peace to him
who went in or to him who came out
no peace means they were living in
conflict
there was conflict
it says first of all there was personal
conflict no peace to him
many of the problems of coping today are
people unable to live with themselves
that’s why they often go to devices to
help them to cope
that’s why they become dependent
because they can’t live with themselves
and so they are dealing with inner
conflict
but not only was there no peace to him
it says there was no peace to him
who came out or who went in that that is
when he left home and when he came back
home so there was conflict in the family
when he entered back into his home there
was more
conflict or disturbances
it says city rose up against city and
nation rose up against nation there was
cultural conflict
we’ll say city urban conflict
international conflict
many disturbances
that was the
situation
ah but here’s where it gets
interesting
the end of verse 6 says
for god troubled them
for god troubled them
with their
distresses
into verse 6. now wait a minute
i would have thought with all that chaos
it would have said the devil troubled
them
i would have thought with all this
confusion verse 6 would end by saying
the devil troubled them with every kind
of distress but it says
god troubled them
so now we’re going to mess with your
thinking a little bit
because a lot of things you’re blaming
on on the devil is god
there was no peace
the family disintegration
conflict
urban conflict international conflict
and god says if you’re going to blame
somebody blame me
see a lot of us are blaming the wrong
person
because here’s how it
works in the world
if god is your problem
only god is your solution
if god is the cause
only god is the cure
you say but wait a minute how can all
this evil be given over to god
because god uses the devil to carry out
his dirty work
because even the devil is not the devil
the devil is god’s devil because the
devil can only do what god allows him to
do
so even if the devil is messing with you
it’s by divine permission
for god troubled them
with every
kind
of distress let me put it another way
the spiritual always precedes
the natural
the spiritual governs the natural
the heavenly determines the earthly
so if you have an issue on earth
that has been caused by heaven
trying to solve it on earth is a waste
of time
if it’s an issue on earth
caused by heaven god troubled them
then you need heaven to come to earth to
fix the issue on earth that heaven is
responsible for
even if it’s a problem because they were
living in distress
in the old testament
you ran into the active wrath of god
when god would directly bring
pain about
he would rain down
fire and brimstone on sodom and gomorrah
he would flood the earth with water
he would open up the earth and swallow
up
rebellious people
that would be the active wrath of god
when god directly addressed
things on earth bringing about distress
when jesus died on the cross
god’s relationship to the world shifted
the bible says that with the death of
christ the world was reconciled to god
so
some people believe the god of the old
testament has to be different than the
god of the new testament because the god
of the old testament they say seem so
mean
and judgmental why the god of the new
testament seems so nice and full of love
well there are two gods
but there are two relationships
in the old testament before the
permanent solution to sin was addressed
there was only a temporary solution
and god directly dealt with things
in the new testament
because the death of christ reconciled
the whole world
to god
god could now relate to the world
differently
not because he changed but because his
relationship to the world changed
by predicated on the death of christ
which is why jesus christ is the key and
the center of all of life
so now you do not face the active wrath
of god
you face the passive wrath of god
now that’s spoken of in romans 1 verse
18 to the end of the chapter where it
says the wrath of god
is revealed against all unrighteousness
of men who don’t want to retain the
knowledge of god
and then romans 1 verse 24 26 and 28 say
the same thing it says
therefore god turned them over
that means god released them to life
without him
it says because they did not want to
retain the knowledge of god
god like a dog on a leash
let the leash go so the dog could run
away so when men don’t want god he lets
you not want him
and he lets go of the leash
and you can go your own way but when you
do that
you also invite in the space
between where god is and between where
you want to go that space becomes
occupied with consequences
and so the consequences we are dealing
with in our lives in our homes in our
culture
we are dealing with them because there
is a gap
between where god is and where we are
because they no longer wanted to retain
the knowledge of god it says god turned
them over or released them to the
consequences of their decision
to be separated from him
and the built-in side effects
that are the result
so the problems that people were facing
on earth
were predicated on what god
was allowing to happen
now the question is why
they were in distress in other words
troubles they couldn’t fix
and i know in this house today that
troubles we can’t fix
and you know you can’t fix them because
you’ve been trying to fix them for a
long time and they either stay broke or
look like they fix but still break
he gives three reasons in verse three
for this calamity
for many days that is for an extended
period of time
israel was without the true god
okay problem number one
for many days an extended period of time
israel was without the true god
israel was not without religion
israel was not without church attendance
israel was not without quiet singing
israel was not without religious
programming
it says israel was without the true god
the key word is the word true
they kept the name of god
they kept
praying to god
they kept religious activity they were
doing all of that without the true god
so evidently you can have church without
god
the biblical word for a false god is
idol
that’s the biblical word for a false god
an idol is any noun
person place thing or thought
that you look to as your source
now in third world countries we would
condemn their idolatry
in third world countries and in backward
uh uh
nations that haven’t come into the
to the 20th and the 21st century
they may worship trees or rocks
or nature or
okay we would condemn that
but in the west we have
designer idols
we don’t worship trees and rocks
we have american idols
let me look at some of the idols that we
have that have replaced the true god we
got the idol of oh let’s see race
where my
color trumps god
where i where people get offended
when you correct their blackness with
the bible
when folk get offended when you correct
their whiteness with the bible
because their race is more important
than god’s rules
where they wind up worshiping black
being beautiful or white being right
rather than both having to be biblical
whenever
your race
is your source of your ultimate identity
your race is an idol and you are a false
worshiper
oh let’s look at uh another
designer idol
politics is a designer idol
where you think god rides the backs of a
donkey or an elephant
politics is a designer idol when you’re
more democrat than godly
when you’re more republican than god
when god says one thing but you still
talking about what your party says
in ezekiel 43 god says how dare you
bring the throne of your king and set it
next to my throne
like we like we are equals
when god speaks
elephants got to sit down and donkey’s
got to back up
it’s okay to be a democrat it’s okay to
be a republican as long as the bible can
overrule either
or both because nobody should own you
but the kingdom of god
oh let’s see do we have another designer
idol let’s see
oh yeah science
science is a designer idol
because science
teaches
your kids
not an evolutionary theory but an
evolutionary fact
atheistic evolution is uh that’s what uh
fairy tales for adults
it’s a fairy tale for adults
because in the name of science they deny
god
and they set up a whole system of divine
denial based on that science
so because of that science man becomes
the ultimate definer of life
man becomes the ultimate definer of
meaning
man
becomes the ultimate definer of where
god should be placed in the culture
when people
elevate science science is a beautiful
thing but all science does is show how
god does stuff
he says there were idols
they’re economic idols they’re class
idols
because of a certain amount of money or
where a person lives or the car they
drive they have elevated themselves to
the height of pride
where they’re better than other people
who have been equally created in the
image of god
so it can come in shapes and forms so
you don’t have to be an overt god denier
to be an idolater
all you’ve got to do is place anything
or anybody
in the place or the position of being
the source
of your identity
then it doesn’t matter how much you pray
because you’re praying to a false god
not the real god because the real god
not listening
if you have another idol
now why why
why were they
uh worshiping a false god
well verse three tells us because the
second thing that sells this it tells us
is there was not a teaching priest
there was no teaching free it didn’t say
there were no preachers
he just said they weren’t talking about
nothing
they were talking smack
a lot of this problems that we have in
our culture is because the church
christians have not risen to the
occasion to be what god has called us to
be and it’s just showing up in the
public square
if your life is falling apart
you’re in personal distress
then my responsibility a leader’s
responsibility even another believer’s
responsibility
is to take the word
show you what god says about whatever
you’re dealing with
then give you practical steps to apply
what god said
then ask the holy spirit to take your
practical steps of obedience based on
what god said to bring change in your
life
but what we got is a generation of folk
who change books
they use this book for some things they
use human understanding for other things
they use popular opinion for other
things and they wind up living in
distress
the third thing it says is there was no
law
there was no law
you see
when there’s no true god no teaching
priests there are no rules
people make up their own rules
you see
they either have no rules
or they have their own made-up rules
you know
people come up with their own you know
they walk around saying i know my truth
you know your truth
no it’s either truth
or it’s not truth
but we want to adjust truth we want to
make truth relevant
it’s okay to be relevant as long as
you’re not changing truth
and truth is whatever god says on any
subject about what he speaks
that’s truth so if god says it that is
the word about it
science just has to catch up
no rules wrong rules your own rules
no standard
was there a solution
now that you understand how the world
works the spiritual governs it if god
has caused it you don’t know anybody who
can fix it
unless it’s god using that person
verse 4 gives us a solution
because verse 4 says but in their
distress
they turned to the lord god of israel
they sought him
and he let them find him
ah
key word distress
in their distress
they turn to the lord god of israel
that’s the same word of verse six god
caused their distress
verse four says but in their distress
they turn to the lord god which means
god will let it get bad enough long
enough till you wake up
because it was in their distress
see god will let it get well he’ll let
us get addicted he’ll let us get into
all the consequences of our sin he will
let he will let you go down and down and
down and down until the only way you can
look is up
he won’t let anybody fix it any money be
able to get you out of it he will let
the distress
go down
but in their distress
when things got deep enough bad enough
long enough
it says they called on here it is
the lord god oh watch this now
when they return to the lord god
he let them find him ah
[Music]
so
god created his stress i told you
about you know
sister evans when when um
when i
when i met her and she was not
responding at the rate to which i was
accustomed
my girlfriend was moving a little slow
so i had to help her sister out
so in baltimore there’s this amusement
park called gwyn oaks amusement park
they had a roller coaster that did this
but the roller coaster would like go out
to the end like it was going to jump off
and turn real quick i said give me two
tickets
we got on the roller coaster for two
the wilder the ride got the closer she
got
by the time the ride was over you
thought only one person got on it
why did i buy two tickets i bought two
tickets to create distress
because i knew the worse things got the
closest you’d get
you see sometimes god has to put us on a
roller coaster ride so that we move over
and we slide over and we get a little
closer and we get a little closer
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
and when you do that
when you get close and want to live for
him want to please him one to honor him
want to exalt him want to draw near to
him then heaven opens up and he lets you
find him
he lets you find
[Music]
everything visible and physical is
preceded
by that which is invisible and spiritual
so if something needs to be changed or
corrected in the visible physical realm
we must identify
its invisible spiritual cause
heaven has something to say about what’s
happening on earth
so many things are
in chaos out of order
in conflict
in the world in which we live
on every level whether it’s people’s
personal lives or
family disintegration racial conflict
class conflict political conflict
these earthly realities
have a spiritual root
and if you skip the spiritual route
and just try to fix the visible fruit
then you won’t get to the source
or the solution
to the issues that need to be
transformed and corrected
god must be consulted
if correction is going to take place and
improvement
is going to come in our lives
in our circumstances
heaven rules
and when we understand
that if we grab the spiritual
if we grab heaven and allow that to
intervene
in the circumstances of earth
then we will have put things in its
proper order
and proper perspective
as i like to say
if all you see is what you see
you do not see all there is to be seen
if we continue to only try to solve our
earthly problems with earthly solutions
we will continue to live in earthly
frustration
and earthly failure
but if we will allow
god’s perspective
the reality of heaven
to interfere with and intervene
with what we are dealing with on earth
then we will have positioned ourselves
for real solutions
long-term solutions
because god doesn’t make mistakes
in fact
if it’s something god is allowed
that means only god can fix it
so let’s stay in touch with heaven
because earth is in trouble
we need to have earth touched
with the power and presence of god in
heaven
so that order can replace
chaos
[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 because truth
they’re the just
because if it comes from god it’s truth
because god has absolute standard by
which reality is measured
you
amen <3