Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The fundamental problem that individuals, families, churches and cultons have
is they don't know who they're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans says, the real crisis is in our circumstances.
It's not recognizing God's power.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
That is our problem. We don't understand who God is.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Does it ever
feel like your prayers are going unanswered, like they're just
bouncing off the ceiling. Well, today doctor Evans reveals how
they breakthrough you're hoping for may depend on a change
that needs to happen inside of you. Let's join him
(00:39):
as he explains.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We're quickly coming to the end of a great book,
the Book of Nehemiah. They have accomplished the great feat
because they have rebuilt the walls. But anybody knows building
a structure doesn't necessarily solve all your problems. You always
have dedications of buildings and dedications of businesses and all
(01:06):
the like.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But unless you fix the folk.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Who will occupy them, you haven't resolved your problem. And
so Neil Mayah along with Ezra in the second half
of the book is trying to do the second part
that has to be done, and that is getting the
people ready for revival. But you cannot have a revival
until people take God seriously. Well, here we have a
(01:32):
revival in Jerusalem. The people are being prepared for it.
This is what we want to look at. In chapter nine,
the sons of Israel are symbol with fasting in sackcloth
and with dirt upon them. You don't see a lot
of folks wearing white suits at funerals, you know, it's just.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Not normative dress for the occasion.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, this is an occasion of sorrow, and it's an
occasion of pain because they had forgotten God for so
long that they had destroyed their culture because of it.
And they're in pain. And then they do the ultimate thing.
They put dirt on their head. Now, why they're putting
dirt on their head? Why Number one is dirty as
low as you can go. And number two, they were
dirty people for the first time in light of God.
(02:15):
They were assessing themselves. And the same is true of us.
A lot of us think we're cleaner than we are,
but these people are dead Syrians. And one of the
ways you know you're serious is if you give up food.
Fasting is where you say this thing is so important,
I can't eat certain things. Jesus said, only come by
(02:35):
fasting and bread.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Verse two.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Now, the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners
and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of
their fathers. There's a lot in that verse. Let me
summarized it. First of all, they separated themselves. And one
of the things that worship is designed to do is
give you a couple of hours each week to be
(03:00):
with the family of God and be separated from the
broader society, to be reminded who you are. Because non
Christians rip off our identity. For some unknown reason, they're
able to get us to forget about God. Now, the
second thing that they did is they stood, and they
confess their sins and iniquities of their fathers.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
In other words, this stuff is all up in our background.
This stuff is soaked in up and our family tree
so deep that we are hooked into this thing.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And some of us have been hooked into sinful actions
and sinful attitudes because we were raised that way. Now,
you can't use that as an excuse not to be different.
But it does say that what you call what your
parents did is sin. Just because mama did it don't
make it right. Just because Daddy said it doesn't make
it right. And he says, our fathers have sinned. The
(03:56):
racial problem we have in our country is because we
have a generation sinning and fathers have sinned. That people
were trained to bleed certain things, act certain ways, and
reject certain groups that accept certain groups.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The issue is not my father raised me, Your father sinned.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
There's a greater divine standard that governs the people of God.
And so they came clean with God, and they didn't
get up talking about mistakes, bad habits. They've talked about
sin because that's the only thing God forgives. Verse three
says while they stood in their place, they read from
the book of the Law of the Lord their God
(04:35):
for a fourth of the day.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
These people, for three hours, the.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Text says, stood and heard the word of God because
they had to learn more about who they were dealing
with him. And then it says for another fourth they
confessed and worshiped the Lord, that God. So they read
for three hours and they worshiped for three hours. So
we back to chapter eight, a six hour day with God.
(05:00):
Fundamental problem that individuals, families, churches, and cultures have as
they don't know who they're dealing with. Fundamentally, that is
our problem. We don't understand who God is. So the
leaders got up and then the end of verse four,
it says, with a loud voice, they cried to the Lord.
(05:22):
This is the longest prayer recorded in the Bible. You
could spend weeks just meditating on this prayer. I want
to highlight something for you. Verse six. Thou alone art
the Lord. Verse seven Thou art the Lord God. Verse
eight and thou didst find his heart faithful? Verse nine
(05:42):
Thou didst see the afflictions of our father in Egypt.
Verse ten thou didst performed signs. Second half of verse
ten Thou didst know that they acted arrogantly. Verse eleven
Thou didst divide the sea? Verse thirteen Thou didst come
down from Mount Sini. Verse fourteen thou didst make known
to them? Fifteen Thou didst provide bread from heaven. Second
(06:03):
half of verse fifteen Thou didst bring forth the water
from a rock? Third part Thou didst tell them to
enter in order to possess in other words, thou didst God.
You're bigger, You're a greater, You're more glorious than we
could ever imagine. The Levites say, God, we forgot who
you are, and then verse sixteen says, but they they
(06:27):
our fathers acted arrogantly. In other words, the contrast in
the prayer is between the glory of God and the
stupidity of man. The contrast in the prayer is the
greatness of God and the ignorance of men. You know,
they have appreciation banquets for people, people have done great things.
(06:48):
They have an appreciation banquet. They bring together people and
appreciate a man for what he's contributed to the community.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Well, if men who give that little pittance.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
To making a better world deserves an appreciation banquet, God
ought to get one every time you wake up, every
time you wake up in the morning. It ought to
be an appreciation ceremony, because nobody can do what God does.
But oh, we forget who we're dealing with. Let's look
at some of the principles that come out of this passage.
(07:21):
First of all, verse six, Thou alone art God, You
made heavens, heavens with all their hopes, the earth and
all that is on it, the seas and all that
is in there, Thou dost give life to all of them,
and the heavenly hosts bowed down before thee.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Now you want an impressive resume.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
You know, I was at an introduction one time and
the gentleman somebody said, ladies and gentlemen, I presented you
doctor Anthony T.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Evans.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I will not read his resume. There are too many
things on this resume, and I would spend on all
of its teaching time giving this resume. I really felt good,
although I really would have liked him to give it anyway,
but I really felt good.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
But that's chump stuff. This is a resume.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Who has created all the heavens and all the earth,
all the fish in the sea, and the animals, the birds,
the insects, Homo sapiens, who has created all the natural
resources that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Now, who else has done that?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A lot of folk that got a longer resume than
I do. Nobody can't compete with God's resume. If you
named all the speec sees of all the animals and
all the fish that He's ever made, that's a resume,
and that's our God. A young boy was going to
see his grandfather, and he was traveling by train, and
(08:52):
he was sitting inside a guy who was a seminary professor,
and the young boy was reading a Sunday school lesson.
And the stranger he was sitting next to you, said,
young man, you've been reading your Sunday school lesson. Let
me ask you a question. Trying to encourage the boy's
spiritual interest, he said, I'll give you a big shiny
apple if you can tell me something God can do.
(09:14):
He said, let me just find out how much this
kid is learning about God. If you simply tell me
something God can do, this apple I will give you.
The boy thought for a moment and said, mister, if
you can tell me something God can't do, I'll give
you a whole barrel of apples. See that's the question.
That's the question. Don't name me one thing God can do.
(09:39):
Name me one thing God can't do. We can get
finished quicker. The Bible says, with God, there is nothing
that is impossible. And God does what he chooses. The
Bible says, the judge of the earth does right, but
he does whatsoever he will see sinners think they have
in that day, that's right. And they better enjoy it,
(10:02):
because God's gonna have his eternity. You can laugh for today,
God's gonna laugh for forever. For the Bible says, be
not deceived. God is not knocked. In other words, God
always laughs last. So sin for men laughing the faith
of God, and do all kinds of evil, forget.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
God, and pay no God and pension.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Fine, and listen, don't if you're a serious Christian, don't
get upset because sinners are getting fifty years and sixty
years and seventy years and ninety years and a hundred
years of messing over God and messing over God's people.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Don't get upset about that because that's a down.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Payment compared to what they're gonna realize forever and ever
and ever and ever and ever, and when forever is over,
they will have just begun. See God is not to
be triffl with, and we keep messing with him.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
God's justice real, and his glory is unmatched. And when
doctor Evans returns with the second part of today's lesson,
he'll highlight God's greatness, starting with something as complex and
awe inspiring as the human body. This message today is
part of Tony's powerful teaching series that's taking us on
a journey through the Book of Nehemiah, a rich, fifteen
(11:21):
lesson study on how God brings restoration and renewal through
faithful leadership and spiritual courage.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
We'd like to offer you.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
All the full length messages in this two volume audio collection,
along with our thanks when you make a generous contribution
to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. In
addition to the complete Nehemiah audio series, we're excited to
include an added bonus, Doctor Evans compelling book, One Nation
Under God. It's a timely, practical resource that shows how
(11:53):
we as believers can influence our culture for good, not
through politics, but through a kingdom first of approach that
starts with each of us. To take advantage of this special,
limited time offer, visit us today at Tonyevans dot org
or call us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty
two twenty two. That's online at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:17):
by phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two
two two. Well, right now, let's get back to doctor
Evans with more of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You just take your body, for example, your human body.
How about the greatness of God. You have you know,
you have chromosomes in your body, and one human chromosome
is made up of twenty billion bytes of information.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
To make a long story short.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Twenty billion bytes of information in one chromosome would be
equal to what is stored in the downtown Library of Dallas.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And you have it one chromosome. God is awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
To steer the traits of your mother and father so
that they are revisualized in you. And skin color, eye color,
and various personality orientation and hair color and all of
that that he can steal all those bites of information.
Nobody can do that. And so he establishes God's greatness
in creation. But then he moves on to verse seven
(13:32):
and he rehearses Jewish history, starting with Abraham. He says
that you chose Abraham, you brought him out of the
area the Caldis gave him the name Abraham, and then
does just find his hard faithful and make a covenant
with him. Now here's the point I want to bring
out of here. God found his heart faithful and then
made a covenant. Let me correct some errant thinking. Obedience
(13:54):
comes before blessing. Blessing does not come before obedience. And
then verse ten, israelis in Egypt. The Levites are praying,
Thou didst performed great signs and wonders against all his
servants and all the people of his land, and is Pharaoh.
(14:15):
And thou didst know that they acted arrogantly toward them?
And didst make a name for thyself in that day?
And thou didst divide the sea before them, talk about
the red Sea. Arrogant was arrogant, all right, he was arrogant.
And that's why you know. Of the ten deadly sins,
the ten sins. God hates worse pride at the top
(14:37):
of the list. He hates a prideful look. Men and
women who hold their fists in the face of God.
Some even in the Church, who are arrogant, who live
their lives independently of God, who basically say, with their mausa,
with their lives, God, I don't need you. That is untel.
A catastrophe hits. That's usually all along that line. You see,
(15:02):
when you have God on your side, circumstances never have
the last word.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
People never have the last word.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
When you make God your God, your supervisors, never have
the last word. Only God has the last word. If
you're real sick today, the doctor doesn't get the last word.
God has the last word. And that's why the New
Testament says, don't fear men. Don't fear men, because the
(15:33):
Bible says you're feeling the wrong person. But there was
also guidance verse twelve, And you gave us a pillar
of cloud that would lead them by day, and a
pillar of fire to light for them the way in
which they are to go. God had a guide for
Israel when they went through the wilderness. They didn't know
where they were going or how they were gonna get there.
(15:54):
And you know, we have a lot of confused people today.
And the only way you're gonna make it through this
maid's life is by being guided. There's only one problem.
You don't know tomorrow. All you can do is guess
about tomorrow. That's why the Bible says, if you have
plans tomorrow, don't go talking about I'm gonna do this
and I'm gonna do that. James Ford says, no, what
(16:14):
you ought to say is, if it's the Lord's will,
I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. You
don't know a bit more about tomorrow. You know nothing
about tomorrow. All you know about tomorrow is what you
hope to do. And guess what you will only do
tomorrow what you hope to do tomorrow. If God gives
you tomorrow, God demands the credit, He demands the glory
(16:40):
for He says, there's none liking under me. So there
was guidance. Israel had forgotten that God had provided for them.
That's why the Lord condemns worrying, because worrying means you
have forgotten God. You say it's natural a word, Yeah,
if you're not thinking about God. What it ought to
(17:00):
be natural is to remember God. And that's what that doing.
They're remembering God. Some of you are here saying, oh Lord,
I don't have no money. But this ain't the first
time you ain't had no money. Think back some years ago.
You didn't have any money when you were living in
that apartment and you read out of money. You here today,
(17:23):
aren't you. That means he continued doing something. He fed
you enough to make it till the day. But what
happened is we forget that we used to be broke.
You've been jobless before, but somehow God brought you through.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
You say, but oh I got a pinion. You've been
sick before.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
God healed you before, but you forgot that.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I forget that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
What he's doing is that we don't take God seriously,
and we forget what he's done yesterday and stop worrying
about to day. What do the people do? Did they
appreciate it? Verse sixteen? But they our fathers acted arrogantly.
They became stubborn and would not listen to thy commandments.
(18:16):
They refused to listen and did not remember thy wondrous
deeds which thou hast done among them. So they became stubborn,
appointed a leader to return them to their slavery in Egypt.
They were going backwards. I wonder how many people in
this room going backwards. You're supposed to be on your
way to Canaan, and you backtracking the Egypt, going backwards.
(18:41):
When you you and your wife used to live in
an apartment, y'all were in love. Now you're in a
house trying to find out how you're going to divide it.
Back in that apartment, you had one car, sharing that
one car, picking each other up to two and three
(19:01):
car garage, each one in each of your own names.
So you don't have to share telling about my car.
You can't take my car. In other words, you're going backwards.
You're going back to Egypt. Instead of going on to
make progress. You're on your way backwards. And what he's
(19:27):
condemning here is the kind of thing that when you
get stubborn and when you say I'm gonna have my
own way, God says, you're on your way back to Egypt.
And we've seen this in individual lives, people going backward.
God delivering you from habits. You're going back to those habits,
family lives. God is trying to make you a family.
You're going back to being single again. You on your
(19:47):
knees praying, Oh, Lord, I gotta get married. Please Jesus
give me a mate. Lord, I gotta have a man.
I gotta have a woman. Jesu Us, Jesus. Oh you
know what I'm talking about? Yeah, Lord, Yeah, Lord, I
gotta get married. Finally you got married. Come from marital counseling.
Talk about I'm in love, you know, tell about you're
(20:07):
just real excited and all pumped up and all excited,
and now you want to go back to.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Being single again because you have gone back to Egypt.
You stop.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
You either one or both of you have started being
stubborn and independent of God, and you're paying the price
tag for it. The church can be stubborn, refuse to
listen to God and have confusion that abounds because they
want to run the church like the local executive is
running the corporation, rather than.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Listening to Gods.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
God is not requested that pastors read the one minute Manager.
I mean God has already guidelined how the church is
to be run.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And then society going backwards. Were going backwards, I mean we.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Going back to stuff that was happening in the sixties
and stuff that was happening before the end, and were
going backwards because when you dismiss God, you had confusion
to your whole environment. But I got good news, even
a myths. The bad news verse nineteen says you are
great with compassion, for you did not forsake them in
(21:15):
the wilderness. And the pillar of cloud did not leave
them by day to guide them on their way, nor
did the pillar of fire by night to life of
them the way in which they should go. And you
did give them food and a spirit to instruct them.
And manavaw di not withhold from their mouth. And you
just give them water for their thirst. Indeed, Verse twenty one,
forty years you provided for them of the wilderness, and
(21:37):
they were not in want. Their clothes did not wear out,
nor did their feets. Well, now you know the good
news here. I got some good news for you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Folks. They're in the wilderness because they disobeyed. Some of
you here are in a wilderness. You should be.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Married, but you're single because you got a divorce because
one of both of you weren't right. Some of you
are in a marrow widerness. Some of you in an attitude.
In a wilderness. You're just wondering. That's what a wilderness is.
It's a wondering place. You're just going around in circles
because you sinned. Well, I got good news for you.
God's grace is greater than your sin. If you get
(22:17):
right with God, he'll even take care of you in
a wilderness, even though you shouldn't be in the wilderness.
You ought to been in Canaan a long time ago.
If you get right with God, he'll take care of
you even while you're in the wilderness. The beautiful thing
is why you're wondering. He'll take care of you. Why
you're trying to find your way. He'll guide you until
such time it's time to come out of the wilderness.
(22:39):
So if you're in a wilderness, don't say, well, if
I hadn't sad, I wouldn't be in the wilderness.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I guess now that I'm in the wilderness. That's
not gonna do about being in a wilderness.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
No, what you gotta say now is I mean, if
the wilderness of God give me grace, forgive me of
my sins. God's grace is like a calculator. He can
cancel real quick. When you come to God, and you
come to God in his terms, he'll push the clear button.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You're back to zero.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
He can cancel out the mistaken addition, subtraction, and marliplication
of your life, and he can turn it back to
a clear button and start doing a renumbering all over again.
He can do that for you in the wilderness and
the wilderness of whatever your despair happens to be.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Doctor Tony Evans reminding us that God is in the
business of offering fresh starts in a message entitled the
Principles of Productive Prayer.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Now, don't forget.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Today's lesson is part of Tony's captivating series on the
Book of Nehemiah, and as I mentioned earlier, you can
get the full length version of all fifteen messages in
this two volume audio collection when you make a donation
to support our mission of spreading Biblical wisdom and renewal.
Plus as a special bonus, you'll also receive doctor evans
(23:50):
insightful practical book, One Nation Under God. Give us a
call today to make the arrangements at one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Our resource center is
open twenty four to seven, so you can reach out
any time of the day or night. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two, or visit us
(24:11):
online at Tonyevans dot org. You'll find all the details
right on the homepage. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Coming up tomorrow, a special Mother's Day message from Pastor
Jonathan Evans called it pays to Trust God. Be sure
to tune in for this encouraging look at how God's
sovereignty and providence come together to work things out when
we place our trust in Him.
The fundamental problem that individuals, families, churches and cultons have
is they don't know who they're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doctor Tony Evans says, the real crisis is in our circumstances.
It's not recognizing God's power.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
That is our problem. We don't understand who God is.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Does it ever
feel like your prayers are going unanswered, like they're just
bouncing off the ceiling. Well, today doctor Evans reveals how
they breakthrough you're hoping for may depend on a change
that needs to happen inside of you. Let's join him
(00:39):
as he explains.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We're quickly coming to the end of a great book,
the Book of Nehemiah. They have accomplished the great feat
because they have rebuilt the walls. But anybody knows building
a structure doesn't necessarily solve all your problems. You always
have dedications of buildings and dedications of businesses and all
(01:06):
the like.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But unless you fix the folk.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Who will occupy them, you haven't resolved your problem. And
so Neil Mayah along with Ezra in the second half
of the book is trying to do the second part
that has to be done, and that is getting the
people ready for revival. But you cannot have a revival
until people take God seriously. Well, here we have a
(01:32):
revival in Jerusalem. The people are being prepared for it.
This is what we want to look at. In chapter nine,
the sons of Israel are symbol with fasting in sackcloth
and with dirt upon them. You don't see a lot
of folks wearing white suits at funerals, you know, it's just.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Not normative dress for the occasion.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, this is an occasion of sorrow, and it's an
occasion of pain because they had forgotten God for so
long that they had destroyed their culture because of it.
And they're in pain. And then they do the ultimate thing.
They put dirt on their head. Now, why they're putting
dirt on their head? Why Number one is dirty as
low as you can go. And number two, they were
dirty people for the first time in light of God.
(02:15):
They were assessing themselves. And the same is true of us.
A lot of us think we're cleaner than we are,
but these people are dead Syrians. And one of the
ways you know you're serious is if you give up food.
Fasting is where you say this thing is so important,
I can't eat certain things. Jesus said, only come by
(02:35):
fasting and bread.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Verse two.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Now, the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners
and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of
their fathers. There's a lot in that verse. Let me
summarized it. First of all, they separated themselves. And one
of the things that worship is designed to do is
give you a couple of hours each week to be
(03:00):
with the family of God and be separated from the
broader society, to be reminded who you are. Because non
Christians rip off our identity. For some unknown reason, they're
able to get us to forget about God. Now, the
second thing that they did is they stood, and they
confess their sins and iniquities of their fathers.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
In other words, this stuff is all up in our background.
This stuff is soaked in up and our family tree
so deep that we are hooked into this thing.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And some of us have been hooked into sinful actions
and sinful attitudes because we were raised that way. Now,
you can't use that as an excuse not to be different.
But it does say that what you call what your
parents did is sin. Just because mama did it don't
make it right. Just because Daddy said it doesn't make
it right. And he says, our fathers have sinned. The
(03:56):
racial problem we have in our country is because we
have a generation sinning and fathers have sinned. That people
were trained to bleed certain things, act certain ways, and
reject certain groups that accept certain groups.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The issue is not my father raised me, Your father sinned.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
There's a greater divine standard that governs the people of God.
And so they came clean with God, and they didn't
get up talking about mistakes, bad habits. They've talked about
sin because that's the only thing God forgives. Verse three
says while they stood in their place, they read from
the book of the Law of the Lord their God
(04:35):
for a fourth of the day.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
These people, for three hours, the.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Text says, stood and heard the word of God because
they had to learn more about who they were dealing
with him. And then it says for another fourth they
confessed and worshiped the Lord, that God. So they read
for three hours and they worshiped for three hours. So
we back to chapter eight, a six hour day with God.
(05:00):
Fundamental problem that individuals, families, churches, and cultures have as
they don't know who they're dealing with. Fundamentally, that is
our problem. We don't understand who God is. So the
leaders got up and then the end of verse four,
it says, with a loud voice, they cried to the Lord.
(05:22):
This is the longest prayer recorded in the Bible. You
could spend weeks just meditating on this prayer. I want
to highlight something for you. Verse six. Thou alone art
the Lord. Verse seven Thou art the Lord God. Verse
eight and thou didst find his heart faithful? Verse nine
(05:42):
Thou didst see the afflictions of our father in Egypt.
Verse ten thou didst performed signs. Second half of verse
ten Thou didst know that they acted arrogantly. Verse eleven
Thou didst divide the sea? Verse thirteen Thou didst come
down from Mount Sini. Verse fourteen thou didst make known
to them? Fifteen Thou didst provide bread from heaven. Second
(06:03):
half of verse fifteen Thou didst bring forth the water
from a rock? Third part Thou didst tell them to
enter in order to possess in other words, thou didst God.
You're bigger, You're a greater, You're more glorious than we
could ever imagine. The Levites say, God, we forgot who
you are, and then verse sixteen says, but they they
(06:27):
our fathers acted arrogantly. In other words, the contrast in
the prayer is between the glory of God and the
stupidity of man. The contrast in the prayer is the
greatness of God and the ignorance of men. You know,
they have appreciation banquets for people, people have done great things.
(06:48):
They have an appreciation banquet. They bring together people and
appreciate a man for what he's contributed to the community.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Well, if men who give that little pittance.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
To making a better world deserves an appreciation banquet, God
ought to get one every time you wake up, every
time you wake up in the morning. It ought to
be an appreciation ceremony, because nobody can do what God does.
But oh, we forget who we're dealing with. Let's look
at some of the principles that come out of this passage.
(07:21):
First of all, verse six, Thou alone art God, You
made heavens, heavens with all their hopes, the earth and
all that is on it, the seas and all that
is in there, Thou dost give life to all of them,
and the heavenly hosts bowed down before thee.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Now you want an impressive resume.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
You know, I was at an introduction one time and
the gentleman somebody said, ladies and gentlemen, I presented you
doctor Anthony T.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Evans.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I will not read his resume. There are too many
things on this resume, and I would spend on all
of its teaching time giving this resume. I really felt good,
although I really would have liked him to give it anyway,
but I really felt good.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
But that's chump stuff. This is a resume.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Who has created all the heavens and all the earth,
all the fish in the sea, and the animals, the birds,
the insects, Homo sapiens, who has created all the natural
resources that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Now, who else has done that?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A lot of folk that got a longer resume than
I do. Nobody can't compete with God's resume. If you
named all the speec sees of all the animals and
all the fish that He's ever made, that's a resume,
and that's our God. A young boy was going to
see his grandfather, and he was traveling by train, and
(08:52):
he was sitting inside a guy who was a seminary professor,
and the young boy was reading a Sunday school lesson.
And the stranger he was sitting next to you, said,
young man, you've been reading your Sunday school lesson. Let
me ask you a question. Trying to encourage the boy's
spiritual interest, he said, I'll give you a big shiny
apple if you can tell me something God can do.
(09:14):
He said, let me just find out how much this
kid is learning about God. If you simply tell me
something God can do, this apple I will give you.
The boy thought for a moment and said, mister, if
you can tell me something God can't do, I'll give
you a whole barrel of apples. See that's the question.
That's the question. Don't name me one thing God can do.
(09:39):
Name me one thing God can't do. We can get
finished quicker. The Bible says, with God, there is nothing
that is impossible. And God does what he chooses. The
Bible says, the judge of the earth does right, but
he does whatsoever he will see sinners think they have
in that day, that's right. And they better enjoy it,
(10:02):
because God's gonna have his eternity. You can laugh for today,
God's gonna laugh for forever. For the Bible says, be
not deceived. God is not knocked. In other words, God
always laughs last. So sin for men laughing the faith
of God, and do all kinds of evil, forget.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
God, and pay no God and pension.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Fine, and listen, don't if you're a serious Christian, don't
get upset because sinners are getting fifty years and sixty
years and seventy years and ninety years and a hundred
years of messing over God and messing over God's people.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Don't get upset about that because that's a down.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Payment compared to what they're gonna realize forever and ever
and ever and ever and ever, and when forever is over,
they will have just begun. See God is not to
be triffl with, and we keep messing with him.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
God's justice real, and his glory is unmatched. And when
doctor Evans returns with the second part of today's lesson,
he'll highlight God's greatness, starting with something as complex and
awe inspiring as the human body. This message today is
part of Tony's powerful teaching series that's taking us on
a journey through the Book of Nehemiah, a rich, fifteen
(11:21):
lesson study on how God brings restoration and renewal through
faithful leadership and spiritual courage.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
We'd like to offer you.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
All the full length messages in this two volume audio collection,
along with our thanks when you make a generous contribution
to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. In
addition to the complete Nehemiah audio series, we're excited to
include an added bonus, Doctor Evans compelling book, One Nation
Under God. It's a timely, practical resource that shows how
(11:53):
we as believers can influence our culture for good, not
through politics, but through a kingdom first of approach that
starts with each of us. To take advantage of this special,
limited time offer, visit us today at Tonyevans dot org
or call us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty
two twenty two. That's online at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:17):
by phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two
two two. Well, right now, let's get back to doctor
Evans with more of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You just take your body, for example, your human body.
How about the greatness of God. You have you know,
you have chromosomes in your body, and one human chromosome
is made up of twenty billion bytes of information.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
To make a long story short.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Twenty billion bytes of information in one chromosome would be
equal to what is stored in the downtown Library of Dallas.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And you have it one chromosome. God is awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
To steer the traits of your mother and father so
that they are revisualized in you. And skin color, eye color,
and various personality orientation and hair color and all of
that that he can steal all those bites of information.
Nobody can do that. And so he establishes God's greatness
in creation. But then he moves on to verse seven
(13:32):
and he rehearses Jewish history, starting with Abraham. He says
that you chose Abraham, you brought him out of the
area the Caldis gave him the name Abraham, and then
does just find his hard faithful and make a covenant
with him. Now here's the point I want to bring
out of here. God found his heart faithful and then
made a covenant. Let me correct some errant thinking. Obedience
(13:54):
comes before blessing. Blessing does not come before obedience. And
then verse ten, israelis in Egypt. The Levites are praying,
Thou didst performed great signs and wonders against all his
servants and all the people of his land, and is Pharaoh.
(14:15):
And thou didst know that they acted arrogantly toward them?
And didst make a name for thyself in that day?
And thou didst divide the sea before them, talk about
the red Sea. Arrogant was arrogant, all right, he was arrogant.
And that's why you know. Of the ten deadly sins,
the ten sins. God hates worse pride at the top
(14:37):
of the list. He hates a prideful look. Men and
women who hold their fists in the face of God.
Some even in the Church, who are arrogant, who live
their lives independently of God, who basically say, with their mausa,
with their lives, God, I don't need you. That is untel.
A catastrophe hits. That's usually all along that line. You see,
(15:02):
when you have God on your side, circumstances never have
the last word.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
People never have the last word.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
When you make God your God, your supervisors, never have
the last word. Only God has the last word. If
you're real sick today, the doctor doesn't get the last word.
God has the last word. And that's why the New
Testament says, don't fear men. Don't fear men, because the
(15:33):
Bible says you're feeling the wrong person. But there was
also guidance verse twelve, And you gave us a pillar
of cloud that would lead them by day, and a
pillar of fire to light for them the way in
which they are to go. God had a guide for
Israel when they went through the wilderness. They didn't know
where they were going or how they were gonna get there.
(15:54):
And you know, we have a lot of confused people today.
And the only way you're gonna make it through this
maid's life is by being guided. There's only one problem.
You don't know tomorrow. All you can do is guess
about tomorrow. That's why the Bible says, if you have
plans tomorrow, don't go talking about I'm gonna do this
and I'm gonna do that. James Ford says, no, what
(16:14):
you ought to say is, if it's the Lord's will,
I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. You
don't know a bit more about tomorrow. You know nothing
about tomorrow. All you know about tomorrow is what you
hope to do. And guess what you will only do
tomorrow what you hope to do tomorrow. If God gives
you tomorrow, God demands the credit, He demands the glory
(16:40):
for He says, there's none liking under me. So there
was guidance. Israel had forgotten that God had provided for them.
That's why the Lord condemns worrying, because worrying means you
have forgotten God. You say it's natural a word, Yeah,
if you're not thinking about God. What it ought to
(17:00):
be natural is to remember God. And that's what that doing.
They're remembering God. Some of you are here saying, oh Lord,
I don't have no money. But this ain't the first
time you ain't had no money. Think back some years ago.
You didn't have any money when you were living in
that apartment and you read out of money. You here today,
(17:23):
aren't you. That means he continued doing something. He fed
you enough to make it till the day. But what
happened is we forget that we used to be broke.
You've been jobless before, but somehow God brought you through.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
You say, but oh I got a pinion. You've been
sick before.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
God healed you before, but you forgot that.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I forget that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
What he's doing is that we don't take God seriously,
and we forget what he's done yesterday and stop worrying
about to day. What do the people do? Did they
appreciate it? Verse sixteen? But they our fathers acted arrogantly.
They became stubborn and would not listen to thy commandments.
(18:16):
They refused to listen and did not remember thy wondrous
deeds which thou hast done among them. So they became stubborn,
appointed a leader to return them to their slavery in Egypt.
They were going backwards. I wonder how many people in
this room going backwards. You're supposed to be on your
way to Canaan, and you backtracking the Egypt, going backwards.
(18:41):
When you you and your wife used to live in
an apartment, y'all were in love. Now you're in a
house trying to find out how you're going to divide it.
Back in that apartment, you had one car, sharing that
one car, picking each other up to two and three
(19:01):
car garage, each one in each of your own names.
So you don't have to share telling about my car.
You can't take my car. In other words, you're going backwards.
You're going back to Egypt. Instead of going on to
make progress. You're on your way backwards. And what he's
(19:27):
condemning here is the kind of thing that when you
get stubborn and when you say I'm gonna have my
own way, God says, you're on your way back to Egypt.
And we've seen this in individual lives, people going backward.
God delivering you from habits. You're going back to those habits,
family lives. God is trying to make you a family.
You're going back to being single again. You on your
(19:47):
knees praying, Oh, Lord, I gotta get married. Please Jesus
give me a mate. Lord, I gotta have a man.
I gotta have a woman. Jesu Us, Jesus. Oh you
know what I'm talking about? Yeah, Lord, Yeah, Lord, I
gotta get married. Finally you got married. Come from marital counseling.
Talk about I'm in love, you know, tell about you're
(20:07):
just real excited and all pumped up and all excited,
and now you want to go back to.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Being single again because you have gone back to Egypt.
You stop.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
You either one or both of you have started being
stubborn and independent of God, and you're paying the price
tag for it. The church can be stubborn, refuse to
listen to God and have confusion that abounds because they
want to run the church like the local executive is
running the corporation, rather than.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Listening to Gods.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
God is not requested that pastors read the one minute Manager.
I mean God has already guidelined how the church is
to be run.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
And then society going backwards. Were going backwards, I mean we.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Going back to stuff that was happening in the sixties
and stuff that was happening before the end, and were
going backwards because when you dismiss God, you had confusion
to your whole environment. But I got good news, even
a myths. The bad news verse nineteen says you are
great with compassion, for you did not forsake them in
(21:15):
the wilderness. And the pillar of cloud did not leave
them by day to guide them on their way, nor
did the pillar of fire by night to life of
them the way in which they should go. And you
did give them food and a spirit to instruct them.
And manavaw di not withhold from their mouth. And you
just give them water for their thirst. Indeed, Verse twenty one,
forty years you provided for them of the wilderness, and
(21:37):
they were not in want. Their clothes did not wear out,
nor did their feets. Well, now you know the good
news here. I got some good news for you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Folks. They're in the wilderness because they disobeyed. Some of
you here are in a wilderness. You should be.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Married, but you're single because you got a divorce because
one of both of you weren't right. Some of you
are in a marrow widerness. Some of you in an attitude.
In a wilderness. You're just wondering. That's what a wilderness is.
It's a wondering place. You're just going around in circles
because you sinned. Well, I got good news for you.
God's grace is greater than your sin. If you get
(22:17):
right with God, he'll even take care of you in
a wilderness, even though you shouldn't be in the wilderness.
You ought to been in Canaan a long time ago.
If you get right with God, he'll take care of
you even while you're in the wilderness. The beautiful thing
is why you're wondering. He'll take care of you. Why
you're trying to find your way. He'll guide you until
such time it's time to come out of the wilderness.
(22:39):
So if you're in a wilderness, don't say, well, if
I hadn't sad, I wouldn't be in the wilderness.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I guess now that I'm in the wilderness. That's
not gonna do about being in a wilderness.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
No, what you gotta say now is I mean, if
the wilderness of God give me grace, forgive me of
my sins. God's grace is like a calculator. He can
cancel real quick. When you come to God, and you
come to God in his terms, he'll push the clear button.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You're back to zero.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
He can cancel out the mistaken addition, subtraction, and marliplication
of your life, and he can turn it back to
a clear button and start doing a renumbering all over again.
He can do that for you in the wilderness and
the wilderness of whatever your despair happens to be.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Doctor Tony Evans reminding us that God is in the
business of offering fresh starts in a message entitled the
Principles of Productive Prayer.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Now, don't forget.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Today's lesson is part of Tony's captivating series on the
Book of Nehemiah, and as I mentioned earlier, you can
get the full length version of all fifteen messages in
this two volume audio collection when you make a donation
to support our mission of spreading Biblical wisdom and renewal.
Plus as a special bonus, you'll also receive doctor evans
(23:50):
insightful practical book, One Nation Under God. Give us a
call today to make the arrangements at one eight hundred
eight hundred thirty two twenty two. Our resource center is
open twenty four to seven, so you can reach out
any time of the day or night. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two, or visit us
(24:11):
online at Tonyevans dot org. You'll find all the details
right on the homepage. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Coming up tomorrow, a special Mother's Day message from Pastor
Jonathan Evans called it pays to Trust God. Be sure
to tune in for this encouraging look at how God's
sovereignty and providence come together to work things out when
we place our trust in Him.
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