Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.
you see many of us the problem of us
getting along with other people is our
inability to get along with ourselves
everything visible and physical is
preceded by something invisible and
screwed 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 she wants to know that you
want him and not just will it stuff till
I default go to church to gets God stuff
but who don’t want the God who gives it
so if you’re in distress don’t let that
drive you away why you need 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
happen opens up and he lets you find
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 struggle 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 an especially
shift how you approach challenges in
living in second chronicles 15 we’re
told in verse 3 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 land’s 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 all who
went in that way that is when he left
home and when he came back home so there
was conflict in the family when you look
at the amount of divorces when you look
at how many times people have been
divorced when you look at the way people
talk about each other the way couples
curse at each other the way they demean
one another then you see the
parent-child conflict and it goes on and
on while the mops keep swinging and
swinging and that was conflict not only
when the individual left but he says
when he came back in 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 will say city urban conflict
international conflict many disturbances
that was the situation ah but here’s
where it gets interesting the into verse
six says for God trouble them for God
trouble them with their de-stresses into
verse six now wait a minute I would have
thought with all that chaos it would
have said the devil trouble them I would
have thought with all this confusion
verse six within by saying the devil
trouble them with every kind of distress
but it says
god trouble them so now we’re going to
mess with your thinking a little bit
because a lot of things you’ll blame it
on Don the devil is God there was no
peace in the family disintegration
conflict urban conflict international
conflict and God says if you’re gonna
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 cuz 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 trouble them with
every kind of this stress 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 trouble 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
what most people do is spend all their
time on earth trying to fix earth when
the problem didn’t originate in earth or
on earth for God trouble them with every
kind of 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 swallowed 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 seems
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 but
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 up in Romans chapter 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 therefore God turned
them over therefore God turned them over
that means God released them to life
without him say with me here because
you’ll discover how the world works 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 be
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
fixed 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 one of
the great offers of our Savior Jesus
Christ is life plus abundant life that
means a fulfilled life so many people
are existing because they don’t possess
the life of God if you don’t know that
you possess the life of God let’s get
that fixed right now Jesus Christ is
offering you his life the Bible says he
that hath the son had life so if you
want life not existence the forgiveness
of sins
the guarantee of heaven and having Jesus
Christ involved with your life on earth
all of that is in this package called
life and he’s offering it to you for
free well not a lot is for free today
but this is life for free how do you get
it you simply go to Jesus Christ and
trust him alone for it you don’t work
for it you don’t earn it you don’t you
don’t go to church for they can’t none
of that can give you life only the
person of Christ can give you life
so I’m gonna pray a prayer you pray it
after me you just have to mean it for
yourself well Jesus I know I’m a sinner
I know I can’t save myself
but you’ve offered me the free gift of
eternal life in exchange from my sin so
I place my sin next to your cross
believing you died as my substitute and
I received now the eternal life that you
say you would give me for free if I came
to you for it so I received that now and
thank you for my new salvation in Jesus
name Amen god bless 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 the 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
idle that’s the biblical word for a
false God and idle 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 nations that haven’t come into
the to the 20th of the 21st century they
may worship trees or rocks or nature the
Sun 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 every place
to true God we got the idol of all let’s
see race where my color trumps God where
where people get offended when you
correct their blackness with the Bible
we fo get offended when you correct
their whiteness with the Bible because
their race is more important than God’s
rules where they wind up worshipping
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
worshipper oh let’s look at 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 I don’t win you’re more
Democrat than godly when you’re more
Republican than God when God says one
thing but you still talk about what your
party says in a 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 donkeys
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 neither or both that’s why
ultimately you should be an independent
cuz nobody should own you but the
kingdom of God let’s see we have another
design Idol let’s see oh yeah
science science is a design Idol because
science teaches your kids not an
evolutionary theory but an evolutionary
fact a theistic evolution is less
fairytales 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 their economic
idols the class idols because of a
certain amount of money or where person
lives of a 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 I can come in shapes
and form so you don’t have to be an
overt God denier to be an idolatry 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 cuz
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 worshipping a
false god what verse 3 tells us because
the second thing that sells us it tells
us is there was not a teaching priest it
was no teaching free it didn’t say there
was no preachers he just said they
weren’t talking about nothing they were
talking smack
a lot of these 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
they’re my responsibility a leaders
responsibility even another believers
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 will
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 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 know it see the
truth oh 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
once they’re 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 versa 4
says but in their distress they turn to
the Lord God of Israel they sought him
and he let them find him keyword
distress in their distress they turned
to the Lord God of Israel that’s the
same word of verse 6 God caused their
distress verse 4 says but in their
distress they turned 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 do that it get what he’ll let us
get addicted he’ll let us get into all
the consequences of our sin he won’t let
he will let you go down and down and
down and down tell 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 this the
Lord God or watch this now when they
return to the Lord God he let them find
him so God created his stress I told you
about you know cyst Evans when when when
when I met and she was not responding at
the rate to which I was a customer a
girlfriend was moving a little slow so I
had to help assist out so in Baltimore
des this amusement park called Gwynn
Oaks amusement park it had a roller
coaster that did this but the roller
coaster would like go out to the end
like it was gonna 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 closest 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 worst things
got the closest you’d get sometimes God
has to put us on a rollercoaster ride so
that we move over and we slide over we
get a little closer 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 when you do that 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
you fine
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we often go to earth to fix earth when
things in our physical world begin to
shatter fall apart we look for physical
solutions that’s our natural tendency
since we’re physical beings but we’re
not just physical beings if we
Christians we’re spiritual beings as
well and that means that we have the
privilege and opportunity to contact
heaven in order to see things change on
earth you know what our problem is we
often go to heaven last rather than to
go to heaven first because earth is so
tangible and touchable we can grab it
quickly the spiritual seems to be often
esoteric and we can’t grab it well try
going to heaven first and then let’s see
what happens on earth because heaven is
situated to invade and transform our
physical reality
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